Saturday, November 27, 2021

Slow Sunday Stitching

Another busy week has passed by.  I spent the first part of the week shopping and preparing for Thanksgiving.  Wednesday was spent cleaning the house, and making pies.  The apple I made this year was said to be the best anyone has ever tasted in their life.  It was a Dutch Apple Pie, and can be found here.     I usually cook the turkey in the BBQ, and my son-in-law John gave me his old BBQ.  I went to change the tank of propane but could not unscrew it, it was on tight.  So I used a wrench and apparently separated the screw on part for the valve thing.  I ended up driving around town multiple times to find a hose/regulator that worked, and returned parts.  My painter guy who finished painting my chimney took my old one home, and apparently had an old BBQ with a part he could use, and it worked perfectly for cooking the turkey.    We have cooked our turkey in the BBQ probably for 30-35 years, and I really didn't want to change the tradition.  

We had a good Thanksgiving, although somewhat reduced.  John-John, my youngest grandson tested positive for Covid on Monday, so their family did not come, and were sorely missed.  Daughter Kristen wanted to take her family pictures for her Christmas cards so lots of pictures were taken while I was still finishing up the meal.  Kyleigh's boyfriend Andrew and Jaeger's girlfriend Cali also joined us.




After everyone went home, I took leftovers to Katie and her family.  Then today, because they didn't get much pumpkin pie, I made another small one for them and took it over, plus some deviled eggs I had not finished on Thanksgiving.




 

The past few days I have had a few dinners out with Kristen's family, Andrew and Cali.  Last night we went to a Japanese Hibachi type restaurant where they cook it in front of you.  What a delicious meal!  Kyleigh flew back to Boston last night at midnight.  Tonight was Jaeger's last night at home, and we took him up to a place up the street from me, with Andrew and his girlfriend Cali that does really good burgers.  

Kyleigh's roommate Mallytza asked if I would make her a pillow with their picture on it, so I made one before Kyleigh left yesterday.  When she got it today she was thrilled!  I printed their picture on a pre-treated silk sheet that will go through the printer, that  I generally use for images for my crazy quilting.  


My tradition has been to start putting up Christmas decorations the day after Thanksgiving.  Kyleigh usually decorates the tree, and Jaeger helps me get my tables set up to put up my Christmas village houses.   This year I will be decorating mostly by myself, but Jaeger and Cali today did help me get my boxes down from upstairs.   I will get the decorations down, and go get his brother Keaton later this week to help me put them back upstairs.  He will also crawl under the tables to plug in all the houses.  John-John was looking forward to helping me this year, but I guess it will be next year.  

Right now I have Christmas houses all over my kitchen, and nutcrackers all over the dining room tables.  Tomorrow I will start arranging everything.

What I will be doing this week for Slow Sunday Stitching is putting the binding on this Christmas quilt for my sister.  I hope to get this done before the end of the week because this was my one monthly goal.  


I'll be linking up at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.  Head on over and check out what everyone is up to.  

Thanks for stopping by!

Saturday, November 20, 2021

Slow Sunday Stitching

 Another busy week has flown by.  Tuesday would have been our 46th anniversary.  My girls, son-in-law and 3 grandchildren took me out to dinner that night.  We had an excellent dinner at Carmelita's, a family owned Mexican restaurant we have been going to since we moved here 43 years ago.    




Wednesday was quilt guild, and they had a Quilt's of Valor presentation to 9 individuals which was very touching.  

Then a couple of appointments like getting my teeth cleaned, and a bone density scan.  

I had a surprise package this week from an internet group of quilters I belong to.  They put together this comfort quilt when John passed away.  It is just beautiful.


There were a couple more cute pictures of Rigby this week.  He is at the stage he is teething now, and keeps on chewing on everything, including my arm at one point.  He looks so innocent here.  He's become a little butterball though!  



I did finish a couple of Ella Maria Deacon blocks this week.  I did this one over because it didn't sit flat.  It's a little better this time.   The one on the top is the redo.  


I got these blocks done also.  The bottom one is a broderie perse.



I also finished up this Kathy Schmitz embroidery I had started awhile ago.  



For Slow Sunday Stitching this week, I have two projects to work on, neither of which I have started yet.  One another Ella Maria block, and the other a Kathy Schmitz embroidery.  




I'll be 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!

Sunday, November 14, 2021

No Ring November Mug Rug Blog Hop, My Day

 


Today is the start of the No Ring November Mug Rug Blog Hop.  Many thanks to Carla @ Creatin in the Sticks for another fun blog hop!   The entire schedule for the hop is listed below.

When I was first thinking about what to make, I decided I wanted to use my embroidery machine to make some motifs and make them into mug rugs or snack mats.  I remembered I had stitched one out last year, and decided I didn't like it.  I pulled it out, and I couldn't remember what was wrong with it, and just folded over the back to make a binding.  One tiny UFO out of my long list!  In this picture the sashing looks a little wonky, maybe that was what the problem was.  Last year, before Thanksgiving, my husband took a downhill turn, and I wasn't able finish what I wanted to for Christmas.  I like making little items to put in the stockings.  



Next, on Pinterest I had found a motif I loved.  My daughter Katie loves owls, and I found one similar to this one.  So I went shopping around for motifs and found one with the same saying on it.  One of the places I find my embroidery motifs is at Embroidery Library.    I also had some owl fabric left from a project and used that as a backing.  I did the quilting in the background.  




Katie and the kids came over on Veteran's day, the next day, and I couldn't resist giving it to her.  She told me I had made her one last year with an owl on it.  I told her she was REALLY going to love this one, and she did!

She even took a picture on her desk at work!  


The next mug rug/snack mat I made was for my stepdaughter Dawn.  Dawn loves sea turtles, so I found a line drawing of a turtle and appliqued this one.  I had some leftover turtle fabric from a pillow I had made her for her birthday so I used that for the back.  




The last one I made was a gnome.  I have been on a gnome kick lately.  In all the years I have had embroidery machines, I have never done an embroidery/applique one. I have always avoided them, but wanted to learn.  I know that Accuquilt has some embroidery for their applique dies, and I wanted to know how to make them.  So I watched some videos, and this is my first one.   This is more of a snack mat size.  



Be sure and check out the other bloggers for this hop below.  And again, thanks so much Carla@ Creatin in the Sticks, this was fun, and I learned a few things too!

Saturday, November 13, 2021

Slow Sunday Stitching

It has been another whirlwind week for me.  I did get my parts for the Handi Quilter Moxie on Friday, but unfortunately they sent the wrong sized cord.  So I will have to talk to them again on Monday.  

Grandson Keaton was promised when his brother went to college, he would be able to get a pug.  They already had 3 dogs, but he was promised a pug when he was the only child at home.  They have been looking for a pug, and he finally got a pug puppy this week named Rigby.  He is so cute, and I got to meet my new grand-puppy this week.




Wednesday I got together with with 7 single ladies from the quilt guild for lunch, all widows.  We had a really nice lunch at an Italian restaurant I had never heard of.  Unfortunately I made a poor choice.  I got a Caesar salad, which was fine, but then I got an Italian sandwich.  I get migraines, and tend to stay away from meat with nitrites in them, as they cause migraines.  Well I had a migraine all afternoon after that.

That night I had recovered and daughter Kristen, her husband Jeff, and Keaton took me to a Mexican dinner, with ice cream afterwards.  

Friday morning I had a meeting with a mini group from the quilt guild and was able to get some of my Ella Maria Deacon blocks done.  



For my Slow Sunday Stitching this week, I will be working on this block and prepping some more blocks.  


I will be linking up at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.  I will be heading over and checking out what everyone has been up to.

The other thing I have been working on this week is my project for the No Ring November Mug Rug Blog Hop which starts on Monday, and also happens to be my day.

Thanks for stopping by!  


Saturday, November 06, 2021

Slow Sunday Stitching

It's been another busy week, a lot of driving around.  Monday I went out to Lowe's looking for the paint cards for Bonnie Hunter's mystery starting the day after Thanksgiving called Rhododendron Trail.   I ended up going to two Lowe's to get 4 cards!  This is the first year I haven't met other quilters at the paint chip section.  

My son-in-law John needed a ride to the airport really early on Thursday morning, so I was at their house at 4:45 am.  I don't usually use an alarm, I just wake up.  But I was worried about not waking up, so tried to set an alarm on my I-phone for 3:45.  First they wanted you to sign into a Health app, and told me I was not getting enough sleep.  I finally set an alarm on my I-pad but was worried about missing it, so I was awake off and on most of the night.  That day I tried to nap, but not able to.  Got a headache, and sort of felt like a zombie the rest of the day.

Meanwhile this week, I got most of a quilt quilted on my new Handi Quilter Moxie but then something got stuck, and I yanked the carriage, and did this.  I am holding a cable that attaches to the back of the machine, and hooks into one of the stitch controllers on the back of the machine.  I apparently sheered off the connection, so I am currently awaiting a new cord and stitch regulator.  I need to figure out what keeps getting caught on the back of the table so I don't do this again.


Meanwhile I have been a chauffer for grandson John this week.  Apparently someone at Adventure Club (after school program) tested positive for COVID.  Because Klara had COVID earlier this year, she got to still attend Adventure Club.  Because John didn't, he could go to school, but not Adventure Club before he got tested again.  So I had to pick him up after school two days and drop him off at home.  

My old Bernina was finally finished with its servicing after 6 weeks, and I was able to bring it home again.  This is the one I like to quilt on.  I decided that since the Moxie was out of commission, and since I had signed up for another machine quilting class next year, I needed to graduate from the one I started last Fall.  This was the Free Motion Academy by HollyAnne Knight @String and Story.com.   I was supposed to graduate last December, but John started going downhill last November, then had all the therapies coming in, and it just didn't get done.  I had planned to graduate in the Spring class, but that didn't happen either, and then John passed away and I couldn't even think about it.

I plan to graduate with this fall cohort.  The two requirements for graduation are a sampler with the 30 motifs quilted on.  The other requirement is a whole cloth quilt, the size of a FQ.  My sampler had 25 motifs stitched on it.  So I spent the week watching the last 5 videos again, spent time doodling them, practice stitching them, and then stitched them on my sampler.  Now all I have to do is figure out what I'm going to do on my whole cloth quilt.  




My daughter and tall grandson Keaton came to take me to dinner tonight, so I had him hold it up so I could get a better picture outside.  

I have signed up for a class by Karlee Porter early next year on Graffiti Quilting and want to have graduated from the Free Motion Academy.  

What I will be working on for my Slow Sunday Stitching is stitching the binding down on my sampler quilt.  I will be linking up at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.  Head on over and see what everyone has been up to!

Thanks for stopping by!