Jody's Quilting Treasures

A Quilt Show

2012-01-28T13:48:00.009-05:00

I just realized I never posted pictures of my December SBS block and this year's Christmas project.

So here's my December SBS block:

Every year Tasha and I make a Christmas project. When there is time and money, we make them for everyone in the family. This year, she made one (well, she's still working on hers) and I made one.

Now on to the quilt show. This weekend was the annual Mennonite Central Committee quilt auction preview. Lots of beautiful quilts but not lots of space. So a good portion of the quilts are folded and hung on racks - racks that are pretty close together, making it rather hard to get a good picture but I managed to get a few.

This is something I am considering for a Christmas quilt for this year:

This is my pick for large quilt:

This was my pick for wall hanging as well as my inspiration quilt:

I always find at least one quilt I want to make for myself. This is a concept I have worked on more than once. Start with a schoolhouse block but instead of the house section with the windows, replace that with a traditional quilt block. I started it in Civil War repros, I started it in shades of blue. Neither time did I like how it turned out. But I am inspired to try again. I have a different idea of how to make it work and hopefully this will turn out as I want it to be.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Christmas Presents - Finally

2012-01-15T15:01:00.008-05:00

It's been quite some time since I've had anything to show for my efforts. Mostly because working retail, December does not leave a lot of time for quilting. But also because what quilting I did have time to do was for Christmas presents. More specifically, Christmas presents for people who use my computer. lol.

Every couple of years I make quilts for the kids. And based on a comment my oldest son made - he's been staying with us and when I asked him one night before bed if he needed an extra quilt he said something about being fine with the 37 or so quilts I've made for him - I kind of thought maybe I have made too many quilts for my darling children (if there actually is such a thing as "too many quilts" - and I personally am not sure there is).

But my middle son asked for a quilt this year and then the youngest chimed in with a request of his own. There's apparently an issue with the fact that they are getting too tall for the previous quilts to cover their feet. What's a mom to do? Other than stop feeding them - I did suggest that to the youngest one. But he thought a new quilt was a better idea.

So for my football fans. Joe got a Ravens' quilt:

Tim got an Eagles' quilt:

Tasha got a Transformer's fleece (which I did not take a picture of) and a Kindle cover:

She has abandoned her long love of purple and moved on to black and red. Snowmen are also favorites - so I was thrilled to find red and black fabric with snowmen on it.

And don't you know that Christmas morning the oldest child (the one who would just use the 37 or so quilts I've already made him) asked why he didn't get a new quilt for Christmas? lol.

On to 2012. The first finish of 2012 is a big one. It's big enough to cover my queen size bed - one of the few large quilts that I have completed. I hand quilted it - which is why it took over 2 years to finish. I even did a bit of decorative quilting - there are butterflies quilted on the borders. It was to be my first entry into a quilt show (my guild is having a show this spring). Alas I don't think it's to be. It has a couple of places that the border is a bit puckered. I'm happy with the results - for me - but not so much to put on display in a quilt show.

I have made a list of my quilting goals for 2012. Though the list is modest, the results (should I actually finish them) won't be as more than half the list are tops ready to be quilted and they will be mostly hand quilted.

But the list will need to wait for another day. I am being kicked out of my own living room by the Ravens' fan. He wants to watch the play off game and just because they seem to lose whenever I'm in the room, he thinks that's my fault. Go figure. But since I love him (and want to see the Ravens advance) - I will go. lol.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Finished!!

2011-11-02T14:02:00.007-04:00

My last post I said I couldn't believe it had been so long since I posted - and this time it's even been longer. sigh.

The issue isn't that I'm not doing anything. The issue is that I'm doing bigger things so it takes longer to reach that somewhat illusive goal of a completed project.

However I have attained the prize!

This quilt started with a pattern that completely intrigued me. My closest friends will tell you "Jody is not a "scrappy" lover". But the fact is, this scrappy pattern pulled at me.

I thought of doing it as a Christmas quilt. There are a few kinds of scrappy I do like, mainly matching fabrics. For example, using red, white and blue fabrics only. Or using seasonal themed fabric. I could envision the quilt in Christmas fabrics. But I didn't have much Christmas fabric - trying to work from my stash. I did however have lots of Autumn fabrics. Autumn is my favorite season so I have many fabrics to work with that.

Quite a few of these fabrics were in my stash basket in 6 inch charms. I'm sure these came from a swap with the lovely ladies over at QWHT. I love fabric I get in these swaps. They make every thing made from them feel like a hug from a dear friend.

I debated how to quilt this. I so want to learn more machine quilting than what I do (which is basically straight lines). I decided to tie this one with buttons. It has 432 buttons on it. I'm thinking at some point I thought this might be the quickest way to get it all together. How wrong I was!

But the work is well worth it. To answer the oft asked question "where were you when ......" - I was piecing this top when the earthquake hit the Washington, DC area this past August.

This next project is not finished. Every now and then the girls and I over at QWHT do a mystery quilt. The clues are all out and it's time to post my picture.

Confession about this quilt. I had all the blocks made and laid out on my bed and decided I thought two of the fabrics would look better switched. So I pulled the blocks apart and remade them with the other fabrics. That is what this top is. And I have to say, I wish I had left it the way I had it the first time. The star pattern of the quilt fades the way I did it the second time. The star just really popped the way it was before.

I also finished my October SBS block. I got the neatest little hanging rack for it. You can get some really cute toppers for the rack - hmmmmm, is that a Christmas idea taking form? lol.

Thunder hasn't made an appearance for a while but here's a new photo. I wonder if he's trying to tell me he's bored with this whole quilting thing?

Until next time, hugs and stitches, Jody

I Can't Believe

2011-09-20T15:24:00.006-04:00

It's been so long since I've posted!

I have accomplished a couple of small projects. I completed another two blocks of my SBS calendar blocks. Unfortunately I apparently haven't taken pictures of them. sigh.

So we'll go with pictures of the tops I donated. Every once in a while I finally convince myself that I will never live long enough to quilt all the tops I have waiting. Rather than let them sit around, I try to find someone who will benefit from them.

These tops have been sent to a wonderful charity called Margaret's Hope Chest. I found out about Margaret's Hope Chest through Jennifer Chiavernini's blog. Jennifer writes the incredible Elm Creek Quilts book series.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Quilt Show

2011-07-16T16:41:00.017-04:00

Tasha and I attended the annual Chambersburg Quilt Guild show yesterday. It was titled Not Your Grandmother's Quilt and they had some lovely quilts.

Here are a few versions of last year's mystery quilt:

A very pretty offering from the small quilts category:

My "lady bug" with a lady bug quilt:

There were cute little lady bugs on this quilt that I believe were actually earrings.

This one was called Butterflies and Lady Bug and the tag said something about how there were all the butterflies but where was the lady bug? We looked and looked and could not find it anywhere - until we went around the display to the quilts on the other side and discovered the lady bug was on the label on the back. I love how the flowers overlap the fence:

The guild's challenge for this year was "wings". This was my pick of the projects:

This one used hand dyed fabrics:

This one was gorgeous but it was from a previous year (someone from this year was unable to supply the quilt they promised so this was a "filler") so it couldn't be voted as viewer's choice:

It was made by the same lady who made the challenge quilt I liked.

This was a cute one:

Just my style - fall colors and a piano key border (I loooove a piano key border):

These fabrics are right up my alley:

This one just screams ME!! My friend Barb would probably fight me for it. lol. It was a close second for my pick of the show:

Simply gorgeous:

My pick for large viewer's choice:

I've seen it in many catalogs and a lady in my guild made one - just a classic beauty.

My pick for small viewer's choice:

So very tiny - only about the size of a piece of notebook paper.

What a fabulous collection of quilts. Many thanks to the Chambersburg Quilt Guild for producing such a lovely show.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Accomplishments - at long last

2011-07-11T16:28:00.006-04:00

Seems like so long since I've had anything finished to blog about. It's terrible when your job, husband, kids, house, etc. intrude on your quilting time. sigh.

The first update is the finished project from the Weird and Ugly challenge from my Yahoo group.

Again, this was the fq I was sent to work with:

And this is what I made:

I had visions of a stained glass window. It was certainly interesting. I don't like to work with small pieces and the little squares finished at 1 inch and have four triangles in them. I'm happy with how it looks and am thinking it may be the center of something larger - but I'm not sure what the "something" will become.

I also did a few small things lately. A friend passed along a link for a bookkeeper - perfect for holding a Kindle. And since I have a Kindle, I had to make one.

The original had some applique but I decided to just embellish mine with a few buttons.

The pattern is a Moda BakeShop freebie that can be found here

Last year for my birthday I got some embroidered Sunbonnet Sue blocks off eBay. There's one for each month. I didn't really have an idea what I was going to do with them but they were too cute to pass up. Finally I decided to do a small wallhanging. I'd like to get a table top scroll stand to hang them from. I finished February and March. I added a bit of seed beads to each.

The February one has hearts quilted into the corners. I can't wait to work on the other twelve months.

It feels good to finally finish something.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Two done and a bit of an unusual project

2011-04-28T17:14:00.005-04:00

More than a year ago, I purchased some embroidered Sunbonnet Sue blocks on eBay. I had a terrible time figuring out what to do with them. For one thing, I don't think the colors the lady who made them used all worked well together - but I wanted to use all the blocks together.

Finally I gave up on trying to find a block to center them in and decided the best way to go would be a simple sashing with a fabric that would work with all the different colors and not detract from the beauty of the embroidery.

And this is what I came up with:

In the past year or so, a number of ladies in my quilting guild made lovely bags called Mini Bow Tucks bags. I have made a few bags and decided I would give this one a try too. Of course, being me, I couldn't make it exactly as the pattern called for - the straps were much too short for me. And that really sounds funny because I'm a short girl. But I like my bag to fall about my hip level.

I finished it up today and I'm very pleased with how it turned out:

I've mentioned before the wonderful Yahoo group I am a part of. This year the two lovely ladies who run the group have come up with some interesting challenges for us. I posted about the first quarter's challenge - a UFO challenge.

The challenge we are doing right now is called the Weird and Ugly Challenge. Everyone participating received a piece of quite interesting fabric. We have until June 30 to come up with a project. There will be voting so I won't be posting my finished project here until probably mid July but to whet your appetite - here's a view of the fabric we have to work with:

I have an idea and have even started working on it. So check back in a bit and see what I came up with.

And of course before I go, Thunder wants to show off his Easter basket, um, bone.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

A couple of finished projects

2011-03-13T13:24:00.008-04:00

I finished a couple of things in the past week - which is amazing since I spent so much of the week sick in bed. But I had three tops that were done and ready to be sandwiched and quilted and I managed to get two done.

This is the second quilt that I made for my granddaughter to use at our house.

I have mentioned the wonderful Yahoo group I am part of. At the beginning of the year, we started a UFO challenge. I picked three things I thought I could reasonably expect to get done by the end of March. This is the third project so I got them all finished.

It was nice to have a little gentle push to get me going on finishing up these projects.

And speaking of the wonderful Yahoo group I am part of, it has long been our practice to make love quilts for members who get a new home or who are going through a challenging stage in life. This week I became the latest recipient of a love quilt. Done in my favorite colors of pink and green, this is the beautiful quilt they sent me:

And that's a perfect place to leave things.

Until next time, hugs and stitches.

Jody

Quilt Show!

2011-01-30T16:40:00.012-05:00

Two of the most exciting words in the world. lol. The last week of January each year the local MCC (Mennonite Central Committee) hosts the quilts for the years annual relief sale. The quilts are auctioned in April and the proceeds are used to help folks over seas. So Tasha and I braved the bad weather and went up to the show.

The first couple of years I went they just displayed the quilts. The last two years they have had a Quilter's Attic and voting for Viewer's Choice.

The problem they have is a small building - meaning most of the quilts are folded and hanging over rails. You can't look at the entire quilt and taking pictures is rather difficult - the racks they use are pretty close together. But I did manage to get a few pictures.

I was surprised by the number of quilts that had a large portion of embroidery or cross stitch as a main component. Here are a few:

Each group was asked to make a quilt representing peace and this was their offering:

This was my first runner up pick for viewer's choice:

I so love Sunbonnet Sue quilts and an Amish SBS? Oh my. lol.

But I really had to pick this one for viewer's choice:

And look at this close up - check out the quilting - all done by hand and it is stunning:

I couldn't resist snapping a picture of this cool weaving machine (do you like my technical terms? lol).:

So here are a few of the pieced and appliqued quilts:

What a great way to spend a Saturday afternoon.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Another baby quilt

2011-01-23T17:10:00.002-05:00

Here lately I feel like I don't get much of anything accomplished other than baby quilts. We have been overly blessed with babies in the past year.

This one is such a labor of love though. I have made a number of quilts for my new grand-daughter. But they are all quilts her parents have. I wanted to have at least two quilts here at our house for her too.

When my Yahoo group presented the UFO Challenge I knew immediately that Shianne's quilt for here must be on the list. I had the first top ready and it just needed sandwiched and quilted. So on a rare two days in a row off work, I sandwiched it one day and quilted it the next.

This truly a quilt made by Shianne's Grammy - it's pink and green. lol.

It still needs all the little strings snipped - I really hate doing that. sigh.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

The first finish of 2011

2011-01-13T18:44:00.006-05:00

I got something finished today! Because I'm supposed to be working on my UFO Challenge - I'm finding all these other things I want to do. lol.

I finished my bag. First I have to thank my darling husband. Two days before Christmas we were having the yearly discussion of do we get each other something or not. I ended up saying that I wanted to make a new bag and some cash to get fabric, etc. would be great. So that's what he did. And here's what I made:

I did the front pocket on this one and decided to add a little bead embellishment.

And I did a bit of experimenting with the inside. I put a small pocket on one side and did a "divider" on the other side. It's called a divider but I think it works more like a big open pocket. I might adjust that a bit if I do another one.

One of the things on my "to do" list is a second quilt for our grand-daughter to use while she's here. So last night I was looking for a pattern - the first one I made for her is a patch quilt - I wanted to do something different for this one. I didn't find a pattern for her quilt but I did come across a pattern I had looked at this past Christmas.

I really don't care for scrappy quilts. Too busy for me. But every once in a while there's a scrappy pattern that I decide to try. I wanted to try this one for Christmas but I didn't have enough fabric (or time). But looking at it last night I realized how nice it would look for an Autumn quilt - and fall fabrics I have in abundance. lol.

So here's the pattern, fabric choices and a few completed blocks:

I'll probably try to do a few blocks each day until I get this one done.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

UFO Challenge

2011-01-12T14:28:00.008-05:00

The Yahoo group I am a part of is having a UFO challenge from now until the end of March.

It has to be a project that is already started - not a new project. I have picked three that I think I can reasonably expect to complete by the end of March.

This top is ready to be sandwiched and quilted. It will be a quilt for my Grand-Daughter to use while she is at our house.

This top is ready to be sandwiched and quilted also. It will be for our niece Kathlene's daughter Makensie, due in May.

And this quilt that I started last December. It will be a lap quilt so I think I can get it finished in time.

I'm also working on my design for a table runner for on my treadle sewing machine.

I'm really trying to finish up some things and not add too many to my "have to do" list.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Party!!

2010-12-15T10:53:00.005-05:00

Monday night was my quilt guild's Christmas party.

We started the evening with a raffle drawing. We provided a quilt for Fisher's House to raffle off. I mentioned Fisher House in a past post but if you haven't heard of them, they are sort of Ronald McDonald Houses for the military. Places where family of injured military personnel can stay for free while their loved ones are hospitalized. The latest Fisher House to be dedicated was for the family of service members who have been killed in action. Frank said they sold 2100 tickets - most at 6 for $5 - so he figured they raised about $1,800. The quilt was won by a minister within our community.

Then we moved on to food! Most people's favorite part of any party. lol. It was a potluck and there were so many yummy items to choose from.

After that we had a brief business meeting - picked out the pattern for our raffle quilt for our next quilt show - Spring of 2012.

Then we moved on to the ornament exchange. This is the first year I've done the exchange - last year I had the flu and missed the party. I was a bit nervous because while I am a "comfortable" quilter (I'm a bit above novice but still have lots to learn) there are some ladies in my guild who make over the top gorgeous quilts and I was worried if my ornament would be good enough.

So here is my ornament:

It is not woven - some of the ladies saw it from a distance and thought it was. It's pieced with teeny tiny pieces. I don't think I'll be doing that again! Not that it was terribly hard, I just don't think I'd want to do it too often.

The way we exchanged ornaments was really cute. All were in plain brown paper bags and under a Christmas tree. Each of us picked a bag and then we stood in a circle. One lady who did not participate stood in the center. She asked questions - is your tree up and decorated? If so, you moved to the center of the circle and exchanged bags with someone else in the center. We did a few questions and mixed in there were times of pass your bag three times to the right, pass your bag five times to the left, etc. At the end each lady took out her ornament and showed it and said who made it.

There were a variety of methods used - cross stitch (a beautiful church in the trees), felted wool (a little elf), a snowman head made of a plain ornament with facial features drawn on and a hat added, embroidery. One lady brought in an ornament she had received in a similar exchange 27 years ago!

This is what I received:

It's not technically an ornament but it's very lovely - and filled with candy. I have been so good with no candy lately - these will go to the kids.

I've been making plans for the New Year. This can be rather dangerous. Last year I planned to make at least two quilts for my queen-size bed and I ended up needing to make almost a dozen baby quilts.

Next year I am hoping to make some quilts for our family. One for my bed - I'm doing the Project 360 BOM found here.

For over our fireplace, I'm hoping to do the Applewood Farms BOM series from this past year. You can still get these patterns for a small fee - info is here.

I do have a few UFOs I'd like to get finished. I have a Double Irish Chain and a fall applique top that need quilted. And I have a few blocks from some fabric I fell in love with and searched high and low for the perfect pattern for.

That should be enough to keep me busy for a while - at least until the 2011 BOMs start popping up all over the internet. lol.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

The "Two Hour" Bag

2010-12-09T15:12:00.005-05:00

Did you ever buy one of those patterns that give a time frame for how long it should take to make it? Sort of like Eleanor Burns' Quilt In A Day projects?

I have been looking for a new bag for months. I found a free pattern for a Moda Bake Shop bag last year and made about a half dozen of them. A summery one, a fall one, a Halloween one, a Christmas one and a purple one (for my daughter). I made each one a little different. I have such trouble following a pattern. I can do it, I just don't want to. lol. None of the ones I made was actually exactly like the pattern. I love them, I was just ready for something new.

When Tasha and I went to Rockville in October for the quilt show, I stopped in the booth of Capital Quilts (I love this quilt shop and wish it was closer to home). They had a pattern for the cutest little bag and the perfect fabric to make it.

Because I every once in a while have a good idea - I made the first attempt at making the bag with fabric from my stash. Good thing too because I made a mistake that I can't seem to correct.

The second attempt, this one made with the Christmas fabric, turned out fabulous! The biggest thing was I found out when I made the first one that I would need to make a bigger size. There are four sizes and I thought the next to the smallest would be really good but it was a bit too small.

So here is the front:

and the back:

The pattern is The Two-Hour Tulip Purse - which took me about 4 hours. It's not complicated if you follow the directions. You can read more about it here.

I am so glad to finally finish it - especially since I'll have such a short time frame to actually use it. But I'm sure, as soon as I can find the time, I'll make another one to use after the holidays.

Thunder is not quite sure about the Christmas preparations around the house this year - he's spent most of his time hiding under my desk:

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Not A Moment Too Soon

2010-11-24T17:43:00.003-05:00

I finally finished the quilt I was making for my first grandchild last weekend. I had given the top to Cassie at her shower and told her I would finish it before the baby was born.

I'm not thrilled with the quilting job I did on it. I'm still in the stages of straight line machine quilting. But it's done and the baby won't care.

And it wasn't a moment too soon because today our little sweetheart arrived.

Shianne Elizabeth arrived at 1 PM today. She's gorgeous and sure to change all our lives. Mom, baby and Dad are all tired but doing well. We have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

A Sunday Surprise

2010-11-07T17:17:00.004-05:00

So today we're sitting watching football and the front door opens and our oldest son comes in. A nice treat. So I loaded him up with things I picked up for the baby - who is now two weeks away from his/her anticipated debut.

One for his favorite football team:

And one just because I was at a quilt show and the focus fabric was just too cute to pass up:

I still have the horse quilt I gave Cassie at her shower - well the top I gave Cassie at her shower. And I have fabric to make a couple of quilts to keep here (because days that Cassie works that I don't, I will have the opportunity to watch the little darling).

So many quilts, so little time. sigh.

In case you'd like to come visit over the holidays, Thunder is waiting at the door for you - c'mon over.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Baby Shower

2010-10-24T20:43:00.005-04:00

Today Tasha and I went to a baby shower for my niece Tiffany. She's due a bit after Cassie so we'll be having two more babies added to the family in about a month or so.

Here's her quilt:

I didn't make this one specifically for her - it was just one of the ones I made when I found out there were going to be seven new babies that needed quilts this year. But it worked out beautifully because I saw a picture of her nursery set up and she was using Winnie the Pooh.

Thunder says Hi! - He figured since we had a party today, he should share the spirit.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

More Baby Quilts - and a Quilt Show

2010-10-15T16:53:00.010-04:00

I'm finally finished with all the baby quilts except for the ones for my grandbaby coming in November.

This one is for our niece Amanda's little guy Caeden, who was born about a week ago.

This is the second one for the twins - who were born also about a week ago. Welcome Arianna and Jaylynn.

This morning Tasha and I packed up and headed towards DC for a quilt show. We went to the Nimble Fingers Quilters show in Rockville, Maryland.

Here are my picks for viewer's choice:

Small bed quilt:

I love the woven border on this one.

Large bed quilt:

Large wallhanging:

Small wallhanging:

This one won a ribbon in first time applique in the Hoffman Challenge and I think it's adorable:

And here are some of the others:

Until next time, Hugs and stitches. Jody

Baby Quilts

2010-09-04T10:52:00.006-04:00

It seems that my quilting life lately has been spent on baby quilts. And the first ones are getting ready to fly out of my house.

The first one I have posted before but will show again in celebration of Lilliene Jade's arrival on Monday August 30th.

Congratulations to Jamie and Adrienne.

Today two more will leave. Baby has not arrived but the baby shower has.

The finished one:

And the top only:

I'll let the mom open it and then take it back with promises to have it quilted before baby's arrival in late November (should give me time to finish it. lol).

One more completed to show off now. This is for a young man I work with. He will become the father of twin girls before too much longer. This first one is finished - I have the second top done and just need to get it quilted.

Thunder would like to say his hello also before I leave:

It amazes me what this dog considers comfortable. lol.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

100 Posts!!

2010-07-09T12:04:00.008-04:00

Woo Hoo! I have finally made it to 100 posts. Never thought it would happen. lol.

And I was beginning to think I'd never get anything done to post about. lol. The job has really kept me tired. I'm getting more hours which results in less time and energy to quilt. But we have to have a place to live and food to eat right?

There were a few accomplishments however. The first is the backing to the baby quilt I posted last time. I had forgotten to take pictures but here it is now.

This is the wallhanging for the bathroom. I did a bit of embellishment with sead beads. I love the look of beads on a quilt.

Another baby quilt finished. I have so many to make this year that I've just been working on them without any specific baby in mind. Except for this one. This one is for a young man I work with. Jamie and his girlfriend Adrienne will be blessed with a girl in about two months. I knew when I started this one it would be for Jamie's little girl.

And this final one was also made with a specific baby in mind - although I'm not revealing which one.

Now a return of Thunder. He's been absent for a while simply because I didn't have any new pictures of him but we had a bit of a cook-in for the 4th of July and I caught him begging for rib bones.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Finally!!

2010-06-06T11:08:00.003-04:00

Yes I finally finished something. And not just one something but two somethings.

At last count I think I'm up to needing quilts for eight babies. I have a number of tops finished and actually got two of them quilted this past week.

I have to say right off the top I couldn't have done these quilts without my dear friend Julie. When I said I needed half a dozen or so baby quilts she sent me a HUGE box of fabrics. Thanks Julie! Here is the first one I finished:

And this is the second. This quilt is soooo not me. I'm not big on bright colors but I have to say that as I was making this one I kept wondering if I had enough fabric that I could make it bigger and keep it for myself.

I completely forgot to take a picture of the back - I pieced it too. I guess that'll be for next time.

Two down, six more to go.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

A Charming Mother's Day

2010-05-09T18:14:00.006-04:00

Happy Mother's Day!

I did manage to do a bit of sewing today. The first thing I did was the president's block for my guild's outgoing president - and none too soon. I have to take it to the meeting tomorrow night - nothing like waiting until the last minute. lol. We were supposed to use a bright citrusy fabric so this is what I came up with:

The kit they handed out included some Thangles. I'm probably the last quilter on the face of the earth to use Thangles. They are wonderful! I'm sure I'm going to be using these again.

I almost finished my diningroom wallhanging. I still need to put a hanging sleeve on it.

Mother's Day is a hard holiday for me. My mom has been gone almost ten years. I can manage her birthday, Christmas and all the other holidays okay but Mother's Day frequently finds me falling apart. Mom was not big on jewelry. She mainly wore her wedding ring and that was all. For special occasions she had a charm bracelet. I have a charm necklace. Each charm represents something in my life. It's getting rather heavy so I don't wear it too often but I love it dearly. I can take it out and look at the charms and remember special times and special people.

These charms will be added today.

Last year we went to National Zoo in DC. One of the things we all were thrilled to see was an orangutan that was loose in the zoo. It played on the wires above the trees. It was such a lot of fun to watch.

Years and years ago Rodger and I used to play cards every weekend. We started here in PA with our best friends and my in-laws - Spades, May I and Pinochle were the favored games. We continued when we moved to NY where we mostly played Spades although we threw in some games of May I now and then.

And this one is a birthstone ring.

All in all - it's been a good day.

Hugs and stitches. Jody

A Trunk Show and A Quilt Show

2010-04-18T19:21:00.004-04:00

Unfortunately most of the quilting in my life lately has been limited to looking at someone else's quilts. But beautiful quilts they were.

First was the trunk show. My quilt guild hosted Sue Paul. I can't remember laughing so hard in a long time. The quilts were beautiful and Sue has a wonderful sense of humor. She specializes in scrap quilts. I am not a scrap quilt lover. But she does a lot of what I call controlled scrappy - fabrics within a color family or a limited amount of different fabrics. I loved many of the quilts she brought. And I took lots of pictures. Too many to post here but here are a couple of my favorites:

The rest of the pictures I took can be seen on my webshots account by clicking here

This was a great week for my quilt guild. First the trunk show and then this weekend was our bi-annual quilt show. We had well over 200 quilts entered in the show and there were some really lovely quilts. Again, too many to show here but this was my pick for Viewer's Choice in the wallhanging category:

And my pick for Viewer's Choice in the full-size category:

The remainder of the pictures I took can be found here

I've been advised that I will need more baby quilts. I think now we have one in August, one in September (which I have learned will be a girl), two in October and two in November. I have two tops done so I'm well on the way.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

National Quilt Day

2010-03-28T20:33:00.003-04:00

has come and gone. And I didn't get much of anything quilty done. sigh. I did get lots accomplished otherwise but not much quilting.

I did finish one block for a BOM. This one is pieced and appliqued and there is a good bit of work to it so I am fortunate to have had enough time to finish it:

Not done on NQD but still a recent finish is a new spring tote bag:

I've been working on baby quilts. I've decided to work with the Downy Touch of Comfort quilt project and have the first top finished and ready to quilt. A number of people I work with are expecting babies. We'll be blessed with one in September, two in October and one in November if all goes according to schedule - so I have quite a few quilts to be working on.

So until next time, hugs and stitches, Jody

Quilting Changes

2010-03-19T07:45:00.004-04:00

take some getting used to. As I mentioned earlier, this year I'm scaling back on my projects. I'm working more hours so I have less time and I'm ready to start working on some bigger projects, which require more time to complete. I'm loving the projects I'm working on - but sometimes I do feel like it's been so long since I've completed something I really just want to hold up something and say "finished!".

So here it is: lol.

I had this table runner done except for the binding last fall. So I did up the binding and now I have one more item in the finished column. lol.

Work continues on my BOMs. Here's the third block I've done in the Pushin' Up Spring BOM.

I have a rare treat - two and a half days off work in a row - over National Quilt Day no less! So I'm going to do my best to squeeze as much quilting as I can into that time while still keeping my house from looking like who did it and ran.

Hopefully there will be lots of pictures of progress even if nothing gets finished.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Another BOM

2010-02-24T19:38:00.004-05:00

I'm such a sucker for BOMs. This one has been going on for a while but I'm just getting going on it now. It's called Pushin' Up Spring and it's being done by Apple Blossom Quilts. If you copy and paste this link:

http://www.appleblossomquilts.com/newsletter/subscribe/

it will take you to the page to sign up for the newsletter. You can only get the link to the pattern download by subscribing to the newsletter.

Since there are eight blocks out and I'm just starting, I can pretty much start where I want. So here is block 2:

which I did first.

This is block 6:

These blocks are terrific for someone new to applique as the pieces are quite large. Connie Sue at Apple Blossom is doing her quilt scrappy. I'm am so not into scrappy so I'm doing the "frame" in the same fabric throughout and will have the flowers coordinate.

I can't resist adding this picture. This is my dear son Joe who just turned 13. This picture was taken the evening of the day after his birthday sleepover.

It's hard being a teenager. lol.

Until next time, hugs and stitches, Jody

The Blizzard Continues

2010-02-12T20:26:00.006-05:00

As if one storm wasn't bad enough, we got whacked with another one just days later. So of course this presents all sorts of time in the house looking for something to do. What a great time for a quilt-a-thon!!!

Well it would be if I didn't have dishes and laundry and family wanting attention and.... But I did manage to get a couple of things done.

I have long wanted to do a school house quilt and replace the section where the windows are with a small quilt block. I've actually started it a number of times and not really been happy with the results. But I'm a glutton for punishment so I'm trying it again. I have such trouble with the roof section. I hate templates and I really dislike adding things to the side of a triangle because no matter how careful I am I always end up with way too much at the top or the bottom.

This is the completed first block. Of course everything doesn't line up as well as I'd like but I'm hoping by the time I get to the last one I'll have tweaked it to be just as I want it.

I have actually spent a good bit of time sewing. But I really don't have much finished to show for it because I've been hand quilting this:

I did finish one thing. As I've been doing a lot of hand quilting I have been spending a lot of time cutting thread and threading needles. I have a number of pincushions (from swaps) but I have them in a cabinet and didn't want to use them. So I made this one:

The picture isn't really clear so you probably can't see the button in the center. I was going through my buttons looking for just the right one and then there it was - it has a snowflake in the center of it. I thought that was just perfect for my snowy day (or week as the case may be lol) project.

Thunder is loving all the snow.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

SNOW!!!!

2010-02-06T14:46:00.009-05:00

Well here we are on the East Coast, hip deep in snow. I'm planning to do some sewing today and have actually been doing some hand quilting but I'm taking a break to post some of our snow pictures. It seems like it may have stopped at long last and we think we got a bit over two feet.

From the front door first thing this morning before anyone went out:

Thunder loves the snow:

Timmy - hard at work:

From across the street:

Joe - hard at work:

The front porch (that snow blower is about to start earning it's keep lol):

And one last look out the patio doors into the backyard. Check out the picnic table:

Hoping wherever you are, you are safe and dry and warm. Jody

A Tisket, A Tasket, I Finished All My Baskets!!

2010-02-05T13:43:00.006-05:00

Well I finally finished up all my Tisket/Tasket BOM wall hangings.

As you can see from the February picture they have found a home over my china cabinet that I keep in my bedroom. I'm so glad to have them all finished - now I can move on to the three BOMs I have been printing off for this year.

Until next time, hugs and stitches, Jody

Quilt Show!!

2010-01-30T14:43:00.010-05:00

Two words that spark any quilter's heart. lol.

Tasha and I went to a small but special quilt show yesterday. For the past three or four years I have been attending the Mennonite Central Committee's showing of quilts due to be auctioned in the yearly relief sale. A majority of the quilts are hand quilted by the center's volunteers but the tops are made by a variety of people.

They have a small space to share the quilts in so normally most are quarter folded and hung on racks. This year they put a few on the walls and separated the wall hangings in one area and the full size quilts in another. Another new feature this year was the viewer's choice voting. They've not done that before but this year there was a listing of the quilts and the maker's names and each quilt was numbered and you were able to vote on the way out.

So here are some of the beautiful wall hangings:

This is probably my favorite wall hanging. I do so love tulips.

I love the little prairie point birdhouses on this one!

And some of the gorgeous full-size quilts:

This is one of the quilts the volunteers had on the quilting frame during last year's show. I'd love to make one like this too - and in my favorite colors of pink and green. Or they could just let me have this one!

And look at the detail on this lovely crocheted table topper:

And my pick of the show:

I've seen this quilt before and think at one point I even had a pattern for it. I would dearly love to make one - now if I can just find the pattern. lol.

Pretty much the only quilting work I've been able to finish lately is the quilt in the picture at the top of my blog. I needed something for my newly painted bathroom walls. I made some curtains and had a bit of fabric left so I whipped up this little quilt and I really like how it looks.

Thunders says "hey".

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

The ~Final~ 2010 Quilting List.......I Think

2010-01-14T19:15:00.008-05:00

Well as we enter 2010 I've looked through my stash, my magazines, my books and my drawings and come up with the short list of projects I have planned for this year.

We're really suffering the effects of the economy here. DH has been out of work since October, 2008 so I'm looking to do as much as I can from my stash which is mainly contained in one large Rubbermaid tote. I'm also working more hours (thank God for that) so that's cutting into my quilting time. So a short list is appropriate.

Two projects will be made mostly with new fabrics courtesy of loving family members in the way of Christmas presents.

Rodger is planning to give our bedroom a paint job when it gets warm. Paint irritates me something terrible so we need plenty of ventilation. We don't have an exact shade but it will be something light brown.

So I will be using these fabrics to make a Bear's Paw quilt for our bed.

The print is Timeless Treasures and will be used for the paws. The yummy brown is Kona Cotton (I loooove Kona Cotton) and will be used for the background.

These fabrics, plus a few others, will be used to make a Schoolhouse quilt, also for our bed.

The sumptuous deep blue print is a Kona Bay tulip tonal. If I could only have one line of fabric the rest of my life I think I would chose Kona Bay. The creamy off-white is Kona Cotton (I did mention that I love Kona Cotton didn't I?).

I got these fabrics from Fabric Shack (www.fabricshack.com). The fabric is delicious, the service is excellent, the selection is enormous, the prices are competitive and the shipping is lightning fast.

I'm also planning to finish up my Tisket/Tasket wall hangings. I finished three more (you'll see them in a bit), have two more to quilt and two more I haven't started.

Just a couple of other things planned. I'm doing Quilting The Names of Jesus with a Yahoo group. One 6 inch block per week for 26 weeks along with an awesome Bible study.

On the pile to be quilted, in addition to the 2 Tisket/Tasket wall hangings are a table runner, a DIC and the scarecrow/pumpkin quilt I created last year.

In the quilting hoop right now is my Butterflies On My Fence quilt.

I have planned for a few years now to make a Nativity quilt I saw online and I'd really like to fit that into my plans for this year.

Last, but not least, I'm making a small charm quilt to drape over an old scrub board that I'll hang on the bathroom wall.

So that leads to the few things I have already finished in these first few days of the New Year.

They're all my Tisket/Tasket baskets. December:

July:

and May:

We had a bit of a celebration last week. Thunder had his second (or fourteenth depending on how you look at it) birthday.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Wrapping up the year.........and some plans for next year

2009-12-26T16:34:00.008-05:00

Well as another year draws to a close I look back on what was accomplished this year. I didn't do too bad. The biggest accomplishment has been to slow down on how many projects I start - because frankly when I start 20 things I end up abandoning half of them. If I start five I'm more likely to finish some.

So here is the list of the Christmas presents made that haven't been shown yet.

First is my gifts to April, who was my partner in my online Christmas Quilting Swap.

The idea was each lady sent two fqs, a spool of thread and buttons to your partner. Your partner makes you something using those items and then sends it back to you.

I made a tablerunner with the items April sent me (she said she could use one for her office), a small, stuffed Christmas tree (like the ones Tasha and I made for our families last year), a small change purse and a yummy goodie.

I made this ornament for the annual quilt guild ornament exchange:

Very easy to make, a bit time consuming because of all the buttons that need to be handsewn on individually but worth the result. Timmy loved it wanted to keep it - and he got his wish. The night of the party I was so sick I had to stay home.

I made a couple of those fleece blankets that you tie together for the boys:

This was my first attempt at the tied fleece and they were so easy to make, look so nice and were such a hit with the kids that I imagine I'll be making more at some point.

Tasha got a fleece blanket last Christmas but she has still been carrying around the tote I made her for Halloween so I made her this tote:

I really felt I got a lot of my quilting goals for the past year met. So on to next year.

I've come up with several plans - seemingly reasonable but we'll see how I feel in a year.

First goal is to make one Christmas present per month. I have an idea for next year and one a month is doable - if I just do it. lol.

Second goal is to make up some Christmas things for the kids. I'd like to make one of each of the handmade gifts we've given to the family the past few years and put them in a box and save them for when the younger kids move out on their own. We get them an ornament (or two) every year but they won't have any other decorations. This way they can start out with a few decorations that will remind them of "home".

Third goal is to finish the three tops I have done now. They're all larger quilts and at least two I plan to hand quilt so that will be a time commitment.

Fourth goal is a queen sized Bear's Paw quilt for our bed. I got the fabric for Christmas - now I just have to turn it into a quilt.

Fifth goal is a wallhanging for the bathroom. I was looking at our tile floor this morning and realized I can make a wallhanging based on it. I will only need the fabric I still have from making the curtains, two more fabrics for the blocks, one for sashing and one for a final border - and I can probably get that out of my stash.

Now of course I know things will pop up as the year goes by but my goal in that area is to be strong. lol.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Some Finishes

2009-12-06T16:11:00.009-05:00

Lots of pictures to share this time. I made another tote. This one is for Christmas and I absolutely love it.

And of course I made a quickie Christmas quilt. I have two Christmas quilts in the works but they are going to take some time to finish so I whipped this one up in the past couple of weeks.

Not the normal traditional colors but I'm happy with it. I called it Fly Away Home For Christmas.

This one I have been working on for such a long time I can't remember just how long it's been. So I called it The Long Awaited Trip. It's all hand quilted - echo quilting inside each individual square. It was a lot of work but it was a labor of love.

I saw some ornaments on eBay that I fell in love with. One of my very special computer friends found me a pattern online (thanks Cindy!) and I made one. I'm not completely thrilled with the results but I'm happy enough for a first effort.

Now on to some goodies that I didn't make. My favorite online group is doing a Christmas swap. The plan was to send two fqs of fabrics of your choice, buttons and thread to the lady you were paired with. Then you would make something with the items you received and send them back to your partner along with an extra little treat. So here are the goodies I received:

Two wonderful book covers. The poinsettia fabric is what I sent. Not sure if you can see or not but there's a little bookmark of the same fabric sticking out.

And this was the extra treat (actually the second extra treat - the second book cover was the first).

Quite obviously I love totes. lol. Thanks so much April. I love all the work you did.

Now I just need to get April's goodies finished up and in the mail.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

My Prize-Winning Quilt

2009-11-02T15:11:00.003-05:00

I've always wanted to say that. lol. And my quilt did win a prize - but not for the quilting or the design - just for being the first one finished. But, hey, it's still a prize winner. lol.

Here's the quilt:

It's my snowman quilt made from blocks from an online group swap. I backed it with a fleece sheet, birthed it and tied it. The blocks are so pretty and diverse that I didn't want to take away from them with a bunch of quilting. It's so cuddly and warm and since the blocks were made by my close friends it's like a loving hug.

And the prize! When the girl who organized the swap emailed me about the prize I had honestly forgotten she even mentioned there being a prize for the first project completed.

The prize was a Christmas tablerunner. It arrived today in the mail and I simply love it.

Thanks Joyce for organizing the swap and for the great prize.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Pumpkin Patch Primitives Quilt Shoppe: It's a Happy Halloween Giveaway!

2009-10-29T08:29:00.000-04:00

Pumpkin Patch Primitives Quilt Shoppe: It's a Happy Halloween Giveaway!

Halloween Giveaway

2009-10-29T08:21:00.004-04:00

Well you know how it goes - not likely to win but have to give it a try.

Pumpkin Patch Primitives Quilt Shoppe is having the most awesome giveaway.

To check out the details and enter yourself click on the title of this post to be redirected to the Pumpkin Patch website. I tried to add the link in the body of the post but I suppose I'm still a bit technologically challenged - the link shows up until I post - and then it's gone.

But I promise you if you click the title you will get to the website - and you soooo want to go. The prizes are great and even if you don't win it's a neat website. Look around and you'll come up with some great holiday ideas.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Christmas Is Coming!!

2009-10-28T14:28:00.005-04:00

Well I had intended to post a picture of my finished snowman quilt made from my swap blocks. But since I forgot to take the picture I suppose I will have to make do with the picture of the top pre-quilting.

The finished product isn't much different. I birthed it and used a fleece sheet as the backing. It's nice and warm without being heavy. And it's tied. The blocks are so lovely that I didn't want to take away from them with a lot of quilting.

Now on to Christmas. During the recent Blogger's Quilt Festival I saw a gorgeous Christmas quilt and I am attempting to recreate parts of it. It's an applique quilt with each block having a different Christmas motif. I'm using some of the ones the lady who posted it did and I'm making some different ones of my own. So far I have these three completed:

I'm adding a bit of embellishment to each block. I have two more close to complete but I still need to work on the embellishments a bit.

So that's what's been going on around here quilting-wise.

In other news my kitchen is done!! It's been two years in the making but it's done. I only have a picture of the one row of drawers:

These are the drawers between the stove and refrigerator. The cabinets are the real showstoppers. Rodger cut the center out of the doors and added chicken wire (did I mention it's a country kitchen?). They look FABULOUS! Pictures next time.

At long last Thunder is making an appearance!

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

TRUNK SHOW!!!

2009-10-12T21:27:00.011-04:00

Two words that practically guarantee a quilter a good evening.

Our local quilt guild had Margaret Hartranft and Mark Martin for our guests tonight. They do a show called Compositions in Quilts and Music and let me tell you if you have the chance you want to be sure to see these people.

I'm not going to post all the pictures I took but will high-light a few of my favorites.

This one I found intriguing but I wasn't sure if I really liked it or not because I'm not really into art quilts. But when I saw it up close and saw the detail I couldn't believe how beautiful it is. Now keep in mind that this is a guild challenge - the theme - stripes and dots.

She took a picture one morning on her way to work at a stop light and then created this quilt from it. The birds are machine stitched and also beaded.

This quilt took my breath away and was my favorite - for a while. This one took best of show at a quilt show and I can't remember which one. lol. It's all done in miniatures.

I would love to copy this - but I would have to make in full size because some of those pieces were almost too small to hold on to. I greatly admire people who do mini quilts. I wouldn't have the patience.

This one I saw when I first walked in and thought it was an optical illusion - that it was hung to look smaller on one side but it actually is smaller on one side. A lot of this is fabric painting. The window frame pieces are appliqued on rather than done as sashing.

This brings us to my absolute favorite part of the show.

Some of the quilts were made first and the music composed afterwards. Some the music came first. Some were sort of a collaboration. These quilts were made after the music was composed. Mark composed an opera about a woman's life. Afterwards he asked Margaret to make quilts to represent the various times.

The first quilt was for when the girl was 16. As Mark said, there were good times but it is an opera so there are bad times coming. The good and bad times are represented by the light and dark fabrics.

Next she gets married. The darker fabrics represent the masculine side of the union, the lighter fabrics represent the feminine side of the union.

The next step is being a housewife. This point of the opera would have taken place in the 40s and at that point a woman was trained to be a wife. And then what? So Margaret chose to make a quilt that used up all the different fabrics the woman would have had in her entire household. There are 3,000 pieces in this quilt and it represents the tedium of the housewife's life in that era.

The back of this quilt is awesome. Margaret used feedsacks that she got at a Humane Society thrift store.

The final quilt was to represent the older woman as age has made her a bit more forgetful and her mind muddled. Margaret said that she had to have a stopping point for this quilt because she could have gone on forever. So she chose six embellishments and six embroidery stitches for each individual block.

That was the end of the opera and therefore the end of the quilts. However, Margaret and Mark decided a finishing quilt was in order. And I'm so glad they did. This is my absolute favorite quilt of the entire show. It literally took my breath away and you could hear gasps around the room as they unrolled it.

There is so much to say about this quilt. If you notice on the top right corner there are sections of the earlier quilts - all done to appear faded as the years have gone by. In full color on the lower left corner is the crazy quilt that represents the end of the opera. But look closely at the lady - one half of her face is lined and her hair is gray but on the other side her face is smooth and her hair is brown. And then look at the shadow box - all those little items are real items. There are spools of thread, buttons, a golf tee, charms, pins, flowers, pictures, etc. The detail is incredible.

And of course there was the music. Mark gave wonderful descriptions of things he saw in the quilt and how he translated them to music. And sitting listening to him I closed my eyes and could see what he was playing.

It was an incredible night. If you ever have the chance to see this talented duo don't pass it up. It was a truly magical evening.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Halloween is Coming!!

2009-10-12T16:17:00.008-04:00

And in celebration I have a couple of Halloween projects finished to post.

A few weeks back (okay - six or seven weeks) I posted that I was making my daughter a tote bag similar to the one I made myself. It was my first project for the Charming Girls Quilt Club. So of course I didn't get it finished. As a matter of fact, I took myself out of the CGQC because it seems if I say I plan to do something it's almost guaranteed not to get done. sigh.

So since she had picked Halloween fabrics I thought I ought to make the thing before November got here. So I made it Saturday. I have actually made two totes before this one. So I'm experienced right? I didn't need to find that darned pattern right? Um, apparently not. lol. So her's is quite a bit different from mine - and quite a bit different than I had planned - apparently that woman at the fabric counter didn't cut enough fabric for me to make stupid mistakes and still make the tote the way I planned to, so some adjustments had to be made.

But all in all it still turned out cute and she's happy. The main difference - the main NOTICEABLE difference is that the bottom of the bag is tapered rather than flat (comes from sewing in the wrong direction and cutting before realizing it).

The second project is this month's A Tisket, A Tasket BOM (the link to this is on the right sidebar of this blog). The patterns are free and are offered in redwork or applique and will work up into a nice little quilt at the end of the year. Or you can do like I am and do individual wallhangings.

I'm not sure if I'm just seeing what I want to see or if it was designed this way but I think the witch looks like SBS - who I dearly love. My favorite part is her little boo bucket. It's too adorable.

One of these days I'll figure out my new photo program and be able to crop things a bit better. I added some embellishments to this one and I really like doing that. I think one of my new projects for 2010 will be something with a lot of embellishments.

So tonight I'll pack up these two projects along with my niece's baby quilt and a Christmas wallhanging I made as a present (which is why I can't show it) and take them in to my quilt guild meeting and I'll come home with four more pins for my nametag. Oh, speaking of the nametag, here it is:

Oh wow! I just realized there are no new pictures of Thunder! Tonight's guild meeting is a trunk show and I intend to take pictures so before I post my favorites I'll make sure I have a picture of Thunder on there too.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Blogger's Quilt Festival

2009-10-09T15:25:00.007-04:00

Well it's here. The first day of the Blogger's Quilt Festival. If you aren't familiar with this festival, please click on the link on the sidebar and it will give you all the details - and you can get links to some of the other participants' quilts.

The short story is that you are to post a picture of a special quilt and tell a little bit about it.

So here's mine:

Sunbonnet Sue is the reason I learned to quilt. I so wanted to make this quilt. But when I learned to quilt, I learned that I did not have a gift for applique. So the idea went back on the shelf. Over a period of five or so years I made lots of quilts. Once I got to feeling comfortable I decided it was time to try again. But this time I had an ace in the hole. Fusible web!! Fusible web is my answer to needle turn applique. I did a few small applique projects - mainly centers for round robin quilts. And when I felt comfortable I did this quilt. The fun thing was using the different fabrics. I can get easily bored doing the same block over and over.

I love naming my quilts. Not long after I started quilting I learned that some people name their quilts and I thought it was a great idea. Coming up with an appropriate name isn't always easy. But this one was - I named it Dreams Do Come True.

Hugs and Stitches, Jody

A Project Finished

2009-09-28T18:16:00.001-04:00

Here it is - hot off the sewing machine:

This baby quilt is for my niece Kathlene's baby boy who is due this December.

I just love the print on this fabric. Such a fun print for a boy - and I'm lucky she's having a boy because I actually had the top done before I found out. lol.

Hugs and stitches, Jody

Tagged

2009-09-27T16:17:00.002-04:00

This months tag for The Charming Girls was to pick a name for our quilt-a-long and to use the letters of our names to list characteristics about ourselves.

So here is my suggestion and my answers:

I'd like to suggest A Little Bit of the Past. Seems perfect for something so little made of repros.

Now for the name thing:

J - Jolly
O - Ornery
D - Delightful
Y - Young at heart

If you'd like to join the Charming Girls or get more information you can click on the button the right hand side of my blog.

Hugs and stitches, Jody

A New Adventure

2009-09-16T08:26:00.002-04:00

Well I jumped right in and joined the local quilt guild Monday evening.

So now I have some goals! Just what I need. lol.

The first thing is a baby quilt. We will be having a visit from a representative for Project Linus in February and they would like to have some quilts to give so I'm going to go through my stash and pull out some baby fabric. Two of my nieces have had or are going to have babies this year (Rebekkah was born in January and Logan is due in December) so I have some baby fabric leftovers to use.

And then there is the biannual quilt show. They like for each guild member to put at least one project in the show. I don't have anything ready or close enough to ready that I want to put in so I'll be looking at patterns to find a project and getting started on it soon - the show is in April. I'm thinking I'll do a wallhanging with some decorative quilting.

My machine quilting is limited to stitch in the ditch or grids so this will be done by hand. And my hand quilting is normally stitch in the ditch or echo so I'm going to need some time. lol. I have done decorative quilting and really love the way it looks so I'm hoping I can find something not too difficult but really, really pretty.

And I need to make a nametag. A Sunbonnet Sue nametag. Yes I am thrilled that Sue is our "mascot" since she is one of my favorite blocks to make.

Okay enough playing - off to work.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Epic Quilt - Part Three (with a peek at Four) and More

2009-09-13T13:23:00.010-04:00

Let's start with the more. lol.

CJ over at A Stitch and A Prayer wanted to see my snowman blocks. I didn't want to post them because they are part of a swap and I hadn't mailed them yet. However, they have been mailed and received so here they are.

Some of us decided to do two sets so I did two different blocks. This is the one everyone who played along got:

The picture is a bit cattywhompus but the block is square. lol.

Then for the girls who did two blocks, I made this one:

And because I'm going to need some extra blocks to make the quilt big enough for my bed, I also made this one for myself:

I haven't received all the blocks from the other girls but Joyce in CO sent this one:

And Joyce in NC, who got a bit carried away (she was supposed to make two), sent these four:

This is going to be one awesome quilt. And best of all, since these ladies are my very best friends, every time I cuddle up in this quilt it will be like getting a big hug from them.

Now on to the Epic quilt. Part Three was, to put it simply, a huge pain in the booty. I did this from a picture with no directions and I had such a hard time with it. It wouldn't surprise me if this was supposed to be paper pieced. Paper piecing is not my friend. lol. But I am not only happy with the results, I'm pleased as punch.

And now for the peek. I did this block last night:

The plan (subject to change at any point before I sew it on to the center) is for three more of these blocks and eight other blocks that I know what they will be but I have not started yet.

Due to problems with a computer virus, a back up computer and camera software that only works when it feels like it, Thunder has not made an appearance lately. But through sheer determination and pigheadedness, I did get a few pictures up, including this one:

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Epic Quilt - parts one and two

2009-09-07T19:41:00.004-04:00

I looked up Epic in the dictionary and it means majestic, surpassing the usual or ordinary. Exactly what I wanted for my newest quilt project.

I've worked very hard this year at reducing my list of WIPs. I abandoned some, reworked some and finished some. I have it narrowed down to under six quilts that I'm piecing - or in some cases planning to piece.

One day while trying to decide which of these few projects to work on, I found I really didn't want to work on any of them. sigh. But I wanted to quilt. So I starting surfing the net looking at what other folks had been making.

What I came up with was the desire to make something really special. Something that would stretch my abilities. Something that would fit my bed. lol. I think I've probably made about 50 quilts - none really big enough for my bed. There is one that's actually big enough but it's very simply made - backed with a sheet, birthed and tied.

So I started with these blocks:

Which I formed into this single block:

That was part one.

For part two I decided on some applique. Applique is not my strong suit, and I'm not big on ripping things out so I generally take what I produce on the first try. But this is, after all, my epic quilt. So I ripped. I'm much happier with this version than the first try:

I'm working on the third part and it's giving me fits. I did say I wanted something that would stretch me but I'm doing most of this from pictures I saw online - no directions - so it's really stretching me.

Hopefully I'll be able to post the next part soon.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

A New Project - and A New Goal

2009-09-03T07:10:00.007-04:00

The new project is another of the totes similar to the one I made last week.

I like this one better because I made a few changes to it. I added some stabilizer. The other one is okay with just the batting but I wanted something a little firmer. I also added a pocket to the inside of this one and made the bow a bit bigger. And I made this one with some gorgeous Kona Bay fabric I've had for a couple of years. Kona Bay is my absolute favorite fabric - I'd use it for everything if I could afford it!

The new goal will be used for this month's Charming Girls' Quilt Club. I'm having trouble getting the link for this in the body of the post so if you click on the title of the post or the link on my side bar you can go to the Charming Girls' Quilt Club and see all the details and how you can join and participate too.

The goal is to make another one of these bags for my daughter using this fabric:

I've also been working on some things I can't show. Swap blocks for a snowman swap and I'm working on some Christmas presents too. Business at work has really dropped off and so I'm not working as much so I'm trying to be productive here with my time.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Another goodie finished!

2009-08-24T08:51:00.004-04:00

This one isn't actually a quilt, but it's quilted to I'm including it.

I have long admired these beautiful quilted tote bags you can find all over the web. And I actually purchased one off eBay. Apparently I didn't read the description well enough. I was looking for something to use as a purse. This thing is really too big for that. So I have a quilting project in it. And I started looking again.

More than a year and a half since I started looking I found the perfect pattern. I was a bit nervous as I have never made a bag before but this worked up pretty easily and I only had a few problems. Getting the bottom in it was a bit tricky and I think from looking over the directions again there might be a typo and that might be the problem I had. Anyhow, I made a couple of minor adjustments (added an outside pocket for my keys and made the straps a bit longer) and in just a few hours I had this:

I like it so much I'm going to make a fall one and possibly even one for Christmas. I saw some fabric the other day that I would love to make a Christmas one of - with my luck by the time I get back to the store it'll all be gone. lol.

I'll leave you with this picture of Thunder. Timmy's birthday was a couple of weeks ago and when Grandma came out for the the party she brought along a present for Thunder.

Of course it's a football. What else in this family? lol.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

The Graduation Quilt is Finally Finished

2009-08-20T15:30:00.006-04:00

At long last, only two months after her graduation, I have finished Tasha's quilt.

This lovely pattern was in the March 2006 edition of The Quilter Magazine. The pattern is called Out Of Africa by Larisa Key. I used the panels she used but the other fabrics are things I just picked up locally.

Here is a picture of our lovely graduate with her quilt.

No new pictures of Thunder but this one of Joe was too cute not to share:

Sometimes you have to leave them where they drop! lol. Although it looks as though we shot him as he came through the door what actually happened is he was laying down with Thunder trying to get him to go to sleep. Going to sleep worked - it was just a misfire as to who fell asleep. lol.

Jody

Going To A Show

2009-08-07T18:35:00.006-04:00

I finally finished up this wallhanging:

It's called Going To A Show and it's to put my quilt show pins on. Two of my favorite pins are not actually from shows but from a store in Gaithersburg, MD that I went to with three of my dearest friends.

The fabrics I used in the flowers are fabrics from the quilt I made for our bed for when we get our bedroom repainted - which looks like it probably won't be until next Spring - which is just fine because the quilt probably won't be finished until long after that. lol. It's a queen-size Trip Around The World that I am handquilting. I'm echo quilting each square and there are hundreds (and hundreds and hundreds lol) of them.

I'm still working on Tasha's quilt (which is also putting the TATW on hold) and I'm beginning some blocks for a swap - hopefully I'm beginning them tonight. My favorite Yahoo group is doing a snowman swap. I'm really looking forward to it. I haven't done a swap for so long.

But if I want to get something started I need to get off the computer and into the sewing room.

Thunder would like to say hello but he's a little tired now:

We haven't give the long worked on quilts to the dog. He has his own quilts (yep - two of them). He's laying on Joe's bed with his head on Joe's quilt (that is actually store bought) with the quilt Timmy's sleeps on over him.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Finally a finished quilt!

2009-07-22T20:18:00.006-04:00

I have really backed off the quilting lately because of the problems with my elbow but I really had to make this one. The manager where I work is such a sweetheart. She all but remade Tasha's prom dress because we got it by mail and it was too big with no time to return it. She stayed up half the night the night before the prom to finish it. And of course she wouldn't let me pay her for her trouble.

Her daughter had a baby at the end of May. Elli was premature and is still in Hershey Medical Center. They are hopeful they can bring her home this weekend. So I made this quilt for her.

I'm so happy to have it finished in time for her to come home to.

In other quilty news, Tasha and I went to a quilt show last week. It was for one of the local guilds. This was my pick for viewer's choice - small size:

And my pick for viewer's choice - large size:

And there's finally another hello from Thunder:

He's playing with his new friend - the rope-necked pheasant.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Exciting Week

2009-06-30T18:31:00.004-04:00

I have been doing some sewing again. I have Tasha's graduation quilt sandwiched and the quilting has begun. And I did my June Tisket, Tasket block. I had intended to use bright colors since it's the beginning of summer. But these fabrics just begged to be used. I love how it turned out.

The big excitement for the week has been my anniversary present. It's a bit early - the actual date is July 11th. It's a treadle sewing machine. I have wanted one for years.

Here it is fully opened:

And closed up and decorated:

Thunder says hi and despite the look on his face, he really does love his crate:

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

A Great Book and Some Quilting

2009-06-22T21:51:00.002-04:00

As I said, I have been doing a lot more reading that quilting (although there is some of that too). Yesterday I finished Prayers for Sale by Sandra Dallas:

I am familiar with the name but not the work of Sandra Dallas and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed this book and will be looking for another of her books very soon. This one is set in 1936 in Middle Swan, Colorado and has for it's two main characters Hennie Comfort and Nit Spindle. Hennie is 86, likes to tell stories and quilt. Nit is 17, likes to hear stories and quilt. While Hennie was telling Nit stories it took me back to a time when I was much younger and I sat around in my Grandmother's backyard listening to my Mom and Dad and my aunts and uncles tell stories.

We learn of Hennie's life through the stories she tells Nit. There are some twists and turns and some great surprises. I highly recommend this one.

As far as the quilting goes, unfortunately there are still no pictures. I have my daughter's graduation quilt top done but she doesn't want to see it until the entire quilt is finished. So we're in a holding pattern until I can get the backing pieced, then sandwich and quilt it before I can post a picture.

Another "almost ready but not quite" project is the June block of the Tisket, Tasket BOM. The applique is all done but I need to do some embroidery and put on the buttons.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Graduation - Part Two

2009-06-10T22:58:00.004-04:00

We are home from Tasha's graduation. We had rain so it was held indoors. Through some mix-ups and situations beyond our control a good bit of the family was missing. However, Grandma Voron and Tasha's friend Ashley (who now lives in Ohio) were there. And when we got home we found out that Tasha's god-father and his friend came in a bit late (and without tickets) but were able to get seats in the auditorium to watch the tv feed.

So here are a few pictures:

The proud graduate (this is in front of our house).

The graduating class of 2009. They had about 330 graduate but only about 280 were allowed to participate in the ceremony.

Mom and Dad are so proud.

And the promised picture of Thunder - who has suddenly become camera shy.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Graduation - Part One

2009-06-10T11:56:00.006-04:00

This is a big day in our house. We have two graduates. Joe, our middle son, is graduating elementary school. I attempted to get some pictures at the ceremony but between the terrible lighting and my son who decided to do his impression of a roadrunner and go across the stage at the speed of light I didn't get a single one. So I settled for numerous pictures of him and his friends in their natural habitat (the food line lol), eating, one with his teacher and this little gem (my personal favorite lol):

On the way home we stopped by work because Esther had graciously added Tasha's name to the reader board along with the kids who work at the restaurant and are graduating. I knew she was doing it but Tasha was completely surprised.

So this is part one because Tasha's graduation is being held tonight. In the meantime we're going to make ice cream and I'm going to work on her graduation quilt - which will never be finished by tonight but she won't mind that.

I'm still struggling with the tennis elbow. Working on Tasha's quilt is really more that I can tolerate at times so I'm still spending my free time reading. This series of three I read about on my friend Barb's blog. Since we are so much alike I figured if she likes them I would too - and she was right. These are winners.

You need to read these in order as they build on each other. I love books like that. Sometimes I get so invested in the characters I want to know more and more about them. Each book is as good as the one before it - and I'm hoping there will be a fourth book in the series - SOON.

Right now I'm reading Sandra Dallas' Prayers For Sale. So far I really like it.

Well I'll be back later with Graduation - Part Two. And I'll try to snap a shot or two of Thunder - he misses being here.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Checking in quickly

2009-05-26T19:15:00.005-04:00

After almost two months I am still having problems with my tennis elbow. However I have given in and started some quilting - you can only stay away for so long. lol.

Only two things in the works right now. The May A Tisket A Tasket Block:

And I have been working on my daughter's quilt. She'll be graduating high school in two weeks and I don't even have the top done. So that's my goal - to finish the quilt top for my daughter by June 10th in time for her graduation.

I'm working on my new computer and have only loaded a couple of pictures so I don't have a parting shot of Thunder but he sends his love.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

All the news

2009-04-19T18:10:00.006-04:00

Well the major news and the news that every thing else revolves around is that I have tennis elbow. I've had it before - it's rather painful. It comes from repetitive motions. When I had it last time it was from spending too much time on the computer. This time it's a combination of work related actions (lots and lots of portioning) and too much time on the computer.

So I'm supposed to be not using the hand anymore than I absolutely have to. Which leads to I shouldn't even be doing this. But I have to tell you I'm going about buggy. NO QUILTING!! What a nightmare! Especially with my daughter graduating high school in less than two months and her quilt not even half finished - and that's the top never mind the actual quilting. sigh.

I have been reading quite a bit. I read the latest Elm Creek Quilters book and have proclaimed it my absolute favorite. I love all the books but the ones set in the Civil War time frame are my favorites. The Lost Quilter is the continuation of Joanna's story - Joanna being the runaway of The Runaway Quilt. Jennifer Chiaverini has a wonderful gift for telling stories. If you haven't read her books this is a wholehearted recommendation to pick one up - soon.

My next book was The Help by Katherine Stockett. I had heard that this book was a "must read" and it certainly is. Set in Jackson Mississippi in the early 1960s it is the story of the white ladies and the black maids who tended to them. It's told in the voice of three different women and it's a page-turner. It's an unvarnished look at the lives these women lived and parts of it are not pretty - as it accurately portrays the times that were not always pretty. Ugly things happen that mirror events in real life - events that I am thankful I was too young to have been a part of. But in amongst the ugly truths about the past of our Country there are the loyalties, loves and risks that these women were willing to take to make a better Country. If you only buy one book this year - buy this one.

And the one I just finished about an hour ago - A Single Thread by Marie Bostwick. I will admit that I looked at this one a number of times before actually getting it. I'm so glad I finally decided to pick it up. And thank goodness this is the first book in the series because I'm not ready to let go of Evelyn, Abigail, Margot and Liza. If you need a book about the encouragement of friends and the need to have friends in your life - this book is it. And they quilt - who could not love a book about a group of quilters? I can't wait until the end of May when the second book comes out.

Next on my list - if my library has it - is Prayers for Sale by Sandra Dallas. Maybe I'll get the chance to check tomorrow.

Well the elbow is throbbing so I'm off to find my ice bag.

Until next time - hugs and stitches. Jody

Happy Easter!!

2009-04-12T16:59:00.008-04:00

Easter is my favorite holiday. Christmas is really great because it's a celebration of Jesus' birth. But Easter is a celebration of Jesus' completion of God's plan. It's the celebration of the eternal life that we can all have in Heaven because of Jesus' sacrifice.

We have also had another celebration this week - our daughter Tasha turned 18. We asked her what she wanted to do and she decided on a road trip. So early Wednesday morning we loaded up the Durango and headed to Washington DC to the zoo. Here's a shot of the kids between exhibits.

Yesterday our oldest son got a fun assignment at work:

LOL. He wasn't all that thrilled. The ventilation was close to nothing and the eye holes weren't really near his eyes. But he's a good sport and did his best. He said it was amazing how many kids loved him from afar but were scared to death to sit with him.

So today has been low key. Our plans for church were not to be so I ended up running to the store for raisin bread and then in to pick up Ryan at his apartment. Rodger made french toast and it's one of Ryan's favorites - and since he was supposed to go to church with us we would have missed seeing him today had he not come out.

We did an egg hunt for Joe and Timmy although Rodger tried to tell them they're too old for it (the eggs were in the back of the shed at the bottom of a stack of bins and the store was sold out of them). But we managed. Here they are as they take off:

On the quilting front, as I mentioned in my last post, I'm doing the A Tisket A Tasket BOM from Bunny Hill (you can click on the link on the right hand side if you'd like more details). I'm making individual wallhangings and I finished up the April one last night.

I can remember a time I was completely intimidated by applique work but I noticed the other night almost every thing I've made lately has included applique in some form. I haven't perfected it - but I'm getting more comfortable with it.

Well there's a ham and some sweet potatoes I really need to get in the oven. So here's a parting shot of Thunder. If you look closely at his nose you'll notice a little red dot. That's Ryan's laser keychain. Thunder loves it. Rodger has one too and one night they were both playing with him at the same time. Great entertainment for those of us easy to amuse. lol. It amazes me how big he's gotten.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

A Tisket A Tasket

2009-03-31T19:28:00.006-04:00

Bunny Hill Designs has the most adorable BOM going on now. I need another project like I need a hole in the head but here I am anyhow.

I just started it last week so I had three blocks to do. The pattern is for a wallhanging but I'm going to do an individual monthly banner sort of thing. I don't have them completely done but I did take pictures of them laying on the background fabric I will use.

Here's January:

February:

and March:

The basket on the March block is kind of light and it's a shame because the fabric I used is so pretty.

The patterns are all free and the new ones are posted around the fifth of each month. And there's a pattern for applique and a pattern for redwork.

I can't wait to see what April's block will look like. The link to the website is in the sidebar on the right.

And here's Thunder's good bye picture. It's obvious this is the window he always looks out of and the one we tap on to say hi to him. lol.

Until next time, hugs and stitches, Jody

National Quilt Day

2009-03-24T18:24:00.004-04:00

was Saturday March 21st. Since I was scheduled to work on the 21st I decided to start on Friday the 20th and I pretty much didn't stop until Sunday the 22nd.

I started with four blocks towards one of those great projects that I can't show you because it's for a gift.

Then I finished up the Easter top I started last week. It's cutting it a bit close to have it done before Easter but that's why I made a very simple charm quilt. Now if I can just get it quilted in the next few weeks.

And then I did the final couple of blocks for my Autumn Sampler and added the sashing.

I need to do another border on this one. It covers the top of the bed pretty well but I need something to hang over the sides. I'm planning to do a really busy border using the fabrics I used in the blocks.

Well I'm off to get busy on something. Oh here's a quick good-bye from Thunder and one of his best friends.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Quilts, Quilts, Quilts

2009-02-28T16:18:00.008-05:00

You may have heard the saying the best laid plans of mice and men. Well my best laid plans were plans not to overwhelm myself with quilts I just "had to make" this year. So of course every where I turn I need a quilt for this spot or that spot or I see a quilt in a magazine or online that I just have to make. Or, as in this case, I found some fabric I just couldn't pass up.

I'm going a very easy "big" block construction on this one. And it will be done like the Spring quilt I just did (backed with a sheet, birthed and tied) and used as a summer quilt on our bed.

And of course then there are those special occasions that arise that need a quilt. Such as a wedding. A wedding requires a quilt. Especially if it is the wedding of your child. Yes in a year I will officially be a mother-in-law! And I am thrilled beyond belief. I have the quilt planned - it will be scrappy, very strange coming from a "resist scrappy at all costs" quilter like me but there is a reason for it. I want the different fabrics to represent the different parts of their lives coming together. And the neatest thing is I have some friends who have been praying for my son and his girl-friend who are going to contribute some fabric to the quilt - so it will not only represent the different parts of their lives but it will also represent the different parts of the country where these two kids have people who love them and care enough to pray for them.

And of course you need to have a new project if you finish a project - which I have done! I finished my "Dreams Do Come True" quilt. This is the quilt I have wanted to make since I started quilting. The applique held me back for a few years but it's done and hanging over a chair in my living room now - and with a week to spare. My birthday is Friday and I really wanted to have this as a gift I would give myself.

I was trying to figure out how to do the label. I wanted something special since this quilt is very special to me. And then I realized I had it - almost. A couple of years ago I attended the local quilt guild. For various reasons I didn't go back but I had the intention of going back so I made my name tag. They had "adopted" Sunbonnet Sue as their "mascot" and each member was required to make a SBS name tag and I did. So I used my name tag as my label for this quilt.

In other exciting news we've had our first birthday of the year. Joe is now 12. He's in to football and Nascar and had a Nascar cake this year.

And of course I can't leave without a picture of Thunder. Poor baby has been through the wringer. We had him neutered. When we went to pick him up he went right passed us and straight to the door. When he got there he turned around and looked at us like "get me out of here NOW!". lol. Although I do have to say I am a bit disappointed. We were told that having them neutered calmed them down a lot. Well not here! lol. He's just as playful and hyper as he was before. Here he is peeking out of our bedroom.

Until next time, hugs and stitches, Jody

Quilt Show!!

2009-02-07T20:20:00.005-05:00

I always love it when I can unexpectedly go to a quilt show. I knew this one was coming but I also knew I had to work. But as luck would have it I got off work at noon on Friday so I came home, grabbed Rodger and off we went. We both needed to have our pictures taken for our driver's licenses and the licensing center was about 10 minutes past where the quilt show was so we decided to save some gas and do it all at one time.

The quilt show is a preview for the Mennonite Central Committee's yearly relief auction. They have some lovely quilts but they don't really have a lot of room to display them so it's hard to get good pictures. Here are a few of my favorites.

I love Mariner's Compass quilts. I have attempted them but they are beyond me.

This would be a gorgeous addition to any home at Christmas. Simple but lovely.

This one is just too cute for Christmas.

If my kitchen had a bit more wall space this one would be on my to do list.

On the home front I finished my Spring quilt. I birthed it and then tied it so it didn't take very long. No batting because we will use it when it gets warmer.

This is one of the largest quilts I have made. We have a queen-size bed and it hangs over on all sides. I finished another small quilt today but I haven't done the pictures yet so I'll save that for another post.

Thunder wanted to show you all his new friend.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Quilt-a-thon!!

2009-01-27T13:51:00.009-05:00

Well as much as a working wife and mother can manage I have been having a quilt-a-thon here lately. I have been staying off the computer and using my computer time to sew.

But first I needed to get my sewing area cleaned up. Since Christmas is over and Rodger is still off work we are doing some things around the house. We're planning to paint our bedroom this Spring so I'm looking at the changes I plan to make then. So I started with my sewing corner. I don't have a separate sewing room but we are blessed with a large enough bedroom that I can use a corner for sewing.

First I moved my rulers and cutting mats. And then Tasha came across this great piece of luggage that I had forgotten she had. It was my mom's so it's from around the 60s. It's a medium sized round case. It's not in the best of shape but it's great for putting quilts in. Most of the quilts in it are older baby quilts.

The quilts stacked beside it are mostly yard sale finds with one or two from eBay thrown in.

So here's how it ended up. Rodger gave me the chair for Christmas. I have a bad back and he said as much time as I spend there I needed a better chair (I was using one from the dining room). The wall hanging is the one I made to put my show pins on (be sure to check out my high tech fancy quilt hanger. lol.)

Once I was all set up it was time to quilt. At Christmas I found out my niece was having a baby - in January. So since January is almost over I decided I really ought to get moving on this quilt. I normally do very simply baby quilts. I want the quilts to get used and if they are too fancy I'm afraid they'll end up in a box in the closet. So I did a charm quilt. I knew the baby would be a girl but I didn't want to do the typical bubble gum pink you see for baby girls. So I did rosey colors and mossy greens. I did something different with this one - a totally random placement of the fabric. I think it looks nice (Rodger doesn't agree with me lol). Every thing went along fine until I did the binding. Since the quilt was very simple I decided to put the border on with a decorative stitch. What a nightmare. I didn't like the way it looked but taking it out was awful. I must have spent at least two hours pulling those stitches out. I decided to redo it with a straight stitch and even that gave me trouble. But I am happy to say that I finished it up Sunday night. And not a moment too soon because I got an email this morning that Rebekkah was born Monday morning.

With all the problems I had with this quilt I didn't get as much done on other projects as I would have liked. However I did get one block done on the log cabin I am starting. The first block actually. I got a great Judy Martin book for Christmas and the Kentucky Home pattern is the one I'm doing. I only got one block done Sunday but I got four more done yesterday and when I get finished here I'm going to go do a few more. I'm loving how this is turning out.

Well I'm off to get some more cleaning and sewing done. But before I go Thunder wanted to say hello. He's a bit tuckered out because he's been playing in the boys room.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

First Finish of 2009

2009-01-15T11:10:00.004-05:00

Woo Hoo! I've completed the first quilt of the year. It's a roosting robin I started last summer with my favorite online group.

I can tell this will be a favorite. Since I discovered fusible web I have fallen in love all over again with applique. And the colors are my favorite - green and pink with some black thrown in for some pop. And it's a roosting robin. I'm really enjoying doing the roosting and round robins. It's so much fun to make a quilt with a group but I just enjoy the format of a robin.

I have a plan to finish up another quilt on the to be quilted list rather quickly. I'm going to birth the spring quilt and tie it. Since it's a spring patterned fabric I decided to make it a lightweight thrown. I thought birthing a quilt was a well known term but some friends weren't aware of it so I'll explain quickly. You take the backing and lay it right sides together with the top. Then you stitch around the outside of the two layers and leave a space to turn it right side out. After you turn it you close up the opening and then you can quilt it, tie it or just leave it like it is.

The push to finish up some things is purely selfish - I have found some things I want to make. lol. It's my own fault for tempting fate. I had some magazines and books in my Daddy's attic since Christmas 2007. I brought them home a couple of weeks ago and sat down and looked through every single one of them. I weeded out all the "oh isn't that cute, I should make that" patterns and only kept the ones that I honestly think I will actually ever make. Decluttering is the goal and I'm going to list all my magazines and books that I can on eBay. Hopefully I'll sell them and cut down on my clutter and make a few dollars in the process.

A couple of new projects I will need to add to the list are a fireplace quilt. We ordered a fireplace last week. It's a portable one but it can be placed flat against the wall or in a corner. The plan is to try it both ways in different areas in the living room. Once we decide how we like it best Rodger will build us a custom fireplace. But we want a quilt to hang above it wherever it ends up. And we want a wallhanging for over our bed. We've been talking about this for some time - we want to repaint our room. It hasn't been painted since we moved in (more than 11 years ago) and it's white (gasp! lol). We'd like to try some color. Since we figure it's unlikely he'll be back to work before summer he's hoping to paint a few rooms as soon as it's nice enough to have the windows and doors open. The new project that started the ball rolling is an adorable sheep wallhanging in the current issue of Fons and Porter's Love of Quilting. I've never taken particular notice of sheep - as to like them or dislike them - but this wallhanging is so adorable. I want to change the colors a bit (leave out the red and replace it with green) and use it in my dining room.

Well my goodness I got a bit long winded there. lol. Quilting is a passion.

In other news Thunder has become a big boy. He had his first birthday a couple of weeks ago. We got him another bed like he got for Christmas. We got it for in the living room because the floors are hardwood and he loves it so much that we got him one for in the bedroom to use at night. Here he is showing his naughty side:

Until next time, hugs and stitches, Jody

Happy New Year

2009-01-01T21:22:00.002-05:00

Well here it is - 2009. Finally here and with it a whole list of decisions to make. About quilting of course. lol.

It seems like I'm working a lot more even though my paycheck doesn't seem to reflect it. sigh. Well at least I have a job.

So I really had to take a hard look at the quilting to do list for 2009. I have so little time to quilt that I really needed to decide what I really, really wanted to do. I have seven that I really, really want to do this year. They are

1. Autumn Pumpkin/Scarecrow - this is a new sort for me in that the blocks are not all the same size so I need to fit it together and make some filler blocks.

2. Christmas Roosting Robin - I am so terribly thrilled with this quilt so far. I am doing the final border and I'm planning a very fancy, time consuming pattern and so I'm planning on it being a major project and leaving lots of time for it.

3. Joe's Quilt - Rodger and I are working on this together. We had planned to have it ready for him when he was hospitalized in the summer - so we are very far behind.

4. Tasha's graduation quilt. I really have a lot to do on this one. Everything in fact. I have one piece of the fabric but we don't have the pattern yet.

5. Mystery quilt. I am doing this for the second year for my favorite Yahoo group. I received the fabric as a Christmas gift and have it all cut and have even started piecing it. I'm hoping to have it done before the middle of January so I can get them the fabric requirements and get it set up as a mystery to start around the first of February.

6. Kentucky Home Log Cabin Quilt. I received the Judy Martin Log Cabins book for Christmas and knew immediately I would make this one. I'm headed to Joann's tomorrow after work for their 99 cent fq sale as the pattern calls for something like 50 of them.

7. Nativity quilt. I found a great pattern online for a wallhanging of a nativity and I want to enlarge it to a bed size quilt to do as my 2009 Christmas quilt.

I'm working on hand-quilting my Trip Around The World and my Sun Bonnet Sue.

I have three tops waiting to be quilted:

1. Double Irish Chain
2. Spring
3. Roosting Robin

I have the backing and as soon as I pick up the batting I'm going to do the Roosting Robin on the sewing machine.

Unfortunately I will need to put a few things on hold. I have put my fall log cabin, my schoolhouse with small blocks in the body of the house done in civil war repros and my black and gold lover's knot in boxes to be brought back out in the future.

I am going to make a commitment to do the things on this list before I do any other work at all. Easier said then done when people start sending me links to simply gorgeous quilts. lol.

Hugs and stitches, Jody

Once again, Christmas has come and gone

2008-12-29T18:23:00.008-05:00

And in it's place are the left over decorations, waiting to be packed up for another year. I love having the same treasures to unwrap every year. We add something new each year of course. Our two main things we add yearly are a dated ball and an animated figure. My mom and dad gave us a Christmas ball that said First Christmas Together 1981 the year we got married. Since then, every year we have added a dated ball. Some years have new babies on the ornament. Some celebrate special things that happened a particular year - the year our football team won the championships. Some celebrate "world" things such as the American flag proudly waving on the 2001 ball. But each is special because it celebrates another year of togetherness. We hang them on a lighted garland around the ceiling in the livingroom.

The animated things are the little dancing, singing snowmen from Hallmark as well as some Santas (one on a motorcycle lol) and a few Nativities. We have a snow globe that I just love. Each night after the children put the ornament on the Advent tree they pick one to play. We have a house that plays The Night Before Christmas that we always save to play the first time on Christmas Eve.

Well since Christmas is over and all the gifts have been given I can update you on what I've been working on. This is Ryan's quilt:

And this is Cassie's:

I had posted a picture of the adorable little tree my daughter made in school. Here's my version of it:

As I was making ours I somehow committed myself to making eight more of these - yes that's right - three days before Christmas and I needed to make eight of these for presents. So Tasha and I started drawing, cutting, stuffing and sewing. And here is the result:

And even though Christmas is over the tree making isn't. We're going to try some in different sizes. But not for a week or so. lol.

I've removed my quilting gadget wish list from my sidebar because I was blessed to receive everything on it for Christmas! But I'm sure it won't be long before some other nifty thing crosses my path that I just "have" to have. lol.

Looking forward to the New Year I'm going to try some things here. I'm going to try to keep my quilting list to a minimum this coming year because with the added hours at work I'm going to be having less time to commit to quilting. So I'm going to gather up a list of things I really, really want to get finished and post them here and try to stay accountable to that list when all the neat ideas my friends forward to me come along. I have a few things I have made commitments to make and a few things I just want to make.

Well before I go here's the latest of Thunder. He got three wonderful presents for Christmas - his duck that he has already chewed the feet off, a box of gourmet dog biscuits and his pillow. And he loved them all.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Getting Ready

2008-12-16T19:12:00.006-05:00

Christmas is only a little over a week away and we are pretty much done with the decorating (finally lol). The tree is up:

The nativity is out:

And I have done a bit of Christmas sewing. We normally put a train and village under our tree but not this year. Thunder is still a puppy so we didn't want to spend all our time pulling him out of it so we decided to skip it this year. So I made a tree skirt. It's not finished - it needs sandwiched and quilted but I still have one more quilt that also needs sandwiched and quilted and it's a present so it comes first. So the tree skirt is together just enough to be used and will be finished after the holidays.

My darling daughter has been taking "home ec" classes at school and made this cute little tree and brought it home today. The picture really doesn't show how cute it is - and believe me it is cute. lol.

And of course Thunder loves sitting by the tree looking out the window hoping someone will come to play with him.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Christmas Cookies

2008-12-02T20:49:00.005-05:00

Memories of Christmases past abound at this time of year. I've been thinking about my mom a lot because Sunday was the eighth anniversary of her passing. I was talking with some friends and cookies came up. My absolute favorite cookie is called Mommy Bakes. They're actually called Joan's Cookies but when I was little I would ask for the cookies Mommy bakes and so the cookies ceased to be Joan's Cookies and became Mommy Bakes.

I went through a phase of making scrapbooked recipes. I have very few things in my mother's handwriting. She was sick for a long time before she passed and she didn't do a lot of writing after a time. So this recipe in her handwriting is very special. I found a picture of her with my sister and me and make this recipe page.

Not much going on as far as the quilting goes. And I really need to fix that. I have one more quilt to get made for a Christmas present. I'm going to do the Last Push Quilt-a-thon December 13th. But since I won't be able to post a picture of that until after Christmas anyhow I'm posting a picture of a Christmas quilt I made a few years ago with blocks from a swap with an online group.

Before I go - here's a funny picture of Thunder.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

So far behind

2008-11-22T18:28:00.007-05:00

Well today is the 22nd so I am ten days behind in my posting. sigh. I knew when I started this I probably wouldn't be able to post daily but I didn't expect to get this far behind.

Day 13 - I'm thankful that I have eyes that allow me to see all of God's beauty.

Day 14 - I am thankful for books. This one of course ties in the Day 13. I'm thankful that I can lose myself in books. I can go places I will never go in my lifetime. I can "meet" new friends and in the lucky event that the author makes the book into a series I can see my new friends again and again.

Day 15 - I'm thankful for Angel Food Ministries. I'm not sure how this program was started but I'm so glad I found it. Its a group that provides inexpensive food in these tough times. We're all pinching our pennies now and this program provides good food for a low prices. The menu changes each month and some things are better than others but it is certainly a wonderful program.

Day 16 - I'm thankful for our dog Thunder. He's a big goofy lovable mess and he gives us unconditional love.

Day 17 - I'm thankful for Penn State football. They are having a great season and that makes my hubby happy. And of course I'm always thankful for anything that makes hubby happy. :0)

Well I have some other things that simply must get done tonight so I'll be happy with catching up on 5 days and hope that tomorrow I can do more.

Until then, hugs and stitches. Jody

Thanksgiving Days 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 YIKES!!

2008-11-12T16:34:00.007-05:00

Well I haven't done a very good job of posting these things daily and so I am five days behind. Of course I have so many things to be thankful for it won't be hard to come up with five for here.

Day 8 is color. God has given us so many vibrant colors to brighten our world. When I think of color I think of crayons. And of course you have to have the big box. lol. Although I believe you can get larger boxes now when I was growing up the 64 box was the big box.

Day 9 is a day off. I have been working six days a week and November 9th was a day off and I thoroughly enjoyed being home.

Day 10 I am thankful for two wonderful ladies named Melissa and Susy. These ladies drive school buses. Melissa takes my daughter and Susy takes my boys. I can't express how much these ladies mean to me. Melissa I have known for probably 35 years. Susy I have know for about 12 or 13 years. I completely trust these ladies with my kiddos and I can't begin to explain all the wonderful ways they have taken care of them over the years.

Day 11 was Veteran's Day. My Daddy is a Veteran. My father-in-law and my husband's step-father are Veterans. My Uncle Chubb died in the Korean War. Three of my brothers-in-law are Veterans. Many of the things we enjoy we have because of the sacrifice men and women have made in service to our country. So, in true military form, I salute them.

Day 12 I am thankful for my computer. I have learned so many things from having a computer. I have made friends I would never have known. I have seen things I would never have seen. I even used my computer to earn money for a time.

Until tomorrow, hugs and stitches. Jody

Thanksgiving - Day 7

2008-11-07T19:16:00.003-05:00

Normally by November we are in to heavy sweaters and sometimes even winter coats but today we are having Indian Summer. And that's what I'm thankful for today. In the middle of wet and cold weather God blessed us with a gorgeous day. It was over 70 degrees and the sunshine was incredible!

So I went looking around online for a picture to post and this is what I found:

What's so special about this picture is it's actually from my town. And it's on a road not far from me. Welcome to my world! Isn't it beautiful?

Until tomorrow, hugs and stitches. Jody

Thanksgiving - Day 6

2008-11-06T21:21:00.002-05:00

I thought for quite a while about today's thanksgiving. I really have so many things to be thankful for it's hard to pick which to post.

But today I'm thankful for my washer and dryer.

It's so easy to just pitch something in the washer and it comes out clean, pitch it in the dryer and it comes out dry. When you think of how our ancestors had to wash their clothes I am so thankful that I have it much easier.

Until tomorrow, hugs and stitches. Jody

Thanksgiving - Day 5

2008-11-05T21:37:00.003-05:00

This past March I went back to work. Not that being a wife and mother isn't work - but you don't generally get paid for it. I had been earning some money at home for a couple of years but this was an honest to goodness get up every morning, put on a uniform, leave the house, punch a time clock, earn a paycheck job. And I love it - but that's for another day.

Today I worked an eight hour shift. I work at a restaurant so this is eight hours on my feet. Over the summer I worked six hours almost daily but here lately I have been working four, maybe five hours a day. I am definitely not used to being on my feet for eight straight hours.

So when I came home I had a nice long soak in the tub. And that is what I am thankful for. Bath tubs filled with steaming hot water.

Now in keeping with my days of thanksgiving so far I have provided a picture of what I'm thankful for so I went in search of a picture of a nice relaxing tub of water. I found tubs with bubbles (I don't do bubbles), tubs with candles, tubs with flowers - in the tub and on the side of the tub.

None of them seemed just right - until I saw this one:

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

More Thanksgiving

2008-11-04T20:46:00.006-05:00

Today I'm thankful for the right to vote. I think far too often voting is seen as a "given". It's not. It's a privilege and an honor. It gives us a say in our government. If you voted in this election I say thank you for helping to make a difference. If you didn't vote in this election I urge you to make sure that you do vote in the next election. And not just the "big one". There are many offices we elect officials to and you should be voting from the local level on up.

Over the weekend I was able to get some quilting work done. I finished up a Christmas present (that I will post a picture of after Christmas naturally).

I finally got the last border on my roosting robin. It's not the best picture because the last border is black on black and it's hanging against my navy blue drapes but here's a picture:

And I have put another border on my Christmas roosting robin.

This will be the last round for a while because I'm up to the final round and it will be what my friend Carol calls the "WOW" round. It's a sort of save your best for last concept. And if I can actually pull off what I'm planning it will be nothing short of a miracle. lol. But it's going to take some time.

It's been a while since I've posted a picture of Thunder. This one is an old one but he's soooo cute in it and besides, he's laying on my patriotic quilt and what better day than today?

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Thanksgiving

2008-11-03T16:42:00.004-05:00

With Thanksgiving fast approaching I'm planning to do a month long thanks for my blessings. Since I very seldom post daily I'm probably going to end up posting a few things at a time. Since this is the 3rd day of November I already have three things to be thankful for and here they are:

For November 1 I have chosen the biggest blessing in my life - the gift of everlasting life I have in my Savior Christ Jesus. I can't even begin to describe what this gift has meant to me. And it is a gift. I have done nothing to earn it or deserve it. And the good news is if you haven't accepted this gift for yourself it's there just waiting for you to claim it. If you are unsure how to go about this please scroll down to the red "ready" button on the right side of my blog. Click on that link and it will take you to a website that will explain it all to you. I looked around online for a picture to go with this and when I saw this one I knew immediately it was the one.

The reason I chose this one is something someone explained to me years ago when I inquired about crucifixes. I was told that there were no crucifixes in the church I attended because we serve a risen God. Jesus had to rise to complete His purpose. He had to come back from that grave for me - and you. So this is my Lord and Savior after conquering death.

November 2 is my family. I don't know what I would do without this crazy group of folks. We may not have a conventional home life (although I'm not even sure what "normal" or "regular" would be considered anymore) but there is lots of love in this house.

November 3 is quilting. I have loved quilts for years and I am thankful for the opportunity I had to learn to make quilts. Quilting is my stress reliever and creative outlet.

Until tomorrow, hugs and stitches. Jody

A Day Late

2008-11-01T21:36:00.003-04:00

My mother was very punctual. As a matter of fact she was always early. And she made sure that I understood that you should not make people wait for you. So I wonder if that's why I'm chronically late. Not so much time wise - I'm always early for work. But when I do send cards (which isn't often - I'm not a "mailer") I'm normally late. Of course it doesn't really help that my darling husband doesn't know how to tell time. Okay, he does know how - he just doesn't do it. After living with him for over 27 years it's no wonder I am becoming more and more time challenged.

So today, on the first of November, I finally finished up my Halloween quilt. lol. I machine quilted it - I got some nice thread that goes from red to orange to yellow that I thought would look really nice in a meandering stitch. I even got a solid brown backing so the stitches would show up. The problem - oh right, I don't know how to do a meandering stitch. lol. I was going to practice. Then I got cold feet and decided to do a grid. And I did a grid but not like I was going to do. I got very discouraged - as I normally do when I machine quilt. I keep thinking I'll get better the more I do it but it doesn't seem to be working that way.

Well it will pass the galloping horse test so I'm happy with it.

Since it's a holiday quilt it won't be out all the time and I think I can stand the mistakes for a month or so every year.

Now it's time to work on a few more things. As we get closer and closer to the end of the year I want to get some things finished up. I like to end the year with more in the finished column than I started the year with in the to do column.

So I'm off to the quilting room. Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Trying to get something done

2008-10-26T19:04:00.004-04:00

Well for the second weekend in a row I have been determined to get some quilting done only to have life intrude on my intentions.

I've gotten a lot of cleaning done. Did some Christmas shopping (including shopping for fabric!) and even a bit of reading.

I did get a tiny bit of quilting done. I've gotten the top and bottom of the current round on my roosting robin done:

I am working on the sides - they will only be two rows wide - I'm going for a rectangle. Maybe this evening......

We've been having an adventure with Thunder. At long last the fleas have arrived. sigh. Last week the poor thing felt so abused - two baths and one application of flea repellent. Doesn't he look happy? lol.

We tried to tell him everyone else is having a terrible time with fleas this year but it didn't really make him feel any better.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Terrific Give-Away

2008-10-16T10:09:00.003-04:00

Can you believe someone wants to give away a quilt? Check out this link:

and you too can have a chance to win this beautiful quilt.

Be sure to look at all the pictures - this is a gorgeous quilt and this lady designed it and made it herself.

Sure hope I win it. lol.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Goin' To A Show

2008-10-12T21:03:00.006-04:00

No I'm not going to a quilt show - although I sure would like to. lol. Goin' To A Show is the name of my latest finished project. Its a wallhanging I made to hang my show pins on. I spent a lot of time looking for a pattern specifically for show pins (there aren't many out there) and finally found this wallhanging that I decided would work.

I thought the pins would make nice centers for the flowers.

A couple of these are not show pins but are very special. The pin to the left is from Capital Quilts - a great quilt shop in Gaithersburg MD where I went with three wonderful ladies that I'm on a Yahoo group with. The pin in the middle is of a quilt block with four flowers that I also got at Capital Quilts. Of course each of the flowers represents one of us. Not that I need anything to remind me of that very special day but they sure are nice to have.

I've also done two more rounds on my Christmas roosting robin. They were very simple - basically a separator round and a round to take it off point.

I mentioned before that my daughter has taken an interest in photography and I found this picture on the camera. This is the front of our house.

Now you can picture where I'm at when you read my posts. (I'm sure you were all sitting on the edge of your seats just wondering what my house looks like. lol).

Well it's time to get moving and get something productive done.

Here's a look at one of Thunder's latest pictures.

It's hard to believe we've had him 7 1/2 months. He'll be a year old before long. My baby is growing up. lol.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Something New

2008-10-10T22:44:00.002-04:00

My friend Barb is a multi-blogger. She has a quilting blog, a book blog and a devotional blog. I already have the quilting blog and have been wanting to do a book blog but since I have a hard time posting here regularly I didn't want to start up another blog to keep up with.

So when I found Shelfari I saw my opportunity to mention the books I like without having a book blog.

Now when you come to visit you can check out my bookshelf (on the lower right hand side of my blog). You'll find a selection of books I have read and loved. Right now I have a selection from Jennifer Chiaverini, MC Beaton, JK Rowling and Cindy Woodsmall. I have read multiple books from these very talented ladies and would recommend anything any of them has written.

So be sure to check every now and then to see what I've been reading and maybe you'll find something that looks good to you.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Just a bit of fun

2008-09-27T09:21:00.002-04:00

I found this on my friend Molly's blog and it was fun reading her answers so I decided to swipe it and put it on my blog.

We've all filled out all those different questionnaires about ourselves but this one is about the hubbies.

So here's the info on my better half.

He's sitting in front of the TV; what is on the screen?
Football or Nascar or the weather channel

2. You're out to eat; what kind of dressing does he get on his salad?
None - he's not a salad eater. He either gets something else or gives the salad to me (or Tasha if she's with us).

3. What's one food he doesn't like?
One? I only get to pick one? Onions (mushrooms, peppers)

4. You go out to the bar. What does he order?
None - we don't drink alcohol

5. Where did he go to high school?
Chambersburg Area Senior High School

6. What size shoe does he wear?
size 10 1/2

7. If he was to collect anything, what would it be?
Holy cow, how much room do I have? Anything to do with football or Nascar - cars, hats, pennants, figurines, footballs. He also has a collection of marbles from his childhood.

8. What is his favorite type of sandwich?
Right now it's this chicken carbonara thing from Subway

9. What would this person eat every day if he could?
probably candy

10. What is his favorite cereal?
Super Golden Crisp

11. What would he never wear?
A dress.

12. What is his favorite sports team?
Dallas Cowboys and Penn State Nittany Lions

13. Who will he vote for?
I imagine McCain.

14. Who is his best friend?
Brad

15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn't do?
ask him to help with my quilts

16. How many states has he lived in?
three, NY, PA and MD

17. What is his heritage?
Darn, we've talked about this (school projects for the kids) but I'm not sure I remember - I think his people came from Scotland and England

18. You bake him a cake for his birthday; what kind of cake?
Raisin spice (a secret recipe)

19. Did he play sports in high school?
Football

20. What could he spend hours doing?
Watching tv, playing video games, anything at all to do with football and house repairs/remodeling

So now you know all about him. lol.

Until next times, hugs and stitches, Jody

Back Again

2008-09-10T16:25:00.007-04:00

Well I am back after a brief bout with computer interruptus. We have really been lucky. We've been doing computers for at least ten years and have never had a major problem. This one wasn't as bad as it could have been - the power pack died but at least we didn't lose everything on the computer. But I ended up using the kids' computer for more than a week and it's not hooked up to use the printer, camera or anything.

So I have had some time to get some things done. So I think the last thing I was doing with the Quiltathon. I'm not sure what happened with that. The blog I read about it on was supposed to have updates and check-ins over the weekend but I never saw anything. I don't know if I was looking at the wrong place or if she didn't get to it or what.

I did however finish up my round robin from my quilting group. I didn't take a picture of the backside and I really need to because it's reversable. The back side is a charm quilt using many of the fabrics I used on the front. Here it is:

The next one I finished is my Valentine's quilt. This is a rare all machine sewn quilt. I always machine piece but mainly I hand quilt. But there are those times when I just want to finish something. Mainly I machine quilt when I get to feeling like that.

Next I have the first round of my Christmas roosting robin I'm doing with my favorite online group. I'm venturing more and more into machine applique and starting to feel a bit more comfortable with it. I still need to work a lot more with small pieces - the holly berries almost made me crazy. lol.

I have also been working on Christmas presents but I can't post pictures of those for obvious reasons.

Other than quilting, the kids are back to school, my hours at work have been cut back to almost nothing and you would think between those two things I'd be getting tons done but for some reason I'm not. Maybe tonight.

And of course I can't say good-bye without posting a picture of Thunder. This one was just too cute.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

A Quiltathon!!

2008-08-08T21:16:00.003-04:00

While looking at various random blogs I came across Patchwork Times who will be having a Quiltathon this weekend. A day to do nothing but quilt! What a dream. Sigh.

I figured I wouldn't even try it because my youngest son's birthday is this weekend but some things have fallen into place that I will be spending the majority of my day quilting with the Quiltathon. Real life will intrude in the way of laundry - but it's supposed to be a beautiful day and I will be able to put the clothes on the line.

So I've decided to work on a Halloween quilt. I went through my stash and came up with these fabrics:

I have the pattern picked, I've started cutting and I even did a bit of sewing tonight.

I can't wait to get started tomorrow. I'll be doing periodic posts for the check ins.

If you can, join us. You can click on the link in the title for all the details.

Until tomorrow, hugs and stitches. Jody

A Quick Catch-Up

2008-08-06T19:17:00.005-04:00

It's been a few weeks since I've last posted and they have been busy weeks. I've gotten some quilting done. I've done two rounds on my roosting robin and am almost finished with it.

Here's July's round:

And here's August's round:

August was to be the last round but I think I want to put a black tone on tone border on it and make it a bit more rectangular.

I've been working hard to find more time for quilting because we're on the down side of the time until Christmas (less than six months yikes!). I'm planning a few Christmas gifts so I really need to get moving. One thing that is helping is it's football season. Rodger and Joe are at practice every night and I sew a lot while they're gone.

I'm still hand quilting my TATW but I have a really great reason to finish it. Rodger is very supportive of my quilting, helps me pick patterns and fabrics - he has an incredible eye for color. But he's not really into quilts and although I've offered numerous times to make one for him he always politely declines. So a few months ago we started talking about painting the bedroom. It really needs it. We've been here 11 years and probably haven't painted it since right before we moved in. We want to do a light brownish color and I mentioned making a quilt for on the bed. And he reacted typically. It's almost like I can see the wheels turning in his head - oh no, she's coming and she's going to want quilt advice. lol. I've suggested a number of different patterns for a quilt for our bed and he's not really been excited by any of them. But the other night while I was quilting the TATW he said "I really like this one. It's really nice. The colors work perfectly together." Yikes!! So I quickly suggested that it could be the new quilt for our bed (I am soooo lucky it's big enough lol) and he agreed! I'm not sure when I'll finally finish it - I'm echo quilting in each square - but I guess I have some time since we haven't even picked a paint color.

Oh - here's a picture of the TATW top:

Our big news over the past few weeks is that Joe's hospitalization is over with and he is off the medicine and the doctor said we can stop the finger sticks. Joe is so thrilled. However, we are going to continue the finger sticks throughout football season just to be on the safe side. But it looks like our journey through these medical conditions are at an end. Thank God.

As always I will leave with a parting shot of Thunder. This is his "room".

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Old things finished, new things started

2008-07-05T10:58:00.004-04:00

Well I have made some accomplishments in the past couple of weeks. I suppose the first thing is that I got Ryan's pillow sham done. I really like it (and he did too) and it wasn't that hard to make. I think I will make one for each of the other kids - maybe for Christmas. lol.

Here's the front:

And the back:

I also finally found a pattern that will work for my show pins. I have tried a number of different patterns and didn't care for the way they turned out. But this one I love. It's pretty enough on it's own and the pins will just be a lovely addition.

I'll put the pins in the center of the flowers.

And the new thing started is actually an old thing redone. I have a webshots account and will frequently look around at the quilts on the site. I found one of a schoolhouse block but where the part of the house with the windows is there were small quilt blocks. I fell in love with it and starting making my own. I wasn't happy with it - partly because I started it not long after I started quilting and the fabric wasn't very good quality. I also do not like working with templates. Everything isn't lined up perfectly but I quilt for fun not perfection so I'm happy with the results. Here is the first block:

I'm using Civil War repros. The brown fabric in this block I got at the last quilt show I went to. There was a vendor with just CW repros. I had a hard time getting out of that stall. lol.

And of course I can't leave without putting up one of the latest pictures of Thunder.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Small Accomplishments

2008-06-22T20:34:00.003-04:00

Not a whole lot happenin' on the quilting front this week. I tried to work on a wall hanging for my show pins but the pattern I found just didn't work. Then I tried modifying the pattern and that didn't work. So I took a break from it. Next I picked up my roosting robin. I have until the end of the month to do another round on it. I've come up with a few ideas that looked good on paper but didn't translate well to actual sewing. I finally decided to do a piano key border. And that of course was not without problems - I couldn't get the seam allowance right, the machine unthreaded itself after almost every piece. I have done a couple of piano key borders and I love them. I'm not really into scrappy but this is a sort of controlled use of multiple fabrics and I love it.

I have done some other sewing. I made these sheets for Ryan.

A pillow case is in the works but not ready yet. It will (hopefully) be ready by the end of the month (for his birthday).

And of course I can't leave without posting another picture of Thunder.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Found Treasures

2008-06-13T19:28:00.003-04:00

I have gotten a couple of found treasures over the past few weeks. First was a sewing table I got from a freecycle group. If you've never heard of freecycle check into it. It's a great group. If you have something you want to get rid of (in good condition of course) you can list it and someone will take it off your hands. And if you need something you can post a request and many times someone comes up with something for you.

So here is the table closed up.

And here it is with the sewing machine up.

I didn't keep the sewing machine. It worked but the tension is all messed up and I do not have the patience to fool with the tension. I have a machine sitting in my shed because the tension is messed up. But the dh built me a shelf so that I can put my machine in the table and it works great.

This morning I got an older quilt at a yard sale. The folks I bought it from collect antiques but I don't know that this quilt is antique. Here's the front:

And here's the back:

It's a two sided quilt! But for some reason someone put a layer of plain fabric over the back. The lady I bought it from attempted to remove a good bit of that layer of fabric:

I'm not exactly sure what I'll do with it. Part of me wants to leave it the way it is because it's sort of interesting. And part of me wants to figure out how to completely clean up the back - but I don't think I can do that without taking out the quilting. And I won't do that.

I have a number of quilts I got at yard sales and this is probably the nicest one. There are no tears or seams coming apart and the fabric is only a bit faded and there are just a few dirty spots.

Now where should I put it? Hmmm

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Some Sewing - Finally

2008-06-09T16:54:00.004-04:00

Well as I get used to having a job outside my home for the first time in almost ten years I'm having to learn to fit my quilting in. Consequently I go long stretches without doing anything. And then I have weekends like this past weekend. Rodger and the boys went to the annual father/son camp-out, Tasha went to a friend's house and I was home alone! So I got some sewing done.

The first thing I did was finish up the round robin swap. This is the last swap project I have left. I can't post a picture of that until it is returned to its owner - but I really think she's going to be happy.

The next thing I did was add a row to my round robin. I wanted it a little bit bigger so I added a piano key border.

And then I finished up my nine-patch top. I saw a picture of a quilt similar to this on webshots and just loved it. I do wish I would have made my blocks a little smaller - they are 8 inch blocks. But otherwise I love it.

Before I go I wanted to post another picture of Thunder. He's almost 5 months old now and I just love this picture. Tasha took it. She's becoming quite the photographer - getting plenty of practice taking pictures of Thunder.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

I have to give this a try

2008-05-21T20:11:00.003-04:00

A few years ago my friends at QWHT decided to do a reading club. We picked a book and we would have a month to read it and then we would discuss it. It was about this time of year, I think, that we started it. We wanted something fun for summer so we looked around and came up with what sounded like a really fun book - Sisterchicks On The Loose by Robin Jones Gunn. You follow two friends on a once in a lifetime trip to Finland.

We were hooked from the first book. You see although we are spread far apart geographically we are Sisterchicks through and through.

And the adventures continued - Sisterchicks showed up in Hawaii (Sisterchicks Do The Hula), Mexico (Sisterchicks in Sombreros), Australia (Sisterchicks Down Under), Paris (Sisterchicks Say Ooh La La) and Venice (Sisterchicks in Gondolas).

Now, at long last, Sisterchicks will show up in England (Sisterchicks Go Brit). Oh how I love the English.

So Ms. Gunn is kindly giving an opportunity to win a copy of this newest book and all you have to do is put this picture:

up on your blog and email her the URL. That's it. Nice and easy. Oh how I would love to win a copy of that book. So - I have to give this a try.

Hugs and stitches,

Jody

More accomplishments

2008-05-07T08:54:00.003-04:00

With the advent of my new job my quilting has certainly had to take a backseat. But I decided this past weekend to do some finishing up work. I also got my round robin from my quilting group back. This is a huge blessing. I was afraid to join this time because the last time I joined the row by row and I'm still waiting for mine to be returned almost two years later. But everything worked out fine with this round robin - makes me think I might join another one at some time. lol. So here it is:

I also finished up a top. This is a Valentine's quilt. It was mostly done - I just needed to put the border on.

Next on the list was my next round for the roosting robin I am working. We're doing this loosely so we just have a list of suggestions and we each do what we want for each round. Here's mine:

I used some of the fabric I used in my mystery quilt because I love that fabric and I will be donating that top to charity.

And finally I did some work on some nine patches:

I saw a quilt when I was looking around on webshots and these will be the recreation of that quilt.

And on the non-quilting front this past weekend was the prom. Tasha went with a group of her friends. It was very difficult finding her a dress. She is not a frills and lace type person but that wasn't really what caused us the most grief - she's very busty and prom dresses are simply not made for busty girls. We found this dress at Sears, it's from their special occasions line. She loved it and that's what's important.

This is her with her friend Amber. Tasha is the blonde and Amber is the redhead. They had a wonderful time.

I guess that's all for now. Until next time hugs and stitches. Jody

Catching Up

2008-04-03T20:15:00.003-04:00

It's been a busy, busy month since I last posted. I had a birthday and got a job. The job is what's really keeping me busy. It's only part-time but it's the first time I've worked outside the house since before Timmy was born. And I'm on my feet the entire time so it's tiring.

I have managed to accomplish a few things though. I got finished with my Autumn Rail Fence.

It's large enough for our queen size bed and the first thing of that size that I have done decorative quilting on. You really can't see it from the front because of the patterned fabric. I did the quilting from the back.

I also put together a center block for the roosting robin my yahoo group is doing. A roosting robin is similar to a round robin except that I will be doing all the work on my own quilt myself instead of sending it around to my friends.

When I first learned to quilt I saw this block and loved it but it's applique and I was so intimidated by applique then. I'm no expert now but I am getting more comfortable doing it.

Thunder also keeps me occupied. He's grown so much. I had him to the vet last week and he weighs 24 pounds 6 ounces. He was 14 pounds 4 ounces a month ago when I had him there the first time. He's completely spoiled rotten and an absolute joy to have around.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

First Finished Quilting Project of 2008

2008-03-05T15:17:00.002-05:00

Here it is - drum roll please - the first completed quilt of 2008. Rodger saw a man he used to work with and the man and his wife are expecting their second child so I whipped up this quilt.

I don't really do a lot fancy for baby quilts because I want them to be used and to be used they need to be washed - frequently. So it's a simple patch quilt that I machine quilted. It feels nice to finally have one in the finished column.

Our new addition is settling in. If he can sleep here:

He can sleep anywhere. lol

We're still working on where to set up his area. For the time being his water and food are in the living room and I really need to find another place for them.

I've made a log that I'm filling out every month with my quilting projects in it. I've "abandoned" a few projects that I've been working on for a while and frankly just don't care for the look of them anymore. I have a stack of blocks to send to the disaster relief girls and a bunch of ideas to take the place of the things I've gotten rid of.

I'm planning a sew in tomorrow and I have a charm quilt I want to put together. I think I'll probably send that on to the disaster relief girls too. I'm also planning to get the border on the mystery quilt I just finished up. Maybe I'll have some more pictures of finished projects in the next few days :0)

Until then, hugs and stitches. Jody

Thunder

2008-02-27T11:54:00.005-05:00

No - we're not having storms. We have a new addition to our family. Here's our little darling who we have named Thunder.

We've been looking for a while. We had a Sheltie named Winston. We got him as a puppy and had him for about 3 1/2 years and then he was hit by a car. That was about 1 1/2 years ago. We had decided to look for either a German Shepard or a Golden Retriever but we were really focusing more on a Golden. So we've been watching the paper but they were so expensive. But then last night I saw an ad in the newspaper for purebred AKC Golden Retrievers at a decent price. So Ryan and Tasha and I took a ride out to see them. We were just going to look but I think we all knew if we looked we would bring one home. So we left Rodger, Joe and Timmy to go out to the shed and dig out the dog crate and went to see the puppies.

There were six of them - five males and one female. We've always had male dogs but were open to having a female. So we decided what we would do was just look and see if one especially caught our eye and not worry about the sex.

When we pulled in the driveway and saw them Tasha started "can we have one, can we have one" before we even got out. And then Ryan said "we're going to have to remember we're getting only one".

They were all adorable but this little guy looked up at me and I knew he was the one. His momma was there and she is beautiful. Her coat is a bit on the dark side and the breeder said the father is basically the same color. Of the six puppies Thunder was the lightest - he was also the biggest.

We brought him home and dumped him right in the tub. He was born on a farm and he smelled like it. lol. He looked so cute wrapped up in his towel.

So we are in the process of getting used to a new little one again. He missed his family a bit last night but he only whimpered and howled (yes - tipped his head up and howled lol) for a short time. Rodger kept telling him not to worry - he'll like it here soon enough. He loves being carried around - he's just like a big baby. But the best of all is when he lays on my chest and tucks his nose up under my chin.

So I've put quilting aside for a bit (but you can bet it won't be for long lol) and am focused on the puppy. I suppose if I make a quilt for him I can be focused on him and quilting. That's a win-win situation.

Until next time, Jody

It's Home!!

2008-02-03T18:51:00.000-05:00

My round robin has come home and I am thrilled with it. Since this was my first round robin I decided I would just jump the whole way out on the limb and I did an applique center.

First I have to mention the wonderful group I did this with. Because I have lost things in online swaps before I always hesitate before sending away something I have really labored over. So normally I would have had a hard time sending it off. But these ladies are like my sisters. The lady at the post office would ask me every time "do you want delivery confirmation?" and I would say no - Joyce is not going to say it didn't get there if it did. I don't have that kind of confidence with everyone, unfortunately. And when Frances said she was sending me something I knew that within a few days a package would be in my mailbox.

So here is my completed round robin:

I obviously did the applique basket of flowers in the center. Next it went to Joyce for the framed border, then on to Julie who did the checkerboard. Julie, being our resident applique expert was disappointed that she didn't get to do applique on mine. So she took my label and put an applique border around it. It's beautiful.

After Julie it went to Susan who did an applique round. Then Barb got it. She had to put triangles on it so she put pinwheels in the corners. And she appliqued some butterflies. And then it went on to Frances who pulled it all together with her final round.

They all did such a wonderful job. I can't thank them enough for the beautiful quilt they made me.

In other quilting news I am doing a mystery quilt for this lovely group of ladies. So I have been working on the sample. These ladies are so enthusiastic that I love working with them.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Busy Week

2008-01-26T18:23:00.000-05:00

I actually finished up two things this week. The first was my DIC. I had the fabric for the outer border but needed something for the inner one. I picked up a piece of navy blue fabric and added a thin border of it and then the final border fabric. Now it's finished and sitting on my ever growing to be quilted pile. Here's the picture:

Then the next thing I finished up was Joyce's round robin. That's the final one I will have in this group. Three of the seven have made their way home and they are all gorgeous. I can't wait to see mine and I know the last girl to work on it has it now so it won't be long.

Here's Joyce's:

What I've been working on mostly the past couple of days is the handquilting on my rail fence. I also have done a little sewing for the mystery quilt I'm working on. It's not starting until March but I want to give everyone time to get their fabric so I'm hoping to have the top complete by the end of next week or so.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody

Traditional quilting

2008-01-20T14:15:00.000-05:00

I'm sure we all have our idea of what it is. I asked a group of online friends what they considered traditional quilting and found it interesting what they had to say.

My idea of traditional quilting is using patterns that have been around for years and years and years and what I would consider old fashioned fabrics - no novelty fabrics, no neons, none of the abstracts I've seen lately. I suppose mainly either solids or calico fabrics.

I've done lots of work with novelty prints (finally got that out of my system lol) and I've done lots of patterns I find in magazines and online, etc. But I want to make some things that I would think would have been around years ago. My goal is to make one "traditional" quilt a year until I finish all the ones I want to make (which could take a while as the list continues to grow lol).

Right now I am hand quilting my rail fence which I started last year. I also have a Sunbonnet Sue on the "to be quilted" pile. I've got my Double Irish Chain all done but the borders (can't find just the right fabric).

I found some fabric I liked and decided to make a Bear's Paw with it. But I just kept looking at the fabric and not actually cutting it. It turns out the reason for that is that the fabric wasn't really meant for a Bear's Paw. It seems it was made for a Trip Around The World quilt.

The first block I ever made was a Trip block. I attempted to make a quilt a year or two ago. I strip pieced it and it just didn't lay right so I got frustrated and threw it in the trash.

But I was looking at pictures of the Trip quilts my friend Joyce has made (she's a bit of an expert at Trip quilts) and decided the fabric I bought for the Bear's Paw would be perfect for a trip quilt. Only problem - I had only gotten three fabrics and I would need more for a trip. So I went out the road to my favorite local quilt shop. It's a small place and they don't have a huge selection but I always seem to find something I can use. It's run by some Mennonite ladies and they are very friendly. I found more fabric, brought it home and laid it out. I took pictures, rearranged the fabric and took more pictures and started to consider them. I was really having a hard time so I started cutting squares. Then I started laying the squares out in the Trip pattern. Again I took pictures but this time I printed them out and hung them on the big mirror in my bedroom. I had seven pictures and eliminated three or four of them right off the bat.

The more I looked the more I realized that what I didn't like was the same in every picture - there was one fabric that just didn't work well with everything else. So I took that fabric out, added more rounds with my focus fabric and found something I really like.

This one I did by individual squares rather than strip piecing and I think it lays pretty flat.

And this is the finished top:

I finished it in about three or four days, neglecting all but the basic necessities of housework (mainly laundry and meals). It's terrible but I get that way. I can't wait to see the finished product.

I'm still not sure how I will finish the quilt. Joyce leaves her points points and miters all the corners when she puts on the binding. I love the way that looks but I'm afraid I would be overwhelmed and not finish it. She said that you can just level off those points to a straight edge and that may be what I'll do. It's sitting on my to be quilted pile so I don't have to make a decision until I'm ready to quilt it. And being that I have three or four others before I get to it I have plenty of time to decide. lol.

Until next time, hugs and stitches. Jody