A Baby Shower, Popcorn and a Handy Tip

We hosted a baby shower for our Pastor's wife here at the house on Saturday. It was a glorious occasion, well-attended and the Mom-to-be was showered indeed! Their little one will be warm, cozy and well dressed for the foreseeable future!

Naturally, I was especially touched to see her receive three handmade quilts! A beautiful string quilt that is meant to serve as a play mat for tummy-time and dragging around, as directed by its maker.

A sweet flannel quilt; oh, so warm and cozy.

I made her a pinwheel quilt from the scraps left over from their wedding quilt four years ago. That quilt had some rose-tones and pinks in it, which I pulled out since the baby is a boy. If they have a girl sometime in the future I can make her a pillow, perhaps a small one, as that bin of leftovers is almost depleted now! There were so many lovely gifts; handmade bibs which I need to see if I can get the pattern for and a gorgeous hand-knitted blanket.

Sew, what else have I been up to? I will report back as there are a few surprises that I can't reveal right now but "Sew Berry Sweet" is loaded on the longarm. This top was made using the Hex N More ruler back in 2018, it was offered as a block-of-the-month at our LQS. It's been hanging in the stash closet for the last eight years and I finally got around to getting a backing fabric and moving it to the the front of the TBQ* line. I deliberated for days on end as to how I would quilt it. I drew up elaborate custom quilting designs and finally decided to ditch those plans and quilt it with the Popcorn pantograph from Willow Leaf Designs. I'm happy with the results, I believe that this is a whimsical and fun design and the popcorn only adds to the fun!

This is my Bernina 125 Activa machine that I take on quilting retreats. It's a perfect portable machine,but as you can see the "case" that it came with is nothing more than a glorified dust cover. It has pockets on either end for the power cord and foot pedal. Very basic and it isn't protected all that well for travel. 

So, I  had seen on Instagram that Trader Joe's had these insulated cooler bags in for the summer months at the almost unheard of price of $8.99. They were being touted as the perfect size to hold, and protect, a sewing machine. I ran by there to today to check it out.

Yes, one followed me home. Does it fit? Like. A. Glove.

Perfection!

I don't know how they can make these and sell them for $8.99

(it seems like I'd have that much invested after buying just the zipper)!

You're welcome. 

Life is Good!

*TBQ = to be quilted

February~ Come and Gone!!

Out with the snowmen, it's February; love and hearts have replaced them on the tabletops and kitchen windowsill! 

And yet, while all of that is true, here is the greater question:

Thank you so much, blogger friends and those in real life who've reached out to inquire about my whereabouts and well-being. I'm fine, just as busy as I've ever been. I had taken on quite a few outside longarm commitments over the past few weeks; those, along with regular day-to-day activities have pretty much taken every free minute and run out the clock on February. Whew! Of course, that didn't stop me from starting a few projects of my own...

... as well as a new set of Lenten paraments for church. If anyone reading this has experience with sewing paraments or vestments let me know. I have questions for you!

I got a this bitty cross stitch piece bordered with all the best intentions to make a seasonal pillow but the backing/stuffing part still hasn't happened and this cutie remains one dimensional, I need to finish it for next year now. 

This little hanging is now 25 years old; made by a dear friend who's since passed away. She made one of these for every month of the year, they hang in the kitchen window as a reminder of our friendship over all these many the years. 💗

And just like that this month has all but passed and spring is knocking LOUDLY at the door! Augie is now sixteen months old and the absolute perfect companion. I'm going to TRY to be better about posting here, I seem to have gotten out of the habit, time to get back in the swing of things!

SEW, what's new with you?

Life is Good!

Stitching Kindness

I finally completed the quilting on the "Gratitude" quilt; the name seems appropriate for an almost-Thanksgiving finish! It's been on the rails since I broke my wrist at the end of August! Moving on...

This is my version of Susan Ache's "Stitching Kindness", a sew-along from last year. Incorporating a red/white strawberry print for the border and backing, it was a natural to choose a pantograph with strawberries and leaves for the quilting design, I love the result!

Isn't it sweet? 

The affirming words are all hand embroidered and the block fabrics were all from the stash!

I've moved on this week to quilting up this Mosaic quilt for a friend. The pattern is a free download here. I just love her rich, earthy batik selections; don't you? It's a great fall quilt.

Life is Good!

Making Lemonade

I'm looking on the bright side these days; if I didn't, the whole situation of living in a construction zone would drive me over the edge. I knew that I had to shift the focus to that which I could change for the better. As someone who craves order and tidiness I am faced daily with my biggest enemies: disorder, clutter, chaos and dust; piles and piles of it! My challenge is to deal with all of the above and make constructive use of this current state of our home! When the new drawers were installed, including the one that would house our silverware, Mr. G. had already outfitted that one with custom dividers, I no longer needed the cutlery insert that I'd had before! Hmmm... I thought... would it fit in the top drawer of my cutting island where I keep thread? Would it EVER!! Not only did it fit nicely but the sections were the perfect size for my small spools to be arranged by color. No more rolling around and getting mixed up with each other every time I opened and closed that drawer! SCORE! My next victory is with spices, extracts and baking supplies. Since all of the cabinets that contained those have been removed, I am now intimately acquainted with each and every bottle and tin that we have. Those that were old, dusty and of unknown origin have all been discarded, as have multiples of the same item! Now to separate those remaining into like categories and alphabetize them before they're restocked; this will be a HUGE (much needed) accomplishment! Likewise all of the no longer useful and questionable cleaning supplies that had been stored beneath where the kitchen sink used to be: gone, gone, and gone! Getting that future space under control in a neat and orderly way will be a breeze now!

We've gone from left photo to the right one this week, the backsplash has already been removed and the wall resurfaced; fingers crossed that all of the new cabinetry will be installed this weekend.

While Mr. G is working on the kitchen re-do and I've done as much as I can on that front, I've been escaping to the sewing room and a precious scrappy quilt loaded for clamshell quilting. A friend brought this to me, it has such a wonderful story: her mother had begun piecing this before she was diagnosed with a fast moving illness that ultimately took her life, it was out of the blue and completely unexpected. Following her death the unfinished quilt top sat for a long time until recently, her father picked it up and finished piecing it! It's huge: 96" X 102", entirely made up of three inch squares; yep, that's 1,088 scraps of love! My friend wanted double batting for a weightier, more substantial quilt. Sew it goes, this is destined to become a treasured family heirloom. 

Augie's been hanging out with me while I quilt lately, the sewing room is a peaceful place for him too. We're rising to the current challenges by squeezing lemonade out of the "lemons" that our construction zone has presented and making the best of it. Someone asked me the other day if this wasn't worse than moving; "no, not at all" I answered, emphatically, "I don't ever plan to move again, if I can help it! When this is over, and the dust settles, it will all be wonderful" (and tidy and better organized than it was before!). 

In the meantime, I'm enjoying the laundry room not only for doing up the dishes by hand 

but even for plugging in the crock pot for tonight's dinner. It's all good!

Life is Good! 

It's March...

... and it's coming in like a lamb here today; what's the weather like where you are? Up at my Mom and Dad's in New Hampshire they're buried under snow with more forecast to fall on Saturday. My Dad loves it but my Mom has had enough already! Speaking of my parents, today is their 71st wedding anniversary! 

This picture was taken a while ago, but you can see how cute they are! Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad!

The rest of this post is going to be one of massive catch-up; there's a lot less time devoted here with a new puppy in the house, but I'm going to try to do better this month. I was lucky enough to go on a weekend retreat at this fabulous facility a few weeks ago. 

I got all of these string pieced blocks done while there and am auditioning inner borders, that's as far as I've gotten; this beauty remains on the design wall while other sewing is going on. 

I covered a kneeler cushion for church, there was a big strip of high density foam rubber to trim up for this job. 

As you can see, the hunk that fell on the floor, the excess, was immediately claimed! "What, for me? Oh, yes, I like it, it's very comfy!" He used it for a couple of days to rest on, I'll need to make a cover for this soon as he began a little nibbling of the corners and I've taken it up until I can get to that task. He'll be delighted to get it back. 

I've got five blocks done for the Cream and Sugar BOM, these measure 20" square.

I quilted up the above two quilts for friends, they were both great quilts to work on; bright and happy!

Again, that hunk o' foam was well loved during naptimes under the longarm while I worked.

Sometimes when I can't find Augie I catch him hiding right in the basket with his toys!

Yes, this catch-up post was one that's gone straight to the dogs! Augie is 21 weeks old today, he just completed a six week course on Puppy Manners and Socialization and will  start Beginner One Obedience Training in April; wish us luck!

 

Take time to smell the flowers today, wherever you are! 

I'll be back again soon. 

Life is Good!

Red Letter Day!

Another day, another flimsy; no, actually it's a day to celebrate: here's "Red Letter Day", a completed quilt top at long last! I'd been very, very far behind on this block-of-the-month. This one took some full speed concentration and focused effort but, today, it's together and there's no looking back. 

This applique block brings me joy- I fussy cut that circle from a charm square, it appears to be a fluffy dandelion gone to seed. Isn't it cute?

I've got a LOT of reds left over that are destined to become something else, I'll run them through the die cutter and store the pieces for another quilt, another day.  

Another reason to celebrate today: baby bluebirds growing up, growing feathers and thriving; all thanks to that electrified bird house pole! I'm thrilled to check on them daily and have this first family to fledge soon, it's been over a year since that's occurred here. 

Friends gifted us with peaches last week that I transformed into a deep dish peach pie (ignore the less than picture perfect top crust; I'm calling it "rustic".) at Mr. G's request. It wasn't around for long.

Just in case you think that I'm only producing flimsies and that Snowbird is gathering dust, that's not the case! Here's another Wonder Curve pattern, this one came free with the tool. I'm trying out this background fill for the quilting, I believe it plays well off the arc shapes. This piece is a table runner, one that would be great in spring or at Eastertime. I ordered the Wonder Curve long arm rulers last week to stitch in the ditch around these specific curves and inside the curves as well. Stay tuned.

Yes, there's quilting being accomplished. These quilted pieces are all awaiting hand finishing or binding to be attached, it's an ongoing process. Hands won't grow idle any time soon. In the meantime, today's a day to celebrate: another flimsy joins the to-be-quilted-queue! 

What small victories are party-worthy

 at your house today?

Life is Good!