Photos from our Spargo Sistas Weekend on Feb. 17th.....

Paula got her basket quilt center blocks pieced during our Spargo Sistas Weekend.  That always feels like quite an accomplishment!  It's very folksy and will look great hanging on her railing as you come in her door.  Most of the blocks have sayings embroidered on them.  LOVE it!

Linda worked on her borders for her Magnolia quilt.  I just love looking at her embroidery stitches! Mostly wool fabric was used in Linda's quilts and mine. 

Then she showed us her new table runner she made which is one block of the Red Clover pattern.  We loved it too....I especially love her embroidery on the leaves below.

Here's the full view....isn't it beautiful?

Here's a close-up of the flower on the table runner.

Ok....then she started stitching her first block of yet another pattern called Crimson Tweed.  Let's all say this together...."Linda wins for being an overachiever!"

Her blanket stitch around the branches of this tree reminded me of pine needles.  Her fly stitch on the ornaments with Dazzle thread were gorgeous and shiny! 

Here's a close-up of one of Paula's basket blocks.  I love this one....isn't that great?  Laughter is the best medicine! 

This is a photo of my one block I worked on the whole weekend.  The block did have 3 of these flowers on it (in my defense) but I definitely did not achieve as much as my friends.  It is all fun however, because we eat, drink and be merry!



Three 5Ks, holidays and two pet deaths later......

I have been in a blog stall.  This may be a longer post than you care to read because I've not posted since last April.  I have some finished projects to show and tell, vacations, updated grandkid photos and 5Ks that I've participated in. 

 I finished this little sweater for our niece who had her little girl in August. It's a free pattern called Helena:

http://knitty.com/ISSUEsummer08/PATThelena.html

Little Ballerina Wrap Sweater I made from a Debbie Bliss pattern and

Sublime Yarns Baby Cashmere Merino Silk DK.  I will eventually make booties to match and gift it to a special little girl yet to be born.

We went to Florida and Key West for my 60th birthday to be with our friends the Hemenways and Brays.  They sure made my birthday feel special instead of 'old'!  My one wish was to go back to the same place on the Intercoastal waterway where we saw this dolphin last year....he's still there!  It made my day!

I made these French Press Ballet Slippers in charcoal Cascade 220.  It's not a free pattern but you can purchase it here if you'd like:  http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/french-press-felted-slippers.  The buttons are adorable, eh?  They can be purchased from an Etsy designer here:  http://www.etsy.com/listing/92053427/2-handmade-oven-baked-polymer-clay-heart

i

I made a reversible hat for my honey.   It's very warm and he's very happy!

Can you believe this????  My good friend, Linda H., took a few photos that were taken of Luke and created this fun quilt for a challenge!  She's so talented!  She did some painting, applique and wonderful machine quilting. This quilt will be up for auction at the NQA show this coming June....guess who will be bidding on it??

I went in September to Arizona to visit my beautiful cousin, Connie, who had just started her chemo treatments.  We had a great time jogging together, eating out and swimming.  She has been such a role model of strength during this whole time of her chemo and radiation.  She has her last chemo on March 1st so Mark and I are going to fly out to celebrate with her and Dennis the end of March.

 

In October our beloved Portuguese Water Dog, Lily, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer.  I am sad to say she only lived 3 wks. after the diagnosis.  I miss her fun personality and still get teary eyed when I think of her.  Shortly after Lily died, my 20 yr. old cat, Cosette, died too.  It was a rough year in the Kelly household for our pets.  We lost 3 (I believe I mentioned losing our cat, Tara, in April).

Just a note on my exercise program in case it could inspire anyone to become healthier....I ran four 5Ks last year and one this year so far.  I run about 3 times a week and go to Jazzercise 3 times a week.  Only one day off, but I'm committed to live longer than my parents did ( mom died when she was 50 and dad when he was 55) and I'm sure hoping exercise and eating right are the key. 
My two bad habits....red wine and chocolate!

This weekend is another Spargo weekend and this time it's at my house. 
Photos to follow that fun time with great friends!

Thank God for a/c, even though he really didn't create it!

This hot weather is not conducive to productive knitting or quilting, but I was determined to have something to show before I would post again.  I don't remember the heat bothering me when I was young.  That story has changed since I went through menopause.  While wallowing in our air conditioned home and riding in the car while Mark is driving, I managed to make progress on a few knitted items and one little quilt.

I'm half way finished with this little decorative scarf that's worked in garter stitch with leaves growing up the side.  I got the yarn while on vacation in Cape Cod at a little yarn shop called The Black Purl.  I think when I block it you'll be able to see the leaves better.



The Noro cardigan has some of the left front finished now to go with the back that I had done earlier.

Another Noro project (I guess I love Noro yarns) is this lace patterned scarf.   I am almost finished with this one.  It's made with sock yarn and I'm using the whole skein.

My Mandevilla



One of my flower pots that I like....coleus are so interesting.  I had to throw some flowers in not only because I love flowers, but because we went to the WesterFlora Garden Show this year.  I got a few ideas and I'll work on those ideas in the fall and next spring.

This is a little I Spy quilt I've been working on since the spring.  Hopefully, someone will enjoy playing I spy a spider or a grasshopper or Santa Claus, etc. with it while they ride in the car. 

....a close-up.

 ....a peek at the marble fabric I used on the back.



.....another close-up to show the narrow red accent fabric I used on the outer edge next to the binding.

Well, stay cool everyone....until next time.

Wow is it hot in Ohio!!!

After all the rain in April and May we jumped right into August heat and humidity even though it's only the beginning of June.  My projects are moving along slowly....I'm not sure I can blame it on the heat, but it does seem like planting the flowers and weeding have taken precedence over my knitting and quilting....oh, and a little anniversary vacation took place too which was followed by the birth of our newest granddaughter! So, on with the photos and comments....

This is the Noro Summer Cardigan I'm knitting, being used as a blanket by Cosette.  This is the back with the cables.  I love the color of this yarn!



These are my alliums that I planted in memory of my ex-father-in-law.  He used to grow these and I think of him alot when they come up.  As I was weeding around them I felt a tug on my shirt and thought it was Mark trying to get my attention....I was wrong.  No one was there.  It was Bernie letting me know that he thinks of me too.  That's the first time that has happened with him.  It gives you a warm feeling to know their spirit lives on.

_______________________________________________

Our trip this year was to Cape Cod.  We had never been there even though we have visited New England and Martha's Vineyard on two other trips.  It rained 5 of the 7 days we were there, but it didn't stop us from doing the siteseeing we wanted.  We drove to Provincetown, Chatham, Sandwich, Hyannisport, Dennis, Woods Hole and we stayed in a cute little cottage in Barnstable Village which was centrally located to all the places we wanted to visit.  The only place we couldn't go to was Nantucket Island because the waters were too rough...oh, well, I guess we'll have to go back another day....sigh.

 The rhododendrons were blooming at Heritage Museum and Gardens in Sandwich.  It was truly beautiful.  If you look hard at the right side of this photo you can see a flume with water flowing over it down into a pool.  What a peaceful place it was.

Here's the flume from the top...just look at the gorgeous color of that rhody!

 Look at this handsome guy I picked up while I was there!

Another rhody up close and personal.

 This is the antique car museum at the Heritage Museum and Gardens.  Mark loved visiting this part.  All of the cars were from the collection of Mr. Lilly, the son of the famed Lilly Pharmaceuticals.

This was the only car that could be touched so of course, Mark jumped right in. 

This was the view out of our cottage window.  There was a pond right there that Mark fished in and I got to enjoy the beautiful lilac tree. 

 

You can't go to Cape Cod and not see lighthouses!  This is the one in Chatham.  It was overcast that day but it was pretty neat all the same.

We cooked lobsters one night in the cottage lobster pot and they were great tasting!  Enough about our trip...on to other things....like grandchildren!

On Memorial Day we went to the Columbus Zoo with Stef, Joel and little Luke who turned 2 yrs. old today.  We saw the polar bears, penguins, lions, tigers and bears and then went into the petting zoo where Luke was fearless with the grooming brush and the goats.

"Hey, Mr. Goat, I'm pretty good at brushing, would you like brushed too?"

The other highlight of his day, after riding the choo choo was riding the carousel.  Look at the happiness on his face!

.....and then there was Haley Marie Swaggard's entrance into our family!

June 3rd was the birthdate.  We had a long day at the hospital waiting for her arrival which had to be C-section after 16 hrs. of labor for her mom.  Here's dad getting ready to go to surgery.

She wasn't too happy about the nurse checking her all out so she stretched her legs out as far as she could which shows how nice and long they will be like her mom's.  She weighed 7 lbs. 12 oz. and was 20" long.

She is just as cute as can be and look at all of that hair!  Her cousin, Maya, is in love with her and wants to hold her all the time.  We're all in love with her and can't wait to see her again.  We are so thankful that she's a healthy baby and that she and mom are doing well.

Until next time.....

Spring has sprung in our neck of the woods.

I'm enjoying the forsythia in bloom, the daffodils and hyacinths and the buds on the weeping cherry are plentiful.  The temperatures are getting milder and we've begun sleeping with our windows open.  Glorious, gorgeous spring!

My finished Breast Cancer socks which I wore to the James Stitching Sisters Annual Quilt Day.  This is the 7th year.  I've been attending this event every year since it started.  This year only one friend could join me.  That was my friend, Linda Henderson, from Salem, Ohio.  She's come the last 3 yrs. to help out and boy does she help out!  She's a quilting animal and machine quilted 3 quilts. 

Linda's first quilt she finished.

 Me piecing a pretty black, pink and white quilt.

This was kind of a collaborative effort.  I had previously pieced this quilt and took it in that day.  Linda wanted to quilt it so this was her 2nd quilt she completed.  I failed to get a photo of her 3rd quilt of the day.

Here's the finished quilt top I pieced on that day.  There were 150 ladies who came out to sew/quilt/iron/sandwich quilts that day.  I think that may be a new record.  There were also 800 quilts brought in by those ladies that they worked on at home.  It's a wonderful project and I hope those chemo patients who get to choose one know how much love goes into the stitching of the quilts.

I'm working on a little baby sweater made out of Debbie Bliss Cashmerino yarn.  It's so soft....it should feel really nice to some sweet little baby girl's skin.

____________________________________________________

So, we had another Sue Spargo quilt weekend at our friend, Paula's house.  There were 4 of us there sewing our projects and they were all different.  We usually work on our hand applique for our Magnolia quilts, but Linda H. has this quilt that she's machine quilting to enter into the NQA show coming in June.  I had to take some close-ups to show you how talented she is.  The fabric is silk and she's brave enough to use a different colored thread to make her quilting stand out.  She's amazing and I'm really excited to see this quilt hanging in the quilt show.

Here's the little block I was working on from my Magnolia quilt during that weekend.  I'm almost finished with it.  Lots of hand embroidery and beading over it.

 Another view of the same block.

Here's the next knitting project for myself.  This is the book Mark got me for a Christmas gift.  Since Araucania is no longer making the yarn shown in the photo, I was on a hunt to find the right yarn to do it in.  I was at Knitters' Mercantile here in Columbus where they were having a special sale.  If I donated $25.00 to the Red Cross for the Japan Relief I could get 25% off of any yarn in the store.  Well, I gravitated right toward the Noro yarn which I love!  This is what I chose.  It's silk, cotton and a small amount of wool in a beautiful aqua color.  It's name is Shirakaba which stands for The White Birch Group in Japanese.  There's also a lake named Shirakaba.  I'm excited to get started!

I can't remember if I already posted a photo of my Ruffle Scarf made from some yarn Mark bought me for Christmas....if so, sorry....here it is again.

....and wait until you hear this one....this beautiful sock yarn in shades of blue is made by Lorna's Lace and is called Royal Wedding.  I had to have it to commemorate the big wedding coming up on April 29th.  I bought it from Jimmy Beans website:  http://www.jimmybeans.com/

This is an I Spy quilt I'm working on for Luke to entertain him in the car.  It doesn't look too exciting yet, but it will be.  You'll have to wait to see it.

_____________________________________________________

We don't have an eternity to realize our dreams, only the time we are here.

                                                         - Susan Taylor

I lost my cat, Tara, this last Tuesday.  Every day when I wake up I think of her.  She realized her dreams.  She was the best hunter and her dream was to be outside chasing chipmunks, moles and mice.  If only life was so simple.  Try to appreciate what you have, before it's too late.