Monday sew day

Seems like Pat and I have established Mondays as sew days--and it's a great way to start the week!

Pat put together two Hungry Caterpillar quilt tops.

I loaded and quilted another from the pile-o-tops that she has made possible! The moon looked so pretty in the late afternoon.  

I'm afraid those clouds moved in and Tuesday has dawned dreary.  I need to hurry up and finish my bright sweatshirt! 

Sunday finish

Winter sunrises are the best!  We seem to frequently have clouds in the eastern horizon that make for a colorful dawning of the day!

I finished the Superman quilt using a planet and stars pantograph.  Starting what I hope will be a big new stack of quilts to deliver to Dr. Kaufman.  

I've also been working on a sweatshirt jacket for me.  It's coming along, and now I need to make a concerted effort to get it done since the fussy parts are finished.

I'm hoping it will bring brightness to dreary winter days, which we have very few of here in NM.

 

Finally some moisture!

It's a bit cold, 3 degrees this morning, but I'm not complaining since we finally got some snow.  The last measurable snowfall we had was before Christmas!  We have had some very light, corn snow that never even dampened the ground since then. 

This is so much needed moisture!  We made it to town and back yesterday--I closed my eyes on the canyon part of the drive home, but really to an experienced snow driver, Dale, it was nothing.  Now it can snow a foot, since we don't go back to town for another week, and the fridge and cupboards are well stocked.

I finished the quilting on this one last fall after Melody put it together using some Route 66 fabric I had been aging in my stash.  Our longarm guild decided not to do any more raffle fundraisers, and Melody's husband loved the quilt, so we bartered and she kept it.  I hadn't gotten a picture of the finished product.  

I was surprised that he could identify the cars from the quilting with the pantograph.  Melody's sister, Janna, made this QOV (Quilt of Valor) for Eddie, and I was happy to be able to quilt it using another Judy Lyon design, Star Banner. 

Meanwhile, Pat has been putting together lots of tops for Dr. Kaufman, and I have a pile-o-tops to be quilted now.  Fortunately, they are smaller and go pretty quickly, since I'm still struggling with my "despicable knee."  Need to sweep a path out to the sewing room and get busy.     

More tops made

Pat and I continue to have Monday sew days.  She put this one together last week, but wasn't able to post it to her blog.  

I put this top together, but didn't realize my border fabric was a more red-red versus the orange-red of the print in the blocks.  I'm sure I'm more critical than the recipients.  Thanks Yetta for the blocks!

This frog quilt is my favorite of the tops I've put together with paper pieced frog blocks from Judy H.  I have the perfect panto for it.  I got the Superman quilt loaded on the longarm, and have all the others paired with appropriate backings ready to go.  It's great to be productive.

Sunrises continue to brighten the morning sky! 

 

Using blocks

I pulled out blocks that I had been given, since I was all out of tops ready to quilt for Dr. Kaufman.  Pat and I have been having sew days, and it's nice to have a distraction from my daily physical therapy grind.

Kathi Eddy gave me these lovely blocks with batiks.  I've gotten one larger top together above, and now need to audition fabrics for a smaller top with six blocks.

I also took my frustrations out and made a little collage piece about what's on my mind:

The day dawned cloudy and cool, but fortunately we've got some sunshine now which does wonders for my mood, and also heating the house!  

Healing S-L-O-W-L-Y!

I started to write, I can't believe it's been so long since my last blog post...but really I can believe it.  After my last post it was a whirlwind of longarm quilting to get some things done before my total knee surgery on December 5th.

I finished two quilts neither or which I have good pictures of, a king size black and white quilt for Jackie, and a "Christmas" quilt for Lindsay featuring a center medallion embroidery that was done by my mom.  I delivered them both at Thanksgiving.  I also quilted a quilt for Pat which had disastrous bleeding when washed--but her sister still wanted it.  

Then came the surgery with a not so stellar four-day stay at the hospital.  I seemed to be doing okay, until I got my sutures out--and had a cellulitis for which I'm now on the fourth (and hopefully last) ten-day course of antibiotics.  Apparently my right knee was exceptional in its healing, and I should have known better than to expect the same course with the left.  I have sooo much swelling this time, and six weeks post-op I'm still struggling with it.  In spite of that I've made some gains with physical therapy, and my therapist was pleased with my progress at yesterday's visit.  Me, not so much, I expected to be so much farther along.  I guess I still haven't acquired patience! 

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Colorado where the grandboys were practicing showing off how old they would be.

Then Christmas here with so much excitement--that only almost three-year-olds can generate.

Not much quilting content--though with Pat's help I'm finishing up a couple of comfort quilts.  My days seem to pass with not much to show, punctuated by pain medication and PT exercises.  I guess I'm the only one that change that!  So here's to a start--at least some blogging.  I have been enjoying sunrises and sunsets--couldn't do justice to the latest full moon with my pictures.  Still need to work on that.  But sunsets don't need much help!

      

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!