Category Archives: Quilting

My quilt projects.

Rodeo! and Other Things

David put on his cowboy hat.

 

I put on my boots and we went to a rodeo.

There were horses.

And more horses.

There was a clown.

There was patriotism and a cowboy prayer.

An announcer who kept everything going.

More horses.  Sigh.  I want a horse!!!!!

These were some of the bucking broncs that were trying to kick their cages down.  They were rearing and stomping and ready to throw anyone who got on their back.

There was even a  marriage proposal right in the middle of the rodeo and she said, “Yes!”  The clown was in on it and offered the girl a larger(fake) diamond if she would marry him.

It was a fun evening.  The moon shone down on us and the crowd enjoyed it all. I plan to go back next year.

Now for what we have been doing.  We moved into our house thirty-six years ago.  It is now one hundred years old.  We had a birthday party for it this summer.  We have done a lot of remodeling through the years, but one place we never have touched was our cellar. It is not a basement in today’s version of basements, but a cellar where canned goods were kept for the winter.  I never liked going down in the cellar because there were always spiders and I was always afraid I would come across a snake. I never have.   We had a cellar in our house when I was growing up and one time I went down the stairs to bring Mother up some canned goods and laying right at eye level in the cellar window was a big, black snake curled up sleeping.  I ran back upstairs and it was a long time before Mother could get me to go back down into the cellar.  Daddy said it was gone, but I didn’t care.

Our children always wanted us to fix up the cellar into a real basement, but it was not to be.  A week ago David did decide he would paint it to make it brighter down there.

This is the cellar before painting.  You can see one wall that our grandchildren spray painted during Grandma’s camp.  It’s the brightest spot down there.

David began to spray paint.  He painted.

And he painted.  Pretty nearly everything in sight!  Even the shelves and ceiling.  He still has some of the ceiling to paint and then we will put everything back.  I will wash all the canning jars and cover them to keep them clean and it will look like a whole new cellar.

I will continue to store our canned goods down there.  David thinks I have too many cans of baked beans and pumpkin.  A couple of years ago, pumpkin was scarce, at least in our town and you couldn’t find a can to make anything so I began to buy up every can I could find.  Now I have a very nice supply for this Fall’s baking and I will not run out.

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Just had to show you a double yolker one of the chooks laid.  The eggs are still pretty small although two of them laid two big eggs, but the silly girls stepped on them and broke them so Belle got to eat them.   I have baked two pound cakes with our own eggs and they turned out so yellow and moist.

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I told you about these strips of fabric in an earlier post.  Fifty-two strips of fifty-two two and a half inch squares which make a one hundred and four by one hundred and four inch square quilt.

This is how it is turning out.  I was wondering what were the odds, with so many different fabrics, for the same fabrics to end up together.  Well, as you can see it happens even with one thousand one hundred and forty-four quilt squares. I don’t care.  I’m just putting them together randomly as I pick them up. You’ll never notice it on a galloping horse, as a friend of mine use to say when she made a mistake with her quilting.

Here’s to rodeos, horses and brighter cellars.  Bye.

 

 

 

The Amazing Corn Cutting Machine

Before I show you my amazing corn cutting machine I’d like to tell you what I have been up to for the last couple of days.  Yes, I have been freezing corn, but I have managed to catch up on some long awaited sewing that has been bugging me all Summer.

I started a quilt in the Spring and had to put it aside for quite a while since I had a graduation quilt to complete  and several door prizes to sew for our family reunion/anniversary party.  Now that those things are over, I am getting back into the swing of working on some new things.  I made a blouse the last couple of days.  I don’t have a picture of it yet, but will show you on another post.  It’s from a pattern that I have used to make several blouses.  It is really more of a smock type blouse, loose with full sleeves and a tie at the neck. This blouse is so comfortable to wear and so easy to make.

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I have to make ninety of these blocks plus cut out blocks to go between .  This is a fun quilt because I get to use up a lot of my different fabrics.  The squares measure six inch square.  It will be an old fashioned looking quilt I hope.

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I am pinning this quilt and this is all that I can show you because I am going to give it to someone.  I pinned it once and discovered the backing wasn’t big enough for it so I had to unpin it all and sew more borders on the backing and then repin it.  Errrrrrrgggg!!   Now it is going together nicely and I am looking forward to quilting it on my sewing machine.

Yesterday David and I shucked and froze sixteen quarts of sweet corn.  I told you about putting up corn on my old blog if you can find it.  Every time I do corn I forget just how sticky everything gets.  Thankfully we now have air conditioning or the job would have been unbearable.  I have frozen corn on very hot summer days without air conditioning. I think that is why I quit doing it for a few years.

My amazing corn cutting machine came in quite handy.  I have the only one in town so you won’t find it in the stores.  First I will show you the corn in the freezer and then you will be able to watch a video of my amazing corn cutting machine.

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It’s nice to know that when the snow is flying we can taste the wonderful taste of corn on the cob from our freezer.  I still have corn left over from last year so we are stocked up now.

Now for the amazing corn cutting machine.

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Click on above link, click on the link at the next screen to see the high speed corn cutting machine. Okay, so it’s not a machine.  But I felt like one.

Here’s to happy sewing and sweet corn.  Bye.

 

Hollyhocks Around the Barn Door

Growing up on our Indiana farm one had to find their own entertainment.  We didn’t have DVDs, cell phones, Ipods, and very few channels on the television.  I was good at finding things to do around the farm.  I was never bored.

Growing outside my parents’ bedroom window were a group of hollyhocks.  I loved these flowers for one thing only, I could make little ladies with them.DSCN6224

This is how I made them.  When I was a girl, I took little sticks and fastened the flower bloom to the flower bud and then I would have a lovely little lady. This one seems to have a nose and a topknot.

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I would play under the hollyhocks for hours making these little ladies.  Mother never seemed to mind that I was using all her hollyhocks for play. Now we have hollyhocks in our garden.  A few years back there were two houses down the road and across the railroad tracks where people lived.  I use to ride my bicycle down the lane by their houses and see the gardens that were growing there.  Then the people all moved out and the fire department came and burned down the houses for practice.  A gravel pit was going in where the houses had stood.  David and I walked back there after the houses were gone and saw all the flowers that were left, so we took shovels and pails and dug up several hollyhocks and brought them home.  Since then, they have flourished and reseeded themselves so that I have several pretty old fashion hollyhocks growing in my garden.

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I love flowers that reseed themselves and are so easy to grow.  Hollyhocks never disappoint although they do get bugs on their leaves that will eat them until they look like lace, but we spray them now so they stay pretty.

A few years back I found a quilt pattern called Hollyhocks Around the Barn.  Wish I could tell you who the designer was or the quilt magazine where I found the pattern, but I can’t.  Anyway, I made the quilt and loved how it turned out.  Since we had a red barn on the farm, I made the barn in the middle of the quilt a burgundy reddish color.

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I loved how it turned out.  I had folded it away and forgotten about it until recently.  The hollyhocks in my garden reminded me.

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The real hollyhocks fade right into the background of the quilt.  It’s amazing how similar the colors are.

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I quilted the center “barn” just like our old barn at home with three doors and the windows above.

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It’s a simple square and rectangle pattern.  If I can find the pattern, maybe I will make another.  Even though I already have about six or seven quilts I am working on.

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Meanwhile, back at the ranch Bonnie keeps her constant vigil on the chickens.  If just one of them would fly the coop she thinks.  Sorry, Bonnie, their wings have been clipped.  But keep on dreaming.

Here’s to hollyhocks, barns and watchful dogs.  Bye.

 

Simple Pleasures

I am a woman of simple tastes and pleasures.  I am just as content with a good book and a quiet afternoon to read as I am going on a vacation to a far away exotic place.  I can go anywhere in the world with a good book.  I enjoy the simple home arts that are coming back now as more and more young women are staying home to raise their children and are blogging about their lives and learning from each other.

I read several blogs by young mothers and I want to tell you, there are a lot of creative and energetic young women out there raising their children, home schooling and making do with what they have.  It is a joy to read many of them and I learn so much in the process.  People crave a simpler time when family and home were the most important things.  Simple pleasures.

Sewing is my very favorite simple pleasure.  I love to sew quilts and the last week I finished sewing the tops of two of them.

 

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I started this quilt before Valentine’s Day and I hope I will have it quilted by next Valentine’s Day.  It is made from Pamkitty Love fabric which I LOVE and have bought quite a few yards of this year.

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I love the vintage graphics on this fabric.

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Makes me think of Valentines I got when I was a girl.

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I got the border sewn on my coffee cup quilt.  This was also made with Pamkitty fabric.  I hope she designs some more fabric because I really love this.

 

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You know I am never content with working on just one quilt. Here are fabric strips made from two and a half inch squares.  I will need fifty-two fifty-two square strips to make a king size quilt for our bed.  I am using up a lot of my old fabric. It’s fun to see all the fabric I have bought in the past years going into one quilt.  This is one I will work on when I am not trying to get another one done.  Get that?  I do have one I am working on now and will just HAVE to buy more fabric for, but I cannot show you as it will be a gift in the future.  When it is done and given away, I will show it to you.  Simple pleasures.  I love to make things for others.

Chickens!  I promised myself I would not mention my chickens in this post, but I am breaking my promise to myself.

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I bring my black lab, Bonnie, into my shop with me occasionally, and when she discovered the chickens, she couldn’t keep her eyes off them.  Considering what she did to a young robin last spring, I don’t have a lot of hope she will not try to eat one of my chicks, so this is as close as I will ever let her get to them. She is mesmerized by them.

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Every once in a while she will let out a whine as if to say she wants a little closer.  Not in this life, Bonnie.  You will not be having chicken for dinner any time soon if I have my way with it. Simple pleasures.  My chicks and my dogs.  They are so much fun.

A few years ago I discovered a wonderful British series on PBS.

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Rosemary and Thyme.  It is about two women, Nora Thyme and Rosemary Boxer, who find each other in a serendipitous way and become fast friends.   I love finding friends like that.  When you least expect them, they pop into your life.

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Rosemary Boxer is a landscaper who works on the gardens of the wealthy.  She is tiny, but spunky and has gotten herself into some dangerous situations.DSCN5600

Nora Thyme, played by Pam Ferris, who was Miss Trunchbull, that evil head of the school in the movie “Matilda.”  She was so mean in that and very unattractive.  Pam Ferris is really a pretty lady.  Anyway, she plays Nora, a former policewoman who marries and becomes a homemaker.  In this house.

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Couldn’t you just walk through this door and set up housekeeping and be happy for life?  Well, poor Nora’s philandering husband left her for a twenty-three year old “skinny tart,” as Nora called her.  She was broken hearted and moved into an inn where she met Rosemary.

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These two began working together in the landscaping business and what do you know?  They always fall into some kind of crime they have to solve and with Nora’s background doing police work they always get their man(or woman.)

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I love this series because you have mystery, crime, murder, beautiful British gardens and two intelligent women who work well together to solve the crimes.  Since we got Netflix, I can now watch this any time I want.  There are only twenty-three episodes. I wish there were hundreds, they are so good.  Simple pleasures.  A series one can watch and not have to hide your eyes for fear what you might see.  It’s got all the ingredients for a show that I like.

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Nora and Rosemary have just found out something surprising here.  If you can get this show, you should watch it.

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I will leave you with one of my chickens doing the Chicken Dance.  Bye.

 

Here’s What I’m Up To

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I have been a busy beaver in my shop.  I am making hay while the sun shines because I know when the chicks get here and it gets warm, I won’t have the time to play like I have right now.  And I am playing.  I finished a full size quilt last week which I cannot show right now as it is a gift for someone.

 

The quilt above is my coffee klasch quilt.  I got the pattern over at the blog Pamkitty Morning.  She also has designed  a lot of the fabrics that I have in this quilt.  Love the colors.  Can’t believe I use to look for dark, homespun colors years ago when making my quilts.  I loved vintage looking calicoes and woodsy colors. Thimbleberries fabric was some of my favorite fabrics then.  Now I look for bright, happy colors.  They just make me happy.  Perhaps all the blogs I read from England have influenced me as their choice of colors when decorating are bright and cheerful.  At least in the ones I read.

 

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I’m almost done with this one.  Looks a lot like my Tea quilt, doesn’t it, only bigger.  I need to find some fabric for the border. Probably will be from the Pamkitty Morning or Pamkitty Love line of fabrics.  I love this quilt.  So much fun to put together.

 

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Looking through this old magazine I found another quilt I want to make. I just started it today.

 

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It’s called Blue Jeans and Bubble Gum.  Five inch Hole in the Barn Door blocks.

 

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I’ve made three so far. Only ninety-seven more to go.  Whoopie!  I love a project that takes a lot of different fabrics and has lots of blocks.  This will take some time and I probably won’t finish it in the near future.

 

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This will be the main background fabric.

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This is a stack of some of the fabric I will use in it.  Of course I will HAVE to buy more fabric before this is finished.

 

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Here’s another block.  Love the vintage looking fabric.

 

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Here’s sweet Bonnie who keeps me company while I am sewing.  Well, she’s there anyway.  Usually snoozing away in her comfy Lazyboy recliner.  What a dog’s life she lives.

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“You talking about me, Mom?  Please don’t make me move.”

 

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Just wanted to show you a sailor suit I made for my firstborn many years ago.  It’s made from polyester and cotton.  Polyester use to be the fabric of choice in the seventies.  I made David a polyester suit once. We still laugh at pictures of him in it. It had a tie belt and I placed the belt loops a little too high up and the belt is up around his chest almost, but he wore it without complaining back then.

The sailor suit I made for my son was worn to a children’s television show in Cincinnati called the Uncle Al Show.  It was a much loved show for children in our area.  I remember I dressed both our boys up and hoped they would get on camera a lot.  Remember that Santa Claus in Christmas Story who acted like he would rather be anywhere else than where he was?  One of the people who were on the show acted just like that with the kids.  Kind of grumpy and making them run around like robots.  I felt a little sorry for them.  The show wasn’t as much fun in person as it was on television mainly because there were about fifty kids all crowding around trying to get near Uncle Al and his sidekick Captain Wendy who was his real life wife. I have a picture of my boys with Uncle Al somewhere. If you lived in southern Indiana or in Ohio you probably remember this show.

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My next post I am going to show all the blocks I painted for the ceiling in my shop.  See you then. Bye.