Happy Earth Day!

We finally have some spring.  Not a lot, but there is a hint of it in the air.  I planted an urn with some spring bulbs, pansies and primrose.  I just couldn't wait for the flowers to come out in my garden.

But my Scilla Siberica is also blooming on my front lawn.  I love blue flowers.  When these come out I know it's spring.

It rained last night and you can see the droplets on the flowers.  Another sign of spring to my eye!

Today is Earth Day.  This is one of my favourite days of the year.  I hope you plan to do something green to help our planet.  Maybe join in on the 22 minute clean up.

Happy Earth Day, everyone!

I will show you some quilty stuff tomorrow.  I promise.

Hey! What's that White Stuff?

I had wanted to show you what is on my design floor, but I can't concentrate on my quilting when my world is starting to look a lot like winter again.

My frog is freezing his little you-know-what off.  Not a happy camper right now.  I think.

And what about this robin?  I found him sitting in my apple tree, singing away and preening himself.  Kind of like using the snowflakes as a shower.  He seemed happy, but I'm not sure.  I wouldn't be.

I guess he has seen snow in April before and is making the best of things.  So I will do the same and show you what I will be working on in the next week or so.  First is my maple leaf quilt.  This is one of my UFOs that I want to get done this month.  I have a few stems to applique before I can finish it.  But that shouldn't take long.

And then there are my hexies.  I am still working on them.  I doubt if they will be finished any time soon. They are my ongoing evening project.  I think these will take another year or so.

And last, but not least is this quilt.  My DD asked me to make a baby boy quilt for a friend of hers.  So this is what I came up with.  There will be a total of 16 blocks with sashing between them.  I hope to have it completed - at least to a flimsy stage - by this weekend.  The focus blocks are made using a Bob the Builder fabric that I have had in my staff for a long time.  It will be good to get it used up.

And now I am off to my Tuesday morning group. 

 See you again soon.

A New Species of Wildlife

At around 9:30PM on Saturday evening I looked out of the front window of my DD's house and saw what I thought was a cat.  Our visitors had just gotten into their car and I wondered how this 'cat' had not been frightened away. It had its back to me, so I called my son over to look at it because it seemed to be a strange colour.  That's when my DS told me it was an opossum.  How exciting!  I had never seen one before.  I thought they lived in the southern states.  And they do, but lately many opossums have been seen in the Greater Toronto Area.  I wasn't able to take a photo because it was too dark and I didn't have my camera, so I borrowed this pic from the internet.

This is the Virginia Opossum and it is not native to Southern Ontario, but has been coming here over the last few decades, probably hitching a ride on the back of trucks.  It is the only marsupial found in North America.  They really don't like the cold, but the one I saw seems to have weathered our worst winter in over 20 years quite well. I can't wait to see more of them.

I am now going back to my sewing room.  I had wanted to post 'what's on my design wall' this morning, but decided to go to the library first thing, before the rains came.  I also needed to buy milk.  It is still warm out - in the high teens, but that will change by tomorrow morning.  The forecast is for -1C with freezing rain and snow.  How crazy is that.?  Hope that opossum is able to keep himself warm.

Garden of Hope - A Recovery Quilt

Our Guild held a quilt show this weekend.  It was fantastic!  Lots of quilts and wall hangings.  Lots of vendors, a boutique, an auction and results of our quilt challenge.  I spent my afternoon viewing the quilts and then manning the admissions table.  I managed to get a few photos of the quilts.  I will show some more of them later, but for now here is the quilt I entered into the show.  It measures about 60 inches by 84 inches.

This is the quilt I started a few years ago when I was in a rehab hospital recovering from a rare neurological disorder.  It was an attempt to relieve my depression over not being able to walk any longer.  I was given large doses of steroids to stifle my auto-immune system, but even after several months things did not get much better.  I was offered mood altering drugs by several doctors, but I didn't think my body could stand even one more chemical.  I told them to give me fabric instead of pills and they just laughed at me.  But even as they were laughing I turned my hospital room into a sewing studio.  Boxes of fabrics, lined my walls.  I hand pieced and appliqued during my free time between physio and OT and often far into the night.  The nurses were very supportive.  They would come and visit my room to see what I had accomplished that day. I based my quilt on one that I saw in the magazine, Australian Country Threads.  And guess what?  My therapy worked!  A creative heart is a happy heart!  

I got many compliments on my quilt today and that felt good.  A wonderful woman named, Janet Chisholm long arm quilted it for me.  She did a wonderful job.  I don't think my quilt would have looked as good if she hadn't spent so much time on it.  

And now I am off to bed.  It's been a long, exciting day!

 

Quilt Show

It's spring!  And if you live in the Greater Toronto Area and feel bored this weekend, what better thing to do than to come and join us at our Quilt Show.

I was over there last night to drop off my quilt and it looks like it will be a great show.  Lots of members' quilts and wall hangings, our raffle quilt,  merchant's mall and guild boutique, tea room and bake sale, guild challenge display, viewer's choice awards, door prizes and more.  It's being held at the Pickering Recreation Complex located at 1867 Valley Farm Road in Pickering.

I did not take a photo of my quilt before I put into the show, but tomorrow I will be manning the admissions desk and I will have a chance to look around and take some photos.  I'll post them on Monday.

Now for my indoor garden.

This is my red Amaryllis.  There is a second flower stalk coming up beside this one.

This is a pink one.  I didn't even realize that I had a pink one.  Soooo pretty!

And here are the tulips my DD brought me on my birthday last week.  They are still gorgeous.  I just love yellow tulips!

Hopefully I will be able to show you some outdoor spring flowers soon.  We had rain all day yesterday. Most of the snow and ice is gone.  My robins are back and my crocuses are blooming in front of my house. You can see them on my header.

See you at the Show!  Have a great quilty weekend!  I know I will!

Earth Hour

First I want to thank everyone who wished me a Happy Birthday yesterday.  Between snail mail, my blog, emails and Facebook comments, I was busy all day!  Then my DD and her fiance came over for dinner and brought me these beautiful flowers.

I thought this bouquet was perfect for Earth Hour - the bounty of our planet to brighten up my kitchen. What more could one ask for?  So if you want to help bring attention to saving our world, join us for Earth Hour at 8:30pm this evening.  Just turn off the lights and television for one hour.  Light a candle and sit with family and friends, chatting and enjoying the solitude.

Happy Earth Hour to everyone!

Stuff

It's been a week since I last posted anything.  Not much sewing has been going on here, so there is not much to show.  I have been working on my hexies, though.  About 150 are prepped and just waiting to be sewn into the the quilt top.

On Monday evening I decided I needed a few more dishcloths.  So I found some nice spring coloured cotton and got started.  Felix sat on them as soon as i put them down, but he refused to look at me when I took the photo.  I still love him though!

Last week I showed you a photo of the crocuses growing in the front of my house.  I was hoping they would be in bloom by now, but NOT!!

It's been way too cold.  Below freezing temps and lots of wind.  We did miss the storm that moved through just south of us and hit the Maritimes with up to 50cm of snow, the biggest storm they have had this winter.

The only things growing are inside.  This is an Amaryllis that I bought a couple of years ago.  It went dormant and now it is ready to bloom again.  There are two buds on this one and another plant has one bud.  Can't wait for these to open up.

And my Streptocarpus is doing fantastic!  It went into a dormant spell, but now it is blooming again.  I love these blue flowers.  I know these plants are indoors, but they give me hope that spring will arrive one day - soon, I hope.

Tomorrow I will be 24106 days old.

Spring?

In an hour or so spring will be here.  Don't get me wrong.  I love spring, but I am a bit skeptical this year.  It doesn't feel like spring and it doesn't look like spring.  In fact, it looks just like winter to me.

This is the view from my front window.  Still lots of snow.

I decided to work on my 'green quilt'.  I need green in my life right now.  This quilt is from a 2005 calendar by Fons and Porter.  This was the quilt for March.  There were no instructions, so I just made it from 2.5 inch squares and bigger pieces of all the greens I had in my stash at that time.  When I ran out of green fabrics, I put it away and just found it again this year.  I have more greens now, so I think I can finish it.

It's called, 'Scraps of Green'.

It is only 2C today and we have had snow flurries all morning.  But look what I found in front of my house. A patch of crocuses, just showing their green shoots above the ground.  They are only a foot or so from the house, so they are in a warm zone.  Usually they are blooming by now. But not this year.  Still, I'll take any sign of spring that I can get, especially if it is green.  

 

 

 

So bring spring on!  To this year's winter I say, 'enough is enough!

 

 

 

St. Patrick's Day

Scraps and Pi

I was searching through my stash the other day, looking for a quilt I had started in 2005.  It was in a Fons and Porter calendar for the month of March, all done in green fabrics.  I really loved that photo and decided to make the quilt, but I ran out of greens.  My stash was not as extensive then, as it is today.  I found the green blocks, but I also found a partially completed top made with 2.5 inch scraps.  I decided I needed to finish this one first.

I worked on it all morning and hoped to show you the finished flimsy, but I guess my calculations were not the best, or maybe there is a block hiding somewhere in my sewing room.  Anyway, I am one 25-patch block short.

Calculations are not my forte.  But I do know that it is Pi Day today.  My DS is a math instructor at a local college, so this day is celebrated at our house yearly.


"Meow.  What is pie day?"

Oh.  Hi Felix.  It's not pie day,  It's pi day.

"Meow.  I love pie!  Especially catnip pie!"

I am talking about pi.  3.14 as in today's date, March 14th.   It's defined as the ratio of a circumference of a circle to its diameter.  This is the symbol for it.

I don't expect you to understand, Felix.  You have to be kind of nerdy to get this stuff and maybe not a cat.  But it is also Albert Einstein's birthday today, so it is a double nerdy day.

"Meow.  So are we going to have pie today - catnip pie?  I hope, I hope!"

Maybe, if I can get out to the store.



Buy I don't think that is going to happen.  We had another huge dumping of snow a couple of days ago. And yesterday it was very, very cold, so nothing melted.  Today it is nicer, but there is still too much snow out there for me to get out on my scooter.

I think I will go back to my sewing room and look for the missing block and if I can't find it I guess I will make another one.

Have a Great Weekend, Everyone!

Goodnight Irene Update

Got one more row of my 'Goodnight Irene' sew along quilt done.  Just haven't sewn it to the first two rows. Terry is hosting this one. Go over there and look at some of the other quilts made in different colours.  So interesting to see how different they look.  Now back to the sewing room.  I have to cut some more 2.5 inch green squares so that I can keep on using them as leaders and enders for this project.

It Still Isn't Over!

Environment Canada warns us that our winter is not over yet.  Spring will be delayed.  Like I needed to hear that!  I took a photo of the front of my house yesterday.  I can't believe how much snow we still have and it is already the 5th of March.  

I want to see flowers!  I want my crocuses to bloom in front of my house and the snowdrops to show up in the backyard.  I wonder how long I will have to wait for that.  I need colour!  While surfing some blogs this morning, I came across one that showed some fabric flowers.  Can't remember where I saw them, but I saved the link to the tutorial and made a few of them.  I didn't have the right tools and I wasn't able to make any leaves, but I think they look pretty in a pot of jade.  You can find the tutorial on this blog.  It is on her sidebar.  They are called, Fleur de Marguerite.

Remember I promised you a photo of my hexie demonstration at our guild a couple of weeks ago. Well a kind member sent me this photo.  Those are all of my hexagon projects in the back.

My longarm quilter got the quilt. that I am putting into our quilt show. finished.  Gosh it looks great.
I would post a photo, but I think I will wait until after the show is over.  Now I just have to sew on the binding, make a hanging sleeve and a label.  But in order to do that, I will have to take another trip to the quilt shop to buy some fabric.  Ha!  Poor me.

Coming Up for Air

I've had a busy month, but now I can finally breathe again.  On the furry feline front I've had to deal with Mimi's passing and Felix's diabetes. He is doing well, but he really hates to have his blood tested.  Hopefully we will soon work out the right amount of insulin to keep his diabetes under control.  I hate to see him unhappy.

On the quilting front I finished my 'Garden of Hope' quilt and it is now at the LAQ.  It should be done by the third week of March.  That gives me time to bind it before our quilt show on the first weekend of April.  This quilt top almost didn't get finished.  I only had a couple of rows to still sew together.  Most of the blocks were done, so that was really no problem. I had to go out and buy some backing fabric because I didn't have enough.  That was no problem either.  I was even able to add a few fat quarters to my stash.  LOL

But pressing the finished top almost drove me to pull my hair out!  It was very wrinkled and because I made most of it while I was a patient at a rehab hospital some years ago, I did not have an iron to press each block as I finished it.  Many of the blocks needed some help from a spritz of water.  I guess I used too much water because some of the red fabrics bled into the lighter backgrounds.  I wanted to cry.  But then I decided all was not lost.  I took the damaged blocks out and remade them.  It took me a whole day to remake and sew them back into the quilt top.  I don't know why that happened because I always wash my fabrics with a colour catcher as soon as I get them home.  But maybe a lot of the fabrics in thisquilt were from before the time of colour catchers.  I plan to wash the blocks and see if I can restore them to their original beauty.  Then I will make them into blocks for a project (Soy Amado) that Little Island Quilting is doing for children in a home in Mexico City. I have several other orphan blocks that I can donate.

I was also asked to do a demonstration of English Paper Piecing at our Guild meeting on Monday evening. That meant finding finished quilts and partly finished quilts to help teach the technique.  It was a fantastic experience.  My fellow quilters were very interested and some of them went away with a pattern sheet to create their own hexies.  I took my camera so that I could take a photo, but I never got to use it.  There just wasn't enough time.  The demonstrations were done in a round robin fashion.  That only gave me about 12-15 minutes with each group.  I did see someone come over with a camera, so there probably will be a photo at some point.  I hope to be able to post it later.

100 more hexies to sew together

The weather here is still cold and white.  We have had the most 'severe cold weather warnings' of any year since these records have been kept - about 28 days since the beginning of the year.  Today's high temp is -10C, (14F) but it will feel like -20C, (-4F).  The snow has not melted either and there are still huge piles of it at the sides of our driveway.  It rained a bit this past weekend, creating large puddles everywhere that froze into huge patches of ice.  Hospitals in our area are reporting an average of 4 slip and fall accidents per hour.  So I am staying indoors and waiting patiently impatiently for spring to arrive.

Now I am off to work on some of my current projects, mostly charity quilts.  It is a pleasure to have some time to work on those. I also went to the library and got some books to read.  Life is good.

One (?) Flower Wednesday

OMG!  I didn't know I had such a hexagon problem!  I have been trying to locate all of my hexie projects in order to display them next Monday evening at our guild meeting.  That is when I will be demonstrating my hexies.  Since I will only have 10-12 minutes with each group, I thought I would find all of my hexie projects and use them as teaching tools.  Here are some of them...

These are a couple of flowers that I plan to add to my basket quilt in order to make it larger.  You can see it here.

 

This is my La Passion.  I need to get back to this one soon.

 

This is the one I am working on at the moment.  I will use these hexies to demonstrate the English Paper Piecing technique.

 

This is part of my "I Spy" quilt.  The hexies are much bigger than the ones I am used to.

 

I love this one!  The pieces are all based on hexagons.  Still have to sew some more and then put them all together.

 

These are based on hexies too.  I have not committed myself to a whole quilt of these yet.  But maybe they will become a pillow.

 

Well, those are the hexies I have found so far.  There are more in my sewing room, but so far I can't remember where I put them.  Can you believe that?  I think I really do have a problem!

 



 



Goodnight Irene Update

I had almost forgotten about my Goodnight Irene blocks for this month's quilt-along.  I had these blocks finished a couple of weeks ago, but when I went to iron them I noticed that I had sewn a few the wrong way, so I put it away and forgot about them.  But I will fix that soon.  I am so loving this pattern.  Lots of scraps are being used up, so that is a bonus.  And I am doing the squares as leaders and enders.

I am linking this to terrytreasures.blogspot.ca   You can find the link on her sidebar.

When Life Gives You Tribulations...

What do you do when the stresses of life are more than you can handle?  How do you deal with an illness that no one understands, but leaves you with the task of curing yourself.  How do you mourn a sweet kitty who was the love of your life?

About 5 years ago I was diagnosed with a rare auto-immune disorder.  I was treated with steroids and put into a rehab facility to learn to walk again. 

It was summer time and I was stuck in a hospital.  I could not lift my legs off the bed.  I could not go up and down stairs.  I had trouble even walking using a walker.  I became very depressed. 

Then one day the hospital allowed me to go to Walmart in my wheelchair.  They picked me and a few other patients up in a wheelchair bus.  I found a quilting magazine that gave me hope. I decided to make it as a sort of recovery quilt.  My room became a quilting studio.  I had boxes of scraps of fabric everywhere.  My bedside table became an ironing board.  Late at night would find me working on that quilt.  I was not able to finish it before I left the hospital.  But a couple of weeks ago I showed it to my quilting friends at our Tuesday morning get together.  They convinced me to finish it and enter it into our upcoming quilt show.  

So I began working on it, just as Mimi was losing her battle with life.  It seems fitting that I should be working on this quilt through all my stressful times.  It has been my way of dealing with illness, both my own and Mimi's.  And now that I am almost finished I feel energized and rejuvenated.  I will have it long arm quilted and it will be ready to enter into our guild's quilt show.  I can't show you all of it right now, but this is what I am working on at the moment.  Lots of scraps and applique.

Mimi

July 1, 1997 - February 10, 2014

 

 

 

 

We lost our sweet kitten, Mimi, today due to age and heart problems.  She passed away peacefully as I held her in my arms.  Gone now but not forgotten.  She was the best furry feline we ever had.  My heart aches.  There is no way to describe the sadness and pain I feel right now.  But at least Mimi is no longer suffering.  She can breathe easily now as she romps and plays with her furry friends in the cat here-after.  Farewell, Mimi.  We will always love and miss you.

A Start and a Finish

Gung Hei Fat Choy!

First I want to wish everyone who is celebrating the Chinese New Year a wonderfully prosperous and healthy year of the horse!  That's the start I am talking about.

And now for the finish.  It's not a complete finish, but it is a flimsy finish.  I finally got the hexie flower basket quilt top done.  A couple of days ago I was approached by my guild to see if I would do a hexagon demonstration at our February Guild meeting.  I said that I would be delighted.  That gave me the incentive to finish this quilt top.  

Sorry for the 'crazy' photo.  I didn't have anyone here to hold it up for me.  But that's okay, I am doing a lot of things alone these days. Yesterday I took Felix to the vet so they could do some kind of diabetic curve on him.  They gave him a dose of insulin and then monitored his blood on an hourly basis to find his glycemic levels.  When I picked him up last night they taught me how to give him his insulin and how to check his blood.  This morning I gave him his insulin shot all by myself.  I was very nervous and didn't think I could do it, but he was no problem.  I offered him a couple of treats and he sat nice and still for me.  I don't think he ever even noticed that I put a needle in the scruff of his neck.

I am linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts and Hexie Friday today.

Happy Sewing!

Hexies on Wednesday

I wanted to show you what I have been doing with the bright and colourful hexies.  This top is coming along nicely.  Here is what I have done to date.

I would have posted this earlier, but I had to take my kitties to the vet this morning.  Yes, that's both of my cats! One has been diagnosed with diabetic neuropathy.  I will find out tomorrow or the next day what his treatment will be.

Mimi, on the other hand, is not doing well at all.  She has stopped eating and is having trouble breathing.  The vet showed me her X-ray.  She is retaining water in her lungs and around her heart.  I have diuretics to give her and a heart pill to see if we can make her well again.  I have to keep reminding myself that Mimi is not a kitten any longer.  She is almost 17 years old   But I am hoping for the best.

Economy Blocks

I've been seeing Economy Blocks all over the place on the internet lately.  We used to call them 'square in a square' blocks.  Who decided to change the name?  Just wondering.  I decided to make a few of these blocks this morning, sort of like 15 minutes of play.  I thought they might get my mojo going.  But so far I have done these three blocks and nothing else.  I just used the fabrics I had close at hand.  I really like them and I know I will make some more soon.  But now back to the Trip Around the World quilt.

Yesterday I gathered up my fabrics to complete that quilt.  It took me awhile, but I finally found all of the fabrics I needed and I managed to complete one more row of the quilt.  Now I have to make some strata so I can continue.  I don't enjoy making them.  Don't know why... they are super easy to do.

It's Friday already!  Can you believe that?  This month is going by quickly.

Have a Wonderful Weekend, everyone!

One Flower Wednesday

A while back I started to make a hexagon quilt using lots of scraps that people had given me. It became an overwhelming project that I tired of quickly.  But I still had all those hexies, all prepared and ready to go. Then yesterday, we started our Tuesday morning quilt group again. I needed some handwork to do while there.  So I picked up the prepped hexies and started to sew them together.  I love how this is coming together.  And it will have lots of donated fabrics from quilty friends and will give me something to work on on Tuesdays.  Bright fabrics for our cold, dreary winter.

A couple of weeks ago, Bonnie Hunter wrote about words for the new year.  She thought 'balance' was a good word.  I have to agree with her. 'Balance' has been my special word for a long time.  So how do I work this into my quilting projects?  Well, this is sort of a new quilt.  But I am balancing it out with my basket hexie quilt which is almost finished.  And I am also working on a couple of other new projects, but I am balancing those out with a UFO that I am about 75% finished.  It's a Trip Around the World pattern.  I hope to show it to you soon.

I have decided to link up with The Needle and Thread Network and HeLP for Hexie-aholics for this week.

Still Trying to Shed this Crazy Cold

Not much sewing got done this week.  Not much of anything actually, unless you consider sleeping as something.  I have been fighting this crazy cold all week.  And my cold is not the only cold I could do without.  The temperature has gone down each day to well below normal - even lower than it has been in 20 years or so.  A cold-weather advisory was issued for Toronto,  my daughter only had 8 kids show up for school, water mains broke and all kinds of things were cancelled.  But I missed it all.  I just slept through it all.. Mimi wasn't feeling well either.  She hates the cold and slept on the heating duct all week.  I invited her into my bed, but she didn't want to catch my cold.

I had promised myself that I would work on some UFOs, but that did not happen.  My mind was not sharp enough to figure out where I was and what I had to do next in each project I picked up.  So I just worked on a few blocks for Terry's 'Goodnight Irene Sew-Along'.  I managed to make 5 16-patch blocks and two of the cross blocks.

I also worked on Bonnie's 'Celtic Solstice'.  I really like the 54-40 or Fight blocks.

So that's it for the week.  Hope to get my Mojo going so I can do some more sewing next week.
The weather is turning warmer and we could get some above freezing temps for a couple of days.  That would be nice.  Right now everything is frozen.  I am looking forward to spring!

Have a Great Weekend, everybody!

Another Storm

We got another winter storm last night.  It snowed several inches and now it is raining.  I don't know what will happen if the temperature goes down.  I can't handle any more freezing rain storms and power outages. Five days of sitting in the cold and dark were enough for me.

I did finally get the super heroes quilts done for my DD's friend's kids.  I gave them to the boys on Christmas, but I hadn't attached the labels yet. When the power stayed out I didn't get a chance to do that. But now they are done and I can show them to you.

I have no idea what I will work on today.  Probably not a lot.  I seem to have caught a nasty cold and I feel like sleeping all day.  Wish I had something to read, but I haven't been to the library in weeks. Chicken soup will probably be on the menu today.

A Few Finishes Over the Last Few Days

Even though our power was out, I kept myself busy by knitting some hats and mitts.  I still have to sew a few of the mitts together, but I hope to have that done by this afternoon.   Can you see those turquoise mitts still on the needle?  I decided to knit both mitts at the same time.  I often get 'second mitt syndrome', which makes it hard to finish the second mitt once I have already finished the first one.  I can never remember how many stitches and how many rows and I spend a lot of time counting and trying to figure out what I did this first time around.  This way I don't have to do that.  I still have some more yarn and I may make another hat or two.

I also made some bags to wrap gifts.  I promised myself to make several each year so that I could stop buying and using paper bags and wrapping paper.  I thought it would make my Christmases 'greener'.

I also made a couple of rice bags to give as Christmas gifts.  These can be put into the microwave and heated up.  They are great for sore muscles or cold feet.  I plan to make some more of these.

And now I must get back to my cupcake baking.  My DS is going to be 40 next week.  YIKES!!!! How did that happen?  I guess I can no longer say I'm 39 years old.  My DD is hosting a dinner at her house tomorrow night for DS and his friends.  We have been invited because hubby is bringing the beef.

As I was trying to bake, take a shower and do a load of laundry, our power went out again.  I just held my breath and hoped for the best.  The power went back on an hour or so later. Thank goodness!  I guess the hydro folks are still working on our lines.  Now that the power is back on I am going to finish making the cupcakes and throw another load of laundry into my washing machine.

Have a great weekend, everybody!

The Beginning of a Brand New Year

This post has been edited in red.  
This is just a test.  I am still having trouble uploading collages to my blog.  It is 2014 now and hopefully I am a bit more computer savvy.  Here are some of the smaller projects I completed in 2013.

More to come if this works.

Oh, my goodness!  I think it worked!  Now if I can only remember what I did so that I can show you some more completed images.  Edit:  I think it will work now, so here is a collage of the quilts I worked on in 2013.  Some are completed and have been given away and some are tops that need to be quilted.  I need to send them out because it is getting too difficult for me to quilt them on my Bernina.  Some of the images are ongoing projects not yet finished, but I am working on them.

Hope everyone had a great New Year's Eve.  We stayed home.  I fell asleep early on in the evening, but I woke up to watch the ball drop in the Big Apple.  Then as I went to shut down my computer I found Bonnie Hunter's solution to her mystery quilt, Celtic Solstice.  So I had to go and try a block or two.  Not as exciting as I would have liked.  I'll show you after I have done a few more blocks.