Last Day of the Dresden Blog Hop!

Today is the last day of the Dare to Dresden Blog Hop!!! You need to check out these blogs and see what beautiful items they made using Dresden's. I have seen some beautiful quilts, wall hangings, mug rugs, etc. Check them out for yourself. This is today's schedule;

January 31^th, 2013

Clothes and Crafts

Quilting Prolifically

Patchouli Moon Studio

Mountain Quiltworks

In Ga

Dachsies with Moxie

Color My World

Shepody Mountain Crafter

Christa Quilts

Moosestash Quilting

Lavender Quilts

Never 2 Many Quilts

Clothes and Crafts
Cathy's Chatter

Madame Samm @ Sew We Quilt 

Tomorrow, I will be showing you some pictures of the finished crazy quilt. It will ship to the client either today or tomorrow! I pray that she loves it as much as I do. So, stay tuned!

Be blessed,

Teresa

Quilting and Puppy Update

Good morning! I am sorry I haven't been keeping my blog up-to-date daily. I just haven't had a lot to say. I do want to give you an update on the puppies and on the crazy quilt.

The puppies are improving everyday. I am so happy and so is DH. We have gone outside with them the past few days in the afternoon and have enjoyed watching them playing and being silly. I sat down on the ground with them yesterday and Blaze lay down beside me and chewed on his new bone. Dusty climbed on top of me giving me kisses and caused me to wind up on my back with her kissing me on my neck and loving on me. She is a big girl. She weighs almost sixty pounds. So, I didn't do to well to stay upright. LOL They are both such pretty dogs and look so different. I pray they continue to improve in their health. 

The crazy quilt is technically finished. I put the binding on it Sunday, but I want to add a few yoyos to camouflage a few stray stitches on the sashing. I like the way it looks. I am afraid though that wrestling the huge quilt to sew on it has inflamed the nerve in my neck where I had two epidurals last summer. I have started hurting again. Not really bad, but enough to take something where I feel up to doing something. I will show another picture of it when I get the yoyos on it.

My plan for this today is to make yoyos and start adding them to the quilt. I want to be able to mail the quilt something this week to its new owner. I also will start working on the crazy quilt pillows that the same client wants me to make. On Friday I have to go to the hospital to get my prep and get set up for my first colonoscopy. Yuck! But, since I am over fifty and my dad had colon cancer and so did a brother or two of his, I need to have a base line one done. Definitely not looking forward to the prep and having it done. Just want it over with. 

I found two new online sites for fabric this weekend/week. One is http://www.seawatchfabrics.com and the second one is www.thequiltinggarden.com. They both have beautiful fabric. So check them out and see what you can find.

Have a blessed day!

Teresa

Dare to Dresden

Dare to Dresden Day 2

Dare to Dresden Day 2!!
What a Party we have going!!! Dresden's are EVERYWHERE!!! 
I can't pick any favorites because I am falling in love with them all!

I am so Happy to Cheer with Mdm Samm 

from Sew We Quilt and Host this Blog Hop...

Today's Schedule is showcasing the following Blogs... 

I can't wait to see what they will be sharing!!!
Please CHEER them on!!

New visitors..just click on the Blog Name to be directed to their blog

January 25^th, 2013

Gingersnap Quilts

Busy Bee Quilts

She Sews the Blues

Traveling Quilter

Grand Mama's Stories

Cherry Blossoms Quilting Studio

Sew at Home Mummy

The Slow Quilter

Pig Tales and Quilts

Annie Oak Design

Jane's Fabrics & Quilts

Tea Time Creations

Mo Broker My Creative Side

Just Let Me Quilt

Words and Stitches

Just Keep Swimming

Sew Many Yarns

Sowing Stitches

Jane's Quilting
My Patchwork Life
2muchfun

Pumpkin Patch Quilter
Quilt Monster in my Closet  

Copied from Quilt Monster in my Closet blog

Folks, you need to go and check out these blogs. They are making some beautiful Dresden's. I am so enjoying looking at them. If you go and comment, let them know I sent you. For a full schedule, go to Quilt Monster in my Closet's blog.

Teresa

Puppy Update and Crazy Quilt Update

Good evening my friends. I pray everyone is well and showing how creative you can be. I wanted to pop in and give an update on the puppies and the crazy quilt.

Today, we brought the puppies home. They are feeling much better and happy to be back in their place. They were so happy to see us when we got them! We have to give them three antibiotics a day. One of them three times a day, one one time a day and one two times a day! Wow, I'm glad my husband is good with stuff like this and is taking care of it. They have been really sick and since they are outside dogs, we left them a couple more days at the vet where they were given more time to get their medicine and to get better and stay warm. It has been really cold here at night and didn't want them to sleep outside. We are thrilled they are better and pray that we can continue their medicine and they get well. 

The crazy quilt is almost finished!!!! All is needed now is binding and a few embellishments added. I am pleased for the most part in how it turned out. Not really happy with the sashing stitches, but I did the best I could. Let's see some recent pictures of it.

Top photos are of the front and bottom photos are of the back. Two quilts in one!  Do not copy these photos without my permission. Teresa's Quilt Journey

What do you think? I am liking it myself, and the client for whom it was made loves it so far. I am glad this thing is almost done. Ready to get the binding done and embellishments and move on. It has definitely been a learning experience. I enjoyed working on this, but have no desire to do a king sized one for a while.

I pray you all have a blessed day and trust God for healing for all those who are sick. I thank you for following my blog and my journey in the world of quilting.

Teresa

Sick Puppies

I pray that this Monday morning finds you all well and crafty! I am up early due to a coughing spell, and the fact I couldn't go back to sleep. I decided to write my blog post for today filling you in about my sick puppies and a crazy quilt update w/o pictures. 

Cammie not long after getting her

Cammie right before she died

Blaze and Dusty

We adopted two puppies from the local shelter in August 2012 after the sudden death of our precious Cammie (top photos) who was hit by a truck in July. The above picture of Blaze and Dusty is not long after we got them. 

They have helped us some to get over the passing of Cammie. We were closer to Cammie than any dog we have ever had before. Part of it is she found skin cancer on my DH's leg. We may have never found it without her. It was all because she kept licking that spot on his leg. All of these babies are mixed breeds, but Blaze is more Australian Shepherd than anything. He is small/medium build, too. Dusty is getting huge! She is younger than Blaze, but much bigger. She is worming her way into DH's heart much like Cammie did.

Well, to get to their sickness, Blaze injured a paw some how since Christmas. He would not let us get close to it, so we couldn't doctor it as needed. After a week  or so, he started acting like he felt really bad and had a fever to the touch. He got worse and worse, so we called our vet, explained the issue and prescribed some antibiotics. He took them for a few days and some baby aspirin for the fever and perked up like his normal self. Then all of a sudden, Dusty got to acting sick. We thought that Blaze's illness may have been from his foot. But, Blaze got worse again, so we took them both to the vet on Friday. We found out to our dismay that they both have fevers and high white blood cell counts. It was determined that they have Hepatozoonosis. I know, it is a horrible sounding term and is a horrible disease/virus. Pets get it by ingesting a Gulf Coast tick or an animal who has the virus. We live in Alabama, but not close to the coast. These ticks are moving northward. If they don't get treatment with three different medicines early, then it can be fatal. We are praying that we caught their illness in time. Blaze had lost seven pounds since Christmas. He has been sick the longest. We left them at the vet over the weekend where treatment could be started. Blaze had a really high fever, and the vet was very concerned. We haven't heard from them since Friday, but we pray that today we get some good news. They have to take this medicine for two to three weeks, then take some kind of powder medicine for several years to prevent a relapse. So, pray for our puppies and for us that we can take care of them properly. No, we had NEVER heard of this disease before. There usually aren't very many cases in Alabama per year, but we started this year off with two.

Crazy Quilt Update

I have one more horizontal seam to sew together on the quilt and it will all be together. I will then add the border and do some embellishing on the quilt, too. My stitching on the sashing seams are not nearly as good as I wanted them to be, so I hope I can improve the looks by adding some yoyos and maybe a few buttons here and there. Maybe even some crocheted flowers. Keep your fingers crossed that the lady I'm making this for will love it. 

This is all for now. Take care of yourselves with all of this sickness going around. Be creative and make someone happy with your creations!
May God Bless you,
Teresa

Crazy Quilt Update

Crazy Shortcut Quilt (Marguerita McManus) that I've been working on for several months shows progress! Yeah!!! I have three rows sashed and sewn together as of yesterday. I like the way it is looking except my sashing stitches are not up to my standards. It is difficult to do decorative stitching on  a narrow strip and do it straight!. I sure hope she likes it anyway. :D The top two pictures are showing the top and the bottom two pictures are showing the back. In essence, it will be two quilts in one. One side soft colors and the other side wild. LOL This is the first one I've ever made like this and it is QAYG method. I wouldn't mind making another one, but definitely not king sized. It is huge!!!!! I can't even lay out the entire seven square row across my queen sized bed. I think it will look nice on a king sized bed when it is finished. I'm definitely not looking forward to doing the binding on this quilt. I plan to finish the last four rows by sewing them to each other today and then the decorative stitching on the sashing. Then it will be ready for binding. I know the client is excited and anxiously waiting for her quilt. I ready for her to have it. It has been an enjoyable and learning project. I want to try a Christmas lap sized quilt for me and see how it turns out. Give me your feedback as to how you think it looks. The pictures actually do not do justice to the actual quilt.

What crafty activities have you been up to lately? Have a blessed day!

Teresa

Friday Progress

Hello my friends! I pray you are having a good day so far. As I told you in my last post, I have been sick. I am sick under the weather, but am feeling better. I'm still coughing a good bit, and my head is still buzzing, but I feel better. This bronchitis and the flu my DH has been dealing with has kicked us in the knees big time. It has been about three years since either of us have been sick with a cold/flu/bronchitis, etc. I have not missed being sick at all. On top of us being sick, one of our pups has been dealing with a sore foot. He has been lethargic and has had us worried. We were able to get him some antibiotics from the vet yesterday, so prayerfully he will show improvement soon, too. 

Sewing/Quilting News

I was able to go to Bama Belles, my quilt group's meeting on Tuesday. I didn't do a lot, but did meet with my buddy Bev to show her the items I have purchased to make my first crazy quilt pillows for the client that I'm making the crazy quilt for. I also took parts of the crazy quilt with me, a row that is completed, and one that was sewn together, but not completely sashed, to show to my quilting buddies. They said it was looking great, so of course, that boosted my confidence. :D Thanks ladies, I really needed the boost. I was able to demonstrate to them how I'm doing the quilt-as-you-go method taught in the book, Crazy Shortcut Quilts by Marguerita McManus and her daughter. That is where the pattern and instructions for the quilt came from, too. The ladies were interested in seeing how I was accomplishing this. I still did not feel well, but had to go to Hobby Lobby to purchase pillow forms for the two pillows where I would then have all items I need for making the pillows. The pillows will be different in several ways from the quilt. One, they will have some different and fancier fabrics in them, plus, I will be doing embellishments such as flowers, buttons, trims, lace, etc. on them. I have never done anything like this, but I'm excited to do so. I just pray I can do justice to the process and make beautiful pillows. 

part of one row of the crazy quilt. Sashing sewn together, but not completed.

Close up of front seam not completely closed.

Back of the seam.

I also will be working today on cutting out my Stitches From the Heart swap project. I have been getting scraps together to make what I'm making for a fellow Stitches member. I have to get it done! I will go in there shortly and start cutting the pieces to make sure I have enough. The lady loves red and white, and so do I, but I am going the more country look with a variety of reds and some muslin instead. Keep your fingers crossed.

I have several projects in my mind that I'm wanting to do, but my health has to improve for me to get much done. Keep praying that it will.

I will share pictures of more completed parts of the quilt as I get it done, and of course, the final completion. I want to hear about your creative successes and what you are working on at this time and your plans. Have a blessed day.

Teresa

Friday Frets

I am sorry to let you know that I won't be doing much as far as blogging in the next several days. I am sick!!! Hubby is getting over the flu. Not exactly sure what I've got. Felt better yesterday, but got up this morning feeling awful. Coughing, sore throat, headache, etc. Keep me in your prayers.

Quilt wise:
I am seeing the light at the end of the tunnel on the crazy shortcut quilt I'm making. I have one row finished with decorative stitching on the sashing. I have the other six rows sashed together and ready for finishing touches on the sashes by doing the last connection with decorative stitches. Then it is to sew the rows together horizontally, decoratively stitch the two connecting seams and bind the quilt. I am excited to see it nearing the finish.I will share pictures of the final processes at a later day. I then have two sofa crazy quilt pillows to make, and a yoyo bed runner for the same client. I am in a swap on my wonderful group page of Stitches From the Heart on Facebook and will be make a sewing machine cover for my assigned friend. There is also a BOM happening on the same page making SunBonnet Sue blocks for a quilt. I have to get well where I can get this all done.

Keep me in your prayers. Love you all, and take care of yourselves.

Teresa

Quilts for Sandy Hook First Responders

This post is copied from Having Fun Quilting blog to spread the word for Julie.

Sandy Hook First Responder Quilts

Happy New Year, Everyone!

I hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Now that the holidays are behind us, it's time to get busy making quilts! :) The response I've received from those wanting to donate quilts has been AMAZING, but we still need a LOT more! This blog post will give you all the details about these special quilts.

• The quilts should be approximately 60" x 72" since they are going to adults.
• The quilts need to be pieced, quilted, and bound. Not tied and not rag quilts. ***(See more details at the bottom)
• If you would like to do a quilt for a particular first responder, e-mail me at julie@cut.net, and I will give you a name of a man or woman who responded that day. If you get a name from me, please either embroider or applique their name on their quilt. If you don't want to embroider or applique a name, then just send in a quilt without getting a name from me - preferably one that is specifically for a man or woman.
• If you would like to include a letter or note with your quilt, I will attach it to your quilt so the recipient will get it, too.
• If you would like to make a quilt with novelty fabric (i.e., fireman, police, etc.) I will make sure it gets to the appropriate person.

The names I've been getting of the policemen, EMTs, firemen, etc., who responded to the school shooting that day, have been put into a spreadsheet so they can be kept organized. If you ask me for a person's name, I'll add your name by theirs in the spreadsheet, so I know what quilt is going where.

There are some first responders who don't want their names given out (I TOTALLY understand!) because people in the media are hounding them! I will make sure they are also given a beautiful quilt. There were approximately 200 men and women who were involved that day, so we need a lot of quilts!

My husband and I are EMTs and my heart is aching knowing a little of what these men and women are going through, and what they'll have to deal with for the rest of their lives. Thank you so much for being willing to share your time and talents with those who put their lives on the line every day they go to work!

PLEASE HELP ME SPREAD THE WORD ABOUT THESE SPECIAL QUILTS ON YOUR BLOG, FACEBOOK, ETC.!!! THANK YOU!!! :)

*** If you would like to send in a quilt for something other than this school shooting, PLEASE DO SO!!! I am now collecting donated quilts to be distributed to people who are affected by future natural disasters and human-caused tragedies. These quilts can be any size quilt, and can be quilted, tied or a rag quilt. PLEASE HAVE THEM COMPLETED! Unfortunately, because we are going to be donating so many more quilts, I don't have the time or resources to complete unfinished quilts that are sent in.

*** If you would like to send in a small, tied quilt for a child at a neighboring school to Sandy Hook Elementary, Michelle athttps://securityblankets.wordpress.com/ is accepting them now!

One last thing: I am in the process of finding out what needs to be done to become a non-profit organization, and I NEED YOUR HELP! Because I am expanding to help different people in different situations, should I change the name from Phoenix Quilts to something else, since the name doesn't relate any more??? What do you think??? Any suggestions???

Hugs!

It is 2013!!!!!

Growing up in the sixties and seventies, I never dreamed that I would see 1990s, much less 2013. So, here goes Happy New Year!!!! 

I am so thankful that I have made it this far. I think the Mayans had everyone worried for nothing. LOL I hate to tell them, but the world didn't end on Dec. 21, 2012. I pray that all of you are well and will have the best year ever in 2013. 

Our meal today will consist of black-eyed peas, sauerkraut with smoked sausage, collards, and cornbread. That has been our tradition since I married my DH almost 35 years ago. It was the tradition in his family, too. They also had several superstitions that they followed that we do, too. One, a man must be the first to walk in from outside. You don't take out the trash on NY's day. You don't sweep and dump it into the trash can either. You don't wash clothes or your hair. Why? Mostly these have to do with not sweep, throwing or washing someone out of your life. I know. Silly, huh. But, we have done our best to follow these all of our married lives. I have also heard that what you do on New Year's day is what you will be doing all year. Well, duh!!!

I found this quote on Yahoo's Top Ten New Year's Day Superstitions "New Year's Day Superstition #10 - Nothing Goes Out

Unless you want to be paying or giving things out or have people leaving you all year, nothing should go out of your house on New Year's Day. If your trash is overflowing, take it out before the first or wait until the second of January to take it out. Absolutely nothing should leave your home on New Year's Day, including you, at least until someone has stepped foot in your home before you step foot outside your home. You may want to have a family member or friend visit you on New Year's Day to break the threshold of your doorway before you go anywhere on the first. Beware though, it's said that it should be a man, not a woman, and that blonds and redheads are bad omens."

See, I'm not crazy!!! These are superstitions from the southern part of the US. I am sure that there are many others across the world. 

I am wishing you all a Happy New Year, and be careful. LOL

God Bless,

Teresa