Thursday morning update

 We were very fortunate! Just normal rain and slight wind where I am. We are right on the edge of it and dodged a bullet. Have power and internet. No flooding or trees down where I am.

Thinking of all in the path and hope they are safe and well.

Wednesday update

Quite surprising to wake up to news of the 155MPH winds hitting farther south than they anticipated! That is moving farther away from me and we are technically out of the cone but just barely. When it is that big... it does whatever it wants! We are fully prepped and have everything we need. I anticipate winds with gusts around 60 and lots and lots of rain. 

Greg and I are both working today from home like normal (ok, a little too much weather checking). One kid is keeping the dog occupied since he did not get a walk this morning. The other kid is awake but I have not seen him yet. I'm tucked away in my office.

We just have light rain here right now - we are a good hour north from Tampa and Orlando and centered between the two in Marion County. 

Emily decided to utilize a wild bush in the back yard and make some jam last night! We have a wild BeautyBerry bush growing near the pool area. It looks like this with very pretty purple berries.

She got 5 - 12 ounce jars made. It didn't set right so it is more of a liquid than a jelly. We had a little leftover that we put in the fridge. They say it tastes like an elderberry with a hint of grape. I've never had elderberry, but it has a really nice flavor when boiled down and sugar is added. 

The calm before the storm....

 The county waited until 3PM yesterday to cancel after school activities today (no concert for Emily!) and cancel school Wednesday and Thursday to prep them for shelters. Today, the just sent a notice that Friday is now also a day off. One day make up May 30th and the other 2 are forgiven. I think both kids would have been happier with today off as well as both had a test today!

I took my lunch break and cleared out the master bedroom closet a bit so we can fit 4 people (the kids got bigger since the last storm went through 6 years ago!) 2 cats and the dog in the crate. Hopefully it won't be needed but it is cleared out just in case. That is the tornado safe space if needed.

The latest track moved east again through Tampa Bay and then inland near/through us. What will actually happen, no one knows but Mother Nature. It should calm down over land but there will be lots of rain and wind over a good span of time - a full day or two. We will see if the power stays on or not! 

Both my in-laws appear to be all prepped for the storm. Now it is a waiting game.

I've been doing my relaxing therapy and adding more stitches into the bear paw quilt. I am using a stencil that I have had forever and finally get to use it!

Looks like I got it on clearance for $3.00! I am using the big top circle for this block.

Hand quilting feathers

I am attempting my first hand quilting of feathers. I had grabbed the blue quilting thread to work on the blue pumpkin I am making and grabbed it when I started quilting on this. I think I like the blue on this white section for this pattern. The photo in the light did not show up as well so this will have to do.

The pumpkin is waiting for me to get some fiberfill. I thought I had some, but I guess it is gone now. The question in my house is  'Will they call some hurricane days to have the schools prepped for shelter areas in case it should turn toward the middle of the state'. We have a fairly quiet week with just guitar lesson for Aidan Monday, and a fall concert Tuesday evening at school for Emily. The kids each have some things due Wednesday and Thursday... they are hoping for a hurricane closure!

I had to hit a grocery store this afternoon to get a few things for school lunches this week. They were limiting 2 cases of water per cart and that aisle looked pretty empty to me. Not a head of romaine lettuce in sight, which was strange. I got my ham and rolls for the kids and some spring mix for me and got the heck out of there! We have containers to fill up with water from our tap closer to the timeframe if needed. We do have a well so no power no water. Let's hope we continue to be lucky and maintain the power like the last one 5 years ago.

 

Prepping for quilting...

 So, there seems to be a hurricane possible in the near future for Florida. Of course, my priority is to prep a quilt for hand quilting! 

Honestly, we have most everything we need already for any potential effects from the storm. We were missing a camp stove and propane tank converter, and rectified that after Michael went through a few years ago. We have yet to lose power from a storm in the 11 years we have been here. Neighbors a few streets up were not so lucky though. We will fill jugs with water closer to the timeframe as we have a well and if we lose power that does not work! We have plenty of food - pantry, fridge and freezer. (Yes, we have a small generator that could be hooked up to the freezer and fridge and the gas to feed that). It is a nice feeling that you are pretty prepped so not much to do other than clear the yard closer to the time and if it does head inland a little stronger we can board up a few of the windows in the master bedroom. Right now, it is possible to hit around or above Tampa which is closer to me although we are a good hour inland from there and north in the south part of Ocala. I'm sure it will keep changing every new release of the track until it hits landfall. Might it keep moving north and west? Best to be prepared, though.

I pulled out two quilt tops and a wide backing fabric I had. I cut a backing for each of the two tops (Hoarfrost and Bear Paw). Then I pressed the backing and top for the Bear Paw and got it pinned for quilting. I have had this quilt for over 20 years waiting for my hand quilting skills to be where I wanted to do the feathers in the open spaces on this.  I think I made this in the late 90's or early 2000 at a class at Yankee Pride when it was in the Winooski Woolen Mills. Today I marked one of the circular feathers in pencil before pinning so it should be all set to start a little hand quilting on it later tonight. Hopefully those marks will last for me to quilt it and will erase away. I know I had a water-soluble blue marker but darned if I know where it is! 

The quilt is 40x60 I think (I measured them both and can't remember but I think Hoarfrost is 50x60 or 70). Backing and a crib size batting for hand quilting all smoothed out.

Added the top to the pile.

The hand quilting design... does not show up well in the photo. 

Edited - the first few stitches added. We will see if I regret the blue quilting thread!

We stopped and picked up Culvers for a late lunch so we will see if the kids are hungry for dinner or not. Guess they were hungry and the pork loin was thawed.... so pork schnitzel with twice baked smashed potato and asparagus was dinner.  It has cooled down slightly outside so time to go weed a bit before it gets dark. 

I'll link up Sunday with the Slow Sunday Stitchers.

RSC Crumb quilt is completed!

 This makes UFO finish number 7 for this quarter in the Summer 2022 UFO Ravelry challenge. I think this one is happy to be completed as it was getting sick of being moved from place to place in my sewing room over the years. It finished at 40x60 for a nice little throw quilt. It will probably be donated at some point. I did a simple walking foot quilting on the diagonal and used extra binding pieces from other projects to bind it. I figured it was fitting for a crumb quilt. 

I'll link up Saturday to the Rainbow Scrap Challenge.

Weekend round up.

I only spent a little time in the sewing room on Saturday. I sewed up these 2.5 inch squares in light blue for my 16 patch blocks. I think I might add flying geese around to make a star and then a 3 background and one colored square matching the block to finish them off this year. 

So that it will look like this quilt below that lives with my MIL and Papa Andy.

I finished the binding on the Sweet Confetti quilt last night. Another quilt completed off the UFO list. I had used the last of the warm and natural batting on the roll I had for this.... so, I ordered a new one that arrived on Friday. That should last me a few years, I think.

For the non quilting related things. Emily had horses on Saturday morning and rode Marshmallow. He does not like other horses, and she was in a ring with about 4-5 other riders so he was a little head strong. She kept him under control well though. I had my second riding lesson on Thursday. So far so good! I did feel the thighs a bit on Friday and Saturday with the little bit of posting I did. Muscles you don't tend to use much, I guess!

Before horses she was loving up with Bear. He seems to think he owns the couch!

The boy has headed to Grandma's for the day. The girl is home, and we will head over to school this afternoon and do the animal feeding. She was selected to show the chapter heifer this year at the youth fair with her FFA chapter. She is excited as she tried for this last year but was not selected. The weekend and holiday feedings of the chapter animals are spread out between the 6 kids showing the cow, pig and lamb. Right now, the lamb is the only one on campus, so she gets to go feed the lamb today.

That gives me a good 4 hours to sew. I see the crumb quilt calling my name for pinning and quilting today. I zig zagged two pieces of leftover batting together yesterday that will work perfect for this quilt.  Might I get another quilt finished from the UFO list this week?

I'll settle in tonight with some hand stitching of some sort after we pick up Aidan from Grandma's house 40 minutes away. (School is a good 20 minutes away so I will have bunches of time in the car again today).

Maybe adding another granny crochet square?

Stitching on my Harmony block?

So nice to have choices. Linking up with the RSC Challenge and Slow Sunday Stitchers.