Memorial Day (Decoration Day) Thank you to those who serve.

Happy Decoration Day (Memorial Day) and thank you to all those who serve our country.  These pictures are from a few years ago, of a little girl, Madeline Grace, who helped her mother put flags in a cemetery, in memory of those who died in service.

I have Talkin' Turkey almost assembled - just a few more rows to sew together, and then the middle will be finished.  The border on Bonnie Hunter's pattern involved more flying geese than I wanted to make.  I asked some friends at an applique group what they thought about a border, and they said "Applique a border!".  Of course they did, they are an applique group!  So they got me started thinking about a few feathers in the border, and then I decided on some string pieced turkey feathers, and this is the sketched results:

I am using a nine inch border of red checked fabric, with a few turkey feathers in two corners.  I have only made one feather, so far, but this is the plan.  What do you think?

It's still on the design wall, and I am sewing rows together, and making more string feathers this week.  

Here's a picture of the quilt top, with rows partially sewn together:

Non-Quilty Things Going On Here

First, a good friend brings me peonies every year.  This is this year's beautiful heavenly, fragrant bouquet.  I just love them.  The whole kitchen has this beautiful smell and it makes me smile.  Thank you to my friend Joy.  I am blessed.

Secondly, our refrigerator died.  But it turned out well, because here is the replacement:  Ta Da!!! 

It has great lighting on the inside, and the main door opens two ways.  If you just want something out of the door storage area, (salad dressings, or condiments), you can open the door this way:

The door opens with nothing attached to the door, and you can gain access to all the shelves that are normally attached to the door.

The door also opens the regular way, to gain access to the main part of the refrigerator:

Then there is the freezer door, with the water and ice access on the outside:

Is it possible to be in love with a refrigerator?  If so, I am.

Thirdly, we cleaned the garage.  We do this every 10 years, whether it needs it or not, she says sarcastically.  Wow!  What a difference.  I now know where everything is out there, AND, we can fit two cars into the garage.  Always a good thing to use something for its intended use!  

So, my quilting accomplishments have been slim and nil.  I did finish the redwork square with the three birds.

I have been spending extra time caring for our dear old yellow lab, Sally.  She turned 14 in early May, and the average life span for labradors is 10-12 years. She is peeking around the corner in one of the refrigerator pictures.  

Hope I can have some quilts to show you next week, but this week has been non-quilty.

Talkin' Turkey on the Design Wall

Mondays are the days I "regroup" in my quilting plans.  There are so many projects that are in the waiting stages while I work on this one, shown below.  I've had Talkin' Turkey on my design wall for the last two weeks, and I want to sew it together into a quilt top before next Monday.  It will be nice to have it in one piece finally.

I am looking for a big bold plaid for the back of this quilt, so if you see one that is similar to the one Bonnie Hunter used on her quilt, please let me know.  Here is the back of her original Talkin' Turkey.  I love it!

I am not going to make the border of my quilt the same as the pattern, because I am ready for this quilt to be finished, and the border on the original quilt has a lot of strings and more flying geese.  I haven't decided what I will use for a border yet.

Here is the last bit of flying geese to put into the quilt before the borders:

I've been doing a little redwork while watching baseball this week in the evenings.  Here is the start of a new square with three little birds on it.

My Dear Jane group meets tomorrow, and I have not been working on my blocks, but I am hoping to get some new enthusiasm for my Dear Jane project at the meeting when I see all my friends there.  I am feeling guilty for not working on my Dear Jane project, but it will be next in line.

What's on your design wall?   As usual, I'm linking to Design Wall Mondays (Here)

Happy Mother's Day!

Here are some cute cards for you, this one with actual cotton apron strings:

This next one reminds me of my childhood.  My Mom was a great cook, and she had one of these "Hoosier" type cabinets in her kitchen.  Notice that this card has a real ribbon apron strings also.

It is interesting to see how the cards have changed through the years.  I only wear aprons when I'm missing my Mom, and the memories of being with her as a small child.



My favorite:  a card from 1920s, a flat one piece card:

Text on the other side:

Just to tell you that I am always hoping
Not just today but the whole year through
That every wish your heart may make, dear Mother,
And every dream you dream,
Will all come true!!

That's what I'm wishing for you today.  

This is the 100th year of celebrating Mother's Day.  Pictures are from an online article in the Kansas City Star:  (Here)  I hope your celebration is fun, and that you also get some quilting time into your day.

I'm still assembling the Talkin' Turkey quilt, and hope to have some rows sewn together later today.

Quilts, Quilts, Quilts!!!

 A beautiful afternoon to be outdoors with quilts!  Millstone Quilts had their annual Outdoor Quilt Show and the sunshine and cool breezes made the quilts shine.  They have this show once a year, and serve up delicious free barbecue lunch plus 25% off everything in the store.  I am making this an annual event!

To learn more about the quilt store, their website is:  http://www.millstonequilts.com

Eye candy for you:

Front Porch

Stream next to the Mill

Entrance Door

Sunshine and Shadows - Literally!!!

Love the Thirties Repros

These looked like older fabrics - lovely quilt!

Love these two!

The middle quilt colors say "Spring is Here!"

See?

Five Quilts - All Beautiful!

Looks like it was a fun group project!

A House Quilt!!!! Be Still my Heart!!!

This "building houses from scraps" project was a 2012 phenomena!  If you want to learn more - http://buildinghousesfromscraps.blogspot.com/

The Window of each House has a Fussy Cut Picture

 Well, today is Design Wall Monday, and here's what's on my design wall:

It's a Bonnie Hunter design, "Talkin' Turkey", and I am in the process of sewing flying geese to the plaid sashing pieces.  To see what other quilters are working on, here's the link:  (Here)