Baby It's Cold Outside

Our ice storm arrived yesterday and it is still sleeting. The weathermen are predicting it will change to snow this evening and we should get 1 to 3 inches. I know some States have received a lot of winter weather, however, for me, what we have so far is too much for me. I am ready for Spring to come along! I was raised in cold country, but I have been South way too long and I must say I am a warm weather gal. I took some pictures through the window today and what you see in these pictures is nothing but sleet on the ground. The first view is out of the front window and the other one is out the back window. The limps down in front is from an earlier wind storm. It got too cold to take care of them back in December.

Icey Weather Today

We've got an ice storm going on today and it is supposed to last until noon tomorrow. I don't do the ice because I have had three joint replacements and I don't want to take a chance of falling. So it's a wonderful day to sew. I am working on a UFO and it is the Eleanor Burns Pink Lemonade Quilt and I made it a lapsize. I decided it was time I got the quilting done on it. I use my sewing machine to do my quilting and when I get that done I will post a picture of it. So I think I am on a roll with these UFO's. When that is done that will be 1 out of my goal of 8 for the year.

I plan to still go back and work on the Great Pumpkin Patch and the Road to Dixie Quilt.

What Does A Quilter Need Most ??

Well, maybe it's not the most thing a quilter might need. We all have a fabric stash of some sort and believe me I have one. There is the fabric in my walkin pantry, the fabric stored in the garage, and the fabric stored in two of the three bedrooms. In other words there is fabric everywhere in the house practically. So what is this all leading up to you ask. How about shopping for more fabric. Yep, you heard me, more fabric. I was at the Chickasha Quilt Shop owned by Phylis (the actual name is Steelman's) with some of the girls yesterday working on the Great Pumpkin Patch Quilt when to my wondering eyes I kept seeing fabric and I was determined to buy more fabric. I told Phylis I had a list. The NNNQG has a retreat in April and one of the things we will be doing is a mystery quilt. I had a bolt of fabric at home and hoped she would help me with matching up fabric with it for the mystery quilt. She and the girls I was with helped and I bought. So here's what I got for the mystery quilt:



Next on my list was to buy sashing for the Great Pumpkin Patch Quilt and the two borders for my Road to Dixie Quilt. This is what I found:






So now I am set to finish some ongoing projects and ready for the mystery quilt at the April Retreat.

Road To Dixie Rows

Last night I finished adding my last two rows of my Road To Dixie Quilt. Now it's on to buy fabric for the two borders tomorrow. Anyway you can see here that I have sewn the last two rows on to the quilt.

Working on The Great Pumpkin Patch

This morning I finished appliqueing on the sewing machine one of the blocks in the Great Pumpkin Patch Quilt. There are twelve blocks in this quilt plus a topper across the top of the blocks. A small group of friends are working on this quilt together and have been so kind as to share their background fabric and oranges for the pumpkins with me. On Saturday I will meet with some of them to work some more on it. Until then I am going back to work on my Road To Dixie Quilt.

One Of Many UFO's

This quilt is called the Road To Dixie and that I started at the Renegade Quilter's Retreat last March. As you can see I don't work very fast. Actually I get distracted when something new comes along and I start a new project. However, this year in 2009, I want to try to get some of my UFO's done. As you can see here I have two more rows to attached and then comes the small inner border, the outside border and the piecing will be done. I am not real crazy about the fabric I picked out for those, so this weekend I will shop for something else. Oh well, everyone can use more fabric, right??? So until I get more fabric I will work on sewing the last two rows on.


So until then I will work on sewing down the The Great Pumpkin Patch blocks, which is a new project. Til next time Happy Quilting.

Third Saturday Quilt Day

I went to the once a month Third Saturday Quilt Day. I am currently working on the Great Pumpkin Patch Quilt. It is applique and I now have my 12 pumpkin blocks fused down and I am now ready to do the buttonhole stitch by machine on them. I was able to cut the background for the top of this quilt and then I need to fuse down the top row of pumpkins. So now I am one step further on this quilt.

I also got a good start to the Road to Dixie quilt and only have three rows to attach and then I will be ready to do the borders. I will try to add pictures of these quilts later as I go along.

We had a good lunch and it was a baked potato bar. Seventeen of us were there and everyone brought something to add to the lunch.

I feel I got something accomplished and plan to get some UFO's done before the end of 2009.

Frogs

I probably should explain the frogs. I am not actually obsessed with frogs, although one might thinks so. It seems I have been collecting frogs that friends have given me. The frogs represent having to rip out my mistakes when I am quilting. So the frogs say "rippit, rippit". If my friends and I catch someone ripping out a mistake we will throw a frog at them. It's just a fun thing.

I have received stuffed frogs from small ones to a large one. Then there is the frog watch, the frog sweatshirt, t-shirt, denim shirt and so forth.

No, I tell you I am not obsessed with frogs.

Frogs, frogs and more frogs.

My Knitting Efforts

I tried knitting this baby blanket and the pattern was on the diagonal. Well everything was looking fine til I finished. The corner I finished on is out of proportion to the rest of the corners. So I was disappointed in my finished project. A picture is shown here and it looks OK, but the one corner is distorted looking. It is still usable as an everyday blanket and one that the parents don't have to worry about if it gets ruined. Of course I am very much a beginner and I will learn as I go. I probably won't choose a diagonal pattern the next time.