My Blogger's Quilt Festival Quilt

Thanks again, Amy, for bringing all of us quilters together to share our passion.  I love seeing what all the other quilters have been up to this past year and visit all the other blogs.
I decided to add this fun quilt to the festival this year!

I call it "Around the Neighborhood".   It was made from blocks from a swap I was in.  I asked for wonky houses with a white background and bright, happy fabrics.   Boy, did they come through for me!  After I put the blocks together, I found the perfect fabric for the backing. 

Now, I'm not too good with machine quilting, and I didn't want to take a chance with ruining it, so I hand quilted it with wavy, wonky quilting lines.  And I think it was the perfect solution.

Thanks for stopping by my blog.  Now, I'm off to look at all these other amazing quilts on here! 

                    Happy Quilting, Sandy

Amy, the Nurse Practioner

Our beautiful daughter, Amy, graduated from nurse practioner school on April 30th.

Look at that beautiful smile!

This girl is amazing.  She became an RN about seven years ago and has been working in the ER since.  She loves her job and was recently named nurse of the year in the ER department and is up for nurse of the year for the whole hospital.  We couldn't be more proud.  A few years after she graduated she decided to go back to school to get her bachelor's in nursing.  That was quite an accomplishment in itself.  Amy realized she wanted more, so about two years ago she started school to be a nurse practioner.  I guess she didn't have enough to keep her busy, because in the middle of all this she had another baby.  That makes four kids!  Wow!  She is amazing!  She has been working nights on the weekends, going to school and doing clinicals.  Add raising four kids to the mix and I just don't know how she has done it.  She is so determined.  So if I sound like I'm bragging, that's because I am!



Hand or Machine Quilted - Right or Wrong

I've been doing a lot of blog reading lately.  So many different opinions about quilting.  None right or wrong, just different.  Let it be known that I was quilting when quilting wasn't cool.  I love everything about it.  I consider myself a traditional quilter.  Most of my quilts are hand quilted.  I just think it brings more authenticity to the quilt.  Doesn't mean I don't admire the machine quilters and their quilts.  I have done some machine quilting myself.  But when I want the quilt to seem "special", or if I'm afraid I'll mess it up otherwise, I always hand quilt it.  And I am not your ordinary hand quilter.  I don't use a frame; I don't use a hoop and I don't use a thimble.  I baste my quilts on the floor with needle and thread.  I will usually thread five or six needles and go to town, basting about every six inches vertically and horizontally.  The basting is tight enough that the layers do not shift.  Then I  quilt it in my lap.  Doesn't matter what size the quilt is.  I have hand quilted anywhere from baby size to king size, all in my lap.  I've had many quilters tell me I wasn't doing it right.  But I think the finished product speaks for itself.  The largest quilt I ever made was my king size grandmother's flower garden quilt that covers my bed.  I made this one "wrong", too.  No paper piecing, I just hand stitched each hexie to within 1/4 inch of the end of the piece leaving enough of an opening so that the Y could open to accommodate the next interlocking hexie.  Every part of that quilt was completely hand sewn.  And I'm sure a lot of quilters would say I broke every rule in the quilting bible.  But I think it turned out amazing.  And apparently so did the quilters who grade quilts for the state fair, because it won a blue ribbon. 

I guess my point in all this rambling is to say, there is no right or wrong to quilting.  Whatever works for you. 

So if you get a chance, wander over to my flickr site http://www.flickr.com/photos/15989528@N06/  and take a look at some of the quilts I've made.  You will see a variety of them.  Some hand sewn and others machine sewn.  But each and everyone of them made me happy.

Happy Easter

My New Blog Header

I have been meaning to change my blog header for some time now.  I just wasn't sure how to go about it.  I made a mosaic of some of my projects and uploaded it to my settings.  I love the new look, but am not quite sure how to shrink it so the width of it fits on the page without having to arrow over.  Over all, I really like the look of it.  I hope you like it, too!

Julianne's baby quilt

Julianne's baby, a photo by sandyb72357 on Flickr.

For Julianne's second birthday, I thought she needed a new baby and cradle. I couldn't give her that without making a sweet little doll quilt for it. It's a miniature version of the line art quilt, I made that Amy claimed. I used leftover fabric from the jelly roll I had used. I trimmed the strips so that they finished at one inch. It turned out cute and Julianne really loved it!

A Dresden Plate Pillow

I have seen so many pretty pillows on different blogs lately.  And on Flickr, too.  And the different dresden plate designs popping up all over have been inspirational.  I love them so much. 

When I decided to combine the two, my original idea was to do just the plate in the middle.  I wanted my pillow to be larger than some, a whopping 18 inches.  So, after I made the plate and placed it in the center of the fabric square, I decided it needed something else.  I made quarter plates and put them in each corner.  I had read a lot about people quilting with pearl cotton and had never tried it myself.  I ordered my pearl cotton from threadart and am really thrilled with the product.  I do most of my quilting by hand, so I was excited to try something new.  I echo quilted around the plates and love the results.  After adding jumbo rickrack around the edge and putting the pillow back together, I joined them.  I made the pillow insert with fabric that I lined with batting and stuffed with fiberfill.  What a cute pillow!  I love this one!  Hope you do to.