Brrr! It's cold.

I was really liking the 60 degree weather we were having. 60 degrees has temporarily been replaced by the 20s. We did have some rain first and then the temps fell. We had a few snow flurries but no accumulation. Snow is no longer a novelty. Our temps are supposed to be back in the 50s early in the week.

Update: For those checking on my DDIL--she made it to the 34 week milestone. Yay! The baby weighs over 5 pounds now. Yay! She will remain in the hospital until delivery. Poor DDIL. The plan is -- wait and see what happens. Sounds like pregnancy, right?

I was waiting for a black ink cartridge to come in (thank you, DS#1) so I could print the paper foundations for the ribbon border for the next border on the Star BOM. While waiting I felt the urge to do some string quilting. I had pulled some strings and grouped colors. To make a long story short I got sixteen made and sewed them together into a C.A.S.A. quilt top. I got the backing fabric from our quilt room at Kraz-z Quilters this past Wednesday along with some other fabric. I quickly sewed up another little C.A.S.A. quilt with a novelty print for the center square and some coordinating borders. So now it is time to do some machine quilting and I will post pictures soon.

The ink cartridge came in yesterday so now it is time to switch gears and thread color and piece some ribbon border. Yay!

Oh, I almost forgot. I found a neat blog with lots of links to tutorials. Please check it out. Who can resist free? Freebies for Crafters is great.


Blessings,

Retreat & Progress I made on Star BOM

We had a good time. There were a total of seven.  I'm sorry I didn't think to get someone to take a group picture. Again LOTS of food. I told the ladies--please rethink the amount of food you bring next time. We ate like queens.
Yes, Patsy, there is always lots of talking, too! We call it fellowship. But lots of sewing, too. LOL

I got all the sashing strips, blocks, and setting triangles sewn together and started sewing inner borders before time to go.  I did some sewing and unsewing. LOL It helps to read the instructions correctly. Late night sewing is not good when there are detailed instructions. LOL That's DH holding the quilt top. I will sew the red top and bottom inner border on hopefully tonight and then cut the other inner border that is the same color as the background in the blocks. Then I will start working on the ribbon border as I have time.

Blessings,

Retreat!

Yes, I am going on retreat again! I wasn't quite sure if this was going to work with DDIL in the hospital but I won't be far away. She is in her 32nd week. We went to see her last Wednesday evening and took a crockpot of food for her to have some homemade eats.
I will be working on the Star BOM. Yes, it has become a UFO. I have all my blocks done and I am smack dab in the middle of making sashing. I hope to get a lot done on it. I had to re-read the instructions. It doesn't seem possible that a year has passed. Margo, I think I may have figured out the ribbon border paper piecing. I will let you know; if I get that far and I so hope that I do.

I will post pictures when I get back.

Happy quilting and blessings,

Has the "Bag" Bug Bitten You?

I've made a few bags and I've been checking out some of the sites online with patterns for bags and totes. I've found one that is the "mother" bag place called DIY Bag Lover. It has many links to many bags of all kinds. It will be listed under Tutorials in my sidebar for your future reference. Enjoy.

Blessings,

Aprons

I hadn't done any laundry since before the "deep freeze" came for a visit. It has warmed up nicely. We have temps near 60. So yesterday I washed and hung out. And washed and hung out. Most of the time the clothes this time of year don't get completely dry so I hang them in the house to finish drying and drape towels over chairs. Then the next morning I fold and put away.

I saw an apron in February/March 2010 issue of Quilts recently. It is a clothespin apron. I think it is a brillant idea. It got me thinking. I had an old apron and I modified it and now I have a clothespin apron. It really worked well today.

The apron is reversible. I simply turned up one side and stitched to the sides, down the center, and a little across the top in the center and sides to form pockets.

My DD wanted an apron like I have that I use all the time. Mine was made and given to me by DH's sister many years ago. The fabric is homespun and has gotten so thin after much use. So I laid mine out and traced around it. I sewed up a trial. Not too bad.

The one on the left is my old one and on the right is my trial. For some strange reason I thought I needed to add a seam allowance around the straps so it needed tweaking. I put the pocket on the left for my sister--she's a lefty.

Tweaked it and ta-da--I hope DD likes it.

Now I need to make me a new one! I hadn't cut bias binding recently so I am getting a lot of practice with the bias binding that goes around the apron.

Blessings,

Happy 2010 and Cold is on the way

And what a cold 2010 it is starting out to be. And yes some of you are already experiencing the cold. Ours is to get here Wednesday night. We are forecast for night time temps to drop into the teens and late Friday night early Saturday morning possibly in the single digits. This is the first time since 1997 for temps like this. I don't remember that weather-- just as well : ). We ran errands today to get ready. Bought covers for our outdoor faucets, made ready the barn with heat lamps and closed up openings(we've got a sow that is due to farrow her litter soon) and groceries and dog food (don't want to run out).  I've done the laundry. We'll put a pot of soup on and make a pan of cornbread. Now if there aren't any power outages I can quilt to my heart's content.

By the way, would someone please tell the global warming people that evidently global warming has taken a vacation?

Oh another by the way, we STILL have patches of snow in some areas on the sides of the road. Never in my life have I seen this in Texas. Again, would someone please inform the global warming people? 

Oh, for those of you checking on my DIL--she is still doing well. Week 31 starts tomorrow. Thank you for your prayers.

Blessings,

Snow gone : (

The snow fell yesterday until around 6pm and then during the night it rained and when we woke up that snow was gone and only the Christmas Eve snow drifts remained. After reaching almost 60 degrees today, the snow is gone except for small amounts on the sides of the road that don't see the sun. I guess back to normal until the next surprise.

Blessings,

More Snow!

The snow didn't entirely melt before it started snowing again today. I took this picture Monday afternoon to show how the snow was still on the ground. There are still big snow drifts along the sides of the roads. We cannot remember EVER seeing snow like this in our part of Texas.

Then today around noon it started snowing again! Okay, this is weird.

I made a snowman ornament for our tree this year. Very fitting don't you think?

Sissy (also known as "Little Doggie") enjoyed the sunshine coming in the window Sunday and Monday.

And she got a coat recently custom made by a lady I know. Sorry to wake you, Sissy.

I've been sewing on an apron and will post a picture soon.

Blessings,

Merry Christmas!

I wish you the very merriest of Christmases. A safe and healthy one as well.

We are having a WHITE one! Yes, we had snow. Boy, did we ever. Not so many inches as when it was falling but it was blowing. We had almost white out conditions, folks. In TEXAS! I don't live in Amarillo or anywhere near there. We woke up to rain then it changed to snow around 11am Christmas Eve morning and kept falling all day and stopped between 5:30 and 6pm.

The flakes were small. We have friends that live about 30 miles north of here and they have huge snow drifts. Ours are a foot and a half at best. The roads became covered in snow late in the day.

This photo was taken around noon yesterday.

This photo was taken around 5pm. I took both from inside the house from our dining room window looking southeast.

We called off our family Christmas gathering last night. DD had more snow than we did. She lives west of us and they got more snow out that direction.

DDIL is still doing good. The baby weighs a little over 3 pounds now. We are in week 29 now. Thank you for your prayers.

We traveled to visit our parents and family for a family gathering on the 19th. We took DGS Mason with us. And of course Sissy went, too. DD and her family didn't get to come. DGD Aimee woke up throwing up. Ewww. DS#1 got his okay from his doctor to drive that distance and he was overjoyed. He is doing well after his back surgery.

Blessings,