Thursday, December 29, 2011

Coleen & Claire Bleu

When my sister Coleen and her daughter Claire Bleu had a ride to Mississippi they jumped at the chance to come for 2 days and sew with me.
Claire is making 2 dresses.

Coleen is working on a quilt, getting it ready for our sewing retreat in January.

 Claire worked hard with my EQ7 program to get the placement of the value of the fabrics and width of the strips just the right size.

She helped pick out and fine tune the fabric palette.

 These are the rejected fabrics.

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Family Christmas & Orca Bay Mystery

Yesterday we had our family in for lunch. All our our grands were here.w8

We opened our gifts in the afternoon.w10

McDonalds was a great hit!w14

Even the adults enjoyed the children's play toys!w11

Aunt Evie holds teeny, tiny, Tina for the first time.w12

Here's Paul showing my wonderfully whimsical quilt from Laura Wasiloski. If you haven't read the story behind this quilt you may do so here. w9

We fixed pizza for supper and had Angie's family, the Greg Martins join us.w13

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Orca Bay
I got a few more stringed triangles done on my Orca Bay Mystery Quilt. After trying out 2 different techniques of sewing the strings I resorted back to Bonnie's telephone book pages for foundations. It's working great for me. I also got my 56 red squares cut out for the centers of the Ohio Stars. Maybe this week I'll have more time to sew!w7

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Merry Christmas

1Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
 2Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him. --Matthew 2:1-2

We want to wish you all a very Merry Christmas as we celebrate the birth of the one true Lord, Jesus Christ.

Friday, December 23, 2011

Dustin & Gina and Sunset

Dustin came home from Northern Youth Programs in Ontario, Canada yesterday. He met his girlfriend, Gina from New York, in Atlanta and they flew the last leg of their flights here together. We're so glad to finally meet her in person and learn to know her better.w5

It is my week to clean the church house and they were great help.w4

The other evening we had a most beautiful sunset.w3

I think it was the prettiest I have ever seen.w2
I'm not good at photography so I kept changing the settings on my camera and just snapped lots of pictures in the 'folige,' 'kids & pets,' 'underwater,' or 'beach' settings. I don't know. I just picked the best ones to post here.

Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Housing Department #20 and Orca Bay

w1
Just look at this wonderful little quilt made by Laura Wasilowski. It is her Housing Department #20 which now belongs to me. How did this all happen? You see, last evening I was rummaging through the mud room trying to find some cardbord and padding for a Christmas gift I was wrapping. There, among the used envelopes and boxes I found this flat padded bag with Paul's name on it. It was stapled shut and I wondered what could this be? So I opened it. (Whatever belongs to me belongs to Paul and whatever belongs to Paul belongs to me. So you see, I had every right to open that bag!) And, oh my, I was so startled and delighted and happy. I couldn't figure out how such a lovely little quilt would have gotten into my piles of discarded envelopes and bubble wrap. And here it was signed by Laura especially to me.
I ask Paul about it but he didn't know anything and thought it was some sort of poster I was so excited about. He couldn't figure out why I was so happy. So I thought I need to blog about this and see if anyone knows what it's all about. Then Paul thought maybe it was some sort of mistake and I should wait a while. So I ended up calling my sister, Polly. She couldn't talk long and at first she tried to fake innocense, but then she finally said that she and Barbara had made arrangements with Paul way back in July while we were at the AQS Quilt Show in Knoxville to purchase the quilt for me as a gift for Christmas from Paul. They somehow got the quilt to Paul and he stuck it in the mud room where I'd never find it and then he promptly forgot about it.
Then when I told him all that Polly said, he kinda stared and jumped and caught his breath. It all came back to him. We laughed and laughed and now I smile and smile that I have a lovely little quilt from him from Laura.

My Orca Bay mystery quilt is getting pushed aside way too much. I'm still lagging behind and haven't even finished step 4 and we already have the directions for step 5. I decided to try sewing strips together and then cut out a 3.5" strip horozontal from those strips. Then I'll cut my triangles from that strip.IMG_4730

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Welcome Tina

Paul and I are grandparents again.v22
This time to, Tina Sue, born to our youngest son, Craig & Ang.v23
We took lunch to them after church today soon after they arrived home. And I got to hold her again.
Julian & Jodie left yesterday morning. I was glad that we got her "Disappearing Nine-Patch" quilt finished. She was so tickled and now I think her friends are quite envious.v25
Recently I found an older quilt top in a local antique store. I didn't purchase it right away because I just wasn't sure that I wanted to quilt it. After I got home and thought on it a while, I decided that I really should go back and inspect that quilt top and really see if it would be worth the time and effort to quilt. So I did. After considering that it was hand stitched and in very nice shape and only cost $27.50 with a 10% discount, I purchased it. Now that I have it home, I feel like I really found a treasure. Unfortunately I don't have any history of who made it or how old it is. If anyone can help me on dating it, I'd be so grateful. I put it in the quilt frame yesterday so as to have some had quilting available for over the holidays and this winter.v26

Thursday, December 15, 2011

Guests, Quilts, "Christmas Comes Alive"

My nephew Julian and his wife Jodie are here for a week.v12
He is helping with concrete work for a local farmer. We are also keeping Tony, another fellow that is helping with the job.v11
While the men are off working during the day, I have been helping Jodie make a quilt.
v14
We used the "Disappearing Nine Patch" pattern which is turning out marvelous. She is doing a great job!v13
My Orca Bay Mystery Quilt is coming along very slow. I've only made 14 of the 128 triangles.v15
But now that I have found  Solvi's way to make the units I think I'll be able to tackle it much faster. So, you see, there is a benefit in not trying to be the first one finished.

The other evening our whole family with Paul's folks went to Gordo, AL to see "Christmas Comes Alive." We waited in the church's auditorium until it was our turn to get on the wagons.v20
It was a chilly evening and we were glad to be bundled up warm.v18
The first scene was Isaiah giving the prophesy of Jesus birth.v17
Then there were the shepherds, the inn, the angles, the wise men, and then we were ushered to the barn where we found Mary, Joseph, & baby Jesus. We sat on hay bales and listened to the Christmas Story read from the New Testament and heard a few carols and ...v16
... enjoyed the Nativity Scene.v21
They didn't stop with Jesus birth but went on to tell about his ministry, ascension, and His coming return with emphasis on salvation through Jesus. "Come unto me all ye that labour and are are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." --Matthew 11:27
Then we were served hot chocolate and cookies in the church basement. It was a lovely evening.v19

Wednesday, December 14, 2011

String Quilt & Ashton's Birthday

Another quilt in the making. Strings of blue and peachy/orange/rust.v3
The foundations to sew the strings to.v4
Which way is best? Peach block with blue border ...v5
... or blue box with peach border?v6
Ashton recently turned 3. What a great way to celebrate with cousins.v8
And what can be in this big box?
v7
Darryl helped put the prized wheelboro together.v9

Saturday, December 10, 2011

Vicki's Quilt

When Paul's niece, Vicki was just a little girl she used fabric paint sticks to color fabric blocks.
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IMG_4528 (600x800)
Her mom put the blocks together and made a quilt that they used for many years.
IMG_4527 (600x800)
And then one day the dog got a hold of it and made a hole in it. It had a gathered bed skirt which they took off, and now Vicki wants to bind it off and preserve it.

Sunday, December 04, 2011

Sewing & Cleaning With the Youth

Yesterday the youth girls came for a day of sewing.IMG_4520

In the afternoon the boys came to wash off one of  CAM’s  bunk trailers.'IMG_4550 (800x378)

Some of the girls took a break from sewing and washed & scrubbed the inside clean.IMG_4532 (800x600)

We fixed pizza & salad for supper.IMG_4572 (800x600)
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It’s amazing how fast some of the girls can sew up a dress.IMG_4577 (800x600)

IMG_4580 (800x600)

After supper we had a fun evening of games.
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