January '14

  We  had a MerryNewYears Party with family Jan4...Henry was my  gift this year !

  I think we had 25 or so here !

  This house is great for a large gathering.. We all ate, gifted, and had a good time.

 Kelsey and  Hubby won the Holiday Star 2013.  I don't have any pics of them with it.........  bummer !

 After all the partying and holiday  I was between projects ... no commission job, the holiday quilt done.. It was time to tackle the house spruce up  that was started when we bought the place May '12 !!  To many things happened latter part of  '12 and learning how to be retired in '13. garden. RV. we were busy !

... And so it begins with stripping wallpaper in the giant kitchen / living room..  This room is 24' x 27'.

   We also stripped the bathroom wallpaper.

   The green was under the paper as was the original  50's pink.. loll

 . and my helpful Hubby helped with  most of it hauling ladders, stripping, taping,, cooking...

  I'm too fussy about the painting.  so that means  D I Y.

 Shell , Lin & I chose the colors the first weekend in the house ! may '12  They  were pinned to the wall all this time, just waiting  to getRdone !

                                                      I like it !

 . The wind blew with typical Iowa winter snow and winds. .. we had -20. and then we had  60mph winds  that week.. nutz !

  The puppies knew how to  survive this mess... see the two lumps under the quilt !!   re: ThingOne and ThingTwo......

  It  blew the drive shut, the walk shut, and the gate shut........

  with the kitchen mostly tidy we moved to the next color...  khaki

 The dining room was also painted fresh.

  The bath received a tan & grape combo with a new curtain and paper border

  After a few days of recuperation.   It was time to  finish it off.. This large wall will have a  changing quilt display.   The red  Snail trail is  up for February.

   A large box of pictures was found and unpacked. Now to get them all polished and shined up,  ready for when sisters  or someone shows up to  hang them. ..

                                                      ..... from our cruise.........

                                                 .....a fun trip to the mall  ... few yrs back  !.............

.... and here's where Ill park my butt  for February.. stitching on a  leftover Christmas gift to Trey, watching the Olympics or movies, while the remainder of the winter blows thru...

2013 Overview

 ~~for some reason  the tune in my head is the  1812 overture. loll !!! ~~

 and so for this years events.  happenings.  accomplishments, good things.. !

 2013 had ALOT less happening than 2012 !

 with Tim retired now, our days are starting to find a routine. .. maybe. sorta....

 Jan-
Jacob had his neck brace removed, was walking wonderful and looking  toward working again !
 I stitched up a box full of red white blue for  Quilts of Valor
     1 given local
      5 sent to  Alycia in CO

 Feb-
We  tried to start garden seeds here at home in the basement.  with varied results.
 April-
I started the Christmas 13  quilt.
May-
 We had 9" snow may 5th and a very wet Rainy season.
 I worked on whole cloth white quilt for Kelsey.

June-
 We spent a week in the RV at Nashua park.. a wonderful pretty water view park
I rounded up quilts to start doing Fairs again after being away 14 yrs.

July-
 I displayed quilt at several Fairs in the area and came home with a Plaque $50. and 21 ribbons.
 We stated canning.
Family camp out with 3 campers full of sisters and extras - fun !

Aug-
  I participated in a block drive for Quilts of Valor. sent to Colo.
We canned and ate as much Garden as it produced !

Sept-
 Started 2nd whole cloth white quilt for 3rd grand baby.
 filled the shelves in the basement with canning goods.

Oct-
 A week in Des Moines with the RV at the AQS quilt show.
canning apples n more apples
 welcomed Henry  to the world

Nov-
 marathon stitching . realty of Its Not done yet !!
 Bday with  Sisters weekend

Dec- 
quiltquiltquilt !
 hibernate the cold  & snowy days.

 total:
good deeds 3
Quilts of Valor 9
baby quilts 4
family quilts 4
Tx Lady 34

I  hope for more good deeds  in '2014. I'm still  at it.   I still have too many ideas.. Hopefully I get  lil better organized with my days
.........retirement 1/2 as much $$  twice as much Hubby................ ROFL

ChristmasStar 2013

 

The pattern was spotted on the back of a current Quiltmaker magazine and it listed a prior edition several years past... sooo.  I  sweet talked all the girl freinds to see if someone had that magazine on the shelf.  YES !!    I thank DonnaS for loaning me her magazine with the pattern. We drove all over the country side for  just the right colors . To Clear Lake,  Osage,  Forest City, Garner, and Mason  !

With some sun shiny late winter days with the  door open   I cut and I cut...

  and sewed all the funky angles.... and cut some more............ and sewed till late hrs. averaging 6-10 hrs  in a day...

. finally there were units to  connect together and the design starts to emerge..

 ta daaa!!. a snowflake !

 and then the rows go together.........

 This method is called paper piecing, all the tiny bits are sewn to the paper,,,,  then its  ripped off !. billions of  paper bits!

 the rows were laid out on the floor. I love this big house with its large floor space !.  The miles of borders were sewn...

 finally its all together! I have a table in the basement perfect for spreading the quilt tops flat. Tim helps me baste with 100's  of pins.

 

  I use an Ulmer brand quilting frame. It folds up when not in use. It is ez to load a section at  a time for  quilting. I usually pin a large extension to the edges  so  I'm able to quilt to the very edge.

Our family holiday party and the  raffle  is coming up soon.  I had Tim help me with so many jobs during this process  He pinned, cooked, made beds,  tended puppies, poked and prodded me. Some days even sent me to bed after being hunched over too many hrs !

 ... close up of all the detailed hand quilting...

 Dec 31   finally adding casing tube for hanging ! and testing it out !

 

  the perfect display wall...........DONE!.. now we can party !!! Its New Years Eve !!

 I  think Ill sort thru all the patterns I've saved over the past few month plus all the colors Ive gathered since last summer. ..  to sketch, dream,, fondle, and plan the next quilt. There's always a next !!!

Sept - Oct

  We've been busy  ! Of Course ! 

We made V8 one day. the  raw was very good  , mm mm mm,   But after canning it tasted  gross,, something changed within the cooked flavors. Ill make chili with it

 Another day we prepped to can the row of beets. We had big dreams on that   row of beets... sooo many jars.....

 .. It made a monster mess of PINK,   but only gave us 9 jars.

  Then we took a break ! Off to Des Moines..  The sun still shining,   News predicted a week of sun shine.. 

  We headed to DesMoines to the  AQS show..    Day One was wonderful.. Day two was the show.. day 3 was tropical 85 with like 85 humidity ooooo....day 4. 5. 6  Rain ...

  the puppies came with us, they luv all the walks around the parks...  This was the midnight quickie...

 Tim has been  right beside me with all the canning and gardening,  We named him Employee of the month........ well, here he is in DM with the proper parking perks even ! loll

  The AQS quilt show is BIG.  Fancy.  Talented. Awesome. Inspiring...

    This is a type of log cabin..  pretty brights.. neat movement within.

  I was drawn to the brights this year....

  SO MANY many were fancy machine quiting. It really has taken over the shows.  Double click the pics for close ups ,, you'll see why ...

  more brights ...

 more detail....

  ohhh the detail !

  this is on my bucket list..  take a close look !

  This is a total of 9 inches square .........  the bitty points are like 1/16" !

  I like the simple border here,,, some of the pics are possible Good Deed ideas too..

  postage stamp quilt...  million billion bits..... 1"  size

  scrappy layout.. all colors will work...

  this is applique. wonderful colors.  plus fancy quilting.

  click it  for close up......  there is a reason I wont/ don't do applique..

 At one of our stops in DM was a stand of neglected apple trees. LOADED.. I found two grocery bags and filled them till they were bursting.... As soon as we  got home it was  back to the 'work'. They needed putting up!... two batches made 14 jars for the shelves

 home again home again.