Today I finished two more quilts, and I now have a dozen quilts to deliver to Dr. Kaufman this week.
Among the finishes this past week was this frog quilt, which I put together with paper pieced blocks from Judy H. I think it came out really cute.
The backing is solid red, though it doesn't look like it in these pictures, and I used a frog pantograph by Dave Hudson.
Pat put together this top with blocks from Sherry. There must have been a lot of blocks in this swap because I still have one more top with these blocks to quilt.
Oops, when I joined the backing fabric, some of the fish are swimming upside down!
I've been working on my pile-o-quilts that I have to quilt. This lovely quilt from Tove was already finished!
Sherry gave Pat and I so many blocks from a long ago swap she did. I put one together with appliqued blocks, and Pat has done a great job with these blocks.
I have two more tops made with these blocks to quilt that Pat put together.
This one, I put together with blocks from Yetta. I quilted it using a truck pantograph and am hoping some young boy will like it.
This is another quilt made from the Jacob's ladder blocks that Kathi E. gave us last year. I haven't even started quilting all the tops I got this year at the Phoenix retreat.
I used my new owls pantograph which I'll be using to quilt Pat's quilt, and wanted some practice. I love Judy Lyon's designs and have my eye on her new Egyptian inspired pantographs.
Yesterday morning the day dawned with clouds and the mountains were all cloaked in snow. We got a nice third of an inch of much needed rain.
I see a jellyfish in this cloud formation.
The snow is still there this morning, but clouds in in the eastern horizon made it another winter morning spectacle.
Pat and I sewed on Friday. She is nearly done with the baby quilt for her niece she started at the retreat in Phoenix. I love this quilt!
I finished quilting the two Hungry Caterpillar quilts Pat had put together. I used Lotsa Ladybugs, pantograph which worked well. I thought there was enough backing to do two more of the caterpillar quilts--but there wasn't, so I didn't have to feel guilty about not getting my two done from the fabrics Melody gave us!
I'm starting to get a stack of quilts to deliver to Dr. Kaufman.
Sunsets have been pretty spectacular as well, with this one a couple of days ago. I love our light shows, twice a day! We're sewing again today, so I better get.
I had a wonderful time in Phoenix at retreat again this year, although my knee was less than cooperative. I usually don't get a whole lot of sewing done, preferring to socialize more than sew. I also did some swimming and soaking in the hot tub.
I did finish my sweatshirt jacket, and Dale was good enough to put it on after I got home so I could get pictures of it. I put a band of black fabric across the bottom to give it some additional length.
My first shopping spree was Savers which is conveniently located to the hotel. I did find a great king size 100% cotton sheet, along with some black fabric that will make a good backing. It was priced $1.99, and I also found five yards of black flannel which had no price tag, and the cashier rung it up for $1.99 as well. Woo-hoo!
My next shopping was at IKEA! They had this canvas sturdy fabric with graphic apples--99 cents/yard. I bought five yards. I thought I'd make a picnic quilt, but then decided it would also be great to cover my ironing board as well. I also couldn't resist this wonderful graphic batik with circles and koi...five and a half yards for $20! Maybe I can talk daughter Jackie into it for the grandsons' bed quilts. If not I like it well enough for a quilt for me!
Then I hit the jackpot. Tove who is my birthday twin--same day and same year--took me shopping to SAS. I did pretty well last year at the SAS store near Pat's place. Tove took me to the store in Tempe, since she knew they had gotten a new shipment.
I now have a Kaffe Fassett stash along with some more batiks to add to my collection. I enjoyed getting it all washed and ironing it all, fondling each piece as I went along! I got it all for $3.99/yd. A couple of the batiks are extra wide--backings!!
I'm getting my sewing room back in order so I can get back to quilting. I came home with an abundance of tops for Dr. Kaufman thanks to all my generous friends at retreat. They'll keep me out of trouble for a long while. Dale replaced the original recessed fixture in my sewing room with this fixture. Why I didn't think to have him do this a long time ago, I don't know, but we now have some great LED bulbs in it as well. I like good lighting.
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!
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.
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.
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!
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!
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!
