A Quilt Finish!

More exciting to me than finishing this quilt (although that is exciting) is learning how to use my new phone (a Samsung Galaxy S8 with an Android platform). I’m really an Apple girl, so this is my first venture outside that realm. But my last iPhone,  a 5-something, was a piece of garbage that always seemed to crash when I needed it most. Good riddance!  So now that I’ve finally been able to transfer some pictures from the phone to my computer, I can do a catch-up post. No thanks to Dropbox, which is not communicating with itself from my phone to my computer, even though they’ve been synched. I hate this tech-y stuff with a passion.

So, the AB Baby quilt is done. This was my One Monthly Goal (OMG) for June and also #2 on my Second Quarter Goals for the 2018 Finish Along.  I’ll be linking up to both those online challenges as the link-ups become available.

The quilt will be for our soon-to-be-born granddaughter Evie. The letters were cut from a panel from the fabric line Nature Walk by Tamara Kate, and the pattern was published to go along with the letters. I used fabrics mostly from about 4-5 of her various lines (I love her stuff!). There are some other fabrics in there too, but the lion’s share is Tamara Kate fabric. And so is the backing. This print comes from her newest line, Joy, and I thought with its gentle print of butterflies and flowers, etc, it was the perfect complement to the top.

The quilt finished at about 52x62”. I used a plain ol’ stipple to quilt it, and then bound it with the gray stripes print that had originally be auditioned (and rejected) for the sashing strips.

My original goal-setting post for June’s OMG can be found HERE.

And since I had another recent photo on my phone, I’d thought I’d share with you a picture of Mr. Cat himself - Alfalfa. I can’t imagine anyone would mind a picture of such a handsome chap!

Bruce is off work for this week, so we have been puttering around the house. Yesterday was garden work (in the morning) and errands (in the afternoon). Today was cleaning (Bruce - his bathroom and man cave/laboratory) and for me it was Weight Watchers, sewing, and the phone-techy stuff. Tomorrow we’ll probably go visit Red Butte Garden again in Salt Lake to see the roses at their peak and to get some sunshine, then go out to lunch. The weather here has been mild (mid-seventies) this week, so we’re going to enjoy it to the max!

May OMG becomes June OMG.

Another month, another down-to-the-wire goal deadline. This time, I goofed. I thought my May OMG (One Monthly Goal) was to finish the top of this baby quilt, and that I did. Shall we take a look?

I finished all the sashing and cornerstones. It looks a bit wonky at the bottom because the first four rows are pinned to the design board and the last row is just hanging freely.

Anyway, as I began this post, I checked my original goal-setting post in early May and was dismayed to find out that my goal was to finish the entire quilt - quilting, binding and all.  Oops. So, I didn’t make it. In my defense, I’ve been sick much of the last week with a stomach ailment which we have finally traced to one of my meds - and to my age (stomach lining thins as we age). So, I’m taking a break from the medication for awhile (it’s my Meloxicam for arthritis symptoms). Simultaneously I’m beginning to take Pantoprazole, a prescription-strength antacid to give my tummy a break. I’ll be able to start back on the Meloxicam in a week or two, but will have to continue with both down the road. My life seems to be in pill bottles these days.

But on to sweeter things. Our daughter Stacy’s labor will be induced on June 29 (if she doesn’t go into labor naturally first) so this quilt for baby girl Evie now becomes my JUNE One Monthly Goal. Given how much time I’ve been spending in the garden and in preparation for my Kenya trip, this seems do-able but not overwhelming.

I am linking up to Elm Street Quilt’s June OMG goal-setting link party. Why not join us and see what others have planned for June?

May Sewing Goal for OMG

It’s time to link up once again to Elm Street Quilts monthly goal setting link party for OMG - One Monthly Goal.  

For May, my goal will be to finish this baby quilt for our daughter Stacy, who is expecting their daughter at the end of June or early July.  This is the status of the project so far. All the blocks are sewn, and I’ve decided to go with a plain white sashing instead of the wild gray and white print I’ve shown in previous postings. There will be colored cornerstones to tie it all together. The first row and the g and h from the second row are all sewn, and it’s looking good. Naturally, after the top is finished, I’ll need to layer it, then quilt and bind it. Although I probably won’t work on it until the second half of the month, it should be a piece of cake to finish. 

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In other news at our household, my brother Steve left today, after 9 months and one week of living with us. He is on his way to check out possible living scenarios in Grand Junction, Colorado and down through Arizona to the Lake Havasu area where he lived for 4 years prior to staying with us. We wish him well! But naturally, we are thrilled to have our privacy (and quiet) back. Once Steve finds where he wants to settle, he’ll be back again (we estimate in about 1-3 months) for a week or two to pack up his stuff and move. We have a storage shed full of his stuff, plus his hot rod in the carport and some furniture in a spare bedroom.

Bruce and I are planning to replace the two front bedroom windows in the house this year (then there is only the one window and the screen door in my walkout basement studio to replace next year). Once the windows are replaced, I will repaint the ceiling and trim (only) in the yellow guest bedroom and shampoo the gray carpet in there. That carpet is curiously more gray since Steve lived there; he was in and out so much and he never took off his shoes like I nagged asked begged him to. I won’t have to be sweeping and mopping floors as much either! YAY!! Anyway, I see a yellow and gray quilt in my future for the day bed in there!  :-)

Today is Bruce’s birthday, and we spent the day out at garden nurseries picking out roses and a trumpet vine for our back garden wall to fill in holes along the back that have needed plants for a couple years or more. We also bought another rose tree for our front porch area, several perennial shade-loving shrubs (including a hosta) for our front planters. It was sunny and beautiful. Then we had a Barnes & Noble date (coffee, magazines, checking out books) and walked over to our favorite restaurant for an early dinner. We’re home now, and since it’s still early evening, I promised I’d bake him a batch of his favorite oatmeal raisin cookies. 

Life is good!

Wrapping up Yellow

Let’s talk yellow. I was able to get in some good sewing time this week, but it was all on two specific projects. First though, let me recap the yellow blocks I sewed for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge’s April color of the month.

Top Row, L-R: 10 selvage squares, 6 (4.5”) bow ties; 4 (6.5”) blocks for AllUNeedisLove

Middle Row, L-R: 6 Noon & Light 9” blocks, 3 Squared Away blocks, 12 6.5” Qtr Log Cabins

Bottom Row, L-R: 6 crumb blocks, 4 yellow birds, 3 Linked Squares blocks

Total Blocks: 54

I also made 32 yellow flying geese units for the AllUNeedisLove quilt, but haven’t counted those because they are just units, not blocks.

And in weight loss, I lost a grand total (hold on to your hats) of a half pound in April. Still walking, still riding my bike and still watching what I eat. But obviously, not as conscientiously as I should be. Life will get easier when I can go back to cooking for just Bruce (after my brother leaves). 

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Groovy Guitars, the quilt I’m working on for DH Bruce is coming along nicely. I’ve got about seven or eight more pieces to fuse, plus several little dots for “tuning pegs”. It’s possible that I could finish this today or tomorrow and squeak in just before the end-of-the-month deadline for my April One Monthly Goal (OMG). The goal was to get the top cut and fused.

And I may or may not continue with this project for May (the hand and machine appliqué). I need to add a border, and am torn between using the bright scraps in piano-key fashion or just finding a suitable red, which is Bruce’s favorite color, to border it with. The Utah Quilt Shop Hop is May 30-June 2, and I’ll be hunting for that fabric then if I decide to go that way. So, I may select a different project for my May OMG.

That OMG project is likely to be this ABC baby quilt. The working title of this project is “AB Baby”. I had a math teacher in 7th grade named Mr. Abrahamson. We called him Abey-baby (not to his face, although he was cool and probably would’ve laughed). This quilt made me think of that. Yes, my brain works in mysterious ways.....

I am so in love with these blocks! The pictures do not do them justice. They are so sweet and whimsical. The picture above shows everything just pinned up on the design board. My goal for this week was to get halfway through the alphabet, and I actually did more than that.

Some close-ups:

The fabrics are mostly from various collections of Tamara Kate, with a few other fabrics thrown in here and there.

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This week I was also able to meet up with Emily from Em’s Scrap Bag. She runs Quilty Hugs for Happy Chemo, one of the charities for Hands2Help. Hands2Help is a great online international charity organized and run by Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict. 

Anyway, Emily was kind enough to meet with me last Wednesday and a passerby was kind enough to take our picture. I donated six quilts; four of which will go for Quilty Hugs and 2 smaller ones which will go to Primary Children’s Hospital (where my friend Terri and I donate our baby quilts). 

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Grapes along west patio, 2006 

Garden-wise, it’s been another busy week of working in the yard. The new drip irrigation is installed in the raised growing beds. The weeds have been pulled everywhere (for now), although I still have an area on the west side of the house that has a lot of grass to pull out where it’s invaded the flower beds. But everything else is spiffy; the lawns are thick, weed-free and nicely trimmed, the flowers and bushes are all cleaned up and dead-headed from last year and we are ready to plant vegetables. 

The only concern is that last fall my brother cut back the four grape vines along the west side of the patio to within an inch of their lives. It looks as though three out of four are still (barely) alive, but they won’t be producing anything this year. My brother thinks he knows more than he does about everything gardening. Anyway, since the grapes shade the patio from the afternoon sun (see the old picture, above), we are going to have to come up with a plan B to make the patio habitable in the early evening. The apricot tree will provide some shade, so that might have to do. I have hung some cute solar firefly lights (a gift from one of my friends) along the lattice and could always stitch up a canvas valance or something. I’ll just have to wait to see how it goes. 

After we plant the veggies this weekend, I’ll focus on visiting nurseries for flowers for my front entry Talavera flower pots plus some other landscaping items I’ve wanted for awhile - more roses and perennials. We are members of Red Butte Garden and I’m looking forward to their annual plant sale in a couple weeks.  

The first half of May will be crazy. My brother Steve is leaving for Arizona this week and Bruce’s birthday is also this coming week. Plus over the next two weeks there are dentist appointments, a graduation, two charity sewing meetings to attend, a family gathering and the aforementioned plant shopping and garden work. My sewing time may grow scarce for awhile!

Following the Yellow Block Road

It’s been another busy week here. Our weather has varied from snow one day to rain to high sixties (F) all in the same week. We’re supposed to get into the mid-seventies for a couple days next week. I can’t wait! Bruce has the garden beds all tilled, mulched and the drip irrigation about ready to go. We will likely plant at least the early stuff in the coming few days. The more tender things will have to wait 2-3 more weeks.

This week I finished up my yellow blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge (visit our link-up at Angela’s blog, HERE) by stitching 12 - 6.5” (unfinished) quarter log cabins:

Six 6.5” crumb blocks:

And four blocks (also 6.5” unfinished) that will go into the All You Need is Love quilt:

And I finished quilting Geese Migration!! This pattern is by Cynthia Brunz, and it is so much fun! Geese Migration finished at 52x64”. I quilted it with loops, and when it was washed, the texture was just amazing!  I think the gray sets the colors off really well. This quilt is #3 on my Finish-Along goals for the 2018 Quarter Two, which you can read about HERE.  By the way, those columns really are vertical - that bump near the top left area is the quilt holder’s head or some other body part. Sheesh, it’s hard to get good help these days, hahaha.

Geese Migration is my final quilt finish for Hands2Help. All my quilts will be going to Emily at Happy Chemo up in Centerville. We weren’t able to meet up last week because she was traveling to teach, but I’m hoping we can get together this coming week. I really don’t want to have to mail 5 quilts. Anyway here is the back. It’s a combination of a spring green batik that I bought last year (but not enough, obviously), along with a Tula Pink remnant for the sides.

Cousin Kim was over last week to sew, as usual. The week before I had quilted her latest quilt for her and then she sewed on the binding. This fabric was a layer cake of something that we both bought from Missouri Star Quilt Company about a year ago unbeknownst to the other. I have a different pattern planned for mine, but I love how her pattern shows off the lovely prints and colors.

We auditioned several backs, but we both agreed that this old vintage sheet was the cutest, softest and overall best.  Kim is keeping this quilt for herself. Congrats on a great finish!

And I have been working on my April OMG project. The goal is to get the top of Bruce’s guitar quilt all cut out, placed and fused. This is where I am after a couple short work sessions on it:

There are more parts to add to what is here so far, as well as two more guitars that will expand the quilt out to the left of the green guitar. But it's progress! And other than struggling just a bit to get pieces to fit where they’re supposed to fit, I haven’t had any issues (so far, knock on wood) with reversing things. My brain is humming along in “drive" instead of neutral or reverse. One everything is in place, things will be tweaked and trimmed to make lines more flowing, etc. Then it will be properly fused and I’ll begin the buttonhole stitching around each piece. That ought to be a barrel of fun (do you hear the dripping sarcasm?)  But first things first. Since this piece, “Groovy Guitars” hasn’t earned my wrath this week, it is saved from Time Out. It's still on my design wall and will be getting more attention this week.

This week I also cut out most of what I need for the granddaughter-to-be’s new baby quilt. Bruce’s daughter Stacy, who is still due in early July, and her hubby have decided the new little girl will be named Evie. I love it! And Evie’s ABC quilt is started. I’ve trimmed up all the letters and other blocks (there will be 30 total). I pull out a block/letter randomly and sew the strips around them. These are the first two:

I’ll talk more about this project as it progresses over the next couple months..... if I can wait that long. If I had my way, I’d just sit down and do it all NOW, but I have the guitar quilt and the Love is All You Need quilt going on, too.

In personal news, my brother Steve is getting ready to move out next weekend. It’s been nine months (a couple more than I had planned), and hard at times, but we are all ready. His health (and health insurance) is under control, he sold his old truck and motorcycle and has a new(er) truck - reliable transportation. He’s got his social security and retirement benefits all settled and coming in, and he’s has been able to save a good chunk of money. So, he will be heading back to Arizona temporarily to seek out new digs and visit friends. When he’s got that finalized, he will be back to pack up his stuff (stored in one of our bedrooms and an outdoor shed) and his hotrod and make the official move. Bruce and I wish him well, but are looking forward to having our privacy back.

And that’s about it for now.