Australia Checking In - Potato Chip Quilt

I received this photo this morning from Cassandra Philpot from Australia.


It is her version from my tutorial for creating a Potato Chip Quilt.

The addition of a double spacer - both green and yellow - take this from being a ho hum quilt to a WOW quilt.

As you can see it is bed size. Notice she has added a border to this which is a great finishing touch for a bed quilt.

She also mentioned she has made several others as have the members of her group, the Queanbeyan Quilters.

I am always pleased to receive photos of things I have posted tutorials for as it makes me realize it was worth my time to write them and people really do use them.

Family Gift Christmas Time and Pizza Fondue -1

This is the first group of photos of one of our newest family traditions.
We gather for Pizza Fondue - an old family recipe.
After we eat I gift each family member with various family memorabilia and other meaningful items.


When my son Jeff opened this he was a little confused! He thought this was an earring!


Heidi is enjoying her Santa ornament. She is wearing another gift - a necklace that belonged to her Great Grandma Sorensen.


Somehow I missed getting a photo of Dana with her Santa ornament. She is showing her University of Wisconsin ornament. She is a Junior at Madison and will be enjoying seeing the Badgers play in the Rose Bowl in California this year.


Jeffrey's Santa ornament is a perfect Father Christmas.


Kierstin is wondering why she got a Santa with a tennis racquet? She is one of my first grandchildren to be able to enjoy the new tennis courts at the local high school.


Cooper is smiling as he sees his Santa ornament.

Because I no longer do the BIG tree with the Radko and other glass ornaments each year I am sharing them with my family.
In case you haven't guessed, the theme for the ornaments this year was SANTA!

My Christmas Card To You

I hope you have a warm and wonderful Christmas with those you love.

Enjoy putting this puzzle together, whether you do it on Christmas or later.

Merry ChristmaSocks

I finished knitting this pair of socks about 2 weeks ago but I saved the reveal to show you until today - Christmas Eve day.
I plan on wearing these later today.

This is the second pair I knit that turned out.

I have been wearing the first pair and they are perfect for our 32 degree weather here.

Hope you have a wonderful Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

I forgot that you were waiting for a Christmas present. Here is your puzzle to entertain you and keep you warm!

Could You Do Me A Favor?

I need a small favor... if it's not too much trouble.
I am going away on vacation and I need someone to come
over to water my plants while I am gone.

In the hot weather they'll probably need water twice a day.
Thanks a lot. I'll send you a postcard.
I've attached a photo for your reference (see below).




THE LADDER IS IN THE GARAGE

Colors of Christmas

I love being able to enjoy the Christmas colors around Florida.

When the holidays are over and our pointsettias start to look like they are on their last legs, we plant them outside and get absolutely beautiful plants for several years until we are hit by a hard freeze.
This is in my neighbors back yard.


This is just one of the three "bushes" growing in their yard. They have grown to this glory without any help.


Although these aren't what we think of as Christmas plants, when I saw the colors I immediately thought what a gorgeous Christmas planting.

Hopefully we will not get a hard freeze this season and they will all survive.

Oh Christmas Tree, Huge Christmas Tree

When my friend Betty and I went horse hunting, we were in awe of the size of this Christmas tree on the square in Ocala.



Can you imagine decorating a tree this size?


This photo of the gazebo on the square was taken from across the street where the Brick City horse was located.

When I posted the first horse photos on the Town Square I got a message from my friend Mary Nolan in North Carolina. Her late son Dick was an engineer for the city of Ocala and designed the town square. Next time I visit Ocala I'll share more pictures.

This puzzle is especially for Mary, Robin and all of you who have remained nameless to me who are addicted to my puzzles!

Horse Fever

Ten years ago Ocala, Florida did an exhibit of painted and decorated horses, much like similar projects of various animals around the country and abroad.
I LOVE those types of things.
This year they repeated it with 27 fantastic horses.

Yesterday we set out to go "horse hunting" to find as many of the 27 horses as we could. Our information was incomplete and they had already been sold to various businesses and individuals so many were not easily found.

We did find the 4 from the first Horse Fever a decade ago on the square. Then we found a few more in that general area.
The ones I'm showing on this blog post are from the current herd.


Broken Beauty was just a block off of the town square.


This "Quarter Horse" was covered with quarters and the artist also painted quarters on it.


"Brick City" was directly across from the square facing the square. It was our favorite of the horses we were able to locate.


This is the other side of Brick City.

I hope to spend another day horse hunting and find a few more.

If you enjoyed this post let me know as I have more photos and some closeups I can post at another time.

Is This The Real Santa?

My friend Beth Sherman makes the most fantastic Santas.
I have purchased two for gifts for friends this Christmas.
When I saw this one yesterday I had to have it for myself.

I have a feeling he will be traveling to Wisconsin to spend the holidays where it is colder!


His coat and hat are velvet and I believe they are trimmed in maribou?


My friend Ethel made this really wonderful personal red work towel for me. On it I am industriously hand quilting on of my quilts in my floor hoop. I usually expect people to use the pretty towels I hang in the kitchen or bath, but this one will be "hands off"!

I have the most talented friends.

Our Quilt Art group met at my house yesterday since our usual meeting place was being used by someone else.

I am only sorry I did not take photos of all the wonderful things each person brought to show and share. There were some absolutely amazing things made by my amazing friends.

I promise to do better at that in the future.

It's Looking Like A Quilt May Be Happening!

When I posted some of these fabrics I had dyed a few days ago I liked what I saw.
I also realized I would have to dye some more fabric to make it work as a quilt.

This weekend I dyed two more vats of fabric - one Loden and one Chino.


The fabrics I've added to this are from both of the vats.


As soon as I looked at the picture as I was writing this post I could see some places that needed changing. This picture shows it with those changes.

This does give you some insight in how I design - although I work many different ways when designing something.

It still needs more tweaking and possibly additions, corrections or take aways.
This is the stage where I need to study it to decide what to do. That usually takes days or even longer.

Tangerine Tango - Clothing I Have Made

So many people seem surprised that Tangerine Tango was picked at the top of the Color Forecast for 2012.

As I look back I realize I also have been making clothing with it for many years and also buying clothing in the exact color.


I made this pleated wool skirt and vest in the late 50's. It would be right in style for 2012 - both colorwise and style wise.


OHHHHHHH, pretty polyester double knits - I would guess I made it over 35 years ago. I felt so great when I wore this halter dress. I can hand this down to my great great great grandchildren as the fabric will never wear out!


I would guess I made this body suit about 25-30 years ago as that is when they came into style to prevent blouses pulling out and looking messy. The hat was made to match a raincoat that has long since disappeared. I felt I needed something BRIGHT on those rainy cloudy Wisconsin days.



A friend of mine called this "The Safety Patrol Dress". This was made about 30 or more years ago when color blocking was big.

Yes, what comes around goes around. Some say fashion repeats itself in 20-25 year cycles and these fashions would certainly go along with that statement.

Tangerine Tango - 2012 Top Color Forecast

Pantone has selected Tangerine Tango (17-1463) as it's top color for 2012.

I do so love that color. I'd like to share two of the quilts I've used it in.


This is quilt 15 from the Colors Of My Life series.


This is Colors Of My Life number 7.

I feel like I am always a little ahead of the pack in my use of color as these quilt were finished in 1994 and 1995!

I think I have made at least 20 quilts that use Tangerine Tango.

Scarves - I'm Knitting!

Last Sunday evening I got an email from one of my sisters asking it I could knit some scarves for the Soujerner Truth House in Milwaukee. I said I'd try but wouldn't promise as I had so many irons in the fire.

Well, within 5 minutes I found yarn and started a scarf.

This was the first one I knit. It is a textured bulky yarn with a little bit of sparkle from the turquoise I added. I love this and wouldn't mind wearing it myself.


For the second scarf I also used the bulky yarn with one with a little sparkle, but this time the colors were closer to each other. I also wouldn't mind wearing this one.

I made them long enough so they can wrap them around their neck for warmth or just let hang loose for a fashionable look.

I am sending them to my sister in Milwaukee to add to the 20 she is doing, the 4 my other sister is doing and hopefully many more that other friends will be knitting so that if there are 40 ladies there they will each get one.

Hand Dyed Fabrics - NEW

I dyed more fabrics yesterday.
These are a few of my favorite results.

Almost looks like Christmas with the reds and greens!

I thought these made a great puzzle.

Victorian Tea - Posts 1-4 Rerun

The Victorian Tea in our community was so lovely and nostalgic.
I am sharing all 4 parts that were previously posted in this one post.
I hope you enjoy it.


Today the Tequila Rose Tea club in our community held their Christmas Tea. The theme lent itself to some lovely decorations and table settings.
I would like to share some of them with you.

It would have been very difficult to pick a favorite as there were so many absolutely gorgeous tables.



Many of the tables had so many wonderful ideas and I will be sharing more details soon.



This is another lovely table setting.



The colors on this table were unique and beautiful.

It is good that there is no voting for the best table settings as it would be impossible to pick a favorite.
The ladies at the tea lent a true Victorian elegance to the event.



My calendar says it is 2010 but looking at this elegant lady I'd almost be fooled into thinking it is the 1890's.



Not only do you see another elegant lady, but in the background is one of the Tea Pourers, property attired!



The real Santa Claus was also in attendance.


This is a very Victorian wreath.



It is a tradition to take a photo of all the table hostesses at each tea. This is a most elegant group.



Each tea has a goup of ladies who keep everyone's tea cup full. Their attire is always appropriate for the theme.


Each course is served by the men who volunteer as butlers. I think they enjoy themselves as much as the guests at the tea.


I am always fascinated by the creativity of the individual place settings.



Another lovely place setting.



And one last place setting for you to enjoy.


For this tea ALL the chairs had white covers. The hostesses used a lot of very creative ways to decorate the backs of the chairs to coordinate with their tables.



It looks like the bow on this chair is made with tulle.



This chair back's deep burgundy ribbon reads very Victorian to me.



This one uses doilies in a very creative way.



Here we see a wreath and tulle for the decoration.

It is amazing that there are so many different ways to decorate the backs of chairs and have them co-ordinate with the table settings.

The tea was really a visual feast. The food was fantastic as always.