TWO LITTLE QUILTS

I have had a busy week and gotten a lot of sewing accomplished.  First, here is the 3rd Civil War block from Barbara Brackman.  I'm excited about doing this quilt!  I didn't like the idea of doing needle turn applique on this week's block, so I did it by machine.  Much easier!

I didn't make a UFO list, but if I had, this valentine's day project would have been on it.  Last year, I embroidered the heart blocks from Kviltstina.  She still has the project on her blog if anyone is interested.

This was a quick finish and a step towards a goal to have seasonal table toppers.

Does your toilet have a quilt?  Mine does now.  

I spent some time working on the Mansfield Park quilt that I blogged about here.  I am ready to sew on the borders and then can baste it and quilt it.  I'm going to baste it in two parts so I can fit it in my machine and then will sew the two parts together.  We'll see how it goes.

A NEW AND OLD PROJECT

New project (Oh No!)  Block 2 of the Civil War blocks from Barbara Brackman.  I love these fabrics, which I just got with my gift certificate.

I finally finished piecing my second cheddar cheese & crackers doll quilt (a reproduction of a large antique quilt) that Lori held last year (Yea!).  Now I just have to quilt it.  Since I hand quilted the first one, I think I'll hand quilt this one too because I don't know how I would machine quilt it.  BTW, there are 552 pieces in this little quilt (22 1/2" square).

Here's the first one, which I have shown before.  I LOVE this quilt.

I am cheered whenever I turn the corner in the hallway and see this view of the quilt hanging over the chair.

A few more pictures from our trip:

Cuddling with Jonah in the morning.

Abigail on the left "driving" in the park.

A beautiful day on the Gulf.

DIL, DS & Abigail just before DS left for his first day on nurses' training in his scrubs.

Thanks for the many comments on my previous post!

BACK HOME!

We arrived back home in Texas on Monday afternoon and were glad to be here.  We hated to leave.    Abigail bounces when she runs and it's so cute.  DS said that she stood at the window asking DIL, "Where is Grandma and Grandpa?"  It breaks your heart.  Jonah told any visitors who came to see Eli that he got to eat lunch in the camper with Grandpa.  We hope to go back for a short visit in March.

Jonah made his first snowman on Monday.  The snow didn't stick together very good, so they made a short one, which was great for Jonah.

I won a quilting calendar from Ann!  Her quilt is featured in October.  Check our her blog here.  Thanks so much, Ann.  

I have it hanging in my sewing room.

My sister gave me this quilting calendar for Christmas!

It's hanging in our kitchen/dining room.  Both calendars have the patterns for all the featured quilts.

This is a knick knack shelf that I have hanging in my sewing room.  I have a small collection of chickens on nests.  I found 2 at a thrift shop in Florida for a really good price.  They are the 2 bronze colored ones.  The pink one was given to me by my Grandmother sometime in the 50's. and the other ones I got at thrift shops.

Here's a close-up of the pink one and one of the bronze colored ones.  The bronze one's basket is mis-shapen.  I didn't notice that when I got it, but I don't mind.  

Yesterday, we washed clothes, opened mail, paid bills, etc.  I also did some sewing and will take pictures of what I made and will post again soon.

CIVIL WAR BLOCK & MRS POTATO HEAD

Check out the Civil War blocks here from Barbara Brackman.  She will be putting up a block every week, so I decided to join in.  Luckily I had some reproduction scraps that I showed you a few posts ago and I had enough for this first block.

Several of you asked about my paper piecing project.  Go to Katie's blog where you can see the quilt that her mother made called Everyday Best  (scroll down a ways until you get to the quilt with the nine large circles on it).  It is the sixth one down of the quilt show quilts she blogged about.  So far I have 2 circles paper pieced - but not sewn together.  There is one thing that I'm not particularly fond of doing in this quilt - paper piecing, and one thing that I have never one - curved seams.  Actually, the paper piecing on this is pretty easy.  We'll see what I say about the curved seams after I do them.

Abigail got Mrs. Potato Head for her birthday.

"Hmm.  I think I'll try on these glasses (from Mrs. Potato Head)."

"They don't seem to stay on very well."

I love hearing a little voice calling for Grandma or Grandpa.  It's definitely going to be hard when we leave on Sunday,

Reading the Teddy Bears' Picnic Book

Back on October 31 I told you about making a book with the song "The Teddy Bears' Picnic" for Jonah.  I also made one for Abigail and here is a picture of me reading (actually singing) the book to her.  

I ended up printing the book for Abigail on our printer and if the books get wrecked, I think I will have them printed at Staples, because they would come out better.  The song is very old and I think it is so sweet.  Both Jonah and Abigail seem to enjoy the book (even with my singing)  Hee Hee!

Two year olds are so adorable!  Jonah is 7  months older than Abigail and in some ways they are so alike, but other ways so different.  Abigail is a little drama queen.  Jonah is all boy.  Oh, I hate not living close enough to see them every week.  We have 5 more precious days with Abigail, then back to Texas with a short stop in Louisiana.

PAPER PIECING IN THE CAMPER

I finally got a chance to do some sewing, and I think paper piecing is a really good "camper" project.  Here is what I did.  Katie will recognize it.  I'll have to tell you the name of the quilt later.  The smallness of the paper base makes it easy to do with a bag of scraps - no big pieces of fabric needed.  

Below is my side of the table where I always sit.  I put the kleenex box within reach and it was always falling down, so at first I looked around WalMart to see if they had anything that I could use to keep it in place.  I also wanted a holder for some napkins and a note pad/pencil.  Well, when I didn't find anything at Walmart, I decided to make something.  A simple strip of fabric to hold the kleenex box in place!  Loose enough to replace the box,  but tight enough to keep it from falling down!

Next was the napkin/notepad/pencil holder.  I had just bought a few pieces of fabric at a thrift shop for 25 cents (including a cheese slicer), so I used one of those pieces.  It still wasn't enough, but I had a couple bigger pieces in my scrap bag, so I was able to sew a makeshift holder and put it up with thumb tacks.  It doesn't really match my curtains or the kleenex box holder, but it works for now!

I received a gift certificate for Christmas from a friend to Common Threads in Waxahachie, TX - one of my favorite quilt shops.  I used the gift certificate on yardage (which I don't have a picture of), but also bought the scraps below from their scrap bin.  You can stuff a plastic bag full and it is $2.00.  I figure I got at least one yard's worth of reproduction fabric here and some of the pieces are pretty large.

This is what I got at the thrift shop along with the piece I used for my napkin holder.  The Betty Boop fabric is about 1/3 yard and I got it all for 25 cents!  Woo Hoo!

Soon we'll be going to our son's apartment for a New Years' brunch.  It's supposed to rain all day, but the temperature is in the 60's.  Hope you all have a good New Years' day!

CHRISTMAS AND BIRTHDAY WITH ABIGAIL

We are now visiting DS#2, DIL & Abigail.  We arrived here Christmas Eve and will be here another week. 

Abigail, Me & DH

Abigail eating her birthday cake.

She's TWO!!!

She is a real sweetie!  We're having such a good time with her and, of course, our son & DIL.  We're camping in our camper not too far from where they live.  Yesterday, they came out to the camper and had a "picnic" lunch.  It was pretty warm, so we ate outside, went to the playground & to see the pig and geese that live at the campground.  Abigail and her cousin Jonah (he's 2 1/2) are such fun to be around.  We'll sure miss them when we go back home and are far away from them again.  Of course, two year olds do wear us out - but I guess that's what they are supposed to do.  

Happy New Year, everyone!

PICTURES OF LIGHTNING STRIKE

In my last post I told you how my oldest son's plane was struck by lightning while flying over Oregon.  He is a pilot for Federal Express and was flying through a snow storm.  He thought his engine had blown up, because there was a loud noise and a huge flash of light that blinded him for a minute.  It turned out that the wing had been hit and below are a couple of pictures.  The lightning put a couple holes through the metal wing.  You can see the size compared to his finger.  He was able to land the plane with no problem - once he realized that the engine was still running!  We are so thankful!!

We are visiting DS#2, DIL & Abigail now and I will be posting pictures soon.  Last night was Abigail's 2nd birthday party.  We were worn out by the time we got back to our camper.  We're camping near where they live.  

There is a giveaway for a new magazine over at Vignette in Stitches Blog.  It's a new magazine about quilters and quilts - what else?  Go over there to sign up for the giveaway.

OUR EARLY CHRISTMAS

We have been with DS#3 & DIL for a week now helping out with Jonah and the new baby, Eli.  Mostly, we're trying to keep Jonah occupied plus doing a lot of cooking.  Here are some pictures of this special time for  our family.

Eli and Jonah

Eli at 12 days

Daddy & Eli

Grandma & Eli

Jonah getting a haircut (with GM & GP)

Mommy, Daddy, Jonah & Eli

 Jonah having lunch in the camper with Grandpa - he wants to do it every day!

Eli today after having his weight checked - Yay!  he passed because he gained an oz. per day as instructed by the doctor.  He already looks fatter.

We took Jonah to a discovery play center while Mommy & Daddy took Eli to the Doctor.  Jonah notified everyone that the baby was at the doctor's!  He is talking a lot now.  I played a Ricky Tims "Jingle Bell" song and he loved it, so now he wants to play it several times per day!  I tried to link it, but it didn't work.  You can see it by going to You Tube & type in Ricky Tims Jingle Bells.  We'll be leaving here in a couple days and going to DS#2 to spend Christmas & Abigail's birthday with them.  I'll do another post when we get pictures from there.

Yesterday our oldest son, who is a pilot for Federal Express had a scare as he flew somewhere over the state of Oregon.  His plane was struck by lightening!  Fortunately, he is fine and was able to land the plane safely.  It was hit on one of the wings.  We'll find out more soon.  We're very thankful that he is fine.

Merry Christmas to all my blogging friends!

NEW GRANDSON!

Our new grandson, Eli, was born on December 7.  Here is a picture of him with his other GM.  It looks like he's trying to figure out what she's talking about.  Tomorrow we will go to see him and spend about a week there helping out.  Can't wait!

I made these cute angel ornaments from a pattern I got from the Dutch Sisters.  You can get the free pattern here.

I've been busy baking cookies to take with us, making lefse,  getting presents ready, etc.  We'll be with Eli's family for a week, then will go to Florida to be with DS#2 & family for Christmas & Abigail's 2nd birthday.  So we've got lots of presents ready to pack: new baby gifts, Christmas, birthdays, etc.

I think I told DH that I wasn't going to get any more doll beds to fix up, but I couldn't resist a vintage set of doll beds at a garage sale.  They can be set up as bunk beds and have wicker type sides.  I didn't take a picture of them yet.  I also got a really nice wood doll cradle.

In case I don't post again before Christmas, I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

I AM ON A ROLL!!! ANOTHER WIN!

There are so many quilting bloggers having giveaways, and I enter them if it is just a matter of leaving a comment.  So, I have gotten very lucky lately and here is a fabulous giveaway that I won from Melissa at Libbies Home.  There are several pictures.  The first one has a candle on the left and 3 votive candles on the right in a wood box that says "Simplify."  These are battery lit candles and I love them!  They even flicker!  That's not all.

Next is this cute little pillow.....

Then, this stocking with the pattern and fabric to make several more.....

Then, these three snowmen on a string.  They really smell good.

And, last but not least, the plaid towel, which I placed in front of my fireplace with the pillow leaning on my rocking horse and the snowmen on a string hanging on the fire screen.   Can you believe all the cute gifts I received?  Thanks so much, Melissa!

Another blogger  (Thread Head) is having a "quilt along"  and I really like the pattern, so I decided to join in.  However, I'm not really quilting along very well.  There is too much going on right now, but I plan to pick up on it later.  I decided to make a couple test blocks to see how I like it.  The second block is this churn dash - and that is what actually convinced me to join in, because I had been wanting to make a churn dash quilt.  I love this block!  The 2 main fabrics were some I bought in Illinois when we were there and I love them.  

This block is called "Alabama Variation" and it will be the alternating block.  If you go to look at the web site you can see all the other blocks she has posted so far.  I am thinking about using some and not others, or even just using the churn dash blocks alternating with the Alabama variation block.  I will be thinking about this and won't be working on this until sometime next year.

In about a week and a half, we'll be leaving on our trip to visit 2 of our sons and their families.  We are looking forward to the birth of a new grandson and just being with our family.  I hope all of you will be able to spend some time with family over the Christmas holidays.