Picking Up Strips

So remember how I went to the fabric store a couple days ago?  Well, the package I was waiting for shipped that day finally.  The tracking said it would be delivered today via US Mail.  I took a chance and went to our little Post Office this morning and asked if I could have it early instead of waiting for my mail which doesn't come until 2 or later.  They gave me the package so now I don't have to cut into the yardage!  Whee!

Time Marches On

That was one of my great grandpa's sayings.  Time marches on.  The older I get, the more true that becomes.  Another year gone.  There were good things that happened this year, and I supposed if I sat down and tallied them up, they may outnumber the bad, for which I am thankful.  However, there were some whoppers that were not so good, and for that reason, I'm breathing a big sigh of relief and saying bye to 2015. 

I pray everyone has a safe and happy new year and that 2016 brings many more good than bad times for all of us.

Ever Hopeful

Once in a while I will make salmon patties.  Not too often, because I'm the only one who likes them around here right now.  Except for the cat.  Shadow is patiently waiting, thinking that I will drop some for her.  Poor, delusional, cat...  hahaha

Stack Of Fun

I received a stack of fat quarters for Christmas and I just can't wait to play with them!  So many patterns, so little time...

Quick Trip To The Fabric Shop

Today I went to a quilt shop and picked up some Kona White Cotton.  I really needed a jelly roll of it for an upcoming mystery, however, the one that I ordered online hasn't even been shipped, so the yardage will work just fine.  A few more cuts with the rotary cutter, that's all.  The mystery is in two days, so I have to get busy cutting!

Food Day

Had the kids over today for dinner.  Great time!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to everyone!  I hope all of you have a beautiful and blessed holiday.

Some Time Off

I'm going to have eleven days in a row off of work, starting this afternoon!  I am very ready for it, too.  Until we have had all of our family Christmas celebrations, I probably won't get up in the sewing room much.  I do intend to do the mystery on New Year's Eve with one of my online Yahoo Groups.

Most of my grocery shopping is done, but I still need to pick up a few things this afternoon.  Hopefully I will not have to leave the house again for a few days!  Doubt it works out that way, but one can always hope...

The tradition of watching A Christmas Story over and over will begin tomorrow.  We love that movie.  I think we could all recite the entire dialogue from memory.  That movie and The Princess Bride are our families own little cult classics.  haha.

Why Can't I Count?

Last night I must have been gung ho to get get those goodie bags made because instead of making the five that I needed, I made six!

I have all the presents wrapped and ready to go under the tree.  I dropped off presents at my dad's last night for when we go over there Friday.  I can't put my presents under our tree yet because of Addy, but they are ready for Christmas!

Tomorrow I plan to do my food shopping for our family dinner on Saturday.

It Starts...

The Christmas Holidays have begun!  This weekend we went to visit my mom and family up north.

We had a very nice visit.  I even got to see Mary for a while, which was great.  We are planning our January retreat - hey, a gal's got to have things to look forward to, you know!  haha.

The food was fantastic.  Mom just outdid herself this year.  She wasn't even feeling very well, so we appreciated everything all that much more.

Johnathon and Hope got along real well and kept each other entertained.  I think the pair of nerf guns one of them got as a present helped in that department.

And he loved his quilt!  It just warmed my heart when he asked to sleep under it that night.

Close Ups

Here are a couple close up shots, front and back, of the quilting I did on Johnathon's quilt.  Each of the blocks had a larger square surrounded by smaller ones, so I did a back and forth scribble in the large square and did loops in each of the small squares around that bigger block.  I think the loops are really going to pop once it's washed.  The quilting went surprisingly fast.  He will be getting the quilt tomorrow, so I hope to have some good pics of him when he opens it.  I hope he likes it!

More Cookies

In addition to the cookies that were baked earlier this week, I also have some no bake haystack cookies (a.k.a. reindeer poo...hahaha) made and some pretzel sticks dipped in caramel and chocolate made.  Today I'm going to make a popcorn treat to give away.  Then I'm pretty much done making sweets until next week.

Tomorrow after work I need to make a couple meat loaves and homemade mac and cheese to take up to Ev's Mom's for dinner there.  I'll just get them to the point of going in the oven, then get up early Saturday morning and bake them so they will be hot when we get there.  I do need to go get some disposable foil pans yet.

I have yet to wrap a single gift.  That's on the agenda for tonight.

Oh, and last night I finished binding and labelling Johnathon's quilt!  Woohoo!  Pics to follow soon.

Baking Frenzy

Yesterday after work I had quite a productive evening in the kitchen.  I baked a batch of chocolate chip cookies with the help of Johnathon.  Send a good sized container home with him, too.  Then baked a batch of oatmeal scotchies.  After that, I made a batch of those oyster cracker snacks with ranch dip mix and dill on them.

The cookies are mostly for the cookie exchange with Mary this weekend, but there were enough for us to enjoy, too.

Tonight I want to get the binding done on his quilt.  Will be glad to have that all finished.

Last But Not Least

The red nursing home quilt!  This one is quite an accomplishment in the quilting department, in my opinion.  I did a loopy feather design on the top, and when I turned it over, it gave the illusion of water and waves for the ladies swimming on the back side fabric!

Two More

Another two of the nursing home quilts.  The green one hardly looks like the same block because the background is not the same.  I did a large meander on the green for the quilting and the straight lines and boxes on the blue one.

Someone asked my stepmother, who was at the dinner when the quilts were to be distributed, why I did this every year.  Some of the recipients will have received more than one quilt over the years.  My answer to that question is this:  I think that receiving a quilt probably brings a smile to the faces of the recipient.  That's why I do it - to make people happy.  Being in a nursing home is probably a pretty dreary thing, and any kind of bright spot is most likely appreciated.  The quilts they received in previous years were probably washed quite a bit and that will have taken it's toll on the fabrics, for sure.  So, that's why I do it.  And maybe, after the fact that I have done this for several years, some of them are expecting a quilt, and I would hate to disappoint them!

Two for One

Here are two of the fnished quilts for the nursing home.  I liked the quilting patterns I used on these two a lot.  The clamshells were quick and easy once the grid was chalked on the top.  The straight lines and boxes were very easy and forgiving.  There weren't really any rules.  I just went wherever I wanted and filled the space.

Happy Times

I know I posted a picture of us at the tree farm, but here's another one with Addy in the picture.  She absolutely loved going there with us.  Oh, the smells!  New things to see!  It was a good day.

The weather was unseasonably warm for December.  It was around 60 deg.  Really not condusive to the Christmas Spirit, but we were thankful not to have to brave the cold and ice and snow while tromping around looking for a tree!

Stack of Five

Here's my stack of five quilts for the nursing home residents from our church!  They were finished Thursday night and delivered to the recipients today.  I will show some individual pictures on the blog throughout the upcoming week.  Having some issues uploading photos today for some reason!

Getting the Top Finished

The top for Johnathon's quilt is finished, finally, and loaded on Gemma.  I have a couple designs in my head on how to quilt it, but haven't completely decided which one to do.  I need to get started very soon, because this quilt has to be ready by Friday night!  I would also like to make a couple matching pillowcases for him.

Tree Time

Yesterday we went to the local tree farm and cut down our Christmas Tree.  Nick and Ev did the cutting, while Addy and I supervised! 

Good thing we cut it yesterday because it has been raining all day today!

Power Binding

Two more nursing home quilts got bound last night.  Yes, I'm using the same binding material for all five.  I have it, it's working nicely, and I'm in a hurry!  This makes three completely done.  I have two more to put binding on.  Plan to work on that tonight.

This morning before work I went upstairs to get something and when I passed the sewing machine it called to me...  I had to sit down and sew a few of the binding strips together!  This way I am totally ready to go when I get home.

Have to figure out a quick meal for tonight.  Maybe quesadilla's?  I have left over beef roast I could shred and put in them.  Not sure yet what I'll do.  Going to have lunch with Johanna.  We are getting pizza.

What Background

Not the best picture to see the material, but you get the idea.  I'm going to make a baby quilt with these strips.  They are different colored dots on a white background.  They will be used in a mystery on New Year's Eve.  I need another set of strips for a background.  I'm thinking of using a plain white, but then the craziness in me comes out and says what about using all different colored solids...

This is probably the one time I won't listed to that voice.  I'm leaning heavily towards going with the white.

Yeah, I had Ev go up and take that picture for me since I needed to see the colors for matching up other fabrics.  Bad thing is, this means he knows how much I spent on them because the price tags were on them still...  Oh well...  :)

One Down, Four To Go

Last stitch is in place for this nursing home quilt!  Got right down to it last night when I got home from work.  Took about an hour.  So I'm hoping to do the same thing tonight, maybe even more.  We shall see....

Made a big pot of lentil soup and a pan of cornbread last night.  Ev had a union meeting and they were serving pizza at it, so I didn't need to cook for him.  I made the soup for Nick and I.  Going to take him some on my way home from work.  He should like that.

As much as I have to do yet, I'm actually enjoying the season.  Everything will get done, and if it doesn't, well, it doesn't.

Sleepy Head

She can be such a sweet pup!  She was laying on the pillows this morning, between Ev and I, just snoozing away.  When she is like this, I really love this dog.  There are times she gets a little too hyper for me.  But then she settles down pretty quickly and all is good.

Quilting Done

Here is the fifth nursing home quilt just as it came off Gemma.  All of them are quilted and ready for binding.  They average 60" square, so binding will probably take about an hour on each of them.  Shouldn't be a problem.  Last night I went straight downstairs and finished this one up.  Tonight I am going to make soup for supper, so once it gets cooking, I hope to go upstairs and do the binding on at least one.

Closer Every Day

Saturday and Sunday I had some time do do some quilting on Gemma.  I loaded the double back for the last two nursing home quilts and then the first top.  I finished it and loaded the second top.  It's about a quarter of the way quilted.

This was the bottom edge of the first top.  I just did straight lines and boxes on it.

The second top I am doing a large meander.

Then I will be in a binding frenzy!  haha

Double Back

The material on the bottom is going to be the backing for the last two nursing home tops, which are folded inside out above it.  This weekend I have to get them done.  Remember how I was going to have them all finished early this year?  hahahahahahahahahaha

I just seem to be doing a lot of other things right now.  Crochetting hats has consumed me.  I know, as in the past, this crochet fever will dwindle, but while I have it, I'm making the most of it.  So far I have crochetted 10 hats in just a few weeks!  Granted, two were isty bitsy baby hats, but the others were large.  I'm making a lot of Christmas gifts.  Hope they are appreciated!

Mees-tair Squirrel...

That's how I'm saying it in my head, "Meeester Squirrel, I seeee you!"  This isn't the best photo, but that's our Halloween Pumpking (which I truly need to get off the porch now) and a squirrel chomping on it.  If I leave it for a few more days, those squirrels will get all the way to the center of the pumpkin and have a feast on the seeds.  I think I'll put it on the ground by one of the trees in our yard.  I took the picture from inside, so the screen on the window somewhat distorted things.

Not Ignoring The Blog

I seem to have been a bit lax in posting daily.  I'm not ignoring the blog, I just have had a lot of things going on.  With the holidays and other issues, it's been difficult to find time to post.  Going to try and do better, folks!

Tonight I would like to go straight up to the sewing room and finish putting together the backing for two nursing home quilts.  That is what I would LIKE to do.  We will see if that happens.  Dinner is just going to be rueben sandwiches, so they can be made fairly quickly, anytime.

I really do love the holidays, just not all the stress that comes with them.  Next year I am going to make a concentrated effort to buy gifts throughout the year to alleviate one stress factor.

Another Old Photo

Are you tired of photos yet?  This is my Great Grandfather's family.  He is standing up on the left.  There were 9 children in this photo.  Not all lived to adulthood.  I actually knew several of his brothers and sisters.  Pretty cool, huh?

I would like to get a professional copy made of the two old photos.

Namesakes

This is one of my brothers, who happens to be named after the relative in the photo in the previous post.

We sure have kept the memories alive.  I named my daughter for my Great Grandmother.

I guess all that I can hope is that some day someone thinks as highly of me as I do of some of my relatives!

Relatives

Yesterday afternoon my cousin called and invited me to come over and look through old pictures.  This is a picture of my Great Grandfather.  I was very fortunate to have known him!  He lived to be 91 years old.  He came over from Europe in 1908 when he was only 8 years old.  Pretty good looking guy, huh?  :)

Blue Nursing Home Quilt Quilted

Over the long weekend I put this quilt on the frame and finished up the quilting.  I just did straight lines in a random boxy pattern.  I like the way it turned out.

Home

We were out of town for Thanksgiving so I am a day late in wishing everyone a good holiday.  I have so much to be thankful and am truly blessed.

Mad Hatter

I finished up this hat last night.  It's just rows up and down of single crochet, then I folded up the bottom.  It's very thick and I think it will be very warm.  Not sure who it will go to yet, or if anyone will even want it!

Another Addy Picture

The good thing about this picture is it does not include a chewed up quilt!  I went upstairs to work on Mom's curtains last night (which I finished! woohoo!) and while I was up there, Addy got into some mischief.  She got into the garbage, the dirty dishes, on the counter, and in the clean laundry!  She was a busy dog and wore herself out, so she decided to take a nap, I guess!  Now, so that you don't think she is a small dog, that sofa is a full size sleeper sofa, and yes, she takes up that much room!

It's a good thing we love that dog...

Red Beret

Would you believe that I crochetted this hat?  I surprised even myself because it seemed like it would be well above my skill level.  I am very pleased with the results and plan to make another one very soon.

Curtain Call

I got a call from my mother asking me to make her a set of curtains for the windows on either side of her front door.  And could I make them before Thanksgiving?  ho ho ho.  Yeah, well, they won't take too long.  They are just narrow curtains with casings at either end.  I sent her this picture to see which fabric she wanted.

She chose the second one, the one with the white background and little black accents.  I cut the material out last night and intend to do the sewing tonight.

There is actually a story behind that fabric.  It has been in my stash for a very long time.  Probably since the 1980's.  I think I bought it at Wal Mart.  I liked it so much I bought several yards of it, and also bought several yards of it in reverse - black with white designs.  My intentions were to make a sun dress.  Hmm.  Yeah, well, you know that sun dress never got made, right?  hahaha

Another Addy Patch

Since I was repairing one quilt, I thought I might as well repair another.  Addy took a chunk out of the edge of this string quilt a while back and it has been waiting patiently for me to repair it.  I did that last night.  It's back on the quilt rack in the front room and getting plenty of use with these cold evenings!

I finished the binding on Joyce's Pink Log Cabin Quilt.  It is done!  Going to take it up to her Thursday.

Just A Little Bit More

Here's a pic of the pink log cabin I'm taking to my mother in law over Thanksgiving.  It needed the binding yet in this picture.  Since then I have attached the binding to the back and to two sides of the front.  It won't take long to get that all done and it will be ready to go.

Somebody Tell Me Why I Have A Dog

Addy decided the Paducah 2014 quilt tasted good, apparently.  I was NOT happy.  Not happy at all.  But, to be honest, I make the quilts to be used and if something like this happens, it just happens.

Here's the repair job.  I guess I could have matched up the materials and binding, but that would have taken a lot of time and effort.  It's fixed and done.  Now, to go get that dog a few more chew toys...

Two More

Yeah, I know I should be quilting, but these hats have interrupted things for a little bit.  I promise to get back to quilting asap.  In fact I wanted to go straight downstairs after work yesterday, but Johanna walked in right after I got home, then we went out to supper, so that shot my plans.

So instead I made these two hats!  The smaller one is for Johnathon and the larger one was originally for Ben but Johanna said he would not wear it.  I asked if she would and she said yes, so she got it!  Going to make Nick and Ev each one, but think it will be a different pattern.  Working on different things right now.

Since we didn't order pizza last night, I'm going to try my plan again.  The go straight downstairs part, at least!  haha.  Then order pizza when the quilt comes off the frame.

Tomorrow night I am going out to supper with my sister, so anything I do will be later.  Doubt I will work on any quilting tomorrow night.  As long as I get the binding on it over the weekend I will be happy.  Need to take it up to his mom over Thanksgiving.

Baby Hats

I got sidetracked...  Saw a pattern to make newborn and preemie hats for babies.  It looked like something easy I could crochet, so I whipped these two little hats up.

I'll donate them to the local hospital.

I am trying to find a pattern to make a quick crochet hat for Johnathon, too.  I might just modify this pattern.

Tonight I would like to go straight downstairs again and finish up the quilting on the pink log cabin, or at least get most of it done.  And I've already decided tonight we are having pizza for dinner, so I'm not cooking!

Got Down To It

I was in the mood to quilt the moment I walked in the door after work tonight!  I went straight to the basement and started quilting on the pink log cabin that's loaded on Gemma right now.  After making one pass tonight, I turned it and will only have one more full pass and a few more inches to finish!  I could have kept going, but I needed to do a few things upstairs, so I am content with what I did get done.

We have had rain for a couple days now and the wind is really picking up.  Think we might get some storms tonight.

Final Owl Pics

Here is what the owl quilt looked like when it was finished:

Sorry about the bad lighting.  I did quilt through the owls with the all over meander.  I used a grey thread, and it didn't take away from the owls at all.

Pink Log Cabin In Progress

After finishing the little owl quilt, I got right back to the frame and loaded up the pink log cabin.  I was able to quilt half of it over the weekend and feel pretty good about that.  Just doing a simple meander, but it looks nice.  This top was made years ago and I am finding that my borders are a little bit wavy.  Not stressing over it, just easing them in where needed and keep on going.

Weather is turning colder this week.  We are supposed to have rain for four days straight starting tonight.  That doesn't bother me as long as we don't get the wind with it.

We raked leaves yesterday for several hours and I'm paying for it today with allergies!  I'm also paying for the marathon quilting I did over the weekend with a sore wrist.  Going to take some medicine that should benefit both of those issues and hope for the best!

Thanksgiving is next week.  I was thinking of making a chocolate lava cake in the crock pot for dessert, so I thought I would test out the recipe yesterday to make sure we liked it.  It was good, but not exactly what I was expecting.  Not sure I will want to make it for the holiday or not.

Quick Post

Here's the top for the baby quilt.  It's 36"x42".  Going to try and get it done tonight.  I would like to make one more owl for Johanna to put in a frame with the blue material as a background, then when the baby is born, add his name inside the frame.  That just sounds cute to me.

And if anyone is interested, here's a list of what I named all the owls.  Quit laughing....  :)

Yup, that's Who's Who.

What A Hoot

These cute little guys are getting turned into owls!  Johanna needs a baby quilt (by Saturday!) for a shower.  She informed me of this on Tuesday, so I found a very cute pattern on Craftsy and bought it.  I have added all the beaks and eyes and have all the other parts ready to be sewn down.  I named all the owls as I was making them.  Here are Steve, Henrietta, and Maggie:

I just made the eyes out of scrap fabric and sewed them down, same with the beaks.  The pattern had buttons for eyes, but I can't do that for a baby quilt.  It was a lot of fun picking out fabrics.

It's A Start

This morning before I left for work I attached one side of the backing to the longarm frame.  Tonight I hope to finish loading it so tomrorrow I can get some quilting done on it.

Back It Up

Last night I put together a backing for a top I have had done for quite a while.  The top is a log cabin I started many years ago when we were camping for a week, and finished a while back with some borders.  It's a good sized top and will be nice when it's done.

I used some material I had bought the remainder of the bolt from Miller's out in Arthur on a visit earlier in the year.  The top has different pinks and neutrals in it and the backing fabric is white with tiny red dots.  Had to get creative to make it big enough out of the yardage I had, but it is going to work.

I would like to get it loaded onto Gemma either tonight or tomorrow.  Wednesday I don't have to work, so it would be a good day to get started on the quilting.  Of course, Ev asked me to help him rake leaves Wednesday before he goes to work.  We'll see if he still wants to do that, and if so, I will just have to quilt when he leaves for work!

Planning to make a big pot of spaghetti sauce tonight.  Also thinking I need to make a pot of stew pretty soon.  Getting to be that kind of weather.

Lucky Seven

We had a great time in Arthur yesterday!  There ended up being seven of us that went.  We came from all directions and even had a friend from Tennessee join us!  That was Marla's sister who was up visiting for a few days. 

One of the nicest things about yesterday's trip was that we also had Sharon from Country Home Quilting with us.  She is from the area and knew a couple of places to visit that we didn't.  And she also introduced us to a new to us restaurant, which turned out to be very good. 

I had a lot of fun and bought my share of fabric, of course.  It was so nice to visit with friends, browse the shops, and enjoy a meal together.  Definitely a good day!

Bear and Fish Rows

Tonight I was able to get the blocks sewn into rows for Johnathon's quilt.  Each row has six blocks in it and there will be eight rows.  Four rows with mostly fish in the centers and four rows with mostly bears in the centers.

Also did a little bit on the pink potholder.  I think that I might actually have it figured out now.  These folded star potholders are a little time consuming but turn out real pretty.

Anticipation

Eagerly anticipating my trip to Arthur tomorrow!  It is always so nice to see friends and spend the day with them.

Hoping to get some sewing done tonight after work, but no promises.

Is It Really November?

The temps have been so warm for this time of year, it is hard to believe we are in November!  It was in the 60's today, which is unusual.  Guess we better enjoy it while we can because I think some pretty cold weather is on it's way very soon.

Tonight I have some errands to run after work, so I doubt I will get much sewing done.  Didn't do any yesterday either.  It will get done eventually.

This weekend I am meeting friends in Arthur.  Looking forward to that trip!

The Process

The above picture is the back of a scrap of material that I marked on to help with placement in making the Amish Star.  I only marked one because I wanted to make sure these marks were correct, or if there was anything I could do to make the instructions clearer.

The center part went down fine and lined up with the markings, as did the first round of the dark color.  The above picture shows the first point on the second round of the dark.  I first placed it in the wrong spot, AGAIN, and had to stop myself and change it before sewing.  I almost made the same mistake as what I did on the blue one.

This is as far as I got on it last night.  It was 9:45 and I was ready for bed, plus I didn't have any more squares cut for the points!  I am planning to draw full lines on the next one, not just hash marks.  That will really help me with placement, I think.

There are so many other projects I need to be working on instead of these.  But they got ahold of me and I just couldn't stop!  Kind of like those little wonky star blocks a while back!