Things I've been working on....

I have been a teensy bit busy creating.   I am working on some redwork for our guild's quilt show in October.   We want to have a section devoted to red and white quilts so I decided to do some redwork.   I've also quilted a small wall hanging from a panel of fabric I bought at the Quilt and Sewing Expo last year.   And, I've even made some maple leaf blocks for a quilt that a group of people are making to be raffled....

Lately I've been trying to work on cleaning/organizing my craft room.   I'm not getting very far though so I've been avoiding my craft room!   I did work in it for about 3 hours yesterday.   I managed to clean out a drawer - I swear it was a bottomless drawer because I kept pulling stuff out and pulling stuff out but finally I got it emptied, went thru stuff that was in there from 2000!!!!!!   Now it holds my journal which I don't write in very often (probably because I couldn't find it), my coloring book and coloring pencils and pencil sharpener.   Wonder how long it will stay that way!  Ha!

 This is the quilt I quilted from a panel I bought at the Sewing and Quilt expo last year.   I was playing around with different thimbles so I'm not really happy about the hand quilting I did.   This is hanging in my kitchen.

 This is one of the redworks I have finished stitching.   I am planning on adding small beads for the buttons and some of the snowflake ends.   Three down, six more to go before I can create a quilt top.

 This is what is in my hoop right now.   Little House Needleworks - Small Sheep Virtue - Friendship.  It went fast and I was in the mood to do something that I could finish in a couple of days.    I need to finish the stitching then decide if I want to frame it, make it into a pillow or what.  

My two maple leaves.

I hope you all are doing well.  

Happy Easter!

Char

Happy Leap Day!

I hope you all have been enjoying the year so far!   Our weather here in Ohio has been pretty darn nice considering that it's February and we don't have snow on the ground!  :)   And we had a 64 degree day yesterday.   We're supposed to get some nasty weather this week coming up but it's gone almost as soon as it comes and I can live with that!

I've had a very busy (and not in a good way) couple of weeks.   My hubby ended up in the hospital with severe atrial fib.  They took him off his old medication which meant he had to be monitored in the hospital and then they started him on a new medication and again he had to be monitored.  But the new medication wasn't doing the trick either so they had to cardiovert him back into normal rhythm.   He was in the hospital for a very looooong week!   Then once he got home he had to go for an EKG on Tuesday, on Friday and then again today.   Thursday he has to go see the nurse practitioner at the cardiologist's office.   The doctor has been happy with his EKG's and his blood pressure so that's a very good thing.   We both were exhausted all last week so not a whole lot got done around my house except a lot of napping.  

I did, however, finish my daughter's quilt.   It was from McCall's quilting magazine 2015 and was a series.   The magazine quilt finished pattern would have measured 95 1/2 x 95 1/2.   I did not want to hand quilt one that big so I made hers to measure approximately 49 x 49.   She loves it.   It's the perfect size for her to bundle up with on the couch.   I'm happy it's done.   So life is swell!

Purple is her favorite color.   I picked this fabric up many years ago with her mind but had no idea what I was going to make.   So happy to see the McCall's series!

Here is a picture of it with me holding it up.....

So now I have a wall hanging of birds and bird houses on my hoop.  I'm just about finished hand quilting and hopefully will sew the binding on tomorrow and the sleeve to hang it by.   Then it will hang in my kitchen.  

I've also been working on a red work quilt.   The pattern is from Bird Brain Designs and is of snowmen.   But that's not a rush...well, not a huge rush.   I hope to have it finished in time for our quilt guild quilt show in October to be displayed with the red and white quilts.  We'll see....

I also have several cross stitch projects in the works as well as needle punch.   I really, really want to get my Jane Harris sampler finished so that may be the priority.   Once I get it finished the other cross stitch projects will go quickly as they're not as big as the Jane Harris sampler.

Thanks for stopping by.   I hope you've enjoyed your visit and will come back again!

Char

Time sure flies when you're quilting!

I have been busy, busy, busy hand quilting a quilt for my daughter.

I'm quilting in the ditch around each star, log cabin strip, pinwheel, etc.   So it's taking me longer than I had anticipated.   But she will love it when she finally gets it!  She has seen it in person and liked it.

I read on The Old Tattered Flag blog about resolutions....I have a better name for it....my bucket list for 2016!  LOL!   She mentioned diets, exercise, that sort of thing.   Well, each year I make a list of projects I want to complete, that I want to start, and then some.   I write it down.   This past year it actually helped me stay on track and I did manage to get quite a few things completed on my list.   But quilting, cross stitching, punch needle, rug hooking are like shiny objects to me.  I swear I'm not going to start another project until the current one is finished.   Then I see people's posts on facebook of their quilts or rugs or cross stitch or cute little bunny punch needle and adorable little punch needle hearts and I want to stop what I'm doing and make those.   I've been strong so far and haven't given in to the urge to do something other than the quilt I'm working on.  But it's hard!  Plus I see those things and think, "oh, I could do those up quickly" forgetting that I'm not as fast at cross stitch or punch needle as I'd like to think I am!  And then there's rug hooking....I haven't picked up my hook since last April when I attended a rug hook in.   What the heck!?!?   Then I see my friend's blog Rugs and Pugs and see all that she has hooked and think, I should set my frame up in my craft room and even if I can only hook here and there a little bit each day or every other day I just might get a rug hooked!   

I've also been babysitting my grandson and two great granddaughters so my daughter can go to her son's wrestling tournaments.   They are ages 5, 4, and 1year.   I didn't think I'd be so tired after they left.   I've only watched them once so far but will be watching them next weekend.  

Sorry there aren't more pictures.  I will post pictures of the completed quilt when it's finished.   And I just might post my "bucket list for 2016"...oh wait!   Part of my bucket list is to actually make the bucket list for this year!   So maybe now I have the incentive to at least make the list!  LOL!

Take care - have a great weekend.  

Thanks for popping in to see what I've been up to!

Char

Christmas is over and we quickly approaching a new year....

We had a wonderful Christmas Eve with my children (John and Ginger).   Between the two of them they have 8 children (my daughter has six of the eight).   My son's daughter, Brooke, lives in Tampa, Florida and was not able to make it.   My stepdaughter who lives close by was not able to make due to daughter being with her dad Christmas Eve so the two of them came over this past Sunday.

The grandkids were on good behavior Christmas Eve with the threat of Santa not coming looming all around them if they dared to act out!  LOL!  Oh, heck, who am I kidding - they were wound up to beat the band.   The 5 year old (Dominic) and his cousin (Liam) who just turned 7 had a blast seeing who could talk (yell) the loudest!   Then Dominic's niece (Juleigha) who is 4 just sat very daintily observing it all until after presents were opened and then she gave them a run for their money.   The baby (also Dominic's niece) who just turned a year old December 6 (Mariah) was the life of the party!   Everyone enjoyed the food.   My daughter-in-law, Michelle, and my daughter, Ginger, cleaned up the kitchen and washed and dried dishes.  Yay me!   They all left around 7:30 which was somewhat of a relief to hubby and I as we had been battling colds all week.

Then on Saturday, December 26 we celebrated Mariah's birthday.   Which was hilarious!   So I'm posting some pictures below of Christmas and the birthday girl!

These are the Christmas gifts I made for family and friends this year.  They weren't very hard to make - just time consuming but it gave me something mindless to do while watching tv.

This is a gift I  stitched for my nephew who lives in Tennessee.

This is a gift I stitched for my niece who lives in Mississippi.

 This is a quilt I made from my grandson, Liam.   I had made his dad a quilt a few years back using the guitar fabric and musical notes that I binded Liam's with and Liam tried to take ownership of it.  Now he has his own - not exactly like dad's but using some of the same fabric.   He was a happy camper.

The quilt I made for Dominic.   He said it was so soft.  :)

 Miss Juleigha Renee.   She is our 4  year old great granddaughter.   Her hair was longer at one time but one afternoon she decided she wanted it short, went into her Grammy's bedroom, found the scissors and cut all her hair this short.  Lucky for her, Aunt TM (Toni Marie) is a hair stylist and cleaned it up for her.  She's such a little cutie pie!

 Uncle Dominic and Juleigha.   He's a wild thing and if I try to give him "the look" the little stinker just gives it right back to me.   It's so hard to not laugh when I'm trying to get him to stop doing something and he gives the look right back.

 This Uncle Dominic, Juleigha, and Uncle Ryan (Ry Ry aka stunt double).   To get somewhat of a smile from Ryan is a major accomplishment!

From left to right....my son-in-law, Tony; my daughter, Ginger; great granddaughter, Mariah; granddaughter, Toni Marie; her boyfriend, Tristian.

 Dominic and his big brother, Andrew.  My hubby and granddaughter, Karley, in the background giving them bunny ears.

 My granddaughter, Karley, with her precious baby, Mariah.  Those tights Mariah has on made it look like she had black shoes on.   So cute.

 Dominic, cousin, Liam, and niece Juleigha (my daughter in the background).

 Little Miss Mariah was infatuated by her cousin Liam and just followed him around and would stand and stare at him.  Then she started hitting him, cocking her head to the side and smiling at him.  She's already a big flirt!

 Liam with his quilt.

 Dominic peeking over his quilt.

Mariah hugging her educational doggie.


Picture of Mariah in her birthday dress.   She looked like a real life baby doll.   But she was not too happy being all fru fru'd up!   She was much happier once her momma took her out of her dress.   Ordinarily she's all smiles.   She's a happy little baby but has no fear.   Her daddy got her an age appropriate riding toy and the little stinker stands on it!







And here is the birthday girl, Mariah, with her cousin, Juleigha and my hubby, Paw Paw.



So now it's time to clean up my craft room so I can get started on a quilt for our guild quilt show in October. Time to make a list of projects (quilts, stitching, punch needles, rugs, Christmas gifts I want to make or finish in 2016) so I can stay on track.  I did that in 2015 and did a pretty good job of getting things done!

Thanks for stopping by.   Hope you leave a comment or two.

Happy New Year!
Char

Happy Thanksgiving!

For all of you that celebrate Thanksgiving - I hope you have a wonderful day, enjoy your time with friends and family.   If you have to travel or have family that travel I hope they have a safe trip.   To those of you who don't celebrate Thanksgiving - I still wish you a wonderful day!

Here in Ohio it's 60 degrees and just beautiful out.   We will not celebrate our Thanksgiving with my family until Saturday.   However, we are going to my daughter's house tomorrow for dinner.   My cousin, her children and her brother (also my cousin) will be here tomorrow evening to visit their big family in Vermilion.   Then they'll come here and spend time with my family before they have to head back home to Tennessee.

I have finished quilting one of the quilts I'm giving as a gift this Christmas.  Just have to finish the other one.   I still have two more to do but they'll probably be given after Christmas....there are only so many hours in a day ya know!  :)    I have also finished the Christmas gifts that I make.  Yay me!

So hubby and I have cleaned downstairs, put the tables and chairs up.   Now we're going to eat some lunch, then I'll do my baking for Saturday.

Today I am grateful for the many friends I have "met" on facebook and on blogs.   You are what keeps me motivated to make my quilts, hook my rugs, punch needle and cross stitch.   You all give such good tips and good advice.   You're all just awesome!

Thanks for stopping by!

Char

Oh my! It's NOVEMBER already!!!

Where has the time gone!?!?  

I've been busy making Christmas gifts (sorry no pictures until after Christmas on those), busy hand quilting some smaller quilts, and playing with my new Ipad.   I have no idea what all it does but I've been playing around with it trying to learn all the quirks and features.  

And as if that wasn't enough I decided to purchase Apple TV which is a streaming device to be able to watch Netflix and Hulu - those types of things.   I bought it for two reasons 1) everyone said super easy to install...NOT and 2) I'm sick and tired of paying a huge bill every month for cable or satellite and still watching reruns of reruns.    My goal is to eventually stop the cable or satellite, get antennae tv to watch local channels and Netflix and Hulu for every thing else.    We'll see how that goes.

So the saga of the installation....   I came home, read the instruction book page by page, got my Ipad and looked up how to install Apple TV, watched the video on You Tube and thought I was ready to install.   I plug it in, then had to figure out how to get to the HDMI port once I turned my tv on.   Got that figured out.  So I used my little apple tv remote to install....   everything came up French!!!!  I don't speak or read French.   So my friend called and walked me thru where to find language and I found English.   Cool!   Next I ended my Wi-fi password....not able to find Wi Fi....   So after 3 hours I quit for the day.   Next day I tried again - still unable to read my wi-fi.   So I called Apple Tech support - very friendly, very helpful but couldn't help because it was my wi fi speed - to slow.   So I called the phone company explained my problem and they did a few things and then said, "so sorry but you're going to have call our loyalty department and have them upgrade your wi fi speed - if we do it, it will mess up your phone and they're not in on Sundays."    So finally Tuesday afternoon I was home long enough to have them upgrade the wi fi speed and make a few other changes.    Then Wednesday I was brave enough to attempt installing Apple TV again and VOILA! (oh maybe I do know some French...or is that Spanish...whatever...LOL!) it worked!   Yay!

So, no pictures to post this time but just thought I'd pop in and say "Hey!".   I've been stalking your blogs and you all have such lovely fall displays!   Once of these day's I'll get there too!

Meanwhile, thanks for stopping by.   I hope you have a great week!

Char

Yep, I'm up super late!

Sadly it's because I just came home from the hospital.  I took my hubby there around 8:00 p.m. with atrial fib.  They were able to get him in normal rhythm fairly quickly but as with all heart issues, they decided to admit him.   Hopefully he'll get discharged some time tomorrow.   He has had this problem off and on for 15  years and has had two ablations.   It might be time for a medication change.

Meanwhile....   in my August 12, 2015 post I posted a picture of pieces of fabric.  Well.... here is that it turned out to be!

 It has lots of pockets and zippers inside and out!

 This is the pattern.

And last but not least is a picture of my great-granddaughter, Mariah.   She is 8 months old - well, soon to be 9 months old.  

Thanks for stopping by!

Char