Happy Sew Year!!!

I'm wishing all my friends and family a very Happy New Year .... or if it applies to you as well ... 

HAPPY SEW YEAR!!!!

Welcome 2014!!!!!

Celtic Solstice Part 5

I had great intentions of being all caught up by the time I was ready to write this post, but life just got in the way.  My hubby and I have both been off for the Holidays and spending time with him won out over doing hardcore sewing.  I did manage to make some decent progress though.  First off I want to share with you the awesome gifts that my hubby got me for Christmas.  First is this back saver:

Excuse the baggy comfy clothes ... my surgery is working.  Yay!  Now I will be able to sit at the sewing machine longer without getting the back strain that I always used to experience.  So far it seems to be helping, but I haven't done any marathon sewing yet.

I'm super excited about this cabinet!!  It's custom made and although it didn't make it here for Christmas day, this is the picture of my actual cabinet with the maker's Featherweight in it that he sent to us yesterday.  It's ready to ship and will be in the mail tomorrow!!  Hubby will do the finish on it when it gets here.  It's a replica of the actual cabinets that Singer made for the Featherweights only this one is solid wood and the originals were not. Soon my purple baby will have a sweet home!

Friday I cut out Part 5 of Celtic Solstice.  It didn't take that long once I got in a rhythm.  I'm really anxious to see how this quilt is going to all come together.

Sunday I finished Pinwheel Parade for Baby Madalynn.  I think it turned out really cute.  And if anyone decides to make this quilt based on the link I provided earlier, please note that the directions are not quite correct.  It takes 3 charm packs rather than the 2 it calls for.  You could fill in with scraps from your stash if you wanted.  I have about 18 squares left over from the third charm pack.  They will probably find their way into a pieced back for the quilt.

And just for good measure, I did assemble a few of Part 5, Celtic Solstice.  They aren't so bad to make.  I forgot to mention that I did sew some more chevrons from Part 2 on Friday.  Those pieces are my nemesis!!  I've broke the remaining parts into little baggies and will try to do one a week.  I don't know why I hate making those so bad, but I do.


Check out everyone's progress HERE on Bonnie's Blog.

Feline Friday

Today's blog post is about the love story between a Bengal Kitty named Keira and a ragged Halloween collar. 

Our youngest, Keira, has a strangely cool "Bengal Habit".  She likes to play fetch ... but it's just not with any toy, it's with a collar.  She goes nuts over her collar.  Some days I find it in the water bowl or sometimes in the food bowl.  I guess she figures it needs to be fed and watered. Sometimes it disappears for days only to reappear usually in the food bowl.  Keira even talks to her collar.  She'll meow and chirp at it.  It's a hoot! She carries it around with her and drops it at your feet when she wants attention.

Keira

Then one day our big boy Dakota stole the collar and chewed it almost in half!  It was a tragic day in the Begley household for sure.

Dakota

My crafty husband was able to mend the collar:

Then we decided that we would get a tag for Keira's collar so the dogs would know for sure it was not their toy because all dogs can read, right?

 

And of course me handling the collar and trying to take pictures of it for today's blog post drove Keira crazy and she finally just came and took it from me:

 

And that folks is the story of a Bengal Cat and her collar!

Happy Feline Friday, Y'all!!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to everyone out here in blog land.  I hope you all have a joyful holiday filled with love, laughter, and happiness!

He puzzled and puzzed till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. Maybe Christmas, he thought... doesn't come from a store. Maybe Christmas, perhaps... means a little bit more! 

Merry Grinchmas to All!!

Celtic Sollstice Part 4

I finished Part 4 on Friday.  I love making 4 patches so I jumped right on it and knocked them all out:

As you can see, I finally ended up with red and pink together.  I like how the 4 patches look ... I just hope I like how they look in the assembled quilt!  

I managed to get all the rest of the half square triangles sewed from Part 3 as well:

I just need to sew that pile on the left into 24 more pinwheels.  I did not touch the chevrons from Part 2.  I really hate making them.  I need to get at least a few more done before the next clue comes out on Friday.

I worked some more on Pinwheel Parade too and either the pattern is wrong, or I really screwed up somewhere.  I emailed the author of the pattern and I'm waiting to hear what the verdict is.  I've got all the pinwheel half square triangles together and trimmed.  I just need to get them sewn into pinwheels. 

Plus I started on the 9 patches that will make up the border of the quilt. Just like 4 patches, I love making 9 patches too. 

I'm slowly getting caught up on Bonnie's mystery.  I've seen some "guesses" on Facebook as to what the blocks/quilt may look like.  So far I've liked everything I've seen. 

Check out every one else's progress HERE.

Celtic Solstice Part 3

This mystery is kicking my butt!!  I can't seem to get caught up on the steps.  Friday I went ahead and cut Part 3 using the Easy Angle Ruler:

I'm still sewing Part 2.  I don't think I'm even half way done with it.  It's become very time consuming.  Here's the few I've gotten done and the one "test" block from Part 3.  They are already bagged waiting for the the rest of their mates:

The pile of chevron parts just doesn't seem to be shrinking at all:

I have to admit ... I'm growing tired of marking those little squares for the chevrons.  I think that's why I've only been doing a few at a time.  As a matter of fact today I stopped and started chain piecing the half square triangles for Part 3:

I'd say I'm about half way through my bag of these little babies.  Then I got sidetracked by this cute little block:

This is the first block in a quilt called "Pinwheel Parade".  This is going to be a baby blanket for my friend, Susan's baby, Madalynn.  Pinwheel Parade is a free pattern from Jo's Country Junction. You can find it HERE if you are interested.  It's a cute little quilt made with two charm packs. This baby will have plenty of blankets!  She is surrounded by quilters, crocheters, and knitters!!  

So this week I'll be doing a little more of this:

And hopefully by the time Bonnie posts Part 4 on Friday I'll at least have either Part 2 or Part 3 done. I'd much rather only be one part behind than two .... but we'll see. 

Check out everyone else's progress HERE on Bonnie's Blog.

Celtic Solstice Part 2

I didn't get as much done last week as I anticipated.  As usual my energy isn't up to par yet from the anesthesia. I always have good intentions of recovering faster, but my body isn't so cooperative.  So Friday morning I got up and cut Part 2 of Celtic Solstice:

As you can see, I opted to stay with the red and not switch to black.  I'm hoping it works out.  Keep your fingers crossed for me! And as usual, I couldn't resist sewing a few to see how they turned out:

Saturday evening my husband and I slipped out to Walmart to buy a 2' Christmas Tree.  We have a very nice tree already, but our Bengal cats have reached their terrible twos! They are chewing on everything in sight including cords.  So for the safety of the kitties this year we decided to put a tree up well out of reach on top of our entertainment center:

It's kind of cute if I do say so myself!  It will do for this year.  And I'm sure it's only a matter of time until the terror twins figure out how to get up to it! I'm not sure where this twinkle picture came from or how it was made.  It's not on my phone and it just showed up when I uploaded my picture to Google+ to use here in the blog.  I'm not complaining though .... I think it's pretty cool! My tree doesn't really sparkle like that ... I kind of wish it did!!

Sunday I set out to get Part One of Celtic Solstice done and I almost did minus 16 pink triangle in squares.  Apparently I miscounted when I cut the green last week.  I'll cut the other 16 sets of green sometime this week and put the last 16 together so I can move on to Part 2.

That's about it for this week. I have a feeling I may not get caught up on this mystery until I'm off at Christmas but that's OK.  You can check out everyone's progress (HERE) on Bonnie's blog.

Until next time .... Just keep sewing, just keep sewing!

Feline Friday

Dear Santa, 

Please bring me about a 1000 2000 more of these fuzzy, springy things!  These are the best toys EVER!!!!  I've been a very good kitty this year as always.

                                                                                      Love,

                                                                                          Neela

HAPPY FELINE FRIDAY, Y'ALL!!

Celtic Solstice Part 1

Apparently some people have been complaining about Bonnie Hunter's mystery quilt. I think that is ungrateful.  Bonnie offers us (her fans and followers) a FREE quilt pattern every year.  And some people don't want to print so many pages ... or don't want to use a specific ruler ... don't want to paper piece ... etc, etc.  I think the solution to their dilemma is simple .... just don't participate.  They should be thankful that Bonnie does this for no charge to us. One of my other favorite quilters is charging in excess of $100 to participate in her mystery.  That's a chunk of change and no that does not include fabric.  Bonnie is beyond generous!

I've always found that Bonnie recommends the tools we need to assemble the quilt in the easiest way possible. I've enjoyed the two mysteries of hers that I've done so far and expect this one to be just as fun!  I say thank you, Bonnie Hunter, for sharing this pattern so generously with us! 

Enough of that though .... let's get down to the reason we are here:  Celtic Solstice!!

Earlier I posted a picture of the fabrics I had chosen:

I had decided to substitute the Red for Blue and Pink for Orange.   Then Part One of the mystery came out and I had a dilemma.  With my substitutions, I was going to end up with Pink and Red Triangles in a Squares.  I wasn't sure I was going to like that.

So I decided to use the Green for the Blue.  I may or may not use the Red for the Green.  I'll make that decision when parts come out that call for the Green.  The Red may turn into Black.  I'll just have to see when the time gets here.  Input is welcome.  Comment below for suggestions!

So today I cut all the pieces for the small version of the quilt:

And I couldn't resist and had to sew a few "test" squares:

Only 178 more to go!!  I'm going to try to sew a few each night this week.  I'd like to have them all done before the next clue on Friday, but I'm not going to stress if it doesn't happen.  I did so good last year keeping up with each step with Easy Street.  Now if I could just sew the borders on, I could call Easy Street finished!  The easiest part is holding me up! 

Hope everyone is having fun with this!  I know I am!

Check out everyone's progress HERE!!

Feline Friday

Mom .... it's cold outside!!!  Please turn up the heat so I can move from this heat vent ....

Or .... better yet .... let's get out the electric blanket and cuddle .....

And look ... electric blankets make me tolerant of my sister!!

Happy Feline Friday, Y'all!!

Happy Thanksgiving

First, I'd like to say Happy Thanksgiving to anyone out there still following along.  We had salmon today and will have our traditional turkey meal on Saturday with our family when I'm allowed to eat solid food again.  I finally had my surgery on October 31st.  (See here for some details if you are curious)

I swore I wasn't going to do it.  I told myself I didn't need to start yet another project ... but somehow I still found myself at the quilt store yesterday buying fabric for Bonnie Hunter's new mystery quilt, Celtic Solstice.  I just could not resist.  I've enjoyed her past mysteries that I've participated in so I just had to join in.  Here are the fabrics I chose:

This is the new Primitive Gatherings line, Floral Gatherings plus a few to supplement.  I hope my color substitutions work out for me. I can't wait to get started tomorrow!!!

Feline Friday for Roxy

Today, the Felines in our family ... Neela, Nala, Khaleesi & Keira ... as well as our Canine family members ... Lexie, Dakota, Harley, Teddy, Toby & Mercedes ... would like to dedicate our Feline Friday post to our Canine friend, Roxy. We are all asking that you say a little prayer for the Roxer.

Wednesday evening Roxy was viciously attacked by a family member's dog.  The more the vet shaved the more they found.  She ended up with 4 drains, stitches and of course a round of antibiotics and pain medication.

This image just breaks my heart!  She's a sweet little girl and certainly didn't deserve this.  I am happy to report though that today she is feeling a little better.

The owner of the dog that attacked Roxy is claiming that it was Roxy's fault because she growled.  Wow ... growled.  I wonder if she realizes how ridiculous that sounds.  I have six dogs.  They growl at each other all the time.  Not ever have we had something happen like the image above.  This is an aggressive dog that did this.  That's the bottom line. 

My point here is that dog owners MUST be responsible for their pets AND their behavior.  If one of my dogs had viciously attacked another dog I would be first to take that other dog to the vet and pay their vet bills.  Not to mention how heart broken I would be that it had happened in the first place.  

What the owner of the dog that attacked Roxy doens't understand is how lucky she is.  Yes, lucky.  Because if her dog had done that to one of my dogs and she offered no remorse like she has, she would find herself with charges filed against her for having a vicious animal.  Usually that follows with the destruction of the animal that attacked.  Even saying things like that is hard for me because obviously I'm an animal nut, but vicious, out of control animals can't be tolerated.  What if a child had growled at the dog just wanting to play and that dog attacked that child like it did Roxy?  What if indeed?

It's all about responsibility.  We have a generation of young people coming up who don't seem to  understand the meaning of that word at all.  In the case of pet ownership, your not just responsible for your actions, but also your pet's.  Taking responsibly for a wrong doing can go a long way to healing the emotional wounds.  If the other dog had received bite wounds like Roxy's then we would be calling this a dog fight not an attack and that would be a different story. A growl should not provoke the attack that caused the wounds you see above.

This has just been eating at me.  I've felt so bad and powerless to do anything since this happened and just kept thinking, "What if it happened to one of my sweet babies?"

So send some healing Corgi vibes out for Roxy and pray for her family to find forgiveness and peace in an unfortunate situation.  I know it would be the forgiveness and peace part that would be hard for me.  

And ... at least we can be thankful that this beautiful little baby will eventually physically be OK. And because of that we can still say:

Happy Feline Friday, Y'all!

Lazy Sunday

Wow ... It's been over a month since I've posted anything on my blog.  I thought I would be sewing my way through getting my surgery approved, but I've been way too distracted by it all ... bordering on depression.  We're still fighting and I really can't see the light at the end of the tunnel yet.

But the last couple of weekends I've sewed a little.  I'm trying to get back in the swing of things because it seems like my life has been on hold since May 14th when I parted ways with my band.

So for a Lazy Sunday, I thought I'd work a little on "Lazy Sunday".

I think I'm well on the way to finishing this one.  I may even have a partial flimsy to share next weekend.  I started assembling the blocks today and just have some pieced borders to tackle.

This one is really different.  I think I'm going to like it!

Feline Friday

 Khaleesi ....

The lure of the ceiling fan is too much to handle .... she can't even take her eyes off it to sleep! 

Happy Feline Friday, Y'all!
 

Feline Friday -- The Canine Edition

Today's Feline Friday post has been hijacked by a dog!

The canine portion of our family is feeling neglected.  And ... being the little Diva that she is .... she is going to be the first "guest" dog on Feline Friday.

Please meet Harley Divason .... yes that's her registered name.  We usually refer to her as "The Har".  Harley is my crazy little Papillon.  And yes, she truly is crazy.  She says quirky, but trust me, it's crazy. 

This picture was from Bark in the Park.  Our local minor league baseball team sponsors one night each season that you can bring your dogs to the game.  Harley attended with her pack mates, Lexie and Teddy. She did fine except for when a strange lady tried to pet her.  The Har wanted no part of that.  When will people understand that she's only to be touched by her "staff"?

Most of the time Miss Harley sports a pink stripe in her tail and pink toe nails.  Pink is her signature color.  She has several pink dresses and coats and she loves wearing them.  She loves going to the spa and having her "hair" done.  She considers our groomer, Gayle, as part of her staff so she's OK with spa days.

Notice the pink feather in her hair above .... her alter ego is Lola (she's a show girl) .... and if you sing Copacabana to her, she'll prance around.  She is a true little diva and I love this little doggie with all my heart.  She's one of the two family princesses. 

Oh and Har wants me to add that she LOVES, LOVES, LOVES her kitties.  They are the best playmates ever!  She especially loves that little spotted one! They play tag all the time.  She says that not all of the kitties appreciate her willingness to play, but those Bengals really do! She's sure that eventually that big, black kitty will learn and quit hissing at her and smacking her on the nose!

Happy Feline Friday, Y'all!!

Weekend Wrap Up

There's not much weekend to wrap up actually, I even missed posting on Feline Friday due to all the hoop jumping I'm having to do to get my revision surgery scheduled.  So I spent almost all of Friday at the hospital attending nutrition classes, and having a psych evaluation, and learning about a procedure I'm already familiar with ....  but whatever it takes at this point.

I did get a couple more Lucy Boston blocks done and as promised here are a couple picture of those:

I've got a couple ready to go with me this week on the 2013 Mountain Quilt Quest with my friends Debbie and Susan.  I'm looking forward to it even though I'm still a little sore from my "ex-plant."  This is what the hospital calls a band removal: Ex-plant.  I kind of like that word.  So anyway, hopefully I'll be a diligent little shop hopper and take lots of pictures to share.  No promises though because I always have good intentions and usually come home with very few or no photographs to share. 

Oh ... and I did get the binding done on a very special quilt which I will deliver this week!  So there was at least a little progress made this past weekend.

Weekend Wrap Up

I didn't get a whole lot accomplished this weekend, but I made a little progress here and there.  I got my first two blocks in the Primitive Gathering's Warm Winter Blessings BOM put together. They are wool on cotton applique and I used the Steam-a-Seam Lite as recommended in the pattern.  I've still got the stitching to do though.  It will be nice to do in the evenings after work.

Block 9 -- which is the first block they sent

Block 2

I also started working on my anniversary present.  I had posted some time ago here about my Hubby receiving a package from Primitive Gatherings.  Inside was my anniversary present.  He got me the Evelyn's Album BOM!  I had drooled over it when we were at the International Quilt Show in Cincinnati, but had already spent more than my share and let it go.  Click here to see the whole quilt. This quilt is wool on flannel and I got the first block cut out and fused and just need to do the stitching on it now as well.

Block 1

I woke up this morning to find that Part Three of Bonnie Hunter's Lazy Sunday was out!  And I'm WAY behind!  So today I spent the day cutting the rest of Part Two.  Hopefully I can get some if sewed together this coming Friday and get going on Part Three here in a couple weeks.

Lazy Sunday - Part 2

I completed another Lucy Boston block and started another one too.  But I failed to take any pictures.  Once I finish this next one, I'll take some more pictures. 

Feline Friday

Our host, Sarah, at Sarah Did It! is on a two week hiatus while she is recuperating.  We all are hoping she is doing well and wish her a speedy recovery!  There will be no link up this week, but we'll continue on in her absence.

Hockey is my absolute favorite sport.  I adore hockey.  I miss getting to games, but I do enjoy watching it on TV unlike most other sports.  My license plate on my car even reads "PUCK NUT"!

Wednesday night was hockey night in our house as we cheered on our beloved Pens in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. 

Khaleesi is a HUGE hockey fan!

Even her sister Keira is intrigued as she peaks up over the corner there to the right.

And they SCORE!!!

GO PENS!!

Happy Feline Friday, Y'all!!