Oberly Tree

When I was at Barb Carroll's in August I started a second rug....one of her coverlet designs, Oberly Tree.  I loved the trees, the simplicity of the design and the orientation of the pattern.  It is a rug that lends to hanging rather than floor use.

I had set this rug aside in favor of other projects. But when I needed a good project for our hooking group last night, it came to mind.  I was able to get a fair amount of the red background completed. Tomorrow I will take it to Woolgatherers and do a bit more.  Before you know it, it will be finished....I hope.

And now, a couple of family photos.....

Sara Ashley jumping on Bucky.  I am so proud of her.....she only started jumping a few months ago.  Her teacher says she is doing great.

Rob and Christi, into a little Karaoke on NY's Eve.

Take Care,

Jennie

A Finish and Some Flimsies

Woohoo! My first finish for 2015.....

The Scrappy Churndash lap quilt that I started this time last year.

Please excuse the photos on this post. The color is dull and not true. They were made with flash lighting in my sewing studio last night.

Donder and Blitzen by Jan Patek. I started this one before Christmas, but laid it aside to do Snowmen. It is ready to quilt when I get my machine back.

And the Country Threads BOM. Finished putting this one together last night. The binding is cut and I was able to pull backing (6 yards of it) from stash. Just need batting and it will be on its way to be quilted. If you made this and are thinking yours doesn't look quite the same...it probably isn't. The whole top section of it is flipped because I used a directional fabric in the top left hand block, and when I assembled it, I put it in upside down. No way I was tearing it out when I could just flip the whole section. I don't think it really changes the overall look, anyway, so glad to have this one off my plate.

Tonight is Happy Hookers. I am looking forward to seeing everyone. Seems a long time since last month. And it has been awhile since I pulled up any loops. My bag is packed and ready.

Now I need to get dressed, run a few errands and have a good Mexican lunch with hubby, friend Dave and daughter Christi. Thinking some Mexican Chicken Rice soup would be good on this chilly day.

Take Care,

Jennie

Scrappy Monday

Scrappy Monday, proposed by Sheri at A  Quilting Life, seemed the perfect challenge for today, and works hand in hand with RSC2015.  I have been following Sheri's great blog for sometime now. She is quite the talented quilter and designer.....and motivator. And she is most generous in sharing her talents and encouragement.  I am linking up to  her blog with this post.

Using her idea to make scrappy Dresden Plate blocks (one of my all time favorites), and following the lead of the color of the month....Blue.....I dug into my blue scrap bin.  Not being a huge blue fan, there were not so many as in some other bins.  But still, plenty to work from, and lots of those "what was I thinking" kinds that benefit from being sliced into small wedges.  I sliced up enough for about twenty 12" finished blocks.  Still plenty of blue left, by the way.

A quick refresher using Sheri's tutorials, along with an old one from Eleanor Burns proved helpful.  Got a really cool tip from Eleanor on getting those points on each wedge pressed evenly and equally distributed.

Was able to finish three plates this morning and plan to work on them throughout the month. I have some setting ideas in mind. Hopefully it will be a top by the end of the month.

Now it is time to attack those last Country Threads 2014 BOM blocks and get that top assembled and off my plate. It qualifies for today's scrappy theme, too......Reproduction prints in Browns, tans and reds.

Hope you all have a productive, scrappy day!

Take Care,
Jennie

Slow Sunday Stitching with Lucy

Today is my first day for Slow Sunday Stitching.....don't you just love that concept? Come home from church and lunch out with the family, change into your comfy clothes, prop your feet up and stitch. So that is just what I did.

I am linking up to Slow Sunday Stitching over at Kathy's Quilts.

Since I have chosen the background for my Lucy Boston blocks, I decided that I had better start adding background as I go.  There are as many background blocks around a Lucy block as there are in the design section......twenty four!!

This is what I stitched on today.........

And here are blocks nine and ten with background attached......

The background blocks are, at least, simple to cut.  I will be adding to the blocks I have already completed a bit at a time while I continue to stitch more blocks. I have four cut and ready for basting and assembly.  They are simple to work on when I only have small slices of time.

Take Care,
Jennie

ScrapHappy Saturday

Today I am linking up with SoScrappy for my first ScrapHappy Saturday with my RSC2015 block, which I posted here yesterday . This is my first link up, so I hope it works.

Tonight I am working on the binding for the scrappy churn dash that I started early last year. It has been quilted and awaiting binding for sometime now. Hopefully, by tomorrow it will be my first finish for 2015.

The last couple of days have been mostly spent "in the road".  Bernina to the shop over an hour away, Christmas flowers picked up at distant cemeteries, Chrysalis training, yarn shop (30 min. away), Petsmart.....well, you get the picture. Not much stitching time.  Some days are like that......things just have to be done.

Egg production is down due to the dark winter days.......but the flock is fat and sassy.

GRATITUDES:

Generosity.

Take Care,

Jennie

Projects for the NY

First of all, after receiving several nice comments on the sweet silhouette on my header, it occurred to me that I had not properly credited the source.  Thank you, Graphics Fairy, for your sweet images and generosity.

I am a BOM junkie. I have a gazillion neat little bags crammed into bigger bags of BOM kits....started and not.  I cannot resist. Yikes! So, what do I do????? Well, start new ones, of course.
I do think I can stay focused on these. They are pretty simple. One comes in the mail, the other is free online and uses my stash.

The first one is Prairie Burgoyne from Temecula Quilt Company. It is a reproduction of a lovely red and white antique quilt. I am not so sure this first block reads as red and white as I expected, but this shop consistently turns out a nice product, so I will just trust.

The second, from So Scrappy,  is not exactly a BOM, but yet it is.  Called the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, it is a plan for using scraps monthly by color, and there is a block plan that you can use in anyway you like.  Sounds like fun.  I decided to make the suggested Sawtooth Block, but with a scrappy black star setting and solid white background,  using the color of the month for the six inch sampler blocks in the center. You get patterns for 2-3 blocks a month.  This month is blue, but not navy or indigo.  You can also challenge yourself to use your blue scraps for other projects.  I rather like the way this one turned out....very crisp and not my usual choice of colors.

I started free motion quilting a UFO wallhanging, but my machine was not cooperating. Off it went to the shop today.  So, I cut the last two blocks of the Country Threads 2014 BOM. It is mostly assembled, so once these two blocks are done, it will be a cinch to complete.  It is going to be a big quilt!

GRATITUDES:
The generosity of others.
Winter greens from the garden.
Creamy lotion on dry, chapped skin.

Take Care,
Jennie

Maggie B's Pennies

First of all, Happy New Year to All!  Nothing profound here.....actually, I am a bit "thought out".....so I will try for something better perhaps a few days down the road.

Hopefully, this is the final 2014 finish post.......Pennies, which I hooked with Maggie B. I love this rug, it's superficial simplicity with the underlying color planning challenges, the softness of the colors, the size of it, the chocolatey (if that is a word) background.  One of those rare rugs that turns out even better than you hoped.

GRATITUDES:

Unexpected successes.

Pajama days.

Traditional Southern NY's food.

Take care,

Jennie

Family Christmastime 2014

Better late than never.  The Christmas season was busy and beautiful.  Lots of family, friends, food and good times.  Always remembering our sweet Lord, Jesus Christ, who was born on that day so many years ago.  So thankful for so much.

O Christmas Tree

The Estes Family

The Horne Family

 

Matt

Ashley

Rob

Christi

The Cousins.....Macy, Jackson, Sara Ashley and Robert

The Girls....Ashley, Me, Macy, Sara Ashley, Christi

As per our tradition, we had my family over on the Sunday before Christmas for a big late lunch of traditional Christmas fixings, followed by gift giving, desserts and merriment.  We were full......of food, laughter and love.

On Christmas Eve morning we entertained Blake's family with brunch and gift exchange.  Once again, there was lots of food, gifts and fun.

The Boys.....Colten, Christopher and Dillon

The Cates Family

John

Ricky and Colten

Pop and Chef Christopher

GRATITUDES:

Families to share and make memories with.

Traditions.

Food on the table.

Love all around.

Sweet recollections of many family Christmases with my very special mother.

Take Care, and Happy New Year,

Jennie

Farewell Quilting Year 2014

Trying to cram in a lot on this last post of the year.  Haven't done my totals for the year.  I wasn't too good about keeping the finishes list current, so I am going to have to backtrack through the blog.  I do know that I got quite a few large quilts finished, some of them UFOs many years old.  All said, what I got done was okay.  Would like to finish more UFOs and pare down the stash a lot more.....but hey, it is a hobby, not a job.....and I want to enjoy what I do.

This was probably my largest finish.  It is Comfort and Joy.  If you recall, I started this one the first of 2014 and was thrilled to have it finished and in use by Christmas.......it was close.

 

Whirling Stars is a You Tube pattern from the Missouri Quilt Company.  I actually finished the binding on it a couple of months ago, but never shared the finish.

Nines and Vines, an oldie from AP&Q,  finally got it's binding done this week.  Another UFO finish.  I love this quilt.  Makes me wonder why it took so long to finish it.  The fabrics in the nine patch blocks are early CW reproduction fabrics and it is so much fun to look at them.  Wish there were still a few of them in the stash now.

Another UFO finish .......hopefully the last of the pieced LQs SS Samplers.  I learned so much about machine piecing from the several years of participating in this program.

Ashley with Snowmen A-Z.  She loved it.  Actually, I did too, even though it was a push to get it done.  She has the top border folded down so that I could see her face.

Bad photo, but this is the label and the backing fabric for Snowmen.

My favorite quilting activities this year were collecting materials for and stitching these dog beds for a local rescue group..........how can you not love these sweet babies?????  And, of course, our QOVs that I shared in an earlier post.  The Sew Crazies rock!!!  Dog photos were lifted from Sandy's FB page.

I still have a couple of quilts to bind, but it will be nice to have a couple of UFO finishes to start the NY.  And I am working on my Lucy blocks.  Got a two more finished and put the background around one of them.  I love the way the background changes the blocks and makes the designs pop.  I will share those in a day or so.

Have some thoughts about the NY and what I would like to accomplish.  I always want to be more focused.  But mainly, I just want to love doing what I do.  That seems more important than how many things I finish at this point in my life.  Funny how your perspective can change when someone you love is fighting for the privilege of life itself.

GRATITUDES:

Hobbies that lend to doing something greater in the scheme of things.

Reflection.

Plans.

Take Care,

Jennie

Merry Pumpkin

Okay, I know you think I am losing it....and you are probably right, the way things have been going lately.  But....I am behind on my Christmas posting, and I knew that if I put off posting these it would not get done.

In an effort to clear my cutting table the day after Christmas, I came upon everything to make these guys, including the wool which had already been cut to size and the sides stitched. Why I didn't finish them in October was because of the deadline for Snowmen A to Z.  They are finished now, and I will pack them away until next Fall and enjoy them then.

Sweet old Roxie snoozing on her mama's slippers. Love this old girl.

GRATITUDES:

My family who forgive me when my brain cells take a break.

The promise a new year always brings.

Dogs.

Take care,

Jennie

Peppermint Forest

Sometimes it pays off to covet someone's creation. When Debi showed me her adorable Peppermint Forest wall hanging I was in love with it.....imagine my surprise when I received my very own version for Christmas!!! So cute....note the fussy cutting.

Last week was busy with performances by five of the seven grands. We are so fortunate to be able to attend so many of these activities.

Jackson and friend at his school performance.

Macy and I after her school chorus performance.

Robert and Sara Ashley performing at O Holy Night in the NFUMC Youth Choir.

GRATITUDES:

All of those dedicated people who work to make these special performances possible.

The excitement and innocence of the little ones.

Twinkling of Christmas lights.

Take care,

Jennie