I LOVE the rain!

Besides, aren't rainy days just the best days to hunker down in the sewing room and get to stitchin'? I think it's the perfect excuse to relax and hang out. It even keeps my husband off the golf course, which is a welcome change. Not that I'm complaining about his golf because that doesn't bother me at all. Just saying it's nice to have him home. We rented a couple of videos yesterday and hung out in front of the fire. Nice...

I suspect there's lots of this type of activity going on all over at least the West Coast of the US. We really need the rain, so it is a blessing in many ways!

So far this weekend, I've been able to finish up 3 DJ blocks that were in process. This first one, hot off the sewing machine, has been one that has stumbled me up for awhile and even kept me from even working on this project for awhile! It is I-12, called Fred's Square Fair, has 41 pieces and is paper and regular pieced. Not a bit of applique on this one for a change! Sooooo, happy to have this one done!

This one is J8, Anna's Anchor, has 22 pieces and was machine pieced with a bit of applique. These last 2 are finished, but definitely not perfect!

This last one was made from fabric recently given to me by my friend, Loris. It is called Pam's Bells, is paper and regular pieced with a bit of applique (shock)! I think it's a sweet little block and I will always think of my dear friend when I look at it! Oh, just for the record, it has 21 pieces.

 

Now it's time for just a bit of wine tasting. I'll tell you more about that later!

Have a great day!

Working on the final stitches of my Christmas quilt!

These are the blocks that I made most of last year. They are Gail Pan's designs and the setting I stole from my BFF Rana. I'm mostly happy with it. Feel like I've been quilting this thing forever!

Once I make it through the holidays, it's back to getting some Jane blocks done!

2 Posts in 1 Day? This is worth it!!

I had to share this video. They showed it in church this morning and it is so powerful! Watch and enjoy and know the power of Jesus!

Christmas is on it's way!

Hallelujah Chorus!!

I can't figure out how to make music play on my blog when you open it. So, hit the link above when you get here. And if you know how I can do that on blogspot, please direct me to the directions if you would!


Anyway, Christmas is almost here and will be here before you know it! One of my goals for today is to take down the Fall decorations and get Christmas 'up'. The carols have already been playing for weeks in this house. Love it this year. I'm so much more in the mood this year...for obvious reasons. Last year I had my second to last chemo at the very beginning of December and the last one was on 12/23. I so wanted to get it over with! And now all that is behind me. Queue the Hallelujah Chorus again!

In terms of sewing, I've had a rather productive weekend. On Friday Loris and I got together for a sewing day. So great! I just love to sit with some of my favorite people and sew all day! Here's what's been going on in the sewing room for me....

First, is 2 completed pillow cases for a couple of my great-nieces. These are obviously for the Valentine's 'season.'

This little diddy is a Christmas gift for someone who doesn't read my blog. It measures about 19" across. So it's pretty small, but would be good on a small end table or similar.

 I've worked on a few DJ blocks, but most of them seem to have applique on them. This is the only  one I've completely finished so far. I really need to get back to doing a few triangles. I'm at a point now where I need to do a triangle for every couple of blocks.

Here is an update on my DJ design wall.... I chopped off the top (which is completely done), but you get the picture. The right side has 3 triangles undone as of now. Actually, it should only be 2, but one of them went missing! I kept hoping it would show up since it was easily a couple of hours of work, but it's been missing for over a year. Guess I just need to suck it up and remake it! Anyway, here's the pic...

 

I'm going to leave you with this picture I just found while looking through my files...It's my sister, Betsy, busy quilting in her sewing room. Isn't that a neat looking room?

By the way, can you find the little mistake in that cute quilt hanging behind her?

Okay, that's it for now. Must go get ready for church. Hope to quilt a holiday quilt made last year today too! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

My Second Finish This Year

But a finish nonetheless! Sorry, the picture is a little blurry.  I wish I could say I made this whole darling quilt, but would never take credit for the wonderful things my quilting friends did for me! This was my progressive quilt from last year made by my quilt group. I started with the Mariner's Compass in the center. I just think it came out so great and it's great to have this baby hanging in my living room finally!

This is the only DJ block I've finished in a while, but I'm hoping to do more this weekend. Again, blurry photo. (I'm sure it's the camera and not the operator!)

Currently, I'm working on Christmas presents. How fun these pillowcases are! I'm making these for my great nieces and nephews. It's so fun to make something that comes together so quickly!

Hope you are getting your Christmas gifts done too!

Some recent DJ blocks

Here's what I've been up to the past couple of weeks...

The first one is called Jacob's Windmill, was completely machine stitched (for a change) and has 13 pieces.

 
This next little one, took me a while to get done. It was just not a fun one for me to applique and has hung around undone for months, so it's very good to have her done! This is J10, Chieko's Calla Lily, was machine pieced and hand appliqued with 21 pieces.

 This was a fun and easy one called Granny Weaver (J6), was completely machine stitched again and has 25 pieces.

This last one was also easy. It's J7, Chicken Tracks and has 40 pieces and once again is completely machine stitched. This row has quite a few easy ones. I think row M makes up for that! I have about 19 triangles and 35 blocks left to do, which surprisingly puts me at about 75% done with this quilt. I've been working on it off and on for almost exactly 3 years. Next time I'll show you the progress on the design wall....

I've got a few more blocks prepped to applique, but they are side-lined for the moment. The next project is hand stitching down the binding on a quilt that was otherwise just finished today. Then it's to work on a progressive project due a week from tomorrow. I love being able to sew! Just wish there was more time for it!

Finally, a Finish!

This is the little table topper I showed you pieces of a couple of months ago. I finally got it done this last week and it is my first finish all year! It feels so good to get something done and it's got me motivated to keep up the good work! Yesterday I made a block for a quilt that my friendship group is making for an injured soldier.

Just a qualifier here, all I did was sew the pieces together. My friend Le did the dirty work of planning and cutting all the pieces. I can't wait to see what the quilt looks like when it's done!

Yesterday, I also worked on putting the rest of my French Country place mat tops together. Next, I will layer and quilt them, which should go quickly as these will be turned inside-out rather than binding, so that *should* make things go quickly!

Lastly, I started quilting this baby...

It has changed somewhat since this picture was taken in that I added corners to it. This was a progressive that was made by my friendship group (wouldn't you love to have friends like this?). I started with the center compass and all the rest was done by them! I really want to hang this pretty thing, so it really needs corners. Hopefully, soon I will be able to show you another finish! Oh boy, it feels good to be back in the sewing room!

Sewing with Good Friends!

I've decided that one of the best ways to spend a day is sewing with friends. I have been fortunate to do just that the last 2 Saturdays! Last Saturday, I got to go visit at Loris' house and see her wonderful sewing set up! This girl is spoiled, but I think she is fully aware of that fact!! Here are pictures of Loris and Rana taken from that day.

Now, I KNOW that our Loris is shy, but I just had to share this photo of her modeling her recently crocheted hat. Isn't she darling?? And not just on the outside, but on the inside too!

Speaking of darling....here is a sweet photo of Rana! I was having such a difficult day that day and I just thank the Lord for these 2 wonderful friends of mine! They just got me through in a way that was just so healing. Thanks girls for everything! I love you both!

So yesterday, Rana and I got to sew together again at the Mariner's Compass workshop we attended at our guild. It was fun and we both got lots done on our own little blocks. Can't wait to share that with you@

I'm about to go hit the sewing room to do some actual quilting, but wanted to share a photo of this little embroidery project I recently finished. It is a pattern from Kathy Schmitz. These are such enjoyable stitcheries! It took me a while to complete, but I loved every minute I worked on it! I hope the person I gave it to loves it as much as I loved working on it.

 

Okay, I'm really going to go stitch now! Hope to have something to share soon!

Melanie

Happy Independence Day!!!

Every year on the 4th of July a local drilling company hoists this giant US flag into the air right along the freeway in our little town. My DH ran down this morning and shot this photo right after the fog cleared. What a gorgeous day! God Bless America and may America Bless God!

So, chores are done and I'm headed down to the sewing room for the first time in quite some time! Love it!

Melanie

Tiny New York Beauties!

This is the project I worked on for a bit yesterday. In my little friendship group, we are each making our own little shnibbles quilt. It starts with the 4- 8.5" Churndash blocks you see here and then that's where the creativity begins! Since I chose a red, white and blue theme, I wasn't sure where to go with my setting blocks. Some options were embroidery or applique, but nothing came to mind for me. NYB blocks have been a real attraction for me lately, so I'm trying my hand at them. This was a free pattern I found online that was about 3 times the size, so I just shrunk it down and this is where it's going. I'm not at all sure at this point that it's going to work, but I sure hope it does since it has involved at least a couple of hours of work play.

Lot's to do in the sewing room today....!

Road Trip

Okay, well not exactly. I shunned church today in favor of meeting with a nutritionist in Santa Barbara at noon. I was shocked when she offered a Sunday appointment, but it allowed me to meet with her without missing more work. Lord knows, I've missed plenty of that! So, I took the pleasant and scenic 1.75 hour trip down the beautiful central California coast at 8:00 am this morning. I met my sister, Priscilla, at Stearn's Wharf and we had a lovely Sunday breakfast at Moby Dick. We had a nice table at the back of the restaurant which was closest to the end of the wharf and so we were farther out in the ocean. Got to see some porpoise, sail boats, birds and saw lots of people out rowing in boats (the competition kind). It was nice. Then we eventually headed over to the nutritionist who enlightened me about a few things and has put me on a program. It's a very interesting one. Leave it to say that veggies and I are going to be getting to know one another much better!

So all that and no sewing today! That's okay. I hope to do more in the next few weeks. Here is a photo of the place mats I've been working on making with the French Provincial prints. Just a little something for you to look at...

As I'm sure you can tell, you take a large rectangle and cut it up and put 1" strips in between them. I got the idea from Quilter's World magazine. It's the second place mat idea I've used from that magazine. Why is it that I never just sit down and work on one project? If I did, these might be done by now. As it is, they still need batting, backing and a quick quilt! Soon I hope!

Hope you have a blessed week!
Melanie

Strings!!!

I finally just got all my scraps sorted by color! I was surprised at just how long this took. And how many threads you begin to carry around on your clothes in the process! Now I need to decide on just what color to make my first string quilt! My little friendship group is going to get together a week from Monday to work on string quilts. I think it will be the first for many of us. The green pile is easily the largest. I'm contemplating either green/yellow or red/blue. What do you think??

Back in the Sewing Room and Loving it!

Wow, it's been a really long time. Frankly, I just didn't have much to share so haven't posted. I've been working mostly on embroidery items, one of which I've already shown you and another that I can't show you because it's for my BFF's birthday. Finally, this weekend, I got back to the sewing room and have been working on a few things. It's been so long and it felt so good to be back at it!

I recently joined my first swap. It's from Quilting Gallery and is an embroidery swap. Here's what mine looks like so far.

The dark outer border makes it look too dark, I think. I was trying to go for something lighter and springy, so I will probably change something here before I'm done. Luckily, I've got it mostly done well ahead of the May 25 deadline!

 Also got a VERY easy DJ block done. Well, I just HAD to get SOMETHING done on this project. It's been positively ignored for a couple months. And to think at the beginning of the year I had grand plans to be done by June! I'll have to rethink my schedule for that. Still want to have it done and to the quilter by the end of the year. Anyhoo, here is the block:

I think it is J4, it has 7 pieces and was paper and regular pieced. Voila!

Here are 2 that are prepped for applique, but not yet done. 

Lastly, I'll show you these French Provincial fabrics that I think are perfectly gorgeous! I am well aware that not all people are fond of these prints, but they really do something for me! I'll show you soon the project I'm making with them. It is fun and simple!

I sure hope this finds everyone out there in blogland happy and healthy, oh, and sewing up a storm!

Melanie

Trying to Pull Things Together

Things are getting more organized here, but not quite enough for my liking! The positively excellent news is that the sewing room is more or less back in order. There are, of course, a few lingering items such as paint touch up and a new chair needed, but I can certainly get to work down there if I could only find the time!

The only thing I've worked on much in the past couple of weeks is this new project by Liberty Homestead that my sister and I picked up when we went to Road to California a couple of years ago. At the time, I purchased a fantastic book from them that was a compilation of some of their most popular patterns over their 25 years in business. I swear I could make every quilt in that book! It was worth every penny.  Anyway, the project we are doing has 17 blocks of embroidery and felt applique, which is new to me. At first I thought I would applique in like colors and do the centers including the french knots all in yellow and here's what I got:

It's cute enough and I actually really liked it until I decided to use some contrasting threads instead. Here's what I got with that:

 

 

  

I think they sparkle with the contrast, don't you?

Sure hope to get more sewing done soon. But first are taxes and other boring paperwork and painting at the OFFICE! 

Hope you are getting something creative squeezed into your life!

Melanie

Blocks from a Couple of Weeks Ago

The sewing room is still not together. My sister and her hubby left around noon today. DH put the second coat of stain on my sewing room table this morning. Next will be to start putting on the clear coats, so I'm hoping to have the room done by next weekend. That's 3 weeks of not having a sewing room which puts me way behind in my schedule. It will be nice to have it all done though. 

These 2 blocks are ones I did a couple of weeks ago, but couldn't get them trimmed down until today. Got down on the floor where the cutting mat is and whacked away! The first one here is J3, called Rick's Volleyball. It is appliqued and paper pieced and has 14 pieces. In case you are wondering, the points of the inside square are intentionally chopped off per the pattern.

The next one is LS 13 called, Watermelon (why did i make that in yellow?), is paper pieced and appliqued. It has 22 pieces.

It's time to go sort out my office and see what progress I can make on that front. Feels like so much sorting, cleaning, tossing and such is going on around here. Just seems to dig up things I'm not sure what to do with! 

Hope you are having a creative and enjoyable Sunday afternoon!

Melanie

Adjusting

Life has been pretty hectic compared to sleeping in every day I wanted to and taking my time to do whatever I wanted. But that's not real life for most folks and it shouldn't be that way for me either! Even though I work at a desk job all day, it's suprising what a lack of energy I have in the evenings to do much of anything. I'd like to be able to blame that somehow on the cancer treatments, but I really can't. It's just life or at least my life.

The whole new-carpet thing was and continues to be quite an event. Some of that goes back to having to work and not having the desire to do much of anything when I get home. My DH has been working a lot on these projects. He had all the furniture back in place before I even got home the day the carpet was installed. It took me a week to go through all the decorations that had been taken down and packed away. Who wants to put up stuff that's gotten old and is not so cute anymore into a room that has been freshened up and somewhat modernized??? So all that had to be gone through, sorted and some thrown out. I'm kind of in the sort out mood these days. The living room and dining room were done by about last Saturday (10 days after the install!)

Then it was down to the sewing room.........I have a large walk-in closet in there that had been driving me nuts with its disorganization lately. So everything came out of there and was sorted out. Some stuff went to the garage sale pile, about 3-4 bags went to the garbage can and the rest was recycled paper and plastic. Now I'm waiting for my new table in there to be done. This is DH's job. He took it on without me even asking for some reason. Normally I'm the furniture refinisher, but I think he is taking a liking to it. My sweet friend, Rana, donated her old dining table to my sewing room. It is a very nice piece of furniture made of thick oak - nice quality stuff. We have stripped the top and will restain that (tonight) and the base we are just painting. A small twin bed has been removed (more credit to Rana) from the sewing room and a nice chair suitable for hand stitching will replace it, freeing up some floor space and allowing for a better arrangement of the furniture with the added benefit of a more comfortable place for my loved ones to stitch in that room. At the moment things are just piled on the floor, but I think by the end of the weekend, I should have pictures of the new room with new (recycled) carpet, new furniture and new arrangement! This is the kind of change I love!

Looks like the forecast is for rain this weekend with a break on Saturday. My sister, Betsy is coming to visit for the weekend and it looks like we might do just a bit of wine tasting and have a nice lunch in San Luis Obispo. Can't wait! Then the rest of the day will be stitching to our hearts content!
It's almost the weekend! Hope yours is great!

Melanie

And the Winner is.....

AMY!!!   She wrote:


"Just getting started! Would love some fabric to begin my DJ stash:-) Amy"

Well Amy, there are no more excuses for putting off starting your DJ as you are about to have a pile of fabrics to get it going! Please send me your address by email and I'll get these off to you. Congratulations! Thanks to the rest of you for participating in my drawing and for leaving all those lovely comments! I truly enjoyed reading them all!

As for me, things have been sort of wild around my place. We had the new carpeting put in and moved some of the old stuff from upstairs to my sewing room, including the walk-in closet. I wonder if you can begin to imagine the mess going on with regard to the sewing room. The only sewing that has gone on are a couple of DJ blocks I had prepared prior to the carpet fiasco. I hope to show them to you soon.

My friend, Rana has given me her old dining room table to use as my sewing table. I might paint it before putting it together, so I have no idea how long this disaster might last. Tonight I'm hoping to tackle cleaning out the shelves in the closet. THAT should take days. Ugh....But oh how happy I will be when things are sorted, folded, thrown out and organized!!

Melanie

Full Circle

 Well, I'm back at work. It's been 5 1/2 months. When I think back to how I felt and all that was happening when I left work, I just thank God that I'm still here! There was so much unknown when I left. What was that growing in me? Was it malignant? What were my chances of survival? What was my life going to be like? What about my husband? Was he going to be okay?

Today, I'm happy to say that I'm done with my chemo and my prognosis is very good. I'm back at work and it's good to see my coworkers and my customers again! Lots of hugs all around! God is good!

I'm Back!

Wow, it's been 8 days since my last post! Sorry for the delay! I was supposed to get a picture of the fabric up for the 100th post giveaway. So without further ado...

This is a collection of 20s and 30s reproductions. Most are fat quarters and some are fat eighths. I'll leave this open until February 8. So just leave me a comment before then if you want your name put in the drawing! I'll announce next week. Your name is in the drawing already if you commented on my last post.

I have completed a couple of DJ blocks since my last post as well. This first one is called Coyote Chase, is paper pieced and appliqued and has 12 pieces.

This next one is quite similar in that the shapes are all the same, but they point in different directions. I have noticed that Jane Stickle did this a lot throughout the quilt. You can see very similar blocks in close proximity to each other in several places. Anyway, the method for making this one is different. This one is completely appliqued, has 6 pieces and is called Josepha's Jonquil.

I am still agonizing over a block in row I. It's I-12, Fred's Square Fair. It has tiny little pieces, but I'm not sure why this is causing me such trouble as it is very similar to the top right corner, which I don't remember struggling with at all! It seems funny to me that I can't recall working on some of these blocks at all. I suppose it shouldn't surprise me though between menopause and chemo brain so much seems to escape my memory these days!

Today, I hope to get my last triangle on the left side done. It looks fairly easy. Row J also looks to be very easy and after that, the whole quilt appears to get much more difficult! Yikes! Still heading for a June finish!

Until next time,

Melanie

100th Post Giveaway!

I've had this blog for a couple of years I think, but haven't been actively posting until about the last year. It has been a lot of fun for me and serves as something of a journal. I've really enjoyed it! Now I am coming up on my 100th post which seems like a good time to do my FIRST giveaway! I don't have anything purchased yet, but hope to have something to show you by the end of the weekend. You can count on it being fabric-y! Just leave me a comment on this post and your name will be thrown in the drawing! Oh, how fun!! I'm really excited about this! Hope you spread the word too!

In the meantime, I'll show you my latest Dear Jane triangle. It is RS-10 called Grandma Nan's Bodice. It was paper and regular pieced as well as some applique and has 17 pieces. It's always good to get a triangle done!

We have a bit of demolition going on here this weekend. Next week, we are having new carpeting put in our living/dining and bedrooms. So this is our opportunity to get rid of a built in bookcase in the living room that we have not ever really liked since we moved in here. Pete has torn the case out and now I need to go patch up some spots on the wall to make it blend it. I am also going to paint the bedroom before the carpet goes in so I have no shortage of projects! Anyone want to come help???

Don't forget to leave me a comment! We'll see you soon!

Melanie

Productivity!

Another DJ block done! This one is a repeat of this block I did back in December. It just wasn't going to work the way it turned out the first time. It really needed to be paper pieced. And so it was! this is I-4, called Stability, is paper and regular pieced and has 25 pieces.

The flash wasn't working on my camera so it is a dull picture. The focus fabric is much brighter than this shows. (I tried and tried to get this photo to load so that the little girl in the center was upright, but no luck. Sometimes, computers are so uncooperative!)

Earlier in the week I finished a purse that I made for a new friend I met at chemo who is battling ovarian cancer. The morning before I went to my last chemo, I was looking at a charm pack and trying to figure out what to do with it. I decided then I would make it into a purse. The fabrics are from the Cause for a Cure for ovarian cancer. Then that day, Debbie and I spent the whole time we were there (about 5.5 hours) chatting away. She is so sweet and is only 43. Please pray for her! Anyway, this seemed like the perfect gift for her. I hope to deliver it to her next week.

 

These purses are so fun to make!! Plus they are a great way to use a charm pack.

Today I am working on my Schnibbles quilt, Madeline, made with 2 charm packs and some yardage. Hope to have this done quickly. Only one week left before I return to work, so projects are being worked on at a steady pace around here!!

It is hailing outside here in normally sunny beautiful Central California. But I love the rain and welcome it.  It's a great time to sew! And I think it's still beautiful, even with the rain.

Until next time,

Melanie

Rainy Day...

Wow, it is really raining out there! My poor dog is huddled down and shaking behind the bed. She would really like for the rain to stop pelting on the windows! I suppose this would be a great excuse to wander down to the sewing room and hang out down there for a while. I know Kali would really like that. I have plans to clean out my closet today too!

In the meantime I thought I would share the block with you that I made yesterday. It is easiest one in row I in my opinion. It is I-3 called Family Album. It has 17 pieces and was paper and regular pieced.

Today I may get the last block in row I done! Or I may work on a triangle. Not sure which. OR, I might start work on a Schnibbles quilt. So many choices!! I better get down there and figure it out!!

Melanie

A Few New Purchases

I had a great sewing weekend with my three sisters! We gathered at my sister's home in Fillmore, CA. The weather was just perfect, hovering right around 65-70 and sunny. The hills were green and pretty! We walked, giggled, watched movies and rewound the funny parts so we could laugh even harder, ate and just generally had a good time. (Can you say "pants on the ground?)

On my way down there, I stopped at a little quilt store in Carpenteria, CA. The name escapes me at the moment. I bought these for my Dear Jane quilt.....

 and these...

Then when I got home, I had these waiting for me in the mail...

I have had a 6 x 12 ruler for probably 10 years, but it's been warped for most of that time and I finally just thought "why am I dealing with this?" and bought a new one! That is the ruler I use the most so it makes so much sense to have one that isn't warped. I don't know why I let myself become adjusted to such things....Anyway, I'm about to go chuck the warped one.

It's very rainy and windy here, which makes for a perfect day to sew! That's where I'm off to!

Melanie