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)

I'm plugging away on quilty stuff

First, let say "Woo Hoo!" I finished 50 little postage stamp blocks. #50 is done and in the pile. 1/8 of the way through making all the blocks I need. Oh yeah!



Remember just recently, I posted about needing to repair the kids' quilts? Well, one of them is finished and Wow! did it need a lot of repairs! Several spots in the middle and pretty much the whole outside border. It was cheap fabric, obviously, but it lasted over 10 years. Now, where it was is all covered with patches. I used all the dandelion fabric and most of my collection of orphan blocks to get this one fixed. What do you think?


Today, since it's like 100 degrees, I'm trying to stay in the house where it is a little bit cooler, or at least pretends to be. Time to go back and take advantage of quilting time. :o)

Our trip to the Oregon coast

24th anniversary trip ***The photos are better if you click here and follow the link.

fixing quilts

I love to make new quilts, especially the tops, and it warms my heart when a quilt that I made is so loved that it's worn to shreds. Then, I usually have an excuse to make another quilt. Unfortunately, my kids don't want *another* quilt, they still love the raggedy one that they already have. They just want mom to fix it, so that's what I'm working on today--fixing quilts.
Jack's, I took apart and patched the top, but it's going to be needing new batting and a new backing and then very lightly quilted on the machine. Paddy's quilt, on the other hand, has already been patched, so it needs more patches added to it to cover the raggedy-ness. Here is a photo of the quilt and the fabrics that I'm going to use for patches. She loves dandelion fluff, so this is what she requested. It's very light weight, so I decided that maybe I'd better work on them while it's still summer. :o) As soon as this one's done, I'll start on Jack's. A quilter's work is never done. :o)

Month 11 is finished Yay!

Be Grateful


I am so pleased that I'm getting all caught up with this set of blocks. That feeling of accomplishment is kicking in and I still have one more month to go. Doing this BOM is making me see that I really can pull it off. That's really good because I have two more BOM patterns in my sewing room waitng for me to make time for them. :o) Isn't it cute?