Sloooow Sunday Stitching

 

It’s definitely going to be a slow Sunday here at Chez Nana … we got home by around 9:00 last night, and we were both whooped.  Exhausted.  Worn out.  Tired … with a capital T.  We didn’t unpack the overnight bag … we didn’t even get everything out of the van last night!  So today will be a lazy day … unpacking , a birthday party for a certainly 6 y.o. and some slow Sunday stitching. 

 

The reason we’re so pooped here is that it was one long, busy weekend.  We hit the road Friday morning toward Homestead Hearth.  It was a delightful day for a road trip … cool but not cold and barely a cloud in the sky.  I was hoping to be able to see some fall color in the hills of Central Missouri, but alas, the only color we saw was at a *huge* tree farm along the interstate.  And since we were zooming by at 70mph, it’s not much of a picture. 

 

But I did see plenty of color once I crossed the threshold into Homestead Hearth!  How I wish I could take a picture to share with those of you who haven’t been … if you love reproduction fabrics, you’d absolutely love Homestead Hearth.  I strengthened my resolve and bought just what I set out to buy … a few fat quarters (on the right), some background fabric (the neutral in the center) …all for my upcoming tumbler quilt -- and some wide backing (the dark brown on the right) … for my Labor Day Stars. 

 

After we finished up at Homestead Hearth, we headed to Washington, MO (where the swim meet was held).  We grabbed lunch, checked into our hotel, and then headed over to the YMCA. 

 

It was a fairly small meet, but the Ts and their teammates came ready to swim hard and leave it all in the pool.  T#1 finished first in all of his events, and T#3 finished in the top 3 of all of his events (first in all but 2 events), and T#2 dropped significant amounts of time in all of her events.  The boys were the high-point winners, and T#2 came within 4 points of being the high-point winner (and then only because the ultimate winner swam in one more event than T#2).  And their team won the meet.No, this isn’t the entire team … these are the only diehards who stuck around long enough to see the high point winners and the winning teams receive their trophies. 

 

Yes, I’m the grandma who sits on the pool deck and shouts encouragement (yes, shouts … T#2 relayed that she could hear me cheering for her while she was swimming).  But between their events, I spent time with my needle and thread … and stitched. 

 

 

 

I’m anxious to get back to work on my Labor Day Stars, but today it’s going to be a Slow Sunday … and a Slow Sunday Stitching kind of day … my Labor Day Stars will wait until tomorrow. 

 

I hope that whatever you have planned for today includes a little something that brings you joy ... have a great day!
Kathy

Friday’s Frivolousness

Is “frivolousness” a word?  If not, I think it should be … not that it matters as I’m using it and that’s all there is to it.  ha!

I think autumn is going to take a break … right into winter, with a low of 34 forecast for tomorrow night.  34!    Hopefully fall will return next week … I am NOT ready for winter-like weather (ok, I’m never ready for cold weather, but certainly not in October!). 

After the seemingly endless Kiss quilt, I didn’t expect to be making such good time on my Labor Day Stars, but it’s coming together fairly quickly.  I’m halfway through piecing the blocks together.  After I get them all together, all I have to do is add a couple of borders, and I’ll be ready to start quilting.  Which means that I’m going to need some backing fabric.  Do you know how hard it is to find Civil War wide backings online? 
I’ve learned, yet again, what an important role photography plays in quiltmaking.  See that setting triangle up there in the upper right hand corner?  That should be a corner triangle, not a setting triangle.  <sigh>  There will be some unstitching in my future.  ha!  Forgive the rumpled appearance … I had only a few minutes before my Ts were to arrive, and I wanted to get a quick photo, so I didn’t have time to smooth out the top all nice and neat.  But it all lays nice and flat, trust me.    Believe it or not, in my 30+ years of quiltmaking, this is the first quilt I’ve made with the blocks set on point.  Not because I didn’t like the look, but because I found the whole calculating how big to make the setting triangles just too intimidating.  This is my first quilt made from a pattern, so I didn’t have to do any calculating.  I’m pleased with how well my setting triangles are fitting, in spite of my less-than-perfectly-accurate cutting and piecing.  And now that Deb over at VT Quilter has shared with me Bonnie Hunter’s setting triangle calculator, I am going to make more quilts set on point for sure! 

We’ve got a busy but absolutely wonderful day ahead of us.  In a little more than an hour, DH and I will head out.  Our first stop will be Homestead Hearth.  In addition to browsing and general stash enhancement, I am shopping for a neutral for my tumbler quilt and for the afore-mentioned wide backing fabric for my Labor Day Stars.  After we finish up at Homestead Hearth, we’ll be heading to where this weekend’s swim meet will be held.  We got the last hotel room in town – with “just” a queen-sized bed.  It ought to be interesting to see just how much sleep we get tonight, after being used to sleeping in a king-sized bed.  I love my hubby, but I like to have plenty of “wide open space” when I sleep.    Speaking of that busy day … I need to get moving to get ready … I don’t want to have to cut my visit to Homestead Hearth short because we’ve run out of time.  ha!

I hope that whatever you have planned for today includes a little something that brings you joy ... have a great day!
Kathy

We’re in Mourning Here ;-)

 

Ok, I’m kidding (I hope you got that, what with the winking emoticon and all), but I have to say that we’re terribly disappointed.  Not only did our Cardinals, after a tremendous regular season, get eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, but they were eliminated by their archrival Cubs.  Ack!  Good thing the Blues are playing … let’s go, Blues! 

 

I didn’t get in any sewing on Monday.  Since DD was out of town on her birthday (back in September), we all got together Monday to celebrate her birthday.  We spent the morning at Edison’s where we played the arcade games and laser tag … followed by lunch at Fire n Smoke.  Fun was had by all.  I spent the afternoon at DD’s finishing up the DIY Barbie house accessories … T#4 turns 6 tomorrow and all she wants for her birthday are Barbies and stuff for her Barbies.  I had just enough time to get to guild meeting that evening.  Needless to say, I was pretty exhausted by the time I got home at 10:00 (past my usual bedtime for sure! – ha!).

 

Yesterday, I made up for the lack of quilty productivity by getting into the sewing room good and early and finished up the remaining 9 Labor Day Stars blocks … all 18 are done. 

Here they are, laid out in no particular order.  Because I decided to put my own creative twist on this quilt failed to follow the pattern instructions properly, I have 4 fabrics in each block, instead of having just 2.  I finished up mid-afternoon, just in time for the baseball game.  My legs were (and still are) fairly achey from Monday, so I decided to pass on cutting out the pieces I need for the setting triangles and sashing/cornerstones and stitch on my Martha Washington’s Flower Garden instead.  Today’s assignment will be to cut setting triangles and sashing and start. 

 

I also need to go through my stash to determine what colors I’m short on so I’ll know what to shop for when I head to Homestead Hearth on Friday.  I had been short on greens, but I’d made a conscious effort to pick up more when shopping so I need to see if I now have enough … ditto just about any color aside from blues and reds – ha!  My 3-1/2 day retreat is coming up in 2-1/2 weeks, and it’s time to start thinking about what I want to work on.  I want to have everything cut and ready to go, so I need to be planning ahead.  I have already decided that I’ll take my Labor Day Stars along to finish it up.  I’m thinking that I’ll work on tumblers, too (the project for which I’ll be fabric shopping on Friday).  And I’ll take along my 14” foundation paper pieced pineapple quilt (it’s long since been designated as my retreat project). 

I’ll likely take my MWFG along, too, if I need a break from machine sewing. 

 

We’re starting to see some fall color here in SW Illinois … not too much yet here at Chez Nana.  Our dogwood is turning color … love the bright red berries.  And one of our maples is starting to give us a sneak peek.  I took a picture this morning, but it’s a little too early – both in the day (I suspect that when the sun is up all the way, the sunshine will make the red leaves even more vivid) and in the season (there are just a few leaves that have already turned). 

 

I hope that whatever you have planned for today includes a little something that brings you joy ... have a great day!
Kathy

Slow Sunday Stitching

 

 

 

Yesterday I debated my options for what to work on next … and I decided to go with the Labor Day Stars.  It turns out that I had a lot more of the components ready to go, so it seemed like a no brainer.  I finished stitching up the last of the components and trimmed them down.  I even got a bit of a start on putting those components together into blocks. 

 

My time in the sewing room came to a screeching halt at 4:30, when I settled in my recliner to watch Game Two of the NLDS … it didn’t take long before I’d wished I had just stayed in the sewing room.    My Blues didn’t fare much better later on that evening.  But it wasn’t all bad news … I did get some connector hexies attached to my MWFG blocks. 

 

I plan to spend much of today in a similar manner (albeit sans the sporting events).  I’d like to get some of the Labor Day Stars blocks completed, followed by a late afternoon/evening spent stitching on more connector hexies. 

 

 

DSIL and T#1 came over yesterday afternoon to get a couple of things we’ve been storing in our basement for them.  On our way back into the house, I spied this: 

That guy is a big one … those are good sized river rocks in the landscaping below, if that will give you an idea of the scale.  When it became obvious that the Cardinals weren’t going to pull off a miracle, DH and I decided to get out for a short walk around the neighborhood.  I was startled to see that praying mantis still hanging around our front door.  I just went out front to check to see if he’s still here … and yes, he is. 

 

 

 

I hope that whatever you have planned for today includes a little something that brings you joy ... have a great day!
Kathy

Finish It Up Friday–a Day Late

 

That’s right – a finish!

 

I started my Kiss quilt April, 2014 … 18 long months ago.  I’ve never, ever taken that long to make a quilt.  However, in my defense, it is a king-sized quilt and I did set it aside to make (and hand quilt) 4 queen-sized quilts, traveled a fair bit, and spent a lot of time with my Ts while their mama cared for her former step mom.  I also wasn’t too pleased with my original quilting design, so I did a little ripping and restitching early on.  So in reality, that 18 months isn’t really that bad … but it surely seemed like it these last couple of months.    Note to self: don’t set aside a quilt that much in the future … it makes it difficult to finally get it finished. 

 

I finished it up just minutes before time to head up to DD’s so she and DSIL could have a long overdue date night.  It was an exceptionally cloudy day, and I didn’t have time for a more dramatic setting.  I’m hoping that the sun will return some time this weekend so I can get a better photo.

Here’s a close up:

And the backing, where I think you can get a better idea of the quilting:

 

I’m glad it’s done … and now to decide what to work on next.  Hmmmmmm  I’ll definitely need to decide something in the next couple of days so I’ll be able to pick up any supplements I might need while at Homestead Hearth next Friday.   

 

I’ve got my Martha Washington’s Flower Garden to work on while I ponder and prepare.

I’ve added maybe 3-4 diamond blocks since I shared this about a week ago, and I still have plenty of those red connectors to baste and prepare.  But this is my travel project, and I don’t know that I’ll be able to stand not getting in some hand quilting in the amount of time it’ll take me to finish this.  I’ll get in plenty of time with my MWFG in the evenings, while watching my Cardinals and Blues play. 

 

I’ve also got my Labor Day Stars that I started at our guild’s Quilt Away in June.

 

I’ve also got the signature blocks that Katy at Katy Quilts gifted me.

I did get the sashing cut and a few pieces sewn to the blocks at the one-day retreat I attended back in May (sorry – no pictures –  in the excitement about leaving for Hilton Head the very next day, I obviously neglected to blog about that retreat ). 

 

And there’s the tumbler quilt that’s next up on my To Make list. 

 

Decisions, decisions. 

 

I hope that whatever you have planned for today includes a little something that brings you joy ... have a great day!
Kathy

The Weekend Wrap-Up

The weekend got a busy start, but that didn’t last too long.  Friday morning, DD called me inviting me to join her and the Ts on their shopping excursion.  Well, of course, I said yes.    One of our stops was Toys R Us in hopes of getting some gift ideas for T#4’s upcoming birthday (she’ll be 6 on the 15th).  Of course, as is typical for a soon-to-be-6-year-old, she insisted that she wanted everything she saw.  Ha!  We also stopped at Hobby Lobby … in the fabric area, we spied novelty fleece fabrics.  I let each one of the Ts choose their favorite and purchased enough to make each of them a lap blanket.  I also selected the Cardinals fleece to make a lap blanket for DH. 


Saturday morning, I watched the younger two Ts while Mama and the older two took their kitty Sammy to the vet.  They suspect that Sammy is about 14 years old, and he’s not been acting like himself for the last several days.  They were afraid that his time with them might be drawing to a close, but thankfully it’s “just” an abscessed tooth and he’s on a course of antibiotics.  I spent Saturday afternoon in my sewing room, turning the edges under to turn the fleece from Hobby Lobby into blankets. 

Sunday was a lazy day here at Chez Nana.  I spent the afternoon with my needle and thread, quilting my Kiss quilt while watching the Cardinals close out their regular season.  I’m now almost halfway done on the 4th edge … the end really is in sight.  Hopefully I will have the quilting finished and the quilt bound by the end of the week. 

I also got some hexies attached on my Martha Washington’s Flower Garden.  And speaking of my MWFG, I forgot to share that I’m a celebrity!  Paper Pieces featured my MWFG in their Facebook Show and Tell. 

I hope that whatever you have planned for today includes a little something that brings you joy ... have a great day!
Kathy

Back to my Routine

 

It took a few days to get all the laundry done, all of September’s paperwork and filing done and back into my routine.  Of course, I had a few distractions … they all start with the letter T.   

 

DD invited me up on Monday for a “play day”.  Tuesday, I watched them after Mama left for class and took them to swim practice.  And I had all four most all day Wednesday while DD had to take a test for her psych class (it’s an online class, but she has to go to campus to take the tests/exams) and to take the HESI (for admittance into her college’s nursing program). 

 

Thursday I had to get caught up on recordkeeping here at home … with everything that was going on with DD’s step-mom in August and our trip in September, I was a little behind … thus it took me all morning to get caught up.  I hate dealing with paperwork, so I usually find myself putting it off … I’m not sure why because it doesn’t eliminate any of the paperwork, it just makes a bigger and longer job out of it.  Ugh.

 

Lois and I have resumed our morning walks … but the cool front has moved through, meaning that I’m going to have to dig out my coat.  It was 47 when we started our walk yesterday.  Brrrrrr 

 

But I’ve been able to do a little stitching on my Martha Washington’s Flower Garden most evenings since we’ve been back.  Here’s a shot of my progress as of Thursday afternoon.If you remember, I shared a picture of my progress here when we were still in Hilton Head (my iPad tells me that the picture had been taken on the 18th).  At that time I had connectors sewn onto 18 diamond blocks, enough for 3 stars.  In the meantime, I’ve added 12 more diamond blocks and have connectors on another 2 blocks since I took the picture above … in 13 days (2 of which were spent in the car, basting the connector hexies). 

 

Finally … by Thursday afternoon, I was able to sit down and get back to work on my Kiss quilt.  I’m still a little ways from getting it all quilted, but it felt so good to get back to hand quilting.  I haven’t put in a stitch since Labor Day … almost a full month.  While I was glad to have my hexie project to keep my hands busy, I have missed hand quilting for sure.

 

The Ts have their first swim meet next weekend – I can’t wait!  I’ve missed seeing them compete.  It’ll be held in a small town in Missouri, about 2/3 of the way to Homestead Hearth.  I’m thinking that we might just need to head there before the meet … I need to see if I can find more fabrics suitable for fussy cutting for my Patchwork of the Crosses (I purchased some fabrics when in Paducah on our way to Hilton Head last month), not that I need much of an excuse to visit Homestead Hearth. 

 

I hope that whatever you have planned for today includes a little something that brings you joy ... have a great day!
Kathy