Why yes, of course I drank the kool-aid!

Have you seen the sweet summer sew along that Temecula Quilt Co. is hosting? I have!!! Here are my first two baby basket blocks. I'm doing each basket in two colors with the same shirting background, I think. I'm trying to decide if the background is too busy....opinions welcome. I have also been working like crazy on my big basket quilt, big is for the size of the quilt, not the baskets. Each block measures 5" finished. I only need to stitch 13 more baskets and then I can put the whole thing together. Right now just the top right corner and the lower left corner are together. I have been working on the quilt, off and on, for over three years I think. I'm ready to have the top together so I can, hopefully, hand quilt it this Winter. This pattern is in the book When the Cold Wind Blows by Blackbird Designs for those of you who might be interested. I am not putting the applique on my setting triangles like the pattern shows. You can tell from the picture above how incredibly messy my sewing room is! I do love it though. It's bigger than the one in our old house and I have a big design wall now. When I get my space cleaned up I will give you a little tour. Here's a close-up of the other little mini quilt I made from a kit from Temecula. I've made several more of their mini's, but I'll save them for another post. We are expecting Kara and Jacob this weekend! So excited....have I mentioned that Kara and Jacob live in Playa del Ray, California now and we don't see them as often as we'd like. It's sure to be a good weekend with loads of food, fun and drink! :0) Well that's all for now folks! Happy 4th of July!!!!! ranette

claiming my blog

Just in case that I post sometime in the next year...lol....I apparently need to claim my blog. I guess I'm a dummy because I really don't understand all this. I've never read blogs with a "reader" before, but I am claiming this blog as mine.... Follow my blog with Bloglovin

It's been a year!!!

How in the world has this last year flown by so fast?!?!?! It's just so hard to believe and I know that I'm not the only one to struggle with how quickly time passes these days. Much has changed in our lives, but one of the constant things in my life is the making of quilts. I'm sure I'd be locked away somewhere if I didn't have that to see me through. Not that I've had a bunch of finishes mind you...lol Some of you (is anyone really still reading this blog?) may remember the basket blocks I started way back when. Well I'm close to finishing up those baskets. Here's a terrible picture of them on my design wall. I've finished a few more since I took that picture and my plan is to be finished with the top by the first week of August. We will see if I can stay on track. I also keep plugging away on my Janiebright quilt. I've actually made progress on the right side triangles since this picture was taken. Again, sorry for the terrible picture. I did have some quilt tops quilted last Fall and I'm so thankful that I did. I had one last chance to enjoy the Fall and Christmas quilts in our house in Stillwater, OK before we moved to Edmond, OK in March. I will always treasure these quilts. The friend that quilted them for me passed away suddenly, much, much too young. It was just heartbreaking. Well I think that's enough for this year...lol...I mean today. If anyone can tell me how to get the Christmas background off, I would appreciate it. I've tried everything! Also, how do I switch to Bloglovin? I must be a dolt....some of this is just more complicated that I am!

Helllloooooo???

I'm alive, I'm alive! LOL Seems like just yesterday that I last posted. So much has happened since then, even a little quilting. I thought about giving up this blog, but found that I missed it and the record that it kept of my life and my quilts. Here's my Great Pumpkin quilt totally finished. Sorry for the picture quality. I've been experimenting with Instagram and I'm not totally up to speed with it yet :) And here's a terrible picture of Diagonal Madness, pattern by Kaffe Fassett You really can't tell from this picture, but I big stitch quilted using Pearle cotton thread. I really liked quilting this and plan to do more very soon. Here's my latest finished quilt top. Le Jardin, pattern by Bunny Hill. Oh I so enjoy applique and I am planning on making another Bunny Hill applique quilt very soon. Well that's all for now because my brain feels stressed! I can't figure out how to take the Christmas background off...why do they change a good thing? I'm re-learning how to blog again. Also, does anyone know how to blog from an Ipad? I would prefer to blog that way, but so far I haven't figured it out. Have a wonderful day.... ranette

Happy Thanksgiving!

I'm back in the saddle again!

Sorry the photos are flipped sideways. I will get the hang of blogging again, I promise. Thank you all for the encouragement. Hopefully this weekend I'll get some time to play around with things.
I decided to set up my Dear Jane block making station in my downstairs sewing/laundry room again and I've been able to whip out a few JanieBright blocks while doing other things, like cooking and cleaning.

It's amazing how much I can get done while doing something else...as long as I don't forget what I was doing in the first place...which has happened a time or two...lol
ranette

Did blogger change this Summer???

Cause I am having ALL kinds of trouble uploading pictures!!! I tried my regular way of emailing them to my blogspot address and it went to my Gmail account instead...hmmm...if anyone knows how to do this will you please help me!

Just a quick recap of a long....hot....hot....did I say HOT Summer!!! Things started out super busy because Emily, our oldest daughter, graduated from the University of Kansas in May and a week later, our youngest daughter, Allie graduated from Stillwater High school! YAY!!! Here is a picture of my three girls right before Allie's graduation.

Then Emily and I left to take my mom to Taos, New Mexico. My Mom has always wanted to live there, so she rented a condo for a month and I think she enjoyed it, but was glad to come home. Didn't really take any pictures except this one and Emily may have taken it.

I did manage to finish piecing my Cracked Pots quilt though. And what a lot of piecing it was. I was really, really happy to finish this! Yvette's version is in Civil War red, white and blues and mine is all Jo Morton fabrics. The pattern is by Carrie Nelson.

If these photos look crappy it's because I took them with my phone. I must get in the habit of using a camera again.

I also made Allie an 18th birthday quilt...and I finished it much faster than I did her baby quilt, which took me 14 years to finish. LOL! Well I had little kids and I hand quilted it! Maybe I'll show a picture of the baby quilt one day, but here is the birthday quilt. It's an Amy Butler free pattern and it's all AB fabric.

Okay, time to get busy. It's taken me over an hour to do this post...yikes! I've lost all of my skills. Should I try the new blogger interface? What is it anyway? And why do things have to be so complicated? LOL I've got lots more to share and I'll be back soon. I hope all my US friends have a wonderful Labor Day!

ranette

Dresdens!!!

More of these beauties are on my agenda! So...much...fun!!!

ranette

I'll be back in the Fall....

Every single day I think to myself that I've got to post on my blog and then I don't and then I feel guilty. It seems like time has sped up and there just aren't enough hours in the day to do it all anymore and that makes me sad. I've given thought to shutting my blog down, but that makes me sad too, so I think I'll just take a blog hiatus for the rest of the Summer and hopefully I'll be back in the Fall with some really awesome quilts to show you all. I am grateful for all of the wonderful friendships that I've made through blogging and I'll be checking in on all of you from time to time.

I hope you all have a terrific Summer or Winter (to my Aussie friends) and
Happy 4th of July!!!

ranette

Showing off my baby!

Saturday was Senior Prom in Stillwater, Oklahoma! Here is picture of my daughter Allie and her friends. Allie is the blond in the teal dress...she is just beautiful!

I'm going to take a little blogging break for the next several weeks. I've got two graduations, high school and college, and two road trips coming up and I just know that the computer/blogging time will come last. There's not very much sewing going on here at the moment, but it will pick up again later in the Summer I'm sure.

Remember....This is the day that the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it! Psalm 118:24

ranette

Just popping in to say Hi !!

I was very spoiled by my lovely daughters and husband on Mother's Day. Look at the lovely flowers from the girls.

Just gorgeous! Kara, Allie and Jay started off by making lemon blueberry pancakes and finished up the day by grilling. I also received a nice gift certificate to the local quilt shop and some pretty new summer pajamas. It was a wonderful day with my family and I feel very Blessed to be the Mama of Emily, Kara and Allie!

I had a chance to get a little bit of sewing done, so I finished the courthouse steps blocks that will go with all of the houses. I took the picture with my phone, so it's not the greatest.

I'm going to put this quilt away until June, but I am loving the bright Civil War reproduction fabric. Oh and speaking of Civil War, I made this weeks block, Missouri Star.

I'm going to have to add more pink into the blocks because I like it!

And I've finished my Scandinavian Christmas quilt top.
TA DA!!!

It's just so darn cute! I will handquilt this one, hopefully starting by the end of the summer.

Well Oklahoma once again skipped Spring and it feels like we are well into July right now...lol....HOT and WINDY and HUMID. Not my favorite conditions, but I've got the air conditioner on and I think I'll go and sew for a bit.
Have a great week....ranette

Two posts in one week?!!! What?!!

Can you believe it? LOL I told you I'd be back in a few days to show a couple of finishes and here I am...WooHoo!

First up is my niece Brittni's quilt. She is getting married this summer and really isn't into quilts much, but she did ask her mom, my sister, if I was going to make her a quilt...hehe, of course I am! All quilted, bound and washed to give it that comfy feeling and all I need to do now is get it ready to ship.

I think I linked to the pattern in a previous post, so I'm not going to do the linky thing again....I know, bad blogger!
Here's a little quilt that I made a couple of years ago and decided I would hand quilt...which is not my thing, but I'm trying!

It laid around and finally a couple of weeks ago I said to myself, Ranette, finish that right now...so I did...LOL...I usually don't listen to myself very well. Here's a closeup of the quilting (see, I really don't have any pride).

I did a big stitch with Pearle cotton across the quilt and then free-hand baptist fans, in red Pearle for the border. It will be cute hanging on the wall this Fall.

And just because it's a lovely day today, here are a couple of my husband's gorgeous photos of a couple of the flowers in our yard. First up is a peach Iris

And this one is our fuchsia Peony...so pretty!

Have a lovely day! ranette

Well Easter has come and gone...

so belated Easter wishes to all of you! It was a cold, dreary day, but I did a little bit of cooking. Here are my Hot Cross Buns, so yummy with a cup of coffee.

Chocolate Silk pie.....the hubby really likes this one!

and my first Lemon Meringue pie....

Delicious, if I do say so myself...lol
I have had a chance to do a little bit of sewing in the last few weeks. I finished my houses for Cracked Pots (I'm not going to link, but you can check my last post, it has all of the links) and am now slowly working on the courthouse steps blocks.

I also have my Barbara Brackman Civil War blocks up to date.

Started another new project....lol

I have promised myself that I cannot even prep another block of Le Jardin, by Bunny Hill, until I finish Scandinavian Christmas, even though I really, really want to!!
Oh I made a little test basket.

Yikes....I loved making it and now I want to make a whole bunch of them. Maybe after Cracked Pots is finished.
I do have a couple of finished quilts to share, but I'll save those for another post. Hopefully before several weeks pass by. Thanks for the encouraging emails. I do love blogging and the good friends I've made, but lately it has come down to sewing or computer time and I've been choosing sewing time. I know there are bloggers out there that post everyday and they make tons of quilts....how the heck do they do it???? I must not be that great at time management! Also there has been lots of controversy on blogs lately and I tend to shy away from that. Plus the books reviews and giveaways....blogging seems to be going a little "commercial" if you ask me.
Anyway, enjoy the weekend and I'll be back very soon....ranette

So if someone finds the last three weeks, could you please return them to me!

Seriously!!! LOL I cannot believe that it's almost the middle of April. Geez, where does the time go?!!!! I haven't had much blogging mojo lately and I'm sorry. I haven't really read much or felt inclined to post. Probably because of the early Spring doldrums. We had cloudy, cold and windy weather and now it has turned HOT, as in 90 degrees F Hot, which is what the temperature is expected to be today. I want a real Spring! Okay, enough griping about the weather for now...

I have been sewing/stitching a bit though. Here's an updated picture of Scandinavian Christmas.

As you can see I'm almost there....almost. I still have 12 of the snowflake blocks to stitch and I just cannot seem to make myself do them. I have all of the hearts appliqued for the border and now I just need to get on it and finish.

In the picture you can also see my Life is Beautiful blocks peeking out, so here is a photo of the ones that I have appliqued to the four patch backgrounds.

I am using three different backgrounds for the embroidery and I'm not sure that was such a wise idea seeing them all together, but I wanted the finished quilt to have an "aged" look to it. I've got several more blocks stitched, but I'm still a ways out on this one.

I've also kept up with the Civil War blocks, well I haven't done today's block yet.

I'm liking how the blocks all look together and I'm starting to think about how I want to put them into a quilt. Does anyone know how many weeks Barbara Brackman will be putting these out? I find the history interesting as well.

Let's see, what else is new around here? Oh my middle daughter Kara turned 21 last week and my oldest daughter Emily came home for a few days, so all three girls were here and boy was it fun!!! Lots of laughter, food and family time.

I have also started a couple of new projects, imagine that?! LOL Yvette, Monica and I all started on Cracked Pots by Carrie Nelson. Those girls are way, way faster than me, but here is my progress.

I love the bright houses and I'm using mostly Jo Morton fabric, all from my stash and that makes me happy!

I've started and red and off white quilt, but no pictures, oh and I took a needle turn applique/Hawaiian quilt class with the local guild last week. Nancy Chong was teacher and if you ever wanted to learn more about the Hawaiian quilt making process you should take one of her classes. I worked on the applique last night and I really like doing it. I'll show a picture when I'm finished.

Well I'd better get off of the computer now and get busy. I'll try to post more often and be less wordy. I hope all of you are enjoying your Spring (or Fall for my down under friends) and getting lots of stitches in. ranette

London Square

Here is this weeks Civil War block, London Square. Hmmm, not sure if I like it or not, but I'll keep it. It looks very "southwest" to me and not my style at all. It measures right on, but it looks like I'll have to be careful when assembling the quilt not to lose a couple of points.

If you haven't made this block yet, be sure to make "scant" quarter inch seams.
Has anyone else in the world fallen in love with this quilt that was recently featured in Quiltmania?

I just adore it. The baskets are wool and they are only about 2 3/4" tall. So tiny! It is going on my "to do" list very soon. I am thinking that I'll use Luna Notte since I have a fat 1/8th bundle of that from my trip to Paducah last Fall.
Okay, it's time for a sneak peek of the quilt that I am making for my niece who is getting married this Summer. The pattern is Curlicue Crush by Chasing Cottons and my sister is the one who found the pattern and all of the fabric to make this beauty.

It's a little tedious, curved piecing and all, but it's very "vibrant". In the picture the top few rows are sewn together, but the rest of it is just placed. I've made it a bit bigger than the pattern and this is one quilt that is much easier if you have a design wall. My plan is to put some serious time into sewing on this baby today, so hopefully I'll be finished soon. Oh and the fabric is all Innocent Crush by Anna Maria Horner, just love her!
Time to get back to my machine. ranette

I'm not crazy, really I'm not!

So remember when I told you all that I had made block four, the Santa block, for the Scandinavian Christmas quilt and then I lost or misplaced it? Well guess what? I didn't lose it because I never made it, even though I really, really thought I had.
I decided to just make it over again and when I did, I realized that I had never made it, but I've remedied all of that now and here is a picture to prove it.

I guess I had just thought about which fabric I was going to use for his coat and beard that my brain was convinced that I'd done it. Anyway, all of the applique is now done and I'll be doing the embroidery over the next few weeks.
I did want to tell you about the new applique pins that I'm using now. If you are using the ones with the white heads, throw them out and run to your nearest quilt shop or your computer and get some of these.

They are Jeana Kimball's Foxglove Cottage 3/4" pins and they are amazingly sharp. I just love them! I've used her needles too and I love them too.
Anyway, now I've come clean to you all about my brain fog...lol...and I feel better!
I'll be back with a photo of the progress on my nieces quilt very soon....lots of curved piecing, but it's oh so pretty!
ranette

JanieBright update...

Poor JanieBright has been sorely neglected the last several months, but since our local Dear Jane group is now meeting twice a month, I decided to pull her out and make a block here and there. I put on Row F at the meeting last week.

And I even made two blocks.

I'm still way, way behind on Triangles, but I will try to prep a couple of those this weekend. I've got all of my DJ stuff set up in my sewing area off of the kitchen so that I can sneak in there while doing other things and make some progress.

This morning I made this weeks Civil War block, which I think is called Lincoln's Platform. I didn't follow my own advice on making those half square triangles, which is to cut big and then trim, so I had to make this block twice :)

I also pulled fabric to make Cracked Pots with Yvette and a couple of other ladies.

I am using Jo Morton fabric which I pulled from my stash. If anyone is interested in sewing along with us, just let me know and we can make a list.
Time to get busy. I'm starting a quilt for my niece who is getting married this summer. Lots of curved piecing, yikes, so I'd better brush up on those skills.
Have a terrific Saturday! ranette