Old Churn Dash Quilt Top

I am really fond of this old quilt top. I bought a box of quilting "stuff" at a sale well over 20 years ago. In the box I found 2 finished tops, an unfinished top and many blocks. I don't even remember now where that sale was located. These Churn Dash Blocks appear to be made of a variety of fabric. I have been told it is mostly feed sack material and 50's fabric with maybe a few pieces that might have been early 60's.

I have been working on repairing it and getting it ready for quilting. It may not be the most perfectly constructed quilt top but it is has history that I wish I knew more about. Someone put a lot of work into making this old top.....who knows, there may be blocks made from fabric salvaged from old family clothing....or scraps from making a new dress.

Anyway, I can't wait to see what it looks like when it is all quilted and bound.

I had no idea 20 some years ago how much I would come to value the old "stuff" in the box, but I am sure glad I bought it!!

Where The Cats At #2

I really did not think I would have another post about where I have found the cat again so soon, but here it is!! I keep my sewing machine in the spare bedroom and as I went in there Saturday morning I found the cat up on these boxes on top of the dresser!! Never seen her there before!

Well, no telling where I'll find her next!! My Red Head DIL is always telling me, "you know, when your not home she is probably all over the kitchen table"! Their cat is perfect....he doesn't get up on things like Dodie does....yeah, right!! But you know what? I always wipe the kitchen table down before eating.....mmmm.

Where The Cats At

Back in the fall of 2007 our family went through a trying time. I decided it would be a good idea to get a cat. That way when the grand kids came to our house they would have something new to take their minds off the troubles of a divorce that they did not want or understand. Yes, a cat would be the answer and would help provide a distraction and comfort. When she was still a kitten the kids did play with her some. Today when the kids or anyone for that matter comes to the door the cat shoots down the hallway and hides under the bed. If the kids are here for a while she will eventually come out and sit where they can gently pet her, but if it gets too rowdy, under the bed she scoots. Where is the cat? That has become a very common sentence in this house. Whenever we open the closet doors she likes to sneak in. When we open the door to leave the house she likes to sneak out. You get the picture. So, often Poppy Joe or I will holler ....where is the cat at? I am surprised at times where the cats at. I think quilters and cats are common. On different blogs I have seen pictures of cats on sewing tables supervising the creativity that is going on. Cats on top of fabric also is common. There is hardly ever a time when a new piece of fabric leaves the dryer and hits the ironing board that it is not initiated into this house by a cat sniff or is sat upon. Here is a picture of "where the cats at" her name is Goldie but she is most often referred to as Dodie. The two youngest grand kids could not say Goldie very well and at first that is all they called her....Dodie. I keep quilting block projects in pizza boxes and had just earlier in the day moved two to the sewing table. Later when looking around this is where I found her.

She does not like the red eye light on the camera and will get miffed and move when I try taking her picture.

Forward to 2010 if you will. I believe the kids enjoy the cat...even love the cat.

We love our cat. Yep, I said love the cat. When all is said and done though, I believe it has been Gramma Peggy that the cat brings distraction and comfort to when going through rough patches.

When the Napping Quilter hits the bed it is usually only a matter of minutes before Dodie comes flying down the hallway and lands on the bed and curls up on the throw at her feet.

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

This rocking chair is a place I spend a little time when it is not too hot or too cold and I want just a little sunshine on my face. Other times it's the rocking chair in the house. Too often though it is my bed. I have CFS. It is an invisible disease. I have lived with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia for many years. It was March of 1992 when I first became ill. Months past and I was diagnosed with CFS, later the Fibro was added to the list. Lately CFS has taken more of my days under it's rule than I care to count.

I don't talk about it much because I live with it everyday and whats to say....I feel like calling it a new name today. CFS > CAN'T FUNCTION, SORRY!! Below I am posting something I recently read that I think explains it in a nutshell.

___Good days, bad days, and invisibility____

An invisible illness is one that isn't readily apparent to the people who don't have it. Two factors contribute to a disease's invisibility.

NO OBVIOUS SIGNS......Sufferers don't use a wheelchair or crutches, don't exhibit hideous rashes or scarring, and generally don't "look sick."

SYMPTOMS GO UNDERGROUND.......Due to the illness, sufferers often can't leave the house. When they do, it's on a relatively good day, when they're feeling better. The friends and family who see them on those good days assume, wrongly that the sick person always looks and functions that well.

That pretty much says how it is...yep it does.

Painter's Tape

I was getting my quilts bagged up to go to a quilt show and the quilt I was getting ready to quilt is already on the table. I forgot I had taken this picture...wish I had taken it without all the piles on top of it. If you look closely you can see where I have ran strips of blue painter's tape across the area I wanted to quilt. I removed them as I went along then ran the strips across the other direction. I think it worked real well. No marking and guessing, just follow the tape and rip it off.

I think it turned out pretty good for my first try at quilting using this method.

Climbing A Tree

This last week on the 16th I had a birthday....over 50ish by 2 years and it has me thinking about the time that has passed. I see in this tree a lot of time has passed.

My parents had a house moved to the farm and set it up in a field closer to the road about a quarter of a mile in front of the house that we were living in. There were lots of trees at the old house. Not so in the field where the new house was set. I missed the trees at the old house and in the summer is was hotter in the new yard than in the yard at the old house.

My Mom bought these trees to set in the front yard and when she planted them they were just twigs. I had to be careful and not mess around and hit them with my bike or do anything to damage these trees. We needed shade up in that hot bare field. I think I would have been around 5 years old when she planted them. I think she ordered these maple trees from the Henry Fields Seed Catalog. She got that catalog in the mailbox regularly. I have not seen one in years and don't know if it still exists. Guess I should google that.

In these pictures you see my grandsons climbing one of the trees Mom planted a little less than 50 years ago. They have gone from twigs to trees a kid can climb. When I am down on the farm visiting Mom and see the trees it reminds me of how much time has passed since they were planted. They provide nice shade in the front yard and have for lots of years now.

I don't know where these years have gone but they have gone by fast. The older I get the faster they fly by. If I happen to forget that living up here in my house in town it just takes a glance at the trees in Mom's front yard on the farm to remind me how time goes by. We need to enjoy each day and make happy memories to cherish as time is flying by..........

Blue Ribbon

I was really pleased that the Tulip Quilt won a blue ribbon at a local quilt show. If you want to see a full picture of it go back to my very first post. Wooo Hooo.....Paper piecing takes time and patience but I enjoy doing it. It is one way to get those crisp points right.

Red White and Blue Quilt

This is one of the last quilt tops I have finished lately. It is a crazy quilt of a mixture of techniques. Each block measured 12 1/2 inches before finished in the quilt. I tried some Wonky Log Cabins, paper pieced Crazy Quilt Blocks and some scrap blocks. It was a fun quilt to do and I can't wait to see how it looks when it is quilted.

Flowers

My youngest DILaw Jo brought these beautiful flowers home from work Friday. They were a going away gift from someone that was leaving. They are just beautiful. I hope we all start seeing these colors of fall on the trees and foliage in our area soon!! As for today I see a lot of rain out my windows.

The Bingo King

I don't remember getting to play games like Bingo in school but all is different now. During Grandparents day we got to play Bingo in the Kindergarten room. There were seven of us at the table playing. Two rounds of Bingo. Seven players....2 grown ups...5 kids.....and the youngest P School Whippersnapper A.D. won both times!!!! He is a little Bingo King.

Grandma's got a Blog

I told ELLE I had a blog and she went and got the laptop to check it out. Notice the wings necklace she is wearing ......I thought they were Harley Davidson wingy things. She said no..they are angel wings. Now I am clear on that. Hope she checks my blog once in a while when she has the chance to get on the computer. She is my first real grand kid. She is special. She is my favorite oldest granddaughter and always will be. Love ya Ms. ELLE

Car With A Lid

We did not know when we purchased this car with the sun roof that it would become a novelty with the grand kids. You should know this is a "CAR LID" not a sun roof!!

H, D, and M really had a blast riding home from Grandparents Day at the School with the lid open.

Three grand kids barely fit in the open lid. Glad there is not a big police force in the small town where the kids live.

M had to have a little bit of help from the driver....Poppy Joe to get up a little higher. I am not sure who had more fun the Grandparents or the girls!!! Oh, and by the way, not only were the girls waving but we were singing our song.."I've Got Cats That Live At My Gramma's House." Some people we drove past just looked, others waved back. I bet the ones that waved back have cats living at their house!!!

Mum

I heard the rain really coming down in the wee hours of the morning and I know my mum garden will benefit from it. In the fall of 2006 I started getting mums and planting them in an area in front of the house. This mum we planted two weeks ago will stay in the barrel and when the frost starts really flying, before the ground freezes, Joe will plant it in the mum garden. Last I counted we have around 25 that have survived the winters and I look for most of them to bloom here in a few weeks or so. I love the colors of fall and hope the dry spell we went through will not effect the the leaves turning. I have always heard if the leaves did not turn the colors of fall it was because the weather had been to dry and the leaves just dry and fall off.

Grandsons

As we were riding in the car following the boys home from football practice I could not help but think how time goes by so fast. Wasn't it just yesterday they were learning to walk and talk?? Before I know it they will be driving themselves home from practice in their own vehicles. Z first driving them both and then B will have his license too.

Pillow cases

A group of hard working ladies from The Stitch In Time Quilt Guild made 87 pillow cases to donate to a local women's shelter. I missed the day but it sounds like they had a blast doing the work together. Our president will deliver them tomorrow....I hope they put a smile on a sad face when a person receives one.

Nine Patch Scrappy Quilt

This is my Singer Featherweight that I do my quilt sewing on. It really is a good little machine. I sew on the bindings of my quilts at my kitchen table so I have plenty of room to spread the quilt out and keep it even.

I am always glad to have it sewn on ......but then the hard work starts of sewing it down on the back of the quilt by hand.

Someday I am going to get brave again and try machine stitching the binding down.....did that on my first quilt and I was not very happy with how it looked. The blind stitching is really more exact but takes a lot of time.....or it does for me.

I was really happy with the quilt and entered it in a local small town Quilt Show.

It won a RED RIBBON!!!!!!!

The competition was not too stiff, but still....a second place...I am happy with that!!!

I got my idea for this quilt and design over on crazy mom's blog......THANKS CRAZY MOM for the idea.......http://crazymomquilts.blogspot.com. Her blog has a lot of fun ideas on it and usually a quilt along taking place.

Cactus Plants

Hens and Chicks Cactus are so easy to grow. This picture was taken of my 2009 batch growing on the south side of our house. Also seen is my husband's Chiefs birdhouse given to him by one of his brothers.....Go Chiefs!!!