Saturday, April 27, 2019

RSC in Teal....and binding time.

It has been a busy day! I did relax this afternoon and got a couple more umbrella blocks completed while enjoying the comfortable temps on the back porch. I believe as of now I am all caught up! Sophie allowed me to pose them with her.... if I petted her after!

I started out this morning blueberry picking with Aidan while Greg and Emily stayed home and cleaned the pool. I picked with her last Saturday.


I also got to stitch a little on the binding while Emily cleaned the guinea pig cage and I supervised them and the cat (Ollie) who was watching them intently. I'll be working on that binding for a while - each side of the log cabin is 94 inches long..... that's a lot of binding!



I'm linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge and Slow Sunday Stitching.






Thursday, April 25, 2019

Tiny Thursday?

Well, I keep missing Tiny Tuesday but I finally have an umbrella post this month..... on the 25th! Yikes. I do have some making up to do! The teal umbrella is posing with the plant that arrived at my house on Easter. I need to pop it into the ground this weekend.


Linking up with the Rainbow Scrap challenge where teal is the color of the month.



Tuesday, April 23, 2019

Blueberry scones....


I have fresh picked blueberries! They need to get used.... blueberry muffins on Sunday. Today it is blueberry scones with the scone recipe I learned while up in Vermont in March. The berries go on the top.... I also sprinkled some cinnamon sugar on top as well.

Made it through a scout night where the girls learned about the galaxy, how far apart things are (we did giant steps to show the distance between the planets from the sun to Mars.... cause the next one was 95 yards or 95 giant steps away!) and they played with my phone and the free Sky View (terminal 11) app on my phone to find various things in the night sky! Scheduling a planetarium visit in Gainseville to finish off the badge requirements. Seems they kinda liked this so maybe next year we can visit the NASA space center over in Titusville! So fun finding things the girls enjoy - my one who did not like the robotics love this one...... until I mentioned it was science =). Silly girl.

Monday, April 22, 2019

The hand quilting has started.....

on the basket quilt as of Easter Sunday! One block done.


I was planning to also stitch just on the inside of the blue basket.... but I did not cut away the back and boy that one extra layer of fabric is not fun! I guess I will be cutting the backing away from the hexagon flowers since I know I want to hand quilt on them. I had asked around on the fb group of celebrate hand applique and got a response that they don't cut away behind the design. I had always remembered hearing that you do.... so I guess it is a preference thing or maybe it depends on the design and how you will finish the quilt? Oh well, it is a learning experience and now I know I have another step on the hexagon flowers. 



I free handed the heart..... not great but it does look like a heart! 

Sunday, April 21, 2019

Happy Easter....

There are still at least 6 Easter eggs hidden in the house. Emily found 26 but Aidan only found 20. I'm sure they will pop up eventually!


I did a little repair work to my hand pieced quilt along top this morning.... there was a little part on the bottom edge of this photo where a little more white was needed. The good part - hand piecing is really easy to add that little part! All fixed. 

I was going to work on hand quilting this next...... but I already have my blue baskets pinned and prepped so that will come first. I think I need to challenge myself to hand quilt at least one basket block per day... so I can get this one done by the end of May! I'll start with that teal blue one in the middle today.... after the in-laws leave this afternoon. I think I'll stitch 1/4 inside the basket, 1/4 outside the basket and maybe an echo of that once or twice.... maybe a little heart in the middle of the basket? 


First, the ham needs to be warmed up and the potato's roasted with some rosemary from the rosemary bush out back. Asparagus and snow peas are also on the menu along with the orange salad. Grandma is bringing the potato rolls from Publix, a cheese ball and deviled eggs.
 If you have recipes that call for hard boiled eggs, please pass them along! The kids seemed to have dyed 2 dozen eggs over the last 2 days... so we have lots of hard boiled eggs to use up! 

I remember a sliced egg on top of asparagus with a cheese sauce over it from long ago... that might be on the menu with tomorrow's dinner. Also - anyone ever use the bottom parts of the asparagus and if so, what do you do with them? I got 2 bunches to cook down and would love to find a use for those extra's. Soup maybe?

Linking up with the Slow Sunday Stitchers.

Oh - I've also stitched down a couple of pink hexagon flowers this morning .... I know pink has not come up with the RSC Challenge yet, but I counted 21 of these so figured I'd get a head start. They make a great take along to stitch at soccer practice on Tuesdays. Sharing a few of the roses we (Aidan and Emily helped out a lot) cut back yesterday. Aidan made 5 vases worth. The cats have so far devoured one of them.... silly cats!



Thursday, April 18, 2019

Thursday - free day....

Did I accomplish what I wanted.... no but, I did make progress! This is the log cabin quilt top with the borders. I'll press the backing and roll it on the boards this afternoon. I also need to piece the batting.... the quilt is 94x94 and my roll of batting is 90 wide. I'm sure I have an extra stip or two I can stitch together to make it big enough.


I also found and laid out some 3.5 inch bow ties. I added a couple teals and most of the greens this week. Looks like I need to add some red and just a handful of the blues. I think that will hit all the colors so this set of blocks is almost done and ready for assembly as a Rainbow Scrap Challenge little quilt. I think I started this one or two years ago. Right now they are just laid out.... I think they will be colors scattered all around once I sew it into a top.

Linking up Saturday with the RSC.

Wednesday, April 17, 2019

Hand Pieced Quilt Along..... A flimsy top!

I finished the hand piecing of the last few sashings yesterday. I did much better when I cut the strips to size rather than adding a little extra. I 'might' take 2 rows out and restitch...... we will see how it looks after I press it. As you can see on the pre-press photo, Peanut had to inspect it.


Linking up my hand pieced flimsy with the Hand Pieced Quilt Along! Head on over and check out some awesome hand pieced quilts. A big thank you to Patty from Elmstreetquilts.com and Kristin from Simple, Handmade. Everyday. 

Edited: I made 2 of each of the blocks to get 18 blocks for this setting. I used 9 3/4 squares cut twice on the diagonal for the setting triangles and 5 1/8 squares cut once on the diagonal for the corners. For the 1.5 inch sashing rows - I think I had 2 at 20 inches, 2 at 33 inches and one at 40 inches. The quilt measures about 28.5x39. This is pressed and hanging on the wall. I need to add a wee little white piece to the bottom right hand side to square it up then time to pin for hand quilting.

Tuesday, April 16, 2019

5 years ago! Hexagon flowers....

This photo popped up in my memories on facebook today! 5 years ago and purple was the color for April that year, as I had mentioned I was adding 13 purple to the mix. It is so nice to finally be getting them into blocks that will become a top later this year. There will be a lot of them... as I believe the final count was around 180 of the flowers. It might have to become a couple of quilts.... time will tell.

A status photo so far this year of the flowers hand appliquéd to their background. Red, yellow, green and most of the teal. I have 4 more to go in the teal spectrum. I do wonder what color I will be adding in May. Saturday I'll link up to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.... this was a great way to use up scraps! The black background square is 6.5 inches.... and I have yet to cut the back out from behind them... I should probably tackle that this month so it is not so overwhelming at the end! I do wonder what I'll do with the extra black that I cut out from the back? Any ideas? It might just become squares to make 4 patches... but we will see what happens to them as they sit in a basket beside the sewing machine. Anything is possible!

Monday, April 15, 2019

Log Cabin Quilt is a top.....

Well, it still needs a border to make it a wee bit bigger. I have a multi colored green leaf print for it and the binding. It is currently 84x84. Thursday is the scheduled quilting day - my day off from work and bowling season is completed so I get a sewing day! This was the one picture where the wind did not take the quilt and flip the sides over.... It reminds me of all the shades of green in the mountains of Vermont.


Sunday, April 14, 2019

Slow Sunday....

After a whirlwind of a day yesterday, today is all about relaxing and for me that means sewing!

Emily really wanted a birthday party with friends.... so she invited her troop over. A few were able to make it and they had fun playing in the backyard. I have tons of Subway subs leftover.... so lunch and dinner are taken care of today... and tomorrow....! The house is actually clean so nothing to do but sew!

I will be playing with the machine to finish the last round of my log cabin blocks to make them 14.5 inches. Then.... I need to press and determine the setting layout. Always fun to throw the blocks on the floor and see what will happen! I plan to get them sewn into a top today and maybe.... pinned for quilting on Thursday. Bowling is done for the season and we had our banquet at Red Lobster Thursday so I have a full free day during the week while the kids are at school. It is a good thing....as once that one is done I need to 'start' the graduation quilt!


I'll need a break or two so will be hand stitching the final sashing to get the rows together on the Hand Pieced Quilt Along. I have them cut out and the stitching line drawn. I did have an oops, when I stitched 2 of the setting triangles they were put on the wrong way! They were picked out and reapplied the correct way on Friday. I hope to have this as a top tonight.... wish me luck. Guess I need one more 33 inch white strip before I can hand stitch this all together! I plan to hand quilt this one.... so hopefully that will be next week's post.

Linking up with the other turtle stitchers at Kathy's Quilts.

I was able to see this on my walk last week. This is the next street over from me - wild turkeys! Much better than the diamond back snake I saw last month on this street. It is right next to the forest.


Friday, April 12, 2019

Podcasts....

Ok, despite being a computer programmer I am terrible at picking up the new technologies until they have been out for a long time!

I finally broke down and started listening to a Podcast..... essentially the author in this case is reading the book to me! We have Spotify - which I listen to music when I walk. I did a quick search and found that The Friendship Album 1933 - is on Spotify! It is also on other mediums like iTunes, etc.

This book was mentioned in the Hand Pieced Quilt Along and the blocks were actually named after the ladies in the book. I admit I have been stitching while listening to the book in the car line at school as well as when I walk or even do dishes!  It is a wonderful 'read' about a group of diverse ladies who all joined a quilt group. Quilting is involved but it is a wonderful retelling of their lives and how they interact with each other and in the community. If you are looking for something to read or listen to, I highly recommend it.

The author is Frances ORoarke Dowell. The book - The Friendship Album 1933.


Thursday, April 11, 2019

Teal Hexagons.....

I have been stitching the teal hexagon flowers this week. So far - 9 are done. I have 3 more prepped and need to cut some more black backgrounds to prep another 4. I did have to purchase more of the black.... boy - it was not fun walking through the store and trying to match the black. Turns out... I splurged and it was Kona black for the background. Now if I can remember that  the next time I am running out in a few months!

I'll link up Saturday with the RSC Challenge. Hopefully I can get a little more teal stitching in before then.

Sunday, April 7, 2019

Slow Stitching..... hand pieced quilt along.

I'm adding the setting triangles to the hand pieced quilt along rows today. It is my relaxing time after my weekend with the girl scouts at camp this weekend. You can read about that here.


Linking up with Kathy's Quilts and the other slow stitchers.

Survived the weekend and a girl turns 10 today!

I got home around 11AM from a weekend at Camp Wildwood with 12 girls from our troops (mine (9) and my co-leaders daisy troop with 3 ). I'm happy to say we returned with the same amount and all are alive! Heck, I think they were even the same girls!
Saturday morning - after staying the night Friday with silly poses.
Turns out some really don't like the bugs and critters (something about a wee mouse that had created a house by the mattress on my bed when we checked in .... and a nice black spider on the ceiling in one of the girls rooms.... and the need of lifting the seat to check for frogs in the bathroom... where the little green tree frogs are all over the place! and mosquitos.... we were in the woods after all!) .

Mid Afternoon after our last rotation with thunder in the distance.
It was a fun filled day at our Elf Boot Camp. Our service project was making 40 blankets (2 pieces of felt then the girls tied the edge strips together) to donate and the older girls in high school helped make the bunk beds for the new cabins they are currently building on the property overlooking the lake they are 'reclaiming'.

Showing how to tie the edges together.

We got 6 blankets made!


There was a snowball fight (yes, in Florida. This is photos of the second group as I was getting pelted by them from the first group - I was the only adult participating and boy did I pay!),

package relay, decorate the leader like a xmas tree and other reindeer games, candy cane pick up with a candy cane in the mouth and no hands, cookie decorating, and archery.  I missed Em shooting but Ms. Shelby got some great shots of her. A big thank you to my co leaders Sarah, Jill and Shelby for the 2 troops.



Since the daisy (K-1) could not do archery we went to a nearby field and did red light, green light and simon says... as I was shuttling the girls back and forth it seems a popular one was 'Simon says chase Ms. Sarah (one of my co-leaders)'! Lots of hiking in the woods - with me getting 23,000 steps in yesterday on my fitbit!

We weathered a fast moving t-storm that broke off and didn't end up hitting us with any rain for over an hour before dinner yesterday - 137 girls in a main lodge where we eat and they all were great!

We finished off the night with Smores by the campfire and then the walk back to our cabin with our flash lights through the trails in the woods.

Now settling the girls last night.... I seem to have read a first chapter of a book on dolphins one of the girls brought to all 6 girls with us around 11:15 last night to finally settle them down to sleep. Well, one room of 3 anyway. The other room was wound and started to let their imaginations go wild with night noises so Ms.Deb got to drag her mattress into their room on the floor to sleep after that. Getting them moving to finish packing, clean the cabins and bathroom this morning.... sigh. They are all home now and I took off tomorrows meeting for a 'RECOVERY' day..... cause boy do I need it!

I did get to wake Ms. Emily up with a Happy Birthday this morning. She wakes up with a smile.... unlike some others in the troop. I might have threatened tickle torture for one of them to get up and moving this morning =). She was giggling under her covers before I even started, silly L.  Emily got sung Happy Birthday by a couple of the troops out where our section of camp is - we had 4 troops- 23 girls and 9 adults in our area of 4 cabins. I just hope they don't make me unit leader ever again... not hard but just one more thing to be responsible for on leaving morning - all chores done by girls and units cleaned for ranger inspection - ours was at 8:30AM.

Another year of encampment done. Until next year... where I hear the theme might be Halloween related!

Wednesday, April 3, 2019

Hand Pieced Quilt Along.... progress...

I did a little hand stitching while at the kids 90 minute soccer practice last night. It is very windy up at the sports complex so I went with jeans for the 74 degree weather.


The blocks are sewn into rows with a 1.5 inch white sashing .... I just need to cut and attach the setting triangles and then I can sew the rows together with a 1.5 inch white strip! We will see if it is done at that point.... or if it thinks it needs something else all around it. I am guessing it will be around 30 x 40 ish when done.



Tuesday, April 2, 2019

Tiny Tuesday

A green umbrella!

and another one! 

Teal is the color for April, now that I have caught up on all the greens from March.

 Another rainy morning drop off .... but hopefully the pick up line will be a non rainy one. Until then I'll be having spoonfuls of honey and worthers original's to try and help the sore throat that appeared yesterday evening.