Treasured

Remember awhile ago I shared pictures of the wood carving that my hubby made of the clasped arms? Well, today he finished another wood carving, and this was something special he made especially for me. A heart! It stands about 12" tall and is made of black walnut - the pedestal and heart are carved as one single piece. He stained the heart with a red stain and the stand with darker wood stain - then it was waxed and now it is as smooth as silk. It immediately became my most treasured possession! Love it!

Here are a few photos of it in progress - wish I'd been home when he started it so you could have seen it when he rough cut it with a chain saw!

I'm still working on my 'problem' hooked rug - I added another border to the name portion of the rug - this part measures 11 x 48. The finished rug will be 48 x 56 - it's a big one!

One of the things I didn't like about the rug was the house that I had hooked - I drew the whole rug freehand because I wanted it to be naive and funky, but this wobbly house was really bothering me.

So I pulled it all out - except the roof - and redrew it with straight lines by following a thread. It's still not perfect, but I think it's better than before. 

In two weeks Maggie Bonanomi will be here in Utah to teach a three day workshop for our Guild so we're getting very excited about it. I need to get a pattern on linen and pull some wool so I'll be ready for class! WooHoo! Unfortunately, that means this big rug of mine will get put on the back burner again - sigh!

Just finished up this book by an author I hadn't read before. I liked it a lot - great setting (Wales England) - great characters - and a great story.

Glimpses

I've been working on several projects the last few days and thought I'd share just a little snippet of each. I amazed myself by pulling out a very large rug that I haven't worked on for years and years - and I actually added a narrow salmon colored border to one section of it. I would really love to finish this some day so I've put my thinking cap on to see if I can figure out solutions to some of the problems that made me put it away in the first place.

I've made progress on my Kim Diehl quilt - here is is arranged on my design wall.

Since there is quite a bit of wool applique to be done around the edges I was worried about having the cotton background fabric fray from all the handling it would be receiving. I took a class from Kim many years ago and remembered that she always ran a bead of Fray Check around the outside of her blocks for just that reason. So that's what I did and I hope it will help.

Have started working on a brightly colored baby quilt for DD#1. The baby is due in November and the baby shower is about a month away so I have plenty of time to get this made for her.

And my son's girlfriend will be a brand new 5th grade teacher next week. She's been busy organizing her classroom and fixing it up with fun bright colors. She has one window that I made some simple valance curtains for.

Jeanette's House

Last week our rug group met at Jeanette's new home for our monthly get together. Standing on the sidewalk I admired front porch and those gorgeous hanging baskets of fibrous begonias. Wanted to sit down on a rocking chair and never leave!

There is a play house in the back yard for the grandkids - 

And a wonderful vegetable garden -

A putting green -

And a river - (if you look closely you can see some ducks)

This neatly stacked firewood makes me long for a roaring winter fire -

And in the house her laundry room has a bird theme going on - love the two hooked rugs - 

Her sewing room/wool room is awesome - she had cubbies built-in on either side of the window - 

I love how she has the wool neatly stacked by color - and little decorations and trinkets displayed amongst the wool -

Smaller bits of wool are in this little box on a table -

Thanks so much for a great day and the delicious lunch Jeanette!

Things I Did

I have finally finished hooking and binding and blocking my small wreath rug and I sure like the way it turned out.  The design was taken from a quilt book where each block was a different wreath. The background wool I used seems to get a lot of comments - even from those who don't hook. I used a thrift store skirt in a light color with a small plaid using tan & grey/blue threads.

I have gotten a good start on a Kim Diehl quilt pattern that I've wanted to make for a long time. The blocks are all finished and are ready to be sewn together now. I imagine that hand appliqueing the wool leaf shapes around the border will take me longer than the piecing did.

Just finished this book and really enjoyed it. This is the author's first published story so I'll have to keep an eye open for any more that she writes.

A Few Projects

I haven't been doing a LOT of sewing or hooking lately - the heat is just sapping my energy every single day - can't wait for cooler temperatures. However, I have gotten a few things done so I'll share them here.

Last week I attended the preview of the Springville Quilt Show, but I didn't realize that none of the quilts had info attached to their displays so I was disappointed in not knowing the names of the quilters who made the projects I liked - or who designed them. This was my favorite - I've developed a real fondness for, and interest in medallion quilts lately and I liked how this one is off-center - very interesting - and of course the applique border makes it special too.

I also liked this hexagon piece - it was in a frame and each hexie measured 1/2" - there was a small sign that this was for display only and was not to be judged since it wasn't actually quilted.

Last Friday was the annual Antelope by Moonlight bike ride that takes place on an island in the middle of the Great Salt Lake. For several years I've helped register people who show up at the last minute and want to ride, but for a change this year I decided to help with setting up and serving the food instead.  I had to drive through three herds of buffalo on my way out to the ranch house.

Hubby has designed the t-shirts for this event for 20 years now - this is the current design that each rider received upon arrival. All twenty of his tees were on display and lots of people could point out the ones that they owned - kinda fun. I got home about 2:00 AM - covered with mosquito bites - sigh!

Our county fair has started something new this year to try and UP the participation in the home arts department. For $1, I purchased a fat quarter of this fabric.

Then I made this little chevron quilt out of it that I will enter when the fair starts next month. Not sure if they're awarding ribbons, or prize money - but I doubt I'll win anything - don't like the way I cut off the tops and bottoms off the zigs and zags - oh well. It'll be fun to participate anyway, and I look forward to seeing what other quilters did with the fabric.

I made this small pioneer braid quilt from a book by Tara Darr - it's really, really busy - especially with that floral border I added, but I like it. Maybe I should have added a darker stop border to contain things a bit, but too late now. All those bias edges were a bugger to work with!

I've been keeping up with Pam Buda's current sew-along....

...and I'm trying to finish the hexagon quilt from her Prairie Women's Sewing Circle that I started a few months ago - only a couple more rows to stitch and then it'll be ready for some wool applique and quilting.

This & That

I'm just going to do a little catching up with this post. Last week I attended my monthly meeting with the Salt Lake Rug Group. My rug is making progress - it's about 20" square and I think I'll use it for a table centerpiece so I'm not sure if I'll hook that center flower motif because it'll probably be covered up by a candle or a pot of flowers. I might  just use background wool to finish the middle of it - guess it depends on whether I have enough of the light background wool from the skirt I've been using......

Here are some of the other rug projects that were being worked on at that meeting. Terri was able to join us for the first time in a long time and we enjoyed visiting with her - she took a class from Karen Kahle in Phoenix earlier this year and is hooking a floral basket design of hers.

Myra is making good progress on her little purse - those flowers really pop against navy background. Her proddy flowers are so nicely done!

We meet at Nancy's house and this cute wreath greeted us on her front door - it's made of felted wool sweaters that her daughter made from thrift store finds - so cute!

Nancy was pulling the last few loops of the third piece that will become a pillow - her version of Magdalena Briner's lollipop tree.

Yvonne has started a tradition log cabin quilt design.

Awhile ago I was thumbing through some of my really old Miniature Quilts magazines and saw this little quilt called Bricks done in Christmas colors. I thought it looked like a quick sew and I dove right in using fabrics from my 1" scrap basket. Finished size is about 7" x 9". I guess you could call it a charm quilt because each piece is a different fabric. I should have done a better job of spacing the light blocks, but I didn't notice that until it was too late.

At the thrift store last week I stumbled upon this small quilt top and bought it for $2.99. Whoever made it did a good job on the sewing, but it's too plain for me so I think I'll spiff it up with some kind of applique after I tea dye it a bit. I could add some blue stars and give it more of an Americana flavor - or I could add some green holly leaves or trees and make it have a Christmasy  theme - any other suggestions to help me figure out what to do? The blocks are about 9" square.

I have been working diligently on Pam Buda's new sew along - I have all my HSTs made and a couple of the blocks sewn together - will share a picture of it soon.

Some Finished Projects

Well, I did get my red, white & blue quilt finished before the 4th but haven't had time to share it until now. 

It finished up at 36" square and I'm very pleased with it - especially glad to have it done since it's been in the UFO pile for 2-3 years! Yay!

I saw some darling little basket blocks shared by Temecula Quilt Co so decided I'd make a few for myself. Well, one is made - and that's the end of THAT! A 2" block with that many pieces is beyond my comfort level so I'll just pin this up on my board and call it good! LOL

Last week my rug group met at my house - usually in the summer we enjoy the day out on the patio under the shade trees, but we were in the middle of a horrific heat wave so opted to stay inside where it was cooler. Jeanette brought this Americana table quilt that was so cute - I love how each star has a different quilt block in the middle of it.

And she has totally finished her sheep rug with the owl perched on his back - FUN!

Sandy brought a little quilt with sheep - I have this pattern printed out SOMEWHERE in my stuff, but need to dig it out so I can make one for myself - every time I see it I fall in love with it again!

Angela finished punching this little piece while was here - she has a wonderful wooden box with an insert in the lid that she will mount it in.