My Amaryllis is blooming and is oh so pretty!
I hope you all have a wonderful day with family and loved ones!
Sunday, December 24, 2017
Monday, November 13, 2017
I don't know where the time goes
I see it's been a couple of months since my last post, busy months! I can't believe Thanksgiving is a week and a half away. This whole year has gone by fast.
In September we spent a few days in Tombstone, AZ with some of our friends from the motorcycle club. We had a great time:
Here's some of the group after breakfast one morning. We shopped and ate well for three days. Some of the group did some rides in the surrounding area, DH and I went in the car because his back and leg were giving him some trouble. Still, a fun time.
Next, a new addition to my sewing space. Here is where I use to store my quilt fabric:
It worked OK, but when the drawers got full, it was hard digging through them to find the fabrics I wanted. So, we went to some resale shops and found this:
It is a china cabinet but works great for the fabric stash. Now I can see what's in there and there is lots of room for more fabric! ! ! It also takes up a little less floor space than the dresser. So far, I am loving it.
Our bathroom remodel project came next. Here is the old bathroom, I think the original from the 1970's.
We had them remove the tile from the walls, take out the post, enlarge the shower area, install new cabinets and a new floor. Here we had removed the cabinet doors but you can get an idea. It was lots of white.
Now:
While all that was going on, I finished the quilt for my grandson. He arrived the day after I finished putting the label on it.
In September we spent a few days in Tombstone, AZ with some of our friends from the motorcycle club. We had a great time:
Here's some of the group after breakfast one morning. We shopped and ate well for three days. Some of the group did some rides in the surrounding area, DH and I went in the car because his back and leg were giving him some trouble. Still, a fun time.
Next, a new addition to my sewing space. Here is where I use to store my quilt fabric:
It worked OK, but when the drawers got full, it was hard digging through them to find the fabrics I wanted. So, we went to some resale shops and found this:
It is a china cabinet but works great for the fabric stash. Now I can see what's in there and there is lots of room for more fabric! ! ! It also takes up a little less floor space than the dresser. So far, I am loving it.
Our bathroom remodel project came next. Here is the old bathroom, I think the original from the 1970's.
We had them remove the tile from the walls, take out the post, enlarge the shower area, install new cabinets and a new floor. Here we had removed the cabinet doors but you can get an idea. It was lots of white.
Now:
New shower space with single handle control, so nice.
New floor, curtains, towels and decor.
New cabinets, mirror and the walls are a nice light tan color. So much prettier!
While all that was going on, I finished the quilt for my grandson. He arrived the day after I finished putting the label on it.
It turned out really cute and my daughter loves it. I started with the panel since she wanted a farm theme. I added the four borders to add to the size and create more color and interest. It was fun to create. He arrived at the end of October, ten days before a scheduled C-section. Eight pounds, three ounces, lots of dark hair and named John Anthony after his two great grandfathers.
He is a little cutie!
Another quilt project has been the Bunny Hill Christmas sew along. I have all thirteen blocks finished, 12 for the quilt and a bonus block that I will use as part of the label.
I loved working on all of these, I think my favorite is the grey one with the snowman or the penguin. I don't know, they are all so cute. I have the top put together and I've started quilting it. I don't think it will be finished before Christmas, but maybe, we will see.
I had to send my sewing machine to the shop for some work, so when it came home I put together a little quilt to test it out.
I had lots of flannel scraps left from making baby quilts over the years. I cut up all the pink girly ones and made a little quilt for Project Linus. I used fleece for the backing and didn't put in any batting. The fleece was just right. I used one of the decorative stitches on my machine to quilt it along the seam lines. The photo is a little washed out but the pink colors are so sweet for a little girl. I have some blue scraps to make a boy one, but not much variety so will have to wait for that one.
That's what has been keeping my busy, along with a lot of other day to day boring stuff!
Until next time, happy stitching!
Sunday, September 3, 2017
Absent without a good reason!
I can't believe how time has gotten away from me! It's not that I have been doing anything special, just normal stuff.
I finished the flimsy of the Five N Dime quilt from Kansas Troubles. It turned out great.
I've decided to take this to a longarm quilter for the quilting. All those pretty fabrics and lots of squares, it needs some nice curvy design for the quilting. I will be happy to just have an edge to edge design done. I love it, but I don't want to spend a small fortune on custom quilting. The colors are a little washed out in the photo, they are all nice, warm colors for fall.
Here is how far I have gotten with the Small Quilt Mystery sew along.
I have the center all done and I need to make eight more square in a square blocks before I start to put the finish together. It is going to be very cute!
One change I made from the original design, I didn't put stems on the two center flowers on each side. I fused the flowers down one at a time and stitched around them before going on to another flower. I accidentally used a red flower where I should have put a rust flower, so messed up the original arrangement. I ended up with rust flowers on the side borders and red ones on top, bottom and in the middle of the sides. I really like this arrangement so much better.
This is not even remotely related to quilting, but a project that has been ongoing for a couple of years. Do you remember the elm hedge trees I blogged about having to trim years ago? Well, a couple of years ago, those were cut down and the stumps left to dry out and die. This spring, we had someone come in to chop up and remove the stumps. Then all along that area along the wall, I shoveled and sifted dirt out of the gravel that was below the trees. You can see a pile of gravel in the lower right of the photo. That was a get up just as it was getting daylight and working until the sun came up over the mountain to the East and shined on that part of the yard. I would do a little then rest a few days before tackling it again. Eventually it looked like this:
Well, now we are ready to re-align the scalloped stones along the grass edge, then put down landscape fabric and put rocks back on top of the fabric in that dirt area. That will be a project for maybe October when it cools down a little bit. Once the fabric is down, I don't want to leave it exposed to the sun too long before the gravel goes on top. We can work longer when it gets cooler.
This has been the main project of the summer. DD#2 is expecting another little boy in November and he needs Grandma to make him a quilt!
I started with a panel that I have had for quite a few years. It is a Daisy Kingdom panel with a farm theme. DD wanted a farm quilt and I had fun designing this one. Love gave me the idea to use four patches as a border when she showed her black and white quilt a while back. (Thanks for the inspiration Love!) It needed to be bigger, so the pinwheels added some fun colors, too. It will be perfect!
Finally, I have been sewing along with Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill on a cute Christmas quilt called Sugar Plum Stocking Treats. She has released the first nine blocks, one each Friday on her blog. I have six of them fused and blanket stitched. I am stitching around number seven and number eight is fused to the background, ready to stitch. Number nine was just released last Friday, so I have the pattern but haven't decided on fabrics for the applique yet. As always, Anne designed an adorable Christmas quilt and the patterns are free. Stop by her site and check them out. I will try to have photos soon.
That about catches everything up. I will try to do better about blogging from now on. Happy quilting!
I finished the flimsy of the Five N Dime quilt from Kansas Troubles. It turned out great.
I've decided to take this to a longarm quilter for the quilting. All those pretty fabrics and lots of squares, it needs some nice curvy design for the quilting. I will be happy to just have an edge to edge design done. I love it, but I don't want to spend a small fortune on custom quilting. The colors are a little washed out in the photo, they are all nice, warm colors for fall.
Here is how far I have gotten with the Small Quilt Mystery sew along.
I have the center all done and I need to make eight more square in a square blocks before I start to put the finish together. It is going to be very cute!
Another project finished. This is from a kit my DS, DDIL, and DGD gave me for Christmas last year. I love sheep designs and this one is adorable.
One change I made from the original design, I didn't put stems on the two center flowers on each side. I fused the flowers down one at a time and stitched around them before going on to another flower. I accidentally used a red flower where I should have put a rust flower, so messed up the original arrangement. I ended up with rust flowers on the side borders and red ones on top, bottom and in the middle of the sides. I really like this arrangement so much better.
This is not even remotely related to quilting, but a project that has been ongoing for a couple of years. Do you remember the elm hedge trees I blogged about having to trim years ago? Well, a couple of years ago, those were cut down and the stumps left to dry out and die. This spring, we had someone come in to chop up and remove the stumps. Then all along that area along the wall, I shoveled and sifted dirt out of the gravel that was below the trees. You can see a pile of gravel in the lower right of the photo. That was a get up just as it was getting daylight and working until the sun came up over the mountain to the East and shined on that part of the yard. I would do a little then rest a few days before tackling it again. Eventually it looked like this:
Well, now we are ready to re-align the scalloped stones along the grass edge, then put down landscape fabric and put rocks back on top of the fabric in that dirt area. That will be a project for maybe October when it cools down a little bit. Once the fabric is down, I don't want to leave it exposed to the sun too long before the gravel goes on top. We can work longer when it gets cooler.
This has been the main project of the summer. DD#2 is expecting another little boy in November and he needs Grandma to make him a quilt!
I started with a panel that I have had for quite a few years. It is a Daisy Kingdom panel with a farm theme. DD wanted a farm quilt and I had fun designing this one. Love gave me the idea to use four patches as a border when she showed her black and white quilt a while back. (Thanks for the inspiration Love!) It needed to be bigger, so the pinwheels added some fun colors, too. It will be perfect!
Finally, I have been sewing along with Anne Sutton of Bunny Hill on a cute Christmas quilt called Sugar Plum Stocking Treats. She has released the first nine blocks, one each Friday on her blog. I have six of them fused and blanket stitched. I am stitching around number seven and number eight is fused to the background, ready to stitch. Number nine was just released last Friday, so I have the pattern but haven't decided on fabrics for the applique yet. As always, Anne designed an adorable Christmas quilt and the patterns are free. Stop by her site and check them out. I will try to have photos soon.
That about catches everything up. I will try to do better about blogging from now on. Happy quilting!
Wednesday, June 14, 2017
What has been happening here
Wow, I have been busy, sewing and not posting. There is lots to catch up on.
First of all, we made one of our trips back to the mid-west. We stopped to visit friends in Illinois for a day, then on to Ohio to visit DH daughter and family. We spent a busy rainy week with our 3 year old grandson and met our new grandson, he was born late in November. They were lots of fun. Then we stopped to visit my Mom in Illinois for a couple days and spent an afternoon with her, my sister and my brother and his wife. Mom is not doing well since my Dad passed away. It has been very hard for her to adjust and she had to move to a different room at the nursing home. She is not happy about that. It is hard to see her like that. Next we stopped to see my other sister in Missouri. We visited an antique shop one afternoon, then spent the entire next day going to Missouri Star Quilt Co. with a stop at another quilt shop along the way. We had a great time. I did purchase a Kansas Troubles layer cake and a charm pack for a Five N Dime quilt.
Here they are in the first step of the process. One 5" charm square is stitched to the center of a 10" layer cake square. Then they are cut in half both ways to make four 5" blocks which are then mixed up and sewn together to make a scrappy block. Here is a YouTube video to show better how it is done. I have ordered fabric for borders, but it has not arrived yet. The Kansas Troubles fabric pre-cuts make a beautiful scrappy quilt. When I am farther along, I will post more photos.
From Missouri, we headed home. Our travel days weather was nice, but we saw lots of rain other days of the trip. On our way home we stopped for the night in Oklahoma City, there were thunderstorms and the possibility of tornadoes predicted but luckily, the bad weather broke up and circled around where we were. It moved to the north and south, but didn't bother where we were.
Right after we arrived home, I got word from my sister that her son and his wife had had the baby. Here is a better photo of the Sunbonnet Sue quilt I made for little Caroline.
They were thrilled with the quilt and their new little girl.
Since I have been home, I have also finished the Sunbonnet Sue for my granddaughter. The baby quilt was so cute and so much fun to work on, I had to make a bigger one for DGD.
I think she will really like it. I can't wait to go visit her and see how she reacts.
Here are close ups of each block.
I love doing fusible applique and these were lots of fun to make.
Other than sewing I have been playing in the "garden". I don't have room for a real garden, so I have pots with carrots, brussel sprouts and watermelon planted along with some tomatoes and flowers. I found some little worms snacking on the burssel sprouts but everything else is doing great.
I am back to sewing on the Five N Dime, I will show photos next time.
First of all, we made one of our trips back to the mid-west. We stopped to visit friends in Illinois for a day, then on to Ohio to visit DH daughter and family. We spent a busy rainy week with our 3 year old grandson and met our new grandson, he was born late in November. They were lots of fun. Then we stopped to visit my Mom in Illinois for a couple days and spent an afternoon with her, my sister and my brother and his wife. Mom is not doing well since my Dad passed away. It has been very hard for her to adjust and she had to move to a different room at the nursing home. She is not happy about that. It is hard to see her like that. Next we stopped to see my other sister in Missouri. We visited an antique shop one afternoon, then spent the entire next day going to Missouri Star Quilt Co. with a stop at another quilt shop along the way. We had a great time. I did purchase a Kansas Troubles layer cake and a charm pack for a Five N Dime quilt.
Here they are in the first step of the process. One 5" charm square is stitched to the center of a 10" layer cake square. Then they are cut in half both ways to make four 5" blocks which are then mixed up and sewn together to make a scrappy block. Here is a YouTube video to show better how it is done. I have ordered fabric for borders, but it has not arrived yet. The Kansas Troubles fabric pre-cuts make a beautiful scrappy quilt. When I am farther along, I will post more photos.
From Missouri, we headed home. Our travel days weather was nice, but we saw lots of rain other days of the trip. On our way home we stopped for the night in Oklahoma City, there were thunderstorms and the possibility of tornadoes predicted but luckily, the bad weather broke up and circled around where we were. It moved to the north and south, but didn't bother where we were.
Right after we arrived home, I got word from my sister that her son and his wife had had the baby. Here is a better photo of the Sunbonnet Sue quilt I made for little Caroline.
They were thrilled with the quilt and their new little girl.
Since I have been home, I have also finished the Sunbonnet Sue for my granddaughter. The baby quilt was so cute and so much fun to work on, I had to make a bigger one for DGD.
I think she will really like it. I can't wait to go visit her and see how she reacts.
Here are close ups of each block.
I love doing fusible applique and these were lots of fun to make.
Other than sewing I have been playing in the "garden". I don't have room for a real garden, so I have pots with carrots, brussel sprouts and watermelon planted along with some tomatoes and flowers. I found some little worms snacking on the burssel sprouts but everything else is doing great.
I am back to sewing on the Five N Dime, I will show photos next time.
Saturday, April 8, 2017
A finish and some mug rugs
I have the Farm Girl Vintage quilt/wall hanging finished for my oldest daughter. It went together fast after the little blocks were done.
I love the aqua polka dots I used in the sashing, it makes the quilt look really fun. If you click on the photo, it will enlarge and you can see the fun little blocks better. Even though they are small with lots of tiny pieces, they were so much fun to make. I didn't make all of the blocks from the book but someday I just might make a quilt with more of the little ones. I love all the parts of this one, I think my DD will enjoy the wall hanging, too. Now I am anxiously awaiting the finish of Katie's
(katiemaytoo quilts (and other stuff) ) version of her Farm Girl Vintage quilt. Can't wait to see it:)
I have two little mug rugs I made as gifts for friends, too.
I am really happy with these, too. I used a mug rug pattern by Kathleen Tracy of the Small Quilt Talk group to make the star, then decided I wanted them larger so I put a neutral frame around the star, then added the end strips to make the rectangle. They measure 7 1/2" X 10 1/2". The stars are scrappy fabrics I had on hand and the neutral and patriotic fabrics are left overs from a quilt I made several years ago. I think they are pretty cute.
Now I need to finish the label and binding on the Sunbonnet Sue baby quilt and I am still working on the Sunbonnet Sue for my DGD. I love working on the Sue blocks.
That's about all the quilting news for now! Enjoy your stitching!
I love the aqua polka dots I used in the sashing, it makes the quilt look really fun. If you click on the photo, it will enlarge and you can see the fun little blocks better. Even though they are small with lots of tiny pieces, they were so much fun to make. I didn't make all of the blocks from the book but someday I just might make a quilt with more of the little ones. I love all the parts of this one, I think my DD will enjoy the wall hanging, too. Now I am anxiously awaiting the finish of Katie's
(katiemaytoo quilts (and other stuff) ) version of her Farm Girl Vintage quilt. Can't wait to see it:)
I have two little mug rugs I made as gifts for friends, too.
I am really happy with these, too. I used a mug rug pattern by Kathleen Tracy of the Small Quilt Talk group to make the star, then decided I wanted them larger so I put a neutral frame around the star, then added the end strips to make the rectangle. They measure 7 1/2" X 10 1/2". The stars are scrappy fabrics I had on hand and the neutral and patriotic fabrics are left overs from a quilt I made several years ago. I think they are pretty cute.
Now I need to finish the label and binding on the Sunbonnet Sue baby quilt and I am still working on the Sunbonnet Sue for my DGD. I love working on the Sue blocks.
That's about all the quilting news for now! Enjoy your stitching!
Friday, March 31, 2017
Before March gets away. . .
Time to get a post in for March!
I have been busy working on several projects. I have been working on a mystery sew along with Kathleen Tracy's Small Quilt Talk group. Here is progress so far:
The house now has a border around it.
And I have 16 square in a square blocks made.
The next clue will be released tomorrow if Kathy can wait that long. Maybe it will show up before today is over. I am ready and anxious to see what comes next!
I have also been working on the Vintage Farm Girl blocks for my DD wall hanging.
I measures just under 20 inches square. It is so nice to have another little finish. There are two more sets of blocks waiting in the drawer to be made into little quilts. I hope I can work on them before the end of the year.
Progress is being made, I try to sew every day on something. Since the first of the year I have also been working on exercising more and losing some weight. So far I have managed to lose about 12 pounds. I am hoping to get another 6 off before my next doctors appointment. She will be surprised at my success. A friend suggested using MyFitnessPal . com to track calories and it is working for me. I like tracking my daily intake of calories and exercise to see where I am at. It has been pretty easy so far. I may get tried of it someday, but for now it is doable. It also helps that DH is working on losing weight, too.
Time to get busy sewing again.
I have been busy working on several projects. I have been working on a mystery sew along with Kathleen Tracy's Small Quilt Talk group. Here is progress so far:
The house now has a border around it.
And I have 16 square in a square blocks made.
The next clue will be released tomorrow if Kathy can wait that long. Maybe it will show up before today is over. I am ready and anxious to see what comes next!
I have also been working on the Vintage Farm Girl blocks for my DD wall hanging.
The tractor is a John Deere like my Dad farmed with. It will go in the center of the wall hanging.
The smaller blocks will go around the outside edges. My DD likes baking, canning, sewing and DGS is in the Army, so the flag represents him. When she was little she loved Grampa's farm. The sheep and chicken are just too cute to leave out. Hopefully it represents the things she enjoys and she will like the symbolism. The tractor block is 16 inches X 20 inches, so nice to work with. The smaller blocks are each 6 inches square and some of them had over 30 tiny pieces in them. They were fun to make though.
Next project is a larger Sunbonnet Sue quilt for DGD. She loves her dollys, so I think she will like the babies on the quilt. Here are a couple:
I actually have 10 of them buttonhole stitched with two more to do. Then to add a few details in embroidery to some of them. These are so much fun to work on. They will each finish at 9 inches.
And last but not least, I finally made time to get an old project finished. In 2012 I participated in a block exchange for churn dash blocks. They have been sitting in a drawer waiting for an idea. I pulled them out and set them in a simple little quilt.
Progress is being made, I try to sew every day on something. Since the first of the year I have also been working on exercising more and losing some weight. So far I have managed to lose about 12 pounds. I am hoping to get another 6 off before my next doctors appointment. She will be surprised at my success. A friend suggested using MyFitnessPal . com to track calories and it is working for me. I like tracking my daily intake of calories and exercise to see where I am at. It has been pretty easy so far. I may get tried of it someday, but for now it is doable. It also helps that DH is working on losing weight, too.
Time to get busy sewing again.
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