It's been awhile...

Hello all,

How have you all been? Fall is here in N Cal. We got a good rain storm the other day which helped put out fires. The air is smelling almost fresh and clean again. The leaves on the black oak are changing colors, everything is so pretty.

These are photos my dd has taken.

The colors are so rich and beautiful against the pure blue sky.

I've been meaning to take pictures of the 2 pillows I made to go with my dd's kitty quilt. But I still haven't done it. So I wanted to at least show you the finished Kitty quilt, hanging on the outside of her room. She has a porch here with a couch.

I choose a deep red for the binding, it matches the insides of the flowers perfectly.

Lately I've been quilting on my stepson's wedding quilt. He was married at the end of Sept, so I am not too very late. I made the binding yesterday, so now I just have to attach it, and then I can get it sent off to them. I'll make sure to snap a picture to share here, before I send it off.

I'm starting to think about Christmas, it's going to be here before we know it. Does anyone have some fun, interesting projects you are making for Christmas gifts? If so, please share links, I would love to see them... and maybe get a few ideas from you :)


Take care.

What I've been up to

Hello Everyone,

 "What I've been up to..." Can't say I've been doing very much. My Bear Paw quilt I've set aside for now. I want to make the borders, just haven't wanted to do the math. lol

So then I thought I had better start work on my dd's Kitty quilt, as her birthday was a week or so ago and I really want her to have it. I've just finished the quilting on it.

  I've just layed it out on my bed, so it's the not best pictures. But when I get the binding on, I'll take full photos.

 The kitty is a panel, so for quilting I wanted to do some really cool stuff to make it look like fur... but alas, I am not that talented. lol. So I just followed (or tried to follow) the lines between the colors.

And then on the background, I did some flowery things.

And the border is this neat print that is partially colored in, and the part that isn't, my dd can color in with some fabric markers.


   


 So, now to get that binding made and put on. And then onto other things. I think I want to do some more FMQing, so I will pick out a top and buy some batting and backing.

This is my birthday month too. When dh asked me what I wanted, I told him a subscription to the FQ Sew sampler box. My box arrived yest, right on my birthday :D so that was fun.

 The weather is finally out of the awful heat wave we had last week. It's definately summertime here in N. California. Brown fields, green trees and lots of heat.

Hope you're having a wonderful Summer... or Winter...

Bear Paw QAL, finally together

Hello All,

Yah! My bear and paws are put together! I was so happy with myself this afternoon when I finished... he looks SO much better!!....

...And then I looked a little closer at the bear, and realized I put a little section of him backwards...sigh~ it's just one little strip, but it has to be turned around, or it will drive me nuts.

After I fix my little mistake, I plan on putting a brown border on it, then a border of the cute little bear paw prints that Lorna came up with. I can't leave those out!

Linking up with Lorna.

Sewing machine woes

Hello All,

Well I certainly didn't mean to be gone all month. I am trying harder to do more sewing and blogging this year, so far I haven't succeed. But my fruit trees are starting to bloom!! This is the peach.

 March was a wet, cold month and that stops me from sewing as much as my sewing room isn't quite as warm as the living room. And as my arthritis acts up in the cold... I was in front of the fire! (Another picture of the peach)

But, the times when I would go to sew, this is what happened:

I would try to sew, but my machine was all bound up, I couldn't get the needle to go up and down at all. The motor was fine, it was in the inner works. So I had my oldest son, Jed, get it all oiled real well for me.

It worked fine for a few days... then it stopped.

So I had to wait for the weekend to ask my honey to see if he could fix it. He took it apart and got it all oiled.

It worked for a few days.... then it stopped.

The next weekend both the guys worked on it, and fixed it, or so they thought.

Yup, it worked for a few days, then wouldn't turn at all again.

SO, this morning my honey sat down and looked at it, and he saw RUST!! yes, rust where we had been oiling, in all the oiling spots!!! Apparently something was wrong with the oil we had been using. What and how it got that way, I have no idea. My poor machine :(

But, I have a handy honey... and sons... and dh and Jed got my beautiful machine back to purring :) They used different oil this time. I need to order another bottle of it, it's Singer sewing machine oil. I wont use anything else again!!

On those few days here and there that I was able to sew (both my machine and I were working ;) ) I was able to get my Bear redone.

He looks much better now! I have to get him all together now, then I can sew him onto the rest the quilt top...and then make a border. Hopefully April will continue to be a warmer month, and I can sew more often.

Here's the almond blooming.

Don't you love it when you teach your child something, and they surpass you in that field! I taught my dd to use a camera, and she has just taken off and is so much better at photography than I am :)

LOL, a disjointed post... should of just made two...

Have a great night all.

Finished the Bear...

Hello All,

Well, I finished the Bear part of my Bear Paw QAL. And I am not happy with it.

I don't think the mixed browns I used are mixed up enough, or maybe the silvery brown shouldn't of been used at all. What do you think?

I think I'm going to spend some time with my seam ripper. lol

Hooking up with Lorna, a day late.

And really, what do you think? Honestly now.

Thanks for stopping by
Dorian

Let's Bee Social

Hello All,

I've finally got to do some more work on my Bear. On Sunday we had a beautiful, but windy day here. The wind was cold. My family was outside doing various things and I sat down at my sewing machine, had my music on, and proceeded to get some blocks made.

I only messed up 3 times.... sigh~ had to get that old seam ripper out and made the same mistake twice.

Finally I got them whipped into shape though ;)

I am using a 10" stack of Fusion Blooms for my bear and the bear paws, so my bear is going to be scrappy. I'm not sure if I am going to like it or not, I might end up redoing him. But I will see what he looks like once he is all pieced together.

Linking up with Lorna.

Have a great day all.

WIP Wednesday

Hello All,

We've had a nice little break in our weather, a bit of sun does wonders, doesn't it? And now we'll be back to rain and possible snow flurries for the next 5 or 6 days. I find that I get a bit more sewing done when it's nice out. As the boys are outside playing more. But still...not a lot.

I am chain piecing the last two full bear paw blocks (for Lorna's bear paw QAL, then I can start on the bear himself.

As I am using a layer cake for the bear paws, I am piecing two at a time. That way I don't get my colors mixed up. It will be good to start on the bear, I am tired of the paws.... teeheeh, and I'm only doing the baby size. I get bored with blocks so easily...

Anyways, I've found that I can easily do embroidery when I'm just hanging out in the living room with the kids. This is my first piece, it's not done yet, so I am just going to show you a bit of it.

I'm not doing too bad :) It makes me miss hand quilting though, so I might get one of my quilt tops out and start hand quilting it... I might, we'll just have to wait and see..haha.

Have a great day!

Linking up with Lorna.

A new Year..... a new machine :)

Hello All,

I hope you all had a great Christmas. I did :)

Santa was good to me, see what lovely machine he bought to add to my collection.

This is a Singer 66-1. It was made in Scottland in 1917. And it works beautifully! This is the predecessor to my Singer 201. They call it the Lotus, due to the flower design on it. As you can see, it is a hand cranked machine. I wasn't sure if I was going to like that, but for small seams, like putting blocks together, it works very well.

A New Year brings new resolutions to many people, or words they are going to strive to live by. I'm just going to try and sew more, and get on my blog here and share what I'm doing with thread and fabric :)

This little machine is perfect for sitting on the table and sewing near the fire (especially since the snow is coming down!) Which makes me a happy camper, I love the snow :) So I've been working on my Bear paw blocks (Bear pawQAL by Lorna).

I have two more full blocks that are almost done. Then I'll work on the partial blocks/bear blocks. I'm going to put a border on this too, even though it's the lap size. So lots of work yet, but I'll get there.

Take care Everyone.

Linking up with Lorna.

Merry Christmas

Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas. I hope you have a wonderful day tomorrow.

I got a few little things made this year. And am hoping to be back next year with a lot more sewing time and things to share.

Thank you all for sticking around while I've been so quiet. Here's hoping next year will be a better one.

A bit of progress

Hello Everyone,

My poor sewing machine is going unloved these days. I just haven't had the energy to sew very much lately. Medical issues are keeping me down.

But, I have done a few minutes here and there and have 4 more completed bear paw blocks done (for the Mod bear paw QAL)

Thanks to everyone who helped me out with the backing ground fabric. I have decided to stick with the dark brown.  As my good friend Pat says, the color will imply 'trees', and so that fits in perfectly.

Here is the background color on the far left and the colors I will be using for the bear. I think they are light enough for him to stand out enough.

Hope you are all enjoying the change of weather. I love this time of year, going from a hot summer to some cool rain. It's been lovely.

Have a great day everyone!