Another week has flow by, and it has been a week of ups and downs. I was able to do a little sample quilt on my new Handi Quilter Moxie. I only had one snafu, when one of the cords got caught up and I didn't at first figure out what was going on. I didn't take it out though as it was a sample, and it is sitting at the back of a cabinet.
Saturday, October 30, 2021
Slow Sunday Stitching
Saturday, October 23, 2021
Hand Quilt Along, Slow Sunday Stitching, Long Post
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, Deb, Nanette, Sharon, Karrin, and Daisy
Last year before John started going downhill I was working on the Ella Maria Deacon quilt. I stopped working on them and I still have about 12 blocks to do to finish the top. I have prepped a bunch of blocks and I intend to use those for my hand stitching the next couple of weeks. I will be working on this for Slow Sunday Stitching I will be linking up at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching. Head on over and see what people are working on there too.
Last Saturday we had a visit with our nephew visiting from Virginia with his friend. Both of my daughters and 3 grandchildren came over some pizza, and we attended grandson Keaton's soccer game across the street. Apparently Keaton broke his toes in 2-3 places either kicking or someone kicked him. He is now in a boot.
My nephew is 6'9". The girls and I look like midgets in this picture.
The next morning the girls and I went on the Breast Cancer walk with some of Kristen's coworkers from the State Capitol to Tower Bridge, and then had a lovely brunch at a restaurant along the river.
What I have been doing for the last few weeks is downsizing, and rearranging about 3 rooms. I recently got a new Handi Quilter Moxie. I had the original Handi Quilter set up they came out with to begin with. You taped some plastic rails to a board, clamped the board to a table. Then clamped the side pieces on that the poles hooked into. That was in 2001 I first got this. It was before the Handi Quilter 16 came out. So I always used a Juki machine with this set up, which had a 9" throat space.
I got the Moxie set up in my old office, and cleared off most of the bookshelves, either by downsizing the books and magazines, or moving a bunch of stuff to the bookshelves in my bedroom.
Then I moved most of the books and magazines from my sewing room into room with my quilting machine. In my sewing room, everything had gotten so cluttered I couldn't get to the books, I would have to move stuff to get to the shelves. It was a horrible mess. It almost looked like I was a candidate for the show Hoarders, though the rest of my house is not like that. There was stuff all over the place on the floor, shelves, every surface.
The woman who sold me the Moxie came over today to make sure I had assembled it right and I had. I also was able do do a little sample quilting. It works so smoothly, I love it! So I new this Mary Lynn was coming over today, and I thought it would be too embarrassing for her to see the mess. You know when you are organizing, it frequently gets worse before it gets better. So I got up this morning early and I had the room organized by 10:30. I had clean counters that had not been cleaned for several months, probably before John passed. I had room to put stuff on bookshelves and really tidy things up. The fabric shelves still need straightened up, but the majority of the room is really tidy.
That last cabinet with the turtle block on it us on a lazy daisy type device and there are drawers on all 4 sides. John had designed that himself.
The other big thing I did last week was get all of John's wood in one place so I can get rid of it. It was all over the garage, and there was only about a 4 foot pathway that I could walk to the freezer. If I am able to get rid of the wood, I will be able to get the tools ready for sale.
The other happenings this week were that my roof was finished, my solar panels back up. The inspector will sign off on the job when the new wood on my chimney is primed. Unfortunately it has been raining the last several days, and it is supposed to rain this next week.
I am so happy to have all my messes cleaned up and now I can get back to my quilting and handwork. I just can't seem to be creative in chaos, though I am the one that created it!
Thanks for stopping by and hope you have a great week!
Tuesday, October 19, 2021
Ghastly Ghouls Blog Hop, My Day
Today is the third day of the Ghastly Ghouls Blog Hop, and also my day. Many thanks to the fabulous Carol @Just Let Me Quilt. The past two days have had some wonderfully creepy projects. Be sure and check them out, the full schedule is below.
Right after I signed up for this hop, I got an email from Bird Brain Designs and I saw a cute Halloween kit, which some squirrel encouraged me to buy. I love embroidery, and wool projects. The kit had everything in it, including the cute wagon buttons!
As I have also been on a gnome kick, I noticed this Candy Corn Gnome video and instructions at Ruffles and Rain Boots. There are very good instructions, but I had numerous do-overs on this one. I followed the directions for using alcohol ink to dye the beard and hat. I didn't like the first attempts, and did it over. I still have yellow and orange fingers and nails. I guess I should have worn gloves, but the deed was already done. The next problem I had was my personal problem. I am a Glue Gun 101 dropout. I always get glue all over the place and don't glue what I want to. She just folded the fleece over and glued them. Again I got glue all over the place and wasn't happy. I tried sewing them, but wasn't able to turn them inside out. I finally glued with some craft glue. She has a pattern for the bag, but wasn't able to get it printed and cut on my Cricut. I finally just printed it. I had to shrink the bag though I probably should have shrunk it a bit more,
Anyway this is the final product. I just love him so much!
The cute little bag has two sides.
I had one more project I wanted to do. A number of years ago I bought this paper mache pumpkin and wanted to do something with it. I decided I wanted to finish it for this blog hop. I spray painted it and managed to get paint all over my favorite leggings, carrying it into the house where it could dry quicker. I cute out the crow on my Cricut with vinyl and attached it to the pumpkin.
Thanks for stopping by, and again thanks to Carol @Just Let Me Quilt for another fun blog hop! Be sure and check out the other bloggers below.
OCTOBER 18
Inflorescence
Samelia's Mum
Songbird Designs
Ink Torrents
Quilted Delights
Websterquilt
Patchouli Moon Studio
Homespun Hannah's Blog
Elizabeth Coughlin Designs
Karrin’s Crazy World
For The Love Of Geese
Quilt Schmilt
Words & Stitches
Home Sewn By Us
Quilt Fabrication
Selina Quilts
Ms P Designs USA
Sunday, October 17, 2021
Ghastly Ghouls Blog Hop Starts Today
Today is the start of the Ghastly Ghouls Blog Hop hosted by Carol @Just Let Me Quilt. I am excited to see what everyone has been working on. My day will be on Wednesday, October 20th. The entire schedule is listed below.
OCTOBER 18
Inflorescence
Samelia's Mum
Songbird Designs
Ink Torrents
Quilted Delights
Websterquilt
Patchouli Moon Studio
Homespun Hannah's Blog
Elizabeth Coughlin Designs
Karrin’s Crazy World
For The Love Of Geese
Quilt Schmilt
Words & Stitches
Home Sewn By Us
Quilt Fabrication
Selina Quilts
Ms P Designs USA
Sunday, October 10, 2021
Ghastly Ghouls Blog Hop Coming Up
The Ghastly Ghouls Blog Hop is coming up October 18-22. I can't wait to see what everyone is doing. The full schedule is below.
OCTOBER 18
OCTOBER 19
OCTOBER 20
OCTOBER 21
OCTOBER 22
Saturday, October 09, 2021
Slow Sunday Stitching
It's been another busy week. My roof was scheduled to be torn off last Tuesday and then cancelled due to possible rain, which never appeared even though it was predicted 25% on Thursday. Meanwhile on Thursday the repair of the dry rot on my chimney was begun. All the wood was taken off, and some weatherproofing put up. The siding will be completed on Monday.
Meanwhile my roof is supposed to be started on Tuesday again hopefully. Three days this week were spent shifting things around in various rooms, and a major decluttering and getting rid of a bunch of stuff, a trip to Goodwill. I also took down my old Handi Quilter frame in my old office, in preparation for delivery of my new Handi Quilter Moxie on Friday.
I wanted to make room on some shelves in my old office, so I got rid of a bunch of stamping magazines, and moved a bunch of stuff to shelves in my bedroom.
Here is my room cleared out for my new machine.
I started putting my frame together. I had a minor hitch when I discovered putting the tracks on, that I had put the wrong screws in the cross members. I should have put flat head screws in, and the ones I put in were sticking up too much to allow the tracks to lay flat, but I got that straightened out. Everything came in pieces, but there are excellent instructions included, plus an app called BILT that shows you how to do things. It says 2 people can put it together in 1 hour. I have already spent about 3 hours working on it, but that is OK. It will get done when it gets done.
Friday I had the pleasure of getting together with 5 other ladies for one of the mini groups in the guild. We just brought our own projects to work on for 4 hours plus the lunches we brought. I had to leave an hour early as my Moxie was due to be delivered. But I had a great time!
Granddaughter Kyleigh's college swim team won in the first meet since January 2020. She finished first in both the 100 backstroke and 100 individual medley and second place in the 50 butterfly.