my last start of 2010

I am seeing "how many finishes do I have this year?" 

(as I check out things in blogland)

I have no idea for me....

I do know I have lots of stuff started.

So....I shall end the year with my last started quilt all in pieces yet.

Wonky letters. 

They are mixed up to keep it somewhat of a secret. I am not even sure that the future owner reads this blog....but just in case this will slow down the identification.

...and no, I do not have a prize for who ever might guess what it will say.

Wonky stars.

They are not blocks yet...that is what I am working on right now. I don't know how many I need yet, since I don't know how big this quilt will be. 

I am not sure what to call this block. It is just scraps of fabric strips sewn together.

It will make the border. Once again I don't know if I have enough or not.

Okay....I am off to work on the stars!

quilts and more quilts...

I don't think I have ever shown this quilt on the blog before. It is my tractor quilt with the names of the tractors  made in their colors. 

The letters and making them are because of Lazy Gal Quilting

Tonya (lazy gal quilting) has a new book out, Word Play Quilts (the link takes you to Amazon)

I don't have a copy yet, but I intend to. Karen has one already. I was part of the quilt on the cover. Tonya had asked for happy 4 letter words, I made one and sent it to her.  My word is "grin" .....you can't see it on the cover. 

I absolutely love these letters....they are so much fun to make.

Now for some postcards.....

I plan on sending one of these to Tonya. I want to congratulate her on the book and tell her how much I LOVE making the letters! She is such an inspiration!

Next 2 older things from last month......

For my birthday Karen gave me a table runner.

It started life here on the table, in the kitchen, then I moved it to the couch. It matches so nicely. I love it!

.... it says "Karen" to me, 

it is her style of scrappiness.

She is wondering if she should make a whole big quilt using this same block pattern. It is 2 1/2 inch strips. Some are cut to squares, others are rectangles measuring 3 1/2 inches....the finished block is 6 inches square.

Since I love scrappy, I thought it sounded like a cool idea.

And one more thing......this came back from the quilter some time ago. It even had the binding sewn on rather quickly, at least by my standards.

i

It is tractor joe's now. It is always in the recliner laying over him or sitting there waiting for him to get home.

I have a stack of quilts that are ready for the quilter....I just need the backing fabric. With Christmas over, maybe I can shop for fabric now.

Christmas stuff....

Another colored picture from Eden at Draw Doodle and Decorate...
this santa-bird is telling the elves they did great work this year and he will be meeting them in Tahiti tomorrow.

I made some tags using crayons and watercolor.....

...the drinking snowman with the olive mouth was on a napkin. I redrew it on paper as best I could.
I made a couple of them for tractor joe to put on his adult beverage gifts that will go to his deer hunting buddies.

And.....

these went out last week. Including the one that looks more like ho-el than noel. I think they looked better in person than in this picture.

Merry Christmas!!!!!

the aftermath of the storm.....

One of the preschoolers finished his project, so he wanted to draw a "winter" picture. It seems fitting after the blizzard we had on Saturday.

The town plow came by this morning. A drift always forms right at the end of the driveway. He opened it up, but it was up to tractor joe to move the rest of it.

It took him several hours to clear it all out of the way.

We tried something new too. We parked cars on the driveway, right up against the garage doors....

their job......

collect the blowing snow. It seemed to work. The car was backed up and brushed off. Not as much snow right in front of the doors then.

 This was over at the neighbors in the backyard. I thought it looked pretty.

I made a bunch of letters for postcards. I put one together to see what I thought. hmmm.....

The "n" doesn't seem right. But it is wonky so it will have to do....and,
do I want the letters all even on the bottom?
This is ready to glue to card stock. At least I will have one done before Christmas.

block lotto

Recently I joined BLOCK LOTTO ....you make blocks for the pot and at the end of the month there is a drawing for winners. If you don't win you send your blocks to the person who did win. If you aren't up to making any blocks one month, you don't. Pretty simple and no real pressure.
This month is wonky trees. I made 3 sets for the lotto. Those are the "good ones" (above)

Then....
I have more that didn't pass inspection.
Below you will see the ones I will keep.......

The blue-ish ones aren't wide enough.

I have two sets of purple, one for the drawing and one for me now because....

The pairs you enter must be all different colors. But when I was cutting the purple, one of the  fabrics was upside down. (they need to both be facing up or down when cutting)....and rather than cut more black, I cut more purple. Crap, that won't work for the lotto....but so what~ I now had another pair for me.

Then I just cut some pinky/red ones with fabric that was laying there. These are fun to make, so someday I will add to my collection...OR....if I win, figure out how to use them with the winning blocks!!

Plus I am thinking that making some of these wonky asterisks would be fun to throw in the mix. They look like stars or snow.

Now I am off to sew something else. We are in a Blizzard Warning for today....only so far we are on the warm side of the front coming through and all we have is rain. Either way it is a good day to stay inside and sew.

happy dance to my sewing machine

santa postcards sent.....

 All the Santas are waving bye-bye. They went out last Saturday and it sounds like they got to their destinations quite quickly.

The background is muslin, I used thinned down yellow acrylic paint. The lime corners and red JOY are acrylic paint right out of the bottle using foam stamps. I brushed some sparkly paint over them too.
Simple quilting with no backing fabric.
I used Mod Pog to attach them to card stock. Trimmed, then zig-zagged around the edge. That is really working well for me.
I would love to make more. I may have to start thinking Valentines.
The Santa is from the "I Believe" book by Nancy Halvorsen

they say this is REALLY fun....

The first weekend in November is plow weekend. All these guys get together with their old tractors and old two bottom plows.
All they do, all weekend, is plow.
Putt putt ....back and forth....up and down...
across the field until it is all plowed.
Just for the fun of it.

They do this every year.
Except the last two years. The weather didn't cooperate and it had to be cancelled.
Rain or frozen ground just doesn't plow well.

My fearless pheasant hunting brother-in-law stopped to take pictures on his way home.
I didn't go up there this year...so thank you Jon for taking pictures!!! Tractor joe is on his tractor and his two brothers are on the front one. They are Oliver guys.

This is Rod. He is also the one who got us involved with tractor rides like day one & day two of the North Iowa Tractor Ride.

They normally aren't quite this close, but at the end of it, before all the ground is plowed they take a picture of all the tractors lined up. So they all move in close.

I think there is usually between 30 and 40 tractors out there. Red ones, orange ones and green ones. All different kinds. These guys have a blast doing this. I am pretty sure they are already talking about next year.

pheasant hunting....

 My brother-in-law was down from Duluth to do some pheasant hunting. He took several photos and sent them to me. First up is tractor joe's nephews. They were hunting out by the farm and these guys love to hunt too.
This is the second time he has sent the photos. The first group was wiped out of the computer when it was getting "fixed"....that is the way my middle son cleans a slow computer that is acting up. He just wipes it clean and TA-DA it is like a new computer.....and I have to start all over...grrrrrrr......anyway......

 This is Cliff and Daisy. They came down from Duluth too! The love to run around the fields and help the guys hunt. They get so pooped out.
Hunting wasn't very good this year. They never did bring home a bird.

 I am not sure where they were when these photos were taken.

I was surprised to see this old log cabin. I might have to go with them next time they hunt so I can see this in person. It looks so cool.

The weather was gorgeous, for the most part, this fall. Dry and warm for weeks and weeks. That has changed now.
It is feeling like winter now.
Cold and snowy.

more postcards

I got a new camera! (a COOLPIX L22)... I have taken lots of pictures. But right now I trying to learn how to make it all work...like getting them from the camera to my computer....and that would include making the photos smaller for the blog. This is one of the many experiments to see if I can do it.
I am making a bunch of Santa postcards.
I am still attending physical therapy. They want me 3 times a week. My shoulder is slightly more mobile now. I am still trying to finish my online bus class. Each chapter takes about an hour. There are 16 chapters.
The worst one so far was bus inspection....check this do-hinky and that do-hinky for this and that.....and it all became blah blah blah. But I did get 90% on that test!
And then there is work.
No wonder I am having trouble getting much fun stuff done. I guess I am pretty busy.

happy thanksgiving....

Last week (or more)... I was visiting this blog....Draw Doodle and Decorate....she had drawn this bird, but before she colored it, she said we could play along and color one for ourselves.
I was home sick today. I have cold symptoms and last night I was sick to my stomach....I think it was my lunch that came back up last night.
Anyway, by this afternoon I was feeling better and painted the drawing. It was fun.
I am also working on some Christmas postcards. I am lovin' them so far. No pics yet.

So...HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! I may not be back here before then. My track record for blogging has been dismal lately.

beautiful day in paradise....

Early in the week the forecast was for snow on Saturday,

then they took the snow out,

then they put it back in the forecast.....

 Today we are in a snow storm warning.

The fronts of the turkey postcards are done.

The backs still need to be signed. They measure slightly larger than 4x6 inches.

My supplies used for this.....

I don't remember when I printed the pattern for the turkey, it has been a while. I went to look for it again online, and couldn't find it. It was at the Quiltmakers magazine site.

For the words and swirly decorations....I mixed the copper paint with yellow to get the goldish color and the dark brown is the copper mixed with black paint. I drew the legs and colored in the beak with markers.

The eyes are made with a white-out pen and then another dot with the brown marker.  I quilted them on to batting with no backing fabric.

I used the mod podge to glue them to card stock.

They dried over night. This morning I trimmed them all up nice and square. The zig zag went on easily. My best effort yet! I think this is the way to do it from now on.

With the lovely weather outside, I think I am in the mood to create some Christmas postcards today...this means sitting on the couch under a quilt, looking at various books and magazined for ideas. Then.... maybe, getting out some fabric and actually sewing.

oh oh....

Sometime last summer, I noticed that when I lifted something up, my shoulder would ache. As time went on, and I would lift or move my arm toward the back it was pure pain shooting through my arm. So I wouldn't lift....and as time went on it got worse.
Less and less mobility.
oh oh....
It just kept getting worse and worse, not better.....
dang it....
It was time to go to the doctor.
She examined me and took an x-ray.

My diagnosis is adhesive capsulitis, or frozen shoulder.
The treatment right now.....going to a physical therapist. I start next Wednesday.
YIKES
I have never had pain while sewing...so that should continue as normal!

little turkeys and changing the quilt.....

Over the weekend I started paper piecing some turkeys. It seemed like a good idea at the time. I have a love/hate relationship with this process. The mess drives me crazy as it piles up and it can be so confusing...laying fabric down then turning it all over and sewing.

 

I did figure out a system that seemed to work and have six of them. They still need their beaks and feet, plus some sort of embellishment. It may be paint or stitching or....something.....

They are all in the postcard size...for sure I need 2 of them.  Most likely they will all end up as postcards.

Then I looked at my fridge this morning. Halloween was still up there.

Time to change that.....

It is time for this one to hang out in the kitchen.

I absolutely love coffee (with cream) in the morning!

2 quilts......

Believe it or not!!....I have some quilts to show.....
I finished the embroidered quilt...I don't have any details on it, like who made it, where did it come form....it has been so long since my friend gave it to me, that I don't remember now. 

This is all machine stitching....even though the rows are about an inch apart, it is still very soft.
I was amazed how the stitching hit the angels face just right....I could not have planned this if I tried!!

It is so pastel colored, it was hard to get a decent picture. I tried several locations....sun, shade, house, but they all turned out about the same.

The next top that is done...

The summer quilt-along. I love the pattern....I don't love the fabrics so much.  It looks light and airy...maybe it is the darker fabrics that are bothering me. Karen is having the same thoughts about hers....our brains are NOT yelling I love you when we look at own quits...but I do love the way hers looks.   I bought some printed black and white fabric to use in the borders. So unlike me to pick a print.

Not sure where this will end up....there are other tops I want quilted first, so this will have to wait a bit.

happy halloween.....

We had trick-or-treating last night. Living on the edge of town we generally don't get many...average is 2, maybe.  But on my way to the store I ran into a large group and told them to come on over....that group was a new record. We had 11 trick-or-treaters yesterday.

The ghost feet were made by the preschoolers last week.

Then I found this free online course.

I had nothing to lose by giving it a try.

Here is the link to my art teacher, tam!

You will have to scroll down to find the link to the class, it is under Art, Heart and Healing

or maybe here would be better 

I don't know how I found it myself, but I did start......

Week one was a front-facing.... face. I don't have all the same supplies needed. 

I don't have the water crayons....but I do have pencils.

I don't have a journal......but I do have some paper.

I have not done something like before, this is my first attempt.....

Well, my first attempt didn't quite look right so I painted over it with the white acrylic and started over....

this would be my second attempt

over the first attempt

 on the same paper....

Week two was altering a board book. I used an old book instead. I didn't have the supplies for photo transferring, so I skipped on ahead to part 2  (I'll do part 1 later)

We were supposed to think of a childhood trauma and Tam showed us how to draw "whimsies"

She said she was bullied as a child, so she drew the opposite...herself with a lot of friends.

My trauma isn't so awful....but I am sure several of you can identify with it......

There were 6 of us girls.....I only put the first three in my project.

When I was talking to my Mom she asked, "what have you been doing?"

I told her about little whimsies and that I needed a childhood trauma...and I thought of one.

"oh no, am I involved in this trauma of yours?" she asked.

I started laughing

Why yes you are! I explained what it was and she starting laughing.

The last picture is Crispy's self portrait from last year. As long as we have art things here, I thought I would throw this one in too.