Sunday sewing

Not the best photo for showing off my Kansas Trouble block - for our 2010 Saturday Sampler. I love this block in spite of all of the little pieces involved. I've chosen the pink and brown color way for this year's sampler projects. And unlike previous years, this time we have all of the fabric for the whole year provided in the first month, along with a photo of the finished blocks. That is kind of fun too - guessing which one will be next.

I'm still working on the hand quilting for my valentine runner, and have about 3/4 of the quilting done. I may be able to finish it today if I keep at it. I have a cute pink and white diagonal stripe to use for the binding.

I've added a couple of photos below to show my process. Since I'm only quilting in the white areas, I'm marking it with a purple disappearing pen. I love these pens, except for when I'm working on darker fabrics. I use a snap together plastic frame. This one is only about 11" square, but I have a larger one too. I love having the ability to smooth out the layers as I move the quilt around in the frame - which helps keep all of the layers nice and flat with no ripples.

Valentine runner

Since I'm still working on the hand quilting on my new Valentine's Day table topper, I thought I would share a photo of the one I made last year.

This one is also hand quilted - but it was really easy, especially in the center. I could quilt around the hearts to make them POP. I love the colors in this one and have used the pattern several times. It can be done as a rectangle like this or as a square. It's a great way to showcase a focus fabric in the middle when you don't want to cut it up in small pieces because it's too pretty.

Snow Day - Sew Day

After a week of fog, rain, and ice, now we have wind and snow - again. We have light snow driven by 40 mph winds today, so most of the schools in the state are closed. Some of them are closed because last week's ice caused power lines and power poles to break. Almost 8,000 people are still without power today. The rest of the schools are closed due to poor road conditions and poor visibility.

It is a perfect day to stay home and quilt - and I'm lucky enough to be able to do so. I finished my Charlotte table topper on Saturday afternoon. I'm about to start pinning the layers together so I can quilt it. Maybe I'll have it done before Valentine's Day. That would be a good goal, wouldn't it? I think the quilting needs to stay simple of this and will probably be just in the white areas.

Another donation quilt

My fabulous quilting friends just finished another quilt for a good cause. This one is going out to the St Francis Indian School in the western part of our state. Our staff has been doing some work with the teachers in that school and we found out that they do an auction every year to raise money for their school. This is one of the most poverty stricken places in the whole country. So we decided to make them a quilt to auction off.

I wasn't able to participate in the making of this quilt, but did help some with the planning. Sylvia stopped over to see me today and brought the quilt to show me. One of the ladies will sew down the binding and then it's going to St Francis later in the week. Red and gold are their school colors. I think it is stunning!

A new swap

I've signed up for another swap through Quilting Gallery. This one is winter-themed. Should be fun! Click on the graphic on the right for more information.

A quick visit to my sewing room

After 3 weeks of recuperation the cat and I finally ventured down to my basement sewing room this afternoon. It was a short visit, but it did feel good to do a little bit of sewing. I'm not ready to spend much time standing over my cutting table or my ironing board. And even with a comfortable sewing chair, the amount of time I can sit there is limited. But it was so nice to be able to do a little.



The day before I got sick I purchased backing fabric for my frosty quilt. And I also purchased a charm pack of Valentine's fabrics. And then I got derailed . . .



I've now pieced the backing to my frosty quilt so I hope to get it quilted soon. And I started working with the charm pack.




The charm pack is from Moda and called "Sent With Love". It's mostly all pinks and reds with a tiny bit of green mixed into some. The pattern I'm using is called "Charlotte" and is from Me and My Sister Designs. It will make a nice little wall hanging. Hopefully I can do a few more blocks every day until I have it finished.

Wedding photo

Just had to share a great photo from the wedding. They took several photos outdoors in the snow. Good thing the wedding wasn't the next weekend because we had another 19 inches of snow to deal with by then.

I'm home - finally

The only New Year's news at my house other than -40 degree wind chill tonight, is that my health has taken a big hit.

The short version. On the evening of Dec 29 my husband took me to the emergency room with severe abdominal pain. Turned out to be a perforated colon. So I had surgery shortly after midnight. I now sport a brand new - and temporary - colostomy and a 10 inch open incision in my abdomen. The incision is open to allow infection to NOT be trapped inside - so I've been told. Enough of the gross stuff however.

I am finally home as of yesterday and will be taking off the entire month of January to recover. So far the first couple of days have been long and exhausting just moving around the house. A HUGE thank you to my husband who has waited on me hand and foot since I've gotten home. I've taken my good health for granted for much too long, and find it rather frustrating that just the simple act of taking a shower is so exhausting. Today I slept about 3 hours on the sofa.

I'm hoping that by the time the weekend is over I'll have enough energy to start doing a little sewing each day. I didn't even have any handwork projects laying around that I could play with while sitting in my rocking chair. Bummer!

Some of my readers have already posted well wishes since Sylvia posted about my surgery on her blog. Thanks so much to each of you. I got to read them in the hospital and they were definitely a mood brightner.

OK - I'm out of energy already. I won't be writing much in the next few days, but I will still be reading all of my favorite blogs.