Long time-no post

Well, I really haven't fallen off the face of the earth. We have been stricken with some very unwelcome news: One of our DDILs, age 36, found a lump in her breast. The doctor found another one under her arm, and after a mammogram and biopsy, it was confirmed that she has cancer. Following that came a mastectomy and removal of lymph nodes under her arm. They told her she will have chemo and radiation. Next is an appointment with the oncologist to find out just what the tests revealed from the surgery. She is holding up very well, and is very optimistic, but we are definitely concerned about how it will go when she starts chemo, which will be fairly soon, I imagine. This dear girl is married to our younger son, and has two darling children, a girl age 10, and a boy, age 5.

On a happier note, this sweet little lad is the one with the ill mommy. He played soccer this year, and the one picture has our son in the picture. He was the coach and did such a good job with the little guys. The boys were so cute and had so much fun, and even managed to learn a bit about soccer. The other picture is our grandson bundled up to go out in the cold a few days ago. We think he is just as cute as can be.

This quilt is for Project Linus. It stems from a quilt I completed in 2008 for our other grandson's 10th birthday. From the pattern I used for his quilt, there were approximately a million (well, more or less) waste triangles, so I sewed a BUNCH of them together and trimmed them, and came up with this quilt, that I hope some young man will enjoy. I didn't take a picture of the back, but it is football fabric.

Happy Thanksgiving

I haven't posted for a while, and a lot has happened, but more about that at a later time.

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and friends. I love everything about Thanksgiving but the extra pounds that seem to come along with it. We have spent most of the day making pies, and they will be a hit, I'm sure, but before that we will eat more than our fill of turkey, stuffing, potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, and more. It makes me hungry to think about it!

Have a wonderful day!

Quilts from a few years ago

I don't seem to have much of interest to post about, so I thought I would show pictures of a couple lap-sized quilts I made for our sons and their wives a few years ago.

These quilts resulted from a class a friend and I took. These tumbling blocks do not have inset seams. They are constructed in strips. Anyway, this class was an experience. The teacher did not give us any written instructions or direction at all. She had some samples of the steps that she pinned up on a board, so I took my camera and took pictures of everything. I printed out the photos and labelled them, and believe me, I used those pictures repeatedly.

Our weather the last few days was absolutely beautiful, and yesterday was shirt-sleeve weather, and then there is today. Today started out pretty decent, and then this afternoon the rain and wind came. Our yard is covered in leaves again. It sounds like it will be rainy and windy for our grandsons' football and soccer games on Saturday.

I guess I'll go back to my quilting. My progress has been slow, to say the least.

Halloween and Aunt Millie

What do Halloween and Aunt Millie have in common? Well, nothing, actually. Those two things are what I wanted to include in this blog post.

I had mentioned in my previous post that our four DGC carved pumpkins (or in the case of the little DGC, he "helped carve") at our house the day before Halloween. This picture shows our sweeties with their creations.

Now, as to Aunt Millie, I bought the Piece of Cake applique pattern "Aunt Millie's Garden. A couple days ago I finished the first block. I did the applique with the back basting method, and I really do like that method. My friend Linda from http://lindaquilts-too.blogspot.com/ first demonstrated that method a couple years ago. I later found a tutorial on line and printed that out. I started on my second block last night. The predominant color in that block is purple. My current thought is that I will make four blocks and make a wallhanging, but that obviously is subject to change. I don't get these things done very quickly.

I'm baaaack!

I mentioned in my last post that I am taking a Quilt University class called More Machine Quilting. The first week we worked on different things, but mostly feathers, which I love! This week our lesson is on trapunto. I had never done it, and this is the first one I did. The actual flower pattern was provided for us. I found this one fairly easy. The stippling around it does get tedious. That's what is suggested to make the trapunto "pop."

The second photo is the next flower pattern that was provided for us. Now this one I really love, and I'm very happy with the way it turned out. I'm not so sure trapunto is for me, but maybe for something small it would be a good thing.

And then, kaboom, lest someone get to thinking too well of herself, is the third pattern we were given to try. We were to put another color fabric behind the bow, and I failed pretty miserably to get the fabric the right size. I'm not happy with my effort on it at all.

We get our third lesson tomorrow, and I THINK that one will be about whole cloth quilting. It should be interesting!

I also have been working on a quilt that I will show at a later time, as it is a gift, and I don't think the recipients view my blog, but just in case...

Yesterday our four DGC came over and carved the pumpkins we had gotten for them. Great fun was had by all, and today DH and I spent a lot of time drying and roasting pumpking seeds. Actually, DH gets almost all the credit, because he spent a great deal of time yesterday separating the seeds from the slime, and doing most of the work today.

Well, I did it again!

I had vowed I wouldn't let so much time pass between posts, and I've done it again. My main excuse was we were gone for a week and staying in a condo in Central Oregon at Eagle Crest. We didn't have internet access there, so, that's the best I can do for an excuse.

Prior to leaving, I did complete one quilt, another Project Linus quilt that I pieced a while back. For the quilting I used Rainbow thread that I got from Superior Threads. I am now in love with that thread. It's a verigated 40 weight polyster that has a very pretty sheen. Since quilting that quilt, I have ordered a couple other colors to use in other projects.










All routes through the mountains to Central Oregon are very scenic, but we decided this time to take a route we hadn't taken before, which is across the McKenzie Pass, which is a slower, very curvy, but gorgeous drive. The first picture is of the beautiful McKenzie River. Oregon has quite a few covered bridges, and this one is still in use.

On this drive we went from the lush greenery up to the stark lava fields, with beautiful mountain views. I believe the sign said that the volcano occured about 1500 years ago. It is so impressive to see mile after mile of the lava rocks, and be reminded that the mountains in the Cascade range are live volcanoes. (Remember Mt. St. Helens blowing in 1980?)


The last picture is taken at Smith Rock, out of Terrabonne, OR. We hiked there one day, and the path that is shown takes off at the bottom of the path down from the parking lot. Down was not so tough, but going back up was quite a climb. What a beautiful area this is though, and what a lovely day for a hike.

One other thing I have been doing is I am taking a Quilt University class - More Machine Quilting. I have already picked up several tips, and I'm really enjoying it.

Couple completions

These two items were close to completion in September, but were finally finished in the last couple days.

The witch table topper/wallhanging was a pattern a friend and I both decided to make. It was a fun one to do, and I am happy with it.

The knitted blanket I will give to Project Linus. It was an easy car riding and TV watching project, made with yarn that is verigated and makes those nice stripes with no changing yarn colors.