5, 4, 3, 2, 1...

Counting down for the New Year?  No, that's what everyone else is doing.  I'm counting down surfboards...50 to be exact.

Or not.

When I counted my finished appliqued blocks, I had 52.  oops.  Two identical sets of 26, when I needed two sets of 25.  oh well.  over achiever!

I'm finally to the point where I can spread them out and see how they look.

 Not bad.  Not bad at all.  My surfing son gave it his seal of approval. 

After looking at the image on the computer, I see that I've got a lot of grey surfboards in the 4th row.  I've already switched them around, but I didn't take a picture.

(Yes, Lisa, that is your partially quilted quilt in the bottom lefthand corner.  I hope to get back to it soon.  Goals are good!)

I have a specific size for the finished surfboard quilts.  These blocks are 10" x 14", so it's been kind of a challenge.  I've just gone with the flow, to see what happens.  Actually, it's all working out quite nicely.

Vertically between the blocks, I'm piecing sashing that is 2" 1" 2" 1" 2" 1"....2"  until it measures 14".  The finished sashes are 1" wide.  I think the horizontal sash will be made of 2" x 1" pieces.  This will be surrounded by a border made of 4" squares.

I've supplied all of the beachy background fabrics.  The Hawaiian print surfboards, sashing, and borders are all cut from shirts.  My client hired me to make memory quilts for her boys, using her father's shirts.  I think they're turning out very nicely. 

They weren't done by Christmas, they're not done by New Year's, but they'll be done soon.  Goals are good and all that.  My goal for 2013 is to once again become a productive quilter. 

Happy New Year, one and all!

Ahhh

The last iris of 2012 bloomed on Christmas Day.

Reunited!

During Christmas, we had an unexpected houseguest.  I had planned to blog about him, but what with the busy-ness, it just didn't happen.  Long story short, on Saturday, a woman came to our door with a cat. 

It was pouring rain, and they were out walking their dogs.  The cat came howling up to them, demanding attention.  A neighbor told them that it had been dumped on the block a few days earlier.  oh my.  I assured her that I would give it a place to live, as I looked for the owner.

It's not so easy to look for an owner these days.  I posted a flyer on my mailbox, and another at the street corner.  In the meantime, Pixel and the cat became fast friends.

(As soon as I stopped recording, Pixel rolled right off the couch!  hahaha!  She was immediately back up, to resume play.)

Kitty was part of our Christmas picture - who knows where the other cats were? - and seemed happy to live here forever.  I cringed a bit, thinking "5 cats makes it official - Cat Crazy Lady!"  but it was such a nice cat, surely it had a home?  I found nothing posted on Craigslist or in the newspaper.  *sigh*

Yesterday I took it to the vet, as Pixel was due for another round of vaccinations.  They scanned the kitty and...he had a chip!  Bob Cat was a rescue kitty who had now been rescued again.  He lives 10 miles from here.  His owner was delighted to get him back, and said that he'd been beside himself, worried that Bob had met a gruesome fate.  It hadn't occurred to him that Bob had been grabbed and dumped.  I suspect that Bob will be kept indoors even more than before.

As I was driving home from the vet, bringing Bob 10 miles closer to his owner, I had a very good, happy feeling.  Sure, Bob is a great cat, and I would not have minded keeping him, but to reunite an owner with his missing kitty?  Absolutely wonderful!

Even the heavens agreed with me, as this appeared on my way home.

If you click, you can see that it's a double rainbow.

Don't you just love happy endings?

More

More baking,

More decorating,

More cats?!!  (Is it yours?  Are you missing one?)

More game-playing

More sewing (!)

More everything

I hope you had a very Merry Christmas!!

So Not Ready

We may have our tree,

And we may have eaten some cookies by the fake fire.

 Sew Eclectic had our Christmas dinner,

The Itty Bitties had our Christmas breakfast,

But I haven't finished my shopping or shipping.

I'm working on it, but in the down time?  I'm just not here, I'm surfing.

Somehow I must find the Christmas spirit, and I know just where to start:

O holy night!
The stars are brightly shining
It is the night
Of our dear Savior's birth!
Long lay the world in sin and error pining
Till he appear'd and the soul felt its worth
A thrill of hope
The weary world rejoices
For yonder breaks
A new and glorious morn!
Fall on your knees
Oh hear the angel voices
Oh night divine
Oh night when Christ was born
Oh night divine, oh night, oh night divine


That's it...maybe music will help.  :)

Some Stitching

Stuck in the middle of Christmas prep - though if I were to admit it, I haven't done a lot of Christmas prep, I'm still trying to come to terms with the calendar flipping to December - is a project that is very overdue.  Remember the memorial quilt I made back in March?  I wrote about it here.

Well, my client subsequently ordered a matching pair of bed quilts, again made with her father's shirts.  Our communication was not the best, as I missed a key email and waited months for it.  It was summer, and I figured we both were busy.  oops.  But now I'm buckling down and trying to get these done.

Each block measures 10.5" x 14.5".  There will be 25 in each quilt.  Yikes!  I need to get moving! 

Actually, as of this writing, I have most of the background blocks pieced.

I think the applique, and the project in general, would go faster without my assistant/supervisor.

She wants to be as close as possible to eye level, even if she can barely keep those eyes open.

I hoping that my puppy sitting duties are about at an end, at least between now and Christmas.  Both of us (Pixel & I) are looking forward to the return of her guy this evening.

Happy Stitching!

A Pretty Penny

As I mentioned in my last post, we spent the weekend visiting my daughter and her family.  It was a zoom, zoom, crazy visit.  She has been dealing with some plumbing issues (no water pressure in the shower, and the kitchen sink started leaking the day before we arrived), so the bulk of our time was spent with the guys playing handyman.  The shower actually had rocks in the shower head.  The garbage disposal had cracked down one side.

I am happy to say that everything was functional when we left.  A minor leak developed, but a plumber was able to fix it for just the cost of the call.  It was an installation oversight.  Not like my bathroom, where I finally have a sink and a faucet, but the faucet is not connected to the water supply, and the sink is not connected to a gooseneck. 

Today, on Day 18, I will be calling a plumber to get me up and going.  Husband abandoned the project on Day 3, and has ignored it ever since.  Son bought a new gooseneck yesterday, but can't get the pieces to fit together correctly.  Time to call in the professionals...

When I start to think about it, my blood pressure gets not so good.  So I'll think on something happier.

There now.  I feel MUCH better, don't you?  :)

P.S.  I just sent in my deposit for this.  I hope I get in...space is very limited!

Weekend Visit

We went out of town over the weekend, for a preliminary "Christmas" visit with our daughter & her family.  Penny totally enjoyed herself, and did not want to take a nap.  Hopefully this video comes through.  Her uncle helped her define her goal...which was to "never go to sleep."

I didn't get many pictures, but the video?  Oh, it's a keeper, and a sharer.  Enjoy!

Degrees

B.S.

B.S., D.V.M., M.P.V.M.

At home...

 "What are you looking at me for?"

There's never a dull moment...

Like Christmas

Last night our art group, Sew Eclectic, got together for our annual Christmas party.  This year, instead of individual gifties for everyone, we each made one quilt.  The small art quilt was to reflect our "style."  Like I have a style? 

The quilts were put in bags, and numbered 1-14.  Numbers were then drawn by the gift-givers.  If you drew your own number, you put it back and drew again.  Then we went around the room, opening them one at a time.  SO fun.  It was amazing.  We knew who made each quilt before the recipient read the label. 

This is how it went down:

Barbara received the one I made.

Kristin received the one Beth made.

Sara received Jeremy's.

Jeremy received Wanda's.

DeAnn received the one Charlotte made.

Wanda received the one Debbie made.

I received Kristin's.  (LOVE that sexy beaded fringe!)

Barbara made and framed quilted letters for Beth.

Sharon received DeAnn's sunflower.

Debbie opened a quilt from Sharon.

Deolinda's quilt went to Pat.

Pat's quilt went to Deolinda.

And last, but not least, Sara's quilt went to Charlotte.

The evening finished with our annual group picture.  Missing are Barbara D, and Cindy.  I think everyone else was present.

Is this a superb way to get into the Christmas spirit?  ohmygoodness, yes it is!!

From Every Angle

It's a big one.