Bed for Barbie

Here is the finished bed for Barbie, so now she has a place to lay her blonde head at night--doesn't have to sleep on the sofa anymore!! LOL!!! Making this furniture is a bit addicting--you make one and you want to make more and more! I'm going to make either a chest of drawers or an armoire for her bedroom next. Then I have a pattern for a kitchen and a bathroom that she probably will tell me she has to have after that!! Such fun! You'd think I was the one playing with Barbies and not the grandaughters!!! HA! HA!! Actually I didn't have Barbie type dolls when I was growing up many moons ago--just baby doll types that I spent many hours playing and pretending with. Maybe that's why I enjoy playing with Barbie type dolls so much now! I may have to make a quilt for Barbie's bed, don't you think?

Let quilting help you make someone smile

Jan

Thank you for being my friend!

Had a great morning with my dear friend Debi--first breakfast and then shopping at our favorite quilt store--what could be better!!! Debi gave me the neatest gift--a packet of charm squares and a jelly roll of the most beautiful fabrics--I don't want to unroll it because it's so pretty!!! She also gave me a towel set that has a poem on it that talks about Friendship being a Matter of the Heart--it's the most beautiful sentiment and I got teary eyed just reading it. Isn't it great to have a friend like that--I treasure our friendship and I want everyone to know what a great friend you are, Debi!

At the quilt store, I got the outer border fabric for my Heirloom Romance quilt, the first block in the new BOM, Rosebud Lane and treated myself to a new Beanpod candle; Cinnamon Spice--yummy. We like to keep one burning on the stove all the time--makes the house smell so good! Makes me sneeze, too, but I just blow it out when it gets too bad--LOL!!!

Picture 2 is a Project Linus quilt that I call "I Can Sing a Rainbow." It will go to a chapter here in Texas. The pattern in Yellow Brick Road by Terry Atkinson.

I found out yesterday that I will have to have surgery on my left shoulder where I have a torn rotator cuff and a bone spur. I will be out of commission for about a month with an arm sling--and then a few weeks of Physical Therapy after that---not sure just what I will be able to do or feel like doing during or after all of that! So in the next 2 weeks, I hope to get a lot of things caught up, although I'm in a lot of pain now if I do too much, so don't know how much I will get done!!!!!! But it will all be waiting for me when I do get back to it!!!

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan

An Honor!

Thanks to Kimberly, I received an honor of award of You Make My Day and I would like to pass it to Debi, Bren, Sheryl, Myra, Jeanne, AmandaJean, Karen, and Jan. There are many others that I have probably forgotten about who make my day and I'm sorry if I left you out!

Kimberly, you really made my day by giving me this honor and I thank you very much!!!

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan

Glory Star

This is a new wall hanging probably best used for the 4th of July called Glory Star. I got the pattern and fabric when I was in Wisconsin. It was a fast and fun pattern to do. It will be a great reminder of my trip back to the old homestead and surroundings!! I like patterns like these--easy to do and not lots of brain power to do them and they turn out great in the end...who wouldn't--right??!! Maynard quilted it with a star pantograph that Jackie gave us for holding the get together of friends that wanted a demo on how the Little Gracie worked--thanks Jackie!

Still working on Barbie furniture--sewing together a bed right now--have a bed springs and mattress finished and now am working on the rest. Hope to have a finished bed to show you soon!

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan

Heirloom Romance Purse # 3

Here is Heirloom Romance Purse # 3--with beads and all!! These certainly are fun to do and watch them turn out so neatly. Although I can't imagine carrying a purse like that in these days--they sure didn't carry very much, did they? Maybe someone else carried all the "stuff" they needed and they didn't have to worry about it! LOL!! It certainly was a different time and era than what we live in today. Were they the good old days--I wonder? I'll take the indoor privvy and the air conditioning that we have today, thank you very much, before I wish to return to those good old days!

I also finished and am now caught up with crazy mom quilts blocks--all 10 of them -- I think I like these last 2 blocks the best of all of them so far now!

Yes, the last time we talked, I still had my arm in a sling, well, I have since been diagnosed with a torn rotator cuff, so have taken off the arm sling and am carefully sewing again. I say carefully because, if any of you have had this you know that it hurts if you move just right (or wrong) and you have to be careful. I go on Friday to the orthopedic surgeon to see what the next step is.

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan

Barbie Furniture

Rumbling around in the boxes for a new project, I came across this Barbie-size living room set of furniture that I had started about a year ago and had set back unfinished for some unknown reason. So I pulled it out to work on it again and finished it up--good project to work on with arm in sling!! So now Barbie can have a living room for her house. Next I think she needs a bedroom, so I think I'll have to cut out a bed and dresser for her. The grandgirls, ages 5 and 2 have just started to notice Barbie and so I'll be ready for them when they start playing with her more. These pieces take awhile to make!!! (Don't know why the ottoman looks funny in the picture, but it really isn't in real life--must be the angle of the shot!!!)

They are made with plastic canvas and knitting worsted weight yarn--just the kind that you can buy at Wal-Mart. You use regular needlepoint stitches. I have made lots of things with plastic canvas and it is lots of fun, but the last 13 years or so, quilting has taken over my life and I haven't done so much. It's kinda fun to be back in it again! But I must confess quilting will always be my first love!! But hey, these are for the grandgirls so I love doing them!!!!!

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan

Beadwork is Fun!

I've made up my mind to tie off my Heirloom Romance Crazy Quilt , so decided that I could do the beadwork on it as I go along. Went back to block 1 and did the beadwork on that one and here's the picture. Also finished the center block which is the fan that you see in the second picture--I added a little charm that says "I Love Quilting" and a little charm that is a purse in case you can't see them! This is turning into so much fun that I can see how these Crazy Quilts get loaded down with so much embroidery and doo-dads! But I want mine to remain somewhat simple, so I am resisting (so far) putting all that "gingerbread" on mine--we'll see how long that lasts!!!! LOL!

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan

More Embroidery

Spent the day yesterday watching 2 footballs games (sorry to see the Colts lose!) and doing more embroidery on my Heirloom Romance quilt blocks--at least I can do that even with my arm in a sling!!! LOL!! I got brave and decided to try adding lace--had some heirloom tatted medallions, so I put one of them on and also added a couple pieces of regular lace, trying to copy from a book I have on crazy quilting called "The Magic of Crazy Quilting" by J. Marsha Michler. It's a very well done book with lots of illustrations of embroidery stitches and instructions on how to do crazy quilts. I was especially interested in how to finish one . She says to quilt the batting to the backing then tie the front to the batting and backing. Whew, sounds like double work to me. I am more and more thinking that I will tie it off with an off-white perle cotton and call it good. Anybody out there who has done a crazy quilt? I'm open to suggestions!

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan

A Hurt Wing

Yes, I am the Mother Hen with a hurt wing after a fall (that's what the doctor said to me yesterday!!!!!)--although it isn't broken, I am in a lot of pain and the doctor doesn't know what's wrong--I go for an MRI next week to check further, since the X-Rays came back showing nothing amiss! I have my left arm in a sling and it's not fun--no sewing for me--just embroidery for the next 6 weeks! So the picture shows what I worked on yesterday and today--embroidery on Heirloom Romance crazy blocks. Good thing I was able to get all but 10 of the blocks sewn up before I became disabled, so I have lots of embroidery to do, plus 6 more purses!

Maybe in a way this came at a good time, because I have all kinds of tops made for Project Linus and we need to have a time of getting caught up on the quilting of them and get them on their way to the kids that need them.

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan

Another Heirloom Romance Purse Block

Finished another Heirloom Purse block and this one has finge on it--couldn't figure out how to do the fringe, so took it to my Sit N Sew group and asked for help and got some suggestions and we figured it out! What a great group of gals!!! Now I have nice 3-dimensional fringe. Funny thing is---I e-mailed the gal that wrote the pattern and she called me last night saying that she couldn't get my e-mail to go through and she said the fringe was supposed to be the back stitch and one-dimensional! Well, mine is my own, I guess and different because I am leaving it---I like the way it looks! She was such a sweetheart of a gal to call me when I had a question on a pattern--aren't quilters just the best ever?! I've never met a quilter I didn't like and who wasn't a kind, giving person.

Also finished week 8 block from crazy mom quilts blog and it's another great block. Already week 8 and only 4 more to go before we set this one together!

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan

Heirloom Romance Purse Block

I finished the first of 8 Heirloom Romance purse embroidery blocks and really like the way it turned out--plus it was fun to do--I'm sure when I add the beads, it will even be more fun, but can't do that until I figure out if I'm going to quilt this one or not. Old time crazy quilts were not quilted, but tied off, (from what I have read) so I may do something along that line, just don't know yet! I can't seem to make up my mind.

The second picture shows the purse block with some of the crazy blocks around it--some of them will have embroidery on them,too.

This quilt is different from any other that I have done and I find myself consumed with it--it's all I want to work on! I need to quilt some Project Linus quilts, but haven't had the urge to do that--must get on the ball and start doing that again! I have plenty of tops done, but it's that same old story -- more tops done than I have quilted!!! Maybe I can remedy that this week!

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan

Thimbleberries BOM Done!

House and Garden 2007 BOM from Thimbleberries is completely finished! The 1st picture is a picture of the top. The 2nd picture shows the quilting and the flap in the binding that I so dreaded doing in a close-up. Maynard is glad that this one is done with the quilting and I'm glad that it is finished! I think I won't be doing any big ones anymore--it was just too hard to maneuver around and sew and then quilt (I did help, though Maynard did the bulk of the quilting!) and then sew the binding on for these tired old arms! It will look lovely on the guest bed though!!

I also did the week 7 block from crazy mom quilts blog (3rd picture). Already week 7 of 12--how time flies when you are quilting! Everyone talks about fast time seems to go by--I think we are so busy that we cram so much into time that it seems to move at a quicker pace! It especially flies by when we are taking a nap, doesn't it? But I still like to slip those naps into my daily routine! Can't understand why my 4 year-old grandson fights taking a nap so much--I think he afraid he will miss something--although over the holidays when we were there visiting, his other grandma told me that he had said, "I like myself better when I have taken a nap!" Out of the mouths of babes comes great wisdom! Sometimes I feel the same way, Evan!

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan

Chocolate Sayings Quilt

This panel was from my friend Debi and says it all about chocolate--things like "Hand over the chocolate and no one gets hurt!!" "Milk chocolate is a dairy product!" and my personal favorite, "Given enough Diet Soda and Chocolate, I could rule the world!!" I used lots of different fancy stitches that are on my machine to quilt it--that was fun, plus I didn't even download all the ones from the disc that are available! There are a bunch!

Maynard finished quilting the Thimbleberries BOM yesterday and now I need to get busy on that binding--I probably should have worked on that this afternoon, but the Chocolate panel was much more fun! There is a flap that has to be added in with the binding and while I'm sure it isn't all that hard, it is something I have never done before, so I'm putting it off just for that reason--I should just go ahead and "Just Do It" and put that experience behind me, but putting it off is so much more tempting!!!!

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan

Mystery RRRR blocks started!

Today Debi posted the first of her RRRR blocks "Road to Oklahoma"--what a pretty block it is, too! I finished the block and then finished the row of 6. I got started and couldn't quit! I'm very pleased with the way it turned out! This is going to be a great Christmas quilt for next year! Thanks Debi for doing this!

Maynard's been working diligently this week-end at the quilting machine (Little Grace Pro II) quilting the Thimbleberries BOM.

It is quite a challenge because if its size--it fills up the whole board of the frame and is quite long (96" x 115"), but it is looking really good! I think it's going to work out very well. Maynard will be glad when its done, I think--I hear lots of sighs coming from his corner of the room!!! LOL!!

Happy New Year 2008 to everyone. Many quilty blessings to you in this new year!

Let quilting help you make someone smile!

Jan