Fun Mail

I love getting mail these days! Today three siggy blocks arrived, each one precious.

Puck from The Netherlands

Josette from France
Rose Marie from Canada

Rose Marie shared a wonderful story about collecting maple syrup as a child with her father and brothers.

Puck asked me to make a Christmas siggy for her collection so in place of my normal sunflower Sue I made this one. Hope she likes it.

Final March Finish

I finished quilting the Fractured Star Mystery Quilt yesterday and started the final hand stitching of the binding last night and completed it a short time ago. Seems like Tom is always on the road with a consult when I finish a quilt, so nobody here to hold this up for a good straight on shot. It's in the washer now so maybe I'll get a better picture this weekend that will show the quilting texture more and a better full picture.

Too bad I was too impatient to make more blocks and have this a queen size. It finished 60 X 73". I added a red flange next to the off white binding. This is only the second time I've used a flange and boy it's hard to keep something so narrow even. This won't win any awards but I like it a lot.

Three finishes for March..two of them also started in March. I need to get some of those old tops quilted now, don't I?

Saturday's Siggie & Snow

Another siggie arrived in Saturday's mail. This one is from Renee in The Netherlands. Isn't her little mouse cute?


It snowed pretty steadily yesterday afternoon. The temps hovered just above the freezing point so a lot of it melted pretty quickly. I know it's still March, but the warm weather a week or two ago was so much better. The good news is we are supposed to get to about 50º today and into the 60's tomorrow.

Top Finished

My mystery top is finished. I added a 5" white tone on tone border around and now it's a generous sofa size...60 X 73". Maybe I can get it quilted this weekend or next week at least. Still debating on either a flange or colored binding. Isn't this a neat pattern? It's still available free at Iowa Star Quilts

My eye is doing so well today...no pain, barely a bit of scratchiness. At my check up it tested 20/20. Guess I'll have to change my avatar one of these days..to one without glasses.

Snow is supposed to be headed our way. I'm praying it takes a detour. At the moment it's raining and 38º so it could start getting nasty out there soon.

Who Knew White Was Such a Pretty Color?

Wow...as the day progresses I can't believe how crisp and clear all the white things around me have become! My eye is still dilated a bit and so a little blurry still, but wow.......what a difference! If I look out of each eye alternately, while covering the other, it's the equivalent of looking at dark photo in an editing program and then applying auto fix to it. With my left eye everything is now bright and crisp..with the right everything seems to have a yellow cast.

It's a little soon to know for sure, but it's likely I won't be needing glasses at all, unless it is for reading. But maybe not even for that. The surgery was totally painless and took about 20 minutes, including prep time. What a miracle! Next eye is scheduled for April 28.

After a short nap this afternoon I finished piecing the mystery quilt. Here are all the blocks layed out on the floor. Will get them sewn together tomorrow and decide for sure if I want to add a border. I'm thinking maybe a plain white texture.

Solving a Mystery

Cynthia at Iowa Star Quilts posted the last step in her three part mystery on Monday. I made one block and then decided I'd best finish the step 1 blocks first. There were 20 blocks and I'd previously only made one! So that's what I've been working on the last two days. Here's the sofa sized top layed out ready for the rest of the pieced setting triangles (step 3). You can see the one I finished at the bottom left. Aren't those clever? I haven't decided if I'm going to leave it this size, or enlarge it by either making more blocks or adding borders. Maybe even a plain white border of say 6" or so?

These aren't hard blocks at all, but they do have a lot of pieces, so the cutting took some time. I do love scrappy! And Cynthia designs great quilts.


And last night's Dutch Treat block..."Southwest"

I'm off to Ft. Scott early in the morning to have my first cataract surgery. Hope I don't come home and discover I've been making really ugly quilts once I'm able to see more clearly!

The Perfect Spring Giveaway!

My good friend, Geta, over at Geta's Quilting Studio is hosting a giveaway. She makes the most amazing works of art and I'm lucky enough to own a small piece. Who wouldn't want to win the colorful little quilt she is giving away? It will bring spring to any room in which it is displayed. The drawing is Friday, so don't delay...leave her a comment and enter your name to win.

Yesterday I received two more siggy blocks..both from Germany. Aren't they wonderful?

Spring

It was a gorgeous weekend. The Bradford pear trees, forsythia, quince and daffodils are all putting on a show. The temperature was perfect and all over town people were working in their yards, barbecuing, walking, or other outdoor activities. Today it's cloudy and the wind is up a bit more than normal (it's ALWAYS windy in S.E. Kansas!). Has the look of storm weather and that's pretty normal for S.E. Kansas in the spring too.

Saturday was National Quilting Day and members from our guild gathered at a local church to work on our 2010 donation quilt and various other individual projects. I wasn't able to get there until right after lunch. I grabbed just my Featherweight and intended to help make blocks for the donation quilt. But when I plugged it in it didn't work and then we discovered the plug end was broken. Tom made a couple runs trying to get a replacement plug but couldn't find a big enough one to fit the old heavy wires of the Featherweight, so in the end my contribution was pretty much just to sit and talk...not much help there I"m afraid..probably more of a distraction.

I got two more Dutch Treat blocks done this weekend.

Ivy League

Headdress

And received another siggy block..this one from Monique in Belgium is cute as can be.

Sisterhood

I am honored to receive the Sisterhood award today from Sunna at Sunnyquilts today. She is such a sweet person and I've enjoyed getting to know her as well as admiring her talent and creativity.

In order to officially be the recipient of this prestigious award, I need to do a few things first --
1. Put the logo on your blog or post.
2. Nominate 10 or fewer blogs which show great Attitude and/or Gratitude!
3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.
4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
5. Share the love and link to the person from whom you received your award.

There are so many great bloggers that I read but I'm going to limit my nominations today to a few that I feel I've gotten to know well and those I didn't already nominate here .

1. Connie at Cootiebug I'm participating in Connie's signature swap, but love reading her blog to hear about her family and all the wonderful projects she is involved with.

2. Barb at Bejeweled Quilts is such a generous soul. She brightened my day when I was really down recently and for that alone she deserves this nomination. She amazes me with her energy and creativity.

3. Chris at Crispyquilts is so very talented and gives me inspiration. She always has something nice to say for everyone.

4. Jacquie at Simple Reflections About Quilting, Cats, Kids. I'm fortunate to have met Jacquie personally and look forward to seeing pics of her photogenic grand kids and great quilting projects. I'm hoping to see more of both when she retires this fall.

5. Elly at Mad For Patchwork tempts me with her Dear Hannah blocks. If/when I finish my Dear Jane and Dutch Treat, I think this has to be my next big project. She does a beautiful job and inspires me with each one.

6. Susan at Hanging On By A Needle & Thread always surprises me with each new project. Her blog is cheery and fun.

What do all of these have in common? Each and everyone inspires and brightens my day. There are more..but I will leave some for another day, another award.

Thank you, my quilting sisters for all that you share.

Happy Birthday, Kelley

It's hard to believe that in a few hours it will be 26 years ago that I became a grandmother for the first time. Being born into the Army life, Kelley Ann was a month old before I finally got to hold her for the first time. They arrived at our house in the middle of the night and I think I had her in my arms before my eyes were fully open!

We got to spend about 3 weeks together before she went to live in Germany for the next three years.

I had to be content with frequent phone calls, video tapes and cute pictures like this one as she grew up half a world away.

She was a little past three years old when we saw each other next and I worried she would not know me. But she dove for my arms when they once again arrived at our house in the middle of the night. And we picked up where we had left off...........

We were still blessed with SIX living generations. Her great-great-great grandfather was 102 in this picture. He died the next year, a month shy of 104 years of age. His wife died at 94, just three months before Kelley was born.

I'm in the back with my eyes closed next to my mother. In front are my son with Kelley, my great-grandfather and my grandmother.

Learning to bake bread with me and her cousin Christmas 1992.

The years have passed so quickly and she's all grown up. This was taken in 2004.

Kelley works as an EMT and lives in Massachusetts so we still don't get to see each other very often. The last time was the summer of 2007.

She wanted to learn to make some of the silk flower and tulle wall hangings that I had been doing and dug right in with no hesitation, despite not ever having done any piecing or quilting.

And made all of these in a couple of days.

It would be so nice if only she lived closer. Happy Birthday, Kel...we love you bunches.

Secret Project

Here's another peek at my new project. Four blocks on the design wall to give you and me an idea of how they will go together. This is going to be a special gift and not needed for quite some time, so I'm not sure how fast I will get it done. For now I needed a piecing "fix" so I'm having fun making these.

Another Dutch Treat block made last night. This one is called Dolphins, though I think that is a real stretch. 152 blocks completed. 44 more to go.

Catching Up.

The week is more than half over already! Hard to believe how quickly the days pass sometimes. Nothing too exciting going on.

Pie baking Tuesday night.

Eye appointment yesterday morning to get the measurements for my implanted lens. First surgery on my left eye a week from today.


Chicken and noodle dinner at church yesterday.


My hoya plant is blooming again. I think I have 5 large blooms this time. Here are two with one still in the process of opening.



Mailed off four more siggy blocks this week.
And received two............... This one from Sara in Washington state.
And this from Marjo in The Netherlands.
Finished another Dutch Treat block..."Dancing Daisies".

And playing around with a possible new project..

That is how the one day melts into another around here. Spring has arrived and it's BEAUTIFUL weather

Ruth Powers Trunk Show

We are so fortunate to have such talented quilters in Kansas. One of them came to visit our guild last night and gave a fabulous trunk show. Wish you all could have been there to admire the beautiful quilts and talent of Ruth Powers. You can her website and her blog.

Many of you will recognize some of these quilts as Ruth's patterns and quilts have been featured in many magazines and she has had and continues to have quilts in many of the big quilt shows, winning much deserved awards along the way. I'm unable to do justice to any description of her amazing quilting, use of color and innovations. Her business is quite properly named!


So much inspiration...so little time. Thank you Ruth for a wonderful time!