A time to heal

As my gorgeous new BabyLock Ellisimo sewing and embroidery machine sits idle in my basement sewing room, I sit - held hostage by my recliner chair - as I heal. Healing is a slow process! And, this particular healing will take anywhere from 20 weeks to a year.

Last Wednesday, renowned foot and ankle surgeon Dr. Donald Bohay, performed a triple athrodesis of my left ankle. This means that all of the joints in my left ankle have been permanently screwed and bolted together. I am the proud new owner of 7 more screws in my ankle! Now we wait...... all of these joints need to fuse together. In 16-20 weeks of non-weight bearing on that leg, a CT-scan will be done to see if there is any new bone growth.

So, instead of hobbling downstairs to my sewing/quilting room, I'm sitting in a recliner chair with my toes pointed to the ceiling. Hubby is wonderful about bringing pain pills, ice bags and meals. But, trips to the powder room mean that I need to transfer from my recliner to a wheelchair and back. Can you say EXHAUSTING?

I have lots and lots of things to do while sitting in my recliner. I have oodles of knitting needles and crochet hooks plus enough yarn to circle the globe! I also have a bazillion fabric circles to sew into yo-yos!

My Accuquilt GO! cutter with the circle die made cutting a bag of scraps into circles a snap! Perfect circles and a tiny dent in my scrap basket!

What to with all of those yo-yos you ask? Isn't this a cute monkey?

Each monkey only takes 120 yo-yos! And with 8 grandchildren that means I only need to make....... a LOT of yo-yos!

T-Shirt Quilts plus a twist!

Several years ago, my cousin lost her husband to an incredibly fast growing cancer. He left besides the bride that he married right out of high school, 3 teenagers.

Several months ago as Mary (the widow) was attempting to clean out some of Jim's clothes, she asked me to help her "do something" with all of his t-shirts. I suggested a small "lab robe" size quilt for each of the kids.

They each chose their favorite t-shirts and bundled them up for me to "do something with". After I finished the three small quilts, I was thrilled with the results, but sad that there were no shirts set-aside for something for Mary for HER memory quilt. What to do? She insisted that she was fine and as long as the kids got something, she would be happy. As I was cleaning up the mess in my sewing room, I had a thought. What about all of these perfectly good t-shirt BACKS? Maybe I could make something out of them?

After cutting the remaining shirt pieces into large "fat quarter" size pieces, I used a simple Turning Twenty pattern for a simple quilt top. I quilted it with edge to edge dogwood blossoms. I think Mary will love it. I hope Jim, up in heaven, isn't upset with me for putting flowers on his old t-shirts!

Sunday is a family reunion and I hope to take all of the quilts to her at that time.

2010 Fair Quilts have been judged

The 2010 Free Fair quilts have been judged and are on display. I am proud to say that once again, one of my quilts occupies one of the showcases with a blue ribbon! Better yet, is that it shares a spot with my Granddaughter's first quilt, sporting a gorgeous red ribbon!

All in all it was a good fair for me. Three blue ribbons, one Best of Category, 2 seconds and an honorable mention.



My 1930's Reproduction quilt on the left and Hannah's "Gadgets" quilt on the right

1930's reproduction quilt took a blue ribbon

Moonglow took a 2nd place

Yellow weekender bag took a blue AND a BEST!

Shakespeare in the park (purple and teal) took a blue ribbon

RWB tote bag ( a donation to the fair sale) took an Honorable Mention

Burgandy crumb quilt took a red ribbon.

Another Finish from my scrap bag!

A wise old quilter once said that even the fabric SCRAPS cost $10 a yard! Keep them and figure out how to use them! I have scrap baskets that must be 15 years old! I keep TRYING to use them up but they seem to multiply. Each and every time I finish a scrap bag quilt, I love it. I love my scrappy quilts more than any of the quilts that I make! This quilt uses up some of the "crumb blocks" that I made last winter. Alternated with a burgundy solid made a really pretty quilt. Even the batting was an old bat that I had laying around in a big garbage bag waiting for the perfect top. And, horrors! I even pieced a backing for this instead of cutting new wide back fabric from the bolt.

Another finish - Shakespeare In The Park

My Shakespeare quilt is finally finished! Pieced, Quilted, and bound! Yea! When I first started this quilt I loved it! After I finished the piecing, I still really liked it. Once I had it quilted, I didn't like it so much. Now that I have the binding on it, I really don't like it. Maybe I'm just tired of looking at it and maybe it will grow on me. It's hard to believe that you can put that much money into a project, invest weeks of your time and not be totally thrilled with the finished work. Oh well - on to the next project.

A fun, busy week - teaching Hannah to sew

My eldest granddaughter has been asking for some time with Grandma to "learn to sew". So, this week, she spent 3 days with me. We started out sewing on my old Singer 301 - a machine so basic that you could never hurt it, with no thread. First off, the rules. 1) never put your fingers in front of the needle, always beside it. 2) Pay attention to the needle and the machine. Not singing, not watching TV, not playing with the dog, etc. 3) Never sew faster than you feel you can control. 4) If you are in trouble - STOP - then holler for help! She sewed on the lines of writing paper to get the feel of the machine and to learn to sew a straight line. Then I drew swirls and squiggles for her to sew! She is a natural! In no time at all, she was using thread and real fabric. Hannah then moved on to Grandma's new Babylock Ellisimo to piece her first quilt. Of course, now was the time for a little lesson on pins and irons. I elected NOT to introduce the rotary cutter this lesson! The quilt was a kit from "Quilts for Kids". She did a wonderful job. And the quilt will be sent to a hospital to be given to a sick child. The Ellisimo has the added function of sewing with on ON-STOP button instead of a foot pedal. It also can be dialed down to a very slow speed. What a nice job she did! Then, while the quilt was actually "quilted" on the quilting frame, Hannah discovered my scrap bag, my bin of pre-cut squares and my design wall. I have created a monster!



What a fun week!

1930's Summertime Quilt

Another finish! This quilt was made from Moda's "Hello Betty" line of 1930's reproduction fabric. When I finished the top, it looked kind of plain to me. And, the fabrics made me think of old-fashioned laundry. So that's the way I quilted it; Wash basins, wringer washers, clothes pins and things hanging on the line. Now I love it! I am slowly but surely whittling down all of those quilt tops that I have finished.