Two More International Siggies

I'm still waiting for a number of siggies from the international siggy swap, but I did get these two in the past few days, (ok weeks, I haven't blogged in ages. We went to Shreveport for Easter last weekend and it took a big chunk out of my bloggin' time! Pure laziness did in the rest.) Anyway, here is a gorgeous siggy from Kieny Poppen in Taiwan. Her postcard reminded me that 2009 is the year of the bull. Love that fabric! I think Kieny might be the only one from the international swap list in Taiwan; if so, I applaud her speedy turn-around time.


This sweet little teddy bear came all the way from Belgium. Isn't it darling? (Don't you think I need a better camera? My whites keep coming out dirty looking - so sad.) This one is from Arlette Cauwelier. I really like the simple ones like this. Arlette even pinked the edge of her siggy; I've never seen that done before. It might make eventually getting a 1/4" seam allowance a little tricky, but on the other hand, it shouldn't ravel before I get to sewing it. lol.

It turned out just fine!

We had our monthly Blanketeers meeting today and Rachel and Sheila were very surprised at how well Mary's quilt turned out. Everyone was very complimentary. It was too bad Mary couldn't be there, but I still have the quilt, so hopefully she'll get to see it before it goes to the USO. It got very wrinkled in the dryer, but it actually lies very flat now. It could probably stand to be ironed a bit.

Stippling quilts this size is just pure fun! They scoot around on the sewing table without any effort. I used blue thread on the top and green thread to match the back and binding in the bobbin. The blue thread really pops against the orange border.

I usually manage to do my worst stippling where it shows up the best like on the yellow here, but I got pretty lucky with this one.


I just love these colors. It's all the colors in the smallest box of Crayola crayons. And, as I pointed out to my DH (and number one quilt holder), when you cut that much off of a star, people will think for sure that you meant for it to be that way! 8-)

The moral of this story is that any quilt top can be saved as long as the fabric isn't damaged and you don't worry too much about the original design. I think some little kid is going to love this sweet little blankie to death!

More White Fabric!

It was amazing. We ran out of the beautiful white fabric for the Quilt of Valor and we needed some more and what do you know? The first fabric I saw as I walked into the Berry Patch was the white fabric. Yes! What a relief. I was afraid we would have to find another selection for a scrapier look, but we lucked out this time. I was able to buy another yard, which is at least twice what we actually need to complete the quilt.


Of course, I haven't actually *worked* on the Quilt of Valor this week. lol Instead I've spent the week trying to turn a sad little quilt top into a plucky little quilt survivor. I'm happy to say that I believe the patient will live. In fact, while it will never win any construction awards, I think it's going to turn out quite cute. This is a very washed-out picture; it's much more vibrant than this. I got it all stippled in blue thread. Tomorrow I'm going to bind it, not sure what color yet, then I'll take a picture of it outside on Friday morning. Look how flat it is! That was a *major* accomplishment. lol

Quilting Bee

We had another fun, productive quilting bee at my house on Sunday. Here is Rachel at the sewing machine, patiently learning how to paper piece with Mary looking on. (See if you can spy the yummy chocolate cake on the kitchen counter just begging to be eaten.) By the end of the bee, Rachel had completed the paper piecing part of her first star, now she just has to trim it and sew the parts together.

Sheila, spent almost the entire bee cutting up fabric for the remaining star kits, 6 large and 25 small. She's an expert cutter. I'm so grateful that I didn't have to do this part. I had all the kit bags made up and she cut and stuffed and cut until they were done. Thank you, Sheila! Unfortunately we ran out of the white fabric with 6 kits to go. I'm going to go back to the Berry Patch at lunch today to see if I can get some more. If not, we'll just have two whites in the quilt, instead of just one.

I should have taken more pictures, because this one certainly doesn't do Sheila justice at all, but we got busy with other things and the camera just sat there for the rest of the bee. I really need to improve if we're going to be making a QOV journal to go with this quilt!

About half way through the bee we heard a little knock on the back door. Virginia came! We were so pleased to see her. Exactly 2 weeks ago today she had a QUADRUPLE bypass. I still can't believe she's getting out and around so well already; it's absolutely amazing! I have been SO worried about her. The surgery came out of the blue. Horrible angina pain (but no heart attack, thank God) in the hospital for a few days, then surgery. What a blessing to have her safely out the other side of THAT! She called last Thursday saying that she wanted to come to the bee. I told her not to wear herself out, and to come in her jammies if she wanted, so she did. She stayed for a piece of cake and a nice chat. We got to see her scars, which were something to see, but I know she would have KILLED me if I had taken any pictures. She can't drive for another month (airbags are very bad for healing chests) so her husband, Jim, sat in the car for a half hour, eating cake (we delivered) and listening to the NASCAR races on the radio while she visited with us. What a great guy!

Three more International Siggies

Another banner week for siggies! Anneke Boon sent me this lovely sewing basket from the Netherlands. It's an iron-on cut-out, I think, perhaps she bought fabric with this motif? It's very much like the anonymous rooster in the post. (I still haven't heard back from her; I'm not sure what to do about an unsigned siggy. Should I just sign it myself?) Anneke lives in Heerhugowaard, which is about 20 miles north of Amsterdam, in the middle of the peninsula that sticks straight out into the sea. In scanning the google satellite photos of the area, it looks like Anneke lives about 6 inches above sea level, very close to the reclaimed lands.

Lucien Callens sent me this pretty kitty from Edegem, Belgium. Edegem looks to be practically a suburb of Antwerp on way to Brussels, which is about 20+ miles away to the south.

Jacqueline Van Ufflelen, also from Belgium, sent me this delicate beaded flower. I love her fabric choice; it's very dramatic! Jacqueline is on the list, but I hadn't sent a siggy to her yet. This siggy came bundled with Lucienne's, so I have to hurry and send one back to her. At least I have a few made up. I just googled Jacqueline. She and Lucienne live only a mile apart. I wonder how long they have been friends. How nice to have a hobby in common!