CRUMBS

Here we have a pile of scraps I had left from making the Batik Jewels. As I said before, I hated to waste all this so I started making crumbs and never made a dent in this pile. So these are going to camp with me in September to be given to Dawn or anyone else who wants to go crazy making CRUMBS.

You can't see the depth of this pile from this picture, but believe me it is piled up and it is all Batik fabric. I know this is going to make someone happy and I will be overjoyed in their happiness.

Now for the results of my use of the above pile. It looks like the neutral fabric is white but it is really a marble batik cream. It is lap size because I got tired of making crumbs. Plan to sandwich it this weekend and machine quilt it. When all is said and done, I really did like this little experiment in CRUMBS.

GREETINGS FROM KERRVILLE, TX

I am in Kerrville, TX visiting daughter and family for a few days. For those of you who don't know about TX, Kerrville is in the part of TX we refer to as the hill country. It is 65 miles NW of San Antonio. They live on the Guadulupe river and it is very picturesque down here. No tall trees, just mesquite trees, hills and beautiful scenery.

While I was here I had to do some repair on a quilt I had made for them a few years ago. Thought I would take the opportunity to post it here for those of you who have never seen it. They are into Southwest decor and of course live in the perfect spot for that. This quilt is kingsize and we have a kingsize SIL to hold it up. 6'5" SIL's do come in handy.

Daughter, Tammy, has a birthday in a few weeks, can't tell you how old but it is a big one. Hard to believe my baby is going to be that old. I had bought her a little what they call farm table and chairs for their breakfast eating area so she and I sat in the floor yesterday and put them together. Of course GS was excited when he got to use the rubber hammer to put the plugs in the holes.

I am headed home in the morning and they are taking off for a camping trip. Packing the camper as we speak. 7 year old GS is running around acting crazy due to the excitement of getting ready to go camping. SIL is smoking ribs and brisket for dinner tonight and boy do they smell good.

LIFE IS GOOD IN KERRVILLE, TX.

THANK YOU

Everyone has been so nice with all their warm fuzzies on my Batik Jewels. I can't wait to get it quilted and then find a place to hang it.

I had a question on the pattern. Yes, it is a Jacqueline de Jonge pattern. I met her and saw this made up on a trip to Paducah. I looked at it for days before finally giving in and buying it. It took 6 months to get the fabric together to make it and another couple of months of drawing off everything for paper piecing as well as getting up the nerve to start it.

Thanks to my quilt friends who were always encouraging and helping me learn how to do those stupid "Y" seams.

TA DA!!

I can't believe I actually got this done! It went together a lot easier than I thought it would. A lot of pinning. It will be a long time before I tackle anything like this again.

Plan to bring the pattern and all the templates, my wonderful nephew made for me, to camp in Sept. and sell it at the garage sale we have, so someone else can go nuts like me.

Don't know how this will be quilted, but plan to get advice from all machine quilters on what they think will be best.

I'm Hooked on CRUMBS!

(double click on picture to get a get a better view of these - they are a little blurred)

I have spent the last 4 days putting these together. This fabric is left over from the cut offs of the paper pieceing I have been doing on the Batik Jewels of which I only lack 2 in finishing.

Here are 15 Batik Jewels. I keep looking at these and wondering how in the heck I am going to sew them together. Still haven't read the directions!

Needless to say, I have had a lot of little pieces left from all the Batiks I used in this project. Seemed like a waste of money and fabric to just throw them away, so I had Dawn give me a quick lesson when we were together getting ready to go to Paducah. Bad move on my part.... Not sure what I am going to do with these 4 1/2" squares yet, but have decided to make more and at least get to a lap quilt size. (I am open on suggestions on how to put these together). When I get the crumb project done I am going to send all my left over little pieces to Dawn (hopefully, it will drive her as nuts as it has me).

Our 4th weekend has been fairly quiet. Good thing since I have spent most of it in the sewing room making the crumbs.

LIFE IS GOOD

Our daughter and grandson came up from Kerrville for a visit this week. It is always so great to have them here. He is 7 and as you can tell from the picture is into making faces when you ask him to smile. They were busy while they were here visiting, movies, swimming and a trip to the Pottery Cafe to make a coffee cup for Dad. We don't get to see them that much since they moved to SW TX, so this was a special event for us. We also had their boxer (Duke) visit with us, so we had a full house for 4 days. It is sure quiet around here since they left this morning.

Needless to say, I didn't get any sewing done while they were here, but I did get my Rainbow Sherbet quilt off to be quilted. Will hopefully pick it up while I am in IN. for camp in Sept. Been checking flights and trying to decide if I should fly or drive. About the same money wise.

I did get some sewing done before they arrived, however. These are casserole carriers. One of our roommates in Paducah this year had made all of us one and I just fell in love with it. I decided to make a few for our Church's bazaar in Nov. What I really like about this one is the fabric. Lucked into a sale at the fabric store and fell in love with this fabric.

Isn't it just the cutest thing. Plan to make about 8 of them and try to sell them for about $12.00 a piece. All the money will go to our mission fund. Also making knitted dish cloths which will probably be sold for $4 or $5.

All of our grandchildren are busy this summer. One Grandson is interning at Bank of America in Chicago (he is a senior at Michigan State), his sister, Grand-daughter #1, is preparing to attend UT Austin in the fall, grand-daughter #2 (11) just left today to spend the rest of the summer with her Dad (we are sure going to miss her), and the youngest Grandson that just left here is headed to Hot Springs to visit his other grandparents. Glad I am staying right here in the cool air conditioning for the rest of the summer. Hopefully will get some sewing done.

I LOVE IT

This project was so much fun, especially doing it along with others and being surprised at each step. I am going to change from the title of Orange Crush and rename mine:

RAINBOW SHERBET

There has been two groups who have asked me to donate it to them for auction (Women's Fellowship at our church and the Civic Theatre). Don't know if I can part with it, I love it so. First things first, however, I need to get the back put together and send it all off to Viki in IN. to quilt for me.

CAN YOU SAY ORANGE!

The orange really jumps out at ya! I really like it though. The only thing that disappoints me is the star blocks do not show up very well. Probably using the purple in the star blocks and the pink or apple green in the center of the orange blocks would have been better. But I do like it.

Finishing...at this moment I am planning on putting the apple green as solid border then the pieced border followed by the Pink. Working on the pieced border and hopefully will have it all together by this weekend.

DH arrived home late Thursday night. He drove straight through and was totally exhausted by the time he got home. I would like to say it was because he was rushing home to me, but I think the comfort of our bed was the more appealing thing. There is nothing like your own bed.

I have gotten more Batik Jewels done. Only 6 more to go. Sure hope I can put them all together when I get them done. Haven't read that far in the directions yet...scared to! Anyone who wants to help me is more than welcome to come here and do so. At least hold my hand.

An update on my weekend.

Being home alone is really weird. I have been waking up at 6:30 to 7:00 a.m. in the morning and telling myself, I don't have to get up and do anything. Fortunately, I have been able to turn over and go back to sleep for a few hours. Sewing has been one of my top priorities this weekend, since I have to hit the ground running on Monday morning taking care of business. After finishing OC step 5 on Saturday, I progressed to my Batik Jewels. Got a few more done. They are so pretty! (see below)

This evening was spent with my good friend, Joyce. Joyce's husband (our former minister) passed away 12 weeks ago and we spent the evening reviewing the events of their short married life (1 year 1 month 5 days). As the evening progressed (after 2 bottles of wine were consumed) we got into a deep theological discussion. What an interesting evening. Needless to say, my mind is totally exhausted, but all in all it has been a good weekend.

I have had my 3 days of being home alone and am ready for DH to come home.

HOME ALONE FOR THE NEXT WEEK

Yes, that's me for the next week. My DH has gone on an adventure by himself. Really, he drove to Illinois for our granddaughter's graduation party and then down to Indiana to visit his siblings. I sure miss not being with him for these occasions but I really needed to stay here and keep an eye on my Mom. This is the anniversary of the death of her husband (my stepfather) of 43 years. She is 85 and sometimes has trouble dealing with the situation.

Anyway, this gives me the perfect opportunity to SEW without having to stop for those wifey things like cooking and cleaning. Started out today with the Orange Crush (see below) then will be headed back to the Batik Jewels.

A LOT OF ORANGE

Boy, does the orange jump out and bite ya! This is definitely going to be a bright quilt. Can't wait to see how this comes out. All my friends that are working on this are guessing as to what the setting is going to be. There is still a border to go so anything is possible, I guess. All I can think of is Bonnie told us before we started Step 5, that the middle of the quilt was done, so the pink and green blocks must be surrounded by the "Bright Orange" blocks. Guess we will just have to wait and see. It has been fun and interesting, however.

This is the Flamingo quilt, made for grand-daughter, Abby. The blocks are from a shop hop we did in Florida 2 years ago. If you click on the picture you can actually see the flamingo fabric in the border. I set these on point and added the blank blocks to make it a full size. There were a million flying geese, well maybe not a million but a lot. It was machine quilted by V. Kirby in IN and she did a fantastic job. Hopefully I can keep it secret until Christmas. She is so nosey, she will probably find it before then.

Off to take my Mom to dinner.

BABIES EVERYWHERE

All of a sudden I have been overwhelmed by Baby Shower invitations. As I was opening 2 the other day, my thoughts went to what to buy. DUH! You have all this fabric and it doesn't take much to make a baby quilt. So I got busy and made this one out of 30's prints I had left over from making both of my granddaughters quilts a few years back. Have enough to make about 3 quilts without going to the store. GOOD FOR ME!

The pinwheels go together real quick and I did machine quilt it (easy stitch in the ditch). Should hold up with all the washings it is going to get. Have the other two cut out, just need to put them together.

Today is our 44th Wedding Anniversary. Some years back we went on a year to year renewal. Asked my DH last night if we were going to renew for another year. "Let me sleep on that" was his reply. We have committments tonight, so celebration will be put off to another day.

GOOD NEWS

Thanks everyone for your good thoughts for GD, Abby. The Dr. said she is doing great, but will have to keep it medicated and covered for another week. As far as scaring goes, Dr. said it will probably take up to 2 years to clear but didn't think there would be any long lasting scaring. Will have to keep it moist for a long time and make sure she uses waterproof sun screen. We are greatly relieved.

A BUSY FEW DAYS

All 30 step #4 of Orange Crush done. I really like the way these blocks turned out. Can't wait to see what the next ones will be like. These look pretty good by themselves even if I didn't do the rest of the steps. This has really been a fun thing to do.

I spent all weekend working on things. Got up early Saturday morning and planted all my summer flowers. Of course, it was a humid day and I was wringing wet by the time I got done. I always seem to pick the most humid day we have to do this project. Never fails. After a shower, I turned to on these blocks. Sunday morning was church and Mother's Day lunch at the Country Club with DH, Mother, Daughter and Granddaughter. Good food and I didn't have to cook or clean up. Spent the rest of the day making these blocks. So it was a great weekend.

Update on granddaughter. She is going to the wound clinic in the morning. Hoping they can do something to prevent the burn from scaring. It is getting better, but still looks pretty bad and is very uncomfortable for her.

MYSTERY SOLVED

Finally done! This was a mystery we did at camp last September. Laura, Pine Ridge Quilter, provided all our clues. This was a fun mystery to do at camp and see all the different quilts that came out of the same pattern. I did increase the size by adding the two borders and added the applique. Vicki Kirby in IN. quilted it for me and did a fantastic job. Sorry you can't see the detail on this because it is fabulous.

You can see my DGD, Abby, peeking out on the left side. She has had a rough few days. On Saturday she fell while riding her scooter and skinned her knee really bad. Her Mom cleaned and dressed it but Abby took the bandage off on Sunday morning. For lunch she decided to fix herself Ramen Noodles in the microwave (which she has been doing for a long time). Not thinking, as is common for most pre-teens, she pulled it out without a pot holder and immediately spilled it down her leg causing a 3rd degree burn from the middle of her upper leg down to and including the skinned knee. After a trip to the ER and some meds to prevent infection and help with the pain, she finally went back to school today, bandaged and limping.

YEA! OC #3 done

I really had a hard time with this step. Having to do the mirror image really confused me. Took me a while to get it all figured out, but it is done. Sure hope we get to bigger pieces pretty soon and get into our major colors. I'm getting excited about seeing how this is going to turn out. Impatient also.

GETTING BACK TO REAL LIFE

First things first. PADUCAH was a great time. Being with good friends, seeing beautiful quilts and MEGA Shopping! Hancocks still blows my mind every time I walk in there. Below are a few of my favorite quilts at the show. Can you tell I like bright!

The Zodiac sign quilt is by far my favorite. There were so many beautiful quilts and the minatures were amazing. So many great ideas but just not enough time in my life to do all I want to.

Returned home to TX on Monday and was immediately thrown into real life again. However, I did manage to get to my sewing room late on Wed. and finish Part 2 of OC.

Will try to get to Part 3 after my shipment of boxes arrive today. My new companion ruler is in there and I want to use it. Had to raid my DSIL stash for more metallics to hopefully finish this quilt. I thought I had enough but I began to panic. Thank goodness she comes to my rescue. (OFTEN)

I am getting real curious as to what this is going to look like. Excited also. I have mixed these blocks up so much there is no rhyme or reason to any of them. Hope I am not disappointed as to how they all go together. I am notorious for second guessing myself. Does anyone else do that?

It is back to taking care of business here. UGH!! Also taking time out to clean house. Having a group of women (12) here on next Tues. to play Mah Jongg. So sewing time is going to be whenever I can work in a few minutes here and there.

BATIK JEWELS - 9 DOWN 8 TO GO

I really like these things. Of course, when I try to put those top and bottom pieces on as a "Y" seam I am still asking myself why did I start this project. Ran out of some major colors so will have to do some shopping in Paducah. Also need to locate some spangles and beads that will be put on each star point. My nephew is cutting some templates for me (he works for a glass company) that will be used to cut the fill in parts of this (Black Fabric). Will pick those up while I am IN. next week. I haven't looked at the rest of the directions but I am sure it will involve more "Y" seams. Ugh!! Thinking seriously of leaving the final assembly for Quilt Camp in Sept. so I will have a lot of expert help on this part. (good thinking on my part)

It is back to packing for me. Think I just about have it, if I don't change my mind again.

Also going to go check out "Red Box" ($1.00 movie rentals) for "Atonement". A quiet Saturday night for DH and I.

BUSY WEEKEND-WILL FEEL LIKE A WEEK

The time will go so slow this weekend because I can't wait.

Leaving on Monday early for Indiana to meet up with the quilt girls for our annual trip to Paducah, KY. So this weekend is going to be packing, unpacking and repacking. Putting everything I will need for 7 days in one small suitcase, plus fabric for working on part 2 of Orange Crush Mystery.

I was getting my fabric cut for #2 when all of a sudden I couldn't find my little Easy Angle. In a panic I called my DSIL in IN. to make sure she could find hers. So everything is cut but the lights which I will do there. Fortunately, I will have 2 days there to get all 142 pieces done so I will be ready for Part 3, when I return from this trip.

Taking grand-daughter shopping this weekend, also. That will call for a few alcoholic drinks by the end of the day. She is 12 going on 18 (or at least she thinks so). Time to get summer clothes and her idea of a bathing suit and mine are totally different. This will be interesting.

Will try to get a picture of my Batik Jewels that are completed on the blog this weekend. Sure hope I remember how to do that.

THANK YOU, DAWN

Dawn did all my graphics for me. Thank you again for a wonderful job.

Some may ask why Tyler Rose...well Tyler, TX is called the Rose Capital of the world. The roses you buy to plant in your yard probably came from here. The Rose industry made this town along with the Oil & Gas industry. Of course, you also have to remember the old song "Yellow Rose of Texas" thus Tyler Rose w/yellow roses. AHHHH

Orange Crush 4 patches. Can't believe I actually got this loaded on here. Boy, do I have a lot to learn on this blogging thing. Y'all be patient with me.

YEA!!!!!
I did it. Now I will have to work with y'all to see how to do other things on this blog.
Maybe since DSIL is cleaning up her computer desk we can get to it next week when we get there. This is exciting....I did something.