My Christmas Stocking Stuffers

Here are some samples of Christmas stocking stuffers I made for my family. I kept these for myself. I enjoyed making them, however next year I need to get an earlier start to make sure I am not working up to the last minute. I made the frames to show off our 2 Great Grandsons who are cousins and were born a little over a month of each other. Now that Christmas is over I plan to work on next year's each month so as not to have a rush when next Christmas comes around.

Learning To Knit

I am trying to learn how to knit (as if I needed another hobby, LOL) I have crocheted for years, but have decided it was time to knit. So I have started out with the most simple thing I could think of ----slippers. I wanted to get the feel of the needles. I tried to knit years ago, but could never figure out where I was in a pattern if I made a mistake and had to start again. That really explains why I went to crochet. It was easier for me to figure out. Well I am going to try knitting again. So you see here the simple knitted slippers I have made for myself. Now I am knitting a blanket and when I get it done I will show it here. Oh, I almost forgot last winter I did knit a prayer shawl for a Christmas present. I haven't forgotten my other hobbies such as machine embroidery and making quilts. I have just added another one to my list. No sense to having idle hands.

Trapunto

Our Quilt Guild had a trapunto class and I found it to be so much fun. Now that I found it is rather easy to do, I will be doing other trapunto projects. Thanks Karen for teaching this class. Here you will see my finished project and I made it into a pillow. As it turns out this will be a gift and I hope they will like it. So this class came in the "nick" of time.

Baby Showers

The two baby showers have been held for my future two "Great" Grandsons. I was busy getting the quilts done for the showers that were a week apart. I had fun making these baby quilts that actually turned out to be more like crib size. I was able to incorporate the use of my embroidery machine and do some applique. This was my first attempt at doing applique with my embroidery machine and I found out it was rather easy. Here are the pictures of the quilts along with the label I put on each.

Happy Fourth Of July

Happy Fourth Of July. Celebration Day for all and for our family it is also Birthday celebration day. Happy Birthday to John, Ray and Megan. I haven't blogged in a while because I have been busy working on some projects. I have two Great Grandsons that will be born in the fall. I have added pictures here for all to see. It's a reason to celebrate today with Birthdays and completed projects for the new babies to come. I have made 6 crocheted baby blankets and 4 baby burp cloths. Plus a completed quilt called it Sure Is Red for Megan. So enjoy the pictures.

More Spring Time Flowers

Mrs Wren and My Spring Time Flowers

Mrs. Wren has been busy feeding her young and this morning I was able to catch her on the camera, just barely. It has been such a joy watching her everyday. My Spring time flowers are doing better than they have in years. We've had more rain than in years past.

Road To Recovery

I am on the road to recovery and doing very well after having hip replacement surgery on March 13. I am doing outpatient physical therapy three times a week and working hard at it. I want to say thank you to NNNQG for the plant that the guild sent to me. Thank you also to friends that visited and sent cards of well wishes.

"Friends are angels who lift us to our feet when our wings have trouble remembering how to fly"
I do not know who wrote this, but I thought is appropriate for me. For if it wasn't for my family and friends giving me the encouragement to get through everything, my recovery to my road to success might have taken much longer. Thanks to all for the many prayers.

Expecting Great Grandbaby

Our family is expecting a new baby. The first baby in 17 years. Our first "Great" Grandbaby. WHOOPI!! So I got busy making a couple of crocheted baby blankets. I made them in a couple of weeks. I guess that is how excited I am. Not yet knowing the gender of our new baby I decided to make the blankets in generic colors. I hope you like them, John and Megan.

Think Spring

Well, I am thinking Spring and Carol, my cousin from Michigan, is helping me. She sent me a slide show of her flowers from last year and they are absolutely gorgeous. Her first one was titled "Think Spring" and I thought it was so perfect to use here in my blog. Carol is so upbeat and positive. I always love hearing from her as she keeps me in smiles. She loves her crafts and is so cleaver with her ideas. Even though we live miles apart, we try to stay in touch. I am so looking forward to Spring and warm weather. Thanks Carol for helping me to "Think Spring".

Precious Memories

Last summer I had the honor of learning free motion quilting under a lady I consider my mentor. She held a small class through the entire summer and it ended the middle of September. We met every two weeks. Gracie was 83 years old. She was most upbeat and up-to-date 83 year old I have ever met. I came away with so many quilting ideas and about life in general. She was "wonderful". Well, Gracie passed away this past January. Her death really through me for a loop, but Gracie will always be in my heart and the knowledge she passed on to me is beyond words. Upon her death, her family donated some things she was working on and her fabric to my local quilt guild. I came away with our last class project of hers that she didn't quite finish. One day I will finish it in her memory. I finished mine and sent it off to a cousin of mine.

Last night, a neighbor of mine, came by the house and presented me with a framed butterfly quilt block that Gracie had appliqued. It was one of the things she had picked up from Gracie's stuff. She gave it to me knowing how much I admired Gracie and her work. So Gracie's "Precious Memories" will always be in my sewing room. Gracie I hope you are looking down on me with your smile.

Is Spring Around The Corner

Is Spring Around The Corner???? Today in our yard were hundreds of robins and making the biggest noise. This is not the first time they visited us. They were here in the middle of January. Now today, they are here again. What joy my husband and I had watching these birds. It was truly a bright spot in our day.

Canadian Goose

This is the week, I guess, for the critters to be on the move and to be able to use my new camera. This afternoon two Canadian Geese were in the pasture. So once again I ran out to get their picture. I am still playing with this camera, so for some reason I hit the video on it, but did manage to get a still picture of one of them. Maybe one of these days I will get the hang on how to use the camera. Anyway, I have enlarged one of the geese in order to show it here.

Brown Bag Special 2007

The "Brown Bag Special" for our Guild started in June 2007 and was to be a Quilt Block we made ourselves and put into a paper bag with any extra fabric we wanted to supply. Those that wanted to participate drew a bag of their choice. They were not to tell whose bag they drew. Then for the next 6 months we were given instructions on what to do on the quilt. One month it was triangles and another applique, etc. It was a round robin of sorts, only one person did it all, instead of passing it around from one person to the next. We were to have it completed by our Christmas party in December 2007. At the Christmas party, every one was surprised at how their center block they submitted turned out to be in a small quilt. This was a challenge for members to get out of their box and for some it was. I did not get to see mine until this month as it was a challenge for the lady that drew my name. However, I am so very proud of it because instead of just a quilt top, I ended up with it being completely quilted. Thank you Linda for doing such a beautiful job. I just love it.

BOBCAT

Today close to lunch time I happened to look out the living room window and I saw what I thought was a medium size stray dog walking slowly in the pasture next to the barbed wire fence. My husband got up to look, then we saw only the head with pointed ears and decided it was just a wild cat. Gradually we saw the whole body with the bobbed tail and realized we had a bobcat in the pasture. My husband went outside, but the bobcat was not in any hurry, so I gave him the camera. The picture you are seeing is an enlarged portion so you can tell it is a Bobcat, so it will look blurred. By the time the picture was taken, he was standing at our pasture gate. He was never in any hurry to leave.

2006 Brown Bag Special

One year ago our NNNQG did what we call a "Brown Bag Special". We had to put in the bag a yard of our own fabric with our name. Then members would draw a bag and they were to work on this project for 6 months. We could not see the finished project until our Christmas party. I put in my bag some purple which ended up being the outside border you see in the picture. Carol drew my bag and she came up with this "superquilter" quilt. Her husband quilted it. It could not have been more perfect. I am so proud of this quilt that she hangs on the wall so that when I sew I can see her.

Third Saturday

The Third Saturday Quilt Group met today. Most of us worked on UFO's and a few got to put their names in the UFO bucket for a drawing in May. It's our challenge to finish our projects and the name drawn in May will receive a prize. It's a pretty good incentive, especially when the prize is money. About ten of us showed up today. It was raining and cold, so I am surprised we had as many as we did. Ruby fixed us spaghetti while others brought salads and dessert for lunch. It is just a real special time for us to get together. We usually work on our projects from 9 a.m. til 4 p.m. We have so much fun laughing and carrying on. I always look forward to our all day sew-ins. Next month the Group will start a new project and work on it for three months. So I need to go through my fabric stash and see what I have work with. Till, next time. Happy sewing.

Early Sewing Day at the Guild

I went over for an early sewing day at the Guild. Some of us were working on the Texas Truffle Lonestar pattern. I have finished my points of the star. It has taken awhile as it was so tedious making sure the diamonds met the points. But, I am so happy to get this much done. We've had a small group at the Guild working on this and we were all on different levels. Now it is on to putting the star together. That will be another day.

I also worked on another project with the "Fractured Fat Quarters" pattern. I put the inside border on and two of the outside borders. Then it was time to go home and I will finish the last two borders there.

I have so many UFO projects it will probably take me a life to finish them. I am currently quilting on my sewing machine a red quilt. My ambition is to get my UFO's finished and quilted. I make quilts for myself and to give to my family.

Well, tomorrow is another day and on to another UFO.