Bowtie Fun

Hope you are all having a great weekend so far. I'd like to invite you to stop in over at Stash ManicureRae Ann invited me back as a guest author. I'm sharing one of my favorite blocks and one the BEST ways to manicure your stash. This is a small quilt I made this week to demonstrate the block. Things have been very busy down here in Pensacola, and we are so thankful the hurricanes are staying out of the Gulf. Hope you enjoy your visit to Stash Manicure and you'll be inspired to try something new. But watch out, this block is truly addicting and so much fun.
Until next time, make something beautiful.
-Karen

I Need Help

Does anyone know how to do a binding where you fold the binding to the back so it doesn't show?? I just put a binding on and I've evidently done it wrong. I need to know how to handle the corners. I don't want anything to show from the front.

Thanks for your help!! I'm so close to the end of this major project and now I've messed up on the binding. Hoping I won't have to rip too much. :(

Update: Thanks for the link to Bluemoonriver - facing a quilt is exactly what I was looking for. That's the good news, the bad news is, I'll be spending time with the frogs - ripit, ripit :(.

Thanks,
Karen

I've joined the parade.......

but is it too late??? Have I missed it?? I hope not. I have been so inspired to see these wonderful quilts pop up all over Blogland! And I now own my very own copy. I'm finishing up a labor of love (reveal soon-yea) and then I want to do one of the little ones just for fun.
So thanks Carrie for all the inspiration.
Until next time, make something beautiful.
Karen

Home From the Mountains

I've been out of the loop since I got home from the retreat. I'll post all about the soon. But today I want to tell you about our trip last weekend. This is the view from our dock at our house in the mountains of western North Carolina. Or it was until today, when the sale became final.

We have been going up to this part of NC since 1987 and we built this house in 2000 with our co-owners. We named it Kataluma, which in Greek means place of rest or place to let down your heavy load. Mary and Joseph stayed in the barn of a kataluma the night Jesus was born.

And so this has been our Kataluma - our place of rest. In some ways it doesn't seem real yet that it belongs to someone else. Our families have spent many happy times there over the last 10 years. And I truly hope this new family will be as happy there as we were. There is a season for everything, and our season here has ended.

There are stone steps and a nice gentle walk down to the lake. Here I am with my grandchildren, feeding the ducks on a calm, peaceful morning.

One of the things I liked the best about Kataluma was that I filled the house with quilts!! Now that they are all back here in Pensacola, I will be sharing them in the near future. Here is our bedroom and a wall hanging of earth toned plaids. This was really my favorite and one I made specifically for Kataluma.

So of course, guess what went up in my office first thing this morning (we just got back yesterday)?? Yep, my favorite quilt from the lakehouse.

It looks different in a business setting instead of facing out into the forest. But it brings lots of happy memories.

There are lots of scrappy pieces and I anchored the whole thing with black centers and a black border.

I used black thread and since this was done 10 years ago, it was hand quilted. It's pretty primitive feeling, but that's the feel I wanted to go up in the mountains.

And here's the kitty block. Until I started taking pictures of all my kitty blocks, I didn't realize how often I used the same fabric LOL! I really will have to go hunting for some new pieces.

So until next time, make something beautiful.

Karen

Getting Ready

I'm getting ready to go on my first retreat!! I'm really excited. I'm going with my friend Kim, who is teaching one of the quilts from her book, Scrap Basket Surprises. In trying to get some projects together, I found these log cabin blocks I started a couple of years ago.
After making wedding quilts for both of my children, I decided I wanted to use the scraps and make a quilt for me. I love log cabin quilts but have never made one, so that decision was easy.

Since both the wedding quilts were signature quilts, I had lots of small strips of the fabrics left. As I fingered thru all the scraps, the name came to me. It's called "Wedding Memories Linger" for when I look over the blocks, my thoughts linger and I can remember working on each quilt as we prepared for the weddings (2002 and 2007).

I recently saw a post by Wanda in Exuberant Color of her batik log cabin and it reminded me of my stack of blocks. I have struggled with deciding which layout to use, which is why my blocks have languished in drawer for almost 3 years! But seeing her play with several different layouts, I was inspired to finish mine!

These are several different layouts I'm playing with. Knowing me, the finished quilt may not look anything like these, but at least I took pictures to remind me of which ones I really liked. I also bought a batik last year that I think will work perfectly as a border.

So my goal for this project at the retreat, is to finish the number of blocks I need for whatever layout I choose. Fortunately, I don't need too many. I've found the box of scraps and they are ironed and ready.

I've got a couple of other projects I'm taking too, but no time to take pictures. Wish me luck and lots of happy sewing :).
Until next time, make something beautiful,

Karen

Looking for something else

You may remember this wallhanging from my post a while back. Well, the other day I was looking for something else, and I found a piece of the original fabric. This project was made by cutting up a focal piece into small squares. You then sorted by color and then into light, medium and dark. You then start to create whatever picture you see in your mind. I wanted mine to look like the mountains of North Carolina. Here's a close up of the squares.

Here is the original fabric. There were hunting men, horses and dogs.

How funny is that?? I'm really glad I've found this. I'm going to applique it on the back of the piece so I'll remember what it looked like. It's fun to go back and look at the finished piece and see parts of the men, dogs and horses.

All in all, I'm pleased with this. It's one of my early works (early 90's), put in a drawer and finally finished 4 years ago. This is one of the very first things I machine quilted.

I've been busy working on a big project that is almost ready for a reveal. Plus I've finished another quilt to be sent to it's owner soon. Pictures to come.

Until next time, make something beautiful.

Karen

Angels In My Garden After 50 Years

Several weeks ago our extended family of 23 gathered in Stone Mountain, GA to celebrate my parents 60th Wedding Anniversary. This is the quilt I made for their 50th. I called it Angels in my Garden after 50 years. If you look closely, the angels are carrying a bouquet of flowers. It was for a wedding gift after all :).
Here's the back. I took one of the blocks from the front (the blue one on the left), added the flying geese sashing and enlarged it.

I love doing back art. I don't always do it, but this is a special quilt.

Almost every block in this quilt has meaning. The 3 flower pots are for me, my sister and my brother.

The red and blue bird are for my dad and his sister. The 3 flowers right below the birds (sorry they're kind of cut off) are for my mom, her twin sister and her older sister. (Notice the two blue flowers are mirror images of each other - that's for the twins). The carolina lily block represents that they live in High Point, NC.

This is the wedding wreath block, with their date.

My dad has a barn and raises goats - so of course there had to be some goats in the quilt!

My mother is a master gardener and loves flowers and color - so the basket of flowers is for her.

Last, but not least, is the signature block. Using leaves that I sent all over the country to be signed, the big sunflower represents their siblings, their children and my only remaining grandparent. The little flower coming off the branch of the big flower is for the grandchildren. If you click on the flower, right in the center you'll see........ the kitty!!! Can't forget him.

This is the original label I made 10 years ago when I gave them the quilt. I asked my mom to bring the quilt to Atlanta. I just said that maybe the new members of the family would like to see it.

What she didn't know (and the real reason for bringing it) was that I'd made a new label for their 60th. Everyone there signed it except for the 2 youngest great grandchildren LOL!

If we get to do this again in 10 years, I'll have to come up with something new. But for now, Angels in my Garden went back home to NC where it is very loved.

So until next time, make something beautiful.

Karen