Heart2Heart - Special goodies from SUSAN!

SUSAN sent a very special Heart2Heart block to me for my heart quilt. Isn't it gorgeous?! She does amazingly beautiful stitchery:

We decided that we would also swap special H2H siggies, and this is what Susan designed and made -- isn't the embroidery wonderful? Susan has a lot of talent!
She also included THREE extra gifties! First, this beautiful patchwork and embellished heart. I love the little flower at the 'inney' of the heart. I plan to attach a silk ribbon behind this flower and hang the heart in my bedroom. Won't that be neat? I told Susan what I was going to do with my heart and she said she was doing the same thing! Kindred hearts, indeed! *vbg*
A lovely hand towel embroidered with Australian flowers:

And this precious heart that she hand crocheted! Perfect!

Everything came wrapped in pastel tissue papers and tied with pretty colored embroidery floss! How clever is that?!

Thank you so much, Susan. I feel lucky to be included in your friendship circle!

All for now... thank you for stopping by and sharing my joy,

Hugs,

Cyn;-)
PS: I wonder if this post 'reads correctly'... I mean, afterall, it is after 3:30 in the morning!!! -- sheesh, what am I still doing up??? Nite Nite, everyone! lol

PPSS: Ok... the news flash has been received --lol-- no more posting in the middle of the night when my brain is even less effective than usual! LOL. One of the pictures and some text "evaporated" from my post -- so, look above; I put it back in! I better get a better handle on using the "preview" button! *g* Sometimes I just think that I have no idea what I'm doing in blog-land! But, I'll keep trying. *vbg*. It's all a learning process....ya?!

CONTEST - Free gift at Ranette's blog... hurry, hurry

Hello Everyone...
Ranette is having a drawing for a special Moda gift on her blog in honor of her darling girls... go have a visit and put your name in the hat!

While you're there check out her postings and pics -- Ranette has a fun blog!

Good luck in the drawing. . .
More later... thank you for stopping by,
Hugs
Cyn;-)

Siggy Time - Happy Mail from Kristine!

Last week I received this fun Siggy from Kristine who lives in Germany. Isn't the bovine fabric fun? I love it! She also wrote a wonderful and newsy letter about her locale with some history of her area, including ancient trade routes! Kristine's note even included a map of where she is in Germany - what a teriffic idea!

Kristine sounds like a lovely person and even invited me to coffee if I ever get to her part of the world -- now that's Hospitality!

Thank you, Kristine, for your fun Siggy and your lovely, newsy letter!

All for now - thank you for stopping by . . .

Hugs,

Cyn;-)

HUGE Thank You's!

Hello Everyone,
Huge thank you's and hugs all around for the many lovely, encouraging emails I've received lately. I really appreciate it -- Thank You!
It really feels good to "feel good" again! LOL. I'm finally over the 'flu bug' and am just resting a bit and trying to get the wind back into my sails... life is good! I have some nifty pics that I'll be posting and sharing soon.
All for now... thank you for stopping by,
Hugs,
Cyn;-)

Surprise from ROSA!... Happy Mail...

It's been raining pink fabric at my house lately! A HUGE surprise turned up on my doorstep on Monday - a big package of Pink fabrics from ROSA! And she included the cutest card, too!

Aren't these gorgeous? I haven't seen any of these before. I love the CW repro fabrics, but these pinks are amazing! The two projects I'm working on: CWD and the Road Less Traveled, will be extra special because friends' fabrics will be in it!

Thank you so much, dear Rosa, your generosity overwhelms me!

.

All for now... thank you for visiting,

Hugs,

Cyn;-)

Note: I haven't posted in several days because I've been sick in bed with the "bug," but other than weak and a bit of a sore throat, I am much better. I'll be back in a day or so when I'm feeling stronger. ;-)

Happy Mail . . . A surprise from Elaine!

Tuesday's mail brought a complete surprise -- Happy Mail from Elaine!

I've been struggling to find CW repro pinks and Elaine came to my rescue. I'm all set now -- that's for sure! She sent SIX pieces of fabric!!! And a sweet darling card, too.
Oh, and guess what other little surprise she tucked inside? A cute little bag of Mulling Spices for Wine! Wowzer... I've always wanted to try this. BTW, if I turn up "off line" for awhile, you'll know I'm sampling the wine! LOL
I don't know how Elaine does it, but she always seems to know her friends' heart's desires, and then she finds a way to make it F-U-N! Thank you, Elaine, you are a keeper!
All for now. . . thank you for stopping by and sharing in my joy,
Hugs,
Cyn;-)

REMEMBER. . . & Thank You!

Some nice flag pictures . . .

To all Military Service Men and Women - both past and present - who have so selflessly served their country:

.

THANK YOU!

Remember, always remember . . .

Fly your FLAG today!

Hugs,

Cyn;-)

DearJane Progress & A Nifty "Chart" Idea...

Below are the blocks I have so far for my Holiday Jane [working title]. This quilt will alternate blocks of Red & Green.
The blocks are in no particular order in this pic. I just stuck 'em up on the design wall to get a picture. As you can see there are a couple of goldish colored blocks included - most of these are from the DJ Holiday Block Swap of 2007. These blocks will not be a part of Holiday Jane, but moved to another quilt project. Sorry for the lousy picture! [BTW, not all blocks have been trimmed, as you can tell...lol]

The CHART IDEA: A couple of like-minded DearJane enthusiasts met at the Temecula Quilt Company last Friday. An idea was shared to paste up 'snippets' of our focus fabrics into a chart. I thought, "This is neat! and could be a useful tool."

Isn't this is a great idea? It really shows how fabrics, values, and colors will [or won't] work together. One person cut apart their Bennington Poster [ouch!] and pasted the pieces to a sheet of cardboard. Laura cut squares of her focus fabric and glued it to a larger piece of plain fabric.. . I will do the later version, using all the various Reds and Greens that I have collected.Later, I could even raw-edge-stitch this little "chart," sandwich it up, quilt it, and voila! A cute little wall hanging.

Well, that's all for now. . . more later and thank you for stopping by,

Hugs,

Cyn;-)

Mystery Gift or DJSP??? . . .Happy Mail is always fun!

Friday's mail brought a Mystery Package to my front door. . . . .

"Happy Mail" is always so much fun!

The package had a Kansas return address, but an Illinois postal meter stamp. . . a puzzle! No note, message, or card inside—just some nifty goodies all tied up in pretty ribbon. I think it’s from my DJ Secret Pal – she is a very clever and fun person who has come up with some unique ideas and gifts so far this year. Gotta love her, and I do!

This Journal has lines, which is very helpful to me! She also sent a tube of Blistex, always welcome; and one-half yard of gorgeous pink CW repro fabric!! Nice, very nice.

Whoever you are out there . . . thank you so very much!

*huge grins*

All for now… I hope to put up some more pics later of my Holiday Jane DJ blocks that I worked on yesterday.

Hugs,

Cyn;-)

PS: this is the first time I've tried posting by emailing directly to my blog and attaching pics... wow, I still have so much to learn! lol. But at least I tried it.

Happy Mail: Giftie from FRUMMIE!

When I arrived home Saturday from class, late and tired, waiting for me was a "Happy Mail" package from Frummie! She sent QuiltMania - what a super magazine! Page after page of glorious color photos and tons of great ideas! Especially Basket Blocks! These peaked my interest because I am a member of "Basket Case Quilters". LOL. No explanation necessary...eh?! Frummie enclosed a set of Perfect Circle templates, too. I've never used these before, but am looking forward to trying out the technique. Then, more goodies: stacks and stacks of little strips of very pretty fabric AND Frummie printed them in 1/2" hexagon shapes using Inklingo*. Thank you, Frummie!

I couldn't wait to try out these cute little hexes, so below are a few pics of my stitching process -- 6 hex petals, to one hex center, to make a little flower:

First, cut out shapes and arrange for sewing; begin sewing 2 'petals' together, then add hexes one at a time; close the final seam [1st & 6th hex edges to complete circle]. You can click on an image to enlarge it. The 2nd pic is a macro shot and that's a size 11 needle! It looks so big in the photo.

Press, twirling the s.a. to distribute bulk. See how the intersections form little "flowers" on the backside after pressing? Cute! Here is the completed miniature GFG block. I placed my thimble next to it to show its size.

Thank you very much, Frummie, for the opportunity to sew some of these darling little Hexes. . . it was a lot of fun. Thank you, too, for the great magazine & Perfect Circle template set. Your generosity overwhelms me!
That's 'show n tell' for tonight, friends . . . *vbg* . . . thank you for stopping by,

Hugs,

Cyn;-)

NOTE:

*Inklingo is a fabulous program that prints the shape of choice with both cutting and sewing lines on the wrongside of fabric using an ordinary inkjet printer! Amazing. For supreme accuracy, "cross hairs" at all seam intersections are also printed. Look for them in the photos in this post. If you haven't tried Inklingo yet, go to Linda's website and try the LeMoyne Star collection for FREE!

The Road Less Traveled: Row 7 - Block # 2

It still seems strange to be making such 'big' blocks. The six blocks in Row 7 finish at 8 3/4" square and 9 1/4" unfinished... lucky for me, my blocks are these measurements. Whew! That's a relief. lol. Here is block # 2 of Row 7:Time to switch gears for a day or two. The weekly meeting of our CWD quilt class is tomorrow, so I better get a block or two finished and then pack the car for Monday's trip.

More later. . . thank you for stopping by,

Hugs,

Cyn;-)

PS: Do you think the 4 little blue-lavender squares look out of place in this block?? I was trying to repeat some of the blue from the fussy-cut red square in the center, but maybe the final Red HSTs [in the corners] should have been a print with a mix of Red & Blue???

The Road Less Traveled: 1st Block - Row 7

This is a 'quickie' post to share the pic of my first block in Row 7 [above]. Would you believe that this block actually began its life in Lavender? lol... the fabrics sure did change as the block progressed. But that's how it mostly is with quilting...eh?! Auditioning various fabrics in multi-fabric blocks is one of my favorite things to do. Didn't use to be, but is now. Hey, I like Red/Purple/Lavender combos, so I'm happy with this block. It's a keeper.

So far: Rows 2 & 6 are complete, with ten blocks in each row, and Rows 5 and 7 each have one finished block. This quilt has been fun to work on.

All for now... thank you for stopping by,

Hugs,

Cyn;-)

The Road Less Traveled... Row 5

About a dozen like-minded quilters meet at the Temecula Quilt Company every Monday to work on The Road Less Traveled quilt - a Lori Smith design. It is a *row* quilt of seven rows of various sized blocks from 5 1/4 to 8 3/4 inches square, with horizontal sashing separating the rows. This is my first block in Row 5. The center didn't meet up as well as I'd like, so a little un-stitch and re-do will be necessary. lol.
Civil War repro fabrics from several different lines seem to be playing well together, so I will continue mixing them. I'm loving these colors and fabrics!
All for now... back to sewing;-)... thank you for stopping by,
Hugs,
Cyn;-)
PS: The blocks in this row finish at 7.5 inches. It feels really strange to make such big blocks!

Happy Mail - H2H Siggie from Rosa!

Isn't this a darling siggy? I love it! Love the pink fabric, the appliqued heart. . . everything!

Wowzer, I am a happy camper - happy mail from friends is always a special treat! THANK YOU, Rosa!

All for now... thank you for stopping by,
Hugs,
Cyn;-)

Grandma's Apron - 30's Fat 8th Swap. . .

Twenty-four of us on the DJAlt Yahoo list decided to swap some 30's fabrics. These are the photos of the beautiful fabrics that arrived on my doorstep April 22nd! All the fabrics are different - not one repeat in the bunch! Thank you, everyone! I am tickled to add these gorgeous fabrics to my stash, and can't wait to put them into a nifty project. . . I'm thinking of a Strippy Quilt of scrolling vines with flowers and leaves using all these fabulous 30's prints. Can you picture that, too? Pretty.

Maybe some easy pieced blocks in the alternat-ing 'strips'. . . nothing too hard or fancy, as I want the appliqued 30's fabrics to be the "star"! What do you think??? I wonder which pieced blocks were popular during the 30's? Sounds like some *research* will be involved. lol
A very large and grateful "thank you" to our Swap Nana, Elaine! She organized the whole thing - huge job - and kept us all in line! LOL. Thank you, Elaine, for a superior job!

More later. . . thank you for stopping by,

Hugs,
Cyn;-)

The 1st LEMON!!! - I'm so excited. . .

WOWZER! Our lemon tree has given us a lemon! We planted this tree only a few months ago. I am so excited that I just had to share a picture with blogland! Snoopy Dancing! *vbg*.

The little tree is about 8ft tall now. The tree's branches are to small to support much weight, so the lemon dropped to the ground. Undaunted, my DD Laura rescues the poor thing and this pic is her holding the lemon for its picture. LOL. Not enough to make a pie, but I'm thinking a squeeze and drizzle over some fresh shrimp sitting atop a pile of greens - - sounds yummy!

All for now. . . thank you for stopping by,

Hugs,

Cyn;-)

Happy Mail - Siggy from Claudia!

A beautiful siggy just traveled across the Big Blue Pond, all the way from Germany, to my mailbox. *VBG*

Don't you just love the incredible embroidery Claudia did in the center square? Your dog is darling! Thank you, Claudia. My siggy is already in the mail and on its way to you - I hope you like it. Thank you again.

All for now . . . Thank you for stopping by,

Hugs,

Cyn;-)

Happy Mail - Siggy from Rian. . .

When I arrived home late yesterday all tired and hungry, I found a gorgeous piece of "Happy Mail" waiting for me. A beautiful siggy from Rian - all the way from The Netherlands. Thank you so much, Rian. It is beautiful and I love the color! The gladiolas, in the center square, are wonderful.
This pic is a bit blurry and I apologize. Hopefully, my picture-taking will improve as I gain more familiarity with this new camera. I'm working on it! lol. Perhaps what I need is a tripod. How do you keep the camera perfectly still while taking snappies?
All for now... more later,
Hugs,
Cyn;-)
PS: Did you notice the little strip of white tape over Rian's last name in the pic? I learned to do this by visiting Katrin's siggy site. This is a great idea, Katrin; thank you so much. Now I can share all my siggies without exposing people's last names.

H2H - Blocks #'s 4 & 5

These are the last two hearts I made for our Special Heart2Heart swap. There are six of us that were making the extra hearts in addition to the big swap on the main Yahoo DJAlt list. The first pic below shows the two colorways that I used in making this heart. I apologize for such awful pictures. . . I think I better go take a digital photo class! *g*.

This is a closeup of the one made with a batik. I love batiks. It should have been pressed before sitting in front of the camera. Oh well, next time - perhaps.

I've been asked how I made this heart, so here it is. Fold a piece of FP in half and free-cut the two heart shapes. I am better with scissors than with pencil and paper. Sew two fabric strips together; press seam open; and iron the FP to front side of fabric strip. Be sure to reverse the hearts so you will have a light over dark and vice versa. Also, take care to line up the middle seam with the heart's "innie" and the point.

Cut a scant 1/4inch away. Lay on b/g and hand-applique in place. The FP is a guide for the shape. I applique the little one to the big one and applique both together to the background. This way, the recipient can cut away the background from behind the heart if they need to reduce bulk.

This is the last heart. I had fun choosing all the different reds, pinks, and Burgundies for the little squares. I saw something like it on the Internet, but wanted more and smaller squares, so decided on 16 one inch squares [8 whole sqs + 8 HTs], and added b/g strips around the pieced area to bring to size [6.5"].

All for now. . . back to sewing on the Rd Less Traveled qlt. . . thank you for stopping by,

Hugs,

Cyn;-)

A New Project: "The Road Less Traveled" . . .

Several of us are getting together at the Temecula Quilt Company on Monday mornings and working on "The Road Less Traveled." A quilt designed by Lori Smith. It is a very scrappy quilt made up of blocks in several different sizes--a good skill builder. Oh gee, I know, I need another project like. . . well, I'm sure you can fill in the blanks. lol.

I am making these blocks in a series of component parts. Today's block is basically a nine-patch after the component parts are sewn.

Notice the huge difference in the two photos above and below, and all that changed was the center square.

Working this way gives me the opportunity to 'audition' the different colors and values and how they work together. Like they say, a picture is worth a thousand words and these are the pics I took while rearranging some of the block elements.

The two component elements I changed were the center squares and the outside half-triangle corner squares.

It made a HUGE difference in a couple of the blocks. . . others, it didn't matter much.

I am happy with the last two units below, so will sew them together into blocks. There are a total of 10 blocks in this row, so I will continue making more component parts, auditioning them, and finally sewing into completed blocks. Also, working this way is faster--in the long run--as there is no 'laboring' over color choices. Following a suggestion by our teacher Linda, I chose to begin with these QSTs units. To begin, only make three choices: b/g, star point, and what I'm calling my 'zinger'. After that, deciding what to put in the center and finally the corners was easy.

I found this exercise very interesting in regard to color and value placement. I will do this again; it was time well spent. My camera has become an important quilting tool! *vbg*
All for now. . . thank you for stopping by,
Hugs,
Cyn;-)