Catching You Up...

Waiting for garage door company to come replace one of our garage door openers that got fried last week in an unusual thunder storm... never thought of putting a surge protector on my garage ceiling outlet...  Soooo, what better time than now to catch you all up on some stuff that has kept me busy!!  

A neighbor three doors down in having her first baby in a few weeks and has chosen not to know the baby's sex ahead of time, so I had to make them a gender neutral baby quilt!  Really hard!!

I used citrus colors of yellow, green and orange, along with black and white prints to make the quilt!

Her husband likes monkeys, so I had to add a little monkey on the quilt, too!!

As usual, I cut WAAAAY too many squares for the quilt, so I used up some of the extras to make a baby quilt for our little grandbaby, too.  I added a fun bright frog on black print for the alternating squares...

OH!!  And I can now show you "the Grand's Room" here in our home!  

I saw this cute panel months ago which seemed all BOY to me, so that was my jumping off place!

I chose the green drawers on the crib, so that if we EVER get girl grandbabies, I can switch the colors out to green and pink and purple!!

I love the Art to Heart growth chart panel I used to make the little low wall quilt!!  

And the new froggie one is on the rocker!! That is the same rocker we used to rock our now grown boys in when they were babies!  Dusted off and ready for use!

I found some great chartreuse green prints to make the crib dust ruffle, covers for the white boxes under the changing pad, and the rocker seat pad!

I made the changing table organizer wall quilt to hang above it, for diapers and lotion, wipes and such, too!

A month or so ago, I took a guild workshop on cathedral window blocks!  I loved making them but they are so fabric dense, 

that I would think a whole quilt made with them would be realllly heavy!!  So, I took the two blocks and made them onto a little day purse!!

Have used it ever since and gotten lots of compliments on it!!  Yay!

Sigh.... it's mid September and still ever so hot here!!  Yogi and I are still longing for the cooler fall weather to come!!
These little leaves agree completely, with Yogi and I, and simply could not wait to change their colors...

What are you working on these days??  Is it cool where you live by now?

PS.  HATE Blogger!!!  It simple does not keep the formatting I do when it publishes my posts....grrrr!!

Sew and Tell

Well, I just got back from LAST grocery store shopping for at least three weeks!  Actually quite happy about that… HATE grocery shopping!!  Don’t you?

Anyhoo, got a spice cake in the oven, and spiced apples in the crockpot.  I made two big pots of soup last week, which are frozen for later. 

I also made four tins of baked ziti, two tins of chicken pie, and two tins of chicken enchiladas last week, and all are also in the freezer, so my husband will just have to thaw, bake and add a salad, while I’m laid up with the new knee!

House is clean, laundry done, and all is ready for my total left knee replacement surgery on Monday!  But before I am incommunicado, I want to share some more things I’ve made lately!!

First off, before I had my right knee replaced on July 6th, I knew that putting my ten ton laptop on my lap/knees after the surgery was NOT going to happen,

I bought a cool Zagg keyboard for my ipad, which pretty much turned it into a tiny laptop!!  But I needed a case or cover for it, as the old one does not work with the new attached keyboard!

I had a stack of Mary Engelbreit squares leftover from a previous quit, so I used them to make a simple cover with a velcro tab.

It has worked really well as I recuperated from the surgery… very light weight and easy to use on a little padded lapboard I bought on Amazon!!

Our guild summer challenge was to do something “out of your box”…

so I DID!  Paper piecing is very out of my box!

I did make many mistakes…but learned as I went!

While the process does ensure accuracy, and wonderful points…

it’s still not my cup of tea! 

But I have LOTS of respect for those who do it!!

I also needed some modern looking placemats and table runner to put out in September with my “Back to School” decor.

I had some cool apple fabrics in my stash, so I added a few coordinating blenders…

and made big nine patch blocks which I cut into quarters and voila!!

The disappearing nine patch technique!!

I used the same brown word print for the center squares in all the nine patch blocks.  Really love how these turned out!!

And finally, going by how long it took me to get up the stairs to the second floor in my home after last knee surgery, and how long it took me to be able to sit in a regular chair and bend my knee at a 90 degree angle comfortably…

it was almost four weeks before I got into my sewing room to sit and sew!!

So, I have put together a big maple leaf lap quilt top

which is all sandwiched and ready to be quilted… HAND QUILTED !!  By ME!!! In the much easier Big Stitch style with pearl cotton thread!

So, I am ready for my knee surgery on Monday!!  YAY!

So, keep your fingers crossed for me, OK?  I probably won’t be fit to post for a few weeks!!

Yogi says hello and hopes you all are loving the cooler autumn temps!!  

Please, vote for me!!

I got a very surprising email today from National Quilters Circle!

My blog made their Blogger Awards finalists list!  Can you believe it??  HOLY COW!!

I am shocked, surprised and oh so VERY HAPPY!!

So, pretty please with sugar on top, won’t you click

   HERE

 and vote for me??

Yogi says a big huge THANK YOU for all the wonderful happy birthday wishes!!

He enjoyed a juicy hamburger for his dinner and a cookie for dessert!!  Woo hoo!!

Happy Birthday, Sweet Yogi!!

Can you believe this little guy is 14 today??

He really doesn’t show his age in photos.

But he has arthritis in his hips and knees, so his age shows sometimes when he walks! :-(

Yogi is the only Westie we’ve ever had.

Westie is the short name for his breed-

the West Highland White Terrier.

So, we thought how clever he was to tilt his head back and forth when listening to someone talk. 

Then we saw the Westie on the Little Caesar dog food commercial on TV do the same thing!!

All Westies do it!!  LOL!!

But he is, without a doubt, the smartest dog we’ve ever had!

And the most stubborn!  Grrr!

He hates squirrels with a passion… and rabbits!

He loves sweets like cake and cookies… dunked in coffee!

He has baked chicken almost every night mixed in with his dry food…

but loves, Loves, LOVES hamburger and steak!!

So, tonight on his birthday, he will get some!!

He is a great lover of quilts. 

As my bee friends will all tell you from personal experience,

you put a quilt down on my floor and he is ON IT in no time!!

I think I have more photos of him than of my kids and hubby!!

You must admit, he a cutie patootie!!