New quilt and whatnot (posted by Lorri)

We got a new sofa a couple of months ago.  Of course this meant we needed a new quilt for the sofa.  My hubby was kind enough to test drive the finished quilt this weekend.

I used fall colors for this cozy quilt.  I'm pretty sure he was watching the golf channel at this point. 
 

Naturally, I had to make pillows also.  I like the feather pillow inserts from Hancocks.  Makes for a nice soft pillow.

And because I am real glutton for punishment, I made the piping for the pillows from the leftover quilt binding.  I haven't worked with piping for awhile, so a few choice words flew from my mouth.

 

All done, now what to make next?

Kay's Quilts

A few years ago I made some art quilts for the Pittsburg Art Walk.  I mean I attempted to make art quilts.  I was encouraged to make these by my daughter because she wants me to make art quilts.  I'm not much of a artist but I gave it a try. I made the flowers and leaves by quilting  them on my machine and then I applied them to to the background.  It  made them have an 3-D effect.  The larger yellow and blue one I appliqued blue pieces of material and then quilted leaves and vines,  I made little squares of embroidered flowers and animals and appliqued them on the bottom.. 

This one I made out of scraps from leftover quilts projects.  I quilted it on my sewing machine with navy thread.  I sewed different things on the bottom to finish it out.  I bought beads and put things I found around the house - Candy wrappers, things I got in the mail, parts of old earrings,  I also crocheted itsy bitsy little doilies and threaded them on crochet thread and sewed them to the bottom. 

I took these pictures out to the farm and had Dad help me with these pictures.  We were going to photgraph them on the old chicken house but it was too windy, so Dad suggested that we go over to the barn out of the wind and take pictures.  I think they look pretty good on the old barn.  The red, black and white quilt is some embroidered blocks that I made of wildflowers in baskets.  I don't think these quilts are really art quilts but I tried!

Some of my favorites........ (posted by Lorri)

I've always liked sunflowers.  They are just so, well, sunny.  A happy flower, so to speak.
I received this from Sherry.

This is a photo that was transferred to canvas.  I believe that Sherry mailed this to some company who did the transfer.  The colors are so vibrant.  LOVE this.

Oil painting by Jim Annuschat.

  This oil painting was given to me by Jim Annuschat.  Jim knows I really like sunflowers and I like barns, so he combined the two in this oil painting.  Since I lack enough artistic ability to even sketch stick people, I really appreciate his talent.  I think a barnwood frame would be perfect for this.

My friend Gail made me this for Christmas.  She got new windows in her home, so she used one of the old windows to make this for me.  It is now hanging in my sewing room.  I really like it.

Vada came for a visit today.  She is now 8 1/2 months old.  She likes Cheerios now, and it is entertaining watching her trying to pick them up and get them to her mouth.  She is so much fun.

Guess who has the magic touch to get Vada to sleep?

Houston Quilts

Since I didn't have anything new finished I thought that I would post pictures that I took at the International Quilt Festival this fall.  This first one is "Untitled"  by Polly Bech.

Azuze Sky by Elena Marin

Springtime in the Garden by Mary Schneider

Gardens by Susan Brooks

Dixie Dingo Dreaming by Susan E. Carlson

Gridlock by Annette Guerrero

Circus Stars by Teresa Justice
Please excuse the photography, I am not the best photographer in the world.  Hope you enjoyed these pictures.  These were some of my favorite quilts at the quilt show. 

January 3, 2013 New Year's and whatnot

Several years ago I made a New Year's resolution I liked so much that I keep making the same one every year.  It's my one and only.  My resolution is to do a better job in keeping regular contact with my girlfriends.  When everyone is so busy with their own lives, it's easy just to let time roll by.  My goal is to try and go out to eat and visit once a month. Several (ok, many) of my friends are nurses, so trying to find a common evening with on-call schedules and different work shifts can be tough.  My other goal is to have more shared quilting time with my friends.

Have you ever been to a bridal shower where you are asked to write down advice for the bride?  My friend Debby always writes the same thing -"Don't forget your girlfriends".  And, she is correct. 
Feel free to copy my resolution for yourselves.

And, now for some photos.


Charlotte wanting to play with her popper before her mom could get the paper off.

Vada and her presents.  Each girl got a bucket to put their toys in.  Thank you tractor supply.

Charlotte in her Christmas dress, being held by her mommy, Kelli. Great-grandpa Von Soosten in the background.

Vada and her new turtle.

Sometimes the turtle moves faster than her little legs can move.  Good save, Clinton.

In their new outfits; little girls clothes are so cute.

Both girls ate wrapping paper at some point in the morning.  I love this stage.

The perfect fabric (posted by Lorri) December 26, 2012

The good part about hanging out with other quilters is that you learn new things from them.  Several years ago, several of us were working on a quilt for a friend's daughter's upcoming wedding.  It was a quilt pattern with fairly large blocks that featured a big center star.  The perfect kind of pattern for a group quilt project.
We were all at the quilt store together, choosing fabric for this quilt.  While we didn't have any problem choosing different color fabrics for the main part of the quilt, we were rather puzzled about what fabric we should pick for the center star.   Kate showed us the fabric below, and told us it was the perfect fabric for the center star.  I recall looking at it thinking, really?

So, we went back to Debby's house and started working on the quilt.  We got to the part where we added the star, and sure enough, the gold fabric above was EXACTLY what we needed.  It looked perfect!  Hence, the perfect fabric was born.  It pops up now and then in other projects.

Notice the center star?

After a number of years of quilting with Kate, I have decided she has a true gift for choosing fabric. 
And, on to other fabric, my sister Kay and my mom brought me back some different fabrics from the Houston quilt road trip.
Check this out:

Isn't this fabric great?  This is my inspiration fabric for the quilt I am making to go with our new living room furniture.  I love the colors in this fabric.  There is just something about touching fabric that makes a true quilter smile.  You know who you are out there. 

Merry Christmas from Captain Vomitar! (posted by Lorri)

I added a new word to my vocabulary at work last week.  The word is "vomitar", which means "to vomit" in Spanish.  Thank you Google translator.
I learned this new word in preparation for a home visit. You can just fill in the rest of the details on your own.

Anyway, back to the new addition to my vocabulary.  Did you ever hear a new word, and for some unknown reason, it strikes you as funny?

Well, apparently the word "vomitar"was one of those words for me.  I thought it sounded like a super hero.  Consequently, Captain Vomitar was created.

Of course, things deteriorated from there.  It's been a bad year for the stomach flu.  Kids throw up; sometimes they don't make to the desired destination.  It's okay - no one WANTS to have the stomach flu.  Fortunately, I can handle vomit. 

I've noticed over the years of being a nurse, that people seem to have some type of body fluid "line in sand", so to speak.  Some people are squeamish about the sight of blood or needles.  Doesn't faze me, although I'll admit I prefer that the blood or needles don't involve me as a participant.  I prefer the old adage, It's better to give than receive - especially when it comes to needles. I have found one common body fluid that most nurses (including myself) prefer to leave to other professionals. 

Any guesses?  Find a nurse and ask.  It's loogies.  Or hawkers.  But, I digress.

I was explaining to my husband about the new word I learned.  He knew I'd been seeing lots of vomit at work for awhile.  He actually though the Vominator might be a better term.  Perhaps. 
Then, we stopped at a local convenience store in our small town one evening.  As he got ready to get out of his side of the car, guess what was on the pavement right outside his car door?    At this point, I think he started to think IT was following me around.

Oh, if he only knew. 

A few days later, I actually became Captain Vomitar.  At home.  I don't know why I get surprised when I get sick - I see so much of it at times.  The big surprise is that we (school nurses) don't get sick more often.   I'm feeling much better now.

My Christmas wish is for someone to develop a vaccine for the stomach flu.  I'll be first in line.

I had really been planning on this blog entry being about fabric, but I'll save it for next week. 

So, I wish you all a vomit-free Christmas!