Glitter Quilt Top Finished!

I finished sewing all the Glitter blocks together on Sunday. Yay! I really like it! I decided not to add borders. It's the perfect lap size - I like lap quilts! 

You may remember I used a limited array of colors to blend with the wallpaper in my sewing closet.  So when finished, this quilt will probably live in my sewing room on the back of my rocker/recliner.  For now I've put it away. I'll big stitch quilt it when I've finished quilting Marshall.

Here's the latest Happy Birds block. Love this one. The green and pink really speak to me. And fun embellishments, too!

So when you finish one quilt, what do you do? 

Buy more fabric and start another one! I've been on the lookout for a new fabric line that has great colors and good fussy cutting options. I was planning on looking when I go to Quilt Festival in Houston next month, but then I happened upon this on-line. 

This is Jungle Paradise by Moda, designed by Stacy Iest Hsu.

And yes..... it will be a Curved Hexagon project! I'm doing some experimenting with this - using a different technique to sew everything together - more to come on this! 

Is that little frog not the cutest thing ever???!!!!

Continue to stay safe!

 

Still Making Progress!

My Courthouse Steps quilt is halfway done! I've really gotten into the groove of making one block on most days. 32 blocks done (and sewn together). 32 blocks to go. You may remember, this one quilt hang on the wall behind our bed.

I also finished another large block unit of my cheddar bowtie quilt. I now have 4 of these units. I need at least 2 more...but who know? I may keep going and make it bigger.

And another bird has been finished. 

You may have noticed Glitter is still on the design wall behind the Courthouse Steps quilt. I only have ONE more little block to make and that will happen today. Then I can sew the blocks together and add some borders. 

Hopefully the next time you see Glitter, it will be a finished top. I think I'll hand quilt - big stitch style. But I have to finish hand quilting Marshal first - and it has a lot to go!

I'm happy to report that my blood pressure is now NORMAL!!!! All the walking and losing a few pounds has done the trick. So happy a avoided taking a prescription!

Our sweet Sadie - she make us smile, and laugh, and is so much fun! We are so lucky to get to keep her 5 days per week. Absolute joy. 

Continue to stay safe!

 

September Morn

I love these cool mornings we're having. It's so nice to have pleasant temps for my morning walk. I'm pleased to announce that my walks have officially become a HABIT! It took a long time. I started this walking journey in December. I started with a few days a week, maybe 20 minutes long. Today I walked for 47 minutes.  I walk every single morning as soon as I wake up, listening to an audio book as I go. I'm getting a lot of books read which is a bonus.

I read somewhere recently: You've created a habit when it's no longer what you do, but who you are.

So true. 

Here's my bird for the week. I'll start a new one today.

I'm still making these Courthouse Step blocks. I make one almost every day. 

I've discovered that I can make a cheddar bow tie four patch at the same time, leader/ender style. 

This weekend I spent some time hand tracing and cutting more Glitter blocks, ready for hand piecing. 

We also changed out the quilt hanging in the dining room. Yay, Fall!  I made Appalachian Autumn last year, finishing it just in time for Christmas quilts to be displayed. So it was immediately put away. So glad to see it again!

Marshal. I call it 'Blessings.' I put it aside to hand quilt while watching college football. I'm so glad that time is HERE! Will I finish it before football season is over??? Stay tuned.

Continue to stay safe!

 

August...Glad It's Almost Over

August was a horrific month for a few reasons.. It was awful. I haven't posted since July.

At the end of July, a very good friend's daughter got sick. Pneumonia. Not Covid.

Immediately she was admitted to ICU.

First came the ventilator. Then came ECMO (like a heart/lung machine). 

She was only 32.

This went on all month. 

She passed away on August 23. 

My friends and I are still reeling with grief and sadness. 

Now we will help our friend with her grief, hold her hand, do what we can.

I did pull my birds out again. 

I have a new goal to finish one per week. 

I finished the 3 projects using the blue/cream fat quarter pack. 2 quilts and one long table runner.

I quilted them all with my embroidery module on my Bernina.

Here's a closeup of the backside of one of them.

I've made progress on my Courthouse Steps quilt. I finished one 4x4 block unit - 16 blocks. I plan to make 3 more of these for my quilt.

My one-block-per-day Glitter project. Making progress. I think it will be done soon.

So that was August. So glad September is almost here. We will focus on one day at a time. Keep quilting. Keep going. 

On a lighter note, yesterday I did something I hadn't done in years. I sat in carpool line! I picked up Sadie from her very first day of Preschool. What fun! She makes me smile. She'll be here all day today - it's pouring rain (outskirts of Ida) so we will be confined inside. She's rather be outside, but we will find fun things to do. 

Here's to September! Here's to football season!

Continue to stay safe!

 

Sewing, Organizing, and Freezer Meals

I've made four of the Courtyard Steps blocks. They get a bit easier, but I still have to think a LOT to make sure I have the right fabrics in the right places - you see each block must match up the the ones around it.

My Manx Log Cabin quilt - it was planned to be much bigger. But I decided it was big enough. I used various pinks to bind it. I had fun making this one. It will hang in Sadie's room at our house. The room has a vaulted ceiling and I think it will brighten up a very tall wall.

Now onto organizing!

Over the summer, I've had the urge to organize. We've been in the house for a bit over a year. When we unpacked, it was a matter of getting everything put away quickly.  But now I want to put it all away in an organized fashion.  Above you will see the 'after' of my shoes. I got the boxes on Amazon. They each have a door on the front to access the shoes. You can stack them up as desired. What a difference from having my shoes piled on these shelves.

On to the pantry!

We have a double wide pantry will pull out shelves - I love it. But it was time for some planning and sorting. I found clear plastic bins at TJ Maxx and bought tons of them. 

Divide and conquer! Now everything is sorted into the bins. We can find exactly what we need.

I won't bore you with a picture of every single shelf, but you get the idea. Next on my list is the refrigerator. I have leftover bins to use here, too.

I happened across the freezer meal site - thefamilyfreezer.com. It may change my life - I'll keep you posted on that. The site has tons of freezer meal recipes. Everything goes into a freezer bag raw, so prep is not too bad. The site prints your grocery list, labels for your freezer bags, and nutrition info for those of us who count calories.  I have found the majority of recipes to be very healthy and include lots of fresh vegetables.

I get no royalty, fees, or kickback if you sign up. You can give it a look and decide. 

Tuesday I shopped for ingredients at Sam's Club. I spent around $160.

Thursday morning I chopped and filled my bags. I made four recipes, 3 meals each. Each meal will feed 6. That calculates to 12 freezer bags with a total of 72 servings. That works out to be about $2.25 per serving. 

My morning's work included chopping 12 peppers, cutting corn off 8 cobs, and chopping 3 onions. I watched TV while I chopped. 

The meals can be cooked in a Crock Pot or an Instant Pot. Easy peasy. 

We're eating our first of these meals tonight. I'll keep you posted on how we like the recipes, though they sound yummy.

Suni Lee won gold!!! Yay! 

I have a free day to sew! Yay!

Though the heat and humidity are almost unbearable, I'll be inside a nice, cool house!

Continue to stay safe!

 

Moving Right Along

 

Now that I have finished the two blue/cream quilt tops (one is quilted and ready for binding) and the top for a table runner made from those same fabrics (BIG WHEW!)....I'm moving on. Summer is almost over and Sadie will be with us every day very soon, so I'm spending a couple of weeks cutting more bow tie blocks for my cheddar bow tie quilt. I hope to get back to work on this over the Fall season. I think I'm almost halfway done with this quilt top.

I started a new quilt. This is the Courthouse Steps quilt I mentioned a few posts ago. I hope to make a few of these blocks in the next week or so. I really love the fabric and colors and plan to hang this quilt behind our bed. Eventually....

Last week I had a wonderful lunch with some of my high school girlfriends. We met in Birmingham so I wouldn't have to drive all the way to north Alabama. Wasn't that nice of them? I have not seem some of them in decades and we had fun catching up.

I also made another day trip to Wetumpka with some of my Auburn friends. We had a lovely time, though it was sweltering hot. We walked around town, shopped, and had a nice lunch at Coach's Corner. I came home with three new dresses and two tops. Yay me! Yes, I bought a few things at Tapp 18!

And that's the update from here! Are you watching the Olympics? We are watching a good bit. We'll be rooting for Suni Lee, one of the female gymnasts who will be a freshman here at Auburn this Fall. Go Suni!

Continue to stay safe!

Quilting with my Embroidery Module

 

This was my third time attempting machine quilting with my embroidery module. This time went very well. I have my Weightless Quilter frame set up, supporting the weight of the quilt to prevent drag. I'm using a magnetic hoop, making re-hooping fast. But the best tip I can share, if you're interested in this, is the batting. 

I tried out Birdie Bird batting. This is a game changer! The batting is advertised as needing no pins or basting spray to baste the layers together. The batting is supposed to simply cling to the quilt top and backing. I was skeptical. But it worked beautifully! I was amazed at how well it worked. I will admit that I did put a few safety pins around the outside edges...because of my skepticism. But I really didn't have to. The quilt has NO puckers or tucks on the backside. I LOVE THIS BATTING!

I'll show the final results soon.

I finished the other quilt top I made with the remaining fabric from the bundle. I plan to prepare it for quilting in the next couple of days.

I celebrated a birthday with family. Here's my yummy cake.

I'm still walking every morning before it gets hot.  I spotted this fairy tale worthy snail on one of my recent walks. I've never seen a snail quite like this in person! 

That's the update from here. Continue to stay safe!