Land-of-Milk-and-Honey

Where has the time gone?

2008-10-17T21:40:00.002-05:00

I cant believe it is already past the middle of October. I love fall so that's not a problem. On Monday i celebrated my 45th birthday. My Dad called and was teasing me about being over the hill. I told him i had bigger hills to climb.

Our round robin blocks were due out on Oct 15 and i finally got them sent out today. Not too bad for me. I had intended on sending it out yesterday, but i got to the Post office just a skosh too late. I tried to make it to the one in the next bigger town, but that wasn't a go either. After i got it all done and the picture put in the middle of it i had this idea? I have a wonderful picture of my grandparents when they were a young married couple that i should of put into it. I may try to print it out and when i get the rr block back, maybe i will try to see if it would go......If not there is always another design opportunity.

I got a midarm quilting machine a couple of months ago and I'm slowly trying to make progress with that. Its frustrating to me some, because i figured i would be better at it than i am. I guess maybe all of us think that way. I have my second quilt on the frame and its very definitely a learning experience. I am not happy with parts of it, but i guess its okay. I guess i was really surprised how much there is to learn about the art of machine/frame quilting.

I have a quilt to do for our guild raffle. We did a log cabin in a streak of lightning pattern. That one we had hand quilted. We had quite a few blocks left over so we made a smaller 60 x 60 lap quilt. That's the one i get to quilt. One of the first things i will do with this quilt is BASTE it. If you baste it it helps to keep its shape and prevents draw in that comes from machine quilting.

Wish me Luck, okay.

Crazy Quilt Round Robin

2008-09-30T23:19:00.002-05:00

I have been active on the HGTV Chat boards for almost six years. A few years ago we had our first crazy quilt block swap. Most all of us were novices in the art of crazy quilting. We have done several different block swaps since then. We have done everything from blocks to hearts. We recently completed a one to one swap where you told your preferences and your partner made you a block. We are currently working on cq Christmas ornaments for a swap hosted by my friend Nickilee.

In Jan 2007 we did our first cq round robin. There were thirteen ladies that signed up. I organised the round robin. We had three ladies that did two blocks so that we had two groups of eight. Those blocks came home in the summer and most of them are posted in the HGTV Crazy Quilt Round Robin album on the flickr photo site.

In Jan 2008 a group was organized to give basic lessons on crazy quilting. It was organized by Sherry Johnson with all of us veterans helping out by preparing lessons. Initially it was on the chat boards but thanks to Jody Cull it has been moved to http://crazyquilting.pbwiki.com/

If you have time, go check it out. For people new to crazy quilting there is alot of information that has been amassed there.

On Sept 1, i put out the call for the second annual crazy quilt round robin on the HGTV Quilting and Needlework Chat Boards. We have had forty women sign up. I am so surprised that so many want to get in on the fun. I divided the groups into five groups of eight. I tried to get veterans and newbies in each group. I also took into account where the person lives to make the mailing of the blocks easier. Currently we are still in the Making the blocks stage. The ladies were given the guidelines of the block should be at least 18 inches square up to 24 inches square. It could be of any fabrics they chose. Fancies or cottons. Some have gotten their blocks ready to send out and those are posted on the wikipedia site.

The blocks will be sent to the first person in their group on October 15. After that each person will have one month to work on the block and it needs to be in the mail to the next person by the fifteenth of the following month. We will be posting sneak peeks as we go along.

A round robin is a great way to learn more about the art of crazy quilting. It gives you an opportunity to see someone Else's work and to get new ideas. With each block we send a journal. In the journal each person will write about their block and their vision for their block. In turn each person that has worked on the block will write things such as what stitch they used and what thread they used. It really helps to give you an idea why someone did a specific thing. It also gives you a personal link to that person who has worked on your block.

I have my block pieced. I am waiting to print some vintage images to go on the block. I will also be doing a little embellishing on each portion of the block before i send it to the first person. Last year when i got my block back, there wasn't any room for me to do any more embellishing on it.

Paisley Purse Done

2008-09-21T22:41:00.000-05:00

On Monday of this past week i started working on a purse. The before pics are on the previous post. Well i worked at it this week and i got it done. It turned out to be bigger than i had imagined but i love it. I pieced an stitched and beaded the flap. The cq heart on the back was made by my friend Nicki. The silk flowers were made by me using hand dyed ribbon. They were so easy. I couldn't believe how easy they were. I just followed the instructions off of Helen Gibb's basic ribbon work dvd for the flat vintage rose. Then i added my touch to it. One of the trims around the flap of the purse i made myself. I had two skeins on the eyelash yarn in black. One with teal tags and one with brown tags. I used a narrow ribbon and looped both yarns to make a fringy trim. The cream lace on the right side of the flap came off a 1970's wedding dress i salvaged. It had been hanging in a smoker's closet for years and the nicotine ended up giving the dress and lace a yummy golden age to it.

I have been busy working on organizing a Crazy Quilt Round Robin on the HGTV quilters chat board. Well we have forty ladies signed up for it. That's a whole lot. I have them separated out into five groups of eight. There are cq veterans as well as newbies signed up.

The blocks will be sent out to the first person on October 15. It will be very interesting to see everybody's naked blocks.

I'm Back

2008-09-18T21:00:00.000-05:00

Well i just looked at my blog and i can't believe its been ten months since i posted on it. I have been meaning to come back and get it updated but hey life gets in the way.

I did real good the first part of the year not starting new projects. Some projects i even worked on. I'm not sure i completed any though. I do have one quilt on the frame that i pieced last year so that is at least progress.

I'm still crazy quilting but i found some other interests. In May i ordered a midarm quilting machine and i finally got it in august. I have had it set up for about a month and the second quilt is on it. I didn't realize there would be so much to learn about them, but more on that at a later date.

I have been buying books on purses for about the last two years. I'm not sure why because i am really not into purses. Last year i made one for a small quilted items auction that our guild was involved with and hadn't made another one.....that is until this week. Ive gotten caught up in the teal and brown craze and i found this paisley fabric. Here are some pics of the purse in progress. I need to bead on the crazy quilted flap then i should be ready to put it together. The heart on the back was made for me by Nickilee off of Nickilee's Ravioli Dreams blog.

More tomorrow.

Thanksgiving

2007-11-23T16:40:00.000-06:00

Well we survived Thanksgiving. We went to my Dad's for lunch and then Father in laws for supper. I only did a small amount of cooking which was ok by me. Both my sons were able to make both dinners. We had a good time and ate too much, but all in all an enjoyable day.

My son Brinn leaves for Guam in the morning. He flies out at 5:30 am. I will be getting up at 0'dark thirty to take him to the airport. He has to be there at 4:30 and its at least two hours to get there. Not much sleep tonight.

I'm doing ok right now, but by tomorrow night i will be a bawling mess. I know him going is what he wants, but its hard to let him leave. He wont be home agian until Christmas 2008. That sure seems like a long time to me.

I need to get busy on a few projects. I have a one block swap that i need to peice. Its due on dec 1, and i havent even started on it. I will try to get it don on sunday so i can do all the stitching on it at work this next week. Thats my last swap obligation for the year and it wont take long. I have made a decision not to do may swaps next year. I get caught up in the swaps and then i dont get things finished. I started making a list of UFO's i need to work on and it was over 15 projects. I think i need to get busy on them.

My son is home

2007-11-11T20:04:00.000-06:00

My son is home. He is doing a permanent duty station change and it home on leave. He will be going to Guam by the end of the month. He had his car with him in Connecticut, so i flew out to Boston and helped him to drive home. It gave us a couple of more days to spend together, and it kept him from trying to drive it all alone. I know people do it all the time, but 1400 miles is a ways to do by your self.

I flew into Boston on thursday. An internet friend picked me up from the airport. Nicki and I have been internet friends for about two years, but had never met. She met my plane and then we spent a wonderful afternoon together before meeting up with my son in the evening. She took me to the most wonderful fabric shop in Boston. The place had the most gorgeous fabric one could want for crazy quilting. It also had cottons and trims and laces too. I bought several different trimms and also i bought 20 yards of silk cording. I plan on dying that to use as i need it. I foundthe most beautiful flocked velvet that i ended up buying. it is a dark chocolate brown with darker brown flowers on it. I plan on making a jacket out of it. I bought 3 yards cause i couldnt remember what the pattern took and i definately wanted to have enuf.. I will take a picture of the fabby later and show you.

I have been working extra hours this past few weeks. Normally i only work part time. One week on and one week off. The other gal that i work with has had a family medical problem and will not be coming back to the job. I really hate to lose her and i hate for what she is going thru. I also dont want to try and find another person to fill her place. We worked well together and it will be hard to find someone. We have worked together over 2 years, and she also worked for me years ago when i had my own business.

I need to get to bed so i can work in the morning.

Just Catching Up

2007-10-18T23:11:00.000-05:00

Well, I'm just trying to catch up again. I'm so very glad September is over. I had a month from he##. It started the first part of the month with a quilt show. That same weekend, a friend from the Marine Corps was in town, but i couldn't get away to meet up with her. Her kids still live in Nebraska so i know we will have time to catch up soon. It seemed as if i had too many deadlines and not enuf time to get the stuff done. I was working on Baltimore Album blocks and stayed up until 3:30am to get them in the mail to make it to the swap destination by the deadline. I love the blocks, but i definitely stressed too much over them. It seems like i stressed too much about these blocks so i have decided to cut back on my swaps.

This month has been a little better. Not so many deadlines. I am still working on quilting a quilt for money. I decided i needed to work on it pretty regularly so that i can get it done. I had wanted to get it done way before now, but it didn't work out. My husband says i better get it done before the lady dies. She's 82. Shes in good health, but you never know what can happen. I have it over 1/2 done so i will keep plugging away.

I have been working on some crazy quilt blocks for a swap. I'm only doing six this time. It is so great to be able to stitch again. I have two virtually completed, and the other four are in various stages of embellishment. Most of the time when i work on a block, i work at one block until it is done. This time i am kinda working on all the blocks at the same time. This works because i have been taking them to work and doing the stitching on them. Most evenings Ive been quilting. Another new thing for these blocks is that most of them are monochromatic. Usually i like to shake up my stitching colors and embellishments, but these are more tame.

In 22 days my son will be home on leave from the Navy. I can hardly wait. He will have two weeks at home then he will do a permanent change of station and will be going to Guam. He will be there for five years. I'm not real happy about him going thousands of miles away, but he could be going to the Persian gulf. He will be on a sub, so who knows for sure where he will actually be. One of the things about subs, is that there is virtually no contact when they are out to sea.

The ladies from the HGTV crazy quilt group have made me a patriotic cq. I was so shocked when i received it in the mail. They did this to help me deal with both of my sons going in the service(the youngest is in the delayed entry for the air force and will leave in Jan). I cant believe how beautiful this block is. There were 11 ladies involved and it went all over the U S to be embellished. Each lady journaled their additions to it. That's is one of the best parts is reading the meaning behind the embellishments. The only addition i plan to make is to print Brinn and Corey's service pictures onto fabric and adding to the wall hanging. I will also be adding a border and backing to it. I plan on putting a little pocket on the backing so i can put the journal with the quilt .

Busy, Busy, Busy

2007-09-13T22:18:00.000-05:00

Well i have been extremely busy. Last weekend my quilt guild had their biennial quilt show. I was on the show committee, but i worked all week, so i didnt end up doing too much. I entered three things. A christmas tree skirt, a wall hanging and a quilt i bought. The quilt is a 1930's original that i bought on an auction for $40. I had been trying to find out who made the quilt. I did get a lead on the quilt. When i bought the quilt, it had never been washed(still hasnt) and had never been displayed. I have had it out some, but it isnt in use every day. There were alot of quilts displayed.

Today i have spent the afternoon making salsa and canning tomatoes. We planted our garden late so this is the first i have done. I ended up with 12 quarts of tomatoes and 10 pints of salsa. Last year i planted peppers and ended up freezing bunches of them. I ended up using some of these in the salsa. The salsa is medium hot but my husband has said its not hot enough. I like some heat, but not as hot as him. Tomorrow i plan on doing bread and butter pickles. Harlan wants me to do his mothers recipe, but i dont have it. His mother passed away last year, and although i may be able to find the recipe in her things, he thought i should just use the one i have in my canning book.

I am planning on doing some crazy quilting this evening. I dont havew time to do the embellishing, but i want to get some blocks peiced.

Trying to keep this up to date

2007-08-22T00:48:00.000-05:00

I am trying to keep the blog current. I have been busy working on Applique projects. I am working on baltimore album blocks for a swap. They are made with Bali Batiks. The first one im doing is called Indianna Rose, but i added an extra peice in the middle. I have about 5 blocks completed and the others are in various stages. I need ten for that set. I am also doing a feathered heart block. I have several patterns, but have decided to combine a couple of patterns to get it to my skill level I havent even started on those blocks. Im a little leary about doing bias stems. I have bias press bars, but havent done anything with them. Im off work tomorrow, so i think i will bite the bullet and try to make some bias bars.
I have also been working on a applique Christmas round robin. we have until the 27th of october before i will get my block back. I have been very happy with what i have seen done on the other blocks. My theme was toys that you find under a christmas tree. I did a Santa for my center block. The last blocks i worked on was A santa for the center block. The only stipulation was that she didnt want an Angel on her quilt because she is a muslim. On the surrounding blocks there were a snowmand, two reindeer, a row of gaily wrapped presents, a christmas tree with doggies in front of it, and a plate of christmas cookies and cup of cocoa. I did a long and narrow block and i put an penguin on it. It is one of the best blocks i have done sewing wise. I hope she likes it.

I'm Baack!!!!

2007-08-15T22:55:00.000-05:00

I cant believe it has been so long since i posted here. I have been extremely busy and gone alot this summer.
I haven't been doing much in the crazy quilting way. I did finish work on all the round robin blocks we were doing. All have been sent home to their mommas. I have a crazy quilt block swap coming up due in October. I haven't even pieced any of the blocks. Right now i have been working on applique blocks. I am in a Baltimore Album swap due in October so i have been trying to get these done. Also am working on applique Christmas blocks round robin. It is almost done. We will get our wall hangings back around the fifteenth of October.
I am still working part time. It seems as if i never get anything done at home. It hasn't helped that i broke a small bone in my foot on July 28. It was just me being clumsy, but i caught my toes on the street and then hyper extended my foot over the top. I ended up pulling all the ligaments on my ankle and also when i did that it pulled bone off too. I have a boot thingy on my foot, and wear an ace bandage. I had bruising from my toes to my outside ankle then around the heel of my foot and then up over the inside of the ankle. Most of the bruising is gone, except just above my toes. Today i tried to put a shoe on, but that didn't work so i guess i will just wear the boot some more.
I have gotten my peacock round robin back. I love it, but am unsure what i want to do with it. Originally i was going to do twelve more blocks to go around the outside. I still may do that, but it will be a little bit. I also have thought about putting a 6 inch mitered border in black on it and making a wall hanging out of it, but I'm not really the wall hanging type. My quilt guild has their biennial show in Sept and i was considering trying to get it done for that, but have decided i have too many other things that need to get done.
What do you all think of the block?

2007-03-29T21:09:00.000-05:00

Well today was the day that my son left for bootcamp. We have been extremely busy this past week getting him moved and his belongings put into storage. He went to the Military Entrance Processing Station yesterday evening. My dad, Corey(my youngest ), Chelsie(Brinn's girlfriend) and I went up this morning. He was sworn into active duty around ten this morning. We were able to spend a few last hours with him. He flew out of Omaha into Chicago. He just called a little while ago to let me know he had arrive safe. He was going to call Chelsie, get something to eat. Then he and his bootcamp buddy, Casey were to check in. I won't have his address for a week or so.

It was very hard. He hasn't lived with us for about four years, but i do know what he is getting into. I won't be able to talk to him again until boot camp is almost over. That will be at least seven weeks. It was a very hard day for me and i cried before we left. Hopefully tomorrow i can get back to doing normal routine things. We will see.

I have been working on a CQ round robin block. It is an underwater theme. I want to put a mermaid on it. I bought some transfer sheets. The problem is i didn't buy the right kind of transfer sheets. Yesterday i bought the right kind. Now i just have to copy the mermaid out then i can add to the block and embellish. I'm hoping to get it in the mail early next week.

Empty Nest Again

2007-03-18T20:01:00.000-05:00

Well its been a while since I've posted. Its been very hectic and stressful at my house lately and its not going to get any better any time soon. I have been busy working on round robin blocks both crazy quilting and needle turn applique.

We are still having baby goats. We have 17 on the ground now and just a few more to go. I love the little things. We had a pair of twins that the mommy died. I did have them in a tub on my porch but that has changed. One nanny had only one baby so we fostered the little nanny goat onto her. I was bottle feeding the little billy til he got where he could jump out of the tub. My husband decided it was time to head back to the barn. We still bottle feed him, but he has room to play etc.

On Mar 5, my 23 year old son came home and informed me he was going to enlist in the navy. My eighteen yr old has already enlisted in the Air Force. I knew Corey was enlisting and even encouraged it, but when Brinn decided to enlist it threw me for a loop. Now i was in the Marines, and my Dad was in the Navy and i have uncles and cousins that were in the service. I have a nephew that's in the Army right now. It was just a shock. Brinn will be leaving for basic training on March 29. Corey wont be leaving until August as he needs to graduate(in May). I'm very proud that they both want to go in, but I've been having severe separation anxiety. Neither boy lives at home, but the thought of them both going kills me. I know it will be alright, but i do know what they will be getting into. Brinn has been here for most of the last two weekends so its been great to spend extra time with him.

I have bean commissioned to hand quilt an embroidered quilt for a friend of my step moms. I have had the quilt for about a month and i finally got it layered and basted. I have only worked on it a couple of evenings so far, but it is going well. Its going to be a beautiful quilt when its all done. It has a scalloped edge to it. The directions call for a knife edge finish, but I've never done that before. I have done a scalloped binding on the double wedding ring quilt i quilted for my mother in law. I didn't know it was supposed to be hard so i did it. When i first started quilting, that is the first quilt i actually "quilted". I have learned allot since then and my technique has improved vastly. I am hoping to get this quilt done by June so i can use the money for spending money at the CQ convention in Omaha.

On Wednesday i finally sat down and machine quilted a baby quilt I'm making for my nephews new baby. The baby arrived Mar 6. They named him Taevyn Lee and he weighed 8 lbs, 15 ounces. The quilt is done and ready to go in the mail. They are stationed in Germany so I'm not sure how long it will take to get there.

I have several pictures from the round robin blocks I've been working on and i will try to post in the upcoming days.

Back from the land of the lost

2007-03-01T23:16:00.000-06:00

Well im back from the land of the lost. I have just let life overwhelm me lately. First it was a family funeral a few weeks ago then it was just life in general. I havent done much stitching either. I cant say how long its been since ive been to
Sharon Bs website. I think it was the eyelet stitch. I didnt do those. I have done them in the past tho on hardanger. Then i know the fly stitch. I havent done that one either. I will try to practice on it. I have no clue as to what the stitch was this week either. I may have to go round and check it out.

I have been busy working on my Christmas needleturn applique round robin block. I have it done and ready to mail out tomorrow. I will take a picture and post so you all can see what i did.

This week has been crazy around here. We had about 6 inches of snow and then had blizzard warnings because of the wind blowing. There were white out conditions in most places today. The mail didnt even get deluivered.

We started haveing kids this week. I have a herd of registered dairy goats and they picked this week to start having babies. Monday we had twins, a boy and a girl and then yesterday we had triplets. The triplets are two boys and a girl. We have had a few problems. The mother of the twins died yesterday so i now have orphan kids that i have to take care of. They have to be fed every 3-4 hours just like a baby. Its not hard, it just ties you down. I love this time of the year. Not the weather, but the babies. They are so cute and cuddly and well worth the trouble. I have had goats for at least ten years and it doesnt seem like spring if i dont have babies. At one time we had sheep too. They all were having babies at the same time and i had lots of orphans. Sometimes the mother just doesnt want anything to do with the babies. If thats the case, then you have to feed them and take care of them. They become very tame.

Happy Updates

2007-02-04T22:23:00.000-06:00

I just went to the TAST challenge/Sharon B's blog to check out her roundup of blogs. I was actually mentioned, which is a good thing. I keep forgetting about the time difference when posting what I've been working on. Usually i post it too late, but what i posted last week had the Cretan stitch and the chevron stitch both on it. When i learn how to link to other pages, i will start to link to Sharon B's weblog and also to some other blogs of interest.

I am almost finished with one crazy quilt round robin block and will be sending it on. I have another block in hand to work on though. I also received my first applique round robin block to work on. I have some ideas for both and will be working on them in the upcoming weeks.

This weekend i spent my free time working on a quilt for a friend. She is originally from the Boston area and lives here in the Midwest. She and i shopped for fabric for a quilt for her bedroom. She decided on the Boston Commons variation of Trip Around The World. I had done a baby quilt in this pattern but not a full size. All of the patterns(free ones) I could find called for 2 1/2 inch blocks. I decided i didn't want to do that size so i figured out what i would need for four inch blocks. We ended up using ten different colors and then a border. I got the top done a couple hours ago. I will take a picture and post later.

I have been asked to hand quilt a top for money. It is a full size quilt, but it has the full drops on it like a bedspread. The lady did all tone on tone embroidery on the quilt and she wanted it hand quilted. She didn't want to take it to the church to quilt as she wants one person to do the quilting. I have only hand quilted a few quilts, but i think i can do this one justice. It has medium density stitching and it will be gorgeous. I am trying to figure out just how much i should charge to do it. I also has a scalloped border. I would be putting on the binding also. That doesn't frighten me that much as the first quilt i quilted had a scalloped border. I was too dumb to think it was hard. I figured i could use the money to go toward the cost of the crazy quilt convention in Omaha. I will be getting in contact with the customer to set up a time to buy backing and batting. I think i could probably get started on the quilt by next week. We will see.

RR progress update

2007-01-27T19:40:00.000-06:00

Well, i wanted to post some progress to my rr block. I also wanted to post a pic of the part of the block where i used the TAST stitch of the week, the Cretan stitch. I didn't really do anything special with the Cretan stitch other than use it to couch down rick rack. I then added detached chain stitch in various configurations to add a little life to the rick rack. I will be adding some beads to finish off the stitch. I did the stitching on the long seam to bring the green up into the block. I used the chevron stitch and then the detached chain stitch. The dark green is the pistil stitch. I added beads to finish it off.

Also in that area is a drizzle stitch flower. I was looking thru the book "Floral Stitches" by Judith Baker Montano and decided to try this stitch. Originally i had SRE Fargo roses in the place but i didn't feel they made enough impact. I did three drizzle stitch flowers. The large one in the center had eight petals with 15 cast ons. The smaller ones had five petals with eight cast ons. Then i put some beads in the center. I tried the cast on stitch first, but i dint like that the ends were tacked down. I also had trouble keeping the cast ons on the needle. I liked the way they did the drizzle stitch . I did tack the petals down about 1/2 way down the petal. For leaves i used woven picots also from the same book. I have done the needle weaving before as i do hardanger. I think i will like doing more of the Brazilian dimensional embroidery. I do have a book on the subject, but haven't done much of it as of yet.

The second picture is of a bead and button trail. The only reason for doing it, was i needed practice. I think it turned out well and i am pleased with the effect of it.

Crazy Quilt Round Robin

2007-01-23T20:42:00.001-06:00

First off, id like to thank everybody that has left comments. It helps a great deal to know that other people are viewing your blog. Also, i wanted to point out the link on the right hand side of the page that is the Crazy Quilt web ring. Take some time to go thru these blogs. They are wonderful and will give anyone inspiration.

I am currently hosting a crazy quilt round robin. The ladies involved are off the HGTV Message Boards, Quilting and Needlework. There are thirteen ladies involved with this round robin. Three are doing two blocks. We are divided into two groups of eight. The rules were very easy. We had to piece a cq block 18" square to 24" square. We did have a couple of ladies go another way, but the sizes ended up being the same square inches. The ladies could pick their choice of colors, and fabrics and do a little embellishment on them. The next step was to send the block off. All blocks were sent out last week. Each lady is given one week mail time and three weeks work time. I thought that was a nice amount of time to be able to embellish part of a block. Another rule was they are supposed to embellish in several parts of the block. Since we all do different types of work, i felt this would balance the block out. We have been posting pics of the naked blocks and then one hint picture. We are posting on a separate thread so that someone that would like to be surprised when they get the block back, will be.

I got my block on monday. It is pretty. I really felt it was a little off balance because of the way the oriental fabrics weren't used in the lower left block. I talked to my friend and we came out with a nice way to draw the burgundy down into the lower left corner without overshadowing the hankies or interfering with the hanki

Applique Flowers Quilt

2007-01-18T19:23:00.000-06:00

Well, i thought i would talk about the first quilt i ever did. I joined a swap in 2003 for applique flowers. It could be machine or hand applique. I didnt know how to do either. I had an old quilt book of my mothers and it had a pattern for Iris flowers in it. After doing some searching on the internet about hand applique i decided that i could do it. I had sewed for a long time but i hadnt done applique. I ended up buying two sets of fqs one printed and one solid. I did 20 blocks in different colors. I received back some lovely blocks. It took a little while for me to get the blocks sashed. Finally in Feb 2005 I decided to do the hand quilting. My friend helped me pin the quilt. I had a procedure done on my back, and was not supposed to move around alot so i sat in my chair and did the quilting in a lap hoop. At the time, the only way i knew how to quilt was the stab and stick method. It took a while to get it done. Although it isnt the best either in the sashing part or the quilting part, i did the best i knew how at the time. The quilting really resembles the big stitch method, but its done, and thats what matters.

SharonB's stitch for this week is the detatched chain stitch. I need to get busy and do a few to post here.

New projects and round robins

2007-01-15T12:42:00.000-06:00

Well i see i have neglected the blog. Last week was my work week. I work one week and am off the next week. Last week was hectic. I take care of an elderly lady in her home. We were extremely busy as there were extra doctors appointments and an extra hairdressing appointment. To top it off Helen was sick. I came home every night tired and wore out and Friday night i even came home an hour late because of her appointments.

I have been working on an applique round robin project. It is a Christmas quilt/wall hanging. We are to do one block and then send the background fabrics to have others do. My theme is toys under the Christmas tree/toys that Santa brings. I got my Santa with the toy bag done. I still have to put a few toys in the bag, but am undecided as to what i want to put there.

I actually got to work on Sharon B's Take a Stitch Tuesday Challenge . I will post a picture of the work i have been doing later on. This last weeks stitch was the buttonhole stitch. Its really great to see how each person interprets the stitch. I myself am definitely strictly a crazy quilt type person, but its still neat to see how others do it.

I am busy trying to get my cq round robin block finished up to go into the mail tomorrow. I need to dye lace to put around the fans and also i need to put a fusible interfacing over the back of the peacock so the threads don't come undone. I also have a swap that i need to get the things together to put into the mail. I am hoping to have all the work done so i can put into mail tomorrow.

Tomorrow night is the first quilt guild meeting of the year. I am on the committee for friendship. We are discussing doing a fat quarter swap, also a signature swap. I will need to get all the patterns/info together to be able to take to the meeting. For the signature swap, there are several avenues to explore. Our committee will meet before the meeting to hash out the details.

2007-01-05T20:47:00.000-06:00

I have spent part of the day working on my rr block. The peacock is done. Any pictures i take of it really doesn't do it justice. It is very nice if i do say so myself. I now only need to dye some lace to put around the fans on the block and it will be ready to send on. Its going to be hard to let go of it, but I'm hoping to have a beauty when i get it back. The rr block will be coming home to me in august. Our quilt guild is having a quilt show in October. I would like to have a wall hanging done to show. I plan on doing 12 blocks to go around the rr panel. It will look like a medallion type quilt. I can probably have most of the work done on the blocks before i get the rr back.

I have just finished up a crazy quilt block swap on the HGTV chat boards. This is the second set of cq blocks i have done. I did end up with three ugly blocks out of the 24 i received. Most blocks i can work with, but these three are just way too far out there for me. I have decided not to use them in the throw that I'm doing with the blocks. I just cant bring myself to use them. One thing i like about doing swaps is you get to see how others do things. Some of the blocks have colors that i could not have put together. They are very becoming. I just have a problem putting too many patterns and colors together. It is something i am working on. My cq blocks have allot of hand stitching on them. Others have lots of embellishments of other means like lace, medallion's ect. I think getting a balance is essential. I need to work on that too. After we did the block swap on HGTV, the hostess posted 2 pictures of each persons blocks. Then she had a contest and anyone could vote for their favorite block. Mine Won!!! I was so shocked. I didn't even vote for my own. I didn't exactly love the 2 blocks of mine that she posted. I guess you never know.

I have been spending some time every evening searching through the blogs listed on the TAST challenge. I am really enjoying seeing peoples take on the challenge and also seeing every body's work. There are so many directions that one can take the stitch. It really gives a different perspective of the one basic stitch. I tend to look at the stitches in the traditional cq way, but there are others that are into the altered art or fiber arts that take it a whole different direction. If you get a chance pop over to the "Take A Stitch Tuesday" webblog and scroll thru some of the blog. It will Be an eye-opening experience for you.

2007-01-04T23:51:00.000-06:00

I spent part of the day at my friend Shirly's house. We ended up going out to Wal-mart and i spent a little money. I bought one of those plastic storage towers with drawers. I needed a little bit more storage for my crazy quilt stuff. We looked at quilting patterns and then i helped her to connect her scanner to her computer and load the software for her new digital camera.

I have been working on the peacock. I have been using floss from DMC called "Light Effects" and Jewel Effects". They are a metallic floss. I hate them. They dont want to stay tied in knots. I did find that if you completely separate the strands and then put back together the ones you need it works better. I have also been running thru a beeswax disc. That seems to help too. After i get all the embroidery done on the peacock, i am going to have to use a fusible over the back to capture all the tail ends of the threads. Thats the only way i know how to keep them from coming undone. It may make it a little harder to stitch thru, but i dont know of any other way. I wish now i would have bought the Rayon floss instead of these threads. They arent cheap so i feel i need to use them.

I have decided i am not going to spend any extra money. My parents and my brother are going to Germany in may. My husband said i could go too, but i would need to save the money out of my work money. Im going to have to be very frugal. Harlan has no desire to go out of the country. I have wanted to visit Germany since my son went back in 2000. This would be my first trip out of the country. We will be visiting my nephew Chris and his wife Raquel. They are stationed there. He is in the army. They will be having a baby in feb/march. It will be quite a trip if i can pull it off. I checked with work and i think i have coverage for it.

2007-01-04T00:37:00.000-06:00

Well i didn't get much accomplished today. For the last few days i have been battling a cold. The people i take care of had it last week so of course i got it. Today i just felt bad. I even cancelled a chiropractor's appointment. I just didn't feel like getting up, getting dressed and driving to town. I spent most of the day in the recliner working on my round robin block. Its coming along just fine. I got all the eyes done on the peacock tail. Now I'm putting in the feather background for the tail. I still have some detail to finish on the body of the bird. I plan on dying some lace also to put on the block. Not much, but i want the same lace around the fans. I'm not sure what other embellishments i will do on the block yet.

Tomorrow i will be spending some time with my best girlfriend. I will take the round robin block along to get her perspective. Its always good to have someone Else's opinion.

I haven't gotten any stitching done on the TAST challenge. I will try and get something done before the weekend is over.

Next week is my work week so i need to have a project to work on. It will probably be the round robin block. I need to get busy on my Christmas Applique round robin block. I have all the fabrics, just need to take the time to do the prep work for it. I recently checked out a video on applique from the library. The person doing the video was kind of dry, but there was allot of valuable information on the tape. I taught myself how to do applique off the Internet. I started about three or four years ago. We lived in a remote area and i knew very few people. I joined a block swap for applique flower blocks. I found information on how to do applique on the internet and set about to teach myself. Those blocks were the first quilt i ever completed. Ill hunt up the picture and post it. I sure have progressed since then.

Happy New Year

2007-01-03T00:18:00.000-06:00

Well, we survived to a new year. It seems like this last year has just flown past. What changes a year can make! Dec 31, 2005 my Mother in law was put in the hospital and didn't return home again. She wasn't "sick" but she kept falling and my father in law was unable to get her back up again. After several falls in one day where my husband had to go and help get her back into the wheel chair it was decided that she would go to hospital/nursing home until she got her strength back. We weren't to know that things would progress downhill and we would lose her. It seems like yesterday that she passed, but in reality it has been over 6 months. Thanksgiving and Christmas were hard without her there.
Looking back over the past year, you wonder what kind of changes will be this year. I don't make new years resolutions. No reason too, as i usually don't keep them. The one thing i am going to try to do this year is not to buy any more fabric, unless it is to finish a project that I've already started(backing or batting, etc). I have decided not to start any new quilt projects for a while. I have a king size top that is out of Aunt Grace 30's reproductions that is about half quilted. It got to warm this summer so i put it away. I will be getting it back out soon so i can finish it. I also have another king size top that was from a mystery quilt from our guild that i need to get quilted. I may do it on the machine. I also have blocks that have been put into strips that need to get put into a top that i would like to get done. I started those in 2005 and put that project aside so i could make quilts for my sons for Christmas. I have yet to take it back out. Later in the summer i will need to cut and prepare blocks for a signature quilt for our family reunion. That wont take long. I am just going to cut 6 1/2 squares and then decide what the pattern will be after i see how many signatures we end up with.
I have been working on my crazy quilt round robin block. I have all the piecing done. I appliqued a peacock in the middle of the block and am working on embellishing that part of it. I will try and post a picture of it tomorrow. I have a digital camera, but it doesn't take very good pictures at night. No matter how many lights i turn on, the pics taken at night turn out grainy. I am going to dye some embellishments to go a few places on the block. Not a lot, but there are some places that need it. I am being kind of picky about what i want on this block. I absolutely don't want any red, pink, mauve, orange on it. Yellow and white in small amounts. I will state this on the journal pages that i am sending around with the block.
Sharon Boggin has posted her stitch for this week. I looked at it. Its the herringbone stitch. I have a couple of odd blocks that i will start with. I really need to get some type of book/sampler together to do the stitches on. I will post a picture of that when i get it started.

The holidays are over

2006-12-27T22:19:00.000-06:00

Well the holidays are over. At least for the most part. I am so very glad to be done with them. We had a nice quiet day on Christmas. I went to church in the morning, and then took a nap in the afternoon. Not much else.
We celebrated at my father in laws at noon on Christmas Eve, and the boys visited us in the evening. We are still getting together with my dad this next weekend, but its just for a meal. No gifts will be exchanged this year.
My darling hubby bought me clear storage containers for xmas. I got four large ones and 3 smaller ones. Tonight i decided to try to tame some of my stash. I think im gonna need at least four more of the large ones. When i went to Wal Mart to scope out the after christmas bargains i bought four more of the shoe box size ones. I may need a few more. I only got about 1/2 way thru the fabric i use for crazy quilts. I am trying to sort by color. Right now i have two colors in a container, but that might change. My sewing room is still a mess, but at least i feel ive accomplished something in there. I bought a few more beads today. Im wanting to get to Michaels soon because they have a little variety kit that has several different colors in it. I have not found the same kit at either Joanns or Hobby Lobby.
I am participating in a crazy quilt round robin. I am the hostess. Lets hope i keep organized. We need to have our block ready to send off by Jan 15. I drew part of mine out tonight. I plan on having a fan in each corner. I found these gorgeous czech buttons to put in the corners. I dont plan on sending them around with the block. I will put the buttons on after i get the block back. My theme for my block is peacocks. I have an assortment of purple/teal/blue/green fabrics that i will be using. I am going to applique a peacock in the center of the block. The rest will just be crazy patch. I plan on doing some of the embellishment on the peacock myself before i send it on.
I am also participating in a christmas needle turn applique round robin. I have the fabrics for that one too, but i need to sit down and draw it out and do the prep work. That one isnt due to be sent off until January 27.
This being new to me, i had a dickens of a time trying to get logged in here. I guess it takes a little practice. One of the reasons i decided to do a blog was so i could participate in Sharon B's Take a Stitch Tuesday. If i can ever figure it out i will post a link to it here. Well i have work in the morning so i better head off to bed.

2006-12-21T18:23:00.000-06:00

Well this is the second day of the blog. Not much going on today. It is my 15th wedding anniversary. When we got married, i never thought about how long we would be married. In this day and age, 15 years is a long time. After fifteen years i think we have adjusted to each other well. We usually dont argue much. We have been married longer than either my siblings or any of his siblings.
I am currently working on putting together a top out of crazy quilt blocks from two swaps. Most of the blocks are neat, but there are three blocks(done by the same person) that i just cant convince myself i need to use. They are just ugly. I am certainly thinking about replacing them with some blocks of my own. I dont have any ready, but it wouldnt take very long to do some up. When you do a swap, you hope and pray that the others in the swap will put the time and effort and care into the blocks they send, that you do. Most of the time i havent been dissapointed. Some of the other blocks are not as embellished as i like so i have decided to amend these blocks. When i do this, i dont want to devalue the work done on the blocks, but i like to have a cohesiveness to the top. I plan on putting the top together and then add where i think there is a hole. I hope noone feels bad about this. I certainly wouldnt take offense if someone added to the blocks i sent in. Everybody has a different idea of what they want the completed top to look like.
I am going to be doing a cq round robin. I have an idea in my head but i havent taken the time to do any drawing. The only thing i know for sure is it will have a fan in each corner and it will have a large peacock in the center. I will be doing some embellishment on it before i send it on. I found these beautiful pressed glass czech buttons. They are expensive and fragile. They are over $4 a piece. I plan on using them in the corners of the fans, but i really dont want to send them around so i will be putting a button on the fans so noone else will embellish there. When i get the block back i will then put the czech buttons on.
I am also doing an applique round robin christmas quilt. I have my design picked out for that, but i havent started it yet. I have until the end of january to have it done, so i have some time.
For tonight i had planned on making some christmas candy. I dont do much baking, but i olove to make candy. Tonight its peanut brittle and divinity.

First Post

2006-12-20T20:12:00.000-06:00

Well i have broke down and decided to take the plunge. I am wanting to participate in Take a Stitch Tuesday on Sharon B's blog so i decided i needed to set up a blog.
To start with, how i came up with a name. First i live in the Heartland of the USA. In a state called Nebraska. The milk and honey came from the fact that we raise dairy goats and also have bees. We live in a rural area near a town of 13,000. We are only an hour from the nearest large city of over 200,000. We live on an acreage and have livestock. My husband of fifteen years works a full time job and also helps his father farm. I work part time .
We have two children. Both boys. Brinn is 22 and is a manager of a restaurant. He lives about an hour away. Corey will be 18 in January and lives with his father in the next town. As of now i have no grandkids and none in the planning either.
I have sewn for about 30 years and have been doing embroidery about that long also. I got interested in quilting about three years ago. Last year i found crazy quilting. I think i found my passion. I have done a couple of swaps and am currently involved in a round robin. I plan on using my round robin peice as a base for a quilt of my own.
My favorite colors are blue teal purple and green so i am doing a peacock theme round robin block.
Im sure as this blog goes on you will get to know more about me and my interests.