New Stove

Here is our new stove............... The one we had came with the house and it needed to be replaced many years ago. How pleased I am that we could budget this wonderful addition. I have always wanted a solid top. Now I will find out if I will really like it. I am the Boil Over Queen and this might be a problem.

The First Half of Row Four

It does seem as though I could find something else to post other than these blocks. This is what I am working on now and each one is so individual that I think it should have its picture taken along. They change character when they are all put together. This week I will finish Row Four and I can begin on Row Five.

The Persian Pickle

The Persian Pickle met at my house last night. There are six of us but Joan was not there when this picture was taken. I am behind the camera.

I had found a copy of "The Persian Pickle" by Sandra Dallas at Thriftbooks.com for everyone.

We are from left to right Vickie, Peg, Barbara and Nancy. All are extraordinarily skilled with a needle. I am blessed to have friends such as these.

Vickie loaned her copy of the book to me several months ago. After reading it I knew I needed to be in a group like that.



Lem came in and took a picture with me there in the middle.......

Then Joan arrived and we were six.................


We sat and talked and laughed and stitched....... Everyone went home with some accomplishment to show for the evening..... I am looking forward to next month when we meet again. Nancy and Barbara will be in Alaska and we will miss them but they will have lots to share when they join us in August.

Row Three Complete

This quilt is really turning out well.......... I am so pleased...........

The weekend was busy, what with laundry and vacuuming and such........... I did not get the time to stitch that I had hoped but then that is usually the case. Some how too many projects migrated into the family room and camped around my chair . Each one waves saying "Me next".

Today I cleared them out all but two........... And of course the ubiquitous sock. That is always handy to pick up when the day has been long and the mind is numb..............

Now I have the first three rows completed on RLT. I tried to work too fast and two of the blocks are not my best work. I am going slower now but enjoying it so much more.

Tonight is my stitching class and I will get more done on the Wedding Sampler. That piece is really moving along.......... Perhaps a picture tomorrow.

The End and The Beginning

Here it is............. The last block for Row 2 of RLT........... Tonight I can sew this on the end and I will have 2 rows complete...............



And here is the first block of Row 3............... This one has more pieces but really isn't hard at all. I am still stitching my wee nine patch as a leader/ender and it is growing also.

There have have been several post with the magic nine patch. The one where you make the block and then cut it apart and then sew it together again............ I would like to at least try a block or two but I am resisting the urge until I get my quilts ready to ship to Val........ It is so hard to stay on a project sometimes. The next one is calling to me and it is so hard to stay on track................ This weekend I will finish the quilts for Val and get the application form in the mail. And I might even find time to knit a bit more on that pink and orange and yellow sock.VBG

Just a Wee Bit More

Here are the latest additions to Row Two of "A Road Less Traveled". I managed to cut a piece incorrectly and I had to rummage through the scraps for something else to use. I will not tell you which fabric it is and you will never know....... Knowing how long it took me to make a decision on the replacement, I was delighted that I was letting Homestead Hearth find the fabrics for this project. I would never finish because so many things look good together that I could never decide.

A Block or Two

I made some time to play in the studio this morning before work. Peg told me yesterday that she had completed row 4 of the “Road Less Traveled” BOM that we are working on.

I had put mine aside while I completed other things but it called to me this morning.

I have now completed Block 6 and Block 7 on the second row which has 10 blocks.

Of course I cut two pieces incorrectly but stirring through my scraps I found something that worked almost as well……..

The more I work on this quilt, the better I like it.

While looking around at other blogs several things caught my eye. I am pleased to say that I resisted the temptation for a change.

Smocked Nightgown

Here is the picture of the baby nightie I smocked for my sister. I sent if off to her before I took the picture. She was kind enough take a picture for me......

While I was pleating it I thought it was a bit much but I blindly followed the directions. Now I wish I had listened to my inner voice and done fewer rows. It would have looked as nice and it would not have had that sort of tube look at the top. Next time I will know.

Tonight I will sit with my quilts that require binding and stitch it down. Then I will have to put the hanging sleeve on them. I am trying to stick to one project until it is finished but it isn't easy. My mind is like a butterfly, it flits to the next thing. My chair in the living room has started to COLLECT things again. Oh well, the pickle meets next Thursday and I will be forced to neaten up a wee bit before they arrive.

Since Kaye was visiting, I called the girls and we met for breakfast. How delicious. The company and the food........... Several conversations going on at once. It is hard to keep up.

Peg gave me a basket of strips.... I plan to stitch on them for awhile tomorrow. I have a blouse pattern and fabric on the cutting table. That needs to be cut out.......... The list just goes on and on...............

I am making good progress on the cross stitch piece.... Perhaps a picture of that later this week.

NOTE...........................

I like to respond to all comments. I am more than willing to share information on patterns and where to find them. Sad to say, if you are NO-REPLY and have no email address listed in your profile, then I am unable to respond.....................

Recently I have been asked questions but I have no way to answer you because I don't have an address.................

The Weekend

On Sunday we went to Provincetown................ That is about 36 miles from Orleans. It sits right out in the ocean and has wonderful shops.

We usually get a foot long hot dog then we walk around checking the shops and end up with a nice piece of Fried Dough.

We missed the foot long hot dog but indulged with the Fried Dough. Honey went with us of course...... While I toured the shops, Lem sat outside with Honey. Honey really likes that because she gets petted so much by others walking around.

Lem and Kaye stood on the beach so that I could have at least one picture of Provincetown to show you. Doesn't Honey look tired?



Some progress was made on the wedding sampler........ I am pleased with how it is coming along. This morning I sewed the binding on the two quilts I got on Wednesday and if all goes well, I can stitch it down tonight and get the labels put on.................

Oh How Beautiful

Brown was so good to me yesterday...... He brought me these two quilts from Sunshine Quilts. Judy is such a gifted artist as you can see.

This is the back of the Storm at Sea setting designed by Bonnie Hunter. Look at that workmanship on this quilt..... Heart stopping..............


Here is a closer view of the back. You can see the outline of each block...........



This is the Row Jane in the Ohio Star setting designed by Mary Hickory.
Here is an up close view of the quilt. Look at that detail...........


Each block was given individual attention and quilted to perfection.


Here is a back view. Noitce the feathers on the border.......... It is apparent that Judy speaks the language of quilts.



I keep pinching myself to make sure I am awake and that these are actually my quilts.

Of course now I have to add the binding and the labels. And a Hanging Sleeve....... I have never done a Hanging Sleeve so this will be new to me.

Thank you Judy for such beautiful quilting.

It Never Fails

A very dear friend is on her way to visit us from Arkansas. She will be with us for a week and I do want everything to be just right.

I postponed vacuuming until this morning. I planned my time and got up early to get all my tasks completed. Naturally this is the morning the vacuum cleaner decided to be a problem. I noticed that it was not picking up as well as I thought it should when Lem says "The vacuum doesn't sound right." When my dear husband can tell there is definitely something wrong. I have it in the car now to take in for repairs.............

Now that I am sitting here at the office I remember that I rushed out without shining the sink. Drat............. I can't call home and get Lem to do it because he left early to go to the airport. That is a two hour drive one way.

This just proves the old maxim - If anything can go wrong it will.............

What Was I Thinking?

The last time I did a cross stitch piece on black I promised I would never do it again. A very dear friend got married, what 3 years ago and I am still struggling with her wedding sampler. Naturally I had to do it on black.......................

It is an easy piece to do. I did it on light green overdyed linen for my niece several years ago.

I thought if I showed you a picture taken this morning, I could just snap another one each day to show progress so far........ I figure it takes about one hour to do a 10 x 10 grid so you can see I have quite some time left to work on this piece.

Done......................

Much happiness today........... I did the last few stitches on this project this morning. They are both packed in my bag for the Wednesday Night Class to be checked by my Guru to make sure I did not miss a spot................ Thursday the will go to the framers.........

I took the time to look for the next LOOMING LARGE project. It is a cross stitch sampler with some cut work. The last time I worked on it I cut it in the wrong place. I put it to one side and I have not been able to look at it since.

Knowing that I will not have Barry (the guru) to teach me what I need to know in order to finish several projects.... This is the next one in line....... I will need to locate a table frame for the scroll bar and then I will be working on it.

I will also confess that last night I wanted to work on appliqué and spent the evening on my third block for the Country Cousin Quilt..................... That was just the bit of refreshing I needed to push through and finish the needlepoint this morning.

Moving Along

I am moving along with this project. I am tired of these chairs now and I am ready for them to be done............... As you can see I still have the whale and the leaves and the flowers on the right to finish and that spot in the sand I missed. I called the framer to let them know I was almost done. They are holding the other two that are completed. They have had them since April 2005. That means I have been on this project for 4 years..........Much to long.... Can you tell that needlepoint is not my favorite thing to do? How wonderful to know that the end is in sight.

Just a Few Accomplishments

This is the beaded ornament I am making for the Guild. Since no one from the guild is a blogger, I can confess on this site that I am the secret Santa.................. I have some dear friends that are members of the guild so even before I joined I did a wee giftee for each member attending the Christmas gathering. One year it was strawberries for needles. The next year it was a Wonder Wallet from Lazy Girl Patterns. Last year as you know it was the beaded tassels.
I figure I will need to have at least 60 ready by Thanksgiving. If I need a few more I can make them up before the meeting. So here are four done and 56 to go. There are 12 ornaments to each container. If I get 5 containers completed I will be in good shape for the event.


Finally the hat and socks and sweater are done. The smocked dress was done also but I managed to get something from the iron on it when i was blocking the top so it will have to be washed. I will mail what I have to Jean so at least that part will be done.

Lem and I stayed home for the holiday weekend. We did swap the winter clothes for the summer clothes. Now the closet is nice and organized.

We have a dear friend coming next week for a visit and I got the closet in the guest room cleared our for her and two drawers in the chest of drawers emptied for her use.

I didn't even get half of what I wanted done. I spent Sunday afternoon with a heating pad and that really cut into my time to stitch...................

Let the Games Begin

Well, they are here.................. They being "the visitors"..... People think it is great living on Cape Cod but the truth is, while it is a great place to vacation it is not a great place to live. The town I live in has a population of about 6,000. During the summer it becomes 23,000. Traffic becomes a nightmare and the rule is "You do not go anywhere that requires a left turn." Folks tend to leave their manners and intellect at home when they vacation. Grocery shopping must be done before 9:00 AM and after 10:00 PM. Restaurants are crowded and the prices are raised during the summer.

Yes, I am only 1 1/2 miles from the ocean but living here I often forget to go. Silly me. I get so involved in the things required for day to day living that I don't take time out for enjoying the things here.

Surprises

In 2004 one of the associates at my local fabric shop was beginning a new enterprise. You could bring to her your pattern and fabric and after she took your measurements, she would cut out the garment for you. Then you could assemble with confidence that it would be a perfect fit. I purchased several length of fabric and patterns. Went all out go get some new clothes…………….. She kept them for the summer of ’04 and ’05. In the winter of ’05 she returned the three boxes to me. They have been sitting in the bedroom since.

Last week I carried them downstairs to the studio. Since I am finishing things on the MUST DO list I thought I would open the boxes to see what was there. I also opened a box of things that I had kept to cut out myself. In the box that I kept I found:

3 Dress Skirts

3 Pairs Capri’s

6 Tops

3 Pairs Full Pull On Pants

1 Pair Straight Pants

1 Tuxedo Shirt

1 Boucle Jacket

What was I thinking? Remember, this does not include what is in the other three boxes.

This week, I finished one pair of pants and one top. I need to re-work the pants a bit to get them to fit right but I will keep on fine tuning till I get it right.

A New Clock

On Friday afternoon Lem and I went to get another clock. I am so glad that we both like clocks that tick and chime. When we went to pick up the ships clock we purchased in March we saw another clock that we really liked. It is marble and was made in the mid 1800’s. It has a French movement and a really pleasant chime.

I also finished a pair of socks. I keep a pair going all the time. They are great “pick up” work when the mind is too tired to do anything but the hands need to be busy.

I am still working on the things for Jean. I did get the baby nightgown smocked and this morning I got it sewn together. Now to hem it and sew on the snaps and it will be done. I will be pleased to get these things in the mail to her.

Mother's Day

Okay, I am a bit late with this. I seem to be a bit late with everything these days. I am trying to keep the house in order and cook healthy meals. Boy that sure takes time.

It was a wonderful Mother's Day. Both of my Darling Children checked in to say hello. Lem gave me another pearl for my necklace.

Juggling

I find it impossible to juggle all my balls at one time. It seems that the more I attempt to get it ALL done the farther behind I fall.

Blogging is an all time favorite thing for me. I enjoy reading what everyone else is doing and making and where they are going and what they are seeing......

I want to be a part of all that is happening out there in blogger land......

Here it is past the halfway point on May and I haven't even gotten my own page up to date. I am way behind in reading what everyone else is doing.

I have spent the last few weeks trying to keep the house in order and trying to be proactive. That means keeping up with a calender and accomplishing task before they are due.

I have also been concentrating on one project at a time. I finally got the Storm At Sea Jane shipped off to be quilted. I then concentrated my morning time to getting the 2005 Siggy Swap quilt top together. That has been done at last. Perhaps I will get a good picture of it tomorrow.

I finished the hat and socks and sweater for my sister but I want to include a smocked dress in the package. That has been pleated and I have all the things together to get the hand work done.

Now that the weather is improving it is time to get out the summer clothes. I have several totes of fabric and patterns I have been tripping over for the last two summers. This is the year I am going to make those clothes and wear them.

As most everyone knows, Lem and I are hoping to be moving to NC in the early part of 2009. I simply must go through the cellar and garage and get those areas cleared out and get ready to move.

Let me leave with a picture of the siggy quilt in progress.

Whew................

I reached my goal....... I finished this top. Now to send it off to be quilted. I am delighted to see it all together. The yellow was definitely the right thing to do...... It makes the quilt sing.

After it was all done, I realized that I would have to put a hanging sleeve on it and on all the others I am sending to the show. One thing about making bed quilts, they don't need a hanging sleeve....

I also got out the siggy blocks from 2005 and began to assemble the. Now this is going to be a much bigger quilt than I first thought. I have three rows complete and I like how it looks on the design board. Of course it hangs off each side a bit but I do get an idea of how the finished product will look.

Unfinished Projects.

As if I didn’t have enough, I brought home some from others………. The guild had its annual auction last night. You took what you did not want and it was auctioned with the proceeds going to the guild……… I reviewed the items for sale with care and kept in mind what I have at home already.

There were several books on quilting that I thought Kate would enjoy, those wonderful “Learn How to Quilt” books that have so much information in them.

I saw one of our more experienced quilters place some blocks on the table and went over to check on them.

Aren’t they wonderful? There are a few more blocks to be completed and there was none of the background fabric included, just what was needed for the colored portion of each block. I think there are 3 or 4 more to do. I will also have to cut into my charm fabric to get the squares to add to each block.

The instructions are all there. She even made the templates for each block and included them in envelopes marked with the month they went with. This is going to be a wonderful addition to my collection of unfinished projects. It will also be a good practice quilt when I teach myself how to machine quilt. This set me back $5.00

I spent $3.00 more and got this collection of blocks. It will be interesting to see how they end up being set and just what becomes of them. They are machine pieced and not exactly the greatest fabrics but I will enjoy using these blocks to practice machine quilting.

Now these are all hand pieced. I will say it looks much better in the picture than it does in real life. Some scrappy quilts you need to stand back from to the best view.

There are even a few ready to add and the template used.

I also see a tote bag in my future. The extra block will be a nice pocket on the other side of the bag.

I just could not see the effort that someone had put into these things being lost.

Progress

Two more rows added to my Storm at Sea Jane.......... Only two rows left to add. That means only 18 more of those small blocks to paper piece and only 15 more of the diamond blocks to paper piece. I like paper piecing but only in small quantities at a time. I am thinking about a border now. I have some ideas floating around in my head but we will see.



I did take a break and finish block one of row two on the RLT quilt.