QuiltNebraska 2014

Shirley, Janet, Fay, Me (Lynn)

Another QuiltNebraska in the books the end of July and as usual it was fun to take classes, meet and visit old friends and participate in a Nebraska State Quilt Guild activity.  This year’s convention was held in North Platte, Nebraska which is about a 3 1/2 to 4 hour drive from here.  I love that our annual convention moves around the state so we can have a different experience each year.  There are always new people to get to know as well as those of us perpetual attendees. QuiltNebraska, of course, always means rooming with three of my long time quilt friends.  We look forward to catching up with each others lives as well as spending time together doing what we love.  We had to chuckle this year as we used to stay up late into the night time hours and visit but now “lights out” comes a lot earlier.

This year I took two all day classes instead of half day classes.  Half day classes are fine but sometimes I feel so rushed if they are sewing classes.  Seems like you just get the machine going and the project started and it is time to clean up and be done with the class.   This first class, “Spectrum”, was taught by Jill Vanderboegh.  The project she taught is pictured below in two color ways.  She had a great way of speed piecing the foundation pieced diamonds.  She did give us a choice of making this small 12” version or a larger version which I forgot to take a photo of at convention but did get a photo of it at the Nebraska State Fair where it won a blue ribbon.  As you can see it was slightly different in that it was squared out with piecing in the corners and was approximately 24”to 28” across.

 

I chose to do the small 12” one and will show you my progress in another blog post as I am still working on it.

The second class I took was taught by Kay Grimminger on making a free form beaded pendant.  I had such a good time in this class and Kay’s pieces are exquisite!  We all started with a cabochon and from there on it was our decision of what beads we wanted to stitch on and where we wanted to place them.  Here are 2 of Kay's pieces below.

 

This is the piece below that I had nearly finished by the end of the day long class.  Love the colors and it really was fun to make.  I didn’t get too elaborate with the shape or the number of kinds of beads as  I don’t really like to wear really large jewelry and wanted to get it finished.
Each year the NSQG members await the unveiling of the new raffle quilt with much anticipation.  This year the quilt did not disappoint.  It is a gorgeous black and gold double feathered star with appliqued vines and leaves in the corners.  The quilt is further enhanced with beautiful machine quilting done by Nebraska’s own award winning quilter Kris Vierra.  Crystals were applied to the quilt to add sparkle.  To read more about this quilt check out this webpage on the Nebraska Quilt Guild’s website.
Of course I have my tickets purchased and intend to win this quilt next July!  I say that every year but this is one I really would like to own.

Lynn

Denim Blue Jeans Stockings

In 2010 I made Christmas stockings for my whole family from old denim blue jeans.  It was a fun and fairly easy project to do.  I blogged about the steps to making them on several posts but never posted a pattern until now.  It has been a very popular blog post series and has been passed around Pintrest a lot the last few years.  It seemed when ever I would think of getting a line drawing of the stocking pattern the stockings were all packed away with the Christmas decorations but you are all in luck now.  Again a reader asked for the pattern and I just happened to have them all out ready to hang on the fireplace so traced around one of them and made a PDF pattern that you can download and print.

Download the PDF pattern from this Link.  Remember this is my pattern and I am allowing you to use it to make your own stockings but do not steal this pattern and publish it as your own work.  Please adhere to my request.  Share the link with friends, that is OK, but do not copy any of my blog pages or this pattern to publish on another webpage or for sale!

This is a fairly large stocking as I wanted it big enough I could actually fill it with small gifts.  If you want a smaller stocking just reduce the printed pattern on a copier.

Below are the links to the original posts where you will find instructions, pictures of finished stockings and hints and tips I learned along the way.


Part 1 Christmas Stocking Fun
Part 2 Christmas Stocking Fun Part 2
Part 3 Christmas Stocking Tips
Part 4 Denim Jeans Christmas Stockings
Part 5 More Stocking Hints And Observations
Part 6 Two More Christmas Stockings
Part 7 Hanging The Stockings
Part 8 More Stockings To Show
Part 9 Another Jeans Stocking For The Fireplace
Part 10 Pattern (this blog post)
Let me know if you have made any of these stockings and send me a photo as I would love to see what others do with the pattern.

Lynn

Blogging Break….

I really did not intend my infrequent blogging to turn into months without a peep from me on my blog.  One day without blogging turned into two…then a week….then several weeks to end up months.  My health is good so no worries there but got so busy with yard and garden work, grandkids activities, family visits and I confess I just got lazy and more lazy the longer it was since I posted.  I am sorry for those of you that checked in on me here and were disappointed to find nothing new.  I just hope some of you return to check again!I know we are almost through fall here in Nebraska but wanted to share a few more photos I took this last summer on walks around our farm.  I love taking my camera along and seeing what I can capture.  The photo of the sunflower is one of the large ones I planted along my vegetable garden.  They were beautiful until one thunderstorm with strong winds blew that broke most of them off at the point where I had tied them up.  The moth hovering over the sunflower is a Sphinx moth that can sometimes fool people into thinking it is a Hummingbird.Those of you not familiar with corn plants might not realize what they look like at the ground level.  The plants grow these finger like appendages we call “air roots.” They grow down from the last few sections of the corn plant and help anchor the plant to keep it more stable as the ears grow and get heaver and in windstorms.  These air roots really do help it stand upright and are just cool looking!The above photo is of the track made by a wheel of the pivot irrigation system through the cornfield.    If you want to know more about center pivot irrigation check out this webpage.

Welcome back!
Lynn

Happy Thanksgiving

American Thanksgiving greetings to all my friends far and near.  I want to share the following by Joanna Fuchs as it expresses how I feel.  Check out her web page for more of her poems on all subjects.

Thanksgiving Delights On Thanksgiving Day we're thankful for
Our blessings all year through,
For family we dearly love,
For good friends, old and new. For sun to light and warm our days,
For stars that glow at night,
For trees of green and skies of blue,
And puffy clouds of white. We're grateful for our eyes that see
The beauty all around,
For arms to hug, and legs to walk,
And ears to hear each sound. The list of all we're grateful for
Would fill a great big book;
Our thankful hearts find new delights
Everywhere we look!   By Joanna Fuchs  

 Blessings,

Lynn