The Out pouring of support.....

just amazes us. Today a friend from church dropped off a bag of snacks for Randy and the girls to munch on while at the hospital on Wed. Another friend and her mother are going to bring dinner Thursday night after we get back. I have also received a ton of cards and lovely phone calls. A group of friends are coming over tomorrow night to show me support and to fellowship.
Randy and I am just overwhelmed by the amount of love and support that we have been shown from my friends. God has truly blessed us.
Penny

Going to be a long day

In the past I have tried to keep my posts up beat and cheery. Well, today is the exception. In 2001 I had a stent placed in my left Lilac Vein to improve blood flow in that leg. Three weeks ago we found out that the stent is blocked, which is causing me to have a lot of swelling in that leg. SO, on Wed. we will be traveling 3 hours to a major medical hospital and I will have surgery to replace the stent. The Dr is also hoping he can open the vein at the same time. If he can it will improve the blood flow.

In the mean time I have been in pain and unable to work on to many sewing projects. I can't sit for very long and have to lay in bed or in my chair with my feet up.

I am asking that you keep me in your prayers on Wed. and please pray for successful outcome.
Hugs to you all
Penny

What do 358 leaf templates look like?

THIS..........
There are 360 leaf templates. Each staple holds four templates, and the next step will be to iron the templates onto the fabric of my choice, cut out the templates and glue the seam allowances.
This will be a time consuming project. LOL

before it becomes a quilt

I thought I would show you what all the parts look like before they become a quilt.
This is going to be a queen size quilt. There are 147 Nine Patch blocks that will be set with alternating white on white blocks. There are also 36 flowers, 20 butterflies, 42 leaves that will be appliqued on a 5 inch wide border. It is going to be a very bright quilt that will have a wonderful home with a Ashley and Josh.
I'll post photos of the finished top next week.
Penny

358 WHAT??

I found this great applique quilt pattern by Three Sister called, "Aviary" in my new Keepsake catalog. In the catalog it is $129.99 for the fabric kit that included the pattern. Well, being a quilter on a budget, I used Google and after some searching, TAA DAA, I found the pattern on Moda's website FREE!! Now I can go to my local fabric shop and choose my own color pallet.

This really is a neat pattern and will make a lovely quilt, despite the fact there are 358 leaves that need to be appliqued. LOL

Hugs
Penny

Eq fabric down loads

While doing an Internet search I discovered that you can go to the fabric manufacture web sites and down load the current lines of fabric. Save them as a zip file, do some tweaking, and import them into your EQ program. TA DA new fabrics to play with your library. LOL

This is all new to me and I LOVE IT!!! My eq was a gift from a very dear friend and I has kept me out of trouble. Or maybe it has gotten me into more trouble lol With all these quilts that I have been designing I need some fabric. LOL

Although, EQ has also kept me busy while I have had to rest my leg as much as possible.

My surgery is in 6 days and I have been advised to limit my mobility due to the swelling. The less swollen from fluid the easier it will be for the surgeon. SO, I am chilling with my feet up and playing with EQ LOL when this is all over I see a road trip to Lancaster in my future.

Hugs for now

Penny

Nine Patch quilt update

Well, I worked on my blocks today for a little while. I have all my strip sets sewn and most are now sub cut. The yellow, pink, and orange nine patch blocks are all sewn together. The teal, green, blue and purple sub-cuts are sitting on the sewing table waiting to become blocks.

But, they will be sitting there for awhile. Tomorrow starts my week of bed rest before my surgery on the 1st. I have to get as much of the fluid out of my leg as I can and the only way to do that is to stay off the leg as much as possible.

So, these parts will come together and become a quilt after I recover from my surgery. I will take photos of my sewing room tomorrow.
HUGS
Penny

Rose/Patch Kaleidoscope

Our kits arrived today!!
To check our our centers please clink on the link below.
http://rosepatchbomtogether.blogspot.com/

Things are sorta slow here in PA

I have been having problems with my leg again. So, I am not sitting at the sewing machine but working on making flowers and butterflies for my current project, a quilt I designed in EQ-5.

I can do them while sitting in my recliner with my leg up on pillows.

This quilt will have 147 nine patch blocks. The blocks are only 5 inch by 5 inch so they will be set with a white alternate block. The open altrenate blocks won't be open for long. I will be appliqueing flowers and/or butterflies.

As you can see, in the photo below, the colors I'm using are VERY bright. The finishing plans are to have it machine quilted with a bright variegated thread.

I hope you have a wonderful day.

Penny

Bom Update

I have all of my, "Foolish Goose Tracks" bom blocks cut out. I am also almost done with step 3. There are a few steps to these 12 blocks and I am taking my time so maybe I will get them done this weekend.
Penny

March's Blocks are done

I am sewing the Applewood Farms block of the month quilt named, "Now & Forever" designed by Beth Ferrier.

March is the second month of this project and the instructions for month 2 were uploaded today. I printed the instructions as soon as I heard that they were available. Below are my finished blocks, now I will have to wait another 30 days until the next installment come out.

Penny

Using up some Scraps

I have some tone on tone Jewel tones from a past project that I found in a box yesterday. I am going to grab some White on white fabirc and make up some small nine patch blocks. The tone on tone squares are cut 1 3/4 inch by 1 3/4 squares so the finished blocks will be small. I will be putting some applique on the borders.

Here is what i came up with in EQ so far.

A special Gifty

Nansi called me this afternoon to tell me that she ordered me a special gift. Starting on Tuesday of next week, a squishie will be delivered to my house each month. Nansi bought me a subscription to the block of the month. Once a month I will recive a package that contains the fabric, pattern and instructions to complete the above quilt. There is one catch, hehe She is making herself one also in black, but I will be doing her applique work and quilting her quilt. LOL Great trade I think.

Thank you so much Nansi!!

Good Friends are a blessing from God.

Penny

It's been 5 weeks

The last time I rode my horse was 5 weeks ago and it has been driving me nuts! Well, today I couldn't stand it any longer, even though it was COLD, I went to the barn this afternoon. The sun was out, but oh my the wind was cold. Bear is such a good boy. Even though it's been weeks he remembered his manners and behaved himself. It was a great ride and I bet I will be sore tomorrow, but it was well worth the stiffness.

Penny

What to do now

Let's see, while digging threw my stash lastnight I found these churn dash blocks for a swap I was in from last year. I have twelve-6 inch blocks, twelve-9 inch blocks, and twelve-12 inch blocks. I am going to play in eq and see if I can come up with a way to set them in one quilt top.

Penny

BOM installment 2 blocks are done

Finally, installment #2 of my, "Burning the Midnight Oil" block of the month is done: Here's my center, I am really pleased can't wait for installment #3.

Penny

Spring Mud

The snow started in Oct. and we complained about it all winter. Now that the snow is gone we are dealing with melting MUD!! It comes in on the dogs feet, on my barn boots even on the horses legs and belly's. FUN FUN. LOL I am getting a lot of sewing done with these cloudy, rainy days. You just have to love March in PA.

tea time

I am doing a spring wall hanging swap in Quiltchat the internet chat room that I joined years ago. We are a group of internet friends that get together and chat quilting.
This is my spring wall hanging that will be sent to a secret friend.

I saw a bom project on line that was originally in Dutch. http://grandmaskitchen.web-log.nl/grandmas_kitchen/2009/01/friendship-flow.html Her blocks are based on 6 inches.

So, I came up with my own version. I added the apple blocks and the cat. I also enlarged my blocks to be based on a 12 inches. The patterns are printed and I'm digging threw my stash now to see what fabrics I might already have. LOL
Oh EQ5 is going to get me in sooooo much trouble!
Penny