June's BOM is finished. I waited until the last minute again this month. This block really appeals to me, both in the design and in the fabrics, and I didn't change a thing.


This next picture was painted by Tao, an elephant. Sorry about the picture quality...the sun was glaring, even with shades drawn, and the flash only made things worse. Oh, and the frame is not wonky, it's perfectly rectangular. I've had the painting since 2001 and never had the wall space to hang it. Yes, every bit of my walls are covered....from floor to ceiling, and I've been taking some of them down and doing some regrouping and rearranging. I'm also eliminating several of them, as they no longer appeal to me. So anyway, I've had this painting for years and there is some controversy about the humanity of having elephants paint. At the time of purchase, (and I don't even want to tell you what I paid for this!) it was recommended by National Geographic and that the proceeds helped both the elephant and the elephant's trainer. It provided food, shelter, and protection for both. Recently, I've heard that it's not as wonderful as they once thought, although I believe that it's still a better life than trying to simply survive without basic provisions.

Tao painted this when he was only 4 years old, and recent articles say that his painting style has "matured!" He was born in Thailand in 1997 and has been painting since he was two years old. The canvas is a little rough, with what I'm assuming is a little elephant snot and a few smudge marks here and there. None the less, I like the colors that he chose and his "composition."

Here's Tao doing his thing. I have this little picture of him on my bookshelves. I pray that he continues to do well and that he does find enjoyment in painting!

We’re thankful for our fathers, Lord,
They’re special gifts from You;
Help us to show we honor them
By what we say and do. —Sper

Good fathers reflect the heavenly Father.

In church today, we sang "This is my Father's World", which is one of my favorite hymns. It always brings tears to my eyes, no matter how many times I hear the beautiful lyrics.

My first "encounter" with God was when I was very young and my Dad would take me for walks in the woods. My Dad knew every tree, plant, bird, and animal, and loved to share his knowledge with me. He knew each bird call, what plant to eat, what plant to avoid, what leaf came from what tree. I learned to love all of the critters, from snakes to spiders, as my Dad would tell me that people only feared what they did not understand and that God had a purpose for each and everyone of them. I'm so grateful that he passed the love of animals and nature on to me. When I'm feeling overwhelmed and lost, I still retreat to nature to restore my soul. It's where I go to feel surrounded by God's grace and beauty....it centers me and brings me peace.

Today, (and everyday) I'm thankful for the love and guidance from my Heavenly Father and from my earthly Father. (Miss you Dad!)

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!

Yesterday was a full day of wonderful quilting with wonderful friends! Six of us (only four were able to be there yesterday) made two blocks each, to put into a quilt that is destined for the annual Mennonite Auction to raise funds for hunger relief. We've had the blocks done for quite awhile, but didn't have a plan to put them together......the layout.....color choices......sashing, etc.

Here's Joyce, Fran, and Lois (Kathy and Bev were unable to join us) and the keyboard pieces that were to become the outside border.





Here is the quilt before adding the outside border. We laid everything out on the floor and auditioned the sashing fabric and the cornerstones. The original plan was to use black for the sashing but after we laid everything out, we decided that the green made it a softer, happier quilt.



This is the finished quilt top. We were all very happy with the end results. The blocks in this quilt all represent different Psalms and the appliqued blocks have the corresponding Psalm embroidered on them. We now need to have it hand quilted. Unfortunately, this auction will only accept hand quilted quilts, although the piecing can be done by machine. We are hoping that someday they may expand their quilts to include machine quilting. This auction is always extremely successful and if they opened it up to machine quilting, they would get many, many more entries to auction. Although I am able to hand quilt......I do not enjoy hand quilting a large top. I would also not be able to get it finished in time, so I will be contacting a local church group to see if they will be able to quilt it for us.

Ta-da!

Oh boy! New templates....new fonts.....new colors.....new backgrounds.......I'll be playing with these and changing frequently! Thanks Blogger!

Here's the completed cross stitch project that I posted about a few months ago. In that post, I took a picture of the sorted floss and was concerned about getting the project finished. Well....this is not the result of those particular threads. After considering the time deadline and the amount of work involved, I changed gears and started an entirely different project.

This pillow was for my dear friend Kathy's birthday and I wanted it to have a special meaning for her. I started with a kit, but didn't follow it beyond the green outline pattern and the corner quilt patterns.....the rest evolved as I stitched. I didn't even know what size or shape it would end up being. I think I have over 40 hours of stitching in this, even after I thankfully switched to a simpler pattern. It just takes time, even if you are doing the same stitch and same color, over and over.





I added this scripture to the middle square, as it is one of Kathy's favorites.




Overall, I was pleased with the end result. I decided to make the cross stitch into a pillow, and then added piping to make it stand out more. The back is zippered so that the pillow could be replaced if it was ever necessary or the cross stitch repaired if the threads got snagged.



And here is a warning that I doubt many people really have any problem obeying.....Kathy got me a little box of DeBrand Chocolates that are made locally. They are wonderful and I never have any problem eating them while they are fresh. I wish I had enough willpower to leave them alone to spoil!

Five wonderful friends + three quilt shops = the perfect day! It's hard to get five ladies to find one day that they can get together for a mini road trip, but few weeks ago, we managed to do just that. Here's my haul from the day (some are just small pieces from the remnant bins). Of course, even better than the fabric was a blessed day of fellowship!




I finished May's BOM today, just in time to pick up the next block on Thursday. As usual, I substituted a couple of the fabrics.



And lastly, I had a sweet visitor land on my rhubarb. It stayed while I zipped inside to get my camera and let me take several pictures of it before it flew away.

I had a great lunch with a great friend followed by a visit to a fabric store. One of our local quilt/fabric shops has a remnant section where all of the fabrics are at least 50% off. There isn't a huge selection, but the deals are just great. I got all of this fabric for under $7. Don't you love the last fabric on the right....."Dancing Bugs"...what a cute title for a fabric line...makes me smile!

In my heart forever.............

Everyone seems to be posting their spring garden and flower pictures, so I'm adding some of mine too. This is the rhubarb that I planted last spring as tiny, little plants. They did really well last year and came up long before any other plants this spring. If I was away for most of the day, I could actually see their growth during those hours.....I kid you not!




Here's a longer shot of the rhubarb bed. All of the plants came back with gusto. I'm still going to resist harvesting many stalks from them so that their root core can continue to thrive without strain.




And lastly, here's my little tomato plant, already caged in anticipation of some HUGE growth. I only planted two of these Big Beef tomato plants, which should be tons for my personal use.




I bought last years' rhubarb starts and these tomato plants at one of the local Amish markets. I wish I had taken my camera with me to show you the array of flowers and plants, all bright, fresh, and healthy. I don't know where they get their plants, but they are always first rate and priced less than other places. The Amish community is very close to me so I'll have to remember to take my camera along for the ride too.

Happy Gardening!

I joined a gym today! A free membership with Silver Sneakers, an old folks perk from my insurance company. I have such a problem with dizziness that walking outside isn't exactly a pleasant way to exercise (it can be down right dangerous) and I don't have the money or room for any inside exercise equipment.
I'm not expecting any quick changes, as it took me many years to get so unhealthy and out of shape, but I hope to stick with it and little by little, regain some endurance. It's never too late, right!?

And another perk for joining........I dug out my tennis shoes, (which had been hibernating in the closet for a couple of years now) and found a hidden cat toy in the toe of one of the shoes. Oliver has been reunited with his green fuzz ball and is also getting some exercise as he chases his "new" toy!

As part of a little blogging game sent to me by Kathleen, I was asked to re-post the 6th picture that I posted when I started my blog. I'm supposed to give you an update on the picture and what's happened since. (I wish it would have been another picture with better story and a happy ending!)

Well, this was part of a block of the month quilt and I have to admit that I've done NOTHING with it or it's fellow blocks! There were a few blocks that I didn't like that much and kind of put it in the company of my other unfinished projects. Seeing this picture again has sort of sparked an interest in retrieving it and see about setting the blocks in a table cover.

I would like to add that keeping a blog has been a great way to have accountability for my crafting. I feel like I should finish as many projects as possible in order to keep my readers interested. I've really enjoyed blogging and plan to continue, even if I don't finish a project. Gee, we can all relate to that problem!

Thanks, Kathleen, for sending me down memory lane and reminding me to finish what I start!

Do your part to preserve

our precious planet!

April BOM. I changed this one too and made the arrows double pointed. The instructions called for an additional plaid fabric at the end of the arrows which meant that your eye couldn't decide where to look. These fabrics are pretty soft so much of the contrast is lost but I still think it's a pretty block.
If you look closely, you'll see that my arrow corners are somewhat lost in the seam allowances. I'm not sure what happened except that the pattern called for 16th's in cutting, so you have to eyeball those measurements since they aren't on the rotary cutting rulers. (.....or maybe it was just poor construction......I'd rather blame it on the rulers!)

I'm still working on spring clean up in my little yard and just haven't had much time for sewing and crafting. Little by little, I've trimmed the bushes, chopped off the ornamental grasses, raked, weeded, edged, and of course, mowed (twice already). The weeds are a constant battle and I think I can sometimes hear them chuckling at me, knowing that no matter how much weeding I do, they will return in a day or two. Oh, how I miss the seclusion of winter and the refreshing chore of shoveling! .......sigh.........

Not much to blog about lately....life seems to be getting in the way of crafting.

Thought I'd show you the chocolate fabrics that I've been collecting for a couple of years. Yesterday, I had lunch with some dear friends and we ended up at a quilt shop (naturally!) where I found two more fabrics to add. I bought the bottom two fabrics on the right. I thought the fabric with the writing on it would make a good sashing or maybe some cornerstones. I don't have a plan for these fabrics yet, no specific pattern in mind.....I just like them. Ebay has a bunch of chocolate fabrics right now that I don't have yet, but the money is sparse. Each of these fabrics below is a yard, so I already have enough for a good sized top or several smaller projects. Gotta quit collecting them at some point and make something out of them! (Not!)

I've been trying to get my yard mowed most of the afternoon and the rain slips in and out long enough that I can't get it done. After the rains, I'll need a machete to make the first cut! My neighbors took down their Christmas lights yesterday so I know that it's officially spring and time to get the yard cleaned up!

I was able to get March's BOM finished today. It seems like March is slipping away very quickly and I didn't want to be sewing this block the night before it was due. I kept the fabrics the same, but redrafted the corner and center blocks to take them from 16 pieces each, to 8 pieces each.



And from the Sunday comics.......a little chuckle!

I had to wake my cat up today.....thanks to daylight savings time. Gracie is on a specific time schedule to receive insulin shots. Normally, she comes to get me at the right time as her internal clock is pretty accurate. I live in Indiana and we are in the Eastern time zone. There's nothing "eastern" about Indiana and in the middle of the summer, we have daylight until 10:30 PM. It's absurd. People actually mow their lawns at 10 PM, when I'd like to be sleeping, or at least be enjoying little peace and quiet.

I live in an area of Indiana that only recently started using DST (maybe 3 or 4 years now). We never changed our clocks, we just relied on God's natural timing. It worked for us! CBS's Sixty Minutes did a segment on our area that said that it costs us 60 million dollars per year in extra utility costs on DST. The only advantage that they found was that golf courses got more tee times. Grrrrrrr.....

Oh well. I have no choice but to adjust and accept....and so I will! Gracie too!

It's too early......let me sleep!

Gracie and Oliver on "robin watch" duty. They've been keeping quite busy with all of the bird activity lately....well, between naps, anyway.

Spring has sprung....or at least it's springing! I'm not sure when these crocuses broke ground because the snow just melted over the weekend. This is right next to the house where it's the warmest.



(Kathleen.....looks like Indiana is about a week behind Illinois.)

What appears to be a tangled mess of floss is actually all sorted and ready to go.....at least that's my hope. I was able to distinguish between the different colors without any problem, but when it came to what name and symbol went with what color, it was any one's guess.

Who are they kidding??!! Here's a short list of some of the colors......Pale Brown, Light Brown, Brown, Dark Brown, Light Rust, Rust, Dark Rust, Darkest Rust, Pale Beige, Light Beige.....
Yikes! And just within the brown family. The greens and yellows were just as confusing. Well, I did the best that I could and with any luck, the project will look like the picture on the package!




Hopefully, this will be a finished project and these threads will all go together to make a nice picture and a great gift. To be continued.........

My Pink/Green/White swap exchange blocks are now set into a quilt, ready for quilting. This picture is not very good as I don't have any place large enough to spread it out and then be able to get far enough away for a good shot. Use your imagination.....

I used 15 blocks, leaving 3 for a table runner, and set them 3 blocks x 5 blocks. It measures 52" x 84", which is a long, narrow quilt, not a standard size.

This quilt will fit the antique "handyman's" bed that is in my den. It's much smaller (narrower) than a twin mattress, but just as long, so these measurements will be just right for a nice drop, all the way around.

I'm not thrilled with the fabric that I used for the outside sashing. It's a little too dark and too olive to blend as nicely as I would like. I had used it in the swap blocks that I made, not knowing what shades would be used by the other swappers. As one block, it will blend just fine, as a border, it's not quite what I wanted. However, all of the fabric used in this quilt (including the block fabrics that I sent out) came from my stash, and therefore, was "free." OK.....I had to buy this fabric at some point, but for this particular project, I didn't have to buy any extra fabric.

It now goes into my Bermuda Triangle of unfinished projects, as I'm not happy or comfortable with my own machine quilting and can't afford to have it sent out. This would be a good quilt to experiment on since it will be for my own use and not given away. We'll see....

I'm really happy with the swap blocks that I received and would join another "no sew" swap in a heartbeat! Thanks to everyone that participated. :)

I wanted to show you what I did with my sad looking couch over the week end. This couch is probably about 13 or 14 years old and it's the only cushioned seating in my house. Therefore, it gets used and used and used........ It was (is) a good quality couch and just needed some TLC.

It had lost some of it's oomph and the cushions were showing signs of being squashed and were unable to rebound. I read somewhere that you could add quilt batting to stuff in the low spots but I thought that would take a whole lot of trouble, a whole lot of batting, and that it would possibly be pretty lumpy.

I went to Joanne's and sorted through all of the foam and batting products and came upon 2" NU-Foam. It's compressed polyester and as I squished the different foams and battings, it seemed the most firm and substantial. OH, and it was much less costly than some of the other foams. My original plan was to add an entire layer of the NU-Foam to the whole top of the cushions and then decided to just add a strip of Nu-Foam to the front of the cushions where most of the wear was showing. I cut a 5" high strip by the length of the cushion fronts.

It was a little bit of a struggle to get the foam strips shoved down to the front of the cushions and then smooth it out evenly. I'll bet the whole process was about 15 minutes for both cushions.





Here's the after shot. It's pretty dramatic for a little expense and a little elbow grease. I don't know how long it will last, but it will be easy enough to do the whole procedure over when it droops again.

Meanwhile, my couch has a new lease on life and I can hold off on buying a new one. I like that!

They are all finished! Eighteen blocks, including the two blocks that I contributed to the swap. This is the last batch of the Pink/Green/White swap blocks.



"Churn Dash"--Thanks Diane
"Box Kite"--Thanks Georgia



"Rail Fence"--Thanks Karie
"Pinwheel"--Thanks Diane

I really enjoyed this swap because we all sewed our own blocks from the pieces that were cut out by the swappers. Not having to cut out the block pieces was a huge time saver and it was fun to see what pattern the swappers picked out and their fabric choices. I was also able to control my own seam allowances and make sure that all of the blocks came out to a perfect 12 1/2". Not surprisingly, 1/4" on my machine may be different on your machine. Even a few threads multiplied by several seams can make the overall block a different size. Sewing my own will make setting the blocks a breeze, as they are all uniform in size.

I'm still mulling over what I'm going to make with all of these blocks. I have 18 completed blocks, which includes the 2 blocks that I contributed to the swap. Right now, I'm thinking of making a large lap quilt using 16 blocks, 4 x4. This will leave two left over blocks that could be used for the sides of a tote or I could make an additional block to make a table runner. I've been playing with my graph paper to decide what to do. Hmmmmm.......decisions.........

Are you getting tired of seeing my Pink/Green/White swap blocks? I hope not, because I've got four more to show you today! ;)




"Shoo Fly"--Thanks Debbie (nontraditional)
"Shoo Fly"--Thanks Karen (traditional)




"Twisting Star"--Thanks Rebecca
"Mini Bow Tie"--Thanks Jane

Four more Pink/Green/White no sew swap blocks;



"Four Patch Fox and Goose"--Thanks Sharon
"Tulip Lady Fingers"--Thanks Wanda



"1930's Square"--Thanks Robin
"Sunlight and Shadows"--Thanks Lea

February BOM. This went together quickly and easily. Since February is short, I wanted to get this block finished before the end of the month slipped up on me.

(Thanks for picking up my block kit, Kathy....and for the cookies...Yum!)



I've been nipping away at the Pink/Green/White quilt block swap kits. Here are a few that are completed.

"Louisiana"--Thanks Andrea

"Prairie Queen"--Thanks Kathleen

"Oh Susannah"--Thanks Kathleen

"Tennessee"--Thanks Lynne

These have been fun to pick up and sew when I've had a little "block" of time. I have more finished and will post those soon. So far, they have gone together pretty well and I'm pleased with the results. I'm still not sure how I'll use the blocks (full quilt, runners, lap quilt, etc.) but I like having lots of blocks to give me lots of options.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

Mail Call!

I received my "no sew" block exchange today! Since I did two exchanges, I received 16 pink, green, and white block kits. I've already made the two blocks that I sent in for the swap so I'll have 18 total blocks to work with when I get them all sewn. The fabrics that the exchangers chose are all great....there isn't one fabric that I don't like.



Kathleen, my great swap hostess, also enclosed a little bonus, the tissue holder that you see in the bottom left corner. She did a great job on this with both her color choices and construction. The holder has boxed corners and a double trimmed edge, which really adds to it's character. Thanks Kathleen!

I've had a rough month of illness and these blocks will be a nice project to pick up whenever I get a little time. Some of these blocks will go together in about 15 minutes, others a bit longer, but since I can just pick up one at a time, there's no completion pressure. I can't wait to see how they all look when they are put together! Thanks to all of the swappers!

Several inches of snow arrived last night and I'm spending the day inside, enjoying the view.

I've been wandering around on the quilting sites that are frequently advertised in the quilt magazines and came upon;

http://www.redroosterfabrics.com/

They have a nice assortment of free pattern downloads and although I have way too many patterns as it is, it's still fun to add more to your possible future projects folder. When you go to the site, just click on patterns and you will find both current and retired patterns. Obviously, they are designed around their fabric lines, but you can use your own stash. I found several patterns that I thought were a little bit different and copied them for my files.

And another place you should check out is;

www.allpeoplequilt.com/millionpillowcases

I've mentioned this before, but there is a huge need for charity quilts and pillowcases too. I love the pillowcases because I can make them quickly and since they require much less fabric, cheaper. The site has four pillowcase patterns for you to download.

Back to browsing.......

Oooh, I'm back. Here's another great site;

http://www.windhamfabrics.com/

They have some great free patterns too. Don't miss the Page 2 tab at the top of the first page of patterns.

Isn't this just the most wonderful fabric!! It's from The Alice in Wonderland collection manufactured by Quilting Treasures. I'm such a fan of Alice in Wonderland and the whole fabric collection has my mind spinning with ideas.

If you've been following my blog, you know what this stripe fabric is destined to become.......a 60 degree table runner! As soon as I saw the fabric, I just had to get some for a runner or two.




This will be the backside of the runner. It will look almost as nice on this side as the striped side. The illustrations are so special.




Both fabrics, side by side, for scale......

Here's the selvage edge. I cut off all of my selvages and keep them for some unknown project in the future. Isn't this the best selvage?! The fabric is copyrighted from The British Library Board. This is their way of saying that it's for personal USE only. When I saw this selvage, I fell in love with the fabric that much more!

I laugh every time!

January's BOM is finished! Although I have many more projects to work on, I enjoy actually completing something, no matter how small. I'm one of those people that tackles the simple things before attacking the more complicated projects. "They" say you should do the hardest things first, but I need a sense of completion that inspires me to move on to the harder projects.

Next on the list of harder things is to get my Quilts For Kids quilt basted, quilted, bound, and shipped off. Hopefully, it will be finished by next week since I've moved it to the top of my list.

Lots of baggies filled with pieces of cut fabric, destined to become 12" blocks! I worked on making the blocks that I'll be keeping, then I sorted the rest of the pieces into individual baggies to be sent to Kathleen, the hostess. I wanted to make sure that the blocks would turn out OK and that I had all of the pieces cut correctly.



Here's "Noon and Light." I will say that this block was a little bit tedious and I hope that it won't discourage any beginning quilters. Take your time and press as you go!



Here's "Album." This one was fast and simple and should be easy enough for any beginners.

I'll get these into the mail soon. I'm way ahead of schedule, so I may not get to the Post Office for a few days. Unless my swap partners get their pieces cut early, I won't expect to get their baggies of pieces until the middle of February. I'm in no hurry.......there are tons of other projects waiting to be started, finished, or in the middle of construction!