Goodbye November!

Did you have a nice Thanksgiving (for those who celebrate)? Ours was lovely, although there was one cooking fail on my part. But no matter - it’s not worth bothering about until next year when I vow to review the recipe before starting! (Facepalm). We had our lovely friend Maureen over for the day. She lost her husband two years ago on Thanksgiving and was grateful to have a place to come and eat and visit with friends. We had a lovely afternoon and evening.

My friend Ruby was back for a week (between trips) and offered to be my quilt holder-upper for the photos of It’s a Jungle Out There. Unfortunately, it was late afternoon when we remembered, so the courtyard was in shadow and the pictures are mediocre and don’t really show off the vibrant colors. But you’ll get the idea. 

I had a doctor appointment this week to get cortisone shots in my knees (the cold is killer on them) To say that my doctor was excited was excited to receive the quilt was an understatement. Dr. Doug (as I call him) has been my doctor - and he delivered my daughter Megan - since I moved to Utah in 1983. That’s over 40 years of marriages, raising families, health issues (mine and his), trips and pictures from around the world - particularly Africa for both of us - comparing vegetable gardening tips, and we have the same political beliefs and proclivity to throw in some colorful language now and then…. Well, it’s been a great run. 

He loved the bright colors and the African fabrics. He thought is was so clever to “disappear” the tiger motif to assure it was an African jungle, not a generic jungle. Dr. Doug was leaving right after my appointment to spend time down in his St. George condo (3.5 hours south of here) with his family. He was taking the quilt there because it’ll match their bright decor. He must’ve hugged me at least three times! So very appreciative. We both teared up! THIS is one of the reasons we quilt, isn’t it? Spreading joy. 

The backing is pieced, and doesn’t show off very well. The purple mottled effect in the backing’s companion fabric is much more pronounced in this stark photo than in real life. The quilt finished at 61x77”. 

I also finished sewing together this Color Sticks top this week. I’ll send it off to Cynthia Brunz for her Many Hands, Many Hearts charity, since the pattern was hers and I do want to contribute. The top finished at approximately 45x63”.  It’s shown here sideways (as if you couldn’t tell) on the design board. 

On Friday, yesterday, I spent the day “Decking the Halls”. We packed up all the fall decor and dragged in the Christmas and winter decoration totes from the garage. I’m so glad we had weeded our collection of  Christmas things down last year in the old house. We kept just what we loved. Late in the afternoon I did run out to a local home decor store that was having a 20% off sale on Christmas decor for the last two days of November. I picked up some new things to fit the condo. I still have more decorating to do, like going to a garden center to get a fresh wreath for the front door, but that will happen today or Tuesday. The priority today will be going to the grocery store.

I’ll leave you with a picture of little Darla, snuggling on Mommy’s lap one night last week. She didn’t even mind the hot pink iPad cover she had to share my lap with!

Have a good week and stay warm and treat yourself well. The rush to Christmas has begun.  I’m linking up with Scrappy Saturday

Aaaaand… We’re Off and Running!

It feels as though winter has just begun post-Holidays. We have had cold and snow this week, which is most welcome in January in a winter sports state such as Utah. And while Bruce and I stay warm and cozy indoors (because we’re old and we’re wusses), we can still accomplish things like sewing and decluttering. I do the former, Bruce does the latter - to atone for a couple decades of collecting and near-hoarding! Hehehe.

So let’s get started! This month’s color range for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is dark and bright greens. I started my week by sewing three Color Stix blocks (designed by Cynthia Brunz of Quilting is More Fun Than Housework) (was there ever a better blog title than that?)

I intend to make a quilt out of these blocks at year end and donate it to her Compassion Quilts charity. The free pattern for this simple and fun block is HERE. 

Last week I talked about my goal to begin sewing up the 35+ quilt kits I have assembled from scraps given to me over the last several years. This week I have pictures to show, including the kits whose numbers I drew for January and their progress so far. 

This photo shows a sampling of kits, which may contain related OR unrelated fabrics in a certain theme or color, and varying amounts of fabric. The scraps are like seeds or idea starters. If I need to add more scraps to them to make a quilt, or return leftovers to the scrap bins, well, it’s all good. 

The numbers I drew for January were 4, 19 and 26. Here are the kits. 

Kit #4

Kit #19

The third and final kit, #26, was just a bunch of 2.5” strips by width-of-fabric (WOF). I wasted no time in getting them up on the design board, and sewing them up. I had to add a few additional WOF strips to get a good length. The finished top is on the right below. 

Obviously, I’m taking the easy way out on this one, design-wise. But it’s January and there are 12 long months ahead to sew several kits per month, so I don’t apologize. When the scraps dictate an easy way, I’ll follow it. 

The next kit I tackled, #4, already had 30 of the small star blocks sewn at 6.5”. Only one of the large stars were sewn, but all of the gray background pieces were cut, and there were scraps of the small single-colored chevron prints AND yardage of both the small and large multi-colored Chevron prints. 

I used some of the gray cuts to add a bar under or over each star block, then set them to dance (alternate by column). 

By last night, I had it to this stage:

The columns are sewn into pairs, but the three pairs still need their joining seams sewn, which is why it looks a bit wonky. It is currently about 48” long, which is a good length, but it will only be 36” wide unless I add a border. I’m playing with these 2.5x5” colorful strips along the side, but there aren’t enough for the top and bottom, so I think it looks odd. And even if there were enough, the zigzags would end up in the wrong direction on the top and bottom. So I’m mulling and puzzling what to do. Any ideas?

My friend Ruby gave me an amaryllis bulb for Thanksgiving. It’s the first amaryllis I’ve ever had, so it’s been exciting to watch it grow and bloom.  This picture shows only three blooms, but it has four now. 

We have officially listed the house for sale, but our agent is only doing some pre-marketing now (to other agents and brokers). We won’t go “live” on the Multiple Listing Service until after Valentines Day at our request. We still need that extra month to shuffle furniture, buy a few inexpensive colorful items -  couch cushions, maybe a couple small bedspreads as we separate our California King bed into two XL twin beds in different bedrooms - and to get the outdoor junk pile hauled off. No, I’m not going to make quilts or cushions myself. No time. I want to stage the house in a more generic and less “folksy” manner. And this last bit is exciting only to a prospective home seller or buyer: We remodeled the three bathrooms a little over 10 years ago. At that time, the only things that weren’t replaced were the toilets. And they were original to this house built in 1963. So, last week we replaced them with brand new, low-water use models. Now everything looks sleek, modern and well kept. *sighs happily*. Oh, and I also need to touch up the paint on some baseboards and small areas here and there. That is a project that begins next week. Have a great week!

Linking up to Scrappy Saturday at Angela’s So Scrappy blog. 

New Year, New Machine

Welcome to 2023! Things have been so busy here, I hardly know where to start. But since this blog is primarily about my sewing and quilting, that’s the most logical point, right?

Last week I mentioned that my Bernina 550QE was in the shop for her annual spa treatment. As usual, when I took it in I asked for a stitch count, which I meant to be for the year. Once again this year I hit 3 million stitches, which didn’t surprise me given how much sewing I’d been doing. What I didn’t expect, however, was a total lifetime stitch count on this machine of 19 million stitches (9 years). And then the service technician said (1) “You’ve been a busy girl”, and (2) the machine would soon need a gear replacement, likely mid-year or whenever it started skipping stitches. Apparently the gears eventually get dull and worn down (like tires on a car?) and packed with lint. The machine had not ever given me any real trouble (except one quilt that I could NOT ever get the tension right on; I later figured it was the fabric itself. But I digress…).  He also said that was a pretty high stitch count, one that most machines don’t reach in a lifetime. 

So of course, that got MY gears turning. Would I want to do another (pricey) servicing soon, or should I just upgrade a bit? The thought had been noodling around in my brain for a few months. Long story short, I took the plunge and upgraded to a new, slightly larger machine. The year-end sale and fantastic trade-in were additional incentives. 

First I have to show you the box. When we brought it in the house and took a picture, I sent the pic to Cousin Kim, saying “FRA-GEE-LAY” (a reference to the Christmas Story movie where Darren McGavin’s character wins a “major prize” that comes in a crate marked Fragile and turns out to be a leg lamp). I told Kim the box either contained my new machine or a leg lamp. She was rooting for a leg lamp! Ha! 

But it was my new Bernina 570QE, shown here not yet completely unwrapped. Yay! I’m in love with the wider (by 2”j harp space.

So, I’ve been just doing basic sewing this week. My three New Owner classes begin this morning and run for three Saturdays. The bobbin is HUGE (holds 70% more than the last machine). I have had no trouble with anything so far except getting the last couple threading steps right on the bobbin insertion, resulting in poor tension. But I figured it out. And that’s how I roll - I learn better when I make missssssnakes and have to work my way out of them. This may be a long learning curve! But I hope to be ready to actually quilt something by mid-month.

So here we are, beginning a new year with Angela and the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. January’s color is blue; darks and brights (which translates to me as darks to mid-value range). I’m linking up to our first Scrappy Saturday gathering. 

My first RSC blocks of the new year are these delightful Chaser blocks from Cynthia Brunz of Quilting is More Fun Than Housework. This is a great pattern - basic, but with so many variations and ideas jam-packing her pattern, that I can’t recommend it highly enough. Besides, it’s great to support our quilting friends, right? See her patterns HERE. I’ll probably add in other variations of this block as the year progresses.

I’ve decided to use black as my constant/background color to help me continue paring down my dark scraps. And speaking of whittling down darks, here is another block (four-in-nine) that I’m doing with the same goal in mind:

Yes, I see that the upper right section in the upper right block is turned wrong. I always wondered how someone could do that and not see it the first time. Now I know!! Don’t worry, I’ll fix it today. What I don’t believe is discernible in this photo is that the 1.5” squares (the constant color) in the top two blocks is navy, and in the bottom two blocks is dark gray. I plan to make two quilts at year-end. The gray quilt will eventually include pink and girly colors and the navy will be boyish. 

These Little Brick blocks, courtesy of Sylvia, are a continuation from last year. I’ll probably make more of these in the blues later this month. 

I also have sewn together the two quilt tops from these donated blocks. They were both supposed to have orange cornerstones, which I cut out and had at the ready. But I was concentrating so hard on sewing with the new machine that I forgot them both times!!

These two tops and their backings have gone into the to-be-quilted line. 

And taking up residence on the design board are the 4” bow tie blocks made as one of my 2022 RSC blocks. I made only enough for one quilt, and it’s undergoing top assembly now.  I’ll probably add a bright 2” border all around and call it good.

It appears that our House of Reprehensibles finally elected Kevin McCarthy as Speaker. The Republican Party has shown what a clown show they are. They need to get the MAGAts out and get back to responsible governing. And I’ll spare you the rest of my diatribe. (You’re welcome).

Have a great week, friends.

Quilt Show - Part 1

Last week there was a quilt show in town. Here in Utah, we only have one big one per year, and it’s always in May. It’s called the Utah Sewing and Quilt Marketplace. A couple years ago Cousin Kim and I went to check out the quilts and listen to the keynote speaker, Jenny Doan from Missouri Star Quilt Company. We had our picture taken with her too (although I didn’t publish the picture). This year Jenny Doan was in town again, but she was down in Utah County (Lehi) at some other shindig.

Anyway, Kim and I needed a Girls Day Out, and this was just the ticket. We spent about 3 hours there walking and walking (and yet my Fitbit was not impressed. Fitbit should give you bonus steps when the floor is concrete, don’t you think?) But I digress....

So this post is Part One (of Two) of some of the quilts I snapped. And it really brings home the point that I need a new phone/camera SOON. Yeah, the operator could probably use some lessons, too.

This triptych really caught my eye - and apparently lots of others’ too, for there were lots of people milling around it. It was called “Fountain Green, 1906”.  Fountain Green is a small town in Utah, and the quilt information included a picture from that date.

Here is the three-part, 3-D quilt.

Hopefully you can see from the (blurry, sorry) detail shot below that the picket fence opened and closed and the quilts were handmade. The kite string and tail were 3-D too. It’s called stump work, and in needlework refers to work done off the piece and then added. Those tiny quilt blocks on the quilts were varying sizes, just like the eye would see them if they were actually blowing in the breeze. 

As usual for a quilt show, there were lots of sponsored exhibition themes. One that I really enjoyed were the mini-quilts (wall hangings) that were inspired by U.S. National Parks. There were three categories - Flora, Fauna and Landscapes. Here are my favorites (with information tags for each):

Landscape:

Flora:

Fauna:

The sea foam around the whale was tulle and organza.

And then there was the quilt awarded Best of Show. When I took the picture of the information card and ribbon, it was before it was awarded Viewer’s Choice as well. I hope you can click on the picture and read the information. The quilt contained over 15,000 pieces and was four years in the making.

Here is a two picture detail collage:

Not overly impressed?  Well, those are just pictures OF THE BACK!!!

Shall we look at the front?

There are no words to describe this quilt (except crazy maybe?) Definitely someone’s lifetime masterpiece.

Moving along, I LOVED this quilt:

On a final note, Kim and I wore our good walking shoes and dressed comfortably (jeans). I also had on a Missouri Star Quilting Company t-shirt that I picked up there a couple years ago. Well, it was surprising (to me, anyway) how many times I was stopped by people asking me if I worked there. No, I don’t, but I’ve been there; they sell these t-shirts there.  The kicker was a vendor who stopped me and said “We have one of your quilts hanging in our booth!”  I was puzzled and said that she must have me confused with someone else. Then she pointed to my t-shirt and a quilt that was made from one of MSQC tutorials. (really?) Anyway, we got a chuckle out of that after I explained it to her. I’m just really glad I didn’t wear my old Grateful Dead t-shirt.

In the next post, I’ll try to finish up the rest of my favorites from the show and show you some of the goodies I bought.

But I’ll leave you with one last quilt picture. Look familiar? This was hanging in the Handi-Quilter display area where the concession vendors and dining tables and  chairs were. There was no attribution; I believe it was just to show off their machines’ abilities. Anyway, we know this is the free Geese Migration pattern by our dear Cynthia Brunz of Quilting is More Fun Than Housework.

Quilty Orphan Needs New Home

It’s been at least a year or more since I`ve participated with Cynthia B’s Quilty Orphan Adoption, and I am so excited (even if I`m a bit tardy, hehe) to link up this time. The event is a link up where you can explore projects that are being given away free for others to finish up. Each donor sets their own rules and pays the postage to send the item(s) to you!

Last year I started out playing along with the Splendid Sampler, then realized I`d taken on too many things. And truthfully, I was not loving my blocks. I finished about 20 blocks or so then quit. They were pieced together with a couple other blocks plus spacer squares to form the flimsy below. It measures approximately 42x48”.

It’s probably an overly-large baby-sized quilt, yet there are several blocks that wouldn’t be appropriate for a baby, like the “Measure Twice, Cut Once” and the block with the 3-D flowers and beads sewn on (detail in picture below). But they could be replaced. Or, even better, you could add a border or two and make this into a nice girls lap quilt.

The rules are that I offer this quilt FREE to someone who may want to finish it. It does not have to go to a charity, but I would like to see it gifted to someone. I will mail the flimsy, PLUS some additional matching fabric scraps in case you want to replace some of the blocks, to one lucky (or is it unlucky? LOL) volunteer.

If you are interested in finishing it up - and I do want it to go to someone who will FINISH, not just collect it - please leave a comment here on this post and make sure I have a way to contact you. Tell me what you would do with the quilt. I will select the recipient on about March 23rd (Thursday) and contact you. In the case of more than one interested and qualified recipients, I will have my DH draw their name from a hat. Or a bowl. You get the idea.  :-)

And why not join us over at Cynthia's Quilty Orphan Adoption Event to see who else has other quilty things up for adoption?  Quilts don’t need to be fed, or to be walked or get shots, so think of how much time and money you’ll save!!

Feeling the Teal

This was another productive week with teal (aqua, sea green, green-blue, turquoise, etc) me as I follow along with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge’s monthly color. It’s really a great way for me to systematically clean out my scrap stash, although it seems scraps have some unusual reproductive properties, don’t you agree?

My first project for the week was to get my two teal/aqua bookcase blocks done. They will be on a blue shelf, so the remaining three blocks on that shelf are reserved for regular blues ranging from dark (navy) to light (sky) blues.

You might notice some repeat titles from last month, but that’s how it goes with scraps and selvages, LOL!  I need to do some clean-up stitching (or thread picking) around the owl. But I love that he selected the most appropriate book on which to land!

And the “Treasures of the East” title is a nod to the system of Arabic numbers we use. Clever, eh? You will note there are several titles by Tamara Kate - Nature Walk, Birds and the Bees and Helen’s Garden. I love, love, love her fabrics for Michael Miller.

Next up are the two Geese Migration blocks from the pattern by Cynthia Brunz. This time I put more effort into the shading from light to dark.

And this month there were 20 4” bow-tie blocks, although I’m not ruling out the possibility of more until I have finished everything except my crumb slab(s). Bow-Ties are very addicting!

Next are the 13 Plus blocks I finished. They measure 6.5” unfinished.

And I finally got the top for my brother-in-law’s quilt sewn into a flimsy.  May have a 2” black border all the way around. The backing is the bright blue and sashing will be blue (if there is enough left over; I haven’t measured yet) or black. No rush on this right now because our Arizona trip is postponed for awhile.

My hubby had the MRI done on his right forearm, site of the previous cancer and surgeries. They will give him the results and a surgery date next week. Then we will have a better idea of what we are facing. If there is a week or two before surgery, we may scoot out for a week’s vacation to see the family in Arizona. Otherwise, we may be postponing it until after surgery/radiation/whatever.

This week I was also able to stitch these columns of my 2016 RSC 16-patches together into a 72x80” flimsy. I am in love with this bright quilt!  I`m hoping that I might have the time/inclination to baste both of these flimsies this week and perhaps begin quilting one of them.

My only Supervisor of late has been Darla. She just prefers to hang out with me and sleep wherever she can find a comfortable place, as long as it’s nearby. Alfie prefers to sleep in Bruce’s recliner during the day.  At night, however, they will sleep anywhere - they are Equal Opportunity Nappers.

A few nights ago, we were drifting off to sleep around midnight (yep, we were up late that night) and we heard the cats running and playing. Then it turned into hissing and yowling and lots of anger and screaming.  I found them in the study and Alfie had Darla pinned under the desk (which is a first; she ALWAYS “cleans his clock”). It is the first time they have ever fought with each other (beyond just hissing or play fighting), and it really bothered me. I took them each one by one (when I could outsmart them and finally catch them) and clipped their nails. They didn’t get any verbal reprimands, because...... well, they are cats. All they would hear is “blahblahblah Alfie” and “blahblahblah Darla”.  Anyway, they calmed down right away, and darned if this wasn’t the scene five minutes later:

In the morning, they were curled up together in our bed, and harmony was restored. But I had lots of fur to sweep up!!  Kids.......