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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On your mark… get set… DONE!

Wowee ya’ll!  My last post just a couple weeks ago showed me at 3/4 done… I have now got this view to enjoy!!!

The goal had been to have this off the frame for New Years day … we need to disassemble it for our upcoming move… but this morning I was able to finish the quilting on the quilt that was on this frame and take it all off!!

Now to make up binding and attach it and decide on wording for the label and embroider it on there too… and sew it on!  I am just so excited still though that I am looking at this empty frame a day early if not more !!!

 I worked on this quilt every day as we have packed, cleaned, sold, and gave away things to downsize and prepare for our upcoming move…

Here is a nice shot I took but didn’t date… I think it was 1 1/2 weeks ago though…

 I had lots of questions in my hand quilting facebook group so I made this photo tutorial…

 And shared this one too…

 Someone asked if the chank and Mark B Gone went away easily and they do but I also made this photo to show it! 🙂

 Here is the quilt with just a bit more quilting left to happen in the borders…

And with EVERYTHING marked!!!

 Here are some highlights of some personalizing I embroidered on the center top of the quilt for the newlyweds…

 The layer cake I used to make this quilt with…

 A fresh photo of the newlyweds they shared for Christmas…

I think my son looks like a mountain man at 6′ 7″.. and his wife is only 5′ 1″ lol!!!  But aren’t they cute 😀

Meanwhile I have still been aking slow but sure progress on a quilt to be hand quilted!!!

 And dreaming about a wall hanging I like for my future sewing room once we sell this home and find a new smaller home 🙂

Sharing this post with Kathy’s Quilts today… come see what other hand stitchers are linking up on this cool day for most of the USA HERE!

Here is a preview of my focus for 2018….

 And with that… I am out of time for now so will post and answer each of your comments if you are able to accept a reply.

Have a blessed day and a Happy New Year 2018!  Make sure you take time to Love One Another today!!!

Amethyst Stars… 2/3 complete!!

Can you believe this…

I had to come back to my blog and see when the hand quilting on this big quilt started today…

July 15, 2017!!!

WOWEEE … I am thrilled… I thought it had been a couple months longer! lol

Check out that blog post HERE!!!

Well today I am here to share with Kathy’s Slow Stitching Sunday HERE all that I have been up to… including some delicious shots of my progress hand quilting this intricate pattern 😀  So buckle up and read along my bloggy friends!

Here was the end of row 9 and a shot of the threads this project is taking….

 I am really enjoying the variety of stitching in each of the charm square blocks along the way.

Marking out the rope border is quick n easy with my Pounce pad 🙂

 Soon that and the argyle finish are complete too!

 And as promised a pic of all the threads I am using… Aurifil 28 wt, YLI 40 wt, and perle cotton 12 wt are all present and accounted for here …

Can’t decide yet but I think I will need more of the gold perle cotton I am using for the rope outside border… if so that is the only one that will need to be obtained… unless I need more Ecru DMC for the charm squares… I must order the gold online as it is Valdani and I am unable to locate locally… but the DMC is nearby at Joann’s… so I can pop in there if need be to finish this quilt in the next few weeks!!!

And here is a shot of my frame and ROW 10 … 

I have finished on the outer borders and ready to start the charm squares and stars here now 😀

I hope you each had a great Thanksgiving … me and my honey enjoyed the day immensely…

I heard from my kids and sent shout outs on facebook to those near and dear too!

Here was our table including the place mats I made…

Ready to be dressed with ham and turkey and all the fixin’s…

Yummy!!!  It was really good too.  At this writing all the leftovers have been consumed so we did a good job of estimating our need and not having so much excess food in the house to be tempting… we are still working on weight loss goals and getting in better overall health.

Those place mats got made just in time before it was time to pack up the sewing room in prep for selling our home and moving a bit north… that is our goal anyway! lol

We also got to watch a rarely shown episode of Leave it to Beaver on Thanksgiving…

It is called “The Scrapbook” and it was the final episode… not sure why they don’t play it when they play all the others over and over… but this episode and one other we hadn’t seen played Thanksgiving and we were thrilled!

My son James and his wife (the ones the Amethyst Stars quilt is for)… built themselves a new table over this holiday weekend too…

 Above was them working on finishing it up and below it is in their bedroom ready to give them respite!

Doesn’t it just look amazing!!??  I LOVE that he got some untapped handy genes somewhere/somehow!

So here is my sewing room today with my latest sewing machine project I fiddle with when I need a diversion from hand quilting and packing more stuff up….

Gloria… my Singer 301a is doing a fine job of precisely piecing the hexi centered blocks… I need quite a few to make us a quilt for our bed though… lol!

My 401a and fabric chest and cutting table and ALL OF MY STASH (meaning Bonnie Hunter’s … On Ringo Lake mystery is getting printed for making once we are relocated!!!) is packed away except for what you see above!!!!  We couldn’t believe how many boxes it took to wrangle my sewing stuff … and I am NOT DONE YET!!! lol  I have sewing items in EVERY room… but by the end of THIS DAY TODAY those should all be boxed and ready for a new home somewhere north where seasons again exist 😀

Please keep us in your thoughts/prayers as we look for God’s will in our move north of here… are you doing Bonnie’s mystery this year??  I would love to hear about that too!!  I am a HUGE fan and this will be my first time to try out her mystery 😀

Hope all is well for you and yours!  Please take time if you like to go visit the others who are linking their slow stitching hand done projects at Kathy’s quilts today and remember until my next post to…

Forward Progress Happening Here :)

So happy to have some positive progress here this week to share at Kathy’s.. for Slow Stitching Sunday 🙂  And this is where you will find me today too!!!

Yep… I rolled the quilt on the frame again… now on row #7 of 15 rows total to do so ALMOST HALFWAY y’all!!!

I am sooo excited with this progress… here is a close up of the beginnings of row 7…

I am really enjoying the border and planning out the motifs for the charm blocks too… it is all quite fun for me 😀  Linking this post to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching come SEE!!!  HERE <<< and praying this is gifted by Christmas!!!

I can’t stitch all the time though… I am not as handy with thimbles as I could be so my fingernails break off frequently… thus I have also been working on some machined projects while increasing my use and ability to stitch with thimbles! lol

I completed this cool table topper…

If you are interested in my thoughts on the pattern I purchased and the overall construction of it in more detail look at my post from yesterday right HERE!

Earlier this week my kids met up in Tennessee and I got these photos sent to me…

 Above is James and his wife Heather with my son Mike… and below is Mike with my dd Brandi 🙂  So nice that they all keep in contact with each other!! 💗

Meanwhile I have been thinking of upcoming holidays and treated myself to an early Christmas present in the form of the new Quiltfolk magazine… focusing on middle and eastern Tennessee!!!

This is a completely ad FREE magazine that is 170 pages of vintage and historic quilts in pics.. plus a few newly constructed too… but the focus is on quilt history in each state.. this quarter it was focused in Tennessee … where I am from!!  They cost $22/each or $75/year subscription and there is no postage fees and it came well wrapped for safe transport via USPS… I hope to order more interesting ones in the future as I find them quite pleasing to enjoy on my back porch as the weather cools a bit.

Also on the Countdown to Christmas in my mind has been making some placemats for our dinner table… and I found a youtube tutorial I felt inspired by… here is the photo that inspired me…

And here is my fabric choices for MY placemats…

 Here I am actually doing it.. see the negative fussy cutting template I made at the top of this pic below??  A first for me … just made from cardstock though 🙂  I got 4 of these 6″ x 10″ hexi images from a fat quarter!!! PERFECT 😀

 Then I had the inner border on…

 Then the outer border and a good pressing was had!! lol

 Finally a look at my completed idea after re-auditioning bindings… not sure about the backing yet… should I go with plain fabric or make them multi seasonal with some print on the back that would also look nice with a black binding…

Well I made 2 of the 4 I need so far and now will ponder this quandary as I slow stitch this Sunday away 😀  These measure now 12″ x 17″ so that is a good size for us.. we use smaller sized lunch plates anyway 🙂

Are you making any crafts for your home for Christmas??

Finally… my honey has been making me a built in office in our bedroom… and he has painted the wall a soft gray color!!!

 Now here it is once all had dried well and I could move back in to this space 😀  I LOVE IT!!!

 I especially like the little shelves above… holding my overflow, a pic of my bestie and me from last summer’s visit and some decore items…

 We continue to ponder a move in the springtime… please keep us in your thoughts and prayers… anyone near Graham, NC?  This is in the center of the state … would love to get some pics from you if you live near this part of the world!!

Thanks for stopping by to see what I am up to… I would LOVE to hear from you as well!  Please leave a comment and have a blessed day my friend!  And don’t forget to follow the link I left for you to see what all hand work others are up to on this fine Sunday!!

Make sure to also ….

Hand quilting, Machine piecing, and Designing too!

Since finishing Kaydences sweet Butterfly Woven Quilt… she did receive it and she loved it her parents said… so all is well there!!!

Here is where I have spent some of my Sunday last week!!!

Daytona Beach Shores, Florida!

We have a driving pass to drive on the beach and walk around whenever it is open for driving on… when the surf isn’t dangerous or in the driving path… so that is what we did last weekend… what a great way to rest and relax!!!

My bloggy friend Kathy is talking about how relaxing and restful taking slow stitches is… I couldn’t agree more!  I have picked up a UFO that was sitting beside my recliner and have made a refreshing focus on it this week.  Here it was when I had it pieced and ready to layer and pin baste…

And here it was in my hoop as I started going closely around the “flowers” coming out from the center…

Daisy is always close at hand when I am hand quilting… above I was working on this project on my back porch Florida room (screened porch)… now I have brought it in and am working on it in my recliner in the air conditioning and in the living room 🙂

If you look at this photo above… the flower closest to this writing is not yet quilted around… the other 3 flowers and berries are quilted around now…  This is raw edged applique done expertly by my bestie Connie… I made it into a wall hanging but she did the applique I am not skilled enough to manage! lol

I am using wool batting on this project so once finished and out of the hoop the quilting will really show too 🙂  It will be a while yet as I have quilting for the borders… all to be decided as I go… this is my relax and enjoy project… because that is also Kathy’s theme today for our slow stitching and I am working on this today as well… I am linking my post today to Kathy’s Slow Sunday stitching HERE!!!  Come see what others are slow stitching while they relax and refresh 🌸

When not slow stitching on Sundays and when I need to relax… I have been designing a new quilt with this cool new book I just received.. it is an older book but still a GREAT book for designing borders…. it has 12 different quilts in it too 🙂

These quilts aren’t so easy to make and far more than I would design myself… but they also explain how to add fun pieced border designs to your own quilts… the authors are great precise quilters on their own and together I think they are just FAB!!!!

Judy Martin is the queen of precise piecing log cabin quilts and Marsha McCloskey is the queen of the feathered star pieced patterns!!!  Yippee!!!

In between slow stitching and designing a quilt for my son and his new wife…. I have found ANOTHER ufo to unearth and continue working on piecing on Gloria my Singer 301a!!!

It has been over a year I think since I have worked on this quilt … I had to discover how to piece the “flowers” all over again! lol

Here is 1 flower and a pic of the pattern…

 Here are several finished flowers and the template…

 Here is the booklet the pattern is in… it is full of lots of cool information though and is compiled by Darlene Zimmerman… this pattern is Hollyhock Garden and comes in 2 sizes in this book… but I am designing my own size! lol

 Here is some of the flowers on my design wall…

 This collage of pics shows a better view of what the finish may look like as well as my designing process… so I know how many flowers I will be needing!

 I am making the flowers from batik fat quarters… each fat quarter makes 6 flowers… 3 positive and 3 negative ones… I am using both types in my quilt… the pattern says to use just the positive ones though… I just can’t see wasting those negative triangles though….

 You make strip sets then cut the positive and negative triangles…

Once the 2 sides are sewn together you best bet is to double pin the center to get a perfect flower each time… this is a pic I sent to Bonnie Hunter after her most recent Quilt Cam.. I was just sewing them….

Her quilt cam reminded me of the importance of taking time to pin some things… so I am now!

I need 102 flowers if you noticed that in my notes above… I am over halfway now so hopefully I will start adding the green triangles later this week.

Today I plan to work on a quilt I am designing for my son and his new wife…

 Above they are in Gatlinburg last weekend when they finally tied the knot!

And after seeing quilts that inspired them I am designing on graph paper something similar to the pic below I found on pinterest in Civil War colors at their request….

I love how the sashing of the charm square fabrics make stars 🙂

I will be adding a fun pieced border from my new to me book on borders to this to make a nice living room snuggle quilt for them as a belated wedding gift… it will be hand quilted once pieced on Gloria!  I am planning an extra long quilt as my son is 6 foot 7 inches tall with big feet … his sweet wife Heather is only 5 feet tall! lol

I have recently printed new pics of my grandkids… thought you may enjoy seeing them…

Kaydence’s new grandma does a great job of sharing pics… and CJ’s mom caught him with a big smile I think as his dad swings him big!!!!

Hope you have a restful and relaxing Sunday y’all!

Please make time to …