Pride of the Prairie Banquet

Would you believe, this is the gift that was given to the quilters that attended the Pride of the Prairie's banquet on January 10? Unfortunately, I was not able to attend as I was at the hospital with my Dad. They saved this for me. I was so surprized. This was such a nice surprize. I thank all who donated. It helped make a not so great day a lot better.

Dad has improved so much. I am amazed. You do not know how a stroke will leave the patient. Dad wants to be able to go on his next trip. The power of positive thinking really works. A few prayers too.

Tudy's prize

Look what I won!! Yesturday I received this lovely prize from Tudy. I is so nice. Tudy, you do such beautiful embroidery. The tatted bookmark is so neat. I love to read and fold too many pages, or use odd bits of paper to mark my place. Just what I needed. Love the needle case. I am going to be starting a new embroidery project and the floss and needle case are perfect.

Thank you I love it all.

Blogaversary

I just checked out Sandy's in Stitches. She is have a give away for her one year Blogaversary. Go check her out.

Basket Quilt

Here is my basket quilt. I'll have to try to get a picture of the quilting. Twelve of the baskets were part of a block of the month at The Quilt Basket, in Downers Grove. I added more block to make it more of a bed size quilt. Marlene Williams, of Belvedere, did the quilting. It turned out so nice. I just have to bind it. I want to enter it in the Pride of the Prairie Quilt Show, in March.

I love the 30's fabrics. They are so feminine and pretty. I have another basket quilt in the works. Last year there was a shop hop that gave out basket patterns. Naturally I had to go so I could get the patterns. I have several of those blocks done and am going to put them all in a quilt along with some additional ones. Love those basket blocks.

One my way to see Dad. Have been cutting pieces for the "Carolina Christmas" mystery that is from Quiltville.com. I am doing it all in Christmas fabrics. Having to cheat a little and use background fabric that is not all Christmas. It sure takes a lot. It is going to be all Red, Green, and White. Going to put it together during Prairie Stitches retreat the beginning of February. This is a first. Not used to doing something so scrappy.

Dad

This morning we woke up to a beautiful frost. The weeds in particular were covered and so pretty.

Life has been life. The first few days of the new year were great. I was sewing a lot, got the tree down, and Dad came home from his latest adv enture. He spent almost 3 weeks on a cruise, leaving from Ft. Lauderdale, going through the Panama Canal and arriving in San Diego for the flight home. It sounds like he had a great time, with the exception of leaving his luggage at the ships dock. After spending Tuesday on the phone tracing it, the luggage was found and would be home by Friday.

ThursdayJanuary 7, Dad and I were going to have lunch and talk about his trip and keep each other company, as it was the 4th year since my Mom had passed away. I heard him, but he did not come to the door. I called the nurses and we got in to find him on the floor of his apartment, not responding. The ambulance was called and he was taken to the hospital. All sorts of tests were done. His sugar was off the charts, his temperature was at 102.5, he was fighting us, and did not know where he was. The fear was he had picked up some sort of bug while on his trip. He was admitted, and pumped with antibiotics. Friday he started to come around, but he did not understand where he was, and we could not understand him. Saturday, it seems he had a stroke on his left side. He thought he was still on the cruise. The fever went away, they got his sugar under control, and he started talking again. The nurses and doctors were wonderful. It was so sad seeing him not being able to express himself. By Tuesday he was coming around. They started physical therapy. He wanted to get up and go. His appetite came back. On Thursday he was transffered to Alden rehabilitation center for regaining his strength. As of today, he can't wait to get back to his apartment so he can sleep in his own queen size bed. He is looking so much better, his speech has come back as well as his thought process. It is amazing. This was the scariest time. All is well. Life is calming down.

The only thing I got down was a couple hundred yo yo's. Mindless busy hand work. Yesturday, Ron and I did drive to Rockforf in the morning to pick up a quilt that had been quilted. It is gorgesous. I don't have a picture yet. Tomorrow in daylight.

Farmer's Wife

Here are the current blocks for the Farmers's Wife. I now have 36 of these blocks done. This will be a pretty good size quilt as there are 111 6 inch blocks. I think I am the only one doing this quilt in 1930's reproduction fabric. I think I am going to start putting it together. That way I can start seeing which fabrics I have used. Susan and Kim from Prairie Stitches here in Oswego have been working on the patterns for us each month. We meet the first Monday morning of each month to get tips and encouragement on how to put the blocks together. We are going to start our 5 month, Monday January 4. This is a great way to work on this quilt. My friend Jan and I stay after and sew for the rest of the day. We usually get 5 blocks done before we have to call it quits. This is our way of keeping up!

Well, I think that about does it for me. I have been in the mood to sew, and have started the New Year off on a good note. Again my New Year's resolution is to work on those projects that have been sitting around, far too long. I did use up a lot of fabric from the stash last year, and managed to complete a lot of projects. I am pretty proud of myself for what I did accomplish. Unfortunately, the list is still long. Oh well, there is always tomorrow!!!!! Happy Sewing and Quilting.

Little Cutie and Friendship Bags

This is another project I have been working on. The bags on the left, are "Little Cutie", the pattern is "This and That". Naturally I had a time putting in that first zipper. Turned out just fine the second time around. There is the yo yo and old button added on the front.

The "Friendship Bag" is a pattern I found on the blogspot by Rachael, PS I Quilt. It is so cute and easy. I am up to 7 completed so far. It is a great way to use up scraps, or charm packs. The charm packs are just the right size for the strips. Made one using Christmas fabric, and it turned out so cute.

Now my husband wants to know if I am working on Christmas 2010. Good time to get a headstart!!!!!!

Happy New Year

I do not understand why this picture wants to be on it's side. It is ok in the photo file. Oh well! This block in from the home factory where they print the fabric. It was very interesting watching how it is printed. I have a couple more "blocks" that I am working on. It will take a bit of time to get this quilt created.

Happy New Year 2010

Happy New Year!!!!

Decided it was time to start working on my "Hungarian" quilt. I was there the end of September, 2008. It was a Hungarian Quilting Tour. I am going to go again in September of this year. I decided it was time to start working on the quilt, using the fabric I had purchased while there. I am making blocks showing each of the quilt guilds we visited. This one is of quilters that meet at the Textile Museum, in Budapest. I am printing some of the pictures on fabric to be included in the quilt. I will make filler blocks as I need them too.

My husband wanted to know if I had a plan for the quilt? The only plan is to take it with me. I am not known for planning a quilt ahead of time. I kind of make it (plan) as I go along. The hard part is going to be deciding which pictures to include. It has been fun to look at my pictures again, and think of the wonderful time I had.