Quilt finally finished!!

I am finally finished with a project started in 1992. A flying geese quilt from Eleanor Burns first Flying Geese Book. I decided that my son turning 40 was the best excuse to stop everything and get it done!!! I did and it is... the label goes on today and then to the laundry for the removal of the 17 years of dust and kitties. Then to him!!! However I will be taking it to my guilds quilt show on Wednesday and then another guilds quilt show on the following Saturday. HEre are some pics of the progress. I quilted on it the whole week I was at the lake on vacation. I cannot sit in the sun but the camp was arranged so I could be in the light enough to feel like I am on the lake. Very relaxing and I finished it!!! Dave and I even took a whole day on the lake. I spent the weekend in bed but ... that is another story. That is Pepper in the pictures... he always like to help me do things...Everything!! Sits on the edge of the tub when I shower... on the bathroom counter when I brush my teeth... stuff like that.

Jane #2 colors

Here are a couple of blocks completed on the Dear Jane # 2. I love the fabric. I am trying to do these blocks every way except by hand. Dear Jane #1 is being done by hand only. Sometimes I think it is easier. I have my trusty little Featherweight for the tiny pieces and paper piecing... even!!! But I still like the hand piecing best.

Things at the Country Farm!!!

Good day folks,
Today has the first sunshine in a few days!!! I am going to be out and about for the day... or most of it. Emma has a game and I will go to the shop today and do some on Simon's quilt. At some point I will do some cleaning in the house. I spent the day yesterday hand quilting on a Flying Geese quilt April and I worked together on when they were living here. And from then until now... it has been sandwiched and waiting for some sit down time!! I took it yesterday while the carpenters were here. I will have painting time at some point next week. This house is getting a face lift. We have decided that we are going to be here for at least 10 or so more years. So I want to give the decor an update. That involved some things that I did not expect. Dave thought we should replace the chimney and I agreed. So with that done we had and have 3 rooms affected directly. One is the living room which we changed into a bedroom for my Mom so she will have a larger space to be. And then there is Kathy's room and Monica's room in the finished attic space. Dave closed in the chimney space and we painted the walls and ceiling and woodwork in Mom's new room. We also had a carpet installed. That was the hired labor in that space. Then we have Kathy's room ... we have hired the plaster removal and sheet rock done in there. While The mess is created we are going have the remaining plaster in Mom's old room removed and put up sheet rock in there too. The carpenter.. Paul Harmon and his crew are making short work of the messy jobs. Paul St. Peter (my cousin in law) and another young man are working for Paul. We just have to wait for rainy days because it is an inside job and the outside jobs are for nice days. They have the sheet rock up in Kathy's room and I expect the painting to begin about late next week. I have asked to have it complete by the end of June. HE is doing very well. The weather seems to be cooperating.

I on the other hand have had to "wait" for stuff to get done to do. Sooo I have been working at making Simon a quilt for his big boy bed. I hope to have that done by the first of July or so. His Mom gave me some of his little boy clothes that are being cut into rectangles for this quilt. Also my "Baby Boy" is turning 40 this summer! I am quilting on a quilt for his big day as well. That too is for the first of July. And by the 26th of this month I will need to have most of both things done. I get to have a grand girl for 4 days! There will be limited time for quilts and quilting then. She is 2 and such a lovely little thing. Her brother and cousins Nora and Emma are going to go on a trip of a life time... they are going down the Allagash with their Papa as the guide. Moms and Dads and Papa.... they are going to have a blast. I am not a canoe person and so I get to have the youngest. I did do the canoe thing and I liked it when the water was calm. But we had to cross a lake in a wind storm and scared me enough to not get back in at all!!! So far. Maybe I will soon. I have to get my strength back up first. I am working on it. I did the climbing of ladder and made out okay ... my balance is not so good these days. I am working on that too!!!

Holidays 2008

Happy Holidays... now that they are over for last year.... the new year is here!! I had a wonderful season except I busted my knee right after Thanksgiving and did managed to sit long enough to have it be healed to get around after a couple of weeks. The next thing is to stregthen it enough for the summer walking when we get to go camping. And to also get ready for this years holidays!!! I am doing some sewing for next Christmas when I get to sew this year. I expect to sew at my shop sometime today actually. There is a stack of mending to do as well as a couple of sewing projects that I am working on. I will talk about them when I get the pictures to show.

Some of the grandchildren were here for the Christmas times... it was lovely to have them. We even had the opportunity to have them by ourselves for the week between Christmas and NEw Year. The times were fun. Ben had a Jammie Day for two days. He got to play Wii with his Uncle Chris and also played with cousin Emma for a day and was corralled by Cousin Mackenzie on another day. All the children were together to play out a couple of times over the week. Then there were the quiet moments when I got a hug and got to sit quietly and talk about things with Ben. And there were the Nerf gun fun times that got us all up off our chairs and running around. Olivia at 1 3/4 years old was a delight to see learning so much each day. She is starting to make sentances and has naps and bounces when she walks. She has a couple of new babies that are lovely to play with. ONe is a Bitty baby and the other a cute little dolly that has a magnetic passifier to either suck on or hold. Her Amy doll got a lovely new dress for Christmas as well. Emma took care of Olivia one night when I was down with a sinus infection. She woke up with her and then Pop came to the rescue. We all watched movies on New Years eve and "stayed up all night"... after 3 movies we finally went to bed. We still did not get to see the ball drop!

Jane Blocks

Here is J-10 Cheiko's Lily. I did freezerpaper on the back applique'. I scored the edges with my finger nail and took the paper away ... then I pined in place and stitched each melon down on the pieced background block.

Finishing woven tumbling blocks!

Picture one two and three: Adding borders... pick 4 sides and add them to the octagon only! IF you are doing the table runner... do two opposite sides. Pin each border on the side that is up. Turn it over and pin the other border on the other side..... sew with a 3/8 inch seam. I did! I have the same border on both sides of the piece. The 3rd picture shows the borders sewed and folded out away from the center.

The 4th picture shows the batting being sewed in with a wide zigzag stitch. The batting is butt up against the edge of the seam allowance.










The 5th picture shows the batting sewed in. Then I marked the angle to trim for the last four borders. For the table runner you will cut the ends to match "the end" or "the side" if you put the ends on first. I would put the sides on first.

Maine Jane meeting

Diana is paperpiecing and this is her latest block!
Rosa got some quilting tips from Sue and Jan over the course of the day!!!

Diana waiting to do some piecing on her little baby!!!

A Whole top complete and it is by Rosa!!! Great job and thanks for bringing it!
Taking her last stitches and completing 169 blocks... RVJan.... Congratulations!
Jennifer is here completing her 6th block!!! We had a great day of it!!!
Sue is seated and completing her 2nd block and loving every minute of it!!! And as we all talk at once... Cindi is telling Jan aobut the Sweet Potato Babies?!!! Ask them!!! LOL
Jan's completed 169th block!!!! Hoooray!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow did we have fun. The day went by so fast!!! WE all enjoyed each others company and we all got to meet someone new. AND we talked about next year.... that says it all. I am adding pictures that will give you some bit of how the day went. Thank you Brenda P for the lovely pins that were given out to those who actually did not have one yet!