Beware of what you ask for!

The painted cupboard is one of my favorite pieces of furniture we own. We bought it a long time ago, when we could ill afford a "designer" piece of furniture. I just had to have it though, and I wish all my furniture could be in this style, whatever you might call it. It holds a television on the top, which I occasionally turn on while I am sewing, and mostly use for the satellite music channels when not using my Mac's Itunes. The grandkids generally watch their videos and kids TV channels in this room, too.

The bottom part used to house a stereo, but now it holds all my computer software and my genealogy books and papers.


This is the most recent quilt my buddy and I have made for a Cancer Action auction (in October). We finished it up this afternoon, and we're pretty pleased about it. I think we work well together - I took the handles to Rochester MN with us, and worked on that part while there, and she worked on the baskets during that time here. She had more work to do, for sure, since she also did the sashings and the 9 patches, but then she had a bit more time (I think) than I did. Last Sunday we got together and worked on putting the top together, and got about 75% of the basket blocks together. Today we worked on the rest. She finished up the top, while I worked on the pre-border sewing and the backing. She'll be taking it to the Iowa quilter we use this next week, and when it returns in August, I'll put the binding on.

We actually combined two different patterns, because we liked the smaller size of these baskets with a curved handle, but liked the triple sashing of another pattern. We sure didn't have much fabric left over from the calculations - less than 1/4 yard of the blue and the red, so that's a good thing. When we purchase new fabric for a project, we always hold our breath when we are trying to make sure we have enough, and that didn't leave much room for even one cutting error!


WARNING!! WARNING!! WARNING!!
The following is not for the faint of heart!
In an effort to make sure I don't give the wrong impression here, I am going to post something I never thought I would share with ANYONE! All I think I've ever shown on this blog is a tidy stewdio, a tidy yard, a tidy garden and tidy quilts. Someone asked in the last post about where's my junk?

JUNQUE? Well, I have plenty of it to spare and to share, but it's carefully hidden away, of course. B e w a r e (cue the spooky music) on your journey to the dark underbelly of my stewdio!

First, you will always find a pile of it, sitting patiently by the door, waiting to be escorted downstairs. (Judy and Libby, the place you will be going to is called a basement in Kansas.)

And don't think you can ride the chair assist to go downstairs, either! The JUNQUE has priority seating! It seems there's always something waiting to go. It can't leave the station until the balcony and lower levels are both full, you know.


EEEEKKKKK!!!!! Dark Shadows abound!
It does help to turn on a light, but I gotta tell you that it's getting harder and harder to even get to the switch!

Wait a minute...is this stuff coming or going ... or going or coming? Who knows anymore. There's some of Mother's things I brought back from her apartment, there's some Christmas wrappings from last year, there's some of this year's future Christmas presents, and of course, fabric. Bags of fabric, baskets of fabric, boxes of fabric, crates of fabric, and anything that will hold fabric will have fabric inside.

You are now looking at the west side of what I call the Mezzanine level as you go down to the bottom of the stairs. Some of this stuff has been brought in and out of here several times over the last year, too. Oh, and of course, while you are there, you can always do a couple of sets of crunches on the exercise ball, too:)


The other side of the Mezzanine will show you just a bit of the custom cupboards that were made to hold....what else...fabric when we moved here about 8 years ago. And they do. But, you know, the floor just holds more and it's easier to see, right? The Inspira quilt frame was a good idea at the time (another long story). It's been been used exactly one time. Know anyone who might want or need a nice 5' frame that expands to 10? It holds ANY sewing machine sideways to let you quilt (on three rolls) easily. Let's talk. It would certainly make my hubby happy to have more room. But who are we kidding here? You know it would make me sad not to have a place to hang fabric to audition it for the next project!

So there you have it, Elaine! Be careful of what you ask for, be VERY careful! HA! (And for those of you will ask - and I know you will - the lamp on the floor is NOT plugged in for me to see the fabrics better, it's just on it's way in...or is that out?)

Time to contemplate

I was on one of my favorite "waste time and money" web sites, Etsy, and I found Allison Strine's page (her username is allisonstrine). I swam around with her a while, and noticed that one of the things listed in her profile is "Favorite Materials". So I just had to ask her how the heck did she use Necco wafers in her work? Here is her reply:

Necco wafers - they go in my mouth. MMmmmm! You've been working with too many new media if you want to add candy in! hee heee!
I guess it's really time to stop playing around with my glop and goo and get back to the business of cleaning and contemplating. So, I've put away everything in it's proper place and cleaned up the stewdio to get busy on unfinished projects that are nibbling at my brain.

In the meantime, I've got some napkins to iron, so it's a good time to contemplate what's going on....do you do that, too? Ironing is a nice activity. No pressure, and quick results. Napkins are about the only thing I iron anymore, though.

I've been contemplating moving my mother's small table downstairs to the apartment. Well, what used to be her apartment before she moved to the retirement center. This is the view looking to the west in my stewdio. The table is right in front of my sewing area.


And this is the view when you walk into the stewdio, looking southwest.


I've kept it here in my studio for about 2 months, now, and hubby keeps telling me it's time to move it so I can have more room. I love this table, and it seems that it draws me to sit at it and write notes, draw pictures, look at magazines, and play with pictures. I've got a lovely desk, but it doesn't do this for me. I've got a lot of space at my new sewing table, but I don't think it does this for me either. So, what's with this table?

I didn't grow up with this table, and it really has no sentimental value to it, either. It wasn't my mother's until we moved it to her new retirement apartment. It used to belong to a mother-in-law of one of my friends before she was moved to an Alzheimers Unit. The near coincidental timing is a bit uncanny, as it is the only size table that would have fit in the corner in my mother's new apartment. It's such an unusual size at 38" square, with two leaves to add to make it a full banquet size rectangle.

I think it will stay here in this room a while longer. It's so heavy that I need to get my son and another friend to move it, so that's an easy answer for now. I might move it across the room next to the design wall and see how it lives there. Here's the veew of that wall - looking to the north in the room. It would sit where the ironing board is leaning now.



Now, I am back to ironing those napkins, and planning my next quilting move. I think it will probably be to finish up Everything but the Kitchen Sink with the 1930's reproductions.

Today's Play

First of all, let me say that the trio of quilters you see in the last post shall remain unnamed. You can guess at who is who, but in the end, other than that one of us does not do primitives, and the other two do, we are all the same - just some fun, happy quilting gals! You can pretty much sort it out, at least who I am, by comparing this photo and my profile photo:)



I played around some more with clippings, vellum, organza, and paints on muslin. I like the finish of this one better than the last one. Of course, it's not truly finished until I put it on more fabric, more embellishments, yada, yada, yada....

I truly love words and marks on fabric and textiles. I've learned several different ways of making "my mark", and I don't think I've found one yet that I like. This one, so far is the easiest, but I'm less certain about the outcomes. I originally had plans of making "fabric" sheets in various colors, but now I am not so sure. I haven't given it up yet, but I am less excited about the feel of the finished products that I am ending up with.

I am still playing around with different stuff, too. Today I've painted used dryer sheets, interfacing, and tyvek. All I am getting is a nice mess of stuff to play with further, and a hubby who thinks I've gone around the bend. In an effort to get me out of the house on a rainy day that promotes more crazy thoughts of things to paint, we went out to a couple of galleries this morning. First we went to the Irene B. French gallery in Merriam Kansas where my altered view, "Her Mother's Daughter" is hanging. It is a nice showing, and we enjoyed seeing all the other pieces and the perspectives of the artist's interpretations of altered views. The next stop was to Artichokes, which is close to my house. I decided to take a baggie fabric dying class which begins in a couple of weeks. I have little interest in fabric dying, but a lot of interest in meeting other people and seeing what sorts of things they are painting ...ummmm... dying.

So,it's spaghetti pie and salad for dinner tonight for my son and his girls and hubby. It's been raining all day, and I long for the time to just curl up in bed with my good book. I am reading Abundance by Naslund, the story of Marie Antoinette, and even though I know the story, Naslund is such a wordcrafter that I love reading her work. Her last book that I read was Ahab's Wife, which was most excellent!

And now, I look down at my shirt and I see the spaghetti sauce pattern on it, and I am wondering how some red might go in that painted piece that's laying on the table...

Just playing around

Well, after a couple of whirlwind days and lots of fun with everyone, I am now back in the stewdio playing around. Last Thursday, I got the privilege of escorting Libby and Judy around town, shopping and laughing. They were even honorary Quilt Babes for a night because my stitch group came to fete them, too. It was loverly getting to meet some other blogmates - one from the left coast and one from the right coast. Pretty special!


I've been mulling over a couple of different techniques in my head for my next art piece. So today, I finally got to try one out. So far, I'm not pleased with the results, but I sure do like the process. It's messy, and it's fun, and everyone stays away from me because they think they will mess things up. HA! As if that could happen. This is probably the most free form thing I've done recently!

This is the piece in progress, and I like the colors, but not the entire collage. The pieces didn't carry the colors through the way I thought they would/should. So I have to think about this a while.

Here it is drying. I think I will probably cut it up, and embellish it on something else that I make. I like parts of it, but not all of it together.

I read about this technique called Fabric paper in the latest copy of Cloth, Paper, Scissors. Of course, it isn't really new, just used differently. I have all the previous copies of this magazine and I see that there are 6 other ways to do this too - each of them just layering the collage materials in different ways and different strengths of the decoupage medium.

Tomorrow, I am going to try the same process again, only in a different way, using different materials. We'll see if this goes any further.

Now I'm on a roll!

Back from Mayo yesterday, and all is well!

Today I spent a bit of time in the garden, repairing fencing where the deer got in and ate all the tops of every plant that was there. Beans, squash, and even the tomatoes! Then I spent a wonderful couple of hours in the pool, and now the grandchildren are here splashing around. The girls will stay all night, the wittle boy goes home for his own bed. A wonderful day, all in all!

Here are my quilting buddies, the Amazing Quilt Babes, with the latest birthday quilt. We worked on it the day before we left for Mayo, but I just didn't have the time to get it downloaded, etc for the blog. It's Carolyn's and we managed to get all the hundreds of blocks required for it. It will be a BIG beauty when it's done!

While at Mayo, I was able to get two more charity quilts done, one completely quilted AND bound - the other bound in the car, and the last one bound while waiting for his testing to be complete. I also finished up the class sample for the circles class I will be teaching at a LQS. I quite like it, and I think I must make at least another one for me, this time! If you double click on the picture, I think you'll be able to see the circles inside the circles or on the sides of the circles.

Tomorrow is back to the gym, then back to more charity quilts!

Good News!

It's been a while, hasn't it? I just can't believe how fast the time flies, and I can't seem to put my finger on where the time goes!

Wabi Sabi is the piece shown above this entry. It is hanging at the Sabatini Gallery in Topeka, KS "Covers Blown" exhibit along with two other pieces of mine. I went to the opening reception, and everyone was buzzing about my pieces. It was so wonderful to see people looking closely at how things were done, and asking questions about them! Sort of a validation of the number of brain hours I spent figuring out how to represent my mental thoughts in a visual way with fiber, you know?

The gallery did a beautiful job of hanging the exhibit - the lighting was fabulous and the venue will draw many people from the community, too. The reason I am showing you Wabi Sabi is because it will be going to a new home. It SOLD!!! I am pretty excited about that, let me tell you!

I've been getting projects cut and bagged for our upcoming Rochester, Minnesota Mayo Clinic trip. So far, I have 8 projects in various stages. Do you think that will be enough for two weeks? LOL! I even have two quilts that will be bound in the car when I am not driving. We don't anticipate any unexpected events to occur this time. Just a day surgery to for a little repair on an incision, and then a week-long annual post transplant checkup. So I should be able to plow right through a bunch of stuff!

Other than that, our yard is looking like a professional is taking care of it! With all the rain we've had, everything is just luscious! I decided that now would be a great time for pictures of a few of my favorite things like I did last spring.

This is my newest birdhouse, hanging on the garden shed. I really love the "chimes" made of kitchen utensils. You can't see it, but the clapper is a "church key".

The daisy bed has been invaded by some sort of wild yellow flower that I'm not quite sure of, but they can stay as long as they continue to balance the color like this.

We have 10 or so Sweet Bay Magnolias around the house, north and south sides. I'd like to have more of them, and I will probably replace some large Kanardi Junipers with magnolias next year. They are the latest blooming magnolias, and they tolerate the extremely cold temperatures and ice we have here in the midwest. They smell absolutely glorious when they bloom, too. They are a bit early this year, but they are gorgeous! And the aroma? It drifts in my bedroom windows at night, and makes me dream....

This chicken with hens and chicks in her is from my mother's house. The hens and chicks (and I think I see a new little rooster) are many, many generations of the same plant that my mother grew as I was growing up. When anyone remarked on them, she would just break some off, hand them over and they are now growing in all sorts of friends and relatives gardens. By the end of the summer, this pot will be over-flowing again, looking for new homes to go to. I have it sitting at the head of our driveway, beside the walkway to the back deck, and I see her every day. It makes me smile to think of how many chicks are growing somewhere else because of my mom's generosity. It also makes me a bit sad because I really miss my mom.

So now, I will be back to getting bags and boxes and fabric ready to go. My brain seems to be working overtime, and I've almost gotten a new art quilt designed in my head. Now, to get it out to the paper design wall. Hopefully, when I get back, there will be something on paper! I am going to use my poem: Where Sharon's from as a starting point. Unfortunately, I don't think this piece will be for sale, like "Her Mother's Daughter" in my last entry, but I must need to work these things out, I suppose. Here it is again:

Where Sharon's From
I am from apple dumplings,
from Capezio shoes
and phosphate drinks.
I am from the laundry flapping in the wind
and the penny pinching.
I am from the pink hollyhocks,
the double blossoms perfect
for making a clothespin baby's skirt.

I am from the scrabble dirt farmers
and wide hips and big feet,
from Rollie and Isabel
and all the Unknowns in the genealogy charts.
I am from the stubborn and the strong.
From "work before pleasure" and
"idle hands are the devil's workshop".
I am from vacation bible school
with baptismal blue Bible gifts.

I'm from the Heartland,
tacos and enchiladas,
pot roast on Saturdays
and fried chicken on Sundays.
From my Papa's softly whispered "Bonita Chiquita",
and my Father's arc welded steel,
and my Mother's sudsy hands.
I am from forgotten
black and white pictures,
misplaced names and places.
Faces that look at me from the mirror of my life.

Almost Back to Normal

We made a quick trip out to Las Vegas last weekend. John Hurley is great in Spamalot, and if you are a fan of Monty Python, you would really enjoy the show! I played the slots on "free" money from Bellagio (for my birthday) and "free" money from the Wynn from joining their players club. All in all, I didn't spend any of MY money, and won about 1800 quarters - which were promptly spent in the spa and at the boutique. We even had time to sit out in the sun, poolside before we came back home!

We had one day back home, and then drove the 8 hour trip to Rochester Minnesota for hubby's appt at Mayo Clinic. He had a liver transplant in 2004 and a kidney transplant in 2005. Now there is an incisional hernia that must be repaired...and since his annual evaluations are already scheduled in June, we are hoping that it can be repaired at that time. That saves us an entire additional trip, so in the meantime, his anti-rejection medications are being adjusted so he can have the surgery. He's feeling great, so perhaps with this last surgery, he can have a great summer for a change!


The weather here has been glorious! Birds chirping, grass growing, mosquitoes biting!

Our grandson, Stephen and Opa have a wonderful time in the yard. Stephen likes anything with motors, and Opa likes to do anything that makes Stephen happy. We have almost two acres, and these two spent the entire morning like this the other day!



I've been putting out my garden ornaments slowly. I found these "Nerdy Nerds" at the hardware store the other day - it seems that Stephen thinks they are real, and he has entire conversations with this one that is by the front patio.


Now, lest you think that I've given up quilting,I want you to think again. I dislike the process of pin basting immensely! Everything else about making the quilt is fine with me, but the pin basting is for the birds! So, this afternoon, I spent doing that dratted chore, and now I have two of the six quilts for Duschene Clinics for this summer ready to run under the machine.




Fabric Karma has been good to me this year, too. The week before we had our whirlwind trip to Las Vegas and MN, a friend from my Bunko group brought me a car trunk load of fabric from her sister-in-law to use for charity quilts. That's what the top quilt is made from, as well as this next picture. It's on my design wall, ready to stitch together tomorrow, and then....sigh.....pin baste. The middle one is the second of two baby quilts gone bad, so I revamped them and I'm using them for these lap quilts. The rest of the year, I am going to make simple single Irish chains for the charity quilts since they make up rather fast, and I can move on to my OWN things!

Her Mother's Daughter

All my life I thought I looked like my father. I thought I acted like my father. He was such a handsome man, and such a strong character. All of his brothers and sisters looked like each other, and more specifically like their mother. My sister looked like my dad, too. So why wouldn't I? Just because I was a fair, towhead girl didn't mean anything did it?

Over the years, occasionally I would be told that I looked just like my mother. Well, that just couldn't be, and I just knew they were only seeing what they wanted to see! I'd been told that my daughter looked like my husband, and he wasn't her biological father, so that just proved my point, didn't it?

During the last two weeks in particular that I was with Mom, her nurses would say something about how alike my mother and I were. Hmmm, I said to myself. Are they seeing what they want to see? Something that would make mother feel good as she was at her business of dying? The last week, a new nurse came on duty early in the morning. She had only seen mom once or twice in the night. I walked up behind her, and touched her on her shoulder. I started to say, "Hi, I'm (Izzy's daughter)", and she finished the sentence with me (that which is in parenthesis). And then we both just laughed. I guess I AM my mother's daughter after all.

This piece was completed for the Kansas Art Quilter's group Altered Views. I had already started a different piece of work, but this one just had to be done. I've not only altered my view of how I look (like my mother), but also several other views of myself have been altered in the last month that I spent with her as well.

The venue for this work is at the Kansas Art Quilter's website in addition to the Covers Blown and other exhibits. Some I have work in, and others, I don't. Enjoy!

We're doing OK

I'm working at getting over a bad bout of pneumonia. The anitbiotics helped tremendously, and I am finally out of bed since last Thursday. Everything I've read says that my resistance is lower after dealing with my mother's death, but I didn't believe it until the doc said, go home and go to bed. So I did.

I've been working on re-vamping my sewing room, with a new sewing center. I've spent only a couple of hours off and on today, but headway is happening. I've got the storage solutions installed, and fabric re-folded. Maybe it wasn't the antibiotics after all, but the fabric fondling that made me feel better.

The picture above is of my four grand-daughters mugging it up to make me smile. Maybe it will make you smile too!

And now it's over

My mother passed away peacefully with a soft sigh early in the morning of April 20, holding my hand, as we both wished.

Since then, I've been absorbed with all the goings on that are necessary to close out the business end of someone's life. Today was the final part - cleaning out her apartment and turning in the keys.

I will miss her dearly.

More from Asilomar Trip

Everyday my friend, Wendy and I left the park grounds, and each day we would stop and take a picture of this beautiful "butterflied" moose. There was a stained glass window in the house with butterflies, too, so I think the moose must be pretty special for them. Isn't it just wonderful?





And this is the sunset over the ocean about 7PM. The first picture was taken at 7:05 PM, the second was within about 5 more minutes, just as the sun started to sink below the horizon. In all the years I've been going to Asilomar, this is the first time I've ever gotten a clear night with no rain or clouds!




This is the project I finally landed on, and started on Thursday morning before I left on Friday. Making these blocks is really addictive, and far easier than I ever imagined. I can hardly wait to make more.



This will probably be the last post for a while, as Mother is declining rapidly now. I will be spending the next days at her bedside. Stay stitching, though, while I am away.

Back from Asilomar

Just back yesterday from my week in California at Asilomar with Empty Spools and Dale Fleming (of 6 minute circle fame). Due to the flights returning to the Midwest from the coast, I always stay over the last night in San Jose, the come home on Saturday. I didn't get back home until close to 11 PM, and then I had a small crisis to handle with mother before I could turn in.

So, a few notes on the trip, with more promised later. This is another version of Dale's Butterfly quilt that is on her book, but it is in a different colorway. Everything is sewn on the sewing machine - no hand work at all! Isn't it great? (sorry for the angle, but it was on a work board and I just don't have the time to work on it in Photoshop)


This was our classroom. I'll tell you more about Asilomar and the buildings in the next blog post, but for now, you can see my work space. There were 24 of us in the class, and in addition to this working area, there is another smaller room with a fireplace behind where I took this picture where we sat while she discussed color, and techniques.
The grounds are so beautiful! This is what greeted me just outside my door when I went out in the morning to breakfast on the first day. Mule deer are just blending in the scenery everywhere!


This is probably one of my most favorite pictures I've taken while I've been at Asilomar. It was on the way to the beach early one morning. I looked over to my left from the boardwalk, and all I saw was the light fog leaving it's moisture on the grasses on the hill. I tried to get some of the birds (and couldn't) to stay still on top of some of the grasses so their silhouettes could be seen, too. It was so peaceful and beautiful with the day starting fresh. I hope that when you click to enlarge this picture, you can see the moisture, too.

Today was a quick trip to Mother's, and then a check around the yard. Hubby had been busy weeding while I was gone, and also worked on my last year's anniversary present that has been boxed up in the shed until warmer weather came. (Our anniversary is in December) Here's what he wanted me to see:

It's a kinetic sculpture we had seen when we traveled in Santa Fe and Taos NM last year. It's about 42" across, and about 6' or more from the ground. It turns with the slightest of breezes, and when it turns, the two sides turn opposite each other, and it also turns around and around. It's almost mesmerizing to sit and watch it. And watch it I will! I can see it from our eating nook, the hearth room, and my swimming pool area, too.

Next post will be my class projects and learning samples. Happy Spring!

Another Birthday Quilt day

Today was another Amazing Quilt Babes birthday stitch day. Since it's been a while since I've explained how my stitch group does this, maybe I should explain it again!

There are 6 of us in the group. Usually in December, we set our calendar for the next year, planning a stitch day about every 6 weeks (none in the month of December). Then we draw names to see who gets which stitch day for their "birthday" gift. The birthday girl chooses the pattern, makes sure to bring instructions for everyone, and might even teach a new technique or review and old one for the day. She also brings everything already cut and ready to sew - it is susually "kitted" up in baggies for the subsets of the larger blocks. For example, today, we had log cabin block baggies, and flying geese baggies.

We begin the morning about 9 AM or so, and sew until lunch time. We all bring our own lunch; the birthday girl brings dessert. Today it was a Baskin Robbins chocolate mint ice cream pie! Then back to sewing again until we run out of parts or out of steam or out of time. Today we got all but 16 blocks completed, and about 1/3of the quilt sewn together.

This is what Ibby brought as the diagram to show how the log cabins were constructed. She was REALLY prepared! And we even got a new phrase to use when pieceing; as in "I've got a 1230 here". This means that one of the pieces in the baggie was cut at 12:30 at night, and probably was cut the wrong size.

Here's the group, once again in our usually places. The birthday girl is wearing RED.

Not bad for having several 1230s along the way, and numerous re-takes on some blocks that weren't sized quite right. Lesson learned for today? Check the size of the block as you go, instead of waiting until you have almost 100 of them done! LOL! It made for a lot of chatting as we unsewed some of our early pieces. This quilt pattern is Double Duty by Miss Rosie's Quilt Company, 78" X 78". Most of the fabrics used were from Jo Morton's line. It's a great fat quarter project, too, as it takes 6 Fats for the geese, 10 Fats of lights for the log cabins and 18 Fats of mediums and darks, plus yardage for the setting triangles, backing and binding.

Now, I've got to get the suitcases out and get them into the room for packing. I'll pack my gear until the NCAA basketball game starts in about an hour then, I'll be in front of the television rooting for our KU Jayhawks! Then back to packing, and hopefully to bed early. Out of here bright and early tomorrow morning for Asilomar, near Pacific Grove California. See you in a week with tales of circles, ovals, un-paper piecing, and wavy gravy (my term) from Dale Fleming's class!

Another little quilt

Just a quick entry today. We've woken to the NOAH weather radio warning us of storms with quarter size hail, so I couldn't get back to sleep. Just a normal morning in KS in the springtime! For Margaret - the Welcome Spring wallhanging is 44" long by about 40" wide.

I haven't been feeling too "maverick" lately with all the finishing up projects I've been working on. Here is the 4th of the 6 charity quilts promised to Caritas Clinics by June. This quilt is 44" X 60" - a nice small lap quilt.


I also have a piece due by May for my annual Kansas Art Quilter's work, "Altered Views". (If you go to the web site, I've three pieces in the Covers Blown exhibit.) I've been toying with an idea with my mother's, my daughter's face, my grand daughter's face and mine all jumbled together. I'm leaving Saturday for Empty Spools seminars for a week with Dale Fleming of "6 minute circles". I'm thinking that some of the techniques I'll learn there will lend themselves quite nicely to my thoughts of "altered views". Empty Spools is at Asilomar State Park near Monterey CA (Pacific Grove). A wonderful retreat for me each year, too. I almost didn't go this year because of my mother's illness, but she insisted that I need to the time. Isn't that sweet of her?

Gosh!

Has it really been 2 weeks since I last posted on this blog? How time flies!

We've had crazy weather, just like everywhere else in blogland, but I think Spring really and truly will be here this week. In honor of that auspicious occasion, I finally finished the quilting on my Spring wallhanging. It's completely bound and ready to hang on the official day now.
Bonnie and Clyde had their annual trip to the vet yesterday. When I went to get Clyde, I found him here, sleeping as usual. It looks as if he is getting measured. He is longer than my 24" ruler, but I don't think that proving he is "tall" will keep the vet from telling him he is not tall enough for his weight.

The trip to the vet was uneventful for Bonnie, but Clyde got his spring haircut. Here he is showing off his clean tummy. I figured it was too much information to show his back side (under his tail). But when he is walking away from you, he looks like he is wearing riding pants! LOL! And yes, Dr. Gary told him he can only have 1/2 cup of the low-cal food a day, and Clyde is not a happy cat these days. He lays in front of his food dish, and looks at me as if to say "Don't you love me anymore?"

Stephen and Opa got the Gator out and checked out the flower beds. This picture was taken about 10 minutes before he conked out and fell asleep on the ride around the yard. He loves turning the key on for Opa...I'm afraid it won't be long before I look out and see him driving it around the yard on his own!

Two (of 6) 2007 Charity Quilts DONE!

I finally got the two quilts done (pieced), done (quilted), and done (bound) for January and February. I also have the March and April ones done, and waiting now for the inspiration for the second done to happen.

This blue/red/gold one is the last of the Carpenter's Star (or whatever it is) that will be done for Caritas.

We are going to use a Single Irish chain pattern for the 2007 quilts since it is quicker to piece and far quicker to quilt, too. I don't care much for the fabrics used in this quilt, but it IS bright and cheerful.

However, with that said, the next two (not shown yet) are NOT either one of these patterns LOL! I used the Minnesota Hot Dish, and discovered that I didn't care that much for my color choices and I knew I wouldn't like them any better by making them any larger. So, they will make great lap quilts in the necessary 45" X 60" sizes we need for the Clinic's purposes. Not only will I be making the March and April goals with these quilt tops, but also decreasing my UFOS. Such a deal! Once they are done and done, I'll post them, too.

When my friend Carolyn and I went to the Caritas fundraising auction, the I Spy Quilts sadly didn't generate much interest. So Carolyn won the bid on the pink one, and I won the bid on the blue one. Now, I don't have to make my little Stephen an I Spy quilt! Here he is inspecting HIS quilt!



Such is the life, isn't it? Nothing could be better than a spot in the sun, and a stack of quilts. Clyde thinks so!

I AM SO EXCITED!

First!

For the anonymous poster who asked about the 6.5" blocks in my friendship exchange in the last post: I always use basic blocks, and I think most if not all of these blocks came from either The Quick and Easy Block Tool by C &T Publishing or Barbara Brackman's Block Base. There are a couple of paper pieced ones done by my two friends, but since I DONT paper piece, I don't have a clue!

Also, someone way back when I posted my Beach Kitties asked me where I found the pattern. I have to admit that I put that question aside, then forgot about it while I was looking for the pattern so I could tell you about it. I still don't have a clue where the pattern went, but I CAN tell you that it was about 5 years ago that I got it. A note is on my design wall now, reminding me that if I find it, I will post the designer.

Now, about the news of why I am so excited!

I belong to the Kansas Art Quilters Organization. Each year, they earn a grant to further our artistic endeavors. And for the last couple of years, I have been fortunate enough to get one of the 15 or so seats in the classes. I've studied with Rayna Gilman, Rayna Gillman & Jette Clover on personal mark making and Jan Myers Newbury on shibori dyeing. So, imagine my surprise when one of my "sheroes" is going to be here in May AND I GOT A SEAT IN THE CLASS!!


In the event that you don't recognize this woman, her name is Jean Ray Laury, and she is FANTASTIC!!!!

So now, I am off to pin a couple more quilts to be ready for quilting, and take some pictures of the two charity quilts that are finally done! Tonight is one of the charity auction events where the I Spy and my friend Carolyn's quilt will be auctioned. Semi-formal, no less!