We have a wedding to plan in our family! On Christmas day, our youngest son Loren asked Margaret to marry him , and we couldn't be happier!!!
It was a relaxing day today at our house. We made muffins for breakfast, lounged around for the morning, then returned some presents that didn't fit. Can't really say we did any work today, just hung out. It was great! Everybody needs a day like this every so often. Tomorrow - back to work.
Wishing you a great week!
I usually create quilts that are more traditional in nature. I prefer muted tones with soft, "muddy" blends. But the book Convergence Quilts by Ricky Tims caught my eye, so I bought myself a Christmas present. I had to give it a try!
This is called "Blue Lily." The colors here aren't true. The green is more of a lime green, and the lily needs some leaves that will drape over the border and fill in like a day lily. 
The lily is one that grows in front of our fence in the side yard. I shot the photo last summer, tweaked the colors and printed it on fabric. I kinda like how the experiment turned out! It's not a large quilt, but I think I will like it when it's done!
Changing the subject: OK, God is entitled to change His mind. But I'm not very happy with it right now. We went from a severe snow storm last week, and today all the snow is disappearing in the blink of an eye. It's 53 degrees outside, raining, thundering, and very heavy fog. Flood warnings are everywhere! Glad I don't live near a mountain or I might get washed away! Cole Creek is rising... that's bad enough!
Here is the quilt I have been working on for several months, on and off. It's called "Simply Squarific," and it's for Loren and Margaret for Christmas, to perfectly fit their FULL-size bed. Oops. They just went out and bought a KING-size bed. Somebody needs a kick in the rumpus when they get here!
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| Merry Christmas Loren and Margaret! "Simply Squarific" |
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| Close-up of the quilting design |
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| See how nicely it fits on a FULL-size bed? |
The quilt was made with mostly batik fabrics, plus some others tossed in to add color and fill. Sure do hope they like it!!!
I asked Margaret late last summer what her favorite color was and she said BLUE. Not knowing what shade of blue she prefers, I mixed them up. Toss in some gold and browns to add that "manly" element and there you are! It actually took me longer to quilt this than it did to sew the top together. Very easy, straight piecing for a quick quilt. It's also the largest quilt I have done on my new Pfaff Grand Quilter. I think I'm getting the hang of it!
When you make someone a quilt for their full-size bed...
To give to them for a holiday gift...
And they go out without your knowledge...
And buy a King size bed?
Therein lies the question I am pondering this night.
I will post a photo of the quilt tomorrow after the recipients are safely on the road to our house (and away from their computer).
HEAVY SIGH. I need to go sleep.
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Like a little snowman, given to you by a second grader |
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Or a snowman sitting on your mantle |
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Or a snowman sitting on a box of candy |
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Or a little car hanging on your tree |
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Or searching and searching only to find... |
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Your favorite mouse under the packages |
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Or an unexpected bouquet of flowers |
It's the little things that often mean the most
and put a huge smile on your face.
Thank you for the little things.
Today marks the Winter Solstice. The Winter Solstice marks the reversal of the gradually lengthening nights and shortening days. I wish my camera was completely able to share all the senses with you of what we are experiencing in Michigan right now. The wind is gusting and blowing the snow horizontally. This photo was taken when the wind died down for a few seconds. Ten seconds after this shot, it kicked in again and you couldn't see the trees in the background. Here, you are looking at my deck and back yard. The wind is howling!
Today also marks what would have been my mom's 82nd birthday. 
Here's a photo of my mom with her brother, Raymond at his place in Florida. A much warmer day when this was taken!
I've had two friends lose their mothers in the past few weeks. It's never easy, whether it is after a long illness or very suddenly. Most days I get by alright, but a day doesn't go by that I don't think of mom in some way. I was out shopping for the last time before Christmas yesterday, and I heard someone whistling along to a Christmas carol. My mom was a regular whistler. Not just any kind of whistle, but a warble with lots of vibrato. That's what I heard in the store yesterday. It brought back so many memories, and a tear.
Memories are good. Share them with others, and write them down. The process is very healing.
Wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukkah. I hope you make lots of great memories this holiday!
A memory is what is left when something happens and does not completely unhappen. ~Edward de Bono
Over the next week I am going to focus some of my blogging time on fine-tuning my blog list (right side of my blog). My list has over 100 blogs on it that I read through my Google Reader. Some of these blogs that are listed are rarely updated and will be removed. I am also ashamed that I don't add to the list when I have regular readers of my blog. Each time you add a comment to my blog, I visit YOUR blog if it is new to me. When I read your blog a few times, I SHOULD be adding it to my own list. If I haven't done that, please accept my apology and know that I will be doing so soon.
Consider this kind of like Spring Cleaning. It's what should be done regularly, but often gets forgotten or pushed aside in the hustle and bustle of life.
I'd also like to add a request... Please go visit the blog Dear Baby Jane, and if you feel so moved, please lend her your support. As regular bloggers, we hope to give our readers help and assistance, lots of good photos to look at, and some good reading. It's terrible when bloggers get attacked.
I'm on my way out to shovel a foot of snow. Until later, stay warm!
Caron
We went to a Christmas program last night that was put on by Jacob and Samantha's school (really cool day care center). It was in an auditorium with a stage, and the kids did such a good job! Sammy was even on stage, being held by one of her "teachers" doing Jingle Bells. The toddlers all had bells and rattles, which they loved shaking.
Jacob was on with the Pre-Kindergartners, front and center. He knew just what to do, and followed directions to a T. That's our boy!!! Singing "The Mitten Song", Jake's in the front row, black mittens right in the middle.
Sammy sat with us when she wasn't on stage being adorable... either with Grandpa or with Daddy. This will be a really fun Christmas!
Is Christmas sneaking up on you this year? It seems like just yesterday that it was Thanksgiving, and I was starting to think about the next holiday. Then POOF! Here it is, slightly over one week away. Where has the time gone?
I love this little bear. Dean got him for me years ago, and it's one of my favorite Christmasy things to get out each year. Don't you just want to cuddle on him?
What a relaxing day! We went to the early service at church this morning, then went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. We spent a good part of the afternoon putting up our tree and decorations, which was fun. Dean is making something for dinner that is fabulously yummy (judging by the fragrance wafting in from the kitchen). I love it when he cooks! He's a great cook!
Tonight, we're going back to church for a concert by Wendel Werner. Wendel is an awesome pianist from the Tennessee area. He plays at our church just about every time he is out on tour. If he comes to your area, I highly recommend him! He's so talented, funny, spiritual, and has a great voice. He was named "Composer of the Year" by the Tennessee Piano Teachers Association, and has several CD's out. You can find them on his website. They make great gifts!!!
I hope your day has been as much fun as mine!
Have a hoot this week!
Caron (and Hootie)
The wind is blowing like crazy outside, the snow is flying horizontally, but we had hot chilli, french bread and a fire in the fireplace. The only thing warmer would be a nice quilt to snuggle under.
Luckily, we have lots of those, including these two quilts. Still working on quilting the one on the left, but the only thing the one on the right needs is a binding. Not today.
Maybe tomorrow, after we put our Christmas tree up. We're usually slow about that.
Have a happy Sunday!
If you have been surfing other blogs for awhile, you have probably seen many photos of things that inspire you. It might be a photo of a landscape or sunset. It might be a single tree, a car, or even an animal. It could be a close-up of something fascinating, such as someone's intricate quilting stitches. It could be embroidery, a quilt from a quilt show, or a fabric that you'd like to find. How do you keep track of all these ideas?
I keep a folder on my computer called "Inspirational." When I am surfing and see something that makes me think, or that knocks my socks off, or that gives me an idea for something ELSE, I right click it and save it to my folder. I can go back to the folder at a later time and look at all these photos and instantly be inspired.
Before the advent of the Internet and blogging, I did something similar. It was a folder with scraps of paper in it, torn from magazines and newspapers. I clipped everything that grabbed my attention and tucked it into the folder. My Inspirational folder on my PC works the same way.
NOW, with that being said, there is something called COPYRIGHT, and I am very serious about not stealing other people's creative work. In the 80's when I had written my first book (America's Pictorial Quilts) someone took a whole chapter from the book and had it published in a magazine with their name on it. Guess who acted quickly on that issue? So don't violate copyright. At all. It's ok to get inspired by someone else's work, but don't copy it.
Here is a screen print from my opened Inspirational folder: 
In this peek at my folder, you can see some full shots of quilts. You can also see close-ups. There is a Tiffany postal stamp, a landscape (bottom left corner), and the painting called "July: Specimen of a Portrait" by Jacques-Joseph Tissot, a French painter from the 1800's. I love his use of sunlight!
If you are a quilter, your quilt might be included in my folder. Some of these photos inspire me for their color choices, like the quilt Boardwalk. The quilt Northwind grabs me for the way the colors are blended together. Top row, center is amygarden, a fabulous applique quilt. And then there are the photos of what I consider to be the best of quilting designs (top left corner and the photo called "quilting." So you see, there are reasons why I want to save these photos. They get my creative juices flowing much in the same way a new quilt book does.
How do you get inspired? What excites you?
Here are four websites that always inspire me:
If you've been following my blog, you know how much I love owls. I've been fascinated with them since I was a little girl and heard my first owl. We lived in a heavily wooded area on the river, and we had owls that could be heard quite frequently.
I don't have a lot of them, but I have several owl knick knacks around my house. Two glass owls that my mom gave me long ago, a brass owl paperweight on my desk at work, and various other little owl things.
I've been participating in a secret pal monthly gift exchange this year that is drawing to a close this month. The dear person who has my name has sent me something owlish every month! I don't know how she has found so many things, but I'm thrilled that she's paid such close attention to my attraction to owls. I can't wait to find out whoooooo you are!!!
Do you have something special that you collect? Share it with my readers and post a comment!
Last week I posted about my struggle with my laptop computer, and needing the WiFi fixed. I ended up having to send it to HP for repairs. HP is in Tennessee, and I sent it on Thursday. Last week. They paid for shipping.
Yesterday morning, I checked my email at work and there was an email from HP telling me that my laptop had been shipped and would be delivered that day... which was Monday. MONDAY! I knew that I would need to sign for it when it was delivered by FedEx, and that there would be nobody home to sign. What to do?
Around lunchtime, I was (at work) walking by the front desk and the FedEx guy comes in with a delivery. So I thought, no harm in asking! "Hey FedEx guy! I'm supposed to get a special delivery today at home, but there's nobody there to sign for it!"
"Where do you live?" the FedEx guy asked.
"Brookside Drive," I said.
"Hmmmmm, I was just over that way. I'll go check my truck, you go get some ID and I'll meet you here."
Two minutes later, I was holding the box with my FIXED laptop in it. FIXED!!! And they didn't even return the laptop to factory condition! A new system board, a new fan, new power cord, new cable, pickup and delivery, all from Thursday to Monday. WOW! I am impressed!
Don't ever hesitate to get a HP. They were great to work with!
Anyone interested in participating in an “around the world” progressive quilt?
I’m just in the pondering stage of this… I was thinking it would be fun to have a quilt that is made by quilters all around the world. Here are my thoughts so far:
In order for this to work, I need quilters from EVERY continent to respond with their interest and ideas.
Please leave your thoughts in the comment section below, and if you would like to participate, send me an email with your full mailing address.
Please include the continent you are from in your response!
I’ve been working on hand quilting this quilt. It’s been relaxing evening work while watching to (more like listening to) the television. I love hand quilting. It’s a good opportunity to get “back to the basics” and work on perfecting that tiny, regular stitch that I love so much. This quilt is coming right along, and I’m happy with it thus far. I’m not sure how I want to quilt the borders yet. Any ideas? Please share! The border ends about two inches from the bottom of the yellow bows, so there’s not a lot there to play with.
During the day on my week-long vacation I’ve been in the basement working on my machine quilting. I’ve only been machine quilting since July, and there is a large learning curve. My mom was a seamstress, and when she was teaching me how to sew she said over and over “Don’t watch the needle!” I’ve always followed that logic, but it doesn’t work when machine quilting. I’m learning how to follow a chalk lined pattern, as well as how to free-form quilt. It’s not as easy as it looks. I use a Pfaff Hobby Grand Quilter which I love for piecing. On the frame, I am still getting used to her (Millie is her name).
If you look at the photo (right), you are looking at the needle area as I see it from sitting on a bar stool. I have made the chalk lines in the beige square darker so you can see them. See the two melons in the top part of the square? Now look at the needle shank area. Doing the left melon is difficult going backwards because of that huge glob of metal that blocks my vision. How do you get around that? Is there a smaller shank that can be used so you can see more of the fabric?
I’m doing the feathers/daisies (or whatever you want to call them) in the corner pretty much freestyle. I’m learning, but it’s hard to get each one to look identical. As you can clearly see here. I’d like them to look the same size. I am using an 80/20 batting so that when the quilt is washed, it will pucker up. I love that look. Do you think the difference in the quilting on the corners will be as obvious when it’s washed? I need some feedback please, friends.
I’ve been visiting the Sharon Schamber website and looking at her free videos. She has a larger website with other more explicit instruction, but it requires payment of a fee. I think she’s smart to do that!!! I could really benefit from some quality instruction but don’t often get to big quilt shows where instructors teach these kinds of classes. If you’ve participated as a payer on her website, I’d love some feedback from that as well. I need to be able to justify spending money right now with this economy the way it is. I know you feel the pinch as well. If you know of another source for good machine quilting instruction, I’d love it if you’d share that as well.
Off to the basement. Hello, Millie. Play nicely!
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| H-1 Peek-a-Boo |
I started this quilt on Dec. 26th, 2007, so I am now at just over 2 blocks per week. Not too bad! I’ve enjoyed working on the quilt because it has offered me several challenges:
There have been times when I’ve actually screamed when a block won’t cooperate with me. I’ve ripped a few apart and started over, and one of the corners I have given up on for awhile, as after two tries, it still comes out way too big. I’ll get back to it after a little more practice. I keep looking at it, talking to it, and trying to determine just what it needs to be happy.
Sometimes things work just fine. They take little effort, and they just seem to come together. Other times, they take a lot of patience; more patience than you think you have. They sometimes require you to look at the situation differently, come up with several possibilities and determine the best solution for the problem. Sometimes in your relationship/quilting you just need to sit quietly and meditate. Other times, you need to get physical and use some energy. (Seriously, have you ever wrestled a quilt? I have!) I’m finding my Dear Sammy Jane quilt to fit all of the above.
The WiFi on my laptop is still not working. I’ve spent way too much time trying to fix it. HP said they’d take care of it for me, free of charge, but I need to ship the computer to them. It means that they will replace the WiFi unit, REFORMAT the computer back to factory condition, and send it back to me. I don’t know about you, but I’m never happy when someone reformats my computer. All the goodies I have put on it go bye-bye. All the settings I’ve labored over go kaput. It means reinstalling software like my Dear Jane program, among others. Nope, I don’t like it one bit.
So, being the smart person I thought I was, I said to myself, “Why couldn’t I just go buy an external WiFi card myself and be in business without all that reformatting stuff?” So I bought one. Spent two hours trying to get it to work. Nope. It didn’t. So I boxed up the laptop in the box that HP sent me, and it is now in the hands of FedEX. I am hoping that Best Buy will refund my purchase when I take the external WiFi back. I am worrying about my laptop being out of my possession. Please pray for me and my baby! And stay tuned… I’ll be sure to keep you posted.
I think I need to go do some hand quilting. It is the only thing that really relaxes me.
A glass of wine might help, too.
Hope your computing day is going better than mine!
Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. It's not like I didn't want to... my laptop has been on the fritz and the WiFi won't connect to anything. Looks like I have to mail it to HP, which I definately DON'T want to do, especially this time of year. Geesh! And, of course, it crashed the day my 11 day vacation began. Geesh again! Now I am relegated to sharing Dean's computer, and not wanting to be a "puter hog," I try to stay clear of it when he's home from work.
We had the family over
for dinner at our house on Thanksgiving. It was a fun day, lots of laughter and cuddling. Grandson Jacob loves playing with his Uncle Loren (my youngest son), and Samantha was in a wonderfully playful mood. It's hard to believe she's old enough to crawl and pull herself up to stand at the furniture! 10 months old already. Time sure flies!
We woke up on December 1st to our first major snowstorm of the winter. It was very pretty, and all the area schools were closed, giving teachers, children and bus drivers an extra vacation day to add on to the Thanksgiving break. I love it when the snow clings to the trees! This morning when I got up, it looked like a sepia-tone photograph out my back window.
Awhile ago, I showed you this quilt in its early stage. Yesterday, it crawled onto my quilt frame, and today I'll be working with Millie to begin the quilting process. Here's Millie's photo with her hugging the new quilt, officially titled "Simply Squarific." It is a full-size quilt, approx. 84 by 96 inches.
I announced a Thanksgiving giveaway, and have selected a winner by 
random number generator.
The winner is... Nihal of Istanbul! Her blog isn't a quilt blog, but it is extremely interesting, and I'm happy to send her my book "Contemporary Quilts From Traditional Designs." Nihal, please contact me so I can get your mailing address.
Now, I'm off to shower and go play with Millie. Have a wonderful day!
