Lynn Carson Harris

Sunny Days

We have been enjoying an unusually warm and sunny week. I've been spending much time outside soaking it in. 

Our late summer flowers are still going strong.

Earlier this week I purchased our first ever comfy outdoor furniture. The couch and chair with ottoman make the back porch more like another room. I may have even had an afternoon nap or two out there. 

I'm beginning to feel reenergized and ready for fall. 

Retreat Work

I had the pleasure of attending the Holly Girls quilt retreat last week. Pat Holly and Sue Nickels taught us the finer points of machine applique and border design. 

I packed my boxes of tiny scraps to work on and since the Red and White Quilts book arrived while I was packing, I threw in some red and white yardage. At first, I was busy piecing more tiny sixteen patches from the scraps. After a few lessons, demonstrations, and show and tell I was ready to start an applique project. This will be a strippy quilt inspired by Susan McCord's fabulous quilts. The strip on the right was my first design and uses a motif from the border of her Floral Urn quilt. The strip on the left is a two color version of her fabulous leaf vines that can be seen on several of her quilts. 

Pat told us that after stitching 100 skinny points and small circles we will have mastered the machine applique technique for points and circles. I think these two border strips will help me become a master at machine applique. 

I hope I can follow through and get these stiched down. I plan to design two more applique strips and set them alternately with solid red strips. 

Red & White Quilts - Infinite Variety

I had to share this beauty that was just delivered to my doorstep, Red & White Quilts Infinite Variety.

This book does not disappoint - 352 pages of red and white inspiration. There is some background information about the Rose collection, red and white quilts in general, and the Infinite Variety show. The rest of the book is filled with amazing full photographs of all of the quilts. 

Each of the eleven chapters of the book features a different type of quilt such as Log Cabin, Triangles, Stars, Curves, Applique. 

The book arrived just as I was packing for a quilt retreat and after a quick flip through the book I now want to pack a bolt of red fabric and a bolt of muslin to play with this week.

Red and White Quilts is a must have for any serious quilter's library. 

Pillow Talk

Two years ago I gave my daughter-in-law two pillow forms for Christmas and told her I would make some pillows for her. After much delay they are finally finished.

Megan chose the color palette and pulled a selection of fabrics from my stash. She also requested velvet backing for the pillows.

The larger pillow is a block from Jane Davidson's Rock Pools quilt. The pattern is in her self published book Desert to Sea.

The smaller pillow top was made in a class with Sherri Lynn Wood last fall.

I sometimes have a hard time squaring up large blocks so I want to share how I trimmed these pillow tops to size.

To trim the large blocks I used Karen Kay Buckley's Perfect Adjustable Square. It comes is a beautiful box that keeps all of the parts safely stored together.

Inside there are pieces that go together to build squares from 4 inches to 24 1/2 inches. This device makes it easy to find the center of a square without marking the diagonal lines.

I highly recommend this set for squaring up large blocks. It is well worth the price to know you are getting it right with little effort.

 

A Joyous Day

Sunday morning I got up and wanted a few moments of solitude before the bustle of the day started so I went out for a stroll around the barn. 

 

On the front porch I was greeted by marigold garland strands awaiting their final placement. Thanks to the many family members who pitched in to pick marigolds and string the garlands. It reminded me that this day was to be filled with loving thoughts from many friends and family.

 

I thought I was the first one up but Sophia, who was arranging all of the wedding flowers, had already been hard at work. All of the flowers for the day were cut from our fields and gardens as well as the from the home of the bride's family. 

Here are the bride and groom after the ceremony when they opened the barn for the reception.

Miss P made the cake toppers, and did a wonderful job capturing the wedding attire of the bride and groom.

Friends and family helped with the preparations by fixing the barn, folding cranes, planting and weeding marigolds and other flowers, letter pressing invitations, floral arranging, wedding music, preparing cookies and cakes for the dessert buffet, and even shooing a couple of chickens who thought the flower bedecked arch was a buffet set out just for them. 


The day was joyous and beyond anything I could have imagined. I loved seeing my son so happy and it was wonderful to spend time with family on such jubilant occasions.