SNOW????

It snowed today....in October....in Illinois flat land!!!! I am NOT ready for snow. It did not "stick" but the air was full of it. The kids were thrilled. Me, not so much. I made myself feel better by lighting the first fire of the year.The day stayed bright, in spite of the snow, as I had a nice surprise. The grandkids came today because their Aunt (Rachel's sister) changed her visit from today to tomorrow. What does all that mean?? Emerson got her quilt today!She enjoyed sitting up for that pose so much that she stayed that way for a while. Though she was awake most of the day, she did take a snooze while wrapped in her new threads!
It is quite large in comparison to her size. I am glad she has plenty of room to grow into it. It is a little bigger than TJ's quilt. I showed TJ's quilt back when I first started blogging. I thought I would show it again, since there are so many new readers since then.

Not a great pic as it is on the stairs, but you get the idea. I had so much fun working on that quilt. The colors are not my norm, but how could you not have fun with that??? I did better and had it completed well before TJ was 6 weeks old, though he may be about that age in this picture. We really enjoyed the day regardless of the snow flurries and 24 degree temps we are facing tonight. TJ let me "catch" a couple of pics of him.He played with the kids and then "wrestled" with Paw Paw when he came home. Emerson also had some Paw Paw time.I need to scoot...my new favorite show is coming on. Have you seen "17 Kids and Counting" on TLC? I love the Duggar Family and really like their new series.

Emerson's Quilt

Emerson's quilt is complete and waiting to be wrapped around her! It will not be today though. We expected to have her for a few hours while her parents took her brother on a fall outing, but the wind here is really fierce. Not good to take little kids out into. I will give it to her on Tuesday or Wednesday, when I see her next. Like I said, I am very pleased with how it turned out. The hand quilting really stands out.Now in my humble opinion, a quilt is not finished until it has been washed and dried. This last step really makes a difference in the appearance of the quilt. I loved how Alesha said "When you start talking quilting, I hear Charlie Brown's teacher's voice." I know I have many readers who are not quilters, so bear with me here. Wah wah wah...wah wah...is that clear Alesha??!! I could not resist!!! Really here is an example of what I am talking about. This picture is BEFORE I washed it. The binding is not on yet, but the quilting is complete.....
Now, same quilt AFTER being washed...... The back of this quilt showed NO quilting, it was so busy. That is always disappointing to me, as I love the back of a finished quilt. After washing and drying, you can even see the texture through the busy-ness of the fabric.So what is next??? Well, I have my UFO list on my sidebar. I plan to finish this little baby quilt for a friend's first grandchild. I will do both hand and machine quilting (hidden completely in the ditch cause I am not great at machine quilting), as I have little time.And then there is the pink and brown quilt, which is in the hoop already. Did you notice the new header on my blog??? It is VERY plain, and not too exciting....unless you are a hand quilter. It is there for a reason. It is to keep me focused on my goal to finish the pink and brown....it is the back of that quilt, basting stitches and all! See the 4 solid pink squares??? That is where I am...everything from the center out to those 4 solid squares is finished...except 2 of the solid squares. Still a long way to go (alot of the quilt has been cropped just to keep you in suspense), but I have until New Years Eve, right!!??

I thought I would share a couple of pics of the little kids....

Charlotte is working hard on a poster for Awanas. She is done with it now and even had her brother help her...that is huge! She did a nice job. Other than helping Charlotte for a short time, Zachary has pretty much played outside in the wind. He said he had to wear his "wind-breaker" and he would be fine! The sun is shining, but the leaves are blowing....all over the place!!I spent most of the morning nursing a headache that finally went away after my second cup of coffee. I felt energized and washed the kitchen floor, dusted and vacuumed, and then watched Anne of Green Gables on PBS while working on the pink and brown. Kyle has a "horror" movie about a killer grizzly bear for us to watch with him tonight...no little kids are invited...and I will quilt through that movie for sure!!

I will be sure to get a pic of Emerson with her new quilt, but in the meantime, here is one from the other day...no cross eyes, or smile, but cute just the same!

Emerson Moments

It has been a busy week here. Lots of quality baby time too. TJ and Emerson came to visit a couple of times. Good for me that Emerson came along, because TJ has NO time for his old Grandma any more. He is too busy playing. Plus, he runs the other way when I get the camera out!! So Rachel, Emerson and I visited on Thursday. I love this picture of Rachel and her daughter.

I finished the quilting on Emerson's quilt on Thursday. It is always bitter sweet to finish a loved quilt. Sooooo many hours of stitching, but the end result is SOOOOOO worth it! On Friday morning I made the binding and sewed it on the front of the quilt before the grandkids got here at 10:00 am.Rachel had an appointment so I was babysitting. TJ joined in for some "pre-school" and then they were off to play! Emerson and I had a nice visit.....She ooooh'ed and ahhhh'ed while I worked the hand sewing on the binding of her quilt.
Still working on that focusing, but getting better at it......She heard a noise behind her and turned her head to look. I was surprised at that!!
It was not long before she was yawning and it was time for a snooze.She loves to be "papoosed" in her blankets. Tomorrow she is coming to receive her finished quilt. It has even been washed and dried and the quilting is wonderful. I am very pleased with how it turned out. I will show it to you then.

God's Blessings to you.

Winona's Quilts

Progress is being made on Emerson's Sunbonnet Sue Quilt. Those girls "pop" when you quilt around them. It is a wonderful effect. With 8 blocks and all the sashing strips finished, I settled in to finish that last block....My quilting thread was just about gone!!! I thought I had another spool. If not it would be a disaster. I would need to go to the other side of town to get some...that is not as easy as it sounds with our schedule. After all kinds of hunting I found a brand new spool in my "take-along" bag.I finished that block and have moved on to the borders. Many of you may "know" Winona from your comments box. We have become great e-mail friends and I just love her! She is close to my age, has grown children, which she homeschooled, and grandchildren who are as adorable as my own! We have alot in common, but a major common thread (pardon the pun) is that we both love to hand quilt! I have bugged Winona to death about starting her own blog, as her e-mails are wonderful to read. She is thinking about it and will hopefully start a blog after Christmas. In the meantime, I have permission to share some of her wonderful quilts with you......

This pink baby quilt is Winona's latest finish. It is gorgeous. It is very close to the size of Emerson's quilt. I am certain she started quilting this well after I began Emerson's quilt. Did I mention, she hand quilts?? Yes...she is like Sue, in that she gets much done with her time. Not a "time waster!" (hanging my head)This is one of my favorites. I can tell it is Thimbleberries...another thing Winona and I have in common....we both LOVE Thimbleberries. Isn't this wonderful!!?? Her cutie is posing at the bottom of the pictureMany of you quilter's were doing the "Orange Crush" mystery with Bonnie. Winona did it too, but you never got to see it...until now....Gorgeous!!!!!

This next quilt is one that Winona is still quilting on. There are 39 pieces in each block!!! It is her granddaughter's quilt and is called "Ava's Hearts". It is stunning!

Winona's birdhouse quilt....hand appliqued circles...She is just as infatuated by the backs of her quilts as I am!!! Look at this hand quilting on the back of the birdhouse quilt. Incredible!Here is Winona's Checkerboard Cherries. She hand quilted cherries in the borders...Wonderful!!!
Since it is fall, I thought I would show a couple of Winona's fall quilts. She has made several...it was very difficult to "pick" which quilts to show you. Here are my 2 favorite fall quilts.
I LOVE IT!!! Look at that quilting!!!!

Winona is also a bag lady....she makes wonderful bags! Here is a diaper bag she made for her daughter. Notice the quilted hearts on the top panel....So what do you think??? Tell her ladies!! I thought so!!!! See Winona, they all want you to start your own blog!!!!!!

Home Sweet Home

Things are back in order here. It is a good feeling. It has been a mixed bag here this weekend. I got alot accomplished, but have been dealing with some major sinus pain. Not fun. On the positive side of things, the bathrooms are cleaned....The kitchen is tidy....The living room and family room are spic and span...The office/sewing room is once again in order....I even dusted all the wall hangings in the back hallway.And, yes, I did take time out to quilt on Emerson's quilt.That is an old picture...I have 6 blocks out of 9 finished and am working on some of the sashing pieces. Speaking of Emerson, I saw her today for about a minute. I stopped to drop off some puzzles for TJ. Rachel's sister and Aunt, Uncle and cousins were coming to meet baby. Emerson was sleeping when I was there and since I had groceries in the trunk I could not wait. She is doing quite well. We had a little concern with her bilirubin levels. They were climbing so they put her in a bili blanket at home and her levels are coming down now. Poor baby has been pricked in the heel almost everyday of her entire life!I have also been working on another little project. Take a look....I am hoping that quilting will make it come alive...or tone it down! It actually is quite pretty in person. Autumn colors of gold, red, brown and green. Stay tuned to find out what it is for...