Some Sewing - Finally

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

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

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

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

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

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!!

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