Latest musings

Yesterday I needed to put away what I was working on, due to the visit of a certain little person, so I pulled out a jelly roll that I had purchased from Connecting Threads. I played around and came up with these blocks. They go together so easily, and I think I can easily make 12 blocks, and then probably find something in my stash for sashing and a border or two, and have another quilt top that will probably go to Project Linus when completed. I am so pleased with this collection. I am not an employee or in any way related to the Connecting Threads folks; just a happy customer. I also like their prices - $5.96 a yard, I think it is.



These little silly DGC are taking a bath in our bathroom and wanted me to take a picture of their "helmets." Too cute. They just have the best time playing around and making a mess!







The last picture is on one section of our back yard on a warmer day than today. Come on back warm weather! I think (hope) it is to warm up a bit starting tomorrow.

Project Linus string quilt

Well, as promised, here is the second string quilt I made for Project Linus. I don't like this one as well as the last one, but hopefully it will be something that someone will enjoy.

We have been enjoying the flowers in bloom here. The daffodils are nearly gone, but there are still quite a few tulips. We have gotten our first glimpses of dogwoods and lilacs this week. Some of the early rhododendrons are in bloom, but the azaleas are pretty much done. There is so much to appreciate and enjoy with all the spring color splendor.

Spring has sprung!

We have been fortunate enough to have several absolutely beautiful spring days. Yesterday and the day before were up to about 80 and today is to be more of the same. This cute little guy is our youngest grandson. He is four, and had just learned how to ride a bike without training wheels. He thinks he is pretty cool, and we absolutely agree! He is such a little sweetie pie and he loves to be at our house as much as we love to have him.

With our beautiful weather, DH and I have spent quite a bit of time working in the yard. We pulled a ton of weeds (well, it seemed like a ton), and got four yards of mulch delivered and spread, plus other miscellaneous yard chores. We were pretty sore at first, but feel pretty good now. The yard sure looks better. The daffodils and tulips are fading, but other blossoms will come to replace them.

On the quilting front, there is not much to report. I did finish quilting another string charity quilt. It is not the prettiest one in the world, that's for sure, but hopefully it will make someone happy. I am working on hand-sewing the binding, and will post a picture when I finish.

I helped our two DGDs and a neighbor girl begin work on purses. It is a simple little pattern, and they still have some work to do. It was a challenge to have the three of them, because they all wanted my attention at the same time, but we managed.

I better go get something done.

Happy Easter and Finally!

First - Happy Easter, everyone! We had the family here today, and had a great time. The DGC were so cute and had so much fun.


Now, drum roll, please! I finally got it done! The quilting and binding seemed to go on for miles! I am, of course, speaking of my Thimbleberries Lakeside BOM from 2008. I increased the size of it to be king-sized. It isn't perfect, but I am quite pleased with it, and it looks nice on our bed. I need to get some more fabric and make pillow cases to match.

The rest of the pictures show a bit of the quilting that I did. I have a Janome 1600P that I put on two large tables for quilting.



















I haven't posted since I went to my retreat. It was right on the beach. We had such a nice view, and besides sewing a lot, we went and walked on the beach. The weather was just perfect. One of our friends was ill and couldn't go, so we made this signature wallhanging for her. We gave it to her yesterday and she was so pleased to receive it.

DGS and giveaway prize

This little cutie-pie is our 4-year-old DGS Anson. He is holding "Tommy," his teddy bear, who is wrapped up in his coat. He brought poor Tommy to Grandma to mend, because he had split his back seam. Anson is our youngest DGC, and I'm sure will be our last, barring an "accident," :-). He is such a little cutie-pie, and loves being with us just as much as we love having him.

This is the what I won from the giveaway at

http://alderwoodquilts.blogspot.com/. I love the fat quarters and the pattern. That would make such a cute quilt for Project Linus. I think I will put that on my stack to make soon. You might want to check out her April giveaway. She does some nice things.

No April fool joke here!

Well, I am so excited! I was doing some blog hopping and went to http://alderwoodquilts.blogspot.com/ and found to my delight, that I am the winner of Sue Hauser's March giveaway of some Lakehouse fatquarters and a darling pattern called Bloomin' Bugz by Sew Special Designs. I just emailed her my name and address, so will be anxiously waiting for my special prize! I'll post a picture after it arrives. Sue's quilt shop is in Banks, Oregon, which is probably 30-40 miles from where I live. I definitely am going to plan to take a drive out that way one of these days soon and visit her shop.

On another front, I am going to a quilt retreat in Newport, OR on Sunday, and coming home Tuesday. I am very excited about the outing. There were to be three of us who are very close going, but our one friend has become ill and won't be able to go. We'll still have a great time, but we will sure miss her.

At the retreat I will be working on a quilt for one of my DGDs. I won't be able to post pictures of it until after she receives it, because she sometimes takes a look at my blog.

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.

Afghan and Mariner's Compass update

It seems like I mostly spin my wheels and don't get too much done, but I did manage to get the crocheted afghan finished that I started in January, so that makes another completion for February. I did a lot of it while on the road traveling to and from California. The rest was done while watching TV. It was an easy pattern, and since I hadn't done anything that big for many years, it was a good pattern to start with.

I am absolutely no good at just sitting and watching without doing something, so now it will need to be something else.

This other picture is of my Mariner's Compass after attaching the "halo." The white center is just a reflection from the flash, I guess. I haven't appliqued on the center yet. It is the same fabric as the triangles in the halo. This has turned into pretty much a design-as-you-go project. I have also squared it up since I took the picture. I'll make another border. I'm thinking it will end up somewhere between 36 and 40 inches square. At least that is my current thought.


I also put the borders on another Project Linus quilt today. It is not as lively and pretty as I had hoped, but hopefully it will make some child happy. I'll post a picture of it another time - probably after I sandwich, quilt and bind it.

We got word that a niece is getting married near San Francisco toward the end of March, so that will mean another trip to CA. It also means I won't have as much sewing time in March, so I'll have to get my tailbone in gear before we go.

I sure enjoy looking at other folks' blogs, and feel like I still have so much to learn. The blogs are just such an inspiration.

Current project

One of my goals for 2009 is to make a Mariner's Compass quilt. This is a picture of the compass portion. I still have to applique on the center piece, and I am going to make a halo to put around it (I think). I have several ideas of what I want to do with the Compass, and one of those ideas involves adding some New York Beauty blocks in some respect. Anyway, I really enjoyed making this part of it, and am looking forward to making some progress on the rest of it. It will sort of be designed and planned as I go along.

The flakes that you can possibly see are from starch and will be gone when I launder the completed quilt, if not before.

I loved making this, and if I knew just what to do with them, I would really enjoy making more. The fabrics in this one are batiks except for the background, which is a Moda marble.

This will certainly count for a guild challenge, which I talked about in an earlier post. It is a challenge that will continue for a while.

Unrelated to quilting, our weather here has been gorgeous (for February). We have been able to get out and take a walk and will go again after while. We have a sick grandson (Tanner) with us right now. No matter what we do, we can't get a handle on his cough. His mom is headed home from work, and hopefully will have found a magic potion that will bring it under control.

February completion

Well, I managed one completion before the middle of February. This is the string quilt that I posted about before, but now it is done! It is a Project Linus quilt.

I got together with a couple other friends and we worked on charity quilts yesterday. When the Project Linus volunteer for Portland/Vancouver met my friend at the quilt shop last week, she picked up at least a dozen quilts and some fleece throws. She told us that she had just come from a funeral home where she had left three quilts. They were to go to the three young children of a soldier who was killed in Iraq. Isn't that just the saddest thing?

On a more cheerful note, I have been accumulating some fabrics that I am going to use for my Mariner's Compass. I am hoping to start working on it a bit tomorrow. I have a couple patterns printed out, and I need to make a choice of which one I am going to use.

Time is slipping by!

Oh my gosh, it’s February 10 already, and I haven’t posted for quite some time.

We went to Seattle earlier this week to see my niece and her husband and their new baby boy. They named him Braden James. He is so cute, and I just forget how small the new babies are. My sister and her husband were there from Tucson, so we got to spend some time with them also. We stayed in a hotel in downtown Seattle and the weather was so nice, so we got out and walked and enjoyed the time so much.

My quilt presentation at the guild meeting went well. I took about eight quilts to show. The Winter Wonderland seemed to be most everyone’s favorite. I am a bit partial to it also, I guess. Spring isn’t here yet in Oregon, so it is still on display. I think when the first crocuses pop their pretty little heads out that I will then put it away, but until then it stays on the couch.

The guild meeting was a bit overwhelming. We have new leaders this year, and they have quite an agenda for us. The challenge they have put together is to think of new quilting-related things that we would like to try, and then to do something new to us each month and bring it to the guild meeting to show. It doesn’t have to be a completed project, but I’m not too keen on starting a bunch of stuff to make more UFOs. I have decided to alter the challenge a bit to fit what I want to do this year. My first challenge (not really a challenge, but something I have wanted to do) is to make a string quilt for Project Linus (more about this quilt top later). Another thing I am going to do is make a Mariner’s Compass quilt. I have been pulling fabrics together and will start that perhaps this weekend. That will be more of a challenge, but most of the things I am going to do will be more along the line of things I really want to do – not necessarily difficult things. One thing I want to do is use up some of my stash. I still seem to be bringing more in than I'm using, but I really do want to change that.

Now, about my string quilt. I had such a good time piecing it. I cut 6-1/2 inch pieces of paper and paper pieced the strings on them. I pulled fabric from my scrap tub and if it was the right size, I pressed it and cut it. I wanted to use mediums and darks, and then I saw some string placemats that had big dots appliquéd on them, and I thought what a great idea that would be, so as you can see, I did that also. This is a pic of the top. I am working on quilting it. I am not pleased with my quilting on this project, but it will have to do.

We had a skiff of snow today, and it snowed a bit for quite a bit of the day, but the temp was 35, so it didn't stick and just melted, which is just fine with me. We had more than enough in December.