End of February GIVE AWAY

February has been a busy month and I'm so happy to see March arriving next week, so as promised, here goes...

Just leave a comment here, blog site or email address in comment box necessary to enter... comments must be posted by midnight, USA Eastern time, Saturday, February 27 . Recipient will be picked and announced on Sunday, February 28 . (Barring any issues with my ISP that day, Newtons Law, LOL) 1 entry per person

Everyone is welcome no matter where you live

Please, help me out by taking this off my hands and instigating my spring cleaning!!!
See preceeding posts for more photos of finished quilt and block designs.



One pattern from H.D. Designs and 6 panels of Laurel Burch Ocean Songs Mermaid Fabric

GOOD LUCK and THANKS FOR VISITING!

Jane

Giveaway Teaser and O.T. Tang Update

Ohhhhhhh....

laaaaaaa

laahhhhhhhhh..... Don't you just love this pattern using this Laurel Birch fabric??? I love it too but can't see myself getting around to it. Maybe you can..... I have the pattern and fabric for the basics of this quilt and will be offering a giveaway sometime before the month of February is through.... stay tuned....

I have been busy but can't tell you doing what.... this is the kind of stuff that scares me.... the passage of time vs what I have to show for it.... January gone already....

Here is the Butthead.with kidney stones...

Mr Tang (now better known as Fang because he's bitten EVERYONE inc vet AND hubby) is still aliitle insecure.... even with his purple coat on of which I thought I had the gammet on.... obviously it's not that hard to cook up a pattern for a dog coat. Again... I almost made my fortune but was alittle tooo late once again... LOL.... Mr Tang now has a new notation on his chart..."Owner must apply muzzle before exam". I guess he does look like one of those mutts that would nail you given the chance.

Mr T is sitting pretty here ...the surgery was $524...additional outgo per month.....$17.99 for 5# bag of Royal Canin SO, can of SO $2.25 ..... Cha.Cha.....freaking ching....... his best bet is to stop biting the hand that feeds him. We have 2 other dogs that have to go on eating as normal... have I mentioned before that I must have a hole in my head to have 3 dogs???

I was hoping to use this for the Creatve Cues word "Track" but I don't think this will fly. However these stitches sure look like a track to me. This was some pretty serious surgery that I really shouldn't be making fun of... after all, he's my little butthead kid that I'd probably spend even more $ on if I had too. (Fingers crossed) If by chance any one knows anyone who is going through this with their dog... please see here.... Very good info.......that can maybe help someone out.

There have been a few glorious days of sun

and blue skies beyond imagination...

There was a sad deer who passed through our yard this week. See the weird rope attached to his foot???

It looked like the rope could have been a trap of sorts but we couldn't tell...... there was no way we could have done anything to help him and he hasn't been back as far as we know. Life sure didn't hold much good for him.

Sewing and Bookworming

I'm working on hand quilting this months guild project. Couldn't quite stick to the pattern given and ended up with too many half squares. Made use of them anyway. I'm so out of pratice with precision and 1/4 seams. The months blotto block pattern is a paper pieced courthouse step using brights. I've gotten as far as getting the fabric pulled out for that. Paper piecing is not my bag.

Sis' library at her Beulah house... book love runs in the family...

I've had my nose in books
and there always seems to be several going at once... at the moment, one is Clara. .The Ford's are fascinating, not only because I grew up in Detroit, but because they were real people who shared their dreams, their lives and their legacy. The book is more factual than narrative but leaves imagination full out open to the oppulent yet down home ways of Henrys other half. Ironically one of Claras favorite places is not too far from here at the Huron Mountain Club. The Club is a mysterious local legend.
A CQ block is definitly being planned around Clara.




After reading the Forest Lover this summer I got interested in the life of Emily Carr
and found the book, Hundreds and Thousands, one of Emily's journals, in my sisters library. I love her descriptions of color and perception but it's her quirky, often difficult life that gives me a source for courage in moving on with my own creative calling.


I've finished all the Mitford books by Jan Karon and started the Father Tim series, Home to Holly Springs. I missed the August book sale in town so the pickins are slim for winter. But I did see a used book store in Houghton... I'll have to check it out when we get up that way.
It's a cold clear night here and the stars are out by the billions... I love the awe of nights like these!

The Teddy Bear Project and a Link or 2

I was asked for alittle more info on the Teddy Bear Project from my pals Sue from the Magpies Nest , Judy from Stitch Along With Me, and Janet from Go Crazy With Me . So I thought I'd answer here. Our town is small so there's no red tape or "channels" to be got through for doing good deeds. It cracks me up sometimes to hear what people go through to GIVE THINGS to charitiable organizations... the requirements, applications, and background checks in order to bless others is out of hand. Thankfully, since we are a community oriented locale, we don't have that. People jump in here... no pomp. If there's a need, it gets done... no politics, no "I make a motion to accept", no bullshit.



So the guild went and bought a boatload of brand new teddy bears from a store in Marquette and asked that we make quilts for each bear. Minimum size is 24" x 24". The original idea was to donate to the St Vincent Christmas need, for the many down and out families here in the area. Well, as all good things grow, we've now decided to make this a year round project... the local hospital, county and city police, fire department, and shelter home will be supplied with the bears to give as needed... along with the continued supply to St Vincents. Some "little guy" will have a new buddy this holiday.. "Green Gene".





Over at Quilting Gallery there's an exhibition going on of quilts that were entered into the Living Healing Quilt Project. These quilts were created to show the experiences of the indigenous Native Indians as they were ripped from their families and sent to government "schools" in Canada. This practice was also done in the United States as well, under the guise of reform and religion. I hate this part of our history and know that there's no way that these attrocities can ever be repaid to these people. These quilts are very special so please click the logo below to see them.

Well, that didn't work.. so please click here for the link...

Living Healing Quilts.....

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Thanksgiving's going to be pretty low key here... the Detroit Lions have their chance to win or be beaten on the National front tomorrow. We'll be watching and I'm sure wanting to hit Coach Marinelli upside the head with a drumstick or 2. The prediction from this camp is if there's no win tomorrow , HE WILL BE FIRED...if not there's something rotten in Detroit, just like Kwame Kilpatrick. If it was you or me our checks would cease for such poor performance. D worked for "Henry" and he would have been canned by now... IOHO (in our humble opinion) What the heck is going on here????

Thursdays Guild Meet

The snow was blowing to beat the band on the way to town... white out vision and frigid temps but we made it. Barb's lived up here her whole life and has the driving experience to prove it. Needless to say it was a skeleton group and not a lot of time to stay and chit chat after. Everyone just wanted to get home. But heres some of the show and tell :

This Michigan quilt was great. It was being shipped over to Ireland to a cousin who had visited this summer. I thought she did a great job appliqueing the Upper Peninsula.

This batik sampler quilt had interesting color combos.

Diana's Christmas quilt looked like it had cards sewn into it and it was quilted with the most awesome metallic thread.
The charity bearity project has another month to go. They're so cute that we've decided to keep this an ongoing project year round. A great stash and scrap buster.

The teddy quilt I made below ended up at 36 x36 with a loden green fur back... very snuggly and very simple

I was only able to make one pillowcase, it had flannel on one side and a nature print on the other. I didn't take any photos of the pillowcases but there was quite a stack of those to be sent out to the troops. I'll get the final counts of the bears and cases when all's done.
And heres a pic of Sue's humongous quilt sack... you could fit a man in there!


There's not much snow on the ground and although the temperatures have been in the teens, it's tolerable. My Detroit Lions play tomorrow. It's an awful year to be a fan as they've not won one flippin' game. The stadium attendance is so poor that they haven't sold enough tickets to televise the game locally so it's a double hurt for anyone who loves he game. One eye to the TV is all it takes....

Everything But the Kitchen Sink Kind of Post...

Don't any one faint, but I got a block done... (sorry about photo quality here)

All these dinky seams left me with just stitching around some of the portions. Tacking down the center leaf with mono filament thread reminds me of how great it is for its invisibility while at the same time how awful it is to stitch with. There was a bad spot in the orange patch above the leaf where the seam ripped out.. don't ya just love that? A mend necessary, slightly visable but covered well. This will become a Thanksgiving adorn-ament of sorts.

I read so many quilt magazines while gone that I can't tell you where I found this... but I saw a Hospital Gown pattern available through Lazy Girl Designs. Free downloadable PDF patterns here. Child and adult sizes available. I thought of making a few for my dad in some really cool prints. Think he'd like that. I talked to a fellow guild member today and got the lowdown on the meeting I missed. The soldier pillowcases are due at the next meeting. Found a great tutorial here at About.com. Guess I'll do one for each gender. A few of the girls are going to a show in Marquette the first weekend of Nov, so thats something to look forward to for more inspi.

Saw on Sharons B's blog her ideas for the new years challenge. I was a dud at participating in the Stitch Along at SF and I really wanted to work it.... now with TIF coming to close it will be really easy to take that time spent and parlay it over. I'm really bad at multi tasking my creativity and feel smothered into a kind of paralysis when too much is bouncing around. Constantly at work on that one.

Speaking of embroidery (and my dread of separating floss) I saw this little gadget in Quilters Home Magazine. (BTW... the PDF Tuffet Pattern is adorable.) It is a weighted clip that you hook to the end of the floss that spins and allows you to get out the amount of strands you want with out tangeling. Puffinco Thread Separator ,there is a video on the page that demonstrates. I know those clips are in the garage and if I hot glue a rock to it, do you think I'll get the same results? LOL

Trying to make the space more conducive to sewing standard pieced quilt blocks today. My ironing area was always a literal pain in my back and I think I've got it right now. I could always stand it just long enough to make CQ blocks, But enough blocks for a quilt ?? I want to enjoy this eh?... I'm right handed so I set up a low table at a 45 degree angle right next to the machine. Even though it takes up more space, who cares.... I'm in here for the winter duration now. Seems like every year I re-situate things in the home for the winter months. Is it called nesting or simply trying to keep the couch from being set afire by the woodstove?

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Ahh... the stove. Another good thing about winter. The best Christmas present I ever gave Dan was a set of Paula Deens cookbooks. Thank God my metabolism is as such or else....

Popovers and Captain Jacks Corn Chowder was fare for Sundays football game (I won't even touch that subject) Not the most healthful in way of her "calls" for butter but DEE-licious. Her site is full of scrumptious things.

Not able to let him be the best and only chef in the kitchen, I must put out every now and then to save face.... apple pies in autumn are a hands down fav.

I'm trying to search out bread recipes so if anyone has any they would like to share , I would really appreciate it. You can email me through the About Me tab on sidebar.

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And last but not least.... while looking at the photo I'd recently posted with T and C, it looked as if I have no grey. Well, I liked the unintentional photo wizzardry but the truth is....... direct sunlight is very forgiving and some other lights give the geriatric glow. All in all, I think the worst is over and if my timeline is right, it only took 6 1/2 months to get to this tolerable stage where I feel I can see this through with out having a meltdown and shearing it completely off.

It is what it is.... and today I'm okay with all of it and extremely grateful !

3's a Charm with these Halloween Finds

Of course I couldn't stay off the internet .. was looking into spider webs and other Halloweenish / Fall notions... let me share some of my wanderings of the past hour and save you some time...

Crazy Patch Pumpkin Pattern - Fraser Valley Quilters Guild - Lots of renditions for this, too cute

Creepy Buttons - The Button Drawer - baubles

Halloween Banners - Sparkle Jars - Do look around Gayles posts for other Halloween eye candy

Looking for vintage Hallowed Fabric? - Warm Biscuit - very stashable

Wool Felted Pumpkin - CJ Stitching and Blooms - Judys great tutorial

Beaded Spider Tutorial - Jewelry Making About - more possibilities

Embroidered Beetles Anyone ? - Stumpwork, Goldwork, Surface Embroidery - Jane Nicholas

Quikie Visual Ideas to Run With - Love to Sew - "chach"

Another Patchwork Pumpkin - The Calico Cat - Is this not adorable ? (scroll down some in link)

I think I have my fix for the week and I hope I've left enough of me to not feel bad for my absence... heres to the other side of a better week than last..

PS Just Checked into Judes What If blog... looks like "Crazy Left Overs" is feeling autumn too. I could just wrap myself up in Judes cloths and hibernate.

Airing Dirty laundry...

and unfurling all my UFB's (un-finished blocks)

3 deep in spots
cotton scraps thumbing their noses at me ( just tips of the iceberg idea)
and my batiks scaring the crap out of me while waiting and begging to be cut up in this lifetime and take..
on the look of a long lost cousin before it

Now we're all caught up with what I've been (or not been) doin'. Scary 'aint it ???
BOOOOOOOO!!!!

Moving into Fall - Guild Meets Again

Superior Stitchers is back from summer hiatus. Projects were planned for the coming year along with retreat info and class suggestions and lots of quilts to see too....

Along with the blotto pattern for next month... everyone received the first 2 patterns of the block of the month by Nancy Halverson called Be Attitudes. Be Smart and Be Grateful were chosen for Sept. The same quilt seen in different fabrics is always fun. Christmas Projects are pillowcases for soldiers (instead of stockings) and teddy bears with small quilts to go with them for kids within the community. The photos below are not near everything shown last night but ones that especially appealed to me.

Scrappy Bear Paw.
The colors in this one were pretty.
This quilt was purple (not blue as showing) and stunning
This was made for a raffle being held next week for the sprtsmans club. I love how all the different patterns pop out

This was last years block of the month which was a mystery quilt.
The back of the mystery quilt from scraps

Over the summer, some of the gals made a raffle quilt to raise money for a new athletic complex going up. The pattern shown just happens to be very close to what the blotto block is for next month too.