First Finish of 2024! Bear Paw is completed!

 When I don't have an animal laying on me, I am able to get a little binding stitching in!

The binding is completed on the Bear Paw. It decided the hand quilting in the HST's was not needed and it is happy as is! 

Started in 2000 with a class at Yankee Pride in Winooski Vermont, waited for hand quilting skills and is finally finished in 2024. Machine pieced; hand quilted. Finished size 35.5x53. It still needs a washing and drying so it might shrink up a bit.

I took Emily to the dentist yesterday. Note to self, bring the drug store glasses for close up to thread a needle or find a good needle threader! Boy, my eye's were feeling their age trying to thread needles! I did get these 4 parts sewn together on the Harmony block #3 though, before I gave up. I have all the parts ready to make these 4 corner units for the block. Then I'll have to stitch the flying geese and triangle in a square units for the middle sections.

Ending the day with heat in the house is a nice feeling! I woke up to a chilly house yesterday. Turns out the thermostat unit died! A service call and a new unit and my feet are much happier today sitting in my office working. I had to dig the wool socks and slippers out yesterday while working!

Stay tuned.... the second binding is about halfway done on the Green Tumbler quilt! I also pulled and counted the black hexagon blocks from the 2014 RSC. Looks like I need to make one more hexagon flower and applique it to the black background to have all the blocks needed for that quilt. When the finishing bug hits, you run with it!

Last Slow Sunday of 2023

 I've had a relaxing day of pinning a quilt for quilting, machine quilting it and then making and attaching a binding. Time to hand stitch that binding to the back to finish off this hand pieced green and cream tumbler quilt I made a few years ago. I have about 300 inches of binding to stitch on this one. I do not anticipate finishing it this year, but it will be a finish in 2024!

I also have some blue binding to stitch on the Bear Paw. That one is only about 200 inches of binding to go I believe. Then some more hand quilting in the last border of HST's is needed. This will also be a finish in 2024.

I'll probably stitch a little on one or the other tonight while watching a movie. First, I think I'll start tucking away the Christmas thing and pull out the snowmen and snowflake things to decorate for the month of January. I'll hold off on the tree until tomorrow, I think. 

Linking up with Kathy and the slow Sunday Stitchers.

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Slow Sunday

 I had help yesterday from Aidan to finally get the rest of the house decorated for Christmas. The inside anyway! He did a great job and I enjoy seeing all my 'things' out reminding me of Christmases past. 

I was able to pull out this Bear Paw and added some hand quilting stitches to the top 2 corner blocks while waiting for a text letting me know what time to pick up Emily from school. They had their last parade yesterday and it was a night one. We dropped her off around noon to help make sandwiches for the band's dinner, and get a couple of volunteer hours. They arrived around 3 to the staging area and then had to wait for the parade to start at 5:30. They were towards the end (#92) so did not head out until well after 6 and it was a full hour on the parade route. My text from her once back on the bus was in all caps, bring cold water! It was around 80 and sunny today. Her pickup time was 8:30ish last night. I did enjoy seeing all the Christmas lights along the way to school and back. 

I need to take Emily shopping for some secret Santa gifts today (band and scouts) then she is headed to a friend's house in the afternoon. She has a winter concert tomorrow night at school. Aidan is headed to Grandma's house for the day. That means if I really want to get a quilt pinned, I need to get it done this morning, while everyone is still sleeping. I seem to get stuck at this stage a lot, but I really want this Christmas Cactus Wreath quilt finished so I can hang it on my wall this year. 

Tonight, I'll be hand quilting another half feather ring into one of the side triangles on the bear paw. I'd love to get this quilt completed this month, but we will see if time allows.

Linking up with the Sunday Slow Stitchers.

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.

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. 

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.

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.

Slow Sunday.....

 A bunch of things got crossed off the list today! 

My Sunday actually started off really early! The girl had a midnight pick up from school from the band competition. They pulled in right at midnight. It took them a bit to unload the bus, then unload the trailer of all their things - the percussion, big stand xylophones, the riser for the drum major to stand on to lead and all their 'stuff'. I think we pulled out of the school lot around 12:40 and we got home at 1AM. They finished 6th... of 6 in their division, but did improve on their marks from the previous competition. They have PreMPA Tuesday night local and then MPA on Saturday up in Gainesville. That would have been local, but that one is when our school has homecoming. 

I had a lazy morning of enjoying my coffee while visiting the RSC blogs from Saturday. I liberarted the dog from Emily's room around 8:20 so she could sleep in. Others emerged from their rooms at 9AM, 10AM and close to noon! I do enjoy the quiet of morning all by myself =)

A trip to the grocery store.... and then another trip, since it seems we were out of cream cheese and the girl needed a block to make Taco Salad for munching on during the race. While out the second time, I gassed up the car and washed it and got it vacuumed. It really needed it. Between those two things, I got a quilt machine quilted! Just easy wiggle lines every 4 inches or so but it is done and trimmed. I pieced the binding but I'm waiting on the helper to press it in half for me. She has about 45 minutes, and then I'll just do it and machine stitch it to the top of the quilt. Some hand stitching might happen on the binding of it tonight. I made these blocks from the Civil War Diary books from photo's back in 2014 I believe. It was my first attempt at drafting from a photo to make a block. I really did not like the blocks at all (why they sat for years untouched!)... until I put them in this setting. Now I love it!  A photo

 of the top before I rolled it onto the boards and got it pinned.

While watching the F1 race this afternoon, I did some surgery on the pig quit for a friend. Her favorite aunt made it for her (she loves anything pig related!) and has since passed. The black fabric as a surround of one block had frayed. I made that piece and hand appliqued it down. Not perfect, but should make the quilt usable again. I'll give it a gentle wash before I hand it back at a meeting on Wednesday night. 

The Bear Paw quilt (made around 2000, if you can believe it!) is finally onto the quilting of the side triangles. I think I'll get them all done then bind it. Then finish quilting that outer border of HST's. It worked the last quilt so I'm going to try it again! 

I love to try new foods and had mentioned empanadas to the kids. Well, a Mom from the girls scout troop sent a message last week saying her Mom was making Empanada's to sell and they would be ready for Sunday. I ordered a set of the beef ones. They got delivered this afternoon and I can't wait to try them tomorrow for dinner! 

Linking up with Kathy and the other Slow Sunday Stitchers.

Friday and RSC

 It seems like the quilting on this little quilt has taken forever! I think I started quilting on it about a year ago and it keeps getting bumped. I finished the last bear paw block and now need to mark the setting triangles and start quilting on those. I believe it is a F1 race weekend and there is a sprint race on Saturday and a regular race on Sunday. They are in the USA and in Austin Texas.  Lots of potential stitching time while I watch the races with Aidan.

My goal Thursday was to roll this quilt on the boards and get it pinned for quilting. Let's just say the dog was worse than the cats in helping! I do have the top rolled onto a board and the batting is cut. I need to press the backing again (someone was a ghost in the backing for a bit yesterday) and get it rolled later today. The girl has an away game tonight so very late pickup. I hope to get this pinned tonight. I'm thinking if I buy some pre made pizza dough at Publix, the boy can make stromboli for dinner tonight! The kids are much better at forming them then I am, so they get the job!

For the RSC - I now have 15 sets of these split nines. I am not sure how these will be set, but I either need 1 more or 5 more. Do I want a rectangle or a square? 48x48 or 48x60? I know I want to add a brown set. I do have those strips of green left over from the christmas cactus.... they would help round out the colors better. Right now my blocks have 4 blues to 2 of everything else and this one black set..... I guess I am leaning towards adding 5 more? Maybe a red, green, black/grey and 2 browns to even out things a bit? 

The latest squirrel running around in my head..... a wall hanging with a dresden turkey. I found this video from Missouri Quilts and think he would look great in the middle of some fun blocks from the Autumn Jubilee.

It got replaced with the previous one that will probably become a 2024 project. Hand piecing 60 degree triangles.... since Bonnie at Quiltville is using 60 degree triangles in her new sew along. It reminded me of the thousand pyramid quilt that I would love to make from scraps someday. Some inspiration photo's.

from jasmine.noraisin.net on pinterest.

or Panama Pyramids that Canadian Needle Nana was making.

I need more hours in the day!

Linking up with the RSC on Saturday.

Sunday

It only took until mid October before the house got some fall feel! Aidan got out my box of fall things and put things out for me. He had a lot of fun rubbing it in that he could just reach the top of the tv hutch to dust! I need a step stool to reach! Emily got the assist on where things go. She remembered the spider went above the pantry with the webbing and the glow in the dark spider on the web. We added the hat this year for balance.

I finished the quilting on this block on Friday night before the football game. It is time to move the hoop. There are 2 more of these blocks and then the setting triangles and the HST edge to go.

Saturday Emily got to ride. She had a marching band competition last week and will for the next 2 Saturdays. She was happy to get on a horse. Her normal Lance was out on a lesson so she decided to ride Bunny for the first time. She is a lot smaller than Lance (The bottom photo is tall Lance). Bunny has a lot of pep and her trot was very fast. Lori the trainer let her canter on her. She said she does not let anyone else canter her since she is so fast, but she knew Emily could handle her! I guess my girl is a pretty good rider as I think each of her trainers has said something similar. She had a private lesson since her normal lesson buddy was not there yesterday.

Bunny

Emily on Lance in the yellow shirt. Kyra is on Reba.

The kids are off school tomorrow for a teacher workday for the end of quarter 1. I scheduled their annual physicals for the afternoon, so they didn't miss school. Today, the kids are headed to Grandma's house for the day. Greg and I will pop over to see his Dad in Rehab and see how he is doing. He is gaining strength and doing what the PT people say, which is good. My Dad was doing well when I chatted with them on Thursday. I hope to get a little time in the sewing room today but will be adding some hand quilting stitches into the Bear Paw this evening while watching either a hockey game (go lightning!) or Hocus Pocus or Hocus Pocus 2. I love Bette Midler in this movie on Disney Plus.

Linking up with Kathy and the other Slow Sunday Stitchers.

 

Sunday

 It has been a week! Not a single foot has been set into the sewing area. I have added some slow stitches into the Bear Paw quilt though. I just have three X's to stitch before I move the hoop to the next block.  It popped up in my memories on Facebook that I started quilting on this about this time last year. It has been bumped for various projects over the year, but it is very happy to be worked on right now.

Next weekend I will be facilitating a station at Sisters Retreat on Saturday. This is an adult weekend. They asked for a 'taster' on quilting. I figured that would be a good way to show how to hand stitch a little. I'm using what materials they have and will be showing how to hand stitch a four patch and then finish it into a little coaster. I did this one as an example a while back, but I might make it simpler and just do one without the binding as well and give them the option. I still need to make a page handout of photos and instructions, but I did share this link with the coordinator to add to the main handouts. Patty did some great tutorials over at Elm Street Quilts when they ran the 3 hand piecing quilt along a few years ago. I will probably bring a few quilts I have done with all hand piecing and hand quilting to show as well. 

I forget which hospital I snapped this picture at, I'm thinking the one at the Villages last Sunday when I was visiting my FIL.  We are hoping he will be released Tuesday to rehab after 4 weeks in the hospital. He finally got transferred last Tuesday to another hospital where they could do some procedures to find the internal bleeding. That appears to be better now, so a procedure to finish getting some of the bigger stones out of his kidneys on Monday and then he'll be off to rehab. He is very weak and not able to walk to the door of his room so lots of recovery.

 My Dad up north had a minor heart attack on Tuesday, but he is doing well. Lots of waiting for a bed in a different hospital where they can do the heart cath procedure. He finally got a bed on Friday and is doing well. Hopeful for his procedure to be Monday and then he can be released home. Thankful for all my siblings up north coordinating seeing him and getting my Mom up to see him and supporting her. My hubby is exhausted from the daily rides to see his Dad. The new hospital is quite a way's away from us. We pushed for a rehab facility that is about 5 minutes away from us so that will be wonderful for the next, I'm guessing - few months for him to be there as he regains his strength.

Linking up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers where we use hand stitching as therapy. 

Thursday....

I got a bit of stitching done. I might need a day off to rest my 'push' middle finger on my right hand. We will see how I feel tonight when I sit down in my recliner. I finished the stitching on this block.

 

I moved the hoop a couple of times last night and got a quarter of this block done. 

Updates of the 'Dad's'.

My father is doing well. He had a minor heart attack and is now off those meds No damage noted and he is doing well. He is waiting on a bed at another facility to do a heart catheter where they expect they will add a stint. He got bumped down the list this morning as someone needs it more and is waiting for a bed. I'm taking that as a positive that he is stable and in good hands now and will get the procedure as soon as they are able. We are hopeful for tomorrow. My siblings are taking shifts and getting my Mom up there.

My Father in Law finally got transferred to another hospital where they could do his procedure to check on his internal bleeding. They did the upper GI yesterday and found a stomach ulcer which they are treating. Unfortunately, his hemoglobin levels are still dropping so he is prepping today for a lower GI procedure tomorrow. 

The dog was oh so happy when we got home around noon. After a quick lunch, I did give him a walk before I did a little research on the computer. The dog is passed out at my feet on his quilt sleeping like a baby. 

I should go run errands.... but I think I'll go visit blogs instead. I'm going to pull from the pantry/freezer for dinner and make chicken chili with corn bread. It is an overcast day in Florida, and I feel like some cornbread slathered with butter!

The kids cooked a big salmon on the grill on Saturday night. Yuck! I don't like salmon, but they finished it all over a few days. Monday was meatloaf and baked potato. Tuesday was leftovers. Last night I did rosemary roasted potato and pulled some pre cooked pork schnitzel out of the freezer. 

Slow Sunday stitching

 I'm happy to report a finish this week! These blocks got their cross hatching hand quilted this week.

This is the finished quilt! 

Time to go back to the bear paw quilt. I had plans to add some stitches in this last night, but after a busy Saturday, I took a hot bath and was in bed by 9! I'll add some stitches in today.

The busy day Saturday - was a very early start to get to a girl scout leaders house for 8, to put up the temporary lending library. We are waiting on permission to place at the lake less than a mile from her house. This is the girls Silver Award.

We got done earlier than expected, so we got Emily the black belt needed for her band concert Tuesday night. Then a breakfast at Bob Evans. 

Off to horses, where she got a private lesson again this week since Kyra is still feeling poorly from a bout of Covid.

Once home, I spent a bunch of time outside in the 'cooler' temps. We did have to bury one of the chickens. Something got in and got one of the reds, Miss Ivy. One of the friendly ones of course! Some patching with zip ties to close up gaps and hopefully, whatever got in won't get in again!

Then it was time to work on the weed filled area we call the garden. It is time to prep for fall planting, so I was busy pulling weeds. I can feel it today too! I still need to do the small grass and then run the tiller through and add the sun shade back up. It was taken down for the Idialia.

I have hopes to pin a quilt for machine quilting today, but a visit to my FIL in the hospital comes first after Grandma (my hubby's parents have been divorced since he was 6!) comes to take the kids for the day. She has yard work for them to help out with.

Bits of stitching will get squeezed in during the day.

Linking up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers.

RSC in lights - blue and green

 I have not been home much the month of June, and I'm heading out again this weekend. That does not leave much time to sew with a machine. I did take an hour Thursday and cut and sewed up some kites in light blues and light greens. I think it takes longer to pick out the 4 fabrics than it does to cut and sew them together! 

 I don't think I'll get to the split nines this month. The scrap jars were finished off already, I just need to finish this post and then roll the top, backing and batting onto the boards so I can pin it.

 I hope to get it machine quilted tomorrow and a binding made and attached to the front after I bring Emily to horses in the morning. I can hand stitch it down on the way to Vermont or once we get to camp. Temps in the 50's at night  there,so it will be perfect to snuggle under while adding those last stitches. I hope to hand it off the week of July 4th to the person collecting it for the Homeless Shelter in Barre Vermont. 

Mom mentioned an animal got into one of the pillows on the couch and a little tear in part of the couch at camp over the winter. Project #1! I grabbed some thread to match the couch and needles and put it into the 'to go' bag. Note to self - they are in with the EPP Brimfield kit. Might have grabbed some possible fabrics as well! 

I was watching Doc Hollywood last night and added some hand quilting into the bear paw. A little progress every night is moving this one along. I'll probably bring this with me along with my new neck light as the lighting at camp is horrible. I might have Mom try it at night going up/down the stairs to light up the way a bit better. If she likes it, I'll leave it with her and order one for my Dad as well. The stairs are narrow and rickety and they are in their 80's. The family has added grab bars and hand rails at both the house and camp but I think the neck light will help out a lot. I hope I can get them to give it a try and see if it helps. 

Linking up Saturday with the RSC. 

Slow Sunday

 I gathered the eggs yesterday and didn't crack one this time! I tend to give them some mealworms when I go in their area to check for eggs. The girls were gobbling them up. They tend to come running when they hear the back slider move! These girls are Maple, Poppy who lays my green eggs, and DC or Daisy Chickalotta. Two Plymouth Rocks and an Easter Egger. We had to put up a strong fence for them last year after getting the dog. They have the back woods area of our lot - plenty of space to explore for bugs!

Emily rode yesterday in the very hot sun. I don't think they got on until close to 11:30 and it was hot, humid and full sun. Red faces and lots of water. The horse was getting a wash down after riding before being put back into his stall. This is Lance, who was a Racehorse at one time. 

Well, the garden is growing weeds wonderfully! We do have this surprise plant that started a few weeks ago outside the garden so we let it go to see what it would do. Well, it is taking over and going crazy! We are not really sure what it is, but it is huge. Imagine the size of a big leaf over a pumpkin or gourd, it is that size! There is another smaller one up the vine a bit as well. 

I picked up the bear paw quilt last night while watching the NHL game on tv. Sadly, the Panthers lost and are down in the series 1-3. I am almost done with the feather on this little baby quilt. I decided to stop at a local quilt store yesterday and see if they had needle minders. They had one, so I got it to try it out. It is pretty handy, when I remember to put the needle on there! Linking up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers.