PORCH CHATTER: FEELING BLESSED

It is not everyday that I am given the opportunity to give someone a quilt because they truly need a quilt.  But today that happened!

Our friends lost their home to fire a few months ago and nothing was salvageable.  They spent several weeks living in their motor home until they were able to find a home to rent. Everything in the home is rented and has no personal meaning for them. They are so thankful that no one was injured in the fire but all of their quilts and bedding were ruined by water and smoke/fire damage.  All of their furnishings  were ruined/destroyed.  

Today I had the pleasure of sharing a quilt with them for their bed.  

A Friendship Star quilt for these special folks and their dog, Max!!

I am feeling so blessed to give them something that they need and love!  Thank you, Libby and Charles, for appreciating my quilt!!  

I think this looks perfect on their bed!!


                                         -sandi

VALENTINE'S DAY

Wall Hanging for all of my badges.

This is a snip and stitch technique that I did several years ago.  It is perfect for hanging all of this paraphernalia on in between meetings.

 

So, it's Valentine's Day and I am asking:

How do you love yourself?

The answers to how do I love myself is what this post is about.

So, how do I love myself?
 

I surround myself with wonderful people and beautiful things. I choose to enjoy the scenery around me.

Of course, these tulips are left over from last spring but I still think about how beautiful they were.
 

Of course, my hubby and my family are the most important people in the world to me. 

I am not sure what Papa is saying, but some of the family thought it was interesting.  Others needed to be checking on their "social life".  LOL

I could never leave out my precious companion and pet, LilBit.



Here she is helping me with my knitting.  She loves to sit on my lap and be in the middle of everything.

 

 

Another source of my happiness is being with my quilty buddies.

 

Linda and Carol are discussing how to quilt this cute little panel and pieced baby quilt.

 

Sandy's stacks of pieces for making her puppy dog baby quilt.

 

Suzan's guild is doing Pizza Box Exchange and Suzan is studying the fabrics and the pattern she chose.

 

Phyllis has the ribbon border on her 2012 BOM we did in Piecemakers Bee Group.

 We are a small group and we laugh and cry together as well as quilt and take road trips.

 

Another fun group I play with are the gals in Chattanooga Modern Quilt Guild.  This is a picture of the recent Madrona Road Challenge project that we all participated in.  These are some beautiful fabrics provided to us from Michael Miller Fabrics Company and we all took a random packet and made large blocks to put together. 
They look so serious in this picture.  I don't know how that happened.  They are usually laughing and sharing.
 

We had lots of wonderful Show and Tell too.

This is Melody Johnson's QAYG Log Cabin quilt with beautiful hand dyed fabrics as well as some commercial.  Check out more of Melody's work over at  http://www.fibermania.blogspot.com

 

 

Joan did this beautiful Owl in the Trees Monochromatic Piece.

 

 

Love Janet's "Tunnel Vision" sewing machine cover.

Ava's BOM Exchange Quilt using the "Ugly Fabric" that she is pointing to in this pic.

 

 

Gerri's version of a Jelly Roll Race.

Here are the samples of Gayle's Monthly Block Lottery Project that she has presented for us as an upcoming challenge.  I love these blocks.

 

So on this Valentine's Day, I am smiling at the great people who make my life "just loverly".

Hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day too!!!!


-sandi 

 

 

 





AND WE SAID . . .

thank you to our friends across the street.

Several weeks ago my husband had two total hip replacement surgeries.  Oh, yes, he is doing very well.  Enjoying his freedom of movement and no pain.

During this time we still had lawn to mow and trimming to do.  Our wonderful neighbors across the street came to our rescue.  Not only did they mow and trim, but as the season progressed, they fertilized and did the fall over seeding for us.  Thank you so much!!!!

We wanted to do something for them to let them know how much we appreciated all of their efforts to keep our lawn maintained and looking so nice.

I decided to make them a quilt.  I chose to use a split 9-Patch block and designed it into a double star pattern.  It is a controlled scrappy block made with batiks.

Finally, I had it finished and  we gave it to them today.

They said they liked it!!  It was such a good feeling to give them something that I had created.

                                     -sandi

THIS IS A JOURNEY

A precious friend of mine has been diagnosed with non-Hodgkins Lymphoma, Stage 2-A.  She is currently taking chemo treatments.  Some days she feels okay and other days she feels really not okay.  After I saw her the other day, I could not get her off my mind. 

I must say that I am not a quilter who is always giving away my quilts.  Most of the time I make the quilt for the pleasure of the journey that I experience.

However, lately I find that I am being drawn to sharing my quilts with others.  So it is with my friend with Lymphoma.  It seemed that I must make her a quilt.

At our last SewDay when she was in my studio she commented about some "orphan" blocks that I had put on my design wall.  I was trying to decide how to use them.  I have long moved past their original plan. She commented that she liked those blocks.

When I finally accepted that I was supposed to make this quilt for her, I knew those blocks would be the starting point for me.



I only had a few of each of these.  I wanted to do something that would be clean and crisp.  Something not so traditional in design.

I took them to the design wall and started playing.  After a few tries I liked this one.  At least something like this.

I found a bolt of Kona cotton in Bone.  It was perfect for filling in the "negative space".  It would be crisp, clean and very soft looking.

Instead of cutting large pieces to put in long "sashing" style, I cut the pieces in irregular size blocks.  I thought this would give some interest to the overall design.

The top is pieced and ready for making the back.  I love pieced backs.

I had two more blocks that I did not use on the front and thought they would give me ideas for the backing.  I wanted to include my label as part of the back.

I used a print with a small rosebud on it as well as Kona Snow and the extra blocks and some leftover pieces from the blocks on the front. This back is pieced together with the label in the center block of the back.  I added more Kona Snow strips on each side to make the back wide enough.

Now it is ready to be loaded on the quilting machine and quilted out.

Wonderful!!!  It loaded without a hitch and I managed to get the back in the right direction so the writing on the label is not upside down.  Let the stitching begin . . .

AARRGGH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Something is not threaded correctly.  So I picked out all these stitches and re-threaded everything.  Whew!  It is now working and the bobbin stitching looks right.

I chose a Feather pattern.  This is Free Motion Quilting with a pantograph.  I still am learning.  I improve each time I do it, but I know it is more about the quilt and the love in this project than it is about perfection.

Another look at the quilting.  You can see the backing at the top of the picture as it is rolled over.

I have been trying to get this quilt to my friend, but she has had too many appointments, treatments, and days that she simply did not feel like having company.

She was able to come to Modern Quilt Guild meeting today and I could finally present her with her "Journey" quilt that was stitched with love especially for her. 




-sandi

LUNCH BUNCH

"I became myself through many things but one was the endless conversations with my best women friends". -anonymous

I live in a very small neighborhood nestled in the woods at the foot of Signal Mountain in Southeast Tennessee.  Ever since I moved here about 12 years ago we have had a wonderful fellowship with our neighbors.  When we first came here I started inviting the women in my neighborhood to come for a cup of soup or a salad lunch about once a month.  Then we started taking turns and each person invited us to her home and we would eat and chat.

As time has gone on we have evolved into a small group of us ranging from 5-10 women and we choose to go out to eat instead of preparing a meal at home.

Today was Lunch Bunch Friday and we went to a small Irish pub downtown called Honest Pint.

Just look at these old doors.  I love this bay window with the memorabilia.

Here come my friends now.

We ordered Reuben sandwiches, Home-made Pimento Cheese sandwich, and Burgers all seasoned with a special Irish flavor.  Of course, we had pub chips.

What a fun, fun afternoon it was.

-sandi