Memory Quilt for Grandma S.

I actually pieced this quilt top years ago.  My Grandmother so excited that she got to ride in the Trout Festival parade in an old car.  She got to sit on the rumble seat, something she was never allowed to do when she was growing up because it was too dangerous.  She was so proud to have been in the parade and happy that her wish to ride on the rumble seat had come true, that I had to make a memory quilt for her.  I had some of the pictures of Grandpa and her with the car printed on heat transfer paper and ironed them onto 5 of the quilt blocks.  the other four blocks have outlines of old cars with their names & dates.  For the border I adapted the border that will be on my Dear Jane quilt (when I ever finish that beast!!). 

I realized after I got the backing ready and everything laid out that I do not have enough batting to finish, so it will have to sit until I can get to the store tomorrow.  Besides, I want to hit Hancocks for some outdoor fabric to make a couple cute aprons for my neices....its on sale this week! :-))

Quilt Medicine

"Mom, can you finish that tonight so I can cuddle in my blanket while I sleep?"

Luke wasn't feeling well, he still has a bit of a cold, and that was his question the third day I was working on getting his quilt finished.  I still don't have all the quilting done in the animal blocks, but I went ahead and did the binding so he could sleep with it while he was sick. I haven't been able to get it back from him the last three days to finish it.  Even at 17 years old, quilts bring comfort when you are sick.

Two Giveaways!

Alderwood Quilts - The May giveaway is an adorable Mary Engelbreit pincushion.

SewCalGal - is having a Hawaiian quilt & applique items giveaway!

Working on an UFQ...

I am pinning a quilt that Luke pieced, 6 years ago??... when he was about 11 years old. He wants fleece on the back, so this is a first for me! I am not using any batting, just the top & the fleece. :)

My back is so sore from all the yard work yesterday that leaning over the table pinning this is taking a looooong time because I have to keep stopping and sitting for a while.  He wants to sleep with this tonight... MAYBE I can make it....

I have a salve for that...

My little sister is allergic to most things they put in lotions and such, so since I am going to see her in about 5 weeks I thought I would make some salves that she can actually use.

For a burn salve I used lavendar, chamomille & rose.  For a cuts & scrapes salve I used rosemary, chamomile, peppermint & Theives.  For Joint & Muscle salve I used lavendar, peppermint and cayenne.  I packed the mason jars 3/4 of the way full with the herbs (one jar for each salve) and then poured in olive oil and coconut oil (50/50).  I put the jars in my crock of water on low for three days.

I then strained each jar thru cheese cloth, put the oil in a pan with some bee's wax (2oz shredded wax for 8oz. oil), heat and stir until the wax melts.  Then poured into my containers.

I made a big mess pouring it into the containers, but after cleaning it all up my hands are so soft and smell like the peppermint from the joint/muscle salve.  I can't wait to see how that particular salve does for the arthritis in my right hand!  Now to find something to do with all these left over herbs.....

Lil' Buckaroo Finished!

I finished the Brands blocks this morning, there is one brand for Adrian, my son & his wife and us four. I ran it thru the washer & dryer and here's the finished quilt. --that's my grandson in the picture on the mantle to the right of the quilt. :-)

Bunko Bags

Tuesday was Bunko at my house, so I thought I would make some Bunko themed bags for the gifts.  I am a sucker for pink...so pink was the color!

I cut out a circle of lime green tissue paper with my scallop scissors, crunched it up in the middle and hot glued it to the bag.  Add feathers and a few small dice, and there you have it!   I put 3 sixes up for the gift for the Most Bunkos, 3 ones facing out for the gift for Snake Eyes, etc.

Lil' Buckaroo Delays are Over!

I haven't been on the computer to update for days, so this may be a long post today!

First off, my Pfaff is in the shop until who knows when!  I had dropped the foot off Friday when it quit working and I couldn't convince it to get going again.  It has died several times over the past couple months, but I was always able to get it to work for a few more days...no such luck this time.  So there was no quilting over the weekend, instead we replaced the back fence and met our wonderful backyard neighbors!

I didn't hear from the shop all weekend, so Monday morning I dropped by to see if he had looked at my pressure foot and the sad news was that he thinks its my engine, not the foot.  So I took the foot home and asked my hubby if he wanted to go back with me to take my machine, and he did.  When we got to the shop, they plugged my machine in and it wouldn't even TURN ON!!! 

"Probably the motherboard, and I can't even look at it for about 10 days."

On the way out to the car, I was close to tears because all I could think was that I no longer have a backup machine and I wouldn't get my grandson's quilt done in time for his birthday! So, my wonderful hubby asks if I want my birthday present early this year. Who in their right mind would say NO?? We turned around, went back into Grome's and asked for a demo on the Janome that I had been looking at.  It is a really neat machine, and is much cooler now that it is sitting in MY dinning room!  So my Pfaff snobbery has been broken by a Janome...

So I have spent Tuesday (after getting ready for Bunko) and Wednesday, quilting the Lil' Buckaroo quilt for my grandson.  I am doing a meander all over except for the cow print border, it just has a looped line more like a rope.  I will probably do a similar thing for the outer border as well.  The stars have a swirl between their points, inside the circle. In the center of the star I outlined the cowboy.  I hope to finish the quilting today, we will see if my headache allows that though....

Lil' Buckaroo part 2

Well, I did get the top pieced and the borders on. I had to wait until I could clear the table to lay out the backing, batting & top, but got it all pinned and couldn't figure out in my head exactly how I wanted to do the quilting.  I know I wanted to do a swirled line, like the cowboys rope... but couldn't picture exactly what I wanted.  So I pulled out my extra backing fabric & batting and made myself a sandwich to practice on... and my pressure foot stopped working AGAIN!!  I took it apart and cleaned it, checked the contact and put it back together and it would only come on in one spot, and it was impossible to hold your foot steady enough to leave the pressure there and WAY too slow to actually quilt.  So I took it apart again and made sure the contact was making a good contact and where it was supposed to be and all looked well, but it is still not working. :-((   So I am off to Grome's Sewing this morning to talk to the man about whether we should rebuild this food or get a new one.  The pfaff foot I need runs $90, and my machine is about 14 years old....come on!!!  Well off I go, wish me luck!

Puppets, puppets everywhere!

Puppets! I grew up with puppets... ventriloquist puppets, hand puppets, etc...they were just part of the family. Now my youngest two sons get to be on puppet teams each year for LTC (Leadership Training in Christ). I started repairing the sad little puppets for our LTC teams 4 years ago. This year I made a spider puppet, green-haired liar puppet (that looks kinda like kermits nephew...) and I am still working on this monster puppet named Leonardo.

Leonardo still needs hands & arms. The hands have held me up because I am making them poseable and my first two attempts didn't work so well. I will get pictures soon of them now, this latest try seems to be working well. So here he is.....Leonardo the Monster, in various stages of creation:

 

Lil' Buckaroo

I always have loads of projects running.  Right now I am working on a quilt for my grandsons second birthday. I am sure he is quickly outgrowing the crib quilt I made him last year!  I have all but one block pieced and hope to finish piecing the top today and start quilting it tomorrow.  However, I am pretty sure that my youngest son has shared his bad cold with me. So fingers-crossed, I will feel well enough to get this knocked out this week so I can finish my stained glass project!