filler

I have been working on some things. Several WIPs. But I don't have anything finished or any pics. So you get Ethan info. He just finished up a great cross country season. Here are a few pics that Matt took at the last home meet.









When I clocked him he ran 1.8 miles in 12:02 minutes. He didn't believe me.
And just one more picture of when we picked Matt up at the airport.

Enjoy, I am back to sewing or cutting or designing presents or something.

More small projects

Here are a couple of small projects that I've done in the past little while.

This is a tote bag that I made for my primary stuff. I changed the pattern a little bit and it turn out huge. But I love the fabrics. It is a simple patchwork block and then quilted diagonally with a straight stitch.

So far this wallhanging is my favorite thing I've pieced and quilted. Do you see the green square with the red applique in the middle? I found that at the thrift shop on base for $4. I knew I could use it and snatched it up. It just grew from there. Most of the fabric were small pieces and scraps that I had and my friend had a few matching fabric scraps that helped pull it together. It is 20 1/2 inches square. I have it hanging on the wall going up the stairs.

Have a happy day.

pink and more pink, then more blue

OK, I think I am almost caught up with the quilts that are completely finished. I have many tops that are waiting to be quilted. I am going to learn how to use Chris's (my neighbor that has the quilt shop in her basement) long arm machine. It's just a matter of me getting ready and our schedules meshing.

Here is the quilt I made for Malaya. It was so exciting to finally have a girl to make something for. I don't particularly like the color pink, but I wanted to use it for her. As I was making the quilt, it kept getting pinker and pinker. Plus instead of just binding it I put a ruffle on it. I wish I had taken a picture of the back. Of this one and all of them. One of the first things my quilting friends told me was that I needed to put a label on the back of the quilt with my name and the date.

This is the quilt that I made for Tinian. This one changed as I was making it also. It is made out of flannel and is really cuddly. I wanted to use the green with orange circles and decide to applique them on the dark blue, but leaving the edges raw. I straight stitched the middle and quilted the circles around the borders to coordinate with the appliqued circles. Do you see the label on the back of this one?

Grandson visit and spoiler alert

Joseph, my grandson, came to visit in Sept. (Justine came too.) Here are a few pictures. He looks just like Justine.

 The one below is Ethan and the note that Joseph left for him on the chalkboard. Ethan loves being an uncle.

 Here he is in what Justine calls his old man PJ's.

He is a fun and a very happy and content baby. He was so on the verge of walking. I love being a grandma.

Now for the spoiler alert. Stop here if you don't want to see part of a hint of future Christmas presents for the older grandkids.

A few more

Well, I've had a few questions about the nicknames and Ethan doesn't like his so I will use real names from now on. By the way, HH is hunky husband, of course.

 This is a lap quilt I made this spring. I think I finished in May.The pattern is called New Wave. I got the pattern on one of the quilting blogs that I read. I love the fabrics and I quilted it using a straight stitch with a walking foot. I gave it to my mom for her birthday.

This is a wall hanging I made in July. I found the pattern for the star online and then I design the surrounding blocks. It is about 13 x 22. And right now I have it on the back of our living room couch. It quilted it using a walking foot with wavy line going horizontal across.

Now some of you might be asking yourselves, what is a walking foot. It is an foot attachment on the sewing machine that pulls the fabric on the bottom and the top in the same uniform speed so that one doesn't bunch up. Amazing right. My friend Vivian is letting me borrow hers. I am enjoying using it but sooner or later I will need to buy one.

Stay tuned, next will be Malaya's quilt. I need help from Matt to fix the picture!!!!!!

Sew, this is meant to be a blog about my learning to quilt so I'd better get on with it. This is a picture of me with my first pieced baby quilt I made and machine quilted using a straight stitch. I made it for my grandson Jacob in January. Quilting has always been in my mind as something I wanted to learn since I was a teenager learning to sew. But I always thought it would be later, when I got older and less busy. Well I'm older and we can argue about the less busy part. When we moved here last year it was to the perfect place because my neighbor happens to have a quilt shop in her basement and the rest is history. I am hooked or should I say pinned. I started going over while everyone else were quilting and I would work on the quiet books that I was making for my grandkids last Christmas. Then my neighbor had a class to learn to make a top for a Christmas quilt. This is the top we made.

I finally finished piecing it in Feb. and then in May I free motion quilted it. That was hard and I am not very good at it. At some point I will try it again. That's all for now. More to come.

The big E's CC meet

The big E had a CC meet at home yesterday. Bottomless and I got there just as the girls started their race. I was frantically calling HH to see if he was going to make it but couldn't get a hold of him. So the big E's race started and he was doing great. After we saw him go by us we moved over to the finish line so we could see him finish up the race. Bottomless yelled there he is about 50 yards out and then as I see him I hear HH voice behind me cheering him on, so he made it to see the big E finish a great race. The first 7th grader(from his school) to cross the finish line. Wish I had a picture.