Hope you all had a very Merry Christmas!

I have been busy stitching.  I finally finished my Christmas 101 quilt that I started I think two years ago.  I had the top all done but had to put it away while I worked on quilts that had to be done for a specific event.  Once I had some time, I pulled it out and got it quilted and bound.  Here it is hanging inside my front door for Christmas:

I am happy to have it finished.  I have thought about it waiting in the drawer and now I can enjoy it.

Here is a close up of the star:

If you click on the photos, you can get a close up of the quilting.

My other project now is A Life of Plenty, I have about half of the quilting done on it.

I really do enjoy all the applique and hand quilting.  It is not fancy, but I am really enjoying working on it.

In the background you can barely see the red and white quilt I have out for Christmas.  Here are the other winter quilts that are hanging on the quilt racks:

I enjoy making Christmas/winter and Halloween/fall themed quilts.  I may one day have so many of these that I won't be able to display all of them each season!

Before Christmas I attended several craft fairs with some friends.  I usually don't buy much but love to look and get ideas (like I really need more ideas!).  One of the items I have looked at over the last few years are some small sculptures made with stones and metal all welded together.   This year I bought one for myself as a Christmas gift.

It will sit on the fire place over the winter but go outside when the weather gets warm and the garden starts to grow.  He is so cute, I couldn't resist.


And last, but not least, I made a trip to Arizona early in December to meet my new grandson!

Here is Joey at his Baptism.  The gown he is wearing is the gown his grandfather, mother and uncle all wore at their baptism's.  We know it is at least 65 years old.  He is adorable and I love all that hair! 

Hope you all had wonderful Christmas' and I wish you all the best Happy New Year!

It's about time . . .

Wow, I can't believe how quickly this summer has passed.  Well, the whole year for that matter!  My last post was in JULY! ! !  I guess there is lots to fill you in.

For half of July and almost all of August we were traveling.  We spent three weeks in Dayton, OH helping my step daughter after her back surgery.  Her little one was only 18 months old at the time and she couldn't pick him up for almost eight weeks, so she needed us to help out with him.  We had so much fun.  She is still recovering but she can do whatever she wants now.

After leaving Ohio, we stopped in Illinois to visit with my Mom and Dad.  They are still in the nursing home and doing OK.  We are seeing signs that they are going downhill, but they are still with us.  I also got to see one sister and my brother and his wife.  It is good keeping in touch with family.

Next, we stopped in Arkansas to visit my DH two sisters and their husbands.  They are always fun to spend a few days with.  We ate out a lot!  One BIL has been diagnosed with Alzheimer's so it was important to see him before he starts to decline in health.  It was a good visit.

While we were in Ohio, I got to work on a few more blocks for "A Life of Plenty".  Here are the newest ones I have done.

 Acorn

 Bird

 Flower Pot

   Sunflower 

I think that leaves two more appliqued blocks, two pieced basket blocks, a paper pieced star and four corner blocks for the border and the borders to work on before I can put it all together.  I have enjoyed working on this one whenever I have had time. 

Right after getting home we made a weekend trip to Colorado for my grand daughters first birthday party, then the next weekend we were in Arizona for my daughters baby shower.  

My big projects since I returned home have been making a baby quilt for my newest grandson who is due in a couple of weeks and a quilt for my 11 year old step granddaughter.  I figured I should go ahead and make his big sister a quilt, too.

Here is the boot quilt for Amberly:

The back is pieced

The pattern is "Texas Two Step" from the July/August 2015 issue of Fon's & Porter's Love of Quilting magazine.   This was so much fun to make even though choosing and cutting out the fabrics took a lot of time.  Each of the boots is different and I think each of the background fabrics were used twice in the design.  Here are some of my favorites:

I tried to use fabrics for different holidays and different interests she has.  I played with embellishing each one with ribbon, lace and decorative stitches.   It was a lot of fiddly work, but I enjoyed doing it.  You can click on the pictures to make them bigger.

Here is the baby's quilt:

Little Cowboy

I wanted a cowboy theme since they used the western theme for their wedding.  I googled cowboy quilts and came up with a lot of ideas.  I found this idea on Pinterest.  I don't remember the designers name, she did not have a pattern, just a photo of a baby quilt she had made.  I drew out the little cowboy and changed a few details to make it easier.  Her cowboy was twirling a rope but I didn't want to attempt the rope idea so my little guy has a stick pony.  The border fabrics are from a line by Michael Miller and are really cute.  I love the outer border fabric, the back of the quilt uses the same fabric.  I cut the borders to highlight the rows in the fabric.  I hope they like it!  

I will be going to visit in December for the babies baptism and I can' wait to give him his quilt.  

I got both quilts finished two weeks ago and have been working on one of the applique blocks for "A Life of Plenty". Life has just been so busy!

I have another project I am stitching on, too.  I belong to a group of ladies who get together once a month to have dinner and play Bunco.  At our December meeting we have a gift exchange, so I decided to make a table runner for my exchange gift.  It is from the Art to Heart pattern booklet A Star is Born by Nancy Halvorsen.  I have all the applique finished for it, now I just have to put it together and do a little quilting.  I have a couple of weeks to finish it before our next game night.  I love it and will be making more for myself and family.

This has been a long catch up post with lots of photos.  Thanks for sticking with me.  I will make a real effort to keep posting and following all of your posts.  I have seen some wonderful projects you are working on, I have just not had a chance to respond to them.  I will do better!

Now I am just waiting for little Joey to be born and life to settle down a bit, but the holidays are right on top of us.

I will leave you with one last picture.  Here is my grandson with his quilt.  He has been deployed so he left the quilt with his mom until he returns.

I am praying for his safety along with the rest of his team and all of our young men and women serving our country in the military.

 

I'm still here!

It's been so long since I updated my blog!  Time has just slipped away.  Life has been busy with lots of stuff, friends, visitors, quilting and just day to day stuff.  All of it has just made time vanish.  It is hard to believe July will soon be over and August will be here already.  Seems like it should still be May!

On the quilting front, I did finish the two QOV for my grand kids and they love them.  It means a lot to me to have made them something special.

 

This is grandson's quilt, he is in the Army.  His has a blue binding because when I ordered the red border/binding fabric for both quilts, the online shop only had part of what I needed, so the quilts are not exactly the same.

 

 

This is grand daughter's quilt, she is in the Air Force.  Hers has the red binding and a little fancier quilting in the border.  Grandson's has a cross hatched design in the border.  I am very happy with the finished quilts.  Making two at the same time took a long time, but they are something special for the kids to share.

 

There has been some sad news on the twins.  One of the babies didn't make it past the first eight weeks of development, so only one baby to look forward to.  But since the twins were fraternal, there will be no effect on the second one.  He is a strong, healthy looking little one.

 

Now I am working on two more quilts.  A baby quilt for my daughter's little boy due in November and one for his big step-sister who just turned 11.  Since my daughter and SIL had a western theme to their wedding, I decided to follow through with a cowboy design for the baby quilt and cow girl boots for the second.  The tops are all put together and ready to quilt.  Both turned out really cute.  The quilting will have to be put off for a bit though.  We are going to spend some time with my DH daughter in Ohio who had to have back surgery.  She can't lift anything for a while, so family is stepping in to help out with her 18 month old. 

 

He was here to visit at the end of June and kept us busy and on our toes.  Little ones are so much fun, but I need to develop more muscles to pick him up.  He is a cutie.

I have been following along with all you are working on and I love seeing your projects!

 

Exciting News . . .

But first, let me show you what I've been doing.

It's spring and time to think about some gardening.  Here are my tiny tomato plants starting to grow.  I had such good luck with tomatoes last summer, I saved some of the seeds.  About this time last year, I bought some heirloom tomatoes at the veggie market.  They were wonderful!  I saved seeds and grew lots of them last year.  So we are starting all over again with seeds saved from last year.  I have eliminated some of the scraggly ones but just hate to pull out any little plants.  I will keep these going until time to plant outside, then choose the hardiest ones to keep.  Maybe you can see in the lower left of the container (it is a recycled top from a store bought cake, just hate to toss good stuff!) there is something that does not look like a tomato.  I had some lemon seeds and one seed that I think is from a pine tree that I picked up somewhere that I also put into the container.  I think it is the pine tree.  I want to see what it is and how well it grows.  I doubt if the lemon seeds will come up.

Next, some stitching:

 

These are some of the blocks for A Life of Plenty sew along from Jeni's Blog from the Willow .  She posted the instructions on her blog over a period of months.  You can find them by searching her blog for A Life of Plenty and you can find the templates for the applique blocks at Woolen Willow Designs .  I still have a long way to go, but these have been a nice distraction from trying to finish the QOV's for my grandkids. 

 

The Buttermilk Basin blog is also doing a Mystery BOM that looks wonderful.  You will find links to the blocks in the right hand column of the blog.  I have saved the patterns so far, but have not started working on them.  I enjoy doing some of the primitive applique, although I don't have any wool so I will just be using regular fabric. 

 

The QOV's:

 

 

One is finished except for a label and the other has one whole row plus two blocks in a second row quilted.  The chalk lines still show on the finished quilt, but I will wash it after I get a label sewn on.  I love making these for my grandkids in the military, but two quilts, pretty much just alike gets boring after a while.  If I can squeeze in some small projects along the way, it keeps me going.

The Clifford quilt:

The front

 

 

The Back

 

I bought one panel with  ABC's for the back, another to get the little blocks for the front and some striped border fabric for the outside borders.  Just flying by the seat of my pants, they all went together for a toddler quilt for the smallest grandson when he comes to visit.  I found some colorful fabric for the sashing's and used lots of colors for the corner stones so he can learn colors as well.  It is quilted with one of the fancy stitches on my sewing machine.  It was pretty quick to finish that way.  It looks pretty cute and will get lots of use.

 

So, I have been keeping pretty busy here.  Now, for the big news.  My youngest daughter who just announced she is expecting in Nov. just had the first ultrasound and, it's TWINS! ! !  Everyone is so excited!  Twins run in my family, my grandfather had a twin sister, my youngest sister and brother are twins, and my brother's son has boy/girl twins.  I'd like to do a little genealogy research and see how far back it goes.  Now, they will do another ultrasound in a month to check to see both babies are still there since it is so early but we are praying they are and both are healthy.  Also praying my daughter has a healthy pregnancy.    So instead of waiting to see if I will make a pink or a blue quilt, I now get to make either a pink and a blue quilt, two pink quilts or two blue quilts. 

 

For me it is back to finishing the projects I already have going so I will be ready to start some new quilts. 



March is almost over . . .

March has been a busy month.  I had to have a tooth pulled and that has been no fun.  I see the dentist next week for the follow up to check the healing process.  It feels much better except for the empty spot.  That feels kind of strange.  I have a few months to wait for the next step in filling the space with a new "tooth". 

I have been working on the QOV's for my grands.  I am quilting the borders of one, a little over half way with that.  I am so looking forward to having it finished.  The other one is all together now as a flimsy.  The backing is cut and I have the batting, just have to get it sandwiched and it will be the next to quilt.  It is almost identical to the first one, so it is just starting all over again.  I love making these for my grands, but I am soooooo ready to work on something else!

So, something else is a Clifford quilt for the littlest grandson.  He is coming to visit in June so I thought it would be fun to have a special little quilt for him.  He loves having the Clifford the Big Red Dog books read to him, so he will have a special quilt to cuddle in while reading before bedtime.  I have it ready to sandwich and I think I will use a decorative stitch on my machine to quilt it.  I hope I can get it put together this weekend and start quilting next week.  That way I can work on it during the day and go back to hand quilting the QOV at night in front of the TV.  I have a plan!

Other progress is I finished the blocks for the Bunny Hill A Tisket A Tasket BOM.  These are the only pictures I have to show off in this blog post.

Block 9

 

Block 10

 

Block 11

 

Block 12

 

I haven't decided what the sashing, corner stones or borders will be yet but I loved working on these blocks.  I don't know what colors I want to use to tie everything together.  I'm sure the blocks will tell me how they want to be put together when they are ready!  I still have little buttons and embellishments to add once it is quilted, too.

 

One last piece of news to add.  I have another baby quilt to make before the end of the year.  My DD just let me know they are expecting a little one in late Nov. or early Dec.  This is the DD who was married in early Dec. with the western themed wedding.  I figured they wouldn't wait long to start a family since they are both in their early 30's.  This is exciting, but I will wait a few months until they know if it is a boy or girl before I start a quilt.  I like to know "who" I'm making it for. 

 

Guess you are all caught up on what I've been doing.  I'll have more pictures next time!

 

 

 

 

 

Time to get back to the blog!

Well, again a couple months have slipped by without my realizing it!  Where have I been?  Well, in January, we headed east to Ohio for our youngest grandson's first birthday! 

Happy Birthday little one, my how you have grown!  He is a cutie and he has a big personality.  What a fun visit.  We stayed there about a week and a half.  We went to see an aquarium just across the Kentucky border and had a great time there.  Also went to a children's museum and had a blast watching him explore. 

Next we headed to Illinois for a visit with my Mom and Dad for a couple of days.  Then to southern Illinois to visit some friends I went to school with.  Our trip lead us farther south to visit DH's sisters and brothers in law in Arkansas.  Us girls visited some resale shops while the guys did some target shooting and fiddled around the farms.  We also went out to eat at a couple of good restaurants.  When we left there we headed home with a stop in Amarillo, Texas to have breakfast with DH's brother and sister in law.  It was a great trip, we missed all the bad weather so had good driving days and we had a lot of fun.

Since being home, all I have worked on is getting one of the red, white and blue quilts quilted.  I have the center of it finished, now on to the border quilting.  I really want to have it and the second red, white and blue quilt done so I can start on a new project.  These two quilts have been in process for so long, I guess I am getting a little bored with them.  But, they are for two of my grandkids who are serving in the Army and Air Force, so they will get finished.  I am thinking of working on a new project during the day and quilting the red, white and blue quilts while watching TV at night.  It is just that while I am sitting there quilting, I keep thinking of all the other fun projects I want to make when these are done!

I have started working on the last four applique blocks for my A Tisket A Tasket quilt.  They are small and fun to work on.  Plus, I can finish one within a couple of days, so I feel like I accomplish something.  I will show them in a future blog.  One is finished, one is in process and two are prepped and waiting.

When we worked on our living room/family room project last summer, one of the things I did was to order two quilt racks so I could hang quilts in the living room.  Here they are:

 

I found a website for custom made quilt racks made by veterans.  The company is GWiz Wood Products .  I picked a style, length, color and finish I liked.  It took a couple of weeks for them to make them.  When they arrived, DH helped to assemble the racks and up they went.  I chose to have a shelf on top with a dish groove in them in case I want to display dishes on top.  The bar just lifts out of the hooks so it is easy to change out quilts on display.  I am really happy with them, the quality of the work is excellent and it is nice having exactly what I want.  The racks needed to fit into the wall space on each side of a window, so being able to order the exact size I wanted was great.  I am very happy with the whole process and would recommend them as a company to check out if you are in the market for a way to display your quilts.

Here is another project DH and I worked on.  I wanted to hang some of my little quilts in the hallway.  The wall was a big empty space, so I bought a piece of pretty trim at the lumber yard, stained it and DH put it up.  I used some sticky backed felt pads, the kind you put on chair legs to make them slide easier, on the back side to make a space behind it.  I found some curtain clips at Amazon and attached them to my little quilts.  I like how it looks:

It was difficult to get a good picture looking down the hallway but I hope you get the idea.  I used the idea Ann Hermes had of hanging little quilts from yard sticks and just left the trim strip in one piece to fill the length of the hallway.  Ann I am really happy you showed us how to do that on your blog a while back.  This works great and I can change the little quilts very easily. 

For the past couple of weeks DH and I have both been sick.  Nothing serious, just whatever is going around with lots of sinus and coughing.  We are both finally feeling better.  Neither of us got much accomplished while we were feeling yucky but hopefully we are on the mend.  Friends keep telling us to continue to take it easy for a bit because the cough hangs on a long time.  Fun!

That's about all for now.  I will leave you with some recent pictures of my grand daughter.  She is a cutie pie, too.

All Dressed Up

Love That Smile

 

That's all for now, I hope to have some interesting things to show in the next post and I hope it will be sooner than in a month or two! ! !   I love seeing what everyone else is making, you all give me more ideas! ! !