Stitchers Group

We're a versatile group ... well some of us are. We all quilt but some have other hobbies like knitting, embroidery and cross stitch. Now I'm sticking to my guns .... I'm not starting any new hobbies. LOL

Today after our regular Stitcher Group we went out to lunch to Chams Lebanese restaurant. A wonderful Lebanese restaurant opened downtown back in 2006. I must say we had a good time. One of the owners came over to explain to me what each dish was and how it's made ... see this was my first time at the restaurant. After lunch we went across the street to the Market Yarn Store and next door to Sew Creative. Both are nice shops and owned by a couple from Virginia. Sew Creative is fairly new and just receiving some nice fabrics. I forgot to take photos ..... I'll go down over the weekend and take a few. It was a nice day spent with friends and trying new things.

Stacks of Color

Maybe Spring is coming sooner than we think ... I mean Monday I got the urge to dust and vacumm in 3 rooms ..... today I decide I needed to clean, declutter, organize and wash up some fabrics in the quilt studio. I have a couple challenges coming up. They look so pretty all stacked up there freshly washed, dryed and folded.

I want to make a red/white/blue quilt, black/white plus one color quilt and some other small projects. I bought fabric when we were in Cincinnati, my road trip to Pomeroy and already have lots in my closet.



















Then I found a stack of quilts that need to be quilted hiding in my GC favorite rocking chair. Yikes .... that makes about 26 quilts I need to quilt on Prince.

My Dyson Plays Music

I'm doing the 'woman' thing today ... dusting, laundry, picking up clutter. Now I'm not suppose to run the vacuum according to my Doctor (back surgeon). He tells me "vacuuming is the worse thing you can do". But today I just couldn't wait for DH .... so I decide to run it in the family room, quilt studio and downstairs bath. I'm going along trying to be super careful when all of a sudden my Dyson makes this rattle noise. I thought oh no I've run over something and did a number on the Dyson. I turn it off when I hear this music playing .... I thought what????? DH is always buying gadgets so how did I know he found a radio that was micro in size. What???? then I realize it's the alarm on my cell phone (I set it to remember to turn the crockpot to low). I laughed out loud .... it's Monday and I'm already off my rocker.


I empty out the container and push it into the family room .... what's that on the floor???? It can't be ........yep it's a nail. Funniest micro radio I've ever seen.

Off to Cincinnati, Ohio

We headed to Cincinnati, Ohio Friday 1/25, to visit our DD#2 for the weekend. She works for Ford in Sharonville, Ohio.

On the way over I sat in the backseat and watch a couple quilting videos.

Dinner Friday night was at the Bone Fish Grill. WOW you have to eat there .... it was very very good with fast service. I look forward to going again.

On Saturday I took in a couple quilt shops. First was Yarns and fabrication in West Chester, Ohio. It's a fairly new shop. They did have some very nice fabrics but unfortunately they were over in one corner, rows close together ..... I found the corner kind of dark and being of a great age I could not stoop down to see the fabrics. A very nice sewing classroom with machines provided. AND if you're looking for a long arm they had an APQS Millenium ... I didn't check their prices. The yarn selection on the other hand was nicely spaced, lots of light. A group was relaxing and knitting up a storm. I didn't buy a thing.

Then we headed off to Aunt Ruth's Scrapbasket. I had been to this store a year or so ago and discovered they have recently moved to a smaller space. Nice selection of fabrics, lots of light and plenty of room to see the fabrics. They also offered a corner with quite a number of bolts on sale 30% - 50%. I did some small damage in there.

And lastly one of my most favorites spots, Hobby Lobby. Although they have reduced the number of fabric bolts they still have a nice selection and plenty was on sale. I bought a few pieces there to complete some charity quilts.

After all that shopping (LOL) we were starving .... we had a late lunch at Red Robin I was not impressed and doubt we'll ever go again ..... very noisy.

Sunday morning came all too soon. My absolute favorite place to eat is the Waffle House.
It's just a little place but I LOVE their pecan waffles.

We're home ...... love visiting DD#2 but it's good to be home too. Looking forward to see her very soon again. I miss her alot.

Shop Hop to Pomeroy, Ohio

Four of us from our Wednesday Stitchers Group (Becky, Marilyn, Margee and me) too off for Pomeroy, Ohio. We wanted to hit

The Fabric Shop, it's an old building on the main drag. We took off in Becky's big "A" truck and as you can see we got a parking spot right in front of the store.

They allowed me to take a couple photos inside the store. First stop was the bathroom (inside) .... I said it's really an old building.

Then lunch at The Wild Horse Cafe ....... did you see those horseshoes. Check out their fireplace.

It was a bleak, cloudy day .... see the barge going down the Ohio River.

When we came out it was snowing up a storm ...... it was a slow trip home. But no problem we decided to make another stop in Belpre, Ohio at Bev's Country Loft.

Stitchers Group

We had our Stitchers Group last Wednesday 1/23.

Clarice joined us this week. Her mother (102) is unable to continue doing needlework. So Clarice who is a newbie to sewing of any type is going to try and finish some of her mother's and grandmother's projects. Marilyn is helping her out while she handquilts a baby quilt.

Nancy finished up the binding on her two tied quilts. Such pretty, bright prints.

Margee continues with her baby cross stitch picture for DD. And Becky continues with her Halloween quilt.

Me .... well I continued with my Santa and Rudolph Photo wall hanging.

Hard Work Paid Off on Tuesday

I love email (except SPAM) and quilting, therefore, I'm on alot of Yahoo email groups .... I won't tell you how many because you'd think I was completely nuts. Lately most has been nothing but way off topic stuff so I've turned all my groups to "Special Notice". I spend way too much time reading email instead of quilting. Now I did leave these Yahoo email groups turned on .... MQSG, Nolting LongArm and Heartstrings; 1st two I'm a moderator and Heartstrings I love.

Tuesday I got busy picking out backing fabrics, piecing it together in some case and selecting the quilt to go with a particular backing. Most of my quilting is for charities so I like for the backing to be interesting and not necessarily to match the actual quilt top. Plus my binding is usually from a totally different fabric. You know kids love color, lots of color. I didn't keep track of what fabric I busted yesterday but it was alot and it felt good. You see I have a very very large stash .... ask my DH. So here's a photo of 9 backings all matched up to 10 charity quilts tucked inside.





It'll take me a couple weeks to finish these up .... I'll post when they're done.








I had 9 quilts almost finished ... they only needed their Project Linus labels. I'll turn these in at our February meeting. Quilt tops were actually quilted in 2007. I make very simply charity quilts like bar quilts. I quilted all of these on my Prince (long arm). Here they are:



Most of my charity quilts are approximately 40" x 56" range. I also make mostly of boy theme quilts. A large portion of the quilts donated to our local Linus are for babies and girls thus my reason for boy quilts.



Here's a few samples ....... see I told you they were simply bar type quilts. I'm not much of a traditionalist quilter, matching points, corners, making blocks and etc.





















Well I'm off to my Wednesday Stitching group ........ love this group .... no rules, no dues, no officers .... nothing but great friendship and lots of chit chat.

Bright Fish and Sunshine Quilt

This quilt was pieced by Peggy, Stacy (Border 1) and Alimx (Border 2) from Quilting Passion forum. I did the quilting and binding. I used the Waterworld pantograph by Jodi Beamish.

Backing with lots of fish.







I plan to donate this quilt to House for Habitat in Franklin, WV if they can use it. If not then to my local Project Linus group OR our local Gabriel Project).

Quilting Passion's forum is committed to charity quilting. The forum was born in 2002 and to date the members have donated 1,575 quilts (420 of those in 2006 and 311 in 2007).

Stitchers Group

Today is Wednesday .... quilting day with friends who meet at St. Margaret Mary Parish Hall. We meet every week and sometimes go on shop hops, lunches and wherever our heart desires.

We were a few short today but Nancy, Becky, Margee and I had a good morning chatting and working on our projects.

Becky worked on her Halloween Quilt, Nancy was able to tie one quilt and most of another, Margee worked on her cross stitch for DD who is soon to have a baby boy and I continued with the buttonhole stitch on my Santa/Rudolph in the photo booth.

Nancy brought in a wonderful Nativity wall hanging she made 15yrs ago when pregnant with her twin boys ..... she wanted to prove she does complete things. LOL

Here's Nancy and Becky with the notebooks that I made as a New Year's gift for everyone.

We missed our RingLeader, Marilyn, today ... hope you feel better soon. See you guys next week.

Last week Sharon brought in her beautiful Thimbleberries project.




And here's a peek at Margee's scrappy baby quilt for her new grandson who will soon to make his appearance.
Kate asked me for photos of my project, Santa and Rudolph in the Photo Booth. The pattern is a from Country Quilts by Cheryl Wall. The wool kit was purchased from Woolen Willow by DH. Here's 2 of the blocks that are sort of done plus a photo of the pattern (I didn't see it on Country Quilts website).

Just a note ..... anyone in the Parkersburg WV, Marietta OH, Belpre OH and surrounding areas are more than welcome to join us every Wednesday, 9:30AM at St. Margaret Mary Parish Hall.

22 Raffle Quilts

I want to tell you about an internet friend, Thearica. Thearica is a active member of HGTV message boards and hosting a 22 Raffle Quilts Challenge.

This challenge called "Life Is Like A Bowlful Of ____" In this challenge the quilters have been asked to use black and white fabrics and to incorporate one more color for a 3 color quilt. They had to fill in the blank in the challenge's title to represent what their 3rd color would be.

Some of them are:
7. Life Is Like A Bowl Full Of Watermelon
8. Life Is Like A Bowl Full Of Limes
9. Life Is Like A Bowl Full Of Raspberries
10. Life Is Like A Bowl Full Of Rubies
11. Life Is Like A Bowl Full Of Strawberries
12. Life Is Like A Bowl Full Of Buttered Popcorn

Tickets are $5.00 each. This give you 22 chances to win a quilt. If you were to buy the usual $2.00 ticket on each quilt, you would pay $44.00 to have a chance to win. $5.00 is indeed a bargain.

These quilts will be given away on July 4th or a couple days before or after. Thearica will post a definite date closer to July 1st when work schedules for those who are wanting to attend the drawing at Mary Jo's Cloth Store in Gastonia, NC.

Please stop over at Thearica blog to contact her. I'm not selling tickets or collecting money so please don't ask me all the particular ....... jump over to Thearica's Blog for all the information and photos. Thanks ...... let's raise money for Ronald McDonald House.

NOTE: LIFE IS LIKE A BOWLFUL CHARITY CHALLENGE is the heading on the HGTV message board.

STROKE

A friend sent this to me and it warrants reading ... decided my blog would be a good place.


STROKE: Remember The 1st Three Letters.... S.T.R.

STROKE IDENTIFICATION: During a BBQ, a friend stumbled and took a little fall - she assured everyone that she was fine (they offered to call paramedics) ......she said she had just tripped over a brick because of her new shoes. They got her cleaned up and got her a new plate of food. While she appeared a bit shaken up, Ingrid went about enjoying herself the rest of the evening.


Ingrid's husband called later telling everyone that his wife had been taken to the hospital - (at 6:00 pm Ingrid passed away.) She had suffered a stroke at the BBQ. Had they known how to identify the signs of a stroke, perhaps Ingrid would be with us today. Some don't die.... they end up in a helpless, hopeless condition instead.


It only takes a minute to read this... A neurologist says that if he can get to a stroke victim within 3 hours he can totally reverse the effects of a stroke... totally . He said the trick was getting a stroke recognized, diagnosed, and then getting the patient medically cared for within 3 hours, which is tough.


RECOGNIZING A STROKE Thank God for the sense to remember the "3" steps, STR . Read and Learn! Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. Unfortunately, the lack of awareness spells disaster. The stroke victim may suffer severe brain damage when people nearby fail to recognize the symptoms of a stroke .

Now doctors say a bystander can recognize a stroke by asking three simple questions: S * Ask the individual to SMILE. T * Ask the person to TALK and SPEAK A SIMPLE SENTENCE (Coherently) (i.e. It is sunny out today) R * Ask him or her to RAISE BOTH ARMS. If he or she has trouble with ANY ONE of these tasks, call 999/911 immediately and describe the symptoms to the dispatcher.

New Sign of a Stroke -------- Stick out Your Tongue NOTE: Another 'sign' of a stroke is this: Ask the person to 'stick' out his tongue.. If the tongue is 'crooked', if it goes to one side or the other , that is also an indication of a stroke. A cardiologist says if everyone who gets this e-mail sends it to 10 people; you can bet that at least one life will be saved.

AND: Sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes.

Snow

I'm still under the weather today .... maybe by Monday I'll be running around.

The snow is almost gone. I didn't get a photo when it was piled up on the ground New Years Day. It's hard to believe that on New Years Eve (when the plummers were here) we were out in shirt sleeves .... and bang New Years Day we had about 3-4 inches of snow.



DH, DD#1 and GD#2 are back from the Hannah Montana concert. She had fun and for her it was a 'once in a lifetime' event. DH said, 'there were thousands of little girls running around' .... I don't know what he expected ..... I'm glad she had a good time.

Sad Today

I'm alittle sad today. I was suppose to go to Cleveland, Ohio with DD#1 and GD#1. They are attending the Hannah Montana concert tonight. I've been sick with a super bad cold for 2 days so I'm stuck at home. DH went with them. I know GD#2 will have a fantastic time and she is crazy for Hannah Montana. The tickets were a Christmas present from her parents.



It's back to the couch for me. I'm so cold that I'm even wearing DH's heavy robe and laying under 2 layers of fleece. First I'll have some soup and crackers for lunch.

Covered Notebooks

On Wednesday I quilt/sew with some ladies ... we meet at St. Margaret Mary Parish Hall. We're not a quild, club, no rules, no dues ...... just friends getting together to quilt/sew and chat. We go on shop hops and out to lunch. It's a fun time every week.

The pattern is in the Fons and Porter magazine (see photo on the right), or you can order their kit Winter 2007, Easy Quilts. If you can't find the magazine locally go to amazon and order it.


I worked last week getting them ready ..... much to my disappointment we didn't meet today because we got lots of (surprise) snow. I have a few more to make as soon as I get more ribbon. Each notebook uses a different fabric and quilting motiff .... I quilted the fabrics on my long arm. Oh and remember all that batting I busted ..... I used a 5 yard length in this project. I did alter the pattern alittle to better suit my style of work. I'm very pleased with the outcome and they sure make nice, quick gifts.




I wanted to make each something small for the New Year to use throughout the year .... notebooks with quilted covers.