Sunbonnet Sue and Samplers

Most blocks for the following two quilts were made in 1996-1998 time frame. They were done in a block of the month class at Betty’s Bobbin Box in Odessa Texas with Ida Tyson teaching. We made different blocks each month for a sampler quilt. The colors I chose were purple and black but I also made a Christmas block of each for the Christmas sampler quilt.

Purple and Black Sampler Quilt completed 1997

 This one was machine pieced and quilted block by block. In the center of the sashing is a machine embroidered flower. The block I had the most trouble with was the cow in both samplers but finally got it right.





Christmas Sampler Quilt completed in 2008
I didn’t have quite enough blocks from the block of the month class to make the size I wanted so I had to make a few more in 2008 to complete it. It was machine pieced and bound by me and machine quilted by a friend, Cherry Shults. She called me to see if I wanted to change something before she quilted it. I accidentally put a bow upside down in the bottom row. I mentioned that only God can make a perfect quilt so leave it in there.





 This is the cow block I had so much trouble with.











Sunbonnet Sue Christmas made in 2008
 This was my design using ”Sue” from Fancy Sue pattern from Quilts and Other Comforts in 1998. Machine pieced and appliquéd Dress made from Christmas fabrics with skirt trimmed at the bottom with lace. Flower is embroidered.

Fancy Sunbonnet Sue Quilt completed in 2006
This quilt was made for my granddaughter Emma. This design was a kit called Fancy Sue from Quilts and Other Comforts in 1998. The fabrics for the skirt were from 1950’s designs.

Dresden Quilts

Star Spangled Texas

I pieced this quilt top one cold snowy day here in 2008 when we closed off tht front of the house to save on the propane heating. I moved my favorite sewing machine, Janome 9000 to the back and put this together very quickly. I like the dresden plate design and used a wooden wall plaque made by some friends for the Texas pattern. 

 

Each piece of the dresden plate was cut singly to give it a unique overall pattern. It was machine pieced and hand quilted. As I was quilting it, I noticed when I went to remove my markings, the maroon from the Texas was fading onto the white, despite having washed the fabric beforehand. After I finished the quilt completely, I washed it in some Synthrapol quilt wash and it took all the red staining out, thank goodness.

This was the third dresden plate quilt top I used this technique on. Below are pictures of the other two, They are still works in progress.

Fussy Cuts Someday was the first one of the dresden quilts and was named because it is the one I want to finish for my room, someday, being the key word.. I tend to put this one on the back burner to work on others.

My favorite color is teal and I used yellow and maroon to blend in. 

I machine emboidered flowers for the middle circles in the dresden plate. Since I am not really good at manuevering large quilts on the machine, I stitched in the ditch on the straight lines and will hand stitch around the dresden plates.

 I ran short on fabric but had enough to make a couple of smaller plates, from leftovers, for two of the corner blocks and and custom color blocks for the other two corners.

Fussy Cuts Forward and Backward is what I called the second one. I cut each wedge for the dresden plate from a floral fabric and that left a wasted wedge going the opposite way. So I cut the next row from those which made the flowers backward or upside down. Using the same idea for the dresden center I embroidered flowers for the centers. The colors in this one are blue, maroon and gold. This one was backed with muslin and will be all hand quilted completed this year.

 I did finish hand quilting this just in time to take with us to Sofia, Bulgaria for our oldest son's wedding gift. This is the label I put on it. They love monkeys and our son drew the monkeys design.

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Jacob’s Ladder Quilt

This quilt was made some years ago for my oldest son, Mike. I was beginning to believe he was a confirmed bachelor but this year, at the age of 42, thanks to a lovely lady, Lili, he has found happiness. They will be married May 31st in Sofia, Bulgaria and are flying us there to attend the wedding! We are very excited and happy for both of them!

Changes are good!

The change over from Windows to Linux Ubuntu is going well. I haven't done a lot with the graphics as yet but think I found a program that will work as a substitute for Picture It. I have not used it much yet so that is still to be determined. It is Gimp. I also have my old Lview which I am familiar with but it is not as good at manipulating pictures.

I am now using Pidgin for my instant messaging but may try out Skype as well. Thunderbird is working out well for my email program. I got my address book imported and my old emails incoming and outgoing imported as well.

My HD got me a label program so I can print multiple labels if I want rather than one or a whole page full of the same.I have only printed a single label on it so far. The nice thing about most of these programs is that they are FREE. Linux is definitely faster than Windows and more forgiving too.

I have been working on a new quilt which I will share with you later. Also getting things ready for our trip to Sofia, Bulgaria in May to welcome a new daughter-in-law, Lili, into our family.

Ubuntu Who??

I finally gave in and let my HoneyDo put Linux on my computer. He set up a double boot so I can still get into “the dreaded” Windows when I need to. Linux will not run my much loved Picture It and MS Publisher programs. The Canon printers are not supported for Linux so I still need Windows to use my scanner and color printer. I hope I can find a graphics program as powerful as Picture It for Linux. My problem is I don't like changes and learning new things – an "old sitck in the mud", I guess.

I have mainly used Ubuntu for mail and the internet so far. With some difficulty, my HD managed to get my contact list and previous mail into Ubuntu via the Thunderbird program. I did have some cleaning up to do but it wasn't too bad. I think I may stick with this program even though it doesn't have a calendar or note pad. It seems easier to use than Evolution that I started Ubuntu with.

I hear rumors that Microsoft will no longer support XP so I know I will eventually have to get away from it. I have heard too many horror stories about Vista to try it. Linux is different but not hard once it is all set up. I could never have done it myself and will need assistance I am sure from time to time but I think I may have an “expert” on it living here. :O)

Ah, technology – aint it great!!

Both my HD (Honey Do) and I got new cell phones. He set his up first and all went well. He had his old minutes and his old number transferred to the new phone in minutes while he was still on the line with the representative. Then (with the same representative) he set mine up. I waited two days and still no working phone so HD called back again, punched in more numbers and was told it was set. NOT, when trying to make a call, he was told he had to add more time to the 500+ I already had on the phone. Back to the drawing board, he called them again. Got it that time.

I was anxious to try out the camera on the phone. I took one picture and sent it a couple of times. It said it went and deducted time both tries but it never arrived to my email. My HD discovered that I was trying to sent it to our phone number rather than our email address! I am just not up on all this but I am trying.

We also got new mini laptops. His works great. I really like mine but discovered that unless I am right on top the router, I cannot connect to the internet. We do have a warranty but trying to explain the situation to someone who doesn't really understand the language is not a good thing. We think it needs a new wireless card since we have tried every fix we can find, up to date drivers, etc. With both computers side by side, HD's is at 90% signal and mine at 0% or sometimes 30% but not enough to connect. What to do, what to do!