Sunday sewing

 I finished the last of the 25 bear paw blocks for the Graduation quilt this week. I pinned the boy down Saturday before he attended the last graduation party, and we tried out some different design layouts. 

Scattered around.

Dark blue, light blue, light green, dark green. He liked this one.

I think this one was light backgrounds to darker backgrounds but ended up in blue/green rows, which he did not like. Bear thought it was comfy though. 

He had options of the setting triangles. I don't have enough of the ones I used in the blocks to make them, so found a dark beige in the stash and purchased a lighter one at Hobby Lobby when I finally got the correct last embroidery floss I needed for my current project. He liked the lighter one we placed the blocks on.  I'll be cutting those big blocks today and begin getting this one to a top. It should be about 80 inches square, but I want to add a border around it as a frame. Not sure on the darker beige, or a green or blue yet. We will see how it looks.

A little stitching was added to the embroidery this week. 

I have a new trip planned for mid week up to Vermont to see my parents and help out for a week. Dad landed in the hospital again Tuesday and was released yesterday. Fluid buildup in his heart. They did some scans and found things, so he has a biopsy on his kidney scheduled for next Friday. I'll be up there to bring them to that and help out a little before and after. My siblings have been doing a great job, but I figured I needed to go up and help. My kids are self-sufficient at 17+18 and have their plans in place for the next couple of weeks. Their Dad is here too, and they all should be fine while I am gone.

I'll bring the embroidery and Brimfield with me for hand work. I'm also considering breaking into a quilt kit of blue batiks that I might change into a drunkards path block and play with them. I do have that as an Accuquilt die... and have a bunch of travel opportunities to hand stitch it.  I found 2 options in the kit bucket. I'll probably use the teeter totter batiks....and remember that pattern for a RSC quilt in the future.

I also found this cross stitch! This is from the early 90's!

Some pastel colors... if I want to play with RSC things this month. They look pastel like to me. Maybe some nine patches? Four patches? 

Linking up with the Slow Sunday Stitchers. 

BITA is completed! 2nd UFO finish of the quarter

 This is my 3rd finish this year. Not bad for the end of May. Much better than last year.  This Birds in the Air quilt is the second one I've made scrappy with this pattern. One was gifted to my nephew and his wife when they got married in 2015. I always wanted one for me... so started making the blocks again with the RSC and eventually it got done. It sat on the quilt frame for hand quilting for a long time with no progress.... so I pinned it and pulled it off and did a walking foot wiggle every 3-4 inches or so across the quilt. The was enough backing to cut off for the binding in blue to finish it off. 

I'm very happy with how this turned out and love the light yet warm wool batting so far. I'll try and get a better photo of it later tonight.

Little House Sew along block 9

 This is my version of the block. The medium purple is my green. 

I looked at the original quilt and swapped two blocks to alternate the log cabin strips so two same fabrics were not touching. The middle and the one on the right of it.

A fun squishy in the mail. Thank you Melva. I do love blue!

Linking up with block 9 of little house sew along.

Memorial Day

 After a graduation Saturday I was ill Sunday. Much better today, thank goodness.

I really like this shot of the kids.

My family 

Me, Aidan and Greg

I got the main stitching done on this page of the chart.  I think I just have 5 stitches and the half pumpkin then all of page one. 

One last shot of the boy with his graduation cheesecake with raspberries.  Gregs specialty. 

RSC Saturday in orange.

I made some orange chickens last weekend to add to the collection. They are happily laying me eggs =)

Linking up on Saturday with the RSC.

I've not made much progress on the binding, since as soon as I touch this BITA quilt, someone lays on it! I put it on the floor last night to find where I had clipped for hand stitching, and he laid down on it immediately. I might have told him he could have part of it on the couch if he moved so I could find the edge I wanted. He looked at me, got up, waited while I settled it on me and the couch and promptly jumped up and laid down on it curled up beside me. I got a little stitching in, so one side is done. I hope to add some more tonight before an early to bed for me. I've got a 5AM alarm set for Graduation.

I has been a long week! Tuesday night was awards night for Juniors and Seniors. It lasted a little over 2 hours with scholarships and various awards handed out. The Cambridge Aice medals and sashes were handed out. The Valedictorian sash and awards were handed out - 8 this year with 5.0 GPA all four years. My guy is one of those. His Psych teacher sent me this, his buddy Issiac and Aidan with her after the ceremony. Emily got recognized for 4.0 or better in her class.  Emily was anxious to get moving as we were going out to dinner (almost 8ish by the time he came out) and she had 2 big tests the next day. 

Wednesday night was a Girl Scout planning meeting. Thursday was a parent meeting for Band after their icebreaker for incoming 8th graders. They are making some changes next year and wanted all to be aware. Tonight, trying to clean up the house a bit and figure out what to have ready to munch on after Graduation tomorrow morning. It starts at 8AM promptly, and with new security measures in place this year we are getting to the school 1.5 hours before that to hopefully get through and settled before the ceremony. Over 400 graduates. I'm thinking just some breakfasty type things made in advance - like scones and muffins. I've got watermelon and pineapple to cut up for a fruit salad. We can cook up eggs and sausage or bacon if anyone wants. 

The boy requested cheesecake with raspberries so his Dad is making that for him now. I also have lunch things I can put out and make later that morning. It will just be us, Grandma and I think my brother and SIL will pop by after the ceremony for a little bit. They moved down to Florida this week, arrived Tuesday with 2 cats and purchased a house today! We welcomed them with a 6:30 AM call time at the kids school =) .

 

Graduation quilt

I added the above four blocks on Sunday.  That gives me 20. I need 5 more blocks. 

 Progress. 

Sunday funday

 At some point today, I'll add a few lengths of thread into the binding on this BITA quilt. It is a big one and will take a while to get hand stitched down. The quilt is at least 90x90, and our temps are now in the 90's during the day. Thank goodness for the AC house unit!

I realized I had not worked on the cross stitch at all this week, so added some threads to it yesterday. I started with the light parts of the last 'quilt block' and will add the maple leaf colors to it next. 

Today will be spent in the sewing room for a while, cutting and making more bear paw blocks for the Graduation boy's requested quilt. Bear Paw pattern. Civil war type prints in green and blue. I have 8 of each color so far and hope to add another 4 today. 

While cutting out more of the Bear Paw blocks this morning, it was time to figure out how many I needed for a double size bed. I'm thinking 80x80? I looked in a few quilting books, then remembered that Bonnie Hunter had some math graphs on her blog under tips and techniques. I looked at a few on-point links and found this one. Very helpful. My blocks are 14 inches finished. That means just under 20 inches on the diagonal. So, a 4x4 setting looks like I need 25 blocks. I have 16 made and just did the initial rough strip cuts for another 4. I'm making two blocks with each of the strip of blue and green. I'll go back and make 5 more blocks from already used fabrics. I think after the setting triangle, I'll add a border on the outside to make it a wee bit bigger to allow for the quilting on it.  The graduate will get a box of the blocks (most of them anyway) on Saturday after his graduation from High School. I've got until the end of August to get it completed! The next few months will be very busy, so we will see. A trip to Alaska, one to Vermont, a visit to Tennessee for a college visit with Emily, and I'm busy at work. Life is never dull!

Good news, my Dad is being released from the hospital today. They think it was not a heart attack but rather a buildup of fluid in the body got into the heart. They have it under control for now and are upping his water pill dosage. Big shout out to my 4 siblings who are all handling that with my parents.

Linking up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers.

Rsc in orange

 

I added a couple of houses to the collection this week. The spider web house just makes me smile.

That means the chicken blocks are next. 

Linking up with the RSC.

Both kids have things to do today - one has a graduation party at a friends house and the other is having a study date to review for their AICE exams next week. The silly girl had her Math exam yesterday and came home smiling and said that was really easy. I reminded her that was the one her brother struggled with. Her words 'I read problem one, thought oh, that's easy', and repeat through the exam. Next week is her Chemistry, Physics, History and English. She said Global Perspectives and Math are done. I know Aidan has his Calculus exam Thursday and he has a couple more as well. His last day of school is technically Tuesday with Graduation Saturday. He has 2 more exams Thursday and one in June. 

Seems there was a manufacturing backlog of the Progesterone pill nationwide. Mine ran out this week and it was out of stock everywhere. I was surprised I got a text that it was finally in at Publix last night. I scooted right over and picked it up. I ran out earlier this week. I slept pretty good last night! Might have been because I was very tired from siblings text messages from the previous night. My Dad has a mild heart attack early Friday morning. He is at the hospital and under observation and doing well. The four siblings were handling things and helping my Mom. I'll call today and see how they are doing.

 

Little House block 8

 I think this one took longer to pick fabrics than to sew it up! I debated on making the heart light but went with the purples.  This heart was fun to stitch. I could see this as a future Rainbow Scrap Challenge block =). 

Eight blocks down, one to go!

L

Linking up with Melva and Block 8 of the Little House Sew Along.

Binding time!

 I finally got back to the sewing room last evening and finished the machine quilting on this big BITA quilt. I did need to do some fixing, where the batting and backing were not big enough. Thankfully this was a big backing and I was able to cut off on one side and 'add' it to the other side. There was enough backing to make the binding. I did my math and was less than an inch off at the end. I just made it work. Very tiny seam to merge it and stitched it down. 

I brought it out and put it on the floor by my recliner last night. The dog came right over, sniffed it, looked at me with a smile, and promptly laid down on it and turned and gave me a grin with teeth! Silly boy, he was on a part of this all last night until I went to bed. So, only one strand of thread was used to start stitching it down before we snuggled up and watched episode 2 of Midsummer Mysteries on Roku. I'll be stitching on this in the evenings for a bit and should get it completed before the end of the month.

The kids are off to school, the dog has been walked and I made some french toast with old sourdough bread that needed using. Time to grab a shower and go visit my FIL, who does know how to use a phone! He called Greg Monday night and asked if the house sale went through ok. First time he has called us since being in his assisted living facility. Yes, the sale is through and Greg and I had a nice late lunch out after. Tuesday afternoon we had a social security office meeting. Today is a quick visit to see my FIL and then I'll be in the sewing room making the next block on the Little House Sew Along, then prepping the last 2 orange houses for the RSC to sew up while adding more Bear Paw blocks to the Graduation quilt. 

Happy Mothers Day

 Just another Sunday but I did get to go out for lunch with hubby and the kids. Grandma was not feeling well - low energy and begged off yesterday.  While out for the morning walk with Bear, I met up with a neighbor on the next street with 2 little dogs. We were chatting about vices (She likes BMW fast cars and I like fabric and quilting and crafts). She said, you want a sewing machine? I have an old one from when I was flipping houses. She gave it to me free! It is a Singer and I still need to see if it works. She was happy to get it out of the house as they are making room for one of their kids and their wife to move in for a year while he finishes his degree. I'm hoping to get it working and then it can become one of the kids machines for if they ever want to have one on hand after they finish school.

I've made progress on the cross stitch. I'm almost done with this page and can start on the next one once I stitch the last 'block' in the quilt and the pumpkin on the bottom left. Then the wagon extends to the left for the first page of the pattern.

This finally arrived in the mail yesterday. The Senior photo for the yearbook I finally ordered and got a yard sign as well. Just in time for Graduation in a couple of weeks. 

A little progress in the sewing room

I was able to finish another 2 bear paw blocks for Aidan's graduation quilt. I need to make a bunch more. I'll try and prep another 2 blocks tonight to sew up this weekend. He chose civil war style greens and blues with a darker creamy background. Each block is 14 inches finished, so I need to figure out how many I need. I'm thinking 30+ for a double bed size and this makes 12 I think. I'll start having to reuse fabrics after the next 2 blocks. I kinda went crazy when a site was closing down last year with all their fabrics like this.

While sewing the above I added a couple of orange houses. I'll add the last two when I do another set of bear paws.

I pinned this RSC quilt of Bird in the Air blocks that was sitting on my frame and not moving with any progress. It is now being machine quilted and I'm less than half way done on this 90x90 quilt. I like to think I learned my lesson and am taking breaks and not doing it all in one go this time. I should have pinned it better, I was so used to warm and natural batting that doesn't need much pinning to this Tuscany Wool that needed more. I'm doing a squiggle walking foot stitch every 3 inches or so down the quilt.  I'll work some more on this one this weekend. It is a lot of fun to see some old favorites of my fabrics pop up as I am sewing. 

I'll link up with Angela and the RSC on Saturday.

I'm going to try canning beans tomorrow. I have a pressure canner and have a 32 ounce bag of black beans and Great Northern beans. I'm going to soak them overnight in a couple of pans, boil for a bit in the morning and then pack them into pint jars and see how it goes with pressure canning. They should be done well before the time we leave for the Band Banquet at the school in the evening. Greg found a few boxes of mason jars in the shed when he was clearing out. I'll get them cleaned and run through the dishwasher tonight. I believe the boy is late today, with his Academic Club Banquet. 

Progress

 Since this quilt was just sitting on the frame and not getting worked on... I decided to pin it for machine quilting. Note to self... this actually worked great to pin a quilt. Must remember that. I plan to start working on a nice and easy walking foot wavy line down every 4-6 inches of the quilt. Each block is 6 inches so I believe this one is 90x90. I think I might search for leftover binding and see if I have enough to do a scrappy one. This is Thursday afternoons project. I might see if I can make the frame a little smaller and throw the string of beads on there, or put the 1857 quilt on there and have string of beads in a hoop. Still pondering that decision.

Last night was the last symphonic spring concert of the year. These are well attended by parents and friends. She broke up the Jazz Big Band this year to a separate concert an hour earlier. Since it is the Seniors last concert, she gives the ones moving onto a music degree an opportunity to select a piece and conduct it. There were 3 this year of the 5 pieces played. Each did a great job. The director actually plays their parts with their instrument for them. She has her own mouthpiece. I believe she played French horn, bassoon and trumpet last night!

Aidan actually went with us to the concert along with Grandma. I guess he figured he should go see one of them! He knows a couple of the seniors in the band as well. 

Slowly moving on this Sunday

 I actually slept in until 9 today! My alarm is normally set at 6:30 and on weekends I usually get moving around 7. Not today! 

We had a cold front go through yesterday afternoon that gave us some much needed rain (3/4 inch) and a little cool down of the temps. It will be in the high 70's today... as opposed to the 90's and humid yesterday. 

Grandma and I travelled across town to see the 'fun show' for Winter guard. There were 6 schools represented, and most did their show for the season, then the kids scripted their 'fun show'. This was actually a great run through for my girls team and if they had done this at Championships, they would have medaled. Their fun show joined the two teams (JV and Varsity) and was set to Frozen. It was really well done for just 4 practices! I might have had to watch Frozen last night on Disney plus to get the songs out of my head!

I have not worked much on this cross stitch the last week or two. 

I should make some progress on it this week. I was busy doing binding on my grandmothers flower garden quilt finish. This was started in 2014 and hand pieced (not epp) of the flowers and then hand appliqued to the black background squares. I did machine piece and machine quilt it. 

Some final hexagons got stitched and are ready to be joined into a foursome so I can start stitching the last column of these together to add to the main quilt. I have 2 columns done and will pop this one in the middle, then add it to the quilt.

Since it is cooler, and my back is only slightly unhappy with me, I'm going to try and quickly till the garden area and see if some hot weather crops will grow the next few months in Florida. We will see. I'm trying cucumbers, zucchini, sunflowers, pumpkins and watermelons. I need to get the companion flowers for them this week and pop them in, but hoping to get this planted today. I opted out of setting up tables at a girl scout event, since I knew it would hurt my back. Tilling should not bother it... and if it does, I'm pulling a kid out to do it for me. F1 race today with the boy to watch and then Stanley Cup hockey to watch this evening. 

Have a great Sunday.

Linking up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers.

Rsc in orange

 I snapped this squirrel on my walk with Bear yesterday. I might have taken the day off in support of the May Day protest here in the US. 

I did a little sewing and got a couple of Bear Paw blocks added to the Graduation quilt pile. In between I added this orange house block for the RSC.

I was tapped to drive Greg to his MRI on his back Friday and got some hexagons stitched in the car while I waited for him. We had cooked dinner that morning, so the ribs just needed warming and broiling to finish them off. We use the Alton Brown Baby Back rib recipe. An actual dinner at the table with all of us happened, which is unusual with the kids schedules. It was fun to hear about school, teachers and the happenings over the last week. School sure is different from when I went, as they know an awful lot about their teachers and their lives! 

Today is the Winter guard fun show about 35 minutes away from us. Grandma is coming up to attend that one with me. We have much needed rain predicted this afternoon. Aidan has an F1 sprint race and qualifying later today (Miami race) and they are getting the rain tomorrow, so the race will be interesting. Sunday, I'm helping set up a Tea Party event in the morning for Girl Scouts. I've helped with the setup the last few years and get the tables and chairs out and set up for just under 200 people with a few other volunteers. Then do the tablecloths, silverware and tea cups and saucers with paper plates. Sunday night I'll be watching the Lightning/Canadians game 7 of the First round of the Stanley Cup. My guys finally played well last night and scored in overtime to keep the series alive. 

Head on over to the link up and see what pretty oranges have come out to play this month.