..... QUILTING FOREVER, HOUSEWORK WHENEVER .....

Thursday, April 30, 2009

Fur-girls, Kennels, and Raffle Quilt...

Last night when bedding my fir-girls down for the night, I thought "I should share this" with you gals... Cause I know some are dog lovers... 8-)

Since getting Ruby (left), it took a while for her to cooperate to go into her kennel for the night without catching her and pushing her in
...
Eventually she caught on, but it took a wee bit of verbal
coaxing. Not much though, but I would have to wait 15-20 seconds till she was ready... and in she went.
It was good! I was happy with that! 8-)
Now Dora on the other hand, is very good at going into her kennel when told, for bed and for when we go out for a while...

About 2 weeks ago Dora started getting Ruby into her kennel when I sa
id "into your beds". Well, the last 2 nights I didn't say anything. After they did their evening business, they would go to the kennel area in our hall (routine right?), cause they know it is time. Then I open the kennels, Ruby would wander off a bit, and Dora would round her up and into the kennels they would both go! I think its great! 8-)

Dora used to be the messenger to our other pug,
Kasza, that we had before Ruby. She was blind in one eye, and fully deaf (since we got her at 3 months). We got Dora 2 years later, and she soon learned that Kasza was "special". Dora would notify Kasza about everything that was going on. If the doorbell rang, if the kids walked in from school, if one of my parents came down from their level, etc.
Kasza's hearing/eye dog, was Dora... 8-)

OK! That is enough about the Fur-G
irls!


A few of our Country Rose gals went to the school (where we gather monthly) by request of the Parent Committee that was running the raffle of the quilt that we donated to the school. Tonight was the draw night, and they wanted us to make the draw, which we were most happy to do... 8-)

Some of you have seen this quilt already, but a lot of you haven't, thus I post the photos again... 8-)
This pattern is cal
led Path Through the Pines, from the book Plentiful Possibilities, by Lynda Milligan and Nancy Smith.
We each wanted to win it of course... 8-)They raise just about $2,200 in raffle money, to go towards new play structures for the children at the school... 8-)

Now, back to packing and getting ready to leave by noon tomorrow as I have some steam-a-seam and stabilizer to buy before heading out of town for the retreat!

I have some pre-scheduled posts that will pop up throughout the weekend...
You won't want to miss one for sure! 8-)

Take care all! 8-)

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Small Sew and Tell...

Second post today! I have too much to say sometimes... or maybe all the time... 8-/

I think it was a Dk night tonight! 8-)
No Sew & Tell from anyone else?!
Dk is fairly new to our group, and has been down south all winter, so she has a lot she can bring in to show us... 8-)
Love this first one!
This one (bargello) shocked me as I had seek it earlier in the week on someone's blog, but took a while to recall who's blog. Quilt Pixie's!!! She had posted it on Monday... Seen at a quilt show over the weekend. You should see the Log Cabin photo she posted from the show today! WOW!

Anyway, this lovely was made by Dk. She found the pattern in the States...
The name of it escapes me right now...?...
Isn't it wonderful!?!
Something I am going to have to try at some point! 8-)
Here is a Kitty Cat quilt top that Dk whipped up! A baby sized quilt... Very colorful! Great for a little one! 8-)
This is the pattern I mentioned in my previous post...
DK opted to do a simpler inner border, as opposed to the picket fences in the pattern...


Now, Kh, where were you tonight!?! We missed you! 8-)
I was expecting to see your April finish in person tonight...

Two sleeps till the retreat! Woohoo!

Well, the sun was shining earlier today!

Current temp here is 15*C. Yesterday, and this morning, the sun was out for the most part, but now it has clouded over. I sure hope we are not going to get the snow the the folks north-west of us got yesterday. Only 4-5 hour drive away! 8-(

The buds are opening on our Shubert Chokecherry tree now (branches right), as is the neighbors (branches left). I think our tree was a sucker from his tree...
I love the trees, but not all the suckers!


I am getting organized for my retreat weekend. I think it is time to get those HST blocks all put together. I was going to put it together like a photo that Annemiek sent me, but for the life of me can't find it in my comp anywhere!!! Grrrrr..... I was waiting for ink to print it, and now I have spent too much time looking for it, so, I played around with the blocks a bit, and think that I like this one! Looks like spools... Here and here are the other layouts I played around with... 8-)

Edit: Just in! As soon as I published this post I went and checked my emails, and Dear Darling Annemiek resent the photo for me after I had emailed her earlier!!! I printed it right away quick before I lost it... again!!!
What a Sweetheart hey!?! 8-)
Thanks Annemiek!!!
Now what to do? Figure out her photo for the blocks, or go with the new layout!?! 8-/

I got my cuts all ready to put together in to Cat blocks for one of our quilting friend Jc. Her close friend suffered a home fire while she was gone on holidays, thus has nothing. So, Jc rallied us around to each make some blocks to get this quilt put together... Fun stuff! 8-)
I also have a few other things put aside to bring along... 8-)

Tis a quilt gathering night tonight!
Maybe some show & tell tomorrow?!



Tuesday, April 28, 2009

New display wall...

First, I thank you all for your lovely comments about my Gazebo stitchery... I had fun doing it. 8-)

Nothing fancy, just
a flannel sheet and some Ladybug pushpins (tacks). Washed the sheet last week, boy I could not believe then amount of fluff that came off in the drier!!! I can't imagine what a raggy quilt will loose in there! Wow!

I tacked up the sheet this morning... "loaded" it up with a couple of pieces just to check that they will indeed stay "stuck" for the day as I go by and such... It is a much bigger wall than what I had to work with before... Now it is floor to ceiling, and about 6 feet wide... 8-)

Here are my little beggers, wanting some of my peanut-butter and banana sandwich this morning... they ALWAYS think I should share with them... Naughty little fur-girls... 8-)

What spoiled little girls they are too... Look at the great window seating they have right under my sewing table... Even better now with the window open, cause then they "hear" everything going on out there! They especially go nuts when a rabbit comes under window... brats!

Three more sleeps till our May Retreat! I best stay away from the comp for the rest of the day to get my projects picked, readied, and packed up... Nothing like leaving things till the last minute! 8-)

I hope you are all having some lovely weather, but not too lovely that you aren't getting to your UFOs, PhDs, WISPs done... Mind you, handwork can easily be done out on the deck, in a comfy chair, under an umbrella, out of the wind (a must), with a nice cup of icetea to top it off! 8-)

A Giveaway & Shabby Roses BOM...

Jenny, from the blog Elefantz, has shared her first 2 wonderful Shabby Roses blocks with us, and has decided to continue on with it as a BOM starting on May 1st, with a new block each month, on the 1st, till December. She is one creative lady, so check it out!

While you are there to check out her BOM, look for her giveaway. If you comment there, please tell her Myra sent ya!
8-)

Inklingo Giveaway...

Catching up on a few blogs this morning I found that Cathi posted about an inklingo giveaway of kits. If you've never been to Cathi's blog check out the inklingo projects that she makes. Winning one of the kits would be a nice trial run with this method. They have some wonderful projects posted there!

Click on the logo it will take you to the blog where the info for the giveaway and kits are listed. 8-)

Good luck!

Monday, April 27, 2009

Finished the "Gazebo Goodness" stitchery...

This is the wonderful photo I found on Brenda's blog one day.
(posted here with her permission)
I thought "wow! What a great photo! That would make an
awesome stitchery!"Don't know what I was thinking there, as I really am not one for stitchery often... 8-)
Love stitchery though, and I always have the best of intentions when I save all the lovely patterns that you, my blogging friends, share... 8-)
Don't look too close at mine... 8-)

So this was my rough draft that I had emailed to Brenda, as she loves sketchings and such... I thought she would get a kick out of it....and then she went a posted it on her blog for all the world to see!!! Yikes! 8-)

Then I thought, "Now I have to do something with it!"
Thus I drew out a good draft of the gazebo...

Once done the good draft, I traced it onto my fabric, and as I stitched, I did do some changes, so you may see some markings on the fabric that is not stitched. It will come out in the wash....
I think I may have gone into a little tooooooo much of the photo detailing... for a stitchery, and I may draw up a simpler one yet. But, it is none the less done, I think, and now I will decide what to do with it. I have found some other lovely photos on some of your blogs that may get drawn and stitched to accompany this gazebo... 8-)

I will share the pattern, if someone can tell me what route is best to do that... and if anyone is interested... Maybe email? 8-)

Thanks for the lovely photo/inspiration Brenda! 8-)

___________________________________

You've got to go and check out Geta Grama's Quilt Studio Blog! She has wonderful eye candy and very different quilty creations... Well, at least I've never seen the likes of it! Wonderful works of art! 8-)

Another thing to check out is this (April 27th post) lovely table topper that Tere received from a friend. It's awesome! Never seen the likes of this either! Lucky Tere! 8-)

Saturday, April 25, 2009

Sunny Saturday...

Here is the only show and tell from our Wednesday night gathering... Pattern "Rosebud Lane" by Arlene Stamper and Melissa Harris - The Quilt Company... Dk made it during a BOM a while back. She was hand-sewing the binding down that night... Isn't it lovely!?! 8-)
And here is another peek at the Gazebo Stitchery... It seems to be more slow going than I had expected... Just about done and ready to show though... 8-)

DH and I went to a wedding social for his cousin's daughter last night. (and shock of all shocks my DH actually danced with me!!! A few times! Yahoo!) It was great seeing his side of the family again. Since we lost DH's parents we haven't see too much of his extended family... It will be even nicer when we see them all at "the wedding" in September... 8-)

Off to do some more stitching...

Later...

Thursday, April 23, 2009

What a happy find! 8-)

I dropped by my parent's last night to pick up the "family" photo albums that I haven't looked through for decades!!! I plan to make a slide show of photos to show at their 50th anniversary this coming August. I was so enjoying looking through a bunch of the albums when I came across this photo. I didn't even know such a photo existed! Little Myra with her ringlets and little pink sewing machine!!! 8-) I think I would have been about 5 or 6 years old at the time... Happy! Happy! 8-)

I think I was making holes in paper there... Crank sewing... lol! [Edit: Oh my gosh! I just noticed my little white and red swing basket/box sitting on the table beside me! I still have it! I never realized I've had it since that long ago! I mean, I know I got it as a kid, but that is like...?... 44 years ago now!!!] Anyone recognize that black tube box on the table beside me? We used to keep our little plastic building blocks in it...

Oh boy do I have some catching up to do! I've been out and about, and busy with my stitchery this week! I haven't had time to check in on my blogging friends! Tomorrow morning I'll finally have some time! 8-)

I don't have much show and tell from the last 2 days, but a bit...

Pg's minitures...
...and her Mile-a-Minute fun...
Kh (QGB), and friend Yn came out to our Wonky Bits group today. We always enjoy their rare visits! This is Kh's applique prepping she was doing today...
This is Jb's first experience with hand piecing (hexagons). I believe they are to be hot-pads...
And these 2 wonderful items are Yn's! I know what to ask for for Mother's Day or my Birthday now! Yes, yes, yes! 8-)










Back to my stitchings!

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

New home for the Tegu Lizards & stitchery...

DH finished up the new terrarium for DD2's Tegu Lizards. We moved it over to her apartment last night. DD1 suggested the huge thing go in DD2's bedroom instead of the living-room this time... and there it sits now, on her desk...

Hagrid and Severus were checking out the "twice the space" they have now... Happy crawlies they will be I think! DD2 is quite happy with it! 8-)

I'm showing you something gross here, for those that those that think Pugs are cute and are thinking of getting one. This is what you will have to deal with... worse now because of it being spring, but they do shed all year... This dry mop of fur is from one day in the sewing room with my fur-girls... It really shows on the hardwood floor. Needless to say, I dry mop it everyday... Vacuuming the carpets more often right now is a definite must too, but not near as bad now as when I had my computer in the living-room... So, think twice before you go and get your darling Pug... 8-)

Here is another peak, though blurry, at my Gazebo stitchery... It is going pretty good, though I am thinking I have things too bunched up together in the photo/pattern. Not being an avid stitchery crafter, I don't have a clue as to how close/sparse to place everything... You'll see by weeks end. 8-)

Tonight is a Cres Club Quilt night, so hopefully I will have some sew/show and tell for you. Charging up the camera battery as we speak... type! Wonky Bits gathering tomorrow too! 8-)

Enjoy your day!

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Blocks 11 & 12

Block 11 - The Squirrel
Block 12 - The Road Home...
The story behind my making this quilt...in case you haven't read it already...

And that is the end of my "Many Thanks" blocks...
I will show the whole quilt one day when it is fully hand quilted... 8-)

Here is a sneak peak of the Gazebo. Sketch done, and stitching started. I am not the greatest with stitchery, but I'm giving it my best shot this week! Deviating though from my other projects with the excitement of creating this, but it will be something new to work on at my 2 quilt gatherings this week! I am hoping to have it done this week... 8-)

Another wonderful sunny day here today... well, so far. I really should get my butt in gear and get out there with the fur-girls soon...