Wreath Quilt and Tumbler Project

I thought for sure that by the end of last week  I would have finished the Wreath Quilt from Erik's Homemade Mystery QAL.  http://erikhomemade.typepad.com

In this photo I wonder if you can see the holes from the stitching that took 1 and 1/2 days to rip out? 

I've decided to applique crocheted stars and such to the cream/white area within the wreath.  I found this star pattern in one of my old issues of Hooked On Crochet, June 2007, designed by Kathleen Munyan. 

I'm also sewing red buttons to the inner and outer wreath angles. 

So, now I am aiming for the end of August to have this quilt done. 

I've been wanting to use my new tumbler die for my AccuQuilt GO!.  I've had it since early June, so I would say I've showed remarkable self control in waiting this long to play with it.  I was so certain I knew what fabric I would use, mainly a mix of  lights, mediums and darks, but then I saw a quilt that changed my mind.  It was a circle quilt made using mostly yellows in bright and light shades.  I let that quilt influence me and cut out 143 tumblers.

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I hope I like it when it's put together. 

I plan to cut some of the tumbers in half for the border area.  We'll see if that works, too.

God Bless.



Lots of Stuff

I caught up with Amy's sample blocks (Amy's Creative Side Sample Quilt Along,) and here are mine:

The fabrics are actually a collection even though they don't seem to go together yet. The placement of the blocks in the finished quilt will be different.

I received my first package from the Benartex Preview Club. There are about 30 five inch squares, so there's enough to make an interesting smaller quilt. I'm going to follow the pattern they feature in the newsletter. The collection is called Word Play, and it's something I may not have chosen, but I like it.

This is the lapghan I'm working on now. I actually abandoned one pattern because it was too slow going, but I like this one. The picture doesn't show the ribs and shells in the pattern, but they are there making the lapghan feel very thick and textured. It is from Red Heart, but I'm still using Caron One Pound yarn. I have so much yarn that it would be a sin to buy any more. I really need to use up what I have. Hopefully, I have enough to finish this lapghan. If not, I'll have to get creative with the border.

Browsing in the Savers book section the other day, I picked up two books from 1986 and 1987 that were published by Better Homes and Gardens. When I got home and was looking down the list of designers in one of the books Blue Ribbon Bazaar Crafts, I found Mary Engelbreit listed, and these were her contributions:

The pattern of the little girl in bed is also embroidered on a pillow. Look what else was in the book from 1987:

I was looking at the reusable lunch sacks and the needle holders thinking what good ideas they were twenty years ago. These books are in excellent condition, and the name of the former owner is stamped in the front of each book. I don't know her, but she and I have something in common; books and crafts. And she took care of her books.

Don't tell anyone, but I forgot it was Moxie's birthday yesterday. She was two years old. But, funny thing is I bought a toy and catnip on Friday because I had a coupon, so she got gifts anyway. I'm wishing her twin brother, Onyx, Happy Birthday too. He lives with a former co-worker. Their litter was found on the deck of another co-worker when they were just a few days old. This good person took care of them, about 7 of them I think, and brought them to work when they were six weeks old to see if any of us would adopt them. Of course, it was a sure thing. Supposedly, Moxie was the runt, but she is a feisty little runt.
Yep, the gardener needs to cut that grass!


Happy Birthday to Katrina, too. I didn't forget.

God Bless Everyone, and God Bless America. We sang that in church yesterday. For me it's a tear-jerker.

Strawberry Lady, Dancers, and Birds

Yesterday I completed the June pattern for Sylvia's My Little Heart cross stitch along. It's a cute lady with a strawberry skirt. I love her flip. If you don't know what I'm referring to than you weren't around fifty years ago (it's her hair style.)

I visited my sister last week, and we went to Katrina and Brenna's dance recital. Great job, kids. (They are my sister's granddaughters.) They worked very hard, and it showed in the performances. We're always impressed with the dance recital because it is high caliber dancing and fun to watch. And the outfits are gorgeous. Anyway, while I was there I began to make a lapghan for the hospital, and I'm at this point:

On Friday I received the layer cake that I won from Darlene of Quilting Daze. It is Heritage from Moda's Collection for a Cause, and the fabric is so pretty. There are four pieces that have birds in them which are my favorites:



There are a shades of cherry, colonial blue, and lots of chocolate, tans and browns.




My plan is to make a quilt for my bed with this fabric. Thank you again, Darlene, for the great giveaway.

Also on Friday, I got this book from the library:

What I saw that I liked is the simplicity of the patchwork patterns, most of them anyway. The other thing I liked was that Lise Bergene used decorative machine stitching to quilt some of the items, mostly the smaller ones. I imagine the quilt sandwish would have to be relatively thin for it to work, but I am going to try it. I also liked the crow's feet hand quilting.

God Bless You!

Samples

Yesterday and today I've been crocheting for things to enter into the CAL at Crochet Soiree.I began with this hotpad:
I am making another to enter because the scallops should be beneath each other, not spiralling. I like the spiral effect, and I love the hot pad. It is double thickness, soft and pretty. The next one I make will follow the pattern exactly, but maybe in blue, or I'll reverse the red and white. Today I made this tea cozy: The other patterns are trim for dishcloths and doily coasters. I'll try all of the patterns and enter those that look the best. I need to practise the art of picture taking of these items. When I view posts by Bakerella and the like, the photography is amazing. I am not aiming for that caliber because I suspect there is a professional level of the art involved, but I would like to do better. So I am going to find out how.

I want to find a quilt shop or group in my area. Yesterday I did a search, and discovered two quilt shops that are relatively close that I didn't know existed. So tomorrow will be Adventure Monday. I am going to visit the closest one first and see what they offer. The other option I might have is if the community college or nearby university offer a summer course on quilting. If not, it's just me and the bloggers I follow.

God Bless You. And have a happy week.

A Tarnished Old Penny and Other Good Things

Guess what. Today while I was gardening in one part of the yard I found a one hundred year old penny. I wasn't even sure it was a coin when I picked it up, just that it was round and flat. I needed to use salt and vinegar to clean it up well enough to see the date, and it is clearly from 1910. I love it when I find little things in the yard, usually marbles from our growing up years. So I'm taking this as a lucky penny, something I really needed today.

Here are pictures of the pinwheel quilt which is in the sandwich stage.
I wanted to make things easy on myself so yesterday I went to Savers and bought a 100% cotton Ralph Lauren twin size white sheet (costing a steep $3.20) for the quilt back. After fitting it, I have leftover cotton, something else I love. So now I need to quilt the quilt. Magazine and online patterns all have the same instruction at the end of the making of the quilt top, and that instruction is "Quilt as desired." I don't know what I desire, as far as quilting a quilt goes. I've mentioned previously that I refer to Eleanor Burns' book It's "El"ementary for help when I'm stuck. The quilts in her book are wall hanging size for the most part. Her technique is to roll the quilt to the middle and begin outlining blocks from there for machine quilting with a walking foot. So I guess that is how I'll begin and see where it takes me.

I am at step five of the Erik Homemade Scrap Pile Clean Up Quilt, and this is what it looks like so far:

A few weeks ago I was wondering about my decision in making this quilt, and suddenly now I think it looks as if it has lots of potential. I like the dark and light contrast in this quilt. Hope it lives up to my hope for it.

This may sound funny, but I am yearning to shop for Christmas fabric and make something sweet with it. I very much liked the quilt shown recently on the Moda Bakeshop site that used Christmas fabric.

Today was the last day for pinching pierogies. Next week we make golabki. Week after that is the festival.

I learned that one of the local hospitals was requesting volunteers who crochet, knit or sew to make laprobes and shawls for the patients. Today I found out the specifics of what they need, and now I can begin to crochet some lapghans for them. I have done premie caps and blankets, but didn't think they needed adult items. I miss crocheting and will be happy to get back to it. During the recent quilt bloggers festival, it occurred to me that if it were a crochet bloggers festival, I could reach back into my afghan pile and pull out items I made in the 70's.

God Bless You.

Cornwall, Bernie and Chet, Cats, and More.

Would you like a little house? I mean a very charming, colorful and very little house, maybe with some flowers out front? At this site http://www.sewonandsewon-noelle.blogspot.com you can enter a giveaway to win one of the creations of Noelle. I have just discovered her blog. She lives in Cornwall, England and from what I saw at a quick glance lives in some sort of paradise making the sweetest things, like bunnies and little houses. I really admire the talent of people who can make something that causes others to smile and feel good. The drawing is on February 8.

I have been listening to Dog On IT by Stephen Quinn. This author had me laughing out loud, and I loved his mystery story. The main characters are Bernie, a human, and Chet, a dog. It's written from Chet's point of view, and he's a riot. I checked the library for another book by Quinn and saw that he has only two published so far, so I'll have to keep track of him.

I crocheted a little heart to wear as a pin on my coat, and now I'm working on another baby blanket to donate. Puff's back to her old self, with her huge appetite. And now Moxie wants special food too, none of that dry cat food out of the bag. Oh my.

God Bless You

Progress Made

I sewed my fabric pieces together for the Mrs. Moen Mystery. I have another set cut out in brown and pink, and I will sew that set next.





I crocheted the little pink heart because I wanted something for Valentine's Day. I was spurred on by an email newsletter from Lily n Cream yarn. I will definitely be making their love bug hearts which are too loveable.

Puff is much better today. She is growling back at Moxie so that's a good sign. I was tempting her with pancakes, one of her favorites, in order to get her pills into her, but today I bought a can of cat food that is pure salmon. Problem solved. She inhales the salmon inside which are her meds.

God Bless.

This is the Lion Brand Squiggles and Grins Baby Hat that I made. I did two things differently from the pattern. I bordered it with three rows of single crochet instead of one, and I used a yarn needle and yarn to gather the top before tying on the cord. I just couldn't keep the hat together at the top without doing that step.

I will make a pair of booties, and then the blanket, hat, and booties will go to my parish's Birth Right collection box.

No books today. I told my cats we were having a vacation day, and then something came up and I've been busy all day with household chores. So, no crafting either (pout.)
Good Night and God Bless You.

I love Mondays. Even when I worked, I loved the energy and newness of a Monday, even though I did not like the sinking feeling one gets on Sunday afternoon. So, today being Monday, I had lots of interest in getting things accomplished. One of those things was to complete a mission that was begun in November.

I belong to the Holy Rosary Sodality of my parish, and back in the autumn several of the us wanted to do something for members who are no longer able to attend meetings due to age and infirmary. We made sixteen or so of these blankets:


and we teamed up in two cars to deliver them. Visiting these people and giving them the blankets made them happy, and that made our Christmas. There was one person, however, we did not get to that night because of her location. With a blizzard, more snow, and personal commitments, I didn't get to complete this mission until today.
It took me about 45 minutes to arrive at the rest home. It is located in what must be one of the most beautiful spots in New England, and I hope the developers leave it alone! Anyway, the person I visited told me that she turned 100 years old this past Saturday. We both cried a little, especially when she told me what she remembered about my mom, who passed away last year at the age of 96. Apparently, my mom gave her some encouragement when this person needed it and she never forgot. Again, I left feeling lifted and special. I hope she felt the same way.

When I got home, I did this:











I made pierogi filled with onions and mushrooms, with a little cheese. Now, I am a woman who has made pierogi filled with peanut butter and jelly, so I thought these tasted pretty good. Of course, these are the "Shar Pei" version of pierogi, as you can tell by the wrinkles. I suspect that more filling would have taken care of that.

Growing up, our family had a small tradition that I confess, at times made me feel a little funny, but we always did it. Before we went to bed or left the house, we always blessed each other. "Good Night, God Bless You" and Good Bye, God Bless You" were always said. I suspect this came from our mother, but our dad picked it up. I have been bringing it back into my life when I can, and beginning today, I am bringing it to my blog.

I started a new baby hat, a Lion Brand pattern, Squiggles and Stripes. It's very cute so far, but I am only doing the squiggles, no stripes. You'll see it when it is done.

Good Bye and God Bless You.

Between Saturday and today I listened to Louise Penny's 'the Crueliest Month.' Fortunately, this was a 10 disc audio book because at 1:00 a.m when I was still awake I decided to listen to more of it and work on a baby hat.

This morning I took apart the hat. In the light of day I could see that the sizing wasn't right. I'll find another pattern to go with the blanket, which is done except for the blocking.

It's Sunday night and it's been snowing on and off since last night. So, after shoveling snow this morning, I spent my day listening to a Colin Dexter book on tape while working on a SAL from the Mary Poppins blog. The SAL is, surprise, Mary Poppins. I am late joining this SAL, but the photo shows my progress so far. She's standing on a roof, so that's a chimney near her, not a fire hydrant, although it could be mistaken for one I guess. The border of the pattern has little umbrellas in each corner which make it so charming. I'm using 2 strands of DMC rayon floss 30336,a navy blue.


When I had enough of cross-stitching, I picked up my crochet project, a small baby blanket to donate. It's very simple, just a row of single crochet then a row of double crochet in a shell; repeat the sequence till done. I'm using Bernat Softee Baby in pale blue and a G hook. I have a few skeins of this yarn so I'll probably make a few premie caps and some booties, maybe another blanket or two.


This is my first blog entry ever, and I know I will get better at it. Thanks for stopping by.