35th Anniversary quilt.. a little late!

Again a picture from the quilter's site as I gave this one away for Christmas to my In-Laws - Mike and Jean. I actually started piecing the top 2 years ago with 35 different 'coins' to represent their anniversary that year. But I didn't get it done on time, and then it languished waiting to go to the quilter and then 5 more months at the quilter's before it came home. The color is a little off - the border is a nice rich navy and the colors of the coins just pop against that blue. This is one of my favorite border fabrics. I have it in several colors. This is also an oversized queen - it will fit a king size bed - so no fighting over the covers on the cold Chicago nights! They have now been married 37 years so if we count the border fabric and the backing fabric I am right at 37 - does that make it not late after all???? LOL.....

A holiday gift given early

Forgot to take a picture before sending this home with Mom at Thanksgiving. So this is an unbound picture from the quilter's site of my Warm Wishes (WW) quilt in peach and turquoise. It's a queen size. Loved the brightness and it's just right for living in Miami!

One holiday down... one to go!!

It feels so anti-climactic after the holiday is over. The presents are all opened, the last dessert has been cleared away and all you're left with is a dirty kitchen, overflowing trash cans and an empty house (no guests remain).

The holiday was great - I especially loved having the time to spend with my SIL. We shopped and talked and tried to pace ourselves to ensure we enjoyed the holiday also! Diane was busy with last minute 'deferred maintenance' on her old house to get ready for closing in a few weeks and so I got a little one on one time with my oldest niece Katherine. Both of my nieces are just beautiful girls (inside and out!) and I love spending time with them. Our next visit with them will probably be in NC next summer, it's going to be a long time before I get more 'girl-time', but Katherine will come up for an orthodontist visit in February so maybe I can catch a day or two then! I Hope!

My brother is on his way to Miami for two weeks with Mom and I am back at work today. It's very quiet so I am getting a lot accomplished - year end always has many challenges especially with so many people on vacation! I am excited about the year ahead and I hope you are too!

I started a very special quilt this weekend, but I can't share for two more weeks, I will say the colors are a departure for me but I do like them all and hope the finished quilt will be loved by it's new owner.

Gotta run - More later

Merry Christmas - Happy Holidays!

Well - I have been getting irritated lately at going to people's blogs and not finding any updates - and realized I have not posted in quite a while either - so shame on me!!!

We have been so busy - Stephen moved out of home 2 weeks ago into an apartment with a friend, tonight will be our first dinner with Stephen and Charlie will also join us, so we can get to know him better. They have been game playing friends for years and both were looking to be 'liberated' from home at the same time so this worked out great. They have a nice 2 bedroom in a building on my way home from work so we can do dinner or whatever after work - we'll see...since he's been gone two weeks and this is our first dinner I don't think he's missing me yet!

Diane and the girls are driving from NC to be with us for the holiday (Glenn will fly up Christmas eve)so we have been redecorating Stephen's room into a guest room and what a big job it ended up being! I decided after the primer was on that the walls really needed to be skim coated. They are old plaster and had gotten damaged in wallpaper removal from previous owners. So my one day paint project turned into 3 days and by the time we got back into the next work week progress really slowed down! The colors were all inspired by a hand stitched Jacobean style pillow I got at a local high end furniture store outlet at a price too good to reveal!!! The walls are a nice deep tan called Peanut Shell, we kept white trim on the windows and baseboards. The draperies will be floor length deep red and the rug is a shag area rug with sage, ivory and the peanut shell color blended together. I love it! We are keeping the day bed and trundle in the room, covering it in sage linens and an ivory matelasse spread and skirt and shams with sage microfiber toss pillows and the inspirational pillow. I am adding in a restored treadle sewing machine that was a gift from Mike and Jean my in-laws. It's very special as it was Jean's mother's machine and restored after getting it from the lodge in northern WI that her father had. It has beautiful carved filigree and iron work. I'll add in lamps and art and that's about it. Not sure on art yet, but am thinking of moving all the cross stitch I did for Stephen as a baby into a collage grouping on one wall - since this was his room! I've also been working on a modern quilted wallhanging that may end up in the room also - I'll have to try it after I get it finished - I am at the binding stage tonight! The colors and decor are a big change from the turquoise walls and black carpet of Stephen's residence, but I think it's more us and will last a long time.

We had good news from Diane that her house here in IL finally sold, they are closing soon, so we are thinking ahead with all our home projects and trying to go 'neutral' for the day we put ours on the market. We're in no rush and are enjoying the space by ourselves, but eventually we will downsize I guess.

So for the holidays we will be in IL with Diane and family and Mike and Jean this year, Fred will be in Seattle with his family then go to see mom on the 28th and Grandma Sharon will be on her own in NC. We hate that, but it's hard to juggle a family with so many parts!

Mom and I will be heading to WNY in early January for a secret trip that I'll have to come back and tell you about later!

In the meantime - whoever you are, where ever you are, what ever you celebrate this season, I wish you glad tidings, be safe, be warm and check back in next year! Hug - Toby

DOILIES???!! Click photo for a close up!!

Yes - Doilies!! I know your grandmother or great grandmother used to have them all around the house but they are certainly not seen in younger or more contemporary homes - but since I love all things vintage and live in a very traditional house I love doilies under lamps and figurines. They provide a little more protection for the wood or objet d'art so I like them. And from time to time I need a little crafting challenge so I have made a few over the years. This past month I made the two doilies shown here and the thread bookmark. The Burgundy one is just under 12 inches and the white and purple one is just over 12 inches! I really liked both of these patterns, though the purple and white doily pattern was a little hard to follow I think it turned out great. I am now going to make the burgundy one in white thread, maybe a few of them for use in my china cabinet. I'll be taking these to the craft show October 16 and 17 at the Legion Hall but I won't be sad if they don't sell. I also made some thread crochet book thongs that were fun to make and a change from fabric crafts. Have a good week! Toby

Quilt Gifted and another one coming.....

I have been working off and on on my courthouse steps quilt. Finished 32 blocks and am a little burned out - I need 64 total - so I think I'll turn back to my unquilted table runners and get those done for the craft show in October. I really haven't done a lot of the things I wanted to do for that show - the ADD kicked in and I got distracted - but I will have to get back to some of those! (I am tracking the variations of courthouse step blocks in a spreadsheet of all possible combinations of the fabrics in use - so there's a lot of work, not just creativity in this one!)

I gave a scrappy quilt to my son's friend Tony this past weekend. He is a great guy and we really have enjoyed his company over the years. This past Thanksgiving he house/dog sat for us while we vacationed in Seattle and on Sunday he brought his GF Caitlyn over for dinner. She is also a very nice young woman. Giving Tony a quilt was just an extension of the care we feel for him. Then, last night I got a text msg forwarded from Stephen that says Tony's mom loves his quilt and would I make one for her? Well it turns out I have so many already made that she is going to come over on Thursday and decide if she likes one of them (that I am willing to give up) or if I will make a new one for her. This will be a gift also - just because.....

I will however have to get back to Thomas' college quilt if I am ever to get it done for christmas! I am mailing him a box today full of home baked cookies and a SBSP (Sponge Bob Square Pants) tin lunch box with a coupel of Sponge Bob pillow cases inside. Yes, he's in college, but he still likes SPonge Bob - so what the heck - at least it will make him smile! I'll probably also get another email out of it!! LOL.

I was on a baking binge Sunday night - made Lemon Poppy Seed muffins, then two batches of cookies, one tollhouse and one with M&Ms mixed in, then 3 batches of buttermilk jalapeno cornbread. Mark requested the cornbread to take to work and it was a hit there on Monday. We had one batch with dinner Sunday night - ham with Tony and Caitlyn and it was good! Leftover cornbread worked last night also with a big crock pot of beef stew that smelled so good when it was bubbling all day!

More later - want to check the elections in Provo to see if NieNie's dad is winning - hope so - he sounds like a great guy! Ciao!!

Stephen's Quilt

I finally got pictures of the quilt I finished for Stephen several months ago! It's not looking it's best - pulled straight off his bed and tossed over the log pile in the back yard, but I had to take a picture of the Fourth Annual Scraps to Treasure quilt I finished at 3 am this morning so I thought .. as long as I was out there getting a photo of that one - I'd throw this one on the pile too!

Stephen has always been intrigued with knots. When he was little I would keep bow-biters on his shoes to protect the laces because given a minute he would have the ends knotted over and over till there was no lace left just a line of knots. He got out of that finally, but when I saw this Celtic knot fabric I knew I had to get it for him. I made the top probably 4 years ago and it sat waiting for me to find the black batting that was stored in the garage. If you use white batting in a black quilt, you run the risk of seeing white at the stitch holes when the needle pops in and out. So - probably 6 months ago I found the black batting, and finished his quilt. It is meander quilted in red thread, which is striking up close.

Stephen loves it and that's all that matters. I have another in the works for him - queen size for when he moves out (if ever! LOL)

Can't share the picture of my scrap quilt until after the contest ends - but that will be forthcoming in a month or so! In the meantime I am bust working on a courthouse steps quilt and as always planning more projects.

Found a lovely little quilt shop out in Huntley, IL that carries a LOT of batiks, so I had a great time picking up some new pieces today. I am gathering for two wall hangings. Now I just need more time to work on all these projects!!

More soon - hugs - Toby