Home Sweet Home

Just got home from a week long visit to see my family in California - the weather was perfect. I had a great time with everyone and we did some fun things together -  lots of antiquing, shopping, eating, visiting and game playing. But it's always good to come home again.

One day while I was there, we had nothing planned for the afternoon. I had fallen in love with the micro mini 9-patch that Janet made recently, so I rummaged through my mom's small fabric stash and found stuff that would work to make my own version - on the right in the picture below. After my mom tried to steal it from me, I decided she needed one of her own, so I stitched up another using different colors. The 9-patches measure 7/8" - teeny tiny - and the finished size is 7" square. Neither of them got quilted before I left - we'll each have to do that on our own.

I cut the strips 5/8" wide and used the narrow edge of presser foot on my mom's old machine for a seam allowance - probably 1/8". Fun and challenging at the same time!

Looking around my mom's house I decided to snap pictures of the little quilts I've made for her through the years - I'd forgotten about some of them. This bear's paw quilt in her bedroom is probably 12" square. I also made the bear on the shelf and the little pieced heart he is holding.

This Double Wedding Ring is displayed in an 8" x 10" wood frame under glass.  It was made by appliquing bias strips onto a muslin backing - then fussy cutting the floral hearts in the center of each ring and fusing them into place.

This twister quilt is probably 5" square.

And this tumbler quilt is 10" x 15" or so - boring using only two fabrics.

This scrappy zig zag quilt is about 6" square - not sure why I gave it to her since red is NOT her color! Displayed on a small wood easel with a piece of cardboard behind it so it won't flop around.

Another project we worked on while I was there was this cute little rocking chair my sister bought at the thrift store for her grand daughter - only $4.99! I forgot to take a before picture, but it was just natural wood with a light stain. A can of red spray paint and a new cushion made with lady bugs made it look brand new. We had planned to add some details on the back spindles using black & pink paint, but ran out of time before I left.

Below is a small 21" quilt I made before I left home - it's a Kim Diehl pattern - a variation on a bear's paw block. I have a grundle of 1-1/2" HSTs all ready to use when the need arises, so it worked up pretty quickly for me. Quilted with a 1" grid over the entire surface.

I'm anxious to get back to some of the things I was working on - and maybe start something new too! Happy Halloween!

Fall Color & Miscellaneous

During the summer I snagged a small wooden workbench that had been abandoned at an old house, so I have plopped it in the middle of my front lawn and attached an old metal headboard to it for a focal point in my fall display. All the pumpkins & cornstalks came from our garden - I love the orange combined with the blue door on my house. Hubby & I are hoping to go riding in the mountains on our ATVs on Saturday - hope to see some pretty colors up there.

Back in May I won a giveaway from Jean who blogs at JLT Studios.  It was a kit for a small 6" square mat that came with a huge assortment of wool and other fibers - like yarn & sari silk & roving. It worked up quickly and it was fun using items that I don't have in my own supply closet.

I've been working on a design by Margaret Shaw that I bought on clearance at a local quilt shop - it was designed for using the Oxford Punch, but I'm hooking it the traditional way with my Hartman hook. Using some narrow cuts to get details on the monks cloth backing.

I have all the blocks for the Marcus Sew-Along up on my design wall. What a horrible time I had making those alternate black & cream blocks! I have never had so much difficulty EVER! Not sure if it was me or the instructions, but I cut wrong, sewed wrong, and wasted SO much fabric - argh! Glad that part is done - now I need to stitch them all together and add the borders. I'll be glad to finish this up...

I attended the annual Utah Hook-In on Saturday and have posted pictures of the day's events on the Guild's blog - go here if you'd like to see!

Family Rug Finished!

There were times that I never thought this day would actually arrive, but I have finally finished the family rug that I started over five years ago - what a good feeling! It's a large rug that measures 48" x 60".

It will never win any awards but I love it because it tells our story. Hubby & I married in 1980 and moved into our home as newlyweds. We've been here ever since and raised three children and a dog.

The Union Pacific Railroad runs right behind the house - the diesel trains aren't very picturesque so I hooked an old fashioned steam engine instead. We live near Hill AFB and F-16 fighter jets fly overhead often - to represent that I hooked a simple little airplane.

We are LDS (Mormon) so I hooked the Salt Lake Temple as a symbol of our religion - there are flowers to depict the beautiful gardens that are to be seen in every season at Temple Square. The blue below represents the Great Salt Lake.

Our home is surrounded by wonderful shade trees that provided great climbing opportunities for the children and their friends as they grew - thankfully no one ever fell out and broke an arm or leg! The trees keep our home nice and cool. We also grow a garden each summer so I hooked corn & pumpkins to represent that.

When I whipped the edge of the rug I wanted to use two different colors of yarn, and amazingly I had exactly what I needed in my stash!

I think the two borders add a lot to the rug - they were fun to work on and used up a lot of my worms.

I drew all of the motifs for this rug freehand, which captures the folk art feel I wanted for it. I might tweak a few things still, but for all intents and purposes it's DONE! What a journey it's been!