Couldn't resist

I had to take another picture of the stapelia--found out what it was by doing a search of succulent blossoms--with the petals fully opened.  The flower is lasting, and it looks like it's sort of copying the design on our antique cook stove.

After three days of clouds, snow, sleet, and just generally gray weather, the sun came out.  Hallelujah!  I much prefer my snow accompanied with sunshine.  The heat stove ran almost non-stop without our solar gain!

Sophie has inspired me to pick up and work on the tea towel challenge I started long after the challenge was over last time.  A friend found this quirky, old, Japanese tea towel, and then gifted it to me.  It reminds me of Dr. Seuss characters...maybe someone had a few too many.  I started it and then abandoned it after deciding it needed hand stitching in the tea towel panel.  (It always seems like a good idea, except for the actual doing of it.  I never hand quilt enough to get any better at it!)

 Maybe recuperating after my knee will be a good time to develop some hand quilting skills.  Remains to be seen!



 

Wow!!

My little blossom was open this morning!  What a beautiful flower, and not at all what I expected, but seemed so right.  I hope it lasts a long while.  It's taken a long time to mature.

 

Pat came for sew day and finished the first of three baby quilts that are due.  This one is for a baby boy, and she needs to make two girl quilts yet.

  

Our go to standard, the BQ3 pattern.  I put this one together quickly on Sunday.

Got all three quilted and bound and tomorrow we're off to Albuquerque to deliver quilts to Dr. Kaufman, and my pre-op appointments.  There is weather moving in, and I hope it's not an issue tomorrow for our trip.

Procrastinating

Well, not really procrastinating so much as doing things I've put off for a while.  I needed to tend to plants, and this morning was it.

This year, I've kind of let the geranium go, leaving all the spent flowers on it.  It's so colorful, and maybe leaving the spent flowers there has made it blossom more?  I don't know.  

I've been watching this little flower--at least I think it's a flower--develop very slowly on this succulent that my friend Rosie gave me.  It started out as the tiniest little green bud, which at first I wondered if it was just new growth.  I keep checking on it, excited for what lies inside it's magical star shaped blossom.

I better clean up my messes...Pat is coming over for sew day, and I need to finish those two quilts to deliver on Friday.

A few more

I got a couple more quilts finished.  Thanks to Judy (in Ohio) from the About.com forum.  She sent blocks from a failed project that turned into a quick "kitty" quilt.  The backing features lots of kitties on cushions.

 She also sent two of these panels, which whipped up quickly--loading them both on one backing.  I used this easy I Spy 123 pantograph. 

I also finished Jackie's king size black and white quilt.  No picture of it here since I want it to be a surprise.  Lindsay decided she wanted a "Christmas" quilt and so I'm trying to put together something before my other total knee on December 5th.  I always claim I work best under pressure. 

 

But of course I procrastinated starting the Christmas quilt by putting together a couple more quilts for Dr. Kaufman.  One was just an easy Harry Potter panel to which I added borders.  The other a BQ3 with some Paddington Bear fabric I came across when trying to find something for Pat to make baby quilts.  

I'm making it to fit the backing which I thought was perfect!  I also want to finish our advent calendar, which will be nice to have since the kids will all be here for Christmas.  Better get offline and get busy!



 

Another finish.

Thanks to Nyla for giving me this great quilt for our cause.  I had put off quilting it because I always feel my quilting is inadequate for freehand work.  And then there is the question of how to fill all that space.  

Thankfully the quilt had some great applique blocks that were perfect for outlining, and some larger fill areas.

I also did the antique cars pantograph for our longarm guild raffle quilt.  I didn't get a picture of the completed quilt, but a few shots of the cars. 

I was surprised that a member's husband recognized many of the cars make and model  from the quilting.  

Now I'm working to finish the quilting on Jackie's monstrous, king size, black and white quilt for Christmas.  I'd also like to get a few more quilts done and delivered to Dr. Kaufman.  This is always a busy time of year for newly diagnosed diabetic children.






  

Leftovers

Last fall when I was making quilts for the grandsons for Christmas, I cut some pieces parts wrong.  Thankfully I had enough of the fabrics left for a do-over.  I used the wrongly cut parts to make another odd sized BQ3.

I've been spending a good deal of time in the sewing room again, and have pieced older daughter's king size black and white quilt which will go on the longarm next.

The spectacle doesn't last long, but the sunrises are once again lighting up my mornings.  It throws wonderful pinkish highlights to the east as well.

We've already had our first frost, but I love the cooler mornings and evenings with the still warm days.  

Long time

It appears I've fallen way out of the habit of blogging.  The longer it goes on, the less I feel like picking it up again.  

I haven't been idle, and the spring and summer flew by. 

I finally delivered another batch of a dozen quilts to Dr. Kaufman.  She was most pleased to get them, as they were out.   

 

Pat put together these five tops from blocks given to us and won at the AZ retreat.  I was able to just load them sideways on a large backing and quilt them consecutively.  A lot of bang for the buck.

As always it's only possible with the help of friends.  Rosie found this top at a thrift store.  I use these quilts to try out new pantographs.  

 Patty brought me this top on her stopover here, going back home to Oklahoma from Arizona.

 This celestial fabric really complemented this top from Yetta.  I also had a planetary fabric for the backing and this Rings of Saturn panto from Dave Hudson.

 Nyla gave us this beauty, which was just about twin size.  I still have another wonderful quilt top from Nyla, but it's going to need custom quilting.

 New retreat attendee, Tove, gave us this quilt top, and Pat added some borders to it.  Tove and I are birthday twins! 

 This was another great top from Yetta.  She was practicing "crumb" blocks.  Thanks again to all my friends for your generosity.  I so enjoy the quilting and binding  process more than the piecing.  I'd never be able to get so many tops delivered to Dr. Kaufman for newly diagnosed diabetic kids, without your help.

 
I also quilted this little top I had put together from pre-cut parts that someone gave us at retreat.  (So I am capable of piecing--I have a black & white king size quilt for daughter Jackie that just needs borders as well.)

Meanwhile Pat will soon be moving to NM permanently.  It's been fun helping her get her house ready for the move.


 

Where has the month gone...

Time has really gotten away from me and I haven't done much but seemed busy nonetheless.  Spring has arrived with lots of wind here, and a couple of nights below freezing, shortly after the peach tree blossomed.

The blossoms seem to have survived, and maybe we'll have a crop of peaches after all.  Last year we got six whole peaches!  Our little apple tree also has blossoms which have yet to open--and we wonder what type of apple it might have.  We've never gotten any fruit from it.

I put this top together from a little pre-cut kit someone gave me at the retreat.  I'm hoping it gets me in the mood to be productive again.  I just noticed the colors seem to mirror the picture of the blossoming tree in the photo above!  I've spent most of my time cleaning up and rearranging in the sewing room. 

Our irises are getting ready to bloom.  So glad we moved them to the protected, east side of the house when we built the sun room.  Even with regular watering they used to get really beat up in the hellacious spring winds we get here. 

 

Quilt delivery

I finished a couple more quilts to make a total of a dozen quilts to take to Dr. Kaufman.  They do make a colorful pile!

This is one I put together myself from donated blocks.  

And this is another one of Yetta's.  I still have a few more tops to quilt that I brought home from the retreat in Phoenix.

Taking a bit of a break from quilting to help older daughter move into a new (to them) home.