Mystery QAL - Block 4

The clue for block 4 is available today from Kim at Persimmon Dreams.  I'm sticking with the four fabrics I started with.  I still don't have the hang of getting the stripes going in the right direction, so today, my stripes pinwheel and that works for me!

I can't wait to see how this goes together!!

I really enjoy Brian Crane's comic strip Pickles!  I had one of his daughter's in my class the first year I taught...sweet girl.

I think many quilter's spouses and children can relate to this!!

Mystery QAL - Block 3

Flying geese were the order of the day!!  So excited that I have no headless geese!!!  This is the third block of the Mystery Quilt a Long hosted by Kim of Persimmon Quilts.  Just one block a day for 7 days...if you would like to join us, you could easily catch up.  Block 1 can be found here and Block 2 can be found here.

The gander is at the top and mama goose is making sure the goslings stay in line!  Those stripes bit me again, but I rather like the idea of mom and dad keeping the kids in a proper line.  Works, right?

These are my "oops" block portions - I obviously don't work with stripes that need to go in a specific direction and the little HSTs are from the geese...pressed and squared up, ready for me to make them into something!!  I love saving and working with orphan blocks...they make a quilt come together so fast!

Thank you, Kim, for this fun Mystery QAL that is getting me to my sewing machine every day!!

2019...Highlights

It has been a year!  I made 5 of the tummy time quilts and gifted them to a new granddaughter born in May, new grandson born in July, new great niece born in September, 2-year-old grandson for Christmas, and new-to-me 3-year old granddaughter for Christmas.  I have 2 others completed, 2 pinned and ready to quilt and one top that needs pinning and quilting.

Besides the pink and red Minky backing, I used pale green, turquoise and gray.  I love the dot Minky!

I also made a quilt similar to the tummy time quilts, but for an adult who is a friend of my youngest daughter.  I also made her a purse with some extra squares I had cut.

She likes purple and I couldn't find dot Minky in purple, so her Minky had more of a corduroy texture.

I made a big boy quilt for my 2-year-old grandson and he loves it!

I made some stuffies for 3 of my grands from a panel.

Newest grandson does like chewing on the giraffe's legs and nose, so that's a win for me!  The zebra and elephant went to my granddaughters who lost their father on the 19th of December.  Because I am the sole care-giver for my father, I cannot travel to be with them now, as I would like!  Twelve and six is way too young to lose their father!

I also made table toppers for the 2 ladies who come weekly to see my dad for hospice, a candle mat for a girlfriend (she was actually at my first birthday party and we have been friends forever), and for a dear friend in England I made a reversible table runner.

The table runner has to be the most difficult pattern I have ever made!  Every single seam was ripped out at least once and I had to go back to the fabric store twice because I messed up the cutting!!  She has lots of red in her home so I hope she can use the red side most of the year and the red and green side at Christmas - she always decorates her home so nicely at Christmas!

I'm going to try the table runner pattern again, because it is so cool that it twists at the end to make it a braid!!

Not a ton of stitching or quilting, but certainly more than the prior year.  I joined a few hops that that helped me by having a deadline to get something done!!  I'm trying new things in the coming year...3-D stuff is so hard for me, but I want to do it (and do it well), so I'll keep trying.  Perhaps the next stuffies won't be bowlegged!!

May 2020 be the year of enough for us all.

Blessings and thank you for reading my blog/diary, and for commenting!!  I really appreciate the friendships I have found through blogging!

Mystery QAL Clue #2

I know, two posts in one day!!  I missed that Saturday was Clue #1 (thank you Bloglovin'), but I hunted down clue #2 and finished it as well!!

If I can do two blocks in one day (where's my fainting couch??), so can you!!  Join Kim at Persimmon Quilts and find Clue #2 right there!

Working with stripes is not something I have done much with apparently...I'm creating orphan block pieces, so I'll be getting something else pretty made at the same time!!

Mystery QAL Clue 1

I am doing a short Mystery QAL with Kim of Persimmon Dreams.  It is one block a day for a week...I think I can do this!!  Today is the first day, so if you want to join us, please head over to Kim's blog for the instructions to this simple Clue #1.

My colors aren't the same as Kim is using, but this is a scrap-buster and I'm using what I have!!

@persimmondreams #PQMysteryQAL2

Merry Christmas

May your day be filled with the love and joy of the Christmas season with those you love.

A Few Things Made

I have really been struggling to do much of anything this year!  As we turn the calendar to 2020, I will be starting year four with my father.  While I would never make a different choice, being away from my husband and home for this long is quite unexpected and it has been hard for me.  My husband, bless him, has never once said anything about putting my dad in a nursing home so I could come home!! 

However, when one has grandchildren, one must do something!!  My 2 year old grandson is obsessed with dinosaurs!  I follow Pasture Deficit Disorder on Facebook and her husband is an amazing woodworker!!  I ordered a set of 5 dinosaurs from her and she sent them directly to my daughter for me!!

The ones I chose were a different wood, therefore a different color, but they are so cute and I know GS#1 will love them!!

Last spring I tested a pattern for Tammy at https://www.tamarinis.com/.  She designs fabulous paper pieced patterns and I had fun with this one...except I did have to employ Jack the Ripper a few times!!!  I used one of the blocks I made to make a table topper for a dear friend who was at my first birthday party!!  We have been friends a very long time and I cherish that friendship!!

I did finish the binding before I gave it to her...promise!!!  She loved it!

My two granddaughters...well, they were to be with their dad during the first week of Christmas vacation, so I wasn't too worried about mailing the few things I had for them early.  That all changed.  On Thursday, 12-19-19, their dad was having surgery to re-attach a muscle he had ripped off the bone (his pec).  At 38, he had a heart attack on the table and didn't survive.  So their world has turned upside down.  I am so very sad that I can't go to be with them...at 12 and 6, I feel like they need lots of support from loving family!!  I hope these two little stuffies, made and filled with love, will help them, even just a little!

Even though they will not make it in time for Christmas day, I don't think they will mind.

May you be blessed with the presence of those you love as you celebrate the holidays.

Merry Christmas and may God bless each of you in the coming year.

Season of Giving

Caring Quilters is a charity quilt group somewhere close to Denver, Colorado.  They make quilts all year long and donate them.  One of these wonderful quilters is a friend of mine named Teresa.  A few years ago Teresa lost her husband and I think this group has helped her through her grief.  Today she sent me an email telling me of the big fling they had today.

"Our charity quilt group had a big fling today. This morning we took 80 quilts to Ronald McDonald house.  One was given to a tiny little girl before we ever got inside the door.  She and her family were on their way out heading for surgery.  3 more were given to another mother who had a child who had been in the hospital since before Thanksgiving so her 3 kids could have a quilt each.  That still left enough for 1 quilt for each room. 

Then we headed over to the dialysis center that my late husband went to.  We took 55 quilts there.  This was enough for each staff member as well as each patient to have a quilt.  There were thank yous and hugs for us. 

It was a very good day. 

Our group made 267 quilts this year, and every one has been delivered now.  So 3 of us have empty closets to start the new year with."

She sent me pictures of 58 of the quilts that she personally quilted.  I can't put 58 pictures in one post, but I'll show you some of their work...

Wonderful job, Caring Quilters!!!

Finished or Not Friday

I am linking up with Alycia of Alycia Quilts and actually show off a few things I have actually finished!!

My dad is on hospice and has a nurse who comes to check him out once a week.  He also has a CNA who comes in twice a week to give him a shower.  I can't tell you how much I appreciate these ladies and the support they give to me as well as him!  I can call their office 24/7 and get help if I need it.  When my mom was sent home from the hospital on hospice, she came home on a Saturday morning at 10 AM and she went to heaven on Sunday evening at 5 PM.  Hospice was so wonderful at getting her what she needed for the short time she was home.  Dad is really getting so much more from them and I lean on them so much.  Anyway, I wanted to make them a little something to show my appreciation, so I made them table toppers.

Simple 4P turned into a 9P with a border and corner stones.  Very simple quilting on my sewing machine.  I gave them to them on Tuesday so they could use them during the Christmas season.  Today the CNA came and the first thing she did was to show me a picture of her table topper out on her coffee table, all decorated for Christmas.  She was so incredibly thrilled!  She said she always put the same decorations out on the table but that the table topper just took the whole display up a notch and she was so excited!!  Our quilted gifts, given from the heart, do not have to be over the top to be appreciated and used by those we give them to.

I love giving gifts to those who are not expecting it.