Sunday Evening

Hi Friends & Relatives

Here's hoping everyone had enjoyable holidays with family and friends. We enjoyed all the C'mas cards and lovely letters and pictures of families! I tried to keep up but I ran out of cards and was too lazy to go get more so I will be emailing messages to a few people! We had a quiet day with Nate & Deanie and Mark! Lots of good food and leftovers - of course! Tracy called and we chatted for a bit. J.D. is in Phoenix with his mother. He calls and taunts us with weather reports! We hope he's enjoying his visit there, he's due back here on Friday. We've had a couple of days with temps in the high 50's and low 60's - a real treat after the bitter cold.

Mark will have his teen house guests for the week - he's gone to Fort Wayne to meet them and will bring them back here. Tia & Tori have grown up so much since they left; they keep in touch with school friends here and make frequent visits. Mark is so good to them - even takes them shopping!

It's rained a lot here and it's been rather gloomy. Even my big fabric stash didn't tempt me to sew very much. I did make a small wall quilt but can't post a picture of it yet - it's a gift and won't be a surprise if I show it now. So - maybe next week!

Friday I fired myself up and decided to get back to sewing. A few years ago I made the Pioneer Braid quilt shown below and there were a lot of pieces cut in that size so I decided to add more fabrics and started cutting. Saturday morning I cut some more and this morning I began to sew the strips. I have four finished this evening. It is truly a scrappy look quilt but it will keep someone warm.

Often someone will ask me how long it takes to make a quilt. There isn't anyway to know unless you time the entire process. So out of curiosity, I tried to keep track of this one. I estimated 8 hours to dig out the fabric, press it, cut it into strips and then cut to sizes I needed. Today I made the four strips (need a total of ten) and it took about an hour and ten minutes to piece one strip. So - get out your calculators! I'm far from finished and hesitate to begin doing a tally! ! Anyone want to figure it for me?

It will be a quiet week here - I plan to keep working on the quilt. In a few days I'll put away the C'mas decorations - that won't take long tho. The fireplace mantle will stay for a month or so - I love to see my collection of snowmen and Chet likes the lights behind them as his night light! We will also work something out to visit with Tia & Tori and hopefully JD will be able to spend a bit of time in town before he goes back to Bloomington.

Till next time - - take care and keep in touch. . . .

BRRR - - - And Christmas Past - 2003

Greetings from Greensburg where it is bitterly cold! We've not had a measurable snowfall but had ice a couple of days earlier this week; school was closed one day, a rare event here! I did venture out to pick up medications, groceries and gas. Friday was a nice day and a friend and I "motored" to Rushville where my longarm quilter had a quilt ready to be picked up. (I brought her two more quilt tops to start the New Year with!) I will have to run to the grocery store to pick up last minute things for our Christmas Dinner. Nate, Deanie and her son Chris, and Mark will be joining us. J.D. flew to Phoenix Friday to spend his break with his Mom and Grandmother.

I don't have recent pictures to post so dug up a few from December of 2003 when Tracy, Jon and Anna Grace came for a week! We had snow for them and they were thrilled! Anna was so excited she ran outside without a jacket or shoes!

Jon wanted to "sew something with funky colors" so I did some digging and came up with something that fit the bill - Also found a box with alot of Hole In The Barn Door blocks in it. We set up the Featherweight sewing machine and he choose fabrics and I cut strips to add to each side.

After a quick lesson on how to sew, Jon began sewing the strips to each block. Tracy pressed the blocks and Anna collected all snipped threads in a plastic glass to be scattered outside so birds could add them to their nests!

Next we laid out a few blocks to plan out layout and then started sewing them together!

Interest faded and Tracy & I ended up sewing the blocks together. I added the backing and quilted it after they'd left and later mailed it to him!

And this is a photo of Anna showing her thread snips - for the birds!

Oh - the children have changed so much in the past five years!

Hoping you all have a Happy Holiday season - till next time.

Basket Blocks

I went ahead and took pictures of the baskets - remember they're in progress - blocks are sewn into rows and haven't been pressed yet. That's the next step, then I'll sew the rows together and decide if I want to put an outer border on it or not. Decisions - decisions - decisions!

Indiana Iced In

Oh my goodness - we're iced in for a few days. Kids were even lucky enough not to have to go to school today. I was busy sewing away in my little corner of the world and kept hearing noises outside the window. I peeked out and the neighborhood kids had gathered in our driveway to do some "icing" - sledding is on snow, right? (I just coined a new phrase.) Bless their hearts - I conned them into setting my recycle bin and trash down at the curb and asked them to bring up the mail. Will had already brought up the mail earlier and knocked to give it to us but we didn't hear him so he handed it to me in the garage.

Josh was scooting on a small plastic lawn chair and the other kids had the plastic disks and rectangular snow boards. I asked if I could play and heard a big "NO"! Hanna, in upper photo with Will, is accident prone and didn't take a chance on the ice for fear she'd break something. We are so fortunate to have such good neighbors!

I have been sewing but don't have pictures to show today. I've made a stack of basket blocks, using fabrics from my "pinks bin". This is going to be dainty and feminine looking - just throw size.

We are as ready for the holidays as can be - a few decorations are up, cards and checks are in the mail - have to make a menu for our C'mas dinner and shop and cook - and that's it for us this year.

Till next time - take care and keep in touch.

Sharing Photos

I just had to share these pictures with all of you! First of course, I have to say that I hope everyone is well and not fussing and fuming over preparing for the holidays. It seems like a lot of people are cutting back on buying and opting for "family time" which I think is more important.

I just had to get a picture of my name "in lights". I was telling a friend that my name was in lights on Lincoln Street and he brought me back to earth by reminding me that it's not in neon like on Broadway in New York or the Strip of Las Vegas! The next three photos are of my niece Ranaye, I was her Godmother and she has a birthday coming up next week. Ranaye is undergoing chemo treatments for breast cancer - she is so brave and we are all very proud of her. We hope and pray all goes well for her. I've always heard the chemo rooms are cold - so I decided to send her this Dresden Plate quilt. It is all machine pieced and beautifully machine quilted (by Carolyn in Rushville, IN). Ranaye received the quilt today and had her husband Larry take photos - I'm so glad he did!
This evening I had an email from her saying the quilt "worked fine" - she took a nap and snuggled under it. It has also received the seal of approval from Rossi, their dog! She draped the quilt over a chair, left for a bit and came back to find the dog sleeping on it! I'm so glad it got Rossi's approval, too.

I also delivered a stack of doll, baby and crib size quilts this morning to a gal who works with a local fund raiser here in town. The Cheer Fund was started 98 years ago. The gal I spoke with said donations are really coming in slow and they fear they won't meet their goal this year. Of course there are a lot of other charities in town that help those in need, too. I also took some lacy embroidered (machine, of course) ornaments - snowflakes, stars and angels, along with a couple of hand knit dishclothes - to my hairdresser and an 84 year old who lives across the street from the beauty shop. We call this lady "the greeter" to the shop! She lives alone and is lonesome, very sharp and witty - I look forward to seeing her and enjoy her alot!

I want to write out C'mas cards tonight and hopefully I'll be inspired to do a bit of decorating around the house tomorrow.

Till next time - stay warm and well.

Trees Quilt Info

I meant to talk about the "trees" quilt in the photo with Mark. Several years ago the ladies in my quilt guild had a block exchange. The larger blocks are from the ladies in the guild, and I made the little 3" blocks in the sashing. I put the quilt together and sent it off to Florida where a gal hand quilted it for me - quilting is "loose and free" - like wind blowing among the trees. In exchange, I pieced three crib size and two dolly quilt tops for her. Nice swap, eh? Oh - the quilt won a blue ribbon and $2.00 at our local county fair. It was the first quilt I'd ever shown and I thought it was so lovely and wanted to share it. Well, it created quite a stir at judging time (I heard it all second hand) - I had no idea when you "show" a quilt you need to give boo-hoo details - guess I should have written a note saying it was made by a group and quilted by another person. . . I got the impression a few of the gals thought I was trying to pass it off as totally my own creation. And would you believe - they even created another category for this type of quilt! Fine - but guess who hasn't exhibited a quilt again! Heck - all I wanted to do is show and share what I think is a lovely quilt.

Almost Tis The Season

Greetings Friends & Kin Folk from a lightly snow dusted Greensburg. The temps have dropped and the wind is blowing - I know I have no reason to complain, compared to what other parts of the country are getting.

Will, our kind teenager neighbor, strung sparkling blue lights across the front of our house last week and I dug up the automatic timer - no way am I going out there twice an evening to plug and unplug the lights! Like I said last week, best money I ever spent! Chet tried to take our C'mas decorations from the closet and derailed the sliding door - he's on "MY LIST"! I will change the mantle cover and add my snowman collection and put "pretties" on the piano and candelabras in the windows - and that's it!

Mark and a friend are in the decorating mode, too. His picture looks like a male version of Vanna White, doesn't it? Gotta love that guy. He called in distress, wanting to know if the bow on the wreath wall hanging I gave him last year was attached to the top or bottom of the wreath. . . and then he whined and said he needed a C'mas tree wall hanging - so being the loving mother I am, I made one and it's shown below. A gal in the chat room was surfing and found the pattern and I immediately went to the site and printed it out. The next morning I was digging through the C'mas fabrics bin. The entire piece is from my stash. If you enlarge the close-up shot, you'll see how I stitched a swag garland in gold thread - have to put a dash of spark in it! It was fun to see all the old fabrics again and try to remember what I used them for years ago! (Didn't do very well in the recalling department!)





Speaking of using up stash fabrics, I still have quite a selection of the Aunt Grace fabrics (1930 & 40 reproductions) that I'm trying to use up. I'd made the "broken dishes" blocks a while ago, dug those out, sewed them together and added a border of white & yellow bunnies on soft blue (left over from a large quilt now residing in New Jersey). Found some tiny yellow/white check and used it for the binding. The backing of blue flannel with white clouds - had to piece the leftovers to have it big enough for the quilt - but it looks cute as a button and will keep a baby or a dolly cuddly warm!



Early in the week I had a surprise phone call. The man informed me that my name had been drawn to win the $100 Gas Card for the month of December! Gosh, isn't that neat? I had phone calls and emails from people I'd not heard from in a long time - years, in fact. Mark got calls and emails, too, telling about it. Best part of it all is that my name is on the Car Wash Marquee, on Lincoln Street - in lights! (Not neon, like Las Vegas, just back lighted) - A friend brought me back down to earth and told me not to get carried away. If it hadn't been so blasted cold, I'd have taken a picture of it for this blog posting!

Friend Pat and I "motored" to Batesville which is about 15 miles from here, to check out the sales at the quilt shop which is closing in a month. We really didn't need anything, but would like batiks and they are not on sale yet. Would you believe - I was in a quilt shop and didn't buy a thing! We went into Oldenburg for lunch and spotted a shop we'd not seen before - Dotty's - so of course we checked it out and found goodies there. It's the type of shop you'd go to to fix a basket for a hostess gift, etc. or person who has everything and you need to give them "something"! Herbs, spices, flavored teas, candies - I found Coconut Bonbons and oh, they are so tasty, just melt in your mouth. I also picked up Swiss Mocha Cappuccino mix and a package of chili mix. I've had some cappuccino and bonbons and will do the chili sometime this week. (I make lousy chili and need all the help I can get with it.)

The little boy next door was selling a variety of things as a school fund raiser - I got two boxes of chocolate covered cherries. I hope they're as tasty as they look on the picture on the box. Mitch also brought us an assortment of chocolates and they definitely are tasty! I'm so glad "aged folk" don't get zits from chocolate!

And I'll leave you with that thought!

Oh - one more thing. Some of you have asked about the "Feedjit" on the right side of this page - it shows locations of people who have visited this blog. I really enjoy looking at it - am wondering who it is in Hutchinson that is visiting this site - - I am going to add my email so people can contact me.

Contact me at: jrweckop@verizon.net

Stay in touch, stay warm and well and take it easy.

Greetings Family & Friends

Tis the season. . . Neighbors homes are decorated for C'mas and the kind people even strung lights across the front of our house, too. And of course I dug out the automatic timer so I don't have to run in and out to turn them off and on. Best $20.00 I ever spent! We've had rain for most of the day but we had no reason to leave the house!
Our Thanksgiving weekend was lovely - busy and fun. J.D. got here around midnight on Tuesday night, Mitch arrived late Thursday afternoon. We then went to Nate & Deanie's and had a super meal there. Mark joined us there. Deanie had family there, too. Full House, lots of food and chatter.

Friday we shopped for a new TV for Chet, here in the family room. We got rid of the big entertainment center and bought a stand for the new TV - gosh those flat screen's are neat - and it's big enough I can read the print without having to get up close! J.D. came over and helped Mitch put together the stand and connect the TV. I "excused" myself and took a nap while this was going on. A couple hours later I found them enjoying a football game! We had a big supper here, Nate & Deanie came over, too - and then they all went out to do their thing. Saturday morning Mitch met up with a high school friend for breakfast and then he and Chet rode out to Mark's for a visit and checked on his projects. Mitch left about 3:30 after he learned his 6:00 p.m. flight had been overbooked, hoping by getting there a bit earlier he could get an earlier flight out. . . not sure if he was able to do that or not.

Photos
today are of "the boys" - - Mark was here but not around at picture time - he was looking for a billfold someone claimed they lost, possibly in his truck. Nate graciously allowed Mitch to take his Harley for a ride. They play together so nicely now - amazing what 35 years will do, eh?

And of course I have to mention sewing/quilting.
Mitch managed to squeeze two quilts into his carry on luggage to take along for Paul & Amanda. I hope they will send photos of the kids with the quilts - if so, I'll post them for all to see! The kids are cute but they'll be really special with the quilts!

Not much sewing/quilting accomplished with the holiday but don't worry - I'll make up for it and I still have a good supply of fabric to use up! Oh - I should mention that the wallhanging at the top of this post was one of four I made last year for our kids. I noticed Nate & Deanie had their's hanging on their front door, I checked with Mark and he said he got it out of the closet and Mitch was sure his would be hanging as soon as he got home (yeah - they know how to pacify their mother, eh?)

Till next time - enjoy each day and take care.

New Week Ahead

I'm looking forward to a new week. I had to be "away from my sewing" for most of last week due to house cleaning issues. Amazing how textured walls and ceilings collect fuzz and lint. So we vacumned, polished and scrubbed this little house! I was tempted to put up a few C'mas things but decided not to just yet. Soon my neighbors will be decorating their yard and put lights across the front of our house. These people are so nice, I must start thinking about baking banana nut bread, pumpkin bread and brownies and share with them.

It's cold here - but I guess that's true all over the country. Rain/Snow Showers are predicted for this coming week. Tis the season - I will be moving my snow wiper from the trunk to the back seat and my gloves are kept in the car the year around. So I think I'm prepared!

This morning I gave in to temptation and decided to stitch a bit. I am getting ready to donate a few small quilts to charity organizations so decided to finish up this red zig-zag quilt. It measures about 24 x 26" and will be a nice infant cover or carseat cover. I pieced batting and dug out some Noah's Ark fabric from my stash and quilted it diagonally. Then I went on a binding fabric hunt and found that bin to be quite low. So I uncovered a one yard piece of fabric that was given to people who stopped at a booth at a quilt show. My friend and I graciously thanked him. Then I found out from a coworker that she was told the same thing. It seems this person told everyone who stopped at his booth that she was the 100th visitor. My coworker thought the fabric was just lovely; my friend and I still can't quite see any beauty in it. If you look at the fabric closely, you will see why it didn't sell and he had to give it away! I read somewhere that if you cut an ugly fabric into small enough pieces, it won't be ugly anymore - and you know, I think that's true.

Chet is primed up for another Colts football game tonight. I was looking forward to watching Desperate Housewives but The Country Music Awards are on instead. Gosh - I hate it when that happens!

I have been watching/listening to the Game Show Channel while I'm sewing. By looking at the clothing the contestants are wearing you can about guess when year the show was recorded. I think my favorite old show is Match Game. I also enjoy Everybody Loves Raymond and Seinfeld - but am having to give them up - know the lines by heart now. And another thing - Nancy Grace is getting on my nerves, too. I'd like to tell her so but am afraid she'll bite me! And then there's Judge Judy - I'm being a very good citizen - cuz I sure don't want to end up in her court room!

Commercials can be fun and frustrating - Progressive Auto Insurance - I want to call them and tell them how disgusting I think the ads are! And Billy Mayes - the man who sells everything and YELLS!

Pajama time here - take care all and have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Ah Ha - I Did It!

Well, if it doesn't work one day - just come back and do it later! These machines are wonderful - when and if they work!

Anyway, here are the pictures I was trying to post yesterday. This pattern is from Bonnie Hunter at http://quiltville.com This pattern is in her first book - Scraps and Shirttales (I think - or something like that.)

I did make a few changes. The top is finished and is now waiting for it's trip to the longarm quilter.

The second picture is a close up of the border.

That's it for now. (Nap time).

This + That

This is my second attempt to update this blog today. I had a lovely entry finished this morning, then looked at it in "preview" mode, clicked to publish and the darn thing vanished! So I just signed off and went and did something else - I guess I proved who's the boss of this blog, eh?

Chet came home from church with a gift for me this morning, he couldn't tell me who it was from or why! So after process of elimination, I think I know who sent it for me. But will have to make a couple of phone calls to check it out. I have a feeling it was an appreciation gift because the past couple of years I've been donating items to the church for the chili supper/bazaar they have. I'm anxious to know who ended up winning the wall quilt I made and how much it brought in. I have edited the photo of the plaque, hope I've not got it too much out of proportion! The tiny hearts, about 1" in size are precisely cut from an old quilt. Very pretty and dainty!

Family News - Congratulations to Becky for exceeding her goal of $3,000 by $1,059. Becky and a friend trained for the three day marathon in Arizona this past weekend. We have yet to hear how she is feeling after the marathon. Thanks to Becky and all who contributed. And thanks to her dear husband Geno for pitching in and helping!

Tracy is settling into her new home and job bit by bit. She's still unpacking boxes and learning the ropes at work. She and another new nurse will be going to Minneapolis for a crash two day conference.

The three sons check in occasionally - all are very busy. J.D. is doing well at school - but we knew he would. He's always been an excellent student and we're very proud of him.

Chet is already dreading the cold weather and being housebound for the winter. I think the days of riding the mower on the back forty are over now. Most leaves have been mulched and he's stowed away the swing cushions and lawn chairs. Lots of football games to keep him occupied - and that's when I head off to my sewing corner.

On Tuesday we picked up two quilts from the longarm quilter gal - I had the bindings ready to put on them so did that later that day. I now have one completely finished - the Fungly (Fun-Ugly) has been renamed to Fallen Leaves. . . could also be called Fabric Library because I used many different fabrics in it. I like to "read" it! The second quilt is the Row Quilt and I now have binding stitched to two of the sides. . it will be finished this week. Both of these quilts were pictured in past posts. I also picked up the fabric for the Swing Your Partner - plaid blocks I showed last week. The top was finished this morning and I was wanting to post photos but for some reason this machne is now showing me who's in charge. . . . but I will try later.

Until next week - stay warm and well.

Lazy Daisy

It's been a rather slow and lazy week here. I did venture out to have my hair done so I'd look halfway civil to go to a Sulky Thread Workshop on Saturday. Friend Pat and I enjoyed the long ride and the fall foilage. It wasn't too cold out but it was quite windy.

The car had it's pre-winter oil change and a washing, too. And of course the usual visits to the bank and grocery store.

Chet's had the mower out cruising the yard, chopping up leaves as they come down. He even went across the street and did their yard, too.

Mitch will be joining us for a brief visit, flying into Indianapolis on Thanksgiving Day afternoon and will be with us till Saturday evening. We've not seen him in a year so it will be a treat.

Tracy's been at her new job and new home for a week now - will call her this evening to see how the first week went at the job.

Chet is watching the Colts-Steelers football game and the Colts were not doing well. So I made us a nice supper to perk him up! Now, an hour later, the Colts are ahead.

I didn't take pictures of any of my sewing/quilting projects this week. I dug up pictures from the Grandkids visit this past summer. Both used the embroidery unit to make little pillow tops.

I don't think I posted these earlier - but shoot, they're cute kids and deserve to be shown off again!

I did make over 600 inches of bindings for two quilts which should be ready to pick up this week sometime. I heard a request on the local radio station that the physical therapy department at our hospital was needing walker bags. So I "surfed the internet" and found a pattern, printed it out and dug out some fabric and gave it a try. It turned out nice, tailored - neat for a man. I need to find four buttons for it. Beyond me how I can have about fifty pounds of buttons and not four identical large red buttons. Heck, I'd even settle for black, navy or white - but just don't have them. So I guess I'll have to go shopping! My quilt guild meets on the second Monday of each month, so perhaps on my way home I can stop for the buttons. I'm not sure how many more walker bags I will make - it was more time consuming than I thought it would be. I have quite a few "orphan" blocks laying around and would like to figure out a way to use them on some of the walker bags.

This is a photo Amanda, our granddaughter, took and sent to us a while ago - isn't it a beautiful Wisconsin Sunset.

Till next time, take care, be well and safe.

Short Post Today

My post today will be speedy - can you hear the pre-football game in the background? The way the Colts and Packers are playing, Chet is having a hard time finding a team to root for!

Nate came over and pulled the air conditioning unit out of my bedroom, brought his battery charger over for Chet's rider mower (guess what Chet's getting for C'mas) and stayed and had a light supper with us.

I finally got through to Mark - he's fighting a cold for two weeks now - guess I should make a pot of chicken soup for him - but don't think he likes my soup. He's still working on the Hot Tub on the Truck project!

Chatted with Tracy yesterday, she's now in Hattiesburg and will begin her new job on Monday. There are two heart specialists in this practice, another RN and a couple practicers. In a couple of weeks she will going to an equipment training session.

Had an email from Mitch - he's been traveling - says he's trying to keep jobs for 450 people. Such a big job - but we're proud of him and all he's accomplished.

We've had a quiet week - just my speed! I went and had a haircut, went to lunch and then drove up to a nearby quilt shop looking for fabric for sashing and borders to set the blocks together that I "featured" last week. Unfortunately there wasn't enough on the bolt, but she says she has more coming in - so fortunately, I get to go back soon. I also dropped off the red zig-zag quilt I'd been working on but poor Caroline is so busy right now so I'll have to be patient and wait.

So instead of giving Caroline a rest from MY QUILTS, I've gone and dug out my Blocks Stash. I made a "big bunch" of blocks using light scraps and a white background fabric. I put together one large top, 75 " x 90" , on Friday and Saturday. I'm not sure what that layout is called. I used 120 blocks in it. So this morniing I got out the blocks again and put together a small top, using 20 more blocks. This layout is traditionally called Fields and Furrows. There are 30 of the blocks left and I will stitch them up using another layout. I love the Barn Raising layout and may do that provided there are enough blocks to make the layout work. (I don't intend to make anymore!)

The reds with cream zig-zags is about a 26" square piece, made of leftovers from the Red Strip Swap several gals from the chat room exchanged. (Click on photo to enlarge it and look for the peppers fabric - from a Texas Gal) - isn't it cute? The smaller quilts I'm able to handle on my sewing machine and now I have a stack of them to work on. I'm always glad to see a snow storm blow in - then I can get in the mood to work on the quilting and finishing up projects.

I've had my lunch - and am ready to go take my nap. . . . till next week . . . . take care.

Chilly Sunday, Sadness, and Soup

It's difficult to be my perky self this morning. For the third time, a niece has ben taken from our family. First there was Diane, then Rachel and now Carol. These intelligent, beautiful and talented young women were far to young to go through the horrible ravishings of cancer. They fought a seemingly endless battle very bravely. Carol is in the photo, on the right. This picture was taken three or four years ago at an anniversary celebration in Minnesota. I remember changing Carol's diapers and a teenage crisis - she wanted a beautiful tan for the prom but stayed under a sunlamp too long! I'm remembering her father's pet name for getting a rise out of her, Carol the Barrell. We hate to lose our loved ones but are thankful they no longer suffer.


My latest project is from a new book I got last week. The block has several different names, in the book, Scraps and Shirttails, Bonnie Hunter of quiltville.com calls it Milky Way and has designed a quilt she named Swing Your Partner. I have made 16 blocks, using plaids from my stash and the background fabric are leftovers from other projects. Next step is to find something for sashing strips and borders. I'm not sure there is enough of any one color and I may have to go fabric shopping!

The photos below are of two of my antique quilts, found in antique shops in Madison, IN and we don't know the history behind them. Both quilts are scrappy looking and use muslin for the alternate solid blocks and backings. Both are heavily hand quilted. When held up to the light you can see the dark flecks from the cotton batting. Both quilts are on display and are becoming quite fragile. They may have to be put to rest in a safe place. The Churn Dash blocks measure approximately 5 1/2" now and I imagine they were 6" before the heavy quilting and many washings.

This second quilt, a Butterfly quilt is very fragile and I am thinking I need to draft a block pattern and make it from today's fabrics. The block is rectangular, measuring 8 1/2" x 9 1/2".

This quilt was a gift from my daughter Tracy about ten years ago. I wonder if my quilts will someday be as treasured the way I do these!

And now the SOUP of the Week: Vegetable Beef

No picture but if you sniff really hard, you may be able to smell it. One pot of soup equals three meals and three meals equals about three hours of stitching time!

Chet is waiting to be served - so till next time. . . .

Just Me

Sunny Sunday

Oh, it's so pretty out today - crisp but still nice. I only stepped outside to take a few pictures and there is a bit of a breeze. It seems that when I moved to get a good shot, the wind blew the piece in the other direction. I think I'm going to have to sneak over and use one of my neighbor's fences as a backdrop for my outdoor photos!

Contrary to what some of you may belive - - I really do cook. The picture is of the "makins' for a pot of chicken noodle vegetable soup. The chicken is in the pot and stewing away. Can you smell the Rosemary and Bay Leaf? And don't forget the onions! Hopefully this pot will yield three meals for us. (I try to eke as much sewing time out of a pot of soup as possible!)

Spoke with Tracy Friday night, she's moved her belongings into her house in Hattiesburg but is still working in Slidell, LA. She did find a job in Hattiesburg and will start there in two weeks.

Haven't seen our local two sons in two weeks - Had supper out at Marks and Nate brought over fudge from Metamora. Did you know you can slide that creamy fudge into 1/4" slices and have it last a week? The Wisconsin son and his family are always so busy. I imagine they are enjoying the home up on the Lake; it must be beautiful up there now.

From my sewing corner - - I made the miniature Churn Dash piece last week. I caved and bought some fabric online. Lovely fabric, it feels like silk. the photo doesn't do the colors justice. It measures about 18 x 20" and is machine quilted.

The "lone" block is from a book I got in the mail yesterday. I just had to try it quickly this morning, and like it so have dug out my tub of plaid fabrics and background bits and pieces and will continue to make more blocks. Chet will be watching the Colts win over the Packers footgall game this afternoon, so he'll never miss me.





And now the ladies from the chat room will get a sneak peek at what I did with the red strips we traded a few weeks ago. The sailboat fabric is for the back of the quilt. Carolyn, my longarm quilter gal will be wearing sunglasses when she works on this - cuz it's REALLY REALLY RED! And of course there are leftovers of the reds so I made a small quilt like this.

Time to run - football previews are on and it's "taxing" to my ears. Wishing everyone a good week.