Updates - The Good and The Bad

 In looking back at last Monday's post, I was having such a good day.  We were have an ice storm, so no piano lessons, and a whole day in the sewing room!  I had a baby quilt loaded to quilt and something went wrong with the design............my circles were definitely not circles.  It was decided that the best thing to do was unload it and pick out just over a row of quilting - at least it was a baby quilt size!  So the afternoon was spent updating my tablet.  Windows took a few hours to update, and then I had to do the update to my quilting program and go through all the setup steps on that again.  That took the whole afternoon.  At least while I was waiting for it to update, I worked on a long overdue project and covered a cushion for my piano bench.  I had purchased the foam for this project and then had stored it in the closet for almost 2 years.  After all the updates, I loaded a couple of pieces of fabric and just quilted all evening making sure everything was ok.  It was!

So then I loaded Harriett's Braid............

I figured that if there were mistakes, they would be less likely to show in this one.  It turned out beautifully.  And here is the quilting on the back............you may have to zoom in more to see it.

I finished the binding during the Chief's win last night.  I also finished the binding on the baby quilt, but am going to add something to it before posting a photo.  When I reloaded it (after a few days of picking out stitches) and quilted it, I was almost finished at the bottom when something snagged which tore a whole in both the top and the back.  I've thought of a way to cover that so will post pics when it's done.

My other big quilting projects for the week were 16 table runners for my mom.  I requested that she use one big piece of backing so that I would only have to load it one time.  

It made quite the roll on the longarm.  I was cleaning out closets and found this tube and just rolled them off the longarm onto it.  I used a different design on each one, so it was fun to try different things.  Mom has a lot of binding ahead of her.

I'm still plugging away at the Bonnie Hunter mystery - Indigo Way..........

Esme was helping me count blocks to see if I was anywhere close to done.  All of the counting wore her out..............

But, after counting and sewing the ones that were cut, there were enough of each kind of block to lay it out on the floor in Sarah's room.  There's a lot to this layout and it will take awhile to sew together, so I closed the door to avoid any block surfing by the cats.  They are pretty put out by this development.

Esme did hang out on the back of the couch while I was binding last night.............

I just flipped my phone up a couple of times to get her picture.

It's a rough job, but someone has to supervise!

Well it took all day to get this post done plus 3 loads of laundry, bathroom cleaning, kitchen floor sweeping, six piano lessons and a trip to town.  

Christi

Good Things!

Remember watching Martha Stewart (prior to her legal issues) and hearing her say, "It's a Good Thing" while sharing some amazing thing we too could do?  Well, this post is full of Good Things.

1.  We got a package from Ukraine!  It was such a surprise.  We haven't mailed anything to Yuliya since the Russian invasion, so it was wonderful to get something from her.  

This means we can send her something for her birthday in March!  I have a quilt ready that I had made for her during the first part of the invasion.  We are working collecting a few more additions to the box so that we will have it ready to mail at the beginning of February.  We also skyped with her so she could translate some things for us and we could thank her for the gifts.  The chocolate is delicious!

2.  We finally got our beef from the locker and got it all distributed to everyone.  This entailed a trip to Hamilton to meet my parents.  I got to check out the new Santa store...........

And I also purchased this really fun Scooby Doo Valentine fabric to make a pillowcase for Sarah.  

3.  I made pulled pork nachos!  My own creation............I did the pulled pork in my instapot and it was delicious.

4.  The Chiefs won last night!  It was hard to watch, so I had to work on my birthday puzzle.  It was too dangerous to have a needle in my hand to do handwork...........the danger of blood, you know.

The puzzle was completed before the game was.

5.  And speaking of handwork, I now have 5 of the 12 blocks for the Mr. Snow sew-along completed.  

6.  Valentine's Day decorations are out..............even the furry ones!

Hope your day is filled with Good Things!

Christi

The Deep Freeze! and 2024 Goals!

The cold came and is still here.  Schools have been closed as have most of my activities and I've barely been out of the house.  Willow finally decided to spend one night IN her luxury carpeted and heated dog house.

 Yes, she even has a quilt!  We've only seen her in there one night through all this cold. 

 I have been seeing piano students and have spent a lot of time quilting.  This log cabin - a UFO - got completed last night.

I love how it turned out.  I like log cabin blocks and I really enjoy twisting and turning them to create different patterns.  So that's 4 finished UFO's!

I also got Harriett's Braid to a finished flimsy.  This took forever because of the partial seams.  It's totally from scraps.

I'll never make this one again.  

And with Esme's help, I took the leftover half square triangles from the Vintage Christmas quilt and made Christmas tree blocks and put them in a long table runner.

She approves this use of scraps!  I finished the table runner last night and just need to find backing and batting for it and clean up the cutting table.  I'll probably throw something on the longarm today so that I can get back to quilting.  

I realize that I have never blogged about my 2024 goals and January is halfway over.  So here they are:

1.  Try to blog at least twice a week - so far, so good on this one!

2.  Work on using the stash of strips and squares that are already cut  and turning them into quilts.

3.  I made a list of all the pieces of wide backings I have and I want to make quilts to fit them.  (so far, I have used the smallest one to recover my ironing board and I have one for the back of Harriett's Braid).

4.  Try making blocks with curves like drunkard's path.

5.  Quilt more for other people.

And of course, I'm working on that list of UFO's!

So that is the update from snowy cold mid MO!

Christi

Bring on the Cold!

 The hubster announced at bedtime last night that "we" would be putting the heated mattress pad back on the bed today.  The "he" part of "we" did just that first thing this morning.  The "me" part of "we" has washed the sheets and remade the bed.  We are expecting frigid temps all through the weekend and more snow.  

This guy seems to be all prepared with his exceptional coat of fur............

David caught Charlie, one of my Covid 2020 kitties who lives outside in the woods and sneaks into the yard at night to eat.  Willow has successfully banished Wicket, Charlie, and Boots to the perimeter of the yard.  We don't know exactly where they nest, but judging by the coat of hair on this guy and his weight (which I estimated at 20-25lbs), they are doing ok.  He didn't even need much brushing  

He curled into my arms as best he could based on his size.  He purred and snuggled for the longest time.

We even watched a little TV together.  Esme was not impressed.

He eventually went back outside.  

With the snow and cold coming, I predict more sewing for the weekend.  And maybe some baking.  After all, it would help keep the house warm.  I am sick of working on the Bonnie Hunter mystery so have put it in time out.  I'm also putting away the Star Trails quilt for awhile and will dig out something else to work on..............maybe Harriett's Braid.  And I may throw something on the longarm to quilt.

Everyone try to stay warm and safe!

Christi

Show and Tell

 The winter weather yesterday caused all the schools to close - and most quilt shops!  The hubster wanted to make a trip to Sedalia to get some things he "needed".  I tagged along to enjoy lunch out and make sure he returned a shirt to Penney's that didn't fit.  I stayed in the truck most of the time but did get out at the Farm & Home store.  It's one of my favorites.  Just inside the door was this display......

Garden seeds!  I guess they were trying to give us hope in this wintry weather!

Our guild meeting was also cancelled last night.  It won't be rescheduled so I took photos of all my show and tell and will just post them rather than hold them over to February........I may have some more things done by then!

I had recently finished the remaining 3 Fab Farm quilts, an Elizabeth Hartmann pattern.  

This one had a blue plaid flannel backing...........

# 2

It had a red check backing...........

and #3.......

It had a green polka dot flannel backing.....

They were all quilted with an argyle pattern which I think looks like chicken wire.  They were so much fun to make and I can't wait to gift them. 

It's another snow day here, but I will have piano lessons.  Esme keeps trying to herd me upstairs to the sewing room.  Maybe we'll get there.

Christi 

Snow Day!

 This was the scene out the back door just prior to the first piano lesson of 2024 yesterday - and it was the only lesson I had all day as the snow really picked up and the roads got very icky!  At least I got to see one student.

Earlier in the morning, Willow had been enjoying a bone.  

This morning, she and Kenzie are curled up together on their bed just outside the door.  Of course, they could be here...........

a nice large carpeted dog house with a heat lamp just outside the back door!  But no, if they were inside the doghouse, they might miss seeing something!  David is so disgusted.  He says their brains are as empty as that doghouse!

SEW............Snow Day, Sew Day!  That's where most of today will be spent.  I have to do some tax forms and am planning to cook a nice lunch and some potato soup for supper, but the rest of the day should be spent in the sewing room.

I recently finished binding on a third baby quilt (photos are coming).  Esme helped cut the binding strips!  She is so good at holding down the fabric.

I also have all the components cut for Star Trails, so am anxious to work on that.

And Bonnie Hunter did release the final reveal clue of her mystery last Friday.  I have all of the A blocks complete and hope to start working on the B blocks soon.

It is still snowing here this morning, so I guess I will just have to sew the day away!

Christi

Mystery Quilting!

I started Bonnie Hunter's annual mystery quilt on Black Friday.  I had sworn off doing these for the past few years, but decided to give it another try this year.  She releases a clue every Friday starting on Black Friday.  I did good and got the first clue finished before the first week was over.  It went down hill after that.  By the time the fifth clue was released, I was mired down in clue 3 (which involved 640 pieces!).  I have been pushing through though.  I had clues 1-4 complete, had skipped over clue 5 and had clue 6 cut when Bonnie suddenly dropped another clue YESTERDAY!  So I skipped ahead to work on clue 7.  The total piece count for clues 1-7 is 2532!   I had lots of help yesterday.

Esme helped read the instructions from my tablet.  Then she lent a paw for cutting the red strips.

She started to grow weary of "seeing red" so took the opportunity to rest a little while still keeping her paw on the fabric.

Eventually she just threw her whole body into the job!

Since I know Bonnie is going on a trip next week, I'm expecting some rapid fire clues to be released this week before she leaves.  

The last of the paint job is complete and drying.  I still need to wash the Christmas quilts and put them away.  End of the year bookkeeping awaits!  

We went to friends house to have supper - a delicious butternut squash soup - and play games last night.  We learned progressive spades.  I had the high score of the night (unlike being the low score the night before at the pitch tables).  Unfortunately, this was a game like golf - low score wins!  

Pretty sure I ran a fever in the night and have lots of sinus drainage which is making my throat sore.  Paint fumes are probably a contributing factor to the sinus issues.  Anyway, after being out the last 2 nights (don't we sound like party animals?), a nap is inevitable today...........maybe as soon as I make this post!

Christi

Happy New Year!

 Welcome 2024!  I'm going to try to be more diligent about blogging this year (New Year's Resolution #1).  We saw the New Year in at a card party with friends.  We enjoyed good food and played pitch.  I was the low scoring woman, so received a prize!

Speaking of playing cards, I recently figured out how to make card holders with the help of a tutorial online.  I used a couple of old CDs, some batting scraps and a couple of buttons.  I made 3 (all the old CDs I could find at the time) and have gifted 2 of them to cousins and am saving one for my dad.

I have spent the last few days cleaning, painting, taking down Christmas decs, and working in my sewing room.  I went into 2023 with 20 UFO's and I completed 19 of them.  I made a new list for 2024 which amazingly had 20 items until I did a little more digging and organizing and came up with a couple more.  So I am starting 2024 with 22 UFO's in the sewing room.  

Here is the list...........

Double Four Patch

Harriett's Pioneer Braid

Log Cabin

Christmas Dauphin Island

Solstice

Circle of Nines Farm Panel

Vintage Christmas

Four Patches

Star Trails

Mr. Snow SAL

Indigo Way

Two X Five

Baby Moda Love Charm

Fab Farm 1

Fab Farm 2

Fab Farm 3

Happiness Blooms Tiny Blocks

Space Cats Scraps

Log Cabin Scraps

Farm Panel Blocks

Little Christmas Squares

Christmas Tree Leftovers

The Double Four Patch at the top of the page is the leftover from the 2023 list.  Five are ready to quilt, two are quilted and awaiting binding, and the rest are started in some form or another.  Wouldn't it be amazing to get them all done this year!  I come really close every year, but have never totally completed the list.  Of course the list of ideas for new quilts is endless and always growing, so I'm sure I'll never be without UFO's.  

Just prior to Christmas, I completed this little snowman wall hanging...........using a bunch of scrap!  The background fabrics were already sewn together from a project my mom had done and she had "gifted" me her scraps - even the binding strips were already made!  I just trimmed the background to the size I wanted and took the chenille bedspread scraps and cut circles (using a variety of dishes from the kitchen) and machine zigzagged around them, did a little free motion quilting and it was done!  The most difficult thing was finding the right size buttons for the embellishments!  My mom wanted to sell it at her craft show, but the hubster said NO.  So Mr. Snowman is still hanging at our house.  

Well, the New Year is off to a good start!  I've given myself a facial, changed the toothbrush head on my toothbrush and put in new batteries, there are leftovers in the frig for lunch, laundry is done, we're going to friends for supper, so I guess that means it's time to head to the sewing room!

Christi