News from the sewing room

This project is edging closer to getting my full attention.  I had been working on the pattern, it's paper pieced, and decided that I really needed a practice copy.  Fortunately, my hubby is in need of projects, so he spent 2 mornings, copying pieces and organizing them into ziplock bags for each of the blocks.  I know he's anxious to see it started now.

I have been trying to finish things up that were started and almost to completion.  This meant that a lot of bindings needed to be made.  You can see the massive pile I had sewn together here.

I did finish these 2 UFO's.  These are piano runners for Sarah for Thanksgiving and Halloween.  I did a flange binding on them so it was all done by machine.

And I finished this charm pack baby quilt.  It was not a UFO, but I was attempting to use up a charm pack from the stash and try out a new free pattern.  I had to drape it over the piano for it's photo shoot since my hubs is still in a sling and can't hold things up for photos right now.

Some time was spent cleaning (dusting, sweeping, mopping) the sewing room and Sarah's room.  You can see that Harry and Mabel were doing their best to stay out of the way and hold the bed down for me.

And I finished my Cozy Picnic quilt for the quilt along I was doing.  I had purchased the kit and it was all Art Gallery fabrics which were buttery soft.  I hauled it up into Sarah's treehouse for it's photo shoot.

I had a few extra blocks, so did a table runner that will be sent to an online quilting friend.

David had to show up for jury duty on Wednesday.  It was the first time I had been at home alone since his surgery.  Obviously, I needed some friends to keep me company, so Foxes and Flannels got quilted.  It's still hanging out on the longarm awaiting binding.

And in all the cleaning, I uncovered these 3 Christmas cross stitches.  I spent time while the foxes were quilting, finishing them into ornaments and putting the trees in their frame.  Now I just need to put them with the Christmas decorations and have the fun of pulling them out after Thanksgiving!

And Mabel wants to be first in line when the food drops in the feeder.  You may see a new automatic water dish there.  We were hoping that Harry Potter wouldn't be able to take this one apart like he did the last one.  So far, he hasn't, but he's continuing to try to wash his paws in it every morning and making a small mess.

I guess with all those finishes, I should probably update my UFO list.  

 Christi

Gardening? Gambling?

 Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?  NOT!

Here is the green bean harvest in it's entirety.  I told David to enjoy them because after going through receipts to pay the credit card, I had totaled up what we spent on seeds and garden plants, and these beans are way more expensive than a really good steak!

It seems for me that buying seeds and plants for my garden is similar to walking into a casino and dropping $200 in a slot machine with nothing to show for it.  And honestly, gardening causes way more aches and pains!  My plan for next year is to save seeds from gourds and pumpkins this year and through them out in the garden to let the vines keep the weeds out and then just take my money I would have spent on seeds and plants and go to the Amish produce and buy what I want in the quantity that I want.  

We were at Sarah's for Father's Day weekend.  She had this beautiful Amaryllis in her kitchen window.  She got it as a bulb 2 Christmases ago. 

And here is the succulent wall hanging I made for her dining room.  They haven't wilted yet!  This is the best type of gardening for me.😆

She treated her dad to a showing of Toy Story 5 Friday night in a theatre with recliners and food!  We ordered our food online before we got there and just picked it up as we walked into the theatre.  It was a really good movie.

We also went to a couple of estate sales (we actually went to this one twice, returning on their half price day!).  This is my only photo, but it was a really nice house in a really nice neighborhood, and we thought the tractor tires for sale in the front were interesting.  But not as interesting as the stuff inside.  

I think the winning item for being the most interesting was a copy of Moby Dick in BRAILLE!  It was several volumes and took a huge cardboard box to hold it.  No, we didn't buy it.

We also went to the little produce market near her house and discovered this amazing salad dressing.  As you can see, our bottle is running low already.  We've asked her to pick up some more when she comes for the 4th.

I think it was a nice break for David to get out of Marshall (for something other than a doctor's visit) and do and see some interesting things.  He still has to be in his sling for a couple more weeks and is doing PT a couple of times a week.  He's not supposed to be driving yet.  You can guess how that's going.  

Christi

Catching Up - Again! Retreat

 Here I am catching up again.  Actually, I tried to post a week or so ago, but do to technical difficulties, I was unable to get my photos to load.  Has anything changed, NO.  It's just a different week, day, whatever.

Our guild had a retreat earlier this month.  It was a Charming Beach theme.  We were supposed to decorate footwear, any type, and of course most did flip flops.  Not me.  I'm not a flip flop girl.

I did patchwork rain/mud boots.  I used the really advanced technique of HOT GLUE APPLIQUE!  And there were cute bows on the back.  And NO, I did not win.  But I did ME.

I worked on one project the whole 2 days.  It was my Catnip quilt.  It was all cut, but none of the sewing was done.

At the end of the first day, I had discovered at least 3 mistakes in the pattern which necessitated re-cutting several pieces.  I had all of the large cat bodies completed and some of the small ones.  I had to dig through my fabrics at home before returning the second day so that I could cut some more background pieces and some new ledge pieces.  Fortunately I had just enough brown fabric to do it.  This quilt was pieced totally from my stash, so there was no running out to buy more.  The tails required several "surgeries" (I should have a DVM degree by now), but when I left the second day, I had the rows of cats together.  I found yet another mistake in the pattern when sewing the rows together at home.  Anyway, it's now pieced and hanging in the TBQ closet with it's backing, batting, and binding ready to go.  

Fortunately the air conditioning for the upstairs and our bedroom has been fixed, so I am able to be upstairs quilting again.  I've done several things in the last few days, most of which were for other people, but I am whittling down the backlog of quilting to be done.

Well, that's it for this post.  I have more to share, so stay tuned.

Christi

So maybe I lied...............

 Can you believe I started my last post with this phrase?

"In an effort to blog more frequently,"

Wow!  Who am I kidding?  That was just setting myself up for failure.  The last of May was busy.  We had 2 funerals and David had rotator cuff surgery on his left shoulder, and we took care of the neighbor's cows.............

Yup!  That's my retired hog farmer throwing out corn for COWS!  

And, honestly, he wasn't very good at it.  He didn't call them or honk the horn when he arrived at the different fields to let them know he was there, and he didn't count them.  I explained that if the neighbor wrote down how many cows and calves were in each field, he was probably supposed to count them.  Well, none of them died and all were accounted for when the neighbor returned.  The dog, however, had gotten shut in their garage as they were leaving on vacation.  My farmer wondered why he never ate or drank anything.  Never fear, the dog survived.  But the neighbor did have some cleanup to do in the garage.  And my farmer didn't bother to water the flowers until the last day.  I think they survived too.

Immediately after that, we traveled to Iowa with Sarah to stay with my sister.  Sarah got to see Jackson and Carmyn's house.  Then we traveled on to Omaha for my uncle's funeral.  It was a very nice funeral and it was the first time all five cousins had been together since Jeff and Brenda's wedding (their daughters are in college now).  My uncle had restored my grandpa's old Ford pickup and it was parked outside the church at the funeral.  We decided it was the best place for our group photo.

And then we added our kiddos (those who were there) into the mix............

And then then whole Barber clan in attendance............

This was followed by David's cousin's funeral and then David's surgery.  We go for a follow up appointment this week, and then he will probably be starting the long road of physical therapy.  

He's not allowed to drive for some time (although he has driven himself across the road a couple of times).  I did drive him over to the farm a couple of days after surgery so that he could pet a tractor.

Ok, actually he was downloading some data he needed to do the paperwork to take to the farm office to report acres.  He's also been doing a lot of sleeping, so he fits right in with the rest of the household.

\

Honestly, there's not a whole lot he can do.  He can pick black and red raspberries though.  We have had a bumper crop of raspberries.

And some cherries.  After last year's crop of 7 gallons of cherries, I was thankful for the 3 quarts we got this year.  I made some cherry syrup and a couple of jars of raspberry syrup and put the rest of the juice in the freezer for jelly later.

I have been in the sewing room a little.  I don't have much to show for it though.  I have been quilting a lot for others and have been doing some deconstructing of things to make them "new" again.  

I did spend a morning at a you pick flower patch.  This was a gift certificate from one of my piano students.  It was so much more fun that the yard work I have been doing here.  I have been running the yard rake, weed eating, tilling and planting more garden and I have the sore muscles to show for it.  (And new dog food dishes since I had a little trouble parking the zero turn mower.............however, the next evening, I was totally wishing for a zero turn garden tiller!)

Here is my bouquet..............from 3 different angles so that you can enjoy all the pretty flowers.  I wish you could smell them too!

Well, I don't know when I'll get back here again.  It's my bookwork week at the community center, doctor's appointment in Columbia, and yardwork (there are 6 bags of mulch in my future), and our quilt retreat is at the end of the week.  I really need to get my projects ready for that.  Oh, and my farmer would really like to attend a land auction on the courthouse steps on Tuesday.............and I'm the chauffer.

Christi