February FMQ Challenge

Hands over my face and hoping nobody looks too closely!!!.... This is my first attempt at the FMQ that I did at the beginning of this month.... I was not even going to photo it and was definitely not going to show it!!... BUT since it is the ONLY practice sample I did...(it has been a very different kind of month!!)... I definitely wanted to share my attempts for this month!! Smiles and hugs....Caryl

a week later

I took these two photos on Feb 15 with the plan to do a blog post that day.... my husband postop from gallbladder surgery developed problems... more about that below... this is one of the blocks for a santa swap at Pat Sloan's quiltmashup forum... most everyone else is done with their blocks and I am now far behind....

here is the photo of a simple Valentine card to my sweetie... I used the stars and swirls embossing folder.... I cut out the hearts with my AccuQuilt GO!.... then stitched them with zigzag stitch... added some worn lipstick distress ink in spots... Smiles and hugs....Caryl ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~husband medical update....~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dave had the gallbladder surgery on Feb 9 and this was due to stones they discovered last Sept when he had severe pancreatitis. The surgeon was waiting for some pseudocysts to decrease in size before doing the gallbladder surgery and they did decrease. THEN on the am of Feb 15 he had sudden severe abdominal pain and we went to ER and he was admitted to the hospital and he was there for a week. He had an abdominal (hospital) infection and bile leaking from somewhere in the abdomen. So he was on IV antibiotics and they inserted a drain in his abdomen to drain the bile. He is home now with the drain and oral antibiotics....hopefully the bile leak will stop on its own! Still on a wait and see basis.....

Happy Valentine's Day

another practice Ohio star

I just had to do another practice Ohio star using a different method... I used the X method of sewing on each side of the line and cutting along the drawn lines... I like this method MUCH better than sewing each triangle separately... BUT I had trouble again in putting the rows together.... I didn't get the match very good on the top left intersection... very bulky with all the layers of seams... BUT swap partners.....heads up here....I am working on the blocks for the swap... I used frosted dots by Lakehouse for my practice blocks... I am using Kona white for the swap blocks and Christmas colors... Smiles and hugs....Caryl

Ohio star practice

Oh help!! I signed up for an Ohio star swap.... using Christmas fabric.... and I decided to make a practice block...

I am looking for a better way.... and some tips.... I know I have a tendency to pull the fabric when I sew... and working with bias edges you have to be careful not to stretch the fabric... hope I can do a better job with the Christmas fabric!! AND.....I am trying a lot of new things lately... my word for the year is choices..... and I am pushing to make choices to learn new things... Smiles and hugs....Caryl

another finish

Last night with my Tuesday night quilt group... I finished another project in January... the Be Attitudes Be Warm mini quilt by Nancy Halvorsen... I added some heart-shaped leaves I learned from the FMQ challenge... It feels so good to have this done.... Smiles and hugs....Caryl