i started this about a year ago and am finally finishing the 1st block. all i can say is that i have been working on a bunch of projects and this wasn't on the front burner....

finally finished the 1st block although this isn't the picture of it...this is it before the last 2 stars were sewn down.

i love seeing birds at the feeders in the wintertime. it gives me hope for spring and the little guys are quite entertaining too.

a little downy woodpecker eating woodpecker suet

another bird at the woodpecker feeder

squirrel nest in the backyard

the little chipping sparrows are filling out for the winter

Today I'm 3!!

today Wilbur is celebrating his 3rd birthday (technically it was yesterday). We went to Petco to get dogfood and then to pick up some cookies (treats) and a new toy for the birthday boy. He loved going up and down the aisles and smelling all the dog food and toys. We finally settled on a ball (that will hopefully hold up better than the soccer and basketballs did) with a rope pull through it. the girls at Petco loved on him and fed him cookies too...all in all he had a very good trip out.

Charlotte was quite upset that she didn't get to go but was excited to share in the treats Wilbur brought back home. He's not so sure he wants to share his ball though.

One of my New Years Resolutions is to do something quilty every day, whether it is piecing, cutting or looking for patterns. Also to knit some every day too which is usually at night when sitting in front of the tv. And to make something for Christmas each month so i'm not totally overwhelmed at the end of the year. So far things are working out pretty good and i've managed to succeed in all areas....hopefully i will be able to keep it up.

i've been sewing half square triangles and laying out the pieces for Timothy's frog quilt. it's coming together pretty well i think.

the finished top strip WOO HOO!!!

and todays supervisor is:

i've seperated the individual units that will go along the edges so i don't have to take them apart later...yes it's happened before...

frog blocks and half blocks are all cut out now

unit layed out so i sew the individual pieces together correctly..

units stacked and ready to sew

stack of 18 alternating blocks all ironed and ready to go

finished block unit....woo hoo!!

Fabrics for Shawn and Timothy quilts

Shawn wants a fish quilt so i went through my stash of fabrics and found some fish from the fabric Doug brought back for me when he went to Hawaii a few years ago (without me mind you).

The seaweed is really cool and the quilt will be in a zig zag shape so it will be entwined throughout the fish.

The pattern is one i found in 24 hour quilts but i've had to modify it. i couldn't see any reason to cut the fish up into quarter square triangles and piece back together...it would only lose the fish, turtles, etc in the sewing of the pieces, so i've just done it as a 4 1/2" square blocks.

i've gone through my stash and pulled out fabrics to finally do a quilt for Timothy for Christmas. i'm taking seriously this working on presents all year long. Timothy likes frogs so that is the theme.


here are 2 1/2" strips sewn together and waiting to be cut into 2 1/2" for 4 patch blocks.

focal fabric and the fabric to go around them. the blocks will look like stars when they are finished.

stacked and ready to be sewn into 4 patch blocks

waiting to be sewn into 4 patch blocks. i thought the dragonfly pattern would go well with the frogs.

48 finished 4 patch blocks waiting to be ironed.

The green and purple reminds me of frog eyes or eggs. It came from Siobhan when she was cleaning out her stash before she left for England.

one of the finished 4 patch blocks

Christmas Cactus

My Christmas Cactus is blooming and full of buds waiting to bloom. Isn't she pretty?

closeup of some of the buds

closeup of the blooms

the possum was back last nite and the dogs found him/her in the feeder and terrorized the poor thing. he was out there again tonight so later on when i let them out Wilbur went straight for the feeder.

Wilbur trying to sniff out the possum

Mom, please don't make me go in the crate.....i'll be have while you're gone....i'm just soooo comfortable here...

if only i could trust her roaming through the house while i'm gone. Wilbur is quite trustworthy (except for the stuff he runs into while being a wild man inside). Charlotte on the other hand still occasionally poops and we just can't have that now can we.

Caught in the Act

after all this time i thought that the birds were the ones eating out of this feeder...apparently they have help

So, i was raised in maryland, had grandparents from southern Virginia (where it was closer to go to tennessee to shop) and there are definitely words that i say which are decidedly 'funny sounding'...otherwise why would my children and friends laugh when i say those certain words. go figure why this says i have no accent whatsoever. i wonder if anyone would actually offer me a job on the radio or tv since my voice is so non-committal....just a thought.

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
The West
The South
Boston
The Inland North
Philadelphia
The Northeast
North Central
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Who knew? when i updated my blog to the new beta version i didn't realize i had to reload the buttons, links, etc. i kept wondering why i had O - ZERO hits on the blog for the last 2 weeks when i KNEW my friends were checking out the blog. then i looked at it this afternoon and what do you know....squat was on there. no links. no buttons. no nothing but the posts. so i've been going through all the ring codes that thankfully i had saved. hopefully i've got everything there that is supposed to be there. argh, why does moving with the times have to be so painful????

Hickory Knob Retreat

January 11th - 15th was the Quilt Guilds Annual Retreat to Hickory Knob State Park in McCormick, SC. It's held every year over the Martin Luther King Weekend. Quilters come and work on projects for either all or part of the weekend.

This year I stayed in a cabin with Rachael T, BettyAnn & Sandie. Here are just a few of the pictures of all the fun and work that was accomplished over the weekend.

a family of deer pass by the cabin window....i'm trying to take pictures...and BettyAnn is rescuing my blow up bed from exploding.....

and more deer....a whole family of them went by...

Betty Ann and Sandie go over a seminole vest pattern BA wants to work on

Betsy busy working on Christmas tree skirts for Christmas

Rachel W and Linda Y setting up

Dana getting ready to sew

Jolene, Angie and Sandy set up and rarin to go

Pat and Buzzy ready to roll....

Angie sews the binding on her quilt. Angie is probably the only person I know who ENJOYS hand sewing bindings down on the quilt....'it means i'm almost finished' she says...

Patty L. busy at her machine. She made a Dear Jane quilt a few years back which was in our last quilt show (and did it all by hand mind you).

Marian and Elaine sewing Piece O Cake design quilts.

Grace and Pat W. sewing busily

Jolene shows her soldier quilt.

Angie and Pat take quilts down to the Blue Goose, the Veteran's Nursing Home in Augusta, Georgia each month.

The New York Beauty block in bright colors will be our donation quilt to raffle off for next year. A lot of blocks would be made over the weekend by the guild members.