"Fairy Rings" - DONE

My favorite part are the feet sticking out!

This quilt pattern is again, a Kaleidoscope quilt. I made 2 strip sets of the same strata, pressed one up, the other down, and sewed them together, being careful matching seams. This arrangement purposely does NOT have the kaleidoscope effect I usually aim for. I purposefully made a variety of "rings", just for a child's interest.

Meggie asked for "Fairies". This Fairy fabric came from Keepsake Quilting - it is an amazing piece of fabric, excellent quality, and more than I ever pay for fabric, but worth it now. The orange is supposed to be kinda melon, and I was thinking this quilt was toooo soft and wimpy (wimpy is NOT my style). And, the orangey melon has little stars that actually glow in the dark - I tried it out. THAT feature was too good to pass up. Yes, it kinda jumps out at you but I like it.

Fairy Rings are circles of growth, grass, or mushrooms that are found in more humid climates, often in yards. I was told that fairies had been on the lawn during the night, and had been playing, and the mushrooms were their little chairs, or maybe umbrellas. The "fairy rings" evolve from some kind of spore growth pattern. Meggie lives in Wisconsin where there is plenty moisture, so I'm sure she's seen these 'rings' in her yard.

Below - I like it laying in the snow. I'm never going to challenge Diane Gaudynski but I'm good enough!

Close up of quilting - this swoopy, leaf/heart pattern in the double inner border is/was the first pattern I learned to machine quilt on my DSM. If you outline it a second time, it has more 'heft.' The swoopy, twirling viney lines are great fillers, and you can bet a child will glom onto that pattern and follow it with her fingers, as she slips off into a nap. It goes in the mail!

Using Stash for Backing, and Round Robin

I used a lot of 'old' fabric for the back of this Fairy Quilt for Meggie (name at top). The back is more entertaining than the front! It feels good to make good use of the fabric and move it out of my space, and it's kinda cute also. I'll post the finished project tomorrow, when the sun is up.

Below is a Star Challenge, Round Robin I'm working on. My first brilliant efforts, after drawing, graphing, coloring, measuring were a total flop! This is 'owned' by Sharon, a talented young woman in our Guild, known for her excellent workmanship, and her love of batiks. I can't show any more than the first star - after today, it's a secret until June. OK, Elaine Adair, back to the drawing board!

Fairy Quilt, WIP -

What's not to love about that texture? It looks like snails trails, doesn't it? Totally in keeping with the "Fairy Ring" theme of this kaleidoscope.

This is for a great niece, Meggie. We just received their Annual Christmas Letter, along with photos, and by gosh, that little girl is growing too fast -- I had better get this project done and in the mail! Quilt dimensions are about 70 x 70 inches, and little Meggie WAS 3 1/2 when she asked for it last July!

Halleluja - don't have to cook tonight (leftovers, yum!) and I can work on this project several times today. I'm being careful to do exercises between short machine quilting periods.

(If you are wanting to learn to do MQ on your DSM, please give it a good try, and practice. Yes, it's a bit of a nuisance to layer and baste it, but that doesn't cost anything, and there is real pleasure in sitting down and turning a 'plain' quilt top into a lovely thing with your own machine.)

Weather Report from Western Nebraska

This is a Wyoming Department of Transportation CAM photo taken 12/24 west of my home, just barely into Wyoming - our weather here is about the same, but without the highways. Note - not much traffic. Look closely and you can see the gates which are closed when things get really BAD. I DID like the way the light shone in the background. Pretty! NO WAY am I going outside to take photos! These weather CAMs give us a great picture of serious conditions much better and more up-to-date report than the Weather Channel. It's about 5 degrees above zero, wind is blowing at 35-56 mph, but fortunately, we are not getting a LOT of snow with it. It's blowing to Eastern Nebraska or maybe Iowa. We are grateful for a wood supply, a warm home, plenty of food, and don't have to go anywhere! And tomorrow is MY day for quilting.

Stay warm and safe, folks.

Peanut Butter Cookie Preparations

Crud - notice anything strange?

You can see I'm getting ready to mix something. I took butter out of the freezer, and some out of the refrigerator and dumped them both on the counter, but grabbed the frozen ones and threw them in the mixing bowl. I turned the big mixer on, and wondered why it was making such an odd sound, but stupid me, I should have stopped. Too late!

I'm still not sure if I also ruined the mixer, the holes where the beaters snap into - afraid to look. This is a standing, heavy duty mixer. Probably much more expensive than what I paid a gazillion years ago. Duhhhh! Should I be cooking more often, or cooking less often? or not at all??? I WAS kinda stressed - can I use that excuse for my stupidity?

Well, the cookies are delicious - and I DID manage to mix them by hand.

Perking up

This morning was my first visit at the Chiropractor and tonight I feel like I've been run over by that Mack Truck! However, despite my physical discomfort now, I am already able to use my left arm better. Pinched nerves are not for sissies. I had been virtually unable to dress myself, for gosh sakes, without assistance. Do you know how difficult it is to put on undergarments by stepping into them? A bra does not always slip UP over hips!

It doesn't hurt that the Dr. is a most pleasant and handsome guy, and the office is here in town, within walking distance of our local quilt shop. My spirits are lifted - I needed THAT benefit, there is light at the end of a long tunnel, and it appears there are no surgeons in my immediate future. Wow, have we learned a LOT about medical procedure and how costs are escalated and .... it is a distressing lesson to see how (IMHO) once a person gets on the medical train, it's not easy to get OFF! And the unpleasantness between the medical profession vs. chiropractic is incredible. I tend to avoid doctors, and believe in a holistic approach to health.

On a quilt-y subject, tonight I cut up stash, kiddy fabric into 10 1/2 inch squares for the backing of my current kid quilt (Fairy Rings, previous post). So far, fabric IN is still more than fabric OUT. And Connecting Threads big sale did not help my Fabric Diet one bit!

No sympathy asked for, but my blog posts were sounding somewhat blah and thought I'd explain why.