Tuesday, March 24, 2015

March so far...

KT Winner

Congrats to Kristy! You've won the Primitive Quilts & Projects Spring issue in anticipation of the Summer issue with Moda's Collections for a Cause quilt featured. Look for it at quilts shops or subscribe online. Don't miss a single issue!

Antiques and More

It's been a busy March so far with a couple of teaching trips, a fun antique weekend and spring break with the grankids. On top of all that, we FINALLY got our remodeling project done on our house - ok, almost done. Just a few minor paint touch-ups, window washing and lots of cleaning, but we're on the way. I love it! I found a few treasures to decorate our new space while in Arthur, IL at the antique shows. Here's a peek...
Robert questioned my sanity when I snapped up the mini windmill to hang in the peak over a window in the new living room. Who doesn't love a windmill in the country? He's warming up to it.

A primitive bird on an oil can and a cast iron foot feed with a star - looks like a towel rack to me!

One of the few old quilts I found this year. I can see the possibilities for future fabric lines in the lovely prints in this gem.

Love, love, love the red basket!


This is some kind of metal rake/grader to drag and scratch the surface of the ground before planting seeds. I see it hung on the wall with a wreath over it to change for the seasons. I love the rusty patina and it has a great wooden frame. Farm implements as wall decor? Welcome to my home!

 To Omaha and beyond

To prove it hasn't been all play and no work, Robert and I spent a couple days sharing quilts and teaching workshops in Omaha, NE. Several of the ladies had most of their pinwheel blocks in rows, but this industrious quilter made a wall quilt in one day!


Then on to Sioux Falls, SD where we met a bevy of delightful ladies all ready to whip up some Mini Table Treats. In just 3 hours, this was the result - what a fun group!


 In honor of the quilting ladies of South Dakota, we're offering a  trio of MTT patterns for giveaway this week - Springtime, Tic Tac Stars and Gathering Basket. Comment here about your favorite springtime ritual for decorating, cleaning or gardening. I'd love to hear your tips & tricks.



47 comments:

  1. Thanks so much Lynne! Looking forward to the magazine. So glad to come and visit your blog. Love the pinwheel quilt and the darling quilt you came home with. Wish I could come and see your shop in person. K-

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  2. Lynne!!! I was just thinking about y'all last night, thinking...oh my goodness, she's not posted in a few weeks. Glad y'all are okay and just busy. I'm absolutely in love with your antique finds!!! Makes me homesick right now. We're still waiting on our household goods to be delivered way across the ocean. One thing I really love to do is get out my handmade wildflower table runner and place bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush flowers (they're artificial but oh so gorgeous) in my husband's grandfathers milk pitcher circa 1940's. It was used in the chow hall when Grandpa Ritchey was in the USAF.

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  3. I was wondering where you had been as I hadn't seen a post. Now that I know you've just been taking care of life's business I feel better. Isn't it nice to get things done and even spend spend time with the grankids. My favorite thing to do in the spring is wait until I'm sure the weather here in Missouri is warm to stay and then clean all the windows. I love having a clear view of the outside while everything is turning green and coming back to life.

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  4. As a professional Dog Trainer who makes house calls, I get to see the creative and unique decor in a lot of homes. I have seen some pretty strange things over the years, some bizarre, some beautiful and breathtaking. I like unusual and your farm instruments and new towel rack will be very cool. Recently, I walked into a beautiful home and said, all this room is lacking is a handmade quilt done in a Kansas Troubles colorway! Seriously! I am thinking Holiday Medley, and, bonus! I have been hoarding it in my stash! Now... can it be parted with?

    As far as switching into spring, that's easy. I plant bulbs and flowers. I have a brown thumb and can turn a perennial into an annual in minutes. The only thing I can grow are roses, everything else gets replaced every year. I love the special quiet time with my dogs and getting to rest and play in the dirt!

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  5. Great Post. loved reading it was so inspiring.
    No that you are talking about spring, I guess I will have to think about cleaning the windows.
    Normally I love working out in the garden and watch every new leaf on flowers and bushes. This year I just want to stay in the house sewing or quilting. I guess I am not ready for spring yet.
    Greetings,
    Sylvia

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  6. Spring time here means branding calves and getting cow/calf pairs trailed out to summer pasture. Along w/ trying to get all the fences repaired from snow pack and elk damage. I gave up on a garden due to lack of time, but the lawn always needs cleaning up after a long winter with the dog bring home treasures during calving season. The trio of patterns would look great in my little vintage camp trailer. They look like the perfect size.

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  7. Once again you have been a great source of inspiration! It makes me want to make something new to decorate my home.

    My greatest help for spring cleaning has been to do a little something each day on a continual basis to clean my house in an effort to help keep "spring cleaning" from becoming an overwhelming job.

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  8. I can no longer do a big spring cleaning but making a list and doing a little everyday keeps me on task. Love your antique finds. b.j.day68@gmail.com

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  9. I'm in love with that little quilt! And, the windmill and rake are "must-haves"! I guess what I enjoy about Spring decorating is the new beginning... open the windows and let the fresh air in, sparkle up the glass and bring out the tulips, bunnies and greens! :-)

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  10. I love changing out quilts for the seasons. I have rose bushes in my backyard. They are blooming like crazy. So windows are open and that sweey smell is coming in! Thanks for the chance

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  11. I hang up different colored quilts to represent the seasons. I also change out runners and wall hangings.

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  12. I change out my quilts, wall-hangings and runners. Thank you for the chance.

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  13. I like to change out my wall hangings, placemats, and table runners with the different seasons. As for spring cleaning, after reading Marla Cilley's (FlyLady) book "Sink Reflections" I had a whole new outlook on getting rid of clutter. I'm not a big "throw it away" person, but I do like to donate my unneeded items to our local thrift shop.

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  14. I used to spring clean 2 houses - inside and out. Quilting and hand embroidery could wait - after all, we had just gone through winter in the Rockies so I got a lot done! Getting outdoors was just what we needed. As I got older, however, the mind was more willing than the body, so we sold one house, simplified the decorating in the other, passed on some things to the kids, who were just starting their own nests, got a landscape crew to handle the outside for 3 seasons (no need in winter) and a cleaning service to handle the big spring cleaning job inside. Now I do light cleaning, deadhead the flowers, cut some live ones for inside, feed the birds, and enjoy the property with all its critters. I can quilt and embroider through all 4 seasons, and that makes me smile. I'm sure that the money we spend on the services is less than what doctor and hospital visits would cost, based on experience and my level of clumsy ;-). Thanks for your great designs and the chance to win a few! mtlakequilter@gmail.com

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  15. I used to spring clean 2 houses - inside and out. Quilting and hand embroidery could wait - after all, we had just gone through winter in the Rockies so I got a lot done! Getting outdoors was just what we needed. As I got older, however, the mind was more willing than the body, so we sold one house, simplified the decorating in the other, passed on some things to the kids, who were just starting their own nests, got a landscape crew to handle the outside for 3 seasons (no need in winter) and a cleaning service to handle the big spring cleaning job inside. Now I do light cleaning, deadhead the flowers, cut some live ones for inside, feed the birds, and enjoy the property with all its critters. I can quilt and embroider through all 4 seasons, and that makes me smile. I'm sure that the money we spend on the services is less than what doctor and hospital visits would cost, based on experience and my level of clumsy ;-). Thanks for your great designs and the chance to win a few! mtlakequilter@gmail.com

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  16. Always ready to get out to the garden in the spring. Cleaning out the flower and vegetable beds always makes me feel so productive and inspires me to get going on my next project. Cleaning windows, carpets and floors really brighten things up after the cold of winter. Now on to the next project...

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  17. Cleaning the flower beds and the yard are always first on my list in the spring. Clean the house usually waits until I'm finished outside. Of course, I need to leave some time for sewing. Thanks for the chance to win.

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  18. I change my table toppers and quilts for the change in seasons.

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  19. I love to clean, I love clean windows. The table toppers are great. I change mine by the season. Nancy P.

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  20. I put away pine cones and bring out bunnies!

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  21. I too loved your post. Spring for us is cows. We are camped in our trailer down by Maxwell. Calving and tagging spring calvers and heifers. Making my electricity with a generator. And boy I wish I had a battery operated iron for seams. Working on a baby quilt never finished for a granddaughter. Lookin goood. Husband says I need to slow down on gas in the generator tho :) You decorate with the kind of stuff I do. I love it. Thanks for the chance to win and inspiring us

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  22. I really like that center red print on the quilt close-up, it's a winner for me. I don't get into Spring decorating until I see the forsythia bloom. With Easter right around the corner & the trees starting to blossum, it energizes me to get out of my winter routing.

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  23. I buy tomato plants and other vegetable plants. Can't wait to harvest them. Change all my table toppers to something springy. Love this time of year.

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  24. Starting plants from seed, - waiting - cleaning out the garden, - waiting - planting the seeds,- waiting some more -, and then finally seeing those tiny little shoots coming out of the ground and growing to beautiful plants.

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  25. I get ready for planting season by clearing out my vegetable garden and turning over the soil. Then I make a layout for new plants and I always end up crowding them because I can't resist buying all those beautiful green growing things at the local nurseries!

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  26. Digging in the dirt and weeding are the first Spring gardening priority. I've already weeded and just this past weekend, purchased a new perennial for the garden--a bleeding heart with white blossoms. A new table runner is in the works using Clara's Garden, which is my first name. Love the colors in this fabric!!

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  27. Love your new finds!! I can't wait to get some plants/flowers on my deck - hopefully after this weekend I can get some pansies out. Thanks for the chance to win!

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  28. I love to grow wheat grass in the spring to add some bright color to a dreary time of year. Just got a batch started this morning and it should be full grown and ready for a haircut in about a week!

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  29. Opening the curtains wide and dusting!!

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  30. Just cleaning up clutter & changing out the quilts to lighter ones.

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  31. My favorite gardening ritual is to take that first walk through the yard, around the gardens, to see what survived the winter. It's always so exciting to see those green shoots popping up.

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  32. Like all the women I know I get out a box of "Prims" or antiques and make an even exchange of the displays in my house. It is such fun to change. I love the windmill, great idea, I may "need" one myself. I alo think it is time to get out a new table topper pattern.....

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  33. I love to garden - and looking forward to doing some work outside!

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  34. Can't wait to get in the garden!!

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  35. I, also can't wait to get in the garden. I am always torn from wanting to go out side and do some gardening or stay inside and sew(quilt) or tatting, or even knitting!
    Thanks for the chance to win!!!

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  36. The miracle of seeds sprouting in our small greenhouse-- to see something alive from what was seemingly without life. Proof of wonders often just beyond our 'sight'.

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  37. As spring approaches, I start thinking about my bunnies & chicks decorations. Spring is about rebirth and these pieces remind of just that!

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  38. Loved having you come to Sioux Falls and love the Tic Tac Stars Mini Table Treat Topper that I made at your class! Just have to finish the binding. I really don't have any spring traditions. Although I do enjoy my tulips as they come up and add some color after the white snow of winter.

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  39. My favorite springtime ritual is putting the snowmen away and getting out the sprigs of forsythia and stems of tulips and daffodils. The lighter colors are so refreshing after the "warm" colors of winter decorations. Love the mini table toppers! Nancy

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  40. Enjoyed your presentation in Sioux Falls. No spring traditions really, except opening the windows and smelling the fresh air!

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  41. Love being outside. Working on our veggie garden. Looking forward to creating a "flea market" out door space. When it gets hot I'll move back in side to quilt.

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  42. Can't wait for the first days when you can wash the windows so they are sparkling clean, put up screens and then sleep that night with the windows wide opened. You hear the birds first thing in the morning as the sun rises ... that definitely heralds the season change to me. LOTS of outdoor work in the yard after a hard winter in Michigan and once everything is done and the heat arrives it's back inside for this girl ... quilting starts up again! Linda

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  43. Your antique finds are quite wonderful. I love the patina on the older metal items and if you ever need extra cash, you have the basics for a shoeshine booth, LOL! But just for now, I say keep designing those beautiful fabrics! The quilt is awesome. I know, I know, I hate that word, too, but it is.

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  44. Seed starting in the greenhouse and sewing summer placemats for dining al fresco!

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  45. After being inside more than I care due to the weather I am outside as much as possible. Love cleaning up the farm planting new flowers shrubs and trees. Then there is always a vegetable garden! I also work on one room from top to bottom then move onto the next room. I will get done about next fall!

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  46. Spring is the time our Lord resurrected !! And I go out to our small lake and to my camper !! I can do a little sprucing all I want to in our lot. And then there is quilting. I am already thinking of taking my sewing machine out to camper lol.

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