Slow Stitching Sunday....

 The only thing I have planned today is taking Emily to horses at noon. It looks like a rainy day so hopefully the thunder storms don't happen during her planned riding time. They don't ride if it is too loud and they can't hear the instructor with the rain pelting on the roof.... and the thunder could spook the horses so they don't ride if it is close. 

The internet just came online - seems there was a countrywide centurylink outage this morning. The kids were going nuts - seems the internet is used for a lot of stuff! Me.... I told them to read a book... eyerolls! I popped in a DVD - The Great Outdoors. Always a fun one to watch. I love John Candy movies.

I took a few photos yesterday as I was stitching through the hockey game on tv. I usually don't use pins, but I have been with this block and things are going together much better. I guess it does pay to stick a few pins in on the long seams. 

I left it here last night.

Completed block this morning.

The next block is prepped and ready to go along with the colored parts for the following block. Sophie is just waiting for her food to be put down and refused to look at me for the photo.

 Linking up with the Slow Stitchers at Kathy's Quilts this rainy Sunday morning in Florida. The rocket launch at 10:30 today has been postponed until Tuesday.....the boy was going nuts as he wanted to watch it and the internet was down. Now he didn't miss anything and there is another launch scheduled for 7ish tonight. I hear there is even one in New Zealand today as well. He will be on the NASA or discovery channels today watching and learning. 

Sweet Confetti blocks in purple...

I managed to sew 9 blocks together after watching my Lightning win the hockey game to lead the series 3-1! I was hand stitching during the game but was cutting parts for this block during the intermissions. 

The result is purple is completed and I am ready for the next color!

Linking up to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

 

Last RSC in purple.....

I had some catching up to do this week.

8 of the Stashbuster blocks set as 4's into a 12 inch block were added to their collection.

The cobblestone blocks were done earlier this month. I do have a purple one made to replace that one reading blue.

The 16 patches were leftover from previous years so didn't need an addition.

The stars and nines were completed for last week. I put the last 4 stars back in the block bin for another time as I had enough of these blocks in the collection.

I still have the Sweet confetti blocks to make with these purples on Saturday.

Linking up on Saturday morning with the RSC. I wonder what the coin flip results will be for September..... Red or Yellow? 

Kids are off to Grandma's Saturday since Emily has a riding lesson Sunday.

The first week of virtual school is done. They did ok with it. I'm actually glad they were home - Emily had a headache Friday late morning and I'm thinking it was a migraine? Blurry vision and a painful head, threw up a little after noon, slept for an hour or two and was better. If she was at school and that happened.... she would be home for 10 days and her brother would be home for 14 days.... and no clue what they would have done with the classes and teachers? I'm sure a doctor visit would have been necessary as well. The new reality I guess. But.... as we are home - all teams virtual lessons are recorded so she can watch and catch up on Sunday. An advantage to virtual learning! Trying to find the positive in this new world.  

Thursday....

 I do need to log into work and make up some time today... about 3 hours which I had planned to do from 9-12. 10:30 now and I still have not logged on! Sigh. I think I'll do an early lunch and work 12-3 while the kids are online at school.

I did get a walk in, cleaned the pool filter and checked in on the chickens this morning so all is not lost. Emily also wanted a Dutch Baby pancake this morning so I popped that in the oven right before I headed out for my walk. She was a happy camper with her breakfast. 

I quickly cut out these parts before the Tampa/Boston hockey game last night. I need to cut out the rest of the white parts so I can make progress on this block tonight. I might cut more colors too and switch things up a bit... this one is a bit darker than the others.... although it will be fine in the scrappy quilt I'm sure!

These are the 6 completed ones so far. I might have the patience to try and fix the 3 with puckers this week. We will see. I am having fun making these so who know's how big it will become. Each block is 12 inches finished. 

Guess I should prep a bit in the sewing area before I log onto work. I have plenty of purple projects that need stitching before Saturday!

August OMG - RSC 2018 quilt is completed.

 There is a child under this quilt! It is fresh out of the washer/dryer this afternoon. I hear it is now cuddly.

This is my August OMG quilt finished - bound and the label attached and written on. 

I'll be linking up with the August OMG finish tomorrow.

The kids have completed day 1 of virtual school. Seems they are just doing slide show's the first couple of days and the standard paperwork for the parents to fill out. Somehow I got all the homework! Some teachers are rocking it and some are struggling. Let's hope the kinks get worked out but all in all - it went well today. Both my kids had one of their electives today (Emily had Ag and Aidan Critical Thinking (robotics)), their 'social studies' and science. Tomorrow they both have ELA (language arts), Math and their second elective which is life skills and thinking ahead to careers instead of PE. 

Sounds like so many are in the classrooms in our part of the county, they will be wearing masks all day long as there is no way to social distance. Let's hope the masks do their job and keep people safe. 

A finish!

I did a lot of hand stitching yesterday..... the binding is done on my Squared Away 2018 RSC quilt. I did machine quilt it a bit last Sunday and Emily helped make the binding mid week. It took 3 nights to get the 300 inches of binding hand stitched down. I'll have to take a photo later.... someone has it on her bed already and might have slept under it last night!

**Edited photo taken and added to the post! 

I took the kids to pick out notebooks and folders for school yesterday. They are starting virtual Monday following the bell with teachers teaching either a full period of kids in school OR a full period of virtual kids.  I figured they still needed all the normal school stuff so they went to pick out their things. When we got home I had them check their school portals thinking they might have put their schedules up a day early..... and they were! We will see how Monday goes! Emily has Agriculture first semester and Culinary second semester. Aidan has robotics. Instead of PE - looks like they have a career research type class? We will see what that is all about this week as their second elective.

I did cut out another Endless Diamond block this week. I finally made templates from my paper parts onto my template plastic. I have had it for years and it is nearly gone! I might have to find another sheet of it soon.  Now that the binding is done, I'll start working on hand stitching this block today. All the sewing lines are marked on the back. I decided to make my templates the exact size of the block - so that I am tracing my sewing line onto the fabric around the template and then I cut out using a 1/4 inch all around.  I had made a few templates in the past where they had you use the seam allowance as well but I think this way is easier and quicker.

Linking up with Kathy and the other slow stitchers today.

For those that know how my week was - my mouth is feeling better today and the swelling is almost all gone. A couple more days of antibiotic and root canal is scheduled on Sept 2. I will be so happy when that is all done and behind me.  Hubby update - the shot he got in his back a few weeks ago helped with the sciatic but not his back pain. Unfortunately, the sciatic pain/numbness down his leg has been coming back over the last week. I believe his check in with the nurse is this week so we will see where we go from here. 

RSC Saturday in purple.

Not much sewing this week but... I did make some nine patches last Saturday to go with the stars. I believe I have 4 more stars left so I need to make 4 more nine patches.

The 2018 RSC Sampler quilt Squared Away is machine quilted and the binding is attached to almost 2 full sides as of last night. I'm shooting for another side today - this one finished at 70x80 so 300 inches of binding to stitch.

Linking up with the RSC. Looks like I need to finish up Purple for next Saturday! Where did the month go? Kids start virtual school on Monday. We will see how it goes.

Friday....

 I attempted to start stitching the binding last night.....

But Mom... this is so comfy! Silly Peanut. I think Aidan came in at that point and picked him up so I was able to quickly grab the quilt and spread out a part to work on before he made a bed again. I got one side done while watching the end of Sister Act and the beginning of Sister Act 2. This quilt is my August OMG - so I have a little over a week to get the binding stitched down and the quilt notes written on the triangle I actually remembered to tuck in a corner when I machine stitched the binding. 

I remembered to bring my camera outside with me yesterday one of the times I checked on the chickens with Emily. I grab a handful of their feed and let them eat out of my hand.... which is fine until 'Fred' decides the soft part of my hand is food! And keeps pecking the same spot! Silly Fred. That is the one Greg named on a whim and when he tried to change it Emily decided she liked Fred! That is the middle one with the most white.  The one reaching under her to eat is Lilly (Aidan's chicken who does not like that Emily named his Lilly instead of Aidan's chicken or Chickolata!). The one on the right is Emily's Emma. Mine is named Molly and she is the darkest red one we have and the biggest. Aidan's is the smallest. 

I think this one is Emily's Emma..... although they all like to get onto our shoulder. For me... if I have Molly and she goes to my shoulder, Fred will try and fly and land on my head. It does feel like I am in Hitchcocks film 'The Birds' occasionally. 

And just when we thought August 2020 was the 'going back to school fun' Mother Nature decided to pull this. Is anyone else looking forward to 2021? I might actually stay up until midnight for once on new years..... just to make sure the calendar year changes!  Let's hope some wind shear knocks them down and they don't join up in the gulf. Kids are instructed to do their online virtual orientation today and the video on how Microsoft Teams works. That is the one platform they will use this year.  We will see on Sunday what their schedules look like. 

Feeling better today.

 The antibiotics and tylenol/advil combo seem to be working. I do know when it is time for another dose though!

Yesterday someone insisted she wanted to make binding. So I laid out the RSC 2018 quilt and we auditioned a few fabrics. We decided on grey and I had enough. I cut and sewed them together. She did the ironing to press it in half. I machine stitched it to the top. Now it is waiting to get hand stitched to the back. It will take a while - I believe this one is 70x80.

While waiting for me to cut and sew the parts together I mentioned the little magic stars were ready for their layout. She played with it and came up with this setting. These are pretty tiny - I think each one is 4 inches?

Nothing new.....

I have not really worked on anything since Sunday. I did manage to get 'enough' machine quilting in on the RSC 2018 quilt that I think I am calling that one done and waiting for trimming and binding.

Since then.... zilch. Nadda. Nothing. Cause.... after picking up the kids from Grandma's the toothache that had been bothering me got really bad and I went to bed..... around 8PM!

Monday... lots of phone calls, no they can't get me in until Thursday... well maybe Wednesday. A long day of pain..... and swelling.... Tuesday morning I called and said swelling and this is an emergency. I got in within the hour! X-ray's.. Yup - need a root canal. Antibiotic and a referral. 2 hours later with lots of phone calls... figured out how our insurance works and found the ONE endodontist in the whole of Ocala who takes the insurance.... with a referral. Had to call the dentist to explain what form to put the referral on so insurance will pay. I have to say - the endodontist office was awesome! They called while I was at horses yesterday with Em and Greg handled scheduling. The receptionist said he did a great job! 1.5 hours to numb and clear out the area and I get to go back in 2 weeks for the actual root canal once the swelling goes down. I get to watch carefully and if it swells more or difficulty breathing I get to go to the ER ASAP! So, that has been my fun week.

The receptionist when she checked me out mentioned to go have a shake or iced coffee. Still numb but you know what.... I stopped at twistee treat on the way home and got a chocolate milkshake. Took advil and tylenol and I'm waiting for the numbing to go out...and the pain to start. I set a timer on my phone for the next dose of anitobiotic.

Think I'll turn on the Tampa hockey game and pull Emily's purple crochet blanket out. 

That's the update from my household. Let's hope tomorrow is a good day. I will be working tomorrow... since I logged off at noon Monday and did not get more than 2 hours in yesterday and 1.5 hours in today. Got to make up that time.... the disadvantage of being hourly. At least I have 4 work projects I am juggling so plenty to do. 

Slow down Sunday.....

 Every week Kathy reminds us to slow down and breathe. Sometimes, I actually listen =)

Last night I finished stitching the 4th block of Endless Diamonds while watching the Tampa Bay Lightning play in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Time to prep another block today

Yes, 2 of them really need a press... and that bottom right pink will need a third try. That pucker....

I also made a little progress on hand quilting the cat and mouse. I hope to put a couple of hours in on this today. I outlined the mouse but I have not decided what else to add for stitching in that block. At least I'll work on outlining the other mice in this row while I think on that.

 A little machine work will happen today as well - I have my RSC 2018 quilt pinned and needing some machine quilting (or tugging as it is a big quilt for my little sewing machine!). Who know's... maybe I'll have a binding to add later this week by hand?

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

RSC in purple...

 I did not get much purple sewn this week.

I did play with a new tutorial from TheJoyfulQuilter for Mini Magic Stars. There is some purple in there!

I pulled some old friendship stars in purple.... just need to make some nine patches to make these into stars and nines later today.

I also found this variable sunburst star from Canuckquilter that I had made last year. I hope to add a few more in purples this month.

Head on over to see how others did with purple this week at the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. I'll be by later to check in but must go weed the front beds a bit before the temps get crazy.

Quilting progress...

I finally got to the frame yesterday afternoon and added some stitches into the cat and mouse.... after making a batch of soft pretzels. I made 8 of the round pretzels....I had one.... there was one left on the counter within an hour of them coming out of the oven. I guess the family likes them! 

I am doing Noom - to try and loose a little weight so I don't become pre-diabetic or diabetic. I am about 7 weeks in and so far like the program. No foods are off limits, but they concentrate more on why you are craving things, social pressure, planning ahead and have provided some great tools to use for a sustainable lifestyle change rather than a 'diet'. I am down 8 pounds from where I started.... I wish it was more but.... I am sleeping a lot better, my clothes are fitting better and I feel better. Another tip from them - weigh yourself daily but find other ways to measure your progress! 

Greg headed into work yesterday evening for the first time in a few weeks. I sent a text asking how he was around 6:30 - he said he was in a fog but managing. They have him working in the liquor store (a one person job) instead of stocking shelves in the main store. It is easier on his back and he is a trustworthy person to either open or close. I guess owning our own store helped and his managers trust him. They were having some issues there so were happy to pop Greg there so it was a win/win situation. He is scheduled to work the next 3 days.....  The shot has helped the sciatic but the back pain remains....he is back to feeling how he was back in April.... sigh. 

Today is my 'day off' work. I have plans to sew today! I want to make progress on machine quilting the 2018 RSC quilt. It is pinned and ready to go.

I also need to prep more of my Endless Diamond blocks. I quickly prepped one corner for hand work for a conference call at work yesterday. 

Some machine stitching to finish off the Mini Magic Star blocks will also happen. Lets hope I cut these out correctly!

I also need to get some of my RSC purple blocks made.

I'd better finish off this post and get moving!

Peanut was sunning himself outside my office yesterday looking out the glass door in the 'garage'. Spoiled boy.

Squirrel anyone? Mini Magic Stars

Do you ever visit a blog and just know.... you have to go make that NOW! The Joyful Quilter  put a post up that I saw around 5PM. This is what happened by 8PM in my sewing room..... ok -  I had to make dinner (taco Tuesday), clean up and did get my walk in... I also walked out with Em to close up the chickens for the night. But in between all that I opened a charm pack, paired fabrics, cut and sewed...... we won't mention I was hurrying when I cut that blue/green one and someone must have turned it wrong. Oops..... something for the back!

I have plenty more to select from to replace that one. This is the charm pack I pulled. Pretty purple, blue and greens.

I just pulled the same fabrics from the boo boo one to make another.

More matched with their pair fabric underneath and all set to cut out more Mini Magic Stars.

Go ahead... run to the sewing room and make some. I won't judge, I promise!

Thank you Joyful for the fun little diversion tonight. It was so fun to make these in a small size. Big thanks to your special math guys for figuring out the hard part =).

Monday morning update....

 Of the lofty goal list yesterday... the hand pieced Endless Diamond got completed! I do love how this is coming out. I'll pull from the second bin of scraps when I prep the next couple of blocks I think.

The kids have their well check visit this afternoon. I have to fill out some paperwork before then and ask for their records to be transferred to the new doctor's office. So much for being able to keep your own doctor and doctors just taking all plans from the insurance company. Don't get me started, between having to switch the kids doctors and all the run around we are getting and refusal to pay claims on all of Greg's medical bills we are not having fun with the insurance company in Florida. I can see why people don't want to go to the doctors or declare bankruptcy with medical bills. You are pretty much damed if you do and damed if you don't. Ok, rant over and back to work for me!

Sunday

Today the kids are planning on heading to Grandma's for the day. A whole day of peace and quiet.... to play with fabrics! I plan to get a little machine quilting in on this quilt - that did get pinned yesterday afternoon.

I'll put some stitches in the third Endless Diamond block.

A few episodes of NCIS will get watched/listened to while I add some stitches to the cat and mouse quilt on the frame. I got to roll the frame and start a new section this week!

Saturday night dinner.... last Saturday I did a traditional one that I grew up with - baked beans and hot dogs. Technically.... not the same since I did not make the baked beans from scratch like Mom always did. I just opened a can of Bushs' baked beans. 

This week hubby mentioned a couple of meals we had not made in a while. I had to go out to the grocery store anyway (we won't discuss that I needed AAA batteries - the whole point of going out - do you think I have any in my house right now? Nope.... completely forgot them at the TOP OF THE LIST!). Anyway... he mentioned taco's and chinese stir fry. Last time I did a Moo Goo Gai Pan and a beef one. I asked which he preferred - the beef one - Beef with Broccoli. Hmmm. Em and I like Moo Goo so I got what I needed for both. There was plenty left so I am set for meals on Sunday and probably Monday lunch. No time wasted on cooking today! Just stitching time.

Linking up with Slow Sunday Stitching as there will be a bit of it in my future today. Must go get my walk in before the temps get crazy hot!

Some purple cobblestones....

 

I have to admit, I love how these cobblestones are looking. It is going to be difficult to hold off on making the red and yellow ones the next 2 months!  Hmmmm, that one in the middle of the purples is really standing out. It 'might' need to get taken out and replaced. I have plenty of other purples to select from! 

I did order a mottled grey last month for the in between rows. So this one will actually become a top in October... who know's it might get finished that month as well!

Linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge on Saturday morning.

Hubby update - he was finally able to sleep Thursday night and this morning the pain has lessened a lot.  After the shot it really does get worse before it gets better. Let's hope the medicine from the shot continues to ease the pain, it has been a long few months for him. 

The day after.....

 Well, sounds like no sleep for hubby last night. Lots of pain today... they did say it would get worse before it gets better. Sigh. He said it feels like someone has been poking his butt with a fork all night. I had him try to ice it and see if that helps before I headed out for my walk this morning. The pain meds finally kicked in more than an hour after he got up. 

I had to wait in my car yesterday... and there was a shady spot on the side of the building. I pulled in and put the windows down (yes it was 90 degrees + humidity). Sounds like it hurt like the dickens for the shot, especially when they pushed the meds in. We were home a little after noon.... the appointment was at 11:15. His orders are to do nothing but rest for a couple of days. 

While waiting and listening to my audiobook I got the second Endless Diamond block completed. It needs a press but I like how they connect. 

I got a little hand quilting in on the frame before I had to stop and join a Zoom call for Girl Scout Leaders. I get to roll the frame today! 

I'm not sure how the year will go... but I want to get my girls their bronze for those that want it. We had a walk through scheduled at a local food bank/shelter back the end of March.. which of course was cancelled with all the lockdowns at the time. We will see what the girls decide on Monday night. The girls have a good chunk of change in their bank account that we are unable to do the things we planned with it yet. They wanted a roller skating party, paining with a twist and camping overnight at Camp Wildwood.  No indoor meeting and only small numbers - 8 girls and 2 adults for outside socially distanced meetings if everyone signs a Covid health release. Our troop will not be meeting this way as neither leader is comfortable with it. We will see how the year goes... if it goes. 

I let the ladies out this morning as Emily was still sleeping.... a nice peep, peep, peep greeting and pet before they flew down to drink and eat and catch the cricket that was trying to get out but could not!

This was them yesterday.