Only Visuals Today ~ Lancaster County

Click on photos for a larger view

Finally had time to finish my


Wreath of Cherries from Dawn's Vicksburg BOM.
I changed the size on some of the leaves.


Here's what I completed so far ~

Two more blocks to catch up on.

It's a dreary rainy day today in Lancaster. I have to
find something to sew to cheer me up!

something old ~ something new

Something Old
I took out the quilt top "My Blue Heaven" which
was from a class that I had taken last year from
Libby Kube Hage. It's Here
Libby's was a wall quilt but I wanted to make
mine a bed quilt for a 'full' size bed. I didn't know
what to do with the borders, so the quilt went into
the UFO closet for the time being.

Every once in awhile I take out my UFOs to
see if I feel like working on one. So I took
out the 'Blue Heaven' and made a decision
about the border. I will add flying geese and
hope that it looks okay.
I like it! I had made the flying geese too large and
when I trimmed them down I had lots of fabric
left over so I added the half square triangles to the
bottom borders. Now it almost fits across my
queen size bed. I'm thinking of adding another
3" of the beige all around and then I'm finished.
This one is going to be professionally quilted;
my first ever! It just has too many seams for
me to deal with. This is going to be my "Quilt
of Valor" to my son (an Iraqi war vet)

Something New

When I first started to blog I would blog
hop to read lots and lots of blogs. There was
one blog that just fascinated me and that was
Jude Hill's "What If" blog. I just loved what
she was doing and her imagination is beyond
belief! Jude's blog is now called Spirit Cloth
and she still sews her magic!
Jude and two other talented ladies Glennis Dolce
and Elaine Lipson have group on Facebook
called "Slow Cloth". (which of course I joined)
You can read some of Elaine's ideas on Slow cloth

HERE

So, I decided to give it a try ~ On this piece
I chose to hand sew. I'm starting with a simple
idea and hopefully it will grow from there.
I'm using a piece of linen as my foundation.

Just simple but it's a start.

Snowed In

View from my back deck


It's pretty to look at
But when it reaches to the middle of your window....
And you can't get to your car; you start to get a
bit nervous. This was one of the worse snow storms
that I can remember. Actually, we got hit twice in
one week.

(I can't get to the hospital to see my husband. He's not
doing very well. They had Palliative care come in and
talk to us.)

It did give me a chance to catch up on Dawn's
Vicksburg block (almost)

I'm up to my "Wreath of Cherries" block. I'm not
using my usual method of "Back Basting" instead
I'm using the freezer paper method. The freezer
paper is ironed under the cherries. I did try it with
the freezer paper on top but don't really like it. I
leave a little bit of an opening, then pull the paper
out with tweezers. I'm almost finished with the
cherries ~ then I have the 24 leaves to do.

I also had time to finish my doily and block it.

I didn't starch this one; I just lightly sprayed water
on it and then shaped and pinned it. I'm very
happy with the way it turned out.
Now I've started a new one from this book:


I joined Ravelry! And I joined a group called
"Doilie Heads" Cool name!
I never realized there were so many others who
enjoyed making them. And...who knew you
could knit them!

Improv?

I had a lot of Heidi Grace's fabric left over
from my Training Wheels Quilt which
I'm in the process of hand quilting.
So, several weeks ago; I decided to make another
quilt from the left overs. I didn't realize that I had
bought so much of it!
At first I started with strips of fabric sewn together.
Then I decided to add the white; there was really no
rhyme or reason to how I was piecing it in the beginning.

I had all of the paneled strips sewn together on
the first piece; then I did a second one. I thought
that if I decided to do free motion quilting it would
be easier for me to handle.

I decided to copy the birds from the fabric and started
to hand draw them. I thought that it would look better
if I embroidered the beak, legs and tail ~ so that's
what I did. After finishing the hand applique; I
thought it needed something more. So I cut out
flowers and the kitty in the heart and I used
Steam-A-Seam2 (which I love) to bond them to
the fabric.
I decided to free motion flowers in a kind of crazy
meandering pattern. I like how it's progressing.
This is the second panel. I hadn't realized how much
time it takes to free motion. I only work on it for
one hour because then I start to get tired.

This is the second week that I'm working on the
free motion part of it; so I figured it should be done
by this weekend.

Then I have to decide how to add the borders, etc.
It's kind of a large Quilt As You Go and also
"make it up as you go" because I still haven't decided
what to do with the rest of it. (-:

Happy 2010!

Hope everyone's Holidays were Great!

To ward off those "post holiday blues"; I

started and finished my Block 4 from Dawn's

BOM ~ Vicksburg. (see side bar for link)

I'm now caught up and will be working on block 5.

Haven't been sewing much for the past couple of
weeks but I have been knitting some.


I just love the feel of this yarn ~ it's called Sensations
Rainbow Boucle. I'm knitting together 2 strands and
I like the design that it's making. This yarn is
distributed by Jo-ann's Store. The colors are a
burgundy and tan and will be used as an afghan in
my living room.

To my absolute delight; I found out that a yarn store
just opened up recently in my neighborhood! It's
called Flying Fibers When I walked in I thought
I was in Yarn heaven! I couldn't walk out empty
handed now could I? So I bought this:

Isn't that beautiful! It's 80% cotton and 20% rayon ~
it has a light sheen to it. I'll have to search my patterns
to see what I can make with it.

And Oh, my daughter Lisa has been bitten by the
Crochet bug:

Is that adorable! She's making lots of baby sweaters
and hats for her friends. Check out her blog
A Stitch in Time She is a new blogger and she asked
what she should name her Crochet blog ~ I told her
name it The Happy Hooker but she wouldn't do it.
Kids! They're such prudes!

Lancaster City

Join me and my girls for another tour.
(I enjoy making little dolls. )
Check out the "Brooklyn" gum that my daughter
found and gave to me from New York! Cool

This time we are going to Lancaster City! yeah!

Last week, me and my quilting buddies Lee and Kathi

took a trip to the

Lancaster Quilt & Textile Museum.

A view of the city from the second floor.

I have a thing for church steeples.

This building was formally a bank that

was owned by The Lancaster Trust

Company. After looking at the Espirit

Collection and the Navajo Weaving Exhibition (just gorgeous!).....



I was studying the architecture of the building.

I just loved the domed ceiling and that beautiful window!

You can view the quilt collection HERE

Click on panoramic video

You might have to download the Plugin and restart

your computer. It's worth it! And you won't be disappointed.

You can also view "Christmas through the Decades"



After viewing the quilts we had a delicious lunch of

grilled cheese and soup at the

Treats Creamery & Cafe. What a fun day!

On our way out of the city ..............



Marriott Lancaster at Penn Square the former Watt & Shand Building



This is the building where the new Quilt

Show will be in March! The Lancaster show for the last 22 yrs. has been in the Lancaster Host Resort but now will be at the Marriot in Lancaster City, March 24-27 2010 at the Lancaster County Convention Center.

Rita Barber the producer of the Quilter's Heritage Celebration is retiring. Rita has put on some great shows and we will miss her!

Our new Producers will be the

American Quilter's Society.


We have a local Quilt Artist in the area -

Sue Reno
Sue does just fabulous art quilts and has made
several of the Watt & Shand building - please
visit her blog to see her work- it's absolutely amazing!

On the way home I took this photo of

Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church
I love the structure of this old church and the steeple!

If you love stained glass windows as much as I do;
check out the above web site and click on
"Windows of Grace".

Look who is sitting out side my front window. I love to

see Cardinals when it's snowing. Their red color

against the white snow is so striking. (all the snow we

had melted - yeah! It's pretty to look at but not to

shovel it. It was freezing cold out today and windy

I'm not a winter person ~~~ Is it spring yet?)



Making Journal Covers for Christmas presents.

They are in various stages - I better hurry up and finish them!