Pieces and parts,...part two!!

HI all!! Can you stand just one more picture of this quilt?? Most of you will recognize the blocks from Bonnie's Quiltville mystery from this holiday season...but I set them differently, and did a different border too...the original border was all on point and bias, and I am too stretchy a kind of gal!! So, I made this one...and really like it!! I would really like to thank Bonnie, for stretching my wings a bit, and coaxing us ever so gently into making a brown, and red, and pink, and green quilt!! I really love it...it grows on me, and I have left it out all day to admire all the colors. This kind of reminds me of Prickly Pear Cactus, so that is the name of my quilt.
The border...you will see is the leftover pieces and parts from the original border, plus extra parts I made too...it was such fun piecing!!!



Now, down to the business of the year!! I am supposed to be working on UFO's.. but Bonnie's quilt is the first one I wanted to finish. I am supposed to finish number 6...this is a snowball and nine patch quilt on my list. Funny thing is, I have no memory of these fabrics whatsoever or cutting this out...now this was not so long ago!! That memory thing kind of scares me...but it also means I learn new things every day...LOL!!! I think the memory thing will get better when the thyroid is fixed. Anyway, I dragged the number 6 UFO box out and laid it out, and discovered that all the blocks are made, and I just have to sew them together. This will be a donation quilt, which is double good for me...a UFO conquered and a giving too...


Have a great day!!


Julie

Pieces and parts

Hi everyone!! I have finished all the blocks for the Bonnie Quiltville mystery! Including the alternate neutral string blocks...but I chose not to use them, as mine were really bulky with the fabric foundation. Instead, I played around with all the pieces and parts and came up with this. I made cornerstones of some of the border strips, kind of a nine patch....I just love that, and the graphic nature of the red zig-zags...love it all!! It is a saturated with color quilt, to me...and the neutral pieces kind of glow! Altogether, just a really fun quilt. Thank you, Bonnie!
Close up...I still have to make a border of the pieces and parts...that is yet to come.
Lori of Humble Quilts is having a doll quilt-a-long!! She posted another step today, and I am done with that...come on next step!! This is proving such a fun quilt to make...would you like to join us???


Have a great day!!!


Julie

Adding to the Constellation!

HI Y'all!! Barbara Brackman is hostessing a block of the week this year, all about blocks from the Civil War. She is a wonderful quilt historian, and I have read every book she has written. (dont' you just love the library?) I just had to join in! Above is her North Star block...
And her Catch Me if you Can block....both were fun and quick to do. Don't you want to join in? Please see her new blog!! Just click here...
What do you do with your leftover connector triangles? I am going to make pinwheels from each block we make...maybe I can have enough for another quilt!! Really...what do you do?? Her pattern does not make the blocks this way...but anyway, I did!
The roll top desk design wall.....




**********************Nurse's Notes*********************


I went by a room several times yesterday while working at the hospital, and heard a quiet murmuring voice...I stopped and listened for a second on the way to the linen closet, and heard a darling man voicing a quiet prayer..."Please dear Lord, continue to bless me as you have this past 91 years, and see to those who look out over me..."....it was so sweet, and heartfelt...He was just a darling man...not my patient but a blessing to me none the less.



The hyperthyroid patient (me), is going for a nuclear thyroid scan on Monday and Tuesday...a two day test, so then I will know what in tarnation is going on with the thyroid storm!!! Not a real thyroid storm, if it were, I would be deathly ill, but I call it my own little private thyroid storm, kind of a little whirlwind instead of the full tornado!!!



******************************************************************


Have a wonderful weekend, everyone!!


Julie

More progress...

And some more of these blocks done...A lot of quilters are scrambling to get their centers of this Quiltville mystery quilt done before Friday, when the final clue comes out. I have nine more of these blocks to complete....and I am thinking of ways to set them. I know Lori, and Kathy, and Cindy and Wendy and Michelle and Mary Lou and Gail and Jeanne
are all working hard on their quilts...will we make it???



*******************Nurse's notes**************************


The patient was a psych patient, and talked and talked and talked..., and just generally needed a lot of attention. The nurse was in the room, and while glancing at the monitor to record the vital signs, noticed a "lead off" alarm...and noticed the patient was quiet, which was very unusual...and then looked at the patient, who rolled her eyes back in her head, and fell back in the bed. This was not a No lead off situation, she went from talking and smiling to totally flat line (asystole) in two seconds!!! Code called, successful resuscitation at 10 AM. The patient was resuscitated and was totally fine, talkative, just fine!! At 12:10...the same thing!! Resuscitated in a few seconds with Epinephrine and Atropine and compressions...back to talking away again! 13:30... code number three!! Got her back again, just as fast...and screamed for the doctor to come and put in a stat pacemaker each time she coded....


And the patient got her pacemaker, and was so sweet and appreciative, and went home!! And came back and visited and was just a doll...her family said her personality was totally different after the codes and that she was so much better! The end!! The very happiest ending for all!!

Rolling on...RRCB!

HI Y'all!! I hope your New Year is rolling along wonderfully! I have been working on the Quiltville mystery, Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll...and here is where I am in the process. I have all the pieces and parts done, just a matter of putting it all together now. And I guess that is just all for today!!! I would love to know how you are doing on this one, if you are doing it...


Have a great day, all!!


Julie

The truth and nothin' but the truth!!

This is the layout my dear husband has chosen...he measured the bed and mentioned that it would be really nice if it were a little bigger...how can I refuse his kind request, as nicely as he put it!! I will be making 28 more blocks, and then it will be done!! At least the top...
Now, dear gentle people...I have mentioned that I am the cutting queen! I cut out quilts when I can't sleep, and arrange them very neatly in kits, with the pattern and all the pieces and parts... for someday. Someday is here!!! I am working on these, my UFO's this coming year. I am naming these...and sadly, some have been cut out for so long, when I used to not put instructions in each bin, that I have forgotten what in the Sam Hill I was doing with that idea in the first place!! Don't bother to read this list below...it is really just to keep it all real, for me. I bet you recognize some of the kits and works in progress, though!!

1. Blue hospital gown star quilt
2. 1930's stars
3. Red Star-Pam
4. Jewel Box
5. ????? Sadly, I don't remember what this was to be....
6. Bright nine patches and connector squares quilt
7. Judy's fall leaf quilt
8. ?????????????????Don't remember this one either...I am releasing the fabric back to the stash
9. Large Flying Geese quilt
10. Pineapple-red and black variation
11. Current Quiltville Mystery (this one is first!)
12. Paper pieced pineapples
13. Scrappy quilt
14. Wedding signature quilt (must finish stat!)
15. Sandy's quilt as you go
16. Judy's bright star quilt
17. Rail fence
18. Pineapple wool table runner
19. Plaids stars (idea from the state fair)
20. 5 inch blue stars
21. Jewel box (why do I have two of these cut out?)
22. Bonnie scrap quilt
23. Sylvia's Bridal Sampler
24. 1930's nine patch
25. Patriotic strings
26. Peaches and cream quilt (Judy)
27. Quiltville mystery from last year( all blocks made, just need to set them together)
    

So there it is!! I also have a total of 25 quilt tops, altogether, done and ready to quilt, most with backings and bindings ready.

This may seem like a daunting task, but I can be proud to say...this has been an enormous lot of work, and one of great love for my family to have some quilts to pass on when I am gone. Most of the kits would be fine for anyone else to pick up and start sewing...so not a waste for a quilting group someday if I don't get it all done.
An example of a kitted quilt...all the parts cut out, a sample block, and extra fabric tucked in with the pattern, just in case.
I got another Christmas gift...from Lyn at Bluebird quilts....she made a fabulous handmade quilt and ornament, and apples (they smell terrific), and some fabric for the Dear Jane quilt!


OH YES!! The Dear Jane quilt is on the list too for this year!! I really want to make some real progress on this one!!




So....how is that for real...real enough for you?


Grins!!!


Have a great day,


Julie

Progress on a UFO!

HI all!! Remember these blocks?? I had one block made when I showed you before...well, I have made some big progress!! I have 80 of them made, enough for a big quilt for dear husband. They are 8 inches finished, so each piece is one inch finished (strips). This is one setting...
Or, I could set them like this. I don't know yet, dear husband will have the final call. Remember I have been talking about a new sewing machine for years? I have used a very inexpensive Brother machine from Walmart for many years. This year, in my stocking, I got an orange, some chocolate, some gum...and a Bernina. A BERNINA!!!
A dream machine!! Excuse the messy table and poor photo, but you get the idea...this machine (Bernadette is her name) is wow wonderful!! My son and his wife got me a new cutting board and I received two new rotary cutters...I am so blessed!!
Rosie the poodle in her elf outfit...Christmas is tough work for tiny poodles!!

Goals for the coming year for me include: Working on UFO's and finishing stuff up. My rules for me are that I may not start a new quilt until I have finished two UFO's. Hope this will work for me!!


Have a great day!!



Julie