I'm Back!

It seems like it has been forever since I posted on my blog. Well, it has been a while, about 6 weeks, I think. December was just crazy. Then Kevin and I both came down with a virus the day after Christmas. We are just now getting back on our feet. So this will probably be a long post. Just warning you. (grin) I have lots and lots of pictures to share, but I will stretch them out over the next few weeks. I kind of use my blog to keep track of things too, so I will be posting lots of pictures of my family. The grandkids are all getting so big!  Now where to start? I know....

I DID IT! I finished all three of the SIL's quilts! I was so relieved to get them finished. I really became kind of overwhelmed in the last few weeks before Christmas. I finished hand quilting Ivan's quilt at 7 p.m. on Dec. 22nd. I sewed the binding on all of them by machine. Jeremy's I turned over and hand finished. It took me so long, that Kevin insisted I finish the other two with my machine. I am glad I did. It cut off hours of work for me. I have a favor to ask you all. If I ever come up with another harebrained idea, like completely making and hand quilting 3 twin size quilts again in a  5 month period, please come thump me up side the head! LOL  It wouldn't have been so bad, but I couldn't seem to start on one and stick with it. I like to have several projects at a time going. Keeps me from getting bored. I finished Bob's quilt at the end of October. I really love the way this one turned out. I think it is my favorite.

I am sorry, I guess I didn't get any closeups of the quilting and none of the backs. I told you I was overwhelmed. LOL I am going to jump around with my pictures a little bit. Sure won't be posted in the order taken, but that is ok. Here is Bob holding it up on Christmas morning. He really loved it.

Next we have Jeremy's quilt. I started hand quilting it on Nov. 1st and finished it on the 30th. I did mostly simple, straight line quilting on it. I think it is Callie's favorite, since it is the only one she got on while I was trying to take pictures of them. (grin)

I was so bummed. I was sitting watching tv with Kevin while I quilted on the last border. I snipped my thread and cut a little hole in the red fabric. I gasped and almost cried. Kevin calmed me down as usual and said , "You'll think of something." I did. I matched the red up to some embroidery floss perfectly. I did a satin stitch over the hole and batting. It is very hard to see. I showed it to Jeremy and we had a hard time finding it. I finally did by feel. He just laughed and said that made it more special. (grin) Here he is holding it up on Christmas morning. I was the most concerned about his quilt, but he loved it too.

I started hand quilting Ivan's quilt on Dec. 1st and finished it on Dec. 22nd. Wow, I really worked hard on that one. It does not have as much quilting in it as the other two, but I knew I would never get it finished in time if I did lots of  quilting. I basically just quilted X's in each of the block sections, then used simple stencils in the outer borders. I was so tickled on the night I finished it, that I was practically jumping up and down. Here it is, before it was washed.

Ivan sure looked happy on Christmas morning while he held it up for me to take a picture.

While quilting on these I also: made 2 nightgowns and 2 pairs of pj's, made several Bow Tucks bags, made a few table runners, made several small wall quilts, finished up several things as gifts, crocheted a few dish rags, took mom shopping, helped her with her celebration, did our Christmas shopping, did lots of baking, and had my husband home on vacation the last 2 weeks before Christmas. Oh goodness, I never want to wait till the last minute to finish things up again. I love Kevin, but it was really hard to get things done with him home. I told him next year to take the two weeks after Christmas if he wants a vacation at this time of the year. LOL

So there you have the condensed version of the past 6 weeks. Tomorrow I will start sharing pictures and updating a little more. As I said, I have been pretty sick. I have coughed so much, that my stomach is sore, and my nose hates the sight of the Kleenex box. LOL  I stayed in bed last Saturday with a fever of 102.2. I still get low grade fevers every night, but I'm getting better. Thank you so much to those who have checked on me. I really hope to get back to normal and start commenting on your blogs again. I also forgot, my Callie was also sick for a week during that time. We got her some meds and she is doing fine now. Well, I need to get off here for now. Everyone have a great evening. Thank you for visiting. 

Just popping in!

Good morning,

I have actually made it to my blog two days in a row. LOL I had thought I would be able to piddle today, but Kevin found out he gets paid this afternoon. He wants me to come down and get his check and take it to the bank. He figures the traffic will be less today than Friday. I hope he is right. Since I am only cooking for the two of us, I don't have many preps. Everything will be cooked tomorrow, including the pie. I will cook the turkey in my roaster which will free up the oven.

Since I may just mail this to Carolyn, I thought I'd better get a picture of it. This is a little wall kit that she picked up and asked me to make for her. It is cute, but those tiny little pieces were a pain to work with. (grin)

I hope she will like it. I also wanted to share about a Christmas fabric giveaway that I won from Nola. I love these. She packed it so cute. Thank you, Nola.

Aren't these pretty Christmas fabrics?

This is for Pat. I decided to take a couple of pictures of our sweet potatoes. I weighed this big one and it was just a hair over 2 lbs.

We only planted 6 plants this year and this is the resulting crop.

Pat, hope you enjoy seeing our sweet potatoes. (grin)

I guess that is it for me. I need to get a grocery list ready. I don't really need much. I guess that is a good thing. Right? LOL Everyone remain safe out on the roads this weekend. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving. Thanks for visiting and please come again.

Update

I know it has been a while. I have been really busy. I may talk about that at another time, but for now I want to update a little. I think I promised to share some more bow tucks bags with you all about a month ago. This isn't a very good picture, but here is the beige/black bag.

Here is the inside.

Then I made a green/pink bag.

We have been busy getting ready for winter. Good thing. It is supposed to be frigid here during Thanksgiving. We dug our sweet potatoes. I sent Kevin to the garden with a feed bucket that holds about 1 1/2 gallons. Since I only planted 6 plants, I figured that would be plenty big enough. Wrong! He heard me come out to take the trash out and yelled that he needed the wheel barrel. I thought he was joking, but he was serious. We got way over a half bushel of sweet potatoes from those 6 plants. Several of them weighed over 2 lbs each and were almost as big around as a soccer ball. I told Kevin that I wasn't sure what I would do with them. One of them is way more than we need for a meal. LOL I guess we will have lots of leftovers. I forgot to take a picture of them. Bad blogger!

November 14th was Noah's 5th birthday. I even forgot to wish him a happy birthday on the blog. We did go to Kansas City on Friday the 12th to celebrate his birthday with him. We told the kids that we must really love them to come to Kansas City on a Friday night, during rush hour, in the pouring down rain, looking for an unfamiliar address. LOL We found them and had a wonderful meal and visit with the kids. Noah is doing so well in school. He is really coming out of his shyness. Izabella is starting to talk up a storm.

You didn't think I would forget to post pictures of our grandbabies did you? LOL

Izzie is getting so big. Hazel says Izzie reminds her of me all the time. Ahhh, now that made this grandma have a proud moment. (grin)

We sure enjoyed playing with our grandbabies.

Tonight was the ending of deer season here in Missouri. I cannot say I am sorry. We have had hunters all around us. I could hear shooting most any time of the day. I was afraid to let Buddy outside without me. He isn't real good about staying out of the road just yet. I am working on it, but he has a way to go. I didn't want him to get hit. We have had lots more traffic than normal during the hunting season.

I am ready to sew the binding down on Bob's quilt. I am half done on the borders of Jeremy's quilt. In the mean time, I have made a little Santa wall hanging for one of our girls. She requested it last year. Now I need to get it to her so she can enjoy it this season. I'll take a picture before I give it to her.

Our Thanksgiving will be very quiet and simple. It will just be Kevin and me. I wish I could have found a smaller turkey, but I guess this will give me lots to put in the freezer. I have been trying to cook less. I still find it hard to just cook for two people after so many years of cooking for 7. LOL I will make a pumpkin pie (instead of 4), fix mashed potatoes and gravy, sweet potatoes, noodles, green beans, rolls, and dressing. This will be a very high carb meal, so I am sure I will sleep all afternoon. LOL

Well, I'd better end here. In case I don't get back to the blog, Happy Thanksgiving! If you plan on doing the black Friday sales (not me) please be careful. Thanks for visiting and please come again. Have a great day!

Winona

Final Win Arrived.

It turned off cold last night. We had 30* early this morning, but the wind was still howling. Our old house is so cold when the wind is blowing. I was dressed for warmth today, yet still felt chilly. I had on my sweats, a sweater, my wool lined slippers, a shawl and an afghan around my legs. I looked like I was bundled for a blizzard. LOL I am so NOT looking forward to winter. Thankfully it got up into the upper 40's and the wind is starting to lay. I even took my sweater off. (grin)

Look what came in the mail yesterday. It is my Fall into Fall giveaway win #3. It is called Season Sampler by Cabbage Rose and was sent to me by Cheryll of The Memory Keeper.

I have been wanting to start another applique quilt this winter and this has some great projects. Look at this one called Feline Fancy. Isn't it cute?

Here is a couple more projects in the book. It may be hard for me to decide what to do first. (grin)

This book has 8 gorgeous projects in it. How many hours of fun will that be? LOL Thank you so much, Cheryll. I love it. I found out that Cheryll and I live in the same state and she actually went through my home town a few weeks ago on her way to visit family. How neat is that?

I want to again thank Jeanette, Patty, and Cheryll for all the goodies I won during the Fall into Fall giveaway. Also, thank you Debi for organizing everything. I know it was a lot of work, but I am sure everyone had just as much fun as I did. 

Well, I know this is a short post, but I want to get settled down in front of the tv with Bob's quilt. Tomorrow is grocery day, so I may not get a chance to post, but I will show you the latest bag soon. Everyone have a wonderful weekend. Thanks for visiting and please come again.

Number 2 Win Came

This week I received my second winning from the Fall into Fall Giveaway. I received this gorgeous Fabulous Fall panel from Patty at Granma's Charms. I am thinking this will make a nice fall wall hanging.

Patty also sent these 3 fabrics to match. There are over a 1/3 of a yard of each of them. I love these colors.

Didn't Patty do a good job of matching the panel?

I have been busy this week. I now have Bow Tucks bag #6 done and #7 ready to put together. I have about half of the last border hand quilted on Bob's Patriotic Shoo Fly and all but 3 blocks done on Jeremy's Nine Patch. I have also been quilting the sashings and sashing stones as I go, so soon will just have the border to do on this quilt. I had hoped to have it done by the end of the month, but I am happy with my progress.

The wind has been fierce here this week. It isn't even easy to walk outside. They are predicting it to lay tomorrow. I sure hope they are right. According to Yahoo, the temps here are 64*, but it sure doesn't feel like it. I am sitting here with a sweater on and still do not feel comfortable.  So I think I will go huddle under one of the quilts and work on it. LOL I hope to be back tomorrow to share a picture of the next bag. Thank you for visiting. Please come again.

One of My Winnings Arrived

I receive the panel that I won from Inchworm Fabrics this past week. It is so cute. It is called Cut Blossum Lane Panel. I don't usually work with these colors, but I really like this. Not really sure what I will make with it. That will probably be a winter project. Thank you, so much Jeanette. I love it.

Sorry I didn't iron it before taking the picture, but I wanted to fold it back up till I am ready for it. Isn't this a cute and cheerful panel?  I was in JoAnn's on Friday to pick up another spool of red Gutermann hand quilting thread and just happened to see a fat quarter bundle of bright fabric. I used my 50% off coupon  so it only cost me $5 for this cute bundle of fabric. It is pretty good fabric too, not the best, but definitely not the worst.

Don't you think these go good with the panel?  I need to get my thinking cap on to create something with the panel and these fat quarters. These bright colors are starting to grow on me. (grin)

Of course, while I was in JoAnn's I had to check out their red tagged fabrics. They were 50% off the red tag. I found this brown polka dot fabric and just love it. It only cost me $2.50 per yard and is from the Stonehill Collection. It is a nice quality fabric. I bought 2 yards. They had buy one get one free on the thread, so I got my red and then picked up a color I use a lot.

It has been a gloomy weekend. It rained hard all night Friday night.  Saturday was muddy and very windy. It got up to 75*, though.  It is still windy today, but the clouds have moved back in and it is chillier out. So this has been a mostly inside weekend. We did get some work done yesterday, but Kevin just wanted to rest today. I have been working on another Bow tucks bag and piddling on the computer.

Noah has gotten into the habit of wanting to talk to me every time his mama calls. I so enjoy those little talks. I put his grandpa on yesterday. Oh my, Kevin was so happy to talk to our little man. Then Izzie has to get on the phone. She doesn't say a word, but bye-bye at the end. So cute. So I talk to her and she listens, then tells me bye-bye. (grin) Haze had parent/teacher conference last week. Noah's teacher says he is doing great. Really good news for us. He is so shy, I was worried about him. He still needs to work on the shyness thing, but does great on all the work.

I made chili on Friday and bought lunch meat, hot dogs, and chips. I haven't had to cook all weekend. (big grin) Not the healthiest meals, but sure easy.

I think I will go work on the BT bag some more. I am ready to put it together. I am getting faster at them. Thank you so much for visiting. I am trying to get back to responding to my comments. I got so behind during the Fall into Fall giveaway time period that I decided to just start over. Thank you for all that left birthday wishes for our Jonny. He says thanks too. Everyone have a great day and please come again.

Winona

Bow Tucks Bag #5

I finished everything but the handwork on bow tucks bag #5 today. This is the red one. I am trying different battings, etc in them. I used fusible fleece on the back of the front and back and the pockets, but I used a craft fuse for the lining. The craft fuse is pretty stiff, which gives this bag lots of shape. I will probably continue to use the craft fuse for the linings. The good thing is that it is less expensive than the fusible fleece. (grin) Anyway, here is the red bow tucks bag.

I made a booboo on it. Look closely at the pocket. I sewed it on before I quilted it. I started to take it off and quilt it, but I really sewed it on good. LOL Kevin says it will be fine like this, so I left it.

Here it shows the ties.

Here is the inside.

Now all I have left to do on this one is whip the bottom of the lining closed and sew the button on it. I need to get some more buttons with shanks. Sewing those on is my least favorite part of the whole bag. I am horrible at sewing those shanks on. I have the the next one cut out and ready to go.

I lined them all up for a photo shoot. What do you think? Of course the fall one has a new home now. (grin)

We have been having lovely fall weather. No frost yet, but I'm sure we will have one soon. They are forecasting lots of rain this weekend. That should bring lots of leaves down from the trees. It has been nice during the afternoon this week, yet not warm enough for those nasty bean bugs to be on the move. I could live with this weather year around. (grin)

Everyone have a great day. Thanks for visiting and please come again.