Summer Projects

I picked up some peaches at the farmers' market last Saturday. When the peaches are available at the market you have to get there early because the line is long but it doesn't matter because they are worth it. And today I thought I would give peach ice cream a try. 

I love summer so much. There is so much to be grateful for. The vegetable garden is thriving, the flowers are blooming, I can be outside all the time. I appreciate every warm, wonderful day. But when there are rainy days, I have taken the time to enjoy my embroidery machine. 

I'm also having some fun with some of the things we've collected on our antiques and barn sale shopping trips. 

This spring I wanted to paint my garden fence. In the process of scraping off the chipped paint, the boards just broke away. The fence was so rotten we ended up taking it down. I was sure I would miss the look of the white pickets, then Jeff designed a new fence using stuff we had lying around. Some cedar boards and leftover wire fencing made a really nice new fence.

What a nice, fresh look we have in the yard now. 

The January Deep Freeze

Between the snow storms and the below zero temperatures, we knew we would be packing it in at home for a while. We loaded up on groceries before the weather came. I love the feeling of being home, safe, warm and secure. And it's so pretty after it snows. The backyard looks so serene. With temps around 8 below zero, I don't think we will be traipsing around on the patio for a while.

I'm planning on getting some charity quilts started this week. I'm going to take this fat quarter bundle of children's fabrics apart and cut a few quilt kits out of it. There's so many fat quarters that I think I should be able to get at least 3 quilt tops out of it. 

Jeff's favorite college football team, the Michigan Wolverines won the National Championship last night. He is so very excited that they finally won the whole thing! And here he is in his 1997 Championship t-shirt. I was happy to see it still fit - haha!

Client Longarming

The Elna 792 Pro came into the shop this week. I never really cared to upgrade my current machine, as long as I can piece a quilt top, that's all I ever needed. 

Then along came this home machine with an automated stitch regulator. I could free-motion quilt small projects with ease if I had one of these. 

My friends with longarms think it's crazy. They all say the same thing, "Just load the project on the longarm!".  Sometimes I think it's too much trouble for really small projects. I can free-motion quilt on the machine I have now but I sure would love it to not have to worry about how fast or slow I have to go to keep even stitches. I am definitely getting one of these....

Someday.

I have a client who is very passionate about a PKD fundraiser that happens every year. She makes a quilt to raffle off every year and this is the one for 2023. It's always a queen-sized quilt so the event does make quite a bit of money off her beautiful donations and I am happy to help.

I also quilted a memory quilt for her. Her son passed away from cancer and she made a quilt to honor his memory. 

Besides the 2 quilts, she had a table runner to be quilted as well. I love the colors she used. These are the last client projects I plan on completing before the holidays. 

On Thanksgiving day I became one of those statistics attached to senior citizens. I slipped and fell then ended up getting 16 staples on the top of my head. It was quite a gash. On my way down, I hit the corner of the buffet in my daughter's dining room. I got right up thinking I was fine except for my head stung a little. And I didn't see any blood although it was all over the buffet. Jeff says I could't see it because it was running down my back. The next thing I knew we were headed to the hospital.

I really didn't hurt myself and frankly, I was disappointed I missed dessert after dinner. At least I got to eat before I went to the ER!

I know they are hard to see but this photo was taken right before the staples were removed. And hallelujah for that. I think the staples were worse than the wound. I am so happy that things turned out like they did. I really could have seriously hurt myself.

Finished Quilt Projects

I have so many carrots in my garden that I can pick a bunch like this one every single day. I love it. No matter what the will never go to waste around here. If they aren't eaten right away they will become jalapeno carrots. The cucumber in this photo was overlooked on the vine. I can't believe how hard it is to find them sometimes. I only have 1 cucumber plant but the vines are so hardy sometimes I just can't see them.

My sister is turning 60 this month so I made her a t-shirt for her birthday party. 

Here's my little helper. When I'm sewing she sits nicely on whatever quilt is loaded on the longarmer and when I am longarming, she sits on the sewing table and watches intently.

My poor boy is curled up in this new bed. All of a sudden he likes to be surrounded while he sleeps so I got this for him to enjoy.

I finished quilting and binding Her Maj this week. I love how it turned out. I don't know what I'm going to do with it. Maybe it will become a gift for a little girl.

I made this quilt using my Accuquilt cutter. I used the half square triangle die for all the blocks. Isn't it amazing how just turning the blocks different directions make a total different look? It was a fun experiment and will be a good quilt for Quilts for Kids.

I made this quilt using a 3-Yard Quilt Book pattern. It went together quickly and will be turned in at my next Quilt for Kids meeting.

Barbenheimer

I've had some success using my new Cricut Maker so I thought I would try my hand at making a t-shirt. Again, I go to YouTube to find some good advice on the vinyl products and how-to's. Then I headed over to Etsy to find this fun Barbenheimer graphic. I couldn't wait to make this shirt and it turned out great. 

It's amazing what happens when you follow the instructions, haha!

I enjoyed wearing the shirt when I took my granddaughter to see the Barbie movie. And what a great movie it was. I had so many memories of the Barbies depicted in the moving.  So much nostalgia. It was a great girl-power movie full of positives for little girls like Avery.

The same week we saw Barbie my husband and I went back to the theater to see Oppenheimer so I got to wear the shirt twice. 

Exploding Heart Quilt

I've been planning a wedding quilt for my nephew and his bride for quite a while. I wanted it to be special so I searched and searched for the right pattern and fabrics. Once I decided on the exploding heart pattern, it still took me some time to find the right fabrics. I wanted some nice colors without the fabrics coming off too feminine. During the time I was searching I straightened up my sewing room and came across a layer cake I purchased a few years back. It was perfect. 

I did have a problem to overcome if I used a layer cake. It would waste lots of fabrics with the process of making quarter square triangles. That's where working in a quilt shop really came in handy. I explained the problem and a coworker suggested I borrow one of the Accuquilt cutters we have at the shop. There's a die cutter for the triangles and I could manipulate the 10-inch squares through the cutter to get more pieces than if I did the traditional QSTs. I couldn't wait to give it a shot. 

I cut and cut and cut then I cut some more! It was so fun, efficient, and I really got a lot of triangles out of the 10-inch squares. In an afternoon I cut enough pieces that I was ready to make the entire queen-sized quilt top.

I began sewing the triangles together and I really thought I would be sewing them for days. But once the chain-piecing started it went really fast. It was all going together so well. I was loving the process. And the colors were so gorgeous it never got boring.

Since it's a queen-size project I had to use the living room floor to lay the quilt out. Each row had to be laid out before the next to get the quilt right. It was a challenge moving the blocks around with a cat in the room. He loved to plop down in the middle of it all. Once I had all the blocks sewn together I chose a nice green for the backing. 

I chose a nice flowing pantograph to use on my longarm. With all the white space I really wanted the quilting to have a bit of drama. 

My next challenge was making a label. I'm not that experienced with my embroidery machine so I was a little concerned about how to make the label. In fact, my first attempt was way too large so I had to start all over. At least I got the lettering aligned with the heart motifs I used - haha!

I took this photo right before I wrapped it up in pretty wedding themed wrapping paper. I absolutely love how it turned out. 

And here's the happy couple on Sunday after the wedding.

My Other Projects

Last year my neighbor asked for advice on fixing some cushion covers for their camper. I gave them some advice on what to do however, I think they figured out that it was a bigger project than they could handle. I know he sews but I can't say I blame him for not wanting to tackle this project. So he brought me some canvas yardage and the cushions. I decided to reuse the zippers because they were the only part of the cushion covers that were in great shape. Plus they would be very expensive to replace and I am all about repurposing things. It wasn't a tough job, it only took one afternoon to complete. I hope they get years of enjoyment out of them.

I longarm quilted a charity quilt. for a friend from the quilt shop. It's very pretty and I recognize the fabrics because I used them in a quilt a long time ago.

I refused payment for the quilting so next thing you know, I get a Starbucks gift card from her for my efforts. It really wan not necessary. It seems now that I've learned to say no to most requests for quilting I really get to enjoy the process for the ones I choose to do. I love not having to stress about deadlines for other people's projects. 

My daughter is moving to a new place where my granddaughters will have their own rooms. They've shared a bedroom forever so we wonder if they will miss each other when they move. With more time to spare, Jeff and I volunteered to paint our granddaughter's new bedrooms. They both chose some interesting colors.

I guess after seeing this, they will be ok with being in their own spaces. 

I made some balsamic reduction. I think I should have used the entire bottle of balsamic vinegar considering how little is left after cooking. I don't know what I was thinking since I make this stuff all the time. We go through lots of it. 

Salsa and Basketball

Yesterday I finally felt like myself again. So I got up with the attitude that it's a new year so let's start it out right. I am going to get all the summer tomatoes that I blanched and froze out of the freezer and make some salsa. 

That meant washing and sterilizing lots of jars followed by chopping lots of vegetables. 

It was a good day to get this done. I started around 8:30 and I was done by 10:30. That sure felt good. It's been on my to-do list for a while so I was very happy to get it accomplished. My husband was thrilled - it's one of his favorite things. 

We're trying not to push my post-surgical recovery too hard so we went downtown where we enjoyed a nice dinner followed by attending the Milwaukee Bucks game. It's too bad they lost but we had a good time getting out of the house.

A Little Christmas

Since I have to lay low this holiday season, there's not much going on. I did manage to get a Christmas tree up and I love how nice it looks. It's much smaller than we're used to and I think this will be come a tradition. It takes up so little space and I like it. 

Since the tree is much smaller, I set up a table next to it with a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle. What fun it will be to complete it with the help of family members! 

I am really enjoying this holiday season. Here's the view out of my bedroom window.  

I had no idea slowing down could be so wonderful.

An Emergency Appendectomy

The holiday season has taken a strange turn for me. I have so many plans. But the universe apparently has something else in mind for me. 

I came home from working at the quilt shop yesterday with a belly ache. I couldn't eat my dinner and proceeded to throw up throughout the night. I was hoping that would make me feel better but by morning it was evident it was not to be. It felt so weirdly different that most belly pain I've had. I chose to go to my online medical portal to make an appointment with urgent care. I picked the first available appointment and worked my way through the list of questions regarding my reason for the visit. Once I completed the last answer, the program told me I cannot make an appointment, I must go to the emergency room immediately. Wow.

I alerted my husband to please get dressed because we have to go. At 8:55 am I walked into a very quiet emergency room, or so I thought. There was one person waiting when I got there and one who came in right behind me. I was immediately taken in for vitals and I was surprised as they hooked me up to an IV right away. They took blood from the IV and sent it to the lab. After asking me a few questions about my pain they administered morphine through the IV and apologized as they had me wait in a conference room. The reason for that was they were so full of covid patients there were no beds available in the ER. So I sat in a meeting room chair with my feet up on another chair. 

The physicians' assistant who was taking care of me came to tell me that my white blood count was high which was a sign that I'm fighting off something so they were going to do an abdominal CT scan. I can't believe how fast they were on it. It wasn't even 10 am yet and already I was headed to the CT unit. 

They did the scan and by 11 am the PA came to tell me I had appendicitis and they would need to remove my appendix. I was a little out of it from the morphine so I asked if they were going to do it this week? He says today! Oh yeah...pain... I wasn't shocked or surprised or scared, all I could feel was grateful. Grateful that this most likely wasn't going to kill me and even better, it was going to be fixed for good, unlike a chronic illness. They also told me they hoped to send me home the same day because there are no beds available to stay overnight. I would end up sleeping in a hallway and they wanted me to be prepared for that. So now comes the wait to get it over with. 

The surgeon turned out to be the partner of the surgeon who assisted with my spine surgery a few years back. That made me feel more comfortable. I was wheeled to a surgical unit on the 5th floor of the hospital around 1 pm. There I met the surgeon's assistant to asked me lots of questions about my health and prepped me for what to expect. And since I had a negative covid test, they let my husband in to sit with me. Surgery was scheduled for 2:30 but I ended up not going in until closer to 3:30. 

Once I came out of surgery, the nurse told me I was lucky to be in such good health. That meant I could go home as soon as my vital signs stabilized and I was fully awake. 

I was home in my recliner with an ice pack by 6 pm, just in time to watch Jeopardy. It also seems someone was worried about me. I don't think he's going to move from that spot this evening. I feel so lucky to have had such a good experience. The surgeon told my husband that my appendix was 'red-hot' so I was fortunate that it didn't burst. It was a good reminder to pay attention to your body and to appreciate my husband for taking such good care of me. It's good to be home. 

Silver Linings Quilt

I spent the last month making a quilt for my niece. She got married on May 8th and planned a wedding reception for June 5th. The invitation came in April and we were quite surprised. She had talked about how she would get married "someday" but it didn't seem like she was in a rush. They were both married before and have 6 kid between them. Quite a blended family they will be! 

I got working on making a wedding quilt as soon as I got the invitation. I found a pattern by Basic Grey called Silver Lining that I loved and I purchased a beautiful Moda fabric collection called Sanctuary. It came it teals and grays that I thought were perfect for a couple. Not too feminine but not really manly either. 

The blocks were easy to make however each one had to match up with the block next to it. It required a lot of planning on a design board in order to make it work. It was fun planning each block.

When it came time to make a quilt label, I worried I wasn't going to know how. My embroidery machine is pretty new so I wasn't sure I was going to have any success. I downloaded a font I purchased online and this label was my first attempt.  I think it worked out pretty well.

I hope the new family enjoys the quilt.