Giving

While I am still an active member of the Across the Square quilt guild, I very seldom attend any more meetings. The proximity of my house to where the meetings are held since our move is roughly 120 miles; or two hours-one way. My membership will expire on December 31, but I am still a member.

Everybody should have a merry holiday and even after the holiday's, have a decent life. I've decided to help out in any way I can for those folks who aren't so fortunate. The ASQ guild does a lot of charity work for the local battered spouse/children's shelter and we typically make quilts for them throughout the year.

But the member who used to cut and then promote the kits to assemble a top for our SIREN chapter has moved to Arizona. Nobody has really taken up the cause since her departure over a year ago. I think a mass assembly of tops took place sometime this fall to make up for our latency. I said I would quilt a few of them for the cause and was given four.

This is the first one I started with. I finished it this morning and  here is a close-up of some of the quilting put into it.

I think just because you have been given a crappy hand in your current life situation you deserve something somebody actually took some time in creating. This particular top was pieced very nicely and I took the time to put some nice detail in the quilting.

The next top is already loaded and I have already started quilting it. It's a busier top then this first one, so putting a lot of detail into the quilting will only get lost in the fabric. Therefore, I'm using a lot of straight lines in the blocks and on the borders to create connectivity in the quilt as a whole.

I received my Build-a-Block from 'Quilting is my Therapy' (Angela Walters) in the mail today. It's like a mini Christmas when I get quilting stuff in the mail. I've already built the block and will look forward to the next block next month.

I'm cruising along in the Vintage Christmas Quilt-Along. Katie and I are pretty much at the same place, and despite our nutty schedules lately, we are keeping up with the group.

Why did YouTube delete all my subscriptions on my iMac? They still exist on my iPad, but after we returned from Missouri, it seems the machine got hungry while we were gone and ate them all.

Delayed

I have been delayed in posting anything new because of the "little kid" graduation. It sounds like a kindergarten graduation, doesn't it? It's actually our youngest son, who is 24, who graduated from Army basic training at Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri. This is Caleb and me just after the ceremony. I couldn't be prouder. Doubly so because I too am former Army, as is my dad, and his dad too.

Hopefully I'll get back to daily postings now that all the travel dust (snow) has been brushed off and we are settling back into our pre-travel routines.

Jim is back to work. The puppy is back to peeing on the floor, and I am back to chasing the puppy around and not getting much quilting done. But I'm sure going to try on the days she likes to nap more than play.

Learning

I have an industrial Janome sewing machine that I have named Jay. I usually do most of my piecing on him since he has this great scant 1/4" foot. But, with the Vintage Christmas sew-along I'm doing with my friend Katie, I wasn't getting the correct 1/4" seams.

I don't generally have to do much accurate piecing anymore. I have shifted to more of an art/free style quilter, or using patterns that don't require such accuracy since I'm happier doing them. But these little 6 1/2" blocks have a lot of pieces and very little ones at that. Accurate piecing is a must.

The thread I had in Jay was from Connecting Threads. He likes the thread, and it's pretty inexpensive to purchase. But it's thicker thread and just that difference in thickness was causing my blocks, especially those that had more pieces, to become increasingly off as I was building them. Now I'm piecing with Aurifil and the results are vastly improved. Lesson learned.

Hazel is learning too. This morning she mastered going down the stairs from our loft area. She wasn't all about being in the bathroom while I wanted to shower, so we had a stair master lesson instead.

I was able to get the quilt on the long arm completed last night. Jim graciously watched puppy while I was finishing up. I have four charity quilts coming either today or tomorrow to do for the guild downstate, and I needed to get this one done so receiving those wouldn't feel so stressing.

Dale's BOM from a few years ago

This quilt wasn't anything spectacular when I loaded it last week, but after getting some feathers in the negative space, and doing some dot-to-dot quilting in the stars, it turned out pretty nice in the end.

First Snow

I have a quilt called "The First Snow". It usually hangs on the wall beginning Thanksgiving night when we decorate for Christmas. Today is our first official snow of the season. We have received one other dusting, but the snow melted before the day hardly began. Today we have already accumulated white all over.

Mom's birthday...our first snow

It's so pretty! 

Hazel was recovering from her puppy shots yesterday, so I actually got a lot done: Bound the Eagle lap quilt for mom, bound Chad's birthday quilt, tidied up the pressing table which was getting way too bogged down (again), completed one row of Dales BOM left over couch quilt on the long arm, and then made mom a table runner for her birthday. Puppy naps are good!

Hello, hello!

I have missed blogging! I have missed putting down my daily activities, keeping track of my progress in growth and in person, and I have missed being part of the blogging world!

It's time to reawaken. I have my dream home, my dream dog, my dream life, but mostly, I am so blessed to have my dream husband. (Thank you Jim for making the later years the best years).

What's been happening? Well, DW (the long arm for those of you who haven't followed me on my previous blog) made the move okay. He had some issues and after a trip back to the hospital, he seems much better.

I haven't quilted all that many quilts since we've arrived up north. Too much to do and moving in the spring provided us with amazing weather and conditions to resurrect this vacant and neglected lake house.

Lily had to be put down in May. She was with us for a little over 13 years. I still tear up when I think about her (and Dolly too). I visit her almost every day out there in the yard where she is buried. But I now have a new friend keeping me company in the studio. Her name is Hazel.

Hazel came to us on October 26. The 30th was her 8-

Hazel at 8-Weeks Old

week birthday, so she's still just a baby. But, she is smart, she is cute as the dickens, and she has wormed her way into my heart in less than two weeks. You'll be hearing a lot about Hazel.

The remainder of our summer, after repairing "dangerous" things around the new place, was to begin and continue to work on a large (30x40) pole barn to enable us to get items from downstate, up here with us. Eventually, the barn downstate will be sold, and we don't want to be in a situation to have to move in February.