BAM quilt up for auction

Here's the latest quilt we have been working on.  Yes, "we". 

I had seen one similar to this a year ago and knew I wanted to make one as a fundraiser for our up coming blacksmith conference on

May 2 - 5. 

Several months ago, Hoffman Fabrics published a preview of their Bali Pops fabrics. The Red Hots line showed these yellow and red fabrics in Batiks. The only problem was, it wasn't coming out until March. 

I finally received it two weeks ago and immediately went to work. 

For you non-blacksmiths, you must understand that the cold iron starts out black and goes through various colors as the heat increases.  This piece represents these color changes. 

If you click on the picture it will enlarge. There you can see the Blacksmiths Association of Missouri (BAM) logo that my blacksmith cut out for me. I ironed Stitch Witchery on the back of the fabric. He did a reverse tracing of the logo and then cut it out with an Exacto knife. I carefully peeled the paper off and heat set the logo. 

I then even more carefully machine appliqued it. 

Below the anvil I embroidered Est. 1983. This is the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Blacksmith Association of Missouri group.

Together the blacksmith and I came up with the idea of a making a pair of forge tongs for the hanger.  The tongs are really neat, holding the hanger eye between the jaws with the reins of the tongs bent out to hold the quilt. 

This will be displayed in the gallery for the conference. We are then going to donate it to the auction on Saturday night. We are keeping our fingers crossed, that it will bring a tidy sum of money. 

Phyllis's quilts

I lost my friend Phyllis to brain cancer December 2011. She made some beautiful quilts. Whenever a niece would graduate from high school, she would present them with a hand made quilt. Her last niece, Summer will graduate this May.  She too will be presented with an Aunt Phyllis quilt.

I hand quilted this for Phyllis's husband Tom and he will carry the tradition on. Tom found the completed top in the sewing room and asked if I would quilt it for him.

As a result of me quilting Summer's quilt, Tom gave me this Christmas quilt. Phyllis had started it. She did all her quilting in a lap hoop. The entire top was basted together. I wasn't sure if it would work out in my big free standing frame or not. Once I got in pinned in, it worked just fine. So now I too have a Phyllis quilt.

My friend Maggie, gifted me with yards and yards of fabric. In it, I found this preprinted panel. I added the borders and machine quilted it. I have it for sale for $60.

This embroidered quilt top was in a stash of quilts my mother made. I machine quilted it too. Mother will be gifting it to her new great grand daughter due in May.

I have more quilts that I am finishing up, so I will keep you posted.

Can you say Tiny?

Two weeks ago I went to It's a Gatherin'.  It was a quilt show of sorts, with lots of vendors and not many quilts. I found this beautiful necklace and some how it followed me home.  Check out her miniatures at Me and My Stitches.  They stole my heart because my favorite type of quilt piecing is paper piecing.  This tiny square has 33 pieces of paper in it.

So I got to thinking, I had a book on minatures. I also remembered I had two good friends who are in the Missouri River Quilt guild with me and that they needed name tags. (If we don't wear a name tag, we have to pay a fine).

My squares aren't as small as Julie's but I think they are still pretty impressive. 
I finished these two, and then got an email from my cousin who asked if I could make her a name tag too.

So I made this one for her. 

Such fun!  Congratulations girls, think of all the money I will be saving you!

The winner is . . .

Sherry at Blockswap has won. 

Thanks to all those who entered!

Do you need a new T-Shirt to describe your sewing, quilting, scrap booking, or other hobbies?

I was shopping on line yesterday at Two chicks Designs. I found me the cutest shirt. I can't wait to show my friend Margie, although I'm pretty sure her husband will get a bigger kick out of it.

If you'd like to order one I have a 15% off coupon for you. Just click here for your discount code.

But hurry, the deal ends April 30th!



Happy shopping!

It's a give away

Would you like to win a box of fabric, patterns and other goodies?

What is a Traveling Stash Box?  It's a box that's filled with a collection of fabrics, threads, and other quilty fun!  When you receive a box you take out what you like, replace it with items from your own stash, hold a giveaway and then send it on to the next lucky person. Just so you know, I think I will be taking the fabrics on the table in front of the box. Not real sure yet!

You can read all about it at Cherise's blog - Sewingly along 

I won it last and now it's your turn.

Just leave me a comment and I will draw the lucky winner next Monday evening. 

Aunt Faye lives on in my heart

I've told you before about my aunt Faye. She was my mentor when it came to anything about quilts. She was an expert hand quilter. She hated to piece quilts, as she always said, "why do you want to cut up all that beautiful fabric up and then sew it back to together?" However at times she did just that, too. 

She was a wonderful cook, a deep Christian woman who read her bible daily, kept a daily journal and was always on the other end of the phone line to ask about the kids. 

I cherish the things she gave me. Even after her death in 2005, I have been lucky enough to acquire more of her things. Like the quilt she made her best friend, or the patterns I ordered for her, a friendship quilt, and now the following things that I was gifted last week. 

There were many beautiful hankies. More than a line full. I do believe in my heart these belonged to my grandmother, who lived with my aunt Faye. I remember as a child getting in Grandma's hankie drawer if we were good, to have a piece of butterscotch candy. 

I even rocked one on my blue jean coat pocket. (I took her with me Saturday to the quilt show)

 There was this really unique Krispy Kan, called Blue Magic. 

The inside of the lid tells you all about it.

 Some of her hair nets. 

 A pink cherry blossom depression platter. 

 Three salt cellars. 

A large beautiful glass platter. 

A glass cake plate that would hold one of her angel food cakes on Sundays. 

Two laying hens, eggs and all.

 A Hartz Mountain bird seed can. (It's full of antique dice and marbles.) 

A celluloid Santa who has lost his skis. 

I am so appreciated of these items gifted to me by two special people in my life. I'd love to tell you how they got these pieces, but then I'd have to shoot you. You two know who you are!