A new year

It has been 18 months since I last posted and a great many things have happened in my life. 

My oldest son moved to Alaska. He loves it there and has no desire to come back to NY.

We have added another granddaughter to our crew of grandchildren.  We now have 6 grandsons and 2 granddaughters.  Miss Freya made her appearance on June 4th of this year.  I was there for her delivery. She was born at home with no drugs or trouble. She is a very inquisitive baby and very active.

We said some sad goodbyes to 4 of our pets this year. 2 cats(Otter and Nibbles), my beloved Loki(my avatar) developed cancer, and Riki(who started out as my son's dog and ended up staying with me as she wouldn't make the flight to Alaska).  I miss my furry children.

We have put a metal roof on our house as we developed a leak in the spring.  We were surprised to find that there was 4 layers of shingles and in a few places 5.  Code states 3 so now I know that the last contractor didn't do what he was paid to do 10 years ago.

I have joined a Modern Quilt Club.  We have been together a year and I am enjoying the simple beauty of our quilts.  I have a challenge due in June.  Currently I'm trying to figure out what I want to do.

I still do the newsletter for my local quilt guild.  I need to sew more for this group so I volunteered to chair our charity group.  Currently we are working on Honor Flight Quilts.  4 tops have been handed out to long arm quilters in our guild.  We are having a workshop in 2 weeks to make more.

I still belong to a Jo Morton stitching group.  I haven't been able to attend in a couple of months and I hope to get back to going soon.  I really don't want to drop out as I enjoy the small quilts that we typically make.

I'm sitting here trying to put together what I would like to accomplish this next year.  I will try to post it when I figure out what I want to get done. I have a whole year to figure it out. I've already told my husband that I plan on doing more quilting.  He told me that it was fine with him.  He told me that I need to spend more time doing what I like and less time running with the children/grandchildren.  I also want to spend more time with my dad.  That can be tough though as he keeps very busy.  He will be 72 this year.  I don't want him to slow down though.

Good bye to 2015 and Hello 2016!  I hope that you are an improvement!

Still working on my room

I'm at a stand still at the moment in my sewing room.  My DIL became ill and we haven't had a chance to work in my room for a while.  We also ran into a road block of what do I do with my mom's stuff? I pick a container a day and try to go through it. Its not easy on me.  I'm debating what to do with the items that my sisters gifted me.  I may just put them in a closet and let them age a bit longer and then deal with them as I need to sew some shirts for the grandsons for school. I really just want to get back to sewing and quilting. I guess that putting stuff in the closet may be the best thing right now.

Thoughts about Quilting

I seem to have quilter's block.  Since we lost our girl, I just don't feel like sitting and running my machine.  She laid at my feet and kept me company while I sewed. 

My DIL has noticed that I'm not working on stuff and commented.  She asked me if maybe rearranging my room would help.  We would move stuff and just pick Kira's stuff up and put it away for now.  I really don't want to part with her stuff and the boys(Loki and Deedle) don't lay at my feet.  Loki has always laid behind my chair and Deedle lays in the doorway.  We have put up a baby gate so they can watch as we decide how to change the layout.  I may put some shelving in the closet and remove the doors(sliders) to store my fabric.  I think that moving my cabinet and putting the conference table behind it will give me some more room when I quilt larger items or sew clothes for the grands.  I'm hoping that this will spark some creativity for me.  It will give me some storage room under the table and I will also have room for friends to come over and stitch with me too.  I just need to measure and make sure that everything will fit into my 11' by 13.6' room.

I may also change my lighting as there is a single window and the room can be dark at night.  Currently there is overhead lighting (ceiling fan) with 3 bulbs.  I may put led light bulbs into it, as we did in our dining room.  That has made a major difference there.  I prefer to cut there now.  Time to get back to measuring and debating about where to put stuff.

Stash Report

I have done a little sewing lately.  I have my Jo Morton's Little Women Club quilt done.  I just need to finish sewing down the binding which I will do tonight at quilt guild.  I quilted it on my Bernina with out the stitch regulator.  It was the first time that I had tried to do it with out it.  I could use some practice.  I used a whole yard for this quilt.  I'm working on some blocks but I'm not counting them until I get the blocks completed.

Used this Week:                         1.00  yards
Used year to Date:                     2.25  yards
Added this Week:                       0  yards
Added Year to Date:                 16.50 yards
Net Used for 2014:                    14.25 yards


Please head over to visit Judy at Patchwork Times and see what some of the others are doing with their stash.

Sad Day

I'm sorry that I haven't written in a while but I have been spending time with Kira, our German shepherd.  We found out at Christmas time that she had cancer.  She had been doing great.  I was so happy to see her so active and playful.  Last Thursday, she stopped eating.  I took her to the vet and we changed her medication.  She seemed to feel better but still would not eat.  We went back to the vet and they gave her a shot to help her stomach stop jumping.  She still would not eat.  Yesterday morning she stopped drinking too.  Very hard to call the vet and let them know that she had given up.  We took her in for one last time and said our goodbyes to her.  It was very hard coming home to the two boys.  They have been looking for their girl.
Kira was a very active girl and didn't like to take no as an answer.  She is out of pain now.  I will miss my girl.

 Her favorite place to sleep - our bed.

 Playing with her stuffed toy

Princess Kira

Stash Report 3/2/2014

I did some sewing this week!  I worked on my Jo Morton's Little Women club quilt.  The top used a whole 1.25 yards of Jo Morton fabric.  I've been waiting for the tower to come in but it hasn't yet.  Its supposed to this week.
I'm hoping to make a couple of project Linus quilts this week as our area coordinator has put out a call for quilts.  She has run dangerously low.  I'm hoping to get a couple made and take them to her at guild in a little over a week.

Used this Week:                         1.25  yards
Used year to Date:                     1.25  yards
Added this Week:                       0  yards
Added Year to Date:                 16.50 yards
Net Used for 2014:                    15.25 yards


Please head over to visit Judy at Patchwork Times and see what some of the others are doing with their stash.

Stash Report Week 6

Nothing in and nothing out.  Not much going on in the quilting department.  I have a few ideas for some quilts but currently haven't had time to look at my machine. 
Hopefully the flu has finally run its course thru the family and we can all get back to good health.  I love my children and grandchildren but I wish that they would stop sharing with us. 
I did spend time with my father over the weekend.  We gave him a surprise 70th birthday party.  We actually pulled it off.  He was surprised that we could keep it from him.
We met for quilt guild and I was volunteered to make a new banner with our logo.  Our president thought that I needed something to do in my spare time.  She chose me to chair the banner project while I was answering my husband's question of what he could have for dinner.  Teach me to walk out of the room to answer my phone.  I don't mind too much as we have had the old one for 26 years.  It is getting a little frayed around the edges and we have changed our logo.

Used this Week:                         0  yards
Used year to Date:                     0  yards
Added this Week:                       0  yards
Added Year to Date:                 16.50 yards
Net Used for 2013:                    16.50 yards


Please head over to visit Judy at Patchwork Times and see what some of the others are doing with their stash.