Ninety Percent

The kitchen is ninety percent finished! That’s a great number in a kitchen remodel when it includes running water! More about the remodel later in the post. But come to think of it, 90% a good number for our post-Covid recovery as well. We finally tested as negative a couple days ago, after two weeks of yuck. Bruce still has a lingering cough and I have a bit of congestion, and we are both working to build back our general stamina. But it’s good to feel good again!

Since I completed all my orange scrappy blocks for August in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, I focused on sewing up some 16-patch blocks for the It’s a Jungle Out There quilt. But when I say “focused”, it was a pitiful showing, because it seems the universe conspired to keep me out of the sewing room for all but one afternoon this week. I was either still feeling yucky, or had an HOA budget meeting to attend (by phone as I was still contagious at that point), or the contractors were noisily doing their respective things. 

Anyway, here is the mess of blocks, pinned up on the design board. 

Rather than explain the layout I’m doing, I’ll show you a quick sketch of my plan. The panel with sashing and 48 blocks will make a quilt that’s approximately 60x76”, a good size for a lap quilt to be gifted.

Last week I had 20 blocks remaining to sew. This week I matched up fabrics and strip cut all the remaining pieces for those blocks. That took more time than the sewing!

But I did get four more blocks sewn and have four more in various stages. One good afternoon should see these finished! 

*********************

This week was the Big Week that really saw the kitchen come together. So on Monday morning, the cabinet guys were back to attach the final upper cabinets on top of the quartz countertop for the appliance station. 

In the afternoon on Monday, the tile guys came and set the tile for the backsplash. Then on Tuesday, they grouted and cleaned them and installed the window ledge. Note that there is uninterrupted tile; no outlets. I’ll explain that momentarily.

On Wednesday, the electricians were here all day to install the light switches, install the under-the-cabinet LED light strips and plug-ins, and hang the pendant lights. The electrical plug-in strips are mounted behind the lights under the cabinets. In the area around the sink and stove, there are actually nine outlets that you can’t see! When they were done, this is what it looked like.

Please excuse all the cleaning supplies and other junk in these pictures. Cleaning things during a remodel is a constant process. 

We also ordered three flush-mount lights in this same style as the pendants to use in the entryway and down our L-shaped hall. That was a last-minute addition, but we’re considering them an additional project, not part of the kitchen/dining remodel.  They’ll take a week or two to get here.

There are also three electrical outlets on the island; one on each side closer to the working end of the island, and one at the other (seating) end of the island to plug in vacuums and the like.

Thursday was a three-ring circus. The window coverings company came by at 9:30 to give us a bid for the plantation shutters for the three big dining area windows, and a shade for the smaller window over the kitchen sink. The electrician also arrived to install one LED light that he’d broken the day before. Then the plumber arrived and the window people left. So, the electrician and the plumber worked side by side. The electrician finished up and left. The plumber installed the dishwasher, the garbage disposal, and the faucet. But the faucet wouldn’t stop leaking, so we opted for a new one. So the plumber went to the plumbing supply place to get a faucet. He texted me three pix and I picked the one I liked, and he headed back. Meanwhile, Lowe’s came by with the new refrigerator and stove and hauled out the old ones. 

The appliance guys installed the refrigerator to the plumber’s awaiting lines. But they couldn’t install the stove because the 220v plug wasn’t finished. So…. The electrician had to come back (Friday morning) to do that. 

So here’s what it looked like at that point. 

Running water! That’s what I’ve missed most in the kitchen during this remodel. The fan and vent hood still needs to be attached. That and the painting and window coverings are the ten percent we’re waiting on. The painting and hood will happen next week. 

On Friday, the six dining chairs and the coffee table were delivered, and we ate dinner in the new kitchen for the first time. 

The refrigerator sticks out too fat in my opinion, but I guess we’ll have to live with that. I had no idea what a behemoth it was! They had to take the doors off to get it in the house. There is still ample room, though, to walk by.

So, that was my week. When the remodel is totally complete after the shutter installation, I’ll do a separate post with before-and-after photos of the kitchen and dining/family room area. 

Have a great week!

When is a Summer Cold NOT a Summer Cold?

Answer: when it’s Covid-19. Seriously, Bruce and I have Covid. We naturally cancelled our usual Sunday gathering last weekend (that includes Cousin Kim and friend Ruby) because weren’t feeling well and didn’t want to pass on our “colds”. Ruby came by later on Sunday and dropped off (literally dropped off on our doorstep, then ran!) a couple Covid tests. We chuckled - until we used them and found out we were both positive. Oy! We’ve wracked our brains - such as they are  - to try to figure out where we were exposed, to no avail. 

And so began a week of missed friends, family, meetings and appointments. The painters were rescheduled and will come in two weeks to do the kitchen/family room painting after Labor Day instead of before the countertop installation. The countertops in the kitchen renovation were installed on Friday, and I’ll have photos later on in the post. Bruce had to reschedule appointments at the Veteran’s Administration, I missed HOA Board meetings and Weight Watchers, and we had to reschedule our appointment with the window treatment people. But we got in lots of naps, and the kitties loved having Mom and Dad around 24/7. Needy little buggers!

We’re still testing positive as of today, but we’re hopeful that we can begin with a clean bill of health by Monday. I’ll spare you the descriptions of misery and boredom, except to say that we never lost our sense of taste or smell. And while I didn’t even feel like sewing much, I did do some. We also watched a fair bit of TV (the DNC) and I read and played video games. 

*********************

Here is the little bit of sewing that I got done over the course of a Verrrrry.Loooong.Weeeek. I had enough orange scraps to make eight 6.5” scrap blocks and one column (only partially shown) of strips to finish out my orange blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge’s August color.

So, for the last week of the month (what? how did that happen?), I’ll get to focus on my African and batik fabric blocks. I did get six of those sewn this week too. 

I’ve sewn 28 blocks of the 48 total I’ll need to surround the jungle animal print I’ve shown the last couple weeks. Maybe by next week I can start bringing the parts together into a top. On the other hand, the week after is good too, hehe. 

********************

And here are the progress shots of the kitchen with quartz countertops installed. The two installers knew we were sick, but didn’t care as long as we stayed away, which we did. It only took them a little over 2.5 hours to install everything. Here are the pix in no special order (because Blogger does as it da** pleases):

Above: The island. Electrical outlets still to be wired in. I’ll spend the next couple days (depending on my energy level) cleaning out the drawers and making a list of dividers (etc) to pick up at IKEA. It’ll be substantially cheaper that way rather than ordering from the cabinet makers!

The shelves and cabinets will have LED lighting strips added when the finish electrical work is done. 

Above: the cabinet guys will be back on Monday to install the beverage station/microwave cabinets on the wall above the counter here.

Yeah, it still looks pretty rough in here with the staining on the walls left over from where the old Formica backsplash was. Our new tiles will be installed next week! In the meantime, you can see the light veining in the quartz, and the double stainless undermount sink in place. 

A closeup of the island top. 

The seating will go around this end of the island. We’ll fit 4-5 comfortably and could probably squeeze in six if necessary. The six chairs (and refrigerator and stove) all get delivered next week. 

The paint will be white on the ceiling and a creamy white on the walls, except for the accent wall in the family room area, which will be Sherwin Williams Baize Green. To me, green is a neutral.  We’ll see how it all comes together. If I hate it, paint is easy to change! 

So, stay healthy my friends. This variation of Covid is highly contagious. They’re still working on the Fall 2024 vaccine, so hopefully this variant will be covered. 

And a Partridge in a Pear Tree

 Four Quilts Finished

Three Family Members Infected With Covid

Two Old Folks Healthy and Calm

And a Partridge in a Pear Tree

Now that my Christmas 2020 song is sung, I guess I should explain it. The quilts will be shown and explained later in this post. Bruce and I are the healthy Old Folks. We’ve done our annual physicals and dentist appointments and passed all of them just fine. I did have to have a crown on a lower molar re-done this week, but it’s all good. I go back to the doctor on the 29th to have a mole removed from my back, but that’s a minor thing. At least we don’t have Covid. I wish I could say that about my son Ryan, daughter-in-law Kim and their daughter Lauren (16). 

Kim works in healthcare - she’s a physical therapy assistant at a rehab center. In mid-November she tested positive (two tests) for Covid. She stayed home for 10 days, enduring mostly aches and tiredness. My son Ryan (negative test) quarantined in the basement, granddaughter Lauren (negative test) went to stay with extended family, and son Easton stayed at USU in Logan where he is a senior. 

Once Kim tested negative twice (after about 10 days), she returned to work. She worked two weeks, getting tested regularly as they do for all the employees and patients and continued to test negative until this week. Apparently two patients were released from a hospital to the rehab center and they tested positive for Covid. Before long, several of the staff, including Kim tested positive as well. It’s the second bout of Covid for Kim and also for an administrator of the rehab center. This time, Ryan and Lauren tested positive too. They have all lost their taste and sense of smell and are experiencing body aches and lethargy. Ryan says that when the symptoms were the worst for him (a couple days during this week),  every injury he’d ever had from baseball, hockey, bike riding, etc. flared up and ached like crazy. He can laugh about it now, but it was wild at the time. Lauren had the worst case of the three. They are all on the mend now, just laying around and taking it easy. So, you CAN get Covid twice. And being younger isn’t a guarantee that your case will be mild. We are very grateful and relieved that they are all recovering.

So let’s move on to something positive (that isn’t Covid), no pun intended. Cousin Kim (not to be confused with DIL Kim) helped me baste Ryan’s quilt last weekend, and I basted the other three donation quilt tops that I had lined up to finish. 

First up, Gumby and Pokey. This is the cut of Gumby fabric that Sally sent me. I extended it it by using large-ish scraps from the Quilts for Kids scrap boxes, forcing myself to make do with what was on hand. The “make do” part is important, because who wants to cut up perfectly-good yardage (making more scraps in the process) when the aim is to turn boxes of existing scraps into something useful? The results are usually not glorious, but certainly warm and serviceable. And those horizontal green strips ARE straight and parallel, but this picture is like an optical illusion!

Gumby and Pokey measures 40x47.5” and was quilted with a largish meandering stipple in light blue thread. The backing is a single piece of fabric I had on hand from Connecting Threads.

The second finish this week was one that I made using my brown scraps as I tried to follow along with the (RSC) Rainbow Scrap Challenge’s monthly challenge to use dark neutral scraps. In addition to the browns, I pulled smallish cuts of teal/turquoise and an ombre gold. I love this little quilt, and the picture doesn’t do justice to its warmth and vibrancy.

This cute scrappy quilt finished at 42x50” and was quilted with serpentine X’s in each section. The backing is an older architectural-style print I had on hand. So, I’m considering this an RSC finish and am linking up to Scrappy Saturday at Angela’s blog. 

The third scrappy quilt that will go to Quilts for Kids is this one I showed last week as just a flimsy (top only). It measures 42x48” 

For the backing I used some of this chambray blue backing that I bought in bulk from Connecting Threads. I think I have enough, if memory serves, for three more kid quilts. 

So, those were quick, easy finishes. Then there was this big monster quilt for my son Ryan. I’m calling it Arahorn, after a place name in his novel. More about that in the new year. 

Arahorn finished at 73x80”. It was made from a fabric line called Imperial Elegance (also from Connecting Threads, do you sense a pattern here?). It’s still available there, and I may buy more because some of the prints are just to die for.... but I digress. Anyway, I did add some other bits to it because the quilt grew beyond my original plan. Raise your hand if that’s ever happened to you... 

The picture below shows the backing and some of the quilted front. It washed up beautifully.

And that completes my quilt show for this week, this month and this year. In 2020, being largely stranded at home, I finished 46 quilts. You can check them all out, if you’re curious, at the page link under the header entitled ... oddly enough ... “2020 Quilts”. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Now that brings me to what I’m planning, quilt-wise, for 2021. I’ll definitely be participating again with Angela and the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. In fact, I can’t wait to get started in January! I have blocks planned for strings/strips, small scraps/orts, 2.5” squares, 1,5” pieces, and also for larger chunks. Additionally, I have at least one carryover block type from this year to finish up in a couple colors (split nines) and several RSC tops to sew into quilts. I’ll select one of those “almost done” quilts every month to finish up. 

But if you’re a regular reader, you know I have been inundated with scraps from Quilts for Kids and by fabric donations from friends Sally and Angie. My goal in 2021 is to use those scraps and yardages to make donation quilts. So, last weekend I sat down with a pad and pencil and went through All.The.Fabric. I made a list of scrap fabric themes (and a couple quilt kits) on hand. All the small pieces were sorted and “filed” by color in the respective scrap color bins. Strips 2.5” and wider were gathered into another pile by color, as were the chunks and small cuts of yardage in single (or tone-on tone) yardages. Finally, every theme was bagged and labeled.  I’m ready to sew as of January 1. 

So, the list above has now been cut up into individual pieces and I’ll draw two themes out every month to work on. I’m hoping that process will keep it all fresh and interesting as I move through the various projects. Those RSC and other projects in the lower right will be scheduled separately. So, I’m either very organized or very crazy. Or both!

In closing this too-long post, I want to thank you all for joining me here on the blog this year. I so appreciate all the comments and conversations we share. Being able to connect like this has helped me (and you too, I hope) survive and even thrive in this crazy pandemic year. You are all special online friends, some of whom are new this year and others whom I’ve known for a decade or two. And still others of you are real-life friends and honorary family! I love you all. Merry Christmas to you and yours. Stay safe and healthy!

Welcome May!

Believe it or not, after all the trauma of April (and March, come to think of it), we are doing well here in our little corner of the world. Thank you to everyone who has so kindly sent messages of encouragement, support and friendship. We have been overwhelmed with messages of support in every form imaginable (even edible, LOL) and are are truly humbled and grateful.

Bruce is doing really well, and this is only a few days post-surgery. There is still wound care to deal with, and he says there is pain at the site where the right arm was amputated. He sometimes feels as though the arm is still there, although there is no phantom pain (which may mean there is no phantom pain YET). We’ll take it one week at a time. He returns to the surgeon in the coming week and for every week this month. Interspersed with that will be visits to the prosthetist to begin the preparation for an eventual artificial limb later this spring. Bruce’s sense of humor is intact, and life is continuing as normally as possible during this pandemic. We have no illusions that it will be 100% smooth sailing, but we certainly couldn’t have hoped for a better start to this new phase of life. We are counting our blessings.

Last Thursday, Hill Air Force Base did a state-wide flyover of four F-35A (Lightening 2) jets to honor the medical professionals and other front-line Covid-19 responders.  They were in our area about 1-ish in the afternoon, and many people in the neighborhood (including us) were out with chairs and cameras to take pictures and cheer. This isn’t the best picture, but it’s cropped from a larger one. It was nice to see and talk to neighbors - from a distance, naturally.

Spring has arrived, and the warm weather has meant that we can both enjoy sitting out on the patio, drinking our coffee (or whatever) and enjoying the fresh air, birds, garden. I’ve begun the arduous task of spring garden clean-up, but the sprinkler system is going, the patio is cleaned off and set up, and family is coming over (adults who will maintain 6’ social distancing) this weekend to help us in the vegetable garden. We will get it roto-tilled (we have a tiny one for raised beds), and then with Bruce supervising and directing, the drip irrigation will be set up. If we have time, we’ll plant the veggies. If not, I can do that on my own during the week.

The new May color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is dark greens. We did light and bright greens in January. I could do some dark greens strip blocks, but I’m not much  in the mood for dark anything. I was hoping we would have a refreshing, fun color to work on like Yellow! Or Pink! *sigh*  So I may work on my yellows or pinks anyway instead. Or in addition. I have enough of those colors to spread out over more than one month, and it will be cheerier than working on just green again so soon. And/or I may just work on finishing my previous RSC projects that are waiting in line. As you can see, I’m really decisive and focused... not.

Some sewing did get done this week. After I finished all my April light blue RSC blocks, I decided it was high time to use up the remnant chunks of the light blue impressionistic floral fabric I’ve used for 2 quilt backs. Since I was only up for mindless sewing, I decided to do 10” (finished size) Happy Blocks. The blocks will need to be sewn together, then this can be quilted and donated to Quilts for Kids.

And I’m not exaggerating when I said I was only up for mindless sewing. Over the last 2-3 weeks I’ve managed to make 2 other quilt tops for an upcoming (next week) blog hop I’m participating in. Both of those little quilts are Happy Blocks too. Simple and virtually brainless work (unless someone cuts strips in the wrong size. *cough*) One quilt is done. The other one is totally messed up. I tried a new quilting pattern (a simple Baptist fan variation that my friend Louise calls Unitarian fans). Mine turned out to be Satanic fans. After the first row, I decided to switch to simple inverted scallops. I was trying to channel my inner Jonathan Livingston Seagull. Or simple sunsets. La dee dah...The more I quilted, the worse they looked. Think nausea on heat-wavy pavement. It is truly worse than the very first quilt I ever free-motioned quilted (and I am NOT kidding). I gave up. Now I have half a quilt to unpick, but that will have to wait until my eyes unwonkify. That’s the technical term for what happens when your eyes unhook from your brain and go rogue; two of everything.

Alfie and Darla have been upset that I haven’t posted any pictures of them lately. I don’t want to displease the furry overlords, so here is a picture of them regally posed at the front door last evening. The birds were outdoors flying around paying their respects. Or maybe they were just taunting them, I can’t be sure.

Just Another Day in Paradise

... if by “Paradise” you mean being quarantined in your home for the start of the second month of a pandemic while your husband recovers from major surgery, one daughter files for divorce and another daughter loses her canine rescue furkid to pneumonia/sepsis; then, yeah, we’re having a Grand Old Time here at Chez Kizerian. Oh, and did I mention that we had another 4.2 earthquake this week?

The truth is, you feel better after shedding enough tears. At least I do. And even in the best of times, the road of life is bumpy and littered with land mines. Life in the year 2020 has been a white knuckle ride for most of us. But I’m seriously trying hard to let go of the negative stuff and hold tight (no white knuckles) to the good stuff. Bruce is getting better, every family member is healthy. Our pantry is full (restocked today). And no one at the grocery store died today, not even the guy who got perturbed at me because I wouldn’t let him go past me against the directional arrows in the aisle. He blustered, “You mean I have to go all the way around!?!”  I just smiled behind my mask and pointed to the arrows, but was thinking “Call the waambulance, you entitled jerk!”

But enough of this already!  Let’s check out what’s going on at the Scrappy Saturday linkup today, where the only blues being shared are of the light blue scrappy fabric kind. This week my sewing consisted of these 16 strip blocks measuring 6.5” each, unfinished. 

That finished up all my RSC light blue sewing for this month. As it stands now, I think I’ll just save the little crumbs and leftovers for the next time we do blue (dark values) and combine them all into a crumb-pieced blue scrap basket. 

But, Nine-Patch Madness, or 9PM as I like to call it, is a finish! This was my April OMG One Monthly Goal), and I’m linking up to the goal finish blog post at Elm Street Quilts. 

Oh how I love this quilt! It measured 60x72” before I laundered it, but may have shrunk a bit in the process of getting all those yummy Quilty crinkles! The quilting was just simple loops. 

The binding was a perfect half yard piece of this purple check that matched nicely with the sheet used for the backing. 

Oops! Underneath you can see a sneak peek of another project I’m working on, to be revealed in early May. But I’m already on to the next project, which will be quilting up On Ringo Lake this week. Unfortunately, the cord to the foot pedal on my Bernina (Bernadette) has a short in it and I’ve ordered a new one. I don’t know how long it will take to come in to the dealer, but they need the actual foot pedal so they can attach the cord. So, I’ll  be sewing via the start/stop button, which I hate, but it’s do-able. I just don’t know how it works with free-motion quilting, but I’m about to find out. If it doesn’t go well, I can switch to my back-up Brother machine (Bob) and quilt with a serpentine stitch. 

Let’s wind up this post on a positive note - a little story I forgot to share last week. On Monday morning, April 6, I was talking on the phone to Cousin Kim when three cars turned the corner of the street in front of our house and drove slowly by, honking their horns and waving. The cars were all decorated, but I couldn’t read the signs. So I went out on the porch (phone in hand so Kim could hear all the racket). Then slowly, one by one, more cars turned the corner and followed along in procession. Turns out that it was the faculty and staff (and families), each in their own vehicle, of the local elementary school. They organized a parade route along the streets within the school boundaries and let all the kids’ families know to watch for the parade. The vehicle windows were rolled down and the occupants were waving, shouting “we love you,” to the kids and honking and blowing kisses. The signs said all sorts of things like “Your teachers miss you” “Longmont Rules!” And “Stay Safe, Stay Home”. The cars just kept on coming, decorated with balloons, streamers, signs, flags, stuffed animals. Kids quarantined at home stood out on their lawns, waving back to their teachers and favorite faculty members. It lasted about 8-10 minutes on our street alone, with at least 30 cars in procession. The kids I saw were so excited! Heck, so were the rest of us who don’t even have kids in school. It was just such a fun and thoughtful thing to do. I’ve seen on Google that these teacher parades have happened here and there throughout the country this month. I love how people are striving to stay connected! 

I’d love to hear any anecdotes you may have heard about or experienced during this time of sheltering in place! Have a good week, friends. Stay safe, stay healthy, and wash your hands!

Attitude is Everything

My friend Terri keeps reminding me of what her grandmother used to say:

This has come to pass, not to stay.

I love Terri! Those words are helping me keep my attitude positive during these trying times. You know, these “fun" times when we’re all quarantined to avoid a killer pandemic while our husband is hospitalized from a major cancer surgery and we can’t visit.

But Bruce is doing very well and will be coming home on Monday. The surgery was 8 hours long and the three surgeons took veins from his left leg to transplant to his right forearm where they removed two cancerous nodules and an artery. He has good blood flow in his hand, no blood clots (they’ve monitored him closely) and a top-flight medical team. The floor he is on is dedicated to post-op recoveries; no Covid-19 patients or staff. We talk twice daily by video chat, and he is back to his silly, wise-cracking self. I miss him and so do the cats. Alfie lays in Bruce’s recliner regularly, keeping it warm for him. And both he and Darla sleep with me at night to cuddle and protect me.

But let’s talk about sewing! There was some of that going on this week, although (understandably, given the above), not as much as usual. I posted a couple finishes mid-week. Since then, Angela at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge posted our April color, light blue. Too close to March’s aqua for my personal preference, but I can do this! We’re used to the days running on and on in sameness, so this actually fits right in! We all have those scraps that need to be sewn, so let’s buckle down and get to it!

I did whip my way through all my light and bright blue selvages and tamed them into a lot of half hexagons. There are about 16-18 of them, plus one long strip of leftover bits. I’ll count them before month-end.

The rest of the scraps have been sorted and I’ve got a nice big pile of light blue strips to make blocks out of. The Twin Sisters blocks have been cut (no picture) as well as lots of 2.5” squares for my Scraptastic Star and Split 9 blocks. There probably aren’t enough leftovers to make a Creature (single color) quilt, but I have a plan. Stay tuned.

I’ve been sewing ma*ks (who hasn’t? yawn...). They're for my daughter-in-law. She’s a physical therapist, and their office has run out of masks. This is just a few of those I’ve sewn.  There are more with elastic and a bunch with ties. She is doing a drive-by visit today to pick up a couple dozen.

On the design board are the 9-Patch Madness blocks. I’ve tweaked the arrangement a bit since this picture and will begin sewing these into a flimsy today. These bright, bold colors make me so happy! And I can’t wait to see what others are sewing over at Scrappy Saturday.

Well, I’ll keep this post short. I have a busy social calendar today. First I plan to play in the sand, then head to the local water park (scoop the kitty litter box and take a shower). Then I’m going to visit the local wildlife refuge (fill the bird feeders). Next I’ll be visiting friends from all over the US and the world (via their blogs), time travel to solve a murder mystery (read in my current book). When I get back from that, I’ll probably go tinker with my favorite machinery (sewing machine) before heading out to an exotic restaurant for dinner (leftovers in the refrigerator). I’ll cap the day by cuddling with the remaining wildlife (Alfalfa and Darla) in front of a roaring campfire (the fireplace).

Try not to be jealous.

Shaken, Not Stirred

No, I will not ask the question about what is next for fear of the answer.

This morning, about 7:10 a.m., we were awakened from a sound sleep by an earthquake. We just rode it out in bed; it didn’t seem to last more than about 5 seconds. Having grown up in Southern California, with vivid memories of the Sylmar quake in 1971 (when our front lawn rolled like water in a swimming pool), this wasn’t that bad. Apparently, the quake was 5.7 in magnitude. And, the epicenter was, appropriately enough, in a town called Magna at the very west end of the Salt Lake Valley. There have been more than a dozen aftershocks, only one of which we’ve felt here in Murray. Apparently it’s the worst earthquake to hit Salt Lake since 1992.

About 40,000 people are (or were) without power and sustained some damage. We are business as usual here at our house. I’m reading the news, but not going anywhere to find out anything more than that. Today? More laundry (the never-ending ball and chain), sewing and probably I’ll make that huge lasagna for dinner (and at least five other dinners’ worth the same time).

Now, I want this post to have a picture or two, so here's what I’ve been sewing on...

This is Creature from the Shaking Coronavirus Aqualab. The layout is final, the name is not. But it’s apropos, isn’t it? It’s just mostly pinned up on the wall for now, but today’s project is to finish sewing it all together. I hope to baste and quilt it this week sometime too. What day is it? Oh, only Wednesday. Yeah, I’ll have time to finish it by the weekend. I’ll just check my social calendar to be sure..... hahahaha.

It turns out that I had 50-ish "On Ringo Lake" blocks instead of just the 25 that I thought I had. I finished one quilt top a few days ago (no picture yet; I’ll wait until the weekend). It used 13 blocks, set on point 1,3,5,3,1. Now I’m doing a straight set with 30 blocks (six rows of 5), using the sashing and cornerstones I had already sewn. I’m doing a row per day, so today after doing row #3, I’ll be at the halfway point. No rush. Unless we start shake, rattle and rolling again...

Sewing the two On Ringo Lake quilt tops together was my OMG (one monthly goal) for March, and I’m on track to make it to the finish line. So far, neither plague or earthquake has stopped me, so I’m optimistic. Not tempting fate, just optimistic.

Stay safe, friends. Please stay in and avoid going out unless absolutely necessary. Take care of yourselves. Get plenty of sleep, take your vitamins, practice good hand washing habits and eat healthy things. I’ll meet you here on the weekend.

Germ-Free Sewing

No coronavirus here! At least not yet. Of course, the panic has set in locally here in the Salt Lake Valley. Last week when we went to the grocery store (we go every Friday), it was business as usual. Everything was in stock, and we personally were in good shape food-wise (and TP-wise) because we always have extra in storage. Yesterday, however, it was nuts! But that’s a story that I’ll save for the end of the post, because I bet you’re here to check out the scrappy sewing.

I’m linking up to Angela’s Scrappy Saturday blog post, where you can join the scrappy crowd without fear of germs!

First up this week was the scrappy basket, using a pattern from Angela (link above) has on her blog. This is the third one I’ve made.

Next up was this Scraptastic Stars block.

Using more small scrappy bits and fabric “crumbs”, I sewed three Beachcomber blocks.

I’ve been making Beachcomber blocks since last year, and I decided it was time to see what they looked like together on the design board.  Hmmmm.... not bad. A bit too much background for my tastes. Maybe I should’ve done the background in black and the dividing strip in white. Oh well, too late now. These blocks are 11” each when finished. I have a couple blocks not pictured here, which brings my total made up to 22 of the 30 I’ll need. I plan to do two yellow, two red and two dark greens in the coming months. The quilt will finish at about 55x66”.

And speaking of quilts, I did quilt two small kids quilts (already sewn by others) for Quilts for Kids. I’m pretty sure that ugly bear fabric and hunter green Swiss dot dates back to the 1990’s. As my friend Mary would say, “it looks like the nineties threw up all over it”.

But let’s talk CUTE quilts. I got the two panel quilts (shown last week) sewn, layered, quilted and bound this week for QFK. The directive was to keep them simple and churn them out. I love how bright and cute they are!

This first one looks a bit wonky at the bottom edge, but it’s not. I just didn’t pin it. It finished at 35x47”.

This second one turned out so cute, finishing at 37x47.5”.

Here is a close-up of some of the quilting.  I also echoed the waves, outlined the clouds, sun, boat and bear, and did a lot of ditch quilting so that everything was secure. The quilt borders consisted of a 1” blue stop border and a 3.5” ducky fabric border. That ducky fabric was purchased a couple years ago from Missouri Star Quilt Company online.

It was so serendipitous that I was able to find fabrics in my stash that closely echoed some of the fabrics in these four blocks. I was able to frame the blocks using colors with the same intensity, feel and style of the panel. 

And those are the finished panel quilts (for this quarter!)

Now, I’m jumping back to aqua/teal for a moment just to show you what I’ll be working on this week. The teal “creature” quilt will use lots of spare parts and blocks and scraps. This is just pinned up on the design board for now. There is still a lot of tweaking to do and additions to make.

Luckily for me, I have some sisterly supervisory help. This is one of the International Sisters blocks that Preeti sent me that has a dark background. I’ve named her Jill B, because of a certain Dr. Jill B that was a total bada** recently. This Sister Jill block will likely have a background transplant, as Preeti decided (and I agreed) that the dark backgrounds, when Sister blocks are put together, make a distracting geometric pattern.

Sister Jill B supervises the Teal Creature Creation!

And after the Creature from the Teal ??? is complete, I’ll get to work on my One Monthly Goal (OMG) for March. And hey, the month is only half over! And if you have any ideas for a Creature quilt name (Creature from the Aqua ?, Creature from the Teal ??, Creature from the Turquoise ??), I’d be happy to hear them. So far I’ve got Aqua Aurora and .... nothing. 

So, let me tell you about our shopping trip yesterday. It’s nothing particularly noteworthy or interesting, but I did want to write it down.  I’m hoping that when I read back on this in a year or five years, that can look back and laugh (and shake my head) at what a crazy time it was....

When we got to the grocery store, the parking lot was packed. Uh-oh. Usually early Friday morning is calm and not very busy. We each took a hand sanitizer wipe (we keep some in the car) because I had a feeling the store would be out of the free sanitizers to wipe down the cart handles and hands. We always use those. And I was right - there were none available. So, with clean hands and cart courtesy of our own preplanning, we set out. The store was almost out of some vegetables, but I realized (as I saw them restocking) that it was just a mini-run on carrots, cabbage and potatoes for St. Patrick’s Day’s corned beef and cabbage. Alrighty, then. We got all the produce we needed.

Moving into the dairy section, everything looking a bit picked over. There was sour cream - if you wanted light. Some eggs. The milk was almost gone, but we use almond milk, so that was plentiful. All the breads, pastas and rices (except bulk) were picked over except the whole grain varieties. Perfect! That’s what we prefer.

I had hoped that there might be some toilet paper or hand sanitizer/anti-bacterial soap so I could send some to my daughter Megan in Seattle. Ha! There was none. Besides, it would’ve probably cost me as much to send it ($30) as it's costing her to get it delivered. And then a light bulb went off for me. The TP/sanitizer shortages are partly panic buying, sure, but many hoarders are creating scarcity so they can resell these items for outrageous profits. To them I say this: I hope you get COVID-19 and that by the time you recover (because I only want them to get sick, not die for crying out loud!) that the market is glutted with TP and you loose your monetary butt in the deal. End of rant.

Social Distancing; the new catch-phrase. We’ve decided to just stay at home and cocoon for a couple (three? four?) weeks. Today is my birthday. My son Ryan’s was last Monday. We usually celebrate them together and the whole fam-damily goes out to eat. But we’re not doing that this year. I will probably make Bruce (and me, I admit) some oatmeal raisin cookies though. :-) I have to do something fun!

So, I’ve been sewing and reading. My CPAP machine (I have sleep apnea) keeps dying and shuts down every third night just to be spiteful. So this week, I am sleeping for three nights with a diagnostic unit hooked up to me. It has sensors (nose/mouth, fingertip, chest strap) to record how I sleep without additional forced air to get all the calculations correct for my new CPAP. But that means I snore and wake up with a very dry and sore throat (my CPAP humidifies the air). Not fun. I keep reminding myself that I’m tired and have a sore throat because I’m not sleeping well because of the damn CPAP, not COVID-19.

Stay healthy, friends. Avoid gatherings. Wash your hands a lot. Keep up to date on the CDC website and try to ignore the blathering from the White House and Capitol Hill. We will get through this together, yet isolated. Thank goodness for the online community, right?  xoxoxo - all germ-free!