Debbie's Blog

YEAH! I finished something!

2011-08-11T15:01:00.000-07:00

I bought 2 of the fabrics in April of this year for a pillow case. They were washed and while I was procrastinating getting it made I found the fabric for the cuff. I finally got it made today. I laid it out on our grandsons bed and picked up my camera. When I looked at the screen this is what I saw! Jake is quick! Jake's master is at summer camp. Jake misses him.

The pillow case turned out really cute!

Design Wall Monday-July

2011-07-18T21:24:00.000-07:00

This is the current project on my design wall. It's a UFO and it may be twin sized when I get it finished. I'm making it from my 3 1/2" strip boxes!

Design Wall Monday-July 1 day late!

2011-07-12T09:33:00.000-07:00

This past week all the designing has been on EQ! I got hooked on this block thanks to Elizabeth. I modified the block and I've been playing with it. This is the 1st design that I have come up with. I have no idea what fabrics I would use or if I'll make it at this point. I'm just having fun playing with the blocks.

Design Wall Monday-July 2 days late!

2011-07-06T16:52:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry about the delay. I had these blocks up Monday but, I got the picture today. These are some old blocks that I got from my mom while on vacation this year. They look like sample blocks that were made to try a pattern out. I'm planning to make a quilt with them. I don't have all of them on the design wall. I've decided to make a sampler with the blocks. I need to make a decision about some of the fabrics in the blocks. A few of the fabrics have age spots and a few are very thin. I need opinions about this. Should I replace the fabrics or not?

Design Wall Monday-June

2011-06-20T21:14:00.003-07:00

Better late than never! This is the design wall area above my sewing machine in the sewing room. The art in the top right hand corner was a gift from our grandson. The blocks are some blocks I made that were inspired by blocks made by Tammy Simpson. Someday I hope to have enough blocks for a large bed size quilt.

Design Wall Monday-June

2011-06-13T14:21:00.000-07:00

This is our grandsons UFO. The top is finished with some help from me. I hope to get it quilted soon! It's simple, cute and close to being finished!

current Project-Strip Quilt FINISHED

2011-06-11T22:34:00.000-07:00

This is one of my current projects. I got it bound tonight. It's really cute and I really hate to give it away. This is a blurry detail shot.

Design Wall Monday

2011-05-22T22:29:00.001-07:00

This weeks design wall Monday is on the cutting table. I'm making a small quilt for our grandpuppy, Jake. I plan to make the letters out of the brown tone on tone fabric in the picture. The letters will be placed diagonally, fused and stitched down.

The dog biscuit print is adorable. I think I bought it at the Bay Area Quilt Show. I'm anxious to get this little quilt made.

Design Wall Monday

2011-05-15T22:01:00.001-07:00

This is my design wall this morning. You are seeing 2 tops that I pieced Friday. This is a variation of the jelly roll race quilt. I haven't come up with a name for this design. I changed the size and amount of strips for these quilts. I'm pleased with the results. I've got backing picked and binding made. I'm trying to decide on batting at this point. I'll keep the butterfly quilt for now, the other quilt is for community service. I hope to have it quilted and bound by the June meeting.

Jelly Roll Race Quilt Finished!

2011-05-05T11:46:00.001-07:00

The quilt is done and was given away for a birthday present! Happy Birthday to Kathy! This is a detail shot of one corner of the quilt. There are 42 different butterfly fabrics in quilt!

The backing is flannel and I stitched the label on a leftover piece of binding. I machine stitched the label to the quilt. If I had it to do over again I would hand stitch the bottom edge instead of machine stitching it. It was a fun quilt and I'm sure I'll make more quilts similar to this one. For more information on this quilt, google jelly roll race quilt.

Jelly Roll Race Quilt Update

2011-04-09T19:06:00.000-07:00

This is the quilt to date. I got it quilted last night and I hope to work on the binding tomorrow. It's a very fun quilt to make.

Jelly Roll Race Quilt

2011-04-02T21:47:00.000-07:00

The backing has been pieced, loaded and batting was found in the scraps. I need to trim the top and I hope to be quilting Sunday. This quilt should quilt quickly.

Jelly Roll Race Quilt

2011-03-29T21:30:00.000-07:00

I cut 40 2 1/2" strips from my butterfly fabric collection last night. Today I started piecing them together. This is a very interesting quilt. Once you sew all the strips together into 1 long strip you only sew 5 seams to get a finished quilt. The first seam took 40 minutes and I had a lot of interuptions. The second seam took 20 minutes and the third seam took 10 minutes. The fourth seam took 5 minutes and the fifth seam took 3 minutes.

I'll try to get a better picture of the top after I've pressed it. It was fun and I'm sure I'll make another one.

the Tooth Necklace

2011-03-24T08:47:00.000-07:00

For the last couple of weeks I have been hearing about a tooth necklace from our oldest grandson. He has a loose tooth and he didn't want to lose it over spring break. It needed to be lost at school so he could go to the school nurse and get a tooth necklace. Well, yesterday a tooth on the other side of his mouth came out at school and he got the tooth necklace (shown above).

We're adjusting to the changes in our family. I had hoped to be back to quilting in March. I haven't been able to get any quilting done but, I have worked some piecing in. I'm currently working on 2 piecing projects and I'm about to start another one.

Bad blogger-getting a slow start to the year!

2011-01-10T10:14:00.000-08:00

I feel like I've been a bad blogger. I'm getting a slow start to the year. I have been working on UFO's off and on. I don't have any finished at this point. We still need to get the Christmas trees out of the house and into the attic. I'll try to have something to post in a few days. I hope everyone has a productive new year!

New Years Eve in the garden

2010-12-31T15:22:00.000-08:00

here in southeast Texas, we never know what fall and winter weather will bring
this is our garden on 12/31/2010
the only pumpkin that has made it so far tomatoes

more tomaotes

a few more tomatoes

cherry tomatoes

more cherry tomatoes

the broccoli has bloomed, the bees love it

my mother-in-law thinks it's the prettiest flower she has ever seen

distracted!

2010-12-07T20:30:00.001-08:00

I guess it's always busy like this in December. I haven't been able to keep up with my Christmas decorating. I hope to have pictures to post in a few days!

December 2nd

2010-12-02T19:56:00.001-08:00

Today, I put out the 2nd Christmas quilt. This is a twin sizes quilt that I made for our oldest grandsons bed here. This quilt was made with the kids Christmas prints I had collected over the years. I made 3 smaller baby/child sized Christmas quilts with the leftover squares.

December 1st-Christmas decorating begins

2010-12-01T19:52:00.001-08:00

I had this quilt top quilted a few years ago (by Monta Horner) and I recently found the label for it in my sewing room. It's a reminder to me that I need to get labels on all my quilts.

rice mitts

2010-11-10T18:26:00.000-08:00

This is a pair of rice mitts without rice bags in them. The mitt on the right was folded so you can see the 2 pockets. The picture below is of 1 finished mitt and the saucer I used to make the curved edge end of the mitt.

This is one mitt unit after being stitched, turned and the opening top stitched. The opening is marked by 2 red butterfly pins in the picture. It's in the lower right hand corner of the picture. Pockets are on the upper end of the mitt unit.

These mitts are made with flannel woven fabric. Each side of the mitt is one piece with the lining. There are 2 pockets, 1 on each side of the mitt.

1 mitt (sized for ladies)

From flannel

cut 2 pieces 7" by 25" (mitt & lining)

cut 2 pieces 7" by 9" ( pockets)

turn under 3/8" of 1 pocket edge on each pocket and sew that 3/8" down with a zig-zag stitch

use a saucer to mark a curves for the mitt and pockets

lay 1 mitt & lining piece of flannel right side up on the table (each end should have a curved end)

lay 1 pocket right side up and curved edges matching on left end of mitt & lining piece

lay 1 pocket right side down and on top of other pocket on left end of mitt & lining piece

lay last mitt & lining piece right side down on the other 3 pieces

pin all layers together

sew a 3/8" seam starting at the lining end of the mitt (no pockets on that end)

leave an opening (about 3") for turning

clip curves

turn mitt (1 pocket should be on each side of the mitt)

top stitch opening closed

slip hand in lining end and work the lining into the mitt

next make rice bags for pocket(s)

if you want to have 1 rice bag in the center of the mitt and slip your hands in the pockets

make 1 rice bage about the size of the finished pocket with about 1 1/2 cups of rice in it

if you want to have a mitt for each hand and you want heat on both sides of the hand

you will need to make 2 rice bags for the outside pockets of the mitt

we put 3/4 cup of rice in each of those bags

those bags are also made about the size of the finished pocket

WARNING!!!!!!!!!!!!

be very careful with the rice bags

do not over heat

some microwaves have different heat settings

for our tests we heated them 1 minute (2 small or 1 large)

DO NOT HEAT THE MITTS

ONLY HEAT THE RICE BAGS

where has the time gone?

2010-09-26T22:41:00.001-07:00

I don't know where the time has gone. I got out of the habit of blogging and I miss it. There have been a lot of distractions here this summer. Fall is on it's way and I'm looking forward to being busy with sewing, piecing and quilting again!
Caleb (our newest grandson) has a jungle theme and I made 2 sheets for the play pen that we have for him here. They were really easy to make and the fabric is really cute!

Progress!

2010-07-04T21:01:00.001-07:00

I made some progress on the quilt top this afternoon and evening. I'm also working on the blocks for the bonus quilt (the quilt that will be made from the leftover fabric from the first quilt).

YUM! YUM! YUM!

2010-07-04T15:48:00.000-07:00

Millie's August Pie from the August 2010 Family Circle Magazine page 17.
We thoroughly enjoyed this fresh fruit pie.
It was quick and easy to make.
We had a great time this afternoon with our family!

Happy 4th of JULY!

2010-07-04T09:20:00.000-07:00

This is a section of my patriotic quilt top. I started it last night. I've really enjoyed piecing these fabrics! I hope everyone has a happy holiday!

Quick Baby Quilt for Caleb

2010-06-30T20:40:00.000-07:00

This was a fun quilt to make. I bought an end of bolt some years ago and decided to use it for a quilt for Caleb (a quilt to have at our house for him). I really like making the blocks. These blocks are the same blocks that I made for Noah's quilt. I quilted the top with white thread and used a cute fabric with anchors on it for the backing. All the fabrics used in this quilt came from my fabric stash!

Community Service Quilt Finished

2010-06-29T21:02:00.003-07:00

I really haven't been in the mood to do any piecing or quilting lately. Last week while cleaning and sorting in my sewing room the following project was found. I finished the binding tonight. It really feels good to have a project done!

Distracted!

2010-06-22T22:24:00.001-07:00

Well, I've been distracted! Our newest grandson was born early! Mom and baby are doing well! I won't be posting pictures of him until I talk to his mom about that. But, I'm posted the latest project I have finished. I made bibs and burp pads for the baby. My other distraction has been the garden. I'm amazed at these cherry tomato plants. I've never had any tomato plants grow that tall before. There are 2 plants in the pot. My husband is 6'2" tall and he's on a step stool. I've decided to top the rest of the tomato plants. The plants need to be a size we can reach easily. I have been thinking about quilting. I just haven't been able to get any piecing or quiting done. I hope to get more done soon.

Play Day

2010-06-08T14:11:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to pick blueberries for a very long time. I heard about Moorehead's years ago and never made it out there. Today we left about 8am and got there about 9am. There are 2 parking areas and I was really amazed to see so many people there. There were about 40 cars in 2 parking areas. We received 2 buckets and started for the orange marker. Below is a picture of the check out area.

There are 20 acres of blueberry plants. There was a group of preschool children there.

There were people of all ages picking blueberries and having a great time.

It's amazing to see all the ripe berries just waiting to be picked.

My husband and our grandson picked a lot of berries.

Our grandson was really proud of his bucket full of blueberries. We ended up with 10 pounds of berries at 1.50 a pound. I plan to freeze half of them right away. I'll be baking blueberry muffins the next couple of days. We had a lot of fun today and we'll have to do this again. Blueberries are ripe here in southeast Texas from late May through the end of July.

Current Project-Scrappy Trips Around the World Quilt

2010-05-27T18:21:00.000-07:00

A Scrappy Trips Around the World Quilt. I finished this one last weekend.

There were 60 different fabrics used in the center of this quilt. Each fabric was used twice.

This is the back of the quilt. I'm sorry about the fuzzy images. I was up on a table trying to get far enough from the quilt to get the whole quilt in the picture.

FISH-speckled trout

2010-05-26T15:19:00.000-07:00

My husband went fishing today and limited out! He's currently preparing some of the fish for a fish fry tonight. The skinning pliers are in the picture for scale.

fabric books for Caleb

2010-05-12T20:43:00.003-07:00

I made these books from commercial book panels while waiting for our newest grandson, Caleb. They were fun to make, it has been a few years since I've made any of these. I'm planning to make a few more creative books for Caleb in the near future. I used interfacing in them instead of batting. LR helped me withe the Jungle Babies book.

9-patches for Caleb

2010-05-02T21:16:00.003-07:00

This is the latest quilt I've made for our future grandson. This quilt is similar to one I made a long time ago. I keep this one hid from my son and daughter-in-law. It was really hard to keep it a secret but, I was able to do it. I hand quilted through the 9-patches on the diagonal and I quilted hearts in the plain blocks. The border was a heart border from one of the stencils I collected years ago.

Earth Day pictures

2010-04-22T13:02:00.000-07:00

The view from our back patio.

Joseph's Coat Rose

Iris

Our Garden

Bay Area Guild Quilt Show Donation quilt 2011

2010-04-06T11:55:00.001-07:00

My block and connector blocks are done and will be turned in tonight. The theme is a day on the coast. I'm looking forward to seeing all the blocks turned in tonight.

A Day on the Coast -blocks

2010-03-31T17:03:00.001-07:00

Ok, this is my next deadline. I need to have blocks and connector blocks made with these fabrics by Tuesday night. I plan to decide on at least 1 block tonight. I hope to work on this project daily until it's done. I love seasshells and the beach. I think this is going to be a beautiful donation quilt.

More Bluebonnets!

2010-03-31T12:45:00.002-07:00

My bluebonnets are really beautiful this year. It's amazing, our hard winter didn't seem to effect them. If you have never seen a bluebonnet. This picture shows a well defined bonnet shape on a bud that has just started to bloom.

Bluebonnets!

2010-03-24T12:25:00.000-07:00

I love to grow bluebonnets. I've been growing them for years. It look like it's going to be another great year for them. We have gotten plenty of rain all fall and winter. I just need to get motivated to get some ending and quilting done.

playing with a new technique

2010-03-13T18:38:00.001-08:00

I've been wanting to try this technique. I read about it in a book and got pointers from friends. I'm also working with an online group that is trying new techniques. I heavily starched the 2 fabrics and then cut them with a rotary cutter. I wove the pieces together starting at the lower left hand corner. I used a fabric glue stick to secure the edges.

Once the piece was woven I turned it over and fused a piece of white Kona cotton on the back of it. Below you can see that the weaving process changed the look of the lighter fabric. It's a very subtle change. You can see the detail of the stitches in the shot below.

This is a shot of the stitched piece. At this point I don't know what I'm going to do with it. It might end up being the base for a small wall hanging.

Noah's quilt-finished!

2010-03-08T09:41:00.000-08:00

This was a fun quilt to make. I thoroughly enjoyed making it. The following is a detail shot. Noah will is expected to be born in May 2010. I had this adorable ark fabric and decided to use it for the focus fabric in his quilt. The ark was fairly large on the fabric and I decided to use this technique. I had read about on the net. The top went together quickly.

Last, is a shot of the label!

Caleb's Quilt-Let's Play Cowboys and Indians Quilt

2010-02-27T22:02:00.001-08:00

It's finished! This is the 1st quilt that I have started for our grandson (to be born July 1st) since we found out that he's going to be a boy! His name will be Caleb and this quilt is named Let's Play Cowboys and Indians. The quilt looks bluer in person. The following is a detail shot of the quilt. All the fabrics came from my fabric stash.

And last is the label.

Wil's blog give away

2010-02-27T07:08:00.000-08:00

http://wilopiooguta.blogspot.com/

you may be interested in this give away
it's for hand snow dyed fabric

Wil does great work and be sure to look at her posts

Latest Project

2010-02-19T10:26:00.000-08:00

This is a UFO from last year. I hope to get it quilted, bound and labeled over the weekend. I've made several of these quilts and have given them all away. I'm keeping this one. The inner border fabric is also the binding fabric.

Label day!

2010-02-18T08:38:00.000-08:00

These 3 quilts are officially done! This an ABC quilt for baby boy Alley. It was made with a panel that was given to me. I love the way this quilt turned out. I decided to make these labels with the printer. I found the cutest font in Word and used it on all the labels. I framed the label with leftover binding and hand stitched the label down.

This is a jungle panel challenge quilt., it's another quilt for baby boy Alley. The top was made with a panel and 3 other fabrics. I cut the borders off the panel (see the backing for the panel) and then cut the top into squares. I cut squares from 2 coordinating tone on tone prints. I made 9 patches with the squares. Then I cut the 9-patches into 4 pieces. I rearranged the 4 pieces and pieced them back together. I needed more fabric to completet he top so I cut larger squares from a print that coordinated with the panel. I staggered the largers squares and added a border of pieces all around. This was a FUN quilt to make!

This is the back with a strips added from a coordinating border print.

This is the label.

Shooting Stars is a FUN quilt! Several years ago we have a guild block of the month that was this design. The block of the month was just a block with the quilt below all the stars are pieced together in one large design. The background fabric is an adorable light pink with small birds all over it. I found 2 tone on tone fabrics that coordinated with the birds. This was a fun, quick quilt to make.

This is the label. Baby Brown will be born in mid March. She will be the 3rd grandchild of a good friend of mine.

Noah's Quilt in progress

2010-02-16T09:12:00.001-08:00

This is what I have so far. I was having a little trouble deciding on a pattern for this fabric. This quilt is for Noah and the fabric has a Noah's ark theme. I saw this technique on a youtube video several months ago. It came to mind to me a few days ago. I found these great Northcott tone on tone prints to go with the focus fabric over the weekend. The backing will be the yellow print and the binding will be the blue. This was a lot of FUN. I'll be making this block again! I started with strips.

Then I used a template I had to cut the shape out.

Here is a finished block. I love the effect!

Let's Play Cowboys & Indians!

2010-02-11T14:08:00.001-08:00

Here is what I have so far. This is a setting that I like because of the effect it creates. I think the top is too long. Behind the top is a baby quilt, you can see that even without borders the top is a little long. If I was making this for a child I would probably just add borders to it. But, it's for a baby so the last design row is going to be taken off.

Yesterday, we found out that our next grandchild will be a boy. Today I started a quilt top for him. The name of the quilt will be "Let's Play Cowboys & Indians". I'm looking forward to seeing how these fabrics work together.

A BOY!

2010-02-10T14:33:00.001-08:00

the kids called after the test today
our newest grandbaby to be born in late June or early July will be a BOY!

now I'm going to have to change gears and start working on boy quilts
I had several girl quilt tops started

baby quilt top-waiting on baby Alley

2010-02-09T14:38:00.000-08:00

This is the baby quilt top I finished piecing last night. I've been wanted to make a pieced border from blocks pieced into the top for a long time. I worked one into this quilt top design. It was fun, I'm planning to do it again soon. We're waiting to find out what the sex of our next grandchild will be. We should know it by this time tomorrow.

February update

2010-02-03T20:24:00.003-08:00

We got out mini tower back and hooked up today. It's good to be able to use it again. I've been really busy making and quilting baby quilts. It seems that just about everyone I know is having a grandbaby or is going to have one. The quilt below was make for the baby daughter of a co-worker of my daughter-in-law. This was a fun one to quilt. The quilt below was made for the grandbaby of a dear friend of mine. The grandma loves green, trees and leaves. I quilted leaves all through the quilt. It's a simple quilt with a great jungle print fabric and 3 green fabrics.

The quilt below is for the grandbaby of another dear friend. This little one should be born about the 1st day of spring and we know that she's going to be a girl.

The shot below is part of the backing of the above quilt. I thoroughly enjoyed quilting this one. This was something that I had been wanting to try for quite a while. I love the way it turned out.

So, I'm back in business. It's good to have the computer working again. I've got several quilts in various stages and I'm looking forward to spring!

update

2010-01-02T22:13:00.000-08:00

My desktop went down with a serious virus on New Years Day. The laptop I'm using is old and very slow. I don't currently have access to my person e-mail. If you need me and it's important please call me. If you don't have my phone numbers, please be patient. I hope to be able to access my personal e-mail in a few days.

I have been able to get a lot of piecing done the last few days. I may have 105 blocks pieced for the Bonnie Blue quilt. I've also started strip piecing the strips for the stones for bricks and stones (Bonnie Hunter).

We have been very busy the last few days. The weather has been great and everything is going well.

current project-Bonnie Blue Quilt Kit

2009-12-31T09:08:00.000-08:00

This is my current piecing project. My Aunt Mary brought this kit to me when she came to visit for festival earlier this year. I had hoped to start working on it again sooner than today. Life has gotten in the way. There have been a lot of distractions and a few plan changes in the last couple of weeks. I found this very interesting fabric in about the middle of the kit. This fabric is reversible! It feels like a batik. There was no selvage, so I have no idea who made it.

I'm done with the cutting for the blocks. I'll cut the setting triangles, border and binding later. I haven't decided on a backing. I have cut over 121 print fabrics for this quilt. I'm adding 1 row to the pattern. Are there any thoughts on how long it will take me to get all the blocks pieced? I actually only need 100 pieced blocks for this quilt.

MERRY CHRISTMAS! and hybrid 12-06-2009

2009-12-18T10:38:00.000-08:00

MERRY CHRISTMAS, I hope everyone has a wonderful holiday with family and or friends. This afternoon our grandson will be here. Today starts his Christmas weekend with our family. We have a lot of plans for him while he is with us. There hasn't been much sewing done but, I've had another bloom. The plant is a hybrid and I've grown it from a seed. It's current name is seedling 12-06-2009 for the date of it's first bloom. Below is a picture of the 1st bloom taken indoors. Below is a picture of the 2nd bloom taken yesterday indoors.

Below is a picture of the 2nd bloom taken outdoors today.

day 6 quilt 6 and hybrid hybiscus bloom

2009-12-17T20:35:00.000-08:00

This is the 6th day of Christmas decorating and the 6th quilt. The table cloth was given to me by my mom. She used it when I was was a kid at home. Below is the 2nd bloom of the last hybrid hybiscus that bloomed for me. It bloomed today.

2 projects finished -UFO

2009-12-16T20:38:00.000-08:00

This project was a UFO. I was thinking about making it into a wall hanging for almost a year. The last day or so, I decided a pillow was a better idea. I added the yellow fabric to the embroidered section and machine quilted it. My quilter went out while I was quilting it. I finished it on my other machine. This is the back of the pillow.

Below is a detail shot of the quilt of our grandsons quilt. I used a bright yellow 100% poly shiny embroidery thread to quilt it. The thread worked out very well, it never broke while I was quilting. It looks great on the quilt. Yellow is our grandsons favorite color.

This is the finished quilt below. It's a fun quilt to make and I'm sure I'll be making this pattern again.

our grandsons quilt-a work in progress

2009-12-15T20:26:00.000-08:00

I started this quilt earlier this year. I ended up making the quilt larger than I had planned. I'm trying to get it finished for Christmas. The block pattern is called patience. I revised the block and it's one of my favorite blocks/quilts to make. This is the 4th quilt I've made using this pieced block pattern.

day 5 quilt 5

2009-12-15T19:56:00.001-08:00

I've taken a great from decorating and this is the 5th quilt. It's a log cabin tree skirt that I started in the 80's. It's machine pieced and hand quilted. It took me years to get it quilted.

9 to 4 quilt

2009-12-12T16:37:00.001-08:00

I think it was back in 2002 that I learned about cutting blocks up and rearranging the pieces. The guild had a speaker come in and talk to us about it. I went home and cut up shoo-fly blocks and 9-patch blocks. My daughter-in-law, Christi and I call this the 9 to 4 block. You make 9-patches, cut them into 4-patches and rearrange the pieces. Below is the 9-patch I started with today. At 3:14 pm today I sat down at my sewing machine and started piecing. This is what I mean by cutting the block into a 4-patch.

This is just one way to rearrange the pieces.

At 5:04pm today the top was finished. This is quilt will be a lap quilt for my mother-in-law for Christmas. I like this pattern with 3 fabrics or more. It makes a great scrappy quilt. I have one in halloween prints and Christi has one in snowman prints.

garden update

2009-12-12T15:13:00.000-08:00

Last Friday we had snow in the greater Houston area. The garden was severly damaged. We lost the purple hull peas, the peanuts, the bell pepper plants and a lot of the tomatoes. We're waiting to see what will happen with the rest of the tomatoes.

Wednesday in the garden

2009-11-25T11:02:00.003-08:00

It's Wednesday in the garden. I counted 78 tomatoes over the weekend. Several of the tomato plants are taller than me. The purple hull peas are coming along and the okra is going to seed. Bud watch-1st bud for this hybrid hibiscus

Bud watch-2nd bud for this hybrid

Bud watch-1st bud for this hybrid

LR's zinnias

day 4 quilt 4

2009-11-19T20:09:00.001-08:00

This is the Christmas quilt that I made from a top I won at a guild meeting in 1988. That was back in the day when it was a while lot easier for Christmas blocks to go together. We signed the blocks in those days. I will cherish this quilt for a long time. These gals meant a lot to me.

another bloom!

2009-11-19T06:32:00.001-08:00

This was a surprise. I didn't expect this bloom to open this quickly. The pale yellow in the petalsisn't showing up very well. This shot was taken inside. This is the the 4th hybrid plant to bloom for me this year. Parents were (Remembrance x Rosalind) x Smokey Mountain.

Day 3- 3rd quilt

2009-11-18T11:11:00.000-08:00

This is a trip around the world Christmas quilt made with 9 different fabrics. It's on our grandsons bed. It was a fun quilt to make.

new seedling!

2009-11-17T12:47:00.001-08:00

The seedling opened this afternoon. It's 7" wide. The parents are (Remembrance x Rosalind) x Smokey Mountain.

Christmas quilts and bud watch

2009-11-17T09:56:00.000-08:00

I've decided to start decorating for Christmas this week. I'm putting up a Christmas quilt each day until I have all of them put out. I'll continue with the trees and other decorations each day until I'm done. The living room wall quilt was hung Monday and the buffet topper quilt was put out today. The bud watch continues. This shot was taken in the morning sun. I was hoping it would be open today but, it was cool here this morning.

This shot was taken in the shade and closer. This plant is going to be a keeper. It has the same parents as the bloom I had earlier this year. When it blooms, I'll post the parents.

This is the bloom 2009-11-16. It's parents are wallflower and rainbow christie. This shot was taken outside in the sun.

This shot was taken later in the day inside. I wanted to try to get a better shot of the edges of the bloom. It's interesting how different they look.

Bud Watch

2009-11-15T07:05:00.000-08:00

These are the pictures of the buds this morning.

Quilt-Wednesday in the Garden-Bud Watch

2009-11-11T08:40:00.000-08:00

This is the charity quilt that I have just finished. The top was sent to me, I quilt it and bound it. It's for a woman with cancer. Her friends and family will sign the hearts. This Wednesday in the garden, the tomatoes and purple hull peas are doing well. We need taller stakes for the tomatoes. A few of the tomato plants are over 5 feet tall.

We love purple hull peas. This is the 1st time we have tried to grow them.

I counted 22 tomatoes yesterday.

The following pictures are of the buds I'm watching. These are hybrid hibiscus plants that I have grown from seeds. I got them from Sonny in Maryland. I've had a lot of problems with bud drop this year. I'm hoping these three will bloom soon.

Wednesday in the garden

2009-11-04T14:02:00.000-08:00

This is a shot of the garden. Some of the tomato plants are doing well. We have had a few bug problems. The purple hull peas are on the right. The okra is going to seed on the far right.

Ranch Rush

2009-11-04T13:58:00.000-08:00

Our grandson was into this game, then I got into it. I finally finished it yesterday. It's a lot of fun. This is a shot of my trophy page.

2,000 piece puzzle

2009-11-02T14:41:00.000-08:00

I really enjoyed putting the 2,000 piece puzzle together. It's the largest one I've ever worked on. It took almost 2 weeks for me to put the puzzle together.

stitch samples

2009-11-01T22:41:00.000-08:00

I watched a you tube video on raw edge machine applique. The stitch she used looked like the top on one this sample. I may have to try it for applique. The sample stitches were made on a Brother 650Q. I haven't been doing a lot of applique the last few years. The stitch I used on my old machine looked more like the 2nd one on the sample.

Bonus Quilt & puzzle progress

2009-10-04T22:07:00.000-07:00

The quilt is finished and ready to be wrapped. This is one of my favorite patterns to make for babies. I also love the hand print fabric.

This is the update on the puzzle. I had hoped to be finished with it by now but, it's been a really hard puzzle. I also have a lot of distractions in my life.

PLAY!

2009-09-30T09:56:00.000-07:00

I like to do puzzles. This is the biggest one I've done so far. I started it Sunday evening. The following photo was taken about 9 pm on Tuesday.

PLAY!

This is the background for an applique practice piece. I'm trying to come up with a technique for a quilt I'm piecing. The following photo is of the applique and quilting I did last night. The last flower has faced petals. It was a lot of work and difficult to attach to the quilt. The seam allowance bulk got in the way. The stems are bias. Some of the edges were straight and some were cut with a rick-rack rotary blade. I'm planning to use some other techniques on the lower section of the quilt. I plan to wash the piece several times to see how it holds up.

LR, Junior & the quilt

2009-09-25T19:35:00.001-07:00

This is our grandson and is webkinz Junior. This evening he pieced and quilted a quilt for Junior. He likes decorative stitches. This is a closer shot of the detail of the quilt. He picked out the fabrics himself.

latest work/retreat weekend

2009-09-20T15:58:00.003-07:00

YEAH! The top is DONE! I really enjoyed this quilt and it's mine! I've made several of these quilts and have given all of them away. Now I just need to quilt it! I took all of the leftovers from the top and make the backing. This is the 1st scrappy backing I have ever made. The binding will be the strip on the right.

These blocks are FUN! I started making these blocks to see if I liked making them. I was planning to use the top for a baby quilt but, I may end up keeping it. This is a work in progress. I haven't decided if it needs more blocks or not.

I bought the Ricky Tims Convergence Quilts book in 2003 and the quilt really didn't appeal to me at that time. A few years later I decided I wanted to make the quilt and I was thinking about the fabrics. I was given these fabrics and I knew that they would be perfect for this quilt. I decided to make this a challenge to myself. I had to use all 7 fabrics. I had hoped to have enough scraps leftover for the backing but, that didn't work out. Now I just need to decide on a backing and get the top quilted.

work in progress-scrappy trip around the world

2009-09-02T19:13:00.003-07:00

The center is finished for now, I'll add borders later. I have another project that I need to work on next.

Bonus Quilt & WIP work in progress

2009-09-01T22:09:00.001-07:00

I've heard that bonus quilts are quilts that you make from leftovers. I've been organizing and straightening up around here. I found leftover pieces from 2 baby quilts while organizing. I took those pieces and some extra yardage I had and made this small baby quilt. This quilt will be for the 1st grandson of a dear friend of mine. He's supposed to be born in December. I love bow-tie blocks, they are so much fun to make. I started blocks for this project earlier this year. I put them up on the design wall a few days ago and I can't leave them along. I can't wait to see what the center of the top is going to look like when all the blocks are together. If you like the design, it's at http://www.quiltville.com/. It's a scrappy trip around the world quilt.

PLAYING with a new block

2009-08-26T04:45:00.000-07:00

I saw a quilt online from a quilt show that inspired me. I saw the possiblity of a great quilt with hand dyes. The orginal block was a bit different. My camera doesn't read red and orange well and this is the only camera shot that came out well this morning. I have no idea how the orignal block was made but, I saw an off center log cabin in it. The following shot is one of the 6 that I came up with. I wish I had time to dye a color wheel for it today but, that's not going to happen. Diane in Tomball knew the name of the origanl quilt, "Colorful Rainbow" from a strip club pattern in 2007. Thanks Diane!

a surprise in the rose/hibiscus bed

2009-08-21T12:42:00.000-07:00

Last night I saw something interesting growing the rose/hibiscus bed. We have several small watermelons there. The vines have climbed to the top of the hibiscus plants. We will be moving the vines down this weekend. We've never grown watermelons before.

Wednesday in the garden

2009-08-12T12:13:00.001-07:00

ok, this going to be the last shot of this garden. We've taken the netting down. The heat and lack of rain have taken it's toll on the garden. The okra is doing well especially after the rain we had the last few days. I've learned that rain water is better for the plants than tap water. We have started collecting rain water in the garbage cans we no longer use for garbage since we recycle.

work in progress

2009-08-03T12:16:00.000-07:00

This is a work in progress that is close to being finished. I started it this year and I hope to have it quilted this week. I love this patience block, it's quick and fun to make. I've made several quilts with this block. This is a section of the top. I've made these with borders and without borders. This is a shot of the whole top. It's very colorful and full of fun fabrics!

Wednesday in the garden

2009-07-29T11:29:00.000-07:00

This week we're trying to make up our mind how long we'll keep the plants. We lost another tomato plant and several are looking bad. The pumpkin plant on the far left is doing well. The okra is doing well and I cut the green beans at the base yesterday. The green beans haven't produced since the 100 degree temperatures. I've got a problem with bugs on the tomatoes and okra. We're thinking ahead to the fall garden. I've already planted tomato seeds for the fall garden.

a bloom!

2009-07-29T08:46:00.001-07:00

This is the 1st plant to bloom of the 13 that I am growing from hybrid seeds. I got the seeds from Sonny. The parentage is (Rosalind x Remembrance) x Smokey Mountain. The photo was taken in the shade, my hand is in the shot for scale.

Bud Watch

2009-07-27T16:41:00.005-07:00

I'm watching and waiting on these buds to open. This picture was taken late Monday afternoon. I'm growing 13 hybrid hibiscus plants from seeds. This is my 1st plant to have buds. I'll post the parentage of the plant after I find my notes. last Thursday morning

Wednesday in the garden July 22nd

2009-07-22T22:52:00.001-07:00

This weeks shot is from the other end with the netting open. My basket is hanging from an S hook that my husband made from a piece of rod. We've lost 3 tomato plants in the garden. It's been really hot and we're not sure how much longer these plants are going to make. The green beans aren't making but, they're shade for the tomato plants. We're getting a few tomatoes and a few pods of okra each day.

Wednesday in the garden July 15th

2009-07-22T22:49:00.001-07:00

I'm sorry about the delay, life has gotten in the way. It's been hot and the garden isn't producing well.

FUN, FUN, FUN!

2009-07-14T13:50:00.001-07:00

I think I have found a new THING to be into. This was so much FUN! I had no idea what I was going for when I started them. All the backgrounds are light green from my last dyeing. This piece was started with set-a-color on a stamp made from door/window insulation on a roll and recycled wood. The texture on the insulation is a wonderful effect. I came back with craft spouncers and Lumiere paint. The yellow is a metallic gold Lumiere paint. I started with the hands stamp and yellow. I was using a foam brush to apply the set-a-color. All the paints are set-a-color in this piece. I came back with the green and then later applied the red and blue. The smaller dots are the same paint as the larger with some white set-a-color to lighten the effect.

I think this is my favorite piece. I started with the string stamp and Dye-na-Flow and then came back with Lumiere. I know I will be making more pieces like this. I'm anxious to make more string stamps.

I started with Dye-na-Flow on this piece. I was applying it with a foam brush. I didn't like the effect. Later, I stamped all over the piece with the same stamp and Lumiere. This time I used a foam roller to apply the paint. I love the effect of the roller. I may end up going back over this piece with the same stamp and more green paint.

These pieces are the result of a challenge I made a few weeks ago. I'm so glad that I made the challenge and got the pieces done. I learned a lot from this project. I know I will be doing this again soon.

stamping challenge

2009-07-12T19:49:00.001-07:00

Well, I'm behind as usual. This is as far as I have gotten on my stamping challenge. I annouced the challenge, I picked the deadline date and I didn't make it in time. Oh well, maybe I can get the stamping done tomorrow. These are some of the stamps I made the last 2 days. I see that at least one is missing from my pictures. I really like the one I made with the nylon cord. I'm anxious to see how the stamps work out. This has been fun!

Wednesday in the garden

2009-07-08T19:07:00.001-07:00

We had 1.7" of rain earlier this week. We've added 2 pieces of pipe to lift the netting. The tomato plants are trying to recover with the 100+ temperatures we have had the last few weeks. We're watering from above and it seems to be working well for the garden. The cucumbers are doing well since it hasn't been as hot.

This is an okra bloom.

The Lone Star Hibiscus bloomed twice on 1 plant today.

Wednesday in the garden

2009-07-01T11:29:00.000-07:00

The okra is getting taller and there are a lot of blooms on the green bean plants. The heat and lack of rain is effecting the garden. The baby broccoli plants died. I'll try seeds again soon. The tomato worms have been gobbling up leaves and eating into the tomatoes. We think we have found all of them. The squirrels get a tomato or two a day. The varigated hibiscus below has been blooming like crazy since I cleaned out the bed it's in. There are other hibiscus plants around it and Katy Ruella is growing on the right.

Lazy Summer

2009-06-29T10:39:00.000-07:00

My husband has been asking me to make a lighter quilt for summer for about a year. I got the quilt finished yesterday. The fabric line of the background fabric was called Lazy Susan and it makes the quilt. The backing is a green flannel and the batting is a piece of white muslin. The top needed the muslin to lighten up the back of the backing. It looked dingy without it. I quilted leaves all over it with A&E's grassy greens. I bound this quilt with the quick binding foot. I made my own bias tape and ran it through the Clover tape maker. The binding was attached with 1 row of machine stitching. I quilted the name of the quilt, Lazy Summer and Alley 2009 into the quilt (like I used to before I learned about labels).

Sunday in the garden

2009-06-29T10:34:00.001-07:00

This is our grandson working in the garden. He won't eat tomatoes but, he can pick them. We have really enjoyed this garden. We have been finding tomato worms daily. It's very hot and dry. This is a Lone Star Hibiscus. I have a few of the these plants. I'm trying to decide where to plant them in the yard.

Wednesday in the garden

2009-06-24T22:19:00.000-07:00

Once again it's Wednesday in the garden. The green beans and tomatoes have been doing well. We have small okra on the far right. We have found 5 tomato worms in the last week and there's a squirrel that's been digging up a red onion. He diggs it up and I replant it and he comes back the next day and diggs it up again. He's also eating tomaotes. We're giving away tomatoes to everyone we know and we're planning the fall garden. The netting is open in this shot. I took this picture just after I harvested the tomatoes this morning. The frame is 5' foot. The high was 104 degrees today, the heat is taking a toll on the garden.

Arashi-part 2

2009-06-23T12:59:00.001-07:00

Arashi left to right-folded leaves-folded diagonal twist-wrapped around a rope (not tightly enough)-dark side the back side of the above piece

this piece is a light pastel after 2 hours of batching for another project

Sharpie Experiments

2009-06-17T09:16:00.001-07:00

I was working on a challenge and I decided I wanted to try Sharpie's again. This piece was going to be used as a scrap book cover when finished. I decided to use more ink, I was going for more color. This is a closeup of the result. I sprayed the fabric with alcohol and left it to dry. The piece wasn't on a totally flat surface and that may have been part of the problem. This was not the result I was going for. I also thought I used to much ink.

Another closeup

at some point in the near future I plan to apply alcohol again and see what happens

Next experiment, less ink

I was hoping for a fabulous watercolor effect. I doodled all over the piece.

I sprayed it with alcohol and put it in a jar.

Then I hung it on the line to dry. I think that was a huge mistake. The result was dull, boring and not what I was going for. Next time I'll lay the piece on a flat surface to dry.

Wednesday in the garden

2009-06-17T09:08:00.000-07:00

Once again it's Wednesday. The tomatoes and green beans have been wonderful. The birds have been a problem. Tuesday we build this frame from 3/4" schedule 40 PVC pipe and covered it with nylon net. It looks good and it should keep the birds out of the tomatoes. I planted broccoli seeds in starter pellets last week and I'll be transplanting them in the garden soon.

Thursday more from the yard/garden

2009-06-11T07:45:00.000-07:00

This is my first bloom on a Texas Red Hibiscus. It's really beautiful, the Texas White should be blooming any day. This one of my varigated leaf hibiscus. It need to be pruned. It's been blooming like crazy since I cleaned out the bed it's in.

This is Wednesday's harvest. The scissors are in the picture for scale (my husband is a fisherman-we always put something in a picture for scale). These tomatoes came from plants I bought at HEB and they are the biggest cherry tomatoes we have ever seen. One branch had at least 20 tomaotes on it.

Wednesday in the garden

2009-06-10T08:47:00.000-07:00

Another Wednesday another garden shot, the tomatoes are turning and the green beans are getting bigger.

Kelly's Challenge-New and Spring

2009-06-10T08:30:00.000-07:00

ok,

here it is

it's not my original idea

but, it's a start

I took it as far as I could today

I have plans for this piece

I'd like to add to it weekely until it's done

I'm planning to use nothing but, hand dyes on this project

I have no hand dyed black at this point

and will finish the body of the butterfly once I have a piece of black dyed

Quick unpressed results from 1st dyeing class

2009-06-04T10:49:00.000-07:00

This was FUN! THANKS WIL!!!

Wednesday in the garden

2009-06-03T10:42:00.000-07:00

Another week has passed and it's Wednesday in the garden. The squirrels are getting 1 to 2 tomatoes a day. The bell peppers have been picked.

There are a lot of small green beans. My Japanese Lantern Hibiscus plants have started blooming. These blooms only last a day.

This is a garden variety hibiscus bloom from a plant that we transplanted into a bed in the front yard. It's been blooming like crazy since we got it out of the pot and into the ground.

Wednesday in the Garden

2009-05-27T07:49:00.000-07:00

Another Wednesday in the garden, in the top right hand corner we have an owl guarding the plants. The birds and squirrels have been busy with the tomatoes in the last week. I picked a 1/2 pound tomato from one of the potted plants yesterday.