Quilts….Did I Mention I Love Quilts

In case you haven’t heard…I love quilts, my family loves quilts and everything to do about quilts and sewing and art and crafts.

Since November is the awareness month for pancreatic cancer, I am turning my normal quilting class of just 2 hours into an all-day quilting class for the same price, with the option to use my sewing machines if needed.  I’m also displaying all my quilts (from 5 generations of women) and having a bake sale with some arts and crafts for sale.  All the proceeds will go to the American Cancer Society.

So for the next two weeks…I’m going to be all about getting ready for that.

If you happen to be in the middle Tennessee area and would like to come for a quilting class on making a Grandmother’s Fan or see a quilt show in a log house in the country….call me….            931-996-8064 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting            931-996-8064      end_of_the_skype_highlighting      .  I only have 8 slots left for the class.  If you want to come out, please call for directions.  GPS does not work well with my address…but if you want to give it a try…

6794 Piney River Road N     Bon Aqua, TN 37025

If coming from Interest 40, take exit 163 (it is right at an hour drive west of Nashville).  Hwy 48 runs between Dickson and Centerville…head towards Centerville off the interstate…south.  Exactly 5 miles from the interstate, Piney River Road is on the left.  If coming from Centerville…we are about 1 miles past the Pinewood Store on the right.  A black barn sits right by the road  (I’m a visual direction kind of girl).
Down Piney River Road, about 2 miles you’ll come to a big red aluminum building.  My house is right behind that barn in a big field.  I’ll have purple ribbons up.

This is the pattern we’ll be making (or a variation of this).  If you stay for the normal 2 hours, you can make 1 block, if you stay longer you could have a 4 block wall hanging made.
Here’s the details:

Private Collection

Quilt Show & Bake Sale

Quilting Class $20 – all day

(Limited space available)

Arts & Craft items for sale

Saturday, November 12^th

8:00 – 5:00

Home of Deborah Boutwell

Pinewood Area, off Hwy 48

Call for details 931-996-8064

All proceeds and donations

benefit the American Cancer Society

(oh…there will be BBQ!)

The Purple

 This morning, I walked out to the graveyard to "show:" the purple quilt to my mom.  I know, it sounds odd and morbid I guess.  But it also seemed right.  I mean, I did this quilt in her honor and the battle she fought with pancreatic cancer and I did this quilt for pancreatic cancer awareness....so why not take pictures of it in a graveyard?

Only 6% of people diagnosed with pancreatic cancer will survive past 5 years.  80% will die within the first year of diagnosis, like my mother did.  43,000 people will be diagnosed this year and of those, 37,000 will die this year.  Unfortunately, this graveyard is an all too real reality for families going through this journey.

 I still have the binding to add to the quilt.

To donate to pancreatic cancer research, please visit the links below.  You can make a difference.  More funding is needed for research to develop early screening testing and a possible cure.

This shouldn't be the place that I have to now visit my mother.

American Cancer Society
Pancreatic Cancer Action Network
Stand Up To Cancer

Another Project Finished

...and it only took 9 years!!  But today I finally finished painting my kitchen cabinets!!!

Here's a picture of how they have looked for the past 9 years.  To the left of my sink, all the cabinets are hand painted (free hand) with sunflowers.  To the right......

 painted cabinets, but without the sunflowers.

Thankfully, I could still get the same paint so last weekend, I repainted them and got them ready for the sunflowers.  Adam removed all the knobs and then today pretty much insisted I finish them or put the knobs back on.

So....here they are today...the process of painting on the sunflowers, free hand, no transfer of design, just me and the paintbrush and all day on the floor!  My style changed a bit and I didn't have the same colors as before...but no two flowers are ever the same.  (Oh and just ignore all the dirty dishes you may see...I've been quilting and painting for several days now!)

I started by going through my old supply of paints and finding the closest matches.  I poured the paint out in clear plastic cups.  I thought about writing the colors on the cups with a Sharpie since I was working with several shades of the same color...but honestly...I barely had enough left.  Several of these were poured out completely for this project.  If I was going to be refilling the cups I would have done that though.

 I did draw lightly with a pencil, circles where I wanted the flowers to be.  Then I started painting all the leaves , stems, and veins.

 This little cabinet sits between the stove and the fridge.

 Then I painted on the 2 shades of yellow for the flowers, starting with the darker shade, letting it dry and then the lighter shade.  I'm not real pleased with the huge leave on the corner door, but I wanted something different on this set of doors since they are hinged together..

 .

 While the petals were still a little wet, I started adding the shades and highlights, blending as I went along.  Once they were all dry, I went back and added the dark centers.

They just need a coat of sealer and I'm all done....that will be tomorrow's job and then the knobs go back on.  No body had better spill anything on my cabinets before I get them sealed!

Machine Quilting

I started quilting the purple quilt last night.  This was the first large quilt that I done on the quilting machine.  It was a little overwhelming.  Mom and I had taken a quilting class once and I learned to quilt using my machine....but not her's.  That was something that she was going to show me how to do.  We didn't get the chance.  So I had to figure it out on my own.  I finally got all the adjustments right, so of course now I've got to stay in quilting mode because I will have to figure out the normal sittings again.   

 I set up the quilting machine on a long table.  Beside the table I set up my cutting table and in front of that, my ironing board.  That gave me plenty of room to keep the quilt fairly flat and straight while I was quilting.

 I did just loops using my free motion stitch, since the quilt was so busy anyway.

 I quilted across the short length and rolled the finished part up "in" my machine.  As I got more and more done, I could remove the cutting board table.

 Then when I got past the half way point, I moved the table to the other side of the ironing board and worked from the short side of the quilt.  It worked out pretty good and I only got one small wrinkle on the back side.  I'm pretty proud of that.

 Within the quilting I hid some special messages  This "cross L" was my mom's signature on all her art and also the brand on all the cattle on my dad's farm. Then I started using the "cross dlb" for mine, but it didn't turn out as good.  I put the dates, 2011, "mom", and "Lewis" all within the quilting....but you would have to really look hard for most of them.  I'm not even sure if I could find them again.

All it likes now is the binding.  I need it finished by next weekend.  The local Halmark gift and card shop has agreed to put the quilt on display during the month of November for pancreatic cancer awareness.

Threads and Tears

I found a community of woman, connected with treads and tears.

Read about it here!