ROOSTERS AND CHICKENS

Lots of Pictures

At the beginning of this year, Kevin and I were planning on moving to Wyoming.  Yet, it is amazing how God will change your plans at the blink of an eye.  Leaving you very lost and confused until he begins to reveal to us his reasons.  His first reason was made clear right away when my Mother become so sick and now almost 7 months later, she is still recovering.  There are actually several other reasons but I can not go into any details.  Just know they are a special blessing!

So what do ROOSTERS AND CHICKENS have to do with any of what I have just written?  Here is the answer...in all the years that Kevin and I have been together, we have never truly decorated our home in any real sense.  After we decided that we would be staying in Southern Oregon as long as my Mom needs our help, I mentioned to Kevin that I have been thinking of decorating the kitchen with Roosters mainly but also Chickens if they cute and fit in.  I was shocked when he said he thought that it was a wonderful idea.  He was the one who found the Tea Set at a garage sale for a next to nothing price.  Especially since the original price was still on it and it had never been opened from quite a few years ago.  I am not a big Tea drinker, but I do enjoy drinking Coffee!!  I have not found the perfect spot for them yet.

The picture above is the backing for the Rooster Mat that I created to put under our dish rack.  Being that it is just the two of us, we wash our dishes by hand and then let them air dry.  We have always just used an old towel folded beneath the rack and I went ahead and used a towel cut to this specific size instead of any batting.  Then I quilted it using my walking foot with just some straight stitches and then stitched a double fold binding down using my Singer 301A.  We are on the lookout for a couple more to use as parts machines or possibly if they are in really great shape, I will retire this one and use one of the others instead.

Kevin built a set of shelves for on top of a counter area that we did not need for anything.  Yet due to the fact that our home is a very old home, it does not have very much storage.  He had left the shelves open for easy access and that worked well except for the fact that it seemed every dust particle found its way to this shelving unit.  Plus, let me not forget to mention all of the animal hair that gladly found its way to this location also.  Yuck...in every way!  So, I made these simple curtain "covers" that everyone has commented on when they see them.  I had a lot of fun planning these out and creating them.  I made sure to keep everything simple and in large sections that way if and when we decide to go in a different decorating theme, I can use the material for something else.

I still have a few more dish drain projects to create and I am also working on some hand embroidered Tea Towels (they will take me some time) and I would also like to make some pot holders also.  If you can think of any item that I have forgotten that would be great in a kitchen, I would love to hear your idea!  Thank you for stopping by and I hope that you have a marvelous day!

UFO Projects Chosen to Complete for June

A few years ago, I fell in love with making Christmas Quilts and other Christmas Projects!  In all honesty, I am not sure what exactly happened.  It could have been a pile of Christmas Fabrics that were given to me or that I bought at a garage sale, it could have been a quilt pattern that I just fell in love with or even a quilt block done in special X-Mas fabrics that just caught my attention and after I made the block there was no stopping with just one and a whole quilt top was created.  Have you ever done that?

Although the possibilities can go on and on, I will not.  I will simply show you the fun Christmas Projects that I decided to pull out this month and finish as I am working on another one of my UFO Quilts that I am doing some applique Scrappy Bears for a Twin Quilt and am also going to have the time to also work on an Applique Circle Quilt using flannel fabrics with Owls for my oldest Great Niece.

 My Mom has been doing a tiny bit better these past two weeks.  Therefore, we have in the past week tried to stay home every other day when we can.  Yesterday, while we were visiting with her and playing a game while talking about this and that and who knows.  LOL.  One of the Nurses came to do her routine visit that Moms Doctor ordered to check on her 3 to 4 times a week, check her vitals and do exercises that would help Mom get stronger.  I am so glad that I was there this time because the Nurse informed us that Mom is still being diagnosed with pneumonia and that if my Mom does not get stronger and begin strengthening her lungs, along with coughing up mucus she most likely will end up back in the hospital.

That is the last thing my Mom wants, so I am Sure that Mom will be doing everything she can to prevent another episode spent in the hospital.

 These are all Stockings to be hung by the Chimney....well wherever you hang your stockings!  We never had a chimney growing up, I can not imagine the panic that it creates with some youngsters.  Do you enjoy sewing up any special item for Christmas?

I would not say that Stockings are high on my list of favorite items to create.  Yet, when I decide to add special hand embroidery stitches and beads and buttons.  Plus, also add on special laces or ribbons and just let yourself really create a fun and lovely gift to give to someone special in your life or maybe to sell.

Aside from Stockings, I also have some Table Toppers that need to be finished and quite a few apron patterns printed on fabric, kids stuffed toys and book patterns.  Even an abundance of pillow covers and one  quilt pattern that will hopefully all get finished before the year is through.

I am enjoying this UFO Challenge so much, especially because there is no pressure from anyone.  Well except for ME and if I do not feel the need or have the desire that falls on my own shoulders and no one else.  I was hoping to complete quite a few more projects during the first half of the year, but due to my Mother being sick it did not happen.  A few more quilts compared to my Mom....no comparision, I will take my Mom each and everytime.

Thanks for stopping by and seeing what I am up too. I will try and respond as quickly as I can to any comments I receive!  Have an amazing day doing what you love to do!!

Another Quilt Finished

This is one of the many unfinished quilts that I discovered while looking for the projects to complete during Julie's UFO Challenge.  Here is the link to her blog....https://thecraftyquilter.com/2019/01/2019-ufo-wip-challenge/   This is the original post in January, just in case you need to find out any information you may have missed.  The next link is the link for our current month of May link to the UFO WIP Challenge that Julie is Hosting.
https://thecraftyquilter.com/2019/05/may-ufo-wip-challenge-link-up/




In all honesty, I can not reveal any information on this quilt.  I suffer from a Severe Traumatic Brain Injury from the result of being thrown through the windshield of a truck during an accident.  The Brain Injury damaged a huge part of the memory section of my brain.  Plus, through the years since the accident scar tissue has been building up around the injured area and creating more damage and more memory problems.

When I made this quilt and set it aside for whatever reason, I did not write down any of the necessary information needed to go any further with this pattern and I also do not seem to have but a few small pieces of scraps left.  Which is to bad because I really like these fabrics.  I am going to have to keep my eyes open and hope I can find some yardage somewhere.  I am also trying to teach myself to write down all of the information that will be necessary in the future to continue making a quilt or to make another quilt.

These fabrics all had something special about them that I truly loved.  This elephant was just one of the fun choices in this fabric.

Once I decided to finish this baby quilt, I began searching for the fabric that I used and the pattern.  After a couple of hours of frustrating disappointment, I decided to just add a couple of borders and call it good.  I ended up just doing simple borders even after searching the internet for border ideas.  The truth is by the time I did find a couple of borders that I did like and knew that I could "most likely" figure out the mathematics it would take to make them work properly.  I was far to stressed and just did not feel like messing with any pattern or mathematics at all.  So, this is what this cute baby quilt is in all its final glory!!!

As many of you know, the past couple of months have been very stressful for me and my whole family.  My Mom has been extremely sick with Pneumonia and she also caught the Flu in between bouts of Pneumonia that has been going on for about 4 months now.  This last time she was put into the hospital, they called in a Lung Specialist and he put her on a new Anti-biotic drug at some very high doses that thankfully did the job.  She was finally released to go home and I am doing my best to help her in every way I can and also to take care of our home, my husband and our fur babies.

I just wanted to share one of the pictures of my Iris' this Spring.  They are all looking so beautiful this year, yet it is time to transplant all of the bulbs this fall and spread out plus rearrange all of the bulbs by the end of fall this year.  Unless we can find a home much closer to my Mom in town.  Only time will answer that one.

Which believe me, Mr. Shakes is not handling this thing called sharing me very well at all!  He sulks horribly the entire time I am gone.  After the first couple of weeks, I had to stop spending the night at my Mom's because Mr. Shakes was about to have a nervous breakdown.  He did not even care that I put the little bow in his hair for the picture.  LOL.  Does he not look so adorable?  At the beginning of June, we have his first appointment set up with the Vet to do his Dental Work and to also do his ears.  We are being quoted at $850.00 per each side.  I need to sell a whole lot of quilts.  LOL.

Thank you so much for stopping by and reading my post.  I thoroughly enjoyed finishing this months quilt for the Crafty Quilter UFO/WIP Challenge and will try and answer any comments that are left as soon as I can.  Have a fantastic day!!

APRIL UFO PROJECTS ARE COMPLETED

For my UFO Challenge in April, I chose to get all of my Tea Cup/Tea Pot Blocks all finished.  There are actually 3 different Quilt Projects involved and I will give just a bit of information, but try and let the pictures tell the story.  I will give you fair warning that there are a lot of pictures posted.

The first eight pictures are a BOM that I did through Debby Kratovil who blogs at Debby Kratovil Quilts here is the link  https://debbykratovilquilts.blogspot.com/2018/01/2018-tea-party-block-of-month-january.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+DebbyKratovilQuilts+(Debby+Kratovil+Quilts)

Debby would give us one block to applique in any way that we desired.  I decided at some point to begin combining some of the individual blocks and also to add the various browns to make it look as if the tea pots and various other items were sitting on a shelf or a table.

I really enjoy satin stitch fusible applique along with trying out the various ways that you can use the stitch lengths and widths and create different results so easily.  I also had fun with trying out the various placement of the items.

It was also very challenging to decide what fabrics to use.  Tea sets come in such a huge variety of designs that trying to decide what would be a good choice was hard.

As you can see, I decided to try out a big variety of fabrics.

Using fabrics and threads that I found fun, bright and cheerful or just beautiful and delicate like a china pattern.

I thought the way that Debby adding the variety of extra items, like the cake stand above, added a lot of personality to the blocks and will make the quilt a fabulous trip down memory lane for many people!

This set of wobbling tea cups makes me think of the times we all probably tried to carry two or more dishes stacked like this to the table...thinking we were so special.  I wonder how many special China Sets got broken by us smart aleck kids thinking we could do it all!  LOL.

I just wanted to get all of the blocks stitched.  I am not positive if I am done making blocks, I kept thinking that I could mix and match these items together into other varieties and be able to create a bigger quilt.  I will have to start taking notes on my ideas and then when I am ready to begin the next step, I can look over my ideas and decide from there.

https://frommycarolinahome.com/category/teacup-quilt-along/

Carole who blogs at FROM MY CAROLINA HOME started this Tea Cup Quilt Along and I just could not resist joining in.  One of the fun parts of doing this quilt is that she is keeping it rather low key.  Yet she is doing this in such a way that she has everyone anxiously awaiting to find out what the next block will be and exactly what type of technique will be used to create the block.

It has been quite some time since I have done any paper piecing.  So, I was thrilled with my results and am looking forward to trying some more paper pieced patterns!

With this paper pieced pattern, I wanted to create the look that the coffee cups were hanging on a shelf.  I am not sure I got that effect exactly, but I am very happy with the block.  I also love the purple fabric I used for the cups.

Forgive me, but I can not remember the exact details because of my brain injury.  It had something to do with a Creamer and Sugar Bowl, I hope I am remembering correctly.  LOL.  So, I began looking through some of my saved patterns and discovered these patterns for hand embroidery tea cups, Creamer and Sugar Bowl and one other item.  I have them all finished and just realized I did not take pictures of them.  I will have to do that tomorrow and add them in.

I have found that doing hand embroidery once again is a marvelous stress reliever for me and it ends up producing such fabulous items.  I look forward to continuing my adventures with this Quilt Along and with my Hand Embroidery projects.

All of these appliqued tea pots were a lot of fun to create.  They are going to made into a quilt for one of my SIL.  I had an entirely different quilt started for her, but I just lost interest in it.  I am not sure when I had cut these tea pots out and prepared them, but am pretty sure it was last year sometime.  I only remembered them when I was looking through my quilting magazines and saw the pattern.

I am so thrilled to have all of these tea pot blocks appliqued and ready for the next step.  Whenever and Whatever that step may be in the future.  For now, I accomplished the goal I had set for April, now none of the pieces will get lost.  I do however need to make them each a separate marked dated and information tag to keep track of what is what!

Thank you so much for stopping by and leaving a comment!  I will reply to your comment as soon as I can.  Have a spectacular day!

Brenda

MY 2nd UFO AND WIP CHALLENGE POST FOR MARCH

 I am happy to be able to share a second quilt that I was able to finish for the UFO and WIP Challenge that Julie Cefalu is hosting for the 12 months of 2019.  Here is the link for her blog post for March.  After I finish posting my post this evening, it will bring the total entries up to 45 so far.

http://www.thecraftyquilter.com/2019/03/march-ufo-wip-challenge-link-up/

One of the advantages of looking at this type of post is the fact that you have the opportunity to see ? numbers of quilt projects and you can visit each post and make a new friend, discover a new technique or pattern or maybe find out some facts about history.  Plus, maybe you may want to read the rules that Julie has written and enter a UFO or WIP for the following month.

Let me share a tad bit about this UFO quilt I discovered hiding among a dozen (plus a dozen or more) quilt tops and quilt blocks that had been put into a big blue tote and forgotten.  I do believe that this top was a learning piece for a friend of mine and myself.  I was having a horrible time, actually still do, sewing together the triangles and so the friend took over and had those fun triangles in this pattern very quickly.  I took over some half square triangles and before we knew it, we had a nice quilt top that when finished completely would make for a good "doggie" bed at one of the local shelters.

I am not sure if this backing was made for this quilt top, yet it fit it so nicely, I just could not pass it up.  I honestly do wish that my walking foot quilting would have shown up better in the pictures.  Because, in all honesty, I am very proud of how this turned out.  I only had one teeny tiny pucker, which when washed will disappear and no one will ever know it was there.  My tension is still off just a tad bit, only not enough to cause any type of grief or second guessing for me this time.

It really does feel marvelous to complete a UFO and know that it is going to be donated to an animal who needs to have that special extra love and devotion.  Thank you for letting you share another one of my quilting journeys with you!  I really enjoy reading your comments and will get back to you as soon as I can!

Have a fantastic day!