Aunix

This is Aunix he is eleven years old . One of his kidneys has died and has stones in it . We inherited him when Toby went to college. During his junior year he became ours. He is really attached to my husband, Randy so this is really hard for him. He is the most self assured cat that I have ever known. He has had a pretty much perfect life and has never been abused or treated harsh in any way. He is vey vocal and tells us exactly what he wants when he wants it.

Painting, new backsplash, new counter and more...

I watched sweet little Krayden this week on Monday and Tuesday. He was running a little temp so I sat and held him a lot of the time. It is wonderful being a grandma. He is eight months old now. Crawling everywhere and starting to climb and pull himself up. His mommy and daddy are so good with him. It is a joy to watch them. They are going to have another baby in late December to the first of January 2011. I can hardly wait!!

Now,
Back to my blog title. I have been painting my kitchen cabinets white and put on new red ceramic knobs. We purchased the tile for the back splash (sunset red) glass one inch tiles last weekend. i can't believe how long it takes to choose all the stuff when you remodel anything and then we are doing the work so it will take longer since we aren't professionals. ha Ha!It will be lovely when it is done. I started removing the old tiles in the wee hours of the morning. So far so good. We will order the new counter top this weekend. It is a dark charcoalish (I know not a real word)black laminate and I am so excited about it.

Ruthie from threadsofmine quilted two small quilts made from scrappy one patch tumbler blocks for me this past month. I'm giving them to my dil, Ashleys little nieces and I quilted one that is 80" X 80" done in batiks. It is for our oldest grandson, Clay. I haven't made him a quilt since he was around five years old so it was way past time. They are all bound and I'm putting the labels on this weekend.

I have three more quilt tops finished and ready to be quilted. The backings and bindings need pressed. One is blue and white 2 1/2" squares and 2 1/2" x 4 1/2" rectangles with black Scottie dogs and the name Gavin appliqued on. It is for my new little nephew adopted in January 2010.
Another is a top that I finished at retreat in Shipshewana 8 1/2" squares with a focal fabric of pastel colored salt box houses, and then a cheater quilt with black borders for Nolan, my dil's nephew. It is the panel with plane, train, boats, cars, bicycle, and etc with black sashing in between the blocks and rows. I am on Ruthie's waiting list to be done on Mable.

I finished my studio for the most part but it is rather messy right now. When I get it straightened then I'll take pictures and post them on here.

When my boys were young I couldn't wait for them to grow up.
I'm not doing that with the grandsons. I am savoring every moment with them. Already the oldest is fifteen years and Krayden is past eight months. Where has the time gone?

2010 Quilt Guild Retreats

Wow! 2010. Can you believe that it is already almost April 2010. I went to two quilt guild retreats this month. One was at PineView Resort in Monticello, IN and the other in Shipshewana, IN at the Farmstead Inn. I have had a blast at both. I worked on and finished a number of projects and the best of all was hanging out with friends and making some new friends.

I started watching our grandson, Krayden when his mommy had to go back to work. I watch him on Mondays most of the time. Sometimes other days too! He is adorable and such a little bundle of love.

For Valentines Day my husband and oldest son helped lay a new vinyl tile floor in my studio. It is soo much better. I'll post some before and after pictures soon. I can now sew, cut, and press in my room. I absolutely love it!

Until later,
Janet

A Rose in Bloom November 2009

I took these pictures on November 15th. Can you believe a blooming rose in the middle of November?
I noticed a bud a few weeks ago and then I noticed it in bloom. My friend, Ruthie threadsofmine.blogspot.com told me I should share it on my blog.










Ruthie has some pictures of four quilt that I quilted on Friday. They are now bound and ready to mail to: quiltforkids.org

Downey sponsored kits to made into quilts for this organization. I made three of their kits and made two of my own. A number of members of Common Threads Quilt Guild in Lafayette, IN
have finished kits and sent them back.

The Baby Shower

Ashley, Toby, & Krayden

Krayden is our new grandson born on September 29, 2009. he weighed 9lbs., 14oz.

Toby & Krayden

Where Has The Time Gone?

I have been to Silver Spring, MD, Shipshewana, IN, Columbus,OH since I last posted. I went to MD for a month to spend more time with my husband, the Auth's and did a bunch of hand work.
Shipshewana was Common Threads quilt retreat which I had a blast with Ruthie, Tammy, and Shelly. I can't wait until next year!
I finished the Gypsy Rose quilt and put the binding on two quilts.

Ruthie and I went to Columbus to the quilt show and we stayed with Denae's (Ruthie's daughter-in-law)parents.they are so nice. Denae is a sweetie too!

Last Sunday I went to Tammy's for a sewing day. I sewed 47 blocks for another quilt. I used charm squares and a jelly roll. It went really fast. Shellie was our personal presser.

We are having some work done on our house right now. This week they are doing Soffits, facia covers and then new seamless gutters. We are so excited. Heathcote Construction, INC. they have been in business for around 30 years.

I've got to run some errands so I'll be back another time.

I

Spring Is Almost Here and Busy, Busy, Busy

I've been sewing up a storm. I finished a quilt for my sister and delivered it to her the day before Easter. Randy was home for the weekend and we went for a family Easter dinner. I told her, "Read this label and tell me what you think." When she got to the part that says made especially for: she started to cry and said "Oh Thank You". So everyone got to be there for her surprise. The quilt is named"Happy Squares". It was made with Moda's line Gypsy Rose. I used a jelly roll and a charm pack. With a few extras added to the mix. I quilted it at Ruthie's Quilting the Monday before. I used the Leafage pantograph.

I finished the Rossville block of the month quilt from last year. Ruthie quilted it with her Circle lord in fan pattern and it is beautiful. All I have left to do is sew the binding down on the back and put on a label.

The quilt that I made with Moda's line Maypole designed by april Cornell is almost finished. I used the free pattern that I got when I purchased the fabric. It turned out beautiful. Ruthie quilted and I hope to get the pictures put on here soon. i have the binding and label to do on the back.

I have the binding done on my king size redwork quilt. It's 108 X 108, 120 8" redwork blocks that I hand embroidered. I have to do the sleeve and put on the label which is printed and ready to apply. Ruthie did a dfantastic job quilting this quilt. It was a Christmas surprise for me. I absolutely love it!

If you go to Ruthie's blog www.threadsofmine@blogspot.com she has some pictures of my quilts.

I went to the quilt show in Chicago yesterday by bus there was a group of 42 of us. The show was lovely but it was so crowded. This is the second year that I've been to the Spring show.

My Unfinished Projects

I'm trying to get a list together for my UFO's.

1. Apple Tree and Ant Picnic Quilt.
2. Quilt of Valor Stripes
3. Quilt of Valor Pails sent to quilter
4. Carole's Dresden Plates
5. Double Delight
6. It's A Wrap
7. Gypsy rose almost finished, binding and label
8. Mother Goose Baby Quilt kit
9. Kit from Quilted Angel in Petaluma,CA
10. Doll Quilt Kit Carol Hopkins
11. Orange Slices
12. Two Patriotic panel quilts
13. Batik jelly roll and charm quilt
14. 11 It's All About Me Quilts blocks and sashing cut for one
15. Rickie's Wizard of OZ quilt
16. Joann's BOM Christmas quilt
17. Hidden Wells quilt
18. Red and yellow Welcome applique wallhanging
19. Four patch and snowball block quilt started in San Francisco,CA
20. Sleeve and label on King size redwork quilt.almost done
21. See, Hear, and Speak No Evil wallhanging needs quilted
22. Sweet in 30's fabric
23. Rug Hooked Apple rug
24. Needle punch sewing notions kit
25. simplify embroidery kit
26. Coffee and Chocolate wallhanging
27. Children bluework building a snowman
28. Tumbler block quilt
29. Bug Jar quilt
30. Mini Jars quilt
31. Cat's Stairway To Heaven

Unfinished list getting smaller?

Today I took pictures of some finished projects.

Some mini jars from Miniatures quilts I started, 5 done and 10 to go. They are so cute!

This is a pattern from Lakadaisies. See, Hear, and Speak No Evil Redwork. This one is for a friend, Jan Ermel. She is Common Threads Quilt Guild president. Her husband passed away recently. I'll give it to her next week. She is at quilt camp this week.

This is a Blue Star Banner for my sister and her husband. They have two nephews in the war.

This is a See, Hear, and Speak No Evil done in Pinkwork. This one I made to go in our shabby chic bedroom.

I have made many wallhangings from this pattern for family and friends. I think twelve or thirteen so far.

This is a Bug Jar Quilt, pattern by Carol Hopkins. This one is called "Happy Bugs". It is for Ashlyn Taylor. Harry and Tammy Taylors youngest of three. It's a little late but I just finished the binding and label last night. I hope that she likes it. Ruthie quilted it at Ruthie's Quilting. It is a wonderful pattern. I have made eight quilts with this pattern.

This a doily that I purchased in Santa Clara, CA at an antique mall. I sewed it onto a gold cotton and had it custom framed at Hobby Lobby.The frame is a beautiful gold ceramic and the mat is a red silk. It turned out perfect. The picture doesn't do it justice. I had it framed in remembrance of the last time that Randy and I took a vacation to San Francisco, CA before my sweet grandma, Tillie passed away. It was two years ago that she passed on March 6th, 2007.

My DH will be home tommorow evening until Sunday morning. I can't wait to see him. It's been a month. We have missed each other so much since he took this job. Hopefully weather won't be a factor this time while he's travelling from Maryland. The last time he tried to come home the flights were cancelled because of bad weather.

Busy Sewing Day

Today I went out to Quilters Harvest quilt storehttp://quiltersharvest.com/ Today was a Lasagna Supper sewing day. There were eight of us sewing on ufo's and newly started projects. I worked on a quilt from Modas line of fabric Gypsy Rose. I used a jelly roll and a charm pack. I finished 40 blocks and I have to make 20 more. The colors are beautiful. Maybe I'll work on it some more tomorrow. My DH was supposed to fly into Indy tonight but the flights were cancelled because of bad weather. We were both really disappointed that he couldn't come home.
I getting really tired so I'm going to cut this short and go to bed.

I finished the Maypole quilt, Rossville block of the month quilt, and a fleece and minkee blanket for me. I took them to Ruthies Quilting to be quilted along with a bug jar quilt for some friends daughter down in Bedford, IN. I have made 7 or 8 of these quilts. Young children love them because the colors are bright and cheerful.

Rebel Roses

Have you been to ankastreasures.wordpress.com/2009/02/16/more-on-rebel-roses this new line of fabric is wonderful and this week they are giving away a bundle of fat quarters. Red is my favorite color along with brights. This is the perfect fabric for me. Go look at the patterns and the sample quilts on this blog. http://fatquartershop sent me an e-mail telling about this line.ankastreasures has kits that you can buy if your local quilt store doesn't have them.

I went to Old Tippecanoe Quilt Guild tonight and before hand Ruthie and I went and tried a new restaurant across from West Lafayette library. It is called Qdoba, http://qdoba.com/ Mexican food and we both had the Three cheese chicken nachos. I had the mild salsa and Ruthie had the medium. Ruthie ate at this chain when she lived in colorado. We will be going there again. There was some fantastic show and tell tonight. We have many talented quilters.

Last weekend http://rossvillequilts.com/ had a retreat at Camp Tecumseh. I went for all day on Saturday. I finished two "Mini Charmer" bags by Penny Sturgis http://quiltsillustrated.com/ they were the samples I made for the two workshops we had last month. I also started the quilt "It's A Wrap" by Pieces of My Heart designed by Sandy Gervais.
The food at the camp was very good too! I left camp around 9pm to head for home and it was dark and I got lost and ended up in Reynolds, IN. I was about 30 minutes north of where I wanted to be. Thank goodness I made it back to Lafayette safe and sound.

Tonight when I got home from guild I started another quilt that I recently cut. It is a Moda http://modafabrics.com/ fabric called Maypole by April Cornell. The pattern was designed by Lisa Christensen for Moda. I bought my fabric at Rossville quilts.

This Saturday another guild I belong to Common Threads is having a sewing day at St. James Lutheran school. I hope to get lots of projects done. Maybe I'll even take some pictures to post on here. I love to get together with sewing friends and sew. It is nice to visit with people that you don't see very often or often enough.

My dh Randy got a job in Frederick, MD until December 31st, 2009. This is going to be a long year. I already miss him and he just left on Saturday. Today was his first day on the job.He is apartment hunting and in the mean time he is staying with our good friends Michael and Carole Auth in Silver Spring, MD. Michael and Carole lived in Lafayette until a couple of years ago. There aren't many pharmaceutical jobs in this area because of layoffs.
I'll tell you more later about this new adventure in our lives.

Fabric, Fabric, Everywhere

I have been cutting fabric this month. Not much sewing but that is another story. I cut all of the fabric for Bonnie Hunters mystery quilt "Double Delight" http://quiltville.com/.



I bought a LARGE Tumbler Block acrylic template at the quilt show in Chicago last fall. I have cut blocks to make another QOV quilt. Ruthie at threadsofmine.blogspot.com bought the next size down has already cut her blocks and has pictures on her site.

Toby and Ashley came for dinner last night and their list of 75 things is completed.(for the quilts mentioned below.)
Tait came by today after work and his list is finished too. One of my sisters', Louann, was the first one finished with her list. Four down and nine to go. Each person is supposed to give a list of 75 favorite things/and or sayings from when they where children to present age.

I bought a pattern called "It's All About Me". I have started cuting the blocks for this. I have over 200 novelty fabrics. I plan on making 12 of these quilts. I'm calling them BigBoy/BigGirl quilts. For my three sons, daughters (wives of two sons), three sisters, brother, husband and grandson. They are all quilts for adults, my soon to be 14 grandson. I am in love with all of the novelty fabric avaiable. I got a package in the mail today from z&sfabrics.com. A total of 23 half yards of fabric all novelties. I need more feminine type fabrics and faith type fabrics. If you know of some that you noticed on line at a shop please let me know.



Ruthie and I were supposed to have our BOM from http://www.blogger.com/www.rossvillequilts.com
quilts done by tonight. I got a reprieve until next week because of bad weather. Ruthie's are done mine were lost and I found the blocks today. I have two blocks to cut and put together, besides sewing rows together. I do not know where I put the last two blocks thus, my quilt will only have eleven blocks. I'm not very good at designing quilts even with eq5. So, Ruthie came up with a layout of my blocks on point that I think is going to look really good. I have to have the top done at least by next Wednesday.

I'm planning on making my sil a Wizard Of Oz quilt. I dug out the fabrics that I have purchased. Now, I have to decide how to put all of the fabrics together. There are three lines of different WOOz fabrics. it will be a fun quilt. I'm going to either make it two sided or make two different quilts. I'll keep you posted.

I am way behind with reading blogs that I'm tracking and I'm new to Drankland and haven't logged on to it either. I've been reading instead of doing anything else. When I'm interested in a book I can't hardly put it down.

Until next time be safe, warm, and enjoy each day.
Janet

Getting Ready for a Busy Weekend

Tmorrow night is one of my guild nights "Old Tippecanoe Quilt Guild"West Lafayette, IN. Ruthie from threadsofmine and I will go out to eat somewhere. Our goal is to check out places that we haven't been to before. OTQG is located near the campus 0f Purdue University and sometimes the parking situation and weather will dictate where we will go last month it was Brunos.

This coming weekend January 10th we are having a "Mini Charmer" bag workshop. We hope that the weather will be mild. Participants will sign up tomorrow night. The pattern can be purchased at www.quiltsillustrated.com

This is a picture of part of my fabric stash. This fabric is yardage of a yard or more. The cubbies go all the way down to the floor and I have added more cubes since this picture was taken.There isn't room for the smaller amounts. I'm embarrassed for you to see the rest of the room. Ruthie and Carole A. have both helped me in this room. I have come to the conclusion that I have too much stuff for this small room. It's only 12X12.

Kitchen table to the left.

Living room

Everything was removed from other rooms and put into the "Studio" and it is a tad full!

I have all of the fabric in the living room for the "Double Delight" Bonnie Hunters mystery quilt from Quiltville.com.You can see how it's going to look by clicking on the links. I love it!

Another guild that I belong to "Common Threads" Lafayette, IN is having a Nickel Swap and I now have almost all twelve months cut in 5" squares and in ziplocs. I have to buy more turquoise and black on black fabric. I've been purchasing fabric on line along with my stash for the swap. There are over 30 participants. Ruthie nor I were expecting that many people in this swap. How fun will this be? When the swap is over we will have a Nickel Squares sewing workshop in 2010.We all love scrappy quilts, and the methods used to create them are usually very fast and
simple. Our Nickel Quilt Fabric Exchange is just that. It is based on Pat Speth’s books - Nickel
Quilts and More Nickel Quilts. Everyone will sometime over the next year purchase one of Pat's book.

On January 17th Ruthie and I will be having another "Mini Charmer" bag workshop. There are 35 members signed up for this one. I'm so excited to see all the bags that are made with charm packs or cut 5" squares.

January 3, 2009

I can not believe that it is 2009! This year just flew by so fast.

I started Bonnie Hunters from http://quiltville.com/index.htmlNew Years mystery quilt. "Double Delight". I have all of the pieces cut out, but I haven't started piecing it yet. I thought I had enough pinks but I didn't have double pinks. So, I went out to http://www.quiltersharvestshop.com/ to get some more yesterday. Karen didn't have very many. Maybe I'll start sewing today. This is my first project of 2009.

I have been enjoying His Majesty aka: Truffles. We get a lot of joy having him with us. He is my baby and he adores me. He has been living with us

since April 2006. I inherited him from my grandma.He is from

San Francisco, CA he is twelve years old..

Ruthie from http://threadsofmine.blogspot.com/ has a new granddaughter, Elizabeth Ann. Her daughter had three sons and no girls until Friday. I'm so excited for the whole family. Elizabeth is so cute.

Merry Christmas

Yesterday Randy and our grandson, Clay drove to Jonesboro to have Christmas with my family. I had to stay home in bed to get well.They had a good time visiting and good food. Thankfully the weather was nice and the roads clear.

Today is Christmas Happy Birthday Jesus!

I didn't do too much today since I'm trying to get well. I called to wish my family and close friends a Merry Christmas and to find out if they are having a nice Christmas and staying warm.

My sister-in-law, Rickie spent last night with us and today my husband's dad and Sandra came to have dinner. They live in North Carolina and they came North to visit family and friends for the Holidays. It was good to see them. We usually see them once or twice a year. It is probably time for us to go South to visit them.

Saturday we will go to our middle son's home for Christmas gift exchange and dinner. I always look forward to being with them. When your children are grown their lives become so busy that you see less of them.

God Bless You and Keep You in his Loving Care!

Busy Making Gifts and Finishing UFO's

This year has passed so fast. It's been a very busy time for us. After returning from Birmingham, AL in October, I have been spending time with my husband and family. I have almost completed my UFO'S that I had listed for Common Threads Quilt Guild. I went to Ruthie's Quilting and quilted a wall hanging, two table runners, and a challenge quilt for Old Tippecanoe Quilt Guild.
They turned out pretty nice. I also finished a Blue Star Banner for my sister and brother-in-law.
I finished another See, Hear, and Speak No Evil in Redwork. the pattern is by Lakadaisies. I think it is number nine. Number ten is in my hoop now in Pinkwork. Most of these finished projects will go to family members for Christmas gifts. Look at the pictures in my previous posts to see the pictures.

We went to Mesa, Arizona for Thanksgiving to spend time with my youngest sister, two nephews, and our niece. I took supplies to introduce my niece to crocheting and embroidery. I had a surprise when we started our crochet lesson. My niece is left handed and I am right handed. I tried having her sit in front of me opposite and watching my hands and it didn't work. The booklet that I took was for right handed people. She did pretty good with the redwork. Now, I have to find another crochet book for left handers.


This week before Old Tippecanoe quilt Guild, Randy and I met Ruthie at Bruno's in West Lafayette for a very nice dinner. Randy had salmon and Ruthie and I had a very nice fruit spinach salad. Mine with no spinach and romaine lettuce instead. (I don't like raw spinach).

We exchanged gifts with each other and I was so surprised when I opened my gift from Ruthie! It was my king size redwork quilt. It was at Ruthie's Quilting and I was in no hurry to for her to quilt it because it is king sized and our bed is queen sized. Plus His Majesty and His Highness get on our bed and it is not the kind of quilt to be washed all the time. BUT being the good friend and nice person Ruthie is she quilted it for me! It is absolutely beautiful! This quilt has 120 hand embroidered blocks with red sashing. I got carried away when I started making the blocks. I had it basted and was going to hand quilt it. (what was I thinking?) The quilting has a feather pattern in the outside border, sqiggles in the sashing, and stippling in the redwork blocks. You can see the quilt on Ruthie's blog http://threadsofmine.blogspot.com/. Guild Challenge and the Shhh Quilt I was so touched by her generosity. You have to know her to appreciate all she does for others and many of you bloggers do know her. She is a wealth of quilting information and she readily shares. She was just as excited to quilt it for me as I was to see it done.

I woke up not feeling well a couple of days ago and today I went to the doctor and she put me on an antbiotic and mucinex dm. I have asthma and I have to be careful it doesn't go into bronchitis or pnemonia. Of course, our Christmas plans are up in the air. We will see how I feel in the morning. My voice is always the first thing to go. My boy's loved it when they were young and I couldn't talk. Ha Ha lol!

I did sew the binding on my redwork quilt. I wanted some hand work to do when I feel better.
If you read this have a very Merry Christmas and a great New year.

Little Mini Charmer

Tonight, Ruthie http://threadsofmine.blogspot.com/ and I went to Panera Breads to eat before our Guild meeting, Old Tippecanoe Quilt Guild.
We both had a delicious salad Harvest something with dried cherries, pecans, and pears. I had green tea and Ruthie had coffee. We ran into a couple of other friends, Sue G., alias Lucy Ricardo lol. Cheryl E., and Carol. We had some laughs and then went to guild.

Ruthie and I did a demo of the Mini Charmer bags by Penny Sturges at http://www.quiltsillustrated.com/ They have a number of different patterns and they are really cute. We were told that members enjoyed our demo and we gave a pattern and almost complete bag away as a door prize. This past Saturday Ruthie and I got together at my house and sewed a number of bags in different stages of completion to show members of the guild how to make them.

We asked that if anyone brought bags that they made to show them. It was really fun. I played the part of Vanna and held things up and passed them around. Ruthie is the organized person that did the talking.

After guild we went to get some $2.09 a gallon gas. WOW! Aren't you glad the fuel price has dropped?
Then to McDonalds to have some ice cream. We watched a little of the Polls on the tv and then Ruthie dropped me off at my house. We had a very nice evening. It was fun to just laugh. A merry heart does good like a medicine.

I got an e-mail from http://www.zandsfabrics.com/ and of course I had to go check out their sale. Carol and Mehgan are sweeties and Mehgan is in the hospital having her little boy, Finn. He is taking his time making an appearance so they decided to have a sale and somebody could win their purchase and shipping if their order is the closet to when Finn is born. Also, everything is 10% off the web site. They had some Moda fabric that I love so I bought a yard for the binding and of course some other fabric.

On Halloween night I bought fabric from http://www.rossvillequilts.com/ It is a cute shop in Rossville, IN. Moda's May Pole by April Cornell. I needed some fabric for the binding of a quilt that I finished cutting today. So, I bought it from zandsfabrics. I absolutely love this line of fabric.

I am going to go to sleep now. Have a great night and tomorrow we will wake up to a new President Elect.