Mother’s Day 2020 – Lots of Progress to Share!

I hope if you are a mom of human or pet… you are celebrating!!!

If you are a dude I hope you make the mom in your life feel special!

It has been a crazy week full here at Daisy Meadows!!!  Come on in and relax and read and see what I have been up to 🙂

Four years ago this week my honey finished building, staining and sealing my Hinterberg quilt frame (built from a kit we got at Hinterberg dot com… you can call them too… based in the USA).

This picture is at our home in Florida 4 years ago!!!

Now this week in our North Carolina home…

 I rolled the quilt in the frame and started working my way from the right side over to the left side now in the wide sashing ….

That frame is probably even better than when it was brand new as it still had to be broken in a bit then 🙂  I love this frame and all the love that went into making it for me… like we enjoy seeing quilts we have made wrapping our loved ones too!

Here is a photo that came across my vision this week so I saved it to share with y’all!
My first quilt… machine pieces and hand quilted with the guidance only my bestie Connie could give!!!

 We no longer have that bed … or mattress set! lol  But we do sleep under a hand quilted quilt always.  This quilt I use on my feet now.. and I have used some of it for pillows too 🙂

Last week I got this cool red work panel in the mail… I found it on eBay … it is made by Marcus Brothers…

 I am planning to cut each square I use in this wall hanging for our kitchen … but first I will redwork them all!  Starting with this percolating coffee pot here…

 I found some vanilla fabric in my stash with no selvage but 100% cotton and a nice weave for stitching through… to use as a stabilizer and to hide any dark red that may show through each block…

 See now how opaque the background is and how nice the coffee pot shows off…

 The thread was a welcomed gift from my BFF Jannessa… I am sew blessed with 2 of the bestest friends a girl can imagine!!!!  This is DMC 498 …

(you can see that I didn’t have that stabilizing fabric in the photo above!)

 And here is how far I got this week since just starting mid week or so…

Linking this post to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching Linky HERE <<<<

Speaking of great friends… I have yet another great friend who remembered me for Mother’s Day….

 Yes… Holli Jo sent me a seam ripper made by her cousin’s family and picked out to be similar to hers with the North Carolina flower… dogwood… on the handle.  Isn’t this amazing artwork to make a seam ripper from such?  HERE IS A LINK to her Etsy shop too if you are interested in adding something like this to your sewing notions… it is SHARP too!  The link will open in a new window too so you don’t lose your place here 😀

When I saw it come out of the package I knew it was from Holli Jo… I am sew blessed Y’all!  Her cousin included a sweet note in the well packed gift and a sweet little bag to hold them both 😀  I felt so special to receive this item!!!

Then I have been doing some piecing on some flying geese for a future quilt and also turning a quilt kit that was just started to cut and not finished… into a 62″ x 18″ table runner for my kitchen….

Above is my ideas … I have gotten farther but you’ll have to come back next week to see the flimsy I will hand off to Jannessa for fmq… my honey loves her fmq-ing on our bar table runner because drinks don’t tip easily and it stays nice and flat because she is GREAT with her fmq!!!!

Look at this quilt that inspired my friend Connie… I love it so thought I would share it here…

And here inspiring me… is a Gerber Daisy we picked up when we lucked out and found a little place open selling flowers… we got some cheddary orange colored flowers for around our flag pole… we got a pot for the Daisy and when the freezes are over and they are planted I will share a photo with you >>> Yes it froze the last 2 nights below 30 degrees here!!! CRAZINESS!!!!  And our sweet Molly … freshly brushed … she loves looking pretty!!!

Here is a meme I found… PLEASE when you can’t social distance… WEAR A MASK!!!

 So what is the joy in the story you are now living??? What is a new normal thing you have learned to love that you didn’t initially…

I have learned to love being alone with my honey and our pooch… she is a joy and he is a hoot… I am definitely more blessed than I realized to be quarantined with the crew I am with!!!

I have had to learn to balance time that I listen to news though.. my honey needs more news info than I can deal with so headphones are a blessing at times!

Hope to hear from you below in the comments…

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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!!!!

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!!!

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This has been a crazy week around here… almost NO blog-reading occurred this week… but lots of other stuff DID!!!  Come see >>> 😎 !

Happy August!!!!

As I was making good progress hand quilt this past week I looked out the windows near me and saw this… what a way to bring in August … with goodness 😀

And a closer look at our current resident osprey. (Corrected thanks to my readers to specifically be a Heron) …

My honey went outside to catch this shot too 😀

They migrate all through this area of North Carolina and we are blessed they choose to stop at our pond and peruse the available fish for lunch! lol

First I want to link to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitchers at Kathy Quilts blog HERE!!!

Slow Stitching I finished this first pass across the second set of swoon blocks…

Then I rolled… but got a bit overzealous in the amount I moved so (after shooting this photo I realized I had rolled to far… adjusted and started quilting !!! lol

 So here is a close up view of all I completed this weekend …

I expect by next week to be on the last pass of these swoons hopefully as we DO NOT have plans for a very busy week… then again this week we didn’t either! hahaha

I also finished 1 – 6″ block with the hand done blanket stitching…

I still have 10 prepped to sew into these squares to prepare for marking and stitching (20 blanket stitches per side plus corners to make our pattern work)

This now gives me 8 finished blocks for my crochet quilt… and I will need 80!!!  But this is my travel project too so I am not too worried about it actually.. this will get done around other things I am hoping 😀

I hand stitched down the binding over the week and washed the smaller toddler quilt for Simon who just turned 1 year old….

 And I am halfway or a bit more on Jasper’s… using Cleopatra with her walking foot on for this and Julius for my 6″ block conversions…

I am linking these 2 quilts to Wendy’s Peacock Party… Check out her blog party… she has wonderful eye candy this week HERE <<

I am in the midst of making a great new friend… her name is Jannessa.. isn’t that a fun name!!!

She is close to my age and lives not too far from me…

She has this piece …

And she wants to make it a valance in her sewing room… like how she has it posed here…

This is hand marked with pencil on the sewing lines and hand pieced…  I have some ideas for how we should attack making this a longer and skinnier piece to be the front of a valance by adding fabric on either end and cutting off the top 1/2 row of hexi’s to reposition 2 of those 3 half hexi’s like this…

That leaves a half hexi for a label!!!  None wasted but is this the best way to use this ??  I know how to make a valance using regular wall hanging quilting plan and layering the finished top with batting and backing that is more sun resistant in color/quality 🙂

Jannessa gave me and my honey tips on grooming Molly… by grooming her with us!!!!

She is much happier groomed too!!!

In return I gifted Jannessa my PVC quilt frame 🙂

In return she gave us what she thought was a 301 case because she got this model vintage Singer in the trapezoid shaped case…

 You can see it with a machine in it below…

But after doing some research we think this could be a musical instrument case… hmmmm!  Any ideas anyone???

While I was doing the slow stitching the last couple days I have been listening the “The Stitch TV Show” on Youtube… You can find their latest episode HERE <<<

Last Sunday I spent some time video chatting with my daughter and her beau… at the end of the chat they sent me this photo by request…

She is very happy in her new house.. her and her beau Timmy will celebrate 1 year together this coming week too ❤

I got this fabric Saturday when I checked the mail from my good friend Debbie…

The goal is to make a Halloween themed banner for 1 1/2 year old Amelie.  This is my post office guy’s daughter 😉

Any ideas on a bunting or banner for a child’s room with this fabric and a Halloween theme for year round use????
I had liked this idea initially >>>>>>

Finally… the reason I made time to blog today besides to say hello to each of you is to take our own walks down memory lane today….

What is…. YOUR FAVORITE QUILTING MEMORY!!!

Mine is… 

Learning to quilt and becoming best friends

 in the process with Connie in 2011!!!

So share yours and more feedback on this post if you would please… if you can’t respond to my blog then email me directly here with your favorite memories related to quilting… or help with Amelie’s banner… or feedback on the valance to be … or what is that suitcase for really???  🙂

And when Monday comes around have a fun philosophy to get you through the day…

Have a Fabulous Week Y’all!  Hope to hear from  you each too !!!  Hopefully I will visit lots of you too today in blog land ❤  and P. S.  Any link in this post that you click … should open in it's own tab 🙂  Enjoy the youtube link too!

Hand Quilting in the Dark …

Okay… so I didn’t hand quilt all week in the dark but my post is late today because power was out until just a bit ago… some trees in storms moving through our area fell on some power lines and we were out of power all together for 5 hours today!!!

But look at this great photo I got during the power outage… I hand quilted like crazy between naps! lol

Today I am linking my slow stitching progress to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching linky party HERE <
Kathy is working on binding on a project… fun to have a happy ending on something  you have been working on for sure!!!

Last week in my post I was just finishing the first row of big swoon blocks.  So this week I focused on the sashing that was all fun quilting no fill…

 After getting that border filled…  I got to work on the fun filling…

 And medallions were born…

 this photo is my new obsession photo…

 And here is the end of that sashing row…

 Next … as I roll the quilt to expose that I forgot to do some stitching in the pinwheel section… so for now this is all I get to roll the quilt…

 And a look at the whole quilt on the frame from the side I will start quilting from ….

 Here is my latest fave selfie taken in my sewing room…

I just got my Julius back.. you can see him in the background ^^^

Below is my Julius… a Singer 301 from 1952.  He was a bit tight for unknown reasons…

 So as a birthday gift from my honey he totally tore into him and using WD-40 inside only and re oiling and greasing all the parts after initially oiling and greasing with no resolve in the tight issues… He is sewing like a CHAMP!!!!

Bonnie Hunter of Quiltville showed some sugar cookies someone make for her retreat in KY this past week… what a LOT of work these work.. work of Heart for sure!!!!

 I machine stitching this basket block… it needs a partner to become a pillow sham… 1 of 2 needed for my darling daughter who will be coming for a visit soon I hope!!! 😀

 This is the washed version of the heart mosaic art quilt I made my best friend for her birthday… she took it home and washed and dried it with only more texture showing in the process and no issues with loose or missing squares 😀 YAY!!!!

 So… I made another one for another friend and made a Tutorial I posted on my blog Friday HERE <

 Here is the back of hers with hangers added as she requested… Connie’s was hung with a single straight pin into a cork board in her bedroom just as easily though 🙂

 I resubscribed (at least temporarily) to Netflix (cancelled my Hallmark NOW subscription as it was not as much fun and variety and Netflix)… This has been my fave show by far …

 Rick’s new – to – us case found on eBay came this week…

 It is very much him 🙂

Daisy Meadows Update…

This fern by our grist mill comes back every year y’all… no covering or work needed to preserve it!!!!

 Rick has done a LOT of work to the grist mill and it now runs 24/7 at the same speed and with no adjustments since he set it after removing a lot of the big pipe inside and adding a valve and some smaller piping… it is technical to me but it works and I love looking at it as I sew and quilt!!!!

Across the pond is this majestic ancient weeping willow tree… our native Eagle likes to watch our pond for a top floating fish to fetch for a meal at times…

 Here is a bush/tree in our yard.. the blooms look white but at the very center they are a dark magenta red color… very unique I think…

 We have some class 66 bobbins for sale on facebook… These are domed on top and bottom and vintage 🙂  Everything else we have put on facebook has sold already or I would share more!!!

 And I just wanted to share this after missing a posting time a couple weeks ago… I got several concerned emails…  Thank You !!!!

 Please take time to think positive and … 

Currently I am thinking positive of electricity and how much we take it for granted for sure!!! lol  Have a blessed week y’all!  Kathi

Celebrations all Around & a Giveaway Winner too!!

Wow !!!  What an amazing week I have to share with you all!!!  I finished this table runner this morning….

In building this table runner I spent precious last moments with my Singer 301a Gloria… linking this finish with Julie’s UFO and WIP finishes for May HERE!

 I love sewing early in the morning with the window open to hear the pond and water trickling there 🙂

I won at bobbin chicken too!

 That was very exciting… and the ending came out with this flimsy measuring about 17″ x 51″ 🙂

It was a fun make and took my mind off lots of other things happening this week.

Today is the 11th anniversary of the day my husband died.  Changing my life path forever.  I am happy today that things turned out the way they did as he was not in good health at the end… but his sudden death left me speechless for a long time.

So to have this completed project in the washer and where I spent my slow stitching hours all weekend …
and now where me and my honey will enjoy a meal this evening is a blessing for sure!  I am linking this awesome project with machine quilting filling but a slow stitching ending for the binding… as you can see to the right>>>  To my favorite blog Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching HERE 😀

I am also linking this project to Wendy’s Peacock Party HERE… I love her blog posts and enjoy linking there too!… The machine quilting was LOTS of fun actually.. I used my tools for marking quilts when hand quilting to mark this for machine quilting.  Click on the photo and i t should blow up for you 💕

On Wednesday…

Gloria bowed out of my sewing room as my honey surprised me with a black early 301 by Singer… Manufactured in South Carolina in October 1952 I officially added Julius my clan of machines 🙂

I celebrated with this photo collage of my 2 main machines…. Julius (Singer 301) and Cleopatra (Singer 319w)…  What an awesome duo they will be !!!  As the story of old goes too 😀

I was still reeling over the excitement of this new addition to my sewing room when I found out my son and his wife had their baby girl Elliana!!!! 

Born at 6:43 am on 5/23/19.  Elliana Marie came into this world weighing 6 pounds and 10 ounces and 20 inches long … Mom and Elli went home with dad driving them yesterday and all is well ❤

So I am a Gram and Rick is a Papa 😀  My heart melts to meet her in person too ❤  Soon I hope!

We bought an area run this week… Molly has decided it is her daytime bed 😀  She is soooo cute rolling around on it like it is a big playground! lol

 Have you seen this panel?  I am looking for where to buy this if anyone knows where it might be found!!!

I enjoyed some times on the swing by the pond this week….

 Sew Relaxing… until Molly comes and gives me a wet willy!!! lololol  She likes being up in the swing too though …

We have this orange blooming bush that comes out this time each year in full blooms… I don’t know that I have ever seen this before… any ideas on what kind of bush this is???

 Here is a view of our pond and home from the other side of the river that runs through our yard…

 And our home as you come up the driveway… on the golf cart these photos were taken 😀

 Not much progress on this front but this will be my BIG PUSH this week… no pun intended ! hahaha

 Here is a fun attachment to free motion quilt on a featherweight 221 we are selling this week on facebook….

 And here is a newer Sew Handy we sold … this one was quite complete and sewed great… The new owner should be very pleased 😀

Now for what you have all been waiting for …

The giveaway WINNER!!!!!

#18 in the 20 comments left that qualified with a return email address:

>>>> YTSMOM <<<<

with her comment…

Sooo… now what will Julius first project be?  Well he sewed together binding for the table runner as a dry run of sorts…. He did a fab job with none of the glitches I had noticed over the years with Gloria so I was happy for that… I am pondering a wall hanging like the one below:

 With a 3d bow like the one to the right 😀

We shall see… my Etsy shop is empty and will be closed officially soon.  So I plan to sell things I make on eBay where we already have a presence for vintage things.  We will see…

I have emailed the lucky winner celebrating my 8 years blogging… I am excited to get her address and get her the winning lot of things 🙂

Have a blessed weekend and remember the true reason for Memorial Day is not extended weekend time for family celebrations but a sobering time to remember lives lost by soldiers who fight for the freedom we have here in this country.  God Bless America!

Happy Mother’s Day 2019!

Hope for all the mom’s of people and pets you are having a celebratory Sunday today 💞

It has been a busy week here at Daisy Meadows…

 Our birdhouse we had used in Florida that my dad had built long ago got a rebuild to stregthen it… Florida has left it loose all over and it got a fresh bottom piece too…  Now it is shining proudly in our side yard ready to greet 6 new bird families in the future 😀

Also last Sunday we actually caught some of the crew heading back south on the train tracks from doing their yearly train track maintenance ….

That was quite exciting!!!

Monday kicked off teacher’s week and nurses week… I celebrated both and posted this on my wall in honor of my RN career in the past…

But more nurses do teaching so it was a celebration to both areas of my life 😀

I did finish this block Sunday amidst all the hubbub of activity we had! lol

 Then Monday I rolled the frame to start the week off with Elliana’s name

 I marked out what I thougth I may do but not having losts of experience with appliqued quilting…

I was feeling my way once the crosshatch was marked!!!

Well look how good it is looking this weekend now 🙂

Progress is slow as I have a sore thumb and my thimble rubs it so I am only able to quilt a bit at a time … then a break is required.

Linking this fun slow progress to Slow Stitching Sunday at Kathy’s HERE!
and Wendy’s Peacock Party HERE!

If only my fingers didn’t get sore! lol

I finished the bag for my customer this week 😀  She is very pleased with the end result my daughter said and I had fun making it for her so it was a win/win!

Here is a collage showing the inside and the back as well of this Oriole Bag by SewSweetness Patterns!!!

 I included a key fob and 3 different pockets per her request.  The focus fabric elephants were her choice too ❤  I am sharing this finish over at The Crafty Quilter with Julie HERE <<< this has all the makings of a quilt but it is a usable bag lol!

Besides the roses I opened my post with (picked for me by my honey while it was raining!!!)

We recently realized we have some pink azalea bushes here by the front of our yard 😀  Makes me happy to have a bit of pink!

 And we cleaned some of the algae from the pond and I love the reflection pics I take… so I thought I would share this one with you all…

Have a blessed Sunday friends…. thanks for visiting!  I am back to slow stitching after this is posted … how about you??!!

More Slow Progress and a Visit from my Bestie too!

Welcome all my friends!  Hope the end of the month almost here finds you all doing well ❤

This is my latest photo showing the front of Daisy Meadows… I LOVE IT! ❤ and feel sooo blessed to live here where everything changes each day 🙂

Here is a fun book I read this past week while I slow stitched…

It is a fun listen and has a moral at the end too… so a double good read in my opinion!

Last Sunday I focused on the bear below and actually got a lot finished on that cute bear 🙂

As the week progressed I made more progress but I also got about 20 hour visit with my best friend Connie too… look what we marked and managed to photograph…

Her swoon 24″ quilt… it is about 95″ wide x 105″ long and fits her bed perfectly 🙂  Here are better color views from the opposite angle of the quilt laid out on my floor…

IT WILL BE NEXT ON THE FRAME TOO…
She  had collected backing, batting, and now a quilt top too so I am ready to load 😀

Meanwhile for Kathy’s Slow Stitching Sunday Linky Party HERE I have lots of fun to share….

First this cute fox all done above….

And dry below with the adjoining block finished too…

Now here is the whole row all done… using only morning daylight to show off my stitching lines a bit better… tip thanks to Gretchen! lol

And where I am headed to after a roll

 And my quilt set up below after rolling!

And even this morning I couldn’t resist making progress by finishing a block of stitching…

Pardon the wetness… I had to spritz away my marking lines 🙂  Linking my slow stitching mega progress week to Wendy’s Peacock Party too since I have sew much to crow about !!! lol  HERE

These links I am sharing open up new windows so you won’t lose your place if you go look at what all others are linking 🙂

My honey and I picked out flowers for the base of the flag pole this week when we were at Lowe’s for some household items…

 And here they are all planted…

 And mulched too 🙂 ….

 Molly is wanting to get trained to help with the mowing so my honey is letting her ride the mower when he gets it out and puts it up….

I hope each of you take time to smell the flowers of life and take a few slow stitches yourself in a project that may be laying around!  You never know how it could bless your own or someone else’s life!

Hand Quilting Progress and a Mountain Top Walkabout too !!

While we keep waiting for promised rain my honey has gotten lots of yard work done… we took a walkabout around our wonderful 1 1/2 acres of land and I wanted to share some highlights with you…

 Above is coming down the winding gravel drive to our home…  Look at the tulips in our neighbors yard and purple wildflowers that are all over right now too 😀

Below is following the gravel drive in front of our home and over the Valley River that runs through the side of our yard 🙂

 Here is a far off look at our home… there is a big pond behind it that I have shared in the past …

 Here is the gravel drive continuing and an old corkscrew willow and some other nice trees and bushes…

 And here is that same corkscrew willow from our front porch 😀

 And the view by my front porch includes some hosta and these cute little bell shaped lavender flowers…

 Upon closer inspection and asking google I found out they are a variety of BLUE BELLS!!!!

 And here are some tulips where last year there was only 1 here… this year there are 2!

 And between some other shrubs are a couple others… hope they keep on multiplying in future years too!!!

 Here is a sunrise one morning over my quilting frame … which now brings us to my favorite part to share!!!  PROGRESS!!!!

Quilting and creating with fabric in all ways is an obsession with me… is it with you???  Check out this Bonnie-ism I read this week…

This past week I listened to audio books… another obsession and a new one as it lets me focus on creating with needle and thread instead of watching a screen all the time like movies entice you to.  Before I knew it I had the first 3 blocks of this quilt figured out and quilted!!

 Soon the 4th block joined followed soon thereafter by the 5th!!!

 Here they all are… pic is a tad blurred and the 5th block is still wet a bit but I was excited to roll the quilt!!! lol

 So then I was able to focus on this 2nd row…

 I decided to just stick to the cross hatching I had used on the nature blocks backgrounds for those…

 And here is my progress this morning…

 And my view is going to the squirrel block today… you can see my layout below!

Linking this fun hand stitching to Kathy’s Slow Stitching Sunday HERE … she is asking what challenges we face as we put our stitches in my hand…  Well I am designed my quilting plan as I went last week… now I am just carrying that out as I march up the quilt… but I did have to take out some hand stitches around the nature blocks on the first row as I put in grey thin thread initially on the inner round… now I know I want 2 rows of the navy thicker thread to have them look like windows… Thanks to my bestie for helping me figure out this trick of the eye…

You can see above… the 2 rows of navy around the block help it look like you are looking in a window… and the diagonal stitching around the block also helps conceal it… I am giddy to see this quilt completed soon too ❤  There are 6 rows including Elliana's name as a row… not sure how I will quilt that row yet!!! lol

For the Peacock Party at Wendy’s this week … right HERE…I want to share not just one but 2 ironing surfaces I fixed up!!!  Wendy has a wonderful quilt for sale if you in New Zealand… she doesn’t want to ship abroad on this item… but it is lovely and she shares lovely photos of her work on it 😀

The fabric that is to become ironing surfaces I found on eBay!!!  I found 5 yards of this fab vintage fabric a while back and stashed it … well when my bestie saw it when I shared my vision of it with her on a custom sized ironing surface as well!!!

Here is mine so you know what I am talking about….

Here it is in action too…

Not a typical ironing board you see like the hexi fabric covered board… but a rectangular surface for ironing quilt blocks and binding strips and such… Linking this finish to Julie’s UFO & WIP List for April HERE.

The Anatomy of this ironing surface is some 3/4″ plywood… and an old but still fluffy towel.

 I added snaps to this one and love that instead of making it longer to hang off the side to stay on the board over time…

 I added snaps using a hammer my honey donated to me and this tool I found HERE.  They ship all over the world… I don’t get anything just trying to help you be proficient in making an ironing surface 🙂

 And Ta Dah!!!!  It is done… I added a handle to each of ours to make it easy to move about… she will be storing hers or hanging it up by the handle so I reinforced them by added fabric on the underside of where the handle joins the ironing board cover… I made the handle several layers thick… and made the reinforcement squares several layers thick too… I used french feld seams as well so the only raw seams are inside the towel which I used my pinking shears on to decrease strings when washed.

 These ironing surfaces (one more to make still as I need a second one for my second frequently used machine…) work well whether you use starch, starch alternative, steam, water spritzers … all that is fine on the plywood, towel, and fabric covers… I washed the towel of the first one I shared above for the first time since I made it almost a year ago… no stains on the wood and I use lots of steam and lots of Best Press and water spritzing too… I flip it over when it gets dirty and use the other side… it was nice to wash it but it was best to recover it as I wanted a fresh look and I got it 😀

Feel free to ask questions about my ironing surfaces if you have them.  I am happy to answer them for you… we do sand the edges of the plywood and esp the corners so they aren’t prickly very well before I add the towel and cover if that helps you… I sit mine on a stool or small table and my bestie is putting hers on a tv tray she has 🙂  Linking these Ironing Surfaces I have made to the End of the Month Challenge by Julie HERE >>>

For now I bid  you all adieu and hope to hear from each of you that made it this far via a message below!  Until my next post…

Hope you had fun & productive National Quilting Day / Week Y’all!

I want to open this post by wishing you each a Happy and Blessed St Patrick’s Day…

I used to know all the history of our holiday celebrations… but now I just focus on quilting and current events more than anything… so I thought this sweet wish to each of you would be nice whether you are Irish or not I hope you pursue good luck each morning and night too!!!

I know National Quilting Day was supposed to just be Saturday but after sharing it’s coming with you last week… I had the MOST PRODUCTIVE WEEK SEWING & QUILTING & ORGANIZING TOO!!!!

Sunday I spent between focusing on slow stitching on my quilting and my english paper piecing to sewing this on Gloria for a sweet 5 year old named Jasper…

But what to my tired eyes appeared when I took this photo but a big OOPS!!!  Do you see that on either side of the center panel both sides are laid out the same instead of mirror image…OH NO!!!

So out came my trusty seam ripper and bit of coffee and patience to fix it right up and re sew!!!

 The photo above made me say “Tah Dah!!!”  I was sooo excited to see what I thought I was gonna see in the first photo happen finally in the second.  This sooo energized me that I pieced together a backing for this 47 x 53″ flimsy and figured the binding and found a square of fabric to make a nice label too & took another photo…

Now the 2 brother’s quilts (I shared Simon’s flimsy last week) are ready for some quilting… but I need batting and that isn’t in my mind at the moment… because I have lots of other things happening too.. and a large batting will hit our budget next month for sure and then I can focus on 3 quilts that need to be quilted… for now production continues!!!  lol

For Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching Linky HERE I wanted to share a fixed seam… come see what she is slow stitching today!

I used a ladder stitch I found on youtube HERE… I loosened the tension of the top and batting only… so that the backing remained taut.  I thought this would lessen the chance I would catch it and that was true for me… Then I used 50 wt Aurifil that I use for regular machine piecing and knotted a single ply of it and inserted it into the fold of the fabric on top and started ladder stitching into the good part of the bottom fabric … I had completely missed this in the preparatory ironing this quilt top got as it waiting 2 or more years to get quilted… CRAZY!!!  But it happened and it is now fixed!

Here are some progress photos of this Spiral Log Cabin too…

 Last week I was smack in the middle and thought I could avoid hand quilting some this week to slow down the progress I was making as I let my best friend finish my next project to hand quilt… I do not like an empty frame gawking at me… many of you commented that I should keep on quilting and the urge was too great in the end… I did as you can see above.

In the photo below in you lok to the far left of the photo where the green marks of the baptist fan disappear… THIS is the area I had to fix that I shared above!

 And here is a view to the top and end … Just one more row of baptist fans.. and not even a full row really… and I will be on to the top border!!!

So as not to rush my bestie as she works 50 plus hours each week and has a very busy life otherwise too with kids, grands and a guy besides finding time to piece her quilt she wants me to quilt together… I will focus on binding and labeling and enjoying this quilt when it gets done and now on the empty frame that will be left in it’s wake.

I also have another hand project I can more fully focus on then too… many of you wanted to see progress I was making with my English Paper Pieced Rooster 🙂  I am sharing this with Wendy’s Peacock Party Linky HERE.  Come find out how cool SMOYG is 😀

Here is my basic setup… batting on a tray from the meat department (cleaned of course) is my holder of these little pieces of varied sizes…

 above you can see the cool pin cushion my bestie made and sent to me… I ❤ it!!!

Here is my progress if I flip over my progress to see the front with all the papers still in place of course!

 And with 2 more pieces in place this will be the head of the rooster and the eye is a sultry grey 😉  I may change that… but we will see as this project progresses… I planned it grey for a reason I think and that fabric is VERY special to me too!

 Here is the project all put together from the back side…

 This rooster finishes as a 20″ square wall hanging then I may add a border… this was Violet Craft’s colorway… My colorway is red and black and tan neutrals….

I can tell my EPP stitches are getting more small and less noticeable as I go along… I have watched many many vids on EPP stitching by Violet Craft, Rob of Man Sewing, and several others on Bluprint and youtube to mix it up for me to think of a bit of each of those teachers in making my stitches the least noticeable… I enjoy the thread I am using for invisibility and durability… I will be glad to get to a place where I can take some papers out too! lol
Right now it is a struggle to remember all the things of making my stitches stay small and not to take big bites of fabric with my needle… but I am persevering and it is getting easier… this will coordinate when I am finished with the Spiral Log Cabin Quilt too ❤

I have been working all week on finishing the organization of my sewing room and stash… I have lots of progress to share and this is the only part of the room I haven’t done yet … so I may finish that today too… it is hand work anyway and not a machine that does the sorting!!!

 I sorted all I had containers for and bought all they had (two!!!) at a store while my honey saw the surgeon for his follow up appointment (2 weeks post op now 😀 )….

So yesterday while I was out to go to the quilt shop and some other errands for Quilting Day… I stopped by Dollar Tree and got one more container for my white scraps that need desperately to be divided to cream and white instead… so the lids will go on and stay on until needed… like all of these are now!!!!

I couldn’t find the link where I had printed off the colors initially so I found this link and saved it… but I need to make a handmade one for offwhite or cream for the not really white box… what do you all think???

So my door is skinny but I wanted to share all my fabric stash in this closet away from dust and light and our low dander pup too…
Above you can see the shelf that is to the left at eye level

To the left is the left side of straight ahead… the shelf system my honey built to the wall for me to use with my board wrapped fabric system.

To the right is more of that shelf system and you can see the rest of the U shaped shelves with book and such at eye level (yep even phone books for string piecing – thanks to Bonnie Hunter for that tip! )  And a bit more fabric in that tower of shelves on the bottom right of the photo … I am sorting that into my main fabric storage as I get to it though 😀

Here is the photo I will share at the Crafty Quilter end of the month though… more concise 🙂

Finally for my sewing room review is a corner I haven’t shared in AGES because it was piled up with civil war fabrics and junk… now it is actively holding only what I need to see for current and future projects 🙂

The green tray is my EPP stuff and also has the binding for the Spiral Log Cabin… along the back of the table are frequently used rulers and other such things that I need quick access to that I haven’t seen in ages so I was happy to find some of those things again and get reacquainted.  

On the front edge is fabric for my granddaughter to be’s quilt I am planning… more on that as it happens 🙂  My grand daughters name will be Elliana… I will be appliqueing her name on her quilt as well as some wilderness animals at her parents request… it is their anniversary tomorrow on the 18th… 2 years married!!!  I will probably work on that project then as I enjoy thinking of them and maybe ring them and see if they can chat! 😀

Here is the backing I will expand and plan to use… it is Moda and Flannel and soft!!!

 Here is the print I plan to put into use on a bag for a friend of my daughter’s… she will pay for the supplies for a purse and has chosen blues and elephants and this print from several I shared with her…

I am excited to have a bag to make and another coming soon too… more on this stuff next week though!

If you have Bluprint or access to it and are looking for a good comprehensive applique class… check out this one … Bluprint was Craftsy in the past…

I have 1 class I can buy and this may be it before my subscription expires… I may re up next month for a new year but it isn’t in the cards this month and that is okay too… I have certainly enjoyed it… if you ever want to expand your crafting horizons consider a year of Bluprint as a gift for yourself… I did and I have and I don’t regret a penny I spent doing it 😀

 As part of a parcel of loveliness I got from my bestie yesterday (she sent me the pink fabric I shared in the fabric for my grand daughters quilt to become)…. she sent my honey a sweet “get well” card and a gift card to his fave store!!!

He was floored to get such a thing from her and excited to start a post op project he had wanted to do… so off we went on our way to the quilt shop to afterward take him to Lowe’s for wood to expand our bedside tables….

We both use cpap machines at night… his is a fancy version that is top of the line sleeping assist for severe sleep apnea called IVAP and mine is the low end version for minor sleep apnea … just CPAP… he converted a couple 2 cube tables into pull outs on the top for our machines and baskets below to hold our supplies… now he is adding wood to the tops of each to give us more room for books and remotes and clocks and change… the list goes on… he made us hooks off the lamps that hang on the walls… so it has been a project to get us all fixed up to sleep well… but these table tops (thanks to Connie) are something he really really wanted next month… so he got them this month and found the energy to cut the wood and fit them yesterday and let us try them out before staining them to match the bases then poly will cover them to make them fluid resistant since we like water or a soda to drink at bedtime.

Rick got out yesterday and fed our fish in the pond for the first time since winter… they hibernate and won’t eat in wintertime!  CRAZY!!!!  So he grabbed my phone and took some pictures… the ground is still saturated from all the rain we have had of late… but he managed to find a dry enough spot to stop on the golf cart to take these photos for you all…

Soon it will be warm enough out I can go out and swing on the swing and watch the nursery grow in the pond (nursery of fish that is)… I love our home and our pond and yard!!! I feel so blessed to have the grist mill attached to it too… it is fun to feed the fish and watch the little ones become teens and the teens become grown ones… we love having friends stop by and fish in our pond too!!!  I enjoyed winter… don’t get me wrong but I love spring too.. and here it comes!!!!

So take time this week to be in love with your life… share your fave part of your life with me in a comment if you will… give gratitude for what is going great for you or what makes you happy!