Today... my day

Well it it was the first Sat free.. What did i do???Not much.

I did laundry.. i finished two books.. I wrote up some calling cards.. They are so cute.. I used an old fashioned rose and put myself down as a quilter and an artist. How cool is that.

I read all my blogs.. watched some of the US Open.. and i cleaned my closet.. I got 4 bags of clothers to take the donation center tomoroow.

I was going to take photos of my paper piecing project.. but one thing led to another and it was dark. So i will take photos tomorrow.
Till later taters..
Dottie.

Spell check..

I have been reading some of my old posts..
Spellcheck Dottie. Have you ever heard of spellcheck. Maybe stick a grammar check in their too. lol
Well I apologize to all who are reading. I will go back and tidy my entries up so they make some sort of sense. But i think you are getting the gist of what i am writing.
Dottie

In Memory...... Jim Carlsen....

April 9, 1962 - June 17th, 2008

The love of my life. I miss you dearly and I talk to you everyday! We could had a life full of “gelling”.. I will always love you.! My sweet sweet Jimmy!!!!!!!
Please watch over me. I think you would be so proud that I graduated! I miss our talking and our daily -we are passing over and under the overpass conversations. I will never forget you!
Thank you for changing my life and the privilege of loving you!

School is over and the fun begins.

Hello everyone.

School is over!!!!! Yea.... Now the fun begins....
What i have planned.. I have a goal to work on and complete 3 quilt tops this summer. My mom has a goal for me to buy a large roll of batting and sandwich some.

I have 3 hand projects going. One is the block of the month that I posted a couple of posts back. I finished the prepped one and have sewn and turned the hears for the next two months. I will iron down all the pieces on the backing this weekend and take it back to work to work on during breaks.
Meanwhile I have my grandmothers flower garden I am piecing. Did i mention it before? Well i cut the fabric too small for the 1 inch hexagons but the pieces of fabric work great with the 3/4 inch. If i want to make an 80 by 80 quilt i will need to do 400 flowers. But that doesn't count the white walking path. I will have to refigure but at least i have a goal. These are all from my scraps. It might take me years. Right now i have 10. lol I will be working on this the rest of the week at work.
Third - i have my original hand project. I had found it about 4 years ago at a thrift/antique shop at the beach. Pieces for a tumbling block were cut all cut out. I am not sure how many. I then went to Joannes (since i think the original fabric was from the 80's.) and bought some green, pink and gold to go with all of the brown flower printed pieces. They are all now sewn together and I have decided to float it with a chocolate brown border. I have cut out the pieces to go around the border and the border it's self. I have not had time with school to mark the pieces with a white pencil. That is another goal this summer.

What other plans.

One i plan to go through all my magazines and tear out pages and things i want to keep. Perhaps a color combo or a wonderful bedroom. I am going to file them in a file box. I am going to do 5 a week at least. I will then post them in my dream book for ideas for the future. I am keeping some series but then other ones i will go through. I need the room. lol

Read. Right now i have like 18 books checked out from the library and a series i have had on my shelf since February from a friend at work. I gotta pump them out. Maybe this weekend i can make a dent.

Have lots of movies and series to watch. I didn't get a converter box for the TV in my room. One i wanted to see if i tried not to watch so much TV. I have Gilmore Girls, Road to Avonlea, West Wing, Emily in New Moon, Felicity, Upstairs Downstairs, Berkshire place and a whole bunch more. Oh yea.. the Tutors and season 2 and 3 of Ricky Tims and Alex Anderson.
Well that's a book.
I will talk with you all later and update you on my progress.

PS. I have to fit the gym in there somehow and enjoy the sun.

My last class..

Well my last class is set to start in 25 minutes. I am kind of sad. In a couple of years i will be back doing something.... but i am so ready for a break..
Next week finals.
Good by Portland State.

The countdown has begun.

I have begun to countdown to graduation. 3 days to go to class and a total of 10 days till the ceremony. Yea

Quilt, name tags and family trees

Here is a photo of my quilt. It's not the full quilt but you can see a good portion of it.

Since we are such a large family we make name tags every time, just so we know which branch you belong to as a lot of the kids look alike. In 2008 the theme was kites as we were in Lincoln City - home to the kite festival. Each branch of the original family has a color. People wrote in their own names and how ever they wanted to decorate it.

I also do up a family tree. Just so people can see all the branches.. This year I had the idea of making it three dimensional. I was going to string rope between the poles below and hang the kites off so they could blow in the wind. Well let me tell you there was not a flat space to be found in this park and it just didn't work. So we got the idea to string the robe around the covering and hang them from there. At the end of the line we put the family pole so they new who was who. Thanks to my brother and brother -in -law for putting put the string. Everyone loved it.

I don't have a photo of it but at the end of the far end of the covering - i tried to make flag bunting with the family name. It worked OK but i used construction paper so it didn't quite look like what i had in mind but it worked with the change of plans.

There will be another reunion in 2010 here in the Portland area.. and then in 2012 I will plan one for a Lincoln city weekend.

The reunion quilt

Here is a photo of my hand embroidery I did from my label to my family reunion quilt. I made up a poem that coordinated with the colors and what they represented in nature.

It went “Blue is for the waters of the rivers. Tan is for the sand. Purple is for the flowers. Yellow is for the sun. Green is for the trees.” Plus who contributed to it's making and who designed it.

The quilt was a signature quilt that I had everyone signs at the 2006 reunion. I had just prepared the blocks with off-white muslin and the corners of 3 different fabrics. I had all intentions of finishing it in 2007 but time just got away. You know how that is. In early 2008 I bought complimentary fabric for the borders and sashing. I wanted to get it done for the 2008 reunion in July. Of course I couldn’t get matching as I was so late but I went back to the same store I was at originally and was able to find some good matches. I was able to go to the Fabric Depot Outdoor Sale and found some good backing frabric for $2.00 a yard. I was excited about this quilt as I had designed it myself. I even made blocks with the family name Altenhofen. I had trouble designing the n’s but decided instead of doing the n part I would just machine on the negative spaces onto the square. It turned out great and just added to the homespun look that I was going for. The only bad part of this quilt that I will always remember is that I left it to the week before the 2008 reunion to put it together. y family helped me and we worked on it 20 hours in 3 days. We ended up tying it as I used a loftier batting. Currently it is folded up in my room and I don’t know what I am going to do with it.

Long time no see...

It’s been a while since I have posted. Dealing with the term, getting ready for graduation, a trip to the beach with the Faith Sisters and a trip to NY for 4 days has been keeping me busy.

I have picked up my hand project at work again. It was the 2008 block of the month by Suzi Gorman- Hearts Aflutter. . See above for one of the peaces. It is one of my first appliqué quilts. I am learning. I decided to do this project using a couple of Moda charm packs I had and other fabrics from my stash. It’s in the soft greens, blues, pinks and yellows. I love it. I am using Eleanor Burns idea of turn inside out appliqué for the hearts and fusing the other pieces down the a button hole stitch with heavier quilting thread I found at Joanne’s. I am getting faster at it and my sewing is improving with each block.

Well back to work. Have a wonderful Thursday. Almost the weekend! Yea!

Another thought!

Hello
Another name......

Orange Cherry
or
Cherry Orange...

Inspired abound listenting to podcasts..

Dottie

A new find..

I have found a new author I want to explore. Her name is Gladys Bagg Taber. She lived in a Farmhouse in New England named StillMeadow. There are a some excelent websites that you can find lists of her works. She is on Amazon and at my local libary. I am so excited to explore her writings.
http://www.gladystaber.org/
http://heartkeepercommonroom.blogspot.com/2006/04/gladys-taber-stillmeadow-primer.html
Till later....