Easter Blessings ~ Quarantine 2020!

Happy Resurrection Sunday Y’all!

As we continue to Quarantine to avoid this hateful virus sweeping all areas of our country and even has or will be to every point in the world I think!  How horrible but true!

I am learning to adapt to this as I learned to adapt to being retired and finally gave up fighting urges to return and took up quilting back then… now I am taking up mask figuring and my days are just generally restructuring a bit… ok a LOT! … not as much shows on my bullet journaling…

But Y’all … I stay busy all day every day now… just not so much quilting and crafting I guess… and sleep comes easy from 8 pm to 4 am then I am up and my day has begun!

I sure hope our world will heal real soon too ❤  Feel free to use this meme I scarfed on facebook 🙂

We have started shopping early in the mornings and trying to do our errands before lots of others are out and about… well last week we came home early one morning to find a visitor in our pond…

A duck swimming across the pond until we started him… in front of our neighbor’s cabin…  Picturesque view she has up there!!!

Molly has been quite the entertainer lately…

 She “claimed” this stick when we were doing the spring clean up a couple weeks back on the golf cart….

 Well she still has it … and that tulip behind her in the picture below…

Now that tulip sits in a cute little glass jar my bestie gave me from her collection…. So she is near during this lonely time too!

I have great company in my honey and Molly and facetime with Jannessa rocks!  Don’t get me wrong I am BLESSED on this resurrection day ….

I just wish I could hug Jannessa… spend time with Connie on her vacation week coming up… those kind of things… plan a visit to see some of my kids… like all of us… instead I am staying home 99% of the time and finding nuggets of happiness on social media and listening to audio books again!!!

Look at this cute little quilt I found in our toy sewing machine group that a member made… it is appliqued from a drawing she made… It is great detail and she definitely has skills I don’t! lol

But I do have some mask making skills…. I made several masks this week for friends and neighbors… some even got mailed, received, and there are more to be made… I have a quick and easy way to make my masks that are 3 layers of fabric a bit of elastic and a few bread ties!  I made a tutorial HERE this past week showing lots of photos of how I make my masks 🙂

 My honey even put on the mask I made for him and his thick beard…. nice cover up here….  Then he told me to wait a minute.  When her returned this was his response….

Here is hoping me and my honey’s shenanigans have boosted your spirits today!!!!

I include a printed note with my masks… people need to know that they need to HEAT them up to sanitize them properly in their clothes dryer ….  Here is another type of print out you can grab … it came from Bonnie Hunter’s facebook group “Quiltville”….

 Here is my favorite make yet….

My hair needs a trim… please don’t comment on THAT ! lol

Then I uncovered Cleopatra later on in the week and started marking and sewing quilt blocks I have been prepping with the template I made…. 

 I love how it turned out.. I was afraid it didn’t look above like enough quilting… but machine quilting these with 28 wt Aurifil top and bobbin for even finish on both sides….

 And I have 15 of those 39 that I have here quilted now by just sitting down here and there 🙂

 My main focus this week has been hand stitching down the binding on this baby quilt for Jannessa’s grand baby boy to be.  She has 2 coming within a month of each other from both her girls!!!  So I signed up to do the binding on this rounded corner quilt…

 By making that bias binding I shared last week… it really has stitched on great !!!  I am praising God for the blessing of being able to do hand work during such a time as this!

Linking this progress to my favorite Sunday blog stop >>> Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching <<<
I will be finishing the binding on this quilt today… Jannessa and I are working out a between a glass door meeting for later in the week.  YIPPEE!!!!!

For you homeschooling parents that need ideas…  Think about Appalachian roots and build a still! lol

 Or see if you can find a plastic spider or bug and try this out….

One of my favorite songs to sing on this day…

Have a blessed week ahead as we continue to adjust and continue to Stay Home to Slow the Spread here in the USA… what are you doing (or have you done) to Slow the Spread???  Keep all those infected and symptomatic in your thoughts for strength to endure and overcome this illness!  I especially am feeling a urge to pray for Boris Johnson of the UK.  Is there anyone you are especially thinking of during this time in our world???!

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Blessed Easter Sunday Friends!

I received the sweetest card in the mail on Friday… it made me smile so big too….

This came to me and my honey from a dear friend … how nice and timely it was to receive it for us 🙂

We have had a busy week here but mainly I have been making headway on just 2 projects to share…

Here is the squirrel I was starting on after last weeks posting….

 And a hand quilting facebook group has a daily challenge going from the 15th of April to the 15th of May called #month of stitches… so of course I had to join in to keep me stitching each day 😀

This is the next block after the squirrel…

 And finally the block to the far left side of this row…

 Then the week was coming to an end so I took stock of the blue bells by the front porch looking so beautiful still… and even with rain coming down each day this weekend they stand tall… AMAZING!!!

 In the middle of the week I focused on working on a Oriole bag for a friend of my daughter that was commissioned a bit ago…

 Here is a close up of the main parts… They are drying from being Scotchguard coated to keep it clean longer 🙂

Next week I should have it done and ready to mail to the recipient… I think she will be pleased !!!
Linking this progress to Wendy’s Peacock Party HERE … Check out Wendy’s post for the most amazing quilt she is hand piecing together 🙂  And a new quilt along Jen Kingwell has planned too!

I rolled the quilt then…

 And have been working on these 2 blocks here….

I am so pleased with my quilting progress here as it is LOTS of work and it is moving along at a clip thank goodness… the next quilt will arrive this week too!!!!  Linking this cute bear and more to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching Linky Party HERE … where Kathy is putting the binding on a project she will share in total tomorrow on her blog and has some scrumptious hand iced cookies too ❤

I am planning a new bag for my darling daughter Brandi… a backpack purse!!!

 Here is a look at the inside and back of this bag design but the one above is more her design likings…

 We disagree on which Tula Pink print would look best on the flap of this backpack purse… what do you all think???  Can you say Left or Right???

If it helps these are the other fabrics she has picked for this bag… all that could change but her fave print of all these are the violet purple ones  but she enjoys the yellows too…

Here is a color wheel I got last week… violet/purple is just across form the yellow colors too… so that didn’t help us much… anyone with ideas??

 So as we look at life through Easter Sunday eyes… do you dare to take a step doing the right thing or in the right direction of your life??? Sometimes the right step is scary!  Does this make sense to you??

Think about it as you stitch this week… does this apply to you??  It certainly gave me food for thought this week!

I continue to listen to books on my headphones as I quilt and do housework etc… I am really enjoying a break from videos and movies too… my mind is more active listening to a book and imagining the characters… do you find this to be true if you have read or watched the same shows and compared them???  I have watched a bit of movies available on Hallmark NOW this week though and enjoy the POstables for sure!!!  I am watching the 10th of 12 shows as they become available to me 🙂

Meanwhile… Be in love with ALL of your life friends… and have a Happy Easter Sunday!!

~ Blessed Easter Sunday ~

I hope whatever you are doing today brings you great joy my bloggy friends…

This week my finger has healed to the point I can quilt again without depending on the thimble for every single stitch…

And I completely finished the second star wheel on this quilt!!!!

See the close up of the swirls in the outer border I am doing as I come to them…

I am really enjoying the variety of theads and stitching I am doing on this quilt 🙂  My daughter… the recipient when it is done… is LOVING the pops of red that I am putting on the stars and outer border also!  But she also says she is enjoying all the stitches and will try some straight stitches in this quilt if I insist… well guess what… I will insist that she put a few stitches in… this is her forever quilt and I want her to cherish her stitches !!!  Like she cherishes mine 🙂

And this is my view this morning!

I am happily and busily working on the 3rd block now 😀

While my finger was healing… I focused on the log cabin quilt I am making ….

Once I finish the last 4 blocks … I will let my honey arrange them in this pattern until he is happy with it… this wall hanging will ultimately hang in our living room.. so I want us to BOTH be happy! lol

Here is my Resurrection Sunday flower in the Mickey vase…

I hope you each have a blessed Sunday… as for me I will be slow stitching the day away … because of this I want to link up with Kathy for Slow Sunday Stitching Linky HERE!!!  Come see what other’s are sharing there today 🙂

Until my next post remember…

Blessed Easter Sunday!

Hello and how are you?  It has been a bit of time since my last post.. but we have been busy!!!

First I want to wish you a Blessed Easter.. in our home our Easter decoration is here…

A single white flower to represent the purity of Christ’s love… dying on the cross for our sins and them arising to join his Father.

Now if you made it this far… I also want to say… as much as this time of year means to me.. everyone has their own beliefs and I love that about the world we live in… So what are your beliefs for Easter… I would love to hear how you decorate… or don’t ! lol

As for me and my house… we have been busy this week… We have continued our spring cleaning…

I also received a package in the mail this week from my bestie Connie.  She sent me some thread we had ordered together and some goodies too!  Check out the angel in the center of the secretary… that is over the vase that sits there now for just a short time of enjoyment before we put her away… she is a Christmas angel and will adorn our Christmas tree this winter 🙂

You see I shared with Connie what kind of tree topper we wanted but couldn’t find.. well she had one in her stash she never uses anymore and remembered it as a gift from one of her dds from Cracker Barrel restaurant… how cool!!!!

My honey meanwhile has been creative in with some of his things too!  Check out what is sitting ON the cabinets in our kitchen now…

Yes… that is a model train… 027 scale to be exact and has been collected over time.. all is in working order too!!!!  Most of the train engines are 1940’s heavy metal engines that are workhorses.. but look how long this train is…

 It runs the length of our kitchen!!!  So cool we think!!! What do you think??

Saving the best for last…

I have been making great progress on the whole cloth quilt…

I finished the section I was on last week and started the south section this week…

And I have more done than when I took this picture…

I am just loving this project and while I have other projects calling me this one is getting my full attention currently…

I am hoping to get some unhooped pics this week to show my progress completely on this queen sized beauty 🙂
I also mailed out Kaydence’s baby quilt to her parents this week as her shower is next weekend!

Thanks for hanging in with me this week… and please.. if you made it this far please leave a comment… I covet your thoughts for sure!

Until my next post…

Blessed Easter Sunday All ~ Progress Report!

Hope you are slow stitching some on this Blessed Easter Sunday!  I went to the beach this morning at sunrise!

My honey got up early with me this morning and we headed to the beach for a 7 am sunrise 🙂

It was so glorious… it was also cool, and VERY breezy.. check out the blowing sand…  this is looking each way as we walked on the beach!

But the sunrise, although it was overcast… still shined through!

                              The waves were busy but not ferocious today.. and we went while the tide was about midway… I love seeing the birds on the water’s edge… God provides us so much natural beauty to enjoy!  

We are very blessed for sure!

Now that we have enjoyed Daytona Beach USA… I bet you want to know more about my progress on THE MAN quilt… I had set a goal mid week of having a post ready to go with my latest duo complete… and here is block #7 and feather #8 in my countdown to completion of this part of the quilting.

Tah Dah!

Now to get off those pencil marks on the feather… the chalk I used on the swirly block you can see is virtually gone already!

First I lay out the feather to remove the markings from…

 Then spray on the magic stuff that has virtually no odor and leaves no stiffness in the fabric afterward!…

See the bubbles it makes when you spray it on the pencil markings??

 Then I wipe it down scrubbing it really … with a soft dry cloth.  And Whallah!

If you want to get some of this Marking Pencil Removal solution try the great prices at my friend Debbie’s shop on Ebay here!  I am not paid to advertise her shop… I simply think she rocks customer service and has great prices.. lol!

So for my finale…once I complete 6 swirly blocks.. 7 fun feathers.. and 2 yin yang cornerstones… I will machine bind the binding to the front of the quilt THEN do the quilting of the chain that is the outer border of this quilt… that way my lines stay even to the binding and all looks nice… THEN I will add the label my honey hasn’t seen yet… and sew down the binding to the back by hand!  Whew!  That is still a lot of steps.. but there is light at the end cuz I could list all that needed to be done in 1 paragraph! lol

So how do you plan to spend your Easter.. Do you celebrate at all?  Would love to hear your traditions of the season or just how you plan to spend this day of this year!

Linking this post and my awesome goal met to Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy’s Quilts here!  

And with Karen at Sew Many Ways linky party here!