Owls

During the SewMamaSew giveaway recently, I left many comments but didn't win anything. However, Carmen from It's a Wonderful Life decided to give her owl pattern to everyone who left a comment. So I did get something, and now that I have made the owl twice, I can show them to you.


Carmen's owls are too cute, and on the next few I will experiment with fabric and layering and see how they come out. Thanks again, Carmen. It was most generous of you to share with all of us who visited your blog.

Because I was good this week and did yard work and windows and mostly got work done, I can relax this weekend. Today I have already come very close to finishing the pinwheel quilt top, just the outside sashing to go, and made one of the owls. I'm listening to The Last Secret of Fatima by Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone. It's very enlightening.

The bad economy is hitting my home city in a way that is now personally affecting my lifestyle in that the branch of the public library that I use is slated to be closed. Final decision will be made in a few weeks. Increases in taxes and public works charges have already hit me, but losing the nearby library is very unpleasant.

God Bless.

My Quilt Festival Entry

Clicking on the title of this post will bring up the Bloggers Quilt Festival 2010 page.

I began my blog in January, 2010, and it isn't about quiting. But in some way I can't recall, I learned about Mrs. Moen's Mystery Quilt and decided to join in. Her quilt along is the first group online I have ever joined, and because it worked so well for me, I have continued to join other groups. The quilt I am entering in Amy's Creative Side's Quilt Festival is one of the two that I made during the Mystery Quilt sessions. For obvious reasons I call it Pink Rooster. I love the way it came out and the colors. I referred to Little Quilts All Through the House for ideas on how to finish, and went with the border that used all of the fabrics in different sizes. I want to reuse that method because it works so well, especially in something like Mrs. Moen's design that has a central focal point. The binding is made using most of the fabrics as well. The quilting is simple outlining of the design, nothing advanced there.


It looks like my entry is number 614 or so. How amazing is that? I am happy to join in on a wonderful tradition. Thank you, Amy. And thanks again, Nina Lise.

Something to Remember, and Something to Get Through

When I was in grammar and high school, I hated studying and memorizing dates. I don't know if I hated it because I was bad at it or because it didn't make sense to me. It wasn't until college that I could make a mental time line and eras began to come alive for me. Why am I telling you this you may wonder? Because in my life certain dates I never forget. Today is an example. I made my First Holy Communion 52 years ago today. I always remember the date, May 25, and in some way acknowledge it.

In our church, all of the girls had to wear the same headpiece and purse, but we could pick out our dresses. Mine was organdy with a cutwork bodice. I still have it. Later, my mom made a pink satin slip to wear under the white organdy dress so I could get more use out of it. I like this picture, but the way I'm holding my candle looks like I'm ready to lead the charge of the Light Brigade. Anyway, I went to Mass today and received Communion. Thank God for the good things in life.

Enough of memory lane, now I'm going to whine. You may know that I am not new to sewing, but I am new to quilting. And I enjoy the process of quilting for the most part, or else I would not do it. However, I am now doing something I hate. (I've used that word alot in this post - sorry.) I have the last instructions for the pinwheel quilt, which Anina from Twiddletails designed. I love the quilt and know that it is going to be beautiful when it is done. But, part of the instructions are to make 96 half squares that measure 1.5 inches. That's okay, I did the cutting and sewing. Last night, in fact, I had a glass of Bordeaux while I measured and cut late into the night. But it was pleasant. I sewed them today, but now I have 96 squares to press, and I hate it.

Finger press or use the iron, it is still tedious work. But I want to finish this quilt so I'll do it. Do you think the pioneer women pressed their squares?
God Bless Everybody!

Flowers and Hats

There are lots of irises in the backyard because they were my mother's favorites, I think. Their scent so so gentle, but beautiful.

In either the February or March issue of Martha Stewart Living magazine a garden craft was featured which you may have seen. Martha towered clay flower pots, and I liked the look so tried it. I can't seem to get a good picture of it, but I am happy whenever I look at that tower of flowers; pansies, allysum and snap dragons.



Nima from Made to Treasure offered a pattern, upon request, to crochet a hat pincushion. I finished mine today. It's cute. The challenge is to give the hat a personal twist with how it's decorated. I used lace because I didn't see anyone else using it. But they are all beautiful. I just noticed one with ricrac and little flowers on it. If I can think of another dcorative option, then I'll make another hat. The challenge is open until the end of May.


The weather here seems to have finally settled into a more seasonal pattern, so I planted things like tomatoes, dahlias, marigolds, zinnias and some other flowers. I am going to try growing scallions for the first time this year. If they do well, I am going to plant onions and garlic in the fall.
God Bless You.

Doing My Cross Stitch

I have been spending time on the Mary Poppins cross stitch because I want it finished. The pattern has the primary scene and then almost a shadowy scene of umbrellas and wind gusts that I think are meant to be background. I used navy blue silk thread for the primary scene and couldn't decide on the background color. I went with a blush beige, but now I think it's too light. I'm not going to remove it but you do have to get close to see the design. Maybe that's how it should be. I wonder if other people agonize over color choices the way I do. I suppose I shouldn't take it so seriously.


I am up to date on the My Little Heart sal with Sylvia, and I love May's pattern. I want to get the border done because it adds so much to the design. Another color decision to make.


And I made two name tags for my sister's granddaughters. They came out cute. I used stiff interfacing on both the aida cloth and the fabric backing so the tags will hold their shape. Luckily I had an eyelet maker that I bought years ago for something I made. I don't want to be a hoarder, but tools are a good thing to hold on to. The heart pattern is from a blog I follow called Frimousse.
Today I was a Pierogi Pincher Princess again (someone called us that today and I liked it.) We have only three or four more weeks, and then it's festival time. Summer will officially begin. God bless you and me.

Erik Homemade.com is hosting Scrap Pile Clean-up Mystery Quilt, and I am following it. To begin, we needed to have 120 2.5" squares, half light, half dark, and then sewn into pairs. I was putting this off because I thought it would take forever, but because I was working from scraps, and not large pieces of fabric, the cutting went quickly, and I finished cutting and sewing in a few hours today. I'm keeping the darks in greens and navies, and the lights in pinks, greens, and very light yellows. Fortunately, I have lots of scraps in those colors. In fact, my scrap container is now decreased by about 1/3 or more.



I also caught up with Sylvia's April cross stitch, but I am missing some of the embroidery thread colors needed for May so that's on hold for now. (Sylvia's link is on the left.)




Tomorrow Anina from Twiddletails (link on the left) should give us the next block, and three of my Vogue patterns came in, so I have lots to do to keep me out of trouble this week. God Bless You.

P.S. I apologize. For some reason, the links aren't working when I insert them into my post. I'll have to check with Blogger about it.