Back in the Groove

Those of you who are following me know that I am in the middle of a quilt along. I am also in the process of making a legit kits. I have been struggling with both! I feel the quilt along blocks are nagging me like a bad husband. I don’t even want to touch those blocks right now. (insert frowny face here). I guess the thought of them going on for atleast another 20 weeks is a downer for me. I am so focused on when the finish might be that I have lost my steam for now on these blocks. For those of you who are doing the quilt along, this gives you time to catch up, take a break, move onto something else for a bit. I am hoping that my posts will resume next week. But for now lets talk the legit kits.

I got the three top rows completed, and the very bottom row done, and am a good ways thru the second to the last row. This quilt was way worse than a nagging husband. This quilt was torture for this content creator. I actually love the process and the precision of this paper pieced kit. And I will add that these kits are beautifully engineered to ease the difficulty. I am not speaking bad about the company or the kit. But, for this scrap quilter, I just could not go on. My first mistake is choosing this kit. I really loved the 3D idea of the quilt. As some of you might know, I love color and the happiness associated with color. The grey background is my least favorite color. So if you are thinking about purchasing one of these kits, make sure you are in absolutely in love with all the colors of the quilt. Constantly processing grey make in every block just could not trip my quilting trigger so it became a stall. The excitement became drab. And drab does not speak to me as a color except down and depressed. So to eliminate the stress this quilt was giving me, it is now shelved. This may become for sale in the future. But for now, I just needed a break from it! This project and I are now separated as of last weekend. And my quilting woes immediately rectified and all came back to me in all their glory.

A good while back in 2019 I attended a TOGA or Treadle On Gathering Academy where all us vintage sewing machine enthusiast gathered in rural Texas for our yearly retreat. Some of the ladies participated in a block swap which was an easy 9 patch. I had laid this out in 2020 to try and figure out what I was going to do with these signed blocks from the swap. Last week my minds lightbulb turned on very brightly and I started to get to work to showcase these lovely signed 9 patches. I decided to make the into the super stars that they already were. And in one week got this project into full top status. My backing is sewn, my binding is ready for this quilt to get loaded.

For those of you interested in my scrap processes, make sure to check out my video on what I am calling Scrappy-Do.

Even though the color saturation is a bit off for some of the blocks, I used oodles of scraps and made them work for me. This measures 72 by 72 and just in one week!

And while my momentum was up, there was also a procrastination of sorts. My kitchen chairs are 80 years old and were in a major need of recovering. So I got three of the 4 chairs done. My body will have to heal after working on the floor for hours pulling all my unused muscles from not being used to that. Man alive, I ache. But that will be gone in a couple of days. Here are the before and after photos. Lets see how long this lasts. If this lasts half as long, I will be dead by then and that will be ok with me.

So, right where the plywood base has those circles, is where the chairs started to tear. This was surprisingly thin vinyl. Those holes were air holes so when you sat down on the vinyl, the air would escape and the chair cushion or what was left of it would compress. The chairs were orginally made by the Brody company in Chicago IL, or so said the underside of the original cardboard bottoms I removed. The legs and back are welded and only have 4 screws into the wood. For that being such a simple design, it sure has been sturdy and lasted. Now Chenille upholstery fabric is on the chair seat. The chair backs are not torn and match the formica table so I left the chair upper alone.

So what does my coming days have in store? I have decided to make another Kaffe quilt. This one will be flowers. I have done my fabric pull and am already liking the fabrics together.

While I am doing laundry today I will probably start this. This will be an easy build and pretty quick too. Be looking for progress on this soon!

And thanks for reading my blog!

Fruit Basket ~ Block 40 ~ QAL

It has been a hot minute since my last post for the free pattern quilt along. Todays block is the fruit basket block. *disclaimer I done my block in the wrong colorway! Sometimes I just don’t have my thinking cap on.

Proceed in which ever colorway you like. I failed to do mine in the assigned color in the legend. But, I am not redoing it because this was pretty labor intensive.

fruit basketDownload

Step one download the templates. I would utilize all the templates. And yes, I have verified these are accurate. Step 2 cut out all your pieces. For reference I have written the sizes or approximate sizes on the pieces. Again, use the templates solely for this block.

Make your HSTs for the handle of the basket. These are a funny measurement.

Step 3 After making your HSTs it is necessary to use template G and trim them down to that weird size.

Step 4 Layout your pieces. The remaining steps I did, I probably would have changed up just a tad and sewn the center HST together before joining the handle. Follow the pictures step by step and sew your pieces.

And now just sew those remaining corners. This was pretty labor intensive but not hard.

Viola!

And for those of you who are here for the first time, you can go fetch all the blocks. Click this link to get to the rest of the quilt along free patterns/links.

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog!

Inflammation and Swelling

This blog post is not what you think. I am perfectly fine.

We all admire our stashes. And we acquire fabrics from all different kinds of sources. We may find a bargain at the quilt shop (or pay full price for some fabric goodness), or a thrifty bargain at the local goodwill. We may have friends and family that pass fabric on to us. We may have inherited someone else’s stash. Maybe even an estate sale fabric swatch has found its way into the stash.

Regardless where we get the fabrics from, our stash swells. The swelling and inflammation can be just too much and something has to give!! (Yes, I was a giver, and gave). I have hung onto pieces of fabric for more than 20 years, and the person before me may have held onto it for another 20 years. And sadly the project just never came. Nothing suitable every showed up in the imagination. And it gets left behind. Left behind so long that the only logical thing to do is find it a new home.

It took me all of 5 minutes to purge my stash and get rid of remnants of fabrics that I have used, or have never used. The scraps we all know multiply, and rather than keeping something that is in overabundance, the time came to deplete the swelling and inflammation. This was a nice dose of medicine to treat what ails just right. And so I gave in and donated all the fabric below to the local quilters guild. I see a piece that I got a the thrift store for $3, and I had used some of it. I see all the fabric here that was given to me that I have now had for almost 10 years. Time to move it out. I see fat quarters that I foolishly purchased as mystery bundles that are so ugly, I will never use them (just not my style, please do not be offended by the word ugly, it is just an opinion). I see fabric I foolishly purchased at an estate sale to help the lady out who was selling. I helped her, but then that fabric betrayed me and did not help me. Lesson learned.

I see trimmings of extra wide backings. I see backings that ended up on the back of an actual quilt. I see lots of purples and pinks, even mauves. I wonder how old that mauve solid is? Can anyone say born in the 1980s? I see a backing I bought accidentally at an auction (which I did use surprisingly, but its remnant would never get used.). It felt very good to give away what was inhibiting me and my bins. I highly recommend if you have had it for more than 10 years and do not have a destination for it, to purge. Allow room for something you really like that can takes its place and maybe create an brilliant use!

Being on a fabric diet last year taught me much in the dept of what will get used and what will not. Hanging onto it because it was free, is not really free. It is taking up valuable realestate in your stash. You constantly are touching it, but never really wanting to use it. Perhaps in another 5 years, mauve will be back in. Will I have regrets….uh—-NO! 

I am breathing a happy contented sigh of relief. Hopefully the new owners know exactly where the fabric will get used. I know when I go to the guild meeting, if there is fabric being given away, I do not hoard like some of the ladies do, I take what I know will get used up right away. The rest I leave behind for a different home. No regrets!

I guess the least creative thing the fabric stash does is act as insulation for the closet walls. Simply, what you do not like, someone else will treasure. Pass it on!

Thanks for stopping by and reading my blog!

The Brick Road of 2019

We are not psychic.  We never know what is coming around the corner.  We all have good intentions.  Our stash represents our quilting dreams and intentions.  Loaded up on caffeine and sugar in our society makes it hard to focus on just one thing (children have certainly taught us a thing or to about sugar eh?).  So we start a new project with new excitement and new attitude with the best of intentions.  We resolve to be better at whatever it is we want to resolve once and for all.

As a blogger, who wants traffic to frequent this site, I blow and go, switching gears faster than my hands can work.  My processor speed is still full throttle, but the body does not keep that pace.  Pinterest does not help, rather is a time succubus that I use for more than reference.  Like attending a quilt show every day with something I have never seen before.  Pinterest interferes with quilting time.  Resolving to use it as a reference, not something to scroll through daily.

In blogland, it makes me smile to read about other bloggers UFOs and their completion.  I smile at the obtainable goals set.  With the new year freshly underway, blogland is full of people wanting to purge their UFO piles, to organize, to simplify.

I usually don’t have a quilt plan, improv seems to be the way I lean.  But this year I am resolving to tame the stash.  In order for this to happen, the scraps will have to be tamed first.  This will free up one tote.  That tote will be where I start sewing from first.  I will then venture out after I bankrupt what I can from there.  My stash is generous, but many have far more than I.  I do not want to go to “paralyzed by the stash” land.

So I am resolving the situation this new year by going through my scrap tote and purging what I deem to be trash.  There was a point I was keeping crumbs.  NOT ANYMORE.  Not once in the last 10 years have I cared to touch this crumby part of my stash.  Gone, sianara, adios, axrrivaderchi.  Kudos to all that utilize to the nth degree.  This no longer fits my plan for fabric and its storage.

Gone are the scraps of 50/50.  These were pieces I came across while going through my freebie fabrics given to me.  Not keeping, giving to waste management to deploy at the dump.

What remains is an un-homoginized mess of strings?  When I look at the bucket because they are just thrown in, they are wrinkled and not for use within the moment.  Kinda defeats the purpose of the strings if you cannot use them as needed.  So, I am ironing the wrinkles.  Then on the larger strings of 2.5 or greater strips, they are being trimmed to make bricks.  A new Leader Ender project has come about during this re-org.  I have made great progress.  I still have not even made a dent.

I need to formulate a plan on making sure my scraps do not end up an unraveled mess of wrinkled bits.  It will probably involve a clothes drying rack to stay erected in my sewing space all the time.  Currently I only use this while getting my fabrics starched/pressed for mystery quilting.  This is my new plan, and will continue to deploy the plan as I improv along.

Baggies seem to encapsulate the work I have done fine, so you can now define me as a bag lady LOL.

On the brick road to fabric storage/use success!

Stacked nice and neatly until I have enough for a gallon storage bag.

Baggies to the rescue!

Brick leader ender now a nice straight pile ready for sewing.  With some bonus 2 1/2 inch squares trimmed ready for purpose.

Bag lady title, here i come!  The amount of space this takes up is a whole lot less, done in the bag lady fashion.

Scraps equal free quilts.  No cost to me and my pocketbook.  In winter it allows the thermostat to be lower, sew even more savings. Scrap quilts are quite the humble experience.  Humble is good, scraps equal simplicity.  It is all good!

This new system will allow me to work smarter not harder.  A lower labor plan sounds wonderful as well, so I am on board one wrinkle in time.

After I obtain tote perfection, I will have to move onto the larger scrap drawer I have which are fat quarters and larger pieces that have no rhyme or reason for how they exist in that drawer.  It will be next in my plan, for now…the tote will keep me busy for quite a while.

May your resolution plan for 2019 be forever and unbroken!

Happy New Year and thanks you for reading my blog!

 

Cluster of Events With Good Fortune

Friday has come and gone.  My son now is officially titled with an associate degree from college.  We had quite a travel to get there, but my parents did not want to drive and my cars as you recall are gimping along.  So, I agreed to drive in downtown Dallas traffic in their automobile.

A few years back my youngest who was just 14 months old when she got sick, was very sick and so for several months, the longest stay was three and a half weeks, we would travel to Children’s Hospital in Dallas sometimes daily.  Either one of us would stay down there during her healing process.  I learned then (scared to death) to  maneuver Dallas traffic in the downtown area.

There were days we would only be 10 minutes away and Woodall Rodgers would be bumper to bumper and those couple of miles traveling under Clyde Warren Park tunnel, would take an hour and a half.  Nerve wracking, but now behind me.  My child forced me to learn something when she was sick.  Among being a nurse for her condition and learning medical procedures I learned the way to get through downtown.  Without those days of illness and mastering the art of driving in that area, I would have missed my son’s graduation or probably figured out the long way to take to avoid driving in that traffic.

Friday was a rainy day, but the rain did hold off for the downtown excursion.  As we finally got onto 35E South (yeah a road with an East in it’s name actually travels south), the rain started.

My father made the comment that he could never drive down here, I assume his butthole was puckered and his knuckles white, to whatever he was choosing the grasp.  The further we got the more relaxed the driving, even though I was still in unfamiliar territory it was just the interstate, pretty much a straight shot to Waco.

My dad also reveled in the gas mileage his car was getting.  In retrospect, the wind was behind our sail and so that is probably the reason for 31 MPG on the way down.  The way back was less by about 4 MPG.

Just as we made our last turn into the apartment complex my Son lived in for the last year and a half, we were rear ended.  My parents car was a Kia Soul, the truck that ran into us was an F250 with some kind of hook knobbies sticking out of the bumper.  She hit us on the driver’s side rear corner.

She admitted fault as her son had dropped his bottle and she reached back to pick it up and in that instant did not see us in time to maneuver a better plan.  Because I had my foot on the brake and was turning, it caused the Kia to be pushed violently in a jerky movement in the driveway of the apartment complex.  I could tell we had been rear ended because of the noise and the jolt of my hair.  The noise was the back glass breaking out of the Kia.  (Yeah away from home, raining, and now no back glass).  My hair is very thick and long.  I assume I could go on a hair diet and loose about 5 lbs if I cut it.  Instead I just twist it up into a bun and put some major hair clips within which does the trick and usually by the end of the day, the hair clips are still in the right spot, maintaining my hair.  But during the wreck the G-force knocked them almost all the way out of my hair.  My neck did hurt in that instant, but it went away.  I can only assume the adrenaline happening was some kind of pain blocker.

My parents both in their 70s seemed physically to only have bruises from their watches jarring either the back of their hand, or their wrist.  My mom’s pinky fingernail was bleeding, not sure how that happened.

So for Friday so far we are in a major wreck, and are awaiting a graduation ceremony to attend.  My sons fraternal grandfather wanted to move him back home on the same day, so for this day it will be an accident, a move, a graduation, rain, quite the cluster of a disorganized mess.

I felt sorry for my son as my ex in-laws were very hard on him.  I no longer wanted to drive in the town of Waco, and he offered to carry me to walmart to get some plastic for the back window and some duct tape.  I also purchased paper towels to wipe the wet car off and a nice pair of scissors.  My parents and I had not eaten, and he also carried me to the local drive in called Sonic to get each of us a hamburger to tide us over.

The accident occurred at 2:00.  Not sure when the officer left but it seemed like forever.  And then dealing with christmas traffic on the streets as well as the store, we did not get back until 3:30.  That time flew by.

When my son and I got back to the apartment, parents now being fed, he was chewed out by my ex in-laws and I quote “I am not sure if college made him smarter, or lazier, as he is not here to move his stuff”.  What they were not understanding is he was helping his other grandparents and me by doing what he did.  I believe he did the right thing, the rest of it was just stuff and totally an agenda can be disrupted by an accident, I mean come on people.

Why would they want to move him on the day he graduates?  I figured it was to get christmas money with the deposit money coming back.  But it should have waited until the weekend.

The idiots that they are even packed up the toilet paper, so you could not use the restroom.  There was food in the fridge, and we all know how expensive groceries are.  Some frozen chicken breasts, but they opted that would go bad and not be any good for the graduation ceremony and travel home.  Since it was only highs in the 40s and now in late afternoon the chicken would have been fine.  They opted to pack and keep the 1/2 eaten box of cereal.  A box of knock of fruity pebbles. ???? Another reason I know I chose better, as they make horrible choices.

This day was reassurance to me repeatedly that I am glad to be disconnected to my ex and his family.  The family talk bad about women in general, and after the separation from the state of marriage, I realize they were masters of disguise.  You see they would flag someone in the family and ride their but about something really unimportant.  As removed as I am from them, I can see it clearly now as they run someone down, because it keeps the family from talking bad about them.  A gang up routine, were the men pick a woman and talk bad about her, run her down.  In essence controlling the rest of the family from saying anything bad about the men.  Strength in numbers and very misbehaved people.  I am still sad for my son as he will have to deal with their mentality.

Instead of them realizing that perhaps that was not the best choice to move on another day, they would not admit that they were in error therefore running my son down, for helping out someone who ACTUALLY needed help.

The cluster of Friday is behind us.  He has graduated.  The pain will subside.  As expected my parents who seemed fine Friday, the ache of the G-force….they are feeling it.  From my shoulders down, I have no pain.  My neck however is very tender.  I have free movement but everything is sore to the touch.  There is the front right side I have no pain and tis fine, I am assuming this is the side my chin and head rotated to for the jarring.  The left side of my throat hurts, but only if I touch it.  If I pick up my youngest child, I feel the muscles in my neck begging me for a different course of action.  I assume I have whiplash.  I am taking aleeve, and will mend.  Tomorrow if my symptoms are worse, I will head to the doc.  But today I am more stiff in the neck than sore.

Yesterday I took it easy and wanted to quilt so bad, but wanted to mend and was afraid to do anything too strenuous.  So I decided to bind my second machined quilt.

This is now sandwiched and quilted.  Glad I managed to sneak this one in a couple of weeks back for the sandwiching.  Perfect for a day like today.  Mending the body, stitching is somewhat mending eh?  I did hand stitch the binding.  Binding is now finished this afternoon.

The fabric strips were by Moda and was a collection for a cause that was sale priced at nancysnotions.com for only 17.99.  I snatched that up in a heart beat.  The backing is also from a collection for a cause by the owner of Moda, but of years past that I picked up at a quilt shop when it was closing and purchased that yardage cheap.  The two collections meld wonderfully together.  I did piece the back with the dust rose color which is in the color scheme of things.  This was very inexpensive to make and wonderful to practice stitching on since I am new to my longarm.

Even though Friday was a cluster, I still have Good Fortune!  We all do!  And today I sat down and tried Bonnie Hunter’s method of drawing the line and attempting to get my spare HSTs with that method for the mystery quilt called Good Fortune.  It worked, I do not like the scant seam allowance.  And I am not going to make very many of these.  I was not fond of these in On Ringo Lake.  I thought they took away from the block with too much busy-ness and they were directional for one block and opposite for the next.  Here are mine.  Remember, my blacks are my neutrals and my yellow is my green.  A nice contrast and we will see next week what unfolds for the mystery.

 

I am off to do oodles of laundry.  I am linking up for the Monday Link up of GOOD FORTUNE.  Have you checked out other peoples fabrics and progress?  It is fun to see the masses all going down the same path with such variety of fabrics and colors.  Click here to check those past linkups.

Thanks for stopping in and reading my blog!

Amalgamation Complete

The homemade jelly roll of scraps and left overs from other peoples quilts through the years has come together with a few stitches, an amalgamation representing sew many memories.

Jelly Roll Race quilts are fun and quick.  I estimate without binding that this quilt I probably have less than 5 hours in it, including the quilting.

To dissect this quilt visually for me brings back so many memories.  I see part of the

• Tree of Life,  I see
• Green Lemonade,  
• Star Capella,  
• garlic knot Marinara
• Baby Booties
• Butter And Eggs
• Farm Fresh II
• My Aunt’s Memory Quilt of preserves made from my Grandpa’s clothes and my Grandma’s fabric.
• The binding is made from a cheater quilt that was my first free motion experiment, and is now made into a car seat.  I rather like this binding as it is scrappy looking without any extra effort (note to self great use of panels that I have no use for!)
• I see quilts that have not been quilted yet just ready for the next step in this quilt, the memories are waiting lol.

I highly recommend each time you are at the cutting table.  Cut a strip for your project you are making now, and cut a spare to be tucked away until you have a roll of 40-45 strips, and let the sewing commence.  You do not have to match a thing, scrappy is home around here.  This quilt was meant to be, it is just right for us.  I am glad the little effort I put into it, will go many years or a long way.  I have named this Amalgum, short for amalgamation.

Tomorrow is graduation, my son is graduating from college.  He is my best example of the wonderful child.  A sweet boy, who is now grown into a man.  A lovely girlfriend, and his whole life ahead of him with so many choices.  So far, he has such a level head on his shoulders, he surprises me.  Even  more level headed than me.  He is already making the right choices, and I hope it continues for years.  I am sad, but a whole lot more happy than sad.  I love ya son!

I will try to get some sewing done for Good Fortune, but the thread I ordered for the long arm came in and I hope to do that first.  I have another jelly roll race to quilt up, this one is in pinkish hues and am looking forward to the needle punctures and design to be determined.  Hopefully I will get a bit of stitching done this weekend.

Toodles!  And thank you for reading my blog!

Good Fortune!

It is mystery quilt time!  I would like to thank Bonnie Hunter for going above and beyond and helping us out with another great mystery project.  Thank you Bonnie!  This is something great that I look forward to every year!

Because I have changed my colors I am going slow this year.  The Good Fortune mystery is priority but at the same time is on the back burner.  You are probably wondering how can this make sense?

My long arm is scheduled for delivery and set up on MONDAY!!!!!  I am getting a 20 inch Nolting in lavender.  I have already though of the name of my new machine.  So Monday I have the day off.  I have about 10 quilts to quilt.  (Mom mentioned she has another 10)  It is obvious I will not complete 10 quilts in a day because there is a huge learning curve.  Also, I will be doing all stuff free motion, no computerization (yet).

So Monday I will have a great story and will post for the link up party that Bonnie is hosting.  This is Good Fortune times 2.  I have worked hard with my hobby.  Quilting with a 6 inch throat space on queen size quilts is quite the trapezes muscle work out.  My neck looks like I lift weights and am very fit, but the rest of me is more couch potato, non-athletic physique.

About the name of my quilting machine…..I went to a baby names website.  I was looking for an old fashioned name and found the perfect one.  She will be hailed Ursa.  Yes, named after the little dipper.  Ursa in the constellation scheme of the things translates to bear.  Here at the house we all refer to one another as bears.  I am Momma Bear, and then there is Papa Bear.  My youngest’s name is Tully, so we call her Tully Bear….and so on.  A perfect name for this Teddy bearish family.

My color scheme for the good fortune mystery is different.  My blue is blue, but a lighter shade, orange is cheddar, red is neutrals, neutrals is black, and I think I have some yellow in there somewhere.

With the small pieces for this mystery, I am finding that prints with largeness may not work for the smaller scale.  So I have done a few, and will do a few more, but will not be doing the total count.  The goodness is, the black and neutrals that I sub’d go well together, and in her video about color theory stated contrast is key for this years mystery.

I have quite a variety going on here, using up the small pieces first.  Good to get rid of some of those.  Why some of these fabrics are in about 5 quilts, so let them be gone!  I see UFO fabric.  That is on the back of my Green Lemonade quilt as well as it is incorporated into Garlic Knots Marinara.  Now it is forever in what will become good fortune….huh….that sounds like a fortune cookie to me!

Are you interested in joining in the fun?  It is free and you can find the introductions to colors and clues here.  Free in the quilting realm is priceless!

Have a great weekend!  And thank you for reading my blog.

Postage Sheet Final Post

This fall we have had gobs of rain.  As promised, with a break in the weather, a photo op happened.  This quilt was made from vintage sheets.  The pink fabric was yardage I picked up at the thrift store.  This is a very pastel quilt and turned out soft on the eyes.  This was quilted in the Forget Me Not pattern, true symbolism for those around me who will receive it.  One day I will not be here anymore.  I expect this quilt will last longer than I, hence the pattern I chose the forget me not.  I named this Postage Sheet because it is in the postage stamp design and the vintage sheets used in its making.

The back I used a linen sheet that goes from white to floral which was perfect for this pastel quilt.  At the same estate sale that I purchased the vintage sheet back, they also had matching pillow cases.  When it is upon the bed, it will be a matched set.  Nothing in my house matches as my style is a bit eclectic, but there is a first for everything.

Math is not my strong suit, it is a suit that frustrates me sometimes.  So instead of doing math with measuring I just set some squares on point and floated that in two corners.  It turned out ok, even without math!

And the back….

And a close up of the florals on the back.

Not a stitch has been sewn this week.  My anxiety is high awaiting my quilting machine.  I just do not want to get in the middle of a project (which I am already) only to delve deeply in my quilting machine learning curve.  I am ready to master yet another quilt task, and just do not want to piece.

I have been enjoying knitting this past week.  I managed to find some round looms at the thrift store for only $3 for the set.  I snagged those up as well as some rake looms which I probably did not need.  I may pass these onto my mother, and if she does not want them, ask her to find a home for them.

My first hat….and now I wish I would have doubled the hat knotting it on each end tucking one into the other.  Ah well, I do like the odd yarn that I chose as it hides my stitches were are pretty imperfect.  I see some mittens to match in my looms near future.

I also made a scrubby for the kitchen as yarn is was on sale this week.

I managed to make a cranberry pie for the first time in my life.  The recipe I used was from the TV show Andy Griffin.  Those of you who frequent pinterest have probably seen the recipe cards created by Aunt Bea.  The recipe I used was from Otis Campbell.  You may remember him as the town drunk.  Friendly fellow on the grain alcohol made in someone’s still.  This pie had 1/2 c of brandy in it.  I just happened to have some nice brandy that was not getting drank and used it in the pie and then carried this pie to work to feed my coworkers as they are great guinea pigs and give great thumbs up or thumbs down.  I was told it was delicious.  Be looking for the recipe that I tweaked on my other blog the cookbook project.wordpress.com this weekend.  I have an adaptation if you do not care to use booze.

Well, next week it will be Thanksgiving, my my my.  The time has just flown by.  This year is gearing up to come to a close soon.  Have you met all your goals this year?  I have not entirely.  But some goals made is better than none.

I am looking forward to family and cooking, and time to decompress for the important things in life.  After that is all done, I am really looking forward to kicking up my feet and slowing down to my own pace with no time crunches, just time to pass as it does all too quickly.

Happy Trails!  And thank you for reading my blog!

Mystery Quilt Announced!

Bonnie Hunter is graciously designed another mystery quilt.  She announced colors and yardage requirements yesterday.  I started blindly planning for this quilt back in August. I will be deviating from her colors somewhat.  I am going with cheddar for my oranges and blacks for the neutrals.  A skyish blue for blue.  Yellow in place of red, and neutrals for green.  All of these contrast greatly and have already starched/ironed the fabric I know I will be using.  If you are interested in colors and mystery quilt building I highly recommend going to her blog at quiltville.blogspot.com or by clicking this link directly to go to the details of the mystery quilt. This year’s mystery will be different for me.

With the upcomming delivery of my new longarm, I am itching for this process and have lots of tops to finish.  The mystery will be on the back burner ready to start after the reveal.  Because I have deviated to my own color scheme, I want to make sure I like the end result.  Last years On Ringo Lake mystery quilt is still only partially quilted waiting for me to quit being lazy and get going.  It is hard to quilt on a 6 inch throat space.  It really builds up your trapezes muscles, the muscles between your shoulders and your neck.  In much quilting my neck looks like that of a body builder.  (Too bad the rest of me us a gelatinous mess, ha!)

For the neutrals my plan is to go black.  The great thing about planing a quilt like this is photography.  What looks great to the human eye, may not look as great on camera.  Some of these may not make the cut.  These were taken from a layer cake called Harvest Moon.

For orange I am going cheddar!

For the blue I am going my hue of blue.

For red I will go yellow.  Will need to pull more from the stash or make a trip to the quilt shop.  I may shop my mothers stash.  🙂

I Think for the greens I will go neutrals!

I can’t wait to see how this unfolds!  I am dreaming of a mystery pineapple in blacks with colors in the corners.  I have the larger version of the folded corners ruler and I am finding I really like this ruler.  I can straight cut my smaller pieces of fabric with it as well as snowball the corners.  I have even used this as a binding tool and have emailed Doug Leko the creator of the tool and told him as such.  I am hoping that planted a seed and he teamed up with Bonnie for a dramatic mystery quilt event.  If you are having a hard time ordering this tool, last year I just ordered straight from him at Antler Designs.  This is Doug’s website, and he even signed my receipt and thanked me for my purchase.  Since is he is such a youngster I imagine his inventions as they come will take the quilting industry by storm in the future.  This ruler really makes you work smarter not harder!  For those of you curious about this implement, click here to see how you use it.  Bonnie is also demonstrating the larger version here.  A word of caution.  Using this tool, your 1/4 inch seam allowance needs to be a couple of  threads in so when you fold the fiber over the thread stitching, it will press out to the perfect dimension.  Something I learned during On Ringo Lake, my machine was waaaaaaay off for the seam allowance.  Quite frustrating if you do not know what is going on.  This makes beautiful flying geese without having to draw the line on the fabric then trim, then press.  It skips the tedious step of drawing the line.  The cut is accurate and the seam presses out perfectly to the right dimension.

If you have never followed along on a Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt, no matter what your experience YOU will LEARN more in a few weeks, than the lifetime you have been doing it!  I promise!  It will improve your piecing and accuracy in all things quilty.  You will get lessons on color and value, and if I am not mistaken there will be an upcoming video where Bonnie and Holly Anne Knight of String and Story discuss switching up the colors and how you know what direction to take.  I am curious about this and you will probably find mention of it here soon.

This week I have rather abandoned the sewing machine.  The temps in the house rose to an uncomfortable level and I refuse to run the AC.  It will be there, and guess what it cooled off just yesterday so I will be back at foot pedaling my way through fabric.  For now I have gotten out my knitting loom and with a hodgepodge of yarn have came a ways on a cuddle blanket.  I am playing with stitches and have attempted a trellis stitch, as well as just a knitting stitch.  I will attempting other stitches and will reveal this work one day when quilty things have slowed down.

So are you participating in this years Mystery Quilt?  I look forward to hearing your comments!  And thank you for reading my blog!

RDP ~HOME

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

Aren’t these photos a great inspiration to create a quilt color scheme?  Finding inspiration at HOME!

Expanding vocabulary and todays word is home.  While reading the ragtag daily prmpt today, it immediately made me think of an old country song by Joe Diffie, simply called HOME.

Home means all kinds of different things to different people.  In the objective view of the word, it is where I gravitate from in the mornings and gravitate to in the evenings.  It is comfort and something in a state of chaos.  Home is a job, something that has many chores daily, with no pay.  Home is full of neccessary evils, that procrastination causes pile ups.  Home is where I cherrish my family and their relationships.  Home’s list of honey do’s is staggering.  A house is not neccessarily a home.  A house is a monetary representation of status and clout.  The home part is free of these things.

Home is where I clean.  Home is where I create quilt art.  Home shelters me better than just any ole’ house.  Home is the hearth.  It is the amalgamation of sticks and stones and the hard work keeping their placement.  Home is family and friends, togetherness with invisible bonds that last a lifetime.  Home is memories, Home makes memories.

Home is a thing of the past, present, and future.  Thanks Joe Diffie for a song tbat says HOME so elloquently!