Thrift Shop Quilt Purchase

I picked up this cheery quilt at the thrift shop today for next to nothing.

I'm rarely drawn to quilts made in China, but my recent interest in the Big Stitch quilting method using perle cotton drew me to this quilt.

I love all the different colors of perle cotton that were used.

 And, with the price of perle cotton these days, this quilt was indeed a bargain!  

I figure it will be the perfect summer outdoor napping quilt, with no worries if something happens to it!

:)

Photo Shoot at Blossom Hollow Farm

My cousin John was kind enough to help me mount some family quilts on their barn for a photo shoot during our family reunion this weekend!

I wanted to take a picture of this quilt at the family farm since it had been pieced by my Grandma Learn.

Before she died, my grandmother gave the unquilted top to my sister Alison, then I machine quilted it for her for Christmas last year.

I have no idea what the name of the quilt pattern might be,

but I love its scrappy look!

I also wanted to take a picture of this quilt on the farm since my mother, my two sisters, my aunt, and my two cousins all stitched identical quilts together over the course of  three years back in the 90's.

We each included a signature block.

I grow more and more attached to this quilt each year!

I had originally hand quilted it with minimal stitching, but just wasn't pleased with it.

So, this year I stippled it, over top of the hand quilting.

Since I used Warm & Natural batting, it shrunk beautifully when I washed and dried it, giving it the vintage feel I love.

I'm so grateful for the quilting heritage from my mom's side of the family!

Sunday Morning Quilts LOVE

I was tickled to find these little zip bags at the Quilt Odyssey quilt show today in Hershey, PA.  

These two quilts were featured in the book Sunday Morning Quilts, the book that forever changed my approach to quilting exactly two years ago when I purchased it at the same show.

As a result of reading the book, I fell in love with the fresh, modern approach to quilting and fabric stewardship embraced by Amanda Jean Nyberg and Cheryl Arkison, I started using clearer, brighter colors in my quilting, and I was introduced to the amazing online community of quilters.

THANK YOU Amanda Jean and Cheryl for impacting my quilting world!!

Where Has All My Quilt Blogging Gone??

Where has all my quilt blogging gone?  I'm not sure I know!!  This summer has been a bit crazy, from keeping up with the outside work and sewing/alteration work, trying to cook and use all the produce that is exploding out of my vegetable garden, traveling to to CO for my nephew's spectacular Rocky Mountain wedding, preparing to host a Norwex party (have you heard about this company - amazing stuff!), dealing with plaguing health issues, attempting to get to the gym on a semi-regular basis, trying to figure out what in the world I am doing with my life, a really, really cool quilting project/job that won't be revealed until the Houston Quilt Market, and on and on it goes!  I think one of the snags has been my perpetual frustration with not being able to capture what I see and experience with my camera.  (I had upgraded from a Canon Powershot ELPH to Canon Powershot G15 recently.  It has much greater capabilities, but the kind of photography I long to do still eludes me, and I need to do figure out how to improve my photography skills....)  It's so frustrating to take a picture that doesn't begin to reflect what I just saw or experienced; that tends to shut down any blogging inspiration.  I think another snag is the fact that I have so many quilts floating around in my head and so many quilts in process that I feel a bit paralyzed some most days.  I'm usually working on a variety of quilts, so it feels a bit schizophrenic to post what I'm up to each day - there's no way you'd be able to keep my projects straight!  And, then there are the days when my brain doesn't function well enough to articulate what I'm thinking (can you relate?!)  To be honest, the only way I've ever been able to blog is to wait until the inspiration hits, but that isn't always very consistent....  And, I'm really, really slow when it comes to writing blog posts (too much reflection, I guess).  But, I do have tons of posts swirling in my head and a number of quilts finishes I want to show you.

In the meantime, I am still slowly working at photographing and documenting this stack of quilts.  I got the bright idea of photographing every one of my quilts against a barn, but that's easier said than done.  This stack may be slow to disappear!  

So, to be continued!!  

:)