Merry Christmas to all, and to all...

And to all?

I wish you were coming with us to the beach! We leave tomorrow morning, December 27, and will return January 14th. I am hoping that my mother does well during my absence, but we have a lot of resources around her to keep her happy and comfortable. I will try not to worry too much, and enjoy my time with Hubby.

So with that said, me and my beach babies will be having a good time in Anguilla - a little island in the Caribbean. I changed the black cats to a soft black fleece for some texture...I sure hope they won't be too hot there!

I have my 11 books ready to go too. I've them packed already and can't remember a single one of them except for Allende's new novel about Ines Suarez in Chile that will go into my carry-on.

Stay safe and I'll "see" you next year!

Beach baby, beach baby

there on the sand
From July to the end of September
Surfin' was fun we'd be out in the sun every day
(Listen to this song at Jerry's Jukebox)

(The color is off on the block below, but is truer in color on the last picture in this post. It is really more of a soft lime green with a hot pink swimsuit. In order to get the detail on the Beach Baby, I had to take the picture without a flash.)

Sometimes, I think I am just crazy, and other days I just know I am! Today is the day I KNOW!

I don't have time to be messing around with ANY new projects, but what am I doing? Messing around with a new project.

We're planning to go to the Caribbean (same place as the last 20 years) December 27 as long as my mom is OK. I just can't fathom not taking handwork along with the 2 dozen books. I've been telling myself that I need a break from sewing and quilting, and it's OK not to take anything. I finally broke down and pulled out a pattern that I've loved and wanted to make for a long time. Of course, it won't be anything like it when I'm done, but it's nice to have an inspiration piece, right?

I find that handwork is really calming. I can think and dream about anything while I stitch. Sometimes, when we are vacationing, I can fall asleep while I am stitching. How relaxing is that? When people tell me that I do too much, why not take a break, I pause and think about it, but in the end, my heart knows what my hands want to be doing. Sewing!

Can you see where this is heading? I think I'll have 4-6 babies done, ready to embroider and buttonhole while I'm on the beach.

Beach babies, beach babies there on the sand....la la la la....

Christmas with my buddies

My buddies, Carolyn and Ibby and I went out on the town (Lawrence, KS, home of the Jayhawks) yesterday. We met around 9:30 AM, drove about 40 minutes away to Lawrence, and shopped and shopped, ate,shared our handmade Christmas presents with each other, then shopped, shopped and laughed a lot along the way. It was a great day! We all bought fabric at Sarah's, which is a wonderfully chock full of fabric store. We all found things we didn't know we needed at the other shops, and I actually bought a coat! We didn't get back to town until close to 6 PM, and I was exhausted. I had a light dinner with hubby and then went to bed to read (The Thunderbolt Kid by Bill Bryson). Hubby woke me up to go to sleep around 9 PM. LOL!

Here are the goodies we exchanged:
These are the 20" pillows I made for them. The lighting was bad, but you get the picture anyway! I added the sequins and beads since the wreath spaces seemed so big!



And these are my gifts from them! The sewing kit is from Carolyn. What is so funny is that I planned on making these last year for them out of wool, and I hate doing embroidery so they got put aside. Now, I don't have to make them, as I love the one Carolyn made for me. The fabric is from the Seaside Rose collection.




And doncha just love this pincushion from Ibby? It's wool work, and it looks just like Bonnie. It is now sitting in front of my Christmas quilt in the hearth room.

It's hard to believe that this weekend promises to be so nice with temperatures in the 60's. Especially after the snow we had just a couple of weeks ago!

I've spent most of the time this week taking care of my mother. She had a small stroke Sunday morning, but didn't realize it until several hours later when she couldn't tie her shoes. The left side of her face is somewhat paralyzed, but she can still speak (slurred and no tonal inflection) and eat (has a difficult time chewing). Her left thumb wouldn't work, but has gotten stronger and the big news this week is that she can actually work the hooks and eyes on her bra! She will be getting physical/occupational therapy and speech therapy, so we are hoping for some more positive results there, too. She was afraid of being left alone when we returned from the hospital, so I slept on her floor. Euuwww! It's a concrete floor with carpeting on it, and it sure was hard. I think it got harder as the night got longer!

And I am not hard to please! Lookie what I found at our local Wallie World!! I was so excited to find this, I bought two rolls, and I think I am going to go back and get the neon green roll, too.
I use it to wrap my thermofax screens. For those of you who don't know about thermofax screens, you can check it out here

What's a blog post without a snapshop of my Bonnie girl, doing what she does best? Sleeping and guarding quilts! Now, I am trying to get the last of my Christmas sewing completed for early gift giving on Saturday.

The last of the bunch!

They're done! AND delivered!







We took all 30 quilts to the clinic on Tuesday and had a nice informal lunch with the staff. Afterwards, the Director of the clinic gave the Sisters their surprise in her office, so it was low key and personal. It was wonderful to see the delight and wonder in their eyes, that the twin size quilts were for THEM! The last of the pictures I posted today are the Diabetic Education reward quilts that we will continue making over the next year.

I've had construction going on in the house for the last few weeks too. We had a closet organizer system put into the master bedroom walk-in closet, and hardwood on the stairs going upstairs as well as the long hallway and landing leading to the three bedrooms there, too. New carpeting was supposed to be installed in the bedroom and closet this past Thursday, but the installer never made it, nor did he call. Why do we always seem to end up with these guys, Huh? So now, we have to wait around on Tuesday to get it done. Of course, I am still living out of the three bedrooms full of furniture and contents from my bureau drawers in the meantime.

Because of all of this, I am not putting up a Christmas tree, and no decorations. Well, I DID put up the Christmas quilt, with three Jim Shore Santas in front of it. And my apple swags are waiting to be put up instead of the pink roses in the main living room. But that's it! My friends are having a hard time believing that this is all I will do. I usually start decorating around Thanksgiving, and it takes me until Christmas Eve to finish it all. We will just enjoy everyone else's this year!



This is a little art quilt I made a few years back that makes me smile. It was supposed to be a self-portrait, but it's a little too "tidy" to be me. But, this is exactly what I will be doing in my "stewdio" for the next few days.

It coulda been worse, and still might be...

I can't believe that on Wednesday it was 72 degrees here, and I finally found time to put away the last of the lawn ornaments and furniture from the deck. I got all my bird feeders filled, and this morning I have a great treat of finches, juncos, cardinals, and bluebirds out my window, because yesterday, it ICED! And SLAINED! And SLEETED! And thundered and lightening'ed!

How sweet to look up from my sewing machine just a few minutes ago to see this little buddy looking in at me!I took mom to the dr yesterday to get her "blood booster" shot, and got back home before it started. But today they are predicting anything from 2" to 20" of snow. Because we live where the weather bands change (look at the planting zone map of the US and we're on the edge of two zones), we never know what we get until we get it. So, today and tomorrow will be great days to hopefully finish up all these charity quilts. It's a good thing, too, since Tuesday is the delivery day!

Carolyn just finished up the 7th Sisters quilt, and I just finished the binding on the Stars of the Heartland, and a couple more lap quilts. Today I am quilting another lap quilt, and I hope to get a flannel one sandwiched and mostly quilted by the end of the day. Maybe tomorrow, there will be more to show. In the meantime, here's two more of the "same but different" lap quilts!

Here is another one

Are you bored yet? Here is another lap quilt like the others that I just finished the other day. I have another one on the quilting machine, and one that went back to Carolyn to finish the binding. I've lost track what number we are on. I guess when the work basket is empty that means we're finished, right?

I know I've been MIA. I had several dear friends call and write saying they were/are concerned about me. I'm OK, but a bit overwhelmed. Not with the quilting commitments, but rather life in and of itself. I'm still dealing with Mother's terminal condition, hubby's recovery, my grandchildren, and me still trying to lose weight and get healthy. Some days it's just too much! On top of all that, we decided to have a new closet system installed, new bedroom carpet installed (and in the same closet where the new system is), and hardwood replacement for the carpeted stairway and upstairs hallway. That's been going on, and will continue for the next couple of weeks as well.

We did a little runaway trip again to Las Vegas last Sunday through Tuesday. I had a luxurious day in the spa at the Bellagio. I had a swedish relaxation massage with hot cranberry oil and hot stones for my feet, and stayed in the eucalyptous steam room for as long as I could tolerate it. I spent a great deal of time in the meditation room, too. It was all very nice as long as it lasted...but now, I am home again, and back to reality.

1/2 (one section) Charity Quilts complete!

Here are 1/2 of the lap quilts completed for the Diabetic Education Program at Duschene Clinic that they will use for their reward at the end of January. 5 of these are Carolyn's, and only 3 of them are mine. I have two on my table right now, if that counts VBG! And remember, we are using stash from other quilters for these quilts. The pictures are clickable for larger views. They are all about 42" X 60".

A little time for rug making

I've been wanting to try making those fabric rugs ever since Darcie posted hers. I knew I had purchased some of the fleece strips at ridiculous prices ($.25 per spool!), so I finally found them hidden away for a rainy day.

Mom fell and possibly tore her ACL, or at least badly sprained her knee on Saturday. I knew we would be at the hospital a while, so I grabbed the supplies and off we went.
Little did I know that as many strips as I had, it just wasn't enough for a bigger rug. I threw it on the chaise in my stewdio, and Bonnie didn't seem to mind. Now that the weather is getting colder, she has claimed it as HERS!


Mom is doing better, even though she has been moved from her apartment to the Care Center unit until the orthopedist gives her the all clear to remove the knee immobilizer. Until then, I've been busy working on charity quilts and running errands for her.

Next post? 8 charity quilts in a row!

3 of 9 Charity Quilts

Now in red, white and blue...my mistake on the last post, the pink and turquoise one was really only the second of 9, and this one was on the machine at the time. So now, six to go! And today it's the blue one with a funky hot pink/orange and dark blue contrast fabric.

Stars of the Heartland

And now, we interrupt the production line of star lap quilts to show you the completed top that was just sent to the quilter in Iowa. It is a 92" X 108" quilt from a pattern of the Des Moines Iowa quilt guild (I think in the late 1990's?) called Stars of the Heartland.

My friend, Carolyn and I each made half of the stars on our own, and we used any color blue for the stars, and then cut leftovers of white-on-white fabrics for the background. She made the white borders, and I pieced the blue one.

Then we came together for two afternoons and put it together. She did the backing while I put the rows together. You'll notice there are some blue and yellow small stars and a couple of large ones in yellow too. Just something different to sparkle it up.

Now, back to the lap quilts. The one I've got on the machine right now is a blue one! Next post will be the one I finished yesterday - a red, white and blue one.

We've made this quilt before for a Breast Cancer organization, and we just love it. Every time we've made one, we always say we'll do one for ourselves...but by the time we finish it, we're not so ready! LOL! It's like a giant puzzle when you go to put it together. I believe I unsewed twice as much as what was left together! It will be auctioned at the end of February for the Caritas Clinics (Duschene) in Kansas City.

Another Charity Quilt done!

Here's another (#3) of the nine charity quilts that I just finished quilting. It really is straight, it just looks strange because of the way I have it pinned to the wall, AND the plaid on the turquoise fabric. To compare colors, you can check here.

The next one is red, white and blue. It's on the quilting machine right now.

How to enable "return reply" comments

I've had several people ask how does one enable replies to comments left on my blog.

To tell you the truth, it's been so long ago, I had forgotten where the change was. So, thanks to Vin, you will have the necessary steps. This is a good thing to do, especially if you want to have a question answered directly to you, rather than having to check back on the blog to see if it was answered. If you don't want to use your real email, get a hotmail, gmail or yahoo account.

Here's How!
*Log on to your Dashboard in Blogger
*In the sidebar click on Edit Profile
*Under Privacy check the box whether you want to show your email address or not
*Scroll down and Save Settings
*You even have choice to show your profile or not

Shorty3Boys, if you decide to update your profile, please make your request again. I'd love to send you some directions once I get a reply email address.

And as a bonus for being patient with this cranky old quiltgranny (not really!) about not being able to talk directly to you, here's my purchases from the quilt show last week:

3 fat quarters of luscious hand dyed fabrics ($3.00 each) destined to become columbines, and yet another pincushion. I didn't have a fish, so what's wrong with adding another cushion? LOL!

More quilt show pictures next time!

More Quilt Show

Closeup detail
Seeing double or triple? The Kansas City area is the home of Alma Allen (and Barb Adams?), and here are some quilts made from one of her/their patterns. I don't know what it is, but I should probably find out. (If Shirlee is reading this post, maybe she'll know?) We never fail to see multiples of her quilts at shows around here - they are all so loved!


And this is one of the challenge quilts from the Olathe Quilt Guild. They celebrated their 25th anniversary, and their theme was 25 of anything. This was the only one I could get a good picture of, and it took me a long time to figure out that the "25 things" were the 25 black backgrounds. Machine quilted beautifully, too!

More quilts from the Main room next post!

Quilt Show/Room One

These are pictures from the great quilt show my friend, Ibby and I attended last Friday. It was a two guild show, so each guild had their own boutique tables, and their own challenge rooms. Here's some of the Blue Valley Quilter's Guild's "Ball" challenge quilts. There were quite a few more, but the layout of the room made it difficult to get more pictures. If I could have stood on the conference table in the room, you would have gotten to see more of them! (Click on the pictures for a larger, closer view).

More of the quilt show will posted next blog entry! Stay tuned!