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.

Coronavirus Soup and Retail Therapy

Wowzer. I know you are like me....shocked at this state of the world with Coronavirus. None of us ever thought it would come to this.

I had said over and over that I wasn't stocking up. But then Monday evening everything got more serious. So early Tuesday morning we headed to Walmart in the nearby small town and we did stock up. But not on toilet paper - we already had plenty. We bought meats (chicken, ground beef, steaks, corned beef brisket) that could be frozen. We bought frozen vegetables. We bought plenty of fresh oranges. And potatoes. And cashews. (The store was not crowded at that time and there was plenty of everything.)

These are our staples these days as we continue eating in the Whole30 mode. Yes, we have splurged a couple of times here and there, but for the most part we've stuck to the program.

I also bought the ingredients for this soup - a friend shared the recipe with me. I am calling it Coronvirus Soup. I hope you can zoom in enough to read it - yes, it's absolutely wonderful! It is a bit of a splurge for us because of the flour, butter, and cream, but there is not much of these ingredients in the recipe. I substituted riced cauliflower for the rice.

We are staying put here at the lake, trying to avoid being around people. As you know, one of our daughters will be giving birth soon and we want to be able to see the baby after she arrives. The hospital has decreed only one visitor per patient. And that, of course, will be her husband. So FaceTime will become our best friend until they get to go home. We all really hope the baby comes early so she can get in and out of the hospital before the madness really hits this area.

Yesterday afternoon we did drive to Auburn to check on the new house. We didn't see a soul or interact with anyone. Mickey like to ride in my lap, on top of the mastectomy pillow I still use in the car. Excuse my hair - is anyone worrying about styling their hair or putting on makeup these days? Not me!

The house is looking good. There is still a small handful of things to be done before our blue tape walkthrough on Friday. We've been wondering if we should delay our move because of the Coronavirus. But we're thinking now that we'll go ahead and schedule it, providing hand sanitizer to the movers. Over course, this could change on a dime. We hope it will work out - I'd rather be stuck in the new house unpacking boxes than in a holding pattern at the lake.

Meanwhile, I did do some online shopping. I decided on ORANGE for my March color and picked out a few pieces.

And yes, I treated myself to a fat quarter pack of Tula Pink's Homemade. I've been looking forward to this being released. I'm not sure what I'll do with it yet, but I'm sure it will come in handy down the line.

So...stay safe. Stay home. Be careful.

The Design Wall Experiment- Part 2

And so continues my quest for a new design wall surface...

Here is a second wool felt sample I received. Fabric pieces stick to it very well! Also, the back side is peel and stick, making it easy to apply.

However, the surface looks like it's covered with lint, though it's not. The product is made this way. And so I will pass on this option because it doesn't give the clean, neat look for which I'm aiming.

Which brings us to the third samples I received.

These samples are much smaller and much thinner. They have a clean look, which I love. They are peel and stick on the backside...another plus. The fabric pieces seem to hold well.

I'm still on the fence. I think I will still get some insulation board to use as a base and either use this product OR go with the tradition method of wrapping the insulation board with flannel. I'm leaning toward this stick on product though... It's made by Zoro.

Remember how I said I'm picking a color each month and replenishing my stash? I decided on pink for February. I picked out a nice assortment of modern fabrics, don't you think? For years, my pink stash has been very limited. And with a new grand daughter coming along soon I needed to remedy this situation! I ordered these from Whittle's - one of my favorite online sources for fabric! They have wonderful prices!

I'm not sure what my color will be for March. But I do know I'll wait until after we move to get my monthly allotment.

We have our final walk through for our new home in only 10 days! We have had nothing but rain, rain, RAIN for the last few weeks. Monday when we last visited, workers were out in the rain installing the sprinkler system in a sea of mud. The toilets and faucets were in boxes in the living room, along with the boxed kitchen appliances.  A lot needs to happen in a short amount of time, but I know it can happen. It cannot happen fast enough!