Quilt Top Finish

I've finally finished the quilt top for my Block of the Month Quilt that I did in 2010 through the Fat Quarter Shop and I can't believe I waited so long to finish. I love how it all came together! I've already made the binding...just need to load it on the machine and decide how to quilt it. Any suggestions?

Catching Up...

I haven't been very good about keeping my blog updated lately.  Looking through my past few posts, I realized that I never even mentioned a few things...

Mary

1.  I was lucky enough to go to Houston for Festival this year!  My dear friend Mary and I had a wonderful time.  We took a full day class with Elly Sienkiewicz.  One of my life goals was to go to her Applique Academy.  Not anymore.  I feel like it's almost sacrilegious to say this, but she was not a good teacher.  She constantly got lost in what she was telling us and seemed very confused.  If someone questioned how she did something, she changed her mind and tried to explain another way, but couldn't quite do that either.  It was hugely disappointing and I felt that I wasted my time and money in taking the class.  She didn't bring enough supplies for everyone in the class, all in all it was a complete disappointment.  It's a good thing I had Mary with me...she's a great teacher and I learned a lot from her!  We did have fun walking around the show and it was so relaxing, spending time with her and her wonderful DH.

2. We really enjoyed the holidays this year.  We loved having the kids all home for opening gifts on Christmas Eve and for dinner on Christmas day.

Ellen, Andrew, Dayna & Grace

3.   I did finish a few small gifts for Christmas.  Grace and Dayna each got a crocheted, slouchy beret.  Here is Dayna's beret...I don't think I took a picture of Grace's, but hers was the same pattern in burgundy.

Ellen was the recipient of this year's "Unfinished Project"...a slouchy hat in a different pattern.  But hers didn't take nearly as long to finish as Dayna's quilt did last year!  I finished it this past weekend, and here it is...

My sister also received a knitted gift this year...a scarf that I started in a class last spring and finished a few weeks before Christmas.  This was my knitting project on the plane coming home from Houston.  It appears I didn't take a picture of it...or if I did I can't find it.  You'll just have to believe me, it was very pretty and so soft!

Since the "Unfinished Gift" has become a family joke, I'll have to figure out who will get it next year!

The boss and I were looking back over 2011 and decided it was a very challenging year.  We learned a lot from some of the experiences we had (like not to take in our kids' stray friends), I have some ongoing health challenges which have followed me into 2012 (do any of you have experience with shingles?  If so, please share your story with me.  I've had them for about a month and a half and never anticipated how debilitating the pain would be.  I'm at the point where I feel kind of stupid saying that I have shingles since it's been so long, but that's what it is.).

I'm looking forward to a very productive 2012, because heaven knows I wasn't very productive in 2011!  More on what I'll be working on in the next post!

Cleaning Out...

I'm cleaning up my sewing room and dug into the closet. Way, way back I found this tablecloth, which my parents bought me when I graduated high school in 1979. Yes, this is what I wanted as my graduation present!

I remember working on the napkins when I worked at a craft store in college, and working on the tablecloth here and there at night. I swore I would finish it before I got married and had my first house.

Well, it wasn't finished when I got married, but that was fine because the first house didn't have a dining room. Of course it became a joke, the Boss said he wouldn't buy me a house with a dining room until I finished the tablecloth. House #2 didn't have a dining room either. This house, #3, does have a dining room, but we only used it for a dining room briefly. Now that room is set up as a den, which is much more useful to us.

I wonder if this will ever be finished?

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all the joys of the season!

New use...

For the cup holder in the car...it makes a great yarn holder!

Daisy's New Digs

Daisy has a new place to hang out...

Here she is in the Medford Lakes Penitentiary!  :-)

Looking Back...

 Not too far back, just to Thanksgiving!  It was just us this year.  My parents, sister and nephew's wife were 

supposed to join us for dinner, but I managed to put a crimp in their plans...2 days before Thanksgiving I was diagnosed with shingles.  Since Bistra, my niece-in-law has never had chicken pox, we decided that it was best not to expose her to me, just in case!  

Grace, Ellen, Dayna and Andrew
Thanksgiving 2011

This Thanksgiving was to be an experiment as well...a few months ago, Ellen was diagnosed with Celiac Disease and has adopted a gluten-free diet.  I made gluten-free stuffing and rolls (from this King Arthur Recipe) for dinner, along with regular stuffing and all the usual dishes.  I made an apple crumb pie and our new local bakery, The Patriot's Bakery has taken on the challenge of baking gluten-free for us and they made a gluten-free apple crumb pie for Ellen.  It was all delicious and we enjoyed a quiet dinner.

Apple Pie and Gluten-free rolls

The rest of the weekend involved some Christmas shopping, although not in the wee hours of Black Friday, and a great deal of time in my sewing room, as well as some knitting and crocheting time too!  I can't share the knitting or crochet as they are Christmas gifts, but will share the quilting soon...

Miley

My quilting companion.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The table is set, the turkey roasting, so I have a quiet moment to wish all of you a blessed Thanksgiving. Enjoy!

Roses...

The last rose of the season can be just as beautiful as the first.

Working

I visited a job site on Friday. Wouldn't this be a great place to work?

Design Wall Monday and the Winner!

 Another week has gone by and I haven't gotten much time to sew.  I'm still cutting the little, bitty pieces for my Fireweed applique.  This was a kit that the Boss brought back for me from his trip to Alaska last November.  I decided that it had waited long enough, now that he's just returned from THIS year's trip to Alaska.  One of these years I'll get to go with him!

My big accomplishment was getting the center done and the last few petals, leaves and centers appliqued onto my Aunt Millie's Garden quilt block.  I used Karen Kay Buckley's Perfect Circles to make the centers and I highly recommend them!

Sadly, my Phillies lost on Friday night, which ended their playoff run.  I've never seen such a quiet crowd leaving the stadium as I did Friday...it was a long walk back to the parking lot!  

And now Daisy (who thinks she's a cat) and Ellen will pick the winner of the drawing for The Devil's Puzzle by Clare O'Donohue.  I finished reading the book this weekend and really enjoyed it.  I'll have a review some time this week...as soon as I get a chance to sit down and organize my thoughts!  I asked Ellen to pick a number and the number is...3.  So that means Jane from Imperfect Quilter is our winner!  Jane, I'll be emailing you shortly to get your address!

Back to normal...

My living room is back to normal...my machine is up!  

Of course I immediately quilted a donation quilt!

And since we gave Andrew our kitchen set when he moved into his apartment, it was time for a new one, which just arrived...

After eating at at a wobbly card table for the last few weeks, I'm so happy to have a real table again!

We even have matching bar stools!  Yeah, it's the little things that make me happy!

Design Wall Monday and a Giveaway!

Not much happened in the sewing room this week because I was too busy watching baseball!  So, I have a fusible applique quilt in the making, I need to cut out all of the little pieces...

And I've been working on my applique block...still need to make the pinwheel that goes in the middle...

So, I have a design table tonight (yes, I'm cheating and writing this on Sunday night) and I'm working on them while I watch the Phillies in game 2 of the NLDS...

And that giveaway?  Last week I was contacted by the publicist for Clare O'Donohue's new book, The Devil's Puzzle, which just came out.  She asked if I'd be interested in receiving a copy of the book to review and another to give away.  Of course I said yes!  I'm reading it and so far I'm enjoying it.  Clare will also do a guest post or a Q and A for us, so to enter...just leave a comment telling me what YOU would like to ask Clare O'Donohue!  I'll post the winner on our next Design Wall Monday!

Let's go Phillies!!!

Design Wall Monday

Not too much change in my design wall this week.  I did finish all of the sashing strips for my quilt, although when I turned on the ceiling fan, they all flew off!  I've also gotten started on the pinwheel blocks for the cornerstones.  The first row of sashing and blocks are sewn together...I couldn't wait to see how it would look!

This is a closeup of one of the pinwheels...

Over to the left on the design wall is a project I've picked up again...Aunt Millie's Garden by Piece o Cake Designs.  The top block is one I've had done for ages.  The bottom block is what I've been working on in the evenings.  I had set it aside when I was hand quilting and I'm so happy I can work on it again...I just love how these blocks are turning out!

Now go check out what others are doing at Judy's Patchwork Times!

Design Wall Monday

I didn't make as much progress as I'd hoped, but I did get most of the sashing done for my block of the month quilt.  I'm loving it so far! Check out what everyone else has on their design walls over at Judy's blog!

Christmas present...

But not for this Christmas!  Remember last Christmas when I was hand quilting a quilt for Dayna, Andrew's girlfriend?  Well, it wasn't finished for Christmas and it wasn't finished for Easter...or the 4th of July, but, it WAS finished for Labor Day and Dayna finally got her Christmas present!  Since I gave it to her in the parking lot at a Phillies game, I don't have a picture of her with the quilt, but here are a few of the quilt...

Close Up of Hand Quilting

The finished quilt.

I love how the quilt turned out...I think she does too!

Design Wall Monday

For the first time in a very long time I can participate in Design Wall Monday!  I haven't had a design wall in over a year and I've just recently gotten my sewing room back and together.  My first project now that I'm back will be to finish up this quilt.  It's the Heartland Heritage Sampler mystery block of the month that I finished the blocks for over a year ago.

Now I have the finishing kit out and ready to go...this will be my first project in a long time!  We also cleared out the living room this weekend so my longarm can go back up...I can't wait!  I already have a Christmas quilt ready to go...it's one that I didn't have time to quilt before the machine came down.  Now that I'll only be quilting my own quilts, I expect to finish a few things!

Getting Paranoid!

I've noticed a disturbing trend over the past few years...seems like I go places and they flood.  I moved to Medford Lakes back in 1999 and a few years later we had a flood.

Two years ago, we went to Nashville and stayed at the Gaylord Opryland.  It was raining when we left and it flooded.

Last week, Grace and I took a few days to head north and enjoy one of my favorite places...southern Vermont.

Here's Grace last Wednesday in front of one of our favorite breakfast spots...Dot's.

And sure enough, it was raining when we left Vermont on Thursday and over the weekend, Wilmington, VT had catastrophic flooding.  (and I won't even mention that Ludlow, Londonderry, Bennington, Brattleboro and all my other favorite places in VT flooded too.)

At the end of July, Grace and I were in Wayne and Paterson, NJ so she could take a few classes at William Paterson University.  And guess what?  Wayne and Paterson also flooded this weekend.

Is it any wonder I'm becoming paranoid???  Just a heads up...I'll be heading to Houston for Quilt Festival in November.  If Houston floods, I'm staying home and never going anywhere again!

If you would like to help the relief effort in Vermont, you can donate to the Vermont & The New Hampshire Valley Red Cross and earmark your donation for flood relief. For New Jersey you can donate to the Penn-Jersey Red Cross.  There are many other organizations who are helping with flood relief up and down the east coast, check in your area if you are able to help.

Canoe Carnival...

is over for another year, and it was a good one!

 The lake was windy and rough, almost every float had to be pushed off the sand at the beach, then towed down the lake.  This video came from an observer at the beach...shortly after we were pushed out, the wind took our pizza off the top of the float!  Our theme this year was "A Night in Venice" and our music was Dean Martin singing "That's Amore".  It was a wonderful evening...here are a few more pictures!

 

Ellen, Andrew and Grace







Almost ready to launch, just waiting for nightfall!







Off we go!



The boss...all ready to row this monstrosity around the lake!

 q