Tag: quilting

A little more progress…

So These are my jars for the fall quilt along.  At least I got something done.  I am still one behind.  The final one came out this past Tuesday.  I am hoping this weekend that I can get the rest of them done…just to get them done.  I have embarked on yet a another project to go along with the 15 others.  I need to make a dinosaur baby quilt.  I have the fabric and have begun some of the cutting.  It has a bunch of , so I better get moving.

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I had been saving this photo to send to my sister when she felt better.  I found it hysterical and very true.  I hate that I can never send it to her.  I remember sitting in the hospital and showing it to Matt (her husband) and he said “Man, I sure hope you get to send it to her”.  I never thought in a million years that I would not have my chance.  sigh…..

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

Love the ones you are with….like there is no tomorrow.

 

My turkey from He!!….

OMG, this turkey for the Fall Quilt Along gave me such grief, but it is done, ahhhhh.  Never to be repeated again.  It is cute, but I could go a lifetime without completing that activity.  So, some of it is my fault.  I fail to read instructions well (or at all sometimes).  I went right to cutting and did not Label anything.  Susan at DesertySkyQuilts mentioned that there were labels.  How about that?  I had no idea because I did not read the instructions.  For an educated woman, I sometimes feel really stupid.  Needless to say, when I went to sew, I could not figure out what was what and spent multiple hours sorting them out and figuring out what fabric I had assigned to sections and counting and re-cutting.  I also did this in the middle of things with my sweet sister Kellie, so my mind was not right either.

I am not going to tell a sister story today.  While sometimes it makes me happy, sometimes it also makes me sad.  I am still waiting to dream about her.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

Love the ones you’re with

Hand Quilt Along

So, I have some hand quilting progress.  It is a great way to keep my hands busy and the mind sometimes.  Quilting and sewing are my therapy.  They are  helping me deal with the loss of my sister.  It gives me something else to think about.  This fish may be my favorite so far.  Although, the farting seahorse is a close second.  It was my dear sister Kellie who dubbed it the farting seahorse.  I may end up naming this quilt, the farting seahorse quilt, just for her.

Please visit all these wonderful women and see what they have been up to.

Kathy, Kerry, Emma, Tracy, Deb, Connie, Susan,  Nanette, Sassy , Edith, Sharon, Karrin, and Gretchen

Kellie

You can tell Kellie had a sense of humor, I mean, really a farting seahorse?  Leave it tohHer.  I searched high and low for a picture from my wedding, but could not find it.  It would have made this story so very appropriate.

When I married my first husband, Jerry, all my sisters were in my wedding along with

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Kellie and Mom

my long time friend Kim. I chose a sensible dress that could be ordered from J.C. Penny.  It was Jade in color.  I will never forget waiting at the church and in walks my older sister, Karen.  Kellie immediately broke out into song (Sesame Street).  “One of these things is not like the other one, not like the other one, not like the other one.”  Karen’s dress was a different dye lot.  It was much darker than everyone elses.  She was very upset.  I was just laughing.  Kellie proceeded to sing under her breath at the altar.  I miss her sense of humor.  I want to talk to her.

The other night for the first time in my life, I saw a shooting star.  I wished for a dream about Kellie where I could talk to her.  I am still waiting.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

Love the ones you are with.

One Monthly Goal – October

For my One Monthly Goal, I am going to quilt and bind this baby quilt.  I have made this quilt for Kevin’s (man-friend) sister who’s  pregnant.  I kind of did my own thing.  I really liked the center baby pin fabric, so I did not want to cut it up too much.  I plan to use my heart ruler for this one.  Not sure of thread color, but it will likely be something multi colored.

Kellie, another story…

You may have seen this photo before.  But I need it to tell my Kellie story.  This is my lateFB_IMG_1503081791295 husband Derrick and Kellie.  We were in Las Vegas together because Derrick was in a Pool tournament.

So, when I married Derrick, Kellie was the only one in my family that did not have something negative to say about it.  Whether she liked it or not, she kept it to herself.  She was always kind to Derrick, which is more than I could say about anyone else in my family.  Yes, I met/knew him in an odd unconventional way, and yes he was younger than me.  But when my first husband took his own life and left me with 2 kids, he was the only one that stepped into a really ugly, messy situation and was willing to do whatever was needed. He was coming to town to visit his sister for the holidays.  He asked if he could stop by to check on me.

He never left.  He did not feel like he could.  Things just went from there.  I know Kellie and her husband, Matt, talked about it.  He told me when we were sitting in the hospital by Kellie’s side.  They decided if he made me happy (which he did) that was good enough for them.  This is just one of the many many reasons I can’t imagine life without her.  She stood by me, always.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

Love the Ones you are with

When life throws you a curve, quilt

This is my One Monthly Goal Project.  I actually finished it.  It was completed before my sister died.  I think I needed something to do rather than sit around and wait for something to happen.  I actually finished the binding on the evening before.  I needed something to do with my hands.  It is a cute baby quilt, even though my fire fly looks like it has mated with a bee.

For the first time, I pieced a back.  Nothing fancy, but I did it.  Learned a few things.  If watermark_2018-09-24-19-02-24.jpgyou can piece your back, you can save a lot of fabric.

I used my heart-shaped ruler for my quilting.  It does not look watermark_2018-09-24-19-02-49.jpgto bad. I find quilting with shapes and rulers relaxing, which is why I probably got this completed.  I needed to do something that was sort of mindless. For some weird reason, the color looks goofy in this photo.  Maybe because it is a close up

I hope you don’t mind….for a while I will likely add pictures of my sister Kellie.  I think honoring her helps me a bit.  It has only been a week and there were many time I said oh I will ask Kellie, burst in to tears when I suddenly realized I could no longer do that.

KELLIE – When, I had issues with my first husband, My sister drove down and picked up Haley for

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Kellie and Lori

the weekend so we can try to sort out what we were doing.  Unfortunately, that same weekend, my husband Jerry took his own life.  Kellie kept Haley for a couple of days so I could make arrangements and then brought her home.  She wanted to protect her for as long as she could, from how hard life was.  Haley was only 4.  I was so thankful that she did that.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

Treasure those you love like there is no tomorrow

I am overwhelmed with gratitude….

When I started my blog a couple of years ago, I was thinking about what I would like to do when I retire.  I had no idea that I would wind up creating such awesome friendships with some of the most kindest caring people.  I had no idea that would happen, yet it did.

I lost my beautiful little sister on September 19, 2018.  It was something unimaginable to me.  She was my best friend, pal, travel buddy and confidant.  SHe accepted me for who I was and never questioned my judgment, even when she probably should have.  She stood by me during a time in my life when no one else did.

So many of my blog friends reached out to me.  I was overwhelmed by their kind words, While their kind words brought tears to my eyes, they were not all in sadness.   I had made friendships with people I had never met, yet they knew me and wanted to comfort me.  I was humbled.

When I received the news that Kellie had left me, I knew I needed to do something that meant something to me and Kellie.  I knew Kellie would be cremated and taken to the beach. She was an avid dog lover, like me, but her husband was very allergic to dogs, so she spent a lot of time at my house, “Getting her dog fix” as she used to say.  I had a dog quilt.  Nanette had sent me the top and I had quilted and finished it.  I loved that quilt.  I called Nanette, like a blubbering idiot and asked her if she minded I sent that quilt with Kellie.  She, of course told me that she was perfectly fine with it.  While it may seem odd to cremate a quilt with someone, I found comfort in knowing that a part of me would forever be with her.

I love you all dearly and thank you for your words and kindness throughout this difficult time.

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I will give it a try….

So, I am going to try and participate in the One Monthly Goal. I have missed two months. I am not sure I am going to be successful in any way. This is the lightning bug block I turned into a baby quilt. Decided that I did not want to make 15 more of these. My goal is to get it quilted. Not sure if I can manage this goal or not, it just depends on what happens. I may need to quilt to keep my mind off of things. I will at least give it shot. I do wonder what color I should use for the quilting. I am thinking maybe a pale yellow, but I am not sure.

Sadly, My sister has taken a turn for the worse. She is currently in a coma and on life

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support. I spent 5 days in Cleveland and returned home yesterday. It was a heart wrenching time, sitting, waiting and thinking. The prognosis is not good. I now, just wait for my phone to ring and panic every time it does.

The picture is the day she got married to her wonderful and caring husband Matt. She is walking with my Dad, who I miss terribly, especially now. They are two of my most favorite people in the world. Dad is smiling and Kellie is so beautiful. I don’t want to lose my best friend, yet it is so hard watching her suffer. I want her to have peace, whatever that means. My sister has 2 children, they are 18 and 21. My heart hurts for them. Her husband, Matt, is so wonderful with her. He does not miss a day or a doctor. He keeps everything straight and knows every detail of what is going on. He has had to make some very hard decisions. He is a wonderful man.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

Treasure your Family

My Leaf Block for the Fall Quilt Along

So, I have some experience paper piecing.  For this block, there were 2 versions.  One for beginners and one for someone more advanced.  I set out to do the more advances one, but I could not get it to print correctly, so I ended up doing this one, which I actually like better.

So, I had difficulty with this block.  I struggled with paper piecing such large pieces.  Since I am using scraps (Thank you Nanette), I had to make them fit and found it extremely difficult with the larger pieces of the block.  My seam ripper and I became quite good friends.  I don’t need those type of friends.

I really do like the Fall quilt along, but have notices that my blocks vary quite a bit in size.  I have some that are 13.5 and this one finished at only 12 inches.  This will make it very interesting since I am attempting the Quilt as You go method.  We will be doing some creative trimming.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

Quilt as you Go? Hmmmm…

So, I made a baby quilt when I was pregnant using the quilt as you go method.  I did not like it at all.  That was 14+years ago.  I am thinking over time I may have gained skill, knowledge and patience.  Jeez, I hope I gained something.   I belong to a Facebook group for quilt as you go.  I have seen quite a few beautiful quilt as you go pieces, so I thought maybe I should re-investigate this method.

So, since I am participating in the Fall quilt Along, I thought this might be the time to give it a shot.  So, I watched a few videos again on quilt as you go.  I was especially fond of Leah Days videos on this technique.  Gosh she makes it look easy.  So, Since the fall quilt along is blocks, I figured that it would be a good one to do.

So, I took the plunge.  I quilted my hedgehog block.  I don’t hate it yet, but I have not tried to put them together yet either.  That will be the tell-tale sign for me.  Time will tell.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

Firefly test block. Thoughts?

So, this is my firefly test block.  I am unsure if I like it or not.  I really liked the sample, but am unsure If I like mine.  I am trying very hard not to buy new fabric and use what I have.  My daughter says it looks like a bee.  There is a bee variation for this pattern, but that is not the patch I went down.  I explained to her that I would have a black stripe in the middle of the bee’s body.  “Ahhh No, Mom.  Still looks like a bee.”

So, you should try piecing that antenna section.  Virtually impossible.  I sewed several, all crazily wrong.  I finally resorted to paper piecing, just this section.  Then there was not problem.  This pattern which comes from Pattern drop, calls for 16 of these blocks.  Do I like it enough for sixteen blocks?  What do you think?  Should I change something?  Should I make it a bee and lose the light up part (teal print)? Decisions, Decisions.  Let me know what you think.  My blogging friends give the best advice.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting