March 31st - #88

This was such a fun baby quilt. Another that I made for one of my Moms from the support group in Tacoma. It was a zigzag pattern, and I used so many great prints in it! Something nice and easy with half square triangles.

Today was Todd's 30th birthday. I had really planned to have a nice long post about him, with some photos, and by the end of the day I hadn't gotten them out, so I'll do that tomorrow. He is coming tomorrow to do some yard work, so I'll even get a current photo.

Getting ready for my retreat next week! I'm also still winding embroidery floss....I can't believe I don't have all the colors! A magazine I bought last week had a nice handy chart with all of them listed and so it has been great to be able to check them off. Next time they are on sale at JoAnn's or Michael's I'll probably fill in my holes.

It is so fun that sister Carol is still knitting away! I gave her a basic lesson on Saturday, and left her with needles and a large ball of yarn. She is pretty hard on herself, but she seems like she is "getting it" and maybe even enjoying it a bit! Will see on Sunday when she brings her progress to our family Easter gathering.

Today I made a trip to Value Village. This is not a usual stop for me, but I went looking for silk ties to do an egg dying process. And I bought 8 of them. While I was there I wandered through the mens and womens sweaters and picked up a couple of wool sweaters. My plan is to cut them up, restitch them into bags and felt them! Might be fun!! I'll keep you posted.

Last night I also scanned in a couple of my old photos. I figure if I do a handful every couple of days it won't be so overwhelming

This one is the most current of those I scanned. In the front on the left is darling Todd. Next to him is my niece Angela, next up is Jeff and Kyle is in the back. I think Todd and Angela must have been about 4. So Jeff was 6 and Kyle 7.






This is my kindergarten class. I'm in the front row on the far left with the pigtails. Ethan registered for kindergarten today for class starting in the fall. Krista said the counselor did an "assessment" and he did well chatting with her, identifying colors, numbers and letters. I'm just so excited for him.

March 30th - #87

Another table runner! This is one I made for my friend Carol, who besides being a dear friend, is the woman who does my long arm quilting. It is Christmas prints, which you will see if you click on it. Let me tell you, it's tough doing the quilting on a piece that goes to your quilter!!!

Our weather has been so bizarro lately! One minute the sun was out, and next we are being pelted with hail. I guess it's a good test for the roof repair.

Tomorrow is my youngest's 30th birthday. Todd. He said he isn't too happy about turning 30, and I asked him how he would feel if his BABY was turning 30! I'll feature him, and some photos of him tomorrow.

March 29th - #86

Goodness, I thought I had posted today, and then while watching The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and they open with the date, I realized I hadn't done it yet!!

So this is an interesting piece. This was a pattern I found in a quilt shop in Olympia. I am not a big fan of working with batiks. I think they are beautiful to look at, and to handle and to own, but sewing with them, not so much. So I figured what the heck, challenge myself a bit more and do a curved piecing project with batiks....I love how it came out. In fact I loved it so much I made another one! But not for me!

This was a "bag lady swap" program I participated in. We were assigned partners and we traded whatever we could fit in a certain sized ziplock bag. What dear Julie sent to me was some batiks and a couple of applique blocks she had left over from a previous project. After hemming, and hawing...I thought I'd make the project work the same as this one had!

Besides piecing in the two blocks I even went a step further and continued the curved piecing into the black small border. I love this look even more! In fact, mine is not quilted yet. I'm considering taking my border off, and adding it with curves!

I am trudging through this book that I am supposed to have finished for my book club gathering tomorrow afternoon. It's "Death Comes for the Archbishop" by Willa Cather. The writing is fine, just not a story I am much interested in. I'll probably speed read through the last quarter of it. There is so much description of the environment, I get the picture zooming by.

Right now I am having a hard time getting into any of the books I have on my night stand! I've finished three audio books and while at Costco I was looking for a new one, and was really disappointed to see that they are carrying abridged versions, which I don't want. Guess I'll be shopping on Amazon....

March 28th - #85

I love this quilt. This was a new technique kind of quilt. If you click on it, you can see the fold back that makes the curves happen. I made this for my wonderful DIL Krista, and gifted it to her as a wedding gift. She was born and raised in Hawaii, is Filipino and loves the water, so I thought this quilt was just right for her. In my normal "maverick" quilty way......I had to make one turtle swimming a different direction......










Isn't she a beautiful bride? Her Mom traveled from Hawaii and brought the flowers with her.
We held the wedding in our back yard, it was just a beautiful day.

Here they are walking back down the "aisle" carrying Jillian and Ethan. That is the back of Lynn's and my head.....Krista's Mom is in the peach dress in the background. Five years ago this summer. My how time flies....

March 27th - #84

My sister Nancy lost her first husband to an illness and after a few years, she went back to school to learn the computer business. There she met Terry and after dating for a bit, they got married!! I wanted to make sure he knew he was very welcome in our family, so I made him this quilt. He has a kokopelli tattoo! So when I saw this fabric I knew I had to do something with it for him. I thought it came out great, and he does enjoy using it to cozy up and watch TV.

Today is sister Carol's birthday! That's why I am south. At this writing she hadn't decided if she wanted to go out to dinner for her birthday, or if she would rather have me cook for her. I think we are planning a pedicure, maybe a movie and most likely a casino visit....sister time is great time!!

March 26th - #83

This was another group project. One of our dear retreating/quilting friends lost her sister to a long illness. We wanted to do something for her, and she has a fondness for flamingos. If you click on the photo, it will get nice and big for you and you'll see that there is an adorable flamingo print in the center of each block, repeated in the border. The blocks were made by 12 of us and sent to me, and this is what I put together for her. She loved it. And we love her.

March 25th - #82

This was another baby quilt I made about 9 years ago and gave to one of the Mom's from my childbirth class and Mom/Baby support group that I facilitated. I LOVED this fabric, and remember finding it in a funny fabric shop in California. It was the same day I visited Rosies. I really wish I had bought more of it. I had bought it before Jillian was even a twinkle in her Daddy's eye, and the thought of a grand daughter was nothing I ever entertained, not wanting to be disappointed.

I'm excited to be off to spend several hours with Carter this afternoon while his Mom and Dad go out with friends and watch the UW Huskies compete in the Sweet Sixteen in the NCAA tourney! I might pack him up and take him for a short visit to my parents. And I'll be sure to get some new photos.

Scanning old photos will be one of my missions in the next couple of weeks. I finally got some video DVD's so I can do some creative things with old photos.

Shoulder report is all good! I got so much done around the house today! I did constantly remind myself to be careful, but my energy level was so much higher than it has been in weeks. I am going to attribute it to the steroid shot I had yesterday, and that I wasn't in constant pain all day. It was an amazing lesson about how pain affects your activities of daily living. I am still needing some ibuprofen now, but I sure hope this will be a good fix. I guess they can only do this injection 3 times, so you don't want to use them up too quickly! Worse case scenario is if they have to go in and remove some of the bursa that is so inflamed. But no PT next week. Then a follow up with my doc the week after. See where we are at this point.

OH! I even had some quilting inspiration today! The body of this has been up on my design wall waiting to be quilted and I thought about adding a girlie border and was glad I still have about 4 yards of this cute fairy print. So I put some borders on it! It is spray basted right now, and I'll quilt it when I get home on Sunday. Lynn has to be me the name, date, weight and so forth and I am going to quilt that info into the border I a bright variegated thread. I think she will love it!! The back has a soft flannel with ABC's on it.

I also dug two holes in the front yard to that I could plant two very nice clumps of oriental poppies a friend had brought to share from her yard. Now that I'm feeling so much better, I'm really looking forward to doing some weeding, transplanting, taking cuttings.

Hope the weather stays garden friendly into next week.

March 24th - #81

This was a great group project. Our retreating group had a particular member who always went above and beyond whenever we had any kind of retreat event. She was so thoughtful and yet always pretty quiet, almost seeming shy. But when she saw that someone had a need or even a "want" that she could fulfill, she would do it. So we all thought we would make nine patch black and brights blocks. They were all sent to me, and this is the layout I came up with. Then another one of our members did an amazing quilting job using a metallic multicolored top thread. It was just gorgeous, and she was overwhelmed and very appreciative when we gifted it to her.

I'm heading south tomorrow for the weekend, and I can't load photos from my sisters laptop, so there won't be any quilts to show for Friday and Saturday. But I'll do two tomorrow before I leave town, and two on Sunday when I return. This has been such an amazing exercise. Did anyone believe I'd still be going at #81!!! I'd love to have any of you share my link, and invite your friends to scroll back through my little quilt show!

Thanks for visiting!

March 23rd - #80

Another table runner discovered! You can see the fold, showing it has been stored for a bit of time. I also see where a spot of bleach must have hit it on the basket on the left. This one must be about 11 years old.

So I got the feared about cortisone shot in my shoulder today. I must say, the needle was not a problem at all, and they added lidocaine to the mix, so it wasn't stingy but my arm sure ached as it spread through there. I will say I have less pain with movement, but still pain. She said it would take a bit of time to take full effect. Another two weeks off work, and see how it responds.

So no physical therapy the rest of this week or next week.

I need to make a couple of quick girlie bibs for someone who had her baby, and I'm also now working in the hat project with my small group. One of the women has pledged 100 knitted caps for the homeless and we are all pitching in. Feels pretty good to be knitting again. And I'm carrying my project in a bag that I knit and felted a few years ago.
This is on the kids bench, so it's not a GIANT bag - LOL! And that is what I have done on my first hat for the cause.


I spotted this little pink forget me not on the way over to my mailbox today! I love when these come up.
And I also enjoy this perennial that gets a bit wider every year. I can't remember the name of it at the moment. Back closer to the house I see my pink coral bells is budding too YEAH! Also near the mailbox I see this adorable baby bleeding heart.








Spring in the garden is like a present everyday. I think I'll put my garden shoes on and head out for some leisurely weeding.

March 22nd - #79

Isn't it fun to see what you can do with a simple bowtie block? This was a pattern I found in Ashland Oregon about 9 years ago. And it's one that I rewrote the instructions and used as a mystery quilt class. It's also a quilt that is sadly not quilted. I had given it to Carol to do it on her LA and when she loaded it she said that the upper left hand corner was not square at the little pink stopper border and figuring it would be hanging on a wall, she took it off rather than proceed. She is probably right....I have spent a fair amount of time trying to fix it, but no luck. In fact in a moment of desperation of needing some batting, I took it out of this project!! So it is gently folded, hanging in the closet waiting for more inspiration.

The kids are coming for an overnight. Krista has a 6:30 am meeting, and it's much nicer for everyone to have them sleep over than to get us all up at oo:dark30. Then to the physical therapist, then the doctor for a follow up and possible shot, then the cat to the vet for his shots. So will be a busy day around here!

I did get the suet feeders filled today though. And it has been so nice to wake up to those bird songs again....

March 21st - #78

EGADS!!! I nearly missed it! Just realized I hadn't done my posting today.
This is a quilt I made from my friend and OB nursing mentor, Linda. She chose and bought the fabric, handed me the sack and said "go for it!"....When I came across this pattern in a magazine, I knew it would be just right! Gosh, it's a pretty quilt, I might have to add this to the list of patterns I'd like to use again.

Another weekend passed, and I didn't do any yard work. Didn't really do much now that I think about it. I started a new CCS project and it is really, really hard. Such tiny stitches. Last night I spent over an hour picking thread out that I had done wrong....but I made some nice progress on it tonight while watching the historic vote by congress.

I'm planning a "special comment" about the whole health care scenario, and will label it as such for those who are sick and tired of hearing about it. And if you are, aren't you glad to know that now your health insurance is a bit more regulated? I certainly am.

I did go through the last of the slides and have a box ready to go to Costco photo tomorrow to get another DVD created. Then I'll be able to get it all copied and distributed to my family.

Happy to report, I think my shoulder is actually noticeably better!!

March 20th - #77

Isn't this wild??? I have always like some quirky color combinations. Purple and green, ahhhh....this is a bit more limey than I would usually choose, but is sure goes great. When I was in junior high I had a cute pink/orange top that I wore with a pink skirt. LOVED it!! I might have to challenge myself to find something pink and orange to make into a quilt.

My clothing sense was pretty bad. I remember I had 4 or 5 wool plaid pleated skirts. Not sure where my Mom got them, but it was almost always an argument when I would be leaving for school and she would make me change my blouse because it didn't go with my skirt. She threatened to make me a chart to hang in my closet - LOL!! And she told me she knew that as soon as I was out of view of the house I would roll that waist up to make the skirt shorter....and I thought I was so clever!!

I've always been a poor morning person. I would have to run for the bus every morning. In high school, the bus left at 7:15 and I would sleep until 6:45. I showered the night before, put my hair in brush rollers or rubber rollers, or whatever was in fashion at the moment, pull them out of my hair, throw my clothes on and take off for the bus. 99 out of 100 times, my hair would be basically straight by the time I got there...the only thing different now, is that my hair seems to be gaining curl!

March 19th - #76

Yep, another baby quilt!! This is a great pattern that I know has been made thousands of times by quilters. It's called Warm Wishes. One of those great patterns, that can make up quickly and have a nice effect when you have a fairly large print. I know I've done this one quite a few times. My mistake when I made this one, is putting in both pink and blue! I don't even remember who this one went to.
Here is a close up of the fabric I used. I had quite a bit of this with the blue and some that also read pink. I wish I could find it again. It was great for bibs too.

My ultrasound today was quick. They told me that yes, there is a small tear down in there, but not something that would require surgery. The problem is that I have "severe" (their word) bursitis and tendonitis. And a cortisone shot might be a good thing so I can keep working the shoulder. I'll see my doc next Tuesday and see if she would like to do that, or refer me to an orthopedist to do it.

Tomorrow is the beginning of spring and if the weather is close to what it was today, I hope that I can do some gardening. Gently....and taking some ibuprofen when needed!

March 18th - #75

This was a fun quilt to make. A friend was expecting her first grandchild and asked me to make a quilt for her. I was very surprised to have someone ask me to make something. She said the theme in the nursery was Winnie the Pooh and she gave me the pooh fabric she had left from making some drapes. So I came up with this attic windows quilt and she and her daughter were very happy with it.

It was such a great day! I met a new friend and we just had the best time shopping at the craft fair and then I followed her over to her alpaca farm and got a tour. It was so great!! She has offered to teach me to spin, and see if I like it before investing in all the materials! We found we had so many things in common, it was like we were long lost friends. It's going to be so fun.

I also had a nice conversation with a woman who is well versed in the ways of Etsy! She gave me some wonderful tips and ideas and offered to answer questions I may have as I explore that world.

Tomorrow morning is my ultrasound on my shoulder. In some ways it seemed better today, until I realized I hadn't taken any ibuprofen yet and it was sure aching!! Here's hoping we get an answer to the problem soon.

March 17th - #74

I actually had another quilt to put up today and started to write a note saying I was kind of surprised that I didn't have any kind of St Patrick's Day quilt and I realized I DO!!! This was another one of those table runners I had made in 1999, when I was making a table runner for each month of the year. This block is called Card Trick, one of the first I learned to make. Looking at it reminds me how much I like to make blocks. So Happy Saint Patrick's day!!

I had such a lovely time today with JoAnni! We enjoyed a lovely white tea and yummy, yummy banana bread. Mostly I enjoyed the company and lively conversation. And drooling over her crazy quilt project, (I hope she doesn't see where I did that.....)!! We are already looking forward to getting together again soon.

See that bit of green cutting mat there between those two cats???? That's all the space these two thought I needed to work on my bibs. What is it with cats and sewing????

Lynn got his new car today, and is much relieved to have it done. He was so afraid the seller was going to change his mind. Now he gets to take it on a long drive to Seattle and onto Olympia tomorrow.

I'm going to meet a lovely woman I met online via her blog tomorrow at the craft fair being held across the street. I'm really looking forward to getting to know her.

Don't drink too much green beer everyone!

March 16th - #73

This is the quilt I made for my Dad. The photo was taken when it was still on my design wall about 3 years ago. How funny those blue blocks were up on my wall then too, just as now!
This quilt was done in flannels. The center panel is one piece, I thought very peaceful. So the braided border was the challenge. Especially in flannel. He uses this quilt on the couch everyday and loves it. I've even had to mend the binding already once.

I'm just about done with my bibs, and I had to order some more snaps! I'm trying to use what I have left, but I'm kind of picky about the color of snap I put on each bib. Then just the labels and out they will go.

Looks like tomorrow morning Lynn will take possession of his new car. Just in time to drive to Seattle and Olympia for two days. Oh, and we got good news on the repair in the living room. Looks like they aren't going to need to cut into the wall, that the repair will happen on the roof. That's a big relief.

The therapist today did some new torture techniques that she learned at a continuing education class the past weekend. YOWIE!!! But I think it may have helped. Time will tell.

March 15th - #72

You are getting a stream of some of my bright baby quilts! I love pinwheels. I love brights. Put them together and voila!
I had this one on the shelf and my Mom asked me if I had a baby quilt she could give to her doctor. She was a very nice woman, a family practitioner who was going to take a leave to start her family. I gave Mom this one and she was thrilled to take it into the clinic the next time she went. She was very disappointed that the doc had already started her leave, so Mom left it with the nurse. And my Mom has been even more disappointed that she has never received any kind of thank you.......she wonders if the doctor even received it? Did someone else take it? Is it tucked on a shelf somewhere? How do find out without seeming kinda odd?

Tomorrow morning the contractor comes to cut into my living room wall, to begin the repair for our pesky leak. We had pretty good rain yesterday, and still no sign of more water.

I'm about two hours from being done with my bibs, so they will go out in the mail tomorrow. WHEW! One task done! I am going to make a couple of sets of extra bibs and sign up on Etsy to see if they might sell there. If they don't I'll use them for gifts.

It was a good day for the mail!!! I'm starting to get some duplicates of some magazines, which is fine, I'll just resell them. Now I'll fill in the holes of some years of some of my favorites. I've found some wonderful patterns in a lot of them. After my bibs are done, I'll put some more skeins of DMC onto their new bobbins and into the case. Then I need to make a list of colors I need. Wallet sized so I can have it if I find thread on sale somewhere.

Two sad notes here today. A dear, sweet friend of mine lost her son this weekend. I have absolutely no concept of the feelings involved in losing a child. She lost a sister a couple of years ago. Carol, you are in my thoughts and in my heart.

Also I just heard that Keith Olbermann's Dad died on Saturday. What a wonderful caring son he has been his whole life, not just while sitting vigil the last six months at his father's bedside. He also lost his Mom just last year.

Design Wall Monday Week Nine

I missed a couple Mondays, but I'm back! ON the design wall is a quick baby quilt for a woman that works for my husband and had a baby last week. I call this a Tumbling I Spy. Some really cute novelty prints in there, you can click on the photo and get a close up. ON the ironing board on the left is the flannel backing for that quilt. The rest of the stuff is my bib order I'm trying to finish up and get sent off to my client! Hanging on the door to the left are some quilt tops that are done and waiting their turn to go to Carol, my wonderful friend with the longarm machine! She is off on an extended trip to Arizona and will be back at the end of the month. Which reminds me I need to get that backing fabric ordered!

I'd love to have any of you visiting from Judy's site to pop into my blog and see my quilt a day show going on! For 70 straight days I have posted a photo of one of my quilts. It's been a lot of fun and amazing to me to now be creating a record of my work.

March 14th - #71

And yet another baby quilt. This is one I made for one of the babies I had in my Mom/Baby support group back in 1999. I think it was called Puss in the Corner, as far as a block pattern name. I thought they were such cute bears!

No, I haven't finished my bibs yet.....yesterday we ended up selling the Buick, and then loading the scooter into the back of the truck and taking it up into Canada, to Vancouver to the scooter repair shop. Turns out the battery still had some "cap" on the vent and it could have blown up!!! We were NOT happy about that. Lynn is going to return the battery to the store he bought it at in Bellingham when we get it back. It was about half an hour border wait each way. We did have lunch at a spot up on Granville Island, so that was nice. But I MUST DO THESE BIBS TODAY!!!

I'm still working away on my current CCS project. I don't have the photo part of the pattern, so it's a bit of a mystery! It was a kit, and some of the threads are looking like I may not have enough of that color, so I may be taking some artisitic license to finish it. Here is a photo of where I am so far.

I think I will post a photo each week to show my progress on this project. It's been so great getting my eBay treasures in the mail. There are so many things I want to do!
Here is a very old small project I finished in 1988





It is supposed to be Christmas, but I like it so much, I leave it up all the time.

Thanks for stopping by.

March 13th - #70

This quilt was a wall hanging I made for another friend in my small group. I did most of it while at a quilt retreat, and a few of my better friends (ahem) were giving me the business about my HUGE snowflakes that were going to crush the village!! I actually did the quilting on this one. I CAN do it, I just don't LIKE to do it. But if my shoulder doesn't get better soon, I'm going to have to learn to like doing it since I won't have any extra cash for quilting by check......

March 12th - #69

I'm so glad I found this photo! This was a first for me in many ways. This was the first quilt I broke down the directions and made into my first mystery quilt project for my small group. It was an interesting and fun project. Everyone's looked so different due to the colors they chose to start with. I will try to get some photos of theirs and post them all in a future post. I'll actually try to do that with all the group projects I've been involved in.

And this was the first quilt that I ever donated for an auction. I was gone on one of my first quilting retreats at the time of the auction so I wasn't there, but my husband said it was a fun little bidding war between two different women and it ended up going for $400!! This is an oversized lap quilt and it was about 9 years ago, so pretty darned good!!

I solved the mystery of the blocks that we caught a peek of on my design wall yesterday. It was one of these Baltimore Album blocks. I did these at a retreat last year, and in four days, this is all I got done! They are a HUGE PITA to make! I will try to get a photo of June's quilt which is done and beautiful and the reason I THOUGHT I wanted to make one. There are still some bias stems to put on these, and I'll finish that part, but then it is going to be a nice wall hanging!

No school today so Jillian and Ethan are both here! It's nice for Ethan to have someone to play with. Actually it's like I'm not even here....but it is sure noisy!
They have created a new game with all those pieces. Funny how the rules of the game change constantly, depending on whose turn it is.....
they are such incredible playmates.

The big news yesterday was that Kyle and Genie had their 18 week ultrasound and found out that baby number 2 (grandchild #4 for me!!!) due in late July is boy #2 for them!!! Hooray! Carter will get a little brother. Everyone on Genie's side was wishing and hoping for a girl, considering her two sisters have 9 boys between them, then with Carter and this baby it will be 11 boys...no girls...
maybe next time? LOL!

I sent Genie some flowers today to celebrate. I know how she is feeling, having had 3 boys myself. I would have tried once more for a girl, but Lynn not so much......so if you ask about names.....a girl would have been Maizy....for a long time a boy was going to be Henry. Kyle said he is tired of it already so he has been trying out different names, and I really hope he is joking when he tells me right now it is Hurley.....

YEAH!! It's here! I just went over and got the mail and my most treasured eBay purchased has arrived. This is the pattern that I had, and the project was 90% completed when it disappeared. It took me over two weeks surfing eBay, but I found it! It's from a magazine, Cross Stitch Christmas dated 1992. I did pay $11 for it, but I would have paid twice that. I think this will be the first NEW project I start after I finish up my current one, and finish my Wysocki farm project. I will gather up all the threads and choose the cloth for it, have it in a project box all ready to go. Be sure to click on it to enlarge to see the detail. I am so happy to find it. How many of you do, or have done counted cross stitch?

March 11th - #68

How much fun is this??? This was a quick baby quilt I made a couple of years ago and gifted to Krista's boss and friend who had her first baby. So bright, cherry and colorful. I'm told they love it to death, dragging it, cuddling it, spitting up on it all which is perfect! I love my quilts to be used. It was fun to get to use that border print on here. Now that I'm looking at the photo I[m wondering what that block is to the right? Hmm....might have to investigate further.

Well, it's official. It's a BOY! Kyle texted me the news about half an hour ago. He says Genie is a bit disappointed, which as the mother of three boys, I understand. This is boy number 2 for them. The amazing statistic is that she has two sisters. One of them has produced 6 boys and the other sister has 3 boys. So this will be Grandboy #11 for Genies' parents. So if it had been a girl, I'd never get my hands on her!! LOL!!

My therapist today was telling me about her Etsy business. She has just started making soaps and lotions and selling them there. I have figured out that all my therapists chatter a lot to try to distract me from the PAIN they are inflicting!! She encouraged me to think about putting my bibs on there, so I am going to investigate it a bit more. And right now I need to get into my sewing room and work on the bib order I have.

Thank you so much for visiting! I'd love to hear from you.

March 10th - #67

Marilyns' Quilt. This is a colorwash irish chain quilt that I made about 3 years ago. The fabrics truly jumped into my basket while standing at a cabinet of half yard cuts at a store. I bought them having no real clue as to what I was going to do with them, they just felt so nice together.

As I was going through patterns looking for something else, my colorwash irish chain pattern slipped out and like the cartoon light bulb over my head, I realized this was exactly the right project for that collection of fabric. So I started right away and finished it very quickly. While it was off to Carol (my dear friend and long arm quilter) to be quilted I discovered a lovely woman that I was working with had been diagnosed with ALS. Sadly she had lost her Mom and several other close family members to this insidious disease so she knew her prognosis was not good. She had to leave her valued, cherished job of working in the newborn nursery.

When I was new to this hospital, she was one of those people who was always so very kind to me. A welcoming smile and kind word. I had told her before that she always made me feel so "pink"! So when this quilt came back I put the same dark pink binding as you see on that border and sent it off to her. She was blessed with a wonderful family and incredible friends and her husband posted on a blog to keep us all updated on her day to day life and treatments. I loved seeing the photos of her with this quilt on her lap. She died about 2 years after her diagnosis.

I thought I had taken a photo of the quilt totally completed before I sent it, but I haven't located it yet so this one of it up on my design wall will have to do for now. I really hope her family is still getting some warmth and comfort using this quilt.


I discovered a new TV guilty pleasure on the History channel. It is called American Pickers. About two guys who drive all over the midwest and east looking for old barns and yards that have old rusty stuff hanging around and with the owners permission they rummage around to find hidden treasures of old Americana. They love old vehicles, so when I came across this photo of my Uncle Phil's old truck I knew this would be something they would love to find!!

Other than old photos I don't have any actual memories of this old truck. Aunt Adele is my Mom's older sister and we used to spend a lot of time with them. When I was a baby, they would watch me when my Mom was working and when they would be out on their property working they would keep me in an old wooden apple crate. So I was always known as the Apple Box Baby. I love that......

March 9th - #66

WOW! I had forgotten about this one! I LOVE this pattern. Very simple and yet so striking. I made this about 8 years ago, then developed it into a mystery quilt for a guild I was in. And then I donated it to be auctioned.

I remember I came across the pattern when cleaning my sewing room a couple of months ago, and I will definitely make another one of these. It was so cool to see the different color schemes people made this in. Their "clue" to fabric was to choose a color and get a light, medium and dark fabric in it. I think I might like to do this in purple next time.

Okay my friends, I need an intervention. I am HOOKED on the eBay thing and finding counted cross stitch patterns! They are often as little as 99 cents so it's not like I'm spending vast amounts of money, but rather that I am accumulating an impossible stack of UFO's. I'm still currently working on this old project at night while watching TV. I've been working on the flower details on the right side for several nights
and I'm going to move over to the water can side and work there for a while.

I made a tactical error though. I thought maybe I'd like to work on it on a wooden frame and ended up cutting about 1 1/2" off of each side. I didn't like that method, went back to the hoop and now that I am approaching the edges, it's not going to have a lot of room. So I'm planning to frame this with fabric and make it a wall hanging and not in a traditional frame.

Got our taxes done....such a cranky job that is. Now if I have our PIN numbers correct this time I can consider that task done.

My goodness it was cold last night! When I checked it was 29 degrees when I went to bed. I hope this cold snap isn't too long, would hate to lose all my little blooming friends!

March 8th - #65

Another quilt that went to Auction. This one was actually made intentionally to be auctioned off. It went for $1000 which made all of us very happy!

Scanning these photos is much simpler than I had imagined. Of course it then encourages me to follow my friend JoAnni's lead and start scanning all our old photos onto my hard drive and then backing them up onto flash drives so there really will be accessible for however long that technology is around.



And just for fun, here is an old photo of yours truly! I think I was about 18 months old and my goodness what an outfit!

Costco was a fabulous find for transferring those old slides onto a CD for me, and this photo actually came from an old film. I still have some old slides to go through, which I can do now since another friend of mine shared her slide projector with me!
One of the saddest things I recall finding in an antique shop was an old photo album filled with lots of great photos of someone's family....I'd hate to think that they were lost.

I've been intrigued lately with the Hallmark Smilebox program. Do any of you use it? The more times I come across someone's blog using it, the more I think I might like to give it a try.

And speaking of technology, how many of you still have 8 track tapes hanging around? We have quite a few VHS tapes with movies and it makes me think I ought to buy another player just to keep on hand!

March 7th - #64

This one may surprise people who know me well. So NOT my normal color scheme. This was a BOM program I signed up for at The Calico Cat in Auburn, when I was still living down there. Every month you got a packet and you made a tree block and a setting block. I worked on it pretty promptly for the first couple of months and then had to start packing away to move. It was years later than I got it back out and actually finished it up at a retreat. When I had the center done, and opened the final envelope which had the finishing fabrics in it, I found that the border print was not cut correctly, which was very disappointing. Luckily I was able to find some more after much searching so I could finish the job. And then I donated the quilt to the Boy's and Girl's Club Auction where it raised I think $850. I was actually making a second quilt at the same time using the patterns, but doing it in spring like florals, but I didn't have enough of two fabrics that were vital, so it got tucked away again. I know it's in there somewhere.....
My husband Lynn has been moping around a bit for the last few months about our car. He is driving "my" Buick which I had bought brand new about 2 months before we found out we were going to be moving up here. I was working full time at the time, and we had plenty of budget for a new car payment and my van at the time was running on empty after years of hauling kids! Three years ago we replaced Lynn's small pickup with my the Mega truck I drive now, and he took over the Buick. But it now has over 150K miles on it and even though it has been a fabulous car, it is starting to show some wear. Long ago he had a nice dark blue 5L Mustang. Never a good idea when you have 14, 15 and 16 year old boys in the house.....so after they ran that car into the ground Lynn went back to "practical" cars. Now that retirement is approaching, he has had that "mustang" itch again. We stop periodically at a nearby dealership and just look at the new ones. He really doesn't want a new car, along with a new car payment. And the Buick still runs great...so he just keeps dreaming. And then yesterday, when he was out on a ride on Vespa he spotted a silver mustang on a corner lot with a for sale sign. It is almost too good to be true. It's a 2003 but only has 57K miles on it. Older than he was hoping for but it is in such pristine condition! So we are meeing the owner in an hour to see if a deal may be struck! The owner is a pilot based out of Texas, and the car has Texas plates. He bought it down there and used it to drive back and forth for work, then brought it up here 3 years ago when he moved up here and it has been parked in his private plane hanger. He figured it was time to sell it since he really isn't driving it anymore. So we'll see!!!

March 6th - #63

A little change in format here. The next few days I am going to share photos of quilts I have made that have now gone to other homes! You will still get a quilt a day, just not a photo of one in my home now!
As I look at this quilt it makes me want to make another one. This quilt was gifted to my friend Connie and her family when they moved to Idaho. I thought the houses were appropriate for their new home! This is another that I created a class with. Was a good beginning quilting class since it covered lots of great techniques. It was fun too because I would put the students blocks up on the design wall and show them how turning blocks one way or another could really show the difference in the final look of the quilt. I think I've had a couple of new CCS friends come over to my blog, so welcome! I did take a photo today of another very old project. This one hangs in my dining room. I just love all the detail.
In my last two homes I had quite an extensive collection of things with strawberries. I was lucky to have found a hanging peg mug rack that held 48 mugs and was so happy when I would find a new one to hang on there. Eventually all the pegs were filled and all the mugs/cups were different. When I moved to this house, that collection had to end as their is no wall space in the eating area, it is all windows. I did keep a very few, very special cups. This one is probably my most precious
Read on if you have tissue nearby....I had only been an OB nurse for a couple of years and still working the night shift. Back in those days, if a woman was wanting to have a "natural" childbirth (I hate that term, but that's another story to come another time) she would be assigned to a special group of birthing rooms away from the normal labor and delivery area. If she changed her mind and wanted an epidural she would have to be transferred over to L & D. Anyway, I was assigned to a woman who wanted a normal birth. She was just a lovely woman, with a great husband who was a commercial pilot. This was their first baby and just to make it a bit stressful for me, her Mother was with her as a support person, and her Mom was a retired labor and delivery nurse who currently lived in Arizona, but had come up to Tacoma for the birth of her only daughter's first baby. Nothing like having an expert watching you work - LOL! The patient (Lisa) was such a joy to work with. I learned that she worked as a sales rep for Hallmark and we chatted about all the great things that Hallmark carried. I must have mentioned my strawberry cup collection, though I don't remember that specifically, but apparently she did! It was a great birth! She worked so hard and had such wonderful support from her Mom and Husband. And she was blessed with a beautiful, perfect baby girl. One of those great nights of work that make you feel like what you do is important and fulfilling. About 6 months later I received a package in the mail. In it was some yummy chocolate and this very cool strawberry mug. And a sweet, sweet note from Lisa telling me how much she appreciated all I did with her and what a wonderful memory her birthing experience was. She was having great fun with her daughter and all was right with the world. I was so touched and within a week I sent her back a nice thank you note letting her know that she was an amazing woman and I would never forget her. A few days after I sent the note, I was at home making lunch and my phone rang. A pleasant female voice said "is this Sharon Templeton?" I confirmed that it was and she was wondering how I knew Lisa. I told this person while feeling a horrible, horrible lump growing my gut. She then said, oh yes she knew who I was as Lisa had talked of me often. And she was sorry to tell me that Lisa had had a major heart attack and died. Her husband was out of town, the baby was in her crib and this had happened in the bathroom. Her friend was coming over that day for lunch and when she knocked she could hear the baby crying and no one was answering her knocking or bell ringing. She found a way in the house and found Lisa in the bathroom. I was just sick, sick, sick. A few weeks later I wrote a letter to the baby telling her about her birth and what an amazing woman her Mom was, and how hard she worked to bring her into the world. I still sometimes wonder how she is. Sigh..............