I'm here!

I've been so busy lately, I forgot to post!

I've been trying to get ready for Fall and the quickly approaching Winter....lots of yard work and cleaning out for charity. I have also been thinking about my wardrobe lately. I am definitely in a slump! Jeans and tees or jeans and sweatshirts. I justify this by saying I babysit alot, which can lead to being spit up on alot, but I was already in this slump way before baby Tayge was born. I use to dress quite well, especially when I was a teen and my mom made alot of my clothes.

I did some Internet searching and first signed up at freepatterns.com. The Chinese jacket (I love jackets and coats) is one of their freebie patterns....actually, you already have to have a pattern, and they just show you how to convert it to this look. Well, I have an entire box of coat/jacket patterns from children's (grandchildren) thru plus size (me). I was probably attracted to this photo for the color...I love red! I also signed up at Butterick.com. Their freebie pattern I liked was for this retro wrap....pretty, huh. I thought, "where would you wear this out in farm land, Suzanne?" I don't know, but I like it! For me, maybe I could make it up in something warmer than taffeta or satin. For that matter, I could make it up in a few different materials.
Lastly, we had a great time last weekend at Peach days. I had decided to get a caramel apple, but they looked yucky (melted in the sun), so I had a couple of bits of V's funnel cake. The girls also shared a bag of cotton candy. Daughter E is determined to lose the last couple of pregnancy pounds, so she was a really good girl....proud of you, Sweetie!
In Closing:What one item (quilting, clothing, scrap booking, crafting, etc.)are you working on right now? Me...I am finishing my nature journal quilt for September and trying to finish the last 3 rows of the row quilt for my Guild. Next...clothes for me!

You just can't be everywhere!

Sometimes I wish I had super powers beyond my Earthly body....something like flying. I could be somewhere, then fly quickly to somewhere else and never miss an important moment. Well, I can't, so I guess I better just enjoy where I am at this moment...easier said than done, right!

Over the last month, we have had:
3 funerals-1.Friends 18 year old daughter, Rachael, 2. my bio-half brother (never meet him), and 3. Hubby's SIL.....we made the viewing for Rachael, but missed the other two since they were on the opposite sides of the USA within days of each other

We went to the Temple with our married daughter and her hubby/his family....one of the most spiritual moments in my life, especially as a parent. I almost could have flown home after that because I was SO happy

Same daughter and her hubby blessed their son today in Church. It was wonderful to be with both the sides of the family in sharing such a perfect moment. Baby T did wonderfully thru the whole thing and didn't cry....actually, he was making cute baby sounds. He looked very handsome in his all white little suit. That's one beautiful baby, if I say so myself!(photos in a few days, I hope!)

I have been mulling over my life lately. I have come to the realization that many of the small, seemingly unimportant choices in my life I have a.followed someone else's direction, b.made a quick decision between paths, or c.just followed where the path was going. In some instances, this has been okay, but in others, it hasn't, and I want to change my pathway. Okay, you are saying to yourself, a."is Suzanne dieing of some incurable disease and not telling us?", b. "is she lacking sleep and a good diet, affecting her mental skills?" or c. "when was the last time Suzanne had chocolate?" Answers-a.No, b.maybe a little, c.this afternoon. I am jsut trying to grow and change like I am suppose too.

Some of the changes I am making...writing them down so I am more accountable:
1.Developing deeper friendships and possibly letting some relationships go
2.Developing a stronger spiritual belief by studying and deciding what I truly belief
3.Creating quilts/wall hanging I really want to do, and not because it's easy or convenient
4.Getting healthy for my life sake and not worrying about the numbers on the scale or the size of my pants
5.Looking to serve others and not my wants/demand/ so called needs

Below...an amazing quilt photo sent to me a couple of years ago by a good friend when I was going thru a hard time. I don't know the maker, but she/he is absolutely amazing. I look at this photo when I need a boost of uplifting energy!
In Closing:Most folks set New Years resolutions in January, but I do mine in August/September when everyone goes back to school. What one goal would you like to work on....don't share it if it is very personal,(unless it helps you)

Quiltathon Day

Today and tomorrow are Quiltathon days with Judy at Patchwork Times...thanks for keeping us motivated and organized, Judy. Daughter V & I are going to do some dyeing today. She wants some original shirts to wear on her Grand Canyon trip next week (graduation gift) and I want to try dyeing some muslin. I think I will also try and get a couple of fabric totes made too. I have a super easy McCall's (#8705) pattern for various totes that uses only a couple yards of fabric each. I am trying to use re-usable totes for the store and library so we don't have a bunch of plastic sitting around. I am also gearing up for some major family history work. I've slacked off on the online record translating I was doing for my Church. I am also taking a group from my Church down to the Salt Lake Family History Library (pictured above) on the 21st for a day of research. With the high gas prices ($3.90 a gallon), Hubby and I may just go to the Library for a day of research for our wedding anniversary this month too. My hubby is the greatest guy to do research with....I just give him a county and state I need info from, and he comes back with armloads of books and lists of films that fit my needs. He also doesn't mind doing copies of pages for me.
In closing: Pictured above is the Syracuse (Utah) Cemetery, where my hubby is the caretaker. I have been thinking alot about all that I have. I may not have the newest or biggest or most expensive of alot of things, but I have never "wanted" in my life for much. I have been trying to be more grateful and do for others or give more service. Where does the cemetery come in? I have tried to help my hubby with the cemetery more...clean up the expired flowers, weed, decorate a forgotten grave. Of course, I am going to try and do some kinds of other service, where ever I am needed. I read this week how the pioneers gave every 10th day as a day of service to others...cooking, laundry, building, plowing. etc. I am going to try and set aside the 10th, 20th and 30th of each month (give or take a day) as a service day.

How about you? Where/how/when do you do service?

I'm having trouble posting

Ever since I installed Windows Vista, all my posts are messed up...I need my daughter V's computer smart boyfriend to figure out this problem pronto.

I didn't get any sewing and/or quilting done today. I did repair a some PJ bottoms for my SIL...new elastic. I did get my monthly free needles at the sewing machine dealer I purchased my machine from in December. Only two more months of freebies. I picked up some patterns and material over the Memorial Holiday for some Summer outfits for the granddaughters. Hopefully, I'll get the clothes sewn and see the girls before the Fall! I did start to take the inventory on my sewing/quilting items. I started with a three-ring binder with photo's of the room-each wall. I have also began to organize the photo's of the quilts I have made....though I have many quilts out there I never got photos of at the time.

In closing:(I remembered for this post).....favorite place to visit every so often...Antelope Island, here in Utah. I live about 10 miles from it. The island sits in the Great Salt Lake. It is connected to the shore by a nine mile causeway. The lake water has such a high salt content (higher than most oceans) that anyone can float. Just don't open your eyes underwater.....painful! The photo below, by Phil Douglis, is the view I have from shore when the weather is clear.

The island is home to a huge herd of Buffalo. Each Spring, our neighbors go over onto the Island on horseback or on ATV's and help with the Buffalo Roundup. The local vets check the animals for disease or injuries and make sure the herd is healthy. One year, a mommie buffalo died in childbirth, so a baby was left to die. A local man "adopted" it and raised it with his horses and cattle. He taught the buffalo to walk on a lease....they were stars of our city parade every summer for years. After a few years, the buffalo got too large (when was he ever small?) to walk among humans, so he "retired" to a cattle herd. Buffalo can live for a very long time...lots longer than cattle.

I like to go to the the island, because it makes me feel like I am at the ocean, and I REALLY miss living by/visiting the ocean. I grew up until 18 years old never living more than a mile or two away from the pacific ocean. It's hard to get sea water out of your veins!!!!!!

Do you have a favorite place? Why and where? Share on your blog.....

Never get too comfortable!

For when you get too comfortable....something usually happens to shake things up....and it did!

I've been having some health problems for a few months...okay, more like over a year. I would just get frustrated and think I would go to the Doctor, then the symptom would go away or not be so bothersome. I finally went to the Doctor this last week. After 9 vials of blood and various other tests....my thyroid has stopped functioning almost completely, which then also messed up my cholesterol, and in the middle of all this, I had a infection through out my whole body. I now have 4 pills a day to take....thyroid in the morning, antibiotics twice a day, and a baby aspirin with a pill for cholesterol at bedtime. YUCK!

I am frustrated, to say the least!

Changes in diet and exercise are going on, even as I type. I know I can do this, because I have to, but my brain is still not with the program, yet.

On to better stuff.....quilting. I haven't got anything done! I was going to participate in Judy's weekend quiltathon at patchwork times, but I didn't do much. I am currently quilting E's black and white 9-patch queen quilt. She sewed together the 9-patch's about 3 (or 4) years ago, and somewhere along the way I added borders. She and B are hoping to be in their home by the end of the year, so I better get her 3 quilts done (and out of my sewing studio)

In closing:I thought I would add a new feature to my post....a little something about me, which you could post about you on your blog. This first one: A favorite cookie recipe from my great great grandmother Emeline Amelia Miles Hatch-Sugar cookies

1 cup sugar
3/4 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1 tsp baking soda (dissolve in buttermilk)
1 tsp vanilla (or lemon flavoring)
3-3.5 cups sifted flour

Mix all ingredients. Refrigerate until chilled. Roll dough out thick. Cut into cookie shape of your choice. Sprinkle top of each cookie with granulated sugar. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes or until done to your liking.

What's your favorite cookie recipe?

I learned ALOT at quilt meeting yesterday....mainly, that I have not insured my quilting items well enough in case of a disaster. Our speaker, Linda, is a quilt appraiser, but she also organizes quilting/sewing rooms for insurance needs. Here are some of her ideas/suggestions:

1.Organize first to see what you have-take an inventory-write it all down

2.Take photo's of your room/shelves/closet/drawers/furniture-keep photo's & inventory list somewhere safe outside your home. What should you list:
Machines and furniture/tables/lamps.....how much do you have invested in your Machine(s)
Fabric-by the yard, fat quarters, jelly rolls....do not list it by the price you got it on sale, but the full current price you would pay to replace it
Equipment:Rotary cutter(s), Scissors, rulers, pins, seam rippers, etc.
Thread: How many spools do you have....I have 107 (I counted last night)

Patterns/Books:Again, the replacement price, not the sale price.

Quilt appraisals:The price to put on it is not the material and thread you have in it, but what would it cost you to PAY someone to reproduce it, including the cost of materials.

One thing she shared for bloggers....you can save your blog to a memory stick concerning your quilt post that show a completed quilt (size and description in post) and take it to your insurance man as proof of lost items.

I am giving myself a challenge....to inventory my sewing room over the next 30 days, including:

Sewing machines: 4
Equipments:rulers, rotary cutters, scissors, etc.
Thread:already done-107
Fabric:this is going to take time!
Patterns/Books: Oh my!

I am also going to have a couple quilts appraised at the Utah Guild Meeting in September (free service provided for up to 2 quilts per quilter)

Has anyone else already done this? Anyone want to take the challenge?

Busy-Busy

I have been extremely busy, which has shown in the lack of posts!

I went with Hubby and Daughter V to see "Annie get your Gun" at the Hale Theater. My family began to attend Hale shows back when the family theater was still in Southern California. Then they moved to a very small theater in-the-round in a so-so section of Salt Lake. After a few more years and building a very successful following, they built a large fancy theater in a great part of Salt Lake. My parents have always supported the theater, especially musical programs. Annie was great, especially the two leads.

I also went and worked at the QOV booth at the Home Machine Quilter Show. It's the fifth year of the show in Utah, and my first that I have attended. I loved the quilt show and there were many vendors booths I could have spent tons of money at easily. I did purchase some bonding powder for applique with a ironing cloth from a England based company.

The show had a nice display of a quilt made from the Last Supper painting of Jesus and his Disciples. The designer made enlargement copies of the painting until he had a pattern that measured 5 feet by 15 feet. He then pieced it in 1 inch squares....thousands of 1 inch squares. When you got within about 10 feet of it, you could only see the little squares, but when you stepped back to about 20-30 feet, you could see the image. The quilter took nearly a month to complete the quilting. Amazing!

Today is Mother's Day. I hate Mother's Day. Mother's Day of my past was always a day to celebrate my mom. Even after I became a mom, it was still her day. When she died a few years ago, I tried to avoid the day all together, even skipping Church so I wouldn't have to deal with the little flowering plant our Ward gave out to all the Ladies. This year, I just decided to grin and bear it the best I could. My brother M e-mail me a wonderful video he had put together of past family reunions. I am either holding one of my kids or am pregnant with someone thru every video....don't know how I managed that one! It was great to see my parents and grandparents and great aunts/uncles in live motion. My SIL got a box of tissue before we even barely started, knowing I am a big boob! For a day I hate, the video was nice(Thanks M) I got to also hold my grandson for about an hour and see my daughter E house (under construction). They gave me a nursery gift certificate plus some new raspberry plants to replace the ones the fungus got 2 years ago.

Even though I don't like it, I still wish each women "Happy Mommies Day"!!!!!!!!!

Vintage Quilt-Row Three completed

I finished the third row of the Syracuse (Utah) Guilds 2008 row quilt. We began in February with the Hearts and 9-patches, which I had done before. March was 3-D Pinwheels, which was a new block for me to do. This month was the appliqued umbrellas. I have always appliqued by hand, but decided to do the 12 blocks on the machine. This has been a learning experience for me. I use to piece all the time time, but I have been concentrating the last couple years on appliqued landscape and pictorial quilts. You are never too old to learn a new block or technique!

Another UFO bites the dust

I finished this UFO today....about 10 years after I started it! I took a class about 10 years at the Utah Quilt Fest, held that year in Park City.....it was so long ago, I THINK it was 10 years ago. I took a class to learn needle turn applique and this is the result. I also took a class on 3-D flowers, which I added to a appliqued basket block that now hangs in my livingroom. The third class was a technique class to learn different ways to do curved piecing and applique. The teacher provided a bird pattern to practise your favorite curved technique. I enjoyed the class, but never did do a bird wallhanging or quilt.

Park City Fest was the only time I stayed in a hotel to attend the annual Utah Quilt Fest. Usually I just drive back and forth (or just not attend). This year, the Fest is being held in Ogden Utah at the Eccles Center, which is about a 20 minute drive from me. I will definitely be there for the quilt til' you wilt Friday night/all night sew-in, plus I usually help with the donated orphan block class....last year I won one of the orphan block quilts (donated it to QOV). I am also excited that Jane Sassaman(I'm sure that is not spelled correctly!) is coming to teach...I love her art quilts with all the circles and embellishments!

On to the next UFO......and I have SO many to choose from!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Weekend, here I come!

Natural Arch in Southern Utah

Partition Arch in Utah-Photo by Roger Beau

I felt like sharing some photo's of Southern Utah. The red rock formations and arches are especially beautiful in the Winter with the red colored rocks peeking out beneath the snow. The Summers are EXTEMELY hot.....usually 100 plus degrees. I have a large file of various photos for future journal quilts I would like to do with a red rock theme.

I received the directions for the 3rd row of my vintage quilt.....appliqued umbrellas. Our quilt meeting was good.....lots of show and tell and a nice trunk show. We passed out the 4-patch flannel blocks that were made last month. We have enough for 6 donation quilts for Quilts4Cancer. Next month, we are having speakers come and talk about sewing/quilting room organization.

I finished quilting a flannel quilt that I am going to donate to charity. My flannel leftovers from years of Christmas PJ's were threatening to take over the whole room. I cut the scraps into 3, 4, 6, or 12 inch pieces....like 3 inch squares or 4 by 12 inch rectangles. I started with the largest pieces and did a queen top of all 12 inch blocks. Next, I still had a few 12 inch blocks left, to which I added the 4 and 6 inch pieces together. I ended up with 3 tops in "girl" colors. Eventually I'll do the "boy" quilts too.

I enjoyed my sewing machine class last night...sort of! It was the 2nd of two classes that came with the new Viking Sapphire 830 machine Hubby bought me for Christmas. The first class was very basic. This class was more on the added/extra features of decorative/other options the machine could do. I ended up being assisted by a new employee who was learning how to teach the class, but she sat almost in my lap and kept trying to program my machine. I finally had to say something (nicely) about needing to do it myself if I was going to learn. She finally walked away and started doing inventory. Carol, the head teacher, realized it wasn't a good class for me and said to come back in sometime and she would help me.

I think I'll do the quiltathon this weekend with Judy at Patchwork Times....so many projects, so little time!

Quilt meeting today

B-17 in flight

I am headed out to quilt meeting in a few minutes. I have my 2nd row of the vintage quilt along with my MIL quilt top (not quilted...yet) to share in show n' tell. I am looking forward to the meeting today. I need something quilty to get me going again.

I have kept at the indexing. Currently, the Irish birth records for 1944. Still the usual names, except a new girls name has shown up that was extremely popular....Carmel. Ever hear of it? Me either! These records were right at the end of World War II....was Carmel a favorite actress or something/someone to do with the War? It's very time consuming indexing these birth records...each record of 2 pages/2 columns each page is about 300-500 names. A lot more reading than the average 100 names in the USA Census records.

I really enjoyed watching General Conference (Church)on TV Saturday and Sunday. I especially liked a talk about being a young mother. Now, I am very far from a young mother, but the advice to any mother was good....the idea that you have these little spirits for such a short time and you need to make every moment count, but you need to also take care of your own physical/emotional/spiritual needs or you won't be any good to anyone!

Between conference sessions on Saturday Hubby and I went to the Hill Air Force Base air museum and Roy city museum. I had been to the air museum before ( a long time ago) but not the Roy museum. Both were very interesting. Growing up with a Dad who designed and flew bomber airplanes, it was interesting to look at the results of some of his labors. The museum had a B-17, which he flew and a B-1 which he helped design. The Roy museum was a fun little city museum. They had 3 quilts that I tried to photograph, but the quilts had plastic over them for protection that showed shiny in the photos.

I got the receiving blankets and burp clothes made for the baby shower that V went too. Mommy to be sent a verbal thank you for the cute fireman blanket. I also made a block for the retiring President of the Utah Quilt Guild....very easy block in tropicals and white. I used the scraps from an old lavalava (skirt type clothing worn in Samoa) I had left over from when I was a kid in Western Samoa. I fussy cut out the words "Talofa" and "Samoa" for the block-Talofa means hello/love you/welcome...kind of like Aloha. I also cleaned out my closet in the sewing studio...very scary! I was going to try and get another service quilt finished for the Cancer project, but it didn't happen. Oh well, there is always next month!

What are your doing in your quilting World?

Welcome Spring...under the snow

Daughter V-2 more months of Senior Year!

I looked out this morning and thought "What a beautiful sunrise!" I stepped out into 26 degrees of bone chilling cold! We have a couple inches of snow on the ground, covering all my pretty Spring bulbs as they bloom their little hearts out. Oh well, there's always next years blooms.

My machine class ended up being cancelled, so I stayed home and cleaned my sewing room. What a scary mess! I really can't believe I do all that damage....I'll blame it on the dogs! I never did sew all weekend, which is wierd for me.

We had a wonderful day at the Temple Saturday. I wish I could go there everyday. I leave with such a peaceful feeling that everything is going to be okay and that I can accomplish anything.

We had Ward (Church) conference on Sunday. I sang with the choir again. For the longest time our choir was made up mainly of men with a few strong sopranos thrown in. Now we altos dominate the group...yeah, altos! In fact, we went to sing and realized we had no tenors. One man ran up at the last minute and sang his tenor notes as loud as he could. I got a little teary eyed when we sang the song "Families can be together Forever", especially since Tayge was just added to our family. Here's the words:

I have a family here on Earth.
They are so good to me.
I want to share my life with them through all eternity.

Families can be together forever.
Through Heavenly Father's plan.
I always want to be with my own family.
And the Lord has shown me how I can.
The Lord has shown me how I can.

Words by Ruth M Gardner 1980
Music by Vanja Y Watkins 1980

Today has been the usual Monday errands. I am making dinner for the new mommy and her husbands family (since they live with them). When I had E my mom came for a week and cooked and cleaned and took care of me and E and began to teach me all the tips new mommies need to survive. I don't get to do that with E, which makes me a little sad, so I thought I should at least do one dinner to give them all a break. And while they are eating, I'll steal baby Tayge and nibble on his toes!

Good start for the week

I've had a great day, especially for a Monday!

I got an extra cover sewn for the boppy that E got as a gift. I used the cover the boppy came with as a pattern. It doesn't look fastastic, but it will work when the other one is dirty. I was going to work on my challenge project for the Syracuse Quilters, but the boppy was more pressing...eventually that baby boy has to be born!

I also jumped back on the excerise/eating right plan. I either eat really healthy and don't excerise, or excerise like crazy and pig out. I've loss/gain the same 5-6 pounds multiple times over the last 18 months. I went back to sparkpeople.com. It is a free site that has an excerise and nutriction calendar you can use to keep track of your progress. There is also articles and videos to help you. I joined back with the LDS Women's team on the message board. I'm going to do two of the excerise challenges:(1) Pioneer trek=for every 15 minutes you excerise you earn 1 mile on the walking trail from Nauvoo, Illinois to Salt Lake City, Utah. Along the way, at various stops, you can read actual pioneer stories. (2) Temple Tour=for every 30 minutes of excerise you get to a LDS Temple somewhere in the World. The Temples are listed in order of their dedication, beginning with St. George, Utah. With my 30 minute walk this morning and 30 minute walk this evening I went four pioneer miles and visited the St George and Logan Utah Temples.

I also reorganized my planner so I can get more quilting and family history and other important things done!

I changed my mind

I posted a while back about my scripture quilt with the four seasons background represented by strips of solid fabric. I got the background all done and put it away for a couple days, so I could think about my next move. Well, I've thought about it, and the bakground is ALL wrong...too colorful and distracting!

New plan-an all white on white background of strips of various width quilted with the colors of the seasons. I think this will work so much better with the women appliqued in colorful clothing of their time. It will still show the seasons of a womens life without distracting from the women of my family.

I guess the background that is already made is going towards another art quilt I had been thinking about doing....it might just work. I'll let you know with some photos later.

I visited mommy-to-be today with her Easter basket and Grandma Sugar cookies. She has a doctor appt. tomorrow. I'm keeping my fingers (toes, legs, eyes) crossed he sends her right over to the hospital to get this baby boy into the World.

I got to sing in my Ward (Church) choir today. I love singing! For the past couple of years I haven't been able to: (1)always got sick around performance or (2)It was my Sunday to take care of Dad. My brother R switched Sunday's with me (thank you!) a few months ago, so now I can occassionally sing. I switched to alto after my Mom's death 7 years ago, and it has been interesting re-learning songs I have sung all my life. We are singing again next week.

I had a wonderful Easter surprise today. Son M, DIL C and granddaughters K & H showed up unexpectantly. I love my grandbabies! They don't usually just show up, since it is a 5 hour roundtrip drive from their house to ours. I sure miss my kids that live so far away. I hope I got enough hugs and kisses to last me a few weeks. What am I saying....I can never get enough loves from my girls!

Quiltathon Day

I am going to join in the Quiltathon day scheduled for today thru Judy at Patchwork Times. I plan to work on my MIL birthday quilt that is very overdue. It is a signature/quote quilt from all her children and grandchildren. It took me longer than expected to get all the quotes and well-wishes from everyone. I need to put the borders on and quilt it.

We are all going crazy with Spring fever here. Even the cats! Big kitty was in the window gazing over her kingdom....little kitty decided to see if she could pull Big Kitty by the tail. It took 3 attempts, and they both came tumbling down. Lots of hissing and spitting, then a fight up on my bed, then nuetral corners of the bed for the rest of the day. Big Kitty's name is actually Minou, who this blog is named after. I tried to use my real name, Suzanne, but it was taken, so I used Minou instead!

I took care of Dad on Sunday. Each of us kid take a Sunday each month to go to Church and have lunch with him. I got thinking this weekend and realized that my Mom has been gone for 7 years this month. I can't believe the time has gone so quickly! I have had 2 children married and have become a granma myself in those 7 years.

Update:I got the 2nd of three borders cut and pieced. I had originally planned just two borders, but then realized it wasn't going to work. I wish I could have had more time on it....oh well, there's always tomorrow!

Happy National Quilting Day!

National Quilting Day...the day where all quilters can sew and iron and pin and applique and quilt to their hearts desire and if anyone says "Are you quilting again?", they can happily reply "Yes, because it is National Quilting Day!".

I worked this whole morning on the scripture quilt. The background is all machine appliqued. I used solid colored fabrics starting with Spring pastels all the way thru Winter greys to represent the four seasons. I think it looks pretty good. I kept catching myself thinking I was making a mistake, then realized it is a quilt of my own design-who will know if I made a mistake or not!

I am going to brave the wind and snow (about 2 inches on the ground) and go to the fabric store for some muslin to finish my MIL 's birthday quilt and some solid black for borders for the scripture quilt.

Happy Quilting Day!

Suzanne

Goals and learning new things

Devils Gate, Wyoming

Completed Sept 2007

I decided to try and get my quilting projects/goals done off of my "to-do" list right from the start, instead of always letting them drop to bottom and not getting done. I received the vintage row quilt #2 directions of Tuesday and got it done of Wednesday. I think it looks pretty good. I've never done pinwheels before. The photo with this post is a 8" X 11" wallhanging I did in a night class last September at the Utah Annual Quilt Fest. I made the goal to have it done immediately, and I did...hand appliqued and machine quilted in 2 days. I loved the class!

No baby yet...poor mommy-to-be, but it's better he stays in there for the fullest time instead of coming out too early!

I played on the computer this week and went to quilting.about.com to their art quilt forum. I found out what "discharging" is....basically, removing the color from the fabric. I also watched a TV show yesterday (unusally for me) called "Quilting Arts" with pokey somebody (didn't catch her last name) and saw the technique of adding fibers and adding colored foil to your work. I had seen both at the art quilt T and I went to last week, but didn't know how to do it. Of course, now I am ready to jump in and try all these fun procedures. One poster of quilting.about.com said she was going to make a list of all the new techniques she wanted to try and then pick one each week to experiment with...I may just try that too!

T and I were suppose to go somewhere today and do something quilt related to celebrate National Quilting Day (one day early) but she got too busy-she's a VERY busy woman! I may spend this evening or part of tomorrow doing something quilt related. I have kept up on my "10 minutes a day of quilting" goal from Quilting Diva.

Postcards:I received cards from Paris (France), Bristol (England?), Pennsylvania (USA) and Vancouver B.C.(Canada). I sent a card to the Netherlands to a girl named Suzanne....to Suzanne from Suzanne!

Suzanne

Quilt Meeting for March

Quilted Jacket

UFO project from a VERY long time ago

Finished-don't especially like it!

Won a blue ribbon 2007

We had a nice quilt meeting today. Only about 16 of us there...we usually number in the 20-30 range. We had a trunk show by S who hand quilts a king polyester comforter for each of her children as a wedding present, plus she crochets a blankie for each new grandchild. She admitted she was about 6 grandkids behind!

We got the second row for the vintage row quilt.....3-D Pinwheels. We had a sew-in and did red, white and blue (with stars) flannel quilts for QOV. Living near a military base, everyone knows someone and/or their family that could use a quilt.

I ran all sorts of other errands...too boring and too many to list!

Warm weather and lots got done

I think I do better with Daylight Savings Time. The warmer weather today combined with the time changed seemed to have energized me today. I got alot of things done!

I worked on a new quilt project that I have had in mind for a year now. It's a wallhanging based on the scripture Ecclesiastes 3:1-8..."to every thing there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven". The background will be the solid colors of the seasons, starting with Spring pastels, moving into brighter Summer, then cooler Fall and ending with Winter. I then plan to applique different women from my family to represent the different seasons of the scripture. I did some research, and each woman will be shown in the clothing style when she was about 20 years old. I think I will do plain faces. The women will be connected by a gold ribbon running thru the quilt. Sounds great on paper, huh! It will propablly take me another year to do it. I did get as far as the Spring background being appliqued on today.

No baby, yet! Poor mommy-to-be!

For Family Home Evening, we had our annual Spring poop scoop of the backyard. We have two large dogs and try to keep up on the scooping, but with the snow (especially heavy this year) we are still finding some treasures in melting snow/ice piles. Yucky job, but somebodies gotta do it.

Monthly quilt meeting is tomorrow...yeah! I get the second row of the vintage quilt, plus get to see lots of show n' tell. We are having a sew-in...flannel quilt tops for QOV.

What a wonderful day!

I have had such a great day! This was one for the records!

E made it thru her baby shower. Lots of folks came, lots of great visiting and she got tons of things. I even got the baby boy boat blankie quilted. I'm not completely happy with the quilting, but she loves it, so that's what counts, right! I hope I got a good photo of it. I'll post it soon. She actually got alot of handmade gifts....blankets, burp clothes, and bibs. I usually give a handmade gift at baby showers and people are so surprised. Her husbands family has some very creative women. Her FIL made some great food too. My SIL S took some photos for their family website so the cousins could see everyone (maybe they got a photo of the blankie!). I did take lots of photos of the cloth diaper cake centerpiece. It turned out beautiful....but I never want to do another one again...too much work. I can now take the boat blankie off the UFO list....yeah!

I guess you get what you ask for...I've been talking about getting a digital camera, and Hubby spent his coaching money and bought a camera, along with a printer, today. I feel like a little kid with a new toy!

Yesterday, T and I went to a art quilt show at the Brigham City Museum. It was fantastic! My personal favorite was "Water Flow" (2003) by Anonymous. It was a landscape of water and mountains and sky.....multi fabrics with amazing colored quilting. If I did something so great, I would proudly put my name on it. T like "Scattering Leaves" (2003) by Barbara Frey. She pieced a long wallhanging, then stamped small squares, then appliqued leaves, then beautifully quilted the whole thing. If it had been for sale, T would definitely had bought it. The whole exhibit was great. We did have a funny moment-we were looking at one piece, saying it reminded us of flowers and flowing lines and nature. We then read the artist statement-it was her interpretation of the female body. What we thought were flowers were nipples of the breast! We got kind of giggly...the museum worker gave us funny looks! What amazing work quilters are doing out there. We did see two terms of construction we did not know....Discharge and Procion. Anyone know what procedures these are?

I'm looking forward to a nice quiet evening of a bubble bath and setting the clocks back. Happy Daylights Saving Time!