4th of July Tasha Tudor Summer Exchange

I got to organize our Tasha Tudor Summer Exchange this year. It was such a fun exchange. I chose the theme....HURRAH FOR THE RED WHITE AND BLUE! Each member was to send their partner an item with a flag, a dish towel, a package of napkins and something for the person's doll or Teddy. Of course, this group is so generous and they all seemed to send more. It was so fun to see how creative the ladies were.

My partner was Sam. She lives in Colorado. Part of the fun of these exchanges is having a chance to get to know someone personally in your group. Sam loves to sew and she is very creative.

My goodies were all wrapped up in cute paper doilies, tied with fun packaging string.

It was all pretty exciting and I couldn't wait to open the treasures.

My doll Daphanie was delighted with a handmade quilt, a cute note and a darling little 4th of July banner.

More goodies for me too! I also got a banner! She found 2 dolly books that I cannot wait to read. So thoughtful and sweet.

Daphanie's handmade quilt to celebreat the holiday.

I put my banner up right away.

I love the paper plates and sweet red napkins....so cute.

Today is Monday Made on my Tasha group, so I decided to pull out my red, white and blue dolly quilts.  I just found some tucked away in a box. I have been sorthing through so much!

I love the flag...it was a thrift store find.

Blue applique hearts really make this quilt charming and loveable. I have had it for quite some time.

Hitty enjoys these two little quilts. I bouht the blue one years ago. I made the little one for Hitty  this year.

And this is the quilt that Sam made for my dolls.

Lots of fun to celebrate the 4th. 

Aurora Colony Quilt Show "Home At Last"

Every October, I can't wait to attend the quilt show at the Aurora Colony. Jim and I are members of the historical society and love any excuse to visit! This year's theme was Home at Last and it was the 44th annual quilt show. We have been working on getting ready for the Expo antique show, but we got our work finished and headed out to Aurora. It is a small quilt show, but it's just so sweet and charming. We like to support the colony too.

I am fascinated with wool quilts these days. This one was stunning. Can you see all the quilting on it too? This was one of my favorite quilts at the show.

I had to take a photo for LaVonne! Chickens and roosters seem to pop up on quilts!

This was a stunning quilt. A couple quilters and I had a fun talk about this one and really appreciated it. It is a scrappy quilt, but what a dandy. The quilter really tied it all together with her sashing and border work.

Nice quilting too. So simple but yet just a lovely quilt.

I liked all the work on this one too!

Who's that guy buying those raffle tickets?

This is another favorite of mine...lots of applique on this one. I love all the colors too.

I especially liked the quilting and the interesting border. Borders often make the quilt just fantastic.

In this photo, you are looking at a petticoat and part of a special exhibit at the show. I couldn't believe the work on this. Special articles of clothing were often quilted for warmth. Wool batts were used as the batting.

The exhibit also showed several different sizes of quilted bonnets. Very sweet and useful.

You will always find a fire going in the little laundry room The local herb society sells fun products in this building during the show. It's just an inviting little building to visit.

Firewood ready for those fireplaces on a wet fall day.

Jimmy waits for the cookies that are served in the little cabin and store. He always sits and has coffee and cookies while I do a bit of shopping. All the money goes to the colony from the sales. I always find something I just can't live without! Jimmy leaves extra money for the extra cookies he eats. The cookies are all homemade by the volunteers.

It was wonderful to take in this little show. I can't wait for the show next year! 

Hitty's New Quilt

I love this book! It's such a charming book about the life of a little wooden carved doll. It goes through her first 100 years.  As a doll person, I had to have a Hitty doll. Most of my friends in my Tasha Tudor group have a Hitty doll too. Mine is not a hand carved version, but I like her face and she is quite fine.

All the illustrations are done in black and white. Here she is in her little cradle with a quilt.

A few weeks ago, I found a little quilt kit on Etsy. I thought it would be fun to make it for my Hitty.
It's a very small quilt.

Here she is, sitting on her  finished little quilt. I love the colors.

I'm not a hand quilter, but one of my Tasha friends encouraged me to  quilt the little quilt by hand with a simple criss cross pattern. It's not perfect but I did have fun giving it a try. It looks cute with the handwork. Actually, the most difficult part was the binding, as it is really tiny. The finished quilt is 5 1/2" x 5 1/2".

I found the cradle a few years back and it just happened to be the right size and all for Hitty. It's pretty close to the one in the book. So I made some bedding for her to match the quilt and she is quite happy with it.

She's snug as a bug in a rug! 

Tea Time Tuesday #112

Last Saturday, Jim took me out to Aurora for a great event! My favorite author, Jane Kirkpatrick was going to speak and act in a little four part play the colony was presenting. It was to remember Emma Wagner Giesy's passing 100 years ago. Jane has written 3 books about Emma and the Aurora society.

I have been a faithful follower of Jane's work for years, long before she wrote the books on Emma.
She is such a great writer and a wonderful person. She always has time for her readers.

After she wrote the historical fiction books on the colony, she got interested in quilts so she wrote a non fiction book called Aurora and everyday life in the society.

This is the current quilt that is being hand quilted by volunteers. I think this one is going to be so beautiful. These blocks are the winners from last October and they will be worked into the quilt that will be raffled off. I'm going to be buying tickets for this one at the quilt show in October!

This is the curator....Patrick. He is a riot and knows just about everything about the history of the colony. He was delighted to have 100 people sign up for this event.

It was a very warm day but we all stayed cool and the colony had lots of cold water bottles.

One of the plays was in the church. The local actors did a great job and it was very entertaining.

These two ladies were full of gossip for their performance...funny.

Then we were back at the museum for another play with Jane and Patrick.

After the plays, we were escorted to another church for a tea and a lovely talk by Jane.

They really did a great job taking care of 100 people for tea!

The food was delicious! They even had a gluten free table!

Jane made her way around the tables chatting with everyone.

We enjoyed this lady who was sitting at our table. She was just a sweetheart.

We each got these party favors. So fun and a great reminder of a lovely day in Aurora.

My daughter gave me these lovely teas as part of my Mother's Day gift...it's so fun to get a new tea to savor. Happy Tea Time Tuesday.

Jane's 3 books on Emma have now been put into one larger book now....EMMA OF AURORA.