It's been a while!

Here we are in November already, and I'm just now getting back to blogging!  I know....typical of me, right?

Well, a ton of stuff has happened in this year, but to make a long story short......

.....my hubby is CANCER-FREE!!!  Yippee!!!  Last November, the chemo and radiation did their job perfectly, shrinking and killing the tumor in his esophagus.  In February, he had his esophagus removed, capturing all the possible cancer cells.  His recuperation went very smoothly, coming off the feeding tube in less than a month, and he is now eating anything he wants....just smaller amounts, and sloooooowly!  He's back to his old self, just 20 lbs lighter!  Life is good!

Our grandbaby Maddie just turned 3!  I know....I can't believe it, either!  Here she is.....so stinkin cute!

Just look at all those curls!  Woot!  She is just about to start talking in sentences....can't wait!  For now, Grandma comes out as 'Dodo' and Grandpa is 'Poppy'.....we're totally good with those names!  Ha!

And last, but not least, I finished my Pineapple Hexie Stars quilt.....the one I started 3 years ago, here in Florida.  I entered it in my guild's show last month, and got a Blue Ribbon, a Judge's Choice, and one of three Viewer's Choice ribbons.  Woot!

It's hand quilted.....every 1/2" log!  No pics of the quilting, but here's a closeup of the piecing.

It was inspired by an antique quilt hanging in the Vermont Quilt Festival a few years ago (owned by Sharon Waddell), and the second I saw it, I just knew I had to make one!  I love everything about it, and would make it again in a heartbeat!  But.....there are so many other quilts on my list!

We are once again in Florida for the winter (heading back to Maine in late April).  Maddie is just a 7 hour drive from here, so we are planning a visit every 3 or 4 weeks!  Yay!

This year, I've brought my featherweight with me, and plan on giving it a workout!

Sewing, a little golf, and visiting the grandbaby!  Life doesn't get any better than that!

And it's good to be back to blogging!  Yay!

regan

4 of the 4th!

Yep....that's a picture of 4 quilts on my bed right now!

So when 'those' people smirk and say, "Why do you make so many quilts?  How many do you need?"....just tell them, "There are some days we use more than one at a time!"

Temps here in Maine have been in the single digits or below zero for a while now.  And today we are getting another 10-14" of snow!  Oh boy!  Maybe there will be a fifth quilt on the bed soon!  lol

Stay warm, my friends!

regan

It's been quite a year!

I think most of my posts start with how shocked I am that it's been so long since I've posted!  This is no exception!  Can it really be a year!  Holy cow!

And I haven't even looked at blogs for nearly that long, as well!  About two weeks ago, I started checking out Mary Elizabeth Kinch's blog, because every year she posts a 12 days of Christmas antique quilt show!  It's always spectacular, and I truly look forward to it each and every year!  I think this is her 6th year!  And this year's selections are all from Canada!  What a treat and delight it is to view these wonderful antique quilts, some from museums, and some from private collections.

I've popped into several other blogs, as well.....and I have found I've really missed all of this!  So I hope to get back into blogging this coming year!

All I can say is that there has been a lot of stuff going on this past year.....especially these last few months!

We spent last winter in Florida, arriving back in Maine in May.  Spent the next two months attending a few kite festivals, playing a little golf, and visiting with family.  In July, my husband John had cataract surgery that was perfect in every way!  His right eye went from 20/400 to 20/20....amazing!  He spent about 2 weeks recuperating from the surgery, and just about the minute he was feeling great, and life was getting back to normal.....he was diagnosed with esophageal cancer!

He spent 6 weeks in daily radiation treatments, and once a week chemotherapy.  Here's a pic of John in chemo treatment.....he looks good, huh?

And what's truly amazing is that during his entire treatment, he never felt any effects from it!  It's a cumulative process, so he did feel some effects when it was all done, and for about 10 days after.  It was just really hard to swallow much of anything.....so we lived on oatmeal, soup, and scrambled eggs!  Also amazing is that his blood work numbers (white cells, etc) were all still in the range of a normal person not going through chemo!  The whole time!  It was remarkable!

And the great news is that after the treatments, the 2 effected lymph nodes have all but disappeared, and the tumor has shrunk and is dead!  So, he will have surgery in January to remove his esophagus, from the top of the stomach to about the collar bone area.....and then his stomach will be stretched up to meet at the top, and will in essence become his esophagus.  It's a crazy weird surgery, but they are doing it all the time, with wonderful results!  And because John is in really good shape (he's a runner!), the surgeon is very excited to do the surgery.....he says he never gets patients in such good condition!  And in taking out the whole esophagus, he's confident they will catch all the cancer cells and be able to remove them.....with an end result of CURE!  Woohoo!

We feel so blessed!

So, we are wintering in Maine this year.....and we have a beautiful blanket of snow right now for Christmas....with about 10 more inches expected tomorrow evening!  We're loving it!  And a real Christmas tree this year, too.....woohoo!

We were able to take a drive down to Georgia to visit our granddaughter, Maddie at Thanksgiving!  It worked out perfectly, as John was just able to eat 'normal' food again about 2 days before turkey day!  Whew!  He was worried we were going to puree his turkey!

Maddie turned 2 in October....and she is such a sweet little delight!  Here we are rolling out the gingerbread men at Thanksgiving!  Sweet!

I don't have anything quilty to show, as I have only just begun to get back into it!  During John's treatments, I figured I would be sitting for hours and hours.....which was true......so I took up knitting!  I hadn't knit in about 35 years (disastrous results back then), but my friend Mary set me on the straight path to success...and I managed to knit a little dress for Maddie, two scarves for my son and his partner, a hat and scarf set for my father, and a hat for my brother!  No pictures of any of it.....I only seem to take pictures of quilts!  Go figure!  But I'm hoping to get some more knitting done while John is in the hospital (about 10-14 days).....and I'll be sure to take pics then!

I'm working on the quilt that I started a couple years ago in Florida.....and it's nearly a completed top.  Will post a pic when it's all one piece!  Nearly there.....yay!

Here's hoping everyone has a wonderful, peaceful and joyous Christmas!

Give all the love you can to everyone in your life!

regan

Christmas Eve!

It's just not Christmas without hearing lovely Karen Carpenter sing my favorite Christmas song!

And, here's Achille Togliani singing Parla Parlami D'Amore Mariu.......just because it's so beautiful, and Dolce & Gabbana cut it off too soon!

Merry Christmas all!

regan

Merry Christmas!

Today was the first day of Winter!  Woohoo!  I can actually celebrate that enthusiastically, because it was 78 degrees today here in central Florida!  Tomorrow, hubby and I are waking up early to get in our walk, and then we are headed to the beach to fly kites with friends!  Yep....bring on Winter! We're loving it!

And we loved our recent cruise to the Panama Canal!  It was awesome in every way!  I don't have many pictures.....I guess I don't think to take pics unless it's of a quilt!

Here I am in Half Moon Cay, Bahamas!  And yes....the water is REALLY that color!  Gorgeous!  We were just there for about 6 hours.....long enough to fly my kite on the beach, and wander a bit!  We did the same in Aruba and Curacao.....both had nice little towns to wander around in, and lovely beaches, and we found a nice little park in both to fly the kite!  Our port of call in Cartegena, Columbia was rained out, so we didn't get off the boat.

And here's a pic of the boat heading into the Panama Canal!  It was an awesome event at the crack of dawn!  Our boat is the largest ship that can fit through.....there was about 1 foot of clearance on both sides!  Yikes!  If the railings on the ship weren't so slanted inward, we could have touched the sides of the canal!

The next day, we kayaked in Costa Rica.....totally great!  Then two more lovely days at sea before getting home!  And we just missed the big storm that hit the islands....whew!

When we got home, I got busy on the quilt I've been working on!  All the center blocks are complete, and I'm now putting them together.  I'm still piecing the borders, but I think they are really coming along, so I'll show them next time!  This is made with recycled shirts, and a little red and 

orange solids for the centers.  Pieced in the Courthouse Steps pattern.

And, of course, I just had to have a recent pic of our little peanut!  Maddie is now 14 months old!  Here she is watching Bubble Guppies with Grampa!  And yes.....she IS as sweet as she looks!  Totally true!

Our Christmas will be fairly quiet this year!  The kids and peanut are spending Christmas in Utah with Liz's family, but my sister and her boyfriend will be spending the day with us!  We'll relax, have a yummy meal of all our family favorites, chat the day away, and have a wonderful time of it!  I can't wait!

I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!

Eat lots of pie!

regan

Really? A year? Sheesh!

Yep....can't believe it's just shy of a year since my last post!  I know....pathetic!  I should just give it up.....but somehow, I keep coming back!  HA!

And I just had to post now, because we leave on a cruise on Tuesday, and if I wait until we get back, it will be OVER A YEAR!  Can't have that!  That's just wrong!  So, so wrong!

So I do have quilty stuff to show, and of course, grandbaby stuff, too!  Yay!

We're back in Florida again!  We are loving the snowbird thing!  And we love that it gives us a chance to spend time with our little peanut, Madeline!

Maddie turned 1 year old two weeks ago!  Can't believe it!  She's awesome in every way, and we were the luckiest grandparents to get to care for her last year!  We loved every minute of it!  Of course, now she's walking around.....and we're much too old for that kind of energy level!  So she's staying in her wonderful daycare this go around.....and we will visit and take her with us on day trips from time to time!  Perfect!

Here she is with my friend Pat's quilt that she made for her 1st birthday!  Soft and sweet, and Maddie loves it!!  You're awesome, Pat!

And for more quilty goodness, I entered a quilt in my guild's show in October, and it won 2 ribbons!  A 1st place AND a Judge's Choice!  Woot Woot!  I'm so honored!

It's called 'Orange you afraid of spiders?' and it's quilted in big stitch!  My first attempt....and I really enjoyed it!  I have to admit, though, that I'll never big stitch with crotchet cotton again, because the texture of it caused the batting to beard on the stitches.  Ugh!  There was a LOT of lint brush work to get it ready for the show!  A smoother or silkier thread would have been a better choice, but I was going for matte finish instead of any shine.  But lesson learned!

I just looked back through some posts, and it turns out I started this spiderweb on Nov. 10, 2010!  Yikes!  Six years in the making!  I had so much fun making the blocks.....from repurposed plaid shirts.....and I remember at the time that it was just going to be a fun and scrappy little quilt!  No intentions of ever putting it in a show!  So funny to think back on that now!

Before I go, I really need to say hello to Sue and Noreen, who have wondered where I've been, and if I'm ever going to blog again!  Thanks for looking for me, and I'm happy to say that I'm back to blogland!

And my next post should have some pics of our time on the cruise!  We are heading for Aruba, Curacao, Cartegena Columbia, the Panama Canal, and Costa Rica!  I'm so excited!  I've never been to any of these places!  My hubby has been to some of these spots during his years in the Navy.....but that was many years ago.....so it will be new to him, too!  Woot!  Eleven days on a cruise.....pure heaven!

See you soon!

regan

I took a little break from blogland!

I hadn't intended it to last over 7 months, but I guess time just got away from me!

Lots of quilting being done, and tons of other stuff, but the best thing EVER is that our little grandbaby Madeline Faye Martin was born on October 24!  And she is the sweetest thing ever!

 Here she is, just 2 hours old!  Adorable!

And here she is 3 weeks old.....and on the quilt I made for her!

It's an oversized baby quilt, so she can use it on her big girl bed later!  I pretty much copied the quilt that Nicole at Mama Love Quilts showed here!  Nicole's color sense is amazing, and her quilts are so lovely, full of joy and happiness!   I fell in love with it the second I saw it, and knew I had to make one for little Maddie!

As you can imagine, life right now is revolving around the little peanut (peanut M&M that is......get it.....Maddie Martin.....M&M.......HA!!!)  And..... when Liz goes back to work in January, we get to be the Mon-Fri babysitters!  I can't wait!!!  Maddie is perfect in every way.....she's so good-natured, happy and healthy.....and the only time she cries is when she's hungry!  So easy!  What a little sweetheart!  LOVE HER!!!!

Ok.....enough Grammy gushing, right!?!  On to quilty stuff!

There was an incredible antique quilt at the Vermont Quilt Festival last year that I knew I just had to reproduce!  So when we were preparing for our winter in Florida, I cut a chunk out of nearly every piece of repro fabric I had and drafted up a block for paper piecing.  I designed it a bit different from the original, but this will fit our bed.

So when we got to Florida, I got busy on it!  It took just over a month, and I finished piecing all the blocks!  I'm so in love with this quilt!  I could seriously make a dozen of them!  The blocks are so addicting.

Here are the blocks pinned to my impromptu design wall (a king-sized sheet binder-clipped to the curtain rod!)

But then.......I started to put the blocks together!  And that's where it came to a screeching halt!  I've never machine pieced Y-seams before, and it takes every ounce of concentration I can muster to get a nice join.  So it is moving very slowly now, but that's ok, because every join has been perfect!  YAY!

And, if you've ever wondered what it was like to live in a beehive, well........crazy, huh?

I'm hoping everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

regan

Long story......

I have two.....yes, TWO......new machines!  New to me, that is!  Both are machines I've been wanting for a long time.....with no intentions of ever getting......but it's the dream, you know?

But before I give you 'the rest of the story', (oh......I really miss Paul Harvey!  Don't you?) let me tell you that there is a really terrific sewing machine dealer and maintenance guy in the Tampa area!  If you are looking to have your machine worked on.....I can highly recommend Robert Ball at Southern Sewing Center in Lutz, FL.....1-800-253-1416.

Ok.....so the story goes..... John's Pfaff 7570 bit the dust!  He has loved that machine, and has enjoyed making kites on it, and it's the machine he brought to Florida to use.  So right in the middle of his project, the screen went crazy, then died!  We googled machine repair places down here, and went to 3 of them.  The first one opened the case, saw it was a 7570, shook his head and said he was sorry, but they don't make the boards for those anymore!  What???  How could that be???

Then we went to the next place, hoping that the story might be different.  The guy said, "$500 bucks!  Six to eight weeks!"  (Yeah....just like that, too!  Sheesh!)  Then he asks ME what I use it for, with no regard to John, whose been standing right there with it, and I'm clear across the room looking at fabric!  I holler back that it's John's machine!  John says he makes kites on it, and instantly the guy says, "Oh, you should be using THIS machine!" and he points out the $4,000+ machine he has on display!  Cripes!  We got the heck out of there!!!!

So, with no regard to our waning sanity, we decided to try the 3rd shop!  We drive up and instantly see a treadle in the window!  Good sign!  No one is in the shop, so we start looking around.  All along the top of the wall are shelves with vintage machines!  And I spy a Wilcox & Gibbs!  LOVE them!  There are several industrial sized machines along one wall, and the other has a table running the entire length of the shop with machines for sale, new and used!  So we start looking at the used machines as John just needed 'something' to get him by until we get back to Maine in May.  In walks Robert and he looks at the Pfaff and agrees that getting a new board would be nearly impossible.  But he said he'd look at the machine to see if it might be something else.  Great!  But John still needs a machine to use, so he suggested the Necchi he had, and it was perfect for John.  Used, but hardly any wear to it, and it sews perfectly!  Awesome!  And a steal at $60!  (He has many used machines for $60 to $100.)

Then I asked if his antique machines were for sale or just for show, and he said those were just for show.  I told him how much I loved Wilcox & Gibbs machines.....they are art to me.....so lovely, and that it made my day to see one!

So John is getting the Necchi, and we buy a new case for it, so Robert goes out back to get the case.  He comes back with a new case and an old wooden box.  He sets the box down, opens it, and inside is a Wilcox & Gibbs!  He says a price, I said SOLD!!!!!  And let me tell you....it was a steal!  Then I said he just made my DECADE!  :o)

Now my Wilcox & Gibbs is just for show.....the electric cord is a total mess.  But the workings move freely, so if I ever thought to get it working, I could!  But for now......it's just a lovely piece of art!  I'm so happy!

The next week we were planning a trip to Texas for a family reunion, so it became the perfect opportunity to have my Juki cleaned and tuned.  It had been a couple years, but our go-to guy in Maine has moved south......so there are a bunch of us in Maine wondering what we'll do with our machines now!  Yikes!  So I took the Juki in, and while we were there, I just happened to be looking at the featherweight that Robert had on the table......they are just so dang cute, how do you not look, right!?!  And he said he had another in the back, and when he brought that one out, it was better!  The decals were all still intact, and the case was pristine!  SOLD!  And yes......another amazing deal!  Not giving prices here, since they were not posted in his store, and I don't want to give him any issues on future deals.  But let me just say......he's fairer than fair.....and a pleasure to purchase from!  No buyer's remorse here!

And my little featherweight sews perfectly!  Of course it does!  They all do, right!?!  And who knew they could sew at lickety split speed!?!  Dang near as fast as my Juki!  Yowsa!

And my Juki is humming along beautifully......perfectly cleaned and tuned!

Needless to say......John and I will be bringing all our machines to Robert from now on!  :o)

Our big question now is.......how do we get 3 additional machines into our car for the ride back to Maine!?!  We were already pretty maxed out on space!  I guess we'll be mailing a bunch of clothes back!  lol

regan

Running? Me???

Yep.....I can't believe it, but yesterday I actually ran my first 5K!  Yikes!

Our cousin April, here in Tampa, has been running the Gasparilla races for the last 8 or 9 years, and when we arrived down here last October, she told us all about it......and said it would be great if we all ran it!  And we all got really excited, and registered, and figured we had a good two months to train and get ready!

Did I train????  No!

Hubby didn't either!

But we both ran it and had a blast!

Here we are.....after the run, sporting our medals!  And yes......I wore orange!  Of course!  LOL

On the quilting front, I put aside the criss-cross blocks and picked up the paper piecing on my pineapple blocks (Bonnie Hunter's Pineapple Crazy quilt).  I've worked on these blocks off and on over the last year or so, and have over 100 now!  Woot!  But I need a gazillion.....so I'm spending some time on them while we're here.  I just love making them.....they are mindless......and sometimes you just want to push fabric through the machine without thinking about it!

These are some of the trimmed ones......I have a huge stack that still needs trimming.

And it always amazes me how the bags of scraps never seem to get smaller when I'm trying to use them up!  I brought with me three 2-gallon ziplock bags jammed full of scraps......and they still seem to be just as full, and I just made another 30 of these blocks!  Sheesh!  lol

Another project I made since we've been here in Florida is a giant wonky stars quilt I saw floating around on pinterest a few months back.  I used up the last of the big florals from my Florabunda quilt and used up a big yardage piece of sagey-green solid I had in my stash.  I really like the green with the florals......a different look than the yellows with them.

I should have pressed it before the pic......but the daylight was right and I was thinking about it......oh well!  :o)

So that about sums up my last few weeks.  We've been playing a bit of golf, but February seems to be the rainy season down here, so we haven't played as much as we would have.  And I don't mean to sound like I'm complaining about the weather, since most of the country is dealing with crazy, messy, freezing and blizzard stuff.  All I can say is we are SO GLAD we decided to winter in Florida this year......what a blessing this has been!

I'll post again when I have some progress to show on something.....until then, stay warm my friends!

regan

Just catching up!

Yep.....it's official......I can't be trusted when I say, "I promise to blog more often!"

I'm full of crap, and I know it!  And now you do, too!  lol

We've been in Florida now for over two months, and there's just no excuse!  But I'm hoping (!!!) that this will get me going again!

So we arrived in Florida, and instantly are SO HAPPY we are doing the snowbird thing!  The winter in Maine has been cruel, indeed, and even though the oil prices have come down, it still would have been a small fortune to heat that house!  So we are playing golf a couple times most weeks, and hitting the hot tub some mornings.....walking our 4 miles on real sidewalks, filling the tank only 8-10 days!, and loving that there are so many choices of restaurants within a 3 mile drive!  Woot!  And, of course, we just HAD to go on a Christmas cruise, since we are so close to the boats down here!  It was wonderful.....and a nice change of pace for the holidays!  (And it won't be our last one.....we keep checking the last-minute-deals so we can't jump on one!  Yippee!)

As I mentioned in my last post, I brought 10 quilt kits I made up before we left, just thinking I might get to a couple of them......and I have!  Yay!  The one I'm working on right now is using up a lot of those big florals that I still had left over from making the Florabunda quilt (a Bonnie Hunter quilt).  I still had a bunch of the yellows, as well, and I just had to add a bit of orange (of course!), so these are the blocks......

The one on the left is trimmed to 6.5".  I have over 30 still needing trimming, and will need a total of 195 for the quilt!  But they are so addicting to make......I made those first 30 in just 2 evenings!  :o)

And my hubby has made 10 inflatable dolphin kites since he's been down here, so if I ever figure out how to link up his phone video......I'll show you them flying!  They're so cute!  Of course, when we left Maine, I had the camera sitting on the kitchen table......but do you think I remembered to put it in my bag......NO!  So all we have are our phones......and even though they are smart phones.....we aren't!  So I'll work on it, and see if I can get the video!

Well, once again, I need to thank so many sweet gals checking in on me, making sure I'm ok, and asking when I'm going to post again!  You are so kind, and I want you to know that I'm so thankful that you are reading me blog!  THANK YOU!

And I really will post again soon......REALLY!  :o)

regan

Holy cow.....

.....what a summer......and fall!

I can't believe my last post was June 30th!  Cripes!  AND.....the last line on that post said I was gonna post more often!  HA!  Who was I kidding!?!

Truly, the summer got away from me!  We had company most of the summer, and I hardly even stepped into my quilting room!  Crazy, but true!  But I did manage to get to the Maine Quilts show, and I took a 2nd Place ribbon for My Jubilee quilt there!  Woot!  So, a 2nd Place in Vermont, and then Maine.....woohoo!

AND THEN.....I entered it into my NH guild's show, (Cocheco Quilt Guild), which was just this last weekend, and I won BEST OF SHOW!!!!!

HOLY COW!!!!!

I'm in shock, needless to say!  And I still can't wipe the smile off my face!  lol

My hubby was so sweet, too......he had flowers for me when I got home from the show!  :o)

Life is good!

Of course, these last few months haven't been ALL about my quilt.

Our son, Chris, just got married to a lovely girl, Liz, on Columbus Day weekend in Sunapee, NH.

They had the ceremony aboard a dinner cruise boat, and then we sailed the lake for the reception!  It was beautiful!  The fall colors were at peak, and made for a perfect day!  We're so happy for them.....they really are perfect together!

Speaking of fall colors, this is a shot at a local golf course my friend and I played in the last month!  Gorgeous!

And, of course, our beautiful maple tree in our front yard put on a lovely show this year again!

As I said, we had a ton of company over the summer, but I managed to get a pic of the hibiscus a friend gave us while it was putting on its show!  Lovely!

Part of the summer was spent flying kites, and doing 'kite making for kids' events around the state. Always a fun day when the kids make kites!  They decorate them with markers, and minutes later, they are flying them in the field!  Awesome!

Speaking of kites, way back in May (seems like ages ago now! lol), I made a kite quilt for the fundraiser auction at the Wildwood Kite Festival in New Jersey.  My hubby is asked to fly at this event every year, and often gives kites for the auction.  Our good friend, the coordinator, asked if I could make a quilt (which I had no intention of doing!), but then thought about it, and figured "Why not!?!"  Of course, crazy me decided to do a machine applique quilt.....a process I'd NEVER DONE BEFORE!  What was I thinking!?!

But I think it really came out great!  Each of the appliques is of a very recognizable kite to flyers, and the pieced rail fence background sets it off nicely.  (I had seen the rail fence background on a guild member's applique quilt, and really liked the effect.  If I ever do another applique like this, I'd do that again!)  This quilt finished at 60x72.

And last, but not least, of my news is that we are becoming snowbirds this year!!!  Yep.....we are heading south to Florida in 7 days, and we are not returning until May!  Woohoo!

We never thought we would ever do the snowbird thing, but this past winter was so brutally cold, it cost us a small fortune to heat our house, and we just can't do that again!  And then we figured out that we could rent a condo AND play golf 2 times a week for the same amount......why wouldn't we head south!?!  And we're very excited that we found a nice place about 45 minutes from Chris and Liz.....not too close, but close enough!  :o)  And we have cousins galore and one of my sisters in FL, too, so there will be plenty of visiting down there!  Awesome!  We can't wait!

And I've kitted up 10 quilts to take with me!  LOL  Any bets on how many I even touch!?!  LOL

Wow......writing this post felt really good!  I sure missed blogging this summer!  I hardly had the chance to even look on any blogs.  Once in a blue moon I'd have a few minutes, and I checked a few.  I hope to scroll back on blogs and see what the heck everyone has been up to these last few months!  I've really missed keeping up!

And a big hug to the gals that checked on me over the last few months.....making sure I was ok!  You're awesome!  Love ya!

I'm thinking my next post will be from sunny Florida!  Of course, AFTER I've played a round of golf, and had a Krispy Kreme!  LOL

regan

I'm still here!!!

I really can't believe it's been nearly 3 months since my last post!  Cripes!  But I can honestly say that I've been crazy busy......and it was well worth it!

I finally finished My Jubilee quilt, and just in the nick of time to get it into the Vermont Quilt Festival!  The festival was this past weekend, and my two good friends, Pat and Suzanne, joined me for 3 fun-filled days at the quilt show!  And I have to say......I'm crazy-happy right now, because I got a 2nd Place Ribbon on my quilt!  Woohoo!  (Disclaimer:  ribbons are awarded by points system at this show, so there could be several 1st, 2nd and 3rd place ribbons......not just one of each!)

But I got one!  Woohoo!  :o)

I was never dreaming my quilt could ever take a ribbon......mainly because MOST people don't like orange!  And my quilt 'smacks you in the face!' with orange!  So I was really shocked and totally delighted that the judges could get past that!  Yay!

AND.....their comments were kind and constructive......except for the one judge who gave me an 87!  (The other two gave me 95's!)  He didn't 'get' the different borders on the front of the quilt, which was inspired by my favorite quilt from the Red & White Show in NYC......antique, lovely, bold and independent......the 3 different borders were the best part of that quilt!  Why would I change that!?!

"Gotta think outside the box, Mr. Judgey!"  LOL

And I'm excited to be entering it in the Maine state show at the end of July, and my NH guild's show in October!  The validation from a ribbon is wonderful, but I just really want to share my work!  It's pretty fun and exciting to see your own quilt among the others at a show!  This was my first entry in a show, and I'm thinking it won't be my last!  :o)

And now that my quilt is done......I'll be back to blogging more often!  Really!!!  lol

regan

Progress!

While my current quilting project is not quite ready for pictures, we do have progress to show on a different project!  The transformation of our dining room!

The wallpaper has been peeled off......and the spackling has been completed!  Woot!

Hubby is about to do the sanding, and then we can start painting!  Yay!

When we moved into this house 15 years ago, we knew we wanted to restore it, and that it would take some time.  Of course, I didn't think it would take THIS long to get to every room.  But I'm so glad that hubby made a comment about getting started on this room the other day, and I didn't let that idea sit for even a moment!  We went right out to Home Depot and got busy!  (I've learned that if he makes any motion towards a project, I better jump on board......or it could be years before we think about it again!  lol)

Every restoration project in an old house like ours (circa 1864) is a daunting task.  The dining room is 14'x24'.....no small feat!

Once the painting is finished.....we're gonna get a crew in here to redo the hardwood floor.  It's in sorry shape, and it needs professional care!

Ok......I need to get back to that quilt project......it's nearly done!  Woot

regan

I'm so sorry......

I just had an email from a member of the quilting group whose applique quilts I had just posted about over the last few days.

Evidently the group is terribly upset that I posted pictures of their quilts.

The gal told me that there were signs posted at the show that pictures were for personal use only.

Honestly, I never saw even one of those signs.

If I had, I would never have posted a single pic.

So, to any members of that group that might be checking back on this blog, I've deleted those 3 posts.

And I'm terribly sorry.

regan

Is it Spring yet?

I don't know where February went, but I suspect my brain was numb from the cold weather!  I can't believe it's been over a month since I last posted.  I know I haven't been on the blogs much, and haven't commented much on anyone's blog.....so I guess I just wasn't thinking to post anything, either!  Yep.....I'm blaming it on the cold!  And hubby and I are doing everything we can to be snowbirds next winter!  I need to be golfing.....not shivering!  lol

But I did spend February doing a lot of sewing...... I was not idle!  :o)

Unfortunately, I don't have any progress to show on my Jubilee quilt, but for good reason!  It's at the point of sandwiching it together, and that means hundreds of safety pins to be closed.  And because of this horribly cold weather, I have had cracks on the ends of several fingers and my thumbs for the better part of a month, which means trying to close a safety pin would be pure torture!  And yes, I've tried everything, including nearly finishing this pot of Working Hands, which I must say, is awesome stuff......but I just don't think it can compete with the bitter cold we've had.

So, my fingers.....at this very moment!......are all healed, and I should be able to sandwich the quilt tomorrow!  And then I can get busy quilting it up!  Woohoo!  I'm so excited!  I'm also excited that because of the finger/cracking issue.....hubby is back to doing all the dishes again!  Yippee!  (Gotta save those fingers for quilting, right!?!)  lol

Ok.......so on to what I've been trying to keep busy with while my fingers healed.......

First up......I purchased more grey solid (which I LOVE!) and put it with the scrappy strips I had made months ago!  I just love it!  It finishes at 78x88 and is for my bed.

The scrappy strips are all the leftover bits and pieces of the thrift store shirts that I've made a bunch of quilts from lately.  These scraps were sewn onto 5" strips of phone book pages, and when covered, were then joined into long strips.  Easy peasy......and it used up a bunch of little scraps!  I love everything I've made with the shirts......and I'm so happy I still have a ton of them left!  They make a very homespun, cozy quilt, and being very thrifty myself, I love that they are so easy on the budget!  :o)

Next up.......I picked out one of the kits I prepared while cutting up all my Xmas fabrics a couple months ago.  My good friend, Pat, was hosting the mystery at our guild, and I chose to do it in the Xmas theme.  So, of course, while I was cutting for that, I might as well cut for something else, right!?!  So I planned out 4 other quilts to make in Xmas, and cut them all at once!  Boxed them all up with labels, and they are ready to go when I have a bit of time to mindlessly work on something.  I don't have to think at all because all the figuring, drafting and cutting are already done......just run those pieces through the machine!  I like that!  :o)

It's hard to see, but it has a 6" white border on the outside.  It finishes as 58x68.....a good size for the couch.  And I'm happy to say, I used up every little bit, including the bonus triangles from the piecing.....they became the borders on the ends.  Yay!  :o)

I've also been working on another quilt, but haven't anything to show yet.......so that will be in a future post!  :o)

Ok.....well, that's about all of me right now!  Except to say that it was really nice having it light out when I was making dinner tonight!  We love Daylight Savings here!  :o)

Have a good week!

regan

It's been so long......

....since I've had an empty design wall!  Yay!

Nearly 2 years ago, I started my Jubilee quilt, and the top was finished in just a few weeks.  Then I started working on the back, and I got STUCK!  My brain just wouldn't settle on an idea, and everything I drafted just looked weird.  I just couldn't figure it out.  So I let it sit for a while.....and that 'while' turned into nearly 1 1/2 years!  Cripes!  lol

Everything I've worked on in that time has been pinned over the pieces of that jubilee back.  And every time I took a picture of something on that wall......little bits of orange Jubilee would be peeking out!  lol

So a couple months ago, I decided I needed a deadline to get it done!  FORCE myself to figure it out!  So I decided to enter it into a show, and the deadline for the entry was TODAY!  I needed to have a picture of both the front and the back to enter it into the Vermont Quilt Festival, and I DID IT!!  Woohoo!

It's not complete......it's not even sandwiched yet.  But both the top and back are finished!  Woot!

 The Front.....

and the Back.....

I'm so happy with how the back turned out.  The orange section with the milk in it is 'made fabric' and was a total blast to put together.  And I'm loving the wavy line between the two sections.  My plan is to embroider the story of the quilt along the wavy line in the orange section with white floss (in tiny little letters!).  It will become the label for the quilt!

I need to organize my sewing room a bit.....and then I can start the machine quilting on it!  I can't wait!

Now, if you will all cross your fingers for me that my entry is in the first 180 they receive!  That's all they take for the show....so I could use all the good mojo I can get!  :o)

Happy Groundhog Day tomorrow!  And.....I think there's some sort of game on tomorrow, too!  lol  But I definitely know that Downton Abbey is on tomorrow!  That's all I really care about!  lol

regan

An inch is an inch.......really?

I don't know about you, but when I'm quilting, I'm using a ton of different rulers.  I grab whatever is handy at the moment to get a quick measurement.  I nearly always use a rotary-cutting type ruler when measuring out blocks, yardage, and certainly that 'perfect 1/4 inch', but every now and then I grab a measuring tape.  I have one that is 12 feet long, and it makes it very easy to smooth it out over the length and across a quilt to give me an idea of how much binding I'll need.  It doesn't have to be exact, because I always make more than I'll need.  But I never thought I had to question if it was correct or not!

So I was very surprised when my hubby just showed me this!

In his sewing room (yes, we have separate sewing rooms!  lol), where he makes kites and canvas bags, he uses measuring tapes a lot!  They are always great for measuring circumferences, like when he's making a duffle bag.  And NOW he knows why so many times, things just didn't go together quite right!

Over the course of 48" of this tape measure, it added 5/8 of an inch!  Holy cow!  That's HUGE!

Here's the proof!......

Needless to say, we have checked all the measuring tapes in the house (with a machinist's ruler), and have thrown out the evil-doers!

Beyond the quilting and piecing issues, if I had used those tapes to take my measurements while losing weight......that could have been really discouraging!  Right!?!  lol

Anyway, hoping to have some pics of quilty stuff soon.  I just spent the last 4 days cutting up my xmas fabrics for 5 different quilts!  My friend Pat is heading up a mystery quilt at our guild, and I thought to make it a xmas theme.  Well, since they were all pressed and ready for cutting, I figured, "kit up several quilts while I'm cutting for the one!"  And now my xmas stash is nearly gone!  I think I have enough left to piece for the backs, and that's it!  SWEET!

regan

Yet another top!

Ok......so I REALLY need to start quilting some of these tops up.......but I just couldn't resist making this last one!  I had a lot of the pieces already cut when I had my caffeine-induced cutting marathon a few weeks back.  And the pieces were calling to me!  Quite loudly, too!  lol

I'm in love with this quilt!  And it was totally fun to make, too!  I paper pieced the flying geese sections, and it all went together very quickly.  In fact, I started the paper piecing on Christmas Eve, and finished the top Monday night, the 30th!  Woohoo!

My inspiration was this pic I've had for ages.....not sure where it came from (maybe ebay or the quilt index?)......but I just loved the block!  I was going to go with the repro browns and pinks, but changed it up with repro browns and reds instead!

Now that I have this top done, I'm going to start tackling the stack of tops that need quilting!  And I have several dozen in the stack......cripes!  That's so daunting!  How did I let it get so out of control!?!  Wait!  I know the answer!  Because my favorite part is the piecing!  lol

But it's a new year, and a new focus......GET....THESE....TOPS....QUILTED!!!!!!  Here we go!

regan

Yum! Yum! Yum!.....and a new quilt top!

I spent the entire weekend baking my cookies for the trays that I send out.  I usually make up 6 trays for some neighbors and friends, and then a huge tray goes with hubby to work.  He works in the Snowmaking Department at Sunday River Ski Resort, and there are a couple dozen young, hard working guys that spend their whole shift trudging through snow banks, hauling hoses up and down the mountain, and generally working their butts off to make it great for skiers!  A lot of these guys are away from home, with no home-cooking (or baking) the entire time they're here.  So I feel good about supplying them with a sugar overload a few times during the season!  lol

This year I made 4 new cookies to add to my trays!  And they all came out GREAT!  Woohoo!

Here's my first attempt to photograph food like all the foodie-bloggers do.  Yep.....it's harder than it looks!  When you see a really great photo of food, that blogger knows what they're doing!  Me.....not so much!  lol

First of the new ones......and the BEST DANG THING EVER!  It's vanilla fudge center with dried cherries and walnuts, then dipped!  YUM!  It was originally going to be just fudge, but when I cut it up, it was kindof sticky, so I thought......let's dip it!  lol  And it's the best mistake EVER!  It's a little like a nougat.....swoon!

Next up, Peppermint Bark (just like Williams Sonoma!  HA!)  So good, and SO EASY!  And didn't cost $30 for a little tin, either!  lol

Next are the Candy Cane Cookie Dough Truffles that I got the recipe from Jocelyn at Inside BruCrew Life blog.  Totally awesome in every way!  (Check out her yummy blog.....you won't be sorry!)

And the last new item, Pecan Pie Bars from Lizzy at Your Cup of Cake.com.  Again, totally awesome!  Lizzy's site is filled with easy recipes, most using a cake mix!  So great!

I usually make snowflake sugar cookies every year, and these came out prettier than ever!

Here's a look at all 15 different kinds at once!  I can't stop eating them, so I'll be fixing another tray for hubby to take tomorrow, too!  Then they'll all be OUT OF THE HOUSE!  Whew!  And then I'll be able to seriously get back to Weight Watchers on Thursday!

Ok......so that was all the Yum Yum Yum part of this post......here's the newest quilt top!

It's made with recycled shirts for the Rolling Stone blocks and yardage I had for the sashings and cornerstones.  The blocks finish at 11 inches...... the sashings are 6.5 inches wide!  I love that look!  I got the inspiration for this quilt from some photos that Bonnie Hunter and friends took at 2 visits to Sisters, Oregon over the last couple of years.  They had been looking at one of the antique quilts booths and took pics of this quilt, and the minute I saw it, I just knew I had to remake it!  I didn't use any reds or blacks like the original; my blocks are all blue and brown with white to beige center rings (very subdued in comparison).  I switched out the background white for a soft blue, too.  You know me......I can never just follow a pattern exactly.....something ALWAYS has to be different!  And my orange is a softer one, too.....don't want to freak my hubby out!  lol

(Original quilt from Bonnie Hunter's blog, 2012)

My plans are to REALLY get busy quilting up these latest quilt tops.  I'm hoping to have several to post about in the first few weeks of January!  Keep your fingers crossed for me, huh?

And if you know me at all, you'll understand that this post is #139, so it's my last one of the year!  I just LOVE prime numbers, and it's a quirky need of mine to end the year on one!  LOL

So, I'm wishing everyone a very Merry Christmas, and a happy and healthy New Year!

And no.....I'm not even going to look at that stupid list I made last year of my UFO's.  (What was I thinking!  Sheesh!)   Nope.....not even gonna look!  HA!

regan