This is what I worked on this past weekend at Pat's house. I had a blast. We get along so well and it is 2 hours from home so it is a real escape for me. The first time we got together for a weekend was the first winter after Raychel got sick. I went out on a Thursday night and on Friday we sewed for most of the day and when I woke up on Saturday morning I never got out of my pajama pants. Mike, my husband, could not believe that I was at someone elses home and not getting dressed. So one of our rules is - one of the days we are together the most we can do is brush our teeth. So I went to her house on Friday and did not come home till today so Sunday was the day of just brushing my teeth. We laugh so hard that our sides hurt. I told her we would never fit in at a quilting retreat with our rules.

This quilt is called "Banana Split". It turned out real cute but it is a pattern that waste a lot of fabric and you don't realize it until you have cut all your fabric and you have to size your blocks from a size 6-1/4 down to 5-1/2. I was going to give it to Charlee (adopted 7 month granddaughter) but after all the work I'm not sure if I want to pass it onto her. Her Mom does not seem to appreciate the quilts but LOVES the polar fleece blankets. Go figure. I will have to think this one thru.

















Not sure yet about New Years Eve. We were thinking about going to some friends home in Ft Dodge Iowa which is 3 hours south of us but Mike starts his cardiac rehab tomorrow and we are not sure if we want to travel on Wednesday. I guess we will figure it out tomorrow. We did buy scallops and prawns in case we stay home.

Till later.

I love last minute trips. Pat, my sister in law, called and asked me to pack up my machine and what ever I want to sew and drive out to her place (about 2 hours from home) and sew the next 2 days. What a way to end Christmas and of course I said "Well Yes if you have to force me". Her sister, Sharon, is going to come for the day and sew also.

A little nervous about leaving Mike and Raychel but I need a caretaker mental break. I feel bad leaving Mike because I know all he will do is sit on the couch and watch tv and that is not good for his heart to just sit around. Cardiac rehab is going to be good for him to jump start the exercising. Raychel is just not doing that well but I have been saying that for 2-1/2 years. Her two cousins from out of town are going to go over to her apartment today and just hang out all day with her. This will be so good for her.

I started making Charlee's quilt so I will be taking that project with me to work on. That one is a lot of sewing and a lot of cutting the 6-1/4" blocks down to a 5-1/2" block. I had to read the directions a few times to make sure but yes that is what I have to do. With my new rotary cutter it will go quick.

Till Later

So I know it is really hard to see but the dark part of the star is my Dad's flannel shirt that he was wearing the day he passed away. I know I blogged about this a long time ago but there was a issue. The iron had fallen and burned the binding before I even got a chance to give it to my Mom. I took the binding off and finally after a long time I got it put back on and hurried to hand sew the binding on today so I could give it to her today for Christmas. She truly liked it and said that my little brother could keep it for the first year. My Mom and Dad's wedding anniversary was yesterday, Christmas Eve, and maybe this year was hard time for her. Was sad that she didn't want it. Maybe my timing was not right. I was really hoping that she would love it as much as I did. I will talk to her tomorrow about it, I need to know.

Am I the only one that can't believe that it will be Christmas Eve in 2 days. It just seems to be happening faster then I am ready. With Mike and I both on unemployment this winter it will be a Christmas more about the meaning of Christmas than gifts. Thank God my children are adults and understand what is happening in this world.

This unemployment thing can end up being a very productive time for me when it comes to spending time in my sewing room. Not a bad thing.

Check out these 2 blog candy giveaways. Either one would be a great win but to win both that would be sweet. Check them out.

Raychel is back in the hospital with chest pain and all over pain. She is down to 95 pounds and this is a dangerous low for someone who is 5'9. I will work on hand sewing the binding that I have not been able to get myself to finish. God I hate hand sewing. Also we are waiting on a snow storm. It will be are third scare this week and have had no more than a dusting. This one will probably hit us hard thou.

This is my new rotary cutter and I love it. I have shoulder pain from a rollover accident and I cut out an entire quilt with no shoulder pain at all. I don't know about everyone else but with my other cutter I have to put so much strength and bending forward to work it and with this one it is like cutting thru butter. Best purchase I have made since my quilting frame.

I have decided on the next quilt I want to make. It is called the banana split. I bought the pattern at a quilt show this past summer and fell in love with it. So while I was at that quilt show I bought the 32 fat quarters needed at a great buy. I am not big on pastels but I do like the bright colors with the pastels. I am excited to make this quilt, something new. I am giving it to my granddaughter, Charlee, (yes a girl) who was born in May. I'm a little behind. You can see my new rotary cutter in the back ground I will post pictures about that wonderful new item I got.

Well I guess one should never wish for something they really don't want. Our receptionist at work gets laid off every year for the winter months. I am an accountant for a road construction company and in Minnesota we can't get to the roads under all that snow. So I have always been jealous of her for getting laid off and have always thought of all the sewing I would do if I didn't have to get up and go to work. Well yesterday I got laid off. I will be returning to work on April 1st. This is going to be financially difficult. Mike was laid off this winter also but has been working for his company now and then and we just report those earnings to unemployment. He was suppose to go out of town this week but he had a heart attack last Wednesday and just came home from the hospital last night. He won't be going anywhere the rest of the week. I never thought this economy would ever touch me but I guess it did. I work for a family owned business and it is a Mom (Dad just died last Feb) and 3 kids. One of the brothers and the sister are my bosses and they do not want me to go for no one knows my job. It is all about the Mom not thinking her kids have worked hard enough and she thinks by removing me they will have to work harder. The daughter offered to go on unemployment for me but the Mom said no. So much hate and greed.

I guess I will be posting a lot of finished quilts in the future.

I have had other readers say comments about Raychel, my daughter, and thought I would just say that if anyone is interested I do have a website that friends and family can read to follow her progress. If anyone is wanting to check it out the website is:

www.caringbridge.org and then there is an area on the left side that you will enter her name, raychelsherman, all one word. Check it out you will realize what an amazing daughter I have and see what a hard journey she has traveled.

I just cannot believe that I have received my first reward. How exciting I was not sure my blog was looked at much. I received this from the The Bitchy Sticher, the moment I started reading her blog I knew this was one I would read as long as she wrote. She cracks me up besides being so real about everything in her life and I love that she swears. I don't think that I will have any problems sending on this award to some bloggers that I truly enjoy reading.

So here are the bloggers that I would love to forward this blog award onto:

First is Amy from where ever their work takes them. This is a woman that travels the country for her and her husbands work and manages to make beautiful quilts in her very nice 5th wheel. Talk about a wonderful sewing room. Can you imagine the wonderful quilt shop opportunities she comes across?

Second is Jean from Council Bluffs Iowa. I love reading her blog and I love that she reads mine. She makes beautiful quilts and I just like looking thru her pictures, she inspires me.

Third is Christina I love the colors this woman chooses. She does tutorials that I always enjoy going thru. Again this is one that really inspires me to go after the colors that I love and to put them all together.

Forth is Mary Her blog she is well followed and for good reason. She is a woman with a big heart and does quilts for Heartstring Project. What a wonderful gift she offers. She also is kind enough to have a website where you can go and download her projects with great tutorials on how to. The big plus is she is from Minneapolis and Coon Rapids where I live is a suburb to that great city.

Fifth is John, I wish he was my husband or should I say I wish my husband sewed like John. Talk about being able to put colors together. You can tell by his blog that he loves to quilt and sew and he loves his family.

I always thought it would be fun to get an award but never new it would be this exciting.

I saw this rotary cutter at a quilt show in November. I tried it and loved it but was not wanting to pay $20 for a rotary cutter. Well back in March I had a roll over accident in my truck and had put my arms up over my head when I started to roll so protect my head. When I did this I hurt my right shoulder and over the last 9 months it has gotten worse. I tried to do some cutting last night and I am so sore this morning. I decided that the $20 would have been worth it. I went on www.overstock.com and got it for $22 and that includes shipping. It is right/left hand specific and if I remember right I didn't have to put a lot of pressure down to cut the fabric with this one. Just thought I would share this wonderful item.


Oh by the way it is called the Martelli Ergo 2000 rotary cutter.

First I want to share this cd with everyone else. It is a great program for a great bargain $39.00. I have designed 5 different quilts that I would love to do. I can scan in fabrics and download the newest fabrics out there. I guess it is a cheaper version of EQ. When my Sister in Law was here last weekend she played with it a lot. Check it out.








My wall hanging is up. I put in in my living room instead of my entryway. It was very exciting to put it up so I can have others enjoy it hopefully as much as I do.






This is a quilt I threw together about 1-1/2 years ago. It was the first quilt I put on my frame and machine quilted. I used it to practice on and did a pretty bad job. I figured I would bind it and have it for the grandson when he comes, it is very soft flannel. He will like it, it has cowboys on it.

I have so much to post about so I might as well jump in. First of my sister in law, Pat, and I had a blast. She arrived on Friday afternoon and we got right to it. I had my sewing room already and her table setup. I worked on my first wall hanging that I want to hang in my entryway. All I have to do is the binding. I have decided since this is a wall hanging I am going to use my machine to sew the binding down. I had promised that I would from this point on I would only be hand sewing the binding down. Pat was the one that convinced me that I need to hand sew the binding. I figure it being a wall hanging no one will see the back. So here it is:

I really had fun making it. It is the very first thing that I have made just for me. I will make myself a quilt this winter.

This one I have posted before but this is the one that I am struggling to hand sew the binding. It is not coming easily.

This is one I made for a very close friend who moved from Minnesota to Phoenix. She was very excited about decorating her house in the southwest decorations. I wanted her to have something of me in her new home. I miss her dearly. The first picture is not the best of picture (to close up) but you get the idea.

Till Later