Settling in...

I haven't been doing much sewing lately. I've been trying to get David settled in and everyone adjusted to his presence. He had surgery yesterday to get fixed and for his claws, but you couldn't guess it from looking at him. He has no bandages and appears to be in no pain. Actually, our greatest issue is getting him to be less active. I've prayed about it and the whole transition is going easier (so far) than I had hoped for!

I promised this post would have something other than pets in it, so let's move on. I realized looking at old posts that I forgot to show you the last Ladies of the Sea ship I finished. She's called the Elissa. She's the last ship I'll be working on until I get some other things finished up.


I read on a blog some time ago a post asking quilters to show the first quilt they ever made and the latest. I show you all of my latest projects but I didn't have a picture of my first until now. I made this quilt for my mom about 5 years ago. Two weeks before Christmas I decided that I wanted to get my mom something else as a gift, but I didn't have any idea what. I saw this BOM (block of the month) at JoAnn's on clearance. The colors and the pattern were perfect for my mom. Having never made a quilt before, I figured it would be easy. The pieces in the kits were all pre-cut and I think I'm pretty good at following directions. And the store had all 12 kits plus the setting kit.

Working furiously, I managed to finish the quilt top in time for Christmas. I think my mom was both surprised and I believe pleased when she opened it on Christmas Day. I thought this would be a one time thing - making a quilt. But I so enjoyed making it, that I was hooked. It took another year for me to turn the top into a quilt. I tried to hand-quilt it, but was discouraged by my stitches and took them out. Finally, I just tied it.


My mom used it for a long time and washed it almost every week. It's now a bit faded and some of the seams are starting to open, but I still like to sleep under it whenever I visit. It's far from perfect, but I still love it.


I've made about 25 quilts since then and given most of them away. Of the completed quilts I've made (not just tops), I have 3 wall hangings hanging in our house. They're in the living room, the half-bath and the laundry room. It seems a little weird to have 2 of the 3 hanging in utility rooms, but one day I hope every room will have one.

To end this post, I'd like to share a couple more pictures from this past weekend. The first is a picture of my niece, Gracie. Her personality is just as sweet as she is pretty. She's also very much a girlie girl.


And finally, here's one more picture of David down at the farm.


Until later...