Zoom… zoom… zoom <<< Come and see!!!

After such a very hot last couple of months here in the southeast US… we are beaconing in September with cool morning breezes and enjoyable evening chats outside 🙂

Do you like surprises??  

Is September apt to surprise you in any way???

I have had a productive and positive week …  how about you?  What stands out in your week as memorable??

Surprise #1…

My Kaleidoscope center of the quilt in progress for the guest bedroom is in 1 piece and it measures the same across the center vertically as it does horizontally!!!  YAY 🙂

Below is a 1 1/2″ ish of fabric for a  floating border I will add to make the orange peel applique blocks surrounding this panel here… 

be based on a standard 5″ unfinished block… Here is a “map” of the plan for this quilt…

 The center circle swirl area is the designation of the kaleidoscope blocks 5 across by 5 down … current measurement is 43 1/2″ square 😀

The orange peels will be these kind of colors now…

This is an orange peel pattern… the “football” shape is appliqued in your fave method to a 5″ square centered diagonally… then all those 5″ blocks are made into 4 patches where the points meet in the center….

…And then those 4 patch blocks make rows that surround the center Kaleidoscope 🙂  Isn’t the above photo quilting fun!!!!

I will then add a outer border to 3 sides from a new (to me) book I got in the mail a couple weeks ago… I read about this book on Karen who blogs HERE post a few months back.  I bought a used version on Amazon and am not disappointed at all!

Linking this fun quilty progress to the Peacock Party with Wendy HERE <<<

Intermittently I have been working on a secret project…

Gathering Supplies…

 Piece by piece making confetti then placing that fabric on the sticky surface I cut out….

 Finally to the binding in my front yard on a glorious evening as I big August adieu!!!

This is a project I can share more on later… my friend Jannessa is getting the finished project when it is released by Lisa Capen Quilts of YouTube fame HERE & who’s pattern and instructions this brainstorm was for!!!

Last to share is the ongoing hand work I do that keeps me sane >> hand quilting on Connie’s Swoon Quilt… last week I shared THIS photo as I turned the quilt in the frame…

 And I was focused on this area right here on the left far borders…

 And then it was finally all stitched there….

 And I scootched over to the first swoon and the big stitching after completing the in the ditch stitching for support was my next focus…

Hoping this week bring me MUCH MORE time to hand quilt … I sew enjoy it !!! LOL

Linking this slow stitching and all that binding I have done in the last week too to Kathy’s Slow Stitching Sunday HERE <<<<

I did finish the binding and washed and dried this quilt and finally took good photos of BOTH quilts for these brotheres…

Seems I have been hopping all over the place this week and now I see why.. I have… but I have also taken time for myself and my friendships… with my honey and all my Patchwork Friends and those I know through my blog even!!!  Do you have good friend(s) in your life???  Each one fills a different need within me … I am soooo blessed!

I sure hope you feel blessed too!  Please take time to leave me a comment and choose a question I asked along the way to answer or sound off with a comment 🙂  I appreciate your time in leaving one!!

Advertisement

Busy week behind and ahead…

I found the below quote on Facebook this week and have enjoyed ruminating over it as I have accomplished different things 🙂

We have butterflies and hummingbirds all over our front yard right now enjoying our different flowering bushes and such!

HQAL is this weekend… this is a time to share what I have been up to specifically hand quilting… I am working on the last part of the middle row of swoon here… I also have a bit in the border to do so next time I share this quilt… I will be on the top portion somewhere of these big swoon blocks (they are 24″ square!!!

This Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another.  If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.

Kathy, Margaret, Emma, Tracy, Deb, Susan,  Nanette,  Edith, Sharon, Karrin, Gretchen and Kathi

For Slow Stitching Sunday HERE I am sharing my binding on Jasper’s toddler quilt…

 I just rounded the 3rd corner of the binding 😀

I think he will love this one too!!!  Check out Kathy’s post today as she shows the sweetest pillow she finished so uniquely… it will open in a new tab too I think 🙂

And for Wendy’s Peacock Party HERE I am crowing about a scrub shirt I made for my honey this week!  She has some awesome eye candy too so go visit!!

It was a 90″ length of woven plaid fabric we found on ebay for cheap… I washed and fashioned this shirt below!!!

My honey loves it… if you want info on making  a shirt like this check out THIS blog post of mine.  It is not as good as some of my quilting tutorials but it gives you an idea on how to make one yourself 🙂

When I was a nurse I made most all my scrub shirts … so I am now remembering what I had forgotten from so many years ago (10 years!!!).

Linking this Glorious Finish for a completed WIP with Julie Cefalu’s Crafty Quilter Blog Link Up HERE <<<

I have been planning a future quilt for our guest bedroom…  This will be the center of the quilt

 Here is the pattern… all those 4 blocks… those will each be an orange peel…

 Kind of like this… I found a layer cake of all newsprint backgrounds… I will use 2 of them to make the orange peel foundations like the photo below…

Except our orange peels will coordinate with the room and the center of the quilt too 🙂

My new friend Jannessa came over this week … we pin basted a quilt for her and she picked up her PVC quilt frame my honey made her…

 She also picked up her cell phone cradle my honey designed for us to use…

 Here is how her pvc frame looks… we are trying to source boxes to ship them affordable… right now they are pick up only though….

 My sweet grand daughter Ellie… with her mom Heather… SWEET!!!!

 Molly looking cute for her favorite visitor’s birthday wish to send via text….

 Our neighbor who harvested our strawberries this year found 2 more packs of them… so I have been enjoying a belated sweet strawberry shortcake again 😀 YUMMMY~!!!!

 Here is a cool pattern I watched a Donna Jordan video on this week HERE… It looks like a fun quilt to make and is called Beads!

 I coffee stained some navy and white plaid woven fabric Jannessa gave me… and cut out another shirt for Rick…

 You can see the right side is white while the left side took the coffee staining better… most of it looks like the left.. this was one of the only areas I found a white area remaining…

So then I decided to get fancy on the pocket with my Singer 319w Cleopatra and used a cam with this design on it…

 This is gonna be a fun shirt to make this week 🙂

Well … I am a bit under the weather this weekend… feeling achy and just “not right” … so I am saying chat more next weekend when I will again be blogging… feel free to leave comments or ask questions if I wasn’t clear in any of my explanations…. and remember to live your life carefully… it is the only chance you have to leave a positive mark on the world 😀

Lots of progress to share!

I hope you have each had a wonderful week.  I really appreciated your feedback on last weeks post !!!  You all spoke and we listened!!!!

 Above is a more narrow valance to use over her window … it will be quilted and layered with batting to protect it from sunlight 🙂

But this progress is a surprising show of events…

 Amelie’s banner is done !!!  The fabric showed up Monday and my gears started moving and soon me and Cleopatra were sewing it into a banner of sorts 🙂

The recipient, daughter of my post office dude, loves it as does mom and dad (who celebrate Halloween all year round!!!)… pic of the room will be coming 🙂
Linking this finish to Wendy’s Peacock Party HERE
and
Linking to the Crafty Quilter’s UFO Link Up HERE as this has been on the list for 6 months to get done!!!!

I have spent a good bit of the week hand quilting on Connie’s Swoon Quilt…

 Above I finished the center swoon… in the center 🙂

Below I have the right side center to finish and the outer right border to complete… that will get some of my undivided attention today 🙂

Jasper’s quilt got finished with the machine quilting and the binding got applied to the front!!!

 Now Cleopatra finally gets a rest!!!!

 Molly is inspecting the finished quilt as I work on the binding…

 Sewing it down… here is the hand fashioned label that needs a date added to it 🙂

Linking this and swoon quilting to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitchers where we share what hand stitching we plan to be doing this day… HERE!!!  She has a lovely post today to to share!!!

Here is a center design for a medallion style quilt…

 Using my already made kaleidoscope blocks…

 Here’s some left to make!

 And here is the beginning of my rough draft plan…

 I will use this new book to my collection…

 Here is Connie’s EPP progress… she is currently working on those variegated neutral backing hexi’s!!!

 And here is a sweet little tea cup pin cushion my new friend Jannessa gifted me 😀

 Here is a perspective photo for a 12 oz coke 🙂

 Here is sweet Ellie … my grand daughter with a milk mouth picture sent during the week!!!! 😀

 Here are some cell phone cradles my honey made for me and Jannesssa this week too…

 And here is one more square completed this week.

Overall a VERY accomplished week I would say… thanks for stopping in for a visit… and if you have made it this far.. tell me which project of the many I shared you enjoyed the best!!!

Need feedback please… Come Read and Reply

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!

More than sewing… but that was the funnest part! lol

Hi Friends 🙂  I saw this on facebook somewhere this week and saved it… 

Sewing is the blissful part of our days isn’t it!!!  Well in the spirit of FULL DISCLOSURE… I wrote to y’all last Sunday morning and this was in our river…

But by Sunday night we had it up in the right hand photo of the collage and by Monday night my honey was driving and mowing again!!  Just running out the gas he couldn’t get to empty from the tank! lol

Well.. when something happens to shift your perspective.. like your only lawn tractor taking a 15 foot drop with your honey on board and both eventually walking away … simply AMAZING and energizing too!!!  So what is a girl to do that loves to sew???  Well… SEW!!!

Early in the week when we were on edge I finished 2 swoons in my sleeplessness during the night…

 But by the time I reached the 3rd swoon I was ready for a break and life was slowing down… our mower could be fixed by my honey we realized at this point!!!

 I took a photo of 4 of the 7 primed blocks to share with you this week too…  While he was practicing on the mower and working out the kinks in the mower I stitched these outside… VERY PORTABLE!

 And while I slow stitched I enjoyed a month of free Netflix…  I have most enjoyed Mary Poppins returns… Emily Blunt did not disappoint!!!

Linking my slow stitching progress to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching gang HERE <<<<  Come see what is happening over there today 😀

While I didn’t make a ton of progress slow stitching I am not disappointed in my week as a whole in the stitching department because I got some major items off or active again on the UFO list…

 These lovely boy quilts are for a couple boys who are close to my dd Brandi… she had requested these several months ago and I pieced them then.
What is fun about each of these flimsies is that they were each made from extra fabrics I uncovered from my deep and donated stash items…. I uncovered this group and didn’t buy a thing for either quilt, backing or binding!!!

First I took them from being stored off to the side to layout out on the design wall where I measured and determined how much batting each needed and  used the rest of the batting I had in a basket waiting for these quilts 😀

 then I layered up Simon’s first…

 And quickly (about 1 full day of stitching) machine quilted the top into a quilt…

 Here it is ready for the binding to be sewn down…

 And the label my daughter and her beau helped me figure out …

 Binding in process …

 And  a view from the back 🙂  I sew the binding down by hand… this is what I am linking to HQAL group I belong too….

This Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another.  If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.

Kathy, Margaret, Emma, Tracy, Deb, Susan,  Nanette,  Edith, Sharon, Karrin, Gretchen and Kathi

Soon I was itching to mark and layer and start the stitching on the other quilt… as these do get shipped together !!!

I printed off my picture of the flimsy (quilt top) and drew on it…

 Then I took my white chalk pencil lead and a ruler and marked the quilt top 🙂

 Soon it too was layered up with pins and I was cross hatching the center panel 😀

Cleopatra and Julius… my 2 vintage lovelies … have handled all these jobs quite nicely!!!

Linking Simon’s quilt progress with Wendy’s Peacock Party <<HERE… I didn’t think these quilts were even on the horizon to find a place in my line up at the beginning of the week.. now they are both almost done!!!  AMAZING!!!

Also today I linked this project…

And this project ….

As finished for the month of July with Julie ~ The Crafty Quilter at her link up HERE <<<

Here is a great meme a friend shared on facebook this week… this should be EVERY DAY!!!

 Here is sweet Ellie… just passing 2 months old … I am a proud Gram for sure 😀

 Jannessa … my new friend … is making great progress on her wall hanging…

 She got the center medallion stitched and is making wonderful first stitches 🙂  We have a play date scheduled for later this week and we are both looking forward to it…

While doing yard work and playing catch up we noticed butterflies around our butterfly bush and took a bit of a break…

 Here is a black and white lovely butterfly …

 and light yellow and block…

 And a rose for you each…

 Connie’s progress on the Rooster project… I am LOVING it ❤

 My latest read in the bedroom is a quilt instruction book but it is written like a Quilt Folk mag really… quite enjoyable!

 Here is a great Bonnie-ism from last week…

We know we had a close call last weekend… we are extremely grateful to still be here for each other also… maybe that is where all this energy came from! lol

Or maybe from the update rx my doctor gave me for my arthritis pain when I saw him this week 😀

Have a blessed week y’all and don’t take any of it for granted… you are here for a reason!!!

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!

Appalachian Delight becomes a flimsy and one more does too!

Welcome to my blog y’all!  It has been a busy yet still restless week of recovery around here… and LOTS and LOTS of rain has been going on!!!

And now it is our time in most of the USA to lose an hour… so spring forward if you do… don’t forget every clock in the house too! lol

For those of you that aren’t regular visitors to my blog … my honey had his right hip replaced on Feb 27 and came home on the 28th.. Whirlwind major surgery and now he can’t cross his legs anymore either!   Physical therapy started this week and in depth exercising and lots of healing and more independence by my honey is occuring… so all is going well.. but leaving us both rather sleepless still in the whirlwind of so much going on… I think when it is time for our next joint replacement (I have 2 knees that need replacing yesterday or last week even … and what caused his right hip to need replacing may take precedence for the left hip to get replaced next though…. so time and healing of this hip will help us decide which is coming up this summer when he is properly healed from this.

Meanwhile… I have been hand quilting and sewing like crazy!!!!

I got all 4 borders mitered on my Appalachian Delight Quilt…

 And made this collage of all my efforts 🙂

 I used a youtube video by Laura at SewVeryEasy where she actually showed how to make a nice wide border on a signature quilt… with miters… her directs were precise and easy to follow… my mitered border wound up measuring 13 1/2″ wide and 3 yards long… the bottom side was pieced to keep it on on the length of fabric to avoid any waving border syndrome with this one ! lol

Now all the pieces … flimsy top, binding strips already cut, leftover outer border fabic and backing you see peeking out from below the border fabric… are in a basket in my sewing room as it will be mid summer or later before this sees the frame.

With that done and still sleeplessness abounds I started trying to figure out the Rooster EPP project I shared a couple weeks ago…

It is a Violet Craft pattern I bought last year and prepped to coordinate with the spiral log cabin quilt… so mine won’t be these colors exactly.

Here is my kit set up…

 Above you see everything posed on a melamine tray we have in our stash for just such a project… to keep glue from getting on everything and keep it all together.  My portable design wall I thought would do well for a start of organization and a box I bought just for EPP organization from Dollar General stores… 3 layers with the top layer having dividers .  You can see it better below…

 She says you can start anywhere you like but she had intended the pattern to be started with the #1 and progressed to the end… so I am 🙂

 Above you see the back side of the pattern… she uses pictures to designate a fabric color.  I then used my vintage dry iron and a piece of fabric meant to help keep my iron clean as a pressing cloth between the glued piece and my iron 🙂

 In the box in the photo above you can see my planned use of items.  And below in a well cleaned and ready to use meat packing styrofoam dish I have all set up…

 And I am making good progress with all my excitement for a new skill to learn…

My stitches are a bit more obvious than I first hoped … but this is new to me … so off I went to find a great video on Youtube by Sara at SewSweetness on EPP and making a pouch from the pieces of hexi shaped EPPing… I learned a lot more from her than I did from the video she recommended… she is very sweet and knowledgeable!  I have tackled a few more pieces and will share more of BOTH sides of my work next week.  I am much happier with my stitches though as I progress which is expected I would think.

I finished the row of hand quilting I was on last week and rolled the quilt… Now I am at the center and moving over that center to a down hill pace…

 Here I am sharing the border completed on this section and the center marked and started on….

 I actually am at the center of the center now though!  But I must slow down a bit unless I want an empty frame with I do NOT… my next project is a quilt for my best friend … she is piecing it and while all the blocks are done life still happens and she won’t have the sashings and borders done properly for another few weeks I am afraid.  So I am trying to pace my finish on Spiral Log Cabin.

Linking both the EPP and Spiral Log Cabin hand quilting to Kathy’s Slow Stitching Sunday post HERE.

I did take these messy sheets for the UFO/ WIP challenge Julie is hosting as a linky party the end of each month…

 And reprinted sheets on card stock and rewrote things I had on this list making better use of my space…

Some of you mentioned rewriting sheets and not keeping track of the completed projects but even if each page grows to the next page or even a 3rd page… I will keep them all to look back at years end and see all I have accomplished 😀

I love the wristlet purse I made and shared last week… it is soo handy and awesome!  Everything has a place in this bag too ❤

Gloria (my Singer two toned 301a) and I pieced a quilt top this week… but I used Cleo my Singer 319w to do the applique zig zag stitching…

 Here is how that panel I appliqued turned out …

 And here is the quilt top flimsy in full…

 Here is the backing folded (had to border it to make it big enough for the quilt top.  Also there is a label and binding already cut there too!!!

 Simon is an almost 1  year old child of my daughter’s good friend.  This friend is taking her to GED classes and such so Brandi and her boyfriend Timmy requested a quilt for their 2 kids… above is the younger one’s quilt to be and below is the beginning brainstorming of the older one’s (almost 5) quilt to be…

His name is Jasper and it will be somewhere on the quilt too.

I hope to be quilting these both during the worldwide quilting day next Saturday… what do you plan to do during the worldwide quilting day???

Linking this quilty post to the Peacock Party by Wendy Welsh who is traveling around New Zealand this weekend and knitting a scarf too ❤ HERE !!

Have a great week ahead wherever you are and hope your weather and projects are both enjoyable to you…