Two projects finished

I finished our Loose Threads half square triangle exchange CHEVRON QUILT and the seasonal SNOWMAN WALLHANGING.   I even started Nother snowman WALLHANGING today for Becky for Christmas.

The quilt made during my mom's illness and passing

My mom got to see the beginning of this being made.  I hand pieced it totally while sitting with my mom during the wonderful hours that I will always cherish before her passing away.  Sure miss you big time mom.  And I am so glad that I have this quilt to enjoy it and the memories.

a Wonderful Weekend

I picked Bryce and Kylie up on Thursday.  Then Friday Kellie and 3 of her girls stopped by before leaving for Texas.  Then Sarah, Jim, Allicen, Quinn  and Ginger arrived.  The kids played and played and Ginger and Luke played and played.  The weather was not the best but we were able to have a bonfire to make s'mores and played on the "cool" river Saturday.  Luke and Ginger both played with their ducks and the kids rearranged the rock damn !

Kylie made a purse for her and Allicen.  It is a Nellie's Needle pattern called The Maggie Bag.  They turned out absolutely adorable!!!

A GREAT time was had by all.  Sunday I met Chris in West Branch and both kids said it was too quick.  Lots of fun and laughter.  Sure hope we can do it again soon ! ! !

CHERRY PICKING TIME OF YEAR

Mike and I went into Traverse City to pick sweet and tart cherries.  We picked 10 quarts of each for $24.00.  What a bargain.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day and we had a great time  It would of gone off without a hitch if I wouldn't of fallen off the ladder.  But I was mostly unharmed just bruises.  Oh well, have to keep thing lively.

We cruised the peninsula and then went downtown.  So it was a great day ! ! ! !

Luke and Mike are movie stars

Mike took Luke to the vet today for one of his many puppy shots.  They were filming an internet video and Luke was the star.  They filmed Mike, Luke and two little boys (actors????) driving into the parking lot.  Then one little boy took Luke to get weighed and his shot.  Mike said it was quite a production and I am excited to see the final results.

Dancing Ribbons

I started piecing the dancing ribbons 12" quilt today.  Wow those pieces are little, thank God it is paper pieced.  Working p fairly fast though and definitely fun!!!!,

Divorced Farmers Wife Quilt

I finally have the binding and the label on, so it is officially done.

I started this quilt off a blog that listed the blocks and instruction.  Then the author of this book threatened to sue her is she continued.  So I named it The Divorced Farmers Wife since there was so much drama and I ended up only making half of the quilt blocks

Luke can shake

Mike has been working with Luke and he can sit and stay and sit and shake.  He was 13 weeks old on Monday so pretty impressive.  He is such a good boy.  He stays very close when we take him for a walk and is fairly good on a leash.  He weighs 32.4 pounds now.  He is going to b e a big boy!!!!

Luke Update

We have been having so much fun with Luke this week.  His sisters, Jesse and Jenny, do not agree though.  It has been 9 years since we had a puppy and what a great time.  Of course Mike is doing all of the taking him outdoors and waking up with him at night.

But is he cute, or what ?????

Luke came home today

We brought our 7 week old black lab puppy Luke home today.  What a precious boy.

It is his first experience with snow.

Mini Mosiacs Progress

For the past two days I have been cutting 2" squares and 3 x 2" rectangles and bagging them up to make the 30 blocks it takes to make the sampler in the Mini Mosiacs book.  I ran out of the main fabric about 5 blocks away from finishing.  I called a couple of "sources" that I thought might have it but no luck.  So I ordered it from thousandsofbolts.com.  All fabric is cut except the fabric that I am waiting for.  It will go very smooth when I get working on sewing the blocks together, I hope ! ! !

Also, it was nice enough to get some raking done.  There had to be 3 inches of oiler shells on the ground under the bird feeder from all winter.  And a whole winter of dog poop, not fun.

SPRING????

Well it was spring yesterday.....today it is snowing, windy and cold, Brrrrrr.  The deer are at the bird feeder eating breakfast and I don't have the heart to chase them away because they are covered in snow.  Hopefully, this is the grand finale of wintery type weather.

HAPPY EASTER

It is official, we survived the winter......The Robins Have Returned ! ! !   We had a wonderful brunch at The Otsego Club in Gaylord with great friends and family.  The food and the company was the best.  Then home for a nap.....Great Day ! ! !

Flynn Framee Virgin Run

Well today was the first attempt to use The Flynn Frame to quilt my Divorced Farmers Wife quilt.  I decided on the Baptist Fan quilt pattern.  I am not happy with the results right now at all.  I am having a difficult time keeping it flowing smoothly and the "work area" is too narrow.  I realize a learning curve is to be expected and I will try it again tomorrow, but I know I could quilt it better and faster without the frame.

Alternate Blocks for the Jinny Beyer BOM 2013

I finished all 12 of the alternate blocks that go into the Jinny Beyer BOM 2013.  Hopefully, the third block coming in April will work much better than the first two.

MORE PICTURES OF OUR BABY

Sarah is so wonderful to keep the pictures of Luke coming.  He is going to fit into our family just perfect with his saving some of his lunch on his face and feet for later ! ! !  

AN ADDITION TO OUR FAMILY

We went down to Hopkins, MI on Saturday and chose the new addition to our family.  His name is LUKE and he is a cute as can be.  He is the Black Lab in the photo.  He is one of 11 litter mates and most definitely the cutest ! ! ! We met the breeder and her family and they are a treasure.  Sarah, Jeff and 5 year old twins.  What a beautiful family.  We are hoping to be able to continue the friendship even after we pick Luke up on April 15.  We have not had a puppy in 9 years and are looking forward to having a new "baby" in the house.

Luke at 4 weeks old

We had so much fun looking at the litter of 11 Labrador Pups.  Mike chose this "little" guy only I don't think he will be very little for long.  We already love him lots.  Hopefully his sisters, Jesse and Jenny will love him too.

JINNY BEYER BOM 2013

I have been working on the Jinny Beyer BOM compass blocks and the first one was definitely a CHALLENGE.  Whoever designed the piecing of this block is a much better quilter than I am.  My first attempt at the block, I decided to paper piece it.  All was well until I had to put the two halves together then it was extremely crooked.  So then I tried the regular piecing and that was somewhat better but still not great.  So onward to paper piecing with all fabric on paper which was not the way Jinny recommended it.  It really only should of taken me a few hours to get this done but it took 2 days,  Mmy brain is still not fulling functioning.  The second block worked out fine the first time, thankfully.

I am caught up with the BOM from THEQUILTSHOW.COM.  I feel like I have been so far behind the eight ball in EVERYTHING lately that this is a huge accomplishment.  I even started quilting the BOM from JINNY BEYER from last year.  YEAH....

WOW it is already March 17 and I was certain I would keep this blog caught up.  Apparently not.  Well this year has been a busy one (understatement of the century).  We moved my mom up to The Brook Assisted Living in May of 2012.  She was requiring too much care for Sheffield Bay in Bay City.  I got to spend a large amount of time with her until she passed on February 19, 2013.  I am so thankful for the wonderful hours we got to spend together.  I hand pieced a wonderful wallhanging while I sat with her and it was displayed at the funeral home.  It was my first full hand pieced project and it is a wonderful tribute to my mom.  She did see the beginning blocks and I joke that she probably heard some of the "errors" during the last of the piecing.  Also, the day she passed away I came home mid afternoon and decided I was going to machine quilt it to show at the funeral home.  I believe I could of closed my eyes and quilted it.  It went so smoothly that mom must of been helping me.  I got it completely quilted and the binding sewed on in about 5 hours. 

I had been looking at the Block of the Month from Jinny Beyer and bought the border and other fussy cutting fabric.  So Friday I decided to get started on it.  I was not into the 14.5" blocks so I made the paper pieced pattern 25% smaller.  It took ALL DAY and I was not happy with the results.  The pattern from the border fabric did not show enough and it did not match up well.  So yesterday I went full scale and did the "soft piecing" method, which is cutting each piece and drawing the 1/4" seams on.  The border fabric showed up much more and it went together well until I joined the two halfs.  GEEZ it still is not working well.  I tried persuasive pressing, tugging and just about everything else but it is still not the straightest it should be, but.....So today I am forging ahead to block 2 and see what happens.

I saw the Mini Mosiacs on The Quilt Show.com and was intrigued.  So Judy and I purchased the book and we are going to try it with Sally and Joyce next Monday at The Loose Threads all day sew.  It looks like so much fun and every project in the book looks to be lots of fun.  I really need more projects ! ! ! I already have The Quilt Show.com BOM from last year top finished but not quilted. 

I purchased the John Flynn quilting frame and it looks like it will work well but I need to put my Janome Horizon on the front porch where I have more room to spread out and seriously get quilting.  Right now my machine is at Bonnie's Sewing Center in Bay City for a good cleaning and oiling.

Mike found his BLACK LAB puppies in the Grand Rapids area and we are going down soon to see them.  We have only seen pictures so far.  The owner is Sarah and she is such a wonderful person.  I am excited to actually meet her and not just converse via emails.  This puppy will be named LUKE and will be great fun.  Hopefully, Jesse and Jenny will think so. 

HAND QUILTED WALLHANGING

I started this wallhanging after we moved my mom up to Grayling in May 2012.  It is the first of my hand quilting projects except for a pillow top, which was mostly a learning experience.  Mom got to see the first of the project and I finished the top a couple weeks before her passing.  Then the day she passed on February 19, 2013 I came home about 1 pm and started getting it ready to quilt.  I know that she was helping me because it went to quick and smooth it was amazing.  I had it quilted and the binding sewn on the top in about 4 hours.  I really wanted to have it done to display at the funeral home and it was so great that it happened without any extra anxiety and it turned out AWESOME ! ! !

 I also displayed two of the quilts I had on hand that mom did the embroidery blocks and I put into quilts.