Monday – another chance to start my New Life

After using the excuses of a busy schedule, vacation, visitors, and “too tired”, it is time to get moving again towards my New Life – yes, that energized Bonnie who gets all her projects done.  So far I am off to a lousy start.  The daily Sudoku puzzle was not easy this morning and I had a lot of blog reading to catch up on along with sorting out purchases and gifts from this past week.  It is nearly lunch time and not a single project has been touched.  Ah well, I have all afternoon and evening……

My visitors brought me some lovely gifts including a Downton Abbey jigsaw puzzle and a generous gift card……

Also received a sweet cat scissor magnetic fob and needle holder…

While shopping with the girls, I bought fabric…….backgrounds, backings, and fat quarters….

And at the counted cross-stitch store I added some linen to my stash in case I ever get around to doing all the many, many patterns I want to do…

At the paper store, this die came home with me and some sparkles..

A big completely unnecessary purchase was this fragrance lamp…..

And of course I have NEVER walked into a book store without buying a book….

In the evenings while relaxing with iPads, books, and good conversation, I managed to get this quilt bound.

This knitted neck warmer finished…

And worked on this redwork square……..

It is ALWAYS a good time when friends come to visit.  We go shopping and eat out, but the best times are around the breakfast table in the morning and around the living room in the evening.

Bonnie – the one in the sun glasses!

 

Day at home

This morning I woke up to this…..

Yes, that is snow on the ground – on April 20th.  However, this afternoon when the sun came out and the snow was gone, my grass looked very green!

I finished up some binding for friend Moe.

The backing is a very soft flannel, and here is a corner of the front…………..snowmen in attic windows, quilted with swirly big snow flakes………..cute.

Today I also finished up Block #4 of Comfort and Joy.  It seemed to take me a long time to get this block done.  There were lots of components and lots of applique.

The little bird in the upper right hand corner has a banner which is supposed to be embroidered with “Peace on Earth”, but I cheated and used some fabric that says “Merry Christmas”.

I do wish you peace though!

 

 

 

 

 

Block #4 – Craftsy Block-of-the-month

After two weeks of doing other things, I was back in the quilt studio today and made Block #4 of the Craftsy block-of-the-month.  This was a lesson in curved piecing.  The block is huge so the curves are gentle.  I only had one pucker to undo.  The rest went together easily although it involved making templates (ugh).

The teacher suggested doing the blanket stitch by hand around the circle.  I took her suggestion and hated it, so I undid it and re-did it on the machine.  Much better.

The week before last I went to visit my sister-in-law in California.  I rested well in this cozy bed.

And enjoyed sitting out on the patio.

We went on a whale watching boat trip out of San Diego and then enjoyed a good lunch at The Fish Market.

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit.  Picture of nephew Randy, me, and sister-in-law Pat (picture taken by Aleta, Pat’s housemate).

 

 

 

Goodies

My nephew’s adorable dog…………………..(my nephew is adorable too.)I have been away visiting family west of the Mississippi.  I just got home and wanted to immediately post two pictures.  Tanner, the dog – and goodies purchased at some quilt shops.

More in the days to come………………….

More favorite things……

This is a wall in my kitchen filled with favorite things…..

The Welcome Home picture at the top was made when I was working and coming home at the end of the day was such a welcome thing.  Yours Is The Earth was made by my mother and the printers plate next to it is my dad’s favorite hymn, Unto The Hills.  Below on the left is a piece that I did that says, “Seize the Day” – a reminder to me to be present in the moment.  Lastly, at the bottom right, is one of my treasures made by Brenda, “Take Time to Quilt”.  Here is a close-up of her beautiful expert stitching.

Favorite things..

Do you have some favorite things?  On my bookshelf is a shabby-chic statue of a girl reading a book.  She shares space with a little counted cross-stitch picture declaring two of my favorite things – music and books.

 

 

Redwork

Stuck in a plastic box, up on a shelf, are eight redwork flowers that I made years ago.  I think it was an Alex Anderson design…….not positive.  It has been on my UFO list for a long, long time and I decided to pull it out and work on it.  I only have four more flowers to do for a total of 12 flowers, and I have been saving some good red and white fabrics to make a quilt with these flowers.  Maybe 2013 will be the year it is finally completed……………maybe.

April Snowman

It seems I have never shown a picture of my April snowman.  I did these snowmen quite a while ago.  Pictures of all the snowmen are on a separate page of this blog – in no particular order. (see tab above).

Binding joins

When I first started quilting, there were many women who helped me along my journey with hints and instructions.  I am forever grateful for the binding hints and advice I got to join the strips on an angle, to press the seams open, and to use a 2-1/4 folded binding.

One thing I do that I don’t often see done is to use my Easy Angle ruler to cut the strip ends for the join.  I place the two strips together, right sides up, and place the Easy Angle to make the angle cut.  The cut includes the little straight piece at the bottom.

When you then place the ends right sides together for sewing, the blunt end is against the straight edge or the opposite piece thus making it easy to sew the quarter inch and eliminating the dog ears.

Just thought I would pass this hint on.  You may have a better way, but for me this method works great.

 

 

Get It Done for April

For March –  My easy list of goals were all accomplished.  

 

1.  Moe’s Binding

 

2.  March postcard exchange

 

3.  Block #3 of Comfort & Joy

 

4.  Block #3 of Craftsy Block-of-the-Month

 

5.  Finish two counted cross-stitch smalls.

Now on to April – another easy list.

 

1.  Binding for Moe’s Snowman Quilt

 

2.  Binding for my Noteworthy Quilt

 

3.  Block #4 of Comfort & Joy

 

4.  Block #4 of Craftsty Block-of-the-Month

 

5.  Make two lavender cross-stitch smalls.

April will be a busy month for me, so I didn’t want to set myself up for failure.  In May I hope to challenge myself a little more and put an old UFO on my list.  (gasp)

Bonnie