January Goal for 2015

For 2015 I am going to be realistic and say my goal is to work on UFOs and stash busting scrappy quilts each month. It would be great to actually finish one each month however, my goal is to finish 9 UFOs this year. There. That's doable.

January goal is a scrappy quilt I started at Goldie's Scrap Happy Day last year in July. Everyone brings scraps from home, they get piled on the cutting table and everyone picks what they like. I picked the brightest geometric prints from my stash and the 'pile'...

and this is what I came up with :0) a take off from a Kim Diehl quilt. Each snowball block has a different print. There will be appliqued pieces in the border. The original has leaf shapes, mine will have Jewel shapes to maintain the geometric theme. Top is pieced and quilted with a geometric e2e design with a variegated Fantastico thread. 

During our Texas trip I English Paper Pieced one inch Jewel pieces with the same scraps. Great project to work on in the car, it only works on long straight roads and we had plenty of those. Once home, I laid out the pieces on the border and found I only had 4 more to do, Yea! Done as of Monday at lunch with Beckie, Donna and Nancy.

Something I tried on my challenge quilt, to machine applique pieces onto a quilted top. Some of the pieces were fuzed, others turned with freezer paper. Will see how it works here without fusible or any paper.

Today they are starched, pressed, papers removed, laid out and ready to applique down.
It's a good start... 

Groetjes, Jo

East Texas

(NQR) The only quilting accomplished so far this year has been for customers on my Innova. Pix posted on my quilting business blog. In place of quilting, here are a few pix from our trip to Texas over the holidays. I enjoy exploring texture and color...

and reflections (mirror images ;0)...

Look close, there is a black long legged spider
crawling along the fungi!

The pix above were taken in East Texas in Martin Dies Jr. State Park close to Woodville on New Year's Day. It was cold and rainy which made for great photos! It looked like we were in Louisiana. Cypress trees with big root balls in the lake and hanging moss. We kept expecting to see an alligator, thankfully only in our imaginations...

We had a great weekend stay at a cabin on a small private lake with friends from Houston. Ken, Eva, Michael, Wendy, Michael and I plus Lola, Ken's beautiful lab. Thank you friends for bringing in the New Year!

Ken is the president and owner of a scuba diving vacation business called Island Dreams Travel. Also a wonderful musician, participating in the Gypsy Dance Theatre. Wonderful person and great photographer too, thank you Ken!

We love to spend time in Houston, where the Michaels grew up together, spending a few days with Michael and Wendy. Great places to go out for eats. The Christmas lights were amazing. We had a wonderful visit despite the weather.

A few pix of Michael and Wendy's garden in Houston the day before we left. So many wonderful little treasures to be found! Love how Michael repurposes items into his garden...

with a few additions we contributed over the years...

There are always veggies mixed in everywhere as well :0)

 and one of the mermaids for Michael.

Beautiful!
Thank you Michael and Wendy, we love you!

Groetjes, Jo

This was our drive home and this is in Northwest Texas!

It was burr chilly all the way thru until we reached Nevada.

Not fun, happy to be home safe.

On to a New Year of Quilting

Looking forward to a new year of

quilting, finishing UFOs, starting new quilts, 

learning new techniques and projects

spending time with family and friends

and meeting new ones

Wishing everyone around the world

A Peaceful and Gentle New Year

Gelukkig Nieuwjaar!

Jo

update on my Crystal

My Crystal, in my studio just the day before...

It's hard to find a good way to say it. 

I love something Lynn of Sew'n Wild Oaks passed on from a friend, 

"Dogs never die, they fall asleep in our hearts"

I keep hanging on to that because it helps fill this BIG empty hole in my heart.

Following our visit to the vet with the sad news that she had a large tumor on her spleen, we took her home. We spoiled her with warm broth, dog cookies and cheese along with little bits of food. She actually started eating more and improved. Was up and her usual self, barked at the mailman, ran to greet Beckie when she came by one morning. I even entertained the thought that she was going to be OK. Sunday evening, those hopes were taken away. Crystal now lives in our hearts.

Trying to stay busy and as focused as I could manage this week. Finishing customer quilts, a little Christmas shopping and finishing three quilts for Christmas gifting. The two Frozen quilts are almost finished for Emma and Katelyn.  A third quilt going to Texas. 

 

 Quilted with stars, blue backing, gold Glide and a wool batting

Binding is on

Updated this afternoon....

The label for Ty's Texas quilt

 

Pix of the Frozen Quilts

 Quilted with an easy heart and swirl pattern

Pink bindings, ready to be hand stitched down

When Beckie came by she gave me this towel she embroidered

If not for the bear tail it looks like it could be Crystal as a puppy!

  :0) thank you Beckie. I love you

 Wishing everyone Happy Holidays

and praying for a Peaceful New Year

Thank you for your warm comments, cards and emails about Crystal
Very much appreciated

for my Dutch family...
Vrolijk Kerstfeest en een Gelukkig Nieuwjaar! 
Jo

Blog Break

Taking a break from blogging. 

Today was not a good day. Following a visit to our vet with my Crystal, we have a very hard decision to make. Bottom line, I will loose her soon. Still in shock tonight trying to make sense of all of this.  Crystal has been diagnosed with a tumor on her Spleen. Surgery could do her in or prolong her life by a few months. Without, just a matter of time, possibly days. 

  Beckie, thank you friend.

Crystal