Fabric Friday Fun Day

It is a mixed bag today in the Fabric Friday spot. Domestic, import and vintage fabrics all have a go today as well as a sneak peak.
Michael Miller has some new fabric out. This one is called "Village Stroll". I got a half yard because I love houses so much and this one has so much color and personality.
These two very basic check/stripes are new Michael Miller's. I am always interested in picking up a good check and a good stripe. They are extremely versatile and are "must haves" in any fabric collection.
Here are 3 tiny cuts of Japanese fabrics, not new. I really like hexagon fabric and the pink and green florals are again, basics, that are valuable in a fabric collection even if it is in such a small quantity.
I like fabric with lots of different things going on in it. This one is a cotton/linen blend heavyweight great for purses or table toppers. While I'm talking Japanese Fabric I have to tell you one of my nicest suppliers is Lisa from Etsy. Her shop is ThisandthatfromJapan. Her service is fabulous and she's a sweetheart. Lisa also sells books. So if you have a Japanese book you want to purchase you can contact her through her etsy store and she might be able to get it for you.I really love this black with apple print. It is also in a half yard cut. I wish I had more of this one. It is a thicker quilt weight. I can think of lots of fun uses for it. Japanese import, of course.I know lots of you don't really get Sunbonnet Sue but this slightly Holly Hobbie version speaks to me. First off it has a lot going on and second of all I find the faceless figure charming somehow. I just like her, for some reason.
These are vintage finds from my sister, Michelle. The one on the left is an orange strawberry in a cotton or blend from probably the late 60s or after. Orange and strawberries - what's not to love? And the other is a vintage sheet. I'm slowly working on my vintage sheet quilt (haven't blogged about it, I'm not ready to show it off quite yet). This comes in handy because I need more sheets before I move forward on the project. I love the soft feel to the vintage sheets. They are "broken in" and feel loved.
Today my quilter, Wren, dropped this quilt off at my house. it is my latest creation and so I'll be hard at work on the pattern for the next couple weeks, along with finishing up some other things. Although writing the pattern isn't my very favorite part about creating a quilt, I don't mind doing it and it adds closure to a project. And I am very happy with this one. It turned out really very sweet.

Happy Weekend.

-nanette

Vacation Part II

I know for sure yesterday's vacation saga left you wanting right at the stitching part. A cliff hanger, right!
Well we had 3 days more or less of hand work together. Every year the gals get together to make something. I think this year was the most successful yet. We are gathered in the cook house where we ate our meals and spent lots of time together.If you remember I made table runners to give sisters/nieces at the ranch. Stitching day one had me teaching/reteaching hand stitching the binding to the back of the table runners. I had the runners all done except for that very last step. Left to right holding their table runners are sisters Michelle, Polly, and nieces Tricia and Tana. I don't know where my sister Teri was for this picture. The girls stood on the bench to model their runners. Tana's runner is a cheater cloth version from Jennifer Paganelli's new line of fabric. I just followed the hexagons and machine quilted it. I think I want an entire quilt made like that. I really like Jennifer's new fabric but I can't decide which color way to make it in.
Teri is back for the sister picture. Left to right Teri, me, Polly and Michelle. I was really happy that the runners went over so well and everyone liked them. They were very fun to make.I also made Michelle a cowboy themed table topper. It only turned out so-so I thought. I tried a new stitch for machine quilting and wasn't too happy with it. It was just "ok".When I saw Elizabeth's Pears Tutorial last month I knew it was the perfect project to take to the ranch with me. So before I left I prepped the towels. I used different fabrics to dress up the plain flour sack towels. I just sewed a strip of fabric across the width close to the bottom of the towel. Some of the towels I added a line of rick rack. This went really fast and I think I ended up taking a dozen flour sack towels.
Here is Michelle with her first pears all hand appliqued. You can't really see the yellow rick rack with the red dot very well. Kind of PamKitty colors.This is Michelle's 2nd towel she finished. She used Elizabeth's quick fuse method to make her 2nd towel.
Not a great picture (sorry Polly) of one of Polly's towels. I think this was taken before we pressed it.
Here is Polly's other towel. Super cute. And she did such a nice job. I was so proud of her since she doesn't sew.
Here is Tana's towel with pears. Tana was working on some embroidery on her other towel. I didn't get a picture of that one. Tana is always smiling. I don't know how I got a picture without a big grin.Here is Tricia's towel. She used Snippet's fabric. I brought fabric for everyone to pick out their own pears. This orange turned out so so cute.Ooops. Another not so good picture. Sorry. This is my sister Teri. She enlarged some cherries in my Pink Book to applique. I thought they turned out really darling.
She coordinated them with her table runner. Recently Teri remodeled her kitchen and it is beautiful. These will really be lovely in the new kitchen.
Among other projects I took for myself to work on was this applique/stitching. I went a little different direction for some variety. I used Lori Holt's Grandma's Kitchen pattern and hand appliqued the lemon juicer with some detail embroidery. It was so fun.
Then I picked a relatively simple layered applique out of my . . .
Sunbonnet Sue book and I appliqued a towel for myself. I need to take a class in layered applique. This went ok but I want to get better at it. If you look closely you can see I really didn't get her feet in the right place to make sense with the rest of her body. She looks like she may be falling backwards. But I really want to make a whole Sue Quilt so I have to get better at this.

Shelbie made a really cute towel with appliqued apples (Shelbie I don't have that picture-you must post it) and Natalie was working on her cactus blocks.

It is always fun to learn new skills and share skills. I had fun teaching beginning applique to my sisters and nieces. Next year we are going to make my Doll House Potholders and I'm going to teach them beginning machine quilting. I can't wait!

Happy Birthday today to Mr. Hive. July 15!

-nanette

Vacation in Wyoming Part I

You may not really be interested in a pictorial of our vacation but it's our blog after all and it was really a fun time so indulge me, please.
The nearest town to my sister's ranch is Afton Wyoming. It is about 35 minutes from the ranch to town (on a dirt road).
We went into town one day to get some fabric and some other little errands. Cute town.
Here is my sister Michelle (in the orange) making her fabric purchase. I'm helping her a little with a couple quilts she has started. The fabric store was more of a variety store.
We took my darling grand nephews with us while we shopped on the main street with the bears.Jamie and Chelsey went into town a couple times. You can see Mason's reflection taking their picture. There were a few cute shops. I did pick up some Star Valley t-shirts for the kids.
Most of the time we just hung out together on the ranch. Such hard work! Left to right my pregnant niece Tricia, daughters Shelbie and Jamie, and son Mason (what is he doing?)
You can see how vast the 800+ acres are surrounding the main ranch area. Laurie and Jamie, holding Shadow, pose after their hike.
This is a working ranch so there are plenty of chores to do. Mr. Hive (in orange) is with with my brother-in-law Brent in between fun and work. Could that cowboy hat be giving Mr. Hive enough confidence that he's giving the ranch owner some tips? He seems pretty animated.The lake on the ranch is fabulous, though extremely cold, since it is fed by glacier water. Here are Chelsey and Jamie having fun on the canoe.
Even our dog Shadow got into the water. It was kind of windy that day so his life jacket didn't lots of use.Here he is in the canoe with Shelbie and Laurie. The water was really pretty clear. You could see tons of fish while in the canoe.
Mason playing with my grand nephews Maxx and Rex along with the ranch pup, Katie.
Justin and Natalie hanging out after they cooked a fabulous dinner for us on Saturday.
Mason is quite the fisherman and he caught some big ones. The fishing was a highlight for him.He caught several trout. Here is a German Brown. My brother-in-law Ken fixed fresh trout for us one night. It was so good.Here is a tease so you'll come back to see more tomorrow. This is where the real fun was! I taught the gals hand applique. So you don't want to miss seeing their finished projects. We really had such a nice time sewing together. You can see how intent the sisters and nieces are hunched over their flour sack towels while stitching in the cook house. Stay tuned. Cute stuff to come.

-nanette

We Have A Pink Book Winner

Just back and I've picked a winner.
Thanks to everyone for playing along and commenting last week while we were having a fabulous time on vacation. I read all the comments and was glad to hear from so many of you. It was nice to hear from regular commenters, no blog gals, lurkers and a few newbies. I wish so much I had a pink book for each of you.
Congrats to Lisa Boyer of Dorky Homemade Quilts. Yayyy Lisa. Lisa has a really sweet blog that I enjoy reading. I'm really excited to send her the book. Lisa send me your snail mail address.
I printed out the comments (tiny) and numbered comments and then used Random.org for picking a winner. Lisa's comment was numbered 74. You know how it is when you come back from vacation! Wow. So much to do and catch up on. My real job is my first priority right now so I'll be very busy this week. I hope to make some time soon to go through my pics to show you a little report of where we were and what we did. This is the view from where we stayed while in Star Valley Wyoming. Truly beautiful. Thanks to my generous sister Michelle and her husband Brent for letting us invade and enjoy.

-nanette

Pink Book Giveaway

I found another Pink book. Pam blogged about it here. And Jen blogged about it here. And I talked about it here. And I think Sherri may have gotten one, too. Anyone else? Well everyone loves this book that can get their hands on it. So when I found another book at a reasonable deal I thought it would make a great giveaway.
I'll be gone all week visiting with family and some of my sisters. To enter the giveaway for the book all you have to do is leave a comment sometime this week to be entered once in the giveaway. I'm not advertising about it anywhere else and please don't blog about it on your site. This is for any of my regular readers. And if you are a lurker, or have no blog please feel free to enter. Just make sure I have your email address or contact info so if you win I can let you know. I will be swamped when I get home so I won't respond to your comments but I'll be reading them. And to pick the winner I'll choose a random number generator by numbering each comment. Please only enter once.
The book is a delight. It is so full of ideas and so amazing. It is a treasure. I'm so glad I found it.
The photography is excellent and every photo is something to be enjoyed. I am going to take my Pink Book on vacation with me.
Pam dubbed it "Pink Book" because it doesn't have a recognizable title in English. And Pink Book seemed a perfect name. However, a reader of mine named Merumo with a great blog called Pleasanttree told me it said "Flower Color Quilt". Merumo's blog is fabulous. The blog is in Japanese but you can select a google feature on the side bar that translates it into any language. Cool huh! You should check her out.
I would love to make a baby quilt with this fabric, pictured in the book, for my daughter Whitney. We found out Whitney is having a girl. I have seen this fabric but only on Japanese available web sites. However all the fabrics used in the Pink Book are lovely.
The sampler quilt on the cover is killer. I would love to duplicate it. The book does not give complete instructions for all the blocks I don't think. But it would make a good start.

For those of you that don't win and want the book. The ISBN number is 9784391627190. My source doesn't have any more books but I also found the book on ebay and Yes Asia. The ebay seller had free shipping. I see the book is marked "sold" on ebay now but you might be able to email the seller and see if they can get more. In any case you will want to wait to see if you win my giveaway!

Have a lovely week everyone and I'll be back on Monday July 13. I'll announce a winner after I return. I don't think I'll get caught up with my google reader when I get home though. I'll probably have to start from scratch.

-nanette

Quick Fabric Friday and July 4th

I'm getting ready for my little vacation next week and I've got so much to do today. I'm off to get my hair cut and do some shopping so FFF is a quick post today with some fabric from Sew Mama Sew that I recently acquired.
This was irresistible. It combines fruit and little redwork animals. Cute and sweet. Could you resist this?
This little posy print was also hard to resist. The colors and pattern will go with so many of my other fabrics.
Same for this little blue and red daisy. Such a sweet and classic print, and for me this is a neutral. Well. I like busy neutrals.
I'm in love with red check. You can't go wrong with red and I have plans for this fabric immediately. I have used up all my red check I got at Material Girls last year so this will replace that.
Oh my this is a bad picture. Sorry about that but I'm on a mission today. No time to redo photos. This is my tribute to the 4th holiday. It is a simple flag quilt I made in 2002 or 2003. I wanted it to be big in scale and it certainly is. It is fun to pick treasures to put in front of my quilts, too.
The border fabric is patriotic and also pays tribute to 9/11. I'm sure many of you remember this toile from when it came out years ago. And some of the stripes are made with the fabric that was printed with words from the pledge of allegiance. On my porch flies one of my quilted flags. I have several. It is scrappy, simple and enjoyable to look at with all the fabric squares in it.

It is going to rain here for the weekend. I really love it when it rains. Even on a holiday. Happy 4th everyone! Have a safe and happy weekend.

-nanette

Lori's Trunk Show

I don't know why some of the pictures post over and over in Lori's Trunk Show. User error obviously. But we had a lightening storm here and my internet was very spotty tonight. So please be patient and wait for all the photos to show. -nanette

Lori Holt Trunk Show . . . coming up

Last night our Alpine Group was privileged to meet Lori Holt of "Bee in my Bonnet" quilt fame.
Lori gave us a fabulous trunk show. I took lots of pictures and they turned out great too this time. I want to go through them when I have a chance later today and put them into a slide show. So stay tuned. Lori is so extremely talented and such a genuine and sweet person. I was so happy to meet her and see her work. So you won't want to miss my post later today when I can get it together.
I've been a blog pal of Lori's for a while so I felt I knew her and she knew me. It was like meeting an old friend. I came home with the goodies above. I have been wanting some of Lori's patterns for a while. She also gave me the beehive stitchery and the water bottle apron! Thank you Lori. I love them! I will definitely be making some of these little water bottle aprons. They also fit a small bottle of Joy dish soap. Wouldn't they make great little gifts? Lori is going to do a tutorial on them soon. And she talks about them several posts back on her blog here.

Later people, I h ave work I have to attend to today but tonight I will go through my pictures.

-nanette

Braided Coaster Trivet

Those of you that really know me, know I am very forgetful. I get going in one direction and then get carried away and leave what I was doing behind. I call it advanced adult onset quilt ADD. I think they should do a case study at a quilt retreat because I know I'm not the only one. I did get caught up on my google reader last week but sadly my email is bulging. If you asked me a question and I didn't answer, please email me again. Sorry about that.
The very sweet Karen sent me pictures of her dress quilt that she is making and I was going to post the incredible pictures a couple weeks ago. And then I didn't flag the email and I forgot about it. Typical me. Karen designed the lay out of the dresses and block corners in a color wave. I absolutely love it.
Look at the flair this black and white dress has. It is super cute. Karen has done such a wonderful job. Thanks for the photos Karen. The quilt is looking fabulous.
Since getting my latest 2 Japanese quilt books I've been enjoying looking at all the pretty photos and fun projects represented in the pages and dreaming of making every single thing.
This braided hot pad is so inviting. And looks so easy and fun to make. Do I have time to squeeze in a new project? Probably not. Oh well.
Of course I can't read the instructions in the book but the diagram is pretty clear. So I cut 1" strips of fabric and folded them in half. I think the instructions call for folding in the rough edges but I wanted to make it quick and raw first to see how it would work out.
The pattern really calls for making the braid with short strips of fabric in patchwork style. So I might try that for my next one. First I used yellow green and red to start. Then I sewed on different colors to enlarge the circle. Now I'll stitch them together and see how I like it. The green, red and yellow kind of look too muddled but it is ok for a first attempt.
However, I'm still tied to my machine. "V" asked what machine I quilt and sew with. I have several machines but this is the one above I use the most. I think it is about 19 years old. The last of the metal Berninas pretty much. And that handy little light my sister bought me in St. George is perfect, especially for machine quilting. I have a floor light that is pointed above my machine but doesn't give me the spot control needed and can create shadows. This little light with the movable neck gives me the control my 52 year old eyes really need.
I am really excited to see Lori Holt tonight and hear her speak to our Alpine Quilt Group. I'm finally going to meet Lori! Yipee. I promise to take lots of pictures that I'll post probably Thursday. If you haven't gone to Lori's blog to see her work, do so today! And Lori is having a giveaway this week. I am weak in the knees about it. I have mixed feelings about telling you to enter. Cuz I want to win!

I also have to tell you about 2 of my blog friends and real life friends Kim and Nedra having giveaways on their blogs, too. Kim is on Moda Bakeshop this week and Nedra is showcasing a bag made from my pattern. Go check out my friends and then come back here later in the week to see Lori's quilts.

-nanette

Coming up for Air

Most every moment spent at my machine this past weekend was spent quilting. I know the reason I will never want a specialized quilting machine. I only like machine quilting in small doses. Lucky for me TCM was having an Alfred Hitchcock weekend. I don't quite know why but I seem to always overdo everything. (e.g. 8 children) One of the 8 table runners I am making is 82"x23". What was I thinking? Who has a table that accommodates a table runner of that size? And who tries to make 8 table runners in a couple weeks?
And then I proceeded to micro quilt the cottages in the biggest runner. This cottage above has quilting following the lines of the roof and the brick. I think I spent 3 hours total quilting the big runner on Saturday.
I fussy cut some of that Paris street fabric that I showed on Friday for the upstairs window. The 2nd house in that runner has less quilting though. And so on. But still I know I still went way overboard. Once you start quilting there is no stopping until the project is finished.
This cottage has the least quilting. With 2 more cottage runners to quilt (out of the 8) I will not make that mistake again. Less is more, isn't it?
There is no way I can even take a photo of the whole thing. It is just too long.
I stippled the outside border parts of this runner. I used vintage home dec kitchen fabric to border it that I have had for many years. I still have tons left of the border fabric. I liked using fabric on hand and the vintage home dec fabric gives it a table cloth look.
The tumblers were so much easier to machine quilt and took far less time. I quilted bows into the tumbler bow pattern of the runner. I don't know if you can tell from this photo.
I simplified the quilting on the other tumbler runner. Hey. I have a deadline! I was going to try some new machine quilting techniques using blue painters tape. But after a 7 foot table runner I had to set that idea aside.

Gotta run. My machine is calling me. I'll be quilting. And when that is over I'll be binding.

-nanette

Fabric Friday Window Fabric

I really like vintage fabric featuring windows and curtains. I have a tiny collection of windows fabric I thought I would show you today. Yayy Friday.This is one of my favorites showing curtains on a cute rod, the hint of a window with the intersecting lines and then the geranium in the window. It is clever and sweet and the colors are lovely.
This is a feed sack showing shutters and again a flower pot on the windowsill. It is really a simple print but has such personality.
This fabric is vintage 50s, I'm pretty sure. Not only does it show a cute window scene but lots of other kitchen vignettes. Adorable isn' t it. I hate to cut it.This is a Japanese print with little squares that I think some of could be windows and curtains. The square with "Tea Time" and the cup looks like a window to me anyway.
Isn't this one sweet in gray, green and pink. These windows show shadows of the people living beyond them. I'm sure this one is familiar to you as a reproduction from several years ago. More curtains with flowers in the window. I wish I had a window fabric with a pie on the windowsill. Wouldn't that be cute.
You'll probably recognize this Michael Miller reproduction fabric with the classic 50's kitchen sink/window combination.
This one is a Japanese fabric with street scenes that I'll probably fussy cut this all up instead of using it as one piece.Here is another shot of the little Paris street. It is really charming but I don't have enough of it to really use it for more than fussy cutting.Another Japanese print that isn't window scenes but I see this as snippets of home life that when fussy cut and put into a window on a cottage will appear as if you are looking into the lives of the family living there.This is not my fabric but fabric I would love to have it. It is vintage from the 50's but too pricey for me. I love the "wallpaper" around the windows.More fabric I wish I had. Not only does it have darling windows but look at all the kitchen items, particularly the table and kettle. Lovely isn't it. Again, too pricey for me but I'll keep looking around for deals on fabric to add to my collection featuring windows. Ah the cottages I could make . . .

-nanette

Cottages Revisited and Table Runners

I've been sewing table runners and really enjoying making more cottages and little houses to star in them. The cottages and doll houses are addicting because I can dress each one to be unique and be a builder of fabric houses.
Above is a quilted and completed table runner in red, green and yellow. It is hard to get a photo of the entire length of a table runner all in one shot.
So I'll show the runners in chunks. These table runners are going on vacation with me in 2 weeks. I wonder why??
I quilted it myself to enhance the architecture of each little cottage. It was fun but it took forever.
I think I got it this one too long though. We'll see how it works out. And I made another one. This one is in green and yellow with the Blank Quilting border in a frosty green.
It isn't quilted yet but I hope to take care of that this weekend.
I really like sewing the rick rack like this after seeing Diane put rick rack in her pot holder. It totally finishes the cottages off.I used the yellow back ground of the same Blank Quilting fabric (thanks Janean!) to make yet another cottage runner. Both color ways of the border fabric are a perfect finishing touch.More quilting to do this weekend. I know there are a lot of these pictures but I couldn't stop making the cottages!
I am almost out of that orange fabric that the roof is made out of on the left. It is vintage and I've used it and reused it for the past 5 years. I wish I could get more of it.
I also used my Tumbler Bows baby quilt pattern to make a table runner with a different theme. You can't make too many runners ya know.
I still want to make a couple more toppers/runner. We'll see how much time I have and how much I get quilted Saturday. I'm not through yet!

Stick with me a little longer for a big treat post. You've got to visit Sarah and see her beautiful cottage quilt and play by play of her visit with the famous and lovely Monica. Both Sarah and Monica are so incredibly talented. I really enjoy reading both of their blogs and getting to know them. It was surprising to me to read several blogs this week and see so many of us meeting with each other in the real world. I just wish I could have been along with each little meeting. I can't wait to read Sarah's next installment of her visit in Monicaland.

-nanette

Let me tell you about our Hive

This post isn't about fabric or quilting, just fyi:

Last fall when my daughters and I were discussing starting a blog and what to call it, it seemed perfect to name it after my mother, Freda. Our home is always a buzz of excitement and confusion with people coming and going, cars in the driveway and happenings both good and bad everyday. So it seemed natural to call our home a hive.
This quilt is one of my first original creations and I came up with the idea for this quilt in the middle of the night. I have always thought a hive was a beautiful image and since I was a young girl I have always liked bees and beehives. My grandfather and uncles were bee keepers the little town of Huntington, Utah where my mother grew up. However, when we named our blog I never dreamed we would have a real live beehive in our back yard!
A couple weeks ago Shelbie posted about the beehive and chickens on our little farm. Well the hive is so amazing. It is so incredible to watch bees in our yard and how they act as they go in and out of the hive. It is inspiring to watch their little community and how they work together to make something so lovely like honey.
The bees LOVE our lambs ear in the front yard. When you walk up to my front door the sound of buzzing is everywhere.We have lots of big mature trees around our home. When we built our home 15 years ago planting trees was one of the first thing we did and I insisted on planting what some might call a trash tree that grew up anywhere and everywhere in Pennsylvania, where I am from, so a few of our trees are Sumac trees. I had to have them. Our yard is kind of overgrown and to me it looks like a Pennsylvania yard, especially with all the rain we've had here this spring. The sumac pods currently on the trees are alive with bees! The bees love those sumac flowers. I don't know what kind of honey sumac will make but the bees are all over these them and are extremely busy going back and forth to the hive from the sumac and the lambs ear.

This little video shows how determined and how active the bees are in our back yard hive. Maybe this isn't amazing to you but it is just so incredible to me to see the nature of a hive and bees. Isn't nature amazing.
I am so glad we called our blog Freda's Hive. I am grateful for my bee heritage and the worth of work that my mother taught to me and my sisters. Lets just hope I can pass a small measure of that ethic forward.

-nanette