Just trying to rev up my blues. I have a light blue scrap bucket and a dark blue scrap bucket. So finding blue shouldn’t be a problem. I sewed 3 split nine blocks, cut pieces for 1 more and also for some zipper blocks. I’m mixing dark and light in my blocks.
I started stitching the June design on Woven Wreaths. I like this watering can with baby’s breath in it. The little bee is a tiny stitch. But Kathy has some great tips in her YouTube tutorial for completing the bee. I’ll get him done today, or finish him tomorrow while watching CBS Sunday Morning. I want to look at the tutorial one more time before doing the bee.
I caught whatever it was that Mr. Busy had last week. I call it a summer cold. Headache, runny nose, some aches and pains that are relieved by Tylenol. And a scratchy throat that feels better when I drink my Hot Spiced Tea. I used to call it Russian Tea, but now it’s just Spiced Tea. 🫖 So not much was accomplished, but I got several naps! 💤
I don’t add sugar at all. I like the pucker of the lemonade flavor. When this recipe was given to me you could buy Wyler’s Lemonade in packets like KoolAid. Now I buy a canister of CountryTime Lemonade and a canister of Tang and just make a batch at a time.
I had a “finally finished”this week! I turned a UFO into a shower curtain. Some of you who follow my blog read about it on Wednesday. Some of you may have only heard about it. It was an OMG project for several months.
If you are interested in more detail, here is a link to my Midweek Makers post!
It’s funny to me, that when I showed fellow quilter friends this top, the reactions were lukewarm! “Well, that’s interesting!” And “ hmmmm, where did you get that pattern?” I really hadn’t had an idea where it was going to go at the time, so it when in the to be finished closet. I liked and still do. When we redid the shower in our front bathroom , I decided to get rid of the fishing theme. Rainbows, Be Kind, Positive Attitudes was my thought process. I thought of this quilt. And so it is done! I linking up with Alycia at Alycia Quilts for Finished or Not Friday!
I’d already saved this cute meme from Sweatpants and Coffee, before I read LeeAnna prompt for today!
Guess great minds think alike .
From LeeAnna:
when you have free time, do you feel the need to constantly "DO" something? Is rest considered wasting time? How do you spend some free time and how would you like to spend free time .
I do have a bit of that need to DO something. But I try to take time for some self care. That’s usually a book, printed or e-book, and a drink. Tea or coffee, lemonade or maybe a Moscow Mule or maybe a Mojito!
The only thing that would make that better would be if it happened on a white sand beach.
Other Stuff:
It’s Spring! Guess how I know?
Beyond the tree line, is McNanneman Lake. The geese are here year round.
I count 4 adult geese and at least 20 goslings!
More wildlife. This spider on the front porch railing. As I bent over to take his picture, he jumped to the nearby baluster! Needless to say , I screamed. I’m not usually afraid of spiders, but he was about the size of my thumbnail and he/she startled me.
I found this on Facebook! I thought it was worth sharing.
We watch this on Netflix recently. I recommend it.
And Tuesday night started this series . On Netflix also!
It stars Matt Bomer ( oh my, is he pretty!) 🤩and Tim DeKay. It ran for 6 seasons from 2009 to 2014!
You might remember Matt from Magic Mike . He also starred in All my Children . I’ll close with the following!
I’ve had several blogger friends ask me how I made a quilt top/flimsy into a shower curtain. I’m going to attempt to explain. If you are not interested, feel free to exit out and go on to the next maker
First, of course, decide which of your UFO tops you will use. I chose a top I made from a QAL called 30 Blocks in 30 Days.
Then comes measurements. Is the original wide enough for the opening in your shower?
There was a lot of trial and error for us because we had our original tub/ shower combination taken out and a new step in shower installed. I opted for a curved shower rod installed at a custom height. Because Mr Busy is tall, the shower head is higher than normal and therefore the rod is higher.
This is just to see where I needed to make adjustments. It’s clipped to hangers!
I started with a clear plastic liner from Amazon. It is 72x78. That gave me a starting point. I needed to add borders to the sides to begin. I divided the width difference in half, added seam allowances and added the borders. I knew I was going to have to add to the length, but I needed to wait until it was hanging to determine that length.
I made a liner from a piece of muslin I had. You could use any plain light colored fabric. I measured again! Always measure twice ( or more ) cut once! Then sewed the backing(lining) at the sides only. The liner was longer than needed but that gave me some leeway.
I pressed the seams to the main curtain. Trimmed the top edges even. I cut strips of Stitch Witchery at 3 inches by the width and fused the muslin back to the quilt top. This reinforced the top edge for grommets. You could also do buttonholes. I added a narrow binding at the top using a light gray fabric. The color is personal preference. You do you! I chose to use a 1.75” strip and attach per Edyta Sitar’s method. You can find a video on Fat Quarter Shops YouTube channel or search Edyta Sitar Laundry Basket Quilts.
Oh yippee, I think I was able to insert it here! 😀
Next step was to insert the grommets. I was able to find chrome 3/4” grommets at Hobby Lobby. I knew I needed twelve, to match the purchased liner. I measured and marked the grommet location to match the liner. With Mr Busy’s help I got them installed. I measured 1” down from the binding edge. This gave a bit more above the grommets, and changed the total length needed a bit.
At this point it was more trial and error. I now needed to add 4” at the bottom of the original quilt top. I cut border rectangles at 6” in colors that coordinated with the flimsy. I calculated 4” + 1/2”for seam allowance + 1 1/2” for a hem. I didn’t have to match seams, I just made it long enough. I hemmed the curtain by pressing up 1/2” then 1 inch. I machine stitched it down. I cut the lining a bit shorter and used an overlocking stitch on my machine to finish the edge. I had to unstitch the side seam about 2 inches. The muslin lining hangs loose at the bottom. To finish, I top- stitched the side edges so they have a crisp edge.
I know this is wordy, I hope you get the idea. This is by no means the only way to do this. I just did it one step at a time. I’m pleased with the way it turned out!
Our bathroom is small. Our house was built in 1978.
I hung this wall hanging above the towel rack to the left of the shower. I think it compliments curtain.
Starting a new month and a new color. I’m anxious to sew blues. There was a chuck of blue added to the bottom hem piece that needs to be added to the quilty shower curtain. I’ll eventually get it totally done and then will try to write a step by step. I’ve had some questions about the method to my madness!
Today is my brother’s birthday. He’s the only one of the four of us who has a summer birthday. The only one who is left handed and the only one of us who didn’t wear glasses in elementary school. So interesting I think!
And tomorrow Mr. Busy and I celebrate our 60th Wedding Anniversary!
We were so young! Our bridesmaids wore blue, there were blue gladiolus decorating the church.
Sooo, I’m ready to sew blue! The blue scrap baskets are on the cutting table.
Or more precisely, one project for two different memes!
I enjoy participating in The Joyful Quilter’s Monthly Table Scraps Challenge and Alycia Quilt’s weekly Finished or Not Friday.
May’s RSC color was pink. As I have all year, I sewed scraps of the monthly color, sometimes my scraps used a pattern, sometimes into crumb blocks. Using Joyful’s theme prompt Kentucky Derby, I struggled. My pinks went together slowly. No photos, I was struggling. I’m a city girl. I’ve never liked horses! Some girls go through a horse phase around 8-12 yo. Not me. They frightened me! But, I like hats! 👒 I considered a big floppy girly hat. That would have been awesome if I lived on the East Coast and there was a possibility of attending the Kentucky Derby! But I live in Wyoming! A cowboy hat would have been wrong, so I appliqued a Derby shape on my table topper. I quilted a 1 inch grid diagonally, zigzaged the brown derbies and bound it with the same fabric as the back. Done!
The derby is a image from the internet.
And so I have a finish. A pink crumb table topper with brown derbies will be used on my side table this summer.
Today is our youngest granddaughter’s 31st birthday! How can that be. I remember the day she was born like it was yesterday!
She’s the beauty on the left, sharing a Maple Creamy with a friend. Or an ice cream cone if you’re not from Vermont!
This week has been meh! as far as creativity goes. I’ve been working on May’s pink Kentucky Derby Table Scraps Challenge. I’ll post it tomorrow.
Mr Busy’s been suffering from some sort of virus/ head cold/ sinus something! The Covid test was negative, so that’s good.
I’m still reading Covenant of Water on my Kindle App. It is so well written. Such a good story of life in India in the early 1900s. I’m only at 69%, so I’m not sure how the story continues! But I’m enjoying it!
We watched the first 4 episodes of Season 3 of Bridgerton! Now we wait til June 13 th for more.
Even a wallflower can bloom!
**************************** LeeAnnas prompt!
in honor of Memorial Day culture... not the actual meaning mind you...
Memorial day is the opening of pools, summer and wearing white pants
do you look forward to wearing white pants? Do you own any? Shorts capris, dress pants or jeans? Did you ever have a favorite pair for instance?
hip hugger cut offs with frayed cuffs?
I love white pants for summer. I have a couple of white capris. One of linen, more dressy. I don’t wear shorts, haven’t for years! My sister and I had a favorite white jean from Lee. They had side elastic in the waist. Good for waistlines that varied from month to month. LOL! Lee doesn’t make them any more. I’m on the lookout for a great pair of white jeans!
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I’m off to our local library for a morning of stitching with friends.
