Quilt of the Month

Every month in 2014 I've made, or supervised, twice, the making of a quilt. The patterns were all by Villa Rosa Designs. They were chosen by Bernina Sewing Centre. Sometimes I purchased the fabric kits and other times made my own choices. Some of the quilts are going to family, while others will be given to charity.

Yesterday I made the back and loaded the first charity quilt onto my APQS, Mellinium longarm. Today I'll start quilting it. I'm using So Fine by Superior Threads #534, a chartreuse color, for most of the quilting. The inner black border will be quilted with a black thread. I'll be binding the quilt in the same fabric as the inner border.

The fabrics for this quilt are definitely out of my usual color choices. I wanted it to be fun and cheerful. Hopefully it will make the person it goes to feel happy!

Peace!

Gourmet Pancakes

Today, two of our Granddaughter's are making us gourmet pancakes for breakfast. They've taken orders from everyone in the house. The choices include, plain, blueberry, pecan, raisin, chocolate chip, or a combination. Yum!
Toria, 19, light hair, Shelley, 14 tomorrow, dark hair, are cousins.

Peace!

Woods

Hiking on the Rockdale River Trail, in Georgia. A beautiful crisp Winter day!

Peace!

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Granddaughter's special gift for her Dad

This post is about very special presents from a daughter to her Dad. Our son-in-law always uses cloth handkerchiefs. Roger has his undergrad and master's degree from University of Georgia. He also loves cows. Roger would probably like to own a cow, but unfortunately or fortunately as the case may be, it's not allowed in his subdivision. 
So, every year for Christmas, Father's Day and sometimes Easter, I help our granddaughter, Shelley, age fourteen, make him a handkerchief. Shelley and I go to a local quilt shop and hunt for cow or UGA fabric. When we first started making these, we always purchased cow related fabrics. After a few years, as it got harder to find them, we added UGA fabric. I iron the fabric edges double folded and then Shelley sews along them by hand or machine. Usually it's done by hand. Once we did a rolled hem on the serger. We started doing these when she was five or six. Shelley's stitch size has improved considerably over the years. 
Roger loves his handkerchiefs. He's proud to use them in church, a business meeting, or social situation, as well as at home.
The following photo is Shelley working on this year's handkerchief. On her lap are just some of the handkerchiefs she's made for her Dad.

Peace!

Amber Hope and Lacey Love

I'm  missing my babies. They're being boarded while we celebrate Christmas with family. At least I know they love the people where they're boarded and they're together and well cared for. Doesn't make me miss them any less though.
Amber Hope is a three and a half year old Maltese/Toy Terrier. We got her from a rescue when she was nine months old. Her first name comes from her eye's which are Amber colored and her middle name from the fact she's ALWAYS hoping for food! Amber is pretty laid back, most of the time, unless she sees a squirrel. 
We ordered Lacey Love from Moss Creek Goldendoodles in February of 2013. Her father is Sammy, a moyan poodle and the mother is Mindy, a golden doodle. That makes her 1/4 golden retriever and  3/4 poodle. She was born the end of May and came home with us the end of July.
We wanted a small goldendoodle. Waiting through the conception, birth and then the nine weeks after, was like waiting for a new human baby. We saw pictures of the parents, on the breeder's website. They took pictures of the litter every week and emailed them to us. When the pups were old enough to be separated, they took individual pictures. Each pup had a different colored collar put on at birth. We got to make a first and second choice from the litter photos. We got our first choice, yellow collar girl. She is named Lacey Love.  Lacey because she is white, soft, feminine and I'm a heirloom sewist among other things. The Love is because she is so sweet and loving.
They are our very spoiled children!

Peace!

Square in a square

I started blogging again this month after two years absence. My last post two years ago was of a square in a square quilt I was making for my husband and myself. That quilt was on my Longarm to be quilted when I wrote my first blog this month. I had loaded it in July to quilt but ended up having two eye surgeries over the Summer and Fall with some extenuating circumstances. Finally got back to quilting and finished the job last Sunday night. Yesterday evening I sewed on the binding so all that is left to finish is the hand sewing. I'll do that over the holidays. 
The quilting on this quilt isn't what I would like to have done but I had to get it off the frame to get Teej's quilt quilted for Christmas. I just meandered in the borders. I wish I'd had the time to stitch a fern-feather border. I still think it looks pretty and I'll enjoy using the quilt. 

Peace!