Adam's Quilt Finished

I finally finished Adam's gray quilt for the new (remodeled) house.  The photo looks like it is in black and white but it is not.  The house has gray painted walls and I made the quilt in shades of gray with black and white to match the bedroom.  The pattern is called Meter Maid (dumb name for a beautiful quilt pattern).  I had already made it once in all scrappy colors but this one is even prettier than the scrappy one.  I made the gray one extra large for a twin bed because this bed is very deep pockets and I wanted the quilt to cover it.  Adam slept in the new house last night and used the quilt.

Civil War Blocks

Last August, my dear friend, Diane Black, passed from this life.  Her family gave me these block kits she had bought at the 2013 Mystery Harvest Shop Hop.  It is a Civil War quilt, which is totally out of my comfort zone.  Of course, I had to make up the blocks. 

Each shop featured its own block.  I have pictured most of them here.  They turned out beautifully.  I can't get the setting triangle and border fabrics because it has been too long, so I'll have to figure some way to set the blocks.

 Each block was a total kit with all the fabrics and complete instructions.  The last block includes a little bit of embroidery and I haven't done that yet.

 This is the first kit quilt I have ever attempted.  I am primarily a scrap quilter.  I will probably use some of these directions to make entire scrappy quilts from the individual blocks.

 I particularly like the red and black block above here.  I think it would make a gorgeous scrappy quilt. 

 Any of them would make a wonderful quilt.  I am sorry that Diane never got to make up these blocks, but glad that I got to do them.

Adam's Flimsy is Finished

This is my son Adam's quilt top.  We are remodelling the house next door to ours and he is going to live there.  The whole house is in shades of gray along with black and white.  We are making a one hundred year old house into a modern home.  The walls are all light gray and the laminate flooring is darker gray.  The trims are all painted white.  So when I decided to make a quilt to match the house I used shades of gray, black, and the background fabric is white.  I got it to flimsy status just today and hope to take it to Vonda Cochran, my favorite quilter tomorrow.  The backing fabric is a light gray with a swirl.

I have been sewing this year but not finishing much.  I made a pair of leggings for myself but I need a tunic top to wear with them.  I intend to make more leggings for me and my daughter Audrey.  I still have last year's mystery quilt from Bonnie K. Hunter in the works.  I just need to put a couple more rows on it and make the borders and I will be done.  I also have the year before mystery quilt about one third quilted for my husband.

A Last Finish For 2016

I saw this block on Facebook where nearly everyone was making it.  I'm not sure but I thought I saw where it was called Arkansas Crossroads.  If you know it by another name please let me know.  I knew I could make it without a pattern and I had all these 2 1/2" squares already cut so I started in making a four-by-four grid of 16 blocks, then added the points in the middles.  The bottom photo shows the backing fabric, which I turned over the edges to bind the quilt.  None of them on Facebook had sashing so I had to make mine different.  I love this quilt and the pictures truly don't do it justice.  I am keeping this one for myself.

I WON!

I have been trying and trying to win something from one of those sweepstakes run on facebook all the time.  Today I won an Xbox One S from Pizza Hut!  This is the email I got this morning:

Automobile Accident

No, I wasn't in one.  But one happened in front of my house this afternoon, and one of the vehicles hit the house across the street (that I own).  My daughter Audrey and her husband Jason live in the house that was hit.  Audrey was actually in the room that the car hit when it happened.  You see, we live on the corner of Seventh Avenue and Bream Street on the west side of Charleston, WV.  I live on the southeast corner and Audrey lives on the northwest corner.  The trouble is that this part of Bream Street is one-way, and the car came up the wrong way going pretty fast.  There was a pickup truck coming down Seventh Avenue and they met at the intersection, with both of them heading for Audrey's house.  There were two posts set deep in the ground on the corner because this has happened before, but the car sheered off the left post and hit the corner of the house.  The truck bent the other post over but it kept the truck out of the house.  The brick of the house seems to be ok but it took out the gutter downspout and broke a window.  I've already filed a claim with my insurance company.  The wrecker truck pulled up onto the retaining wall at my house and cracked it.  Refer to the pictures.  You can click on them to make them bigger.

WV Purse

I know I haven't been blogging recently but I am still working in my sewing room.  I have been working on a couple of quilts that are not ready to share yet.  I have also been quilting on my Allietare quilt.  I did make two West Virginia purses, one for me and one for my daughter, Audrey.  I used a different batting for these - In R Form which is made for purses and bags.  It makes the purses more sturdy but harder to make because I have to turn the bag right side out and it is difficult with the stiffness.  Still the purses have body and I really like it.

I have had a few setbacks this summer, including burning my hand and hurting my knee.  I browned a roast in my electric skillet and realized I had too much grease so I tried to pour some of it out in the sink.  The roast then popped over into the grease and the grease ran across my left hand, burning my entire palm.  It took a couple of weeks but eventually all the burned skin peeled off and I ended up with all new skin on my hand.  I wasn't able to sew for quite some time.

Then a month ago I was stepping into the shower and my foot slipped across the tub, injuring the muscle directly behind my knee.  This muscle is what keeps the knee stable so then my knee would just collapse when I put weight on it.  My doctor sent me to physical therapy and they really helped me.  I was not able to get up out of a chair without Richard's help.  He walked me wherever I needed to go, like the bathroom.  He even showered me and washed my hair.  He got all my meals (I think I gained weight).  We borrowed a wheelchair which I used for about a week.  Then we borrowed a walker from my 89 year old great aunt and I used it for about two weeks.  Then, my dad had given Richard a cane so I used that for a while, but physical therapy fixed me up and now I am walking normally, with no pain.  I didn't sew during all of this because you have to step down into my sewing room and I was not able to do that.  It was even worse trying to step up.  I still have some trouble stepping up.  But now I am back to sewing and trying to get some things done.