A Quilt for Ian

Something I wanted to do for Ian was to make him a quilt. Now I have liked quilts for some time, but this is something I was not doing at the time of older grandson Hunters birth. I looked for sometime for a pattern that I thought Ian's Mom would like, and then I had to find fabric-and that was even harder. What I finally found was a batik print of farm animals in bright pastels. The unfortunate part was that there was only a fat quarter available. So that meant rethinking the pattern. But it all worked out with this pattern.

And of course there needed to be a label on the back so that maybe someday Ian could pass the quilt down to his own son as a family heirloom! You can see the animal print a little better in this picture that was the starting point.

Here is a closer look at the quilt--

And while in the quilt making mode, could not resist a fleece blanket to match the wild animal quilt that went out for Kari's baby shower.

This one should be big enough for his big boy bed in a couple of years. (Grandma's like to think ahead!)

That's all for now. Enjoy!

Judy

We have a new Grandson!

Husband Steve and I have just returned from a trip to California to visit our daughter, son in law, and new grandson Ian. What a trip! Not nearly long enough and next visit will to far away. It was very hard to leave everyone behind.

Here he is! Little Ian David

Ian was born Oct 21, 2010

and weighted 7 lbs 15 ozs
And what a handsome boy he is!

Grandpa and Grandma both enjoy holding him. In fact, Grandma was named the official burper while visiting.

Can't wait to see Kari, Matt, and Ian again!

Judy

More Tablerock

Many years ago when we first came to Tablerock Lake a friend of my parents told them about a place where he had hooked up a ski rope and you could run along a rock ledge and swing out over the water to jump into the lake. This has been a favorite activity ever since. We had to introduce Ben to this spot. He and Kim took a couple of runs off the ledge.



Jumping off the boat--



And swimming from the boat to the ledge----



Getting ready to take the run and jump--

And the swing---


Doesn't Daddy Steve look relaxed here? He waited a long time for this vacation to come and enjoyed every minute of it!

What a day on the Lake. Wish there could be more just like this one!

Judy

Tablerock Lake, Branson, Missouri

We vacationed again this year at Stormy Point Village at Branson, Mo. We really love being on the water of Tablerock Lake. Two years ago the weather was very fallish with cool temperatures and rain. This year more than made up for that! We had warm, sunny weather with temps in the 80's. Loved it.

My birthday was during vacation week and we celebrated with a small cake. I'm not telling how many candles should have been on the cake, but this was plenty to get lighted! They melted FAST!

The first weekend our daughter Kim and her DH Ben came and spent a couple of days with us.

They enjoyed the water as did Grandma Charlene.

And we had plenty of good food!

More in a bit!

Judy

Out the front door

Many times we can see great sunrises and rainbows out the front door. Just thought I would share a few! Enjoy!

Judy

More IDMA Convention!

This beautiful home was open for us to tour. I love Victorian homes and would love to live in one, but I bet they take an awful lot of upkeep!

The Arizona Doll Museum is just around the corner from the Victorian Home and we spent alot of time looking at all the wonderful dolls. There was a great variety from antique to fairly modern dolls.

We saw lots of interesting landscapes, too. So different from what we see daily.

This doll was in the competition at the convention and was voted viewers choice. Quite striking.

Judy

Catching Up-Again

Last July, three friends and I went to the International Dollmakers association convention in Scottsdale, AZ. As usual we drove to the convention. Just no way we could get there on a plane. We have toooo much stuff. We all signed up to take the "Specialty" class where we painted, dressed, and coiffed a French Fashion doll. Her costume was a two piece beaded Victorian wedding gown. And while I am still beading on my dress, I think the other three have theirs completed.

This picture shows how hard we concentrate on the task at hand. Hardly a spoked word to be heard here!

And here is the Class instructor Joyce Murch demonstrating a painting technique. We did have the option of purchasing a painted head from Joyce if we did not want to do the painting ourselves. Of course, I wanted to "Do It All", so I did both, purchased a head and painted a head.

We worked at this project from 8-12 each morning and from 1-5 each afternoon. And if there was not a function to attend in the evening, we worked in our rooms as well.

Here are the four of us with our Specialty Class dolls right before the closing banquet.

Here is our instructor Joyce with all the dolls at the closing banquet. Quite a nice display of dolls.

Hope you enjoy these pictures!

Judy

Hollyhocks!

We have had Hollyhocks growing on the west and south sides of our house for a long time. But they were showing their age-weak colors and not very plentiful. Last year I found a bag of seed heads that had been saved and sprinkled them around. What a difference that has made this year. Must collect some seeds this summer to use again another year.

Judy

Fathers Day

Fathers Day was a big day here. We had both sons here to celebrate Fathers Day and also older son Ken's birthday. It is rare to have both boys here at the same time.

In addition, for a HUGE surprise for hubby Steve, I had pieced the Pansy Park quilt which he had purchased as an anniversary gift about eight years ago. For a long time I resisted making the blocks because I was afraid if I made any mistakes that there would not be enough fabric to make the quilt. Steve has asked somewhat regularly when I was going to make this quilt and I always replied that I will make it when I had more time. No, I don't have more time now than I had then, but at some point I decided to try to get the top made for our anniversary. (Which is July 5th). But then I upped the anty so to speak and decided Fathers Day would be a better time to do the unveiling. So while Steve toiled at his computer, I snuck in piecing blocks. If he emerged from his cave, I quickly threw something over the blocks until he returned. Actually, his cave is his office, but when he has lots of work requests ahead of him, I don't see much of him. By the week before Father's Day the top was nearly complete except for the last two borders. And I had a heck of a time getting those on because that week was the week he stayed up late almost every night either working or reading. Some nights I was sewing on a border at 1:00 AM.

I think he likes it. Now to get it quilted and on the bed!

Judy

Basket of Flowers

At long last, the time had come to replace the Snowman on my wire display rack with something a little more current. So again using a pattern from The Wooden Bear, Mom and I made these cute small quilts. Of course, I thought I needed to buy special fabrics for them instead of trying to use from my stash, but I thought they turned out really cute.

My two friends Carolyn and Connie have made one, too, but Connie was unable to be with us the day the picture was taken. Carolyn's Basket of Flowers was made totally from her stash. Doesn't the plaid make a world of difference?

Next on the list for the wire hanger is a 4th of July flower arrangement. Oh wait! Today is the 4th of July. Guess it will be on the hanger next year :( .

Judy

A New Day-A New Plan

I love to start new projects! Just can't wait to see what my ideas and fabrics will look like as I work with them. The trouble is, once I reach a point where I can see how it's working, or have grasped a new concept, I start to lose interest. Also, needing to put away the project(s) for a meeting or a holiday changes what is taking priority in my plans.

So to try and help keep focused on just a few things, I decided to try keeping a Project Notebook where I would put all the instructions for current in progress projects. Sounded like a good idea. Feels like a good idea. Soon became very apparent I have more in progress projects than will fit into a notebook. That goes to show that I do lose interest and move on to another project.

The good thing about this idea is that I am keeping instructions together and I like looking through the book. It is a reminder of what I am choosing as the most important projects to keep working on. The first two projects in the book are true ongoing projects as they are the instructions for two Block of the Month Quilt groups that I signed up for. Those may eventually move to another notebook as the number of instruction sheets grows. Other projects have been apron patterns for a challenge that my doll club has for this year. One member gave us three variations of a pattern and being a little bit OCD, I had to make all three in both sizes. Then I also decided to make another set with a sewing theme. By the time I got to the end of the last set, I was truly ready to get those instructions out of the project book. Here is one set-these turned out really cute. The picture does not really do them justice.

The dolls are called Rosette-the taller doll, and the smaller one is Bleuette. The names were what the French called them when they were first produced. Both of these are reproductions that I made. Since I am starting to make more clothing that will fit the taller doll, I need to make a couple more that size.

To get back to the subject of the project notebook, for the time being I am finding it very helpful. If you are like me and can lose things easily (or not remember where you left something) you might this idea. I'll keep you posted on how this continues to work out.

Judy

One More Down

A long term project-well-since last winter has been a quilted bag for my Mom. This should have been an easy one, but she wanted a zipper to close the bag and after I got that in, my enthusiasm waned. Last week I decided she had waited long enough and finished the bag. Just take a look at "Cool Mom". This falls into the "Why did I take so long" category!

Fresh Water Table Mat

The Table Runner from the last post now has a "matching" mat. The mat was made from the triangles that were left over from the shaping of the runner. Doesn't make much sense from this description, but I love how this turned out. With the sky on the outside it is much lighter and brighter. The mat now resides on my family room table although it moves out of the way with every meal. My husband does not want to put food of any kind anywhere near it. That's good I suppose since I don't want to be washing it every other day! A sand castle that belongs to my daughter Kim lives in the middle of the mat when it is on the table.

Judy

Table Runner for Summer

One of my quick projects started before going to Kansas City was a table runner. The pattern was a freebie with the purchase of a fabric kit. (It is now available to purchase at your favorite quilt shop.)Take a look at the cool fabric I found to use for summer. Don't you just love the fresh water, boats, and houses? The fabric has four repeats going lengthwise down the piece.

When you use a 60 degree triangle ruler to cut wedges off the end, then you get this design. The leftover wedges can then be made into a table mat or used for the ends of another runner with the design looking in instead of out. This is easy to make and with three more pattern repeats, something else interesting will be coming along.

Since I have several other things to accomplish today, I will sign off for now. Have a great day!

Judy

PS: The Pattern is called "Easy Striped Table Runner" By Karen Montgomery and put out by Timeless Treasures.

Kansas City-Weston Trip

Lots has been happening-the best of which was a trip to Kansas City to see daughter Kim and her husband Ben. The first night there we enjoyed beautiful weather and grilling outdoors.

On Friday Steve and I went to the 1/2 Price Book store and found some goodies. Steve found a civil war book and I found lots of quilting books for a very reasonable price. It was hard not to buy them all!

Later we went to the River Market area and browsed through a four story antique mall. Lots and lots of things there. I found a table topper quilt book, a pattern book that will be adaptable for my wire display rack, a hot pad, and a handkerchief. Not sure where the book will reside since my coffee table is filled with plants and has been for a long time.

We spent Friday evening with Kim and Ben and had another great dinner-Kim fixed Shepherds pie. We had never had that,or at least not called that.

Saturday we went to the small town of Weston which is known for its old brewery. We had lunch at the restaurant there and then took the tour. The old brewery was built underground with the lowest level being where they brewed lager, the next higher level was for ale. Now of course, they use modern techniques. We were also served samples of their beer at an underground restaurant.

Later in the afternoon we visited an antique show being held in Weston, too. Lots of things were there, but not too much that tripped the trigger. I found Kim some dish towels that she will use.

At a local shop, I found an antique doll that I should have bought. Unfortunately I cannot remember the name of the shop. The pricing was certainly fair, though. I did buy a potholder there which I will use for decoration. It is crocheted and looks like something my Aunt Maude would have made back in the 1950's.

Later that night we watched the movie about Julia Child and the other Julie who made all of the recipes in Julia Child's cookbook in one year. Pretty good.

Guess that is all for now! Talk again soon!

Time to Catch Up!

You know how it goes-first one thing, then the other keeps you from posting on the Blog. I can blame my absence on Snow and Ice, Work and Play, but really sometimes you just let time get away! I have been creating even though the posting wasn't being done. And yes, all those things listed were reasons, but we are going to try to get caught up soon.

The first thing to report as finished are two more Scrap Sacks (for catching threads and scraps as you are sewing).

One of these is for Mom because she LOVES the fabric and it is much prettier than the one she bought several years ago. And you can always use two! The second one will be donated to the International Doll Makers Association for their helpers.

The pillowcase project is going along well. I presented the pillowcase instructions to the Stuart Quilt Club and we worked on them at our last meeting. Today one of the members gave me four more to add to the stash. Below is a picture of the last set I made. Just couldn't resist getting the horse fabric. It is so easy to find pretty floral and girlie fabric, but making cases for boys is harder.

The doll dresses I have been working on are all finished, too! The Bleuette and Rosette Valentine dresses turned out just like I had hoped.


Bleuettes coat looks very good, although I would make some changes if I were to make it again.

This year the Heartland Dollers monthly project is to make a new apron for Bleuette every month. Sorry to say, I am behind, but I hope to get caught up sometime. The January meeting was held here and here is the apron pattern that I provided for the ladies.

This last picture is of all the dolls that were at the meeting for show and tell. The two dolls in the middle of the front are wearing the February apron. The pink apron next two them is the March challenge apron, in the back row we have the January apron on the doll in light pink plus my white one. I hope that next month we will see many more aprons from all the months.

I'll let this be all for now. Mom is coming and we will be making the last block for our BOM from the Quilt Block. The hardest thing this month will be to decide on a setting for these very bright and colorful blocks.

We'll talk later!

Judy