Beautiful Quilts on a Beautiful May Day

This last Tuesday I hosted my quilt group's May meeting. I wanted to share with you what my "Sisters'n'Stitches" have been up to.  Dorothy showed us this darling Bunny Hill quilt she had digitized and then machine appliqued. SO CUTE!

This is also Dorothy's. It was very effective with the batiks.

This was a darling baby quilt with super soft "minky" on the back, from Dorothy.

She also made this fabulous "Quilt As You Go" quilt. The colors are great!  You can see how prolific my quilter friends are...it's very inspiring.

Barb said she really enjoyed putting together this chevron design. Her grandchild had asked for a "zig-zag" quilt, and you know we all do what we can for our grandkids.

Barb bought the kit for this quilt in Gettysburg and made this stunning quilt from it. Click on the picture to enlarge it to see the cool map print fabric.

Barb also made this fun quilt!

AND, she finished her fun turtle quilt.

Margie finished her fantastic Red Work quilt with the darling vintage scenes.

Margy is working on this wall hanging which will become her Family Tree, once the leaves have been added.

Darlene made and machine embroidered this cool sewing tool bag.

She also embroidered this very professional looking logo which she designed, digitized and applied to a T-shirt. The story behind this is fun: Her family has a tradition...an all out "Peep" fight after Easter Dinner. Apparently it gets a bit sticky with Peeps all over the yard. Sounds fun, and she made it known to her family that she was the "Pro" in this T-shirt. I hope you enjoyed our show and tell and will visit again soon.  Love, Derrith

My Kitchen Re-Do is Finished!

If you have noticed that my posts have been few and far between lately, one of the reasons was my kitchen, which Gary and I have been upgrading (with the help of some handy men).

It would be helpful if I had some "before" pictures, but I don't so try to picture white washed oak with a pink cast from the 90's and periwinkle blue formica counter tops.

This time I went all white...we had the cupboards painted, got a beautiful white quartz countertop and a white subway tile back splash. We added bead board and baseboard moulding to the island which looks 100% better than before. We added pot lights and new chandelier and new pendant lights over the island.  The overall effect is very white, so I brought in some color in the valances and used red accents...

...a little here and there.

We couldn't quite swing replacing the floor so we are not going to talk about it because I am choosing to pretend it matches the new stuff.

This is the first time I've had a back splash. I love it. I found my breadbox on ebay and these canisters at Goodwill.

The old cupboards didn't have knobs, so I loved adding new drawer pulls and knobs. This has been quite exciting to breath some new life into our 40 yr old home. Thank you for taking a peek. Next week I will show you my laundry room "reno". Love, Derrith

Lovely Lilacs

I can't resist sharing Lilac Festival pics with you every year.

The annual Lilac Festival in Woodland WA is held on the grounds of the Hulda KIager estate. She was a famous horticulturist who created many lilac hybrids. This is the path you take when you first enter through the gate.

Straight ahead is her home which has been kept in period style.

There are so many varieties and colors of lilacs on the grounds. Here is just one example.

This wisteria draped arbor was the site of my son's wedding 20 years ago.

Everything in the gift shop is lilac themed or purple, including this sweet china set. I hope you enjoyed the tour.  We are having a warm spell this week. The sun is SOOOO welcome around here. I hope you are all safe from the tornados and enjoying spring. Thanks for visiting, friends.  -Derrith

Barb's Quilts Finale

This is the final batch of photos of my friend and prolific quilter, Barb Perkin's quilts. Her work is so varied and so beautiful. I hope you've enjoyed seeing her work.

Just have a stroll through her gallery...

...so spectacular!

She inspires me to try new things.

Isn't this one impressive?!

Well, I think you can see why I wanted to share these beautiful quilts with you. I hope to get back to some needlework once my kitchen and laundry room makeovers are done. Frankly, April has been exhausting, but I am determined that May will be calm and relaxing. (why do I hear laughing in my head?) Thanks for visiting today my friends.  Love, Derrith

Bunny Time

While visiting my kids in the Salt Lake area, I finished these bunny dish towels.

I added appliques to an embroidery pattern.

I thought they were sweet. I hope you are having a lovely weekend! -Derrith

Fuzzy Baby Chicks

I just finished these kitchen towels in time for these two little "inspectors" to arrive. They gave their approval, thankfully

I thought I would pull up last years baby chick towels to show as well.

Here's one more little chick who wanted to say hello.

And, since I am in a spring-y mood, I am including a pic from last years Tulip Festival in Woodland Wa. This year festival begins this weekend, but I will be in Utah for a visit, so you will likely get pictures from there instead. I'm so glad you stopped by. Please come again soon. Love, Derrith

Barb's Big Quilts

We are now on installment three of my friend Barb Perkin's quilt and studio. Today I am showing you some of her large size quilts. Many of them you will need to click on to get an enlarged view so you can appreciate the detail.

I'm sorry I don't know the names of the quilts. This one Barb made for her master bedroom, with the initials of she and her husband on the bottom. The applique on this quilt is amazing!

I love the colors and fabrics on this one.

I do recognize "A Tisket A Tasket". Everyone in my quilt group made their own version of this pattern...just before I joined the group.

More beautiful hand applique and I love the bunnies!

This quilt is really amazing. First of all, each barn is unique and fun, but the border is really spectacular. She actually had to make adjustments to the size of the border...quite the challenge, but she did it flawlessly.

The colors of this quilt are even prettier in person. Well, I have one more posting or Barb's quilts coming soon. Thank you friends, for your support of my blog. I so appreciate your visits and especially your comments.  Love, Derrith