Cats

Now that the crafts and penguins part of the title have been explained, here is the cat part of my life, Miss Kitty, the sweetest, prettiest and most spoiled cat in the universe - of course she would disagree with that last part. ;)
We used to have two cats before we moved to the US, but sadly we lost Gismo to liver cancer in 2003.
I am also collecting cats and penguins of all kind.

DJ Quilt

Today I tackled - what I thought - was one of the more difficult blocks for my Dear Jane Quilt. It is block A1 - Pinwheel Gone Awry. I paper pieced it, using the pattern from my DJ software and it was not that bad at all. I am happy with the way it turned out. I think I'll go and try one of the triangles next.

Success!

I finished the WOBQ block for week 14 - Jael (that's the lady who killed an enemy general by driving a tent peg through his head) and I am very happy with the way it turned out. I am sure there are easier ways to make it but I never was one to take the easy route. I used English paper piecing technique for the diamonds, it is all hand sewn and hand appliqued. It took me two movies and one cup qualifying to finish it.

Civil War Diary Quilt

I made two more blocks for the CWDQ today, they are called "Meeting General Lee" and "Grammar Class", both are paper pieced.
I am also working on the WOBQ block for Jael, don't know yet if it will work out, but will definitely know later. :)
Del has two more job interviews coming up.

RCTQ-BOM

I have been working on the April block for the RCTQ (my favorite online quilting community) -BOM yesterday and I am very happy with how it turned out. But since I don't have a digital camera (yet) I have to wait until my current roll of film is full and I can get the pics developed. In the meantime, here is a picture of the main fabrics I used, I added a lighter orange and a matching green, the pattern is a Double Windmill.
Today I tackled the next block for the WOBQ, it is rather difficult and I am going to try and make it by using English paper piecing technique, stay tuned for the outcome of this experiment. :)

Off-Season

The regular NHL season ended and since my team did not make the playoffs, it is officially off-season for me now. :( The Pittsburgh Penguins had a rough season, with two of their best players retiring and all the talk about getting sold and whether they will be able to stay in Pittsburgh or not. But they played very well in the last few games, which really makes me look forward to the 2006-2007 season. They are a young team with many good players and they have really come together as a team in the past few months. Here's to a better season to come!

Easter Cross

Karen from my WOBQ online group graciously provided us with the pattern for this beautiful Easter Cross quilt block. This is my version. I am going to use it as a small wallhanging.

New Hope

It is amazing how God answers our prayers and sends new hope when we think we can't feel any lower. We had a pretty bad week last week. Del's job search is not going very well and we are slowly but surely running out of money. That is not what we expected and hoped for when we moved here. I decided to let my depressions take over and run the show for a while, I could not fight any longer. And then on Friday Del got a message from someone he used to work with back in Vienna, suggesting that he might have a better chance of finding work in a more populated area and even telling him about one he should apply for - in Charlotte.
Well, maybe that is the answer to our prayers - move south. :) Maybe our dream of living in Randolph county is not to come true after all and we are meant to live somewhere else. I am ready for whatever will come.

WOBQ - Block 13

This is the block for Deborah, her name means honey bee and that is also the name of this pattern. She was a remarkable woman, a leader of her people in a time when women did not normally become leaders. But years of oppression and foreign rule left the men of Israel discouraged and disheartened so God chose to speak to them through a woman who would then lead them to victory over the enemy and to a life in peace. I like stories about strong women and I enjoyed working on this block.

Bookmark

After doing my study lesson for today - which is actually Deborah already - I sat down and made these bookmarks from last week's lesson. I have never really worked with beads before but I enjoyed the experience.

Women of the Bible Study and Quilt

I joined the online study group in week 12 - Rahab. I made my first block. The original is in grey and red but I don't like grey much and when I think about Jericho and Israel I think more about desert, so I made mine in brown and beige tones. The book also suggests to use a scarlet cord as a bookmark and some of the ladies on the list created beautiful bookmarks, that inspired me to try my hand at one too. I got the material and I will try to make it today.
This week we study Deborah. I will make the block at the end of the week, when I know more about her and which colors would fit her (bright or pastel). I am using batik fabrics for this project.

A brand new blog

What now?