♫...Dolly's Home...♫

Getting to sew a bit....

2012-01-05T15:13:00.000-06:00

...I gave up the spare bedroom in exchange for making it a full sewing room..........I'm much happier, though I wish I could have both at once !

I finished hand-quilting a challenge that I had accepted from Wanda Gayle. She sent me some finished blocks in the Jacob's Ladder pattern, and some already cut-out flowers along with a pattern. I assembled the blocks together and used the appliques in a little bit different way. I hope that she will post a photo of the quilt, as I don't have a working camera right now, nor internet access at home.

I also pieced a quilt-top today and yesterday, from batiks and Fossil Ferns that JodieAnn sent to me over time. I used a mottled cream fabric as background and it came out just beautiful. In fact that's why I'm in town right now.......on my way to purchase a batting with which to put it together.

Hope everything is blessings with all of you ! Love,

catching up

2011-10-25T15:18:00.001-05:00

Hubby had left and right eye cataract surgeries. Left eye doing wonderfully. Right eye must be redone by specialist on Nov. 18th........prayers welcome !

Staying busy and trying to make improvements on new home. Glory to God, I repainted our 14 x 14 foot shed all by my lonesome, and HE made it come out right and kept me safe midway up that extension ladder, PRAISE THE LORD. Looks good.........khaki green with dark chocolate trim !

Next court date for me, Nov. 21st.......trusting always, whatever the outcome.

Not alot of quilting going on......the hubby always has something else to suggest that I do.......but I'm trying to finish a little pink scrap triangles baby quilt with big-stitch, for an expected grand-niece, Eva Klaire, due in early December.

Started a new pair of socks to have something to work on during hubby's doctor visits.........trying not to do all the easy stuff before I find myself stuck in a waiting room and starting a heel, for which I'd have to have refresher instructions !

Love and hugs and kisses to you all.........enjoy this beautiful changing of the seasons once again !

Dolly

Oh, I forgot to mention........my beautiful China (black and white kitty) disappeared and has not been seen again, since Sept. 1st. I miss her so, but fear that something in the woods got her. Kelley's Siamese had kittens, and she's trying to hold the one kitten that came out looking like the mama, for ME, but I don't know when she can bring her from Oklahoma, and of course, they can't hold her indefinitely ! Just incase, though, I've already named her. She's OPAL, and I found a little figurine to satisfy me of her until she's in my arms. Let's hope !

BOY, am I home?

2011-09-06T12:53:00.000-05:00

Things have changed so much in my life since I was last able to post.

Hubby and I were led by GOD, I am quite sure, to a little home place that we could afford to purchase. This is our first property and we got moved during the month of July. We are blessed and happy, settling into our new nest. It has a very good heating and cooling unit which worked wonderfully during this past month's excrutiating heat, and we even tried out the heating last night, with the onset of our first cool -pre-Autumn evening.

I'm currently enjoying planting the yard of our 1 1/3 acres with Crape Myrtle shrubs and Irises......I've even been promised some Rose of Sharon trees by a new neighbor.

Well, I have to run, so I'll cut this short. Hope all of you are well and blessed.

Dolly

We're being invaded !

2011-06-20T20:32:00.000-05:00

And I don't know what these bugs are, but they're making a mess of my beautiful Zinnias.

They're also eating up the Hazel Nut bushes that my husband enjoys seeing on our walks. I saw groups of them on these bushes yesterday evening, and then when I got up this morning there were about TWELVE of them all over my poor babies at the mailbox !

I hope they're short-lived and move on quickly !
I know that everything has to EAT, but they've had enough now, and SO HAVE I.

Working with Jacob

2011-06-13T18:02:00.001-05:00

Best galpal, Wanda Gayle, sent me a project that she had grown tired of. She did SO MUCH of the tedious work, ........ piecing the blocks and cutting out tons of applique pieces.

In this layout, the ladders formed echoing diamonds.

I trimmed down the blocks today and lay them out on my sewing room floor. I have the windows covered to keep out the heat from the sun, so these colors are not true. I tried several layouts, finding each one had it's merits.......

With this layout, the ladders formed echoing X's.

I even found a layout that replicated a zigzag pattern !

But, ultimately, I went back to the original layout, which forms 4 X's.........although I did wind up piecing them into color blocks.

4 X's, separated into blocks of yellow, tan, red, and green

I'm going to do a little bit of studying before I decide where to go from here. The original pattern, called Jacob's Garden, has a 2 1/2 inch sawtooth border, followed up by an eight inch black border which is filled with appliqued floral vines growing from baskets in all 4 corners.

Here we go........

2011-06-12T20:48:00.000-05:00

........pink, and purple seem to be the colors of this packet's flowers !

And I love it !

Pale pink, medium pink, hot pink, and even a salmony pink were the first flowers to open up.

Now there are two flowers coming that appear to be purply pink.

SQUEEEEEAAAALLLLLL !

Gardening news........

2011-06-09T21:15:00.003-05:00

I am still having trouble adjusting to my lack of ability to grow a yard full of flowers here. I look back at my flowers from my yard in Oklahoma and wish that I could get those results now.
Don't get me wrong......the area I live in is SO BEAUTIFUL. The trees and foliage are SO LUSH. But this trailer was placed on a hill and apparently the yard is based on rock and 'chirt' (do you know what that is.......it's a term that I grew up with), and I can't afford to supplement my flower beds with potting or top soil.

Having said all of that, I am looking forward to zinnias blooming around my mailbox this week. I planted one packet of Zinnia seed, and one packet of mixed flowers.

From the mixed flower seed, the only thing that I recognize are several Moss Rose seedlings. And they don't yet have buds on them, but they're looking pretty good, too.

I also bring home every wildflower that appeals to me, from our walks.......if I can get them to come loose from their place with roots attached.

I brought home LOTS of daisies and have planted them and golden flowers that are similar, along my back fenceline. These are now dying out after blooming all of their buds, but hopefully they will return next year and beyond.

My sister-in-law gave me seeds from her Wisteria bush/shrub and I have 3 of them coming up in this pot. I think that I also have a Rose of Sharon tree started in there too. I have planted seedlings from my Oklahoma Rose of Sharon trees several times, but have never recognized when they come up. I think that they tricked me by looking like young Maple tree seedlings, and I pulled them. I have never grown the Rose of Sharons from seed before, as I always found young ones sprouting out of the ground around my bigger trees, and I used those to spread around my yard and share with my deary, JodieAnn. She planted three of them together in one hole, and after a couple of years, when they were big enough to bloom, she had 3 different colors, seemingly on one tree ! It was amazingly beautiful !
You can also see more of the moss rose seedlings in this pot.

Here at the end of the trailer, I have my few Irises, which finally bloomed for the first time this Spring, their 3rd year since moving them. Jodie sent me some from Oklahoma two different times since I moved here to Tennessee, and I got them planted there this year too. They are growing but won't bloom this year. There are a bunch of wild Violets spread in there along with the Irises. I forgot to photograph the other Irises that I planted in a few odd places. A lady at a garage sale gave them to me.

In these photos you can see Blackberry bushes that I accidentally wound up with in my flower bed. The Sprng that I moved here, in 2009, I dug up what I thought was a wild white rose bush, and transplanted it to this bed. It bloomed for two Springs, and then this Spring, it bloomed again and then the blooms became berries ! I have been so confused, because there ARE white wild roses all up and down our road and behind us, and the blooms look exactly the same as the blackberry blooms.

Anyway, these berries are just little nubbies, not lush-looking like the photo makes them appear. But the bush has sent up more bushes in 3 other places in the flower bed, so maybe eventually there will be a nice little stand of blackberry bushes here. It'll probably turn out to be the bane of my flower bed's existence, taking over everything with briars !

Anyway, that's my gardening news for now. I'll try to get photos of the blooming zinnias this weekend, Lord willing !

Fruits of Fall--sensing a theme here.......

2011-06-04T13:48:00.001-05:00

.........could we say that I'm working well ahead of schedule?

I've finished another Fall-themed quiltie, but, truly, I'm definitely NOT working ahead. This poor little wall-hanging was started way back in the '90's sometime. The pattern was contained in a calendar featuring a different wall-hanging for each month of the year. I can't remember who the quilt artist or company publishing the calendar was. It's amazing that I even held onto the project for this long, but, the point is, I finally finished it.

The top is machine-pieced, and hand-appliqued. It was hand-quilted in small q-snap frames, employs cotton batting, and measures about 28 inches square. I used a bright plaid fabric for the back of it.

Remember the SWEATER I knitted for Lissy to wear

2011-05-28T14:56:00.001-05:00

I got to"help her" try it on today.

It was a real hit.................as pants !

Ha !

No comments

2011-05-27T18:31:00.000-05:00

I'm not doing very much right now, so I don't have a finished project that I want to post. ( I knitted something that I'm not ready to reveal right now). In fact, I'm going to disable the comments for now, since this is just to document my life/days. I'm in a quilting slump, I guess. I'm not depressed, I just don't have the desire to make anything in particular right now. It's a good time for Jennifer to finish her quilt-top and get it to me to quilt, so I am nudging her along here. I would like to have something to pick up everyday, with all my decisions already made of what I'm going to do on it.

It was cool here again today, and since we're already well past Blackberry Winter, I've dubbed it a new phenomenae.......Blueberry Winter. At this rate, I've told the hubby that we'll be observing Watermelon Winter sometime around the Fourth of July !

Praying for safety

2011-05-24T19:20:00.000-05:00

Tornadoes are popping up all over the midwest right now, and I've just heard the name of my little town in Oklahoma, over and over. Please take these warnings seriously,out there, friends and family, and take cover and PRAY.

I love you all and hope to talk to you soon !

A little piecing, a little knitting........

2011-05-16T14:40:00.002-05:00

I cut into my little pile of pink fabrics that I bought in February. I didn't want anything complicated......that seems to be a running theme in my life right now..hmmmmmmm......ANYWAY, there have been lots of half-square triangle quilts that have caught my eye in the last couple of years, so I just cut lots of triangles and a few squares to break up the piecing a bit.
Here's the resulting baby-quilt top. I don't have a recipient in mind for it yet.

***********************************************

And I just, in the last hour, actually, finished knitting my first cardigan sweater ! It's a little one, sized for a 2-year-old, but it still teaches me the same principles that I would use on any size of regular knitted cardigan. I am so excited........like when I finished my first pair of mittens a few years ago. They were the first thing that I ever knitted that took shape right before my eyes as I knitted, and it was like magic to me !

This sweater had to be seamed up the side and sleeve seams, and I wouldn't want to enter it into any competition, but I'm satisfied with it as a first effort, especially for having so many color changes (I just used leftovers that I had in worsted weight Red Heart acrylic yarn). I had to pick up stitches to knit the sleeves and the neck and front bands. This was a good refresher course for my knitting.

When I started it, I just had in mind to make a sweater to have here at my house for when Allyssia comes over and isn't dressed warmly enough to take a walk with us. I think that it will work fine for that and it encourages me to try bigger sweater projects.

Blogger's mistake !

2011-05-14T12:49:00.000-05:00

Things got put in the wrong order yesterday when blogger removed some posts and added them back.

I shared my finished leaf quilt, but it's not showing up as my latest post on people's sidebars, so if you'd like to see it, please click on my other post.

Here's a peek........

Blogger's Quilt Festival

2011-05-13T15:34:00.022-05:00

My quilt festival entry is this quilt that I had finished during my hiatus !

Remember this one? The leaf blocks that I had stored away for YEARS, and finally broke out and pieced together with center blue scrappy squares is now a finished quilt.
I machine-quilted it.

I started out with the intention of closely stippling behind the leaves, quilting veins into the leaves, and then doing a large allover water-swirly design in the center blue squares.

But after doing a bit of backgrounding, I realized that the quilting would be heavier on the edges of the quilt than in the center, so I decided to just do the close stipple/meander over the entire quilt.

It turned into a bit stiffer quilt than I intended, but since it is really a good visual quilt for hanging on a wall, that's not a problem.

I pieced the back from bigger pieces of leftover blue prints, and added in a free-pieced tree block that was made at the same time as the leaves. That makes the quilt a horizontal quilt from the backside. But I put the sleeve on vertically for the quilt to hang widthwise over my couch.

I hope you enjoyed seeing this one finished............I really like it !
You can see more beauties from links at Bloggers' Quilt Festival, 2011..

Happy Mother's Day........a bit late !

2011-05-11T15:49:00.000-05:00

I'm back online for a bit.......had it turned back on today, so here I am at the computer again after not touching it for so long.

I have pictures of the pink baby quilt to share. I finished it about two weeks ago, and sent it on to Michigan. The mommy-to-be was very pleased with it.

I warned you that it was going to be simple.
They wanted the quilting to be the focal point.

In this picture, you can see how it's size relates to the top of a queen-sized mattress. It finished around 40 inches x 42 inches.

Here you can see the quilting designs a little better...........and the darker pink flannel print that I used for the backing.

This is really all that I accomplished except for finishing the pillows for my couch. I almost hate to share them since you saw SO MANY pictures of the zigzag quilt before I took my hiatus.
But here's a quick shot besides the one in my header.

I did have a wonderful week-long visit from my daughter, son-in-law, and three grandkids during the month of March. It was way fun, and I can hardly wait until we do it again. Seth even called me today by special request, just as I was heading out the door to church ! He yelled, "NANA !"

Isn't that precious ?

Praise the LORD !

Hello, my friends......

2011-03-22T16:15:00.000-05:00

......and Happy LATE birthday to Terri and Mary !

I won't be here to read any replies, but I just wanted to say hi while I'm here at the library.

Last week, Kelley, Tim, and the three grandkids came and stayed with us for the entire week.
Personally, I had a blast. It was a really good visit, and I think that we all enjoyed it.

I'm back to working on hand-quilting the pink strip baby quilt; it's slow-going, but it's coming along, and will be finished eventually.

Our weather is bordering on hot, and the babies left me with my first spring snotties, but I surely am glad that Spring is here.

Everyone be well and blessed........I really do want that for you ! And I'll stop in again when the mood and the timing fit.

Love you all !

By the way, I REALLY don't like not having my blog fix every day, and I'm much LESS productive, since I have no pressure to produce photos !
I told hubby that we'll have to switch up someday and he'll give up his cable while I get MY internet . HA !

Taking a hiatus.......

2011-02-25T10:37:00.000-06:00

I've dropped internet service for awhile, so I wanted to let you all know that I haven't just disappeared.

I'm around, and hopefully will be a little more productive.

I will only be checking emails VERY infrequently, so I am requesting that friends and family CALL me if they need to communicate. OR......a very nice long letter would be fun.....do we still remember how to do that? I know that Kelley does. Now if only we can learn to start getting photos actually developed or printed too ! Wow, what a concept.

Anyway, be well and productive, and prosperous, and most of all, BLESSED.

Love you,

I'm on a pink kick !

2011-02-22T21:54:00.001-06:00

I don't know,..........I guess it's because I've been asked to make something simply beautiful and quietly tasteful............AND THAT AIN'T ME !

Ha !

Simple-minded, I might have been accused of once or twice, but quiet, NEVER !

But I CAN DO THIS .

These are what I have in mind for it.........the flannel back is a stronger pink than I expected. But the light pink for the top is exactly what I had in mind.
.
Still, my quilt-nerve is going through a period of rejection, and I just had to have these today. They're not quite as strong in color as this photo indicates. (As I post my own photos, I'm starting to understand why I'm having so much trouble buying online.)

But, of course, that's been such a big part of it, too, ...... I received an online order and the colors of some of the fabrics were SO DIFFERENT from what I thought I was buying, that when I got the chance to see some beautiful fabric today, in just the shades that I was hungry for, I had to OWN THEM.

But I was very good ! I only spent the money that I earned appliqueing that little dino block, although I have to admit that I was OVERPAID.

Here are a few other fabrics that I've bought lately. I've been on a grey kick too, but this grey has a strong hint of taupe running through it's blood. It doesn't fit with other fabrics that I had intended to pair it with, but that's actually a good thing. It goes beautifully with the "Swanky" turnover triangles that my daughter bought me for Christmas, so I'll probably whip up something small out of all of that just to have something 'purty to pet'. It's a great neutral, background-type print, don't you think. And I adore the blue in the middle.

Now, this fabric, I cannot stand........I don't know what to do with it. It's a one yard piece........I didn't realize at the time that I got it that Fabric.com has free returns. This time I know, and will be returning these pinks

Not a good representation of their color.....once again !

that I don't like.

Good morning, bloggy friends

2011-02-19T07:55:00.001-06:00

What a wonderful morning ! So full of possibilities, and so very blessed by God ! Are you feeling well, did you rest safe and warm? Count your blessings this morning.......you'll feel better !

Yesterday, my landlady and landlord came and worked on our plumbing/drain problems......in fact they spent about 3 hours or MORE here doing just that..........and got everything running smoothly again. And they wouldn't accept any payment, God bless them !

When they left, I set up the basting frame in the driveway to baste my little blue leaf quilt. Suddenly I noticed that the sky was all grey and the wind had that feel to it...........uh, oh !

I had no idea that rain was in the forecast ! But hubbykins kept me company, sitting on the picnic table with Piper while I worked, and blessedly, the rain never came !

I'm all basted and nearly ready for quilting. I'd like to try to find some blue thread or something dark and neutral to quilt with. I'm not sure what I'm going to do.....meander? Straight, semi-straight-line? We'll just have to wait and see what kind of inspiration strikes.

In the meantime, Mandy has said she'll pick me up this morning, and she, Allyssia and I will hit the second-hand store for end tables/furniture; then she's going to show me her new apartment. She'd like for me to make her a throw for her couch, so I need to get some idea of her furnishings and preferences.

Kell, I hope you had a good time at your house-warming last night........I sure wish I could have been there ! So happy for all of you in your new house ! Papa and I send our love !

Gonna get spoiled....

2011-02-15T21:55:00.002-06:00

...on these 60+ degree days and I'm NOT going to want to go back into Winter !

Lovely day today, and the trees have buds on them.......one thing about it, they shouldn't suffer drought for a long while !

I finished Jodie's applique today, but I'm going to hold off on a photo of it until she receives it and tells me she's happy with it.

I just placed an order with Fabric.com for fabric for a baby quilt that I've been asked to make. Of course, as Cheryl taught me, a smart girl has to add a little sumpin-sumpin to the order for herself,..........I mean, just to bring the total up to the 'free shipping' level, mind you ~!~

I've been asked to make another non-pattern quilt, almost whole-cloth, but in soft pink and cream.

I'm hoping that this will make a beautiful back for the baby quilt.

This one is for my cousin's second grandbaby, obviously a girl this time around.

Remember, I made her this one before for her first grandson?

The baby is not due until June, but I'd like to get the quilt well underway. Blessedly, I have all the work I can ask for right now.

I'm think I'm going to sneak away from the computer now, though, to get a little further in a fun book I've been reading a little bit of.

Good night all !

Oh, by the way, Jodie, you're getting comments in MY comments section ! Wanda wants to see some of these projects that you're always mentioning. We think that YOU should start a blog too ! At the very least, send her an email with photos !

Good timing

2011-02-14T22:24:00.002-06:00

My quilting buddy, Wanda Gayle, told me that she has been appliqueing blocks using the method where you put the top fabric onto the background, and just snip an inch at a time along the applique line's seam allowance. At about the same time, my other quilting buddy, Jodie Ann, decided to send me an applique block to do for her, and I found that it was the perfect candidate for this method of needle-turn applique.

Here's my beginning drawing, traced onto the dark fabric
by placing the pattern in a sunny window.

Here's my progress thus far.........

My starting slit is cut and applique has begun.

Slitting another inch or so ahead of where I'm stitching.

Halfway done.

Jodie worked as a secretary for many years and has retired now, ready to do her 'retirement quilting', but left with hands that have damage from all of that keyboard work. They won't let her hold the applique for long periods, so she and I corroborate on projects like this. She's always sending a little work my way........she knows it gives me a new perspective, as her choices for projects, and mine are always so different. Plus, a little fun spending money isn't minded either !

On a weather note, it was absolutely beautiful today, and I DID get my little ol' Jeep washed. She's sighing in relief as we speak.

Oh, and I almost forgot to mention that today was the first day this year that I've hung full loads of laundry out to dry on the clothesline. Yippee.......Spring is truly on it's way.

Happy Valentine's Day

2011-02-14T08:00:00.000-06:00

♥♥You make my HEART sing ! ♥♥

Today's temperature is supposed to be near 60, so I hope to turn the outside water faucet back on and wash my jeep !

A couple of new projects have fallen into my lap this week, so I hope to start a little bit of hand-applique later today, too.

Hope you spend the day with the people you love the most.........and remember that GOD is love; HE is the source of all love and life, and the reason you have special people IN your life !

Unwashed and unashamed.......

2011-02-12T14:19:00.004-06:00

.....I present,

ZIGGY

The back is just solid, yummylicious flannel in an aqua-dot.

Most of the fabric in this quilt's top came from the strip set from Connecting Threads, and is unwashed. So, I'm not in any hurry to wash the finished quilt......kindof questioning how all the colors will behave, and just a little too happy with the way it looks right now to chance it.

I can't get enough of the photos of the quilting in this quilt. I must have taken 50 shots between last night and today.

I chose a solid medium grey for the binding, very close in color to what is pieced at each end.

STATS:
Finished size: 45 inches by 67 inches.
Fabrics: 2 sets of 24--2 1/2 inch strips , plus probably 2 strips-each of 3 of my own colors.
Top pieced -- Jan 6 thru Jan 8, 2011
Hand-quilted -- Jan 27 thru Feb. 10, 2011
Binding -- Feb 11-12, 2011

The flannel on the back of the quilt made it stick to this fence like a design wall !

EDIT-EDIT ! ! ! ! NOT two months........

2011-02-10T21:04:00.003-06:00

CORRECTION: TWO WEEKS ago today I started hand-quilting the zigzag quilt.

Today I finished hand-quilting the zigzag quilt.

Hooray ! Hooray ! This was a VERY GOOD DAY !

Praise the LORD !

Now I need to decide on a binding fabric,

and sew it on,

giving me a good sturdy edge

from which to remove those final points !

SNOW news is OLD news.....

2011-02-09T18:15:00.003-06:00

....but it's still news to me !

Oklahoma got plastered again, and we here, southwest of Nashville, are finishing up with about 2 1/2 inches. Wow, I love to watch it snow ! I sat down at my sewing machine and was able to look up through the windows above it and get my heart's fill !

And........I finished this little top.........unless I decide to border it, which I HIGHLY doubt. It is what it is. I don't guess I"ll truly name it until I've quilted and finished it. I am now reminded of leaves lying on a swimming pool or some other water.

The photo is a bit overlightened, but was too dark before and I went with auto-adjust in my photo program.

On the techy side, I had two problems solved today.
My digital camera has been making me format the memory card after EVERY set of photos I take, and I suspected that it was more a problem with old batteries than with the card. I use rechargeable AA's and I've had them for atleast 4 years, maybe 5. I bought new ones today, and sure enough, no more problem with the card ! Yay, praise the LORD !

And I had a live online chat with my cable company because my phone was out YET AGAIN. I learned that power surges cause you to need to reset the modem by unplugging it and plugging it back in. Could I not have been told this one of the 6 or so times I've had this complaint before? Hmmmmm.......well, anyway, atleast it's working again and it was an easy at-home solution.

By the way, since Connecting Threads sent me a replacement set of strips, I am impressed with their customer service if not their quality control. So I want to mention that if anyone is interested in making a zigzag quilt like mine with solids, the sampler set of strips are on sale again, 40% off this time, making them $3.98 for a set of 24 2 1/2 inch strips, and it takes two sets to make a top like mine.
Scroll down the page a bit for the fabric samplers. I used the cool solids sampler, but am thinking that the light solids would make an awesome one.

6 more days to decorate our blogs with hearts !

2011-02-08T21:28:00.004-06:00

Then we can start looking for 'Springy' themes ! Woo HOO !

Today was a very good day........lots of sweet baby time. I watched Allyssia for 10 hours while her mommy was at her new job, house-cleaning/sitting with an elderly home-patient.

Baby-girl was very good, including an hour-and-a-half nap in the morning, and quiet play that allowed ME to play at my Autumn Blues quilt-top just a bit more. I won't bother with a photo tonight, as I'm close to finishing. I got half of the blocks sewn into rows and then into half a top.

Thank you for the generous enthusiasm over it. The leaves were pieced many years ago when I pieced the ones that are in this quilt. I guess I couldn't decide on a background, because I pieced about the same amount of leaves on a blue background as I did on a light background.
The light ones weren't even pieced for the quilt in which they wound up. There was originally a quilt in an issue of Quiltmaker that was all leaves and I collected the same fabrics that were featured in that quilt, and used the pattern, but that's where the similarity ended. That's the only quilt design for which I remember ever actually trying to purchase the exact fabric that I had seen made up in the original quilt.

The blue-backed leaves got put into a little plastic shoebox, and I revisited them often. Finally a few days ago I got the idea of making the blue scrappy nine-patches to set alternately with the leaf blocks. But when I lay it out, it just struck me as being too traditional for my current quilt-mood. So I arranged the leaves around the ninepatches, which really became just a scrap-square center, and I was much happier with the new look. I had one leftover leaf, and lacked 3 nine-patches to fill in the center, so I made 2 more nine-patches and threw in a green leaf for starting Fall's descent.

Photo taken at same time as previous shot.......not updated with today's progress.

Some people get the blues when Autumn comes around, with the foliage dying and all, but I'm always so ready for the change in temperature, and some good in-house recreation (quilting, sewing, or knitting at my age, don't get any other ideas now !) that it's kind of refreshing to me, and one of my four most favorite seasons. So, I'm dubbing the little quilt, "Blues of Autumn", or "Autumn's Blues". Which do you like? You can wait to see the finished quilt to decide.

Once again, this will be a small quilt,.......6 blocks wide by 8 rows long......7 3/8 inch blocks......approximately 44 x 59 inches, unless I add some kind of border.

Phew,.....been a little under the weather

2011-02-07T17:06:00.000-06:00

And what weather we have this year.

It's snowing again, .....

not alot, but coating the trees prettily again.

I've figured out that it's not only the blowing

wind during the snow,

but the rain that comes before hand that makes it

fill in all the places in the limbs and everywhere

. That God of ours,........what an artist !

Be safe and warm everyone........

Spring WILL come, and you'll have something to celebrate,

for sure ! I know that I WILL,

right Kelley?

And, when I get around to sewing again,

I hope to be playing around with this some more !

Yep, it's being hand-quilted

2011-02-02T21:46:00.001-06:00

I call it "big-stitch" and most people tend to do it with perle cotton, but I'm using different colors of quilting thread and an embroidery needle. I find that flannel backs take better to the bigger stitches, and wow, it is faster to do.

I'm not having to mark any of the quilting lines, as I am going once in the ditch of the colored zig, and once half-way through the zig. The rectangles finished at about 1 5/8 inches wide, so I'm just eyeballing it.

Every other day, I hoop the quilt in my 17 inch-square Q-snap frame, and that gives me four different colored zigs that I can quilt. I follow them all the way across the quilt horizontally. I start around 8:00 in the morning with the light coming through my sewing room window to where I sit in my glider-rocker, and usually the sun has gone from my window by the time I finish the four rows in the late afternoon. Of course, I'm jumping up and down all day long doing other household things too. In fact, I didn't get to finish my rows today, as I kept Allyssia for a few hours.

On the odd days, I take a day off from quilting to let the fingers get over the soreness caused by stabbing myself with that huge needle. (I can't wear anything on the finger under the quilt....it just keeps me from feeling whether or not I've made a good stitch all the way through.)

*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*@*
I want to send warm wishes and thoughts to those of you who are so covered up with the latest snow STORM. I am so sorry for the inconvenience it's causing you. I hope that you can stay in, well-fed, warm, and happily busy with your favorite craft/quilt.
All we got was a quick dusting of snow this morning, and then the sun came out and immediately melted it away. But I'm still enamored of the last snowfall we got, and just had to use another photo from it for my header.
We're supposed to get more snow this weekend, and all I can say is PRAISE GOD for keeping us warm and safe, and if it has to come, I hope it's a beauty like the Jan. 26th one.

I guess I made a MUG RUG

2011-02-01T17:28:00.004-06:00

New times, new names.........we would have just called it a coaster !
Maybe it would look more up-to-date if I had made it rectangular.

You girls have done a much better job of this than me !

I took one of the free-motion quilting practice pieces and colored it with crayons.

Oh, well. It will protect my little double-wedding ring quiltie........which they are now calling 'pickle dish', by the way !!!!!!!!!

(Thought I'd inject a little summertime blues into the winter's picture for all of you who are snowed in right now ! Stay warm and safe !)

Progress report on Ziggy

2011-01-31T18:13:00.001-06:00

The colors are truest in this photo that was taken using a flash.

He's half-done ! And, yes, my glass is OVER half-full !

Color is a little off, but the quilting contours show.

Attention VINTAGE SHEET COLLECTORS

2011-01-29T22:06:00.000-06:00

I just stumbled across a nice giveaway on this blog......7 fat quarters cut from vintage sheets.
Feel free to go and enter......I did !

66 degrees here

2011-01-29T15:27:00.000-06:00

and it's amazing how that and the sunshine lift your spirits out of the midwinter blues !

Yep, I know it's only temporary, but so are the blues, praise the LORD !

My fingers are sore from the big needle I keep poking them with, but I've finished a fourth of the quilt.

I just have to share these precious coveralls that my gal, Jodie, has made for her two grandsons.

Adorable.........er, uh, (think manly) those are right usable.

Color me HAPPY !

2011-01-27T18:14:00.003-06:00

Remember how I was so disappointed the other day that my local WalMart store wouldn't honor their online price of $39.00 for the 6 ft. folding table? I went ahead and paid $44.88 to be sure that I got the model that I wanted while I could find it? $5.00 extra........doesn't sound like a lot, but with the limited "fun budget" that I allow myself, it's quite a nudge.

Well,.................today's ad in our local paper announced a ROLL BACK on that table. It now sells for $34.88 ! That's right ! $10.00 LESS than I paid. I took my receipt out there and they refunded $10.95 to me ! Woo Hoo, glory HALLELUJAH !

I sat down later to start hand-quilting the zigzag quilt. Uh.....it's been awhile, and I don't love it so much as I used to ! Hand-quilting that is ! Actually, I never loved DOING IT, just the after product. Now, I just keep thinking .......hmmm...I could have this baby done in 2 days if I went to the machine !

EDIT: Wait, wait, now I'm getting my groove. I switched to a big needle and a bigger stitch, and I'm a happy camper again. I'm planning on using this quilt a lot, and didn't see any use in killing myself for tiny stitches. I don't know......like I said the other day, then was then and now is now, and I'm actually enjoying this, quilting it this way, so, as someone said the other day........WA-LAH !

Winter's most beautiful !

2011-01-26T08:24:00.000-06:00

Well, last post I established how old I am, and let me say that in all of those years, I don't remember EVER seeing this type of beauty from a snowfall !

When we went to bed, it was raining, in fact it had rained ALL DAY. This morning, looking out my window, I found that every tree, limb, crack, crevice, surface had been covered by this beautiful, wet, clumpy snow.

I mean, it is BEAUTIFUL !

There's not a LOT of it, so that driving shouldn't be too awful, although most of the towns around us, and this one too, are out of salt because of this banner year of snowfalls. The snowplow JUST went up our hill, in fact. But I dread the sun melting it, it's just that magical !

This photo looks a little unreal.

I want to say a special thank you to those of you who prayed for safe travel for yesterday's evaluation. We clocked 200 miles in gentle, constant rain, and there was NOT ONE problem all day. Favor is upon us, and I appreciate your prayers. Praise the LORD !

Facing Facts

2011-01-24T22:30:00.003-06:00

I'm coming to terms with some facts in my life.

I AM a QUILTER.
It's what I DO.

I also am 53 years old.

Gone are the days when I could set up a big basting frame and thread-baste for 3 hours straight and still walk upright when I'm through.
I also do not have room at home to set up such a frame except when the weather is nice and I can do it in the yard.

I cannot conveniently make bed-sized quilts right now......I just don't have the room to lay them out OR baste them. So, I am going to make the quilts I WANT to make, that fit my current situation........until I can no longer do THAT.

So......having mulled all of this over, today I treated myself to this little beauty. (Big Thanks Cheryl J. for the pingpong table inspiration !)

I have spent DAYS not quilting because I couldn't baste and didn't want to start something new until I had reached a point of quilting with the zigzag top. I really like it and want it to be my next quilt . I also really like the flannel that I bought for the back of it, and I think that I am going to hand-quilt it. We'll see when I get time to try it and see........this polyfil 80/20 batting feels kind of stiff, so it might be a nightmare to do by hand.

Anyway, back to my new 'helper'

I searched online for a 6-foot folding table, and found a price of $39.00 at Wally World. It showed that my local store, surprise of surprises, had one in stock.......I didn't notice that the site said that store prices MAY VARY. In store, it was $44.99. I argued the point, but lost. I decided to go ahead and pay the extra, though, as they have changed the table and the newer ones that they also had did not include the carry-strap/handle, and did not lock closed on the end.

They only had one of this older style and I like those features enough for it to be worth it to pay the markup.

I bought silly little plastic clamps that are really too small, but they were the best buy I could make locally today. I lay the quilt out and wondered how well it would go, but I'm pleased with the finished results. I think it actually came out better than if I had put it in the frame or if I had clamped it tight, as the flannel tends to stretch so easily. Tonight's work seems to have come out just right for THIS job.

I even basted the backing over the edges

incase I DO hand-quilt, as I suspect it'll take awhile and I'll want to snooze under it now and then when I nap. Hubby uses the flannel quilt that Jodie ann made for us when he had his first stroke.......in fact, we almost fight over it (nicely, of course), so finishing this one will be just in time. It still won't be a snuggly as the all-flannel one, but it'll do.

I did get one bit of sewing done a couple of days ago, when I was just going MAD for a little pieceing in my life (thankfully, I do have PEACE from the LORD).

Anyway, my bathroom in this trailer has a clothes dryer placed beside the toilet, and a shelf above the toilet. I have to put the hubby's shower bench on top of the dryer and I hate how it looks, so I took lots of my old browns and blacks and pieced up a nice long curtain to match my jungle-animal decor and hide the uglies.

Tomorrow we drive back for another 2-hour evaluation for the hubster. Blessedly the snow that was forecast for Tuesday has slowed down in it's track and we're supposed to have rain and 46degrees tomorrow, with the 1 to 3 inches of snow coming in tomorrow NIGHT, after we are back safely home. I praise the LORD for this HUGE BLESSING, and yet, still would not object to a prayer or two offered up for our safe travel for tomorrow. Thanks for that !

Goodnight, now.

Link to a giveaway !

2011-01-22T15:25:00.000-06:00

Someone named Lila Tueller is giving away a stack of fabrics, and you shouldn't miss the chance to win !

Here's your link.............now, GO !

It's snowing again !

2011-01-20T18:26:00.000-06:00

Here in Tennessee, that is.............not so much in LAWTON, OKLAHOMA !

See, Kelley,........I told you that you guys should move here close to Nana and PawPaw !

Looking back.....

2011-01-17T17:52:00.002-06:00

.....quite a way back, I mean, not 2010.

I was thinking today about all the numerically 'special' dates that have occurred recently, like January 1 and January 11 of 2011. The reason I was reminded was that I spied evidence of the first time I remember commemorating such a date.

I was quilting this quilt one day, and it occurred to me that the day's date was 01-02-03 !

I had seen many old quilts that had interesting things quilted into them, where people didn't notice until their eye accidentally fell on that particular spot. I decided that I just had to include that day's date into that day's quilting. Blessedly, I was quilting the borders, so it worked out perfectly to include the date at one end of the quilt.

I finished this quilt shortly thereafter, in 2003, and yet, until today, it had held it's pencil markings throughout several washes. Today, I washed it to remove likely dust from it having hung on my living room wall all summer, and SURPRISE..........among all the lovely, cottony crinkles, the pencil marks are GONE ! Oh, I'm so glad of that !

The center of the quilt was all hand-pieced, one of those many-year projects that you keep in a little box and pick up and put down for 'lap work'. When it reached a size big enough for a throw, I wanted to quilt and bind it, but I stumbled across some odd borders that I had pieced years before, and miraculously, they fit it. So I added them by machine (they had been machine-pieced), and I hand-quilted it.

For the back, I used 3 toile fabrics that I had been hoarding and couldn't bear to cut into little pieces. Since the borders were three different color-families, I felt that it gave me 'license' to use the three colors on the back (this was long before I used multi-fabric backings as a general rule ).

So, it turned out to be a favorite quilt, front AND back, and now it's truly wonderful with it's CLEAN new look.

This whole thing has me thinking about the quilt I'd like to be working on on November 11th of this year ! Think about it -- 11-11-11

Oh, and a little edit here........I made this today.

I know, I know, it's small and kindof useless, but it kept my mind and my hands busy, so it was definitely not worthless. I had 10 or 11 little blocks leftover from the zigzag top and when I lay them together on my cutting board, I took one look, and then another, and then I said, "oh, why not just sew them together just like that?" They fit a little pillow that I had lying around, probably 9 inches square or so, and give it a fresh look. The hubby called it pretty, so I'm calling it a success.

A day without quilting....

2011-01-15T18:37:00.000-06:00

......is like a day without sunshine. Blessedly, today I had plenty of each.

While the snow continued to melt, outside, I wanted to play, inside, without committing to a big project; so, I decided to try some string blocks. I cut 4 squares from typing paper, 8 1/2 inches square, and used a gently striped fabric for the center diagonal strip. Then I just kept adding strips on each side, using the scrap bag containing leftovers from Judy's cross quilt, and MaryLee's Diagonal Gardens quilt.

I trimmed them up, put them together to make a square on point in the middle, and quilted them free-motion. I backed them to make a pillow for my glider-rocker........I bought a pillow from the second-hand store a couple of months ago and forgot all about making a cover for it. I guess today was the day !

And since no quilt is complete without a cat giving her approval, I present China, nesting.
This serves as a welcome and a shout-out to my newest follower, Annie, whose kitten slept in a basket on her sewing table the entire time she 'played'.

China usually sleeps in the sewing room, but she's recently discovered the down comforter on my bed, and has started spending her days there. This is quite a compliment for my quilt, as there was plenty of comforter left for her to sleep on, but she still chose the quilt !

"A REAL PLUS"..........

2011-01-13T19:06:00.005-06:00

.......my first finished quiltie of the year.

She measures approximately 46 inches square, and was free-motion quilted on my Singer model 15-91.

I channel-quilted in alternating directions for connecting plus 'blocks'.

For the border, I drew the curvy line using a stencil, and then free-hand quilted in the leaves as I went around the quilt.

The backing is a combination of pieces pulled from my old stash of fabrics. It mainly consists of 'picture fabrics', which can be hard to fit into the average piecing of a scrap quilt. I really like the back, and managed to create one last 'plus' out of the giraffe print.

With the snow melting today, I just had to grab a few photos with this winter backdrop. After all, when I grew up in Tennessee, snow staying around this long was unheard of !

Thanks again for the fabrics, Jodie Ann.........including many (if not all) that are on the back !

NOTE : I was tagged on Jessica's blog today as being one of her favorite small blogs for people to check out. I so appreciate the notice, but just couldn't pick my favorite little blogs, so I'm going to suggest that you check out some of the many blogs along my sidebar. They're fascinating to look in on, and have followings of ALL sizes !

When you're out there stocking up.....

2011-01-12T17:06:00.002-06:00

......on the proverbial "milk, bread and eggs"........

DON'T FORGET THE TOILET PAPER !

Just sayin........

A Real Plus--sneak peek

2011-01-11T21:21:00.001-06:00

Thank goodness for pieces of batting that can be pieced together......backs too ! (I'm not revealing the back until I'm all done!)

Here's an in-progress photo......the center is all quilted. I need to figure out what I want in the rust border, and then quilt it and the little pieced outer border. As you can see, I still feel safer with thread-basting, and I was able to move things around enough in the living room today to set up the basting frame.

I'm liking how this is quilted. I just looked all over Flickr for plus quilts, and many of them are quilted the same, it seems........a quarter-inch in from the edge of the block, with the centers left empty. Not to pat myself on the back, but I like this look much better........plus, I got a REALLY GOOD upper body workout out of it at the same time ! Love that free-motion quilting .

Happy SNOWDAY !

2011-01-10T14:18:00.002-06:00

The potato soup was wonderful for lunch, topped with chopped red onion and crumbled bacon, served with a buttery slice of cornbread ! Ah, so good ! Thank you, Jesus !

I had fun going around sweeping the snow from my jeep and my front steps, but I am antsy, wanting to baste that zig zag or that plus quilt top. I don't like anything that I have for the back of the zigzag, really wanting to BUY some yummy flannels from Fabric.com !

I might be able to find something suitable for the plus top......I guess I should go do some digging around. Feeling lazy with a full belly and the hubby snoozin' in the recliner !

Be safe and stay warm !

photo courtesy of fabric.com

EDIT: That old clock ticking down works on me almost every time !
Fabric.com was warning that this was the last day.......midnight limit......to order the flannel that I wanted for $3.98 per yard, so I went for it. Rather than piece a back, I finally decided that I wanted all the lusciousness of pure aqua on the back of the zigzaggy, so I just ordered 3 yards of the ONE fabric. Doesn't it look snuggly? Can't you just feel it? Ahhhhhhhhhhhh

Flowing like a river.........the new zigzag quilt-top

2011-01-08T18:49:00.002-06:00

Well........it was MEANT to flow like a river. There seems to be a boulder or two standing in the middle of the stream !

I love the look of stained glass here when it was hanging in the window partially pieced.

Here it is hanging above the couch, which already sports a zigzag (better known as ripple) afghan on the bottom portion. The afghan was purchased at a yard sale. I thought that it would be fun to add the zigzag quilt across the back top of the couch.

In this photo, I'm pointing out the fabrics that I had the most trouble placing. I wanted a good smooth flow from light to dark through the middle of the quilt, but the color changes between greens, blue-greens, and blues was very difficult. I settled on what I thought was a good value flow, ignoring the color, but I now see that the two blues stick out. I tried placing them after the blue-greens, but when placed next to the blues down there, they wanted to appear purply. Of course, when I tried to move them into the purple section, they appeared to be BLUE.

So, this is it. The band of turquoise/blue-greens is a bit overwhelming compared to the other color bands, but in person, it's lively and pretty. Overall, I'm pleased with the top, and may just want to hand-quilt this one. I'm undecided on that yet. I dread cutting off the points, but I'll probably draw a straight line around the top first, stay-stitch along it, and THEN trim the points. If I had a little wavy stitch on any of my sewing machines, I would machine-quilt it like this quilt on Flickr .......it's AWESOME !

By the way, I basically used this method of cutting and assembly, but with 2 1/2 inch strips, thereby subcutting to 4 1/4 inch squares.

Connecting Threads has offered to send a replacement set of strips, but I don't want them to bother. There were 3 strips that were really badly cut, but I made them work, so I'm just happy to hear them say that this is not their normal quality, but just a quirk. Be aware, though, if you have trouble with yours, that they will make it right.

And is it just me, or does fabric ravel more than it used to ? That's probably a quality issue too, I guess, but wow, some of the fabrics I've worked with in the last year........including some that were quite expensive.........have been a real mess of threads after the normal amount of handling necessary to piece a top !

EDIT: Connecting Threads has sent me a replacement set of strips without even waiting on my response to their email.......very good customer service !

So close now !

2011-01-07T22:58:00.000-06:00

All the components are made......the squares all cut, and sewn into rows, and most of the rows pieced to each other. The zigzag top is in 5 pieces right now, which means that I lack 4 long seams.

I had part of the top on my bed and part on the ironing board, as it grew too big to keep together in the sewing room..........and that caused a problem ! Somehow, I got squares placement off just a bit, and had to do a little bit of unstitching and restitching as I started to put the final rows together.

So, no photo tonight,.........but, hopefully, SOON !

ZigZag, second day of piecing

2011-01-06T22:07:00.002-06:00

I had a nice afternoon with Allyssia, and then got right back to work......actually, I even snuck in a little piecing while she was here, she is so sweet. Her mama told me not to bother giving her a bath right away, as she hadn't finished her lunch yet.......she was covered in chocolate, and I was handed a ziploc baggy of pizza pockets ! I told hubby that that meant that I couldn't get any pictures when she headed straight for my dollies, babbling "babby!" But, I couldn't resist, and snapped a few anyway..........hey, it's been a long time since I could document some good ol' PIG-MOOCHIES. And don't think I didn't grab me some, too, Kelley !

Back to the quilt-piecing.....

working on the diagonal like this, as I piece the squares into diagonal rows, some rows are completed before others, starting at the upper right hand corner. So, each time a row is completed, I add it to the previous finished ones, thereby piecing the long row seams as I go. This way, I won't have a gazillion rows to sew together at the finishing of the quilt-top.

I came across two turquoises that were SO CLOSE in hue that they may be indistinguishable in the finished top. It may look like I made one double row of the same color through the middle of the quilt. I'll just have to wait and see. I didn't dare remove that near-color set of strips, as the quilt-top is already pretty limited in size.

According to my count, I've now pieced 17 out of 27 rows. I did 9 yesterday, so that's not bad, getting another 8 done today. I think that it's because I've worked out a nice rhythm to my method now !

Progress/process.......toMAYto, toMAHto !

2011-01-06T11:09:00.001-06:00

I tried to post this last night, and it wouldn't let me do anything but a title !

I worked on the zigzag top yesterday, which by the way, doesn't seem to be wanting to be wonky at all.......we'll see when the entire thing is pieced. Sometimes diagonal piecing in itself comes out wonky !

Anyway, here's a shot of how I lay out my strips, after I had decided on the color arrangement that I wanted. I'm having purple and blue at one end, going through aqua, up to greens at the other end, with a few out of place pieces wherever they seemed to fit. The strips seem to look different-colored within a zigzag row, but that is just the way the light hits the nap of the fabric.

For the zig zags, I need to make one set of strips, with say, the dark green and the medium dark green,......then the next strip needs to be the same medium-dark green with a medium green. So I had to have two of each strip color. They are laid out here on the ironing board ready for piecing.

At the end of the day, I had about 1/3 of the strip-sets done, as I am piecing a set, subcutting them into squares, and adding them to the previous set's squares, creating diagonal rows. I preferred this idea to piecing and cutting all of the squares at once, and then trying to lay them all out and traipse back and forth from my bed (design wall, LOL) at one end of the trailer, to the sewing machine at the other end. Before going to bed, I pictured what it would be like to wake up to find that the cats, who are closed up in the sewing room at night, had gotten into the strips and mixed up the order. So, I promptly stowed them away, in order, in a basket with something placed on top to discourage any curiosity !

Here's the progress from yesterday's piecing. It almost seems to shimmer a bit, huh? Cool !
I don't expect to get much done on it today, as I am watching Allyssia this afternoon, and this morning seems to be flying by at warp speed with household duties.

This is going to be an odd-sized quilt, as I am making it to the size that these two stripsets will allow. It should work out to be a very good size for the back of the couch, which I keep covered against pethair.

Something new, perhaps?

2011-01-04T19:39:00.003-06:00

I haven't run across the idea yet, but necessity IS the mother of invention, so I may be one of the first to piece a WONKY zigzag quilt.

The strips from Connecting Threads are RIDICULOUSLY WONKY !
I am terribly sorry, Janet, (or anyone else who took my prompt on Cyber Monday) if I caused you to order something that will cause you problems in your quilts..

On many of them, you can tell that they folded them selvage to selvage, which is great, but then they folded them again, before cutting strips. I ALWAYS AVOID THIS, unless I have done a cut first to make sure that I have a true right angle lined up with the fold. If not, you almost ALWAYS end up with elbows in your fabric strips......and that AIN'T good ! But that's what I've got here , big time.

So, I studied on it, and played around with the idea of just sewing two strips together the best I can, and then sub-cutting the two pieced 2 1/2 inch strips to get a 4 or 4 1/4 inch square. I'll lose quite a bit of size on my top, since I should have been able to get 4 1/2 inch squares, but this way, I can turn the ruler just a bit, to work in a little wonkiness, and maybe wind up with something a bit unique.

Most likely it'll barely be noticeable, as I'm doing color gradations, so the lines between color changes will be a bit blurred. But it's nice to know that the imprecision caused by their sloppy cutting won't mess up my quilt !

1-1-11

2011-01-01T22:24:00.002-06:00

I've finished piecing my first little quilt top of the year.

I'm not happy. The size is more useful, I suppose, but I liked it better last night, when it had no borders.

But when I told hubby, last night, that, no, it wasn't going to be any bigger, he LAUGHED.
Now, I SHOULD be stronger-willed than to have changed it, but I guess this proves that I'm not.........YET. Borders are removable, aren't they? I mean, it's not like he probably thinks that THIS is a usable size either !

I just wanted to see the little plus quilt in front of my eyes......it pleased me. What still pleases me is the fact that this little top is made up primarily from three gifts sent to me from Jodie Ann.....a Moda scrapbag of strips, fabrics for my birthday, and fabrics for my Christmas present.

This is the center portion of my quilt.

And this is the workup I did before with EQ5. I wanted to compare the two.

Thank you, Jodie.......this fabric is totally out of the color families I play in right now, but made a gorgeous quilt. This was fun and a great way to start the new year.

Setting the tone.....

2010-12-31T18:40:00.000-06:00

Years ago I heard it said that whoever you kissed at midnight on New Year's Eve was who you would be kissing all throughout the next year. Well, hubby and I did it right, marrying on New Year's Eve, just to make sure it was a LIFETIME committment. I don't regret that decision, so tonight I'm setting up 2011 in a different way.

Some rows are pieced and some aren't.......that's why they don't match up. whaddya think? I can't sew? LOL !

I'm piecing a little quilt top tonight, to ensure that I get to spend lots of time quilting in the new year !

I am so very thankful to my LORD and Saviour for another year of freedom, good health, hubby's companionship, family and friends.
Here's wishing each of you loads of blessings in the coming year, and lots of time to sew and quilt, too !

20 quilts from 2010....

2010-12-30T18:02:00.005-06:00

I think I've finished all the quilts I'm going to this year !

But that's not a bad thing.......it was actually a VERY GOOD YEAR !

Praise the LORD !

Next idea running through my head looks a little bit like this.......I see them all over the net/ I think that Kaffe Fassett did one of these in a book of his.

Oh, and here's a shot of my VERY MOST FAVORITE Christmas present !

Well, the mad rush to make the perfect gift is over for another year !

2010-12-27T21:47:00.004-06:00

We had a very nice, quiet, WHITE Christmas.

We got just the right amount of snow, praise the LORD !

About an inch covered most of the grass, but left the roads clear for travel. Hubby and I joined my brother Jeff and his family for Christmas day dinner, after spending a quiet morning with the window curtains open to watch the snow softly falling.

Gifts under the tree were very generous, and we are appreciative to everyone who remembered us with greetings, or cards, or packages. You are so dear !

As for decorating, we started out by cutting down a wee, little Cedar tree at the edge of our lot here, but after a week of inside heat, it was so brittle that it was a lethal weapon to be around.

So, out came the little 1 foot, stand-by, artificial tree that has served me well before. We just adorned it with the few handmade, leather ornaments that hubby-dear made back around 1984, and a couple of others that couldn't be left off.

I must mention that Kelley, my daughter, took the hint and bought my Christmas gifts from my Etsy favorites that are displayed in my sidebar. I got yummy new charm squares and triangles to play with, and my head is spinning trying to decide what I'll make !

Waiting for that inspiration to hit, I spent a few hours yesterday and today knitting Piper a new sweater. I left the armholes plain, without picking up stitches for sleeves, as it seemed that they would just hinder the movement of her little bitty legs. I see from the photo that the armholes look a little odd, so I may try to knit just a couple or so rows there.

Keep your eyes open this week.......

2010-12-23T22:19:00.003-06:00

.........ever watchful for the BEST gifts !

We found them 'round here !

Over the last few days, two of the most wonderful gifts were opened............HEARTS--full of love, and MOUTHS -- full of laughter.

This Christmas, I have truly felt the closeness of family that I have so long missed .........not only that first, excited, reunited love, but the deeper, 'there every day, a real part of my life now' love.

I could not know this kind of happiness without first acknowledging the most important fact........my heavenly father loves ME.........I have done not one thing to deserve it, but am reminded daily of what a deep and abiding and unforgetting love it is. I could never earn it, but knowing about HIS love and accepting it, I have a desire and a responsibility to live in a certain way and to share that love with those around me.

For all of my friends who read this and my family who checks in here too..........I have a need for you to know that I love you, more than you will ever know........your presence in my life is the second greatest present I could ever, ever, EVER ask for. The best thing I can wish for you this Christmas is to be as blessed as I am........and you are. If you don't feel it, or can see no sign of it......find out why. Seek God's presence in your life and the first, most precious gift that HE gave YOU, the one that we're celebrating this weekend. Please......claim it and know peace and joy no matter what else is going on in your life.

Then, you too will have a

MERRY CHRISTMAS

and the happiest of new years !

News for family and personal friends

2010-12-22T17:27:00.003-06:00

Hubby's evaluation went well yesterday, may have more, won't know until first week of January.

My appointment was postponed, due to his news, until May 9.

Praise the LORD, this means a Merry Christmas for us.............AND we wish the same TO YOU !

Mitts, mitts, they're easy to knit !

2010-12-18T21:00:00.000-06:00

I made a red, handspun wool pair

and a black, mostly acrylic pair.

And I had forgotten to show the back of the little garden quilt........I loved this fabric so much--I tried really hard to get it onto the front, but it didn't make it !

Cool -- Warm

I love how the new little quilties are personalizing my sewing room........and I love how the lamp' light shows the quilting contours of the quilties.

Lost?

2010-12-17T21:21:00.000-06:00

Anytime I finish a project, I'm kindof 'lost' for a bit, refiguring what direction I'll go off into next.

So, today, I picked up the 4 leftover blocks from "Garden Walkways" and put them together for a little remembrance to hang in my sewing room. It let me do the free-motion quilting that I'd been hankering for without having to commit to the wrestling match entailed with a bigger quilt.

It's fun, it's 18 inches square, and it gives me something new to hang on the wall.

Praise the LORD -- chalk up another finish for 2010 !

2010-12-16T19:05:00.003-06:00

This one's a done deal !

I'm going to have to stop and count how many quilts have been finished this year since the LORD led me to learn how to machine-quilt !

For the binding, I cut strips from all the leftovers that I could find, and angled their ends before joining them.

Then I tried to balance the color all around the quilt.

I wound up not quilting the border at all. I attempted to free-motion quilt, and the machine kept skipping stitches.........I don't mean one or two stitches.......I mean for about an inch and a half it wouldn't stitch, and then it would start again ! After doing this twice, and my checking to see if everything was right about the machine, I decided that the borders were MEANT to be left plain.

This is a birthday gift for a family member/friend who will be 81 or 82 in January, and who is in the nursing home. The size finished at about 54 x 76, which should cover the top of her hospital-type bed.

I need a good name for this one, as I've called it several different things while making it. I don't remember seeing anything like this before I started; I was just inspired by the simple block when I saw it in a very unsimilar quilt setting.

Now today, I ran across a quilt that really reminded me of this one, though the design is a little more structured, instead of so off-kilter, like mine. So funny to run across it today as I was finishing mine.

One other thing that I can share now is this little quilt that I made for best Okie pal, JodieAnn, known in my comments as Anonymous.

It's sadly small,.....only about 16 inches square, I guess. I started a wall-hanging for Jodie way back atleast 23 years ago, and this one appliqued block was as far as I got. I made her a totally machine-sewn one instead, which included a pieced sewing machine and pin-cushion, if I remember right. The makings for this wall-hanging went into a shoebox and sat on my shelves all of these years. I pulled it out a few weeks ago, and decided to finish the one block for her, and do some 'big-stitch' quilting with embroidery floss, as I've admired that kind of work around the 'net lately.

Tuesday was her birthday, and although she received this little quiltie in time, I shamefully forgot to wish her a happy day that day. Jodie, please forgive me, and know that it's been a crazy week around here. All excuses aside, I love you, girl, you know that !

There's nothing like FREEDOM !

2010-12-15T20:42:00.001-06:00

Thank you LORD for my freedom, this and EVERY day !

And a day stuck at home anticipating icy weather will let you enjoy lots of it. I made the best of it today, I think. I got up and got my dishes washed and my floors mopped, grabbed my package from the mailbox (thank you, Kelley.......she took the hint and shopped for my Christmas gifts from the Etsy box of favorites in my sidebar.......HOORAY !) ....and went to work quilting the diamonds.

I thought that I was going to free-motion quilt it, but decided to try using my walking foot down in an obscure corner. I liked the look and feel of it, so I just continued with it. Most of the quilting is in the ditch. I started with the big floral diamonds, and then outlined around the little colored triangles. Then I decided to stitch two parallel lines down the middle of all the floral fabrics, to encourage the illusion of one continuous fabric diamond. I like it.

I marked these lines with an old skinny bar of soap,

and it disappeared so quickly, or was so invisible to begin with, that I had to place safety pins all along it to aim my quilting foot at. That worked well though.

I think I still need to quilt something in the borders.......not sure. I may try binding one edge first to see how it would look as is. I didn't overquilt, because the polyester batting was giving the quilt a nice poofiness that I wanted to keep.

It nearly killed me !

2010-12-14T20:50:00.001-06:00

Three full hours basting that quilt ! Thread basting, because I still think it's the most stable for a big project....

Alone....

.......not an Outlaw in sight ! (that's our quilting group in Oklahoma)

I called down to the senior center yesterday and asked if I could use a room to baste a quilt. She said anytime between now and next Wednesday. I said it'd only take about 2 1/2 hours........"oh, then you can come tomorrow afternoon !"

Hooray !

I gathered my things at noon today, and went down to find that I had a whole, huge room all to myself. I set up the frame, with interested onlookers and chatty comments. I started at 1:30 and basted until 4:30. I was dehydrated, and had to stop once to ask for water from the kitchen......no pop machine there. My back was aching, the backs of my thighs were screaming from stretching to the middle of the frame and crab-walking as I basted from one side to the other.

Phew.

I had this extra-wide piece of cotton fabric that was just perfect for the back.

I miss my girls....that's you, Jo, Wanda, Terri, Mary Ellen, Mary !
I believe that may be the last fairly big quilt I baste until I can find help !

The good news is, though, I ran into Mildred,the fellow church member whom I've heard owns a long-arm machine. It was afterwards, and I was grocery shopping against tomorrow's promised ice storm. There she was and I told her how I was beat from basting, and I asked her how much she charged for her quilting. She said, "I'm not going to tell you, because you're welcome to use the machine anytime you want." I said, "don't say that, because I'll come !" She said, "I mean it......the LORD has blessed me with that machine, and I let people use it anytime they like." I said, "Mildred, you're a love........I'll CALL YOU !"

So, here I sit with the basted quilt. I experimented and bought a polyester batting. I haven't tried free-motion quilting with anything but a cotton batting, but Christina of the quiltalong told me to let her know how it goes if I decided to try this. I basted it at every block seam and in the middle of each block, so it's basted less than 4 inches apart in both directions. If I had made smaller stitches, it'd be QUILTED, it's so close. But, I knew that I had to guard against the slipperiness of the polyester.

I'll let you ALL know how the quilting goes when I get to it !

Snow day !

2010-12-13T08:40:00.003-06:00

It snowed all day yesterday, the most beautiful swirling, blowing dry snow. I was driving home from Church and commented that HOPEFULLY, there won't be many times that I'm driving under those conditions, so I needed to enjoy the beautiful scene I was seeing through my windshield.

We got about an inch and a half to 3 inches, depending on the area. That means that my appointment was cancelled today........ don't know yet about the hubby's scheduled evaluation tomorrow . I guess we'll wait and see what the temps do today, and then call this afternoon and try to find out what the roads are like between here and there. It's a 2+ hour drive to the west of us on a small 2-lane highway, so I want to be sure I can navigate it safely. They assured us that we can reschedule if necessary........trouble is, when can you count on GOOD weather in December?

EDIT: I just received a phone call from his appointment's office, telling us that we can change the timing to NEXT Tuesday. Now, let's pray for CLEAR road conditions, LORD's will prevailing !

In the meantime, I'll share this photo of the mitts that I made for my daughter and son-in-law. She found that her good mitts had been damp and have molded in storage. I'm not into complicated patterns right now, so just whipped up these simple garter-stitch mitts. The pattern is from Lion Brand.....you'll have to join to see it........and it whips up really quickly. I don't like having to stitch things together in knitting or crochet, but it's really a simple job. I used 30 stitches, as the pattern calls for, but went 25 ridges, including the row on the needles, for the bigger set, and 19 ridges (I'm still not good at counting rows in knitting, can you believe that?) for Kelley's set. This is shorter than they tell you to knit, but with my worsted yarn, and size 8 and 10 needles, the sizing I did is just right, I think.

A productive day !

2010-12-10T19:11:00.003-06:00

Ya wanna see?

Really?

Okay...........here's a peek.....

And here's the whole thing, scrapped-out border and all.

All my blocks are pieced !

2010-12-09T19:22:00.002-06:00

Blessedly, I spent the morning watching this little one.........she crashed for a 45 minute nap around 10:30 this morning, after arriving at 7 a.m.

Since she's my grand-niece, I assured her that she TOO is one of my grandbabies. She loves coming here and I love having her. Everyone needs a baby in their life ONCE IN A WHILE.

As soon as she left, I grabbed MYSELF a nice nap and then got back to work on this quilt top.

With all of the blocks done, now I need to find time and space to lay them all out. I was aiming for 60 blocks, to make a quilt measuring approximately 48 x 80, for a twin-sized hospital bed. Supposedly, I needed 55 inches of white in order to overcut the background triangles and have enough. But somehow, even though I had 2 yards of the white, I ran short.

So I've pieced the 58 blocks that I had enough background for, and will attempt to make the top with 6 blocks across and 9 down, for a total of 54 blocks on front. That should measure about 48 x 72, requiring a 3 or 4 inch border. That's fine........it really needed a little width anyway (my blocks had to be cut to come out at 7 3/4 finished rather than 8 inches because the laundered fat quarters would not give me 4 9 inch squares each)

This may be the largest quilt I've yet attempted to machine-quilt. There is a lady at Church that owns a long-arm quilting machine (or so I've heard)........I may talk to her about using it. If not, I'll need to go somewhere to baste this one and then attempt to quilt it on my old faithful Singer 15-91.

This is how it starts.

2010-12-06T22:25:00.010-06:00

Translation into actual fabric begins..........

Jo, be a sport and ignore the flipped block in this photo !

I decided to use all florals for the large triangles, and use the near-solids for the small triangles.

Arrangement is still full of possibilities. I've pieced about 17 out of 60 blocks.

The beginning of something fun and cheerful.

Arranging my post gets more and more strange everyday..........thanks for trying (my patience), BLOGGER !

Oh, the guilt !

2010-12-04T19:36:00.003-06:00

Hubby's taking my cold now. Yuck.......well, atleast I'm feeling good enough to take care of him........the LORD does provide !

Today, I made another one of the pleated pouches. I decided to see what it would be like if it had batting in it, since I didn't have any interfacing to try.

I also added a 'ledge', as Georgia Bonesteel used to call it, an inserted piece between the two main pattern pieces, just for accent. I like how it came out.

The pleated pouch finishes at 5 1/2 x 7 inches.

I was 'talking' to a fellow blogging friend who was thinking about making tissue holders, so I thought I'd try to make a matching kleenex pouch, too. The pattern, which was posted by the same blogger as the pleated pouch, was simple, and, once again, I added batting.

While digging through my sewing room, I ran across some special penguin printed kleenex that I think Jodie Ann had sent me at some point, so I made a matching, snowy kleenex holder for them too.

I realized yesterday, while wrapping T.J. and Zoe's hats for shipping, that I hadn't shared a photo of hers since I had finished it. They went off in today's mail, and just in time for some really cold air, I think.

Note to JoAnn and Wanda.....the date for that awaited evaluation has finally been set, so perhaps things will start moving along again. Praise the LORD, we have the holidays !

Well, so much for momentum.......

2010-12-03T19:27:00.002-06:00

....last post, I had gotten to work in the sewing room, trying to make up a few little Christmas gifties.

Then, the COLD hit........I don't mean the cold temperature........I mean a cold like I haven't had in years. I spent Wednesday in and out of bed all day. I'm slowly coming back now, and probably shouldn't have tried to sew. I needed to make one more Christmas stocking for my house, as I realized that I have never made my last grandson, Seth, a stocking.

Kelley's decided to buy them all new stockings for her house, now that they've decided that their family has STOPPED growing.......except for pets, that is (they added a new doggy just this week and a kitten a couple of months ago!)

Anyway, my hubby points out that this stocking is THE LEAST elaborate of all the stockings, so I may have to further decorate it sometime or make a whole new one when inspiration hits.

Here's an in-progress shot, when I had finished free-motion quilting the back of the stocking.

And here are shots of all five stockings.

Seth's

T.J.'s

Zoe's

Kelley's

and Tim's

Oh, and guess what, Kelley.........
all five of
MY stockings
are the SAME SIZE !

I also wanted to note the new charm squares I got for my birthday.

Both best-pal gals, JodieAnn and Wanda, in Oklahoma, sent me charms......and they could even go together in the same project, the colors are so similar !

Beautiful.

Pouch Day !

2010-11-30T20:12:00.001-06:00

I finally PRYED myself loose from this computer chair long enough to get a little something done in the sewing room again......little being the key word, mind you !

When I checked out Quilt Taffy's blog this morning she was linking to a pleated, zippered pouch tutorial. It got my mind a'hoppin, and I took a shot at making one partly on my own, partly helped by various tutorials from several different blogs, including Noodlehead's.

I couldn't find one that had a ruffle like I wanted so I added it myself..........

these are the first two that I made this afternoon.

Then, I went back and cut out one of the pleated ones from the earlier reference. I just finished it.

I hope that these will help me to make up little gifts for some of the girls on my Christmas list........now to find some yummy lipsavers to add to them !

Oh, and my second order from Fabric.com came while I was sewing......gotta love that !

I picked up a nice set of greys, and a couple of others from Jay McCarroll's lines.

CYBER MONDAY is FUN !

2010-11-29T15:56:00.009-06:00

And a bit frustrating............but still FUN !

Photo coutesy of ConnectingThreads.com

I got two sets of each of these samplers......I think that's enough to make 2 zig zag quilts at around 50 x 70

I've been deciding on my order of solids over at Connecting Threads. I've wanted to build up my stash, and had to decide between pre-cuts and fat quarters. I went with the 2 1/2 inch strips. You know how expensive jelley-rolls are, at 25 to 30 dollars apiece..........well, I know that you usually get atleast 40 fabrics, but these solids from CT come with 24 strips for $3.30.........did you read that right........YES...........$3.30 ! ! ! !

I mean look at this page....... a bundle of 24 fatquarters is only $11.88 !

No, I don't work for the company; I am just overwhelmed. They went half-off on all of these samplers today, and WOW !

I had lots in my cart and couldn't make up my mind which ones I couldn't live without. I was trying to keep it under $19.99, so that the shipping would stay at $3.89. Well, items started disappearing from my cart while I was still mulling the whole thing over.

This is the set that I missed.......Kelley, feel free to grab a couple of the strip sets and send them to me for Christmas.......the sale continues until tomorrow night at midnight because they had problems earlier.

Let me tell you that THAT stirred me up. The crazy and aggravating thing is, once I paid for what I got, and went back to look again (why do I always do that)........the items that had disappeared from my cart were back for sale again. Earlier they had been unavailable except to add to my wish list.......now you can put them in your cart again. Sadly, I wish I had gotten them, but I won't pay the price of a jellyroll for another shipping charge, so I guess that's what it took to help me make a decision.

Anyway, their sale on these beat Fabric.com this time. Fabric.com has been making their hourly offers all day via Facebook. They're on their final offer right now..........25% off your entire purchase until midnight. (EDIT-EDIT : mistake on that timing.....it was just until 5 p.m.)

Connecting Threads Cyber Monday sale continues an extra 24 hours because of glitches earlier in the day, so GO FOR IT !

By the way, CLUCK. CLUCK. SEW is having an unannounced special for Cyber Monday, and it is good until noon tomorrow. Her patterns are "buy one, get one free". If interested, please comment on her latest post, and tell her you heard about it here. She's a doll and so is the baby in her post !

Personally, I love this pattern of hers, and hope to be making it really soon.

Ha, I just noticed how very colorful and cheerful my blog is today ! Hooray for bright moments in cloudy seasons ! PRAISE THE LORD !

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all !

2010-11-25T16:59:00.003-06:00

What a wonderful day.........we're all stuffed like the proverbial bird, although I actually made cornbread dressing.

Jeff, Mandy, Christopher, and Allyssia joined us for a noon meal, and there was WAY too much food, Praise the LORD !

I hope you can take it easy and relax and enjoy family......or quiet.......or BOTH tonight.

My birthday "loot" from Jodie Ann

Tomorrow is mine and Zoe's birthdays..........my best gal pal, Jodie Ann surprised me with a goodie package full of fabric and magazines, a tote bag, and even some Irises from the state of OKLAHOMA ! She grabs goodies for me all the time when she sees a little something that she knows I'll like.......even HANKIES ! So thoughtful..........Love you, Jodie,........thank you so much !

Today's gathering from our walk.......the tree is almost empty !

Hubby and I took our walk as soon as we could pry our overstuffed bodies from the furniture........the treasures I picked up look alot like the loot that Jodie sent me, huh?

It's 67 degrees right now, and we're supposed to have a rain/snow mixture this evening.......just a reminder to get ready for Winter's icy blasts ! A person could get way TOO used to the wonderful Fall temperatures we've been having.

Finished little Christmas quilt

2010-11-22T16:03:00.001-06:00

Hopefully, these will be the last photos I share of this little quilt. I've started to feel like I just keep this blog so that I can receive compliments on my work. Forgive me if it seems that way. I only want to share my progress and my creative outlet, as I said before, missing my "in-person" quilting friends as I do. Also, this absolutely serves as my journal to look back on to see what I was doing with this time of my life.

Having said that, this is the best photo I could get of the entire quilt, and yet, I still cut off some of it around the edges.

And here's the back........it doesn't photograph well. In person, it is quite scrumptious, with a wonderful happy feeling of red and white.......kind of like a Christmas candy cane.

Here's my best out-of-doors shot.

And then, there's these. Everyday when we walk, my husband and I are in awe of this big, gorgeous tree. It's red on one side, and yellow and orange on the other. He kept wanting a photo, and we almost waited too late. Today when he saw that the leaves were gone already out of the very top, he insisted that we drive back down and grab a couple of photos. I'm really glad that he did. I love that man AND our walks, and Wow, the LORD sure paints a pretty picture !

The last of the beauties on our street.

No, this isn't my house, but I get to enjoy this beauty everyday !

Give thanks

2010-11-22T11:56:00.001-06:00

Yes, Natalia, as you remind us to be thankful,

my mind goes to seeing my husband raise his hand to God

in praise in Church yesterday morning.

I am thankful for a God that is teaching me generosity,

and supplying me with the ability to give.

I am thankful for family near and far,

for toothless smiles from grandchild and hubby

(and sometimes, self !).

I am thankful for Church family,

and health to walk and to hear and to speak

and to EAT !

I am thankful for creativity, and, again,

supply to satisfy those creative urges.

I am thankful for internet friends who I sometimes

spend more time talking to than local ones.

May GOD bring to mind all of OUR blessings,

and REMIND us

that they are enjoyed more as we share them

this season and always.

That's my CHINA cat that was a-slackin' !

2010-11-21T13:45:00.002-06:00

She slept there on my table no matter what I threw on top of her..........she's blessed that she still has all of her tail, the way I was wielding that rotary cutter !

Thank you for the praise on my machine-quilting !

No, I don't have a long-arm machine.........I told you guys that I was serious about that machine-quilting quilt-along that I was following.......well, it's been a huge blessing to me, giving me pleasure and a sense of instant gratification when it comes to my quilts. Jodie, I'm using my old black machine in the cabinet, the Singer Model 15-91.......I learned how to lower her feeddogs, and I'm adapting to her 'run-on'.

This is the first time that I've attempted the feathers on anything other than my notebook paper and a practice piece of quilting. But I figured that I didn't have too much invested in this little quilt, and since I had already been disappointed in my quilting of the block's center squares, I didn't have alot to lose.

Well, number one, let me say that you really can't tell what I was trying or NOT TRYING to do in those centers, so they're just fine by me. And I was blown away by how simple it was to do the feathers.

I just started out by free-hand quilting a softly waving line all around the quilt in that outer border. Then I went along one side of it, making the big loops or 'feathers'. Next, I did the same thing on the opposite side of that center wavy line. Then I went along 'echoing' about 1/4 inch outside of each set of feathers.....always going all the way around the quilt with each step.

Before I knew it , I was done, and so tickled !

The holly leaves in the inner sashes were practiced on paper first, and the most difficult part was trying to make the 'holly berries' look good without overlapping lines. The first ones were kindof rough, but long before I finished the long sashes, I was totally confident in doing them. I know the berries are oversized compared to real life proportions, but that's just poetic license letting me fill a specific-sized area.

I have just enough of the muslin left to bind the quilt, which I hope to get done tomorrow.
It may be a simple design, but it surely does lift my spirits to walk into the sewing room and see it.

Someone's slackin'......

2010-11-20T21:17:00.000-06:00

........but it wasn't me !

I know the joy of simple things......

2010-11-19T21:45:00.002-06:00

....GOD has blessed me that way.

I find simple joy in piecing a back that brings me as much happiness as the front........(I'll try to get a better shot of it once it's quilted).

I find simple joy in being able to come up with all I need to finish the quilt, right here in my own stash.

I find simple joy in bringing home one solid turquoise quarter yard of fabric from the local fabric store.

I find simple joy in bringing home a relative of the hubby's to spend a nice hour in talk of old, remembered days, and things we have missed over the years.

I am truly thankful for these and so many other blessings.

Beckoning......beckoning.....

2010-11-18T21:55:00.000-06:00

is this growing basket of coordinates. I'm adding fabrics but still undecided what the project will be. My Tufted Tweets fabric sneaks in there nicely, so I'm gonna be really picky about what I use it for.

But, in the meantime........Do you ever find yourself just making something because that's what we do? I mean, sometimes, and more often lately it seems, I just start something that seems to come out of nowhere. Today's project is made from a little bundle of fabric that I've had in reserve for maybe 3 or 4 years, I guess. I always wanted a little quilt around for the grandbabies to recognize each Christmas. I never got it made while they were around my house......that's how it is--when you're busy WITH them, you don't always get to make FOR them.

Today, I ran across the bundle and decided to try a simple quilt that was similar to the quilt that is being made in the "That girl, that quilt" quiltalong. I didn't have much fabric, so I just made blocks a few at a time, to see how far I COULD go. When it came time to try to 'wonky-up" the blocks, I found that it is difficult to get just the right degree of wonkiness without it looking overly planned. So, I just decided to trim the blocks straight. When I lay the blocks out onto the bed, I noticed that some blocks seemed larger than others. Turned out I had cut one strip for the center blocks at 5 1/4 inch, and the other two strips at 5 1/2 inch. I had to take apart blocks and trim off a quarter of an inch. So the centers are rectangular, but no one would ever be sure unless I had told them. Silly little mistake. .

You can't tell the size of this quilt from the photos, but it measures about 36 x 46. That's such an odd size, unless it's a baby quilt, and I don't really have anyone in mind for that. We'll see.....batting is so expensive now, that I like to know what the quilt is for before I commit the batting. Maybe I'll just make it for decorating my own place.......all of my Christmas stuff is SO OLD !

I think that part of today's experiment was to see if I wanted to use this quilt design for my new basket of fabrics, and the answer is "no". Not just like this, .....though there is another design that is similar that is calling for a trial.

I want to thank my two readers who made suggestions......and very good ones at that........for this upcoming quilt. I so appreciate any input. I'm not used to valuing my fabrics so.......I usually have fabrics so long that I can't wait to put them in ANYTHING !

Suggestions, please !

2010-11-17T13:52:00.000-06:00

And, you know how we women are.......asking doesn't mean I'll use any advice I get ! But, I would so appreciate hearing ideas for using a large print that has flowers measuring atleast 5 inches across.

I'll probably save 3 yards of this print for the back, planning a nice top of the bed cover, not a full-sized quilt. I like the print so much that I relish being able to turn the quilt over to enjoy it's beauty there, too. But I'd like to incorporate some of it into the front of the quilt too, so that it's clear where I got the color palette.

So feel free to leave me links to quilts that you think would look good made with this print and the others that are in my previous post.

Thanks big bunches !

I got my order......

2010-11-16T17:08:00.001-06:00

......and Fabric dot com ROCKS !

Some of these fabrics are out of my normal comfort zone,........and I love it !

And, wow, the quality of the Alexander Henry fabrics is so smooth and wonderful !

The cuts are all VERY generous, with each yard containing more than an extra inch, each half-yard usually measuring an inch larger, and the 5 yard piece measuring with an extra 11 1/2 inches !

There was only one fabric that had a problem, and I am sure that it was just an oversight. This letter-print fabric has a stain near the selvedge edge (very convenient to obliterate), and my price deal was so good that I'm not even going to report it.

Of course, my deal was extra terrific because I got an extra 30% off, a deal which ran out at midnight last night, unfortunately for anyone reading this, but those Jay Carroll prints are still just $2.49 per yard and the quality is practically edible !

I had a fairly productive day........

2010-11-15T17:59:00.002-06:00

despite a most enjoyable interruption.

This little quilt was whipped up for my niece's sister (They don't have the same father, so she's not MY niece), and the little boy that she gave birth to last week. His name is Oakley, (isn't that different?) and he weighed just 5 pounds and 12 ounces......about the same size that Allyssia was when SHE was born !

Allyssia played in my scraps-trashcan on the floor beside me while I worked,

Note the use of the unfinished quilt-along quilt, including basting pins.

and, eventually, gave in to the call of the afternoon nap.......ahhhh, how I love that song !

I used the inside-out/birthing method for the quilt, and made use of a piece of flannel that was leftover from Kelley's last baby. (Thanks Jodie)

Well, she's awake and I'm done ! Goodnight !

Let me add right here just how VERY BLESSED I feel to have a baby in the house every now and again ! My hubby and I are the most boring people in THE WORLD, and it is so good to have cutesiness around.......to see a child dance, or try to sing with you, or look puzzled at your own silliness ! Ah, thank you LORD !

Second beehive hat

2010-11-13T19:58:00.003-06:00

Pattern link on Ravelry

When the other hat turned out to fit Seth, while they were visiting, I asked Zoe and T.J. what color hat they would each like. T.J. said purple, and knowing that his daddy would not like for T.J. to wear a really PURPLE hat, I decided to make the main portion of T.J.'s hat black, with purple showing in the 'grooves'. I finished it today......it's been a good carry-along to doctor's visits.

Like I said, the other one was given to Seth, so I no longer need to hide it in the Christmas section !

Zoe asked for pink and red, but I couldn't find two of the same weight that looked good together, so I've purchased hot pink yarn with a bit of glimmer, and black, to make hers. I'll reverse the color placement on hers, and have pink for the ridges and black for the grooves, LORD willing.

I started it tonight. The yarn is a lighter weight, sport, so I've cast on an extra 10 stitches (95) and I went down 2 sizes on my needle, to a size 5.

T.J.'s was 10 stitches bigger (85) than Seth's (75), but done in the same weight of yarn, worsted, and the same needle, a size 7. I hope none of these hats come out too big. I can't just say that Kelley (their mama, my daughter) will wear them if they do, because her head is so tiny that she's able to wear a ball cap that is adjusted for SETH !

I don't know what it is !

2010-11-12T22:13:00.000-06:00

And I don't know where it came from.............somewhere way back in the recesses of my mind, and now, THAT is a scary thought !

I've had these fabrics picked, sitting on my cutting table all week, while other things took top priority this week. (Let me just say I'm glad that I was only the spectator to the colonoscopy prep !)

Anyway, this morning, I just cut loose, literally, and started chopping and sewing, not knowing where I was going. The applique especially came out of nowhere, and I intended on hand appliqueing it, and then I thought, "uh, are you daft? You're going to machine-quilt this thing to death, why are you going to hand-applique?" Well, that taught me ! So, I just basted it all the way around in the middle of the swirl, and when I quilted, I started by stitching it down first with a free-motion sortof ziggy-zag.

If you look closely at this piece of fabric, you'll see that it is printed with what looks like machine-stitching on it. For the quilting on it, I just followed some of the lines as closely as I could. This has been a hoarded fabric of mine for a couple of years........I don't remember where or when I got the yard of it, but I love the combination of yellow, orange, and a touch of pink.

I snuck in a few little designs among the strips of fabric......I just love doing that ocean's wave-looking design that's in that dark orange piece.....it's even graduated in size !
The little quilt only measures about 18 x 21.......the perfect fat quarter !

Hubby and I also went to the second-hand store today, just to get out in the sunshine for a little ride. I found a basket of fabrics, and there was a three yard piece of this dark red crackle-paint-looking fabric, and 2 yards of the grassy fabric........I feared the price, but the woman said "EIGHTY CENTS for the fabric and twenty cents for the one skein of DMC floss !"

I also got 3 vintage pillowcases for 50 cents each, and two cushions to cover for my rocker/glider. I left a twin-sized sheet that was really pretty with pink roses/flowers all over it.......shoulda got it !

WooHoo ! Must be my week for fabric, huh Cheryl? Maybe YOU'LL want to come over HERE and play ! My order's scheduled to arrive on Tuesday.....come on over !

Doing housework......

2010-11-12T09:52:00.002-06:00

.....contemplating my next project as I await a fabulous order I placed with Fabric.com, praise the LORD ! I'm getting 11--that's ELEVEN --yards of fabric for $26.05, free shipping !
Cheryl, over at A Stitch and a Prayer alerted me to the site and I shopped the clearance section. They send you coupons, and when they discount the order, they do it AFTER you've racked up your $35.00 order, qualifying you for free shipping ! Fantastic.........can't wait to see the quality of the fabrics !

No, it didn't snow here.......

2010-11-09T16:15:00.001-06:00

.......in fact, it's been a beautiful 70-something degrees day. I was just looking through blog backgrounds and couldn't resist this one.

I'm watching Allyssia while her cousin is coming into the world. Mandy's sister went into labour today, and should have her little boy sometime around 7 p.m or so. She seems so young, and is one of those little girls who probably gained a whole 15 pounds during pregnancy !

I got a few more photos of Jack's quilt after I got the label sewn on. I didn't think I'd be attracted to a red-white-and-blue quilt, but I'm really diggin' this one.

Jack's quilt -- "Election Sure"

2010-11-08T20:46:00.007-06:00

"Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling, and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ."..............II Peter 1: 10-11

"ELECTION SURE"

I finished Jack's quilt a little while ago. I started it one week ago tonight, and, as you know, he passed away one week ago tomorrow, on one of the most talked about election days of my generation. I pray that people will be as interested in being among the 'elect' that is spoken of in the Bible. I'm so glad that Jack joined THAT party !

The quilt finished at 51 X 60 1/2 inches after washing and drying. Maybe I can get a nice photo of it outside tomorrow..........this week is just beautiful, perfect Fall weather-- a last hurrah, I think !

I had a little bit of fun with the fact that Jack had been in the army, ........ I snuck in a little bit of Army girl tease in case he's checking out his quilt from afar. I gave him a Sailor girl, too, figuring a bachelor wouldn't mind......

Thanks once again to Jodie Ann........her leftovers just make my quilts POP !

......I'll have to make a point of explaining my thinking to his sister when I give HER the quilt !

This quilt got a nice, one-piece back of the blue shirting plaid that I spoke of earlier. I really like it. Once again, except for the backing and batting, this quilt was made entirely from my stash, which confusingly doesn't seem to be shrinking any, even though I'd be happy to see the LAST of most of these fabrics !

A tribute to my grandson, T.J.

2010-11-06T21:26:00.004-05:00

He was so cute the other day........he was playing with his transformer, and going down a whole checklist (I just know he'd heard his daddy or someone doing this before)......

bags packed.......check
wings out........check
motor powered up......check (I'm sure this is not what he actually said, but you get the picture).

So, here goes.......

fabrics chosen.......check
design determined.......check
pieces cut.......check
layout pieced......check
top basted........check !

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh............I could not figure out how or where I was going to baste this booger, measuring 53 x 65. It was too cool to baste outside in the windy yard today, and I called both the church and the senior center but could get no live person to answer at either place I even moved things around in my sewing room to no avail........just not enough room.

Hubby wanted me to measure and see if I could use the living room, even though I'd be in the way of his football game. I told him that there was no way, but we persevered, and by putting one of the frame's legs at each end of the back of the couch, I was able to baste all around 3 sides while standing, and then scoot my rear along the back of the couch, sitting, while I basted the fourth side. It was funny, but it worked ! Lousy photo because these old trailers have no overhead lighting.)

But.........quilters will prevail, praise the LORD !

I wanted a rectangle/square sequence, simple blue and white quilt, like the above photo, but it was going to take a gazillion of these boogers, and I figured out that if I added the big center square, I could go with about half as many.

So here's the actual block........(and, no, it isn't a swastika, and I don't even want to go there.....I saw something like that get out of hand on another blog, and it's uncalled for. That's why I'm glad the design of the finished quilt isn't real clear.)

the finished quilt is nice-looking to me......I'll show you a better photo once it's quilted, LORD willing........I mean, it's a bright, clean-looking and happy quilt. I found a nice blue plaid to go on the back of it, very men's-shirting-looking, that measured 60 inches wide, so I didn't have to piece anything.

New quilt coming soon.

2010-11-05T13:24:00.001-05:00

I made all of the blocks and I've pieced together 4 of the 6 rows, so I should be able to reveal pretty soon..........to me, my work gets boring if I show it too many times during construction.

Had to get up at 4 this morning to make an MRI appointment for hubby in the next town over, so I drove over there in the dark........HATE IT !
Wednesday morning, I had to drive over there in the rain, at morning drive hour..........HATED IT !
WHINE, WHINE, WHINE !
Nah........I'm so very thankful for the access we have to medical technology these days, and the fact that none of these appointments are because of serious, immediate issues.
AND, I'm so very thankful for the ability to drive, and a dependable vehicle, and gas money, and Medicare coverage.......

And as for the driving,.......as I told a friend yesterday, I can do all things through Christ, which strengtheneth me,..........but that still doesn't mean I LIKE them (all things, I mean).

But now.........back to the sewing room................NOW THAT I LIKE !

I waited too late.........but he didn't !

2010-11-02T21:14:00.002-05:00

I put off making a quilt for a person who became very dear to us.........and today he passed away.

When hubby entered the nursing home to recover from his hip replacement last February, a roommate arrived the same day. Jack was a man that hubby had known when they both were in their 20's, and of course, we had moved away for over 30 years. Jack suffered a stroke in January of this year and had been in Nashville for a little while.

I didn't know Jack, but when his sister and her husband came to visit in the little room that my husband shared with Jack, it turned out that they went to the same Church as us and we had never even met. We 'clicked' immediately, such a blessing when sharing a small space like that, and we came to enjoy each other's time while visiting the men.

Jack's sister asked me to pray that Jack would accept the Lord as his personal saviour, and so, when hubby and I had our morning Bible reading, I feel like the Holy Spirit led me to make sure that Jack could 'eavesdrop'.......in the evenings at home, when I prayed for my husband's recovery, I joined what I knew were many prayers going up for Jack. Hubby was very blessed, and recovered quickly, getting to go home after a month. Jack remained and didn't seem to be improving, but seemed no worse either.

Well, when hubby and I decided to go back and see some of the friends that we had made at the nursing home, Jack was at the top of the list. He loved Reese"s peanut-butter cups and Hubby made sure he always had that or some other candy to take to Jack on our weekly visits.

Sometime this summer, Jack's sister shared with me at Church one night that she had good news and bad news. The bad news was that they had discovered that the reason Jack wasn't improving was because he had cancer in his lungs that had spread to his brain. I was pretty much shocked and devastated........he's become such a friend ! The good news, she hurried to tell me, was that Jack had prayed with the family and given his heart to the LORD. Oh, joyful news ! Prayers answered, ............more prayers for health, and strength, and comfort and peace........

I was making the aprons for everyone at the time, and gave Jack one, too. But when I had pretty much 'covered' all of our friends.....quite literally....I started getting an inclination to make a quilt for one or two of them. I just didn't know, since I hadn't known him that long.
But he's been having a rough time for the last couple of months now, going into pneumonia, and I felt that I just really wanted to make him a quilt for Christmas.   I asked hubby if he thought it was a good idea, and he said, "I'm just not sure he'll make it that long." I said , "I know, I'm going to start one now. "

Sunday, I heard that he had taken a turn for the worse, and my brother said that he'd go with me on Monday night to visit, since hubby and I had missed a week due to colds. When he didn't get to go Monday night, I woke up this morning just knowing that I had to go today, even if it was by myself.

When I went with candy in hand, I found his door closed. The tech out in the hall asked if that candy was for Jack and when I answered, "yes", she said that he wasn't able to eat anything. I had no idea he was that badly sick. I gave the candy to another friend and was about to leave when I saw Jack's sister-in-law. When I asked after him, she said that the family was with him, and that I could go in.

It was hard.
I love them all now, and it was hard.

After visiting a bit, I told his sister that I'm making him a quilt and that if I can't give it to him, I'll give it to her.

So, I guess I just had to get this out of my head, and remind all of us, self included, that if you want to do something for someone, do it today. We are not promised tomorrow, but our hope is in the Lord's mercy and resurrection.   I know that Jack will KNOW when his quilt is finished, and he will smile again.   Hey, he's smiling now !

Welcome NOVEMBER !

2010-11-01T13:08:00.001-05:00

I finished the heritage quilt's repairs.........there turned out to be 15 blocks that had to have tulle appliqued over small parts of them, and yet they are so hard to find when you lay the quilt out on the bed....exactly the result that I wanted. Then there was the large label which covered two bug-troubled places on the back, plus a heart and two dots appliqued for the same reason. I hope that Sandra will be pleased with the finished product.........I think that it will help extend the life of the quilt for awhile.

Now to decide what to make next. An idea is percolatin' , but I need to check my stash to see if I can pull it off without great purchases.

Photo courtesy of SweetPeaFabrics.etsy (iltec)

As a reward for the work on the log cabin, I treated myself to a charm pack of the Dream On fabrics by Moda. Yay !

Blogger's Quilt Festival entry--Fall 2010 edition

2010-10-29T10:14:00.005-05:00

Holly's Wedding Quilt........

....for this Fall's entry, I have to herald the great change that has taken place this year, namely my introduction into more free-motion machine-quilting.
Rather than repeat my earlier blog post, I will link you to the bulk of the story and photos of this quilt.

It was alot of fun, and yet, quite challenging, coming up with different quilting designs for the different blocks.

Let it be said that I have gained an immense sense of freedom from Christina of A Few Scraps' blog's Free-motion quiltalong, and her shared techniques for letting yourself go and play at the finishing of your quilts.

I left the quilt at the wedding reception for my niece, as I had to leave before getting to toast the couple and watch them open gifts. I hope that they like the quilt.

I also want to note this year's finish of the over 20-year-long project of making my Feathered Star quilt ! It's hand-quilted.

What I'm working on......

2010-10-28T11:53:00.008-05:00

Jodie, I must apologize if it seems like I misled you. I said that I wasn't taking anymore commissions for awhile, but this one was a special family request.

My daughter's mother-in-law asked me if I would see what I could do about helping to halt the damage occuring on a quilt that she inherited from her grandmother. It was a wedding gift to THAT grandmother from HER grandmother on her wedding day. That means that for my grandchildren, this quilt goes back 6 generations in their family on their Daddy' side.

The quilt has never been washed,

but some of the fabrics are fraying.

Also, termites found their way to the back of the quilt, when it was in storage, and have chewed a couple of small holes there.

I am currently in the process of appliqueing strips of tulle over the fraying fabrics so that they are still visible, but are contained to prevent further fabric loss.

This one dotted fabric is frayed everywhere that it appears in the quilt. But it shows up nicely through the tulle that is overlayed upon it.

This green fabric is another one that is frayed wherever it was used.

I left this photo bigger so that you could click on it
and view the finished, repaired block much more closely.

I am planning, LORD willing, to make a label for the back that will cover some of the termite damage, while at the same time adding a record of the history of the quilt. Sandra, Kelley's mother-in-law, was able to buy a fat-quarter of solid red that almost exactly matches the quilt's backing. This was no small feat, since the quilt was made in 1932 or before.

The cross quilt is finished !

2010-10-26T19:26:00.001-05:00

Need I say anything?

I'm in love !
More channel-quilting to come, I'm sure !

Our visit

2010-10-26T10:30:00.003-05:00

We had a wonderful visit.
My newest grandson is just'
so wonderfully healthy
and happy and open to
us.......he claimed PawPaw immediately
for his own !
Zoe is so cute with her missing
front tooth, and T.J. is so analytical,
studying how things work. He can
fool with a transformer toy for an hour
and never get tired of changing it.

KELLEY,

I will never forget the effort you put out

to drive all this way for us to see you guys,

when you were right in the middle

of one of the

biggest events

of your life.

TIM,

thank you for letting us borrow them

for a little while,

and for working so hard while they were

gone to prepare the new house

for their arrival back home.

CONGRATULATIONS

on your first home purchase !

Blessings and prosperity on your new little nest !

MY BABIES ARE COMING !

2010-10-20T07:09:00.001-05:00

Today's the day !

My daughter will be driving all day from Oklahoma to Tennessee........please send up prayers of protection and safe travel for Kelley, Zoe, T.J. and Seth ! I'm meeting my 17 month old grandson, Seth, for the first time !

I should get to hold them all in my arms before I go to bed tonight.........LORD WILLING !

Praise the LORD !

Now........gotta get a little more work done......strip the beds, fill the pantry and fridge, mop the floors.............