Good news vs. Bad news

Last night I finished the applique on Birds of a Feather block #1. I still have to sew the pieced sections on and I'll post a picture. I started on block #2 last night.

Well, do you want the good news or the bad news first? LOL, I always hate it when someone says that! The good news is that my daughter, Joanna, and her husband, Brian, are going to be parents! Yes, that's right...she is PREGNANT! In about two weeks we will know if it is one or two babies.

The bad news is not so bad. Last Sunday we had a terrible windstorm and it knocked our back fence down. I know, it's not that bad but it was all I could think of!

So, just call me Grandma or something like that. I am soooooooo excited!

More goodies!

On Tuesday I had to take my husband to the airport. I always stop on the way home at one of my favorite quilt shops, Quilter's Dream in Colleyville, TX. They have redesigned their shop and have four rooms full of goodies! I had to buy some applique thread and picked up some straw needles. I found a really wonderful piece of fabric for a backing so I got six yards AND it was 40% off! I also bought a fat quarter and a 1/2 yard piece of baseball fabric for my SIL's quilt. Then as I was looking around I found a huge pile of strips for strip quilting. I want to jump on the bandwagon and make some of these blocks to donate. The three bags I bought were only $2.00 each.

I didn't post for WIP Wednesday because I am still working on my first block of Birds of a Feather. It's coming along slow but sure!

I hope you all have a quilt-y day!

Waiting patiently...

Annie has been on bed rest for almost 48 hours. She spent the day with me and we didn't do anything at all. Well, she didn't do anything but I was working on the first block of Birds Of A Feather. I have done the four birds on the side of the block and am currently appliqueing the urn.

So, tonight, I thought I would tell you about a quilt that I really love. It is hanging in my stairwell on an old garden rake. This quilt was inspired by Wednesday's Best, a pattern from Cheri Saffiote-Payne. My good friend Ty and I took a class at Quilter's Stash (LQS) shortly after I moved to this area. She made hers in purples and gave the quilt to her daughter. It was really pretty. I used reds, tans, golds for the flowers and greens for the stems. Totally scrappy. I'd like to say I was inspired by something wonderful but all I could think of was the red dirt (clay soil) that I stepped in everyday while building our house. So it came to be called Dirt Quilt and the name stuck. It's been hanging in my home for about six years. I machine pieced it and it is one of the few machine quilted quilts I've done.

Well, all this sitting around has worn me out! I've got to check blog lines for updates and then I'm off to bed! Goodnight...

P.S. - Last week my Mother was terribly sick. She thought she had the flu but then started questioning herself after she heard about the bad peanut butter. She checked her jar and sure enough she had the numbers starting with 211...I've just been thinking about all the flu going around and how many people do you think had food poisioning instead?

Today was the day!

Today my daughter and her husband had two embryos inserted. Yeah!!! If you would like to read about her adventures her blog is...

http://www.joannajensen.blogspot.com

Home Sweet Home block #2

I finally finished block #2 of Home Sweet Home. I made a couple of "mistakes" in this block! LOL! (I'm not telling where they are.) I think it turned out great!



This is Cloe (or is it Chloe?), my daughter is watching her while her parents are in Hawaii. She is only 8 weeks old. She's a West Highland Terrier (or maybe that's terror!) Talk about puppy breath!

The day the photo was taken my daughter had the procedure for egg retrieval (in vitro fertilization). Her right ovary was 'hiding' so they had to do a laproscopic retrieval which left her really sore. She was a real trooper though...she didn't take anything but Tylenol for the pain. Sunday morning is the embryo insertion. She has five excellent embryos!

Now I'm going to get to work on my next BOM. Have a great day and try to squeeze in some quilting! It'll do ya good!

Too Many BOMs!

On Tuesday of last week I had a doctor's appointment which is right around the corner from Joanns, so I couldn't pass up that opportunity. I bought a couple of books, a magazine and some fat quarters since they were on sale for 99 cents. I also bought a size N crochet hook to make rag rugs. I've never done that before and I have a ton of fabric to use up. When I got home my daughter was there with a surprise. She had brought Bruiser over to visit! He is one of her co-workers dogs and comes to work with her. He is so sweet and very little! As you can see he goes where he wants to!

I've been trying to catch up on my BOMs. I think I've over extended myself with too many BOMs! I'm doing Home Sweet Home, Birds of a Feather, Vintage Valentine (all hand applique) and Pieceful Nights (pieced). I'm also doing a quilt of the quarter, Feathered Star, with an online group (Folk Art Applique 2). I got this months applique blocks cut out but I need to buy a bias tape maker for 1/4". One of the blocks already had the bias pieces cut. I usually make bias for stems and such with bias bars. Oh well, another trip to the fabric store!

Those are two of the 5 Feathered Star applique blocks. The other picture is the fabric I'm using for the 8-pointed stars. I'm fusing the applique blocks because I just couldn't start another hand applique project. I don't know if I will buttonhole stitch the pieces by machine or just let the longarm quilter (Ty) stitch close to the edge of the pieces when she quilts the top.

Last but never least, are two lables I made for the Wuthering Heights quilt and Bobby's FSU graduation quilt.

It's pretty chilly here today. I'm going to spend the rest of the day in my quilting room!

Some things of interest...

First of all, another Vintage Valentine block. I finished this about a week ago and took it up to my quilt room and promptly forgot about it! These blocks are really turning out pretty. They are complicated though!

I also finished hand appliqueing the first block for Home Sweet Home. I'm so glad I took the machine quilting out.

Now before you think I've gone retro...this is an OLD UFO from the 90's. Do you remember Strips That Sizzle? I started this in a class. It is actually a quilt for my husband to celebrate his graduation from Florida State many years ago! I dug it out last week and made myself put it together. I'm appliqueing a label with the FSU logo complete with dates to put on the back. The only thing I have to decide is if I want to put some borders on it. I found fabric for the backing on line that has the Seminole Indian (school logo). I'll also use it as binding.

Last Tuesday two of my quilting friends came over to work on a project we'll be doing in October (a bazaar at church). Ty brought the latest quilt she quilted for me on her long arm. This is the Elizabeth pattern from Miss Rosie's Quilt Co. made with Wuthering Heights fabric. The backing is the pink coloration with the words from the book. I'll use the same to bind it.

Well that's it for me. I have to catch up on Pieceful Nights since I am three months behind on that BOM.