RSC on the dark side

 I spent the week finishing things so not too much for the RSC. I got the Christmas Cactus Wreath quilt finished this week. It is 60x60.

Then I pulled the Ella Mara Deacon rows from a Sentimental Stitches sew along years ago. I hand pieced or appliqued these blocks from my stash. They were machine sewn into a top though. 

I did get all the prepped hexagon quilt as you go blocks stitched and into pairs. I also prepped 4 grey ones. I have more of the clips freed up, so I can prep some more blocks to work on this coming week. I had 'finished' my hexagon quilt a few years ago, but it needs to be bigger and with this method, it is easy to do that. This will be an ongoing RSC project going forward to make the quilt a bit bigger. It is 88x68 right now. Linking up with the RSC.

I have a tab all about this quilt journey.

Hubby gets cocoa beans each month and does the whole process (grinding, melting, etc.). They tend to 'bloom' on him - turn a greyish after they come to room temp. He got a new spoon with a thermometer in it and this batch turned out great! They are the wrapped ones. So he remelted the last batch and the bar on top is from that batch. I think that new tool is the key. He is a happy camper. These are dark chocolate bars with hints of various things based on the beans. It is different every month. I let him and the kids eat those... I'm not a dark chocolate fan. Emily did use some in cookies last weekend and they were very good. I did eat those!

I'm spending the day at a girl scout training event. Learning about being a mentor for the younger awards  - bronze and silver. Those are for the junior and cadette level of girls. The Gold is for the high school level girls. 

A finish - Christmas Cactus Wreath

 I finished the binding on this last night. It is dark and dreary out again this morning, so I hung it up in my office for a photo. This is 60x60 and was actually a fun one to stitch. It feels so good to get something finished and crossed off the long UFO list. 

While taking Bear out for his walk this morning, I saw this guy on a neighbors fence up the road. Not sure why he is watering the lawn....I guess he does not have a smart gauge? We had 2.5 inches of rain in the gauge yesterday morning and I dumped out 3.25 inches this morning. We are in the rainy season...but instead of 30-60 minutes in the late afternoon and then clears up, it is raining all evening and overnight. We have very sandy soil, so no issues with flooding when I am. 

The girl went to school. No fever and was better but not great. Probably should have stayed home another day, but she had a test, a paper due and is getting a project assigned today in class she did not want to miss. She will probably opt out of marching practice this evening. I told her to text me if she wants a pick up during the day today. I have a feeling she will fade fast, but we will see. 

Christmas Cactus Wreath progress.....

The Quilt got pinned for quilting last week.

I was debating a circular pattern or a straight line square pattern. I decided to try a circular one.  I drew a 3/4 circle to start and with my walking foot and lots of tugging and turning, I continued until I got to the edges of the quilt. 

More tugging and stitching. I did not do equal distance on the circles, just free handed them.

Around and around I went. For a good 1.5 hours on this 60 x60 quilt. 

 

I like it!

I knew I had some leftover greens... but darned if I could find them! I did search in a bunch of areas where I would have put them. Oh well, they will appear at some point. I did have some green that would work well on the shelf. I cut 7 strips of 2.5 inch strips and sewed them all together. Stitched that to the top of the quilt after I trimmed it up and now, I can settle in and slow stitch it to the back. 

I believe I got the pattern and fabrics for this one back in 2006 or 2007. It should be finished and ready to display for Christmas of 2024! =). 

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.

Chaos....

I swear, every time I head to Vermont in September, my FIL lands in the hospital! Greg is insisting it should not affect my travel plans. So, I am still planning to fly tomorrow up to my nieces wedding while he and the kids stay home. 

My FIL's neighbor called to let us know there was emergency vehicles (ambulance and fire truck) at his house yesterday morning. Greg called the house and hospital. Once he was at the hospital, he headed over. It was a long day. Turns out, he fell in the bathroom but was smart enough to phone 911. He was very weak and has no energy. After lots of tests... he has a very bad UTI, is dehydrated and some of his bloodwork is off. The man will be 88 next week and is living on his own, despite being essentially blind in both eyes now - a new development over the last month.  They kept him overnight, since they know they can't release him home alone.

Greg and I have been discussing his living situation for the last few years and a lot more the last month as his eyesight is failing. He did not want to move in. Now he is a little more open to the idea. I have a feeling I will be packing up my sewing area and the office in the finished garage soon, and that might become his new space. We will see how things progress, but the first step is getting the infection cleared and his energy back. I'm hoping for a few weeks in rehab so I have some time to clear out rooms and figure out a new office space. We do have an interim plan in mind in case rehab does not happen. 

I had this stack of cutoff triangles leftover from making the Christmas Cactus Wreath. I trimmed them and pressed them on Sunday. I don't know what they will become, but they will be a little leader and ender pile next to the sewing machine this month.

 

OMG Challenge - success!

 My goal for August was to piece all the blocks for the Christmas Cactus Wreath and get it to a top stage. I'm happy to say, despite kids starting school and a hurricane I got it completed today. I don't see any glaring mistakes, either! This project is part of the unbegun challenge on Ravelry. I hope to have this completed by the end of the year. Actually, I'm hoping to have it completed by the end of November so I can hang it on the wall for December this year. 

Linking up to the OMG Finishing challenge for August. 

Now to figure out how I want to quilt this one. Any ideas?

Oh, we were very fortunate in Ocala. Just mild wind and a little rain. No damage or even limbs down near us. Emily and I headed to Lady Lake to check on my FIL - who was fine as was his property as well. My MIL in Inverness was also good with a few limbs down that she already picked up. She lost power for an hour or so Wednesday afternoon. There is a lot of damage and flooding on the coast and hopefully those folks will be able to get back on their feet soon. 

Progress....

 I had the first set of blocks done last weekend. I added this next set this afternoon. I decided to place it out based on the photo.

After dinner I made the last 8 blocks. I laid them all out on the floor for a photo.

I should be able to sew them together Monday night and Tuesday night. I believe this is to finish at 60x60. 

The goal for the month is to get this to a top. I am very close and think it is doable! 

Omg progress

 

I did manage to get the first 16 blocks completed for this quilt. I have 2 more types of blocks to create, but those are a lot less complicated than these. I do have a stack of HST's in red/white and green/white from making all these blocks. I wonder what they will become after I trim them up?

Kids are early release today at school. After bringing the boy for a much needed hair cut, maybe I can cut out and sew up the next set of blocks needed.

The neighbor just came over and showed me a video he took in the middle of the night. A black bear in our back woods, probably trying to get to the chickens. I just went out and there are still 7 as expected, but it explains the skittishness of the littles since I think he was closer to their coop than the big girls coop. We will join them together this afternoon and get them all into the big coop tonight for safety.

Good thing the kids will be home this afternoon so they can supervise while we mingle them together.

Christmas Cactus Wreath

 It does not look like much, but all the cutting is done for these blocks for the quilt. I just need to sew up the rest of them. There are three different blocks in the quilt, so I'm tackling them one at a time.

I just dropped the girl at school for her freshman orientation. The parents and the rest of the student body has their time from 5-6:30.  I think I'll go sew up a few more of these before I need to head back to school.