No, I'm not a quilter.....

RIGHT!

I thought I'd take you on a tour of my living room just to prove the fact that I am a quilter....

This is my chair.....On the back is my bestest cowboy quilt. I adore this quilt. I call it my healing quilt. Last summer I had a rough time. I quilted in many words, names and phrases that wrapped everything up in a nutshell. Whenever I lay under it I feel all warm and fuzzy.

Dh's chair with his golf quilt on the back. He doesn't use it as a cover as much as a headrest! (doesn't this chair look like an elephant!)
Couch #1. This quilt is covering a very large hole in the back of the couch. (this couch is older than most of you reading!) I made this for a friend while she was receiving treatments for cancer. She has since died and I asked the family if I could keep this quilt as she loved it. I cherish this one. The table next to the above couch. This little quilt was an auction item at our school fundraiser. I was the only bidder and at the end of the evening went to pay for it. I was told that I did not win the item. HUH! I had been the only bid all night long......I was sooo, sooo mad. Well, about 5 mins. later one of my school parents handed it to me and said that they outbid me so that they could give it to me as a gift. Nice, nice people!And what quilter's livingroom would be complete without their daylight lamp for handwork?
This is the table of fame complete with reversible tablerunner.... I back all of my table runners and most of my wallhangings with Hanukkah fabric. When the holiday rolls around, flip, flip, flip....instant decoration.
The wall hanging behind the table of fame.
This is a toothbrush rug my girlfriend made for me. No it's not supposed to be that color. Yes, it's dirty. Guess it needs to hit the laundry....... The fireplace (tell me.....who NEEDS a fireplace in S. Texas???? I ask you! Was the designer of these homes playing a cruel joke? What a waste of space!!!!) On the left is a semi-antique sewing box and the right my coil platter.

This is my poor unadorned other couch. Poor thing....it's naked!


Plus we have the table and lamp.

Looking at these photos it seems so disjointed but as a whole it all comes together and works.

I keep saying that DH is such a good sport when it comes to my habit. Our livingroom really proves that point.

Finally a finish!

This is a version of the Jolly Jingle table runner that I'm not ashamed to post. That other one was just hideous! Mrs. S feels certain that she got the better end of the deal by waiting for this one! I actually saw the ugly one on Ms. A's table and it didn't look TOO bad! This one is much prettier though!

Retreat accomplishments

This is the UGLY table runner I finished at retreat. I didn't get a picture of it with the binding. I was so THRILLED to get it out of my house that I practically threw it at my daughter. I told the retreat ladies, "the first one to enter my house and claim to like this thing gets to take it home." My girls couldn't say "I want it," fast enough. They are obviously seriously lacking in decorations to need this thing. Ms. A got it. Mrs. S is getting another, custom made for her, so I suppose that means that Ms. A is truly the desperate one! LOL!!! This is a project posted by the Happy Zombie. The Happy Zombie has a gallery for these table runners....I think I'll pass! It is also the table runner that an online group I belong to has chosen as its January project.
This, on the other hand, came out sooooo cute. I love it, it took about an hour to fuse, quilt and bind. It comes from the book Special Occasion Wall Hangings and I love nearly every pattern in it!

I also finished one and one half tops. Pictures after I quilt them.

Quilty at Last

I finally have quilty pictures. I finished 1of 2 quilts baby/toddler quilts. It is a good thing I am adaptable. First I lost one of the fussy cut panels....how?? I have no idea. Maybe at Joanns while buying matching fabric but I only had 7 panels....odd number. Luckily I bought some of the green and filled in but it took a while to figure out how to do the placement. Then I had just enough pink for the blocks and not enough for the binding. Oh well. I think it looks nice for something I did quickly. Now I just need to finish her sister's quilt.

I also finished a UFO!! Yeeee HA! It is a silly reversible smock for work. All I needed to do was make the bias and attach. It;s been sitting there for 2 years!

I love this smock pattern. I changed it to make it reversible. It is a Daisy Kingdom pattern. I've made a number of them. I like it because it is long. Trust me with little ones you don't get dirty on your upper body. They only reach my knees and that is the part of my clothing that gets the messiest! The only problem is I made the x-large. By the end of the summer it will be falling off my shoulders.....After waiting to use it for two years, I'll pin the thing to me!

Mother's Day

I really don't like Mother's Day. It was always the one holiday that was so filled with stress and anxiety. I mean I was a mom but always spent the day shuttling between DH's mom and mine. Where was my mother's day {whine, whine}. Plus the added stress of staying 5 minutes too long at one parent's house vs. the others. Both of our parents are/were normal reasonable adults until it came to holidays. They then reverted to the pack animal/survival of the fittest mentality. For the past 11 yrs. we've been away from our parents. That means Mothers Day is all mine. I still feel like Mother's Day is a bunch of hype. I mean if you love me, you'll show me all the time, not just one day out of the year. But recognition is a nice thing so I concede to the masses. I don't want diamonds from my husband, he is not my child. I don't want diamonds from my children, that's just absurd. A nice card, a quiet afternoon, all suit me just fine. Well, this year was the best Mothers Day ever. My girls sent me flowers! To some that may seem passe' but I am thrilled. No help from Dad. No prompting. Just flowers for mom with a wonderful card that brought tears to my eyes. Mrs. S then rented a movie and spent the afternoon at our house. We saw Ms. A last week as she graduated, as she put it, "from the first leg of her educational journey." It was a thrill for all of us.

On a quilty note, I have nearly finished my obsession with root vegetables! I have the carrot, parsnip, turnip and radish table runners nearly complete. What am I going to do with them you ask? Why decorate my classroom next year during Sukkot , (this link was the easiest explaination to understand). Plus, I finished two more sets of fruit slice placemats. I think this obssession has finally run it's course. I'll post pictures as soon as they are all done.

Birthday Wishes

I finally finished my brothers birthday banner. Despite MORE machine quilting issues...losing tension and all the gargbage that was wrong with the other machine....it's finally finished. I had to get it done today so that I can show it tonight at our guild meeting and mail it tomorrow. I made this banner from shirting...that is from shirts! My brother works in an office and wears button down shirts every day. But on the weekend he rides his motorcycle! I even included a pocket from one of the shirts. We'll call it creativity but in actuality, I needed to get just one more large piece of fabric and this is how I was able to do it. As long as there was a pocket I put pens and pencils in it! All and all I think it turned out nice. It seems hard to believe that my little brother is joining the ranks of the rest of us over 40 crowd! My dad keeps saying "Jeez, I have old kids!" I'm turning over my computer to Best Buy tomorrow and my sewing machine back to the repairman on Thursday. I'm not sure how bad my withdrawal symptoms will be but I expect severe! Hopefully DD computer won't be toooooo slow and I can use it while I visit with her.

Close up of the pocket detail.

Close up on quilting

Brighter shot of the top of the banner

Tea towels

I have stuff. Lots of stuff. Fabric and floss, batting and wool felt.... I have patterns and books galore. In an effort to bust stash, all of these things are equal. So, my goal for this year is to create seasonal wallhangings, placemats, table runners, tea towels and all the other home dec goodies including quilts, that prompted me to buy this abundance of books and patterns in the first place. I have 12 tea towels to "cover." Because I nearly always make home dec items in 3's (one for me, one for Mrs. S and one for Ms. A) I will only show one of each. The flag and flower pot are one of a kinds. I'm the only one getting these. I am in no hurry to finish these towels. They are all fused and ready to be blanket stitched. A friend of mine hosted a one day retreat last week and has decided to have them on a regular basis. So the towels will be my project when I sew at her house. I learned a valuable lesson from another friend about sewing something difficult, measuring or cutting, especially late at night on a retreat. That lesson....DON"T! She mistakenly cut her blocks down to the wrong size and ended up with a twin sized quilt instead of queen! Since I've decided to only work on these towels when sewing out of the house, I feel no stress to finish them.

I don't really like angels, but this was too cute to leave in the book. Most of my projects come from the Art to Heart books (I'd include a link but Ihad a link, and a completed post, but blogger or my server lost it when I tried to add a picture. I've been having trouble all day so I won't risk it!)I just love these silly books. I didn't realize this, but on the website, you can buy all the cute buttons she uses.

This is by far my favorite towel.

It was a beehive with a cherry vine and cherries. I modified the pattern so that I could make an apple

tree. Apples and Honey are symbols for the holiday of Rosh Hashana. There are very few Jewish holiday patterns. Some of the patterns out there are to literal while the few others just don't appeal to me I didn't want a honey pot and an apple sitting next to it. Too obvious. This fits my house and my style.

On a proud note.... in order to finish a birthday banner for my brother, I needed to get Heat N'Bond. I went to Joanns, looked at the 40% off quilting books, the remnent fabrics, the magazines....I walked out with Heat n' Bond only! Yaaayyyy Meeee!

Rants and Snowmen

I just don't get this whole thing with the Ricky Timms/Alex Anderson website. I pay for cable, I pay for internet, why would I pay again for the supreme privilege of watching 13 shows on my computer? For one, it felt positively subliminal with Bernina flashing in the background over and over. I just don't get it and must be the only one that doesn't as I am watching women left and right running to become charter members. Look, I'm not trying to insult anyone or be obnoxious but really, I don't get it. At least with a magazine subscription, I can save an article I like or refer to a pattern. I pay for cable but get 80 some choices 24/7. Am I missing something here? Can you only imagine if everyone charged for us to view their site on the internet....OMG! I am so turned off by this program ....I'm sure my tone in this paragraph reflects it too! I've been wanting to rant and rave about this quilt show for a few days.... I feel better now.


On other notes.....I finally figured out the right size for my snowman pincushion. I saw this on someone else's blog but can't remember who's. If you read this, thank you for the great idea! Since I am so certain that my Secret Sister won't see it, I figured I'd post the photo. I made it as a 1st draft and then decided that I didn't feel like making another. Unfortunately, I used dark thread but just modified things. I turned it into a pincushion to store needles. I marked a few of them but figured she can label them how she wants. Now I'm nearly ready for retreat.....................