Been busy.... having a ball!!

I honestly don't quite know where almost 2 weeks has gone! I have been doing contract work at the law firm to help them close out, so that has taken some of my time. These blocks are part of my program that I'll be doing for our guild in February. I've been busy trying to get this project done, but there are lots of steps. I'm doing it as a mystery quilt which I hope will be a fun program.
Then I realized I still have TONS of hand quilting left on my log cabin quilt, which needs to be done so I can enter it in our quilt show in mid March! "Wedding Memories Linger" is a perfect name. I have loved lingering over all the fabrics from my kids' quilts.
Here's a "shadow" picture so you can see the next area I have to quilt. It's acutally the border - yea!!!!!!!!!!!!! But as you can see, there is a lot of quilting. But I do love this quilt and I do love to hand quilt - it just takes forever!

But this is what has distracted me for the last 3 days...... Karen K. Stone! She came to Pensacola and I got to take 2 workshops with her, and then attend a GSQA meeting where she presented a trunk show. Oh my goodness, this girl can quilt! She has been a hero of mine for a long time and it was a true thrill for me. Seeing her quilts in person makes you realize that pictures just don't do them justice. They are incredible

I took lots of pictures of her quilts, I'll share more later. But here we are, the two white headed Karens :). She is an absolute doll and I came home with my head spinning. It will be hard to re-enter the real world tomorrow.

Hope you've a great weekend - mine has been wonderful.

-Karen

PS- my ironing board is still not done, but I do thank you all for the great ideas. I'll get to it eventually :)

I think it's time....

I am hoping someone knows of a good tutorial on how to make a new ironing board cover. I have literally ironed on this one so much the fabric has deteriorated!! And the rest is scorched. I don't really want to buy a new one, you know, being unemployed, no money, blah, blah, blah! (To tell the truth, I'd rather use my money on new fabric and use something in my stash that is no longer a favorite).
Thanks for helping, I'll have more fun things to look at soon!!
-Karen

American Girl visits Orca Bay

The sewing machine has been humming, going back and forth from capes and dresses, to what seems like thousands of black and white HST's!! Here's my progress so far.... all the blue string blocks done and I'm making serious headway on the HST's.
I am really intrigued to see what Bonnie has in mind for all these. I still have a bunch more, but I am more than half way there. The rest will have to wait until after Christmas, I'm done for now.

These little dresses are for my granddaughter's AG doll and a matching one for her best friend's doll. There is something so enjoyable about creating gifts for children/ grandchildren, especially your own! One of my friends suggested maybe a business opportunity in light of my imminent unemployment. I'm not so sure about that, but I had a blast doing these and a matching flannel nightgown for my DGD and her AG doll.

Until next time,

-Karen

Batman Visits Orca Bay

I want to say thanks for all the kind words and good thoughts regarding my recent job loss. I've been busy trying to distract myself, and I seem to be doing a pretty good job. This Batman cape I made for my 4 year old grandson for Christmas. I found pictures online of both blue and black capes, but when I saw this blue fabric, I was thrilled. I downloaded the image and machine appliqued it on. I put a velcro tab on the neck so I hope that works. It's really cool looking in person - I think he'll be thrilled too.
As you can see, I've fallen prey to Bonnie Hunter's latest challenge. I had never done a challenge before last year, when I made Roll, Roll Cotton Boll. I actually waited until I saw the finished quilt to decide I wanted to do it. This time I'm playing along..... very behind on the weekly assignments, but going along at my own pace. This afternoon, I helped pass the time making the blue string blocks by watching/listening to Les Miserables - the 25th Anniversary edition. I am completely smitten by this musical after watching it on PBS several months ago. And this video is phenomenal!!

I have to make 72 blue string blocks, and I am just over half way there. The black and white triangles are a little more time consuming. I'll have to psyche myself up to finish 448 hst's or 224 hourglass blocks!! Yikes, I might have to put Les Miz in more than once!!

Thanks again for the encouragement, I'm coping pretty well at the moment - trusting that just the right door will open up.

Have a great day,

-Karen

Angels watching over me

My Joy Angels are done and mounted over the picture in the dining room. My idea to make a rod pocket on the back and hang it directly over the picture frame worked well enough that I am very pleased. I'm not too picky, it just has to pass my expectation :).
Of course my camera never quite gets the color right, but with the lights dimmed, it really looks so soft and homey.

I am so glad I added the berries - they didn't take that long and they added just the punch of red I needed to balance things out.

In my last post, I mentioned changes for us. I found out last week that I am being let go from my job. I have been so happy and have been there almost 18 years. I am only 2 years away from retirement. I think I'm still in shock, but trying to figure out things day by day. The one thing I do know, is that I believe that God has a wonderful plan for my life and this journey is part of it. It's kind of amazing to me to know that weeks ago, when I felt "prompted" to make this angel wall hanging (after having the book for 15 years), I would have a tangible reminder hanging on my wall, that God indeed does have His angels watching over me.
We are all blessed and this season is a perfect time to be reminded of that again.

Until next time,

-Karen

100 Degrees!!

No, that's not the temperature, but that's how much my DH was able to bend his knee at PT!! He's really doing so well. Life is slowly getting back to normal. There are other things going on that I can't talk about yet, but it will mean huge changes for us. But last night, this was how we spent the evening, reading, enjoying the fire, taking a small breather. My Christmas fireplace quilt looks so cheery. And what you can't see is my DH is covered up with the Apple Core quilt!
The tree is up now, no decorations yet, and I need to get out the Christmas quilts - it's starting to look festive.
Until next time,
-Karen

Almost Antique Apple Core Quilt

Isn't it funny that so many quilts have such specific memories attached to them? This quilt's story began in 1995 as our family was preparing to head out to Colorado to go skiing. I always take a hand project in the car, and driving from Florida to Colorado required a substantial project!!
I have been a charter member of this magazine, it's my very favorite!! When I saw this pattern, I was immediately drawn to the plaids. Back in 1994, I was knee deep in trying to collect homespun fabrics and build my stash. So when I got this issue, it was screaming my name!!

Notice this is only issue 8!! How awesome that 17 years later it's still going strong :). So in the weeks leading up to our departure, I cut little apple cores out by the scores! I was using only reds, blues and tans (my favorite color palette).

With my little bag of pieces, I hand stitched these little darlings into long rows mile after mile. I didn't know at the time that this quilt would not be finished and quilted until 1999, but it did get finished and is still one of my favorites.

I decided not to do the wavey edge, and just cut off the outer edge and added a checkerboard border. Of course back then, machine quilting was not even on my radar - everything was hand quilted. I try and pull this out every fall, I was a little late this year (can't imagine why *wink*).

Until next time,

-Karen

P.S. My DH is doing well, but PT is currently winning the battle :).