I won!

 I won some great stuff from Pat Sloan!

Pat encourages her fans to Finish It Up!  Periodically, she chooses a random photo from her Bust Your UFOs  Flickr group.  I won the Oct/Noc drawing with Timeless Garden!  Here's the link to Pat's newsletter with a photo of my quilt.  Thanks, Pat!

In other news...

Julia received her first two college acceptance letters!   Siena College and Franciscan University.  Yes, she's wearing a poodle skirt.  It was "Decades Day" at school.

WIP Wednesday

I had a fun quilty week! How about you?

Finish: I finished my mother's Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt in time for her birthday party! She really loves it and it has a place of honor at the foot of her bed. Blog reader Karen suggested the name Timeless Garden. Love it! Now I just have to make the label.


Blocks: These 4 string blocks are for the new Mini Scrap Basket Swap. What fun! I can't wait to dive into my modern scrap bin to make more.


I'm keeping up with the Blogger's BOM. You can see all the amazingly diverse color combinations in the Flickr group.


Enough stalling... I need to focus on the Wedding Ring full time until the top is done. I'm hoping to get that much done before Christmas. Pat will be ready to quilt it after the first of the year.

Now off you go...

Mom's Birthday

We interrupt this quilting blog for a brief family post...

My mother turned 85 on Saturday and she couldn't be happier (or cuter)!

Julia prepared a double batch of homemade pasta (8 eggs worth)! She's made it a few times before, and this was the best yet! Does that look like enough for 10 people? I hate to tell you there wasn't much left over.

When my sister was leaving yesterday, Mom said thank you and that her presence would have been enough. I thought she said presents!

She was a little confused by the quilt at first. She didn't remember making the hexie flowers all those years ago. When it all sunk in, she got a little teary.

To end our beautiful evening, it started to snow! We were lucky on the coast with only a dusting.

Have a Happy Halloween!

Friday Finish!

My mother's birthday gift is done, 24 hours early! If you've been following along, you already know that she started the Grandmother's Flower Garden blocks about 20 years ago. Only the quilting angels know for sure how long those poor blocks sat untouched in her UFO pile, then mine.

I'm really pleased with how it turned out! I was worried about the maroon fabric running in the wash, but the quilt and the color catchers came out clean.


I didn't do a ton of quilting because it was a tight deadline and I wanted the quilt to stay soft. Mom liked the way I quilted the flowers in Nonna's Garden, so I did that again here. The quilt finished at 50" X 77"- a long lap quilt for a tiny lady!

I had to wait for Pete to get home from school to hold it up for photos. Too much shadow in the first shot.

The second is better, but the railing is in the way. Oh well, that's as good as it's gonna get.

Does every quilt need a name? How about Nonna's Garden 2? Nonna's Garden Maxi?

Basting...

Then quilting...

WIP Wednesday

Welcome to my weekly status update, hosted by Lee at Freshly Pieced. Since I added the WIP page up top, I don't list all the "on hold" WIPs here. It was taking up too much space! We'll just look at what is really being worked on.

Mom's Birthday Quilt: I haven't made as much progress as I had hoped on this one. This Grandmother's Flower Garden is her 20-year old WIP that I'm finishing as a surprise. Will it be done by Saturday? Yes!!


4x5 Modern Quilt Bee: As I was getting ready to put away the portable design wall, I realized that I never showed you all the wonderful blocks I received. I figured I'd better show them to you before the next round starts. I love the colors, except the border on my own block is a little too dark. I'm thinking about playing for one more round so I'll have 12 blocks. But if I'm still having fun, I might do the full year for 24 blocks!

Jessica

Adrianne

Charise

Amelia

Rachel

Mine

Teeny Weeny Paper Piecing Bee: Sadly, this bee has come to a close. I'm waiting for one last block, then I can figure out to do with these cute 6" blocks.

I'm off to volunteer at church today, and hopefully get a little quilting in this afternoon. Pete starts Driver's Ed today! Eek!

Now, off you go...