Siggies and ....

…. another block. I’ve started to fill in some of the leaves, flowers, etc. with embroidery thread and the look is more intense; whereas before, the blocks were OK but they really didn’t stand out much.

Below are my siggies that have been received so far. They have come from far and wide. What fun it has been receiving letters and opening them to reveal really unique blocks. I will have a gorgeous quilt one fine day! :o)

#1 – Rianne from The Netherlands
#2 – Elfriede from Austria
#3 – Beate from Germany
#4 – Enrica from Italy
#5 – Ria from The Netherlands
#6 – Puck from The Netherlands
#7 – Annelies from The Netherlands

When I saw Elfriede’s name on the list for siggie swapping, I just had to have one from her. She lives in my Dorschner ancestral city of Linz, Austria. Lately, I have been busy doing genealogical research and when her letter arrived, I was on the computer looking at that family tree research. Who knows, we may be related ….. it is a small world after all.

Annelies is the hostess for the siggie swap and if you are interested in participating, visit her blog.

Have a great day!

Supervised Siggies

... and another block.

Hank (the resident critic) had to oversee the process of siggie making. If there are any boo-boos, blame it on Hank. She was ‘in my face’.

These are my siggies that went out in the mail recently. Some of them have been received already and I have heard from the other folks and their siggies are on their way to me.

I will show my siggies that have been sent to me in another post. I don’t know how many to collect or what the layout will be ….. I’m just collecting them for now. What fun, mail coming in from all over the world. I wonder what my postman thinks when he delivers at our home.

Have a great day!

Quilt ladder, mail goodies and painting

With all the quilts that I’ve made and more to come, storage is starting to become an issue.

Painting our home is still on-going and our living room is getting re-arranged. Bonus - there will be room for a quilt ladder.

Now, I didn’t want something fancy …. actually, more cottage looking. DH came to the rescue and made this ladder for me. As we speak, it is being painted white and soon will be put to use.

Last week, goodies in the mail came from Jane. Jane was having a giveaway and I was the bonus winner. Jane actually had only two items for her draw, but her DD2 was determined that the last name in the basket would have chocolate. My name was last, and I got chocolate and fabric. Thank you, Jane and DD2! :o)

Painting with kitties has been an interesting venture. Hank has already gotten a tail full of paint from brushing up against some door frames. This is what we have to do to keep the kitties away from fresh paint. We finally got the paint off her tail, but it took two of us to do the job. Luckily, she stayed away from furniture, etc. while we were trying to quietly catch her.

Have a great day!

My Quilting Time Line

In my last post, some of you might be wondering how long I have been quilting. Not forever, as it seems. My first quilt was made in 1979 …. yikes… but I haven’t done a lot of quilts during those early years. Here is what I’ve done over the years: 

Included in this count of what I consider to be quilts is anything from bed size, to wall quilts to table runners. Tote bags and jackets are not included in these numbers. 

Since my retirement, the quilt numbers have increased. More time on my hands and better to keep them busy quilting rather than eating. 

How do I know what has been accomplished over the years? I started a quilting journal a few years ago but had photos of the quilts that were made. The notations on the back of the photos made it easy to complete the journal page for each quilt. 

The in-between periods, I sewed clothes for myself, did crochet and knitting. Now that the quilting bug has bit me, all those other crafts have taken a back seat. 

What is a post without some eye candy? Here is another block. Thank you, Miss Ashes for holding down my quilt. BTW, these blocks are hand embroidered with beading here and there. Have a great day!

Baby Quilts – way back when

Here are a smattering of my first baby quilts that I made eons ago. I have to smile when I look at these photos …. lots of memories there. The furnishings, the hair, the wallpaper, etc. Yes, way back in the 70’s.

Well, how did I do these? Colouring books were used for the various images and all these were done using needle turn applique (which I really hate doing now). The eyes, etc. were embroidered on. All these are hand quilted. Back then (over 30 yrs. ago) there wasn’t much in the way of patterns and cottons were hard to come by; so there is a lot of poly-cotton used in these quilts.

Yes, those were the days! :o)

Trying to Quilt

It is going to be a long haul ….. everytime I sit down to quilt, one of the kitties has to visit me. Hank has to make sure that the tension in my hoop is just right as well as giving my hands a lick down.
Once she goes away, Ashes comes around to make sure that what I’ve quilted is snuggle quality. Yep …. it is going to be a long haul trying to get this UFO finished before New Year’s Eve.
On the other hand, here is another block done. At least something got accomplished.

Have a great day!

Another block

Still painting our home .... so not much quilting going on. The older I get, the less energy I have for getting things done. The house is a mess with everything all over the place. As one area gets finished, the next area things are moved into there and the mess starts all over again.

So, for the next few weeks, there will not be much to look at on my blog. During my breaks, I will be plugging along with these blocks as well as doing some hand quilting on my huge UFO.

Have a great day!