Project Linus completion

I completed another quilt for Project Linus. Somewhere on the web I saw a quilt made up out of this pattern, and they called it "Hopscotch." I liked it so well, so drafted the block, used lots of colorful scraps, and came up with this. I am very pleased with how it turned out, and hope it will bring pleasure to some young person who is going through some difficult times. The first picture is actually the back. I was lacking a bit of fabric, so had to get creative.

Ready to baste

I got my breadfruit cut out and put on the background.  The next step will be basting it.  The next lesson is on Friday, but considering all the other things on my plate, there won't be any problem finding something to do.

It looks like we may get some sunshine today, so I want to get out for a while.

Hawaiian quilting

Before I talk about my latest little venture into the learning realm, I am going to gripe about our weather.  The week of May 9 spoiled us with absolutely gorgeous spring weather, and then BAM, the last few days it has rained and poured and rained some more.  All the kids' ball games have been cancelled and the fields are just a terrible muddy mess.  Okay, that's it for the rant.

I signed up for Hawaiian Quilting 101 at quiltuniversity.com.  I really love their classes and have taken several.  This is the site for my class.  http://quiltuniversity.com/classlist.htm#Hawaiian101 .  I have heard glowing reviews of Nancy Chong's teaching, and I am really looking forward to this.  I have fabric laying out all over my sewing room, and am still trying to decide which two fabrics I will use.  I am definitely not going to buy fabric.  I will eventually figure out which suits me best.

I also, a couple days ago, signed up for Connecting Threads Quilt With Us.  http://quiltwithus.connectingthreads.com/ .  They have some wonderful tutorials, and I am enjoying doing the different methods of making flying geese.  I know, I definitely did NOT need another on-line thing to follow, but someone (and I can't remember who) mentioned signing up, and I had to have a look, and I was very impressed.  BTW, Connecting Threads has very nice fabric at a reasonable price (and no, I don't have any connection with them - just a pleased customer).

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.  Today doesn't look to be quite as soggy as the last few, and I plan to get some sewing done.

Baby quilt completed and sent

My nephew's wife delivered a baby girl last week, and I had completed a quilt to send. I didn't post it before because it's doubtful that they look at my blog, but just in case I waited until I'm sure they have received it in the mail.

I love the Hanky Panky quilt pattern, and that's the one that I used. The picture isn't all that good, unfortunately.

I am waiting to get good pictures of the two remaining grandchildren as they play softball and baseball.  You know, I need to give equal coverage to all!!  :-)

Quiet Sunday - hopefully

As I look at my most recent posts, I see I've featured our youngest grandchild a couple times, so I think it's time I brought someone else into view - his big sister. She played volleyball and her team just completed a very successful season. It is a 4th-6th grade team. They were so cute and full of spirit. They had a 20-year old coach that they adored and she really brought out the best in the girls.  Our granddaughter is on the bottom right, next to the coach.

After the volleyball game yesterday, I went to a charity sew at the home of a friend.  Several of us try to get together once a month and work on charity quilts.  Yesterday we made four patches using Billie Lauder's tecnique.  http://www.easymade.com/video_clip3.html .  It was great fun, and we got a lot done.  We are pairing the four patches with coordinating fabric, so each row has a four patch followed by a coordinating fabric.  A picture will follow when I have more done. 

A while back I saw the fabrics shown in the following table runner.  I first resisted temptation, but then went back and bought them.  The pattern is garden twist.  I obviously did not use a floral pattern, but I am very pleased with how it turned out.  The umbrella fabric is directional, so after an initial oops, I was careful to keep them all going the same direction.  Also partially depicted are my Mother's Day roses.

Two days in a row - what can I say?

Today was such a beautiful day! Hubby went and got a load of bark, and we discovered we will need a few more loads. I planted a bunch of marigolds and zinnias and petunias. The yard will have lots of color before too long.

Tonight hubby went to our grandson's T-ball game and I went to a granddaughter's softball game. Our poor little girl is struggling with hitting and I feel so bad for her. Last year she did so well, so I'm sure it will come around, but she is discouraged, and it makes us sad for her.

On the quilting subject, I made this quilt recently for Project Linus. the little bears and other animals were all on a panel and I cut them apart and put on the sashing. I hope some child will enjoy it.

What can I say?

OMG, it's been more than a month since I have posted.  I seem to do pretty well for a while, and then, well, I don't know, I just don't get it done.

We have had a wet and cool spring after a much dryer winter.  The next few days, however, are supposed to be nice, so we really need to get out and get some of our large crop of weeds pulled.

We have been going to a lot of our grandchildren's sports activities. Our grandkids are playing softball, baseball, basketball, T-ball and volleyball. We love seeing them play, and they love having their fan club all there. These are a couple pics of the youngest at his T-ball game. Those little guys are so cute.  The little girl behind him in the bottom picture is his cousin.

One of the things I want to get accomplished is to go to the blogs I especially enjoy following and catch up a bit, so hopefully I can spend a little time on that today.

I have done some quilting, but I'll leave posting about that for another time.

Spring is here - at least for today

This cute little punkin in our front yard is our younger grandson.  We always have him on Fridays, and today was a lovely day, so he spent quite a little time outdoors.

A couple weeks ago I was in our local quilt shop and saw this wonderful breast cancer batik that I just had to have to make a quilt for our DDIL who is currently undergoing treatment for breast cancer.  I also found the perfect fabric (in my opinion) to go with it, the beautiful green.  I found a star I really liked on EQ and went from there.  I am pleased with how it turned out, and I know our DDIL will love it.  I will mention that they consider her to be in remission, but she still must have radiation treatments because there was cancer in lymph nodes.  Obviously, our hope is that remission is permanent.

Happy Easter, Iris wallhanging completed and shop hop

Happy Easter to everyone!

Tomorrow we will have our family at our house for dinner. We look forward to having everyone here. Yesterday the DGC dyed Easter eggs and did a great job. Our DGDs filled the plastic eggs yesterday and we will have an egg hunt which, I'm afraid, will have to be indoors because of rain.

I am so happy that my iris wallhanging is completed! The name of the pattern is Iris Garden, and it is designed by Eileen Bahring Sullivan. I am happy with it, but I told a friend that I would like to do another similar project because I learned a lot, and I think I could do a better job. I sure do enjoy the paper piecing.

Two friends and I went on a local shop hop today, and had such a good time. We went to four shops, and yes, of course, I bought way too much stuff. I will try to take a picture of my purchases, but right now I have fabric in the washer and dryer. I didn't think about a taking photo before I started laundering my purchases.

Project Linus

I've completed another quilt for Project Linus. I deliberately made this one pretty good-sized and didn't use any childish prints, hoping that some big boy might like it. We keep getting told that the biggest need is for boy quilts, and especially teenage boy quilts. This one was kind of fun, starting with a "wonky square" for the middle and working from that.

My blog is better - at least for now!

Well, thanks to my friend Linda, I tried once again to fix my blog (or at least mostly fix it) using her suggestions, and it worked.  There are still some things I don't know how to deal with, but I am definitely happier with it now.

Frustration with blog

Well, once again, my blog is a mess.  Everything that I had re-done and put on the sidebar is down below.  I will fuss with it again at another time, I suppose, but for now I am just going to ignore it.

We are enjoying our time in CA and will head north to Oregon tomorrow.

More travel pics

We are now at our destination and visiting with DH's mother and sister and bro-in-law.  We always enjoy our time here. 

I have a few more pictures to share of our trip down HWY 101 in northern California.

The first two are along the coast, and then the others are in the Redwoods.  The size of the trees is just unbelievable, and they are a breathtaking sight.

This first one is me and I'm making sure I'm far enough away from the steep dropoff. 

Here is hubby looking pretty small compared to the tree!

Happy St Patrick's Day

Well, first of all I hope everyone had a great St. Patrick's Day. We had a wonderful day. We left home this morning and came over to the Oregon Coast at Florence, which will mean nothing to most readers, but there it is anyway. We actually went by huge sand dunes and heavily forested areas, and then finally saw the ocean when we got further south. The Oregon coastline is breathtakingly beautiful, and rugged doesn't begin to cover it. There are beaches, of course, but the water is always cold, and there are many huge rocks in the water, and many precipitous cliffs with the surf pounding just off the side of the road. It's a beautiful drive, but You better be paying attention to where you're driving!  these first pictures were taken at Bandon, OR, where we took a long walk.  The wind was blowing ferociously, and it was chilly, so not a very pleasant walking day.

Have you ever seen skunk cabbage?  It's so pretty, but does have a definite skunky smell.

Finally, we finished the day at  Brookings, OR, and saw the sun go down over the ocean.  Tomorrow we'll resume our journey and head south to Windsor, CA.  We will be going on Friday to visit my husband's mom for a few days.  She is in Modesto, CA.

Not a lot new on the western front

We had such spring-like weather last week, and the week before, and then boom, yesterday we woke up to just the tiniest skiff of snow.  It has remained chilly.  We did get out and walk yesterday, but there was chilly breeze.  We'll get out today too, since it's dry, but we'll definitely need a coat.

I mentioned going to a retreat in February.  Last week I finished paper piecing the wallhanging top that I was working on at the retreat.  I am real happy with it.  Now I need to sandwich it and quilt it.  I'm kind of waiting for an aha! moment that will tell me how I should quilt it.

On Monday my friend and I got together and worked on our Farmer's Wife quilt blocks.  I have finished a few more and haven't shown them for a while, so here they are.  I am happy with the way they are coming out, and I am starting to think about how I'm going to put it together.  The author of the book has hers on point and sashed, and I want to do that, but I also want to do a bit more, so that much is still up in the air.  And, of course, I have to find the perfect sashing fabric.