(edited  – 11/20/08)

last december our wednesday daystitchers group purchased baby dolls and made a quilt for each one.  then we brought them down to kare-11’s 6 pm broadcast and donated them during the Toys for Tots drive.  here is a wonderfully blurry picture of me and a couple from our group with Sven, our weatherman.

We are set up with channel 11 to repeat our dolls with quilts donation again this year.  i had already purchased my baby doll, who’s an adorable cabbage patch preemie.  a little doll quilt is no big deal under normal circumstances — however, with a broken wrist???  i thought i better start now, especially since i asked friends who don’t sew to purchase a baby doll and i would make quilts for as many dolls as i get,  so last night i set out to quilt…

okay, 1st problem.  i can’t stabilize the ruler to rotary cut.  hmmm.  ds1 is home.  would he be game to learn how?  sure he would.  what a guy!

 (i promise to post a better picture of dave in the future.)  so we did a variation of Mary’s heartstrings pattern, so dave could cut the “strings” whatever width he wanted.  okay, a disclaimer.  i am working one handed.  everything is awkward and different.  so with that said, here is the unquilted top on the “baby”.

Doesn’t she look cute?  i think our next “doll” will be a teddy bear suitable for either a boy or girl. 

Sue

sue

i had the surgery on my wrist last friday, and they put in a t-shaped plate w/screws that will stay in my wrist.  every day there is less pain. 

in previous lives ive been a statistical typist, legal admin, and court reporter.  i can’t begin to tell you how frustrating it is to hunt and peck instead of fingers flying over the keys!  and all the things you can’t do with just one hand — or you can do it, but it takes 5 times as long.  okay, i wont whine again for a while.

DS1 is here from VA.  DS2 and DS3 spent a couple of days hanging out, so it was like old times.  our wonderful dil was here sunday, and its always nice to see her.  and i dont just say thay cuz she might be reading this — we truly enjoy her company.  and no, i’m not just saying this cuz she has my name for our gift exchange.  and no, i’m not just saying that cuz she brought pot stickers over sunday.  okay, maybe the pot stickers…

ds1 — aka dave — and i are going to ikea this a.m.  favorite place!  i love their 58 cent mugs.  they used to be 33 cents, but are still a bargain.  better than the cups that came with my dishes. 

vicki w. was right — i do have more time for reading blogs.  vicki does a fun list once a week.  she lists a variety of specific posts on various people’s blogs.  and not just quilting, but a wide range of fiber arts.  you are sure to enjoy.  click here for a sampling.  if you ever want to stop by vicky’s blog, she is also listed on my side bar.

dave brought me a cup of coffee, so i guess life is looking pretty good — nice fresh coffee first thing in the a.m., a trip to ikea, likely to be followed by a nap.

sue

(add’l note:  surgery is a go for friday)

whimper and whine, ive been feeling sorry for myself all week.  monday nite i took a fall off a curb at a local mall — quilters, brace yourselves, it’s one of our worst nitemares — and i broke my wrist.  bad.  not that there’s any way to break it good.  based on the xrays, the ortho-hand guy thinks i will be having surgery tomorrow (friday) to put in this metal piece with some screws.  they did a cat scan yesterday to confirm, and i am waiting for the final decision on surgery or no surgery.

they re-casted it yesterday and let me choose the color, so of course it’s purple.  dh has been a doll, running me around, making dinners.  the pain meds make me tired, so i’ve sleeping a lot in the recliner, and he adjusts my pillows and blankets and brings me water or freshens my coffee.  all this caregiving is definitely out of his comfort zone.  he had to go out this a.m., and he left a bottle of water for me with the top loosened.  wow, there are so many things you either can’t do or have to relearn with one hand.  and this typing is taking forever!

fortunately vets day was this week, and the coverage on tv of our boys and girls who come home with horrific injuries and amputations helped put me back in my place.  surgery or no surgery, i will be whole again.

and i did a small quilt on the longarm tuesday.  dh had to learn how to pin, but i can do freehand swirls one-handed!  you can’t keep a quilter down for long.  and knittung?  rats!  i had just ordered a bunch of sock yarn, which will just have to wait.  i was wearing my newly knitted socks in the e.r., and the nurses liked them.  the socks now have plaster gunk dribbled across them.  i guess the er doc wasn’t as fond of them.

boo-hoo for now,

sue

And just in time!  (Sorry, but I love puns and stupid word things.  I could get so much more done in a day if I gave up the daily crossword.)  It was 24 degrees when I got up this morning, and it’s only about 28 degrees right now at 1:30 pm.  Brrr.  So I have completed my very first pair of socks!  They feel wonderful.  I wasn’t sure I would like wool on my feet, as I always have to wear something between me and a wool sweater, but we’ll see how it goes with socks.  Right now I’m loving them!

I’ve been mulling over stash yardages in my mind, as I want to Join Judy Laquidara’s Stash Busting for 2009.  I like how she’s set up.  You don’t have to try to do an inventory ahead of time; just keep track of what comes in and what goes out and report the difference on a weekly basis, keeping a running total.  Then you post a Stash Busting Report on your blog each Sunday, and provide a link to that post to Judy’s blog. 

My sticking point is — how much should I set for a goal (# of yards to reduce by the end of 2009)?  I want it to be a realistic number that I can likely achieve, with some discipline.  But I don’t want it to be too easy.  It should take some effort.  I’m not going to say, no new fabric, cuz that ain’t gonna happen.  But I need to be proactive on reducing stash.  I have three sons that would probably send all my stuff to the Good Will and use the unquilted tops for oil rags, should I be sent prematurely to the Big Quilting Bee in the Sky. 

I also have to consider the fact that I don’t have a HUGE stash, but I have some yardage I’ve bought for backing pieces that just aren’t going anywhere, and I would like to make a point to get some of those moved out.  I also have some kits that aren’t getting any *fresher* and should also get made up and moved out.  Then there’s my batiks that I never seem to use; I just pull them out from time to time and admire.  Sooooo, after much deliberation, my Stash Reduction Goal for 2009 is…

75 Yards

That sounds like so much fabric, and it is, but I think I can do it (and it’s a drop in the bucket compared to some quiters’ stash-busting goals).  I’ll need to:  Shop my stash first.  Keep doing Judy L’s BOM and Quilt for an Hour Projects, as I’ve been making them (for the most part) out of stash.  I might have to do a quilt or two STARTING with one of these oddball fabrics that don’t seem to go with anything, or else I should give them away. 

I’m ready, 2009!  Bring it on!

Sue

We woke up this morning to wet, heavy snow in the trees and on the ground (and everything else).  Usually our first snow doesn’t “stick” or last very long because the ground is still too warm.  I don’t know if this snow is here for the winter or not, but it sure is pretty out this morning.

This is a branch of the crab tree right out our kitchen window.  I have to be the laziest photographer in the world.  When I say Out My Window, that’s exactly what I mean.  I’ve removed the screens from key windows so when I want to take a picture, I can just crank the window open and have an unobstructed view.  If it’s a bird up close, however, I just shoot through the window.  Here is our view out the back window:

Not a particularly interesting picture, except it looks like black and white, and this is actually in color.  Makes me want to stay in and make soup today.  In the lower part of the picture you can see the walking path that goes around our “lake”.  It’s called a lake, but when we’ve had a dry spell, I’ve seen ducks standing up in the middle. 

Yesterday was DayStitchers, and it was our last box exchange of the year.  (We each have a box of chosen fabrics, designated theme, etc. and once a month from May to October we exchange boxes, and make a block for someone else’s box.)  I’m posting a collage of each collection of blocks here, but I will also be posting individual pictures on my Box tab at the top of this page.

(You should be able to click once or twice on the photo to make it a little larger.)

Clockwise from the upper left we have:  Jan’s Batiks, Jane’s Stars & Pinwheels, Joan’s Chickens, Jean’s Civil War, Betty’s Florals, Sue’s Cowboy Boots, Cathy’s Hearts, Kate’s Chickens, Pam’s Blue Baskets (she appliques the pink flowers when she gets the baskets back), LaVonne’s Minnesota Twins, and in the center is Arlis’ Birdhouses.

Some people have more than six blocks because they continued their same theme from last year.  I plan to continue my cowboy boot blocks.  I asked the ones who get my box to make a cowboy boot that reflects their personality, so I would like to end up with a boot from everyone in the group.  We’ve had a lot of fun with these boxes.  It’s a small task to make a block during a month, and it’s sooooo much fun on exchange day to see what everyone has made. 

Sue

PS:  I just had to add another photo.  The above gray-looking photo at the beginning of this post was taken Friday morning about 9:30.  It’s less than four hours later, and the view is dramatically different.  The photo below shows the 9:30 am photo on top, the 1:00 pm photo on the bottom:

So I guess, even though the thermometer says 37 degrees, it isn’t REALLY winter yet!  And maybe a reminder that we shouldn’t judge our day by the way it starts out.  It could end up being really lovely!

Sue

My side of the family is pretty small, and we are all here in the same metro area (except for DS1 in VA).  DH’s family, however is large and scattered across the country.  DH is the 5th of 7 children, and each of those “children” have children who have children…it’s a BIG family.  Besides Minnesota, we cover the aforementioned Virginia, Missouri, Texas, North Dakota, Montana, Colorado, Utah, Washington, Oregon, and Arizona.  We used to have huge family get-togethers on my in-laws’ farm in western North Dakota, which we all loved.  There was room for the kids to all run and play and get to know their cousins.  There was always good food, good times, and some good mischief.

Since my in-laws have passed away, reunions have been limited to weddings and funerals.  This family is terrific.  When there’s a family wedding, everyone who can travels for the occasion.  Maybe your family is like ours, and maybe you have a smaller family, but it seems like keeping in touch gets harder all the time.

Several years ago we found MyFamily.com.  It’s a free on-line service, but I pay the $20 or $30 upgrade a year and then no one gets pop-up ads, plus we get additional space for pictures. 

What I really like about MyFamily is it’s a secure web site.  Only your invitees can see what’s there.  When you set it up, you plug in the e-mail addresses of whom you’d like to invite, and MyFamily sends out the invitations.  Because it’s private, you can have address lists, phone numbers, family pictures — more information than you would care to share with the universe.  There are even sections for recipes, book and/or movie reviews, family tree, a “file cabinet” where you can share documents.  It also shows when people have visited the site last. 

The person who sets up the site is the Administrator, so you will be the one that helps out if someone forgets their password, etc.  Or you can designate everyone an Administrator.  It’s up to you.

Anyway, I’m a big fan of MyFamily, and it’s part of my morning routine:  I check it to see if anyone has posted anything new since yesterday.  It also shows upcoming birthdays, and probably other features I’m not remembering.  Oh, it also has a Chat feature, where you can arrange a certain date and time for everyone to be online at the same time and you have your own chat room.  We’ve tried it a couple of times, and it didn’t work out the best for our family.  But I love every other feature, and MyFamily works great for us. 

When Ike was bearing down on Texas/Louisiana, SIL Grace (who lives south of Houston) was able to post information about the family who lives in that area.  There was a lot of activity on our MyFamily page during that time, and it was great that there was one central place to check for updates.

Just something useful that’s out there that you might not have known about. 

Sue

One Sock!  Okay, I promise I won’t keep posting pictures of sock progress, but this is just so exciting to me to have completed one whole sock.  And it looks like a sock.  It fits like a sock.  It IS a sock!!!

I never thought I’d be posting a picture of my pasty-white leg on the Internet, but there it is.  Twice!  Sorry about that.  (Just be glad I’m knitting for my feet and not for any other part of my body.)  Now I just need to do cast on and do it all over again.  Our weather is supposed to turn on us by the end of the week.  They are even using the four-lettered word that starts with “s” and rhymes with “NO!!!”

Voting went so well this morning.  It only took us 15 minutes at the polling place, but we went about 10:15, so I think the morning rush was over and the noon rush hadn’t started yet.  So we celebrated by having a late breakfast at IHOP. 

Well, I probably will have to post one more sock picture: when I have a whole pair completed!  I wish I could give Grandma Ida a big hug for all the knitting she did for us kids.  We would always get either mittens, gloves, or skating socks for Christmas, and tucked inside would be a shiny silver dollar.  And she had such a good eye for color.  She didn’t just knit — she knitted beautifully, and she made beautiful things.  Thinking of you today, Grandma.

Sue

Block 7 on Judy L’s Star BOM quilt went together as easy as could be.  Since I’m adding colors as I go (and not following any sort of plan, except to make the blocks jewel-tone scrappy), I did swap one color I thought was going to work, and when I laid it out, I didn’t like it.  This quilt is going to be mine, all mine!!!  I won’t be weak and give this one away!  Here’s a collage of the seven blocks so far.  I really need to retake these photos.  The background fabric is the same in all the blocks, but you would never know it from looking at these pictures!  It is a little golder, closer to the photo in the upper left of the collage:

Gotta go.  DH is barbecuing brats outside (OUTSIDE!!!) in November in Minnesota!  What a treat.  Of course, with the time change, he’s working in the dark…

Sue

Two weeks ago, with great trepidation, I started my first knit sock.  I am using Cat Bordhi’s book Socks Soar on Two Circular Needles.  I was a little concerned about learning to knit a sock strictly from the printed page, but I am feeling pretty good about my progress.  It LOOKS LIKE A SOCK!!!  Well, maybe like 2/3 of a sock, but I’m feeling a lot more optimistic now that I’ve gotten past the heel.

There are several sock patterns in this book, and they are organized in the book in order of difficulty.  Naturally I am doing the first pattern, which is a nice basic sock.  There is also a pattern for a pair of felted slippers that it would be fun to try.  They are pictured on the cover of the book in the upper right-hand corner.

I am using Lion Brand’s Magic Stripes yarn in Lumberjack - Black.  It’s a wool/nylon blend.  There are so many wonderful sock yarns available, and in so many colorways, I wish socks were faster to knit.  It would be fun to have a whole drawerful of hand-knit socks, but right now I’m just shooting for a whole pair that look somewhat like each other.

While working on this sock, I had kind of a weird thought:  I wonder how many single socks are floating around out there in blogland because either the knitter lost interest, didn’t have enough yarn, didn’t like how the first one came out, etc?  I have a family member (female) who has just one leg who could make use of just such an orphan sock. 

Sue

(NOTE:  There is still a slot open for one more PAY IT FORWARD participant.  Read about the conditions below, and if you’d like to pay it forward, leave me a comment!  –Sue)

Julie K had the nicest offer on her site:  the first three interested people to respond would receive something handmade from her in the next year; in return, those three people would also post a Pay It Forward offer on their blog.  All in the interest of making the world a happier place!  I couldn’t resist.  I have found quilters to be very generous people, and that is especially true of blogging quilters.

So here it is.  I am extending a Pay It Forward offer to the first three responders to this post (a handmade gift from me in the next year).  You must also indicate that you are willing to pay it forward with the same offer on your blog (sorry, but this will only work if you also have a blog).  So what do you think?  Are there any takers out there???

Sue

PS:  I won’t make you wait a year for your surprise!