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.

My Kitty Sam

It is with a heavy heart I have to say that on Monday we helped Sam to cross the Rainbow Bridge.  He had been ill for about six months and the vet told me he probably had an intestinal cancer.  He had lost a lot of weight and couldn't control his bowels.  He was fifteen years old.  This is the third time I have had to have a cat put down and it doesn't get any easier.

I still have Sam's sisters from the same litter, Sascha and Rosie.  They seem to be in good health.  We also have Ace, the cat that Adam had to begin with but has lived with us for a lot of years now.  I think he is twelve or thirteen years old.  He seems to be in good health also.  He is actually Richard's cat - he chose Richard to be his human.  It will break my heart to lose any of them. 

Finished my Cheddar Nine-Patch Quilt

I started this quilt last fall while I was making the quilts I was giving my family for Christmas.  I set this one aside in order to get the others done in time.  I finally quilted it and finished the binding just today.  I call it Cheddar Nine-Patch.  Bonnie K. Hunter showed her quilt on her blog some time ago.  She made it for a new nephew, I think.  She offers the pattern for sale on her blog, quiltville.com.  This was a lot of fun to make and used up a lot of 2 1/2" strips and squares.  I love scrappy quilts.    I was short a little of the cheddar fabric for the backing so I used half-square triangles made from cutting off the corners of the blocks.  The picture of the backing is before sandwiching and quilting.  The little feet in the pink fleece socks are mine 

                                                                           

Finished my Allietare Flimsy

I finally finished my Allietare quilt to flimsy status.  That means the top is together, but still needs to be sandwiched and quilted.  Bonnie K Hunter started posting clues to this mystery quilt the day after Thanksgiving last November.  She posted the clues on her blog, one each week until New Years.  I changed two colors from what Bonnie suggested.  She used Tuscan colors inspired from her trip to Italy last year.  I changed her red to blue and her gray to dark red.  My quilt is a little darker than those who used Bonnie's colors.  I also think mine looks rather more masculine than most.  I used a black piano key border instead of Bonnie's suggested border.  She showed how to scallop the edges.  I decided not to scallop the edges for this one. 

 

I showed the quilt top to my husband and he claimed it for his own.  He sleeps in a twin bed with the thickest mattress I've ever seen.  The size of this quilt makes a generous cover for his bed.  I am going to quilt this one on my Husqvarna Viking Opal sewing machine.  This will be the largest quilt I have quilted so far.  Now to choose a backing!

Another Boxy Stars? How Can I Be So Obsessed With A Quilt Pattern?

My group held our annual retreat last weekend and I worked on another Boxy Stars quilt.  I had all the components cut and ready so when I got there I got busy.  I got all the sections of the 20 blocks I needed done but not put together in the blocks.  So yesterday I finally sat down and put it all together.  I couldn't decide what to use for the border so I put it away last night and thought about it.  My husband suggested I use the green fabric that I had used for a constant in the blocks as a border.  I checked to see if I had enough left and I had just enough and about two inches left over.  I decided that fate had stepped in and chose the green.  I just got the borders on the quilt and thought I would go ahead and put it on the blog.

This time I thought of the stars as flowers and chose fabrics accordingly.  I used the green as leaves around the flowers.  I love the way the quilt turned out.  I think I will quilt if free motion with white thread.  I still need to choose a backing.  I'll post a picture when it is finished.  I love making this pattern!

Got my Allietare Blocks Together

This is my version of Bonnie K. Hunter's Allietare (mystery quilt).  I put my blocks together and just today I finished putting the rows together.  This mystery was started the day after Thanksgiving when Bonnie posted the first clue.  I worked on it diligently and kept up (for the most part) except for Christmas week when I fell a little behind.  The next clue was an easy one so I quickly caught up again.  Bonnie posted the last clue (the reveal!) on New Year's Eve and I got busy finishing it up.  So here it is - my Allietare.  (Allietare means "celebrate" in Italian.)  I still need to decide what to use for the narrow inner border and then the wider outer border.  I am thinking gold for the inner border and the dark, mottled red from the quilt for the outer border, if I can get more.  The red was the only fabric bought for this quilt; everything else came from stash.  I think I would like to also use the red for the back of the quilt.  I bought that fabric at JoAnn Fabrics so I hope I can get more. 

Our annual quilt retreat will be held on January 29, 30 and 31 this year.  Debbie Canterbury and I have decided to make another design by Bonnie Hunter called Boxy Stars.  I have made several from this pattern but I see so many different ways to make it that I just can't stop!  Debbie is doing hers in red, white and blue and I am calling the stars flowers and each flower will be a different fabric.  I am using green for my accent color, green for leaves.  I already have mine kitted up and ready to take to the retreat, which will be at Cedar Lakes Conference Center in Ripley, WV.  We are very happy to get to go again this year because Viking will not sponser it any more.  Linda Banker has decided to do it on her own and Debbie and I have promised to help her all we can.  Really looking forward to it and hoping the weather cooperates.  We don't mind if it snows but please not until we get there!  In fact, snow a lot then and snow us in so we have to stay a few extra days!