Having fun

I'm so glad I got back on the band wagon for my log cabin quilt. These blocks are zen hand sewing and I love to make them while watching TV.  After a few more I'll have enough for another row to sew on the main quilt.

The placemat project is almost complete. I made bias striped binding (my favorite choice!) and machine stitched it to the four placemats. I'm working on the back side hand stitching.

Here's the back side of one so you can see the fabric I used.

And here's the first one finished and in place. As of this morning, there are two finished and in place on the table.  I'll have them all complete by the end of the week, easily.

One of the big projects going on behind the scenes lately is yard work. Our daughters both bought new homes in the  last couple of years. During this time of lockdown, both households decided it was a good time to do some custom landscaping in their backyards. Hubby is the expert in all this, so he's jumped in and helped design, dig holes, plant LOTS of lovely  things. He even designed a drainage system along one yard which they have installed to rid the area of excess water. Our two SIL's have put in hours of labor, along with Hubby. My job has been to take care of Sadie during some of this time - fun work if you can get it! I know they'll all be glad to get all this hard work behind them. Hubby also took some time to do some planting in our back yard. He has quite the green thumb.

Today is our 36th anniversary. We're planning nothing - a quiet day. A bit of sewing for me and we'll watch some of our shows together.

I haven't done a TV report in a LONG time. I wish I'd kept a list of some of the shows we've finished and loved. But here are a few...

We watched The Sopranos start to finish.
Also Blood is very good.
Money Heist (Netflix) is great. We're not finished with it yet.
The Great Flower Fight (Netflix)- fun show!
Dead to Me - yay, it's back!
Defending Jacob (Apple) - ooooh! I read this book and loved it. We just started the show last night.
Home (Apple) - really unique homes are profiled
Outer Banks (Netflix) - I've just started it - seems a bit juvenile, so I'm on the fence about it.

And that's the update from here. All is well. Stay safe, everyone!

Back to Sewing!

When I last posted here, our new granddaughter was only days old. And now she's 8 weeks! Time has flown!

We are now officially living in our new home and LOVE it. Yes, it was worth a year of house hunting, lot browsing, home plan studying, and living at the lake for 8 months. We will never move again. This house will be perfect forever. It has NO stairs, and we use every single room. 

I will share a few pictures of my favorite closets. I love the closets! The above closet is in my sewing room. I ordered these drawer units from Home Depot and they shipped here for free. I have my long wool ironing mat on top. There is a light and an outlet in the closet so I can see well and plug in my iron. Hence, no ironing surface to clutter my room. I can close the closet doors and not see this. I hung my rulers with Command hooks.

Now here is another favorite closet- my Accuquilt closet! This is just outside my sewing room. Open the doors and I have my Studio cutter ready to go with all the dies underneath. The Ikea cart holds the small dies while the large ones are in the bin to the right side.

And above I have shelves for bins of fabric. I think this is my favorite closet! Again, I can close the door and it all disappears and doesn't clutter my sewing room.

I made new design walls for my sewing room. I tried several products and ended going with the tried and true - insulation board covered with flannel - in this case, Kaffe Fassett gridded flannel. I missed having a design wall in our cottage - there was nowhere to put one.

Those circles are quilted placemats I'm making for our kitchen table - two down, two to go. Then I'll bind them all.

I pulled out this old WIP this morning - it's Bonnie Hunter's Pfeffernusse. I'm working on these triangle pieces.

I had cut all the pieces out last year and took them to the lake, but I never worked on them there.

I interrupt this post for a gratuitous Sadie picture. She stayed with us most of the day Monday and seemed to like the bouncer we have for her here. We also have a crib, changing table, pack and play, bottle warmer, sleep sound machine, stroller, and a carseat - everything she'll need when she's with us.

Back to quilting....

I didn't work on this while at the lake either...but I recently did finish the blocks for the two end rows and stitched them on. This is my Manx log cabin quilt, done completely by hand. It's slow going for me, but there is no rush, right?

I have also made this quilt top since we've been in the new house. Let me say...the colors do not show up well in this photo at all. It does look a bit better in person, though I'm still not so sure about this one. It was easy to make and I do like the pattern. It's called Water Waves and you can find it free HERE.

We are still staying at home, only going out to do grocery pick ups or to see our kids who both live only ten minutes away. We are lucky that we can all see each other often because we are all staying home. I'm a homebody anyway, so I'm quite used to this lifestyle change.

Please stay safe!