Hope in the midst of Dispair

Well that is what I am calling this quilt. I finished the top. Yes it is pink and black, even though the ping just does not want to photograph well. I just finished the top tonight and wanted to post a picture before I get to the quilting. I hope to load and start the quilting tomorrow night. Also another snow picture. I just love these pictures and am so happy my sister and BIL took the time to take them and send them to me.

I hope I am not boring my readers but I just love snow and love pictures of it. Enjoy them with me. Dot

I have been busy

Well I completed this quilt. I did not get the borders on it that I wanted, I played and played all week and it just would not happe,so I settled for these borders. I like it but I still wonder what could have been. I guess it wasn't to be. This quilt will be a donation quilt for AIDS research. I wanted to start my Shakespeare in the Park but this quilt has been haunting me. I started this pink and black quilt last year and could not work on it after I broke my arms so I am going to complete it now. I can't say I am doing the best job on it. My seams and points just don't seem to want to work out so I am doing the best I can to get it done.

At the time it seemed like a good idea now I have lost interest and want to just get it done. I have a few more rows to sew than put the borders on. It will work fine for a donation quilt and someone will love it.

Here are the colors I am going to use on my SITP. I can start this when I am done with the other quilt. My inspiration will be looking at these fabrics waiting for me to cut into. Well I best get going so I can start cutting sooner than later.

Have a good day. Dot

Pictures from my sister

Hey, she did display the Christmas wall quilt I made for her. This was a gift I gave my sister for allowing us to use their house Thanksgiving weekend. I know this was hard for her to display, (an inside joke), but I also know it put a smile on her face each time she came into her house. Yvonne you are a good sport. Here is my niece Aimee with a snowman she made. It is sooo cute Aimee and you are also.

Here is my sister on our property in Montana. I am so happy she sent these pictures. I can hardly wait for hubby to get home to show him. I certainly would have been fun to be there with her and her husband on this day.

This is my dear sweet BIL standing in our drive on the property. Look how deep the snow is. Oh what fun that would be.

Here is a picture of a couple of deer on the property. I just wanted to share these wonderful pictures with everyone.

Thank-you Yvonne for doing this for us and sending them. What a pleasant surprise.

Dot

I must be crazy

I must be a bit crazy, this is the third quilt I have made this month set on point, sewing on the bias.

Gail's Ghouls the striped fabric was cut on the bias to allow the lines to flow in the proper direction.

Fiddling with Finn the blocks were set on point meaning the sides were bias because of the setting blocks. As with the quilt pictured here. This quilt is not done yet, I am going to make a border to put around and then another black border. I will donate this quilt to American Cancer Society. My tax lady is president of her organization and asks me every year to donate a quilt for their auction in May. The last two years they have given the proceeds of the auction to breast cancer research. This year they have decided to give the proceeds to AIDS research. I decided to make a red/black quilt for this. As stated in a previous post I had all these 4 patches left form the Jacob's Ladder and here is what I have come up with so far. The quilt now measures 42.5x42.5, which means it is not going to be a very large quilt but it will be what it is.

Now onto the other thing. Shalina, on her blog, Shalina's Creations, wrote about making a Shakespeare in the Park. This is one of the quilts I have on my " to do " list. It has actually been there for a couple years now and I have not made one. I offered a challenge to her and she accepted. We are to make our SITP this year, we have a full year to complete it. If anyone else wants to join that would be great. It is a Judy Martin pattern. The pattern is in the Creative Pattern book. You can order the book form her site or purchase it anywhere. It looks like a great pattern. If you happen to read Evelyn's blog, Scrappy Happy Quilts by Starfishy, you have seen her great SITP quilts. She has made some really cool ones.

Well I guess that is about it for tonight. I have sewing to get to. Have a great evening and a good week. Dot

Fiddling with Finn loaded

Borders are on and the top is loaded. I am doing the quilting in a pine needle and pine cone pantograph. I like how this quilt turned out. As I mentioned before I am not a brown person but I am really happy with the results of this quilt.

I am also working on the red/black quilt.

I am continuing to knit on the shawl while watching television. I went on line and found the yarn there so I ordered another hank. I know three will be plenty and two just would not have been enough.

Well that's about it for tonight. I am so glad it is Friday and I can sleep in a bit tomorrow. I have a friend coming over tomorrow about 10:oo a.m., she wants me to help her learn to crochet. I have a lot of house work to get done so I won't be sleeping in to much. I should have been doing house work tonight but I wanted to play with the sewing.

Have a good evening. Dot.

This and that

Well I have been busy other than work. I decided to do free form feathers on the last quilt for Rosie. I have been reading where various quilters have been practicing their feathers so I decided to give it a try. I have a long way to go but you don't get there just thinking about it. One of the reasons I quilt for Rosie is I can do this and not feel to bad if not perfect. She wants quilted not so much perfect. I do a nice job but I can't say quilt show quality. I have started a new project (surprise, surprise). I had numerous 4 patches left over from Jacob's Ladder, (I don't know how I made so many, guess I was having fun doing that.) so I decided to use them in this little quilt.

I don't know how large it will be and I can't even say I am going to like it but it is what it is. I also started knitting a shawl. I have been watching Comanche Moon and what is one to do while watching television but hand sew, knit or crochet. I have been crocheting hats and am tired of that, don't have any binding to sew down, so I went on line and found this really neat shawl pattern.

I hope I have enough yarn. I will stop by the store today and see if they have it still. I think I purchased this about 3 years ago. I have two hanks and we'll see what happens. I know they have some but didn't have this color last time I checked, hoping they were just out of it. Just like me a day late and a dollar short. Sorry for the blurry picture but my batteries are going dead and I just got what I could.

I need to get ready for work. Have a great day one and all. Dot

Making progress

I sewed and sewed and sewed yesterday. I have to admit I sewed so much I almost, that is almost became tired of sewing. I nearly completed the Fiddling with Finn top but just couldn't force myself to sew anymore yesterday so I completed the rows today. I had to make three more blocks, it was either make three more or have have twelve left over so it made more sense to me to make three more. This is the top without borders. I plan to add a five inch border of the pine cone fabric. I will then be completed and ready for quilting. This will have to wait until another day as I have house work and laundry to do.

I want to get my last quilt for Rosie completed so I can get those sent off to her. I have had six of her quilts since before my accident in August. I want to get that done and sent back so I can get some more and help her with her charity quilts. I believe her cancer camps are in July so I want to get at least twelve more done before that.

Take care, I need to get myself moving. Dot

Just working away

This is the best picture I could get of the Jacob"s Ladder quilt. It is done, all I need to do is put the date on it and my tag. I hope to get that done tonight so I can get it boxed up and ready to ship tomorrow. I hope the married couple likes it. I put it on my bed and it covers my queen size well so there should be no problem with not enough blanket to cover the bed. Here is were I am with the quilt I am making from the squares I got from Finn last summer. I had originally made 80 blocks, placed them on my bed and decided I should make a few more. I made 30 more and I plan to sew them together now and will hope it is enough to make a queen size quilt. I do have more squares if I need to make more but I am tired of making the squares so I hope there are enough.

All the fabric is from my stash. I really like the fabric, it is Moda line from a couple years ago. Something to do with winter. I just loved the pine cones on the fabric and bought 2 yards of each color then didn't know what to do with it. I thought this would be a good pattern to use. I am really not a brown person but I do think it has a warm log cabin feel to it. We will see what happens when completed. I just might have to save it for Montana.

Well I better get to work if I am going to get anything done tonight. Have a good evening. Dot.

Gail's Ghouls completed

TAA DAA Here is my completed version of Gail's Ghouls. I like how it turned out. I am going to keep this quilt for myself and will use as a fall quilt. Thank-you Gail for allowing me the chance to use your design. I liked the pattern and am considering using it to make a Christmas quilt. The Christmas quilt probably won't get done for a while as I have so many other things to get done first. All the fabric is from my stash, no new fabric was purchased for this quilt. I am happy about that.

Well I will admit I was not happy with the outcome of the National Championship for college football but it is as it is. I was rooting for Ohio State and LSU won. I am not a LSU fan so I was disappointed but that is just the way the ball bounced this year. We will have to see what next season brings, maybe another National Championship for USC. Who knows. FIGHT ON! Dot

Gail's Ghouls & Fiddling with Finn

Well here is where I sit on this 5th day of the New Year. I have completed quilting The Anniversary Jacob's Ladder and am sewing the binding down intermittently while watching television. I loaded Gail's Ghouls, that is what I am calling it, maybe one of my blog readers can come up with a better name or maybe Gail has a name for the pattern that I am not aware of. Let me know. I can always change the name if something comes up that I like better. Gail should have first dibs on the name since it is her design. It was fun to make.

I am also working with the small squares I get from Finn last summer. While I was recovering she had posted on her blog if someone was willing to pay the postage they would receive small plaid squares usable for a quilt. Well I was fortunate enough to be the first to claim this treasure. I made 80 4 patches out of some of them and am now sewing them together in a pattern similar to one I saw on Quilting with Ragdolls, Oct 19,2007. I think I am going to like the outcome. I am just playing by ear so I don't really know what the results will be until completed.

I best get back to some housework. Unfortunately I don't have a wife so I am responsible for that also. Hubby helps but somethings men just don't get to.

Have a great evening and I will get pictures of completed quilts when done and I figure out where to photograph them now. I am afraid to do it in my usual place now that Hubby painted the family room. I had so many tack holes above the window. I really don't want to mess up his new paint job. I will figure something out.

Dot

2007 Tally

Here is my year end total for 2007 as best as I can guess.

Thread: 152 pre-wound bobbins

24 jumbo spools

2 large spools

8 small spools

1 cone

3 speciality spools

29 quilts for Rosie

Quilted Tops (done but needed quilting)

Christmas quilt

Gratitude's

1st QFAH

Breast Cancer quilt

flying Geese quilt

Items made and quilted(no particular order)

Quilt in a can

Broken Wings

Pink/brown quilt

3 QFAH quilts

DNA

DNA's sister

Candy Corn

Dog quilt for Lucy

Bricks and stepping stones - Bonnie's pattern

Jacob's Ladder baby size

4th of July

USC

Citrus

My nine patch/snowball

Let's Play Dolls

1 table runner

2 Kimono wall quilts

Boo-quet

2 Tree Table Toppers

Shoe tree

1 small table pad

Holly Jolly Christmas wall quilt

crocheted 37 hats

knit 7 pair felted booties

knit 2 pair wrist warmers

2 bucket bags Welsh quilter

2 dog beds

2 broken arms

Projects not completed

Gail's quilt

Grandma's Flower garden

Pink/Black quilt

snowball quilt

Anniversary Jacob's Ladder-- just needs binding

Finn's Squares

Goals for 2008

Bren asked me if I had any goals for the New Year. I have never really set any goals, just went with the flow but I guess if I had to write some down this is what they would be:

Complete unfinished projects

Shakespeare in the Park

Stack and Wack

whatever comes to my mind, wanting to use up my stash

crochet hats

clean out clutter in my home

pay down debt

keep better track of my quilting activities for this years year end tally.

Happy New Year to all and Happy Quilting to all.

Dot

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to Everyone. This is how I will spend the day. I will be watching the Rose Bowl and of coarse rooting for USC.

I fell asleep early last night but did wake up 3 minutes before midnight so I quietly invited the New Year by myself as hubby slept on the couch.

I will tally my year later and place a report on my last year achievements. I haven't done this before but it seems like there is a lot of year end counting going on so I will have to try.

Have a great day and best of all in the New Year 2008. Dot