UFOs

I hear a lot from others concerning UFOs and wanted to tell you about a way to get some done. I have wonderful friends and we decided to issue a challenge to each other about UFOs. At the beginning of the year we make a list of our UFOs and one of the group tracks the finished ones. In order to keep everyone "honest" the finished project must be shown at our monthly meetings. Whoever finishes the most, wins a prize at our Christmas party. So grab some friends, issue that challenge and get going!

Winter projects

Dang, it sure has been a nasty winter but at least I have had time to sew because it was too cold to do much else. I made oven mitts and pot holders for my sister and myself as you can see in the top photo. Pretty easy stuff. I have also finished two more cat wall hangings; Avocato and Eggplant Purr-mesan. They are just too cute. The blocks are Garden Patch Cats (TM) by Helene Knott for StoryQuilts.com I love working with batik fabrics so these were really fun.

Hope everyone's weather improves soon. Have fun and quilt a little.

Long time, no post

Occasionally life gets in the way of other things, one of which is quilting. We are finally in Florida where the weather is much colder than usual so I'm staying inside and sewing. I found these patterns for wall hangings that are cats that are shaped like vegetables and fruit Above is the Boscat which as we know is pear shaped. I also got two that are an avocado and an eggplant.

One of the challenge quilts for Project Linus Institute 2011 is to make a quilt using fabric provided plus more and the theme is Raining Cats and Dogs. I have the top pieced and will quilt it when we get back to Illinois.


This is the block that I'm going to use for my final nephew's quilt. I had hoped to get all the nieces and nephews done in 2010 but that didn't happen. I hope Dr. Jim likes it. I used reproduction shirting fabrics for the light portions and quilters tweed in brown for the dark portions.

And that, my friends is how it goes on the Gulf coast. The little Christmas tree is up, the presents have been sent and I'm trying my best to be good.

My Favorite Season

Ah, autumn, it just makes my heart happy. The warm days and cool nights, low humidity, colored leaves, mums blooming and all the rest make me smile. I love to sew with the doors and windows open.

My DH and I were gone for a few weeks as we went to Washingon state to see our son and granddaughter. I can't believe that she is growing up so quickly. She is 10 and it won't be long before she is taller than Grama. What a bundle of energy, too. She just never seems to sit down and she about wore us out.

On our way back home we stopped at Yellowstone National Park for a couple of days and then went by Windsor CO to see a dear friend and her husband. Of course, she and I had to visit a couple of quilt shops. Oh, by the way, if you ever get close to Helena, MT there is a wonderful Ben Franklin store there with really nice fabric plus a bead section and just about any other crafty thing that you might be interested in.

The quilt for my sister should be back from the machine quilting lady soon so I had to get the pillow shams done. I still need to make the label but it won't take too long to sew it on then I will be done. Yay.


Below is a bead (really?). My sister makes jewelery and I found this bead in WA that I am going to have her make into a necklace. She told me about Kazuri beads which are made by women in Kenya. Most of the women are single mothers and this is a way for them to earn money to support themselves and their children. If you would like to know more, just search on Kazuri. I'm hoping there might be a bead show close to us this winter.

Well, I guess I'll go see what quilting project I want to work on next. So hard to decide ;-)

Happy Birthday To Me!

What a nice birthday present my hubby got me. Actually, we had to replace the truck that he wrecked, so we got a van. It just happened to be my birthday and I sure do like the present. We no longer will go camping but that's okay. I don't mind motels and restaurants when we travel.


This is the quilt top that is the (almost) end product of the block I posted about last time. It looks a little dorky on my bed but that was the only place big enough to put it to take a photo.


I'm thinking that I need to get a few small projects done now but I may have to make one more big quilt because I keep looking at the fabric and trying to decide what I want to do with it. I sat down with my graph paper to start drafting some blocks but the two that I like best just don't want to play together. Back to the graph paper.

Have a great August! It will be time for the kiddies to go back to school before we know it.

Crazy month so far

I'm usually a pretty upbeat kind of gal, but July is apparently not my month. It started on the 2nd with my husband wrecking our truck which we used to pull our travel trailer. Since it was 14 years old we had dropped the insurance back to liability only. But it was still worth around $6000 and all we got was the salvage value - $1500. Okay, so we're dealing with that. Next we decide that we are not going to buy another truck so we have to sell the camper:-( Bummer! At least the people who bought it were very nice and I'm sure they will take good care of it. I'll miss it. On top of those things, my back has really been hurting so I went to the chiropractor, he took x-rays, and wouldn't you know, I'm getting old! Arthritis and degenerative discs are the problem so he is working on getting the pain levels down. Oh yeah, plus , my birthday is this month and I have a feeling no one is going to believe me when I tell them I'm 39 again! I've been doing a little quilting. Let me show you.

This is for Project Linus:
This is one for Scott Air Force Base Hospital.

This is fabric that I had in the stash for a while and finally decided to get it out and get going.

This is the block made with the fabrics above. Not sure yet about sashing strips but it's a start.

Well, I guess I'll go cut some more pieces for this. Have a great day.

Little britches and little dresses

I decided to make some little britches for boys to go with the little dresses for Africa. Then, a friend from my quilt guild dropped off 39 more little dresses and said there would be still more coming.
I'm just about done piecing the top for my sister's quilt then I have to do borders and it will be ready for machine quilting. Woo Hoo!!!