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.

Another Project Linus blanket

Our local Project Linus chapter has requested more blankets that are boy-oriented and I just happened to have this panel with tools so I cut it apart, put sashing and cornerstones, added a couple of borders and ta-da, it's a quilt. (Actually I also have this with a navy blue background.) I am in the process of quilting it and then I have to do the binding and it will be done. I also have some John Deere tractor fabric that I need to do something with, just have to find the right shade of green to go with it. Sounds like a good excuse for a shopping trip!

We will be leaving for Florida soon. We're just going to take the cruise and then come right back. With my MIL in the nursing home, we need to be around to check on her. Maybe we will be able to go back south for a while later on in the winter. Gosh, this will be only the second winter in 10 years that we haven't been someplace warm. Hmmm. Guess I need a winter coat. Oh darn, another shopping trip.

Well, I'm off to finish quilting the tool quilt.

Bus Trip Coming Up

My local quilt guild is sponsoring a bus trip to four shops in northern Illinois this Saturday and I can hardly wait to go. I think it is going to be really fun.

The quilt below is for Project Linus and the pattern comes from Fons and Porter's Easy Quilts Magazine, winter 2008 issue. I cut enough pieces for two tops so I'll put the other one together this winter.
This block is for an autumn quilt that I will probably do this winter, also. I made a sample block to make sure I liked my color choices and I think it will be fine. The block centers come from a panel that I cut apart and then I found some of the coordinating fabric so I got some of that too.
You may wonder what's up with the purple but several of the center squares have touches of purple in them (eggplant, grapes, etc.) and I thought the purple would make them pop. There is a border fabric that goes with this also and I cut it apart and will use the green/brown acorn part for sashing and the wider part for borders. I'm anxious to get several blocks done so I can get some idea what it will look like when finished.

Carol Doak was here!

My quilt guild hosted Carol Doak a couple of weeks ago and I took both classes that were offered. The first one was a miniature paper pieced quilt with houses, trees and stars from her book "300 Paper Pieced Quilt Blocks. I have it all done including the quilting. Hurray!!

The second class was "Fire and Ice" using the Iceland Star from her Mariner's Compass Stars Book. The top is done but the sandwiching and quilting is yet to be done.
This is not a Carol Doak pattern but it is paper pieced. This is Lotsa Pops, Quiltmaker Magazine's Project Linus pattern from Jan-Feb '09 ( I think). My cheap digital camera doesn't do too well because the dark fabric is purple, not blue, but you get the idea. This was the last top that I pieced this past winter. Now we are about 5 weeks away from leaving for Florida so I have to get my self together and decide which projects to take with me to work on this winter.

One More To Go

Well, I finished another Project Linus quilt which leaves just one more to go and it is at the machine quilters right now. The one above was made with fabric that was given to me and, of course, I ran out of the pansy fabric so I decided to substitute two blocks of the solid lavender. It is hard to see but some of the circles are lavender and white stripes.

I also made this hunter's star quilt for our church fund raiser. Since the colors for the Fighting Illini are blue and orange, and we have a lot of fans at the church, I thought it would be appropriate. The borders are Laurel Burch cat fabric.

I have had to go back to making a list of projects - my List of Ten - because if I don't I get too side-tracked and never get anything done. So I finished the Project Linus quilts and prepped for the Carol Doak classes at the end of the month. Gee, only eight more to go before I can make a new list. :-)

I have been following the Iraqi Bundles of Love blog and am astonished at the amount of bundles that have been sent. Even though the deadline for sending bundles has come and gone, if you still want to read about this awesome project you can go to http://ibol.wordpress.com/ and wander through the past blogs to see what it was all about. I can't say enough good things about this and I hope there is someone who can take over and do the same for Afganistan.

One of our guild members is going to give a lesson on how to clean and oil our Featherweight sewing machines in October. Since I have one for sale, I'm going to take it and get it all cleaned up. I bought it on eBay, thinking that someone in the guild might be looking for one, but haven't had any response to the e-mail I sent out about it so I guess I'll have to advertise in the local newspaper. Darn! I hate to see it go to a stranger.

Well, gotta get busy. Later, gator.

Another day, another blog

So here we are, day number two and I think I have figured out how to add photos.

I made these quilts for our local chapter of Project Linus. They asked us to make blankets for the local women's prison. The prisoners have children and grandchildren that would not have gotten anything from them for Christmas otherwise. I think the final count was in the area of 800 blankets; fleece, crocheted, knitted and quilted. I ended up doing 6 quilts and 8 fleece blankets and loved every minute of it.

In The Beginning...........

Wow! I have been wanting to do this for some time but was afraid that I would sound stupid. Oh, well. I'm doing it anyway. I am a young (relatively) grandmother from the Midwest U.S. who enjoys quilting and playing on my computer.

I will post photos of some of my creations as I have time to finish them. Although most of my time is spent working on quilts and other blankets for Project Linus (check out their website at www.projectlinus.org) I also find time to make things for family members.

When I'm not quilting, I like gardening, reading mysteries and camping. My honey and I have a travel trailer and have been to almost every state in the lower 48. Maybe this year we will get to the last two. Our favorite place to camp is Yellowstone National Park. How awesome! As soon as I figure out what I'm doing here, I'll post a couple of pictures.