Quilting is in my Blood

I have participated in the Stay at Home Round Robin organized by Quilting Gail for the last two years. See my Blue Dog quilt here made in 2022 and a similar one I made for my stepson, Drew, here. And last year I made a wall hanging with Alison Glass fabrics which can be viewed here.

For this year, I have decided to make a Christmas runner for my pressing table. In December, I made Christmas Placemats for my friend, Kristen that I liked so much that I decided that I wanted a runner with fabrics from the Maywood Studio Christmas Night Collection to use in my future Christmas decorating. The center of the placemats had a star that was 12.5″ square. For my Christmas runner, the star below is 10.5″ square.

I’m really looking forward to see what border prompt Wendy at Pieceful Thoughts has in store for us this coming Monday.

Linking up to Quilting Gail: SAHRR2024 Center Block Linky Party.

In my #2023QuiltingQ3Checkin post, I shared that I was going to have carpal tunnel release surgery on my right hand in October and was going to take a break from sewing/quilting and blogging for awhile and focus on other activities in my life. My surgery went well, so I have been able to do a little sewing including some Christmas placemats and a couple of other small Christmas projects.

For my friend Kristen:

For Mary and me:

For my friend Joanne (slanted tree pattern by Quiet Play):

And hung above a paper-pieced cardinal (pattern by During Quiet Time) I made a few years ago, is a JOY (pattern by Center Street Quilts) mini quilt in my quilting area:

I’ve missed blogging, but it has been nice to focus on other areas of my life including getting many areas in my home organized. I’ve continued to provide online mental health therapy to couples and individuals. I’ve increased my exercise and most recently have started doing some Better5 classes. And I did get one puzzle finished. I worked on this San Francisco Giants puzzle while watching the World Series. It was given to me by my Dodger fan friend, Manny, as a retirement gift, and I love all the different baseball-related shapes in this puzzle.

I’ve done a lot of relaxing reading in the past few months. Through Kindle Unlimited on Amazon, I discovered the author Jean Grainger who writes historical fiction based in Ireland. I started with the Mags Monroe series which has a very likable female police sergeant as the main character and then moved on to her Tour series which centers around an equally likable bus tour driver who shares interesting stories with his quirky passengers.

I did enter my Mid Century Modern quilt (see pic below) into the 2024 QuiltCon quilt show in Raleigh, NC, but it was not accepted. I have to say that the rejection letter was very nice and informed me that they only accepted 20% of the quilts entered. I’m still planning to go to QuiltCon in February and look forward to seeing lots of fantastic modern quilts and taking a watercolor-into-raw-edge-applique wall hanging class from Kitty Wilkin.

I plan to continue to prioritize exercise and reading in the new year but also want to do more traveling starting with my trip to Raleigh in February. I also want to get back to writing at least occasional blog posts.

2024 Quilting/Stitching Goals

The main goal is to get back to more regular sewing/quilting. I’ve signed up for Bobbie Gentili’s Geeky Bobbin Fussy Fuel 2024 Block of the Month where I hope to expand my fussy cutting skills. I also will be participating in Quilting Jetgirl’s Star Plus Quilt Along. And because the Stay at Home Round Robins organized the past few years by Quilting Gail have been so much fun, I’m planning to participate in the 2024 SAHRR. All three of these projects start in January.

Also in January is Angela Walter’s Dot to Dot Free Motion Quilting Challenge which is a free video series. My friend, Ed, has helped me get my Juki sewing machine going, and I really want to learn at least some basic FMQ.

Other 2024 quilting projects may include a Baseball Star quilt, a Luminary lonestar quilt, some mini quilts from the Quiet Play Make Mine Mini pattern club, a Fussy T-Shirt and Sea Glass quilt both in classes I’ve purchased from Allie of Exhausted Octopus, a retirement banner/photo memory quilt, and assorted Halloween and/or Christmas projects.

It’s likely that I will also work on some Sashiko projects. I have the panel and thread for a beautiful Japanese tea mat in different shades of purple that is quietly calling my name. Let’s see if that voice gets louder in the new year!

Linking up to Quilting Jetgirl’s #2024QuiltingPlanningParty.

To Do for the week of Oct 1st 2023:

1. Depending on how my hands feel, I may do a little Sashiko stitching on my Seven Cranes Sashiko project. Nope
2. Start working on my #2023QuiltingQ3Checkin post hosted by Yvonne@Quilting Jetgirl. Done
3. Continue to enjoy my retirement. Done

To-Do #1

My hands weren’t feeling that good plus I was really busy, so I didn’t even pull out my Seven Cranes Sashiko project. This past week Mary and I went back to Moab, Utah for a couple days because I really wanted to see Arches National Park. In the pic below, Mary (left) and I (on the right) are in front of Delicate Arch a ways off in the background. There are two more general arch and rock formation pics and then one of my Mosaic Story Camping quilt with red rock in the background.

Then we drove to Albuquerque because Mary’s niece, Lori, was flying in for a visit. We had a fun three days with her including going to Santa Fe (see pic below of Mary and Lori with the large rabbit sculpture while checking out the stores in downtown Santa Fe–we also went to the Georgia O’Keeffe museum and my favorite restaurant in Santa Fe, Cafe Pasqual’s), the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, and the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center (because Lori is a third grade teacher who teaches a unit every year on the pueblos). I really liked the display there about the sun dagger. And that hand painted pottery was so amazingly intricate. The hot air balloons were also beautiful and some of course reminded me of quilts.

To-Do #2

I finished my third quarter check in post. See link here.

To-Do #3

I am  definitely continuing to enjoy my retirement. The tree below in downtown Santa Fe had this perfect sitting spot, and of course I had on my favorite Life is Good t-shirt:

To-Do for the rest of 2023:

I’ll be taking a break for awhile from quilting and blogging to have my carpal tunnel release surgery done on my right hand on Oct 12th. For now, I have no quilting or stitching plans though I certainly will be reading quilting blogs and commenting when I can. See my post above under To-Do #2 to read what I’ll be doing with my time.

I will leave you with a You Tube video taken at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, Until We Meet Again.

Linking up to Quilt Schmilt: To-Do Tuesday.

I did well on the goals that I identified in my #2023QuiltingQ2Checkin post. The only goal for the last half of 2023 that I haven’t gotten done is working on a sea glass wall hanging, pattern/class by Allie of Exhausted Octopus. At this time, I think I will move that goal to early 2024.

Quarter 3 Finishes

My favorite finish this quarter by far was my Mid Century Modern quilt. Details are in this post.

My second favorite Q3 finish is my Mosaic Story Camping quilt. Read about this quilt here.

The Beach Quilt that I made for my friend, Annette, was also on my list for this quarter.

Donation Quilts

I made two donation quilts this quarter. The first was a boy’s baby quilt that I donated to Little Lambs Foundation of Utah. Read more about this quilt here.

I also made a donation cradle quilt. Read more about this project here.

Halloween Projects

In the past couple months I fell hard down the Halloween projects rabbit hole and made three wall hangings, a tiny ghost wrapped around a 6″ tile, a throw quilt for my bed, a table runner, and a pillow. Read about these projects here,  here, here, and here.

Goals for the last quarter of 2023

As of right now, I don’t have any quilting or stitching goals for last quarter of 2023. As many of you know, I’ve had significant pain/numbness in both my hands. Cortisone injections have been a decent short term remedy along with wearing wrist braces at night, but I’ve decided to have carpal tunnel release surgery starting with my right hand on October 12th. I will probably wait until early 2024 to have the left hand done. So in the last three months of 2024 I have other priorities:

• Continue providing part-time online therapy to individuals and couples.
• Continue a regular reading practice including reading book group books (our current book is The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride which I have just started) and to do some professional reading including The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work and The ADHD Effect on Marriage.
• Continue listening to two therapy-related podcasts: Where Should We Begin? with Esther Perel and Dear Therapists with Lori Gottlieb and Guy Winch.
• Continue riding my Peloton bike on a daily basis when possible.
• Go for more walks.
• Do some household and quilting organization.
• Put together some puzzles given to me by friends.
• Go back to yoga after I recover from my hand surgery.
• Make more home-made meals. I especially love making soups in the fall. It’s a good thing my best friend, Mary, doesn’t mind chopping/dicing all the veggies!
• The one quilting-related priority is to complete an entry for my Mid Century Modern quilt to the Modern Quilt Guild’s quilt show in Raleigh, NC, in February. A big shout out goes to Yvonne@Quilting Jetgirl for her recent, very helpful post on Quilt Show Entry Tips.
• And of course, continue to enjoy my retirement. Even though I’m doing a little part-time work, it’s work I enjoy with minimal paperwork, and it’s been really satisfying to grow my skills in working with couples. I control my schedule and the number of clients assigned. Right now I have eight clients and don’t plan to add any more for the next several months. My current retirement guilty pleasure is watching the Major League Baseball playoffs. My San Francisco Giants did not make the playoffs. I’m rooting for any team but the Dodgers!!! And also not the Braves, that tomahawk chop needs to go! I’d really like to see the Minnesota Twins do well. I imagine my friend, Wendy, would like to see them beat the Houston Astros.

Linking up to #2023QuiltingQ3Checkin.

To Do for the week of Sept 24th 2023:

1. Finish my Halloween Rotation quilt. Done
2. Make a cradle quilt. Done
3. Continue to enjoy my retirement. Done

To-Do #1

This past week I was able to finish my Halloween Rotation quilt which measures 62″ square.  I did a sew-along with Wendy of Pieceful Thoughts who had an extra copy of the Rotation Quilt Pattern by Jennifer@Dizzy Quilter. I paper-pieced the flying geese using Lee Heinrich’s Perfect Flying Geese. I ended up accelerating my sew-along schedule as I made a decision to schedule carpal tunnel release surgery for my right hand and needed to get my current quilting projects finished. I pieced the back with fabrics from Melissa Mortenson’s Spooky Schoolhouse collection. This was such a fun Halloween project to make, especially because it included fabrics from my mom’s fabric stash purchased in the 1990s (the black and white skulls in second block of the first row, the dark blue-back spider web fabric in the first block of the second row, and the black and white spider web fabric in the third block of the fourth row). The three blocks that look like they have a white background are actually made with Michael Miller’s Fairy Frost glow-in-the dark fabric. Below are photos of the front with one close-up that shows that bat quilting done by Cara of Sew Colorado Quilting and back of the quilt.

I just had to add a photo of our cat, Sunny, looking awfully cute on this Halloween quilt. Of course, her coloring goes perfectly!

To-Do #2

I did get a chance to make one cradle quilt for the cradle quilt drive organized by Carole@ From My Carolina Home. Please see her Cradle Quilt Drive post for more info on this project. I used two Grunge mini charm packs gifted to me a few years ago by Roseanne at Home Sewn By Us. Rather than using the dark browns and blacks in charm packs, I chose to add nine 2.5″ squares of Grunge Metropolis fabric. The back is a unicorn fabric I’ve had in my stash for a few years. The first two pics below are taken with my llama beanie babies in a little outside wagon in our front garden area. The last two are full shots of the front and back of the cradle quilt.

To-Do #3

I am continuing to enjoy my retirement but am also doing a little part-time online therapy. I’m putting that extra money into my travel budget. I’m especially enjoying doing some work with couples.

To-Do for week of Oct 1st 2023:

1. Depending on how my hands feel, I may do a little Sashiko stitching on my Seven Cranes Sashiko project.
2. Start working on my #2023QuiltingQ3Checkin post hosted by Yvonne@Quilting Jetgirl.
3. Continue to enjoy my retirement.

Linking up to Quilt Schmilt: To-Do Tuesday.

To Do for the week of Sept 17th 2023:

1. Finish my Halloween Rotation table runner. Done
2. Finish my Halloween Rotation pillow. Done
3. Continue to enjoy my retirement. Done

To-Do #1

It feels so good to use up extra blocks in something that is both useful and decorative. Below is the front and back of my Halloween Rotation table runner that measures 45″ x 14″.

To-Do #2

I finished my Halloween Rotation pillow that measures 16″ square and first photographed it with my Ghost Party mini quilt and a mini paper-pieced ghost, pattern by The Weekend Quilter. It is called Hey Boo and is designed to be quilted bunting, but I modified the ghost pattern slightly to make it square and then wrapped it around a ceramic tile to display it. The white fabric in both these ghosts is glow-in-the-dark, and it looks so cool when I turn off the light. They truly glow! And thankfully that glow diminishes in just a few minutes, so it doesn’t interfere with my sleep. I tried to take a photo of the glow, but it just looked black. Maybe I’d have more success with a camera with fancy settings that my iPhone doesn’t have. I kinda like the bluish light cast by the lamp next to the pillow, though the light is actually purple. The second photo below shows more of a close up of the Halloween Rotation pillow.

At this point, I’m not planning to start another Halloween project though I did sign up for the Spooky Season Sampler that starts on Oct 1st. I also love this casserole cozy by @simplyeilene. Maybe next Halloween.

To-Do #3

Since Monday I have been house/pet sitting for a couple who live about 40 minutes from my town. They have a few acres and a river running next to their property. It’s just a beautiful location. Here are a few shots of the property, their dogs, and their goats. I’ve been feeling quite like the country gal taking care of the goats! They get alfalfa hay twice a day but they absolutely love dried sunflower plant leaves for a snack! I really like the quilt on the bed where I’ve been sleeping. It’s so striking in its color combinations and simplicity. I may have to make a quilt like this one some day. Of course their dog Toby had to jump up right after I made the bed this morning! The little white dog’s name is Shug, and she is just a cuddle bunny. They have a Walipini greenhouse which is a “pit greenhouse” and another luscious garden pen.

To-Do for week of Sept 24th 2023:

1. Make a binding for my Halloween Rotation quilt and get the binding done if I get the quilt back in the coming week from Cara at Sew Colorado Quilting.
2. Make a cradle quilt. I learned about this donation project from Roseanne at Home Sewn By Us.
3. Continue to enjoy my retirement.

Linking up to Quilt Schmilt: To-Do Tuesday.

To Do for the week of Sept 11th 2023:

1. Make Halloween Rotation blocks. Done
2. Possibly work on one more Halloween project. Done
3. Continue to enjoy my retirement. Done

To-Do #1

I made good progress on my Halloween Rotation quilt this past week, but I decided to make a change to the layout. I got 20 blocks sewn and had some of the blocks on my design board, and as I was sitting at my sewing machine, I looked at the design board from a side angle, and I realized that many of the blocks were too busy NOT to separate with sashing. If I kept my original 5×5 layout with 25 blocks and then added sashing, the quilt would be far too big and quite a bit more costly to have long arm quilted. So I decided to just use 16 blocks and do something else with the remaining four blocks. I finished up my Halloween Rotation quilt top with sashing and outer borders and sent it off to Cara at Sew Colorado Quilting on Thursday along with a pieced back. Here’s a photo with four more Rotation blocks. I’ll share pics of the front and back of the quilt after it is finished.

To-Do #2

I started worked on a table runner and a pillow with my remaining four Halloween Rotation blocks. I  will share photos of them next week after they are finished. But I did get one Halloween project done. On Thursday my Tic Tac Cat project was returned to me. It was quilted by Rebecca at Rebecca Grace Quilting. So I was able to get it trimmed and bound on Friday. I love the Charlotte’s Web quilting pattern that Rebecca used which is more visible in the close up of the witch’s hat below.

To-Do #3

Recently I treated myself to a beautiful Halloween runner that was embroidered by Sue and quilted/finished by Roseanne of  Home Sewn By Us. Isn’t it just amazing? The five glass Jack O’Lanterns on the shelf above the runner have battery powered tea lights that I can turn off and on with a remote control. For some reason I really like turning those tea lights off and on!

To-Do for week of Sept 17th 2023:

1. Finish my Halloween Rotation table runner.
2. Finish my Halloween Rotation pillow.
3. Continue to enjoy my retirement.

To Do for the week of Sept 4th 2023:

1. Make a simple shelf runner. Done
2. Continue working on some Halloween projects. Done
3. Continue to enjoy my retirement. Done

To-Do #1

A few months ago, I ordered a really pretty panel that I thought I might use in a table runner. It’s called Zen Panel by Sue Zipkin. I ended up using it to make a shelf runner and didn’t need to add any extra fabric other than purple binding. The first photo below is the front of the runner and the second photo shows the back of the runner:

To-Do #2

I finished another Halloween mini quilt that measures 14.5″ square. The pattern is called Scaredy Cat by Trellis & Thyme.

I’ve also been working on a large Halloween quilt for the past couple weeks. Wendy with Pieceful Thoughts had an extra copy of the Rotation Quilt Pattern by Jennifer@Dizzy Quilter, and she asked me if I would like the pattern and also if I’d like to do a low stress sew-along with her. I thought immediately of all the Halloween fabrics in my stash and thought the Rotation pattern would nicely showcase these fabrics, and so I enthusiastically agreed to join Wendy in a Rotation sew-along. I will be making a total of 25 blocks. I’m paper-piecing my flying geese using Lee Heinrich’s Perfect Flying Geese. Below are four of the blocks I’ve sewn so far:

To-Do #3

I recently treated myself to a Panasonic cordless iron. It makes pressing my fabrics almost fun! I bought mine on Amazon.

To-Do for week of Sept 11th 2023:

1. Make more Halloween Rotation blocks.
2. Possibly work on one more Halloween project.
3. Continue to enjoy my retirement.

Linking up to Quilt Schmilt: To-Do Tuesday.

To Do for the week of Aug 28th 2023:

1. Bind my beach quilt. Done
2. Continue working on some Halloween projects. Done
3. Continue to enjoy my retirement. Done

To-Do #1

I finished my beach quilt that measures 54″ square on Sept 1st. It is a gift for my friend, Annette, who lives in Florida and who turns 60 next month. The modern waves quilting was done by Cara at Sew Colorado Quilting.

When I was hand-stitching the binding, I noticed a small rip on the back of the quilt near the binding seam. I’m not sure what happened. Perhaps I grazed the fabric with my rotary cutter. Below is a photo of the rip and the appliqued flower that I fused over the rip and then hand-stitched down:

To-Do #2

I finished a Halloween mini quilt that measures 24″ square. It is made from one of the Ghost Party blocks. @woollypetals is currently hosting a Ghost Party sew-along on Instagram. The black and white skulls fabric was from my mom’s fabric stash in the 90s.

To-Do #3

I finished the book, The Covenant of Water, this past week. My book group is reading it, and I’m the one who chose this book upon the recommendation of my brother. He didn’t let me down. It was a wonderful book, though I had a take a time-out while reading the book when one of the main characters made a very stupid choice! But I went back to it and was definitely happy that I did. We’ll be meeting on Sept 17th to talk about the book. Maybe I’ll remember to take a picture at this book group meeting 🙂

To-Do for week of August 28th 2023:

1. Make a simple shelf runner.
2. Continue working on Halloween projects.
3. Continue to enjoy my retirement.

Linking up to Quilt Schmilt: To-Do Tuesday

To Do for the week of Aug 21st 2023:

1. Take photos of my finished camping quilt and write a post about it. Done
2. Start working on some Halloween projects. Done
3. Continue to enjoy my retirement. Done

To-Do #1

Earlier this week I was able to get some outside pics of my Mosaic Story Camping quilt. Read the post here.

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To-Do #2

A couple weeks ago I decided that I wanted to make a Halloween quilt for my bed (details to be revealed soon) and that I also needed some Halloween wallhangings/mini quilts. To that end, I sewed a Tic Tac Cat wall hanging quilt top, and even though it’s only 34″ square, I decided it needed some special longarm quilting done by Rebecca at Rebecca Grace Quilting.

I’ve been accumulating Halloween fabric for several years, and I even have some Halloween fabric from my mom’s stash in the 90s. I may or may not have ordered a couple other cute Halloween fabrics that could show up in Halloween projects in the next few weeks.

To-Do #3

My favorite retirement activity this past week was having lunch with my friend, Peter, in Santa Fe. Too bad I didn’t think to take a picture!

To-Do for week of August 28th 2023:

1. Bind my Beach quilt.
2. Continue working on Halloween projects.
3. Continue to enjoy my retirement.

Linking up to Quilt Schmilt: To-Do Tuesday.