Time Keeps on Slippin'...

Hello my friends!

I cannot believe that I have allowed so much time to slip by without posting!  If you had asked me I would have told you I posted 3 weeks ago, tops!  Imagine my shock and dismay to see that's it been two whole months!

I do have a few good excuses though...

First of all, I have a new grandbaby!

This is Kennedy Irene Hafer and she is such a doll and my namesake (-: 

 

She keeps us busy and smiling all day long!

 

 And since Kennedy and her parents (my son and his fiancé) are living with us until the new year, I needed to have a baby guest room so...

 

I dismantled my office and made that the baby room complete with crib, rocker, changing table and dresser.  Curtains and quilt are on the list of things to do and I found the perfect fabric for them too...

 

Isn't this the cutest fabric! I love the little owls. I think a Yellow Brick Road Quilt will be perfect with these.  I'll use the border fabric on both the quilt and the bottom of the curtains.

 

Now I needed a new space for the office so in a act of selfless love and devotion (;-p) I dismantled my beloved sewing room to put the office in there and instead of redoing my office I did the office up for my hubby making it a "Me Room" for some of his memorabilia from his Air Force Days.

 

 

 

 

Now, fear not!  I still have my sewing room, it's just now combined with my longarm loft.  Gammill Bea is sharing her space with Elena (my Elna machine) and Misty (my Featherweight) and Emmy (my Bernina).  It's a bit crowded and my guest bedroom closet and linen closet are now filled with quilty stuff but it works!  Do you see how my stash has grown?  The top of the cabinet is all wool!  I've gone wool CRAZY!

 

 

 

 

So with a new grandbaby to dote on (in addition to my other two wonderful granddaughters) and all this moving around and re-arranging (and cleaning out) which took a considerable amount of time and all the traveling I've done this summer, it's no wonder that the time has slipped away from me!

 

This summer alone I have traveled literally coast to coast!  I have visited quilt shops and antique stores in Washington, California, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee! 

 

And speaking of Antique shops, look at this great piece I found in Colorado!

 

 

  It's absolutely beautiful!  At first I was thinking what can I use this for?  But once I got it in the loft I had the perfect idea!  Look at how wonderfully it stores my thread.  The drawers are just deep enough!

 

I've also gotten a fair share of quilting done as well.  Most of what I've done lately I'll save for another day since I haven't taken pics yet but here is a wall hanging done for my brother-in-law.  It's a housewarming gift for his new house that he bought- I don't know- probably 5 years ago...so I was a little slow in getting it done but I did it!

Well, I, as always, have lots more to share with you...  Pictures of shops I've visited, quilts I've been working on and new ideas and techniques but it's late so I'll save it for our next visit.  I'll be back in a couple of days... I promise :-)

In the meantime, Keep Quilting!

Irene

PS  I'm afraid I have to stop taking comments from those of you who are "anonymous".  The spam has gotten a bit out of control. :-(

Projects and Indiana Shops (So far)

Hi!

I'm so sorry that it's later than I promised for this post!  I have such a hard time choosing between posting and quilting- and Truth be Told- I've been working on a project that I could not wait to see finished...

This is It's a Grand Old Flag a pattern by Geoff's Mom Pattern Co. 

Now, don't look to closely as my seams are not quite up to my usual standards but I have good reason...

About TWO YEARS ago, I bought a Bernina Aurora 440 Quilters Edition Sewing Machine.  My beloved Elna is about 13 years old and getting a little fussy in her old age as most of us do :-).  I saw the Bernina on EBAY and thought, "what a great deal!"  Since then I hadn't even taken it out of the box since my Elna works very well and we know each other's quirks and, well, I felt a little traitorous.  In any case, it has been in my quilt room closet waiting patiently for it's day in the sun.  Fast forward to my time here in Indianapolis...

I was in a shop here in Indiana...Avon Indiana to be exact. 

 

 This is Avon Quiltery

Its a nice shop that is a Bernina Dealership and they had on sale the embroidery module for my 440.  Now, I have always wanted to have an embroidery machine and this was my chance so I bought the module. Unfortunately, my Bernina was still in my closet in San Antonio.  As it happened, I ended up back in San Antonio for a weekend and was able to bring my Bernina back to Indiana with me.  The owner, Dian Hines, was wonderful about teaching me the ins and outs of embroidery and how my Bernina works.  It was so much fun!

Well, since I had the machine out I figured I would use it to piece "It's a Grand Old Flag" but the quilt foot is different from my Elna...My Elna has that nice little danglely thing that you use as a guide.  Anyway, my seams aren't perfect but it wsa a great opportunity for us to get to know each other :-) and since then I have been able to buy a foot from Avon Quiltery with the dangelely thing so I'm all set!   SCORE!

As I mentioned in my last short post, I have been traveling a bit and there's no place like the road to get the hand-applique done...

Here are two more blocks from my Block of the Month Ruby Red Dots

I love how whimsical these blocks are.

And here's where I was traveling to when working on these blocks...

Always in Stitches is in Noblesville, Indiana and when they talk about 'stitches' they mean ALL KINDS of stitches...knitting, quilting, cross-stitch, embroidery, etc!

 

 

 

 

 

 I love the way they displayed these knitted and crocheted hats.

 

 

Quilt Quarters is in Indianapolis. 

They have very friendly staff and a great selection of fabrics. 

 

 

Look at the size of this classroom!

 

And I love the way they package their quilt kits.

 

 Sharynn's Quilt Box is in North Vernon, Indiana. 

It's a very small shop but Sharynn is very freindly and helpful. 

 

Here is HollyHock Quilt Shop in Corydon, Indiana. 

I was a little disappointed with the selection and the staff as they did not greet me in anyway and seemed a bit put out when I was ready to make my purchases. However, they have very nice displays.

 Edwardsville, Indiana is where you'll find

The Quilting Bee

 

 

 

Although small, they had a nice selection and very friendly staff. 

 

Now, my favorite two shos in Indiana, so far ;-), are:

 

Quilts Plus which is in Indianapolis....

 

The displays were wonderful!

 

 

The fabric selection is amazing!

 

 

 

And then there's the WOOL!

 

 

 

 

I just love this place! 

It's only about 20 minutes from my hotel room

and I have had to exercise great control

to not spend my life's savings in this place!

 

And then there's Back Door Quilts in Greenwood, Indiana.

 

Pardon the photo... the sun wouldn't move for me. 

This place is probably my all time favorite...so far. 

Everything is beautifully displayed. 

 

And the wool selection is fabulous!

  

 

 

I took about 35 pictures of this shop alone!  Fantastic!  That's all I can say.  I will definitely be making one more stop to this shop before we leave the area.

 

I think I mentioned in my earlier posts that my husband is a wonderful man that takes me to all these shops driving miles and miles and hours and hours without complaint and I am very lucky to have him.  So, in fairness, while in Indianapolis we made a stop at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  Now, I can't claim any great affinity for car racing but fair is fair, right?

 

Here he is standing in front of the Museum.

 

  And much to my surprise I had a good time

especially since they had a QUILT hanging in the musuem!

 

 We had a lot of fun!

 

Well, as usual, this blog has gone on and on...  And I still have to share Ohio and Colorado Quilt shops with you!  I'll be posting again soon because in two weeks we'll be back in San Antonio and I'll want to blog about those shops! 

 

Well, I'd love to here from you all... leave your comments below!

 

Happy Quilting!

 

Irene