Update

It's a busy time but I'm catching up.

We attended Berek's winter high school choir concert.

For the last song, "Do You Hear What I Hear?" the combined choirs crowd onto the stage. The director invited all the choir alumni to join them as well. Beautiful!

They did a great job.

I finished my quilt All I Want For Christmas... in time for the

Show & Tell at the Denton Quilt Guild party.

I used one of my favorite photos from 1st grade for reference.

It's 27 x 33".

I took this photo of my friend's dog Norman at book club one night.

I thought it would be a fun 12x12" quilt someday.

Norman died unexpectedly at the end of October so I moved this quilt up on the schedule.

Here's the finished quilt. I printed the image on muslin by fusing it to 11x17" freezer paper and feeding it through an inkjet printer.

I'm pleased with the result.

Busy, busy

Lots of graphic design work! Good!

Not much time for gift-making.

A few gifts complete.

Some started.

Some close.

A beautiful end to the day.

Thanksgiving fun.

My parents joined us for Thanksgiving.

Rusty thought their little dog Winston was a new toy.

Berek helped Dad cut and weld some steel into a fire pit.

It works really well.

Dad and Mom brought their trike with them.

Dad gave Grace a quick ride.

We went on our traditional Thanksgiving morning ride...

... and to Greenwood for a burger on Saturday.

I even managed to put together this little quilt.

Today it's back to work.

Progress

I was challenged to make a quilt using a burlap coffee bean bag.

Here's what I came up with.

Jon was inspired to build this arch over our driveway.

Still working on many other quilts but none are in viewable condition.

Beautiful Fall Day

Today was a lovely fall day.

After the bills were paid...

there was time for a little sewing.

psst... Check out the contest at Where Women Create.

A Day on the Farm

A couple of friends and I went to surprise Vicki, who just turned 40, at her farm.

Vicki's niece decorated the windows.

Her saint of a husband arranged for us to be there when they came home from church.

The two older boys knew about the surprise and didn't tell.

We brought lunch and dessert and had a nice visit.

It was very quiet and peaceful in East Texas yesterday.

First Blogiversary!

My blog is one year old today!

I've been accused of not blogging much lately. Ture. Fortunately, I've been very busy with my graphic design business so the fiber art gets the back seat. Good to have income.

I did finish and ship the two quilts I made for my great nephews.

The owner of Katz Coffee, a wonderful micro-roaster in Houston, challenged several of us to make art with some of his coffee bags. I've started mine.

In her lecture at VAST last night, Deborah Boschert showed one of her quilts that used whole coffee eans as an embellishment. I think my coffee quilt is screaming for coffee beans too.

My mini, Colorado Hummer, won at the VAST Mini show last night.

How fitting that a fiber piece won during Deborah's lecture on fiber art.

Rusty and I are enjoying the wonderful North Texas fall.

I'm going to celebrate by quilting for a while.

Fun in Houston

I went to the International Quilt Festival in Houston two weekends ago and had a blast. Four of us from north Texas drove down together, met a friend from Louisiana and stayed with friends who live in Houston.

Our Houston friends have a beautiful yard and pond with lovely tropical flowers.

Chives and Bonnie live in Houston too.

I had great fun walking them each morning.

The Beetles, Dynastes Hercules was in the show.

I donated Autumn Poseys to the mini quilt auction.

I had lots of fun doing several of the Make-It University classes.

My name wasn't drawn for this one but I bought the supplies for later.

Here are the photos I took of the quilts on my Flickr photostream.

Until next year!

Rainy October

I've been busy with graphic design lately so not much fiber art going on.

 Yesterday was Berek's birthday. He wanted to try lobster.

He loved it.

It's been raining for days.

The wild plums are ripening.

Rusty is wondering when we are going to

stop looking at fruit and go for a walk!

Progress and Postcards

My niece had twins on August 1.

Mike and Tommy are doing well. They weren't due until October 24,

which is when I hope to have their quilts finished.

My friend Tracey pieced these "Vintage LSU" baby quilts for me.

I added the names and will begin quilting today.

Kathy gave me some cute bird fabric for my birthday

and it inspired me to make postcards.

Rusty is bracing himself for four days of rain. Sigh.

Birthday Dinner

Berek – with assistance from Jon – made dinner last night.

They cooked venison medallions sautéed with mushrooms and bell peppers in a peppercorn sauce over pasta. Yum! I loved it.

What a nice treat. Thank you guys!

Notice the beautiful placemat woven by my talented friend, Linda.

Birthday fun!

It's been a wonderful birthday week.

I was able to spend four days sewing with friends last weekend.

I finished quilting Colorado Hummer, a 12 x 12" mini.

And New Zealand Metal, also 12 x 12".

And a lot of quilting on All I Want for Christmas..., 27 x 34"

Hubby sent me flowers,

and Sarah and I posed under the birthday hat.
(It was Julie's birthday too.)

My son and my coffee friends sang to me,

...and Gerald made me a sour cream raisin pie! Sigh!

Thanks for all the surprises and good wishes.

I feel very blessed.