Slow Stitching Sunday

Hello, this my first time linking up with Slow Stitching Sunday! I’ve been doing lots of hand embroidery lately. This piece is from Jenny of Elefantz from 2018. It's her Year in the Garden BOM. You can see I did not stay caught up, but my philosophy is ...April comes around again!!

It looks like I am just about out of green DMC #989 but have plenty of #988. Not much difference that I can tell.  I am using what I have for this project. Even the fabric to make it into a quilt, eventually,  is from my stash!  Hooray for me!

Several friends meet every Thursday to stitch, visit and share. We are lucky enough to have a well lit room in our local Catholic school, available to use.
This isn’t the only hand stitching project I have in the works! I’ll show another next week.
Thanks for this opportunity to share my slow stitching.


Stay Busy and Stay Happy

Week #4 - Red Saturday

I love seeing all the red blocks. I am especially drawn to the red Tiny Tuesday blocks. I waffled back and forth about whether to join in with Tiny Tuesday and finally just decided I had "too many irons in the fire" as my Dad used to say!  I will follow along though. They are so cute!

My red blocks have grown to 4  larger Bow Tie blocks, following the diagram and probable layout from Cynthia at Quilting is More Fun Than Housework.  I downloaded this diagram before Craftsy did it's thing.  You can go to her blog site and check out her patterns for sale. And there are lots of options to other bow tie blocks on Pinterest and all over the internet! I have a sort of plan for the bow tie blocks, I'll keep you posted.

Sprout blocks are out there too!  They have been on my radar for the last year of so. Traceyjay Quilts did a fabulous sprout quilt for her friend. Check out her blog too!  She has a link to a graphic on Flicker.     Sprout block mini tutorial here.  Or if you are really clever, you could probably draft one up on your own with graph paper and a photo. My blocks are 2.5" unfinished because I have a ton of those cut already! They end up being,  6.5" by 13.5" unfinished.

So today, my plan is to continue to work on the quilt for my sister. Mr Busy and I are going to an RV show and vendor sale and maybe he'll take me to lunch. A girl can always hope!!

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

I'll be linking up with So Scrappy Saturday at soscrappy
and Oh Scrap at Quilting Is More Fun Than Housework tomorrow.

January's OMG is done....Plus!

Now the rest of the year will follow!

My goal was to have a decision made on the blocks for my Temperature quilt and to have the 1st 21 days of January constructed and sewn into a row!.  That is done.......

I do have one little problem. I am using Weatherunderground as my information source. On Wednesday and Thursday of this week, we got some snow and it got really cold. On Thursday I was anxious to get a few more blocks made, so I checked the previous day’s data earlier than normal. I recorded the high as 21 and the low as 6.  When I looked again , Thursday night at 10 pm, when my alert came up on my Ipad the high was 30 and the low 18.  Quite a difference!!  I guess I’ll go back to checking it only at 10pm...staying consistent. Has any one else experienced this?


I have also been working on a comfort quilt for my sister. It is going really well. Some of you may remember that my sister lost her husband in late October of 2018. I knew I wanted to make her a quilt, but the holidays slowed me down. Lots of other things took precedence.  Then Friday, she was diagnosed with lung cancer. Can you say"WTHeck!!!".  You would think that the news would have kicked me in the pants to get it done, but the first few days I was just too sad and too depressed to sew. I have made some progress in the last few days. Half of the blocks are done and the other half are cut and laid out on a sheet pan!  :)  I bought 2 pkg of oven liners, due to their larger size. These blocks are 12.5 X 16.5 unfinished.

 Pardon my messy space.  Seems like I just move it from one section of the room to another. My sister calls it "stirring your stuff"!

That is all for now. I am linking up with:

Myra at Busy Hands Quilts, Finished or Not Friday!
and Patty at Elm Street Quilts,  OMG Finish Link Up.


Stay Busy and Stay Happy

The Month is More Than Half Over!

I may have over done it!

Here it is the 17th of the month! Half way through January and I still need to at least start on my APQ UFO  #3, the quilt for my sister.
I have yet to make a RED anything for RSC 2019. I finally did cut some red scraps. I need 4.5" squares for my Bow Tie Blocks.I have 3 done. And 2.5" squares for the Scrappy Sprout Block. They are staged on my small design board.

I thought I had lots of red 2.5" squares, but I did not have much variety. Some of these will be switched with more I am cutting from 2 1/2" strips.



And my OMG, Temperature quilt was lacking!  Mr Busy did get a piece of lumber cut and he helped me install a temporary design wall in the hall just outside my sewing room. I found some light gray flannel on sale at JoAnns so it wasn't too expensive. I can leave it up all year and still have my regular design wall in my room. It's not pretty, but serviceable. The pink sticky notes are the dates.

The poor photo will just have to do. This wall is in my basement hall. The only light is the wall sconce you see in the upper right and the light from my sewing room behind the camera. I am thinking of using a portable lamp for future photos.

So now I am almost caught up. I have a reminder set to 10PM on my iPad to record the high and low temperature from the previous day. I have found that the low can change from the forecasted low in my area. I have an iNumbers chart  and then I re-record it onto a calendar I printed to keep in the Temp Quilt Folder. That probably seems like over kill..but that is my M.O.  Too much is always better than not enough!  My 13 day strip is looking pretty "blah" , lots of the same fabrics for days in a row.  One below zero day, the 1st of January!  See the lavender in the bottom left!

Mr Busy and I have been working on a small kitchen redo project. He painted while I was at my retreat last week and started to install some vinyl squares as a back splash.

 I have been promised a new stove and microwave, just waiting for them to go on sale or at least have 11% back at Menard's. Should have bought it during the holidays, but company and too many "other" projects kept that from happening!  I am patient, it will happen!

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

ps:  I'll be linking this post up to Finished or Not Friday, because they are definitely NOT FINISHED!
                                    and Can I Get A Whoop Whoop, because somethings got started!

Back on Track after a Week of Absence

On Wednesday, the 3rd of January  we left early morning to drive to Lakewood/Denver for a quick visit with our daughter and son. Our son was spending New Year's with his sister, and so it was a great reason to drive down to see him for the holidays. He lives in Phoenix and has kids and grandkids there so he rarely comes North for Christmas. We had a wonderful visit!. We ate wonderful food, walked the lovely area of Belmar and even went to see Aquaman at a great theater.

Now we are home and I must get busy working on my challenges.

1. My OMG goal is here and I need to cut some rectangles. I have been recording the highs and lows on my iPad by logging on to WeatherUndergound while we were away. I still am not sure if I will use the highs and the lows for each day or just the highs?  ps:  This photo is just the Highs for the first 6 days.

And this photo shows added 2" squares (unf) for the lows. Which do you like better? Of course the lows will be attached to the "high" row! Not much variety in January temperatures yet!

I am participating in Twiddletails Temperature Quilt Along. See this post.


2. APQ UFO Challenge selected #3.  On my list, #3 is a comfort quilt for my sister. Some of you may remember she lost her husband in late October, so it is time to get this completed and gifted to her. I have a pattern in mind and most of the fabric purchased. So cut and sew is on my agenda this week.
I am attending an "in town" retreat Wed - Friday this week. We will sew from 9am to 9pm is we are able, we can leave our machines at the library and then go home to sleep in our own beds.
 



        We had a great time:  I almost finished this table runner from a gifted kit several years ago. It needs a good pressing and the horizontal borders added. Then it will be ready to be quilted and set aside for next holiday season.

         I also got all the blocks sewn together from my 30 Blocks in 30 Days Quilt Along last year at Creatin' in the Sticks.

3. My local quilt group starts their annual UFO challenge the 3rd Sunday in January, so I picked projects for that list.

4. And, I always have my reading challenge on Goodreads. I had a goal of 30 for 2018 and only read 26 books. This year I will try to read 24 books. I should be able to do 2 per month!


Finally, I will complete the "putting away of Christmas"  The totes are packed and labeled. The quilts, table runners, coasters, pillows  etc are stacked and the tree is naked, waiting for Mr Busy to bring the box in from the garage and help me pack it away. Today for sure!!!!!



So you know what I always say:

Stay Busy and Stay Happy

2019 One Monthly Goal January

January  OMG 


I've decided to do a temperature quilt for 2019. I have been following Patty’s progress on her hexagon temperature quilt. So a month or so ago I downloaded weather underground and started using it to record the current highs for my area. Then I set about deciding on fabric. And temperature ranges. I downloaded a chart I found on the internet, and decided on a 5 degree range. My ongoing goal is to use my stash and so I picked fabrics from my stash and scrap bins.

Then I made this storyboard. I still had not decided on a block or block size.

Now it is January and I need to get my plan in order.  That is my OMG..... make a decision on the block size, high and low for each day or just the high,and begin. Additionally to  have 21 blocks made by end of January. 

I found a Temperature Quilt Along on Twiddletails.   I have joined Anina and have downloaded a paper chart for fabric selection. It will be a better option than my storyboard for saving after 2019. 

You can follow along too or better yet, join the fun!  It's not too late. There is a button on my sideboard. 

Stay Busy and Stay Happy