Tuesday, December 31, 2019

Gathering Around the Water Cooler

Here's a fun pic I took this week of the chickens all around the duck pond.  Sibling Cat is one of the family.


Also read this and needed to save it somewhere:

How to save a bleeding quilt that has faded in the wash is 


New Year's Eve -- Mini Sewing Marathon!

I have a lot of work done.  I'll put the pork and sauerkraut in the crockpot around noon.  I have ONE appointment at 9am.  The mini sewing marathon has begun!

I started out early this morning cleaning off the desk to get my nice, clean spot by my computer (which is a swivel chair away from my sewing machine.)  I made a few miscellaneous 4-patches to make sure my seams and new foot is making a nice 2.5" block.




Monday, December 30, 2019

Moving It Forward Monday -- Kinda

I'm going to try to stitch today on my longarm.  This is my OMG quilt for December.  I have had it loaded on my longarm since 12/20 or so.  It's too cold to stitch (my longarm is in an unheated section of the house and it skips stitches when it is too cold.)  It has been in the 50's for four days in Ohio.
Let's see if that helps...

This quilt is a pattern is called Short & Sweet by Kim Diehl.  It was one of my Slow Sunday Stitching projects to applique all the petals.  I started it in August, 2017, as one of my sew-to-go bag projects.

I'm linking up at Love Laugh Quilt for Monday Making.



Sunday, December 29, 2019

Jumanji 2...

Our son and I LOVE to see a cheap movie once in a while.  (By cheap, $4.50 is the cheapest we can find in our area.)  Winter is a great time for movies.  We saw Jumanji 2 this week.  LOVED IT!!!  I'm glad that we didn't take my husband.  He did not see the first one.  You don't have to have seen the first one, but in my opinion I think it was better that we did.





And last but not least, I DARE not let out the fact that Owen made the Merit Role!!!  Woohoo.  Great job Owen.  This photo was taken by a mom that attended the program while I was at work.  Owen also loved participating in HAT day AND PJ pants day at school that day...


He also has a new hobby -- ROCK TUMBLING!  Last year for Christmas he got a metal detector.  He loves finding treasures and digging them up in our yard.  He also loves to gather different rocks.  The rock tumbler was a hit.  I wonder if he would like to make his own treasures by adding some jewelry making skills and some kits next year?  We shall see.  That would be great for improving fine motor skills.  I know he would also love making me and his aunt jewelry gifts.  I have a pile of special rocks on my sewing table right now that he loved and gave to me.  :) He has the biggest heart.




Last Slow Sunday Stitching for 2019

As this year comes to a close, I decided to gather my current (and new) slow stitching projects to account for what's happening in my numerous sew-to-go bags.

This first project is a mystery stitch along.  I chose oatmeal Aida cloth.  I'm not sure if I will use one of the embroidery flosses or all three.  We shall see.  This stitch along releases one clue each month.  It can be found on Facebook here.



I'm still stitching here and there on my apron that was someone else's WIP.  I found this in the "last chance" Goodwill bin.  I like working on printed cross stitch projects.  They are fun for me and not very stressful.


I found this tin in a box of my grandma's things!  I pulled it out a while back and didn't know what to think of it.  Here I was looking at the wrong side of the dresser scarf!  I did not realize that it was printed.  There are no instructions.  She did soooooo many projects.  I have a feeling that someone gave it to her as a WIP.  The stitches aren't precise like hers were.  I may even be something a friend or even my aunt started.  There are no instructions.  I'm going to wing it.  


It appears to be a grape pattern.  I know she won things like this for entering (and winning) things at the state fair.  I know that she also ordered things out of the Herrschner's catalog.  


I found something online that looks similar to the pattern, but  not quite.  I'll just it to guide me to the right stitches and colors.  

 There were two stickers on the project.  One said, "PARAGON 0592 GRAPE 14" X 43"."  The other sticker said "100% BELGIAN LINEN  RN 15082, Exclusive of decoration."  I've Googled and Googled.  If any of this means anything to you, please advise.


I did finish all of the BROWN gingerbread men for this little Edyta Sitar pattern.  These gingerbread men were stitched by hand onto the block.  I basted it with my longarm because it is too cold to use it right now and it skips stitches in the quilting when the longarm head is too cold.  I had plans to hand stitch around them.  Then I realized that it was just a little tough to stitch on the brown because each gingerbread man is backed with interfacing to make turning the raw edge easier.  Quilting on it will have to wait until warmer weather appears and I can use the longarm.


I'm linking up at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

Slow Sunday Stitching

Saturday, December 28, 2019

In Chicken News...

I'm super happy the chickens decided to all go into one of the coops together.  (They have been going in separate buildings.)  I purchased chicks on 10/6/19.  They are full grown now and all 15 of the flock house together.  (I closed the other building so that they don't have many other choices now.)  Funny chicken fact... each chicken puts off about five BTU's of heat.  Now that they are in this space together, they should be happy and warm when the real Ohio winter weather sets in.  It will be nice to only have to fill one feeder and waterer for the chickens and one for the duck house.  I like it that the ducks stay in their own house.  They get messy with their water in the winter.

That's Wiggles (my rooster) in the center with his flowing neck feathers.  Poor Wiggles lost his long tail feathers to the new kittens this summer.  They should grow back.  He's such a gentle (tame) rooster!  He makes sure everyone is aware of dangers with the different sounds he makes.

Last RSC19

Here's the last I have to add to the RSC19 (Rainbow Scrap Challenge, 2019).  This is a fun group that works on certain colors using their scraps each month.  Angela is our hostess with the mostess.  You can find fun and inspiration on Angela's blog, RSC19 -- SoScrappy.

I looked at the list that I started this year for my RSC19 project.  I am making sand castle blocks.  This is a pattern by Bonnie Hunter.  It can be found in her book, String Frenzy.  In January I carefully counted how many of each color Bonnie Hunter made in her quilt in the book.  My strings for the blocks were brown instead of sand.  As you can see, I kept up on the project every month until about October (when I got busy at work.)  I only had nine black blocks and six grey blocks more to go!  That's pretty good considering most of my RSC projects take two years!


I cut out most of my blocks.  Here's a progress picture of the blocks to expect in the future.  I need to cut a few more black sets.  The last time I cut this many in advance, Mr. Sunshine decided he needed to use my computer desk and threw them all on a pile.


I did finish all of the BROWN gingerbread men for this little Edyta Sitar pattern.  These gingerbread men were stitched by hand onto the block.  I basted it with my longarm because it is too cold to use it right now and it skips stitches in the quilting when the longarm head is too cold.  I had plans to hand stitch around them.  Then I realized that it was just a little tough to stitch on the brown because each gingerbread man is backed with interfacing to make turning the raw edge easier.  Quilting on it will have to wait until warmer weather appears and I can use the longarm.


Here's a picture of my two little "friends" that sit outside my sewing window.   They seem to love to look at me, but don't want any of us to pet them.  They are still skiddish.  They do wait patiently by their food bowl each morning.  Every once in a while I do get to pet one or the other.


SoScrappy

Just Christmas Holiday Stuff

We had a very relaxing, NO DRAMA, stress-free Christmas day!  We love days like this!


Our son is getting too smart for us.  I had to download one of those apps to "catch the magic".


We LOVE Aunto Jo being with us for Christmas!  My husband LOVES our new tv.  It does freak me out just a little when I'm up in the middle of the night and he is still in the living room watching Yule Log.  After a recent family house fire, it really wakes me up...  But all are safe and we are blessed.

 I love the relaxed photos like this.  This is taken from my view of the room.  Love times like this.  Below... another pic taken from my view.


Christmas day... about 5pm.  Time to relax.




Sunday, December 22, 2019

Slow Sunday Stitching -- The Gingerbread Men Quilt

I have finished all twelve of my gingerbread men and formed them into a table topper top.

I put it on my longarm frame so that I could baste it.  I love it when the back is nice and flat.  This is a great place to do it.  You can see the machine stitches running through their bellies and close to the block seams.  How I will quilt it is yet to be determined.  I'm even considering taking the longer route and hand stitching them!  I'm not sure if I completely know what to do for that...  It could be a great learning experience.  I could just throw it on my domestic machine and free-motion quilt it...  We shall see.  It's a small enough project to throw in my sew-to-go bag.

I was going to decorate them with rickrack and buttons, but now I'm not going to.  I like them just they way they are.  I did pick out a cute striped fabric for the binding that will be enough.

The good news is that the little gingerbread man table topper I have been working on at school is now a complete topper.  The bad news is the it is too cold in Ohio to operate my longarm.  (It is kept in our other house that is not fully heated.  I would have to run the fuel oil furnace for about five days to get the head of my longarm to a consistent temperature.  At the colder temperature the stitches skip.)  My longarm is covered up for now.  I will be piecing away quilt tops until spring.

I'm linking up at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

Slow Sunday Stitching

Saturday, December 21, 2019

Slow Sunday Stitching & RSC

My gingerbread men are coming along nicely.


I think it's cute for a winter themed table topper.  Here's the example from Edyta Sitar's book:


I'm linking up at Angela's blog, SoScrappy for RSC19 - Scrap Happy Saturday.

I will also be linking up tomorrow at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

Slow Sunday Stitching

Sunday, December 15, 2019

Slow Sunday Stitching 12.15.19

I finished the stitches on this gingerbread man block this week.  Slow is slow...



I'm linking up with Kathy at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.

Slow Sunday Stitching

Saturday, December 14, 2019

RSC19 -- Brown



I'm working with brown scraps this week.  I'm prepping gingerbread men for a cute little table topper.  This is also one of my Slow Sunday Stitching projects that I carry with me when I'm on the go in my sew-to-go bag.  Honestly, I LOVE brown.


I'm using the applique process in which I sew fusible interfacing (that someone threw away) wrong sides together and then turn and then hand stitch.  This is a pattern by Edyta Sitar from a book that I got at the library.   And there you have it... three blocks ready for my sew-to-go bag.


Here's the picture from Edyta's book to give you an idea of what this will look like:


I'm linking up with Angela at SoScrappy for the RSC19.

SoScrappy


Wednesday, December 11, 2019

WIP Wednesday 12.11.19

I'm making progress on prepping gingermen blocks for my sew-to-go bag.



I made some purple Sand Castle blocks this week for the RSC19.  This is a Bonnie Hunter pattern.


I've been making a stitch or two in my holiday apron.  No, it wasn't ready for Thanksgiving...  This was a WIP that I found at Goodwill.  The project fits perfectly in my sew-to-go bag.

Backs are made and ready for this pile of quilts!  I updated the status of each in the list below.


This is my Short & Sweet finished table topper flimsy (in the pile above).  It's my December OMG project to finish this month.  I need to get some longarm time.  The pattern is by Kim Diehl.



It's hard to not post fun pictures of our "little squirt" -- that's not so little now.  I know he grew at least 1.5" since June.  I love this picture!  It's obvious how much he admires Daddy.



I currently have 66 on-going projects.  

Pieces Still Need to be Cut & Sewn
1.  Cheddar Jack cat pattern from Mama Spark's World 
2.  Digging up Bones (Owen's dinosaur quilt)
3.  Rock Island Campfire Quilt
4.  Picadilly Circle
5.  ...And Sew On BOM at Quiet Play (one block to go)
6.  Go Four It! -- Scrappy 4-patches started as leader/ender June 2017
7.  Patriotic Folk Animals (from Americana Quilts Book) -- hand work-- found the book 8/8/19!
8.  Parallelogram Strings -- 2019 String Along at Humble Quilts, started 1.31.19
9.   Leah Day Building Blocks QA
10.  Jelly Roll Rug
11.  Classic Meets Modern BOM
12.  Mod Mod QA (turning this one into a baby quilt) (from block Lotto, mostly circles w/lines)
13.  Owl's Well That Ends Well (RSC19 project started 1.26.19)
14.  Kevin the Quilter's Sapphire Stars Mystery (started Summer 2017) 
15.  Temperature QA (2019 block-a-day according to high and low temps--changed to table topper.)
16.  Kite Girl (RSC14)
17.  Amish Country BOM (from Lynn, Johnna's mom)
18.  Cabins at the Lake (from Fons & Porter Magazine) (only one house block complete.)
19.   2.5" Scraps from Dani making "cracker" blocks
20.  Sand Castles -- Bonnie Hunter string quilt started January, 2019 -- an RSC project
21.  Little Houses (3.5" blocks)
22.  Pumpkins & the Beanstalk (a second quilt.)
23.  Set of note cards and envelopes
24.  Simply Summer Sensational QA with Kevin the Quilter 2.5" blocks (started 6.27.19)
25.  Slabs with White Rectangle (RSC14 started -- need blocks each month)
26.  Bonnie Hunter Box Kite class from March, 2017 (Will make baby quilt.)
27.  Kevin the Quilter 2019 Mystery Quilt -- SSSSQ, 1.5" squares
28.  2015 Orange, pink, grey kite blocks (from Accuquilt die, RSC17)
29.  Maroon Sampler Quilt
30.  Gypsy Wife QA (started again with Angie at Gnome Angel, August 2017) (2019 QA)
31.  Kathleen Tracy’s 2019 Mystery Quilt -- Facebook QA started in March, 2019. 
32.  2016 Plus Blocks (from left over pieces of Soul Searching blocks)
33.  RSC16 Folk Art Birds
34.  Waffle Blocks (August 2019) RSC19
35.  Kevin the Quilter 2019 Mystery Quilt -- SSSSQ, 2.5 " squares
36.  Gingerbread Men pattern by Edyta Sitar started November, 2019
37.  Thanksgiving apron -- A WIP found at Goodwill in November, 2019

Blocks Still Need to be Made
1.  Bluepatch Mystery Quilt
2.  Scrap Crystals (working on blue pieces for RSC15)
3.  We Can Do It Skill Builder Sampler
4.  Drunkard's Path Variation baby quilt
5.  Finding Nemo Scrappy Trip quilt (my seams don't match Julianne's seams...)

Blocks are made but need to be sewn together (and/or some sashing)
1.  Block Swap Adventure Orange/Yellow Sampler (2011-2012)
2.  Cruise blocks won from Libby
3.  Orange/Blue Fish Blocks (that I won)
4.  Split Stars (blocks won from Block Lotto; October, 2012)
5.  African Violet baby quilt (Block Lotto inspired)
6.  Tall Fly (blocks won from Block Lotto, February, 2013)
7.  Fortune Teller (RSC14 started)--It's not long enough...needs 4 more blocks
8.  Sonja's Windows string quilt 
9.   Block Swap Adventure (2013) Churn Dash Blocks 
10.  Tula Pink's City Sampler 100 Modern Quilt Blocks (New QA starting 5/7/17 Gnome Angel)
11.  Flower Baskets (blue and white with some applique) Block Lotto win 10/1/18
12.  Pre-printed cross stitch pillow sham (May, 2018 sew-to-go bag)
13.  Bonnie Hunter Garden Party (started 3.18.17.)
14.   Cathy's CRAZY BY DESIGN.  It's the Dot Dot Dash Bag. (new to the list April, 2018)

Quilts back needs to be made (tops are done) 
1. Card Trick (pink and blue) HUGE charity quilt for local quilt guild
2. Hunter green large (bubbly -- will be a challenge to longarm) charity quilt for the local guild
3. Bubble Gum pink and navy charity quilt for local quilt guild
4. Good Fortune -- A Bonnie Hunter Quiltville Mystery started Thanksgiving weekend, 2018
5.  
Soul Searching -- Julianne sent it to me 8/29/19!!!
6.  Wings of Spring -- Block Lotto win 3.31.19

Ready to longarm
1.  O - H - I - O quilt 2.5" blocks
2.  Blue & 4-Patch Customer Quilt (CM)
3.  Kim Diehl's Short & Sweet from her book Simple Charm (Started August, 2017 for to-go bag.)


Ready for Binding
1.  Catchin' Some Rays needle turn applique crib quilt started March, 2018 (adding EPP hexies!)

I'm linking up with Susan at Quilt Fabrication for Midweek Makers.

Quiltfabrication

I'm also linking up at Wednesday Wait Loss.

Wednesday Wait Loss.jpg