Credit where credit is due! :)

The scrappy happy houses pattern below is of course Bonnie Hunter's pattern from her website, Quiltville! I got so excited to actually have pictures of the quilt together, I forgot to say where I got the pattern. Her website is wonderful, if you are unfamiliar with it... :)

Scrappy Happy Houses!

Well, this is not what I had PLANNED to do...but it sure was fun! I had cut out these scrappy happy houses out of two inch strips...surprising how far those strips went! I thought I would just make a wall hanging...but thought that since I had the strips cut, I might as well make more houses! I stopped at 30 houses, 5x6 setting. But I still have more two inch strips! and three orphan house blocks...hmmm, what to do?
Just need to add the borders and then worry about how to quilt it! Thank you so much for all your sweet comments, I love to read your thoughts...Have a wonderful day!

JulieQ

Not quilting...but fun!!!

Does anyone know what this little rat-like baby is? Ok, want to hear the story? This little creature is a baby raccoon. For all you wild animal rehabbers out there, this will be maybe a familiar story. Several years ago, in early spring, our son heard a lot a scrabbling in our chimney...and my DH went up on the roof and looked down...and saw a large raccoon! The raccoon had torn apart the covering on the chimney and had gone in and could not get back out, because it was slick clay tile in the chimney. (I hear this is common?) After much thought and a consult to the local fire department, we hung a braided mesh of rope down in the chimney and prayed that the raccoon would go out without any harm to her...which she did that night! My son still heard occasional high pitched squeaks from the chimney! We thought there must be babies...and I think she had her babies in there, and came back for all but this one. We did not mess with the chimney or the fireplace, in hopes that she would come back for all...We waited for about 24 hours to see if she would come back, and she never came for this little runt. We did not know what we would find, having not wanted to disturb anything so she would come back...but finally I could not stand it!! Our son was slender enough to get his hand up into the fireplace ledge and pulled out this little rat-like baby! I had no idea what it was, but assumed raccoon...this was the only one...so cold and weak!! The nurse in me sprang into action, and I slowly warmed the baby, and flew off to Petco to see what to do! We got diluted kitten formula and slowly fed tiny syringes (1cc) at a time, about every hour at first...and the baby responded! Read lots on the internet about what to do...and...

Then the work really began! The little baby did not open her eyes (later, we found out she was a girl) for almost 4 weeks! Maybe premature? They are supposed to open in 3 weeks. The feedings were around the clock, every 1-2 hours...and the baby grew and prospered!!

and was spoiled!! Here is a picture in the covers, having a good stretch. Developing facial characteristics and that beautiful mask. I can't tell you how soft she was, and how she would hold and grasp my hand and everything around her, exploring... she held her own bottle like a human baby, but I can't find a picture of that right now...

Just after eyes opened...cuddling just like a baby!

Ok, now is when it got interesting!! This little lady raccon just loved being everywhere in the house...but I am a realist and came to the conclusion that good heartedly or not, I was not doing the raccoon (affectionately named Critter) any favors by keeping her as Momma's pet. She was sweet as she could be, but I was warned that she could become aggressive and mean at puberty...Broken heartedly, I sought out a wild life rehabber in our area. She was amazed, as was my husband, that the little baby survived at all. But, now, she needed rehabbed into the wild, taught to hunt her own food, and most of all...fulfill her life as a wild animal. I had done my part, and the wildlife rehabber took over, and put her with 3 other little coons, and gradually introduced them to the wild. Part of the rehabbing was to teach her how to get her own food, and I guess she was successful at learning, because she weighed about 20 pounds on release. About 8 months later, we were able to go to her release into the wild with the rehabber on a acreage with trees and a pond. At that point, she was pretty much wild and did not seem to recognize her foster mother at all (me). And that was what she needed to do! Be wild and free....

Some people think wild critters are just a nuisance. Some may think that I did wrong by trying to save her life, and to just let nature take it's course. To me, I had to at least try to save her, and I am glad I did. She was a wonderful addition to our family in the few short weeks we had her, and we thoroughly enjoyed learning about, caring for and rehabbing this wild animal.

So that's my story and I am sticking to it!!

Spring!

Happy Easter!

Vicki recently shared on her blog a picture of the chapel where she was married, and I thought I would love to show the tiny mountain church where we were married. The church is tiny, one room, very small and rustic...loved it!! Unfortunately, this church does not exist anymore...it was torn down, and a new, bigger church is there on the site now...I am so glad we got the pictures! It was all rough logs inside and wood, just lovely.

I planted these last fall, and they are up and doing well now. Spring is definitely here! All the trees are greening, and it is just beautiful. I have been so lucky to have had my surgery, I know that sounds strange, but for the first time in a long time, I have experienced the entire Spring! We all get so busy that the seasons slip past, but being off work, I have really been able to enjoy the lovely weather and nuances of this beautiful season.

I made a plaid quilt a long time ago. This is one I made about 8 years ago, and is entirely hand-worked. It was fun! Lots of loosey-goosey plaids, homespuns, leftovers...I have another larger plaid quilt all cut out but not put together yet...the best laid plans of mice and men, right?

Hope all is well with everyone and you are having a marvelous weekend! Any Easter egg hunts or Sunrise services planned? Enjoy!

Applique complete (almost)

Happy Tuesday!



In keeping with finishing things up...Here is my Rose Sampler Supreme quilt. I started it 2 1/2 years ago, and slowly stitched all the blocks. All of this is needle turn applique. I saw this quilt in a quilt show and then saw the book at the library, and just loved it on many levels. Well, I checked out the book and would make about one block, then have to turn the book back in...and another lady was doing the same! So, we shared the book over the years, and at last, this top is pretty much completed!

This was one heck of a lot of applique!! The borders are sawtooth, hand appliqued as well. Much of the outer swag border is just pinned on and still needs to be stitched down, but the big thing is that it is all in one piece! Woohoo!! This back surgery thing has given me some time to finish up some "forever" projects, and I am so glad!

I walked 3 miles this morning, and it was really foggy! and now is so nice and warm. Off to clean! and arrange some more in my quilting room. Hope everyone has a wonderful day!!

JulieK

Delight!!!

My weekend:


See below? Well, Welcome, because behind that dark, ordinary looking door is my brand spanking new quilting room!!! It is really a bar area in our home, that has been used for storage before now (read messy place to stash stuff). It is 10 feet by 5 feet. And the bestest part of all! is that my Dear Husband put in storage shelving ( the wire kind) along all of one wall! You can see in the above picture, through the opened shutters of the bar that there are 3 shelves, each 8 feet long...room enough to spare to store all my quilting goodies!!! It is just the coolest thing ever!!

Now I can get the fabric out of the guest bedroom, from under the bed, in the closet, in the dining room, in the other closet, all over the house in fact...and store it labeled, folded, neatly out in the open where I can see what I have and what exactly is going on here!!! Sorry, I know that is a lot of exclamation points, but I am so jazzed... so now, I am in the process of sorting and labeling small boxes of projects and fabric. This will involve some culling and donating and giving to friends, too. Now I can tell what are batics, and 1930's, and reproductions. A fun thing to note: the wall paper is a metallic from the early 1980's, and is in the pattern of clamshells! Isn't that fun? Just perfect, if you ask me. Woo hooo! Cool, huh...

Soooo...I will be working on getting everything that is scattered through the house into here and organized as well. Hope you all have a great Monday!!

JulieK

The oldest UFO!

Hi Everyone!

I have been busy playing in the 2 inch strips!! I made these two scrappy happy houses, and have several more cut out and just waiting to be sewn. This was sooo much fun! Nothing matches, nothing goes together, totally scrappy! Just for fun.

I have a challenge for all who would like to participate. This I am sure has probably been done before, but I drug out my oldest UFO and would love to see other people's oldest UFO's too. This is a Grandmother's flower garden quilt...and as you can see, it is about 1/2 done! (maybe, if I am generous). Do you have an heirloom or "forever" project lurking in your closet/shelves/under the bed in a grocery sack? :) Well, let's see it!! This was fun for me to pull out, I haven't seen those fabrics for a loooonnng time! It was started 13 years ago. Can you beat that?? How old is your Oldest??? This was done using the English paper piecing method. It was a car trip project forever...It is called"Hooked on Hexagons", and this was all started by my friend Marilyn, who got me going on this project. And by another friend Pam, who kept on feeding me little scraps of fabric to put in it!! So fun...but not done!! hehehe!!!

Hope everyone is having a great day today! I would love to see YOUR oldest UFO!!!

Julie