Tuesday, March 29, 2011

More Things In The Making...

I am trying to get a bunch of things finished and in the "completed" folder of my life (not that there won't be something to replace it!) but first, I finished Katie's top, that I crazily thought would be done for Christmas! I did start it in Oct., so I am trying to decide-"is 6 months good for me, or bad??" I like it a lot, and since I have about 30 yards of this line left, I believe I will be making myself one-a queen. I just have to find a different pattern. You are never too old for Dr. Seuss....
Then, I almost finished a spare Scrappy Toes in purple and green. binding didn't go so well, so I stopped, and will finish it later, hopefully not TOO much later...

I have a queen size ready to put together that will look just like this. I had extra blocks (miscounted, and didn't think I had enough...) so there it is, thought I would try out the border layout to see if I liked it. Works for me.
Then, I decided to finish another one of these in this pattern of which I had blocks done, was going to make a queen, but decided I am really tired of this patten now. After the queen, I hope to retire it for a long time, although, it is quick and easy.
I REALLY need to work on this:

It is king size, and I have to draw it out differently, by hand, and change a few blocks to make them more user friendly. It is a wedding present for Mark and Li, and last week was their 1 year anniversary. See what I mean about the 6 months? this will take forever, but it is rather intimidating, so I have been procrastinating. Sorry guys!
I should at least be working on the snails trail blocks, so that I am not putting it ALL off, then at least they will be done when I need them! Yes, that is what I will do! While working up the courage to start on the center....
So, a few more tops to add to the "collection". Of course these are not all "done, done", but at least the spares can wait till later.
Still waiting for the snow to melt. it might actually get up to 40 today! (39 now) and I can start to see patches of grass around the trees, but I bet we still have a foot in the yard. UGH. And I cant even bring myself to THINK about getting the campers out yet! (we pile all the snow in front of them...) but I am really ready for camping season, but of course, not the bugs...

Sunday, March 20, 2011

Feb. Challenge top done

One more thing out of my hair. I thought it would be easy, since all I had were borders to do, but the borders took longer then the center! I mitered everything since I thought trying to put on all those small borders by themselves would be a disaster. It was a very good use of this set of fabrics, as I have NOTHING LEFT-yeah! and it is a queen quilt. I will put it away until I get a few other things done and started, and of course it needs a back, which I have no idea what to use yet. The binding will be red. The pattern was free from Andover Fabrics called Ancient History. The blocks are 15", that is why there are not very many, but good for showing off fabrics. Naturally I changed things up a bit, and made mistakes that had to be 'corrected', but I am glad it is done. I haven't decided if I will send it out to be quilted, or try it myself. It is pretty big, and I think I want something different besides stippling or leaves. I am limited with my frame and machine with a 9" throat.
On to the next.....

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

The Loss Of A good Friend

The last few weeks have been crazy, more of which I want to touch on later, but for now, I have to say that we lost Spot today to a case of bloat. For those of you who don't know what that is, it is where their stomach turns over, and cuts off the blood supply to the organs. The vet said the pancreas "melts", whatever that actually means. She did not suffer long, as she came right downstairs, and I saw her almost right away. She looked like she swallowed a basketball. Cindy was here for quilting day, and we thought she ate something-A LOT of something-(Willow has done this and scared us too) but it was the real thing. We waited to see if she would throw up, but she couldn't, (we gave her peroxide) and we took her to the vet, who confirmed it. I made the decision to put her down. He said she didn't have much chance, young healthy dogs have a 50/50 chance if you catch it early enough. She didn't suffer long, and she was already failing, as he couldn't find a vein, her blood pressure was dropping fast. Poor baby. She will be missed. Even with 2 other dogs, there is a void, and it happened so fast, there was no real time to think about it, just stop her suffering. I am sure the impact will hit in the next few days. She was a good dog, and a great friend. This SO sucks.