This was the 6th year for the annual all day sewing event for the James Cancer Center.....

I have sewn each year with the James Stitching Sisters for this big event. This year there were 170 quilters who were either piecing quilts or quilting them. We make them for the breast cancer patients who are going through chemo. There were 304 quilts turned in this year so far and it's only April...isn't that incredible?

My friend Linda Henderson pictured above quilted 4 quilts.

My friend, Sue Elze, pictured above quilted 3 quilts....

.....and I, who obviously is much slower, quilted one. I have the body of my purple Yarnplay sweater sewn together and the back and front yokes are finished. This is the back. I'm working on the sleeves now in the Noro Silk Garden stripe.

Here I am at a Sue Spargo workshop appliquing the center house block of the Magnolia quilt she taught. Since I went to school in Magnolia for 3 yrs. I thought it was appropriate to make this quilt...not that I needed yet another project, but it is fun. Sue is such an inspirational teacher with her color sense and wonderful stitch techniques. I take classes from her whenever I get the chance. The 3 photos below are samples from the quilt that Sue Spargo made to give you an idea how fun her colors are. She mixes velvets, wools, cottons and silks along with embroidery stitches and beading.

This towel set I embroidered for my great nephew's 1st birthday. It's the cutest little whale pattern which you can see up closer if you click on the photo.

and finally....below is Luke wearing the sweater I knitted him for one of his Christmas gifts. I babysit him every Monday at his house which I have been enjoying so much. Grandkids are really fun!

What projects have you been working on?

Long time no see.....or should I say blab?

Remember that quilt I made for Bailey? Well, I forgot to put a label on it, shame on me....but, have no fear, I will be seeing her in person in March and will take the label with me to Seattle and sew it on while I'm at her house. Phew! You should always label your quilts for history's sake. I'm finally quilting Luke's quilt I made for Stef's baby shower. Well, the holidays got in the way after I made Bailey's quilt and I feel bad that I haven't worked on his quilt yet. In the photos you'll see that I'm not so brave about thread color. I tend to choose thread that matches rather than makes a bold statement with the quilting....mostly because I don't feel confident enough with my quilting techniques to put them out there loudly. I'm quilting schools of fish in the courthouse block areas and some bubbles and I drew an octopus on the golden threads tissue paper and quilted that on between the schools of fish. My cats love this quilt....I'm always shooing them off of it.

My camera isn't getting the true color of this dolphin....he says "hi".

One of the fish in the school.....he's currently got a 3.5 GPA.

*********************************************************************************************** In the knitting area, which is all over my house, I am working daily on a sweater for myself from the Yarnplay book. The body of the sweater is knitted sideways with a beautiful purple Noro Iroha and has occasional rows of purls for texture (done with Noro Silk Garden). After the body is finished and stitched into a tube, I will be picking up stitches with the Silk Garden to do the yoke and sleeves. I don't know why the photos make this sweater look blue, but it is not, it's purple.

See from the picture that the sleeves and the yoke are striped from the Silk Garden?

Some of the stripes are 2 rows of stockinette instead of a purl rowl.

It's about 33" long now. I'll keep going until it's about 37 1/2".

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We celebrated four February birthdays on the 7th. Patrick is now 32, Mark will be 60 on the 26th and Jenny and Matt turned 29.

Matt and Kathleen drove here from Chicago.

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I was watching Luke here and put him on this quilt I made for our guild challenge several years ago. He liked all the colors. Ivy is off to the side keeping watch over him.

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Do you recognize what this is? It's probably an antique now. Give up?

It's a staple remover! Mark brought it home from his mom's house and remembers his parents using it when he was growing up. Since he's going to be 60 soon, I think they may qualify the staple remover for being an antique.

Rest in peace, Mary Esther!

All of the projects can be posted now....

I wasn't able to post a photo of the little sweater I was making Luke for a Christmas gift because Stef reads my blog and I wanted it to be a surprise for her, so here is the photo I wanted to show you. This is a Debbie Bliss pattern called the Weekend Slouch sweater. Can you see the little pocket on the left sleeve? That's for all of the important things that a baby needs to put in a safe place....ha, ha....I love little pockets on baby clothes.

Just another view..... and a close-up of the basketweave front.

This is my sweater that I finished...I think I posted a photo of the back earlier. This is also a Debbie Bliss pattern named Jeanne (appropriate since that's how my middle name is spelled) from her Winter Essentials book that I rec'd as a Christmas gift last year from a friend. I guess I'm a Debbie Bliss fan. I really like how this sweater fits and especially like the ribbed shawl collar. I hope you can see it. Don't forget that you can click on the photo to see it better.

This is one of Luke's favorite things to do as you can see from that smiley face....his bath is a fun time for him and for me.

Little Jenny is practicing holding Luke. He seems to think she does a good job! What book is this that I want to read?

Oh, yes, it's the Tale of Peter Rabbit.

Luke is sitting on the blanket that his Great Aunt Carol made him and playing with Otto, the Polar Bear I knitted him before he was born.

Maya played Santa this year even though she's wearing reindeer antlers. She did a great job figuring out who the packages were for since we all make up silly names for the tags....To the oldest son-in-law, To the Architect, etc.

Austin wore that Santa hat, but didn't help pass out gifts. He just looked pretty darn cute in his argyle sweater!

One of Luke's gifts since he likes bathtime so much....a set of embroidered towels from me with little whales on them. I made our new granddaughters (new son-in-law's daughters from his first marriage) pillowcases with their names embroidered on them. Taryn loves horses. Morgan is just a cute little 4 yr. old. Here's Luke modeling another hat I made him called Cubba. The pattern is from Woolly Wormhead which is the same company that designed the Buzzbee hat I made him. ....and here's Ivy (on the left) and Lily modeling their Lands' End fleece coats I bought and embroidered their names on. ....so that's alot of projects to throw at you, but I was hording them all until I could post them. Sorry if it's a little boring. From our family to yours.....wishing you good health and a more prosperous New Year in 2010.

We Wish You a Merry Christmas~~~~~and a Happy New Year!!

Look at our 6 month old, Luke....doesn't his crib look like a fun place to be? I have been enjoying watching him every Monday while Stef works a half day for her hubby. We go for walks when it's nice out and shopping at the shops in Mt. Vernon. We've also visited the Art Gallery two times. The downtown area is really cute.

My granddaughter, Maya, made me this clay turkey for Thanksgiving. He's sitting on top of the butter dish with his bead legs crossed at the ankles. I love this little creation and am so proud that she wants to be crafty at the age of 8. She'll actually be 9 on the 20th and we'll celebrate her birthday this Saturday.

Here's the live Kelly tree this year. It's 13' tall and looks much better standing. Mark had it all up (he even puts all the lights and ornaments on by himself) on December 6th. On the 11th it fell over onto that coffee table you see at the bottom of the tree and just missed falling on me and Luke who were to the right of that area rug. It layed there for a day until he came back from his out of town monthly poker trip to Alliance, Ohio. It took Mark 4 hrs. to resurrect the tree, sweep up all the needles, sop up the water and throw away the broken ornaments. He decided my suggestion to wire the tree up to the windowsill was a good idea (which I suggested before the tree fell) and it is now secure. We couldn't even blame the tree falling on any of the pets because they weren't around it when it happened....although Ivy found the catnip container and opened it all over the carpet yesterday....Cosette thought that was a fun idea and rolled all over the carpet on it. Isn't it odd that dogs don't really care about catnip, but cats just love the smell?

I almost have all of the Christmas cards made out and mailed. Most of the gifts are bought. None are wrapped. Cookies will happen next week. All of the knitted gifts are finished and ready to wrap.....awwww, sigh of relief.

Are you ready for Santa's arrival?

We're still enjoying the fall weather here....

This weekend we had our dear friends, Theresa and Brian down from Minerva for some relaxation and good food. Mark and Brian always cook for us on Saturday night which is such a treat for me and Theresa.

Today we went to German Village for lunch at the Mohawk. It was my first time to eat there and I really enjoyed the Black and Blue Burger with homemade kettle chips. After lunch we walked around the neighborhood....I just love looking at all of the old houses. This is a nice arrangement on one of the front porches.

During the day on Saturday the four of us got to go to the Ohio State Stadium Recruiting Room for a party thrown by BNY Mellon. They sure know how to throw a great party! Of course, the best part was that the Bucks beat Michigan!!!! Here's a nice photo of Theresa & Brian.

me and Mark We won the centerpiece on our table which I think is really pretty! Those are live flowers.

The Alumni Band was there too to play and help us cheer on the Bucks.

I just thought I'd throw in a photo of Luke here....who doesn't love to see a baby face?

On to some knitted projects.....here's Luke modeling the Buzzbee hat I made him. He loves playing with the i-cord straps that hang down.

Stefy bought me this pattern for this sweater for my birthday and while Mark and I were on our little vacation in Maggie Valley, N.C. I bought this yarn from the Yarn Paradise Shop in Asheville. It's a really pretty color of deep red made by King Tut. So far I have the swatch finished. I'll start this sweater after I finish seaming the Jeanne sweater.

In the meantime, I made the yoke part of a cotton top just because it looked so pretty in the pattern. I don't intend to work on this anytime soon, but I thought you might like to see how pretty it did turn out. The yarn is Eco Organic Cotton and the color is gray with a hint of green.

and last but not least, here's Papa corrupting Luke while watching TV. He's letting Luke hold onto his bottle of beer!