Pineapple Plans...

I signed up! Sager Creek Quilts in Siloam Springs, AR, is offering several new classes. I rarely have the time off from work to take classes, but they just so happen to be offering the Pineapple class (see below) this coming Saturday as well as next Friday. Mom is taking the same class next Friday with our friend Rosie from Rosie's Quilting World at http://quilter64.blogspot.com/. I wish they could have joined me in my class. I couldn't join them because I work during the week. Sigh.






Anyway, I decided to use batiks for this quilt, so I pulled out all of my batik fabrics so that I could start selecting. At least that was my plan. I eyed my shelf full of more than a hundred (literally!) batiks and decided to take them one stack at a time. Hours later I had a...  Well, I was going to say a nice tidy pile, but actually, what I had was a mess. With a cat on top. Of course.

I had so many lovely fabrics to choose from! There were purples in every hue, blues and pinks and peaches, too. I had dark greens for an earthy feel and a black border print with a touch of teal! There were reds and yellows if I was feeling hot and cooler tones if I was not. A stack of brown and some vivid orange, and... Oh. Shoot. Nothing rhymes with orange...

Oh well, enough waxing poetical. So what did I finally choose? Nothing that you see above, of course! I've been cutting fabric every evening after work this week, but I'm not going to show it to you yet. Primarily because I don't a photo of the fabrics with me at this time *grin*, but it'll be nice to show them to you in a nice cut pile.

I've always wanted to do a Pineapple quilt, but I haven't had to nerve to try until now. It's not that the block looks particularly difficult, but it does look time consuming! In case you haven't noticed, I have added another page to my blog -- my 2014 To-Do List. Must of it is carried over from 2013 (of course!). And from 2012. I'm not confessing anything before that. Actually though, I completed seven of the quilts that I had on my 2012 list and nine from my 2013 list. On top of those, I also finished several quilts that I started and finished in the same year, so they never made it to my To-Do List.

I already have three quilts on this year's list ready for quilting and one almost bound. It would be nice to check off some finishes early on this year. I need to add this appliqued flower quilt to this year's list though. I have it mostly done, but I'm still lacking three appliqued flowers and the pieced border. I wonder how many years this quilt will spend on my lists? : )

I've gotta go. I have a Dogwood board meeting, and since I now happen to be the guild president, I don't suppose it would look good if I played hooky. See ya later!

Deb

Happy New Year! Okay, so I'm a little late. : / In that case, I guess I'll have to wait another year to say Merry Christmas, huh? I think I also missed Trick or Treat? Okay, so I've been gone for a while - again. But I have a really good reason - quilting!

That's right. After three months of not being able to quilt after my foot surgery, I am now back in my sewing seat. In fact, I haven't been able to tear myself out of it! And I have gotten quite a bit done. Let me show you a little.

First of all, in December I got another of my Christmas quilts completely finished. Remember this one from the end of 2012? Since no one else in my family likes this one, I get to keep it. Yeah! It's actually my favorite of the Christmas quilts. I do love busy!

I also finished two baby quilts.

This one went to my wonderful nephew and his equally wonderful wife in New York. Their baby is due any day now. Actually, she was due on the fourth, but I don't want to put any pressure on the little momma. : )

The top picture is the front and the next is the back. The front has butterflies and the back has Tinkerbell. Since I had to mail the quilt in a hurry, I didn't get any close ups.

 

This second quilt is one I started several years ago, but I finally finished it! Dragonflies this time. Now I just need another niece to get pregnant, only this time with a boy. What's with all the baby girls in this family?

That brought me to a total of eight finishes on my To Do List for 2013. That's the good news. The bad news is that that is only one-third of my list done. And I've added more UFOs. Oops.

Speaking of UFOs, here is one for my 2014 list. It's only a UFO because I didn't get it bound last month. You might remember this quilt from Sager Creek's Stashbuster's meeting this summer. It's called Flying Birds, and I love the pattern. Here is the sample that Cliff made to show us.



I really tried to make one like this. I started looking for colors like the ones above. Nice, earthy colors. Nothing bright. Nothing weird. Then I found the fabric. Do you ever have a fabric just call your name? Loudly? Just begging you to use it? Oh. You don't. Well, in that case, neither did I. (Just kidding - I really did!)

 Here it is. Isn't it just fabulous? Yes, I know. Not exactly what I was supposed to be looking for. But when a fabric starts talking to me, I'm not brave enough to ignore it. ; )



I chose all of my colors with care - and yes, everything came out of my stash. No cheating and buying new fabric for this one!

The problem came when I tried to put it together. It insisted to sewing itself together in a completely different way than the pattern dictated.



Here are two very dear friends of mine at Stashbusters trying to figure out how this is the same pattern. It really is the same block. Can you see it? This quilt makes me smile. : )

Mom did a fantastic job quilting this for me, but it's currently languishing in my to-bind stack. I hope to get to it next week. I'll get pictures of the quilting when I get it finished. I asked her to quilt it in a happy, sunny way, and boy did she deliver! It has flowers and dragonflies all over it. Hurray!

I really need that warm, summer look right now with all of this snow. I was supposed to be back at school on Monday of this week, but so far I have only worked once - yesterday - and even then we were sent home at noon. I really need to go in tomorrow to prepare for the students, who start on Monday. Tomorrow is supposed to be okay weather wise. Not for my husband, though. His school is more rural and is out again tomorrow. He will be working make-up days far into the summer this year. Sigh.

So, what am I working on now? I have pictures! But it's bedtime already. You'll just have to wait. : ) Good night, and don't let the weather get you down. Smile, and keep on sewing!

Deb

A couple of finishes

I'm still down quite a bit after my foot surgery, but I get my stitches out this afternoon. Yeah!

I'm still on crutches for another three weeks and in the boot for another two months. My heel is raised right now, but I expect to have the wedge gradually reduced until my foot is flat again in the next couple of weeks. Soon, I should be able to get back to machine sewing. Yippee!


In the meantime, I finally finished binding another of my Christmas quilts. I'll have to take a photo of this with its new white binding. It turned out nicely. I still need to make and attach a label before I can call it finished. Maybe this weekend... At least it's done in time for Christmas this year. Only two more of the Christmas quilts to finish up. : )

 

 

And before my surgery I finished my Stashbusters quilt (photo below). My lovely neighbors took such fabulous care of my kitties, dogs, and chickens that I gave this quilt to them in thanks. I did not get a finished photo of it to show the beautiful black binding or the lovely quilting that Mom did on it, but I was in a hurry to get it to its new family. It was well received, so I hope it will be well loved and well used. 

Classes began again for me this morning, so I have to get back to work. Have a great day everyone!

Debbi

 

Airing of the Quils and more sad news...

It's May, and that means Airing of the Quilts time at my guild. I borrowed these three quilts back from my nieces and nephew and tossed them over the fence.

 

This bright red and blue quilt has a pillow cover built into the design. That's what happens when I run out of two of the fabrics and still have a lot of length to make up. : )

Here are a few other quilts that were being aired that day...

I have a lot more photos to share with you, of roses and museums, flowers and motorcycle riding kitties. But I'm still feeling a little off kilter right now. I'll post those a little later.


Now for the sad news...

As you may remember, we lost my little 17-year-old Butch on the 19th of this month, just four days before my silver wedding anniversary.

Well, two days ago we lost another friend. Please remember, we are not bad pet parents; we take in a lot of strays and abandoned furry friends. We do our best for them.

For a couple of months now I have been looking forward to introducing you to Teddy - our timeshare kitty. We don't know for sure if he had another family that he lived with part-time (he was definitely a  people lover), or if he was living the wandering life of the average tom kitty. We just know that he came and went as he pleased.

 

Mr. Ted showed up a couple of months ago swearing that he was starving. We quickly realized that this kitty could put away three full meals a day. Patting his side was like testing a pumpkin for ripeness. He thumped! He was also the only one of our kitties who actually liked belly rubs.

 

Two weeks a go I took Teddy to the vet for shots and "repair" (he got "fixed"). Even though he seemed to be on time-share with another family, he still spent weekends and many week day evenings with us. I was supposed to take him back this afternoon for his booster shots. Well, he took off for almost two weeks after his surgery, but showed up again last Thursday night. He spent every day and night with us after that. I took this photo of him reclining in "his" chair in our sun room on Monday, Memorial Day. He seemed very lethargic and felt rather hot, but my husband just thought he might not be a very active cat. Remember, he was still relatively new to our family.

 

Tuesday night after work, I got home and decided that something was most definitely wrong. I rushed him to the after-hours emergency pet clinic. There he was diagnosed with Bobcat Fever. He had a temperature of 106 degrees and was already anemic. Until very recently, this tick borne disease was considered always fatal. It still only has at best a 60 percent survival rate and requires hospitalization and full-time care during treatment. His case was far enough advanced that he would have needed a blood transfusion and a possibly lengthy hospital stay. He only had a 10-15 percent chance of recovery (possibly 20 percent in the best case scenario) and would have had to spend the rest of his life indoors if he recovered - not a problem for us, but Tedders loved being outdoors. Given Mr. Ted's condition, the vet recommended not trying. The progression of the disease is extremely painful, with little chance of recovery. I had to say goodbye to my new friend.

He shared such a short time with us, but we had grown very fond of him.

Goodbye, Teddy.

If you, like us, have never heard of Bobcat Fever, please do some research on it and see if it's in your area. The vet said that he sees 4-5 cases a week just at his clinic during the spring tick season. We will definitely be more vigilant now that we know. I just wish that we had heard of this before.

Give your furry babies kisses and tell them you love them.

I'll post a cheerier message later. Until then,

Debbi


The end is coming! The end is coming!

That's right. The end is coming. Next Friday, to be exact. Thank goodness! It can't come soon enough in my opinion.

No, no. No need to hide, Sinbad. Come on out of the cupboard. It's not the end of the world, silly. It's just the end of the semester.

I've been on my computer non-stop for the last month, but obviously not on my blog (sorry, Sis!). No, I've been getting ready for the end of one semester and the beginning of another. We finish with the spring semester on Friday, May 10, and begin the summer semester Monday, May 13. No rest for the wicked!

By the way, how is your weather? We're well into spring, but look what I woke up to this morning! Snow! The first snow in May in recorded history in my state.

 Above - My windshield from the outside.

My windshield from the inside.

 

 Now you see it...
 

Now you don't!
 

Mom's front yard.

 

I took this photo of grass seed heads last Sunday while out looking for morel mushrooms on a warm, sunny day.

 

Now I have snow petunias.

 

 And toasty warm kitties!

 

 

And if you promise not to tell my boss, I'll show you what else I was able to sneak in these last two weeks between grading papers. 



I made this block for my kit quilt.

 

 And this one.

 

And this one. I now have baker's dozen blocks finished. I need seven more before I can start with the sashing. I'm really liking it so far.

 

 I also managed to get the binding finished on this quilt.

 

 I still need to add a label, but then it's done! I like it!

 

 

And then there was this little project. Three weeks ago, my husband and I bought a new chick coop for the chicks. In came unassembled, of course. It rained every day for the first week, so we couldn't get out to build it. Two weeks ago, Mom came over, and she and I got this little baby together. We're the talented ones in the family with hammer and screw driver. Of course, it helped that this project was super simple to assemble. : )

 

 Isn't it cute? It has three access doors and a back hatch.

Peeking in the back hatch, we can see the two nest boxes. (At the bottom of the photo. You can see the divider in the bottom middle.) Later this season, when we have nesting hens, we'll put them in the coop to protect them and let the eggs hatch there. All we need is some straw to fluff up the nests.

 

 The chicks seem to have settled in quite nicely. Now the big chickens want their chance to get in!

 

And I'll end today's post with a preview of some upcoming photos. This was the Best of Show quilt at our local guild quilt show last month. It was made by around a dozen quilters (I forget how many exactly). They divided up a photo and each one made a section of it without showing it to the others. Then they sewed all the sections together.

 



 

The two photos below show some closer views. If you look closely, you can see the joins of the sections. The entire quilt is incredible. What a fun idea!

 

 

 

Oops. Two more photos - Below is my sweet, little baby quilt that won third place! Hurray! I finally got to mail it off to my new grand-niece. I got an e-mail yesterday saying that it had arrived safe and sound. Her mommy loved it. I'm so pleased. 

 

And lastly, Mom's second place win. An adorable baby quilt featuring baby bunnies. Congratulations again, Mom! Well deserved.

 

Next time I'll share some more photos from the show. There were some fabulous quilts there! And maybe I'll have another kit quilt block done...

 

Til then,

Debbi