Gypsy Caravan on the Yellow Brick Road

Have you ever made the Yellow Brick Road pattern by Terry Atkinson? I have, several times, actually. It is a fun quilt to make.  The trick is picking the right fabric combination....enough lights, mediums and darks to keep your eye moving around the quilt.  After making several versions, I've found that a key to success with this quilt is to make sure that you include some darks in the mix.  Since you don't know just exactly how the quilt will look until the very end, after you've cut up fat quarters into strips and sewn them together willy nilly, it's sort of a gamble!
 By far, my favorite rendition of this popular pattern is this one that I made five years ago using the, now extinct, Gypsy Caravan line of fabrics by the fabulous Amy Butler. Gypsy Caravan is probably my favorite line that she has designed.

My local quilt shop had just gotten the line in their store on the day that I walked in to choose fabrics for a wedding quilt for my daughter, Megan and her soon- to- be hubby, Reid.
I fell hook, line and sinker for these vintage modern fabrics!

I'm usually not into purple, but that shade is the clincher in this particular fabric combination.  Without it, everything would just blend together. 

This is one of those quilts that you can just stare at all day and never get tired of admiring the beautiful fabrics!  Unless, of course, you aren't a big fan of Amy Butler like I am, you can't get enough!

I asked my friend, Sherri Dolly, to quilt the wedding quilt with swirls and feathers using a variegated thread.  The curvy lines add lots of depth to the rectangle piecing. Sherri's quilting is so fabulous!

I pieced the back using A B fabric as well.  I worried that there might be a little too much pink in the back and border, but loved the fabrics so much that I went for it anyway. (My son-in-law can handle it; he's masculine enough, I decided!)

I've made this pattern using mostly Kaffe fabrics too. That's a quilt for another day, along with a Yellow Brick Road baby quilt using 30's fabric. Do I seem addicted there for awhile, maybe? Be careful if you decide to give this pattern a whirl....you might be making more than one before it's all over!

Roller Coaster Ride

The last ten days have been a roller coaster ride!  I'd have rather been quilting and blogging, believe me. But LIFE has a way of throwing curves when you least expect it. I'm so glad that I have had these ladies praying for me and my family. The Pink Flamingos have my back!

The last week has been spent at the bedside of my 33 year old son who has somehow contracted endocarditis from an infection in his bloodstream.  He faces the possibility of heart valve replacement in the next weeks. We know that the bacteria entered his blood through his saliva, possibly from flossing his teeth.  Yes, you read that right. Flossing.  Because he already had a heart murmur, evidently, that is where the bacteria attacked...his weak spot on an otherwise healthy body. Crazy, huh?  He's home now and on antibiotics so we have a breather before rounding the next curve on this roller coaster ride! 

No sewing has been done at this house over the last days.  I had just finished the quilting on baby Jane's quilt when I got the news to go to the hospital. I love the way the "barbed wire" quilting turned out!  The "straightish" lines are interrupted by a little loop every so often, reminding me of the fences on the farm I grew up on. It was mindless stitching! And, I couldn't mess it up really....a plus!!  This view from the back shows the quilting really well.

The 2.25 inch binding is pieced from the leftover scraps from the front of the quilt.  I love the ice cream colors and am looking forward to getting it sewn on so that I can do the hand  stitching.  
Thanks for hanging in there with me while I've been away.  I've missed you!  


P.S. In the upper right corner of the sidebar is a spot to cast your vote for Stichin' Mission to win a $1000 grant to expand. Read all about it by clicking on the button.  Linda has become one of my invisible friends here in blogland.  She has a passion for creating quilts to donate to people in need, just as I do! You can vote once per day until September 1. 

Pink Flamingos

Six years ago I got the brainy idea to make a quilt for each of the members of a club I belong to. I worked on the eight lap quilts over the course of one year, pairing quilt theme with the recipient in some way. Every quilt was different in pattern, color and fabric, with one exception: They all contained some sort of flamingo motif somewhere in the quilt.  You'd be amazed at how much flamingo fabric there is out there!  I had such fun creating these, mostly pink, quilts for my girlfriends.....all members of The Pink Flamingo Club. The club is an empty-nester club meeting once a month as an excuse to have a party! Here's the quilt that I made for myself....

I used house patterns and ideas from a book called Q is for Quilt by Diana McClun and Laura Nownes. 

The eight houses represent the homes of the eight ladies where we hold our monthly themed parties. Next Monday is our eighth "Bird day party" where we will have a flamingo topped birthday cake and sing "happy birthday" to our selves. The party will be at my house so I've been busy getting out all my flamingos, including this quilt, to get the place fancied up for my guests. Can you guess what color they will all be wearing?! 

I love Pink Flamingo Club night!  Part of our mission statement includes "Our prayer is that the time we spend with one another will strengthen us as women and will radiate out to everyone whose lives we touch."

In between dusting my furniture, I've been quilting on baby Jane's Munki quilt. Just when I thought that I might get it finished today, I ran out of thread! Can you see where I stopped?

If you look to the right in this picture, you can see a hint as to the backing I decided on. I'm off to the store for more white thread, but before I go, here's a poem by one of the flamingos.


What is a Pink Flamingo?
Parading in all their finery,
Involved in each other's lives,
Never forgetting to pray,
Kindred spirits for such a time as this.


Flamingos forever united,
Lovingly gathering together,
Always reserving a fourth Monday,
Matronly doesn't describe us!
In touch, intuitive,insane!
Never growing too old,
Giving each other courage,
Onward we go together...
Silliness you say? Never, ever!!!

Catching Up

Vacation plans and new babies got me a bit behind in my Virtual Bees.  I'm trying to catch up by sewing blocks for Toni,  Joan and Ruth. I still have blocks for one more Bee to go!

Toni chose butterflies as the theme of her quilt in the Kansas City Scrappy Bee. She provided us with two  strips of hand dyed fabric to make any style of butterfly that we wished using a black background fabric.  I immediately thought of Amy's awesome Butterfly Quilt and tutorial.  Mrs. Schmenkman Quilts is one of my very favorite blogs. Be sure and pay her a visit! Thanks, Amy. I may need a butterfly quilt myself!

Next up is Joan's block for the Nittany Block Party Bee.  Joan, who blogs at Wishes, True and Kind, chose this fun Scrapbuster Block  by Little Miss Shabby for her August block.  Twenty-four 1.5 inch blocks, along with the grey Kona,were included in the envelope I received from Joan.  It was fun to add 24 more little squares from my stash to complete the 12.5 inch block.  The piecing was a bit challenging only because my 1/4 inch seams weren't entirely accurate and they NEED to be to make it all work out when you sew the squares onto the grey strips. (I had to take a little deeper seams in a few places. Don't tell, okay!)
 I absolutely love this block and the combination of grey/brights.  This will be a stunning quilt when finished!

Finally, Ruth asked for half log cabin blocks using fabrics she provided. Ruth also is part of the Nittany Block Party Bee. ( I was supposed to have these cute blocks done in July!  Sorry, Ruth....they will be in the mail tomorrow!)  Although I have made many log cabin blocks over the years, I believe these are my first half-log cabins.  I'm anxious to see this quilt when it is finished!

Fitness Friday on Sunday 3

Gravel is not fun to walk on.  It gets in your shoes if you have the cute sandal-ie kind like I do. I like to use them for walking in the summer though, so I have to stop and empty my shoes at least once every time I go out.  Oh, well.  My toes keep air-conditioned that way!  This week I made my goal in Jacquie and Kate's exercise challenge, so I got to add 10 pieces of fabric to my Improv Road. Each block uses 3  pieces of fabric. 


Next week, I'll do a little tutorial on how I am making the blocks.  The materials I am using so far include: Maisey Check by Lucy Cousins, Bird Swing, Wee Play by Sand Klop, Ta Dot by Michael Miller, aqua Cobble Stone, Plume by Tula Pink, Wall Flower, Bicycles by Erin McMorris and an unknown grey polka dot.  My colors reflect the pavement and gravel I walk on along with  the sun shining in the blue sky overhead. There's been lots of sun....I need to add more yellow!!

Marble has been busy exercising with the binding for the Baby Munki quilt. I will sacrifice just about anything if it helps him in his mole catcher training!

Munki Baby

Remember how I won an awesome charm pack from Heather at A la Mode Fabric? I was so excited to win these sought after Munki Munki fabrics!

And, since I haven't started a new project in a few hours, days,  weeks, I figured it was high time I get going on a quilt for my new granddaughter, Jane! I'm adding in a few other prints to make the quilt big enough for a growing 5 pound baby! Looky, looky............

Later, gator!

Queen of Scraps

You probably know by now that I save my fabric scraps. I like to cut them into strips and store them in plastic tubs.  I have tubs for 1.5 inch, 2 inch, 2.5 inch and 3.5 inch strips. When I get ready to make a scrap  quilt, these are the sizes that I find I use the most and it gets me sewing before I know it and without much time cutting.  Bonnie Hunter is the mastermind of the scrap saving method that I use. I'm so grateful to her, so when I heard that she was coming to Kansas City to speak at several local guilds, you can bet I used a red marker to mark my calendar!  The red letter day finally arrived yesterday!

Bonnie's energetic and delightful program did not disappoint! Her trunk show was filled with scrap quilts of every sort.  Some contain pieces so small that it boggles my mind and I  wonder if she ever sleeps. Up close, some of the fabrics she uses might be termed "ugly", but, viewed from a distance, the decades spanning plethora of color creates quilts that might  be mistaken for antiques, especially the ones she hand quilts. I went away determined to follow her advice to try to sew at least 15 minutes every day.

Over the last few years, I have followed and completed four mystery quilts designed and offered by Bonnie on her website, Quiltville.com. Remember this one? Thinking Bonnie might like to know that people really do follow her scrap saving advice and make quilts using the free patterns she offers, I loaded up three of my Mystery Quilts and took them with me to the Olathe Quilt Guild meeting last night.
I showed you Patriotic Road back on Memorial Day.  Here's another, made for my grandson, Oliver, for his fifth birthday. Bonnie's pattern is called Orange Crush.

Oliver sleeps under his quilt every night. Since I used quite a few novelty print scraps, it is sort of an eye spy quilt.  The lettering along the outside borders spell out his name and initials. I used a tutorial by Lazy Gal Quilts to make the letters. Tonya is coming out with a book in December with lots of ideas for using this method.  I can hardly wait! It is called Word Play Quilts.  Look for it  if you would like to learn to make these freeform letters.

I worried that the bright colors in this quilt might keep Ollie awake at night, but when he told his mom that he wanted to paint his room orange I knew it would be perfect for him!

There's one more mystery quilt.  I'll show you that another day. After all, it is supposed to be a mystery!

P.S. Joyce T. who likes strawberry shortcake as a summer treat, please contact me by the weekend to claim your Hope Valley prize. Thanks.