Curtains on the Cheap

I am loving a new site that is....well...real. If you are interested in being real (read: free from unrealistic, perfectionistic, and idealistic chains) here is that great blog. I think that I am ready to be honest with you all, my life is not perfect, but I enjoy the many blessings God has given me. Evidence that I am, in fact, imperfect. Neglected curtains. These curtains were on the door when we bought this house when we bought it eight year ago. They have been washed, but not recently. I tried to get a good picture of the cobwebs between the window and the curtains! But lately it has become apparent that if I washed them, I would have to do something about them!! Honestly, curtains and under ware are hateful. We need them, but the cost too much. I would rather buy fabric and make quilts!! Now, there is the idea!!!

Made it from fabric that I already had!!! With I could say nothin' but scraps, but, we're being honest here!! The large swath of fabric was stash. The rest, even the back flannel, was scrap. Yes, you read that right, flannel, cause that is what I had. A warm cozy quilt for my window.By the way, this is not my original idea. After all, we are being honest here. I brilliant friend The Lord has blessed me with several) came up with this idea for making blinds when they bought a house that needed curtains in every room. Ouch! That hurts the pocket book. The quilting was all that was my idea. About 2/3 of the way down, I sewed on these little rings. Had them already. They are found in the jewelry section at Hobby Lobby.

At the top corners, two more rings and cup hooks into the wood. I did have to buy cup hooks, under two dollars for 4 at WalMart.

Here is what they look like when up. New curtains in a day. I love them. But then there is beauty in simple imperfection.

Hope you stop by amlouwho and see all the other sew and tell!

Blessings,

KT

P.S.

If I figure out how to quilt underware, you all will be the first to know.

Heritage Quilt

I am not sure whether this is a UFO or a WIP. I started this quilt several years ago. This summer I pulled it out and finished the piecing. I love it!!!!!

It has many fussy cuts.

Blocks are 12 inches.

Each one is different. Seminole border was fun!

The back is even done.

Complete with its own fussy cuts!

Even the binding is made. Only one problem. How to quilt it!! I would love some suggestions. I am a novice at machine quilting, but I want to do justice to this beauty. Help friends!!!!

Also, I am playing pay it forward!! I threw my name in yesterday over on Dee's blog (see her on the side bar). So here are the rules:

1. You must have a blog to play.

2. The first three people to comment agree to play pay it forward by posting on their blog and playing with the first three people that comment on their blog.

3. I agree to send, sometime withing 365 days, a gift to those same three people who commented on this blog post. (That is the "playing" part!)

There, clear as mud!!

Many blessings,

KT

P.S.

LOL!!! I drafted this post on Monday, and posted it on Tuesday, and I just realized that it is dated for Monday. Anyone know how to change that? Does it matter?

KT

Beginnings of Endings

The Great Clean Out is winding down. This weekend I finished painting this shelf, and placed some of my stash on it. I even painted the lids of my button jars!!!! Holly Hobby and her friend guard the stash. I figure these little ladies probably contributed to my love of patchwork, so it is their responsibility to help me out!!! I got the shelf at Goodwill for $4.99. Yay! I was on a date with Treasure at the time. Double YAY!!!

The beginning of the end of the work on Summer Breeze is drawing to a close, quite literally!! She has told me she wants to be quilted with circles. I pulled out this book that I got at a library sale (I wish I could remember what I paid ;) ).

Found the circles that Summer was talking about.

And decided to be lazy and use this as a template. I am about half-way done.

Hope you all have a glorious Monday.

Blessings,

KT

A Giveaway

Brown Paper Packages is haveing a giveaway as well...but I still hope that I win. I would share......please?

Blessings,
KT

Please don't,

whatever you do, don't sign up to win these, because I want them!!!

Please feel much guilt and remorse if you go to True Up and enter to win them. NOT!!!!!

Many blessings,
KT

If I'd had a Hammer,

I'd have hammered in the morning. I had a $5.00 Walmart vinyl tablecloth, and wanted to nail it up on the wall in my dinning room (a.k.a. my sewing room). Out of four hammers that we own, I was able to find exactly ZERO!! Treasure suggested that we meet Dee and her Hubby for ice cream (read: chocolate, duh!). After a quick call to Dee, I had a.....hammer in the evening. They came over to play er visit.

Dee came up with this great layout for "Summer Breeze". (Boy was I glad to get "If I had a Hammer" out of my head!) The only problem was that I wanted a bigger quilt, and I would have to buy more Charms. Not an option at this point, I want to quilt this thing!!!! I wanted to show this brilliance to you any way. She is such a great Sister-Chick!! One day I am definitely doing a quilt like this!

This is basically what we decided on. I needed to finish a few blocks. We decided to ditch the pink centered white blocks in favor of using more luscious florals up. Please note the distinct lack of a design wall....

I finished the blocks this morning, and used that hammer to get this baby up. (Thanks Dee!!)

See, doesn't that look better!! All it took was a hammer! I now have the first row together, and am determined to have the top together before I go to bed tonight. We will be out of town tomorrow, and so this is my Sew and Tell Friday. I will try to add the link tomorrow before I go!!

Blessings,

KT

Edit: Here is that link. So many more people are playing be sure to look around!! What fun!!!

Sew And Tell Friday

First, a warning. There will only be dark, ugly pictures on this blog until Spring. Please pray it comes quickly;).

Finished 4 more blocks of Summer Breeze. That makes 16. Now I am just waiting on the fabric to make the whole top!!!

I can't bear to put them away. So they are sitting out in my work space cheering me on.

So, I pulled this one out to work on, and finished up the last three rows. Yay!!!! But I didn't stop there, no,no!!!

I finished squaring and piecing the first row. This thing is big. Maybe too big. We will see!!

I also finished these. It has been a very productive week!!!!

Don't forget to use the Sew and Tell Friday button on the side bar to see what everyone else is doing!

Blessings,

KT

Blessing

Summer Breeze?!?

First off,

don't these look lonely?
There, that is much better!!!

The burp clothes were entirely made from scraps. You can see Heather Bailey and Amy Butler in there. I mentioned the tutorial I used in yesterday's blog post. It was great! I used some selvages too. Also, I didn't have any fleece scraps. No worries, I had great lime flannel, and in the spirit of scrappiness, used it instead.

Found a selvage(From Dee I think) with the words "New Chick on the Block" the N and E got lost in sewing, but I think the funny is the same!!!

I loved the over all effect!

Then, as it is cold and very wet here. I felt the need to escape to Summer. I have four more blocks!!! I also believe the quilt has told me its name. I used it in the title of the post.
This may be my favorite block so far. I love the orange flower and the ladybugs!!! I hope to get a couple more of these sweet things done today. But I have errands, in the cold, wet weather.

Yuck!

Summer breeze, makes me feel fine.......

Many blessings,

KT

What in the world I have been doing!!!!

Sewing of course!! I am nearly done with a corduroy jacket, just have to hem the sleeves and do some top stitching. It has been on the to do list for a year. Why does being on the to do list suck the fun out of projects? Anyway, I could not bear the thought of pressing hems last night, so I chucked the to do list.... I sewed just for ...pleasure!!!!!

Dee's vacation quilt, which was inspired by another brilliant quilter, inspired me. You can see Dee's story here, and she credits redpepperquilts. Also, this was Dee's entry for the quilt show that is still going on today!!!! Check it out.

Here is my version:

This picture, sad to say, was taken in the brightest spot in my house. For those who don't know me very well, I have been realizing that you might get the wrong idea about me. I don't love all those dark fabrics, it's just Fall here.

But it is Summer in these fabrics! So cheerful. I started out making a lap quilt last night. I made all 8 of these blocks. It was like recess!!!! This morning when I looked at the blocks, I decided that this was meant to be at least a twin!!! I ordered more.

These are Moda Water Garden charms. They have the cutest little critters on them. I also ordered some extra for helping with the scrappy back and for the binding.

The other fabrics were already in my stash, and I have plenty of them. Oh the bliss.

I love these little bees!

Block making has been side-tracked today by this post over at Sew Mama Sew. There is a baby that I have made some receiving blankets for, and they were looking pitiful and lonely by themselves. Hopefully I will have pictures of my version tomorrow!

Hope your day is as cheerful as my fabric!!!

Blessings,

KT

Welcome Quilters!!!!

Earlier this week I finished a table quilt and posted about it here. I practiced free motion quilting around the figures, and stitched in the ditch on the border.This is the sister to my earlier quilt. I have gotten into the habit of cutting up my scraps before putting them away. It makes it more tempting to pull them out and make something later! Well, these never got put away!! They looked like Indian Corn to me, and I love Indian Corn in the Fall. Probably the purple.

I had already cut the bigger scraps into napkins. Compulsive I know! Anyway, I had to use them for the back. So this little quilt was my happy accident, and made with nothing but scraps!!

Truly a harvest blessing if you ask me!!!

Blessings,

KT

Oh yeah! Be sure to go over to see the other quilts by clicking on the button on the side bar.

A Quilt Story...Part 1

Yesterday you only got to see the edge of this beauty. It was my Grandma's quilt. She didn't quilt it, but she always had these great 30's quilts on the bed whenever I would stay over night. They were always cool, soft, and smelled like Grandma's house. I would drift off to sleep looking at all the little figures on the fabric.Well, when we had to empty their house, I found that most of the quilts belonged to my Aunt, but this one was unclaimed, no one liked That Green. The entire back, the binding, and all of the stars are That Green!

I love That Green!!!

Every inch of it!

And, I love all those little bobbers, (is it just me or are the 30's reproductions heavy on the girly side?)

flower pots,

and daisies!

Here you can see the little tiny hand stitches. The binding is narrow. The batting, if there is any, is thin. I love that it is fading from love. I love that I get to see it every day as it hangs in my bedroom. I love that Treasure loves it too! (Smart man).


I hope that you all have old quilts for comfort, beauty, and wonderful memories.

Blessings,

KT