A Good Week

This was a good week on so many levels, but a hard one as well. Hard in that we’ve been in the middle of having the condo painted - well, the living room, entryway and master bedroom, which together encompass about half the square footage of the condo.  But it looks so clean and fresh now! Now that it’s done, we’ve been unpacking All The Things we boxed up over the last two weeks. The new blinds for the back half of the house will be installed on Monday, so I’m going to wait for that before I take pictures. Oh, and we need to rehang everything, just like when we first moved in. So I need to get my sons over here to do most of that because we have some heavy pictures and mirrors or things that need a stud finder and laser level. I’ve also been updating switchplate covers and rearranging furniture. Where’s a darn magic wand when you need one? 

And speaking of switchplates (couldn’t resist that segue), here are my switchplate blocks for July. The color of the month for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge is purple, and I got a good start this week on that color. 

These 15 switchplate blocks will finish at 3x5”.  After that I moved on to my flying geese blocks, inspired by the blocks that my friend Cathy of Sane, Crazy and Crumby made last year.  They’re a great way to use up miscellaneous black print scraps. 

One of my very favorite things to do at the start of every month is to sort through the scrap basket for the new color of the month. Last weekend as I was sorting through the purples, I found a baggie of 50-some cute novelty squares measuring 4.5”. Well, I opened the bag and out popped a SQUIRREL! It took no time to find three matching fabrics to use in large chunks or minimal yardages. I cut out the needed 4.5” squares, and in roughly an hour, had this cutie of a top up on the design board. 

Then Cousin Kim came over on Wednesday, and we spent some time sewing. I got it fully webbed vertically and the first three rows done horizontally. I looooooooove this happy little gem! 

It may get a solid border - I’ll just wait until it’s completely sewn before I make a decision. I do know that the blue will also be the backing and binding. I have 8.5 yards of it from an estate sale and will be using it to back several quilts this month and possibly into next month!

Yesterday was an interesting 4th of July. It started off hot, then at about 1pm a rain, hail and thunderstorm rolled through. Although it measured less than a quarter inch total, it was a fierce storm for about 10 minutes. Two minutes later, the sun was out, and I snapped the picture below from our front door. I can see that the wind blew one side of the bunting off the front gate (left side).  Bruce and I did go out for awhile, and when we got home an hour later, the rain picked up again. At least things were damp, and that allayed my fears of fireworks starting a brush fire in our parched area. 

I did run to the store in the morning yesterday to do some grocery shopping. They had the most beautiful (and delicious) apricots there, so I bought these to make some apricot jam today! 

I’ll leave you with pictures of Darla and Alfie snoozing away in the living room. They are very happy that the Strange Mans who were here moving furniture and painting are gone. Obviously, the whole process of supervising exhausted them. (Ha! They found excellent new hiding places for the duration). 

Darling Darla (whom I also call “Darlicious”)

Alfie (AKA “Mr. Cat”) in his best shrimp pose

Please tell me we’re not the only ones who have several nicknames for our cats! Darla is DarDar, Darlicious, Darling Darla, and Miss Kitty.  Alfie (Alfalfa) is Mr. Cat, Himself, and Al. 

On that note, I’m off to go make some jam. I also have some raspberries to make raspberry jam, so my morning is spoken for. But the afternoon will (hopefully) see me in the sewing room! Have a great week!

Are We in a Time Warp?

Wow, the last couple weeks just seemed to speed by. But if you asked hubby Bruce, I'm sure he would say just the opposite. For two weeks he had his right hand/arm sewn to his abdomen in order for a skin flap be to acclimated (my word, not the doctors') and then grafted to his forearm, where the cancerous tissue was taken. Anyway, the flap and arm were "detached" yesterday, and he is beginning the healing process. It remains to be seen how much hand function he will retain (it looks like most, but not all) because he's still swollen and sore. But he can now get it wet and we can change bandages here at home until his follow-up visit in two weeks. The light at the end of the tunnel is here, and it isn't a train!!


During this two weeks of self-imposed hibernation for us (it was hard and uncomfortable for Bruce to get around a lot), there was still a lot happening. The back basement door for my studio, which was ordered back in April, finally arrived and was installed.  Now, I know it's just a boring, two-panel door, but it is So.Dang.Exciting to me. The old door was beyond ugly and plain, and the screen had seen better days forty years ago. So, now there's this lovely, clean, wooden door (not steel to draw the cold in) with a lock and dead bolt. I still need to do some touch-ups around the frame, and then we'll be cutting out the carpet around the door to do a small tile entry, probably over the winter or in the spring.






Here is the back door open with the new storm door visible. We can open the screen from the bottom up, which the kitties love. They can lay in the sunshine even if the view is only the basement stair landing and some sky (and a phony plant for some color).

We plan to get a new light fixture out there too,  but that will also wait until spring.

Another happening had to do with the apricot tree.  After the deluge of apricots this year, we were curious to see where all the branches reached when not laden with fruit and propped up with boards. Well, they reached into the power lines, over to the eaves and a bedroom window, and across and into the neighbor's yard (even though we had cut them all back two years ago). The rest of the branches (two of them) reached up waaaaaaay high or else out across the grass area (admittedly rather small) and over to the garden. Bruce had trimmed the lower, diseased branches out near the tree crotch during the apricot season. Anyway, we decided it was time for the tree to go.  It had grown way beyond its described growth when we bought it as a sapling fifteen years ago. Any future fruit would be unmanageable (especially given our aging and health issues). Believe me, this broke my heart. Our yard guys, who are arborists, felled it and cut it up in an hour flat. They left the stump at my request, so that I could put a bird house on it. We do plan to replace it next year with something smaller.

I miss the shade and protection it offered. I'm sure the birds do, too. Boomer's grave, at its foot, is no longer sheltered. My granddaughter London cried when she saw it was gone. She remembers her pre-school days here at grammy's when we used to play out in her kiddie pool and have an apricot drop right in the water for us!

London in 2014 singing "Roar!"

I've been doing some small baby quilt quilting for Quilts for Kids. I've also got three kids quilts I've sewn up from scraps that are basted and ready to be quilted. But first, I'm working to get my August One Monthly Goal finished by month-end on Saturday.

This Firefighter quilt is made from a wonky, misspelled panel (I fixed the misspelled word by taking a tuck to hide the errant letter). The design is my own.  Currently it's basted and about 25% percent quilted. I'm doing some free-form flames. I'll talk more about it when it's done.

We so appreciate all the nice messages from those of you who have taken time to see how Bruce and I are doing and to express kind wishes and words of support. It warms my heart and means more to both of us than you can know. Thank you! So now I'll just the "Publish" button and get this update on its way!

The End of Pink... but not the Apricots

Our apricot tree is like the Energizer Bunny ... it just keeps going and going. This week, after taking 4 cases to Weight Watchers. They asked me how many trees we had. When I told theme only one tree, they found it hard to believe until I showed them the picture. Ha! I also took apricots to neighbors and a meeting I attended. That left me with a couple cases to deal with at home. We ate lots of fresh, yummy fruit. And then there were two more batches of jam, several quarts of frozen apricots, an apricot pie and some apricot turnovers. And yes, some went to waste before it could be dealt with. It makes me feel guilty, but on the other hand, I’m only human. We capped the blisteringly hot work week by filling the kiddie pool (meant for grandkids) and getting in it ourselves. We’re nothing if not immature. You’ll keep the secret, right?

And I got a lot of sewing done, too. I don’t know how the hours of some weeks can stretch to accommodate so much, while other weeks ricochet by in an instant. But this was a good, long week. 

First out from under the needle we’re these string blocks. There are 4 that will finish at 9” and 6 that will finish at 4”.

And then there were the bitcoins rows, made from 1.5x2.5" scraps.  These will eventually become part of a border, but I have a new block plan for them for next year.

I also sewed some little scraps and lingering waste triangles into some miscellaneous crumb blocks - two at 6.5" and four at 4.5" (top row, center in picture below). They will go into the Parts Department for eventual inclusion into a future quilt.

And that was the end of my pink scrap sewing for the month.  I'm thrilled to say that it decimated my huge drawer-full of pink scraps. Here is a recap picture of all the Rainbow Scrap blocks that I made in July. I'm linking these up to Angela's Scrappy Saturday post. 

A total of 77 blocks.  But wait, there's more!

I had so many pink scraps, that I sewed two pink quilts for Quilts for Kids. First up, Little Pink Scrap Quilt A (38x48"):

I used leftover 2.5" squares, leftover solid strips and tied the whole thing together with a cute piece of floral fabric - not a scrap, but any use of stash is good! 

Here is a detail of some of the heart and loop quilting I did (shown after quilt was washed).

And here is Little Pink Scrap Quilt B (44x53").  It, too, used leftover squares and strips, plus two 1-yard cuts of fabric (one sparkly, on back, and the hedgehog fabric border). 

I added the two pink quilts to the pile of baby-sized quilts I quilted for Quilts for Kids this month. Five other quilts quilted (sewn by others), plus the two pink ones finished entirely by me.

There is some quilting detail on one quilt I want to show you. I did some free-form loops and stars with variegated thread on this starry blue quilt (sewn by a man!)

So, my quilt finishes for the month are shown below. I'm most thrilled with Crumbcakes, of course on the top left. The Little Pink Scrap Quilt A was goal #9 from my Finish-Along Quarter 3 list, which you can see HERE. I'm particularly thrilled that I did two quilts instead of just one.

And a shout out here to Cousin Kim, who finished this lovely quilt for herself this month: 

It's the last weekend of July, and the summer is half over. Where does the time go? More importantly, DO YOU WANT SOME APRICOTS???????????

International Sisters, Apricots and the Color Pink

When life gets so busy that it's hard to find time to write even one blog post per week, surely it's a sign that a relaxing summer is not on the calendar! Yeah, life is crazy. But it's mostly good crazy. 

The word of the week last week was APRICOTS. We picked several cases every other day, and so far have been able to find neighbors, friends, family, and the gang at Weight Watchers to take them off our hands. Even the birds have been enjoying them! To be sure, we've kept our share. After a couple hours picking and sorting, we come inside and begin processing. I'm channeling Bubba Gump here when I tell you we are making apricot jam (regular and low-sugar), frozen apricots, apricot puree, canned apricots, apricot fruit leather, and dehydrated apricots. And eating them warm from the tree by the dozens. If I had remembered to take a picture of the tree, you would see a definite depletion of the apricots compared to last week's picture. We are probably past the halfway point. Hopefully.

We did take time out for a doctor appointment (more about that later in the post). One day we had family over to learn how to make jam, and on Wednesday I had Cousin Kim and my friend Bonnae over and we sewed all day. It was heavenly. So, despite everything, I managed to crank out some pink blocks for Scrappy Saturday at Angela's Rainbow Scrap Challenge link-up.

First were 18 nine-patch variation blocks.

And then I sewed four 9.5" strip blocks and six 4.5" strip blocks. No plan yet for the smaller blocks. I just have so many pink strings that I wanted to use more of them. There are still plenty to add into other projects or wait their turn for next year.

Next up were the International Sisters blocks. These are the delightful former African Queen blocks that were re-drafted by my friend Preeti. I started making these in May with the color orange, then progressed to blue in June and now pink in July.  I ended up making dressing nine Sisters. Two are twins, and the ninth one was a little late to the party, but they are all present and accounted for!

I was so inspired by Preeti's thoughts and words as I read her blogpost this week, Women of Color. Political news is never fun and games, but when our country's President stoops to telling women of color (U.S. Congresswomen, no less) to "go back" to their "crime-infested countries", we've hit a new unacceptable low. This IS their country! Our country. All colors, all political beliefs, all religions, economic levels, education levels, abilities and interests. Our strength is in our diversity. As Preeti observed, when one woman is attacked, each of us is under attack.

Good people can agree to disagree politically (or in other areas) and still be friends. Or at least polite. We should not allow anyone to demean women! Bullying and hatred need to be called out and crushed whenever it is given voice or action by ANYONE.

It truly pierced my heart to hear those words. So, to calm myself, I began sewing International Sisters. First were the twins. They may have differing complexions, but they are definitely sisters. I decided to name them this month. But I'm not matching names to complexions because each one is a symbol of a sisterhood that goes beyond the color of their skin. Meet Malala and Rosa.

Here are Ilhan, Ruth, and Tammy D.

Florence and Maya.

Coretta and Harriet. Coretta's dress is from fabric sent to me by my friend Sally, and Harriet's dress is made of some fabric I brought back from Kenya last year.  Speaking of Kenya, it was one year ago this month that I was there, and the desire to return burns as strong as ever.

And finally, in a show of sisterly solidarity, here are all my International Sisters to date.

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The doctor appointment I referred to above was for Bruce. The cancer in his right forearm (just above the wrist) is back. The MRI shows that it's near where they did the tissue transplant 2 years ago. This tumor is deep, but the good news is (a) his chest scan was clean and no lymph nodes are involved, and (b) they can operate to remove it without taking his hand or forearm. The surgeon will take out the tumor and affected tissue, and unfortunately some ligaments. Bruce will lose the ability to open his hand more than halfway, but should still be able to, after therapy, use his fingers to type, play the guitar and perform other fine motor skills.

In general, we're optimistic. It helps that we've been through this before and know what to expect. Specifically, the initial surgery (or surgeries) will remove the offending tissue, while subsequent surgeries will attach his hand to his stomach area for tissue grafting, then detach it after 3 weeks once circulation and viability is established. So, we're looking at 3-4 surgeries over the next couple months, beginning August 7. Please keep a good thought for my dear Bruce in your heart.

Low-Hanging Fruit

The apricots are ON!! This is going to be an amazing year for apricots for us, providing we can get to the fruit. I’ve never seen the tree so laden, but it’s grown into such a large tree now. We have two ladders - one is an extension ladder - but even that allows access to only certain areas. You know, you have to think of safety first, so you can’t go setting the ladders up willy-nilly. And the roof is out because all the branches near the house were pruned last year. Bruce did buy a fruit-picking pole with basket, however, so we’re going to try that out today. It’s got to beat standing out there with our arms open, waiting for fruit to fall into them! LOL. Seriously, though, we have been collecting the fruit on the low-hanging branches. There are lots of those. Besides starting the apricot jam, dehydrated apricots, fruit leather and canned/frozen packing, we are planning a trip around the neighborhood today to share the bounty.

But let’s talk about scrappy sewing, shall we? In the last week I’ve quilted two lap quilts (more about those in a minute), so there aren’t as many finished pink blocks as I’d hoped there would be. But it’s all quilty progress, so I’m not complaining. I’m linking up to the weekly Rainbow Scrap Challenge Scrappy Saturday.

First finished this week were nine anvil blocks (8” finished size).

And then there were the 14 garlic knot blocks, also 8 inches finished size.

I’ve got everything cut out for some pink International Sisters blocks, at least a dozen 9-patch variation blocks, and lots of pink strings ready to sew. They’re all on the rota for the coming week. 

And I have a Rainbow Scrap finish to share! Crumbcakes is now done and dusted!!

Crumbcakes is one of the quilts I mentioned above that I quilted this week. The other belongs to Cousin Kim, and once she binds it, we’ll get a picture. Anyway, Crumbcakes has been in the works for a couple years. I started out by making 6.5-inch crumb blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge in 2017. Then this year I began sewing those together in fours with thin black sashing to form a 13-inch (finished) Crumbcakes Block.

Crumbcakes measures 65x78”. And I used one of my favorite prints, which I’ve used before, for the back. It looks woven, doesn’t it?

Crumbcakes was Goal #1 on my Finish-Along list for the 3rd Quarter that I just posted a couple days ago HERE.

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And here are a few pictures from our garden this past week.

We’ve got some spaghetti squash that are getting big. We planted three times as many this year as we did last year because we can’t get enough spaghetti squash, and they store well for months and months.

Some of the big tomatoes are beginning to ripen ever so slowly, but I think the cherry tomatoes will probably beat them.

Although the spinach and lettuce are done, the lettuce is going strong. We’ve been sharing a lot of this, too!

This year we have some small pumpkins. I don’t remember the variety name, but they’re bigger than the Jack-be-Littles and are supposed to be good for eating.

The grape vines on the patio lattice are bearing fruit. We ripped one plant (of 5) out this spring and I've been keeping the remaining vines in check. That, along with a drastic pruning a couple falls ago, have resulted in a lot of fruit on the new second-year growth.

They won’t ripen until September or October, but they’re a really good size for this time of the year..

And the onion patch is thriving too. Since this picture, some of the tops have begun falling over and drying out, signaling that they can be picked. Of course, one can leave onions (and potatoes and carrots) in the ground until ready to use them. We’ll begin culling the onions this week as needed.

I don’t have a picture of the carrot patch, but we’ve been eating and sharing those too. We’re having main dish salads and/or stir-fry most nights for dinner. Later this week my DIL Kim and granddaughter Lauren are coming over to learn how to make freezer apricot jam. I’m looking forward to that. It was a year ago this week (and next) that we were all in Kenya together. Where has the time gone?

And speaking of time, the apricots and veggies are cutting into my housecleaning time, but oh well. I have my priorities. The housework can wait until the apricots are done, right? Thank goodness there aren’t any Housekeeping Police, hehe.

Happy Independence Day and July Goal

Happy Independence Day to everyone in the United States! How are you celebrating?

We’re just having a quiet cookout at home, followed by neighborhood fireworks. 

We’re not much for big gatherings and goings-on.  

If you're outside of the USA, I hope your July 4th is wonderful too!

It’s time for me to name my monthly goal (OMG) for the July link-up at Elm Street Quilts.

Last month my goal was to get the background and base of my Spokes and Blossoms wall hanging completed, which I did. And now for July, my goal is to get it finished. To do that, I need to collage all the flowers and leaves over the peachy-colored blob spilling out of the basket in the picture below. I may also collage some other reds onto the handlebars.

Once that’s done, everything will get its final pressing and trim. Then I’ll sandwich/baste it to the backing (as yet unselected) and quilt it. The quilting will be very dense as recommended on the pattern. Plus it will add a bit of stiffness which is great for something that will be hung and not frequently laundered. Finally, I’ll need to add a hanging sleeve and binding... and voila!

We are days away from the full ripening of the apricots on our tree, and July is going to see us eating, dehydrating, canning, freezing, sharing, baking (etc) apricots with family, friends, neighbors, my Weight Watchers buddies, fifth cousins twice removed, and any random person who happens to stop by.

Hot Fun in the Summertime!

So many fun things happened last week. Diane Knott, one of my favorite quilters and authors (Scrap Quilt Secrets and Strip Quilt Secrets) was in town for a Handi-Quilter seminar. She was there to learn lots of new things for several days. You might remember that Diane quilted my Lattice Birds quilt, and did a beautiful job. So anyway, we met up for some fun shopping and a photo op at Quilters Lodge in Draper, Utah.

Diane is so warm and friendly, and we just talked and laughed (and shopped) like we’d known each other for years. Truly, a nicer person you will not find! Quilters are such a wonderful group, aren’t they??  That was Saturday, and I was finally rested from two trips to Wheeler Farm earlier in the week.

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Wheeler Farm is a county-run historical working farm that is a block from our house. After I retired from my full-time job as a credit manager, I worked part-time at Wheeler Farm as a kids Camp “Cow”-nselor and then as a bookkeeper and docent for almost 4 years. Wheeler Farm is almost 78 acres of trails for walking and biking, plus lots of farm animals (and participatory cow milking), farmhouse tours, a machinery barn, wagon rides, summer camp, pony rides, teaching gardens (in cooperation with the county extension service) and so much more. I have a label (hashtag) on the sidebar for Wheeler Farm that includes all the posts I’ve written about it over the last 12 years of blogging.

So, on Wednesday, Cousin Kim and Bruce and I went walking around the farm just for exercise. And then on Thursday, the grandkids from Colorado visited with their mom Emily (Bruce’s daughter), and we had to show them all the new stuff. These pics combine both visits....

The restored Farmhouse, newly restored gardens.

Looking from the Farmhouse to the west

From the farmhouse you can look northeast to see pastures for cows and horses, old farm trucks and the machinery barn.

Beyond the farmhouse are the two duck ponds. That building below is the Ice House, where they used to store the ice cut from these ponds. It’s also the headquarters for Kids Camp. 

The two ponds above are formed by water diverted from Little Cottonwood Creek, which flows down from Little Cottonwood Canyon (ski resorts Brighton and Solitude). With the spring runoff, they are running at very high and dangerous levels.

Looks like some folks (picture below) are getting a tractor-pulled wagon ride. The little playhouse at the right is situated next to The Lightning Tree (a box elder), so named because it’s been hit twice by lightening. 

Here are some of the teaching vegetable gardens with the in-process Nature Center that’s being built in the background. It’s scheduled to open this fall, but the wet spring later means that it will be late fall instead of early fall.

And looking in the other direction, you can see more gardens.

We loved this little “skep” made of two-by-four chunks of wood. It’s in the center of the nature walk/teaching area for kids. 

Naturally, Cousin Kim and I had to sit in it on Wednesday.

On Thursday, Abbie, Gunner and Deacon rested in the skep and certainly look a lot cuter!

And here’s most of the gang walking along on Thursday. 

The County cleverly had wood carvers transform the stumps of dead trees into wood carved wonders along one of the main walkways of the farm.  Here daughter Emily poses with Abbie, Deacon and Gunner.

Abbie

Gunner

Deacon, Abbie, Gunner

Emily and Deacon

Not to be outdone, Alfie and Darla wanted me to show you their pictures too.

Alfie’s favorite “hang-out” is to sit on the back of the couch and look out the front window shutters to watch the neighborhood goings-on. He even naps like that sometime. 

Meanwhile, Darla sits on the ottoman and pretends she’s asleep. But we know her better; she knows exactly what is going on. 

And a final picture for the week, just because. My volunteer hollyhocks are huge. They were planted several years ago on the other side of that bed, but somehow these sprung up here for the first time last year (ish). They’re just getting started. This picture was taken last week too, and the apricots are almost ready. We’re thinking next week at the latest. If the propped up branches can hold on.....