Update on blocks for Emma's Hope project.......

Here's a quick update on the blocks that have come in so far for the Emma's Hope fundraising quilt..................

The four blue and navy blocks are from Kathy in British Colombia......the two 12 1/2" blocks with white backgrounds are from Denny in PA and the four 6 1/2" blocks with white backgrounds are from Crispy in ND. Then the two red and the two navy 6 1/2" blocks are from Heather in northern MN (and I think it gets cold here in southern MN - don't even like to think what it's like where she lives!!). The 6 1/2" block in the far left corner is from Jackie in nearby Arlington, MN and my block is the one 2nd from left in the top row. The blocks will not lay out like this. I was just laying them out to see how they might look. I know of about a dozen more blocks that will be headed my way so it will be interesting to see how it all lays out.

I've been a bit busy this week working on a Wooly Buddies project plus I did a little program for the local Women's Club group on Tuesday morn. They titled the program "Gifts galore to share" so I brought a basket overflowing with projects from miniatures to penny rugs and quilts and poems that I've written and tied it all together into a neat little program. It went well and was a good chance to know what I will bring to the next program I do which is for the Women's Club in my hometown of Lehigh, Iowa at the end of April. Then just a few days later, I'll be doing one in nearby St. Peter, MN for their quilt guild. I am so excited to share my projects and poems. Sometimes my projects make others smile and then that makes me smile to know that I have made them smile and well, it's contagious. :-) see :-) smiles and more smiles. :-) another one! Okay, getting a little silly. Might be time for me to go to bed.

Part of why I am so late is that I started reading a little book that I was going to read at Christmas time and never got to. It's called The Christmas Wish by Richard Siddoway. It was so good. I started reading it and couldn't put it down so curled up in my sewing chair, relaxed and read til I finished it!!

Time to turn out the lights!!
Sandi

A little edit.... Blocks you see in this photo arrived in the mail today from Deanna in MN, Kathy in British Columbia, Holly in Florida and Linda in Georgia. When the quilt is finished, I will post exactly who made which blocks with a diagram for all who participated.

Wishing you...............

a Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

I have a trio of Irish themed items to share for a wee bit of show 'n tell. This piece is one that I appliqued sometime in the early 1980's (before I discovered fusible web). It's sort of Pennsylvania Dutch-like but it's just a design I drew and then cut the pieces and stitched them in place with really tiny blanket stitching. It measures about 10" in diameter.

And then I thought I'd share this heart that my friend Kate gave me for I love the saying on it.......... "A friend is one to whom you may pour out all the contents of your heart, chaff and grain together knowing that the gentlest of hands will take and sift it, keep what is worth keeping and with a breath of kindness blow the rest away."
Isn't that a lovely sentiment? She got the heart at a craft show and I treasure it along with her friendship. I am lucky to have a friend like Kate and a whole lot of others that fit this saying so well. Some are longtime friends, some are new friends, some are friends for a short time and then move on, some are near and some are far but everyone is cherished.

And one last thing to share is one of my favorite penny rugs. In the late 1990's I learned through some genealogy records that my great great great grandfather Issaac Linn was born in Ireland. I honor that heritage with the shamrocks and the daintly white flowers that are surrounded by 36 lucky gold coins. The piece is made from wool and the gold coins are a vintage piece of wool given to me by my mother-in-law. I drew the design in 2002 and made the piece in 2003.

And there you have it. A trio of green things for St. Pat's Day. Hope you all have a lovely one!!

Sandi

There's more Irish good wishes over at my tea blog so just click here and you will find a little shamrock pattern you can stitch for next year. :-)

It's been a great day......

as the snow melts away!!

That's as exciting as it got today. Well, that and the fact that the spring weather must have had everyone in the mood to be out and about. I couldn't find a place to park when I went to church and the ushers ran out of bulletins because there were so many folks in church. And that is an exciting thing! :-)

I played in my fabric all afternoon, did a little sewing, too - finished the pincushion I started in the extension program from Thursday night (go here for more on the pincushion) and did some crazy quilting. That reminded me to give my friend Deanna a call so we could chat about a crazy quilting project for the Victorian home at The Landing. Then I had to think about what to fix for supper so I made goulash (anyone interested in the recipe?) and baking powder biscuits. Very nummy. Then we - hubby and I - sat down to watch "Desperate Housewives". Tomorrow night we'll tune in to "Dancing with the Stars". Wow, as I said, not too exciting around here. :-)

No other news to report. Hope you all had a goooooooooooood weekend!!


Sandi

The Joy of Handwork!

That was the title that the coordinator gave to a program that I did last evening for a local County Extension group. I liked it alot!! There really is joy in handwork and here are the photos to prove it. Loads of smiles, lots of laughter throughout the evening and some tasty treats, too!! The program was actually just a little class on making my Turkish Rose Pincushion. I brought along a few penny rugs and other items in wool just so they could see the fun things one can create with wool or woolfelt and lots of thread and hand stitching. Initially, I was going to make up kits but I decided instead to bring my basket of woolfelt (National Nonwovens Centennial colors) and let everyone choose their own colors. We all enjoyed seeing how different each pincushion looked in the various colors chosen.


Once the woolfelt colors were chosen, it was time to choose thread colors. Again, I just brought my entire basket of Perle cotton so everyone could choose the color they preferred. I also brought my embroidery floss in case it was needed but my personal preference is to use Perle cotton on my woolfelt projects.
That's my friend, Joanie on the left and Sharon on the right and I can't recall the name of the lady in the center. I do recall that she was a very good handstitcher and very helpful to the ladies at her table!!


This is the table she was at and I took this while she was still selecting threads. Everyone was very busy working on their pincushions. Most of the ladies were new to me but I had met Gayle (dark green shirt in the middle) when we both enjoyed a German dinner and music in Henderson last summer. We were all treated to lime green punch, green sherbert and sugar cookies by Mary the coordinator. The sherbert was really, really good!

Sharon and Sylvia are very focused on their stitching and so is Shirley. She's happy with her colors. I was, too. I wanted to make one in every color combo that they all chose!!

It turns out I had also met Jackie (below)at the Henderson Library quilt shows last fall. All evening, I kept thinking "I know her from somewhere" and thankfully, she solved the puzzle for me. LOL!! Here she is with her pieces that are stitched and ready to become a pincushion.

Big smiles here.....first finished pincushion!!!

If you want to make a pincushion and smile, too, go over to my pincushion blog MommasPrettyPincushions and you'll find the pattern for the Turkish Rose Pincushion. If you are interested in a woolfelt kit, just e-mail me for more info at stitchinglegacy @ gmail (dot) com.

My friend, Joanie, has the most wonderful smile and is just the nicest person you could ever get to know. She also has a wonderful laugh. I've written about her before as she has a wonderful gift for floral arranging and beautiful gardens at her home. She doesn't do much sewing but she did fine on her pincushion. That's her daughter-in-law Nicole who also came to the program. If Nicole is as lucky as I was in the "mother-in-law department" then she has the best "mother-in-law ever". In all the years I knew my mother-in-law, Ora, she never said an unkind word to me. Now my husband agreed to that but also agreed that she probably chastised him a time or two............but well, this is about pincushions.......so back to the subject at hand.

Here's one more finished pincushion and Joanie must have been color coordinating it with her outfit. If I had been thinking, I would have lined up the color selections so you could see how different they all looked.

The evening was great fun and I especially enjoyed it as it was the first teaching session I've done in over a year. With all the family health issues and the passing of my dad, it just wasn't possible to schedule classes or programs. I have another program coming up in just four weeks then one four days after that so there's more fun to come!

Sun is shining here today and temps are in the 30's. We are to be in the 40's all next week so I am hanging up the winter coat til next season!! Won't get out the shorts and sandals yet but I hope this is "bye-bye winter"!!!

Have a great weekend!!

Sandi

Polka Dot Snow!!

First thing, thank you to all of you who have e-mailed me that you will make blocks for a fund-raising quilt for Emma. I deeply appreciate that you will take time to make and send blocks and I know Connie, Emma and family will be, too.
Some of you may know that here in Minnesota, we got more snow yesterday. It started here as freezing rain/slush, then snow, then wind, and then more wind all night long!!! I was glad to not have to go out. About 9:00 last night, I was finishing up in the kitchen when I looked over at the door and this is what I saw. Well, it was "Polka Dot Snow" and, of course, I grabbed my camera.

Does that look cool or what? By morning the effect was gone so I am glad I captured it on film. The wind finally died down but the cold stayed and my sewing room didn't warm up til mid-afternoon!! Good grief, Spring must be out there somewhere!! Seriously, though, my thoughts and prayers were with anyone who had to be driving last night because it was not a good night to be on the road.
As much as I don't like having to go out in the snow, I do like the feeling of being "snowed-in". I also don't mind the sound of the wind as long as I am not out driving or walking in it. I do have to wonder, though, just how did our forefathers and mothers survive in these places in the winter. Probably they did it because they weren't as used to furnaces and air conditioners like we are. :-) So that I could watch the snow and listen to the wind, I decided to sit in the living room and sew and organize my crazy quilting stuff. After a while my fingers got cold because the heat went down for the night, but I got everything back in order and am ready for our next crazy quilting meeting. If you want to follow along with our crazy quilting exhibit and activities you can go here and read along.
Since my sewing room was so cold, I decided to start earlier in the day with the goodies I baked for my "Tea and Stitches" post. If you go here you can read what kept me warm this afternoon.
That's all for now. I need to collect my supplies for a program I'll be doing for a County Extension group tomorrow evening. More on that later. And there is Wooly Buddies fun to plan as we are doing a Spring Eggs Wool swap and tomorrow I will post partners and it will be fun to see what "eggs-tra special things" everyone receives. :-)
Have a good day.
Sandi

Emma's Hope

I have a special request today. During my blogging journey I have met many wonderful bloggers and enjoyed many fun swaps. During that time I have also come to know my postlady, Connie, very well! Some of you may remember that a few weeks ago, I told you about Connie's seven year old granddaughter, Emma, who was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Plans are in the making for a fundraiser to help with medical costs and Connie has asked if I could collect blocks from my blogging friends that would make a really unique quilt. The finished quilt will be sold then at auction. So, if you are reading this and you would like to contribute a block, please e-mail me. The blocks need to be in the colors of red, blue, white, maybe some green and a little purple. No orange or pink. You may make 6 1/2" blocks of any design or you may make the block 12 1/2" in size (4 patch, 9 patch, anything) . I see a plan in my head, so I know it will work out when the blocks come together. For my friends who know me and wish to send a block, thanks in advance. You all have my address. For those who need my address, please go to my profile and click on my e-mail address to send a message. I need to receive the blocks by April 10th, 2009. Many thanks for any help you can offer.
Sandi

Note: The Emma's Hope pic shown above is a jpeg file and if you wish to copy and post it to your sidebar that would be great, then link back to this post. My e-mail address is stitchinglegacy @ gmail (dot) com.

And I forgot to mention that when the blocks come in and then they become a quilt top, there is a group of ladies just waiting to begin hand-quilting it!! Thanks to all of you that have said you will send blocks. It's very much appreciated!!!

March Block of the Month is here!!

Finally, they're here........the March "Seasons of the Heart" blocks!!

In the picture above you can see that I choose a pretty dark green print for the shamrock. I fused it to the background fabric and buttonhole stitched around it in a lighter green thread. I followed that with an outline border in a darker green. All of these blocks are fairly simple but can be enhanced with as much or as little embellishment as you wish.

The pages above and below are the pattern pages. I'll be embroidering the words on strips of fabric that will be added to the blocks. I was planning to give you the info on that this month. It will have to wait til April. Just concentrate on making blocks right now. You may not want to do the word part and it is not necessary to do that part as you are doing the blocks.

And here's the Snowman of the month for you. He's sending off an Irish greeting just for you!

You can stitch him in Redwork, trace and color him, cut the pieces from wool and applique......remember, just use your creativity and do what suits your fancy!!!

For those of you who have requested that the files be e-mailed to you, I'll be adding the names to the list from those who signed on this past week and will send those files tomorrow/Monday.

Have a good Monday!!

Sandi