Knitted Sweater

Good news, my shoulder is getting better. Today I at last sewed the buttons on my white sweater. This sweater is knitted with sport yarn. And I guess it took me about a year and a half or maybe two years to finish. As you may notice from the blog, I have made several other things along the way. But I like to try to finish my projects. Of course the sweater is done just as hot weather will be setting in in a few short weeks, but nevertheless!

I haven't posted in a few days. A sore shoulder has me "side-lined." I hope to be back to sewing and writing soon.

Applique hearts

I made this quilt a few years ago. I saw a photo in a magazine. It's basically machine and hand applique, and hand blanket stitching with black. I just use it as an ornament in the living room. It's one of those useless-type quilts most of us make. It was fun sewing on a bunch of old buttons that have been collected over the years.

Quilting Cindy's Meme

Don't ask me what a Meme is, I have no idea. It's one of the fascinating things about Blogging, I learn something new all the time. Anyhow, Quilting Cindy was kind enough to take an interest in me and send me 5 questions to answer. And I'm supposed to ask more people to answer them, too. Here goes:
1. What I was doing 10 years ago? What a question, as 1998 was one of the most horrendous years of my life (closely followed by 1999--no bargain either.) I had to look up in my journal to find any good things that happened in 1998: My husband and I went to Yosemite in May. It was dark and cloudy weather, but the waterfalls were gushing. I had the "bright" idea that we should take a bus tour from our hotel instead of driving on that windy road ourselves. My DH got car sick, and as the tour bus company sent another bus to take him back, and would not allow him to hitch a ride, he walked back about 5 or more miles to the hotel, while I proceeded on the tour by myself. The next day, he drove the car up there and we had a great time, but it was so foggy on the way back, we were afraid we would drive off the road (and over a cliff). Another good thing I found in my journal was that I grew a bunch of garlic in my back-yard garden, and I braided them and hung them up to dry on the patio. Our friends gave us their tickets to the Symphony, as they were unable to attend, and that was my one and only time I got to go to see a Symphony Orchestra. I celebrated my 60th birthday. Here endeth the good things that happened and beginneth the tough luck stuff--Our dear next-door neighbor Rocky (who was always wonderful to us, and did so many good things for so many people) got killed by a hit-run driver. Our little dog Rufus died. And we had to bring my brother-in-law from New York and take care of him, as he was very sick and unable to live alone anymore. And there were so many problems with him, it was heartbreaking. So much for what I was doing 10 years ago--Cindy--you asked. This is the Reader's Digest condensed version!
Question 2: Things on my to-do list for today? Swim in the pool (done) Go to the store (done) Pay a bill, Clean the house, Read, Pin baste the quilt.
Question 3: snacks I enjoy? that's yogurt and sugar-free fudgicles
Question 4: Things I would do if I were a billionaire?: I would make a charitable foundation in order to support worthy causes. I would send all my grand kids, who want to go, to college. I would get more storage space. I would take taxis. I would get blue-ray (whatever that is.)
Question 5: Places I have lived? Brooklyn, NY; Sydney, Nova Scotia; Covina CA; Glendora CA;and Rancho Santa Margarita, CA Not in that exact order.

Courthouse Steps

This is it so far--it's not pressed or even all joined together (I make quilts like this in two sections and combine them after quilting. I added the red border (not very easy to see in the photo). I have to make up my mind about the rest of the border, but I think I may just add plain calico fabric to the sides, possibly not all the same.

Oops--it's been a few days since I posted anything. Well, at least I sewed those Courthouse Steps blocks together. And I have five left over. I can make a nice table runner out of those five. I have decided to sew a thin border of red around the quilt, and then another border--to be decided later...

I've been spending time with my family. It was great to get together with cousins that I haven't seen lately. Family is a blessing in life. Never mind that you don't agree with everyone all the time. And I would never mention anything about politics with them! Well, maybe if I knew that someone agreed with me in the first place. However, having family means so much. I have to appreciate all those loving folks, who gather around during family celebrations, and even the sad times, too.

For Mother's Day, I received a handsome wooden banner with a flag and "God Bless America" painted on it. It's kind of heavy, so I'll have to enlist some strong man to hang it up for me. My daughter thought that I would hang it over the front door, but I think that someone might swipe it--so I want to hang it up inside the house.

Joining blocks

I'm trying to join all those courthouse steps blocks together. I'm squaring things up right now as I go along. I think that I should have squared them up a quarter of an inch smaller than I did at the start--some of these blocks are a bit smaller than others. I had to put those on a "discard" pile (nothing is really discarded here, unless it's smaller than about one or two inches.) That's the chance that you take if you start joining the blocks together before squaring them all up, I guess. I had thought to square them up one row at a time. I'll never do that again! Now I have the suspense of finding out if I'll need to make extra blocks. I do have quite a few strings left over, so at least there's that. OK, I'll admit it, this is wonderful fun. And I really don't have any specific finished size in mind for this quilt--I'm sort of thinking about afghan size anyhow.
The two quilts--Tea cups and Butterflies--have arrived at their destination--my granddaughters--just as the temperature there is about 95 degrees Fahrenheit. I looked that up and it's 35 degrees Celsius. But that's still not hot for Nevada--it'll go up over 100 degrees for the summer. During the day it will be about 103 degrees and at night it cools all the way down to 102. But it does change considerably in the fall and winter, so quilts are needed then.

The final photos

These quilts are ready to be shipped to my granddaughters today! And I have made all the blocks for the Courthouse Steps. I don't think that the photo does the butterfly quilt justice.

Outside reading

I guess the idea of "outside reading" has long ago been dropped from school curriculums. When I was a kid, the teachers would assign a book to be read over the school year, and questions about it would be late in May. I remember having to read David Copperfield. I recommend that quilters do some outside reading in order to find inspiration for designing. For instance, I subscribe to "Biblical Archaeology Review." This magazine has some informative articles. But it's the photos that I really find so interesting. You would be surprised to look at a picture of a thousand-year-old mosaic floor, or pottery or carving and see on there motifs that we quilters are still using today. You'll see Dresden plates, fans, birds, borders of flowers and grapes, and all sorts of geometric designs. After I finish reading my magazine I often rip out a page and file it in my idea file. For knitters, look for architectural features and you'll see cable stitches.