No More Strings … and Other Things to Celebrate

My string bucket is empty!! Well, to be more accurate, this is what I have left over. 

But other than slipping these bits into the inside pocket of the bucket, this cavernous bucket is empty!

I keep my strings (when I have them) in this canvas beach bucket (that’s a pink flamingo on the outside) that I got for next to nothing at Barnes and Noble a decade or more ago. I believe this is the first time it’s been empty! I managed to sew 32 blocks from last week’s remains, which brought my final String Frenzy total up to exactly 500 from September 1 to mid-November. Woo-hoo! I haven’t trimmed the final 32, but here they are anyway. 

Whew! (Wipes brow) Now I can focus on other sewing projects until year-end. I took my Bernina in for annual servicing yesterday, and I hope to get it back before I’m unable to drive after surgery (about 10 days). But if not, I can get friend Ruby or Cousin Kim to pick it up and bring it to me at the next “Church of Bernina” sewing day. 

So this coming week I can trim the last string blocks and gather them together for the first January Quilts for Kids meeting. 

This past week I basted two quilts, both From Rainbow Scrap Challenge block sets from 2024 and 2025, respectively.. This first one, Windmills, is backed with a Tula Pink teacup fabric from her Alice in Wonderland line (it was probably named something else). 

The second quilt is Weathervanes. It’s rather odd, isn’t it, that both these quilt blocks and resulting quilts are named after things that relate to wind - Weathervanes and Windmills. Weathervanes, below, will be a gift for my housekeeper. 

I’m going to whip out my Pfaff Grand Quilter and try using that to quilt these two. I don’t remember any particulars from reading the machine’s instruction manual, so I’m not sure if I can FMQ on this straight-stitch-only machine,. But I should be able to handle whatever the heck it does do. If I have any issues, I can always use my little Brother machine to do a serpentine stitch. 

My next project will be to finish these Night-Flying Geese into a quilt top. These are just placed (sideways) on the design board. I hope to web them on Monday. Excuse the wonkiness…

 

While I have black thread out for that, I’ll fix a black leather purse handle on a beaded purse (an African design from Chico’s) that Ruby got for me at an estate sale. And speaking of Ruby, she and I did go up to Crystal Hot Springs to “take the waters” on Thursday. It was my turn to drive, and we had overcast weather all day. That was no problem while we were in the hot springs, but we did have some heavy rain for about a half hour on the way home. All in all, it was a fun day, but no pictures.

This week I also got all my pre-op registration and tests (EKG and lab work) done, so I will just waltz on in to the hospital on the 4th and let Calgon (or the anesthesiologist) take me away. My knee replacement will be done as outpatient surgery so I’ll go home the same day. But first, the HOA annual meeting this morning, a party later this weekend and Thanksgiving on Thursday. 

Happy Thanksgiving to all those who celebrate!

Winter Adventures

Let’s pretend that sewing and quilting are adventurous, OK? That’ll keep me honest for using the plural “adventures” in the title instead of the singular “adventure”.  

In my blogpost last Saturday I mentioned that my friend Ruby and I were going over to her sister Cathy’s house to learn to load and operate their new longarm machine, and indeed we did just that. I hope there’s not going to be a quiz, because this pea brain will take more than one session to “learn” how to operate it! But I’m pretty confident about loading it now, and I at least understood what each step we took was doing and how it fit into the whole process (like marking the beginning and ending of each row). The machine had some bothersome quirks, and the woman who was training us said that those little quirks were not acceptable. It turns out that the manufacturer replaced the whole machine this week (well, the whole computer and arm). Aaaanyway, I’m still relying on my own machine for quilting my smaller donation quilts, but I look forward to another longarm training session soon.

The real adventure this week came in the form of a day trip with my friend Ruby up to Crystal Hot Springs in Honeyville, Utah. It’s an hour drive north of us, north of Ogden and Tremonton. The Hot Springs have been there forever. In fact, the information placards said the springs had been used and enjoyed by over 450 generations of Native Americans before the white settlers came along.

According to the following placard, Crystal Hot Springs has the highest mineral concentration of any place on earth.  I hope the information in the sign is readable - if you care to read it. 

Here are some (poor) pictures of some of the pools. It was a cloudy day, but that didn’t dampen our spirits. 

The Springs open right at noon, which was when we got there. The crowds grew as the afternoon developed and it got downright busy once school let out. That’s when we went on our way and had a nice lunch/dinner combo ar a locally renowned restaurant, Maddock’s.

A single visit to the Hot Springs is $18 per person, but you can buy a 10-visit pass (good for 2 years) for $50. Bruce is anxious to try it, so we’ll be buying that pass, you can bet on it!

So that was my non-sewing adventure, and we can turn to my Adventures in Scrap Wrangling next!

For Pink January, I sewed some string blocks (6.5”)

And some crumb blocks (also 6.5”). 

I finished sewing the pink Midnight at the Bubblegum Factory quilt top together. It will get basted and quilted in the coming week - at least, that’s the plan - and I should be able to show it next week. But this week I did finish up another donated quilt top into a quilted and bound little number. 

I used a backing that Jo (Jo’s Country Junction blog) sent me for these community quilts. I’m not crazy about (in fact, I greatly dislike) the light backing with the dark, bright front, but it’s all I had that would work. The binding is the folded-over backing, not a great look in this instance. At least the thread tension was good so that the light bobbin thread and darker front quilting thread played nicely together. 

I’ll be taking this quilt (plus the 13 others I’ve finished since Thanksgiving) to Quilts for Kids this morning.

Back in my post of December 21, I talked about a Halloween quilt I’m going to make this year; sixteen blocks (12” each, finished size) surrounding a haunted house panel. I’ll be doing 2 blocks each month for 8 months, giving me all of September to sew it together and custom quilt it. Here are my first two blocks for January.

I was a little disappointed that the above block didn’t have better contrast between the oranges. But it will remain as is. The following block is actually a lot like the first one, at least with general layout and component sizes. I’ll be using Halloween fabrics in oranges, purples, black and gray - the colors of the panel. I’ve already cut out and kitted up the two blocks for February, so this project is on track! I’ll share more about it as the year progresses. 

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Today, Saturday, Cousin Kim is coming over and Bruce and I will take her to lunch at this cute little cafe and gift shop nearby. Then she’ll be giving us haircuts (she’s a licensed cosmetologist). My hair needs 2-3 inches chopped off to restore its “perkiness”. Kim will be back over on Sunday to sew (Church of Bernina, LOL) with Ruby and me. The adventures never end here at Chez Kizerian.

Oh! My amaryllis finally opened this week! It has FOUR blossoms! 

And you can see the swelling of a bloom-to-be on the adjacent stalk. What a treat!

The Stay at Home Round Robin actually begins on Monday with our first round design/motif assignment. That will give me several days to work on it before next week’s RSC and SAHRR post. 

Have a great week. Linking up to Scrappy Saturday.