#TBT - Throwback Thursday - The Ugly Quilt

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It's Throwback Thursday here at Quiltin' Jenny, and I hope you'll link up and share your own creative adventures from your pre-blogging days.

Today's quilt is probably the ugliest one I've ever made. Ever. It was the guild challenge from 2002, I think, which was the year I first joined the quilt guild. They had an ugly fabric challenge going on, and we had to use the green and the brown fabrics.

I had never been in a guild before, nor had I ever participated in a challenge, so I took it way too literally. It didn't occur to me to use small amounts or to find complementary fabrics to balance out the hideousness. (That's totally a word.)

Instead, I decided to do a small quilt with an image from one of my favorite children's books, The Tale of Three Trees.

I love this story so much, not only because of the Easter message, but also because it reminds me of a lesson I learned the hard way on my journey to motherhood - the path you plan, the path you imagine, is not always the path you get to take. Sometimes the one you are forced down leads to the most beautiful place.

Now I want to see your blast from the past.  Link up and let us all see!  P.S. Did you know that you can use pictures from your Instagram feed with InLinkz now?

An InLinkz Link-up

Menu Plan Monday - The Last One Before School Starts!

It's Menu Plan Monday and, yes, it's the last one before school starts. Can you believe our summer is over already? We have a lot going on again this week, cramming in the last of the sleepovers and pool days and date nights. It's a patchwork menu again, but I'm trying to have a healthy dinner planned for the nights when we are actually all together to balance it out.

Are you dealing with back-to-school or are you in an area of the country where you've just gotten into the swing of things?

• Sunday - Roast Pork Loin with Pineapple Glaze, mashed potatoes, mixed green salad
• Monday - Sirloin Steak with Avocado Salad
• Tuesday - Grilled Honey Lime Chicken Breast with Fresh Corn and Zucchini Succotash
• Wednesday -YOYO
• Thursday - Crock Pot Korean Ribs, brown rice, oven roasted green beans
• Friday - Pizza Night
• Saturday - Date Night

What's on your menu?



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Menu Plan Monday - Rainy Days

It's Menu Plan Monday, and this week we are going to cool down with rain predicted every single day.  Sounds like a bummer, but for us in the south who have lived here long enough to remember terrible drought and water restrictions, it's just fine. It's a weird week anyway with a lot of stuff crammed in that makes me wonder when we'll have time to sit down and eat as a family at all!

Remember, the recipes we have tried and love are on my Menu Plan Monday Pinterest board.

• Sunday - Ribs, potato salad, baked beans, cole slaw
• Monday - Sweet and Fiery Pork, oven roasted asparagus, brown rice
• Tuesday - YOYO
• Wednesday - Baked Pasta with Sausage and Spinach
• Thursday -YOYO
• Friday - out to eat with friends from out of town
• Saturday - Meatloaf, mashed potatoes, mixed green salad

What's on your menu?



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#TBT - Throwback Thursday - The South Beach Quilt

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It's Throwback Thursday here at Quiltin' Jenny, and I hope you'll link up and share your own creative adventures from your pre-blogging days.

 Today's quilt was a guild challenge from 2003. At our guild holiday party in 2002, we were asked to bring five squares of fabric that mostly read solid.  We dropped them into a shopping bag and, later, drew out three new ones. Those colors were the ones we had to use in the next year's challenge quilt.

I drew the three fabrics on the top and left of my label as inspiration. The fabrics on the bottom and right are the three I used in the quilt.

This was a paper pieced quilt that I made while on a mini retreat to Panama City Beach, Florida with my BQF Pam.  The quilting is very basic stitch in the ditch around the borders and lighthouse. We were trying to follow The South Beach Diet at the time, and we were at the beach when I made it, hence the name. 

Now I want to see your blast from the past.  Link up and let us all see!  P.S. Did you know that you can use pictures from your Instagram feed with InLinkz now?

An InLinkz Link-up

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WiP Wednesday - Where Does It End?

I'm linking up with WiP Wednesday over at Freshly Pieced.

I have actually been doing some sewing every day this last week, even if it's just a seam or two before bed. Some of it is for the WannaBee round robin, which I can't show you. I do have to brag that I have finished my second round to hand off tomorrow, while some of us have just passed along the center block. I don't say this to make anyone feel badly, because the whole point of this is NO PRESSURE; it's just so you know that I am not personally responsible for slowing anyone else down. I'm very proud of that.

Design A - chopping off the spider webs

The other thing I've been working on is my spider web blocks. Our bee group met last week and Lynn was showing us her finished top. Well, it was finished until she decided she didn't like how the spider webs were incomplete on the sides, so she took it apart. At first I didn't understand what she meant, because when I look at this top I see the stars (or whatever you want to call them - the part that isn't string pieced). Those are complete in the layout she first used and that I was planning to use. This is also how Bonnie Hunter has it laid out.

Design B - border after the stars

Lynn is looking at the string spider webs, which probably makes more sense given the pattern name. She is enlarging her top by completing the spider webs and leaving the "stars" only partially finished.

Design C - border after the spider webs

I'm not sure I like that either.  Where does it end? What do you think is the natural border for this pattern?

I've drawn it out a few ways and am trying to decide which I like best. I really don't like Design C, either with the "orange" border or cutting off the star points. I think I like B the best, but then I have to come up with another fabric.

*Update: after looking at how many blocks are done and how many I would need, it turns out I've actually done too many for Design B and would have to unsew several blocks if I choose this design. Just in case that influences your decision. It probably will influence mine, although the more I look at Design B, the more I like it. I also found several green fabrics that I think would look great.

Please forgive the primitive design process - I don't do EQ anything. Also, please know that red and orange are not even remotely on my list of possibilities. I just thought they showed the most contrast.

Thoughts?



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Menu Plan Monday - Hot Hot Hot

It's Menu Plan Monday, smack dab in the middle of summer. It's hot, we're not going anywhere, and our company has come and gone. It would be so easy to fall into a routine of no routine, of not cooking or grocery shopping or planning at all.

I'm trying to stay focused on the perfect grill weather and all of the fresh fruits and vegetables that are in season. Remember, the recipes we have tried and love are on my Menu Plan Monday Pinterest board.

• Sunday - Sirloin Steak with Avacado Salad (this was delicious!! We grilled the steaks instead of frying them, but this salad was like summer on a plate!) 
• Monday - Spring Stir Fried Chicken with Sugar Snap Peas and Carrots over brown rice
• Tuesday - Slow Cooker French Dip Sandwiches
• Wednesday - Easy Roast Chicken, Roasted Garlic Zucchini and Tomatoes
• Thursday - out to dinner with friend from out of town
• Friday - Leftover Buffet
• Saturday - ribs, cole slaw, potato salad, baked beans

What's on your menu?



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FAL Q3 Goals - From the Top

It's time to link up for Q3 and the quilt show deadline is only a month away. It's time to buckle down and separate the things that might actually get finished from the fantasies.

I am going to put my spider web quilt and star surround back on the list and try to get both of them finished in time.

In order to accomplish this, I'm going to have to do something I haven't done in literally a month - TURN ON THE SEWING MACHINE!!!

What challenges are you facing this quarter?



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Menu Plan Monday - Recovering

It's Menu Plan Monday and I'm in recovery mode after our week of family fun. I've eaten too much, played too hard, and let all pretense of organization or structure go out the window. It was a blast!

Now we've got to get back on track.

• Sunday - leftover buffet/MUSGO after big family brunch
• Monday - maybe dinner with the vacation stragglers - it's loose!
• Tuesday - Pollo Sabroso, grilled mixed veggies, quinoa
• Wednesday - Crock Pot Salsa Chicken Thighs (make your own salad/burrito/bowl)
• Thursday - Risotto, Pea and Sausage Soup
• Friday - Spring Stir Fried Chicken with Sugar Snap Peas and Carrots
• Saturday - Happy Birthday to me! Out to eat

What's on your menu?



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Fabric Postcards, Fourth of July, and Family!

I am whoop whooping it up because my boy is coming home and my brother's family is in town for our first visit with Batman. The only thing that makes me happier than all my kids under one roof is when my whole extended family is together.

This makes my heart so happy! #thirdchild

 There's been swimming, tons of good food, and so much laughter. There are little kids, big kids, KanJam, and Cornhole, not to mention hamburgers, hot dogs, ice cream, and s'mores. It might be my favorite week of the whole year!

I haven't been sewing much lately, so no finishes except my fabric postcard for the Summer Swap that Sandi over at Quilt Cabana Patterns organized.  I realized that I showed you the one Pip sent to me, but I wanted to wait until it arrived in Australia before I showed you the one I made for her.

After seeing how Pam used her daughter's art to inspire a quilt, I decided I would make my summer postcard in the style of one of my favorite paintings that Grace has done. She painted this at an art camp when she was about seven or eight, and I love it.

You can see all of the summer postcards in the Flickr group.

I'm linking up today with Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?  Sarah is hosting a quilt giveaway, so check it out!




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#TBT - Throwback Thursday - Independence Day Parade

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It's Throwback Thursday here at Quiltin' Jenny, and I hope you'll link up and share your own creative adventures from your pre-blogging days.

Today's quilt was a guild round robin from - I'm guessing - over ten years ago.  We used to do one of these swaps every year, and this is the only one I've finished. It's still one of my favorite quilts, and is displayed in my home from Memorial Day until 9/11 every year along with several other patriotic quilts. I might love them more than Christmas quilts!

This was my center block. I found this toile patriotic fabric at JoAnn's and fell in love. (I later used it for the Hail to the Chief quilt.)  You can also see this pitiful example of some of my very earliest FMQing. Although it is wobbly and, frankly, terrible, it's nice to see how far I've come. I'm proud of myself for even trying some of the things I did on this quilt. And, to be honest, even I don't notice anymore how bad it is unless I look very closely or take closeup pictures!

 

 

(Please excuse the dog hair. There aren't enough lint rollers in the world.)

Around the last border, I quilted the words from The Liberty Song by John Dickinson.

Then join hand in hand, brave Americans all,

By uniting we stand, by dividing we fall

Happy Independence Day to my American readers! I hope you all have a happy and safe weekend!

Now I want to see your blast from the past.  Link up and let us all see!  P.S. Did you know that you can use pictures from your Instagram feed with InLinkz now?

An InLinkz Link-up

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