Last Flimsy finish for 2019.....

Or so I thought! I just looked at the photo and looks like I need to find the seam ripper and fix that bottom right corner so it has the sashing in the correct spot! Sigh.... 2 seams to pick out and resew. After dinner I think. As much of a PITA it was to sew all those sashings with the on-point setting I do really like how it turned out.  I had to go out quick and snap a photo before the sun went down so it has not been pressed or measured yet. I'll have to see if I have a backing fabric ready. This one will be machine quilted.... not sure when. I think I'll work on pinning and quilting the Happy Little Things on the machine tomorrow. 

A big Thank You to Chris for sending me a care package of beautiful blues for my Ella Maria Deacon quilt. I'll be using some of them in the coming month's block. She also included a book she wrote about her daughter. I plan to start reading it tonight. Thank you so much Chris. 

The pizza and wings arrived. Time for dinner =)

Wishing you all a Happy and Safe New Years. Catch you in the next Decade!

Slow Sunday?

Soon, I hope. The boy decided to stay home instead of going to Grandma's house today. They both will head over Tuesday for the night. Emily went as they were headed to the movies. He said he wanted a 'down' day since we hit the Science Museum yesterday in Orlando. He has been helpful tucking away the Christmas things .... the tree is down and boxed up for next year. The snow globes are all put away. Just a few more Partylite candle holders to tuck away and then a good dusting and the snowmen come out for a month or two. I tend to do blues in January and February.... but the boy has opted to leave some of the cardinal Christmas globes and things out this year too. I need to clear out the fridge today too - garbage day tomorrow and I am really sick of some of the leftovers in there!

I am almost to a point of being done and then I can sit and do a little stitching. I think I'll pop a movie on and work on hand quilting the trip quilt this afternoon. It has been a while since I have worked on it. I believe I am half way... and I really need a goal of working on this at least 15-20 minutes a day in order to get it done!

Tonight... I really do need to attempt that sheep pattern on Aidan's pillow. I'll have to keep track of counting while doing it so a rerun of a movie will be in order.

Linking up with the other turtle stitchers on this last Slow Stitching Sunday of this decade. A big Thank You to Kathy for hosting and for all the encouragement over the years. That nudge to try hand quilting, hand piecing, embroidery, etc have really been been a life saver to relieve stress and calm the mind in this crazy busy world we live in. Wishing you all a Happy and Healthy 2020. I plan to be sewing and stitching on New Years Day. The house is already changed out, kids will be at Grandma's and hubby is working. All day to SEW! =)

Last RSC Saturday....

I was hoping to have this as a top but had to stop and play Horseopoly with the kids. A version of Monopoly. The girl had a sleepover last night so other than playing table tennis with Aidan (who needs a dining room table!) we did not have a family game night last night. It got delayed to Friday night.

I didn't have enough of the grey sashing to do the setting triangles and corner triangles but I did have a few different pieces of that blue that were big enough for the 4 squares at 20 inches and the 2 squares for the corner triangles. It is a scrappy quilt so I had to pull from stash! I do like how it is turning out. The sashing really calmed it down from too busy and the blue just frames it well I think. Emily took one look and said ' I really like this one Mom'. Sigh... and there it goes! I'll have to see what size it is and try and make it a twin size for her bed I guess.

The reason I had to keep putting all the blocks back down on the floor was these two kept play fighting on it and messing up all my blocks! I had to do a bit of unpicking to figure out how to get this one together so that it has all the grey sashings on with the setting triangles. I am down to the long seams.... and it was a good place to stop for the night. I hate long seam sewing! I'll pick this one up on Sunday with a fresh outlook. Tomorrow - I'm taking the kids to the Orlando Science Museum. I just hope my foot holds up - I seem to have pulled whatever I did last year and that time it took 12 PT sessions to resolve with lots of rest. 

Linking up with the RSC Challenge (Hopefully Angela will continue this in 2020 - I have a plan for next year already!), and Oh Scrap. If you'd like to see my recap post you will find it here. 

2019 Recap

I have to admit, I really enjoy doing my yearly recap post and seeing them all throughout blog land. It gives the sense of 'wow, I really did finish something this year when it feels like you just never finish anything! It is also a wee bit dangerous as you see so many beautiful quilt and boy, don't I want to make a version of them all!

First - the look back at some finishes this year. Thank goodness for my yearly album of quilts on facebook.  I think I need to make another one of these - It was fun to do a heart a day....and I have a charm pack of reds that would make a lovely little heart quilt.

Ari's quilt. She got it before she turned 1! Hand quilted

Emily's quilt - machine quilted

RSC 16 patches with a flannel backing. Machine quilted

Big log cabin quilt - donated to Lake Elmore Lake Association Raffle Machine quilted

Scrappy bow ties for Dad. Tied

Sally's graduation quilt - Zig Zag in blues and yellow. Machine quilted

Basket quilt - hand applique and hand quilted.

Aidan's quilt Machine quilted

Now the unfinished parts....

I did an umbrella a week this year and made this little top. I have plans to hand quilt it and think I found the backing fabric and have the batting. I hope to pin it over the next week so I can have it by my chair for a little hand quilting here and there.

I did a hand piece along this year. I made 2 of each block for a slightly bigger throw. This was so fun to make and I hear they might be having another one in 2020. I think it needs a border to finish it....

I also made this little 32x32 wall hanging top - my version of Happy Little Things. 

I also started a sew along that will run for over a year - Ella Maria Deacon. I have decided to hand piece these blocks - 4 a month. It should be doable! I am using muslin as the background and a variety of blues to make my top. The original was red, green and yellow.

I also turned this pile of hand pieced hexagons into ..

this pile of blocks! They were hand applique down onto some black background squares. I see one to go. Maybe these will get sewn together into a top in 2020?

I'm sure there were other parts and pieces worked on but those were the major ones moved along.

Now to see what parts and pieces, blocks and tops will be worked on in 2020....

Merry Christmas!

The kids decided 7:15 was the time to wake up the adults. I hear the stockings were opened around 6:30AM!  Done by 7:50!
The kids only get a handful of gifts but they were very happy with their presents. They each got a book so hopefully when that 'I'm bored' kicks in I'll tell them to go read! We had to open the gifts the kids got for us first before they would open any of theirs! They have always been this way and it is so nice that they enjoy gifting and seeing the person open their presents more than getting their gifts. I got a 'cat rules' plaque, a new coffee mug, a hand made origami cat and a hand made bracelet. The bracelet was opened first. They were making them yesterday.

We are going easy with food today - grazing on appetizers and my in-laws will stop in for a few hours as well. 

May you all have a wonderful Christmas however you choose to spend the day.

It was the Sunday before Christmas....

and all through the house. Not a thing was completed not even the elf! Just kidding. I don't tend to 'make' things for Christmas so no pressure on getting things done =)

I did make a little progress on machine and by hand this week. It is just not very noticeable!

The Happy Little Things got the last block completed, sewn together for the blocks, seam ripped the oops and then sewn again with some borders added yesterday. Not sure if I will add more or consider this done as is?

The cat allowed me to do that much before he settled in and decided I was done with the machine for the afternoon! How can you stitch with this in the way?

I laid out a set of blocks from 2018.. with the thought of sewing them together yesterday. See the above cat photo for that progress. I did make decisions and went with a grey sashing for the on point setting and I love how it is looking.... I see the cats have slightly rearranged things overnight. I'll plan to shut the cats out of the sewing room later tonight so I can make a little progress after we return from Christmas at my MIL's house this afternoon. The boy had recovered to feel well enough to go... fighting with his sister again this morning so he is better!

For the slow stitching....that is the crochet and knitting.
The crochet has made progress. That one is easy to pull out and do without thinking. I believe I am on skein 3 and I plan on 8 for this blanket stitch afghan for Emily.

The knitting. I finished the next section of Aidan's pillow. Now it is the section of the sheep. I am nervous about this as it is multiple colors to make a pattern. Thank goodness for youtube. I have an idea on how to do it but will need to concentrate. Tonight's project I think. 15 rows to make one set of the sheep across. Wish me luck!

Last night Emily and I went to an ugly sweater party at her horse academy. Ms. Liz hired a camel for camel rides! Even I got to take a spin on Kent the camel!

Deb on the camel - it was really high up there!

Emily riding the camel.

Linking up with the other slow stitchers today. Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a big Thank you to Kathy who has hosted this wonderful link up for so many years of encouragement.

RSC Saturday...

The kids are officially off school until January 7! Please pray that the kids and parents are still alive on that date!

So far - the boy came home from school sick and right to his room! Fever, not well and chills. Fever this morning and achy so no robotics tournament today.
Emily headed over to a friends 'farm' for a sleepover last night. I hear she is out playing with all the animals (calf, pigs, goats, hens, roosters, turkey and a duck) this morning. We have a party at horses tonight - with camel rides! Tomorrow assuming the boy is better we'll head to Grandma's for her Christmas. If not better, we'll delay it to Tuesday or after Christmas. Don't want to spread his sickness. I never did get the kids for their flu shots. Greg got his a few weeks ago and I got mine last Saturday. Fingers crossed (and lots of hand washing) we don't get sick.

Today.... I plan to play a bit in the sewing room. Maybe, just maybe this 2018 RSC Sampler will become a flimsy? I counted and have 32 blocks. Checking between Angela's and Mari's blogs I guess I was planning the on point setting! Time to lay them out and find a setting triangle fabric in the fabric room. Not sure this is how they will land in the final quilt but it was the first laying out of blocks today.

Linking up with the RSC Challenge where others have done a much better job at finishing things than I have this year =).

A couple of movie recommendations off Netflix - I watched  A Dogs Purpose last Sunday and last night was The Bucket List. Both great movies.

Happy Little Things....

Don't you just hate it when you get something sewn together and realize... you swapped the blocks? I did not want those 2 top ones next to each other.... the ones on the right hand side were to be swapped so the blocks with the extra log frames are diagonal rather than next to each other! Oops. Time to find the seam ripper. I didn't even notice it until yesterday when I was trying to find a fabric to frame it with for the next border. I'm not sure if I'll add more borders or not. I was thinking of words on top and bottom.... something like Welcome and at the bottom Spring... since these are springy colors. Is springy a word? Then again... it might just get a blue 3 inch border and a dark blue (or pink) binding and call it done. We will see. Now... where is that seam ripper?

Monday.... HLT block #4 - done!

I managed to make the toffee and some peanut butter balls yesterday before sitting for the rest of the afternoon with my foot up on a pillow resting. Somehow I turned my ankle twice last week. Mostly it is fine except when I am up on it for a bit too long and then it hurts. I decided to sit out my walk this morning to rest it for another day or two to see if it gets better.

That did allow me time to finish the embroidery on the block and I cut out the parts. I quickly sewed them together with the machine after picking up Emily from school... and before going to pick up Aidan. That is a 40 minute window of time...

While waiting in Emily's car line - I finally pulled 3 or 4 rows out to get to the edge that someone (cough, cough, Peanut!) chewed on . It would never have lasted a washing with parts of the yarn chewed away. I got rid of the chewed parts, reconnected it with a knot and was able to add 2 rows back in. Must remember to put it up high when not working on it or find a different bag without openings on the edges for said cat to stand on the zippered part and dig down for the yarn and then chew it. Did I mention this cat loved to chew on yarn?

Time to make dinner - spaghetti and frozen meatballs, garlic bread from the leftover cuban bread and salad should tide us over until the ice cream party tonight at scouts. The girls have a secret santa gift exchange tonight.

Slow Sunday Stitching.....

Well, there was slow Saturday evening stitching last night while watching The Santa Clause 2 with the kids. I got one of my applique blocks done for the 3rd set of EMD blocks. One to go - and I plan to work on it and finish it today. The next set of blocks are set to be released... not sure if it will be today or tomorrow since she normally does not post on Sundays. I chose needle turn applique for this one and I think it came out pretty good.
 

I'll be adding some embroidery stitches to the Happy Little Things block #4 today.

Linking up with Kathys Quilts and the other slow stitchers.

The elf decided to make a climbing wall at our house! Yes the kids know but I can still have fun with him occasionally! Silly Chilly the Elf.

Sewing Friday.....

It was a Friday night sew in with Emily last night. We made a couple of pillow cases for our secret Santa exchange on Monday. Now to shop and fill them each with some goodies. The blue is for Emily's and the Olaf reading books is for my co-leader. We use this pattern by Crafty Gemini. We watched The Santa Clause after we finished.

I also made some progress on my Ella Maria Deacon blocks. 2 were completed this week and I cut out the applique part last night for hand applique today.  That first one took forever piecing it by hand but it did come out pretty good.

I think some baking will be on tap today - Hershey kiss cookies, I'll attempt peanut butter balls again, and some toffee - that uses saltine crackers. I had a co-worker in the late 90's that always brought this into work for me and I loved it! When they moved his wife sent in the recipe so I could make it! It is similar to this one. I'll plan to make sugar cookies next weekend - so the kids have something to do while home on holiday before Christmas. A trip over to visit with Grandpa and take him out to lunch will also be happening. 

The kids 'know' this year - they asked a few weeks ago in a funny way so I confirmed it is a 'spirit of Christmas'. They still wanted their Christmas snakes - which started this morning. They are essentially a countdown to Christmas with them opening one part each morning. It is getting harder and harder to find things for them as they get older. They got splat things today - an eyeball for Aidan and a smiley face for Emily. Now to keep the cats from eating the yarn ties while they sit under the tree for the next 10 days. 

I'll have to pull out a few rows of Emily's afghan.... I put it in a zippered bag but it has openings on either side of an inch or two. Well, it was on the floor and Peanut was on top of the bag digging in and then chewed on one side of it! Arrrgghh. I need to pull out a few rows before it all unravels from him eating the yarn! He got Aidan's earlier this week but that was right at the point I was at and an easy tie to reconnect the yarn worked. Guess I need to find a different place to store it while not working on it.

Linking up with RSC Challenge.... since I am pulling from the Blue scraps for the EMD blocks for the next 2 years!

I do plan to pin the Cat and Mouse Quilt tomorrow, and hopefully with leftovers of backing I'll also pin or thread baste the umbrella quilt and potentially the hand pieced quilt along quilt. These two are pretty small so having them ready to 'go' will hopefully get them in the rotation for hand quilting quicker. Heck.. the small one could go in the car line since it is no longer in the 90's for a couple of months!

Ella Maria Deacon.... block #9.

I have fallen way behind on this sew along and the next set of blocks will be released on the 15th! Yikes. I managed to finish off this one this morning at bowling. I would have had block #12 done as well, but it seems I need to trim a few HST blocks in the corners and I seem to have forgotten to cut out the middle square. The good news - all the flying geese are done and once those 2 things are done it is ready to assemble. Then.... a couple of applique blocks. My goal is to have them all done by end of day on the 14th... so I will be all set for the next release of blocks.

Just finished dinner. My goodness - found a great recipe that I have to share.
Slow Cooker Cuban Mojo Pork . I omitted the mint since I didn't have any. I did have cilantro in the fridge though =). I die reserve 1/3 of a cup. Aidan and I may have dipped about half a pound of the pork into that reserved sauce before we managed to make our cuban sandwiches tonight! It was yummy mixed with some of the pork drippings and added to my rice too!. This will go in the rotation with a 2 thumbs up from everyone... cause we only had 2 thumbs each or we would have given it more!

Happy Little Things.....

Block #3 is now finished. I resorted to machine piecing this one instead of hand piecing. Unfortunately.... the machine really needs to go in and get a cleaning. It keeps getting a tangle underneath and despite cleaning out the bobbin area, I guess I need to find the card to the person who cleaned them for the Viking shop that closed last year.

The first 3 blocks. Yes, the blue is different on block #3. I guess I ran out of the other one.

My Grammy's singer machine might have to be relocated to the sewing area and be put to use.... or I really need to get the tension fixed on Aidan's brother machine or figure out Emily's Janome machine.

At least I can start on the embroidery for block #4 now!

Weekend whirlwind.....

It has been a fun but exhausting weekend so far. We (Emily and I) attended the 5th annual Drive in Camp out with almost 800 other girl scouts last night. All but one from our troop was able to attend! We are the green tent at the top right in front of the big screen. This was an areal drone photo taken this morning! The Ocala Drive in closed down for our private event 2 years in a row now and created an amazing event full of wonderful memories for the girls. We got to watch Frozen, Frozen 2, Arctic Dog and A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood. All the movies were great - I would advise seeing them especially the one about Mr. Rodgers. The best part - hearing the girls sing along to all the songs in the Frozen movie in stereo! As always the girls had a wonderful time despite the temps dipping into the 50's for these thin skinned girls! Bringing extra blankets was a plus as we had them all wrapped up watching the movies outside. I see a nice long, warm shower in the near future and then I'll put up the tent to let it air and dry out from the morning dew on it when we had to pack it up.

After that.... I see an afternoon sitting in my recliner with my feet up, and some stitching of some kind in my hands! I seem to have neglected to do my Ella Marie Deacon Blocks yet and the next set are released on the 15th.... so I'll plug away on those 4 prepped blocks today. Hand piecing and hand applique! Sounds like a relaxing afternoon.

Head on over to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching and see what others are working on today.

I had a field trip with Emily's class to Silver Run Museum this week as well. It was for science so they were learning about animals and habitats this year. They did social studies last year and learned about the early settlers and how they lived in the area. We got to see some neat things..... I decided to stay back on the boat ride so they didn't need to split it up but I hear they saw manatees, alligators, turtles, monkeys, lots of birds, ducks and fish. We even saw deer and lots of tracks. It was in the 30's with highs in the 50's that day. Very chilly for Florida. 

Drive in photo's!

This morning.

He had free face painting for the girls.

Snowball fight in Florida. 

Two of my Emily's watching a movie last night.

Slow Sunday?

I think it will be prep Sunday at my house! I am making some peanut butter balls to bring to a cookie exchange this afternoon. Not that we need any sugar... but it is a fun get together with friends. I now remember why I don't tend to make these. Making them into balls is easy - it's the dipping into the chocolate that I fail at! Oh well, second batch of chips melted and a silicone basting brush and I'm calling them done. Not great looking but oh well!

For the prepping - I really need to prep the Ella Maria Deacon blocks. I cut the applique block out last night from paper. Just need to audition some fabrics and trace with a chalk to outline it then cut the fabric out for some needle turn applique. I'll be tracing the flying geese out for the first block as well and cutting the last one. I'll wait and figure out the broderie perse but I have one fabric pulled for it and another possible 'fun' one of cat faces! Amazingly... I got all of the above done this afternoon! Feels good to be all prepped to take with me for hand stitching this week.

I found the white background for the last Happy Little Things block. I'll draw that onto it today so it is by the recliner and ready to stitch tonight. Done.

Along the crochet and knitting front. I did start Aidan's knitted pillow.... but at the end of row 5 something was off and I pulled it out. I think I split a loop and got an extra in row 3 and it threw me off. Easier to start again at this point. I restarted it tonight and I have the first 10 rows done. The next part of the pattern.... I hope I am reading correctly. It says next row knit; next row purl. Continue in stocking stitch as above until 43 rows in total have been completed. I am reading that as I have done the first 10 rows and I am now doing the above knit row then purl row until I have reached row 43, not to do this stitch for 43 rows. Makes sense? Hope I am correct on that.

I did make progress on the crochet front. That one is easier to pick up and add a little here and there with the blanket stitch. I am almost done with the second skein of yarn. Good thing I purchased another 6 skeins on Tuesday when they were on sale.

Linking up with the other slow stitchers today.