The Wedding was beautiful......

My daughter's wedding has consumed most of my time for the past several weeks. I'm back and ready to dig into the borders for the block of the month.

Here is a very short Smilebox of the event. It was beautiful!!! The location at Edgewood Country Club in Lake Tahoe was spectacular.

Make a Smilebox photobook

In the slideshow you will see all my adorable little grandchildren...my three children with their spouses....and my wonderful husband that has been by my side for the last 36 years. Life is good.

As always,

Lynn

Scrappy Leaves quilt

Dear Blossom of Friendship followers,

The Scrappy Leaves quilt is almost finished. Just a few more hours on the binding then the hanging sleeve and it will be ready to hang up in the shop. It's always a good feeling to get something completed before teaching the class!

The quilt took me two and a half days of laborious stitch in the ditch around each leaf and border sections on my long-arm. Stitch in the ditch quilting is not very much fun. It becomes tedious and doesn't seem very creative. I'll quilt feathers any day over ditch work.

My admiration goes out to anyone that can machine quilt a large quilt on a smaller machine. The next time you see your machine quilter, give them a hug......they deserve it! Machine quilting takes a lot more time than you think. I usually spend about one hour just loading the quilt on the frame. It has to be perfectly lined up or else you'll pay for it when you get down to the end.

The whole idea of this quilt was to imagine the sun shining down from the top left hand corner through the leaves and trees in the forest. I can't tell you how many times in my walks around the neighborhood that I was trying to capture that feeling. On my walk with Zinny this morning, we saw our first dogwoods ( I think they are dogwoods) changing color. They weren't changing much, but there was definitely some fall color.

I used wool batting so my leaves would just pop right out. I quilted swirls to depict the wind carelessly tossing the leaves every which way. That's my story because my swirls are quilted every which way. I'm consistently inconsistent with the entire quilt.

Look what ambled by the critter cam last night on the game trail! We've never had an animal get this close to the camera.....ever. So, if you go out in the woods today.......................

As always,

Lynn

The Last Month of Summer

Dear Blossom of Friendship Quilters,

The Scrappy Leaves quilt is all pieced together. This is a fun quilt to make. The borders were challenging and took me quite a bit of time arranging and rearranging the sections. I would put all of the pieces up and stand back and squint at them until I think I got the colors in the right order. I'll get it on the quilting machine next week and there it will stay for quite some time. This quilt is from the book called Maple Leaf Quilts.

This is actually the back of the quilt. I went under the deck to take a picture of the back while the afternoon sun was streaming through. Doesn't it look just like a stained glass window?

Zinny isn't so little anymore. She decided to pose in front of the backside of the quilt up on the deck. What a ham.

We have our six-year-old granddaughters with us this week before they head back to school. We spent the day at Calaveras Big Trees State Park. Those two little girls played in a small creek for most of the afternoon.

It's time to start thinking about Autumn. Have you noticed that it's starting to get dark earlier? The sun is taking it's time coming up in the morning too. Occasionally up here in the mountains, you get a fleeting feeling of Fall in the air. You really can't put your finger on it.....it's just "that" feeling that summer is coming to an end.

Enjoy the last month of Summer while making a quilt for Autumn.

As always,

Lynn

Miss Iris Picture again

Let's try this picture again. I'm so glad that Crissie let me know that this image wasn't enlarging.

Hope this is better for everyone.

Take care,
Lynn

Month #10 - Miss Iris

Dear Blossom of Friendship Followers,

Isn't Miss Iris a sweet little basket of sunshine? I like the pinks and the orange together in the same floral arrangement. The purples are very bold and are sprinkled throughout most of the quilt.


I think my border is coming together nicely. I'm going to change some of the colors of the flowers. The flowers that I've already made will not go to waste.....I'll just move them to another location in the border where the colors will compliment each other.


You will not be attaching the border to your quilt until after you are finished appliqueing the flowers on. This makes life much easier. As I work on the border, I roll both ends up to the flower that I'm stitching so it looks like a scroll. This method works well for me.

Stay tuned to see what this beautiful basket of batiks is going to turn into. In my spare time...yeah right....I've been working on the Scrappy Leaves quilt in the Maple Leaf Quilts book. I'll be teaching the class in mid-September so I'd better hurry up and finish this quilt.

The basket is filled with Bali Pops and every scrap of batik that I own....which isn't much. This is the first time I've worked with batiks and I'm loving every minute of working with their rich, rich colors. Doesn't this just put you in the mood for Autumn? Crisp nights and mornings and a deep blue sky.

The leaves changing colors....raking....and raking some more.

On another note.....the bridal shower was a success! I'll include pictures in another post.

As always,

Lynn

The Home Stretch

Dear Blossom of Friendship Followers,

Well, the cocktail bridal shower for my daughter is tomorrow, Sunday at 1pm. The maid of honor and bridesmaids have assured me that all I have to do is supply the home for the shower.....they will do all the cooking, decorating, and clean-up. I know all of the girls and I know just how organized they are. They have bridal shower planning down to a "T".

So, I'm trusting that the tables and umbrellas will show up on time. The tablecloths, decorations, party favors, gifts for the games will suddenly appear. My role as mother of the bride is to sit back and relax....right? After the last few weeks of preparing the house for this, forget relaxed, I'll be passed out on the lawn chair with my cocktail in hand!

Here's a few snapshots of what my honey of a husband and I have been up to this week. Remember I started with the sewing room and had to organize my "mail box" of fabric.

While I was cleaning, I found this Happy Home needle book. (Note to self: Wear hat the next time I get together with my friends to quilt.)

Time to digress for a bit. My husband and I struck a deal about six years ago when he bought his first car (1956 Ford) that he planned on restoring. For every dollar he spent on the car, I could spend the same on my quilting hobby. He finished his first car and I have more fabric, gadgets, and quilting machines than one person could ever use in a lifetime. He's added to his car collection by three more cars and they've been "collecting" in our side yard. He has his treasures covered with lovely blue tarps. So my point is, this shower is going to be in the backyard and I wanted to fence off his collection so we didn't have to look at his pile of ....treasures. So the fence was finished on Monday.

We've had this old window hiding out in the garage and picket fence shutters . So we added a flower box and this is what you see now when looking out the family room window. I hadn't been able to open the drapes for years.....and years. Now I never close the drapes.

Years ago, my Mom went "back East" as she always said, and bought me an ox yoke. It cost her more to ship it than what she paid for it. I brought out my Summer Wind quilt, a Miss Rosie pattern. I made this using Allspice Tapestry fabric by Fig Trees.

I know it isn't Easter, but I had to put out my Rabbits Prefer Chocolate quilt by Bunny Hill. I'm displaying this on a fabric roller that we bought in North Carolina a few years ago.

It used to be in an old Mercantile store and would measure out fabric by the yard. Can you imagine having only one fabric choice?

Last, but not least, a bottle of "I Do" room and linen spray for the freshly painted powder room with the new floor.

On that note......

As always,

Lynn

Re-writing my autobiography

Dear Blossom Followers,

Remember a few posts ago when I mentioned we are writing our autobiography by the way we decorate our homes. My autobiography in the city house needs to be re-written.....FAST. My daughter's wedding shower is in a little over a week and I'm not ready yet. It is time to do some serious tidying up. So, I began in the sewing room of course.

I bought this cute pie safe a few years ago in San Andreas, CA at The Barn. I had it so stuffed with fabric that I didn't take a picture to show you because I was too embarrassed. (Did the doors "bow" from the weight of the fabric?) I couldn't close the doors before, and now I don't want to close them.

All Fig Tree fabric is on the top shelf along with Beach House and At Water's Edge...all from my favorite designers.

The second shelf has some left-over Stone Cottage and a basket full of goodies for a new project.

The luscious brown, orange, green, purples and plaids are for a new Autumn project. Did you know that plaid is my favorite color? The pinks and greens are for another design that I've had in my mind for over a year now. (Stayed tuned, they could be the next block of the month from me!)

All of the fabric that I removed from the pie safe is now "safely" stored on shelves in the closet.

Here's tomorrow's project. This cabinet was a great "find" from an old Post Office. It is great for storing fat quarters. You can see in an instant what colors you have. Now I just need to re-fold and re-sort the FQ's in all of the little mail slots. I'll post a picture of this when I'm finished.



This reorganization feels "good." Maybe no one from the bridal shower will go upstairs....but I won't cringe if they do.

More to come as I work my way through the house.

I'm working on my borders for Blossom of Friendship in the evening....but it's been hard to stay awake.

As always,

Lynn

To quilt or not to quilt

Good morning everyone,

Melissa, friends Ann and Michelle from Texas, and my husband and I, decided not to spend our day quilting and went for a walk through the North Grove of Calaveras Big Trees State Park located just three miles Northeast of Arnold, CA on Highway 4. http://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=551 Here we are standing on a stump of a tree that is so massive that square dances were once held on it.



The diameter of the tree is measured 4.5' off the ground. A couple of the trees in this park are over 30' in diameter. We needed about eight more quilters to complete the circle around this one!



Resistant to fire, wind is the worst enemy of the trees. You can actually walk through some of the fallen trees.





Early on, a horse and buggy could pass right through this tree. (Left to right, Lynn, Melissa, Ann and Michelle.)



Conveniently placed along the trail are benches that are tilted back. You can recline and gaze upon the spectacular redwoods without hurting your neck.



This is what was right in front of us. The trees are named Mother and Son.



"Toto, we aren't in Kansas anymore!"



We had a good day of fresh air, scenic beauty and companionship. Life is good.

As always,

Lynn

Quilting at the Cabin

Hello Friends,

So what does the owner of a quilt store do when she has a few days off? Well, she gathers up two friends from Texas and heads up to the mountains to spend a couple of days at the cabin....that's what!

We've got Melissa's room already for her. I promise you we will take good care of her and not let the bears near her. We are not responsible if she goes outside after dark!



I've got dinner all planned for either tonight or tomorrow night. Here are the meatballs for sopa de albonidgas just waiting to jump into the broth boiling on the stove. (Recipe below.)



Now look at what these berries turned into.



A wonderful berry crisp. I'll reheat it and serve it with vanilla ice cream tonight...yummers.

Maybe we'll eat dessert first!




No quilting retreat is complete without double chocolate brownies!




Recipe for Sopa de Albondigas

Broth:
1 medium onion chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 (15 oz) can tomato sauce
8 cups beef broth or stock
4 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon crushed oregano
1 teaspoon salt

Meatballs:
1 lb. ground pork
1 lb. extra lean ground beef
1/2 cup uncooked rice
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs, beaten

Condiments to put on top of your bowl
chopped avocado
chopped fresh cilantro
chopped fresh tomatoes
sour cream
grated Monterey Jack cheese

To make the broth, saute onion and garlic in the olive oil. Add tomato sauce, beef stock, fresh tomatoes, cumin, oregano and salt. Meanwhile mix together ingredients for meatballs. Shape into little balls and drop into boiling mixture.

Cover and cook for 45 minutes. Serve with the assorted condiments. This soup is actually better the next day. I mash up some of the meatballs prior to serving.

The evenings have been a bit on the chilly side, so this will hit the spot.

Wish you could all be with us.

As always,
Lynn

Month #9 - Miss Zinnia

Dear Quilters,



Welcome to July and month #9 in the Blossom of Friendship block of the month. Miss Zinnia is so cheerful with her big pink flower. You each received a fat quarter to cut out her basket which will give you plenty of material.

I'm still working on border flowers in between getting ready for company for the 4th of July holiday. I'm just about ready to pack all the quilting supplies away, as my 22-month-old grandson Jess, may decide to run off with (heaven forbid) my rotary cutter!



This is a little quilt from Little Quilts that I made and hand-quilted years ago. I put it out on the front porch to welcome our oldest son and his family for the weekend. If you can zoom in, you can see the crocheted lace my grandmother made. I cut up small sections to make curtains in some of the windows. I found a wicker sewing basket that had been packed away for years and it was packed with treasures of tatting, lace and old hankies.



I put the bunting out (where did that word come from?) I actually use the triangle to call all the little kids in for meals.....it works! Of course all the little ones gather around and need to be picked up so they can hit the triangle just as hard as they can signaling every creature within a mile that supper is on the picnic table. Those are memories they will carry with them for a lifetime. Of course they will probably all have bad hearing from the loud clanging they made in their youth at Grammy and Poppy's house.

Now what to do with these luscious berries?

Have a happy and safe 4th of July.

As always,

Lynn