Back to Blogging

I think blogging is a little bit like back in the old days when we wrote snail mail letters to our friends. After we get so far behind, you can't remember where you left off with the last letter so it's just easier not to write.

Here is a little bit of what I've been doing the past few days or so:

I've been planting flowers. Last year on June 2nd I had knee replacement surgery, and I don't even remember if there were flowers planted last summer or not. So this year I am more than making up for it. These geraniums are on my front step.

A close up of one of the blooms.A close up of one of the blooms out on the deck in back.

This is a mandevilla. I just love this plant. Too bad it is only an annual in our zone, but it will bloom just like this all summer.

Some pink begonias on the deck.

I have jumped on the Klotje band wagon along with many others in blog land. These spool blocks are made from the Inklingo Patchwork of the Crosses collection. Visit the Inklingo site. There is a free collection that you can download and try out for free.

Here is the sock blanket that I've been working on for at least a year.

I did a little shopping this past week. These are some batiks that I bought to make Inklingo triangles. Some of these are from Edyta Sitar of Laundry Basket quilts.

Here are some of the backgrounds I bought.

The quilt I am making is from this book. The quilt I want to make only takes 768 half square triangles. That should be easy enough, right? I'll show you how I print the inklingo triangles onto my fabric using my computer printer next time.
Hope you find some time for stitching today.

Asking You A Favor

I'd like to ask a favor of all of my readers. Every year, Amazon.com runs the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Contest (ABNA). My son, Jason Krug, has a young adult novel -- "The Coming of the Heroes" -- He has been working on it for the better part of eight or nine years and submitted it to the contest back in January. From an initial pool of 5,000 young adult entries, his novel is now one of the top 250. I'm inviting anyone and everyone to check out his excerpt (the prologue and first chapter) and, if the mood takes you, to rate it and leave a review. The more reviews he can get, the better the novel will look overall, which is always a good thing. So, how do you rate it, you ask? Simple...

1. Click this link that will take you to a PDF file of the excerpt. There is also a link on the amazon page to download the book to your Kindle, PC, MAC, iPhone or Blackberry. The excerpt is FREE, but you have to click the Buy It Now button to be able to download it.

2. After you've read the excerpt (the prologue and the first chapter), go to this link on Amazon and scroll down the page to where it says "Create your own review" on the right hand side to rate and review the excerpt. This won't help him through to the next level of the contest, but if he progresses far enough, these reviews will effect the hearts and minds of people who could potentially move him on even further.

Thank you in advance. Hope you are all having a Happy Easter.

Weekend Projects

I've finished up these churn dash blocks that I started quite awhile ago. I hope to get them sewn into a quilt top by the end of the weekend.

I'm crocheting another baby afghan from the basketweave blanket pattern that I got at Knitting Today up in Wolcotville in northern Indiana.
Here is a close up of the blanket. Looks like I'm in a pink mood.And, I've started to crochet this baby afghan. The picture doesn't do the colors justice, but it is aqua, green, pink blue and off white variegated yarn.

I'm trying to use up some of the fabric and yarn I have here and finish up some of my UFOs. I haven't bought much so far this year. But, then there is the retreat up in Shipshewana. There is some good shopping to be done there.

The weather here is gorgeous. I know there won't be any more snow this season because we spent a lot of time looking for a new snow shovel - one of the plastic type ones that is lighter weight. We found one after we had all of the big snows, and it hasn't snowed since. It will look pretty just sitting there in the garage. That's just fine with me. I'm ready for spring. Hope you are all stitching, knitting or crocheting this weekend.

What I've Been Up To Lately

This week my daughter, Kim, has been here visiting since it is her spring break from Purdue. We've been busy and have been having fun. Bill took today off work, so we went to see a couple of movies. This morning we saw Alice in Wonderland with Johnny Depp as The Mad Hatter. It was good but not quite what I expected. It has been so many years since I read the book that I don't know how closely this movie follows the book.

Then this evening we went to see Avatar. This is not quite the type of movie that I would choose, but I'm glad I saw it. It was interesting with lots of special effects. Do you remember back in the day when we used to wear those 3-D glasses with one red lens and one blue lens? Well both movies that we saw today were in 3-D. Things don't quite jump out at you like they used to, but it does give the movies a little extra something. I've read where this is the wave of the future for movies and that there are many more to come out in 3-D in the future. I brought my glasses home for a blog picture, but at some point I'll take them back to the theater and drop them in the recycle box. I've also been doing a little handwork. Here is a basket weave baby blanket I've been knitting. I really love this pattern. It was a pattern that the owner of Knitting Today in Wolcotville, Indiana, gave me a couple of years ago when I was there. I've also had the fever to crochet a granny square baby blanket so here is the one I've been working on. I'm almost out of yarn so this might be about the finished size.
Hope you are all finding some time to stitch....or knit or crochet today.

Hope you are all finding some time to stitch....or knit or crochet today.

Bloomington Quilt Show

This past weekend was the Indiana Heritage Quilt Show in Bloomington, Indiana. For the first time I entered two of my quilts in the show, and I received a Judge's Recognition ribbon on my mini nine patch quilt.
I also entered my Nearly Insane quilt.
Here is the group of us after the show. Look at the stained glass windows. Are we at prayer meeting? What's wrong with this picture?

Left to right: Theresa, Carol, me, Claire, Marie and Edith. It was a fun day with quilts, fabric and friends.

You can see other photos from the quilt show on my webshots page: http://community.webshots.com/user/luann426

Hope you find some time to stitch today.

A Few Finishes

These socks are made from malibrigo yarn that was a gift from my friend, Pam, for my last birthday. I made these socks with the yarn, and they are soooooo warm and comfy. I still have some of the yarn left to make something else. I'm thinking....I finished this man's scarf. I had about a half skein to finish on this scarf. Now it's done.

I worked on this scarf in my down time while I was in Lafayette. This is an easy pattern at the misti alpaca website as a free download.

These are fleece blankets that I've crocheted around to donate to Project Linus.
Yes, this is a knit dishcloth. Doesn't everyone knit their own dishclothes? Ha Ha This is from the first Mason Dixon knitting book. I love both of their books. I have several more things started from that first book. When I found this dishcloth in a bag almost finished, it was on some really nice wooden needles that I needed to start yet another project. So in order to free up those needles, I finished this. There is more cotton yarn waiting to be worked up.

A day without knitting is like a day without sunshine.....or is that a day without raisins????????

Another Gift

I'm still sorting and organizing in my sewing room. This cute little tin was a gift from my friend, Vicki, at the Dear Jane retreat in Shipshewana last November. The tin is just the perfect size to hold my little basket blocks from When The Cold Wind Blows by Barb Adams and Alma Allen. Their books are always great.

Here are a few of the baskets that I have finished.

I bought this book at Lollys in Shipshewana during our fall retreat. You can become a Lollys fan on Facebook.Hope you are doing some stitching today.