Grandma Would Be Happy

And if not I sure am. I finally completed the top to my friend's extra long quilt that her grandma made. Apparently Grandpa was 6' 6" and she need a custom sized bed covering. Because it was tied there was damage to over 2/3 of the large plain squares. And many of the smaller patches had just fallen apart.  The ties were too far apart for all the use the quilt saw, and the length of the actual tie was long, rather than the points of entry being close together.

She used sheets for most of the larger blocks and that made a challenge to rip seams as the thread count is so much higher than the surrounding clothing scraps.

After I had the piece removed I would use it to cut a new piece and sew it back in.  Originally I ripped two seams the width of the quilt to get it into manageable pieces.  The challenge with the original blocks is that they were not always square, but the template idea worked well.

I laid it out on the family room floor so I could take a picture from the top of the stairs, it is 8' 6" - yikes!  I  am taking to church next week and we are going to spread out the backing - which grandma used a old pink blanket and surrounded it with a sheet that comes up from the back to wrap the front as binding.  I will let you know how the tying goes - I could definately use an old fashioned quilt group for this one.

Bella Bag

My finished bag with a blue sash, I also have fabric for a red sash and a green one, both of which may complement the bag better but I really like the freshness of the blue.

A picture of the side detail.  Carol added topstitching to the side with gives them extra definition, nice touch.

Gotta Stop and Smell the Chocolate

Girls can't just sew all day, sometimes you gotta stop for chocolate.  While I was still in Arizona with Carol we stopped to bake cookies, mmmmm, they didn't last long and here is our Bella bags in progress.  I am home now and back to work - had a great vacation.  I will post a finished Bella bag pic tonight.

My Son, the Soldier

My oldest son, David, receiving his battlefield promotion to Sergeant in Germany - earned during his time in Iraq.  He heads home to Colorado Saturday, February 6 to move his family to Texas.  I am so excited that he will be stationed back in the states.  If you have a comment for David I will forward it to him.  We all salute you David, and your willingness to defend your family and our country.

And the Winner Is...

And the winner of the Sweet Baby Jane doll quilt is Jocelyn at Happy Cottage Quilter!  I will get your darling quilt in the mail Monday - thanks so much for stopping by!  Send an email to me at katelinde@msn.com with your mailing address.

Fat Quarter Bundle Give Away

Amy of Kati Cupcake Pattern Co is looking for a new home for these beautiful fat quarters from the new Marabella line.  Stop by her site for a chance to be 'Mom' to these little darlings.

Help, Help, Me Rhonda.... Giveaway

Girls, what do you do when you have so much to do and don't know where to start?  Especially with a project that is less on the creative end.  I have a quilt that I am repairing for a friend that belonged to her grandmother, made with all types of fabric imaginable, and the large squares are from a white sheet.  The high thread count of the sheeting makes it very hard to remove the damaged pieces next to them.

I have a darling Sweet Baby Jane doll quilt that I recently finished.  I will give it away on Friday, Jan 22 to a randomly picked comment.  I need help out of my slump - thanks all!

I Won a Great Gift

I was lucky winner of Shelly's  12 Days of Christmas Give-aways.  I received this great fat quarter bundle.  Thanks Shelly!

Awesome Giveaway!

Stop by Bobbi's to see the great giveaway she is hosting to celebrate her 99th blog - congrats Bobbi!

Friday Night Sewing and March Retreat

Friday Night Sew-In for the New Year and a Giveaway!!  Join Heidi's 'Sew-In' on January 15, thanks for organizing it Heidi - it will be fun.

Carol and Amanda are sponsoring a virtual sewing retreat.   It will be a great time, click here to read more about it.

Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

I was excited to fly to Iowa this past Tuesday to help my daughter move back to Colorado.  Her husband drove the truck to Colorado on Monday and I was helping Elena get her car and her baby back.  We were at the border of Iowa/Nebraska Wednesday about noon, driving slowly in blowing snow.  We were travelling about 35 mph.  The semi in front of us was not going that fast and started to slow, we had plenty of room to brake  but with extremely limited visibility the problem was the traffic behind us.  Jesus totally protected us.

Vehicles were just coming one after another.  We were behind the 'England' semi, the 'Air Ride' above came up in the left lane.  The white pickup above swerved to the left to avoid the 'Air Ride' behind them and in our lane is the blazer pictured just ahead of the pickup.  Driven by a young man he was trying to stop and avoid the other cars he hit us on the left, rear fender, knocked us another car length closer to 'England' - another semi was coming up behind him and swerved and went right between 'Air Ride' and white pickup, missing the blazer.  You can see the people above walking in the semi's tracks where he had only inches to clear the vehicles.  It all happened so fast, the baby was crying from blazer hitting us.  No one was hurt, but our biggest concern was the traffic still behind us.  I was praying and trying to think what to do if the next semi coming couldn't stop.  If we didn't move we would be sandwiched between the two trucks, maybe if we went to the right it would help, what if he veered to the right?  I felt the Holy Spirit prompt me not to move, I thought of the verse, 'stand still and see the deliverance of your God' and remarkably the traffic behind did stop well behind us.  The hit from the blazer caused only minor fender damage and an hour 40 minutes later we were finally moving and went to the next town, 1 mile down the road, and got off the highway till the next day.  Even Thursday we could only make it part way into Nebraska and had to wait until Friday morning to continue to Colorado.

Just glad to be home.

New Year Giveaway

Sweet Natima from Not Just Nat is hosting her One Year blogiversary giveaway with delightful embroidery projects and some very cool scissors, visit her and wish her a Happy 1 Year in blogland!