Birthday Week

Yes, I am still knitting.  And I seem to be fixated on these slippers so here is another completed pair.  And would you believe that I have three more pair in the works.  This is primarily because I haven't found a sweater pattern I want to knit so slippers it is, for now.

And I did find time to spend time with my sewing machine.  This is a fleece throw.  I love the size, 1 yard x the width of the yardage.  It is amazing how large this makes these throws.  And they are so easy to make.  I am hoping that I can find a couple more interesting fleece pieces to make a couple more throws.

Once again, this is Birthday Month.  I have been very good and haven't expected a gift a day, like I got last year.  But there have been a couple of gifts along the way and apparently we are ending the month with a BANG.  What we are seeing here is a ceramic measuring set sent to me by my sister, I think.  It seems that Amazon sends packages but there is nothing in the box to say who sent it to you.  Anyway, I thanked her for them so I'm sure she will take credit for them no matter what.

I do appreciate that they are marked for size so they are usable as well as decorative.

My daughter gave us an Initial Banner to hang outside.  She actually gave us 2 but the other one, a Christmas decoration, is already planted outside and I am too lazy to get up and go outside to get a picture.  Maybe later.

Our SIL found this tumbler and made sure that it came home to me.  I think these little owls are so cute and will be fun to drink with.

DH is so sweet and he knew that I wanted some Gnomes. Why?, you may ask.  Well a few weeks ago I had several trees cut down because they were crowing the house.  What we were left with was several short tree stumps; not enough money to have them ground down.  DH said he was going to paint them so he could see them when mowing around them.  I suggested we glue Gnomes on them to have something fun to look at.   

And I got more than the one, I have six.  They are marked for being outdoors and then there are a lot of precautions about bring them in for different weather situations.  Well, that's not going to happen.  So the plan is to poly them with a couple coats to protect them and then they will be on their own until next year.  I think it is going to look so cute.

This was quite unexpected.  Yes, I showed DH this and told him what others had said about this appliance, but I did not suggest we get one.  So imagine my surprise when I saw the box.  I think we will try French fries to see if it works as well as advertised.

And this was a BIG surprise.  I saw this cart advertised and showed DH because I now am having difficulty bringing groceries in from the car: too heavy and too much.  He poo-pooed me and we dropped the idea.  Well, I guess he had second thoughts.  It came in a really flat box but was completely assembled and DH got to use it first.    Those six wheels make steps so easy and it just glides over our rough ground.  I think we will need to affix a basket on it but even just this way it is it works.

Even Mother Nature has gifted me with this beautiful display.  The buds just popped the day after we brought them inside (brief 30s at night).  They really make me smile.

And that's it for me.  I have another doctor appointment tomorrow, seeking some pain management that does not include drugs.  I had to fill out several pages of admission paperwork, most of which dealt with drugs, past or future.  By the time I was done I had already formed a negative impression of the group of doctors which is not going to help me tomorrow.  Tonight I am going to have to pray for a change of attitude ....... darn.   Gari

Owls and Other Things

Last week I was having a great deal of trouble getting a post done.  However since my design wall hasn't changed I am happy share it now.

It was the week of the owls BOM.  I completed the April owl and this is all I have done so far.  These are on the wall in the order the designer planned.  I still need to put the borders on a couple of the little ones and then plan the sashing but we are beginning to see a light at the end of the tunnel. 

I had a really good time picking the fabrics for this month's owl: the body fabric is really tree tops but it just looks fluffy on him. 

When he was ready to fuse to the background I discovered I couldn't find the background fabric.  So I had to take quite some time out to clean off my cutting table and, lo and behold it was buried deep under several projects. 

And here we finally have our owl, firmly fused to the background fabric.  I think he looks quite different from when he was resting on the wax paper.

Over this weekend I went to a quilt show in Pensacola and attended a workshop put on by my machine dealer.  The speaker was Diane Springer of Quilt in a Cup and since I had bought two of her cups more than 5 years ago, I was interested in seeing her in person and finding out what other items she had created.  Here is a picture of what I will be making for myself soon.  I also bought her book:  I will share a picture of it later this week.  Diane is a unique quilter, and former school art teacher, who sees color and excitement in almost everything.  Can you tell I had a great time?

And here is another reason I had a good time, my new machine.  I have wanted this machine for the last 2 years.  It has been upgraded twice since that time and I felt this was the right time to make the leap.  What you see here is me looking at some of the paperwork and disks that came with the machine.  Boy am I going to have a lot of work to do tomorrow to get this beauty registered and running but doesn't it sound like fun?

And I even have been doing some knitting (dishcloths) and bought yarn for two sweaters.  Of course I can't knit and sew at the same time so sewing and the new machine will be taking most of my time.  And I know everyone feels sorry for me.  ;-)

Have a great week,  Gari

A New Project

I am so excited.  This is the new BOM from FatcatPatterns.  And it is in addition to the fish BOM she has going.  Well, I collect hollow glass owls and then some other owls as well and I just couldn’t pass this one up.  This little owl is block 1.  And to add to the craziness of all the BOMs I am working on, I am thinking about doing two owl quilts with the other one in “funky” colors.  That idea will have to wait.  Anyway, this is the only thing that is on my design wall at the moment.


This has been what has taken up most of my quilting time.  And this is how I left Easy Street Sunday  night.  I think I am a little over halfway done with the quilting.







I am quilting it with a panto from Urban Elementz, Tapestry.  I like the texture.










But it is funny that it really can only be seen on the borders and the back.  In case I haven’t mentioned it, this quilt is 101” square and one of the largest quilts I have done.  And now that it is almost done, I am really liking it more and more.






Saturday I took some time off from quilting and we did a little antiquing, something we like to do a lot.  Anyway, the only thing we bought was this pin.  Isn’t she beautiful?  The face is hand painted porcelain and the gems are Swarovski Crystals and swing freely.  I am wearing it as a pendant and feel quite elegant. 






My plans for this week are to finish the quilting on Easy Street and to put borders on a charity quilt I have had on the back burner for far too long.  I also have to take the stitches out of a section of the dragon.  It seems that my basting didn’t hold the applique pieces tight enough on the background and it moved enough to leave wrinkles.  So out will come the stitches around the wrinkles and then I will secure that section with pins, the kind that stick.  My new plan is now that I will pin each section as I come to it and hopefully no more wrinkles.

I am connection with Patchwork Times and What a Hoot. 

Early in October

What I love about the first of this month is that my UFO for Sept, the quilt that hung around on the frame since June, is finished.


I got the binding on today and finally got a picture of the finish.













I haven’t washed it yet but that will get done tomorrow.


















This was how the studio looked most of the day, two machines running with a lot getting done.












I embroidered this shirt.  Unfortunately it has been a while since I did any embroidery so I forgot all the steps to stabilize this shirt so there are a couple of puckers.











So I did a second one.  This was the first time I was happy to have to go to Walmart: this shirt was on sale for $3.  Tomorrow I plan to do an “over shirt” to go with this one. 
















Oh, and I also made this label for a charity quilt that needs to get sent off this week.  I hope to get it sewn on tomorrow.











All of the backing fabric is ready to be sewn together so one of the Christmas quilts should be on the frame either tomorrow or Sunday (I will be gone Friday and Saturday).










And I have the patterns ready for both the Funky Chicken #10 and Teapot #3.








Whacking all these items off my “to do” projects list has made me feel so good I am allowing me to go to a two day embroidery workshop (Friday and Saturday).  The guest speaker/demonstrator is Mary Alice Smith.  She used to teach a lot of machine embroidery and software classes but I haven’t seen her for a few years.  I am really excited to find out what new she has to teach us and/or what new projects she has up her sleeve.

And, after two days of learning and creativity, I will be back to work on my BOMs and a couple of Christmas projects in addition to the two Christmas quilts.

Have a great week!