a visit with Alice

The hot weather has returned meaning it is hitting the 90's (F) combined with my continuing overall lack of energy means nothing quilty to talk about. Those orange border strips remain lying there. I wish they would magically get attached to the top! I washed all the donated muslin out in the garage and now I have the worse pile of wrinkled messy fabric on my ironing board. I don't want to deal with that either. Alice had family company over the last weekend so I went over last night after work to see for myself the walking dyamo....that baby is determined her crawling days are over. She walks, sits down, and gets right back up to keep on walking. We had a great visit and most of my photos were useless as she just moves so fast currently. However, I managed a few shots showing off her red beret and standing still for a brief moment. At 14 months she is growing and changing every day. That grin is infectious-you have to laugh right along with her.
I am so very lucky to have her living close by.

what's up tonight??

This top is made from the blocks I worked on as a leader/enders during the wedding quilt project.

I have been working on them here and there since I returned home. This morning, I decided to get the vertical rows stitched.
I am having dinner and a sewing night with my aunt tonight. I wanted to work on this top and figured if all I had to stitch were the rows together, it would be easy. I am going to be helping her re-learn her machine and work on a simple project. Once I have this top together, I will be adding borders-fabric I bought a while back-so more stash busting ahead! It's WNBA playoff time and there will be two more games waiting tonight once I get back home to be watched. It's nice to be at this stage of this project. I think while I watch the games tonight, I will wash the border fabric-I am pretty sure it needs it. Tomorrow I am meeting up with Patti and we are headed Hollys way. It's going to be a quilty day! I look forward to great company and whatever else happens.

long awaited photos....

the middle of the quilt close up

What a perfect day it has been- cool-ish weather, perfect for the gardening that we needed to accomplish. Then, I tidied up the sewing room and made some progress on my string blocks, the pile of finished blocks waiting to be trimmed is growing! And, I finally uploaded and re-sized the photos of the wedding quilt and the wedding photos I took on vacation. If I had more time I would put up a flickr link for more photos, but, I will tackle that another time. For now, I will just put up the most important ones. The quilt photo without the kids is after being quilted, before the binding and labels. My longarm gal wanted a photo for herself, and her husband had a wonderful setup for doing that. I was lucky enough to be given a copy so I could share it here. I am so happy that they both loved the quilt and were so excited about receiving it. Ryan said he had hoped I would make them one but was not sure I would...and they both really liked the colors I used and were quite touched by the family labels as well. What a relief it is to not only have it finished but well received. I know they appreciate it as an expression of my love for them-aren't quilts the best for feeling wrapped up in love?

Friday???

now how did that happen?? The non computer and the non quilting side of life has taken over!
I have read a few blogs and I have worked finally a bit more on my string blocks. Sunday I have a thread play class for five hours-now that will be a lot of fun. No possible ufo -no fabric to cut and prepare. Saturday is plant blueberry bushes day. In amongst those events I will devote some time to photos and blogs. really. so thanks for stopping by and being patient.

back !

we are back from vacation- Vegas was it's usual over the top state....too much noise, too crowded, too...too. However, that is Vegas...and the kids picked it for their wedding location and it was a fast and lovely wedding. The bride and groom were gorgeous and everyone had a grand time.

Life was far too busy for any internet time and so...it's catch up day before work tomorrow. Of course there are all those chores to be dealt with and errands to be run etc. Over the coming week I will do my best to post a few photos and play catch up. Yes, that will include "the" wedding quilt photos- a huge success and a very cherished gift received. whew. So happy to have that done with. I have hopes of finding some stitching time today-I am oh so close to finishing those string blocks and look forward to playing with them on the design wall- it's almost entirely blank at the moment. Needless to say, it's wonderful to be back home.

WrapThemInLove challenge

Here is a challenge from our charity headquarters:  Ellen sent
this  to the wraptheminlove yahoo group and I am passing it along
 as I am one of the moderators of that group
I would love to see the quilts that get donated from quilters
 taking this challenge.



Here is a challenge for you------

I have tons and tons of donated fabric.  A lot of it is small
 squares or strips or triangles or just chunks of fabric.
Do you think you can make something of it?  Anyone who will
take up the challenge to make something for Wrap Them in Love
 from the fabric and will send me a $10 donation to
help me pay for my postage expenses, will get as much as
I can stuff into a priority box.  I'll put all kinds of
 different sizes and shapes of pieces in
there and you can have the fun of playing in the fabric
and creatingsomething for one ( or more) of those little angels!
I'm sure that you will be able to get several things out of what
I can stuff into one of those boxes.

Send $10 for each box of goodies that you want me to send to
Wrap'em headquarters at:

Wrap Them in Love
2522 A Old Hwy 99 S
Mount Vernon, WA   98273

Please note that is 99 S  (as in south)  it is NOT a 5
Ellen Sime


I know there are lots of deserving charities for quilters
 to support-this is the one  that I devote the majority of my time
 and energy to.

We have often passed out a specific fabric as a challenge to our
group here in Portland-this challenge would take that idea to the
next level...I just may not be able to resist playing along!