Happy May

Well....I had planned a social media break for Lent and then Covid arrived and everything seemed to go crazy.  Life was so normal when I wrote my last post.  

Like everyone else, I have been sewing masks one after another.  Two of our sons own restaurants and needed masks for all of their employees.  Between those and masks for family and friends, hundreds of masks have been made - different styles and different fabrics.  When elastic was unavailable, I used T-shirt yarn for the ties.  

I was looking forward to some other sewing once the masks were finished.  The grandsons had a remodel of their room to a baseball theme so it was the perfect excuse to use some of my baseball print fabrics that I had been stashing for awhile.

In the garden, the amaryllis finally bloomed.                                                                               

Blocks were made for our Gridster Bee.

And potholders were made for our Potholder Swap.

We've taken drives out to see the spring wildflowers.

We've taken walks on the beach and worn the dogs out.

.....and in all that time, Blogger has changed again.  I am finding myself unable to leave comments on some of my favorite blogs and I have no idea how to enlarge my photos.  I can always count on Blogger to change things up.

Hello Again

Wow....almost three months have passed since I last posted.  Since then Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years and Valentine's Day have come and gone.  All were fabulous, by the way.  Why haven't I posted?  Really there are several reasons.  I have to figure out a better way to import my photos since I had to get a new computer.  It has been a real challenge for me.  Also, what is happening with Blogger that it will not allow me to comment on some blogs?  I write these comments and they never show up.  I thought it was just the new computer, but it is also happening on my iPad.  All of these changes are so frustrating.

Rather that try to go back to November, I'll just share some of the highlights.  The holiday always brings on the yearly Quiltville Mystery QAL.  I really enjoy participating in the event and I always pick up a hint or two in the process of making them.  Although the colors this year were completely out of my comfort zone, I managed to use fabrics already in my stash.  I did change the borders as I could face no more pinks!!  Now I have a gazillion leftover HSTs to use somewhere.

The holidays are always so hectic here.  When the new year rolled around here I just wanted to sew something that was "quiet."  I had an old jelly roll that fit the need.

We had our annual family snow trip and spent a little time at the beach.

DH with our "daughters".

Our Gridster Bee is busy again this year with cute ideas.  Carol requested the TV blocks and Elizabeth is queen this month with her Sawtooth block and envelope signature block.  Instructions for her cute blocks are on her website.

To celebrate a couple of holidays, a few minis were made here.  The heart is a free tutorial found at Freemotion by the River blog.

Temecula Quilt free pattern

I picked my winter "mini" pineapple and it was delicious - so sweet and juicy.  If you are interested in raising your own pineapple, it takes a few years.  Just dry out the top of a fresh pineapple, plant it in a pot and w...a...i….t!  I have an ongoing pineapple garden here.

Size compared to tangerine.

I will try to be better about posting, but if you are not seeing a comment from me on your posts, it could very possibly be because I can't.

Bits and Pieces

Can you believe that Thanksgiving is next week?  The year has flown by in break neck speed.  The college kids will be home this week in time for our Thanksgiving feast.  It's such a great time of the year.  The temps have finally cooled off and we actually had a measurable (1/4") rain today.  it's certainly not enough to end our fire season, but every drop helps.  The dogs were quite amused to see moisture dropping from the sky.

 

My sewing has me jumping from one project to another lately.  While searching for another project, I discovered a tube that had a snowman kit inside of it.  I bought it years ago when a LQS was going out of business....maybe 12 years ago????  I've been very negligent in participating in Minis and More lately.  This month is a "choose your own project" so I thought it would be fun to sew up Frosty.  Be sure to check out the Minis and More Parade on December 1st on Michele's and Sherri's blogs.

It involved a lot of 1" finished squares and a fusible grid, but I think he turned out pretty cute.

Recently, Carole from My Carolina Home blog had her annual Autumn Jubilee with lots of fabulous autumn projects.  There were also many giveaways.  I was lucky enough to win The Ultimate Presser Foot Set.  I had been interested in this set for some time, but wasn't sure how it would work with my machine. You can imagine how excited I was to hear that I had won it.  Each foot is so well made and heavy duty.  I've tried several of them already and have been very pleased with them.  Included is a universal adaptor for the snap on feet.  It does not work for my Bernina, but I have a Bernina adaptor and the feet snap onto it easily.  Also included is an instructional DVD.  My goal is to try each foot in some creative sewing.

Another sweet gift came from my sister.  She recently took a trip to Japan and managed to find a charming little sewing shop.  Just look at the TINY little treasures she found.  The detail on these pins is nothing short of incredible - a ruler, measuring tape, pin cushion, thread and scissors.  I am holding up a red glass head pin so you can get some perspective of the size of these little gems.

Check out this amazing wooden needle case with pincushion, thread, needles and snips inside the beautiful wooden box.

Lastly, she brought back some beautiful fabrics.

The annual Bonnie Hunter QAL is quickly approaching.  I've sorted through my fabric bins and have pulled out fabrics that may work for it.  The first clue comes out in a little over a week.  Are you joining this year?

A small wall hanging was finished as well.  This was a pattern from Urban Elementz,  It was fun to pull out all my wild prints.

Motivated by so many working on Jen Kingwell's,  My Small World, I have jumped aboard and started one myself.  Section 1 and 2 are completed.

Continuing on with my "hopping around", I attempted rope bowls.  I've seen so many pretty ones and decided to give them a try.  This was such a fun project and I am so pleased with the way they turned out.

We had little ones over the weekend.  This one kept me jumping.  

Bi-Monthly Check In

I seriously did not mean to take such a long break from my blog.  However, it has been an exciting last few months.  We made several out of town trips, including one overseas.

One thing we try to do is visit the freshman grandchildren once they are settled into their dorms.  For this trip we headed up to Boise, Idaho.  The college is right in the center of town and it is a beautiful setting.

Driving home, we hit an early snowstorm in the Sierras.  Maybe it will be a water filled year for us.  

I had taken some hand sewing for the car trip and found it humorous to see the carpet in the hotel matched my project.

Once we returned from that trip, there were Halloween costumes (no pictures yet), a fall table runner, my October Gridster Bee blocks for Lisa (IG nymblefyngers), and a bow tie for a grandson to make.

My sister from Alaska came to visit and we got two of her quilts quilted on the longarm.  I'll have to get pictures from her for those, but they were as beautiful as her other ones have been.

Then it was off to Prague for a river cruise on the Danube with my sister, brother and their spouses.  The trip was amazing with incredible sights and so much history.  We enjoyed stops in Pilsen, Vilshofen, Passau, Regensburg, Melk, Vienna and finally Budapest.  There was so much to see and do along the way, but we loved the quaint little town of Passau and the much bigger town of Budapest.  I'll share just a few of my favorite highlights.  If you want to see more, I posted some on my IG account (needledmom).

The town of Pilsen was so pretty and colorful.  It had been under Communist rule until 30 years ago and all buildings were painted gray.  Imagine how busy the painters must have been!

See the Lipizzaner Stallion poking his head out?  These were elegant stables.

The first two days at home were busy trying to get the house up and running after several days of power outages from the fires.  We live just a few miles from the Reagan Library and were grateful to the firefighters who were able to stop the progress before it reached us.  It was a bit unnerving to get an emergency alert on our cell phones in the middle of the night while we were in Prague.  Those calls were followed by texts from our children asking us what they should pack at our house for evacuation!

I finally got back to some sewing yesterday.  I'd missed it.  I quilted and finished up a heart quilt for our great grandbaby who turned one today.  It is backed in such a soft pink minky fabric.  The pattern is a freebie from Connie at Freemotion By the River.  As well, I made and mailed off my November Gridster Bee blocks to Allison (IG quiltstudio62).

Hopefully, I won't be gone as long next time.