What I've Been Up To

Well as of this morning, we have heat again.  We are thinking we may have to replace our heat pump, but are due to have a second opinion tomorrow.  We will see.  We have had 8 service calls since September of 2018, paying $1050 in service calls.  The heat pump is almost 10 years old.  But anyway we have heat, I can stitch in the kitchen this afternoon.

I will be working on my Frolic Mystery by Bonnie Hunter.   I have to make some more connecting pieces.  I need to make 3 more of these pieces, 4 corners and 64 sashing pieces and I can start assembling it the top.

While I waited for my heater to be fixed, and it was too cold to sew in the unheated portion of the house, I was able to hand-sew.

I did this month's Cassandra's Circle block, the free BOM by Barbara Brackman on Civil War Quilts.
I was able to applique this one night.  I plan to use mostly blues in this one.

I did last week's block in Pieces from the Past sew along by Melva Loves Scraps.  This will eventually be grandson Jaeger's graduation quilt in 2021.  I paper pieced this, and I liked it so much, I was almost talking myself into starting a new project, with just these blocks.

At one point, I discovered I had sewn a piece on the wrong way!

Then yesterday I traced out this freebie design by Bird Brain Designs,  If you go  there on the front page is access to the freebie design.  I stitched this out in one evening.  My husband wanted to stay up and watch the Voice, so I had plenty of time!

I loved this from the first time I saw it, and my fingers were itching to do some redwork, even though I have a crack in my pointer finger from washing my hands so much!

Guess I'd better get to work- stay safe everyone, and thanks for stopping by!

Slow Sunday Stitching

I can't believe that Sunday is coming around again.  This week has flown by, for no reason in particular.  I spent 5 days this week working on the Ella Maria Deacon quilt blocks.  I finally got the star block done, by EPP it.  I was really glad to get that done!  I don't think I will use a glue stick next time.  I had a heck of a time getting the papers loose.  All except the broderie perse one were done by hand.

While I stayed in this week, and didn't have the shopping hassles, we had other issues.  I was finally able to get 2 weeks of my lupus medication.  Apparently this is one of the ones they are trying on Coronavirus patients so my supply has been limited from my standard 3 month supply to 2 weeks.

Thursday night my heat pump went off again.  I woke up at 3 am on Friday with a migraine, and was cold and noticed it was off again.  The repairman came out promptly and replaced the fuse again, about the 5th time in two months.  It is a low voltage fuse apparently.    So we had heat for most of the day yesterday.  But I had the migraine all day, so wasn't able to sew.  

Then this morning, woke up at 3 am again and it was off again.  I talked to my husband and we are going to get an electrician out here on Monday or so and see if he can figure out why this keeps blowing fuses.  There is obviously a problem.  That last fuse didn't even last 24 hours.  So Saturday I was not able to sew on my machine either, we are heating the room with a space heater my husband stays in and the rest of the house is cold, too cold for my arthritis to handle.  

We did get a visit from our younger daughter this afternoon.  She has been working from home and trying to get her children 9 and 6 to do their assignments.  Next week is Spring Break so she won't have to worry about it.  But she praised me on being able to work from home (I was a medical transcriptionist for 35 years) when her and her sister were young!

So for my Slow Sunday Stitching, I will be working on my Father Christmas.   The last two days, with my migraine, and today I read all day, I haven't gotten much to show.   

I got the big tree stitched down, now I can start working on Santa.  I will be linking up with Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts.  Head on over and see what everyone is working on.  

Thanks so much for stopping by, and Stay Safe!  

The New Normal, Ella Maria Deacon Quilt,

Last night I received a call from Kaiser Pharmacy, a computer call.   As I had ordered 2 of my prescriptions for home delivery, I was expecting them to say they had been shipped.  The call directed me to call another Kaiser pharmacy number, where your orders had been held up.  I called, and was on hold for 45 minutes.  As I am out, and almost out of these two meds, I stayed on the line.  After speaking with the pharmacist, he said one of my medications, hydroxychloroquine was in short supply, and they were only filling it for two diagnoses.  He asked what I was receiving it for, I told him lupus, and he said that was one of the approved diagnoses, the other being the coronavirus.  He explained instead of receiving a 3 month supply, I could only get 2 weeks at a time, so I asked him to go ahead and put it through for refill and I would pick it up.

So this morning, I made my way up to the pharmacy.  I have to said Kaiser is taking very strict precautions.  People were stopped at the door and asked if they had any symptoms.  If not, they got a sticker that said they were thriving, and you got in the door.  I went to the pharmacy, and all the sofas in there were marked every other one "DO NOT SIT", keeping a 6' distance from others.  Then when you get up in line to speak to a counter person, they have tape on the floor so you can't step over the tape to talk to them.  Anyway, thankfully, after all of that I was able to get my 2 weeks of medication!

The past week I have been working on the Ella Maria Deacon blocks for March.  The star gave me a fit.  This is the third version, which was EPP'd.

These are the blocks for January, February and March, which was my goal #2 on my 2020 Finish Along, Quarter 1.  

I've been busy working on my Frolic Mystery quilt too.  That is one of my goals I am trying to finish up before the end of the month. 

With this social distancing, I haven't seen my grandchildren for at least three weeks.  My daughter sent me a picture of granddaughter Klara wearing a hat I crocheted for her several years ago. 

Bird Brain Designs who has lovely embroidery designs, sent this free stitchery the other day, Stitcher Strong-Love to Stitch-Love to Quilt.   I love her designs, and have done quite a few of them.  The link is below.  You might want to sign up for her newsletter so you can see new designs when they come up.



https://www.birdbraindesigns.net/stitcher-strong-mini-hand-embroidery-download

Stay safe-  Thanks for stopping by!

Slow Sunday Stitching

Time to report in again at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.   I really appreciate this weekly check in and motivation in seeing others' works.

This week has been a crazy one.  Multiple appointments were cancelled due to the mandate for shelter in place for the whole state of California now.  I did venture out daily in the mornings for needed supplies, most of which were gone from the shelves.  I can now say I did score some TP yesterday at Target, and was finally able to find some distilled water for my husband's CPAP machine at Sprouts, after looking for almost 2 weeks for those items.

My chest freezer and refrigerator are now filled to the brim for now, so we can rest easy.  I do miss our family, children and grandchildren immensely.  Granddaughter Kyleigh on her way home with her Dad as of Sunday driving cross-country from Boston.  They will drop off her roommate in Arizona along the way.

So what little sewing time I did this week, I finished up the Buhl-Bushong quilt border assignment for March.

Those blue flowers I ended up changing the fabric below.  I didn't think it offered enough contrast against the green, so I took it out and substituted the above fabric.

This week, I have been working on the Ella Maria Deacon quilt blocks too.  There were 2 applique, 1 broderie perse, which I have all prepped, and I will be slow stitching on Sunday. 

The fourth block was a lone star type pieced block.  I spent 4 afternoons working on this one.

The first one came out like this, almost looks like a cap.  I was really trying to force it to go together.

There is no way this one is going to lay down at all.  I didn't even bother putting three of the corners on.  This took me 2 afternoons to do this much.  I had a hard time figuring out where those parallelograms were supposed to match up.  I kept being off one way or the other.  I took some of those seams out 2-3 times.

Then yesterday I got this far before figuring this wasn't going to work either.  It was like a sliver was missing.

So today I read on Facebook someone from the group had theirs done, and had a hard time too, and did EPP.  So I decided that was what I would do.    I have never done EPP before and it was relaxing to me.  This is the first section.  I still need to prep the other 3 sections so I can do the hand work on these too.    But I think this will be better.  I did figure out when I made the templates to which we were to add the seam allowance, it was larger than it should have been.  That was probably what caused all my difficulties.  

And if I don't have enough to do above, I still have my Father Christmas block waiting to be put together!

I will be linking up with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.  Head on over and see what everyone has been doing. 

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Hand Quilt Along, Slow Sunday Stitching

Hard to believe another 3 weeks has flown by, and time to check in for the Hand Quilt Along, and also Slow Sunday Stitching.

Earlier this week I did a pretty extensive shopping expedition, but never found toilet paper.  Still can't find toilet paper.  I still have 5 rolls, but I was going to at least buy another package!  Then we found out yesterday our grandchildren are out of school until the 13th of April.  I was scheduled to watch the two youngest for at least 5 days during that time, but now our daughters have decided not to put my husband at risk, especially due to his asthma.  So my older grandsons are going to watch the two youngest.  I will miss seeing everybody for sure!  I also cancelled my husband's appointment on Monday, and rescheduled to the end of April.  

What I have been working on for slow stitching this week is my Buhl-Bushong assignment for March.  I have two of the flowers done, and have two more to go.  This is where I am now.

Next up, I prepared the next Father Christmas block.  My goal is to have this one done this month.  It was one of my 2020 Finish-Along goals.

The links for the other's in this Hand Quilt along are below. 

Hand Quilt Along Links

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, Emma, Tracy, Deb, Susan,  Nanette,  Edith, Sharon, Karrin, Gretchen, Kathi,  Bella, Daisy and Connie

I will also be linking  up with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.  Be sure and head over there to check out those links too.  

I really appreciate both of these weekly, or every three week motivations!  Thanks to both Kathys!

Sweet Land of Liberty Finish

On February 9, 2008 I posted here about starting the Sweet Land of Liberty Block of the month.   I finished this block.  This was designed by Cheri Payne.  I have loved this quilt from the first time I saw it.  I had the patterns for the blocks at this time.  

Somehow life got in the way, and I set the  patterns aside somewhere.  But when I looked for them, I couldn't find them.  I pretty much tore my sewing room apart.  May 2, 2018 I posted here about not being able to find the patterns.  Around this time, on reading Humble Quilts blog, I came in on the middle of Lori proving measurements for the blocks each month.  I did a bit of this, but was the end of their stitch along.  Meanwhile I found part of my patterns that had Cheri's original instructions.

Last year Lori offered to have a stitch along again on the Quilts by Cheri Friendship Group, and I was determined this time to work on this quilt.  She was referring us back to her original monthly instructions from her blog in 2018.    I kept up until the last two months, and then came around the holidays.

For my 2020 Finish-A-Long, Quarter 1 goals, I hoped to finish this quilt top. 

This is also my One Monthly Goal for March which I stated here.

So here is my completed top.  I changed the bottom row from Cheri's original design which had stars and houses.  I wanted a block where I could put my initials, and the year I finished.  Outdoor and indoor shots.  Excuse my long grass, I need to mow the lawn!

I will link up with One Monthly Goal at Elm Street Quilts when the link-up become available.  

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Hands 2 Help

All the information about this year's charity quilt drive can be found at the link below, including sign-ups.


https://confessionsofafabricaddict.blogspot.com/p/hands2help-2020.html



Thanks for stopping by!

Slow Sunday Stitching, Some Finishes

I don't know how these weeks keep flying by, I know I keep myself busy, but can't believe it is already March!  Time to check in again for Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts.

I have had a few finishes this week, mostly hand-finishes.  First I finished February's Ella Maria Deacon blocks.  This is offered through Sentimental Stitches.  Last week I think I had just prepped the blocks.

I also finished the block for Pieces From the Past by Melva Loves Scraps.    This will eventually be a quilt for my grandson Jaeger who will graduate next year.  This block was called the Mayflower.

I finished March's block for Cassandra's Circle called Mulberry Wreath.  This is the 2020 applique BOM by Barbara Brackman on Civil War Quilts.

I spent this afternoon getting my Slow Sunday Stitching ready.  It is the next border on the Buhl-Bushong quilt offered by the Virginia Quilt Museum.  I got this month's assignment ready, which consists of 4 flowers.  

I actually finished one of them tonight, but have 3 more to do on Sunday.  

I will be linking up at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.  Be sure and pop on over and see what others are working on.  

Thanks so much for stopping by!

Dust Off a Quilt Book Blog Hop-My Day

Welcome to my day for the Dust Off a Quilt Book Blog Hop hosted by Beaquilter.  Many thanks to Bea for again hosting this event, and the sponsors she lined up for giveaways.  Be sure to head over to Beaquilter to take part in the giveaways she has going, for great patterns, batting sampler pack, and jelly roll.

I took part in this event last year and you can read about it here.  This year, I went through my old books again, and I finally chose this one.

This was a Red Wagon Book, which consisted of the designers Gerry Kimmel, Jan Patek and Linda Brannock.  I have a lot of the Red Wagon books, plus those when these designers decided to go out on their own.   I just can't get rid of them, I love them so much.

I started quilting in around 1994, and my local quilt shop had the greatest classes, monthly meetings, including a Red Wagon meeting where a local designer gave us a new block of the month and it was called the Red Wagon Club, with primitive quilts.  This was one of my Red Wagon quilts that local designer Gretchen Jennings created for us.

When this blog hop came up, I knew I wanted to use one of my Red Wagon books which have multiple projects I would like to do.

I chose the Ships Quilt, which has ships and whales, but I also love this one called Jonah and the Whale.  Jonah is lying in the whale's belly.  I have always loved the quirkiness of this one!

I have  been quilting for the past 3 years since retirement basically on my stash, though on this quilt I needed to order some wave fabric.

I started putting together my ships, and machine appliqued my whales.  

Pretty soon I had all my components done, which used templates by the way, to which I did add seam allowances.

Then I started cutting out the strips to go between the boats.  Not reading the instructions very well, which had +sa, I cut these all 1/2 inch less than they should have been.  I hadn't figured it out yet.

I started putting the sashing between the ships, and I don't know what I was thinking, but I ended up trimming the bottom of my ships off 1/2 inch.  I finally figured out what I had done when I started trying to add these strips between the rows of ships to the whale pieces and they weren't wide enough.  

I had about 1 yard of fabric left that wasn't cut, and cut the right size sashing strips, and attaching them to the whales.  Luckily I had enough!

Next I sewed the last row of whales all together, and I discovered another snafu!  They look fine here:

But then when I went to sew them to the bottom row, they are an inch+ too big.  

So I had to undo the whales and trim each block 1/4 inch, and resew them back together.

I finally was able to put it together with no more problems.   On my design floor

And attached to the bookcase.  It has been too windy here to get a picture outside. 

I still need to quilt it, but the top is finished and I love it!  I learned a lot about using old quilt books, about the importance of reading directions carefully, as the seam allowance might not have been added in. 

Be sure and visit Quilting Jeanne, link below, and Beaquilter for the giveaways.

March 5

Quilting Jeanne

Karrin’s Crazy World

Thanks so much for stopping by, and thanks again to Bea @Beaquilter for hosting this.  

LoveCrafts Review

Early in February I was contacted by Sarah, a member of the Outreach Department of LoveCrafts, an online store, to become one of their Star Makers of the month, a monthly blogging competition.  I told her that really wasn't something I was interested in, but I would be happy to do a review for them.  In exchange, I was sent a voucher I was able to pick out a two charm packs.

I chose these two reproduction charm packs which will be perfect for my reproduction quilts.  I ordered last week, and they shipped almost immediately.  I received them on Monday.

LoveCrafts has knitting, crochet and cross-stitch supplies, and now in the US, quilting patterns. They are a global community for makers everwhere.   The quilting patterns can be found here.  I noticed that quite a few of them are available as free PDF downloads.  They also have free knitting and crochet patterns.   

The fabric sections are offered on their UK website now.   

Right now they are offering 15% off your first order.  Right now the sock and lightweight yarns are 30% off.  

Check out LoveCrafts right here.  

350 Blocks Report-February

I got quite a few blocks done in February.

Buhl-Bushong:  3 blocks.  This was finishing the border, and I counted each flower section as 1.  I counted the other 4 last month.

Hattie's Baskets:  4 blocks.  

Cassandra's Circle:  1 huge block

Couch Project:  25 blocks.  I actually made this quilt into a slipcover for the chaise part of my couch.  Part of the blocks were made long ago in a swap with quilting friends.

Frolic:  3 blocks.  Not much progress on this due to other projects.

Ella Maria Duncan:  4 blocks

Lucy's Bag:  1 block

Dust Off a Book Blog Hop project: 21 blocks.   This is going on right now, and my day is Thursday so can't share yet. 

Pieces from the Past:  1 block

Pillow Cover:  1 block

Total for February 64 blocks.

Reporting in to Prairie Moon Quilts for my total last month.