Back from a Blogging Break

Last Wednesday I posted the next group of AAQI quilts that I will be submitting in April. They are ready for binding and I will post more in detail when they're complete. I've been doing very little quilting this past week. We have been working on the landscaping or trying to. Even thought we have been fighting some rain drops, it is moving forward----slowly----. This a photo of the back yard wall, complete with seed and straw. Unfortunately, hours after the seed and straw was put down we had a 2 inch rain---this will be reworked when things dry out.


The front wall stones are in place. It took a couple of days to get it to this point---between rains. Today it is sunny and dry. Good day for working and the crew is busy putting in our driveway turn around.
In addition to the landscaping, my hubby hosted a sports memorabilia auction to get rid of his excess collectibles.
We've been working on this auction for months, and these are just a few photos from the event. I would say we are into spring cleaning this year. I guess that's what happens when you retire---getting things organized. Now that the auction is over and the landscaping is moving forward, we are getting back to enjoying the spring weather and some quilting.

Wordless Wednesday

Look What I Found

As many of you may know, my hubby and I love auctions and tag sales. We try to make one auction or sale at least once a week and I'm always looking for needlework. My favorites are quilts, but I appreciate all types of needlework. Recently, I found this framed embroidery. The piece is a childhood prayer, the work looks to be from the 1950's. This piece has a water stain, but I still love its look. The workmanship is excellent. I'm not sure exactly what I'm going to do with it, but I felt I just needed to give it a home.

National Quilting Day

Happy National Quilting Day!! Giving pause and remembering past quilts and quilters is a good way to celebrate the day when working on your own quilt is not on your list of things to do.
The little patchwork quilt was made by my hubby's grandmother as a gift to our son, some 33 years ago. She made every great-grand child one. The little bear was made from a forgotten cutter quilt---by an unknown quilter. I purchased the little bear at an auction in nothern Illinois some 10 years ago. They both have had a spot in our guest room on the old child's rocker for these past 10 years. They just seem to go together.

Happy March 20th.

Day 2

Today is day 2 of a 10 day/2 week process of heavy landscaping at our house. We built our home 10 years ago and did minimal work on the grounds. Well after looking at a few landscaping books and with the help of mother nature and the heavy rains we had in the area. Landscaping is now a top priority. We're putting in a french drain in the back yard with a rock wall, regrading and top soil. The heavy rains the past two springs had eroded the back yard. Were also adding a concrete drive way and some more stonework in the front yard. Yesterday was spend digging up tree stumps and preparing for a concrete driveway and delivery of huge rocks. Now the fun begins and the placement of the rocks, they have just started and I already like what I see.

So quilting is going to be on hold today, there is just to much going on and I'm always checking on the progress.

Work in Progress

I've been working on a mini quilt, I'm calling Puppy Dog Lost. I came up with the name because this quilt it taking on a life of its own and my little dog is getting lost in the patterns. I started with one idea of placing an abstract applique Scottie dog in the center of the quilt with patchwork around. Well, my Scottie, didn't look like a Scottie (so I changed him to a terrier) and once the patchwork started the center was not the place for the dog to be. Then when I put everything together the dog seemed as busy as the patchwork and to me he seemed to get lost in the quilt. So, I went with it. I'm hand quilting each patchwork unit and I'm thinking of adding some embroidery. In this mix of patchwork I found a place from some of the weaving I did a few days ago. I'll see where this little quilt goes from here and will post the finished product. Wishing everyone a Happy St. Pat's Day.

Message Mats

Another completed message mat is being boxed up, ready for the upcoming annual church dinner and fund raiser. I work on my donations through out the year (I think I even talked about a couple of these in previous posts). The mats are fun and easy to make, I love the Comfort of Psalms fabric, great for church related projects. Each one of my message mats will come with a glass mug. This mat is hand quilted and embellished with french knots that correspond with the colors in the circle fabric.

Little Bit Crazy

This little quilt with its odd shape and fabrics I call Little Bit Crazy. I have always enjoyed the fine needlework found on the vintage crazy quilts and I thought I would try to put together a crazy quilt look a like for AAQI. I hardly knew where to start and my hand work in not as perfect as the quilters of the original crazy quilts, so I just sat down at my sewing machine and started adding fabrics to a foundation and things turned out a Little Bit Crazy. I found some embellishments added the pink butterfly applique. The butterfly is accented with some fabric paint and the tatting is vintage. The quilt doesn't met the standards of the originals, but it was fun to make and I may try again with hopes of improvement.

Dream Weaver

Ever put together something just to try a new technique? I've been seeing art quilts that have had sections or even all the quilt woven with fabric and trims---I had to give it a try. This mini quilt, which I call Dream Weaver #1, is the first in a series of weaved quilts I hope to complete for AAQI. I used vintage lace and fabric with some hand quilting, ribbon, and beads. Then I thought, what about incorporating weaving within a quilt, but not make it the entire quilt. In keeping with my love of vintage quilt blocks, I selected a bright blue and white Windmill Block pattern, and cut it into various size strips. I thought the contrast of blue jean fabric would make the block pop.

When I started weaving the first thing I noticed is that you could see the block pattern returned. I loved the look.
I then cut the block strips in half and made an second weaving on the blue jean fabric.
My final experiment was to weave a small independent block.
This little block need to be basted to hold it together and I used a foundation of dark blue cotton fabric as a base for the weaving. Right now all three blocks are on the jean fabric and I have added batting and backing, but I'm not sure it is going to stay like this. I'm in the thinking process now and I just might cut the weaving apart and use them as parts of other quilts.
I would welcome any thoughts you may have about my experiment. As always, Dream Weaver #1 will be sent to AAQI with the wish that dreams for an Alzheimer's cure comes true.

Another Sue

Another Sue is headed for AAQI. This little Sue comes from the same lot I purchased at a tag sale some months ago. In previous postings I have featured 3 Sues already sent to AAQI, but this Sue has offered more challenges. Sun Bonnet Sue Key to My Heart fabric was in the most stressed state of all my Sues. The dress fabric has deteriorated. To help cover the deterioration and define the dress portion of the block, I added raw edge appliqued hearts from a variety of pink fabrics. Placement of the hearts became a problem, as so much needed to be covered and yet there were some good portions of the original fabric that I wanted to show. After several auditions I settled on what you now see. I also added some heart embellishments to the bonnet and a little key charm in her hand. Sun Bonnet Sue Key to My Heart measures 8 1/2 inches by 10 1/2 inches. I have two Sues remaining (one blue and one green). Someone could collect the whole set and be giving to a great cause.

Flannel to Flowers

Could spring be here? We are experiencing blue skies, temps in the 50's, melting snows, YEA! This little mini quilt was inspired by the thought of spring. Flannel to Flowers is a simple patchwork of 1 1/2 inch square blocks in the colors of all those warm flannel shirts of winter. Needle turned applique flowers in the corner gives promise of the warm days and bright colors of spring. Flannel to Flowers is 7 x 9 1/2 inches and will be sent to Ami Simms for the upcoming AAQI sale. Here's hoping spring will be in the air where you are, have a great weekend.

Back to Quilting

Now that Bodhi is back to his old self and feeling much better, I can free my mind to think about the AAQI quilts. I have set a personal donation goal of 35 quilts by September. Some days are idea days---on those days I sketch ideas and plan the fabric and techniques I'll use. Other days are cut fabric and machine stitching days. Then during the evenings I spend doing the hand work. I miss not doing hand work in the evenings while watching TV so I usually have a quilt going at all times. I'm ahead of my goal for the month of March. I have 5 quilts near completion.

To Teach is completed and has a little bit of everything. I have some free form needle turn applique in the flowers. I just cut out shapes and appliqued them into an abstract flower using yarn and a button. I also used the techniques from Thinking Outside the Block for the patchwork border. I really like that book and the techniques introduced for your consideration. Today I hope to have completed a couple more quilts with binding and will talk about them in a later posting. In the mean time, check out AAQI and donate a mini quilt for the cure. Happy Quilting

Bodhi Update

He's much better today. The vet called it "cross body lameness", since his right hind leg is the one hurt (with cancer) he was putting all his pressure on the opposite front. Anyway, pain pills work wonders. Bodhi looks happy.

The Story of Bodhi

Today is not a quilting day for me. My mind is occupied with concern for Bodhi. Bodhi is our 13 year old Husky mix. Bodhi has always been our high energy dog with lots of spunk. He thinks every day was an Iditarod day. Bodhi is a pretty boy. He has the signature one blue eye and one brown eye, with the great light tan marking on his nose and eyebrows. He became ours in and interesting way, we didn't pick him and he didn't pick us. As a puppy, he belonged to a friend of our son, but as he become older the boy lost interest. Bodhi has the typical Husky personality and was not easy to train, the boy became frustrated---back to the Iditarod mind set. I just couldn't see this little puppy go to just anyone, who would not understand the special training that goes into owning a Husky. So after hubby and I talked it over we decided that Bodhi would be best with us. A decision we have never regretted. Bodhi is not feeling good today and having difficulty walking. We knew this day was coming. Last March he was diagnosed with stage 2 cancer (for humans I understand that would be stage 4). He has been doing well, even better than the vet expected, but this weekend he started having difficulties. He ate his breakfast this morning, but I had to give him help to move to his dish and to make his normal trip outside. This is sad to see him becoming quiet. We'll make a trip to the vet today, to see if this new limp is cancer related or something else. I don't know what I should do, I don't think I'm ready for him to leave, but what does Bodhi want?