Christmas charity quilt

This is the third of crib/toddler size quilts that will go to UMOM - United Methodist Outreach Ministries Shelter. It was done with a section of Christmas panels and quilted with my Surf's Up pantograph.

Church dish towels

Our church's dish towels seem to get taken to someone's home to be washed, and never make their way back to church. I'm putting a plea in the church newsletter for people to check if they have some and to please return them. I washed the couple I brought home the other day, and then embroidered the church initials on those and on 8 others that I purchased. The fabric says something about microfiber, and I can tell you, my machine does NOT like it!

What holiday are you quiz

This test was posted in the about.com quilting forum and I took the test. I have to say that the results are correct. The link to take the test yourself is at the bottom of the post.

***You Are Thanksgiving***
You are a bit of a homebody who enjoys being in the company of people you love.It doesn't take a lot to make you happy. You're enjoying life as it is.You have many blessings in your life, and you are grateful for each one.You believe that life is about what you *do* have. You feel like you have enough of the good stuff.
What makes you celebrate: Family, friends, and the changing of the seasons.
At holiday get togethers, you do best as: The host of the party
On a holiday, you're the one most likely to: Spend so much energy preparing that it's a full time job
What Holiday Are You?http://www.blogthings.com/whatholidayareyouquiz/

Row by row Quilt

Another charity quilt bites the dust. This one will go to UMOM, like the previously posted one. The rows were put together at a quilt retreat. I used a donated backing fabric, and used my owl pantograph.

Sun Bonnet Sue and pinwheels

This is a charity quilt that was put together with donated blocks at one of our AZ Quilt retreats. I used the leaf pantograph to quilt it. This one will go to the United Methodist Outreach Ministry, which our church is supporting for Christmas, as well as other times of the year.

Muslin Quilt

I finished binding the muslin piece I worked on for practice on my Gammill. I posted a picture previously, and am not posting another of this as it is very hard to see. The finished piece measures 80 X 102", and has been donated to Sojourner Center. The binding is scrappy, in that I put together many small pieces of bias binding that I had.

Pastel Panels

Four sewn together pillow panels were donated to me, and I quilted them to donate to Sojourner Center as a crib quilt. I used a bright blue backgound with lots of yellow and white on it, for the background. I used my Surf's Up pantograph.

Christmas wall hanging

A friend gave me a couple shopping bags full of craft items. There were some Christmas pieces in there that had some red that had run into them at some point. I was going to toss them, but my daughter really liked how they looked when I stuck them up on the design wall. I made up the wall hanging for her, hoping that the red would wash out. If it'll bleed in, it should bleed out, right?? ........ No.

The pieces weren't anywhere near the same size, so I trimmed until they were pretty equal. Two different sets were taller than the majority of the blocks. I had some plaid on a black background and stuck that in as filler, and used the same fabric for the binding.

I used the last of my new pantos for quilting this one. It's Surf's Up, from Diff'rent Strokes.

Hmmm....maybe I should put my camera on a tripod when taking photos! :-)

Pastel Squares

This top was given to me to use for a charity quilt. It measures 46 X 63", and had wavy borders, which I did tame with the quilting. It is being donated to Sojourner Center, a shelter for abused women and their children, in Phoenix. I used an 11" owl pantograph called What-A-Hoot, by Mary Eddy, with Jelly Bean Quilter.

Leaves

I made this quilt with leaf blocks, from a swap in which I participated at a local quilt shop. I have a new to me long arm, and used an 11" leaf motif pantograph for the quilting. I've given the quilt to a church friend who is giving it to a nursing home resident in Minnesota. The quilt size is 65 X 92. The pantograph is used is called Falling Leaves, by Diff'rent Strokes.

Pay It Forward Challenge

Pay It Forward Challenge
Join the Pay It Forward Challenge. It sounds like a lot of fun. Here's how it works:I will send a gift to the first 3 people who leave a comment on my blog requesting to join this PIF exchange. I don’t know what that gift will be yet– it could be anything really- and you may not receive it tomorrow or next week, but you will receive it within 365 days, that is my promise! The only thing you have to do in return is pay it forward by making the same promise on your blog. I have a lot of ideas that I want to try and I really like sharing with people so come on and join the fun. You can let me know some of your likes or something about yourself if you want to give me something to work from or you can let me surprise you, the choice is yours.

Practice on muslin

I put a big piece of muslin, for front and back of a quilt, upon which to practice. It turns out that my daughter, Sarita is a better quilter than I am. She's more artistic at drawing things, so I guess this makes sense. I do plan to practice a lot and build my skills. Sarita did some circles, drawn with a pie plate, and then put feathers around them.

A Gammill named Hoot

I purchased a used Gamill in mid-November, and have been doing some practicing on it with charity quilts. The first quilt I did is a red and white Christmas panel and the backing is the same design with the colors reversed. It was a challenge to quilt, as normally, the backing is a larger than the front. I used my loop-de-loop and heart design, and the best I can say for it is that it's done. :-)

It's May

I Iseem to get here about once a month. Ray and I were on a ten day cruise around Italy, and I took some handwork with me. I finished up a few spining stars.

I've been working on a quilt for Habitat for Humanity, and the ladies at the church women's retreat did some house blocks for me.

My frined Deb, is going to be a first time grandmother, and I've made a top for a baby gift. The backing and binding will be determined when we know the gender of the baby.

I've been working on a round robin that Carolyn, Ellen and I are doing, with medallion panels that Carolyn gave us quite a while back. I have Ellen's done and am ready to pass it on and get Carolyn's to work on.

Flaming Matches Quilt

I finally finished the last of the quilts done from a 'pairs of novelty squares' swap that I hosted on the about.com quilting forum several years ago! This one is named Flaming Matches because of the fabric I used for the sashing. I'm keeping this one.

Mariner's Compass / flying geese

I did get the geese to fit the compass!

Lent

I didn't do well with New Year's Resolutions, so am trying again for Lent. I've decided that my shoulder is well enough that I can start walking the dogs again in the morning, and I'm cutting out sweets.
I've gotten through one day, and the dogs have been walked, of sorts, this morning. I'm using a regular leash so the dogs don't 'extend themselves' and wrap around light poles, dash at joggers, etc.
Heather is pretty put out about this, and yesterday, about half way through her walk, she started lagging behind me. I had to keep a slight pull on the leash to get her to walk the last half of the route. This morning, she started lagging after only about 8 houses, so we turned around and came back. Yesterday, I considered that she's out of shape and maybe not up to a half mile walk, but when she could dash ahead, barking, every now and then, I decided it was a test to see who is boss. I've won round one of this issue!
Heidi is used to the retractible leash, and used to run ahead to start smelling something - I'd walk past her, and she knew about how much time she had before she had to move or be yanked. She hasn't quite figured out that she has a much shorter time frame, but she doe love to walk. If Heather keeps up her tricks, and only gets short walks, I may increase Heidi to a full mile so I get my exercise.
I'm marking the calendar each day that I've walk, gone without sweets, and flossed my teeth (my third thing for Lent) - having it in writing helps keep me accountable! LOL
I will get some quilt pictures posted soon.

curved geese

I managed to draw a circle that is the right size to attach to the round mariner's compass,which I paper pieced. I'm posting a picture of it half done, because who knows if it will fit when the time comes to attach it!

Hand piecing

I stuck my nose into the hand piecing chat thread on about.com, and had to give it a try. Becky (rabidquilter) had some patterns, so I tried one. Y seams, or inset seams are soo much easier with hand sewing!

My foundation block is 11 1/2" sqaure, so this piece will be the medallion for something!

Triangle Star

I've been busy, getting things together for our quilting retreat which is the beginning of February. We're having a block lotto and each attendee can submit three blocks. Here is my third one.

Back to blogging

It's been quite a while since I've been here, and I have lots of pictures of quilts and projects to upload. First, I'm doing the new look for blogs, and joining a ring. Once that's succesfully completed, ti will be picture time.