Winners and a Project Linus quilt

And we have some winners! Rachel from Awesome Sauce Quilts and Heather from peace.love.quilt. Congrats ladies!!

Thank you to Katie from Swim Bike Quilt for hosting the 100 Quilts for Kids again this year. I got down to the wire, but this morning dropped this quilt off to our local Project Linus rep.

It's a quilt I made a year or two ago from a line by Riley Blake called "Penny Lane". It's been sitting here looking for a good home. Hope it gets some love from a child.

Today is the last day to link up to 100 Quilts for Kids!

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More Chances to Win!

I asked a few of my favorite bloggers to review my book and give away an ebook on their blogs. You definitely want to check out these two! Candace and Carla are both fantastic photographers and wait until you see what they made from the book!

Candace blogs at Saltwater Quilts and has an amazing gift for putting fabrics together. I found Candace from Lee's WIP Wednesdays and have been a loyal follower since. You must see the "Joy" quilt she made using the Moda line Lush Uptown {and of course some of her stash additions}. It makes me want to make a third version! Visit Candace's giveaway post here.

Carla blogs at Lollyquiltz and we have just gravitated towards each other. Our styles are very similar as are our grandchildren's ages. {We've got a boy and girl born a month apart that we have plans to fix up someday!}. Carla made the tree skirt, "Skirted", from the book and it is just fabulous! She used an Aneela Hoey Christmas print for the large triangles and well, you've just got to hop over and see it! Carla's giveaway post is here.

And don't miss the chance at Tracey's blog, Traceyjay quilts.

I'm packing up the quilts today and they're headed out on the road again {they've been traveling a lot!}. A few will go to Quilt Market ~ check out Martingale's booth there ~ and the remainder will be on display at The Hickory Stick. If you're in or near Hannibal, MO be sure to check them out. And I'll be there for a book signing on October 19th!

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Bangles, Geese and giveaways...

How has your week been? I finished up 2 quilt tops and it feels like some good progress. But before I show you those ~ just a reminder about the book giveaway post here. If you're an anonymous commentor and I have no way to reach you, you're not eligible. If that's you ~ go ahead and leave a second comment!

And guess what?! I have a few more opportunities coming up for you to win an ebook! First up is Tracey from Traceyjay Quilts. You must hop over to see her rainbow version of "Hanging Around". It's a perfect example of how talented and amazing Tracey is. Leave a comment there for a chance to win and really ~ you're going to want to keep hanging around at Traceyjay Quilts!

I finished my "Bangles" quilt this week. The pattern is from Hand Quilted With Love. It was a slow project, but very doable and I'm so happy with the results. I'll be back with some helpful tips soon.

Once the design wall was cleared, I couldn't wait to arrange my Redbird Bee blocks. Another quilt that would have been slow going with all those Flying Geese, had it not been for the awesome girls in my Bee!

The inspiration quilt and the block construction can be found here. I'm thinking of piecing a backing for this one with some leftover coordinates...

This Saturday I'll be at the Jackman's Holiday Expo in Illinois with the quilts from my book. It sounds like a fun day with lots of ideas for the holidays!

And today I'm making some new pillows. Fall is here and I love the rich colors in this Amy Butler print! Hope your weekend is filled with some fun Fall activities!

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Up up and away

It's been a long 6 months, since my mother's health went south.
And it wasn't her fault that it decided to take that trip a week after I got home from the second surgery to my head.
So to say it's been tough time for all would kind of be understating it somewhat.

On the other hand, I had these last six months to prepare myself for what was coming.   I was also a working RN for 30 years, so I've seen my fair share of death and dying.
I knew what to expect.  I got ready in a hundred different ways.
Last week, the finale LOOMED.

At one point, while my first daughter and I sat watching my mother's breaths, I had a revelation.  I told her that we should start cleaning and organizing my mother's belongings, instead of sitting here morbidly waiting for the end. My mother was in the room, but long past communicating.  She was as comfortable as we could make her.
So we sorted and separated, reminisced and remembered, and it seemed like we were sharing it all with her.  There were times we laughed at the bits of things she had stashed. And lots of times we cried when we came across mementos she had cherished.

 Every drawer we opened reminded us of another point in time, another part of my mother's long life.

We kept a few sets of clothes aside, as if a miracle were going to occur, and all the rest we packed up to donate to her favorite church thrift store. 
At one point, my daughter turned to me, and said " I wasn't sure that this was a good idea, but it has actually been very therapeutic."  A couple of times, family and friends came in, and we were aware that our behavior might be interpreted as a little bizarre.  But we weren't doing it for anyone else , we were doing it because we had to keep moving.  We were doing it because it was our way of processing, and grieving.


By Sunday morning, we were spent.  The place looked great, but we were tired, since we had barely a few hours sleep for three days and nights.  Sunday more family came, and we knew the end was near.
It came, with us holding her, and letting her go.

As we speak, my mother is having her most awesome out of body experience.  She is free at last of that old, worn out body that has plagued her for a long while.

I will always love her, and I will always miss her.
But I cheer for her, because I know she is now without fear, without pain, without hindrance.

Rock on, Momma.   Rock on.
 

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Scrappy Quilts and a book giveaway!

Thanks for reading along as I share all the projects in my new book. One of the interesting things about making quilts for a book is that you spend so much time with them - when you're done, you're so ready to ship them off and move on. But then about a year later, they come back and you fall in love all over again. Yes, I'm so happy with every quilt in this book.

Many of you have shared in my excitement and I so appreciate that. I have a couple more quilts to tell you about, but before I do that ~ how about a giveaway announcement?

Next Monday morning I'll randomly pick 2 names from the comments on this post. One international reader will receive an ebook and one US reader will receive a signed hard copy.

Who doesn't love a scrappy quilt? And who doesn't have some scraps to use up? Meet "Check". She's the perfect quilt for using all kinds of fabric. Coordinated or totally scrappy.

Here's an earlier version I did. It has more of a sweet, Springy look to it.

The last quilt in the book is called "Coming Together". It's made from lots of scrappy Flying Geese and  a fun larger scale print. I love this quilt, even though it seems a bit chaotic. Don't you think the holidays can be a bit chaotic in a happy way?

And an alternate version in one of my favorite combos ~ red and aqua.

So there you have it! A close up look at all the quilts in the book.

For a chance to win your own, leave a comment on this post. I'd love to know if you have a favorite quilt from the book; or what kind of sewing you're doing for Christmas; or what's your favorite Christmas fabric?

If you're an international reader, please note that in your comment - {I'd love to know where you're from} there will be 2 separate drawings. And please be sure there's an email address associated with your comment. I'll draw 2 winners Monday, September 30th at 8am. Good luck!!

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And life goes on.

The last several days have been pretty much indescribable.  

There is a lot of sadness watching my mother fail a little every day, and a lot of stress trying to take care of her.


But then on the other hand, there is joy.   Pure, unbridled JOY.

Still taking it a day at a time.  Dealing with "what is".

I threw together some crock pot enchiladas, that I just had to share with you.

I started with a recipe I had bookmarked, but soon got a little crazy and did my own thing.

Crock Pot Enchiladas-A Variation.

First I sauteed a green pepper and a large onion, both diced.   Then I added  soy crumbles.
Smart Ground (Mexican style) by Lightlife.

 But if you eat meat, you can add hamburger.

I browned these all together.  Then I poured in  (1)  21 oz can of Bush's  Grilled Beans, Texas Ranchero style.....drained.

 Then I tossed in a can of Rotel  diced tomatoes...........mild.

 Then I added an envelope of chili seasoning.

I put two wheat tortillas overlapped on the bottom of my crock pot. 
I then put 1/4 of the bean mixture on top of the tortillas, and then 1/4 of an 8 oz bag of shredded Colby cheese.
I repeated this a total of 4 times.
Then I poured one can of enchilada sauce over the whole thing.

 Now normally DH would turn his nose up, but it DID smell pretty good, so he said he would give it a try.
Two helpings later, he said, "don't change that recipe in ANY WAY".
That's a thumbs up, for sure.

 I loved it myself, and I bet the leftovers are even better.

 As much as I've had on my plate, and as much as I have facing me, I am still hopeful.

That's the power of  a positive attitude. Sometimes I don't know where it comes from, but  I think I'll keep it.

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Welcome Baby Dale.

When your baby is having a baby, there are no words.

 

 

 

My family is joyeous.   There is no other way to say it.

My little girl has her own little girl.

 

 Two little dolls.

Like I have said many times before, no matter how tough times can be,  it is still a 

beautiful life.  There is so much to be grateful for.

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WIP Wednesday...

This week everything is in progress - the perfect opportunity for a WIP Wednesday!

I spent this morning folding and putting away quilts. Together {the quilts and I}, we've visited 5 local guilds in the past month. The house has been adorned with a bunch of boxes full of quilts for a while and it felt good to put them back were they belong. Ready for a nap!

 Much of my sewing time has been with my "Bangles" quilt. I'm happy to say I'm 5/6ths done. {I divided it into 6 sections ~ 5 are together}. One of the things that keeps me going on this one is the fact that it has to stay all laid out on the design wall.

And I've got all the blocks back from the Redbird Bee that I'm excited to sew together. Just have to get that "Bangles" done and free up the design wall!

I've also been quilting my "Garden Lattice" quilt with parallel serpentine lines. It's such a graphic quilt, it really just needs a simple quilting design. About halfway here!

Linking up today with Lee at Freshly Pieced!

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For Kate

 A picture is worth a thousand words.

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My Ohio Star challenge

On Saturday we revealed our Ohio Star challenges at the St Louis Modern Quilt Guild meeting. Every single one was awesome and beautiful! You can see them here and on our flickr page.

We were to use the traditional Ohio Star pattern to make a modern quilt. I knew I wanted to create a quilt of stars in various sizes with a random setting. I remembered one of my favorite quilts by Faith of Fresh Lemons and knew I could substitute lots of Ohio Star blocks in the setting.

My color inspiration came from Rashida Coleman Hale's line Washi that I've been saving for a while. It's a scrappy quilt and I wanted to use as many of my favorite designer's fabrics as possible. The quilt has pieces from many different lines that you probably recognize.

And 17 cute, 6" Ohio Star blocks...

The back is one big 45" Ohio Star!

Be sure to check out all the others. We have one talented group!

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