New Year is just around the corner

Just think, only 4 more days of 2008. I believe when people say that the older you get the faster time goes. I am looking forward to another new grandbaby in the spring, and while I still enjoy tending Hailey every week day, I am excited to be able to cuddle and tend the newest one of Erin's.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

I am here on the computer this afternooon, and I just wanted to wish everyone that might read my blog a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS and a most JOYOUS NEW YEAR.

I think my sister is addicted to Kaleidoscope quilts..

Kathy has made another Kaleidocope quilt. This one was for a gift, so I can't put pictures of it up yet, but she brought it down to my house on THursday night, and stayed while I quilted it. Then when it was all done and off the machine, she went home. I bound the quilt the next day while I was up to Heather's tending Hailey.
Tori met me in Spanish Fork while they were driving north, and I was going home to get the quilt to take to Kathy.

A little about the Special Family

I thought that I better explain about the quilts that are below. Since I have become a blog-hopper (or whatever you would call it) I have been following a little girl's blog that has an inoperable brain stem tumor. She is 5 years old, and has 2 little sisters. I wanted to do something for the little girls, and being that they live in Utah county, I thought it was something that I could achieve without much money, time or difficulty. (I also have quite a stash of flannel on hand). I decided that I could make a quilt for all three little girls and take them to the family.
Last Thursday evening, I had made arrangements to deliver the blankets to the family, and when my daughter Heather got off work, she rode with me to go deliver the quilts. Heather had made some little name tags to put on each quilt in colors that matched the quilts, she then folded them lengthwise, and then rolled them up (sort of like a sleeping bag, but not that big) and tied a ribbon around them and put the name tag on the ribbon.
We were welcomed with open arms and hugs, and we seen 3 little girls with smiles on their faces and sparkle in their eyes when they each were given a quilt (machine quilted with a little flower design) of their very own.
It was a very heart warming experience for me, and I wanted to share it with you.

Quilts I did for a special family

Creativity is not my thing

Sorry I am not more creative, but at least I figured out how to make my page red for the Christmas season. I don't have any fancy clip art to put at the top, so you have to still deal with my Up in Stitches message.....
Hope you are all getting into the holiday spirit.....

Don't know what I did

I don't know what I did, and don't know how to fix it, so if anyone can help me figure out how to get the whole pictures back on the left side of my page, please don't hesitate to tell me.
I need the side borders to not be there, and I don't know how to get rid of them.... any suggestions will help me lots..

Thanks....

December here before I even realized it

I have had such fun quilting this past few weeks, that December crept up on me, and I am now in awe as to where November went. I am so grateful for all the quilts I have been able to get done, and now get to start on another quilt that is called a Block of the MOnth, however, it started last January and so I now have downloaded all the monthly block patterns and can sew it together at my own pace.... I just hope that it doesn't take me all year long to do it..... I will post pictures when it is complete...promise

Slide show of recent quilts

Another Kaleidoscope quilt...Finally mine is done

The Slide show above is of the last 3 quilts that I have completed....FINALLY..

I finally got my flag fabric kaleidoscope quilt done... (thanks to my sister sort of prodding me along). We both used the exact same flag fabric, but both quilts are so entirely different when finished.

The yellow quilt is a stach and whack quilt that I did a while back, but it had never got quilted yet, so while I had the use of my friends quilting machine that is computerized, I quilted it and got it finished also.

The third quilt is another stack and whack that I did, it is not bound in the picture, but will be bound in black and white checkered fabric. The fabric was chickens, so each square is very unique, one you have to see in person to appreciate it fully.... so you are welcome to come visit to see it anytime you want...

Kathy's latest quilt...

This is the pictures of Kathy's quilt after she got all the hand sewing on the binding done. She was really happy with the results and I was glad that she was happy.. I know that she will make many more quilts because I have her addicted to sewing now...
The quilting design was called Star spangled, but it is hard to see on her quilt. When I post my quilt, I have the back of my quilt in cream color and the design is in red, so it will be able to be seen better... and YES I used the same design on both of our quilts.

Fun day with my Sister Kathy

Yesterday, my sister Kathy came down and met me in spanish fork, and we used my friends computerized quilting machine to quilt her flag kaleidoscope quilt that she had sewn all together. The story behind her flad quilt is that I had the fabric, and when I got looking, I had enough to do 2 kaleidoscope quilts. I cut mine out, and showed her how fun the circle parts were turning out, and after she finished her first kaleidoscope quilt, she said she had so much fun doing it, that she wanted to do another one, so I gave her the other half of the flag fabric. Her quilt is now all done and quilted, and she is doing the had sewing on the binding, and mine is still circle blocks, but I did sew the corner pieces on them tonight and started to square them up.
Kathy promises to send me pictures of her quilt as soon as she gets it all bound so that I can put pictures of it on here.... so I will post as soon as I can.
I am determined now to get mine quilted before my friend comes back from Seattle, cause I don't know if she will be as willing to let me use her machine when she gets home. She was kind enough to leave me the key to her shop, so I could quilt while she is gone..... I am so glad for considerate friends, and my wonderful sister... I Love you Kathy....

A new quilt is done.

Last week, I was able to go to Spanish Fork and use my friend Brenda's computerized quilting machine while she is in Washington with a new grandbaby. This quilt was fabric my good friend Lynda's and she had never gotten it put together and finished, so she asked me if I would do it for her. The finished result turned out so nice. I used an Oak leaf and acorn design on it with red,green and yellow variegated thread. the back of the quilt was the dark green that the border on the front it.

November Snow storm

Well, I guess I can say that we got our first official snow storm last night. There was only a skiff on the vehicle when I got up to go tend Hailey, but it was snow, it was cold, and it was wet... What more does it have to be???
I hope we don't have too bad of a winter, but I know we need the moisture, so I vote we keep all the moisture up in the mountains with lots of snow there and not too much on the valley floors..... anyone agree?

Comments now allowed.

NEW DESIGN

OKay, so of you that read my blog... who is going to help me re-do the looks of it?

THIS IS NOVEMBER??

This is November 2nd, AVERI's 3rd Birthday. Happy Birthday Averi.... I love you so much...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to PAPA Dan

Monday is Dan's birthday, and so last week Lauren called and asked me if she could have a date with Papa Dan on Saturday (Yesterday). I said sure, and she informed me that I needed PaPa to be at her house at 4:00 on Saturday afternoon. She told me that is was supposed to be a surprise and not to tell him what was going on. So... I didn't say anything to him except that he had a date with Lauren at 4 on Saturday. Well, yesterday came, and at 4:00 we went to Erin and Stews' house, and then Lauren told grandpa that we were going to have to go in the car to his surprise. WE said we would take the Van so that everyone would fit in it, and we left and headed north. On the way, we were about in Provo when Lauren finally told Dan that we were going golfing at Trafalga. What a fun time we had, Lauren was the first one of us to get a "hole in one" and she was pretty excited. Dan got a couple of hold in ones, as did Stew. I was just hitting the ball the best I could having never miniature golfed before, but I did manage to get a couple balls in the cups in less tries that was predicted it should take.
After golfing, we went to Terry and Heather's house, where they BBQed steaks, and have rolls and macaroni salad. After that we had birthday cake, that Lauren had helped Heather to make, and we came home. We got home about 8:30. It was a wonderful day. I am sure that Dan will remember that Birthday surprise for a long long time.

OcToBeR AlReAdY??

Where has all the time gone? I can't believe that is already October. I seem to not be able to keep up with how fast time flies these days.
I am wanting to get busy with quilting and doing fun stuff, so I had better get busy.
Erin is expecting again, and the girls are so excited. Averis is so cute to want the baby out now, and Lauren is just happy to be getting what she says is a baby "sister". We will know in May what it is, as Erin doesn't find out what she will be having.

I have been working (slowly) on a kaleidoscope quilt, but I am not making much progess on it. I am finding myself just wanting to sit and do nothing when I get home from Heather's every evening to go sit down and sew the corners on the blocks. I think I need my sister Kathy to come and help me.....(Oh, if that would be possible), but think I will need to take the sewing up to Heather's house and work on it when Hailey is sleeping, (which isn't as much as it used to be now that she is getting older, and likes to lay on the floor and play for a few hours every day). But I will get it done, then I can get it quilted and I will post the pictures on here when it is complete.

Yesterday, (Saturday), Dan and I were able to go up to Salt Lake and attend the afternoon session of General Conference. What an amazing spiritual experience it was for me. I had never attended a live session of Conference before, and I will admit that I was touched by the spirit very strongly. It was a rainy day, but we took TRAX up to the City Center stop and then walked among the other hundreds of people with their umbrellas towards the conference center. For as many people as that Conference Center holds, surprisingly we were back down to the City Center TRAX stop by 4:20 pm and on the road to return home by 5:05. Dan the went to the Priesthood session at our Stake house, and I had the little girls while Erin and Stew went out to dinner.

Now I will sit at home in my confortable couch and watch today's conference sessions. Hope you are all doing the same thing..

HAVE A GREAT WEEK EVERYONE!!!! I plan to..

Kathy's Kaleidoscope Quilt

I have got some pictures of the quilt that Kathy did. I did the quilting, but she did all the sewing together of the blocks, and she did a fantastic job..... Here are the pictures.. There are 30 different blocks and they are all from the same fabric. It is amazing how these blocks transpire completely different.

Another week already??

WOW!! another week has passed by and I can hardly believe it.
Last night (Tuesday) my sister (Kathy) came to my house with the quilt top that I had showed her how to make, and the backing material, and I put it on my quilting machine and quilted it for her. I wish I would have taken a picture of it, but #1, I don't have my camera since my daughter Erin is borrowing it for a while, and #2, the thought never came to my mind until she was gone.... of course, how else does it happen.... at least to me anyways....
Kathy was very happy with her quilt as I sewed the binding on it and started to do the hand stitching for her so she could finish it herself over the next couple of evenings......
I am so glad that she was happy with her quilt, and Kathy, I hope you will let me help you make many more quilts.. I really enjoy the sister-to-sister together we have been having lately.....
Well enough for today... check back soon...

Busy Busy Busy......doing what??

WOW, I can't believe it is already the 10th of September.... where has the time gone?
I haven't been that busy, but the days just seem to fly by, and so I can't keep up with everything that I should keep up with. I will try to do better.... talk to you again soon.....

Please feel free to make comments as I love to read comments on people's blogs....

Birthday countdowns

I found this birthday countdown on a blog I was reading today and thought it would be fun to put my 3 little granddaughters birthday countdowns on my blog. Anyone that wants to put one on their's, just go to www.daisypath.com and I made the mini tracker, there is also a large one. There are lots of things you can track, not just birthdays.... go check it out...

Time Flies

Well here it is almost September and I can't believe that school has started again, and the weather is starting to cool off a bit in the nights. I love the fall weather, and look forward to having the cooler days also.
Summer is almost over again, and I keep asking myself "Where has the time gone?" guess what they say about the older you get the faster times goes is right..... guess I just don't to admit that I am getting older.....

Picture Day means new pictures for Grandma

On August 2nd, Heather, Terry, Hailey had appointments to have their pictures taken. Since I was tending Lauren and Averi, we had their pictures taken also. The pictures turned out incredible considering Hailey was fussy a little, and Averi didn't want to do what the girls wanted her to do in the pictures, but here are some fun pictures that we got of them....

Averi and Lauren had on the dresses that they will wear to Shay's wedding the end of August, and Hailey had on a dress that she got before she was ever born...All the girls are growing up so fast, I can't figure where the time goes......

Pinwheel Quilt Block

This is one of the Pinwheel blocks that are in a quilt that I made for Averi. I have one sewn together for Lauren that has the same color pinwheel petals, but a green background, since her favorite color is green. Lauren's is not quilted yet, but when I get it quilted, I will post of picture of it as well.

I have enough of the pinwheel petals to make another quilt, so since I have a new little granddaughter, she might just be getting a pinwheel quilt like her two cousins'. They are really fun to make, and I might as well not waste the petals since they are all made and ready to put on a quilt.

Week of accomplishments

This past week has been a busy one just all my weeks are. Besides going to Orem everyday to tend Hailey, I had my class that I teach on Thursday and I instructed the people on how to make pajama pants. There was quite a few people that came to learn to sew them, and it was fun to see them all accomplish something that they thought they couldn't do.

Along with the pajama pants, a lady showed how to make a super quick and easy table runner. The directions were so simple, and since I didn't have time to make a runner at the class, I made mine on Friday evening, and it turned out so fun. Here is a picture of it for you to see.

Also, I started doing Lauren and Averi's dresses for the wedding in August, and so as soon as they are complete, I can post pictures of them on here as well.

The Quilts in the slide show

The quilts in the slide show that is below have a story behind them, and I wish to tell it now.

The dresden plate looking one, was originally fan blocks that had been hand pieced and hand blanket stitched by my grandmother Clark. The blocks had ended up in possession of my Mother, who in turn asked me to make quilts out of them. I came up the dresden looking one, and added the triangle pieced blocks to accent the little triangles in the corners of each of the dresden blocks. These quilt blocks had been sew together over 45 years ago.

The Overall (or Sunbonnet) Sam blocks were in the same pillowcase as the fan blocks, so I took them and made the other quilt.
When the quilts were both finished and I took them out to show my mother, she asked to pick which one I wanted, and we were to take the other one out to my sister. I chose the Sunbonnet one, as I have never been really fond of greens, and it just so happened, that my sister's bedroom is done is greens, so it matched her decore just perfect, and she was absolutely thrilled to receive it.

I feel that the hard work that my grandmother put into to making the quilts has been uniquely expressed in the finished quilts. I hope you enjoyed looking at them. It was really a treat for me to be able to piece them and then do the quilting work on them.

Quilts that have been made

REVIVAL of POOL

Luckily I have a wonderful husband that went and bought a new pool for the kids to play in. It is taking forever to fill, so hopefully it will be warm enough to swim in before too many days.

POOR POOL

This poor pool gave up the ghost last night. In the wave of water that must have gushed out, all the pools toys were out in the dirt away from the cement. It would have been fun to watch, but fortunately noone was in the pool when it decided to burst open.