New Year's Eve Morning

It is the last day of 2008 and this morning I couldn't believe how fast this year has gone. It is true, the older you get the faster the years go by. I only have to work a half day today so I will finish quilting this quilt when I get home . I absolute love this quilt and I think it is one of my favorites. This evening we are going to dinner with friends, but will probably be asleep when the New Year begins. :D

I am working on piecing my new quilt a little bit each day. I have all the small squares marked, which took me 2 hours to do. I am one of these people that have to do this to get my half square triangles to come out right. There are 336 of them! I also got the strip sets sewn together.

The last picture here is the binding. I am partial to striped fabric for bindings, I like the look after they are put on.
Time to go to work so I will end with wishing you all a very "Happy New Year" and may the new year bring health, happiness, and peace to one and all. :D

Back to Quilting!

Now that Christmas is over, it is back to the sewing room to sew-sew-sew. I have some starts and finishes to show. The quilt below is the wonky star quilt that I have had done but not quilted. I finished the binding before Christmas and decided I had better post a picture before I forgot. I really like how it turned out. On Saturday after my daughter headed back to Ohio, I made a trip to the quilt shop and used up some of my gift certificates I received from Santa. He was so good to me! I love the FQ's and the jelly roll. I have no plans for them right now but until then I will enjoy looking at them. :D

I started a new project this weekend also. Hubby and I have had terrible colds and so I spent all Sunday afternoon cutting out and sewing this new quilt. Below are the different components and the backing fabric. With all the "Merry & Bright" fabrics and FQ's I have, I will have made 2 quilts and a wall hanging by the time I am done. I still want to make myself a table runner too.














I am looking forward to Bonnie's New Year Mystery. It is so much fun to see what others are doing and all the different fabric choices. What a great way to start the New Year don't you think?

PAY IT FORWARD

I have the 3 wonderful players that I need for Pay It Forward and I couldn't be happier. I look forward to getting to know these ladies so I can make the perfect gifts!

Only One More Needed!

I am so excited! I only need one more blogger to play PIF with. Surely there is one quilter that would love a quilty gift sometime in the coming year?? Nancy from Canada and Amy from Wisconsin are going to play so far. Who would like to be the 3rd?????

New Mystery!!

I am so excited! Got home last night from our big family Christmas and I see that another mystery is set for New Years! Yippee!! I immediately started pulling fabrics and ended up with these. The colors aren't showing up quite right but I love the group. Can't wait to get started! Another fun morning surprise, I have one player for "Pay It Forward"!!! Nanci has agreed to play so now I am just hoping 2 more wonderful ladies will join us.

Darling daughter and I are heading south this morning, she is heading back to Ohio and I will hit the quilt shops to get some fabric with my wonderful, multiple, gift certificates!! Life is good!

Pay It Forward

I have decided to join the "Pay It Forward" fun with Lurline, so if any of you would like to join me, the first three leaving a comment on my blog wanting to join are in. Below are the rules and the button to copy and put on your blog is above. Come and join the fun!!
Here are the "Pay It Forward" rules.
The first three people will be chosent to participate if they leave a comment on this post asking to join. They are agreeing to post a similar announcement on their blog, and Pay It Forward to three more people, who will in turn agree to Pay It Forward etc. What does it mean?

Lurline is going to send me and her other participants one handmade item sometime in the next 12 months. I, in turn, will send one handmade item to each of the three participants who signed up with me, withing the next 12 months. You, in turn, will send one handmade item to each of your participants, and so on.

P.S. - Please don't be concerned about posting a "Comment" and having to be involved in PIF - that's fine with me and I know what a busy time of year this is!

I am looking forward to this and to meeting new people. Won't you join me????

ICE STORM OF 2008

On Friday morning this is what we woke up to. It was really beautiful to look out but heartbreaking too to see big branches laying on the ground. I guess it is Mother Nature's way of pruning these big old trees.

We were without power for about 10 hours so after taking pix I got out my hand quilting and with a generator outside powering the corn burner, I was as cozy as a bug in a rug. Hubby was out on service calls, helping people get their generator's going and working on broken water pipes.

Here is our corn burning stove. It is has been a life saver for us for quite a while now and quite a few of our friends have them also.

Right now our forecast is for a high of 6 degrees and the wind is blowing about 25 mph. I can't imagine what the wind chill factor is. We are picking up our ground pile and will finish that today so I will be leaving for work shortly. Am not looking forward to it since the elevator is not all that warm on days like this. One thing about it, I know where to get all the corn I need to keep warm at home! :D Happy Sunday!!!!

ALMOST DONE!

I finally have all my customer quilts done and ready to be delivered! It is such a good feeling. :D
The only quilt left to do is for my daughter for Christmas and I loaded it last night so I can get right to it when I get home from work tonight.
The quilt below is huge but I absolutely love it! I like the way she did the borders and with all my scraps, this pattern would be a great one to use.
The quilt below she called her Arizona quilt. She made this with fabrics that were purchased on her trip there. It is an interesting quilt and she did a wonderful job.

During the holiday I plan on getting a couple of my mystery quilts quilted and then on to quilting the Church Ministry quilts again, they have really piled up since harvest. I guess there is just no rest for the "wicked"???

IT'S BEGINNING TO LOOK ALOT LIKE CHRISTMAS!

I am getting so excited for Christmas to come! I am no way near ready for it but I am anxious just the same. This past Sunday after church, hubby and I went to place north of us to pick out and cut down our own tree. Personally I love the artificial kind but hubby wants the real thing. After walking around the tree farm in the cold blowing wind which seemed like forever he finally found the tree he wanted. He cut it down, they shook it to get the dead needles out, wrapped it up and off we went. It didn't take long to put it up and decorate it, hubby always helps. we are happy with it.


That is all the help I get, he goes to the computer and I finish with the other stuff. Here is the wonderful nativity set that was given to us as a Christmas gift as few years ago. I just love it!

Next comes out the wallhanging I made in the 90's.

A few other holiday pieces are scattered throughout the house. I love the carved Santa and the tree.

The santa I am showing here I cross-stitched many years ago and this little one hangs with a ribbon on a door knob in the house. I just love snowmen and so I leave them scattered throughout all winter. The snowman here in the center is made out of a wooden post and is very heavy! He makes me smile just looking at him.

It has started to snow here and now it really looks like Christmas!

HO HO HO!!!!

Happy Birthday Hubby!

Today is my hubby's birthday! We are now the same age, and I never hear the end of that fact! :D I don't have a pix of my honey on this computer so I will substitute a picture of the bear he got in Canada a year ago and had stuffed. Our house is not really big so this fella stands in the corner of our bedroom, along with deer heads, stuffed fish and pheasants. It took me a long time to get used to these animals and I would still rather they could roam free without the threat of being shot and then mounted, but this is what my hubby likes to do so he puts up with all my fabric and quilts and I put up with the zoo in the bedroom. :D

Finally Finished!

This evening after supper I didn't want to sew but wanted to do something productive in the sewing room. Hand stitching sounded appealing so I decided to finish the label for the Bear quilt and get it attached. Now, we just have to set a dinner date for the Canada group so we can present it to the recipient. I know he will love it!


I have been working on my leader ender projects and the piles are starting to mount up. This is really alot of fun, and it sure is colorful on the cutting table. On a sad note, last night I was trying to finish up machine quilting a quilt and on the last row something happened, I must have hit the clamp because with a loud bang, I broke the needle and ended up bending the needle bar. I made a frantic call to Gammil in Wisconsin this morning and hubby will take my machine up there on Friday to be fixed. I still have another quilt to get done before the holidays, oh my.

Anybody else having any glitches in their plans to try and get these last minute projects done besides me????

New Projects Started

Some people think I am crazy, Christmas is coming, lots of things yet to do, and I start working on two new projects. I have decided that doing the "Leader Ender" process that Bonnie Hunter is known for, is the way to go. I rarely have had to cut threads and it is amazing how quickly the blocks seem to get completed.

This first pix is of a pattern called "Leftovers Again?" from the book "40 Fabulous Quick-Cut Quilts". I love Evelyn Sloppy patterns and since I have all these wonderful pieces of fabric leftover I thought this would be a great pattern to use. I have all the light blocks done and half the dark ones so it is moving right along.

The other leader ender quilt project has no name yet. I have all these great "Merry and Bright" fabric scraps and some yardage, and after looking at some of these small quilts with teeny 4 patches I was so inspired I thought I would have a go at one. I haven't made one with such small pieces before, so far it has been quite an experience. Wish me luck!

Last but not least, this week I received a wonderful Thank You note, a new pattern and a wonderful new quilt book hot off the presses! Here is what led up to this wonderful surprise. Last spring when the states out west of here were having terrible floods and alot of people lost everything they owned, I read on the G. E. Designs blog that we quilters that had fabric and such that would like to donate to these women, we could send them to her and she would see that these quilters would get the donations. So, I went thru my stash and sent off a box post haste.

Well, this week Gurdrun Erla sent these wonderful things to me as a thank you and I am shocked. What a great surprise! A wonderful display of projects to add to my list of things I want to make.

Last but not least, hubby and I finished up the Christmas shopping!! Now, to get it all wrapped. Have a great week everyone!! :D

A Sunday of Many Finishes

Thanksgiving is over, all our visiting family have headed home, and it is now time to get ready for Christmas. I have managed a few finishes between dinners and shopping and I feel like I can almost relax a little bit. Here are my finishes.

First, I have finished the bear quilt and I am really pleased how it has turned out.

Here is a picture of the back so you can see the quilting. The pattern I used is called "Mahogany" and it really gives the quilt movement and texture. I am sure the young man that will be receiving it will love it.

I don't remember the name of this next quilt. I loaned the pattern to a friend and she hasn't finished hers yet. It would make a cute table topper or a doll quilt. It just makes me happy looking at it.

Here is the "Wrap It Up" table runner I made with extra blocks from the quilt. I made it extra long so it would hang over the ends of the table.

Here is the "Wrap It Up" quilt all done.

Many more projects yet to finish but need to get a couple of customer quilts done first. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving! Now it is time for those great leftovers! :D

Quilting

On Monday nights the Quilting Ministry at church has been getting together to quilt. We have been working on a whole cloth for our senior pastor and his wife and have had several quilting on it all summer.

Thanks to Grace (pix above) and her husband, we have been able to keep the quilting frame set up in his office at his hardware store for anyone who would like to quilt. It has been alot of fun and we have become great friends with sewing and quilting as the bond that brought us together. One day we are hoping to have a space at the church where we can do things like this and teach others that are wanting to learn. This is our goal after the holidays are over. Below you can see some of the pattern of this quilt. Lots of feathers and cross hatching, a beautiful combination.

Not much else happening besides trying to finish quilts for gifts and will have pix when all are completed. I am behind in checking out what is happening with all of you and hope to get caught up with that also.

Have a great day! :D

Wednesday Basketball

On Wednesday nights this time of year is basketball season for
the young girls. Both my grandaughters are playing this year and it is so much fun to watch them!

The old high school gym in our town is used for these games and so they split the floor in half so 2 games are going at the same time.
Leah played the early game and then Jenna's team played when they were done. It is fun to see how much the girls grow in their skills from year to year, and I am looking forward to many more games like this in the future. :D










On a quilty note, now that I don't have to work long harvest hours, I have been quilting up a storm and getting alot of Christmas quilts done. One I finished quilting last night and put the binding on this morning. My favorite part is hand stitching it down and will do that this weekend. 3 more projects to quilt and I will be doing the happy dance! Have a great weekend everyone!

Update

Good Morning! First I want to say how embaressed I am, I have been saying Sherri's sons' name wrong. How awful am I!! It is Brendon, not Breydon. Anyway, the good Lord knew who I was praying for. He is making progress and so they are trying to get him into the Shriner's Hospital in Chicago, which is closer to home. There are people that are working on Brendon's behalf to get that job done. He continues to make strides and can stand with help. Each day he works hard and with all your prayers he will succeed. Sherri wanted me thank each and every one of you, so "THANK YOU ALL"!!

Quilty Saturday

My first weekend off since the early September, hubby is out of town, perfect combination for a quilty weekend! The first thing I did was to quilt this beautiful quilt for a friend of mine for a Christmas gift for her son. It is a wonderful quilt and I know her son will love it. The second thing I did was work on putting the bear quilt together. Halfway done, will finish it tomorrow afternoon. The third thing I did was to clean the house, and last but not least I loaded another Christmas quilt to quilt tomorrow. I love weekends like this and hope to have several more of them this winter.
I hope you all had a great weekend too!

Blogging Anniversary!

"Once upon a Quilt" is having a 1 year Anniversay give away at the end of the month. Be sure to drop by and leave a comment and enjoy her quilts! She is an amazing quilter in my book!!!

A Quilt For Someone Special

After getting home last night from work I was trying to decide what quilt to work on next. I have tons I want to do eventually but decided on one for a young man that I grew attached to last summer on our Canada trip. He is a young man, 26 I believe, that has had heartache in his life already, he was engaged to a young woman who was killed in a car wreck. You can still see it in his eyes, and I think that is why I took such a liking to him. He felt comfortable with me too, he asked me to cut his hair, I patched his jeans when he ripped them, and he even took me for a ride on his 4-wheeler. Anyway, when we got home from our trip I decided he needed a quilt to remind him of the Canada trip and so I got online and ordered these Batiks that I thought would be perfect. Since he didn't get a bear, he will have a quilt with bears that will remind him of Canada.

Now, I don't like batiks, but these are very soft and not stiff like the batiks I had tried in the past. The pattern is a very simple one from "American Patchwork & Quilting" October 08 issue and they did the quilt in brights. Don't you love how the bears look like they are marching across the fabric. I think Chris will enjoy this quilt and it will be a fun reminder of his Bear Hunting Vacation.

I love the colors of the blues and the brown and will have lots leftover when the quilt is done. No border on this one, just a dark binding that will frame it. I will post a pix when it is completed.
This is just a pix of some of the strips that are still stitting on the cutting table. It sure reminds me of the colors of the woods in Canada.

Early Morning Sewing

My early morning has finally paid off. I finished piecing the "Wrap it up" quilt! According to the pattern it should have another row on it but since it will probably be too long to hang on the wall (in my opinion) I took the last row off. I think it looks much better this way.

I decided that a table runner would look nice in the dining room where the quilt will hang so I will be piecing a few more packages to add to the ones below and then I can get them all quilted. I hope harvest is over soon or I will never get all these things done!

The latest info on Breyden is they are fitting him for a partial body cast, so it sounds like he must be out of the woods and on the road to recovery!! If I get more info I will pass it along. I can't tell you how much I appreciate all the prayers from you wonderful quilters!! You are the best! :D

Election Day!

It is election day and I hope you all got out to vote! It was a cool brisk morning here in Indiana but there were alot of friends in line at the polls to chat with while waiting my turn.

Here is a pix of one of the big corn piles at our west facility right before they tarped it. It was tarped yesterday and now they are filling the other pile, one just like this one. It is amazing to see that golden grain flowing into the pile. The yeilds have been very good in this area so the farmers are happy. Now, if the prices were a little better then they would REALLY be happy. :D
Last Friday night my daughter came home for the weekend from Ohio and so the Grandaughters stopped by to "trick or treat" and to see their Aunt Jessie!
Here is Jenna pretending to be meditating. They never were quiet, they had so much to talk about and so Aunt Jessie went out to see them on Saturday night and had a nice long visit.
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You can sure tell they are related!

To make this a post a little bit quilty, I have been getting some of my older peiced quilts out to start finding backings for them to get them quilted and truly finished. This quilt I bought the kit on the first trip I made to Paducah, so it is really old. I wish I had the same fabric for the binding, but since it is Moda fabric I shouldn't have any trouble finding something to match.

An update on Breyden, he had surgery on Saturday and did fine with it. His mother is still with him in South Bend so I am still getting my info from the guys she works with. All our prayers are helping and I know Sherri appreciates them all!

Update

First I want to thank all who are praying for Breyden. The latest news I received last night before leaving work was that he has multiple leg and arm fractures and a damaged spleen. He is in a drug induced coma to keep him calm. He may have surgery today. Please continue your prayers as he has a long way to go.
Must get ready for work. It is going to be a beautiful day and there is still alot of grain in the fields. Next week we will begin to receive Milo which is used in birdseed. Nasty, itchy, irritating stuff !!

Sorrowful Friday

I came to work this beautiful Friday morning and received a phone call that the son of a co-worker was in a terrible car accident last evening and was lifelined to a hospital up north. My heart breaks for her and I am desperately praying for her son. All of you wonderful ladies in blogland can relate to a mother's heartbreak and I am asking you now just to say a little prayer for this young man. Prayer can be a powerful thing and Breyden needs that power now. Thanks for listening.

Gloomy Saturday

The skies are gloomy and grey and we received 1/2 inch of rain last night so I am sitting here at work, finishing up paperwork and getting some checks written, and then I will hopefully get to go home. Our corn dryer is down and will be worked on today and we are full of wet corn so we can't take anymore until what we have it dried and moved to another bin. Our ground pile is 2/3 done and moving along nicely. All in all, it has been a good fall so far.
As far as quilting goes, it is going slowly. I have been working on the same Christmas quilt in the early mornings but have just been too tired to do much. It will get done by the holidays, I hope. :D
My hubby surprised me yesterday when I got home. He had been in Lafayette picking up some things and when I got home last night I found he had bought me a new cutting mat! My old one had grooves in it so bad from wear that I have to cut each piece of fabric at least 2 to 3 times. It is wonderful to be able to only make one pass!!

He not only brought me a mat but he also bought this FQ group of Jo Morton! I was totally shocked but he knows how much I love Jo's fabric. I am so lucky to have a hubby that does
things for me like this. I guess you would say he is a keeper!!!