As Always, I've Got Things Going!

 So, this has been a very busy couple of months.  We decided to move my quilting area into the cellar back when I decided to buy a new frame for Phoebe.  We had a Gree mini split put in for heating especially in the winter months. Summer, the cellar is cool on its own.  My husband put in a partial floor for the frame and we have worked on covering the unfinished ceiling, a barrier between the insulation and us.  There have been some small issues that needed attending as well.  We will probably continue to move things around and clear out other stuff.  Phoebe is settled onto her new frame and I don't think I could be happier with everything thus far.

Meanwhile, I also have done a little sewing because I needed something to wear to my nephew's wedding coming up next weekend.  I haven't made any clothing in years, so this is an experience,  I've been watching some sewing and fitting videos I purchased a few years back and they have been an awesome help.  I have been working on pants.  I don't think they have ever been easier to fit.  How much I never learned even though I used to make all my clothes.  Internet is wonderful!!

I have found my creativity has sharpened over the last couple of months.  I really want to get to quilting.  Not only with Phoebe, but return to FMQ on my sewing machine.  I have all kinds of ideas.  I have a tone of beautiful threads I'd like to play with and small FMQ projects will be fun.  I also have a lot of quilt tips that need quilting. And I have enough fabric to last me long after I die.  I want to do a little hand quilting of orphan blocks.  And I find my head wonders though different scrap quilts.  I'm rarely ever bored. 

 Still counting my Blessings!

d

This was written back in June and I didn't get back until today.  I do love my quilting, sewing, knitting, space in the cellar.  Nothing eye catching, but I love it anyway,  Christmas is next Monday.  I love journaling...I need to add this to my To Do list and get back to it.  I do keep a written journal of my "making".  So, after the holidays, I need to come back here again soon.  It will be noted on my desk.  By the way, the Gree works great!!

I love counting my Blessings!

d

Finished Quilt...Great Day!!

I started this quilt in the winter of 2013/14.  It is hand pieced because I like handwork.  I finally quilted it on Phoebe a month or two ago.  I've been enjoying looking at it, but finally wanted it done. Well, here it is... 

I've just been calling it "Hexi Quilt".

62" x 60"

I love it!! it is so bright and cheery.  Love walking into a room and seeing it, it is so cheery!  I washed it and hung it on the line.  It is a perfect day for line drying a quilt, about 75 degrees and very dry still.  Maybe I'll call this my "Oh, Happy Day" quilt.😊

I'm also moving my studio into the cellar.  We installed a heating system down there a couple of weeks ago so that it will heat or dehumidify the area.  I love working down there, so I'm very happy.  I'm pretty tired from moving stuff, but I'm almost there,  

 

Also bought a new frame for Phoebe.  It is basically the same thing,  but I'll be able to adjust the height in years to come if I cannot work standing at it.  It's also a little longer so I can do a queen size quilt if I should choose to do so.  This frame also has a hard surface for quilting with pantographs.  Not really interested in using them, but I thought it would be convenient when pinning a quilt on the frame.  I haven't set it up yet.  This is not a finished space, but I don't care.  So looking forward to this summer down there.

Still counting my blessings,

d

Mid March

We are already mid March.  We've had snow finally, but nothing that has lasted long.  March is wonderful like that.  Today's a beautiful day with lots of sun and almost 60 degrees.  No complaints here. 

As usual, I've been keeping busy.  I have finished my Goldfinch block from Hummingbird Highway and followed it with a Cedar Waxwing. The second one was more difficult that the other birds, but I finished it.

Hummingbird-Highway.com designed.

Rainbows, God made, are frequent visitors in my studio this time of year.

I have been working on a project I started in 2021.  I was also working on My Scrappy Star at the time.  I was hoping that I could work on both, one in the morning, one in the evening, but that just didn't work.  So Scrappy Stars won out.  This quilt I'm working on now is a Dear Jane Quilt using Electric Quilt's Dear Jane software.  I've hand pieced challenging blocks, paper pieced anything I can, and hand appliqued whatever is necessary.  All has been aided by the use of EQ8.  I love this software for a number of reasons.  I love designing my own quilts and other times I'm just trying to get an idea that is in my head into a size that will fit on Phoebe.  The widest I can do is 72", then any height of my choosing,  it depends on the purpose or the person for whom it is intended. So my Dear Jane Quilt has almost three rows of 4 1/2" blocks complete.  I should be able to finish the block that completes row 3 tomorrow.  I'm psyched. This quilt has 13 rows of 13 blocks.  It will take some time...there are some tricky blocks in it.  Because of limited space on my frame, I'm not doing the border Jane A. Stickle designed to go on it. This is the quilt, at this time, minus one completed block.

This is a screen shot on EQ's grid, but block pictures are of the blocks I actually made.  

Many of the blocks are foundation pieced, which I really like, but I'm still having directional difficulties. Each block feels like a major accomplishment!  I also am having a great time picking out my fabrics from a stash of my own scraps gathered through the years.  I love working with colors and picking out the combinations.  I have enjoyed that since I was a very little girl using 8 Crayola crayons.  That's what making a quilts is all about for me.  I enjoy designing my own, but the best part is always picking the colors.  So every day is an adventure in color.

I also have my hand pieced "Scrappi Hexi" on the frame.  I hope to have it done very soon.  I hand pieced this top back in 2013 when I fell and injured my shoulder.  I used a die cutter to cut all the hexagons from my personal scrap stash.  I'll post a picture when I have finished it.

I will have more pictures coming as I finish projects.

Still counting my blessings,

d

Okay, I Hadn't Finished

 or proof read this last post.  I didn't sign it either.  Old age is creeping in, not much I can do about that!  I will say, as I write I'm thinking of all of you that mean the most to me:

Michael

Mike, Josh, Ben, Dan, Jen

Meg, Jenn, Gayla, Michelle, Mark

Bryson, Ashley, Anna, Nora, Jonny, Jessie, Adia, Riley

Counting my blessings,

Love,

Dianne, Mom, Grams

It Has Been a Long Haul!

I can't believe it is almost the end of 2022.  It all just feels long.  Always a threat of COVID and someone that wants you to worry about it.  I'm not much for worrying; it drains me.  But there has always been someone to tell me that I should be worried.  "Worried" keeps me in.  I don't want to be worried.  Even now there is someone telling me that COVID is out and about and groups are catching it. 

 COVID changed the things I was doing.  In the beginning I chose to do things differently.  I chose to put aside my quilting a little concerned that I might just get bored with it.  I want to settle my Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) choices and prepare for my final days.  That got done and it was an incredible journey.  I'm so glad I did that.  It took almost a year to complete, but I wasn't going anywhere any way. 

Come 2022 I needed to find something to do.  The obvious answer was Quilting, but I just wasn't drawn back to it.  I eventually picked up embroidery.  My first piece was a pincushion; I've always enjoyed making pin cushions.  I chose a pattern that caught my eye. What would we do if we couldn't search the internet!  I chose to use a neutral linen and black embroidery floss.  This is a Kathy Schmitz pattern from her website; you can search for her online.  My pin cushi0n is sitting on Rachel, my 1924 Singer Red Eye.  This is a working treadle machine.  I learned to sew on an electrified machine just like this back in the 1960s.  I was 14 years old.  I had been hand stitching for 9 years along with knitting.

• 

 Kathy Schmitz pattern

My eye also catch Sue Spargo Embroidery and enjoyed that as well.  This is one of her patterns that I altered a little, then made it into a pin cushion also.  It was a Christmas gift I gave a friend.  You can also find Sue Spargo on line.

Sue Spargo pattern.

My next show and tell took almost 30 years to complete.  I purchased this pattern in 1985-86.  I completed half of the counted cross stitch back then.  I put it away carefully back then and pulled it out about 8 years ago so that I would remember that I needed to finish it.  I really enjoyed finishing it off.  I haven't worked on a counted cross stitch in years.  

look up

This is what I'm working on presently.  It's a block of the month project that I found in the back of a quilting magazine from a couple of years ago.  e years.  The robin was the first that I did and the          is the second bird I received was         .  This Bom has 36 different birds over 3 years of which I have completed 8 birds. I started in the spring about a year ago with the goal of 20 birds to make a quilt 72" x 72" or just abit under.  My quilt frame is only 8'.  As I work I will decide whether or not to make it bigger.  I chose to do all of the piecing by hand rather than by machine.  It is so relaxing to work on it.  I expect I will finish of the quilt top with the machine though.

 

Robin

 

 

                            Scissor-tailed Flycatcher                                

 Joan Ford's Hummingbird-Highway.com

I first saw this quilt in a Better Homes and Gardens quilt publication in 1985; I no long own that book so I cant give you information about it, but it was red work with green sashing, tied  with no hand quilting.  I can't remember when I started working on it, but it was years later.  I had the little top finished for years.  My grandson's and his girl friend decided to get a cat, that was when I knew what I would finally do with it. I put it on my frame and the quilt was complete in 2 weeks!  She received it for Christmas 2022. 

This block was my own design.  The back of the quilt is 

similar style cardinals and candy canes I bought years ago

for $2 a yard.  It was always planned to be the backing.

Final project for this posting.  I saw this pattern on eBay.  I bid on this top, but didn't win it.  That didn't change the fact that I really loved this version of Grandmother's Garden.  I took out my die cutter and hexigon die and scraps from my stash of the 8 color crayon box from childhood and cut tons of hexigons.

In 2013 I felt and injured my shoulder and couldn't knit that winter, so I hand pieced this little quilt.  I put a green 1/2" border then a brown gingham bordered, even after looking at it I still didn't like it.  I replaced it just a couple of weeks ago (Jan. 2023) and like it so much better.  This will be put on my Phoebe soon and finished.  So looking forward to working on it as the warmed weather rolls around since Phoebe is in a very cool place in the winter.