Quilting Love and Prayer

Last winter one of my favorite church friends became ill and spent weeks in the hospital.  (Actually, several church friends spent weeks in hospitals and rehab; it was a bleak winter in more ways than one.)

One of the sad things was that for at least a couple of years, I have been planning to make quilts for several of my favorite church friends who are aging beautifully but becoming frail.  When Ms. Ruth became ill, I'd already begun planning a quilt for her to be made from fabrics chosen by Ms. Mary. Our Victory Quilt ministry gave her a quilt, but I began searching for time to make this one:

 I finished the quilting a couple of weeks ago.  The above photo is of the completed quilt before Ms. Mary took it to sew down the binding.  We were able to give it to Ms. Ruth a little over a week ago.

Here are some close-ups of the details:

 This is my very favorite part of this quilt.  I packed lots of extra details into this section of the quilting--and it just makes me happy!

It took a bit of inspiration to figure out how to quilt those tiny triangle blocks, but this worked.

If you are a quilter, I hope you've had a chance to make a quilt filled with love and prayers for one of your special friends too.

I'm linking to Connie's Tuesday Party at Freemotion by the River.

Happy quiltmaking...and knitting....

What is this?....

Here are some hints:

A few months ago, I made this.

 Today I made this:

Here's the exterior:

 As usual, quilting was a lot more fun than choosing fabrics and piecing.  It's pieced from more leftovers, mostly from Sweet Teen's college quilt.

Here it is with a couple of the Velcro dots in use:

Here's a side view:

Now you know, don't you?  It's a keyboard cover and stand so Sweet Teen can use her Kindle and Keyboard instead of hauling her laptop to class.  (She's also in the market for a new, smaller laptop. She says she has never once used her laptop for spread sheets--and that's why the "experts" she consulted suggested she buy the larger laptop in the first place.)

She did figure out that if she could take Chem II this summer, she could save a semester of college.
Unfortunately, the only class she could get into is 50 miles from home; so two days a week we are arising at 5:00 a.m., and I'm constantly reminding myself that saving the expense of a semester of college is definitely worth it.  (Secretly, I'm also praying she stays in materials engineering so that we don't end up with that extra semester anyway.--She's still hoping to do research in the field of nano-medicine.)

Second question:  What are these?

These are several pieces I'm likely to use in the American Made Brand 50 States American Blog Tour that began May 19 with a visit to two states each day.  My entry will appear here June 19 since New Mexico was one of the last four states to become part of the United States.  You'll find links to all the blogs here: http://americanmadebrand.com/blogtour/

Please let me share why I am so happy to be part of this tour.  These fabrics are made from cotton grown in the United States, processed in the United States, and milled and woven in the United States.  (We do grow cotton here in my state, but I don't think that's where AMB cotton is grown.)

I love the hand of this cotton, and I think all users will feel that way.  My secret hope is that one of these days they will weave some "shot-cottons" too.

I'm shocked that it's been so long since I've posted.  Life has been busy (but good), and today, Memorial Day, is my first official non-work day.  Since my next school year starts August 6, I'm going to try to be very productive this summer.  I love having time to sew, quilt, and have choices about my time, but of course, I love being a special ed teacher too, so I do have to make trade offs.  One of the trade-offs for the last two or three months is that there has been no time to read blogs.  So I'm sneaking some peaks at some today--how I've missed my blogging friends!!--and am hoping my own readers haven't forgotten that I exist! (There will be some prizes when my day on the American Made Brand blog tour happens!)

Oh, we've had 1.17 inches of rain!  That makes me very happy too!

I'm linking to Judy Laquidara's Design Wall so you can easily access her blog and that of other wonderful quilters.

Happy quiltmaking and knitting,...

Spring Quilting

No, I didn't finish knitting the colorful socks; I still haven't finished the gauge swatch for my shrug.
My college girl was home for the weekend.  She slept and shopped and attended church services with me and helped me baste two prayer quilts.

 I'm quilting this on my Necchi BU treadle.  That little white thing is a piece of rubberized shelf liner--because I like a little traction, but don't like gloves.

 We had an in-service day at school today, and I had CPR training.  So starting an hour earlier than usual meant I was able to come home earlier than usual, and I worked on this spring quilt.

 On these two fabrics I used a pale lavender glide thread that is working on both the asters and the pink fabric.

 Except for the aster fabrics and the off-white print, this fabric is from a Dogwood Trail (I think) line from several years ago that was purchased by my friend Mary, who gave it to me with the suggestion that it should become a special quilt for our friend Ruth, who loves flowers and is growing frail.  It's getting closer to a finish.

My daughter said, "We need an Easter picture," so we handed the camera to a friend.  (I do think it's so interesting that when we ask someone to take a picture, we often look as if we are 25 feet away.)  College girl hugged me this weekend and then said, "Oh, my!  I think I've grown!"  Well, I certainly hope I haven't shrunk! Her semester is over in three weeks, and then she'll be coming home for a few weeks.  She's planning to take some math and physics courses at CNM in Albuquerque.

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter with family and friends.

 Happy quiltmaking and knitting,.....

Still Around; Knitting & Quilting

I'm shocked that I've gone missing for so long.  I took a few pictures but didn't get them downloaded to my computer or uploaded to my blog.

I've pieced two quilts and quilted these:

 All four are prayer quilts.  I'll try to post more photos of them later.  All four of these are prayer quilts Judy pieced and layered for our ministry.

I was trying to focus on knitting because I wanted these socks finished by Easter.  Hopefully, I will still manage that.

I also joined Marly Bird's April Knit along but I'm still working with the gauge swatch.  She used size 5 needles--clearly would have been waaaaay too big.  I'm now trying it on size three.  I'm not making very good progress.

I have been watching lots of quilting videos while quilting.  I did something that I didn't think I'd ever do.  The treadle I use the most (a Necchi BU in 1919 Singer treadle irons) re-oriented itself so that I can see the new TV I placed in our living room.  I really thought I'd never again allow a TV in our living room, but here it is.  And I must say that I love the fact that I can acquire more education while I'm quilting!  I also ran across an inside TV antenna that actually works--and for far more channels than I really want to watch anyway.

School is keeping me very busy; still have more IEPs to complete in the next few weeks. Spring break went by in a flash (back in March), and it's quite possible the next few weeks will march by only slightly more slowly.  We have some trees in bloom, and when I tried to pull a few weeds in the yard today after church, I found one tiny tulip in bloom.  We are having high winds with promises of rain, but the moisture may miss us. Soooooo, onward....one day at a time.

Happy quiltmaking and knitting,....

Spring Knitting - Ooops!

Most of us are soooooooo ready for spring, so, of course, I need to do some spring knitting.

I ordered this yarn from Loopy Ewe and waited to see if the yarn would come directly to me or travel around the country first [like the yarn I ordered from Craftsy].  This yarn arrived in two days via USPS--no side trips at all.  This yarn is from their Seasonings line, perfectly titled Spring Blooms.  I've started casting on...and then...I remembered that I want to make toes, heels, and probably cuffs from the 100 yard skein of pink.  Okay, now I get to rip out and start over--and because I'm getting sidetracked with this project, I'm also still trying to decide what to do for the next border of the Jenny Doan Flower Garden Quilt.

I arrived home in time to watch NBC Evening news Tuesday night and was delighted to see the lovely story about the Missouri Star Quilt Company and how the hard work of this one family has transformed their little town of Hamilton, MO.  This family and their employees are such a wonderful example of hard work and dedication paying off--and of people who remain "real" instead of letting success go to their heads.

Weather report:  We are absolutely thrilled to be getting a tiny bit of rain!  Of course, it's not enough to be measured even in hundredths of inches--but it's enough to be sorely appreciated!

Happy quiltmaking, happy knitting.......

New Quilt & Knitting Idea

I'm making Jenny Doan's Flower Garden quilt.  I was inspired by her most recent video updating sashing for this quilt.

 I used a Robyn Pandolph layer cake--so there were multiples of every fabric.  I chose the peachy flowerdy squares and made 20 blocks--using a 1980s solid for the corners to form petals.  I cut my sashing and the setting squares 2-3/4 inches--so each sashing was one-half the width of a petal.  Yes, I could have used jelly roll strips, but loved the two greens from my stash and I don't have any green jelly rolls.  I'm trying to make a decision and cut the borders.  I loved the borders on Jenny's quilts but don't think I want to duplicate hers on this quilt--and with 20 blocks, the quilt has grown larger in size already.  Of course, for me, the quilt is about the quilting at least as much as it is about anything else, so I have more decisions ahead.  I should say that although I love the pattern, these fabrics are not "me", but they are good for stretching my creativity.

I didn't see her original video. You can click the link to find it.

Stop by Judy's blog at Patchwork Times and see what others have on their design wall.  (I don't have a design wall right now.  My quilt top is just tossed over a chair.)

Yesterday I sat in church watching the back of my sweet friend's vest.  The front was quite elaborate with all sorts of cable designs, but it was the back that struck me.

It really caught my interest because it looks like something that would make interesting socks.

I need to find some time to knit a swatch.  It's simple knit and purl, but quite interesting.

I'm loving having a holiday from work today--in no small part because I came down with some kind of bug yesterday.  So, although I'm not accomplishing as much as I would like in the knitting or quilting departments, at least I don't have to take a sick day.  Here the sun has been shining off and on, and we're supposed to reach the 60s today.  As I write this, we are at 59.9, so I'm hopeful. I'm also hoping our warmth will work its way to the frozen Midwest and East.  This may well be one of those memorable winters that people tell stories about when they've grown old.

Happy quilting, and happy knitting.....

Quilting & Knitting Progress

I've made a bit of progress on these socks made with Christmas at Downton Lorna's Laces Solemate.  These colors are not all that accurate on my computer--what looks reddish brown is actually a deep purple.  It's my project for watching Downton Abbey and for watching the Olympics--although I don't know how much I'll be watching the Olympics.  I did watch most of the opening ceremony Friday night--awesome performances, but not as awesome as the amount of money spent on the production.

I was able to get the binding on the Autumn Harvest prayer quilt--and took it to church for my friend to sew down the binding on the back while she spends countless hours at a rehab hospital while her husband recovers from heart surgery.  She also knits; it's a good time to have these skills.

Here are some details from this quilt.  I just love the pattern.  It is so adaptable to so many different styles of fabrics. (I first made a quilt from this pattern back in the early 1980s--and I'd like to make several more.)

All the quilting was done one morning on my friend's sit-down Handi-quilter.

Yesterday I cut all these pieces and  pieced them.

I have four blocks together and hope to get the rest of them together and unite them with their sashing, and maybe some borders, this week.

The colors don't show up very well.  The main fabrics are from a recent Robyn Pandolph line, but the sweet beige solid has been in my fabric collection for close to 30 years and is left over from a pink, beige and white Burgoyne Surrounded lap quilt I made back then and which became a Victory Prayer Quilt.  I'm guessing the only way I will ever find another fabric that color is if I dye it myself.

For others who are loving the quilt-like graphics of the Sochi Winter Olympics,  here's a link that explains how they are the result of sampling many of Russia's crafts and folk designs.

I love the colors they have chosen.  Can you imagine what fun we would have with lines of fabrics in pre-cuts of all these prints?!

Another knitting attempt is to see if I can turn this lace on it's head so I can make this wonderful top-down pattern by Terry Morris from the toes up instead of from the top down.  I'm hopeful.

Of course, I also need to find some sweet and lovely rosy or orchidish yarn to use.

I let Knit Picks know that one of the screws for my recently purchased yarn swift was defective and just kind of crumbled and wouldn't screw in enough to secure it, and they are sending me another.

Our third snowstorm for the week fizzled and went elsewhere.  While we need the moisture, we've enjoyed our two sunny days of mild temperatures--and all the snow at my place has melted for the first time since late November.

Happy quiltmaking and knitting......

P.S.: I've had trouble with parts of this post appearing and disappearing from my blog.  I hope that whatever the issue has been,  it is fixed now.

Quilting, Visiting, Yarn

 This is all I have left of Judy's Laurel Burch Cat quilt.....

I passed it back to Judy without getting any pictures of the quilting.  I'll take pictures the next time I see it.  I love the way the quilting turned out. All the thread residing in the lovely little coffee filter is what I had to rip out when the bobbin thread got tangled around the little latch on the bobbin--and the machine gave no audible cues that anything was amiss. So, I spent a couple hours frogging!

 I ordered this yarn from Craftsy because it was on sale and I've been wanting some "Christmas at Downton" to knit while watching the series.  Unfortunately, my yarn took a side trip to visit Grand Prairie, TX (thank you, DHL), so it didn't arrive until today.  The Downton yarn is at the bottom--and it's not nearly as beautiful as the colors I see on the TV.  Still lovely, however.

DHL must give their customers really, really good prices to get all their contracts.  However, my experience is that they do not give high quality service.  The warehouse where my yarn started out is just six hours driving time from where I live. It was supposed to be shipped with two day service. So of course DHL sent it to Texas instead.

When I was adopting, I was living in Zuni, and the adoption agency, also in Colorado, shipped my referral to me via DHL.  DHL did not deliver to Zuni, so instead of admitting they didn't deliver to Zuni, they carried the package to Albuquerque, mailed it via the postal service, and it took another two days to get to Zuni! Had it been mailed from CO, I would have received it the next day.

Yesterday after church I drove to Socorro to visit my College Girl, and she snapped this picture of the two of us.

(She did a better job than the professionals we paid to do it last summer!)
We had a lovely lunch at a restaurant she suggested, Bodegas.  Her tango class danced their final there last December, and she told me I'd like it because it has real cloth tablecloths and cloth napkins.  She was right. Good food, and nice tablecloths and napkins--good service too. I miss her, and our visits always feel short, but we talked and talked.  There was very little traffic on my long drive home, so I'm thinking the Superbowl parties must have started early.

At this very moment I hear the very, very, very welcome sound of rain on my skylight.  It's been well over a month since we've had any measurable rain, so I'm hoping we'll get some as this front moves through.  It has been alarmingly dry here in New Mexico.

Happy quiltmaking and knitting.....