The Thunderstorm From Hell

On Thursday night we finally got rain. It was a welcome relief, or at least it started that way. It came pouring down. Lightening, thunder, winds. And then the winds turned angry and decided to see if they could blow us all the way to Kansas or something. It was about 7:00 in the evening, and still light before the storm clouds gathered. Once the heavens broke loose with everything, however, it was almost dark. There was even a period of time as the wind howled through the trees of the neighborhood and the rain slashed down (or more accurately, slashed across) that we could not see across the street. It lasted about 10-15 minutes and then moved off, but the damage was done. This picture was taken just before I was finally able to go outside, but it was taken through a bedroom window. 

That’s Mort, our 11-year old maple tree. May he Rest In Peace. Notice in the picture below how our portion of the lawn is dry because we adhere to the city’s twice-per-week watering schedule. Our neighbor apparently does not. This thundershower aside, we are in the midst of Utah’s worst drought ever.

Mort has sustained a fatal injury and will need to be cut down, a job for a contractor with two arms. Two neighbors came by with a chain saw and helped cut the fallen limb down and haul it out to the street. There are lots of brokcn and uprooted trees in the neighborhood, so Murray City says they’ll be by next week to pick up the debris. We have lots of limbs of other trees to haul out to the curb

Bruce has to tie up my rose tree since its ties came loose from the stake and it is curved gracefully to the ground. Luckily, it’s not broken and will be fine.

Now, if that were the worst of it, I could live with it. But while the storm was raging, I decided to go into my basement studio to make sure everything there was alright. It wasn’t. There was water pouring in through the window casing and soffit above my ironing board and between my two fabric shelves.  Here’s an “after” picture of the area involved.

The blinds were attached to the soffit/casing above (as opposed to the sides). They came down. Bruce ran and got towels while I moved the ironing board, quilts, fabric and shelves away (it’s amazing how strong and quick you can be in a moment of panic!) Here’s the soffit:

Yuk. It looks to me like there’s mold there - perhaps the problem has been around longer than we think. We don’t know if it’s the window that’s leaking or what. It’s one of two windows in the house we did not replace because it was already double paned. The picture below is the paneling that’s on that wall - you can see how it has bubbled. And that bubbling is just from the last year since I had it repainted. Some of that bubbling was there before, but I naively thought it was from the steam of the iron. *slaps head* That’ll teach me to wait until a problem becomes a PROBLEM.

Here’s the window area from the outside (note the lovely clump of weeds...). No apparent issues with the bricks or foundation. The water did not come from above, because this area sits just below the master bedroom, and that wall and carpet and ceiling are just fine. It’s not the roof because that’s not very old either. To me, it almost HAS to be the window, because water will travel and follow the path of least resistance.

Our insurance (Safeco) has been great so far, but I’ve made it clear that I don’t want them to just cut a check for estimated damages. I want an expert out here to troubleshoot the issue and determine what caused the problem. We want to know the cause and get it fixed once and for all so it won’t happen again. At least I can finally replace those prehistoric window coverings!

But, hey, other than *THAT*, it’s been a great week!

Here are the dark blue blocks I sewed this week for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Twelve string blocks of dark blue with black and white.

Twelve waffle blocks that I made into three 10.5” blocks.

And two quilts that I finished up before the disaster, but didn’t photograph until afterwards. So please excuse the makeshift arrangements. I’ve had to move a lot of stuff around to clear the area by the window. The pain of upheaval is real!

The Space quilt I’d so looked forward to playing with turned into a big MEH. Why cut up a perfectly good panel when it’s fine as is? And I saw other ones online (this is an older panel) where it was left intact, so I thought, why not?  I added the red and blue space fabric, which it turns out was from that same exact line of fabric. The back is just more of the blue.

But I did enjoy putting together this blue string quilt - Stringing the Blues. It finished at 42x48”.

Into the pile of quilts for Quilts for Kids it goes. Our next workshop will be in mid-August, so I’ll continue collecting and sewing more little quilts until then.

Have a great week, friends. We are about 8 days away from leaving on our trip to Missouri Star Quilt Company for a retreat. We (meaning Cousin Kim and the 2 others; not Bruce) plan to be very careful, masking up, social distancing, etc etc. The Delta variant is raging in Missouri (and here too) because - I’m just going to say it - some people are too ignorant to get vaccinated. One of my sons is one of them (although he just says he’s too busy). Not too busy to die, though. I don’t wish it on anyone, but geez..... *End of Rant* and *End of Post* xo

Some Fun Quilt Finishes for Quilts for Kids

It seems that all I’ve done this week is layer up finished quilt tops, quilt them and bind/label them. Seriously, we had a lot of wet weather (no complaints about the snow or rain or slush - we need the moisture), so it was the ideal week for me to stay indoors and finish working on my green scraps.

Last weekend, Cousin Kim and I basted three quilts - (1) her Christmas quilt, which I have yet to do the quilting on, (2) my Stay At Home Round Robin quilt, which took For.Ev.Er. to quilt, and will be shown on Monday when I do a special blog post to link up to the finishing post at Quilting Gail’s blog, and (3) the Ballerina quilt (later in this post). And then on Thursday I basted up two more green quilts and got them quilted.  Without further ado, let’s get started.

The Ballerina quilt, made with fabric sent to me by Angie (almost every last inch of which was used on the quilt top) measures 40x45.5”. I knew that if I cut up the pieces, I’d have to supplement them with something and nothing in my stash worked. So, simple it is!

It was backed with a perfect chunk I had in my stash - a piece I won in a giveaway a few years ago. I quilted it with a basic stipple. 

Next were the two quilts that I called Outer Limits (-Vertical and -Horizontal) last week. First up is Outer Limits - Horizontal.

This one finished at 40.5x46.5” and was quilted with a small loopy design. The back was pieced from the width-of-fabric remains of three green chunks I’ve been using throughout the month.

Finally, we come to Outer Limits - Vertical. This one actually turned out better than I’d hoped. It measures 42” across and 49” down.  By this time, I could see the real progress I made in clearing out my green scrap bin!

To “reward” myself for finishing, I actually used a piece of green yardage that’s been in my stash for a couple years - no piecing! Another quick stipple, and this one was done, too. 

So that brings the total of March’s green quilts finished (all small quilts for the local Quilts for Kids chapter) to six. I’m linking up to Scrappy Saturday for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge’s final March progress posting.

And here is a quick roundup of the green RSC blocks I did this month.  If my count is correct (and it is because I have to keep track on a spreadsheet), there were 94 green blocks made this month. Yeah, I have no life outside of sewing in these Covid times. I admit it, LOL!!

But wait, there’s more!  This may be the last link-up of the month for the RSC, but I have another top sewn for QFK that I may finish before month-end. We’ll see. Here it is in all its stringy glory. I decided to combine green and yellow string blocks with the multi-colored blocks to spice up the colors a bit. I have so many string blocks (Linda - I promise to do a count and let you know how many, LOL) that I figured I’d better get busy and make a string quilt. I even prepped a backing for this, so it’s ready to be basted/quilted/bound - a process that takes me about 2 hours or so.

My multi-colored string bin has filled up again. It’s not overstuffed, but it is near the top. Time to make more multi-colored string blocks. But first I’ll wait to see what color Angela calls for April for the RSC. If it’s a color that I don’t have a lot of scraps and QFK projects for, I can add in a few of my own projects, like the string blocks or assembling another RSC quilt top or my Wishing Rings. So many projects and never enough time.

This week I won some plaid scraps from Linda at Cynthia’s Spring 2021 Quilty Orphan Adoption Event.  And then Erin at My Patchwork Life had lots of blocks she was giving away, and I won lots of 9-patch blocks there too. Thank you, ladies! All the scraps and blocks will go towards jump-starting future kids quilts for Quilts for Kids. 

I have to show you this t-shirt I ordered for Bruce that arrived this week. We love it!  (If the Bruce on the t-shirt had one less arm, it would match my Bruce perfectly. It really is an eerie likeness!)

Bruce said to tell you that Alfie doesn’t really drink coffee - unless it’s when we’re not looking.

This weekend I’ll be working on quilting Kim’s Christmas quilt and sewing together this wall hanging for Harambe Humanitarian. The purple fabric (African) was given to me by Sally a couple years ago. I’ve used lots of it to make International Sister dresses and there was enough to do setting triangles for this wall hanging and two more.

Eventually, whenever I can focus a week of time, there will be a total of 8 of these wall hangings. This is just #3.  Each wall hanging is slightly different, using various African (or African-esque) fabrics for dresses. The complexions and setting triangles will vary and the backings are/will be one of two styles of large African mandala panels. I’ll show more detail on this one as I complete it in the next week or two.

And don’t forget to come back on Monday for the final post of the Stay at Home Round Robin, where we will all share our finished quilts! See you then.

Waiting on the World to Change

Just think about how wonderful it would be if Covid were behind us. With everyone vaccinated and healthy, we wouldn’t need to be afraid for our lives when going out to just get groceries! How lovely to have family coming over to celebrate Thanksgiving, spending time together, hugging, and giving thanks for all our blessings. To be able to anticipate shopping and selecting gifts for our loved ones for Christmas. To have a new President-Elect (and the American people) being treated graciously by the outgoing officeholder instead of the shameful display of petulance and histrionics we’re being subjected to. To have a peaceful Holiday Season with appropriate weather patterns and behavior patterns. 

Well, maybe we can have most of that next year, but it ain’t happening in 2020! So while we’re all waiting on the world to change, let’s talk about quilting. It’s what most of us are here for...

This week I did manage to baste two quilts - the ones I had completed backings for. The basting was made easier by the fact that I finally went and got another cortisone shot in my right shoulder. After a few days (and a lot of walking during Bruce’s doctor appointment times), I feel about five years younger! 

Creature From the Foggy Lagoon (name courtesy of Louise) has been quilted, bound and labeled as a donation quilt for Quilts for Kids. 

This quilt finished at 47x54” before laundering. Speaking of laundering, there was an apparent clog in our drain pipe, and we had a minor flood from the overflow drain to the floor of the laundry room. Luckily, the floor is tiled and we have a working drain in the floor, which was something we installed about 15 years ago when a similar problem happened with our old washing machine. Our home is about 60 years old and building codes have evolved! Anyway, everything worked as it should have, so all we had to do was unclog the drain pipes. That was accomplished with our heavy-duty go-to chemical plumber (hate to have to use it, but needs must...). I was back in the laundry business in a couple hours.

The other quilt I basted and am in the process of quilting is the Four-Patch Posy quilt, also for QFK.

I’ll show more of it next week when it’s finished. The sashings were quilted with a little loops to mimic the flight paths of the fireflies depicted in the orange fabric. In the main squares I’m quilting a big, blowsy scallop-petaled flower. I’ve finished 12 of the 20 I need to do, so it should be completed today.

There was no progress on the big blue and brown rail fence quilt because I still need to finish the backing. I’ll do that this afternoon, then Cousin Kim and I can baste it tomorrow. For most of the rest of the week, I got sidetracked - and I mean SIDETRACKED - by a stringy squirrel.

Fifty-six multi-colored string blocks demanded to be sewn! I used foundation paper this time instead of the sheer stuff I often use as a base, and spent a couple pleasant Happy Hours pulling papers and sipping Kahlua and (light) Eggnog. Ahhh..... the Holidays!

My large beach tote bag of multi-colored strings showed barely a dent after these were sewn, so I see many more of these quilts in my future. I also wonder if these might be a little busy (or nausea-inducing?) (or epileptic seizure-inducing?) I guess we’ll just have to trust the people who distribute these quilts to give the quilts to the appropriate kid. 

Then I remembered all the single-colored string blocks I’ve worked on all year for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge, and decided to play a little to see how they would look mixed in. Keep in mind that these are just slapped up on the design board, not sewn.

Bruce and I really like it with the red. I first tried using 10 of the blocks to form a smaller rectangle, which would be the ring just inside of where it is pictured. But it looked really dumb and wimpy. So the 18-block rectangle it what I would do.

What about yellow? Meh.... maybe not.

The greens, however, would look nice. But I don’t have enough at the current time because I used many of them in the Creature From the Mossy Mountain. So, I’ll be doing more solid color string blocks for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge in 2021.

And finally, another option to calm the craziness a bit would be to intersperse some solid blocks here and there to create some places for the eyes to rest.

Laundry and chores are all caught up, and we’re well-stocked with food for our solitary Thanksgiving. So  I’m off to sew all day today. And tomorrow, too, with Cousin Kim. We’ve decided that this year we’ll allow Christmas music before Thanksgiving while we sew. Because why not?

PS - yes, I do love to sew with strings!!

Rolling in the Orange

This week I had four good sewing days (or half-days) and got so much done. Part of my motivation is that today is our monthly Quilts for Kids workshop (and a Scrappy Workshop, which we have once a quarter - my favorite!). I had three quilts made by others that I had to baste and quilt; one was done before we went on vacation, but two I did this week. No pictures, because I don’t count those in my personal totals.  :-)

This week I mainly focused on sewing orange blocks for February that I’ve chosen for the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Today is our linkup, and as always there is so much fun and creativity on display as everyone shares their goodies for Scrappy Saturday. 

My first finish of the week was this Scraptastic Star block. It measures 16.5” and I’ll be making a total of nine of these.

Next I churned out ten 6.5” Twin Sisters blocks. I love these blocks! They are so quick and easy. 

And I must have something for “sisters” this year, because I also sewed up 10 International Sisters Blocks (pattern courtesy of my friend Preeti).

The dresses of these Sisters are (all except one) made from African fabrics, and most will be going into fundraising wall hangings for Harambe Humanitarian. That’s why there are so many with the same fabrics. I used up all my African orange fabrics. Each wall hanging will only use 8 sisters, and I’m planning on several (at least 6) more of these wall hangings. I will be working on assembling at least two of them in March, and will talk more about them - and Harambe Humanitarian - at that time. A lot has been happening that I would like to share.

Moving along....  Here are my 17 orange string blocks. They measure 6.5”. 

And I assembled (from previously-sewn and quilted panels) another scrap bucket for my orange scraps. This is a cute and simple pattern courtesy of Angela at So Scrappy.  It measures about 7x10” and is 10” deep. It’s currently holding all my leftover scraps. I’ll be sewing on those this coming week to see if I can put together an orange quilt using them, along with lots of orange orphan blocks. Stay tuned.

Last week I also showed a couple scrappy quilts in process. Here is my progress on those. All of the string star blocks are done, but only the bottom three are sewn together - but not pressed yet. The goal this coming week is to turn this into a flimsy, and then quilt and bind it. Month-end is next Saturday, and I want to count this as a finish for February.

I also showed this in-progress scrap quilt, made with a pack of Rainbow Charms and some low volume (neutral) string scraps.  Here is finished Rainbow Charms #1. It is my February OMG (One Monthly Goal), so I’m linking up to Patty’s February goal finish link-up party here.

I was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked this when it was completed; it looks so much more vibrant and fun in person. In fact, there were enough charms to do another whole quilt. That second one is already sewn. I’ve layered and basted it, so it’s just waiting for its turn to be quilted. That will happen this weekend. I’ll have that to show next week, along the finished string stars and my February recap.

That’s it for now. I’m off early this morning to my Block of the Month class, then home for a few minutes to pack off and head in another direction to the Quilts for Kids scrappy workshop, then lunch with friends. Have a great week!

A February Goal

Sometimes I feel as though I’m juggling too many spinning plates (OK, that’s a mixed metaphor. See what I mean?)  Anyway, it’s time to set my OMG - One Monthly Goal - for February.

So, this little pile of 1.5-inch low volume and neutral strips (#5 on my Quarter 1 Finish-Along list) is intended to become a quilt. I started out thinking it would be fun to make an entire quilt of them.

But in my quest to make A.Serious.Dent in my stash this year, I began hearing other fabrics calling out to me. There was a particularly melodious, harp-like tune coming from my pre-cuts (that may or may not have anything to do with the Hilary Stagg CD I was listening to).

Anyway, I spied a rainbow hued pack of Tamara Kate charms, and an idea was hatched to combine to combine the two. I decided to use the colorful charms as the center and surround it with neutral strips. So, I made some test blocks.

Yes, it’s a bad picture, but I think it will work. I’ll eliminate the pinks (I can use those elsewhere) and keep it gender neutral. It’ll be a great vacation take-along project and donation quilt for Quilts for Kids. So that’s my OMG for February - to finish my Rainbow Neutrals Happy Quilt. I’m linking up with the lovely and talented Patty Dudek at Elm Street Quilts for our February OMG Goal-Setting.

* * * * * * * * * * * *
And to catch up on some things I’ve apparently forgotten to post over the last two or three weeks, here are some other blocks to share. This first grouping are four strip sets for the Seeing Stars Sew Along at Diane Knott’s Butterfly Threads Quilting. These were the Step 5 (January) blocks, and the February blocks will probably be out very soon, so I thought I’d get these posted.

Originally I planned to do an 8-panel quilt (we are supposed to make one BOM for each panel of our planned item). Then I realized that it would be much more useful to me to make four panels only; three for a wall hanging and one for a table topper. I need those much more than another quilt, and I want to keep these for me. I will have lots of blocks to pick and choose from, so I’m really looking forward to moving this one ahead more in February.

And then I sewed up our January Block of the Month blocks for a class that Cousin Kim and I are taking at one of our local quilt shops.  The bottom of the two is my official block for the class. I had chosen the solids color way for something different (for me). The top block is the extra one I’m making so that I end up with a second quilt at the end of the year.

Here are all five of the solid blocks so far.

And here are all of my bonus blocks so far. I’m actually liking these a lot more!!  The print fabric has all the state abbreviations, and should go well with a lot of colors. There will be times, though, when I will need to change the color of the BOM to suit the colors in the background (no pink or purple). 

Now, I’m caught up and so are you! Thanks for dropping by. I’m saving all my Rainbow Scrap Challenge (RSC) blocks for the weekend. 

Best of 2019

It's fun to look back at the end of the year and see some of the projects that were completed and goals that were met. Although 2019 will go down in many books as a year of both good things and bad things (like any year does), I would have to say that for us, personally, it's been a good year.

2019 saw the loss of some friends, a number of medical operations for Bruce (removal of arm sarcomas, with good results each time) and me (carpal tunnel surgery - no more numb hands!) and the removal of our beloved apricot tree.

But we had great times with the family and saw everyone - even those out of state -  at some point in the year. The grandkids are all healthy, happy and growing strong, our adult children all have new (this year) and better jobs, and some even have new homes. We had a banner year with our garden and got several little projects around the house taken care of. We hope that 2020 brings more of the ups and none of the downs!

Before I get to my quilting recap, I'd like to show you the finishes I had this week. Instead of making one huge quilt of the 9" Rainbow Scrap Challenge string blocks, I ended up making two quilts which will be donated to Quilts for Kids.  First is the yellow, orange, pink and red one.

The other is the blues, green and purple quilt. Both measure 40.5" x 49" and were quilted with a loopy design on my machine.  These were Goals #13 and 14 in my 4th Quarter Finish-Along list, which you can see here.

And last but not least is the kitty quilt for our grandcats. It's nothing much to speak of, but used lots of leftover pieces and scraps on both the front and back. It measures about 42x48".

That brings my total quilt finishes to 32 for the year. However, I basted, quilted and bound dozens more for Quilts for Kids, quilts that were pieced by others. Additionally, I made a half dozen kennel quilts for cats, 3 zip pouches, about 8-10 pillowcases, a pressing mat, ironing board cover, pajama bottoms, and dozens of blocks that were either sent to others or are currently residing in my sewing room orphanage. All in all, very productive year!

Oh! Now that my hands are no longer perpetually numb, I have gotten back into embroidery a little. This little dishtowel (which needs a good pressing) was finished on Christmas Morning as Bruce and I listened to The Nutcracker on vinyl. I'll take this little tea towel with us to Arizona in February to give to my sister-in-law.  It was a little pattern and kit I bought about a year ago at a local quilt shop, but I didn't save any of the information once I finished it. I’ve tried searching for it online, unsuccessfully.

Here, then, is a collage of my "Best Nine" quilts of 2019. Actually, they aren't necessarily my best nine, but more my favorite-ish nine.

From top, L-R: "Gumdrops" selvage and fabric tumblers, Red String Stars, Lattice Birds, Saguaro Sunset, Crumbcakes, Blossoms and Spokes, Stringing in the Rain, Newport Butterflies, and Good Fortune.

Honorable Mentions go to Midnight Scrappy Stars and Kitchen Sink - because they were both so much fun to make!!

Have a Happy New Year’s Eve, and I’ll see you in 2020!

Linking up to Scrappy Saturday at Angela’s Rainbow Scrap Challenge.