Five Shadows

Of the seven Schutts there are 5 birthdays in March! 5 of us! Plus one in February and one in April! Tis busier around here now than at Christmas time! And we are a goofy bunch. So here are some pictures from my hubby’s birthday and mine.

The lighting of many candles for Hubby’s cake! It took four kids – with me on the side line giving instructions! And the eldest snapping the photos.

Goofy Hubby and the five kids behind him. Me snapping the photo this time. DH said you should have felt the heat coming off of all those candles!

Look at all that smoke coming off of those candles! Happy Birthday John! (March 4th)

And now my birthday – today – March 7th!

The goofiest of all photos! That’s me – who is very un-photogenic, but actually looking pretty good here! Sorry to the rest of the family who are looking …. well … poor.

And here I am (not so photogenic here) holding one of my wonderful gifts! This is a collage by Sarah Wyman, as seen in the Jan/Feb 2010 issue of Cloth Paper Scissors Magazine. I love that magazine and LOVE Sarah’s art! I made up an Etsy wish list and DH bought this for me!

My middle daughter planned a wonderful meal for me using the cookbook Food to Live By, by Myra Goodman. She pulled some of her siblings in to help prepare the meal. We had Tuscan White Bean Stew, Spicy Chicken Lettuce Wraps, and Creamy Shells & Three Cheeses. Dessert was a chocolate cake from Whole Foods for the Whole Family. YUM!

After lunch we headed to a county park for some pre-spring walking. Lovely day to be outside! Son #1 was on the look out for a sign of Spring – and he found it in one of the first plants to stick it’s leafy head up through the ground with snow still on the ground in NE Indiana – - Skunk Cabbage!

The girls actually found several in a valley on the banks of a stream.  Here we are in the great out-of-doors. Goofiness!

Me with youngest daughter, Charis.

Me with daughter, Anna.

Me with daughter, Janelle.  That is snow in the background!!! (Wish you could see all the goofiness going on between each photo! We would need a video camera for that!)

Dear Husband, John.

Me with John.

Son, Noel. And once again son Luke has evaded the camera! (But Luke is in the photos at the top of the post, with sibling behind the parents!)

I had five finishes for February and you can tell I’m running behind as I post about them in March! One bed size quilt, three journal totes, and one small quilt.

Here is the quilt I started in December all complete with a proper binding. My 14 year old asked who the quilt would be for when complete, and this quilt was one I was just making for  the fun of it. No plans on who would be gifted with it! So Dear Daughter claimed it!  It did my little heart good to know that she was ‘taken’ by the quilt and looked forward to it being completed and on her bed!

This is a double size quilt and coordinates with two pillows I also made. The photos of the pillows are much more accurate color wise.

I told Dear Daughter, if she got her room cleaned up – we could take a picture with the quilt and pillows on her bed! Ha ha! I don’t think I see that posted too soon!

Other finishes for February was the 3 Creative Studios Quilt Challenge quilt. Make a quilt using the word ‘puzzle’ as a prompt. See that quilt here. And the journals totes are here.

3 Creative Studios is hosting a quilt challenge all year long. Every other month they will post a word and the challenge is to interpret that word in the form of a quilt. The first word was “Puzzle.”

When reading the word puzzle, my thoughts went immediately to Autism. A puzzle piece is often associated with autism – used as a logo. Several years ago I briefly worked with a local company, Sensory Critters, who create items to help those with autism. The little fellow below is part of Sensory Critters’ logo. I had visions of using him (stitched here in outline form) along with the fabric pictured in my puzzle quilt.

But alas, sometimes things happen in life that take us off our course. That happened to me last week. Instead of happily working on the puzzle quilt, I found myself dealing with a group I belong to with issues I can not discuss here. I found myself puzzling over people’s behavior, dealing with strained and frayed relationships, and looking for answers to money issues. As these are being resolved and now thankfully working towards closure, I found myself thinking of a new Puzzle quilt for the challenge. It is with great joy that I share this little creation! It was so fun to make and very healing after all the stress of the past week and a half!

I have either a very long title for it, or a choice of three titles: Missing Pieces, Too Many People & Not Enough Money, or Where Does All the Money Go?  Notice the frayed edges of the ‘people’ fabric and the striped fabric. I left the raw edges on purpose. If I had the time to shop for fabric, I would have liked to use novelty fabric printed with bills – $5, $10, $20s. But, I happened to have the coin fabric in my stash, so that is what I used!  It was called “Mrs. Nelson’s 2nd Grade.” I loved that!! And had to include the selvage in the quilt!  The quilt is bound with ribbon and tomato bag netting.  This was a great challenge and I look forward to the next word being revealed!  Oh! And I do hope to get back to the Sensory Critters quilt in the near future.

Last week I attended a 5 day quilting retreat. Late nights! Laughs! Good food! And sewing! Here are a few pictures of gals with their projects.

Dody and her quilted bag. Class taught by Twila. Dody used the charm pack/door prize she won to make this bag.

Norma and her quilted bag. She used strips instead of squares.

Cynthia and one of two bunk bed quilts she is piecing for her two sons.

Mary and the table runner she made. Class taught by me! Isn’t it cute how she set it up with the candle she won as a door prize?

Mary and the pillow she made for a friend.

This is a pile of baby quilts Twila made and brought to the quilting retreat that needed tying to finish them. She brought 19 quilts! And I believe other ladies made 3 more while at the retreat! These will be donated to charities.

This is Twila! She taught several classes at the retreat. And she made the 19 baby quilts! This is another quilt she made for her neice while at the retreat.

Here is Marty holding one of the quilts she is tying. Several other ladies worked on the baby quilts too. Sorry I do not have pictures of everyone!  And I did not get pictures of all the other projects ladies worked on! I wish I had! We should have kept count of how many projects were completed in 5 days! It would have been interesting to see!

I worked away on a quilt for my teen daughter. I promise a picture soon.

And here is the group of ladies holding many of the quilts that Twila made. Do you see Mary in the middle holding her dog Molly?

Here are three more totes I’ve created for my quilting friends. That makes 4 down and 4 to go! The first is for my friend Mary. The picture is of Mary with her sister in a red Radio Flyer Wagon from their childhood. Mary loves to travel so that is the theme I aimed for on the journal tote cover. I used two small pieces of fabric printed with maps that I had saved in my scrap pile. I hope Mary has fun on her travels!

Next is a bird house theme for my friend who has her kitchen decorated with birds and birdhouses. I picked up the little bird on the birdbath during a shop hop last summer in Ohio.

This girly version is for a friend who is all things pink, purple and feminine. She recently moved to SC and I hope  this friendship theme suits her.

These three totes make three finishes for OPAM so far for February. I have a quilt that is almost complete. I’m working on hand stitching down the binding. Here is a snick peek. I’ll show the whole quilt once it’s complete!

This weekend I’m off to a quilting retreat! I’ll be teaching a few projects using strip quilting. And a friend will be teaching the above quilt and another version of it. I hope to take pictures to show all the goodness of the weekend – - but I’ll warn you that I usually forget to take pictures while I’m busy sewing!

Liz is offering these snazzy earrings in her “Keep the Flow Going” giveaway. Go throw your name in the hat! Very Pretty Earrings!  Hope I win!

I’ve been busy flying on my Magic Carpet around the world in Blog Land! I’ve met so many wonderful people and am admiring their creativeness! This all through One World One Heart hosted by Lisa of A Whimsical Bohemian. Check it out! And you can join in through Feb 8th!

I finished this tote today.

It is going to a friend I will visit with later this evening. Shanette, director of Kibbutz El-Shammah, is here in the USA visiting from South Africa! Friends and I have made several quilts for the staff of the Kibbutz, and I wanted to give her a little something at our visit tonight. If I find an updated link to the Kibbutz – I’ll update this post.

Last week I finished this pillow – another one for my daughter. This is a Pink Chalk Studio Pattern – free download. (Thank you Kathy!)

Next up is a braided table runner. I really need to clean the kitchen so you can see how great it looks on the counter! My DH remodeled the kitchen two summers ago. We did a good job of taking the during pictures – but not good at posting or showing the completed job! Must put that on the ‘to do list’!

And here is my Block of the Month (BOM) hosted by 3 Creative Studios. Pop on over if you are interested in joining in! Plus they have lots of other goodness offered on their website! Check ‘em out!

Welcome OWOH Journeyers! Can you believe it is that time of year again for our wonderful blog tour!?! This year we travel by Magic Carpet with our host Lisa of A Whimsical Bohemian! OWOH Giveaway runs from JAN. 25 – Feb 15th.

Grab your bags and hop on for a fantastic ride through blog land! This is the third year for Lisa to host her One World One Heart Blog Tour! Just click on the link for her full description of how the tour works! If you have not already – you might want to join in on your own blog! At each stop along the way you will find a prize  that could be yours just by leaving a comment! You must have an active blog to play along and can be from anywhere on this beautiful wide world of ours!

As you grab your bags for the journey, please also leave a comment on my blog for a chance to win this little journal tote. It will be perfect for your trips no matter what your art form or interest.

The journal tote measures 12″ x 12″ and the soft cover is of my own design. Inside you will find several plastic bags sewn into the binding perfect for storing your craft/art/paper/sewing supplies. Just pop your favorite take-a-long items into the bags and the tote is ready to go whenever you are!

I am looking forward to meeting you! As you leave a comment here, be sure there is a way for me to reach you by email – incase you are the lucky winner!  Thanks for stopping by!

I’m jumping on the Magic Carpet now and am off to visit you!

Sharon

Girls are away on a road trip to DC for the March for Life so Hubby and I ate out at Taste of India last night. I was not sure how we would fare but everything we ordered, with the help of our waiter, was excellent! I had only eaten Indian cuisine maybe twice before and had help selecting items from friends. And some of the items I did like and others ….

Last night I started with a Lassi drink – the mango flavored one – delish!

We ordered an appetizer sampler: Samosa (highly recommended by one of my daughters), pakora which is a vegetable fritter (our favorite on the platter), and a vegetable cutlet (not sure of the name.)

Next we ordered tikka masala – very good! And an other sampler – with three chicken samples, lamb and the best ever shrimp. Saying ‘best ever shrimp’ is really saying something girls! Because I grew up near the Chesapeake Bay area – and we are picky about our shrimp and crab! We also ordered a bread basket with several flavors/spiced Nan and some stuffed with lamb or potatoes like in the Samosa. Not sure what the stuffed flat bread is called. We did not have room for dessert. Maybe next time, because we will go back! And can you guess we took lots home in a ‘doggy bag’? Yum! We had a nice lunch today from the left overs. (The Nan warms up well in the toaster!)

As posted earlier, I’ve joined the group One Project a Month (OPAM) as incentive to myself to create and blog about it. I have two new projects to show so far for January.

This is called Wonky Half Log Cabin Pillow, from a tutorial on Jacquie Gering’s blog,  Tallgrass Prairie Studio.  (Jadquie has lots of tutorials available, and I must say, this one was very well written! It’s the only one I’ve used so far.) I love this design! I made a quilt similar to this years ago and donated it to an auction. Years ago as in before my blog existed! This pillow is for my daughter. I have a Chevron quilt in progress for her, and used the left over strips for the pillow.

This is the front cover to a little tote that opens like a book. I made this as a gift for the OWOH project that starts January 25. Come back to my blog on the Jan 25 – Feb 15 for a chance to win it! The design could also be altered to create a journal cover – I’m thinking of future projects here.

I can’t count this one for OPAM, because I finished in back in July. That was when I planned on being busy making Christmas gifts for 2009 – my personal Christmas-In-July-Sewing-Event! But this is the only one I completed! LOL I still plan to send it to my MIL as a thank-you for the Christmas gifts she sent our family. I think the snowmen can be displayed throughout the winter season.  It is small, 8″ across, and I think could be used as a candle mat, coffee mat or just a decoration. And if it gets used as a pot holder – I’m OK with that too!

There is a link on the side bar to OPAM if you are interested in seeing what the other 199 ladies are working on this year!  And do check out Lisa’s OWOH Event to join in the blog hopping to see what hundreds of other creative people are up to and consider joining too! All the rules are posted on the event page.