Birthday recap

I love lilacs!! Growing up in Rochester, NY (which by the way, is the lilac capital of the world), we had a lilac bush in our backyard. The first time I saw this line, I went nuts!! It is so beautiful, I can't wait to see the yardage - which I think should be out soon. Anyway, back to my birthday recap. I had a wonderful non-birthday this year. As a leap year baby, this was an off year but it was wonderful beginning to end. Lilac Hill was a gift from my "partner in crime" -I'll let you guess who that is. She is such a dear friend. She was thinking maybe another Schnibbles, she might be right :) I can't wait to start planning....Speaking of Schnibbles, My Little Red is looking just fine in it's new place on my office wall.

The pattern looks different to me when seen from a distance. This really is such a sweet quilt.

And these were given to me by a co-worker, most of them from her garden!! She is our resident office florist :). Thank you Donna for the flowers. I also had 2 carrot cakes yesterday, my favorite!! In my opinion, the cake is there only to support the cream cheese frosting LOL!!

My desk just looks so pretty with flowers on it, makes the work go better, it seems.

Until next time,

-Karen

My Little Red is not a UFO

I am so proud that my Schnibbles project from last October, "My Little Red" is no longer in the UFO pile. This is such a sweet little quilt. I think I'll take it to the office on Monday and hang it. This looks a little wintery and I need to make a pretty spring quilt to hang, hmmmm..... I do have another project in the UFO pile that might just work. Stay tuned. :)
I am really happy with the center of this quilt. I free handed circles which worked really well. I did a feather in the border that I'm not terribly happy with. Oh well, we learn something from each project - right??

Hope you are having a wonderful weekend.

Until next time,

-Karen

Winter Star #1

Ta-da.... I've finished this and I've named it Winter Star. I've already decided I want to do another one with different fabrics and so I'm calling this is #1.
I quilted wavy lines thru the middle of each strip and a curly design in the red star. What a fun pattern this is and so quick. I must admit when I first looked at Twinkle, I couldn't see past the graphic colors. Now I'm thinking all kinds of color combinations. In fact, recently my DD told me she "needs" an new quilt - LOL!!! She wants aqua, white and red. I thought of Bliss - can't you just see it?? The background in aqua/white with red stars. How cute would that be??
I hope many of you are enjoying Kim's great patterns in Scrap-Basket Sensations.
Until next time,
-Karen

I have a winner

I had to take this quilt off my machine to unquilt a section that I didn't like. That's not something I like to do, but I've learned that it's better to un-do, than to regret my choice every time I look at the quilt. So, while it's off the machine, I thought I'd give you another peek. This quilt has such a serene beauty to it- very different than a lot of my other quilts. Drumroll please..... the lucky winner of a signed copy of Scrap-Basket Sensations is Pokey who wrote "Oh, it's nice to see these beautiful quilts on display in your home. I'm also glad to hear of your friendship with Kim personally! Thanks for the opportunity".

So Pokey, congratulations!! I know you will love this book and I hope you let us know when you finish your first quilt!!! There were so many wonderful comments, I hope you will all add this book to your library. I've almost finished my green Twinkle - haven't named it yet.
Hope the rest of your weekend is wonderful!
Until next time, make something beautiful.
-Karen

A funny story...

I just have to tell you how much fun I had yesterday reading all your comments. I'm sure many of you came for the first time, I hope you'll come back. Today is Sue's turn so hop on over to her blog and you might win your own copy of this great book. While I was talking to Kim yesterday about the blog tour I told her that I felt a little bad for some of the quilts in the book that were kind of getting overlooked - like Twinkle (see a close -up here). Do you recognize this pattern??? Well, I decided to go home last night and whip up a few blocks :). This is a really fun pattern!! I thought Twinkle would look so good all done in greens and then have little red flowers and that it would look like a garden. Well my basket of 2 1/2" scraps weren't exactly what I had in mind. It ended up looking kind of Christmasy - don't you think? But I think I'm going to love it! Anyway, back to the funny story....
As we were finishing up the quilts last Spring, Kim had finished Twinkle and I brought it home to sew the binding on (which is something I love to do by the way). Now mind you, all 4 of my book quilts were already finished and my DH had been seeing them in progress for months - with basically no comment. When I walked in with Twinkle he said, "Now I like that quilt!" Go figure!! It has a very graphic, modern feel to it when done in the black, white and red. And you can see how different it looks done in the green and red.
That really is the beauty of Kim's books. These quilts are so versatile and fun to make.

Don't forget the last two stops on the tour.
Sue at Quilt Times - February 18th
Carol at Brown Quilts - February 19th

You still have a chance to leave a comment on yesterday's post. I'll pick the winner Sat. night.Go cut some strips and get ready to sew!

Until next time,

-Karen

Scrap-Basket Sensations Blog Tour - Day 8

I am so excited, my day is finally here. I hope you are enjoying the blog book tour as much as I am. Hop on over to Kim's blog and say hi!! I've been thinking about what to say. I don't have any interviews or clever questions so I thought I'd just tell you about my friend. Kim and I have been friends since 1996 when she moved to Pensacola and started working at the law firm where I worked. It didn't take us long to find out we were both quilters, and that we both had a serious fascination - okay obsession - with fabric LOL!! Isn't it so much more fun to go fabric shopping with a friend?? Anyway, I couldn't even begin to count the hours we've spent talking and stitching. I wish all of you could know her the way I do. She is funny, generous , a little shy, loves to cut fabric, is a very accomplished quilter and now she's a two-time best selling author!!! This book, just like the first one, is made to be used - a lot! These patterns are fun, have a fresh originality and if you use your scraps, they really are great stash busters. I thought it would be fun to see how these quilts look in different ways around my house.
This is a picture I took last spring before the quilts got shipped off. I was finishing the binding on "Twinkle" and thought how pretty the quilts looked all spread out in my living room.

It's been fun to see the response to "Flowers for Nana Girl". This is such a sentimental quilt for me. Kim really surprised my when she told me what she had named the quilt. I had been using the working title of "Pretty in Pink". But telling my story of how I came to be called Nana Girl by my granddaughter and then naming the quilt after me (and my blog), has been such an honor! This quilt has not come home yet - after going to Houston last fall, it's still out at Martingale's offices.

These pictures will kind of show you some of the fabrics in the blocks. I started with the border fabric, and then picked scraps to make the flowers.

I mixed all types of fabric, prints, stripes and batiks.

Here's a picture of some of the left over scraps. It's a happy quilt!!

Next is Flower Boxes. I've already said that it was love at first sight when I saw this quilt. Watching this pattern emerge as each block goes up on the design wall is the most amazing thing. This quilt has a charm all its own.

Here is Flower Boxes in my living room in my favorite chair.

It looks pretty good on the couch too!!

I've decided this is going to go on the quilt hanger soon, as my spring quilt!!

Blues crossing is a sweet quilt.

It looks so good folded over a little rocker in the guest room.

It also looks good on the wicker settee. Darlene, see my bunny??

Northern Comfort is a cuddle quilt.

Here it is still hanging in the living room.

Please leave a comment for your chance to win a signed copy of Scrap-Basket Sensations. Tell me which quilt in the book you think you'll make first. Here's the rest of the schedule. You still have a few more days and chances to win your own copy. Be sure to check out yesterday's post about my latest quilt from Scrap-Basket Sensations - a variation of Tipsy Baskets.

Tomorrow's it's Sue's turn and then Carol will end the tour.
Sue at Quilt Times - February 18th
Carol at Brown Quilts - February 19th

Good luck - I will pick a winner Saturday night Feb. 19th.

-Karen

This Giveaway has now ended. Thanks for participating. The winner will be announced soon.

Book tour and Baskets

It's almost my turn to share with you about this fabulous book and give you a chance to win a signed copy. So be sure to come back tomorrow!! Today is Darlene's day. Hop on over there right now and read about the quilts she made for the book.

I wanted to give you an update on Winding Baskets. It's pieced, basted and being quilted as we speak. It won't be done by tomorrow, but here it is at this point. It's hard to see the quilting with it laying on the table.

But you can kind of see it from the back. I used some scraps to help piece the backing. I do love back art on a quilt, even a little bit like this!

Here's the rest of the schedule. Some have already drawn winners, but you still have lots of chances.
Darlene at Quilting Daze - February 16th
Karen at Nana Girl Quilts - February 17th
Sue at Quilt Times - February 18th
Carol at Brown Quilts - February 19th

See you back here tomorrow. Have a great Wednesday!

-Karen