I've been doing a little of this, a little of that...

and not having a whole lot to show for it! I decided that the knitted cape/shrug that I posted earlier needed to be adjusted. The neckline was too strechy and was gradually working its way down off my shoulders. So, I undid the bindoff and added some more rows, decreasing as I went. Now it has a much firmer, and narrower neckline. No picture-it looks pretty much the same. I have been working on my shawl little by little, not a lot of progress, I kept making an error in the same location and had to repeatedly frog several rows. UGH. I am mid cuff on the first sock of a pair, using a varigated Tofutsie yarn, size 1 dpns. Mindless, but very small and taking forever. Last night I cast on and got halfway through a washrag while watching NCIS. This is really mindless, work on auto-pilot and just what I need to keep my hands busy while watching TV.

On the quilting front, I have actually started the Orange Crush Mystery Quilt. I'm one of the all time great 'laggers' on that. I'm still working on step one. I have also picked out the fabrics for JudyL's newest hour a day quilt and hope to get an hour or so of that one done today-not lagging so far back, its only day three. I really love this pattern, I'm looking forward to having this top finished.

For eye candy, I have now received all 5 of my FiberArtPostcards for my birthday swap, take a look. That paisley looking one has some amazing beadwork and trapunto-I wish it showed up better in the photo.

A little of this, a little of that...

Things have been busy around here for the last month or so, I'm hoping things will soon settle into a calmer routine.

Today is my birthday. Since I am the first to rise, I usually enjoy an hour or so of quiet with a cuppa, my devotions and the puppies. I decided to make today a little more special and use the lovely teacup and saucer that I purchased on ebay last week. I really wanted a super pretty and feminine teacup to enjoy some of my teas in a truly girlie manner(I've been visiting Gracious Hospitality too much, but I just love the mood and feeling that blog evokes). I brewed a little pot of Earl Grey Creme (do you have a Teavana store near you, mmmm) and drank it from this cup.

Then, from elegant to totally fun and fiber related: I have shown the two Fiber Art Postcards that I have sent out as part of a birthday exchange that I participate in. Here is the first of the FAPs that was sent to me for my b'day.

I'm also doing Bonnie's Orange Crush, but I'm definitely one of the lagaholics- I've yet to cut the first peace, so I suppose that I should say that I'm planning to make the OC.

I have completed the current session of beginner knitting lessons at my local yarn shop, although I will probably sign up for more classes in a month or so as I am mid stole and mid cuff on my first sock and will undoubtedly need assistance. Not much to show there, yet.

Another B'day FAP

Last month I showed a FAP that I had made for a Birthday exchange in an online Quilt group. That one was based on a comment the recipient had made in a chat, that folks in her office called her the dragon lady, and that she wore that title as a badge of honor because it reflected her work ethic. I machine embroidered a fire breathing dragon on hers. This month there was no clue to go on, so did a pretty bouquet of flowers for an April birthday. I mailed it today.

As promised a few days ago

Here is the picture of the shrug I knitted. I'm not sure how well you will be able to tell from the photo,but there are 4 large rows, the first everything is purled, the next knitted and so on until finally the very top rolls on itself. It was done in the round on several different size circular needles. It was easy enough for a beginner like me to do. I can see the mistakes I made as I went along, but I wanted something to throw over my shoulders when became chilled around the house. This works. I will probably make another and try to use the yarn recommended, or at least one more similar- it may make the results a little better.

I have the grandchildren for yesterday and today. Once they leave, I hope to get up to the sewing room so that I can participate in the Quiltathon. I want to do a log cabin similar to what JudyL and some others are doing. Not sure how big I will make it- we'll see how far the fabrics I have chosen will take me.

Been busy doing things other than blogging...

I've been taking a knitting class at the local yarn store. The teacher designed a stole for me to do, so I'm working on that-not big enough for a photo. In between times, I found a free pattern on the web and made a shrug/cape type thing, I'll get pictures of it soon.

I'm now 'semi-retired', I have cut back drastically on the time I spend at work, and hope to have more time to sew, quilt, knit and camp soon.

Speaking of camping, dh and I just returned from a week at Hunting Island, SC. We joined a group of women campers that we know from an online group of women that all have the same style of camper. I do have photos of that. We had a great time. DH didn't mind being the only guy with 13 women and 10 camping canines! LOL The weather was a bit cool, and we did have some rain, but generally we had a great time. The area is beautiful, if you ever have the chance, look around.

All kinds of stitches.....

This week I was able to do some stitching; different types of stitching. Monday evening was the first of several knitting classes. I have done a little knitting over the years, but always self taught from books, or more recently, the internet. I've not had training in the 'proper' way of doing things, or in more complicated stitches, so I enrolled in a class at a charming little yarn shop here in town. I hope to learn the right way of doing things (even if I eventually do things my own way, I feel I should know the correct way first).

Then, I received an envelope in the snail mail from my quild. Whenever a president finishes her term, we all make a block and a thank you quilt is made as a gift. The envelope included instructions and the white fabric that you see in the photo. Each member was instructed to supply three blues to complete the block. Here's mine, all it needs now is a siggy and it will be ready to send back to be assembled and quilted. Not much stitching when I see what the rest of ya'll are doing, but the way things have been going for me this winter, I'm thrilled to have done this much.

My mini-participation in Quiltathon

I knew I wouldn't get to do much besides dream of Quiltathon-ing this weekend. We had too many things already on the agenda- Lunch with camping buddies, birthday celebration for 5 yr old grandson, dog training session for Cujo Jr. the vicious attack pom, painting the in-law suite so ds#3 can move in between semesters, etc. That all meant that I didn't get to participate in the local Shop Hop this weekend, which is a good thing from a stashbuster point of view. It also means that my participation in JudyL's Quiltathon is also extremely limited. In the post before last, I showed fabrics that I intend to use in a Shakespeare in the Park quilt. Commentors agreed with me that I needed more light shades of orange and maybe some darker purples, so, thanks to Vicki's frequent recommendation, I searched Kim's Fat Quarters online shop and ordered these fabrics to fill in the gaps (which is a bad thing from a stashbuster point of view, blame it on Vicki!). I have to say that I love the fabrics, and they arrived very quickly-more quickly that I could have found time this past week to drive to the nearest quilt shop! My hope is that my 'Quiltathon' will include washing the new fabric and perhaps ironing all the pretty fabrics. I know better than to hope that I will begin cutting today.

This week I also made and mailed off my first ever FAP. Hope it survives the postal services between here and Australia!

Meanwhile, my son's poor top still awaits more sewing to finish blocks and then put rows together. I hate not being able to work all the way through a project within a few days. Any interuption of the process and it is so hard for me to get back on the project, to be enthusiastic for that project again.

Playing around with my new toy

I finally had a chance to get up into my sewing room today. There are a few tops waiting to be completed, tops waiting to be quilted, and fabric waiting to be ironed and cut into new tops. The sewing room could also stand a good cleaning. NOT going to happen! I needed a chance to do only what I wanted to do, nothing that I 'must' do. And, that is exactly what I did!

I still have lots to learn about my new embroidery machine, but today I played with it some more, here is what I made. I need to figure out what happened with the flames-see the white area? Not sure what caused that, I'm hoping I can find an orange pigma pen and just dab it away. I'm not to proud to 'cheat'!

OK, so what do you do when.....

life keeps you too busy to get into your sewing room? Well, I just get myself involved with yet another project! On the way home from a doctor's visit the other day, I succombed to the siren song of JoAnn's. I had to drive past it, and I haven't bought anything in sooooo looong, and I did just join a Shakespeare in the Park group.........so, I stopped and I bought.

I have been trying to decided what colors to use, if you go to the Judy Martin site, you'll see many example's to inspire you. Many seem to be blue and white. I love blue and white, but I don't want to do that for this quilt. What to do, what to do? A while back someone shared a quilt on her blog ( I think it was Mary, but wouldn't swear to it) That was purple and orange and absolutely breathtaking. It was an entirely different pattern, but the color combination is what caught my imagination. So, that is what I am going to try. When I finally get that far, I'll make a few blocks in this combination and see how I like it. I may wind up changing after that, but for now, here's what I bought to work with. Looking at these fabrics, I'm thinking that I may need lighter values of the orange, maybe some more of the darker purples. What do you think?

just a quick update before work...

As I said, son is doing pretty well. He returned to campus yesterday, said it was a bit much getting to class and he was tired, but ok and not in too much discomfort. He has to come home Wednesday for a post-op visit with the doctor. Meanwhile, since he hasn't suffered terribly and has maintained a good sense of humor the whole while, I thought you might get a chuckle out of this photo. Boy! What a charmer he is. He says he figures once everyone sees how stylin' he is, this will be the next fad on campus!! As I said, he kept his sense of humor. I can't imagine that wearing this thing was much fun, but it did keep any bleeding from running down his face. Sinus surgery, yuck!

I've been gone for too long

I haven't posted in a while. Last month Mom really deteriorated and we had to bring in Hospice. Both the nursing home and hospice were fantastic. Mom passed away last week. My brother made it in time to say goodbye- many claim that even when unconscious, patients are able to hear when spoken too. She died the day after he arrived. He was able to help me begin sorting out her things, as I had never emptied her little apartment in my lower level. The majority of that remains to be done. Thanks to hospice, her passing was peaceful. The picture is of Mom last fall, just after arriving in the home, hamming it up!

Meanwhile, my youngest has been fighting that MRSA thing. His sinuses were infected and unable to shed the infection, so yesterday he had surgery for that. The surgery went well, although it took about twice as long as the doctor expected. He must remain quiet for several days, not bending over or doing anything that will raise his blood pressure. He is not too uncomfortable, which is a blessing. Would you believe that last night was the first time in weeks that I have slept through until morning? I'm beat.

Today while the house was quiet with son and dh napping, I finally got to do something sewing related. I did some online lessons in digitizing for my new embroidery machine, and also worked on some quilting designs for my midarm--whenever I get back up to the sewing room. I have several things on my short term to do list: make some FAPs for a birthday exchange, make something for a friend's soon to arrive grandchild, finish the top for my son's quilt. I'm sure that I have forgotten something, but I hope to have something sewn up and ready to show soon.

Thread, thread and more thread

Seems like every thing I have the desire to do is thread related. Just before Christmas I finally decided (started deliberating LAST Christmas) to get myself an embroidery machine. I did, but haven't had much of a chance to play with it and learn my way around because of the holidays. However, now it is January and I have started the new year by taking an online course in machine embroidery at Quilt University. I tried two things on my own before the holiday- I did read the manual far enough to be able to try it out. This week I did a few other designs an learned that I need to learn a whole lot about stabilizers and how to choose the appropriate one for the background fabric I'm using. Anyway, here is a design I did the other night as part of the learning experience.

Cleaning and camping

I never did get to do any sewing, but I did get to
go in and do some preliminary cleaning in the sewing room. The book shelf in there had almost collapsed when dh tried to move it so he could relocate the telephone to another room. Since we had to move the bookcase in the family room to put up the Christmas tree, I decided to abscond with that fully functional bookcase. Switching things around resulted in some reorganizing and general picking up. Not perfect or complete, by any means, but a few steps closer than before. I have next week off, so hope to get to spend lots of time up there. We'll see how that gets to work out.

Meanwhile, Dot emailed me and said that she had begun working on 'my' quilt. I had forgotten all about it, but back when Judy L. presented that block and challenged us all to design a quilt out of it, Dot had asked if I would permit her to make my design. Immensely flattered, of course I said yes. Well, she has actually begun to make that quilt. Hey, look ya'll, I'm a designer!!! Stop by and give her some encouragement. Personally, I love the fabrics she is using and think it will look terrific.

To give you something to look at, even if its not quilt related, here are some pictures of a two day camping trip that DH and I took with some of my online lady camper friends. We all have the same type of camper and get together to camp. DH is an honorary member and gets to be the much spoiled center of attention. We camped at High Falls State Park in Barnesville,GA. It was cold (for Georgia) and mostly rainy, but the company was excellent and we had a ball. Since the weather wasn't right for sitting around a campfire, we drove a few miles away (the town of Juliette, GA) to have lunch at the Whistle Stop Cafe and see the little street with all the old shops. This is the place that Fried Green Tomatoes was filmed, and it is exactly like the film. What great fun!!

It's been a while, and I

thanks those of you who contacted me privately to say I was missed. The last few months have been hectic, to say the least. My son contracted that MRSA that you may have read about in the papers. It started with what we thought was a bad toothache, maybe an abces. He went to a dentist, it was the dentist realized that it wasn't a dental matter and whatever the problem was, it needed immediate attention. She contacted our family doctor and then upon his recomendation a specialist and insisted he see our son within the hour. The specialist then sent him to begin immediate intravenous antibiotics for the next several days. He emphasized that this infection was very near the brain, and had to be contained and controlled quickly. Months later it has improved greatly despite several frightening relapses and we are now trying to schedule some surgery to clean out the last of the infection. Bless that dentist! The specialist said if we had delayed even 24 hours we would probably be burying him!

Meanwhile, my mom took a fall and took her first ambulance ride. Fortunately, she was bruised but not broken and they released her. Two days later she took another ambulance ride, this time with a stroke. She went from hospital to a nursing and rehab center where they said she would need long term care from now on. I have spent a lot of time trying to find and then move her into a facility, now I am dealing with the piles of paperwork that goes along with all of this. I must say, every single person that I have dealt with has been both helpful and very, very nice. Blessing in the midst of turmoil.

Those are just the two most serious things from the past few months, but there have been smaller excitements, too. You know.......life! Anyway, all of this has kept me either to busy, or too exhausted to do any blogging or sewing. This weekend is the first time I have gotten into the sewing room since the last time I posted. Need I say that my plans to give everyone a quilt for Christmas have gone out the window. (to put a positive spin on it, I have a great start on NEXT year's gifts!!) This weekend I caught up on my BOM swap obligations. Once these babies hit the mail, I'm finished! I must say that I will be glad to see the end of this. I try too hard and wind up doing not as well as normal, it takes the joy out of things. These are the blocks for October, November and December. They are not as crooked as they may appear in the photos, I put them on the back of the sofa to take the pictures, instead of laying them flat. OOOPS!

I won!

I participate in an online BOM swap. I have shown some of the monthly blocks during this past year. When you join, you must commit to participate for the full year. Each month a block is posted with instructions and fabric selection rules, you make two and send them to the swap coordinator. She picks two names from those participating. Everyone that participates eventually wins a months block, this was my time to win, and I am so glad, because I thought these jar blocks were so much fun. Here are a couple of photos showing my winnings. Not the best photos- they were spread out on my dining room table as there is something already on the design wall, but you will get an idea.

JudyL's Arkansas Crossroads challenge

I've been having fun with this block, here's one that I put together using EQ6. I was trying to be seasonal and non-symetrical (trying to stretch my comfort zone).

Moving right along...

Yesterday and today I made quite a bit of progress on my next Christmas gift quilt. I must admit to being a bit taken back that it took most of today to make all the HSTs needed, that slowed me down some. I used the program Triangulations by Brenda Henning which prints out a grid onto regular printer paper from your home computer. It will make grids for hsts and QST of an incredible variety of sizes. HSTs for example from 12" finished size to 7.5" finished size. It was easy to do, but I need quite a number of them, so cutting things apart was quite time consuming, as will be tearing off the paper and pressing. 330+ of anything made by any technique will take a while to do! I did finally get enough made all the way so that I could make just four of the blocks in which they are used. So, without further ado, here is a peek at what this top will look like, and a close up to show the fabrics used. The color in the close up is more accurate. Progress feels good!

New Quilt Supervisor

Things around here may be picking up, I certainly hope so! I haven't gotten to do any quilting for a bit as things were so hectic. My youngest DS came home from college to see the dentist for what he thought was an awful toothache. It turns out it was an extremely serious Staph infection and he was on IV antibiotics for several days. I can tell you that I nearly went thru the floor when the doctor used 'life-threatening' 'lead to menningitis' and a few other words in the same sentence! I thank God for the dentist who not only admitted that she wasn't sure what it was, but that she wasn't the one to handle it, and then made a series of phone calls to both our family doctor and then to a specialist and got us in to the specialist within an hour. He is now recovered and back trying to catch up on his classes.

Meanwhile, DH has been referred for Physical Therapy and Occupational Therapy to better adapt to his degenerating coordination and mobility. This is a very good thing, he will be safer and perhaps less depressed about what he can no longer do as they show him alternative methods to accomplish daily tasks. Of course, taking him for these visits will give me less time in the sewing room, but thats ok as long as it helps.

This weekend I finally got to spend some time sewing. YIPPEE. So much inspiration at the quilt shop and not getting to turn on the machine was frustrating! Judy's last hour a day is still on the design wall, but I cut out and have about 25% of the blocks for a new quilt sewn. I have to get the tops done for my Christmas gift quilts. I still have 5 tops to do, so all those HAD quilts will have to wait. Of course, once they are sewn, I still have to quilt all of them......I'm beginning to feel overwhelmed here! LOL

However, I have a new assistant and quilt supervisor that keeps a close eye on me as I cut and sew, carefully inspecting any bits that fall to the floor. I'm sure if I drop something that might be suitable for the scrap pile, I shall be informed. Meet Casey, the newest member to our household. We adopted him about 3 weeks ago. He is 5 yrs old and a real snuggler. Nic, as you may figure from the photo, is not impressed by the cute factor, but is ok as long as no one tries to eat from his food dish!

a few more photos...

Third installment of quilt show

Here we are, the next batch of photos from the quilt show. This colorful pineapple quilt was done with lots of strips, as you can see in the close up.

Then there is the amazing portrait. I apologize to the quilter/artist as the work was incredible, but my photo is a little blurry. All 'painted' with fabric.

The following two are a modern and a traditional take on squares, I don't know how the modern one was constructed, but looks like it could have been a nine patch too. The last two were interesting for the overall affect. One for the 'blend' the other for precision.