Sunday, December 31, 2017

2017 Quilting UFO's review

2017 UFO recap 
I'm definitely doing better than I used too.  I was lucky to finish even 1 project Prior to 2015 I did a lot of buying but had very little to show for it. But not anymore. YAY!
Trying a new way of identifying the status of my projects. Stole this method from fellow blogger Bea at Beaquilter.  Trying to make it easier to keep up with and read.
  • If in red I've worked on recently
  • If crossed thru it's complete! 
  • need 1 more handmade item from a FB post. Finished 4 of 5  -- it's called procrastination Sorry Lauren Rose. She has long forgotten by now that I even owe her something but that's okay.


  • baby quilt for Heathers Baby - at the quilter ready for binding 
    I had hoped to be done with this earlier and put in the mail but instead I nursed a cold but Heather finally got Logan's quilt on 2/7. My first finish for 2017





  • make a valence for guest room   actually I just resized the valence from the Glenway for the Lake Stone house. Won't be putting a valence up at the rent house.
  • curtains for Mini Mansion @ the Rockin K  temporary simple burlap that I had in my stash
  • Round Robin medallion 5 rounds in total  
    •  round robin begins  this was the hand off of the medal to the person who will sew on the first border  
    • 11/3/16 round 1 complete can't show pictures for this until the final hand off when I get my completed quilt top back. Off to a good start  Total of 5 rounds. 6th will be getting our tops back.
    • 2/1/17 round 2 Yahoo finished my border for handoff with 48 hours to spare. Hand off 2/5 and now to start border for next handoff  Wish I could show all the pictures of the medallions so far. I'm impressed with what everyone has done. I'm dying to see what mine looks like but like the rest of the group I have to wait until all boards are on for the final reveal.
    • 3/13/17 Round 3 finished 4 days before handoff but it wasn't without frustration.
    • 7/8/17 Round 4 finish and on the road to the final hand off and reveal. Can't wait
    • 09-24-17  THE BIG REVEALL !!! OMG  My
      medallion is a quilt top now. The medallion left my hands in September 2016 and until today 9/24/17 I had no idea what it looked like.
  • Now all I need to do is add a couple more borders to make it fit a queen size bed and get it quilted.
  • LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!! Thanks to Mary Jane, Margie, Denise, Donna Marie and Mildred The Reluctant Round Robin chicks.

  • baby quilt for Brenda Willey/Ashley Sparks  I think I succeeded in making Brenda happy. Made for her first grandbaby.. Olivia Kate.
  • baby quilt for my step Father's great grandbaby Penelope 
  • This was made from left over fabric plus a couple new fabrics. Lola joined in the photo fun. Hope she enjoys it.
  • baby quilt for Dava Dthis one is slow going. Donna Marie and I are working on it ... between our work and life. 11/12/17 working on the binding and label.  All done and Dava Loved it. She wanted to keep it for herself instead of the baby. That's okay. She can do whatever she likes but maybe she'll share with baby Dean. LOL. Quilted by Donna Moore @ Donna's Lavender Nest.  
Can you see the star quilted in the state of Texas quilting?
 A new star wars fan was born in Texas.




  • *Texas Flag quilt for myself- red and white section ready, work on blue blocks for me! Finished blue section while at retreat in September but I need to get the star made and appliqued on. It's not completely finished but it is quilted. I just need to finish the binding.
  • Nickies Tshirt quilt   hope to work on this one too during retreat. didn't happen. want to finish this one before 2018 is over.
  • Added another project but finished it. I was asked to make
    something for a friend/co-worker who was retiring. So I made a signature block.... She loves birds and is a great quilter....  She can make it a pillow or a wall hanging.
Quilt retreat was in September and I already knew what I wanted to work on but that didn't go totally as planned with the moving, one sick retreater who I got really worried about and called an ambulance for. Spent a couple hours at the hospital until her husband could get there. All ended well. She had a bad case of vertigo. Crazy thing there is another of my retreaters couldn't make it because she had spent time in the hospital a week before for vertigo and the ladies are school hood friends. What are the odds.  Plus I only stayed for 3 days instead of the whole week but that's okay. Things happen.
  • Sheryl's Crown Royal quilt
  • Mom's flannel quilt - pieced, just need to add applique
  •  Mom's western fleece quilt
  • Allan's quilt - fabric bought
  • Phi Mu auction quilt for 2018 - fabric bought
  • Hobo Quilt - picking out fabric
  • Bible Quilt - fabric bought, 1 block made
  • Special Quilt for a special grandma (JLK)
Pamela's projects for me
·    #1 t-shirt quilt - my first and I'll work on more at retreat - 3/31 95% done completed June 2017  

  • still need to get a good picture of this quilt. Hoping that I can go to A&M and take one on Campus  Didn't make it to the campus but did get a better picture. and check out the quilting by Betty at TShirt Quilts of Texas 



#2 black/white/teal quilt

  •  #3 kit we bought in Missouri a several years ago  
  • Open a pattern I bought and and make it  I keep trying to do this but I get side tracked and find something else to make.  I used my Boomerang Pattern by Jaybird for Dava's quilt.  Maybe I can open another one before the year is out or sometime in 2018.
Goal for 2018 - sew up lots of my stash and clear out some quilting magazines. I don't care to move them to our final destination at the Rockin K.  Whoever told me as a quilter you needed a stash obviously never had to move all that stash. I know my movers will greatly appreciate me if I do.

Ongoing projects
  •  postcards
  • bookmarks
  •  mug rugs
I have a new format for my 2018 UFO's that I'll share in 2018.

Until then .... Quilting is a scrap of happiness


Saturday, December 30, 2017

2017 is almost over


Forgot to share this picture before....
This picture of a local church after Harvey hit. Look closely at the billboard. So appropriate for the days that followed.








And I forgot to share the best anniversary present ever.. My husband is the best..... Eh.... It's a lock to our new storage bin. LOL  Moving into a smaller rent house means we needed a storage been to store some of our belongings in.  David is so kind and thoughtful. What can I say?!


A few weeks ago David called Lilley a Pillow Princess because she does like to rest her head on a pillow periodically.  But her baby Sophie loves her pillows totally all the time. So who is the pillow princess?
 I rest my case.  LOL









David has been working hard at the Mini Mansion trying to get the electrical wiring done and get an air conditioner set so we could spend the night there next summer and give him a place to 
get away from the heat when he's up there working.  
Can I just say that Chip Gaines from Fixer Upper has nothing on David. LOL








When we were packing up I told David we should get rid of
this wine cabinet because it's not going to fit in the rent house and I can't think of a place for it in either floor plan we have to choose from.
Pamela was there and goes "I'll take it off your hands. It's fit perfect in my dining room" LOL oh really. So it was going to go to Pamela's place but first she wanted to get it painted by a place called Shabby Chic in Tomball. They painted her china hutch, dresser and night stands.
They do an awesome job. So for part of her Christmas present we had it painted for her. It turned out great. Can I have it back? LOL
It now sits in her dining room.





David's brother  Gary and his wife Lynn hosted Christmas this year. They hosted a crowd of us but it was a great time. This picture was taken after Lynn's dad left unfortunately. Everyone was present this year except Pamela who had to work back in Bryan.  We even sang Happy Birthday to David. He's a Christmas baby. 
This is a picture of Gary and Lynn with their kids.
A great celebration. Good food and great family time.



Being in the rent house this year I didn't decorate real big but I did put out our stockings and 







Pamela loaned us her 4' tree she used when she was in an apartment.  Yeah it worked.









Love this ornament that David's sister Glenda and her husband Thomas gave David..... 
Now my Dad would have had a problem with the green. LOL He was a Massey Ferguson kind of guy.

All these ornaments are new this year to represent the next phase of our life. Thanks to our friend/realtor Barbara for one and Pamela for our new Aggie ornament. The other's I picked up at Round Top Collection or Pier 1.
Also while out shopping for Christmas I couldn't stop myself from buying something for me now to decorate with.... 2 pillows.....

 I love old red trucks..


Pamela came home on the 27th to celebrate Christmas with us and we took David out to eat for his birthday and we took some selfies.

It was a great day


We're so silly. We even convinced David to take one.
2017 is on it's way out and can't wait to see what 2018 will bring.

Until the next blog.... Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family.  Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one. Jane Howard






Thursday, December 21, 2017

A Little of This and That

While Pamela was playing in Colorado we took care of Sophie. She and her Momma Lilley had a good time chasing each other 
but sometimes Sophie just wants her furless Grampy to play with her....and she's very persistent..
 I have a friend Letty at work that I call the Butterfly whisperer. She's always nurturing cocoons and butterfly's. 



On November 15th she had a butterfly release. 

Her photos are just beautiful of the release.
She needs to make postcards.


Pamela had to have a quick biopsy procedure on the 20th so I went to spend the weekend. She was suppose to work but got put on call so we drove to the farm to deliver so items to David and help him if needed. The girls enjoy being free.
Of course it was Selfie time.

For Thanksgiving we went to David's sister's house.

She and Thomas hosted a great feast of yummy food. We kind of tradition that I bring the broccoli, rice and cheese casserole and desert then my other sister-n-law brings mashed taters and pistachio salad.  




Glenda's youngest, Kevin decided to give her bunny ears.






This year Pamela and I made a pumpkin cheese cake with pecan praline topping. Placed extra candied pecans around the cake.  We did good.     Everything was delicious.
On December 3rd I attended Phi Mu Sorority's 'Baubles and Sweets" exchange.  This is the first one I've attended. I'm not a baker but I managed to make 2 dozen pumpkin cheesecake cookies.  This was the year of the pumpkin I guess. Pumpkin Cheesecake at Thanksgiving and now pumpkin cheesecake cookies.
This is my big sister Patty from sorority. She was number 1 to open her ornament and the next person up stole it from her. She went back for another bag. She no sooner had it opened before the next person stole that ornament too.
She got a new bag to only have it stolen again. Poor thing just couldn't keep an ornament. She had the ornament everyone wanted. LOL 
This was the white elephant of ornaments. Had fun in Pamela O's home. Pamela O. had the perfect staircase for all of us to snap a picture on and such a beautiful home that she opened and shared it with us.







The following week David had to have cataract surgery. It grew fast. One week he's noticing a bit of a blur in his vision and in the next was real blurry. When he went in to the doctor they told him his cataract is dead center of his eye. So he had the surgery and the eye is healing. Not as fast as he'd like of course. 
He was told no bending over to lift and strain on his eyes so he decided to go to the farm to do what he could without getting in trouble. He dropped me off at Pamela's so we could run some errands. After the errands we ended up at Peach Creek Winery. I had a tasting and then bought a glass of wine. We took our wine outside to sit on the swings since it was so pretty out.  Now the only problem with this was Pamela is not fond of bugs especially the pesky honey bee that kept flying around. At one point the damn thing flew into her hair and sent her squealing. Now we're on a swing and her wine glass went flying too. I caught the glass before it hit the ground but almost all the wine sloshed out.  I'm sure the scene from inside was hilarious. I mean I was cracking up. Poor Pamela she was traumatized. Apparently the folks inside felt bad for her and gave her another glass of wine.
I finally got my Texas Flag quilt top put together and sent to the quilters. I was shocked how fast Donna @ Donna's Lavender Nest got it quilted and back to me.  It only took me 7 plus years to work on it and finish it.  All I have to do now is put the binding on. It came in handy the night I opened the box. Love star and state of Texas quilting. I'll share more pics after I get it bound.


Recently I was asked to make something quilty for a co-worker who was retiring by one of the girls in her department.  Whew not much time but I came up with a bird theme since I know Margaret loves birds and I decided to made a scrappy signature quilt. And Thank Goodness for awesome friends like Donna Marie who did the embroidery for me after I found and sent her the pattern. When I first started putting it together I wasn't sure I was happy with it but after the block was completed I was happy how it turned out.  
Margaret can make it into a pillow or a small wall hanging. I went over after they gave her the block Monday the 18th and told Margaret Goodbye and that I was jealous. Her farm is a little over an hour from ours. Told if she needed any more the fabrics I used to finish it off to let me know I had more. 

So now I need to work on finalizing Christmas buying and sorting out what I already have. I can't find the hangers for our stockings and I can't find our Christmas Cards. Oh Lordy. I may be sending out a Happy New Year Card instead.

I think this post pretty much catches me up on all events or adventures for now.
There's always another day of adventures in this house so stay tuned.

Until next Blog .... Have cup of Hot Chocolate and relax.