A gift for a friend

This is what I worked on yesterday evening and today. I owe a friend a birthday gift. I am soooo behind on getting this gift to her. This is what I made for her birthday. I hope she likes it. Now I have to figure out when to get it to her.

Hope and pray all are having a great day. We are having a wet and cold day here in Portland. I have beef stew on the stove and will do some organizing of my sewing room so I can start the quilting on my Boo-quet.

Enjoy the afternoon. Dot

Where do I start?

These first five photos are part of the Hoffman Challenge quilts. They were the ones that stuck out to me the most. I can't say they were the most spectacular, as they all were in their own way, but they were the ones that caught my eye enough to get a photo taken.

I guess I liked the creative way in which the quilter used the challenge fabric in these pieces.




This quilt is one in a vendor booth. Can you guess why I liked it? I found the pattern interesting but yes, it is the orange that drew my eye to the quilt. I would like to think I would like it in any color but it is the orange that pops out to me.

I thought this was cute. Another quilt at a vendor. I don't think I would ever make it but who knows. Fun to look at.

This is another vendor quilt. I took this because my BIL is a logger and I thought this was clever. I will have to figure out the pattern myself or find it on line and order it. It certainly is a beautiful quilt.

The last photo for now. Another vendor, I don't think you are supposed to snap pictures from the vendor booths but I did. No one said anything, I didn't do it to steal and idea, I just like the piece. I have noticed turtles have been popular lately and I thought this one was rather cute.

Next instalment will be exhibition quilts.

Dot

USC remains undefeated

USC did it, I don't know how, the officiating was soooo bad, but they stuck to it and won. It was a good game other than the fact that the officiating stunk.

I will have to wait now until next week-end when they play Stanford.

I will keep you posted on how that game goes.

Pictures of the quilt show will hopefully begin tomorrow. Good evening to all. Dot

Plans changed

Our plans for the quilting expo have changed. My side kick, Lady Di, is feeling a bit under the weather today, so we are planning on attending tomorrow. I am sorry for anyone who might be going today and looking for us. We will not be there.

This is another bag I made. I used 2.5 inch squares this time. I wanted to see what it would be like a bit smaller. It seems like it is more purse size and not tote size. I don't know if pink is particularly my color but it is what was handy at the time. There is someone out there who can use this bag. I will donate it along with some quilts later this fall.

Well I will get on with my day. I have plenty of errands to run and some more sewing to do. I just might even do a bit of house work. It is rainy and cold today, maybe some chicken soup is in order. Hubby will like that, he won't have to cook tonight. Have a great day. Dot

Friday's the day

Tomorrow, Friday, Sept 28th will be the day Lady Di and I attend the NW Quilters Expo. I am posting another picture of the bag I will be carrying. If you happen to spot me with this bag stop me and introduce yourself. I look forward to meeting you.

I went back to work this week. I worked half days on Tuesday and today and a full day on Wednesday. I will say it was challenging especially on Tuesday. I was surprised about the things that were the hardest. Putting gloves on for the first time was excruciating, I guess I put pressure on the ligaments that I didn't even think of. The pressure it took to put the air/water syringe tip into the syringe and the cavitron tip into the cavitron was something else also. (I know most of you probably don't know what theses things are but they are equipment I work with.) As I worked it did get better and now no problem. I will rest my wrists and go about with my physical therapy. I will go back to work on Tuesday with four days of half days for the week. I have a Dr. appointment on Wednesday afternoon and will see what doc says.

I got a message from the insurance company today. The estimate is in for the repairs on Stella, and I will be receiving a check in the mail next week. I need to call the Harley shop and speak with them about repairs. Hubby and I need to decided what we want them to do and what we want to handle ourselves. Looks like life just might be getting back to normal or as normal as it is going to be after this incident.

I will hopefully have some wonderful pictures of some great quilts over the week-end. Enjoy your evening. Dot.

P.S. to English cocoa lover, I will post the recipe for the hot chocolate mix later.

NW Quilting Expo

Just a quick question, is anyone planning to attend the NW Quilting Expo this week-end in Portland,OR? My friend and I are planning on going, we have not decided if it will be Friday or Saturday yet, but we are going to go early. I have decided I will carry this bag, so if there are any blogger quilters out there, who read my blog and see this bag, grab me and say hello. I will look forward to meeting you and I will also let you know which day I will be there later in the week. We are in the process of working out the time schedule.

This is what I did this week-end while watching television. My wrist gets cold, part of the healing process, so I decided to work on my fine motor skills and knit this wrist warmer while watching television. I knit it first on Saturday while watching USC beat the Cougars and then had to re-knit it on Sunday (it was just a bit to big) while I watched the Bengals loose to the Seahawks. I joined the football nickle swap over at Coffee Time Quilt Studios and choose the Bengals as my time. I felt out of the remaining teams to choose from this is the one I would want. They have Carson Palmer (USC Heisman trophy winner) as quarterback and Chad Johnson (just fun to watch) how could I go wrong. Well let me tell you, I have won only one game so far and lost two, that means I owe 16 nickle squares so far. Oh well, it is fun.

Have a great day. I go back to half days tomorrow. I am so excited. Pray that I make it. Dot

This is It

This is what I have come up with. I will put a Halloween face on the pumpkin flower. I don't have a spider on the quilt yet but will do that when I have everything else anchored in place. I will decide on the final size and place a spider web and spider coming down from that in one of the corners. It has been fun and frustrating making this piece. I didn't realize how much thought would go into my Boo-quet.

Let me know your thoughts. I really want to thank Dawn, from Quilts and Pieces for her idea of using bats for leaves. It is such a clever idea.

Have a good evening. Remember to root for USC tomorrow. They will play against Washington State. The game will be televised on ABC at 5:00 pm PT, if you care to watch. Dot

Ideas???????

I did some work on my Boo-quet tonight. This is where I am right now. The fabric I have placed for the vase is the fabric I will use but it is not the shape I am thinking of. Any ideas on the flowers, should some go, are the colors schemes satisfactory, should I add some leaves? Any suggestions will be appreciated.

Look forward to ideas. Dot

Another completed project

First and foremost I truly want to thank everyone for the lovely comments regarding my last posting. I certainly appreciated all the words of encouragement and all the kind words regarding the top I made. I really did not expect that sort of response. I am truly humbled.

Here is a picture of the second top I have made. This is what became of my quilt in a can project that I wrote about a few posts back. What a chaotic mess, but non the less, isn't that what my life has been the last few weeks. Here is what I worked on yesterday. Yes it did take me all day to make this. Not that it is hard, just that I am that slow right now. I certainly did enjoy making this bag. It is from the tutorial over at Welsh Quilter, (you need to go to the June entries to find the tutorial ). I did have a hard time with the lining. I am still not real happy with it, I think I did something wrong. The lining just doesn't seem to fit right in the bag. Maybe I tweeked the lining a bit with my stitching together of the lining and the outside of the bad, therefore giving a bit of a wonk to it. I am going to leave as is.

One last point of interest. I have been nominated for the SMILE AWARD. I want to thank Karolee, over at My Montana Moments for giving me this award. It made me smile when I realized I received it.

I am going to pass it on to all other quilters in blog land. Each and every blog I read makes me smile in one way or another. I would also like to include two blogs I love to read, My Montana Moments and Off the Grid, these are blogs about my beloved state of MONTANA and they bring a great smile to my face.

Thank-you ladies for making my days a bit brighter and keep up the good work. Dot.

Just Maybe...............

As my title states, Just Maybe.......... a middle aged women, with two broken arms, on pain meds, should not be allowed to quilt. This is what happens. I don't really know what this mish-mash is but it is the quilt top that I created while recovering from my motorcycle accident. The size is approximately 66x 87. A good size, probably about a twin. Basically, all I could sew was straight lines, very little cutting, only with scissors, trimming the squares very carefully with the rotary cutter, as I explained in a post previously, using my left elbow on the square ruler and cutting the best I could with the right.

I have decided to name this quilt-- Broken Wings. Hence the two broken arms.

Recovery is progressing. I keep praying for a complete recovery. Mostly slight pain in the left hand with very little rotation. The rotation is what bothers me, I pray that it comes back completely. Hubby keeps telling me I need to have patience, this is not one of my strong points. Maybe that is the lesson I am to learn, patience. Maybe the sooner I learn it, or should I say fake it, the faster God will bring the healing on. I do have a deep seated feeling God can't be connived.

I am sewing on the other crumb squares, the quilt in a can squares. I decided to make it a bit smaller, the blocks will be set 8 across and 9 down. I got tired of making these blocks and want the mess gone for now. I have the rows all sewn together and now need to sew the rows together. Maybe during the day.

Well time to go back for a nap. I woke up at 4:30 am and couldn't sleep any longer so I got up for awhile. I am starting to feel sleepy again so I will go nap. I hope everyone has a good day. Dot

A Day of Firsts

Yesterday was a day of firsts for me. First and foremost USC remains ranked #1 in the nation for college football. It was a good game for the first quarter. Seemed like it just might be a close nail bitter with USC scoring first followed by Nebraska. What should happen next, Nebraska will have the lead, 10-7 but not for long. The final score 40-31. This score does not necessarily reflect how well USC played because during the 4th quarter the 3rd and 4th lines were playing. That is one of the things I really like about their coach, he will play all the players and give everyone a chance to play. Another first for the day. I went for a walk with my new buddy. This is one of my physical therapy exercises. To walk carrying a dumbbell in my left hand. At first it was easy, I thought what is this going to do, but let me tell you, the longer you carry this the more you feel what it does. I will walk again today with my new buddy. I think he and I will become good friends. He only weighs 2.5 lbs but that is plenty for now. I do have a 5lber awaiting for when my wrist strengthens to that point.

Another first, I drove for the first time since the accident. I was supposed to go to my sewing group but I forgot how to get to the place we were meeting. I don't know what happened. I have been to the house many times in the past, thought I don't need the address or directions, I've been there before, but I just couldn't remember how to get there. I felt like such a dummy. Good thing all the ladies are understanding and I am sure they got a good laugh.

Another first. I sewed by hand. I decided hand sewing could be good physical therapy for fine motor skills, I will be needing these skills when I go back to work, so I thought I would slowly work on hand sewing. I slowly and I do mean real slowly sewed on my Grandmas Flower Garden quilt.

I think I probably sewed about 10 white hexagons on the quilt in the 3.5 hours that I watched the football game.

My last first of the day. I cooked dinner. It was cheap pizza that I just put in the oven and took out, but I did cook it. I also cut the first one but didn't feel like I had the strength to cut the second.

All in all a good day and I feel like my recovery is progressing satisfactory. Have a great day. Dot

9/11 Never Forget

Today is the sixth anniversary of those horrible attacks on America. So senseless, incomprehensible, just leaves one with more questions than answers. I just don't understand how so much hatred can reside inside someone.

I hope and pray that everyone will take a few minutes today to reflect on this tragedy in our history and how so many others in the world hate us because of the freedoms we take for granted. As it is said, You never know what you have until it is gone. I pray that we never reach this point with our freedoms. I do feel as though we are approaching this point in our nation. I pray we will have a collective awaking in our nation and want to support our troops and law makers as they work to protect and defend these freedoms we take for granted.

Please pray for our soldiers and their families. Pray for our nation as we are involved in this war on terrorism. Pray for our leaders as they make important decisions for our great country. Pray that God will direct them in good decisions, will help them to make decisions for the good of the nation and not decisions for political gain. I believe there are times when political agendas need to be put aside for the good of all peoples and today is one of those days. This war is one of those times in the history of our nation. We don't need political divide right now, we need to be what we profess to be United -- The United States of America. Pray for those who lost loved ones during that horrible event on September 11th 2001 and during our present war. May God protect, provide, and most importantly give an inner peace to all today. Only God can give us peace beyond understanding. Keep our nation (even with all its faults) in your prayers today and everyday. Dot

Quilt in a can

For several years I have stored my scraps in these popcorn tins. I just could not bear to throw out a perfectly good tin after all the popcorn had been eaten. I have a few of them packed with fabric. This is the fabric I have been sewing with since my accident. I asked hubby to fish them out from under my cutting table and I popped them open, now I have a fabric explosion on my sewing room floor. I sort through and iron a bunch of these scraps. Below is a pile that I am working with now, as you can see it is messy and a bit unorganized, just like me.

I sew them together in strips, trying to match widths as closely as possible so there won't be to much waste when trimming. I sew the length slightly larger than 9.5, approximately 10 inches. After I have a few of these I trim the sides and sew the together to approximately 10 inches, then trim the whole block to 9.5 inches. Why 9.5 you might ask, because that is the size of ruler I choose that I thought would be manageable for the way I have to trim the squares.

Because I can't put pressure with my left hand what I do is lay the ruler on the piece I have sewn, put my left elbow in the middle of the ruler and cut two sides, (the right side and the top) then I turn the piece align the ruler and do the same thing. This is a slow process but keeps me busy when I feel like doing some sewing. Here is a picture of a completed square. I have 22 done so far, I think I need 90 as I think I will set it 9 across and 10 down. Only 68 to go. Who knows maybe I will be healed by then.

Have a great day. Dot

Tidbits from Finn

My box of stripes and plaids arrived today. Finn had posted a few days ago, she was willing to part with these sample swatches, if the recipient was willing to pay for the postage. Well I jumped in and sent her an e-mail claiming the plaids/stripes. The box came and here is a picture if the contents.

I had to see exactly what was in the booty, so I sat while watching Oprah and sorted out the different sizes. This last picture is how they sorted out by size. I certainly look forward to getting

use of my arms back so I can sew something up with them.

I really need to get well, bones all healed and tenderness gone, so I can get back to work. I have started designing my days around Dr. Phil and Oprah. I have been home way to long. I did walk to a local hair salon today and got my hair cut. It was hard to keep shoulder length hair out of the way and shampooed. I had to pay extra for a shampoo but it certainly was well worth the extra 3 dollars. I guess having your hair shampooed before a cut as part of the cut is a thing of the past. I was even charged extra for the bow dry. Customer service is a thing of the past. With only one semi useful hand it was well worth the extra money to have my hair washed real good.

Well, I am going to go now, Jeopardy is about to start and they are doing the college final, from USC. I know it is a repeat but I didn't see it the first time.

Have a great evening. DOT

Hand Quilted

Last night while watching football I started getting chilly so I pulled this quilt out to use. This is one of my first quilts, dated 1998, back when I first started and I hand quilted all the quilts I made. It didn't take me long to figure out this took a long time, so I soon figured out how to manipulate them in my sewing machine until I finally got my longarm.
As I looked at the quilt I don't think I did to bad of a job. The backing I used was disappointing though because the batting has peeled through. Oh well, it resides in my home so I guess that really doesn't matter.
I just thought I would share a couple pictures with you, I really had forgotten about quilting this. Reading through blogs and seeing how many are hand quilting doll quilts I just felt compelled to share. I don't know if I will ever hand quilt again, maybe my grandmas flower garden when it is completed, time will tell.

I hope your holiday week-end is going well Be safe. Dot

P.S. Katrina--Happy Birthday to you. Love Aunt Dee Dee