Quarantine Continues Here ~ Come make time for a pit stop and a smile!

Check out this cool mural made my an artist in the USA!!!

Can you find this mural in THIS video??? It will open another page to play in 🙂
   >>>This has been a favorite listen by Alicia Keys this week in my house<<<

Feel free to share a fave song YOU HAVE in the comment section below!

This week I worked on LOTS of crocheting… and removing and replacing stitches… here is the one I was working on last week…

 And then one I just finished last night for this weeks work….

 Isn’t that second one nicer?  I am making progress!  All of these will go in the quilt… some will be better than others as this is my learning crochet project….  I am struggling with maintaining consistent tension on the thread coming in and learning how to fudge when stitch counts are off… etc.

Here is my black I will be crocheting today….

I want to link this hand moving and brain working activity to my friends at HQAL…

Hand Quilt Along Links

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, Tracy, Deb, Susan,  Nanette,  Edith, Sharon, Karrin, Gretchen, Kathi,  Bella, Daisy, Connie and Monica

And I want to link to Kathy’s Slow Sunday Stitching which is my favorite Sunday blog stop and a time I catch up with all my stitching friends >>>> RIGHT HERE gets you there !!!!

I mailed off a bunch of masks to my previous boss this week and gave another bunch to our local grocery store!  I have handed them out for free to all those we come in contact with regularly for private or professional use to protect themselves too…

 Finally yesterday afternoon I pulled out some flying geese on a new project I had cut several weeks back and pieced mindlessly as I enjoyed that Alicia Keys song again! lol  Did you listen to it yet and take in the thanks to all those on the front lines… ALL those???!!!

We have really been enjoying watching a robin family that has occupied our train engine birdhouse my honey built last year… and this hummingbird feeds a family  somewhere in the front yard… 

 We make our own hummingbird food from sugar boiled in water … you can find out on the internet  but DO NOT use the red colored food… that red coloring makes it hard for them to reproduce successfully.

ALERT!!!!   We want an outside camera with great picture taking ability we can watch on our pad or phones in real time or record to take still shots from… anyone have ideas on this kind of camera and where to look for something like that… I looked at Go Pro’s .. but those are too over the top I think and a trail cam is too low end… I can’t find something that is good right in the middle of those.

We got in some LED lights we ordered for the lights shining down from our microwave onto the stove top…

 and it was like saying… “Let there be Light!”  We got the cool white color and it is nice and bright!

I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies my honey and I devoured ….

 Fell in love with this idea I saw on facebook…

 Wished I could visit my hairdresser… we are closed at least until May 8 here in North Carolina though… how about wherever you live???

 I have this pattern in my “to be started soon” pile…

 And seeing this one made me wish I could work on it… didn’t this maker do a great job… this is 14 x 17 1/2″ about!

This yesterday when perusing Facebook I saw this gem… enlarge the photo if you like but the quilting is spectacular and those stars are string pieced Bonnie Hunter style….

 THIS though was the laugh of the week… would you do this to your special someone????

Thanks for visiting with me here virtually … where we are all Covid 19 free in this arena…. Take care all my virtual friends ❤  I hope this post has brought you a smile along the way!

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A Finish and a Beginning… and lots in the Middle too!

I finished and washed the throw quilt last week… and it became a wall hanging!!!

My honey loved it soo much he wants Stars Among Us hanging on the quilt hanger in the kitchen 🙂  So here it is!!!  The colored chalk was completely gone after my traditional first TWO washings… when I took it out after the first there was a bit of pink chalk still in it… but I had used pink pounce AND pink cartridge chalk on marking the center… so back in the washer it for 1 more wash and all looked great… dried it and look how wonderful the texture turned out… we are soo pleased ❤

One day is all I could handle having empty nest syndrome…..

This is my Spiral Log Cabin quilt flimsy that has been fixed (the outer border was waving too much!) and is now became one with the frame and a flimsy no more on the Tuesday!!!

The rest of that day was spent at doctor appointments for my honey’s upcoming surgery for his hip replacement.  It is our first joint replacement in this house so we are starting the prep work in earnest now!  Keep reading you will see 🙂

Then Wednesday errands for prep and more doctor appointments for both of us locally… then it was Thursday!!!  Happy Valentine’s to me from my honey…

This expensive chocolate is our tradition for him to get me… I got him a bit of chocolate this year too and he loved the new tradition of getting some himself 😀

Here is hoping you had a great Valentine’s Day… if you celebrate where you live!

We also put this cool little Singer sewing machine up for sale on Valentine’s.. it sold out quick too!!

It is special because most of the metal parts are black.. this is called a “blackside” finish on those parts made around the 40’s in wartime to preserve the best metal for war time needs.  This machine was actually produced according to our information… in the mid 1950’s… but with parts in the 1940’s primarily on it … and sketchy records kept during this time on these machines anyway… it makes it more valuable… but it is on it’s way to a great home where it will be loved and appreciated ❤

Finally Friday rolled around and we were rested and I took a few photos and made some progress on this project…

 After assembling the tools I would use I did some stitching… this was the initial look… I knew it needed more depth though…

 So I phoned my bestie Connie and she had some perle 8 in a light brown… PERFECT  for this quilt… she said she would pitch it in the mail for me… well Saturday I got it to my surprise!!!

 And I made headway with it earlier…

 I have the bottom border mainly marked now… you can see the blue lines of what will be a natural YLI thread stitching…

 And I took a photo to include the new ball of perle in this beautiful color ..

 And here is a photo I shot this morning 🙂

I don’t have any plans for stencils on this quilt… but the center is yet to be decided… do you have ideas that strike you when you look at this photo for quilting the center inside the black border???

Linking the quilting in this post to:

Kathy’s Quilts… Slow Stitching Sunday HERE

& Wendy’s Quilts and More … Peacock Party HERE

Along with the 2 spools of thread was a surprise….

 Connie made us this most BEAUTIFUL doily to go on our wood shelf… you can see this wall in our kitchen below houses lots of vintage stuff and a while back I had asked her if she could crochet us something for this long shelf…

 I think it turned out perfect too ❤ 

I mentioned last week that a friend asked me to make something for her sewing room on her farm.  The girl in the photo below on the far left is Holli… she is standing with her hubby who is a Chief in the Navy…

 Holli is such a joyful friend… that is rare these days too!  So when she sent me a charm pack of her theme fabric I was thrilled to play with it and make her a banner bunting personalized for her…

 Here I am sewing on my Singer 319w… boy did this baby handle all that thickness like a dream!!!

I got to use this special applique foot too… and I see why people love it now… and I love it too for applique to look more professional… I think I could use this on bags too!!!

So that bunting is about 2/3 done or a bit more… and we have a “mock up ” area in our kitchen set up so I can hang it when finished and custom fit it to her windows where this will be hanging 😀  YAY!!!

Finally … what I am most excited about!!!!

Yesterday this happened!!!  My honey was out in his man cave building and came in to tell me he found a drawer that matched our kitchen.

And the day ended with the floor removed on this part of the kitchen proper… 

 And another view…

 And here is the bar top marked for removal…

The sample just to the left of the demolition line is a 12 foot by 8 foot piece of vinyl thick flooring we have had about a year… waiting for the opportunity to move the bar out and change about the kitchen… well that is happening NOW! lol

This prep for surgery is taking on lots of angles for sure… Rick understands as the day for surgery gets closer that he will be recuperating for A WHILE and unable to get down and up so much and learning new ways of doing things so he doesn’t make his new joint pop out … oh my!

Meanwhile the weather here has been mainly rainy but that took a hiatus yesterday and we did a ride about on the golf cart… things are starting to bud out a bit… I am getting excited that during Rick’s recuperation we may have the windows open at night again… I sure miss that about winter… I am not wishing away the seasons .. I love each one.. but this has been a very cold winter and we haven’t gotten the worst of it for sure!

I hope this post has brought you thoughtfulness about what you could do to shake up your own life .. or at least brought YOU some joy in reading about our escapades this week! lol  Take time to evaluate and be in love with your life my friends <3… every minute of it too.. if not make changes so you are!!!  No time like the present 🙂

Binding My Finish!!

I can’t believe what a week we have here in North Carolina… it was warm… now it is cold again!!!  So I stayed busy and decided it was time to empty the frame and yesterday I got to this!!

 I started the week looking at this…12 columns to stitch and the center would be done!!  Linking my progress on this project to Slow Sunday Stitching over at Kathy’s Quilts in Canada where she is stitching away in the cold weather they are getting HERE!

Soon enough I was on to this and chipping away at the finish!!!

At finally it was time to trim the quilt, decide on the binding, figure it and cut it and make it one long piece… then to sit down at Cleo and give her a chance to sing as she sewed down the binding 🙂

 My favorite accouterments for binding…

 And getting it started with a tan 50 wt Aurifil thread 🙂

Soon I had made my way around the first corner and down a bit and got a picture… I am sure not all my corners will miter so nicely but this one turned out nice I think… as did my label 😀

Linking all this to the Peacock Party Wendy is having HERE!

Also this week was continue to remove and replace the bottom outer border on this quilt flimsy… it is next to go in the frame….

Here is a close up of what a properly pinned border left me with… you see I placed this length of fabric border on here in a rush and measured down the center but somehow miss-measured the borders when I cut them… AND they are also set in place with miters too! lol  I can’t make this redo job easy on myself now can I!

Anyway this was taken off the bottom.. so I decided I best check the top better too so I pressed it and sure enough it waved back at me … so I took it off in the photo above you see a bit less left but still quite a chunk of fabric was removed as I removed and replaced these borders.

I will share my plan for hand quilting this wall hanging next week 🙂

My honey has been busy working on tiling this tile we have in our kitchen in 4 separate areas…

That fruit tile is Italian maybe in the bottom left???  Well didn’t suit our river mountain home anyway so in his stash my honey found and figured how to utilize some tile left over from our Florida home… that is  the bottom right.  Then properly grouted is the top photo… the glass tiles really took on a deeper color once grouted 😀  

Does he get to count this as hand work for these to linky parties this week???

The background tile was roughed up as it is very shiny and white… next week I will share a photo of our kitchen with all 4 areas fixed to forever hide this fruit that just didn’t go with wood cabinets and all… I am excited to see it all grouted myself !!!

We got a little Singer Sew handy #20 Sewing Machine in Case this week… it sold within 5 minutes on Facebook too ❤  So nice to see this go to a home where it will be enjoyed.. and it works too !!

Today our sweet pup Molly is 8 months old!!!  Hard to believe !!! 

We teamed up and gave her a haircut and bath this week (the middle shot on the right above was before her haircut and bath).  She needed both!!!  She sure enjoys me taking quilts off the frame… she jumps right on them so it was good she was all clean!!! lol  She likes playing with sticks and wood outside, playing fetch though is still a favorite!  And she will do anything for a treat!

Last week I said I was going to keep the same closing until we got fresh flowers… well I found this quote this week (thanks to Bonnie Hunter) and investigated and found this… we live in the mountains with water beside and behind us so what could be better!!!  I quote by Jack Kerouac for you from me will be my closing until we get some fresh flowers and some new inspiration this year!!!

 

So take time to evaluate how much you are in love with every bit of your life I pray!  Life is short and we need to make changes as needed to be all we can be…

Slow stitching by hand and machine and MORE…

It has been a busy couple of weeks around here … since my last post 🙂  Unfortunately the sewing and stitching side of things is going slow… but still going so that is good!

For my slow stitching progress on Hanover Stars…

 Which makes my total progress…

 Above the photo shows the set in triangle stencil design drawn on…once I roll a bit down I can do that part… but first I need to get row #11 going 🙂

Here are some of my favorite notions for this job… and YES I use by Bose speaker!!! lol

 Here was the last blue block of row 10 marked prior to finishing that stitching too…

 Linking all this fun slow stitching to Kathy’s Slow Stitching Linky Party HERE… this is MY tribe!  Follow that link to see why I say that!!!

Also happening in the background when I can drag myself there is some machine quilting…

 I love this space and I love sewing on Zena … my 401a.  But I just don’t like wagging this 23 Psalm quilt around to stitch how I wanna stich… so this is happening very slow and just bits at a time….

I am about 1/3 or a bit more done with the stitching on this one.  This is my charity project for 2018…

Meanwhile my honey has been even more busy!!!

 Above he built me a ramp to get in and out of the garage door… he built it over the existing concrete stops and it works wonderful with a gradual incline only !!!  I need double knee replacements and am trying to hold off as I am only 52 years young… knees last about 15 years and I hope to only do this once in my life… also I am trying to take off some excess pounds prior to surgery … my doctor is awesome in helping support me in this journey 😀

Anyway,  Daisy loves sunning herself and supervised the building of the ramp for me 🙂

 Then my honey found this cool bakers rack on Marketplace for cheap and he decorated it with often used items….

 Then we had the teapot clock that didn’t keep time well… so when we couldn’t find clockworks to fit it we decided to add an inspirational saying for it….

 And this IS our Happy Place of all the places we have lived prior to here!!!!

Opposite of that is our cool secretary and bulletin board… with some cool decor items my honey hand picked to make it all cozy….

 Then we finally found a place for our stainless trash can!

And here is a view of the kitchen as a whole from the living room….

 NOW FOR THE BIGGEST NEWS!!!!

Our Daisy Mae is moving to Nashville to live with Connie… my bestie!

My honey recently was diagnosed with asthma… and I have lung disease as well…. Daisy’s dander is causing us both a bit of respiratory distress that is not getting better as she gets older but getting worse… so after long convos between my honey and I we decided we needed to rehome her and get a breed that doesn’t shed or have dander… so with the quilts I machine quilted a couple years ago here that got rehomed to Connie….

also goes also our Daisy Mae and all her stuff that is full of her dander…and her fave reclining chair she shared with my honey will be rehomed to the garage until we can find a pet friendly home that wants a nice recliner for CHEAP!

So what will we do for companionship besides drive each other bat crazy nuts???!!!

Get a dander free and hopefully shed free pup… Shihpoo is the designer breed (mix of poodle and shih tzu) we are looking at and this one that is just 10 weeks old tomorrow is our choice first….

 No name is picked out for HER yet… she is just weaned from mom so may be some crying to deal with initially as we bond with our new addition… thus the reason for this post… LOTS to share and Sunday we will be on the road to first drop off our Daisy at a halfway spot for Connie and us… then to go on to Alabama where this little one lives outside Huntsville.  Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers that we will survive house breaking and bonding with this sweet bundle of love and that we don’t have shedding / dander issues with her.  She is currently a bit over 3 pounds and may top out at 10 pounds or so.  Naming will also happen once we get to know her and her personality a bit!  Mollie has been discussed but nothing is set in stone there yet.

Until I catch up with y’all again…

Good Monday Morning Catch Up ;)

 ~ I have been soooo busy y’all! ~

As I write this to you… I am enjoying a cup of coffee… why not grab a cup of something yummy and enjoy this post! 🙂

Our Kitchen is Finished!!!

Above is our counter top bar all finished!!  With our “new to us” rolling island 🙂

Below is a shot of our finished kitchen…

I love the bar area and I wanted to share some other close ups too! 🙂

The cabinets in our kitchen have a space for the same formica we used on the bar to go on the cabinets… so my honey took the left overs from the bar and made inserts for ALL the cabinets!!!!

 I just love how it coordinates with the cabinets and softens the overall effect of the kitchen!!

Here is a great shot I took showing the new bar and rolling island…

 My current layout of shots on my refrigerator…

Here is a close up of the curtains I made for the window in my kitchen…

 And a closer up of the tie backs I designed for this kitchen too! …

So the kitchen is now set… a few little things left we want to do… but my honey hasn’t been feeling up to working on them yet.. but he will.. he NEVER leaves a job unfinished 🙂

We Cut The Cord!!!!
 Have you thought about it???

The main thing that has worn him out??

When Connie was here she gifted me and Rick an indoor amplified antennae… she knew we were fed up with the ever increasing cost of having Directv on 2 tv’s with DVR’s…

So her giving us this antennae and us using it to see what we could get… about 30 of the 45 channels available to us after searching youtube about “air tv”.  There is great information on this process there if you are interested….  There are also websites if you google air tv to find what channels you should be getting along with what shows are actually on… if you don’t have a receiver /dvr to translate that info…lol!

So we bought a UHF/VHF antennae to add to her indoor amplified antennae in our attic…

 With THIS… we get ALL the channels most of the time now 🙂

And the best part.. after the initial investment of things we needed… we now have in about 3 DirecTv payments… we have NO MORE PAYMENTS due to have local and fun TV too!

This has been a wonderful switch!!!  We still pay for internet and cell phones… but the TV cord has been officially and happily cut!!!

So have you ever pondered this for you home??  Just curious actually!

Piecing Progress!!!

I finally got all the pieces and parts for my next quilt done!!!

Here they are as I am readying to make my first 2 blocks…

And here are 6 blocks!!!!

I am LOVING this quilt to be for me and my honey 🙂

Here is a drawing I did for a pattern for this… to see how it would look…

Are you piecing anything right now???  I like to never run out of things to hand quilt on .. so I try to piece some so there is a ready supply! lol

Slow Stitching Progress!!!

Starlight… Starbright is moving along.. slow but sure!

I am on the 3rd of 4 parts of Block 7… here is a closer up of what is left to quilt on this section…

 Some of the stippled areas with stars and moons is getting redone as I come to those sections that need it.. for that I am using a blue wash away marker by Clover! …

 My Daughter Has Moved out…
and is starting her Senior Year of high school!!!

 <<< Here is a pic of her with her new roomie Kylie….
It has been a difficult transition for me … but the quote above by unknown is very VERY true for me!

I am now an EMPTY NESTER 🙂

Off to get some more accomplished!  Just glad I got to check in and catch you all up though!

Hope whatever you have planned this week.. you Love one Another while doing it!!

Happy National Ice Cream Day in the USA!!!

Did you know there was a National Ice Cream Day in the USA???  It was started by President Ronald Reagan!!

And here is a patriotic view from my foyer … all hand quilted with buttons making a star shape in the blue… I enjoy having made this quilt and caught this shot this morning to share with you!

This week has flown by for me!  I have stayed very focused on Starlight.. Starbright!!!!

First I will share my happiest moment yesterday when I took this shot…

Which makes me 2/3 complete on all the quilting!!!   YIPPEE!!!!!!

Slow stitching is the ONLY way I could produce such a cool stipple… and I love using such bold colors to quilt with on this quilt!!!

When I started quilting this project the last day of February I thought I would be done by the time my daughter returned from her summer vacation… she is gone to Tennesse for 5 1/2 weeks… to be home first part of August to prepare for her Senior year of high school starting soon after.  But this quilt still has more time needed devoted to it and a bit more time.  I don’t want to rush and leave poor stitches or incomplete areas.. I want all the quilt to be contiguous when I finally see it in full complete!!! lol  And for when I gift it too!

I am hoping to find a special short verse of some sort.. to add to the label I will put on the back once the quilting is complete… 

Any ideas y’all???!!!!

So I have now started on Block #7 on this quilt for my daughter… here is a shot I took this morning…

I am hoping to have this block done by end of the month or when Brandi gets home 😀
Each block finishes at 28″… it takes for frame moves to finish a block.. this one may take 5 as I will have the outer border to get also as this is an outer corner block.. 🙂

Linking this portion of my blog post to Kathy’s Quilts Slow Sunday Stitching HERE… the remaining post is an update to those that follow me whilst I am writing a post for linking! lol

Anyone is welcome to read and enjoy but Kathy prefers we link only hand quilting items and below are home reno pictures and stories… Have a happy slow stitching Sunday Y’all… that is my focus for the day also! lol (Kathy talks about focus in her post too.. hope you go take a look today!)

My machine quilted finish got used this week…

My honey uses it to cover the table and blend in with the backdrop.. it makes the black cases and Featherweight Sewing Machines just pop with black against the white background.

Here is a close up of just the quilt and backdrop….

So I will call this successful!  lol  It has a few puckers at intersections but those mainly disappeared with it’s first washing and drying… so as it get’s used and washed more it will continue (hopefully) to hide these areas as machine quilting is just not my joy! lol

Also this week my honey has been working on the bar in our kitchen and I went on a walk down memory lane to the house we first moved into… before we started giving it some personality! lol
Here is a pic from the real estate ad….

Notice the kitchen on the left… see how there was a doorway and a pass through window??? What were they thinking!!!

So we improved it fairly soon after we moved in to this …

Although the bar wasn’t super sturdy or even very functional… Rick improved it by opening the doorway up and the wall between the doorway and the pass through was checked and NOT load bearing.. 🙂  Lucky my honey is very smart with home reno!!!

Well now he is putting the finishing touches on the bar … but look at this long shot I took this morning… how the opening to the kitchen looks now!!!!

If you scroll back to our original kitchen from 1980… it was dark and not a part of the house… now our home is very cool and interactive … I love the open concept we have been able to capture here 😀

So let’s look more closely at the process of turning the flimsy half wall into a functional sturdy bar that really integrates all the spaces in the main of our home…

Adding a perpendicular shorter length wall was integral to getting the wall to be sturdy…

 That wall is screwed into the tile then down into the concrete.. there is NO JIGGLING of the bar at all now!!!

Then he added 2 pieces of plywood to make the shape of the top and covered it with the beautiful formica we got online (lucky there as it was more perfect and completely different in person than it was when we chose it online)!!!

This is a good shot of the variegated greys in the formica and how well it matches those 1980’s existing formica covered dove grey cabinets in the kitchen! lol

Once the bar was made he surrounded it with wood edging and stained it to coordinate with the living room ceiling fan and other woods in our home … lots of secret stuff happened during this step!

My honey has had many professions in his life and home reno guru is one of them… he had many high end clients and saw and made many high end dreams come true so when we plan a project like this… he does the very best to make OUR dreams now come true.. on a tight budget! hahaha!

 Check out the cart we found speaking of budgets!

This rolling island cart (we havent’ decided what we should call this piece… any ideas???) was found on our local swap on facebook and cost us a whopping $30 cash and gas to go get it (10 minutes from our home to theirs!).. YIPPEE!!!!  We were planning a cart very similar to this one… with heavy duty lockable casters and we had planned to use the remaining formica for the top of it but this one has nice butcher block wood top!!!

It is a bit worn but not terrible… so my honey will strip it by sanding it down to fresh wood and restain to match our bar edging… then the house will have this wood color throughout mixed with white wainscotting and light/med grey walls… neutral but classy!!!

Here is another shot I took this morning…

My honey let the stain cure then is adding layer upon layer upon layer (very light layers) of varnish to give this bar it’s final step for a long life… then the blue painters tape can come off and we are free to enjoy it!!!!

And ideas on decorating this space??  It needs something next to the wall… and maybe a table topper in a circle or hexi on the hexi part of the bar… what do YOU think???

Also this week we had to replace our post light in the front yard.  Another thing for my honey to do.. using his electrical skills! lol

You see when the yard folks came around to mow they were on a loaner mower as their was being fixed… not acclimated to the subpar loaner mower they hit our post and the light fell off! lol

No harm done though as we found one inexpensively that I really liked… so before long after the little incident… we had this shot to share with our mowing friend…

And this morning I caught it at sunrise while the light was still on for you to see!!!

So Casa Del Loro has had a good tune up… We may take a break now.. not sure.  There are many things we still want to accomplish before Brandi returns from her summer break.

So now until my next post … be safe!  And do a good deed today.. just because you can!!! 🙂

Slow Stitching Bliss :)

I am finally finished with my machine quilting project… more on that below 😉

But since I am done with that I have really embraced my love of hand quilting over using a machine for quilting… I am so glad I love to hand quilt and have the support of my friends and family to hand quilt my flimsies… it takes patience on their part ya know! lol

Here is my progress on Starlight… Starbright for my daughter…

 I have moved to the bottom half of the 6th carpenters wheel block now 🙂 !!!!  Yippee !!!!

I LOVE TO HAND QUILT!!!!  

I am linking this post to Kathy’s Quilts for those that are also taking slow stitches this Sunday!

One of my favorite birthday presents has to be these headphones I recently got…

I can listen to all the tunes I have on my phone wirelessly!!!  I love that 🙂  No more ironing over cords! lol

You see I LOVE to listen to music as I stitch and sew… and iron! lol  Makes all the things enjoyable and keeps my creative side awake to do this! 🙂

I also did get a bit of slow stitching added to this machine quilted table cover…

 Here is the machine quilted cover on the table.. just don’t have the backdrop in place for this shot! lol

White on white is hard to photo well… but it will be perfect for my honey’s purpose… a backdrop for the featherweights we sell!!! 😀

Once that cover was finished I could resume my tri recs units.. for the quilt for me and my honey to sleep under… maybe to be called “Singing the Blues” 🙂

Above is 1 unit made… I need 128 of them !!!! Oh my!!!  So here is my sewing station currently….

I am almost halfway done making these units now!

While I have been keeping up with things and sewing here and there and stitching here and there.. my honey has been busy too!!!

He is adding a wall to our bar to be area…

Just waiting for some nice white paint now!!!

And the formica sheet came in yesterday… so soon you will see how the top will really look!  I am very excited about this project my honey has taken on!  It shows off all his skill I think too!  and adds value to a home we plan to sell in the next year or so! 🙂  We want to be closer to the beach.. right now we are a 10 minute drive… we want to walk to the beach though!

Until my next post please remember…

As a P. S. I would like to remind each of you to Love One Another… we are going through a tough time currently in the USA… please keep us in your prayers if you don’t live here… but no one is immune to what is happening here in current days with all the violence and unrest.. so I am changing my blog signature for future posts.. to remind us all to….

So now until my next post … be safe!  And do a good deed today.. just because you can!!! 🙂

Happy Birthday America… and me too!

Happy Birthday America!!!

And to me too!!!!

Today I turn 50 years young!!!

Here is a birthday cake my best friend Wendy who lives in Australia sent me this morning too!!!

and here is the truth…

Although arthritis may make me start replacing parts with built ones.. currently I am still all original! 🙂 lol

Now I need your attention for a minute or two…

Take a listen to this acapella version of this song… very cool!!!!  Especially if you are wearing headphones/earbuds! lol
CLICK HERE to open the video in a new tab please 😉  I can’t get the link to show up in the published blog post

Isn’t that just an amazing rendition of a classic American song!!!  I just love it and uploaded it to my phone so I could listen with headphones… I got some for my birthday!!! lol

Today I am focusing today on 2 projects…

My daughter’s quilt here…

On the top right is a birthday card from my 97 year young Nanny!

She is my only remaining living grandparent and she has many grandchildren and great grands.. but always remembers our birthdays with a card and a few words of wisdom along with well wishes!  I love getting a card from her on my birthday!!!!

Also I am making a machine quilted table cover for my honey to use posing his featherweights on that we sell…

I found 3 yards of white on white fabric for a low price on eBay because it had a mark on it that easily washed out! 🙂  I want it reversible and the same on both sides so decided a nice 2″ cross hatch would work best on the whole cloth quilting…

 I used a long ruler and my faithful blue wash away marker.  First I found the center of one side and marked it.. then I took a second ruler with a 45 degree angle on it and marked right and left from that center edge at 45 degrees.. after a few sessions of marking to give my back a break.. I had it marked and layered and ready to pin …

 Above it is ready for pinning.. I placed pins ever 3 squares all over the quilt… you can see in my pic below how I placed them for a stable whole cloth to quilt…

Fiona is a Morse 600 1950’s sewing machine made by Toyota and she is a great quilter to me!!! 🙂

I also am hoping to get back to piecing an upcoming quilt to hand quilt… Singing the Blues is it’s tentative name… no pics of that on my phone presently though… once I get back to it I will share some 🙂

Meanwhile my honey has been making some changes in our kitchen….

We are beefing up and changing the top to a more usable surface on the bar in the kitchen.. here is the cardboard template laying in place…

and here is the plywood countertop base piece in place!!!!

There is some beefing up that needs to take place and my honey is doing a stellar job.. I will show pics in my next post of his hard work and skill on this project 🙂

Hope you enjoyed the song and have a blessed special day for America… if you are in another country I hope you enjoyed the acoustics in the song!

I will leave you with this photo of one of my calendars I use.. made for me by my sweet daughter in law!!!!  Featuring my grandson CJ, me, Brandi, Kayla, and DL… plus some fireworks too!

Under my Needles… Success!!!

Ya’ll… I am so excited to share my most recent piecing… I plan to link this to Sunday Stash #54 over HERE so come take a look at what others are linking… all using acquired or stash fabrics 🙂

I wanted to show off how I planned this log cabin using 1 of these jelly rolls (acquired) AND some stash fabrics added in for variety…

Here is a better view of the fabrics in the jelly roll I chose to acquire! lol

And here is how mine is looking so far…

I organized my logs randomly within each length and color on this foam board I had laying around the house… and separated the jelly roll as you can see here to get going with this…

I have had LOTS OF FUN (waaaay more than expected for sure) piecing this and am so pleased that my progress is sooo much like my vision for it was.. in fact I think it looks cooler than expected…

Now my honey wants to rearrange a few of the blocks yet still keep this design… then I will add a pieced border followed by a wide border of some cool vintage fabric I found… for the pieced border I saved some of the jellyroll strips that had repeats in neutral black and red for my inner border… not sure yet how that is gonna work out! lol

This has been a fun project so far and I like that my family is getting involved too!

Under my hand quilting needle has been this!!!

And below is a close up of the border… on the right side of the pic above…

Success!!!!  Now it was time to move the quilt in the frame… now my view is fresh and when I finish this frame full…

I will be 25% completed with this quilt!!!!!

Before I close… look at our new cozy kitchen table with a nice lamp overhanging it now… 

This is becoming a favored spot by ALL in our home 🙂

Hope you have a blessed week and remember….

Happy Weekend!!

So sorry it has been a week since my last post friends!  We have been so busy this week I couldn’t take time to chat.. but now I have lots of fun things to share 🙂

Above is a picture of the center medallion of this quilt finished….

Here is a close up of 1/4 of that medallion in my 16″ hoop….

I used a light blue thread for the center medallion… but I plan to use other colors in the flowers surrounding this medallion… not a traditional way to stitch a whole cloth for sure… but then I am not a traditional hand quilter I think! lol

Here are the colors of thread I am starting with … I am using YLI 40 (wooden spools) and Aurifil 28 threads for my quilting pleasure 😉

Here you can see where I am going with the dark blue thread in the flower petals…

So I am having lots of fun with this project!

Meanwhile, I am watching the patchwork of our kitchen floor come together…

These shots are before grouting though… so the lines between the tile look dark… We are using a light colored grout here so it will flow nicely when done… here is the grout going in…

I was the sponge rinsing girl in this process and it sure helped my honey out!!!  He is a master at tile setting but is used to having 2 helpers… so he got me this time instead! Oh my!! lol

But we managed and the floor is curing after being sealed… so pics of the final floor layout… and a peek at my fave tile and why coming up in my next post!

Our weather is cooler and clear… think spring break and we are only seeing temperatures in the high 60’s this weekend!  OOOPS! lol

So back to stitching for me this weekend… what are you up to this weekend??