Time for bed

I had a pretty productive day.  I set up a quilting station in my sewing room, placing my cabinet-machine in front of my cutting table, and snugging the ironing board up near my left elbow, all for supporting the weight of the quilt.

 I machine-quilted the 'bones' of the brown quilt, going down in the ditch of all the long, light-colored sashing strips.  Now I'm doing some cross-seams.

I have a stencil that I think I am going to use on the wide strips, but it involves lots of twisting and turning to do with the walking foot, so I'll take it a bit at a time.  I think I'm going to like the finished look.
Today's weather started out cloudy and cool, but by mid-afternoon, it was 74 degrees and sunny with very little wind.  My baby girl turned 36 years old today.  I got to say 'happy birthday' over the phone, but my voice is so weird that she couldn't really hear much else.  That makes me sad.  But she had a good day and that makes me happy.

Buttercups are blooming all around me, and I especially love these two-tone ones that are around the mailbox.

I even have a couple of Hyacinth blooming.  Welcome, welcome little blooms, so beautifully adorned by our heavenly Father.

Spring has finally arrived !

Yes, I know that it comes on the same day every year, but the weather this past Winter made it seem extremely long !

Whatever the case, hallelujah, God is on the throne, and the seasons continue.

The first day of Spring was beautiful here, with a temperature in the high 60's, and lots of sunshine.  I had been awaiting this day to baste a quilt, but that didn't happen.

After not sleeping well for the last 3 nights, and it being especially bad last night, I awakened with a slight pain in my chest when I coughed, and a feeling of no energy at all.

Knowing that I had freshly-purchased ground beef in the fridge that needed to be used, I made myself go right to work in the kitchen.  I made up a huge pot of many-vegetables soup (my go-to lunch when I want to spend time piecing/quilting), and a big pan of beef enchiladas (these have become a favorite of hubby's).  During all of the prep work and cooking, I barely felt like standing up straight.

As soon as everything was done or simmering, I grabbed my Bible for some study, and prayed to the Father to rebuke the devourer for His name's sake ---  to please take this affliction from me, which was causing me to be short-tempered with dear hubby.

Well, it wasn't probably 15 minutes before the funk lifted off of me, and I felt just fine.  Praise be to God, my Healer !

 I spied my trash barrel full of leaves that I had been waiting to burn on a wind-still day.  So, I started in on them, not realizing that it meant that I had given up the entire afternoon to 'fire control' !   The wind came up just a bit, and I dared not leave the barrel alone, so I just set out to rake up, stir, and burn all I could gather around the garden spot.  As night fell, I took the water hose and sprayed down the last of the smoldering leaves in the bottom of the barrel.

But, blessedly, I heard on tonight's weather report that we are supposed to have an even nicer day tomorrow.  So, hopefully atleast one quilt top will get basted.  My neighbor reminded me that I not only have the back porch where I can baste, but also my carport as well !    Can't believe I never thought of that !

Finishing things.

I have no picture to share today, as my camera batteries need recharging.  I took a picture today, but now the camera says that the card needs formatting.  But if I do that I'll lose what's on the card.  Usually when it says that, actually the batteries just need a charge.

So, anyway, I've been busy lately getting some things finished.  A few days ago, I figured out what I wanted the back to look like for the "Diamonds in the Dirt" quilt top, so I got that completely pieced.  Very happy with it, but will wait to share it when the quilt is finished.  I don't know if I want to hand or machine-quilt it, so I don't know whether I want polyester or cotton/poly batting.

Today, I pulled out the Japanese X and Plus top and added a border to it.  For me, the quilt top was just TOO BUSY, and yet my hubby LOVES it !  I feel like the border helps contain the chaos just a bit.  Both this, and the top mentioned earlier, measure around 56 x 80 inches.  They'll top a full-sized bed, but are really extra-big nap quilts.  I told hubby that with health changes and sleeping in recliners and on couches, maybe it's a smart thing to have some of this size quilt around nowadays !

Next  thing I want to accomplish is getting a back together for the x and + top.  I bought a beautiful Valori Wells print for my scrappy tripalong top, but I don't really like that one nor want to finish it, so I may borrow that fabric for this top.

Tomorrow is my middle grandchild's birthday.  Timothy Daniel, Jr. will be 8 years old.  I have missed so much !  I love that little guy, he has the sweetest heart.

Back to the cold !

After 2 beautiful, warm, sunny days spent outdoors, (discovering my first buttercup blooms),  today's temperature started out around 62 and fell all day with a cold north wind.  They're saying we might have snow flurries tonight.  Hubby said, "oh, no ! "  I say, "if it's gonna be cold anyway, atleast give me the beauty of the snowflakes flying!"

So, I spent this day INDOORS, doing housework, cooking, and trying to figure out a backing design for the brown/diamonds quilt.

  I received my backing fabric,

A design by Riley Blake, purchased from Fabric.com

 which I have to piece, so I'm trying to use the leftover lopped-off triangles to work some red into the back design.

I may just have it worked out now.

I cooked a meatloaf, real mashed potatoes, and a wonderful pot of white beans with chunks of leftover ham for supper tonight.  Yummy, good, cold weather comfort food !  Good thing I have trouble eating or I'd be fat as a town dog !
Believe me, though, I got down a good (healthy?) portion !  Praise God !

 Tomorrow, the roofer is scheduled to start work, so I have a good excuse to hang close to home and sew.

Hope your week ends well !

The yard is calling !

Yesterday's temperature reached 60, and today was as warm, but more windy.  Not being able to resist, I raked leaves from more flowerbeds today, discovering lovely little green starts peeking their way out of the ground.  I saw "Seven Steps to Heaven", Phlox, Daisies,  Rose bushes, Irises, Candy Tuft, Violets.....all starting to wake up again !

A young man came to measure our roof and give us an estimate for covering it with metal.  Another roofer comes tomorrow to discuss his estimate.  God has blessed us with hopefully enough insurance compensation to pay for the new roof and possibly a couple of other small repairs.

Also, today I received my package from Connecting Threads.  I managed to snag a great deal on their backing fabric when it was on sale, and only paid $8.36 per yard for their $11.96 per yard  104 inch-wide fabric.  Not knowing what I'll use it for, I chose a color that I thought would work on a number of quilts.....it is called 'silver lining', and a couple of hours after receiving my 3 yard piece, I noticed that the sky outside was mimicking the fabric's name !

Isn't that just like God to give me a smile that way ! ? !

Tuesday I should receive my other score........I found fabric for $3.49 per yard, a Riley Blake large leaf print, to back my brown and diamonds strip quilt, plus a beige-colored print for the binding at the same great price, from Fabric.com.  Their sale goes until midnight on the 10th; it's called the cotton print blowout sale, and they brag about prices of $5.95, but I saw quite a few fabrics priced at $3.49 !

Post Script:  I was thinking about 'low volume' fabrics a couple of days ago, and realized that, what with my vocal nerve damage,  I myself am now LOW VOLUME !    ha ha ha ha ha ha !

Beautiful hope of Spring

Today was a GORGEOUS day.  I spent a LOT of it outside.  Once I went out there, it was hard to make myself stay inside.

Hubby and I pulled up the old garden fence stakes and rolled up  the nylon fencing.  Hopefully, in a few weeks, I'll re-till the space I used last year and till up a bit more to go with it.  We'll see.......wintertime inactivity makes that sound like AN AWFUL LOT OF WORK, but each year I'm able to do more than I expect.

Then, we can buy new stakes and re-erect the fencing.  I'm not sure about these new 're' words I'm making up, but I'm going with them !  LOL !

The only picture I have to share is the one I took yesterday evening trying to capture the beautiful sunset.  I looked out my living room window when hubby told me I had to see something.  And the sky was actually STRIPED.  Of course, by the time I shot the photo, it had changed or I couldn't capture it or something.  Some things, you just have to keep as a beautiful memory, right?

I sent packages for Kelley's and Timothy, Jr.'s birthdays today.  For once, I'm not sweating getting them to them on time !  Yay !

Finally, some finished knitting !

I finished knitting these socks on Monday evening, right after the little tabletopper quilt.

I've had them in the works for probably 6 months or more.  They are just plain stockinette in a superwash wool that I purchased from someone on Etsy YEARS ago !

As usual, I wish that I had made the cuffs longer.........I always get so antsy to be done with the cuff, and then I regret that they're too short to wear with thermal underwear !   I should remember, "Dolly, you don't wear WOOL socks in the summertime !"

Anyway, I'm glad I finished a pair, as I've worn holes in several older pairs lately.  Somehow, my feet are always able to find a loose screw sticking up from a doorway threshold, or Lottie grabs my foot with her claws as I walk by her lying on the carpet.

And, hey, I discovered something else that I'm able to chew and swallow !
Enchiladas !  Yay......I've been thinking of making some of these again for awhile, and finally got around to it today.  Yum !  Hubby ate 2 helpings....I had to go easy on the sauce on his half of the pan.  He doesn't like tomatoey things very much.

Starting to feel like they may have stoked the old acid-reflux, though.  Good thing I don't make these very often !

Thank God for quilting !

I would go absolutely bonkers staying inside during a cold, snowy, sleety winter like this if it wasn't for sewing, quilting, knitting.......

 Thank God I restored my sewing room to working order again too.  I have just had THE BEST time the last couple of days.  I went in there yesterday and played with scraps all day long, just wanting to make some little something pretty. 

 I got into my scraps bins and pieced 3 wonky stars, which is something I've always wanted to try.  Well, then I messed around with strip-piecing to make some filler blocks.  I was aiming, at that point, for something just big enough to cover the chairside table in the living room.   

I even went so far as to hand-sew some batting strips together while I watched the Walking Dead episode.  So this morning I had my batting and top all ready for basting to a backing.  

more Valori Wells Dandelions, this time in pink/red/coral

I machine-quilted in straight parallel lines, using the edge of the walking foot to keep the lines about 1/2 inch apart all over.  I dug into more scrap strips for the binding and Voila ! 

 FUN, FUN, FUN !

Prayer and wishes of more good times and happy moments with her mom to Dee.  You were whom I thought of as these happy colors came together; it reminds me so much of the pretty, girly things you turn out so often.  I'm glad you have your 'stitching therapy' too....may God continue to keep you and your family in His tender care.  Love to your mom.

Dandelions Near The Steps

Hey, I have a Friday Finish !   I'm not part of that linky party, but I am happy to share my first truly finished quilt of 2014.

This is a baby quilt made from the simple desire to sew !  The design is my own, just something to showcase the solid-colored fabrics, picking up the ones that are featured in the dandelion print.  The finished quilt measures 36 inches square.

The batting is Hobbs' Heirloom Premium 80% cotton/20% polyester.
I used Connecting Threads solid strips and a Valori Wells dandelion print for the top of the quilt.

I regret to say that I don't know the maker of the backing fabric, but I am thankful to my friend, JoAnn, in Oklahoma, for continuing to send me her scraps (big scraps!)

 I pieced a few of the gradating solids from the front of the quilt into the back, since I needed to piece it anyway.

I decided to hand-quilt this one since it would show up so nicely against the solid fabrics.  

I love how the light coming in from the window shows all of the contours of the quilting lines.  

Once again, Lottie-dah wants to claim the quilt for her own.   Can't believe I haven't made this girl a quilt yet !

UPDATE:  The quilt has been gifted to a beautiful young woman who is believing God for a baby girl, and has already named her, Abigale Marie Hope !  God IS hope, isn't he..........praise God for all our babies, no matter how old they are, or how long we have to wait !  God is faithful........why can't we be FULL of FAITH?

Wednesday check-in

Yesterday was a fun day.  I did get to drop in on the quilters, but ooh, how I wanted to stay !  There were atleast 6 or 7 ladies there, with their most recent projects draped around the room, and tables set up with works in progress everywhere !  What a fun group has evolved in the last few years.......I hope I have a project ready to work on with them next month.  The only down side I saw was that there didn't seem to be room to baste a twin-sized quilt on a frame like I used to do there sometimes.

I didn't take pictures, as my camera doesn't want to recognize a memory card anymore.  Now I have to take a few on the internal memory, and then hold my breath as I convince the camera to copy them to the card.   That's why my posts are short on photos lately !

But the food program started early yesterday, so I had to be there by 1 p.m.  I so enjoy getting to know lots of faces of the regulars who come weekly.  They recognize me now, and smile and speak niceties......I just love it.  They're my NEIGHBORS, and I love THEM !

This afternoon, I finished hand-quilting the last two blocks of the baby quilt, and will try to get started on the binding tomorrow.  In the meantime, I wanted to share a tip.

 This backing was just barely big enough to stick out an inch on a couple of sides of the quilt, so when it was time to quilt this last edge, I basted a doubled 4-inch-wide strip of fabric to the backing in that area, going through the batting also; then, I had something for the q-snap frame to get ahold of.  Otherwise, I would have had to fasten it too close to the quilt-top to be able to quilt that last side edge.

Anticipation !

Spring can't be too far away........to my wonderful surprise, the first Crocus, in fact, the first blooms of 2014, were proudly lifting their heads yesterday afternoon in my front yard !   Just the day before there was nothing in that spot but a few of what looked like blades of grass, then, VOILA !  Beautiful blooms of brilliant purple against the dry brown  grass just made my day !




Buttercups, jonquils, Narcissus.......whatever they are, are also poking their stems and buds through the ground now too.

 In my flowerbeds, I couldn't resist the warm days, and I raked away a winter's worth of leaves.  I hope I don't regret it when we have the next few days of cold temperature's return !   I just couldn't resist seeing what was hiding below.

I've been hand-quilting, and I have almost completed the little baby quilt with the dandelion print.   Tomorrow is quilt-meeting day, and I think I will just drop by and show the finished brown quilt-top that I started last month, and this baby quilt, unbound.  Our feeding program starts earlier now, so I need to be able to get back home to feed hubby and myself before slipping away for an afternoon/evening's work.

Thursday's storm

Yesterday was a busy day and I didn't get the chance to post.  I want to document the fact that we had quite a severe thunderstorm come through here on Thursday night.

Hubby and I stood in the center of the trailer while the wind whistled like crazy around us, and hail beat against the side and windows.  We were sure a window must break, but, praise God, they all survived the storm intact.

The roof, however, lost a good many shingles and parts of shingles.  We found them all the way out at the edge of our woods.  Also a window in the sewing room had rain in the blind, so it needs to be sealed.  I called in an insurance claim and then contacted a local roofer.  He came and covered the questionable areas of the roof incase we have more rain before it can be fixed.   I'm hoping we can replace this shingle roof with a metal one.

The amazing thing to me is what the storm did to the garden fence.  It's just a nylon mesh type of fencing material, and yet it was able to catch enough wind to be blown over........metal fence stakes bent at almost a right angle !

New possibilities

I found a new way to baste my quilties.

I made a trip to the hardware store, before the rain started....yikes, more precip!.....and I purchased a 4 x 8 foot sheet of foam core board.

I had the man cut it in half for me so that I could get more use out of it.  I would love to be able to mount two full sheets on my sewing room wall, covered in flannel, to be used as a design wall.  But that's just not going to happen here.  My ceilings are an unbelievable 6 1/2  to  7 feet low high.  So, instead, I hope to mount one 4 x 4 ft section on the wall near the machine, and I found a wonderful use for the second piece.

It turns out that this 48-inch-square piece is a great size for basting baby quilts !
I pieced together several leftover pieces of batting and cleared off my cutting table.

 The coreboard has plastic on one side (over foam), and foil on the other side.  So, I just turned the foil side up, and taped the backing to it.  Obviously, I added the batting and top, and then I used my curved needle to threadbaste the quilt.  It is a bit aggravating that the needle continually wants to pierce the foil, but after a bit of trying, you get the 'feel' of it, and can readily baste the entire piece.  I lay it on top of my cutting table, and kept rotating it with each row I basted........it was a great back saver over using the floor, or even my basting frames.

The back is one that I made last night.

 I kept searching my stash for a suitable one-yard piece, and couldn't find anything  modern enough to match the dandelions and the solids.  But I happened upon these teal-blue remnant pieces that were sent to me by Jodie Ann, probably leftover from the backing of one of her own quilts.  I decided to do a little more piece-work to add some interest and make the odd sized pieces work.   I am very pleased with the results.  Thanks, as always, Jodie !

So, this one is ready to begin quilting, and I think that I'll do it by hand, if I can just get enough light coming over my left shoulder to be able to see.   it's been SO LONG since I did any real amount of hand-quilting, but there's just nothing else to compare to the look or feel of it, in my opinion.

After just a couple of generic Tylenol tablets yesterday, hubby is pretty much back to his old self.......praise God for our healing in Jesus' name !   I went and bought the hubs a little valentine....not concerned that he wasn't able to get out and get me one.  I told him I'll shop tomorrow's sales and do twice as well !  Ha !

Now this is how I like it !

I love it like this.......overnight you get a decent enough snow to pretty much cover everything, and the next morning the sun is shining down bright and beautiful for photos............PLUS, then the melting begins !  Praise God.......he wields a wonderful paintbrush !

This is why we CHOOSE and are BLESSED to live in the southern United States ........ so we can ENJOY just a bit of the beauty of snow, without the inconvenience.   Praying God's grace and help to those who ARE troubled with power outages and other inconveniences from this Winter's weather.


Hubby's running a low-grade fever today, so we'll try to keep things quiet and peaceful while he gets back to good-as-gold !

Maybe I can find something to sew !

Snowing again ?

Strangest Winter I can remember in all my 56 years !  I wanted ONE 4-inch snowfall this year, just for the beauty of it, with the sun popping out the next morning and melting it all away.  Instead, it has snowed atleast once a week it seems like, and all of them together wouldn't make 4 inches !

Here's where we are after a morning of snow falling.  It's not a pretty picture, but I just wanted to document it.

Well, praise GOD, we are not in drought !

I found a fabric on Etsy, to back my brown and red quilt-top, but then found out at the last moment that the print was much smaller than what I wanted.  It is SO difficult to shop for fabric online !  So, here I sit, wasting another day.  Atleast I got to play with Allyissia for a couple of hours.  Oh, and my brother, John, stopped by for a nice little 'catch-up' visit.........I miss him, after seeing so much of him right after my surgery, and only seeing him once a week at church now.  Love the family visits !

UPDATE:  After 8 hours of snow, we have a grand sum of about 1/2 inch on the back porch.  This snow is a total opposite to the last one of any substance.  I could sweep the other away like powder........this one is wet, WET, mushy.  And it is OH SO PRETTY coming down !

Fun with solids

Yesterday, enduring yet another of these cold, snowy Winter days, I spent time in the sewing room.......I just love being able to say that.........yes, the sewing room, playing with my set of solid strips from Connecting Threads.  I started out to make something big, but I stumbled across a piece of fabric that would coordinate with many of the colors, and it was only a half-yard cut.  So, I revised my plans, chose colors closest to the print, and made enough blocks for a baby-sized quilt.  That's a good use for these colors anyway, don't you think?

 The print fabric is from Valori Wells.  I bought enough of one large print to back a quilt, but only half-yard cuts of several others.  I wish I had more !

The little top wound up measuring approximately 36 inches, square.  I would like to IMMEDIATELY dig out something to back it with and go to work on the quilting.  I always mean to spend this hibernation time QUILTING, but I forget that in order to do that I need to BASTE up a bunch of quilts during warm weather, when I can do it outside in my yard !  It's just killing me not to be quilting on the brown quilt, but I don't have a suitable back yet, nor have I decided WHERE I will baste it.

No pictures today........

........in fact, I wish I HAD thought to take a couple of pictures.   I got to play with Allyissia all afternoon today, and it did my old gramma heart good.  She's my grand niece, but she provides me with my nana-fix.  She's four years old now, going to pre-K, and is just such a delight to play with.  She loves her baby dolls, and coloring in coloring books, playing card and memory games..........just all the things I miss with my far-away grandkids.

On the weather front, we missed this storm, except for loads and loads of rainfall yesterday.   My daughter out in Oklahoma received 8+ inches of snow !

More storms expected later this week !  I just hope I get to work tomorrow and get to my appointment on Wednesday morning......then, after stocking up on groceries and gas a little, I'm good to hibernate for another few days !   Got my sugar hubby, and my Lottie dah.......what more could a girl ask for.  God is GOOD !

P.S.  It's been awhile since I've given an update on my surgery recovery.   I'm eating ALL THE TIME, even though it takes me a lot longer than most people to eat anything.   I'm having the most trouble with soft items catching and depositing in the upper back of my throat.  Somehow, it's like there's a reservoir there that food deposits in and doesn't go down.  I try to wash it out with lots of fluids, but sometimes that backfires, and up it all comes.  Frustrating......I'm having to learn to be very wary and watchful and careful HOW I eat.  Sleepwise, it's about the same........the couch is still my GO TO.  Once in a  great while I try the bed again, but usually wind up having to move to the couch after a couple of restless hours of choking on my own saliva.   It's weird, but it's my new reality, so I'm just thankful that that's the worst of it, and I'm trying to adjust.   Atleast, I'm able to enjoy my sewing.  Once again I'm wondering if I'll have the energy I'll need for all the yardwork I have each Spring and Summer, but I'm just asking my father, GOD, to  give me strength for EACH DAY as it comes.  I know HE WILL !

Another frustration is my voice.  Now, I've long known that my tongue was my worst enemy.......no matter what good intentions I've had, it's always found a way to go beyond the parameters I set for it.  So, it's no wonder the LORD had to put a curb on it.  But what I miss most right now is long talks on the phone to my sister-in-law, Jean, and my good friends who like to call and chat.  I just can't be heard very well, and I run out of oxygen trying to talk with only one working vocal cord.  Bear with me friends.........and feel free to write me or call and let me just do a whole lot of listening !

A dolly quilt by Dolly !

Hooray !  I finally reclaimed the front bedroom for a sewing room again.   That leaves us with one fewer bed, but a much more productive use of the space.

And while I was going  through some things in there, I ran across the bag of flannel 4 inch squares that my sister brought to me last Fall.  Remember, I made the blue baby quilt from them last month.
Well, today I played around with the pink ones and came up with enough squares to make a little raggedy quilt.
It finished at 22 inches square.

 When I made raggedy quilts before, I used to wash and dry them as soon as I finished one; but this one is so nice and pristine, I think I'll just leave it be.