Quilts, Monarchs, Flowers and Such

 The main problem with posting so seldom is trying to capture everything in one post.  It has been a busy month around here.  

Sewing started the month off with a gifted quilt for a friend of my DIL who just started chemo for breast cancer.  Snails Trail seemed like an appropriate pattern for the slow months ahead of chemo, radiation, double mastectomy and reconstruction.

The camera angles make one look quite long and thin while the other is square,  It is actually a generous sized throw..  

It progressed to more fun sewing, baby burp cloths and a Christening gown for a baby shower for our eldest granddaughter.  I completely forgot to take a picture of the gown, but will do so at the Christening.  

Then we slipped off to Hawaii for a week of complete relaxation.  It was heavenly!  The view from our balcony was glorious and we enjoyed the sunsets everyday.  The flowers there were also fantastic.  

Can you spot the courting gecko?

This masterpiece was hanging in our hotel lower lobby, artist "unknown". 
A reminder to label your quilts!  (110" square)

From our room we had a view of the hotel gardens below us.  It was such fun to watch the progress of their plantings from when we arrived.  I wouldn’t mind that job!

It’s always fun to return home and see what is happening in my own gardens.  So much is blooming now.  

Cymbidiums.  Many of these once belonged to my dad.  He had quite a green thumb.

Clivia.  These were all started from seeds that my BIL gave me.

Roses...I love this one.  It is called Tuscan Sun by Jackson and Perkins.   

We’ve had so many monarch cocoons this year.  Many have flown free already, but I have several left to hatch.  One is going to break free sometime today and I am trying to capture it on a video.  It’s soooo close.

Lastly, this past week our daughter’s Golden Retriever had ten puppies.  OMGoodness....cuteness galore.  Fear not.....that is not a handmade quilt, but would be worth it.  ;-)

Hello, Hello.....

 Hello again!  Wow, has it really been two months since I wrote my last post?  I guess it's true what they say about time flying when you are having fun.  I just know that it is pretty pathetic when you have to look through your phone photos to see what has happened since the middle of January.

Life has been good as well as busy with plenty of yard work to get ready for the year.  Slowly, but surely, little problem pockets are also being sorted out inside.  In between all of that, sewing HAS to happen to satisfy my needs.  

My scrappy Log Cabin is now all pieced.  It has finished up to be a very generous queen sized top.  

As well, my leader ender project from last year is also together and in the to-be-quilted pile.  I went with a burgundy colored first border and a multi colored dot for the outer border.  It has already been claimed by a granddaughter who told me that she has outgrown her baby quilt!

The scrap basket remains full, but not overflowing as badly as it was.  

I had some fun playing with a bit of monoprinting, using a lime from the orchard.  I used my piece to construct a pouch for a swap partner.  The pattern is the Essential Pouch from #sokahandmadepatterns.  It went together beautifully.  

The monarch butterflies are back and busy laying eggs.  This volunteer milkweed plant seems to be their spot of choice.  Unfortunately, it is not helping my gorgeous hibiscus look healthy.  

I'll try to not wait so long before posting again.  I hope everyone enjoys a great St. Patrick's Day.  

Resolutions

 Does it seem like the start of this year seemed less about resolutions?  I really did not hear much talk about them.  I've never been a fan of new year's resolutions so I've never participated in the sport of making them.  I know what I want to accomplish, but nothing really changes just because a new date has rolled around.  

Always on the list of "guilts" are UFOs.  Somehow, those guilty feelings can be cast aside when something sparks my interest.  Squirrels....isn't that what those are called?  

One major eyesore in my creative space are the endless 1.5" strips that multiply like rabbits.  Why is it so hard to throw something that small in the trash???  Having finished a leader/ender quilt using many of them, one would think the bin would have been diminished.  Nope!  So....I decided to reduce the number of them more quickly by sewing up log cabin blocks.  (Why is it that everyone seems to be sewing log cabin blocks right now?) They go quickly and once I get a decent sized quilt done with them, I am going to dump the rest of them.  I promise....no more guilt!!!

I do think that I am going to have to seriously consider figuring out a way to add some sort of design wall.  The floor just is not working anymore.  I'm not really sure why it is that the dogs cannot stand to see me put my blocks on the floor.  My problem is that I do not have a lot of wall space in my studio.  What I do have is taken up by bookshelves or my cutting table. I hesitate spreading into the adjoining guest room.

There is also this little problem with my scrap basket.  They all fit in the basket until I started pulling them out to sew them.  Now, it's as if they have been freed and are taking over the sewing room like an erupting volcano.  

The weather has been absolutely beautiful for the last week.  We need rain so badly, but it has been perfect for getting out, soaking up the vitamin D and pruning roses.  I had several grandsons come to help me with the task and nearly one hundred roses were completed in record time.  It was tough to prune them as they were still blooming. 

Colette had made a great looking loaf of Sourdough Cinnamon Raisin bread.  Since I am always looking for recipes using my starter, I had to give it a try.  It was, as Colette said, absolutely delicious!  Everything about it was fabulous and I am sure it will become a frequently made bread here. 

 

I've been a part of a group of six gals who have sewn together for a number of year.  Each year we choose a different project and this year we are doing what we call our "Sow's Ear to Silk Purse".  We sent and unloved piece of fabric to our partner and they were to create a "silk purse" and return it.  Irene sent me the blue paisley fabric and, in return, I created a table topper for her.   

 

One of the younger granddaughters has been over and learning to sew.  She is doing a great job and thoroughly loving it.  I have had her using an older White sewing machine that I bought when the local college ended their homemaking courses many years ago.  There were a lot of labels added to these old machines by the different manufacturers.  It is basically a Dressmaker machine, a model of the Singer Class 15.  The tension knob is located on the side of the machine rather than on the front. It is a real workhorse and sews very well.  After doing a good servicing of it and replacing the tension spring, I am sending it home with her so she can have it when she gets the urge to sew.   These old, heavy duty workhorses are so great for young seamstresses.   It is also such a pretty color!

That's been my NO resolution January!  Are you one who makes resolutions?

Farewell to 2020

 I can't say that I am one bit sorry to see 2020 ending.  It has been one crazy year that was devastating to the world we knew.  I really hope that 2021 will be a GREAT improvement.  I am definitely ready to move on and put this year to bed once and for all.  I hope that I never experience an event that will forever be recorded in history again.  Once was more than enough.

Christmas here was wonderful with family.  Like the Grinch, Covid did not stop Christmas from coming.  It may not have been as grand as normal, but it was a celebration nonetheless.  

There was a lot of Christmas sewing happening in my studio over the last month.  The granddaughters were home from college and ready to sew,  We had so many fantastic days together.  I'm sure it will take awhile to find things in my studio with the way fabrics were flying!  lol  Needless to say, I did not have much of a chance to get to my own sewing with my machines in such demand, but I did get a few things done.

One of the granddaughters loved my Grinch that I did several years ago and we ran out of time to have her do one before Christmas so I sewed one up for her as a surprise.

Jumping off from a beautiful coaster that Maria sent me, I made gift card holders for some of the grandchildren who were getting gift cards for Christmas.  

I also sewed a couple more flannel nightgowns for some of the granddaughters.  As well, there were many mask requests for the holidays.  It's fun to sew masks that reflect a person's interests. 

My Escher Cubed got completely pieced in spite of a little help from the two dogs.  I think I am going to leave the points on it when I quilt it.  They just seem to finish the design a bit better.  However, binding will be interesting.  

I'm looking forward to the new year with new projects to tackle.  What are your plans for 2021?  I have a million ideas, but just wish I had enough time in my lifetime to do them all.  

Happy new year to all.......

Happy Post Thanksgiving

It is hard to believe that Thanksgiving arrived.  It has been such a strange and unwelcomed year, but it has helped us to count our blessings.  We have found blessings in simple things this year, things we generally take for granted.  We have found time to explore new avenues, some because we wanted to and others because we had to do so.  Now we head into the Christmas season and the putting of 2020 to bed once and for all.

My latest adventure in my creative world has been working on a quilt filled with luscious Kaffe Fasset fabrics.  I was so inspired by an Escher quilt that Ramona made and knew I had to tackle a similar  project myself.  The geometric design is right up my alley.   This is a quilt that could go very wrong VERY QUICKLY, but my first four rows have gone together well.  I love it.  The depth of the interlocking cubes is fascinating to me.  

This one is called Escher Cubed and it is constructed using 60* triangle pieces (with y-seams) in proper color combinations.   

I also finished my fall quilt that was this year's Autumn Jubilee quilt from Carole at From My Carolina Home.  I believe it is still a free pattern. We have been enjoying it throughout the season and look forward to decorating with it for many more years. I quilted it using Dream Wool batting so it has a marvelous texture to the quilting.

Of course, any quilt on the floor is meant to be slept on.  There were two on it until I admonished them.  Note how one takes the discipline!!  Sigh.  

Our Gridster Bee block for the month of December is for a feather block.  I love the block even though I did have some issues with printing it out.  My first one ended up being a smidge too small so I have one to keep for myself!  It is a free download from Zen Chic.

As the weather has turned a bit more fall-ish here, I have had requests for some flannel nightgowns from the granddaughters.  I used my ruffler attachment on my Singer 201 and just loved how it did the ruffling so perfectly.  

While working out in the garden, we came across these two little guys.  They must have hatched sometime this fall and managed to survive.  I did not see the momma lay this batch of eggs.  We did adopt them out to new homes as they needed to be rescued from the birds who like to eat them when they are small.  

In the garden, the pomegranate tree is absolutely loaded this year.  We've been juicing them and giving them away as fast as we can!  As with any tree like that, when it rains, it pours.  They will be good for Christmas decorating too.  

We have just finished off what I assume will be the last of the tomatoes for the year.  The temperatures have been a bit too chilly for fruit to set these late November days. 

 

Onwards into the Christmas season.....