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 !!