April OMG....

Do you ever just feel like working on something? No? Really?..... Guess it is just me then.

I am in the mood to work on this UFO from 2011. I went to the Vermont Quilt Festival without the kids (who were 3 and 2 at the time) and decided to pick up the booth hop blocks from 12 vendors. I had done the blocks and got the finishing kit and then it sat in the waiting drawer. What... you don't have a chest of drawers that have the UFO projects waiting for when you feel like working on them? I knew these were in there. I went back and found a few blog posts about them as well...... here, here and here.

This is where I stand. 12 Blocks Completed.

A black and white photo of the finished quilt.

Fabrics from the finishing kit.

We will see what happens! My goal for April is to get this to a top. It would be lovely to get it completed....but I'll shoot for a completed top first.

I'll link up with the April OMG once it opens up. If anyone has made a quilt from these blocks, please share a photo of your completed top.

Slow Sunday

 Today I have a full day .... all by myself! To do whatever my little self wants to! Hubby is headed into work at the grocery store and the kids are being picked up by Grandma for an overnight. (Yes, she is insisting and knowing that neither the kids or her have gone out in the last 2 weeks we will risk it I guess). The tree guy is going over at 8AM tomorrow to take down a tree and she thought the kids would like to see it. Hubby is off work tomorrow so he can pick them up while I am logged into work. The advantage of not being in school - they can just do their school work in the afternoon. Virtual school starts Wednesday for them.

Yesterday Emily wanted a technology free day so I was allowed to link up yesterdays Rainbow Scrap Challenge post then nothing.....the house actually got vacuumed and living room rugs were steam cleaned! Must not let that happen too often! Bathroom cleaned and kitchen cleaned and mopped. (She relented in the afternoon..... her room was spotless and rearranged and she wanted to play on her iPad.) I also got this Ella Maria Deacon block stitched. There is a little bit for the middle left to stitch. I also hope to prep the month 7 blocks today. We are pretending it is a perfect circle =) Use your imagination.

*** Updated and done!

I finally started hand quilting this week. I plan to add a few hours today while watching a few Ms. Maisel episodes. Butterfly's and then cheese triangles in the light teal for the cats and mice to chase!

The crochet got pulled out this week too. Good mindless pattern when you can't concentrate. It works up so pretty too. I have 3 skeins to add to this still.

I'd like to finish off the first row of sheep on Aidan's pillow but that takes concentration. Maybe I will have some in a quiet house today?

Linking up with the other Slow Sunday Stitchers. 

Finishing up teal...

This last Saturday of March has snuck up on me somehow! Thank goodness Thursday is my day off and I finally got a little sewing time during the afternoon to pick out, cut and sew these 10 Sweet Confetti blocks from Sunday Best Quilts. 

Then I moved onto the nine patches and stars.... I managed to finish off the orange one I had started last month and make a couple of stars..... then the bobbin thread ran out so I was done for the night.

Friday afternoon after work, I had to 'fix' the orange one - as a star had a wonky wing, and managed to get both of the teal blocks done. They are finishing at 12 inches by the way. I think I'll just make 2 each month as that will give me 20 blocks - in a 4x5 setting of 48x60 for a nice throw size..... unless I decide to make 3 each month (and make another orange and teal) and have a 5x6 setting for a 60x72... since the kids are growing taller than me already...... we will see how the weekend goes!

I made a list on my white board in the office of the blocks I am making this year.... since I keep forgetting each month! I had 4 of the stash buster blocks in light and dark green. I made 2 in teals. I'll probably make a couple of orange ones tomorrow and maybe a bright green one... or two. These are fun to make and if my scraps had a 3.5 strip I could really have fun with this. We will see how distracted I get after making the orange and green ones... and how much AC time I need since the temps this weekend are going to be in the mid 90's in Florida!

I'll link up Saturday with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I do wonder what color April will be?

March OMG is completed!

Here is the completed quilt! I started this in December of 2014 with the blue in the bottom left corner using 2.5 inch squares and a needle and thread. This 90x90 quilt was hand pieced in 2015 and then took forever to hand quilt it on my frame..... it might have been put in time out after the cats shredded the batting ... timeout was for over a year... It is now completed and being used on my bed.

Linking up with the One Monthly Goal. I do wonder what project will be selected for April.

EMD Wednesday

I was able to finish the stitching on this block #24 of the Ella Maria Deacon Quilt Along yesterday afternoon while watching Robin Hood Prince of Thieves on Netflix. 

After dinner (berber chicken and Mom's potato salad) I took a long walk and saw one wild turkey. I took a photo and posted it on facebook.

My brother in Vermont responded with this photo from his window - deer and snow!

My sister also in Vermont, raised him a photo of 8+ inches of snow and an owl from a few days ago!

I guess taking photo's of wildlife is a family 'thing'! 

I hope to work on block #22 tomorrow after work. Then I'll start on the latest set of 4 - #25-#28.

Book Club....

I know it is Tuesday... and should be EMD update day.... but hand piecing this little guy was more appealing last night than actually finishing my EMD block.
Evelyn and Jane! Jane needs pressing but she is done and ready to link up on Thursday with the other Book Club Hand Pieced blocks this week over at ElmstreetQuilts and KristinEsser.com. (Thanks Mom for picking up these purple fabrics a few years ago for me! In case they looked familiar to you.)

I did some other hand piecing and prepping yesterday. Block #22 for the Ella Maria Deacon from Sentimental Stitches. I decided to prep each petal and hand piece them together. Now to press them then applique onto the background.

First.... must get my 5 hours of actual work done! I have worked remotely for a former client of mine programming since March of 2016. 

The kids have their school packets printed off and are working on their Day 1 school work. After all the griping.... someone just walked into my office and said with a smirk... it's not that bad.... They ask the questions at the end of each online page....and highlight the paragraph where the answer is! Geez.... they make it too easy for them. That was the boy after MUCH grumbling last night and this morning! The girl sorted through her 42 pages, pulled 3 more answer key's that I missed and said 'Mom, really!'. Then we sorted her core subjects by days. She looked at the 5 math pages - one for each day and rolled her eyes and said, can I just do them all at once since it won't take any time at all? I said sure. She also has iReady math and reading to do online for 45 minutes each this week with other on-line educational sites assigned by her teachers.

We will see how next week works - sounds like K-5 is going to be virtual but I am not sure on the 6th grade since their print out was for 2 weeks of work....... At least both are doing their school work now on their first day back from 'spring break'. 

Our Chinese place was closed on Saturday when I called (was trying to help them out - small family owned) for a while.... so I decided to make Moo Goo Gai Pan last night. I improvised on a few things (had used the mushrooms in beef stroganoff Saturday so used a jar of them and no snow peas - I used carrots, celery and onion with water chestnuts and bamboo shoots and chicken). That with rice got good reviews from everyone last night! I wonder what will be for dinner tonight?

Slowing down Sunday.....

Sunday evening slow stitching is crochet. It is a nice way to relax while waiting for the kids to return from Grandma's. A friend stopped over to pick up some TP that hubby was able to grab at work yesterday. She went to 4 places with no luck so I had texted  hubby if they had any at his work. (Grocery store) They did not... but a truck came in and he was able to grab a package for her before he left work yesterday. He was nice enough to also bring me some fresh tomato, cucumbers, lettuce, potato and onions as well as some lactaid milk and eggs. Emily does love her potato salad and now we can make her some.  Sarah stopped by and picked up her tp this afternoon and we chatted at a nice social distance for a couple of hours without and kids around. It was so nice.... I had not chatted with her in a while! Just like that it was 5PM! A call to Mom and Dad and then a nice salad for dinner and it was time to settle in and crochet for a bit.

The kids have 1 more day of their 'spring break'. Tuesday they will start a new chapter for quarter 4 of their schooling. This week, they will be pointed to some normal on-line things they can study and next week their virtual schooling will start. We will find out more of how that will work later this week.
Until then it is 'normal' at my house. I work 20 hours a week from home, hubby works part time at a grocery store and also has one day a week for his pool cleaning business. Things are changing day to day here in Florida but we are rolling with the 'new normal' as best we can.


Linking up with the Slow Sunday stitchers.

RSC Saturday in Teal.....

After logging off work yesterday I decided to sew my cobblestone blocks together. I had prepped them on Thursday.

I got 10 done before this happened! Yes, he was sitting on the last prepped block. So I moved him to get to it.... which led to....

If you want me to move, I'll just move to here! That will teach you! Yes, I did sew the last 4 blocks with him there. I even sewed all 14 together with him there. 

Another row of cobblestones completed. Bright green, orange, teal..... could one hope for purple in April? 

I marked my quilting onto the cat and mouse which got loaded to the frame this week. I hope to start hand quilting this today... if not tomorrow while both kids are at Grandma's. The boy is going for his overnight. I guess our social distancing includes the grand parents. My FIL is coming over today since we have not seen him in a few weeks *** He just called and said since they are warning people to stay home he will stay home today. Now to see what Grandma wants to do... ***.  We try but they are adults .....

School break ends Monday night and they are starting school from home on Tuesday, and online schooling will begin Monday March 30. 

Other than going to Grandma's - last /Sunday to retrieve kids and Tuesday night to visit. I did pop to the local quilt store Tuesday to get bottom line thread since I forgot to stop on Friday and I am nearly out. Thursday was a quick pop to the vet to get Sophie wet food for her kidneys as she was not eating her special dry food. You have to get 24 cans the same at Chewy so I prefer to get a mix for her at the vet.

Thank goodness we have a nice big yard with a pool for the kids to swim in. They planted their sections of the garden this week. I have been taking one or the other with me on my walks around the neighborhood sometimes too. Now to get them to weed the various flower beds..... which will be harder since we saw the black snake and a rat snake in the yard this week! Seems I have to go out with them now... just in case. Yes, they do realize I dislike them as well but somehow if I am out with them they are safe? Don't they realize I'll run inside and leave them to the snake? Silly kids.

Linking up with the RSC today. Are you hanging a quilt outside today for National Quilting Day? I'm going to have the kids hold up my scrappy Trip quilt for photo's today but I don't think I'll leave that one outside..... it is too big and would drag on the ground.  I might hang one of my other ones out off the kids swing set.... so the traffic going by can see it.

Book Club - #1

I just finished stitching my Evelyn block this afternoon. I just decided to cut and mark this one rather than make templates. I love the cream with the purple vine I am using as my background. I just happen to have 1.5 yards of it in my stash. It was just meant to be!

I'll be linking up with our wonderful hosts tomorrow. Patty at Elm Street Quilts and Kristin at Simple Handmade  Everyday. There is still time to join in. 

Sometimes the soothing feeling of pulling a threaded needle through fabric is the best way to calm ourselves in these trying times. 

Tuesday EMD update

Block #15 from month #4 got completed this week. It is slightly larger than it should be by 1/4 of an inch. I'm going to leave it. Completely hand pieced. Hours and hours and hours of time.

I was hoping to have another finish to show... but my quick nap to remove a headache yesterday turned into 3 hours and well, then it was tag team while Greg laid down and I supervised kids in the pool after dinner. At least dinner was made when I woke up!

I have 3 blocks to complete still and month #7 was released on Sunday! Yikes. Time to turn off the news and stop surfing the web and stitch I think! My applique ones need trimming to 9.5 inches still.

Stencils.....

Since I have successfully loaded the cat and mouse to the frame (ok, I need to baste the bottom edge but close enough!), it is time to think about quilting designs.

I saw a post last week in Celebrate Hand Quilting of some butterfly's being quilted. Cats like to chase butterfly's and they are cuter than the little gecko's the kids suggested... yes, my cats love to play with them on the screened in porch when they manage to get in! Time to check out my limited supply of stencils.

Hmmmm. I have a little bit of template plastic left, lets search quilting books and coloring pages for butterfly photos.

I like the shape of this one...

all traced. Just need to cut it out with scissors. Place on that teal and trace around and add a little dotted line to connect them I think. Yup, that will work. This afternoon's plans are set..... if the kids let me! The girl is being dropped off by Grandma around 1PM. I think I'll pull out the power washer and see if I can con the kids into cleaning a bit of the back steps and start on the concrete driveway and walkway. I need to remind them the pool needs to be cleaned of the oak leaves in the bottom too....

This is my companion, Ollie today while I work. His brother who is normally in his bed by my laptop must be with Greg or Aidan.

Sunday.....

The hand work I have been busy with so far this morning is of the weeding variety! We picked up things from Lowes yesterday but by afternoon it was too hot and I was chauffeuring the girl to Grandma's for an overnight. The boy was sneezing since it is pollen season and someone has not been taking his allergy medicine the tail end of the week. I got home in time for dinner and the boy insisted we work on the triangle bed out front. It was in the shade so we finished weeding all the pesky things out of it. A break for dinner - leftover steak from the grill, potato salad and prosciutto wrapped asparagus... then back outside. Leaning over was causing issues with his sinus headache so he had placed the flowers and I dug and planted them. It looks much better. Needs mulch and more flowers to fill in but the kids have a plan. I think the boy will be mowing the lawn tomorrow - it needs it.

This morning, we spent 2 hours in the garden tilling and pulling up the weeds. The weeds down here in Florida are the ones with huge roots and trailing vines that get all tangled up in the tiller. I was on hoe and pull weed duty while he did the tilling in the areas that were already prepped last weekend by the kids. By noon - it was hot! Only a little part in the lower left hand part needs to get done at this point.

Time to move inside and get the stupid fire ants off and cool down. Hubby headed off to work while we were outside. Now that a shower and lunch are done... it is time to measure the cat and mouse quilt (61x71), prep the backing and batting and find my videos on how to load a quilt onto my Grace EZ3 frame! I'm hoping the leftover backing will be sufficient for the umbrella quilt to get pinned after that.  That is my afternoon plans and they are Aidan approved!

Grandma will return Emily this evening.... maybe. She just called and is considering another night with her.  I'll be doing hand work - I have a couple of Ella Maria Deacon blocks to get finished and I see the month #7 blocks are out this morning. They sure do look challenging! Don't mind the wrinkles, they live in the to go bag. That trip quilt under this does have it's binding all finished. I just need to make and attach a label and then have the kids hold it for a photo shoot sometime this week.

Dinner is Greek style. Greek herbed grilled chicken, pita and tzatziki and a salad with feta and olives. Boy and Mom approved!

Linking up with Slow Sunday Stitching.... where it is probably smart to turn off the tv and internet and pull up some stitching and audio books or movies and practice some therapeutic stitching.

I'm looking for good audio books I can get through the library with RB books. I have read all but 1 of a cozy mystery series by Joanne Fluke. The outstanding one is on hold. I listed to Firefly Hill, which was really good. I think I also did a mystery something about pirates and skulls and a tea shop in NC. It was interesting. I am currently listening to The war of the worlds by H G Wells. When actually reading I like the historical romances but I like listening to the mysteries when I walk and wait in the car lines. I also listened to the podcast of the Hand Pieced Quilt Along last year..... a couple of times. It was a good one too. Suggestions welcome.

RSC Saturday

I think I am nearly ready to be at home for a while. I plan to pop to Lowes this morning and pick up some garden stuff - seeds, moo doo, lettuce already started.... just in case for the guinea and an herb or two like cilantro, chives and basil to supplement my rosemary, thyme, and parsley. Some flowers for the front bed and I'll also grab those little shelf plugs that hold up the shelves in the kitchen cabinets.. since I had a shelf drop last week and keep forgetting to get them! I need a corned beef too - so I'll try Aldi or Walmart on the way home. I did pick up a butterflied lamb leg on the boys request.... just need to figure out how to cook the thing now!

That should keep the kids busy for a little bit and outside in the fresh air. We are fortunate and have 1.25 acres of land and a huge fenced in back yard with some wooded area. They get pool cleaning duty as well and I'll adjust the chemicals and shock it so they can swim the next 2 weeks they are off school. Both found an online app to learn a language and both chose french! Personally I would have done Spanish but whatever. Keeping the mind sharp. I see lots more board games (Thursday night is game night in our house), puzzles, books, shooting hoops and weeding in our future. I still get to work but I am remote so that works out fine. Greg is still working at Publix but as they are closing earlier his hours shifted and he'll be home for kids bedtime for a while since they are closing at 8PM instead of 10PM.

Now... I admit I am fully stocked in fabrics, thread, yarns and crochet hooks and knitting needles... and cross stitch and embroidery. Priorities you know!

Quick Mom, snap the photo so I can use these as a bed!

I quickly went in this morning to see what teals I had. Since it is a shade of blue/green I have a LOT! I was able to cut some 2.5 inch squares and made these 2 16 patches to go along with this block collection.

I'm sure there will be lots of teal to show off next Saturday..... sewing is relaxing and great therapy during these taxing times. Linking up with the other RSC Sewers on this beautiful Saturday in Florida.

Weekend plans.....

The kids are planning to do an overnight at Grandma's still to play with the dogs. They are opting out of the car races as I am assuming it will be cancelled due to the crowd in close proximity. Greg is working all weekend 2nd shift. What is a girl to do you ask?

Clean? Really.... do you know me at all?

This one will get loaded onto the frame. I have had the batting and backing all set to go for months! I'm thinking butterfly's in the bigger boarder, outline of the cats and in the cats either a wave or circle pattern. I'll figure out the rest as I go!

This one will get pinned for hand quilting to be by my recliner and possibly car lines (assuming kids go back to school on the 24th after break next week).  I see falling colorful raindrops and outlining the umbrellas.  I have batting and I think I'll have enough of the teal print backing from the cat and mouse to use for this one.

We will see what happens!

Ella Maria Deacon

A little late this week on posting. It might be because I was busy working on binding instead of working on this block...and reading much too much on the COVID-19 virus!

I decided yesterday to take a look at my midget applique blocks for ideas on what to put in the middle of the block from this month. I was thinking a flower..... but when I scrolled through I saw a block with 4 hearts. I liked it, it would be easy to prep and bam, decision made. I cut my heart shape out from a folded piece of paper. Used that to trace onto fabric the outline, cut and placed onto the block. I took it to 1 car line and a guitar lesson yesterday and got it completed!

The binding is officially done on the trip quilt as of last night. I just need to make and attach the label!

I am opting not to go to my normal bowling league today since I have had a dry cough and a bit of a sore throat. I feel fine (plenty of energy!) but my league is mainly made up of older ladies - age above 70 and my teammates are 88 and 84 and the other one is 65 and currently going through cancer treatments. They don't need to be exposed to my germs. Hubby has more of a flu bug so just safer for them for me to stay home today.

My goal today is to play with some teal fabrics, finish off hand piecing one or two more of the EMD blocks and maybe pick up the seeds for the garden to keep the kids busy next week while on spring break. Emily would like carrots, watermelon and corn. Aidan wants gourds, pumpkins, summer squash and peppers (he has been successful using seeds from peppers we use). I'll get the salad stuff - lettuce, radish, swiss chard, beets and peas and beans. We will see what decides to come up.

Sunday....

A day to relax and putter doing some things I enjoy! I need it after a fun filled day with the kids at the local Discovery Center where it was Engineering Day! They built popsicle stick bridges and then tested them to see how much weight they would take before breaking (Aidan was 6kg, Emily was 4kg), an egg drop from the top of a bucket loader to see if their egg would survive (Emily's did but Aidan's did not), and experimenting with water filtration where they filtered some dirty water using common household materials (both got down to the 50 range from over 200). No, the water was not drinkable but they had fun seeing how clear they could get it!

One kid is off to Grandma's. One is home working on creating a book that is due tomorrow (yes, he has had over a month to work on it and we won't mention he gets his procrastination honestly!). Hubby is off to work. That leaves me with a fairly quiet house today to putter!

I'll get a few binding stitches in on the huge trip quilt.

I plan to mark these bits for hand piecing for an old EMD block. I must have nicked that corner when cutting something. Oops. We will see if it needs a fix or not.

I'll also work on finishing my current hand applique one today. I have 2 more other than these to get done to be caught up before the next release. We will see how the week of car line progress goes.

I'd like to get the cat and mouse quilt loaded onto the frame.... but we will see how time goes by today. Linking up with the other Slow Stitchers.

I do have to drive over and pick up Emily from Grandma's tonight.

She has come here with her new addition and we have Buttons the Maltese dog while she runs to the store to get a small crate for her, food and treats. Her owner (MIL's friend) was found in his condo yesterday after the landlord asked for a wellness check since she did not get his rent check on the 1st like normal. Sadly, he was found deceased and had been for a while. Her groomer took the dog right in and got her cleaned up and trimmed, the emergency vet advised her on how to feed her after so long without proper food (guessing over a week at minimum). The kids are keeping an eye on her while Grandma is gone.

A quick trip to the store for me to get some fruits and veggies and dairy and I'm good for the week with a stocked fridge and pantry I should be able to come up with meals this week!  Tomorrow's scouts meeting is being held at the Auntie Annies at the mall where they will learn about proper hand washing and make their own pretzel.... that they get to eat! Next week is spring break so I figured after 2 weeks of fun paining they deserved a treat. We did this as a troop a few years ago and it was requested we do it again as a few have not done it before. Our troop has also sold out of our cookies as of yesterday - Yea! Emily sold off another 25 boxes yesterday afternoon while meatloaf was baking in the oven. She only has 8 boxes not sold ....which will be taken to bowling and I'm sure will disappear. They happen to contain 5 boxes of Samoas... **** which might be my favorite! =)

RSC Saturday

I'll be working on another side of binding tonight on this RSC project I worked on in 2015! This is hand stitched and hand quilted and finished at 90x90. I used 2.5 inch squares from my stash and used a consistent 7th round with the white dot print. I'm so happy this will be finished in 2020... finally! I went with a scrappy binding.... I may have gone a little over board making it as I have over 100 inches of scrappy binding left still! Oops. As you can see, it is kitty approved. Where ever this quilt is, Peanut is on it! He even spent the morning yesterday on this on the bed rather than in his kitty bed next to my laptop like he normally does! Linking up with the RSC Challenge.

kitty quilt holder while trying to hand stitch binding!

This is the instructions on how I made mine for numbers of squares. 

My Trip Around the World block - 2.5 inch squares. Makes a 30 inch block finished.

1,4,8,12,16,20,24,28 - white round, 28,24,20,16,12,8,4

Off the frame????

Yes! The trip around the world quilt is officially OFF THE FRAME!!!!!!

It still needs to get trimmed (something about the cat was napping comfortably on half of the cutting mat last night and I didn't want to disturb him!). I did make the binding (he let me cut various strips of fabric on half of the mat) and have it pressed and ready to attach once it is all trimmed up. I'm thinking I might get to that today or tomorrow. I see hand stitching binding in my future! This 90x90 quilt will take a while - that is 360 inches of binding to stitch as well as a label. I think I might write the label with the permanent pen and then go over it with some embroidery so it won't fade when it is washed.

I already informed Ms. Quilt Stealer that this is not going on her bed. She is agreeing to disagree at this point.

Ella Maria Deacon

This one still needs a press. Hand pieced and finishes at 9 inches. This one was actually fun to make =).

Had a clean out the fridge win for dinner tonight. I cooked up some mushrooms in butter with a little onion and a handful or two of spinach that needed to get used. Then I chopped up the last of the roaster chicken meat (the carcass was taking a spin in the crock pot with onion, carrot, celery, garlic, parsley, salt, pepper and thyme to make broth) and added it. Cooked up some campanelle pasta and added it to the other pan. Emily had that version and Aidan and I added some warmed up alfredo sauce to ours. Oh boy was it yummy. I do wonder what I will come up with for tomorrow night.....

March OMG

My One Monthly Goal for March is to complete the hand quilting on my 90x90 trip around the world quilt and get it bound. This is all that is left to get quilted as of this morning.

Yes, this was my goal from last month and I was oh so close. March 1 started out with an afternoon of hand quilting on it and I am so close to being done. Unfortunately.... I needed sleep last night and to work today, then kids expect to be fed..... you know the drill. It is looking promising that this month I will finish the quilting, make and attach the binding and label and call this quilt completed! I am so excited!

quilting from March 1

Linking up at Elm Street Quilts and the OMG for March.