i CAVED........!

Not sure i can catch up---but i caved in and bought the Farmer's Wife and Block Party. It feels like Christmas!! Friday starts a 10 day vacation, so perhaps some of that time will be spent making FW blocks! I'm not even sure what week this is--but it doesn't matter. This looks like such fun & friend Barbara jumped in a bit ago. I'm hoping friend Judy will jump onboard too!

Plan on using mostly the Denyse Schmidt fabrics i bought with my 4th place prize $$ ! YAY! I've completed my home dec project #2 for my friend, Beverly. The sweet starfish cushion is from Pottery Barn (love that store!)

The cushions are back in their wicker furniture pieces looking lovely and summer-y :-) Speaking of summer-y How 'bout Trifle?? It's probably the easiest, yummiest & most impressive looking summer dessert you can bring to a picnic! So bust out those pretty glass bowls and trifle dishes & Happy 4th of July this weekend!!

God Bless this wonderful country......and all of us  :-)

send a block for The Painted Quilt....

Head over to http://allie-oopssweethappylife.blogspot.com/  and read about sending a small block to Kaaren of The Painted Quilt blog. What a nice thing to do & so simple. I'm picturing her wrapped up in the well wishes written in each block. Reading about this after a stressful day at work, i realize i have no 'real' worries. I will spend some quiet time this weekend picking out the right fabric and quote to send her. I believe prayers and good wishes are very powerful...i was gifted with many myself 13 years ago.

She LIKES it!!

The soon-to-be Mrs. Royalty liked the pillow i made. I am so glad!! She also received a beautiful quilt from the maid of honor's mom...hand quilted over last winter!! Don't ya just love bridal showers?? :-)

Wish i could've snapped a better picture of the whole quilt....sometimes it's hard when there's so many gifts to open. It was lovely!

This was a great packaging idea from Mrs. C., who's known us all since we were this bride's age...she used a big 'dollar store' bag and her son Bill copied photos of Jess in her childhood, and glued them on. It was a big hit even before the gift was opened!!
Have a wonderful week everyone! Hope all the dads out there had a great day!! :-)

Making progress.....

Making good progress quilting this for my SIL. Building biceps as I phinagle it through the machine. Love that walkin' foot! By next weekend, hope to have a 'finish'.

Spent a nice Saturday evening out with friends we've had for 40 years! Listening to local music at the 'beer tent', then dinner & home. First nice night out this summer. Such fun!!

Remember these?? The lovely fat quarters i won at the guild. I finally decided on this quilt to make with them:

From Kim Brackett's first book. Think most all those fabrics will play nice in this one!
Happy sewing! Have a great week ahead.......!

because her married name will be "Royalty"!!

Honest! Isn't that great?? I had to do this, to add to her shower gift. The graphic is from http://graphicsfairy.blogspot.com/, printed on a fabric transfer sheet. It is a wonderful site with many resources for graphics. The back is an envelope closure. The cute little guys are from Windham fabrics' Adventures in Wonderland series. (another 'i couldn't resist' moment!)

Visited with my sweet sis to see her garden and have lunch yesterday. (She makes the best grilled ham & cheese sandwich!) Her front and backyards are filled with flowers of all kinds. Here's just a few pictures...

Here's the 'guard dogs' Georgia and Ripley!! They are very sweet too!

And here's what she sent me home with:

Love that sister o' mine!! Have a great weekend, all!! :-)

More pictures---as promised.....

This lovely is by Barbara (of http://paintcreekquilt.blogspot.com/) She designed it all fom a quote from the movie An American President w/Michael Douglas..."It turns out, I have a rose garden" !! How clever is that??

This was my favorite from the rose challenge. (I did NOT vote for my own!! :-) The soft colors trimmed in black made this a special quilt!

Joyce's beautiful Edyta Sitar quilt. The ladies who took this class really have a quilt to treasure!

The front & (blurry) back of a quilt made by Nancy, for a retiring school principal. The back has over 1,000 first name signatures from the children!! It was a stunning quilt. The quilting was done by Ruth McCormick in our guild.

This is the back of Lisa's quilt...I see this and think...'maybe someday...'!! Just fabulous.

This nice lady is fairly new to the guild and this was her first quilt!! So pretty! And she was very happy with it. Think her first name is Terri....

And just so this extra long post is not ALL quilts---Here's a few pots i planted up when i probably should've been posting....! But we've gotta plant while the weather's good here. And it's been VERY good for the past few days. Happy sewing & gardening ! :-)

Where to start........

Setting tables with mugrugs for year end's gifts and setting up 17 Rose Challenge quilts! Here's the 4 winners, in progressive order:

1st place, by Lesa R.   This picture does not do it justice. Had to photograph it lying down. It was truly lovely!

2nd place, Mary Lou G.  Make sure to click on the pictures and enlarge them. This was so pretty.

3rd place, Evelyn P's 'Days of wine and Roses'. The pieced roses are beautiful! So is her fabric.

4th place, my Log Cabin Roses!!! Woo-Hoo! The block pattern is from Marcia Hohn's http://quilterscache.com/ . I was very surprised & happy to win 4th place!! I'll post more of the great Show & Tell quilts from the meeting this weekend. The Oakland County Quilt Guild is a talented bunch o' gals!
Enjoy the day........... :-)

Big day Thursday!

Lots goin' on tomorrow! Just a half day at work then home to prepare my potluck dish for OCQG's last meeting for the summer! The little centerpieces are dressed up and ready to go!

20 little beauties, one for each table & a couple extra....

The Rose Challenge for the guild will be decided!! I'm so excited! After tomorrow there can be a full sized picture of my entree. Log Cabin Rose, pattern by Marcia Hohn of Quilters' Cache. No more sneaky peeks!!
   Two of my favorite ladies will be unable to attend...(you know who you are :-)  so i'll be taking pictures of everything going on to share with them later. Some may just pop up here too, I'm thinkin'.
Happy sewing, all. And a happy start to summer!!