Life is Good....

Life is good...busy...but good! 

In case your wondering where I am at this time with my quilt, here is the corner I've been writing about. 

I'm slowly getting this corner quilted. This last week has been so busy, I'm lucky if I had 2 nights that I was able to work on it.

This is the section that is quilted. I think I showed this part earlier. As you can see, I haven't started quilting much in the lower part where the flowers are. I'm going to do those last, I think. We'll see how the corner goes and I may change my mind.

So in the mean time I am quilting this area first. This is the corner area. I figure once I get the purple part quilted, then I can start going around the echoing in the white area. That usually goes quicker than the purple part, only because it's the edge of the corner and it needs to lay flat. If I can quilt it right, I shouldn't have any puckering at all. So far, so good as far as that goes.

Yesterday was Haven't Missed a Stitches meeting. I went at 10:30 am and was surprised to find I was the only one there that early. As time went on, we ended up with 5 of us working on our projects. I forgot about doing the block that needs to be done for the "ughly fabric" contest.

 I had started working on the head of the scarecrow on Monday. I kept putting it off and putting it off because I couldn't figure out what I was going to do about the hands and feet. I wanted it to look like there was hay coming out. Every time I took the block piece out, I would stall or put it away because I just couldn't figure out what I was going to do. As we worked on our projects yesterday, I was humming and haahhing about it. I LOVE GROUPS because Kathy in our group told me of some fabric she has (and showed me) that will work. She's going to bring the fabric and I'm going to fuse it. Then I'm going to cut it out and glue it down. (If you get my drift)  So, once I figured that out, it was so easy to get it done. And I did. I finished it last night knowing I'm going to add the hands and feet a little later.

I worked on my embroidery to add the face, and garden "growing."

Last night I got a call asking me to take my father to the Lazier Client since he wouldn't be able to drive home. Said I would and this morning grabbed my cross stitch project to work on.

By the time I got home today, I had this much more done.

One of these days, I hope to have this done as well. Wish me luck!! ***laughing***

Now, as you can see, I'm still keeping busy with my projects. I'm just a little slow in posting what I'm up to. I'm hoping to have a few more things done before too much longer.

Tonight, we are going to the movies, so no quilting....tomorrow looks like we are going to the dump with more stuff from my parents house, so no quilting then.....My son comes back home tomorrow night, and I need to pick him up, so no quilting then......Sunday looks good so far....we'll have to wait and see....

In the meantime I'm thinking I'm able to be Happy Quilting!

Cleaning day

Well...today was a cleaning day...sort of. I have so much stuff I'm overwhelmed. I vacuumed, and every time I went from one room to the other, I found something to take with me to put away.

All these letters, photographs, and genealogy stuff is overwhelming and I'm freaking because I'm not set up or organized for all of this. I want to get the information in the computer, but when I have more then I need or piles of it all over the place, I just don't know where to go from here.

So, I'm heading into the living room and calling cleaning quits. I'm going to sit down, watch TV and quilt. At least that is the plane.

In the meantime, wish me luck, and Happy Quilting...

Busy finding new things....yet old....

Okay, it's time to let you know what I've been up to the last two days.

A friend of mine came over and we worked on making a couple hand bags. I had everything ready for both of us to sit down and sew the blocks together and get the bag done yesterday. Rose was more interested in the embroidery, as she brought over her Designer machine with attachments. She worked on embroidery for the coupon bags she was making for both of us. While she was embroidering I was sewing the blocks for two bags. I got the 4 panels done yesterday. She also go embroidery done on my bag which turned out great.

One of the embroideries she worked on was a butterfly.

The other was a hummingbird, which is so cool!

She took her bag home to work on the embroidery on hers, and then we will get together and put it all together. I'm looking forward to the end result.

It's fun having friends over to work on stuff, have lunch and get a lot of stuff done!

Today, I went over to my parents house, and I will tell you, I give so much credit to my sister-in-law! She has that house almost empty now. It is soooo cool to see the house ready for the market. We found out they need to do a little more work on a few things and then they can put it on the market on Friday.

In the meantime, my "sis" is putting stuff aside that mom wants me to have. She gave me more boxes of letter, photos, and "stuff." One find was several quilt patterns that are old, or older than those on the market today.

Note on top of the pattern: "Taken from the "Kansas City Star" in 1933"

This pattern has a note on the bottom from my grandmother: "One of the oldest designs for quilting. Trace with pencil may be enlarged if space to be filled is larger."

My family is from Kansas, so it won't surprise me to find a few more patterns like these:

Hope this give you something to read, since I've been slowing down on my posts. I'm hoping since my husband and son are still on the road, I can post more this weekend. LOL

I'm excited about the findings of my family history information, and have been glued to my genealogy. Wish I had this information 20 years ago when I really wanted it. Now I'm busy doing two family histories and they both are coming up with some really good information. I may have to do a quilt about all this research. There were quilts made in my family, very few (if any) have made it to me.  The White's and the Wineland's were all quilters, and I know there are quilts out there made by them. I heard the story of one of my mother's Aunt's quilt that were stolen when they were moving into an old "folks" home. They called everyone she made a quilt for to help in finding the quilts. Instead, everyone whom she gave a quilt to brought a couple back so she wouldn't know they were missing. The had a floor to ceiling chest of quilts, so that tells you how many people were kind enough to bring quilts back to her. After her death, they were returned to the owners, but the other quilts where never found.

Okay, on a happier note, I'm bowling tonight, wish me luck. lol

In the mean time...Happy Quilting.

Still quilting

I'm getting what little quilting in I can. Things around here has been going faster than expected. I have been putting time in at night with quilting and I'm slowly getting there. More and more things are coming up and less and less time is being spent on the quilt. I did decide to try and work my way around the quilt going to the border. It has been working okay that way.I did get a quarter section done, as I stated before. 

Then I reached a corner area and was worried how I could get around the corner with out messing it up. I was going to skip the corner and move on to the other quarter section. I decided to rethink that thought out. So, I'm working my way to the corner and will quilt in that corner before moving on the the next section.

This is the section I finished with the border connection. I was planning on quilting it to the end border, and got most of the purple quilted when I headed toward the corner.

So last night I got the left area quilted and will start on the white area once I get the purple done. The flowers  go around the corner and are not straight off the corner. (sorry if I'm confusing you). So, I started quilting the flower last night, and will work my way to the bottom corner, in order to quilt the white area in the corner.

This shows a little of what I'm trying to say. It goes fast, once I have a direction. When I don't seem to have a direction, then it seems to take too long. the more I chip away, the more gets done. I will try and do more today, as I'm behind on my shows as well.

Hubby is leaving on Wednesday to go pick up my son and drive with a U-Haul back from NC since he got the job in Olympia. We're excited to have him back after 5 years of being gone. I'll be taking him to the airport tomorrow. Then I will have a week of working on genealogy and quilting.....let's see how far that goes!

I'm planning on working on a couple bags with a friend this Thursday, and will let you know how that goes too.

Until then, Happy Quilting.....

OH! check out my Letters From the Past! I've added some from my great grandmother that were written in the 1880's. She only lived to be 23 years old. I can't wait to start trying to re-write her diaries so we can see what kind of a life she had.

Okay - back to quilting - till next time....HQ'ing.

Busy Week!

Okay, this week is getting out of hand. I wanted to get a lot done and didn't. I wanted to enjoy myself at my TAS group meeting, and didn't. Felt like I had so much to do, that I just couldn't sit down and visit or stay. So, my day I look forward to, didn't happen. UGH

I've been quilting on the Hawaiian quilt at night. While I waiting two hours for my son - at his interview - I read and worked on my cross stitch in the car. That was Monday - my how time flies. I got a call to come in for an interview to work part time. Not looking forward to going back to work, but when my hubby wants me to work, I guess I better do something to keep him happy.

I've been TRYING to clean up the stuff mom keeps giving me. I have photos and letters I'm going through. I know she has military letters but she won't give them to me. So, I guess I'll deal with that on my own. I would love to see them, I know there is stuff I want to know in them. Even if its just "hi, can't talk." I'm going to post more letters today as well. I'm saving the letters in a binder.

Okay, so not much in the way of quilt related stuff other than trying to get a few stitches in at night. I'm moving slowly that way, but hey, it's working. My TAS group at mom's is tomorrow. Will be interesting to see how that goes with her trying to box things up and moving.

Till I have time to write again - hopefully tomorrow - Happy Quilting!

Friends Quilt top

I was able to put a few hours in on sewing this afternoon. 

Once I figured out what she had to what I needed to do, it was pretty quick, considering. As I've said before, I don't care for piecing but this is a pretty easy pattern. Trouble was, I took out almost as much as I put in today because I got the triangles backwards. Once I worked out an easier way of doing it, I was able to get more done.

I made three sets of the triangles to go in the blocks. So, that is about 1/3 a block. I did sew together one block she had in two pieces, and I sewed one block she had in 4 pieces (did half the block).  I need to make 2 blocks, so that's really not a lot. I just need to pay attention when I'm sewing it together. I figure if I put in two more afternoons, I should have it done. I only worked on it for about 3 hours.

I have the blocks laying on my quilt downstairs. Figured that way I wouldn't get distracted and quilt instead of piece. (just me)

Picking my son up at the airport tomorrow and taking him back on Monday. I figure Monday I will get some applique done while waiting on him to take him back to the airport. He has a job interview on Monday, and is flying in from NC. I'm hoping he gets the job, but time will tell.

In the meantime, Happy Quilting.

Going through old Photos....

As you can see, and as you know, I not only do quilting, I do genealogy. With mom and dad getting ready to move, we found 5 packing boxes full of old photos. Some are in great condition, others are not.

The last two days, I've been looking over and putting photos into piles for my two brothers, myself, and a few family members that keep in contact with the family. Now I'm really getting a lot done, but I've only chipped away at the boxes.

In the process, I found this photo, I just had to share! Quilters are quilters and appreciate finding another family member that quilts!

This is a photo of Wilda Matheson Simpson, who is my grandmother's cousin. This family was very close, as my grandmother kept in contact with most all of her cousins. WHAT A FIND!!

The back of the photo reads: Wilda and her first quilt Made in Oct. 1977

Wilda passed away in June of 2000. My grandmother passed away in 1987.

I remember being in High School when they were collecting blocks from family members to put into a quilt. My mother made one which she embroidered with the different places were lived. I remember mom working on the Japanese "post" (can't remember the name), a beer stein from Germany and a couple other things. Wilda was presented that quilt on one of her special Birthday's. I've often wondered where that quilt is and how it turned out. In my research, I found that at least one of her son's has passed on as well.

This is a piece of history that needs to be saved. I so enjoy finding out this "stuff" about my family. And trust me, even if "no, no" happened in the family, it still fascinates me they did it! :-)

So, while I'm going through photos (hoping to find more), I'm also getting a few stitches in on the Hawaiian quilt.

Till tomorrow, Happy Quilting!

Middle of the Week

Yesterday I spent the afternoon quilting on my Hawaiian quilt. It is going pretty fast, and I'm happy with the results.

Today I'm heading over to a friends to work on my cross stitch and to help her out. I will post my cross stitch that I'm working on - later. I started it a couple years ago and haven't done much since I put things away a few years ago. I had a good dry spell for about 10 years. So, it's clean up the old projects and start new ones when the old ones are done. I'm hoping my mind set is to work on the top I got on Friday. If I can just sit down and do it, I can get it out of the house.

Will try and post letters later today.

If you want to see how retreat was, go to my other blog - that I put under TAS (The Applique Society). I posted some of the photo's there.

Friend we went with to Seabeck, WA: Ann Busby, Ethel Mosher, Darleen Antill, and Norma Nelson.

How much I got done there.

And one of the other's block:

We had fun!

Later, Happy Quilting.

More on my plate!

Today I'm thinking about working on the applique block for the quilt we are doing in the Haven't Missed A Stitch TAS group.

I modified the pattern last night, so the scarecrow doesn't look so out of shape. I have ideas for the colors, but need brown fabric that looks grassy. I'm working on finding that, then I can get started on appliqueing it together. The block isn't that big, so it shouldn't take long to do.

I also need to start working on the pieces a friend of mine asked me to work on.  She dropped off the box last Friday. It's not hard and she has a lot already done, but.....I hate piecing, so I'm going to have to talk myself into doing it. Once I sit down and work on it, it won't take long. At least I keep telling myself that.

As you can see, the blocks are pretty good size and not a lot of work. She has a good part of it already cut out (thank goodness), so I'll go from there. I probably won't start till Thursday.

In the mean time - Happy Quilting.

I'm back from Retreat

I'm back from The Applique Society's Retreat in Seabeck, WA. If you ever have a chance to go to a TAS Retreat - go!

I will post all about it tomorrow. I'm going to add another blog that has nothing but The Applique Society "happenings" with the two groups I'm involved in. TAS - as we call it - is a non-profit organization that works to promote applique in quilts. There is no limit to the applique work you can do to a quilt! Plus you will always find my link the TAS on here. I have been a member for the past 4 years. I can't wait to get the newsletters that come out every quarter! There is no "headquarters" to this group - we are big but not big enough to hire someone to handle all that work. So, the President of TAS does a lot of work to keep us up and running. I know two founders personally, and they are wonderful women who have been doing applique for over 30 years. Like I said, I will do a blog on TAS tomorrow when I get the chance, and will post the photos from the retreat.

Today was one of those days when you go done in your quilt room and sigh. **Sigh** I did. 

BEFORE:

NOT a room you really want to work in - is it?!

AFTER:

One Problem with cleaning it up:

Every last box under here is photos, letters, and/or genealogy papers. UGH  This came from my mother's house and will probably go back there with the photos, the letters and genealogy will be mine to work on. So, if your interested in knowing what is in those letters, read my "Letters From the Past" blog!

Friday at bowling, one of the gals that is on another team, asked me to finish her quilt she started. So, I brought home the box with all the fabric in that too. Box is the one on the table, far right. ***sigh*** That is my next thing to do to get it out of the house faster. I need to get that done so I can continue getting more done of my own. 

Of course, while one the retreat, I had to buy more fabric - as if I don't have enough.....

I also got a traffic ticket on the way up there - so I'm beginning to wonder why I always get stuck driving. lol

Till tomorrow - Happy Quilting.