Geterdone...

The beginning. This is what I started with. I didn't know if I could do it but I thought I would give it a try. You see, I have never done anything like this before. I told myself--Self, you are a grown woman, you do not need your husband to always do things like this for you. (At least not all the time). I want it now. Didn't want to wait til he got home.

Getting organized. This is how I work. Always figure out how it works before beginning. It is a fault in some situations but an advantage in others. I can't help it. Can't just jump in there.

Using the tools. I have my own toolbox but it is used mostly by my husband. It is kept in the house (as if I were going to use them on a regular basis). But today I said "I will do this". I began with the instructions which must have been written for me because they had pictures as well as written instruction. Very easy to follow. My husband would not have read them anyway so I was putting them to good use.

After all the screwing of screws and these little funny thing a ma jigs, used to hold the pieces together. It looked like this. I was very pleased. I proved I could do it. Now to set it in place.

This was the outcome. I have my computer in my quilt studio. I like it there. I can be on it any time I feel like it and not have to wait for others to be done. It is all mine. Yeah!

Now that I know I can do it, do I want to do it again next time? Probably not, but that doesn't matter, my hubby really likes putting things together. Have a good day everyone!

Quilt til your arm falls off...

Today I had intended on staying home to machine quilt the home of the brave quilt in my frame but I think I will go and do a little shopping. There are some desk accessories I need for my new computer table in my quilting room (it is so nice to be able to be on my computer whenever I want). I don't feel like shopping often (as a matter of fact I hate it) so I figured while I felt like it I should get it done.

Had a great time at my friend's house yesterday. We always have a good time. We have so much in common and can talk about anything. She is sometimes food for my soul. I love her very much. She understands me in some ways my family doesn't. But isn't that how it is with best friends? This is new to me. She is my first best friend (other than my soulmate, my wonderful husband, who gets me and loves me unconditionally). It is funny how it took me almost 40 years to find a best friend. And I don't think I found her, the Lord sent her to me. We met about 2 or 3 months after my Mom passed away. This was the second time we met. The first was in a bible study class at a mutual friend's house. I was a different person back then and was not open to friends. I lived a very isolated life. I didn't drive very far, only where I had driven before. I lived in fear constantly and was pretty much a home body. I took this bible class because secretly I wanted to change and didn't know how. This was a beginning. So anyway, I did not make friends with her then but later after my Mom had passed, I was trying to be more out going and was at a weekly skating group with my son (whom I was home schooling) and we met again. We finally figured out why we looked so familiar to each other. She asked a question about a quilting magazine I was reading and the rest as they say is history. We have been best friends ever since. It is great. I don't know what I was so afraid of except that I didn't want anyone to know the real me for fear that I would not measure up. I thought my faults were different than everyone else's. After I started getting out and making friends I realized that I was really no different than anyone else. We all have our faults, just like we all have our strengths. That was a wonderful lesson to learn. I just wish I had learned it sooner.

Quilt til your arm falls off...

I have had a very busy week so far. My guild had it's monthly meeting on Tues. I go to both morning and night meetings and was working at both. We were collecting quilts for a quilt show that is next weekend called "Quilts on the Teche". There were a lot of quilts to collect. I think at last count there were 280. It was exciting to see that many quilts in one place though. It is one of the many events we are having here in South Louisiana to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birthday of the Marquis de Lafayette. He was pretty important in our history and a close friend of George Washington. Our guild designed and made a quilt to commemorate their friendship and that quilt will also be in an exhibit here until Nov. then it will travel.

Yesterday I met with my mini group. Always love that. It is sometimes my therapy. You know when you just need to talk and visit with good friends to make all seem well. That is how it is. We did baste a quilt together to ready it for hand quilting. It will be next in the frame for us to quilt. Mine will need to be basted also but I'm a little farther down the list so it will be a while. (I may not have mentioned that we are quilting some of each others quilts, you help on others and you can get yours done, works well).

Today I am going shopping for civil war reproduction fabric. It is for sashing and borders for a "Home of the brave quilt" Our guild is helping out to make some for the families of the fallen soldiers in our state. You can check out the Arizona web site at this link
www.homeofthebravequilts.org ours is the same but for Louisiana. They will have a registered stamp on them, with the Sanitary Commission, just like they were back in Civil war times.

I'll visit with my best friend today too, (since she lives near the quilt shop) and then this afternoon I'm helping out at our library. There is a program to teach kids to quilt. We will be helping them with the blanket stitch to appliqué shapes to a background. It ought to be fun. A full day.

Quilt til your arm falls off...

Dreams...

My Mom

I dreamed of my Mom last night. She died in 2004 from lung cancer. It was the first time I had a dream with her in it that I knew she was dead and she had come back for me to talk to her. In all the other dreams she had not died yet and they were more like memories replayed. This was different. As soon as I saw her I felt relief that I could talk to her again. I put my arms around her and told her I missed her. She said she missed me too. We walked for a while and talked. She looked like she did before she got sick but she was frail. It was not long. I whispered in her ear that I loved her and she said "I love you, too". I woke up way too soon and I was crying. It seemed so real. It made me miss her even more. It is funny how dreams are.

Today I will be crocheting on my selvage rug. Yesterday I sewed many of them together and rolled three balls. Here is a picture of what I have done so far. Hope everyone has a wonderful day today. Hug someone you love.

Quilt til your arm falls off...

I was up very early this morning. Not sure why but I was able to get an early start on the computer. We have a birthday party to go to today. It is at a children's pizza and party place. One of my least favorite type of parties to go to. The only good thing is being able to visit with family but it is a little difficult in that atmosphere to visit. My son however will probably have a great time and I guess that is another good reason.

I did not get to the selvages yesterday but I am getting right to it after this...I promised myself.
The picture below is some of my quilts on display in my home. They are on the railings of my baby bed (all my children used it too). My husband removed some of the rungs on one and left all the rungs on the other. I can put the thicker blankets in the wider space that way. I just love reusing something in a different way that it was not meant to be. Especially since they were just sitting in storage never to be used again.

Quilt til your arm falls off...

Talking about the selvages rugs on my blog made me find the time to sew some together yesterday. I sewed enough together yesterday to make one ball. Today I will try to sew lots more. That bag on the left side is only a small portion of the selvages I have, and the ball and pile is from another bag...can we say its overwhelming at times!

The doctor gave me antibiotics and a cortisone shot yesterday. He says my ear should start feeling better by today and he is right. It is not hurting nearly as much as yesterday. There is a lot of fluid in that right ear. Funny thing is I don't ever remember having fluid in the ear or an earache before. I hope this is the last.

Have a great day all and remember to tell someone you love them today.

Quilt til your arm falls off...

Morning All...

Today is a busy day. I'm having lunch with my sister for her birthday. She is the middle child, I am the oldest. We have a younger sister as well. No brothers. The lunch is what we usually do. When my Mom was alive we would all go to lunch, aunts, cousins, a big bunch of us, it was traditional. My aunt now lives out of town and it will be my sisters and me, my children and my Dad and his wife. It will be fun but Mom is always missed. It is good to celebrate the day you were put on this earth, and to celebrate that you are still here. It is a family gathering and family is important to me.

I am also calling my doctor today to go in again for fluid in the ear. I went 5 weeks ago and he gave me an antihistamine and a nasal spray (samples). I used those and it felt better. About 4 days later the fluid was back so I called and got a prescription for these meds and the ear started to feel better but the fluid did not fully drain. Now it is hurting. He will have to do something else. I hope this clears up soon. I don't do sick very well.

Maybe I can fit some quilting time in today. I'm still working on my UFO's. I think I have finished all of the tops but two that need to be hand quilted but, I have a lot of projects in boxes to be pieced. It is nice to be finishing up these things.

Does anyone have one of these? or is it just us. My husband is big into electronics and stuff just collects. It is a junk drawer full of old electronics, cell phones, cameras, wires, adapters, etc. My husband just recently cleaned out the drawer to be used for something else. It feels good to purge.

Crochet...

This time of year always makes me want to do some crocheting. I started when I was 13 years old. My mom and aunt taught me how. I liked doing it. It has easy to handle, only a needle and a skein of thread. I made a lot of afghans. I gave some away and stored others. When I started quilting I put away the crochet. Until I wanted something to do with leftover selvages (you know --the stuff on the edge of fabric that most people throw away--I'm crazy I know--I also save even the smallest pieces of fabric and make crumb blocks). I started sewing the ends of these together and crocheting them into rugs, like you would fabric strips. Sometimes I make coasters and they are really cute but I mostly enjoy making the rugs more. I need to find time to sew some strips together. Therein lies the problem, it takes time to do that. I tried other methods of connecting the strips like, cutting the hole on the end of two strips and flipping one inside the other like they do for fabric strips but it didn't work for selvages, for one thing selvages are all different widths. When they get cut or torn off the edge of fabric it is all different. My friends now give me their selvage edges. I have a big (did I say how BIG) bag of them and I really need to get busy. Better go...


Quilt til your arm falls off...

How do you like that? My youngest son, who is 14 years old, is learning to shave. How did that happen? Just yesterday he was 4 years old right? I think it sneaks up on you. They grow up gradually but you don't notice until there are milestones. He is such a fine young man. Very polite and kind and thoughtful. He has always been sensitive to others feelings. I enjoy having him around. God has blessed me with 3 wonderful children. They have always been really good and responsible (no late night partying or getting arrested, HA!). I enjoy having them around as they grow into adults with their own lives. If you read my blog guys-- You know I love ya'll.

I'm having trouble with quilt markings again. Another quilt same pencil I used before (this was marked before I knew this pencil was a problem). I have washed it and used the stain remover as before but the some of the marks are still there. Maybe I will try a different stain remover. We'll see what happens. I need to get going. I'm bringing my oldest son to the eye doctor, his glasses broke yesterday and he needs a new prescription anyway so the doctor first then to buy a new pair of glasses.

Quilt til your arm falls off...

Thoughts...

A few of the blogs are reminiscing on past memories. It makes me think back and daydream a bit about when I was young. (I won't be posting any pictures of that today--I'll spare you). I can remember the adults always saying to "Go play outside". I hated to play outside. I hated to sweat, still do. So I would sit quietly by the side of the adult table and listen. I was very careful to be quiet or else they would notice me and send me to play outside. I learned a lot from listening to the adults and I'm still somewhat like that today. I sit back and listen when I'm in a group of people, especially if it is not people I know that well. I learn a lot about them just by listening.

These pictures are of a music box my wonderful husband made for me last Christmas (the second is the underside that he stamped and signed, it's not a very good picture but you get the idea). He made it using the beveled glass leftover from some porch lights we had originally on our home (they had rusted out and needed to be changed). Isn't it lovely. It plays three songs--Feur Elise, Minuet inG major and Symphony #9. He likes to do woodworking. He is good at it too. Someday I will show you pictures of the dining room table he made for me or pictures of my quilt studio that he built cabinets and drawers for. He is very talented, not just in woodworking, he is kind of a jack of all trades but master of all (not master of none). His career is Electronic Technician but does almost anything electronic or electric. And it is not just limited to that, he knows how to do plumbing work, and construction, etc. The list is long. Whatever he sets his mind to doing he can do. That amazes me. I think he is always interested in how things are made and how they work and so he figures it out. There are things I would like to know how to do but could never master them. I probably don't take the time to learn it completely. (Did I mention he is left handed, I think that has alot to do with him having a figure it out brain. He thinks with the other side of his brain.) In the electronic shop he works in on helicopters there are 5 out of 7 that are left handed. I think that says alot. Oh well, enough gushing about my husband. (He really is a wonderful man).

I have woolies (a mini group I am in, we work with wool, in our quilts and other things) meeting here at my house tonight. I have to clean up and make some refreshments.

Quilt til your arm falls off...

Piercings...

Friday my daughter went and have her eyebrow pieced as you can see in the picture above. She likes this and thinks it is cute. She knew I wouldn't like it so called to tell be so I wouldn't freak out when I saw it. I of course think she if beautiful no matter what but I just don't understand the need to put the extra holes in the face (or anywhere else on the body- I didn't mention she also has her belly button pierced--another surprise a few years ago). I wish I understood. It seems to be common these days in the younger generation. I must mention that I do have my ears pierced (only once), my daughter has been after me for a while to pierce another hole in my ears. The answer is no! I have enough trouble picking out earrings for the one hole, I could only imagine having to choose two or three. I think a nice pair of earrings in the ear is ok. It looks nice and becoming but on the eyebrow... Oh well, she is of age to do what she wants with her body and does not need my permission but somehow I know she seeks my approval. She would like me to like it or say it is ok but I can't like it if I don't. I love her anyway and she knows it. Did I mention that I think she is beautiful...

I am sewing the binding on a UFO quilt that I made the year I started quilting in 2001. It is called Log Cabin Wreath and was a pattern in the book "Creating Curves with Log Cabins" by Marti Michell. The top was done and just needed to be quilted. I quilted it yesterday and the picture below is of the quilt with the quilt markings still in it. I quilted it with monopoly thread and the quilting will not show up much so I thought you could see the quilting better before the lines were washed out.

Quilt til your arm falls off...

Bad Fabric...

I went shopping day before yesterday. I bought some 108" quilt backing fabric. It was 30% off. You know I couldn't pass that up. Even though I'm on a fabric diet. I am always in need of backings. You see, I hate to piece them. Once I get to finishing the top I just want to sandwich and quilt. Anyway, the piece of fabric to the far right was damaged (the colors are not the best in the photo). I was unfolding it to put it in the wash when I noticed something was quite wrong. About half way down the 3yd piece it was pieced together. It looked like they had overlapped it and serged it but, it was also ripped on the fold all the way down and a quarter of it was missing. I was disappointed and decided to take it back. Which is saying alot for me, I don't like to return things, I either give them away or store them for later use. I refolded and packed it up and went back to the store. The lady (which just happened to be the manager) at the counter was very apologetic and was more than willing to cut me a new piece (checking it out thoroughly of course). We talked about how the fabric could have gotten this far in the process without being noticed. I told her it was the way the fabric was folded, because it was a quilt back it is wide. It is folded in half then in half again, the mess up was in the inside fold. I wondered how the factory didn't see this before rolling it on the bolt but this is how it is today, not much quality control. Oh well, no harm done except a waste of gas to go back to the store and a waste of my time but then the fabric company doesn't think much of that.

Today I have my mammogram appointment to go to this afternoon. Does anyone else freak out at having to go? The process itself is not so bad. I am always in fear that they will find something. I usually breath a little easier after I get a report back that everything is clear. I am a worry wart! I should think positive until I have something negative to worry about but it is just not me. So I will go and get it done and then wait for the report, impatiently I might add (did I mention that patience is not one of my strong qualities, actually it is non-existent where I am concerned?).

Quilt til your arm falls off...

Quilt guilds.....

Today Judy brought up a good topic. One that has been on my mind for quite some time. Guild meetings. I belong to a guild here that is growing. When I joined about 4 years ago it had less than 100 members and now has more than 150. We are getting cramped for space, inside and outside of the building (parking). We have discussed trying to find another place to meet but our options are limited considering we would like to keep the day and time we meet the same as it is now. So what are we to do? We encourage growth. We always love to share our love of quilting but, I don't know what will happen in the future.
Maybe mini bees are the answer. We have quite a few of those that have formed in the recent past. I really like the bees better. There is more one on one visiting and there is definitely more quilting and sewing going on. The guild meetings are a lot of business (I really don't care for that part but I know it is necessary), we have really good speakers and workshops, of which I do participate in. We also have a pretty good show and tell. It use to be better though, I think several of our members are just so busy (like a lot of people are today) that it is difficult to pack up their quilts to bring to a meeting. We have a morning and night meeting. Most of the ones that have jobs away from home go to the night meeting. I go to both. I like seeing my friends from both. Most of the time that is the only chance I have to visit with any of them.

I wish our guild meetings were more visiting and sewing and quilting like the small bees we have. I think more people would join us, but then we would have more of a problem with space. Oh well, I guess we will deal with it when it is absolutely necessary.

Here is a picture of my Underground Railroad quilt finished and a picture of the label. I bought this quilt in kit form and the lady that did it made label for us using a picture from the book. It was printed on fabric treated for photo printing. After washing it so much the pictures of the blocks washed out a lot. I traced over them with pigma pens and they didn't come out too great but the idea is there. I am in love with this quilt. I love the colors, the quilting, the old fashion feel of this quilt. It will be with me a long time. I told my friends yesterday at mini bee that it would probably be on my casket when I pass away. That is how long I plan to keep this quilt.



Quilt til your arm falls off...

Aggravation...

I finished sewing the binding on my quilt yesterday. I put it in the washing machine with no detergent to get out the blue wash away marks and the silver marks (made by the general's silver quilting pencil) and the white marks (made by the general's white quilting pencil).

IT STILL HAD THE WHITE AND SILVER MARKS IN IT!

I calmly put it back in the washer with a special soap called Quilt care made for quilts and fine washables.

IT STILL HAD THE WHITE AND SILVER MARKS IN IT!

I could have cried. This has never happened to me before. I have used these pencils before. They have always come out.
I tried a recipe my friend said removes pencil marks, the Magic Elixir.
They were still in there.

I was beginning to get very discouraged. This quilt is to be in a Quilt Show at the end of this month and I put a lot of work into it. I figured I had nothing to lose.
I took out this spot remover that my sister had just recently let me know about. It is called M30. It is found at the Dollar Tree stores and Dollar General. It says it removes any stain. I had used it before on set in stains in shirts and it had removed them but I was leary about putting this strong chemical on my quilt.
The marks were all over and it would take me a while. The product is petroleum based and that made me nervous but it had worked well in the past with the shirts. I went for it!
I covered every mark in that quilt. It took me about 1-1/2 hrs. I let it set for 4 hrs. Then washed it with my regular detergent (this is what I usually do with every quilt I finish). It took out most of the marks. Yeah!
There are three blocks at the top of the quilt that still have some very light markings. It is drying, laid out on my table right now and I may apply some more stain remover just to those spots later today. I have my mini group to go to today so I can't mess with it til it is dry. I want so badly to put it in the dryer. I love the way a quilt feels when it is fresh out of the dryer, so soft and puffy. I will have to wait until the marks are all gone before I can do that. Here is a close up picture of a section with the pencil marks. They are very light. I don't know if you can even see them in the picture. The next picture is of the quilt laid out on my table drying.

Quilt til your arm falls off...

Stop...and smell the flower

I was just in the kitchen preparing supper in the Crockpot. At the kitchen sink I could smell a sweet scent coming from the gardenia flower that my husband picked for me this weekend at my Dad's house. I immediately put it in water on the window sill. As I was smelling it this morning I realized I had not smelled it before. It is now past it's prime, even turning brown in a few spots, but it smells so wonderful. It made the task I was doing that much more pleasant. There is a lesson to be learned in such small things.

Quilt til your arm falls off...

A few thoughts...

I just started this blog and already I'm finding it hard to blog everyday. I feel there are things in my everyday that are not blog worthy, boring even. I read other blogs and everything sounds so interesting. I feel that maybe I need to just put down my thoughts sometimes.

The summer season is coming to an end but the heat is still with us. In south Louisiana it is hot up until Christmas sometimes. The air is a little tiny bit cooler. In the 90's instead of the 100's. It makes it hard to think about Autumn and falling leaves, pumpkins, Halloween and cool evenings. I have noticed on other blogs that everyone seems to be getting in the fall spirit but I am finding it really hard to do. Maybe by the time October gets here it will feel more like Autumn.

I did finish the hand quilting on my Underground Railroad quilt and put the binding on yesterday. Now I need to sit and hand sew it onto the back. I will show a picture when it is complete. That binding was a challenge. I wanted to use a certain fabric in a certain color and you know how it is--Nothing else would do! I had a 15 inch piece left and I needed 18 inches to do the binding like I usually do (2-1/4 binding). So I cut the binding 2 inches instead and laid it all out (after sewing the strips together) on the quilt top to make sure I have enough. I did but only had about a 4 inch overlap at the end. It worked YeaH! I think it looks great. I'm so glad to be at this stage of completion. I can now start to think about my next project. Isn't that always to way it happens? That is why I have so many UFO's. Thats the life of a quilter.

Quilt til your arm falls off...

Here is the picture of the sourdough bread I baked today. Ohh it smelled so good when it came out of the oven. I wish we had smell o' blog. My meeting went well. We got a lot accomplished.

Here is a picture of the cradle my husband was asked to build for our sister-in-law's niece. She will be having a baby in October. The shower is tomorrow. Isn't it beautiful. The pattern is based on a cradle that my father-in-law and his sister used as babies. It has been in the family for a little over 100 years. My husband took measurements and made a pattern to build one for our SIL when she got pregnant at 40 unexpectedly. They had a beautiful baby girl and she is spoiled rotten by her 2 older brothers. So this is the second one my husband has made. He made this one a little different so they wouldn't be exactly the same.

Well gotta go run some errands. Bye


Quilt til your arm falls off...

Good Morning

I love Saturday mornings. I sit and enjoy my tea by the window and watch the birds and trees. It is very soothing and comforting. Much anticipation of the day ahead and what it will be filled with.

I have a small meeting here at home this morning. It is for our retreat next year. I am chairman and my best friend is co-chair. We will talk about some of the things we have planned and here from the committee their ideas. I love this quilting retreat. I have never been to any other, just this one, so I have nothing to compare it to but it is very relaxing and I also get a lot of sewing done. You get to see members of the guild in a new light and get to know them better.

I am also baking sourdough bread today. My husband's grandmother used to make it all the time. Just before she passed away, a member of the family video taped her making her bread. What a great treasure for me to have today. She showed me how when she was alive, but I could never get the hang of it. I started, at the beginning of spring, trying really hard to get it going (sourdough uses a starter that you have to make yourself, just water and flour that ferments for about 2 weeks, and that is what makes the bread rise, you don't add yeast). I was successful with it and now I keep it going and share the bread with family members to keep her tradition alive. I can't make it too often--I eat too much of it! I love fresh homemade bread right from the oven...ummmm!

Maybe I can post a picture of the bread later after it comes out of the oven (if it doesn't get eaten first. HA!

Here is another scrappy quilt I recently finished. My daughter wanted it when it was done so it is now living at her house. I am trying to tackle all of my UFO's. It is not easy but I did scratch off 9 projects on that long list this year. Yeah!

I have to go now. I need to get refreshments for the meeting made.

Quilt til your arm falls off...

Tonight I am tired.

I had lunch with a friend of mine today. She treated me as a birthday gift. We had fun. A lot to catch up on. We don't get together as much as we used to. I also ran a few errands and went to get a haircut. When I got home I had school work to check (from homeschooling) and I couldn't get on the computer because my mouse was acting all weird. I think it was possessed or something. It seemed to want to do it's own thing. My husband bought a new one this afternoon and installed it this evening.

I also called the doctor today. My sinuses have been acting up and it is causing fluid to not drain from behind my eardrum. I had to get a prescription for some sinus and allergy meds to clear it up. It is leaving me feeling a little tired and worn out this evening.
Am I whining? Yeah,maybe a little.

I did get a little hand quilting done this morning. I have 4 fans left to quilt then I can put on the binding and call it finished. I can't wait.

(Just because I didn't want to have a no picture post)--- I will leave you today with a few pictures of some quilts I have made in the past. Scrap quilts. My favorite type.

Sorry some of the quilt pics are blurry.
Don't you just love the legs that this quilt has grown?
The second quilt is a signature quilt I made for a friend that was diagnosed with breast cancer. She is doing well today and cancer free. Yeah!

This quilt is very scrappy a lot of strip pieces were used for this. I believe I got both of these patterns on Bonnie's web site. They are both great patterns. I made the second one for a cousin that got married.

Quilt til your arm falls off...

Mini group

I'm off this morning to a meeting with my mini quilt group. I love these friends and enjoy sharing my time with them. It is almost a time of therapy for me. To get out with ladies who have like interest and me me feel comfortable. You can bring your problems, happy times, sad times anything to good friends and they help you though all of them. We sew on our own things or quilt each others quilts or right now we are working on that Hawaiian quilt for our fund raiser. Well, I better get going. I'm running late as it is.

Quilt til your arm falls off...

Some orphan block quilts

Here are some orphan block quilts that a friend and I made. They were made for our guild retreat. The orphan blocks were collected from members over the year and separated and organized by likeness. Then they were given out at one of our meetings to whoever wanted to put one together. The blocks we were given were the cube center block, the cubes at the bottom, the four corner blocks, and a couple of other smaller blocks. We added the rest. At our retreat you could vote for your favorites and then they were given away by drawing names of those that participated. It was the first orphan block quilt we had ever made. It was done in 2005. We loved it and loved working on it but it sure was hard to give it up. We did not win (we were sad) but it didn't stop us from doing another one.

The second one was done in 2006. We put a lot more work into this one and made it bigger. The blocks we were given were all of the pink and green blocks, there were 8 of them, we added the rest. It was hard work but fun. It was so hard to give it up. We again did not win, and again we were sad. We decided that we were getting too attached to these quilts to give them up so we have not made any more to give away. We do have plans to make one for ourselves with lotto blocks that we have.

The last quilt is one that my friend and I made for a young guy that was raising his young daughter and going to school and working. He wanted a quilt made out of her baby clothes and so I volunteered to do it and my friend, who is always willing to help, was there to do a lot of cutting and sewing and arranging of blocks. We had to back a lot of the fabrics with fusible interfacing because the fabrics were mostly knits. We really liked the finished product and he was very pleased.

Quilt til your arm falls off...

Back Home...

We got back home yesterday, on my birthday. I was able to spend time with my family all day. The getaway was relaxing and I had a wonderful time but there is nothing like home and family. I had lunch with my children and then headed over to my Dad's house for cake and visiting. I share a birthday with my step brother, who has only been my step brother for 2 years. My Mom died from lung cancer in 2004 and my Dad met this my step mom about 4 months later. He was lonely and need a close friend at the time and they hit it off really good. They got married in 2005. We like her a lot. She has one son (the one I share a birthday with) and he has three daughters. Every year for my birthday they try to plan a party for both of us. I usually make my own plans for my birthday because I feel it is my day to do as I want and so sometimes the party doesn't always work out but it did this year.

I don't know why I got into all of that except to say I spent the afternoon at my Dad's and then came home because my in-laws were coming over to visit. As you can see we are a close knit family. I don't know anything else. It has always been this way for me. As a matter of fact the road I live on is entirely family, aunts, uncles, cousins, my Dad, and my sisters. The road is named after my grandfather and it was all his land. When he passed away it was parceled out to his children (6 of them) and they all live here today with most of their children near by. Enough of that!

Here is a picture of some of the Hawaiian blocks laid out like they will be in the quilt (this is only some of them as this will be a queen size quilt). I designed the center medallion appliqué and a friend in the small bee I'm in, appliquéd it. The others in the group (myself included) did the redwork blocks and we will put it all together, in time for our fund raiser. We have not decided if we will quilt it or just leave it as a top. Depends on how much time we have left.

This is what I am working on today. Hand quilting. This is an Underground Railroad Quilt. The pattern is an Eleanor Burns. It was a kit block of the month. I have to finish it by the end of September because it is going to be in a quilt show (not judged, just a showing of quilts). The show will be in a small town near where I live and it will be the first weekend in October.

Well I guess I better get back to quilting. Hope I didn't bore everyone with the family history but you know how it is, I get started and I can't shut up!

Quilt til your arm falls off....