Here are two little placemats I made for Cady for when she comes to visit me next week.

And this is a pattern called Faceted Jewels by Glad Tidings that I put together at two retreats.  One was a 3 1/2 day retreat and got most of it together.  I did have all of the parts and piees already cut out.  I then finished the few border pieces and sewing it together at another retreat.  It is a rather large quilt but I love it and it is all scrappy.  Just need to get it quilted!!!

What I've Been Doing ---

This is a little barn bag that I made for Cady.  I made one just like it for her mom when she was a little girl.  The little pig was the one that was in Cathi's bag so I decided to let Cady have it in her bag.  The piggy was made from leftover flannel from a nightgown I made for Cathi.

 This is a cupcake block/wall hanging I made for Cady's birthday.  You can see two candles pinned on it and they actually will be attached by velcro.  I have already made at least 18 more candles and I will be sending Cady a new candle each year to add to the cupcake.  The wall hanging matches the pennant banner I made for Cady's, Cathi's, and Dan's birthday.

 This is two pictures of the same thing.  These are bags I made for Cathi and her three college friends that get together each year.  Made them each one and hopefully they'll use them when they go to the beach.

 This is an I Spy quilt.  Lots of different things to look at.  I gave one to Cady for her birthday and I had LOTS of hexagons left so I put them together.  One in an I Spy quilt and the other in a matching quilt...two of each ...I'll be giving them to the two families who have small children.

 This is a beach blanket I made for Cady and her friends.  The big pictures are from a panel and I've tied it with perle cotton.  It turned out really cute.  The backing is a dotted sheet I found for $1 at the Liquidation Outlet.

These are little backpacks I made for all of the kids that are going to the beach.  The two with red Alabama fabric are for the two older girls.  The animals are for the four young boys.  And I also made two from pink Alabama fabric for the two little girls.  They all have their initials on them so they don't get too mixed up..

This is a two-for-one quilt that I made for Cady. The I Spy hexagons have been years in the making and I finally got it put together last October. Then I saw this cute little dog and just had to make him. And since my daughter says that Cady has more than enough quilts and space is limited, I decided to put them together. One on the front and one on the back. Turned out pretty neat if I do say so myself.

Getting things done

This is a little purse I made for Cady for Easter. It actually turned out like the picture on the pattern. It only took a couple of hours to make including the stitchery.

And this is a quilt I bought a LONG time ago when I worked at the quilt shop. Didn't realize it was paper pieced but did a couple of the blocks and then sold it to a friend. After a couple of years I got to thinking about it and asked the friend if I could buy it back. Well, needless to say she hadn't started working on it so she sent it back to me and I did do it. I finally quilted it but not very well as I was having trouble with my bobbin but at least it's done.

Change of Plans

I've been cutting and getting my fabrics ready to go to my friends retreat in Virginia and I leave tomorrow. While doing that I did come across my Christmas fabrics that I was going to use for a Log Cabin quilt but have since decided to do a Slash and Dash by Jackie Robinson with the Christmas fabrics.

Above you can see all of the strips I cut and then sewed the greens, reds, etc. into one continuous strip to do a string pieced star. Looks like a lot of fabric doesn't it? Well, it's really only 2.5 yards according to my rough estimate and match. But at least they're all ready to go when I'm ready to start sewing.

In the last few days---

And last but not least is a quilt for my new great niece. This is a cheater quilt but I hand quilted it with pink perle cotton and it looks really cute. The light isn't too good on this picture, don't know what happened. Still have to handstitch the binding on but other than that it's done.

And here are some bibs I made for my granddaughter and my great niece and nephew. Have had the flannel panel for a couple of years and thought I'd better make it up before the kids get too big for bibs.

Here's a fall table topper I made from a website. It was a mystery. Think it might look great in Christmas colors.

I Spy

And last but not least I've been in a cutting frenzy. I'm going to a retreat with my friend who lives in Virginia. It's a "stay-at-home" retreat. You go to the retreat place and sew during the day but you get to go home a sleep in your own bed. I'm really looking forward to it and have been cutting away to get my pieces ready to put together "Faceted Jewels". LOTS of pieces!

There were some ladies at the retreat making placemats and these Christmas tree napkins. I had the pattern for the napkins last year and even bought fabric to make them but never did so when I got home I decided to make a few. And, if you'll look closer, you'll notice I made some tiny ones that will make great ornaments.

At the weekend retreat another lady was making this quilt. It was much bigger than this but I thought I'd start out with the dog. Not sure what I'll do with it now and I know you can't see the fabric really well but it kind of looks like our beagles we've had in the past.

Here's the picture of the I Spy quilt I mentioned in my previous post.

I made a bunch of these cute little pumpkins to fill up this fall basket I had. They're really easy and used up a bit of my scraps.

At a retreat we had last weekend with a bunch of friends I finally got my I Spy quilt together. The retreat was wonderful as the weather was great and the place was right on the water. A wonderful weekend.

Here are a few pictures of my Cady that I took when I was out there helping them move. She is such a cutie

Ornament Swap and Block of the Month

Just got back from visiting my brother and his family and then on to my dad's in south Florida to help him celebrate his 93rd birthday. Had a good time at both places.

The picture on the left is an ornament I made for a swap I'm in. You make one for each person in the swap. I made hine of these little fellas. I love to color and this was a fun one. I stitched them on to felt and added a hangar.

The picture on the right are blocks I made for a Block of the Month club I belong to. Each month you make two blocks and you will win a group of them during the year. If you'll notice, two of the blocks are sewn together wrong... the upper left and upper right ones.

Maybe I'll figure it out someday

Maybe someday I'll figure out how to post the pictures that go with the right paragraph. I go to the edit page but just not sure how to do that. So if you're visiting this blog you may have to scroll way down to see all of the post.

Also have been straighteninng up by fabric.....

What I've been doing!

On the right is one of the Linus quilts and on the left is a picture of the dog quilts. Below is the Cowboy quilt.

Well, after starting to sew again, I've been going through bags and fabric and sorting out things I want to take to our Counrty Store at our guild retreat next month and dohave quite a few things. I even went through my X-stitch stuff and have some patterns and things from those drawers too.

I've finished two Linus quilts and two dog quilts for my brother's dogs. Will be visiting him in a week or so and he loves his dogs so thought that would be a good hostess gift. I also made the Cowboy Quilt which is really a lesson in recycling. The cowboy fabric was a skirt I bought at a thrift store...lots of fabric in the skirt. And the half-square triangles made into pinwheels came from other blocks that I didn't like in a quilt so I took them apart and reused them. Also used a big of blue-jean fabric. Nothing new was used for this quilt so it really is a "green" quilt. It's for my daughter's girlfriend's son who loves cowboys. Very retro fabric!

I've been trying to finish up quilts that are almost done and have about ten to be quilted. Some have backings ready to go and I've even cut batting for them...just need to start quilting them.

I've also been doing some X-stitch. Years ago I had done some Mary Engelbreit X-stitch and was going to put them in a quilt. Well, I unearthed them and decided to do a few more smaller ones to go with it and then I'm going to put them in a quilt and put them on the twin bed for when Cady comes to visit me. I think she'll love the pictures and the colors.

Finally home

Well, after being gone from home for four months I'm so glad to b

home and among my own things. This is what I've been doing since I returned home. I finished making some blocks for a black/white/poison swap. I made bowties and friendship stars.

The second thing I've been doing is finishing up putting my books and patterns in order and making a catalog of them. Hopefully I'll be able to keep the books in order.

Our guild quilt show is this Friday and Saturday and yesterday I helped check in the quilts and toady and tomorrow I'm going to be helping hang the quilts. Hopefully the show will be a great success. The quilts that are hung so far are fantastic!!!

My mom, GG and I went to the Monterey Bay Aquarium yesterday. The day was beautiful and there were lots of boats out on the bay.

I really enjoyed the aquarium. I got to touch a starfish and I saw all of the sardines swimming around in a tank...it looked just like a picture from one of my books. And here is a picture of me sitting in a clamshell. It was lots of fun and I can't wait to go back!!!

What have I been doing?

I've been in California for quite awhile but did get a change to go the big quilt show in Paducah, KY with my quilting friends. They picked me up at the Nashville airport and we had a great time. Even though Paducah was planning on being flooded and some of the venues had to be changed, the quilt show went on. We sayed at a great place in a really nice house right on the lake in Grand Rivers, KY. I rode home with my friends to Alabama and got to stay home for a couple of days before Phil and I flew back to California for Cathi's and Cady's birthday parties.

And here is a picture of the star of the day. She wasn't too excited
about her crown but did finally get a picture of her sort of smiling and being happy. The birthday party was a huge success. It was held in a county park under some nice trees and right by a babbling brook. After the party we went wine tasting to a nice little winery only a couple of miles from where we're staying. Here's a picture of the beautiful table Cathi set for the party and all of the work she did... Martha Stewart, eat your heart out!!!

How cute is this?

Pretty darn cute!!!! One of Cady's teachers fixed her little "palm trees" as Cady's mom calls them. Just wanted to show off my cutie pie!!!

Holy Cow!!!

Holy Cow!!!! Can't believe it's been so long since I posted here. Well, not much new happening here except that we're (Cathi, Cady and I) are now in northern California staying with a friend until they can move into a house. They've made an offer on one just across the street from the one she grew up in....how funny is that?!?!? It's a short sale and they're waiting on approval from the seller's bank. Hope they get it, it's really nice and has about 2 1/2 times the square footage of their present house. Of course if they get this house it means that I can get rid of quite a bit of stuff that's being stored in my house.

Cady and I have been having fun. We play every day and she's really close to walking now! She started her day care yesterday and here's a picture of her with her new friends having snack. And here's another one of me ready for my first day of "school" (day care). And don't you just love my new shoes?

Breakfast choice

Seems like she just couldn't find the right flaavor of oatmeal for the morning.

from Cady

Here I am eating my VERY healthy lunch...avocado and carrots and I ate it all by myself. I'm also drinking my milk out of my tippee cup all by myself.


Here I am pointing to my shoes. My GG thought I might need to wear shoes when I go to my new daycare when I move so she dug out these shoes from one of my drawers.

Cady's new Walker and Cell Phone

Here's Dan putting Cady's new little walker
thing together and the next picture is of her
enjoying it. I think it is really going to help her
get the hang of walking.
The other picture is of Cady and her new
pink cell phone!!!