One down, two to go

Here's the first of the quilts for the kids that were in a house fire on Christmas Day. My sister said, "You didn't quilt-as-you-go?!" I had thought about it, but I really wanted the blocks to butt up against each other instead of using a sashing strip. I think in this case, quilting it in one pieice went a lot faster than quilt-as-you-go. Now to bind it. I have lots of 2 1/2" strips left after the first round of strips so that's what I'll use.

Judy and I went to WalMart today and that's about all I did. Rob and April stopped by for a visit. So nice to have both my boys in town! The other boy, Joe, stayed home at Dad's and cooked a turkey! He's my Jack of all trades.

I didn't get to Dad's since I'm not feeling the best. Can't really pinpoint what's wrong, but I almost feel as though I'm coming down with the flu and/or a throat problem. Think I'll get to bed early tonight.

A view from my chair

As I look up from my Bernina, here's what I'm seeing on my design wall now. I saw a pattern in one of my books for a very simple setting. They used hand-dyed fabrics and in the center block, they stamped a big flower. So, I thought, "why not just use a focus fabric, kids' designs in this case, and build around it. Works great. The blocks are 18" square and I think I'll make two lap-size quilts with the twelve blocks I'll end up with. I will probably border them with a 4 or 5" border. Haven't decided what to use, yet. I'd like these quilts to go to children who were in a fire near Albuquerque. Their home burned down on Christmas morning and one of the girls is badly burned. I'll probably need to contact the TV station to find out where to send these to. There were three children involved so I have another top that someone bought at a garage sale so I'll get that one quilted, too.

Jim and I had a nice dinner at Chili's last night. Although, the salmon was overly seasoned, I thought. I'm not much for using salt, and it was pretty salty. But, the rest of the meal was good. Time to run to WalMart for the traditional Slim Fast purchase for New Year's! LOL

Coloring quilt blocks top

Okay, I admit it..my name is Veronica and I'm a Quilt-a-holic! LOL I found a picture of some coloring block quilts and I couldn't stop until I got it together. I may not quilt it for a while, but the top's done. Since it wasn't very busy at work today, I came home around noon, worked on the quilt for a little while, went back to Dad's, (he's doing well), then came home to fix dinner and finish the top. Judy came by for me to run to WalMart because I needed the rickrack. I've got four more blocks ready for Brittany to color tomorrow.

Colors for Christmas Day

After having our lasagne dinner, Brittany, Judy, April and I sat down and colored these blocks. I traced the pictures onto muslin just before I left for Dad's in hopes that we'd have time to color them. We did and I brought them home, ironed them to remove the excess wax, and now I can't wait to put them together in a quilt. The blocks depict the 4 Seasons - Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. Notice that Brittany even put rosy cheeks on her sledders! We all signed our blocks except for April because she left before I thought about doing that. I'll get her to sign it next time she's here.

The wind is picking up outside and we are threatened with a winter weather advisory tonight and part of tomorrow. We'll see how that affects my going to work at 9 a.m. I pray that everyone had a joyous, peaceful Christmas and looking forward to a wonderful New Year!

Christmas Morning

Merry Christmas! We had very nice Christmas Eve with Dad, Judy, Joe and Brit, Robert and April.
Here's Dad with his gift from a friend. It's a pretty neat little door draft-stopper. The snowman's legs extend to fit along the bottom of the door.

Mr. Goff sure surprised me! Thank goodness I looked at my stocking last night and wondered why it was hanging a bit crooked. As I reached over to straighten it, I realized there was something in it! I didn't think we were going to do stockings this year since none of the kids were going to be here, so I turned to my daughter-in-law and said, "I need to go to Allsups!" LOL First, I found the smallest, wrapped gift I had for Jim and put it in the stocking. When we went to Judy's to bring back the gifts and posole, we stopped at Allsups and I stocked up on a few goodies. Sheesh! I should've known better. Jim is nothing if not a traditionalist. He misses Santa's visit now that there are no kids in the house. He had filled my stocking with all kinds of sewing notions. How's that for a thoughtful gift? After almost 25 years, the man continues to surprise me.

I woke up with a headache today. Actually, I woke up at 4 a.m. with one so I got up and took some meds. Obviously, it didn't help. I think there's some weather moving in. I need to fix breakfast and take more drugs so I can get over to Dad's. The nurse will be over today to change the dressing on his leg.

Gift revealed

Leota and I have exchanged gifts at Christmas every year since we started working together. That was almost 24 years ago, I think. During the aftermath of the tornado that demolished her trailer this past year, the red rag quilt I made her a while back was used to cover her tenant who had been blown around with the mobile home. She has not received it back as of this date, so I decided she needed another one. I didn't take a picture of the label, but in one corner, I embroidered, "Return to Leota". LOL She said, "I won't be loaning this one out!"
After stating that I was taking a break from the sewing machine last night, I was thumbing through another quilt magazine. I really need to stop doing that. lol I found the pattern for this grab bag and thought it might make up really nice as a little gift for Brittany. Judy said, "She can carry a lot of stuff in that one!" It's really not too big, only about 16" x 11" and 8" of the 16 is handle. Two little strips of fabric on the inside to make a few little pockets and a tissue cover, with tissue, to start her off right.
Almost done with the redwork block I was working on last night. It's another candy cane, Susan. A little bear is holding it. Okay, I'm off to get dressed and head on over to Dad's to fix breakfast.

Redwork play

Now that I seem to have slowed down with the Christmas gift sewing, I have decided to give myself a break from the sewing machine. Not that I don't have a lot of things I could be doing, but I have been thinking about these blocks the last few days. To tell you the truth, I cannot remember exactly when I began stitching on these blocks. It might've been last year, or the year before, or the year before that. lol There have been many times in the past few years that I've felt the need for handwork to get me through a trying time and I think one of those times is when I started the blocks. The fifth one is underway and I'm working on that tonight. I plan on using these in a red and white quilt. My goal is to have it finished by next Christmas. I'm thinking that I found the transfers in some papers that Mom had in a sewing basket. In fact, I remember seeing the patterns while I was growing up. Now, don't yell at me...I don't know what I've done with the patterns! I know they're in my sewing room, somewhere. I'll find them, eventually. They're probably in a drawer.

Did not have a busy day at work considering it's the last day to get anything done to your hair before Christmas. That is, unless you can find a hairdresser that works on Monday. Of course, it was a fairly busy week.

My son, Joe, left for OKC to pick up my granddaughter, Brittany. The weather got a little tough right around Amarillo, so he had to stop there for the night. I hope the roads are easier to navigate tomorrow. I won't rest until he and Brit are home safely.

Last minute Christmas gift

The baby in mind for this quilt won't be born until May. But, he/she is referred to as "Baby Fields" so I decided to work up a little something for him/her. We won't know the gender until January. Baby Journey, Baby Field's cousin, is getting a Christmas gift from her Great-Aunt Veronica, so Baby Fields is, too. lol I used my embroidery machine to embroider the quilt designs on each block and the words "Baby Fields". I also used quilt-as-you-go but I added 2 1/2" sashings between the blocks.

Instead of using a label on the back of the quilt, I wrote my name and the year on the binding with my new Janome. Looks good to me!

Most of my shopping is done and under wraps. I still need to buy for Brittany, but I will wait until Joe brings her home for the week. Hard to buy for a child when you don't see her very often. I don't even know what an 8 year old is wanting these days.

Time for bed. Had a bit of trouble getting into Blogger, but I reset my password and got in.

A Christmas stocking, or three!

Instead of going to bed early last night like I'd planned, I made Joe a stocking. He says his is in Oklahoma and I'm not sure it's going to make it's way back here this year. I couldn't let Christmas come and Joe not have a stocking! We thought I might have to make Robert another one since we couldn't find it last night. The boys and April came over to help me set up the tree. Turns out we had to run to WalMart to buy a 6.5', lighted tree. Anyway, Rob's stocking was in the piano bench! Now, how did it get in there? I've edited this post to include two more stockings I made today. April is into penguins this year and so I made them matching, sorta, stockings.

Back to Joe's stocking...I had this border panel left from something else I'd made and I knew it'd come in handy someday. I thought the gingerbread men are perfect for Joe since they're so dapper-looking, just like Joe likes to be. I don't think I've ever seen him wear a bow-tie, though. lol And, I couldn't wait to use my embroidery machine again to "write" his name on the cuff. I think it's time to make new stockings for Robert and Jim and certainly one for April. Maybe Judy needs one, too? Mine is new since I made it last year.

Talked to Dad a few minutes ago. He and Joe were up early and had their breakfast. He sounds wonderful. He's waiting for the "Catholic Church lady" to come by with Communion.

Time to get breakfast. I'm feeling a little better than yesterday. I was afraid I was really coming down with a bad cold. I drank EmergenC and had to take some Benadryl allergy meds. Maybe it is just allergies... I thought cold weather was supposed to get rid of those allergens that made you sneeze and have watery eyes.

Comfort quilt

Here's a quick quilt made for one of our QOR members who recently lost her dad. The Friendship Star blocks were made by members of the group. I tried, and succeeded, it seems, to do the label with my embroidery machine. It took me a while last night, but I like the end result. I better get off my rear and go mail it.

Snowmen with borders

Don't look too closely. LOL This is what happens when you hurry, as I always seem to do. My points are cut off and my binding is not how I would ultimately like it, but it's almost ready to hang for the holiday. I still need to quilt three sides. I decided to handquilt this one since Sheryl did such a great job hand appliquing the center. I'd forgotten how relaxing it is to handquilt. The first few quilts I made were handquilted but since I found out I can crank them out with the sewing machine, I've not done it. So, I can take this with me and work on it inbetween customers.

See what I won!

I rarely ever walk away with a prize I really like when we play the exchange game at parties. But, today, at our quilt group luncheon, I won this cute 12 1/2" sq. snowmen block! My embroidered Mrs. Santa was a big hit, too and changed hands several times until the third person took it out of the game. There were some really beautiful winter-looking blocks there today. We had a nice lunch and good fellowship. It was raining outside and looked very wintry. Anyway, back to the snowman block..I'm thinking I might border it with red and green, quilt it and hang it up. Thanks, Sheryl! She does wonderful needle-turn applique. I think if you click on the picture, you can get a close-up look. Oh, the stocking hanging from the mitten of the smaller snowman is 3-D and pieced!

Jim and I went to WalMart for Dad this afternoon. I dragged him along with me because it was raining and I knew he'd help with the groceries. Then, we got back to Dad's and Jim peeled potatoes and I put on a pot of green chile stew. Good day for that!

Had some fun mail when I got home with Christmas cards and little gifties in them. All-in-all, a very nice day!

ABC's

A quick note to post pictures of what I've been doing the last few nights. The picture on the left is one of Barbara, who bought this quilt for her sister and Carol, my co-worker, is helping her hold it up. Barbara CRIED when she saw the quilt! She said she was lightheaded! lol Maybe she has low blood sugar.
The next pictures are of a fabric book I'm putting together for a Christmas gift. I couldn't find the ABC panels in town, so I decided to make my own. You'll notice all the pages are not there. I still need one more page to make and I guess I just didn't take pictures of the others. I'm off to work. Have a great Saturday!

Here I go again..

I just couldn't rest with this not finished. Jim helped me decide what kind of border to put on this. I tried green and blue fabrics and we both decided they were way too busy to use as a border. They just took away from the center. So, I figured a black border would be best and he agreed. I added a narrow 3-D border before sewing on the 3" black border. I like it!

This is a record! Sometimes I don't post for several days and today I posted twice! So, now I'm too tired to work on the stars. This is getting ridiculous. I've really GOT to get busy with projects for Christmas! I know, this is a Nativity scene. Can't get much more Christmas-y than that! But, it's for me. :-) I'm off to bed.

Divine Inspiration

Or, maybe it was Divine Intervention! LOL This printed panel was a remnant I picked up at WalMart for less than $2. I didn't even know what it was until I got home. Judy and I had been looking for "ugly" fabric to use in our rag rugs and this one looked possible, until I held it up! You can tell it was a remnant because the filigreed border around the edges is cut off the bottom. I think I'm going to cut the borders back to the red stripe and then decide on a 4" to 6" border. The pattern is one called "Window Panes". I was really amazed at how the numbers just fell into place as I started cutting the pieces. I had to sort of play with where I would cut some of the main pieces so as not to cut through a face, but, for the most part, the instructions worked out just fine.

Yes, looking at the picture on this page, I can see that it definitely needs the outer gold border removed.

I think I'll go work on the star quilt for a bit. I've got about 4 more rows to attach and then I'll make the binding.

Stopped by to see Dad today and he was doing great. He was even in the kitchen cooking potatoes!

No stars tonight

I decided to take a break from the star quilt and tried working with my embroidery machine. I embroidered this Mrs. Santa, with the big hands, tonight. I've decided to use it as the center of this block. You might remember it from a previous post with the Snowman block. I removed the center of the block and replaced it with this one. So, now I remember why I haven't used the embroidery part of the machine so much. It takes too long! But, my sister pointed out that you can't get all that detail, or man hands, in 5 minutes. This motif took almost an hour to complete. Longer than that when you consider the time it took to change out the thread color.

Since I didn't work on the star quilt tonight, I think I'll go on to bed. I'm too tired to do anything tonight and I'll make mistakes if I try.

Roses are red...no, wait, the stars are!

Here's the red star quilt ready to be sashed. That will connect them all together and then the binding will be put on and it will be done! I really enjoyed the quilting on these blocks. So easy to just "draw" with my sewing machine. It looks like a poinsettia blossom on each block.

Tonight I also finished the rag quilt I started last night that will be a Christmas gift. Jim snipped it for me since he didn't want me to have to do it all myself since he realized what a job that is. Thank you, Jim! I then washed it and put it in the dryer to fluff up. Can't show a picture yet. It's not Christmas! lol

I'm off to bed. Dad's been doing great. Thank You, Lord!

Seeing Red!

Only 37 more blocks to go! lol I've got a running start on these blocks now, though. These will be sashed, quilt-as-you-go style, with white on white on the front. The back of each block is a white-on-white, well, the same fabric on the front, and will be sashed in red. I had thought about alternating white and red on the back to get a checkerboard effect, but with the time limit I have I thought I'd better stick to something simple. If I can keep everyone relatively healthy, I'd like to get this one finished and ready for binding by the weekend. I'll let you know..

Dad's still doing fine, thank You, Lord! Jim and I took him out for a bit yesterday and I think he enjoyed it. He even discussed news he'd seen on television. He loves to watch the news channels.

Time to wake up grumpy. I let him sleep today. :-) Actually, I'd better get in the shower or I'll be late for work. "I'd rather be quilting!" LOL

Thanksgiving '07

Just thought I'd post a picture of how Dad is looking these days. Better, wouldn't you say? We had Thanksgiving Dinner at his house yesterday with Jim, Judy, Joe, Robert, April and me in attendance, along with Dad. We had a wonderfully filling meal with lots of pies, not the least of which was this
mouthwatering Peanut Butter Pie! This was one of Joe's contributions to the meal. Judy did the majority of the meal. I added the fruit salad and brought potatoes and green bean casserole and April brought a HUGE apple pie and a great salad. After we ate, Judy and I ran to Big Lots. Now, that's the time to go shopping. But, the deals advertised are not good until Saturday. :-(

Time for me to quit rambling and get in the shower. Some of us have to work today! I've always said, though, that I'd rather be working on Black Friday than out there with the crazies, shopping. You know who you are! LOL I'm not a big shopper, as my friends and family can attest.

Christmas blocks

The first block is made with a panel square and the corner squares are a la Cathedral Window style. This will be my block for the block swap during our Christmas party this year. The snowman is for the outgoing president. She requested snowmen in her blocks. They are both 12" blocks, finished.

Busy day at work and it will be that way tomorrow, too. It's a little strange knowing Jim is home all the time, at least, not at work. It's nice to come home to vacuumed floors and a clean kitchen when he takes a mind to do that. I don't expect him to stay home and clean house all day. That'd be nice, but let's get real! lol He finally got a chance to get out to the golf course today since it was so nice. It's been windy and cool until today but they keep telling us it's going to get colder tomorrow.
Judy and I will work on pies and stuff tomorrow night. We need to get to the gym sometime! I must find the time to work on a commissioned quilt that the lady wants to give as a Christmas gift. I've got 11 of 28 Friendship Star blocks made that I'll be using. Once I get the blocks done, I'll start quilting them with an alternate block of plain white fabric. It'll be a two-color quilt, red and white.

Time to take the contacts out.

Crazy 9 patch turtles

 This is the front of the batik Crazy 9 Patch with the turtle borders. The colors are so vibrant in person and these pictures do not do it justice. The next picture shows the back of the same quilt done with the quilt-as-you-go technique.

Then, below those two pictures is a picture of a comfort quilt going to a soldier who's name was given to the QOR group by a member of the Patriot Guard group in WY. The top was donated by Marcia, of the QOR group, and I went ahead and quilted it and will send it off tomorrow.

It is such a beautiful day out! I really need to get dressed and get to Dad's so we can get out and enjoy the day.
 
 

When you have nothing to do all day...

 

What do you do first? LOL This is the question I posed to Jim this morning. It's been two weeks now since he retired and he STILL feels as though he's on vacation. Granted, he hasn't been anywhere or done anything "vacation-y" but just not having to get up early, is vacation enough. It's taking some getting used to, but I knew that. The cap he has on is one that the P.O. gave him upon retirement. It reads "Retired Postal Worker. No more snow, no more hail. I'm retired, YOU deliver the mail!" He has been a big help with my dad. Who, by the way, is home from the hospital and doing much better.

Time to get to work. Well, some of us, anyway! LOL

Janome 6600 and Crazy 9 Patch

 

I've placed my new Janome on the dining room table for now. It gives me a little more room to quilt bigger quilts. I hope to, someday soon, find another table, or an extension of some kind, to add to my present sewing table.

I've really enjoyed working with this machine. But, I also have my Bernina set up in the sewing room. I find myself going back and forth between the two. For instance, last night I was quilting some blocks and some required green thread and others, white. Instead of having to re-thread the Janome, I just used my Bernina. Purty smart, huh? LOL

I finished the I Spy, Crazy 9 Patch in order to go to the local group meeting today. They are meeting, since 9 a.m., to work on this pattern. I have my batiks all cut out and I really had planned on going, but I was just too pooped. I didn't savor the idea of having to pack up my machine to travel, either. So, instead, I just finished the one I started right after last month's meeting. I think I'll stop by to visit here in a bit and take the quilt to show and tell.

Wedding pictures, galore!

I won't bore you with all the 300+ pictures that were taken during the wedding (actually, April and Rob tell me there were over 800 pics taken!). These are just a few of my favorite ones. I couldn't resist adding the two of my boys by themselves. The photographer really captured them.
I thought this was such a cute picture of April and her parents.
Of course, this is a favorite of mine with my "baby". lol
Here are my good-looking sons!

Rob and I, with Jim behind Rob, walking down the aisle.
Rob and April walking into the reception.
On a quilty note, April had quilts set up at the entrance to the yard for folks to use during the ceremony if they happened to get a little chilly. I thought it was a nice touch. She had some of mine and a few made by her grandmother. (I hope that's right! I'll have to double-check)