It's almost Halloween

Well, it's almost Halloween and the end of October.. Thought I'd share a wall hanging I did last year for the season.. Boy the year has gone by so quick. I can't believe it's only two months until Christmas from today and I have no clue as what to get anyone.

I've been so lazy the last couple weeks. I didn't work on anything after the pillow and started feeling guilty. I pinned all the inner sashing to the rows and then sewed them on. Then they sat on my table until this last weekend when I pressed the sashing and pinned the rows together two at a time so I have three sets to sew. I finally folded the dark and white cloths from last weekends wash. Told you I was feeling lazy.

I was thinking I might work on them after dinner tonight. Once the row sets are stitched then I need to stitch the three sets together and then decide what I'll do for the next border. I thought I might continue with the green strip with the lavender corners for the outside border. Then maybe a lavender border. Still not sure if that will be all or not. Because of the block designs you really can't put any print border. It would really take away the inner design.

Getting that wild hair again, I think to finish it off I'll have to do some stitching on the block itself to hold it in place besides the stitching at the sashing edge. Otherwise when my sister washes it, it will all pull and become distorted. Putting the quilt together is a lot of work but nothing compaired to cross stitching 30 blocks. I think she'd be a little ticked if it came apart in the wash. This part will take a little while. Maybe a couple weekends. That way I will have plenty of light to see the printed lines.

well maybe next time I'll have more pictures to show of the quilt and my running husband and dog...

Another memory project.

Well this has not been a good summer for some of my computer friends. 3 months ago we lost Lucy, who just turned 10, to what they think was a heart attack. Very sad and heart wrenching for her owner, Silas (her canine brother) and family. Picture in an earlier post.

Then we have Gretchen, who was 13. She had cancer and it was really rough on her and even rougher for my friend. Seeing her suffer just trying to walk with out falling was getting more and more difficult. There wasn't much else they could do so after a long and lengthy discussion, they decide to have the Vet come to the house and give the shot there. Like humans not wanting to die in a sterile hospital, it's probably the same for for our pets. They know about going to the doctors and it isn't always pleasant so by having the Vet come to the house she would be a little more relaxed and would be around her mom & dad and her canine brother. To me it had to have been the hardest decision they would ever make and once done hold your baby while she closed her eyes and took her last breath .

I remembered Lynn talking about Gretchen getting up on the bed and resting next to her while she read so I thought a pillow would be the right gift. After roaming through the local quilt show the 2nd, I found a couple pieces of doggie fabric that I thought would work just right.

It took me a couple days to put it together and I sent it out the 15. Living on the opposite coast they said ti would take a week to reach her. I was really surprised last night when I read she got it yesterday and she loved it.

Gretchen's canine brother, Wolfgang (don't you just love that name for a Doberman) was having his 3rd birthday this Saturday so my package arrived just in time. I knew he loved stuffed animals so I found this really cute hedgehog to include in the box. It rattles, squeaks and makes a farting sound.... what's funny about that is he's deaf and can't hear but can feel the little vibration the toy makes.. She says he gets really goofy when playing with the toys because since he can't hear the noise doesn't know what they are laughing at so he just keeps going.

I was really glad to hear she liked my gift and so did Wolfgang. I really have loved making the gifts for both friends but no more... they make me so sad because that's all I can do...

Sisters blocks continued...

Well I was back at my sister's quilt again this weekend. I've had a couple small projects and tired body the last couple weekends so haven't done anything.

I decided instead of making one long strip pieced together that I'd make corner blocks. She had said she liked pale green or lavender and the green was all we could find that really matched, so that's what will seperate all the blocks. Then yesterday I went out and found pale lavendar, really the bolt end said it was orcid. but I took a strip with me to make sure they were the same pale colors and the worked together. I may even put a small border around the outside to sort of break up the green.

Now that I have the strips all cut, I need to cut them into block size. I think that takes the longest...the prep time. Sewing the strips together and then onto the blocks is quick. Well if it was a quick process, more people would be doing it.

next picture will be the rows with the new sashings...

Surviving Pansies

Can you believe it but these were transplanted from a flower box we inherited when we bought the house. They left two planter boxes on the front porch and we moved them to the back yard. At the end of the first summer these pitiful little pansies showed up amongst the few weeds. It was nice to see them florish so I just left them. Ethan pulled the weeds so it was just a few pansies in this lonely box. A little bunch has bloomed each summer.

Then this summer we decided to use the box for our tomatos so Ben transplanted them to the front yard next to my little carnation plants, which by the way have a couple flowers on all three plants. There were only 3 or 4 flowers and they looked pretty pathetic the first few weeks. Of course it started to get warm so the watering dried up pretty fast. I'm really weird because I look at my plants every morning when I go to work. Mainly because I'm so amazed that they are still alive and florishing. Imagine my amazement when what seemed like overnight they just went wild and there were twice as many flowers.. it wasn't long before this little bunch grew into what you see in the picture.

Here it is the 3rd of October and they are so full and thriving.. Guess they were a lot hardier than I thought. It will be really interesting to see if they come back next year after a long winter.

My Sister's blocks

Okay, I said I was starting a new project so here it is. If you click on the picture, it gets bigger and you can see it better.

Early in the spring my sister, who lives in Las Vegs asked if she finished cross stitching some blocks a friend gave her would I quilt them. As long as she wasn't in a hurry, because I might have to set it aside for a Christmas project, then sure. She even said she would pay for the addition fabric.. again a plus.

So last week I received the package. It was 30 17" plus squares. I used my EQ6 program to come up with what a 5 by 6 block quilt would look like. What was nice is that they had the printing still imprinted so it was easy to cut down to a uniform size....16 1/4. This took me a couple nights of trimming to get them all cut down.

The next step was to cut the strips for the sashing. She had said she would like pale green or lavender but what ever color I thought would work. Took both kids with me to the quilt shop and while Cassie and I were looking at the greens and purples, Ethan walks up with this one and it worked great.

So I cut strips, then the sashings. Then began to sew the sashings on. Then once I got the sashings sewn on then I started sewing the blocks together . Once you have the strips cut, it doesn't really take any time at all to start the assembly. Goes by rather quickly.

By the time I stopped Sunday night, I had all the rows sewn together and the size measured for the strips in between. I'll sew several on then start sewing the rows together. this will take a little bit more time because I'll want to make sure they line up okay.

I'll probably have to put off the next step for a few days...have a large basket of cloths to fold and supposedly that type stuff is suppose to come first... more later.

Memories

One of my Flicker friends lost her 10 yr old Dobie one day in June. After an afternoon of play, she just lay down and took her last breath being held by someone who loved her dearly. She was completely devastated, Lucy's death hit her hard and her 6 year old male, Silas who was lost without her too.

It took me a bit to finally decide what I wanted to do in memory of Lucy. After collecting pictures, the week before Labor Day I printed out a bunch that I thought went together to make ready to quilt.


I worked over Labor day weekend on cutting down to size, and putting the black borders on all the pictures. I had the puppies and paw print in my stash. so what I bought to go with this was the bright pink, Lucy's favorite color and the fuzzy backing. I decided I didn't want it to be really heavy with batting and all the stitching.

Once I finish a quilt I have to make a label. I don't consider my quilts done until until the label is complete. I usually labor over this for days to make it just right. This one took me all Saturday. Leaving it alone for a while then coming back to work more. I thought there was something missing so Ben read it and helped fix a couple of the last lines. I thought it turned out just perfect. Off to the left is what it actually looked like but below is what it say. I was pretty proud of how it turned out so I thought I'd include the real thing.

Memories of Lucy
June 11, 2000 – July 5, 2010

When you brought her home she was just a wee thing
With floppy black ears that flew like wings.
She romped and she rolled, making best friends from the start
She found a small spot way deep in your heart.
You might think it a handicap running on three
But not this ol’ girl, she would dance with glee.
They would whine and bark, making plenty of noise
She would tease poor Silas by taking his toys.
Just like her siblings, she had a poor heart
She was taken too soon, not yet ready to part.
She lives on in our hearts at ease
With oh so many lasting memories.
We’ll miss Sweet Beans and her love of all pink
You’ll see her again before you can blink.

Made with love by Shannon Coutant
Eugene, Oregon
September 2010

I sent it out Tuesday and it arrived today. I kept checking to see if it arrived and then it drove me crazy until I say her comments. I even sent Silas a little stuffed bunny, he loves his animals. She put a picture up of him opening his package and then of one with him holding his new toy in his mouth. the look on his face was great. It was funny because she thanked me for the gift but couldn't do much more..

I did forget to put my flicker name so she wasn't really sure who had given it to her, so after I left that info she left another message. she said she had tears after reading the card, and then after reading the label she lost it. I figured I'd done my job well if it made her speechless.

I took it into work to show it off and I guess the real shocker to everyone was, I've never met this person or her dogs. Sometimes you just have to go a little further to make someone happy and this was one of those times.

Now I have a new project...my sister sent me 30 cross stitch blocks.. that's another entry...

I finally finished the Barn Yard friends a few weeks ago. I had finished the center but decided I needed to get the garage done so spent the summer doing exactly that. I think I started working on it just after my birthday putting the extra borders, then sandwiched it together. the machine quilting I did over a weekend because it was brighter than at night.

I have several other tops to finish now too. It was nice to get back to quilting. I was coming up to my quilt room after dinner, sitting down on the loveseat and falling asleep before the show I was watching was half over. Was really making me a little ticked at myself. I really felt good when this one was done. Oh, I should have takend a picture of the back too. It's a dark green with chicken wire and little fat white & black chickens that have spots. maybe later. Just excited it was finally done.