ALYOF June Goal Complete

With the total lack of time I've had in June to do anything Quilty, I am amazed that I completed my goal for A Lovely Year of Finishes.  I'm still not sure if this qualifies as a 'finish' except I did 'finish' this goal, which was to get the fabric cut out for my niece's wedding quilt.

There it is: a stack of pieces. I actually was able to get all the half squares sewn in half and cut. Now I need to iron them out and trim.  The wedding is the third week in August, so I have some time, but I am going to try to get it finished by the end of July.

And in the spirit of summer, I'll share just a couple of vacation pictures with you.  We traveled to Oregon to help our son celebrate his graduation from college - YES!  Then we took a grand tour down the coast all the way to northern California to see the Redwoods, then back up to Medford to see an old friend, and then over to Bend so I could do a convention for my Day Job. Just got home last night. This was the first time in more than 30 years that we have taken two weeks away from work at the same time. HOW FUN IT WAS!!! Awesome good fun.  I think retirement might be A-Okay.

Here I am in front of the Needles of Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach, Oregon. I love the ocean!

Hiked along the Deschutes River near Bend, Oregon. Wished we had our fishing rods with us - beautiful stream.

Back to my desk work and then tomorrow is a Quilting Day - hurray!

Always quilt with a smile,
Barb

Linking up to ALYOF

My Goal for June

I'm not sure if this will qualify for the Lovely Year of Finishes, but I have it down for my 2014 Finish Along Goal and so I'd really like to get it done. At least, get this step done.

These are my gatherings.  I've been getting fabrics together over the past year, found a backing fabric (the one with lasso ropes) and then I had to come up with a pattern. I know - kinda backwards thinking:  get fabric first, then find the pattern. Well, I guess that's how my feeble brain works because I do that all the time!

So as I was shifting through all my patterns, I decided upon this Dizzying Diamonds. And then I looked at it closer, and it's a pattern designed by our dearly beloved blogging friend, and co-host of this ALYOF, Melissa of Bittersweet Designs. So this will be a fun project!

The quilt is for my niece's wedding in August. She's a true cowgirl, and her fiance's a tried and true cowboy, so they should like it. See? It's high time I get 'er done.  But I have almost no opportunity to work on anything quilty in June, so my goal is to get all the pieces cut out. That's it. Get that step done, and then when I have 10 minutes here or there, I can sit down and start piecing it together. Good plan!

The remaining photos in this post are just random photos of flowers in my garden. The entire garden is doing so much better this year than last - bigger blossoms, lasting longer. Or so it seems. We had some hard frosts last year which I think put a damper on a lot of flowers. Crossing fingers that won't happen this June.

I'm not too prejudice - I let dandelions bloom once in awhile!

Here's hoping everyone enjoys their weekend. It's an excellent one for me - I've finished Seminar Week From H??? traveling the far corners of our state, and now our daughter has come for an impromptu visit from Seattle.  So I've got some quality time to go spend with her before she flies back tomorrow.

Barb

 

Hands2Help Charity Quilt to Gift

This spring I decided to participate in the Hands2Help Charity Quilt Challenge 2014. There were three great charities which we could donate a quilt, and since cancer has been such a dreadful part of my family history, I decided I'd make a child's quilt for the Happy Chemo group.

This was one of the first quilts I made. Pretty simple.  But it has that really soft Minky backing that makes it perfect for snuggling. Or for a child to cuddle into and feel warm. And cozy. I want to say feel safe, but I dare not go that far for a child with cancer. After all, quilts can only provide little bits of comfort.

It will be a good quilt for the right family.

The colors have always reminded me of a Western theme. Maybe it's those curliques in the red that remind me of lassos?

I am looking forward to seeing what everyone else has come up with for their donations. 

Definitely quilting with a smile!
Barb

ALYOF to Match The Awesome Weather

Yes! In a super-busy month, I finished my May Goal. Yes!

I made it a simple goal because I knew I'd be hoofin' it to get everything accomplished this month.  I'm glad I did. This month's goal was to complete the binding on my Charm Pack Cherry quilt with a black background. I do like the turquoise binding - kinda sets it off.  The print fabric is Moda's Barcelona, and the entire lap quilt takes 2 charm packs of the print and 2 charm packs of the solid.

 It was an interesting process to make the quilt in two different background colors. I like each one.

On a side note, the arthritis in my hands has been acting up.  Not fun. But then last night, I had an unusual thing happen. The ring finger on my right hand (of course, I'm right handed)  decided to voluntary, and without any prior approval from me, snap into a semi-permanent position with the fingertip down against my palm. And it refused to snap back into place.

Owie! So after I stopped panicking, calmed down and took some Ibuprofen, and soaked my hand in hot water and then in one of my flax seed hot packs (gotta love those hot packs!), I was relaxed and the tendon gave way and it went back to normal.  Which is a good thing. Except after a visit with a surgeon today who specializes in hands, she gave me a cortisone shot to reduce the inflammation. Owie again!  At my age, I just don't do 'owie' well, lol.  Hopefully, though, it will give that hand some relief. After all, I have a big To Do List and all of it, every bit of it, involves my hands. Wish me luck so I don't need surgery!

Looking forward to seeing everyone's finishes for May.  And remember: quilt with a smile!

Barb

Linking up with Linky Tuesday, ALYOF, Thread & Needle Thursday, and Quilt Story.

Winner of my Sew Mama Sew Giveaway!

Wow! What a fun week this has been. I was overwhelmed with all the responses to the giveaway I had in conjunction with Sew Mama Sew. It was so much fun to read all the comments, correspond with you, make some new friends, and have some of you join me for my quilting journey. So fun.

Say what? You have a winner?

But you are all anxious to know who my winner is.  I must say the first two names that the random generator drew were No Reply Bloggers, and without email information, I have no way to contact you. So, the third name drawn was Colleen from Alaska.  Congratulations, Colleen! An email is winging its way to your In Box at this very nano second.
 
Thanks for all of you who took time to respond. The question that I posed about what you did for exercise after you'd been sewing a long while proved to be a great question. I got to see a little glimpse into your life, and it was great inspiration for me, personally, to get off my tush more often and MOVE! I tend to stay focused at the task at hand, but my body really thanks me for taking a few minutes throughout the day to just move.

Thanks to you all, and I'll see you around!

Remember to quilt with a smile,
Barb

Dance of the Butterflies

International Quilt Market is taking place this weekend in Pittsburgh. I'm not going, but it's fun to know that I have a small - well, actually teeny, tiny - part to play in it this year.

I didn't make this lovely quilt, but I did quilt it for a friend of mine, Janet Houts.  She created the design and made up this quilt for Blank Quilting. And I got to quilt it!

Janet made this from a variety of Blank fabrics. I really enjoyed working on it because the blues were just so striking, and the greens really set it off. And, well, it just felt like summer, which is way too short in this part of the country.

The appliqued butterfly wings are machine appliqued with a wonderful gold thread. And the antennae is done by machine with a specialty stitch - not sure what the stitch is called, but it's perfect for this application!

Dance of the Butterflies was made for Blank Quilting and will be raffled off at Quilt Market. Only Quilt Market participants get a chance to get in on the raffle, darn it. I know some of you are heading to Pittsburgh, so if you are, be on the lookout for it.  And if you see it, can you snap a photo of this quilt and let us see where it's hanging?

In the meantime, I'm back at it. I'm finishing up one project so I can take it to Show & Tell at our quilt guild meeting tonight, and aside from that, I don't have any personal projects in the works right now. That is something I really must remedy - fast!

Remember to quilt with a smile,
Barb

Linking up with Needle and Thread Thursday, TGIFF, Show Off Saturday, Linky Tuesday and Fabric Tuesday.

Giveaway Day with Sew Mama Sew

It's May, spring is in the air, so what better to do than sponsor a giveaway! I'm participating with the Sew Mama Sew Giveaway Day (or rather, week).  It's fun to meet all the bloggers, check out their giveaways, and make some new friends in the process.
 

If you're not already a follower, take a moment to look around my blog.  I'm a fifty-something empty nester who has not been a life-long quilter. In fact, I caught the Quilting Bug just a few short years ago. I was intrigued by all the new, modern quilting designs and the glorious array of quality fabrics available in quilt shops. The possibilities were overwhelming. Oh my goodness - I was hooked!

Over the past three years I've had fun exploring my quilting abilities. I opened an Etsy shop, I've done local craft fairs, and now I've settled in quilting for others on my Gammill long arm machine.  I went this route because my kids and family didn't want me to make them quilts. Sigh. Without being able to give quilts away to those I loved, I didn't know where to channel my creative, quilty energies. So I embarked on those other avenues. But now - the irony of it all - is that my family's okay with me making them a quilt or two. Go figure!

For my Giveaway, I'm tossing in not one, but two, Moda charm packs. They are Civil War Jubilee and Historical Blenders and they work well together.  With some background fabric, this would be enough to make a good-sized quilt, or several table runners, or an awesome bag!

Entering is easy!  Just leave a comment and tell me what you do for exercise when you need a break from quilting. I suspect we all spend too much time at the sewing machine and our bodies need to MOVE! 

For a bonus entry, let me know if you follow Mountain Quiltworks and how.

This giveaway is open to everyone - international entries welcome. The winner will be chosen at random, so get your entries in today!  Just be sure you are not a No-Reply blogger, or if you're not certain, leave your email addy so I can get in touch with you if your name is drawn.  The giveaway is open from May 12 and will close on May 16 at 5 p.m. Pacific Standard Time.

Thanks to Kristin and Beth at Sew Mama Sew for hosting this giveaway. It's such a good way to make new friends!

Remember to quilt with a smile,
Barb

Linking up with Missouri Mel's Giveaway Roundup