he who plants flowers.....

Another lay down the random squares of fabric

bond it to the batting

add stamped words, images and applique,

sew it all down with tulle

and add more embelishments

mini quilt!!

(There has got to be a shorter name for these...I gotta think about that)I made my first ever YO-YO for the flower

I was going to give that job to Karen....

she has made them....

but decided to try it on my own, besides, she was working.

It is probably the frilliest, girlie type quilt I have ever made.

and I am giving it to my 70-something father-in-law
no....
wait.....
he is 80-something now.
anyway....
He plants SO MANY flowers in their yard every year, I thought this was most fitting for him. A little brightness for their entry way while we wait for the snow to melt and the ground to thaw. It is March, it can't be long now.

from last fall...tractor stuff

If I were good....
I would have Barbara Streisand's, Memories, playing in the background

as you read this post....

but I am not good, so hopefully you will be able to hum the music in your head as you read this.

Memories

of each corner in my field

I love my Oliver memories and the John Deere plow

...Scattered pictures

the piles we left behind

smiles we gave to one another

oh we love to plow

Can it be that it was oh so warmer then

but now winter covers every line

If we had the chance to plow it all again

tell me... would we, could we?

Memories of my precious Oliver

we'ld love to hit the fields again

hear it hum and purr some more

Oh it's the tractor

we will remember

whenever we remember

the way we plow

the way we plow......

so sweet....

A long time ago....
when Cornelious was about 9...
he is 22 now....
He wanted to make a quilt too. Now that was a long time ago,
I don't remember the details....I must have shown him how to cut it and then let him loose on the sewing machine.
I might have recommended this block, something fairly simple.

When he finished, he really was finished....he's never attempted another quilt.
It was very wavy and crooked....I wasn't sure what to do with it or how to quilt it. I hadn't been quilting that long myself at that point.....I loved it...but was stumped.
It was a wonky quilt before wonky was even close to being "in style"....before people started making blocks that were "off" on purpose.
So it was put in the box of sewing stuff and there it stayed all those
years.

Not to long ago I went digging....and found the distorted little quilt top. Just as sweet as I remembered it to be.

Only now I knew what to do. I would iron and steam the crap out of it....
and steam it some more.....
I made it lay nice and flat.

Now this where the quilting purist will shriek and cringe in horror (mom).....



I machine quilted it.

Yes I did....and I love love love the way it turned out.

It is just so darn sweet!

another mini....

I am not a big beer drinker....really....but I am surrounded by those who partake on a regular basis.
Gwen's middle son has started making his own beer.
He has a micro-brewery set up at home.
I was able to taste some of his brew over Christmas.
That is why this little quilt is on its way to Gwen's.....it is in the mail.
Then she can give it to him!

His name is on the back so she won't accidentally forget to give it to him.

string blocks

Last week, when I was gathering up skinny scraps, I felt like trying some string blocks. A long time ago I tried using muslin for the base....that seemed so thick when I finished.

So this time I tried it on paper. Plus they were small....only 4 inches finished. Heaven forbid I jump at it in a big way.

They were fun to do. I made 12 of them.

Karen recently jumped in too.

In a big way.....

Hers are 8 inches.

We both agreed that our favorite part was trimming these weird shaped blocks back down to a perfect square.

I am pretty sure she will go for a whole big quilt. I love the start of it!



I ended up using 4 of mine to make a small table top sized quilt. It is about 16 inches square.

I don't know what I will do with the other 8 blocks. For now they are tucked away until further notice....waiting to come back out....to be part of something big or small.

I sewed the border the same way...on paper....and look at this.....

there is even binding on it!!!

mini heart quilt....

This is a very easy to assemble mini quilt.

I will tell you what I did....

the link for Mrs. Moen's directions are at the bottom of this post.

I grabbed a scrap piece of batting from near my sewing machine.

I applied some heat and bond (cut to roughly the same size)....

then started laying scraps of fabric on it, overlapping slightly.

Everything was then ironed down.

Since it was for an aniversary, the words happy love were stamped on.

Becareful of little b's d's p's and q's....they can be confusing.

anyway....

I used acrylic paint, it dries quickly.The next layer was tulle. I used white and it was a "finer holed" kind....

Mrs. Moen's looked like bigger gaps on hers. I seemed to work just the same.

I also used my favorite wavy stitch, not straight lines like the origonal.

When the wavy stitching was all done, I marked a heart in the center.

I zigzagged a couple times around the heart sewing down this funky, hairy yarn.

Then I put the binding on. The whole thing only took a couple hours.

http://mrsmoenhowtos.blogspot.com/search/label/Make%20a%20Heart

I think next time I will use lighter fabrics...then I can stamp more words all over it.
I am guessing this is about 12 x 12 inches.

snow drift gaffitti

This is along hiway 18 here in Iowa.

We have recieved enough snow and wind this year to create

LARGE
HUGE

GIGANTIC

drifts of snow.

This is one of the bigger ones I have seen.

Big walls of snow along the highway where they have cut out the drift.

So what does one do with a wall of snow?

Well, one thing would be.... to write on it.

Temporary graffitti walls.

how handy is that? come spring it all disappears....

That's sweet...God is good......


Hmmm.....Beer is great. OK.....Some like it.... some don't...

But people who live in Iowa....

what??!!

people who live in Iowa are what???!!!

Are Crazy!!

what a dumb little poem, it doesn't even rhyme!!!