My (New) Old Kentucky Home

Oh my!  The roller coaster ride continues!  Get this...I'm moving to KENTUCKY!  I can't believe it! My husband very recently accepted a job with UPS and so we'll kick the Texas dust off our boots and head to Louisville, Kentucky.  It's all very short notice and things are moving so quickly.  We've found a nice rental house in Louisville.  Get this... it's only 990 square feet! Yikes!  Oh well, it will work while we look around and get a feel for where we want to put down our roots.

There's a semi-finished basement that is not included in the square feet and will become my quilt studio.   The really nice thing is that it has a little half bath in basement... convenient, huh? It will be soooo hard to leave Texas because my kids and grandbabies live here but ya gotta do what ya gotta do, right?

So, I'm in this state of "HURRY HURRY HURRY!  Get things done by the end of August because after that its moving time!"  If you'll remember, I started May Flowers at Jo's Country Junction Retreat in West Union, Iowa at the end of July.  Well, I finished!  This isn't the greatest pic... I had to stand on a counter to get it... I'll take some outdoor pics tomorrow but I just HAD to share it!  It is really different for me.  I tend to do more traditional patterns with "civil war' fabrics and colors.  I had to really dig in the stash to get these brights and truth be told I did buy about 8 one-third cuts of fabric to have some variety.







I pieced together the back using leftover block fabrics and a star block that I had Kelli Hanken and Jo Kramer, the designers and instructors, sign. You can see Bobbins Hunter, my cat, inspect the quilting.  He's very particular.

The star was placed into a 'rejected' flower that I made for the top but decided that it didn't work... not enough contrast between the hot pink flower and the red center. I had planned to put the signature star on the front but forgot about it as I was constructing the top!

I pulled the embroidery machine out and made a label and incorporated it as part of the back.  I thought I was being clever but I didn't consider that when I quilted the top, the label would get quilted too.  It actually worked out ok and I didn't have to hand stitch it to the quilt so, yea for me!  If you look closely, you'll see that I used some Iowa fabric I found at the LQS for the label.

I also want to share this quilt that I quilted for a customer.  I don't usually share customer quilts but I really love the way this one came out.  The quilter is a new quilter and likes to incorporate hand embroidery into her tops.  This quilt is for her son and is just the center of the quilt.  I love the way Spidey looks like he is jumping out of the quilt.









So, I know this is getting a little long but one last thing.... a little tip from me to you. I was making the binding for May Flowers and needed to measure the length to make sure that I had enough.  I feel like I always need to measure at the ironing board.  Sometimes it's binding, sometimes it stash. Anyway, I have a measuring tape and rulers but they always end up in the way or on the floor. My solution?  I took my ruler and marked my ironing board  cover.  Yep, just grabbed the Sharpie and problem solved.  I marked a full yard along the board using the most common measurements.   Works like a charm and I'm not wasting a bunch of time looking for my tape measure or ruler.  Score!

Well, I have so much to get done this weekend so I better get to it!

Piece and Joy

Irene