It’s Been a Minute

Once again, I haven’t posted in a week. It seems like the time gets away from me, and then it’s too late or I’m too tired. I probably need to manage my time better, but maybe most people feel that way. I’ve been trying to get ready for my trip, and I finally sat down Friday and reread the email they sent me about the longarm training. I had read it when I got it about a month ago, and I think I missed the part about needing to bring four quilt tops plus batting and backing with me! Oops! There are specific size requirements for the tops, and luckily for me they’re not too big. I got busy yesterday and got two done.

I have the third started, and I’ll finish it after church today, and hopefully the fourth. I had hoped to do some major cleaning on the house, but it’s not going to happen. I need to block out a day when I get back and get it done. 

Here’s some good news. I took my last antibiotic yesterday, and I am feeling a lot better. I just don’t recover as quickly as I used to. More good news is that we had a nice rain yesterday. I haven’t checked the rain gauge, but it should have been at least an inch if not more. 

We had a sew day Wednesday for quilt guild. We call it “Brontë Bee”, and it’s when we get together to work on items we’ll sell at our Sampler Store. Wednesday’s theme was kitchen and here’s some of the things we made.

I had to leave early to pick up Roger from school, but I did get a casserole-sized hot pad done. 

The back is denim. I’m hoping to make a few more, but then again, time is always a factor. There are so many things I want to do, and I have all the materials and the ability, but time is limited. I did get a couple of customer quilts finished, but I still need to get the binding put on them. 

I may be able to get a post done this week, but I’m not sure. I’ll have my iPad with me, so it’s possible. Have a wonderful week!

Two Customer Quilts Done

 It seemed like this week was really looong, but the weekend is finally here. Even better, we got about half of inch of rain yesterday. It’s not a lot, but we’ll take anything we can get. I managed to get a couple of customer quilts done this week. 

I used the champagne bubbles quilt design in ivory thread. I don’t know what the quilt pattern is—does anyone else think it looks like PacMan? 

This one is a New York Beauty.

I’m pretty sure the border is an original design. It’s really creative. I used gray thread and basket weave quilting design. The quilting returned out good, and I think it enhances the quilt. 

I came home yesterday and took about a two-hour nap, so I’m evidently still run down. I’m trying to take care of myself and get plenty of rest. I’m not too good about that, but I’m trying! I’ve been getting a little behind on my customer work, and I don’t know when I will be able to catch up. I have a busy week coming up, and I am flying to Utah on the 20th for a week-long longarm boot camp class. I’ve already made kennel arrangements for the dog, and I just need to get myself rested up and psyched up!

Have a wonderful weekend!

I’m Still Here

I have been trying to get a blog post written for almost a week, but I haven’t felt well enough, and to be honest, I haven’t done much that would be worth blogging about. I have been having persistent headaches for a couple of months now, almost daily. I also have been having pain in my right ear. I went to my doctor who prescribed an antibiotic and referred me to an ENT. It took two months to get into see the ENT, but I finally got there on Tuesday. It turns out I now have two ear infections, and one has moved into my inner ear. He prescribed two more antibiotics, and the oral one makes me nauseous. I don’t like the nausea, but I don’t want to quit taking it because I want this infection cleared up. 

In spite of all that, I managed to complete my Walk Across Texas challenge. 

I believe our team finished in third place, although I’m not sure since I missed the wrap-up ceremony last night. 

I haven’t been doing much sewing, but I did convince myself I needed to do something, so I got out some panels I had bought and put borders on this one.

It’s not a lot, but it’s something. Once it’s quilted, it will get donated somewhere, probably to the silent auction at our church festival. I got two customer quilts done this week; I’ll get them trimmed tomorrow and get some pictures taken. 

A Couple More

I posted a top Wednesday that I had enlarged and said I was working on the second one. I got it done yesterday. 

It finished at 65” x 76” so it can be used a Day 1 Graduation Project donation.

It had started out pretty small, about 45” x 56”. 

I just about made myself crazy trying to find a dark pink that would match the one I had already used. The one I finally found is not an  exact match, but it’s pretty close. The final border is really wide, but it’s a really pretty print with all the right colors in it. 

I finished quilting a quilt for Betty. 

She said it was a free pattern she found “somewhere”. She is supposed to bring me a copy, and I’ll see if I can find it online and share it here. It’s a really cool pattern.

That’s about all I’ve gotten done. Yesterday was my birthday, and this crew took me out to lunch:

Tonight I am going out with friends, so the celebration continues. 

Productivity

Some days I’m really productive, and other times I feel like I’m doing good to get the bed made and the breakfast dishes cleaned up. Not much got done Monday, although I did get groceries bought and cooked a meal for the kids. That was about it! Yesterday everything sort of fell into place, and I got a lot done. I did the binding on two customer quilts. This is a Christmas panel.

 

And, here’s another Christmas panel. 

I love the fabric she used on the back. According to the selvedge, it’s a Michael Miller print called Scarlet Poinsettia. 

I posted this quilt top (actually two tops) earlier this month.,

I had decided to combine them into one quilt top and add a border. Here’s the result.

I know the border looks sort of gray in the picture, but it’s actually a black and white bubble print. 

I can’t seem to get a good picture of it, but I like it a lot. I also don’t remember the final size. LOL. I’ll edit the post later with the size. EDIT: The size is 66" x 83"

I have another one I started enlarging, but I didn’t get finished. Maybe today if I’m lucky, and if the productive streak continues. Have a good day wherever you are reading this! 

What I’ve Been Working On

I’m making a little progress considering I haven’t had much sewing time. I had the guild workshop on Tuesday and Wednesday, and that threw a kink in things even though I enjoyed it! I worked at night on appliquéing the centers. I used to do a lot of needle-turn applique, but I haven’t done any lately. 

Let’s just say it was awkward! My middle finger is still giving me a lot of grief, but I used a thimble and tried to do more pushing with the thimble instead of pulling with my fingers and thumb. I really wish I could capture the colors in these blocks—they’re really pretty. 

Other than that, I got a few customer quilts finished. I did this one last week, but I think I forgot to post a picture. I did the quilting and the binding. Super cute panel!

I also finished two jelly roll races. 

They are both Kaffe fabrics and are the same size, so sort of twins, just not identical in color. 

I quilted two more, but I don’t have the binding on yet; I hope to get it finished today and tomorrow. 

Scrappy Saturday

I’m still working on my reds. It’s interesting that I don’t have as many red scraps, and red is my favorite color. I’m not cutting up yardage; just trying to use smaller chunks and strips. I have plenty of fat quarters, but I don’t plan to cut them as there are many Villa Rosa patterns for fat quarters. So, I’m just using the odds and ends for now. It’s not like I’ll ever use them all!

Anyway, I got a couple of the big stars pieced.

This one was a dark red—almost a maroon:

It’s not my favorite, but variety is good. I really like the brighter reds. 

I feel like I haven’t gotten many reds done, and the month is almost over. I am hoping to get some more of these done this weekend:

I have the strips cut—I just need to sit down and get it done.

Someone sent me a great video. https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Hx6VRX9sfk0.  

This guy operates his sewing machine by pedaling a bicycle. I was trying to mentally calculate how many calories I could burn this way. LOL. He actually has a website to sell the things he makes. Check it out if you have a minute. It’s very short.