America the Beautiful

THIS GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED.

Although I love the song we are not singing America the Beautiful today, but you can if the spirit moves you.  The post title refers to the project I have worked on the past few days. 

Around Thanksgiving I subscribed to McCall's Quilting and another two quilt magazines.  I also received a subscription for another quilt magazine from my sister for Christmas.  And as I was trying to put some organization into my sewing area and noticed all of the books and periodicals I have for crocheting, cross stich, sewing and quilting, I decided that I needed to do more than just read my new subscriptions.  So, my goal is to make a project from each issue I receive.  The January/February Quilting issue made it easy for me.  They have a series sampler quilt that will be published in six installments, and I love the pattern so that is what I'm making.  The quilt is called America the Beautiful and it is designed by Lynn Lister.  The first three blocks to do are the Shining Star, the Barn, and The Field or what I think of as The Fruited Plain. 

The Shining Star took me almost all of yesterday afternoon to make. What takes you the most time when you begin a quilt? For me it is choosing the fabric.  I think it's because I like to play with fabric, and so I literally do that with my scraps.   

I still need to applique the star, but after that the Barn Block is done.

I haven't begun the Fruited Plains (Field) Block, but that will keep me busy later today.

The next block that Janet Wickell has chosen for her scrap quilt along is the Goshen Star Block.  So I get to play with my scraps again:)

I mentioned in an earlier post that this month I have been blogging for one year.  I'm having a small giveaway to celebrate being part of a nice community of bloggers.

This is Arianna by Jennifer Young for Benartex.  There are 35 5 inch squares.  This is one of the groups I received as part of Benartex' Preview Pack Club.  It's a pretty collection with pinks, aquas, browns, blues, yellows and khaki.

Leave me a nice comment.  Please don't just say, "Thanks for the giveaway.  Count me in" or  any variation of that.  Would you like to tell me what takes you the longest when you have a project?  Or what you subscribe to?  Or a qal or sal you've joined?  I'm interested.  

The winner will be chosen on Monday, January 10th.

Thanks for visiting.  God Bless You. 

Sampler Quilt Top, Benartex Mail, Another Water Lily and My Cactus

I spent most of today finishing the Simple Sampler Quilt Top. I think this is the biggest quilt I've made so far in that it measures 58 inches right now. I am surprized and happy at how well all of the different blocks go together. I'm also happy that Amy (Amy's Creative Side) showed us how to apply sashing with corner blocks. I think that feature is a perfect touch. I have skipped quilt patterns with this feature because for some reason I didn't think they were easy. They are easy as long as you are accurate and careful when cutting and sewing them.
This fabric collection includes a stripe fabric that I have put aside for the backing.



I've been waiting with eagerness for the second delivery from the Benartex Preview Club, and it arrived on Monday. Because I don't choose the fabric I'll get, it's fun to open the envelope and see what they send to me. This one contained 36 five inch squares of Arianna and the newsletter. The collection is very pretty with pinks, greens, browns, blues, turquoise, rose, and yellows. I might put it away until spring or early next year. We'll see.



I had 2 supermarket cacti that were beginning to die in the house, so this summer I put them outside to see if they would make it or not. One did not, but this is the other one:

I'm pretty sure it's flowering. That may be the end of it, but I'll bring it in when it cools down and hope it lasts. The awful heat and humidity we have had this summer was good for the cactus at least.

And for my water lily which is again flowering:

On September 25th I'm doing the St. Vincent Society's Walk for the Poor. I participated last year and raised almost $200.00. It was a beautiful autumn day last year when we walked, and my friends and I enjoyed it. I hope we're blessed the same this year.

I listened to a Hercule Poirot mystery, Death in the Clouds, while sewing today. It kept my mind off the humidity. But, we keep getting a little taste of fall weather every now and then. Love it.

God Bless You.

Lots of Stuff

I caught up with Amy's sample blocks (Amy's Creative Side Sample Quilt Along,) and here are mine:

The fabrics are actually a collection even though they don't seem to go together yet. The placement of the blocks in the finished quilt will be different.

I received my first package from the Benartex Preview Club. There are about 30 five inch squares, so there's enough to make an interesting smaller quilt. I'm going to follow the pattern they feature in the newsletter. The collection is called Word Play, and it's something I may not have chosen, but I like it.

This is the lapghan I'm working on now. I actually abandoned one pattern because it was too slow going, but I like this one. The picture doesn't show the ribs and shells in the pattern, but they are there making the lapghan feel very thick and textured. It is from Red Heart, but I'm still using Caron One Pound yarn. I have so much yarn that it would be a sin to buy any more. I really need to use up what I have. Hopefully, I have enough to finish this lapghan. If not, I'll have to get creative with the border.

Browsing in the Savers book section the other day, I picked up two books from 1986 and 1987 that were published by Better Homes and Gardens. When I got home and was looking down the list of designers in one of the books Blue Ribbon Bazaar Crafts, I found Mary Engelbreit listed, and these were her contributions:

The pattern of the little girl in bed is also embroidered on a pillow. Look what else was in the book from 1987:

I was looking at the reusable lunch sacks and the needle holders thinking what good ideas they were twenty years ago. These books are in excellent condition, and the name of the former owner is stamped in the front of each book. I don't know her, but she and I have something in common; books and crafts. And she took care of her books.

Don't tell anyone, but I forgot it was Moxie's birthday yesterday. She was two years old. But, funny thing is I bought a toy and catnip on Friday because I had a coupon, so she got gifts anyway. I'm wishing her twin brother, Onyx, Happy Birthday too. He lives with a former co-worker. Their litter was found on the deck of another co-worker when they were just a few days old. This good person took care of them, about 7 of them I think, and brought them to work when they were six weeks old to see if any of us would adopt them. Of course, it was a sure thing. Supposedly, Moxie was the runt, but she is a feisty little runt.
Yep, the gardener needs to cut that grass!


Happy Birthday to Katrina, too. I didn't forget.

God Bless Everyone, and God Bless America. We sang that in church yesterday. For me it's a tear-jerker.

I wanted to begin working on something for Christmas, and so this is what I got to start myself off. The panel is Tidings by Nancy Halvorsen for Benartex. I'm hoping inspiration will hit soon on just how to use it to best advantage. I love it.

The other item is a charm pack of Adoring by Sandy Gervais for Moda. I don't know what I'm going to do with that either, but I think the wreath quilt I saw on the Moda blog is a good candidate.

I joined Benartex Preview Club. It sounds like a good deal, and it will be something different from Joann's offerings.

I'm still working on the pinwheel quilt. I have some of the quilting done and the binding is all set to be sewn on. But I think the backing needs color (note to self: don't use white as a backing, at least not for a long time.) So I have been making hearts to applique to the back. I will handsew them on. I wish I could remember on whose blog I learned this tip, but I can't. But the tip was to sew a dryer sheet to the right side of the applique piece, cut a small hole in the dryer sheet for turning, press well after turning, and you're all set to sew it on. I'm not sure how many I will make, but this is what I've done so far.

The binding will add some color. I think if I make enough hearts I can do a kind of tumbling heart effect on the back. We'll see. (I fixed this. I originally typed stars, but meant hearts.)


I watch the DIYdish episodes and enter their giveaways. And yesterday it paid off. I received an email telling me I won some crochet patterns. I can't wait to see them.

God Bless You.