Warmin' the Walls/Missouri-Made Mondays

My seemingly endless pile of scrap fabric was dented a little this weekend.
The frugal penny pincher in me saved these batting pieces, and tacked them together.....

Pardon the strings attached, but you won't see them inside a quilt.

And I may or may not have ever mentioned one of the greatest inventions ever in a sewing machine......

The Walking Foot. I will explain more later on this add-on that didn't come with my machine.

There are still things that are best done by hand.......

Like basting together the layers. I love it best when I have a small enough quilt that I can do this on the table rather than on my knees. Too many knee surgeries make for much tenderness when you have to crawl around to baste. Just sayin'.

Maybe my quilter friends out there will give a miraculous suggestion on saving the knees??

Masking tape helps guide my stitches when I don't feel like drawing lines with quilter pencils. And I can reuse the tape a few times when transferring it to the rest of the quilt. 

Binding tomorrow evening while waiting on the election results.

Please remember to Vote! 

In the words of Missouri's own Mark Twain:

"Politicians and diapers must be changed often,

and for the same reason."

Walk-n-Talk /Tasty Thursday

This Tasty Thursday, we're taking a lil Walk-N-Talk. Not to be confused with a 'knock-n-talk'. Wives of law enforcement officers will understand. Let's just say my version will not lead to any arrests. But you may be dazzled with my cool food-related finds from the 2016 Missouri State Fair. 

Here's a line of table runners quilted and ready for display above the cases of other handmade items. Wouldn't you love to have one of these beauties on your table this coming holiday season??

First glance you can pretty much tell this has some detail you shouldn't ignore.

 I love, love, love the play kitchen sink. It really deserved more prominence in the display.

The cookbooks could have some long lost ideas in them. Never toss out Grandma's books. 

I can't tell you what the cards are saying on this shelf, but that orange is back in style, again.

And every year there are vegetables on display with unique color, shape and weights. 

I don't have any 400 pounders, but I Do have a lil patch of goodness this year....

Watermelons: 7

Pumpkins: a crop of 9 at press time :)

To see the page for the hostess of this blogging event, click here.

Hopscotch Quilting and Missing Lane

My lastest Etsy creation on Katy Trail Creations

Special thanks to the girls, Morgan (who loves my cookin!) and my youngest daughter Kirsten.

 Yes there's a great meal in the works for their help :)

 

Speaking of Meals,

Pardon my absence from the Tasty Thursday posts. We had a tragic loss in our lives and I just didn't feel like cooking from the stash of recipes.

In short, just because the hurt is still deep, we had an 11 year old tragically killed in a tractor accident. He had been one of our daycare 'kids' and his younger brother just left for Kindergarten last month. The family was like our own.

Please say some prayers for them. There is nothing more needed when there's a loss of a child.

This was our Lane one Fall weekend back in 2011 in Florence, Missouri. He came to greet us while we were having Rachel's Senior pics taken. He had just been out with his dad deer hunting. His home is just down the road in this picture and I know his home now is in Heaven and our forever in our hearts.

 

 

 

 

 

How Do You Do It?

Keeping an even keel while caring for 9 children is somewhat of a curiosity to some. So what do I do in my down time to remain sane?

Everyone who knows me personally knows I've recently been blessed with a house addition and am even more blessed with a room dedicated to my hobbies, crochet/sewing/quilting. What would I do without my time to be creative?

Another way to keep it real is to spend time gardening. Somehow, with my back yard still in mud pit mode, I managed (with my hubby's help) to put in a raised bed garden. Love my vegies and hoping for a good year since my neighbor so generously donated some of his fertile farm soil to our new garden spot. He's farmer 3 days a week and neighbor 4 days. He and his Mrs. have been living this arrangement for nearly 10 years. I'm getting off track here so on to the sanity savers.

Spending time with my family is also one of the best ways I keep the brain in lower altitudes. I have some of the greatest relatives on the planet. Just sayin. We have awesome get-togethers just bringing pot luck items and shooting the sh*t. We are probably pretty red-neck to most, but we don't judge and most always get along with anyone. Our White Elephant Family Christmas parties are awesome and the reunions ain't bad either. And my husband and daughters are top of the list in keeping me steady. Wouldn't know what to do without them.

My list could go on as I have a multitude of ways I enjoy my free time. Honestly, I have to say my job isn't really that stressful anyway. Who else gets paid to play all day and cuddle babies? They aren't critics of my banjo playin either :)

Oh wait, I guess I should mention that banjo is my ultimate weapon against insanity.
Hear it below:
https://youtu.be/oo5lDg3oKNo

House of the Rising Sun

House of the rising sun? Oh no! We like sleep here. But to keep with the theme of Rising Sun at least, I decided to do a Sunny list---of sorts.

Like how about Mom's sunflower quilt blocks she hand embroidered and gave me many years ago.  I recently discovered the 'safe' place I had put them. I was so thrilled and am anxious to start a quilt top with them. Here's a pic of one:

Other 'sunny' thoughts,

• A good old fashioned Sunrise Service on Easter Sunday is definitely good for the soul
• How about a Sundress?
• Or a Sun hat?
• A crocheted Mandala could look like a sunrise in the correct colors like this one:

Opened my copy of this book and took the pic myself from Crochet Master Class

 by Jean Leinhauser 

and Rita Weiss

What the Hay?!!

Venting post.>>>>>
First my doctor tells me I need to schedule a visit......for my water pills??? Really????!!!! I just had blood work done in January and everything is Improved!!!  Time for a change in physicians???

Second, my email tells me about an expansion grant.....for non-profits only. Really????!!!! Slap in the face to home providers who are able to embrace smaller group settings and better nuturing of children. (we really want a safe room built)

It always comes in 3's......What will it be next???

I am now stepping off of my soap box and putting it up for now.

Well anyway, here's a pic of my Auction Score.
Got this King-Sized quilt for a steal.
Thank you Kirsten and Zach for helping me hold it up on the Katy Trail!! In case any of you wondered, chivalry is Not dead at least :)

At the Auction

A little birdie called last Sunday to tell me about an auction.

They said there was a LOT of fabric AND yarn.

I could hear it calling me......

Thanks Bob & Maybelle. I used to call her Aunt BellBell :)

I Really, Really liked the old enamel stuff,

but alas I was not the winner in that bid.

But I did unexpectedly win the bid on this Kings Cutlery.

 I think someone was sleeping.

 Gonna polish it up.

Here's some buttons & notions.

TADA!

(I'm around 2 and 3 year olds wayyy too much)

Now this needle is one big son of a gun.

It was in the button stash.

I see doilies in my future.

 Yes I did get some fabric. And that includes a significant amount of muslin. Let the quilting begin! 

Already got a String Quilt block experiment in the works.

More later on this if it works out so check back soon.

A Link Between Toys & Quilting

I attended a childcare workshop on Saturday from 8 am to 3 pm & boy was it Cool!!!
Everywhere you looked, you could find similarities linking toys to quilting. I was ecstatic!!!!
We got to take turns checking out each of the centers provided and then there were 'observations' to make. We studied the various areas of child development and how each center lended to that area.
In English terms.... This means that while playing with the magnet tiles (above),

1.  a child would develop fine motor skills (working those fingers for preparing to write)
2. Learn colors & shape
3. Experience the science of magnetism
4. Experience flat versus 3-d form
5. Sorting
6. Patterning
7. Counting
8. They can also be used to trace in an art center

In a quilter's frame of mind, these are templates begging to be used.

Can you see the patterns on these disks??? Oh Yes! More quilting related toys!!

And TA DA!! An actual embroidered blanket with Mirrors sewn into it. This child educator was good! 

Quilters love embellishing with beads, colorful threads & mirrors.

And children learn to experience beauty in textiles and to experience how it feels.

Inspiring huh?!

Log blocks shown here. I plan on getting some of these myself when we trim a tree or 2 this spring.
What would a child learn?

• Wood texture
• Sorting short and long, thick and thin
• Counting rings as well as feeling them as some are raised
• Use them to build, trace, do a crayon rubbing
• Make designs
• Learn new vocabulary(knots, rings, bark, etc)
• Learn types of trees as woods are different shades

A quilter can use the rings in a piece of wood to inspire the traditional "echo" quilting we do much of the time in our creations.

 And there are kaliedoscopes & mirrors in this learning center.

Typically used to

•  encourage self expression
• learn reflection of light, textures,
• vocabulary of names of our expressions
• gripping skills
• focusing skills (peering into a kaliedoscope takes practice when you're 2 or 3)
• science of smooth & shiny, sparkley & colorful
• self comfort in seeing the display in a kaliedoscope.

Quilter's already see the beauty in a pattern reflected in light.

Puzzles.

Just look at the shapes & colors here.

I think I can officially say this.....

Quilters are children at heart.

I rest my case!