Surprising Request

Last Saturday I received a call from the quilt guild president. She said she missed me at the last meeting - I wasn't able to make it because we were looking at houses with my niece who wants to buy her first home. She also asked if I would be interested in being the next guild president as she thought I would do a good job. I was a little flabbergasted, to say the least, as I am a pretty new member and haven't really been that involved. I briefly considered but declined explaining that I didn't think it was fair to take on a commitment like that when I so often miss the meetings because of church or family obligations which will always come first. It was very flattering to be asked and if I thought I could be at every meeting I would consider it. I think it would be fun and rewarding. 

In case you didn't hear, we have had a nasty patch of weather here in the Pacific Northwest. At our house we got about 6 inches of snow but luckily our power only flickered a couple of times. Others have not been so lucky with snow totals ranging from 4" to close to 2 feet! The snow in many areas was followed by rain which froze when it landed causing an ice layer. This caused trees to fall which knocked out power all over the area. The temperatures have risen and the rains have come (along with some wind which has resulted in more power issues) and the snow is slowly melting which will bring the new issue of flooding! Just can't win for losing as my dad would say.


I chose to just stay in the house all week which resulted in the completion of those two owl hats but also meant they did not get in the mail or delivered! That should happen this week. I also got orders for 5 more hats so I have started working on those.


Taking advantage of the time indoors, I finally got to work on getting all the business information into the computer so we can get our taxes taken care of. As of last night I have finished through July - not bad for one week of work! Why do I always leave it to January to get busy with this?


Yesterday I went into the sewing room and got the third frog quilt quilted and got bindings on #2 and #3. I am feeling like I might actually finish these!


I am heading out tomorrow to visit family across the state so I will bring the quilts and hats and their respective supplies with me to work on while visiting.

Sales, Orders and Progress

Well, those 6 kids hats turned into a total of 8 hats for one person! And I got another order for a hat so I need to get two hats finished so I can work on other things. One will be dark brown and the other will be black with lime green eyes. 


Meanwhile, I got the binding onto the first frog quilt and did the machine quilting on the second one. When I get the two frog hats done I will get to work on the hand-sewing of the bindings and the yo-yo eyes. 


I also need to add in getting the business books ready for our accountant so we can get the taxes done. As you can see I have a lot on my plate right now so I guess I should get off the computer and get busy!

Keeping My Hands Busy!

As you can see here, 

I have been busy crocheting! These are the latest owl hats that I finished up in the last couple of days. I have orders for 6 kids hats for one person and an adult hat for another person. I also need to get several done for sale at the quilt show in March. Luckily, they are very simple and can easily be worked on while watching TV or riding in a car. In fact, on Sunday I worked on a couple while riding in a bus down to Portland, OR to watch the Trailblazers play the Cleveland Cavaliers. I am not much of a sports fan but the grandson of some friends of mine is a Cleveland Cavalier so we had a busload of folks that went down to watch him play. There were about 70 us amidst all the Blazer fans rooting for the Cavaliers. A little intimidating to say the least. It was fun to watch him play and even more fun to watch the proud grandparents!


Last week I got 4 of the frog quilts basted and yesterday I did the main quilting on one of them. So far I have stitched in the ditch around each frog. Not sure if I will do more by machine or if I will just add some 'fly' ties along with the eyes. Today I hope to get the binding on the first one so I can take it to quilt guild tonight to do the hand-sewing. I might even get the second one quilted.


We had our kick-off meeting for Relay for Life on Monday which means it is time to get going with the fund-raising. One of our team's main fund-raisers is the quilt show which will be March 10. That means I have got to get busy with the drawing quilt! Because the theme this year is "The Magic of Relay" I plan to do a Harry Potter themed quilt. We will see how that goes! By the way, if you are interested in helping me with my fund-raising you can go here or buy an owl hat from me - I am selling them for $10 and all of the money goes to Relay for Life to fight cancer!

Happy New Year!

This was the view out our living room windows on New Year's Day! Love seeing Mt Rainier anytime but greeting me on New Year's Day, that is amazing!

I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday season and that you have all recovered from said holidays! Today is our first day back in the usual routine and I really didn't want to hear that alarm!


I looked back at my projects for 2011 and discovered that I finished:

26 lap size or larger quilts

7 baby quilt or smaller quilts

10 blocks for the quilt block exchange

20+ stemware coasters

Many owl hats

Many mittens

1 liturgical stole

1 tote

1 shower curtain

10 Christmas minis

7 flimsies

I also quilted three quilts for other quilters.

Not a bad year though I think I should have done better. There were just too many other things going on!

I wanted to share my birthday present from my sister. Instead of sending it she gave it to me when we saw each other after Christmas. Not sure what you would call it, maybe a mini design wall? It is flannel on the inside so you can lay out the pieces for a block 

and then you can roll it up for later or to transfer it to your sewing machine. It is pretty cool!

 This is the big item we brought back from our daughter's house:

She found it at the surplus sale at the university for us (we paid, but we couldn't be there the day of the sale). It is an old card catalog cabinet. It is in pretty good shape considering its age and the amount of use it got over the years! I spent a good bit of time trying to get all the floor wax off the stand (most of it is gone) and polishing up the rest. My plan is to use it to store most of the stuff that has been piled in and on my roll-top desk which I never use as a desk (even if it is cleaned off). Once it is cleaned off and my niece has a place for the desk, we will give it to her. It is one of the first roll-top desks made by her father around 30 years ago.

The new year started out with a splash for me. In a weak moment, I said I would do the Polar Bear Jump with some folks from church. This involves jumping from a bridge into the chilly waters of Puget Sound. So when noon rolled around, I was standing with hundreds of others waiting my turn to jump! And jump I did! That cold water is quite a shock to the system - I was instantly exhausted and not sure about the short swim to shore. I made it and got my certificate to prove I made the plunge. The funny thing is I am actually thinking about doing it again next year!


Yesterday, I spent a little time in the sewing room. First I tidied up the sewing table putting all scraps away from the Christmas minis and then I got borders on two of the froggie quilts. I hope to get borders on at least two more today so I can get started on the quilting and binding. Then I will have all the yo-yo eyes to make and attach. Once those are finished I can get the baby girl quilt made and move on to my Relay for Life drawing quilt.

Christmas update

I didn't follow through with my plan to get busy on my post-Christmas post right away. Part of the problem was that I didn't have pictures of one of the projects and had to wait until after the package was opened. I know, lame excuse, but it is what it is!


When the box that went to my sister's house was opened this little quilt was near the top...

I made a block like the inner block for one of the Quilt Block Exchanges and thought about how cool a Blue Willow quilt could be. Since my sister collects things that are blue and white I thought it would be a perfect Christmas gift. Not sure exactly how she is going to hang it but that isn't my problem! :-)

Further down in the box were these 4 quilts. 

You have seen them all as flimsies but not the finished quilts. These are my sister's 4 kids who received the finished products. I used hi-loft batting and did minimal machine quilting and tying to hold them together but keep them fluffy. 


My niece, Brita (third from left), did some pressing on her quilt while I was working on it at the quilt retreat and her sister, Katie (next to her), has helped me put together many quilts from this pattern. She got the one that was put together, shall we say, unconventionally, as that tends to happen at least once in every quilt we put together!


The little minis that I showed in the last post all went to good homes. I am sure I will make more of those!

We had a quiet Christmas at home with our son and his little maltese, Mandu. Here she is on my lap at the sewing machine. It seemed that whenever she found me sewing she had to come on my lap. I was working on those little minis so I didn't sit for long at a time!

Mandu is a little over a year old and a bundle of energy! Mostly Lucy just ignored her unless she accidently bounced on her or something!

On the morning of the 26th we all headed across the state to our oldest daughter's house. Enjoyed opening presents with the grandkids and then I drove about an hour and picked up my second daughter's husband from the trucking terminal so he could spend the night with us. We arrived home in time for dinner with my sister, brother-in-law, and two of their kids included. Daughter #2 arrived a while after dinner. Let's just say that house was very full with 11 adults, 2 excited children, 1 large dog, two small dogs and a cat!

We spent the next few days playing with the grandkids, painting the downstairs bathroom (it has been in the remodel process for quite some time), eating and visiting. Thursday we did some shopping and ended up at daughter #2's home for the night. Yesterday morning, after breakfast at a truck stop with our daughter (she had just dropped her hubby off at his truck for a run to Chicago), we headed back home. 

We got the car unloaded and bags unpacked and that is about it for last night! Today is the day for laundry and getting the house a little more organized again!

I hope everyone has enjoyed the holiday season and I wish you all a Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas!

I think the 5 weeks or so that it has been since my last post is the longest I have gone without posting. Life has been crazy with only a little sewing and most of it not 'post-worthy'.


The church is all put back together after the water damage in September and the rental is ready for new tenants so those jobs are off my plate.


All Christmas sewing is finished and will be revealed after Christmas. Christmas shopping is done and everything is wrapped. I haven't done much baking/cooking for the holiday. Mainly because of food allergies/sensitivities. Hard to make most holiday treats without cane sugar or dairy! I will make a couple things today though - peanut butter fudge and creamsicle fudge. Yesterday was lefse day - we got around the dairy thing by using soy milk and vegan 'butter' for some of them.


I have been working on owl hats recently but didn't get pictures taken. These are some I had on hand.

I got several requests for hats in the last month or so. If anyone is interested in one or more, let me know. I am charging $10 and all of the money goes to the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life.

These little cuties have been a last minute project. 

I saw the paper pieced patterns on Bonnie Hunter's Quiltville blog on Monday and decided to make some for my crafty friends at Tuesday Night Craft Night so on Tuesday I got 4 ornaments made (finished the last one minutes before I headed over). They turned out so nicely I made these yesterday after the lefse cooking party. They are 4" paper pieced blocks that I backed with a piece of flannel and bound, adding the ribbon while sewing the binding on. I am thinking it would be fun to make a bunch of these using  green for the background and then put them together for a Christmas Tree quilt. Maybe next year - yeah, right!

I finally got all the frogs made for the baby quilts so I have 5 quilts waiting for borders and four need quilting. That will be right after Christmas and then on to the girl baby quilt. All 5 of the babies I am making quilts for have been born and there are 4 boys and 1 girl. I have had the honor of holding two of them so far. Hope I get a chance someday to hold the other three!

As soon as those baby quilts are done I will get started on the drawing quilt for Relay for Life. The theme is "The Magic of Relay" so I am thinking a Harry Potter themed quilt. There are some great paper-piecing patterns out there.

I am going to get started on my post about the Christmas projects right away so I can post it as soon as the gifts are opened. 

Hope everyone has an Amazing Christmas or Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or whatever holiday you celebrate! 

It's a Shower Curtain!

Yesterday morning I put the grommets in the shower curtain, hung it on the wall for a quick picture,

 and then hung it in the bathroom in its rightful place.

Unfortunately, the bathroom isn't big enough to get a very good picture but I think it is great!


Today I am doing painting at the church's rental and if I have energy left this afternoon I will work on some frogs!