I have really had a spurt of stitching the past weeks. I love to be able to sit down in the evening and do a bit while I watch tv. Before I started, however, I finished organizing my DMC’s. Here are a few photos of that big job!

I ended up with about 7 boxes full…

Once that was all done, it was time for fun!!! One day we went for a drive to a cute little quilt shop in Maldon, and I found just the fabrics I wanted for the Nice People Nice Things quilt. Here you can see them, with my first two blocks finished:

In the meantime, I started on the armchair caddy, courtesy of Helen. I am not joining in on the actual swap, but I am trying to do the projects. I’m not confident enough to join the swap and I’ve also been busy with doctor’s appointments and other things, so I wouldn’t be very reliable at this stage in life.. more on that later. So, here is my armchair caddy in progress:

I changed it a little - I used a piece of the background fabric for the middle bit of the pincushion instead of stitching it. I thought I’d end up messing up the stitching when I poked pins in it! If you want the free pattern for this, check it out here. You can find the other gorgeous projects in the Stitcher’s Angel stitch-a-thon at Helen’s blog.

Since I took the above photo, I now have the green binding on and am hand sewing it. I really like the way it has turned out. Thank you Helen for sharing this with us!!!

Some non-quilting news now: I am off to hospital next week to have my gallbladder out. It should only be an overnight stay and a small thing compared to the three c-sections I’ve had! Still, I’m supposed to rest for a week, doctor’s orders. So, I will stitch…. that is resting, isn’t it?

Why, yes, dear, we can put it by. It does seem out of place

On top of these down comforts and this spread of silk and lace,

You see, I’m used to having it lie so, across my feet,

But maybe I won’t need it here, with this nice furnace heat;

I made it? Yes, dear, long ago. ‘Twas lots of work, you think?

Oh, not so much. My rose quilt, now, all white and green and pink,

Is really handsome. This is just a plain, log cabin block,

Pieced out of odds and ends; but still–now that’s your papa’s frock

Before he walked, and this bit here is his first little suit.

I trimmed it up with silver braid. My, but he did look cute!

That red there in the centers, was your Aunt Ruth’s for her name,

Her grandmother almost clothed the child, before the others came.

Those plaids? The younger girls’, they were. I dressed them just alike.

And this was baby Winnie’s sack–the precious little tyke!

Ma wore this gown to visit me (they drove the whole way then).

And little Edson wore this waist. He never came again.

This lavender par’matta was your Great-aunt Jane’s–poor dear!

Mine was a sprig, with the lilac ground; see, in the corner here.

Such goods were high in war times. Ah, that scrap of army blue;

Your bright eyes spied it! Yes, dear child, that has its memories, too.

They sent him home on furlough once–our soldier brother Ned;

But somewhere, now, the dear boy sleeps among the unknown dead.

That flowered patch? Well, now, to think you’d pick that from the rest!

Why, dearie–yes, it’s satin ribbed–that’s grandpa’s wedding vest!

Just odds and ends! not great for looks. My rose quilt’s nicer, far,

Or the one in basket pattern, or the double-pointed star.

But, somehow–What! We’ll leave it here? The bed won’t look so neat,

But I think I would sleep better with it so, across my feet.

It was snowing yesterday! It didn’t stay around long, but it was definitely snow! Of course all the photos I took didn’t give it justice, I was very disappointed. It looked pretty coming down in the sky, until it melted when it hit the ground!

(Yes, I am still working on hubby to get him to fix the links!)

At least you can see that it “looks” cold!!! I tried to get the kids to stand there long enough for a whole lot of snowflakes to stick on their clothes, but they looked so cold that I quickly snapped the picture and let them run around

More snow is forecasted, so we will see. There were heaps of accidents on the road this morning, around the area where we used to live, dh says. No one is used to having ice and snow on the road and refuse to slow down. Reminds me of someplace we used to live where it rains now and then and people don’t slow down….. now, where could that be?!

As long as we are warm and dry in the house, it is lovely to look outside and see snowflakes falling down. Makes me want to play Christmas music and sew stockings

I was on a roll with putting photos up here when I discovered that when you clicked on the photo, it went to an error page instead of showing a close up…. so that dampened my enthusiasm a bit and I didn’t get back here until now. Of course my error problem has not magically disappeared I will have to wait for my computer whiz dh to fix it for me!

In the meantime I have been quilting. I have almost finished a little scrap quilt Alice taught me to make with an easy technique. I also put borders on my tesselating pinwheels and quilted it - yay! Now to put the binding on and take a photo!

I spent a few days at Alice’s and we sewed till we dropped while the kids were soooo good doing their schoolwork. We only had to help with a few of their problems. They managed to do most of it on their own and then played nicely afterwards. I worked on one of my friendship quilts as well, so I feel like I have had my sewing fix for the month, week.

I will try to get the links for the photos fixed sooooon! Have a great weekend everyone!

I need to get organized and get some photos up! I had a lovely weekend of quilting with my good friend Alice because it was her birthday. I worked on putting borders on a small scrap quilt she had taught me to make and then I worked on my friendship quilt. Both of them have come up really well.

Now I have the flu… so I haven’t done any sewing, just surfing! I found some nice blogs and added them to my blogroll. Go and check them out! There are lots of good ideas!

Welcome to JJ’s Gifts and Crafts! This is where I will be posting the fun I have making things for myself and others!