Too Soon...

Carole L. Vick

July 17, 1947 - April 1, 2011

 

In her words, "Life is a gift-unwrap it."

DQS10 Quilt Received!

I am dancing on the ceiling!

I love it so much...

who wouldn't??

The circles fascinate me.

The quilting is awesome.

The colors are perfection!

I love it!

And, here, Reene was afraid

I would be disappointed.

Not hardly!

front

back

 And, it came from England!

That means...

I have placemats from France,

DQS9 quilt from Germany,

DQS10 quilt (this one) from England!

Reene also sent a small bundle of

the fabric for me to play with.

I love participating in the doll quilt swaps.

But it definitely can be 

a bit nerve-wracking.

Will the partner you get from

send something you'll like?

Will the partner you send to

like what you made?

So far, I think I've done

more than okay.

If you have a few hours...
or a few days...
go here and see all the doll quilts.
You will be amazed!

~~~~~~~~~~~

As for Tag...

I think he is perhaps doing a wee bit better.

Please keep your good thoughts coming.

DWTS tonight!

Under the Weather...

Not me...

Tag E. Butt.

Started Thursday evening...

restless with lots of stretching.

Strong indications of g.i. upset.

Fasted him, and now feeding small amounts.

Not an obstruction cuz he's pooping.

Normal stool.

Could be a foreign body, though.

Not missing anything...no lost needles or such.

He always has to show me what he has, 

so I really don't think he got into something.

I know that he didn't get into anything outside,

cuz I am always right there with him.

Started him on Pepto-Bismol today.

We shall see if that helps.

Not asking for your opinion or advice...

but a few good thoughts/prayers would be wonderful.

Thank you!

Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might. - Ecclesiastes 9:10

Speaking of Sisters...

My sister, Jill, will arrive at her

new home in Colorado today.

Best wishes and all my love to her

as she begins this new chapter in her life.

Sister Julie is moving back to Wisconsin...

and in with me!

I'll have a roommate...so will Tag!

YAY!

Julie has a dog and a cat.

Manley (the original doodlehead)

is a golden retriever...

6 months older than Tag.

Manley & Tag grew up together.

Spent parts of every day together...

until Julie moved away 4 years ago.

It'll be nice to have them together again.

 Julie's cat will be here, too.

Not sure how that'll go over with Tag.

Never having lived with a cat.

He may think Kisa is his new toy.

We're pretty excited about our new adventure!

That's all I have for now.

Have a great day.

Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might. - Ecclesiastes 9:10

My Best Customer!

I come from a very close-knit family.
One that has always been
there for each other...
one that is very supportive.
Of whatever we each pursue.
(Well, mostly.) 

It's no big surprise to me, then, that
my family has been very encouraging
about my quilting/sewing.

(and, just so ya know, me Mum told me when I was 18 that I should sew for a living.)

My friends are also very encouraging
and quick to compliment my work.

Thank you all!

But, this post is really about my big sister.

She has gone above and beyond her 'duty' as my sister...
ya know, where she really 'must' like everything I make!

She has become my best customer.

Seriously!

Over the last 17 months,

she has ordered/purchased the following items:

5 quilts (none larger than lap-sized)

2 quilted tote bags

2 carrycots (with mattresses, pillows and doll quilts)

3 doll quilts

1 child tote bag (fabric only-not quilted) 

(I am so glad she has grandchildren!)

And, she has now ordered a mini version

of the purple tote I just completed for her!

What a wonderful big sister she is!

Thank you so very much, Joyce.

I appreciate you more than words can express!

Love,
Jacque.

Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might. - Ecclesiastes 9:10

Purple People Eater...

What exactly is a purple people eater, anyway?

"I said Mr Purple People Eater, what's your line?

He said eating purple people, and it sure is fine

But that's not the reason that I came to land

I wanna get a job in a rock 'n roll band!"

If you want to know more, click here.

For your viewing pleasure,

here's the purple tote.

That's all I got done this weekend.

It was a weekend full of ups & downs.

Started off with Kaylynn calling me.

That girl sure makes my heart sing!

Chatted with son Paul for a good bit, too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

A dear, dear friend of mine has lung cancer.

It was caught early on, so she tells me

that it's treatable and curable.

I talked with her yesterday.

 She's going through chemotherapy
and radiation treatments right now.

Feeling good and is healthy in all other respects.

I will be praying for her health and comfort.

I love her so.

Guess what else I'll be doing for her?

Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might. - Ecclesiastes 9:10

Workin...

 I haven't gotten too much done.

But, I did get my doll quilt quilted.

 

 I tried something different...

swirly thingies instead of meandering.

By the time I was half done,

I had hit my groove.

I also made my second star block for

the Moda Challenge, Just One Star.

 

That's all I have for now...

am working on the tote bags.

Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might. - Ecclesiastes 9:10

Next!

On my never-ending list...

I have a few tote bags to make.

Gotta have me some Iced Mocha...

I never tire of these fabrics!

(and I'm not even a huge fan of blues!)

Gotta love these purples.

(well, I don't gotta, but the recipient best love them!)

I should have the finished totes

to show you in a few days.

Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might. - Ecclesiastes 9:10

Fabric Stash

How do you organize your fabric stash?

In my blog-hopping, 

I have often read about

organizing fabric stashes.

Many quilters organize by color,

 some by quantity

(fat quarters, half-yards, yardage),

and others by project.

I rarely purchase fabric

just because I like it.

My fabric purchases are usually

for a specific project.

So, I guess I am most comfortable

organizing it by keeping the 

fabric collection together.

But, what to do with the odd pieces

that I receive from others

(gifts, giveaways, etc.)?
(not odd, as in 'odd', but as in 'doesn't belong with any
specific project or fabric collection presently in my possession')

And, once I'm done with a project,

what should I do with the scraps?

Sometimes there are a lot of scraps...

sometimes there are larger pieces left.

These fabrics could easily be worked

into another quilt, or used for smaller projects.

So...how do I organize them?

That's what I need to be working on.

Organizing my fabrics.

I got a bit of a start on it today.

Right now, I have the fabrics that aren't for anything specific in containers labeled 'neutrals', 'flannels', 'Kona solids', 'Christmas', etc..

Interesting how the beginning

of a project can create

an even bigger mess.

(those big totes are full of wool.)

(Now I ask you...what kind of organization is this?)

 

And, by the way, the wire storage thingie

over there in the corner is NOT large

enough to hold all of my containers.

Perhaps I need to empty the top of it

and stack containers to the ceiling, hey?

Speaking of fabrics & organization...

Nicole over at Sister's Choice Quilts

wrote about how she stores her fabric.

Read about it here.

And, Amanda Jean at Crazy Mom Quilts
wrote about 'scrap management' here.

I'd love to hear how

you organize your fabrics.

 Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might. - Ecclesiastes 9:10

DQS10 Quilt Top Done!

Okay, so I went from no idea

of what I wanted to do

to this...

Quilt top all done.

Will bind it with one or both

of the solids.

Pieced backing yet to be put together.

Now that this part is done, 

I have scads of time before the deadline.

I am pretty happy with it.

Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might. - Ecclesiastes 9:10

DQS10 blocks

Last night, I fell when I was
coming into the house.

Not sure if I tripped,

slipped, stumbled or what.

I fell on both of my (bad) knees.

OUCH!

Must have wrenched my back when 

I was trying to not land on my knees

because it sure was bothering me.

I didn't sleep more than an hour or two last night

and I could barely walk when I got up this a.m.

So, I stayed home and didn't do much of anything.

Until tonight, when I am finally more comfortable.

I did a bit of sewing...

several short spurts

got these blocks cut out & sewn together.

They are for the dqs10 quilt.

(do you like my makeshift design wall??...it's batting pinned to my window curtains)

The half-square triangles along the right side

measure 4 1/2 inches.

The churn dash, friendship star & monkey wrench

blocks measure 6 1/2 inches.

The rest of the blocks 

measure 4 1/2 inches.

I will find a pleasing layout for these

and will fill in with a variety

of 2 1/2 inch half-square triangles.

My swap partner likes traditional blocks
made with modern fabrics.

I think I got it right.

The finished quilt will
measure about 24 inches square.

Have a great weekend!

Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might. - Ecclesiastes 9:10