Sallie's Quilt for Mary

A quilt is not a quilt. Some deserve a bit more attention than others. This is one of those. My friend Mary spent a lot of time making this one and she has plans to put it in our local Heritage Quilters of Huntsville show this fall. So I researched and looked all over the net for ideas for it.

The pattern is called "Sallie's Quilt" and is from Red Crinoline Quilts, formerly Bonnie Blue Quilts. They specialize in civil war reproductions. "Sallie, a Brittany Spaniel, was the beloved mascot for the 11th Pennsylvania Volunteer Infantry Regiment. " is the description of the pattern from their web site. 

I got my quilting inspiration from another blog (Sew'n Wild Oaks) and am very happy with how it turned out. I even emailed Lynn and she was kind enough to email back with the information I was looking for. She free-motioned hers, I must admit the Statler did mine :0)

"cathedral window" inside the inner squares

This is the outer block

Pumpkin seeds in small irish chain blocks

Each block and star are outlined with stippling in the light areas

I used a blue thread to quilt the same flower from the border into the 3 inch areas on the blue blocks

Setting triangles

Border corner

Flower in the center of each border

I also went back and outlined the black border on each side. 

Thanks Mary for letting me work on your beauty! and thanks to Lynn for the inspiration for it. 

Melissa 

Finally tidy

We have lived in this house for about a year and a half now.  We love the wide open floor plan and the oak trees in the yard.  The bad thing is that this 3200ish sf house (one story) has literally no storage space.  There is a room at the end of the bonus room that is about 7 ft x 10 ft.  I have just tossed stuff in there to get it out of sight. The Christmas boxes and other seasonal decorations are neatly stacked to one side, but 2/3 of it is a mess. Time for some organization!

Christmas stuff, not too bad

Before, stuff piled in.

This calls for a trip to the local home improvement store.  The closest one happens to be Lowe's, so off we go.  I found a system by Rubbermaid that is similar to Elfa. You mount a rail across the top and then  "hang" vertical rails on this. The shelves are then adjustable on those rails.

Of course this project was not without a second trip to Lowe's.  The top rail needs to be mounted into at least three studs to carry the weight limit. The wall I was wishing to use had the studs every 24 inches, not the standard 16 or 18.  The holes on the rail did not line up with my studs.  So I improvised and decided to use two different walls. (The one on the left is an interior wall and the studs were standard. I guess since the other one is technically attic that is the discrepancy.) I needed more shelf brackets and more shelves in different sizes. All in all, I am happy with it. Still plenty of space left !

After, all neat

In case you are wondering what all that stuff is, it is mostly craft and arts stuff.  Now I can locate whatever I am looking for. The only stuff not in there is current sewing stuff and scrapbooking supplies. It is not air conditioned and so gets too hot for all that. 

What do you need to organize? 

Birthday Season

My three sons

There is football season and baseball season, around here we have a mini season of birthdays. It worked out that our three boys have birthdays within a month of each other, April 28, April 30, and May 27. The nice thing is that they are several months after Christmas and that they are over and done with (did I really say that?).

For Jackson's birthday (#2 son) this year we went to visit him for the first time since he left for "school." I took his favorite meal (lasagna) and the famous "poo-poo" cake. (How it got its name is an entire topic unto itself almost). It is a chocolate peanut butter batch of deliciousness made in the microwave.

Chocolate hockey cake

For Chandler's (#3 son) birthday we joined forces with one of his best friends whose birthday is the same week. They were also in the same class so thought it would work well. Of course they had two totally different guest lists so our plan was foiled, but they had a blast at the IcePlex skating the day away. Pizza and a yummy cake from Costco was on his menu, and of course a giant bottle of cheese balls.

Chandler and his friend having a blast


 Hunter is getting all grown up. He worked a 10 hour shift on his birthday, which happened to fall on Memorial Day this year. His birthday dinner was a cookout with burgers and dogs, ranch potato salad, and 3 bean bake. His cake of choice has to have carmel. This is an improvised version of chocolate holey cake.

 Now I don't have an excuse to make a cake, but that won't stop me...
What does your family do to celebrate birthdays?

A little update

"Hello there, where have you been?" Here I am. 

I find myself having trouble with, eh hem, time management. Specifically when I get on the computer. I will think of something brilliant to tell you about and open up blogger to get it going and then I get sucked into reading all of the blogs. Everyone else's lives are so much more interesting than mine and more cleverly penned about. (And don't get me started on Pinterest!)

I have been busy though. The quilting business is getting busier and the good news is that I am still loving it. I have been pretty good about keeping the web site and Facebook up to date with pictures of what I have quilted. http://beautifulbeequilting.weebly.com is the web site and Beautiful Bee Quilting is a page on FB too. 

Speaking of funny posts by others, you have to see this one. The Inbox Jaunt If you ever played Monopoly you will enjoy it. 

This weekend the family is visiting with #2 son at his "school" in Georgia. The grandparents on the hubster's side are meeting us there and them coming back to Rocket City for a visit. Am I ready for company? No way, but I am looking forward to the visit. Maybe I will be inspired to make a decent post about that, but then I will end up reading that list on the left side on my way to it!

Treasures Found

 Today is Thursday. It is the day I spend with my Stitch Its friends.  One of our friends is often not there these days because she works for a lady running estate sales.  She called today from a house near where we meet to tell us about an old sewing machine and a couple of quilts.  So 8 of us loaded up into two cars and went for a visit.  I was just going to "supervise".  Ha, look at what I got!

A 5 gallon butter churn crock, glazed in dark brown and cream. There are no markings on the bottom. 

The lid and handle/churn are wooden. The handle is worn from use. 

 In my modest internet research it would seem that this type of crock would sell for around $200. I paid $30!

iced tea spoons

 These were in the kitchen taped together. A set of 8 iced tea spoons. The back is stamped "Niagra Silverplate". It appears that they are maybe from the 1930's and would sell for about $8 a piece.

 I love the look of old "primitive" kitchen utensils. The spoon has been well used as has the rolling pin. There is a cute little brass bell that has a very high tone to it. And does anyone know what the other thing is. I call it a masher. #3 son proceeded to use it to mash open a walnut. It was very effective for that.  Now I need a wide mouthed crock for the counter to hold my new treasures. 

Lastly is a clear glass butter dish. It has no markings. There was another one in green clear glass that a friend got. Not sure why I got it, since I like to keep my butter in a crock with a water seal on the counter so it is room temp and doesn't mush the bread.

All totaled I paid under $50 for my treasures today, and I didn't need a single thing. That's the way it goes.  Now I need to find things to get rid of. I try to get rid of something for everything I bring in so it doesn't get too cluttered around here.

Have you found any good treasures lately?

Got Pollen?

up close pollen

Spring has finally arrived, I think to stay, here in North Alabama. It is a really pretty place to be in the spring because there are tons of different kinds of trees. The colors all pop out at different times keeping it interesting. The not so good, the pollen. I don't mind the pollen if it stays outside where it belongs. 

When we sat down to dinner a couple of nights ago I felt a gritty film on our kitchen table, which is a dark brown wood. At first I thought I had used a dirty sponge to wipe it down the day before. After dinner while I was wiping it down I noticed it was bright yellow! Pollen, in my house! I think when the hubster left the back door open briefly (maybe 10 minutes) it got in. Now I am noticing it everywhere, keeping in mind most of our furniture is a dark wood, including the kitchen cabinets. 

Now the dilemma, clean it all up and risk another layering or just let it be until I am sure it won't be an hourly project. If you know me at all you will know that I am going for option #2. I will tackle that tomorrow, there is sewing to be done today :0) 

This is another example of how much is in the air.  I picked up a friend for our stitching group yesterday because she has had several eye surgeries and cannot drive right now. When I pulled up to her house she almost didn't recognize the Pilot, she said it was a different color. The yellow on the bluish has made it look almost green. Again, wash it so it can get covered again?  I think not. 

Poor Izzie even is having allergy problems on top of everything else. She literally has snot bubbles coming from her nose, poor puppy. I am tempted to give her doggy Benedryl, but don't want to knock her out. 

As April goes it has been colder than usual but we had the typical round of severe weather yesterday. No major damage here. How is your spring and pollen count? 

A little work

Here is a sample of the quilting I have been doing at Beautiful Bee Quilting. I send my customers a "sneek peak" when their quilt is loaded and under way. I think they enjoy it. I don't have a long turn around time, usually less than a week, but in the future it might not be so quick and this will be a good way to keep them posted on the status. I have discovered it is not so easy to get good pictures of quilts. I am also spending a good deal of time trying to post the pictures everywhere. Should I put them on the web site, Facebook, twitter, pintrest, blog.... Right now I put them all on the web site and try to get them on Facebook. That takes enough time! So here they are...

An outdoorsy quilt for Pat S's son in law, quilted with fly fishing hooks. 

Dianne R's batik quilt, reminded me of water, so I used a circular pattern that made me think bubbles. 

Janice A's civil war reproduction block swap.
Custom quilted using about 5 different block patterns alternating and feathered triangles in the border triangles. 

Small border, pulled part of a pattern from the larger border. 

Block detail

Christy H's Jewel box king size quilt, started in the 80's :0) Custom quilted with cross hatching through the chains and block design at left. 

Rhonda S's friend's aunt's quilt, vintage maybe. Raspberry and floral, no sashings. I isolated the block and custom quilted with swirly design.

Another vintage quilt, hand embroidered
blocks. I free motioned following
the suggested quilting "dots" 

sashing

The business needs a mascot and I was inspired by Mary Lou Weidman during her workshop through our guild last fall to make a crazy cow quilt. (Click on her name to go to a recent blog post about some of the cow quilts). I think I have a name for her Bea (or Beatrice) the Bumble Cow. I am making wonky letters and borders then I will embellish with eyes and buttons and bee hives and other fun stuff. It's about 45 inches square right now and has been fun to create.