Betsy Ross and the Dog Days of Summer

After a long lapse from from Sewing Sassy with Lyd, it has occurred to me that life has taken its toll on my blogs and most of all my quilting. Oh, how I have missed my machine, what is life without the humming of the machine. But, recently I completed a fun summer quilt just perfect for summer outings with the family.

The patriotic quilt has inspired us to plan outdoor activities all summer long. As I finished the quilt, my son begged me to have a picnic on the living room floor that night. He wanted to know when we would take it outside to dine on it. He was enamored by the stars and loved the stripes that made up this quilt.

The inspiration came from a book that my great uncle gave me when my aunt passed away. She was an avid quilter and had a real passion for the time-honored skill. But, as I browsed these books which dated back to somewhere in the mid 1970's I found it hard to believe that they would ever offer much inspiration. However, after a second and third glance, nestled deep in the pages, I found a pattern just begging for an update.

So, 20 fat quarters, 1 yard of white and 1 1/2 yards of sashing later, we had this patriotic beauty. Then I coupled the quilt with 4 yards of backing and folks, we are ready for some all-American summer fun.

As I neared completion, and hand quilted the stars I think I may have channeled a little Betsy Ross in there as well. I carefully stitched each star with Pearle 8 red and precise care. There was some serious Americana going on there.


 So, now we are ready for summer! Bring it on! Bring on the dog days of summer -  you will find us at Concerts in the Garden, gazing at the fireworks on the Fourth of July, spending the day at the pool, catching up with friends at the lake or lounging at the beach. Summer is here and we are ready to celebrate the season and all things American.

Don't forget to make your bed!

When I was young (as my son likes to tell me - a long time ago) I had a quilt that was made of yellow cotton and white blocks with big bright flowers that took up the entire block. My Grandma Guajardo made it for me. It was one of my prized possessions as a young girl. I would carefully fold it back each night and each morning make sure that the purple flower was centered on the bed as I made it. Sadly, that quilt is beginning to fray I really hate to use it anymore. So, I decided to make me a new prized possession.

I finished a quilt and three shams today for my king sized bed. It was a whipping - I mean a beating. I long armed the quilt with a tight stipple that took me two - three hour sessions over Superbowl weekend - my husband was VERY patient with that and the shams took me about three weeks and one quilt retreat to do. This may be my one and only king size to do, but it was worth every stitch, every missed play of the Superbowl and three bottles of wine!

 But unlike my yellow quilt, it is hard for me to pick just one block that is my favorite! I love them all.  It is a simple pattern that I took from a book I had and really is made from random sized blocks. I think it is the fabric I used. I made the quilt from Moda's Etchings - Three Sisters. The moment I saw it I fell in love with it. The way the grays and tans danced together made you want to wrap yourself in the creamy lushness of the patterns. I loved the drawings of the French buildings and I wanted to get lost in the map of Paris, I wanted to see so much more of the red floral and read the love letters that are written on the fabric in beautiful cursive. The entire line was just gorgeous. I even loved the solids I mixed in because you could see the stipple that covered the block.

I think the favorite thing about my bed are the two linen pillows that finish off the bed.  I bought them last October in Canton. I picked them up at one of my favorite shops LaurieAnn's. It is a cottage oasis of unique finds. Every time you turn a corner there is another exciting surprise waiting to be discovered. So, when my eyes feasted upon these pillows I just knew I had to have them. And look how great they sit against the gray paisley of the shams. It is like this was an ensemble just waiting to happen.

Each night that I crawl under the quilt, I fall in love with it all over again. I love the way its warmth wraps around me. I love the weight of the double batting. I like to stare at the hand stitching that finishes the binding. Surprisingly the binding only took me two days to complete.  Binding is the last step of a quilt and the time I am allowed to bond with the quilt before I usually have to part with it. But in this case I got to keep the quilt I had come to love. I get to fall in love every night with the beauty that is made of "sand," maps and natural tones.

Good night - Sleep tight!

There is a first time for everything...

As the saying goes, "There is a first time for everything" and that is how this past weekend went. There were many firsts this weekend. I went on my first but not LAST quilt retreat this weekend. I was invited by my new quilting friend "Ray" as a guest of her mom's shop, Quiltin' Country, retreat to the Compass Centre out in Mt. Calm - and that is what it was - CALM! I went with very little expectations but a long list of things to accomplish.

Well, my expectations were exceeded beyond belief. It was a weekend of sewing, quilting, laughing, great food, rest and lots of new friends. But, I must say my list of things to do is STILL long...

While I was there between all the talking and laughing and good times, I was able to make some serious progress on my nephew-to-be's baby bedding. I used Sarah Jane's (Michael Miller) Children At Play to create the bight ensemble. I made bumper pads, two fitted sheets and a quilt top. But the quilt top was my biggest challenge.

I decided to make a simple quilt pattern of 6 inch blocks, but I took it to the next level by adding in some complex blocks to add additional details to the piece. Well, after a day of laboring over it and the aid of my new friends who all took turns "talking me off the ledge" at one time or another, I finally completed the project.

But the highlight of it all was truly the laughter of the weekend, the late night sewing and being surrounded by many talented women who all have a passion for the timeless tradition of quilting. I laughed until my side hurt, I had so much good food my stomach felt like it was going to burst but most of all my heart was filled with joy! I told my new friends I was going to blog about them because I wanted to share with people the great time I had.

I mean how many times in your life do you have a weekend where you have encounters with Butch Cassidy and MacGyver all in the same weekend?

Can't wait for my next retreat - but it will never be like the first time.

Hand-y Work vs. Machine

Okay, I have shied away from my blog for a few weeks now because I didn't have a finished project to show you. I am a "check" the box kind of gal and I love completion. I have recently picked up a project I was working on before Thanksgiving and I can see that it is going to take me a LONG time to finish it and teach me a good lesson about patience...

When I started quilting I never knew that accomplishments would be measured in hand stitches rather than machine stitches. You see, the project I am currently working on is a traditional Dresden plate quilt and for some reason it has prompted me to do a lot of hand work and it has a lot of steps along the way.

Let me break it down for you:
There are 20 blades per plate - that's right 20!
There are 16 plates in the quilt
And the plates are set on 15 1/2" x 15 1/2" blocks

Here comes the tricky part - I decided to hand stitch the plates to the blocks! That's right, I am using a blanket stitch to attach all 16 plates to their respective blocks. The pros to this method are simple 1) I am getting a lot of practice at the stitch, 2) I am not locked away in my sewing room night after night isolated from my family and 3) it is going to look really good. The cons to this are 1) I have to be careful not to shed blood on my work, 2) I have it spread out in the living room and 3) I may never finish this project!

So far I have stitched 5 plates to their blocks. Best I can figure it is taking me about an hour and half to complete each block, provided I don't get caught up watching a good movie or I decide to stretch out on the couch for a nap instead of sew.

The next step after the plates are attached will be to put the blocks together and place the centers of the plates. Finally, I will assemble 34 pieces of 2.5" x 8" strips together horizontally to make the border. This is going to be one heck of a quilt and I can't wait to finish it and sit back and say, "Yep, I hand stitched it all and will you kindly quit coveting the jewel of a quilt that it is?"

So the next time you think to yourself, "I wonder what Lydia is working on," just know, it is probably the same project and hopefully I will finish it before I am too old to appreciate it.

Simple Things

So when I was a little girl I just loved the idea of a perfect home with a perfect little life. My dad made me the best playhouse in the world. It had a full kitchen, a living room and a bedroom. It was awesome! My mother made me curtains, bedding for my baby bed and sweet cushions for my living room chairs. Sadly I don't have a single picture of this perfect abode. I had a welcoming front porch where I would greet my guests from a split swing door. To start my play day I would swing open my shutters and tie back my curtains. I spent hours in there playing make believe house and greeting my friends who came by to visit from across the street or next door.

We would sit and visit in my red plastic chairs and when we were done, we would step outside to the swing set right next door to my little brown playhouse. It was all a little girl could ask for.

As I reflect on those days I look around at children today and playhouses made from the heart and with a lot of sweat equity have been replaced with cookie cutter playhouses made in China. The houses even come complete with curtains and built in kitchens. I know I am guilty of the same.  I purchased a playhouse earlier this year for my son (or should I say rugged cabin) and my father and I assembled it in a single afternoon. Although I love it and I added my my own personal touches to it, it really doesn't compare to the beautiful playhouse my dad built me so many years ago.

So this year as I began to think about Christmas presents and I worked down the list to my niece who is two I knew I had to give her something that was from the heart. I LOVE to go to First Monday Trade Days in Canton.  Ask any one of my friends and they will tell you that there are all sorts of treasures in my home from there (but that blog is for another day). So during my annual trek to Canton in September I made a stop at one of the raw wood shops. There are several there and I am not loyal to any one since they are all very competitive. I saw an old fashioned baby doll crib. I immediately knew that was for my niece. I could imagine it, painted with handmade bedding in it just perfect to keep her sweet baby warm.

So I snatched it up for a bargain price. I ran it over to my neighbor's house - he is a painter and asked him to spray it for me. When I got it back my plan of using scraps to assemble the bedding just would not do. So I ran to Jo-Ann's to see what I could find. Well, I found the most amazing flannels just perfect for my niece's baby doll.

I found a sweet bird pattern and a complimentary pink paisley. Now, I would be lying if I told you it took me forever to make this bedding.  I think it took me all of an hour to whip out all three pieces. But when I was finished I just loved it! My son asked me if I was going to wrap it. I am not sure that I will, but I might just put a great big bow on it and that is it. The real gift is the fact that it comes from the heart and I hope she will enjoy it as much I would have when I was a child. My gift to her is that she will create sweet memories of days when she sang, rocked and cared for her baby doll in the bed and bedding her Aunt Lydia made for her. I hope her days will be filled with hours of make believe play before she grows up and those are just beautiful memories that she reflects on as an adult.

I hope this Christmas all children receive a gift from the heart and full of special memories to come!

Even if you were good, you will want these sweet lumps of coal

So last year I slaved over cookies for Roman's class, I really just put all I had into the cookies, I even made three kinds - sugar, gingerbread and chocolate sugar. They were good and they were awesome looking, but they were a BEATING!

My mom gingerly told me that maybe I put too much effort into it all because this day in age most people don't understand what went into those cookies. I thought about it and decided she was right!

So here we are in 2011. Things have changed, life is much more demanding and I have only made ONE batch of cookies so far this Christmas Season. So tomorrow is Roman's class party. I could not send him empty handed - I just could not do that but, I had not prepared ANYTHING for his class. But, thanks to my new found obsession - PINTREST, I found a simple recipe called "Lumps of Coal." It is no bake, no hassle and finished in about 20 minutes. How you decide to dress it up is entirely up to you.

Recipe:

 

One single package of Oreos

One bag of marshmallows

4 tbs butter

In your food processor, process the Oreos down to fine crumbs.

Once you are complete with that step, measure off 5 cups of marshmallows and your butter.

Place them in a large microwave bowl.

Heat them up until the marshmallows are puffed up. (aprox. 1.5 minutes to 2 minutes)

Fold in the Oreos. This is going to take muscle and you will want to work quickly.

Once the mixture is complete spread the cookies on a non-stick surface.  I used my Silpat mat for this.

I pressed them out with my hands until the mixture was about 1" thick.

Using a small square cookie cutter I began to cut the "Lumps of Coal."

I re-rolled the excess until I only had small pieces that I could not work with.

Let them set for about 20 minutes.

And package!

I found these really cute tags on this blog called eighteen25. Here is the link for the free printables!

And there you go - FINISHED. I think it has taken me longer to write the blog entry for this than it did to make the concotion. It is all genius and very simple. See, you can be a MARTHA STEWART!

Enjoy!

Let me introduce myself

Hi there. Thank you for stopping by! After months and months of thinking about creating a blog, I finally did it. I really have no explanation why I decided to do this today, but I just followed my instinct. After several months and many projects of posting on Facebook, I decided I should journal my journey through quilting and crafting in a blog.

My hope is to share with you my projects and even some guidance through some processes for those who might follow the blog that are new to sewing. Along the way I am sure there will be some funny stories of mishaps. But most of all I just want to give you an insight to my passion.

Each quilt I have created has been crafted with a lot of thought and even more heart. So far every quilt I have completed has been a gift for a special friend or family member. It might be a new baby, a "Thank you" or a special birthday for a close friend. My first quilt that we have kept here at home were two different quilts.

1. 12 Days of Christmas - I used last year's Kate Spain's fabric by Moda. The quilt was made for my guest bed and finished as a full size quilt. I LOVE IT!

2. How the Grinch Stole Christmas - I made this for my son's bed. Each night he tells me I made it for him and that he is thankful for it. He is 3 and those sweet little words warm my heart.

Currently I am working on some Holiday table runners for friends. I just sent off one of the table runners to my aunt who lives in the panhandle. I can't wait until she opens the package! I am so excited!

Sew Sassy Friends!