Friday, August 09, 2013

A Big Thank You...

To everyone who came by to visit yesterday, and lelft me such sweet comments,

thank you!

It was so much fun to read all the comments! Especially with all the chaos going on around here right now, it was so nice to have an oasis of love and quiltiness to step into. 

May thanks to Carol and Madame Samm for organizing it all! Now here are today's links:

August 9
Sew We Quilt ( yep, ME)

Wednesday, August 07, 2013

Ho Ho Ho Blog Hop August 8



 Tis the season to celebrate! Well, at least the season to prepare to celebrate "the most wonderful time of the year."

After all, it took me a while to piece this bit of exuberance, all 60" of it! Going to take a while to quilt it, too. I really love this piece and can't wait to get it quilted and bring it out for the holidays! I blogged about it back in February and March and there are lots of in-progress pictures on Flickr, too.

Celebration Tree Skirt, pattern by Judy Niemeyer for Quiltworx
There are other holiday pieces in progress, too. These little house quilts surfaced in a recent spelunking expedition that also turned up several more WIPs.

Not that I'm quite sure where the line is drawn between a WIP and a UFO. These certainly had been "marinating" for quite a while.

Life sometimes throws us curve balls and provides us with upheavals. All we can do is hang on to the bar of the roller coaster and go along for the ride!
There are two of these quilts, both 4 blocks. It's a good size for a wall hanging or to toss on the back of the sofa or across the table.

The upper picture shows a close-up of the fabrics I'm auditioning for borders. I think with careful cutting and piecing I can just make it with them.

This lower picture is an overview of the whole piece as it stands. Some of it blends into the tile floor, but it really is square.

When you see it in person, the beige backgrounds blend together a little better than they do here. I'm hoping to get these finished before Christmas, too, so they can go to some of the family to brighten up their holidays!


The Laurel Burch panel (there are two of them on this cut of fabric) just needs borders and quilting and will be ready to pass along as well.

For anyone who's new to the blog, let me just say that I have a fairly large family, so there's no shortage of places to pass my quilts along to!

Laurel Burch has always been one of my favorite designers, going clear back to the days when she was Laurel Birchtree! I could see one of these little quilts as a table centerpiece, while we sip coffee or tea from some of my Laurel Burch mugs.
 This little piece was in the same treasure-trove as the house quilts. This one is all finished now.

I quilted it with curly squiggles to give the feeling of a golden garland. Do click on the picture to see the larger version--the print itself is quite charming, little old-fashioned children and toys.

Please excuse the ripply look--I took this picture on the stairs, so trust me that the quilt itself is straight!

Gee, I seem to be saying that a lot tonight...
 These little "feather tree' quilts are decorated with a lot of old buttons and a few newer ones.

I have loved buttons for a long time, and remember going through my mother's button tin when I was little and finding all sorts of treasures. When I started to sew clothing, it was fun to find the "right" buttons.

Yeah, my button collection is perhaps slightly out of hand. But these special buttons are safely sewn down to decorate the trees!

 I didn't make this quilt; it was a gift from a quilter friend. Again, photographed on the stairs for that charming "ripple" effect.

I do owe you an explanation of why these pictures aren't the finest examples of photography, don't I? Well, let me tell you that things have been more than a little hectic around here lately, as I'm in the throes of getting this house ready to sell.

After 41 years of living here, you can just imagine what it's like. The new place is smaller, by half, so there will be a lot of downsizing involved. Also much weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth--and that's just the cats. However, looking ahead to the holidays is cheering me up and helping me to focus on the end result: a smaller, more manageable space to deal with.


 One last quilt. I made this one quite a while ago, and it's still a favorite. The block is, I believe, called Grand Fir, and I'm especially fond of the colors of the attic window sashings.

Well, that's my Ho Ho Ho Roundup. What did you think? Let me know in a comment!




August 8
The Boon Docks( she got her day wrong)

Ho Ho Ho Blog Hop August 7

 
I signed up for the Ho Ho Ho Blog Hop and have been somewhat remiss in posting every day's links. Tomorrow is my turn, and I'll be posting my Christmas projects (past, present. and future!) but until then here's today's list of participants. Go, visit, see what they have to show off! I even heard there may be giveaways--I'm thinking of doing one, too! Until tomorrow... 
 
August 7
 

Monday, August 05, 2013

Where To Begin?

Once again I'm having issues with Blogger wanting to lay my pictures out in a different order than I'd like to have them. Guess we'll just have to deal with it!

Up first is Louise's blue batik quilt. She made this for friends who love blue and who have a king size bed. It's large.

No, bigger than that. Probably bigger than a big king size.
It took two full packages of Bali Crackers plus more fabric. The backing is 108" wide Stonehenge in...blue.

It's quilted in a pattern of undulating waves and ripples, very appropriate for a couple who live on the shores of Lake Michigan.

Quite an accomplishment!



As an example of wonky uploading, this is a closeup of Anne's quilt which is shown below in the whole. The pinwheels where the blocks meet is pretty subtle in the picture but a little more obvious in real life.

It's backed with that purple medallion fabric and she quilted it with a lot of stippling.
What did Santa bring? His elves??
Then there's Ethel, with one of her pillowcases. She's getting ready for Christmas already!

Feed me, I'm starving!
Hi-Hi wanting his breakfast at the first light of dawn. I swear, I went from having a morning-person husband to a morning-person cat. Come to think of it, I guess it's because Bob always got up early and he had a lot to do with training this guy to be a "lark."

I'm definitely a night owl.

Anne finished three of her Dear Jane blocks today! I didn't work on mine; instead I finished cutting sashings and cornerstones for the pinwheel quilts.
Anne's Dear Jane blocks
Pinwheels still in progress.

I needed to have at least 720 sashing strips, so I decided that it would be a good idea to cut 750. I had cut 500+ the last time we met at Sandy's, so I only needed another 250. After a little dithering, I wound up clipping them into bunches of 25--few enough so they could be clipped  without stressing out my hands opening the clips wider than they wanted to go, and a pretty easy number to manage.

I cut and cut and when I did my final count tonight I came up with 749.

That is good enough.I did not count the cornerstones. Enough is enough!
Anne's quilt with stars and pale blue pinwheels.
Sashings, cornerstones, oh my.


So there are big changes coming in my life. After a lot of time spent looking at houses and  condos and neighborhoods and possible places to move, I've found a condo to buy.

I'm in escrow.

The good: it's close enough to let me keep the same doctors and keep on with quilt class and keep up with the knit group. The development is beautiful and feels comfortable. It's all on one story and the floor plan is open, it feels airy and light. It has two patios, one small one and one larger one across the back.

The bad: it's half the size of this house. Less than half.

This house is pretty full. No, make that VERY full.

It isn't as full as it was a few years ago, but there's still an awful lot of stuff in it. So there will be more purging and giving away and selling and generally downsizing.

There are closets full of stuff and the garage, while well organized, is still full. However, needs must and all that.

So it begins.

There's already been one day of clearing and assessing, and a couple of boxes have been designated for yard sale.

Except that they may not be, because some of the things in them have more value than I originally thought. And, of course, there's the sentimental aspects for not just me, but the offspring as well.

I think it's time for an adult beverage and a little TV time and then try to get a good night's sleep.

If a certain fur person will let me!