New and Old projects

Even though it's technically after Valentines Day I wanted to post my tree. I am trying to get ornaments made for each month to change the tree. It sits in my bay window in the family room. It's great to be able to enjoy it after I put so much work into make the ornaments to hang. I try every month to get them made and up in enough time to enjoy them the whole month but that doesn't always happen. I have stopped condemning myself for not getting them done and up in a more timely manner. I just tell myself I'm ahead for next year. LOL.
Here's the heart tree.




I moved it here to take a picture because the light was too bright coming in the window...See



Another in the bay where it actually resides. It has 36 wire branches.


Emily had a report to do for school. It was a journal from the French and Indian War era. I am definitely keeping this project it is a perfect prim journal. We had fun working on it and she got a good grade.




It's snowing here again so it's time for some laundry and some sewing. Lucky for me my sewing machine is in the basement with the laundry room. It looks like I'm really doing something not just sewing.

Blessings,
Rhonda

Snowstorm and Projects

Well the weatherman was right for a change. We got our predicted 20" of snow here in SW PA. I was at work. (I work at a local hospital) and had to have DH come and get me at 1 AM when I finally gave in and declared I couldn't get my car out of the parking lot. I grew up in NW PA so loads of snow is nothing new to me. So I was giving it the old college try and driving home. They had plowed all of us in our parking spaces in an attempt to keep the ER entrances open. I could get so far and then the van (Dodge Caravan) sat on top of the snow and could not go. Lucky for me my replacement showed up and I could leave. Others were not so lucky and were mandated to stay-not that they could have gone anyways. But DH came and got me and here I sit working on projects all day. (Happy face)
Here are some of the photos I took today. This is our backyard from my bedroom window. You don't think I was going out do you????????


DH shoveling.

The side of our driveway.

This is a big thing here. They don't get snow like this often. Most things were shut down last night and this morning. We went and dug my van out this afternoon. DH is so nice he dug out other hospital personnel while we were there.
Of course we needed a new picture of the stone house in the snow. That rod iron fence in the front is a 3 ft fence.

Here's another on going project that I'm loving how it is coming out.

The bottom penny is 1 1/4" the middle penny is 1/2" and the center is 1/4". It's small to work with but I'm lovin it. I finished cutting out some more pennys last night at work SHHHHHHHHH don't tell. But I hate to sit and do nothing if there's no patients so I always have something to work on. I took 2 tan wool skirts to take apart to felt. They are all ready for the washer.

The snow is beautiful. I'm just glad I don't have to go out in it. I'm settling in for a rather cold night with my new "make do" flannel quilt to finish reading some blogs.........Nice and toasty warm. I'm very thankful tonight for my family being safe, DH and his helpfulness and thoughtfulness for others and God's provisions for our family.

Blessings,
Rhonda

Whatca Working on Wednesday and Where's Waldo

I finished my "make do" Flannel quilt. I made a significant dent in my flannel stash. I wanted to just do something fun with it and not worry too much about color placement. I achieved my goal. It is random all right. The size of the squares vary throughout the quilt but it came together nicely since I used a basic 2" start. Everything had to be in increments of 2. It sure is warm and everyone enjoys using it in this weather.(If they can get it away from me that is.)Eventually I think Tori will claim it. DH and daughter #2 already have a flannel...of course DD#2 says hers is getting too small.


Some time ago I started a quilt I absolutely loved when I saw the pattern. It's from the Nickel Quilts book by Pat Speth and Charlene Thode.
When I saw this coverI knew I had to make it in Civil War Repro fabric. Everything in the book is made from 5" squares. But I wanted it really scrappy. I didn't want to go buy all that fabric for a couple of 5" squares so I went looking and found a Nickel Quilt group. First I exchanged a couple times for finished blocks then a couple of times for just squares. I found this too time consuming for me though. So I resorted to buying a little at a time and since I love this fabric anyway I know I will use it in other projects. SHHHHH I even have more projects picked already. DH doesn't understand this type of thinking.

Here's the 67 blocks I have completed already. I ONLY have 100 more to go for a queen size. I will probably make it bigger though since it's for our bed and I want it to be a generous size.

I always lay the quilt out and watch it through the day for different patterns I might see. It also helps to take a picture of it or look at it through the camera lens or a peep hole for a door to get a perceptive look at the pattern.
So here's the Where's Waldo .........I laid this out to photograph it and found a mistake in the piecing of one of the blocks when I saved the picture for posting. Can you find the block????????


I need to get a few things done around here before I go to work. Be sure and check out other Wednesday projects at Leslie's.

Blessings,
Rhonda

Whatca Workin on Wednesday

I had the good fortune to be able to attend another quilting retreat this past weekend. It was so nice to just be away. This pattern is called a watercolor wreath. A few years ago I gave my SIL one that I had made.So I needed a new one. A friend of mine gave up quilting and she handed over all her stuff. In there was this one partially finished. What better way to replace mine.

I couldn't resist finishing it. I need to do something with the outside border but I'll hang it up for now and just keep looking at it till I decide. It looks a little choppy in the picture but once it is quilted it blends really well.

We were given a favor at one meal that was a kit for a cell phone case. I had been thinking about making one so whipped this one up to see what it looked like finished. It's not really my colors but I did like how quickly it went together. Now I can make several in my colors.



Here is a finished top of Michelle's (one of my quilting buddies). And me ...of course.


These are my Kon-O-Kwee quilting buddies. Kim,Michelle and Karen. They are sisters besides. Didn't get pictures of the rest of my quilting friends but I'll get them next time.


I did get some much needed instructions on my Designer 1 embroidery machine. I hope to get practicing on it soon.

Be sure and check out Leslie's blog to see what others are working on.

Blessings,Rhonda

Whatca Working on Wed

I am finishing the binding on this quilt today. My annual Jan quilting retreat is this weekend and I want it on my bed. For such a simple pattern I love how it turned out.
It was a challenge on a blog last May. We were supposed to make a block a day for 70 days. Of course I couldn't be happy with that. I made 2 blocks a day in the reverse of each other. These same fabrics are in the quilt I made for my SIL in Texas last year. This one is supposed to be for my brother. I just liked it so much when it was done that it's hard to part with. The gold tied it all together so nicely and made it look old. So of course I loved it.
This is the back. My friend quilted it for me in an all over meandering star pattern. It just finishes off the quilt nicely.


My DH got me 4 yes I said 4 of the Judy Condon books for Christmas. I had 3 already so that brings me up to date I think. I actually have 2 of Country on a Shoestring so I may regift one of those. He didn't see it on the shelf when he was looking to see what I had.
Be sure and visit Leslie's blog to see what others are working on.


Blessings
Rhonda

Projects for 2010

Hard to believe that my last post was Nov. I was so busy with the holidays and finishing up DH's present that I lost all track of anything else. I did read all my favorite blogs and saw everyone had wonderful holidays. My Header is the one thing I finished for me this year. I am leaving it there for awhile so I can enjoy it. Of course now it's drooping a little and has some snow sitting on it. But to me it's still beautiful. Now to find a place to store it............


I had made 12 flannel pillowcases for the nieces and nephews for Christmas. The scraps from those plus ones from rag quilts past got me jump started on this project.

Next year I hope to have mastered my embroidering machine and then I will be able to put names on the cuffs. But that's another story for another day....


Here is my latest project. Seems like I always start Jan deciding to complete projects and use up supplies I have on hand. This is a flannel rag quilt that I'm making out of scraps. Yep everything is from something I've made in the past. No newly purchased flannel.

Here is the box it all started from.


It's about 1/2 empty here. Forgot to take a before picture........ again.

I made 10" cut squares from the bigger pieces of fabric first. Then I made 8" squares and decreased sizes based on the size of the fabric that was left.

I wasn't so concerned about patterns or color for this one. Just a throw quilt for the girls to use on the couch. These are sooooooooo warm..... there is essentially 3 layers of flannel.

I'm about half finished with it now. I will continue to add until there are no more usable squares of fabric. I'll show how fun it can be once it's finished.
My goal is to work on something every day. We'll see how that goes. LOL.
My favorite saying is "I make plans.....God laughs." Try not to sweat the little things.

This is the shelf that used to be stuffed with flannel before it moved to the box. I can't show you the rest of the shelves... Yet. They contain future use up the fabric projects and I'm embarrassed to say they are not the most organized. But that's why I call it my studio where all the creating takes place.Creative people don't have to be terribly organozed .....Do they??? That's my excuse anyhow.

It's cold and snowy here so I'm taking my glass of wine and settling in to read blogs and relax.

Have a wonderful Tuesday.
Rhonda

Marrying wool

I can't believe it's Wednesday already. I started this post earlier this week but it'll fit for today's WWW. I am a quilter at heart but I have started working with wool and I just love it. This is a long post so grab a cup of your favorite drink and enjoy the pictures.
I wanted to try my hand at dying some wool but I didn't have much cream colored wool to start the process. So I researched my options and decided to "marry" some. I started with a green tweed wool blazer,a dark hunter green skirt, and a couple of pieces of an old army blanket. Marrying wool is the process of using the dye that bleeds from one piece of fabric to another. It causes the wool to all be in the same color family so it is "married".

I had picked up some crochet thread this summer at a garage sale so I thought I would try to dye some of it also.
Here is my attempt at making shanks of the thread. I was home alone so I used the chair.


You must wet your wool before putting it in the pot to steep. I filled the sink with cold water and still could see the color starting to come out of the skirt mostly.

Then into the pot for boiling. I couldn't get a good picture of this stage cause there was too much steam but you get the idea.

The thread didn't take the color very well so I scrapped that for now but the wool is fabulous.
This the green tweed after. Compare to the small square of the before.

The army blanket was a gold/green before dying. Now it is a nice soft olivey (is that a word) green.

This is the hunter green skirt before and after. This is the wool that changed the most. It lent sooooo much color to the rest of the wool.

I can't wait to make a large penny rug with these greens they turned out really well for a first time and not knowing what I was doing.

I also tried over dyeing a piece of the green tweed with a bright red. The tweed turned a wonderful cranberry color. The red didn't change at all. I believe that was because the green didn't lose any dye and the red did.

I did buy a package of Brown Cushing's Dye at a sale and decided since I had the dye pots out I would try it. I dyed a couple pieces of cream and I think it turned out great. It will even blend with the greens.
Isn't it a luscious soft brown???
I'll close with a few pictures of penny rugs I've been working on.

My all purple penny rug. The smallest penny is a purple plaid.





The back picture is a little bright. It really is a nice prim looking rug.
Aren't these the cutest things??? They are penny rug mug mats. Of course you could use them under anything.....jar candles, candlesticks etc. I saw them on Penny Rugs and More.
Colleen does a fantastic job. Check out her blog for Penny rug inspiration.

I'll try and get a truer color picture. They are from the over dyed red and tweed in the center and the background is the olivey. They show too turquoise here.


I guess it's time to start working on Christmas. I guess I'll get some done for next week.Be sure and check out Leslie's blog and see what everyone is working on.

Rhonda
Happy Wednesday