Friday, July 26, 2013

There's No Friends Like Blog Friends!

Cuz they share the same ills we all have....We spend way too much time attending daily quilt shows by way of the internet! 

My friend from Across The Pond, Quilt Sue at Quilt Times, responded to my previous call for help like none other!  For days she trudged through the ever deepening stacks of quilts on the internet trying to assist me in finding the quilt I just know I saw...and for what small tidbit is left of my mind...

And now, likely hers too!





Yesterday she posted about my loss...I think it must've driven her nearly as crazy as it has driven me and finally said enough is enough!






She received an almost immediate response from Freda at The Adventures of the Empress of the Universe telling me to look at   http://www.robertkaufman.com/quilting/quilts_patterns/almost_a_flower_garden/
I've gone to Freda's blog this morning and left her a couple of notes...and I've stolen this from her...cuz It's Sooooooo Me and I just had to share!!!

then later on Sue garnered another comment from Marj, who reminded me to pick the most recently delivered issue of McCall's Magazine back up from the floor at my bedside!  Yep!  Now I remember seeing that ad.

So...thanks to all who responded to our cries for help!  Following is the comment I just left on Sues post to all who took part!

"Thanks Everyone! The Robert Kaufman quilt is definitely the one I saw...thank you so much for guiding me back to it...However...I've also come to the conclusion that Sue may have been correct afterall! I may have been designing in my sleep! Somewhere in my minds eye there is one very similar...the Hexie flowers are offset creating sort of a rick-rack garden around the border and it has reds in it & was photographed in a booth or guild settting! I think I'm going to bust out the graph paper soon! Upon my return to work I had backtracked my browsing history to no avail.  At least I know now that I'm only partially out of my mind! What a relief!!!!!"

Garsh!  Dontcha just love Quilty Friends!!!!!

Have a Happy Friday!  I'm working on a Quilt Show entry deadline today!!!

Nancie Anne

Friday, July 19, 2013

I've Lost My Mind and Can't Remember Where I Put It...

Does anyone out there recall seeing an awesome quilt in the last week or so?

Oh...I need to be more specific?????

Whilst frittering away time at work the other day I was roaming about online and, I think, in a blog post of some quilts from a show or a guild gathering or...I saw this wonderful quilt.  A new take on traditional for sure! 

It had the granny square or confetti blocks in the center and then had a border of hexie flowers all the way around the outside.  It was really a breathtaking quilt and I intended to go back and look at it again...unsure if it was a new design or simply someones wonderful ingenuity.  I may be wrong but if my feeble memory serves...it was primarily red and white??????

I've dug through nearly all the blogs I follow to no avail.  Looked on facebook...have searched through the quilt shop emails that are still in my email inbox...and now I turn to you....

Please tell me I'm not hallucinating and someone else out there saw it too?????  I'd really like to follow up as intended.

Nancie Anne

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Christmas In July!!! Christmas QAL 2013

Well here we are in July already and it's Hazels turn, (at Hazel's Quilts) to be our hostess this go-round. 
Excuse that little bit of cowboy lingo, but I've been in cow country most all weekend. 
 
I actually worked on the embroidery portion of little snowmen earlier in the week so that I'd have some progress, however minor, to share and so that Hazel would be able to look my little snowdudes in the eye and give them a proper hello!
 
So...from the fellas to you...
"Howdy Hazel!!!"
 
As I told you in my previous post, Quilty Buddy & I were shop hopping in Oregon this weekend and I've only been back long enough to start a couple loads of laundry, change clothes and edit some pictures to share with you of our gorgeous weekend.
Excuse the quality of some of the photos...they were taken through a closed window at 55 mph!
 
There are some new bronzes on the corners in Joseph...
 
 
 
 
 
The Beautiful Wallowa Mountains 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
These Miniature Bramans are barely taller than my daughters Nubian Dairy Goats.

 
 
 
The Round Barn...quite a landmark
 
I hope you enjoyed the beauty of your surroundings this weekend too!
Now I'm off to go through my bag of Shop Hop Loot!
 
Nancie Anne
 

Sunday, July 7, 2013

I Can't Wait To See Joseph again!!!

Yep...can't wait to see Joseph again...
Oh dear!  You misunderstand!  I didn't mean this Joseph...or whatever his name is...
does it really even matter what his name is???????????
well...maybe I did...nice dog huh?????
What do you mean "What Dog???"
 
Actually...here's some of what I'm looking forward to...
The Views from Historic Joseph, Oregon.
The Wallowa National Forest is on my list as one of the most beautiful places on earth.
 
Quilty Partner in Crime and I have made our overnight reservation and we're hittin' the road again next weekend!  Yee Haw!!!
It's time again, for the
Sagebrush Quilt Shop Hop
which begins next Saturday, July 13th and runs through the 20th.
The prize bags were awesome last year...
(One lucky hopper with a completed card will win a reproduction Singer Heritage Featherweight Sewing Machine)
 
The northernmost shop is near the Oregon Washington border in Hermiston called Aunty Ida's and the southernmost is Charm Shack in Ontario, Oregon with Claudson's Sew & Soak & Quilt Therapy in LaGrande, Quilts Plus in Halfway, Pendleton (see Pendleton Quilt Works in Quilt Sampler, Fall/Winter 2012), Savoie's Specialties in Enterprise and Cattle Country Quilts in Joseph rounding out the stops.
The underlined are our "Don't Miss" shops.
 
We may stop in at the Pendleton Wool Mill while there to see if there are any remnants to be gleaned...our research doesn't tell us if they sell rems just in the Portland outlet or if the factory store in Pendleton also keeps some on hand.
 
So...if you see a large white blur racing from one shop to the next...that'll be us!
(We do brake for suicidal pheasants, antelope, chukars, curious deer, open range cows...
cowboys...
and we stop to herd errant sheep back into their pastures)
 
 
Come Out And Have Fun Weekend With Us!
 
Nancie Anne
 
 
Addendum: I received notice the morning after writing this post that Pendleton Quilt Works will begin the process of closing the doors the day after shop hop ends.  They will be progressively discounting stock until their final day which is also their 10th Anniversary, Aug. 25th.  The closure of this quality shop will leave a large gap for quilters in the Eastern Oregon area. 

 
 


Monday, July 1, 2013

Country Charmer Quilt Along ~ Hotter Than H-E-Double Hockeysticks July Edition

Here's a different perspective on Country Charmer!
Looking at it in this way makes me think that if it were completed in Southwest or Western themed prints, you could definitely pull off a Western or Native American version.  The secondary design when they are stacked in this manner is definitely interesting...
but no, I'm not going there.  Just wanted to show you I had my five strip sets together...I have done something other than gush over my daughters wedding and do laundry and recuperate from our marathon trip to California and back. 
 The Newlyweds are Happily Honeymooning and wonderful photos of Ireland are popping up here and there.  Lucky little love-buggers!
I've had several sweet responses to the wedding photos and wanted to respond to everyone & I really need to yet, but I was just beat...and living somewhere in La-La Land for the remainder of my time off.  Just know for now that I appreciate you laughing at...along with me and perhaps remembering the stress & sweetness & silliness of your own daughters wedding
I returned to work this morning...caught up part of the things that my newbie still hasn't been granted access to and attended my Five Year Anniversary Celebration and Luncheon.  At this point it's actually closer to 6 years since my return to the hospital...but who's counting...not me...I don't plan to hang around for 40 years like some of our well deserving celebrants.  In doing the math, had I not left the hospital to raise two & four legged babies, become a 4-H Leader, Cat, Dog, Rabbit, Llama & Goat Midwife, and the person most likely to purposely embarrass her teenagers, I would have been honored for 35 years of service today...babies won...babies still win...even when we know that they eventually become unappreciative "young adults"!
There are only a few days left til Independence Day...it's blistering hot...109 degrees is what I heard last on the radio....my car thermometer said 115 when I crawled into it at 4:45 to start the trek home...I woke up worried about the livestock this morning and made sure hubby set a sprinkler in the pasture to cool the air before we left for work...I was worried about what I might come home to...good news though...so far everyone looks content and no sign of heat stress...
so...what to do next...other than make sure water troughs are full and pull out my 9-patch sashing strips and start assembly...
I have some challenge blocks that still need to be assembled into some sort of project by August 1 & it's simply too hot to put the binding on my flag quilt which is, nonetheless, hanging on the living room wall...with it's innards hanging out...
I'm dying to do something else patriotic...I've been drooling over books and patterns and ideas...
 
With the weather being so hot we've decided to for-go the usual Olde Tyme Fourth of July celebration we usually attend in one of the neighboring towns...we won't have the Grandbabies...so we've decided to spend our Fourth in a cool air conditioned movie theatre.  Despicable Me 2 and The Lone Ranger top the list at the moment and there's a third on the horizon.  I'm not usually one to sit in a dark theatre and miss what's going on in the world...but it's hot...these are movies we'd love to see in a theatre setting and we have a fistful of free passes that we were both given at work months ago and it's time we enjoyed them.  See a movie...grab a bite to eat...see another movie...sounds like a good date to me...
 
Enjoy your week and check out what the other Country Charmer Chicks are doing by clicking the links at Lesley's blog...The Cuddle Quilter!
 
Thank You Again for this lovely pattern, Lynn...My Sew'n Wild Oaks pattern collection is near & dear to my heart!
 
One Hot Mama...(& I'm not braggin', it's just that doggone hot!)
 
Nancie Anne
 
Oh PS!  Lynn...We stopped at Quilt House in Gardnerville on the way to the wedding and visited your Country Charmer that is hanging there!  It's looking quite at home and very happy!