Sunflowers to sunflowers...

Pretty sunflowers that inspired my sunflower quilt...

Well I just love all of my sunflowers that I plant in my yard each year. Last year I photographed them with the bees and butterflies. 

I decided to make a sunflower quilt and one of my Neuse Quilt Guild members, Frances Salt, had made a lovely one using large sunflower appliques.We displayed hers at our Lenoir County Fair booth a year ago and here it is folded for display but you can still see it...it is on the left with the medium blue background!!


Well, Betty Haynes and I decided to make our own sunflower quilt and started selecting yellow fabrics for the petals. Frances gave us a brown fabric for one of the centers so that we would each have some of the same fabric on all three quilts. Betty and I started appliquing our flowers on about the same time in 2010. I finished my top in 2011. I selected a light blue background fabric and sashed it in a gold daisy fabric.


This photo was my inspiration to use the light blue fabric for the sky...and also because our home is mostly decorated with blue and yellow...

I wanted to applique additional sunflowers on the brown border and used a green batik fabric for the vine and leaves.  I actually hand appliqued all of the sunflowers in the center of the quilt but elected to use a combination of machine and hand applique for the border flowers and vines. The button hole stitch on my machine seemed to make more of a decorative statement and I used it for the centers. I used  a yellow variegated thread for the centers and some green varigated threads for the vines and leaves that I purchased at a quilt show and they were hand dyed from England.

 You can see the butterfly here. It is not paper pieced but is a pattern that a fellow quilter from our "Night Owl" group gave me, Ruth Lee. The Greene County Needlework Guild in Snow Hill, NC used this pattern to make a wall hanging of their logo. The wall hanging is displayed in their classroom. I will have to take a picture of it the next time I visit them. It is lovely.
Here is the back of it...

Here are those lovely hand dyed English threads that I used and the variegated yellow thread.

Here is my diagram that I drafted before I started to decide on placement. I actually added an additional border of brown Thimbleberrries fabric. The final measurements are  79" X 62".
I am deciding now on the batting. I have the daisy fabric for the backing. Of course I want to hand quilt it BUT realistically, I might grid quilt the squares on the machine and hand quilt the rest for it for time sake. 


Visited the Green County Needle Workers today and took a picture of their wall hanging with the butterflies.
It is a great piece of work...

Here is that pretty little butterfly that was my inspiration...It is really not that easy to make and I only made one. They made them to surround the quilt in the border.  A lot of talent!!


I need to mention that the author of this folded fabric process is...
Rebecca Anne Harger. The booklet is "Foldin Oldies" Dimensional Quilting  Prairie Butterfly
1998.

Ruth Graham...

For those who may not know, Ruth Graham is a daughter of Billy & Ruth Graham. She has written a book "Fear Not Tomorrow, God Is Already There" and a devotional book as well.


I read through the devotional book 6-7 months ago and so enjoyed it that I have started reading it again. She really deals with practical, everyday concerns of todays people. She has been through divorce, rebellious children, one daughter having two out of wedlock children and remarriage. Like I said, todays topics!!

I actually purchased this little book at WalGreens in a section that they have on Christian books and I mean good books. I messaged their headquarters to let them know how much I appreciated them having the courage to include Christian books in their stores...
You may also enjoy reading her blog which she updates often.
http://ruthgraham.wordpress.com/

National Day of Prayer

Today is the National Day of Prayer and I am grateful that I was born and live in America. I have been so blessed with great parents, family, friends As I get older, I realize these blessings and how I want to make sure that I pass it on to others.


I am part of a Bible study on Tuesday nights and we learn so many helpful things about Jesus and His life.  This helps me stay focused on why I am here and that I was made by God for God.

Let me share one of my "Little Quilts" from Alice Berg, Mary Ellen Holt, and Sylvia Johnson's book so entitled.
I made it about ten years ago and have it displayed in my sewing room.

Quilt restored!!

Both ends of this quilt were tattered to say the least. Many triangles also were worn. I selected similar fabrics from the '30s to make the repairs...Many blocks had to be completely replaced and others I was able to replace only the worn pieces. I hand quilted the areas that needed it and rebound the whole quilt.
See what you think...this look several months to complete. 

Neuse Quilters Beach Retreat

Our Neuse Quilters Guild in Kinston go down to the beach each year for a quilting retreat. We just returned from our four day week and had a wonderful time. We had 25 participants which included our guild, the Greene County Needleworkers, a Goldsboro guild member, and two sisters of members.

Kirsta Meadows, All About Quilting Quilt store owner from Jacksonville, joined us Tuesday night for dinner and to tell us about the HERO quilt program for wounded soldiers.

Ditty Bags- Again!!

Of course I had to post these cuties on my blog and then to facebook. Then my cousin wanted one for her and my aunt, whom I am named for... I will give them to them at our family reunion...pictures will follow!!

Here they are...with black and white and red...

Recycled Jeans Ditty Bags

My daddy gave me an old pair of blue jeans because he thought I might want the denim, which I did!! I cut the legs off and squared them into rectangles of different sizes. They laid around for a while until I needed a quick, cheap thank you gift.


I  lined each rectangle with a coordinate fabric and embroidered the initials on each.   Then I matched a zipper to the fabric and sewed it in place. I used more scrap denim for the handle and sewed on ribbon, turned inside out and sewed one seam in one direction and then reversed the next seam. A trick I used while teaching Family & Consumer Sciences to high school students to make little bags!! 

See what you think...

Scrap Fabric Bag

I got busy one day and decided to use some of  my favorite scraps to make a little bag. I did not have a pattern so I just started sewing strips together... I made a rectangle, used a light weight batting, and then selected some more favorite fabric (Lake House) for the linning. Made two handles with a button hole in each end and then selected buttons.

I completed the binding like I do on my quilts and machine stitched it into place.  I was finished in about 2 hours...

http://ayumills.blogspot.com/2008/05/tutorial-fabric-basket.html

I came across a similar fabric bag today with a tutorial. So I decided to post it for those who need more directions that I had!!  Try your own!!