What's Happening on Timber Hill is So Very Unimportant

I planned to blog today about what is on the frame, a new picture of Sassy, and even mention the weather. But, quite literally everything in my life on this particular day is so unimportant in this moment of time considering what is happening to the families in Japan. It's difficult to even comprehend this disaster. Counting my blessings, and praying for the people of Japan.

Fresh Off the Frame

This star quilt top was made by my friend Joyce. I quilted it with one of my favorite Jodi Beamish pantographs, "Butterfly Garden". I like the small overall scale of this charming pantograph, and that it is a continuous design the width and length of the pantograph paper. It fills all the "nooks & crannies" as they say--- beautifully as you move from a heart up into a swirl then into a leaf or a butterfly, and before you know it you have the quilting completed.

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Sassy out on the lawn today!

Quilting Finished

Linda M. sent me this top to be quilted. This is her first Quilt of Valor top, and it was a joy to quilt. Love the fabrics!

I couldn't blog without posting an updated picture of "Sassy"! 10 weeks old today!

Introducing "Sassy"

New puppy alert! new puppy alert!---Introducing "Sassy"! our newest member of the family. Born Dec. 2010. 2.5 lbs.
Bischon/Yorkie/Chihuahua mix.



Just like all new "parents" expect to see more bragging pictures of "Sassy" here. Sewing, quilting---what's that! I haven't even been in my sewing room for over a week now. We tend to forget how much attention puppies require. Not to mention sleep deprivation, mine, not hers.

P.S. : Jan A. Your right, "Sassy" is helping ease the pain.

Wordless Wednesday

Rugs from Rags

25-1/2" x 38 rag rug

Since the loom has been in the sewing room since Christmas, blocking my movement in there---and since I'm doing machine embroidery which sometimes can take 8 or 10 minutes between color changes, I've been spending those chunks of time weaving on this rug I started ages ago.


The rag rugs are fun, I just get side tracked with other quilting projects and forget about how useful and interesting it is to weave. Weaving a rug from fabric strips is also great way to use up scraps of fabric. I bought this particular loom years ago from the Country Threads booth at Pacific International Quilt Festival.

My loom has a wooden base with legs. I don't see that base on their website anymore, but it's certainly worth having as it makes the loom adjustable in height, and provides a steady base while I'm weaving. I can make a rug in a day or so once I get the weft in place. I've really procrastinated long enough on this rug. Bill won't have to ask "when are you going to finish the rug" anymore. Soon it will be done. I may even start another. Heaven knows I have enough fabric scrap strips to do dozens of rag rugs!



While I'm weaving, these are stitching!--or vice-versa.

Wordless Wednesday

Design Wall Monday Jan. 24, 2011

I needed to start something new. Something that didn't need a great deal of concentration. Something fun! Something different. I needed to be quilting, of course. The bonus of this project is it also involves machine embroidery, another luv of mine. So, this is what I've been up to with Miss Ellie' for the past week.

Here are some close ups of a few of the crazy quilt blocks that I have completed. These are all designs from the Molly Mine website. Totally done in the hoop. Applique and machine embroidery. I'm using some of my Batik fabric stash for the blocks. Each quilt block takes about an hour or more to complete.

There are twenty blocks in this series. I plan to make a wall hanging or table cloth with the finished project using some regular cotton embroidery floss to tie the quilt top.


The Molly Mine machine embroidery website has a series of three Crazy Quilt projects. Beautiful! Linda's digitizing is awesome! These blocks are from the Series one quilt, but do check out the Christmas quilt and Series two. All very tempting!

A special thank you to all of you for the warm and thoughtful emails, cards, phone calls and comments about our sweet Bootsy. It's been a difficult time, but your caring words have helped more than you will ever know.

Lack of Interest

I completed the Patriots Dream quilt top just before Bootsy died. It's been hanging on the design wall since then. I have the backing and batting ready. But, my heart is just not into going into the sewing room and doing any kind of meaningful work. I wander in, look around and leave. Bootsy and I spent so much time together there. Not that she wasn't part of every inch of our home. It's just the sewing room seems more painful a place to be without her. I'm just not ready I guess....so projects linger as I heal.

Bootsy 2000 - 2010

She came into our lives on a warm July day in 2000. She was a birthday gift that year. All 2 and half pounds of her! I carried her around like a stuffed toy, tucking her into my shirt or under my arm a lot of the time while I did things around the house. She was so tiny those first few months, I was afraid we would step on her.

She loved her life on Timber Hill. We called it "her domain" as she made sure everything and everybody followed the routine! Always on the lookout for wild life (preferably a squirrel to chase)-- and visitors to play with and cuddle with. She loved family and friends to come and visit. We used to say,"it must be pretty boring with us all the time, huh Boots?" (it probably was) but she went along with our daily routine and seemed to know exactly what time it was, and when we should do things. If we didn't get lunch going on time, or dinner started soon enough, she would look at us and head to the kitchen checking back to make sure we knew it was close to meal time.

One of the highlights of her day was her walk with Bill out to the wildlife cameras. She would wait patiently for him to get dressed each morning and as he was putting on his shoes, she would eventually get impatient and would start out the door without him. Headed for the small walking trail they traveled each day. Occasionally looking back to make sure he was coming along---

Like a lot of little dogs, she thought she was much larger than her actual 10 pounds of boundless energy. Checking on things, playing with toys, running down the hall to the sewing room, jumping onto the bed to get us up, reminding us of it was time to do this or that. Barking at the neighbor cat, or chasing the squirrel from the back patio. Sleeping by my side in the evenings on the sofa as I watched TV or stitched on a quilt binding . She was always close by, if not right on your lap---and such a part of our daily lives.

Even in the last few days of her life she would run and jump just like the puppy she always was even as we tried to prolong her life by trying keep her calm and resting a lot of the time. She died last Thursday despite all our efforts to treat her progressing congestive heart failure. The house is strangely quiet now as we try to come to terms with her loss. We all loved her so much, and she is greatly missed. The delight of our days and into the long evening shadows. Always with us---our beloved Bootsy.



THE LAST BATTLE--Author Unknown

IF IT SHOULD BE THAT I GROW FRAIL AND WEAK AND PAIN SHOULD KEEP ME FROM MY SLEEP, THEN WILL YOU DO WHAT MUST BE DONE, FOR THIS--THE LAST BATTLE CAN'T BE WON. YOU WILL BE BE SAD I UNDERSTAND, BUT DON'T LET GRIEF THEN STAY YOU HAND, FOR ON THIS DAY, MORE THAN THE REST, YOUR LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP MUST STAND THE TEST. WE HAVE HAD SO MANY HAPPY YEARS, YOU WOULDN'T WANT ME TO SUFFER SO. WHEN THE TIME COMES, PLEASE, LET ME GO. TAKE ME TO WHERE TO MY NEEDS THYE'LL TEND, ONLY, STAY WITH ME TILL THE END. AND HOLD ME FIRM AND SPEAK TO ME UNTIL MY EYES NO LONGER SEE. I KNOW IN TIME YOU WILL AGREE IT IS A KINDNESS YOU DO TO ME. ALTHOUGH MY TAIL ITS LAST HAS WAVED, FROM PAIN AND SUFFERING I HAVE BEEN SAVED. DON'T GRIEVE THAT IT MUST BE YOU WHO HAD TO DECIDE THIS THING TO DO; WE'VE BEEN SO CLOSE--WE TWO--THESE YEARS, DON'T LET YOUR HEART HOLD ANY TEARS.