Getting ready for the New Year

I was hoping to finish the seascape by today as I need to get ready for the Old Geezers New Year's party tomorrow.  Since we are on the West coast, we are going to have a potluck (i am making pulled pork and coleslaw), play Bunco like cards (only 2 tables will be playing Polish Poker and two will be playing Skipbo), watch the ball drop in Times Square, and go home and go to bed (in our case, stay home and go to bed).  We have done the party before without cards-hope it goes well, in theory it should.

So, I am ignoring it for today.  That is hard to do as it is almost finished.  I need to finish quilting the rocks on the left side and put one more line of water quilting-see the gap? Well-hard to see in the picture, but glaring on my design wall. Binding and a hanging sleeve is last then I have 8 days to make my granddaughter a doll, crib skirt, quilt (made with a panel), and sheet.  The curtains will have to wait for the February trip.

I took a picture of a quilt that I pieced and quilted at the prayer quilt ministry I am involved in, The Comforters.  We meet at my friend, Debbie's house every Tuesday night and the first Friday of the month to make quilts for those who are seriously ill or having a major surgery.  We have a blast doing them and people are blessed by them.  We were given a yard or two of the kitty fabric and then on a fabric buying trip to M and L fabrics near Disneyland we found the coordinating fabrics.  I love this quilt-makes me smile.

Have a safe and happy New Year-may God hem you in with his love in 2013!

Rob Appell Inspired Seascape

I am so glad I took the Rob Appell class.  I didn't plan to as I don't decorate in sea motifs but my kids do and since taking the class, they have moved into a new home that has an entrance hall that is screaming for a big something and I really think they will like it.  However-it may take forever to quilt.  Since it is a stick and slap, all edges must be stitched.  I got it stretched and pinned this morning and then spent about 3 hours quilting the waves and the whales. My neck was screaming stop and I did.  Good progress for the first day.  Hope to finish the quilting this weekend.

Priorities

It is almost January first.  I will not make resolutions this year-I will make plans.  Maybe that will be more successful.  I have a new granddaughter arriving on January 14th if all goes as planned.  I need to make quilt, bed ruffle and sheet and curtains for her older sister by the time I get on the plane on the 12th.  I also need to finish the seascape for my DIL's b'day which is the 9th.  We are going back for a visit in Feb.  By then I need to finish the nursery set.  I am going to be very busy the next 6 weeks.  I wanted to make our almost 3 year old a doll as well-but we'll see.  I did get 4 blocks prepped for Dear Jane last night and organized my block keeping system.  I had outgrown the 3 ring binder and will probably outgrow this but it will work for a while.

 Lastly, the pictures of the stacked boxes all contain quilts in various stages of progress.  I will finish at least 3 of those by June (a plan-not a resolve).  The bible says: "Without a plan, the people perish".  It has always been a favorite verse, however, I tend to over plan and that in itself has almost made me perish-so, I am going to plan to "Be still and know that [He] is God" more this year.  That is enough planning-my head hurts:) I am thankful that I am able to still work hard, to plan, to create, to think, to read, to pray-I give all the glory to God my Abba daddy.

The Unveiling

I don't want to work on anything because everything is so clean and organized-I WILL be better at picking up after myself this next year. The peace of neatly folded fabric and clean workspaces is really quite marvelous. I did have to play with the Christmas scraps left over from the stockings-made 2 mug rugs inspired by Wanda at Exuberant Color that only need their bindings. The colors make me smile. Love the Laurel Burch Kitties

But now the part I am most thrilled with-a clean, organized studio. Since I have touched everything in it over the last 4 days, I know what I have and am ready to tackle that seascape tomorrow! YAY! I can do all things through Him who strengthens me!

Messy Room day 3

I am making progress! Went for coffee and shopping with my friend, Chris. I am so blessed to have amazing friends. I was raised as an only child and we have a very small family. I have a cousin in Maine who is the daughter of my mom's twin and a half sister and brother whom I love (met them when I was 40 at dad's funeral) but we are not in contact very often-so my friends are closer than family-the sisters I never had. We were going to see the Hobbit but the theater wasn't showing it when they advertised so I came home, took a nap, watched 3 episodes of a marathon NCIS and then went back to work on "the room". The work had an aesthetic side benefit of the tactile pleasure of touching the fabric and sorting it into color pathways or thematic packs. The Kaffe Fassett fabric wins the touch test-it is almost like velvet. The Joann's fabric solidly wins last place-probably will never buy fabric there again, but their sales for supplies can't be beat.

I have a goal of making my granddaughter's bedroom ensemble in the next 3 weeks-we'll see:) At least my room will be ready by tomorrow to take on the task.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas. Had a lovely night out with good friends, June and Barry Johnson. Christmas play at Coronado's Lamb's Players and a great italian dinner at Nicolosi's. I so appreciate the sisters God has given me and June is one of them. We are so blessed!! May Jesus be the center of your celebration tomorrow. let Him Hem you in with His love.

Hello, my name is Elaine and I am a messy.

I am embarrassed to post this picture, however, it will give me the impetus to organize my very messy work space. I am a stuffer instead of a sorter and returner and it builds up in my relatively small space. I took the picture after unloading one shelf so it makes my table look messier than it was but other than that-it is the naked truth. I have a friend who only does one project at a time. She flourishes under the rule of order-I, however, seem to attract piles as I move through my workday. You could make mulch from the layers of organic matter in my work area. I hear the name of a quilt emerging. I will show the after in a couple of days-Merry Christmas to me!

Dear Jane progress

Yesterday I printed out 12 cutting and template patterns for Dear Jane. The day after Christmas I will prep the 12 blocks so I have some hand sewing at night. I have finished 11 blocks. Forgive the glare of the baggie. Each block is put into a baggie and attached to the pattern to protect and identify it for later assembly. The block with purple will have to be an inner block (I will have a purple row inside the quilt)as the outer perimeter is all creams, browns, golds and blacks. My goal is to have 26 done by the end of February. I could have more but I need to make a nursery ensemble for our newest granddaughter and a bedroom remake for our Ava by mid February as well as a Turtle quilt for our Kids. Yikes!!! The 1/2 square triangles in the top block are finished at 3/8" inch so I am forgiving my one wonky one.

I have decided that 2013 will be dedicated to making a few seasonally thematic quilts for moi-since I have but one of my own quilts:)

I have added 2 new buttons to this website. As I find interesting blogs I want to pass them on to you. One has a great sewing machine cover on it-beats my pillowcase cover:)

Pre-Christmas Reflection

Today is Saturday and I am thinking:my house needs a blessing (Flylady style), I need to organize my sewing room, pack cookies for neighbors and special puppies (I made 2 kinds of puppy treats yesterday), forgive myself for not getting cards out this year, prep for company tomorrow and Tuesday. However, what I really want to do is go into my messy sewing room and work on the seascape that I am giving my daughter-in-law for her birthday in January. Since finishing and sending Christmas presents I have only sewed a scrappy Christmas mug rug top just for fun. Since the Connecticut shooting, I have had a difficult time doing much of anything. I am just so very sad for the families who lost precious little ones and brave adults. My heart is broken.

On a happier note-a picture of our Lizzy guarding her cookies in the warming oven. She was so excited about her cookies. They are healthy and smell pretty good for dog cookies.

Dear Jane

I went to my favorite class yesterday. The Dear Jane Clinic. The Dear Jane Quilt made by Jane Stickle in 1863 has 225 blocks comprising 5600 pieces. The quilts that follow the original are called "Baby Janes" and I am making one in 1800's fabrics. The quilters who are creating their own variations are "Janiacs" and that makes me one of those. They are 4" finished blocks so it will be a challenge-but what a journey. I finished 2 blocks in class and cut out one more. One of the finished blocks has 28 pieces within its 4 inch walls. It is called "Pinwheel Gone Awry". I am doing all the outside blocks in beige, gold, brown and black. I will color the quilt in concentric circles starting from the outside. I will move to teals and plums alternating with neutrals as I move into the center.

The lady in red is my teacher/mentor Susan Axlerod. The other lady is my good friend, Debbie-we are on this journey together. Deb is doing her quilt in batiks so our final products will be very different. The old singer is exactly my age-it sews perfect 1/4 inch seams. Much easier to lug to sew-ins than my Babylock.

Christmas Boxes going out.

Well-Northern Utah and Seattle packages are in the mail and will make it by Christmas. Two packages to Southern Utah will head out Monday morning. All I have left to do is one cell phone purse for my niece that I hope to finish this afternoon or tomorrow morning. I made four stockings for 3 niece's and nephew's and one adopted granddaughter. I combined patterns and designed the cuff myself. All are lined and machine appliqued. They make me smile. The 4th is not pictured but is a snowman on red quilted fabric-so, different from the snowman shown. I seem to do theme Christmases. last year everyone got monogrammed pillowcases. This year-Christmas Stockings and cell phone wallets (some with gift cards inside). Can't wait to get back to a couple of projects started and left waiting. I am making a list.

I have been way too busy this last week-glad next week is lighter. lots of fun things but I want the time to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas which is Emanuel, God with us. It is hard to imagine that God himself would wrap himself in a baby's skin to show us how much he loves us. Thank-you God. Happy Birthday Jesus.

Well, today is Thursday and it will be full. We have touched up the inside of the house with paint as throwing dog toys for our 6 month old puppy wreaked some havok on our walls. My husband hates to paint and I heard major muttering all day-but, he did it -bless his little heart.

The house is decorated, painted and clean. Today is grocery shopping, and making a pie for church tonight. I have already copied some pattern pieces for a really cute little cell phone purse that I am hoping to get done (3 of them) by Sat. Morning to ship out Monday. I did finish the table topper for my nephew and his wife (will post pics later) and 5 pillowcases-Yay! I was able to use up 5 yards of stash fabric-which is my goal this next year-to use more than I buy. Unfortunately, Connecting Threads is having a really good sale-darn:)

We had a great trip to Utah where I delivered Cattitudes to my sister in law. She loved it! Now to finish up some Christmas projects. I just sent this Advent Calendar off to my granddaughter in Seattle. It should be there by tomorrow in time to start on the 1st. I glued pockets on the back of each character in the advent to hold a quarter (she is only 2 1/2 so a quarter is a big deal:)). I loved this design. The top of the angel is pretty heavily quilted. The bottom has the buttons and some outline quilting to hold it together.

Cattitudes

I think this might be the nicest quilt I have made so far. It is for my sweet sister in law's B'day and retirement and I am taking it to her at Thanksgiving. It was a Buggy Barn pattern that is cut out like a puzzle 12 layers deep. Then the top 3 layers are shuffled and you pray the colors will coordinate correctly. It was quite a process and took awhile to put together. I embroidered

"Cats show us God's love towards us in that while we were yet like them, prideful, willful, and arrogant, Christ died for us". I hope she likes it as well as I do.

Retreat Results

Besides the omelets in a bag and the potato bar at lunch which was yummy and relaxing, the rest of the day was busy busy busy! I got the baby quilt for The Door of Hope sandwiched and binding cut, the stocking for Friendship quilters done, 4 place mats for Ramona Senior Center completed and table topper pieced (top and back) for my nephew and his wife. I would not have gotten as much done at home. The company is grand and the food always fabulous. Great day!

Prep Day

Tomorrow is a 9 hour retreat with "The Comforters". Our group of 7 or 8 have such a good time when we have our mini retreats. I have packed 2table toppers, 1baby quilt, a Christmas stocking, 4 place mats, and pillowcases. I will post what I get done tomorrow. To bed early tonight.

First baby quilt finished and delivered!

I had dinner with two of my favorite young women tonight and was able to handoff the quilt for Elsie who was born on Halloween.  I really like the fuzzy binding-it is so soft.  The back is pieced-thus using more of my scraps.  This is my favorite of the 3.  It makes me smile:) Mark 10:27-"for with God, all things are possible". 

Niece Kristen's wedding quilt

Kristen and Tucker's wedding quilt.

My niece got married in October.  I asked her if she would like a quilt and if so, what colors, contemporary or traditional and, to my surprise she chose her wedding invitation colors, grey and yellow in a traditional design.  Had a hard time finding the fabrics-maybe because I don't necessarily like greys and I don't do too much in muted colors.  That being said, the quilt came out nicely and I hope they enjoy it.  The scripture in the middle is Jeremiah 29:11.

I need to take them in better light as the quilt looks better than the pic.  My two quilting buds, Jan and Patsy and I took it to Quilter's Paradise in San Marcos and quilted it on their longarm machine in stars and ribbons.
I am going to my room to finish the string baby quilt that needs to be given tomorrow!!!!