2022 Finishes

 I got a very slow start this year as I was dragging my feet on working on the memory quilt for Olivia. I went looking through my quilt album on Facebook and realized I had not been placing everything where it should be! A few moves and some looking through the blog to find those finished quilts that were missing.  Let's take a look and see how I did, shall we?

Hand pieced Hexagon Quilt as you go front. 60x80.

The back of the Hexagon Quilt.

Olivia's memory quilt. Queen size.

Scrappy Crumb quilt.

Sweet Confetti (2021 RSC blocks I think)

Crossed Canoe 2022 RSC blocks... finished the same year and everything!!!

Row House Sew along with Accuquilt.

Endless Diamond. Hand pieced and Hand quilted.

RSC Squares from 2021. This one lives up in Vermont now.

Scrappy Irish Chain was a leader and ender of 2 inch squares years ago. Bear has claimed this quilt. Well, all quilts really!

I dissected an attempted tumbler flag into these two runners.

A baby quilt from a sew along years ago.

Baby Masala that still needs to get shipped off to my great niece. (bad auntie!)

A snowman from the table scrap challenge. 

The Ravelry UFO Challenge has been a big help in getting some old UFO's finished off. I am itching to start some new things in 2023 or grab some kits I have that have been hanging around. 

I liked the idea of doing one Hexagon a day in 2021 and would like to do something one a day in 2023 but have yet to decide on anything. Maybe monthly and change things up a bit? I have been paging through quilt books and magazines and there are plenty of quilts I would love to make. Paring things down is the problem. 

** Edited and linking up with the RSC since quite a few of these finishes are rainbow challenge quilts.

Slow Sunday stitching.

I enjoyed some binding stitching on my scrappy Irish Chain quilt this morning while watching a very entertaining F1 race on tv. I finished the machine quilting on this Friday evening and have not spent much time on the binding yet. I do hope to finish it in the next few days.

I did have a big finish last Sunday with my Endless Diamond quilt. I hope to hang it in my office today. 

Linking up with Kathy and the slow Sunday Stitchers where I hope you will get a little relaxing stitching time in today.

Sunday....

Well, I was planning on driving all day today, but we pushed off the leave date to Monday. There will be lots of driving time for me this week as we make our way north up the east coast to visit Vermont and family. We will be making some stops along the way to break things up.  The kids have only done this drive once when we moved here when they were 3 and 2.

Am I packed? Well, technically no but I do have all the clothes pulled in a pile, the drinks are ready for the cooler - waters and Gatorade and some snacks for the car. The first thing I did pack on Friday was my hand work bag from Thirty-One. You know the important things get packed first! I love my bags - I have 2 like this, a lunch cooler that is great for the car in Florida and a few of the Utility totes for shopping. I knew someone who was a consultant and got invited to a few parties' years ago. Anyway... what's in the bag you ask? There are 6 pockets on the outside and one on each end - great for water bottles and little things. I remember having 8 labeled water bottles at a parade with the girl scouts in there at one time!

Let's take a look! On the left we have the EPP for the Brimfield Awakening block with all the papers, templates and things needed to work on those. In the middle is 2 Harmony blocks that are in process for hand piecing from last year. I do have one 28 inch block completed but was planning to make 4. Hopefully I make progress on this the next few weeks. I threw in a sewing kit I got at Aldi's last year - just in case I need something there is a good variety of things in there. I'll also tuck my Vera Bradley coin purse where I have thread, scissors, pins and my needles but that is by the recliner still.

Inside we have yarns! I grabbed a skein of each of the 3 blues for the granny squares and the hook, some scrubby yarn and some dish cloth yarn. I know I have knitting needles in the car as well.

I have 6 dark blue and 8 medium blue granny squares so far.

I'll also bring the RSC Squares quilt to finish off hand stitching the binding if it doesn't get finished tonight watching the hockey game. I have one 64 inch side hand stitched. 

Last night I finished hand stitching the binding on the Baby Masala Box quilt. This will travel up to VT with us so I can show my Mom and then I'll ship it to Cece in Wisconsin.

I'll probably bring the Endless Diamond quilt that I am hand quilting. I have 4.25 blocks left to quilt. I think I might make and attach a binding today in case I finish quilting it then it will be nearly done. 

I think that should keep me busy for the 2.5 weeks we will be gone! Linking up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers.

Hubby is staying home to care for the animals (chickens, dog and 2 cats) and continue with his college classes. He starts 2 new ones tomorrow as he finishes up 2 today. Every 8 weeks he gets a new set of classes toward his degree.

I'd better finish breakfast (I just pulled blueberry muffins out of the oven) and grab a shower before I take the car through the car wash and give it a good cleaning inside and top off the gas tank for tomorrow. It got a check and lots of fixes at the dealer earlier this month and a new battery last Saturday so we should be good to go with my 2014 Honda CRV. 

Happy Fathers Day

 

Wishing all the Fathers out there a very Happy Fathers Day! I get to see my Dad in a couple of weeks and I can't wait!

I have made progress on hand quilting the Endless Diamonds quilt and have 6 more blocks to quilt. 

I'll be hand stitching the last edge of binding on the Masala Box quilt this afternoon while watching the F1 race in Montreal. Aidan is very excited his favorite driver is starting in second position!

First up for the day - prepping the top, back and batting for pinning a quilt for machine quilting.

Linking up with Kathy and the other Slow Sunday Stitchers.

Thursday...

Well, for my day off not a whole heck of a lot got accomplished. The morning was spent doing a little research after walking the dog. Then it was my annual Mammogram which went smoothly. I have my bloodwork next week and my followup with my doctor the following week. Doggie play time in the afternoon and somehow it was dinnertime! I pulled some carnita meat from the freezer for dinner and tried a package of mexican rice I picked up on sale a few weeks ago and some refried beans for dinner. I pulled out the briscuit we made a few weeks ago for tonights meal. Not sure what will go with it... but I'm thinking a salad of some sort and maybe some fries from the freezer?

While waiting on the Mammogram I added one more granny square to the pile and then did another one last night while listening to an audio book. I was curious how big they are and it turns out about 6 inches square!  I finished off Sue Graftons U is for Undertow. I have V is for Vengance borrowed as well as Killer Pancake by Diane Mott Davidson. I guess I like mysteries! I think I'll listen to Killer Pancake first since I just did 3 of the Sue Grafton books in a row (U,T and S ).

I started hand quilting block #12 of 20 last night as well.

A shot of the back of the quilt. A white backing and a thin hand quilting batting is showing the fabrics colors through on the back. It is easy to needle though.

Saturday - I get to get up really early for a Saturday and drive a couple of hours to pick up the girl from camp. I know a 4 legged dog that is going to be oh so happy to have his girl home again.

The boy is busy watching the F1 test racing today... despite the very early start times! Seems he is on teenager summer time where you stay up late and sleep in until 10 or 11 AM! We will see if he is up early on Saturday or just for the race on Sunday morning. 

Tuesday....

Well, I made it into the sewing room for a little bit after dinner. I had to go pick up the car from the dealership after finishing work so that took the late afternoon and then fixing dinner - Chicken Tikka Masala.  I got out my Accuquilt and the 2.5 strip cutter that I had never used before. That won't be the case anymore... awesome for cutting binding strips in the future and I do love playing with 2.5 inch squares! I might have to try some of the diamonds it cuts sometime soon - 45 degree and 60 degree. I did get some purple strips cut out and I was then going to cut squares, but the dog needed attention and I was tagged. 

The dog just wants to be with people and I was people last night! So.... I got some hand quilting in on the Endless Diamond quilt since it was still too hot to be outside to get his energy out (feels like 99 at 7PM!) 

I started in on the medium country blue for the granny squares. 6 dark and 2 mediums so far. It will be interesting to see how many I can get out of a skein. I have a feeling I might need more yarn to make a usable size afghan.

Time to finish off lunch and then back to work for a few hours.

Slow Sunday....

 Well, not really but I can dream! I relaxed yesterday with some hand quilting on the Endless Diamond quilt and I'm working on block 11 of 20. Progress. 

Some crochet has been started with a granny square pattern of blocks. I finished up the partial dark blue skein this week. I pulled a new skein of yarn (medium blue this time) and put it by my recliner last night. I didn't crochet last night but I was told the dog saw it this morning and thought it was one of his toys! It was saved and put onto a counter a little higher up. Silly dog. Linking up with the other slow Sunday Stitchers.

Today - the girl requested Blueberry Buckle Cake (coffee cake with blueberry variation from the Betty Crocker cookbook) for breakfast after Greg and I got home from walking Bear. It is in the oven - spoiled girl. Today I drive over towards Tampa and drop her off to Girl Scout Camp for a week at Wai Laini on the gulf coast. It is more of a water centered camp with paddle boarding, kayak and canoeing. So... I get 4 hours in the car today and Saturday when I go pick her up! It will be interesting to see how the dog does without her home. Grandma picked them up on Tuesday for lunch and an afternoon movie around 12:30 and they didn't get home until after 8PM! Around 6 he grabbed her pj bottoms and brought them to Greg.... who brought them out to me and I said 'I think he is wondering where his girl is!'.  Tonight might be an interesting one! I just need to remember to drop my car off to the dealership tonight for it's 8AM appointment. I figured I should get it checked out before our drive up to Vermont later this month. There are a few things happening that need to get checked out and fixed on my 8 year old car! 

What have I been doing?

 That is a great question! I did not work on my May OMG at all, other than purchasing the backing fabric for it. Technically I guess that is progress.

Instead, I got a little bit of startitis. I started an EPP project - well things are cut and I am still debating if I will glue baste or thread baste them. I did one as thread baste and it was sliding on me so I need to rewatch a video and give it another try. 

I also started a crochet project of granny squares using some leftover yarns from another project. If I count across the top I have 7 'openings' which is how big I am making them. I really should count the rounds but it is easier to just count the spaces across to see when I am done for now.

Another project is the Masala baby quilt in purples. I really need to knock off those final blocks and get this to a top soon. I hope to bring it with me to VT later in June.

Hand quilting on the Endless Diamond quilt is progressing. I have started quilting block 9 of 20 so getting close to half way. It appears all animals like to pose on quilts! As soon as I put it down for a photo, Bear came out to investigate and snuggled down on it.

We have been working on the new fence and have half of it to go. Maybe Greg and I can get a little work in on it tonight if I don't have to go pick up the kids from Grandma's. She is collecting them in a bit and taking them to lunch and then out to a movie near her house to watch the new Top Gun in the theater. I guess Tuesday is senior half off day for the ticket price and at the snack stand. 

I'd better get back to work as my lunch is almost over! Leftover steak on a garden salad, yum!

Sunday...

Another week has flown by. The kids have 4 more days of school and each has an award ceremony they are invited to attend so that will be our Monday and Tuesday evenings. Friday, the 8th graders headed to Universal Studios in the afternoon where they close down the park and let the Middle School 8th graders take over the 2 parks until midnight. It sounds like they stayed with their adult for the first hour or two for dinner and then were released in their groups of kids for the rest of the night. Unfortunately - there was plenty of rain and thunder storms so all the outside rides (rollercoasters) were closed. The boys did have a good time though and were exhausted when the busses pulled into the school at 2AM Saturday. I think it is the first time I went below the speed limit on those roads to  school and back - rain puddling on roads and very dark.  My splitting headache started about then and finally went away around 3 the next afternoon. Greg took Em to horses and I took a nap in the morning. Turns out... our AC went out sometime Friday night and we had a service call to come take a look. The AC was fixed (wired rubbed together for a short) by mid afternoon and the blessed AC was running again. We are in Florida where the humidity and temps are now 'summer' so in the 90's F.

Saturday evening was a little more stitching on Endless Diamonds while watching the movie The Great Outdoors. I love John Candy movies. 

The back shows the quilting really well.  So far the double meds (advil and tylenol) are working to keep the headache in check today. This is month 3 of it happening.... so time to ask the OB about things to mitigate the headaches.  Any advise on the pre-menopause headaches? Must be a major change in hormones somehow causing it. The joys of getting older!

Linking up with Kathy and the Slow Sunday Stitchers. 

 

Sunday

 Another week flew right by! I really need to pick up some hand work at night instead of playing on my phone. I finally did last night and got some hand quilting in on my Endless Diamond quilt while I was watching 'You've Got Mail'. It was nice after a long day of running errands in the car Saturday. Linking up with The Slow Sunday Stitchers.

First it was off to Wildwood Girl Scout Store to pick up the badges needed for the end of year party Monday night (about 25 minutes away). Then.... the kids and Greg wanted Carvers for lunch. Greg is behind on his schoolwork classes so I agreed to go order and pick up since it would be 45 minutes to an hour.  A little cleaning in the kitchen in the hour I had before we headed to PetCo for our Private Lesson with Bear. We learned a lot and he is a really smart Dog! Very protective of Emily and me. This is hubby working with him on wait.

 When I got home... it was time to figure out my Finance report for the troop. I was missing one bank statement but managed to get it tied back with the receipts and everything put into their slots in under 2 hours this year! Ok, it was more like 90 minutes. The last ACH pull of cookies was the month after we tie to so that had to be accounted for. I'll have to print off all the expenses for April and May and hand off to my co-leader as she is being placed onto the bank account and I'll be taken off soon! We have lots of spending the last 2 months with renewals, painting, food for painting, and I got them some camping bracelets with a whistle, fire started and compass to finish their outdoor journey. My leader self eval was also done and emailed in.  I just need to sort the badges into baggies, grab a few party things and clean the house. Seems they wanted to come over here for their party tomorrow night.... something about seeing the chickens and the new dog.... and the cats. Hitting 90's tomorrow so I need to have the option of inside if it is way too hot and humid out.

Grandma was not feeling well so called to cancel the kids heading over today... that let Emily get  a horse riding lesson scheduled for this afternoon that I'll bring her to. They were at a show and did not have lessons yesterday. Greg will pop over to see his Dad in the rehab facility around doing homework today. The boy is on mowing the lawn duty.  The girl is on chicken coop cleaning. Not sure if we will get more of the posts put in for the new chicken run today or not. Busy as always around here. Now if this head cold will let me get everything done today, I'll be a happy camper! First up is shredding some zucchini to make zucchini bread. Yummy. 

Mothers Day and some quilting...

 It has been a crazy week with no sewing or quilting. Today I have settled in with an F1 race (Aidan is a big fan) and some hand quilting. It feels good to sit and relax for a bit. My MIL just headed home. She came over for lunch of brats on the grill, potato salad and baked beans. Each of the kids made me a cake. Emily made a chocolate cake with chocolate butter cream frosting. It is yummy. Aidan made a Victorian sponge with strawberry jam and butter cream frosting. That one is pretty yummy too!

Linking up with the Slow Sunday Stitchers. Wishing everyone a very Happy Mothers Day. 

Sunday... a new addition to the family.

Emily started asking about a dog last week again. Greg has been wanting a dog for a long time... he is a dog person. I am a cat person - and we have 2 indoor cats. We looked at the shelter dogs available and figured we would go take a look on Saturday. The one Emily wanted was gone. Her second choice they pulled the tag and there were some red flags they made us aware of. Positive for heart worm but being treated but she climbs fences. We live on a busy street but have a fenced in back yard. We decided to  walk through the kennels and look at all of them. The fence climber was very shy and would not even come out to greet.  Very loud barking and tons of dogs - over 200!. I think we were all overwhelmed. We walked down the second section. There was one Emily liked. It was there for a little over a month and they had observed it was Shy. 

I can say... this dog is not shy! He is a people person, friendly and we both need to do a little training. He is extremely strong!  He does sit, down and a few other commands but it is a learning experience for both. He did good on his walk this morning and did not pull so that is a good thing. We think he might be named Bear. He came with the name Dasani but they just gave it to him for something to identify him since he was found wandering around. I think he was a family dog since he is always where the people are.  

He is 60 pounds of energy and love!

All tuckered out last night on the couch. He did look at me when he got up there and I told him it was ok. 

I never showed the label I made for the Memory quilt. I decided to try and embroider it and it did hold up in the washing!

Aidan needed to process our getting a dog (he did not think we needed one!) by baking. He made Mary Barry's Victorian Sponge with a red raspberry and grapefruit jam. It was extremely yummy and we requested he make it weekly!

This afternoon I finally got the Girl Scout troop scheduled for their Painting and they let their Mom's join in the fun! A mother daughter event for 12. Aidan headed to Grandma's for the day and Dad will be on dog and animal duty for the afternoon. The cats are hiding out in the master closet area - once we got Ollie back in there. He escaped last night and was hiding in the front room under the Victrola for about 10 hours. Aidan got him out and into the master bedroom. Kitty doors are arriving Tuesday and will be added to the master bedroom door and the laundry room door so they have 2 areas free of the dog for safety.  I will probably be on Aidan pick up tonight - Greg is feeling his back with all the doggie play. Hopefully I will have a little energy tonight to add some stitches to the Endless Diamon quilt. A little bit of quilting here and there is adding up to more blocks quilted.

Linking up with the other Slow Stitchers over at Kathys Quilts.