SSSSQ -- Clue #3?

The next project I decided to work on is my SSSSQ -- Clue #3.  Kevin the Quilter led us in this fun QA.  Work got in the way as school started for me and it was set aside.  NOW is the time to work on it again as I think of Kevin and his travels and hope he is well.

It has been in a cute hat box that my sister-in-law gave me.  Here's where I left off:

I saved the instructions on my computer on my monkey tail USB thing...  It's called Intro to Simply Sensational Summer Scrap quilt (I need to start doing that now because I forget where I saved so many fun and different projects and under what name...)  It can also be found at Kevin the Quilter's blog post here.

In my version, I am using pink scraps in place of Kevin's batiks and green scraps in place of Kevin's neutrals.

Okay... I need to learn to make notes when I put a UFO away so that I don't have to do a lot of research when I pull it back out.  (We'll see how I stick to that in the future.)  I am tempted to start Bonnie Hunter's mystery project that started today.  You can see it on Bonnie's blog, Quiltville's Quips & Snips!  It's sooooooo tempting...  I know I'm not going to be able to resist...

Anyway...  from clue #3 on Kevin's blog it looks like I left off on page 17/34.  That's why I had that one unit on the bottom left with the three green and one pink 2.5" square and the one strip of three pinks in the middle with a green on each end.  Now I know where I am.

Sand Castles Flimsy Is Complete

I finished my Sand Castles flimsy yesterday!  Sand Castles is a Bonnie Hunter pattern.

It was super windy yesterday.  It was exercise running around the quilt to take a photo without a corner flying up or a side rolling in.  But I got it.

I will have to grab some big pieces of stash and make a back sometime soon.  It's almost time to be able to longarm.  It got up to 72 degrees here in Ohio yesterday.  It's only 42 this morning.  Brrr.

I am 2/3 finished with my flowerbeds.  I was hoping to share a picture of the finished one here today, but tomorrow is another day.  It's a little gloomy out this morning even at 8am.  It's still windy.  Looks like a great day for some to "home school" and then sew.

I can show you my first case of poison ivy for 2020...  Do you have a favorite home remedy for it?

This angle kinda makes Owen look distorted... I was standing up on a rock when I took it.   He's showing me how much mud I splashed on him while he was in the wagon behind the four-wheeler.  Wanna know a secret?  I did it on purpose.  He's not a big fan of having stuff on him such as paint, mud, tape,  bandaids.... (It's a sensory thing.)  He complained at first and then realized that it's okay.  By the third trip to dump the wagon he wanted me to go faster through the mud.  YEAH!  Mission accomplished.  He even has a dot of mud on the tip of his nose.  LOL.  Oh he was such a great helper yesterday.  He loves being home with both parents for sure.

Honey Gold

Have you been buying much on eBay since we started social distancing?  I have been using Honey Gold for over a year.  There's no fee to join and you get credit for using it each time.  It also helps you locate coupon codes on other sites.  I get small discounts on stuff I'm going to purchase anyways.  Here's a link:  https://www.joinhoney.com/

Use this code for possible additional savings:   joinhoney.com/ref/yo3k3c5

Disclaimer -- I do get a $10 gift card if two people sign up.

Linen & Threads SAL -- Slow Sunday Stitching 3.29.20

Just in time for the next clue I finished stitching the Linen & Threads SAL clue for March.

I also had time to arrange one of the Goodwill projects I found.  Although it has a $1 sticker on it, the kit was only $1.49/pound.  I have no idea how much it weighs, but I'm sure it's only an ounce or two.  This is the first kit I purchased that had the embroidery floss organizer included.  Neat, huh?

My outdoor plan for now is to work in my flowerbeds.  This is what it looked like in August, 2019, when everything is grown up with all the leaves out.



I made it outside yesterday to work in my big flowerbed of perennials between the rain storms.  When I went out in the morning there was lots rain, thunder, lightening and some non-damaging hail.  Then it got pretty warm (mid 60's).  When I started the flowerbed looked like this:

Here's a close-up shot of my flowerbed.  There's a lot of briers in there!  The bushes are overgrown.

Here's my view down to the garden/chicken area.  I can still watch for predators and keep an eye on the chickens from here as I take my 4-wheeler and wagon full of stuff to dump.

The helper kept going back and forth between what I was doing and what Dad was doing.

Every year I trim these shrubs waaaaaay back (except for the rhododendron).  You can see that I got about one third of the bed cleaned out.  Don't worry about those buckets...  I'll get them next time.

Meanwhile my Sweetie set up a make-shift curtain and some cardboard so that Owen didn't get welder's flash.  (Welder's flash is harmful to eyes and causes damage and a burning sensation if you stare at the welding area without protective lenses or a welding helmet.)  It was raining pretty good when I stopped cleaning the flowerbed.  I was done for the day.  My husband asked me if I wanted to "burn some sticks".  This is a stick welding reference.  You probably don't know this, but I am a certified welder.  Back in my day I was the welding supervisor for Volvo GM Heavy Truck Corporation in Orrville, Ohio.  It was an awesome, awesome company!  They moved to Virginia.  I did not.  I'm thankful I stayed here.

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

Scrap Happy Saturday Sand Castles

I thought for sure I would have this quilt top together.  I'm distracted by things in the world.  I'm also just going outside to pick up sticks, work in the yard, play in the flowerbeds, home school the kid.

I did get five rows of my Sand Castles quilt put together.  This is a Bonnie Hunter pattern.

This quilt is laying on our bed, of course.  With all three of us home I can't use my "design floor".  It is on top of my 1052 tumblers quilt that I totally love.  Last week when I started putting the blocks together I really didn't care for this quilt as much as others.  Now that the rows are starting to go together it is starting to grow on me--just like my dear bloggy/quilty friend, Joy, of The Joyful Quilter, told me it would.  I always love the friendship and encouragement of the people in our groups.

I'm linking up with Angela's blog, SoScrappy, for The RSC20.  Grab a cup of coffee or something and come look at all the inspirational and colorful projects going on.



Mr. Sunshine was super excited to have his first video chat with his teacher from school yesterday.

I did make him a cake to celebrate his YouTube followers.  It was followed by a better cake that wasn't so dry.  Woohoo!  He has 15 subscribers now.  He's so excited.  You can find us at:

TheShahann

Thank you for those that hit the subscribe button in this group!  It really made his day!

Yard Work

Today should be the last of my tiny campfire in the chicken yard.  After everything cools the chickens will love the ashes for their dust bath.  It's also a great way to control lice (which we don't have yet this year!)  It's taking me a little while to burn these because the big log is still green.  I should be done burning all the stuff by today.

This is probably a boring post to most people.  But I am taking time to enjoy the quiet outside.  I feel safe in our little part of the world.  I can see our son magnet fishing in the creek.  I can see my husband doing who knows what up at his pole barn with the tractor.  

After I finish this project we'll all be a little closer because I have a larger flower bed that needs cleaned out--big time.  Here's a photo of it in August of 2019 when I planned on cleaning it out as soon as our son went back to school.  I got called to work as a sub right away and have been working steady ever since then.  I finally have time to work on it.  Hopefully I'll have a nice before/after shot early next week.  I'll pull out the stuff I don't want and replant some other perennials.  Everything I throw away will go into the chicken yard.  They will LOVE rooting through their new playground of green stuff when they are not allowed to free roam.  (I don't let them free roam when I am not working in the yard due to predators like fox and hawks.  This should keep me busy for a while...

Do you use the app called Life 360?  We love it.  We don't have anything to hide from each other.  Here's my SIL, me and my husband.  You can see we haven't left home since Monday, 3/23/20, at 4:50 pm.  My SIL is an "essential employee".  She still has to go to work.  It doesn't even feel like my husband, son and I have been home all week.  We have plenty to do.

We consider our household on total lock down.  That means no one out and no one in.  We are going to stay home and stretch things as long as it takes.  I will miss my SIL coming over dearly.  We are thankful for modern technology of facetime and things of that sort.

Chickens & Ducks

Now that I have been practicing the new normal I thought I would be sewing all the time.  I haven't sent since Sunday!  Oh dear.  I have been enjoying being outside with my chickens and ducks. 

Above chickens flock to the cat feed bowls to see if there are any treats left behind.  They love the high-protein content of cat food.  I don't let them have too much of it.

Below they are scratching for their food.  Foraging for food and eating bugs and plants and such is what makes the difference between free-range chicken eggs and store bought eggs.  The yolks are brightly colored yellow.  Yesterday I made a yellow cake in celebration of  my son reaching more than ten YouTube subscribers.  (We now have 13.)  He as soooooo excited.  THANK YOU!!!

Our YouTube channel is  TheShahann

Below is Wiggles the rooster.  He is so gentle to humans.  I think he knows that I would save him from the other rooster, Pluto, when he was young.  He is always on watch for the safety of the flock.

Below you can see my three ducks.  They love any water they can find.  They are on the search for bugs and worms.  Their eggs are great for baking because duck eggs are higher in fat.  It also makes for a great yellow cake because of the rich egg yolks.

Below you can see how barren their chicken yard is.  They (and the chickens) have devoured every blade of grass and anything green.  I cleaned out the flowerbed by the house.  It was mostly mint stems and roots.  First the ducks and chickens ate all the bugs and green stuff that was attached.  Next the ducks made a bed of what was left.  They are enjoying the dry spot in the middle of the mud.

I did make an apple cake for our son's celebration from a cookbook I have had for over 30 years.  It was made by a different class led by my favorite fifth grade teacher.  I made it because I had all of the ingredients.  It did not call for apples!  I was confused why it was called apple cake.  I made it anyway.  My husband said that it was like eating dust from a dust pan (he was being nice about it.)  It was so hard and dry.  When I broke it up for the ducks and chickens it was like croutons.  I didn't give it to them all at once.  I'll use it to coax them into the fenced-in chicken yard mid day when I won't have to keep an eye on them from predators.

Now that spring is here.  Things are starting to get brighter and brighter green every day.  For those that follow, this is a good picture that gives you an idea of the "house we live in where I piece quilts and sew" (the green one) vs. "the new house where my longarm is" (the brick one).  At the end of summer last year my husband did a lot of earthwork between the two houses.

The driveway comes up from the road and makes a big oval to access all the out buildings.  I guess I have my own walking path with a couple little hills.

These two were busy sawing a large tree that fell across the driveway a few years back.  There's a creek that runs under the low spot of the driveway.  This week Owen got a couple of new magnets to be used for magnet fishing.  Now that we are on a stay-at-home order, he will have to resort to playing in our own creek for now.

He found part of an old rusted shovel.  It is his "treasure".  He wanted to pose with him using the shovel.  Yes, he wears orange a lot.  It's good for when we are working in the woods or around some of our equipment.  He's easier to find.  It got up to 61 degrees yesterday!

Slow Sunday Stitching 3.22.20

I worked a little more on the dresser scarf that was my grandma's WIP.  She passed away in 1975.  It was a treasure to find!



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

Scrap Happy Saturday -- Teal -- Happy WORLD Down Syndrome Day!

I counted my Sand Castle blocks and then counted again... 63.  I was one short.  I made the last block in teal.  (Sand Castles is a Bonnie Hunter pattern.)

Our local public libraries closed this week.  Luckily they gave us a notice before closing.  My son and I went in and got a ton (23) dvd's.  They still had so many on the shelves that we did not feel like we were hoarding them.  We got a lot of older releases.  It was right before closing time.  Let the piecing and movie watching continue.  The original Jumanji was an AWESOME movie!

I got three rows of my Sand Castle quilt put together.  (This is a Bonnie Hunter pattern.)  Here it is on the floor of my sewing area:

I'm linking up at Angela's blog, SoScrappy for the RSC20.

Happy World Down Syndrome Day today.  Today being March 21st (3/21) I'd also like to celebrate World Down Syndrome Day.  It is recognized each year because those who just happen to have Down Syndrome have an extra chromosome attached to the 21st set of chromosomes (Trisomy 21 or T-21). Owen rocks his extra chromosome! We are so proud of him!

Here's one of my favorite spring pictures of him when before he was three years old.



Here he is yesterday at almost 13 years old (in June).  We walked down the lane to put a letter in the mailbox.  He walked on "his" side of the lane with all of the MUD.  The dryer side is mine.  LOL.

He has been busy this week with "mommy school".  We are working on counting money right now.  We use a different approach than most schools to count money called Touch Money.  You can see an example of our YouTube video here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CNABd2aIgLU

He has also been writing letters to people hoping to make their day.

Owen has SEVEN subscribers.  I told him we'd have a party if we got ten. LOL.

We also have old worksheets and workbooks and things I have brought home given to me by generous teachers when I sub with them.  Often times teachers have extra workbooks or old workbooks that they just don't want to throw away. 

Purple 4-Patches

I squeezed in a little time this week to play with purple scraps.  Here are a few 4-patches.  They measure 2.5".  This is one of my favorite ways to deal with my tiny scraps.

WIP Wednesday 3.18.20

To distract myself from things going on with the world I decided to just keep sewing.  I might post to my blog every day.  It keeps me busy.  So much has changed in our world this week.

My current situation is that I have all my Sand Castle blocks (a Bonnie Hunter pattern) on our bed!  I need to pick them up in webbing formation so that we can go to bed tonight...  Wow, it's got a lot going on.

I finished a hand-stitching project.  Here is the finished holiday apron on the table in one of the classrooms where I subbed often.  I miss the students already.  I have begun homeschooling our son.  He's a very social being and will miss that aspect of it.  Math and reading will go on.





I made four box kite blocks (a Bonnie Hunter design.)



I made progress on my Linen & Threads SAL.



I also made progress on my dresser scarf (more hand work...)



I did start a new project (oops...  sorry, I need something to hand stitch while we are having family time in front of the tv in the evenings...  This is a free stitch along that I found on facebook.  It's the Peppermint Purple SAL Group.  The project is called A Year of Blackwork.  This is a new thing for me.  Each week the pattern for a manageable pattern is released.  You can find it here.  This is what I have so far...

I currently have 69 on-going projects.    One finished this week...a new one was added.

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.  Linen & Threads Mystery SAL, Started 1/1/20 for my sew-to-go bag.

38.  Dresser Scarf (my grandma's printed WIP from the 70's) 1/1/20 for my sew-to-go bag.

39.  Veggie Patch (from Katie Mae Quilts)

40.  A Year of Blackwork, Peppermint Purple SAL (started 3.17.20 -- Coronacation distraction)

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.)
4.  Gingerbread Men (a slow stitching applique project started October, 2019.)

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