Cats and Flowers

 

I cannot even tell you how much I love these cats! Cats are such stinkers anyway, and these look full of personality! Our Miss Dinah is a beautiful girl who belongs still to our daughter Ruthie. Dinah does not acknowledge any other owner, though we do qualify as servants!

 

 

Just look at those faces. They are not going to be good kitties. You can tell just by looking. The beautiful fabrics in this quilt came to me from a dear blog friend. (She sent such a box of delights! I am so happy!) Thank you Deb!!!

 

 

And look at all that crinkly-ness! Yummy!!

 

 

 

Meanwhile, outside, things have been simply beautiful! Roses outdoing themselves blooming, amaryllis dazzling in their beauty, iris in all their purple glory bursting out everywhere, dogwood covered in blooms, azaleas blooming with super abundance! AND, in the lower left, you can see the little lemon tree we bought in the fall blooming its little heart out. What you probably can't see is all the little lemons on there! I do so love Spring!

 

 

There are over 100 of these log cabin blocks here. I think there are enough for the center of a quilt I'm making for a sweet couple we know. They are such a blessing to everyone, I wanted to make something special for them. Still a very long way to go, but Lord willing, I'll get it done!

 

I hope all is going well in your world. It does seem sometimes that there are just too many challenges, but you know, maybe they are what we need to make us stronger and to make us what God wants us to be! I choose to believe that anyway.

 

Thank you for being my friend. I wish you lots of good things only!

 

Hugs and kisses,

Elaine 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And So It Goes

Toward the end of February I just got fed up with winter. I found this panel in my stash and quilted it and hung it in the den. Mr. Muddling and I have truly enjoyed this little glimpse of beach-y beauty. Sometimes you just have to take matters into your own hands.

 

 

 

I made this little quilt for the children at our church. The sweet lady in charge told me they really enjoyed the last two I made. They like to put them on the floor and sit on them as they do their activities and listen to stories.

 

 

I made this one to go along with it. I hope they love them!

 

 

 

In my ramblings around blogland I noticed this quilt on Jo's Country Junction. It is called Brick House and you can find directions for it here. 

Why do I keep starting new projects? Who can I blame?

I NEED to get back to the log cabin quilt. What can I say, I was sidetracked.

 

 

 

I am really loving the Mary Engelbreit daily calendar I got for this year. This page for today and tomorrow explains a lot.

 

I hope you are having lots of fun and doing things you enjoy.

There are so many things always for which to be grateful.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

 

Hugs and kisses,

Elaine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pink and Green

 

A very sweet young lady at our church recently had her eighteenth birthday. You know I couldn't let that go by without a quilt. I asked what colors she would like and this is the result.

 

 

The backing is this solid flannel.

 

 

Here it is all folded up in its gift bag.

 

 

She loved it, and I do, too! She is such a lady, if you can even say that nowadays, and this suits her personality.

 

 

I've done a little cutting with the Studio cutter for my friend Sandy and the ladies in her sewing group. They want to make more of the potato chip blocks.

 

 

This is on my design wall. I think this may be about a quarter of the way. It's going to be a queen size for some friends of ours. 

 

 

This is my cheering section. It is so encouraging to look over and see they are all rooting for me! (I know, but sometimes I just have to amuse myself!!!)

 

In other news, we are bracing for another round of the polar vortex. We'll have to get out there and re-wrap all the plants we uncovered and bring lots of things inside again. Oh, well, life IS an adventure, isn't it?

 

There are so many things in the world I cannot do one little thing about. I've decided that the Lord is much smarter than I am, so I'm going to let HIM handle it!

 

Hope you are all staying warm, or cool according to your location!

I am so glad to count you as my friends, and I"m thankful you still enjoy reading my ramblings from time to time!

 

Hugs and kisses,

Elaine

 

 

 

 

Quilts 2024

 

 

Here are the quilts I made in 2024. I am so thankful for the blessings of a good husband who supports me in all I do and for the supplies and fabrics to have lots of fun making quilts!

 

We have been preparing for the arctic blast due here early in the week. Not looking forward to it at all!

 

I hope all is well in your part of the world and that you have a wonderful tomorrow!

 

Hugs and kisses,

Elaine

Flower Garden

 

I am documenting now the pretty things outside. Mainly because I know it will look nothing like this next week. I am not excited about the polar vortex we are promised. I am not a fan of cold weather. However, sometimes you just don't get to choose! LOL!

 

I've been working on another quilt. I know that is not a big surprise, but I like to document the quilts I make, so here we go. This one is for a special friend of ours. She is such a great blessing to us, and we love her a lot! She gave me a little idea of colors she would like and I've done my best to give her at least some of what she wants. 

For anyone who might be interested, the flower prints are cut into 6 1/2 inch squares and the gray/burgundy quarter square triangle blocks in between are also 6 1/2 inches, turned gray side up in one row and burgundy side up in the next.  There is a 1 1/2 inch burgundy inner border and a 2 1/2 inch outer border of Lotus Blossom, one of my all time favorites in all colorways.

If you want beautiful floral fabrics, it's just really hard to go wrong with Kaffe Fassett/Philip Jacobs designs. They are the best!

 

 

So here we have it: FLOWER GARDEN.

 

I sent my friend Sandy a picture of it on the quilt frame when it was close to being finished and she said, "You made a flower garden". 

That's a pretty good name for it, isn't it!

 

This was a daily page on my new Mary Engelbreit daily calendar. Not necessarily advocating this, but it did strike me as funny! And sometimes a laugh is a very good thing. 

I hope you are having a good start to this new year. A lot of how it turns out is going to be up to us. Not all, but still a lot. I am going to try to keep a good attitude and to continue to be thankful for all the many good things in my life. They are all from the Lord!

You know, you are some of the good things! I am so thankful for the friends I've made here in blogland! I'm glad we "met"!

Hugs and kisses,

Elaine

 

Gather Up The Fragments

 

As I promised, I want to tell you about this quilt.

 

It all started as leftovers from this quilt.

 

 

It was made of alternating 9 inch blocks. The stripes were a bunch of 2 1/2 inch strips cut to size. 

 

There were lots of bits left on the strip sets, so I cut them into 1 1/2 inch strip sets, sewed them together to the right length, and set them with 2 1/2 inch blue strips.

 

 

Here they are before being sewn together.

 

And if you are not familiar with the blog title, 

 

John 6:12

When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing be lost.

That was Jesus talking and I thought of it immediately. I hate waste, and have a hard time throwing away any bits of fabric.
 .

 

Don't you love that cuddly texture after the first wash and dry! It is backed with a really pretty royal blue flannel (which you can see at the top of this post) and it is so soft and comfy. 

It is going to church with us in the morning and will go home to its new owner. I'm pretty sure he will like it!

I hope you are having successful adventures in your world. You are all so creative. I really love visiting your blogs and catching up with all the lovely things you've been doing!

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Hugs and kisses,

Elaine

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas and Thereafter

         There were many of the Tilda Jubilee Christmas hearts made and gifted to friends at church. So much fun!

 

I love Christmas, don't you!

 

 

This little guy is a gift I gave to myself! I purchased him from Gene Black 

 

Doesn't he look happy? He makes me happy!

 

I am definitely not a minimalist!

 

 

 

This one is finished now! I will post about it soon. I promise.

 

Hope all is well in your world, and that you are finding things that make you happy. 

 

Our God is so amazingly awesome. As magnificent as He is, He still cares about each one of us! And for that I am extremely grateful!

 

Hugs and kisses,

Elaine