A little wool applique

Thanks to everyone for your very sage advice.  I appreciate all the thoughts and suggestions.

I did get some sewing done in the car yesterday on the drive up to the cabin in Oregon.  Between a book on tape and my sewing, the time flies by!

I finished the last 4 blocks for the Primitive Gatherings Summer Block of the Week:








This one has the top of its flower a bit off center but I'm not going to do it over.  I don't think it'll bother me once the top is together!

I also finished another pin cushion I've been working on for ages.  I have made a LOT of pin cushions the past few years, which is fun.


Here's another one, which is just about finished..just need a little more embroidery on the machine!


If you have any interest in the patterns for the two latest pin cushions, let me know and I'll be happy to send them your way!

I have also finally finished all that was left on my Penny Gathering Summer 2016 Freebie from Primitive Gatherings.  I'm going to hand it over to my favorite machine quilter today at lunch so I'm looking to give away the pattern. 

I made mine a little differently than the original pattern:

 


If you think you'd like to tackle a lot of wool appliqué ( there are 12 separate blocks plus the center and the border, as well as the very tiny half square triangles on the edges), please email me and I'll pick a winner at the end of the week.
randyiris@gmail.com

Need some grandmotherly advice-Not quilt related

Okay, this is definitely NOT quilt related but I'm extremely disturbed and need some advice.

You may or may not know that we been lucky enough to have had our 3 grandkids stay at our house for the past 5+ yrs, at least every other weekend, sometimes more often (I started out watching them on Fridays);  we have bedrooms for them (they are 7, 5 and 3) as well as all the toys etc -- they effectively live here on weekends.  We've joked that they go to boarding school during the week and come home on weekends.  We have absolutely loved every single minute of the time they are with us!!!  We feel very lucky, having always believed it could change any time (the oldest has started playing soccer, for instance, and doesn't come every weekend now).

What has been happening recently is that Emma, the 5 yr old, has been extremely more and more vocal about NOT wanting to leave our house.  Just a little bit of background---the 3-1/2 yr old boy is a big whiner (I say that with lots of love...but it's true).  He whines about everything.

So Emma, who is no shy violet and not easily manipulated, has always extended her stay with us by days;  when they were with us in Oregon, she stayed an extra week.   We took her to Hawaii in the spring, which we all loved.  She stays until Tuesday on weekends, frequently, before she started back to pre-school.   You get the picture.  She always asks for more time with us; 

Well, the past two or three times she's visited, she's actually said to us that she wants to stay with us FOREVER.  That she doesn't want to go back to her house;  she cries when we leave our house to bring her back (actually says, "take me back HOME.. [to our house]").  Apparently she cries when she's at her house, wanting to go back to our house.  They won't FaceTime me any more because Emma cries and misses me;  

So today we took Emma back after the weekend with us and of course she cried in the car and lamented going back.  But when she got home, she was crying about leaving our house and my daughter texted me that she thinks we need  to eliminate the sleep-overs.  I'm on the verge of being devastated.  I'm not sure what she's thinking... if we visit instead, I'd imagine Emma would beg to come back home with us etc etc.

I don't know what to do.  I said I was very sorry and that we love having the kids.  

Has anyone had similar experiences???


@#$@#$$#@

Hope this isn't too heavy for a Sunday afternoon.


anyway, we are heading up to the cabin tomorrow for a week or so away and time with some friends wine tasting up in Walla Walla.

Your thoughts??

xxxxs,

Quick trip - must love dogs!

I had the good fortune to take a quick trip to the very hot Windy City this week.  I met up with a dear friend and we went to see Hamilton (to which we were able to find relatively inexpensive tickets!!), which was truly an amazing experience.  Don't we look spiffy??!! Actually, my friend Tamra is quite the dresser so she looks glamorous even first thing in the morning!


I spent most of my time walking all over (notwithstanding that it was truly very very hot) and was inspired by a display I found all around the city on behalf of K-9s for the police.  I took pictures of many of these paper-maché doggies which were along Michigan Avenue (the main shopping thoroughfare in Chicago) as well as in front of many hotels.  Enjoy!  There was so much thought and creativity put into each one of them!




























These are probably a bit of overload;  there were tons more but I'm not going to go overboard!  
Kids this weekend so no sewing until after the weekend.

Something has gotten done. YEAH

My husband and I didn't have our grandkids this weekend so we took advantage of the free time and drove up to Napa (which is about 2 hrs away) for some fun wine tasting.  Of course, I use the time to get my hand sewing done and I have been prepping a number of projects in anticipation of our next trip (next week) back up to our cabin in Oregon.  More on that later this week.

I was able to get two centers done for the Primitive Gatherings Summer Block of the Week.  Mind you, there are 12--these also need very tiny half square triangles sewn on, but those will come later.  I really do enjoy doing wool appliqué.  For these, I used some of the new Sue Spargo variegated threads I ordered.  I just love the colors.  I have not been following the PG instructions to the letter (BIG surprise, right??? vbg) but I think they're fine.
I love using variegated threads on wool.  Makes the pieces so much more interesting. 
Don't look too closely at my strips.  Of course they're not uniform or necessarily straight.




There were supposed to be 5 little pink things on top but I lost one in the car.  Oh well!  Don't you love the colors of the french knots? That is what you get with variegated threads.  Those pinks were from Sue Spargo. Most of the other threads are Valdani, size 12, which I love.

I told you I also would show you the pillowcases I made to send off to Texas.  They are going in the mail tomorrow.  I still want to make some of those adorable kennel quilts for the doggies there.



My husband and I stopped off to see a friend who is a manager at a winery (she had asked me to fix a couple of her grandmother's wonderful quilts and I brought them back to her).  They have a cute little farm stand outside and I just loved the look of the peppers!


tomorrow is a busy day with a visit to my ob-gyn.  Silly me... I put it off because I didn't want her to see how heavy I'd gotten.  Anyway, now that I'm down a bit of weight, I'm not so worried.  Isn't that ridiculous???   Do you think she'd care??

Now the fun begins

I have sent everyone their mug rug partners so hopefully you've received your "assignment"!!  Please let me know if I've sent you the wrong email address.  I am hoping this time I didn't make any duplications!!

please mail your mug rug out to your recipient by Oct. 15th... That gives you a month.

Guidelines:
there aren't many.
It should be no smaller than 4" really; no larger than 10"!!
line it with batting;
you can put binding on or turn it and sew the edges down
you should quilt it to hold it in place
sign your name on the back, if there's a place...

Thanks so much for joining in on our swap.  I appreciate it! We had participants from Europe, Canada and just about every state! WOOHOO!!

I didn't take pictures of the pillowcases but will do it this weekend.
No grandkids so my dh and I are taking a little day trip tomorrow.

xxxs,

Mug Rug swap

Here is another idea for a mug rug, sent to me by Barbara.  Her's is a rectangle and she used a binding.  I think they are 4x8 or thereabouts.  Aren't they cute?  Please check out her blog: http://bbquiltmaker.blogspot.com



I'll be sending out your assignments tomorrow.  We had a great response--something like 25 of you!  WOOHOO!

I will also post pictures tomorrow of the pillow cases I whipped up to send to Texas.  I'm also going to make a couple kennel quilts, thanks to Wendy Reed, who posted the info!  No grandkids this weekend so I hope to get some sewing done!

Have I mentioned that I am also reducing my "stash" in my house?  Remember I told you about the book I read months ago, "The Hoarder in You"??  Well, I'm still very motivated to get rid of stuff.  We've lived in our house 27 yrs and have accumulated a lot!  I've been filling bags and going to the Goodwill every day.  Today the back of my car was FILLED.  You'd never know, looking around the house, though!!! vbg  My standard is if I don't want to move it to another home, say, out it goes!

A little sewing going on here

I did manage to catch up again on the Triangle Gatherings last week;  I found some adorable fabric at the new lqs:




I put these next to each other for you to see the amazing difference when you pair one fabric with a totally different contrast.  Both blocks use the same polka dot background.  I think they look entirely different.  The aqua fabric above, by the way, was from a modern quilt shop that Wendy Reed took me to in Maine.  Really fun.  The little birdies are from the new lqs, as is the background.


How can you have chickens without chicken wire??  FUN

And I started back on my Mountmellick (Di Ford) Quiltmania mystery.  Finally got all the circles appliquéd onto the background grid.  It was done in a really interesting way:  they had me draw a grid, with the squares being 2" each, onto a large piece of background.  I sewed all of them down on my Janome 6600 (which has a great buttonhole stitch, IMNSHO).  Then I cut them apart, cut them down a little and sewed on the triangles.  Not looking forward to the corners which are to be hexies... oh well.  It's moving in the right direction.  Don't look too closely...  Some of the circles wound up not being centered once I sewed the triangles on.  I call them very modest! 




Here's the English teacher in me speaking up.
I was reading a review of Hillary Clinton's new book and saw a word I'd never heard of before, so now you're getting a vocabulary lesson for free.
Contumely ("she was exposed to gossip and contumely")... means an insulting display of contempt in words or actions or humiliating insult.  It was also in Hamlet.
So there you go... learn something new every day!

Tomorrow is the LAST day to sign up for the mug rug swap...
new some ideas?? Motivation?  Mine are small; they don't have to be.





Wish I could take credit for the cat but I can't.  That was a gift from Will in Paris.  Isn't it cute?

You can also make it with a binding, if you'd like.  Mine were turned.
Hope you'll join in.

SWAP reminder

Here's a gentle nudge and reminder to join in on our Mug Rug swap upcoming next month.  It's going to be great. EASY PEASY.

Just send me an email, please, with your email address and mailing address:
randyiris@gmail.com

Also, do you follow my dear friend Wendy Reed (constant quilter blog)?? She recently posted information about donating to a guild in Texas that lost everything.  I packed up  (stuffed, is more like it) one of those flat rate padded envelopes and am sending off lots of fabric and threads (and had a bunch of pre-wound bobbins I hadn't used)... I encourage all of you, if you can, to donate!

I have caught up on my Triangle Gatherings and just need to post you some pictures.

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Upcoming SWAP--- DO NOT MISS

So many of you last year participated in my pin cushion swap and I think it was a huge success.

So this year I'm going to host something a little different---

We're going to do a mug rug swap!! 
Don't know what I mean??

It's a little coaster that's quilted, for drinks!  Water; tea; coffee; wine
And you need one by your computer, your bed, your recliner... can never have TOO many!!

They are so EASY.  You need a small block (has to be pieced or appliqued) that's not larger than say 5"... you'll need to use some batting and quilt it and BINGO it's done.

I hope you'll be interesting in joining in!  You can never have too many mug rugs.  And they may take you 10-15 minutes max to whip up...okay, maybe a little longer but NOT too long

Interested?

Please email me by SEPTEMBER 13th (one week away).

We'll have a due date of October 16th... that gives you a month to whip one up.

DON'T DELAY!!

DON'T MISS OUT!!

DON'T BE A BENCH WARMER!!!

;-))

Straight lines are not my strong suit!!

EGAD.
I was looking at the pictures I posted of a few close ups of some blocks and realized you can really see how WONKY my seams are...

Please don't look too closely or judge me for not sewing straight lines!!

Even when I was in 10th grade and took home ec, I remember being berated for not being able to sew straight seams.  Some things never change!!

UGH!!!

;-))

Marvelous Monday Mini DONE

I took some snippets of time this weekend to assemble the Temecula Quilts Marvelous Monday Mini top.  I still need to quilt it, of course.  But I had cut out the sashing strips last week and put it together in between kids' naps.  I also decided I didn't like the few blocks which were basically not pieced so I replaced them with blocks of my own creation!









I think the Triangle Gatherings is back in business this week after a brief reprieve so I'll be working on those this week for sure.  Claire is coming over again on Wednesday so I'll get lots done~

We had the 3 grandkids over this boiling hot weekend, and I  had bought them each brushes to help wash my car.  Here they were in the driveway, hard at work!  They sing while they work.  There's a show on Sprout called Terrific Trucks (which I haven't seen) but apparently there's an appropriate car wash song from the show and they all 3 sing it.  It's hysterical.  A bit like a broken record, since I think they only know one or two lines, but it's good enough for me.