Snow Day!

Our little 2" to 4" of snow that we were getting last night turned into a foot of heavy, wet snow.

All the schools are closed, the Boss and Andrew's office is closed and I'm staying home all day!

 

We decided we're not putting the house back on the market since we now have all the kids plus one at home, so we bought a sofa for our living room.  Now we have this cozy little space that we can relax in while they are in the family room watching TV.

On the table is my Plan C quilt top from Carrie Nelson's Schnibbles Times Two book ...I'm hoping to machine quilt it on my Pfaff today...with a day off I might as well play!

I hope you enjoy your day!

Daisy Damage

I love my puppy, but she's a chewer. She has her own quilt, which sits on the floor in the living room.  She plays on it, sleeps on it and NEVER chews HER quilt.  Mine, on the other hand, is fair game.  So, over the holidays she did this...

I decided to fix it today.  First I found similar fabrics and sewed them together.  Then I appliqued the blue side into the nine patch.

Then I did the same with the white...

I tucked a small piece of batting into the hole, then appliqued an old Debbie Mumm Santa over the hole in the back.

I did a little bit of stippling to hold everything together...and I thought it turned out pretty good!  Now I'll pack it away for next Christmas.

And now it's a quilt with a story!  (And I do still love Daisy!)

It's the small things...

That make me happy! Today a customer stopped by with a copy of a just published book for me...Vivacious Curvy Quilts by Dianne S. Hire.

Inside was her quilt "Life on the Technicolor Highway", which I had quilted for her.  Here it is, on page 19...and not only mentions Jane as the creator, but me as the quilter! This is my first appearance in a book, although I did have a mention in McCall's quilting years ago, when I quilted a quilt for Michelle Scott.

But I guess it's always a thrill to see your name in print!!!

Saturday Stitching...

Enjoying the  process...but so much more left to stitch.  Think it will be finished by Christmas? Only 48 more days...

Help?

 A friend of mine stopped by yesterday with this quilt.  Her sister had gotten it years ago at an estate sale and gave it to her.  She was cleaning her home office, found it and decided it was one of those projects she'd never get to...so she offered it to me.  Sight unseen, I said I'd be happy to take it off her hands!  It's in beautiful condition, the flowers are hand appliqued and it's machine pieced. 

My question is, what is the name of this block?  I thought it might be a dahlia of some sort, but haven't found anything but the giant dahlia quilt, which it definitely isn't.  Any ideas?  Here's a closeup of one of the blocks...

And just because she's cute, here's a picture of Daisy.  She's growing up so fast!

September/October Goals

Kelly has asked us Charming Girls to share our goals for September and October.  Mine are pretty simple.  Quilt the 9 patch quilt and finish the banner in the previous post, and finish these socks which have been languishing on the needles for close to a year.  I do knit slowly.

Our topic this month is "Quilting the Quilt".  Kelly's asked for ideas...as a longarm quilter, I'm often asked for my opinion on quilting.  Although there is beautiful, elaborate machine quilting out there, I've always liked a simpler treatment for quilts.  I try to let the quilt "speak to me" and design the quilting around what it says.  If the quilt has a particular period, 30's for example, I usually use motifs you would have found on quilts of that time.  I've never been one to quilt things to death, although I do admire quilts that are quilted this way.  Kind of like art quilts...I admire them but wouldn't make one.

All in all, it really depends on the quilt.  There are some that just call for more detailed quilting and others that the piecing is so beautiful that busy quilting would diminish the piecing.  Just go with what your heart says...it will always be right!

New Beginnings...

This year has gotten off to a busy start...lots of drama around here! Andrew has moved back home now that his lease is up, so he'll finish out college as a commuter. Ellen has decided she wants to change her major in college...and change her college! We're in the midst of a new college search.

The boss's luck has held out once again. Last weekend, while in Chicago, he was riding in a cab. Another car hit the cab, pushed it across the street and it knocked down a pole holding a traffic light. Just as in his previous accident, he escaped with a gash on the head and some sore muscles. He's a lucky man!

In the meantime, I've been working lots of hours. I have found a little bit of time to quilt for customers....

and I've started Anne Sutton's new Basket Block of the Month...

I've cleaned my sewing room so I can get started sewing without having to find the table underneath the mess....

And I've pulled fabrics for some new projects...including a few from Jo Morton and a new quilt for Ellen.

So, that's what I've been up to...how about you?

Waiting...

Sometimes, don't you wonder what it is that gets you through the waiting? I've needed to be distracted for the last few days as I wait for test results. I spent the better part of Monday in the hospital having a biopsy and other procedures done. I never realized how cranky I could get if I'm not allowed to have caffeine or food in the morning. I could have cried when the wonderful nurses brought me a pack of Lorna Doone's after surgery...they were heaven! To keep me busy while waiting to leave for the hospital, I started making these...

Last night, while still waiting for results I put them together into this...

And since I'm still waiting for results, the borders will probably go on today!

I've also started my Christmas quilting, not that I'm doing much this year, so this was finished last week....

And now it's waiting for the customer quilts to be finished so it can have its turn on the longarm.

I'm back to work today, but will anxiously be awaiting word from my daughter after school...yesterday there were rumors swirling that there would be a shooting at her high school today. There was a strong police presence there this morning, many parents kept their kids home from school today. I've just talked to her guidance counselor and all is well so far.

I don't know what I'd do if I didn't have quilting to get me through...

What gets you through?

Stitching Angel Revealed

I received another package from my Stitching Angel about a week ago and haven't had time to share it with you. Danielle Tebb from Country Threads magazine in Australia. The gifts from her heart and hands are very special. Thank you, Danielle!

I've had little time to sew, but have started putting together this quilt...

The nine patches are several years old and I hadn't found a fabric for the alternating blocks that I liked. I picked this blue up in Lancaster a few weeks ago and it does pull all of the blues together, but it's quite loud. I'm looking forward to seeing how this one turns out.

I'm planning on doing some sewing for Christmas this weekend. Hopefully I'll be back soon with something to share.

New Friends...

I wish I'd taken pictures of Suzy's Quilting Room last night...I've never seen such an immaculate, perfectly organized quilting room! As a matter of fact, the whole house was that way and I hear that it's not just clean because it's on the market, but it's that way all the time. When I grow up I want to be just like Sue... We had a wonderful time getting to know each other while we sat and stitched. It turned out that I knew several of the women there from guild and I had even quilted for one a few years ago. I stopped going to guild because I couldn't get there when my children were younger, but I've been invited back and will be going in September...I'm looking forward to it!

No strip poker was played because only 3 of us showed up with the strips we needed, so we chatted and stitched and ate...lots of delicious food was there! I was the first to show up and the last to leave because I was treated to a private quilt show...Sue does beautiful machine applique and piecing and has a number of finished quilts, as well as some quilt tops waiting to be finished. We asked her husband to take our picture before I headed home...

Thanks for a wonderful time and I'm looking forward to getting together again!

Fun Friday...

I have a new applique project prepped and some strips cut...

I have snacks made, even though blogger keeps putting the picture in sideways...

And I have my camera ready to go for tonight when I head to Suzy's Quilting Room! I've never met a real, live, quilting blogger before and it turns out we live about 20 minutes from each other. Suzy has invited me to her quilting group tonight for some strip poker. I've always wanted a quilting group...I'm looking forward to meeting everyone!

Did I ever leave the house?

I really don't think I did leave the house over the weekend, except to pick up dinner on Saturday night! I spent most of it quilting. I finished the top of this quilt and prepared the backing on Friday night...

I loaded it on the machine and quilted half on Saturday...

And finished the quilting, then sat up until almost midnight to finish the binding on Sunday night. Today it was washed, folded and beribboned and is now on its way to my son's girlfriend who is moving into her new house near the Drexel campus this afternoon. I hope she likes it! The colors are the most true in this picture, they were very hard to photograph because of the low contrast.

I just heard that she loves it and now plans to decorate her room in these colors...and that just made my day!

Now to figure out what to make next....

Friday Finish...

I've been very busy with customer quilts this summer, to the point I was even running behind on finishing. It felt good to finish a quilt today! I don't normally share customer quilts on the blog, but this one was too pretty not to share.

The fabrics were gorgeous and the quilt seemed to tell me how it wanted to be quilted, I love how it turned out.



A close up of the quilting....


And sometimes the back are just as pretty as the front!

Sunshine and Pink Flamingoes...

arrived in my mailbox today...and certainly brightened up this dreary Monday! Cheryl was my swap partner and she sent this adorable summer quilt, complete with embroidered flamingoes and a palm tree on a hand dyed background...it's beautiful, thanks Cheryl!







Last week I received this package in the mail from Little Quilts. After admiring the Jo Morton Little Women quilts on so many blogs, I decided to join myself. I'm looking forward to making these...

I did get to participate in Judy's Quiltathon this weekend and sewed up blocks for half of a quilt. The other half is in pieces on my sewing table. It's coming together nicely, but the colors just don't photograph well! This is for my son's girlfriend.

I'd hoped to have the whole thing finished last night, but storms rolled through and we lost power at 8pm. We spent a few hours sitting around the fireplace, talking, but eventually we went to bed. When the power came back on at 12:40am, it scared the daylights out of us...the lights came on, the TV was blaring...and we had been sound asleep. Talk about a rude awakening!

I did discover something last night...it's really hard to knit by candlelight!

Stashbusting? Not so much...

I had a nice visit to the local quilt shop today! I decided to make a quilt for my son's girlfriend and her favorite color is yellow. The yellow floral will be the focal fabric, the blue and green will be accents and the leaf print will be the backing. Yes, I even bought backing fabric! I love this line of fabric, it's Amelia from Timeless Treasures. I'd never seen it before and once I did, there was no going back.

Except for the shopping, I've been taking it easy because my dear husband gave me a concussion on Saturday. We came home from Target on Saturday night and he grabbed some of the bags out of the back of the car. He asked me to get the last one, so I leaned in, got it and when I straightened back up he slammed the tailgate on my head. Yeah, that hurt. I spent some quality time with an ice pack and except for a little blurred vision and a killer headache, I'm doing okay. Although, if the headache doesn't ease soon it may warrant a trip to the doctor. Good thing I have a hard head!

I need a mindless project right now since I can't seem to concentrate (wonder why???) so I cast on a little ribbed knit cap for Newborns in Need. It's very cute, I may have to make a few of these! Pictures when it's a little bigger...

This and That...

If you are interested in Cross Stitch, I've put some vintage (late 80's, early 90's) magazines and books in my Etsy Store...take a look!


Viv finally allowed her daddy to take a picture of her with her quilt...I think she likes it!



I received a wonderful Pay It Forward gift from Tami at Getting Started. Thanks Tami, I love it!

I've spent the last week creating a few friends to be part of our Canoe Carnival float...see anyone you know?

And I've joined the Stitchers' Angel Swap, you can read about it here, or by clicking on the picture in my sidebar.

Too bad I didn't mention any quilting going on here! Maybe next week...

Friendship...

Over the years I've had friendships that need a great deal of tending to and friendships that come naturally. Last Wednesday, we had a chance to meet up with our friends from when we lived in New York. We met Debbie and Rich through the school our children went to. It was always a comfortable friendship...we attended their family events, they attended ours. I watched their kids after school when Debbie returned to work. We'd get together for birthdays, just to hang out, for playdates, and most often for a cup of tea or a beer. After leaving NY, we stayed in touch, but didn't see each other for almost 10 years. I missed them...they missed us, but life went on. When we saw them on Wednesday, it was like we'd never been away. We fell right back into the easy friendship...and there is no way we'll let 10 years pass before we meet again!

Debbie and Grace

Rich and Andrew

Their daughters, Brittany and Katrina

And in case you think there's no quilting going on, I did finish Viv's quilt...but forgot to take a picture. I also finished my Four Seasons Quilt Swap quilt. I'ts overcast and I couldn't get a good picture of it, so here's a bad one. I hope my partner likes it...once I make the label it will be heading somewhere in the US!

I've also started playing catch up on my Dear Jane quilt. I've missed 11 blocks and one triangle, so will spend the next few days trying to get them done. Last night I put together H-13...the easiest of the blocks I missed! I also had another guitar lesson last Thursday. I'm enjoying it, but have found I get very frustrated when my fingers won't move the way they're supposed to! I'm working on it...