Phalanopsis

I think that was the name on the label.  Currently there are six blooms and about six more buds yet to open.  Thanks, Peter, for this bright spot in a white kitchen!

The St. Patrick's baby quilt is finished.

And here is the back, made of left-over fabric plus some others.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Good homily on the Beatitudes today
Finishing up some swap blocks
Baked potato

NEW quilts!

I have started a couple of NEW quilts -- not UFOs that have to be finished.  I think I was in need of a break from that activity.

Jacque demonstrated the "disappearing 9-patch" routine at o ur Bee meeting, and she had had us bring a pair of already made 9-patches to try it out.  I chose some St. Patrick's day fabrics and made six 9-patches.  After the demonstration, I still have six, so I decided this could be a baby quilt with a few more.

It is all pieced and bordered.  Right now I am working on the machine quilting.

I have been reading the requests for birthday quilts at Margaret's Hope Chest, and when I saw this red and gray football flannel at JoAnn's I remembered there was a boy who wanted "football and red".  I bought the solid red and darker gray to go along with it, and am imagining what kind of two color design I can use on the front with the printed flannel for the back.

More fluffy snow every day is keeping the ground pristine white, but doesn't stop us from our daily rounds.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Warm duvet at night
Australian Open on TV
Mineola orange for breakfast -- so juicy!

Extra Extra Fancy all done

At Bee meeting my "orphan"  and confetti block quilt was returned with the quilting completed.  It is now bound and ready to use.

The title of the quilt came from a piece of fabric intended for rice bags.  It's in the upper right corner area, near where Charlie's head would be under it.

Above is the rest of the right edge.  And below is the left edge.

And here are two tiny stars which will be near my arm.  Along with a piece of watermelon in case I get hungry in bed.

At the bottom a dog and cat to keep our feet warm.

Catherine wisely decided to quilt the overall pattern from the back side, so she was not disturbed by all these diverse images.

Ain't it great?

I'm pretty sure we're keeping this one for ourselves!

Sara

Gratitudes:

Safe trips on a snowy, blowy day

Lots of music learning at GRWC workshop day

A warm house with quilts!

RRCB backing

I had enough extra pieces for the borders to make a strip the width of my backing for the quilt.

I didn't have a third width of the homespun plaid to do the whole backing in that fabric, so I added some more of the navy print I had used on the front.

Oh, and there were this many MORE left-over pieces!
So those will go in the "Orphan" box for some future purpose.

Now to get my gear together for SpoolSpinner's Bee tonight.  We need to bring some already made blocks for a teaching project, and of course, hand work, and Show and Tell items.

Maybe I'll get a few more rows knit on the January sox.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Crock pot simmering dinner
More "lake effect" snow cleaning outdoors
More orchid blooms

Roll, Roll Cotton Boll top finished

I delayed adding the borders because I was afraid of the bias edges on those strip triangles.  But when I finally got down to it, they were only a little difficult.

Bonnie ended her directions with the diagonal strips on the edge of the border, but I have added a narrow navy outer border to match the inner navy border.  It will be trimmed to the same size after the quilting is done.

So now I just need to get the backing together tomorrow morning and then I can give to my long-arm quilter at our bee meeting in the evening.

Glad to have this off my hands!  It is certainly big enough for our queen bed with a good tuck under the foot of the mattress.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Breakfast with friends sharing tales of getting older
Met Dan and Miko grocery shopping and heard about new grandson
Finished the quilt top!

RRCB Border strips

I worked on the border strips for the Roll, Roll Cotton Boll quilt top most of Friday.  I had two 24 segment strips together from leader/enders on sewing the blocks together, so I had a mere 95 more segments to add.

And some un-sewing and re-sewing to do to create twelve triangles for the corners.  I know, I know, there aren't twelve corners!  However twelve triangles are needed for the construction.  Those are also made.

Next:  trimming all the edges of both the top itself and the four borders.  I can do this.  But maybe not today.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Lunch with Bob and Glennis in Lansing
Kate's soup
Clear roads for the driving

Still RRCB

Pressing seams and putting the rows of blocks together:

This photo is just missing the corners.  Not all LONG seams sewed yet, but will be done tonight!

Next: more and more borders parts to connect:

Sara

Gratitudes:

Stayed home all day working and reading
Classical music to keep me company
Whipped up a couple heart blocks & got them in the mail

More trees arrived

More Block Lotto trees came today.  They are 6 inches wide and various heights.  These are from Cathy in Australia, Beth in California and Mary Jane in Georgia.  That about covers the map!

Still slogging away at the blocks for Roll, Roll Cotton Boll.

Box of "parts" and three finished blocks. I think I have 18 of the 30 I need.  I could make a smaller quilt, but all the parts are made.  Then what would I do with them?  So I slog onwards. Seems to take about 20 minutes to construct one block out of the parts.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Good stretching at exercise class
Leftover spaghetti for lunch
15 minutes of clean-up in sewing room made a visible difference

Block Lotto winner!

My name was drawn as a winner in the December Block Lotto.  Everyone made a pair or more of these fun trees in black and jewel tones.  This past week I received these seven sets, and I'm to receive a total of 23 PAIRS.  WOWSER!  That's 46 in all!  These were from Andi, Deana, Ginny, Laura, and Wendy Lee.  Thanks so much ladies!   I'm trying to imagine how to set these together.

The sun this morning was another inspiration:

The temperature was down to 6 degrees F, so the frost was heavy, and then we have been having "lake effect" snow for the past  several days, making everything fresh and pure white.

Indoors I've had another delight:

Peter gave me this orchid plant last Mother's Day, and now it is blooming again.  That's not a whole year of waiting, but this second blooming is a great gift in the midst of January in Michigan.  We have it on the kitchen eating counter so we enjoy it many times a day.

Still slogging away at the Roll, Roll Cotton Boll piecing of blocks and trying to make them come out the right size.  About 20 blocks to go.

Sara

Gratitudes:

The Block Lotto!
The Sun!
The orchid blooming!

Sox Progress

I'm well past the toe shaping, and on to the even stitches of the foot section.  A careful study of the stripe pattern shows that the two balls of yarn were wound from opposite ends of the stripe pattern.  Not a thing you can tell when you are buying the yarn, but, what the hey, just another instance of "planned" irregularity.  As we are about 1/5 through January, I analyzed and concluded that I am on target, about 1/5 done with this pair of sox.

I finished three 10" blocks for Victoria in our SCRAP Bee, made to her design.  I will mail these off tomorrow and complete my January responsibility with that fun group.

Mostly I am still working on the Roll, Roll Cotton Boll blocks.  I have finished the "alternate" block of neutral strips, and now they all needed to be trimmed.

This is not a fun part of the quilting process and is very exacting.  Plus I have only gotten 6 of the "real" blocks together instead of the 30 that are needed.  I am malingering because the six I made did not measure up to the size required.  After trying to build one with a smaller seam allowance, I discovered this caused a worse problem , non-flatness.

Only thing I can think to do now is to CHOOSE the smaller size as my "normal" size.  That means re-trimming all the alternate blocks AGAIN!  Dang, think I'll go do a little more knitting.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Right eye seemed fine after a night's sleep
Got to exercise class like a good Dooby
Pesto on noodles as part of dinner, summer flavor!

Taking a break with Green

I had my every-four-weeks Eye Doctor appointment this AM [wet macular degeneration], and he said I had to have the injection of Lucentis into my right eyeball again.  I had been able to skip it for the two previous visits, so I was sorta expecting this, but somehow, when he said, "It's leaking," [bleeding in the back of the eyeball]  I was once again struck with how hard it would/will be to get along with really impaired eyesight.  I kept trying to relax, but every time I thought of it my shoulders were all bunched up and tight again.

Bummer.

Between the dilation and the injection, I have to shut or cover my eyes for about four to five hours and try to sleep.  Practice in impaired eyesight.

As things got less fuzzy this afternoon I decided to try sewing more green scraps together -- no fine points to match or need for exact seams!  I put together some already started pieces and made a length of 72" or so to add to the strips I have been assembling for a donation quilt.  Green is good.  Growing things, etc. 

Maybe after dinner I can go back to the Roll, Roll Cotton Boll blocks.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Charlie driving and sitting with me in the waiting rooms

My quilts for snuggling/resting

Able to enlarge print on computer screen

Goals for 2011

1. Keep knitting socks.  Get comfortable starting at the toes, cause then I can use up all the yarn if I want to.

Here is my second attempt at starting at the toe.  I ditched the first attempt, which was doing two at once, and that was too much to learn at one time for me!  This is how much I got done while watching the Rose Bowl game and eating a Snack Dinner.

2.  Keep working on the UFOs.  Here are the twelve I plan to finish this year:

    

           1] Double Four Patch

      

          2]  Pale, Pale Stars

        

          3] Purple Baskets

          4] Bright Row Robin

          5] Batik Samples

          

6] Pineapples

7] Amish Sampler

  8] Purple Chain

9] Fall Leaves

10] Lenten Hanging

                      11] Marston Squares

                     12] Cabin in the Woods







Judy Liquidara has pulled out the number 6 for this month, so I should work on the Pineapples.   I have a few more UFOs, which are very close to completion, so I am not listing them.

3.  Keep on making new Quilts That I Like.  I have done a lot because they were "necessary".  Now I want to do more pleasing myself, and challenging myself.

Those are my Goals for this year.

Sara

Gratitudes:

Last year's finishes of UFOs still amazes me!
Started the year by spending a lot of time in the sewing room having fun
Some progress on the Roll, Roll Cotton Boll mystery blocks
"Snacky" dinner of shrimp and veggies