Quilting and Snow

Lots to show you today, so it will be a picture heavy post.  Enjoy your walk through my ... life :)

I got a new thermometer for the backyard, and a set of two birdfeeders last weekend.  It is put on a hook thing that my dad made (several years ago).  My dad has been very good to me :) This pic was taken as the snow was starting yesterday morning.

 I worked on a bit of quilting.  The following photos show my process through taking some dresdan blades that someone had given me, and making them into something useful.  It's very much a "use it up" project, as the blades don't match, and the background piece is a poly blend, and I used small scraps of batting.

one piece quilted

second piece basted

Quilted & Trimmed neatly

Starting to come together . . .

It was meant for Peaches, but ...

She just doesnt' seem interested in it, . . .

 So I've taken it for putting behind me on the couch :)  You snooze you lose! :) lol.

Here's some pictures of the yard as the snow was starting . . .

 And here's the red scarf I finished last night.  This is for the Grafton Hospital.

 The following are pictures from this morning.

Beautiful Mourning Dove.

Another Mounring Dove

Backyard

 Don't know if you can see, but something walked through our backyard last night.  Not sure what it was, possibly a deer?

New Thermometer set up ...

 Isn't it pretty with the dogwood bush behind it? :)

So hope you enjoyed your little "walk".  Comments welcome!

Peaches, Knitting, & Crochet

Let me open with a few pictures of our cat Peaches.  She has taken to moving around the house and catching sunshine where she can find it.  During the middle of the day, it's been dh & my bed.

Isn't she cute? :)

Here's the red scarves I've completed for the hospital in Grafton.  I hope to get two more done before I deliver to them at the end of this month.

Also - here are a few dishcloths I've crocheted in the last few evenings.  Actually all but one of these was done in one evening, a couple of days ago .. I am just now getting a picture of them posted...

Yesterday I spent some time in my sewing area .. and found some old dresdan plate blades that someone had given me.  They are of older fabric, and so Ijust started sewing some of them together.  I've got some fused and sewn on to squares of whitish fabric (also old, probably poly blend .. ) and I plan on making them into a pad meant for Peaches to lay on .. I hope to finish it this weekend ..

Random thoughts - & Special Olympics Scarf #18

I haven't posted in a few days, so here's just a few random thoughts and such ..

If you ever wanted to learn how to do a bargello quilt, this website has a tutorial started on it.  They are really much easier than they first appear!

I added a pic on my sidebar for the Quilting Is Murder shop hop.  It's a bit of a different take on the internet shop hop.  You still go to quilt fabric websites, and click on the clue, and get entered for the prize .. but there is also a murder mystery story that you get to read chapters of each week and each week you get a mini puzzle to solve, submit your answer and enter for a smaller prize.  It's quite fun!  Check it out. :)

I got the Special Olympics box mailed off on Friday morning.  It was so neat, and such a God-thing .. I had collected $12 for shipping from the other members of the group, and the cost of the postage with a delivery confirmation was $12.05! lol... worked out perfectly!  We ended up sending in 31 scarves. 

Here is My scarf number 18.  I was able to finish it and include it in the 31 that got mailed.


Wisconsin Special Olympics  is reported as having received 455 as of January 5th, so our 31 will go a ways to getting them to their goal of 600.  I just checked the tracking number and it was delivered on Saturday. the 7th.  :)

Now I'm trying to work on a few red scarves for the hospital in Grafton, WI.  They want to give their Cardiac patients a scarf when they "graduate" :).  I have one done, and one almost done.  I also have enough red yarn to make two more.  I'll also be sending in as many premie hats as I can get done the end of this month.  I'll try to get pictures of these scarves and the hats before I deliver them.

Special Olympics Update - 2 more scarves

Just thought I'd share a quick photo of two scarves that I recieved from NH yesterday.  She did a great job! :)

This is NH's 2nd and 3rd scarves for the Special Olympics project .. That makes 29 that we are sending in, with 1 more on my needles that I should be able to finish today.

What did I do yesterday? or How to Piece Batting Scraps.

Yesterday ... well, I pieced batting :)

I save the strips of batting that come when you trim the edges of quilts.  These are usually anywhere from 2 to 4 inches wide, but some can be about a foot or more.

I start by sorting and  making sure my strips are from the same type and color of batting.
Then I lightly iron them so that they dont' have any major wrinkles and will lie flat.

Then I find two with straight edges and I use a large zig zag to sew the edges together.  I butt the edges together as I put it under the presser foot so that there will not be a ridge or bump on the seam line.

If I don't have straight edges, then I will cut them so they are straight, or overlap the edges of two pieces and cut through the overlap.  This makes two edges that will butt together nicely to make a flat seam - even if it's a wavy seam, it won't show as long as it's not bumpy.

After a bit of this .. you have a nice flat piece of batting that can be used.

not quite enough pieced together yet.

nice big piece for my project.

close up of seams.

I used mine yesterday for a quilted tree skirt to go on the small Christmas tree that we purchased this year and is on a microwave cart in our dining room. I had the top pieced a week or so before Christmas, but never got around to getting it quilted an on the tree.  So I went ahead and basted ....

and then took it to the machine and zig zag quilted all the radius seams ... and used a narrow bias binding for the binding, although I turned it all to the back except for the center circle.

And that's how I spent most of yesterday.

Special Olympics Scarves 16 & 17

Okay, well, ds2 did not finish his scarf, we ended up unraveling the 12 inches or so that he had done .. but that means that I had more yarn to use, so I went ahead and made up two more scarves .. using some of the yarn ET had given me and the skein that ds2 had.

So here is my scarf number 16 - it's granny squares .. I had some leftover from my earlier granny square scarf, (Hey that was #6 - this one is 16 .. kind of neat!) so I just made some more to finish this one off.

And my number 17 is another lemonade stitch scarf like my number 4 scarf and like my number 13 as well.  I love this stitch, it's very fast and gives a nice texture.

Our knitting and crochet group has one more meeting this Thursday before I mail the box on Friday.  I may even try to mail it on Thursday if I can squeeze it in between the meeting and ds2's piano lesson.

A wonderful BOM to follow for 2012

If you've followed Jenny at Elefantz.com .. then you know she's a talented designer.  She's got yet another great project starting up .. this is her free bom for 2012.

She's starting out with the verse Jeremiah 29:11 .. and I love that verse.  I think I will work on it today .. I need a new project to keep me motivated ..  Anyone with me?