Saturday, September 04, 2021

Slow Sunday Stitching

 Another busy week has gone by.   Granddaughter Kyleigh and Jeff made it back to Boston, with stops at Yellowstone and Mount Rushmore along the way.  They did get to see a buffalo this time around.  




I drove Kristen to the airport on Thursday, where she joined them to help Kyleigh moving into her dorm.  Meanwhile I am providing Keaton with meals, and giving him rides home from school after water polo.  

Keaton and I went out to the Farmer's Market and swap meet this morning.  I was able to find my special ingredient herbs for my potato salad.  I have not been out there in a number of years, but was running out of my special ingredient.  They had two rows of vintage cars which we enjoyed looking at.  I had hoped to eat at a favorite Mexican restaurant I used to enjoy, but apparently they aren't there anymore.  


Sunday night I plan to make a seafood chowder and focaccia bread for Keaton and I.  

This week I was able to get my tea towel finished, and I have been working on a couple of secret projects by hand.  



For Slow Sunday Stitching this week, I will continue working on my secret projects.  I will be linking up with Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts.  Head on over and see what everyone has been up to.

This week I picked my three sunflowers I had grown from seed.  The big ones are 7 inches across.  


In this part of my garden I have these two Amaranth plants growing out of my bricks.  The little pot to the left has my morning glories I got blossoms on this week, growing them from seed.  Off to the right of the large Amaranth, I have a miniature lemon tree that is about 2 feet tall, but is chock full of lemons!  Hard to believe.  


This week I made a small move of a side table from out in the other room, to right where I sit and stitch.  John built this for me long ago, it has a nice large surface, and is solid oak.  It also houses all my bead collection in the drawers.  It makes me happy to have moved it, and my stuff isn't falling off the table all the time.  Yes we have a lot of movies.  John liked to collect them.  This whole 10 foot wall is lined with movies behind the sofa, going up to the ceiling.  



Daughter Katie told me about Cinderella which is now showing on Amazon Prime if you get that.  Cinderella is one of my favorite fairy tales.  And it is free with Prime.  


I am really enjoying this musical.  It has contemporary music.  So far I have heard Perfect, Material Girls, and a tune by Queen.  

Last week Kristen, Keaton and I rented the musical In the Heights, and it was also very good.  We love musicals!  

That's all for this week.  Thanks for stopping by!  

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Friday, September 03, 2021

One Monthly Goal, September

 


It's time for the link-up for September's One Monthly Goal @Elm Street Quilts.  

My goal for September is to finish my project for the I'm Falling For You Blog Hop coming up in a couple of weeks hosted by Joan @Moosestash Quilting.  


Right now, I have pieces of one of my projects together.  


So my One Monthly Goal is to finish my I'm Falling For Your projects.   Linking up One Monthly Goal @Elm Street Quilts.    Many thanks to Patty and all she does for this monthly motivation.  

Thanks for stopping by!  

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Saturday, August 28, 2021

Slow Sunday Stitching

It's been another busy week this week.  It was daughter Katie's BD on the 24th and I fixed some salads for her lunch, and cupcakes.  When it is my family's BD, I usually try to find some old pictures and post them.  I was going through these pictures last Sunday and found these.  I was looking for the chocolate face one.  This was her first birthday, chocolate cake and she dipped her hands in the icing and wiped it all over her face and hair.  She usually needed a bath or a cleanup after she ate!








I also was asked to take grandson Keaton to the orthodontist to get his braces off, what a handsome guy, but I may be a little bit prejudiced!  I asked him if he had combed his hair, it looked a little scruffy.   When he got back in the car for me to take him to school, he checked out his hair and admitted he had just rushed down for me to pick him up and take to the orthodontist.  


The other thing I did this week was send off the Llama quilt for my friend's baby Jack.  I asked that she take some pictures of the baby on the quilt.   In the one, he looks like he is looking right at his name and the llama.  He is two weeks old.  



What I will be working on this week on Slow Sunday Stitching will be either of these two embroidery projects.  The chicken one I started briefly while John was in the hospital.  I came across it today while trying to straighten up my sewing room.    The other is one of Kathy Schmitz's designs from the One Stitch at a Time Embroidery Club.  




I will be linking up at Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.  Head on over and check out what everyone has been up to!  

Thanks so much for stopping by!  


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Friday, August 27, 2021

One Monthly Goal, August

 


My One Monthly Goal for August was to finish a quilt for my brother Bill, whose birthday was August 1st.  I stated my goal in this post.    

I had tried to get it done before his birthday but due to a nasty cold (not COVID) I got slowed down.  Then my Juki that I use on my quilt frame decided to have tension problems that I couldn't resolve,  so I free motion quilted the remaining on my Bernina.

I'm happy to say I achieved my goal, and finished the quilt, and Bill has received it.  I tried to practice different FMQ motifs on the whales and boats and I did waves around the sashings which were a little wonky.  







My brother Bill and SIL Char came up in June and put in a new kitchen floor for me.  This is the picture we had then.  They live in Southern California, and I live in Northern, so we typically get to see each other if possible once a year.  

My brother was born when I was 10 years old, and I took care of him from the time he was born.   I tried to find a poem or something appropriate to put on the label and I finally came up with one.  



I will be linking up One Monthly Goal at Elm Street Quilts.    Thanks so much to Patty and all she does, and for this monthly motivation!

Thanks so much for stopping by!


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Saturday, August 21, 2021

Slow Sunday Stitching, Busy Week

This has been quite a busy week for me.  I have been taxiing my family to and from the airport.  Daughter Kristen and husband Jeff came back from New Mexico on Monday after seeing grandson Jaeger off to college, and getting him settled.  

Tuesday was granddaughter Kyleigh's 21st birthday.  I usually post a couple of pictures on my family's BD, and the first two that jumped out at me were pictures of John and Kyleigh when she was a baby.   I found these two of John and they brought tears to my eyes.  Apparently it did to my other family members also.  





One of my favorites of Kyleigh and I.  

That night we all went to Cheesecake Factory to celebrate her birthday.  


Thursday we were back to the airport, dropping off Kristen, Kyleigh and Jeff for a little adventure to celebrate her 21st birthday.  I am picking them up Sunday morning.  





While they were gone, grandson Keaton and I enjoyed some yummy soups I made.  Today we had Award Winning Cheeseburger Soup.  Yesterday I made Creamy Chicken Gnocchi Soup  an Olive Garden Copycat recipe.  Keaton loves soup as much as I do.  When his mother flies to Boston in a couple of weeks to get Kyleigh settled in school we plan to enjoy a couple of more.  

Other than providing transportation and making sure Keaton had some meals this week, I finished my brother Bill's quilt binding and sent it off to him, and he loved it.  



Bill loved the detail in the quilting of the whales and ships.  


The other thing I did this week was to make this llama quilt for a friend from work who just had her first baby.  Her mother, who is supervisor of nurses in Home Health, raises alpaca and llamas, so I thought they would like this.  


I cut out the baby's name with my Cricut using infusible ink.  It came out pretty nice.  This is what I will be doing for my Slow Sunday Stitching this week, sewing down the binding.  I will be linking up with Kathy's Quilts for Slow Sunday Stitching.    Head on over and check out what everyone is working on this week.  

Thanks so much for stopping by!  



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Sunday, August 15, 2021

Orange You Glad Blog Hop Starts Today, My Day




When the fabulous Carla @Creatin in the Sticks  announced the Orange You Glad Blog Hop, I was excited to participate.  The color orange reminds me of the fruit, but more than that, it reminds me of the fall, and pumpkins and falling leaves.  I had a number of ideas floating through my mind with pumpkins and leaves.  I looked on Pinterest a bit.   I ended up purchasing a table runner pattern from The Dutch Quilter on Etsy called Falling Leaves.   I decided instead of making a table runner, I was going to use her beautiful leaf templates to make a fall pillow cover.  

One day I decided to go check out a quilt shop I had heard about, that was down the street from my son-in-law's used car lot in Lincoln, CA called Sew Katie Jean to look for some oranges.  I found some beauties, and the lady checking me out pointed out that there was a quilt panel with sunflowers and pumpkins in it.   I love sunflowers and pumpkins, and it didn't take much for a squirrel to convince me to purchase the panel too.  

I designed a pillow cover with a pumpkin in it, and I cut out a sunflower from another fabric and did a sort of broderie perse.  I used some of the leaf templates from the falling leaves pattern.  

Front 


                            Back


I was going to do a simple cross-hatch for the front of the pillow, but got carried away practicing my free motion quilting.  




After this, that squirrel convinced me I need to work on the beautiful sunflower panel.  I just put a couple of simple borders on, because I wanted to use those leaf templates along the borders.   I didn't have time to quilt it yet.  I will put in the details of the leaves when I quilt it.  I am going to use this piece to practice my free motion skills again.

On my design floor.


And Outside


Thanks for stopping by, and thanks so much to Carla @Creatin in the Sticks  for another great hop.  The full schedule is below.  Be sure and check out the other bloggers below.  

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Saturday, August 14, 2021

Slow Sunday Stitching

It was a week chock full of activities and get-togethers with friends and family.  It started last Saturday with a brunch with grandson Jaeger who was leaving for college in New Mexico the next day.  We got some pictures back at the house after brunch.  I'm going to miss him terribly.  He is the one I call when I need help moving something, or other things.  Always so willing to help.  I made him some cookies for the road trip.  




The next day Jaeger and his dad left on the road trip back to New Mexico, with a stop at Universal Studios and the Grand Canyon before heading to New Mexico.  This way Jaeger will have his car to get around while there.  


Early in the week I spent repotting some plants.  I was looking in a cupboard I keep soil and other planting items to see if I had any succulent soil, which I didn't.  I was trying to stuff everything back in the cupboard and scraped my arm against the rough edge of the door.  I have a tendency to get this purple spots instead of bruises now, and my skin is really thing.  I had just gotten all my purple spots almost all gone when this happened.  My skin actually peeled back about 3/4 inches.  When I soaked it with cold water it was excruciatingly painful.  I put the skin back in place, and have had it under a bandage ever since, checking it everyday.  




This week I spent quilting my brother Bill's quilt.  I am working on the binding now, and this will be working on this for Slow Sunday Stitching hosted by Kathy at Kathy's Quilts.   Be sure and check out what everyone is working on!  



Thursday was a busy day.  I was having Kristen and granddaughter Kyleigh to lunch with BLT's  and fresh peach ice cream.  I had an appointment to get my hearing aids cleaned and wanted to have everything prepped before I had my 9 am appointment.  I got to my appointment and realized I hadn't even put my hearing aids in my ears.  I was so embarrassed by my hearing aid specialist said it was no problem.  I needed to have my hearing checked again anyway.  I have needed hearing aids for about 2 years.  They were 1 year past their usefulness.  I inquired about new ones, and she asked if I had an AARP card, which I had just gotten several weeks before.  Anyway AARP had a significant discount, $2,200 for the state of the art hearing aids.  They will play the telephone ringing in my ears when it it rings, I can also listen to audio books and my music.  I asked if they could be fitted by 10:00 when I had to leave, and she said it was possible.  So I ended up getting new ones.  They have a few problems, but they set me up for another appointment in the coming week.  

I got back home in time for Kristen and Kyleigh arriving for our BLAT (bacon, lettuce, tomato and avocado) sandwiches with fresh peach ice cream for dessert.  We all had to leave at 2, Kyleigh for work, and I took Kristen to the airport to fly to New Mexico.  Kristen and Jeff like to get the kids set up for college each year, get them set up with snacks, a small frig and and anything else they might need.  

Also this week, I found out that the appraisal of my house came out even better than I thought it would, and I was so thrilled.  I am getting a reverse mortgage.  I have a lot of equity in my house after living here for 43 years, so it makes sense for me.  I really don't want to move, and without having to pay my house payment anymore I can live here quite comfortably, plus I will be able to put on a new roof and some other improvements.  

Friday I had brunch with a friend, and then headed over to a Sewing and Quilting Trade show that I had bought discount tickets for.  I bought a few items for my secret pal at Christmas.  The big highlight of my day was that there was a vender that had a Handiquilter Moxie which I got to test drive.  I love it, and have been wanting one ever since they came out.  After I get my roof fixed, and things get settled I plan to purchase one.  When Handiquilter first came on the market years ago, John got me the first model which were tracks that you taped to a board.  The board I clamped to a banquet table.  It came with a carriage that went across the tracks.  This was before Handiquilter came out with the Sweet Sixteen.  I got a Juki at that time and have been using this set-up.  The trouble is that I have to twist my head around to see what I am sewing.  Anyway I am really looking forward to getting the Handiquilter Moxie.  When John was in the hospital at the beginning I went in to see him, and I told him I had been moving furniture around to clean the living room where his hospital bed was located.  He inquired if I had gone ahead and gotten the quilting machine, which I hadn't.  I was just giving his room a thorough cleaning so that it would cut down on the dust, and hopefully his asthma.  

Friday night I made a pan of cheese enchiladas and took over to Kyleigh and Keaton, along with some Rice Krispie treats.  

Friday I also spent a lot of time trying to line up a sprinkler repair guy.  I don't think I have a problem with a sprinkler head, but think it is one of the pipes underneath the ground.  There is water I think soaking into my neighbor's yard.  Apparently sprinkler repair guys are booked out 2 weeks.  I finally was able to locate someone to come out on Monday.  I turned off the sprinklers in that location but it is still oozing.  

Saturday night I took Keaton to Red Robin which we used to go to all the time.  I am so clueless, I ordered a Wedgie burger.  A Wedgie burger is a burger that uses lettuce as the bun.  It was okay, I probably didn't need the bread anyway, but they had some really good zucchini fries.    After dropping off Keaton and coming back home, the temperature was still 104 degrees.  It has been in the 100's all this week.  I try to get my gardening done first thing in the morning, otherwise it is impossible.  

I have 2 Amaranth plants growing out of my brick patio.  My naked ladies have also been in bloom, the pink flowers.  






As a reminder, the Orange You Glad Blog Hop starts Monday, which also happens to be my day.  This is hosted by Carla @ Creatin in the Sticks.   Hope you can stop by.  




Thanks for stopping by!



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Friday, August 06, 2021

Orange You Glad Blog Hop Coming Soon

 


The Orange You Glad Blog Hop is coming up August 16-19th, hosted by the fabulous Carla @ Creatin in the Sticks.  My day is August 16.  The schedule is below.    Can't wait to see what everyone is working on!  






Thanks for stopping by!

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Wednesday, August 04, 2021

One Monthly Goal, August

 


It's time to link up One Monthly Goal for August @Elm Street Quilts.  I continue to appreciate this monthly motivation and all that Patty does!  

My One Monthly Goal for August is to finish quilting this quilt for my brother Bill's BD which was August 1st.  My quilting frame/machine set up was having issues and I had a cold which set me back for a week.  So I am FMQ on my Bernina.  

My goal is to finish this quilt and get it mailed  out.   This is how far I am on it.  


I will be linking up at Elm Street Quilts, One Monthly Goal.  

Thanks for stopping by!

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