This one was almost done last year so HAVE to finish it this year. Panel center so it was easier although I am not so sure these always are. For me, I guess.

Update..Feb 1 2013. Nope didn't get it totally finished yet....only started several new ones. Shame on me.

This is the last one of these I will ever make...I hope. Most of the other ones were for charity or gifts. It's the biggest and is ready to sandwich...for my youngest, Jason. I have a Betty Boop Christmas one all cut out and planned for him but want to finish a couple of older ones first. Each 9 patch is different but still have a bunch of those made up so maybe not be my last one.

This is a panel that I am just adding strips to so I will not have an excuse to not get this finished by Halloween....really cute but didn't get the partner fabric I wanted..wanted not needed. My moratorium on buying fabric only that I need to finish projects went by the wayside when I bought that this summer and today, when I found some great fabric w/3 colors of cherries on black at a Holiday Collector's Show. Oh, plus, I went to Scrap last week with a friend and bought some large cotton sample pieces and some others...cheap!

I found this great fabric some time ago but didn't know what to with it until I finally figured out I could use some small folk art squares with it. There's enough of the house fabric to make that the back as we. One of those you just like the fabric and don't want to cut it. There is one larger folk art that I was going to try to incorporate but have decided to make it a pillow. I have portfolio of metallic prints from Spain (circa 1920s) with the same kind of houses and black bulls and I have seen it quite a few times but never connected up the graphics. I will keep those close to the quilt in case it ever becomes needed. Super easy and I like it so should get it down on schedule.

I never can believe how long it is between my posting. Time goes by fast when you're having fun but I haven't had much fun lately so I can't say that. Here's a few things I intend to have totally done by Christmas. Since I took the pictures, I have actually added a few more but that is for next time. This one is made with the free template that was offered thru Quilting Board. As usual, it hasn't ended up right because I got the hole too big so I am going to go back and widen my seams. It's actually easier than it looks and now that I have done one, I may may another for a tree skirt for a smaller Christmas tree.
There's a couple more strips to add and I have no idea what to do with it when it is done.

Clearly, I still have plenty of work to do on these plus the "cherry" and "snowman" earlier postings but they are all coming along okay. My hand work an hour a night at bedtime works pretty well and is slow going but at least has a focal point. A step in the right direction makes more sense than doing nothing.

Fantasy baskets of flowers

Another resurrected one.....I only have 10 of the ocean wave "baskets" and bits and pieces of by gone days for the flowers. 6 are well under control and while I am not crazy about the blue (reproduction) strips, there is plenty of that fabric for the edge triangles, backing and even a pillow case cover to store it in. I didn't have a lot of desire to do "on point" but it will end up a good size lap quilt that way. I still have some yards of old hand crocheted lace I will probably use on the border...hearts for this one. Sequins are still questionable but I have a bunch of blackbirds, butterflies, etc I will test for problems.

Old to new

I have been resurrecting some of the hand sewing projects that I started years ago when I was concentrating on "Quilts For A Better Tomorrow" local safe house kids. I was setting my own projects back for "later". That was before my wreck in 2005 which put  a halt to most of my plans. Now I have changed those plans to better suit my limits. I have been trying to work an hour before going to bed which works out because I think I sleep better. That's as long as I can work on any hand quilting so instead of tossing and turning, I use that energy to finishing projects that have taken the back seat. Not that I have actually completed anything yet but am trying. I am often surprised how much I have already done just working a little at a time. This particular one I bought about 90 squares w/boys and girls. They are good size and I kept 35 girls and sold the rest years ago....dividing strips are reproduction and the original blocks are from the 1930s. The applique fabric was finished beautifully and embroidered lines were already penciled in so someone else started it. The one with all the details done was original quilter's "example" and I have modified it down a bit to simpler details. Each block has some lace or trim at the bottom of the clothes. I will add shoe buttons, more trim etc as needed.

I found this poem by Lucretia P Hale (1820-1900)
in a publication dated 1871.It was probably written
earlier than that date and I have copied it
the same as I read it with exact punctuation and lines.


"Have you heard the new invention, my dears,
That a man has invented?" said she.
"It's a stick with an eye
Through which you can tie
A thread so long, it acts like a thong,
And the men have such fun,
to see the thing run!
A firm strong thread, through that eye at the head,
Is pulled over the edges most craftily,
And makes a beautiful seam to see!"

"What, instead of those wearisome thorns, my dear,
Those wearisome thorns?" cried they,
"The seam we pin
Driving them in,
But where are they at the end of the day,
With dancing, and jumping, and leaps by the sea?
For wintry weather
They wont hold together,
Seal-skins and bear-skins all dropping around
Off from our shoulders down to the ground.
The thorns, the tiresome thorns, will prick,
But none of them ever consented to stick!
Oh, wont the men let us this new thing use?
If we mend their clothes they can't refuse.
Ah, to sew up a seam for them to see__
What a treat, a delightful treat, 'twill be!

"Yes, a nice thing, too, for the babies, my dears,__
But, alas, there is but one!" cried she.
"I saw them passing it round, and then
They said it was fit for only men!
What woman would know
How to make the thing go?
There was not a man so foolish to dream
That any woman could sew up a seam!"

Oh, then there was babbling and scrabbling, my dears!
"At least they might let us do that!" cried they.
Let them shout and fight
And kill bears all night;
We'll leave them their spears and hatchets of stone
If they'll give us a thing of our very own.
It will be a joy above all else we could scheme.
To sit up all night and sew such a seam."
 "Beware! take care!" cried an aged old crone,
"Take care what you promise," said she.
"At first 'twill be fun,
But, in the long run,
You'll wish you had let the thing be.
Through this stick with the eye
I look and espy
That for ages and ages you'll sit and you'll sew,
And longer and longer the seams will grow,
And you'll wish you had never had asked to sew.
But naught that I say
Can keep back the day,
For the men will return to their hunting and rowing,
And leave the women forever the sewing."

Ah, what are the words of an aged crone?
For all her muttering alone;
And the needle and thread that they got with such pains
They forever must keep as daggers and chains.

Okay...update. It is now almost Father's Day and I will finally have this finished! Took way too long but go thru periods where I just don't want to work one I need to get finished. I must just be lazy but I have been trying to work on other ones to justify having so many going at one time.
Turned out great!

I decided around Christmas I would make my middle son a nice flannel quilt for his birthday which was a month later. Who am I kidding? The top is all finished including a scrap edge I haven't done before....colors are much brighter than shown here. If I was talented enough to design fabrics, I would always
make a square a square. Not 10 & 3/4 x 11 but either 10 & 3/4 square or 11 square. Yes, I did measure before cutting the solid squares but, of course, I made 2 colors 10 3/4 square and that does not work. Hence, the scrap edge. It was kind of easy and fun and I may make a storage cover for it with the leftovers. Hopefully, I will get it down before all of the cold weather is gone because it is definitely a winter quilt.

I have made several of these for kids but this one is bigger for my youngest son....grown son. I didn't get his done (top is finished)for Christmas this year so I got him a really nice fleece blanket for now. I made him a nice moose quilt last year. I do have an extra one of the kid size for next year. I actually finished 3 quilts that I gave away this year. So, three down is not too bad.

This is a cute one that is almost finished...just a little more hand stitching
and the border. I don't know why I even started it because it's too small for a grownup and too big for a wall hanging. I always liked the card trick pattern so maybe that was why. By the time any new babies come around again, it'll be too old!

This has taken me to long! White fabric is a fluffy white cotton from the 50s with batting back so they are puffy like proper snowmen. It's pretty big but the problem has been making up my mind what to dress them in. First I was going to make cute little "country fabrics" for their scarves until I figured out how much work that would actually be for the 80 or so people. Second, I decided to crochet little lacy scarves but also changed my mind. Third, a pinwheel pattern stitched for the tummy. In the end, I went with stitched hearts which enables me to also justify my collection of hundred year old cookie cutters of various sizes. After I finally started doing that, I realized that I could have had #1 plan almost finished...oh, well. It'll be really cute eventually.

This is one that will be super simple..Daisy Kingdom squares. Hard part will be actually doing it but it's a good project for bobbin emptying. I'll just keep it handy and eventually get it going. My sewing machine is put away for a while until I tend to other matters but will be back in action soon.

I used a little deception in this flannel pillow for my youngest son. He needed a bigger size case so in order to use this particular piece, I added a brown stripe on each end for length. I told him that was a good pattern! haha

2 more pillows for another teenage girl...hope they like these!

One regular pillow case plus a smaller checkerboard throw pillow I made the other night...this is one of a teenage girl. Great way to use up leftovers from my safe house projects.

How a sewing machine works!