What's been goin' on

It seems like the month of September is flying by.  And even though it's still very much summer here in Oklahoma, there are a few signs of fall.  And I'm ready for it after the extreme heat we've had this year.

Over Labor Day weekend my sister Greta and her daughter Lora Beth came to visit so that my (extremely lovely and talented) daughter Andrea http://www.amurphyphoto.com/  could  take Lora Beth's senior pictures.
Even though my husband tried to spoil the weekend with a bad case of infectous colonitis (2 trips to the E.R.) we managed to sneak away and have some fun shopping and doing the photo shoot.  (He tells the story a little bit differently--I DID after all, get him a babysitter).

That's Greta and Lora Beth in the top pic with me; and Lora Beth and (extremely lovely and talented) daughter Andrea in the middle of the bottom pic.

Last post, I forgot to show you what my friend Leslie has been up to.  She's been VERY busy making quilt tops.

She and I took a hand applique class from Jane Green at the Cotton Patch.  Here's Jane.  She does absolutely beautiful hand work.  It's hard to see from this picture, but trust me,  it's really good.

Here are some of the other class members with the block we did our first week.

This is mine.  I've decided to add some brown to it.  Working on that now.

Well, Tim did get over his illness and for the first time in ages he had to dress up for work.  It was such a rare occasion, I thought I should document it.

Many of his co-workers thought he was a stranger trying to break into Tim Marler's office.  His boss hasn't gotten over it yet.  I think he "cleans up real good".    Off to find some oil and gas.

Last week I made these name tags for a challenge from Green Country Quilters' Guild (http://www.greencountryquiltersguild.com/) .  The tags had to be mostly green and had to be readable from 4 feet away.

I finished my quilt!  It's quilted by Kat LeFevre.  I'm very pleased with how it turned out.  I got the binding on just in time to take it to the fairgrounds on Saturday to be entered (along with 3 others) in the Tulsa State Fair.  You can see them there starting Sept. 30 through Oct. 10.

You all know I have ANOTHER (extreemly talented, lovely) daughter.  She's been busy getting her knitted items and pickles ready for the fair.  And oh yes, she raises boys (3 of them) so you know she's got her hands full.  We all think the last one looks like her.  What do you think?

1979 (although I'm sure she wouldn't want you to know that) and 2010.    Same pouty lips.

Since I've mentioned everyone else in my family, I'll conclude with the fact that I'm very proud of my son.  He's going through some major changes in his life.  We pray for God's leading.

Until next time...

9/11

WELL....I started the following post and things got really SCREWED UP!!!
Captions didn't go with pictures and pictures got repeated.  And I don't know how to fix it.

Anyway, we had a good time at Coleen's birthday party.

I'm working on bindings on a couple of quilts that I'm really anxious to show off.

Leslie and I took a hand applique class at the Cotton Patch yesterday.  I've been hand appliqueing for a few years now, but it's always nice to take a class from a different person to get a new perspective.  This time the teacher was Jane Green and she did a great job.

Until next time (and then maybe I won't be so computer frustrated!)

9/11

Today is the 9th anniversary of a huge tragedy in the history of our country.  I'm sure all of you remember exactly what you were doing on that day.  It was such a sad and scary time.  I was sitting in front of the tv sewing the binding on a quilt that had been in the works since I was 14 years old.  I finished it that day and included details about the day on the label.  Let us never forget what happened that day.

On a lighter note....also on that day some ????years ago, my good friend Coleen was born.  She's been a really bright spot in the life of our little stitch group.  She keeps us laughing and encourages us all to keep going.  So...on Thursday we celebrated her birthday at my house.

My friend Kat Davis made the beautiful and delicious chocolate cheesecake for the occasion (if you want to order one from her let me know and I'll give you her number).  Isn't it just TOO cute!   The little needle on the cake was even threaded!

Having company makes me get up out of the sewing room to clean my house (which is a good thing when it's done!).  It also causes me to set a pretty table--something I don't usually do for just Tim and me.

We had a great lunch, opened presents and then worked on some projects.

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This is what the birthday girl is working on:

June was working on table runners and..

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Leslie and I are working on a disappearing 9 patch.

Donna was cutting strips for a future project.

Wesley's other story

Please go to:  http://landolista.blogspot.com/ to read more about my precious grandson.  Some of you have prayed for him before he was born.

Wesley's Story

Once upon a time there was a little boy named Wesley.  He was normally a happy little guy, but something had him feeling stressed and a little down in the dumps...

Yes, it was his Mama T's sewing room.  She could no longer work effeciently and make all those quilts that Wesley, his brothers, his mom and dad, his aunt, uncles and Popple were so used to.  So he talked to his mom and asked her if she would give Mama T a hand and GET THIS MESS CLEANED UP!

His mom agreed and they got to work.  He occupied himself while they worked.  Sometimes, he had to interrupt them so one of them would feed him (that would be his mom).
Already, he started feeling better.

And finally, one day the job was done!  He was amazed at the difference (and so were his mom and his Mama T).

Now, Wesley was feeling overjoyed.  He couldn't believe how organized everything was.  Best of all, his Mama T was happy.

Then, quite suddenly, he saw his Mama T and his mom doing something.  What were they up to?  He could see fabric coming out of boxes and off shelves.   Then they  took something out of a box.  He heard them say that it was almost a year old and had never been used because the room had been too unorganized to get it out.  The called it an Accuquilt GO! cutter.  And then, they started using it!  They were amazed again!

But Wesley was just confused.  He couldn't understand why they wanted to start messing up the room so soon after it's transformation.  He decided he needed to go talk to his Popple about this.  Popple told him that women were hard to understand and that he should just get used to it.  Wesley decided that as long as his mom kept feeding him and as long as his Mama T let him and his brothers come over to her house, he would try to understand women--at least these two.

The End.

A little something for Maggie

Can you guess who I made this little quilt for?  Clue:  Her name is on it.  LOL

The little gal is 6 months old already and I finally got her a quilt made.  Hope she likes it.

Now for a peek at our newest grandson.  He's taking a nap on one of his Mama T's quilts.

I'm back...again

Tim and I spent all of last week in Missouri, mostly in St. Louis.  His step-father had surgery for throat cancer in the HUGE Barnes Jewish Hospital.  The surgery took 7 hours and then he was there another 4 days after that.  We did a lot of sitting...and I have to tell you that even though I took some sewing along with me, I didn't do ANY at all.  I did read a quilting novel and looked at quite a few quilting magazines.  We're home now and Bud is also home and doing well even though he's going to have to have 6 weeks of chemo therapy.

Since I don't have anything new to show, I thought I'd post some older wall hangings that I don't think I've shown here before.

This one is a Pat Sloan design. I machine appliqued and quilted it.  (17.5 " x 44")

I hand appliqued this one and machine quilted it.  (23" x 17.5")

I bought this one at the Green Country Quilters' Guild 2010 quilt show.  It's made by Debbie Ross. I've admired her work for quite a while and when this came up for auction at the "Little Quilt Auction"  I just couldn't resist.  Now it hangs in my sewing room.  (12.25" x 13.75")