Welcome Autumn!

It's the first day of Fall!.......cooler air, less humidity, beautiful trees and bushes, mums, pumpkins, soup.....best of all----quilts on the bed and to cuddle with on the couch!
Here are a couple of favorite fall quilts that we use at our house..............

Scraps of fabric in neutrals and medium tones were put together randomly to create this log cabin quilt.  My kids were still living at home when I sewed the blocks for this quilt.  I remember them handing me fabrics to sew together in hodge podge fashion. The strips measure one inch finished with gold centers to pull everything together.  To me, this type of quilt never goes out of style!

Another family quilt that makes me think "Fall" is this Bulls Eye quilt. I remember the fun day that I put these blocks together with two friends, Robin and Becky. Each of us had done some sewing at home first, making blocks by stacking three free cut circles and then top stitching them onto a neutral background.  At my house, we cut each of our circle blocks into  fourths and traded parts, sewing the parts back together to create the pieced blocks you see in the picture. Every time I use it, I can't help but try to remember which parts were made by whom!

Even though my fabric choices have changed in the years since making this quilt, it is still close to my heart. Many washes later, it has a raggedy look that only gets better with time! 

Yesterday was the last day of summer...my favorite season, by the way. I ended it with a bang and a thrill in getting to meet up with one of my "invisible friends", making her a new real life friend!  You see us above in front of a bright summery quilt at Harper's Quilt Shop in downtown Overland Park, Kansas.  Linda and I began exchanging emails not long ago when I began reading her blog, Flourishing Palms. I can't really recall how we found each other but I remember commenting once on how much we have in common.  When her daughter recently moved to Kansas City, it was not long before we arranged to meet for coffee and some shopping.  I don't think the air was silent for more than a heartbeat in the two hours and a half hours that we spent together.  She is so cute and just as much fun to be around as I'd imagined. Linda has a wonderful ministry called Stichin' Mission where she teaches women how to make quilts at no charge, only asking them to consider donating that first quilt to charity. She's already given away over 600 quilts to children around the world through her ministry! What a difference she is making in this life!
 Thanks, Linda, for a lovely afternoon. Oh, and I'm so glad that you didn't turn out to be a 15 year old boy masquerading as a quilter or something! That would have stunk!!