Well. I've been asked by a reader to resume blogging. She says she misses me! How to start again after nearly 5 year's absence?  How to bring you all up to date? I won't. I'll simply start with now. But first I want to say I've missed reading all the blogs I used to follow. Reading about the happenings at Barbara's Cat Ranch, learning about the Confessions of a Fabric Addict, following the adventures of That Man Quilts, and more--I really missed all of you, but life intruded.

I kept a record of what I accomplished in the sewing room last year. 2023 was the year that I REALLY concentrated on finishing my UFOs! I'd tried this before but I would get sidetracked with starting new projects and not finishing the old. But 2023 was a banner year! I finished 14 bed or throw sized quilt tops--here are two of them:

This is a quilt that's being raffled off at the local museum

a Halloween wall hanging and a table runner:

 and made a couple of fidget quilts,. I also made 3 pillowcases, 5 placemats 9 potholders. I was really pleased with my progress to date. Most of what I finished I gave away--either to family or to the local foster child program. I made up a list of the things I want to accomplish if 2024 already to work on so fingers crossed I'll be as productive as in 2023.

The reason I worked so hard on finishing the UFOs is because I moved my sewing room from downstairs to upstairs. As I was putting things away in the new sewing room, I realized that I didn't have nearly as much room as I had in the downstairs room. What to do?  I decided that I'll just have to sew my way out of the dilemma!  And use up my stash of fabric while I was at it!  

That's as up to date as I can get right now. We made it through the pandemic and continue on with our quilting as best we can. I guess that's good enough. It feels pretty good to be back!

 

Weekly Update

Unbelievable that it's been a week since I posted.  Guess I've been a little busy with things.

Disregarding a day of illness and learning about other (non-threatening) medical conditions, I've been spending time on organizing the Library Quilt Show. This is the 3rd year that the guild has displayed quilts at our local library, but we do it differently than one would do at a quilt "show." The building is not designed to display a number of quilts on racks as is usually done at a quilt show. There are concerns over security of the quilts as well handling of them by the public (by this, I mean children--and adults--with chocolatey fingers) 😀 that we simply don't want to deal with. So we display smaller quilts, one or two at a time in a secure area. I've made up a description of each quilt and it's "story" that's displayed beside the quilt, and we also pull a number of related books from the shelves to include in the display.  Because we only show one or two quilts at a time, this means that each of the 3 of us on the committee have to stop by once a week to change out the display quilt.  We also have a "bed  turning" on one of the Saturdays in April and we accept quilts of any size for this. 

So working on this project has consumed much of my time this week.  I have also been in the sewing room a bit, working on this child's quilt that I began several years ago.

When Lily was a little girl I sewed her a dress and pinafore using this lavender fabric with fairies on it.  I used this fabric for the plain blocks which don't really show up very well in the photo above, and pulled colors from the fabric for the alternate, pieced blocks.  I'm not 100% satisfied with how the colors work in this little quilt, but they work pretty well when you actually see it.

I found this pastel lavender/aqua print for the backing, and I have enough of it to make a second child's quilt as well.  

And I'll use this dark purple for the binding.  

So far I've finished the straight line quilting and will be getting some purple thread tomorrow to begin working on the FMG in the blocks.

I've also been making great progress on the embroidery blocks for my A Year in the Garden quilt.  The June block below is a bit more pastel and pinker than what shows in the photo, and those flowers are made of thousands (I swear!) of lazy daisy stitches.  So painstaking, but I really love the effect.

July's blocks was a bit simpler, mostly back stitching.

I finished August this morning and added some embellishment that Jennifer didn't include in her design.  I've noticed that she rarely uses any French knots, one of my favorite stitches, so I added some in the clusters of flowers at the bottom of the design.  I like how they turned out.

I've also been preparing projects to take with me on retreat later this week.  I'll be at retreat from Friday morning through Sunday afternoon.  Can't wait!  I'm so ready to get out and relax with some wonderful women and some wonderful quilting projects.  Tomorrow I'm going to Eau Claire to run a few errands and pick up a few things I need before Friday.  

And one last thing:  The temps have been in the 40's pretty consistently this week so a lot of our snow has melted but at a slow rate and we're not having any flooding in my part of the state.  There's still about a foot of snow on the ground and I can't see any of my flower beds yet, but I know the daffys and crocuses are tucked in, just waiting for the sun. And this is the perfect weather for the maple syrup harvesters so hopefully there will be a bumper crop of liquid yumminess this year.

Here's to the Irish!

Until I looked at my phone this morning, I had no idea that we'd come up on St. Patrick's Day so soon. In my head, I seem to be still in February!  And that's not good--I'm wanting to be in Spring as soon as possible. 

A few years ago--maybe 10 by now--I spent a vacation in Ireland with my BFF, Bonnie. On our first day in country, we went to see Powerscourt, an old English estate with acres and acres of truly amazing gardens. This pic is the approach to the house from one of the pond gardens.

When we finished with this site, we continued on to Glendalough Monastery, founded by St. Kevin in the 6th century, nestled in a valley in the beautiful Wicklow Mountains. 

Many of the buildings remain as well as the graveyards and on a beautiful sunny day, Bonnie and I wandered about for several hours, chatting with other visitors, and thoroughly enjoying ourselves.  We continued on our way  to our B&B in Arklow on the ocean and completed our day with a delicious fish chowder (and a pint of Guiness) at a local pub.

The reason I'm sharing all this with you, other than to give a bit of a history lesson (no test, I promise!) is because of that evening in the middle of the night. Every year I remember this experience on St. Patrick's Day and again today.  I don't particularly believe in supernatural events  but I remain open to the possibility of such things.  On the evening after our visit to Glendalough, I woke up around 3 AM, absolutely wide awake, with an almost overwhelming desire to return to Glendalough.  I don't know how long I was awake with this need--at least 15 minutes or more--but eventually I fell back to sleep. Was it a manifestation of jet lag or was it the ley lines calling to me?  At the time, I had no idea that Glendalough was considered one of the "thin places" of this earth--Bonnie told me that the next morning when I described my experience.  This desire to return to Glndalough stayed with me throughout the trip and for many weeks after. A few years later I was visiting Sedona, Arizona which is another "thin place" and I had a different "paranormal" experience but not nearly as powerful as what I had experienced in Ireland. 

Over the past several days, I've been traveling to Madison where Don and I met up with our son Dan who seems to be settling into his new community very well. We met our friends, Elaine and Dobie, for dinner and I gave Dobie the PPP quilt I wrote about here.  He got a big grin on his face as he unfolded it.

When we got home on Friday afternoon, Johanna and her dog, Fergie arrived and stayed until yesterday afternoon.  She had a couple of cheap throw rugs that she'd picked up but which didn't work in her house and an old tattered fleece blanket that she no longer wanted. Jo asked if I would stitch the rugs together into an packet with the fleece inside so she could use it as a bed for Fergie in her kennel.  It turned out quite well and Fergie laid down on it right away so I think it will serve it's purpose.  I have to admit that as I was stitching the thing, I kept remembering that saying that goes something like, "Asking me to patch something is like asking Michelangelo to paint your bathroom."  Hah!

I resumed stitching the binding on the Veteran's quilt when I got home from Madison and last night I finished it!  I have to make a label, stitch it on, and then it's totally ready to go to it's new home. Yea!  Another finish on my list!

I also finished embroidering the May block of my Year in the Garden project . . .

and began on the June block.  I'll be stitching this one as I watch Masterpiece tonight--if they've finished the PBS fund drive. If they haven't, I'll see what I can find on Netflix--there's always something on Netflix, right?

So Happy St, Patrick's Day to everyone--enjoy your corned beef and cabbage, soda bread and a pint of Guiness for me. 

What a busy day!

After Don and I had our morning coffee (Diet Coke for him) and discussion of all the world's woes, I got going on laundry and geared up for a bit of snow shoveling.  Jo and her Golden Retriever will be coming home on Friday and she always lets Fergie into the back yard as soon as they get here, to go pee and so forth. Since we're going to be gone on Thursday and Friday, I realized that Fergie won't be able to get off the deck to do her business, so out came the snow shovel.  

It's warm (40 degrees F or so--warm is a relative thing!) and foggy out so these pics are rather dark. The first is what I saw when I opened the door to the deck--This snow is about knee deep on me.

Maybe you can tell better from the snow shovel stuck in the snow. 

This is the pathway/tunnel when I'd got to the edge of the deck. And that was enough shoveling for me. Fergie will have to make her own way around the back yard!  I have to remember to tell Jo to bring her snowshoes so she can go around the yard as well. Knee deep snow is a bit difficult to walk around in.  

In the quilting area, I've been working away at the Veteran's quilt--slow but steady.  I have all the quilting finished but for the narrow white stop border.  I think I'll do a series of simple ribbon-like lines the length of the border. In the square blocks, I did a very simple crosshatch, but in the light colored blocks, I did a loopy pattern, free hand.

This is the very center of the quilt.

The back of red-white-blue stars.  I have enough of this fabric for the binding as well.

This is the cable design I used in the navy border. 

When I finish this post, I'll go down and get the white border finished, trim up the quilt, and get the binding strips sewn on, ready for hand stitching tonight.

Speaking of hand stitching, I've been making great progress on my Year in the Garden embroidery. I finished the April block.  I used peachy colors for the roses and they show up better than in the photo.

Instead of the lady bugs that Jennifer stitched, I used a bright green floss and made them Japanese beetles since they attack my rose bushes without mercy. You can see the beetles in this closeup.

I'm also nearly finished with the May block. I only have to do the bugs and this time I think I'll make them orangey red and black Asian beetles which we have so many of where I live. These bugs are pesty and stinky but they don't damage my flowers like the Japanese beetles do.

So, that's what I've been up to. Tomorrow we go to Madison for a quick visit with Dan and then Johanna will be here for the weekend, so I'm not sure how much time I'll be spending in the sewing room.

In like a lion!

Here's the forecast:  Rain this afternoon followed by rain/snow mix tonight. Up to 1" of accumulation. Bah! I'm so sick of all this weather!  Here in Western Wisconsin, we've had record breaking snowfall in February and we are all very tired of it!  The up side is that while Don's out blowing the driveway, I'm snug in the house in my sewing room, except for trips to restock the pantry in between snow storms.  Ahhh! Winter in the Northland!  What a treat!

Yesterday I made it to the Leisure Center where I was able to get two quilts sandwiched and pinned. The first one to go under the needle is the red-white-blue throw that I made to donate to the local Veteran's. Here's the top laid over the couch.

This quilt used up a lot of my scraps and I'm glad of it!  Of course, it would call for scraps--it's a Bonnie Hunter pattern!  I tried to use "masculine" fabrics that I had in my stash--Golf

Fish

Wildlife

Sailing

I also threw in some floral fabrics since I have a lot of them in my stash.  So, something for everyone, I think.  This one I'll begin quilting up this afternoon.  

The other quilt that I sandwiched is the Allietare that my Johanna wants but that will wait until the Veteran's quilt is finished.

I thought I'd post some pics of my latest embroidery project.  It's from Jenny of Elefantz. She offered it as a free block of the month last year and I saved each month's design until I was able to begin on it.  It's called "A Year in the Garden" And while Jenny did her's in pastel pinks and blues, I chose a palette of gold, coral and green to coordinate with the fabvic I'd chosen for this quilt.

I found this large floral printed fabric a few years ago and I got several yards of it, intending to make a " Stack and Whack " quilt.  But now I'll be using it for this embroidered quilt.  This pretty floral is just what I need to brighten up these dreary winter days and keep my hopes alive that Spring will indeed return soon.

I've finished the first 3 blocks but haven't pressed them yet. I use a Frixion pen to trace my embroidery designs, including marking the center of the design, so when I press the completed embroidery, I lose the center point. I want to keep that intact until I've sized up the block and I've not yet decided how I want to do that. 

There's no blue in the focus fabric but blue is my favorite color so I'm adding a touch of blue in each block. Just because I can, I guess!  :)

As you can see, I'm making these on point and I'll probably frame them with some coordinating fabrics and use the floral for the borders and for the alternating blocks.  Haven't yet decided what those blocks will be--maybe a simple 9 patch.  So I have some math to work on and some decisions to make, but all in good time.

Tonight I'll begin working on the 4th block while I watch the Minnesota State High School Boys Hockey Tournament on television.  I grew up with hockey over in Minnesota and I love to watch the tournament--I've heard the announcers say its the best high school hockey in the country. Now, if there are any Canadians reading this, we may have  to have a bit of a chat about the best hockey but unless you speak up, I'll stand by what I've said! 

Quick trip to the grocery store to stock up before the weather turns bad, and then into the sewing room. Have a wonderful weekend, my friends.

I hate to brag but . . .

Yesterday, I completed the quilting on Dan's quilt which I discussed in this post if you care to take a look.  I trimmed it up and sewed the binding on--it's the same wine red used in the quilt--and will begin hand-stitching it down either tonight or tomorrow. Here are a couple of shots of the quilting.

It came out larger than I had expected--it covers the top of the queen size bed but no drop over the sides. Dan can use it as a throw on a chilly evening or he can use it on his bed--whatever he decides.  We had planned on going to Madison this weekend but now the weather person is predicting significant snow and rain state-wide on both Saturday and Sunday. Don't know about you but I'm getting just a leeetle bit tired of all this winter crap!  Oh well, we can go another weekend--no special hurry.

Next up are another throw quilt and a queen bed quilt. This is the diagram from Bonnie K Hunter's site of the free pattern she calls Fourth of July. I had the urge to make up a Veteran's Quilt last summer and used this pattern.  In January I added the border and bought fabric for the backing so I want to get it ready for pinning tomorrow.  This one is due by May 1 so I thought I'd do a simple meandering design over all of it and call it good.

The other one I want to get quilted is Alliatare, another Bonnie Hunter quilt. This was a mystery a couple of years ago and I have it finished except for marking the scallops on the border. I want to do this before I pin it so I don't have to wrestle with the heavy quilt later on.  I've never done a scalloped border but have wanted to for a long time. This picture isn't my quilt, I borrowed it from Melissa at http://melissadevin.blogspot.com/2016/01/allietare-mystery-top-complete.html.  I used the same colors in mine and it looks very similar to Melissa's.

This morning, Don and I decided that it was time to move all the furniture in the TV room and give it a good cleaning so with both of us working on it, we got that chore finished in less than an hour. Laundry's going so I have the rest of the day for sewing. 

 Except I have to take the Mabel quilt to the theater. I brought it to them yesterday and when we talked over how they would display it to sell raffle tickets, I realized that I should put a hanging sleeve on it, so I got that done last night. I also realized that I should have used my lint roller before I took it to them, so I'll be sure to do that as well. Otherwise, nothing but sewing.  Backs for the 2 quilts pictured above.

I'm so absolutely happy that I have 4 quilts finished already this year!  In case you're not aware of it, some of my quilt tops have been in my closet for 15 years or so and I don't know why I'm putting off getting them finished and on a bed.  Sheesh!  I'm such a procrastinator!

Another finish!

I'm absolutely amazed at getting a third finish off my lengthy list of tops to be quilted up!  I guess setting deadlines is the trick to getting things done. But I have to confess, I'm getting mighty tired of all this quilting--not exactly my favorite part of making a quilt, but for a cheapskate thrifty person like me, it has to be done at some time or another.

This is the finished quilt laid out on a couch. Whoops!  I have yet  to make a label and stitch it on.  Later today I'll get that done. This one is a gift to our friends who took our son Dan into their house for 2 weeks when he needed to begin working in Madison before his apartment was available.  A small gift for a wonderful couple.

Below is the design I stitched in the two sashing rows.  I used a variegated King Tut 40 wt. thread in the entire quilt.  Because it's what I had on hand, that's why.  As I worked on this quilt I realized the thread was gold, purple and green--aren't those the Mardi Gras colors?

The freehand design I stitched in the border--seen from the back . . . 

and from the front.

I used a stencil, Pounce, and a water soluble blue pen to mark the design in the blocks. Even tho the blocks were different designs but the same size, I used the same quilting stencil in all of them.

 In the center applique row, I did an outline of the appliques and an echo about an inch further away. I like the appearance of a closer echo design but I was afraid to make this section of the quilt too dense since the rest of the quilt is not.

So that's Past President's Project all finished! Next I'll be working on finishing Dan's quilt--going to Eau Claire this afternoon to get the thread I need to finish that up--and then I have 2 more tops that need to be quilted up--one for our County veterans--due on May 1--and one I promised for my younger daughter.  Then I can get back to a little piecing again.

I also wanted to show the final result of the little embroidered and quilted notions box that I made.  Here it is. It's about a 5"  cube with a ribbon tie at the top. The ribbon is threaded through the 4 pony beads that are stitched onto the peaks of the sides.

I like it and will probably make more, maybe with different embroidery designs.  We'll see.

Lastly, I have to share a photo of the beautiful winter day we're having here in Wisconsin. Blue skies, very little wind, temps in the 20's. Ahhh.  This is the kind of day I loved back when I still skied.  Just perfect.  You can't see it too well in this pic but there's a good 4' of snow on the ground and more on the deck where it's drifted.  So far both the roof and the deck seem to be holding up pretty well. I have my fingers crossed.

In a few minutes Don and I will go the Empty Bowls event which is a soup lunch fundraiser for the food pantry and homeless shelter here in town, and then we're off to EC to get thread--and some other things as well.  I hope you have a wonderful Saturday just as I'm having.