A little bit quilts, a little bit not

I did it again-I went a full month without posting. Bad blogger! Where does the time go? 

It is crazy to me to think back almost 12 years ago when I started blogging and realize that I was posting 2 or 3 times a week! How did I do that? 

So here are the two most recent Tiny Club blocks that I taught in my guild this month. And yes, I do enjoy fussy-cutting.

As usual, I made "storyboards" to define the construction process. The designer of these blocks, Lynn Hopkins, used to do that for us when he taught these blocks before he left on a church mission. The circled block below in the right-hand board shows what happens when you reverse the value placement in your flying geese.

                                                

     It takes me a long time to put these boards together.

What does NOT take a long time is the making of the blocks for the Moda Love quilt. 

I did mix up the background fabrics a bit from when I last posted this, and I like it better this way. Then one evening while Chooky and friends were at Scrub Stitchin' (International Version), I got the top half all sewn together.

Had a chance to share my progress with some of the Chookshed Stitchers after they returned from Scrub Stitchin'. 

Some have asked about our current snow conditions. The photo to the right was taken out my kitchen window two weeks ago! Hard to believe we still had that much snow in the middle of April. The baby lambs couldn't even go frisk in the pasture because it was still covered in snow.

But this was the view of the mountains yesterday, on the dirt road where I take many of my walks. I stopped here as I was driving home from town and took this shot. The snow on the valley floor is gone, but the mountains are still covered.

Just last Sunday there were two events in the heavens I wanted to share. First up, in the afternoon we had a display of a sun halo. There was no sundog this time, which is apparently caused by the orientation of the ice crystals. Who knew? 

Then later that night, about 10 p.m., we had an even rarer event--the Northern Lights were barely visible. You can see one shot in my new header. They didn't actually appear that bright, but the real time photo hardly showed them at all. So the photo below was taken with my iPhone on a 3 second exposure. The green and purple is brighter in the photos, but it gives you a better idea of what we saw than the quick "shutter click".

This is the third time I've seen the Northern Lights, and each time was here in this valley--and this is probably the second best view I've had. My dream is to see them from Iceland, or Norway, or some other such northern point someday. On our Alaskan cruise last September we missed a wonderful display of them in Juneau by 1 week. :(

Yesterday I sent off my doll quilt for the Humble Quilts Doll Quilt Swap. I'm excited to see if the recipient likes it, and to find out what comes my way.

Maybe next time I will have a little more quilty content. We'll see. Until then, be creative and be kind.

Janet O.

The Beast Conquered

This quilt was started in the summer of 2015 as my youngest son's college graduation quilt. It has appeared here on the blog many times, but progress was halted on more than one occasion due to shoulder problems, then surgery, and finally a long, slow recovery.

It feels so good to have finally taken the last stitches on this king-sized quilt, and completed the label. It may have been meant to be a graduation gift years ago, but this is going under the Christmas tree this year! 

Below is the glamor shot--at least as glamorous as a t-shirt quilt can get.

The twin to this quilt can be seen HERE. I made that one 9 years ago for my oldest son's graduation.

I have another near finish that I should be able to share at the end of the month, when I also hope to have a monthly mini ready, but here is a sneak peak.

This was Thursday when I was working very hard to get the quilting finished on my HQ Sweet 16. Friday afternoon I attached the binding and got half of it sewn down by hand on the back. Hope to get the other half finished today. To finish two quilts in one month that are large enough to keep someone warm is a very rare occurrence for me. I want to bask in the feeling for a minute. :)

I had a request from someone who wanted to see my tree that only has handcrafted ornaments this year. I have wanted to do this for several years, but I always hate to leave off the ones we have collected on family vacations, or the ceramic ones I painted, or the Matreshka doll ornaments that echo my doll collection. But since we won't be hosting any family gatherings, I figured no one would care if I left those ornaments off this year. You should be able to enlarge the photos to see the ornaments more clearly.

These photos get the tree from most angles. You can enlarge them to see the ornaments. The crocheted chain, large felt ornaments, and most of the counted cross-stitch were all made around 40 years ago, early in our marriage when buying ornaments wasn't an option. Many of them haven't been on the tree in decades. There are ornaments made by my mother and mother-in-law, my daughters, granddaughter, myself, neighbors, and some of you.

You may have noticed a little guy sitting on the window ledge. That is our "Gnome in a Dome." Many of you have an elf on a shelf, and some have a Nisse or two (or more). When hubby and I recently visited a Christmas display at a local garden center we couldn't help but notice that gnomes seemed to be the predominant theme. We decided we could use a gnome for our dome. He is a cute little guy.

We will be having Mom join us for a few days next week. It will be a privilege to have her with us for Christmas this year. There will be precious memories made. She wasn't supposed to live to see last Christmas, so it is a miracle she has made it this long. Though frail and struggling with short-term memory issues, she is still spunky and her dry wit keeps us laughing.

If you are celebrating Christmas, or Chanukah, or any other special traditions in your family, I hope you will cherish those with whom you are able to gather, virtually or physically. Make memories that will be remembered fondly. Choose to set aside differences, forgive past hurts, reach out to those who may be a bit harder to love. See if you can help someone feel valued. Choose to be part of the change the world can use right now.

Until next time,

Janet O.

 

Earlier this week I was walking to my car in a parking lot and was captivated by the view of this sun dog. It is brighter than any I have seen before (does this prove that I am a weather geek?). ;)