Doll Quilt Swap Received!

I received an exciting package in the mail yesterday just as we were leaving to see the Cardinals vs Pirates day game. It was 48 degrees and just a bit breezy.  We had great seats. 

We are Cardinals fans, having lived outside St Louis for 28 years prior to moving to the Pittsburgh area, and they won 10-5 completing a sweep of the Pirates. We stayed the whole game because we came prepared with coats and quilts 😁.

As soon as we got home, I carefully opened the cute bubble mailer to find some lovely fabrics and funny card from Tish.

It was nice of Tish to send pretty fabrics that coordinate so well with the envelope 😉.  And here’s the sweet doll quilt Tish made for me as part of Lori’s 12th annual doll quilt swap. 

Isn’t it an adorable doll quilt made with purple & pink reproduction fabrics? You can just see a child wrapping her dolly in it to play, can’t you? Here’s the backing with a lovely flower repro print.

Such an adorable doll quilt….thank you, Tish!

Here’s a link to Lori’s swap quilt & reminder of the mailing deadline. Because I’m a high achiever procrastinator, who works best under pressure, I haven’t finished my swap quilt yet. It’s well underway so I will beat the May 9th deadline…..and I’ll reuse the lovely bubble mailer from Tish! Spreading the simple joy of receiving a lovely envelope in the mail 😁.

Cheers, Cherie 

Paducah on the Spur of the Moment

On the spur of the moment I decided to travel to my friend’s in St. Louis to go to the AQS quilt show in Paducah! I hadn’t been to Paducah since the Pandemic & the show did not disappoint. So many beautiful, exquisite quilts in the show and the Cherrywood Challenge quilts were amazing! Because we only went for one day, I didn’t make it to the bubble or the Finkle building but we did pack in pretty much everything else!

My friend Darlene & I used to go to the show together & we always picked one quilt we’d like to take home with us. This is the one I chose this year. 

36 Shirts by Donna Frederick from Kentucky. I love it and could easily enjoy seeing it everyday!!

It was great to return to Paducah for the quilt show and have a fun time with my friend.

Cheers! Cherie 

A Plan for a Panel

Here’s my rough sketch for a graduation quilt using a musical panel. I’m starting with the letters & numbers since they will be the guide for sizing.

Below is my first cut of fabrics. On the right side is the background fabric….it’s black with subtle colored dots, then next is a coordinated guitar print that goes with the panel. I may have to pull a few other fabrics to get enough variety for the row blocks…..we’ll have to see.

I’m using the red fabric & the book below for the letters & numbers. I’ll use the cheddar fabric to border the panel and then I’ll decide on blocks for the rows. 

Word Play Quilts is a great resource! It is out of print now but used copies are out there although they are a bit more expensive than the original retail price. I had my book spiral bound and, boy, is it nice to have it lay flat when open.

Here’s my progress so far. Notice the extra A’s and N’s in the middle there 😂 . The six is too small so I’ll have an extra 6 as well. Not sure yet if the 2’s will be okay once finished. The letters & numbers are fun to make but I’m a bit rusty as I haven’t made any in quite a while.

I better put the petal to the metal as graduation is in May!! 😬😬

Cheers, Cherie 

Friends

While traveling with the flowers, we stopped in St Louis to visit friends. Two of these friends gave me some shirts ☺️.  Between these and the shirts from my dad, I have quite a bit of shirt de-boning ahead of me. 

And another friend gave me me a ziplock bag of scraps!

If you didn’t know, I LOVE scraps! In fact, the quilt I finished and gifted to my sister was made 100% from scraps 😁😁

I sorted the scraps and got them put away in their color drawers. I also added the squares to their respective boxes, after pulling out a few for a little something I’m doing on the side 😂🤣.  

It feels good to be home! Cherie 

Cowboy Kids are Finished!

I finished binding the cowboy kids quilt on our way home yesterday. I’m so pleased with the way this one turned out. And, and, I finished this kit less than a year after winning it from the shop hop!!

A friend pointed out I’m using a lot of cheddar in my quilts lately and cheddar does not photograph well. The colors are more like the first picture. I am super happy about the bandana backing I got for it.

We arrived home yesterday and these are the traveling flowers.

If you haven’t been following the traveling flowers, hop over to MaryAnn’s blog here where she visited with my dad via zoom. She updates the traveling flower’s adventures at the end of her posts so start with the one I’ve linked to and continue forward. 

My dad is a retired metal arts teacher who can make just about anything and solve just about any problem, like not working wall heaters, gates, engines, hinges, ice makers, fridges, freezers, washing machines, dryers………you get the drift. He makes flowers from the metal on the outside of old fridges, microwaves, dryers, water heaters, etc. There are rock flowers like the traveling flowers above, but also hoop flowers, quail flowers, garden flowers, etc. 

Below is my dad with the hoop flowers above he made for our cabin using scraps of the metal roof we had installed for better fire prevention.  

I didn’t intend such a long post, if you’ve made it this far, thank you 😊

Cherie

Binding the Cowboy Kids

I’ve rounded two corners on the cowboy kids quilt, yippee yi yo ki ay!

To catch up on our roadside attractions since it’s been a few days, here is our stop in Winslow, Arizona…..where we could “Take it Easy” 😀

Then in Santa Fe, New Mexico we saw the Zozobra (https://www.nmhistorymuseum.org/exhibition/details/6134/zozobra-a-fire-that-never-goes-out) which is a 100 plus year tradition of clearing the gloom. 

Then in Chickasha, Oklahoma we stopped to see the leg lamp.

We had to go out of our way to see it even though it meant not arriving at our hotel until almost 10pm!  

Fun times! Cherie 

Ovals & Spiders, Oh My!

Here are the ovals I’ve appliquéd on the road so far. They are kind of addicting and are keeping me from the kids cowboy quilt binding 🙃.

These are the last ones Darlene had prepped so I got this one ready to go for tomorrow’s drive.

Our roadside attraction yesterday was the Hole in the wall Spider Bug in Palm Springs. That is a shell of a VW bug to give perspective on how big it is. 

No sewing today since we aren’t driving. Our roadside attraction for today is a Grand Canyon view on a cloudy day.

There will be sewing tomorrow!

Happy trails, Cherie 

Beauty Shots for C&D

The weather didn’t cooperate to take Cheddar & Dill out for a photo. First it rained so everything was wet and then we had a full day of fog that kept everything from drying out. So here are a few shots I got as we were leaving our cabin.

And here’s a close up of Scrap Confetti.

Our roadside attraction for the day is really the main attraction….

This is Cap Rock in Joshua Tree National Park.

Happy Quilting, Cherie

Friday Finish and Gifted

My sister came for a quick overnight visit to see us. I worked on Scrap Confetti’s binding as we talked late into the night, when my sister (hi Colleen 👋🏼) commented she loved it. The next day we were going to drive an hour & 20 minutes to have lunch with friends, after which she was heading home.  I told my sister, I think this quilt wants to be yours if I can get the last 20” finished on the drive……..in a Jeep, on winding mountain roads. She warned me not to stab myself because I wasn’t allowed to bleed on HER quilt, 😂. 

She likes the Dear Stella Moonflower backing fabric with moths, owls, mushrooms and skulls, lol. Isn’t it the best when a quilt you’ve made finds its forever home with someone who loves it 💕??

I’m linking up with Alycia at The Quilty Girl for Finished (or not) Friday, when posted.

Happy Friday, Cherie

Four Corners

I have sewn all four corners on Scrap Confetti and only have about 20” left to sew down. I should get that done today.

That will be two quilts finished on this trip 😁

Cheers, Cherie

A Collaboration Quilt

When we are at our cabin, we get to see my dad and our friends, Lisa & Greg. Lisa quilts and we got to talking about making a kid sized quilt together. Even though I was warned not to open the 60 degree ruler (see comment from Kathy on this post 😆) , I did!

We each made blocks……and now I have ideas for using this ruler, including using my stash of thrifted shirts……SQUIRREL🐿️!! Back to the real world, on Saturday Lisa & I sewed the blocks up and made this fun top.

Then on Sunday, Lisa quilted it with wavy line quilting, a first for her. I told her just gently move up and down like you are bobbing in the waves of the ocean. She did a great job and now has another free motion pattern to add to her repertoire. 

We were lucky to find great backing and binding fabric in my mom’s stash. Lisa will bind it and find the perfect home for the quilt. Thanks for a fun project, Lisa.

Fun times! Cherie

Friday Finish - Cheddar & Dill!

Finally, a fully finished project for Finished (or not) Friday! The Cheddar & Dill quilt saga (here (#12),  here (last paragraph) and here (Julie’s post)) is over because I put in the last stitches in the binding. Woo hoo!!!  I couldn’t love this quilt more! Again, thank you, Julie!

I feel like I need to take C&D in the wild and get some beauty shots. Our cabin is on the edge of the sequoia national forest so there’s always beautiful pictures to be had.

Happy finishing, Cherie

Next!

Next project up is the binding for Scrap Confetti. 

Our roadside attraction for today is in Yermo, CA…..a water tank dressed up like an ice cream sundae.

That’s the end of our roadside attractions until we start our trip home. Hope you’ve enjoyed them 🤓

Cheers, Cherie 

Car Sewing

I’ve been stitching the miles away 😀. I finished all four corners on the C&D binding with only about 36 inches left to sew. I should finish tomorrow!

I finished that last hexie flower & here’s where it stands. I’ll appliqué it to background fabric and see where it goes from there.

I pulled out another project I brought along…..a project started by my friend Darlene. I’m calling it the oval project for now and Darlene had left five ovals prepped.

This is the last unfinished project I had from Darlene. Two were quilts in two pieces that were so wonderfully finished by Patty, The Quilt Lady in her posts here & here. The other project, shown here, has found a home with a quilter who has the skills to make the quilt. The oval project is one I can handle, in fact, I’ve appliquéd two ovals already ☺️.

Our roadside attraction for the day is in Palisade, CO. It’s in someone’s yard but is easily visible from the side of the road.

If you click the photo and zoom in on the fish’s mouth, you’ll see the humor. 

Happy quilting, Cherie