I’m Still Here

I have been under the weather for a little while now. I didn’t feel well when I got back from Houston, but I kept pushing myself until I couldn’t push any farther. I finally gave up and went to bed. After a few days of sleep, I feel pretty good again! I still need to get my energy back, but it will happen little by little.

Right now, I am trying to get caught up with the customer quilts. I got this one quilted and bound. 

And then, I finished these two. 

I need to keep the pedal to the metal until I get caught up. I got another quilt put on the frame before I left yesterday, and I’ll get it knocked out today, I hope. I have a lot of laundry and housework that needs to be done too. I am behind on everything.

The quilt Betty and I put in the church auction sold for $950. We were happy about that and ready to start on next year’s. The small pinwheel 

sold for $240. 

I went to the orthopedic doctor last week to see about getting another steroid shot in my hand. The trigger finger is still acting up. He wouldn’t give me another shot and said I need surgery to correct the tendon. I didn’t schedule it and told him I need to think about it. I guess if it gets worse I’ll have to do it, but I’m hoping I won’t have to. 

Donations for Church Festival

I have been working on things that can be sold at our church festival. I already showed a picture of the quilt I donated for the live auction.

 I actually donated another smaller one, it’s around 55” square. 

We also have a silent auction, which will have a Christmas section this year. I donated some items for that. 

The church is a snow globe and it lights up. The little tree also lights up. I will be interested to see how it does. 

Of course, I had some requests of things to make for the craft sale. I already posted some of that, but here’s the latest box I took. 

In this box were 25 crocheted dish clothes, 18 crocheted scrubbies, 

four baked potato bags, and 13 potholders. I still have one more table runner to make, and then I am done for the year. I had people requesting the dish cloths and scrubbies, so I made quite a few. My right hand is paying the price for that, and I will need to take a slight break from crocheting. 

Back Home

I’m back from my Houston trip, and it’s nice to be home again! It’s only about 120 miles from my house to downtown Houston, but it feels like a whole other world.

We went to the quilt show each day, so we were inside the George R. Brown building all day each day, immersed in a world of quilts and quilt-related products. There were over 250 vendors, most selling all sorts of sewing and quilting things, and a few selling miscellaneous things like tee shirts and massage pillows. 

I already forgot how many quilts were on display, but it was around a thousand. (Edit: I just looked it up, and it says over 1,300.) 

I took pictures of quite a few quilts, but I won’t post many here as you can find them online. Here are a few of my faves:

I didn’t get the info on this one….it was an award winner. The Innova award for contemporary artistry. 

We took a day to look at the quilts and a day to shop the vendor booths.

I was able to get the shop hop blocks….there were only eight this year. The finished quilt was hanging in one of the booths. 

The colors aren’t quite accurate in the picture. It has more of a purple tint to it. 

I also bought two quilt kits that I fell in love with.

Also, a few fat quarters and some miscellaneous notions. I don’t know when I’ll get the kits made, but I already started the shop hop blocks. 

Our hotel was a few blocks from the convention center, so we were able to walk back and forth. By the end of the day, I was just brain dead, and the short walk felt good.

Pink Quilts

I’m happy to say I got these three done:

I did the quilting and the binding on all three. The top one has been on my to-do list for a while, and I have several more to do for this customer.

I have been so overwhelmed lately; I’m in one of those cycles where I have more to do than time in the day to do it. I did get all the placemats dropped off at Meals on Wheels. 

They were happy to get them, and that’s one thing off my list. I have a few more guild things to attend to, but it will have to wait until next week or the week after. I am leaving for Houston tomorrow to attend the international quilt festival. Betty and I have a hotel reserved close to George R. Brown. We met yesterday to finalize who is bringing what—we are both getting excited. We stay in a hotel with a complimentary breakfast, and we both bring easy supper foods to share like salads or sandwiches. That way, we only have to buy lunches, and it keeps the cost down for both of us. I didn’t realize how much I was looking forward to the trip until we started talking about the logistics. When I get back, I have a long line of quilts to finish for other people, and I want to take a couple of my quilts to Yorktown to enter in the Western Days quilt show. My mom has scheduled herself for a surgery in Sugarland on the 14th, and I will need to take her and bring her home the next day. I truly need more hours in my days.

More Progress

I’m so happy I got the Boys of the Bible completely finished, binding and all. 

It’s so large I couldn’t get a very good picture of it. It is 106” x 110”. Betty and I took it to my church yesterday, and I filled out the paper to get it in the live auction. I hope it does well! I thought I had taken a picture of the back, but I must be mistaken about that. Oh well. 

I have 93 placemats ready to donate to Meals on Wheels. I am scheduled to take them tomorrow. 

They were made by quilt guild members, and I think we did well on how many we got made. 

Today I am taking my stepdad to Corpus Christi to a VA appointment. I’m still not clear on why he can’t do it here; sometimes I think he just accepts whatever they tell him and doesn’t push back much. It will be a long day for both of us I think.

Tuesday Newsday

Okay, the title is corny, but it rhymes! Sometimes coming up with a post title is the hardest part. I worked several hours at Connie’s shop on Saturday sewing poppy blocks. 

Poppy Challenge - 12 Hour - In Store 

I worked until my back started hurting—there were 9 or 10 of us there, and we got close to 100 blocks done. I think I went home around 5pm. That was enough for me! 

I got a cortisone shot in my hand about three weeks ago, and I have been crocheting a lot since I’m no longer in pain.

The orthopedist set up an appointment to come back in 30 days “just in case”. At the rate I am going, I will definitely need another shot. I wish the shots didn’t hurt so much! Anyway, we have our fall festival at church in October, and I had some requests for dish cloths and dish scrubbies. Here are some of the dish cloths I have made:

I have been taking yarn and a hook everywhere I go, and I think I have misplaced a few of them, but I think they will turn up eventually. I had a doctor appointment yesterday, and while I was in the exam room waiting for the doctor, I was able to do four or five rows. I am enjoying filling the time that I would normally be scrolling through my phone. 

I also had a request for the dish scrubbies. Somebody just shoot me. They are not fun. I have made six so far. 

The tulle doesn’t slip, like the yarn, and I ended up tugging on it a lot. It’s not relaxing at all. I have found I can get three scrubbies from one spool of tulle. 

I’m still working on binding quilts during my regular work hours. I have gotten a few done and should be able to get some pictures soon.

Here’s a random thought: I get reels that come through my feed on Facebook and TicToc of large women stuffing themselves with high calorie foods. I mean they are cramming big bites into their mouths and chewing while they look into the camera. Is this a trend now? Does anyone else find it repulsive? I mean, this is unhealthy behavior—why are we glorifying it? If you know why this is becoming popular, please let me know because I don’t get it. 

Charity Quilting

We had a quilt guild meeting Thursday. Actually, there was no meeting or program scheduled, but we already had the meeting place reserved, and we had planned to make it an open sew, work on what you want day. Connie (the shop owner who is collecting quilts for the Central Texas flood victims) called someone in the guild and asked if we could help with binding the quilts they are sending. Yes! We picked up what she had and were finished by around 1:00 pm. Here is a small stack that was finished when I took the picture.

I took one unfinished one home to work on and finished it up yesterday. 

It has signature blocks in it: 

Yes, it does say 2013.....I have some opinions about that, but I will try and keep them to myself. I am going over to Connie's shop later today to help put some of the poppy blocks together. I have some grandkid stuff going on, so I can't do all day, but I'm sure even a couple of hours will help. 

Oh! The weatherman didn't tell us the truth this week. We were supposed to get a cool front, but as far as I can tell, it didn't happen. When I got up yesterday at 5:00 am, it was 74, not 69, and by mid-afternoon, it was in the 90's. 

Any cool weather would be a relief. We did get some rain Wednesday and early Thursday, so I will have to be satisfied with that. 

I started the quilting on the Boys of the Bible quilt that I want to donate for the church auction. 

It is absolutely huge! The masculine colors are nice for a change. I also got a pile of binding made!

The shorter pieces are for potholders. 

Now I am going to pat myself on the back a little. I finally figured out how to remove the “Samsung” watermark from my phone camera! It had showed up during on the many updates they push, and I hadn’t taken the time to look around in the camera app and see where it was hiding. I finally found it and got if turned off. Here’s a pic with no watermark:

My elderly boy. ❤️🐕‍🦺 Don’t you love the senior dogs? 

Block of the Month

I signed up recently for the Two Chicks Quilt Shop block of the month. They had posted this ad on Facebook. 

I prepaid for everything and was able to pick mine up on Saturday. It has all the fabric and the instructions. 

The solid black is the background fabric. There’s supposed to be a monthly tutorial on Facebook, but it got delayed this month, and unfortunately, the instructions don’t tell you enough information. I already have 2-1/2 yards of that border print in my stash. 

I’m a sucker for a good border print, and I will buy a couple of yards of any that I like. They make great borders for panels! I was anxious to get started, and wondered what would happen in I used my border print with only two colors plus a black background. I bought two yards of this print about a year ago, but didn’t have anything in mind to use it for. 

I decided on turquoise and lime green for my other two colors. I pulled out some things I thought would work.

I ended up deciding on the two darker ones. I decided I would do my own thing using their twelve blocks and my fabrics and see what happens. I am interested to see if I like my version better or the Two Chicks version better. Here’s my first block:

Once they post the video tutorial, I will make that one with their fabrics.