The One That Got Away

I fell in love with this applique embroidered design last summer while visiting Alaska, on our Quilt Retreat at Sea trip. It is a Lunch Box design. Bill and Mark went fly fishing while Barbara and I went to the quilt shop, imagine that!

Anyway, I decided to make this wall hanging for Bill so he could always remember the fun he had with 'The one that got away'.

Gigi- 1998 to 2012

My sweet little Gigi, went to sleep for the last time today. She had finally shown signs of a tumor that had been growing for some time, and today the Vet told us that she is 14 yrs old, she has a tumor that would require treatment and there is no real hope that would help. We had already talked about it and decided that she would suffer no more and not have a quality of life that she deserved. I hurt so badly, I can't stop crying, and even though I know it was the right thing to do.... I can't help but think ' was it the right thing to do? In my heart I know it was best. She had been having so many problems and I just miss her so much. Gigi came to us over 7 yrs ago... I adopted her from one of my hospice patients...he said that if she didn't have a home she would be cremated with him.... she had 7 more glorious and fun years...she brought Bill and I such joy and such unconditional love that I couldn't have asked for more from a pet or a human. I love you Gigi, I will see you again soon, and until then chase the birds, wag your stump of a tail and know that you are so loved and so missed by me. Sleep well my Best Friend. 

Gigi- Born November 1998 

Died - March 26, 2012

Pedigree- Rat Terrier

Moved into our home and our hearts November 2005. Adopted from ‘Ernie’.

Our first Christmas 2005

Gigi 2006   * 8 years old

 Always in our Hearts

AnDe's Hawk

My sister, Ande Herbert  http://www.facebook.com/pages/AnDes-Studio and J. Michelle Watts www.jmichellewatts.com, have collaborated and transformed AnDe's art work of "Hawk" into a pattern for Applique.  I was privileged to be able to test the pattern that J. Michelle wrote and published. 

Be sure to check out AnDe's art work, and J. Michelle's designs.  We are all hoping for more combined efforts from these two wonderfully talented women.

I made the trial version and Saturday I taught it at a class at my local quilt shop- Heartsandhandsquilts.com .  Here is a photo of mine and I included photos of  3 of the class participants works in progress.  

Lady Liberty Quilted Wall Hanging

A tribute to the "Lady".  Design by Eileen Roche- embroidery digitized quilt in the hoop quilt as you go.  What a beauty she turned out to be.  Made from all of my stash fabrics, it is a jewel.  I love it. Hope you enjoy the view. 

 She measures 29x30".  Please ignore the little red/purple strip on the left side, I took the photo on my design wall and part of another project can be seen.  Didn't say I was a photographer...

Pearl Cotton storage

I have been following Pat Sloan's blog regarding 'Storage and Organizing Tips' presented through Quilting Gallery- Michele Foster has worked very hard in keeping all of us Quilting enthusiasts involved around the globe, check out the webpage here http://quiltinggallery.com/2012/02/28/thread-storage-studio-organizatio/


So in response to all this 'organizing' I made some
adjustments to my own way of storage and
keeping my work area usable.
One way was to put my Pearle Cotton Floss
into a thread storage container-


I found that the empty spools were
very useful, they also allow for the
tail end of the floss to be tucked into
the slit at the bottom of the spool.



Feel free to share and tell me about your ideas and your storage/organization hints.

Until then, Sew away.

not enough energy to sew...

I am recovering from a surgical procedure.  I want to thank my husband, my sister, and the many friends who have come to my rescue...i.e. providing delicious meals, sending me cards, following up with phone calls, stop in and visit time, offers to take me for a ride, and many other kind thoughts and prayers on my healing behalf.
  I just wanted to express my gratitude to all my children the thankfulness for their love and concern, and to let them know (since they are not living near me) that I am truly doing well.
I am grateful to all...and will get this posting back in order soon, with hopefully some new and exciting projects that are on my 'to finish list'.

Rachel's Quilt

This quilt's fabrics were chosen by Rachel last March 2011, when she came to visit for spring break. She went with me to Hearts and Hands Quilts shop and chose these fabrics.

I started working on it in April but for some reason lost interest, and it was put to the side for a bit. However, I knew I wanted to be done by Christmas so sometime last October, I finally finished the pieced top, and prepped it for quilting.

I gave it to Rachel on Christmas day, we took a picture, but I didn't get home with a photo, so this weekend I took a pic of it while it is on her bed. It is named 'Wild Child' due to the safari theme.