Meet and Greet - This is Me!

"Coffee Time"

Applique is the closest thing to painting with fabric that I have found. (except for actually painting ON fabric!)
I love finding fabrics that have textural prints that I can use to give the illusion of other things - sand, leaves, sky, etc. I tend to keep a box of "Textures" that I go to first when trying to create an applique. 

The quilt below used only solids, but many shades of each color.

Roses in bloom on a quilt I made for a blog hop in late 2013

 The bookcase quilt below was a custom quilt made before I started blogging. Every item on the quilt, including the words, were of importance to the recipient of the quilt. I hand dyed the variegated ivy leaves for realism.

"Creativity"

I have a very unusual method of applique that I came up with when I first started quilting. (I have since seen this method in a couple of other places as well. Great minds think alike!)  In actuality, I was having so much trouble with needle turn applique, I HAD to come up with something else. I also wanted turned under edges so my pieces would be more durable. Note: This method uses freezer paper, but it is NOT ironed to the BACK of the fabric!

Buzzing and Bumbling Applique Tutorial 

Thank you for joining me today!!

You can see what others are doing by going to the list here!

                                                                      

We've Found a House!

We've found a house! I am trying to wait until we actually close on it to post pictures. We should close on either Friday or Monday, depending on when some work is completed. 
The house is in the Texas hill country, which is an area we have loved for a long time.

The house is on a hill and has a nice view of the hill country from just about any window. (The pictures on this post were taken last year and are not from the house. ) You will also see deer grazing freely on anything they find! I love watching them, but will have to confine my flower beds to a fenced area! (I'm going from bad to worse. So many people thought I meant "horse", I switched the pictures around. Now it looks like I think the horses are deer! I'm going to quit while I'm ahead!)
Best of all......I will have a large sewing/quilting room! It will probably be one of the last rooms we work on, but it will be wonderful having a big space! 

We are going to take our time updating the house. I'll show before and after pictures of our work. I plan on spending most of the budget on really quality purchases, then filling in by finding second hand furniture and sewing my own drapes, etc. I'll share this with you, too. Perhaps my successes and failures (and I'm sure there will be some!) will help some of you out in some small way. For example, I've already purchased a really quality leather sectional. It was on clearance at Ethan Allen because someone ordered it and then changed their color scheme. It was EXACTLY what I had in mind and although it had just come in and was in perfect condition, it was marked half price! Even at that, it was expensive, so I will need to search Craig's List for some side chairs that I can upholster. (I've never done that! Do you think I can?) I hope you'll stick around and share in my adventure! Can you tell I'm excited?
                                                 
P.S. - Please join me in the Don't Let the Door Stop you blog hop that is going on now. I will be posting my contribution on February 5. You can follow the entire hop, in conjunction with the She Who Sews hop, by going to Sew We Quilt.


                                                 

Lessons I've Learned Over the Years!

To My Family and Friends, here are a few lessons I have learned over the years. The new year seems like a good time to review them!

A little makeup can make a girl feel a little better, but a lot of makeup doesn't necessarily make her feel a lot better!

Sometimes it takes teamwork to get uphill, even when you're "having fun!"

Learn to enjoy the simple things!

Don't judge a book by its cover! Sometimes, there's dynamite packed into just three pounds, four ounces!

Learn to see the miracles in nature as though you are seeing them for the very first time! Let yourself be thrilled!

 You can't have your pudding until you eat your supper, but occasionally it might be okay to make an exception!

Sometimes our eyes deceive us. Take a second look!

Your dreams rarely just land in your lap! You have to chase after them like bubbles in the wind!

 

Life is messy, but you'll feel better if you clean up as you go along!

 Some things in life are wonderful surprises!

Find a way to make the little ones in your life succeed and feel useful! They will not remember the words you tell them as much as the way you made them feel!

If you want a "white Christmas", go find your own snow! 

Scientific investigation begins early! Be prepared!

As one of my second graders once quoted, "The grass is always greener where the buffalo roam!" ......and you know what that means! There is usually an "up" side to every "down"!

Life is full of funny little coincidences. Enjoy them!

Learn to laugh at yourself! (Just be sure you have good bladder protection!)

Never let a day pass without telling your loved ones that you love them. Yes, they may know it, but there's something special about hearing the words!

Always remember that "stuff" is here today, gone tomorrow. What remains are relationships and memories. Work more on those than on your "stuff"!

 If you can't go to Hawaii, bring Hawaii to your back yard! 

There will be mountain top experiences....

 ...as well as a few low points, but never give up! God is in control!

Here's to a wonderful new year! I'm excited and ready to tackle it!

 

Making Progress!

Christmas tree at Rosario's Mexican Restaurant, San Antonio, Texas

We're making progress after the fire! We have turned in our initial contents list and hopefully we are finished with that. If not, we will need to add to it from the lists we didn't put on the spread sheet. SHEESH!.....43 years of marriage and so many blessings we had trouble counting them! Our oldest son has been here this week helping us. 
Yesterday, we sent the list off and then headed into town to enjoy the festivities. 
 I had never been to the Holiday River Parade before,although I grew up in San Antonio, so this was really a nice start to the season!

 I didn't include pictures of all the floats, but I have shown you a "taste" of the atmosphere. It was perfect weather for this. Although we had a "cold front" come through, it was clear and about 60 degrees on the Riverwalk. 
And take a look at this! My husband gave me an early Christmas present!!! A Handi-Quilter Sweet Sixteen! It's a "sit down" long arm. This was a demo model being sold at a local quilt shop. It is strictly for quilting. So.....

for sewing....my parents gave me my grandmother's old Singer Slantamatic! It sews beautiful stitches! This is the model 401. My grandmother was an expert seamstress. She is 105 now and doesn't do much sewing.

 That's my week! I still feel optimistic and calm. We have the check in hand from the house, we've already sold the lot the house was on, and the contents list is hopefully finished.

 Even Sugarplum is happy that things are going so well. She climbed up in my lap and cuddled up against my chest to sleep. I couldn't resist snapping a photo of her. It was this time last year that she was abandoned as a tiny kitten.
      It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Progress and a Cute Little Sewing Machine!

My dad, who is an extraordinarily creative and skillful artist, is making a few of these little sewing machines for an upcoming crafts fair! This is his own design.(He has also made little tractors, cars, etc.) What you can't see from the photo is that if you turn the wheel, the "needle" (also wood and not too sharp) goes up and down. What little girl wouldn't be thrilled with a machine like this! It is about 10" or 11" wide - a perfect size for a wantabe seamstress! I think it would be a cute addition to some of our sewing rooms!
As far as progress after the fire,I am still filling out contents lists for the insurance company. This is probably the most difficult task so far. Could you remember every item in your house, when and where you bought it, and how much you paid for it? 
 I'm still doing fine emotionally and I still feel that everything will be fine in the end. Doug and I are safely tucked away right in the heart of family and the people around us have been amazing! My sincere thanks and appreciation goes out to all of you who have written encouraging emails and cards. Some of you have sent packages and I have had so much fun opening them up and discovering the contents! Early Christmas! I plan on putting all your cards in a scrapbook so that if I find myself bogged down in discouragement, I can pull out the scrapbook and see what an amazing group of people God put in my life! Thank you so much!!
Hopefully, I will have more to show you when all this insurance business gets behind me, but I wanted to give you an update.

 Since I showed my house after the fire, I wanted to show some pictures of it before.
                                                 
                                              

                                                       
  

Quilter's Favorites

                
 Welcome to my post for the Quilter's Favorites Linky Party.
                                
Whether you're here by accident or you are following the links, I'm glad you've stopped by!  Now for the questions I have chosen to answer!
Tell a little about yourself. 
 

• I’m Linda of  B. Bumble & Co. I’m just a simple Texas girl with a passion for color, fabrics, and whimsy!( I’m married to a wonderful man who happens to be  a scientist and knows how to keep my feet on the ground!  We have three sons and two grandchildren.) I started college majoring in art, but switched to elementary education when I realized I would need to make a little bit of an income. (Didn’t realize just how” little” teaching would bring in, but I loved the children!!)

 Any advice for a successful color scheme of a quilt?

•  Fabric companies have made it very easy to put together a nice color scheme. You can always pull colors from a focus fabric and go from there. BUT, if you want to really have fun, use the things around you that you love to inspire your color scheme. Here are some examples of how I used the things around me to pull colors for a quilt: (each is a link to a post showing the colors)

 
   Killdeer - to see the post go to this page. You will see her rust red underfeathers!
Children's book illustrations: Go here to see more!

  

• Also look at dishes, wrapping paper, cards, famous artwork, and even magazine ads. Use a colorwheel to help you find color combinations that compliment each other.

Could you share some tips about quilt techniques other than patchwork? 

•  I love applique. The method I use is very simple or I wouldn't use it! (I like to work FAST!) I use freezer paper and a glue stick and iron my pattern to the right side of the fabric. I turn all my seam allowances to the back and stick them down with glue stick. They are all ready to sew down by hand or machine when I finish. You can see a tutorial here.  

Do you have free tutorials on your blog?

•   Yes! I have quite a few! You can find them by clicking on the "Tutorials" tab at the top of my page. (I know it is hard to read in brown, but when you hover the cursor over it the words will turn white.) I have tutorials for several techniques as well as many projects!

Share some tips for organizing the fabrics in your sewing room. 

•  I have all my fabrics in tubs labeled by color or theme. All novelty fabrics go in a tub labeled with their theme: Christmas, Bugs and Spiders, Birds, etc.  All other fabrics are by color. Small scraps are in plastic zipper bags with the air squeezed out and are by color. I place those in tubs in cabinets.

 Oh, I wish it were this clean right now!!!
Would you like to share one of your favorite quilts, made by you?

•  As you know, choosing a favorite quilt is like choosing a favorite child! I think "Who's Been Eating My Porridge?" is one of my favorites. It was one of my first patterns. The recipe for porridge is embroidered around the border.

                                    

Could you recommend a book to someone who just started quilting?

•  First of all, there are hundreds of good books out there. The one I go to the most is The Quilter's Ultimate Visual Guide by Ellen Pahl. I have worn my book out and have had to put all the pages in a 3 ring binder since they were falling out anyway! This book is written like an encyclopedia. I think it has tons of valuable information for anyone, not only new quilters.                 

That's probably all you want to know about me and more! Enjoy the linky party!!