January 16, 2016

I have been binge reading.  My living room is sunny and I have a quilt and a comfortable chair that I love.  When the temperature is below zero, it is the perfect place to be. I have read 8 books in these first 16 days.  This is my first year that I didn't set some goals.  Nevertheless, I am committed to eating healthy and exercising.

I have finished the top of Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt, En Provence, inspired by her trip to France. I started on Friday, November 25,2016.  She revealed what it would look like on January 1, 2017.

I like it and used everything from my own fabric stash except for some lavenders that my friend, Marge Laferriere gave me.

I don't have a big enough space to lay it out to photograph it.  It's 90" x 90".  I bought 2 yards of fabric for the back with bicycles in a garden.  I will use other pieces from what is leftover from the front.

January 2, 2017

I always start the year out with a few blog posts and then they dwindle off as the year goes on.  We'll see how it all goes in 2017.  I  need a more efficient way of doing it all.  I want to spend less time on the computer and more time doing other things, so that is my excuse.

I started these cross stitch pictures many many years ago.  I bought the frames and suede mats when I was working at Deck the Walls, so I am thinking it was about 20 years ago.

This has been hanging on my living room wall off and on for the last 20 years.  I got it out for Christmas this year. It is called Angel of Freedom.

Angel of  Freedom

I have decided to finish its mate this year and have decided to keep track of my progress monthly as a motivator. These cold snowy days are perfect for working on it.  It look a great deal of time to find a hoop and needles to say nothing of the floss needed.  My floss is a huge tangled mess.  I started to organize it, but then quit because I don't see more hand cross stitch in my future.  I will continue to do hand stitching, but not cross stitch.   I will leave tat kind of embroidery to my embroidery machine.

One of the quilts I finished in 2016 is this split nine patch.  I tried some new things with the machine quilting and I am happy with it.  I had kind of forgotten until Mom came for Christmas and raved about it.

split nine patch

Bonnie Hunter's leaders and enders project for 2013-2014

I really admire people who can take such nice pictures of their quilts. I think I will try to improve my photo taking skills this year.  Once again another thing that will take time from my quilting.  :)  I will also try to take pictures of the things that I make, so I can look back at the year and see what I have accomplished.  I tried a spreadsheet like some of the ladies on stashbusters, but once again I was spending more time documenting my progress than making progress.

I did get another quilt top done.  I used some of Auntie Louie's fabrics along with my own.  It is called Aunt Gracie's Garden from Love of Quilting.

I bought a new machine from Craigslist.  It is a singer 99-13.  I paid $50.  What I like is that it is in a cabinet.  It has a knee control and no foot control which takes a bit to get accustomed to.

http://www.victorianaquiltdesigns.com/VictorianaQuilters/BlockoftheMonth/VintageHankieButterflyBlockTutorial.htm

This is a quilt tutorial for using those vintage hankies.  I have some of my own from early teaching years and some from my Aunt Louie.

Here is a sample from the Oregon Quilt Show.  No mention was made of the quilter.

2016 Finishes

Finishes for 2016.

I started this in 2008.  It is taken from the book, An Updated Supplement to Sulky's Secrets to Successful Stabilizing,  I had to take off a border I had around it in order to get it to lay flat.  The squares around are more heavily quilted.  I couldn't make the square smaller because some of the tree limbs are stitched on it. Here is the poem written by Patience Strong (aka Winifred Emma May)

If you stand very still
by Patience Strong


If you stand very still in the heart of a wood
you will hear many wonderful things-
the snap of a twig, the wind in the trees,
and the whirr of invisible wings.


If you stand very still in the turmoil of life
and wait for the voice from within-
you'll be led down the quiet ways of wisdom and peace
If you stand very still and you hold to your faith
in a mad world of chaos and din.

you will get all the help that you ask.
You will draw from the silence the things you need
-hope and courage, and strength for you task.

Finally, this is done,  Entwined by Evelyn Sloppy.

Narragansett Blues by Bonnie Hunter from her book More Adventures with Leaders and Enders.  I did use 2.5 inch squares and adjusted the rectangles.  It ended up too big then so I couldn't do her spiffy border. I did use blue and green for the bigger pieces.  This started out for Cindy, but then I gave her a different one instead,

My friend, Betty, died on Sunday, January 31.  She had Alzheimers, so I have been missing my good friend for the past couple of years.

I finished the Allietare top.

I was ready to start machine quilting some of the tops I have ready.  I watched a Leah Day you tube video and picking thread. She suggests you practice quilting on a practice block.  I couldn't find any of the green I used, but I did have a 1.5 strip in my bin, so I pieced it together.

These are all 30 weight varigated sulky.  I wasn't crazy about any of them, so I looked at the blue and neutral quilt on my wall, and decided I liked just plain neutral thread.

I have an additional table set up behind my sewing machine table and Gabe can't get in.

2015

I bought a new rug at Montana Lumber Liquidators.  It is bigger than my old one, but very similar in color.  It is 10.5 x 15.  Gabe is finding the thicker rug very comfortable.  He is worn out from trying to help by sitting on chairs and the couch as I was trying to move them.

Here is a quilt from the past when my sewing room was in my bedroom and I had four foster children.  This is Sunny, my first wire haired fox terrier, enjoying herself on my Tulip Log Cabin.  I made this quilt with others on line from a yahoo group called IQ.  They people from that group were my adult social outlet at the time.