Election Day

 Please use your voice and vote today! I voted early and my ballot has been counted. Do your research and vote on what matters to you.

We have always had fair and honest elections. Let us hope that it is a peaceful transfer of power like it has been since the beginning of this country.

It is another crazy week in my household with lots of various timed pick ups and drop offs. One is heading on a field trip for Civil Rights this week to Alabama and Georgia. Hopefully the hurricane will veer west and not affect their studies in Selma, Montgomery, Birmingham and Atlanta. That means we have to actually drop the girl to school again in the morning! This is an optional trip ($215 and $115 goes to the kids for food at stops) through their Cambridge AICE program. 

I have been thinking of what will be the next hand quilting project. I have narrowed it down to these 2 options. I am staying away from blue... since the last few have been blue, and I wanted a change of color.  Excuse the mess in the backgrounds.

This one is about 72 inches square. I got a pretty purple floral backing that fits this size. I think it needs to be bigger though..... and I do have extra of the two purple fabrics. I'm thinking a 2 or 2.5 inch lighter purple then a 5 inch darker purple? I have the quilting thread for this - dark purple and a darker tan.

This one just needs a 5 inch black butterfly print border added to it. Each of the hexagons are on a 6 inch black block. I have a handful of colorful threads to quilt this one with.

I think I'll add the borders to both of them and then decide.

Yesterday at lunch, I prepped some more hexagons. It is looking a little like Christmas in this photo! Maybe I'll pop some cheerful Christmas music on while I work today. I have 3 more purple ones to stitch this week at lunches before I will get to these later this week. One a day is keeping this one moving along.

Crochet

 Switching things up a bit. I usually knit my dish cloths but I've been wanting to try some crochet patterns.  I'm going to make a basket for a raffle at sister's retreat the end of January.  It got delayed from last weekend due to damage at the girl scout camps from the 2 hurricanes.  Lots of tree damage on the 600 acres. I'm thinking a couple microwave cozies in girl scout cookie fabrics, some dish cloths and things for an ice cream night. 

I found this link for a farmhouse dish cloth from Amanda Crochets.  I just need to go around it with double crochet to finish it off. The test one will be for me and the next one will be for the basket. I might try a couple more patterns. I got this yarn at Walmart for under $10. 

Marching band is down to just one practice on Friday's after school instead of Monday,Thursday,Friday. She is trying the winter guard rehearsals so has Tuesday, Thursday until 7:30! Try outside are Saturday.  She has never done this so we will see how she does.

The boy is busy with academic club this week then an early drop to school Thursday for him, 6am for their 5 day civil right trip. Ther are heading to Alabama- Montgomery, Selma,  Birmingham, then to Atlanta. 

These kids sure keep us hopping.

Finished Cat and Mouse Quilt!

 The cat and mouse was put on the frame mid March 2020. It was not making progress.... so February 2024 I basted it on the frame and took it off for hand quilting in the hoop. The hand quilting was finished on October 30th. I made the binding on Halloween and finished hand stitching it down yesterday afternoon. It is currently 59x69 but needs a gentle washing so it will get a little smaller and snuggly. I think I might have made the cat blocks back in 2014? Then did the mice a few years later. I think it got to the top stage in 2019 or 2020.  It is nice to cross this one off the list.

The whole quilt in the sun.

A better shot of the quilting. The triangle of cheese for the mice is in the light teal border and the butterfly's for the cats are in the dark teal border. Those butterfly's were so fun to stitch. 

The backing.

With the clocks going back an hour last night, the dog did not get that memo! The cats were content to sleep in, but someone thought he needed a walk... at 6AM (new time!). Turns out.... F1 Qualifying was happening in the rain in Brazil, so I got up but watched that fiasco with Aidan and put the doggie off for a bit. He did get a nice long walk and then helped me with photo's out back after feeding the chickens some seed treats. I need to hack another pumpkin open for them and pop it into their run. I might have forgotten to carve Halloween pumpkins this year..... oh well, the girls will eat them!

Greg and I did head to The Villages new High School yesterday afternoon to watch Emily and her bandmates compete at their MPA for marching band. They did well and got straight Superior's across the board! That is the best ranking against the rubric, so they get another metal pin this year at end of year awards. She was a 11PM pick up at school last night so we enjoyed that extra sleep time. 

My handwork will switch to the QAYG hexagons today, I think. I need to do my one blue from yesterday and today to finish this set of 4.

Then I'll work on stitching the singles into twosomes, then everyone into sets of 4. I need 12 sets of 4 to make a long column to attach to the existing quilt to make it wider. I think I need at least 4 columns.  I've been doing pretty good at doing one each day on my lunch break. It is time to prep a few more - it looks like I need red, green, purple and dark blue to add to the mix. Linking up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers.

The happy doggie Bear after his walk with lots of sniffing of wild turkeys! We saw a set of 14 along the way a few times. He is so much better walking on a leash from when we first got him in April 2022. He is a very strong 85 pound boy. Don't mind the slobber... lots of sniffing today. Got to love that doggie smile.

The final steps - onto the binding!

Do you know what this means?

Trimming of the quilt for binding! When I cut off the backing, I was thinking I would have enough to make a binding. It was not the case, so I looked over and saw some light teal on the shelf... just like that inner border! There was enough and after some calculations - I cut 7 strips of it to make a binding. I measured the quilt, and it is 59x69. I have them sewn together, just need to press them in half, then attach to the front of the quilt for hand stitching down on the back. That involves clearing off the ironing board. 

I had big plans to layer and pin a quilt for machine quilting today and clean the house. Alas, I slept the morning away and finally feel slightly better. I'm going to take it easy instead of doing that.

This was my lunchtime stitching yesterday, to finish off that set of 4 blacks. I believe I have a light blue one for today. I prepped some more backing and battings, I just need to select and cut the hexagon colors for the front. 

These need to get stitched into sets of two's and then fours. 

Progress

 Time to move the hoop again! I do enjoy stitching these butterfly's more than the wedge of cheese.

The end is in sight! Just the whole top and the bit on the top left to go. I think the binding will be the teal backing - about the same shade as the inner border. I don't have more of that outer teal border. The other option is a white, which might happen. We will see.

I got my one hexagon done at lunch today. I used a pink for the quilting part.

I popped out to Publix to get some meats to make meatloaf. I guess I forgot to grab the package of burgers from Sam's last time that I normally use for it. The butcher checked for the meatloaf mix as he remembered they had just ground a little pork that morning and came out with a fresh package for me! I remembered cheese.... over $5 for a shredded package! Nope! I remember Aidan grabbed a log of mozzarella from Aldi last week, I'll use that instead on half. Emily dislikes cheese on her side. On the way home - I saw the latest 2 story house they were taking down along our road. Still no word from the county but our lawyer sent a letter indicating it is in the initial survey stages???? I guess they missed the window and had to rebid the contract..... so who know's if they need to start it all over again or not. Still in the wait and see stage.

Slow Sunday Stitching

 I'm happy to say I have made progress on hand quilting the cat and mouse and am now stitching the Butterfly's for the cats to chase in the final border!

Somehow the butterfly template got it's wing clipped! Oops. I've been free handing that wing as I draw around it with chalk. The first edge was completed while it was on the frame, so I had 3 sides to go. I made good progress on one side while watching a hockey game Saturday night.

Earlier this week, I decided to stitch one of these a day to try and get them moving along. They are quilt as you go hexagons and will be used to make the existing quilt bigger. I'll add the little outline quilting to these tomorrow while watching the F1 race with Aidan... and will stitch up a few more of them. I've got another set of 4 in black prints and one of light blue ready to go.

Linking up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers.

What to hand quilt next?

 As I am getting closer to a hand quilting finish, it is time to see what quilts are next in the lineup. There are quite a few to select from. 

Ella Maria Deacon around 60' I think.

VQF Booth Hop 71x71.

 Joann's Century Quilt BOM (83x89)

1857 Quilt Along (72x72 I think)

Triple Irish Chain - from early 2000's. 

Harmony (54x54)

We will see what jumps to the top of the list once I finish the cat and mouse. 

I decided to machine quilt the 2 inch hand pieced trip quilt, and I know the potato chip quilt will get machine quilted as well, once I piece a backing for it. I pulled some leftover backing fabrics that will work for the trip quilt. Hopefully I can get either the trip quilt pinned and quilted or the backing made for the spud quilt this weekend. No machine sewing happened today - but my FIL Tom is home tonight in his own house and bed. Their timeframe of an hour for his release was way off, but we finally got him home mid afternoon after a drive through at Arby's for his favorite Jamocha shake.