Happy Birthday, Levi!

Today is Levi’s birthday – his 6th one!

Happy Birthday! 

Love you bunches,

Granny 

All hands on deck....

Here is the final deck hand - or Swabbie he is called. I have the quilt top finished and in the process of quilting it now and hopefully can show you the finished quilt in a couple days.

For those interested, the pattern is by Quilt Soup and it is called Smooth Sailing, if you want to take a gander at what it looks like...or just wait and you can gander at mine all you want in a few days!

Thank you, Joann!

Isn't she just lovely! I received this beautiful angel in the mail yesterday from Joann at Pieceful Afternoons.

I think she is just so pretty in pink and I am blessed to receive one of Joann's creations. Be sure to click on the picture and enlarge her so you can see the detail better.

Thank you again for a lovely surprise and gift of friendship.

Captain...

Elijah's quilt - First Mate

Like this little fella? Its the first mate for Elijah's quilt. Fun to make and just makes me smile when I see him.

Its been a great weekend. I couldn't have chosen better weather if I picked it out myself. Did a little shopping at QBee quilts and picked up my next redwork block, which I hope to show soon.

Next one is the Captain....stayed tuned (please).

Starting a new project....

I know, I know...I need a new project about as much as dog needs kitty litter, but none the less, I have started one. This time it is Lynette Anderson's Noah's Ark BOM. I have watched many of you showing your sweet blocks on your blogs and envied them all, and wanted to join the fun, but resisted until.....Cathi came along and said "let's do it!" And of course, being the strong, determined person I am...I said "OK!" So we have formed a group of Cathi, Cheryl, Carol and me to work on this together. So far we have had two meetings and this is what I have accomplished:
Picked out my fabrics.....





And my threads....



And my project box - got a deal on this one, $3.99 at Tuesday Morning - one of my favorite stores.


Got Organized...this box is so cool. One side has compartments and the other side has none and is just perfect for holding the pattern and hoop.


And yes...I made a block! This is block #1 - Rabbits. The stitchery block is only 2.5" square - probably the tiniest embroidery block I have ever worked on. I oversized the sashing strips so that I can trim the block down to size later.

Thanks Lynette for a great project and for sharing you wonderful talent with us!

Snow Day!!!

I just love snow days. We don't get that many of them in South Carolina and today was really fun. This was the view outside my sewing room window this morning and I am so glad I got a picture, because by 2:30 this afternoon this was just about all gone. Gotta love snow in South Carolina. I got the day off work and spent most of it working on Elijah's quilt. I finished the first two appliques - the two sailboats. Hope you have all had a good day!

And the block is............

I didn't get any guesses, and I thought it was a dead give-away. That is probably because I made four of them!


So here it is....Heart in Hand, one of my favorite applique patterns.

Carol made us a sweet flower basket - I think we all had Spring on our minds.

Cheryl used these beautiful Spring fabrics to make my initial block...looks great, don't you think?

And yeaaaaa...I finished my February Redwork BOM - just in time. So I am up to date on that project.

Now...back to work on Elijah's quilt!

Elijah's Quilt - Block 2 and a little tease....

Here's the second block in Elijah's quilt. I made 8 of the stars in the previous post and 7 of these pinwheels. Next will be some applique blocks - can't wait to show you those!

And here is little tease for Carol and Cheryl. This is a glimpse of my friendship block for February. Its a very old traditional block that you see a lot in folk art quilts. Care to guess what it is? First one to correctly guess...I will make you one and send it to you! The reveal is on Friday, so get your guesses in!

A hint on pinning....

Tonight a read Swooze's blog where she raised the question as to whether you sew over pins or not, and why. I thought I would share with you a hint from my good friend Darlene (no blog....yet, I am working on her to start one). She said to pin at an angle...that way you can sew right up to the seam before you pull the pin out. This works GREAT.

And just in case you are wondering what I am working on, its a quilt for new beautiful grandson, Elijah.

Its a cute pattern that I have had since last summer and now I have someone to make it for. More on the quilt later...but I can promise you, its going to make you smile!

Introducing......

Elijah Paul

Born TODAY (February 18, 2009)

6 pounds 14 ounces

19" Tall

Absolutely perfect !

My grandson!

Thank you God for your blessings.

Helen's Summer Mystery Quilt

Helen at http://hugsnkisses.typepad.com/hugsfromhelen/ designed and shared with us a Summer Mystery Quilt. This is my version of her design which I enjoyed making very much. As I added the final border tonight, I realized what I wanted to do with this quilt. It will be sent to Australia to quilters there collecting and making quilts for the victims or the terrible fires there. Helen has a links on her site of where to send quilts, supplies, quilt tops, etc. What a more fitting purpose for this quilt.

Valentine's Day Surprise....

My husband really out did himself this year. I have been wanting some of the EQ6 resource books for some time now, and hinting for Christmas, etc. Well he gave me all the books I wanted Friday night for Valentine's Day. I was so excited, and somewhat overwhelmed. So much information and where do I start???? Then, Saturday morning, he had these beautiful yellow roses and a card waiting on me at my computer, along with a cup of coffee. Now there's a man that knows me well!

Saturday was my club meeting, and Martha did a lesson on hand piecing. It was a relaxing meeting, with everyone doing their handpiecing and chatting and just enjoying the fellowship. An easy meeting to prepare for as we did not have to lug machines with us - just a few hand sewing supplies. We worked on the Thousand Pyramid Quilt pattern. For all the past week, I just cut out triangles - going through my stash and cleaning out bins . I only wanted one of each fabric, so I brought bunches of triangles for my friends to use. I think my husband was beginning to worry about me, as I worked night after night, cutting triangles, and that might be why he gave me the books a little early. He asked me...."Is that all you are going to do tonight - cut out triangles?" When I said yes, he went and brought me the books. Actually, cutting out the triangles has been good therapy for me this past week, but having a loving caring husband is the best I could ask for.

I hope you have all had a wonderful weekend. We went out to eat with my brother and his wife last night and then to see the movie Paul Blark, Mall Cop. A great comedy relief.

Brocolli Kid

Now what 2 year old doesn't enjoy a bowl of steamed brocolli? My little Malachi sure does dig right in! Yum yum!!

At peace

Michael is my brother. He fought a battle with anaplastic thyroid cancer that ended last night and he is at peace. He touched many people in his life with his smile, kind actions and gifts of his hands, including woodworking, papercutting and tatting. His love of animals was shown through volunteer work at animal shelters and the many abandoned pets he took in and gave a loving home. I will miss him terribly, but take comfort in the love we shared and in knowing his struggle to breathe is over. He is at rest and I am very blessed to be able to call him my brother.