Lazy Saturday

Caleb is in his pajamas and ready to be tucked in bed when he gets home. That's Jeremy and Becki with him and Great Aunt Mickey in background. Caleb looks like his Dad and Mom. We had a lot of fun with him last Saturday night.
Mickey and Jack cooked my birthday dinner of lasagna and a big green salad. Delicious.
We also had a great surprise. Jeremy appeared without an orthopedic boot on his foot and walking without crutches. He's going to PT to get back use of muscles and tendons that have been idle for many weeks. He's gone back to work since the surgery in early November.
I've been working on my Jacob's Ladder this past week and have just six blocks to sew together. I'm looking thru my stash for an orangey red for the border and binding. Or do I want a brownish red. I'll know it when I see it. I do need to cut more 4 1/2" blocks of lights to make the outside border. The corners are 4 patches and an HST block on each side. I'm going to enjoy this quilt on my bed. It will be 84" x 84" when completed.
To date my favorite bed quilt is the Nickel Brick that I've been using since last summer. The black borders on each side of the 3" x 5" scrappy pieces set off the various blocks so well. I just love looking at it. When I change the sheets I rotate the quilt a quarter turn so I see something different each time.
Do you remember having quilts on your bed when you were small. We did. Many were in blacks, browns and pale tones. I remember following a color in a 4 patch or 9 patch with my fingers to see where they went in diagonal lines. Our quilts were old ones but in good condition. I think they might have come from my Great Aunt Cin's house after her death. She was Lucinda Gaylord English and lived in Whitney Point on Main Street. Uncle Harry told me she was a tailor and dressmaker.
Martha O'Keefe from Chenango Piecemakers Guild told us she was put down for an afternoon nap and not wanting to sleep, she checked out the ties on the quilts. If she could find a loose one, out it came.
Time to start my machine and get those six blocks done. Then to arrange the blocks and sew them together.
It will soon be NASCAR season in about three weeks. Hand sewing time when that starts. Good time to do bindings.
Chris

Can't Put It Off Any Longer

A few years ago Sue Had An Idea. Now Sue has a lot of ideas but this was one of her best. She saw the Fons and Porter Cutting Bee book and thought we could do a strip exchange at retreat.
On a Saturday at Casowasco we meet and exchanged strips, amidst a bit of confusion as some had cut their strips from fat quarters instead of across the width of 42" fabric. We exchanged 4 1/2" and 2 1/2" strips of assorted medium/dark autumn fabrics and assorted light fabrics. After we finished we were all going to make a quilt from the book. Donna Hanley had hers done first and we didn't see another for at least a year of more. Now some are appearing. Sue made two last winter in Florida.
I had good intentions and started the Jacob's Ladder, took it to retreat several times, put it away and decided to finish it this year, in time for our October quilt show.
Yesterday I got out the package of instructions, strips, blocks, pieces of blocks etc. Before I went to bed I finished this block. I need to make six more of this block and fifteen more of a variation on this block. It will be a great quilt for my bed when finished.
After Sue received an email from me yesterday morning, she called me. It was great to hear her voice. She is doing better and gets her cast off the wrist on February 10. She told me she has 5 screws holding the bone together and a pin to keep the wrist at the correct angle. She said the pin is under the cast so she can't see it. She is improving and had been out walking that morning.

Somehow with the Christmas hubbub I got behind on my donation blocks so I made this December block yesterday for Piecemakers. It is called Album Block Variation. The purples and lavendars in the fabric are just so spring looking.

This is the February block, done ahead of time. It is called Nelson's Victory. I think pink is my favorite color.

We had a dusting of 3 or 4 inches of snow overnight. Schools are on a two hour delay. I can hear snowplows at work clearing roads and parking lots.

Hopefully the roads will be clear by lunch time so I can go out to lunch with the Campfire Girls.

Now it is time to sew the next block. If I can do one a day they will be done quickly.

Chris

Sewing Donation Blocks

Here's my donation block for January. I mislaid the pattern and dark blue snowflake fabric until just before the meeting. Rail Fence is a great beginner pattern. I posted pictures of some of the blocks in my last update. Some used reds, greens and several other contrasting strips. Here's my February block. Attic Windows is the name. Joanne gave us the center square. I just happened to have the dark fabric (Quest for a Cure). The outer pink has small white dots. I've been collecting dots for some unknown reason.

This is SweetOldBob bringing the mail in. The Postman doesn't ring here. He just walks in. No school today in most of the schools in our area. Even Broome Community College is closed. Lots of accidents reported on the scanner. Red Hats cancelled for today. Ice underneath the snow we got overnight. Cars on their roofs, a tractor trailer tried to go under the Robinson Street Underpass in Binghamton. Left the catwalk from the top of the tanker behind. One car MVA on south side of Kattelville Hill, with injuries.

Sewing day today. I need to make a couple of blocks for PIecemakers Guild now.

On February 6th we will have Super Sew Sunday up in Norwich. We get a lot accomplished on that day. Good food, good friends and sewing.

I'm reading the Margaret Maron books in the Deborah Knott series. Today's choice is Death's Half Acre.

Last night Jeremy posted a picture of Caleb standing on Facebook. He was seven months old yesterday.

Be safe and stay warm.

Chris

Quilts, Calamities and Donation Blocks

Last night at Triangle Guild we turned in our Block of the Month for January. Ann sent us home in December with the dark blue fabric to use. The other two strips were our choice. This should make an interesting donation quilt. In February we are making Attic Windows. JoAnn gave us the pink cancer ribbon fabric to use as a center block. I have some deep pink dotted fabric that will be a good contrast for this block.
Each month we make 12 1/2" donation blocks and use them for quilts we give to various groups in need.
In December we sent a number of small baby quilts to Fox Hospital in Oneonta, Cincinnatus Rural Services and to Whitney Point School for distribution to families in need.

This is Carol Maslin's Underground Railroad quilt from the Eleanor Burns book of the same name. Carol's sister is on right.

This past Fall Carol and Eleanor closed the Sisters Snack Shack at Triangle. Their smiling faces will be missed at the Snack Shack. They had wonderful gardens that people strolled thru while eating their ice cream cones.

Eleanor said they are taking the quilt to school because a teacher asked them to bring it as that group is studying the Civil War.

Earlier this week we had news that one of our members Sue McDonald fell on a tennis court in Florida and broke her wrist, tailbone and pelvis. She had wrist surgery and now has a plate and pin in the wrist.

Carolyn Tirpok is having therapy at home after suffering a bad broken hip. The doctor in a local hospital sent her to Upstate in Syracuse after he saw her xrays.

Sylvia has been back with us following chemo and Paulette has her cast off. She fell and broke her wrist.

It's snowing hard here. Snowplows are out. I watched a car going around the corner sliding all the way. Accidents reported on the scanner. Good day to sew.

Chris

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all of my readers. I hope you have a safe, happy, healthy 2011. For a change today is warm, unlike so many I remember with zero temperatures and blustery and windy. This painting hangs in my kitchen. It was done a number of years ago by the late Esther Brooks who lived on Rt. 369. I think the barn is one on Rt. 369.
I'm packing up the Christmas decorations. Yesterday I bought a large red bag for the tree. It will hold a 9 foot tree. It isn't that long but it's fat. Bob wondered if it was a body bag. I told him to watch himself.
The snowman figures are staying out for a while. They look so jolly on top of the tv and on stands.
Off to Dawn's house for pizza and wings this afternoon.
Chris