The Blankies & Some Bread!

A little detour from quilting, a friend asked me to help her out & sew up a big pile of fleece fabric into blankies for grandchildren & for herself. They are double sided so I cleared off my big island in the kitchen to trim them with the rotary cutter. Then I blanket stitched around them on the machine.

Don't they look cozy? And with the chilly weather outside & fresh snow on the surrounding[12-14,000 ft] mountains, these blankies make me want to curl up with them & a good book in front of the fire!

It looks rather bleak doesn't it? Some of the aspen seem to have lost all of their leaves & others are still green, a few are all gold along the roadside.

I did make bread, French Baguettes, here they are fresh from the oven, very rustic!
Yum, I could eat an entire loaf!

We have invited friends for a glass of wine this afternoon & I had no baguettes on hand & had to make them-I made tomato/basil topping for bruschetta, one of my favorite snacks!

Before I returned to quilting I took some of my test quilt "sandwiches" that I use to try out a new design idea or check my tension on the longarm, & trimmed them & overlocked the edges. They go to the animal shelter for the rescued dogs & cats, it's nicer than the bare cage floor or paper or whatever they use, gives the poor abandoned critters a snuggly thing to sleep on. Otherwise I would be throwing these practice squares away so I am very happy to find a place that can use them.

I have now returned to working on a client quilt, her G'ma's vintage Dresden Plate blocks. I have them all faced with a very thin non woven interfacing ready to applique to the muslin blocks.

They are beautifully made, machine pieced with lovely 30's fabrics & well preserved. They will make a very sweet quilt. I want to have this top ready to quilt when we return to AZ in about a month.

Success! A Flimsie.

Tada! What a great feeling to get another UFO to this stage, [only two more left] the quilting should be a breeze after the agony of the piecing. I saw a mistake as soon as I laid it out after attaching the final borders but I am not taking them off to fix it.

It was a PITA to make, but now it is ready to quilt. You will notice that I did complete the little musical note blocks , one for each corner, I guess I am glad that I did even though they took way more time than they deserved!

"Singing His Praises"[Sherry Moore] is a theme quilt, each block has a Bible reference & hymn, for example, the Crown of Thorns block is linked to "Crown Him With Many Crowns", [Words & music Matthew Bridges & George Elvey, 1852 & 1868.]

Originally I saw this BOM online & decided to make it & donate to the church for auction or raffle for ongoing building programs, hence my determination to finish it.

Now I can move onto more enticing projects.

Progress!

This is my progress on the unspeakable BOM, next time I hope to report a completed flimsie. I think the worst is behind me- once I have completed the pieced borders it's just a matter of fitting them onto the main body of the top. I wanted to lay them out to see how it would look & how much I have to fiddle with the borders to get them to fit. I can do this!

Stay tuned!

D9P and a BOM!

Here's the sweet pink D9p for baby Jacqueline, the first Phoenix baby born on labor day so she actually made the news!

This quilt is wicked fast & fun to make.

Currently I am struggling onward with this much dreaded Block Of the Month, one of only three remaining UFO's I have to finish this year in order to begin 2010 with a clean slate.

"It's called Singing His Praises" by Sherry Moore.
The blocks are mostly paper pieced which I really don't mind if the directions, fabric allowances & cutting instructions were more dependable. A couple of the blocks have pieced sections because no matter how carefully I cut there just wasn't enough fabric. This pattern is not for the faint of heart & would be very difficult for an inexperienced quilter.

Here are my 12 completed blocks not yet sashed.

I doubt that I will ever make another BOM with fabrics included, this experience has quite turned me off them but since I am now down to the sashing & borders [also pieced] the end is in sight & I hope to get that part finished up tomorrow.

These are the corner blocks-the first one took me a couple of hours, partly because I had to dig through all the cut pieces at every step to find just the correct size for each section of the block. It is only a 5" block so if you double click on the pic. you will get a close up & be able to see that the pieces are often quite tiny. This is where PP helps to attain great accuracy in reproducing the design, the only other way would have been to applique & that would have been faster & easier. Hindsight, 20-20 right, but PP is what the pattern called for so I soldiered on! After the first one I was ready to quit & not use this part of the design, but this afternoon I was re-energized & tackled three more of the little devils!

With any luck I may have a flimsie to show tomorrow night!

9/11- I Pledge Allegiance.........

A Quilt Of Valor for a Wounded Warrior.

Placing flags at the Veteran's cemetery.

I cannot post today without acknowledging the anniversary of another "day that will live in infamy", a day that none of us will ever forget, never will it fade from our memories the knowledge of those who perished, the heroics of so many. We will always recall on this anniversary, where we were & what we were doing when the cowardly Islamic Terrorists attacked the shores of our nation. It was this event that brought me to the decision to apply for US citizenship. My friends used to tell me, "Ros, you are more patriotic than many Americans you need to get citizenship!" It took a year or two but here are a couple of pics of that day.

That's me in the red jacket

It was a very emotional moment for me, I had to hold back the tears.

Now I am proudly American, although I will forever love the land of my birth, but America the Beautiful is my Home now, the home of my children & grandchildren. I am proud of America- proud of it's history of kindness & generosity to others in need, proud of our Military that sacrifices their all for this nation & it's occupants, & I am blessed with my family to be able to share in the heritage of this honorable & admirable republic, "One Nation under God, Indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all".

God bless America and Americans & especially all who faithfully & sacrificially serve this great & wonderful nation.

VTT

Vintage Thingies Thursday hosted by Colorado Lady is here again, check it out & join the fun!

I took a few pics of some vintage costume jewellery to show you this week. I have more, but that can wait for another day.

Most of the earrings were given to me by my friend about 15 years ago, they belonged to her G'ma.

I love them but they are all clip-ons & boy do they hurt my ears so I seldom wear them.

The first two pairs are very pretty pale turquoise blue, one crystals the other pearls. The flash has sort of washed out the color - I need to figure out how to photograph shiny things!

Should I try to get them changed over for pierced ears so I can use them? Is that even economically possible? I have tried putting little rubber pads on them but it doesn't help & after a very short time my ears are throbbing.

How on earth did anyone ever wear them?

This next pair are gorgeous, but clips again!

These three are all quite dressy, the two larger pair from friend's Gma, the dangly rhinestones I bought at a church rummage sale in the late 50's & they were old then! I have worn them a lot, though not for years, they used to be my favorite earrings for formal occasions.
These are pins with pearls, again I think from my friend's G'ma. The one on the left has a place to hang it on a ribbon or chain

The top one of these the blue [? sapphire] with the safety chain came from my missionary-nurse aunt & it is the real deal I believe not costume-guess she had no use for it in Africa! The other two I bought at flea markets, the tiny one on the right has rhinestones, very hard to photograph but it has delicate filigree work.

I like to wear all of these treasures & do so from time to time, guess I am just an old fashioned girl!

Back To The Basics

I have been distracted by babies[well just one] & sunsets & purses & VTT & I need to get back to blogging about what I do nearly every day, quilting !
I have quilted 6 tops on the LA the past week since I came down from the mountains. However, none of them is bound as yet, my Guild here in Montrose, CO. will help me out with binding the QOV's.

The only one of these that I actually pieced was the baby quilt below, the others were all put together by my generous friends in the Huggy Bunch quilt group.

They never lay or hang totally flat it seems until the binding is attached so I will show you a photo of the whole of this quilt once I get the binding on in a few days.
This is the pink D9P baby girl quilt, I have cut the bright pink fabric for the binding. The baby is due this coming week so I need to get this bound & labeled pronto! The fabrics all came from my stash.

These next two are freehand quilted with square spirals to fill each block- Nancy pieced these & I think they are scrap quilts.

They are two of the latest four QOV's for wounded warriors

These next two QOV quilts were made by Meredith from a "twofer" pattern where you sew the blocks for both quilts at the same time & end up with two very different looking quilts
I think this is a very clever idea so I am looking forward to trying this method myself-it's on my list!
These last two did give me bit of a fit-they are beautiful batiks & after all my bragging about how I have no trouble quilting batiks it came back & bit me you know where!
I had constant struggles with thread breaks, skipped stitches & so on & I had to go painfully slowly & anyone who knows me will tell you that's not my speed. I spent a lot of time trying to solve my problems, umpteen different needles, speeds, re-threadings, bobbin & thread changes, checking timing[ugh], adjusting the needle bar height, ad nauseum until I was pretty cranky! Even ordered a new bobbin, ouch, $$$$-wise that hurt. The batik quilts are done, PTL, & I hope not to have these issues again. The only thing I didn't try [only because I didn't have a can of it] was to spray the fabric with silicon, some of the LA quilters on one of my groups say this helps, guess I need to get a can. I did however use "Sewer's Aid" [a liquid silicon] on the spool of thread & the thread path but I'm not sure it helped, I just struggled on through the process until they were finished.

This last one is a donation for a charitable group's auction, quilted with meandering flowers & leaves.

So it's now Saturday but the date on the post still shows Thursday & although there has to be a way to change that I don't know how!

I drove the 500 plus miles to the CO. mountains today, 9 hours across a lot of desert. It was 60 degrees when I arrived at 9,000 ft. this evening, Phx. hasn't seen 60 degrees since January I think!

VTT

Better late than never! This week I have baby Matthew a couple of days so I am a little behind.

I actually found a couple of cool things last week for VTT, but there is much more to be seen by checking out Colorado Lady's website where all the other participants are listed.

I was complaining that I never found the kind of worthwhile purchase other VTT'ers do, when I happened to roam through Heirloom's for Hospice.

They have a lot of really nice stuff & I spotted these darling little crystal mugs for $2 each. I couldn't pass them up at that price so here they are ! Only about 3" tall so I wonder what they are supposed to hold? Maybe they are punch cups left from a set?They look about right size for a baby but way too delicate-& dangerous!

I probably should photograph them on a dark background but the runner they rest on is also vintage, one from my Grandma's linens.

OK here's a better pic. I just took shows them a little clearer-any suggestions as to their history/ intended use?
As I continued to browse through the store I spotted this tiny treasure, I think it was $1.

It looks as if the mark on the bottom says "Taiwan" but it is very sweet & since I have broken my crystal ring holder it will make a suitable replacement.

Wordless Wednesday

Looking EAST at the Cimmarrons, a reflection of the sunset!

Baby and Bag Brag!

Pics I took last night of the big/little guy. He stayed with G'Mum while Mummy & Daddy went to a birthday party.

He was good as gold, he's trying to "talk" & works very hard at vocalizing!

So sweet these little ones are, so pure & innocent, as yet untouched by the world.

What a gift.

My other brag- I bought a new purse!
We women understand how looking for a new pocket book is about as difficult as finding, well-nice fitting jeans!
It must be big enough-but not too big- have the requisite number of zippered pockets to keep my stuff safe & separated, the right handle-one not two for me, nice & wide & soft on my shoulder.
Then it has to be cute- if there's no chemistry there's no purchase! If I am to live with this appendage I cannot possibly be seen every day with something less than cute!
I was checking out " Rocking P" my favorite store in Ouray [CO.] run by a mother & daughter from TX. They have the cutest things, there is something for everyone, always something new & there's always something for me, LOL!

This time I fell for this great purse- it has the right amount of bling, lots of pockets, perfect handle & the size is just right too. Wow, I think I hit the jackpot!

It isn't real cowhide, but woohoo, I am stylin'!

"Back In The Saddle" [so to speak!]

I have been absent from the blog scene a week, I was in CO. & busy with a house guest etc. I think that I did manage to infect her with the dreaded & incurable Quilt Pox- she fell for the NYB. PP. blocks & using some of my CW replica fabric scraps, made two & I sent her home with fabric for two more-LOL, will her husband ever allow her within my sphere of influence again!?
Aren't they pretty & didn't she do a great job & for a first attempt too?


I have completed another project.
I call this quilt "Provence" because it reminds me of that region of France. I got the top from Linda Rotz Miller prolific & talented quilter-I actually won it in a drawing! She has a plethora of tops to choose from all very reasonably priced.


I quilted it with a freehand Baptist Fan design that I like very much especially for busy quilts that won't really show the quilting. doesn't the red binding set it off perfectly? Thanks Linda I love this quilt & it may be difficult to part with whenever it finds a new home!
I notice that there are a few threads on the back, it's hard to catch them all. Quilters always have threads hanging around it seems!

The solid backing in a soft yellow shows off the design nicely & compliments the colors of the top.

Here is the Rainforrest quilt, finally bound! It's small so it would make a good table topper or maybe a wall hanging.

I managed to cut out the fabric & piece a baby girl D9P last week while visiting with my friend- it's a really sweet quilt so I will get it on my LA tomorrow because the baby is due any day now I think. I sort of blew off today, recovering from the 9 hour road trip from CO. to AZ yesterday & the shock to my system of the transition from 55 degrees to 113! Yikes it is hot here!

Quilty Give-Away

If you love all things quilty as I do you will want to check out Regena's blog at http://quiltfever3.blogspot.com/. You will be amazed at the selection of gifts she has for one lucky person! A quilt plus so much more.