Dolly Dresses + You

So here it is! My version of the Dolly Dresses quilt. I'm so happy that Holly asked me to be a part of this fun event. I really liked the way Holly's panel did so much of the work for me, so I kept the center of the quilt very simple, using her preprinted sashing.



Some of the dresses sport rickrack, others have ribbon, but every dress has a yo yo. I've been loving scallops lately, so it was a natural for me to applique rickrack trimmed scallops onto the border.



The quilt finishes at 49" x 60" and is backed with the same snowy white dot as the border.

Darla Padilla of Wildflower Quilting did a lovely job quilting it for me.



I hope you've been enjoying all of the wonderful projects created by the other designers. Some have provided kits, some just plenty of inspiration. Mine's a little different...

If you've followed along with me for awhile, you may know of my love for Ireland. I've had two brief visits and both times wanted to stay...like maybe forever! Maybe it's a sort of racial memory, but both Ireland and Scotland somehow feel like home.

Recently there has been terrible flooding in Ireland. Epic flooding. And there are many people there who need some assistance.

Sherry, the editor of Irish Quilting Magazine, has been doing a lot to get the word out about this cause. You can click here for more information on how you can help.

Here's what I'd like to do:

The dolly dresses quilt pictured above will be auctioned off, with all proceeds going directly to help the people in Ireland.

The auction begins right now and will close at 9:00 pm, Pacific time, on Monday, December 21st.

To bid on the quilt, leave a comment with your bid amount. The winner will be the person who has left the highest bid.
The winner will be able to send the money directly to Sherry via the Irish Quilting paypal account, and I will be standing by to race to the UPS guy with your quilt the minute the money is sent.

And please, spread the word! I'm hoping this little quilt can provide even more warmth for the people who could use our help.

is this what it feels like

when you're ninety? Seriously! This month has just not been going the way I'd planned. My sinus infection has left me so tired that it feels like every day I'm moving at half-speed. So obviously some of the many things I'd planned to make will be a bit delayed. Like maybe months delayed.

But that's not the end of the world!

I've still managed to get one of my favorite Christmas quilts hung...

and bits of the upcoming holiday are showing up here...


and here...

and here...

and even in the downstairs bathroom, which I'd show you but can't figure out how to take a picture in there.

I'm trying to save my energy for finishing my Dolly Dresses quilt...my day is coming up next week and I hope you'll come back to see the quilt and hopefully participate in what is being planned for it! And if you haven't been following along, you need to see what the other designers have done with Holly's doll dress panels. There are some awfully cute projects out there.


So there's really lots more to get done around here...but all I really want to be doing is what he's doing.

sweet (and not so sweet) distractions

It was great to have the whole family home for the long Thanksgiving weekend...and the family grew by one member when Middle Son and his girlfriend adopted a 4 month old kitten. I'd like you to meet Olive!



She's such a sweetie and I love her to pieces and miss her ready purr already. When she was taken to her new home on Sunday I'm told she fell asleep on the center console of their car for most of the hour-plus ride home.



Yet ANOTHER sinus infection has made sewing difficult,(so I'm way behind where I'd hoped to be at this time) but gluing stuff onto other stuff is always manageable. I loved these little snow guys I found at Target...but a bit of seam tape and some millinery flowers makes them sweeter. I'd figured on having guy-girl couples, but the boys just seem so naked now...so they've come back upstairs to be prettied up a bit.

Got out for the first time in AGES today with Pam...she took me to a super cool antique shop and I'm pea green over the shelf she got! With SCALLOPS. Be sure to ask her to show it to you. It's amazing.

So that's it for today...now that the super sized antibiotics are kicking in, I should have more Christmas stuff to show you really soon.

Coming Soon!

I'm pretty sure Monica was the first to make the announcement, and NOBODY can top her when it comes to mad Photoshop skills. If only I could make my real washing machine look like that.
So yes, you'll definitely want to be checking in with Holly starting on Friday, Dec. 4...she'll be telling you all the details.

Suffice it to say there will be lots of sweetness and cute.

P.S. No guinea pigs were harmed in the making of this lame little banner.

family

This is of course the time of year when we officially express gratitude for all our blessings and "family" is at the top of the list.

All families are unique, and ours is no exception, being a 100% ginger family.

Did you know that only 2% of people in the US have red hair? The greatest concentration of redheads is in Scotland and Ireland, and the numbers there aren't all that big either.

I'm pretty sure we've covered the entire red-hair spectrum in our household. I am not kidding--people used to stare at us when we'd be out together as a family. It wasn't uncommon for people to approach our table at restaurants--always to ask about our hair!

And by the way...people ask pretty amazingly inappropriate questions when you have red hair, but I'm NOT going there!

I was having fun going thru some old photos today and here's what I found:



Me, in 3rd grade.



Here's a fairly current pic of my husband...all of his kid-pics are in black and white. You know, because he's older than me...



Eric's 2nd grade photo really showed off the strawberry blond of his hair...



Nick, here at age 2, has the REDDEST hair of the clan and used to get teased for it, but ended up winning "Best Hair" in school. Go figure.



Jeff, my youngest, has brownish-red hair...it's browner now than it was when this pic was taken back when he was 5, but still definitely "red".

"Gingers" may be mocked by some (I was appalled to read a news item recently that a kid was attacked in school because some Facebook post called for redheads to be beaten up) but my kids wear their hair proudly.

I found out about this site just today and can't wait to get a copy of the book! It'll be on our coffee table for sure.

Well, it's about time for me to check and see how well our turkey is thawing...the next few days are going to be very busy for most of us and I want to make sure I got the chance to wish you all a very happy Thanksgiving!

I'm a sucker for scallops

There sure seem to be a lot of scallopy things in my life these days:

Trying to make a lampshade for the family room...kinda-sorta following these instructions...



Then there's the cutest-ever cakestand I was thrilled to find at Target (Melvin not included).



And I'm knee-deep in sewing secret scallops...I can only show you a peek, but more real soon!

P.S. Do you see me, Jocelyn? I'm waving to you!

I did it!!

First of all I want to thank all of you for commenting about the tablecloths...I really needed some advice on this. The overwhelming verdict was to CUT THEM UP and so I did! I've still got a few that remained in one piece...a couple that really are too nice and a few that weren't the right colors.

So one night I couldn't sleep...decided to get up and DO something. Went into the studio, picked up my gramma's old scissors for confidence, grabbed an old tablecloth and CUT. It probably wasn't too smart that the very first item to be sliced was my very favorite, and after cutting I realized that I wasn't entirely sure that the piece would be the right size.



I did have to make some adjustments but no tablecloths were wasted. I had to make a total of seventeen of these...and because of the way things turned out, I ended up making 2 of them out of a piece of striped new fabric, which you'll see on the kitchen window.

I'm super happy with the way this project turned out and my granny kitchen is getting a little brighter and more colorful every day. I don't think my family is thrilled with the new look, but now that my kitchen is happier, I'm wanting to spend more time in there and they are benefitting from that. So all good! And on to new pillows, cushions, and the like.



So there you have it--the newly adorned kitchen window. I'll show the rest of the windows in a future post. For those of you who may have a similar dilemma to mine, I have to say that the first cut is the hardest!

And I'm trusting that Judy in Michigan is correct when she commented that she's "...sure there are other tablecloths circling the globe...". I think that's a delightful image--bright, well-loved tablecloths floating somewhere above just waiting for a fabric lover to find them!