Thoughts on Sandy Hook, CT

Something tragic always seems to happen around Christmas, whether its on a national, local or personal scale. Last year we had the big fire across the street where 3 families lost their homes, this year is was Sandy Hook Elementary, in past years it's been fatal wrecks, house fires, and such, whatever the event, it puts a damper on the holidays for me. I guess when tragedies happen during the holidays it makes it seem more prominent. Losing someone during the holidays is doubly hard, I know that from experience.
The politicians are talking gun control, mental health, school safety and such. But will anything actually be done about it, I doubt it. And people are putting malicious posts online about autism who probably have no clue what autism is or how it affects people with it & the families of those persons who have it. I can say, from experience, people with autism are not violent towards others as a rule. I do think that the shooter, in the Sandy Hook School case, had something else other than autism going on. Believe me, it's very hard to live with someone who has mental or neurological health problems. It limits your. Life in ways you wouldn't think, going out in public with them is hard, dealing with changes or upsets, anything out of the routine,in the home is hard, even with help available, it's tough. So shame on those who bash it without knowing anything about it in the first place.
To sum up, I doubt that this will be the last massacre that will take place & each wills be horrific in itself. The best we can do is pay attention to those around you, to your surroundings and protect your own anyway y can if it doesn't hurt anyone else. Just pay attention to your world & what's going on in it & you will always know what to do when something happens .

Hot off the sewing machine- a new quilt top

Heres a brand new quilt top, just finished today. This is the second one of this pattern, or a similar pattern, that originated in a McCalls quilting magazine. The first one went to a neighbor across the street who was in the big fire last Christmas- don't want repeat of that. Tis Christmas shall be a No trauma, No drama holiday. This quilt top was made entirely from scraps on hand & is about a twin size.

Latest Adventures, haunted house

I've beed researching the history of my unused, basically because it's haunted & I want to know who's haunting it. I traced the property back as far as 1826 to learn that it was part of a plantation belonging to the Evans family. As far as the haunting part, we've seen apparitions both full & partial, have had things fly off tables & refrigerator clips onto the floor, have been touched & spoken to, so we know for a fact this place is haunted. Since it was part of a plantation, it could be slaves or anyone haunting it, who knows? I use an IPad app called Ghost Radar that's supposed to be genuine to pick up ghostly energies & EVPs, in which the ghost speak through the device. Now I need to determine if this app is the real deal or if it's just generating random words & signals. It thought is was very interesting to learn that I now live on an old southern plantation, or part of it at least. Don't know if I'll continue searching the history of the place, the courthouse records stopped at the 1826 entry I found & nothing else was listed for it. As for the ghosts, I'd like to send them on their way, to the spirit world for good.

New Christmas Quilt

Just finished this quit top today. Been working on it for about 3 weeks, used the accuquilter die cut machine. It makes it so much easier to cut multiple pieces accurately the quilt is about 70 inches square.. This particular quilt, once it's finished is a Christmas gift for my granddaughters therapist who's been so helpful. I have a second quilt but not even begun sewing on it yet.yet. Photos of that one when I get it done.

The Stress Quilt

This is my stress quilt. It's about 60 inches square and depicts the stressful events I've been going through in the past few years. It contains, appliqué, hand painting & air brushing. The bottom right block sows a dead person, me, stating " dead finally found peace." this is completely original design. This quilt helped me work put some of my feelings

Equipment for sale, update

Just an update here. The Grand Quilter has been sold. The lady just picked it up. I still have the Pfaff Creative Vision sewing machine with an embroidery unit for sale. It has several extra pieces, ( feet, hoops, etc.) the Price stands since its half what I paid for it & it has about $400 of extra accessories. email me if you are interested

Tree Owl, a "Painting"

Here's a painting done in markers on rice paper. Its the inspiration for the owl quilt posted earlier. It took a couple of months to complete given everything that's gone on in my life since April. Enjoy.

For Sale Items

I've decided to sell my Pfaff Grand quilter & my Pfaff Creative Vision embroidery machine. The Grand quilter is about 6 years old & has around 25 hours of use on it, it comes with a stitch regulator & frame that supports a king sized quilt. I'm asking $1500 for it. The Creative Vision embroidery machine is only 2 years old, has extra feet & embroidery hoops. It originally sold for $10,000, minute the extra stuff I ought for it. I'm asking $5,000 for all of it. Both are in great shape. The creative vision also has a travel case & hard cover. Send me a private email if you're interested.

Alternate Hobbies

When I get burnt out on quilting ( and I do from time to time), I weave a little. A couple of weeks ago i went to the Yarn & fiber show in Lexington. I bought this little rigid heddle loom, I have bigger ones, but I wanted something portable. Anyway, I dug out the weaving supplies id accumulated two years ago & begun weaving again. This project is a kitchen towel, I hope. It'll take a while to finish, so I'll probably begin another project on another loom before this one is done. To further my weaving hobby, I discovered a weaving & fiber supply shop over in Frankfort, about an hours drive from me. Since my daughter spins & knits, we took the trip over to the shop last week for supplies. She spins the fiber, then either I weave with it or she knits it up. The whole process works pretty well together. Tis, along with sewing & quilting, serves as my therapy for living with a granddaughter with autism.,it also helps with other stresses as well.mill post pics of the finished towels when they're done. Stay tuned . . .

Desert Owo

The owl project is finally finished. It has yet to be quilted, but otherwise, it's done.Let me know what you think. Remembers it contains machine appliqué and piecing.

Ive entered a few things on Pinterest & tried, unsuccessfully to add the button to this blog. Heres the link: You can just type in "willowwind" to find my pins. Still working on getting the "follow me on Pinterest" button to show up on the blog.

The Owl Project, Update

Here is the nearly finished owl. It just needs to be sewn down. I have an idea of a background for it, but haven't got one together just yet. This project uses freezer paper appliqué that is glue stick basted to a muslin base. Any constructive comments are welcomed. I'll post pics of the finished project once it is finished.

Progress on the Owl

I got the chest of the owl done today,ices were glues, & sewn down to the background, as we're the beak & cheeks. Slowly this project is going together.
Stay tuned for progress updates . . . .

The owl project

This is the current project I'm working on. The owl, drawn on muslin, will be pieced to a background, similar to the method used on the butterfly quilt. This is the first stage. Each piece is cut via templates on card stock, the raw edges glue basted down, & will be stitched to the background. It's a good way to use up all the scraps I've collected. Stay tuned for progress pics as the project goes further

Another new baby in the extended family, sort of . . .

These are a few items I've made for my sons ex-wife, who's due anytime. We are still friends as are she & my son, who's helping out a little with driving her back & forth to the doctor since she can't drive now. The thing is the father of this particular child ( not my son) has abandoned all relations with her, so she's totally on her own, with 2 kids already (my son's) but she just doesn't have much for this baby, which will be a month premie, if she holds until next Monday, May 14. Anyway I made a diaper bag & filled it full of blankets, gowns, & other baby stuff. When I gave it to her last week I thought she was going to cry. Anyway , since this baby, a boy, will definitely be premie, these outfits are that size. The tiny hat was knitted by my daughter who's making a few more for the baby. I just hope the ex-wife doesn't go into preeclampsia like she did with my youngest grandson. Also on a related note, I accidentally ran my forefinger under the sewing machine & the needle went through it, just in & out. Ouch! Other than being sore & breaking a needle I'm fine. The good part is that the outfit I was making didn't get any blood on it. That was luck. Stay tuned for more antics & adventures . . .

Medical Tests report

Just a quick note to report that DH's colon test & bladder test came out clear,no more cancer!!! We were at the outpatient clinic most of the day, so I'm tired, but happy that part is over. The next, hopefully the last, is the hernia repair sometime this summer. It's from the surgery incision & it's a common occurrence . At least this surgery won't have him in the hospital for a whole week, just one day. I can handle that & I'll have more time to plan for it than the week we had for the first surgery. Things are looking up!

Ducky Diaper Bag

This is a diaper bag I actually made from scratch. The pattern came from Sew Serendipity Bags book. This one is for a friend who's due this month. Don't know that I'll tackle another any time soon.

The Latest Project

This small wall quilt was an experiment using a method by Karen K Stone. It's called clam shells, the one patch method, written up in the latest issue of American Quilter magazine. This little sample turned out well so I finished it into a wall hanging I call " The Forrest". Enjoy. . .

good news Day

Just a quick note to say I found out today that DH is cancer FREE!!! He does have a minor hernia that will need a surgical repair at a later time. But the news about being cancer free is terrific for me. Stay tuned.

Butterfly Art Quilt, the Current Project

Here is my current project. The butterfly is appliqués to the background, but the butterfly itself is pieced. The background is supposed to be a leaf on which the butterfly is resting. It's made up of many 45 degree diamonds sewn together in one large piece then cut to resemble the lower edge of a leaf. To date I haven't quilted it yet, just finished it this morning. It's about 50" by 51". I hope to have it completed it in a couple of weeks.

serger Wars, I Win?

I got the blasted thing fixed! It was simple, seems like the needle thread was getting caught in the looper thread when I threaded the looper. Once the needle thread was out of the way when I threaded the looper, it works fine. The machine, since it had been sitting for the past 4 years, not being used, is being serviced. Some of the knobs were hard to move, almost frozen in places& needed to be oiled. So it's at the serger " doctor" getting fixed. Nw I must remember to use it at least once a week instead of letting it sit for years.

Serger Wars, day 2

I tracked down part of the problem, the needle thread was breaking. I changed to a better quality thread, a name brand instead of the dollar a cone stuff I started with, retreaded & tried again. It worked fine, the first run. I was elated. I thought I'd fixed it. On the second run, however, it came unthreaded again! Frustrated, I re- threaded & tried on a scrap of fabric again, it came unthreaded & didn't make stitches although the machine itself ran fine. I gave up, turned off the machine, unplugged it & decided to wait till I went back to class tomorrow. I put the question of the problem out to a email list I'm on & received some replies, but I'd already tried their suggestions. I'll take it to class tomorrow & let the instructor fool with it. It may yet wind back up in the cabinet, sitting there, not being used. I hope not. I'd like to be able to use it. More later, after class. Stay tuned.

Server Wars

I'm taking classes to learn how to operate my serger sewing machine, I've had the thing for 7 years but never really learned hoe to use it. I took the first part of the class last weeks& learned how to thread it & do a few things. the instructor said we should " play" with it for practice. So I attempted to make a pillow case with it today. Seems like a simple project, however, that blasted machine keeps coming unthreaded. Did I mention how difficult it is to thread it to begin with? Anyway, I drug out the manual, threaded it per the instructions & tried again. It stitched for about two inches, "burped" then quit stitching & came unthreaded again. After several tries with this same result, I turned the machine, unplugged it & finished the project on the sewing machine. The serger won this battle but I won't give up yet. I have another class this week so we'll figure out the problem & fix it, hopefully. If not, this weird little machine that's been sitting in the cabinet will go up for sale. If I can't use it, why have it taking up space. So I'll try again and again before I really put it up for sale. Anyone need a slightly used serger?

It goes together better if. . . .

I put a quilt top together this morning which didn't work out, so I took it apart. Then I discovered the blocks were not all the same size. I made this quilt once before & gave it to the lady across the street who lost her house in the fire, BTW, the rebuild is coming along nicely. Anyway, I intended to keep the first version for myself, but, since I gave the first away, I decided to make another. Ill have to either cut the blocks down to the smallest one or remakes the whole thing - which I will not do. Note to self, pay attention to making sure the blocks are all the same sized to begin with.

Art Quilt, The Natural World, a Book Review

Once again, Martha Sielman produced a gorgeous book filled with colorful images of nature. This book features 20 quilt artists who produce not your average quilts, but quilts that are hard to distinguish from paintings or photographs. The artist profiles are grouped in the categories of nature, birds, animals, flowers, trees, water, and so on. Other artists works are also dispersed through out the book. Profiles of each artist include working methods, inspirations, and why the do what they do. This book celebrates nature in her finest. It is one that readers will go back to over and over again, for inspiration, to learn new techniques, or just for pure pleasure. Anyone who appreciates nature in any form would be proud to add it to their collection.

Rainbow quilt second try

I finished the second try on the rainbow, storm at sea quilt. I used an accu quilt die cutter on this one & made strict quarter inch seams. It turned out much better technically than the first try. Here's a photo of them side by side. Notice the detail , if the corners meet, seams are straight, etc. on each quilt & you'll see the difference. The second try on this quilt is on the bottom of the photo

Stash Over run & the Little Machine that Can

My stash overflows. There are 24 of these boxes, filled with fabric & arranged by color. On top of many boxes, as you see, is more fabric, as if I needed it- of course a quilter needs fabric, all they can get. Then there's the little machine that did, actually worked perfectly after a year of being stowed away in its cabinet. Fact is, the old Bernina 165 was the only one of three that quilted as it was supposed to. My Bernina 830 has a broken bobbin spring & the repair tech is out of town for 2 weeks, then the Creative Vision kept breaking thread in free motion mode, so that left me the 165 to use. I oiled it up & it worked like a charm. Nothing works like the old one. . .
The last pic shows I'm still working on the Storm at Sea Rainbow quilt. Each block has 65 pieces in it. No wonder it's taking so long. I'm using the accu quilt cutter on this one & so far,mIts turning out right. All I have to do is finish it, which I will, in time. stay tuned . .

KY Update

First of all, I'm fins as is my family. The Lexington area was lucky not to get hit by any tornadoes, however many areas surrounding us weren't so lucky. The focus is on West Liberty, KY but many other counties surrounding Morgan County also got hit hard, can't forget about them. I spoke to Lexington Red Cross who is over run with stuff people brought in. They are asking to hold donations of goods until they get a better handle on it all, makes sense. They have to sort through all that. At this time they are making list for future donated goods, meaning shelters & doing damage assessment. I can sympathize,mi used to volunteer with Red Cross when my county had a chapter. It can be overwhelming in the midst of chaos. If you'd like to donate baby iTMS, quilts, or pillow cases, I'm collecting these things to pass on the Red Cross for later distribution once things settle down. Please send me a private message or email for the address. On a related note, we got snow this morning, 4" in my town, after the tornadoes too. Makes me wonder if mother nature hates KY this spring. I wonder what else she has in store for us. Although I don't have pics of tornado damage, that's been all over the news, here is a pic of the snow that fell last night. Stay tuned.. . .

Spring Storms

Just a few lines between storm days to say I like spring weather if it warn't for the severe weather that goes along with it. Yesterday, I spent the day either glued to the radar online or on Tv & on the phone to DH, DS & main office of the schools- I update them on severe weather since I have 3 grandkids attending &, DH & DS work there. It was exhausting. We missed any damage here at home & in my county, but other places were not so lucky. Now, I hear we're going through it all again on Friday, tomorrow. Only tomorrow's risk is bigger than yesterday's. Some say it's supposed to be like the super outbreak back in 1974. I remember that one too well, pink lightning & greenish skies. Weird for sure. Between storms I'm working on 2 quilts, another storm at sea rainbow quilt & one called melon blossoms. I counted the number of pieces in the storm at Sea block, there are 65 pieces in that one block alone. The Melon Blossoms quilt has 12 large blocks plus a couple of borders, so it shouldn't be too difficult to put together. Here are some pics of the blocks,still in progress. Also I'm using an Accuquilt cutter on the storm at sea blocks, they are coming out much better than my first try. Anyway, that's what I'm doing between storm days.

Another Try

I'm trying the quilt again using my new Accuquilt cutter. Even though, as a whole, the first quilt was fine, it's technically off. The points don't match & some of the corner blocks are cut off. I'll post both to compare when I get the second quilt top done.

Only a sunset . . .

These are pics I took from my deck tonight. It looks like a fiery sky but it's only the sunset, no actual fire this time.

Learning new Things

I bought a new foot for my 830 machine, it does rolled hems. I put it on, tried it out but couldn't figure it out. It just didn't work according to the directions that came with it. So I returned to the quilt shop today for further instructions. They had some suggestions like using a stiletto to push the fabric through. I came home & tried it again, still no luck. So I pulled out the magazine with the article that gave me the idea to buy the foot in the first place. I read the article & really studied the photo in the article. Then it hit me what I was not doing. I tried once more & it worked! I can now make rolled hems on my sewing machine,( I never did figure out how to use the serger to make them.) this is good news because I can now make rolled hems on the silk pieces I do.
Score one for persistence.

Lts try this again

Here's the second photo of the last post again, the first one didn't take very well.

Quilting is not all that I do .

These are 2 recent projects I just completed. They're going to the kids of one of the fire victims, a single mother with 2 little kids. I figured it was the least I could do

Rainbow Quilt

I finally finished this quit top. I'll make another of the same pattern & colors because I misread the directions, thought it said 2 7/8 " when it really said 2 3/8 ". Most of the blocks didn't line up correctly. The end result is okay, but I want to redo the wilt with the correct measurements, but not today. The block is Storm at Sea, the original quilt is shown in the current issue of American Quilter.

What goes round, Comes round . . .

I presented this quilt to a neighbor who was forced from home as a result of the Christmas eve fire. Later in the day another neighbor who lost a barn in the same fire brought us a box of goodies as a thank you for helping him clean up the remains of that barn. hence, what goes round, comes fund. Point proven I think.