Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all my blogging friends, hope 2007 brings good health, happiness and peace. Nancy

Shari's Wool Block

I finished this table mat that was inspired by a quilt of a friend of mine, Shari, she has this wonderful old antique quilt and sent me the pattern for one block. I redesigned the border, added green sashing, adding the scallops and appliqued it all in wool on the white wool background. Hand quilted in white wool thread using white wool felt for the backing and the binding is a simple button hole stitch with lime green wool thread. Some of the flowers have beads for their centers, others have roving that I felted to the background flowers. I love three dimensional work.

Merry Christmas

My favorite Christmas card by B. Kliban

More Christmas

The first picture is another Christmas ornament made by a member of my Yahoo group, Anthea made this wonderful prim ornament with prairie cloth and applique, I will leave it out after the holidays, think I will hang it from a doorknob, couldn't bear to put it away. A picture of our artificial trees, those trees that come in a set of three, not my first choice, but Jim won't let me cut down a real one. And then the little moose fishing is for Jim's doc who is a fly fisherman, and his legs are just about that long and skinny.

Jim is home

It has been an unbelievable experience for him, all he wanted to do was visit his Mom in Florida after her mastectomy. Jim has his own disabilities, but he knew he has to do this. He left right before Thanksgiving, our first attempt failed, he missed the flight when he woke up late, had to stop for gum drops, got to the airport with only a few minutes to spare and I promptly locked the car with the car still running and of course the keys in the ignition. I turned to Jim for his set and the dreaded, words came out, "I didn't bring them". One sheriff later, who refused my begging and pleading to shoot the window out or the lock on the door called a locksmith and $60.00 later, the car was unlocked. I was running with his luggage, Jim had checked in already to speed the process, was in line, had his shoes off, being searched and the sound of the plane taking off without him almost brought me to tears.

We spent the one and one half hour drive home trying to decide who to blame.

So the next day the flight left even earlier and I had to go to work, so up at the unreasonable hour of 3 in the morning we left. Smooth sailing, couldn't believe it, the hardest part was making it thru work after being up that long. I did carry an extra key in my pocket after that.

So Jim spent his month in Florida and was ready to come home this weekend. Spent the money to change the flight, his brother was to take him at a reasonable hour, all the disability assistance had been set up, someone to meet him and take him in a wheelchair to each gate. So Jim and his brother get to the Orlando airport and his brother drops him off at the curb, with his baggage, no assistance, left him there, didn't wait to see if he was helped inside. Just drove on home. Jim missed the
plane. Had no where to go, as if he could get there if he wanted, finally was taken by a supervisor who rented a car for him and he drove back to his Mom's house in Melbourne, about an hour away. The airplane service was kind enough to change the flight without charging him.

Another try yesterday. Had to leave Melbourne and get to Orlando by midafternoon, recieved a call from his Mom that he was in Orlando and lost, standing at a pay phone in some neightborhood talking to his Mom at a payphone, don't know why he doesn't carry a cell phone, but he doesn't, anyway, while he's talking, two men run up and rob everything that is in the front seat, didn't get his bag or wallet and thank goodness they didn't have any guns. He tells his Mom he's coming back to Melbourne, an hour away. We don't hear a thing for hours, hours, not a word. So not knowing which rental agency he had used, I started calling everyone and of course the last one on the list and there are many, there is his name, but he is overdo. I leave an urgent message to call me. I wait, and wait for the phone to ring. An hour later, he calls, he found the airport and they are rushing him in a wheelchair to the gate.

I don't hear from him again, so I drive to Bozeman at ten o'clock at night, dark and freezing, praying he's on the plane. When I get to the airport, the board says all planes are on time, an hour later, still no plane, and the board says all planes have arrived, a man went for me to the counter because I was sure I was going to have a heartache from the stress to tell them they were still missing a plane. "Oh, the clerk says, the board is incorrect, that flight has been delayed." Mechanical difficulities which really meant they were overbooked and if it hadn't been for the kindness of a stranger who flies that route all the time told them Jim was too sick not to make that flight or Jim would still be in Salt Lake City, so this stranger helped him the rest of the flight and he finally arrived at one in the morning. Oh, the kindness of strangers after such an awful day. That's the spirit of Christmas.

Hope of Feathers

This is a quilt I designed for my boss at work for Christmas, she has been thru so much in the last months, her brother was seriously injured in an automobile accident and sustained severe injuries, brain damage, but she never wavers in her hope for his recovery. I had seen an art quilt using feathers in a pocket in Quilting Arts, and then just happened on this saying from Emily Dickinsen and my mind went to work. I would never had come across the saying if I had not read May Britt's blog about the advent story and the subsequent webpages that were linked. Funny how we are all connected and inspired when you least expect it.

Vintage Christmas Postcards

I love these old postcards, some are from Jim's Grandmother, some I bought, fun to read the messages, one cent stamps, not a zip code on them and the pictures depict such quaint and sweet scenes, we should all have such fond memories.

Christmas Snowman Pin Cushion

This is just the most prim Snowman pin cushion from Dixie, a member of my group for our Christmas swap, the black star on top is secured with white beaded pins. Too cute. I will have to put it on a shelf out of harms way since Bailey has already grabbed it in his mouth and wanted to take off running with it. It will be a treasure.

Why do I applique?

I made the statement on my group that applique changed my quilting forever, have been pondersing that statement ever since. I made lots of quilts before I discovered primitive folk art, those early quilts were just quilts for me, they didn't really speak to me or for me, when I started making primitive quilts, I found that side of my creative self that I could only express with applique, shapes and designs that layer my thoghts into fabric. Working with my hands in a slow, methodical expression of creativity that machine stitching fails to provide. A slow process by hand that lets me connect to the textures of fabrics, that renders a picture like a painting of fabric or replicate a picture that someone else must of dreamed about, or a scene that inspired them. I enjoy that process and expression.

KT and Christmas ornaments

My sweet KT did just fine with having two teeth pulled, brought her home yesterday and she's been up in my fabric room away from the other cats so she can have some piece and quiet. Bailey, my Burmese, is alittle perturbed since he thinks that rooms is his, there is a pic posted of how he decided to show his displeasure in the bathroom. Pets can be so funny.

My yahoo group exchanged Christmas ornaments and this is the first one I received from Debbie, she is so talented, she's had her work shown in Create & Decorate, the ornament is beyond prim with a little Let it Snow button.

Sweet KT

I'm off from work on Mondays, and today was suppose to be a sewing day or walk up to the cabin in the snow and bring back my three little artifical Christmas trees to start decorating, but my sweet KT wouldn't eat last night or this morning, so I called the vet and off we go to town, 40 miles, to check her out. Poor thing, her front tooth was hanging loose, so she will have it pulled tomorrow. She's Jim's cat, it's like how one pet will latch on to only one owner, but she was so good despite the pain, and it broke my heart to leave her, I'm sure she doesn't understand, especially with Jim out of town for going on 2 weeks now with his ill Mother. I'm hoping they will let me bring her home after work tomorrow so she doesn't feel totally abandoned. That's her laying on her heating pad, her favorite spot in front of the heater.

Deer and Mercer Lane

A few pictures to share today. The deer are two different bucks that I'm thrilled made it thru hunting season, the first pic of the deer and wish you could see him better is missing part of his antler, broke it in a fight, he's sweet, he runs with a fawn that he has taken under his wing. The fawn lost her mother earlier this year to a predator I guess, she had a dislocated hip and would limp and she had been coming to the property with this bad leg for several years. She raised twin fawns every year. I'm afraid I don't know what happened to the other fawn. The other deer is just such a beautiful buck, he stays back, but will come up to drink when I put warm water out. Hope I find these antlers when they are shed, my husband, Jim, when he was well, use to make buttons for me from them. Now I like to display them in the house to remind me of such beautiful creatures.

And to add some quilting news, yea, I finished the top of Mercer Lane, will machine quilt it next weekend after I receive a blue backing fabric from Sue Spargo's Terra line.

A frigid week

We certainly have been having our share of winter weather, 13 below, and then 70 mile an hour winds, more snow, but today I'm off and the weather has improved so I was able to get some things done outside, shovel the deck, hated to since there were little deer prints there in the snow. Wish I had been home to see which deer climbed the stairs to the deck. Warm enough for me to move the bird baths closer to the house so I can crack the ice and put water out for the wildlife without hiking thru the snow.

While I was out, a small herd of elk came thru the lower meadow, they are such elegant animals, very graceful when they walk even tho they are huge animals, always seem to follow one after the other in a line, don't know why, but they are very shy and run at the slightest noise, I was able to climb a small hill looking down on them, but not a closeup with my digital, wishing for a zoom lens, anyway, if you look closely, you can see them walking in a line up a hill.