Have you seen my sister Barbara’s new book,

Simply Triangles?

Read about it on my blogspot blog.

Life as a Quilter

The mystery quilt, Orca Bay that Bonnie Hunter has designed has been a lot of fun for me. I followed along, lagging behind with each step and it seemed I just couldn’t catch up. And I’m still not caught up. I need to finish cutting, piecing, and adding the borders yet. Hopefully it won’t be long until I get it finished.
 

My sister Polly the Patchworker and I got to see each other’s quilts in real life this past week during our annual Heatwole Sewing Retreat. It was so special to be together and compare our quilts side by side.
 

And now I want to share with you some of the quilts and highlights of the week.

Our dear Mother worked on 6 doll comfort tops made from velvet.
 

My name sake, Julia, came and visited and cut out quilt blocks. We enjoyed her dry sense of humor and cracked up laughing.
 

Her daughter Queena sat across the table from me. We have many fond childhood memories of being with their family. Queena made this traditional top using 1930′s reproduction prints.

My niece, Rebecca started this Jan Krentz star last year. She wants to add Hunter’s Stars around it and make it bed size.
 

Another project of my sister Coleen’s was to make 2 reversible denim/flannel rag comforts in size large!

My sister Sheila was glad to get the borders on her red and green quilt.  

Cheryl, my brother Oren’s wife, sewed on this heart quilt …
 

… and this string quilt.
 

Some of my projects included this crib quilt for our son Craig & Ang’s baby, Tina Sue.
 

I also worked on making a quilt from Father’s shirts sewing them into boxes, and a small printed picture, and then I sewed some of my Possum Town, Delta Mystery quilt blocks together.

My sister Emily made this buggy wall hanging for her mother in law.
 

She also created this improvisational quilt using a bandana with cows as a spring board.
 

My sister, June, worked on her velvet clam shell quilt.

All too soon the week was over and it was time to go home. Paul and I gave Coleen & Claire a lift to Georgia where Glen picked them up. They were so grateful for the ride, but waiting for 1 1/2 hours for Glen wasn’t their cup of tea. They were asked “When will the garage sale start?” and then other people wondered if they could help them. I’m sure they were glad when Glen finally came.
  

Our nieces and nephews joined us off and on during our week of sewing. Check out my blog here to see some of them at work and their accomplishments.

And don’t forget to  see other blog posts from our family.

Coleen

Polly

Barbara

and our nephew Josh’s wife Hope

This has been a great week sewing with my Mother & sisters. Here Mother is making velvet squares for a doll quilt.

Her grandaughter Hannah is the lucky recipient of this one.

June is also working with velvets.

Coleen is making quilt blocks for her “Hidden Wells” quilt.

I am working with Father’s shirts.

Sheila is showing three of our aunts the velvet comforter that she is working on. 

She finished making the last block this evening. 

Polly is making this red and white quilt for a wedding gift for her son Tim & Diana. 

Emily marks the antique quilt top she found in Ohio. 

She also made this modern quilt for her son Adam from a bandana square of cows. 

Barbara is working on a quilt for her third quilt book.

This one has diamonds running through the honeycomb.

And Oren Jr’s. wife Cheryl is working on a heart quilt.

My sister Emily found this postage stamp quilt treasure at an antique store in Ohio. She plans to repair a few spots and hand quilt it to finish it up.

Mother is the first to finish up a project. She made this reversible ragged edge lap quilt from some flannel she found at the thrift store.

This afternoon I was delighted to have a visit from some long time friends that I haven’t seen for years. Grace Anna and I go way back to Bank Church and high school days. 

 Louise and I go back to preschool days when our parents took us to the Smokey Mountains. We grew up as childhood playmates in church and school.

Timmy & Diana watch my sister Polly working on their wedding quilt.

My sister Barbara doesn’t know it, but her grandbaby Brighton is learning to whistle at an early age.

After church this morning we took the long way home and crossed over the slab at the Bank Church.

My sister Sheila is showing us a wonderful quilt that she started years ago. I hope she can get it finished this week. She is such a busy hostess and taking such good care of us. Thank you so much, Sheila.

Remember a few weeks ago when Joel started sewing a jacket for Sheila? Here’s the happy model with the finished project.

This label graces the inside lining.

Today my nephew Benjamin & Melissa became husband & wife.

There was all the pink cotton candy that you could wish for with lots left over.

Our annual Heatwole Sewing Retreat has begun. Mother was the first one to start sewing.

Claire Bleu is making a cute backpack for a lucky niece.

And there is sure more to come.

I am thrilled that my quilt “Pharaoh’s Tombs” has been selected as a finalist in the NQM contest Baskets — New Quilts from an Old Favorite. The 5 top winnners are pictured in the link and are marvelous quilts.

I love the challenge of this annual contest and used EQ7 in designing my baskets. Here are some of my potential basket deisgns.

I liked this fresh modern look of the Baskets in the Courthouse design, but my family didn’t think it to be a winner.
 

And then some other EQ7 designs that I considered are

… Basket in Baskets …

… Pineapple Basket …
 

… Rows of Baskets …

and then … Blue Baskets … which went on to become ”Pharaoh’s Tombs.”
   

The name “Pharaoh’s Tombs” came from my sister, Emily. She thought the baskets looked more like pyramids and suggested the name for my quilt.

I’m trying to switch over to BlogSpot. Let’s see how well you like it.

My Life as a Quilter — Julia Graber

Ok, what do you think?

This morning my design wall holds 3 projects. First on the left is 4 rows of my Orca Bay mystery quilt waiting to be completed. Next is a new project I’m working on for a challenge with my Possum Town Quilters. And the last project in the top right corner is a Tossed Nine-Patch that I’m helping Laura to make. We keep changing around the fabric on that one and can’t decide what looks the best. We had a white with a little black print in place of the green but it got lost in with the larger squares. Any ideas out there?

Paul’s mom keeps surprising me with quilts. She did the hand embroidery work on this one many years ago when she worked the night shift at the hospital.

I love the lazy daisies and the goldenrod color she added for sashing and border. I’m so afraid she is going to have it all quilted before I have time to get up there to help her. 

A nice visit with Grampa Graber. 

Sweet little Kirby! 

Making an impression! 

Chloe & Jeff 

My Orca Bay mystery quilt is still in the assembly stage. Bonnie has done a fantastic job in giving us step by step instructions for making this beautiful quilt.

I decided to swap around the light and dark Ohio Stars and also to replace the white stars with the black background with a blue center. Then I think it’s important to make sure the blue strings are running diagonally toward the blue centered Ohio Stars. Does that make any sence?

Paul wanted to add on a lean-to to the shop to get some of the farming equipment in out of the weather. Last week they poured concrete with the “Three Muskateers” looking on.

Last evening we had in all the children and their families for a pizza supper. This little tiny Tina likes to be held. 

Then we celebrated Georgi’s 2nd birthday. 

Flinging the wrapping to get to the present! 

The boys just have to help out. 

What a cute little sleeping bag stuffed inside a weiner dog for a pillow.