Autumn Blooms & A Little Porch Time!

I was beginning to despair that we skipped right through summer and into fall!  It was sure feeling like Fall as I stitched this Autumn Blooms kit!  This fabulous pattern is designed by one of our favorites, Maggie Bonanomi and the kits are available at the Barn, along with three other new designs, each one cuter than the next.  If you love Maggie, like we love Maggie, you, too will have to have them all!  I love these colors any time of the year! 



Two Birds



Americana



Garden Basket



Thankfully, it's beginning to feel slightly more like summer; we had our first 80 degree day of the year so Dudley and I are ready for a little porch time! 

And just in case it continues to stay chilly, my "A Little Porch Time" quilt just returned from the quilter to keep me warm out there on the porch!  Once again, Karen, our machine quilter, has outdone herself!  She added butterflies, dragonflies, and ladybugs in the quilting.  I tried to get a detail shot but I don't have the where-with-all!  I'm not much of a photographer!  But, I will have to try and get a photo of Dudley's new hairdo; his hair mats so every spring he has to go in for a shave. It's been so cold that he just went in. This year he's looking especially cute!  Just like a miniature lion, but he's still a little embarrassed so I haven't been able to get a picture! 




My two




This past weekend, Spokane hosted Hoopfest, the largest 3 on 3 basketball tournament in the world.  My kids have been participating ever since they were old enough; it's great fun.  So this weekend, we had two mens teams and one womens team plus all their friends for a total of 17 kids staying with us.  It was fun to have the house full again:  I've washed 4 loads of towels, restocked the frig and cupboards, but still haven't gotten all the quilts put away that they prefer to sleep under!  Did I just call this "fun"?  Good thing I have quilting to keep me sane!  Happy Quilting!

Fresh Picked Posies

Since Summer took it's own sweet time arriving, I just couldn't resist these bright and happy posies!  Designed by Piece of Cake, we are running Fresh Picked Posies as a block of the month through the Barn.  Becky's version called for random (no ruler) cutting and piecing of the background blocks.  Since I'm a controlled chaos, method to my madness kind of girl, I'm not very good at free motion cutting, so I decided to use a Buggy Barn Crazy block for my backgrounds.  We've included the pattern for these blocks in your first month, along with the fabrics for all of the backgrounds and your applique for month one.  I love this quilt!  It really is my happy quilt!  How can you not help but smile when you see it?  Have a sunny and happy week!

Happy Flag Day!

 It's always fun to hang a flag outside, and when it's a flag quilt, it's even better to see it gently waving in the breeze, unlike a flag that gets whipped nearly to shreds in our mach 90 wind!  This is our "Old Glory" hanging from my porch.

We hung our "Flag Day" quilt at the barn; it's still one of my favorites!

Besides celebrating Flag Day, my husband and I are also celebrating the graduation of our oldest son.  He was so happy to have achieved this milestone and we are so proud of him!  Now it'll be on to grad school for either physical therapy or a physicians assistant program.  Here we didn't think we'd be able to keep him in school and now we can't seem to get him out! 

More Gathering Baskets

Pam just got her Gathering Baskets quilt (by NeedleLove) back from our quilter, Karen, and hung it in the barn this morning. Isn't it wonderful?  And just look at what Karen quilted in each basket- I hope you can tell that every other diamond in the basket is heavily quilted to make it look like a basket weave.  What a fabulous job!  And best of all, there's still time for you to have one too!  Have a great weekend!