Around the World Blog Hop

Today is my opportunity to participate in the Around the World Blog Hop. I am so honored to have been nominated by Christine of Patchwork Allsorts, whose blog I discovered several weeks ago. Christine makes beautiful patchwork and embroidered pieces and has inspired me to take up handiwork again! Read her post from last Monday HERE and get to know her a little better.

The Around the World Blog Hop is a great way to meet new bloggers by sharing about yourself, your projects, and your creative process, and then inviting three other bloggers to participate the following week. I was thrilled when the three bloggers I asked said “Yes!”, and I am eager to read their posts next Monday. Amy of Indigo Cottage Quilts is a quilter who lives in Ohio and also happens to be a pediatric nurse! She has a beautiful 12 year old daughter who not only helps her choose fabric but has even made a quilt of her own. Dawn of Sew Much to Quilt blogs from Australia and is a fairly recent new grandmother. She does beautiful embroidery, by hand and with her sewing machine, and is in our Gale Pan Patchwork Loves Embroidery Sew-Along. Gayle of Pedal Sew Lightly lives in Georgia and is an avid quilter who also loves bicycling. Her posts are full of beautiful quilting, really good tips, and humor. I love all their blogs and learn so much from these lovely ladies.

A Little Background
My husband and I have been married 45 years in October. We grew up in northeastern Oklahoma, married in college, had a son and daughter, and have moved back and forth between Oklahoma and Texas with my husband's jobs. Our children are married; our son lives six miles from us with our wonderful daughter-in-law and three awesome grandchildren. Our beautiful daughter married our sweet son-in-law in January, and they live near Dallas about 4 hours away. My husband is Business Director for a church, and we live in Magnolia TX with our dog and cat. We are looking forward to my husband's retirement in the next year or two (although that may not happen if I don't stop buying fabric.) My careers have been math teacher, administrative assistant, and most recently, caterer for my own company, For Goodness Sake. I am retired but still cook for occasional dinners at our church as a volunteer. During the fall and spring, I am in charge of Wednesday night dinners for 6 weeks, and that time commitment limits my sewing time.

College dance 1968

Our brood 2014 (our son on the left, our daughter at the far end)

I currently have several projects working. Four years ago when I started quilting, I let my daughter pick out fabric for a quilt, and the blocks I made are still sitting and waiting in a basket. I couldn't decide on a pattern and I was clueless about designing a quilt; consequently I am not satisfied with what I’ve made so far. The fabrics are lovely, but her taste in colors has changed since then; however, I am determined to finish it! I'm excited about the quilt label - I purchased an orphaned cross stitched "Home Is Where the Heart Is" piece at a thrift shop, pulled the fabric out of the frame, and changed the word "Home" to "Quilt" so it now reads "Home Is Where the Quilt Is".

My daughter chose shades of mauve, purple, aqua, olive green, and a deep burgundy-brown

Another project began two years ago when my niece sent me the quilt top her maternal grandmother pieced. I have added a backing and a border, but I need to sandwich, quilt, and bind it. I didn't think to warn her not to wash it before she sent it, and many of the blocks frayed badly on the outer edges, so I repaired some blocks and added a coordinating border. It is the biggest quilt I have worked on, and I have been putting off sandwiching it! However after I got it out of the closet, photographed it, looked at the pictures, I am anxious to get moving on it again.

Front of my niece's quilt - I think her grandmother did a beautiful job piecing it

Quilt back - I found some fabrics that coordinated pretty well

It is amazing how well the old fabric in the lower triangle matches the new fabric of the border block

I purchased the kit for this math class quilt by Sweetwater for my daughter’s Christmas gift, have most of the cutting done and four blocks made. I blogged about it last week for Choose Your Own Block-Along.

I love this pattern by Atkinson Designs and recently purchased vinyl and zippers to make a few for my church's fall market.

Seeing some of Christine's gorgeous embroidered blocks inspired me to buy three patterns from Mountain Patchwork, and I have completed Garden Gate. It was a real test of my rusty hand-stitching!

Garden Gate Pattern

I recently joined a group Sew-Along for Gale Pan’s Patchwork Loves Embroidery (see the badge in my sidebar) and have been re-learning embroidery skills! We post every two weeks, and so far I have made a little bag and a sewing folder.

You can see other projects I've completed by clicking on one of the girls in my sidebar, or here.

I love all kinds of needlework including crochet, embroidery, and cross stitch as well as quilt making, patchwork, and sewing. I also love to tinker with crafts such as re-purposing second-hand items. If I can ever figure out a way to combine all those things into one big project, I’ll never leave my craft/sewing space again. Right now all my supplies occupy the same room but in different spots, so as the mood strikes me I will work on one thing today and another tomorrow. With nearly everything I make, I like to try to do something just a little bit different or unexpected to make it original. I sew and quilt on a Janome DC3050 that I purchased with catering profits. It has been the best investment ever - sews like a dream and never any problems.

An older photo of my beloved Janome, along with my favorite wine

My grandmothers both quilted by hand, and my Mom sewed my clothes until I took charge of the sewing machine when I was 13. Taking a class and completing a single hand pieced and hand quilted block in 1982 created a spark of interest in quilting, but I really got interested after my sweet Mom passed away in 2010. She had lived with us for 8 years and died at age 98, and I believe her sweet spirit inspired me to take a quilting class. I was immediately hooked and have been learning and enjoying the entire process since then.

My mother at age 20 on the left. She sewed her own clothes and was quite stylish! On the right at age 98 - still beautiful!

Doll quilt made by my paternal grandmother, Hattie Eulelah "Lela" Thomas Lawhorn

Quilts made by my maternal grandmother, Minnie Elzada Turner Mitchell

My mother and grandmothers instilled a deep desire to create with my hands, but I also have a love of putting things together or fitting them together. I have a degree in mathematics and always loved solving a problem but was not keen on the theory behind it. Similarly I loved diagramming sentences in English, but interpreting stories was torture. Quilting and sewing fulfill my need to find a solution!

I share space with the guest bedroom, so the bed provides a very handy space to organize or sort, plus I can catch a quick nap if I like. I have furnished my room mostly with furniture purchased at consignment shops and thrift stores. My recent organizing was documented in this post. Today I photographed my space without cleaning it first, so pardon the mess.

Looking from just inside the door

View from the closet - my sewing table overlooks our pool with pine and oak trees in the distance. Above my window is a shelf displaying floral plates my mother collected for me

Shelf units with supplies, trinkets, and mementos from my Granny and my Mom, and the closet containing fabric, yarn, embroidery, and craft supplies

Space to the left of my sewing table - books about sewing, needlework, and quilting

An old spice shelf for my threads and a little collection of embroidery scissors atop my Mom's vintage embroidered dresser scarf. The Lord's Prayer (upper left) was stitched for my Mom by one of her friends, and the "Mother by Chance, Friend by Choice" to its right was stitched for me by my daughter

My favorite picture of Mom and Daddy and some of her trinkets on a shelf I refurbished

The Twenty-Third Psalm hand-stitched by my mother in the 1970s for a departing pastor. Last year the son of that pastor contacted me to ask me if I'd like to have it back, as his dad was moving to a retirement home. I am so grateful to have it!

Cutting table, Panasonic cord-free iron, overhead light with magnifier donated to me by my hubby, and a painting by my granddaughter on top of the shelf unit

My workbench with a pegboard of various tools; shelves hold fabric glue and media paints

Thank you for spending the time to plow through all this information and numerous photos! It was a good process for me, because now I am eager to finish projects that I have avoided.

Don't forget to check these blogs next Monday: Indigo Cottage Quilts, Sew Much to Quilt, and Pedal Sew Lightly.