Sunday, November 28, 2010

Happy Post Thanksgiving! And DWM!

We had out TG on Saturday, as everyone in my household worked over the actual holiday. This is something we are used to. We were able to gather some family together and have a nice dinner and visit, so I am thankful! I am also thankful to be employed with a very good job!
I thought about going out to shop on Black Friday AM after work, but I was so exhausted...no way! That early morning rush is not really for me anyway! If I do much shopping, it will be on etsy, or I'll make stuff myself!
I have a few things I am working on. I got these little blocks out tonight to sew some more of them. They are 4" Bowtie blocks. The pattern can be found here
I am making the blocks and playing with settings right now. It is a new to me technique of making the bowtie block. Kind of fun, because you get a little bit of dimention in the center of the block. I found it fun to unfold them and see how the center folds out. I'm easily entertained. LOL!
Here's one of the blocks:

And here's a setting I was playing with:

I am making the new Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt. I finished step 2 tonight. I quilted the quilt that is pictured on my header of this blog. I will show a photo when it is bound. I love days when I can sew and quilt without other demands on my time! Don't we all!

On another subject:
I realized I had not shared about our new dog Charly and the reason we have her! It has been about 2 months since our Akita, named Boxer (Bubby for a nickname) got very sick one day and we took him to the pet emergancy clinic, but it was too late! I don't want to say too much, as it still hurts to write about it, but he had a Gastric Torsion. His stomach got twisted. This is a life threatening condition. Bubby had been vomiting for several hours and we were talking about taking him to the vet on Monday-it was Sunday. Then I noticed his abdomin was hard and distended, and I know something was very wrong, so we took him to emergency. The vet said he could not do anything for him, but put him down. We were kind of shocked to loose him like that! It took awhile for us to want to adopt another dog, but we felt Walter needed a companion, and we missed having two dogs.
This is Walter:


And Here is our new dog Charly:

She is a Bull dog and possibly a Pitbull cross. She is loving and playful, protective and a handful! She does keep us hopping! Lately she has been trying to "talk" to us when she wants attention or is bored and wants to go out to play. We got her from the local animal shelter-SCRAPS. She is 2 yrs old.
So it is bitter-sweet. We have this great new dog, but lost a dear old friend.

Be sure to check out Patchwork Times for other DWM posts Here
God bless! May we all be thankful for the blessings in our lives!
Mary

Monday, November 15, 2010

DWM-11/15/10

I've been busy sewing and knitting and I finally took some photos so I can share!
Over my last four days off, I have worked on a variety of things. I needed to make a dent in the string drawers. They are getting full again! It has only been 6 months since I cleaned all my scraps up! So I made a Heartstrings top using blue strings. It has been awhile since I made one of these! They are so fun and easy, I need to keep a pile of foundations handy!



I also have been working on developing a new product fo my etsy shop. I make alot of the knitted dish cloths, and thought why not make some smaller for coasters? Then I thought, why not make something to store them in? So I made fabric boxes for them. On the bigger ones, I left them plain, but the smaller ones I wove fabric strips through the holes around the edge. I think it dresses them up a bit! The coasters are knit from cotton yarn, and are machine washable. The fabric boxes are made with a stiff interfacing-Peltex. If anyone has a comment, please feel free to critique! The photos need alot of help, I know!




Last, but not least is the two quilts I quilted and plan to bind today. The tulips one I worked on last summer, and the Angel one I made recently. I wanted to get some quick small quilts made for Christmas...I sold the others I had! I have this one with the angels almost and another with a snowman panel still to quilt.




Hope everyone is having a great Design Wall Monday!
God Bless
Mary

Follow this link here to see others DWM postings on Judy's Patchwork Times blog!