Fall is in the Air

Here I am again, and it only took me four days to get back to it this time.
It's been awhile since I posted about our SIS hand sewing bee, so I thought I'd throw in a couple of pictures from our gathering yesterday.

There were only 3 of us that day, Jean has been awfully busy this summer.

Chris was working on her 9-patches, and showed us the 'hybrid' project which was the result of melding 2 projects... something that was not planned but turned out wonderfully. She had been working on the 9-patches for some time, and then she had these adorable wonky houses.













And Alice is hand quilting her Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt, which is one of my favorite quilts, so I am particularly interested in watching her progess with that one. She's doing a great job with it, and it's going to be a precious heirloom!

I haven't been doing as much sewing lately, as fall is definitely in the air, and there can't be too many beautiful days left like the ones we've been having. So DH and I have been working outdoors mostly, getting ready for winter. I did finish another Dear Jane block yesterday though, and got a good start on another one. It looks lop-sided but it's not. It's just the way I had it aligned in the scanner.

M-12 Hopscotch


Another reason I wanted to blog today was to test something that Chris taught me. Actually, she had to re-teach me with a little remedial tutoring on blogging as I can't seem to remember things very well! So I wanted her to refresh my memory on how to create a link within one's blog. So here goes, I am going to try to link to her EXCELLENT blog, Crispy Quilts. And once you get there, you can also follow a link to a second blog of hers where she does tutorials on hand piecing which I highly recommend. Even if you haven't thought you'd like to be a hand-piecer, why not give it a try! You might like it.

And a rare remaining daylily bloom... this one is really hanging in there. I took the photo at dusk, so the flash went off and it gave a striking backdrop which was much darker than reality.


Have a great day, take time to smell the 'daylilies', and SEW!!!

We're Back...

I see it's been almost two weeks since I've posted, so I better get on the ball here. In all fairness, I was gone on vacation for better than half a week. We went to Denver over the Fourth to visit 3 out of 4 of our children, and 2 grandchildren. We even got in a little more geo-caching. What a great thing for something to do with any age or gender!

Before we left, I prepped several DJ blocks and two kites to work on while we were gone. I decided to go ahead and get all four kites done and out of the way. I did my signature kite, Sarah Jane (Rita Jane), but I'm holding off finishing the embroidery of the name and number of pieces until it goes into the finished top, so I can align the text along the seamline.



For those of you who are not familiar with Dear Jane, the text was replicated from the original Dear Jane quilt. Jane's quilt was done in 1863 during the Civil War, and thus her verbiage, "In War Time 1863".

On the way home, I was working on a block with many many pieces, and we hadn't been prepared for the strong wind when we stopped for gas and opened the car door. First I opened my door, and the zip lock bag (empty) went flying away FAST. Then before I could say anything, DH opened his door, and there went what looked like ALL the little white bits of fabric and paper. (I use the freezer paper template method.) Actually, I don't think it was as bad as it looked. Most of the little white pieces I saw blowing in the wind were apparently completed patches where I no longer needed the removed scraps of paper, because after scurrying around and retrieving what we could, I only know of one piece still missing and needing recut. One thing that was kind of funny was when I'd see a bit of white and go for it, I more often than not found it was a little white wildflower.






Anyway, I got several things done. The one I'm least proud of is the one and only one I was able to complete while AT our destination. Too many distractions I guess. The ones done in the car on the way to and from, and in the hotel, went much much better. :) Can you guess which one is my 'problem child'?

B-4 Chris's Soccer Field



A-13 Starlight Starbright


A-11 Pebble's Protest


A-9 Cabin Fever



And now today we had our wonderful S.I.S. group (a small sewing bee) get-together for a full day of sewing, and it was JUST what I needed! Forgot my camera though, darnit! We went to New Salem and met at Chris' country club, which is a GREAT place to meet. We have so much room, and nothing but wall-to-wall windows with natural daylight, looking out onto green golf course. Nothing better than this!!!

OH... I've gotten a few more signature blocks in the siggie swap. I'm loving it!!! Thanks ladies!



Isabella Belliard from Nantes, France, where we lived from 2001-2002, and thoroughly enjoyed the adventure!!!!


Milada Mikova from the Czech Republic



Irene Skalova, also from the Czech Republic. We also lived there for a year, from 2002-2003.

I was especially delighted to get the two from the Czech Republic and the one from Nantes, France, because of our close personal connection with these two countries.


Rosa Robchaud, from New Brunswick, Canda, someone I've enjoyed getting to know more through chat.


Lotte Klint from Denmark.

This is SUCH great fun!!!!!

Came home to beautiful new blooms all over the place, but will post some pictures of those a bit later.

Leanna's Barely 'Passable' Project

Today our S.I.S. group met at Jean's home. Leanna was working on a project where you insert filler, in this case a strand of yarn, into a bias strip such as a stem. At some point, I desired to see it closer, and asked if it was 'passable'. Well it certainly was, ...and then some! :)

Alice is understandably very excited about 2 coming great-grandchildren and had a grouping of adorable wall hangings to show us, along with a very cuddly blanket (with minkee, no less). We all thought working with minkee was above and beyond the call of duty! The ladies are left to right: Jean, Leanna, and Alice.


She also did a beautiful embroidery of a mother with a child, and framed it. Isn't it gorgeous?


Jean is working on her beautiful appliqué hearts. You can definitely see where Chris' appliqué lessons for us has paid off. Same goes for Alice's work on her Tisket-a-Tasket appliques! The mug in the foreground is tea, not beer... :)


Here we had an extremely rare moment of silence! Ripley's, where are you?
Chris was off to visit her adorable little grandbaby Saige, (and BTW, Saige's parents as well). :)

Where'd Spring Go?/A Newbie Quilter?/Crispy Quilts

Was it just yesterday I posted a picture of my beautiful purple miniature irises in bloom? Here's what greeted me when I looked out the patio door this morning. I didn't go out for a better picture than this... it was too dang cold! At least we didn't get the 6" of snow forecasted, and it's almost entirely melted by now.

My very good friend Sylvia took some precious vacation time to come to my house and sew with me yesterday afternoon. She finished this table topper that we started earlier when she took an entire day of vacation. This is her very first project ever... pretty good for a newbie, huh!???


I also want to give a shout out for a really nice blog. It is that of my very good friend, Chris (Crispy) in my S.I.S. group (Sisters in Stitches). She's the one that got me going on this blog in the first place. She's also the one that introduced me to my Dear Jane journey. When I saw her finished DJ top, I knew I had to have one... and I also knew the only way I was ever going to have one was to make it myself... Duh!!! Anyway, check out her wonderful blog at Crispy Quilts... and be sure to take a peek at Crispy’s Dear Jane, and tell her I sent you.

Retrieved S.I.S. Pics

Just a bit more... last night when I posted, I thought I had lost photos I took of our S.I.S. (Sisters in Stitches) get-together yesterday, due to a nearly dead camera battery. But I discovered I got them after all. So I'm adding them a day later.

The beautiful wall hanging is one Chris rediscovered when she was perusing her Webshots archives, and then went in search of the 'real thing'. What a find, huh!? How could you forget something that beautiful?



Jean, in the foreground, was working on her hearts appliques, and Alice was working on her Tisket-A-Tasket appliques.

Rescued Baby Jane and S.I.S. Gathering

One of my favorite days.. today was S.I.S. We're still waiting for Leanna's return from the south, but the rest of us were all able to get together today. Chris gave us an excellent tutorial on appliqueing circles, two different ways. Yours truly wasted a great deal of time searching for an elusive block for DJ that I finished last night. ...was thinking I was losing my marbles ~ besides C-11. After everyone left, as a last desperate resort,I looked in the kitchen wastebasket. There it was!!! It had gotten bumped off the island. And it had apparently done a swan dive into some pasta sauce, so it took a bit of doing to remove all the stains. But now all is well.
C-11 - Soldiers and Sailors Monument

Kites and SIS

Finally back to it...

I've had a renewed surge in activity with my Dear Jane quilt. The original quilt was made by a woman named Jane Sickle in 1863. This is the quilt that started the craze with all of us Janiacs! I think I made 3 or 4 blocks this week, plus a kite (a corner block) and a triangle (for the pieced border). The kite was a real challenge.





One of the great things about this venture is all the new friends I'm making with the Dear Jane bloggers, 'meeting' and chatting with them from all over the world, especially a newfound friend in Florida. And they're always there ready to lend help and assistance with any questions people have! An amazing group!

We had our S.I.S. group (Sisters in Stitches) last week at one of our member's new digs. She just moved into an independent living facility in 2009, and occasionally we take our group to her. We sit and stitch and chat in the wonderful cheery sunroom pictured. We're strictly a hand sewing bee. Clockwise from front left: Jean, Alice, a nursing student tagging around after Agnes for the day, Agnes who is the resident member living there, and lastly my friend Louise, who was just visiting our group. Louise is not a quilter/sewer, but can really tickle the ivories like a pro!!!



Two of our members were missing that day. Leanna hasn't returned from her new winter home yet. She just moved about 6 doors down from their last home down in Phoenix. We've missed her and it will be so good to have her back up north!

And Chris got pulled into duty for her job at the last minute. Chris travels in to town from about 35 miles away for our bee, and we're honored she thinks it's worth the trip!

Leanna is also doing the Dear Jane, and Chris is our mentor on the project, Chris has already completed an unbelievable DJ top. Wish I had a small fraction of the talent that woman possesses. These gals are such a wealth of knowledge and talent! I so look forward to our get-togethers, and when Leanna is up North, the fun is magnified tenfold!!!