Saturday, October 27, 2012

National Hug-A-Sheep Day

                                         A rare moment of peace with Shizuku and Earl sharing
                                         the same spot!!

Today is National Hug-A-Sheep Day. I don't have any live sheep, so I decided to show my Lambchop (a Goodwill find). I drove by the pasture this morning where there were some sheep last year, but have not seen them in a long time. I think the farmer must have sold them. Sheep are not real popular in this county. I hope you have a pleasant weekend, and do not have to worry about Hurricane Sandy.

Thursday, October 25, 2012

Feedsack Stars

Today I thought I would show you a quilt that I made back in l998. It is made from old feedsack fabric and "cheap" muslin (so that it would crinkle and look old). My late husband was going thru chemotherapy at the time, and I hand pieced this whole quilt. It is a full sized quilt and is quite large!  It is machine quilted, by me, using the "music" pantograph. You can click on the photo to make it larger, hopefully. I am especially fond of this quilt, and had given it to my daughter. She was using it to cover her couch and it was beginning to show definite wear (thanks to her dog and frequent washing and drying in the dryer!!), so I "borrowed" it back. I just love piecing hexagons by hand, but I do not use the English Piecing method. The white hexagons are 5 inches across. God Bless!!

Monday, October 22, 2012

Weekend Photos, finally!

                                         Lucky Dog, chief of security!


                                         Some of the alpacas we saw.

Alpaca Watching

This weekend, my daughter and I went up on the mountain, to Virginia, to see the new baby alpacas (crias), and to visit the fabric shop where we used to spend so much time. It was a very pleasant day, and it felt like you could almost touch the clouds. One certainly does feel closer to God up on the mountain! We ate lunch at a Chinese restaurant at the Hillsville exit of I-77. After returning to my house, we decided I'd spend the rest of the weekend at her house, about an hour's ride from here. It is always a pleasure to spend some time with her "critters", and her dog , Lucky, always does the "twist" when she sees me!! It is so funny to see.  Her illusive cats are impossible to photograph.  In the middle of the night (about 3am) Lucky heard something outside and began her "Hound-Dog"  barking. Next morning, upon examination of the flower bed out front, it appeared that a deer must have come up to the house and Lucky knew about it. I had a nice time, and I always enjoy cooking in her kitchen (we made lamb stew), things always taste better away from home, don't you think? The Fall colors are not very brilliant this year, but nice anyway.  I have tried repeatedly to add two photos to this post, but blogger won't cooperate!!  Very frustrating!!  I'll try again later. Have a great week!  God Bless!!

Friday, October 5, 2012

New Hexie Books!

Lately I have been obsessed with hexagons!! I have loved the hexagon shape since I began making hexagon quilts in the late 1990's. I've made SEVERAL, believe me. There is something about the shape itself, about the way they fit together, just trying to get along. There are several ways to put them together, and there seems to be no end to the new ideas these days (the Hexagon Star Rose in the last post being the latest). I highly recommend both the books shown above, both arrived this week from Amazon.com .The Outside the Box book refers back to the Kansas City Star patterns from the 1930's to 40's. These old patterns never really grow old, eh? The Pieced Hexie book has lots of new and unique ideas for pieced hexagons.  Anyone else out there Hexie-crazy?  God Bless!