This is a sweet picture of my Mom and Dad during one of her cyber knife treatments for her brain tumor the week of Thanksgiving.  She has chosen not to have chemo for her cancer.  This is one of the hardest experiences of my life and trust me I have had lots of hard things.  It is so emotional and stressful for my Mom who faces her own mortality in the next few months.  Even though she says she is at peace with that, she is still scared.  What bothers her more is the loose of her memory at times.  She is so scared of loosing her mind.  Then there is my sweet 83 year old father.  He has his own health issues and now he is caring for her and it is so very hard on him at times.  One of their big concerns is they don't want to be separated, so he struggles through the hard parts.  My youngest sister and I are trying to help them the best we can.  I live 2 hours away and she lives an 1 hour further south of me.  Once a week we drive up to spend the day and help do their shopping and what ever else they need. In between we call them and keep in contact with each other and our other siblings.  It takes a lot out of you.  I have not sewn anything in a long time.  One thing that has keep my spirits up is when I have a moment to myself I read through other sewing blogs and see all the lovely inspirational things my fellow bloggers are doing.  That is my sewing right now.  I know after the busy holiday season, even with what my Mom is going through, I will find some time to get to all those UFO's I have!

Sew Long for Now!   

I have not been blogging much because I have not been sewing much.  In the last month my mother was put in the hospital and diagnosed with stage 4 cancer that had metastasized and spread to her brain and lymph nodes.  I have spent most of my days at a hospital or doctor's office.  The oncologist told us Thursday that she had only 6-12 months to live if she responded to the radiation.  If not 4 or less.  The brain tumor is in her motor strip and has affected her memory and motor skills.  I have several syblings so I don't have to go through this alone and lots of extended family.  It's just when I do have a moment to myself I am so exhausted mentally as well as physically I can't get much done.  I had started this needle roll for my daughter and got to the first stage the night before Mom first went to the ER.

I finally made myself finish it a few days ago. 

I have several projects to work on, I just don't really feel up to it right now.  Maybe, as the suddeness of this wears off and the whirlwind of things to take care of slacks off I will get myself back together.

Sew Long for Now!

My lovely daughter gave me this puzzle for my birthday.  When she was home on fall break her and I started putting it together.  My oldest son started helping us add a piece here and there.  It got so addictive the two of them sat together one whole evening and finished it!  I got some puzzle glue and sealed it.  The shop in Dayton's Farmer's Market she got it in had it displayed in a frame and it was lovely.  Next week I hope to find a frame and then hang it in the house!  Now, I will always have the lovely memory of them as adults working and laughing together!

Sew Long for Now!

My two beautiful granddaughters together!

I finally finished the blue quilt and I am planning on starting to quilt the 2012 BOM next.

Sew Long for Now!

I have not fell off the face of the earth!  I have an intermission in my life!  I had to pause my life because our oldest son moved in with us and the next day his wife gave birth to our second granddaughter!  She looks just like her older sister, both beautiful!

Until her mother recovers I am helping out.  Boy, I forgot what it is like with little ones under foot.  16 years makes a huge difference.  I am hoping in the next couple of weeks to get back into a schedule.

Sew Long for Now!

I made 24 flying geese last week.  I ran out of the scraps of matching material so I will have to get some more from the shop to get up to the 32 required.

I have been machine quilting the blue quilt and hope to have it done this coming week.  

We started school back with my last student.  Our daughter has been at college for a week and we feel so blessed she picked this small school.  So far everything is going good.  All those activities you seem to curtail during the summer months are working back in our schedule and things are picking up around here.  Maybe that is a good thing though.  Maybe it will get me back in to a routine where more sewing will be accomplished!

Sew Long for Now!

I was behind on my BOM and so I got down to work and caught up.  The July BOM is above.

This churn dash is the August BOM.  Now I have to make 32 flying geese to fit in.  This is a mystery quilt and so we will not know how it all fits together until the end.

I have been wanting to knit one of these ruffle scarves.  I bought this pretty purple and went to YouTube and watched a video on how to knit it.  I got about 1/3 way through and it slipped off the kneedles.  I tried again and it did it again.  When I laid it down for the night and then picked up the next day it was hard to keep it on the needles.  So I went back to YouTube and found a video showing how to crochet it.  Crocheting was so much quicker and I finished it in a couple of hours.  I gave it to my daughter, who loves to wear scarves.  I have another skein of the purple and I will knit another and either keep it for myself or give it away as a present.  It is really fun! Now I am knitting a shawl with a beautiful wool.

Sew Long for Now!

I couldn't believe how long it has been since I last updated.  It doesn't seem that long.  We are so busy getting our daughter ready to leave for school and getting our home ready for our oldest son, his wife and soon to be two daughters to move in with us.  He is leaving the army and moving back to the east coast.

 I did get the scrappy quilt finished, quilting borders and all.

 I have been knitting new dish clothes, mine all are wearing thin.

During our local shop hop I received a new project.  Its a redwork wall hanging with Virginia landmarks on it.  It was designed by the lady who owns one of our local quilt shops.  It took me and the children two weeks to transfer all the designs on the material.  The woman who designed it had over 100 hours of handwork in hers.  Mine will probably be more because I am not as skilled as she.  So in about 10 years I should have it completed (wink wink.)

It is so hard to believe that we are in our 21st year of homeschooling and we only have one child left.  It is bittersweet seeing them grow up and mature, but missing those sweet childhood moments.  It goes by too fast!

Sew Long for Now!

My children helped me pick up June's BOM when we came back from our trip.  I was sick.  I thought I had a cold and I would be well in a few days.  16 days later and I finally had to get two prescriptions from the doctor.  After 24 hours of the prescriptions I am feeling a bit better and I was able to finish the block.  Next week I pick up the July block.  I am glad to not get behind.  

I also went to a local quilt shop during their sale and got batting and backing for four tops I have ready to quilt.  I want to start on one this week.

Sew Long for Now!

Trip

I haven't been sewing this month.  I have been on a fun road trip with my family.

 We went across country and stopped a few places along the way.  One was Mt. Rushmore.  The scenery was gorgeous.  Custer State Park was near here and we enjoyed that a lot!

Then we drove on stopping in Montana on our way to Yellowstone, where we spent the most time.

 

The buffalos,

 

the bears,

 

the elk. 

It was just gorgeous to see this part of the country that I have never seen! 

Sew Long for Now!

I have been working on a scrappy quilt with the dogwood fabric I bought last summer.  I cut it all up into 5 inch squares and then sewed them into 6 X 6 blocks.  I laid them out on my design board aka the bed.

I didn't have enough of each color to do an exact pattern, but I like it for scrappy.  I heard recently that I am going to be a grandmother again to another little girl in late September early October.  I am looking around for ideas and patterns for girls quilts.  Sew fun!

Sew Long for Now!

The May BOM is done.  This went together very easy!  I really liked the red in this block.  The material has a cute tonal design.  Besides this I helped my daughter one evening make a tablet cover she found on pinterest for her new tablet, and I have been cutting squares.  Lots of 3 1/2 inch squares for a future project. Hopefully I will finish cutting them out soon.  Cutting out is boring.  Cutting lots of squares is really boring.  Oh, well the only way to get a wonderful quilt is to do the boring stuff too! (wink)

Sew Long for Now

Trying to take pictures on a rainy day is so hard.

 

When we went to orientation for our daughter we also stopped by an arts and craft show afterwards.  There I met a blogger that I have read for many years, Deb from Mountain Musings.  She lives near where I grew up and I always love to read and see happenings she post about things familiar to me.  Her daughters both have cottage businesses and we bought some of their wares from their booth.  The coconut pie didn't last long enough for me to take a picture of, but the boys assure me it was delicious!  We also bought some of their homemade soap.  The two bars in the picture are ones we haven't used yet.  I just love to smell them.  The two we are trying are a lavender one and one called grass that my husband loves the smell of.  I highly recommend you checking them out at Pleasant View Soap!

This is the latest quilt I finished.  It's made from the dogwood fabric and I got the kit on our area shop hop last summer.  I like it and when I quilt and bind it maybe the weather will cooperate for a better picture.

I have some more of the dogwood fabric and I want to make a quilt using all the colors next.  I just have to decide which quilt to make.

Sew Long for Now!

May all of your ups and downs in life be with a needle and thread.

 

Life here has been full.  One of the things I participated in this past weekend was orientation for new students at Bridgewater College.  Our daughter will be transferring there this fall.  The last two years of her homeschooling journey have been spent going full time to our local community college where she graduates next Friday with her Associates Degree in Liberal Arts.  Instead of a high school graduation she will be participating in the community college graduation.  Then in the fall we will be moving her into the dorms at Bridgewater, where she will major in English.  She still has to narrow down what her emphasis will be in because she is interested in library sciences and restoring old documents, or editing, or teaching.  The exciting thing is that just a couple of miles down the road from where she is going to school is one of my favorite quilt shops!  Below you will see that while we were gone I stopped by there and picked up a few things.  The grey material to use in the background of my youngest son's quilt.  I also bought several packs of those red clover binding clips that I have wanted.  I picked up a pack of straw needles after reading on another blog about how nice they are to sew binding on.

 

I put the black material I bought with the new grey.  This is not a black and white picture!  I am searching for just the right green and brown to add to these two and then I will start his cross quilt.

These two blocks are the quilt I am working on now.  I love the colors.  Now that I have all the blocks done I look forward to putting the top together.

What are you working on?

 

Sew Long for Now!

I finished the April BOM this week.  I am unsure about the busy fabric used on the outside of this block.  I am finding my taste runs more to smaller prints or solids.  It will be interesting to see how this fits into the quilt as a whole.

I have been cutting out the pieces to work on the green and blue dogwood quilt.  This picture doesn't do the green of the fabric justice.  I have 72 flying geese done and next I will use them to piece 18 of what is called the King's Crown block in this quilt.

I have been seeing so many patterns I want to try!  I have been crossing things off my list and may be able to rewrite the list with new projects soon!  That is so exciting!

Sew Long for Now!

It took me a lot of time to add 25 3D dogwood flowers.  The centers are yoyo's.  I scattered them across the bottom and top.

I also scattered them in a connecting line up the wall hanging.  My family liked the way the wall hanging turned out.  Now to find a place to hang it.  First I want to add a label.

I started on another kit I purchased last summer at the local shop hop with the dogwood fabric.  I love the colors in this and I am excited to work on it.  I began cutting out pieces today.

At our April quilt guild meeting I won a panel with a pre-print for an apron.  I love aprons and have several so this was just perfect for me!  I look forward to making it.

 

Sew Long for Now!

 

The wall hanging is pieced.  It went together pretty easy.  It was fun to see what it would look like.  I have the back and batting ready and I am going to quilt it this week.  The pattern also calls for applique dogwood flowers.  I am thinking of using a method I have seen where you use stabilizer. You sew the fabric to the stabilizer right sides together and then cut the back of the stabilizer and turn it inside out.  That way the edges are turned under, and I thought since it was a wall hanging it would be interesting to make the flowers truly 3 dimensial.  The pattern called for a 7 inch border on the bottom only.  I didn't like the material in the kit for that border and used the matching material of what is in the body.  I think I will scatter the 3D flowers across that bottom border.  I will see after I make them up and lay them out to see what it looks like.  Isn't it fun to personalize a kit so that it is truly your own!

Sew Long for Now!

 

Life has been hectic lately and I have not been able to complete as much sewing as I would like to.  I did quilt the VA quilt and put the binding on and it is now ready to donate.  I finished the March BOM which is pictured above.  I really need to get back into the rhythm I had in January.  I am going to start working on small quilt that I bought a kit for last summer when they had the rally.  It is a bargello pattern made with the dogwood fabric exclusive to that rally.  I have two tops to quilt, but I would prefer to work on those another time.

Here is picture taken by our quilt quild of my finished cross quilt made for our daughter's 18th birthday.

 

Sew Long for Now!

I finished the February BOM a week ago, but have been working so hard putting the binding on the cross quilt and dealing with life's ups and downs that I haven't posted it.

I am happy to report that even though my husband's company closed the part he works at, he is still employeed.  He has worked there for 23 years.  140 of his co-workers are not.  It is so hard to see this happen to our friends and neighbors and so hard to pray and hope we make it through the cut.  The past several weeks have been nerve racking.  We only have peace and strength through the grace of our God.

 

Sew Long for Now!

I finished the disappearing nine patch scrappy quilt for the V.A. Center.  Last week was busy with our daughter's 18th birthday on Valentine's Day. 

I am so excited, tomorrow I am going over my friend's house and she is going to quilt the birthday quilt on her long arm and I am going to see how it is done.  Some day when I have room I want a long arm machine!

I want to quilt the V.A. quilt before the first Monday in March to turn it in.  Then I have two other tops to quilt.

I have the February BOM to do, and I am still working on the January Holiday Club block.  It is applique and I am trying to do it with needle turn.  My list is going down.  I would love to get my list done by June and then start a new one!  How fun!

Sew Long for Now!

My Memory Lane top is all pieced.  I took all the yoyo's off until it is quilted.  I love this quilt!  I told my family it will go on the wall though.  I put so much into it that I don't want anyone using it. 

They laughed and ask me where I was going to find a wall big enough.  My five foot eight inch 15 year old is standing on a kitchen chair holding this up.  It is rather large.

I began work on the quilt for the V.A. Center.  It is a disappearing 9 patch and is going together fairly easily hopefully I can show you by next week!

Sew Long for Now!

 

The January block of the month for 2013.  I like the colors and am looking forward to what the end product will look like.  This is a mystery block of the month.  Each month we go in we get the next pattern.  Unlike last year where we had the whole pattern at the beginning of the year and we saw the picture of the author's finished quilt through the whole year, this one will be a mystery until the end.  It gives it an air of excitement.

I have last years memory lane quilt rows put together with sashing, I did not take a picture yet because I want to put the border on before I do.

I realized after last week's post that I was incorrect on my count.  I have 3 going on 4 completed tops so for in 2013.  Boy, I would love to be this productive for the whole year!

Sew Long for Now!

 

I finished putting the sashing and border on the 2012 Block of the Month.  I am not sure how I feel about all the colors now that I see them together.  Individually I loved the blocks, but as a set it is not what I would chose on my own.  I am more of a matchy matchy type person and would have just used 3 or 4 colors for the whole quilt.  It was fun to do though!

This is my 2nd quilt top finished for 2013.  I need to get backing and quilt these.  I missed the quilt club this week because I have a bad cold and my husband was in an accident.  I haven't put together my January BOM, so I am starting out a little behind even though I have accomplished some things.

I hope to do my January BOM soon and I am going to look at last years Holiday Club rows and see about putting that top together.

Sew Long for Now!

 

I finally finished the last BOM for 2012.  Now I need to pick a border material and put that top together.

These are not the best pictures, but it has rained for the past several days and now they are calling for snow and sleet.  I was trying to hold out to get a picture of this whole top.

This is the center of the cross quilt in blue/white/yellow/and green.  I have the top pieced together and now I need to pick at backing material and finish it.  It is for our daughter who will be 18 on the 14th of February.  I am hoping to finish it for her by then.

 

I am happy to be able to get a few things done.  I keep seeing ideas, but I need to finish projects before starting too many new ones.  I don't do well with unfinished things hanging over my head!

 

Sew Long For Now!

My first quilt of 2013.  I bought the material last year, but never got around to making it.  I wanted the recipient to be able to take it home with her.  So I worked hard for a week while she was here visiting.

She actually reached for it and wouldn't let it go.  She grabs it and holds it.  Makes this Gammy a happy person that she seems to like it!

I am going to try to finish piecing a top by Saturday to show at an event.  So many things to do and so little time.  I need more hours in my day!

Sew Long for Now!