Thank you Secret Pal

Sorry this picture is so blurry. I flunked picture taking 101 today! See where the return address should be on this envelope? The Secret Pal is added a smiley face with a Santa hat! I think the Pal is trying to throw me off!

Also the writing on the inside took on a "new look" this time. Hmmmm, has me thinking. Happy New Year to you too Secret Pal! Thank you for making this a fun year full of surprises for me!..........................Sharon

Tour de Quilts

Do you hear that noise? Nope, not me either. The machine is finally quiet & taking a much needed rest-me too!
This first quilt is the Summer Garden pattern from Roxanne Carter made by Lynne. Love the fabric!

This is all I can show you of this quilt for now. It was very fun to quilt & can be seen here this spring during the Tri-Count Shop Hop. ( I'll add linky's later) The starfish are from Judy Irish's book Dazzling Doodle Designs.
I know I have more quilt pics somewhere. I'll post again when I find them.

One more post to come........................Sharon

Christmas Past

Do you all have a favorite "handmade" ornament from your kids? This is mine. Little Miss Joanna, age 4, at Pre-School. That year there were 11 kids in her pre-school class-10 were boys. It was an interesting year to say the least! Love those pony tails & the "bitching bangs" as she now calls them. So here she is again on the left. 4 months old & all smiles. That's Little Mister's picture from last year on the right. Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas with your loved ones. This Grandma has 1 sleep to go until I fly off to the happiest place on earth-Grandmaland!

See you again soon!

Grandma Sharon

Linda's Redwork

Linda is the Redwork Queen. Check out these pictures of her latest quilt. I have Redwork envy! I used a Valdani thread for the holly border. Red & white variegated. I wish another thread company would make this color.

I have a lot of fun doing the "Swirly Girly" thing on quilts like this. Maybe someday soon I will get one of my Cinderberry Stitches quilts pieced so I can quilt it! This quilt definitely is inspiring!
Oh , if you didn't know, today is Linda's birthday. Hope it's a fun one!

This Grandma's on the countdown. 10 days to go until I'm in Grandmaland!!!! See you again soon. Grandma Sharon

This & That

Today's pictures are all quilts from Miss Paula at The Granary. The 1st is using the X-Block template. I think I might make one of these too & teach a class at Aunt Mary's. There are lots of possible designs.This started out as a simple panel & she used the 9 patch & Ohio Star blocks from the panel to border the quilt. Curly,loopy allover holly seemed just right for this quilt. Did you see the comments on my Thankful post? My Secret Pal left a comment! What a sneak!

It was a busy weekend here. Went to a Long Arm get together for my area. Always good food & fun. Several women who quilt for themselves, no customers. Someday I'll have more time to get all of my UFO projects quilted. Oh baby it's cold outside is an understatement right now. Yesterday morning was windy & cold. Today it was 22 when I got up. At least we have sunshine!

The machine is calling. Better get with it. 18 days & counting....................Grandma Sharon

Check Out This Give Away

Spread the word! Valori Wells is having a Give Away. Some lucky winner will get some of her new Del Hi & Della fabric. Read the blog post carefully, this time she wants you to send her an
e-mail to be in the drawing. She also posted some pictures from her Thanksgiving with her beautiful family. She's doing the drawing on Monday December 7th once her girls get home from daycare. Check it out. Who knows it might be your lucky day! As you can imagine it's full throttle here. Quilts are flying on & off my machine. Piles of quilts, invoices, bags & then they are gone until the next group is done. I'm hoping to post in the next couple days. See you soon!

24 days & counting..............................Grandma Sharon

Thankful

Do you recognize this handwriting? It seems I have a Secret Pal. This has been going on for a couple years now. I've gotten nice gift cards from Starbucks, the local movie theater, Cold Stone Creamery(yum) & now Subway. I thought I knew who it was, but maybe not. I'd just like to say "Thank you" for all the wonderful cards. You definitely make me smile & I'm grateful to have a Secret Pal like you! If you do know who it is, maybe don't tell me. It would spoil the fun in all of this! I hope everyone has a nice Thanksgiving. Just a few thing left to cook here. Dad is coming over. I want to be sure & have enough. I guess he thought he didn't get enough mashed potatoes last year. He told my sister that when he went to have seconds, Jim(DH) had eaten them all! Never a dull moment!

29 days & counting.............................................Grandma Sharon

As Promised

Here they are. The neck tie purse went together fast. The ties were from my Grandpa Lytton(if you've read any of my previous blogs you know once in awhile he reincarnates through Dad)! I especially like the tie with the green leaves. The Hawaiian bag is some fabric Joanna bought in Hawaii with a purse in mind for me. Thanks you Joanna! The quilt they are on is one from 2002 that a bunch of us got together at Squirly Shirley's & had a "Block Party." Everyone brought a pattern & fabric for their favorite block for each person at the party. Then we all sewed blocks, ate , laughed & had fun.

This quilt is really a nice pattern. The blocks are stars. I used the Interlocking Daisy panto, one of my favorites. I have a few more quilts done I can take pics of & post. Ran out of daylight today!

See you soon.........................Sharon

Darwin & Little Mister

Sorry it's been so long since my last post. Little Mister kept me busy while I was visiting! The neighbor is "cat sitting" & he's not home a lot. Darwin comes over to Joanna & Sam's to visit, actually he meows outside the front door to get in. This is the first time Little Mister Andrew got to really interact with Darwin. He was really excited!

This is what happen when Grandma leaves the room to sew for awhile. I was able to successfully transfer him to his crib for a longer nap.

It was a good trip. Lots of sewing projects with Joanna. 4 purses in all & I finished a "Block Party" top I started in 2002. I'll take pictures & post later, double promise. You all have my permission to harass me via e-mail if I don't!

Already on the countdown again. 32 days to go........................Grandma Sharon

Almost ready to go

I have been very busy quilting. The first picture is the back of Carrol's Buggy Barn Star quilt. I love minkee. Wish I could have it on the back of all of my quilts. How about you?Carrol loves bright colors. There are reds, purples & hot pinks in this one. This is Linda's quilt for her sister. She used fabric from her stash! The back is the really bright orange hanging over the top. I really liked the rectangles in this one. Might have to see what pattern she used. These next 2 are from Miss Kim. Always very pretty pastels.Last, but not least, is from ?(it's a surprise for someone & I can't tell). I tried a new holly ribbon vine in the border. Practicing for all those Christmas quilts I have waiting to be quilted for myself!I hope everyone is having a good week. Can't wait to spend some time with Joanna & Little Mister. I hear he's a dancing machine. I'll have to see if I can pull off posting a video of his latest moves. I heard the weather man say the "s" word tonight for the "lower foothills" on Friday. Glad I'm out of here.

I'll try & post when I'm gone...............................Nana Sharon

New Blog Hop

Get ready for a fun week! Designers from across the country have teamed up for the "Cross Country Christmas Quilt Designer Blog Hop". Starting Monday Nov. 9 each day a different designer will post a project & it's FREE! They have great prizes! The hop I did had a $250 gift basket plus each designer had a prize every day. Woohoo! I was lucky & won a prize from Kari of New Leaf Stitches for telling a funny Home Ec story.

Nov 10 - Sandy from Pieces of My Heart is from Iowa (born and raised in MN though!!)
Nov 11 - Terry of Atkinson Designs is a Minnesota girl
Nov 12 - Pat Sloan is a Virginia native
Nov 13 - Heather of Anka's Treasures is another Minnesota chick
Nov 14 - Pam from Pam Kitty Morning is a California girl
Nov 15 - Kari of New Leaf Stitches is from Minnesota
Nov 16 - Terri from Whimsicals is well centered in Indiana
Nov 17 - Sherri of This and That is one of the first MN designer I got to know
Nov 18 - Carrie from Miss Rosie's Quilt Company is in Arizona
Nov 19 - Roseann from Rosebud's Cottage is from Minnesota
Nov 20 - Linda is from New Jersey and she is our anchor

Hope you all have a good weekend. I'll be quilting & packing. 4 sleeps to go until I see Little Mister!..................................................Grandma Sharon (make that Nana)

More quilts

Sometimes I say the back looks as nice as the front. Here is the back of Sue's pineapple quilt. And the front.

Mary C made this fab quilt with hand dyes. Love,love, love the colors. The border was my favorite twisty leaf vine. What can I say? Hope everyone has a good week. I just remembered I'm speaking to one of the Fire Department women's groups, the Mabana Flames, later this week about Hero Quilts. Better get organized on this one. Later.............................Sharon

How can it be November?

Where did October go? I guess that 's what happens when you are sick! I am much better now. Glad that's over. I am going to do 2 posts today. I just can't seem to get all the pictures on in the right order. Too many quilts, but that's a good thing!


This first quilt is from Mary C. It's one of Roxanne Carter's patterns from GNO, More Scrappy Squares.

These next 2 pictures are a quilt that someone gave Eva & her daughter, Pat, put them togethr in this quilt. The borders were big, so the big curly leaf vine fit well. the blocks were stamped embroidery with the lines for quilting too. Ronni won apple blocks at CIQ a couple years ago & mad this beautiful quilt. I did the Swirly Girly thing in the Apple blocks & leafy vines in the log cabin.Sorry about the fuzzy picture on this one. Betz made a Judy Neimyer quilt at Sisters this summer. It reminded me of water. More viney things again. That's it for this post. The computer was't liking me earlier & did it's own thing. Actually it was Blogger that was having the malfunction. I did post these to my webshots .

Some of the pictures have no captions. I left the room while the pictures were uploading & when I came back it had magically posted them to the photo album. I sound like a broken record, but the computer really did it. It's a full moon, do you think that could be the problem?

9 more sleeps to go & I'll be in Grandmaland. See you later with more pictures from the past few weeks!................................Grandma Sharon

Quilt, Nap, Quilt, Nap

Hello, I'm still here. I have been Miss Sicky for 2 weeks & have become the nap queen. What a waste of time. Finally feeling better today. All of today's quilts are from speedy Kim. Don't you love this table topper? I am hoping to get more pics up on webshots soon.
This one has the nicest colors. I think she used a Jelly Roll. I used the Daisy Swirl panto on it. This was also a Jelly Roll. Quilted with Splash. I can't get enough batiks!A quick Dad story. I took him to lunch this week. We went to the local "everything" restaurant. It's okay food for me, but he really enjoys it. Our waitress was a very nice young woman. Her hair was very bright, PURPLE. And to top it off she had a lip piercing! I was waiting for Grandpa Lytton to reincarnate and come spewing out of Dad's mouth. Somehow I got lucky &he didn't say a word! Whew! I'm sure he'll say something eventually. I'll be sure & remember to tell you, I know it will be funny! You can't always judge a book by it's cover, right?

I have some great quilts this week that haven't gotten to the photo shoot. Check back soon. I won't be gone so long next time!

Happy to be feeling better & on the countdown again.(25 days to go) Grandma Sharon

California Quilts & the Birthday Boy

Sandy wanted an all over design on her Tulip & Frog quilt. A curly leaf vine seemed perfect for this quilt. If you look close at the black frog border there are twirly tendrils with the leaves.

Little Mister is loving his new John Deere tractor. It makes lots of great sounds & has special spots for the animals to ride!

It's been busy here. Today was the baking day for tomorrow's party. Joanna found a couple Martha Stewart recipes for cake. One with raspberries & one that we found on a cupcake blog called "Orange Vanilla Cream".

I'll post more quilt pictures when I get back & get to work. The weather has been beautiful. Not really looking forward to coming home to Washington rain. Have fun at the LaConner Quilt Show or the 91 Mile Sale at all the great quilt shops.

See you next week!..................Grandma Sharon

Happy Birthday

Hi everyone! It's me, Little Mister Andrew, letting all of you know I turned 1 today. Grandma Sharon is here & we are having so much fun! I even said her name once, but I'm not going to do that again for awhile.
I think Grandma will be blogging later this week with some quilt pictures. She said she quilted like crazy so she could come down for my birthday.

See you again soon!........ Little Mister

Link to 365 Days of Free Motion Quilting

Check out this blog to follow along with 365 Days of Free Motion Quilting . Leah Day from Shelby, NC is challenging herself to create a new free motion design every day for a year! She has even posted a You Tube video with each one using her DSM! She's already on day 43 so we have some catching up to do.

Couldn't blog without a picture! This is another amazing quilt from Innovations. It's made out of neck ties. Isn't it beautiful?

3 sleeps to go! Almost quilting in my sleep!....................................Sharon

My Week

Last week I went to Innovations, the long arm quilting conference in Tacoma. Took several classes & enjoyed the quilt show. Learned about non-traditional feathers from Sue Patten. Got some great ideas from Diana Philips. She was very fun!
Deloa Jones uses a lot stencils. The picture below is my combination of 2 stencils(her assignment before we could leave class). She would put this over an entire block.

This quilt was my favorite from the quilt show. The flowers are dogwood blossoms. Isn't it pretty? It was made by Bill & Michelle Fullerton. It's called "Blossoms Of Love & Hope." They will use it to raise money for breast cancer research.
I hope you can see the quilted peacock in this picture. I hope you are all having a good week. I am a turbo quilter this week. 4 more sleeps to go & I'm off to Grandmaland! I'll definitely have to post some pictures from Little Mister's birthday party. Back to work...............Grandma Sharon

I'm Still Here

Whenever I get really busy I hear "the flight of the Bumble Bee" in my head. Yikes! Trying to get some things buttoned up before I leave today. Heading to Innovations for a couple days of classes about the Long Arm & a chance to visit with other Long Arm quilters from around the world. They always have a great quilt show. I'll be sure to post some pictures when I get back.

This first block is a quilt started by a dear friend, Eva, who was 96 when she passed away. Several of us have been getting together & finishing some of her quilts. I quilted this one & we are going to sell raffle tickets with the money going to a charity in Arlington. More info later.

This beautiful Stack & Whack was made by Nora. It was lots of fun to quilt. The background fabric made the quilting shine. I better get going. I have at lest 3 stops to make on my way to Tacoma. Two are quilt deliveries.

Have a great week & I'll be back soon.

Lucky 13 & counting...................Grandma Sharon

My Morning Snack

I love my Topsy Turvy tomato planters! This is the first year I've tried them & they are a huge success! I get to have few every day. So sweet, just like candy! Don't they look delicious!Better get cracking before Joanna finds out I posted 2 posts in one day! Remember when I started my blog she said only one post a week! LOL!

Back to the quilts!....................Sharon