Pfeffernusse Done! (Almost...)

I can't believe I finished this top before the end of June!!! My border and backing fabrics arrived from Whittle only 2 days after I ordered them. I did a happy dance and got to work. I'm kind of in love with this quilt, which is strange because these are totally not colors to which I'm drawn.

Morale: I need to step out of my comfort zone more often!

Here's a close up of the border fabrics - a sweet pinstripe and a reproduction. They both worked out wonderfully. The backing fabric will be a Grunge dot.

And why did a say 'almost' in the title of this post? Well....I still have to remove the paper from the string blocks on the backside. After reading the instructions (after I finished the quilt top!) I learned I should have removed the paper when these string blocks were still individual blocks. EEK!

They say engineers never read instructions and I guess I'm guilty of that! Now I have to deal with removing paper from those tiny seam allowances too. I made a good start on this yesterday. I've almost done 3 rows (out of 12). So this part will take a few days of watching TV with the quilt top and tweezers in hand. Oh well. Lesson learned.

Thursday evening I dropped my cell phone in the toilet - another EEK! moment. I've never done that before. It was not working correctly, wouldn't take a charge, and I couldn't hear when someone called. It occurred to me that I may have had insurance on it. Indeed I did! I filled out an online form Thursday night and by lunchtime on Friday (!!!!) FedEx brought me a brand new phone! My software engineer daughter came over after work and set it up for me. Back in business! I only had to pay a $99 deductible. Yay! Crisis averted.

Okay. Now I'm ready to select a quilt to tackle in July. I've selected my Marshall quilt. You may remember that this Jen Kingwell  pattern was in Quiltmania magazine over the course of 2019. Lots of hand piecing and appliqué. Making all these parts and pieces was my therapy as I recovered from my breast cancer surgeries. I could hand sew easier than I could sit at my machine and sew during many of these months.

I have to admit, once the final quilt was revealed in the Fall of 2019, I didn't love it. So I designed my own version using all the parts and pieces. I really love my design, but once I had it put together it was wavy. So I'm going to have to rip a lot out and see what I can do to make it flat. It's been put away for months, but I really want to get it finished. So that's what is next.

I've also started making masks for out family again. Kids are going back to work before long and Hubby and I need more also. I think we'll be wearing masks for the long haul. I want us all to have a mask for each day - it can go in the dirty clothes hamper and then have a fresh one for the next day.

Have a great day and stay safe!

Two More Rows!

My month of June has been productive. Only two more rows to go! I have jumped ahead and have made all the string blocks for the last two rows. And I've made a start on the little hour glass blocks. So the last rows should go rather quickly.

Most of these rows have not been sewn together, so that will be another morning's work.

And I looked through my stash and I don't have any fabric to use for the two borders. So I placed an order this morning from Whittles - they have a great selection and very good prices. I also ordered a nice, wide backing while I was at it.

I may not get the border fabric before June ends....so this may go over into July just a bit. But I'll stick with it until it's done. Wish you could see this in person - so much more vibrant and cool.

Hmmm....what project shall I choose to work on in July???  I'm still thinking on it - so many to choose from.

This sweet little bird came to visit while I sewed this morning. I took this photo from my sewing room, sitting at my machine. Yes, I have a nice little view of the golf course, don't I?

That's it from here. Hopefully the next post will show a finished quilt top.

Stay safe and enjoy your day!

Sewing, a Checkup, and a Birthday

I'm still making progress on Pfeffernusse. I went for more than a week without sewing a stitch, but I'm back on track now. I try to add one row each day - it takes about 2 hours to sew a row.

I've passed the halfway mark! I only have 5 more rows to go. I may have to order fabric for the borders, but I haven't checked my stash of larger cuts yet.

Monday we had to make the trip to Birmingham for a checkup with my breast surgeon. I have to go every six months. Let me tell you, I LOVE my breast surgeon. She truly saved my life. And I'm not even talking about the breast cancer. She saved my life after I had the severe allergic reaction to an antibiotic after my mastectomy. Remember I had to be admitted a second time for several days?

She and I had a nice chat about this at my appointment. This was the first time I heard how worried she and the other doctors were about me. I knew it was a bad situation, but it was scary hearing hearing her take on it. That was a horrific time.

Okay. Happy stuff now! My mother turned 90 last week! What a milestone! Her assisted living facility is still on lockdown due to Covid. So all I could do was have a bakery in her area send her a box of cupcakes. My brother sent her flowers. She got plenty of attention that day and enjoyed it.

Can you tell the doggies are enjoying our new home? The love the patio and the fenced yard. We weren't allowed to have a fence at our cottage. It's been wonderful not to have to walk the dogs on leashes!

Stay safe and enjoy your day!

On My Design Wall....

I've settled in to work on two quilts at the moment. I've decided that during June I'll focus on my Pfeffernusse quilt (bottom of design wall). I'll keep working on my Manx log cabin quilt (by hand), also.

I really thought I would not enjoy strip piecing for Pfeffernusse. But I do! Every day I try to put together a small section of the quilt. The brown pieces are all done. So I make a few cream blocks and more red/cream hourglass units as I go.

Brown, cream, and red are colors I never use. But I saw this quilt done by a friend and thought it was gorgeous.

As far as the log cabin quilt - I'm ready to sew that top row to the 'mother quilt' - maybe tomorrow.

I finished the placemats! We love them. We had to buy this small dinette table and chairs when we moved in. We have done our part to help the economy by buying plenty of furniture. We have two sofas that we are still waiting for - we were told it would take 10-12 weeks for delivery. I think we are  around week 8 at the moment.

We found this tiny nest in our backyard last week. The inside looks like it's lined with Cooper's hair, but I'm not sure that we've lived here long enough for that. Isn't it sweet?

Stay safe.

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!

When I Last Left You....

When I last left you we were all awaiting baby Sadie's arrival. She came along last Monday, 3-23-20. The doctor decided to induce at 39 weeks to try to get mom and baby in and out of the hospital before the Coronavirus gets even worse. All is well with both mom and baby. And I'm loving(!!!!) being a grandmother! 

As of Wednesday, I changed my quarantine location from the lake to Auburn at our daughter's home to help with meals and anything else that is needed. Hubby's still at the lake with our dogs, though he's had some wonderful visits with Sadie and adores holding her as much as I do. Her other set of grandparents have also been able to visit and love on her. We take temperatures before grandparents come in and make sure everyone is washing their hands well and often. But at this point only immediate family are allowed. We are trying to be so very careful.

Of course, Sadie is the cutest thing ever and we are so thankful for this bright light in a time of uncertainty and fear. She brings us all so much joy.

Sewing? What's that? I haven't sewn in weeks and that's okay. All in time.

And the new house? We closed today, though I wasn't there. We got a Power of Attorney signed so that Hubby could sign for me. He took care of everything and even arranged to get the Internet connected today. Hubby will also coordinate the move one day next week, though we will let the furniture and boxes sit in the house several days to let any germs die before we actually start unpacking and living there. All in time. 

Hasn't the way we view time changed? I know it will be weeks or even months before things are back to some kind of normalcy. As long as we stay healthy and isolated, I'm okay with waiting it out. No rush. All in time. I just feel for all those personally affected and pray the curve is leveling out for us all. 

Stay safe.