Graduation!

Well, it’s not an exciting graduation, like a grandkid graduating from high school or anything, but I did make it through all my physical therapy sessions and “graduated” from that. I got a hug from both physical therapist Mark and his wife Laura, and I brought them some homemade raspberry jam as a thank you.  I’ll be continuing the home version of my exercises as well as adding some simple exercises to strengthen my core, promote balance and doing some light upper body weight training. I have everything I need except some small weights and a timer, which will arrive tomorrow. I’m excited!

It was another busy week, with a big summer HOA BBQ here at the condos on Wednesday evening. I was on the team to help pull that off, and between set-up, food prep and cleaning up (plus I did the signage and helped transport our most elderly attendees), it was hectic. But what a fun time, even though I may or may not have had three cookies! 

On Friday I made up for eating cookies when my friend Joan, who is moving back to Massachusetts, gifted me her outdoor raised planter. In her courtyard I shoveled out the soil and wheelbarrowed it to our place. Then I went back and we loaded the planter into my SUV. I set the planter up at home and re-shoveled the soil back in. All of that was done before 10am to avoid the heat (although I did work up a sweat and was a filthy mess). But it was fun, and it was great to feel strong and able-bodied again! Here’s the planter. I do plan to visit some garden centers or big box stores to see what’s on clearance. I just want some color (and more soil) in there for the next three months!

I’ve been terrible at sharing garden pictures this year. I planted only a few pots and this vertical garden before my mid-May knee replacement, and just had Bruce watering them while I was unable to work in the yard. 

I never got pictures of the lilies blooming, and the recent record-breaking heat absolutely fried my hydrangeas. I didn’t plant any new shrubs or perennials this year because we’ve been asked to conserve water (and, again, the knee surgery). Mostly these days I’ve been babying my Japanese maple, giving it extra water and iron treatments. Poor thing. The top of the leaf canopy froze and defoliated after a late freeze this spring, and now the scorching heat has it gasping for water! I’m afraid it will be toast when the huge honey locust tree outside our courtyard in the common area is removed this winter - it’s heaving sidewalks and the neighbor’s driveway. The bigger tree provides protection for our Japanese maple, which is typically an understory tree. 

But let’s talk about sewing which is why, I’m sure, you’re here.

July is the month of aqua, teal, and turquoise - and all their blue-green and green-blue variations -  in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge group. 

First up are the two gameboard blocks I sewed, which will finish in a quilt at 8”.

And we can’t forget the Rolling Stone blocks. Only two of those as well. I love these blocks! 

And finally some crumb blocks (6.5”). I had a few on hand and hoped to finish additional blocks to round out a set of 15, but the scraps didn’t stretch that far. So these 7 blocks will join the others and wait until aqua month in 2027 to recruit more friends for a set.

My friend Ruby quilted two more little quilts for me to bind for Quilts for Kids, so I do have two finishes to share once again. First up is this turtle-themed Strippie. After I pulled the fabric and cut the kit, Cousin Kim sewed it up (we joke and call her my “stunt sewist” as we try to churn out lots of these Strippie quilts from my stash). Then Ruby quilts them and I bind and label them. 

The Turtles quilt isn’t all that exciting, but I’m sure there’s a kid who will love the turtles.

The colors are truest on the above photo and the backing photo, below. This little number finished at 39.5 x 45.5”.

Ruby quilted leaves on it, but we think they rather look like they could be patterned turtle shells. 

The second finish was inspired by three cute elephant fat quarters that Ruby gave me from a yard sale find. I had to design something around that amount of fabric, and came up with this. The solid pinks and yellows are pastels, although the camera distorts their intensity. I’ve tried to color-correct it as best I can.

The Pink Ellies quilt measures 40x46”. I’ve got more FQs of this print in a blue and yellow colorway, but there are 4 FQ’s of those. I’ll tackle those later this summer.

Once those little quilts were done and dusted, I could begin working on the fan blocks that were given to me with the Quilts for Kids scraps to “do something with”. See the post here where I first showed them. I call them fan blocks because someone just sewed blades together, not sewing the tops to make a point as for Dresden blades. I had to add another blade to each block to cover at least 90 degrees of a square block.  

Anyway, I found a medium brown fabric on which to appliqué them. The background squares are cut 14x14” (the largest size I could get from a width-of-fabric cut) and I appliquéd the first 3 (of 12) this week. The fans were fit over the corners of the background square, then the outside blades in each block were trimmed to fit. I’m using a blanket stitch on my machine to appliqué down the fans and the inner circle.

I’ve been excited to play with these because the colors go perfectly with the 2-yard cut of book fabric I have. I was originally thinking I’d use the fabric for a backing, but instead I’ll use it for wide borders to bring the 3x4 block setting up to something over 50x60”. That size and these colors will be better suited for an older kid quilt. 

This will be my primary project to work on in the coming week.

Today I need to do some grocery shopping, and then I’ll visit some big box stores to see what kind of flowers (or herbs?) to plant in the new planter. Perhaps next year I can rig up some drip irrigation, but for now the planter will be hand watered. 

Is anyone else watching the new Little House on the Prairie series on Netflix? I absolutely loved those books as a girl. We are really enjoying it, and I find myself thinking and daydreaming about the Ingalls family and their adventures, just as I did 60 years ago! 

Have a great week!

Quarter I Finish-Along Goals

It’s time to list and link up my 2017 Finish-Along goals for the first quarter of the year. This list is so helpful to me, being the organized sort of person I am. I love being able to set goals and check things off.

Loving a checklist is a holdover habit from my working days. DH says I always tell him what I got done every day (not what I did, but what I got done) like I have to prove I was doing something instead of eating bonbons on the couch while watching TV. Yep, sounds like me. Come to think of it, it may have more to do with justifying my summer days to my mother when I was a kid (she worked). Good grief!

Oh well. Regardless, here is my list:

1.  Rainbow Rails.  This is a quilt top pieced for the 2016 Rainbow Scrap Challenge. It’s made with vintage sheets and is currently basted and ready for quilting and binding.

EDITED TO ADD:  FINISHED and blogged about here.

 

2.  Rainbow Dresdens.  Another RSC 2016 quilt top. Centers are doilies and yo-yos, backgrounds are solid pastels in blue, yellow pink. Needs to be basted, quilted and bound.

EDITED TO ADD:  Finished and blogged about HERE.

3.   Scrappy Improv (RSC 2016) in Cool Tones.  Needs basting, quilting, binding.
EDITED TO ADD:  FINISHED and blogged about here.

4.  Scrappy Improv (RSC 2016) in Warms. Needs basting, quilting, binding.
Edited to add:  Finished and blogged about HERE. 

5.  Quilt for Brother-in-law.  This will be a simple Disappearing 9-patch in black, white, gray and turquoise. An easy make that I need to have done in about a month.

EDITED TO ADD: FINISHED and blogged about HERE.

6.  Rose Cottage Quilt in Olive’s Flower Market. I just love the fabrics and have probably bought enough to do three quilts, but this one is for MOI.

7.  Rainbow 16-Patch Quilt (RSC 2016).
FINISHED!  Photographed and blogged about HERE.

I actually thought I had sewn these together already as a flimsy until I discovered them in on a WIP shelf. My bad. This needs to be done this quarter to make room for other WIPs!

I was going to add an eighth quilt (my Farm Girl Vintage quilt, which is in blocks still), but I know that there is no way on God’s green earth that I will realistically get to it this quarter. But it will be on the second quarter list, because I am going to put my sewing machine foot pedal to the metal and SEW.

Speaking of pedals, my foot pedal cord keeps cutting out. I just had Bernadette (my Bernina 550QE) in for her annual spa treatment, and they said the connection was just fine. I think they misunderstood what was happening, and I should have been more clear that it was the pedal cord, not the connection. But we are getting by for now, and I don`t want to take it back again until I have to.

Linking up to the 1st Quarter Finish-Along linky party. Why not join us?

Quarter 4 Finish-Along Goals

I’m running out of time to list my 4th quarter goals for the 2016 Finish-Along, so here I am sliding in under the wire by a day or two.

Last quarter I only finished one of my four goals, and I even did a post about it (my Notting Hill quilt, here). But then I forgot to link up to the 3rd Quarter Linky Party. Just so much going on....  But I am determined to stick to the program, LOL.  Without further ado.....

1.   Aria Quilt
Edited to add: Finished. Post is HERE.

This finish didn’t make it into last quarter, but only by a few days. I got it back on Oct. 3 or so, then trimmed and bound it. It is now done, but I will do an official post about it next week.

2.  Cat Quilt for Remington
Edited to add: Finished. Post is Here.

The below quilt, pictured when it was just basted, is almost ready to be revealed. It will be shown in its own post later this month.

3.  Cat Quilt for London.
London’s quilt is basted and will be quilted by me this weekend. Reveal post will be after numbers one and two.
Edited to Add:  Finished. Post is Here.

4.  Cat Quilt for Abbie - right now it’s just a pile of cat squares; you can actually check back on my blog to see the yellow litter (yellow is not in either of the above quilts).  This was a later addition to my Must Make Cat Quilts because I didn’t know until last month that Abbie was in love with cats!!
Edited to Add:  Finished. Post is  HERE.




5.  Magic Carpet Quilt for Shane
Edited to Add:  Finished.  Post is HERE.

This quilt top was so much fun to piece! It’s ready to be basted and quilted.

6.  Vintage Sheet Rainbow Rail Fence

This top is also pieced and ready to be basted and quilted. I’d wanted to do a vintage sheet quilt for a long time, so used this year’s Rainbow Scrap Challenge as an opportunity to work with my sheet scraps. I rather like it!

7.   Rainbow Scrap Challenge Sampler
Edited to add: Finished!  Post is Here.

This one is a column-along quilt. The tenth and final column will be a yellow one which I’ll sew up as soon as it’s announced. Not pictured are the red, green and gray columns, and the blue column is folded up at the foot of the teal and pink columns.

8.   Christmas Quilt for Mike
Edited to add: Finished! Post is HERE.

This is a deer-themed printed quilt top from Pattern Jam. The green and black polka dots will be thin and thick borders. The newsprint fabric will be the backing. This will be for one of my dear sons-in-law Mike, who is a hunter.  My other SIL is on assignment overseas, so he will get a quilt next year.

9.  Petals for Kim
Edited to add:  Finished! Post is HERE. 

My daughter-in-law Kim picked out the pattern and the Bonnie & Camille fabrics. These orange peels need to be machine appliquéd to the blocks, then stitched together, etc. Should be a quick and easy make for Christmas.

10. Ryan’s Manly Quilt.
Updated to add: Finished!  Post is HERE.

Unlike my artist son Shane (who picked out the colors of his Magic Carpet quilt above), Ryan is more comfortable with darker, more sedate colors. This fabric is Black Tie Affair by Basic Grey for Moda.

11.  Cozy Christmas
Updated to add: Finished! Posted HERE.

Right now I’m participating in the Cozy Christmas Quilt Along. I plan to finish all four blocks, the borders, etc. and give it as a Christmas present.

This quarter, I am confident that I will finish at least 80% of this list, as they are slated as Christmas gifts.  Then I can start the new year with very little on my plate!!  YAY!!

I’m linking up to the 4th Quarter Goals for the 2016 Finish Along. Why not hop over and see what others have planned?

Golden Sewing Opportunities

This month at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, our colors are golden - yellows, golds through yellow-oranges, and it is a perfect opportunity to use up those scraps that have been breeding  collecting in our boxes and bins. And a perfect opportunity to see some gorgeous eye candy over at Angela’s So Scrappy blog because it’s Scrappy Saturday!

For my part, I was able to finish up a yellow and gold Dresden and a Mama Cat with her litter of kittens.

The Dresden is on a pale pink background and finishes up the 20 I needed for a quilt. Hopefully I can get that top pieced this week.

As for the cats and kittens, two tops are pieced, and this is the second litter (of 6) for the third quilt. All are for my granddaughters for Christmas. And yes, sometimes I dream about these cats in my sleep!!

My Aria quilt is back from the quilter! We picked it up this week. Below is a picture after trimming but before binding. It is actually all done now, and I took a series of pictures of it on our bed, where it now resides. But I will save those for the Big Reveal when I announce it as my first finish of the second quarter for the 2016 Finish-Along. That’ll probably be next week.

And I finished my Cozy Christmas block for this week; the cup of cocoa with marshmallows. I still need to embroider some “steam”. Here it is pictured (just pinned, not sewn together) with the Gingerbread Man from last week, whose buttons are also just pinned on for the picture. Eight blocks down, four to go. And those four are all cut out......

I’m going to keep this post brief. The contractor is due here in about an hour to begin building the new wall, and I have to hop on my exercise bike and then shower before he gets here. Then I can sew all day!  YAY!!!!

Roses are Red, So Are My Quilt Blocks

It’s been two weeks since I posted. As I had mentioned, I flew to Kansas City and spent a week in Missouri at a Crazy Quilting retreat. Yes, we did get a couple hours to visit Missouri Star Quilt Company, but the weather was terrible. The clouds were dark and ominous and It was pouring rain. We got drenched going from car to storefront and back.

However, we did manage to visit the newly-remodeled main store and then a couple of the specialty stores. My haul included three lengths of fabrics that I'll use for backings (2) and borders (1). The Doans have done a great job of moving the shops so that many are together and connected to each other (side by side) or on the first or second floor with stairs/elevator access between floors. The town of Hamilton got some new sidewalks and looks better than ever.

It was great to see my friends again at the retreat; we make it a point to get together at least yearly. Here is a picture of (L-R: Colleen Anderson, Carol Kramer and me).  Colleen lives in Nebraska. Her husband Mark went to high school with (and knew)  my husband Bruce in Bountiful, UT. It was a total coinkydink that we discovered about 6 years ago! Carol and I met ten years ago when she and her hubby Woody attended the John Campbell School in NC at the same time Bruce and I did. Carol and I shared a CQ class, and we became fast friends. Carol and Woody have visited us in UT and we have visited them in Florida - or at retreats in between.

So, in the intervening two weeks since my last blog post, I’ve done a lot of stitching for my Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks/quilts.  I finished all three red litters of cats; one mama and 12 kittens each.  Two red litters are still just blocks.....

...but one has been pieced into a quilt top. A Kitty Flimsy (or a Kitten Kaboodle) (or whatever) has been born!  It needs an ironing terribly, as it somehow went from hanging on the design board to decorating the floor in a rumpled heap while I was gone. Alfie and Darla aren’t talking....

And then there are the ten monthly 16-patch blocks. They are just randomly adhered to the design board - not pinned nor even trimmed..... I think after doing the gold/yellow blocks next month (which will total 90 blocks), they will be used as alternate blocks with some other style block that I`ll do next year. After that there will be enough to separate the blocks into color stories (like blue-green-purple or orange-yellow-brown) and make 2-3 quilts.

I made one red Dresden on a pink background this month, as seen below. I have not been feeling the love with these blocks all year. But when I finished this one yesterday, I trimmed all the blocks down to 19” and began pinning them up on the design board.

And surprisingly, I loved it! The final block will be stitched next month; a yellow-gold wheel on a pink background.  The quilt will finish at about 74x74”. I decided against flip corner triangles, sashing or borders. But that may change, too. Right now I think there is enough color and interest going on as it is, but.....  Not sure if this is the final layout.

And I have managed to keep up the pace with the Cozy Christmas Sew-Along. The first six (of 12) blocks are done and sashed. They look a bit wonky pinned up on the design board, but they’re actually pretty accurate.  :-)

The living room remodel has begun, with some demolition scheduled for this weekend. We were not able to match the exact shade of engineered wood from our kitchen floor, so we went a couple shades darker and found a gorgeous hardwood (not engineered, just regular ol’ hardwood) for the living room. We are also carrying the hardwood up the short stairs (3 half risers) down the hallway and into the back bedroom, which serves as our library/music room/exercise room/guest room. It will be ordered next week so it can get here and acclimatize itself for a couple weeks before installation.

The fireplace insert contractor is coming out later this week to do the firebox measurements once the existing brick hearth and facia is demolished. The placement of the new, smaller box will not utilize all the existing firebox space in order to finally make it centered on the wall (don’t know if that description makes sense). Installation will be two weeks after measurements/ordering. In the meantime, the carpenter will be out to take measurements and begin the design drawing of the shelving units, mantel, etc.. The projection is that it all will be done mid-Novemberish. As long as it’s done by early December, I’ll be happy. It appears I won’t be decorating for fall this year, but I definitely want to decorate (and have new furniture) by Christmas!!

Join us over at So Scrappy for a wonderful stroll through some creative uses of red scraps!!

Rolling in the Pink

This week I had a few couple-hour stretches where I was able to make some good progress sewing on my pink scraps. I’m still rolling in the pink scraps (and yes, I listened to Adele when I sewed this week).  Today I’m linking up with the other fun and crazy ladies who participate in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, so come visit us at SoScrappy!

Above are my 16-patch blocks of 2.5” squares. Every month this year I’ve made ten, so I now have 70 on hand. Since we’ve got 3 more months of color before we begin RSC quilt assembly, I should end up with 100. Or maybe just 90, depending on what the colors end up being. At any rate, that should make at least a couple decent-sized quilts. Or I may save some to use as alternate blocks in a future quilt. So many options.

Next up are my vintage sheet rail fence blocks. These were a blast and a breeze to make. How appropriate, since the weather here has been blasting hot and any breeze is appreciated!

These colors and sheet fabrics just make me so happy! Don’t you love their cheery, blowsy patterns??  The addition of this color to the quilt is really going to round out the palette. All I have left to make for this are the yellow blocks when that color comes up.

And I also knocked out 2 Dresdens, although I’m thinking I should start calling them Dread-sdens. I do NOT look forward to doing them any more. They are getting boring to me.

But I do like the centers and the varied backgrounds of plain pink, yellow and blue.

And I really like the various doilies and vintage crochet pieces and yo-yo’s in the centers.

So now I have 14 blocks, and I will make two more; one red and one yellow. The blocks will then be set 4x4, so the quilt will end up being approximately 76x76”.

I’ve also begun quilting a quilt sewn by my cousin Kim, and she did it all by hand except sewing on the border. I’ve finally convinced her to return to sewing with her reliable old Kenmore. If she doesn’t bring him (Ken, the machine) when she comes to sew, she can use my reliable old Kenmore. The Ken twins. They’ve never let us down.  But I do prefer to sew on my Bernina, Bernadette. (You DO name your sewing machines, don’t you?)  But I digress... getting back to Kim’s quilt; I’ll show a picture of it when it’s done. Hopefully later this month.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
It’s still Apricot Madness here at our house. The poor apricot tree had its tallest branch break just as everything ripened. Then we cut down two more branches (and picked all the fruit) that were going into the neighbors yard, as well as cleaning up the apricot mess for them. We have two more huge branches propped up, and Hubby picked then pruned one that was up on the rooftop.

The tree is in the backyard, mostly, but some branches spread out to the front side yard. Below is a picture of the one large branch that is supported and just now ripening in the back.  We are starting our THIRD WEEK of apricots

Below is a picture of the other branches that are supported by a 2x4 AND by the former broken branch. It had a V at the end, so we used it to help prop up the over-laden branches. Picking on these branches will probably begin today. These will be made into fruit leather, because I am up to my eyeballs in apricot jam, puree, dried and frozen apricots.

view from front side yard

My hydrangea bush finally decided it likes where it’s growing in the front flower bed, although this picture was taken past its prime. I should cut some blooms and bring them in to dry.

My flower pots are looking good, but I only put 7 out in front this year. Please excuse the drip irrigation lines leading to each pot. They rather destroy the aesthetics to a degree, but are so necessary. A couple of the larger pots even have two lines. We have them set to water with the sprinkler system.

And if my porch pillars look a bit rough, well, we are working on them. I have scraped them in preparation for a new paint job. Hubby removed the old rotted wood bases and is replacing them with composite bases (after waterproofing the wood).

The one below has the C-clamp on it. The above one gets it next when the 4th side is added. I hope to get them both repainted this coming week. I will re-do them mostly brown, but want to add some color in, like yellow and orange to match the house and front door.  There is even some pale lime green I may add. I’ve been saving Pinterest ideas, but I don’t know how bold I’m willing to go. We will just have to see!

The contractors finished with our rain gutter re-routing and soffit repairs. My new kitchen light fixture arrived. Now I need to get my contractor out to paint the kitchen ceiling so I can paint the walls. Hubby will then hang the new fixture and take the old window coverings off. The new shutters will arrive mid-August. Slow progress, but progress it is.


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