Not Enough Days In This Month

Not enough sewing going on the last couple of days. Yesterday was a post surgery follow -up with the eye doctor for Tom, followed by some grocery shopping . Later in the afternoon I had to bake some rolls for a funeral luncheon at our church this morning.

I had hoped to have one more finish for February, but simply ran out of days. In between other things I pieced the center of the One block Wonder quilt yesterday and added the borders today. I think I have fabric that will work for backing so hoping to get it quilted in the next day or two.

I didn't have enough fabric left to miter the outer border so have to do something creative to deal with the outer stripe. I think I know what I'm going to do.

I'm beginning to wonder..if I make enough of these quilts that I claim are "definitely not a Mary quilt" ...or "outside the box for me"...does that mean my style has changed and what I think of as a "Mary quilt" isn't anymore?????????

One more Dutch Treat block done Thursday evening. It's called "Sprites".

We went from 73º on Thursday to snow last night and today. My sinuses are screaming "foul"! The good news is we are supposed to be back to the 70's by next Thursday.

Concentration Required

One of the immediate benefits Tom is experiencing from his cataract surgeries is a new appreciation of color. What better way to celebrate than by looking at the awesome sand paintings being made by the Buddhist monks. Such patience and concentration!

And a shrine to the Dalai Lama

And a present for me!

Two Good Eyes

Tom's second cataract surgery went well this morning. He's over to the University to see the visiting lamas and their sand paintings and I'm waiting for my oxygen delivery so I'll post the blocks I made in the last day or so.

4 Dutch Treat blocks

Partridge

Gems
Lizard

Geometry in Motion

And Dear Jane

M-1 Dogwood Days

Dear Jane & Dutch Treat

A quartet of blocks to share. (Edited to add one I forgot earlier)

Dear Jane K-10 "Quandry"..rotary cut and machine pieced

Dutch Treat "Maltese Cross"

Dutch Treat "Shapes"

Dutch Treat "Lizard"

Superior Give Away!

The folks over at Superior Threads are hosting another giveaway in honor of Bob's birthday. Anyone lucky enough to win will be getting some of their fantastic thread products. Hurry..sign ups end March 2.

Working on the Dahlia

Tom had his last eye appointment on his (corrected) left eye this morning. He'll have the cataract removed on his right eye Thursday. When his appointment was over we stopped by our church for a bit and I joined the ladies who are working on my Amish Dahlia quilt. I'm definitely a machine quilter..not a hand quilter.. and especially not a hand quilter using a frame. I do okay if I can have the fabric free and manipulate it with the thumb of my left hand. I don't do as well when my left hand has to remain under the quilt.

The ladies were kind and tried to reassure me that my stitches are just fine. But I think they could be a whole lot better!

Tom took lots of pictures...

These are the hands of a 95 year old quilter. Irene is having fun giving me a hard time about what she says is way more quilting design than necessary. But then she agrees the quilt is going to be awesome when it's done.

I just know it's a good thing it's not up to me alone to get this quilted...or it might never happen.

Sunshine Sunday

Finally have a few quilty things to show. Thursday I received my first siggie block from Anneliese. Aren't the "Hear No, See No, Speak No Evil" monkies just the cutest? I'm really going to enjoy participating in this swap. I do wish there were more countries represented. So I will encourage anyone reading to visit Anneliese's blog and sign up. And if you don't want to do that but would like to just swap a siggie block with me, please email me and I will happily exchange mailing addresses with you. I'd love to see how many different countries and states I can collect signature blocks from. These are 5" (5 1/2" unfinished) square in a square blocks.



Here's the siggie I'm swapping.

I finished two more Dutch Treat blocks Thursday evening. This one is called Coat of Arms.

And this is called Pea Pod

Friday I decided to quilt the top I pieced last month from the wild and funky fabric squares my daughter-in-law found at an auction. Between Friday and yesterday I managed to get it quilted and bond. It's sofa sized and I did a free hand flower and squiggle that seemed to go with the fabrics. It's definitely wild looking and way outside my normal box. Suppose it's either one of those love it or hate it type things. I'm calling it "Flower Power".

Close up you can see a little of the texture. I used bamboo batting for the second time and I really am liking it.

I pieced the back with a contrasting fabric strip down the center.

The quilting shows up a bit in the center strip.

All that and the sun is shining too! Hope your day is going well.

Baking & Sewing

This week is going by quickly with not a whole lot of the latter taking place. Yesterday was chicken & noodle dinner day at our church, which of course means 4 pies for me to bake.

Two custard and two French coconut

Tuesday I finally made a Dear Jane block after nearly a month recess. This is H-2 Jacob Anthony

And Tuesday night I finished this Dutch Treat block called Trellis. It's definitely pretty wonky.

Today I finished the last of the 60 siggie blocks for Cootiebug's swap

Now I need to give some serious consideration to FINISHING something this month. I think joining the One Project A Month challenge has jinxed me. Normally I finish a lot on a regular basis. So far this year I've only finished three things.Yikes..I need to get busy!

Remembering Jean-Richard

I tossed and turned much of the night trying to decide how I would write today's post. It is difficult. As my regular readers know I've developed the habit of sharing pictures of my family on their birthday and today is the birthday of my step-son, Jean-Richard. He would be 39 years old. But we lost Jean nearly 14 years ago when he was 25. He suffered a massive seizure in his sleep and was gone before anyone could help. We miss him always.

Special Olympics was an important part of Jean's life and in 1991 he participated in the International Special Olympics in Minneapolis as part of the Colorado swim team. It was an event I will never forget..inspiring and humbling all at once. Jean came home with three medals and could rightly lay claim to being a world class athlete.

Jean-Richard & Tom

Our hero

Jean was and continues to be, the inspiration behind my husband's work with those with developmental disabilities. We were blessed to see him blossom in his last years as he held a job he loved, moved to his own apartment and found love with a young woman who made him very happy. He was a gentle, loving, generous man who taught us all much about life and how it should be lived.

We miss you Jean and will see you again one day.

LBQG 2009 Donation Quilt

One of the most exciting parts of last night's guild meeting was seeing our 2009 donation quilt nearly complete. The binding still needs to be added, otherwise it's done. Actually Debbie is going to add a faced edging to the quilt rather than regular binding, so the curved ice cream cone border will be nice and smooth.

This top was donated to the guild by someone who picked it up at an estate sale I believe. The Dresden Plate blocks had been appliqued onto a stark white background and then quilted using a sheet as a backing. All of this did nothing to enhance the wonderful Dresden Plates and the fantastic vintage fabric. Debbie had the idea of taken it all apart and so that is what happened, with guild members hand appliqueing them onto a nice ecru fabric using hand buttonhole stitch. Debbie added the pieced ice cream cone border and it was hand quilted by guild members.

The resulting quilt is beautiful! I don't have the dimensions at the moment, but it is very large. We'll be taking donations throughout the coming months and the quilt will be given away during our quilt show Labor Day weekend. If anyone is interested in tickets for a chance to own this wonderful quilt, email me at the address in my profile and I can help you out! I'll probably be mentioning from time to time throughout the summer!