How I Spent Part of my Time in March!

March was great weather wise this year.  No snow or ice--very unlike winter. I loved it!!!!

We had some big losses--Dan's sister, Mae, a college friend, and a dear woman who was like my sister. I guess this is par for the course when you get to be our age,

I did get some blocks completed.
First off, I worked on my Farm Girl Blocks and got 14 finished.

I also completed 8 blocks from the Splendid Sampler.

I finished 8 Broken Dishes which will go into a Quilt of Valor. They are very scrappy!

I took a workshop our guild sponsored from my friend Raija Salomaa using her pattern, Kimberling in January. I finished one block in March. 

Our Guild had a baby quilt Workshop in March and I found some partially completed blocks  and finished them and got the top done. 3 of them were completed and I finished another 9 to make the top.

I made 2 mug rugs using one of the block patterns from Splendid Sampler.

Last, but not least I participated in a workshop at Pieces and Patches in which we colored on fabric. I got one block done. This is a self portrait!

That is a total of 43 blocks! I now have a grand total of 218 for the year so far.

Well, now it might be a good idea to something made out of all those blocks this month.

I also spent some time with the grands.
This is Grey all dressed up at Mae's funeral.

Hazel made some crowns and also sewed some triangles together.

Ash and Eowyn wanted to learn to embroider and really did a great job.

At the end of the month we went to our favorite park in Fayetteville, Wilson Park and played in the castle.

Kathy

February 350 Block Challenge

Blocks Completed in February 

4 Scrappy Broken Dishes blocks which will end up being a Quilt of Valor.

6 Gift Box blocks which I completed in order to substitute teach a class for our guild.












The first 5 blocks from the Splendid Sampler Quilt Along online. I know--they are sideways as usual!















16 blocks from Farm Girl Vintage book our Itty Bitty group is doing as a quilt along. Again my signature style--sideways!










I also made one additional arrowhead block to finish a gift quilt which is yet to be gifted! That makes my total for February 32 blocks! Whoop! Whoop! It only took me a whole month to get it posted! Yea Me!

Kathy

My New Year's Obssession!

This post is totally un-quilty, doll or family related. It is a confession about my TV watching obsession this year. I started watching a British series, The Midsomer Murders on Netflix. I thought it would be about murders in England that took place in the summer. Wrong! Midsomer is a geographic location with many, many murders, using a variety of methods and weapons. 

There are over 100 episodes(I've watched most of them) with at least a couple of murders in each and sometimes 2 or 3. The series started in 1997 and still continues. It's kind of like a car wreck--you can't take your eyes off!

I learned many things from this series.

1. For a quiet little country side, there are an awful lot of psychopaths running around committing murders, using a wide variety of methods and weapons! My favorite weapon was a pair of tailor shears. I own two pair. Impressive aren't they! The murderer, in that instance, used the scissors open as in the pic and sliced both sides of the victim's neck. Yikes!

2. It can be very confusing living around there! You never know when a long lost brother, sister, or father might show up. You never know when a girl or boy friend might turn out to be a sister or brother! There were also many cases when a sister or a brother turned out to be totally unrelated. The funny thing was, though, no one seemed very surprised. Mistresses were common and often not a secret. You kind of needed a score card to keep up with all the various affairs. A very interesting neighborhood!

3.  I learned a lot about past times of the Midsomer country side. The murders revolved around golf, croquet, cricket, chess, football, theater, fox hunting and many more. Very educational!

4. I recognized many of the actors from Downton Abbey, Last Tango in Halifax, and other British shows. Some well known actors such as Colin Firth and Orlando Bloom were in it. My very favorite was Hayley Mills , who was a favorite of mine when I was a kid. I was afraid there for awhile that she was the murderer, but she wasn't. Whew!!!!!! That was a relief!

I feel like I just confessed to being hooked on a soap opera!  Well, there are still a few episodes I haven't watched so I guess I'd better run! I'll take my scissors and settle in.

Kathy

January 350 Block Challenge

 These are my quilt blocks I completed in January!

12 Farm Girl blocks. They are sideways, but I don't seem to be able to fix it at this time!

 4 of the 8 challenge blocks I completed. I won one of the drawings and won 4 of mine and 8 more!

 I completed 50 6" arrowhead blocks.

I also finished 23 11 1/2" arrowhead blocks.

This is my Alletaire mystery quilt from Bonnie Hunter. This month I completed all 50 blocks.

This month I completed 143 blocks. I am shocked!!!!! I also finished 3 Quilts of Valor, but I will talk more about that later.

350 Block Challenge--First Round

These are the quilt blocks I completed in January.

 These are 25 blocks for the Bonnie Hunter's Grand Illusion Challenge. The quilt isn't finished, but I do have the blocks and sashing together.

 These are 2 more blocks for my Hundred Dresses Quilt. That makes a total of 3!!!! The Hundred Dresses was my favorite book when I was growing up. This may take me awhile, but I have lots of dress ideas.

 These are lozenge blocks from the 2014 Bonnie Hunter Leader and Ender project. They are not very big so I will count each row as one block, making 4.

Okay, my total for the month is 31. I only have 319 to go for the year!!!!


Kathy

Grab a Spoon and Fork!

 These are more of my goals for this quarter. I bought this pattern while on vacation this summer. It is called Bon Appetite by Cherry Blossoms. It reminded me of the giant Spoons and Forks which hung on kitchen and dining room walls in the 50's and 60's. They finished 13.5" by 31.5" a piece. I made them so they could be hung right side up or upside down. I gave them to my youngest son's fiance, Rachel, for Christmas. She's a 50's kind of girl.
It's actually much brighter than the picture. The fabrics were a combination of new and vintage fabrics.

 The pattern also suggested that you could make a smaller version. I enlarged it slightly and did just that. I will donate it to my guild for our small quilt auction for our Quilt Show in April.

They were fun to make!!!! I highly recommend the pattern.

Kathy

A Little Doll Making!

 One of my goals for this quarter was to finish a doll I started a Long Time Ago! I call her The Sea Nymph!
The fabric for her body was made with a beautiful batik with dolphins swimming on it which was overlaid with sequins, yarns, beads, etc and then covered with tulle. Her "attire" is made from doillies which I had hand dyed. I added jewels, sea shells, hand dyed ribbon, and lace. Her hair is made with yarn and ribbons. I sculpted and hand painted her face, finger and toenails. Her face and hands are made with some fabric I snow dyed last winter.

             This is a close up of one hand with her crocheted cuff, ring and painted finger nails.

                       This her her other hand with her diamond ring and a beaded string of sea
                                                    weed wrapped around her arm.

It felt good to get back to doll making. I have plans to incorporate her into a bigger project combining it with some quilting and her very own sea horse.

Kathy