The second quarter of 2023 definitely did not go as I had planned, but I did accomplish a few things on my 1st Qtr 2023 Quilting List. More on that below. But first I want to give a brief update on what else has been going on with me. I haven’t been blogging much in the past few months and significantly reduced my sewing/stitching time due to developing carpal tunnel syndrome in my right hand which was officially diagnosed in May and treated with a cortisone shot. My hand is doing MUCH better, but the shot is only a short-term remedy, and the hand specialist I saw recommended surgery when I’m ready for it. The other major thing that has been going on is that I RETIRED on June 9th!!!

Then my best friend, Mary, and I went on a two-week driving retirement celebration trip all the way up to Seattle, WA (through Colorado, Utah, Idaho, and Oregon) where we visited her son, Drew, and her sister, Debra.We had a little time in our schedule there to visit a really wonderful quilting store in Snohomish, WA, called Quilting Mayhem, where I bought a few more fabrics to use in my camping quilt. Then we headed south and had a short visit with my 93-year-old Aunt Lois in Eugene, Oregon, who is still quilting, driving, and living independently. Here is Aunt Lois standing next to a quilt made by her and her guild members in Eugene using patterns by Kumiko Sudo. The block she made is right next to her. She shared that some of her guild members were understandably terrified to make these blocks, but they all turned out so well. I am SO impressed! And doesn’t my aunt look AMAZING!?!

She showed me one of Kumiko Sudo’s books, so I took a pic of it with the amazing quilt (and I just found it on Amazon Used Books and ordered a copy for myself):

We visited many more family and friends on our trip, but I’m only to share about two more quilting related visits in this post. A couple days after our visit with Aunt Lois, I had a visit with her daughter, Sally, and her granddaughter, McKenzie, who are also quilters who live outside of Sacramento, CA, and in the past year, they bought a longarm machine together. Some of you may remember that we all made Blakely quilts in 2021 because we are all Blakely family descendants (Blakely was my mom’s and Aunt Lois’ maiden name). Click here to read the post I wrote about my Blakely quilt which also shows a pic of Aunt Lois, Sally, McKenzie, and McKenzie’s 11-year-old son showing the Blakely quilts they made. How cool–four generations of quilters participating in this family sew-along! I took my Blakely quilt on our trip, so Sally, McKenzie, and I took a photo together of us with our quilts (McKenzie on the left, me in the middle, and Sally on the right).

Sally and McKenzie took us to a quilt store near where they live called Swifty Stitches. I found one more fabric there for my camping quilt but also had to pick up a couple cute Halloween fabrics.

The last visit I want to share from our trip was when I gave my niece, Kim, her Ripples Camping quilt, which was an early birthday present for her 50th in October. This quilt measures 64″ square and finishing it was one of my 2023 Qtr 1 goals. Kim lives in the Bay Area in California.

I was given so many wonderful gifts for my retirement, but my favorite has to be the crocheted sewing doll given to me by Raquel (one of the therapists at my old job who is now my friend). The doll was handmade by Raquel’s mom. I especially love the two-toned curly grey hair that looks like my hair and also my mother’s curly grey hair. I have named the doll, Cleo, in honor of my mother.

Quarter 2 Finishes

I got my Mid Century Modern quilt top done in April, sent off to Rebecca Grace Quilting, and received it back from Rebecca on Friday (I specifically requested for her NOT to work on the quilt until I returned from my vacation to ensure that it would not arrive when I was out of state). Read about this project here. I plan to get this quilt trimmed and bound in the next couple weeks and will be writing a post when it is finished, but if you’d like to see a glimpse of the absolutely perfect quilting, take a look at Rebecca’s post here.

I also finished my Turquoise Stars quilt. Read about it here.

Below is a photo of my Easy Bargello quilt (read the post about this finish here ).

Goals for the last half of 2023

As my cousin McKenzie reminded me, the number one item on my to-do list should be to enjoy my retirement, which will definitely include sewing/quilting but also reading, gardening, walking, riding my Peloton, stretching/Yoga/Pilates, spending time with friends and family, enjoying nature, watching/listening to baseball, and cooking meals from scratch. Below are my quilting priorities:

• Finish my Camping Quilt.
• Finish my Donation Boy Quilt.
• Make a sea glass wall hanging, pattern/class by Allie of Exhausted Octopus.
• Make an economy block quilt for my friend, Annette’s 60th birthday in October.
• Work on some small projects possibly including Sashiko, mini quilts, table runners, and ornaments.

Linking up to Quilting Jetgirl: #2023QuiltingQ2Checkin.