In With the Old

January is suppose to be out with the old and in with the new....right?  I am so tempted by "new" projects being shown on IG and blogs, but I am determined to finish some of my older UFOs.  I have told myself that I can start something new AFTER I finish two old ones.  I don't even want to count how many UFOs are hiding here.

That being said, I did participate in the yearly Mystery Quilt at Quiltville.com.  I changed mine up color wise.

Once I finished it, I decided to make it a bit bigger by adding a paper pieced strip border to it.  What's fifty two more paper pieced strip blocks anyway?  It now measures 84" square which will make a nice sized quilt.

I can honestly say that not one new fabric was purchased for this quilt.  YEAH.  I just don't understand why the stash does not appear to have gone down any.  

Now for the "old" project.  I have had a stack of Scrappy Mountain blocks sitting on my ironing area F-O-R-E-V-E-R!  I refused to remove them for fear they would end up in the dark spot.  I played around with a few layouts and decided on the second, but the first one intrigued me too.

Several years ago Lori Holt had a Bloom Sewalong.  I had all of my templates and a stash of old and new retro fabrics, but never managed to get my blocks sewn.  This year Cheryll is using the same pattern for another SAL.  I dug out my fabrics and templates and then  managed to get the first block sewn.

On the gardening side of life, January means rose pruning here.  Although it cuts into sewing time, it is a great feeling to get them finished.  It won't be long before they are blooming again.   Inside, the amaryllis sent up a second bloom of four more flowers.

To close I will leave a picture of what happens around here when one leaves a quilt on the floor while auditioning borders.  I think I need a design wall!

Black and White Blog Hop

Today is my day to share my project for the Black and White Blog Hop.  Thanks so much for our super talented host, Carla, for organizing this hop.

I went a different route for this hop by creating a Figet Blanket.  These are used in memory care facilities for the patients who enjoy the textures, colors and interest of the blankets to occupy their time and give them something to handle with their busy hands. At approximately 15 x 20 inches, it easily fits on a lap or table top.

The recipient of this one is a long retired teacher who continues to love to read words.  She was also a seamstress.  There are so many wonderful text prints out there now so I dug through the stash and picked some that I thought would be interesting for her.

Once opened, you can see all of the items of interest to handle and feel.

Starting in the corner, there is a working watch sewn onto a clock fabric background.

There are keys, a spring and a velcro tab with a chalkboard background.

More word fabric that has news stories of perhaps distant memories.  There is also an old wooden spool with red "thread".

Hiding out in a lower pocket is a finger puppet of a little mouse.  The pocket has added buttons and applique for more tactile stimulation.

Lions, links and letter beads......

There's a zippered pocket that has a zipper pull for easier access and can hold treasures - a plastic room card, a comb, a toothbrush and a squeaker toy.  The added prairie points throughout add even more texture and interest. 

The middle finishes off with more text fabrics of sewing terms and cats with red umbrellas.  Sewn to that are multiple strands of textured strings - ribbons, ric rac, lace and cording.

Should you know of someone with memory issues or should you have a memory care facility near you, I recommend that you search your fabrics and bits to make a few.  They are enjoyed for hours each day.  A hint if you make them would include sewing things down well.  I stitch down all knots so they cannot be untied, thus making the items removable.  You do not want small objects becoming choking hazards.  They are really fun to personalize if you know the recipient's interests.  

Please be sure to check out the other participants in this weeks Black and White Hop.  I know that I am looking forward to seeing all of the creations.

Black & White Blog Hop Schedule

Monday, January 21st

Just Let Me Quilt
Needled Mom
Tu-Na Quilts, Travels, and Eats
Life in Scrapatch
QuiltFabrication
Scrapdash
Bumbleberry Stitches
keepsake moments
Vroomans Quilts

Tuesday, January 22nd

MooseStash Quilting
SewFreshQuilts
Elizabeth Coughlin Designs
Quilts by Joanne
PamelaQuilts
That Fabric Feeling
Songbird Designs
Two Maker Chicks


Wednesday, January 23

Selina Quilts
Beaquilter
Quilt in a not-Shell
Patchwork Breeze
Adventurous Applique and Quilting
Kathleen McMusing
Cynthia's Creating Ark
Everyone Deserves a Quilt
Homespun Hannah's Blog

Thursday, January 24

Quiltscapes
Seams to be Sew
Storied Quilts
Kathy's Kwilts and More
Ms P Designs USA
Den syende himmel
Melva Loves Scraps
The Joyful Quilter
Creatin' in the Sticks

Good Fortune Flimsy

My Bonnie Hunter Mystery quilt is now a flimsy.  I really enjoy making a quilt this way with all the pieces sewn first and then made into blocks.  I know how bored I can get making block after block. 

I've never been a fan of applying borders, but these were the biggest nightmare of my quilt.  I sewed my blue and neutral border on and then three of the green HST borders.  The green was on upside down, but I was fine with that.  I actually liked the corners better.  BUT......when I got to the last border, I realized that my blue borders were on wrong.  Rip, rip, rip.  Green borders off.  More rip, rip, rip.  Three blue borders off.  What's that?  Only one blue border was wrong?   Of course it was the one that I hadn't ripped off yet.  Sheesh.  How stupid can I be?  I was especially glad that I had shortened my stitch length for all those borders!!  NOT.  I finally stepped away from the machine for the day. The next day I was right back where I started the day before.  In the end the borders all fit on well, even after all of the handling. 

This was when I threw it down in a heap after realizing that un-sewing would be required.

To add insult to injury, as they say, I also got my finger a bit too involved in my stitching and broke off my needle threader on my sewing machine.  I'll have to go back to the aiming game until I can get a new one.

Throughout the whole ordeal, my sister (IG alaskanquilter) and I were texting with each other.  She is also doing the Good Fortune quilt.  Her version is very elegant looking in teals and reds.  It was especially nice to have a sympathetic ear during my trials.  I'm sure she saved this from becoming an UFO.

I'm still contemplating adding 6" neutral strip blocks for a final border to make it a bit larger.  It would bring it up to 84" square. It was another great pattern from Bonnie. 

We've had such dark and rainy days for the last few weeks so the pictures outside will have to wait.

Be sure to check back on the 21st to see my Black and White project that I stitched up for the Black and White Blog Hop hosted by Carla at Creatin in the Sticks. 

My last post was December 13th!  I can't believe that so much has happened since then.  I won't even try to catch up with all that has happened, but we had a fabulous Christmas.  There was lots of entertaining, cooking, cleaning and all that goes along with the joyful time of the year.

We also did a lot of germ sharing which easily spread through all of us.  They do say that holidays are for sharing!

Winter has settled in here with unseasonally cold temperatures.  I'm ready for some of those warm temperatures we had last year.  As you can tell by looking at my temperature quilt from 2018, it was a warm one.

The colors are not really true in the photo.  A truer color is below, but the winds were blowing too hard to get an outside photo shoot.

It's nice to have the new year with a clean slate for some stitching.  I am not one to make lists, but I hope to get some of my UFOs finished up this year.  In between I will be participating in a few blog hops - the first one will be the Black and White blog hop starting on January 21st.

Once again, I will be a member of two bees this year - the Gridster Bee (IG #gridsterbee) and my Sewing With Friends swap group. Our January Gridster Bee block is for colorful trees.

 

In our Sewing With Friends group we are finishing up swapping table runners this month.  Ida's request was for a Christmas themed topper.

I have slowly been stitching the Good Fortune Mystery quilt clues together.  It will be fun to see the blocks come together.

My hope is to do a better job with my blogging this year.  I wish you all a wonderful 2019.  

Tis the Season

In all the busyness of the season, it's hard to slow down long enough to enjoy all the beauty that surrounds us at this time of the year.  I'm no meteorologist, but it does seem like the sunrises and sunsets are the most stunning at this time of the year.  Perhaps it is that way to make us pause and appreciate the beauty that surrounds us.

The beaches are lovely as well - a great place for a walk and quiet time.  There is so much driftwood from the fires last year that has made its way down to the beaches.

The narcissus are blooming in the yard and in the amaryllis is blooming inside.

There has been lots of entertaining going on, but we managed to slip away for a couple of days to see Reba, Brooks and Dunn in Las Vegas with my sister, brother and their spouses.  It was such a great show.  The show was the night before Reba flew out to sing at the Bush funeral.  Now....that's a tight schedule!

We had little ones over the other night to help decorate the tree and go look at Christmas lights.  The top of the tree is pretty bare, but the bottom is loaded with ornaments!

There hasn't been a lot of stitching going on here.  I did get the final stitches in on the newest grandchild's Christmas stocking.

I'm way behind on my clues for the Quiltville Mystery, Good Fortune, but I am trying to sew a few each week.

Christmas cards are on the agenda for today so best get to them.....

I'll leave you with this cute lawn decoration we spotted on our trip to the desert.

Finished Stag

Back in the beginning of 2018 I started sewing along with others in a months long mystery designed by Gosia of Quilts My Way. The final clue was released and it was time to finish up our wonderful stags.

I really wanted to quilt it using the invisible threads, but I had so many issues with my thread breaking so ended up going with a salmon colored thread instead.  It seemed like a neutral color for both the light and dark fabric that the design contained.

Straight line quilting seemed like a good option, but then thought of adding the leaves considering the design needed a hint of nature.  If I had unlimited time to get this guy finished I would have done a more detailed FMQ in the stag himself.  I am still pleased with the way it turned out.  The E2E quilting design is called Split Leaf Line by Lana Corcoran.

Using the piped binding with this quilt just seemed to be the perfect frame for the piece.

I did a pieced backing using some wonderful antler fabric.  The colors of the cream and brown in the fabric were perfect for the design.

You can find many other elegant stags out there on Goaia's blog (www.quiltsmyway.blogspot.com), IG (#sodearlyqal), FB (Quilts My Way modern patterns) and various blogs.  They have all been beautiful as well as colorful.  There is even time to join in and do one with us.  All the information is on Gosia's blog.

Thanks so much to Gosia and the generous donors for helping to make this such a fun project.

Goodbye November

Wow....where did November go?  What a month it was!  The weather has definitely changed over to winter for many this month.  We are thankful to have the warm winds flaming the fires finally gone, but today we had cold winds and rain which, in turn, left us without power most of the day.  We go from one extreme to the other.

Of course, the end of November also means the start of the newest Quiltville Mystery.  I made myself promise to finish last year's On Ringo Lake before I started the newest one.  Quilting and binding were all that remained.

I decided to do the piped binding so I could finish it quickly on the machine and I am pleased with the way it turned out.

So...on to this year's Good Fortune.  As you can see, I am switching up the colors a bit, but they are done and ready for tomorrow's clue.

The last few weeks have been busy with Thanksgiving and enjoying the grandchildren home from college.  We always celebrate our Thanksgiving on the Saturday afterwards so the kids can go to in-laws or do their own Thanksgiving on Thursday.  Why is the timing of cooking a turkey always such am unknown?  DH smokes turkey breasts outside (as that is the favorite here) while I do one turkey in the oven inside.  Seems like the inside turkey is always done too early or too late.  Anyway, the food and the company were both great.  The house was wall to wall tables.  I wish I had photographed it, but the day got away from me.  We did manage to get most of us in for a drone photo, compliments of our grandson.

This is the time of the year when I'm ready to get back in the kitchen for some serious baking.  The smell of homemade bread is intoxicating.  My grandmother's egg bread is my favorite, hands down.

I also tried a new recipe from the Cooking Light magazine.  It was incredible and I am sure there are very few calories since it came from Cooking Light.  It has always been one of my favorite magazines, and unfortunately, it is stopping production.

It's time to add my final month marker to my Temperature Quilt.  I will post a picture of it on my next post as the day has been too dark to get a decent picture.

We have another large dinner party next week so it is back to cooking and decorating this week.