My daughters, My grandchildren

I snitched some pictures off Kristen's Facebook yesterday.

These are my dear daughters, Katie, with her arm around Kristen.










Keaton will be 3 the end of this week.
Kyleigh just turned 9.
Jaeger will be 7 in December.

Making Memories Blocks 2009

I finished my 2 blocks for the Making Memories project and they are off in the mail today.

Blogger's No Reply, Making Memories Blocks 2009

I had wondered why I was getting so many No reply comments in people reading my blog. Sometimes I would really like to comment back. My friend Nancy had a post this morning about this topic, and directed attention to this blog, where Karen provides a clear explanation of how you can make sure your Profile is set the way you want it to be.

I had no idea that I someone had gotten to be a no-reply individual. This was not how I originally set up my profile. But I have switched it back to the way I want it to be.

I have been busily working on my Making Memories Blocks 2009. Last year I participated in the Making Memories project on Crazy Quilting International and made 2 blocks. These quilts put together can be found here. Last year the theme was hearts. This year it is butterflies and dragonflies using jewel tone colors. Leslie put these quilts together last year and did a super job. These quilts were chosen by the Making Memories Foundation to go on a nationwide tour, One of them is being exhibited at the The Houston International Quilt Show in October.

I have 1 of my blocks done, and the other I need to finish up in the next couple of days. Debbie is putting the blocks together this year.

Summer DYB-Rita's block

This week, I worked on Rita's Summer DYB RR.
I chose this block out of the ones left to work on. Rita indicated that when she thought of summer, she thought of poppies, sunflowers and daisies. I forgot about the sunflower part, but I did make some California poppies out of some ribbon I had that was the perfect color. I also hand-dyed the butterfly, and added some yellow tatting and daisies off to the left side.

Among the Gum Trees

I have been meaning to put this link in for several days, and finally got a chance to this morning.
On my sidebar, I have put in a link to Among the Gum Trees, a group of 9 Australian designers who are offering free designs. This starts Monday, October 5th and on each Monday throughout October and November they will offer free Christmas designs to download. If you go here, each of these 9 designers are offering a giveaway.

FLOWER FAIRY RR -Wendy's block

Can you tell I am waiting for work to be dictated this morning? Before I left on vacation, I finished working on Wendy's flower fairy block. I have a bunch of pictures sitting on my desktop that I was waiting to blog about, but didn't have time before I left.



I do not generally like pink, but have been trying to collect more ribbon and thread. I really liked the way Wendy's Flower Fairy came out.

LANDSCAPE RR-LYN'S, I'M BACK-PART 2

Before I left for our cruise, I had Lyn's Landscape II block to do. I didn't want to rush through it, so I asked her permission to bring it with me. This was a pretty big block, and Lyn had said she did not expect it to come back finished. Lyn had also asked that we incorporate these little face charms into our work. I had taken some threads and fibers to make a tree, but after visiting 2 of the yarn fiber shops and finding some wonderful nubby yarns, in brown and green, I was really inspired.

Every morning we were on ship, I would go up to the Explorations Internet/library section of the ship, which had a large table I could spread out on, and work. Ladies, and men, would stop by and inquire about what I was working on, sometimes everyday I was there, and would follow my progress.


This is the tree I made, plus I did the 2 little bushes beside it. I also stitched along the top of the green fabric.












As I was the last person working on this block, and she had 1 face left, I made a toadstool to incorporate the face into.












This is the whole block, on its way home to Lyn today.

I'M BACK, GREAT STASH-BUILDING TRIP-PART 1

DH and I got back on Sunday from a 2-week cruise in Alaska. What a wonderful trip! This was taken in Haines on our way home. We had gotten off the ship for a shore excursion, and saw a good shot of the ship with the mountains in the background.

I don't know how it happened this trip, but almost every stop I got off the ship and found either a quilt store or yarn/fiber shop. I am not complaining, it was wonderful!


It started out in Ketchikan, our first stop, when we met up with old friends we had last seen 24 years ago, but we have kept in contact at Christmas time. Even though it was raining that day, Kathy showed us some totems, and a totem museum we had not seen the last time we were in Ketchikan and we were able to meet up with Bob later for lunch, see their beautiful motor boat at the harbor, before it was time to head back to our ship.

Kathy also took me to a great quilt shop, Silver Thimble where I purchased this kit,







and this silk screened lighthouse print

















and some of these fat quarters. I added to these
later in Skagway at another quilt shop called Rushin Tailor's Quilt Alaska, which I had visited the last time we were in Alaska. I knew this was a short walk from the ship.












Skagway also had a great yarn/fiber shop right next door which I don't recall being their the last time we visited called Changing Threads.

By this stage, I had spent a considerable amount of DH's $$$$, although he was pretty good-natured about it.






This stash also includes a really wonderful yarn store in Seward called Skeins and Fine Yarns, I found when I was supposed to be buying souveniers for the kids and grandkids.
So I limited myself, although it looked like a great place to spend some time.

Overall, the first week we spent in Alaska was rainy, and the week we were on our way back was sunny and beautiful. DH spent all of his shore excursions except 1 on raft/float, canoe trips. I went on an evening whale watching and a daytime whale watching. I went on a raft trip with DH which was a beautiful day. While in Skagway, my photo expedition got cancelled because of rain/not enough participants, so I went with DH on a jet boat excursion through an eagle preserve and saw 8 eagles. It was raining so bad, and even though they gave you rain gear and waterproof blankets, we got back, and the backs and fronts of our pants were wet and then we cooked our own hot dogs in the rain. This was not the best trip for me. I was pretty miserable by the time we got back to the ship at 8:30 that night.

I was finally able to go on a shorter photo expedition in Haines that was fun, and it happened to bed a beautiful day, on our second week of the cruise. I have to say though, our best excursion was our last one, in Ketchikan again, it was a beautiful sunny day, and we went on a float plane, up to the Tongas National Forest, landed on a lake, and had the best crab dinner of our lives at the Georgia Inlet Lodge. That was the highlight of our trip!

We were happy to get back home on Sunday, and Kristen and the grandkids picked us up, and we spent several hours visiting and catching up.

Next post will be about what I worked on while on our cruise.