Tote Bag

I made this bag for the boutique; pictures show the two sides. I did letters by just cutting them out with scissors, like I did the small letters of my name on the sampler in my previous post. To attach these letters, I set my machine on free motion quilting and went around each letter in a not-so-neat fashion. Then I went back and zig zagged in lines through the letters to provide more stay-put-iveness. It's just one way I thought of to do it. I did the heart and the exclamation point with regular machine applique stitch.



Here's a close-up showing the two types of stitching I did. Nines told me you'd all still love me after seeing my messy laundry room. Now I'm asking you to still love me despite this unconventional method of attaching letters. By now you probably know I'm full of odd ball quirks! LOL. Anyway, look at the funny coloring! The picture that looks sort of orangey and reddish is closer to the real color. That was taken without flash. The other one that looks like the letters are purple was taken with a flash. I was surprised at the huge variance in color! The purple is way off. Here's one more photo. Are you bored yet??

My Sampler

I finished my letters! I decided on a format! This will be my little wall hanging. I went shopping today to find the fabric I had run out of. I didn't find it, so I decided to be liberated and bought something else with colors that I thought might work. I'm amazed that I can often match colors pretty well by memory! The A, W, X and Z are made of the new stuff that I bought with my leap of faith. What do you think?

P.S. Some of you asked how I did the small letters. I just cut some squares and then cut out the letters like I used to do from construction paper to make signs in high school. So far I just tacked them on with a glue stick. I'm still pondering my options for how to permanently attach them.

Bazaar (bizarre?) Sewing

I'm in charge of a small boutique at my church. It's held on the same evening as a bigger event (turkey dinner) so the boutique isn't huge, but is a decent fund raiser. I'm trying to get some things made quickly this weekend to add to the variety of "stuff" we have for sale. The challenge is to make things that people might buy, but to offer only inexpensive items as most people don't come to the dinner wanting to do extensive shopping. All I've made so far tonight is a simple tote bag. I'm plotting and scheming how to use Tonya's letters on something. Hahaha... wait and see what I produce! This photo shows the bag I made last year (right) and the one I made tonight (left). Last year's didn't sell, so why do I think they'll both sell this year? Who knows.. maybe someone wanted a pair and will snap them up this year.



Here's the second installment of my Gratitudes List, done alphabetically.
Things I'm thankful for, "B" --
1) birthdays. I had one recently. I'd rather have one than not!
2) birds. We get a lot of beautiful song birds in our yard every summer. They make me happy!
3) blogs! I've had the fun of blogging and finding friendly, inspirational, strong women to blog with! Some good men, too!

Pretty quilts

These are some round robin quilts that were done by a few people in my local guild. I did not participate. It wasn't the typical round robin where you add whatever you want. They had to add specific rows, and that felt like something I would dislike doing. So I did the secret fabrics-in-a-bag thing where I got to do whatever I want... I'm almost done with it; you'll see it in November.

Thoughts

I've been skipping around from blog to blog, reading people's thoughts and the things they post about their lives. It's interesting to see how we all struggle with similar things: raising children, working on relationships, trying to make a difference, wanting the world to be a better place, looking for happiness. Life is complicated and oh so precious.

Nothing quilty tonight... just thinking about my family and other of life's big issues! "Deep Thoughts by Jack Handy." Remember that from SNL?

Here's a deep thought: a Halloween ghost has fallen down under the weight of its own Boo!! Scared itself, perhaps? Or is laughing uproariously over how un-scary it really is! See photo below.

Secret Projects

I am working on two projects that I can't show you! This first one is a project we are doing at my guild. We each put our choice of fabric into a bag and gave it to the coordinator. She gave them out to other people, so that we ended up with a bag of fabric, but not our own. Our job is to make a small wall hanging using this person's fabric. We don't know whose it is! At the end we will get our own fabrics back, transformed into a finished wall hanging.

Here is a picture of the fabric that came out of the bag I was assigned. I spent today working on this project, but I can't show it to you until November. (If the owner of the fabric sees this, she now knows who is working on her wall hanging, which is already spoiling the surprise a little bit, but I doubt if my guild members dig this far into my blogs.... except Sally, and she said it's not her fabric.)



The other project I can't show you until February! It is a challenge for our quilt show in Feb. We have to make a small quilt using a particular fabric, and our quilt has to fill in the blank, "B is for _______." Mine is nothing at all like I had envisioned myself making, but I like it so far. You'll see it in 2007!

I forgot I was going to start a new Gratitudes list, going alphabetically. Got this idea on another blog. I had to come back and edit this entry so I could add my list:

Gratitudes, "A"
1. a capella choir - my son is having a great experience in his college choir, and they sound great
2. apples - great time of year to get good, crisp apples
3. aunts - I don't have many left! I appreciate my Aunt Dody.

Towels & My Laundry

Nines asked for pictures of our laundry rooms, so here's mine. That big pile of stuff is not a usual thing. My daughter just moved out, and in the process, she dumped what I had sitting in the dryer into that big heap so that she could do her laundry and pack and move. It was easiest just to stay out of her way during that process. And then I had the week from h--- with work all day and stuff to do every night, so I just didn't have time to fold all that laundry. I'm not the world's best housekeeper, but I don't usually let big piles like that sit around for days on end.

Our laundry room is in the basement. We have sheetrock up, but we've never finished that room. We moved into this new house 13 years ago. We're hoping finally to finish our basement next spring/summer. Maybe we can paint the laundry room Granny Smith apple green!

The other picture is towels that my sister sent me for my birthday. I knew you'd like the colors, so I took a picture! The joys of having digital cameras... we can take pictures of towels and laundry rooms and not have to pay for developing of these unusual topics.




I have enjoyed staying up late tonight and catching up on blog reading. You are all a talented bunch, as well as entertaining and witty. Thanks for letting me become a Maverick and get in on the fun!

I need a 6-day weekend!

I'm willing to work one day a week. Don't you think that should be sufficient? And I think it should be illegal to have more than 2 evening obligations per week. This week I have had something every night - even on the one night I thought I'd have free! How am I supposed to get all my quilts made if I never get time to sit down and sew!? And Tonya keeps encouraging us and providing new ideas... the ideas keep swirling around with no place to go.



Here's a sale I happened upon. I bought some fabric at 40% and 50% off! How fun is that?! More ideas that I don't have time to work on.................

I'm willing to start my 6-day weekend this Saturday. Is that all right with everyone? If so, please tell my boss.

Always Gorgeous on the 4th!

Today is October 4, my daughter's birthday. She is 26 today. In the last 26 years, we have noticed that October 4 is nearly always a gorgeous day. Today is no exception. It's just spectacular outside! Leaves are ablaze, sky is a deep blue, temperature is perfect, and it cools down at night for great sleeping. In 26 years I think we have had two rainy birthdays.

Here's a picture of my DD. She is a big Huskers fan.

I hope everyone who reads this is enjoying a spectacular Oct 4th, wherever they may be.

Changing Direction Mid-Stream

I have not worked on my letters since making it to "T" a few nights ago. I did manage to make this small quilt, however. I made the crumb blocks from scraps and slapped it together quickly with the yellow bumble bee fabric. It was a quick little quilt and will be finished by another quilter, so it makes me feel like I got something done in a short time. In the middle of thinking about quilts, I also took up some knitting!




My daughter is moving into a tiny apartment. She had a huge yarn stash and decided to sort through it. She gave a whole bunch to me which I will use and also will share with more prolific knitters than I. I started right in on the purple yarn. I think it'll become a lap blankie. I'm picturing a sweet grandma somewhere warmed by this, assuming I get it done, of course. I'm not a master knitter and tend to do better on small projects such as hats. And I no longer have a sweet grandma of my own. I'll get to adopt myself to someone else's grandma!

Very warm, sunny and beautiful day here today. "Glorious" is the best word that comes to mind.

A - T

I had a good chunk of time to sew tonight, and got more letters made. I like most of them pretty well, but might do the S again. It's fine now, but when sewn to anything else, that top strip will be awfully small. I'm thinking about a new A also. We'll see... I only had a FQ of that multi-colored fabric and I ran out. I bought it while out of town, so I'll have to look around for more. I like the way it looks in the letters and want more. TTFN, once again bedtime interrupts, but ahhhh, isn't a good sleep a wonderful thing?

More Letters

I'm working on more letters ala Tonya. Not sure where it will lead, but right now I have a simple sampler in mind. I'm enjoying making smallish quilts these days - wall hangings, mostly. They're fun because they get done quickly.

Here are my letters so far. It's hard to get many done at one time due to limited time after work and the need to go to bed... which is where I am headed right now.

Sweet dreams, everyone!

Weekend With Family

Hello, quilty friends. I was busy last week and didn't get any more written after my tired day on Tuesday. I think I was tired on those other days, too!

Over the weekend I went out of town to attend a memorial service for my aunt who died recently at age 91. The service was very nice, and I learned some things that I didn't know about her childhood. Very interesting, and it was comforting and fun to have a lot of relatives around. We always enjoy good conversation and laughter together.



I haven't done any sewing in the last week, but I did go to a quilt shop with one cousin. They happened to be having a sale, including a Samples sale, so I bought this sample wall hanging which for me celebrates the fantastic orca whale watch I experienced in July.

I have started a 2nd blog which is called St. Paul Daily Photo. I post a photo a day, most of which depict the area where I live and work. It's loads of fun! There's a link in my Links section to the left.

Tiring Day

I was so sleepy today. All day! I almost fell asleep at my desk. I think it was the cool (almost cold) weather and gloomy day. The call of my warm bed was awfully strong!

Anyway, I'm posting a few more pictures. This first one is something I already posted, but my earlier picture didn't show the whole wall hanging. This is my Tonya-inspired, 2nd place award-winning at the county fair wall hanging.



This quilt is a UFO that I finished last winter. It was a round robin quilt done with an internet group several years ago. It felt good to finally get it done, and it hung in our guild's annual show. This quilt is called "Minnesota Moods."



The last photo for today is a table runner I made in the spring and donated for a door prize at an event at my church. The pattern is "On the Oregon Trail" from quilterscache dot com. Isn't it pretty? I am unabashedly proud of it and hope the winner enjoys owning it.

Some Old Photos

I went through some of my older photos that are stored in my computer and decided to post some here. Maybe I'll add more tomorrow. As Helen Kelley says, every quilt tells a story!

This is a quilt I sent to a baby who survived Katrina. She was only 3 weeks old at the time Katrina hit, and her family lost everything.



This one is like a long-lost friend. I made it a few years ago and sent it to someone who said she would machine quilt it for a charity. She never finished it and it was inadvertently buried under other stuff (we all know how that happens, don't we?!) It was eventually unearthed, sent on to another quilter who finished it, and posted this picture. It was fun to see an old friend after I had forgotten all about it.


Here's one I did not make. It was donated to me. I sent it on to another program that finished the quilt and gave it to the family of an injured soldier. Isn't it a beautiful quilt? I think it was originally made as a sample by someone about to teach a Lonestar class.



And now it is time for bed, to sleep, perchance to dream... about quilts?

Red Sweatshirt

I love wearing my red sweatshirt. It's a hoodie, and my warmest one. Today it's cold and rainy, and I'm luxuriating in my red hoodie! I took a nap in the recliner, still in my hoodie, snuggled under a quilt, and with our cat on top of all that. Doesn't that sound like a little bit of heaven?

I've been taking a Photo of the Day, but to be honest, I have many more than one per day, and it is soooo hard to pick which to post. I decided not to post them here any more as this is mainly a quilty blog, not a Daily Photo blog. They're now in my Yahoo photo album which you can see here (they're in the album called Daily Photo)

http://photos.yahoo.com/merryhands

I love cold weather, by the way. Hooray for fall!

The Windy Suburb

Last night we had a big rainfall. We were lucky that was all. North and South of us had tornado touchdowns! Today it is windy and cool. Some would say cold, but to me it's just lovely. The windows are open and curtains are bouncing in the breeze.

I found more timtex! I *thought* I had more. I made five more postcards. I'm really having fun with these, though it cuts into my quilt production terribly. If any of you readers feel like making quilts for children, there is a large need at a place called Wrap Them in Love. They send quilts to orphanages around the world. She currently has many more requests than she has quilts on hand. If you could share some quilts with kids in need in Guatemala, India, Russia, Philippines, and Viet Nam, that would be fantastic! Check out her info at www.wraptheminlove.org

Here's my photo of the day: Boat for Sale. I volunteer at the local library, delivering books to people who can't get out much. I saw this boat on the way to my library drop-off site.

The Creative Process

I am always amazed at how my quilts grow out of just an idea. Usually the idea is nothing at all like how the quilt ends up looking.

Last night I started playing with wonky house blocks. I made one that had a roof that reminded me of a thatch roof. From there I started adding things to it so that it could be my Botswana quilt. I have been wanting to make one after reading the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series by Alexander McCall Smith. So as I added things, the quilt grew on its own and suggested ideas to me. Some of the ideas I tried, then I'd sit and look at it for a long time, and if something didn't feel quite right, I trusted that instinct and removed it.

What I have so far is feeling good! It is *nothing* like I had envisioned making. It won't be done for a while; it's still in it's growing stage, but you'll see it eventually. I'm feeling amazed by the creative process and how much fun it is and how full of surprises it is! I feel so blessed to be able to play with this process and create things. Life is good!



Today's Daily Photo is a small, one-person post office in a tiny, historic town in MN. I asked the guy if I could take his picture, and he agreed. I love post offices, and this one is so cute!

Postcards & a Scarecrow

I spent the day making postcards! These are such fun -- a quilt that you can finish in just minutes! I would have made more, but I ran out of timtex. I foresee a trip to the quilt shop in the near future. (Hey - does Michael's carry this stuff? It probably would be cheaper there. Note to self: check out Michael's first.)

While running errands this afternoon, I found a good subject for my Daily Photo - a scarecrow! I was at the end of a Dead End street and saw this picturesque garden. The greens and yellows and even the scarecrow are so pretty!

Hugs & Kisses

"Hugs & Kisses" is the name of my completed wall hanging, made for Tonya's challenge. This will be sold at silent auction during my guild's quilt show in February.




I showed this to my daughter, and she said "What happened to that one X?" ONE X? I guess I must have been too consistent with my cuts, if she thought I had only one funky X. I had fun making all these blocks, including the funky hearts. Those are appliqued, using my own raw edge method.

The other picture is my Daily Photo. It's called Fall Colors at Target.

Flawless Weather

As the TV weather guy just said, today's weather is "flawless" -- beautiful, blue skies, cool in the morning, warming up comfortably but not hot in the afternoon, and this evening we once again will cool down and enjoy perfect sleeping weather. This time of year is my favorite!

I took a picture of a tree showing the beginnings of fall. Look at that sky! Look at the gorgeous tree top colors! It's breath-taking.

I hope I get in some good sewing time this evening. Maybe I'll even post another message before bedtime!

No Sewing Time Today!

I had a very busy day at work, an appointment after work, and a guild meeting after my appointment. No time for sewing makes Carol a Sad Girl. Now it's bedtime, and I didn't get to finish my X's and O's quilt.

The picture is a fabric postcard that I sent to my pen pal in Czech Republic. I've never sent one out of the country before. I hope it arrives there safe and sound.

Tonya's Challenge

I am working on a quilt using Tonya's X's and O's. I can't wait to show it to you!

2nd Sunday Sewing

I belong to an online quilt guild (Sunshine) that makes quilts for children worldwide. I love making these quilts and thought I'd share some photos with you. We try to set aside time on every 2nd Sunday of the month to work on Sunshine projects. So today's the day! I put together a couple of tops that I had started yesterday. First is a bargello. I got started making these thanks to Bonnie at quiltville. This is now my favorite method for quick, fun, easy, and appealing quilts. I keep making them because I love combining the colors and seeing the interesting results.



The next is a bunch of very bright orphan blocks that were fun to play with.



Here's one I made on a previous 2nd Sunday. I had 4 blocks made and didn't feel like making any more, so I came up with this setting. This top will be on its way to Haiti later this year.

Aunt Freda

My Aunt Freda died this week. She was 91. Freda was a classy lady who loved books, the arts, and her beloved Ireland. She lived a full life, with multiple joys and plenty of sorrows. She weathered her challenges with grace and always spoke lovingly of her children, her dear grandchildren, and her great-grandchildren. She always enjoyed a good story, which was a lucky thing, being married to my Uncle Ernie who was a great story teller. Now they can enjoy stories together in heaven.

It's an odd thing, being one of the youngest of the cousins generation and, as the years march on, gradually losing aunts, uncles, and my wonderful, dear father. I guess I always thought they'd be around forever, though, of course, I knew they wouldn't. Now we younguns' get to be the grown-ups.

Thanks to my ancestors for leading the way and making a strong, clear path for me to follow.

Bathroom Quilt

I was asked to make a quilt to hang in the bathroom at church. I thought it was such a funny request! It made me giggle. I poked along, trying to find the perfect pattern, even made a whole wall hanging that ended up being way too big for the spot. I finally came up with this idea and had it done in a day and a half.

I'm spending the Labor Day weekend working on UFOs. I am having so much fun getting them completed! I'm actually glad I dawdled on some of these, because in the meantime I learned how to do free motion quilting. It has taken years of practice to get to this point of feeling somewhat satisfied with my machine quilting results. Now I'm so glad I persisted in practicing it.

Happy Anniversary to Me!

Today is my husband's and my 31st wedding anniversary. Neither of us can figure out how we got to be this old! When hubby came home from work, I met him at the front door with a big hug and said "Happy Anniversary!!" He said "Is it today??" So I guess I'm not getting a dozen roses. Poor guy... I shouldn't make him sound like the typical TV husband who can't remember an anniversary. He does know when it is. He just thought that today's date was the 23rd and that our anniv is tomorrow. Oops.

We don't usually make a big deal of anniversaries, anyway. I made a new recipe for supper, and I sat and chatted with him while he ate. I must confess that I had miscalculated on the time, and dinner was ready about 20 min. before hubby came home, so the kids and I sat down and ate without him! I guess between the two of us we just don't know how to throw a big party!

We're both very happy, and our great marriage is an on-going celebration, so who needs a party?

Mother Nature is giving us a bit of excitement tonight - rain, thunder, hail in some areas, and tornadoes just south of us. The people at the State Fair are getting soaked!

Fun Day of Quilting

I spent the day finishing some UFOs. I had a good machine quilting session! That made me happy. Sometimes quilting is a real struggle. Today it went well, and I was pleased with the results. I have been concentrating on finishing UFOs which can be boring, but it feels good to get them done.



Here's my funky wall hanging. It was just a sample, technique piece in a class taught by Shelly Stokes. I liked it, so I added beads and tabs and hung it on my wall. This one follows Tonya's (Lazy Gal Quilting) willingness to break the rule about "always squaring up" your quilts. It's a little wonky and would be even more so if I hadn't shortened one of the tabs. I guess I'm still hesitant to be a total non-conformist. But I do admire Tonya's free spirit and thank her for being an inspiration!

A Blue and Gold Day

It's a beautiful day here. I never knew that expression, a blue and gold day, until I met my pen pal from Australia. After she explained it, I began noticing it in books. It's a perfect description for fantastic-weather days.

I have been on a bit of a quilting binge. I became motivated when I realized that my days of freedom are numbered. I go back to work for the school year on August 23! I never get as much done during my time off as I imagine I could or should be able to. With endless free days extending far into the future, one doesn't think that rushing around is in order. Now, with only 2 and 1/2 days left, I am scrambling.

My favorite place to donate quilts is here: Wrap-a-Smile. Quilts go with Rotary teams and are given to kids who undergo cleft lip/cleft palate surgery. My dad was a faithful Rotarian, and I have great respect for Rotary. I donate to this project in memory of my dad. You can read about Wrap-a-Smile here:
www.wellsrotary.org
Click on the Wrap a Smile tab. This burgeoning quilt program was started by one humble quilter who had a great idea. It grew so quickly that they have donated over 5,000 quilts to kids around the world. How great is that?!

Have a wonderful day, everyone. Do something nice for another person today, and then do something nice for yourself.

I am Schindler's List

I found out what movie I am: Schindler's List!

What Classic Movie Are You?
personality tests by similarminds.com

I won a ribbon!

I entered a couple of my quilts in the county fair. Both won ribbons! Look at this one, made using letters ala Tonya style.. 2nd place! Thanks for the inspiration, Tonya. It's a small, local fair but I'm excited about winning something the first time I dared to enter a judged competition.

The other quilt was a group effort. It was made in a round robin and was a Lotto. I was the lucky winner of the 4th place winning quilt! That's my lovely daughter pointing to the winner.

Blogging Mysteries

I'm still learning about this blogging stuff. I feel so foolish sometimes. How do people make those lists of other blogs that are actually links to their sites?

Tonya's Alphabet

This is where I am learning to make pieced alphabets:

http://quiltville.com/tonya/alphabet1.shtml

Tonya does clever and fun quilts using her letters. Take a peek at her quilts and then give it a try. You'll be hooked!

Creating Quilts

Lately I have played around with new ideas. I used the very fun pieced letters from Tonya's web site. I'll list the address from her site soon. It's not currently at my finger tips.

I made this house block which is a pattern called Wonky Houses by Carol Morrissey. I liked the house so much, I decided to make it into a wall hanging. Tonya's letters were the perfect addition, I thought. I still need practice on them, but they were loads of fun to play with. What do you think?? My husband and daughter looked at it somewhat askance. I'm still going to hang it up in my house, though. I love it!

The next thing I made is a whale fashioned after Tlingit Indian art. I'm not fond of doing applique work the "real" way, so I follow my own rules. This is my Tlingit-inspired whale:


All that creativity wore me out. Now I lay me down to sleep! G'night, all.

My New Great-Niece

My new great-niece was born on Friday, May 26! Isn't she adorable??? Here she is sleeping peacefully on her great-grandma's lap. She was so nice to arrive just in time to meet her auntie who was only briefly in town. And I, her great-auntie, drove three hours just to meet her. She made it worth the trip!

I made her a simple little quilt which her mommy loves. I feel happy when my quilts are enjoyed. I hope to get a picture of little Sweetie with the quilt I gave her. Stay tuned.