Finaly Getting Started

  Well, the grand daughter got a cute little Brothers sewing machine for Christmas and she and I went out to the fabric store and bought her some sewing supplies. We also picked some fabrics to make a pillowcase for her bed. I plan to use the hot dog method so it will be neat at the fabric change and a french seam for the other seams.

  Her bedroom is pink and green and those are the colors she picked for this project. I picked out some scissors and pins plus found a cute purple tomato pin cushion. Once she learns how to use the machine she will be able to make some pillow cases and maybe more. So tonight while  her parents are out having baby pictures made, she is watching a movie, and I am playing with the machine. I want to be sure of what I am doing when we get started. She tends to not listen when you try and tell her stuff. LOL I am pretty excited that when I got things all opened up and set up I found a DVD with instructions on how to wind a bobbin, thread the machine and make a button home. There are even some video instructions for putting in a zipper foot and making a satin stitch. Very nice for them to have after I am gone.

  I am looking forward to my husband getting here tomorrow night. He will be here for a few days, then we will go home on Tue. or Wed. I am not sure what day we leave. I have a feeling I will cry most of the way home. Leaving my sweet daughter and my beautiful new grandson here so far a way will be hard.
I find that every time I have logged on to write this week I have had to go help with the baby or something, so, if I don't get the chance again, please have a very Happy New Year and stay safe.
Have a very quilty 2012,
Tennye

Take the Pledge - Registration for the 2012 Free Motion Quilting Challenge

Do you want to learn or improve your free-motion quilting skills, using your home sewing machine? If you do, consider taking the pledge for the 2012 Free Motion Quilting Challenge. Similar to a block of the month, every month one of 12 FMQ Experts will share a tutorial for you. While you can do these exercises anytime, if you complete them in the month that they are released, and share them in the challenge, you'll be entered to win a monthly prize. Complete all 12 tutorials, anytime during the year, enter them, and you'll be eligible to win various Grand Prizes.


  The previous paragraph is from Insights from SewCalGal blog. I want to be a better quilter as those of you who have been following my blog for any length of time will know, so when I found this on pinterest I decided it was a good thing to do. Who can't benefit from learning something new or improving on something they have learned and done for a long time. I hope that if any of you would like to join me in this, you will let the button I have added on my sight take you to her post and, consider putting the button on your blog too. Talk about a run on sentence ... Got to get better with that too. LOL
  I am still in Tennessee with my daughter and her family and this has been a rewarding experience to say the least. Who knew your heart could expand to make room for this much love. Well, mine has, for this sweet little boy I get to call my grandson. We take a picture every day and send it back to Texas for the family there so they can see our precious baby grow. I use my cell phone as often as the real camera, so I can text them home. I have not up loaded from the camera in a few days so I don't really have a new on to show you today. I know I will slow down on showing my grandsons pictures, but right now he is so new I just can't help myself. When I am back home I will have quilt stuff to show again. So until I have a chance to write again, Yall have a very quilty Christmas.
Tennye

He is Here

  Well, it has been a long , short week. Our little man got here at 12:27 AM Tue Dec. 13, 2011. We are so proud of him and he is so adorable. He had  some trouble with his breathing and they put him in the hospital for observation and to give him some liquids and antibiotics. We had to visit him only one or two at a time, and my daughter had to take her sister in. I was not able to take her with me. Today they did another x-ray and ran some tests again. He is better now and they released him. We got home about 3:30 this afternoon, and now we are all learning to have a baby. Because of his being sick they put off his circumcision until today and he is not happy when he gets his diaper changed. We are all learning when he needs to eat and how much. Sadly he has gotten used to the bottle and falls asleep when he nurses, and then wants more in a short time.
  I will be here for a while and I will add pictures as I go. I obviously won't be doing much quilting here. So until I am back yall have a very quilty weekend.
Tennye

Kind of Excited

   I have been so worried that I would not have any money while I was in TN. with my daughter, and yea!!! my husband helped. Mon. he came home and asked me for one of my left over items from the craft show stuff, for a friend he works with, birthday. So I got the stuff out and we went through it and he looked,(shopping lol) to see what was there. He got kind of excited when he saw some of the stuff I made, and asked me if he could take some to work the next day. I was happy to let him take the stuff since it didn't sell and I don't have a show coming up for a long time. He sold all but one of the things he took, and now I have some money to use while I am traveling.
  My week has been so busy and I have worked so hard to get the quilts finished, before I leave. Sadly I did not get that done. Needless to say I will get on that as soon as I get back home, and get them to her before the end of Jan. Then I get to make my grandson a quilt too. I have all the fabric, for it I just haven't had time, with the parents, therapy, and working to get these other quilts finished.
  I just went to the weather channel site and checked out what the weather is like at my daughters. We have had some pretty cold weather this week, but looks like that is what I will be living in up there. I am just praying it won't be snowing or bad weather for my daughter and I driving from Atlanta, to TN.
Well, until next week, yall have a very quilty weekend,
Tennye

Less Than 5 Days

     Well, I leave in less than five days for my extended stay in Tennessee, with my youngest daughter. I believe she is to be induced on the 12th of Dec., and if she is like I am, she will have a son in about two hours or less after they give her the medications. She may not be, but we are built a lot alike, so I hope for her sake that it will go fast. I have heard those horror stories about 30 hours of labor and more. I can't even conceive of that, since I had almost all of my children in less than 5 hours.   The older two were the longest, and I did not have any inducing drugs with either one of them. I don't remember much about the oldest, but with the second one I realized I was in labor at some time after 11PM and she was born at 2AM. The last two I had to be induced, and they were here within 2 hours of the medication being given to me.
  Well, I spent yesterday working on the things I want and need to make for gifts, before I leave. I don't like to work on Sun. , but these things are gifts so I made the exception this time. I made to cutest burp cloths, and I made a cradle mattress for the gift my husband made for our friend. I also made sheets for hers and for our daughters too. I upholstered the mattress and got the fabric ready for my daughters. My husband I decided it was not feasible for me to take one with me so I will complete it after I get there. I just wish I had gotten the quilt finished, but lets be honest I didn't even get it started. It will be the first thing I do when I get back home and then I will get it in the mail to her. I am worried I may go crazy without a sewing machine for such a long time. I guess I will be pretty busy with the baby , the house and cooking for the family. I hope I get back to you before I leave, but if not I will write some time next week when I have a min. Until them please have a very quilty week.
Tennye

PS Well, I had pictures to show you, however I have lost them, and I can't seem to get them back. I loaded them on the computer and now they are gone, I have looked everywhere and ??????????? I will take pictures again and maybe not lose them. LOL

Bucket List of Quilting

  I was just reading another blog and she posted her quilting bucket list. She asked others to post theirs, and I got to thinking about it. I do have one, I just don't know if I have it in a numerical order. I surely don't have it written down, so rather than leave it on her blog I will place it here. If I post a bucket list I will be able to find it later when I have time that is not being used up with trying to make income. I have faith that time will come, I just have to be patient and consistent.

1.Dresden Plate ( I have one started, and thought I had a picture, but I can't find it)

2. Double Wedding Ring ( yes I am a traditional block gal, mostly)
3 Write the class I started on quilt as you go.
4. Design a block of the month quilt.
5. Design a mystery quilt
6. Christmas Quilt ( it is cut out, has been for 6 or 7 years)
7. Quilt for each of my kids and their spouses. ( 4 out of 8 made)
8. Finish a quilt for my own bed ( hubby wants a double wedding ring)
9. Quilt for each of my grand children ( 2 out of 4 made)
   Let me note the photo is from a google search and I do not know who the maker is, her/his  name was not listed.
  This list could go on for a page or more, but I will stop with these, and revisit it some time in the future.
Until I see you next have a very quilty week.
Tennye

Photos I Have Promised

 Well, here are some of the photos, I have been promising to show you. There are the Las Vegas pic.s of the sharks in the tank, in the pool at the Golden Nugget, The Venetian, and some of the the lovely things in the lobby, I guess it is the lobby. Some of the things I made for my little craft show the day I returned. I hope you enjoy them. 

 See the swimming pool in the back ground, as well as the fore ground?

 The tube is a slide you can go down that empties into the pool.

The Gondolas at the Venetian, the  drivers sing opera while they go through the building, which is a shopping mall.  The sound is amazing for all.

 This is just one of the lovely fall decorations at the bottom of the a water fall in the same building as the Gondolas.

The sky light over the water fall in the previous photo.

 Switch to the craft show. The Boots were a big hit, and I sold several of them, there are some other ornaments left from last year. The purse the size of a gift card, and the chanielle shoe, and trees.I spelled it wrong I can't remember how it is spelled. Sorry!! Spell check is not helping.

 Just a little closer picture of two of the boots.

 You have seen these before in different fabrics, but I have to tell you the Next one is a Long horn and I sold every one of them. I might have sold more if I had made more. I have a few Aggie ones left over, however they did sell . The Texas rivalry football teams, that play on Thanksgiving Day. Well, they have for over 100 years. Maybe not after this year, since the Aggies have left the conference.

 Hook'em Horns!!

 I just thought you might like to see the back side as well.

This is my boxy bag, and I only made one of each team and they both sold. This one had actually sold already when I took this picture. As you can see there were other vendors across the way. 

So, until I am further along with the quilts I am working on I will wish you all a very quilty week. 

Tennye

Got Leftovers?

  Well, as I write this the leftovers from Thanksgiving are in the oven heating for our lunch. We have avoided them most of the weekend and today is the day. Tomorrow we will have stew made from the pot roast we made for Sunday lunch tomorrow. When I think of left overs I think of the quilts that I seem to be making the most these days. Quilts made from the clothing left behind when a loved one has passed from this life. A form of left overs in the closet. The idea is sweet, to think they will have a quilt that will wrap them in the clothing they have such fond memories of. The feeling like they are wrapped in that parent or grandparents arms.
  The last two weeks I have been doing mostly prep work with the t-shirts that I am using for these two quilts. I have other clothing and robes that will be a part of the quilts. I truly hope that I will be finished with them by the end of the week as I have two baby quilts and a diaper bag to get made before I leave for my daughters. The cradle my husband made for our friend needs a mattress and sheets and so does my daughter for the one she slept in when she was a baby. I have the fabric and could possibly do some of the work while I was there, except my daughter has not got a sewing machine. I am not fast enough with hand sewing and quilting to get enough done before she needs what I am making for her.
  We had a lovely trip to Las Vegas, and a wonderful Thanksgiving with family. Thanksgiving is one of my girls favorite holidays, since that is the time when most of the family comes together. I know for many families it is still Christmas, but for us it is Thanksgiving. Then they all seperate and go to the spouses homes for Christmas. I won't even be here this year and that is going to be hard for me. I have only missed one Christmas with my family in my life. That was the first Christmas my husband and I spent together. We drove to his parents in PA, and spent the holiday with his family. Neither one of us is fond of snow, and his family does not like me, so we have not done it again. We spent New Years and Easter with them off and on over the years, but not Christmas.
  Well I have lots of pictures to share, I just have not had the time to get them on the computer so later this week while I am taking a break I will get that done and share with you. Until then please have the quilty week you deserve.
Tennye

Good to Be Home

  Well, I got home a week ago yesterday, and I was glad to be home, but from dehydration and lots more walking than I am used to, my legs and feet were swollen. It was much dryer in Nevada than it is here in Central Texas, and even though I thought I was drinking enough liquid the swelling is proof I was not. Well, that and the chapped lips, and sand paper feeling on my hands. hahaha Really !
  Our middle daughter went out of town on Sat. for a wedding shower, and the older one decided to have a party. Hubby's trucks clutch went out Sat. morning, and we had to have it towed. Luckily my dad is not driving his truck any more so we borrowed it, until we could get his fixed. Sun. my mom called me and explained that daddy was pretty sure he was going to die and didn't want to die at home. We talked about it and decided we would do what he wanted us to. She hung up and later in the day she called and they had called ems to come to the house. They took him to the hospital and in a very short time after we got there he was already breathing better. He started losing the liquid he had built up in his whole body. He is still there, and with mother having broken ribs, I am driving her where ever she needs to go. Oh, did I forget to tell you I had a great little craft show. I made back my table fee, and I made more than that. I did not sell, most of my stuff, but did sell almost all of the new little things I made out of the college items. I am glad I listened to my daughter and made them. I took pictures, but I couldn't find my camera so I used my cell phone. Now, I can't seem to remember how to add them to a post. I will figure it out I am sure, and when I do I will put them on here. I made the cute boots, that I made before, and some bags, of various different styles. This was the most fun I have had at a craft show and I felt so good that I sold so many things. Too bad my daughter hadn't been telling me what to make and sell before now. LOL
  Well, I off to get busy, I have two queen size quilts due before I leave for the trip to be with my daughter when the baby is to be born. I have way more than that to do, but first things first. So until I have a few minutes to write a more positive post I hope yall, have a very quilty week.
Tennye

Nose To The Grind Stone

  I seem to be apologizing more often than not for being out of touch lately. I am working hard to get some new things made for the little craft show I am doing the day after I get home from my little anniversary vacation. We leave on Sunday and get home on Thurs. evening and the show starts at 7 am on Fri. So it has to be, not only ready, but also packed up and in the car before I go to bed Thurs. evening after I get home from Las Vegas. We are not big gamblers, but had such a good time two years ago, that we just had to go again.
  Well, I have my nose to the grind stone, but I have no choice but to come up for air very often. In some ways that is good, so that I don't get stiff and sore. Then there is the problem that I have to leave the house and that always makes it harder to get back into the sewing room. Last Fri. mother and I went out to get my new glasses ordered, and do some shopping. Turns out she broke three or more ribs on that little outing. Well, Sun. evening she called to say she was in terrible pain and finding it very hard to breath (scary), did I think she should wait or call for an ambulance. I said " well, better safe than sorry go ahead and call them and I will be there as soon as I can." I followed the fire truck to her house, and the ambulance got there before we had been there a min. or two. They agreed with me that we needed to go to the ER and have some x-rays made to be sure the lung was not collapsing. As those of you who have been there know even if you go in on a slow night in an ambulance that is a good three our trip. Fortunately no collapsed lung, and they were pretty sure she just let her pain medication go too long before taking it again. I went grocery shopping for them on Mon. Then Tue. she called and asked when I was going for my physical therapy which the Dr. from my  Fri. visit had prescribed. I was there on Tue. and had set it up to be there again on, Thurs. She said the ER called and told her she needed to make an appointment to see her Dr. for a follow up on the Er visit, this week. She had called and they told her they could see her Wed. So here it is Thurs. I have not been home a complete day this week, and had the craft show meeting Tue. night and last night daughter number two and I went to a 75th birthday concert for singer song writer Guy Clark. It was amazing, good music, and a nice venue. Today therapy in the morning and I had to get on the computer and take care of email. I have not gotten on in three or more days, and I had 158 emails in one account 68 in another and the other two were pretty full as well. Why do I have so many emails???
   Needless to say I feel like I am being pulled in fourteen different directions and not getting any thing done. I hope to post pictures and write at least one more time before I leave town. If that does not happen please have a very quilty week and I will post pictures when I get home of the stuff I made, as well as do a separate post with pictures from our trip.
So keep quilty until I am back to see you.
Tennye

Glasses, and Mother

 Hi there friends it has been a hard day today. I got a lot of little stuff done yesterday in the sewing room, then today happened. I got nothing done, and I can only hope I get some stuff done tomorrow. I felt like I had not rested when I woke up this morning. You know that morning when you wake up and think is it nap time yet. So I got up anyway, I called the Dr. to see if I could come in and have her fill out a form for me for out insurance, and while I was there I needed to talk to her about some health stuff. They had an opening in 20 min. So I started getting ready, and poured my self a cup of coffee for the drive. BIG mistake!!! I spilled half of that cup of coffee all over the night stand and my cell phone was in the middle of it all. I did the rapid clean up with the phone and all the other stuff, so I could leave. When I got in the car I took the phone apart and pulled the battery. Good news it was dry inside. Sadly the two jacks were full of coffee and I had to get a Kleenex and dry them out. It seems to be fine, shew, so glad.
  Well, while I was at the Dr. I got a email from my husband telling me to go get my mom and go order my new glasses. So that is exactly what I did, I called mother and told her what I was planning to do and did she want to go for a ride with me. She was up for it she almost always is. LOL
  We went to Costco and I got the glasses ordered, then mother and I shopped for a while and checked out. We headed off to our favorite chinese place. That was our mistake. When we got there everything was fine and we got out of the car to go inside. I thought" I need to give mother a hand so she doesn't fall when she steps up on the curb." I put my hand out too late and down she went. Fortunately for me a couple came out  just about the time she was ready to get up, and helped me. She was in pain and pretty sure she broke her rib. I was kind of worried about her, but she can make that proverbial mountain out of a mole hill, so tried to ignore it at first. Don't get me wrong I was concerned, but just not ready to call EMS. Besides I had not had anything to eat and it was already 1, my stomach was more concerned with getting filled than getting to the hospital. We went ahead and had lunch, and I gave her some ibuprofen. I wanted her to figure out what really hurt before we made any decisions to go crazy. LOL Just kidding! After lunch she still felt like she had a broken rib, and we were just a few blocks from her Dr.s office, so we went there instead of shopping like we had planned . Sure enough she has a cracked rib. I sure was glad her Dr.s office took her. While we were there she got a flu shot, which she had not had. So to end this long story, I left here a little before 9am and got home just after 4:40pm , long day.
  So tomorrow, I will need to cook for the parents, and if there is time I will come home and quilt. Still, I have two finishes for the week, and that is a good thing.
Until I talk to yall again, have a very quilty weekend.
Tennye

More Things to Slow Me Down

  Well, as you might have guessed from the title I have had some problems today. I told you I was off to get stuff ready for a small craft fair, and I had to fill out the PDF for them and send it back . I was supposed to be able to do that digitally, however I could not figure out how, and my daughter was never here when I had time to get her help. Today was the last day, so I thought, well I will just print it and take it to her with the cash. Such is life,  since we have all gotten new laptops and they all have the new OS Windows 7. The printer is so old that the drivers are not compatible with the new OS. I spent too much time with that and then just gave up and went to my parents house and used their computer and printer. I fiddled with the other stuff for so long it was almost 4 this afternoon getting to the hospital to turn in the cash and the form. That meant I was close to 5 getting back home. Needless to say I got very little done today toward any sewing or crafting. I did get all the newest fat quarters ironed and ready to use, when I do get to the sewing room. I should have plenty of pictures to post in the next few days. I have some cute ideas and some fun stuff to work on, as well as the stocking I plan to make for the lady who is collecting them for the foster children in the system in her county.
  I thought you might like to see what the husband is working on for a change since I have not done anything photo worthy recently. This is for our new granddaughter. She is kind of on the top edge of the make believe play, but so far our granddaughters have all been that old when we get them. The grandson due in Dec. will be our first baby to join the family since his mother was born. It will be fun to play with him and I am sure we will be making many things for him as he grows up. 
  Well, I will head off to get ready for bed and until the next time yall have a very quilty week.

Tennye

I'm Here, Really I Am

  Well, I really am here and have even been around a few times, I just didn't have any time to write while I was here. I am happy to report that the two quilts I have been working on are finally done, and on their way to the lady who asked me to make them. She will be happy to get them and give them to her grandsons. I love the way they turned out and I am happy that they are completed.  I wish they had gotten done much sooner than they did, but I gotta tell you for what ever reason I have no real memory of Sept. It really bothers me, but I just don't know what happened in Sept.
  I have decided to give a craft show a whirl. Not a big one, just a table and it will be office hours one day only. I have almost all the left overs from the last big show I did, and I have an idea or two for a few little things to add to the inventory I already have. Nothing big since it will be in three weeks and I am leaving for a vacation the week of the fair. Then I have about four weeks before I leave for my daughters for the baby. In that time I have to complete the two king size t-shirt quilts before I leave. So I will be doing some prep work on those t-shirts in the evenings after I finish the work in the quilting room. I will need to stabilize them and cut them up. That will take some time, and then there is the process of figuring out what fabric I need to put between them for sashing. I also have some robes to embroidery for the wedding. You see the girl who wants me to make the t-shirt quilts is getting married about the time my new grandson will be born. She has been part of the family for a long time and I will miss the wedding.
Well, I need to get going, so yall have a very quilty week until I get back to you.
Tennye

Thoughts on today

  I have been thinking today about how much I love quilting and how slow I think I am at it. There is also the whole thought that if I would just be more consistent with my work, then maybe I would be almost as fast as some of you. I have been looking around again at other blogs, and some of them show such amazing work. How is it that some of you make a quilt or two a week?? I am in aww of those of you who do. I will be completing two and maybe if I can keep up the momentum three this week. The thing is I have been working on them all for months, not days or weeks.  One is waiting for binding, the next is ready to start quilting, and then I will bind it as well. Then maybe tomorrow I can pin baste the last one and finish it as well. Yea!!!! that will mean I can begin the next two that I need to have done before I leave for TN for the birth of my new grand baby. Those will be king size t-shirt quilts, one for a friends wedding gift for her new to be husband, and the other for her brother in law to be. My middle daughter will be going with me to TN and then when she leaves there she will go to Dallas for the wedding of this girl, I am making the quilts for. This lovely young lady has been my daughters best friend since they were in high school, but we have known her since they were in elementary school.
  I have a project I am working on I have mentioned it before. I am making a top for my daughter and I am having trouble making it fit. Some would pay big money for the size of ..... how do I say it with out being rude, chest that three of my girls have. I have been looking for a book to help me learn the process of fitting clothes. Adjusting patterns to fit any body size or type, seems to elude me. I used to be good at it, so, this frustrates me to no end.
  Well, if I am to complete the quilts I want to today and tomorrow I must go and get busy. I need to go to the mail box and since I have to go out I will go get coffee too. The girls will go to girls night so I will be alone tonight and I can quilt while they are gone. Until the next time, yall have a very quilty week.
Tennye

Such a Week

  Well, here it is only Mon. evening and I can't believe it has been such a crazy week already. Does that mean that it will go on for the remainder of the week, well maybe. My darling husband sent me an email this afternoon and told me he would be at work until at least 1AM. Now he usually works his full time job from 12:30 PM to 9:30 PM and he has a side business doing odd jobs for people. He enjoys that work much more than his regular full time job, but it obviously does not provide insurance. We both have some problems that require we take medications on a regular basis. I was off of anything for almost a year. Then recently I was diagnosed with a thyroid problem that means I have to take med.s daily. Hubby has high blood pressure and high cholesterol and takes med.s for both. I wish he could quit the "real" job too, but such is life. He has it all figured out when he can retire, and I try to stay as healthy as I can so he can when the time comes. LOL
  I have not had the time to work in the sewing room very much, but did get a bag finished for my granddaughters birthday. That is tomorrow, and I have already told her it will be late, but to expect is soon. She will be 14 I think, I have trouble remembering the ages. Her sister will be 16 in Dec. and I am pretty sure she is 2 years older. Now it sounds like I am a bad grandmother, but I have only known her for 6 years. I put her mom up for adoption when she was born and we met in 2005. I am so happy to have them in my life, as I sure never thought I would. So tomorrow I will try very hard to get in the sewing room and stay there for a long time. I want three quilts finished by Fri. all they need is to be quilted and bound and that has been put off for too long already.
  I will do my best to get back on a more regular time frame than I have been lately. Yall have a very quilty week.
Tennye

Why Do You Quilt? 2

  Okay well, this time I am asking myself why it is I quilt, and what drives me? I was raised in a home with quilts around me all the time. Even if they weren't on our beds, which most of the time they were, they were around.
  This is my favorite and the one that was on my bed most of the time. I didn't want to try and take a picture of the whole thing, so here is just a corner. My great grandmother on my mothers , dads side did the piecing and embroidery for the blocks. She gave my mom the quilt and my grandmothers sister pieced the sashing and put it all together. Then the three of them Mother, grandmother and Aunt Ina Lee quilted it together. I don't use it daily any more, let me show you why.

I know it is a little blurry but the embroidery stitching is wearing off on some of the blocks. I am not a hand embroiderer and don't know how to fix that part. Other than that is is also beginning to get small holes in the cotton fabric and where they are the batting is missing.Once upon a time I thought I might try and duplicate it so I would have one on my bed. I created a pattern from the original blocks and started looking for the fabrics to make it. At that time I didn't realize that I could do the embroidery on my machine, by using a satin stitch. I was thinking I needed to do it all by hand. I gave up, on the idea at the time. Now I may be revisiting the idea. I am a much better quilter and I know more about how to manipulate my machine.
  Well, as I said there were other quilts that I saw daily , but this one was mine so I have it, and mother and daddy still have the other ones. Also I slept on the baby quilt my Aunt had for my cousin when I was at her house. That one was a colonial sunbonnet sue. Some day I may get that one and take some pictures and try to remake it as well. I would have to say that little quilt has had as much influence over me as any that were in my home. So much did I love that quilt I thought it was mine, and would fight the cousins if one of them tried to use it.

  Okay, I am off for today and wishing each of you a very quilty week, until I get back to you.
  You think she will want to quilt too??? LOL
Tennye

Friends swap

  Well, I have had a great week, for a change and thought I would share that with all of you. I told you about the swap I did with a lovely lady in the UK. She has let me know she got her box of goodies so I am free to show you what I sent her now.
 As I told you before the items sent needed to start with the letters for the word, FRIENDS . So to start with F, is fortune cookie, I made of fabric and used my machine to create the fortune of "fun is in your future"

 I am always trying to challenge myself, and I am not particularly good at paper piecing, so that is what I did. The Flamingo is a post card size paper pieced mini quilt. I actually had fun making this one, I guess I am maybe getting a little better at it. The pink ribbon you see here is a key fob. Kind of a out dated way to say key chain. My girls have all had me making them for them, so why not, make one for her.

  As it turns out I either didn't take some of the pictures I thought I did or they didn't turn out and I deleted them. I did get some of the little bag I made, though. It isn't big enough to be the sewing kit it was going to be, which would have been an S.

   Here it is closed up with the decorative tie I found in my box of decorative stuff.
I found a pattern for this and it was cute, but I thought I want to make it on my own, without their pattern. So I used my 45 degree triangle ruler and make the large and small sized then I put a backing on them so I would not need any hems. I loved the fabrics and she is using it for a jewelry case for travel and I think that is the neatest thing in the world.

The floral fabrics you see in the lower left corner are part of the fabrics I used to wrap each of the boxes, their is a matching green fabric too. The blue and white is a shall I sent her with a snowflake embroidered on the pockets.  You can also just barely see the red eyelet trim I also used as a flower for a bow on the top of one of the boxes.

I enjoyed this so much and I am so happy that my partner also enjoyed it and is enjoying the things I found to send to her.
F- fortune cookie, flamingo, frame, flash light, fob
R- riting tool ( Pen) Kind of a stretch 
I- ity-bity screwdriver
E- eyelet trim
N-notions (thread) note pads, note books
D-dress trims
S-scissors
I meant to add a seto fo dice, since that is one of my silly little collections, and I thought it would be good to share, but I forgot them . There are other things, but to be honest I can't remember what all there was. LOL
  Well, I hope you all have such a lovely quilty week. We have finally had rain, not just a smattering, almost 3 full inches over the weekend. Yea!!!
Tennye

Good Evening,

  Well, I had thought I would like to really whine about something that happened this weekend at the quilt show. Then I got on and started reading posts from some of you and it made me feel better so I changed my mind. I decided venting was counter productive, and I want to go for productive instead. ;)
  This week is Aften's birthday and she took the week off work, so this morning after she got home from the gym she and I went to run errands. I told her I would take her to lunch and she could pick where we went. We had a lovely lunch and when the bill arrived I grabbed my purse and ........... no wallet. Suddenly I couldn't remember where I had used it last. We came home and searched my van, since that was where I thought I used it last. No wallet there either. So we came into the house and started searching some more. I came to the living room and started praying and thinking. Suddenly I remembered that I used it at the post office when I mailed the package for the swap I signed up for. I did not take my purse into the post office, I put the boxes in my quilted bag, with my wallet and my phone. Sure enough we went in my bedroom and there was my wallet in that bag. Wheww, crisis averted. However now I owe my lovely daughter a lunch since she paid for today's. I think I have shown you the bag I am talking about, I would post a picture of it but I am not sure I have one on this computer. I may have one in my google photo storage, but I don't know how to retrieve it .
  So until next time yall have a very quilty week.
Tennye

Quilt Show Saturday

  Hello there friends, what a weekend it has been. Aislynn and I went out on Fri. night while Aften went out on a date. Then on Sat. Aislynn went off to a ladies retreat to help lead worship for the weekend. Aften and I got up so that we would be ready when her friend and her son came by to leave some stuff for me to work on for her wedding in Dec. Then we headed out for breakfast and off to the quilt show.  Then we did some shopping at the hardware store, and off to the grocery store. We were having a party so we needed food. Then home to get the rest of the house clean and start cooking. This was a kind of small party since we didn't decide to have it until Sat. Lots of people already had plans and others had plans all day and were just too tired. We had good food and it was fun, even though it was a small party.
I am not sure which guild it was that put this Quilt show on, but it was fairly small. I almost felt like they had more vendors than they did quilts. Any way I took some pictures of the ones I really liked. I admit some of them were in the vendor booths. Does that mean I plan to try and duplicate them? No, I may want to, but lets face it, even if I did, when would I have time to do all this designing. Because that would be the case, I would have to draft the blocks so I could size them . I must admit if I was going to go to all that much work, I would not want it to be from someone else design. I am not posting any of the ones from shops here, seems like that might be the wrong thing to do.
Here are some of the quilts I loved the most. I am not sure if you will notice, but the ribbons on the ones with awards are attached with tiny mini quilts, that are amazing.  

 Isn't that an amazing chili pepper, and of course the Yellow Rose of Texas is pretty amazing as well.

This last one is a Breast Cancer quilt. I just love these red high heels, and I wish I had thought about this one. I don't know if I would have ever gotten them made, but wow, they look so pretty.
Well, I am off for this time and will try to get back on soon. Until then have a very quilty week.
Tennye

Made some cut things

  I have made some really cute things this week and I took pictures, but they are for a swap so I won't post them until I am pretty sure she has gotten them. The thing is making them has gotten me back into the swing of things. I have a ton more ideas, but obviously they won't be going to this swap. LOL I will spend some time crawling around on the floor later getting three quilts pin basted so I can quilt the next two days, or three.  The baby quilt I showed you last month needs to go to them NOW, since the baby got here yesterday. I doubt we will be driving there this weekend, but the girls are both off for a few days next week and might decide to go see the new baby on one of those days.
  This is a busy time of year for birthdays in our family. My husband was on the 22nd, a daughter on the 27th, the next daughter Oct. 4, father in law the 3rd, and mother the 6. Then got a granddaughter on the 9th, of Oct. That is why the girls are off next week, to celebrate her birthday.  I missed my cousins BD, yesterday so I need to tell him how sorry I am about that. I hate it when I forget someones birthday and I am bad about it. Back in the day when I was single and had myself organized, I never missed any ones birthday. After marriage and children , I got lost in there. I am no longer organized and I have trouble remembering what day it is sometimes let alone a birthday. I never thought that would happen to me, and I, like so many others, who feel this way wonder what happened.
  Well, I have missed adding photos and hope to have some to post again soon. Until next time yall have a very quilty week.
Tennye

My Camera

  Well, it is Sunday evening and it has been a different kind of weekend, we didn't make it to church today. Our son and his girlfriend were here for the weekend so we went out for brunch with them instead. They wanted to get home, so they left about 2, and our middle daughter went to take a nap. She and her brother have been living on Thera- Flu this weekend.
  So, the camera, is not new in the normal terms, since I have had it for at least a year and maybe more. I still think of it as new though because I have not figured out how to use all the things on it. My cousins girlfriend is a photographer, and can figure out most of the point and shoot cameras pretty easy. She and I talked about mine at the family reunion and then again when we got together with other family for a birthday a couple of weeks ago. She said she would be happy to help me figure it out when she had time. Today she had time, and she came over here so we could use the sewing machine and the areas that I use the camera in for the blog and my tutorials. I am so excited that I finally have a good idea that I can use some of the stuff on it. My photos should look much better when I take the next round of them. I wish I had some to show you, but I have not loaded any on the computer and they are not of anything other than just fabric on the sewing machine. The fact that you can see exactly where it is and see the seam allowance measurements without a glare is amazing to me. I got the new camera because it took very clear pictures and had a lot of features. Not being able to use the features was frustrating. As a matter of fact just a week or two ago I was ready to give it to my daughter and take my old one back from her. I at least knew how to use it, and it does have some cool features, that I used when I had it. Who knows I might do a better job with that one too now that I know what some of that stuff does.
Well, I just had to share my excitement , so yall have a quilty week, until I get back to you. Tennye

Hubby Turns 62

  Well, sorry for being away so long. Yesterday was my husbands birthday and we did what we do on birthdays and went out for lunch and then when he got off work we went out as well for a little celebration. One of the girls was home sick, but our middle daughter went with us and my husbands friend whose birthday is the same as Charlies. We kind of have a thing in our family that I have discovered not all families do. We take the day off for out birthday, no working. Well, since Charlies was on Thurs. he chose to work and take the Fri. off and have a long weekend for his birthday. Our son is coming in tonight for the weekend and we are looking forward to that, it has been a couple of months since we saw them.
  I have been working on those three quilts that I have been talking about for a month or more, and just need to layer and bast them, so I can quilt. We have done a massive house cleaning and that kind of put me behind on what I needed to be doing. I should get the basting done either tomorrow or Mon. and then get all three quilted next week. I have also taken a chance on making my daughter a top. She has plans to go to a car show this weekend and wanted a special top for it. I have had some bad luck with making clothing so avoid it most of the time. I love to have clothes I make myself, but seem to have lost the knack for making them fit. I keep thinking my old skills will kick in,then the next thing I make doesn't fit and I walk away for a while again. Right now I am going to have to re-cut at least part of this top, because I fitted it to her and it is not going to be large enough. When I get it right it will be a very cute one and I will try to get her to let me take a photo to show you.
  I mentioned the house cleaning we have been doing. My sewing room was such a disaster I could just walk thru a path to the sewing table and not much more. In May or early June, I had three people bring me clothing they wanted made into quilts. These came in large plastic bags and huge boxes, which really didn't have a place to go, so they just sat in the middle of the room. Well, I finally figured out what to do with the two that I am not working on as yet so I can now see the floor in there. I am excited about that. I still have issues that need to be addressed, but I feel like I can work in there now. I am so happy with it I am even loading the software for my embroidery machine on the new laptop. I have wanted to do this for a while, but why bother when I can't even find the module to put on the machine. Well, actually it was not lost, I just didn't have room to use it, and it was very hard to get to. Now I have put it where I can get to it easily and will have the software on the computer . Yea, I can use it again.
  We still have not gotten any real rain as yet, but we are finally out of the triple digit temp.s. Of course just as I was righting that the news guy said Sun. we may have another day of it. We are at 85 days of triple digits this year in the Austin area, that will make it 86 days. We just need the rain so badly, and farmers almanac says it may not be until after Nov. that we will get the rain.
Okay, well until the next time, yall have a very quilty weekend.
Tennye

Wow 9:15 PM and still 93 degrees

This is so unusual, but here we are half way through Sept. and it is still in the triple digits. Today was the 85th day for the Austin area to be in the triple digits. We broke the record back on day 69. We have broken temp. records that are close to a 100 years ago. We are also at a 14 inch deficit for rain for the years normal averages. That is why we are having so many wild fires in the area. I know other states have wild fires, and floods, and so much devastation, but it seems a little harder to see when you can actually see the faces, and know the names of some of the people who have lost everything they own. I am so proud that I am a part of a yahoo group who have decided to try and help the ladies from the Bastrop, TX area who have lost their stash, scissors, and quilt supplies. I am going through mine now to see what I can share with them. They are coming from CO and since I live so close I will just meet them when they get here. I know that they are more concerned about a roof over their heads and clothes for their children, but I can't imagine thinking about having to start over with my stash, and supplies.
Well, I got the two tops finished today of the mans pants legs. I think they look great, but they are just not going to be big enough for a bed. I have many in my house that are the same size as these are, but some people don't know the joy of a lap quilt on a cold winter night. I can't imagine not having these all over my house. As soon as they are complete I will get real busy on the baby stuff I need to make for my new grandson. I still need to get the diaper bag made too, and that will be fun. I have a design in my head, but I have some things I need to work out, before I get it made.
Okay, well, it is late and I need to go for tonight, until next time, have a very quilty week.
Tennye

The Fires and My Work

  Well, I have been frazzled with the fires all around us, and therefore I have not had a chance or the inclination to sew for the last four or five days. At one point on Sun. we were very literally surrounded by fires. We have been very grateful to have been saved from the fires , but also sad , sad, sad for those who have been evacuated from their homes. The news has said there are somewhere around 700 or more homes that have been completely destroyed by fire. So many have lost so much, and I want to help and even feel some what guilty to be so protected as we have been so far.  Last night we had the closest fire, and I loaded my van with a lot of stuff. I have decided to leave it there for a day or so, and hope I don't need it to be there. Safe is better than sorry, and that is what I have been told my entire life.
  My girls and I have a movie we enjoy watching, that is about a girl who goes to Ireland to ask her boyfriend to marry her. It is a comedy of errors how she gets lost and then has a hard time getting to where he is. In that time she and the man, who ends up saving her through  all the mess she has to go through, discuss the fire alarm going off and what would you get to take out in that ten seconds.  I have heard about that ten seconds to get out, but never thought I would do what I did. I always thought I would get my pictures and clothes first. I had a plan in my mind, or so I thought. When it came to us yesterday, not ten seconds, but still time to think about getting out. I was surprised to see I got the three quilts I have here that are not mine, but belong to someone else. I made plans for the things I would get when the time came, and I packed some bags and funny thing, I grabbed all of my hanging pants and pajama pants and put them in the van. They are still there. hahahaha I did not feel threatened all weekend, and even though my daughters packed a suitcase and when they went to work on Tue. after the holiday weekend, took a suitcase and some of their most important things. My sewing machine was on the list, and I got all the feet and attachments to my machine in a bag. I may leave some of those packed for a while too.
  Writing this has been very healing for me, and I finally believe I not only can but want to go sew again. This is the first time I have felt that way in at least four or five days. It feels good, so I am off to the sewing room and wishing you all a very quilty week and I will be back soon.
Tennye

The Week Gone By

  Well, I had a nice weekend with my family, and at our reunion with our extended family. My parents made the drive there and back the day of the reunion and did just fine. I got a little upset with them, because, mother left her phone in her purse where she couldn't hear it and daddy just didn't turn his on. I worried about this for hours before we got to where they were and found out they were safe. Sometimes they might as well not have cell phones. We had them get cell phones so we could get a hold of them when they were out traveling. I understand them not wanting to have them in a hand all the time like so many of my children do. I admit I am guilty of the same thing sometimes. I do try to at least have it in the same room I am in.
  Okay, on to other things, I took my camera and I used it the day we got there while we were on the tour of Garrison Bros. Distillery, in Hye, TX. Sadly after that I put it in the car and I just didn't ever go get it to use. So the photos I have are those.This is the building we saw as soon as we got to the Ranch that the Garrison Bros. use for their distillery.

That is my hubby enjoying a beverage while we waited for the tour. The bench he is sitting on is in front of a huge fire pit, that can be used for cooking as well as just enjoying a nice fire. Not now in this terrible drought we are in, but some other time when it is over. They have lovely rocking chairs too.

On the barrel between these two chairs is a cute turtle made of concrete and stones.








   I sure wish I could show you some of the other pictures that were taken while we were on the trip, but I just don't have them. My daughter has some but her sister won't let her share them with us because she tends to take those pictures you just don't want to see. I am hoping my son and his girl friend will share some that they took, but that is not something that happens very often.
  Well, as I told you last week, I really should have finished the two quilts I am working on by now. However, as is often the case when I have gone on a trip I came home and had no desire to go into the sewing room. I did finally get enough desire to do something that I went out and bought the fabric for the backing on both of them. I am not happy with them, but satisfied, and sure they will look great. I thought I would get in there today and work, but just have no desire to sew. That grieves me, and I hope it does not last long. I did go to the Dr. yesterday for a physical, something I should have done a long time ago. I ended up seeing a new Dr. and I like her very much. I will be making my appointments with her from now on.
Well, since this is a quilting blog and I am having trouble doing that I will simply go for today. Until I have something to say I will wish you all the very quiltiest weekend.
Tennye

The Green Thing

   I got this in an email this last week and I just had to send it on in a way different from just the email forward. I have no idea who wrote the original, so I am not taking credit from someone else this is not something I wrote.

     In the line at the store, the cashier told an older woman that she should bring

her own grocery bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment.

The woman apologized to him and explained, "We didn't have the

green thing back in my day."

The clerk responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation

did not care enough to save our environment."

She was right -- our generation didn't have the green thing in

its day.

Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer

bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized

and refilled, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really

were recycled.

But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator in every

store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb

into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.

But she was right. We didn't have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have

the throw-away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy gobbling

machine burning up 220 volts -- wind and solar power really did dry the clothes.

Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always

brand-new clothing.

But that old lady is right; we didn't have the green thing back

in our day.

   Until we talk again, yall do the green thing and I will keep on hanging my clothes outside to dry, and making quilts out of left over fabric, scraps, and other peoples clothes.
Have a very quilty weekend.
Tennye

Turns Out To Be Pretty Good Day

  Hello, all my followers, I have noticed the strangest thing when I logged in today to write this post. I hope blogger is just having a glitch because it says I am not following any other blogs, and I am pretty sure I am following , well a lot of blogs and I would hat to have lost my list. Now on to other things, I will just trust that this is a temporary glitch and move on.
  I started to day with a stressed feeling about the quilt I am working on. Yesterday I worked all day, and what I did most was rip out the seams I had put in Mon. and most of the ones I put in yesterday too. I was almost afraid to sit down to the machine today. I hate days like that and I hate feeling like I wasted my day. Now after working all day I feel so much better. I did not get all 10 blocks made, but I got enough of them made that I do feel much better. Turns out I seem to have missed a few parts when I was cutting my pieces for my blocks. Tomorrow I will finish those cuttings and then put together the last of the blocks and begin putting the top together. I actually hope to get it done and then I will know if I have any fabric left over to add to the last one I made. I would like for it to be a little larger than it is and the customer would like to have it for the 30th. Then I want to finish the other one in the next day or two after that. Making money Yea!!!!!!
  As you may have guessed I have been kind of busy and that is why I have not written. I went out late yesterday afternoon to see if I could find a piece of fabric that has an elephant on it. I am going to a family reunion this weekend and it will also be my Aunts birthday. My Aunt has collected a few things over the years of my life and the first one was Elephants. She had a glass case with them and since she was also my baby sitter I have may memories of those Elephants in my childhood. I did find some fabric, but it is baby fabric and has other jungle animals on it. I shall cut out the ones I want for my Aunt and save the others for my daughter. She is using Giraffes for the babies room, and this fabric has some very cute ones. I should have taken a photo, but never got around to it. I will after the bag is made. This reunion has given my immediate family an excuse to get together for the weekend at a destination, so that is what we will be doing. We have only one distillery in Texas, and my daughter was given a bottle of their Whiskey for her birthday. They only release 4000 or 5000 bottles every two years, and hers was made in 2008. We are going to the distillery for a tour on Fri., then we are heading over to  Luckenbach for a little
fun in the sun. That is the small town from Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings fame, and as a single girl I used to spend a lot of time there. Now my children want to check it out for them selves. We took them there as younguns, but they don't really remember it much. Then Sat. we will go to the reunion and enjoy the family. Sun. we will visit some of the places we spent a lot of time at when the children were young. The state park in Kerrville, and some of the shops in Fredricksburgh. Then we will kiss and say goodbye and everyone will head off into their own directions home. Two of the girls will not be with us and I am sad about that, but the baby is in TN and the oldest just can't find the time to join us. It is a days drive for her and the family too, even though they are in TX. I really thought that with them in TX we would get to see them more often and it just has not happened.
Well, guess that is it for today, and since we will be out of town Fri., thru Sun. I hope you all have a very quilty weekend and I look forward to talking to you next week.
Tennye