Anyone Can Quilt

C'est fini! (and look what I found..)

I'm so exited to have this quilt bound, washed, and up on the wall.  But I don't know how long it will stay there.  Cause quilts are for snuggling. 

This Summer Stash challenge was so fun!  Thank you Eileen and Ulla for including all of us in your challenge.  This was truly a stash quilt.  Every last bit of it I had already.  All of the fabric, including the backing, the batting, and thread.  I'm so glad I had the striped fabric that I used for the binding.  I loooove this fabric.  I'm thinking it will make nice pillow cases too.

And look at what my talented Mama made for me years ago.  She crocheted this lovely throw.  It's so beautiful and must have taken a lot of patience!  I can't imagine keeping track of each row to make sure the pattern is perfect.  But I'm sure it was easy for Mama, she's a super hero with a crochet hook. 

And now my dear friends.  I must share with you my antique mall find of the day.  Yesterday my little gals and I were browsing one of our local antique/thrifty spots.  And my oldest spotted this.

I started to have heart palpitations.   She said, "Isn't that a vintage children's sewing machine?"  I'm so proud of my 9 year old.  She can spot the good stuff!

Oh glory be!  Is this the sweetest thing?  It's made of metal and is such a sturdy little thing.

We are going to have fun with this little gal.  And the price tag?  $10.   I feel like the sewing machine fairy left me a present.  x

And now the binding.

I'm ready to finish binding my Summer Stash Quilt.  I love this stage in the quilt making process.  To get away from the machine and sit on my cozy couch and stitch.  There is something so quiet and peaceful about hand stitching the finishing touches on a quilt. 

I've got my beautiful striped binding machine stitched down, and now I'll fold it to the back and stitch many many many tiny stitches to hold it all down.  It would be much quicker to attach it all by machine, but I love the beauty of hand stitched binding.  I also like my binding to look and feel "full", I don't like floppy empty binding.  That is why I cut my strips at 2 1/4 inches instead of the regular 2 1/2 inches.  I also leave about a quarter of an inch of the batting and backing past the edge.  This all insures me perfectly full binding. 

I hope to have my quilt finished by the end of the weekend.  Wishing you all a lovely weekend.  I'll be sitting right here for most of it I think!  But with a nice glass of wine cup of tea to keep me company!  Ok, maybe wine.. sue me. x

Here I will sit...

Today is quilting day.  I got the beast basted yesterday, and then had company for dinner, so had to put the quilting on hold.  But today is the day!  I think I have mentioned to you before that we are in the slow do it yourself renovation process of our home.  This is our little dining 'area' off of the kitchen... sort of in the kitchen... We don't have an actual dining room is what I'm saying.  Anyway, my husband has done such a great job with our kitchen/dining area.  He gutted the whole thing and re-did the plumbing, electrical, dry-wall, floors and so on.  But, he's afraid of finish work.  Which is why we don't have trim around the doors or windowsills in here.  They're naked.  So, in turn, I haven't felt the need to make any window treatments for the windows in here.  But in the evening the sun shoots through this here window and burns the retinas of it's victims.  So I hung up an old embroidered tea towel with a tension rod.  It's actually kind of cute I think.  Cause I'm a girl, and I like cute things. 

I have these little cuties on the no-sill window to keep me company.  I love birds.

My friend MT sent me this hippie weiner dog, it cracks me up every time I look at it.

I also got a wonderful surprise in the mail the other day!  My wonderful friend from Germany, Sabine, sent me a gorgeous home magazine from her country.  Along with a sweet card and two beautiful pieces of fabric.  Sabine is great, we have become such good friends over the past few months and have found that we have so much in common, even though we are from two different parts of the world.  I have so much fun looking at all of the gorgeous pictures in this magazine, even though I can't read a word of it!  Sabine put post-it notes throughout so it was like she was here visiting while we browsed together.  Thank you so much Sabine!

Well, when I can pull myself away from this gorgeous magazine, I will get to my quilting.  I've got a nice mug of tea and will keep the kettle on.

The tools of the trade, hopefully I won't be needing the seam ripper though... wish me luck! x

Back with goodies!

So sorry for my absence my friends!  I've had some computer problems this past week.  My computer is working now, but my wireless internet isn't working yet.  Since my household runs on wireless internet that is a bit frustrating for me.  So I have to use the lovely orange cord that has been fished up from the basement to have internet at the moment.  It's real purty.  But, at least I can still use the computer, lovely orange cord and all... I hate cords.  Anyway, I am here, and please forgive my silence, I'll be spending the next few days catching up on blogs and responding to emails!  So, some good news, my Summer Stash quilt top is done!  Yippee!  I plan on quilting it this afternoon. 

Don't you hate it when you hear about those lucky people that find some wonderful vintage treasure for nothing at a garage sale?  That drives me crazy.  Buuuuuut... I did find these old plates for  $ .25 each when walking the dog the other day.  Please don't be angry with me.  I want everyone to like me...

Let's take a look at them one by one shall we.  They were in a box marked, "chipped plates, 25 cents" .

 

I hung this one up already. 

Now before you start calling me bad names, this one wasn't 25 cents.  I bought this one a few months ago at a thrift store.  Just wanted to show it to you! 

I also found this sweet pillow for the girls' room. 

And this box is from the Goodwill, don't know what it was for, but I like it! 

Now, remember the 25 cent plates?  These were from the same place, and yes, they were 25 cents too.  Now stop giving me the stink eye!  It's not my fault! 

Look at that little guy.  Little things like this completely make my day.  That's how I roll.

I wonder if I could get Mr. Precious to wear some boots....

We got 5 of these old children's magazines.  They are so wonderful!

In the back of each magazine is a calendar. 

Guess what this picture does?  Yep, it makes my day.  "Have some cheese dear... Why thank you!"

Oh, and look at this.  This is one of the treasures that my Mother in-law brought to me.  I haven't opened the box yet.  But look how cute!  I can't wait to set it up for Christmas.  And apparently, it's 'attractive anywhere', so that's a plus...

Happy Monday!

More photos of last weekend...

I took so many pictures of our camping trip last weekend.  I thought I'd share some more of my favorites!

Here's my 4 year old nephew.  You might remember him from here.  He's hilarious.  And very afraid of our puppy.  Whenever she runs up to him he screams and runs away, "NOOOO!"  It cracks us up.  So, when I saw him sit down next to her while she was sleeping, it was fun to watch him do his 4 year old experiments on her....

Touch her tail...

Smoosh her belly...

Lift her leg...

Put it back down...

Lift it higher...

Then put some rocks on her.... and then repeat.

This is my dad's camping truck, "Jr.".  He only uses it to pull his trailer to local camping spots.  Jr. has sure got some character I think.

We have a teeny little trailer.  Our bed is made up from the dinette, and the girls share the couch bed.   It's not fancy and new, but quite cozy when made up with handmade pillow cases and quilts.

I love leaving this window open and listening to the river at night.

When I'm inside cooking breakfast, I often get a little visiter.  "Hi Sar.." he says.  "Take a picture of my cracker." 

Then he decides to help me take some pictures of my coffee.  He adds just the right touch I think.

And then it's home, exhausted, and looking forward to the next trip.  x