Found my way in!

Apparently I have become very dependent on clicking the "most visited" button or using my bookmarks on my home computer and could not find my way into my blog to post an entry from my sisters! Until now, finally found a link from an old email - LOL
I have lots more photos of my quilts to share, once I get home. I was right, this laptop does not have a port for my camera stick. But I'll be home tonight and get caught up. Thanks Jo for finding I used the #54 twice. I thought I had corrected it, but must have forgotten to click save.
EXPO was well, I thought a bit of a disappointment. First of all $12 to get in???? The last time I went, I think it was $8. And in previous years, there have been vendors in all three buildings, including the upstairs space in the pavillion. So it was very disappointing to find lecture and classroom space taking up two of those spaces previously hosting vendors. Even the big building had a huge space for free lectures. So obviously the vendors are not coming like they used to. There were a few I even missed!. One being the snap source people as I would always pick up a couple boxes of snaps for my bibs, and sadly they weren't there.
I did have a nice time in the Stoney Creek cross stitch booth and even bought myself the magnifying light that hangs around your neck so that I can work on 28 count again! A bit pricey but will help me to work for sure.
The weather was it's normal drizzly gray, but not the pouring rain we battled last time I went. Best part was spending the day with Miss Jan! We live too far apart to get to really have good heart to hearts over coffee, so we took advantage of this chance to spend the day together. It was also great to see Carol and Pat (who is looking great!!) Jeanne was as shocked as Jan and I when she came out of a class session and there we were sitting at a table looking at the stuff we had previously purchased. So it was lovely to get to visit with her again, it's been almost 18 months since we retreated together. I did "see" a couple of other people, but it was too congested to YELL out their name or try to trudge through to tap them on the shoulder.
We went up to Pacific Fabrics after the EXPO and I was equally disappointed with that store. I guess things aren't always as grand as you remember them being.
Anyway, I had a lovely 3 hour visit with Carter the night before and I am going over to take care of him this afternoon for 5 hours before I head home. It is so pretty outside right now, maybe we will get to go for a walk.
Take care all, I'm excited to get my new photos posted for you!

February 25th - #55

And yet another quilt that is still waiting for it's binding. I REALLY need to get to another retreat soon, since I always get binding done while visiting with quilting friends. This quilt is for my oldest son, Kyle. No flowers, which is hard for me since so much of my inventory is floral! But I do love the tone on tones too, so there they are.
I'm getting in my car and heading south for the weekend and I don't know if my sister's laptop computer has the right port for me to upload photos each day I am gone, so we may have a pause in photos. But I WILL be taking photos each day and posting something, so worry not!
Will be spending tomorrow at the big sew EXPO that started today in Puyallup. This is an annual event that has been going on for gosh, at least 15 years. When I lived down there I went every year, but since I moved north 10 years ago, I think this will be just my 3rd time down. I'm hoping my dear friend Jan will be able to join me, but if not, I'll certainly attend anyway. I don't generally buy any fabric at this event, mostly patterns and ideas. And my trusty camera will be with me. Photos will be taken with permission, and I'll post anything special for you here! Enjoy your final weekend of February 2010! Isn't that amazing!

February 24th - #54

This little gem was gifted to me for my birthday from dear friend June. She was one of "those" people who got caught up with a new embroidery machine a few years ago - LOL! So cute and much appreciated.
I packed away my GFG for a while and picked up a counted cross stitch project that was started probably 8+ years ago. I found that enlarging the pattern on my printer and moving my lamp to a better position it's not as hard to see as I was afraid it would be. I've also spent a LOT of time cruising eBay for old cross stitch magazine and the ones I've "won" should start arriving soon! I'm hopeful that a few of the covers look familiar and so I might be able to find those few patterns I'm looking for.
It sure rained hard today for a short time! I'm excited about how my window sill seed starting experiment is working.
Such a treat each morning as I approach it with my spray bottle to give them a nice misting. My delphiniums are popping up outside too which is a great surprise.
Back to my cross stitch while I check out the guys on American Idol tonight!

February 23rd - #53

Here is another one that is waiting for a binding. These are 1" finished squares, all florals. And a variety of the neutrals that make the stopper border. Not sure on a color for the binding yet. This is an oversized lap quilt. I had no idea that all that thread would add to the weight! Good thing I didn't want to make it king sized, I wouldn't have been able to carry it!!
Today I attended my first book club meeting and it was such fun! Despite my resolve to just sit quietly and observe........the book was Bel Canto by Anne Patchett. Lovely women in the club, good discussion. Now onto the next book on the list. In my car I am coming to the end of The Help. I'm going to miss listening to it. Something about those southern accents is just so soothing. An amazing story, I highly recommend it.
Still working away on my GFG. I keep getting lost in how the rows go! I'm going to attach the flowers I have done, and see where it might go from there.
It has happened...I have discovered eBay....and even won a few things! AND the BIG news, remember my story about losing my past cross stitch treasures, well I found the Vanessa Ann Christmas book on Amazon, used for $1.5o!! Out of print! So it is on the way, hopefully. I'll let you know when it arrives. Now I am madly searching eBay for the magazine that had the sampler in it as well as the Amish Tri piece. I at least remembered it was from Cross Stitch and Country Craft, so that helps. Tonight I'll wrap some more DNC floss bobbins as I watch American Idol.

February 22nd #52

This is another quilt that I use all the time, but still needs it's binding...in fact I have washed it a few times sans binding! This was a great project that I did as a mystery for an online group. One of my friends really ran with the basics of the easy pattern and made more quilts converting the stars to hearts with just a bit of turning of squares, really cute! This is totally me, scrappy and simple. I made the flying geese border out of leftover HST's. Only design element I wish I had done differently was that I would make the geese bigger. But these were the size I had on hand and so they were put to great use. This is laying on my king sized bed to give you a size perspective, it was a big one!!
Today I need to really push on to finish my book for the book club that is meeting tomorrow. Problem is I had to get up at the virtual crack of dawn for the kidlets, so I know as soon as I start reading I'll be even more sleepy!!
I have my GFG project going strong. Everything I have together now has it's black path all the way around. And I have the remaining "flowers" ready to add, so the end may be in site here, yeah!! I'll be happy to be done with those paper templates.

Design Wall Monday - Week Eight

This is another set of blocks that I accumulated with an online exchange about 8 years ago. I think it was a "country" theme. SOOOOO not my colors at all, but I feel like they need to go together.
But I don't feel very inspired by them. I could make one more and do a basic 3 x 3 with sashing and a border. Or make a medallion out of 4 of them and grow from there. Or I could offer them up to whomever thinks they might like to have them and make them into something........anyone?

A bit of other things from the past

I realized these two pieces were tucked by my desk, and really need to be put away until December rolls around again.
I think my very first true crafting love was counted cross stitch. I loved all the wonderful detail and shading with the many colors of floss. I created several things, and finally found a lovely woman who did custom framing in her home. This was the first piece I took to her. It is part of a book of patterns by Vanessa Ann. I liked it because it wasn't traditional Christmas colors. If you enlarge the photo you can see my dating in the lower right corner. Yep, it was a 3 year project. The framing was over $80, but I love how it came out. My plan was to do the whole book of patterns, but alas, it was not to be. More about that later. I did the second one done though.
My dating is just inside the fireplace. Aren't they cute? Why didn't I do them all? This is a sad, but true story that to this day is hard for me to tell.
I am a bit obsessive/compulsive (anyone surprised by the statement?). From about 1985 until 1995 I had collected every color of DMC floss. I had hundreds of patterns. I had many, many ufo's. Two I remember distinctly and still make me tear up. One was a scene of two kids playing on a bed, that had a lovely quilt on it, and their window that they were gazing out of had Santa and his sleigh traveling by the moon. I had worked on this project for years. I distinctly remember stitching on it while flying to Hawaii. All that was left to finish it was the outlining. The other project was a 3 part Amish project that was amazing. I had the first one completely done, carefully preserved, rolled and waiting for the other two to be done. I was working on the second at the time of the "incident". There were other projects in varying states of doneness. I kept all this collage of "stuff" in one of those large plastic bins. It was green. I kept it stashed underneath a table in my laundry room. Many of the projects were in plastic or paper bags. Anyway, one day I went to take it out, I think the days were getting shorter and late fall/winter were the times I would spend doing this handwork. It was a nice sanity saver while raising three very active boys. Also while I was attending nursing school. So I pulled the box out from under the table, took off the lid, and the box was full of a couple of old blankets. I thought maybe I had lost my mind. I was literally in shock. It made no sense. Hours of work. Hundreds (okay maybe more than that) of dollars in supplies. Gone and replaced by old blankets. I was devastated. Crushed. Where had it all gone? No one seemed to know, or would ever say. To this day. I searched through every inch of my garage thinking maybe I had moved it. No. It was gone. Are you gasping yet? Truly I still get misty eyed thinking about it. I've gone through all the grieving process, isn't that silly? I think what hurt the most wasn't the fact that it was all gone, but that however it disappeared was never resolved. It just hurt so much that my hobby/craft/sanity saver was so disrespected. Can you imagine coming home and having all your books be gone? Or your fabric? Your yarn? Your photos? That is how it felt. And still feels. I have tried not to think about it too much, and though I have done bits and pieces of cross stitch since then, it never felt the same. But now it is starting to and I am again collecting floss, patterns, cloth. One of the things I lost was a sampler. It was from a magazine and had a poem that started out
Clock, crocks, ladderback chairs,
Tie back curtains, patchwork squares".
It was probably about 24 lines, but I can't remember the rest. I've made attempts to find this online, but have had no luck. Gosh I would love to find that again. Any thoughts on how else to search? Maybe eBay.....
Anyway...this turned into a book!!! I am going to say though right now, that it was after this happened that my weight began to get out of control......something I'll bring up with my therapist next time I see her! Could it be connected? Am I being ridiculous? So I'll be adding some posts with some of my other few Cross Stitch projects to change things up a bit.
Thanks for staying with me, for those who made it to the end!!

February 21st - #51

To help with perspective...this is looking straight down at the toilet tank! This last June our small group did these toilet toppers for each other, isn't that a funny project??? My friend Linda, knew my purple bathroom was the perfect place for her hyrdrangea fabric, so she created this for me. It is so sweet and goes in that bathroom just perfectly.
Lynn and I went to a fairly new restaurant last night in Bellingham. Very trendy, the cars in the the lot included a porche and a lotus...my big green truck was feeling very macho. It was very good, had interesting entrees and a lovely ambiance. Yes, we would definitely go back, maybe with the Buick next time...The restaurant is called the Fork, and yes it is in the fork of the road!
Beautiful sunny day again today. And I will get some of the carpet cleaned! A run into town for a few things. And working on my book. It is Belle Canto by Anne Patchett. I wish I was enjoying it more, but I will make it through. I got the list for the books the club is reading for the next several months, so it is fun finding them and adding them to my stack next to the bed. In my car I am listening to the Help and it is amazing. Wonderful writing, tragic story. I'll listen to the newest J A Jance book on my drive south at the end of the week.
My window garden is sprouting - YEAH! All except the cilantro. And I do see a teensy tiny speck of green in there, so there is hope. Last night I watched an older movie on demand called The Painted Veil, and ended up staying up to 1:45 to see it all. I was surprised by how good it was, compared to what I expected. Then I have to ask myself, if I didn't expect it to be good, why was I going to watch it?

February 20th - #50

Tricky photo! Our TV sits on this table topper. This was a block pattern I was attracted to from quilterscache.com. I took the pattern to a retreat and this one block took me hours!!! I don't remember why, I think I ended up doing a lot of ripping and resewing. And when I was done with the block, I was SICK of the block! So I was lucky to have a co-retreater willing to share that pretty bit of floral, and I turned the one block wonder into an octagonal table topper! Talk about turning a lemon into lemonade - LOL. I havent' cruised through that site for quite a while, maybe I should go and check it out today. I'll add it to my list, which already includes:
1. Make airline reservations, with my bonus miles, for our May trip to New York
2. Hotel reservations for the 3 nights we are going to spend in Cooperstown New York after the conference ends in New York City. (still hoping to get Letterman tickets!)
3. Start searching for rental car deals for that trip
4. Make a run to the dairy for milk and eggs
5. Figure out what's for dinner
6. Clean out the flower bed from the light post to the birch tree
7. Work on my GFG project
8. Cruise through some of my favorite blogs
9. Change sheets
10. Steam clean carpet in hallway
11. Read my book, due for book club on Tuesday
12. Take a nap

I wonder if I'll get all those things done today....

February 19th - #49

I reference my small group all the time here. This is the group quilt we did two years ago. We each make a block and then after putting it all together we raffled it off amongst ourselves. This is the quilt hanging at Sharon W's house, as she was the happy, happy winner! My block is March, the leprechaun. Now.....I don't DO applique, so this was a stretch for me...




Dang, I'm battling either an early onset of some spring allergies, or I am getting my husband's rotten head cold! I'm not sure which of the two I would prefer. I did add my allergy med to my daily handful of supplements.
Spent the last two nights wrapping bobbins with DMC floss! I know I still have skeins of this lovely stuff tucked here and there. But it is back to my GFG project tonight.
If the weather is as glorious this weekend as it has been the last two days, I VOW to spend a couple of hours in the yard. I know that cleaning out those pesky weeds NOW will save me tons of time later. Plus I have a few bulbs and tubers to plant. Next weekend I'm heading south for a few days, so this will be a good time to do it.
Physical therapy was different today. Spent the last 15 minutes with a heated stim machine. If I could have been able to breathe through my nose while laying down, I would have taken a nap!

February 18th - #48

Wow, the colors sure didn't come out very good on this photo. It is really a beautiful purple with gold and metallic thread in both. This is a table runner that I made for Jackie, another lovely woman in my small group. This was her Christmas gift from 2008. This is a great pattern I've made several times. You can reverse the lights and darks and it looks just as pretty.
When I went over to the sew day my small group was having, and mentioned my blogging project of photos of my projects, Sharon said "do you want a photo of the bag you made for ME??!!! So I said sure!!

June is our official birthday month for the group so we celebrate everyone's birthday that day. Last year after drawing names we each made a bag, and I made this one for Sharon. It is actually from decorator fabric. She keeps knitting stuff in it. I see the handles are hanging down the other side! This year we are doing a pillow. Some will sew, some will embroider. It will be fun to see them all in June.
Last night I did spend my normal stitching time winding DMC floss onto my new bobbins! And Jo, I found doing them by hand much quicker, though my little pink winder is certainly cute!! I bought 3 counted cross stitch magazines yesterday at JoAnn's, plus a book. I'm going to take this new book and the other two I bought last Sunday up to my local print shop and see if they can cut the edge and put them on a spiral binding for me. I do this for my quilting books. Makes it much easier to lay them flat. The cross stitch books, have the pattern that creeps a bit further into the center of the page, so I'm not sure it will work. I hope it does, because then I can lay them flat on my printer to enlarge the patterns so I can see them better!!

February 17th - #47

Okay, we are moving into quilts that are quilted but still needing their binding. I will get more completed quilt photos when I go south next weekend for a short visit. This was a great group project. I found this pattern in a shop in Bothell, it was over $60 just for the patterns!!! So our group pitched in and we worked on it on a sew day one day a month. This will be another one to get photos of the others, so you can see the difference color choices show. Not better or worse, just how different we all are. I love the second row of meandering geese and have used this technique in lots of other quilts. Naturally, I altered my pattern a bit.
Today the sun was truly out for the first time in over a week. And my little crocus's couldn't have been happier about it. My little windmill has certainly seen better days..my SIL's Dad made these for us all, and it has seen a LOT of wind!
I'm wondering if any of you think of song lyrics or movie "lines" when you hear a certain expression. Today when the sun was right in my eyes while driving, I thought "my what a glowing orb" and immediately in my mind came the song Nights in White Satin"......'cold hearted orb that ruled the night'.......someone tell me it isn't just me? I think it is one of the charming things about being a "couple" with Lynn for so long. One of us can say a word or two and the other will know what we are referring to in a heartbeat! Many of our best memories are often remembered with a song - OOPS! There I go again. Trisha Yearwood, The Song Remembers When.....oh and and Ronnie Milsap It's Almost Like a Song....going to my iTunes collection to listen to that one right now. Give it a try.....sigh.....

February 16th - #46

This is my 46th quilt photo to show you since I started this the first of the year. This stack and slash, quilt as you go project was the original in my "Fractured, Blended, Mended" series of quilts. It was done with an online group that wanted to do "something" after the horrible 9/11/01. Sentimental, and lovely.
I got quite a bit done yesterday given my limitations with my shoulder. It was exciting to put some herb starts into my garden, and put their plastic covers over them

You can see my chives and some onion chives are coming up from last year. I also started some flats of other herbs, starting from seed. And a couple of annuals. I built these square food boxes a couple of years ago. I told Lynn I would really like to bring the garden out to twice the size it is now. You are seeing one box and then the ones across the back, which is up against a granite wall. I do tomatoes back in those. There is another box to the left and right of this one. Thyme and mint are coming up in the left. We are also talking about creating a large planting island in the middle of our front yard. Cut down on mowing, watering. Will see if that actually happens.
I sure enjoyed the skating on the Olympics last night. Tonight the men start their rounds. And of course American Idol which I really don't enjoy much until next week. Today I'm catching up on Westminster dog show while I stitch away on my GFG.

Design Wall Monday - Week Seven

It's actually Design Floor this week! This is my grandmothers flower garden project. I call it My Mother's Garden at Midnight. More current and bright florals and the black joining paths. I have been making these for a few years, a few here, a few there. All the yellow centers are the same fabric. Not sure yet how big it will end up. This is my "Olympics" project for this year. So while I'm watching the events, I'm making flowers. I'm blessed to be right near the Canadian border and my cable company carries the CBC so I get to see the Canadian, live broadcast which is great. In Olympics past I did counted cross stitch! In fact when I was at JoAnn's yesterday I ended up buying two cross stitch books and took advantage of their sale on DMC floss and added to my inventory! Those of you following my quilt every day posts, don't be surprised to start seeing some cross stitch projects appear there!

February 15th

Happy President's Day! This is my Comfort Quilt that was gifted to me from my small group. The day after my gall bladder removal surgery, this lovely quilt came to give me comfort from my quilting friends. There are 11 of us in the group (normally 12, but one moved away) and each of us has one now! All 12 are different, but all made from 5" squares. And everyone had some hand in everyone so it was a wonderful sharing program. We realized we were often making quilts to comfort other people and then thought we needed to comfort each other!
Several of us had talked about how some of our recipients (even close friends and family) were very "la-di-da" about a quilt we had worked hard on and anticipated a grateful, heartfelt thank you. Then coming to the realization that more often then not, non quilters just don't get it! So we need to remember to gift our quilting friends too!

February 14th

This was the quilt I won in our group raffle Christmas 08. We each made the blocks and then put the quilt together and we draw to see who wins it. Every Christmas we do this. And to make it interesting, if I win again, I have the choice of exchanging this quilt for the new one! Then this one would be raffled. Makes it fun.
The sun is occasionally peeking out, but I think I'm going to make a run into town and do a bit of shopping. Got my Costco rebate check, plus my 20% off whole order at JoAnn's (thanks Joanni!) coupon.
Hope you all have a lovely day with your Valentine.....

Saturday Night

I'm starting to find my way around adding clip art things to my blog. I thought this was so cute!
Tonight Lynn and I went to dinner at a really nice Italian cafe in Bellingham. Had a great dinner, then went over to a fairly new "hot spot" in town called Scotty Browns for a drink. On the big screens there was the Olympics. It was women on the moguls and brought back floods of memories of my skiing days. I took skiing lessons in high school and then ended up creating a ski club and organizing night skiing trips mid week and even an overnight ski event to Crystal Mountain. These were the days that we were required to wear dresses to school unless it was snowy. And I even got called into the vice principal's office so he could tell me I was a bit too "provactive" in my ski pants....oh man......
I took lessons at Snoqualmie but we did our extra trips to Alpental which was beautiful but a bit more advanced. I learned about moguls there, which is what this ski event at the Olympics was about. We used to go on Sundays too, and if I didn't have enough money for a lift ticket, we would just go early and I would volunteer to attach ski lift tickets to peoples jackets and for doing this for an hour you would get a free half day lift ticket. As much as I loved the skiing, once I had to come in to eat, drink, or use the bathroom, I was done. Once I would undo my boots and jacket, I really didn't want to go out again! So half day tickets were perfect for me. Lynn was never interested in cold weather sports so once we became seriously involved my ski days were over. Of my 3 boys only Todd, my youngest, had any interest in the mountains. He was quite a snowboarder for a long time.
I guess this is the "looking back" part of my blog.....

February 13th

This is the kids quilt that lives with me!! Actually, I came across it in a basket buried under a bunch of pillows when I was looking for my GFG project last night. There are some really favorite novelty fabrics in this quilt. I taught this as a class a couple of times, and have seen it done in lots of themes, this one is still my fave. A word of caution to anyone who has this pattern, or searches it out to make it....this is the only project I've ever done where doing a swatch card for placement is a MUST unless you don't mind making yourself crazy - LOL!
Speaking of the GFG, here is a photo of how far I am on this one! Having a touch of QOCD (quilters obsessive compulsive disorder) this is a nice one for me because sometimes I can work on the flowers and then when I feel like it I can join them together. I have no idea how big this will end up being!
It is rainy and dreary outside so after I run a few errands, I'll get to spend my time in the sewing room. Hope you are all have a very enjoyable weekend.

Hooray!!!

I finished my row for Janice's quilt! These rows are not sewn together, I just have them up on the wall. The village was Janice's inspiration row and we each are making rows to go with. If you click on the photo it will enlarge and you can see my bluework row on the bottom more clearly. This was a really fun one to do. I thought the needlework of the row is the star so opted to put those blocks together with just simple squares. many of those fabrics have metallic thread to give it a bit of shimmer.
The Olympics have started. I can remember Olympics past, having a hand project that I would work on throughout and I have decided to pull out my grandmothers flower garden and work on it while I enjoy the games. I actually call it My Mother's Garden at night. I'll take a photo of it in the next few days and show you where I am.
In the meantime, I got my project box out to work on more of the hexagons, went into the kitchen to get a cuppa tea and came back to find Dutch had made himself comfortable INSIDE my project box.....What is it about cats and quilters....
When I was blog surfing today, I came across a quilt that I immediately fell in love with and knew I HAD to make it!!! So I searched and searched and sure enough found the directions online and am excited about starting something new!!
My shoulder is still improving, but still aching more than not. The therapist says I have made pretty good improvement in my range of motion, and I think I agree. But I sure would like to be able to tie my apron on, and unhook my bra again.
The weekend looks pretty quiet. I'm hoping the weather will be calm and I can do some more work in the garden. I'm also planning to plant some seeds for the veggie garden this weekend and look forward to seeing their little sprouts! I'll do this inside and then transfer when the time is right. My garden is going to be heavy with herbs this year. Off to find my project and see who lights the torch!!

February 12th

Ah the clothesline quilt......here is the story. When I was in the hospital having given birth to my first baby way back in 1976 a dear friend arrived to visit and presented me with a darling quilt for Kyle. I loved it forever, and vowed that someday I would learn to quilt and make quilts for my kids and someday grandkids. Then about 12 years ago, when I was just discovering the online world and learning to quilt, I mentioned this story and quilt to one of those online groups. And before I knew it, 3 people actually sent me the pattern of that very quilt!! I tucked them away and waited. Then when my first grandchild Jillian arrived I pulled the pattern out and voila! This is the wonderful clothesline quilt I made for her. I do have pieces cut out and backgrounds ready to go for both Ethan and Carter, just haven't had the gumption to get them done. Now with another baby on the way, I think it is time!!!

February 11th

My goodness this little quilt is well loved! This was the first time I made this pattern. I call it a Tumbling I Spy. I think it is about 8 years old, same as Jillian. In fact in the black border, I have stitched her name and birthdate, birth weight.
This is one of my very favorite patterns to use to have a quick baby quilt to gift.
Tonight is the season premiere of Survivor. The first time this show was on, I knew nothing about it. I refused to even listen when people would talk about it, thinking it sounded like the dumbest thing to ever be on TV!! The next season it was on was when I was taking care of my sister Carol after her surgery and stayed with her for a month. She MADE me watch the show that season, and I have been hooked ever since!! This is one of the few shows that Lynn and I watch together. I'll be finishing another bluework block tonight while watching and starting the final one for that project. I have a STACK of embroidery patterns to do now....plus I got a really cute pattern today from a friend for making baby hats, using that variegated sock yarn, so that will be a fun thing to do too! I even feel motivated to be sewing, while plowing through things in my studio, so YEAH!!!
If any of you are on the east coast, please stay warm and safe!!

February 10th

About 11 or 12 years ago when I was still a fairly new quilter, I decided to do a table runner for each month of the year. This was the one I did for February. The block pattern was from a BOM program I was doing at The Calico Cat, the quilt shop in Auburn where I had taken my very first quilting classes. I heard recently that it is closing or just closed. It has a poly batting - LOL! I have it draped over a couple of old wooden chairs on my covered front porch. And I am pretty sure I still have pieces of all those fabrics....

February 9th

Pinwheels and four patches that were left over from other projects is what this quilt originated from. I had seen a photo in a magazine and actually brought it to a retreat along with the stack of blocks. When the quilt was done, so many of my fellow retreaters couldn't believe it was the same quilt as was in the magazine. They liked my version much better, which really made me smile! It was fun to be bold with what is normally setting squares.

This is the cute little shop that Ethan and I walked to yesterday. The woman who owns the shop lives here with her family. It was actually her grandmothers home and was left to her in the estate. She does a lot of needlework and some quilting, has actually increased her fabric selections over the last few years. When I first moved here she had a lot of rustic wood kinds of things, but has become more hand work, which is lovely. I'm finding I really enjoy my embroidery time even more than cutting and sewing lately. I'll bet many of you can identify with that. Sometimes you want to knit, or stitch, or sew or nap!!
Ethan and I took a bit of a detour on our walk back home and visited the pygmy goats who live down the street. I was trying to get a photo of one standing in the background and this guy hopped up just as I took the picture, so HELLO!
We have glorious sunshine again today, and Jeff called in sick to work, so I have no kids today. Going to take advantage and walk to my physical therapy appointment. Then come back and finish up with some pruning and weeding I started yesterday. And yes, we did get a freeze last night! I knew we would when I went out to put something in the car and saw all the stars! Sad for the folks preparing for the Olympics this week, and I truly feel for those in the east battling record snowfall right now.

Design Wall Monday - Week Six

Just about a year ago, I spent FOUR DAYS at a retreat and all I got done was these four blocks!!! It is a pieced baltimore album project. They are really hard, IMHO. Hard enough, that they are going to be four wall hangings/table toppers. I'm not making the rest of them! There is still some bias tape stems to add to them all, which I think will be fun. I'll show them again after I get that done.
Six for six this year on keeping up on Design Wall Monday. It is fun to cruise through all of them every week. I usually look at about 10 a session, and it seems I often find another great blog to follow! Thanks again for providing us this forum to share and learn!

February 8th

Sunshine is abundant today!! This quilt is the one I made for Jeff when he joined the army in about 98. Krista said this is their favorite to snuggle under while watching TV. It is certainly well worn! Just the way I like my gifted quilts to be. The binding is fraying a bit, and the colors have certainly faded, but it makes me happy to know that it is well used.
Rocco has found a perfect spot to enjoy a bit of a sun bath! Ethan has finished his lunch so we are going to walk over to our nearby shop called Folk Tales. I'll take my camera along and get a shot of it, so you can all be jealous with how close this quaint lovely shop is to me.

February 7th

Today I celebrate my 100th entry into my blog since I started it a few years ago! Now that I'm entering something daily, I know that number will climb quickly.
This quilt lives in my truck. I think every vehicle needs it's own quilt, don't you? Not my normal color collection, but this was a bundle of fat quarters I had had a retreat and thought it was time to do something with them, so I just started making pinwheels and put them together as you see. The piano key border is a favorite of mine, you can tell!!
I'm just about done with the first block for the bluework project I am doing for Janice's row. In fact it will be done tonight, and then I need to get tracing for the next one. I've tried the light box system and it just isn't bright enough for me. I often used the "tape it up on the window" system for tracing, but that isn't great either. So I have decided on and been happy with the tracing with carbon paper method for my needlework projects. As long as you get smudgeproof carbon paper and make sure you don't rest your hand on it when tracing, it works just great.
Our weather seems to be turning a bit more wintery...cool, rainy. As I walked around the yard today I loved seeing this lupin coming up and looking like it had been kissed by the rain.
My lupines do come up every year, with more each year, but as soon as they bloom it seems like the aphids just FEAST on them! Hopefully this year I can keep them under control a bit better. I need to divide a couple of day lily clumps. I also enjoyed perusing a plant catalog that came in the mail this week. I'm always so tempted, but have yet to ever order anything.
Off to finish up my hand project, after I return the quilt to the truck!

Februay 6th

This project was another one I wrote as a mystery quilt project for my small group. I will try to snap some shots of some of theirs and show them at a later date. We did it about 6 years ago I think. Was pretty easy, and I love the final look of it. Adding that bit of red was a good touch, I think.
Lynn and I went into Costco today to order up his new glasses. He had an eye exam yesterday, this is since his diabetic crisis from 3 weeks ago. His vision has definitely taken a hit. He has worn reading glasses for a few years, so wearing glasses all the time will be different for him.


Doesn't he look scared to death?? LOL! I had to take his photo with a couple of different frames on so he could put his reading glasses on to look at the photos. It's so hard to pick out frames when you can't see.....
I guess Jillian and Ethan are coming over tomorrow to spend Superbowl Sunday with us. Jeff and Krista are going to a nearby casino and party with friends. I truly could not care any less about his game. We'll make cookies instead, and if it is nice I'll have Jeff bring their bikes over and they can ride around a bit.
I'm officially off of work until my shoulder is "fixed". After so much aching last night, today it is doing pretty good. Two more weeks of therapy and we'll see if I am going to need an MRI (they should somehow just call it $$$) to figure out the issue. Our insurance requires a $500 deductible for an $$$. And then pays 70% of the rest....so I'm hoping we don't need to do that. Especially if I'm not working! Being perdium is nice in lots of ways, but not nice is that there is no sick pay. No work, no money....

February 5th

I love this quilt. My dear friend June had made another one using the pink breast cancer ladies for a friend and had this extra panel left so she made this one up and said she would tuck it away and hope she would never have another friend to gift it to. Then I told my story of being a 25 year survivor of breast cancer and the next day she was at my door, and gifted this to me.....so sweet!!!
Lynden is such a scenic farming town and community. The mountain was amazing yesterday and I was driving some back roads and noticing again all of our raspberry fields. We are actually the countries leading producer of raspberries, most are bought up by Ben and Jerry for their ice cream. This time of year they are so tidy and orderly.
Fields and fields of these canes. Now I notice more and more blueberry fields too. I just bought two more blueberry plants at Costco and will add those to the 5 other plants I have.
I also couldn't resist these flats of primroses!
The kids and I drove around to my small groups homes and left a few on their doorsteps. We were delivering smiles!
My PT appointment today was another episode of that deep tissue massage around my shoulder that was so painful at the time, but now it feels much looser. Had a really nice chat with this therapist about exercise and weight loss. He had some great suggestions that I plan to incorporate immediately! Will let you know how this works out.
What is stopping you RIGHT NOW from going out and taking a brisk walk?

February 4th

A little bit late, but here is the photo I took yesterday. This is another one of my fractured, blended, mended projects with flowers and then added that pretty butterfly in the center. A nice springy addition to my dining room. Our weather had been amazing though I heard today that we are expected to be below freezing for about a week coming up this month. Guess I'll keep those pruners put away for a bit yet. Though it sure looks tempting out there....
Last night I traveled down to Federal Way for Kyle's final basketball game of the season. They honored the seniors on their team and it was so impressive to hear how focused and smart this kids are. Several of them have scholastic scholarships to big schools next year. Though they lost the game they all played so hard, it was a privilege to watch them play and I was so proud to watch Kyle in his first head coaching season.
It was sad though that Genie wasn't able to bring Carter to the game. He was just not having a very good day and would have been too much to handle. Next year will surely be a challenge for her when she will have a 6 month old to carry along too!!
My drive back and forth was made much easier by the book I'm currently listening to . The Help. An amazing story about Jackson Mississippi in the 60's. I'm about half way through it, it's very long, and I highly recommend it!!

Catching up - February 3rd

I love this quilt. For months I participated in a nine patch exchange. So one month we did reds, then greens, yellows, blues, purples, oranges, browns. It was really fun to get a new package in the mail each month. Once the swapping was done, I carried these little nine patch blocks around for a several retreats, trying to decide how to set them. And finally this is what was created. While the body of the quilt was up on my design wall the idea sprung from my brain to continue the colors in the center out to another border so the piano key border was then done. This is one I might be most proud of. I love that it has blocks from people all over the country in it. Evidence of sunshine peeking through the window I see......

Catching up - Feburary 2nd

Hooray, I figured out the new camera. So this is the quilt I had out for a photo on the 2nd when I realized my memory stick for my camera was lost. This was a quilt design I used for a beginning quilting class I taught many times. It was great, teaching basic measuring, cutting and then making nine patch blocks and half square triangles. It is actually a pretty fun project to do as there are TONS of options for setting those two blocks once you have them all made.

February 3rd

Maybe nobody even noticed......
After going back to Costco today and looking around, checking with lost and found and with the girls at one hour photo, I declared the memory stick gone, gone, gone.....so I bought a new Sony camera!!! I am charging the battery now, it is going to be different not having to carry double A batteries with me everywhere anymore! Though I will search online for a second rechargeable battery to have a backup.
So I will take two photos and get caught up.
And I'll probably be taking photos all over the place with a nice big viewing screen, better zoom and more megapixels..

February 2nd

OH OH!!! I took my memory stick into Costco today, to get some photos printed.....and now I can't find it. I called the store and they even walked out in the parking lot by where I had parked and did not see it. She is kindly going to check with the main office and see if anyone found it on the floor somewhere and happened to turn it in.......I do have a quilt RIGHT HERE waiting for it's photo.....shoot!
Then again.....maybe I subconsciously dropped the memory stick so I would have a valid excuse for going ahead and buying a new camera? When I was looking at them a few weeks ago at Costco, I asked an employee if they could turn one on that is on the display rack so I could see it and he said no...they don't have the right something or other to do that anymore, but that I can buy any camera and use it for 30 days to decide if I want to keep it or not.....hmmm......so I asked him if I could buy a new camera every couple of weeks and just keep returning it and getting a different one until I found the one I wanted and he said "yeah, basically"......okay.....
So please don't give up on me....I will catch up as soon as either my memory stick is located or I get a new camera, one of which will happen by the weekend.

February 1st

Are you dizzy yet??? This was a great project. Sixteen patches set with pinwheels. I love how it looks like it's on point. Bonnie has this basic pattern on her site. I finished it up with more scraps, scraps, and then added a few more scraps. I believe this overall look came from a magazine, but I can't remember which, sorry. Basically, do what you want! I usually do anyway. It's laying on the top of a king sized bed, so it is pretty darned big.
I'm so glad I have only one more block to make for a an exchange from last year, and I will be officially caught up with that great online swap group. And I've started the blue work embroidery project for my friend Janice's row. This is what I do at night while watching TV. Tonight it will be the Bachelor. This season has been pretty dull IMHO! I did watch an old Hitchcock movie night before last, Marnie. Was with Tippi Hedren and Sean Connery. I think Tippi was required to use the same hairdo in the movies she was in. And her face never changes expression, even when she was in the Birds. Did they have Botox back then??
And I'm happy to report I have finished my recent redwork project.

I had actually done this once before, but I used pearl cotton and did not like the finished look at all. So I redid it in DMC two strands. I think this will be a cute wall hanging, gift for my sister Nancy. She is having her first colonoscopy today, for symptoms that have me a bit concerned. I'm waiting now for her to call me and see if anything was discovered. Let's hope they find nothing worrisome.
This was also the day Ethan opened a cupboard and rediscovered the tracks and cars! Oh my, looking at that plant....I don't think it is going to make it. Guess I'll be looking for a new one. I even repotted that one last month!
I have two physical therapy appointments this week for my shoulder. I certainly hope there is going to be some improvement there soon. If I move the wrong way it just kills me.
Off to mail out some packages and pick Jillian up at school. February.....how did that happen so fast?????