December and Final New FO

I'm so sad to say this is the final NEW FO linky party, after 3 years Barbara is calling it quits and there's nothing to say except Thank You Barbara for putting it together, I think we've all had a good time, met new people and enjoyed a chance to talk about what we started during the month. 

The FO party always made me feel like an overachiever, I'm a start to finish quilter, putting something aside even for a few days finds me bored with it and moving on to new, better and shinier "best quilts in the world". That's what I call most of my quilts. So, I find it a little ironic that for the last linky party I have lots of starts and only one finish.

This is my "Let's Book It" finish, when it ended up so different from the original plan I should have just locked the sewing room door, my brain went on vacation for December, this is what followed.

I trusted a fat quarter pack and put together a quilt which was hideous, the colors were awful, why is there always "that color" in a fabric line? this one had two. I had all of the rows together and had started sewing them together when David said the dreaded "It doesn't look like your usual quilts", that's code for "this quilt is hideous". So here's the quilt

I spent a full day cutting it apart and keeping the pretty ones, so now I have a whole stack of four inch squares, which I've laid out and played with but the brain is still on a beach some where, so no go. 

Then I made these for a fund raising quilt

But I didn't like the way it was turning out (probably the brown, I don't usually use brown), some of them became mug rugs and the rest are just sitting there whining. 

That led me to making another fund raiser quilt, which I've made before.

The blocks are made but, brain on beach=bored with making the same thing again, so now the dogs and cats are playing nicely together in a pile. 

Yesterday my brain lit up and came back on line (yes, I'm a geek).
I spent the day making HST's from the cut up quilt blocks, it just needed some white to cut down on the relentless color in them.

I'm still not using the ugly colors, can't find them, may have trashed them, LOL.

Now with the brain back I've got so many ideas and quilts to make. I woke up this morning and added another. Years ago my daughter handed me a garbage bag full of her t-shirts from her sorority and asked for a quilt, I said "yea, O.K." and threw the bag in the back of the closet. The "sisters" all get together a few times a year and they just decided they need a traditional spring break, traditional meaning Ft. Lauderdale which is where Cori lives. Cori offered her house for anyone that wanted to stay there and they all accepted, 7 woman at last count will be in her tiny house, but what a great time to have that quilt done, right? David of course, asked what I'm going to do when they all want one, but we'll cross that bridge (probably jump off it) when we come to it. 

So there it is, the final New FO. Normally I encourage you to jump in, now's the time if you've been thinking about it. Again, Thank You Barbara for giving us these years of fun. 

Happy New Year Everyone,
Dana

Let's Book It Dec. 2014

The final Let's Book It for 2014 is in full swing over at Vroomans Quilts blog. Sharon's genius idea is to pick a pattern you already have, make a quilt that you wanted to make, in any colors you want then link up, what's not to love. It's had me digging through the stacks of magazines that I bought when I first started quilting. Getting rid of old magazines makes more room for fabric, again, what's not to love. 

I started here

I can't resist Star Quilts

I picked this one

After pulling the lime and white I pulled a dark teal that was a mistake when I was dying fabric, then I took a sharp turn and ended up here

Nothing like the pattern, even looking at patterns as suggestions, this one went way off course and it backfired, when I looked at the pattern again I think those sun looking blocks would look great in yellows and oranges, while the smaller stars can be all different colors, so I'm not donating this magazine yet. :)

I'm so happy to say, Let's Book It is continuing into 2015, so if you haven't jumped in yet there's still time, really I know you have books, magazines, or patterns that you bought to make something, so blow off the dust and get started.

Later Gators,

Dana

Merry Christmas

Santa Ray a very real Santa

Just popping in to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas or ____ fill in the blank with your smile making, makes you dance and sing holiday. The one that brings family together, even if it's only in your dreams. 

A lot of you know Christmas is a crazy time for me, a couple of years ago I sent this Christmas card out

We've merged with another charity and I've handed off the reins, it makes me sad that Ray's Kids no longer exists, but they have better funding and although I'm very much involved, I can breath and bake cookies. 

Did I say Cookies? Here's what's filling my kitchen right now

Yep, homemade dog biscuits for all of the terrible twin's friends and dozens of them go into these bags

My friend Darlene made these labels a while back and we donate them to the local shelters full of those delicious (that's what the twins say) pumpkin cookies. Those labels are one of my favorite things :)

We've also made a bunch of these

They hold empty water bottles and the dogs go crazy for them, when the bottle loses it's crackle they can be untied and refilled. 

Speaking of the twins

NAUGHTY, I think I'm being punished for being gone so much. It's been cold here and Maya gets in touch with her "inner wolf" when it's cold. (don't look up the temperature you'll just call me a wimp and make fun of me)  

NICE, so happy to see Mom he just wants to cuddle.

Did you see what Freda made, click the link and check it out. That sent me running up the road to Michael's, if mine turns out I'll show you, if not....we will never speak of this again. 

David and I gave ourselves an early Christmas present and went to spend some time with these people.

If you're a fan of Fleetwood Mac, you know that Christine has come back after a 16 year absence, we had to make the pilgrimage. Christine's "Songbird" was our wedding song and the concert ended with just her, a grand piano and "Songbird" :) Perfect!

One last thing, the morning after the concert I felt hungover even though all I drank was tea and water, which led to the revelation that in my youth, sitting on the beach watching the sun rise, it was the sun rise that caused the hangover not the bottle of tequila in my hand, huh. 

Wishing you the best of everything. 

Dana  

New FO for November

Seat belts on, it's Dec. 1 and we're all in that downward slide towards the end of the year. I know we all say "what happened to Nov.", but December only lasts about two weeks or feels like it, lets be safe out there. 

The end of the month means it's time for the New FO linky party over at Cat Patches, a chance to show off what we did for the month. 

Remember the train Christmas tree skirt I showed you last month? I had such a good time with that one I made another using Designs by Juju's North Pole Village designs.

Each one of those little buildings takes over an hour to sew and the first rule of machine embroidery is never walk away, if you do machine embroidery you know what I'm talking about.

So while the Princess (embroidery machine) sewed I put together a couple of quick and easy quilts.

If I made this one again I would add a thin wavy blue applique under the boat.

This one is sweet and simple and uses some of my favorite beautiful fabric that I would normally hoard. 

This one is my "Let's Book It" project for November, I made it before the tree skirt, otherwise I would never have gotten it done.

If you have been considering joining the New FO linky party do it now, Barbara has announced that it is ending in December so you have two more chances to join in the fun.  

For those of you who know that I'm Batman, I have very little to report, we came across a cable wire down that stretched across the entire street, so we saved some poor soul from wondering why he had no T.V, although I did have fun running and jumping over it, then telling my friend it was electrical and she needed to do the same. I couldn't get my phone out fast enough to catch a picture, her husband would have paid big bucks for that. 

And we've had a lot of reports of a nine foot crocodile on our walking route, he's been spotted by quite a few people, but mostly at night sleeping in the road, he must be cold, poor thing. Please remember our crocodiles are the sweet and cuddly ones, protected and more afraid of us or so we're told. The running and jumping will come in handy if we spot him, so I was really just training my friend. She's already lectured me on not stopping and making friends with it like I do with all of the dogs and cats. No worries, I don't believe the sweet and cuddly part. 

Later Gators (or crocs)

Dana 

Let's Book It for November

It's the end of the month, so it's time for me to pay attention and link up with "Let's Book It" going on at Vrooman Quilts. 

If your on Pinterest you've seen this pattern a few hundred times, it's so adorable. 

I used a stack of fat quarters that have passed their expiration date, I'm still doing "use it or lose it" especially for the Let's Book It projects, it makes me feel like some kind of cleaning is happening in the sewing room. 

Looking at this picture makes me think I need to have a talk with the support crew, in his defense it was cold that day and I think he has a dog leaning on him. 

I really liked the little squares that happen between the hearts, they look like pearls to me from a distance, try squinting and you'll see them too. :)

I hope you'll take a look at the other links and think about joining in, seriously we all have patterns, books and magazines with quilts we want to make, Sharon's idea for "Let's Book It" could be the push you need, it worked for me. She's also announced that it will continue through next year, so if you don't have time now, consider it for after the new year. Fun and easy. 

Later Gators,

Dana

Catch Up and New FO for October

I've missed the last few New FO link ups, nothing to show and no time. My daughter went through a major crisis and I was running back and forth to Ft. Lauderdale helping her through it. She needed to move, not easy with her two dogs, but we found a safe place and got her settled. Proud Mom here, we moved her on a weekend and on Wednesday she defended for her doctorate and passed perfectly. I honestly don't know how she did it since we were all pretty brain dead from stress. Next step is intern and she'll finally be done :)

My birthday arrived in the middle of all that and David and Cori surprised me with a visit to a private rescue and rehabilitation zoo. What a great day! I was nuzzled by camels, had a monkey on my head and back, carried a marmoset around on my hip like a baby and played with so many different animals. The icing on the cake was playing with this guy

It was just like playing with a domestic cat with bigger claws and teeth, he loved playing tug of war with that towel. Are you jealous Barbara? It was an amazing day!

Crisis past, it's time to sew again. Here's what I did in October.

When I was growing up, Christmas was time for my Dad to bring out his trains, lots of happy memories there, so I made this with my embroidery machine using Designs by Juju's Santa Express designs, if you do machine embroidery you really can't go wrong with Juju's designs, they're always perfect and she has some great sales.  

And this is my first ever table runner, I love how he turned out. It looks small in that picture but it's about 46" long. Table runners always confused me about how big they should be, so a little research and now I know they came from a time when people ate mostly with their fingers, I imagine knights and round tables, they used the table runner as a napkin, now you know that too, enjoy that mental image, :). 

So that's it for October, but I'm back in the game and once I'm caught up I'll hopefully be getting more done. Famous last words, right? 

There's still a little time to link up to the New FO, remember just start something then throw it in the UFO pile, no finishes required says Barbara the great enabler, LOL.

Later Gators,

Dana

Let's Book It for October

Wow, I think I forgot how to blog it's been so long. I've seen the Let's Book It come and go, but some ugly life things have kept me on the road and away from my machine. I've really missed it. 

Anyway I'm back for one of my favorite link ups, Let's Book It over at Vroomans Quilts. 

I call it "Lightening Strikes while Stars Fall" yes, I know, but that's the frame of mine I've been in for these past months, LOL. At least I used my beautiful blues that are so soothing.

Oh, they called it Blue Streak, but I like Lightening Strikes while Stars fall so much better, much more drama. 

I found it here, Love of Quilting from Nov/Dec 2006.

I have to tell you, I sat on the floor with a huge stack of magazines and couldn't find anything I wanted to make. The whole stack was by the front door to be donated when David came home. He asked what's up with them and I told him they didn't have anything worth making.

David: But you want to make everything you see.

Me: I know it's weird, right? A whole stack with nothing.

He picked them up and took them back to my sewing table, saying "you're going to want these, don't make decisions when you're crazy". He was right, this magazine was in the great purge.

If you're not familiar with Let's Book It, it's the wonderful idea of Sharon over at Vroomans Quilts, pretty much anything goes from magazines, books, patterns whatever you have that you've been planning on making. You know you have them, it's a great way to actually get them done. 

Later Gators,

Dana

A Couple of Things

I've always liked the saying "Man plans and God laughs", it's so true. In this house just recently "mom plans and the twins giggle" was the order of the day. Family has had me really busy but, with Pets on Quilt coming I planned an easy quilt.

More practice for my free motion feathers, beautiful colors, what more could I want except a dog on it. They wouldn't come near it, I'd pick it up, they'd run out the door, throw it on the floor, they made huge circles around it to avoid it like it was hot lava, this from a dog who grabbed a quilt and tried to run away with it while I was sewing it. 

So I'm showing it without dogs, first time I didn't have to crop the little buggers out.

I think my feathers still look like toes and some of them I'm pretty sure I've seen in an Alien movie, inspiration is everywhere, but I'm still proud and think they're beautiful.

I used stencils on the white parts

The back is more of my hand dyed fabric

I've been making quilts specifically to practice feathers, Debbie at Stitchin Therapy has wonderful tutorials on feathers, I can't tell you how many of her ideas I steal  borrow. Just today she posted another tutorial for a free motion vines and leaves that are gorgeous. Lots of tips and drawings, you should check it out. 
Yes, you can thank me since I told her I was going to wait patiently for the tute, but she knows I won't, she'll start getting emails from me asking where it is, telling her I'm turning blue from holding my breath and of course the ever popular "don't make me come up there". 

Pets on Quilts ends tomorrow (Monday) at midnight so if you haven't joined in, hurry, it really is the best show on the internet, you meet the nicest people. 

The closest I came to having a picture.

In other news, about a month ago on my morning walk we saw a trash truck back into a parked car and then drive away, big crash, it took them awhile to get the car off the truck, then they just drove away. I banged on the door and told the car owner what happened and now he's remodeling his home. Yesterday on our walk, we saw a small fire, which grew into a big fire and I had to call 911, police, fire trucks, yep I saved an entire neighborhood :)

I walked around all day yesterday telling everyone I was Batman and singing the song, David is thinking about not letting me out of the house anymore, he says I attract trouble. Life you've got to live it, LOL.

Later gators,

Dana (Batman)

New FO July 2014

August already? Yikes! Sometimes I think if Barbara wasn't reminding me of the end of another month I'd still be living in May, darn it Barbara! LOL. 

It's time to show off what we started in July for the linky party over at Cat Patches, remember just start something, no finishes required. I appreciate that this month since a family emergency has kept me away from my machine for far too long. 
I had actually forgotten this quilt from the beginning of the month, until I pulled it out for the Pet's on Quilt show. 

I've been working on sewing curves, so this quilt was perfect, each block has 8 curved blocks and by the end they were easy. 

I played with my dyes to make the back, something I love to do. Anything that makes me feel like I belong in the kitchen is good, not like cooking, but I can whip up some mean play doh when needed.

I started this quilt, using up a bunch of charm squares that have been hanging around way too long, it was going to be bear paws but I really liked the look of the stem for the maple leaf.

Hopefully I'll find time to sandwich and get the quilting started soon.

That's it for me this month, please think about joining us for the linky party at Cat Patches, it's really a great way to keep track of the months. :)

Later Gators,

Dana

Pets on Quilts Show 2014

Welcome to the greatest, coolest most fun quilt show in the universe! It's happening right now over at Lily Pad Quilting.

Mom's been really busy lately so she said we can write this post, but she'll be checking up on us with her red edit pencil, whatever that means.

We are:

Brady Bug

Maya Grace

And together we are known as the Terrible Twins, that means we are the most well behaved, never do anything wrong dogs ever!

Dana here: They're lying

You may have read stories about the land crab, the sticks and the opossum, but they were accidents.

The land crab was dead and you cooked him in the sun for three days before bringing him in to feast on, (OMG, the stench), that one stick was 4 feet long and you chewed it to pieces on my bed after stripping the quilt off so you could lay on the cool sheets and I'm still not over the opossum. Get on with it!

Let's start with a huge Thanks to Snoodles, Padsworth and Dragondrop for all of their hard work. They've really been working their fingers, paws and wings to the bone (we like bones) putting this all together. They have great sponsors who really appreciate how wonderful pets make our lives.

Mom says this is also the hardest show since we won't cooperate, but look how great I look on this quilt.

I bribed him with a cookie

And look how beautiful I look on the quilt.

I held you in place and two seconds after this was taken you were gone. 

Mostly though, we are known for our photo bombs, Mom collects these all year long and says shes become so good at cropping because of us. We've got a lot of style, here's a few:

This is the turn and jump

The secret service, protect the quilt at all costs

The running plume

These are all "Daddy's Girl" I adore my dad and want to be wherever he is.

That's true, she's sweet and cuddly with David and bites my toes if she wants something from me.

Well that's it from us this year, we hope we made you smile. We are two rescues living the good life, bringing joy every day.

That's true :)

Why not hop (that's for you Padsworth) on over to the show and enjoy lots of wonderful pictures and stories, there's so much love in this show. Quilters and pets are perfect together.

Thanks for coming by,

Maya Grace and Brady Bug with help from Dana (mom)

Dogs on quilts category.