Monthly Archives: March 2011

Aubrey & Nissa ~ a garden angel and her bird

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My very good friend, April, is a bad influence on me. bad. bad. bad. Are you listening, April? bad! hee!  😛

She showed me a book on Amazon, Scandinavian Stitches, by Kajsa Wikman. Of course I had to get myself a copy.

Once I started flipping through it, a light went off in my head regarding what I can make for the next craft challenge in a group I’m in. March’s challenge was to use recycled materials.

I gathered up an old pillowcase, a table runner, cutter quilt, wee branch/sticks that fell out of our next door neighbor’s elm tree during a wind storm (lots of those lately), some wire I saw next to the out door trash can, and some needles/thread/glue.

Meet Aubrey and Nissa!

I made Aubrey out of the pillowcase, her wings are from the table runner. Her legs and arms are scrap fabric I had in my scrap basket. I used very thin twigs from the elm tree for her hair. Stuffed her with scraps of quilt cotton batting that I have so much of after making quilts.

Nissa was cut from an old wedding ring cutter quilt. More elm twigs for legs. She is also stuffed with cotton batting.

Hobo Quilt Update ~ 21 Blocks Finished

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21 6.5″ blocks out of 60 finished!

Top Row (left to right):
-Anything Goes
-Camp Here
-Catch Out Here
-Road Spoiled-Full Of Hobos

Second Row (left to right):
-Bad Dog
-Dangerous Neighborhood
-Here Is The Place
-Talk Religion, Get Food
-Fake Illness

Third Row (left to right):
-Bad Drinking Water
-Doctor, No Charge
-Housewife Feeds For Chores
-Unsafe Area

Fourth Row (left to right):
-Bad Tempered Owner
-Doubtful
-Officer Lives Here
-Well Guarded House

Fifth Row (left to right):
-Be Afraid
-Easy Mark
-Ok
-Cops Active

A quilt for Evan Henry

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We have a new baby in my extended family…Evan Henry (my brother-in-law’s sister’s baby boy).

I finished the half square triangle quilt top…added two batik borders, one (the biggest) is a beauty…Paradise Barbados and the smaller one (also the binding) Tonga royal iron scrollwork. It’s backed by a pretty fuzzy flannel ~ Ice Garden by Maywood Studios.

It’s 44″x52″…so it’ll last him a very long time.

(changing photos! Mom came back with it all washed…outside shot much better)

For Today ~ 25 March 2011 ~ Simple Woman’s Daybook

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FOR TODAY … 25 March 2011.

Outside My Window… Snow on the ground , ice, snow, more ice, snow. wind. more snow.

I am thinking… no more snow. no more snow. no more snow.

I am thankful for… :::scrowling::: I may or may not come back to this one.

From the kitchen… nothing. We’re going out.

I am wearing… Jeans, UNR hooded pullover sweatshirt, tennies, hair in ponytail.

I am creating… two quilts…a hobo quilt and a baby quilt using leftover half triangle squares from my ocean quilt.

I am going… turn on my heater under my desk soon.

I am reading… am flipping through Mark Lipinski’s Fabric Trends magazine.

I am hoping… that the snow stops. and the wind. yes, definitely that the wind stops.

I am hearing… sirens (stupid people driving too fast for the icy conditions).

Around the house… floor needs vacuuming…boy does it need vacuuming.

One of my favorite things… sunshine on my shoulders makes me haaaappppiee…sunshine in my eeeeeyyyyeeeessss can make me cry. sunshine on the waaaaaattttter looks sooooooo luvvviley….sunshine amost aaallllways makes me hiiiigh!

A Few Plans For The Rest Of The Week… quilt and curse the snow.

Here is a picture thought I’d share with you…

Bad Doggie…Bad! (another Hobo quilt block)

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The Simple Woman is the original home of The Simple Woman's Daybook.

I’m tired of the snow…or maybe I’m just tired

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I’m thinking this damn weather pattern we’ve been having here in NW Nevada is our punishment for having a 60F January. Snow & rain through Saturday…

I’ve been sporting a horrendous headache from the base of my skull that wraps up over to my eyes then shoots straight into my sinus. Nothing I take will touch it. Big sigh.

So I’m a grumpy arse. Pissy. Tired.

I’ve only finished two more of the Hobo blocks since I posted last. 😦

The top is ‘Camp Here’ and the bottom one is ‘Bad Drinking Water’…and the ‘Bad Drinking Water’ pretty much sums up what I’ve looked and felt like for the last three days! A mean, growling cyclops!

Oh! When the author says 1-7/8″ triangle? She doesn’t mean cut out 12 1-7/8″ triangles…you cut out 1-7/8″ squares in which you cut in half! Another big sigh. I had the half triangle squares all sewn up and looked at them thinking there is no way in hell I did that right. Had to cut them down to 1.5″ squares.

New Quilt in the Making ~ Hobo Quilt

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My husband has been wanting one of my quilts for some time, so I decided I’d finish up the Underground Railroad quilt for him. “Cool…I love railroads”…”It’s not really a railroad, it’s a Civil War slavery story quilt about escaping from the South to Canada”…”I want a railroad quilt”. Boys…they sap the energy right out of me.

Enter Hobo Quilts: 55+ Original Blocks Based on the Secret Language of Riding the Rails by Debra G. Henninger.

I must admit that book is something else! Besides the quilt patterns it is loaded with stories from around the country about riding the rails, being a hobo, the families that fed them, the ones that did not, pictures…lots of pictures…an extremely interesting book! I’m having a hard time getting the book away from my husband so I can make the blocks!

I was able to wrestle the book away for a few minutes last night to jot down the measurements of four blocks:

UNSAFE AREA:

TALK RELIGION FOR FOOD:

ANYTHING GOES:

BE AFRAID:

I took all of my fabric out of my hutch and re-organized it all…taking out of my stash what I thought would look good for the Hobo Quilt. The blocks are 6.5″ unfinished for a 6″ finished block. The four that I did, pieced right quick!

8 Just One Star Blocks

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I just finished all 8 of my Just One Star quilt blocks…they’ll be mailed out to Texas tomorrow morning. 🙂

And this is what I get for gleefully telling April to look at the points on the first star…

You ever piece a block and go “rut-roh…there goes that point!” Big sigh.

I hope the quilters can use my blocks…I’m sure that they will receive way more than the 1800 that they need for 100 quilts. 🙂

Just One Star

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I saw over on Rachel’s blog ~ ps i quilt that Moda has a challenge for all of us quilters/sewers.

Just One Star can comfort a soldier. The challenge is to piece, quilt and bind 100 quilts in 100 days using the Flag of Valor pattern by Minick and Simpson. The deadline for the star blocks is May 1 so that they can meet the Flag Day deadline.

The need 1800 star blocks to reach their goal…they will donate the 100 (I’m sure it will be more) quilts to the Semper Fi Fund.

Here’s the start of my eight I will be donating ~

ps: Rachel also has a challenge! 🙂

here’s my challenge on top of moda’s challenge…let’s jump start just one star!!!
let’s see how many of yall can make your block THIS WEEK!!!

make your block, take a pic & send it to me. {via email or flickr link}
let’s do this by next monday.
i’m talking blocks en route to texas by monday.
i’m going to send one lucky peep a special “thank you” package. <–a goooood one!!! promise.

Playing with Photoshop, Part II

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On my 15 minute break…just playing with photoshop with a picture I took up at a cemetery in Sierra Valley, CA.

I really need to find a book to help me.

Original Photo I shot with my Canon Powershot S2 IS ~

Here she is after taking the watercolor filter to it and a hint of pink hue to the flowers.

I’m Glad I listened to Everyone ~ Pinwheel Quilt

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The pinwheel beast turned out scrumptiously delish!


(sorry, but it seems whenever I want to take a picture of my quilts…my quilt holder is in bed…big sigh)

I’m very happy I listened to everyone and ripped out the disastrous first attempt at free-motion quilting on a large-scale! After a wash and tumble in the dryer, most of the tell-tale signs of that awful quilting disappeared! 🙂 It has the most wonderful comforting snuggle look to it now. I hope they like it at our local Veteran’s Guest House! I thank you all who kept after me.