Slow Sunday Stitching

Uh oh, I see crooked stitches.  nobody will notice it when it is finished.  This is my to-go project while waiting on our bowler to finish bowling every Thursday evening from now until 8/20.  We'll see how long it takes me to finish.  I'm just stitching lines around shapes.  It's crib sized.

 

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

Also linking up to Life in Pieces #20

Red/White Basket Crib Quilt is Complete

Another quilt is off my to-do list.  I put these together while working on getting rid of red orphan blocks.

It measures 40" x 57". The reason why there are only six blocks is that I lost interest in making basket blocks after I learned the importance of a 1/4" seam.  My blocks started to come out different sizes.  I salvaged these blocks and trimmed them to work.  I'm super happy with the result.

I quilted it using the Circle Lord Baptist Fan giant template.  I LOVE the striped binding.  I cut all of that red/white stripe in my stash and have one or two quilts that will get it on hand.  The backing was a little white print with blue flowers that was the right size for a one piece back from my stash, of course.

I also worked on this RSC project this week.  Quilting was finished on Kite Girl.  I wanted to get it quilted while the Baptist fan giant board set-up was still on my longarm.  Making sure the boards are on straight on my longarm table and stuck down good with painter's tape is sometimes a timely process.

 Kite Girl started as part of one of my Rainbow Scrap Challenges (RSC) in 2014 (I think).  The block is made from 2" squares.  The block pattern can be found at Q is for Quilter blog.  I then started to learn to do the chain stitch for the kite strings and stems in May of 2017.  In enjoyed finding things that fit easily into my school bag that made me feel productive vs. doing cross stitch projects where I had to focus on counting and couldn't keep a good eye on students in study hall.  I randomly stitched kite strings with pieces of floss from my grandma's tin.

I'm linking up at Angela's blog, SoScrappy, for the RSC26.

5 finishes this quarter

Here's my Spring 2026 Ravelry UFO Club Projects:

1.  Bit Con quilt -- Needs more rows of strips sewn together -- size yet to be determined

2.  Rail Fence 3.5" RSC block -- 900 blocks needed/need arranged

3.  Piccadilly Circle -- Need a few more circle blocks

4.  Kite Girl -- back made, needs to be quilted

5.  Folk Art Birds -- Need more birds and alternate blocks

6.  Hourglass Mini -- Needs a quilt back and then quilted

7.  Maroon Sampler -- Needs two more blocks

8.  Dicey -- Blocks need sewn together with sashing and cornerstones

9.  Fireflies Wall Hanging -- Blocks need appliqued

10.  Red/White basket crib quilt --finished 5.15.26 -- 5th finish

11.  D9P Red/White -- finished 5.11.26 -- 4th finish

12.  HST -- Needs more blocks made and sewn into rows

13.  Red/White House in Center baby quilt -- finished 5.2.26 -- 2nd finish

14.  Fish -- a 12-block RSC26 project

15. Scarborough Fair -- Needs more blocks made

16.  Random Blue Blocks -- Hand Quilting -- In the hoop

17.  Acorn Harvest -- Quilt top needs assembled

18.  Horsen Around Crib Quilt -- needs a back and then quilted

19.  Horsen Around Scrap Quilt -- needs blocks cut and sewn

20.  Pink Houses crib quilt -- Needs blocks made

21.  Lupine and Laughter (Bonnie Hunter 2025 mystery quilt) -- in the piecing process

22.  Christmas Memories 4-patches sewn, need more

23.  Dinner Party (school print blocks) blocks cut, needs blocks sewn

24.   Layer Cake Lattice -- pink blocks cut -- needs blocks sewn

25.  True Blue Sew Along (started 1/15/26) -- needs corners sewn to blocks

26.  Zip It Sew Along -- finished 5.1.26, 1st finish this quarter

27.  Classic Meets Modern QA from 2014 -- block complete, need sashing

28.  King Rosebud embroidery quilt --finished 5.5.26, 3rd finish this quarter

29.  Kathleen Tracy Mini #1 (pinwheels)

30.  Kathleen Tracy Mini #2 (squares)

31.  Kathleen Tracy Mini #2 (HST and a Square)

32.  Cheddar Jack crib quilt -- cat blocks are sewn, some 2.5" squares are sewn

You can find the 2026 Spring Ravelry UFO club here.

Towa Gauge

Thank you, Carole @ From My Carolina Home,  your post about How to use a Towa gauge. is now bookmarked in my blog.  If you have tension issues on your longarm machine or embroidery machine, read Carole's post.

I realized I had the M series bobbin -- I didn't know that until I researched that.  I LOVE LEARNING!  It doesn't matter what I'm learning most days...quilting, the Bible, gardening, cooking, behaviors of kids, my husband's favorite things...  Doesn't matter what I am learning.  I just LOVE it!

It was on sale on Amazon.  I got it last week at $45 and some change.  Here's my bobbin winding area:

An Exceptional Olympics Celebration

Last Friday I took the day off work to celebrate the last Exceptional Olympics that our son participated in as a high school student.  It is an event for special needs students of area school in our county.

It was a somewhat emotional day watching the kid grow up.  It used to be that he was the ONLY student from our school district to participate.  There was no special ed. program for him.  We kept him in the district and he was in mainstream classes vs. bussing him to another school with an inclusion room.  He did have an IEP (individual education plan) he whole school career.  We managed to get reading and math small group situations.  But look at all of the students behind him that are now part of this event!  We feel we blazed a trail for this one-day event.

The photo below shows the graduating seniors this year from different school districts.  Our son always has the great idea to wear a bright hat or colors so that we can easily spot him.  We have done this since he could walk.

And now the super teary part...  I can't even type this without getting emotional.  As we were sitting in the bleachers waiting for the event to start, a lady sat behind me and asked me if I was his mom.  I said, "Look at him, of course I'm his mom--waving and cheering to him from the stands..."

She introduced herself.  I still had no idea who she was and how she was involved with our family.  All of a sudden she told me that she worked in the fertility lab where our son was conceived!!!  (Our son was a third-try IVF baby!) Of course she did it very quietly as to not upset our privacy.

She said that she remembers the day that after our son was born that I so proudly brought him to the office to show and THANK everybody there involved.  She remembered the Christmas cards that I sent to the office each year showing our little miracle and thanking them.

She said you'd be surprised how many parents come back to the lab saying something like, "Oh I wish our kid would have brown hair..." but specifically remembered me as to being so thankful that we had a baby.

We talked about very specific things that we both remembered.  She said that our family was on of the families that made her job worth while.  She had looked for me at various events.  It was meant to be that we were together for this event, as it was his last one.

Happy tears were flowing all around.  My sister-in-law was crying and didn't even know the details.  This just goes to show how much our kid has touch hearts.  We are so proud of him.

This year they let our son pick which teacher would attend the event with him.  The guy in the blue coat is amazing.  He retired last year as a high school teacher.  He came back to work as an aide/part time. He is well loved in our community and very involved in high school sports such as track and cross country.

Here's our son with two of his buddies.  We take a photo like this every year!

They did the hula hoop.  Events were quite simple this year due to the fact that it was held at a different facility than usual.  Items were easy to carry to different spots on the field.  But it was still fun for them.

Limbo-- how low can you go.  See how his teacher is such a good sport?

the 50-yard dash...

Of course where ever we go, our kid makes it on the jumbotron--ALWAYS!

This next set of photos is kinda a thorn in my side.  They were taken inside the school.  The room they were taken was designed to be a special needs classroom with stoves, washers, dryers, fridge, ironing board, kitchen appliances...  My father-in-law was the building superintendent when the school was built.  It was a room where students could be taught life skills...

Unfortunately a predominant family in the community thought that the room was not utilized as it should and named the room after themselves.  They got rid of all of the things that would actually teach someone like our son something useful and put fancy tables and chairs and a backdrop in the room.  It is now used for photo ops for when a kid signs a scholarship or into the military.  

At least our kid got to use it one time (vs. the many useful times he could have used it had it been used for the original intention) to sign the school banner that we donated to the school so that they could use it for future Exceptional Olympic event.  Guess that's just water under the bridge.

Now that we blazed the trail to have a special needs room and more special needs students are staying at our school, hopefully they will put some life skill items in the other side of the room to teach future students.  Luckily our son has learned a ton of life skills from his parents.

 

Kite Girl is on the Frame

Kite Girl is being quilted this week using my Circle Lord Baptist Fan giant template board.  I'm using a tan thread that seems to look great with it and the tan backing.

I'm starting to run out of large pieces of fabric for the backs.  Somehow I misplaced my box of panels.  I see a lot of pieced backs in my future.  I'm at the point where the neutrals need to be seriously separated into specific categories... all one color of white/beige, fun neutrals, pastels, and so on.  Maybe the kid will do that for me this week.  LOL.  He does love sorting them when he is in the mood.  My last day is May 29th!  Come on summer vacation!!!!!

 Kite Girl started as part of one of my Rainbow Scrap Challenges (RSC) in 2014 (I think).  The block is made from 2" squares.  The block pattern can be found at Q is for Quilter blog.  I then started to learn to do the chain stitch for the kite strings and stems in May of 2017.  In enjoyed finding things that fit easily into my school bag that made me feel productive vs. doing cross stitch projects where I had to focus on counting and couldn't keep a good eye on students in study hall.  I randomly stitched kite strings with pieces of floss from my grandma's tin.

For some reason the blocks sat idol until I made the last one in orange in 2017.  But idol no more.  :)

Disappearing 9-Patch Baby Quilt Complete

I finished the binding on this little disappearing 9-patch quilt this week.

I thought it would look lovely next to the blooming Forget-Me-Nots.  I love how they moved after I planted them to places all over the property and in cracks of the sidewalk.  The seeds were given to me by the 90-year old friend that I have longarm quilted a lot of quilts for.

I'm surprised the cat inspection crew did not come to inspect it the moment I put it down.

It measures  39" square.  I made it because I wanted to use up the set of D9P blocks that I had left over from the Block Lotto.  They are much better in a quilt than in a box.  I longarm quilted it with the Baptist Fan design.  I'm very happy with the results.

I'm linking up at Quilting is more fun than Housework for Oh Scrap!

4 finishes this quarter

Here's my Spring 2026 Ravelry UFO Club Projects:

1.  Bit Con quilt -- Needs more rows of strips sewn together -- size yet to be determined

2.  Rail Fence 3.5" RSC block -- 900 blocks needed/need arranged

3.  Piccadilly Circle -- Need a few more circle blocks

4.  Kite Girl -- back made, needs to be quilted

5.  Folk Art Birds -- Need more birds and alternate blocks

6.  Hourglass Mini -- Needs a quilt back and then quilted

7.  Maroon Sampler -- Needs two more blocks

8.  Dicey -- Blocks need sewn together with sashing and cornerstones

9.  Fireflies Wall Hanging -- Blocks need appliqued

10.  Red/White basket crib quilt -- on the longarm frame

11.  D9P Red/White -- finished 5.11.26 -- 4th finish

12.  HST -- Needs more blocks made and sewn into rows

13.  Red/White House in Center baby quilt -- finished 5.2.26 -- 2nd finish

14.  Fish -- a 12-block RSC26 project

15. Scarborough Fair -- Needs more blocks made

16.  Random Blue Blocks -- Hand Quilting -- In the hoop

17.  Acorn Harvest -- Quilt top needs assembled

18.  Horsen Around Crib Quilt -- needs a back and then quilted

19.  Horsen Around Scrap Quilt -- needs blocks cut and sewn

20.  Pink Houses crib quilt -- Needs blocks made

21.  Lupine and Laughter (Bonnie Hunter 2025 mystery quilt) -- in the piecing process

22.  Christmas Memories 4-patches sewn, need more

23.  Dinner Party (school print blocks) blocks cut, needs blocks sewn

24.   Layer Cake Lattice -- pink blocks cut -- needs blocks sewn

25.  True Blue Sew Along (started 1/15/26) -- needs corners sewn to blocks

26.  Zip It Sew Along -- finished 5.1.26, 1st finish this quarter

27.  Classic Meets Modern QA from 2014 -- block complete, need sashing

28.  King Rosebud embroidery quilt --finished 5.5.26, 3rd finish this quarter

29.  Kathleen Tracy Mini #1 (pinwheels)

30.  Kathleen Tracy Mini #2 (squares)

31.  Kathleen Tracy Mini #2 (HST and a Square)

32.  Cheddar Jack crib quilt -- cat blocks are sewn, some 2.5" squares are sewn

You can find the 2026 Spring Ravelry UFO club here.

Slow Sunday Stitching -- Happy Mother's Day

I worked a little on hand stitching the binding onto my red/white basket crib quilt this week:

Then on Wednesday night I got a bit done watching Survivor:

Thank you so much for your comments and suggestions regarding my longarm (Knolting 23") tension issue.  It turns out it wasn't a tension issue this time.  It was a stitch switch glitch (ha ha that rhymes) with the stitch regulator.  You can read about that on my blog post earlier this week here.  I have also ordered a Towa tension guage from Amazon and ordered extra pigtails thread holders for my machine to aid in fixing future issues.  The Towa works GREAT -- highly recommended!!!  After working on my longarm a little more yesterday with my husband on hand, he cleaned the sensors with contact cleaner.  We have isolated the problem to the starter switch, a sensor, or the stich regulator itself.  Work in progress...

Carole at From My Carolina Home explains the Towa tension guage so nicely on her blog.  Definitely worth the $45 I spent on the guage!

I finished my grandmother's 52+ year-old UFO -- King Rosebud.  It's a beauty!  You can read all about it on my blog post on Friday here..

Candy the outdoor cat waiting for me to leave the newly planted strawberry plants so that she can play with them by herself...

This is a three-tier planter that my husband made for me.  It looks like a birthday cake.  I'll take more photos as the plants grow (hopefully).  I planted an everbearing berry (you can pick a handful of berries all summer) and a sweet, medium sized berry that is seasonal.

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

Also linking up to Life in Pieces #19.