Red & white quilt....finished!!!

 

I picked this quilt up from my quilter last weekend and have been sewing on the binding all week. It's a BIG quilt and it will be a warm quilt to snuggle under because I had Linda use a wool batting in it. Actually it will be great in warm weather as well because wool "breathes" very well. It washes up well too. Here are some close-ups of the wonderful quilting.

 

 

I think if you click on the pictures it will show up pretty well. I took these pictures while it was still dark and with a flash, so I know they aren't the greatest, but you get the idea. I'll probably use the quilt on our bed for Christmas and maybe for Valentines Day. It makes me excited to finish the NI blocks and get them together.

My friend Sharon's brother-in-law made this wonderful quilt rack for me as a thank you gift for letting him park in the store parking lot during football games. Isn't it just awesome?!?!

 

Kelly is an extremely talented woodworker and I feel very special to have been given such a nice gift.

Allie continues to improve with very limited mobility. She is catching up on homework and the home bound tutor came yesterday to help and will be back today. She still has tons of pain and I noticed that it was worse when the storm front passed through yesterday. I can always tell at least 12 hours before a storm is coming because I can barely move. I praying that this "side effect" will go away for her.

I did have time Tuesday evening, mainly because I was so angry and frustrated at things going on in our life right now but that's for another post, to get in my sewing room and complete another quilt top. I will get a picture of it on a sunny day as it will not photograph well in this dull, gray, rainy light we've been having.

To all my friends in Denver, I'm sorry Winter is there so soon. Stay warm and stay safe, but enjoy all that snow, if you can.

Have a great Friday...it's going to be a busy, busy one here in Stillwater. Hopefully I'll be back next week saying that Oklahoma State University beat the heck out of Texas.

Ranette

A couple of red & white Nearly Insane blocks...

I made it into my sewing room for a little while yesterday and this morning and the following blocks are the result of my effort.

 

 

Not difficult blocks by any means, but a good way to get back in the NI groove!

Thank you for your concern, prayers and good wishes going out for Allie. Yesterday seemed to be a better day than the one before and I'm hoping today will be even better. We've let up on the pain meds a little bit and she seems to be coping OK. Allie's Granny came to visit her yesterday and that helped to take her mind off of things a little I think.

Well not much time for the computer lately so I miss every one's fun blogs, but I'll get back to it soon. Have a beautiful Sunday!

Ranette

WARNING! Non quilt related, kind of gross post ahead...

The very day of my last blog post I received a call from the high school where our youngest daughter, Allie, goes to school. She had fallen and we needed to pick her up and take her to the ER. Jay did it, he handles stuff like that better than I do. Well after hours of waiting we found out that she had two broken bones, the ankle bone and fibula on her right leg. They put a temporary splint on and told us to get her to an Ortho doctor in five days. Well we have four ortho docs here in town, all in the same practice, but none of them could see her for a week. Here are a couple of pictures taken one week after her fall.

 

 

The yellow on her leg...healing bruises. Bless her heart, she's had so much pain. Well surgery was scheduled (13 days after her fall) and that happened yesterday, finally! Allie did great although she's in terrible pain still. If you are so inclined, please say a prayer for a quick recovery for her. She still faces another surgery in 8 to 12 weeks to remove one of the screws holding everything in place. Here's a picture of the x-ray after the surgery (wish I had one of before...ouch)

 

The doctor did say that she had good, healthy bones and she should heal very well. So that's what I've been doing the last couple of weeks. Very little sewing besides some applique has been going on here. I do have a quilt that should be ready from the quilter this weekend, so maybe I'll be able to get the binding on and take pictures for the blog.

Also a big thank you for all of your kind words about my quilt for the Fall bloggers festival. I tried to reply to everyone, but so many are listed as "no reply".

Enjoy your day and I promise I'll be back to quilting soon!

Ranette

Quilt Festival - Fall 2009

I missed Amy's Spring Quilt Festival, but I really enjoyed looking at every one's wonderful quilts. I made a mental note to not miss out if Amy, from Park City Girl did this again.
So here is my Ruby Slippers Quilt. It is very hard to get a good picture as it hangs in our stairwell and you just can't get to it straight on.

 

This quilt has about a million (only a slight exaggeration)very small half square triangles in it and was very good practice for the quilts to come (Dear Jane).
I started having a few health problems while making this quilt and I think working on it helped. I also think it was while making this quilt that I really found my that my passion was fabric and making quilts, even though I had probably been quilting for 13 or 14 years at that time.

Here are some close-ups of the quilting that my wonderful long arm quilter did for me.

 

 

My quilter calls the flowers "Ranette's flowers" and she has put them in several of my quilts, including the basket on my Dear Jane.

I hope that you enjoy seeing my Ruby Slippers quilt as much as I enjoyed making it. Be sure to check out the other wonderful quilts on display all over the world at Park City Girl. Thank you Amy!!!

Do you label?

 

I have to confess, I don't usually label a quilt. Even the ones I give away. When I put that last stitch in the binding....I'm done! But since I'm putting four quilts, including my Dear Jane, in the Quilt Home Show here in Stillwater next weekend, I figured I'd better label them. I was pretty fortunate to run across some orphan blocks to use on three quilts and on the fourth I embroidered a little label.
Oh also, if you live close to Stillwater, Oklahoma and would like a ticket to the quilt show, just email me. I can't remember how much the tickets are right now, but they aren't very expensive.

I had planned to sew most of the weekend, but it hasn't worked out quite like I'd hoped. I did manage to finish 4 rows of my Pie's & Tart's quilt.

 

This quilt is very labor intense, but I love, love, love it. I have another 2 rows with the large circles done and when I get done with this post I'm going to go prep the tarts for applique. I'm actually thinking that I might try to hand quilt this one...we'll see when it's done if I stick to that...lol

I also made a block for this months "block lotto" for the guild meeting on Tuesday.

 

I usually don't get a block made in time, but I really like this leaf pattern and would love to win.

I haven't made a Nearly Insane block for over a week now. I just needed a bit of a break I think. I also need to go through the HUGE pile of fabric and straighten it out so I can see what I have. Hopefully I'll get my NI mojo back to make one next week.

The weather here is cool and cloudy...very Fall like and I LOVE it. I've got a pot of posole and pork roast cooking right now and I'm going to make some red chili and homemade flour tortillas later...yummy! I wish you could all join us :o)

Enjoy the rest of this wonderful day!

Here's a giveaway you should check out....

My friend Teresa from Mama T Keep You in Stitches is giving away some fatquarters from the Serendipity line by Piece 'O Cake. I don't know about you, but I love this fabric.

 

If she wins a ribbon on a quilt that she has entered in the fair, she'll throw in a couple more fatquarters! Teresa is a real sweetie and I look forward to getting together with her and Leslie very soon for a road trip or a quilting day. Be sure to click the above link to enter and check out her blog.

Nothing new for me to report on here. I did work on my Pies and tarts for a little bit last night. Oh and I've been married for 24 years now! WooHoo! It's been such fun that I'm really looking forward to the next 24 years....Love you JT!!! I posted this picture last year, but I'm posting it again because it makes me smile...

 

Enough said...lol

Finally a finish to show!!!

Here's my Diawabo Houses quilt, done...well except for a label that is.

 

This quilt reminds me of the long sleeve plaid shirts that my Grandad used to wear. I'm not sure where in my house it's going to hang, but I'll find a spot. Here are some closeups of the quilting on the house blocks.

 

 

 

My quilter, Linda Farrall, really out did herself with this quilt. She quilted every single house a little different. Amazing!!!
Oh and I did manage to get one more red & white NI block done.

 

Ooops...should have caught those two little red flowers together, but I'm not doing it over again. You'll never even notice it once the quilt is done.

Well the weekend is winding down. Today went by so fast...not nearly enough accomplished, but I guess there's always tomorrow.