Winter . . . and Quilts

It's more than a day or two later, but I am back!  

This has been quite the winter here in our little corner of the world. We have had snow on the ground for at least two months. A lot of snow. The piles on the edges of our driveway are high and rock solid, and as Dan says, we'll be able to keep our sodas cool on the 4th of July!! We got a few more inches today although rain is forecast for tomorrow with threats of flooding.  Because the ground is frozen and covered with snow, there's no place for the rain to sink in. 

Meanwhile, although I thought I might get down to my sewing room today, I didn't. I had Bible study this morning followed by a haircut this afternoon, and then Dan was in a cleaning mood, so we attacked the floors on the upper level with dustmop, broom, and vacuum. 

I mentioned in my last post that I'd been working on some quilts over the last six months, so I'll share a couple of them today. I think I've mentioned that I make baby blankets for a local ministry to women who have crisis pregnancies. I've made fleece blankets and flannel receiving blankets in the past, but lately I've been making quilts. I think I shared this first one in the piecing stage, but here's the finished product:

I really like how it turned out. My success with this "use up my scraps and fat quarters" project inspired me to use another Accuquilt die, the tumbler block. I truly used every pink scrap I had to make this next one.

As I finished the piecing of the top, I decided to spice it up a bit by adding the ruffles to each end. I used my ruffler attachment to make them and it was quick work. I think they add just the right touch.

I had one other baby quilt in my closet that I'd made several years ago and so I was able to take three quilts to the center just before Christmas. I finished a boy quilt recently and have another on the quilting machine. I'll share those another time.

Hello There

I know. It's been a very long time since I've checked in. Life sometimes gets in the way and as it does, the writing muse (as my friend Kathy would say) disappears. Last April and May, my dad who turned 93 on May 4, began to fail. We made it through the summer and I managed to peck away here once in a while, but by September, things began to go badly and we lost him the day after Thanksgiving. He was one of a kind and I'm so proud to have been his daughter.  

Here are a few pictures from his life:

With his mother, circa 1935

Smokejumper, summer of 1946

Circa 1985

With Bruder Bear and me circa 2010

Life goes on, however, and I guess it's time I get back in the swing of things. I have been getting some quilting done and I'll share pictures in a day or so.  It's been great therapy.