Old quilt

My parents are both gone and my brothers and I begin the monumental task of sorting through the house. My oldest brother chose this quilt but then he stuck it in my car. Thank you so much. It was made for our mother born in 1928 by her maternal grandmother. It has a wool batting, it is machine pieced and hand quilted in the ditch and around the pin wheels. As I look back through the family history books I learn that Great Grandma Lena was born in Sweden and died in South Dakota in 1952. I believe my grandmother (my mother's mother mor mor as the Swedes say as opposed to far mor for father's mother doesn't that make it easy to know which grandma you are referring and  mor far and far far for grandfathers) put the quilt together and hand quilted it. My Mor mor also quilted this click.  I think the quilting was done by the same person. I love that color of blue and see the hint of green in the grass, our snow is finally gone.--Ann--

On the Needles

 My pooling yarn socks are finished the yarn is Ella rae Lace Merino which is 100 % extra fine merino and they are silky soft. What day will be the last day I wear wool socks this extra long winter!??!April 29? May 1? Later? June?? Then I go from knitting socks to wear to stock piling socks for gifts and next fall.

The blue are a super soft bamboo and wool yarn, they might be right for summer wear. The yellow stripe is a cotton and wool blend. I knit a couple inches then found the repeat so I ripped and started over so the stripes would match then I found a knot in the yarn and then another so much for matching stripes but I tried! Happy knitting. --Ann-- check out what's on the needles at Judy's

Sketching

It was a beautiful sunny day yesterday. It made me feel like sketching.  One of my very dearest friends sent this beautiful bouquet on Friday because Saturday would have been my Dad's 83rd birthday. Her Dad's birthday was on Sunday he would have been 91. Occasionally they would celebrate together but more often they would play a joke on the other and it usually involved potatoes. I never got their jokes but the laughter was contagious. Snapdragons were one of my Dad's favorite flowers, after Mom died he planted them by the front steps and was always very proud of them and they just bloomed and bloomed all summer with the western sun. He was also proud of his amaryllis belladonna or as he always called them naked ladies. --Ann--

Books and Log Cabin

 

Thirty blocks and 3 inch borders. It will be a great quilt to curl up under and read. My reading list since a while ago............. I have obviously been on a Debbie Macomber kick and all the drama in Cedar Cove. Its been fun. Last night I finished The Blue Virgin by Tracy Chevalier. It is about an American woman searching for her French roots,  the story goes back and forth between present day and her 16th century ancestors.  Religion, midwifery and art are all part of the story.

The sun is shining today!!!! and not a cloud in any direction! It has been a long time since we have had a sunny day here, now if it would just warm up and melt the snow!!!

1. A Lady Cyclist Guide to Kashgar by Suzanne Johnson
2. Quilt as you Go by Arlene Sachitano
3. The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown
4. Things I Learned from Knitting  by Stephanie Pearl McPhee
5. Free Range Knitters by Stephanie Pearl McPhee
6. 16 Lighthouse Road by Debbie Macomber
7. Knit Together by Debbie Macomber
8. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford for book club
9. 204 Rosewood Lane by Debbie Macomber
10. God's Guest List by Debbie Macomber
11. Patterns of Grace by Debbie Macomber
12. What the Dog Saw by Malcolm Gladwell
13. Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
14. Five Quarters of the Orange by Joanne Harris for book club This is a story about growing up in France during the German occupation during WWII. Joanne Harris also wrote Chocolat
15. 311 Pelican Court by Debbie Macomber
16. The Time Keeper by Mitch Albom 
17. 44 Cranberry Point by Debbie Macomber
18. 50 Harbor Street by Debbie Macomber
19. 6 Rainer Drive by Debbie Macomber
20. 74 Seaside Avenue by Debbie Macomber
21. The Blue Virgin by Tracy Chevalier

design wall Monday

Half the blocks are done! Scrappy Log cabin inspired by Kim Deihl's quilt in March/April 2013  issue of F&P LOQ magazine. I sewed them as log cabin blocks with quarter turns for each strip. Kim sewed them as courthouse steps by sewing strips on opposite sides.  I'm making mine 5 blocks by 6 blocks with a narrow border. No new fabrics were purchased for the making of the blocks. Scrap Happy and linking to Patchworktimes see what else is on the design wall. --Ann--

on and off the needles

I finished the top socks and sent them to daughter for her birthday on Tuesday.  The year she was born we had few hot days in April, in the 90's, schools let out early because it was so hot. This year we still have snow on the ground and keep getting more. She can still wear them this spring!  No flip flops in sight here.
The green and red are a hand dyed pooling yarn, sorry I don't have a pic of the yarn before I wound it into a ball in the store back in January. I'm knitting from both ends of  the ball and the color is surprisingly different. Knitting is such a wonderful way to unwind after the stressful and emotional days of the past weeks. ~~Ann~~ linking to Judy's  on the needles

Off the couch

This is a quilt I gave my parents for their 50th wedding anniversary 10 years ago. It has been displayed on their couch ever since. I have it again. It is the Northwind block also called Corn and Beans it is just big triangles with little triangles in between. Inspired by Sharyn Squier Craig's book Design Challenge: Northwind.  The fabrics were all from Merryvale bales. Each 6 inch by 18 inch strip yielded 2 blocks with a few small triangles leftover. I arranged the blocks by color and value, the darker blocks seemed to gravitate to the outside with a row of half square triangles for a border. I machine quilted by swinging an arc from point to point of each triangle. click for another quilt of the same block   --Ann--

in honor of.......

in honor of my Dad, he was a Christian, farmer, veteran, conservationist, he planted hundreds of trees on the prairie in his 82 years, conversationalist, volunteer in church and community, he enjoyed gardening, walking, bicycling, cooking, writing and had the most beautiful penmanship, he had been blessed with good health all his life and had a trip planned with my boys to go to Normandy, France to see WWII Memorials and Ireland to visit his cousins.........Four weeks ago my life was turned upside down. Hubby and I were on our way to visit daughter in college, DD was going to look at DH's teeth to see if he could be here patient for her dental hygiene boards and we stopped at my Dad's because it is right on the way I rang the door bell no answer, I went around to the garage door, both the car and pick up were there, I knocked on the door and hollered hello, I saw his breakfast dishes, I saw his coat then I saw him. Hubby took charge and made all the right phone calls.
He is missed.--Ann--