New Quilt Top

Yesterday I made my first Turning 20 quilt top. They go really fast and are fun to make. These were popular a few years back, however I just never got around to trying one. I needed a quick gift so in my search for patterns I came across the Turning 20 quilt book. Perfect!! I did have to get more fat quarters to make it look right. When they say 20 different fabrics or fat quarters take it to heart because it really works much better that way. I tried to double up on a few fabrics and it really didn't look quite right. Here is a picture of the top.

 

 

 

My day quilt guild is meeting on Thursday so plan on taking it to a quilter then. I need it ready to give as a gift on May 18th! Wish me luck!!

 

I have decided to offer sewing space for quilters to come sew at my studio. I am located in a small town only 20 to 30 minutes away. I have had some ladies ask about doing this, so am going to give it a try. Sometimes it is easier to get much more accomplished away from all of the distractions of home.

 

Spring has finally sprung here. The flowering trees & tulips have been beautiful!!

 

 

 

My granddaughter took the above picture of these beautiful pink and white tulips. I love tulips, sure wished they lasted longer. Another favorite flower of mine is the Iris, they are putting out buds now, so it won't be long now before they will be blooming.

 

Blessings to All,

Jan

 







A Place in the Country??

Good Morning,  My dream for years has been to have a small place in the country where I could have my horses, chickens and goats. A lovely flower and vegetable garden and to live a peaceful, simple life.  Well, my husband and I have finally found the perfect place! We have made an offer and are now in the waiting process to see if we will get it or not. I want to get excited, but am controlling myself until we know for sure. The waiting is terrible!! Hopefully we will know this week for sure. We have been saying prayers and keeping our fingers and toes crossed. :-) If we are fortunate enough to get 'our place' we will be the happiest two people around! It will be a dream come true to be able to have my horses right there with me and too finally have my own chickens. BTW two chickens come with the place.

Would love your prayers. Hopefully I will have some pictures to come of our new home.

Blessings to All,
Jan

Great Day With A Good Friend

Today I met with a good friend and we had a wonderful day of sewing (on our clients work), had lunch, cups of tea, planned a new quilt for just the two of us and then ran to the fabric store to purchase the fabric for the background of our new quilt. As always we talked and talked and laughed. Neither one of us had anything heavy to discuss, just a nice relaxed time together. We figured out that we had met 14 years ago, and through our love of quilting and sewing became friends right away. I feel very blessed that over the years we have become very good friends. She has always been there for me and has seen me through some pretty tough times and shared in some really fun, wonderful times. In my opinion she is the definition of a true friend.
I have read that if you can say you really have one good, true friend in your lifetime, that is really good; well I have been blessed with two people that fall into that category. My other dear friend lives miles away from me now, but I know that I can pick up the phone at anytime, after not talking for awhile, and it is like we have talked everyday. She is always there for me and accepts me just the way I am. Wow! She can always make me laugh, even in trying times, and she will cry with me too. She too, is my definition of a true friend.
I am truly thankful for these two amazing friends in my life.

My hope for everyone, is that each of you do have that special friend (or friends) in your life.

Blessing To All,

Jan

Loving Stitches, A Quilters Life: Pretty Horse Quilt Top

Loving Stitches, A Quilters Life: Pretty Horse Quilt Top: Hi, it's been a few days since I have posted! My, how the time fly's by, fast . I went into the quilt store, where I used to work, ...

Pretty Horse Quilt Top

Hi, it's been a few days since I have posted! My, how the time fly's by, fast.
I went into the quilt store, where I used to work, the other day to deliver some quilts for a friend of mine. They had just gotten in a beautiful panel of horses with the coordinating fabrics, which I fell in love with. Well, the assistant manager came over and asked me if I would like to make a sample for the store out of it. Of course I said "yes". The policy of the shop is if you make a store sample, they provide all of the fabric and after they are done showing it,it is yours. Yea! I took the top in yesterday and they were very pleased with it.
The pattern that went with the fabric made up very long and narrow, which I wasn't fond of. So, I added a fabric and adjusted the borders to make it wider. Well, the first attempt didn't turn out very good, just didn't like it. Here is a picture of the first one.

The lighter border on the outside and the dark border just on the sides just didn't look 'right', made it off balanced.

Here it is after I took off the last two borders and rearranged them. Looks much better, don't ya think.

Now, back to work. Making a T-shirt quilt for a lady to give to her son for a High School graduation gift. Got to get it done so she can get it to the quilter, then back to me so I can get it bound.

I am still working on the double wedding ring repair job too. Wow, lots of hand work on that one!

Blessings to All,

Jan



Amazing Galloping Horses 1080p HD

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Loving Stitches, A Quilters Life: Raggedy Ann and Andy

Loving Stitches, A Quilters Life: Raggedy Ann and Andy: When I was a little girl, one of my favorite dolls was my Raggedy Ann and her brother Andy. I remember Mama saying that every little girl s...

Raggedy Ann and Andy

When I was a little girl, one of my favorite dolls was my Raggedy Ann and her brother Andy. I remember Mama saying that every little girl should have a pair of these happy little rag dolls. They had a special place on my bed pillows where they would sit and wait for me to come and talk to them. I didn't really 'play' with them, but I loved to talk to them and tell them all about my day. I just knew they understood me because they had hearts. All true Raggedy Ann's and Andy's have hearts stamped or sewn on their chests. Some even have candy hearts sewn in them. They would also sit with my friend and myself, on my canopy bed, while we played paper dolls. When I got in trouble, or was sad, they were always there to help make me feel better. Their soft rag bodies and happy little faces made the perfect cuddle companions and always lifted my spirits. After I got older I thought that I had gotten too old for them, so they were packed away with some of my other dolls. Years passed and then I had a little girl of my own. One of the first dolls I got her was a set of Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls. She loved them and almost wore them out playing and cuddling them. I even got my son a Raggedy Andy doll when he was very small. As with myself they soon outgrew their Raggedy dolls, and they were packed away too. Now, many years later I have come across the box holding our Raggedy dolls! What a wonderful find! Seeing my dolls, now with no clothes on, don't know what happened to them, brought back so many warm and happy memories. My son's little Andy was in there and the first tiny Raggedy Ann I made my first granddaughter was there along with a pair I had made several years ago for the spare bedroom. The one pair that wasn't in there was my daughters, not sure what happened to them. The creator of these wonderful dolls was Johnny Gruelle, he was an illustrator of children's books. Here is a good link to go to that gives the history of these dolls,   http://www.raggedy-ann.com/patty.html.

Here is my little crew of Raggedy Ann and Andy's

The little Ann sitting on the chair is the one I made my granddaughter and the other one is a prayer Raggedy Ann she got at a christian camp.

This picture was painted by my Aunt Bonney for my daughter after she was born. She was a published artist at the time.

Two of the little books that my children and grandchildren loved to have read to them. We had a couple of really nice hardback story books too, but haven't been able to locate them. 

Hope you will go to the link I provided and find out more about the story of these wonderful little dolls.

Blessings to All,

Jan

Little Felted Bunny

I came across my wool roving and felting supplies the other day. I love the feel of wool and really enjoy working with it. I was teaching myself to felt animals when my parents became ill and I didn't have time to work on it anymore. So, I packed everything up and put it away. It was so exciting to try my hand at it again. Thinking about spring coming and Easter I decided to try and make a little bunny. I was surprised at how fast this little guy came together! I got it done while watching TV the other evening. The supplies called for a light pink for the inside of the ears. Well, I didn't have that color, so I took my white roving and dyed it with some strawberry juice, got the perfect light pink. Not having the correct color sent my on a search for wool roving. I was surprised to learn that Walmart has it online, it is also available on ebay and amazon. I have a friend that lives in Montana that raises sheep, am going to check with her to see if she has roving for sale. If she does I will share her address here.
Here are a few pictures of my little felted bunny.

 

My felting supplies

 

 

Little Bunny all done!

 

 

Working on this little guy gave me a nice break from the big quilt repair job I'm working on . The double wedding ring that I shared in an earlier post. If you like wool and have thought about doing something like this, I would encourage you to try it. So much fun!!

 

Blessings to All,

Jan

 



Double Wedding Ring Quilts, So Pretty!

Well, here it is the first of March. It has certainly come in like a very cold lion!! We have sleet, ice and snow in the forecast for this weekend!

I am now doing a repair job on an older double wedding ring quilt for a client. Wow, what a job it is turning out to be. When I first looked at it I had no idea how many little pieces were going to have to be replaced. At last count there are about 68, that is a lot of hand sewing. I was fortunate to find some greens that are fitting in nicely, even though the quilt is quite faded. Here is a peek at what it looks like.

The Double Wedding Ring pattern is a beautiful quilt and as the name suggests it has been a wonderful wedding gift for many a bride & groom. It is a good scrap basket quilt or it can have a color theme. Either way it makes up very pretty.

Here are a few pictures of the different ways they can be made. 

This last one made in all tan & light brown is very elegant. I would think any bride would love to receive this one.

Hope everyone has a nice weekend.

Blessings To All,

Jan

Loving Stitches, A Quilters Life: Computer Lock Up!

Loving Stitches, A Quilters Life: Computer Lock Up!: Well, I got a nasty 'thing' on my computer the other evening while trying to find an airline flight. It appeared to be windows secur...

Computer Lock Up!

Well, I got a nasty 'thing' on my computer the other evening while trying to find an airline flight. It appeared to be windows security, so I clicked on it. BAD mistake!! It locked up my computer, couldn't do anything. They were telling me that I needed to spend $50.00 to get it fixed. I got on another computer and looked it up, sure enough it was a scam. Be very careful of this. The guys at the computer shop that I took it to said that it is very difficult to get off!! It really makes you think that it is windows, but it isn't. It was not inexpensive to get my computer fixed. Very upsetting!!  But, now I am up and running again, yea.
Wishing you a wonderful weekend.

Blessings to All,
Jan



Icicles

After all of the snow that we have had, we are now getting some pretty dynamic icicles around town. These beautiful crystal like spikes have always fascinated me. The definition for icicle from Wikipedia is: a spike of ice formed when water dripping or falling from an object freezes.

 My granddaughter and I stopped and shot a few pictures of icicles that we thought were kind of neat.

The next few pictures are from the web....

And the final picture, The Ice Castle from Dr Zhivago....

Hope all of this ice hasn't made you chilly! :-)

Blessings to All,

Jan

Does Anybody Remember Katy Keene?

When I was a young girl my best friend and myself loved Katy Keene Comic Books. We could hardly wait until a new one would come out at the newsstand. We would walk to the dime store, just a few blocks away to buy our latest issue, then go back to my house and sit on my canopy bed and read all the the stories, work the dot to dot pictures, color and cut out paper dolls for hours. One of my greatest joys was when I came across some of these old comic books while cleaning out my parents home after they had passed away. I was transported back in time while I sat on my parents bed and looked thru all of the books. How I wish my long lost best friend could have been there too. 
Here are a few pictures from the comic books to share with you:

I thought she was so beautiful, and how I loved all of her gorgeous clothes. She was always very nice too, none of that 'Mean Girl' stuff.

Here is one of the paper doll pages. The outfits were usually sent in from her fans. What an honor it would have been to have one of your outfits chosen to be published!! You might also notice that she is not pencil thin, but had a nice 'healthy' figure.

Each issue would have a story like the one above. My friend and I had fun figuring out the stories with the pictures for words.

I especially liked it when Katy was a cowgirl. Since I had a horse, my dream was to be a cowgirl just like Katy. :-)

One of my favorite pages was the coloring page. They would have her in all different costumes in all different places. Here is a page I didn't get colored.

Last but not least, here she is in one of the many beautiful gowns that was designed for her by a fan.

If you remember these comic books I would love to hear from you. Please leave me your comments. Thank You!

Blessings To All,

Jan

Lots of Snow!!

 We got a little over 13 inches of snow yesterday and last night!! The sun is out today, but it is only 8 degrees, last I heard. So, it is a beautiful cold day here in Kansas.

My corgi was almost buried out in the snow this morning. She has to hop like a bunny to get thru it. I walked before her to help make a path so it would be easier for her, but she liked hopping and driving thru it herself. :-)

Got my Valentines done for the Tasha Tudor exchange, yea! Now just need to put the finishing touches on the ones for the quilt and tea groups. I love to make valentines, it is so much fun!! I would share pictures, but I don't want to spoil the surprise for anybody.

Saying prayers for all of those out there that have no electricity due to the storm. 

Stay safe everyone!

Blessings to All, Jan

Vintage Valentines

I am sitting here watching the snow come down. We are supposed to get 7 to 10 inches!! Good day to work on getting the Valentine's finished  for my quilting, Tasha Tudor and tea groups.
Valentine's have always been a love of mine, especially the Victorian and early 1900's ones. 
Thought I would share a few of my favorite's with you.

The one above was handmade by Tasha Tudor

Hope you enjoyed seeing these beautiful Vintage Valentines. Now I am off to make my Valentines. :-)

Blessings to All,

Jan

A Little Help Please

I need a little help with my blog!! I am having a hard time getting it set up the way I want it. Frustrating!!! For the life of me I can't figure out how to attach links of my favorite blogs to the sidebar of  my page. For me, the help isn't helpful at all. I used to be on another blog site, and if I can't get this figured out here, I'm going to go back to the other one. I was told that here it was easy!! Geesh. Anyway if someone could help me out, I would really appreciate it!

I did get the quilt top, that I have been working on for a friend/client almost done yesterday! Got all of the rows sewn together, now have to finish sewing all of those rows together and it is done. It really is a beautiful quilt top, it will be a stunning quilt when it is all finished.

Sorry, this picture is a bit out of focus! 

Well off to the studio to get this quilt top done and start on a new top from scratch. It's going to be a scrappy string quilt for another client.

Happy Sewing & Blessings to All,

Jan

My Love for Tasha Tudor

I have been a big fan of Tasha Tudor for many years. For those of you that don't know who she is, she was a illustrator of mostly children's books and famous for her gardening and way of life. I really came to know her when I bought a book about her garden for my mother for Mothers Day many years ago. I fell in love with her watercolors of life in the 1800's. She raised Welsh Corgi dogs, the same dogs that Queen Elizabeth has, and that is how I came to know about them. I was fortunate enough to get my corgi nine years ago and what a delight she is! Unfortunately Tasha is no longer with us, but her art and spirit still lives on. There is a wonderful Yahoo group I belong to that has wonderful kindred spirits of Tasha and the family has a lovely website about her too. If you are interested is learning more about her, just Google her name and there is tons of information about her, her art and way of life. Oh yes, she was also known for her love of dolls.

As you can see from the pictures above her art work is beautiful!!

Hope you enjoyed learning a little bit about Tasha Tudor and will continue to learn more about this amazing lady.

Blessings to All,

Jan

Another Mug Rug

Well today has been a rather unusual day. This morning it was really nice, beautiful blue sky's with a few white clouds, then my late morning dark grey clouds moved in along with cooler temp. That lasted for a couple of hours then the sun came back out and it has been a pretty afternoon but now it looks like some clouds are coming back. The forecast for tomorrow is supposed to be really nice, up in the 50's, no wind and clear. Sure would love it if they are right! Maybe I can sneak away for a little ride on Jasper. :-) Speaking of Jasper, I went out to check on the horses last evening and took this picture of Jasper with a beautiful sunset behind him. The color in the picture doesn't really show just how deep the colors were, but it will give you an idea.

Here he is with his buddy, Harley.

I made another mug rug, switching the colors around a bit and embroidered different little flowers. I think I like this one better. What do you think? Please leave a comment, thanks. I have run out of wool to make up kits, so I won't be offering them in my Etsy Shop after all. :-(

I have 5 to make for my tea groups Valentine exchange, so I better get busy!!

Wishing you a great weekend!

Blessings to All,

Jan