Monday Jan 24
Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life
Tuesday Jan 25
Becky’s Adventures in Quilting and Travel
Wednesday Jan 26
Quilting & Learning - What a Combo!
Thursday Jan 27
Friday Jan 28
Sunday, January 23, 2022
Polar Bear Plunge Blog Hop Starts Today
Saturday, January 22, 2022
Slow Sunday Stitching
Another action-filled week has passed. I spent a lot of the week trying to finish daughter Kristen's BD presents. One of them I can't share as it is my Polar Bear Plunge Blog Hop Project which starts next week.
The video for the instructions are found right here: https://jennifermaker.com/cardinal-remembrance-vase/. She had gotten these blank vases at Dollar Tree, and I spent several days looking for one. I finally found one at Joann's on sale, but it was not a dollar. Today I was at Goodwill looking for pots I could put my new orchids in. I didn't find any vases but I did find another one of these vases for 49 cents!
Most of the week was trying to find a crow SVG design that I could cut out with iron on vinyl on my Cricut. I found a design I really loved, but it was too intricate. Daughter Kristen when she went to her sister's house in October discovered I had given Katie a pillow cover and didn't give her one at the same time. It was for Katie's BD, so I told Kristen I would make one for her BD. She requested something with a crow. Crows or ravens have significance for us, as we have seen them since John died a lot. Plus he remarked to me numerous times I always seemed to make things with black birds. So I was looking for a crow or raven on it I could cut out. I cut out my preferred design 3 times, but it was so intricate that when I was weeding out the vinyl that was not wanted I kept tearing off parts that weren't supposed to be weeded off.
So finally I found one that worked, and this was the result. Kristen loved it!
Another thing I made was this cardinal vase. I copied this picture from the Jennifer Maker website. This is where I have been getting a lot of project ideas for the Cricut, and I had enrolled in one of her classes. I had tried to take a picture of the completed vase but the lighting was not right.
The video for the instructions are found right here: https://jennifermaker.com/cardinal-remembrance-vase/. She had gotten these blank vases at Dollar Tree, and I spent several days looking for one. I finally found one at Joann's on sale, but it was not a dollar. Today I was at Goodwill looking for pots I could put my new orchids in. I didn't find any vases but I did find another one of these vases for 49 cents!
This week I also attended the guild meeting and they were looking for sign-ups for Quilter of the Month, and no one was volunteering, so I volunteered for June. I am not very good at speaking in front of a lot of people. I hope I am brave enough to do this!
So daughter Kristen took the day off on Friday for her BD and invited me to come with her and husband Jeff to Half Moon Bay. My happy place is at the beach and I jumped at the opportunity. I had been thinking about driving myself the 2-1/2 hours to the beach, so I was happy to get the opportunity to ride. We got there about lunch time, and went to Barbara's Fish Trap where we had a delicious lunch. We had been there once before and vowed to go back again.
In Half Moon Bay there are several nurseries along one road, and a succulent nursery in the main part of town. Kristen wanted to get some succulents so we stopped at the one in town first. Then we went to the orchid nursery we had been to last July. I was able to buy 3 orchids this time. They didn't have the selection they did last time, but I did find some beauties. The lighting is poor tonight, but it was too bright this afternoon.
We were able to spend a little time at the beach before we came home. We couldn't have asked for a better day. The weather was beautiful.
We left Half Moon Bay at 4:30, had back to back traffic going into San Francisco, all the way across the Bay Bridge and almost all the way home. It took us until 9:15 to get home.
When my family have a birthday I usually pull out old pictures and post them, wishing them Happy Birthday.
These were a few I pulled out the other day. I look like I am a baby when I had Kristen, but I was actually 28. That photo session with Kristen's portrait pictures, she had 6 different expressions, this is the one I loved the best.
This week the senior swimmers at Kyleigh's college were highlighted, and this was the picture she had taken. She will be graduating from nursing school in May.
Last week I was so busy driving around looking for supplies for Kristen's BD gift I didn't get my Ella Maria Deacon Block done. I will also probably work on my next Kathy Schmitz embroidery.
So this is what I will be doing for Slow Sunday Stitching this week. I will be linking up at Kathy's Quilts. Head on over and check out what everyone is working on. It is my favorite place to spend time on Sundays.
Thanks for stopping by!
Monday, January 17, 2022
Polar Bear Plunge Blog Hop Coming Next Week
Monday Jan 24
Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life
Tuesday Jan 25
Becky’s Adventures in Quilting and Travel
Wednesday Jan 26
Quilting & Learning - What a Combo!
Thursday Jan 27
Friday Jan 28
Thanks for stopping by!
Saturday, January 15, 2022
Hand Quilt Along, Slow Sunday Stitching
Hand Quilt Along, Slow Sunday Stitching
It has been another busy week. A lot of my spare time was figuring out how I was going to make a Victorian House block for my mini quilt group with the quilt guild. Everyone was making two different house blocks. The ones I chose were to make were a lighthouse and Victorian house. We are going to assemble this to raffle off for our guild. The lighthouse was no problem, I found a coloring page to make my lighthouse block. I neglected to take a picture of that one though. The Victorian house was somewhat more problematic. I found plenty I could make but they were too complicated to make. After about a week of looking at images, and Pinterest perusing, I finally found an image I cut out on my Cricut machine. I got it cut out and assembled. The ladies at yesterday's meeting were pleased. Me and my big mouth volunteered to do an apartment building for the next meeting which will be at my house. I have a lot of yard clean up to do before that though.
This week has been problematic for my daughter Katie's children. First they were not able to go to Adventure Club, because someone in Klara's class tested positive. So Katie asked me to pick them up after school Wednesday-Friday. Wednesday morning about 10:00 Katie asked me to pick up John-John, his whole class had been dismissed, until next Tuesday as 8/29 kids tested positive. John-John had Covid at Thanksgiving. So I took him home and then picked up Klara after school. Thursday I was just supposed to pick up Klara, but Katie picked her up early as she had a sore throat. She had a sore throat last week too and was treated with antibiotics. She got some more antibiotics for strep throat, and still has a bad cough. Hopefully she is on the road to recovery now.
Wednesday this week, I had a luncheon with the Single Ladies from the quilt guild which was nice.
For my Friday mini meeting, I got this much done on this Ella Maria Deacon block.
While I was looking for my landscape fabrics for the house blocks, I came across these blocks. They are from a 1999 calendar by the Piecemakers Quilt Shop. I had started this lighthouse quilt in 1999 and then set them aside. Each year they would have a different theme, and the quilt patterns came with the calendar. I have about 5 of these calendars, and 2 of the kits. I think it is beyond time for me to get this finished!
This will be my one of my hand projects I will be working on for the next few months, along with finishing up my Ella Maria Deacon blocks.
Check out the other Hand Quilting Links below.
This Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another. If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.
Kathy, Margaret, Deb, Nanette, Sharon, Karrin, and Daisy
I am also linking up with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching. Head on over and check out what everyone has been up to.
Thanks for stopping by!
Tuesday, January 11, 2022
Stay At Home Round Robin
I was really happy to see that Gail @Quilting Gail was hosting the Stay at Home Round Robin again this year. You can read all about it on her site above. Each week one of the co-hosts gives us a border to put on our quilt. This first week we were to choose our center block.
This is what I made last year, and I ended up donating it to Victoria's Quilts who donates them to terminally ill patients.
This is the orphan block I decided to use this year. Can't wait to see what the first border is!
These are a list of the co-hosts for this SAHRR.
- 1st Round: Anja @ Anja Quilts
- 2nd Round: Emily @ The Darling Dogwood
- 3rd Round: Roseanne & Sue @ Home Sewn by Us
- 4th Round: Wendy @ Pieceful Thoughts of My Quilting Life
- 5th Round: Gail @ Quilting Gail
- 6th Round: Chris @ Chrisknitssews
I will be linking up at @Quilting Gail. Thanks so much to Gail for hosting this again, it was so much fun last year!
Thanks for stopping by!
Saturday, January 08, 2022
Slow Sunday Stitching
Another week has come and gone, and I can't say I have gotten much accomplished. I don't know what has been wrong with me, but I haven't really felt like doing anything. What I have done is spent 1 whole day reading, and 3 whole days playing MaJong. I got the game the other day on the AARP newsletter and couldn't stop playing it. I kept telling myself I would stop when I won, and I kept losing! I did finally win, but kept on playing to get a better score!
This next week will be a little busier. I have the guild Single Ladies Lunch coming up, and I think my guild Mini Meeting on Friday.
I did get this embroidered this week, the Kathy Schmitz's Gathered Blessings. I got the month of January done.
Other than that this week, I watched Klara and John on Monday and they went back to school on Tuesday. Kyleigh also left for college in Boston, her last year in nursing school. Things were a little dramatic before she left. She is on a swimming scholarship and they had a meet this weekend. Apparently the pool was not kept up to snuff the 3 weeks on vacation, and they were going to have to go to other pools to practice. This is a team that usually beats them, and she really wanted to work her hardest to beat this team for once. I haven't heard the results yet, but she was all stressed out before she left.
As I said, this week I didn't feel like doing much, until today. Things I need to do are:
Finish my project for the Polar Plunge Blog Hop coming up the end of the month, make 2 house blocks by the end of this week, a lighthouse and Victorian house for my mini quilt group meeting I think this Friday. I also promised my daughter Kristen, for her birthday on the 21st to make her a pillow cover. At Klara's BD dinner, Kristen discovered I had made her sister Katie a pillow cover she didn't get. Well it was for Katie's BD. They have always been like this, I need to make 2 of everything! Even in their 40's it never changes! I also tried to get a digital calendar/journal set up and I think it is finally working OK, but it took may hours and watching videos.
Today I did manage to get out in the yard and work a bit. Some of my plants in pots expired due to the extreme frost. I did get one plant bed cleaned out of dead plants and weeds. I did manage to get the side walkway finally cleaned up of leaves. I did get my baker's rack put back over by the fireplace with my plants I had moved when the fireplace dry rot was replaced. I kept waiting for the inspector to come back out and sign off on it, but my plants are doing poorly on the other side of the yard.
All my flower beds need cleaned out, and I have bushes that need trimming. In between the rain and the freezing weather I haven't been able to get out, but it was a very pleasant day today. This is my brick patio that has weeds growing out of it! This will be next on the list. It really felt good to be out in the yard today. Probably what I needed all along!
Also what I worked on this week was making thank you cards for my Etsy Shop on my Cricut. I was stamping a mermaid and saying thank you, but I decided to design one that I could print up and cut on my Cricut. I purchased some digital nautical images on Etsy and put the wording in myself.
Every night I look for a movie to watch, and then watch cookoff's until bedtime. This week I have watched Fried Green Tomatoes for the umpteenth time and tonight I am watching Trauma Center with Bruce Willis. I think John chose this movie tonight. It is his kind of movie, shoot em up, but it is a good movie.
I watch cooking competitions because I love to cook. I miss cooking a lot. This week I did make my family pasta sauce. I also made a prime rib soup with Christmas leftovers. Today I just really felt sick of having frozen meals for one. My daughter Katie had been talking about potstickers, and I really wanted some. I was going to go to the place she had gotten them, and then decided to go to the grocery store instead I got some frozen potstickers and decided I wanted to make some bok choy to go along with it. I got the recipe here. I also had a craving for Chicken Marsala. I usually get a 2-serving ready-to-eat size at Trader Joes. I recently came across the recipe that I saved to my Pinterest account and I had everything but the mushrooms. It was fantastic, and I have enough for 2 more meals!
While I am writing this post tonight, I think there is police activity in front of my house. I am seeing flashing blue lights coming in through my front door. I don't know what is going on but they have been there for 10 minutes now. Thank goodness they have finally left!
What I will be working on this week for Slow Sunday Stitching are my Ella Maria Deacon blocks. I have had them prepped for a couple of months now. I just need to get working!
I will be linking up to Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts. Head on over and see what everyone is up to!
Thanks for stopping by!
Monday, January 03, 2022
One Monthly Goal, January
It is the beginning of a new month, and time to link up One Monthly Goal @ Elm Street Quilts.
My One Monthly Goal for January is to finish my project for the Polar Bear Plunge coming up the end of January. I have all the pieces cut out, I just need to sew them on and find some small beads or black buttons. My day is January 27th so I need to be finished by then.
I will be linking up One Monthly Goal at Elm Street Quilts, and many thanks to Patty for this continued motivation!
Thanks for stopping by!
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