Time to say good bye to Summer!

Good bye Summer! 


Summer was a busy one for the grand kids.  They went to Day Camp. They played and swam and played some more, their hair got lighter, they got tans and tough skin on their feet.  Oh, such fun!  But.......they have been back at school for 7 weeks and are just coming off a week of Fall Break.  Summer break is shorter than where I grew up.  They only get June and July off and then go back to school in the sweltering heat the beginning of August.  The bright side is they get breaks all year long.

They enjoyed their Fall Break.  We had some fun together this week watching movies, playing Monopoly Jr., looking for frogs in the yard, coloring pictures and painting (one painted a mini bird house and the other a tiny treasure chest for Mom). Plus they got two days at Fall Break Camp.  Great week!

Painting a mini bird house for a friend.

A treasure chest for Mom!

My Sampler blocks are coming along and here are two more to add.  I need to get pictures of the progress.  Slow and steady is my motto with this.  However I am really enjoying working with the batiks.  I haven't taken any pictures of the traditional blocks lately.

So far with the exception of one of the blocks, I have loved the colors in this quilt. It is just so vibrant.  Even though the finished quilt is on display at the quilt shop I still get excited picking up my block each month and seeing the colors for 'my' block for that month.  I know its silly but I'm just having a great time with this. 

And last but not least a couple pictures of my favorite furry friends, my shih-tzu's, Smokey and the Bandit.  They are indoor dogs and Bandit doesn't do well in the heat but loves to lay on the lounge chairs on the porch under the fan.  Smokey loves to find a spot in the full sun and sit with his eyes closed soaking up the heat.  Kind of strange for a black dog - maybe he is trying to get some Vitamin D! At least I can get a picture of him that way.  Very hard to take pictures of a black dog unless he is in the full sun. 

Smokey, put your tongue in your mouth - silly dog!

Bandit watching the grand kids paint.

Hope your last day of summer is wonderful! 

Peace and quilting,
Karen

Prairie Stars Sampler Blocks Month 2 & 3

This is my Black & Batik Sampler block for month two.  I don't really like the colors in this block. They just messed with my eyes and head when I was sewing, still do!  I might remake this block with different colors since it bothers me so much. The Tri-Rec Ruler was used to make this block. At least all my points are close and it came out fairly square (not the picture) but the block.

Ouch, my eyes hurt! 

I finished my Black & Batik Sampler block for month three just in time to go back to the quilt shop and show it to get my next set of fabrics for block number four.  I really need to start working on these a little bit sooner.   I like it a lot better than the colors in month two!

Here is block number three.

I really enjoyed making this one.  Lots of fun!

My granddaughter was my assistant for this one.  She handed me pins and I held her hand and we guided the iron together as she helped me press seams.  Not too long now before I will be teaching her how to sew.  I figure by the time we get to the actual sewing I will have taught her all of the basics.  She just loves to help.  If I have to rip a seam out, she loves to pull all the tiny little threads for me - and who likes that job (not me)?  I love my wonderful quilting helper!


You might notice the Earthy blocks are missing.  Well, I didn't get them finished.  Month two just needs a couple of seams - like really a couple of seams.  And Month three needs all of the seams but it is cut.  What I really need is more 'ME' time!  Oh, and since everything is in disarray because of the next item some things just have to wait. (And in this case it's a good thing)!   

The soon to be new quilting/sewing room has been painted and has new carpet - I am so excited!  Can't wait to get everything moved in.  More to come........

Have a great weekend,
Karen

Latest Projects

I've been able to get to my sewing machine and sew but I didn't realize I hadn't posted since before Christmas.  Oh my goodness, before Christmas.  That was a loooonng, long time ago. As a matter of fact, it was just two days in to winter and two days before Christmas. Wow!  I could come up with all sorts of reasons, the dog ate my paper.....no! that won't work on a blog site!  Hmmm, let's see the sewing machine ate my work, that's it!  Nah, I just got so busy with other things, quilting, creating a church website, housework, family, taking care of my grand kids (mostly the latter - definitely not the housework!) that I didn't take the time to attend to my blog.  The good news is I did actually do some quilt and sewing things.

I have been doing a Sampler Days Quilt with a local quilt shop.  Each month I show up and as long as I've done my block for the month I get a new one.  I chose a quilt with a black background and vibrant bright batik colors.  I practice the block with more 'earthy' colors first.  This way when we are all done at the end of the year. I might have two quilts.  Below are the first months blocks.

Everything is cut and beginning to sew on first block for Earthy colored quilt.

 

First block for Earthy quilt!

 Both quilts use such distinctly different colors yet I really like both of them so far.  I chose the Black & Batik because it was so vibrant.  The Earthy is actually from a layer cake I have.  I will post which one in a future post.  I just love working on these.

 

All cut and starting to sew on Black & Batik quilt.  I love these colors!

First block for Black & Batik quilt!

This is a pair of tights my GD had.  She pulled them out to put on one morning and they had a hole in the toes.  She didn't have anything else to wear with her and it was too cold to go without them.  So, Nana to the rescue.

 I cut off the feet grabbed the lace (right side of the picture) that I'd had since her Mom was a little girl and.........

 

With a quick seam around the bottom we had tights with lace around the bottom. 

They looked real cute on her but I forgot to take a picture of them on her. Oops!

 

 

Almost forgot, I am getting a new sewing/quilting room.  We started work on it this week.  It will be awhile before it is done.  So very excited!

Have a great weekend!
Karen