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!!!

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Hand Quilting in the Dark …

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

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

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

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

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

 And medallions were born…

 this photo is my new obsession photo…

 And here is the end of that sashing row…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 It is very much him 🙂

Daisy Meadows Update…

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

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

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

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

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

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

 Please take time to think positive and … 

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

Highs and Lows… and Thank a Veteran too!

Did you recall yesterday was this day??

I thanked my veteran and every veteran I came across… and although this may be an American inspired day each country can participate in thanking a Veteran for this freedoms they now have in the place we call home!

I have been busily quiet… I did get tagged in the latest facebook post to share pics each day in black and white… 7 days with a picture each day… check out my facebook feed to find what I have shared so far  HERE 🙂

I also have fallen into watching this…

 Which ended with this quilt …

WoW!!!  Thumbs up on this series!!!

So today and all weekend I have focused on hand quilting and house cleaning… I am linking my hand quilting progress with Slow Stitching Sunday HERE 🙂

Kathy is asking for tips on lighting … I use very cheap light stands (see the black one in my blog header) with expensive bulbs… they are fluorescent bulbs from Lowe’s in “Daylight” and they work great giving me lots of clear white light to quilt by day or night! 😀  Hope this helps you in your ability to attain good lighting!!!

While I watched the Netflix Chik Flick… I also stitched away and reached the halfway point!!!

 The receivers of this quilt read this blog… so I am including this shot for Heather to enjoy a look at row #8 at the midpoint of the quilt for her and James 🙂  ….

I am really enjoying every turn of the frame on this quilt and happy to share such good progress since my last post here on Sunday’s with Kathy.

We have also been very busy… and decided to take a much needed break to see the leaves change in North Carolina!

Here are some snippets of our journey above…. it was not a relaxing vacation like we planned tho! lol

We did have a great friend keep Daisy for this trip and that was a blessing for sure!!!

Next time we get a wild hair to go north it will not include going through Atlanta though!!!

I took multiple pics of the fog coming up in the mornings off the Appalachian Mountains and not 1 of those shots came out well… so this is my fave pic of what did turn out …

Enjoy the colors of the season wherever you are!!!

Back to quilting and laundry for me… hope you find productivity & bright light in your day!

Scraphappy Saturday ~ A Flimsy Finish!!

This is my first time to participate in Angela’s Scraphappy Saturday linky HERE.. and a machine stitched scrappy quilt top aka flimsy may be a GREAT reason to join in on the fun!!!

Meet Gloria… my favorite child… I do have 4 real kids… but they are grown and gone into their own lives… Gloria lives for the moments I use her… and she loves new adventures 😀

So after being tempted by the fun Bonnie Hunter with scrappy pumpkins… on her blog and quilt cam sessions…

I decided to finally use a phone book… I think I had about 6 saved for the perfect sizes!!! lol

So quicker than I imagined I had 15 scrappy pumpkin forms made… 

Next it was time to come up with a plan… my plan had been to set these 5 across and 3 down.. but these were too cute to be mass produced and quickly sashed!!! LOL

So soon whilst sitting on my back porch… aka Florida room (it is screened and has a water bubbler)  It is a fUN place 😀 … I had this pattern…

 Just using graph paper and pencils… and then I picked 8 of my very favorite and SCRAPPIEST pumpkins 😀

Next it was time to turn them into more a pumkin looking object and remove the phone book paper from their backsides… because I had been studying paper piecing for A WHILE before attempting it! lol  I knew to shorten my stitch length on Gloria to make paper removal easier… sure enough it was off in a FLASH!!!

And I had the beginnings of my pumpkins emerging… Hey a couple even had their stems!!!

And before I realized it I had filled in all the blank spots until I was at a stopping place for the applique..

 Appliqued letters… did I really plan MY FIRST APPLIQUE… on my FIRST PAPER PIECED SCRAPPY Project?? !!  HAHAHA  YEP 😀

So to my fabric chest I went and picked out this shade of golden yellow for the words…

 And to the blog Fabric Therapy and Teresa’s Tutorials HERE for assist in how to best applique my letters!  I printed out “a few” pages of instructions too! lol

 After a couple emails back and forth … she was most gracious… I had my letters planned out and cut out of freezer paper and ironed to the front of my fabric leaving room to trim out the 1/8″ around each letter for turning under with glue stick (this is Teresa’s method and I really like it)!!!

Soon I had the letters trimmed out of the fabric and my tools and technique were taking shape…

 I had 3 words to applique “Happy Fall Y’all!”  Happy was tedious I will admit.. I was tense… but by the time I got to Y’all! … it was MUCH MUCH more fun actually and relaxing 🙂

 Once all that glue stick was good and dry I removed all the freezer paper that remained and glue basted the letters in place with the Roxanne’s Glue baste I had had for (ahem) quite a while waiting to applique or learn to … lol!

 Here is a quick silly snapshot I took of my word “Happy” appliqued down…

 While appliqueing I watched Netflix… these 2 shows were quite entertaining and not distracting to my train of thought as I learned this new skill…

And here I have most all done but the last 2 characters to applique down… when I could focus on it it went quickly… and applique is a great take along project for sure!!!

 Once I finished all the applique I finished the inner turquoise blue sashing edges to let the pumpkins breathe appropriately before adding other borders… but before I added more borders…

I had to rinse out the glues that remained in this piece… they are ALL water soluble…

I rinsed them in a very clean bowl and let it soak initially about 30 minutes… I was cutting borders and straightening up a bit in the sewing room whilst this was going on…

 After several water exchanges until it didn’t get cloudy anymore… it was time to dry it… and wouldn’t you know it had been windy all week long… not a breeze to be found now… so I set it up in front of the fan between a couple chairs… simple ingenuity! lol

 Once dry I added a thin black border to bring out the pumpkin stems… then added the strips of what would be the outer border… this fun candy corn green border…

But it was missing something… hmmm

Fall isn’t just pumpkins… acorns I had been seeing on some quilting sites too!!!  So I downloaded some images of acorn patchwork from google and fashioned my own from a leftover pumpkin rectangle… and added a bit of pumpkin stem fabric for their caps 😀

 And soon I had what I was happy to label and call a Flimsy Finish!!!

 Then to the kitchen area… to open up the rolling cart…

 as a pinning station!!!

 Layered there with cotton/wool batting and some yardage that was 5 or 6 years old for backing.. a black/white / grey print I didn’t get a shot of…  ready to hand quilt!!!

Come back tomorrow and see how I quilt this baby 😀  Currently this is my foyer wall hanging for fall.. I love it but it just isn’t our style anymore… we are evolving I think! lol

 So take time today to …..

 Do something unusual or unexpected… I will try and do the same… don’t forget to follow the link at the top of this post to see what scrappy fun others are up to for Scraphappy Saturday!!!

Progress to share that is THIMBLY fun !

Hey ya’ll!  I am so happy to share with you today!  I am glad you stopped in for a visit as well! 

Each morning this week I have been diligently making 12 pairs of 1 7/8″ squares turn into a stack of 24 hst’s! lol  You see each must also be sliver trimmed to remove dog ears and excess slivers to bring them to 1 1/2″ finished size…

So I made the above pic collage to show just how much fun I was having and be able to share it today! lol  I HOPE YOU KNOW I am … Just Kidding about the FUN!!!  

Now I have 6 piles to share and decided this morning I would take the day off! 

I also added to the “fun” by moving around the pin cushion and scissors I use at my 301a Gloria for daily sewing machine use…

This is the pin cushion I chose and my bestie purchased for me on Etsy for my birthday… and these scissors have larger finger/thumb holes for my arthritic knuckles to get in and out of easier … so I moved these from the quilting frame use to Gloria’s cabinet instead… much easier for me when snipping the HST’s apart! lol

All these HST’s will be the points in the stars in this pattern…

EVENTUALLY I will have 14 stacks and have them all done 🙂

After tidying my sewing room I decided to ponder my fabric stash and see if there was anything I could “de-stash”… I found these 5 fabrics of the many I have that I probably couldn’t do justice with at this point… so I have these listed on eBay now HERE is one! 🙂

But my fave progress to share this week is on my hand quilting frame !!!!  This is where I plan to spend my Sunday too!

Here is my view I woke to and where I started stitching this morning…

 Here is what I finished this past week…

 And yes… to show off the blocks with any detail… it took 2 shots…

So as you can tell above .. I FINALLY got in my order stencils on Thursday and am pleased with my assortment to choose from now 😀  Maybe I will play with the panoramic setting on my phone camera… do you use yours ever?? I never have! lol

Several have asked so I thought I would share…

Here are the needles I use for Perle 12 cotton thread… 
They have quite a selection I saw this week now at Joann’s in store… and in the sewing notions department you can find these quilting betweens by Dritz in an assortment of sizes from 5 to 10.  These have a round eye and are easier to thread perle 12 and in the largest size ~ perle 8 even with these needles… or you can use a different style needle instead… but I like how a between handles with my thimbles…                                                                          So I had gone to Joann’s this week to check where these needles were still located and they are NOT with the quilting supplies but with the sewing notions as I mentioned above… and I got a ball of DMC brand perle 12 cotton ecru that I am using in the charm squares for each shape… my ball is almost gone now… and with coupons I got the needles for FREE basically!!!

Me and my bestie use this handmade version of a thimble… I made a tutorial to share with you how to make one for yourself if you are interested ….

I use the white colored electrical tape found at home improvement stores… because the black leaves a black residue.. whereas the white leaves NO RESIDUE when worn all day even!  This style of handmade thimble will last a good while ( 2 days or more?!) for me even with taking it off and on throughout the day! … but still it takes time to make and then use… so I ordered one I had seen being used in my facebook groups…

And I do really like it!  I got this in a Large size for my big thumb.. the medium wouldn’t go wide and flat but this large shapes to my thumb nicely… there is still a getting used to it phase that we have to adjust to.  But if you were thinking of one of these and on the fence about it… Joann’s sells them in the store I THINK and the box is made so you can try it one in the box!  Very cool design. 

The metal thimble on my middle finger is made by Clover but Dritz makes one similar as well..  It is adjustable but is not available in this large size anywhere I can find yet… maybe once more are using them they will.

So there are 2 ways to outfit your thumb for hand quilting/ hand work 😀  Enjoy it!

While quilting in the early mornings … I like to watch some Netflix on my honey’s iPad… currently that is “Good Witch” with the lovely Catherine Bell playing a lead… it is a Hallmark series and I like those!

 While drinking fresh brewed coffee!

We just got a new basic coffee pot … and a holder for our fave sugar substitute “Stevia”… we are making several lifestyle changes presently and Stevia has been a happy one of those!  So we bought the ceramic container to hold it with ocean shell motifs on it at goodwill for all of .99 cents! lol

Well that is all for now I think.  I look forward to seeing what you are each up to … I am linking this to Kathy’s Quilts today HERE… Hope you stop there for a visit as well!  She has LOTS of FUN going on there too and some interesting links if you wanna see some qayg techniques!!!!

So until my next post with hopefully more progress to show… make time to

Happy Mother’s Day Y’all!

Hope you each have a …

I am 50% DONE now on the Batik Hollyhock Garden Quilt I am hand quilting!!

This shot above is halfway through the 6th row of the quilt… all together there are 11 rows 🙂

I did acquire a new gadget for my quilting frame this week too… from a Missouri Star Quilt deal of the day I bring you a pin cushion that stays on my frame just perfect and holds some pretty sharp scissors that came with it!!

I am linking this fun pincushion and my hand quilting progress to Kathy’s Quilts … come see what all other handies are sharing HERE!

Also … for Mother’s Day I have changed my facebook profile pic to a shot of my needle keeper…

Here are my two little grands I am thinking of today!!!

CJ on the left will soon be 3 and Kaydence on the right will soon be 2 🙂

Besides hand quilting and sewing a bit on a quilt for my son and dil… we have been working on a puzzle…

 And I watched a great Chick Flick on Netflix too!!!

 

But sometimes the above is sooo true… so we go to the nearby beach to see the sunshine in all it’s glory!  This time we also got to see this cool big sail boat!!! 

 So keep smiling my friends!!!

There is so much to smile about for sure and don’t forget to…