Staying At Home in North Carolina ~ Happy Progress this Week!

As me and my honey heal from a sinus infection we got as spring enters our area… we are also practicing quarantining ourselves as our part in this global pandemic we find ourselves in… 

I spend time daily remembering all I have to be grateful for in this world!

As a quilter and specifically a hand quilter and lover of sew many crafts… I am having a blast NOT leaving home…
I am keeping track of quilting and crafting I accomplish in my bullet journal and when I lose track of where I was… I only have to look at this journal which lays open in half as pictured below to keep my train of though and craftiness high and the news intake limited to our President’s updates and a quick run through other news outlets for balance.

I am really happy with this layout on my bullet journal….

With the above layout each day a similar block to write in and future projects I may need to ponder are right there too.. this is my weekly spread now 😀  Yes… you can keep track of sew many things… but I needed something to organize all my works in progress and planned works.  This does that for me.  Maybe this quarantine time is time to pull out an unused notebook or take some leaf paper and make your own self a bullet journal for what YOUR needs are!

We have been enjoying spring like weather since Spring Sprang on the 19th… Alas I woke up this morning chilled and temps in the 40’s so the heat came back on but for the last few days we have enjoyed open windows and doors!  We have screens in all of them and fresh air was an amazing stress cleansing agent too!!!  So in the meantime we took a drive about and my honey took a walk about and caught some great photos of Daisy Meadows (YES ~ We named our property! lol )

 Does anyone know the pink tree in the above photo is??? We love it ❤

 Check out the daffodils next to our grist mill above…

 Above is above side of that pink blossomed tree…

Below is our home from across the pond…

 And the other side of the pond looking down at our neighbor’s barn and check out the reflection of this ancient willow tree!!!  A local bald eagle loves to shop our pond for his meals from that willow tree!

 We are hoping the hostas my honey transplanted last year will take off in this flower bed… it gets some sun but not as much as it looks like…

Molly and I got out the cushions after my honey set up the table and chairs to enjoy the springtime weather….

 I did some stitching outdoors on my fusion quilt crochet squares…

In fact I have made lots of progress there this week…

 I am working on the double pink fabric one now 🙂

Speaking of pinks… look what I found next to my quilting frame this week!!!!  Blooms in MARCH!

 Crazy Christmas Cactus!!!!!  and then Molly and I on the golf cart supervising my honey fixing a pipe.  Lots of work in keeping the pond and fish all happy! lol

I don’t have much to show on the hand quilting front… but I did start this block after finishing the sashing to the left…

Being sick with a sinus cold has slowed down my ability to sit long so I am enjoying jumping from one little project to another while I take antibiotics and prednisone <<< makes me a bit jumpy! lol

Linking my fusion quilt…  buttonhole stitches by hand and this bit of slow stitching done at my frame to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching HERE <<<<

One of the things I have enjoyed A LOT this week is cutting out this intricate pieced briefcase!!!!

Jannessa and I each had picked out fabrics for this project… we plan on having a closed door (through the glass) meeting later today to trade off a few things… she will be picking up all the pieces of this project ready to tart working on… and she will bring me some other things to help me with my briefcase 🙂  These will house our laptops and other things when we make trips in the future!

Be honest if you are working on a new project during this time… isn’t it fun to be forced to use your stash in ways you never dreamed of???!!!!  I am really liking the challenge… and also finding shops open who are willing to mail or do curbside delivery if you have one close…

REMEMBER the SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS Y’ALL!!!!

And a Special shout out to my son and daughter in law who just celebrated 3 years of marriage!  They are EMS in a small county in Tennessee and they are on the front lines!!!

 Also TODAY is my Daughter in Law >> Heather <<<  Happy Birthday!  Isn't she beautiful 😀  She if very kind too!!! I am blessed as is my son ! 🙂

As I close I hope this post has uplifted you… please share how you are getting along during this crazy time in a comment below! 

This Pandemic will touch us all in some small or large way before it is done I am afraid… stay calm cool and collected and stay in your home if possible with only your clan!  Let’s keep the wave flat!!!!

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Lots of hand quilting progress to share this week!

 November in the USA is a time to recall all that we have to be grateful for…. even my calendar this month reminds me this is a month of Thanksgiving!

Our Christmas Cactus is busting out with gratitude and showing off these awesome bright pink double blooms all over!!!

 And I am a step closer to finishing the bag for my daughter by adding a hidden message for her to see….

 It is hard to read but in cursive it says “You look really pretty today” … I just had to buy the tags for this project 🙂

Mainly this week I have been hand quilting… beginning with a new row Monday morning.. I did slow stitch quite a bit last Sunday so I could let the area I was quilting dry from being spritzed then roll down….

 This was my first area to see…

 and by mid week I was here…

 Now today I am working on the mini medallions beside the big medallion shown here…

Linking this lovely hand quilting I am sharing with Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitchers HERE <<<  Come see what else my friends are stitching up!!!

 I did make a couple of surprise finished place mats for Jannessa…

She loved them… I washed and dried them too but forgot to get a photo of them both… each features two loving cardinal couples 🙂  These are to use at Christmas and since that is next week for decorating up the house after Thanksgiving I though I may as well gift them now.

Then after a long rainy few days… my honey got out in the rain on our back deck at sunset & got these photos!!!!

 And this one too… both from our back deck looking over our pond…

 So a shorter visit for you all for this time as I have several secret sewing projects I worked on too! ❤

For now enjoy my new closing and share what you are up to too in the comments!  See ya next Sunday!!!

Giddy with Progress this Week!

Ya’ll I couldn’t come up with a better label for this week’s post… I am simply GIDDY with the progress I have made around here since last Sunday’s post!

And I have also continued to give thanks for all the good in my life at this moment…

How about you?

Last week I had sooo much happening I didn’t share that I got 2 new little cutting mats.  But I did share this project I was interested in…

 Made possible by my friend Jannessa who gifted me this Winterlude fabric and pattern… but if you recall I shared how my bar in the kitchen needed a longer and skinnier table runner so I used their blocks and made up a different plan…

 First…
I decided the center would be the blue blocks with vanilla polkadotted center spots…

Now on the left or right you can see the ruby Olfa rotary cutter I won along with the pink floss and true blue Olfa cutting mats!  What better way to give them a test run but with this project!!!!

I used Julius for the piecing of the 3″ finished blocks…

 And soon I had the 12 center blocks done…

 Low time to add the outer triangles for the square in a square like the pattern called for 😀

 Soon that was done and sewn into a long strip and I cut red and green from this same Winterlude line to make all the little squares around the outside of the blue ones…

 Like this…

 Soon it was ready to get the float border done and then add these 42 squares… all have the cream portions for centers.

 Finally I got it ALL pieced this morning …

 And here is a close up of the right side of the table runner….

I love it!  Jannessa is going to fmq the center and I will add organic straight lines and a flange binding I will try to manage on my own by machine 100%!!!!!  Oh my!!! I have never done this binding… Jannessa has shared her favorite tutorial on this topic…

DO YOU HAVE A FAVE PIPED / Flange BINDING????  

Please tell me how to find it in the comments below so I can be ready!  

I have also been making stellar progress on my Swoon hand quilting…

Here I had finished the first swoon block and was working on the sashing where we had marked a medallion but it was so light it needed a re-marking… so I did!

 Soon that was done and I outlined each segment of the top of the second swoon and prepared it for the big stitch filling in…

 Finally … with all this cold weather that is way colder than usual… by Thursday morning as it was teens outside when I woke to quilt… I turned on the fireplace and enjoyed a bit of a fire to keep me warm… mmmmm

 And I made it to halfway that morning filling in the second swoon block top…

 Soon I was to the second sashing … after the second swoon and before the 3rd…

 I love how we decided to quilt these medallions … they are really gonna show off the negative space on this quilt when Connie has it displayed on her bed!!!

Finally to the 3rd Swoon top block…

 Morning… nooon… and night I hand quilt on this frame…. I really enjoy it too.. it IS my sanity…

 After going around each section with regular hand quilting thread…

 I fill in the lines about 1″ apart with big 12 wt thread… looks sew nice on these busy blocks!

 And this is where I am this morning… working on these 2 pinwheels and the outer border as well as edge basting to be done!!!

 I am linking this wonderful progress to Kathy’s Quilts HERE <<<< Go see what others are linking and check out Kathy's finish this week… ALL by hand instead of machine pieced like mine are!!!

And our Christmas cactus started to bloom this week… sew many blooms!!! ❤

 I was lamenting to Connie about being stuck on a secret project I am working on for a special Christmas something for someone …
I sent her the fabrics on the left along with some other fun things I had collected for her since our last meeting… and she is now sending me the gorgeous Hexi Flowers on the right!!!!  SCORE!!!!

Then yesterday Jannessa came over and remembered her wall hanging… so my honey snapped this shot for us…

 I am definitely Thankful, Grateful & Blessed to have her and Connie in my life.. as well as my honey of course! lol

We are almost done with our backpack purses we have been working on .  I think she is using hers herself and I am sending the one on the left ot my daughter….  it has been an arduous but interesting bag to make! lol

I let sweet Cleopatra (Singer 319w) do this heavy duty job… Jannessa used a Singer 301 for hers 🙂

How has your week been?  

My honey has mulched and vacuumed the yard again this week…The cold encouraged leaf dropping from several of our trees…along with new growth!  Hoping they hibernate well and re-bloom next year okay!!!  We also experienced difficulties with the inflow and outflow with the freezes affecting the pond … so my honey worked on that too.

Our car is running as it should and drives great since getting new front tie rods put in.  So with 2 trips to Asheville under our belt this month.. I sure hope nothing else happens 😀

Have a blessed week!

A busy and festive time of year !

As December deepens and the end of 2018 looms closer each day I feel an urgency to complete a few things that have been on my “to do list” through the year and just haven’t gotten done for one reason or another… do you do this … feel like that???   So today I am focusing on slowing it down… and even though it is gloomy and cold outside I am going to follow a good friends advice…

That friend also requested to send me a parcel and start a penpal relationship of sorts 🙂  I said yes!

She lives in Tasmania, Australia and travels avidly as well as gardens and sews as well.  She sent me this lovely package of fabrics and a rain hat and a button and a card of interesting things from her area down under.  I am now curating a package for her in return… this is SO FUN!!!  I love enhancing friendships and learning more about others cultures and ways of being as well 😀

At the start of the week I was very focused on bringing Cleo into the fold of my machines.  I shared the waiting for her with you last week…

 And here is my first photo of her… before her paint got touched up and she got a nice once over and polish by my honey….

Cleo is short for Cleopatra… such a dramatic name… and one I want to research more but Cleo she is for certain!   I went onto Singer’s website and found the W beginning serial #’s… and there she was… one of 1.5 million made in 1954.  I also read there were 1500 workers in this Connecticut plant of Singer’s … it was originally a Wheeler & Wilson sewing machine making plant!  Sew interesting!!! 

My honey rewired her as she had had that done wrong… changed the pedal to one I requested … cleaned off excess oil and oiled places he found that had been missed and greased the cam stack she has in place… ooooh … she is soo awesome!!!  We got some automotive paint in gloss black and he touched up a few boo boo spots too!!!  I am soooo blessed y’all!!!!

Here is her first photo with her in her new dress… a trapezoid Singer case…

 And a view of her top half and her excellent decals…  the decals led me to naming her too ❤

 And because she is a 3/4 machine she is a few inches short of fitting.. so my honey took some wood and make a little shelf in there… it is the perfect place to store her bobbins and a pin cushion 🙂

 I rearranged my sewing room as well before she was brought in… my honey helped me as he is really the decorating sense between us… and I am slowly moving some decor on the walls around as well…

And here is a photo I plan to hang in the blank spot over Cleo….  the 2 that got together to surprise me with this smooth stitching machine !!!! 

Here is the back of the finished wall quilt I machine quilted on Zena as her final act of service for me.

She is now stored safely in a closet of our home waiting for her next purpose in life… helping my daughter learn to create when she is ready!!!

The binding is the diagonal striped fabric I shared a swatch of  last week.  It came one day and this little quilt was hanging the next day!  Here is the photo of it hanging behind our little Christmas tree 🙂

 And a few photos of our Christmas tree…

 And a final side photo to show off the trapuntoed quilting I did on the wall hanging.

 Now before I move on… let me tell you… if you ever get a chance to sew on a Singer 319w… DO IT!  This is the most powerful yet gentle and even keeled sewing machine I have ever stitched on!!!  One stitch as a time or fast and furious… she can do it all!  Thick or thin… I love it ❤

Her next job will be to make my honey a new wallet as the wallet I made him a few weeks back is going somewhere else to be re-homed… he requested a few revisions for his personal taste… so I will accommodate those requests on my new Christmas present Cleo!!!

We added some new ornaments to our stash of Christmas displayed ornaments this year… the star at the top is new as well!

We got a Santa glass blown ornament with glitter accents from the year we got together…

And if you look to the bottom right of Santa you will see a small daisy painted ornament.  There are 6 of these in the set and these are in memory of my honey’s sister who died of heart problems too early in her life.. she holds a dear place in his heart and memories!  So these commemorate her 🙂

Finally are my 2 favorite shots… lights on … and lights off on the right… I love Christmas twinkle lights for sure!!! ❤

I got several rounds of fabric in this past week as well… here is some fabric for replenishing my Christmas stash a bit…

 All of that is vintage and it is various designers before designing fabric was trendy.  Here is a photo of things I want to make this month before Christmas….

And here is my first focused work…

 And once they are sewn and turned right side out with different threads and ribbons pulled to go along side this little wall hanging tree creation…

 Buttons pulled from my stash to adorn it…

 Stuffing each triangle is a slow and steady process… I then hand sewed all the openings closed…

 And then hand sewed all the junctions together where the triangles meet….

Now I am to sewing the buttons on over the junctions… and this is my hand sewing focus today… so I am linking this slow stitching progress to Kathy’s Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching HERE!  Kathy is quilting on a many year old ufo with great pleasure today!  She and her grand dog are 😀  Go check out her blog post and other linkers posts too!!!

I have made some other slow stitching progress earlier this week but due to lots of things the end of the week no slow stitching on the quilt Stars Among Us has happened… Monday starts a new week though 😀

Here is a close up of my progress this week… I went from the border to the mid point of this row…

 Meanwhile… our pup Molly went from this….

 To THIS!!!!

 In one day!!!!  Tomorrow she will celebrate 6 months old too !!!

 I have a pair on gingher pinking shears up for sale… they are like new and are $25 to include shipping in the USA.. nothing wrong with them as you see the cutting in the photo 🙂

I acquired these things this week…

 The fabric, Best Press, and small rotary blades were a great sale Craftsy was having and I ordered through my friend Karen’s affiliate link you can find at the bottom of THIS blog post.

Here is a close up of the 40 different fat quarters I picked up for about $33 all together

 They fill gaps in my stash just right too… the top one is fun prints and the bottom one is tone on tones 🙂

And our Christmas cactus we picked up earlier in the week is doing GREAT!!  It gets good sun in the sewing room window 🙂

 I got this new shirt… Mountain Mama… and a long sleeved winter shirt too

 And a hair cut myself as well!!!

So it has definitely been a BUSY week at Daisy Meadows 🙂

How about you… have you been busy this week and if you have is it because it is December and you are tying up loose ends or because you have just been busy  or has it been holiday related???!!!  Inquiring minds want to know!!! lol

For now I wish you a Happy Holiday season and a very Merry Christmas to come.  Thanks for visiting ❤