Jersey Quilt and Book Pages...

I FINALLY finished Michael's Jersey Quilt! Football jersey's from the time he was 7 to high school. Barb Hazen did the custom quilting, including a few well placed shamrocks~love it. I squared it up this morning , then spent hours binding and sleeving it. Michael has returned to school with a way to hang it in his dorm room and very pleased it is done! I want to show the reverse side....

.....it is a great football jersey print! Elaine (Quiltingnewbie2) found yards of it when she was moving. Nicki mentioned to her the jersey quilt I was making Michael and asked me if I wanted it! It is perfect! Thank you little woman!

I have been steadily stitching on Colleen's Book pages. The base is coffee dyed felted wool. I have had fun just finding things that I love and sewing them down. The thread painted winged heart was my practice piece for the CQ purse I made a few months ago; a slide frame wrapped in cheesecloth with ruched silk velvet is in lower right corner. Vintage lace, a tiny doily, a crown off an old child's shoe from Sally Ann's, beads and an old metal button are all little treasures I came across.

The second page....velvet ribbon, tea stained doily (using rose hips tea which gave all the bits in that batch a rosy tint)  lace, fish beads (I'm a Pisces), rushed chiffon, an old necklace pendant, a keyhole and a celtic knot using tracing paper as a pattern. I consider these pages 90% done...then off to Nicki for her talents!
This Book RR continues to be one of my favorite projects. Good people sharing great work.

Thanksgiving was a wonderful reuniting with aunts, uncles and cousins in Cincinnati, Ohio! I have 9 cousins but really only had contact with 3 of them when I was a kid. (3 were in Los Angeles and 3 were in Chicago and limited contact with them)

Jeff is my age, Tracy is my sister Noni's age and Kelly is almost 7 years younger than me. They didn't live in NY so we would see them intermittently, but it was always a great time~a highlight in childhood memory. As family's go, the matriarch (my grandmother) dies and things get tense between sisters and contact falls away into busy lives. I have missed that familial attachment and am happy to have reconnected with them. Besides my kids it is only my sister and her 2 offspring here in NY.  It was like no time had passed and fun was had by all!

Noni, my sister and me on Thanksgiving Day.....thankful for loving and laughing!

While in Cincinnati, my niece, Darcy posted on my Facebook that we were indeed in Cincinnati! My HGTV  message board friend, Mary Ann (McPatches) saw it and since she lives in Cincinnati inquired if there would be time to get together....Yes! We had coffee early Friday. It was so nice to see her again and chat about life. She has been undergoing chemo treatments and had recently ditched her wig for her new doo! It looked great.

I get to see her again in 5 months at this year's retreat in North Carolina! It is a real bond with my retreat friends. I truly appreciate them all. I know if I were in any city that any of them live I would be welcome. How cool is that?!

Melissa and Cory are in Florida with her future in-laws again, doing the Disney thing. I am Cliffy's caretaker this week.

A busy week awaits. Dinner's with friends, luncheon with quilting friends in Rochester, Zumba, Dr. appointment and work. December always fills up quickly. I look forward to my week off after Christmas. A Lot!

I have learned:

1. I am getting better at the camera pic downloading on Windows Essential Photo Gallery. Less slow going we will say.
2. Pedicure = pretty toes + mini spa experience. Worth more than the $20.00.
3. Operation Write Home. Very cool program for our troops. A little bit of your creative time.
4. Cook This, Not That, the second book after Eat This, Not That, is a cookbook even I am excited about! I hate to cook. The pictures are awesome. I will really make some of these!
5. I did in fact where that Fisher sweatshirt all weekend!

Cool Quilts by My Friend Marylee

I wanted to post these a while ago....Martha & Marylee, best friends since childhood, done in a pictorial style. I actually took this picture of them at Martha's 50th birthday party this past summer so the Marylee could get a pic to render for her as a gift. She made 2 (!) of the quilts and let Martha choose, either the green tinted or brightly colored quilt. If you know Martha you know she chose the colored one! These are unbelievably wonderful. They won numerous ribbons at our quilt show and well deserved!

Getting ready to leave for Cincinnati tomorrow to have Thanksgiving with cousins, aunts and unlces that I haven't seen in too many years. Looking forward to it but have to get through this day first~! Dr. appointment,  then some CT (?) scan of body parts, then shopping, then packing but still have to Zumba and dine with Melissa! It all gets done.....

I have learned:

1. DMC 498, the perfect redwork color......runs. You KNOW how I know this....
2. Tiny nail + tire - air = (!). 
3. Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, the CD by the same name....is excellent.
4. Scanning me some kidneys in an hour....

The New and Improved is Not Always

This new laptop continues to be an uncomfortable transition. I have trouble loading pages for some reason...they time out in seconds. Pics load slowly. I don't even know where to start...is is my Internet provider? My router? My laptop?
I miss my old one.
I have kept very busy stitching on Colleens book pages ( I will work diligently to get pics of them loaded this weekend)
I am finishing up my Homemade Holiday Swap gift and will mail off to its recipient Tuesday.
I have Melissa and Cameron on a mission this weekend to procure paint chips from various hardware stores in town! for my current online art quilt challenge. I have a cool idea and am anxious to get started so I can finish by the due date, December 5th.

I want to share this piece. Junamea made this gorgeous quilt. I was pleasantly surprised when I saw it hanging at our quilt show. She had seen a picture similar to it in an Australian magazine and decided she could do it. I love how she only colored some of the lace pieces. I know my crazy quilting friends would like this.

I have learned:

1. The audio of Saving Cee Cee Honeycutt is worth seeking out.
2. Down 9 lbs! Melissa down 23 lbs!
3. Zumba is fun and works.
4. New Bruce CD? The Promise. Need it.
5. Atonement.....at-one-ment.

my Symbol Project~~Winged Heart

My online group's recent challenge was to create an art quilt using a symbol that has meaning to you. I knew right away I would use the winged heart. It is 26" x 14" ish. The close up of the heart shows all the Kantha style stitching I did on the hand dyed fabrics from Judy Robertson. I truly loved the process and outcome...the stitches undulate and form peaks and valleys that give it great texture.
The design is original...I drew it large on freezer paper, cut each feather out and fussy cut them on another hand dyed fabric to give them more visual interest. I thread painted them, then fused everything to canvas. To make sure it was secure I zig zagged all around the entire piece. I loved every step of this project from the design to hand stitching to machine work. I am not sure if it is actually finished though....the background seems stark. We'll see!
The new laptop has proven to be a little challenging for me. Jody got me going with pic downloading and posting with Windows Essentials Photo Gallery. All my favorites are gone. My bookmarks are also gone. Cory did get all my stuff off the old laptop in my documents, so at least I have those! Just have to get used to it.
Tonight my little art quilt group meets after a couple month hiatus. I am looking forward to that.
Tomorrow the annual mammo appointment. I am actually 6 months overdue. Not my favorite day of the year~
I must get moving...off to work. Longjohns on since it will barely make it out of the 50's.

I have learned:

1. I need a maid. And a cook.
2. The New Yorkers, by Catherine Schine promises to be a good read.

New Laptop....ugh.

As you can see it has been weeks since I posted. The day I spent hours downloading the quilt show pics my old laptop died! So I got a great deal on this HP at BJ's. $513 original, I paid $318 in the end. BUT now the real trouble....I can't post pics because nothing looks the same! I tried the program that came with my camera....not good.

SO my friend Jody to my rescue!
She will be walking me through a download tonight and I hope I am not too technologically inept that I can't manage that.

I have been busy though. I am half way into the Homemade Holiday Swap, Christmas gift. It was much hand stitching so I was happy!

I finished my guild's holiday gift already too....another hand stitched item. I love it!

I also pulled out an ongoing CQ project....the flower...separate petals and center, and did some seams on them. I really would love this to be done for the next quilt show in 2012.

Today I made the ties for the 7 foley bag covers I made for my friend Terry's daughter to use at the VA where she works. Easy and satisfying project.

Colleen's pages have been calling me too! I love her aesthetic, much like mine. Very collage-y, very reflective of  appreciation for old, vintage and quirky items. I started to put some things on my first page. Fun!

Michael is finally feeling better after the bout of mono. His blood work showed things were back to normal. Last weekend was Senior Recognition. We all made the last walk on a football field.  There is a pic on facebook of all of us.

I have learned:

1. I usually love change, but this new laptop thing is too challenging.
2. Final episode of Mad Men.....didn't see that coming.
3. Gretchen was the winner on Project Runway. Not my favorite.
4. Loving a deep, hot bath in the evening. Half hour, a good book.....relaxing.