Sudoku Quilt Finished

Here is the Sudoku quilt all finished. Whew!

Trying to beat the holiday rush,

Suzy

Who Knew? Sudoku?

Sudoku for quilters. Yes, that's right. I'm sure many of you have seen some of the quilting patterns floating around out there (or you could just buy a Sudoku puzzle book, cheat by going to the back of the book where the puzzles are already solved, and substitute the numbers for fabric). All you need are 9 FQs. Cut them into 4-1/2" squares and play, play, play. It's best to have a swatch of each fabric selection numbered so you always know what fabric #1 is, etc. My grandson even helped with arranging the last two blocks by putting the fabrics in the right spots according to the numbers in the pattern. He loved it! Then add sashing and borders as desired. Easy, peasy.

This quilt is going to my friend and neighbor, Nancy. During one of our group quilting/sewing get-togethers, I admired a knitted cable afghan she was making. I can't knit to save my life. Once done, she gave it to me! How sweet was that! So I'm making her a quilt the size of the afghan she knitted to return the favor. I know her bedroom is in blues and her living room is in browns. Hence, the color scheme that I came up with. I think the fabrics play nicely with each other. I just have to put the final blue border on it and then I can sandwich it and quilt it. This is a really quick quilt to make, easy enough for beginners, and I highly recommend it for instant gratification and a way to use up some of those FQs you have languishing in your lovely stashes. Yes, you know who you are! LOL! :o)

I'll post a final picture once the quilt is completed.

A fellow FQ stash hoarder,

Suzy

Happy Thanksgiving!

Blessed Thanksgiving wishes to all!

We are celebrating Thanksgiving at our daughter, Heather's. Between our family, our son-in-law's family and friends, there will be quite a gathering. What fun to celebrate with those you love. I'll be contributing vege and cheese trays. Guess I'd better get going so I can start cutting up everything. :o)

Enjoy your Holiday!

Suzy

Pretty Pink PJs

I was in the mood to make some doll clothes, so here are the PJs I made. My doll, Nellie, seems to like them. :o)

Zzzzzzz,

Suzy

Another EQ Block Entry

Just playing around in my EQ program again, so decided to enter another block before the deadline of November 15. Fun!



Suzy

Too (Two) Doggone Cute!

I realized I haven't posted pics of my babies for awhile. Well here they are... Aren't they too cute! Luv 'em to bits. :o)

Puppy Luv,

Suzy

EQ Is Having a Contest!

Any of you readers out there owners of EQ6? Well, they're having a Rose of Sharon quilt block contest ending November 15. Here are the specifics.

Now, you know I'm entering, right?!?! LOL! In fact, yesterday I sent in three design entries. Sincerely doubt I'll win with all the talent out there, but it sure was fun playing in my EQ6 program again. :o)

Here are my entries so far...

Design fun,

Suzy

And The Winner Is . . .

Clare!

Thanks hubby for lending a helping "hand" by drawing the winner. :o)

Clare, please email me with your address so I can wing these goodies on their way to you!

Random fun,

Suzy

An Anniversary Giveaway!

Hey you all out there in blogland! No, it's no my bloggie anniversary -- it's my 30th wedding anniversary! Yep! Hubby and I have been married for 30 years today, and given his health, I am thankful for every single one of them. So I want to share a little happiness with you all, too! I'm having a giveaway!!!

Since I love this Gwen Marston book so much (that I accidently bought 2 of them, ugh), I decided I would give away my other copy. It's brand new, never used, and I've included some yummy fabric, as well! There's a full yard of the berry print, an 8" x 36" piece of the dark cranberry, a FQ of the medium pink tone-on-tone, and a FQ of the dusty rose circular fabric.

All you have to do is comment on this post before 11:59pm EST on Saturday to be included in the drawing. A winner will be randomly picked and posted on Sunday, October 11. Just make sure I have a way to contact you if you win. If I don't hear from the winner within 24 hours of my winner's post, I will have to draw another winner.

Luck to all!

Suzy

What's Up Next...

Well, since I don't have a design wall to show my current project, I guess the carpet will have to suffice. LOL! This is going to be my Trip to Bali quilt. Lots of purples, pinks, golds, blues and lime greens in these fabrics. The sketch shows how it will look once done, although when I colored it in EQ6, I just used a couple different colors to get a general idea. I didn't want to spend all my time tediously coloring each one differently. Not counting the black borders, I will be able to complete this whole top using only 2-1/2" strips and 5" charms. Finished size will be 93" x 110" -- a really good sized bed quilt. So far I have the 80 (yikes!) blocks-in-blocks completed for the center. Next up are sewing the 2-1/2" strips together and cutting them into 2-1/2" squares for the center inner border. Easy but time-consuming. I'll get there eventually and I love working on it because the batiks are all so colorful and different. It's like eye candy. :o)

Bali Hai,

Suzy

Cottage Charm aka Taffy Treats

Another one bites the dust! UFO that is. :o) I think at the end of the year I will do a collage of all the projects I finished during the year and count how many were completed UFOs and how many were new projects. I think it will make me feel good to see how much I accomplished in 2009.

Anyway, here is Cottage Charm. It's a beautiful kit done by Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill. She called the kit Taffy Treats, but I named the quilt Cottage Charm. I totally love the fabrics in it -- Poetry Collection by April Cornell for Moda. In fact, I love the fabrics so much that I tracked down and bought a FQ bundle of all the FQs in the entire collection and they are being shipped to me as we speak. Yeah, I know, like I need more fabric. :oP

The scalloped border was a new one for me. I'd never done one before. It's presentable, but I'm not 100% happy with it. I know I'm a perfectionist, and maybe it's just me or maybe there's a trick out there that I don't know about to get the inside scallops (concave curve?) to not wrinkle a bit. If you know of any tips or tricks on how to achieve that, I'd love to hear from you. I cut the strips on the bias like it called for, but maybe I stretched them too much sewing the binding to the quilt, or maybe I didn't stretch the binding enough. Who knows? Hopefully with practice, I'll become better at it.

Sure hope my sister likes it.

Quilters are poets with fabric,

Suzy

Finally! -- A New Camera!

Yay! Finally got hubby to break down and actually go out and look at cameras -- and we came home with a great one! A Sony DSC-W290 in silver. I love it! It's sooooo easy to use. We also invested wisely in an 8GB memory card which ups the picture storage to almost 2,000 pictures or 2-1/2 hours of video. Sweet. The store didn't have it, but we are also going to get another battery, so one is always charged and ready to go. With the nice new red case we're good to go! Can't wait to take pictures now! The picture screen is a huge 3". Now that's what I'm talkin' 'bout. LOL! :o)

Camera Crazy,
Suzy

Road To Recovery

Hi all! I am finally feeling better (although still not 100%). Advil is now able to keep the pain at bay and as the days go by, the Neurosurgeon says time will heal it. I am soooo happy to hear that surgery is a last resort! I'm getting up and around now, and although I'm not allowed to bend, lift, stretch, clean or vacuum (jeez, what a shame -- thank you Merry Maids!), I am doing some cooking. The herniated disk is between L1-L2 and herniated toward the spine rather than out the side. That's the main reason surgery is a last resort. He would have to cut the bone of the spine to get to it and the herniation itself is located quite closely to my spinal cord which isn't a great thing either. Even with all said and done, the surgery would only carry a 60-70% success rate. No thanks. But like the surgeon said, the good part of where it is located and the size of it indicates that time should heal it. Taking it easy and not pushing myself is key. If the pain gets too bad, he indicated that I could get an epidural block, which would be a needle in my spine with quartizone (spelling?) and other meds to block the pain. Depending on the person, it could alleviate the pain for 1 day or up to 6 months per shot. I'm not a big fan of needles (so much so that I had my children naturally to avoid the epidural shot itself), so that will be a last resort for me for the pain. Right now two Advil 2-3 times a day is sufficient. So I AM healing! Yay!

The past week or so I have done a little quilting (in spurts) and finished a top for my sister's newly decorated hallway (it was an easy to piece top and is one of my UFO kits called Taffy Treats :o) ) and it is now at the quilter's waiting to be quilted. It will have a scalloped edge, which is new to me -- so keep your fingers crossed it turns out right. LOL! I'll post a pic when it's done. We s-t-i-l-l need a new camera, so I'm trying to talk hubby into it some time this week.

We also had our grandson this past weekend and I had him practicing his stitching at the sewing machine using lines printed on paper that I had drawn using my EQ program. He learned straight lines and pivoting. He enjoyed it a lot! Next visit I'll have him do more pivoting and move him on to following a curly-cue line. He catches on fast. I think I have a future quilter/sewist on my hands and couldn't be more tickled.

Recovering Nicely,
Suzy

Out Of Commission

I know, I know. It's been more than 2 long months since I've posted. However, I have a very good excuse. I have been sidelined since July 5 with a herniated disc which they finally (F-I-N-A-L-L-Y!) diagnosed after a recent MRI. Stupid insurance companies!!! Now I'm just waiting for a call from the NeuroSurgeon as to the next steps to take to make my life painfree again. I have been in agony!

I can only spend small amounts of time at my computer (basically just reading my e-mail messages), so please forgive the lack of posts. I'll update as I learn more.

Big Time Hurting,
Suzy

Say "Hi!" to Tasha

First of all -- Happy Father's Day to all you Dad's out there! You rock!



Next up -- Lexie has a new sister. Meet Tasha. She is also a Yorkie-Bichon mix. (Sorry for the blurry picture, we still need to get a new camera.) Anyway, she is soooo cute and soooo little. Last night was a sleepless night for me. Ah, don't you love babies of all kinds (human, puppy, etc.). Count on being up for potty breaks and the like. Overall though, she was really pretty good for her first night. I'm gonna have my hands full training this one, too. I remember the sleepless nights with Lexie making sure she didn't have any accidents in her crate. Although she caught on within about 3 weeks or so, it couldn't happen soon enough. I train them for indoor potty on a potty pad and protection tray. Lexie started out with just the indoor training and now she does both indoor and then outdoor when weather permits (which is usually the case). But if it's raining buckets or we're not home to take her out, she goes on her potty pad. Now to just get Tasha to the indoor point. I'll worry about the outdoor one when she's got the indoor one down pat. LOL! Lexie's not sure what to make of it all, but they do play "tag" together, so it will probably take Lexie a week to get used to the idea that Tasha's here to stay. :o)

I've been pretty busy lately. Even before the puppy adventure. I just finished up a week at Kids Quilt Camp where I was a volunteer Quilting Angel. My student was a cute little 9-year old girl named Nikitha. We became pretty close during the week and exchanged e-mails (at her mother's suggestion, of course). Her mom was so sweet as well. She raised Nikitha well -- she was so polite and well-mannered in addition to the usual kid humor. She was very outgoing and I can see a career in politics for her, even though she wants to be a doctor. What a charmer! LOL! "Thank you so much for teaching me to quilt, Mrs. Prickett. Your the best teacher ever, Mrs. Prickett. I really like you Mrs. Prickett," etc. What a doll. She (and her mom, I'm sure) even surprised me with a gift on Friday after they had their "show and tell." A beautiful scarf and chocolates. I was very touched.

I've also been officially "inducted" into our 300-member quilt guild -- the Seaside Piecemaker's Quilt Guild. So I'm becoming very active in that, too. We have a show in March, so lots of preparation in the works for that.

I'm sure there's more I'm leaving out; but it's already a pretty long entry.

Enjoy your day!
Suzy

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mom's out there!

My daughter's are cooking me brunch today. :o)

You're In BIG Trouble, Missy!

Would you ever think this cute, adorable, innocent face has a terrible secret?

Behold! Her secret... A MAJOR paper fetish!

Bad Dog! LOL! I can't help but laugh sometimes. After all, it could have been worse, right? Imagine all the scenarios. Ugh.

Unconditional doggie love,

Suzy

Another Finish!

I'm on a roll (for now, LOL)! Utopia is now completely finished -- label and all! I'm very pleased how it turned out. I just love the colors. It matches the decor in my house wonderfully -- and it was an easy quilt to piece! Can't ask for more. Hehehehehe.

Enjoy your day,

Suzy

A Finish!

After 10 years of lingering on the sidelines, my "Sunset at Aunt Dinah's" UFO is finally complete! I'm really pleased that so far I've been sticking to my New Year's Quilting Resolution. :o) Hope I can keep this up. LOL!

Utopia is also done -- just needs the label sewn on. I'll upload pics of that quilt sometime this weekend (hopefully). We've got the grandson for the weekend so it's a bit of a question-mark. You know how that can be, right? :oD

UFO completion happiness,

Suzy

FQ Frenzy

Yesterday was my lucky day. At least I see it that way. We picked up my grandson from school to bring him back to spend the weekend with us and I decided to ask hubby to make a quick stop at the really nice quilt shop near Anthony's school. Lo and behold! They were having a great FQ sale for one day only! 50 FQ's for $50. You better believe I took advantage of that one! Lookee at all the gorgeous FQ's I acquired for my stash! (Click pic to enlarge) 50 lovelies! Did I step in it or what?

Jumping for joy,

Suzy

Celebrate the miracle that is Easter with family and friends.

Blessings,

Suzy

A Comforting Gift

I've been busy this past weekend making a quilt for my friend and trainer Ariel's 4-year old niece. Last week she was diagnosed with leukemia. My heart goes out to her and her family, so this tiny bit of comfort for little Noel was the least I could do. Maybe she can use it during her chemo treatments. It measures 34" x 39". I will give it to Ariel tomorrow so she can give it to her sister for Noel.

If you could send up a few prayers for little Noel, I'm sure He is listening.

Trying to understand His will,

Suzy

Presenting... Utopia!

This is what I've been working on lately. My new project is now a completed top! Yahoo! Presenting... Utopia!

It's a little wrinkly, but you get the idea. It was a very quick quilt to put together, as you can tell. I think the pattern is called "Chinese Coins." I just used 2-1/2 inch strips and had a blast. The hardest part was deciding on what fabric I wanted to use for the sashing. It took me a week to decide. No, really. I'm anal like that sometimes. Ok, ok -- a lot. :oD I'm very happy with my choice and I love all the colors in this quilt! I think it is one of my favorites. Had to do some creative cutting for the yellow mottled sashing, as I was limited on my fabric yardage, but I think it works.

Utopia and Sunset at Aunt Dinah's will be dropped off to be quilted at The Quilt Place on Monday.

On to the next project,

Suzy

New Project :o)

I've started on a new project and am very excited! Here's a teaser...




Hoping to blog more soon,
Suzy

Ta da!

Another UFO has made it to completed top form. Yay! Thanks everyone for your feedback. It really helps to get impressions from other quilters and I appreciate you all taking the time to let me know your thoughts. I'm glad the majority of you liked version 2 as well. It helped me feel better about taking the easy way out. LOL!



The borders really aren't as wrinkly as they seem. The darn dog kept running on the top and whenever we would try to catch her, she thought we were playing. Ugh! I can't tell you how many times I would straighten it out and then she would have a field day on top of it. Gotta love her! I tried to get a pic of the whole top, but just couldn't fit it well into the lens frame, so just took a pic to give you all an idea of the finished product.

So now what should I name it? I was thinking along the lines of Sunset at Aunt Dinah's or Peach Parfait; or do you have suggestions of your own. I'm open to all of them! :o)

We're off to Cocoa Beach Pier and Cocoa Village to spend the day. It should be fun and the weather is beautiful and will be in the mid-70's. Another beautiful day in sunny Florida. Wish you could share it with me.

Enjoy your day,
Suzy

Decisions, Decisions...

Hi, all. We're going to visit my Uncle Dick and Aunt Mim in Port St. Lucie today. My Dad is really looking forward to it as he hasn't seen his brother in quite awhile. We'll be gone most of the day. I won't have time to sew, but that doesn't mean I won't be thinking about it. LOL!

Anywho, I have a decision to make and wanted to run it by you and get your thoughts. Which border treatment should I go with for my latest UFO project? I'm just keeping it simple so I can get this sucker done. :o)

Version 1

Version 2

I'm leaning toward version 2 because then I can treat both the inner and outer borders as one and sew them on together at one time. Lazy? Yes, I know. LOL!

Which do you prefer?

Decisions, decisions...
Suzy

UFO Progress

Yes, you read the title right. I've actually been working on a UFO that is probably about 10 years in the waiting. I'm very excited, and actually keeping with my resolution for this year! Yay, me! The top is almost done -- all I have to go is the border. The before picture is on the UFO sidebar on the right called "Aunt Dinah." That is the name of the block. I have no clue what I will call the quilt once it is done. One step at a time. LOL! Here's the quilt all pieced (minus the borders, of course).




So this has been what I've been working on over Judy's Quiltathon weekend. I couldn't post earlier because I've been crazy busy all day. I had a 9:30am aqua aerobics class and then walked home and changed, ate lunch and went to my 1:30pm fitness class with my trainer, Ariel. She's such a sweetie. Then I walked home and had a shower, ran out the door and did my grocery shopping, came home and made dinner, and am just now having a few minutes all to myself. Boy, it feels good to sit down! :o)

Hope your day was productive,
Suzy

Happy Valentine's Day!

Spend the day with those you love! :o)

I've Been Terribly Neglectful

Just want to say "sorry" to those out in blogland who may be wondering what happened to me. I'm usually not this neglectful with blogging, but life has been busy and time has gotten away from me.

My dad is now down here from NJ visiting with us for two months. He is having a ball and hubby and I are keeping him busy and out of trouble. LOL! Younger daughter and grandson spend alternate weekends with us and we see our older daughter and son-in-law usually weekly.

I've been regularly attending my aqua aerobic classes and have even hired a personal trainer at the fitness room in the Clubhouse. I've also been walking outdoors, using the treadmill and bikes at the Clubhouse and swimming almost daily. The scale isn't showing as much progress as I had hoped, but I think I'm losing inches instead judging by the way my clothes are fitting me now.

I've also gotten involved in the quilt group here at Heritage Isle (there are about 15 or so of us) and also with the Seaside Piecemaker's Quilt Guild which has 300+ members and conveniently meets in the ballroom of our Clubhouse. Tons of fun!

I've been quilting, but nothing yet to show. Plus, our camera is on the fritz and I think we need to get a new one. I'm hoping soon, as I almost have a UFO finally put together into top form. Go me! LOL!

Life is good,
Suzy

Happy New Year!

Happy 2009 everyone! May it be the best ever! :o)

In traditional New Year style, I have a few resolutions. I use the term "resolution" loosely since they usually don't come to fruition. How about New Year "hopefuls" instead? LOL! Some are health-related and others are quilting/sewing-related. The usual in a quilter's life, right? :o)

Anyway, maybe if I write them down for all to see I may actually achieve a few. Hehehehe.

Here goes:

First and foremost -- get healthier. Of course that means eating better and losing weight. In order to actually achieve this one, I have no specific goal here other than to eat a bit less at each sitting, enjoy more fruits and veges and less junk food, work in more exercise-related activities and weigh less at the end of the year than I weigh now. Doable, right? We'll see. LOL!

Next are the quilting-related hopefuls. I actually have specific goals for this one, but I'm keeping it real. For each new quilting project I start, it must be finished completely -- quilted, bound and labeled (sending out to be quilted counts, too) -- and then the next project must be a UFO -- UFO constititues anything listed as a UFO or Kit to the right of my blog. If the UFO is not yet in "completed top" phase, it must make it to "completed top" phase before starting a new project. If the UFO is already in "completed top" phase, it must be quilted, bound and labeled before moving on to a new project. Also, I want to try to make new projects using as much of my wonderful stash as possible to complete the project. That's not saying I can't purchase what I need for that project if something just isn't working from my stash, or if I don't want to piece my backing and want it to be one solid fabric. Let's be real, here. LOL!

For sewing-related hopefuls, there are a few of those as well. I'd like to start making myself clothing again. No goals, just something here or there that strikes my fancy. I want to enjoy the process. :o) I also want to make more doll clothing. I enjoy it immensely and find it extremely fun and creative. No specific goals for this hopeful, either. Just having fun with it. Plus, it will help deplete some of my vast fabric stash. :o)

Anyway, there you have it. My New Year "hopefuls." Do you have any?

Wish me luck!

Suzy