Deadlines area good thing...Really. :o)

If I didn't have deadlines, I'm not sure these quilts would be done and ready to go for the Saturday celebrations. But first.....

Grandpa was playing with the camera and the little ones wanted him to take their pictures.

Here is a gorgeous one of Ben. Such a ham and so happy.

And here's one of Wren, just four and a half, but looking so much older and so pretty. Beautiful and loveable grandkids. Right?

Well, here's the real picture of them. LOL Yep, this is the "real" Wren & Ben, and now you know why they have the little nickname of the Dynamic Duo.

This is for my nephew's baby girl, Harley. I already showed you the pillow, and now, this quilt is done. "Bunnies and Butterflies" seems just right for a baby girl. These blocks are from a swap I did with one of my on-line groups Back Porch Friends. They're all in 30's fabrics and WOW. I love it that I had enough butterfly blocks for 2 rows and I think thecolors set off the bright butterflies nicely.

I made matching couch for another nephew and his wife for their wedding this coming Saturday. One is lightweight and has a pink backing. The other has, for it's batting, an old fuzzy, polyester blanket, and a brown flannel backing, so it's nice and warm. On the front, though, they are almost twins. I used the Stack the Deck pattern by Karla Alexander. Teh fabrics came from a birthday club FQ swap. The theme was pink and brown. I think they look gorgeous together (that's why I kept the scraps and made the sewing machine cover and hot pads that I already blogged about).

The top one in the winter-weight, while the bottom one is the summer-weight one.

Now, I need to go and sew up a couple of gift bags. I don't want to go and spend $5+ on a disposable bag, when I can repurpose an old sheet and make the 2 that I need. OK, time to get off the computer and get back to work. If I can get everything done today, tomorrow, just my husband and I (and our cameras) will go people watch at the Oregon State Fair.

making gifts galore

Here is a photo of me (not so flattering) that my little grandson took. He's so proud that he can take pictures with my camera. For being 3, he did pretty good.

I'm working on the baby quilt for my nephew's new baby girl, Harley. It's bunnies and butterflies.

Here is the pillow I'm making for her daddy, my nephew, Michael. You always seem to need an extra pillow when you have a baby, for propping and blocking so they won't roll over, so this one is mostly for jokes at the family reunion/baby shower. Michael said that he'd like to name the baby Harley, if it was a girl, because that's probably the only Harley he'll ever get.

And here's the backing. (I ride a Harley, but I sure don't look like that. I wish!)

Here is the Double Delight quilt I made for my sister-in-law Bonnie. I love the little pieces and the tricky intersections, but I think she'll love the pink more than me. She seems to like it just fine. :o)

A leftover block makes a perfect label.

I'm making 2 pink & brown quilts right now, for 2 different weddings and I used the Stack the Deck pattern. I made the blocks and then used some of the scraps to make a border. After the quilt tops were all finished , I still had scraps, so I made a sewing machine cover for my little travel machine-a Janome Jem 720. I don't usually like pink, but I'm kinda' growing into it...a little. I was in a birthday FQ swap and the theme was pink and brown. I wasn't sure what I'd do with it, but when the 2 weddings came up, and one bride used pink for a color scheme, and the other bride used brown, I knew these colors would be a hit.

And I love having a little something for me to know that these fabrics were from my birthday.

Here's the back.

Here's the little hole I made so that the handle can be accessible, with a flap to keep the dust out.

And the beautiful fron, with 2 pockets, and 2 pockets on the ends. Kinda' cute, huh? Oh, and I had still more scraps, so I made some of them into hotpads. These will be for a sister-in-law. She's a single mom of identical 8-year-old twin boys. She used to be a serious girly-girl, so I think she can use a little pink pick-me-up.

And that's what I've been doing lately. I'm still working on Harley's baby quilt, but I'm not done sewing the binding down, so that will have to wait for another day.

new glasses

Yesterday and today was the glasses shopping

experience. Finally, we figured out how to get good glasses with insurance covering everything. Buy the frames at one store (or online), and take them to Costco and order the lenses. Super frames, great optics and reimbursement coming from the insurance company. Rick and I were so due for glasses. Now, I just gotta'

wait.

My new glasses.

charity blocks

I've been collecting charity blocks and making charity quilts for awhile now. When the blocks are all the same size, it's easy to put together a quilt, but when they are very different sizes, getting it together is a bit more challenging. With the blocks and strips that people in my on-line groups have sent, I took all my bits and pieces, and sewed them into 12" blocks. Here are the final results. We have a total of 72 blocks, divided into 4 quilts. Can you spot something that you (once upon a time) sent in? Doesn't it feel good to know that, finally, within a month, these should be real, finished quilts that will be warming a child out there, somewhere? To all of you that donated, thank you for making this possible. Onto the blocks...

This one is for either a boy or a girl.

This one is gor a girl.

This one looks like it would be good for a boy.

And this is just for a little kid, boy or girl.

Through all of this, I've decided that coping strips are an amazing thing. :o)

I've been so busy, I forgot to blog

First, I haveto tell you... I'm so excited! I invented a block for my online guild's charity program. The theme this month was to use orange in any 12" block. I am trying to design a pincushion and this little kitty is the basic concept. I thought I'd try it on a block first, to see how it works. To me, it works great! Only thing is, do you think there's enough orange? LOL


Here's a close-up of his little kitty face. Looks kinda' anime to me.


I made 2 blocks, so here are both of them. They are supposed to be the same, but when you free-hand something, there's bound to be a little bit of a difference. Right?


Here is the other style of block that I made. Just wanted to show you. These blocks usually get made into a kid's quilt, so I wanted to help make a kid happy. :o)


Grandkids are wonderful! Here are Wren and Ben, all dressed up for a birthday party.


Last week, my husband and I took a couple of days and went exploring the mountains of our beautiful Oregon. We even spent about a half an hour walking on the Pacific Crest Trail. Hiking the trail is something we've planned to do for many years, but life always seems to get in the way. The part we were on was quite navigable. I was kinda' worried that it would be too rugged. Believe it or not, I'm not quite in shape for a *rugged* trail. :o)


Sahalie Falls. It's gorgeous! I totally love all the green.


We weren't even on the lake this time and we saw another bald eagle. I don't know why, but I love it when I can see one of these majestic birds.


On our trip, we found this log cabin. I know it's rustic (to say the least), but I could so live in one of these.


Yep, we went back to the coast again, but didn't take nearly as many pictures as last time. This is at Ecola State Park. Eventually, we'll go back there. There is a beautiful hiking trail, but we got there just before sunset, so we ran out of time.


When I got back home, there was a package waiting for me. It was some slow cooker recipes and 4 yards of batiks from my California sister. Wasn't she such a sweetie for thinking of me? And it's not even my birthday, just a fun surprise.


Here is the Kinsale Cloak I finally got finished for my daughter, Paddy. It's navy velvet with a white satin lining. It was fairly difficult trying to get the threads to balance, but I did it and it looks good. I got it all the way to the hemming stage and hung it in the closet to make sure that it was stretched enough before hemming and then forgot about it. It was on my "to-do" list for weeks. Funny thing is, once I finally started working on it, it was done in about 2 hours. She wants to wear it in the winter, especially if she and friends ever decide to go out carolling.


And here's the back.


Now, if anybody knows how to tell me how to change my blog so that I can reply to people that write comments, I'd love to hear from you. In the meantime, if you need a response, my email addy is: quiltinggirl at gmail dot com

Be Attitudes blocks

I've had a couple of people ask me where I got the info to make my "Be Attitudes" blocks. I ordered the pattern book and then my quilty friend Peggy gave me her leftovers from her Block a Month. Wasn't that so sweet? :o) (Thank you, Peggy.) That's why I'm making 2 for every month... one in the pictured colorway with Nancy Halvorsen fabrics and the other with fabrics from my stash.

I have to make a kimono

My son is to be a best man in a wedding and I just found out that he needs me to make him a kimono to wear. How fun is that? Have any of you made one before? I hear that it's not too difficult. I'll let you know how it goes. :o)