The Quilt Show -Part 1

Well, I sure did enjoy the show!! BEAUTIFUL quilts :) This one was my favorite and the one I thought SHOULD have gotten best of show (but what do I know)... It was absolutely amazing. Check out the double edging... cream and burgandy scallops on all four sides! and all those beautiufl scallops that are appliqued in the vine borders. Well, I give this one MY viewers choice award. So, you're wondering how I did? WELL... here it is... hung next to my friend, Marg's quilt, and there's our blue ribbons :) Yup, I was jumping up and down (and I'm not exagerating at all). My quilt was in the wall size quilt group... it was just over 24" square. My friend's quilt was a little smaller and in the mini quilt category. Her's is amazing... each of those colors in the braid is is separated by a little black satin ribbon stitched in! And her applique work is perfect. I didn't get a picture of the purse just below my quilt, wish I did... it was the cutest! Sparkles and beads and pretty fabric.

Here's a quilt I wanted my sister to see. It's an adorable dresden fan quilt.... and I think it's vintage. I like the yellow centers that match the outer border.

This is another old quilt...well, the top at least. The lady bought the top and finished it up. Isn't the edging nice?

This is another of my favorites... I didn't see a ribbon on it (maybe they didn't want it judged?) but I thought it deserved one and I told the maker that. This is now on my list of someday quilts.

Well, that's all I could upload at a time so I'm going to post this and put up some more. I need to show you the best of show quilt... done by a man!!! Yes! Pieced and quilted. He's a wonderful longarmer.

Quilt show in Petoskey

Today is the start of our quilt show in Petoskey Michigan. It's also on tomorrow if you're in the area. It'll be at the Knights of Columbus Hall (over by Burger King). I have one quilt entered... I meant to enter more but this has been a BUSY spring and summer. Maybe next time...

SOOO... this is the quilt I entered. This is a picture I took before it was quilted and bound. I'm going to the show tomorrow and I'll take lots of pictures to share with all of you.

AND the winner is.....

I did the draw this morning, for my pattern and the FQ, using a random name generator... that was fun :)
The winner is:
VROOMAN'S QUILTS!!!
Send me an email letting me know which pattern you would like. The choices are: Molly's Quilt (a beginner baby sized quilt, tacked and turned), Chopped 9 Patch Placemat pattern (makes 4 modern ones at once without binding or hand sewing), or the Tea Bag Tote (a tiny tote that holds tea/coffee/sugar packs in your purse.. also perfect size for doggie snacks or a pacifier). I'll mail your pattern and a pretty "Sunkissed" FAT QUARTER off to you as soon as I hear from you. Email: northerndeb@ymail.com
CONGRATS!!!!!

The last few days have been soooo much fun. Lisa was up for a few day... to visit, to talk, to sew. We had a chance to go to the beach and relax, we went over to Traverse City to visit Jenn and to shop and eat and shop some more. Lisa had her new camera with her and snapped a few pics at a park. I found this great rock for resting on and it came with a footstool :)

We worked on a few blocks for my "Farmer's Wife" quilt class that evening. I try to stay ahead of what we're all doing (since I'm teaching it) but that's not always possible. She helped me pick out fabrics for the different blocks. Isn't it amazing how different people are attacted to different colors? Daughter Jenn is artistic and seems drawn to bright, primary colors... American Jane fabrics, bright batiks, to name a couple. Lisa is retro and vintage so she likes the brown, orange, gold, olives. They both love vintage quilts and they both like the 30's fabrics. I love blues... and pastels, batiks and SOLIDS (my fav). I love amish quilts, civil war, 30's... anything vintage. Well, I pretty much love any fabric out there. It's really had for me to find a fabric that I hate.

Today I'll be working on more of the Farmer's Wife blocks plus some more blocks for the Block Frenzy (Hearts to Holly Block Swap). This is the first one I made with this month's fabric. Maybe if I make 3 or 4 blocks I'll have a better chance of winning them. Gloria (who I work with) won the last draw and boy, did she get some beauties. The fabric was Moda's Faith Collection. This time it's another of my favorites. I bought some of this fabric for my girls for Christmas. Love all the grays in it... and mixed with the browns?... Love it!

Don't forget to enter my CONTEST! Click "contest", become a follower and leave a comment on that page for your chance to win a pattern and a FQ of Sunkissed from Moda. I'll let you pick which pattern of mine you want... the easiest one "Molly's Quilt", the placemat pattern "Chopped 9 Patch" or my tea bag tote "Tea with Auntie Em".

Tea Bag Tote Pattern

This is my TEA BAG TOTE pattern. Hearts to Holly has kits and also the pattern (pattern is only $2!). You can also get it directly from me (www.northerndeb@ymail.com).

It's quick and easy... and SO FUN :) I made loads of them already. They're great little gifts... add in a pretty vintage tea cup, some tea bags and maybe even a matching mug rug....wrap it all up in some cellophane and you've got a great gift for a friend, mom, grandma, etc. I use the tea bag tote to keep my favorite tea bags with me in my purse. Make it up in a doggie print and store treats in your purse for your favorite pooch. It's also a great size for baby's pacifier. You'll find dozens of uses for it!

Don't forget my contest! You could win a pattern and a fat quarter of "Sunkissed". Just become a follower (if you're not already one) and leave a comment.

Contest and a new pattern for BEGINNERS!

I've been working on a project for the last couple of days... a pattern for brand new quilters. While working at the quilt shop, I've had a few ladies come in looking for a VERY easy quilt pattern... something to make for a baby that would be quick, easy and perfect for a beginner. Since we didn't really have one, I explained how I made my first quilt. After showing a few people how to do it, it hit me... just write it all down in a pattern. So here it is:

It's SUPER simple and very reasonable to make. The pattern uses 5" precuts (one pack or two), a little extra yardage if using one precut pack, some batting and backing. The sample is made using a Moda charm pack, "Sunkissed". Hearts to Holly has the charm packs and this pretty backing. They also carry the batting, which I tried for the first time. It's a very soft and fluffy, poly. It'll hold up well for lots of washing and feels SOOOO good! The sample will be hangin in the quilt shop if anyone is out that way and wants to feel it. There's no quilting or binding for this quilt, just turn and tack. It could be tied (like we did in the old days) but I found tacking quick and easy. You can get the pattern at Hearts to Holly or email me at northerndeb@ymail.com.

Wouldn't this be a cute quilt for a new puppy or kitten? I think I might just have to make one in a doggie print.... ohhhh... and FLANNEL?! Nice :)

Just a note: The rocker in the photo? It's a child's rocker... was my mom's when she was young. It's been up in the barn for a while and I decided it needed to be in my daughters old room now that there's extra space. Someday, I'll have some grandchildren that will use it .... I HOPE!

SO,the CONTEST?!!

Just become one of my followers and leave a comment for a chance to win this (or one of my others, your choice) pattern plus a FQ of SUNKISSED. Leave a way for me to contact you... your blog address or email.

I'll draw a name in two weeks... June 15th... GOOD LUCK :)

Ahhh... SPRING!

Spring has come to the north, FINALLY! All of our flowering trees are beautiful. The apple trees, cherry trees, bradford pears and crabapples are full of white and pink blossoms... boy do we have the bees :)... sure hope they're doing they're a good job of pollinating.


This week we celebrated Jon's birthday.. he's a great guy (and maybe will be my son-in-law some day). Jenn and Jon, Al and I, all met up at Pearls on Wednesday. It was the crawfish festival there and Jon dove right into a 1 pound plate of those goodies (I'm saying that sarcastically, since they look like overgrown bugs to me..uck). BUT according to him, they taste somewhat like lobster...hmmm, might have to give them a try some time...NOT!
That's Al and I in the above pic and Jenn, Jon and me in the bottom picture.


Okay... that's it for now. I'm working on a little quilt (to put away for grandchildren) using the corn and beans block. It's a fun little scrappy. I'll post pictures of it as soon as I'm done quilting it. It has a wool batting which is a first for me. It's kind of fluffy so I split it in half... and I'm glad I did. It's still nice and soft and puffy. Perfect for a little boy (HINT, HINT... yeah I mean you two... get married already and give me some grandbabies!!). In the meantime, this quilt will be my entry for the Hearts to Holly Challenge.

Mom's Day

I had a wonderful Mother Day, yesterday. Jenn bought me some underthings (Boy, I needed these!) After breakfast Jenn and I spent some time working in her boyfriends backyard, doing landscaping. I love gardening, it's so nice to work outside playing in the dirt (even if it's backbreaking sometimes).

We stopped by a shop to pick up some flowers (for her) and veggies (for my garden) plus dirt, compost, chips... all the regular stuff. She bought me lunch and then we headed back to town.

Al dug out an apple tree from our back. He ran out of room in the orchard so this one was waiting in my garden, waiting for us to find it a spot. Jenn decided to give it a home. The tree is planted and so are some daffodils from our backyard, a clump of irises, a foxglove she bought and a few other extas. I should have taken a before and after picture... it's looking really nice.

And what did I get from Lisa? Well, her gift came in the mail today. She bought me a turntable cutting board (Olfa), a hexagon template (one of the only templates I don't have) and some fabrics. What a nice pile of goodies!

Thanks Jenn and Lisa!! You both always find the perfect gifts. I had a great Mother's Day! :)

Where does the time go?!

Wow... where does the time go?


Easter was wonderful... Al, Jenn and I went down to Mom's for a wonderful dinner with the family. Mom made ham, potato salad, RIBS plus LOADS more. Then she made about 8 desserts (there were 9 of us)... so we went home stuffed. It was a fast trip.... We drove down Saturday, came back Sunday. Quick but fun.


My sister stitched me a few goodies. She's a beginning quilter and learning fast. She made me this cute Dr. Suess pillow for my sewing room:

Don't you love it? It's perfect with all my stuffed animals and children's books. And then she made me this cute Easter mug rug:
I have it on my coffee table for now. Looks pretty with all the Easter eggs out. Guess I'll have to put all of that stuff away soon.....

So since I've been back home, I started working on one of my UFOs that has been in a box for... hmmm... years? The block is called "Corn and Beans". The quilt is going to be a lap size. I'm running out of the background color so when I finish up this last row, I'll start on a border or two.. and then bind it up. We're having a fabric challenge at the lqs and I put all five fabrics in this quilt so that I could "kill two birds with one stone"... get a challenge done.. get a ufo done. :)

And here's another item checked off my to-do list. We have the block frenzy going on at Hearts to Holly. The fabric to use in our blocks was chosen by the last winner ... it's Moda's Faith Collection (collection for a cause). OH, I hope I win this time. Your name goes into the draw once for every block you make. Make one, goes in once, make 5... goes in 5 times. I probably should make a few more blocks... So yesterday, I went out to the mailbox and found a wonderful squishy goodie! My good friend, Jenell, sent me some Aussie fabrics. We've been talking about ordering these for quite a while but I just haven't gotten around to it. Jenell, THANK YOU. I'm going to fussy cut one a "happy" man and tuck him into my black and white quilt. The quilt top is already done but I think some unsewing is needed. This will make quite a conversation piece, don't you think?

Chattertime at Hearts to Holly in Charlevoix

One of my good "internet" friends asked about Chattertime. The last time I was there I took a few sneaky pics... We have a wonderful classroom where we can meet almost every Friday morning. Sue provides a treat (her sister is the best baker!) and coffee. We have show and tell. Sue shows us the newest fabrics, tools or tells us about trips, specials, sales, etc. Mostly we chat and eat. OH, we stitch too :) Some of us bring hand sewing.. some of us just come for the food and friends. If you're ever visiting on a Friday morning, stop in and join us.

Making Fans and Plates

We had our monthly guild meeting last night and Hearts To Holly Quilt Shop did demos of popular templates and tools. Since I was doing one of the demos, Sue let me choose what tool or template I would like to show. My favorite (right now) is the Fantastic Fan. It comes in 3 sizes and I've tried them all. This is a quilt center I made using the 12" size (makes a 24" plate): And this is the smallest size that I had... 3" fan (6-1/2" plate):I'm really hooked on making these. The one above will probably be turned into a summer mug rug since it's so colorful.