{ Lattice Quilt for Steph}

I'm a little late getting around to posting photos of the quilt I finished for Steph's Christmas gift. The pattern is Lattice Quilt by Amy Smart of Diary of a Quilter and the fabric is Little Gatherings by Primitive Gatherings. This fabric line was perfect to match her living room colors and would even coordinate with her bedroom. Two thumbs up!

{ Can I Get a Hell Yeah? }

I love when I've finished sock #2 of a pair, kitchenered the toe closed and weaved in the tails.  It took me just over a month to finish these socks. I love the yarn color. Woo hoo for self striping yarn. It makes non-knitters think I'm doing something very special.

I may not be able to wait until Christmas to give these to Steph.

{Projects 365+1: Week 30}

{Project 365+1: Week 29}

{ A Thought for Today}

Happiness is having a large, loving, caring, close-knit family in another city ~ George Burns

This quote is funny and I'm sure we've all felt this way at one time or another but I really do miss my family.  There are days when I wish I could call up Mom and my sister and say " there's great sale going on at Bed, Bath & Beyond. Want to come?"  I really miss my Steph the most. A twelve hour drive isn't so far away I guess. It's surely worth it though. I'm here with her now and plan on enjoying every moment.

{Project 365+1:Week 27}

{We plan and the producers of 'The Walking Dead' laugh}

I had big plans for this past Saturday and Sunday. Since we would not be going out to Mattituck because Steph was home from Tennessee to attend a friend's wedding and the temps were expected to be in the high 90s {I'm m-e-l-t-i-n-g}, I'd be setting up the sewing machine and spend hours working on the blocks for {Doc}, the May Schnibbles. I know, it's July and I'm behind big time. 


Saturday at 11:30am the entire plan went awry. Seems this weekend, as in Saturday and Sunday, was {The Walking Dead} marathon, all 19 episodes. This was the lead up to a preview of Season 3 at 10pm on Sunday. So, other than cutting the fabric for another {Swoon} block no sewing got done. I spent a good part of the entire weekend on the couch watching all but 3 episodes.  I had to cook and do some laundry so I wouldn't feel completely useless.


I missed out on two days of being productive, at least as far as quilting goes. I never thought that I'd be able to say that I have four {WIP}, that's quilt-speak for 'works in progress'. I have to shift the quilt plans around again since I now have a 75th birthday for someone special coming up in September. It looks like {Swoon} will be going to a different home. I'm making this a priority so I'll have it done and quilted with time to spare. I hope I don't get distracted again.

{A Thought for Today}

When you look at your life, the greatest happinesses are family happinesses. ~Joyce Brothers

{Project 365+1: Week 21 & Week 22}

Had to play catch up this week. 

{Barn Quilts}

Since I started quilting just about a year ago, I've been spending a lot of time online 'google-ing' quilts, quilting, quilt patterns, quilting methods etc. One of my searches brought me to a site called {Barn Quilt Info} , which surprisingly has info on barn quilts. Evidently, barn quilt trails are becoming popular. You pick a state, then a county and drive from place to place photographing the barn quilts which are displayed on the sides of barns and businesses. I found a {blog} where people can post a newly discovered barn quilt so that others can do a drive-by.

Two years ago when I started taking Danny back & forth to Lehigh University, I noticed some very photogenic barns on 78, right before crossing from NJ to PA. One lovely red barn ( is there any other legit color for a barn anyway?) had a cool geometric-looking design hanging on the side, under the eaves. I planned on stopping to photograph it but always forgot on the way back or whizzed right by, swearing under my breath that I had missed it again. Anyway, last week when I picked Danny up from school I made a mental note to stop on the way home to finally photograph what I now knew to be a 'barn quilt'. I pulled off the roadway, carefully backtracking on foot as the semi's flew by. The sun wasn't in the best spot but I did manage to get a decent shot of my first barn quilt.

From what I've read there are a lot of barn quilts scattered around Tennessee. One county that's loaded with them is only an hour away from Steph. I'm guessing we'll be doing a little drive on the 'barn quilt trail' when I go to visit.

{Next Up}

Since I finished the baby's Granny Square Quilt last week I haven't had a chance to get back to sewing. I did decide on a {counted cross stitch} project to bring out to Mattituck this summer. It's a really sweet farm/country scene with barns and cows and sheep and flowers.....just right for Steph.  The wording across the bottom reads 'Live Simple  Be Content'. It sounds like a great idea to me. It's very involved though. There are very few areas of the Aida cloth that will not be covered with cross stitches. And, my eyes are getting older and those little holes are much harder to see than I remember. I may have to up the magnification on the drugstore glasses while I work on it.


So, it was time to figure out my next  'at home' project. The nights Brian has band practice are perfect for sewing. I set up my table in the living room, put on a show I know he has no interest in and get going. A few weeks back I saw a great quilt pattern on Make it Do. I haven't had a chance to make a quilt with stars yet so I purchased the pattern and put it away until the right fabric came along. 

The right fabric came along completely by accident. Quickly. I purchased Friendship by Howard Marcus in a Fat Eighth bundle with plans on purchasing yardage down the line when it went on sale. There was a sale at Fat Quarter Shop, I ordered enough yardage for a quilt back, border and binding. I got the fabric, color looked off. I looked at the receipt and it was the wrong fabric collection. Oops! Now, I will take that 'wrong' fabric along with 5 charm packs and 2 1/2 yards of red fabric and make {Oh My Stars!}. The fabrics I bought are American Banner Rose by Minick & Simpson.

I'll be throwing in two charm packs of Friendship for a little variety. I've located the solid red from the American Banner Rose collection and will use that for the stars.


Tomorrow night is band practice which means my rotary cutter and I have a date. I read through this pattern and it looks to be fairly simple. I'm still waiting for the red fabric to arrive so I'll start with the charms. I think I'll like this.

{Goodbye 2011}

Tonight we'll say so long to 2011. It was a good year for our family. We had so many wonderful things happen and have so much to be thankful for.....a college graduation, two weddings, a grandchild on the way, a family vacation to Yellowstone that we'll never forget, two new sets of drums for Brian, Thanksgiving together in North Carolina,  a new-found hobby (quilting), an engagement, snowshoeing in Colorado, attending a college football game with Danny, my Mom's 70th birthday and Steph getting into vet school.

I'm sorry to see 2011 go, but I'm excited about what 2012 will bring. We're blessed to have a wonderful family and  a really sweet life. I only can imaging that this upcoming year will bring with it new & amazing experiences for our family. My "One Little Word"  for 2012 is "Thankful". I hope to go through next year recognizing exactly how much I have to be thankful for....the big, the small, the obvious and the obscure. I'll be incorporating it into my P365 +1.

Happy New Year! May it be a blessed one.

{Ouch}

Last night I dreamed about hedgehogs. Reason one...Steph just added one to her household. A little boy named Stitch. He really is cute, but I prefer an animal you can pet and not get stuck. Maybe I'll feel differently when I get to meet him.

This is Sonic, Steph's first hedgie, who passed on to

Hedgehog Heaven.

Reason two... I started hand sewing (ouch) the binding to the back of my {Nebraska Farmhouse c. 1953} quilt. That's the one made from the {Strawberry Fields} fabric line. I'll explain the name choice in another post. Anyway....this hand sewing thing looks better than I expected for a first-time attempt but my right index finger is sore! I mean really sore! I was hoping to have it all done over this past weekend but I had to take breaks. So....hand sewing the binding is carrying over to tonight. I'm hoping  to have it done and the quilt into the wash this evening. I can't wait to see it, and feel it, in all it's puckery goodness. Once it's washed and dried, on goes the quilt label and Wednesday it will make it's first road trip to NC so I can show Mom. Hopefully, I'll get some nice photos to post here. I'll have the tall son with me to help with holding the quilt.



{My Daughter}

Last night I dreamed about my daughter. She's such a sweet girl .She's living in Tennessee now, attending The University of TN College of Veterinary Medicine. A life-long {dream} of hers is finally coming true. She spent the past four years at UCONN for undergrad and now is living in the land of hillbillies, pickup trucks and kudzu. 

I really hope she's going to be happy there for the next four years. Her apartment is very nice and with all the little decorating touches she's adding, it's starting to look very homey. She's never really had the opportunity to decorate in "her" style and it's great to see her personality show through. There's lots of {cow }stuff around...she LUBS cows. And her collection of {milk bottles} is displayed over the cabinets in her kitchen. Yup....people do collect milk bottles.

And this is one of them.