Susanna's Scrappy Spectacular Rail Fence

This is my daughter...isn't she lovely?  You don't have to answer that question!

Here is her finished (as in washed and dried!!) 30's rail fence quilt.  It is twin size.  I think I know where it will be sleeping tonight!  The front...

And here is the back...she was very creative in using up EVERY BIT of my 30's stash.  Whew...it's gone, but still here!

She even pieced the binding from the last of the last of the last of the scraps.    I'm so proud!

My new camera is amazing.  The end.

~Joan

Another Quilt Finished On The Handi-Quilter

Advice to self...don't buy 30 pounds of ground beef at one time again.  Ever.  I mean it.

On my way home from the Y, I stopped to get a few items at a locally owned grocer.  They had 85% lean ground beef for $1.50 a pound.  It was only good for another couple days.  So I declared today beef day.  Several of the kids helped me off and on, especially Rachel.

So I fed the freezer with semi-prepared meals...9 batches of Salisbury steak (I grill these on my contact grill, so I just mixed them and formed them into burger shapes), ten pounds of BBQ meatballs (shaped and ready to bake after adding sauce), 6 pounds of porcupine meatballs, and 10 pounds of browned burger for sloppy joes, spaghetti, chili, etc.

Made home-made chicken fried steak (from cube steak), mashed potatoes, and milk gravy for lunch.  It.  was.  perfect.

Susanna pinned her rail fence quilt on the Handi-Quilter frame, and I quilted the whole thing after 4:00, off and on.  I did loops and hearts.  It is adorable.  It's twin-bed size.  She used up all my '30's scraps.  The back is pieced.  I will get some pics later.  My camera died today.  I do mean completely dead.  Just last night my husband asked if I wanted him to buy me a new camera.  I told him I didn't want him to spend the money on me...mine was working just fine.  That was, until it died this AM.  He said my new one should be here in a couple days :)

Going to go read for a little while then collapse.

Will be quilting the Texas Braid soon!!

~Joan

Susie's Quilt Top Update and More Hearts & Gizzards

To the left is Susanna's quilt top before borders (she hasn't added those yet.  She did a fantastic job of arranging the colors.  There are many fabrics in this, and some stand out more than others, but see how pleasing this is to the eye? 

To the right is a close-up of the center of the top.  She trimmed all the blocks to a uniform size before sewing them to each other.  That took about 90 minutes, but see how well it all went together!  Nice, flat quilt top. 

I added a couple more blocks to my Hearts and Gizzards top.  I like the way it's turning out.  I am not big into "naming" my quilts, but I did name this one.  Hearts & Gizzards just doesn't do anything for me.  I still wonder how it came to be called that?

See where the 8 half hearts join into what looks like 4 hearts where the 4 blocks intersect?  That reminds me of myself.  I have 8 children, and it seems like my heart is in 8 different places at once.  So I'm going to call the quilt, "This Mother's Heart".  Obviously, this one is going to live right here at my house!

~Joan

What to My Wondering Eyes??

My husband and I went to bed REALLY early last night, as in right after 9 PM.  We have gotten into the bad habit of staying up too late to get up early.  We just ran out of steam last night.  He puts in many many work hours, and I just mess around for hours every day! 

When we awakened this AM, he said, "I think someone is taking a shower."  That would have been odd since it was 6 AM.  It was raining, so I thought that was the water sound he heard.  But when I came down to the sewing room (to read, of course), what to my wondering eyes should appear, but my daughters' handiwork, and a quilt so dear?

The three of us girls had a sewing night last night.  Emily is making a dress from her bridesmaids pattern to wear to Steve's brother's wedding in April.  I was surprised that she's never made a garment from a pattern.  She's pieced many a quilt and made tons of doll clothes (no pattern there).  That's it to the right.  The jacket on the hanger is not the one she is going to wear with it.  She hasn't started on the jacket yet.  It will be a short-sleeved jacket made out of silver shimmery fabric...beautiful.

Susanna was finishing the 30's print Rail Fence you see at the top.  That is the sight that met my eyes when I walked into the sewing room.  When I went to bed last night, she was still piecing the units.  I had been ironing for her during the "sewing" time, and then I hand appliqued a few more units for my Hearts & Gizzards.  She explained that they stayed up all night sewing.  I couldn't do that at my age and not have serious repercussions the next day month.  Below is Susanna concentrating on pinning a diagonally-set row... 

Yesterday I told her I would machine quilt that quilt for her.  Maybe that's what gave her the strength to stay up and get it done.  Well, that and a little Pepsi Max!!

I will post a picture of the whole top later.

~Joan