What Are Quilters Blogging About Today?

 I have a Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) finish, I'm pleased to say.  It all started  when I found I had a piece of black and white fabric which I decided to use as a boys project, adding colours each month.  Nice and simple to stitch, and I stitched up four blocks each month.

This is how it started.

Part way through making these blocks I had run out of the original black and white fabric, so had to go to my LQS and buy some more.  I couldn't get exactly what I was using previously, but thought the ...

 My niece Lisa called in for a visit the other day when she was passing by on a holiday trip.  I had asked her if she would like to become the "keeper of the quilt".  This is a family quilt, one I made for my mother for her 80th birthday back in 2002.  I had sent pieces of fabric out to everyone and asked them to write, embellish, or embroider something of themselves as a message to go on the 80th birthday quilt.   It was exciting to see all the individual blocks being returned. Lisa was delighted to take the ...

 Each month for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) I've been stitching up oven mitts in a bid to finally  use up my decreasing selvedge collection. The RSC colour this month is red, and I had a small group of red and mostly burgundy selvedge strips to work with.  There were just enough of these to make the two outside pockets on my double handed oven mitt.  There is quite a bit of stitching in these, but at last I was up to stitching the binding down.  I started this job last night, and finished it outside under the Archgola ...

Dad celebrated his 97th birthday with us in North Carolina, surrounded by his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Life is Good!

Dad celebrated his 97th birthday with us in North Carolina, surrounded by his grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Life is Good!

I've been working hard to get a birthday quilt finished.  It all started with a bag of shirts I received from my niece Lisa when my brother-in-law Dennis passed away.  Dennis was  my late sister Kathleen's husband, and I started to make a quilt for their grandson Adam, in memory of his Poppa.  Just a simple four patch, I decided, with red and black frames.  Then my beloved Robin passed away late last year, and this got put on the back burner.

Neighbors, relatives, church friends, Rotarians, AAUWs, P.E.O.s, Alpha Gams, FB friends, and QUILTERS! 

more balloons arrived a half hour later

Stevens was surprised at the stacks of cards in the mail each day.  Not only did he appreciate the many personal notes but I did, too.  I am most grateful to all of you!  

Daughter Julie and her boyfriend Josh drove from New Hampshire for the big weekend.  (They're certainly used to winter weather but the lake effect snow around Cleveland was new.) They arrived Thursday evening in time for dinner.  (They ...

 The final step to quilt making is to stitch on a label.  (Although I don't do this on donation quilts).  Adding a label is like "signing off" a quilt, giving the details, and I always add one to those quilts I gift to family, and those I'm keeping for myself.  I've just finished hand stitching this simple label so Birthday Bouquet is now finished.

Like a lot of my projects, this one had a long gestation period.  Way back in the year 2000 I took part in Southern Cross Quilters Birthday Block Swap.  We were matched to ...

 I have finally finished this pair of socks for me.  This 4ply sock wool is branded Happy Feet, no colour named, just a number, and I received it as a birthday gift last year from Sew Wot friend Mary.    As most of you know, I knit my socks flat, two at a time, and packed the finished socks in my knitting bag on our recent caravan trip planning to get side seam stitched up.  That never happened, and I finally completed this task once we returned back home.  It's about time I finished them.

Although it is now Spring ...

 Last weekend we were getting ready to leave for a caravan rally.  Gemma decided to make life difficult for us, with all the hustle and bustle of packing the caravan going on.  "Why not give my people a hard time and hide for a while", she thought.  We were all ready to go and searched here, searched there, to no avail, then searched again.  Robin finally found her curled up and keeping low in a place I had already checked twice!  I don't know why she acts like this, after all she goes away in the caravan once a ...

There are several things I have learned over the years in setting expectations for how things turn out. 

1. You can over-plan! You spend so much time planning the event that when it actually happens, it's melodramatic and a let-down. The event occurs in a flash, and there's no time to enjoy it, especially if you're constantly watching to see that everything happens as planned. I suppose part of the event is the planning, but that's not me. I like to wing things! 
2. You can do anything alone! I do not know why doing things alone has ...

It's a great day today! It's my birthday, and while we don't want to be reminded of how old we are getting, it's a huge reason to celebrate because we're here to talk about the birthday and look forward to many more! I am one of the lucky ones!!

I have a quiet day planned by myself, and I can't wait! DH is sick in bed, so I told him to stay away from me -- I don't have time for that! Since my previous list of things to do was almost complete, I ...

 We traveled down to Christchurch to spend some  time with my son Michael to celebrate his 60th birthday.  He had a busy week as he had flown up to Wellington to spend a couple of days with his Dad, then flew back down again in time for our arrival in Christchurch.  I had booked a table for dinner on Friday night at the Platform Brew Barn, a riverside establishment in Kaiapoi, quite close to where we are staying at the NZMCA park.

 My great niece Kate is turning 25 and having a get together to celebrate this milestone with friends and family.  Sadly we are unable to travel up to Hastings to join in the fun, as we had planned.  My son Michael turns 60 this month (gulp, how did that happen?) and we will be having a short caravan trip  down to the South Island to see him.  

I made Kate a cushion for her birthday and sent it up by mail.  She received it the following day, that was really quick, I though.  Kate likes blue, and she is one ...

 Now they have been received, I can show the birthday socks knitted for my long term friend from my schooldays, Merilyn.  These were rather special as I used Merilyn's double knit cream home spun wool which she had sent to me, plus a commercial sock yarn.  These two yarns knitted up to triple knit, or 12ply, and make a lovely cozy pair of socks.  This is what remains.

The left overs

I've hunted high and low for a photo of the completed socks, to no avail.  But I can show this one, looks like I have just finished ...

 There's a new baby in the extended family.  Robin's siter Kaye recently became a grandmother for the first time, when baby Jack arrived.  That was exciting news, making Jack our great nephew, I think.  I had already sent the new Mum and baby a colourful baby quilt, and then decided to knit him something.  Time was moving on, and babies grow so quickly, don't they.

I decided to knit the cozy little Jessie Jacket, designed by Kiwi Stitch and Knit Co..  This is knitted in a combination of stocking stitch and garter stitch, and has a little ...

I don't know where this month has gone. It's been filled with activity, not the least of which is keeping up with breadmaking from two different sourdough starters! What have I gotten myself into? Loaves are being gifted continually. I've branched out into English muffins, cinnamon buns and multi-grain breads too.Without a lot of words or explanation I'm going to catch up with a post 

I don't know where this month has gone. It's been filled with activity, not the least of which is keeping up with breadmaking from two different sourdough starters! What have I gotten myself into? Loaves are being gifted continually. I've branched out into English muffins, cinnamon buns and multi-grain breads too.Without a lot of words or explanation I'm going to catch up with a post 

When the cold settles in I am grateful for central heat and a garage for the car.  

I had an ophthamologist appointment on Monday. Hooray! Cataract surgery is scheduled for February.

Generally, we spend New Year fairly quietly, but we had a family birthday celebrate.  This year we spent a very wet New Year’s Eve with my nephew Shane who was turning 60.  Shane is the eldest grandchild on the maternal side, the first child of my late sister Kathleen and hubby Dennis.   It is a tradition in this family to prepare and cook a hangi for special occasions, and this Shane did with a little help.  Not a “hole in the ground” traditional hangi, but rather one cooked in a stainless steel container, heated with gas, but still using ...