BABY LOVE!

Here's a picture of the hedgehog quilt I made for my new grandson. It was a labor of love and way outside my normal style of quilt - but it was really fun to stretch myself by sewing a different style and using a different technique - like pressing the seams open instead of to one side.

The back of the quilt includes the little guy's name. Plus, I added a bit of interest by including some sections leftover from the border on the front - this made it just the right size.

The baby was born yesterday and I can hardly wait to get my hands on him. We're leaving today to make the three hour drive to meet him. So excited!

My DIL sent me paint chips showing the colors that she wanted to include in the nursery. That made it easy when I was shopping for fabric - I highly recommend it!

Off I go - - -

Eye Candy

In my last post I shared a penny rug that I worked on during a recent road trip. This little quilt below was another bit of handwork that kept me busy on the same outing. I got all the hexies basted and stitched together while traveling. Then I sewed them onto the backing fabric and added the appliqued flower when I got home. It's quilted and bound and I'm enjoying it in my home now. Measures about 8" x 10" total.

Last week I met with my rug group and they had some great show & tell. Leisa was working on her poppy rug during the meeting, but she pulled out this wonderful quilt to work on during the ride home (she was a passenger for a one hour drive). I LOVED the story behind this quilt and she gave me permission to share it here. She made this quilt for her husband's 50th birthday and every bit of it has significance. The background was made by printing important documents onto fabric - things like his Air Force discharge papers, his wedding certificate, his diploma from medical school etc... She then added the wool tree which has a wool leaf for each of his 50 years. The birds nestled in the branches represent their family (children & grandchildren).  He raises bees - hence the bee skep. Because he was in the military, they moved a LOT through the years and each of their houses is depicted in the border. He's an avid fisherman so that is depicted by the water and the fish. The fabric on the back of the quilt was printed with world maps - perfect! This is a one-of-a-kind quilt that will become a priceless heirloom to her family - kinda makes me cry when I look at it!

There was lots of other great eye candy to see at our gathering. Sandy brought this finished rug that has a nautical vibe to it - she plans on using in in front of her bathroom sink - nice to sink your toes into on a chilly morning!

Her Maggie B. bee skep is completed and looks SO nice!

She also had this cute baby quilt that she made for a niece.

And she hooked this cute little sheep while she was with us - ran out of wool and could quite finish his tummy....

Kim has been working on some 'draft dodgers' for three of her windows that let the cold air in during the winter. The background is unhooked linen and adds a nice touch to the project. These two are finished with snowmen & trees, and she's currently working on a third with mittens on it.

Her mom recently died and she showed us this darling little quilted pillow of entwined hearts that two of her dear friends made for her - such a special gift!

Victoria is nearly finished with this apple harvest rug - just a little bit more to do.

Coralee is hooking a memory rug that shows her life on a farm in earlier years.

Jeanette's colorful turkey should be done in time for Thanksgiving in a couple months.

And Sharon's old looking floral rug is so pretty - there will be two of them that are very similar in color and design.

I just sat and visited the entire time - didn't even have a project to work on - and that was just fine with me for once!  Here is a book that I read recently - it was a good  story set during the Blitz in London.

In my next post I'll share the finished baby quilt that I made for my new grandson. He's not here quite yet, but should make an appearance very soon - we can hardly wait!

M.I.A.

I've had a busy few weeks and that's my excuse for not blogging. One sewing project I started and finished is this little penny rug. I have several pieces of wool that are too thick for rug hooking, but they're perfect for making penny rugs - so I cut some circles and squares and stitched this up on a recent road trip.

I have always avoided stitching things with points because the stitches would always fall around the corner, but I think I finally figured out how to get them to stay in place and it wasn't as hard as I had expected! Yay! I like to use cotton crochet thread instead of the pricey perle cotton that so many others prefer - I buy it at thrift stores and it works great.

I took this little owl wall hanging to the Ogden Nature Center yesterday so they can auction it off at their annual fundraiser in October - hope someone buys it for a decent price!

I saw that my daughter-in-law had one of these fabric buntings on her Pinterest board for the baby's new room, so I made one for the shower last weekend.

My Clover binding clips helped immensely in holding things in place till they got stitched together. I sure love those things!

It's a big one - hope it isn't too long for the room!

I'm finally done with green beans from the garden - canned 24 pints and I'm calling it good - that should be plenty for hubby and I.

I recently found out that my grandmother read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn back in the 1930's as she traveled across the country from Massachusetts to California, so I thought it would be fun to read it myself. It was a good one! I guess it's been made into a theater production and a movie so I might try to find it to watch sometime.

I also read Orphan Train and enjoyed it a lot - had no idea that this story was part of our national history.

More Rug Hooking

I recently got to visit with my friend Kay who I hadn't seen for several months - she invited me to come and see her newly completed hooked rug, and the 'new' home that she and her hubby moved into back in December. Both were delightful. Her rug tells the story of a 4th of July family tradition that they do every single year which makes it extra special. Her hubby always draws the design for her rugs so it's a one-of-a-kind. Last summer I helped her work with an author who is writing a book about story rugs and their makers - several of her rugs will be featured in the book that is due out in January and I can't wait to see it!

After I admired these cute little yellow seed pods she had displayed in a crock, she gave me a small bunch which I'm enjoying immensely. Does anyone know what these are? I'd love to have a few more but don't even know what I'm looking for.

And Marianne began this rug a few months ago when Diane Stoffel came to teach at our Guild. She works at a quilt shop and this picture was shared on their blog so I grabbed it from there. A Karla Gerard design.

I'll be attending a baby shower for my daughter-in-law on Saturday. I put together a fun little gift basket full of goodies. Not included in the basket are newly recovered rocking chair cushions, and a pair of curtains for the nursery that I made using fabric she chose and had shipped to me. We live three hours apart so she hasn't seen them yet - hope she's happy with them! Only a few more weeks till the little guy arrives - YAY! (the baby quilt is still in the works)

Only Rugs Today

I haven't been doing much sewing lately, but I have been doing prep work for a new baby quilt - I bought the fabric I need and I made up a test block and I have cut the pieces. Will show pictures when there is actually something to see. So today I will share the projects that my rug hooking friends were working on at our last meeting. Coralee is making a fun purse/tote that is a Sharon Smith design with fun bright colors and whimsical houses.

Kim is making some 'draft dodgers' that are long and skinny pillows - she'll put them on the window sills of three windows in her home that always seem to have a breeze blowing through. This first one just has some lovely trees and she is planning to leave the background unhooked. The red and blue fabric is sewn on just to make the linen fit in her frame.

Victoria is hooking a trick or treating dog with moon that Tonia has on her website.

Sandy is working on a Maggie B bee skep - I love the bright greens in this and the dark background is going to make the colors really pop!

I'm actually making progress on this big rug I've been working on forEVER it seems!

OOPS - I lied! This picture below isn't a hooked rug. Miss Stacy of Buttermilk Basin had a blog hop recently and provided this cute design for free to her readers. It is supposed to be done with wool applique, but I switched it up a bit and did it with my needle punch supplies. Haven't quite decided how to finish it up yet.

And finally, I wanted to pick your brains about Pinterest. I used to love it and now it annoys the heck out of me with all the promoted and recommended pins that pop up on my feed. Does anyone else have a problem with this? Don't understand why they're trying to ruin such a good thing! Argh!

It's Been Awhile!

Sorry I've been MIA - just busy with life - you know how it gets sometimes, right? Anyway, I took pictures earlier this month when our rug group met - there was some great show & tell! Sandy showed us her finished rug which is a design by Vintage Heart Primitives - and it was just stunning!

She used some specialty yarn to hook the lady's hair - - -

- - - and finished the edge with a fancy herringbone stitch using yarn - wow! I love the fleur-de-lis that is hooked in each corner of the rug - one of my favorite motifs.

I grabbed a photo of Kim's rug that is nearing completion. She asked her son to draw this rug pattern for her - so it's a one-of-a-kind - and it features her home and other nearby landmarks that are important and special to her - especially Ben Lomond Peak which stands above her house.

Sharon was working on a small star rug - about the right size for a chair pad. Makes me think of a sheriff's badge! LOL

Leisa invited us to hook in her studio for the first time and we all brought goodies to have a nice lunch while we were there. A lot of the gals had never been there before and they couldn't get over all the goodies that she has!  Leisa left just a couple days later and is in on vacation in Italy. Her husband went to ride his bike in the Italian Alps and it's been fun seeing her posts on Instagram.

Jeanette finished up this fun sunflower on a bed spring - a kit that we all received at a Guild meeting a year or two ago - please notice the red floor in the background - it's painted plywood - awesome!

My little quilt group met at my house a couple days after this, and I had prepared a small project for each gal to make. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of them all before they left so these two are mine. I sharpened bamboo skewers and we added polymer clay handles to them - they make a great stiletto to use when sewing - they hold seam allowances in place so your fingers don't get stitched by mistake. The colors are way too bright for my taste - I'd like to make another one or two and see if I'm happier with them....

When we returned home from Seattle I found this rusty flower in my yard - my son had welded it for me and left it as a surprise and I love it - it's rather dangerous looking so we've placed it in an out-of-the-way spot cuz we don't want any of the grandchildren to get hurt by it.  A couple of the kids really like balls so this might be a challenge - LOL!

And finally, a couple more really good books that I can recommend. I liked this one a lot:

And this one had me nearly sobbing at the end - luckily I was home alone and had no need to hide my tears from anyone - whew! I love books that make me cry - and Hallmark commercials can do it too! (smile)

The weather has turned really hot here after a long, cool, wet spring - whew - I'm not a fan!

Home Again

I've been home for a week now - really enjoyed our time in Seattle. The two things we enjoyed the most were Chihuly Garden & Glass - absolutely incredible.

And the rain forest on the Olympic Peninsula - everything is lush and green - so different from Utah.

I did a little applique work while traveling - I did these nine circles to finish a small Tara Lyn Darr project - - -

- - - and worked on a few of these baskets I started over five years ago. I have about 65 of them now in all sorts of scrappy colors, and think I might have figured out how I want to sew them all together. They've been to Portugal, Boston, Missouri and probably more places that I've forgotten about.

Just finished reading this book and really enjoyed it. I didn't feel like I was reading a story, but was just visiting with friends.