Lily's Quilts: Moda Bake Shop and a Giveaway

Lily's Quilts: Moda Bake Shop and a Giveaway

amy a la mode

amy a la mode

Check out this blog - and enter to win awesome fabric by the 2/28/11

Vintage...

I have had this awesome quilt top that a friend of mine gave me back in the fall - it is a 1930's quilt top that was given to her grandmother and her grandmother has had it in her possession for fifty years plus - she never did anything with it - I was shocked she would give it to me ( I am friends with her grandmother as well)  - She said since you like to quilt that I would appreciate it and could have it.  Wow!
I had it appraised and it is worth about $100 as is without being quilted  - it is all hand pieced and the pattern is called "Hummingbird Pattern" - Quilted it would be worth $500 or more - but I love it so much I am keeping it.
I had the appraiser who is also an avid hand quilter come back and show me how to quilt it and how it would have been done to match its time - larger quilt stitches and 1/4" away from seam - so that is what I am doing.
I am using wool batting which is a dream to quilt with and I am loving every second I can work on it.  I am using quilt quality muslin on the back.

Here it is:
It took me a week to hand baste the quilt.  One of the issues I had to deal with is that some of the blocks were not flat - so no matter what I did I could only baste it the best I could - that is the human aspect of hand quilting - love the fact that I am continuing on with what someone started oh so long ago - this quilt was appraised at the 30's - I am tickled!  I have such a warm feeling and sheer delight that comes over me every time I just look at it!  Handling it is awesome - has such a cozy feeling to it especially with the wool batting - nice loft!  Please slick on the photos to really appreciate it:

Just wanted to give you an idea of the different prints included in this quilt.  I am not a fan of yellow but I love it in this quilt and the white is refreshing .  There were no holes in this quilt at all - a few fingerprint stains which I tried to get out with a special cleaner from the quilt shop.  It didn't fully remove it but it is so light , it is hard to see it.





Now to keep with the vintage theme - this is a fat quarter piece of vintage sheeting that was sent to me along with a pincushion .  I just adore this fabric and now I have started my own collection of vintage sheets and pillowcases to make a quilt.

So many photos to share I have been so busy - but will work on updated this blog more often.  I have a new computer and trying to get used to how to upload photos from my phone to the blog.  It is easy , I just keep forgetting what I need to click on.

In reading news - I am trying to read Romeo and Juliet - never ever read it - time to catch up !  Also an interesting historical book - "A Midwife's Tale"    I am in for some good reads I think!


Please do leave comments :)  Love them!

Awesome Fabric Give A Way

Come join the fun if you love to sew or quilt.  Alamodefabric is having an awesome giveaway.  Go quickly it ends Monday 1/31/11

Best Wishes to you all!

Rhinebeck Stash...

I know you are all probably in shock.  Well, its been crazy busy at my house as I have a daughter planning a December wedding and so it goes with all the details of a bridal shower, fittings, decorations, you name it.  The shower is this Saturday and I have yet to get started on making the food.

So, I happen to have the day off and I am catching up on some necessary phone calls to make and arrangements for my car to have an oil change and whatever else it may need.  I do a lot of travelling with my job - my car needs to  be in good shape.

I finally am here to share with you some of the purchases I made at the Rhinebeck NY Sheep and Wool Festival   For the first time, hubby came with me and my two boys who are 15 and 14  , they really love it .  Hubby actually was in no rush to leave (as I was afraid he would be before I was ready) and even said on the drive home that he looks forward to it next year.  Is it possible they had a better time than I did??? No!  but I was so pleased to see everyone enjoying themselves.  It is truly a fun family event!

First purchase here

This is so pretty and so soft!  It is Peruvian Alpaca in white , I purchased 3 skeins and this is a vender who actually lives and works about 20 min from my home.  "A Touch of Twist" in Pattersonville, NY - great couple and fantastic fibery stuff to play with.  This is a 2-ply yarn sport weight.  334 yds per skein.

Next up:

Amazing merino/silk  lace yarn from Skaska Designs - this is the woman who wrote the books on Russian lace shawls - she is fantastic.  Loved chatting with her.  She has an awesome shawl coming out in Jan 2011 in the Piecework Magazine - cannot wait.  Anyway - this yarn is so pretty - in person - shading is a little off in the photo but the sheen on this yarn is amazing -  It is 18/2 lace weight and 1285 yards.

Next:

This is 4 oz of 70% Suri Alpaca / 30% merino   in a light plum color - from Flaggy Meadow Fiber Works
Soft, cannot wait to spin this up.  I am still looking to purchase a Turkish spindle - hoping to maybe use this fiber to try the Turkish spindle out with.  If not, I will be spinning it on my Russian Supported Spindle.

I also purchased some home made soaps, hand softening creams, and lots of food , naturally.  What a great day we had.

Next up I want to share with you a pair of mittens I made:

I made these mittens from some sport weight acrylic/wool yarn I had on hand and that little ball there is all I had left.  Worked out perfectly.  These are the "Susies Reading Mitts"  on Ravelry  a free pattern.  They are so cute and fun to make - I did the smallest size and they fit my adult working hands perfectly.
I actually made these for a young girl who works at my local Dunkin Donuts.  - one day she commented on another pair of fingerless gloves I had made - and she said Oh I want those gloves!!!! - so I went home and made these for her.  When I presented them to her she couldn't believe it - she was in shock that someone would even do that.  Two days later - she made me accept my coffee on her dime - she absolutely loves her mitts!  These are a light grey color - I was not sure what color she liked but figured these would go with anything.  Now I want a pair!  :)

Sheep and Wool Festival

No photos today :(  but, hubby decided he would go with me and the boys to Rhinebeck, NY - every third weekend in October - there is a Sheep and Wool festival being held - I didn't go last year and we are going this Saturday.  I cannot wait.  Supposed to be a beautiful fall day.  Not looking for anything in particular but hope I do get my hands on a Bossie spindle, and a turkish drop spindle.  Of course some fiber to spin, looking out for some pretty gray wool / wool blend yarn for a sweater.  Ok , so  maybe iI do have a few things on my mind, looking forward to a fun day with my family.
Rhinebeck - check it out!
I will share some photos when I get back!

I know it is not Monday....

Hello.  I realize I was supposed to post on Monday - yup..somehow the week got away from me and it is now Friday.  I do have a reason, really I do!  I started back to work with a new schedule - so it takes me a week or two to get used to the new routine.  During the summer work slows down and I am basically not working - so no schedule , no routine - not really - so I have been feeling very tired...
So now I decided to take a few pictures with my new Verizon Incredible phone and see if it would be easier to post pictures from my phone rather than my camera.  For some reason when I use my camera, I have to save it to a disk first, then upload pictures from the disk to here - too many steps , I think.
So without further ado:  here we go:

Before we headed down to the Cape, we took a day and went to Boston, my favorite shop there is Windsor Buttons - so many neat crafty things there - but I go for their yarn - cool hand dyed yarns , cool awesome top of the line yarns , wool, sock yarn - you name it.  So hubby purchased this for me

This is Dream in Color SMOOSHY - yum - this is the first time I have ever owned a skein of this yarn and it is heavenly - I knew exactly what sock pattern I was going to use and they are for me!!! Yeah.  This is 4 oz, 450 yards of goodness -  color is Shiny Moss.  I just love green - so organic - natural.

Here it is all wound up:

I cannot even begin to tell you the gorgeous colors that flow through this yarn - I was not sure how it would knit up but it is very soft and squooshy - (is that even a word)

I am using a free pattern from Ravelry  If you haven't joined - go ahead, so much to explore - it is free!  Free!
Oh yeah, I got carried away - it is a free pattern - Spring Forward socks from Knitty 2008 -  another awesome site for knitters, lot of tips too!

This pattern starts off with about 10 rounds of K1 tbl (through the back loop) , P1, then starts the pattern repeat - lacy and quite easy pattern to memorize - I got through one  - 24 row repeat and am now on the second repeat - I am using size 1 - 2.25 dpn (double pointed needles) - I tried to use 4 and knit with the fifth but this is way to fiddly for me - I prefer to knit using 3 needles and knit with the fourth one.  I move along much quicker and less frustration with me having to push the extra needle out of my way - these are shorter length needles than the standard 7" size you can buy.

There you go:  Cross stitch update on Monday and a new adventure for me :  soap making!
stay tuned.