Monday, December 15, 2008

Christmas Dinners

Last week was busy with three Christmas dinners to attend. Last Tuesday was the AQG Christmas Dinner. We had lots of good food. I took my usual deviled eggs. We had a tote bag exchange and I received a very cute tote.


On Thursday the Paradise Piecers had their dinner at the Fruit Jar Cafe. It was the first time I had eaten there. The food was pretty good, except I didn't care for their cat fish breaded with corn meal. The breading over powered the fish. I had the sampler meal with cat fish, steak strips, and chicken strips. The stake strips were good. I didn't get to try the chicken. I brought a doggy bag home and my daughter ate the leftovers when she got home from work. Guess she liked them, but she didn't care for the coating on the cat fish either.



We drew names and exchanged five fat quarters as our gifts. Sandy drew my name and gave me six very pretty fat quarters.



Here is a picture of our group. We also passed the crown to the new Queen Bee for 2009. That will be me. We all are taking turns being Queen Bee.




Friday, the Needle Turners went out to lunch. We had planned to go to Uncle Gus Dinner, but when we got there their power was out to the kitchen half of the restaurant. The strip mall they are in was having problems and every other unit was without power. We decided to go to Back Street Barbecue instead. It was good, but then I like barbecue and very seldom get to eat it, because Paul doesn't care for barbecue.


We exchanged gifts. I gave everyone an utility apron that I made. The girls seemed pleased with them. I got some cute gifts from them.


MaryBeth gave every one a batik FQ that she got on her trip to Alaska and some hand lotion.

Sandra made heart Christmas ornaments for every one.
Dot made everyone a cute little bag and put a FQ in it.


I think I made our very well this Christmas. I still have one more dinner. The EVQG is having a catered dinner tomorrow evening. I still have to get the seedless grapes to go with my gift. I've got the 1/2 yard of food fabric and the recipe for Waldorf Salad ready, just need the grapes to go with it.


I finished the X's and O's top. It turned out cute. I haven't taken a picture of it yet. I've got to make some curtains for Dora. She wants them lined. I've never lined any before, plus a valance too, all on a single rod. She has figured out how she wants me to do it. I'm just not in the mood. But it is her Christmas gift to her boyfriend. Curtains for his room. The curtains are a sheer black fabric with bats and the valance is a sheer black fabric with spider webs ad spiders. I don't do sheer fabrics very well. They are a pain it the ass to sew. I found that out many years ago when I used to make Dora's Halloween costumes.

Friday, December 5, 2008

Progress Made

Finally the T-shirt quilt is at the quilters. I'm so happy the top is put together.



I did take the star fabric out of the center block and use a smaller star print instead. I can't wait to get it back from the quilter so I can get the binding on and get it to my client. Hope she will like it.



I decided to play around with the letter blocks and have them on the design wall.


I did substitute the blue/floral set of four patch blocks in the 2nd row with a set of yellow/red print ones. The blue was too dark and now all the four patch blocks have yellow in them. When I noticed that, I had to rethink my sashing fabric. Originally I was going to use the yellow print in the picture for the sashing with green corner stones. Now that will be reversed and the yellow will also be the outer border. Hope I can start sewing this top together today.

Monday, December 1, 2008

Dreary in Georgia

This has been a cold dreary day with some sleet. It started raining Friday night and has been cold and rainy ever since. I'll be glad when winter is over.






I've managed to stay busy since the quilt show. Except while I took time out to be sick! I was making X's and O's blocks and LOVE blocks for a baby quilt when I decided to get sick.







These are 4" blocks. I still have some heart blocks to make. I found some hearts on the guild free table that I'm going use. I just need to frame around them to make them 4". Then I plan to throw in some left over four patch blocks and some crumb blocks and see what I come up with. Hope it turns out cute, I'm needing a baby quilt for a little girl.







November 10-14 EVQG had quilt camp all week at the civic center. I was just getting over being sick and was still really congested and short of breath. I managed to drag myself and all my stuff down there. As usual everyone had a good time. I didn't think to take my camera with me, so didn't get any pictures. I worked on a kit I bought last year at the East Cobb quilt show. The quilt is made from Kaffe Fassett's fabrics. I love his wild fabrics, but just don't know what to do with them. So decided a kit was safest.


This is Moonflowers from his Kaleidoscope of Quilts book. It was included in the kit. There was even enough fabric to do a pieced back. It is quilted, but I haven't had time to get the sleeve and binding on.



Sandra bought an older used Gammill long arm. She is having fun quilting on it. Of course it doesn't like me. She had me go over one day and quilt a community service quilt that I made. We both quilted on it and our quilting styles aren't the same. I've been afraid to look at. Needless to say it still needs the binding put on. Her long arm didn't do anything but give us trouble that day. Now that I'm not around, its been behaving beautifully for her.



I'm trying to make a T-shirt quilt for a customer. I've worried myself sick over it. It is a different lay out than any I've done before. Guess I have a preconceived notion of what a T-shirt quilt should look like and this one definitely doesn't look like it. Guess I've done so many of them that were nice and orderly 14" blocks with 2" sashing and corner stones, that I think all T-shirt quilts are supposed to look like that.


Well I do have 13x14 inch blocks, but in most of the blocks, I had to use two shirts. Than I had to fill in around them to get them to be 13x14. Instead of nice sashing with corner stones, I decided to frame around them log cabin style. I think it will look all right, except for the very middle block. I'm seriously thinking about taking the blue star fabric out and replacing it with a smaller star fabric. That fabric really stands out and three blocks in a row is just too much for me.


Friday, October 24, 2008

Catching Up

Time sure does fly by and I don't even remember what has been keeping me so busy. EVQG had their quilt show in September. We had a good turn out. The vendors complained they didn't make enough sales. Guess that was my fault. I was on a tight budget and limited my self to $20. I bought an utility apron pattern, a swirl stencil, and one fat quarter of oriental fabric. I guess others must have been on a budget too. Ours isn't a judged show, but we did do viewer's choice award. Venia Etta's grandmother's flower garden quilt won.




Venia Etta hand pieced and hand quilted this quilt.


This is the Challenge quilt display that I was in charge of. I took these pictures before it was decorated and forgot to take more pictures afterwards. So the table display looked at lot nicer for the show.


These are pictures of the silent auction items. Bev did a very nice job with setting it up. Every item sold.





I was excited about the apron pattern I bought at the quilt show and started making them right away. I got a little carried away and made 13 aprons. I'm giving them as Christmas gifts.


This is 12 of the aprons. I made this really cute one from a border print with baskets of apples, bird houses and crows. I was in such a hurry to give it to a friend, that I forgot to take a picture of it.






The last time I went to JoAnn's, I bought one of their "green bags". I decided to use it as a model and make shopping bags. I think I ended up making 10 bags in various sizes, including one very small one. I made some from denim and some from out door canvas that I had.

It sure is a lot nicer going to the grocery store now and not getting all those plastic bags. Plus, these bags hold the grocery so much better, hold more, and sit nicely on the back seat. The groceries don't fall out and they don't rip trying to get the bags into the house.






Our guest speaker Tuesday evening at the EVQG meeting was Bonnie Hunter. She also taught two classes for us. I didn't get to go to either class, but I did enjoy hearing her speak at the guild meeting. Dumb me forgot to take my camera, so I didn't get any pictures. She had her new book, but I didn't buy it. I'd already printed a lot of her patterns from her web-site. She showed us her latest mystery quilt. I hadn't been keeping up with her blog, so didn't realize she had done another mystery. So when I got home I printed it out and hope to start it soon. I also printed out the instructions for Tonya's Alphabet. I had some how missed seeing that on her site when I visited. I did so much printing, that I had to buy an new color ink cartridge. My little bitty tote bag was just the perfect size for running into staples for the ink cartridge.

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Canning

The garlic, basil, oregano tomatoes didn't happen. I decided to do Salsa instead. I've got more tomatoes, so will do them later this week when they are ripe enough. I did get 7 more pts. of spaghetti sauce canned yesterday and a good start on the salsa. I'll get it finished up today and canned.


I've got so much going on this week. I still need to finish setting up for the yard sale on Friday and Saturday. The ad will be in the paper this week. Sandra wants me to go to Adairsville with her Tuesday to look at tile for her kitchen. She already has the tile picked for the floor, but will have to purchase it. She decided to go with tile counter tops. The granite people didn't give her as good a deal as she had hoped.


I've got a roast in the crock pot for dinner, but still have to peel potatoes to go in with it. I'll do that as soon as I get my salsa in the canner.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

Four 'O Clock Renamed

This is my Four 'O clock plant, so named because they bloom at four in the afternoon. I've decided to rename it Six 'O clock, because it blooms somewhere between 5:30 and 6:00 p.m.



We had birds in our backyard yesterday. I think they escaped from my neighbor's yard. I don't know what they are, but they are good sized.

I wonder if they are raising them to eat, for the eggs, or just because they can. I wouldn't mind raising some hens for the eggs. I like the Road Island Reds. I don't mind brown eggs. They all eat the same.
I've got lots of tomatoes to do something with. Think I'll go through them and see which ones are ripe and need to be canned today. I think I'll try canning some diced tomatoes seasoned with oregano, basil and garlic.

Friday, August 1, 2008

Quilt Camp Pictures

We are having a lot of trouble with our cable service and I can only occasionally get on the Internet. The signal got so low, we couldn't even get TV reception. The cable co. sent a serviceman out yesterday and he ran a new line to the house. The old line had grown into a tree and the line was stretched. As near as I know the TV works, but I'm still having trouble with the Internet. I couldn't get on earlier today. We want to redo the lines in the house and see if that helps. Paul ordered a splitter box with 8 connections, so each TV and the cable modem will each have it's own line off the one splitter. If that doesn't work, guess I'll be calling the cable co again.



Here are pictures from quilt camp.
This is Kelly's Blooming 9-patch quilt. This picture doesn't do it justice. It is a gorgeous quilt. She used a lot of batiks and Kaffe Fassette type fabrics. There were several of us working on our blooming 9-patch quilts that week. They all turned out very pretty.

































































Judy did a Christmas table runner class. There was a good turn out for that. Here is the one I made.


I wish now that I would have used darker greens for the green ornament. I'll remember that next time.
I did more canning this week. Canned 8pts of dill pickles, 7pts bread and butter pickles, 8pts of hot sweet pepper mix and 5 pts of carrots. Everything sealed, except for 1 pt of carrots. I use them with our Sunday dinner.
Next week end we are going to hold our yard sale. The ad will run in next week's paper. We still have a lot to do to get things set up and priced. Maybe Dora and I can work on that this evening. I need to get things started for the stuffed bell peppers for tonight's supper.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

Catching Up

Time sure does fly by. I started a post on the 6th and got interrupted. I'm just now trying to get caught up on all the happenings this month. I got a really nice basket of fat quarters from AQG birthday club, lots of batiks.

I received more fat quarters from the girls in my bee. I haven't take a picture of them yet. I'll post a picture when I do.

Our Challenge quilts were also due this month. A lot of our members made quilts. I took pictures of most of them, but the lighting wasn't very good so the pictures didn't turn out well.








































These are the ones that the pictures turned out the best. All of the quilts turned out great. Wish I could have gotten better pictures.








I also took pictures of some of the quilts the ladies brought for show 'n tell.






This is Jan's mystery quilt.

























This is another quilt that Jan made.














This is Sandra's scrappy star quilt. It is a graduation gift for her oldest son.


















This is a quilt Phylis made.























So far I've canned 16 pts. of spaghetti sauce. There are still more tomatoes that aren't ripe yet. I want to try making some that is hot to use for chili. I may have to make dill pickles too. We have quite a few cucumbers. I've never done pickles. Paul planted more corn and green beans because they didn't do well the first time around. I want to can some beans and maybe freeze some corn on the cobb.




This week EVQG is holding quilt camp at the Civic Center. We've had a good turn out. Tomorrow is the last day. I almost have my blooming 9-patch together. Just one more seam to sew the two halves together and then I'm done with the top. I took pictures at quilt camp too, but they are still on the camera.

Sunday, July 6, 2008

Busy Week-end

My hubby has been very busy this week-end finishing our front porch. He painted the posts and railings Thursday. Friday I helped him paint the door and window frames. Yesterday we cleaned off the porch good and cleaned the Adirondack furniture. The furniture will be painted blue and the porch floor will be treated with a wood sealer with a wood tone stain added to it. He will do that today. The porch has to dry for at least 48 hrs. before we can use it. That part I do not like. We can't even go in and out the front door. It is inconvenient to use the back door. Our garage and parking is in the front. I'll take pictures when it is done.




Dora made me a birthday cake for my birthday. Actually she made it that evening and we ate some the next day.



It is supposed to be a bow on top, but the icing fell. It still turned out pretty.



I finished all the 9-patch blocks for the blooming 9-patch quilt and have it on the design wall.

Hopefully I can start sewing it together this week. I think it is looking OK. Dora likes it. I'd like to make a queen size one for my bed.

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

Happy Birthday To Me

Today is my birthday. I'm not getting any younger, so enough said.


Here is my new little kitten, Socks.

Isn't he adorable. I think he has been eating good. He doesn't feel like he's all skin and bones like he did when we first got him. The other animals haven't taken to him yet, but he doesn't seem to be afraid of them. He is faster than the dogs and so far Zoe just hisses at him.

This is Zoe. She thinks she's the Queen of the house. We've had her for 11 years. She still seems like a kitten to us.





This is Ivannah. We call her Ivan after "Ivan the Terrible". She is really a very good dog. Just out going and demanding, but very lovable. She is a joy. I don't think she likes having her picture taken. She looks scarred. Don't think she likes the flash.




This is Meiko. Her name fits. She is very timid and shy. Of course the quiet ones are the ones you have to watch. I think she would harm the kitty if she had a chance. She is very suspicious of him and jealous of him. She has big sad brown eyes that makes our hearts go out to her. She follows me around the house and is never far from where I'm at.
I hadn't taken any recent pictures of our pets, so thought I'd take pictures of them all while I was doing pictures of the new kitten.
56 more 9-patches to go. Maybe I will have time to work on them some today. First I want to sort through my quilt magazines and get them put on the shelf unit in my quilting studio. A start on shoveling out the living room. I still haven't finished the kitchen. One day I'll feel like doing it.
Paul brought in some green beans, tomatoes and jalapeno peppers from our garden last night. Think I'll cook the beans and slice the tomatoes to go with our meat loaf for tonight's supper.

Monday, June 30, 2008

Monday, Monday

I think it was the popup blocker that was keeping me from posting pictures yesterday.


This is the the finished Four Patch and Friends quilt.Here is Kevin with his quilt. He is on the right. My son is on the left. I hope Kevin likes the quilt. It is hard to believe he is going to be 17, he sure doesn't look it.

Dora took this picture of a pretty orange moth that was on the side of our house near the front door. It slept out there all day and then disappeared that evening and we haven't seen it again.