Friday, October 17, 2014

A lovely Fall day

Our pine trees have grown so much that I had to go to the end of the driveway to take this picture. I prayed no one saw me as I was in my indoor clothes that one may call pajamas...
These colors on this tree just makes my heart sing.
I have an entire tote full of Fall fabrics. Trees, leaves,acorns,grasses are all in there. This is a problem for me as I want to make the perfect quilt from them but do not want to use them in error. Sigh.....


I used a link on Face Book and bought this pattern last night. I printed out the 13 pages...yes thirteen pages. I prefer to work off a chart not lines and lines and more lines of abbreviations. Anyway I started this last night and finished it this morning. I lost my place a few times. And since I need to make 35 of these motifs, I need to use stitch markers. But I am loving how it looks. The next motif will be much smoother. I am using Caron Simply Soft in Victorian Rose. This yarn is so soft and wonderful but it splits all the times. I have made 8 Corner to Corner afghans for Christmas presents using this yarn for the last few months.

XOXOOXXO Subee

Sunday, October 5, 2014

October sewing...looks like I am really back now!

I have been at the sewing machine for three days in a row. Well actually one day was just cleaning the machine and changing the needle.
I started slow. I was not sure how I would feel. I have been denying myself the sewing because I was in mourning for my cat Macy's death. A death that I made the final decision on. A death that I had to carry out. A death that seems to have broken me a bit. But a death that could not be avoided. A death that was a mercy for her. A death that I had to assume the broken heart for myself to help her.
Enough...I am better. I am.


I got my little Leader & Ender container out and sewed all the 3 1/2" BowTie blocks together. This was all I had prepped. I have more cheddar 2" squares cut but no more calicos cut. I am guessing that this will be all it will be and will get it sewn together tomorrow. Then I look at the two extra blocks on point over there and my head is designing. Hummmm...maybe I will wait and look at them for awhile.


And before I sewed I moved all the furniture out, used my new Shark Rotator vacumm, washed the windows and the curtains and then put all the sewing furniture back but in Winter mode. I am facing the picture window again. I cannot do this during the Summer as the sun is way too strong and I have this issue with bright light in my eyes.


I won a gift basket through FaceBook. I had to go get a prize form notarized and was thinking maybe I had won a longarm machine. But no, a few days later a box arrived that was full of goodies! One of the goodies was a white box that had 6 spools of SO Fine threads. How did they know that is my favorite bobbin thread??? I even have the color charts and have the numbers checked off that I have purchased. A couple of the colors were ones that I have but hey!!! A gal can never have too much thread. Thanks so much APQS!!!!


And I also sewed on this monster of a green quilt. I used the free Sister's Choice from Bonnie Hunter's website. (www.quiltville.com)
There are no repeats of greens in all the blocks. I need to get the backing made and then off to the quilter lady with this one.

And there is Maggie Mae helping me. She LOVES those measuring tapes. I have to keep them in the drawer. She loves to bite them. She is scheduled for her Lion cut on Wednesday.



And here is the Lucky kitty helping me. The trick is to lay on anything Subee seems to be picking up. Could be the book. Could be the tray could be the blocks she is hiding.
XOXOXO Subee

Sunday, July 20, 2014

Crochet Stitch-cation afghan completed.

All done. This is destined to belong to GD AnnaMarie.


The link below will take you to this Awesome site with FREE designs and tutorials. The above afghan is called Stitch-cation. It is a challenge to make two blocks each of ten (10) different stitches using at least eight (8) different colors. I have been crocheting for 55+ years and some of these stitches were new to me. The end result is wonderful if I do say so myself.
I can say that each square was a simply "okay" in my book. But after they were all joined the magic happened. Even my jaded hubby thought this project was unique and cool!

The magic happens this way in making small quilt blocks. The end result always is better than each little unit by itself.

And another challenge was getting the blocks to all be the same size. Different colors, even in the same line of yarn, (Red Heart) behave differently. Some I had to make smaller using a smaller hook. And when that did not work I had to reduce the # of stitches per row. I have only two (2) blocks that were not up to my standards. And they were the first two blocks I made. Practice...they may end up being a pillow.

http://thecrochetcrowd.com/





And here is my precious Lucky Lucy. She wanted to know what I was doing outside with that afghan. Well...even more what I was doing outside. I am an inside girl.
XOXOXOXO Subee

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Crocheting up a storm

I sure miss sewing. I have not been able to lose myself in quilting since the loss of our Macy. Even Pearl is still calling for her. Macy left a mighty big hole.

 And I am a Happy Hooker as the cup says. I am happy with the 20 ounce mug. I bought two mugs. One for me and one for my friend Victoria.

Yarn all over the place. Many different projects. My head cannot seem to concentrate of sewing so I am crocheting.


This is a Face Book block challenge. I finally have all the 20 blocks made. It was a challenge getting the blocks all the same size. And working with different colors of the same brand of yarn makes a big difference in the finished size. I used Red Heart Super Saver yarn. I use this yarn mostly for slippers. It seems a bit coarse for an afghan.

Evidence that I have 2 of each block design. But my project sure lacks the "groove" of the ones I have seen done. Perhaps when I add the joining yarn and a few borders mine will be a keeper!!

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

James' and my loss of a great companion.

It seems like only a couple years ago (not eleven) when we brought Our Macy Gray home.
She talked to us the whole way home. She was not upset just very vocal. And she stayed that way. We could always count on Macy to talk to us. She understood human talk. She could even spell. We tried to understand cat talk and I think my husband and I understood her very well.


She was a Tortie Point Oriental Shorthair. She was the Alpha cat in our home from nearly day one.

She was always a shoulder kitty even though she weighed 12 pounds!!!


And she started off so tiny. This picture was taken the first night home.
She was twelve weeks old.

This is a photo of her mother, Abby. They looked so much alike.

If you have made it this far into my post then you have read that I used the past tense in referring to Macy.
We lost her yesterday. She was only eleven. We had hoped for at least 20 years with this wonderful cat.
XOXOXO Subee

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Laura's Birthday Quilt

My last post was in February??? What happened in my life?  I cannot explain except I guess I needed the solitude.



This is Daughter #2's birthday quilt. She wanted mushrooms and loves black and white graphic quilts. this is Bonnie Hunter's Strip Twist a free pattern on her website. ( www.quiltville.com )


Also during this trying physical and mental time my family doctor is retiring! He graduated one year ahead of me and I have been his patient since day one. I cannot blame him for retiring but golly gee...
I had promised him a quilt before I die. And with him retiring put this quilt on the fast track. Needless to say he was very surprised. I waited until the end of my appointment to give him the quilt. I also gave the head nurse a quilt. She moved on to a supervisory position in the office.


I bought this as a kit at a quilt show. Loved the colors!!!


Crochet on the internet and Maggie helping. She loves to snag her tail in my hook...grrrr.... and I ate that solid chocolate bunny in two days.


I had to have this gizmo after seeing it on April Lauer's Facebook post.  After finding it on Ebay and winning it I was so pleased. But my room is way too small for this little beauty. I cannot find a place to place it. And I wanted it soooo bad. I paid $40 for it plus $12.95 shipping. Any takers????


My usual quilting helpers...
don't you know black fabric and white cat hairs...goody!


My Lucky Lucy at a calm moment. These do not happen very often. Actually she has stolen my seat and is defying me to take it back.


I have been crocheting up a storm and not much quilting. I will get some finished photos for those of you who care!!!

XOXOXOXOX Subee

Friday, February 7, 2014

Lots of quilts designed by Bonnie Hunter, Pat Sloan and Edtya Sitar being sewn.

I am devoted to many quilt designers. Our Bonnie Hunter, Edtya Sitar and Pat Sloan.
Pat Sloan designed the block below. It is called Washington DC. I loved it so much that I made four of them and they then became this nice little lap quilt. My quilty friend, Victoria, is crazy for red. And her birthday is March 1st. She actually caught me sewing on it, oohed and awed over it and I lied and said it was for a grand daughter. Boy will she ever be surprised!
My heartfelt thanks go out to you Pat Sloan!!!!


And here is a small version of Bonnie Hunter's Scrappy Trips. She said anything goes and that is what I did. All this came from randomly selecting 2 1/2" strips and sewing them into tubes. I know I am wanting to make a more controlled version of this great quilt pattern. Thanks Bonnie Hunter!


And lastly here is my version Of Edtya Sitar's Egg Carton quilt. I made two of these beauties. But only one is quilted so far. And this one took 10 bobbins and four hard days of quilting. But it is all done now and so beautiful.


I found a neat picture on the internet showing a crocheted afghan in shades of green. I dug through my yarn collection and was able to closely match the colors she used.

Here is my stack of blocks. I had enough yarn to make 16 blocks. Now I need to join them while adding another row of black all around them.


And this is the yarn I have leftover. I wound it into patties that are then a pull skein. Love my yarn winder. Have had it for eons. It is made by Royal. It does make a loud clicking sound but it winds great! ( made that sound from day one) Also the kitties love to help me wind the yarn. I know you all understand.


And here is Grand daughter Anna Marie and my hubby James. This is her first guitar lesson. James bought her the guitar and set it up for her. She seems to be a natural. They did the second lesson last night. He is quite pleased with her progress. And her fingers hurt. That means she is playing and her fingers will get callouses and no longer hurt!



XOXOXOXO Subee

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Back from the dentist...should not cook or choose/climb fabric stacks.

I have been working in my storage/cutting room gathering my fabrics for Bonnie Hunter's newest mystery quilt, Celtic Solstice. I have been making a total mess.
My colors will be: pink/gray/red/brown/neutrals  Left the mess and decided to bake a new recipe I found on FaceBook. Screwed that up major. Looked at the list and saw 2 cups milk and 2 cups buttermilk. Right you all figured it out... it was either/or not both...later when it all overflowed (thank goodness I set both pans on a cookie sheet.) Hubby ate what I scraped off. The pans are now in the oven at a much lower heat hoping that my Amish cinnamon bread is not bread pudding.

I am thinking I have a very good excuse though......

I have been back from the periodontal dentist a few hours now. Had gum surgery on three areas and he pulled my broken tooth (HAS BEEN BROKEN AND HANGING FROM THE GOLD POST FOR 4 YEARS!!!!) I have not bitten into food for that long. A bite into an apple broke it for me...on a weekend of course

He also installed a "flipper" for the missing tooth and told me to remove it at night until that hole heals. I cannot figure out how to remove the darn thing!!! I am also lisping badly. Partly from the numbing and partly from the flipper. I am beginning to feel tingles so I am thinking my feeling is coming back. But I am in no pain at all. Except where the IV infiltrated, I woke up and said "hi I am here ", he said just a moment I need to start another IV and out I went again. The infiltrated site is very swollen, red and tender. I have weak veins I guess.

Okay more feeling coming back. My tongue says there are wires on my two last upper teeth connected to the flipper. Do I dare to try and take it out or wait and call the dentist in the morning? I am leaning towards the morning call.
With the way my fabric pulling (avalanches) and baking (cinnamon soup) I am hanging things up for the night.
But I am still without pain.

XOXOXOXO Subee

Monday, January 6, 2014

Egg Carton quilt progress

Although Bonnie Hunter was my first quilt designer crush I have another crush on Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket Quilts.
The pattern called Egg Carton quilt is in her book titled Scrappy Firework Quilts.


I love 1 1/2" strips, squares and small units of course. And after lots of seams you end up with a much larger unit. And Edyta uses batiks and cottons in my personal color pallet. Yummy!!


This is just half of the blocks I made. I have enough for two smaller quilts.


When I am not sewing I am crocheting. And here is Lucky claiming my place in the recliner last night. Sleeping upright until I snapped the photo.

We are surviving minus 15 temps with minus 45 wind chills. I have filled the bird/squirrel feeder with generous amounts of high calorie food. House is snug with rugs at the doors blocking any cold air seeping in. We have lots of quilts and lots of food. Parts of our small town lost power last night. Our power has been flickering but has remained on. The snow heavy tree branches and high winds are not powerline friendly!

XOXOXO Subee