Happy New Year From Las Vegas

My cute friend Regena was given a gift from her friends - a week in Las Vegas at the Las Vegas Hilton!!  Youch!!  You can only love friends like that!!  Well, she invited me to come stay for a few nights and celebrate New Year's Eve with her!!  So we are here on the 30th floor looking out over all the happy, crazy folks getting ready to bring in the new year in Las Vegas style.  They closed the Las Vegas Strip at 6 p.m. to any car traffic so it is only 600,000 bodies roaming the Strip!!!  Now you did hear me say we are up in our rooms, right??  And thats where we plan to stay!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE

and may 2011 be your best year yet!!

Happy Birthday to Me!!

Yesterday was my birthday and I was showered with all kinds of telephone calls and renditions of "happy birthday to you . . . "   I got beautiful white tulips from my family

and my darling niece, Michelle, who always knows the perfect gift for everyone, got me the STOIK Stitch Creator!!

The Stoik Stitch Creator converts photos into a counted cross-stitch pattern.  It’s a download with a cross stitch pattern creator, a cross stitch pattern and a color chart. It converts pictures or scanned images to cross-stitch schemes.  Stitch patterns may be changed by hand with virtual tools like needle, color fill, eraser, text. 

Does anyone out there have this fun toy and do you like it??

Well, I am off to play and see if I can figure this thing out!!!  :-))

A Christmas Gift From a Dear Blogging Friend!!

I have not been feeling well the past few days so I was not able to share this darling card and little stocking that I received from Mary over at I Piece 2 - Mary until today.  What a toally unexpected nice surprise!!  Thank you, Mary - I love them both!!

Now, the little stocking is tiny as are the little blocks and the tree on the card is made from tiny little yo-yos!!  Very cool!!!

Merry Christmas One & All

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold,

I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour,

which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you;

Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.  

                                                                                 Luke 2:10-12

May this CHRISTmas day be full of love and family and joy for each and every one of you!!  From my heart, Kris

Pop's Quilt is Back From the Quilter!!

I just got home yesterday late in the afternoon after two miserable days of driving through rain and snow.  But the fun surprize was that my Dad's quilt was waiting for me and it turned out darling!!!

 I think he will love it when he gets back from his holiday visit to my brother's in Arizona!!

Oh Where, Oh Where Has She Gone??

I feel like I have been away for ever!!  I have been over in Colorado Springs for almost two weeks for work and it realy seems like for ever!!!  My trial was finally yesterday and we did not get done, so I have to come back over here the end of the first week of January!!  Its actually colder in St. George than it is here!!

Thought I would just check in so you would know that Santa's reindeer didn't trample me while getting ready for Christmas - just in case anyone was missing me!!  I hope you are all doing well!!  I plan to be home this coming Monday afternoon!!

Look at the Fun Give-a-Way I just found over at the Star Rug Company!!!

This darling, darling rug that was hand-hooked and punched by Maria over at the Star Rug Company using strips of wool. Maria says it has the time worn look of an antique rug and is replicated from an antique pattern which she loves. This special rug would make a perfect addition to your holiday decor. It measures 18 inches by 18 inches.  Jump on over and check it out!!!  Maria said she will be anouncing the winner on December 7, 2010 - this coming Tuesday - the day after my Dad's 93rd birthday!!

Thanks Maria for such a wonderful Give-a-Way!!!

The Christmas Season Has Officially Begun

now that I have hung the beautiful wreath that my friend, Regena, made for me several years ago!!

Usually I have it up earlier than the 3rd of December, but with being down completely sick for almost 2 weeks, I lost a lot of time.  But now that I am up and feeling 100% myself, let the games begin!!

Wow!! A Wonderful Christmas Gift From A Friend Down Under!!!

I got the nicest surprize in the mail today from my cyber-friend, Helen McNaught, over at Aunty Hennys.  I first met Helen when she sent me one of her International Siggies and I sent her one of mine.  I found out about her blog and I have been following her posts for months!!  And I have her link on the sidebar on my blog. 

Its funny, I have read on other blogs where someone gets a gift from a cyber-friend out of the clear blue sky and I always thought that was so cool!!!  Well, now I am one of those lucky kids!!!  Thank you, Helen!!!  I love it!!!  I am calling your gift a Mug Mat (as its not as big as a mug rug) and that is what I am going to use it for: my hot chocolate and egg nog and all the other holiday drinks that I find!!!  :-)

Call to Quilters All Over the World for Healing Hearts Blocks

How small of a world is it??  I just wrote a post about my Dad's Love Quilt yesterday and just now as I was surfing the quilting blogs on QuilterBlogs.com, I came across Shirley Goodwin's blog, DyeingtoDesign, asking for hearts for the families of the miners who just died in the mining disaster at Pike River mine on the west coast of the South Island of New Zealand, resulting in the deaths of 29 miners.

I am passing on Shirley's message and you can connect to her blog HERE to see what she needs and where you can send your offerings!!!  May God bless these families in their very sad time!!!

My Dad Turns 93 Next Week!!

During the summer of 2007 we had a big family celebration!!  My brother, Greg, turned 60 that July and his son, Justin, turned 30 a few weeks early and our Father turned 90 in December of that year.  It was a wonderful time together and I had made a "Love Quilt" for my brother.  I had sent out appliqued heart blocks earlier in the spring to all his kids, grand-kids, siblings, my Dad and some friends and asked them to sign the heart how ever they wanted!!  It was fun and whimsical and it turned out great!!!  He loves it still and tells me he uses it almost every day!!  :-)))

Everyone loved it so much, I decided to do one for my Dad for his 90th birthday that December.  Well, life got in the way and so I only had two rows done to give him at his birthdy party.  There were lots and lots of presents on the table and he was like a kid.  He opened the partially made quilt, said that's nice and went on to open all the glorious store-bought gifts.  I was crushed!!!  I put the UFO away and didn't look at it for nearly three more years!!  Well, I finally got over myself last month and decided to get it done for his birthday this year!!

Here are just a few of the blocks made by kids, grandkids, great-grand-kids, nieces, nephews, etc.  I have the top almost done and it is going to be tied so I have a week from tomorrow to get it done!!!  The race is on!!

I think there are a total of 30 hearts and they will be mixed in with 9-patch and 4-patch blocks to make a whimsical quilt for his bed!!!  I think he will like it when it is all done!!!

Happy Thanksgiving, Everyone!!!

Enjoy your wonderful Thanksgiving day with all your family and loved ones!!

I Have Been Sick, Sick, Sick!!!

I started feeling punk last Thursday and just hung out quietly until I had to help all day Saturday to get the Singles Thanksgiving dinner ready for Saturday night.  Well, that was the downfall.  I went downhill from there and as of this morning, I started taking antibiotics as this must be more than just a bad cold.  I have been doing a lot of sitting and sleeping and no quilting but when I have felt a little better I did get to work on my new "Holy Night" cross stitch so I thought I would show you my progress:

It is really turning out nicely.  I splurged and used the hand-dyed threads instead of the DMC thread.  I am glad I did except the internet company I purchased the threads from let me know at the last minute (and after they had taken my money) that they did not have all the threads in stock and now they will not answer my emails!!  I have been having to jump around because I don't have all the threads.

Also, I had a little clip-on magnifying glass by Daylight that I have clipped onto the rim and its like putting my needle through huge, boulder-size holes!!!  Love it!!!

If I am not better by next Monday I am going to the emergency to see what I might have.   I would love any prayers you might want to offer up for me!!  :-))) 

A Blessed Sunday to Each & Everyone of You!!

That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,

may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth,

and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might

be filled with all the fullness of God.

Ephesians 3: 17-19

My First Wonkie Scrap Block! Hoo! Hoo!

Well, as I have been blog-hopping over the past few weeks, I have been seeing my favorite bloggers such as Allie over at Strandz (I got the word wonkie from Allie but I spell it differently) and Sharon over at Vrooman's Quilts making these darling scrappy quilt blocks.  Also, Jodi over at Pleasant Home has created a "Sew Scrap Along" to help us turn ALL our scraps into fun, fun quilts!!

I joined Jodi's "Sew Scrap Along" awhile back but it was looking at everyone's darling scrap quilts that got me motivated.  I am not really sure how everyone else is actullay constructing their blocks, but since I love to paper-piece, I decided to make a template, a wonkie template, and just go for it!!  Well, look at how cute my first 8" block turned out:

Thanks for all the support I receive from so many wonderful blogging friends out there!!!  You keep me motivated and happy!!  :-)))

It's Been A Long Time Since . . .

I have done any counted cross stitch!!  The first one I did was about 40 years ago when the only counted cross stitch came from the Norwegian countries and the only place I could find one was when I went up to Solvang near Santa Barbara in Southern California.  Otherwise, the only cross stitch you could get back in those days was the printed cross stitch on such things as kitchen towels, pillowcases and tableclothes!!

I found this one up at Shepard's Bush in Ogden, Utah last summer when I was up that way visitng my friend, Sue.  I chose this one because the fabric used is a 19-count linen and if you have even done counted cross stich on linen, you know you go over 2 threads.  That way, the holes I put my needle into are big nd the stiches are big and these old eyes of mine can see those big holes at night.

The threads used are overdyed threads with names like Chocolate Cream Pie, Fools Gold and Root Beer Float.

The piece I am doing is called Holy Night, a Shepard's Bush pattern.  After the stitching is done, there is an assortment of little buttons that are added to the piece in strategic places to give it some depth and added detail:

Look at those little sheep in the top right corner - are they cute, or what!!!

This picture is really small, but it will give you an idea what I have gotten myself into.  Click on the picture for a better look!!

New Give-A-Way from Mandy at Bijou's Whimsy!!!

Look at this darling little painting with its own easel that Mandy of Bijou's Whimsy is giving away!!  The drawing ends on November 29th at midnight and the winner will be announced on November 30th!!  Jump on over and enter the drawing and check out her Blog and work - you won't be disappointed if you like fun and whimsy!!

 

This Block Only Took Me Three Hours To Make

and it's far from perfect!!!

This is the block we were to make in Sally Collin's day long class on Precision Piecing.  And yes, it took me three hours to make because I was working on the process, and when you are working on these teeny, tiny pieces it is amazing how difficult the process is to perfect!!!  This block is 2" unfinished!!!  Youch!!!

It was a super fun day and Sally is so much fun and a great teacher!!  And patient!!!  Understatement!!!  :-)

If I am ever to learn the patience to do this minature work and complete the quilt for the class, the quilt would look something like this:

That's a pretty big "if" though!!!  :-))

After the class was over, Linda Sidlow invited me to go have dinner with her and Sally and Charlotte Gary, another gal who took the class.  We had a great time eating and talking and enjoying each others' company!!  It was a full and glorious weekend!!!

Perform Each Process With Skill And Care!!

These are the words of Sally Collins, an award-winning quiltmaker, teacher and author who has been quilting since 1978 and teaching since 1985. 

I had the incredible opportunity to go to a lecture and "Truck Show" this evening that was put on by our Dixie Quilt Guild.  Ms. Collins is a remarkable quilter and a VERY fun lecturer!!  Her quilts range in size from very small to wall size.  She is most recognized for her quality workmanship, attention to detail and teaching expertise.  But it was evident that what she loves the most is the journey of designing and making her quilts.  She told us how she started out quilting by standing in front of a store (she thought it was a sewing machine shop) that had a quilt in the window and she was so fasinated by it she wanted to make one, even though she had never done any type of sewing, let alone quilt making.  Her stories were full of humor and sage advice.

As she talked about learning to sew, and then learning to make a four patch (in the pre-rotary cutter days) to adding binding not cut on the bias, becasue she had no idea what "cut on the bias" even meant, she made the profound comment that "mistakes are stepping stones to sucess."

Her quilts, many of them 12 inches and 16 inches and 22 inches, have hundreds of pieces in them!!!  She let us come up and touch her quilts and fondle them and oooww and aaahhhhh over them and take pictures.  So, I took pictures, lots of pictures!!  But I want you to know that these pictures do not do justice AT ALL to these exquisite pieces of art.

Sally Collins is a wonderful, very humble ol' hippie from the San Francisco Bay area and she told us that "they're just quilts."  Oh my goodness, if these quilts are JUST quilts . . . Enjoy!!

The pen above will give you an idea at how small most of these quilts really are!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If, and  thats a BIG if, I had to chose a favorite one it would be this one (above)!!!  Incredible and hand quilted!!! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the things that Sally told us was that she seperates design and color from workmanship.  She explained that this means she designs each piece as she wants it, makes sure that her fabrics and colors are perfect for that project, gets everything ready, design and color-wise, and THEN she starts sewing.  She finds that separating the processes are much more satifying for her when the top is complete.

Sally was kind enough to let me take her picture in front of her gorgeous quilts and she gave me permission to show all her quilts here at The Quilting Garden.

This is a picture of Ms. Collins with Linda Sidlow who is the gal who booked Sally 2 years ago for this lecture series AND tomorrow's class on Precision Piecing.  And I am lucky enough to have found a place in the class even though I was on the waiting list up to a couple of days ago!!!  I want to thank Brigette Luckau for having unexpected company all weekend and calling me to take her place in the workshop tomorrow!!!  And thank you, Sally for a wonderful evening!!!

Ok, it is late and I have to go dream of these gorgeous quilts and what we are going to learn in tomorrow's workshop.  I hope you are enjoyed these wonderful quilts.  Click on any of the pictures to see a larger size!!

'Nite All!!!