Hi Gang, I'm Back!!!

Wow! Have I been busy the past month. Here are some great quilts from our Saturday Sampler club at Tater Patch Quilt in Merrill , Or.

 Pictures can't begin to capture how great these looked

Real works of art and some ladies are just so creative.  I have lots of pictures but not enough time to put them all on here.

Rambo the desert turtle

  This is Rambo, a desert turtle that lives at my daughters home in Sacramento.  I went there for Christmas and was alone during the day as my daughter had to work on the 23rd.  I had forgotten all about Rambo and was helping her out by cleaning the house.  
I almost jumped in fright when the corner of my eye caught something moving in the fireplace that was filled with paper bags from all the shopping.  It was just Rambo trying to find a warm spot in the house.  He usually sits under their roll a way heater in the living room.  He was given this huge amount of lettuce for his meal and it was totally gone in a hour.  I couldn't believe that little guy ate it all.  Christmas eve Jasons kids came over and someone put a silver bow on top of Rambo so he strolled around like a Christmas package all day.
I had a great trip, 2 days with my daughter Kindra and her boyfriend Jason and then 2 days in Lodi with son Bryan and his wife and 3 girls and then up to Jackson for a day and half to visit oldest son Rick and his 2 daughters.  Last night had dinner with my sister Verlie in Sacramento and then back to my daughters and on the train at midnight to come home.  All in all it was a good visit but there is nothing as great as getting back home. 
I think all loved all the quilts I made for them.  Now I have to get a new project.  That will be fun.  I am making a crochet rug and will start a new quilt project soon.     
I won the weight loss challenge I joined.  I lost 27 pounds and in Jan.20th we start another session.  I also received 212.00 for my victory that came in handy in time for Christmas.  Yippee!!!!         

Quilts in time for Christmas

 Well you can all see what I have been up to all year!  These are all quilts I have been busy making for Christmas,.  I can show them here because none of my kids look at blogs and don't think they even know my blog address.  This first one is for Heather my middle grandaughter.  The pictures don't show the brightness of the yellows, blue, green and purple. the backing is all blue and green fleece piece signs.

 This is one of two pillows that match a quilt I made for Brooke (15) the backing of this quilt is pink and has love and peace on it.

This is a king size I made for my oldest son.  I machine quilted all the white triangle sides and corners. It came out nicer than the pictures show.

 This one you can't see very well, all the fabric depict wine or wine labels or grapes or wine bottles.  The center is an old tapestry that was a book cover and it has women stomping grapes and picking in the vineyard.  The back is all wine bottles and wine barrel fabric.  This is for my younges son who has a vineyard.

This is a small throw. again the colors don't show well, it has bears and antelope and deer in the dark brown fabric and is Kyle who is my daughters boyfriends son.  They will be with us all on Christmas.

This next quilt the picture came out the best as it was taken at one of our Klamath Falls Charming Chicks Meetings.  This is a queen size all in black, white and red and is for my daughter.  I also made two huge pillow shams for it that I was just finishing up yesterday when the sewing machine went on the blitz so I am taking it in for
repair work today.  At least I finished all the quilts before it went on the blink.  The back of this one is all solid red.  It was quilted at heart to heart quilters in Merrill.

The next quilt is not good for color on the picture.  It is very bright pinks and orange and browns.  The butterflys were all applique.  The backing is all pink fleece and has soccer balls and the words love on it.

This one has the two pillows that match it.  This is for Brooke who also had a birthday on Dec 1.

this last on is for Kristen.  It is very bright in Pink, yellow and lime green. She is the youngest of my 2nd sons three girls.  I am sure they will all enjoy there personal quilts.  The next one I make is going to be for myself.  Right now I am taking a break from sewing.  Will start again after I come home from my trip to California for the holidays.  I will be taking the train down on Wednesday and coming home on the 30th.  Here is wishing all of you a Happy Merry Christmas and a Wonderful New Year!!!!

December Chicks Meeting!

What a Great bunch of Gals!!! This is the Klamath Falls Charming Chicks Chapter of MaryJane'sFarm.  We are all farmgirls at heart no matter where we live.  3 members are missing from this photo.
Yesterday we had our Dec. meeting and collected the food and gifts that we all collected for the families we are adopting through the Salvation Army for Christmas.  We also had our Christmas party and had a blast with the white elephant gifts that we open and stolen.  Great fun.  We celebrated two birthdays and planned our calenders for January and February meetings.  We are looking forward to the class Patty and Susan are going to teach needle felting.  We will each be given a kit and learn together this craft.  There were many deserts and cookies and goodies, which I was good at refraining from.  I have lost 25 lbs in the last 12 weeks and am still going strong.  It is so much fun when others start to notice.  I am more or less on my own untill my next weight loss challenge class starts on Jan. 20th.  Mary and I will go tomorrow to cut down two Christmas trees that we will deliver to the Salvation Army on Wednesday.  It is so fullfilling to give to others.  No matter how bad your situation is , there is always someone who needs help and you can always contribute something.  I know these families will have a great Christmas with all the gifts and food we gave.  Thank you Lord for allowing us this privelage  of sharing. 

Christmas Blooms?

This is one of two camilia trees my daughter in law gave to me last summer.  She and my son live in Lodi, Calif.  They were re-doing their landscape and so I brought these two trees home with me in the u-haul.  We have had to keep them in the house as our Oregon winters are too cold for them.  In the summer , the only place we have for them is in the direct sun and they would burn so they stay in our living room.  Here it is almost Christmas and now they are blooming.  There are about 17 buds ready to open.  I just love the blooms that remind me of home.  Sometimes in our hurried lives we don't stop and thank God for all the beauty he has put on this earth for us to enjoy.

Pelican Piecemakers Quilt Guild

The guild I belong to has finally finished the quilt that will be auctioned off in December.  They have been selling tickets to it all year and it is just beautiful.

These pictures do not do it justice at all.  It was all had quilted by some of our senior members.  You can't see the detail in these but all along the brown border they have quilted in gold maple leaves.  The quilting is different in each area.  They started on this in Spring and work on it only on Wednesdays when we meet.  It is such a great work of art.  I tried hand quilting with them last week on our new quilt to raffle off later and believe me it is hard! I did the rocking motion but the stitches were too big and started over a couple time.  The needle alone was so tiny I couldn't even thread it.  I did do about six stitches they approved of but this is going to take much practice and bandaids for the fingers. I used a thimball for pushing but the other fingers were a mess too!

Taming a wild kitten

This adorable kitten was born under the house.  I have been feeding it and mommy when she shows up.  It seems that her /his mothers pattern is to be gone for a day or two and then come back.  I am now able to pet this little guy and he just purrs like crazy.  I think he is lonesome.  He knows we have dogs on the deck so if they are around he doesn't come on the porch.  Any ideas out there for a name?  I don't know if it is male or female.  He reminds me of my very first pet when I was a little girl, only that one was a purebred pursian and this is not.  I just have become so attached to it.