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. 

Ella is a top!

I finally finished getting the hand pieced Ella Maria Deacon blocks into a top. I only made 25 of these with Sentimental Stitches years ago and put 24 into this top. Note to self, think before doing this again - those setting corner triangles were a bear to figure out. I might have cut 4 different size squares to make them. Oh well, extra parts and pieces will get used somewhere.

I did not lay it out nicely, as I was trying to snap the photo quickly before the dog held it down for me. It is 60 inches square now. I am debating on adding a border, and then either hand quilting or machine quilting it. It will have a blue binding, so that might be enough and my wall hanging mount is for a 60 inch quilt ... so it might stay like this. 

Emily made it through the day at school yesterday and did her Florida State testing in her last class. She promptly went to bed after walking in the door and woke up around 10PM. Went back to bed at midnight and was tired when she woke up at 7AM. We told her to stay home, so she went back to bed. She should be back to normal for Monday school with resting this weekend. She said she felt better, just tired and her nose is still stuffed. We will see if horses happens or not!

I went to an information meeting with Aidan last night for a program offered in our county to students to work with UF and NASA on some engineering things. It is 12 Saturday's through the year with field trips to UF and Kennedy Space Center. Some of his friends did it last year and he is joining in this year. It sounds like an interesting program with lots of networking and exploring different fields for college. I think he will enjoy it, so he is all signed up. He will just miss one week when he does the Junior class trip for Civil Rights Movement. They travel through the south and visit key areas and hit a few college campuses along the way.

I've been listing a few things for sale and have managed to get a few things out of my house! The stand up popcorn maker, Emily's desk and an Accuquilt Go!Me starter bundle. Next up is listing the Futon and a few pieces of other furniture.... the whittling down of 'stuff' is happening.

RSC in blue

 I'm working on a blue and white UFO this month. It should make it to a top stage. We will see if it gets quilted as well. These are Ella Maria Deacon blocks from 2019 sew along with Sentimental Stitches. I made 26 blocks by hand and 25 will be in the top. I'm working on sewing the long sashing strips and adding the corner triangles this weekend. I do love how it is looking. 

I've had 60 degree triangles on my list of 'to make someday' and Jocelyn at Canadian Needle Nana reminded me of that with her pretty quilt Panama Pyramids. I need to make 2 more of each of these to do the design I want. I actually pulled leftover binding strips 2.5 inches to make these and did them on the machine. They could easily be a hand work project as well. I'll be using these as leaders and enders while I am working on the above quilt.

Linking up with the RSC Quilters.

Lots of the country is in a heat wave, so please be careful. Drink plenty of liquids, with electrolytes and stay in the AC or cooling areas as much as you can. Emily is helping at horses this afternoon for a girl scout troop earning their horsemanship badge. Thank goodness there is a covered area of the arena and fans. The car read 98 and feels like 105 F. Way too hot! 

Thursday

Things were scheduled. Aidan had an appointment at 9:50 and the AC guy for the mid year service cleaning was 12-2 arrival time. Greg scheduled his Dad's car at the dealership for 10. I took Aidan to his appointment and then got a call from the AC guy - on his way. What? The appointment was only 5 minutes away, thank goodness. I headed home and got the AC guy started. Aidan had to wait a bit there, until Greg got home and I could go get him. Crazy morning. Since that was done, I headed over with Greg to see his Dad in rehab. Good news, he is being released next week. 

Mid afternoon, and I decided dinner was leftovers. That gave me time to go play in the sewing room for a bit. Anyone else manage to swap blocks around when sewing rows together? These blocks got the applique ones trimmed to 9. 5 inches. Some were a tad small, but I made it work. I found the calculator online for the size to make the setting triangles.

I added some sashing strips and then the setting triangles. I think I will go with a long plain sashing between all the rows and add the corner triangles. We will see if a blue border gets added after that. I think so, but we will see. 

I hope to make some more progress on this one tomorrow afternoon.

A video of the girls. I've been hanging some lettuce in their cage. It is so funny to watch them jump.

RSC in blues for June

I'd like to get another quilt finished off so I went and looked at my Spring UFO list and saw my Ella Maria Deacon blocks in blue from a 2019 sew along with Sentimental Stitches. The challenge was to figure out where they were hiding! I managed to find it in the 4th box I checked. Not too bad!

While digging, I found all the printouts for the 1857 quilt along - that one is a pretty purple and green top waiting on quilting. I also found this pretty extra blue dresden block. It is not a watermelon, but I think I'll finish it off this month for the TSC entry. 

I was pulling out blocks and laid them out. I noticed that there was a block under that light blue one on the bottom row so swapped out one in the top row.

 

That was a heck of a block to piece so it must be added.

With one off to the side..... I realized I have 25 blocks - so 5 rows of 5! I didn't need to add any more blocks. Yea! I had hand pieced each of these blocks and then got waylaid on the project and it got put aside. There were a lot more blocks, but I'm stopping at 25 and will finish it off. Now to make some decisions. Sigh.

Sashing's and cornerstones? Try and set it on an angle, I do have one extra block? Not all are the same exact size, so it will be a little fudging as I sew them into a top. I'll let it sit for a day and we will see if any of the blocks want to be in a different spot or not. I'll tackle the sewing into a top Wednesday and Thursday.

Sunday....

I think I am fortunate to be working still from home so I have an idea of what day of the week it is! We also have kiddo's doing virtual online school so that tells us when M-F is as well. We just learned Florida will finish out the school year with Virtual learning. A little sad Emily will be missing out on all the 5th grade graduation and happenings before she heads to a middle school next year. But, better to be safe.

Today.... will be a sewing machine day. Aidan has requested to work more on making his apron and Emily wants to make masks. I made my first one this morning for Greg to take to work with him. As of Monday they have to wear them at the store. The one they provided him yesterday lasted 5 minutes. Too hot to breathe with. I sent him in with this bat fabric mask (because he let me have a sense of humor!) Not bad for a first try. I found single fold bias binding 1/2 inch in a box that was light green and made it work. Must find my green bias binding maker... I think it is hiding with the herra marker that is still missing. They must be having a party together! This was a free pattern from bluprint I downloaded this morning.

When it is time to settle in to relax, I will probably grab Emily's crochet blanket and add some rows to it. I am on a new skien of yarn this week for it. I think there are 2 more skiens to go. 

This is my storage for it.... since I have 2 cats that love to eat yarn!

I did hand stitch this 9 inch block this week for the Ella Maria Deacon Quilt along. Lets just say I am happy it is done and I have lost the interest in making a 60 degree diamond block quilt for a while!

Linking up with the other Slow Sunday stitchers over at Kathy'squilts.

RSC Saturday..... a wee bit late....

I took me until 5PM today to finally get my 14 cobblestone blocks sewn and photographed for this post. The light blue joined the bright and light green, orange and teal from the first 3 months. Each cobblestone finishes at 4.5 inches. I had to show off the fresh mopped floor.... before anyone drops stuff on it!

I started off the morning sleeping in! That was a nice change. I worked extra hours this week so the last few days have been long. I did a little facebook meeting with a few quilting blogland friends this morning before I had to log off and spend time with the boy. Our deal - if he vacuums I'd play monopoly with him. Emily was on dusting duty. I have to say - the living room looks nice. While they were doing that I cleaned up the kitchen and cleared off all the shelves (I have a big kitchen) and washed everything down. Floors got handled as well. Then it was monopoly after lunch. Sophie likes to be part of the action when we play games.

This week a lot of time was spent on this one block from Ella Maria Deacon. It is all hand pieced.... with multiple unpicking and redoing. Lots of these - well 8 of them.

Became 2 halves.

 Then the squares and triangles were hand pieced in this morning on the video chat.

Not perfect but done. It needs a press into submission at some point.  Since there is light blue, I included it in here today.

 Linking up with the Rainbow Scrap Challenge. Now my microwave is beeping at me that the chicken might be defrosted so I can make the apricot topping and pop it in the oven. The kids are insisting they need to be fed and Aidan had picked out this recipe to try yesterday.

EMD Thursday....

Why, yes it is Thursday so it is time to show off the just completed Ella Maria Deacon block! I used back basting and then needle turn applique. I did the inner spokes first, thank goodness. The outer one went so much easier. Two more blocks left for this month and one from previous.

Hubby came home not feeling well yesterday from work. He is taking it easy today on his day off. Me, I've had a sore throat for a few days now so I'm taking it easy today on my day off as well. Watching movies and stitching.

I am trying a new recipe for bread - Back of the Bag Oatmeal Bread from King Arthur Flour. It is on the second rise in the bread pan right now. We will see how it comes out. Tonight is take out for Emily's birthday. She wants ribs from Pig and Cattle for her belated birthday dinner since her Dad has worked the last 2 nights.

Slow Sunday.....

It has been a very slow start to Sunday so far. I slept in.... and coffee was made when I got up!
Greg is off to work at the grocery store - with a mask for safety. The kids are home in their rooms - they each have some reading to do and Aidan has some homework to do that is due tomorrow. I let Greg explain to Grandma why they can't go over now that we are in a Stay Safer at Home order in Florida as of Friday. I made sure Emily called to let her know before Greg left for work...yes, she wanted to talk to me and I told Emily to hand the phone to Dad instead. I figured it would be easier for Greg to explain our reasoning to his Mom.

I really don't have too many plans today. I do want to go through the pantry closet and organize a bit today.... and see what I have so I can plan meals for a few weeks! It is fully stocked.... cause I always have a stocked pantry and freezer. It is just in my DNA I guess!

I will get some hand quilting in on my cat and mouse quilt. The butterfly's are done so onto the cheese in the light teal border.

I hope to get the inner circle of my EMD block appliqued down and then I'll back baste the outer ring.

I pulled fabrics for another EMD block yesterday and I'll plan to start EPP on those today as well.

I think it is time to pull out a puzzle to have out for everyone to work on. We have a few to choose from so I'll make a pile of the puzzles and see which one we will have out to make first.

We missed our daily hoops session yesterday.... so I'll have to get in a few rounds of HORSE with Aidan today. So far I tend to win the majority of the time!

I think we might try this bread recipe today too.

Linking up with the other Slow Stitchers as we are all working on social isolation.

Some April Fools Day! and EMD weekly update.

Ever feel like you are in the movie Groundhog Day... and every day is the same? Let's hope today does not repeat tomorrow.

It was day 1 of virtual learning. With a little effort we got Emily onto her Zoom conference call (someone might have written the wrong code down!) with her class for 9AM. She got to see her classmates and teacher and they went over their new work, got their assignments and were good to go. Her two teachers have put their assignments for the week up. She spent Tuesday organizing a white board of her tasks for each subject and created a plan to work through them.

Lots of emails and reminds came through from Aidan's teachers last night and this morning. Let's just say his were not as smooth. I think it was mostly user error and lack of patience.... someone does not deal well with change and this is a big change..... but with a little help he got connected to 2 of his teachers or their work assignments. He has 6 teachers so a little more coordination. His robotics teacher has assigned them Code.org lessons. Greg and I were chatting last night and figured that would be how he handled robotics. Aidan is familiar with that platform since they used it in his gifted class in elementary school. He just needed to scroll down to see where to enter the initial code..... the little oops smirk was common from him today after I had him try a couple of things.  He has a lot assigned but 2 weeks to do it. I think he also did science or math today. We will see how tomorrow goes. I should have more patience since I won't be juggling work and kids.

Ella Maria Deacon.... I finished off this block on Sunday. I only have 1 outstanding block from previous months left.

So I started month 7 and got one of them completed! I finished the inner circle after work tonight. I did back basting and needle turn applique for this one. 

I took a walk last night and nearly got blown away it was so windy with the cool front moving through. I am looking forward to my walk tonight - temps around 70 instead of feels like 88! Much nicer. I wonder if I will see the wild turkey's again?

I did call Emily's horse academy and got her a riding lesson yesterday. Good thing I did - Florida is going on stay at home (which we have been doing - the only exception is they go to see Grandma and this riding last night - only 2 people in the ring on horses) effective tomorrow night. I was able to prepay some lessons and a little extra toward horse care for Liz. She rode Prism yesterday and after a few weeks out of the saddle she was cantering.

Before riding she needed to brush him down.

A bath after his workout.

I suppose it is after 5PM... and no one is making dinner.... so I guess I have to come up with something! I did sheet pan chicken last night with potato and green beans. I think it will be fish and french fry's today.... Unless I can talk someone into picking up from Mojo's.....

Slow Sunday

 Today I have a full day .... all by myself! To do whatever my little self wants to! Hubby is headed into work at the grocery store and the kids are being picked up by Grandma for an overnight. (Yes, she is insisting and knowing that neither the kids or her have gone out in the last 2 weeks we will risk it I guess). The tree guy is going over at 8AM tomorrow to take down a tree and she thought the kids would like to see it. Hubby is off work tomorrow so he can pick them up while I am logged into work. The advantage of not being in school - they can just do their school work in the afternoon. Virtual school starts Wednesday for them.

Yesterday Emily wanted a technology free day so I was allowed to link up yesterdays Rainbow Scrap Challenge post then nothing.....the house actually got vacuumed and living room rugs were steam cleaned! Must not let that happen too often! Bathroom cleaned and kitchen cleaned and mopped. (She relented in the afternoon..... her room was spotless and rearranged and she wanted to play on her iPad.) I also got this Ella Maria Deacon block stitched. There is a little bit for the middle left to stitch. I also hope to prep the month 7 blocks today. We are pretending it is a perfect circle =) Use your imagination.

*** Updated and done!

I finally started hand quilting this week. I plan to add a few hours today while watching a few Ms. Maisel episodes. Butterfly's and then cheese triangles in the light teal for the cats and mice to chase!

The crochet got pulled out this week too. Good mindless pattern when you can't concentrate. It works up so pretty too. I have 3 skeins to add to this still.

I'd like to finish off the first row of sheep on Aidan's pillow but that takes concentration. Maybe I will have some in a quiet house today?

Linking up with the other Slow Sunday Stitchers. 

EMD Wednesday

I was able to finish the stitching on this block #24 of the Ella Maria Deacon Quilt Along yesterday afternoon while watching Robin Hood Prince of Thieves on Netflix. 

After dinner (berber chicken and Mom's potato salad) I took a long walk and saw one wild turkey. I took a photo and posted it on facebook.

My brother in Vermont responded with this photo from his window - deer and snow!

My sister also in Vermont, raised him a photo of 8+ inches of snow and an owl from a few days ago!

I guess taking photo's of wildlife is a family 'thing'! 

I hope to work on block #22 tomorrow after work. Then I'll start on the latest set of 4 - #25-#28.

Book Club....

I know it is Tuesday... and should be EMD update day.... but hand piecing this little guy was more appealing last night than actually finishing my EMD block.
Evelyn and Jane! Jane needs pressing but she is done and ready to link up on Thursday with the other Book Club Hand Pieced blocks this week over at ElmstreetQuilts and KristinEsser.com. (Thanks Mom for picking up these purple fabrics a few years ago for me! In case they looked familiar to you.)

I did some other hand piecing and prepping yesterday. Block #22 for the Ella Maria Deacon from Sentimental Stitches. I decided to prep each petal and hand piece them together. Now to press them then applique onto the background.

First.... must get my 5 hours of actual work done! I have worked remotely for a former client of mine programming since March of 2016. 

The kids have their school packets printed off and are working on their Day 1 school work. After all the griping.... someone just walked into my office and said with a smirk... it's not that bad.... They ask the questions at the end of each online page....and highlight the paragraph where the answer is! Geez.... they make it too easy for them. That was the boy after MUCH grumbling last night and this morning! The girl sorted through her 42 pages, pulled 3 more answer key's that I missed and said 'Mom, really!'. Then we sorted her core subjects by days. She looked at the 5 math pages - one for each day and rolled her eyes and said, can I just do them all at once since it won't take any time at all? I said sure. She also has iReady math and reading to do online for 45 minutes each this week with other on-line educational sites assigned by her teachers.

We will see how next week works - sounds like K-5 is going to be virtual but I am not sure on the 6th grade since their print out was for 2 weeks of work....... At least both are doing their school work now on their first day back from 'spring break'. 

Our Chinese place was closed on Saturday when I called (was trying to help them out - small family owned) for a while.... so I decided to make Moo Goo Gai Pan last night. I improvised on a few things (had used the mushrooms in beef stroganoff Saturday so used a jar of them and no snow peas - I used carrots, celery and onion with water chestnuts and bamboo shoots and chicken). That with rice got good reviews from everyone last night! I wonder what will be for dinner tonight?

Tuesday EMD update

Block #15 from month #4 got completed this week. It is slightly larger than it should be by 1/4 of an inch. I'm going to leave it. Completely hand pieced. Hours and hours and hours of time.

I was hoping to have another finish to show... but my quick nap to remove a headache yesterday turned into 3 hours and well, then it was tag team while Greg laid down and I supervised kids in the pool after dinner. At least dinner was made when I woke up!

I have 3 blocks to complete still and month #7 was released on Sunday! Yikes. Time to turn off the news and stop surfing the web and stitch I think! My applique ones need trimming to 9.5 inches still.

Sunday.....

The hand work I have been busy with so far this morning is of the weeding variety! We picked up things from Lowes yesterday but by afternoon it was too hot and I was chauffeuring the girl to Grandma's for an overnight. The boy was sneezing since it is pollen season and someone has not been taking his allergy medicine the tail end of the week. I got home in time for dinner and the boy insisted we work on the triangle bed out front. It was in the shade so we finished weeding all the pesky things out of it. A break for dinner - leftover steak from the grill, potato salad and prosciutto wrapped asparagus... then back outside. Leaning over was causing issues with his sinus headache so he had placed the flowers and I dug and planted them. It looks much better. Needs mulch and more flowers to fill in but the kids have a plan. I think the boy will be mowing the lawn tomorrow - it needs it.

This morning, we spent 2 hours in the garden tilling and pulling up the weeds. The weeds down here in Florida are the ones with huge roots and trailing vines that get all tangled up in the tiller. I was on hoe and pull weed duty while he did the tilling in the areas that were already prepped last weekend by the kids. By noon - it was hot! Only a little part in the lower left hand part needs to get done at this point.

Time to move inside and get the stupid fire ants off and cool down. Hubby headed off to work while we were outside. Now that a shower and lunch are done... it is time to measure the cat and mouse quilt (61x71), prep the backing and batting and find my videos on how to load a quilt onto my Grace EZ3 frame! I'm hoping the leftover backing will be sufficient for the umbrella quilt to get pinned after that.  That is my afternoon plans and they are Aidan approved!

Grandma will return Emily this evening.... maybe. She just called and is considering another night with her.  I'll be doing hand work - I have a couple of Ella Maria Deacon blocks to get finished and I see the month #7 blocks are out this morning. They sure do look challenging! Don't mind the wrinkles, they live in the to go bag. That trip quilt under this does have it's binding all finished. I just need to make and attach a label and then have the kids hold it for a photo shoot sometime this week.

Dinner is Greek style. Greek herbed grilled chicken, pita and tzatziki and a salad with feta and olives. Boy and Mom approved!

Linking up with Slow Sunday Stitching.... where it is probably smart to turn off the tv and internet and pull up some stitching and audio books or movies and practice some therapeutic stitching.

I'm looking for good audio books I can get through the library with RB books. I have read all but 1 of a cozy mystery series by Joanne Fluke. The outstanding one is on hold. I listed to Firefly Hill, which was really good. I think I also did a mystery something about pirates and skulls and a tea shop in NC. It was interesting. I am currently listening to The war of the worlds by H G Wells. When actually reading I like the historical romances but I like listening to the mysteries when I walk and wait in the car lines. I also listened to the podcast of the Hand Pieced Quilt Along last year..... a couple of times. It was a good one too. Suggestions welcome.

Ella Maria Deacon

A little late this week on posting. It might be because I was busy working on binding instead of working on this block...and reading much too much on the COVID-19 virus!

I decided yesterday to take a look at my midget applique blocks for ideas on what to put in the middle of the block from this month. I was thinking a flower..... but when I scrolled through I saw a block with 4 hearts. I liked it, it would be easy to prep and bam, decision made. I cut my heart shape out from a folded piece of paper. Used that to trace onto fabric the outline, cut and placed onto the block. I took it to 1 car line and a guitar lesson yesterday and got it completed!

The binding is officially done on the trip quilt as of last night. I just need to make and attach the label!

I am opting not to go to my normal bowling league today since I have had a dry cough and a bit of a sore throat. I feel fine (plenty of energy!) but my league is mainly made up of older ladies - age above 70 and my teammates are 88 and 84 and the other one is 65 and currently going through cancer treatments. They don't need to be exposed to my germs. Hubby has more of a flu bug so just safer for them for me to stay home today.

My goal today is to play with some teal fabrics, finish off hand piecing one or two more of the EMD blocks and maybe pick up the seeds for the garden to keep the kids busy next week while on spring break. Emily would like carrots, watermelon and corn. Aidan wants gourds, pumpkins, summer squash and peppers (he has been successful using seeds from peppers we use). I'll get the salad stuff - lettuce, radish, swiss chard, beets and peas and beans. We will see what decides to come up.