smiling, quilting into February

January left Ohio Spring-like,
February came in like Spring-time,
and our Buckeye Chuck, the groundhog, got to see his shadow,
so maybe we'll still get some Winter weather around here
while it's supposed to be Winter time!
Not being snowed in and freezing is NOT
conducive (for me anyway) to getting much quilting done!!!

No excuses, really, but I'm missing my Winter, 
and cuddling under a quilt that I'm hand quilting or binding!!!
It's leaving me not stitching a whole lot with the nice, sunshiny weather. 😎

I've been playing in my Civil War repro fabric scraps a little,
and getting some small pieces sewn into blocks, but slow progress.

I have quilted a few more quilts for others...
here's a recent one, by a new quilter, Heather:

She made a T-shirt for a colleague's daughter's birthday, and it turned out GREAT!
I had fun quilting it, too! Here are a few pics of some of my fun...
Free-hand, long-arm fun:

 Funny story about this raspberry pink t-shirt block -

As I meandered over one corner, I smelled something, but I didn't really pay attention, just kept on meandering.  On the return pass of quilting, I came upon the smell again, and I stopped.  Looked around. Sniffed the air. Did a double-take, and then a double-sniff-in-the-air.  Yep, something smelled fruity!!  
So I leaned over the long-arm machine and sniffed the quilt.  Felt the t-shirt, sniffed again.  And burst out laughing!  It was a scratch and sniff t-shirt!!!  Rather raspberry-like in smell. That had me smiling the rest of that day.  

And I'm smiling again today, as I see the photo. I can just picture myself, sniffing around the long-arm, in the sunny quilting room, thinking about smelling fresh fruit, JUST like I was standing in the raspberry patch at grandma's long time ago.  

Hope your new week and February, too, are bringing you smiles!
Happy Stitching!!

the last of the Christmas quilts 2016

I think this is the last of the pictures
that I haven't yet shared...

Christmas-y quilts for the grandkiddos!
The Grinch quilt for the ten-year-old:

back of the Grinch quilt

Micky and friends for the three-year-old:

back of the Mickey & friends quilt

Charlie & friends for the five-year-old:

back of Charlie & friends

And finally, a little quilt for the two-year-old great-niece -
Christmas cows 😀 :

back of the Christmas cows

That wraps up the last of the secret sewing/quilting from 2016... 
unless I come across more pictures on my FOUND camera!!

I have been cutting fabric strips for the next quilt project.  
And a little embroidery stitching has been happening, too!

The grandkiddos are all here tonight for a SLEEPOVER! 
Fun, fun! Though we're still awaiting the arrival of snow.
Originally when we planned this over-nighter, we
talked about going sled riding tonight 
(instead we took a walk in the Spring-like weather).

Hope your week has been nice,
and happy stitching!!

quilty Christmas gift for my momma

Sharing another quilty finish from last year...

It had been a while since I'd made a quilt as a gift for my Mom,
so when I attended the One Stop Shop Hop (in Dayton, Ohio) last October and saw a shop sample made with Chickadee fabric, I immediately knew it would be perfect for my mother.

I purchased the kit mid-October, I stitched it together at a retreat mid-November, quilted it after Thanksgiving, and mailed it on it's way to arrive for Christmas! 

 close up of hand-guided, long-arm quilting 
"Merry Christmas Mom" and holly leaves meandering

 One of the last stitches in the binding:

 The finished quilt, picture taken late night:

The coloring is a little off, but I do like the finish.  And, she absolutely LOVED it!

For inquiring minds:  the fabric line was called Chickadees and Berries, 
and I purchased the kit from Creative Fires Quilt & Stove Shop, Springfield, Ohio.

mid January no-snow-blues

First, can you believe it's ALREADY mid January??
I've been busy, busy! A good kind of busy, though...
all the holiday decor is down and put away.
The weather is being weird here in central Ohio... 
lots of dreariness, but no snow.
Since there's no snow for real, 
I put up decorations that remind me that it is really Wintertime:

Snowy Days I made with wool on cotton, hand stitched & quilted 
(pattern by Heart to Hands)

And you know what that means when there's 
no snow predicted here for most of the month?
Means we'll probably have it later, into Spring.

German candy container snowman, backdrop of glass snowflakes ❆❅❄

Speaking of cleaning up and moving forward,
I have some finished quilt pictures to move out of my photo storage and share.
This is a quilt that I got to meander over for Colleen!

I quilted it mid-November, but she was out of town for a while. Then, multiple times the icy weather conspired against us meeting up.  Anyway, she has it now, so I can share it here!
Lovely Wm. Morris fabrics! 

There's more to share in the finished quilt department, 
but I'll just finish with this for today:
I've begun (again 🤣) organizing the sewing room space, 
and cutting scraps at the same time:

More on that, later!
Happy mid-January, 2017!!

sharing meandering and the case of the misplaced camera

I've misplaced my camera...
not calling it lost just yet.
Without my camera, I seem just a bit, oh I don't know - unfocused. 
Yes, that was an intended pun.  Unfocused 😂
But I know that I haven't shared this quilt yet:

It's another by Janet for a niece for Christmas.
Just adorable.  Now I think I'll have to put a 30's quilt on my 'someday list'.

Here's a close up of some of the fabrics:

Perfect to quilt over! and I'm sure the niece loved it!

I also have a couple of my own quilts to share - 
but next time...
I really need to find the misplaced camera!
It's my way of documenting my fun/work,
and keeping me organized. 

Hope you all have had a great day!

What a beautiful storm

I may have mentioned before that I 
LOVE Winter...
I snapped this picture this past Wednesday morning:

Snowy and blustery... but clear, blue skies...
just love it all! 🙂
And I MAY have been told this before -
more than once:

Funny, I think.  But I do love the snow and cold.
Snow storms and bitter temps means a little more stitching time here, usually.  So maybe that's why I like the snow?

I've not been working on my own quilts much, but finishing up some customer meanderings.
Janet asked me to meander over these two quilts for her twin nephews:

 I didn't realize they were actually TWIN quilts until I put the photos here!!! lol  EXACT twins for twins!

and a couple of closeups:

Funny, that I didn't realize they were EXACTLY the same quilt made twice, until after I'd quilted and returned them to her, and put the pictures here.  I did load one with the green stars at the top, and the other with the green stars at the bottom, so they didn't seem the same when I meandered over them.

She's such a perfect piecer and presser - its always a pleasure to meander over her quilts!
(I also have another quilt of hers finished and ready to give her, so I'll share it next time, after I get it to her on Monday.)

And I'll finish with pictures of my Christmas tree - 
first the family trek over hill and dale to find the perfect tree:

family tree trek 2016 - that's our tree behind the group

And how it stands right now, with lights and berries and popcorn:

Ladder and ornament trunk at the ready!!!
Thanks for visiting, and I hope you all are staying safe, 
toasty warm and getting in some stitches!!

busy, busy

Happy middle of November already!
Do you ever keep thinking you'll sit down to write a little...
then it just doesn't happen???

I'm a list maker -
which I think helps me stay organized,
but when I started writing my list, it made me realize
how much I've accomplished!

Here's some of my recent list:
With the holidays approaching,
I've done a lot of my gift shopping,
pretty much planned my gatherings,
stocked up on foodstuff for the pantry and freezer,
and had the grandkiddos for sleepovers on the weekends quite a few times. 

I've quilted for others for their upcoming gift giving,
(but still have three or four more to quilt before the beginning of the December),
hosted the annual neighborhood Chili Cookoff/Bonfire on a beautiful evening the end of October.
Made birthday cakes, there were/are family weddings - one last month, one next,
plus two new family engagements - so excited for a nephew and a niece!

I have had some stitching time of my own, in little increments...
and am working on four different quilt gifts,
Also have on my list, five woolen stockings for Sonny boy and his family.
I participated in a block swap with blog friends through the Fun with Barb blog.
I participated in a sew-along with blog friends through Lori's Humble Quilts blog.
And in between all those times,
I exercised my right to vote,
and spent with family and friends, 
and cooked and cleaned, and, and, and!

That List! ^
Therefore, the title of this post! lol
You know how it is, I'm sure!!!
 
Good times! Good food! Good friends! Good life!

Hope your week is wonderful, and
happy middle of November!
Back soon with quilty pictures!!!

End of October - THE COUNTDOWN

Oh my goodness, time is surely flying!
Can you believe, only four weeks until Thanksgiving & 
eight weeks until Christmas???!!!
I can not!
I don't know about you, but I'm not really a count down type of person
with my calendar filled with daily tasks to accomplish and check off.
I'm more the Down-to-Crunch-Time, Give-Me-A-Deadline type.
Though I do have more than a few projects to get done 
in the dwindling amount of time before the end of the year!

How do you do The Countdown?
By the number of sewing and quilting projects remaining to accomplish?
EG:  Only this quilted table runner to finish before turkey day,
and only three more quilts to piece, quilt and bind before end of the year???
Chuckling to myself here - my example is not far off that last mark,
as I really do have a whole lot of quilting on my list to get accomplished before the end of the year. 

So while I'm slowly plugging along with my own projects,
but I have had the pleasure of quilting for others!
I can't show the first couple, because they are mutual friends and read this blog,
but I can show what
Janet has finished from her countdown list, for her great nephews!
A cute Mickey and Minnie:

 And another cutie - Snoopy and Woodstock

And when I got those two quilted tops back to her, 
she had THREE more ready for me to meander over!

So, how about you?
Are you ready for the upcoming countdown?
And how do you tackle your project timeline?

Happy end of October!  Hope your Autumn is full of pleasant times,
and not just Crunch Time!

almost the middle of October!

Beautiful Sunday to you!

I'm still busier than ever, but enjoying it all!!!
Attended a wedding last Saturday, and a baby shower last Sunday.

Here's the baby quilt I did for the new momma:

I left the bottom/center area un-quilted so when the new little guy arrives, I'll quilt in his birthday and name.  Also, don't know if you can tell from the picture or not, 
but I didn't finish the binding on the bottom, left hand corner.  
That's where I'll put a label on, too.

So I was an Indian-giver at the shower. lol  
Gifted it, then took it back home with me.

This pattern is the 16-patch/X-block,
aka Goodnight Irene pattern.  
Over 60 different fabrics used (a 2.5 inch strip of each) 
to make it Eye Spy-ish.

Seems like this is now my go-to for baby quilt gift making.
Do you have a favorite pattern for a baby gift?

The weather is finally cooling down here - and just a touch of color in the leaves on the trees,
so Autumn weather seems like it finally has arrived.
Hope everyone is having a wonderful day!

quilting in the heat

Welcome to Autumn!!!
I love all the seasons and the changes brought by each.
I always think that my favorite season is the one that's here now...
then the next season comes in and it's my favorite! lol
89 degrees and humid here today, so definitely NOT Autumn-like.
In preparation for the change of seasons, 
I've not changed out a single bed quilt or quilted wall hanging, either.
With all the heat, it just doesn't feel like the time to do the change over to Fall.
But still nice to have the warmth and sunshine,
even at more than 15 degrees above normal.

My machine quilting slows down a little because of 
the aforementioned heat and humidity -
as my long arm machine is in the back sun room.
But just beautiful, early in the morning:

Even with the extreme heat, 
I do have a couple of customer quilts to show for the last few weeks, though.
First is a baby quilt that I got to meander over for Janet:

Just perfectly made and oh, so cute!!!

The second quilt is a larger-than-king-sized that I got to quilt for Jackie:

Flannels front and back.  And it was so large that it was hard to photograph - I had to take it out to the back deck!

It's pictured a little in the shadows, so the colors are a little dulled in the brighter areas, but you can see the great fabrics used.  She used the Disappearing Nine Patch pattern.

That's all for today... Hope you've had a nice welcome to the first of Autumn!!

surprise, surprise...

more quilt pictures!

I can now share the wedding quilt
that I was commissioned to make
as a surprise from parents
to their son and new daughter-in-law
for their wedding:

 Larger than queen-size, with pillow shams,

in navy and coral, their wedding colors.

The Crazy 9-patch pattern was chosen, and I used 36 different fabrics in the blocks, plus the border and backing fabrics. 
It was fun to make, and they loved it!
So nice to make people happy,
and doing what makes me happy!!! lol.

Now getting ready for the annual family reunion,
so back to work for me!
Hope your week is wonderful!!!

more secret sewing done

Fun, fun, fun!
I finished the Secret Wedding Gift Quilt!
Not to be confused with the 
Secret Anniversary Gift Quilt 
that I did last month 
and shared about a couple of weeks ago. lol

This quilt was requested for a wedding gift,
from parents to their son, for his upcoming nuptials.
I won't share all the pictures of the finished quilt, 
because I don't want to give away the 
surprise!
They are going to use it at the wedding venue 
(in a couple of weeks),
as part of the decorations with the flowers!
Isn't that an awesome idea?
AND, I was finished a few weeks before the date!

The pattern is the uneven nine-patch, 
and finished a large queen-size.
I also did pillow cases to match
(I'll have to share the picture at a later date, because the close-up picture of the pillowcases shows the wedding couple's names/date that I stitched into the quilting).
When the parents of the groom picked it up,
she, the Momma, said she was going to cry -
it was exactly what she wanted!
So good the hear that she loved it!!!
And nice to have it finished and delivered.

Hope you all are having a great month!
Hot and steamy here,
already feeling like it's August.