Another One Bit The Dust!

Another UFO - done! This cute Little Bear wallhanging is one I made several months ago but couldn't decide how to quilt. I finally did a 1" crosshatching in the center and free motion stippling in the borders. I've already told you about my free motion stippling - more very pointed mountain peaks than jigsaw puzzle-like pieces but I actually could see myself making progress on this. I think if I was using a contrasting thread that I could actually see instead of navy thread on navy background I might have done a little better. The lighting in my sewing room is just not keeping pace with my aging eyes. I do have an Ott light in there but it's one that stands on the floor and can't be adjusted very well so my next purchase is probably going to be another smaller Ott light. I have one that I keep on my ironing table and that I use as my light when I'm tracing redwork patterns, and another that I keep beside my chair when I'm doing handwork. If the plugs were any easier to get to I'd just move one of those when I need it but electric outlets are few and far between in this house and are all behind furniture or boxes of fabric. I'll be watching for a coupon from Hobby Lobby! Does anyone out there know of a light that's cheaper but just as good as an Ott light?

Beauty and Confusion

Last night as I was preparing dinner this was my view outside my kitchen window. I am constantly amazed by the work God does. If the colors are this beautiful here can you even imagine what they will be like in Heaven? I can't but I like to think about that. I bet there are colors we've never dreamed of and birds that are so dazzling we couldn't take it in if they were here. I bet the music is so incredible that we will simply stand in awe and that the mansion He has prepared for us is more beautiful than any castle we've ever read about.

I went to my back door to capture the moment from there and obviously I'm not a photographer but doesn't the peace just sort of surround you and make you feel like you're in His arms?

On the other hand, this creation that God designed has gotten a little confused. Either that or she is on a different calendar than me. Christmas is over. But you can't tell it by her! She has just now begun to bloom for the season and she is stunning sitting there under my bedroom window. So in honor of her confusion I decided to finish a Christmas wallhanging. :)

The Christmas Cat is a panel I've had for several years and just never took the time to work on. I wanted to begin/practice a little machine quilting so I decided to do this "primitive". I paid no attention to the items on the quilt, like the tree and the packages, except in a general way. I "sort of" quilted around each ornament and package and the tree but didn't care if I stayed in the lines or not - kind of like when I was five years old and coloring. :) It gave me a chance to get a feel for the loosey-goosey feel of having the feed dogs down and gave me some practice time. It was a fun thing to do.

I Almost Finished By Friday

This is a wool project that I started last weekend. This is only the top....but, hey the hand work is done! It will have tabs at the top to hang it and "tongues" at the bottom when finished and no I can't explain tongues but I'll show you when I get them on there. I doubt that's what the pattern calls them but you know I can't remember stuff like that. A friend gave me this pattern a couple of years ago, then last year I bought the wool, and this year I started it. That's a nice schedule don't you think? At least it's not as old as a few other patterns and/or kits I have laying around!

















My friend Karen at Log Cabin Quilter made the best wallhanging and even gave one away. I didn't win. She took pity on me and sent me a pattern so I could make one too! I didn't exactly follow the pattern (I can you hear you - yes I do too sometimes follow a pattern!) but I didn't have enough cream fabrics to piece the background like the pattern said so I just used a piece of khaki Kona cotton. It totally doesn't look khaki in this picture and I know that but I promise it really is khaki - I tried to fix the color in the color adjuster thingie but it kept turning blue so I gave up. Anyway the top is finished and ready to make the sandwich.




I might be cheating just a tiny bit by including this. Well, maybe a lot. But I knew you would want to see my progress on this one. Oops, forgot you've never seen it at all have you? I did this embroidery last fall. But I couldn't decide what to do with it. This year I thought I'd try to make a pillow using it - I'm not a very good pillow maker but I'm running out of wall space and table space and what else can I do with it? So this week I put these borders on it. I went to buy a rust colored rick rack to go on the background just next to the border. Hancock's. Hobby Lobby. WalMart. The only three places that sell rick rack here. No rust. I finally found a patterned ribbon that I think might work but....it's not there. Imagine it. Hmmm, not working for you? Me either. Got any suggestions?

Maybe next Friday I'll have these finished completely for you. Ike looks like he might be visiting Arkansas and if he does I'll be staying in and sewing. I can do handwork even if the electricity goes off but I can't do any machine sewing because we don't have a generator. My husband doesn't think too much of the idea of buying a generator just so I can sew. I think that whole car breaking down thingy, and the stove leaking carbon monoxide thingy, and the computer crashing, and the pump quitting (all resulting in $$$ spent) have traumatized him. You think?

If You're Reading This, Please Vote!

I almost forgot to show you this wonderful wallhanging I finished for my kitchen. It's called Apple Basket by Lakeview Quilts. I bought the pattern in a quilt shop in Colorado last summer when we were camping in Estes Park. It's super easy - the checkerboard part is strip pieced and the basket is machine appliqued. When we bought this house five years ago it came with a blue formica countertop, which we haven't replaced. I'm voting for the replacement but my husband is voting against it so we're stalemated. His philosophy about everything is "does it still work? if so, keep it till it doesn't." My philosophy is, "but I love tile, I want tile, tile is beautiful." After almost 44 years of wedded bliss, well okay, sometimes bliss-sometimes whatever else marriage is at the moment, I have learned to bide my time. Tile will come - eventually. Back to the kitchen. I know you already know I love yellow so of course I used yellow with the blue counters. Yellow dish towels, yellow flower pots, etc. But then I discovered red. Ah, red - a passionate color, an in-your-face color, a forgiving color (doesn't show dirt). My yellow and blue rug was not forgiving and it drove me crazy trying to keep it clean. Sooooo, I switched to red. Red rug, red dish towels, red embroidery on my valance.

This window is to die for. It looks out on the lake and is shaded all summer. A girl doesn't mind doing dishes here. The embroidery was done on my Janome 11000 - a wonderful machine for those of you who are interested - and each little item is something related to the kitchen (an orange, a pie, a teapot, yada, yada). Oops, just noticed the dishes draining there. Well, at least they're clean dishes! If you can see the little vase on the left side of the sink, it's the vase from the very first flowers I ever received. I was five years old and having my tonsils out. That's 55 years ago! Good grief, how did I get this old? And on top of the cabinets the Blue Willow platter is from my very fist set of dishes when we married. I have a pretty good collection of it now and love every piece. There are several different Blue Willow patterns but mine are the ones marked "Japan" on the back. I think we should have a contest. I need to convince my husband that I really, really need tile. So, how about you vote. Just go down to the "(number) Comment" at the bottom of this post and leave me a comment telling me if I should keep the blue (if you have to) or if I should get tile and what color the tile should be. Can't wait to get the results of this one!