A very good Friday

This first picture is of Aubrey. I may have mentioned that I have taken her to three sessions of sewing classses for little girls that they offer here through community ed. One was for pajama pants, and the next one they screen printed some fabric and did some stamping on it, and made a bag. She is in her pj pants and holding the bag that she made. I am proud of her, she did so well.

The second bag is one I made and finished this morning. I have been wanting to make a new purse, and finally just decided to take a break from the quilting of my Thimbleberries and make it. I've had the fabric and pattern for quite a while. The pattern is Bow Tucks Tote by Penny Sturges of Quiltsillustrated.com.






The next picture is our DGC taken in front of the fire truck at the station where our son Kurt is a firefighter. He has not been at this station for too long, and today all of our family got to visit him. He showed us around, and since the area around the station is also the training facility, there was lots to see and do. The kids got to try a number of things, and it was so enjoyable.


The last picture is of Kurt showing Tanner how to hook up to the fire hydrant.

Thimbleberries progress

I was getting impatient because I don't have anything completed to show, so decided to post some pictures of what I have been doing - quilting on this king-sized Thimbleberries 2008 BOM. It was to be a queen-sized quilt, but I needed it bigger, so did some changing on the borders so it will work. It is a huge job to quilt, but I will win in the end!!

Project Linus Bowtie Quilt

I think I mentioned that we had purchased birdhouses for the grandchildren to paint. They did that Friday afternoon and had such a good time painting them. We will have a very colorful backyard, with those hanging there. They all want to leave them here, as we have some nice fir trees to hang them from.

I finished another Project Linus quilt. This is the Bowtie block, and while I wish I had quilted the entire thing in black, I didn't, and I hope someone will still enjoy it.

I have continued the quilting on my Thimbleberries quilt, and it is coming along nicely, but boy, what a lot of work!! I am doing some freehand quilting, some stencil, and some tissue paper quilting. We go to CA on about the 22nd, and I wish I would have it done by then, but I doubt very seriously if that will happen.

Lodge and Lakeside

Well, after just thinking about how I was going to quilt this thing, I finally bit the bullet and sandwiched it so I could begin quilting. This is the Thimbleberries BOM for 2008. I increased the size of it to somewhere around 120 inches square, so it is huge! I do love it though, and it will work perfectly on our king-sized bed. What a job it is quilting it though. I pin basted approximately to the top and bottom edges in the area that includes the tree blocks on each side. Then I cut out the batting on the sides to make a bit less bulk. I will hand-stitch the batting back in one side at a time when I complete the center of the quilt.

I haven't worked much more on my EQ6 lessons for a couple days. I need to spend a little time on it, because I want to work on a couple projects of my own on it after I get a bit more proficient. One of them I could probably do at this point, but I will wait a bit anyway.

Yesterday we took our DGC to an Oregon Trail Museum. They do a nice presentation there, with a film, and two of the DGC have studied the Oregon Trail in school. It is nicely geared in a lot of areas to be interactive for children, so it was a nice experience for them, and we all learned a lot.

Last Sunday I saw that Michael's was having a sale on birdhouses, acrylic paint and foam brushes. I figured those would be a great project for the DGC, so we got four birdhouses, several colors of paint, and a bunch of foam brushes. After we got home from the museum yesterday, and after feeding their always hungry tummies, we got out all the supplies and they painted away! It was pretty cute watching them mix colors, and seeing what they came up with. They are without a doubt colorful!! I don't have a picture yet, but will take one and post it. They were pleased with what they did, and now we need to hang them all in the back yard.

As a final note, I have repeatedly spaced between paragraphs like in my other posts, but it just doesn't stay when I publish the post, so I hope this is not too difficult to read.

March 1

Well, how creative is that title of this post! Sorry, I couldn't think of anything else.

A year and a half ago or so, I took a Quilt University EQ6 course. We went on vacation and I got it all printed out, but never finished it. I have now decided that I need to get it done and get going with it, so I can design the rest of my Mariner's Compass and design a quilt for our granddaughter's birthday, which is July 1. She loves purple, pink and butterflies, so all that will be incorporated into hers. But back to the learning process. I am in the middle of the second of three lessons. They are very comprehensive and pretty long.

Other than the EQ lessons, I have been working on quilting a charity quilt that I pieced. I sandwiched it last night. I am not real thrilled with the quilt. It seems a bit boring, and doesn't pop like I hoped it would, but it will probably be okay. I need to get it quilted and the binding machine sewn on so I can do the hand stitching during American Idol this week. Yes, I admit it, I love that show, so need to have my hand work ready. I was doing some knitting last week, but it will be binding this week.

One DGD has expressed an interest in latch hook, so I want to go to Michael's or Joann's real soon and get her a small kit. It pleases me, needless to say, when the girls express an interest in crafty or needlework things.

Today was rainy here, but we did manage to get out for a bit and walk, and then pulled a bunch of weeds. The weeds and moss have been so bad, and we still have lots to do. We saw quite a few crocuses, and that is always a thrill - kind of the first harbinger of spring.