May Makings

 As we quickly approach the end of a longer month, it’s time to post what has been happening around here.  It always helps to have a reel of pictures from the phone to remember!  Other than the normal family events of May - weddings, new babies, birthdays, Mother’s Day, graduations, First Communions, Confirmation and anniversaries, I also made a trip back to Iowa for my aunt’s funeral.  It was a true celebration of a long 94 years life and wonderful to be around so much of my family at the same time.

A bit of sewing also happened.  In my continued pursuit to finish some of the many UFOs, I finally completed my Old Glory quilt.  I had about six blocks sewn and managed to finish the rest of them, sew them into a top and get it quilted and bound.  I’m linking this up with Freemotion by the River.

Freemotion by the River is also doing a color challenge each month.  This month the color was BLUE.  I added three more stars to my collection.

The sun and I have never been able to agree on what color I should be - lobster red or beautiful bronze.  Since the red always wins, :( I made a sun hat to wear while gardening.  It is reversible and an easy sew.  The granddaughters want to come sew a few this summer so I guess I can consider it a hit. The  PDF pattern can be found at www.notches-sewing.com and instructions are delivered in an easy to follow you tube video.

 

April Happenings

April has arrived and practically departed in the blink of an eye.  It’s been a busy family month here so not a lot of sewing happened.  We had two granddaughters get married so the sewing this month was basically wedding wear alterations.  I did manage to get my pink stars sewn for Freemotion by the River’s Color of the Month challenge.  (https://conniekresin.com/2026-april-color-of-the-month/) 

Continuing on with the pinks, the epiphyllums are starting to bloom.  The garden has been so interesting this year.  I’m not sure if it was all the early heavy rain or the really warm winter weather, but it has been fun to see how things have been affected.  Winter plants are blooming later and spring blooms are early.

Pomegranates 

I suppose you shouldn’t have favorites, but this might be my favorite rose in the garden.

 I’ve had some serious issues trying to upload photos so please excuse the bulk dump.  Hopefully, I can sort it out before the next post.

March Happenings

 For us, March came in and appears to be going out like a lamb.  We’ve broken heat records day after day.  The garden has gone crazy with the heat.  I picked my first roses of the year on March 14th.  I didn’t even get my roses pruned until the middle of January because of all the rain we had.  It’s been a crazy year!

I was working inside and outside on gardens.  My UFO for the month was a small unfinished garden project.  I couldn’t begin to guess how old this is.  I believe it may have been a Quiltmaker pattern, but please feel free to let me know differently if you know where the pattern was posted.  I’m linking this up at Freemotion by the River .

The paper pieced vegetables still make me smile.

In the garden 

Beets and carrots

Watermelon 

Onions

Tomatoes

Radishes

As well, the March color chosen by Connie was green for her Month of Color link up party.  I added three green stars to my stash.

We had a week’s getaway planned for this month.  It was not quite what we expected, but we enjoyed our down time in Maui.  The Kona Low was VERY interesting.  As they say, “been there, done that” and prefer not to do that again.  The devastation from the days long winds and rain was very real.  I’m sure it will be months, if not years of cleanup and rebuilding for them.  We are not the ones who love to soak up the sunshine so the warm cloudy days were fine for us.  We did have a few days of sun and one sunset!  There were a lot of whales that we could see from our balcony.  

There is one small area on the island that you can occasionally spot the Maui black goats.  They live on the grasses growing in the black lave fields.  They are well camouflaged, but we did spy a mom and kid.  

February UFO

 Woohoo…..two months and two UFO finishes!  Thanks to Connie at  Freemotion by the River I have managed to finish another long waiting UFO.  This one was started in 2014 and is from my trusty scrap basket. I’m really pleased with how it finished.  I have to ask myself why it took me so long.  For one, I gave myself a wide border so I could do a scalloped border.  That meant I needed to make a template.  Then there was that whole bit about biased single binding.  Oh dear!  Anyway, it is now finished and I am so pleased.  

It has a rather fall feel to it so the backing I chose is an autumn-y print.

Of course I obviously needed extra help hand stitching my binding down.

Again at Freemotion by the River, I am linking up my red stars made for February’s color red. 

These are the existing stars that I will be adding to throughout the year.

Taryn at Repro Quilt Lover on IG has chosen the Fancy Four Patch design this year.  We are suppose to do four blocks per week.  I’m a wee short, but these are the ones I have finished so far.  

Blog Revival and Relearning

It has been a day (year) or so since I have posted anything on Blogger.  I'm finding it challenging to relearn how to use it.  They say it is always good to stimulate the mind so I am doing a great job on the task!

I've signed on to a couple of sewalongs this year and thought that a post would be the quickest way to link up.

There have been way too many UFOs hanging out in my closet so I joined Connie over at Freemotion by the River to finish one a month.  To start the year off I chose String of Pearls from Christa Quilts.  I believe this design goes back to 2015.  I always liked the pattern and when a grandson requested a quilt for his dorm room I felt this design would be perfect.  It quilted up beautifully using the Dazzle pantograph from Lorien Quilting. 

 As well, Connie is  doing blocks each month using a different color.  This month the chosen color was teal/aqua.  I made a few confetti stars, a pattern from Amy Friend at During Quiet Time.  I have a lot of these pieced from when I was in a bee swap.  I thought it would be the perfect time to add to them and construct the quilt. I may actually be able to call this quilt a finish by the end of the year.  Win/win.

Now I will see if I can add photos to this post.  I have not used the laptop much, instead using the tablet.  Adding photos to IG was quick and easy, but I have become a bit frustrated with IG.  They seem to throw in all of these posts that "might interest me", making it more difficult to find the posts that I want to follow.  Is anyone else finding the same thing?

On another note, my poinsettia this year has held up during our January heat and our Santa Ana winds to produce beautiful flowers.  It has been in constant bloom since December and is such a welcomed sight each morning.  

This and That for March

 February was a very interesting month of weather for us.  We broke all kinds of cold temperatures and low snow levels.  I am hoping March is a bit kinder to us.  I've been having to cover all of my tender plants each night and it is getting rather old at this point.  We have, however, added inches more rain to help fill up our lakes and streams - all good and welcomed.  We've enjoyed rain, rainbows, hail and snow.  The groundhog was apparently right about six more weeks of winter.  

All the cold temperatures have made me want to stay in the kitchen and turn up the heat.  The Meyer lemons ripen at this time of the year so processing them was necessary.  Lemon curd and preserved lemons are always favorites around here.  Of course, sourdough bread also heats up the kitchen and is great with warm soups.  

A bit of sewing has also been completed.  Our great grandson loves to help his mommy cook, but was in need of an apron.  Doughnuts on one side and vehicles on the other seemed like a good idea for a little guy.

Project Quilting 14.5 prompt for this week was Sew Not a Square.  In the hopes that spring is on the way here, I created a quilted puzzle piece. Instead of sunshine, I added clouds and rain. 

I've been sewing lots of HSTs for my Harrisonburg Quilt Quiltalong (#harrisonburgquiltalong) hosted by Wendy Sheppard.  Harrisonburg is such a gorgeous pattern and it's not too late to join in on it.  I love these blocks.  

When Wendy had her Crockpot Weekend Sewalong, I was selected a winner of a layer cake from P&B fabrics.  It is a beautiful selection of red, black and white fabrics.  I think it will make a gorgeous Christmas quilt.  

 For Valentine's Day, my husband gave me tulips growing in water.  They have lasted so long, but I finally had to call them officially expired today.  I loved seeing  them in the kitchen and will miss them.  I hope the bulbs will bloom again next year.

I hope that March will consider leaving like a lamb.  I am excited about the time change coming up soon.  How about you?