Lots of Finishes

It was a busy week, and I’m pleased to say that my energy and stamina are returning. And I’ve been sleeping a lot better now that the first three painful weeks post-surgery are past. 

Last Saturday our air conditioning unit went out (it was 97 degrees F outside). Luckily, the weather cooled down substantially for the rest of the week. On Monday we had the heating and air specialists out and we are getting a new furnace and AC unit (to be installed on Monday). We had planned to replace them this summer anyway, but I was just hoping to be a little more healed. While the AC guy was here, he noticed our hot water heater was leaking, too. So, we contacted Cousin Kim’s son Nick, who is a plumber, and he was out on Tuesday and installed a new one. 

It’s said that bad things come in threes, but this was 1-2-3, at the same time! The good news is that we were prepared, and the total cost of all units was about $5K less than what I had budgeted for just the furnace and AC alone. We are anxious to get it all done, but have been comfortable with fans and the fact that it cools down every evening and we can open windows to let in fresh air. The place is well insulated, so we haven’t been uncomfortable. But the summer heat waves are around the corner, and we’ll be ready when they do!

I had hoped to get more sewing done than I did, but between physical therapy, errands, HOA activities (a meeting, a luncheon and preparing for today’s yard sale), I didn’t get done as much as I would’ve liked. There were the usual weekly batch of 15 string blocks (no picture, because they all rather look the same). But, Ruby brought me a batch of little quilts she’d quilted for me (for Quilts for Kids) on her longarm, so let’s have a little Show and Tell, shall we?

This quilt was a bunch of mostly-assembled blocks when it was given to me with the big scrap load last month. I finished assembling the final 4 blocks, then sewed the top together. There was enough matching fabric to add a little width to the sides. It measures 39x46”.

Ruby quilted hearts on it. 

Next up was this group effort quilt. I had the cute dragonfly fabric, and cut out and briefly wrote a little pattern. Then Cousin Kim sewed it up into a little Strippie. 

Then Ruby quilted it, and I bound and labeled it. A fun collaborative project that we hope to do more of for Quilts for Kids. 

The quilt label lists all of us! Dragonflies measures 41x47”. And the backing is a lovely pastel blue that fits right in with this month’s Rainbow Scrap Challenge color assignment of pastels. 

Finally, I have this Strippie that I don’t think I showed before. It’s nothing special, but it was all leftover fabric - the two larger green sections were leftovers from the backing of the Bonnet Girls quilt I showed last week. The rest were just miscellaneous green and purple strips, and the binding, which I found in my Orphanage binding drawer was perfect to bind it with. It was about 6” short, but that was easily remedied with another scrap. 

Not a stunner by any means, but a good, serviceable quilt that measures 38x46”. 

I have at least one more quilt that will be finished next week and two tops that will be done, too.and then I hope to find a project to sew as I go through my abundant blue scraps. I’m sure I can come up with a couple things. Stay tuned.

Now I’m off to load up the car and haul myself and my Stuff out to the Main Street for the community-wide yard sale. I’ll be glad when *that’s* over! Have a good sewing week!