Two More

I have recently finished two more baby quilts.

Just like all the others, there's a story to tell.

I once again made two baby quilts for a shower.

One to be given to the baby and one to be donated on behalf of a miscarried baby.

The charity quilt is going to a crisis pregnancy center. 

This center "provides caring, loving, non-judgmental support to women and girls who are distressed by an unplanned pregnancy."

These quilts are roughly the same size.

Barnyard quilt 33 1/2" x 37 1/2" (on the left)

Jeep quilt 32 1/2" x 37" (on the right)

The wind blew the one on the left making it look much bigger.

I wasn't sure I would get these quilts done in time.

I had carefully planned around my surgery.

Then the car accident threw a wrench into my plans.

I knew no one would have cared if it was a little late... I had a good excuse.

However, my wrist/thumb healed fast and I was able to finish with plenty of time to spare.

I tried new to me quilting that went fast.

The quilting is called organic waves.

It's pretty hard to mess up...even for me.

One quilt has a Jeep theme for a little boy to enjoy.

The other one has a gender neutral barnyard theme.

It has lots of cute farm animals romping around. 

There's never a dull moment on the farm.

I heard my in-laws coming so I waited to capture them in the background.

How many other quilters have tractors in the background of their quilt pictures?

Or ducks?

Some of my quilt inspectors came over to see if I had any peas.

(Ducks are crazy about peas.)

The other quilt inspector wanted to play.

It's hard to get good help.

Typically when I finish a quilt it stays here on the

living room quilt rack until it goes to its new home.

I'm happy to give them away but I do miss them when they're gone.

Until I make more that is!

This is the quilt that went to a dear little boy.

A little boy who was given up for adoption so he could have a chance at a better life.

A little boy who made a couple become first time parents.

A dear little boy.

A precious gift.

Here's mom holding her charity quilt.

I have plans to make more of these charity quilts.

There are several moms I know who have lost babies.

I have lost one too and plan on making one in memory of that baby.

We may not have been able to hold our babies but we have never forgotten them either.

Runners

Over the weekend I officially reached the halfway point of this crazy hexagon table runner.

I have hand sewn 210 one inch hexies.

I think I decided to keep going and do the other half.

Which means only 210 more to go.

I'm in no hurry to finish this.

It's a nice slow paced sewing project.

There are 14 hexies in each row.

I gathered the remaining hexies into piles of 7 (because

those little red clips hold that amount well).

This way I don't have to count, just grab two stacks and start sewing.

Not sure why I didn't think about that before!

Since I finished the last baby quilt I needed a new project.

I've been wanting a Christmas table runner.

I learned to add my own fabrics to the EQ software.

This enabled me to tinker with a pattern using fabrics I actually own.

I'm a visual person and this helped me a whole lot!

Today I started cutting fabric to make one tree block.

I'll try it out tomorrow and see how it goes.

I'm hoping to have the top done sometime this week.

Well, if my foot cooperates that will be my goal.

My foot has been very grumpy of late.

I'm trying sit as much as I can or stand with all my weight on my good foot.

Thankfully I start physical therapy this week.

I'm also thankful my sewing machine has an option to sew without the foot pedal.

I've never liked sewing with a pedal so I never use it!

It's been boxed away since I got it.

:)

Quilt Quack 6

It was quite chilly this morning as I went to do chores.

It was a whopping 24 balmy November degrees.

It was spitting some snow too.

I tried to get a picture of the snowflakes that stuck to Pepper but she didn't cooperate very well.

Every morning when I go out to do chores she runs to get her soccer ball.

Since it got cooler she thinks play time is all the time.

When we come home from town she greets us at the gate with her ball in her mouth.

She spins circles waiting for someone to kick her ball.

Silly dog.

I had to break the ice in her water bowl this morning.

We got a heated water bucket for the ducks out in the yard.

So far it has worked very well.

All I had to do was dump the yucky water and replace it with fresh.

I didn't have to break any ice!

They didn't like the bucket at first but they got used to it.

Now we'd like to get another heated bucket for these guys.

It will be so awesome not to have to worry about their water icing up this winter.

On the quilting side of my world, I have finished quilting on one quilt and working on another.

I'm hoping to finish the second one soon.

I'll have a post about those quilts coming up.

For now just a sneak peek!

Mini Vacation Part 3

On Sunday of our vacation we took a day trip to the Blue Ridge Parkway.

I don't really remember which part we were on only that it was in North Carolina.

This was probably my favorite part of our trip.

I could stare at these mountains all day everyday for the rest of my life.

Connor got a slinky the day before we took our excursion.

He annoyed us played with it while we drove.

I think at one point I threatened to throw it off a mountain.

Don't worry, I didn't do it and the slinky is still intact.

Eventually the guilty party kept better control of his toy.

I can't stop staring at the beauty of this country.

Most of the time there's just no words for the gorgeous views God created.

Ah, brotherly love.

No orneriness goin' on here whatsoever.

I love cloud shadows.

This is where we had a picnic break.

It was quite a bit chillier than the lower elevations.

At 54 it was about 20 degrees cooler!

We tried making a call from up there but the signal wasn't the greatest.

:)

A certain someone thought it was funny to photo bomb the mountains.

You can see he's smiling in this one.

Last one.

There are frequent tunnels on the Parkway.

 Unfortunately, they're difficult to get a pic of with the phone.

Fun with the sign.

I believe the sign says Chestnut Cove.

However, I do see three crazy nuts.

According to our tour guide, Dan, the mountain on the right is where the Gatlinburg fire started.

It looks more ominous than it was due to the cloud shadow on the top.

It is still fairly barren though.

It's hard to see, but in the foreground there are blackened tree trunks from the fire.

There is also a distinct fire smell in this area.

In the lower center of this photo you can see a blackened trunk.

If you look closely as you drive along the roads in certain areas you can spot lots of these trees.

It is sad but there is new growth too.

Thanks to the fire there is a new chair lift in Gatlinburg.

Even though it's almost been a year, there is still a smell of smoke
in the air while driving through downtown Gatlinburg.

I was a little disappointed that I didn't see any bears this trip.

I'm not counting the roadkill cub that didn't make it across the highway.

I bet he left a mark on someone's vehicle!

We did see one turkey and it wasn't in the van.

:)