RSC Table Scrap Challenge

 A little late but I did finally play with a set of brown four patches that have been hanging around for way too long getting moved from spot to spot. They are now this little quilt and are happy to be out of the sewing area!

The backing used up some of my red sox fabric. I think I used this to make blanket quilts for the nieces and nephews - gosh back in the late 90's or early 2000's! 

A little walking foot quilting and then I hand stitched the binding.

A completed little quilt (slightly under 12 inches square) ready to link up with Joy and the Table Scrap Challenge! The blocks are Kind of happy to be Walked out of the sewing room and into the house as a little quilt. That's the best I can do with K and W!

Sunday

I was able to finish this Harmony block this week. It is hand pieced and finishes at 28 inches. This was a 2021 sew along with Patty Dudek and Kristin Esser.  This is my second block of 4 to make the 56 inch quilt. The reds and tans will be different in each block.

This is the first block finished in 2021.

I took the bag with me to horses Saturday after marking all my stitching lines on Friday night. All the parts for the corner sections are stitched. At horses I was able to add the HST to the rectangle while chatting with other parents for the lesson before.

 

They were down to 2 horses with the others gone to a show and 2 others left behind lame this morning. Poor Reba and Ellwood got the brunt of the lessons. They were both in western saddles, so Emily rode western yesterday instead of English. 

 I had lots of prep work on Friday cleaning walls and prepping for painting. Then the kids went to Grandma's to help her Christmas her house. Since that was my tall person for the high parts (I dislike heights), I delayed painting by a day. The first coat took over 3 hours.... I had Emily helping a little then Aidan came out and did the high parts. The second coat went quickly in under an hour with Aidan's help. It looks so much better now with 12 years of scratches and wear against the main walkway into the house. Now I can hang my quilt hanger onto this wall just in time for Christmas decorating today. That will happen after the F1 race and we do need to go visit my FIL and check on him. A busy day but stitching will happen!

Linking up with Kathy and the other slow stitchers.

Harmony block #2 is completed!

 

This Harmony block is 28 inches. Hand pieced. I believe all the parts for the next block are cut and in a baggie. I just need to mark some stitching lines and then I can start. I was selecting different reds and tans for each block, so I don't reuse any of them. The white is a constant through all the blocks... with the exception of the 8 flying geese in these but I had a similar white fabric, and it should not be noticeable. Let's hope it does not take 2 years to finish the next one!

Friday

We had a nice Thanksgiving day yesterday. My MIL and her hubby came over and it was a beautiful weather day. Temps were in the upper 60's which is a cold front for us, but I love these temps! That meant the annual game of HORSE after the meal. We followed it up with PIG and IT. I think I won the PIG and was first out on IT. Keep in mind, Grandma turned 80 in August. My FIL opted not to come over. He did not want us to go over later in the day either.... so we'll take the kids over on Saturday to do a cone pick up on his yard and visit and bring some food over to him. The church group should be dropping a meal off to him today.

After they headed home, hubby and I watched Mystery Alaska on Tubi and I got some stitching time in! One more seam all set to stitch to have the top section ready. You can tell, no pressing has happened yet! This has been a well-travelled project. A couple trips to Vermont, lots of activities and events and it finally got some attention. I believe all the parts for the 3rd block are cut and in a baggie. I know marking lines need to be added to them, but the hard part is done.

My plans for today - head to Lowes and buy paint! Today is the day to prep and start painting a couple of walls inside the house. It's been 12 years since we moved in and now that the hole (2020 Greg's head hit by the floor when he passed out from back pain) is patched and dried and textured, I am ready to get it done. Having a tall person home to do the high ceiling part helps. Once that is done (2 coats I know), then we can Christmas the house up!

I'll find a few moments to stitch that seam and pin and start stitching the bottom sections together, I hope.

Wishing you all a nice Friday. 

Wednesday

 Not as much stitching as I'd like, but a little progress. I did cut out the 8 flying geese I needed and have 3 of them stitched. It should go together fairly quickly... you know, if I actually pick up the needle and thread!

Sunday already?

 It was a long 24 hours with the kids! They both had a great time yesterday. One was volunteering at a robotics tournament and the other went to the FSU football game last night and returned back to the school around 2:50AM. Yea.... I didn't get much sleep last night! I also watched the F1 race in Vegas with Aidan from 1-2:20 when I headed over to pick up Emily. I have a feeling I will be dragging a bit today!

I did manage to pop to the grocery store and pick up a standing rib roast. I do love prime rib and it is so easy to cook at home. I tend to get them when they are on sale around the holidays, cook them to a rare/medium rare and then seal a meal individual slices for the freezer. I need to adjust my amounts this year as it appears the girl likes them now too and will pull them out for meals when she doesn't like what is offered. Thanksgiving, Christmas time and Easter are when they are on sale, so I plan accordingly. I ran out a few months ago. I also like to add it to my salads for lunches =).  I tend to do a recipe like this, although sometimes I just do salt and pepper for seasoning or add some fresh chopped rosemary and garlic. I've got a 7 pound roast I need to take out of the fridge in a little bit and put the turkey in to start defrosting. I have a 12 pound one of those. 

I did just a little in the sewing room yesterday and got a set of split nines done in light blues. I need 2 more sets to finish off this one I think for a child size donation quilt.

I pulled out some hand piecing and was working on Harmony from a hand stitch along in 2021. I need to make 4 more of these and then really search for the 8 flying geese I need to finish the block. I have them for the next block but the ones for this block are missing. I have the fabric, so I'll probably just cut more out and mark for stitching. I'm sure they will turn up as soon as I do that!

Not much progress on the Bear Paw but I have a feeling it will be a bit of a lazy day today so probably a movie and some hand work are on tap.

The kids are off for the week of Thanksgiving. I have appointments scheduled for them on Tuesday. Dentist and blood draw as a follow up on their physicals last month. Too busy to do it until now. 

We made the mistake of letting the dog out back last night during the race. I completely forgot it was Sunday and the auto irrigation was on for the lawn. Our crazy water loving dog found the sprinkler head by the fence and would not come in. Silly boy. Thank goodness Aidan knew how to turn it off. He eventually came in.... he was in hog heaven playing in the water and mud. I guess Greg and the kids get to check and fix that this week too! 

Linking up with the RSC quilters and the Slow Sunday stitchers.

Saturday....

 So far, no sewing but I have plans to be in the sewing room all afternoon!

Both kids have been dropped off to school. Yes, I am aware it is Saturday! Aidan is volunteering at a Robotics tournament at the middle school. Emily is going with the high school marching band to watch an FSU game tonight with their marching band. It is about 3 hours away and her 3AM pickup will be fun! Aidan does have an F1 race from 1AM to 3AM so I should be up and awake anyway!

After dropping Emily (Greg dropped Aidan for 8AM - I got the 9AM one!) I stopped at the Market of Marion - section F for some fresh veggies. $20. Not bad =). Honeydew melon, cabbage, cucumbers, tomato, corn, radishes, zucchini, peppers. 

I still have not painted the walls like I planned but after sanding the patch this morning, I added some more patch to it and also got a few spots on another wall. I plan to put the kids to work tomorrow since the 2 walls I want to do, one is a slanted cathedral ceiling and even with a ladder (I don't like heights) I can't reach the top for edging. Aidan gets to do that! 

My hopes for today after cleaning up the kitchen (Aidan cooked the last 2 nights - he did baked salmon Thursday and stromboli last night while I went to pick up Emily from marching practice for the December parades), pin the Christmas Cactus Wreath and make the binding. If I get to start the quilting, it is a bonus!

Hand piecing on Harmony

 I had a morning virtual meeting with the whole company I work for on Wednesday. Camera off, so I decided to do some hand stitching. These 4 blocks got the big white rectangle added to the top and then the white rectangle with the HST got added to the other side. 

Then I marked these parts and got 2 of the 8 blocks like this made. I have 8 flying geese blocks to make as well and then I can assemble the parts into the completed block. Might I be able to finish this block by the end of the month? We shall see.

I had finished the first 'block' of this project in 2021 when it was a sew along.

 I planned to make 4 of these blocks for a 57x57 quilt top. Most of the parts are cut out for the next 2 blocks, so if I plug away at them maybe I'll eventually get them all stitched up and completed!

Emily and I are heading to a girl scout planning meeting tonight with a pot luck. That pot luck part had Emily all set to go despite there not being a separate GEMS meeting. We will see what is on tap for next year and what needs to be done to prepare for the events. 

Greg has been doing lots of driving over to his Dad's house and it will be that way for a couple of weeks. He was released home this week but is not very steady on his feet. Lots of people scheduled to pop in and check on him - nurse, pt, ot and we are working on getting a cleaning crew in there.  A local Church group does meals, like meals on wheels and they will start next week so that is another person checking on him. We will see how it goes. The kids have 2 days of school left before a week off for Thanksgiving break. I have them scheduled for bloodwork and dentist cleanings next week.  Never a dull moment at my house. 

The lowest price of frozen turkeys here is 69 cents a pound at Publix. I'm waiting one day to see if maybe they will get lower with the new flyer out tomorrow. Only 6 or 7 of us so we don't need a lot. It sounds like Tom does not want to come over, so I guess after my MIL and Papa Andy head home on Thanksgiving, we'll head over with some prepared plates for Tom.

Bear Paw

 I finished quilting the second setting triangle and started on the third one... until the dog joined me on the recliner, and I needed to stop. I should be able to get some more stitching in tomorrow while we have a work all company meeting that I get to attend virtually. I'll work a little on this and a little on stitching the parts of Harmony into the second block. I think it is fairly close to being done.

Emily was working on making some paw print cookies. We have a girl scout planning pot luck meeting tomorrow night. She is bringing these. 

RSC Saturday

 First off, Eggnog the one americana left from the 'new' batch of chickens laid her first egg this week. It is green and I think her eggs will be a small size egg. We have 3 of these eggs right now but I'm sure there is one out in the nesting box this morning as well. The other americana was a rooster and he was rehomed. The other two were rhode island reds and one got killed by something in the run last month. The one remaining, Buttercup is starting to get a red crown but no brown eggs yet. The other 3 older girls are all molting right now - all their feathers come out and they look terrible. Then the feathers come in and they are pretty again. They don't lay eggs while they are molting. 

I added a few grey split nines last night to the pile. I pulled some light blues but have not sewn them up yet.

I was playing with the blocks last weekend. Still not sure how these will be laid out yet but they are fun to play with.... once you shut the dog out of the room. He had other ideas on how to set them!

Linking up with the RSC. 

Mid week already?

 Monday, both kids came home at normal time. Emily planned to go to scouts, but she was all stuffy, headache and sore throat so she stayed home. Ended up asleep by 7:30 and stayed home from school on Tuesday as well and slept most of the day. She is better and off to school today. That meant I took Aidan to guitar since Greg indicated he had a sore throat. 

Tuesday - Aidan and I got haircuts, finally. Lots of hair off that kids head! While waiting for him to be ready after school, I finished knitting this dish towel. Mine had all gotten tossed as they really get stinky after a while. I'll need to make a few more as I only have this one and a blue one now.

After dinner - Emily made chicken noodle soup with the roaster chicken I picked up at Sam's club Monday night, I added some stitches into the bear paw. I thought they looked terrible last night while I was doing them, but they are ok this morning.

I am listening to this book right now. It took a couple chapters to get into it, but I'm enjoying it now. I started it on the way to pick up Aidan yesterday. 

I plan to paint a couple of walls in the living room this weekend, but it appears it will take a bit of time for the patch to dry (still need to get the stuff and patch a hole in the wall). So, I get sewing time! I'll work on finding a backing for the Christmas Cactus Wreath and get it pinned for machine quilting. That's my plans for tomorrow! We will see how I do.

Purple hearts are a finish.

 

I finished hand stitching the binding on this during the exciting F1 race on Sunday afternoon. I had made the hearts one a day sometime last year for a month. They protested being moved from spot to spot last week and got sewn up into a top this week. This weekend I pulled a backing - love when you can just use a yard of fabric! I found some batting scraps and zig zagged them together. A little quilting happened on Saturday night while Emily was at the dance. Then I finished the machine quilting Sunday morning and made and attached the binding. It feels so good to have another UFO checked off the list. 

Sunday....

 My hand stitching today during the F1 race in Brazil will be the purple binding on the hearts wall hanging! It is 32x39. I just did simple straight line stitching along each of the blocks. It is happy to be an almost completed quilt.

This is the boys yesterday. Ollie enjoys being on top of poor Peanut. 

If the binding gets done, then I'll switch back to the Bear Paw side setting triangles. I have one done of 6. Linking up with the slow Sunday stitchers at Kathy's Quilts.

I did not get a good photo, but this is what I got thanks to the girls Mom! Jasilynn in blue (Emily's buddy since 6th grade when they met in school), her sister Addy and then Emily with a smile!

She had a great time at the Homecoming dance and is very happy she went to hang out with her friends. It was quite a busy birthday for me yesterday (51 Shhh)  with this girl! I did get to sleep in, since Greg took her to horses early so she could help in the barn before her lesson.  He returned with a beautiful bunch of colorful roses for me.  I went to get her, and grabbed lunch on the way home. Then out to find a purse for the night for her and some treats for the dog. Back home and then off to Outback to have a dinner (I was not hungry at all after lunch!) before their dance with her friends family. Addy drove the girls to the school. I picked up Emily a bit before 11. Today should be a little less running around, I think. I've already gotten sewing time in finishing the quilting I started last night and made and attached the binding,  a dog got walked and hand stitching time will start soon with the race at noon our time.

Side note, I'm very thankful for the fraud department on my credit card. I tried using it last night and it declined so I swapped to my other card and didn't think much of it. This morning, I had a message from the card fraud department asking me to call them. I did and confirmed some purchases but not 2 that they tagged as fraudulent. I confirmed they were not me and they have now cancelled my card, put in a refund on those 2 charges and are sending me a new one. I'll have to make some calls mid-week to reset up some of the auto things with the new numbers and information. Very thankful they have that in place to check and handle it on their end. May you have a restful Sunday.

RSC Saturday

 I'm not sure how these split nines will end up, but there are 16 sets of 4 now in various colors!  I added a sage green this week and the last one added was the black one. I think it needs 4 more, so I'll be adding some others to it this month.

Linking up Saturday with the Rainbow Scarp Challenge.

A finish!

 The Civil War Love Letters quilt is officially finished! It finished at 62x69 (I think). This one was started in 2014 as a block a week using the book. It feels so good to check something off the UFO list.