Whatsup Wednesday

Here's what I've been up to over the last few days...It seems, sometimes, that the only thing that I sew on is Farmer's Wife Sampler blocks. 

But, just to prove that, once in a while, I have something else to show for my labor, here are three little wheel chair lap quilts that I recently finished.

 The first two were made from blocks found in my "Spare Parts Drawer"....in other words, leftovers from other projects. The pastel quilt is a leader/ender project. Instead of adding traditional bindings, this time I folded over the backings and topstitched them down to the fronts. It made for a quick and easy finish to these small projects.

 The quilts went with my son to Nepal last week to be donated to a hospital that he visits there. The sizes are sort of an experiment so I'm anxious to hear how well they were received. I'd like to make more to send the next time he visits.

 Little Lois, who was born 7 weeks early last fall, is growing like a weed! 

I had the privilege of getting to babysit her for the first time last week. 

It was a special day for me and she even wore her pink flamingo outfit in my honor!

 For the last, going on four years, my husband has been wanting to get another golden retriever. Our last one had to be put to sleep following some illnesses and  I've been holding out. On Thursday, Mr. Lollyquiltz brought home this cutie:

 Five month old Ginger.

The puppy was free to a good home because the owners were gone too much to give her the attention she needed. My husband is ecstatic. I'm working on it.  

Our cat is in therapy.

 These two sweeties spent the night with Lolly on Saturday night . My job was to deliver them to church on Sunday morning looking cute. So what's a crafty grandmother to do...

 when she has several hand smocked dresses hanging in the closet that would fit the girls perfectly? She would take the opportunity, while it was available, and dress the girls in clothes that she had made for their mommy at their ages, of course!

Sorry, mommy.

And last, but not least, if you recognize this guy, he apparently is looking for you!

My hubby found him along the road while on his morning jog Saturday.

(I love the spelling, don't you.)

Whatsup with you?

Fourth Sunday in May

Windham Honor and Glory

Available at Old County Store Fabrics

Memorial Day

by Theodosia Pickering Garrison

A handful of old men walking down the village street
In worn, brushed uniforms, their gray heads high;
A faded flag above them, one drum to lift their feet-
Look again, O heart of mine, and see what passes by!

There's a vast crowd swaying, there's a wild band playing,
The streets are full of marching men, or tramping cavalry.
Alive and young and straight again, they ride to greet a mate again-
The gallant souls, the great souls that live eternally!

A handful of old men walking down the highways?
Nay, we look on heroes that march among their peers,
The great, glad Companions have swung from heaven's byways
And come to join their own again across the dusty years.

There are strong hands meeting, there are staunch hearts greeting-
A crying of remembered names, of deeds that shall not die.
A handful of old men?-Nay, my heart, look well again;
The spirit of America today is marching by!

We Have a Winner!

I had so much fun reading through all 423 comments left for the Give-Away post. I kept looking back and forth between the color favorites and the color card, saying over and over, "Oh, yah, that's a good one!" There are SO many good one, huh.

Thank you all for coming by for this record breaking contest. Wow, 423 entries!

Without further delay, the winner of the 28 New Kona Colors Card  and Kona Candy squares is #274 Mary@QuiltGenius chosen by my personal Random Selector, 

Mr. Lollyquiltz.  Mary's favorite new Kona color is Flame.

I'll be contacting her for her mailing address.

Thanks again to all of you for entering. I wish that I had a card for each and every one of you. And a hearty welcome to the Lollyquiltz new readers. Hope you spend a little time poking around the blog and getting to know me. You keep me going! 

Have a great holiday weekend here in the USA!

Farmer's Wife Friday--Rich in Blessings

After a week off, ( to finally meet face to face)  Cindy and I are back today with another post  regarding yet another letter written in 1922, to the Farmer's Wife Magazine. The letters were written in response to the question, "If you had a daughter of marriageable age, would you, in the light of your own experience, want her to marry a farmer?" Today's farm wife lived in Roanoke County, Virginia. Here are some of her thoughts and the blocks they inspired...

This fine wife had a bit of a different perspective from the previous letter writers. "I was born and raised on a farm but grew up knowing absolutely nothing about it." she writes. Her cultured Virginian parents apparently did not allow her to "even so much as put foot in the barn lot..." She felt the farm to be a jail to her, and hated it. With the death of her mother, however, there came a change of heart.

 Homeward Bound-Block #48

Being in bad health herself, she  and her invalid father spent the next winter living in the city where "the scales fell from my eyes. I saw his longing for the old home, and I felt my longing, so back we came...Life was a revelation to me."

 Sawtooth-Block #76

Three blessings that she had barely known before are happiness, health and content, while the obstacles she encountered every day on the farm made her stronger as they were overcome. "Country life calls for all the ingenuity and resource there is in you."

 Buckwheat-Block #13

This farm wife enjoyed seeing the fruits of her labor and "to experience at the same time, love, reverence and wonder, at the Giver of all", a sentiment I highly appreciate myself.

 Waste Not-Block #97

With a positive attitude toward farm life, our wife is "raising her [daughter ] to be a good wife for a good farmer, for there is where I believe she will find greatest happiness and usefulness."

With only 6 more posts after today's letter, the countdown has begun....we should finish up around the 4th of July. Perfect. Independence Day!  I'm anxious to see Cindy's blocks today and to read her (always) clever comments. Join me?

Wordless Wednesday--Quilt Market with Friends

 Cindy (Live a Colorful Life), Lee (Freshly Pieced) me, and Linda (Flourishing Palms)

You may recognize some of fabric "stars" among these pics....

Weeks Ringle at KCMQG

I've been a fan of Weeks Ringle and her husband, Bill Kerr, for some time now...often drawn to their designs published by Better Homes and Gardens. I bought The Modern Quilt Workshop in 2008 and have earmarked several quilts within it's pages for my "Someday List". It's one of my favorites, which is saying a lot, because I have oodles of quilting books. I learned last night that it was actually the first quilting book published with the word "modern" in the title.

 "Once Upon a Time" is, sadly, the only pattern that I have made so far from the book, but how I love it! The twin size quilt was made for my grand son, Ezra, when he turned three. The idea behind the design is to make up a storyline using the connectors between each novelty square. It would be a great quilt for a classroom or library, as well. Ezra loaned me back the quilt so that I could take it to the Kansas City Modern Quilt Guild meeting last night for a special show and tell presentation because Weeks Ringle was our guest speaker. And what a great program it was!

I was especially excited about hearing Weeks tell about her patterns, books and quilts after meeting her in person at the Spring Quilt Market last week here in KC. We enjoyed a nice conversation about her beginning days as a "modern" quilter before the quilting market was as open-armed as it is today to non-traditional designs. She and her husband really are pioneers in the modern quilting movement, I think.

 After a short and interesting slide show showcasing their quilt philosophy and some favorite quilts, Weeks wowed us with an assortment of quilts made by her and her husband. I thought that you might enjoy seeing some of my favorites among the dozen or so  presented. The colors in this one drew me in right away....

 The mosaic 'orderliness" of this one is fascinating. I'd like to make one like it someday.

 Somehow, I feel like this one, though, is the most "me" of all the ones she showed last night. It's a genius design, I think!

 This transparency quilt brought lots of "oohs" and "ahhs" from the large crowd!

 One thing that impressed me was that Weeks was not afraid to let us touch her quilts and, in fact, passed them around for us all to handle. Bill quilts the quilts himself on a long arm machine adding another dimension to the design with the overall close quilting.

 Weeks and Bill wash all of their quilts often, giving them a crinkly appearance and a cuddly feel. They often decide on the quilting at the beginning of the design process.

Another interesting fact is that the bindings on their quilts are completely attached by machine. Weeks described their method in detail to us (It involves a two inch strip and a Clover brand bias tape maker.) but I'm guessing it takes a lot of practice for the bindings to be as perfect as theirs! I think I'll try their method though, sometime.

Okay, on another note, if you haven't entered my Give-Away yet, you can find it here.

Later, gater.

Give-Away Day

May 21 is a day we have all been looking forward to: Give A-Way Day at Sew Mama Sew! It's a day to discover some great blogs and to win some fun prizes. 

 Here at Lollyquiltz, I am excited to share a very special give a-way in the form of this Kona Card Supplement of all 24 brand new solid colors. I also have a mini charm pack of the 24 new colors. The 2.5 inch squares will be a fun way to use a little of the latest solid fabrics.

To enter this Give A-Way, leave a comment telling me which new Kona color you'd like to try.  For a second chance, leave a separate comment letting me know that you are a follower of Lollyquiltz.  Please note that only comments with access to an email address are valid. International readers are welcome to enter.

This Give A-Way is open until 5 p.m. PST, Friday, May 25. The winner will be chosen at random by Mr. Lollyquiltz. Be sure to go to Sew Mama Sew for many more Give A-Ways!

Third Sunday in May

"He who is kind to the poor

lends to the Lord,

and He will reward him for

what he has done."

Proverbs 19:17

Farmer's Wife Friday--Friendship

The Farmer's Wife had a  special friend over this week. She brought along some Farmer's Wife Blocks...all the ones with names relating to friendship and country life. This top block is called Friendship....It's a block that Cindy and I both just love!

 Just like my grand daughters, the blocks formed a circle, holding hands, for a little 'ring-a-round-a-rosie'!

 Cindy and I got a lot of enjoyment out of admiring each other's blocks and marveling that we have not given up on this project...considering that we both have issues with procrastination. We've decided that we might be onto something with this blogging accountability thing and are asking ourselves how else it could be applied.

 With only 20 more to go, my blocks are getting geared up to be a "finished project in 2012". We both have put our names on the waiting list of an awesome quilter to make sure that our year of efforts don't end up in our UFO closet!

That would just be a crying shame!

The City Mouse Meets the Country Mouse

It's an exciting week here, for the Country Mouse. She is finally meeting the City Mouse! In person. She's no longer an invisible friend, who only seems real through blogging and emails. The City Mouse is truly a real live girl. And a super nice one, to boot! Some might even think they look like sisters!

 The City Mouse brought along some of her Farmer's Wive Sampler Blocks to hang out with the Country FW blocks. They seemed to play well together!

 Yes, Cindy came to Kansas City to meet me and to participate in all of the quilting festivities going on here this week! We hit the ground running today, hitting four quilt shops before ending up at the Machine Quilter's Showcase where KC Modern Quilt Guild had a special display of our Kandinsky Challenge Quilts.

 Cindy raved about how great they were. (What else could she say?!)

 My Janie Sue quilt was entered by Mindy Peterson, the quilter. It was so fun to see it hanging in the show with so many beautiful quilts.

 We happened upon this pretty quilt made by another blogger friend, Linda Hungerford. It is even more beautiful in person than in her blog pictures!

The theme for the show is Under the Sea. Here are a few of my favorite entries...

 Stripe by Janet Fogg of Milwaukee, OR

 Queen of the Sea by Cathy Franks of Carmel, IN

 a close-up of some of the quilting on Queen of the Sea

 Fiesta Mexicana by Ranea Haddadin of Sandy Utah

A close up of Fiesta Mexicana

I came home with some new fabric, a new appreciation for machine quilting, a new "real live" girl (friend), and some happy memories!