Quilting is in my Blood

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.

I finished my Easy Bargello quilt a few weeks ago, but I haven’t gotten outside for any outside shots, so I’ve decided to share this quilt finish with a few inside photos. Here is one I took after I finished binding it. The quilt measures 70″ x 81″ so it even fits my full-size bed nicely.

I’ve wanted to make a quilt using the Easy Bargello Quilt Pattern by Busy Hands Quilts for the past two or three years. I started piecing the quilt top in January 2023 and really enjoyed sewing with Wilmington Prints Magic Colors and Silvers Linings 40 Karat Gems (precuts similar to jelly rolls). The strip piecing went fairly quickly, and then I sent it off to Rebecca at https://www.rebeccagracequilting.com/. She did her usual amazing job!

Below is a pic taken by Rebecca at Rebecca Grace Quilting.

And here’s a closeup taken by Rebecca that shows the pretty quilting:

Linking up to Anja Quilts: TGIFF. I will also be linking up to Quilt Schmilt: To-Do Tuesday on Tuesday to check in with my regular quilting peeps.

I finished my Turquoise Stars Quilt a few weeks ago but haven’t felt like hefting the quilt outside to hang on the curtain rod attached to my shed due to the pain/weakness in my right hand. I recently saw a hand specialist and got a cortisone shot which is helping with both the pain and numbness associated with carpal tunnel syndrome, but I will probably opt for surgery sometime this summer. I’ve decided to not worry about getting outside shots for now. Below is a pic that Rebecca at Rebecca Grace Quilting took after she finished her glorious quilting using Karlee Porter’s Billowy designs.

For my the quilt top I used five stars from Lee Heinrich’s Chevron Star pattern. I found these blocks to be quite challenging when matching the points, so I was really glad to only make five stars and to allow the quilting to do much of the work in giving this quilt its Wow factor. I used five different Art Gallery Fabrics Pure Elements fabrics: Tile Blue, Maldives, Cozumel Blue, and Fresh Water for the stars and Night Sea for the background. The binding is also Tile Blue.

I snapped a quick pic after I finished binding this quilt, but the background looks grey not like the much more accurate blue in the photo above that Rebecca took. I do like how well the quilting pops in the photo below. We were going after a custom look but using a combination of edge-to-edge quilting patterns that were designed to work together.

I’ve really been limiting my sewing, but I have been having fun with playing with another craft–stenciling pavers. My friend, Mary, and I have been adding some decorative touches to our front courtyard in preparation for a party celebrating my retirement. My last day of work at my mental health agency is June 9th! I’ve invited around 25 people to stop by and share some sangria and finger foods with us after work that day. I wish you all could join us! Here’s one of the stenciled pavers using a favorite color palette:

Linking up to Quilt Schmilt: To-Do Tuesday.

I used my AccuQuilt 2.5″ strip die to cut sashing strips which is much easier for me right now than rotary cutting, so I was able to get the sashing cut and sewn for the Mid Century Modern quilt I’m making for my friend, James. Please see my MCM Update #1 post for close-ups of the first eight blocks and the details about this project and my MCM Update #2 post that shows close-ups of last eight blocks. Below is the finished quilt top:

I have a couple of small sewing tasks to get done in the next few weeks, but for now I’m still trying to minimize cutting/sewing and typing which has freed up some time to do some much needed household organization. I’ve been finding things that have been hiding for a long time!

On Tuesday, I will be linking up to Quilt Schmilt: To-Do Tuesday to share this update with my quilting peeps who participate in this linky party.

I have had a fairly good week pain-wise with my right hand/wrist, so I was able to get the rest of the blocks sewn for the Mid Century Modern quilt I’m making for my friend, James. Please see my MCM Update #1 post for the details about this project. Below are the last eight of the 12″ blocks that I’ve drafted in Electric Quilt Version 8 (EQ8) with a close-up of the line drawing on the left and the sewn block on the right.

Next up is joining the blocks with sashing to get the quilt top made which I hope to get done in the next week.

On Tuesday, I will be linking up to Quilt Schmilt: To-Do Tuesday to share this update with my quilting peeps who participate in this linky party.

Since my self-diagnosis of carpal tunnel syndrome in my right hand/wrist (to be confirmed by my PCP at a regularly scheduled appointment in May), I have cut down significantly on any typing and have decreased my sewing activities. Wearing a wrist brace at night has helped immensely with the hand numbness. With the minimal sewing that I’m allowing myself to do, I am prioritizing making a quilt for my friend, James, as a birthday gift. When I visited him in Albuquerque in early March, I was so impressed with his Mid Century Modern home, especially with the tile in his guest bathroom. I decided that I wanted to make a Mid Century Modern quilt for him in grey and mustard fabrics for his 50th birthday in August. I took several photos of his bathroom tile that included many line drawings that could be made into quilt blocks. Here is one of the photos I took:

Below are eight of the 12″ blocks that I’ve drafted in Electric Quilt Version 8 (EQ8) with a close-up of the line drawing on the left and the sewn block on the right. I’m feeling much more comfortable using EQ8 after designing more than 20 blocks in this computerized quilt design program. I’ve decided to stick with the simpler designs that can be made into blocks with rotary cut and/or basic paper piecing units (and NO dreaded Y-seams!). The blocks below are photographed on Alison Glass Kaleidoscope black fabric which will be used for the sashing and outer borders. The fabrics I’m using for the blocks are Free Spirit Designer Solid Spark Gold, Moutarde Grunge by Basic Grey (thanks Linda and Wendy for the recommendation), Kona Curry, Alison Glass Kaleidoscope Raven, Alison Glass Kaleidoscope Charcoal, and Cloud 9 Cirrus Solid in Shadow.

I used a 4×4 layout instead of 5×5 to simplify the quilt math.

This is my favorite one so far!

On Tuesday, I will be linking up to Quilt Schmilt: To-Do Tuesday to share this update with my quilting peeps who participate in this linky party.