Grilling time

Yep the grill is fired up and the T-Bones are on! It seems I got nothing done this winter, but I know I am ready for the change of seasons. Winter was mild but my mood was frozen! I have to climb out of the funk and get busy. So far this year I have had this virus twice, and neither time has it been fun. I am not one that normally gets sick but twice already this year!. Not a good sign of things to come. I did get Devons birthday quilt done for him, I can't believe he turned 13. It seems like just yesterday this little cutie came up to me and puthis little chin in his hands and asked me to be his grandma. Oh how special is that, he chose ME! He wasn't even two when my son started dating his mother and now all these years later he still has that special place in my heart as my oldest grandchild.

He  seemed to have liked it! Dragons and Flames is what he wanted and that is what he got. I had this top lying around for years now just waiting to do something with it. So this was the time. Add some more dragons and redo some of the blocks. This top in the most part was made by Darlene Krake for me in a bag challenge. I gave her lots of scraps to work with, which is not an easy task, then she had a death in her family. She was so worried that I didn't like the top, nope just waiting for the right time to give it out. I thought when the boys were younger but I am glad I saved it for he loved it. Thanks Darlene for all the hard work you put in on the top. As you can see by his smile he was happy!

Here is the Maple Leaf Fall Row by Row that I am doing. These leaves belong to Marti. Only 5 of us joined in so we are doing one row plus one block. So the second row is mine and the second leaf also.

This next Row by Row is Kathy's, she chose the Split star pattern and to do it in light and dark batiks! What a stunner this will be when finished.

This Row by row is Carols, she took her top outside the box. Instead of making a starter row she made all the weeping willows. Then as we made our rows we made 6 houses but some of us added our house to the top row and took one of her willows and put it to our row. I don't know sometimes these people make me think way to much. lol  So those are the ones I have done right now.

This is a top I have been wanting to make for years now. It is made with the X-block from quiltqueendesigns. Nope not affiliated with them but check em out. I love their pattens and the template. Maybe someday I will get it quilted. I hope by the 4th of July so I can have it outside on the porch.

This is Diana's, I know she made this for a wedding quilt and I want to say Wow, she must have been collecting those batiks for awhile!  And thent he time in piecing this baby! but what a wonderful quilt!

And here is Rose's. We did this as a group at a retreat. It used to be on the internet as a free pattern but since I didn't do it. (Yes I worked on UFO instead, and I didn't get the pattern thinking I would just look it up someday) I can't tell you the name of the pattern.  rose loved this easy to piece pattern and made a couple of them, I think! Red is her favorite color and so she is keeping this one for herself.

Well now that sort of catches you up on what I have been doing but not quite, I still have a few things to show you but I am still learning my new camera and I think I may have deleted a few but I still have to go and figure that out too. Sew bye for now

Great thing my Grandson did. Project Night Night

Well for those that have been faithfully following you will remember that back last spring/summer my 10 yr old grandson Devon  finally finished the quilt that he had been working on for 3 or 4 years. He had won second place in people choice in the kids division and had the hopes of giving this quilt away to some little boy that had no home or anything else. Well two weeks ago his hometown had a monster fire in their downtown district. Two historical buildings were totally destroyed in this fire. Now of course the upstairs we rented out in apartments. My son, Devon's daddy, just happened to work with a guy that lived in one of the apartments, and he has a two yr old son. This little boy lost everything that was not in the diaper bag. So  this was Devons chance.  When he was told  the story of the little boy he said 'yes yes this little boy had to have his quilt. Cuz the quilts that gramdma (Me) makes for him makes him feel better so this little boy needs to feel better' I tear up everytime I think how did he get so generous,giving and heartfelt. As the story gets to me, when the little boy saw his quilt it was like Christmas morning for him, his eyes brightened for his favorite things of all were on this quilt,  tools like what daddy has and dinoseurs covered the back and there are his favorites. Appearently the little guy collected dinoseurs.

This is a reminder pic of Devon and his quilt!
Thank you Devon for being a great kid!
I am so proud of him for being so thoughtful!
I just don't know of too many 10 yr olds that 
really want to give to others.









Now all this got me to thinking there must be thousand of kids out there in the same situation, and I hope that they have a Devon out there to cheer them up. I found this sight and it seems like a great thing. If you have been looking for a charity cause check them out.  Project Night Night provides a sense of security for homeless child.


Ok break time up I have other things to tell you but I have to get the quilt done and need to back to it before it gets to late.

So till tomorrow

The Best Laid Plans gone astray

Well it is Monday and my vow to make a scrappy stash top was not in the cards. I picked my Grand daughter up to have her spend the night for her Birthday and then of course we had to shop for the present. Yes Baby Doll and stroller and princess shoes.

But her older brother wanted to come home with me on Sat so he could finish his quilt. So Now Friday night was a waste and then now all day Sat and now Sat night. But he got it done and ready for the quilt show in two weeks. Here is a pic of Devon and his quilt. The center is a panel that I has bought years ago. He added the blue border and cut and sewed all the pieces for the last border. I out the top on my long arm and he quilted it. I made him do the binding all by machine and he really probably did a better job at that than I do.

Sunday had us going to the birthday party. So all I managed was 25 of these scrappy twist blocks. I had swapped 25 of these out earlier in the year and wanted more. I have decided that I want to do 50 more but I am going to reverse the pattern. I am on Stashbust yahoo group and have signed up for th UFO Challenge and realized these top is not on my list of things to do so lets put it away and go to something I can check off the list.

I was talking with a friend and she told me that Iwas wearing off on her, she was now cutting scraps into 2.5" squares and or whatever size the scrap warranted. I had been telling her for years about my obession with 2.5" squares and I have totes of them. Yes I have 2 or 3 different tops started with them. she then in turn was telling a friend in AL and now she is cutting scraps into squares. I told her to go to Bonnie's Quiltville site and really get the good lessons on how to organize the scraps. I did look at all my bags of scraps and decided to 'get real' this bag was fashion fabric, I won't use those scraps. Out it went. Then went through a couple of the other bags quickly and took out the poly blends, velvets and anything I would not put in a quilt. These went into a sack for purses. Then I pitched out scraps that weren't at least 1.5" square. I had been saving all these for those intricut paper pieced projects, but went through another 'get real' moment. I could use the larger scraps for these and what are the chances that I actually get to that project anyway. I have way to many UFO's to complete before I can start anything else. I mean I counted 50 easily and I have found many more since then

With that I better get to sewing