tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2607648213176401222024-03-05T08:32:51.090-05:00QuiltluverQuiltluver - I love to look at beautiful quilts!Quiltluverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09698174417233923277noreply@blogger.comBlogger99125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-260764821317640122.post-31957943540218321162012-10-30T20:32:00.000-04:002012-10-30T20:32:43.337-04:00Blogger’s Quilt Festival-A Letter To My Son<br />
Welcome to the <a href="http://amyscreativeside.com/2012/10/26/bloggers-quilt-festival-fall-2012/" target="_blank">Blogger’s Quilt Festival</a>. It took me over a year to make this special quilt, and I wanted to share it with the readers from the Bloggers Quilt Festival. The quilt is 25” x 30”, was made and quilted by me, and could be in the art quilt, wall hanging and applique quilt categories.<br />
Those who are regular readers of my blog know that my brother passed away from complications of scleroderma in November, 2010. In June of last year, I decided I wanted to learn how to make a portrait quilt and took an online class from Marilyn Belford through Quilt University. I had never taken an online class before, but it was a great learning experience, and Marilyn is a great teacher. I selected a picture of my brother as the subject. <br />
<div align="center">
This is the picture I used for the quilt inspiration</div>
<div align="center">
<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-dfN57lDkrFU/UJBwnnVzChI/AAAAAAAAA5Y/S56dLAz44AQ/s1600-h/Giles_Marc-boat-small3.jpg"><img alt="Giles_Marc-boat small" border="0" height="366" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-TZH4zJMioGE/UJBwoYLr5bI/AAAAAAAAA5g/p2K6WtU25Eg/Giles_Marc-boat-small_thumb1.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Giles_Marc-boat small" width="452" /></a></div>
<div align="center">
The first step in the process was to make a line drawing from a blown up picture</div>
<div align="center">
<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-F3kpbfYEd1Q/UJBwpXIDqMI/AAAAAAAAA5o/7bbfd5mGPC0/s1600-h/Karen_Giles_line4.jpg"><img alt="Karen_Giles_line" border="0" height="413" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-FJ8_TYWcPMo/UJBwqRY-7tI/AAAAAAAAA5w/KN0Lg4aQLfo/Karen_Giles_line_thumb2.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Karen_Giles_line" width="429" /></a></div>
<div align="center">
The audition process. Marilyn was very tactful when she said my facial fabric choices were great if I was going for a “impressionist” look. I had to change my direction.</div>
<div align="center">
<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-kCwtC8sTFBA/UJBwrP1QigI/AAAAAAAAA54/R3C8nZ00fHU/s1600-h/Karen_Giles_wip23.jpg"><img alt="Karen_Giles_wip2" border="0" height="372" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-uHGLR4sjv4o/UJBwr8j5_8I/AAAAAAAAA6A/oWelRebiCPk/Karen_Giles_wip2_thumb1.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Karen_Giles_wip2" width="484" /></a></div>
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The finished quilt</div>
<div align="center">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid_0xSd8kovLKmeb2P0LBrW7cR6_btLUxVooCZDSc-ZuqAXW-9e4k1dvieHyG3tBUQzb5gw5WbHX7_baUc9Y_8Qz3L82Ev8nhWxoCtEMOKla9AVZW3ZuHs1ieaay9NG6gm6OU_Au43C7bH/s1600-h/Mark-quilt3.jpg"><img alt="Mark quilt" border="0" height="395" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyy5fiARS7jiVemKSkyJZ7zoKetp4v6lrsIEVdp3P-xSmrQA_36Pa07YyUjjedQnTR3zTYwsn21lk0pRF8ZfILoKd16s8a6ZojjdjqHOzp1vCDld6qMc1JMFp5Q822UgukKrqntCn41Oce/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Mark quilt" width="509" /></a></div>
<div align="center">
Here’s a close up</div>
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<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-c8xuBMeOi_8/UJBwunqwfCI/AAAAAAAAA6Y/_c4QrIx-xsQ/s1600-h/Mark-quilt-closeup23.jpg"><img alt="Mark quilt closeup2" border="0" height="544" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-sUj6aCtAz4U/UJBwvpTV4UI/AAAAAAAAA6g/DvtK8IVN12E/Mark-quilt-closeup2_thumb1.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Mark quilt closeup2" width="401" /></a></div>
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My mother wrote a letter to my brother on the first birthday after his passing. It was a beautiful letter, so I decided to use the letter for the label on the back of the quilt. I framed the letter with a wood-patterned fabric so it looks like a picture frame. </div>
<div align="center">
<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-dUvyzNCzLTA/UJBwwSUAM9I/AAAAAAAAA6o/3xqfKRb_z5o/s1600-h/Mark-quilt-letter-label4.jpg"><img alt="Mark quilt letter label" border="0" height="370" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyFOsKPgdqq4TfF064afT00WDhjUrFwjF_W6fUjByPH4MqCHqPuqFEM2eaJ34Hub2Odi8J1ghe_Yg2Y-1Xu2j-VSlznG6nOLB8Txm1stKB6zowUuPC0WBLkLXULq9KGje8Ej-j4aCXsosS/?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Mark quilt letter label" width="300" /></a></div>
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I named the quilt “A Letter To My Son”. We had a party in the nursing home for mom on her 79th birthday in May, and I gave her the quilt. She loved it. She is currently with hospice, and has loves looking at it hanging on her wall.</div>
<div align="center">
<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-A_yLXVR0-Rc/UJBwyYwCPUI/AAAAAAAAA64/JpmENUPt3Ds/s1600-h/Moms-79th-birthday-quilt4.jpg"><img alt="Moms 79th birthday quilt" border="0" height="323" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-fUvOM5EdaTc/UJBwzF46i-I/AAAAAAAAA7A/ZdiZ_5zkVHY/Moms-79th-birthday-quilt_thumb2.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Moms 79th birthday quilt" width="458" /></a></div>
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For those who would like to read the letter, I’ve reproduced it below. Be warned, however, that there might be some tears involved.</div>
<h4 align="center">
A Letter to My Son</h4>
<h4 align="center">
Written by Judith Reid on July 18, 2011</h4>
<h4 align="center">
Tribute to Mark Reid</h4>
<h4 align="center">
July 18, 1956 --November 30, 2010</h4>
Dear Mark,<br />
So…how is it? Eternal Life – so far, I mean. Are you surprised to be there as we are for you to be there? Not that we are surprised you are in heaven, mind you, but surprised, shocked, and saddened that you are there so soon. It doesn’t make sense to us who are left on this side of life. Does it make sense to you from there? You had too much life yet to live, and in the midst of our disappointment, your earthly life was cut too short. There were too many family photos yet to take with you in them; too many conversations yet to have; too much life to still enjoy. You were multi-talented being a carpenter, building a house, which together with Ruth, was made into a loving home. Also, you were a mechanic and a gardener which you so much enjoyed doing. How much you both enjoyed and followed NASCAR and boating with friends. Your move to Ft. Myers, Florida was so enjoyable with meeting new friends and visits with old neighbors from Michigan, which was short-lived due to your illness.<br />
What wonderful life lessons you taught your children to carry into adulthood and how proud they were of their Dad and how much they loved you. They are forever grateful for the delightful and precious relationships they had with you. You and Ruth have raised them very well with a wonderful married relationship. What a great gift you gave us and yourself by packing so much life into so little time. We were so proud when your first born daughter Amanda became our first grandchild and Grandma & Grandpa Reid had their first great grandchild.<br />
Please allow us some time, and some space, to cry, grieve and mourn in our loss. For you were vital and full of life for your family, your friends, and your community. That which you gave was reciprocated, as evidenced by the outpouring of love and care of others during your celebration of life. You were a wonderful loving son who was deeply loved and you will be in our hearts forever. We miss you, especially your phone calls, your smile and that tinkle in your eye.<br />
Love Always,<br />
Mom & Dad<br />
<div align="center">
<em>Hope you enjoyed the quilt show. Thank you Amy for hosting the <a href="http://amyscreativeside.com/2012/10/26/bloggers-quilt-festival-fall-2012/" target="_blank">Blogger’s Quilt Festival.</a> Check out all the beautiful quilts in the Festival.</em></div>
<div align="left">
.</div>
Quiltluverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09698174417233923277noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-260764821317640122.post-52910599407883942442012-07-12T21:58:00.000-04:002012-07-12T21:58:02.738-04:00A Letter To My Son<br />
It took me over a year, but I’ve finally finished a special quilt that I’ve been working on. It was a present for my mother. If you’ve been wondering where I’ve been for the past 7 months, I’ve been immersed in caring for both of my parents. But, that’s another story for another day...<br />
<br />
Those who are regular readers of my blog know that my brother passed away from complications of scleroderma in November, 2010. In June of last year, I decided I wanted to learn how to make a portrait quilt and took an online class from Marilyn Belford through Quilt University. I had never taken an online class before, but it was a great learning experience, and Marilyn is a great teacher. I selected a picture of my brother as the subject, intending to finish it for Christmas and give it to my mother then. Then my mother was diagnosed with <a href="http://www.quiltluver.blogspot.com/2011/12/life-is-tough-sometimes.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">lung cancer</span></a> in September, and I ended up in the <a href="http://www.quiltluver.blogspot.com/2011/12/progress-update.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: blue;">hospital</span></a> for Christmas (I’m fine now). I blew through the Christmas deadline. The next deadline was my mother’s birthday in May, and I’m glad to say I finished it (enough). Enough…you know…not completely done but done “enough” to give to her for her birthday and then take it back to finish it. I’m glad to say that I have actually finished it.<br />
<br />
<div align="center">
This is the picture I used for the quilt inspiration</div>
<div align="center">
<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-MqSJvf7nFyg/T_99IxF7eBI/AAAAAAAAA3g/CmZEt-93Idw/s1600-h/Giles_Marc-boat-small3.jpg"><img alt="Giles_Marc-boat small" border="0" height="366" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-aCB9Ti3eXuE/T_99Jp6ZQPI/AAAAAAAAA3o/l1poOj0wCQw/Giles_Marc-boat-small_thumb1.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Giles_Marc-boat small" width="452" /></a></div>
<div align="center">
<br /></div>
<div align="center">
The first step in the process was to make a line drawing from a blown up picture</div>
<div align="center">
<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-xU6WNNdukT0/T_99KeCkhAI/AAAAAAAAA3w/nxd2-pRhNrU/s1600-h/Karen_Giles_line4.jpg"><img alt="Karen_Giles_line" border="0" height="413" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-a21ubdo5gvk/T_99MWvJiGI/AAAAAAAAA34/HLuHvW16Ou0/Karen_Giles_line_thumb2.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Karen_Giles_line" width="429" /></a></div>
<div align="center">
<br /></div>
<div align="center">
The audition process. Marilyn was very tactful when she said my facial fabric choices were great if I was going for a “impressionist” look. I had to change my direction.</div>
<div align="center">
<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-auRQJ5iyELI/T_99M8eMZlI/AAAAAAAAA4A/tsTA-SGSmOc/s1600-h/Karen_Giles_wip23.jpg"><img alt="Karen_Giles_wip2" border="0" height="372" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-5hqZg17LvQ4/T_99Nq2QbFI/AAAAAAAAA4I/FkYfMx7bfHI/Karen_Giles_wip2_thumb1.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Karen_Giles_wip2" width="484" /></a></div>
<div align="center">
<br /></div>
<div align="center">
The finished quilt</div>
<div align="center">
<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-8ecUURPUDFc/T_99ORInvJI/AAAAAAAAA4Q/_hwtc2B6zgU/s1600-h/Mark-quilt3.jpg"><img alt="Mark quilt" border="0" height="395" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/-WO_qn7AvMXU/T_99PNBc1GI/AAAAAAAAA4Y/YCzswZh_9E0/Mark-quilt_thumb1.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Mark quilt" width="509" /></a></div>
<div align="center">
<br /></div>
<div align="center">
Here’s a close up</div>
<div align="center">
<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-whZKv5zZxJE/T_99QF2xU6I/AAAAAAAAA4g/aApUHAELD_o/s1600-h/Mark-quilt-closeup23.jpg"><img alt="Mark quilt closeup2" border="0" height="544" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-TGK57gAZGhg/T_99QwT0t8I/AAAAAAAAA4o/NbJ0226QAxU/Mark-quilt-closeup2_thumb1.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Mark quilt closeup2" width="401" /></a></div>
<div align="left">
<br /></div>
<div align="left">
My mother wrote a letter to my brother on the first birthday after his passing. It was a beautiful letter, so I decided to use the letter for the label on the back of the quilt. I framed the letter with a wood-patterned fabric so it looks like a picture frame. </div>
<div align="center">
<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/-SvqO2GnTEUg/T_99RiyDjkI/AAAAAAAAA4w/k087fE00K84/s1600-h/Mark-quilt-letter-label4.jpg"><img alt="Mark quilt letter label" border="0" height="370" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-E9PfcVuQDJ0/T_99SD8fFkI/AAAAAAAAA44/COeit6MssXk/Mark-quilt-letter-label_thumb2.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Mark quilt letter label" width="300" /></a></div>
<div align="center">
<br /></div>
<div align="center">
I named the quilt “A Letter To My Son”. We had a party in the nursing home for mom on her 79th birthday in May, and I gave her the quilt. She loved it..</div>
<div align="center">
<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/-Kh89u61YpFs/T_99TKZrgdI/AAAAAAAAA5A/abirnYSPhKE/s1600-h/Moms-79th-birthday-quilt4.jpg"><img alt="Moms 79th birthday quilt" border="0" height="323" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/-jTx4KJlTiK8/T_99TkA08YI/AAAAAAAAA5I/fwqEIRqwML8/Moms-79th-birthday-quilt_thumb2.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-width: 0px; display: inline; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Moms 79th birthday quilt" width="458" /></a></div>
<div align="left">
<br /></div>
<div align="left">
For those who would like to read the letter, I’ve reproduced it below. Be warned, however, that there might be some tears involved.</div>
<div align="left">
<br /></div>
<h4 align="center">
A Letter to My Son</h4>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Written by Judith Reid on July 18, 2011</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Tribute to Mark Reid</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
July 18, 1956--November 30, 2010</div>
<br />
Dear Mark,<br />
So…how is it? Eternal Life – so far, I mean. Are you surprised to be there as we are for you to be there? Not that we are surprised you are in heaven, mind you, but surprised, shocked, and saddened that you are there so soon. It doesn’t make sense to us who are left on this side of life. Does it make sense to you from there? You had too much life yet to live, and in the midst of our disappointment, your earthly life was cut too short. There were too many family photos yet to take with you in them; too many conversations yet to have; too much life to still enjoy. You were multi-talented being a carpenter, building a house, which together with Ruth, was made into a loving home. Also, you were a mechanic and a gardener which you so much enjoyed doing. How much you both enjoyed and followed NASCAR and boating with friends. Your move to Ft. Myers, Florida was so enjoyable with meeting new friends and visits with old neighbors from Michigan, which was short-lived due to your illness.<br />
<br />
What wonderful life lessons you taught your children to carry into adulthood and how proud they were of their Dad and how much they loved you. They are forever grateful for the delightful and precious relationships they had with you. You and Ruth have raised them very well with a wonderful married relationship. What a great gift you gave us and yourself by packing so much life into so little time. We were so proud when your first born daughter Amanda became our first grandchild and Grandma & Grandpa Reid had their first great grandchild.<br />
<br />
Please allow us some time, and some space, to cry, grieve and mourn in our loss. For you were vital and full of life for your family, your friends, and your community. That which you gave was reciprocated, as evidenced by the outpouring of love and care of others during your celebration of life. You were a wonderful loving son who was deeply loved and you will be in our hearts forever. We miss you, especially your phone calls, your smile and that tinkle in your eye.<br />
<br />
Love Always,<br />
Mom and Dad<br />
<div align="center">
<br /></div>
<div align="center">
<em>Hope you enjoyed the quilt show. Take care.</em></div>
<div align="left">
.</div>Quiltluverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09698174417233923277noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-260764821317640122.post-15011409997625508562011-12-24T20:59:00.000-05:002011-12-24T20:59:02.693-05:00Progress UpdateIf you read my last post, you know I was at the hospital headed for surgery. The surgery went well with no complications. The pelvic mass was a cyst and there is no evidence of cancer. The other mass was attached to my stomach, and was completely removed. No evidence of cancer around the GIST tumor. However, because of its' size and the fact that these tumors have a tendency to turn into cancer, I will have to be monitored and possibly take some medicine for a while.<br />
<br />
Recovery has been a bit slow. I thought I was headed home on Thursday. I was slowly eating again after no food for a week. They removed a small portion of my stomach, and it has caused a bit of a problem in keeping any food down. So, it's Christmas Eve and I'm still here at the hospital. Today was a good day. I think they've got the meds figured out and my body is starting to work as it should. If all goes well, I should be able to go home tomorrow. I know it will be a slow recovery, but I'll be happy to be at home with DH and my fur "boys".<br />
<br />
Thank you for all your kind words, well wishes and prayers. I think they worked!!<br />
<br />
Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas.<br />
KarenQuiltluverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09698174417233923277noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-260764821317640122.post-19537168651386453332011-12-17T13:20:00.000-05:002011-12-17T13:20:12.839-05:00Life is Tough SometimesIt's been a while since I've posted, partly because I just didn't feel like posting. Perhaps there was a bit of depression with my brother's death. Then, it was a pretty busy year at work as our company changed hands (again) and we had some major work to do from the acquisition. Then, life got in the way. This is not a quilty or fun post, and it goes from bad to worse, so if you want to skip the rest of this post, I understand. I do feel as if I've made many blog friends however, and felt I needed to update my friends on what is happening.<br />
<br />
In September, my mom was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. I've kind of taken charge of the situation, making sure that I try to make it to the important Dr. appointments and that she is not alone for chemo treatments. I had no idea the kind of time and effort that goes into cancer treatment. My mom had a short set of radiation treatments, 3 chemo treatments, and many more consultations and blood draws than I can count. Her health was compromised with lung disease to begin with. The pain that drove her to seek medical attention has mostly subsided, so I think the treatment has been effective. We are hoping that 2-3 more chemo treatments will do the trick and then it will be a watch and wait situation. She and my father did manage to make a trip to Florida at Thanksgiving time to see her grandson graduate from firefighter school, and to meet her new great grandson. They had a good time, so I'm glad she got to do that.<br />
<br />
Fast forward to this week. I was having lunch on Wednesday and felt really full after I ate. As the day wore on, I got more uncomfortable, and I certainly didn't feel like eating dinner. After an uncomfortable night, I had my DH take me to the emergency room. After several tests, it was determined that I have a rather large tumor pressing on my stomach. I haven't been able to eat anything since Wednesday and it is rather painful. The tumor could be benign or malignant. Rather than delay things with additional testing when the outcome is that I'll have to have the tumor removed anyway, it was decided to go ahead and schedule surgery to remove it. In addition, I also have an enlarged ovary that they want to check at the same time. They won't know anything about these 2 masses until the surgery is done. So, tomorrow I will be in surgery. I will try to update my friends on the outcome when I feel well enough to do so. I've delegated care of my mom over to my siblings as I have to take care of myself now. DH has been a big help and a great comfort.<br />
<br />
So, that's why you haven't heard a lot from me this year. Prayers right now would be helpful and appreciated. Thank you to all my blog friends. I feel like I've gotten to know many of you through your blogs and facebook, and I really appreciate all of my friends.<br />
Take care,<br />
KarenQuiltluverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09698174417233923277noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-260764821317640122.post-30555045941024994372011-04-24T11:33:00.000-04:002011-04-24T11:33:45.698-04:00Happy Easter!It’s been a while since I fell off the face of the earth. I haven’t felt like blogging or anything else for some time. Work has been consuming my life for the past several months since the company I worked for changed hands. I’m starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and the good news is that so far, I still have a job. That is always a concern when your company changes owners, something I’ve been through 4 times already with this company. <br />
<br />
Had a bit of a scare a few months ago with DH, who ended up in the hospital for a few days with chest pains and shortness of breath. After 2 urgent care visits, 2 ambulance rides, 2 emergency room visits, admittance to 2 hospitals, and many tests, it was determined that he had a 30% blockage in one artery. The doctors were not concerned about the blockage. The doctors felt that the chest pains were the result of a prolonged flu virus, and that his heart muscle had some stiffness due to sleep apnea. I finally convinced him that if the flu can put him in that kind of tailspin, then perhaps it was time to start getting a flu shot (which he got). Using his <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positive_airway_pressure" target="_blank">CPAP</a> machine for the sleep apnea is another struggle he is trying to work through.<br />
<br />
I did manage to get to some quilt shows over the last few weekends. I’ve got pics, but they are still on my camera so I’ll get those unloaded for a later post. But here’s a pic that always brings a smile to my face as it looks like my cat Lumpy, who lived with us for over 16 years until we had to put her down 5 years ago this month.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TbQ-P2xOTWI/AAAAAAAAA2w/GEfMptbI1P8/s1600-h/Easter%20cat%5B4%5D.jpg"><img alt="Easter cat" border="0" height="235" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TbQ-QIKOpwI/AAAAAAAAA20/dub-GfWiu6U/Easter%20cat_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="background-image: none; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" title="Easter cat" width="240" /></a><br />
<br />
It has been a long winter, and spring is having a hard time settling in. I am grateful that we’ve managed to avoid those tornadoes that seem to be popping up across the south and mid west. I feel bad for those areas that have been hit hard over and over again with bad weather. I did enjoy the beautiful, sunny day we had yesterday (finally!). I’ve been missing my brother and his family as we have a quiet Easter at home today.<br />
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I’m saw this awesome performance the other night, which I thought was appropriate for this day. She has such a powerful voice, and I love the guitar playing by Vince Gill.<br />
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<div class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:ca6401b8-49f4-43ed-b4dd-d847aaaaa2d0" style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; width: 448px;"><div id="d8a6b50f-7098-417f-ae55-11eb56cdcc99" style="display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLLMzr3PFgk&feature=share" target="_new"><img alt="" galleryimg="no" onload="var downlevelDiv = document.getElementById('d8a6b50f-7098-417f-ae55-11eb56cdcc99'); downlevelDiv.innerHTML = "<div><object width=\"448\" height=\"252\"><param name=\"movie\" value=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/pLLMzr3PFgk?hl=en&hd=1\"><\/param><embed src=\"http://www.youtube.com/v/pLLMzr3PFgk?hl=en&hd=1\" type=\"application/x-shockwave-flash\" width=\"448\" height=\"252\"><\/embed><\/object><\/div>";" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TbRBr-EpDfI/AAAAAAAAA3A/8Hw8LjNU4eY/videoa67c9cce7b8a%5B8%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-style: none; border-left-style: none; border-right-style: none; border-top-style: none;" /></a></div></div></div><br />
And last, but not least, I saw this on Facebook today and had to share this with you.<br />
<h3 align="center">All I need to know I learned from the Easter Bunny! </h3><h4 align="center">• Don't put all your eggs in one basket. </h4><h4 align="center">• Everyone needs a friend who is all ears. </h4><h4 align="center">• There's no such thing as too much candy. </h4><h4 align="center">• All work & no play can make you a basket case. </h4><h4 align="center">• A cute tail attracts a lot of attention. </h4><h4 align="center">• Everyone's entitled to a bad hare day. </h4><h4 align="center">• Let happy thoughts multiply like rabbits. </h4><h4 align="center">• Some body parts should be floppy.</h4><h4 align="center">• Happy Easter everyone!</h4>Quiltluverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09698174417233923277noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-260764821317640122.post-129667525678254262010-12-25T10:43:00.000-05:002010-12-25T10:43:16.616-05:00Merry ChristmasSpending a nice quiet day at home after a crazy week. I wish everyone a safe and happy holiday with family and friends. I love this video. Enjoy!<br />
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<div class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:fee2adfc-7eb2-4b14-8623-238294d6ff59" style="display: inline; float: none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div id="8d88f23d-9d57-4d62-aaad-43f6d5b0155a" style="display: inline; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><div><embed height="355" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/b4_EdJ-XkUA&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425"></embed></div></div></div>Quiltluverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09698174417233923277noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-260764821317640122.post-4808816786936839892010-12-11T00:05:00.000-05:002010-12-11T00:05:48.219-05:00It was a bad and good dayWe laid my brother to rest today. Mother nature chose to honor us with our first measurable snow, with just enough to make the roads a bit messy while heading to the cemetery. For a cold, snowy day, there were a surprising number of people who showed up for the graveside service. My former sister in law was there with her son, my nephew. I hadn’t seen her in many years since her divorce from my younger brother. But at times like these, as we stood there and hugged in the cold, I found that there is no “ex” family. She was there to see my mom & dad and comfort them over the loss of their son.<br />
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As I helped my mother to the where the service was held, her hands were cold as ice. As people sometimes do at these times, she forgot her gloves at home. I gave her my gloves and held her hand as we said goodbye. My father seemed a bit dazed and confused. It was a somber affair. And then just like that, it was quickly over. His last 6 months from diagnosis to death—it just happened too fast for me. We headed to the VFW hall where his friends put together a lovely lunch. <br />
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It was great to see all of my family together again, nieces, nephews and other family members who had moved away and hadn’t been seen in a while. Lots of hugs, and I got to meet my 6 month old niece, Clara. I watched as Clara was passed around from person to person, such a sweet baby who kept looking at everyone with big brown eyes. Babies are wonderful at times like these. It’s funny. I remember Clara’s mother, Amanda at my grandparents funeral 33 years ago.<br />
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<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TQMFCJRAukI/AAAAAAAAA2A/NOL6dZNQGKk/s1600-h/babyclara2Nov20104.jpg"><img alt="baby clara2 Nov 2010" border="0" height="272" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TQMFCiLNUoI/AAAAAAAAA2E/LUjlSjxOpMg/babyclara2Nov2010_thumb2.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="baby clara2 Nov 2010" width="399" /></a> <br />
At most memorials or funerals, there comes a time when everyone has a good laugh as they share a memory of a loved one. Today was no exception. My niece, Amanda, provided the perfect way to celebrate her father’s life. My brother loved to party with his friends, and he loved his beer. Amanda brought in a life size cut out of her father, with a can of beer attached to his hand with velcro.<br />
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<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TQMFDHK4rkI/AAAAAAAAA2I/ZJrE3VzHFKQ/s1600-h/MarkDec10201011.jpg"><img alt="Mark Dec 10-2010" border="0" height="519" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzrtM1ZFgU6dseX1W-dI6CSq8ORwE5CCyqUTvF3oS8biY8GrCj1PHUNgjlE1rrUzN0ZemF3vndhi28lKLEvmpW2P7HEp4TC-oyFzZLuNSJv2YN1-pNzjjpupjMyxYYAP2kGntkV58AlVvo/?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Mark Dec 10-2010" width="395" /></a> <br />
Looks real, doesn’t it? Mark’s many friends gathered around him and posed for one last picture as we all giggled and laughed. Yes, it was a good day to celebrate life.<br />
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Thank you for your prayers and comments over this past week.Quiltluverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09698174417233923277noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-260764821317640122.post-4279192716274599682010-11-30T20:56:00.000-05:002010-11-30T20:56:04.420-05:00ReflectionsI thought he was a pain in the butt when I was growing up. The older brother just close enough in age to taunt and tease me through my teenage years. The brother whose act I had to follow in high school (I was Miss Goody Two Shoes), when his former teachers were expecting me to be a trouble maker like my two older brothers. The older brother who got his own room when I still had to share a room with my younger sister. <br />
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He married his high school sweetheart Ruth Ann just barely out of high school, and little Amanda was at my wedding a year later when I married my high school sweetheart. Alisha and Andy rounded out the family, and before long, they all grew up and started on the next generation with three sweet grand babies, Amelia, Violet and Clara. As families do, we got together at holidays, birthdays, picnics and special celebrations. Then, like many others, my brother and his wife had to sell their house last year and moved to Florida (away from family and friends) in search of employment. Last year was the first Christmas without my brother, his wife and family in more than 34 years. I always appreciated the fact that my sister in law always hosted the family Christmas for many years, but I think I took our family gatherings a little for granted and thought the family would always be together. <br />
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My brother Mark lost his battle with scleroderma today. It happened way too early for his 54 years on this earth. This past spring, he was diagnosed with scleroderma. <a href="http://www.med.umich.edu/scleroderma/patients/scleroderma.htm" target="_blank">Scleroderma</a> is a skin condition where the body produces too much collagen. This makes the skin rock hard, which then makes it difficult and painful to move the joints. You can imagine what it does to your internal organs. Mark was in and out of the hospital 5 or 6 times since September, suffered kidney failure, and was put on dialysis a month ago. The irony is that there are no specialists in this disease in Florida, yet there were specialists at the University of Michigan, not far from where he lived for most of his life. His family tried to get him moved up here to Michigan for treatment, but at that point, he was too sick to be moved.<br />
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I had to go to my parent’s house on Saturday, to be there to support them when my sister in law called with the news that he was failing, unconscious, and would probably not be with us for too much longer. Unfortunately, due to health issues, neither of my parents were able to fly to be by his side. His wife and children were by his side as he peacefully slipped away at home.<br />
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He is survived by his wife of almost 35 years, 3 children, 2 son-in-laws, and 3 grand kids. We are grateful that his kids got to spend time with him in the week before Thanksgiving before he went into the hospital for the last time. My heart is aching for my sister-in-law, who has a tough road ahead in Florida without her family and friends close by for a support system.<br />
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This is a picture of their family, taken when they were all together just before Thanksgiving. He loved being a Grandpa.<br />
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<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TPWp-2cbwKI/AAAAAAAAA1w/D5MSBjhaaw8/s1600-h/Markfamily20103.png"><img alt="Mark family 2010" border="0" height="368" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TPWqEYuCCJI/AAAAAAAAA10/U-OtZ7Hj0Zk/Markfamily2010_thumb3.png?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Mark family 2010" width="392" /></a> <br />
I’m glad that he is no longer in pain. He was too young to go. I will miss him, and pray for his family as they suffer through this difficult time. May he rest in peace. <br />
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<div align="center"><span style="font-size: large;"><em>Mark Reid 1956-2010.</em></span></div><br />
<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TPWqGEeCOqI/AAAAAAAAA14/v8hdSOBvN64/s1600-h/MarkRuthSept20094.jpg"><img alt="Mark-Ruth Sept 2009" border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnfplMQb-KtOR51YbBpnI3w8bvZzZX8rIxifphyMa0G6KOV_Bv49CWIDVmCr5tlLFiES7QLkR5VetEIb4lJsMsDed18Z6VNZC8wukROS2Uu63E8Xc3RxC5al34msIZ_FGTG6_W-tZZtVwO/?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Mark-Ruth Sept 2009" width="395" /></a>Quiltluverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09698174417233923277noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-260764821317640122.post-46585231176843356262010-11-21T15:59:00.000-05:002010-11-21T15:59:41.390-05:00Comin’ up for air<span style="font-size: medium;"><strong><em>I decided to take vacation</em></strong></span> day so I could have a long weekend. Work has been as busy as I predicted, and a bit stressful as well. This weekend has given me a much needed break to relax, recharge my batteries, and catch up on the blogs. Sounds like many of you have been busy as well.<br />
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I am moving along with my French braid quilt, and decided to tackle the backing this weekend. The instructions in the book had us cut way too many strips for the quilt. So, I wanted to use up those strips for the back. I got out my EQ and designed my first quilt. This is the plan.<br />
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<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TOmE4B67YuI/AAAAAAAAA1A/Kz3Cgdvvtow/s1600-h/Frenchbraidbackingmed5.jpg"><img alt="French braid backing med" border="0" height="443" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TOmE45o3euI/AAAAAAAAA1E/OZHEjWdcoiU/Frenchbraidbackingmed_thumb3.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="French braid backing med" width="375" /></a> <br />
Because I’m just learning EQ, it’s not exactly how the quilt will look. But it’s close enough to what I envisioned in my mind. The background will be plain white fabric, and you’ll probably see a bit more of a white border than what the picture is showing. The binding is the red stripe fabric that I used on the front of the quilt, which I will cut on the bias so the stripes are at a 45 degree angle.<br />
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I got the 2 strip sets done this weekend. Other than the plain white fabric, which I purchased, everything else will be scraps from the front of the quilt.<br />
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Well, I’m off to make some Finnish pasties, which I love to make and put lots of extras in the freezer for those nights when I just don’t feel like cooking. I will be taking next Wednesday off so that I can have a long 5 day holiday weekend. Can’t wait for that!<br />
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<div align="center">Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!</div><br />
<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TOmE6Pm4nVI/AAAAAAAAA1I/7rN8LL9qwMk/s1600-h/thanksgivingclipart34.jpg"><img alt="thanksgiving-clipart-3" border="0" height="208" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TOmE8K_rKJI/AAAAAAAAA1M/YelwWu_PY7w/thanksgivingclipart3_thumb2.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="thanksgiving-clipart-3" width="322" /></a> <br />
<div align="center">Thanks for stopping by.</div>Quiltluverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09698174417233923277noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-260764821317640122.post-71535515878200114132010-11-07T22:22:00.000-05:002010-11-07T22:22:07.918-05:00Catchin’ Up<em><span style="font-size: medium;">Life has been a bit crazy lately.</span></em> The company I work for has changed owners (for the 5th time in 15 years). Things are getting busy as we change focus, systems and procedures from a public company back to a private company. I had a quick business trip to Chicago last week, and the next 3 months are going to be quite busy. Not complaining. Change keeps things interesting, and I’m grateful to have a job. Let’s hope I can survive any corporate downsizing.<br />
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On the quilty front, I’ve been doing quite a bit of quilting over the last 3 months. Was pleased to get my Halloween quilt done (thanks for all the lovely comments and to all that voted for me), and am getting back to work on my French Braid quilt. I’ve also been to a few quilt shows in the past month. Here are some pictures from the Grand Rapids quilt show last month.<br />
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I thought this double wedding ring was so unique with their choice of background fabric. You usually don’t see a large print like on this particular quilt. Aren’t the colors gorgeous?<br />
<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TNdrvbmvZwI/AAAAAAAAA0A/dc_DUzlTaes/s1600-h/Grand%20Rapids%202010%20033%5B7%5D.jpg"><img alt="Grand Rapids 2010 033" border="0" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhN736CVyW8-lxD-ELpWgYZQAAqlP06i5yTqdr1AROMF9lygywD_iwu5I5FbdPGzslKN5Aw50Uo63H51JwmT8ciYQjgvee46ztzu_neDA2ZoEPbUXAwTq3Ob7Mq4V-8eD2TIFjDCiMwSmC/?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Grand Rapids 2010 033" width="401" /></a> <br />
<div align="center">I love picture quilts.</div><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TNdrwqlmHLI/AAAAAAAAA0I/LSSljMHjxd0/s1600-h/Grand%20Rapids%202010%20014%5B6%5D.jpg"><img alt="Grand Rapids 2010 014" border="0" height="273" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TNdrxAHA2vI/AAAAAAAAA0M/AGA8XfxNf6g/Grand%20Rapids%202010%20014_thumb%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Grand Rapids 2010 014" width="358" /></a><br />
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</div><div align="center">I love this fall quilt.</div><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TNdry77vF3I/AAAAAAAAA0Q/aEbDhOg8ag4/s1600-h/Grand%20Rapids%202010%20018%5B5%5D.jpg"><img alt="Grand Rapids 2010 018" border="0" height="280" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwKiDozcbSvJCAMyWKQmhk64kVo9JLfdlFskcW4tBhehVbCYuvzRMrQ4cf147wZ19Go5OgTA2vUBWgqtMPT5Gz1jKXsSiqUBML7z99TkyqJM0rkg3OMKHV1gyxnnRcCCfjEW9whsTXLI10/?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Grand Rapids 2010 018" width="368" /></a> <br />
<div align="center">This was a whole cloth quilt that was later filled in with colored pencils. The quilting is stunning.</div><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TNdrz77rQzI/AAAAAAAAA0Y/Q-1_ISwjYjs/s1600-h/Grand%20Rapids%202010%20017%5B5%5D.jpg"><img alt="Grand Rapids 2010 017" border="0" height="492" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TNdr1SvwMwI/AAAAAAAAA0c/ffIAiV5oZZE/Grand%20Rapids%202010%20017_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Grand Rapids 2010 017" width="374" /></a><br />
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<div align="center">I love the colors on this one…</div><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TNdr26Kf2VI/AAAAAAAAA0g/8-VfTwY5gLo/s1600-h/Grand%20Rapids%202010%20012%5B5%5D.jpg"><img alt="Grand Rapids 2010 012" border="0" height="317" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TNdr4aEgQMI/AAAAAAAAA0k/ookThjbGFyc/Grand%20Rapids%202010%20012_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Grand Rapids 2010 012" width="416" /></a> <br />
<div align="center">Another gorgeous use of color…</div><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TNdr5q54PKI/AAAAAAAAA0o/_ZikjykhxGI/s1600-h/Grand%20Rapids%202010%20020%5B5%5D.jpg"><img alt="Grand Rapids 2010 020" border="0" height="312" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TNdr698T0oI/AAAAAAAAA0s/u0VSv0ab8Kk/Grand%20Rapids%202010%20020_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Grand Rapids 2010 020" width="409" /></a> <br />
<div align="center">Love this hankie quilt, and great quilting.</div><div align="center"><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TNdr7y9FVqI/AAAAAAAAA0w/eoJ0CC3gUJo/s1600-h/Grand%20Rapids%202010%20006%5B3%5D.jpg"><img alt="Grand Rapids 2010 006" border="0" height="316" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TNdr87aeEiI/AAAAAAAAA00/7YsyIxQEzbc/Grand%20Rapids%202010%20006_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: inline;" title="Grand Rapids 2010 006" width="415" /></a> </div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="center">And, of course, a cat quilt to make me smile</div><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TNdr-mkYtaI/AAAAAAAAA04/foNmA_PkRMg/s1600-h/Grand%20Rapids%202010%20005%5B5%5D.jpg"><img alt="Grand Rapids 2010 005" border="0" height="449" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TNdr_-ByirI/AAAAAAAAA08/sEC-NDI6LHI/Grand%20Rapids%202010%20005_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Grand Rapids 2010 005" width="342" /></a> <br />
Hope you enjoyed the show. I may be a bit scarce over the next few months. I do try to catch up with everyone’s blogs on the weekends. Even if I’m not commenting, I still enjoy reading your blogs. Take care. Quiltluverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09698174417233923277noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-260764821317640122.post-84602132952379470402010-10-29T07:17:00.000-04:002010-10-29T07:17:20.845-04:00Halloween Quilt Finished!!I am so happy to report that after 2 years of trying to complete my Halloween quilt in time to be shown for Halloween that it’s done!! The last few weekends have found me finishing the FMQ that I’ve been struggling with, completing the binding, and adding the leaves to make it look like a pumpkin.<br />
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Here is the full size quilt:<br />
<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TMqsgJ1GiJI/AAAAAAAAAz4/caQBDSb4ONI/s1600-h/Halloweenquilt0026.jpg"><img alt="Halloween quilt 002" border="0" height="400" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TMqsguXTBsI/AAAAAAAAAz8/lwKv0zox4-A/Halloweenquilt002_thumb4.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Halloween quilt 002" width="307" /></a><br />
I entered my quilt into the Quilt Gallery contest to win a fat quarter bundle. So if you like my quilt, can you take a minute to please vote for my quilt? Here’s the link: <a href="http://quiltinggallery.com/2010/10/29/trick-or-treat-halloween-quilts/" title="http://quiltinggallery.com/2010/10/29/trick-or-treat-halloween-quilts/">http://quiltinggallery.com/2010/10/29/trick-or-treat-halloween-quilts/</a><br />
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Thanks for stopping by, and <br />
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<div align="center"><span style="font-family: Algerian; font-size: x-large;">HAPPY HALLOWEEN!</span></div>Quiltluverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09698174417233923277noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-260764821317640122.post-28103929690721778112010-10-12T07:04:00.000-04:002010-10-12T07:04:11.283-04:00My CommuteOver 30 years ago, my husband and I decided we wanted to “live in the country”. So we moved to a small town that was a half-hour to an hour drive from several large suburbs. This was the start of my career in commuting. On a good day, my commute is 45 minutes one-way, about 35 miles. On a typical day, it is about an hour. We don’t even want to talk about what happens when it snows…<br />
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Generally, on a federal holiday as we had yesterday, the commute is pretty light. I was about 10 minutes into my commute yesterday when traffic came to a complete stop. We then proceeded to crawl along for another 10 minutes before I could see some flashing lights ahead. I crawled along for another 5 minutes before I saw a state police car in the middle of three lanes. The car was pulled sideways, blocking the lane so we had to move to either shoulder to pass.<br />
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As I got closer to the police car, I could see something on the ground on the other side of the car. There were no other mangled cars in the area. As I went around the car, I looked and saw a dog that looked like a yellow lab laying on his side. I also saw a Michigan State Trooper sitting cross-legged on the pavement stroking the dog. <br />
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<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TLQ-dlalNDI/AAAAAAAAAzw/lksQBf7q79o/s1600-h/dog%20trooper%5B5%5D.jpg"><img alt="dog trooper" border="0" height="356" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TLQ-d_yx7UI/AAAAAAAAAz0/L3-u4J8kXwI/dog%20trooper_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="dog trooper" width="205" /></a> <br />
That image of the trooper sitting on the ground stayed in my head for quite a while. It was so sad. All day long I wondered if the poor dog was ok. Today, the local paper had the story. The dog was darting in and out of traffic, and people were swerving. The trooper managed to block the highway and get close enough to the dog to attach a hitch to his collar. The dog was scared, tired, and his paws were bleeding and hurt from the pavement. A passer-by stopped to help with a blanket. The dog is being treated by a local vet and will be ok. The word is going out to find the owners, but if they are not found, others have offered to take the dog.<br />
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HAPPY ENDING!! Thank you, Michigan State Police Trooper Deanne Oswald-DeBottis.Quiltluverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09698174417233923277noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-260764821317640122.post-72599187257799385912010-10-10T21:43:00.000-04:002010-10-10T21:43:39.017-04:00Pioneer DaysToday was one of those fall days that one remembers fondly when we’re in the middle of winter with snowstorm after snowstorm. It has been a long time since we’ve had such a beautiful, crisp and clear sunny day. The fall colors were in full display as we took a little drive to enjoy the day. I had seen a notice for Pioneer Days at a historical village. <br />
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<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TLJqBlWURAI/AAAAAAAAAx8/We2lhp1eyTQ/s1600-h/Waterloo%20Pioneer%20Days%202010-19%5B6%5D.jpg"><img alt="Waterloo Pioneer Days 2010-19" border="0" height="260" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TLJqCI-JtHI/AAAAAAAAAyA/wB03RH3FrYg/Waterloo%20Pioneer%20Days%202010-19_thumb%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Waterloo Pioneer Days 2010-19" width="334" /></a><br />
Now, this place is in the middle of a very rural area, and we were amazed as we drove up and saw how many cars and people were there. They have over 150 volunteers for this annual event, which benefits the historical society that preserves this lovely farm. <br />
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<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TLJqD_mBmWI/AAAAAAAAAyE/CkmypoMIiuk/s1600-h/Waterloo%20Pioneer%20Days%202010-3%5B5%5D.jpg"><img alt="Waterloo Pioneer Days 2010-3" border="0" height="326" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TLJqEo9X8UI/AAAAAAAAAyI/-bydxFoqK2Y/Waterloo%20Pioneer%20Days%202010-3_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Waterloo Pioneer Days 2010-3" width="423" /></a> <br />
<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TLJqGIW2jnI/AAAAAAAAAyM/dXxdcOjwQSE/s1600-h/Waterloo%20Pioneer%20Days%202010-5%5B5%5D.jpg"><img alt="Waterloo Pioneer Days 2010-5" border="0" height="304" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TLJqHXv8CGI/AAAAAAAAAyQ/38KVjY78Lvo/Waterloo%20Pioneer%20Days%202010-5_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Waterloo Pioneer Days 2010-5" width="395" /></a> <br />
There were lots of people in Civil War period costume demonstrating the various crafts and tasks from that era.<br />
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<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TLJqJIrLWoI/AAAAAAAAAyU/yaQjKKPfGp4/s1600-h/Waterloo%20Pioneer%20Days%202010-7%5B6%5D.jpg"><img alt="Waterloo Pioneer Days 2010-7" border="0" height="325" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TLJqKiETnvI/AAAAAAAAAyY/TS1Widfx3fo/Waterloo%20Pioneer%20Days%202010-7_thumb%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Waterloo Pioneer Days 2010-7" width="420" /></a> <br />
<div align="center">They had a quilt set up for a quilting bee…</div><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TLJqLY-6y2I/AAAAAAAAAyc/PSngYWXI_AA/s1600-h/Waterloo%20Pioneer%20Days%202010-9%5B5%5D.jpg"><img alt="Waterloo Pioneer Days 2010-9" border="0" height="320" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TLJqMBirW0I/AAAAAAAAAyg/tMAEUCY0J6I/Waterloo%20Pioneer%20Days%202010-9_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Waterloo Pioneer Days 2010-9" width="416" /></a> <br />
<div align="center">A little spinning…</div><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TLJqNGW4guI/AAAAAAAAAyo/avuY1XkfhdQ/s1600-h/Waterloo%20Pioneer%20Days%202010-11%5B6%5D.jpg"><img alt="Waterloo Pioneer Days 2010-11" border="0" height="503" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TLJqN36-8FI/AAAAAAAAAys/MnaD90zfR9s/Waterloo%20Pioneer%20Days%202010-11_thumb%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Waterloo Pioneer Days 2010-11" width="389" /></a><br />
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<div align="center">A little weaving…</div><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TLJqPXk2z-I/AAAAAAAAAyw/aPsXmkLOUXY/s1600-h/Waterloo%20Pioneer%20Days%202010-14%5B8%5D.jpg"><img alt="Waterloo Pioneer Days 2010-14" border="0" height="300" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TLJqQHSqbsI/AAAAAAAAAy0/gNWaz2oimNk/Waterloo%20Pioneer%20Days%202010-14_thumb%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Waterloo Pioneer Days 2010-14" width="389" /></a> <br />
<div align="center">Some beer making… (see the beautiful trees and lovely blue sky?)</div><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TLJqRiGhZsI/AAAAAAAAAy4/HJcZHk1NOM0/s1600-h/Waterloo%20Pioneer%20Days%202010-17%5B6%5D.jpg"><img alt="Waterloo Pioneer Days 2010-17" border="0" height="528" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TLJqTP2vkoI/AAAAAAAAAy8/1TQ36jSZUr0/Waterloo%20Pioneer%20Days%202010-17_thumb%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Waterloo Pioneer Days 2010-17" width="408" /></a><br />
<div align="center">This little crib was in the kitchen of the historical house.</div><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TLJqT2am_7I/AAAAAAAAAzA/-7D8oKjsYN8/s1600-h/Waterloo%20Pioneer%20Days%202010-13%5B8%5D.jpg"><img alt="Waterloo Pioneer Days 2010-13" border="0" height="311" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TLJqUY6PrRI/AAAAAAAAAzE/6xGyLMsCOlE/Waterloo%20Pioneer%20Days%202010-13_thumb%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Waterloo Pioneer Days 2010-13" width="404" /></a><br />
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These goats were awfully cute. The kids were having lots of fun!<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgW_X30s48OPYJzDFUOD48_kB9LxniT5TDFPKamtl_BB5SHSBjmhvYHeFoFzJbUwGa5rE82h8P5P324617dT2Go3XYCth2RuoUMqh8ZBI7CrRe6l3YJdudR09HZ4acajzhsMeym83_OJtTp/s1600-h/Waterloo%20Pioneer%20Days%202010-15%5B5%5D.jpg"><img alt="Waterloo Pioneer Days 2010-15" border="0" height="323" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TLJqWqpDmgI/AAAAAAAAAzM/yrvIf_zvpQw/Waterloo%20Pioneer%20Days%202010-15_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Waterloo Pioneer Days 2010-15" width="420" /></a> <br />
<div align="center">Cute lambs…</div><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TLJqYEunWrI/AAAAAAAAAzQ/4j-cZEWm5WQ/s1600-h/Waterloo%20Pioneer%20Days%202010%20002%5B5%5D.jpg"><img alt="Waterloo Pioneer Days 2010 002" border="0" height="329" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TLJqYzCqFrI/AAAAAAAAAzU/JAjxOlWAhdo/Waterloo%20Pioneer%20Days%202010%20002_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Waterloo Pioneer Days 2010 002" width="427" /></a> <br />
They had lots of produce, pies, jams, pumpkins, and other assorted food as well as crafts for sale. These had a tag that said these were snake cucumbers. I’ve never heard of them!<br />
<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TLJqaeG5BWI/AAAAAAAAAzY/IWKxwkDuB_s/s1600-h/Waterloo%20Pioneer%20Days%202010-21%5B5%5D.jpg"><img alt="Waterloo Pioneer Days 2010-21" border="0" height="475" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TLJqb5RV6zI/AAAAAAAAAzc/fFt8py_v1H4/Waterloo%20Pioneer%20Days%202010-21_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Waterloo Pioneer Days 2010-21" width="365" /></a> <br />
<div align="center">A little music…</div><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TLJqckzbXrI/AAAAAAAAAzg/tZ1WjEk1-JM/s1600-h/Waterloo%20Pioneer%20Days%202010-22%5B5%5D.jpg"><img alt="Waterloo Pioneer Days 2010-22" border="0" height="512" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzRv96MRXBlODZ8JzRCt0r3frXBdc-ZFxZFOdJh0LuIToJmheczesnEQw4yXWICeCt1ln4U91ewokRA275l3EvGR0UgPUUwi0X3ovdum5pNT0QJ6m10mJs2n6vfeD2y6iYaiUyxg-K_RsX/?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Waterloo Pioneer Days 2010-22" width="393" /></a><br />
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<div align="center">I bought some wool for my Halloween pumpkin quilt.</div><div align="left"><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TLJqet8tNJI/AAAAAAAAAzo/i0Cnl0EQtoI/s1600-h/Waterloo%20Pioneer%20Days%202010-23%5B5%5D.jpg"><img alt="Waterloo Pioneer Days 2010-23" border="0" height="319" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TLJqfUlSKOI/AAAAAAAAAzs/2gVwQsy6gQc/Waterloo%20Pioneer%20Days%202010-23_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Waterloo Pioneer Days 2010-23" width="415" /></a></div><div align="left">Hope everyone had a great weekend! I wish my Canadian friends a blessed, Happy Thanksgiving.</div>Quiltluverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09698174417233923277noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-260764821317640122.post-55721307475669290102010-09-25T19:57:00.000-04:002010-09-25T19:57:35.192-04:00Fall has arrived<span style="font-size: large;">Brrrrr! </span>Yesterday, we had a high temp of 87 (20 degrees higher than normal) with wind gusts of 40 mph and today, we’re down to a high temp of 56 degrees. Strange weather we’ve had all summer long, and now the weird weather seems to be stretching into fall. No gradual lowering of the temperature. Nope, we went from hot summer right to cool fall. Oh, well, it’s time to celebrate fall so I redecorated my blog.<br />
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You haven’t heard from me for a while because I’ve actually been quilting for a change. The French Braid class I took did what I wanted it to do, which was to give me a deadline to work towards each week as I got closer to the class date. I used the class as an excuse to take some days off work. I do think my mind may have been elsewhere while I was quilting. In the picture below, the squares at the top of the picture are all supposed to look the same—the middle strip was sewn correctly (right sides together). <br />
<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TJ6LYPpYHTI/AAAAAAAAAxU/22GflKOm77w/s1600-h/FentonMarshallQS0357.jpg"><img alt="Fenton & Marshall QS 035" border="0" height="242" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TJ6LYi14LYI/AAAAAAAAAxY/WpR6akcoT5Q/FentonMarshallQS035_thumb3.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Fenton & Marshall QS 035" width="318" /></a> <br />
Did you ever wonder how you can sew two pieces of fabric wrong sides together, take it to the ironing board to iron, take it to the rotary mat and cross cut it into several strips, sew it to the quilt and only then figure out that something wasn’t quite right? <em><span style="font-size: x-small;">(But my points matched!!!)</span></em><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgu3-M-X-07JsYuQDgs05QKIk9D8h-JrZsX1nT9ut6RYD8SSE23JjGkVDW6DdLheBc2X1RZK71yLxriE4lQwUJouynEL7daVnf1wZph2TKop3pHWLF4BWdn1Lzq3PrKDAqmtwfTnIstWJE_/s1600-h/FentonMarshallQS0347.jpg"><img alt="Fenton & Marshall QS 034" border="0" height="249" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TJ6LZqbt8YI/AAAAAAAAAxg/htuc53F2poE/FentonMarshallQS034_thumb3.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Fenton & Marshall QS 034" width="327" /></a> <br />
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I got most of the quilt done, and only need to cut and attach the final border. I did manage to master a mitered border on this one. <br />
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<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TJ6LaeB_BkI/AAAAAAAAAxk/Bk4f6GmAd50/s1600-h/frenchbraid4.jpg"><img alt="french braid" border="0" height="237" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TJ6Laqu-a2I/AAAAAAAAAxo/11mxSThRPhQ/frenchbraid_thumb2.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="french braid" width="312" /></a> <br />
I generally avoid mitered borders, but the striped border I chose just begged for mitering. Since I was in a class, I took advantage of the teacher’s help to show me how to do this. The method the teacher used was so simple that I don’t know why I had such a fear of it prior to this.<br />
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This is one of the lovely ladies I met in class. Her quilt had several beautiful batiks in lovely magenta shades. The purple quilt on the wall was the class sample.<br />
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<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TJ6Lb6Wa0BI/AAAAAAAAAxs/V9c3_B4dzqo/s1600-h/FentonMarshallQS0374.jpg"><img alt="Fenton & Marshall QS 037" border="0" height="354" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TJ6Lcux96eI/AAAAAAAAAxw/Jog7yiVZBWw/FentonMarshallQS037_thumb2.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Fenton & Marshall QS 037" width="269" /></a><br />
This was another class quilt in progress. I love the colors that were used in this quilt. <br />
<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TJ6Ld4mg-vI/AAAAAAAAAx0/q02p6lF35xY/s1600-h/FentonMarshallQS0364.jpg"><img alt="Fenton & Marshall QS 036" border="0" height="330" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TJ6LeeUpVTI/AAAAAAAAAx4/RqQyWnEsfBk/FentonMarshallQS036_thumb2.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Fenton & Marshall QS 036" width="251" /></a> <br />
I don’t have any pictures of my quilt yet, but when I do, I’ll get them posted. I have managed to keep up with reading everyone’s blogs, even though I haven’t been commenting too much. Thanks to everyone for visiting and I do appreciate all of your comments!!Quiltluverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09698174417233923277noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-260764821317640122.post-30490731407114923542010-08-18T16:08:00.000-04:002010-08-18T16:08:20.475-04:00Quilt class<span style="font-size: medium;"><strong><em>It’s been a few years</em></strong></span> since I took a quilt class. I was in the LQS a few weeks ago and they had a lovely purple French Braid quilt on the wall as a sample for the quilt class. I don’t know what got into me that day, but I immediately signed up for the class and bought this book.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhi3emoIJsd2ZrJwb9QKiv-XYSFideWeOqCVp_QKE3e1RVhLE_timTYV7UC_i8x9RjgGvenLUfBVuuvXuY_X0f2xaOCTkr66gM8I48DuOwTWPzGJeMlHVQmjB__2oJ71rIjy08gkynBRdb1/s1600-h/Ann%20Arbor%20QS%202010%20044%5B7%5D.jpg"><img alt="Ann Arbor QS 2010 044" border="0" height="404" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TGw9Ee74TEI/AAAAAAAAAv8/26s5W7GgqlQ/Ann%20Arbor%20QS%202010%20044_thumb%5B5%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Ann Arbor QS 2010 044" width="310" /></a><br />
In reading the book, it looks pretty easy, and I probably could have done this without the class. BUT. . .sometimes I need the structure and deadlines that classes bring to motivate me to stay on task to finish the quilt. Plus, it’s kind of fun to take a class with other quilters. We have one quilter in the class who has already made this quilt 8 times. The teacher asked him if he wanted to teach the class! (he said no) <br />
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I decided that I was going to make this with as much fabric as I can from my stash. So, I spent one evening pulling out this and that fabric from my stash. I realized that my stash consists of mostly batiks! And although this quilt seems to be perfect for batiks, I didn’t want to make another batik quilt. Instead, I decided to use the floral fabrics I bought a few months ago when I went on the <a href="http://quiltluver.blogspot.com/2010/07/shipshewana-part-2.html" target="_blank">Shipshewana shop hop</a>. That’s my quilter’s ADD kicking in. . . buying fabric for one project and using for something totally different. This is the fabric I decided to use.<br />
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<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TGw9FC-84XI/AAAAAAAAAwA/tdfSplXWPrk/s1600-h/Ann%20Arbor%20QS%202010%20047%5B5%5D.jpg"><img alt="Ann Arbor QS 2010 047" border="0" height="277" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TGw9FopYxZI/AAAAAAAAAwE/NhjtUU8ult4/Ann%20Arbor%20QS%202010%20047_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Ann Arbor QS 2010 047" width="363" /></a> <br />
Of course, when I went to the “pre-class” to select the fabrics, I still had to buy a few more yards to get the run of 10 fabrics I needed for the braid. I have a feeling that I’m not done buying fabrics to “finish” this quilt.<br />
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Rather than rush home after work to get to the class, I decided to take the day off to get all of my supplies and fabric ready to go. I’m excited to start this new quilt. Guess I better get going. Don’t want to be late for class.Quiltluverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09698174417233923277noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-260764821317640122.post-19827256190815072342010-08-08T22:31:00.000-04:002010-08-08T22:31:07.845-04:00Grand Haven Quilt ShowCan’t believe it’s been a month since I last posted. No excuse. Just feeling kinda lazy this summer with this heat and all. I did manage to go to a few quilt shows in the past month. The weather finally broke a week ago, and I pulled one of those “I’m taking tomorrow off” vacation days. DH and I took a drive on a beautiful sunshine day to Grand Haven, which is on the coast of Lake Michigan. They were having their Coast Guard Festival, but unfortunately, the Coast Guard ships were not due in til Monday. It would have been fun to see all the ships. The Grand Haven Lighthouse Guild held their show called “Sand, Surf and Sunsets”. This is the first sight I saw when I entered the lobby of the building. <br />
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<div align="center">She’s kind of cute…</div> <a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TF9jVMShlMI/AAAAAAAAAuw/N-cYnIfDGic/s1600-h/Grand%20Have%20quilt%20show%5B5%5D.jpg"><img alt="Grand Have quilt show" border="0" height="317" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TF9jV3QxP7I/AAAAAAAAAu0/Wn_FRt0txXo/Grand%20Have%20quilt%20show_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Grand Have quilt show" width="412" /></a><br />
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<div align="center">I like nature quilts</div><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TF9jXU-h4bI/AAAAAAAAAu4/S8cWyF05qjI/s1600-h/Ann%20Arbor%20QS%202010%20001%5B8%5D.jpg"><img alt="Ann Arbor QS 2010 001" border="0" height="458" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TF9jY7yhh2I/AAAAAAAAAu8/x2ohYUwvx1Y/Ann%20Arbor%20QS%202010%20001_thumb%5B6%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Ann Arbor QS 2010 001" width="352" /></a> <br />
<div align="center">I like this log cabin layout</div><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TF9jaeYE11I/AAAAAAAAAvA/LSge6nqRVVE/s1600-h/Ann%20Arbor%20QS%202010%20002%5B5%5D.jpg"><img alt="Ann Arbor QS 2010 002" border="0" height="410" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TF9jbFvqCnI/AAAAAAAAAvE/cguIrJblm9o/Ann%20Arbor%20QS%202010%20002_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Ann Arbor QS 2010 002" width="316" /></a><br />
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<div align="center">Love these old blocks.</div><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TF9jcJJdKEI/AAAAAAAAAvI/q0-8ANAiyfc/s1600-h/Ann%20Arbor%20QS%202010%20006%5B8%5D.jpg"><img alt="Ann Arbor QS 2010 006" border="0" height="416" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TF9jc4X4wfI/AAAAAAAAAvM/xaRMtccVhEc/Ann%20Arbor%20QS%202010%20006_thumb%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Ann Arbor QS 2010 006" width="349" /></a><br />
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<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TF9jebtqnLI/AAAAAAAAAvQ/GqpgyP20ANE/s1600-h/Ann%20Arbor%20QS%202010%20004%5B5%5D.jpg"><img alt="Ann Arbor QS 2010 004" border="0" height="277" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TF9je_aro2I/AAAAAAAAAvU/eGdpwfPu2Y0/Ann%20Arbor%20QS%202010%20004_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Ann Arbor QS 2010 004" width="365" /></a> <br />
<div align="center">This house quilt was charming.</div><div align="center"><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TF9jgK2PpWI/AAAAAAAAAvY/iOgIsa46daA/s1600-h/Ann%20Arbor%20QS%202010%20007%5B5%5D.jpg"><img alt="Ann Arbor QS 2010 007" border="0" height="309" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TF9jgz8qkFI/AAAAAAAAAvc/fJqX-d0jjp4/Ann%20Arbor%20QS%202010%20007_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Ann Arbor QS 2010 007" width="406" /></a> </div><br />
<div align="center">Quilt shop. The quilt between the windows was 3-D.</div><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TF9jiBEPDrI/AAAAAAAAAvg/LIRZ68p5W1M/s1600-h/Ann%20Arbor%20QS%202010%20008%5B6%5D.jpg"><img alt="Ann Arbor QS 2010 008" border="0" height="231" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TF9ji0V727I/AAAAAAAAAvk/LHT3DveVBBI/Ann%20Arbor%20QS%202010%20008_thumb%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Ann Arbor QS 2010 008" width="300" /></a> <br />
<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TF9jksbu4RI/AAAAAAAAAvo/vi4EIdVQzgo/s1600-h/Ann%20Arbor%20QS%202010%20010%5B4%5D.jpg"><img alt="Ann Arbor QS 2010 010" border="0" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzYGGRrnc8ekDia7y4hp1XBuH_f2ln-1zDgwHEgIq8nFVsHv0YdhOHQZ9bibDX2CmYjmF7CTIDE5u3mTwQhlxBXmr5_4XezztNwhsvB2LoV3HRerRXTrShIUVa-OnogeEdi9f-0j85KKnJ/?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Ann Arbor QS 2010 010" width="345" /></a><br />
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<div align="center">I love the secondary diamond pattern on this quilt. </div><div align="center"><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TF9jmqIKTnI/AAAAAAAAAvw/HXKnyMDDOKU/s1600-h/Ann%20Arbor%20QS%202010%20005%5B3%5D.jpg"><img alt="Ann Arbor QS 2010 005" border="0" height="397" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TF9jnpqS2XI/AAAAAAAAAv0/smxImuCgzV8/Ann%20Arbor%20QS%202010%20005_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline;" title="Ann Arbor QS 2010 005" width="302" /></a> </div><div align="left"><br />
</div><div align="left">Hope you enjoyed the show!</div>Quiltluverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09698174417233923277noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-260764821317640122.post-2205753424804276102010-07-11T21:33:00.000-04:002010-07-11T21:33:52.430-04:00Shipshewana, part 3<div style="text-align: center;">Let’s get right to the quilt pics, shall we?</div><br />
<div align="center">This one had some awesome quilting</div><img height="311" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4115/4775504625_82fea65971.jpg" style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="407" /> <br />
<div align="center">A closer look at the quilting</div><img height="307" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4123/4775504737_3b776d969f.jpg" style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="407" /> <br />
<div align="center">A blue ribbon winner. Great design & colors.</div><img height="314" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4123/4775506875_a794242935.jpg" style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="407" /> <br />
<div align="center">Another neat design</div><img height="302" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4078/4775506551_a8d403cfec.jpg" style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="401" /> <br />
<div align="center">I’d say a lot of work went into this one.</div><img height="307" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4120/4775505221_bd9387edd9.jpg" style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="407" /> <br />
<div align="center">More fabulous quilting</div><img height="302" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4078/4775505287_fa35d53943.jpg" style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="401" /> <br />
<div align="center">Then there was this beauty</div><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4135/4776143058_728681d22b.jpg" style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /> <br />
<div align="center">A closer look at the beautiful fabric choices</div><img height="311" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4115/4776143124_79b94d8d5e.jpg" style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="409" /> <br />
<div align="center">I love bold colors on a black background. The borders really compliment the inner blocks.</div><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4073/4776141338_e1682a14ca.jpg" style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /> <br />
<div align="center">Of course, we had to have a cat quilt picture. It wouldn’t be right not to see a cat quilt on this blog.</div><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4098/4776142346_8f688801dc.jpg" /><br />
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Hope you enjoyed the show. Thanks for the lovely comments on my prior blogs about the journey. It was fun. This is one quilt show that will definitely be on my list next year.Quiltluverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09698174417233923277noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-260764821317640122.post-86873188914823271872010-07-10T11:54:00.000-04:002010-07-10T11:54:24.900-04:00Shipshewana, part 2Continuing on our trip around Shipshewana from the <a href="http://quiltluver.blogspot.com/2010/07/day-in-shipshewana.html" target="_blank">previous blog</a>, we decided to ignore Mrs. GPS after we left the quilt show in Topeka. We turned right, and she said “re-calc-u-lating” in that snotty voice of hers, so I turned around and went left. Again with the re-calc-u-lating so I turned right again!! <em>(see <a href="http://shirleymac2.blogspot.com/2010/07/over-50.html" target="_blank">Shirley’s blog</a> for more funny stuff about the GPS).</em> I knew from working on the MapQuest that we just needed to head north and we should come out somewhere near Shipshewana.<br />
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We came out exactly where we needed to stop at the Little Helpers Quilt Shop. This store was not on the shop hop, but has been a favorite of mine whenever I’m in the area. It is a store built on an Amish farm, and they have some very beautiful quilts and other assorted hand made items for sale. We must have been hungry for lunch as we both ended up with a jar of apple butter. This one is a little different because it is flavored with red hot candies. It is pretty tasty! Anyone know what the difference is between apple sauce and apple butter? Tastes the same to me.<br />
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<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TDiVtMZTQLI/AAAAAAAAAuo/MBqjaKKGbvs/s1600-h/misc%20003%5B8%5D.jpg"><img alt="misc 003" border="0" height="325" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TDiVuM_yCRI/AAAAAAAAAus/D2jLdYGJrGM/misc%20003_thumb%5B6%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="misc 003" width="219" /></a> <br />
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Next stop, Essenhaus. Yessss, finally some lunch with some of the chicken they are famous for, finished off with a shared slice of red raspberry chocolate pie. I won’t torture you with any pictures <em><span style="font-size: xx-small;">(don’t have any pics),</span></em> well, maybe a little torture with a description of a smooth chocolate pie (think French Silk pie) with fresh raspberries and whipped cream on top.<br />
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Full of sugar and ready to go, we went to the next quilt shop, appropriately named, The Quilt Shop at Essenhaus. It was there that I decided to go crazy and buy fabrics for the shop hop quilt. I just fell in love with this quilt, the colors and fabric that this quilt shop used. Here is a picture of the quilt<br />
<img height="301" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4074/4775507295_e9c73b3ce4.jpg" style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="395" /> <br />
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What was I thinking? I already have so many UFO’s!! I do love the soft green, pink and black floral fabrics. Next stop, the quilt garden at Essenhaus. <br />
<img height="308" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4098/4776140712_f0834c0abf.jpg" style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="409" /> <br />
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And finally, to Shipshewana and the quilt show (and two of my favorite shops, Lolly’s and Yoders). This was a juried show, and the quilts were amazing.<br />
<div align="center"> </div><div align="center">The quilting on this one was gorgeous.</div><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4123/4776140986_939eb75831.jpg" style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /> <br />
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</div><div align="center">a closer look</div><div align="center"><img height="303" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4142/4775504287_9831d47690.jpg" style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="402" /> </div><div align="center">I bought this pattern a few years ago. It's on my to-do list</div><div align="center"><img height="502" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4096/4775505063_6074f10d0e.jpg" style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="379" /> </div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="center">I like this basket weave pattern.</div><div align="center"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4077/4775505997_3aba9df2a3.jpg" style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" /> </div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="center">I like the colors and the checkerboard pattern on this quilt.</div><div align="center"><img height="311" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4114/4775506779_14993544a2.jpg" width="410" /> </div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="center">So colorful! Reminds me of my NYB quilt.</div><div align="center"><img src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4082/4776142480_b75c0cf259.jpg" /> </div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="center">I’m drawn to pictorial quilts</div><div align="center"><img height="297" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4142/4776141162_59ca834e41.jpg" style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="394" /> </div><div align="center">Love the quilting on the bear quilt</div><div align="center"><img height="287" src="http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4140/4775504457_8a1c1b08ae.jpg" style="display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="218" /> </div><div align="left">I don’t want this post to take too long to load with all of these pics, so I’ll stop here and post more in the next few days. Have a great weekend. Looks like the weather is going to be beautiful!</div>Quiltluverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09698174417233923277noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-260764821317640122.post-77181037554673909232010-07-05T22:18:00.000-04:002010-07-05T22:18:11.803-04:00A day in ShipshewanaWe couldn’t have picked a better day to go on our shop hop in Shipshewana. Picture a sunny day with blue skies, white fluffy clouds, temperature about 80, and low humidity. We had our day planned to stop at 8 quilt shops, 2 quilt shows and several quilt gardens. Our first quilt shop, <a href="http://www.carolinescottagecottons.com/" target="_blank">Caroline’s Cottage Cotton’s</a> was a cute little shop in a converted house. Unfortunately, as we drove up, we noticed the big yellow bus carrying MANY quilters. Too many for that little place. It was a cute place, though, with a nice selection of fabric.<br />
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Back on the road, we headed to the next shop, <a href="http://homespuntreasures.biz/" target="_blank">Homespun Treasures.</a> It was a very friendly shop, with lots of people waiting to help and fresh popcorn, yummm. <br />
<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TDKOR8lcu_I/AAAAAAAAAuA/LxO3HuKEifc/s1600-h/homespun%20treasures%5B3%5D.jpg"><img alt="homespun treasures" border="0" height="184" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TDKOSskObUI/AAAAAAAAAuE/lPy_fys2fho/homespun%20treasures_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="homespun treasures" width="244" /></a> <br />
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They were so friendly and one lady demonstrated a new ruler, the double diamond ruler. So I bought it <em>(definitely an impulse purchase)</em> after seeing her demonstration. Has anyone used this ruler? It makes this:<br />
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<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TDKOYHY2WCI/AAAAAAAAAuI/x26YLzH747A/s1600-h/image%5B4%5D.png"><img alt="image" border="0" height="206" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TDKObCXplAI/AAAAAAAAAuM/IMtuSmkmJew/image_thumb%5B2%5D.png?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline;" title="image" width="412" /></a> <br />
You can find the ruler and instructions <a href="http://www.bright-quilting-notions.com/" target="_blank">here</a> or at a newly found favorite blog, <a href="http://ihaveanotion.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">I Have A Notion</a> (click on the side to go to the store). The owner of the blog writes some pretty funny stuff. Be sure to read the <a href="http://ihaveanotion.blogspot.com/2010/05/aurifil-thread-heist-at-spring-quilt.html" target="_blank">Aurifil Thread Heist.</a><br />
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One of the ladies at Homespun Treasures told us about the million pillow case challenge project they had going on in the town square, a few blocks away, so we checked it out. All the hand made pillowcase were strung up in lines around the courthouse—so pretty! We were on a mission, though, so we didn’t stop. As we were leaving, the BUS showed up again. Whew, missed that one, but it turned out they had returned to the shop because someone had left their purse at the shop. Amazing that the bus would turn around and come back for one quilter’s problem.<br />
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As we traveled to the next shop, Emmatown Fabric and Gifts, the GPS took on a new life. We started talking back to Mrs. GPS as she routed us down this and that winding road. Where in the world are you taking us, we asked?? Lost, it took us to the wrong side of town and we had to turn around. But, it was a blessing as we drove by many beautiful Amish farms and were forced to slow down and enjoy the trip. We saw farmers plowing their fields using horses instead of tractors, beautiful gardens, clotheslines filled with freshly washed laundry, and even went by a farm that seemed to be gathering for an occasion, a wedding perhaps? There was a field next to the barn marked for “parking” the Amish buggies. Unfortunately, I was driving so there are no pictures. :( Here is a stock photo I found that looked like what we saw.<br />
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<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TDKOblbBS6I/AAAAAAAAAuQ/ypOojHh_iWU/s1600-h/buggy_farmscape%5B3%5D.jpg"><img alt="buggy_farmscape" border="0" height="265" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TDKOcJyGZxI/AAAAAAAAAuU/6eAoYZwIjzU/buggy_farmscape_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline;" title="buggy_farmscape" width="389" /></a> <br />
Our next stop was the quilt show in Topeka. This was a bit different from other quilt shows I had attended. It was more of a quilt sale than quilt show. Many beautiful quilts, quilt tops and blocks were for sale at some very reasonable prices. Several were hand quilted by the Amish. The fabric room had beautiful fabrics on sale for $4/yard. They had a bed that they laid the quilts on every 5 minutes, so that was fun to see them laid out like that. I only took a few pictures at this show<br />
<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TDKOd0n-wRI/AAAAAAAAAuY/RwqZy-JjOt0/s1600-h/Shipshewana%20Quilt%20Show%202010%20051%5B3%5D.jpg"><img alt="Shipshewana Quilt Show 2010 051" border="0" height="322" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TDKOeiou_iI/AAAAAAAAAuc/DZQAyiUSDqQ/Shipshewana%20Quilt%20Show%202010%20051_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline;" title="Shipshewana Quilt Show 2010 051" width="423" /></a> <br />
<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TDKOgUanGCI/AAAAAAAAAug/GyNXtk31fFg/s1600-h/Shipshewana%20Quilt%20Show%202010%20050%5B3%5D.jpg"><img alt="Shipshewana Quilt Show 2010 050" border="0" height="306" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TDKOh5_s06I/AAAAAAAAAuk/UkHjdwNfEu8/Shipshewana%20Quilt%20Show%202010%20050_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline;" title="Shipshewana Quilt Show 2010 050" width="402" /></a> <br />
This is getting to be a long post, so I’ll continue the story later this week. If you’ve enjoyed the trip so far, come back to see some beautiful quilts from the Shipshewana Quilt show.Quiltluverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09698174417233923277noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-260764821317640122.post-40380381300458961662010-07-03T21:54:00.000-04:002010-07-03T21:54:43.603-04:00New York BeautyIt’s done!!! Finally, 3 years after it was started, my New York Beauty is done. The trip to Shipshewana was the push I needed to get this done. Why? Because <span style="font-size: xx-small;"><em>(shhh…don’t tell anyone)</em></span> but I bought some fabric for a new project and told myself I had to finish a UFO before I started another project. So, that’s why you haven’t heard much from me lately.<br />
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I’ve been seeing on other blogs <a href="http://r0ssie.blogspot.com/2010/05/process-pledge.html" target="_blank">The Process Pledge</a>, where quilters discuss the process of making their quilt, so I decided to do that with this quilt. It all started with a class at the LQS a couple of years after I started quilting. I saw the sample for the New York Beauty on the wall and decided to make one. This quilt was made with purchased foundation fabric from a bolt. I believe it is a Karen Stone product and it looks like this:<br />
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<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TC_laqPHHkI/AAAAAAAAAsI/6ZYrP0yMpp0/s1600-h/New%20York%20Beauty%20and%20others%20017%5B4%5D.jpg"><img alt="New York Beauty and others 017" border="0" height="204" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TC_lbJ8GeaI/AAAAAAAAAsM/FwBGYnxZr3Y/New%20York%20Beauty%20and%20others%20017_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="New York Beauty and others 017" width="332" /></a><br />
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<div align="center">All of the foundation pieces are printed on the muslin:</div><br />
<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TC_lb-Vi6BI/AAAAAAAAAsQ/3KSBWflTOGU/s1600-h/New%20York%20Beauty%20and%20others%20009%5B4%5D.jpg"><img alt="New York Beauty and others 009" border="0" height="276" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TC_lcdXjTNI/AAAAAAAAAsU/SlO7YSFTdOI/New%20York%20Beauty%20and%20others%20009_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="New York Beauty and others 009" width="363" /></a><br />
It’s like paper piecing, but you don’t remove the paper. You cut out the muslin templates. Then you sew the templates to the fabric. They give you the lines for the outer edge of the fabric and the 1/4 seam line. You sew the fabric to the muslin in between those 2 lines. They numbered the rays of the sun so you would know the order and the direction to sew.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhU1NsERVj0fgdZy-IT3ilRj3Ig-njGCkvQ_Tu6yInWV6_DtvHlKStf1LJHaxe5eDp7p1wn0ah7ktKgHAElbhenQTU10rE2IO2CGpJxpNol9jeWQ04BvTonr3suaaPnz5dxxL4wyfds5EqV/s1600-h/New%20York%20Beauty%20and%20others%20010%5B6%5D.jpg"><img align="left" alt="New York Beauty and others 010" border="0" height="152" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TC_ldJ9ZqTI/AAAAAAAAAsc/t8ZXYeFrYpI/New%20York%20Beauty%20and%20others%20010_thumb%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px;" title="New York Beauty and others 010" width="191" /></a> <a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TC_ldhUCqvI/AAAAAAAAAsg/85gxb-a11rw/s1600-h/New%20York%20Beauty%20and%20others%20011%5B3%5D.jpg"><img alt="New York Beauty and others 011" border="0" height="153" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TC_ldwHFlAI/AAAAAAAAAsk/pQOBBdolImM/New%20York%20Beauty%20and%20others%20011_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline;" title="New York Beauty and others 011" width="218" /></a> <br />
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They give you the step-by-step instructions as part of the fabric purchase. But since I was new to the foundation piece technique (I had never paper pieced), I was glad I took the class.<br />
<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TC_lecV7A6I/AAAAAAAAAso/CIywDLMZOLI/s1600-h/New%20York%20Beauty%20and%20others%20016%5B3%5D.jpg"><img alt="New York Beauty and others 016" border="0" height="231" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TC_lfP388-I/AAAAAAAAAsw/wjKnRjwTsYs/New%20York%20Beauty%20and%20others%20016_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="New York Beauty and others 016" width="244" /></a> <br />
<div align="center">They even give you a quilt label and possible quilt layouts.<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TC_lfn4TI4I/AAAAAAAAAs0/BjPwkLV28tw/s1600-h/New%20York%20Beauty%20and%20others%20019%5B3%5D.jpg"><img alt="New York Beauty and others 019" border="0" height="183" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TC_lgDeXmHI/AAAAAAAAAs4/M_XHI_LTv7k/New%20York%20Beauty%20and%20others%20019_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="New York Beauty and others 019" width="244" /></a> </div><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TC_lgrijk-I/AAAAAAAAAs8/FauwgFR6_Nw/s1600-h/New%20York%20Beauty%20and%20others%20015%5B4%5D.jpg"><img alt="New York Beauty and others 015" border="0" height="164" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TC_lhFi4nFI/AAAAAAAAAtA/okekslPZk58/New%20York%20Beauty%20and%20others%20015_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="New York Beauty and others 015" width="244" /></a><br />
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<div align="center">The back of the quilt looks like this:</div><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TC_lhqJUxtI/AAAAAAAAAtE/BWXmq9ZySzs/s1600-h/New%20York%20Beauty%20and%20others%20021%5B3%5D.jpg"><img alt="New York Beauty and others 021" border="0" height="184" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TC_liEnMV-I/AAAAAAAAAtI/-UpHG5bXd0Y/New%20York%20Beauty%20and%20others%20021_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="New York Beauty and others 021" width="244" /></a><br />
It is easy to sew, even the curved seams, because as long as you sew on the 1/4” seam lines, your quilt comes out straight and even. And your points don’t disappear. Did I mention no paper to remove??? The downside is that the seams are a bit thick where 2 pieces come together as you have 4 pieces of fabric instead of the usual 2. So quilting may be a little more of a challenge. I plan to send this one out to be quilted.<br />
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When I took the class, I had no stash <em>(imagine that)</em>, so the LQS helped me pick out the batik fabrics. I had a great teacher who encouraged me to not be afraid of the colors and just start making blocks. She said I could “play” with the patterns later when I was done. I decided that no 2 blocks were going to be the same. When I found the overall pattern I liked after the blocks were finished, I was short by several blocks, so I added several purple batik blocks in the corners. This worked to frame the quilt, calm it down a bit, and not take the attention from the NYB blocks. I added a dark blue/black batik for the borders. <br />
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Since all of the NYB blocks were lined with muslin, I felt I had to line the purple blocks and the borders so the quilt would have a uniform feel to it. The teacher even suggested that it would make a nice lightweight quilt if you didn’t use batting in the quilt. But I think I ‘d still like to use batting. <br />
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<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TC_lioJbxJI/AAAAAAAAAtM/2dKDdJGb_ZI/s1600-h/New%20York%20Beauty%20and%20others%20020%5B4%5D.jpg"><img alt="New York Beauty and others 020" border="0" height="250" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TC_ljFC8_2I/AAAAAAAAAtQ/6NJ2YdX7Spw/New%20York%20Beauty%20and%20others%20020_thumb%5B2%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="New York Beauty and others 020" width="328" /></a>I stitched stay-stitched the muslin to the outer border edges so it wouldn’t flop around. <br />
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<div align="left">Since we’re talking about the process, I had to include a picture of my helper. He comes running when I turn the sewing machine on. I have to put down a blanket for him, or he lays on the quilt I’m working on.</div><div align="center"><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TC_ljo0msPI/AAAAAAAAAtU/5xFubF9n7dw/s1600-h/New%20York%20Beauty%20and%20others%20022%5B2%5D.jpg"><img alt="New York Beauty and others 022" border="0" height="160" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TC_lkBJhbjI/AAAAAAAAAtY/tsYZzip8ujo/New%20York%20Beauty%20and%20others%20022_thumb.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: inline;" title="New York Beauty and others 022" width="244" /></a> </div><div align="center">And here is the finished quilt. Lots of colors that I wouldn’t normally put together, but it seems to work for me.</div><div align="center"><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TC_lk3i66SI/AAAAAAAAAtc/gRYhgmTDnz4/s1600-h/New%20York%20Beauty%20and%20others%20025%5B7%5D.jpg"><img alt="New York Beauty and others 025" border="0" height="313" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TC_llncf5wI/AAAAAAAAAtg/jwDEoWc-5XU/New%20York%20Beauty%20and%20others%20025_thumb%5B5%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="New York Beauty and others 025" width="421" /></a> </div> <a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TC_lmyvspyI/AAAAAAAAAtk/kwZk3cotHAI/s1600-h/New%20York%20Beauty%20and%20others%20026%5B5%5D.jpg"><img alt="New York Beauty and others 026" border="0" height="528" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TC_lofTsGxI/AAAAAAAAAto/gc3wiWBoTX0/New%20York%20Beauty%20and%20others%20026_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="New York Beauty and others 026" width="404" /></a><br />
I’m quite happy with the finished quilt, and glad to have a UFO off my list!! I'm also taking a cue from my friend <a href="http://shirleymac2.blogspot.com/2010/07/happy-bloggers.html">Shirley</a> to post something positive on my blog for the month of July. Today, I'm glad that Google for changed Blogger so that you get a true preview of your blog before you post.<br />
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For those in the US, I hope everyone has a great 4th of July. I love this quote by Erma Bombeck.<br />
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“You have to love a nation that celebrates its independence every July 4, not with a parade of guns, tanks, and soldiers who file by the White House in a show of strength and muscle, but with family picnics where kids throw Frisbees, the potato salad gets iffy, and the flies die from happiness. You may think you have overeaten, but it is patriotism. -Erma Bombeck”<br />
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It is also a day we remember to thank all of the men and women of the armed forces who have sacrificed so that we may have the freedom to enjoy this Fourth of July. Take care, and drive safely this holiday weekend.Quiltluverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09698174417233923277noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-260764821317640122.post-9741112084494105862010-06-27T21:38:00.000-04:002010-06-27T21:38:42.643-04:00Catchin’ UpIt’s been a great week. After thinking about it for the past few years, I finally decided to buy Electric Quilt 7. It was delivered this week. The first night I installed the program, I ended up playing for 3 hours!! It was fun, though. Here is my first attempt to design a quilt.<br />
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I started with this simple block.<br />
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<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TCf7toGJbAI/AAAAAAAAAro/TiCXJqNodMU/s1600-h/block%5B3%5D.jpg"><img alt="block" border="0" height="244" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TCf7uMCBQiI/AAAAAAAAArs/H8k6xe-gjJk/block_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="block" width="244" /></a><br />
I love making a disappearing 9 patch, so I decided to cut this block vertically and horizontally down the middle. I flipped and turned the blocks around and made this complicated looking (but very easy) quilt.<br />
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<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TCf7vzI_V4I/AAAAAAAAArw/0CnC7lvPjf0/s1600-h/purple%20quilt%5B5%5D.jpg"><img alt="purple quilt" border="0" height="244" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TCf7wQnenUI/AAAAAAAAAr0/bGrn2PFMM1Q/purple%20quilt_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="purple quilt" width="244" /></a><br />
Flip a few more blocks around, and I got this:<br />
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<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TCf7yAznw0I/AAAAAAAAAr4/68_KXLCVrGE/s1600-h/purple%20quilt%202%5B3%5D.jpg"><img alt="purple quilt 2" border="0" height="244" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TCf7y1SRfEI/AAAAAAAAAr8/wkTXRch_lI8/purple%20quilt%202_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="purple quilt 2" width="244" /></a> <br />
Amazing!! All from the same block.<br />
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Change the colors and layout with a few clicks of the mouse:<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_Q3WcuEDZwQQE9fWEKkR8c6Sg80L9LzvfqbFXxdLKrCJ8iIBAN_lhN_xReMr-wvJQ17WTJmz_YJmcWdO0fwyiBC20nQwDoDFVmprauXdy5xutNrDwcTrXj1BxIbh6GTteqNIGewD5QeN5/s1600-h/orang%20quilt%202%5B3%5D.jpg"><img alt="orang quilt 2" border="0" height="244" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TCf70zuD8HI/AAAAAAAAAsE/nT_JUgFncjM/orang%20quilt%202_thumb%5B1%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="orang quilt 2" width="244" /></a> <br />
This is going to be fun! It was a good thing this program came on Tuesday, because I lost my internet connection due to storms for the next 3 days. I’ve been trying to catch up today with my blog reading. Talk about internet withdrawal…<br />
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On Friday, I went with my friend to Shipshewana for the shop hop and quilt shows. I will blog later about the great day we had along with pictures of some amazing quilts as soon as I can get them unloaded from my camera. I was so inspired, as I often am when I go to quilt shows, that I spent Saturday and Sunday sewing my New York Beauty quilt. I have the 4 borders all cut and ready to sew, and then I am finished with the top!! I will take a picture to share once the borders are on.<br />
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Take care, and have a great week!Quiltluverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09698174417233923277noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-260764821317640122.post-23666388436096258882010-06-05T22:37:00.000-04:002010-06-05T22:37:23.394-04:00Midland Quilt Show<span style="font-size: large;"><em>I finally got</em></span> a chance to download the quilt pics from the Midland quilt show I went to (a month ago?) Oh well, there’s no time limit for looking at pretty quilts.<br />
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<div align="center">I love the colors in this quilt.</div><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TAsGtpKLx7I/AAAAAAAAAp4/0yLaZo6Pk3M/s1600-h/Dexter%20%26%20Midland%20quilt%20show%202010%20032%5B7%5D.jpg"><img alt="Dexter & Midland quilt show 2010 032" border="0" height="466" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TAsGurMRl-I/AAAAAAAAAp8/ShkS7cLa6bw/Dexter%20%26%20Midland%20quilt%20show%202010%20032_thumb%5B5%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Dexter & Midland quilt show 2010 032" width="361" /></a><br />
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</div><div align="center">I thought this quilt created from a picture was interesting.</div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXP3hLoQ-Bf3FtBAuU1EDz-k5cFXa9ZO6rbPDLzTBZjTWARxJIGn5EVog9R8H59f_aAqIp_yUJrA3S63GQ4asrAMiyPX9QCFWbFX1NN_u5WPU5hyb5TJrnIgJSRgfQ0y0GAbQcSY46dzTs/s1600-h/Dexter%20&%20Midland%20quilt%20show%202010%20037%5B6%5D.jpg"><img alt="Dexter & Midland quilt show 2010 037" border="0" height="440" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TAsGvpGtRsI/AAAAAAAAAqE/TL80RNG5AZg/Dexter%20%26%20Midland%20quilt%20show%202010%20037_thumb%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Dexter & Midland quilt show 2010 037" width="340" /></a> <br />
<div align="center">I love the colors in this quilt. The sign said there was 5,237 pieces in this quilt that were individually cut and sewn together, and there are only 2 blocks in this quilt. Whew, that’s a lot of work.</div><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TAsGwGmDabI/AAAAAAAAAqI/47BAOHWQvNw/s1600-h/Dexter%20%26%20Midland%20quilt%20show%202010%20050%5B7%5D.jpg"><img alt="Dexter & Midland quilt show 2010 050" border="0" height="397" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TAsGxmbm3rI/AAAAAAAAAqM/7ndqrE5wdrs/Dexter%20%26%20Midland%20quilt%20show%202010%20050_thumb%5B5%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Dexter & Midland quilt show 2010 050" width="392" /></a> <br />
<div align="center">These were part of a children’s book challenge. Such creativity!</div><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TAsGyLIGkjI/AAAAAAAAAqQ/uGjJ3KVzEfA/s1600-h/Dexter%20%26%20Midland%20quilt%20show%202010%20054%5B6%5D.jpg"><img alt="Dexter & Midland quilt show 2010 054" border="0" height="481" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TAsGzMSECXI/AAAAAAAAAqU/X9COsImyI-E/Dexter%20%26%20Midland%20quilt%20show%202010%20054_thumb%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Dexter & Midland quilt show 2010 054" width="401" /></a><br />
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</div><div align="center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhrkuZiY-57aO9ByGrztzGjXs7V8jdJoeDxcYrP1a4jkkVnLvaX7tx3WP82-rwqYKdL0yCylCrmcy4daB_JQPafNZ30WM1Ldrv6YH5RrgSLPA4jm8vQ5dfb9I11ihp_6Vp-nRBO2FWX-r0p/s1600-h/Dexter%20&%20Midland%20quilt%20show%202010%20058%5B5%5D.jpg"><img alt="Dexter & Midland quilt show 2010 058" border="0" height="463" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TAsG0kBEqXI/AAAAAAAAAqc/UVEuhfSr9zE/Dexter%20%26%20Midland%20quilt%20show%202010%20058_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Dexter & Midland quilt show 2010 058" width="356" /></a></div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="center"><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TAsG036dnXI/AAAAAAAAAqg/yLb2-DjYMWc/s1600-h/Dexter%20%26%20Midland%20quilt%20show%202010%20055%5B5%5D.jpg"><img alt="Dexter & Midland quilt show 2010 055" border="0" height="507" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TAsG1RDN4hI/AAAAAAAAAqk/o0_oIBFbuFU/Dexter%20%26%20Midland%20quilt%20show%202010%20055_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Dexter & Midland quilt show 2010 055" width="389" /></a> </div><div align="center"><a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TAsG1xm_DfI/AAAAAAAAAqo/Qj4YxXopVKY/s1600-h/Dexter%20%26%20Midland%20quilt%20show%202010%20059%5B6%5D.jpg"><img alt="Dexter & Midland quilt show 2010 059" border="0" height="323" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TAsG2upEmFI/AAAAAAAAAqs/razMjupxFME/Dexter%20%26%20Midland%20quilt%20show%202010%20059_thumb%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Dexter & Midland quilt show 2010 059" width="418" /></a> </div><div align="center"><br />
</div><div align="center">I love the pictures in this quilt.</div><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TAsG283SL6I/AAAAAAAAAqw/QnWueq-qKJI/s1600-h/Dexter%20%26%20Midland%20quilt%20show%202010%20056%5B7%5D.jpg"><img alt="Dexter & Midland quilt show 2010 056" border="0" height="526" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TAsG3iTYsII/AAAAAAAAAq0/BRO4Q3yqdLQ/Dexter%20%26%20Midland%20quilt%20show%202010%20056_thumb%5B5%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Dexter & Midland quilt show 2010 056" width="409" /></a> <br />
<div align="center">This embellished quilt was very pretty.</div><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TAsG4OZ1fLI/AAAAAAAAAq4/xV9kwB0bMJU/s1600-h/Dexter%20%26%20Midland%20quilt%20show%202010%20048%5B7%5D.jpg"><img alt="Dexter & Midland quilt show 2010 048" border="0" height="535" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TAsG5GQlk1I/AAAAAAAAAq8/PUNzVW4G9RY/Dexter%20%26%20Midland%20quilt%20show%202010%20048_thumb%5B5%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Dexter & Midland quilt show 2010 048" width="415" /></a> <br />
<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TAsG5uKAQ5I/AAAAAAAAArA/yZA-6A3-Wc0/s1600-h/Dexter%20%26%20Midland%20quilt%20show%202010%20040%5B5%5D.jpg"><img alt="Dexter & Midland quilt show 2010 040" border="0" height="454" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TAsG6WgNM6I/AAAAAAAAArE/mG9KZwLN704/Dexter%20%26%20Midland%20quilt%20show%202010%20040_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Dexter & Midland quilt show 2010 040" width="349" /></a> <br />
<div align="left">The quilt show was held in a historical village. The building next door was having a blacksmith show. There were several old carriages and sleighs. This sleigh “cutter” with the quilt cover caught my eye.</div><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TAsG6p_yVAI/AAAAAAAAArI/ljkQWySvoBw/s1600-h/Dexter%20%26%20Midland%20quilt%20show%202010%20061%5B7%5D.jpg"><img alt="Dexter & Midland quilt show 2010 061" border="0" height="313" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TAsG7TrZr1I/AAAAAAAAArM/PB_fEWEcuQg/Dexter%20%26%20Midland%20quilt%20show%202010%20061_thumb%5B5%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Dexter & Midland quilt show 2010 061" width="402" /></a> <br />
<div align="center">Another sleigh.</div><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TAsG7pTxE3I/AAAAAAAAArQ/MFzqzTZyPHI/s1600-h/Dexter%20%26%20Midland%20quilt%20show%202010%20062%5B6%5D.jpg"><img alt="Dexter & Midland quilt show 2010 062" border="0" height="306" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TAsG8Ukj8vI/AAAAAAAAArU/Sb_y4Ggd9Ps/Dexter%20%26%20Midland%20quilt%20show%202010%20062_thumb%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Dexter & Midland quilt show 2010 062" width="394" /></a> <br />
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<div align="center">This ambulance sled from 1890 was fascinating. I wonder what's inside that black trunk?</div><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TAsG83SJxRI/AAAAAAAAArY/FMKmox6uyuQ/s1600-h/Dexter%20%26%20Midland%20quilt%20show%202010%20067%5B5%5D.jpg"><img alt="Dexter & Midland quilt show 2010 067" border="0" height="313" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TAsG9hplREI/AAAAAAAAArc/JNgD33eKjBQ/Dexter%20%26%20Midland%20quilt%20show%202010%20067_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Dexter & Midland quilt show 2010 067" width="407" /></a> <br />
<div align="center">I like this fringed carriage.</div><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TAsG94mtaMI/AAAAAAAAArg/twL9yaPovUo/s1600-h/Dexter%20%26%20Midland%20quilt%20show%202010%20066%5B6%5D.jpg"><img alt="Dexter & Midland quilt show 2010 066" border="0" height="480" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TAsG-thbodI/AAAAAAAAArk/tOfjV3BESUw/Dexter%20%26%20Midland%20quilt%20show%202010%20066_thumb%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom: 0px; border-left: 0px; border-right: 0px; border-top: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Dexter & Midland quilt show 2010 066" width="370" /></a> <br />
It was a lovely quilt show in Midland. Traveling to get to the show took us through many beautiful areas with gorgeous historical (and huge) homes. Unfortunately, it was a bit rainy for us to get to see the <a href="http://www.dowgardens.org/">Dow Gardens</a>. I've never been there, but I hear it is beautiful. I hope to get back there soon.<br />
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<div align="center">Hope you enjoyed the show!</div>Quiltluverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09698174417233923277noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-260764821317640122.post-43001999563434083382010-05-31T16:44:00.000-04:002010-05-31T16:44:34.739-04:00Honoring our service men and women<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TAQcuo-XYeI/AAAAAAAAApw/8ly7YrGcNuI/s1600-h/memorialday16.jpg"><img alt="memorial-day" border="0" height="291" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/TAQcvahZZ9I/AAAAAAAAAp0/6szosUvZr84/memorialday_thumb14.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="memorial-day" width="387" /></a> <br />
Today is a happy day because so many people have the day off, but I can't forget the day's meaning. <br />
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On Memorial Day, it is with both joy and sadness that we celebrate the lives of those who have gone before, some of whom have paid the ultimate sacrifice to ensure the freedom of many. We sing a song of praise for the fallen, and send a word of thanks to our members of the armed services. We salute the men and women, past and present, who have sacrificed for the freedom of everyone! <br />
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I previously posted this song on my blog, and thought it was fitting to repost it today. It made me a little sad for all of the men and women in the military who were away from their loved one. It is such a beautiful song that I was inspired to find the lyrics and the video. <br />
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<div class="wlWriterEditableSmartContent" id="scid:5737277B-5D6D-4f48-ABFC-DD9C333F4C5D:464a95c4-8a04-412a-814e-eb1fddc0e1e4" style="display: inline; float: none; margin: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><embed height="355" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/8BjVstbYDvs&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="425" wmode="transparent"></embed></div><br />
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It’s 2 am and I can’t sleep, </div>been like this for me all week <br />
we lost another good man yesterday <br />
I close my eyes and say your name <br />
it’s the only thing that keeps me sane <br />
and think of you, half a world away <br />
I fight the tears, it’s hard to live like this <br />
lying here, there’s so much that I wish <br />
<br />
That every child would know the taste of freedom <br />
there are dreams still worth believing <br />
that just might come true in the end <br />
I want all these troubles far behind us, <br />
better days to come and find us <br />
and I just want to be in your arms again <br />
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It’s 6am, I need more sleep <br />
it's been another hard long week <br />
the kids are wearin’ me all but down <br />
I close my eyes and say your name <br />
it’s the only thing that keeps me sane <br />
silence is such a lonely sound <br />
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Baby be safe, I know you've got a job to do, <br />
keep the faith, and all the love I'm sending you <br />
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Let every child feel the taste of freedom, <br />
that there are dreams still worth believin <br />
that just might come true in the end <br />
I want all these troubles far behind us, <br />
better days to come and find us <br />
and I just wanna be in your arms again <br />
<br />
ohh whatever I may have to do, <br />
nothing's gonna stop me coming back to you, <br />
every stolen moment washed away, yaa, <br />
I want all these troubles far behind us, <br />
better days to come and find us, <br />
I just wanna be in your arms again, <br />
I just wanna be in your arms again, again, yaaaa <br />
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</div><div style="text-align: center;">Hope everyone has a safe and blessed holiday. Take care,</div>Quiltluverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09698174417233923277noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-260764821317640122.post-67574512599322570472010-05-29T11:27:00.000-04:002010-05-31T16:34:32.928-04:00Shipshewana is calling!!There’s a Quilt Festival coming up in Shipshewana, and I plan to go. And I’m hoping some of my internet friends will join me on what promises to be a fun day for all. What’s the attraction?<br />
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<ul><li>A shop hop featuring 8 quilt shops in a 30 mile radius of Shipshewana</li>
<li>Two, count ‘em, 2, yes, I said two quilt shows. You know how I am about quilt shows—I love ‘em!! I went to one of the quilt shows last year, and blogged about it <a href="http://quiltluver.blogspot.com/2009/06/shipshewanna-quilt-show.html" target="_blank">here</a>. It was a wonderful quilt show.</li>
<li>There is a <a href="http://www.quiltgardenstour.com/" target="_blank">Quilt Garden Tour</a> going on in Northern Indiana. They’ve planted many gardens in the shape of quilts or quilt blocks. I plan to hit as many quilt garden spots along the route as we can fit in. <a href="http://www.etruth.com/Know/News/Story.aspx?ID=514050" target="_blank">Here’s</a> a site that did a story about the planting of the quilt gardens (the Quilt Garden Tour site may be having server problems.)</li>
<li>Lunch at <a href="http://essenhaus.com/" target="_blank">Essenhaus</a>, featuring good Amish food, a quilt shop and several other cute shops.</li>
<li>Shopping in the famous <a href="http://www.shipshewana.com/attractions.php" target="_blank">Shipshewana</a> where we’ll find 4 of the quilt shops on the shop hop, the quilt show, and many other wonderful, quaint shops. </li>
<li>You can read more about the <a href="http://www.shipshewanaquiltfest.com/shophop.html" target="_blank">Shipshewana Quilt Festival 2010 here.</a> They also have several workshops with some pretty famous names, some book signings, etc. The festival runs from June 23rd – June 26th.</li>
</ul><br />
So, here’s the plan (so far, but I’m open to suggestions). I’m taking Friday, June 25th off from work to go to the events. (I’ll need the weekend to recover from the trip). I plan to map out the Shop Hop route along with the quilt shows and quilt gardens. I would love to get a group to ride together, caravan, meet up along various spots on the route, and/or have lunch together. I’d love to meet up with anyone who would like to go to any or all of the above events. I think we’d have an awesome time! If you are interested, please email me and let me know what part you are interested in doing or if you have any other ideas. I can coordinate rides, where we can meet up, or other details of our fun adventure.<br />
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You know you want to go, so what are you waiting for? Granny Lyn, Rhoda, Pam?? Other Michigan peeps? Anyone from Ohio or Indiana? Send me an email!!Quiltluverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09698174417233923277noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-260764821317640122.post-683799013663704412010-05-21T07:35:00.000-04:002010-05-31T16:34:21.141-04:00Blogger’s Quilt Festival!Thanks to Amy for sponsoring the <a href="http://www.amyscreativeside.com/2010/05/bloggers-quilt-festival-spring-2010.html" target="_blank">Blogger’s Quilt Festival</a>. I know I will spend hours looking at all of your beautiful quilts, and hope that you will follow the link above. It’s a lot of fun! This is a quilt I finished a few months ago for my co-worker who is battling malignant melanoma. She is currently struggling with her first round of chemo, which requires daily hospital visits for a month. We are all praying for her. <br />
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I used a soft apple green minky fabric for the back. I took every precaution in prewashing and testing the permanent pens (note Sharpie markers are not 100% waterproof—thank goodness I found out before I tried to use them on the blocks). I sprinkled the blocks with water and ironed them before I put the quilt together to make sure it wouldn’t bleed. I was disappointed to find that a few of the pens still bled into the fabric a bit <em>during</em> the final washing. Here are some pictures of the quilt <br />
<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/S4x4mIXDC6I/AAAAAAAAAhM/vvN8z1Bk0WU/s1600-h/DSCF1466%5B6%5D.jpg"><img alt="DSCF1466" border="0" height="404" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/S4x4m4vhlcI/AAAAAAAAAhQ/hGgQPypsbCo/DSCF1466_thumb%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="DSCF1466" width="413" /></a> <br />
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Some close up pictures of the messages before it was quilted. I was so glad I had gathered quotes from the internet as several people used them. All of the messages were very inspiring! <br />
<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/S4x4oGc34pI/AAAAAAAAAhU/Swk6o1qkHrQ/s1600-h/Comfort%20quilt%20012%5B5%5D.jpg"><img alt="Comfort quilt 012" border="0" height="290" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/S4x4ogG0J5I/AAAAAAAAAhY/sPKOmlBb8Ak/Comfort%20quilt%20012_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Comfort quilt 012" width="376" /></a> <br />
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<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/S4x4qMmBcRI/AAAAAAAAAhc/zJkuWdQkSz4/s1600-h/Comfort%20quilt%20013%5B6%5D.jpg"><img alt="Comfort quilt 013" border="0" height="325" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/S4x4qkMXpyI/AAAAAAAAAhg/_NCIdfc30T8/Comfort%20quilt%20013_thumb%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Comfort quilt 013" width="419" /></a> <br />
<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/S4x4ry9NwYI/AAAAAAAAAhk/ypyTClSJBOw/s1600-h/Comfort%20quilt%20017%5B5%5D.jpg"><img alt="Comfort quilt 017" border="0" height="312" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/S4x4stmhGqI/AAAAAAAAAho/21SthN2sBcg/Comfort%20quilt%20017_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Comfort quilt 017" width="405" /></a> <br />
<a href="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/S4x4t9SODVI/AAAAAAAAAhs/ZWuKGBCCkZ0/s1600-h/Comfort%20quilt%20020%5B5%5D.jpg"><img alt="Comfort quilt 020" border="0" height="291" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/S4x4uQV3WmI/AAAAAAAAAhw/1XYsbmrR9q4/Comfort%20quilt%20020_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Comfort quilt 020" width="377" /></a> <br />
<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/S4x4vmnwyyI/AAAAAAAAAh0/Zhk4wRxPwK8/s1600-h/Comfort%20quilt%20011%5B7%5D.jpg"><img alt="Comfort quilt 011" border="0" height="306" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/S4x4wEGZMMI/AAAAAAAAAh4/osWImKc-t-U/Comfort%20quilt%20011_thumb%5B5%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Comfort quilt 011" width="396" /></a> <br />
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<a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/S4x4xWzOjSI/AAAAAAAAAh8/6OdUhlDJ8TQ/s1600-h/Comfort%20quilt%20027%5B5%5D.jpg"><img alt="Comfort quilt 027" border="0" height="317" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/S4x4yGj35eI/AAAAAAAAAiA/N1dW_lOHROs/Comfort%20quilt%20027_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Comfort quilt 027" width="412" /></a> <br />
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<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/S4x4yvLWMPI/AAAAAAAAAiE/3zrMxO0Hhmw/s1600-h/Comfort%20quilt%20008%5B5%5D.jpg"><img alt="Comfort quilt 008" border="0" height="312" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/S4x4zCxlNtI/AAAAAAAAAiI/yYp5rrcAS10/Comfort%20quilt%20008_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Comfort quilt 008" width="405" /></a> <br />
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<a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/S4x4zxH1qaI/AAAAAAAAAiM/myfz4G3cV3k/s1600-h/Comfort%20quilt%20006%5B5%5D.jpg"><img alt="Comfort quilt 006" border="0" height="325" src="http://lh6.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/S4x40eBIgJI/AAAAAAAAAiQ/z01o7ZG5vm4/Comfort%20quilt%20006_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Comfort quilt 006" width="422" /></a> <br />
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<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/S4x41iGIZ2I/AAAAAAAAAiU/26z608QcGZE/s1600-h/Comfort%20quilt%20019%5B5%5D.jpg"><img alt="Comfort quilt 019" border="0" height="294" src="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/S4x42IqgU4I/AAAAAAAAAiY/ba90nOrwv4M/Comfort%20quilt%20019_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Comfort quilt 019" width="382" /></a> <br />
<div align="center"><span style="font-family: papyrus; font-size: large;"><strong><em>Faith</em></strong></span></div><a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/S4x43jY0NPI/AAAAAAAAAic/5HFOrUIRPQY/s1600-h/Comfort%20quilt%20038%5B5%5D.jpg"><img alt="Comfort quilt 038" border="0" height="311" src="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/S4x44PnXslI/AAAAAAAAAig/0Q0jfvLr6Nw/Comfort%20quilt%20038_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Comfort quilt 038" width="404" /></a> <br />
<div align="center"><span style="font-family: papyrus; font-size: large;"><strong><em>Hope</em></strong></span></div><a href="http://lh4.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/S4x45tBBdII/AAAAAAAAAik/LtKl9Z5PS88/s1600-h/Comfort%20quilt%20037%5B7%5D.jpg"><img alt="Comfort quilt 037" border="0" height="322" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjcF4qnNgO5-caK7R0emD-5mdrpOyVZaUKcvWiC2mC0M1RyZHIPPcSJLbdZdIVgigIIAF4Ve66xLFY2A9Ab-HmQpVn12pfDK5LVlyV4Pg0majvzP9f2LaDov3GqVjTi2rLB1cjRWe5z4kA/?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Comfort quilt 037" width="413" /></a> <br />
<div align="center"><span style="font-family: papyrus; font-size: large;"><strong><em>Love</em></strong></span></div><a href="http://lh5.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/S4x47uiCdaI/AAAAAAAAAis/4CR8h9WcbW0/s1600-h/Comfort%20quilt%20039%5B6%5D.jpg"><img alt="Comfort quilt 039" border="0" height="320" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/S4x48GTG-wI/AAAAAAAAAiw/soai38-0RLM/Comfort%20quilt%20039_thumb%5B4%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="Comfort quilt 039" width="412" /></a> <br />
My co-worker made a beautiful tote bag, with lots of pockets, to put the quilt in. We filled the tote with small books of crossword puzzles, email jokes, candy, gum, hand lotion, lip balm, tissue, a water bottle, and a card signed by everyone. <br />
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<a href="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/S4x48lFIgII/AAAAAAAAAi0/PtgmqcCK5eE/s1600-h/DSCF1468%5B5%5D.jpg"><img alt="DSCF1468" border="0" height="328" src="http://lh3.ggpht.com/_7eOrKls0apA/S4x49Ur5S1I/AAAAAAAAAi4/loBtSOX7l1c/DSCF1468_thumb%5B3%5D.jpg?imgmax=800" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; display: block; float: none; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" title="DSCF1468" width="391" /></a> <br />
Thanks for stopping by my blog.Quiltluverhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09698174417233923277noreply@blogger.com26