snowstorm

Well scratch one retreat. ---the snowstorm kept us from getting there. The highways we would have had to drive were closed because of the drifting snow. Oh well, guess it wasn't meant to be.

These are a couple postcards I made. The pumpkin was thread painted over a pumpkin picture on fabric, then cut out and appliqued on the background fabric. The leaves are a sheer fabric, overlay with dashes of glitter paint on top of them for added glitz. What fun doing these small pieces of art.

Retreat

Supposed to be at the Hancock Fabric retreat today, BUT a rip roaring snow storm took over the eastern part of the state and it was cancelled. We may be able to go tomorrow, if the weather lets up and the roads are cleared. Keep your fingers crossed we get to go. If not, oh well. hopefully they will refund all our $$$$. Forgot to ask that when I signed up.

Went to a workshop on Tuesday and completed the blocks for a folded fabric wall piece. Do not have a photo yet as it is still not sashed. Plan on that next week.

Snow missed us

Yea, the snow missed us, not quite sure how it did, but there was a small area that seemed to be in the eye of the storm all day yesterday. By the weather map we were missed by just a few miles on all sides. All total I would say we had under an inch of snow and little if any ice. Whoopie, no snow to scoop.

Spent the day yesterday designing some celtic applique blocks. I think the count is 24 right now. Most, I think, will work up well with one or two colors of bias plus some fabric inlays on some of the pieces. Now to find time to actually do some of these blocks.

Here are some of my button bracelets. Have done some of these for gifts for friends and of course some for myself. Its a neat way to use up old buttons. Some small beads are added at the tops of some buttons, and some along the edges to fill in if there is a space left by some of the buttons. Just a fun thing to do on a rainy day.

more fun stuff

Norfolk guild has had a progressive quilt project. I paper cut the center design for this and appliqued it on this wild print. The next person had to add the triangles to put the block on point. Next round was using half square triangles in a border, next person put the top and left borders on, and finally the left and bottom borders were added. I recieved mine back at the meeting Monday night, now have to think how to quilt it.

The black and white is from Shirley (my friend in Vegas) challenge fabric. She found this japanese print. I put it together using slices of the fabric with a black on black fabric. I kind of like the way it turned out. Lots of fun doing this. Now its my turn to find fabric for next years challenge.

Weather finally turned warm, most of the snow is gone, however the weather report is for a snow storm again this weekend. UGH!! Oh well spring cannot be to far away as its nearly March.

nursing home quilts

Calico Quilt club is making lap quilts for a local nursing home. We hope to have enough to give everyone a new lap quilt. These are the ones I made so far. Its a fun project and uses up lots of scrap batting as well as fabrics. To start you cut a 2 pieces 6" x 18" for the center panels, plus a 6" x 18" piece of cotton batting. Sandwich all three of these layers with fabrics right side out on both sides of the batting. Stitch around the edge, Next step is to cut 4 more pieces 6" x 18", Plus 2 batting the same size. Lay one fabric right sides together to one side of the piece just stitched around. lay the second fabric right sides together on the back side of the center panel. Lay batting on top of last piece and sew the seam. Unfold layers to enclose batting between the two pieces of fabric. Repeat for second side of center. Then measure across the ends just stitched and make pieces for both sides plus batting and stitch to top and bottom of piece just completed. (sandwich the fabrics as described above.) Repeat at opposite sides until you have 3 rows. Then bind, I still need to add a row of decorative stitches down the center of each 6" piece. Makes wonderful throw size quilts for nursing homes.

One of the ladies made a backing the size needed, put a batting on top and sewed strips, full length to cover the batting. Sew and flip style. This too turned out great. I still have to try one like that.

Retreat

This is a pot of flowers quilt I did as a block of the month design several years ago. Was fun to do and fun to share.

Went to the CPQG quilt retreat this past weekend. Left on Friday AM and returned late on Sunday. Was on the committee so had to be there to help set up. We had 24 people sign up this year so was a nice group. We guess at the beginning of retreat how many items would get completed during the weekend. This includes quilt tops completed as well as items completely finished. The grand total was 43 this year.

We had "Aloha" as the theme, so had lei's, a candle mat, the name tags I showed earlier, and several other small items as favors. We had the stained glass tuplip quilt class, which was really neat. Played a few games and just generally had a grand time with quilting friends.

We try to KISS (keep it simple, stupid) the meals (we have to do our own meal prep.) We had sloppy joes, plus salads and desserts, then soup and sandwiches, Wisconsin Cheese Soup, Cheeseburger Soup, Chicken Noodle, Veggie Beef and Chili. Lots of great desserts and salads. Plus we have a snack table to graze on all weekend.

Had a deliscious dip for chips: 2 pkg cream cheese
2 cups grated cheese (cheddar)
1 envelope dry ranch dressing mix
1/3 cup beer (not lite beer)
Mix all, let set overnight in fridge and serve. Yummy, yummy good stuff.

I marked and cut out 35 kitty patterns which I now need to get fused to base blocks. Then stitched. Have been wanting to do this quilt for a long time, so figured now was the time. Will keep you posted on how its coming in the weeks ahead

CQC cancelled the guild meeting yesterday. Just to cold out. Wind chill was -15 degrees, so didn't want to drag people out in that weather, besides that we had had snow Monday night and I wasn't about to dig out by 10 in the morning. They decided no one would want to come out in the cold, so cancelled.

Have some road trips planned for spring. March 1,2,3 will go to Hancocks Fabrics retreat at Ashland, May 4-5 to Curtis to the Frontier Stitchers retreat, in June to Overland Park for the Machine Quilters convention, July to state meeting, August to Ricky Tims seminar, Oct to Threads and CQC retreat. Think that should hold me for this years adventures.

Back into the deep freeze!!

Had some warm weather for a few hours today. It went all the way to 44 degrees for a couple hours. Now its below freezing again. On its way to about 9 degrees tonight with some snow predicted for tomorrow and Thursday. Supposed to be just cold for retreat this weekend, but snow flurries by Sunday afternoon. But its Feb. in Nebraska so what do we think it should be? Where in the heck is all the "global warming" those idiots keep blowing about???? I could sure use some of it.

A couple days ago someone asked me what a progressive quilt was. This is the progressive my group did for the state meeting in North Platte a couple years ago. The theme was the WWII canteens, so I began with the platform and bulding . The others in the group added the track signs, the produce waiting for the train, the ladies waiting to serve the guys, the border doesn't show up very well on this picture but gives you an idea of what a progressive quilt is. The owner makes a center then the others add according to a set of directions. What fun. Am in another progressive with the Norfolk group right now and should get mine back at the Feb meeting. Will share it when it comes home.

Road Trip

What a great day, Marie, Vivian, Viola and I went to Grand Island to the Stuhr Museum annual quilt event. Lots of neat quilts from all over the state were hung around the museum. + 18 venders from across the state and out of state were there with their wares. Oh the temptations of all that fabric, notions, books, patterns etc. I only bought some thread and one book, so consider I made it out of there pretty lucky. Only problem is the book is written in French and I do not read French, however the photo's are pretty self explanitory. Some new things to try.

Marie and I signed up to venture to the Hancock Retreat the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of March. Should be a fun time. Just hope its not a blizzard or ice. Bad time of year to make plans in Nebraska.

We shopped JoAnns fabric, Material Girl quilt shop and the Mall in addition to the shops at the museum.

Was a bit chilly when I left this AM. A bit below 0 degrees with quite a bit of breeze, so know the wind chill was way down below the 0 degree mark. But Maries car was nice and warm, so stayed cozy all the way.

The small wall piece is called Ice Crystals. Its a take off on a hawaiian design with drunkards path borders.
The second is a memory quilt. I called it Gails Eternal Flame in memory of my friend Gail who passed away a couple years ago. I had designed this quilt, she liked the design and planned to stitch it for me, but passed before she could make it, so I made it and named it in her memory..

Ground Hog Day

Brrrr -19 degree wind chill this morning. It was -2 on the temperature but felt lots colder with the wind. Sun is shining so makes it seem warm out. The official ground hog did not see his shadow, BUT the one here did, so do not know which one to believe. I think I will believe the official one. grin!!

This is a small 9 patch quilt I did for beginner class project. Its very simple 9 patch with sashings and a strip piece border. Very quick and lots of fun to do. The other is called Spice It Up Nine Patch and was done as a mystery quilt for state meeting class a couple years ago. Its basically a split 9 patch block which is then arranged into a design. Most in the class were finished with their blocks and had them sewn together by the end of the class. The mystery quilts are always quite popular and the classes fill quickly.

Snow

Beautiful light snow this morning. Large flakes with not much wind so a beautiful sight. Only about an inch of new snow all together. Just enough to have to clear the walks. Forgot, yesterday, that I had already posted the nametag picture, so will make up for that today by posting a couple of my pictures.

These are two versions of a maple leaf crib size quilt. The leaves are cut from a print fabric, the backgrounds of the leaves are done with a light (or dark) complimentary color plain) and some of the leaves have the background fabric. The border is then done in the print. These are very quick quilts to stitch and a quite fun project.

January

January is nearly over already, where did the days go? This is the nametags I made for the CPQG retreat. Theme is Aloaha, so did beach, ocean and palm tree. The participants can write their name in the "sand". Hope everyone likes them. Being on the committee is kind of fun. I'm sure will be work too, but ---Retreat is Feb. 9, 10 & 11. Hope the weather is nice and not a snow storm.

It was -19 wind chill this morning when I went down to walk. Brrrrrr. Supposed to be this cold for a while. But guess it is winter on the plains, so what do I expect? Does make one move a bit faster when its so cold.

winters back

Brrrrr its cold out today. Temp is around 22 degrees F. with a sharp NW wind. Rather humid as there have been some small snow showers going through. Good day to stay home and sew.

This small piece was a challenge project with my friend, Shirley, from Las Vegas. Kokopelli is one of my favorite themes to work with. I did have fun using the fabrics for the challenge.

I'm now on the lookout for some challenging fabric for our 2008 challenge. Shirley was in charge of this years challenge. I have the top done, but its not quilted yet, will post this years photo when the quilting and binding are completed.

Fog

Hit the floor around 5:30 AM this morning to a beautiful day. By 7:30 it was so foggy you could barely see a block. The fog froze onto the trees and bushes and painted them a pretty frosty white. It really was beautiful.

The fog broke about 2 o'clock and by the time I thought of taking the camera out for pictures, a breeze had come up and all the lovely frost was on the ground.

This is a very small piece using ruched flowers and dimensional leaves. I used this as a mini class on how to ruch fabric strips into flowers. A fun project and quickly done.

smart machine

Hey when I published the post the machine took care of the double picture. Sure glad the program is smarter than I am. Now you can see the second closeup too.

some older pieces

This is a quilt I made a while ago, but is still one of my favorites. Its called Beauty On Ice with shilouettes of ice skaters.

I love watching ice skating and always wished I had been able to do this graceful sport. I however sprained my ankles every time I tried to even stand up on skates, so have had to be satisfied with just watching the event from afar.

Somehow I clicked the same picture twice so bear with me on this. It was really fun to make this piece .

Couldn't figure out how to get rid of the second closeup, so you will all just have to pretend it doesn't exhist.

Temps have gotten a bit more mild the last couple days. thank goodness.

CQC had workday yesterday, we started a lap/throw project for the local nursing home, We hope to have enough lap robes for each person to have one, They are reversible. Will get pictures as soon as I get binding on the ones I stitched. Was a fun day and lots of scraps were used up making something for others.

what a difference a day makes

What a difference a day makes, yesterday was nice and now its snowing again. Supposed to be about 6 - 8" forcast. ICK!! Oh well good time to sew.

This is a piece I did for the 9/11 memorial book for AQS. Its called "Together" Theme of course is red/white/blue. The center is a shilouette of two quilters sitting, sewing and talking. The circles were appliqued onto a square, then cut into 4ths and restitched into half and 3/4 circles. The red,white and blue strips diagonally were on a sheer fabric that has silver stars on it. This was put over the pieced quilt top, then all the layers were machine quilted. It traveled the U.S for 3 years.

beautiful day

A beautiful January day today. Fairly warm with the ice/snow melted off the streets. This will last a day as its to snow again tomorrow evening through Sunday AM. 3"-5" of new snow expected. UGH!!

This is 05"s fabric challenge from my friend in Vegas. It was a south west print of indian adobe huts. I used soem more SW fabrics and then bordered with the SW geometric border. I think it turned out OK, considering we are not able to purchase much SW type fabric out here in the middle of the good old USA.

This was thread painted over some of the foreground cactus and rock. It doesn't show on the picture, but I was pleased with the way it turned out.

Didn't accomplish much today, but did sit down for a bit and design a couple piece throws. Not sure I will ever make them, but sure was fun playing with the graph paper again.

Think I will work on the scraps again this evening as there is certainly not much to watch on TV. Will stick a CD in and whack fabric up into squares and strips.

cold

I'm putting this quilt on my bed tonight so I will stay warm. It was -17 degrees this morning, so think its time to add another quilt.

Good day to stay in and work on the scraps again. I will NEVER get through those boxes.

This quit is called "exploding bear paw" The individual quarters of the block explode away from the center. was a fun project to do. Quilting is bears walking around the quilt on all the plain areas.

snowing

Its snowing today. I would guess around 4" so far. Heard noise outside a while ago and found the neighbor running his snow blower and clearing our walks. It sure is nice to have young neighbors who will go out of their way to help the older people in the neighborhood.

DS#2 got up about 4 and looked out, called over and asked if we had done the walk. I told him no the neighbor, North, did it. He was happy as he had to get ready to go to work. He works a 24/7 shift, which means one week he works from 6 PM to 6AM on Monday, Tuesday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, has Wed. and Thurs nights off, the following week is just the opposite, has the days he worked off and the days he was off as workdays. For those who do not know our son bought the house across the street last winter. Its nice having him close by after being at a distance for about 22 years.

The quilts. the round quilt is a sample of a class I taught at State Meeting a couple years ago. I called it ironworks. A really fun technique. The pattern is designed and cut out just like we used to cut paper snowflakes when we were kids. Then design is traced to paper side of fusible, pressed to black fabric and cut out. Paper pulled and black fused to a bright background. Layered with backing and batting, then a black zig zag stitch is used to finish the edges and quilt at the same time.

The other is a butterfly quilt made from fat quarters of batiks that I purchased at Paducah. Its on my design wall and my quilt inspecting cat is giving it the once over. She will actually pull things off that she doesn't like. Sometimes I wonder about that cat!!! Her name is Patches, for the patches of white and black in her fir. This quilt is basted and ready to quilt.

Another cold day

Another cold day on the plains. Light snow too. Oh well good time to sew.

This is a stain glass hanging that I did at CQC retreat this fall. I think it turned out pretty nice. Only messed up a couple times and had to pick a seam to let the "leading" go under another piece. Ah directions, maybe they were supposed to be followed---

Have been working on scraps --cutting squares and strips from them. Have a fair size box with assorted sizes of squares. Will eventually have some pretty string quilts and possibly 4 patch and 9 patch blocks.