nautical banners

We spent last weekend celebrating the marriage of my son… the rehearsal dinner on Friday

 evening and the wedding on Saturday evening.  The charming old church is

close to a big lake in Oklahoma, so naturally, we had to have an evening cruise on the lake for the

rehearsal dinner on Friday evening.

It was great fun, with lots of Mexican food, beverages, and "stories" with many

 close friends and family.  I knew there wasn't much need in decorating with the

beautiful lake surrounding us, so I just made a few banners to hang and flutter

 while we were cruising around on the boat : )

I didn't get any good pics on the boat of the nautical banners, so these pics will have to do!

For dessert we had the cutest sugar cookies shaped like anchors, but did I

get any pics before they were all gone….nope : )

It was a fabulous weekend, and now I have a wonderful daughter-in-law!!

piece,

elizabeth

sewing curves

I took a class on sewing curves at the SewOK retreat a couple weeks ago.  The teacher was

Dana Bolyard from Old Red Barn Co. blog.  She has written a wonderful book 

called Imagine Quilts from That Patchwork Place.

Here is the block that I made in her class using some black Essex linen and

Amy Butler's Hapi fabric.

I decided to add more borders of Hapi….why not?

I finished with an off-center block and now I am ready to start quilting!

It measures 45 X 45 inches….just the size for me to machine quilt comfortably : )

I am still deciding on how the quilting will look….

do you have any suggestions?

piece,

elizabeth

social tote

I had the pleasure of attending the first SewOK retreat a few days ago, and it was 

so much fun!

One of the classes, taught by Carolyn Friedlander, was making her cute

pattern called Social Tote.  Carolyn is a delightful person and a wonderful

teacher.  This pattern was a little "out-of-my-box" in sewing comfort : ),

but I am so happy that I gave it a try, and very pleased with my project!

I used fabric that I had purchased from Yoshiko Jinzenji at QuiltCon last year.

I wish I could show you all the finished social totes from the class, but if you follow

instagram you can find many of them using #sewokretreat.

As you can see it holds lots of sew stuff!  And you can also probably tell how

happy I am with it by all the pictures that I took : )

I'll let my pincushion speak for itself…..

piece,

elizabeth

cross timbers quilt block

A few years ago I made an original quilt block that I call Cross Timbers, for a

Block party at Quilt Story blog that I wrote about in a post here.

This month I made the same pattern for the Oklahoma Cooperative Extension

Centennial quilt.  They provided the fabric and asked for a 12.5 inch block.

I volunteer at my county extension as a Master Gardener.  I'll get my certification in October.   I really enjoyed the classes and I have learned so much about gardening from them.  Now I volunteer to answer phones and also help with different gardening projects that the extension offers to the public.  There is always something to learn, and the people I have met there are wonderful.

Here is a picture of my Cross Timbers quilt block:

I look forward to seeing all the other quilt blocks and the final quilt or two that will be made from them!

piece,

elizabeth

prayers for Oklahoma

Please keep Oklahoma in your prayers as the responders continue to

search, rescue, and recover after the devastating tornado. 

The OKCMQG is meeting tonight to plan a project to

benefit those in need in Moore, Oklahoma.  I will post about

the project soon.

piece,

elizabeth 

show off friday~~~okcmqg bom

Show Off Friday

I am participating in the OKCMQG BOM.  If you would like to join us,

just click the button on my sidebar or go here : )

Here is my block for January.

The February block is a Wonky Star.  I plan to make my block over the week-end.

Now it is your turn to link up something~~~~what do you have for

Show Off Friday

There are no rules for this link up party....this is just the place to show off

projects you are working on!

piece,

elizabeth

small town

I went to my LQS yesterday and bought some cute fabric.  They were celebrating 23 years and having a sale : )  One of the pieces that I bought was from Timeless Treasures and looks just like a small town that I would like to live in:

Who wouldn't want an ice cream store and park next to the Quilt Shop!

piece,
elizabeth

hens and chickens and homespun plaids

I have always liked the plant above, hens and chickens, and this year it is one of my favorites because it can take the extreme heat that we are experiencing early here in Oklahoma!

Here's a little quilt I made years ago with some homespun plaids.  I still have lots of homespuns in my fabric collection that I use from time to time.  They are great for a guys quilt : )

piece,

elizabeth

cross timbers block

The block I made for the Block Party at Quilt Story is called Cross Timbers.  As far as I know it is my original design.  I drive by an elementary school almost every day by that name and the design at the entry of the school building has been my inspiration for this quilt block.

I used some Amy Butler fabric by FreeSpirit called Temple Flowers that I have in my fabric collection along with some Kona brown.  It is 15"X15".  I will make another block and take pictures so I can blog about my process and give a mini tutorial for anyone who might be interested.

I have seen asterisk blocks on the internet, but I don't believe that I have seen my cross timbers block anywhere.  I am very pleased at the result and I plan to make many more : )   I am adding this block in the Modern category at Quilt Story.

By the way, cross timbers is a geography term, and I live in the cross timbers area in Oklahoma.  It is an area that covers the central US from Canada(north) all the way to Mexico(south).   Just a little fun FYI about where the elementary school got their name and then how I named my block!

~piece~

elizabeth

postage stamp quilt along

The Postage Stamp Quilt Along is still going on at my house.  It is officially over today, as far as the give away to be chosen from all the finished quilts.  Fat Quarter Shop is the sponsor and the drawing is today for 3 great prizes.  I am going to consider my finished quilt my prize : )  It has been fun participating in a quilt along, but I still prefer going at my own pace.

There are some super quilts and I recommend taking a look at all the pictures of the quilt along on Flickr.

It is still cold and snowy here in Oklahoma, so I have had fun staying inside, stitching and sewing(and cooking and cleaning).  Hopefully, I will be showing you the finished project soon, but here are some pictures of where I am today.

~piece~
elizabeth

Botany by Moda

oklahoma dugout

Several years ago I bought a quilt kit called Oklahoma Dugout from my local quilt shop and they still sell it here.  I made it, but as usual, I didn't follow the directions exactly as they were written.  I usually like to make a quilt "my own" and so patterns are just my guide, but not necessarily what the final outcome will look like : )   I don't think I have mentioned who I often use to machine quilt my quilts when I don't do it myself.... this quilt was quilted by Debbie Croft and she always does a wonderful job with her long-arm quilting machine!

piece, 

elizabeth