More Thimbleberries Extras

Tomorrow is the monthly Thimbleberries Club meeting at And Sew it Goes, and here is the extra project that I made for this month. The sunshine (or flower, or whatever it is) above the birdhouse is the same pattern that was for block 6 in the big quilt.

I played with Golden Threads paper, and quilted a little acorn & oak leaf design in the borders, but you can't really see it on this fabric unless you look really closely.

I actually got it all quilted and bound this month ~ and before the meeting! The fact that it was a cute birdhouse wallhanging, and a quick little project I'm sure had nothing to do with it :)

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

Sweetheart of a Project

Here's little peek at what has been keeping me busy this week. I'm just about finished with this one and all ready to send it out for photography ~ always a good feeling!

If all goes well, this little quilt will appear in Quilt Almanac which hits the news stands around the first of the year. (As always, I'll keep you posted!)

I've been having fun making some cute little side projects to go along with the quilt, that will be free online bonus patterns. As I get these last two quilts finished and mailed out, I'll be taking a few days off this week to spend with my daughter who'll be here in MD visiting with my granddaughter. Elsie is turning two this week and the party is at Grandma's house! Lots to do...

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

New Acquisition

This is another yard sale find that has made it's way to my house to live. My best friend Carolyn (not the quilt shop owner that I work for who is also named Carolyn ~ which makes for some confusing conversations in my house), and I had gone out on one of our scavenger trips a while back and came across this little guy. Carolyn bought it for $20 thinking it might work well with an old treadle table that she has, but wasn't quite sure. I told her that if she decided not to keep it, I'd buy it from her. She decided to pass it on to me, and now it has this new place of honor in my sewing area. I know nothing of the value of these things, and I haven't even tried it to see if it works yet ~ I'm not even quite sure what I will do with it, but it makes me smile :)

The table it's sitting on is my other old Singer machine that is just like the sewing machine that I sewed on way back in Middle School Home Ec. Class. I got that one from a Freecycler who was passing it on. (If you have never checked out Freecycle, it's well worth it and there are local groups all over the country).

So now with my Great Grandmother's treadle machine, this little electric Singer, and my adolescent Singer I'm getting quite a collection.

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

A Mini Treat to See

My friend and co-worker, Starlyn Baker just got back from a vacation during the month of July where she travels home to see family in Alabama and Texas. She worked on this fantastic quilt top while on her trip, and I'm in awe and just had to share it with you. Each patch in the nine patch square is 1/2 inch finished, with the whole nine patch finishing at 1 1/2 inches.

You can click on the picture to get a more close up view of all the great Civil War Reproduction fabrics. Starlyn and a friend of hers have been swapping the nine patches for a while ~ and she wants keep this baby growing to become a full size bed quilt! It's just breathtaking!

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

Twice Completed

Here's a sneak peek at some of the cute fabrics that I've been working with. I love daisies ~ so much so that they were in my wedding bouquet! This fabric just sings 'Summer' with little bees, butterflys and ladybugs roaming all over.

And there are dragonflys and a great stripe! This fabric is called "Oopsy Daisy" from Blank Fabrics, and this quilt will hopefully appear in Quilt Magazine some time in the Spring. I worked all day, made great progress, added the borders, and got the quilt top done ~ but apparently worked a little too fast...

Has this ever happened to you? Last night I spent the evening taking out and turning a few blocks that inadvertently got put in a little side-ways. Sometimes I can live with side-ways, but this time there was no way. Thank goodness for seam rippers right! Now I've finished this quilt top twice :)

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn

Sometimes You Just Have to Take a Little Break

I've been quilting up a storm lately, but don't have anything to show you yet. Currently I'm working on two (yes, two!) quilts for magazine publication, so I've been spending a lot of time in the sewing room stitching and stitching, and on my computer writing and writing. But I find that to do my best ~ most accurate ~ work I need to take frequent breaks and just get out of the chair and walk around. Yesterday, I found myself playing with Scrabble letters on one of my breaks and made some cute little signs :)

I took my lunch break outside and just had to take some pictures of my Black Eyed Susan's blooming.

They're showing really nicely right now, but I'm noticing this black spot on the leaves and it's starting to spread. Does anyone know what to do about that?

These little purple guys are sitting happy in one of my pots and they made me smile :) Hopefully I will have some sneak peeks to show you tomorrow of what I'm working on, but for now it's the nose back to the grind stone for me!

~ Dawn

...And the Winner Is

1. Wow is all I can say! I've been blown away by all the wonderful comments from so many visitors to my blog, and welcome to the new followers! I had to work this weekend, but came home each night and visited all of the blogs of the people who left comments, thanks for the added fun to my anniversary (we did have a great anniversary weekend, and he even brought me flowers!)

So I won't keep the suspense going any longer...the lucky number chosen by the Random Number Generator is #34 ~ Gin! (Email me Gin with your address so I can send your bundle on out to you)

2. And if you haven't seen it yet, here is another great blog giveaway at Mama Sparks blog She is giving away a $50 gift certificate from Bunny Hill Designs! Also, visit Anne Sutton's Bunny Tales blog and thank her for her generosity!

3. Now on to some other quilty stuff: Yesterday was Civil War Sunday at the shop, and the quilt block above is what I worked on. It's the next block in my Underground Railroad quilt. It's one of my "side projects", so I'm plugging away at it, getting it done about one block a month.

Dawn Burchett brought in a couple of projects to show. This is her current project using Civil War fabrics. I love the combination of pieced blocks and hand applique!

Then Dawn showed this little Pat Sloan flower basket wall hanging. It's not Civil War related, but we've been talking about how we quilt the little wall hangings. She is doing a great job of machine applique and machine quilting on this one.

I loved the little sunshine that she added in the upper corner. I thought it was a great touch!

Thanks again for all of the weekend anniversary magic from my blog friends! I feel so blessed :)

Enjoy the day!
~ Dawn