"A quilt is a letter to those who look at it."
This is the newest little quilt that I have made from Jenny's BOM. I decided to send the original quilt to my sister for her birthday in June. Now each month around her birth date I send her a new little quilt to add to it. I have sent her two other little quilts but I forgot to take pictures. She says she runs to the mail box to see if one has come yet. Something to look forward to besides bills.
Nope! just the beginnings of some flowers for my Hop To It block. Did you ever wonder how Deviled Eggs got the name? I did. 
Remember this Iphone skin I won this past week? Well, you can win one too. Just head over to Designing for the Soul. Caroline is giving another one away with a really fun design on it. Good luck!
The blocks are from the book The New Applique Sampler.
While I was busy doing some house makeovers I got some emails saying I had won a giveaway.
The book, Encyclopedia of Applique, was not a win from a giveaway just a very nice gift sent from Mary of Lake Pulaski. Thanks so much Mary.
The last thing I did was to make two new valances for my kitchen. The other one is over the kitchen sink. The other valances were store bought white with blue and yellow embroidered ribbon flowers on the edge. It got the pattern for the new valances from August 2009 issue of McCalls Quilting magazine. The pattern calls for fat quarters but I just bought yardage and used two fabrics. I really like how they look.
So as you can see from the before picture I used to have a yellow and blue kitchen but now it is done in greens and browns. The "before" photo shows blue lines I painted by hand. I had blue buttons glued to thumbtacks stuck in the wall at the intersections. I had gotten the idea from a magazine. I had already taken the buttons off when I took the photo. There is also spackle on the wall too. Now a totally new look. The paint I used for the kitchen is Behr "Cafe' Cream." I bought the paint with the primer in it. The painters still had to put three coats on that section of the wall. I won't waste my money on that paint again. I like Behr paint but I thought it would do a better job covering the lines.
This little corner used to have a small book case here but I moved it. I brought this stool and some of my brown and green quilts to fill in this corner.
I really like my oak cabinets but decided to up date the handles. The brass and the wood on the old ones was looking pretty bad especially the ones near the kitchen sink.
Here is the kid's bathroom. We have been in this house 14 years. When we moved here the kids were teenagers. I did the stenciling around the perimeter of the bathroom to match the shower curtain. Since the painters had to put three coats on in the kitchen they decided to put primer on the stenciling first. They did not want to have to put three coats in there too. When I was taking the "after" photos it was hard to get the lighting right so the bathroom stills looks a little yellow but the paint is Behr Creamy White.
New lights added. New towel rods were added too.
I made this small picture to hang on the wall by the sink. I got this pattern from the Moda Bake Shop.
New faucet, bathroom accessories, and guest towels add the finishing touches.
Now for some show and tell from the group. Here are the newest Hop To It blocks. I am now 3 blocks behind.
Notice the bottom right block. Paula decided to get creative and do something very different. When you have a minute go see what Robin's newest block. And check our Sue's newest blocks in here last two posts. She is doing hers in wool.
Here are Mary Ann's blocks with the sashing. Don't you love the red cornerstones?
Paula made this fabulous red quilt.
Virginia got her house quilt back from the longarm quilter.
Here are some close up photos of some of the blocks.
Here is another one of Virginia's tops she just finished.
Remembering when I was pinning and pondering a while back?
I finally finished this table runner. All straight line quilting again. That's me, a straight line quilter but I am really pleased with the way this table runner turned out too. The fabric is from a line called Kumari Garden Holiday by Dena Designs.
And I have another top finished...
my embroidered hearts from Crabapple Hill. You can see that some of the hearts make into little pockets. I am now waiting for the longarm quilter to call me.
I wrote to Crabapple Hill and unfortunately you can not get this pattern anymore. 
I got my issue last week. I bought the first issue and then decided to subscribe. The quilt on the cover is beautiful. My fall issue came promptly. This issue has full size paper patterns in it. If you love the look of primitive projects you would probably like this magazine too. In my opinion this magazine is worth every penny. Cathi, has yours come yet? She has an ad in the magazine and hers has not come yet. I know she is anxious to get it.
This past Saturday I gave a private lesson to a young woman who wanted to learn hand piecing. Before the lesson I decided to make us mini design boards to keep our pieces in order as we sewed. I got the directions from Lori at Bee in my Bonnet.
I met my student at Karen Gray Design and we began work on a Single Irish Chain block from this book. We will meet again in two weeks to make them into potholders. She is really excited about quilting and on the hunt for a sewing machine now. 