Catching up?!?!

WOW, the month is nearly over and I am trying to catch up....I made it thru Thanksgiving, a craft show, cancer diagnosis on my dad, our son flying out to Vegas to work the National Rodeo Finals and I am feeling a bit tired.

My booth at the craft fair.....it was busy with lookers, but selling was a bit slow for everyone.  My daughter and I had a great time visiting and spending the day together. 

"Milly"....spent the day helping mommy and gram and great nana  at the craft fair....what a little trooper.  She took a couple naps and visited all our guests....played and was such a good little girl!!!  Gram's weekend was complete!!

Weather Here.....

The poor cottonwood is naked and cold!!  We have had very heavy frosts since Sept. 9th and today was very foggy.....Fog didn't lift until about 10:30am.  Brrrrrrrr...makes a person want to stay inside and sew or bake cinnamon rolls!!
I have a follower from Australia and she posted some outdoor pictures and it looks beautiful there....so I thought I would show here what is going on here.  Beauty lies in the eye of the behold and I think the sun is beautiful, but the cold has a beauty of its own.  I love seeing and learning about others that follow my blog--I think we all have things to teach each other!  I am thankful to the ladies that post and give me a chance to learn from them.  Bless you !!!!!

Getting Ready for a show......

I am finding that getting ready for any type of show is a big mess.....I have things strewed from one end of the sewing room to the other and it overflows into the next two room.....I am anxious to get things done and get organized and cleaned!!! 

See everything is everywhere!!!  I find myself going in circles....but I know there is an end to the mess. 

I decided to start packing the finished projects into a suitcase, so they are all confined....it seems to be helping.  The show is only 2 weeks from today, the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  I had 1 issue with all the mess....my husband, sweet man that he is, calls at about 10:30am and says "Hey hun, are you able to have something ready for about 14 men by about 5:30 or 6:00pm. to eat?"...Of course, I am thinking to myself........"ARE YOU SERIOUS???,  I HAVE THINGS EVERYWHERE!!!".  You know, I got busy and put on a meal for a crew from the 6666 (Four 6's) Ranch from Texas.  Pulled it off with about an hour to spare....cleaned, baked and made green pork chile.  They are a great group of guys, ranging in age from 25 all the way to 82 and a very polite, thankful group of gentlemen!!!  I was honored to feed and meet the group.   God blessed us with a wonderful time of visiting, sharing and laughing with a great crew....they had started in the north(Montana) and ended in  our area before heading home.   They had 3 trailers with about 20 head of horses to brand all the cattle they have turned out due to the drought in Texas.  Remind you these men had only been away from home for about a week and got all the branding done.  Great Guys!!!!
Today will be back to the sewing room and work really hard on getting more done for the show and back to making big messes....strewing!!

Girl's retreat!!!

Over the weekend I got to spend time with 2 of my 3 younger sisters and our mom....we went to a Beth Moore Conference....WHAT A BLESSING the whole weekend was.  We decided to share a room instead of getting 2 rooms....4 girls to a motel room....we did pretty darn well, it only took the 4 of us an hour to get ready and we went down to have breakfast and to the conference with 15 minutes to spare!!!!

At the Event Center....we had a great time!!! Beth Moore is such an uplifting speaker and we shared this time together as women of God....AMAZING!  We are already planning our "girl's retreat" for next year....our prayer is that our baby sister and my daughter will be able to attend. 

Forgetful

I realized that I did not post a finished product "Pink".  I made this for one of our son's good buddies.....Cody and his girlfriend had a baby girl....after a difficult road with Leukemia.  The boys were seniors when Cody was diagnosed and had to go thru very radical treatment, he is in remission now, but they were really concerned about being able to have children....well, God has a plan for this young man and he is blessed!!!!  Our son wanted to have the colors Pink and White and nothing else, so that is when my mind started to flow.....with a wonderful trip to South Dakota with wise ole "E", fabric was collected.  Here is the finished project:

I added some Jumbo rickrack around the edge for texture....I thought it turned out really nice!

Back to the Sewing Room!

Well, I survived the canning season with one minor problem.....it is almost fixed!!
I am now getting ready to be a vendor at a craft show in a nearby town.  It is scheduled for the Saturday after Thanksgiving, so I decided to jump in with both feet!!!  I am working on several smaller quilted projects to take and show and sell.  I am really hoping to do well, so I can purchase some more fabric and make some bigger quilts to sell.  I really don't have as big of a stash as I should for a quilter, needing to work on that.
I decided to get into my stash of Civil War reproductions and see what I could do.  I started with 2 1/2 inch strips and started sewing....this is a bit more color than I was going for but......you get what you get when you have no plan!!!

All the Civil War fabric I have collected.....I am putting it to use!!!

See, it is a bit busy, but I am not willing to tear all of it apart, so it is what it is.  CIVIL OR NOT!!!

 It would have been better with lighter color....cream, tan....instead of the rust, but this is what I had, so that is what I used.  Finding that most of my colors of fabrics go together....I usually collect Fall/Autumn colors with very few bright/vibrant colors...that is what makes me who I am and so this will grow on me when I add some borders and get it quilted.  I guess that's why I like having a plan, not just fly by the seat of my  pants.  It is still usable and will make someone very happy!!!

Busy Betty!!

So sorry I haven't posted in a while....I have been a busy little "Betty".  Betty homemaker, that is....I have been canning veggies, salsa, jellies....you name it I have been doing it. Lots of goodies for the winter as well as great gifts!!! 

This is just a sink full.......I had a wheel barrow, wagon and a large milk crate full of tomatoes.....lotssssss!!!!  Salsa, juice and last but not least- crushed and diced tomatoes.

lugs of peaches.....got 32 jars of jelly and lots of canned peaches....should be ok for the winter!!!

Chiles....coming out our ears.  They sure smell good when they are roasting in the oven!

Every canning season has to have a mishap, right??  Well, this year some of the jelly boiled over and hit the glass top burner....what a mess.

I really have had a busy year with a garden that we thought would not do much its first year.  We tilled a spot up that had never had anything except grass....besides having excellent crops we also raised a great crop of stickers....puncture and sand-burrs.  Really did not like that crop...hey, wonder if you can use them for anything???  Well, sure have missed sewing, but thought I should update you to what was going on in this part of the world.  Thanks for checking in!!

A day of fun!!!

Yesterday, I took the day off from quilting and spent it doing something a little different-- I learned to use a product called "texture magic"...what a fun product!!!

Paisley fabrics.....Love them!!

Wallet made with a checkbook area....plastic spot for the ID, zipper area for the coins, credit card or savings card area and plenty of hidden pockets.....only took about 4 hours to make.....and it turned out pretty neat!!!

Now back to all the quilting/sewing projects......have to pick garden veggies and get them taken care of, shuck and can the corn and in my spare time I really need to clean this house and do some laundry.  Lord, thank you for such a beautiful day............

"Pink"

Our son asked me to make his friend a Pink and White quilt for their new baby....born a week ago.  I picked up the fabric on Friday at the Quilt Corral outside Hill City, SD.....just a little trip.  I had a great time with one of my best quilting friends....  Here she is after our lovely lunch at the Alpine Inn, (she's a great cook)!!

We had a lovely lunch, conversation and a wonderful desert!!!

While on our adventure I purchased the 3 middle pieces for the baby quilt....the checked fabric at the top is flannel that I will use for the back and add some rickrack for some added interest!!

I started the quilt this morning and have accomplished getting the top done....ready for quilting and the final touches. I was going to do that tomorrow, but have to go help put up corn...canning season on top of everything, uhg!!

Quilt top!

Maybe I will get it totally finished on Saturday. Need to get back to some other projects!!

Persian Star

I tried a new pattern....Persian Star, which has a beautiful star....3-D.  I found this a fun little project, something different.  I made it into a wall hanging!!

This was a project that has all straight seams with no "Y" seams.  It was a quick project....as long as you keep it small. 

It's fair time!!

I decided to get some input on a few quilts, so i entered them in the county fair....an art wall hanging, a civil war reproduction and one with scrap batiks.  I entered them with the intention of getting someone's opinion on what they could use to improve.....what not to do and what to do!   They all took purples!  The comments are all very nice.  I was expecting to have something about how to improve...they must be ok.

judge's comment......."great color and quilting"

she "loved all the Bling and 3-D work"

"Batiks are so fun. Love the piped binding.  Looks like it was a fun quilt to make"

The judge was really kind!!

Vintage/Antique

Here we go.......all are finished and the customer picked them up this morning.  I have to be honest I was really not sure how this would turn out, but I have learned a lesson from this job!!  I took on a few projects that I had been unsure of....I got the "what are you thinking", "give them back and run away" and "you really can't do anything with those"....most of these are the same things I was thinking I was feeling pretty unsure of my own abilities, but I decided that I would not let this customer down, so I took the challenge.  I decided that I would complete these project to the best of my ability for a lady that found a piece of the  family "treasure".  They are a grandmother's hankies and unfinished quilt....the top was done, but it was rough.  The top of the quilt was stained from being stored, all had been hand stitched, not very straight, puckered  and many things had been cut on the bias......I was really concerned about how I would be able to help preserve the customer's memories of the past  and help her "treasures"to shine in her future.   I really wasn't sure how to showcase or incorporate a pile of "old" hankies....and a top of a quilt that was just, well..... a "mess".  After SEVERAL hours.....over 100...I got 3 crazy quilts made from the hankies she had saved as well as a quilt top quilted and bound.    The quilt actually lays flat and doesn't look too bad....just goes to show--if you are determined to Help a person with their "treasures"  anything is possible.

Her grandma's quilt that was hand pieced

Vintage hankies that I made 3crazy quilt wall hangings.

I was pleased when she came to get the projects and she said "they are absolutely beautiful"!  When she touched the hankies....as if she was remembering grandma using them and she  was pleased with the outcome--I knew I had done the job she needed.  Sometimes we have to remember that we are artists also!! 

#2 of 3 Crazy Hankie quilts

I have decided to work today as long as my spouse was out........I really wish he would get home, I have been at it since 6 this morning and I am pooped!!  I think I need to quit before I make mistakes.  I finished the second of the 3 quilts....hope to finish #3 tomorrow.

Vintage Hankies

I was asked to make a few small wall hangings for a customer.....How hard can it be??? When I went to visit my customer, she had a stack of hankies and said to make whatever I wanted, but she would like to have 2 and 3 if possible...I looked at the stack and thought "I can come up with something, after all I am a creative woman."

I came up with this idea of making a crazy quilt!! I was very nervous to cut up vintage hankies, but thought it would be good to have each quilt have a piece of each hankie.
One Done and Two to Go!!

Little oops!

I hit a "delete" button and deleted my followers, so if you are a follower--you may not be anymore. Sorry, sometimes I make messes and need others to clean them up!! You may have to follow me again. If you know how to get them back another way, please let me know!! Thanks to all that follow my blog.

Finished

The twisted sister top is done.....I found a piece of fabric in my stash that I had bought 2 1/2 yds of.....well, it will work as the border, NICE!!   Before adding the borders, I felt the quilt was a little........LOUD, but the border helped calm all the colors.  I have a pink that will be used to add piping right next to the binding.   Now,  I am just thinking to myself that the left over border fabric will be great to use as binding.  I really don't know what happen, but I have lost the rest of that fabric-I could have swore that I put the extra in the organized area of batiks....I CAN'T FIND IT TO SAVE MY LIFE!!   I can honestly say that my sewing room is pretty organized and it should be easy to find.   I hope I do not have to go to the dumpster and dive for it.....what could I have done with that??????  REALLY, am I that forgetful??!!

Started out thinking I would do a wall hanging or nothing bigger than a throw.............I ended up with a quilt that is 82X108, just a bit bigger than planned, but without borders it looked so small, so I kept adding.  My husband came in and it was laying there and he said "maybe you didn't need to add those last few rows"?  He sure knows exactly what to say to make a gal think he is "special".             
If you look carefully, you can see I wasted nothing.  Every once in a while I threw in a srappy block...4 different wedges made up of extras.  It isn't too noticeable and no waste!!    Hope to start quilting on it today!!                                                                                                                                                  

Twisted sister pattern

Oh what choices...........  I decided to try my hand at some bright colorful batiks

I tried using all different fabrics to make it look scrappy, but......WOW.....it was a jumble mess, so I went with a light batik and used it on all the background.  Using the same fabric for the background help the eye a bit.  I left nothing to waste, I even threw in a few with a wedge of different colors making the block have 4 different fabrics, but it really isn't that noticeable.  I have about 12 more blocks to make and then I am on the the borders!  This is a fun and fairly easy pattern.

Ready for show!!!

I have decided to enter a couple special quilts into the Quilt show our guild puts on every year.....I am normally not an entering kind of gal, but these two quilts mean a lot to me and decided to enter.  Here is a sneak peak and a little bit of the background to the special place these two quilts hold in my heart. 

This is a quilt that I did and I asked Ms. Elaine to quilt it...she taught the class and I wanted to have a very special quilt when I was finished and now it will be treasured!!  It is named "Fall Dance".  Fall colors and dance because Elaine danced around saying yes to quilting it!!  Elaine is such a dear friend, mentor and teacher that this quilt will always have a special place.

I started this quilt for my daughter's wedding....I had the top done and then had a car accident leaving me not being able to finish it.  I was heart broken--two ladies from our quilt guild took it upon themselves to finish this quilt.  Judy Woodworth quilted the quilt and Mary Sue Suit did the binding and I was able to give my daughter a completed quilt as a wedding gift.  I named this quilt "Chains that Bind".  We are all bound together in this quilt for a special day!!  My daughter and son-in-law treasure this quilt.

Quilting

Here are a few pictures of a quilt I have quilted for a customer....I am happy with the way it turned out!!

My signature "hook" quilting.  I matched the thread almost exactly to the fabric.

The lavendar fabric I used a meander, squiggle with match thread.  The multi color fabric I used a blendable thread with loop motif

Blendable thread with hearts and loops.

Final view!

You may remember that I had a project I started for one of my sisters that is to be getting married in June.........Well, I am done quilting and it is a complete project.  I am normally a procrastinator, but I am finished at least 2 weeks ahead of schedule!!!!  Here is the final project.  I chose yellow, navy blue and a couple shades of green.  The picture does not show the navy blue as well as it is in person.  I am naming it  "Whiny Meadow".  Now, she can stop whining about not getting a quilt!!!

completely done!!

I did an overall free motion quilting until I reached the borders and then I put a different design in each border to add to the looks of the quilt.  I used a blendable thread in the "hook" motif.  I am really enjoying the look of the quilt.

Innies and Outies or swirls ---looks like rolling water waves.

In the outside border I quilted hearts and loops---perfect for a wedding quilt!!

As a final touch and decided to embroider the Bride and Groom's name and wedding date on the quilt.  I centered it at the top of the quilt. 

CRAZY!!

I am not sure if I am crazy or the rest of the world is, but I'm sure can agree with me that we all have those moments of wonder!!
Some of you know that I had a pretty serious car accident almost 2 years ago and have had to have surgeries to fix lots of broken bones in my right hand and foot.  I have had more than a couple on my hand and the foot just gives me fits all the time........so here it goes.  I have this bump on my foot that is getting larger and really hurts when I am on my feet for long periods of time, so I give in and call the doctor to, of course, be told to come in........the nurse tells me that if the screws are coming out they will have to remove them and it may be able to be done in the clinic with a local and of course cutting and removing.  WELL, I have a minor panic attack, get all worked up about how it will hurt again, I won't be able to get around real easily and blah, blah, blah for 2 days.  I went in to the doctor, they X-ray it and he asks where it hurts so I show him and he tells me that one of the screws is right below that and all the screws are looking good and the bones are healed well.  I know, you are thinking what is the pain and bump??????????  Well, calcium and bone growth, so he called it a bunionette, to give it a name.  So my dear spouse says to me, " so honey how does it feel to have a panic attack over a bunionette that cost $200.00?"  Well, when you put it that way, I think I must be crazy!!!  It was a blessing to not have any horrible trouble, but to have bone causing such a pain, heavens.  The doctor gave me the song and dance about not being on my feet for long periods of time, pay attention to the type of shoes, and use protection on that area and if it continues to bother me they can go in and grind some of that down. Thanks ladies for letting me tell you my CRAZY story, but thought you could all use a little chuckle!!

Been a While!

Ladies, I must say it has been a while since I have been in communication......for that I am sorry!!  I took a so-called "part-time" job in town at a little coffee shop and thought that it would help with a little extra money.  I have found myself much busier than I was hoping for.  I have not had much of a chance to be in the quilting/sewing room at all.  I have been doing a lot of cooking.
Of course, we finished calving about a week ago and now I have been helping The Spouse breed heifers that just finished calving....it is a continuous circle and I am feeling a bit dizzy.  Life seems to be rushing right on past and I am doing my best to stay on the carnival ride without falling off!!  Hope Spring is giving all of you a wonder picture of what beauty is heading our way.  Until I have more to send or update on --- Blessings to all!!

She is Amazing!!!  Being a Grandma is one of the best things ever!!

New Arrival

Most of you know we have been expecting a new addition to our family.  Macarty Lee arrived on Sunday March 20th at 2:14 pm.  She weighed 6 lbs. 12.3 oz and 19 1/2 inches long.  She had a lot of dark hair and is absolutely precious!!!!  She tried to give her parents a little scare-----when she was born she had an irregular heart rhythm, so she had lots of EKGs and X-rays of the heart.....we know God is good and He gave her strength.  Specialists from Denver have given her a clean bill of health--she will have another EKG in about 4 weeks, but she is doing great!!  As for Mommy, well she is an amazing young lady!!  She got down to business and had an easy delivery and is back to her routine.   Daddy is a great help and Macarty already has daddy right where she needs him!  They are a beautiful family and we could not be happier!

24 hours old with her new baby doll that grandma and grandpa thought she just had to have.  She is so beautiful!

 She is 5 days old and is probably on of the best babies.  She is so happy and content!  I got to spend a couple days with them.  I thought our daughter might need me to help out with a few things......well, I was wrong, she is doing so good that I really didn't need to go help.  She absolutely amazes me with her strength.  She and her husband are so good at this parenting thing....I don't think I was that good at the routine thing when I had my first child, but they are pretty darn good!!