Why yes, of course I drank the kool-aid!

Have you seen the sweet summer sew along that Temecula Quilt Co. is hosting? I have!!! Here are my first two baby basket blocks. I'm doing each basket in two colors with the same shirting background, I think. I'm trying to decide if the background is too busy....opinions welcome. I have also been working like crazy on my big basket quilt, big is for the size of the quilt, not the baskets. Each block measures 5" finished. I only need to stitch 13 more baskets and then I can put the whole thing together. Right now just the top right corner and the lower left corner are together. I have been working on the quilt, off and on, for over three years I think. I'm ready to have the top together so I can, hopefully, hand quilt it this Winter. This pattern is in the book When the Cold Wind Blows by Blackbird Designs for those of you who might be interested. I am not putting the applique on my setting triangles like the pattern shows. You can tell from the picture above how incredibly messy my sewing room is! I do love it though. It's bigger than the one in our old house and I have a big design wall now. When I get my space cleaned up I will give you a little tour. Here's a close-up of the other little mini quilt I made from a kit from Temecula. I've made several more of their mini's, but I'll save them for another post. We are expecting Kara and Jacob this weekend! So excited....have I mentioned that Kara and Jacob live in Playa del Ray, California now and we don't see them as often as we'd like. It's sure to be a good weekend with loads of food, fun and drink! :0) Well that's all for now folks! Happy 4th of July!!!!! ranette

claiming my blog

Just in case that I post sometime in the next year...lol....I apparently need to claim my blog. I guess I'm a dummy because I really don't understand all this. I've never read blogs with a "reader" before, but I am claiming this blog as mine.... Follow my blog with Bloglovin

It's been a year!!!

How in the world has this last year flown by so fast?!?!?! It's just so hard to believe and I know that I'm not the only one to struggle with how quickly time passes these days. Much has changed in our lives, but one of the constant things in my life is the making of quilts. I'm sure I'd be locked away somewhere if I didn't have that to see me through. Not that I've had a bunch of finishes mind you...lol Some of you (is anyone really still reading this blog?) may remember the basket blocks I started way back when. Well I'm close to finishing up those baskets. Here's a terrible picture of them on my design wall. I've finished a few more since I took that picture and my plan is to be finished with the top by the first week of August. We will see if I can stay on track. I also keep plugging away on my Janiebright quilt. I've actually made progress on the right side triangles since this picture was taken. Again, sorry for the terrible picture. I did have some quilt tops quilted last Fall and I'm so thankful that I did. I had one last chance to enjoy the Fall and Christmas quilts in our house in Stillwater, OK before we moved to Edmond, OK in March. I will always treasure these quilts. The friend that quilted them for me passed away suddenly, much, much too young. It was just heartbreaking. Well I think that's enough for this year...lol...I mean today. If anyone can tell me how to get the Christmas background off, I would appreciate it. I've tried everything! Also, how do I switch to Bloglovin? I must be a dolt....some of this is just more complicated that I am!

Helllloooooo???

I'm alive, I'm alive! LOL Seems like just yesterday that I last posted. So much has happened since then, even a little quilting. I thought about giving up this blog, but found that I missed it and the record that it kept of my life and my quilts. Here's my Great Pumpkin quilt totally finished. Sorry for the picture quality. I've been experimenting with Instagram and I'm not totally up to speed with it yet :) And here's a terrible picture of Diagonal Madness, pattern by Kaffe Fassett You really can't tell from this picture, but I big stitch quilted using Pearle cotton thread. I really liked quilting this and plan to do more very soon. Here's my latest finished quilt top. Le Jardin, pattern by Bunny Hill. Oh I so enjoy applique and I am planning on making another Bunny Hill applique quilt very soon. Well that's all for now because my brain feels stressed! I can't figure out how to take the Christmas background off...why do they change a good thing? I'm re-learning how to blog again. Also, does anyone know how to blog from an Ipad? I would prefer to blog that way, but so far I haven't figured it out. Have a wonderful day.... ranette

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm back in the saddle again!

Sorry the photos are flipped sideways. I will get the hang of blogging again, I promise. Thank you all for the encouragement. Hopefully this weekend I'll get some time to play around with things.
I decided to set up my Dear Jane block making station in my downstairs sewing/laundry room again and I've been able to whip out a few JanieBright blocks while doing other things, like cooking and cleaning.

It's amazing how much I can get done while doing something else...as long as I don't forget what I was doing in the first place...which has happened a time or two...lol
ranette

Did blogger change this Summer???

Cause I am having ALL kinds of trouble uploading pictures!!! I tried my regular way of emailing them to my blogspot address and it went to my Gmail account instead...hmmm...if anyone knows how to do this will you please help me!

Just a quick recap of a long....hot....hot....did I say HOT Summer!!! Things started out super busy because Emily, our oldest daughter, graduated from the University of Kansas in May and a week later, our youngest daughter, Allie graduated from Stillwater High school! YAY!!! Here is a picture of my three girls right before Allie's graduation.

Then Emily and I left to take my mom to Taos, New Mexico. My Mom has always wanted to live there, so she rented a condo for a month and I think she enjoyed it, but was glad to come home. Didn't really take any pictures except this one and Emily may have taken it.

I did manage to finish piecing my Cracked Pots quilt though. And what a lot of piecing it was. I was really, really happy to finish this! Yvette's version is in Civil War red, white and blues and mine is all Jo Morton fabrics. The pattern is by Carrie Nelson.

If these photos look crappy it's because I took them with my phone. I must get in the habit of using a camera again.

I also made Allie an 18th birthday quilt...and I finished it much faster than I did her baby quilt, which took me 14 years to finish. LOL! Well I had little kids and I hand quilted it! Maybe I'll show a picture of the baby quilt one day, but here is the birthday quilt. It's an Amy Butler free pattern and it's all AB fabric.

Okay, time to get busy. It's taken me over an hour to do this post...yikes! I've lost all of my skills. Should I try the new blogger interface? What is it anyway? And why do things have to be so complicated? LOL I've got lots more to share and I'll be back soon. I hope all my US friends have a wonderful Labor Day!

ranette