Oh Yeah!

I almost forgot to show my other two pictures. I posted them on my yahoo account, but I want to show them here too. First is a little quilt that I will finish and send to Quilts for Kids along with the quilt from the kit they sent me. It is done with 24 8" blocks, to keep the size small. I made as many blocks as I could using that cute bright yellow bee fabric. I will have to find some more of that. I love the happy bright color and the bees are so cute!
The other is my YTRR with Round 4 done. It took awhile, because I ran out of the background fabric-the white print. It is from a Connecting threads collection, so I had to wait until I could afford to order it, then wait for it to come. And they were out of the first one!!! I thought, well I'll just use the other one they had that was similar. They blend OK. Look closely and you can see the different ones, but far away-they are OK!

Design Wall Monday-on Tuesday

I have alot of strings and strips and they are piled in a big laundry sorting bin. At the time, it seemed like a good idea, and they are fun to dig through, but I'm thinking I need a better system! As I stated yesterday, I have worked on cutting these scraps into various sized usable pieces. And I am making progress! All of the strips shown here (on the cutting table) are going into my Pineapple blossum quilt! All are cut from the scraps and strips I have in the bin, except the light squares, alot of these come from fat quarters and left over strips in my stash. Using up scraps...gotta love that! Thanks for the inspiration Bonnie Hunter!!!

Design Wall Monday...Oh Darn!

I say oh Darn, because the photos are not transfering from camera to computer! This happened once before, but I can't remember how we fixed it. My sweet Shara will have to come to my rescue!
I have a new quilt too on the design wall. It is a Bonnie Hunter pattern-Pineapple Blossum. I have also been cutting up scraps and putting them in a little three drawer storage system that I picked up at a thrift store. I already can see I need another one! I have 1.5 and 2" squares in one drawer, 2.5" in another drawer, and a few 3.5 and 4.5 in the last drawer, along with some 2.5 by 4.5 squares that will be great for flying geese units. I was amazed how many I had cut up and how many 1.5" squares I have!
Well, I will just have to post those photos later. Darn It!!! I also am about done with a couple new quilts for my etsy shop.
Speaking of which, Saturday I went to a lunch hosted by Kim from sentamentalstones.etsy.com. Several Eastern WA team members were there. It was a nice time of sharing and support. I feel excited about etsy again!

God bless

Mary

Grateful Heart SAmpler

I wanted to show this one. I blogged about it some time ago, when it was design wall stage. I love how it turned out, and it is posted on my etsy site for sale. I will put it in this year's quilt show, provided it does not sell. The way sales have been lately, I don't think that is a problem!!!

God Bless

Mary

Design Wall Monday-a day early!

This is the little quilt top I made with my hearts and flower blocks. I used the hourglass setting. It is a favorite setting of mine. I also found out I won some fabric from Carol Doak! Last time I won some, it was very nice fabric. I can't wait to see it, and I'll have to use it in something special!
I'm going to try to get one quilt top quilted today, then work on yellow centered Heartstrings blocks. I also have my round 4 on the YTRR to finish! So many projects, hard to choose just one!

God Bless

Mary

Little Hearts and Flowers blocks

I thought I would show a couple of these. They are 6" hearts and flowers blocks from Carol Doak's website under free blocks. She is doing a free fabric give away and all you have to do is make these and post them on the yahoo site. Easy-peasy! I have made 15 of them so far, and I think I will keep making them until I have enough for a small quilt for Quilts for Kids. They are really fun and easy to make!

Design Wall Monday and Pets

I want to show my finished Mariner's Compass top today. I enjoyed making it, now will put it in line to quilt. May take awhile!
I found Ziggy hiding under Shara' coat playing peeka boo, so got a shot of him. The others were just hanging around. Walter goes in his kennel any time he thinks something is a threat. I guess he was intimidated by the camera! Boxer is our Akita. He is a hansome boy! Sadie is the calico-likes to sleep in the middle of the living room. Shalom is the yellow cat. He looks very grumpy in that picture, but he really is sweet. His front teeth stick out of his mouth and we call him a saber tooth cat. They are a fun group and keep us happy and busy! We went for a walk with the dogs this am. It felt good to get out and stretch! I am hoping to make that a regular thing! It has been too long!!!

God bless

Mary

This was an oops! I hit enter at the wrong time! Isn't Ziggy cute though!

Day shift

I must admit, I found day shift to be a challenge. I have a renewed respect for what nurses do on days. I found it very challenging to make sure all the meds were given on time, and other patient needs met. The nurse I worked with-Nancy- is a real gem. We had four patients at the beginning of the shift, then an admit and a discharge. It is amazing even with the aide's help and a resource RN to help with admitting and discharge how busy one stays! And Nancy said she would normally have that whole group herself! It was a great experience and I learned alot. That was the main goal for today, and at the end of the day, I can say goal met! I think the rest of the day is going to be watching American Idol and stitching bindings. Easy stuff!
Tomorrow is a class day!

God bless
Mary

Blog of Interest

I read an interesting article in the newspaper today about a young man named Nicholas Rapp who is traveling around the world driving and camping. I am going to follow this blog, as there is alot to learn when one travels. You can link to the site from my sidebar.
I think it will be an interesting journey to follow. Maybe someday, Shara and I could take an epic trip like this! Or maybe just around the USA.
If you could travel like this, where would you go? I would love the visit the eastern side of the States. Many of the people I meet online live in Maine or Minnisota. For me it would be a trip to meet in person many of these people, as well as going to some of the great quilt shows and shops I read about.
Mary H

Design Wall Monday..again

So here is my Mariner's Compass Sampler with all the blocks plugged into the setting. I will start to sew it together today. I am going to have a fairly busy week with classes and working a day shift (shudder) tomorrow. After today, I might just work on Heartstrings blocks between shifts, so I have something easy to work on.
I know I say shudder, just because I am not used to working days! At night, we don't do discharges, except on rare occasions, and mostly patients stay on the unit, and doctors are not there writing orders. Contrary to some nurse's opinion, patients DO NOT sleep all night! When they sleep, it is only for a short while. Lots of things interrupt their sleep, but we try to protect it as muich as we can. OK, I'm digressing! I'll post about my day shift experience when I can!

God Bless
Mary

Today, I want to share three quilts that I have for charity. The first is a string quilt top I plan to quilt and donate to the mountain of quilts display at this years quilt show in Oct. For more info, go to the WSQ web site on the sidebar. The other two will be given to Sallie House. The small colorful squares one this month at our guild meeting, and the other probably at the quilt show. I really like that one, it is very soft and cuddly with the soft denim like owl fabric on the back, so I may have a hard time letting go of it! I need to put it away, so I woun't "bond" with it! I guess I'm still a blanket baby at heart! LOL!

Happy Easter and God Bless!
Mary

Answer to Helen's comment

I have done several paper pieced Mariner's Compass. I don't think I would want to try it without paper piecing! They require such precise piecing that I know I couldn't doit the traditional way! I did do one many years ago with traditional templates and hand pieced it. As you can see, I only said I did ONE! I had another one cut out, but it lay buried for many years under other things. Yes, for me paper piecing is the way to go! I have 3.5 blocks done now, I'll post another photo soon, when I get more blocks done.

I have appreciated all the well wishes on my new job. I have worked two nights at it, and yes, it is hectic, and I love it so far! The manager said ACU is a dynamic unit...now I know what she means!There is so much to learn, and things move at a fast pace. I learned last night that when someone is on a cardizem drip-vital signs-esp blood pressure and heart rate are, well, vital! The VS must be watched very carefully-the heart rate or blood pressure could drop suddnely! My peceptor Jana is sssooo awesome! I've learned alot from her already! I also am taking some classes for three days next week-Essentials of rhythm strips, and Basics of Advanced care. That will be great learning opportunites too!

God bless
Mary