My first quilt and other odds and ends

My first quilt

I made this quilt in l979.  I was moving to Pittsburg at the beginning of my junior year of college.  I did not have a pattern for this.  Blue is favorite color, as you might have guessed.  Many of the fabrics in this quilt were leftover from my 4-H sewing projects.  The photo above was taken this summer when I was washing my quilts. 

I remember using these fabrics for a 4H project.

As you can see, some of the fabric is starting to disintegrate.  Looks like I used some type of polyester batting.  I quilted this myself on our home sewing machine. 

I used a sheet for the backing.

I still use this quilt, mainly when we sit on the back patio in the evening.  I still find it very comforting (and warm).

2 x 2 barn quilt I painted for the Little Balkans Quilt show

2 x 2 barn quilt - Little Balkans quilt block

Norah Mae and her baby quilt I made for her.  I used a bunny rabbit print. She is a real sweetie.

Elliot Ann's baby quilt

 Elliot Ann - She is as cuddly as she looks.

I made this table runner for my secretary, who is retiring.  She changed her mind and decided to not retire.  She said she is hoping for another table runner when she really does retire.  And she is so worth it.

There is a small field next to our neighborhood.  Every couple of years sunflowers make it into the rotation.  I love the sunflower year.  I took this photo this morning.  Notice the bee flying above the flower. 

I like this one also.

I think sunflowers are happy flowers.

Washington, DC trip; July 4, 2014 (post by Lorri)

To celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary, we decided to take to trip to Washington, DC.  This was the hubs first trip to DC.  I'd been once before, as an almost 17 year old 4-Her (along with two busloads of Kansas 4-Hers).  That trip took place in 1976, in late July, just after the big bicentennial celebration. 

Boy, did things change.

We picked a hotel in downtown DC, so we could walk or ride the Metro.  We got the hang of riding the Metro pretty quickly, we only took the wrong train once. (Actually, we were on the right train line, it was just headed the opposite way we wanted to go.)

Our hotel was about five blocks from the White House.

Yup, we did a White House selfie.  

Of course, there was some kind of protest in front of the White House each day.  They were pretty small, and everyone seemed to be well behaved.

We strolled on to the Washington Monument next.  Photos just don't do justice to how magnificent it is.

There was a storm rolling through that evening, so the clouds were a nice backdrop for the monument.

The next morning, we took the Metro to the Pentagon and Arlington National Cemetery.
 I do not take a photo of the Pentagon.  There were many, many signs saying "Do not take any photos".  As I did not want to spend anytime in the Pentagon pokey, I happily complied.  There is a nice memorial on one side of the building, for the folks that died on Sept 11 when the airplane crashed into the Pentagon.

Arlington cemetery was amazing.  And extensive.

The changing of the guard was very touching.  They placed a wreath provided by a high school.  I'm guessing different organizations can provide wreaths for this.  When the soldier played taps on his bugle/trumpet, it just sent chills through me.  The word "respect" went through my mind the whole time we were at Arlington.

The next morning, we got tickets to go through the Holocaust Museum.  Oh my.  I would highly recommend spending some time here, if you have the opportunity.   Hitler was so very evil.  It was so disturbing seeing all of the exhibits.

Selfie at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. 

The hubs really liked this museum.  He's worked in the aircraft industry for a number of years, so he felt right at home.  It was so cool.  I lost track of how many aircraft they have hanging in the building.  I especially like the old planes.  There was a military band playing that day, so we were treated to some good music while we enjoyed the exhibits.

Here is Mark sitting at the base of the Washington Memorial.  This was where we sat on July 4th, while watching the fireworks.  On our anniversary.  I read that they were expecting 700,000 people that day.  Sure was nice of all those folks to help us celebrate.

And yup, the fireworks were pretty darn incredible.

More about our trip in an upcoming post.

Happy Birthday America!

A wedding in our backyard!

We recently hosted a wedding for our nephew Justin.  So, I decided to share some pictures.  No spoiler alert here; there are no photos of the bride and groom.  I'm sure those will appear after they get home from their honeymoon.

This is how we greeted our guests.

You can see the arch in the distance. The husband (aka the grass whisperer) had the yard looking wonderful. 

The tent and the chairs are delivered.

Unpacking the tent out of the bag.

The tent is going up.  It was really hot; you can see the mother of the groom under the umbrella.

Progress!

Working on the wedding arch.

The arch is done!  The silver and purple looked so pretty.

These flowers were at the ends of the rows.

The trolley delivers guests to our house.

Done with the set up!

Guests waiting for the wedding to begin.

We were fortunate to have dry weather for the wedding.  We wish the bride and groom many years of happiness together. 

K's Cat Quilts

                                                                                

Someone is trying to tell me something!

My cat , Peppermint Patty, sometimes gets neglected when I'm sewing.  She can't spell but if she could wouldn't that be awesome!  If she could spell I'm sure this is what she would do.  These are some letters I made for another project and just thought I would have some fun !                     

Milk Paint Class May 10, 2014 Posted by Lorri

We have been intrigued by Milk Paint for awhile now.  I think we each had different ideas for it, but when our Mom came across a Milk Paint class, we all got on board.

So, today, we got in our cars and ventured from our respective parts of Kansas to the bustling town of Neodesha.  This has the added benefit of being down the road from four of my granddaughters, so this was a double bonus score.

Here we are, sitting around the table trying out different colors.

This color is called linen.  I really liked it.  Milk paint is non toxic, so you can use it inside your house without sucking in toxic fumes.

Yup, that's our dad at the end of the table.  (Our mom is on the left.)  Since Sherry couldn't make it today, Daddy got to join the class.  I know what you are thinking - what a lucky, lucky man Edgar Von Soosten is.

We each got a simple wooden frame to practice on.  We first painted a chocolate brown color. 

I used vaseline next.  The next step was to add the pretty blue paint.  Wet sanding (with hemp oil) was next.  That step brought out the distressed feature. 

Here is Kay with her finished frame.  She chose a lavender color.  It was pretty.

The bonus was getting to see the little girlies.  Here is me with Vada and her new little sister Elliot.

Here is my finished frame with my favorite photo of Atticus. 

So, I bought some of the linen colored paint.  I have several ideas in mind.  I am looking forward to experimenting with it.

K's Improv Quilting

I recently found some improv blocks hiding in my sewing room and decided to put them up on my design wall (the back  of a flannel backed vinyl tablecloth hung on the wall) and see what they looked like after being stored away for a while.  Some of these have been hanging around in my sewing room for quite a long time.  Of course we have red and blue and yellow blocks ( my favorite cold combination). 

These are some leftover blocks from another quilt and some blocks that I am experimenting with.  Next is a red, white , and blue color combo.  (My next favorite color combination).

I have some of these sewn together.  Maybe some day I will finish this,  I really like this.

This big piece is all sewn together but I just don't  know how to finish it.  It needs a border or something.  It has been hanging around in my sewing room for 5+ years?  The big flower and bird is from a design by Mary Lou Weidman and I have several of her books.  One of her designs is the cow quilt that I made. I really want to try to make more of her designs.  This is not all I have a lot more blocks (more traditional blocks ) hanging around in my sewing room also.  One thing I also want to try is some more quilts with  words in them.  I have made several quilts with peoples names on them.  I'll  try to show you those some other time.  I hope you have enjoyed my look into my quilt world!

A Quilt for Dad

Recently I made this quilt and was going to donate it to a program called Quilts of Valor which is an organization which gives quilts  to veterans of our armed forces.  Then I remembered that my Dad was in the army reserves so I decided to give this quilt to him.  After talking to my Mom I found out that he was in the army reserves for 9 years.  I also found out that he was in two army reserves units- a truck unit and also a sharpshooter unit and that he received a sharpshooter medal.  He always told us stories of being in the trucking unit and how scary it was to drive the trucks without lights during training in the Colorado  mountains.    He also told us that he and several buddies from Brazilton would play cards on the train on the way to Colorado .  I did not know about the sharpshooting unit or that he was in the reserves for that long until recently.   He always told us  that he was two old to serve in WWII and that he was too  young for the Korean war.   He never was called into active service but he did do battle with one very bad foe-  A spider!   The story goes that he got bit by a spider right before he was the to go to  training camp.   When  he got to camp they sent him on  a twenty mile hike and by the time they finished the hike he was in the hospital!  He said he was afraid that they were going to  make him redo training camp that year but they didn't.  He has a scar on his back that proves this happened.   I am very proud of my Dad for doing this and I hope he enjoys his quilt!

2014 and beyond (Posted by Lorri)

I'm not sure there is really going to be a theme for this post, I think that I'm just going to post things I like.   So, brace yourself for some pretty quilty things.

This is a close up photo of a pattern that our Grandma Von Soosten used.  I have seen it called several different names, one of which is "Spring Wheels".  A good use of scraps. Hand pieced and hand quilted, of course.  Made in the 1960s. 

 Caedmon loves his cow quilt that his great Aunt Kay made for him.  It has been one of his favorites for a long time. 

 The back is fun, too.

I took this picture on an early morning walk in Crawford County.  Because you can't quilt 24/7.  The railroad track runs through the farm.

A wildflower in the ditch along the gravel road.

I'm pretty sure this is a noxious weed, but I thought it was pretty.  A thistle, I think.

It was a particularly peaceful morning. 

Just pretty.

What everybody needs, a box full of grandkids.

I think that the pattern is called the Tree of Life, or something like that.  We made this wall hanging for our parents' 50th wedding anniversary.  Guests were encouraged to sign the leaves.  It was pretty fun to make.  My friend Marilyn did some fabulous custom quilting on it.  Notice the initials "carved" on the tree trunk.

A nifty close up of the quilting. 

We have been experimenting with taking photos of our quilts.  Here I am up in the hayloft. 

This is our triumphant look after we conquered making the arch at the Children's Science Museum in Des Moines.  I'm not going to lie, we had help. 

And, last photo for this post.  We painted this barn quilt for our Aunt Kay.  I really liked how she has it displayed.  She has a good eye for knowing what works.  Maybe she wants to learn to quilt. 

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