27...

Let me start with a shout out to my nephew Sam, who graduated high school this evening.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

David and I celebrated our 27th year of marriage today. 

I took this picture with my tablet.  It's my first picture with it and as you can see I'm still trying to figure it out.

Earlier today, I made a cover for the tablet.  It has a pocket for the tablet and a pocket for the charger, etc.  I used 2" charm squares and lined it with a white fabric with tulips printed on it. Then attached elastic for the flap and bound the sides with the bright green binding.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Earlier in the week I was able to get a picture of a pair of doves (I think) that frequent my front yard.  They landed in the street (which is a dead end with very little traffic) and posed nicely for me.

Hugs,

Sonia

Just Catching up...

Remember when I showed these charm squares being pieced?

This is how they finished up yesterday.  I still need to quilt it.

I got a little side tracked in between the two stages shown on this quilt.  I did a little water color.

Well, I got to go ~ spending the day with Mom.  :)

Have a great day!
Sonia

PS> please check out my blogs on Wordpress. They are different from this one. https://sonia67bones.wordpress.com/

Before and After

Hi, I walked into my sewing room this afternoon and thought "Oh my!"  In a week's time it has become chaos.

So I set about get it cleaned up.  I hung the wall hanging my friend Kathy gave me a few month's ago.  I had trouble deciding where I wanted to hang it, and then things kept getting in the way.  I finally have it hanging at home in my living room.

I got things put away and a little sewing done.

I sewed this bag for left over yarn balls.  It is made from an old rug I made out of washcloths a long time ago.

Then I took this remnant, left over from a throw size quilt I made a few years ago.  This top was half hand pieced and the other half serged.  I used the serged pieces for the throw, feeling they would last longer for the person I gave the throw to.   This half was hand pieced and I have been wanting to cover a pillow I use on my couch, just to change things up.  So I took this piece and made a cover for the pillow.   It can be thrown in the washer and dryer to clean and is an easy change out.

Before

After

I shared two small quilt tops, made from 6.5" blocks a few blogs before, but this week I made a decision and cut those tops up at an angle and sewed them together.  Instead of two ordinary tops, I now have one interesting top.  I will border it with the dark blue and back it with the light print.

It has been a rainy week, but I was able to get a couple of cool pictures. These two pictures were taken the same day as the sun was going down.  In the west the sky was orange and in the east there was a rainbow.

Hugs,
Sonia

Under cover

The weather has been warm and the trees are budding.

A tree behind my house

Today, I noticed the small steno book I use was a little ratty around the edges so I made a cover for it.

I started with two small blocks I had pieced earlier. I folded each piece around the front and back cover of the notebook and pinned.

Then, using an upholstery needle, I whip stitched the seams using a contrasting color.

The two pieces were stitched together to create a binding around the spiral of the little book.  Now the small steno books I have can be put in my handbag and be protected from wear and tear.

Sonia

More UFO's

Hi, hope all is going well.

After taking care of some business this morning, then taking a nap this afternoon I decided to work on another quilt top today.

This one is a simple 16 patch to begin with.  I will border it with the darker fabric shown and back it with the lighter one.   The blocks were found in the same hatbox I found the "Farmer's Daughter" blocks in.  They were 7" cut squares and finished 6 1/2".  I'm not sure where they came from, but I think they must have been left over blocks from another project because there were only 19 blocks, an odd number.  I don't remember doing a previous quilt using these blocks, so they must have been given to me or were in a set of blocks I found at a flea market or something.

I also decided on a backing for the "Farmer's Daughter" blocks quilt top.  I've decided to back it with a white fabric.

I plan to get both of these finished and quilted by the end of the week.  I feel like I will get one done tomorrow.

Until next time,
Sonia

UFOs...

I've been trying to catch up on some UFOs I've had waiting to be finished for some time.

 I finished this wall hanging today. The heart blocks are made from members of the quilt guild I belong to.  We use to have a block challenge each month, then in the next meeting we would all put our blocks in a bag and the person who's block was picked won them all.  These blocks are part of a bag full of blocks I won several years ago.

Then I went through my hat box full of vintage, some antique and other blocks I've acquired over the years.

I found several "Farmer's Daughter" quilt blocks.  This pattern was an original pattern in the Kansas Star paper on March 20, 1935.

The blocks I have are all hand pieced and scrappy, with a finished size of 10".  You can see by the fabrics they have been around for a while.  I pieced them together to make a small quilt top.  I trying to decide if  I want to put borders on it or not.  If I decide to, then I have to figure out what color to use...  I'm leaning toward no border, just binding after I quilt it.  If I just bind it, with no additional border, it will finish at 30" X 40".

 

Hugs,
Sonia

As promised...

Hi, Christmas is over and it's back to normal  again.  I hope you enjoyed your time with family and friends for Christmas.  I know I did.

Rain, Rain, Go away...

My son went back home today, he had to drive in the rain most of the way but made it safely. I miss him already.

On Christmas eve, my work day ended at 2:00 p.m.  When I got home, I could hear music as I walked closer to the house. What a surprise to see my husband and my two kids playing music.  It's been a while since all three have played music together.

As promised, here are the two fleece blankets I made for Christmas.

This blanket was made with 1 yard of the theme fabric and the solid gray back. The gray was textured like fur.  I added a 6.5" border in black.  This made the blanket to be 48" x 60".

This blanket was made using 2.5 yards of the brown plaid and tan.  I used my Serger and bound it with coordinating thread.   It is 60" x 72".




I've been thinking about goals to set for 2016.  I'm still working on goals for this year and am

confident I will get the last one completed on time (12/31/15).   I must admit this last goal is probably the only goal that I have steadily stayed on pace with.  The other goals I accomplished were often times finished at the last minute, but finished none the less.  I hope to pace myself better next year.

Did you set goals for this year?

How did you do?

Will you set goals for next year?


Sonia

some of what I've been up to.

Okay, I'm trying to catch up.  I will post two blogs tonight as I have a lot to share.

Here's what I've been up to... project wise.

I made this wall hanging.  The red fabric is a fat quarter from last year's Christmas party with the quilt guild I belong to.  The challenge is every year make something with the fat quarter you receive to show at the next party.

There was also a "dirty santa" game.  Each member had to make a set of place mats to swap.  Here's what I designed and made.  I used jelly roll strips, and English paper pieced the flower. The leaves for the flower are a napkin.

I also made two fleece blankets, but am giving them away for Christmas so I will show them later.


Here are some pictures of my home decked out for Christmas.  I give all the credit to my daughter.  I think she did a great job.

 

hugs,
Sonia

2015 Quilt show with demos

Hello.... wow what a busy day!

The Logan County PieceMaker Quilt Guild held its annual quilt show today.

We gave away our 30's themed quilt today.

Ms Chappel was the happy recipient of the quilt

We had a good show today, with antique and modern quilts.

There was a sewing demonstration and a hand quilting demonstration.  We gave people the chance to sit down put a few stitches in a quilt.  I was happy with the number of people, both male and female, who were willing to give the hand quilting a try.

Antique quilts 

Modern quilts

Hand Quilting demo

Sewing demo of the Jelly Roll Race

Finished Jelly roll race quilt top

Blossoms of light..

It was good to be back in my sewing room this week.   It all started on the weekend when I made this small baby quilt and large receiving blanket.  These two will go the our local COS.

30" square

 I started working on this little quilt a week or so ago.  I finished it this evening.  It is 8" x 12".
It is a representation of what's been going on with my dad.   Though there have been dark days, there has been small blossoms of light along the way.
I have added three beads in each block, representing the Holy Trinity and how God has helped each of us through this long process.  I quilted it in a way that represents the roller coaster ride we have been on with the good days and bad days.  :)  I used metallic thread to quilt it, representing dad's strong will.
 Dad is beginning to have more good days and is getting stronger.

~ Sonia

Been Awhile...

Hi, it's been awhile since I last wrote.   It's been awhile since I was in my sewing room too.  Earlier in the week, I made a commitment to myself to get back in my creative space and dedicate at least an hour of my time each day.

So I bought a tool to help me stay on track.  I set it for an hour and when the alarm goes off, if I decide to continue that's fine, if I'm ready to stop that's fine too but at least I get an hour of creative time.

Today, I made long sleeves to wear when I crochet for long periods of time.  I made them out of an old t-shirt I no longer wear.  The reason I did this is because a rash develops on top of my arms when I crochet for longer periods of time.  Its not on my hands or forearms.  So I was thinking maybe it is from lint or fuss that might come from the yarn.  So I'm going to try this and see if it helps.  If it doesn't then I will try switching to a crochet needle made of a different material than the ones I use now.

I've entered a Fat Quarter Swap! 

 Interested?  

Check it out by clicking the link below.

http://koolbeenz-blog.blogspot.com/2015/07/82-days-left-to-sign-up-for-august-fat.html

So what else have I been up to?  I found this cute little guy and cross stitched (or made an attempt at it) the bib he is wearing.  This was part of a baby gift.

You know I like to go to flea markets and such and last weekend I found this little treasure.  It's an instruction book from 1941.

Yesterday I cut some roses from my ground cover rose and took cuttings from one of my philodendron plants and made a small arrangement.

I think the major change from bringing them in from outside was to hard on the roses though because they were very wilted this morning.  So I took the roses out but left the philodendron cuttings as they will root.

 It's been very hot and humid here in Arkansas.  When I went outside somewhere between 6:30 and 7:00 p.m. it was 95°F, this after it had started cooling down.

Yesterday was the first day, my dad sounded like himself in some time.  He has been in the hospital since June 4th, trying to recover from Guillian-Barre Syndrome.  He has been moved around so much, from facility to facility, that it has affect his dementia. He's tired of being in the hospital; he's tired of the time it is taking for him to recover and regain strength and mobility, but he is determined.

Okay... well I guess that catches me up with you all.   I hope all is going well for you and yours.

Hope to hear from you soon,
Sonia