daily yarns 'n more

baby surprise

I took off again on Saturday, back to Illinois for a surprise baby shower for a family friend who grew up with my older daughters, and boy was she surprised.

I had made a Dr Seuss baby quilt and a nursing cover up.

This is what I have been working on that has kept me so busy lately.  Now I'm working outside in the yard.  It's been such a long winter and being able to go outside is awesome and the weather has been so nice, I'm absolutely loving it.  I brought back a van full of boxes and odds and ends from my parents home that they've already packed up, and I've been cleaning things out and getting things ready for their arrival.

I hope Y'all have been doing good.

grandmas quilt

Before I even start this post I want to say Thank You to you all who said a little prayer for my mom.  I also appreciated each and every comment. 

As soon as the snow stopped I was able to head out in the morning.  I was gone a week and in that time my mom did well.  My mom did in fact have a stroke and her heart is not good.  But, by the time I got to the hospital, my mom had recovered the feeling back in her arm and left side, also her speech was back to normal.  I stayed the week helping them and helping them figure things out.  Life around here is going to change, my parents are most likely going to move in with us here at Gentle Hearth Farm.  They're not to the point of going to a nursing home, but living with us I can keep an eye on them.  If we still lived in Illinois there would be no problem with them living where they are living, I could check on them everyday, but life changes.

With all that has gone down, I've thought more and more of my grandma's quilt.  It has a fray in one of the fabrics and I have no idea how to repair it.  I don't want to take it apart if I don't have to.  Any ideas as to how to repair it would be greatly appreciated.

The power of prayer is unbelievable, and my mom was so lucky, even the doctor was amazed and happy how she recovered from the stroke.  He called it a heart related stroke, and with her heart jumping around like it does, is the reason why the stroke occurred.

So come fall, life here will be changed.

Life just never stays the same does it?

 

lilac quilt

This is one of the reasons that I've not been visiting blogs as much, or blogging for that matter.  I've been quilting as well.  I quilted this one myself and I probably wont ever again do something this fancy without a quilting machine.  I was a total wreck when I finished this.

I traced the pattern then I sewed along the traced lines.  It was not easy trying to get the quilt shoved in between the needle and the machine, that space was a lot smaller than I thought.

As you can see by the top photo we haven't had any sun lately, it's been pretty overcast and hazy up here on the ridge.

I hope Y'all have a great day today. 

 

april :: showers

Did they bring you May flowers?  This is last months mini quilt that I'm finally posting.  The blue fabric gives it a watery effect and I didn't care for what the spray that I used to hold the mini quilt to the batting did to the blue fabric.  It gave it a glued look and I hope that eventually it goes away.

Here's another quilt I've been working on.  I just love the fabric in this one and was planning to give it away to the cause I've been making baby blankets for but I just couldn't, not that the people where these baby blankets are going to don't need it.  I wanted to give this one to someone I knew and that is my grandson Mitchell, who will be here in a few days.

Hope you all have a wonderful day!

what's been happening in and out of my sewing room

I can't believe Easter is next Sunday already.  I am doing a monthly mini club and last month we made this one.

I needed a freehand quilting foot for my Bernina sewing machine.  I know I didn't really neeeeed it, I wanted it :)  I have two sewing machines, and old Bernina 1008 series and a new Baby Lock, which is an embroidery machine.  I like sewing on my new machine, but I also like sewing on my old machine too.  Anyway, to get this foot I so dearly wanted I had to go to a shop that is a Bernina dealer and that my friends was in LaCrosse.  So, I took a road trip last week and while there at this cute shop I had to shop and make it worth my trip.  I found some cute fabric (the one on the right) and bib pattern.  This shop had different fabric then the one I go to in town, so that was good.

The Villa Rosa Sliver Star pattern I made for last month is done and is hanging in my living room.  I did take a photo of it on the wall but it's a tad too dark inside, so I took another photo outside.  I can't wait to start on the next one which is in two days :)

While I've been sewing Jim's been working outside getting ready for our outdoor sauna.  It's ready for the concrete pour.

Well this is what's been happening on the farm.

Hope you all have a wonderful Monday.

after almost 2 years...

Yesterday I finished another UFO.  I thought of sending this out to be quilted but I wanted to start and finish it myself...and I did.

Maybe now I can finish another UFO that I started just after this one.

It's beautiful here in the Ocooch Mountains this Sunday morning, I hope you all have a wonderful day.

silver star

I had fun yesterday making this quilt top at the local quilt shop, it's from the Villa Rosa Designs from the Rose Cards.   After quickly picking out fabrics and I mean quickly, this is what my quilt top turned out like.  I love the rich colors and next week I'm going to learn to do stippling, which I'm very excited about.

I made it home in time to do my part of the second sap run...whew!

It was so breezy out today, that trying to get the quilt top to hang nicely on the clothesline was next to impossible, so I settled for this shot.  I thought it looked neat hanging there with our neighbors barn in the background. 

while the sap was boiling

I finished the baby quilt that I was making for a wonderful cause.  I used "minky" fabric for my backing, I have not made anything with this fabric and I absolutely love the feel of it.

I made 4 place-mats and now I'll work on finishing them up.  It's definitely busy over here :)

christmas mouse comes out for the season

I just love this little mouse.  I bought her way back in the late 1980's and she only comes out at Christmas time.  She's sitting on a table runner that was a UFO for over a year that I finally finished.

There is a story about this table runner.  I bought this kit from a shop about 1 1/2 hours from my home here in Southwest Wisconsin.  It was in the clearance section, but since I was a beginning quilter and not really knowing what I'm doing or what I'm buying, I thought it was a SUPER price for this kit...and I'm sure it was.  The thing of it is tho, there was no pattern in the kit....DUH!!  How did I not know this?  Well the kit wasn't marked with anything...the size or that there was no pattern inside the kit.

Well, I wasn't going to buy the pattern, I knew just who I was going to bring it to, Pam the gal who teaches the quilting classes in town has been quilting for years and years, and I figured if she couldn't help me figure it out then I'd just have to break down and buy the pattern...UGH!!

I didn't have to buy the pattern, because with her help I was able to make the table runner.  I added a black binding which I think finished off the runner.

I learn things everyday and the next time I buy anything like this I will know to look to see what all comes with it before I buy it. 

I have been on a roll lately getting my UFOs done and I still have a few more in my sewing room.

Linking with Crazy Mom Quilts for finish it up friday.

it all started way back in 2009

I joined a swap, a block swap, and at that time I really didn't know what I was doing.  Truth be told, I had never made a quilt block before.  I have cut squares out and sewed them together to make a quilt.  Did I know what I was doing?  Absolutely not.  I had no idea how to pin the quilt, put the binding on, and quilting it was totally foreign to me.  I have made a few "quilts", just don't look too closely at them.  They're put together in a way that would make the most experienced quilter in the world cringe.  I'm sorry I can't link back to the blog who hosted the swap as she's gone private with her blog.  I learned also that everyone makes their blocks so differently, and I apologize to anyone who had trouble with mine :)

I had no idea when I received these blocks in the mail what the heck I was going to do with them.  So, I wrapped them in tissue paper and placed them in a plastic bag not knowing how to store them.  But the blocks came with me in the move here to Southwest Wisconsin, I carefully unpacked them and put them in my sewing room for that 'someday' when I would make a quilt with them.

I have to say that having been only here a year, I have learned so much about quilting from the wonderful ladies that are at the quilt shop I go to in town.  I'm pleased with what I came up with in my idea for this quilt.  I wanted the blocks to pop out at you, so I went with black sashing and black border and binding.  I hand sewed the binding on and I haven't done hand work in a long time, but I'm glad I did it.

Thanks to my wonderful hubby who held it up for me to take this picture, and this will be hanging in my home, I have the perfect spot for it.