Sunrise at the Lake

The sun rose gently this morning over the foggy lake. The sound of the cardinals and robins woke me early so that I could see the sunrise and enjoy the serenity. At this time of year, the lake is so peaceful and quiet. The majority of the summer people come after Memorial Day and often only spend weekends here. It gets hectic then, making me appreciate this solitude today even more.

Several days ago, Carolyn tagged me with the Blogger Thinking Award and I am to pass it on to 5 others. I am not too familiar with a lot of bloggers, but Alycia of CO is certainly one to whom I would pass the torch. Alycia has made QOV for soldiers for some time. Not unusual that a quilter would do that. However, she is doing it with 2nd and 5th graders! Being a former 5th grade teacher, she caught my attention with this project. I love the idea of her teaching children that volunteering is a great thing to do as well the teaching of an art, quilting. My next one would be Nancy. Nancy makes quilts for children, families who are in crisis or for those whose life is turned upside down. She is selfless in her efforts, making beautiful works of art for those who need a big hug. I know this isn't 5 but you get the idea of my choices.....people doing for others, paying it forward.

Tonight we'll go home for a couple of days to check the mail, cut the grass and do the homeowner routine. Thursday starts a quilt retreat that I've signed up to do and things have to be readied for that. It is held only a few minutes from here and is a group of mostly Indiana quilters. There are no assignments; just bring what you want to accomplish over a 3+ day retreat and plan to laugh a lot. I am so looking forward to being with quilty women and getting a few things done. I'm planning to take a bit of applique, a lot of piecing and some Redwork. Who knows? I just might get it all done!

Meet My Guys

The past several days have been spent at the lake house doing electrical work and some clean up. I did get one of the star quilts bound but not much else. Jim changed the electrical panel, originally installed in the mid-40's, and gave us new and better service. With all that had to be done, we were without power for part of one day and overnight. Not too bad, really. We ran a cord to his sister's house next door and were able to plug in the TV and a lamp and ran another cord to his brother's house which let us plug in the fridge. Sort of like camping only better? We came home on Wednesday to catch up on the mail and a couple of other things. This morning we're returning for the weekend and I'm hoping to get some work done on the Bee Trees that my Bee is doing as a group project and maybe another binding done.

Since my sewing has been put on hold this week and I haven't taken any pictures of what I'm doing currently, I thought I'd introduce you to my guys. I talk about them all the time, so thought you should know who they are! The top picture is one of Jim at a BSA Award Dinner, along with myself, Chris and Anne. Chris's girlfriend, Anne, is my applique prodigy and we love her dearly. Chris, a DePaul grad is working in dental medical malpractice. Michael, another Eagle Scout, was in CO at the time doing a Wilderness First Responder course and couldn't join us. Jim has been involved in Scouting for over 50 years and loves the involvement with the Scouts. In the second picture, Michael is in the middle with his two buddies. Tyler, on the right, has been his best bud since Mom's and Tots at age 2. Bob, Michael and Tyler went on an 8000 mile road trip in 2005 visiting national parks and doing their hiking thing. They had some exciting days and will have stories to tell their children some day. Oh to be so young and full of energy again!!

Seeing Stars!

It has been a busy few days. We spent the weekend at the cottage and got to spend the time with Chris and Anne, always a fun time. Our niece is getting married in May so there was the family/neighborhood bridal shower to attend and we had lots of laughs. We did a cookbook for her and since she loves to garden, we each took a vegetable and gave her recipes and some seeds for those vegetables. My vegetable was carrots and fortunately I had a few carrot recipes. Wal-Mart also had Easter items on their clearance and guess what - lots of crazy carrot items....a fiber-optic carrot, a carrot baseball bat, carrot bowling pins and a pick up sticks in a carrot. Jim made her a goofy gardener's survival kit with the silly carrots and it provided a lot of laughs. On Sunday morning the dock went in but with white caps on the lake and snow in the air, the boats will wait for warmer weather. Yesterday we woke to 22* and snow. April???

The Rosemont IQA Show was a lot of fun. We went on Preview Night but only had 3 hours to see the whole thing. Not enough time! Preview was shortened by 2 hours this year and it really made a difference. There were some awesome quilts and too many vendors for such a short time. I spent too much and didn't get to see everything but what I did see was great.

The quilter returned seven quilts to me on Friday so I have lots of binding to be done. All but one were scrappy, utility kind of quilts and I wasn't thrilled with any of them when they were sent to her. However, the gal made silk purses out of sow's ears! I was sooo pleased with the way those simple quilts turned out. The 7th one was one that will be appliqued after the quilting...a new technique for me. I'm hoping to get it done soon and will post a picture of it. It is called Columbine and was in AP&Q about a year ago. The stars quilt at the left is one of 3 identical ones that I made out of a bunch of blocks that were hanging around after a summer weekend retreat at a friend's lake house. They will make great gifts for Michael's pals or for some needy kidlets. Amazing what some nice quilting will do for a bunch of scraps! :>)

Tomorrow, a special thank you to Carolyn for the tag. Tonight I'm off to put my feet up, watch the dancing stars and do some binding on one of the star quilts.

My Quilting Beginnings.....

Suzette asked....How did you come to start quilting? Was it passed down in the family? What was your first project and is it finished? Where does it live now?

My very first post has a picture of my maternal Grandma and her quilt, one of my treasured possessions and something that is an inspiration for me to do some of those tedious quilts. It is a Grandmother's Flower Garden, all done by hand. As far as my sewing career, I don't remember not sewing or quilting in my 60+ years even though there were a few gaps when children took precedence. My earliest memory of sewing is playing with my paternal Grandma's basket of scraps, making things for my dolls. She lived with us, had a wonderful old hickory rocking chair that rocked me often, made pies while I sat on the counter watching her and made her clothes without using a pattern. She also wore those aprons that were soft and snuggly from so much wear and use. My Great Grandma made her clothes (she loved purple!) until her eyesight failed and she could no longer do it. Mom sewed as did my aunts and cousins - and a couple of great uncles who were tailors. It was just something that everyone did and I did as well. Grandma once told me that sewing and stitching went back several generations to a couple of tailors in Germany and it had not skipped anyone in between. My niece is a seamtress and her daughters are learning the skills as well. I think the younger ones are the 7th or 8th generation of stitchers. I would hate for it to become a lost art in the family! My first quilt was a log cabin, still my favorite pattern and it lives on the balcony of our foyer. My true love is applique and Mom says that came from Aunt Helen. Interesting isn't it how we mimic our ancestors?

So to answer her questions about sewing in my life..........it isn't in my life, it has become my life now that the boys are grown. It gives me peace of mind when things get tough, makes me feel good when I can make something for someone else and most of all, it satisfies that inner creative beast that has to be fed! So that's me and my quilting in a nutshell.

I have 7 quilts being returned from the quilter today! Yeah!! She has had them for a couple of months and I was getting antsy about them, but now I have plenty of handwork to do during those mindless TV shows!

April Snow for Rosemont Show

Old Man Winter just won't give up! Michael, our outdoorsman, has stated he'd rather see the snow on a slope than just lying on the ground being wasted! He can't wait to head back to the mountains one of these days. Here's a picture of our back yard yesterday, April 11. So much for getting the deck furniture out!

Tonight I'm going to the Rosemont Quilt Show here in Chicago. They've cut the hours back from 5 - 10 to 5-8. Hopefully, we will have enough time to race thru the quilts and most of the vendors.....will have to be time efficient! I have my list of things that I would like to find while there since there won't be a lot of extra time for browsing and drooling. It is always nice to see the wonderful quilts that have been accepted into the show and see all the unusual ideas. I'm looking for a few Asian prints to help Anne with her wallhanging, a few fillers for one floating around in my head, possibly a black or navy background for Rosemary Makhan's Woodland Creatures (but that isn't a necessity) and then of course, some patterns for redwork and others if they ring my bell. I'll let you all know how the quilts are and if I get some great pictures, will share a few.

Another One Finished!!

It's done! Kinda funky, eh? It is amazing how the colors show up differently when a photograph is taken. Had I looked at it in a photo before stitching, I would have changed a few of the blocks around in the middle but in person it looks pretty good! Those blues really pop in the picture. The corners were in lieu of mitred ones (which I would rather have done) but I didn't have enough fabric. Given that it was from my stash, it is a "make do" and I did just that. I made it for charity but .....hmmmm... I'm feeling kinda needy. :>) Not really - I think it may go to a children's home.

The second one is on it's way as well. I'm in a mood to sew, sew, sew - fast and furious - so there won't be any great techniques involved. This one is a batch of T'Berries pre-printed squares that I had from a few years ago and I am putting them on point with pieced blocks. With a few adjustments, it will be ready for the two halves to be sewn together shortly. I'll add a green and then a gold/tan set of narrow borders and then a burgundy final border, bind it in the gold/tan since there isn't enough of the burgundy left. It will also be donated to a shelter or Habitat for Humanity. Feels good to do a couple of these for someone who can use them!

However........last night as I sat in my chair with a fuzzy Chicago Bears blanket over my legs, I realized that nearly all of my comfy quilts have been given away or taken to the cottage and there are none left in the family room for snuggling. It's a good thing that it is summer and I will have some time to make a few more for us. Of course, I could get out the "good ones"(hand appliqued), but I'd rather the dog hair and dust settle on those less time intensive. Am I the Lone Ranger when it comes to spending all my days quilting and having little to show for it?

I Needed a Reminder!

I am a follower of Carolyn's blog because she and I have been in contact for several years. She showed the picture of the hats that she had knitted for her church charity program and then came her yarn for a prayer shawl for her church program. It has been a while since I donated anything to charity and felt that I needed to fess up and get something going. Being a Mom of guys, I rarely get to do anything with brights and fun colors, so I found a clearance rack at Hobby Lobby full of goodies and then went to the stash. I think this will be a very fun quilt for a little girl! It is so much fun to work with these colors but they are really out of my normal range. Do I make the flowers all grow in the same direction or do I make them grow to the center of the quilt? I'm thinking to the center, but we'll see how it looks when I get a few more blocks done. (There was a lamp right beside the fabric and the yellow washes out a bit but you get the idea.) It truly feels good to do something for someone less fortunate. Hiding in my closet there are some string blocks in these colors as well and one of these days they will find a border and grow up to be a quilt too!

Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate!!

Since things have been in a muddle around here for a couple of weeks and this weekend was spent moving our son to his new apartment/condo, I haven't had the time to spend on my quilting like I would like. I got his place set up with everything from a paring knife to a quilt (in picture) for his sofa. The fridge is stocked, dishes, pans, furniture , etc., are all in a very lovely 2 bedroom rehab. Very little has gotten done with my quilting lately, but it will hopefully get back to normal this week. Since cooking is another one of my passions, I thought I'd post two of my favorite recipes. The first one is a true quilter recipe......chocolate and salt combined! Great munching and easily transported to a quilting retreat. Very easy! The second is one that I've taken or served several times and it is always a hit. I hope you enjoy them too!

Pretzel Kisses

Hershey Hugs (milk and white chocolate Kisses)
Pretzel Rings

Unwrap Hugs. Place pretzel rings on a cookie sheet. Put a Kiss inside each pretzel. Bake in a low oven (250° - 300°) for about 5 minutes. You can tell when they are done by lightly pressing on the tip of the Kiss - it will melt down into the ring and fill it. Remove and allow to cool. Refrigerate for best results. The traditional Hershey Kisses will work, but they don’t melt as nicely as the white chocolate does. I’m not sure who gave this recipe to me, but it is always a hit! I'm considering the caramel kisses for a retreat that I am attending in a few weeks. They might be a little gooey when warm, but when cooled, they just might be pretty yummy! Thoughts?

Chocolate Trifle
1 (19.8 oz) brownie mix
1 (3.9 oz) instant chocolate pudding mix
½ cup water
1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk
1 (8 oz) Cool Whip - thawed (I often use a 12 oz here as well)
1 (12 oz) Cool Whip - thawed
1 (1.5 oz) chocolate bar

Prepare brownie mix according to directions and cool completely. Cut into 1 inch squares. In a large bowl, combine pudding mix, water and milk. Mix until smooth, then fold in 8 oz Cool Whip until no streaks remain. In a trifle bowl or glass serving dish, place half of the brownies, half of the pudding mixture and half of the 12 oz Cool Whip. Repeat layers. Shave chocolate onto top layer for garnish. Refrigerate 8 hours before serving. (I go a little heavy on the Cool Whip and add extra so that the intense sweetness of the condensed milk is lessened.)

This dessert is one where I end up with an empty bowl! Good to the last drop!

The Stash and the Pink and Green

The tulips and the daffodils are shivering but at least they are up and trying to bloom! Such a wonderful time of the year!!

We've been asked to share pictures of our sewing areas and/or our stash. Oh my.... since I moved upstairs, there hasn't been a lot of time to trade the stash closet with the Christmas closet (old guest room). However, the stash hasn't changed much since I took this last picture. The white bins/drawers are scraps and strips and there are batting packages on the top shelf. You can see the end of the board I made that fits on top of the ironing board. In addition, I have 3 small color coded drawer stacks of smaller pieces. I'm beginning to feel as if the stash is now manageable. In January, I gave away yards of stuff I knew I wouldn't use. Some of it has already been made into quilts by a couple of Stashbuster friends.

My pink and green.........it is amazing how one starts off on one journey with a quilt and it ends up being totally different than ever expected. That is this top (upside down). It was to have been an all applique quilt of 25 blocks. It soon became apparent that the kind of applique that was in it wasn't my favorite (too "chunky") so after 6 blocks I decided that some chunky pieced blocks would be good. A border? Swags - chunky ones. wrong. At this time I am making the swags narrower and will put some simple flowers between each one, scallop the edges, quilt and bind. White, pink or green binding?

In the meantime we have our house pretty much back to normal and will move son Chris this weekend from a roommate/apartment situation to a condo. Next week we have canasta club here, but there will be some time for stitching, I'm sure.

The floors are done. It isn't a pretty site in two places, but we are moving forward - no more refinishing for us in this house. We went to the cottage until the odor dissipated, and thanks to son Michael who monitored things, kept fans blowing, windows and doors opened, it wasn't too bad when we returned last night. At the cottage we got things ready for summer and we're looking forward to some time to enjoy the loons, our friends and get into relaxation mode. We may even replace the garage this summer. Sounds like a project the guys can really get into! The grass was green and the trees starting to bud. We're not quite so advanced here but at least the tulips and daffodils are a couple of inches out of the ground! Great sunshine and warm weather here today - just maybe we're in for some outside delight!

I find it more interesting to post a picture whenever I post on my blog but since my quilting has taken a back seat to house chores, I'm posting a picture of a quilt that our guild did two years ago. It was an effort of many people. My part, unplanned completely, was to finish the applique borders and to "fix" some of the applique that needed a bit of help and then, with a friend, to assemble the blocks. The border was done in blocks as well. It turned out to be a beautiful quilt - wish I could have won it! Jan Taylor Anderson designed it. She has a great method for doing Mariner's Compass blocks and one of these days I will make one. Don't you think the colors and the design are awesome? She really has great patterns.

Once we get the dust cleaned off of everything and things back into place, I'll get back into the sewing room and find my way back to quilting. I'm having trouble staying on task - I'd rather be quilting!!!

Lime Green in the Spring

When the weather starts to warm up, Jim brings out his favorite toy. For you Boomers, it is a muscle car from the 70's. When I met Jim in 1971, he had just purchased his Buick Gran Sport, 4 on the floor convertible. It has an extra powerful engine in it and will scoot down the road with little effort. Not the kind of car we would encourage our sons to purchase!! We dated in this car for four years before getting married. It served us well but at the time we lived in Cleveland and as you know, there is lots of snow on the east side of that town! The rear end just goes every which way on slippery surfaces so we bought something more practical and this one sat, not being used much at all and it started rusting out. My brother's company car was eliminated and he needed something temporary. So, the green car went to Indiana. Then the engine needed work, we had kids and no time to mess with the car, we had moved to Chicago with no place to store it, brother didn't need it any more so Jim said "get rid of it". They hauled it away on a flatbed. Once it was gone, we bemoaned the fact that we had not made the effort to keep it. For years we read the newspapers looking for something that would come close. We half heartedly tried to find out who had taken the car, but never really put a lot into it. One day several years later, my brother called and said "I think I found Jim's car". He knew we were missing it (do I sound like it has life? :>) He said he was driving thru Fort Wayne and saw it sitting on a car lot near there and was I still interested in getting it back. Knowing that Jim would be ecstatic, I didn't tell him until after I had called the dealership to figure out if it was the same car or not. When the guy said it had a trailer hitch on the back with a wire for pulling a trailer, I knew it was the right one! Jim has always been involved in Boy Scouts and pulling a scout trailer on camp outs was one of his things to do. The original paper work was still with it with Jim's name as well. We drove to Fort Wayne the following day and purchased the car - for nearly twice what he paid for it.

Now the car sits in our extra garage bay and gets driven just for fun. Our youngest, Michael, taught himself how to drive the stick shift and now takes it out for joy rides with his friends. So far this year, it has been out a couple of times because as soon as the temp starts to climb in the spring, the car comes out and we "cruise" to DQ, A&W, to the Cruise In at Mickey D's or just around town. Fun! If only we were so young again!

Today the sun and temp are gorgeous here in Northern IL! The sky is blue and the clouds are few and far between. Maybe spring is just around the corner. This morning as I was putzing around the kitchen, I noticed a flurry of activity in our very small back yard. It was a sizeable red-tail hawk chasing a squirrel. The squirrel must have been familiar with the deck area (they eat all the bird seed at the feeder :>) because he darted under one of the benches that we have out there and hunkered down. The hawk landed above him and sat there long enough for me to call Jim to take a look. Neither of us have ever seen a hawk up close. I swear his head turned in circles! Anyway, the squirrel sat there all hunched up and eventually the hawk got tired of waiting and flew off into the woods. Mr. Hawk has been around most of the day so the feeder is rather quiet.

The floors, the floors. They will be done on Thursday. Jim and I will head off to the cottage and get it opened for the summer while the workers are here. We can get the cob webs cleaned up, the windows washed and do our annual Pick-Up Sticks routine in the yard. Our son Michael will have fend for himself while the floor guys are here. Not being able to get upstairs didn't stop him last summe - He put a ladder to the bedroom window and climbed in! He may do that again, but the smell from the coating is pretty ugly. We've advised that he find a friend's house for crashing. The picture is what my living room currently looks like. Disaster! Oh well, we're hoping that the 3rd time (in 3 years) will be a charm.

The rail fence quilt is finished and ready to go to the quilter. It will be kind of nice when it is done but right now it looks a bit ragged. I did it on point and put 6-7 rows together and did the same on the second half. You guessed it! When I went to put the two halves together, I had pattern matching pattern as opposed to off-setting patterns. ARGH!! I took the outside row off and moved it to the other side making my rectangular quilt a square one. Oh dear.......but it's OK. It's made from leftovers from another quilt and will be a snuggle one at the cottage. It may end up being one of our favorites!

Jim is off getting his "baby" appraised. When he gets home, I'll get a picture of it and tell you the story. Kinda fun!

The daffodils and the irises are just beginning to poke their tips through the ground today. The 70* that we had yesterday was just enough to coax them up, out and toward the sunshine. However, the 20* tonight might make them curl up and go back into the ground. I added an early spring picture looking down our street - not yet this year but hopefully, we will have all that green in a few weeks! This is truly a lovely time of year - rejuvenation by being outside and rejoicing in all that grows!


It has been sort of a busy week, but mostly just messy. Jim has been retro-fitting the kitchen and family room (all one big room) with ceiling/can lights. Shudda had them put in when we built! But he, being the ever-so-kind hubby, agreed to humor me and is working hard at doing a rather difficult job. It will make the room much brighter for these old eyes. My penance is all the dry wall dust everywhere!! To avoid this nasty mess, I went off to work on a few things in my sewing room. The rail fence, made with Holly Taylor's Cub Lake scraps (10 years+ old) has been in the works for a year or so. It just happens that this week was one where I needed some mindless work and it filled the need. I may add a small border and then will definitely do a scrappy binding. This will go to the lake cottage for snuggling on chilly nights.

Evenings bring sitting in front of the TV and applique for me. The swag at the left is one of 18 that I am working on to add to the pink and green blocks that were posted earlier. They have been working up rather quickly. It would greatly please me if they all fit with no fudging!! I am half way through this part and then will add them to the border pieces.

Next week brings more mess to the house. Our wood floors were lightly sanded 3 years ago. The finisher wasn't quite honest and put a poly finish over a glitza (oil) finish and it started to peel within a year. Last summer we had them completely sanded to the bare wood, restained and varnished. A special solution was given to me for washing the floors. However, it leaves a horrible film and the floors look pretty dreary. They also did not have the sheen as promised by the 2nd finisher. So....next week we will completely empty the remains of my sewing items in the laundry room, the w/d, two pantries, kitchen, dining room, foyer and all the closets and place it all in the family room or in the garage. We've packed up and moved from the first floor of our home 3 times in 3 years! ARGH!! They will again screen buff and recoat the floors at no cost to us, at least $$-wise. Dust will reign until we can get everything back into place and cleaned up. Returning the furniture can't take place until a few days after the coating is put on. And....I will return to using my old standby, Shaklee Basic H, for cleaning the wood floors as it never leaves a film. Our son is moving the following weekend and then it is time for Easter. I think I'll play like a bunny and hop off into the woods!! :>) All these projects do keep one moving and the dust can't settle for long when we are busy.

For those of you with the daffodils blooming and for those who are only dreaming of them, I hope you all have a wonderful Spring-y, daffodilly kind of day!

Favorites of Mine

The Stashbusters topic of the week is our favorite tool for quilting. I have several favorites that are the obvious ones that make quilting easier - rotary cutter, rulers, etc. However, I have two favorites. The one thing that makes my quilting life easier is my and DH's version of the commercial Big Board. It is made of 3/4" plywood, covered in several layers of Warm 'n Natural batting, (there might be something else buried in there also), and topped with a layer of ironing board fabric. We covered the board and stapled it all neatly on the back. Since it is made of 3/4" wood, it is quite heavy and doesn't move around at all, but is easily moved from one location to another if I wish and can be stored behind a door or under a bed. Currently, it is resting on my Grandmother's old wooden ironing board, perpendicular to the sewing machine and sits at elbow height while I am sewing. Each piece that gets sewn can be pressed. The board is extra long and can hold many pieces for a layout. I have a smaller one that I take on retreats or to the cottage.

My second favorite "tool" is a small pillow that I use for applique. If you have ever appliqued, you soon realize that your neck hurts after a while because you are always leaning over your work. By placing a pillow on your lap, placing your work and hands on top of the pillow and putting your feet on a small footstool, your shoulders are forced back and the neck issue goes away. I carry my little green pillow everywhere I take my applique....it is all prickly with a variety of pins and threads hanging from it, but I wouldn't be without it!


The quilt shown in the picture is my first full applique project. Grandmother's Country Album pattern came out many years ago and I, along with several others online, (Carolyn) decided to make the quilt together. We chatted often and gave each other support. I think I made this quilt at least 3 times! I kept learning new techniques and improving and as that happened, I would do the blocks over. The center cabin block still doesn't satisfy me (it's too dark), but it is done and as everyone knows, done is better than perfect! As is the norm for me, I didn't follow the pattern completely. DH built the hanger and I stained/varnished it.

DH is putting in some ceiling lights this week that I requested and retro-fitting isn't the easiest thing to do in a ceiling. They are small flood lights strategically placed, so my sewing has taken a bit of a back seat while I help him with that. (guilt? :>) The pink and green applique/pieced blocks are now a top but it is taking on a life of it's own. It just keeps growing and taking more and more time - it was going to be a simple throw-it-together -and-be-done quilt. I just haven't learned about listening to those little voices that say "try this on your quilt" or "do it this way - it will look better". Gets me into trouble every time!

We are in for some warmer weather and the snow is beginning to melt. There are still big piles of snow yet and we still can't see the grass in our yard, but the sunshine is a promise of things to come!! I hope you have a very sun-shiny kind of day!

Moving On Up!

Thank you to all who were so kind and sent birthday wishes! Aside from the fact that the number keeps getting higher, it was a great day. Among other things, Chris and girlfriend Anne, gave me a book of inspirational readings called The Quilt of Life. Michael's card played "I'm Walking on Sunshine". Fun!!

For the past several days I have been moving my sewing room from what is the laundry room to what used to be the guest room. As you all know, a laundry room (no matter how large) is a busy place and not always the best for spreading out projects. On Tuesday, the pink and green applique blocks were spread out on the floor, ready to be sewn. Little Dog was quite comfy as she slept on them and Michael was trying to dodge them as he did his laundry. ARGH!! Enough, I said, and made the decision to move to the guest room and that any overflow company would result in the use of an Aero Bed. It is rare that we need more beds, so I felt safe in emptying the guest room. Our home has wood floors thruout most of the main level and they are to be screen buffed and recoated in a couple of weeks, so everything has to be moved out of the laundry room any way. I packed most of it up and enlisted the strong back and arms of a 23 yr old son and moved to the upstairs. It is sooo cozy and I can now spread things out, walk out and close the door and avoid a lot of frustration. I still need to clean out one of the closets in that room (Christmas storage) before I can move my stash up. But that isn't a big deal - I just wanted a place to work without the need to put everything away when laundry had to be done. ahhhh.........


This is Little Dog, or Leah, Michael's pound puppy that he got while in Fort Collins a couple of years ago. She was found wandering the streets at the young age of about 6 months. We had to put our favorite pup down about a year later, so she has taken over a warm spot in our hearts. The picture below is of Big Dog (Jordan) whom Leah has replaced. The reason I'm posting her picture is to show you what a gal did for us - this is all thread and small scraps of fabrics. I sent her a picture and she duplicated it and really did a wonderful job.......the likeness is unbelieveable. It is amazing how these animals work their way into our hearts - even if they do enjoy sleeping on our quilts! :>)



Hopefully my next post will have pictures of a completed pink and green top!

Windy Progress

The blizzard went through last night leaving us with some icy and treacherous driving and about 6" of a very heavy, wet snow. But now it is warmer and raining and quite dreary looking and the snow is melting. A great day for staying in and quilting! However, tomorrow is my birthday and the kids are coming home today for dinner. We could have gone out, but having been out the past 2 days, I opted for staying home and enjoying my company.


The bright Hearts and Stars now has a backing. A LQS is reducing their inventory and everything is 70% off until Feb 28. I found this one as well as another one that isn't quite so bright that I'll use in a quilt made from this ones leftovers and also found a very nice green backing for the Bee tree quilt that I need to get going on. A $15 backing works for me any day!! I was good and didn't buy anything else that would create another project!


So on to another UFO....... the picture shows some nearly-finished applique blocks that I did using the backbasting method. These were started about a year ago and still need a few circles or bits completed. I had never used the backbasting method before, always using needleturn or freezer paper underneath and I have found that I like that method. It is very accurate, there are no pins or paper to catch the thread and is very portable. After doing 6 out of 16 blocks .... Lori Smith's Love Always patterns..(www.frommyhearttoyourhands.com) , I decided to get on with it and find a way to call it quits. Originally, I had chosen the black fabric as the border, matched the pinks and greens and was going to applique all the blocks. After they were laid out on the floor, I realized that the black was much too strong for them and that I should do pieced blocks to go along with the appliqued ones. The pieced blocks were quickly whipped together last night along with the decision to replace the black with cream and maybe add some applique on the border, or do a border that will go along with the pieced blocks. I'll have to give it some thought. Now you can understand why I work on 5 or more projects at one time! I rarely follow a pattern from start to finish....am I the only one who has that problem? In any case, it won't be long until another UFO is done done done.

Where are my sunglasses?

Wow! A day of bright fabrics, but it is done and ready for quilting. The picture doesn't show the border fabric off quite enough, but it is really a cute one. There wasn't enough for a wider border, but "make do" and stash quilts aren't always perfect. I think I'll tell the gal who quilts it to do something funky and fun...purple thread or maybe variegated thread, lots of circles, squiggles or whatever she likes. Once I got past the urge to jump in and put it together block by block, it went well. These patterns must be done in order and can easily get messed up.....and I'm just the one to test that theory! It was a fun one to make but I doubt that I'll make another for quite some time. The debate has been raging inside me over whether to make quicker quilts for fun or to make quilts that are going to mean something some day, i.e. heirloom quilts. I guess I'll just have to temper it with alternating between the two. It has been quite a long stretch of quilting just for fun and making for others. In January I sent 7 tops to the quilter and there are now 3 more ready to go. I'm thinking it is about time to get back to some serious hand applique and get a couple of the harder ones done....the kind that takes months to do. It's kind of like taking a nap - after a while one gets energized and can go back to what needs to be done. Maybe I'm there.......or maybe I'll just take a nap and think on it.

Brights from My Stash

We're inching upwards to the 40* mark, something we haven't seen in many, many days and it feels wonderful!! It was delightful enough to go out for a walk with the Leah, the pound pup.

The Quilting Bee that I belong to recently decided as a group to do a Buggy Barn Hearts and Stars. This kind of pattern is totally out of my usual range of quilts and I originally decided not to participate in this activity, which we have agreed is OK. However, one of my goals is to reduce my stash so that I can feel free to do what I want and not let my drawers and closet of fabric dictate what quilts I make. So, I went to my LQS (closet :>) and pulled some brights. I think they came out pretty good - can't go too far wrong with brights, eh? The border is a leftover from a quilt I made for the our church's VBS program. Yellow sashings and hot pink cornerstones, add the border and it will be ready to go to the quilter. To whom it will be given is a mystery to me yet....I'll wait until it is quilted and then see how I feel at that point. I know an adorable 4 year old, but donating it for charity also works. In any case, my box of brights is minimally reduced. I have plans for a bright string quilt this summer while at the cottage and that will reduce the contents a bit more. Signs of bright flowers and Spring! I'm anxious for both!

Fussing and fidgeting

I've really been fidgeting the past few days with my stitching, bouncing from one thing to another. I do have things that need to be finished; some wouldn't take much time, but I'm ready to move on to something different. Maybe it's cabin fever? We've had many days of single digit weather so staying in has felt better than braving the elements. I'm thinking a drive to a far away quilt shop might do me some good, don't you agree? :>) Today, being a bit warmer, I headed out to an estate sale. Oh my, the house was gorgeous and the furniture was exquisite. I found a picture that I really wanted, but another gal decided that she was "thinking about buying it" and I got tired of waiting to see if she really was going to buy it or not. However, I found two twin coverlets that weren't handmade quilts, but were so soft and looked like quilts, so I bought them. Aren't they sweet looking?

I got bitten by the Redwork/Bluework bug again and pulled some Kona Snow out of the closet Friday night. I traced some teddy bears from patterns and started on one of them using blue thread. It will be for someone's little boy someday. I remember doing the rhyming thing with my guys when they were little and to have a quilt with such things as "Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear, Turn Around; Teddy Bear Teddy Bear, Touch The Ground" and so on will be fun for some one. I'll post one as soon as it is completed. Good handwork for an evening in front of the TV and a toasty fire!

Leftovers and Leah

Today is a gorgeous day with bright blue skies and wonderful sunshine bathing our snowy world outside. We received nearly a foot of snow over the past couple of days and it is truly beautiful out there. The second new furnace went in yesterday and I spent the day sewing on some blocks that will go to a charity. It is a simple 4 patch and I got to playing around with them forming different patterns. Finding the one I liked, I left it on the floor - a disaster by DS's Black Lab, Leah. LOL!! She went skidding through it and of course it didn't go back the way I had it. Oh well, with DH's help, I got it put back together and then sewed it. I didn't dream that getting the design back would be so complicated! (In the picture, she is the one chasing the stick, not holding it! :>)

The darker quilt that I've posted is another stash/scrappy one that I made last Fall and gave to my niece for Christmas. It turned out to be one of my favorites. I'm trying to make a quilt for each of my nieces and nephews and their children. So far, the nieces and their children all have quilts with the exception of one little newborn. Fortunately, the number of nephews is smaller!

Today, my sewing machine and supplies have been returned to a warmer sewing room and my plan is to put the batik blocks together, add setting triangles and a border. That's my plan.....