More Flowers

Saturday I put together another silk flower and tulle wall hanging. It has yet to be personalized for the recipients.

This picture taken without flash shows the quilting a little better, but mutes the colors

And this picture of the back taken before it was trimmed and bound almost looks like a whole cloth doesn't it?

Happy Birthday, Mom!

My mother turned 80 today.

This was taken in 1947, a year after I was born, and is one of my favorite pictures of her.

This was taken in March of this year.

I made this quilted birthday card for her earlier this week.

And sent her this quilt made last year. It's called "Bouquet of Roses" and reminded me of her from the moment I made it. These are definitely her colors and she sounded tickled to receive it.

We aren't able to attend her celebration in Iowa today but send our love and wishes for many, many more healthy birthdays.

Wanna Trade?

In the last few days I've had a blog visitor from Bahrain and one from Kazakhstan. People from over 90 countries have visited at one time or another. Both Tom and I would love to swap siggies with quilters from as many countries as possible. We'd also like to swap with quilters from all the U.S. states. If we could collect siggies from even half of the countries and states represented by visits, I'd be doing a happy dance!

You don't have to join a formal siggy swap to trade with us. If you are interested, email me and I'll send you the pattern for the siggy block and we can swap. Both Tom and I will send you a siggy, and you can send two siggies to us.

You'll get a siggy like this from me............

And one like this from Tom.............

I also need to catch up with the siggies I've received during the last few weeks.

Chris from The Netherlands

Ineke, also from the Netherlands

Cornelia from Germany

Aren't they wonderful? I love reading the letters that accompany the blocks. It's so interesting to hear about the lives of quilters all over the world.

So...........do you want to trade?

My Student

Next month I'm going to be teaching a workshop for my guild on wall hangings made from silk flowers and tulle. Tom thought he wanted to see if he could make one, so Monday he began a project.

Here he is pressing his fabric for the background, borders and backing.


Sewing his background and borders. He really likes my little Featherweight.



Selecting the flowers to use

And arranging them

Layered with tulle and batting and ready to quilt

This was a busy week for us, so he wasn't able to start quilting until Wednesday

He finished the quilting yesterday

I bound it for him this morning (that's his least favorite part of the quilting process and I've convinced him there is no shame in letting someone else do it for you).

Didn't it turn out nice?

It's a Christmas present for his mother. Hope she doesn't read this before she gets it!

Tom thinks if he can do this, then anyone can. Hope the students next month feel the same.

Here's a link to projects made by people I've taught in the past

And some of the many I've made

Elmer Elf

I'm still working on the hand quilting of my Dutch Treat quilt. And I'm making good progress. But I don't have pictures to share yet.

So here are a few pics of the Elmer Elf dolls I made a few years ago. Since they were my own design and made without a pattern, each one was unique. I still have one, but the others found new homes.

Hope they bring a smile to your face. It's really cold here today, but at least we don't have any of the white fluffy stuff that my family in Iowa is struggling with..not yet anyway!