Another Year is Starting

I haven't posted in over a year! I should be ashamed but life has just taken over! I did start a post in June and another in October. Here is an edited and added to version of those. 

Obviously, my resolutions fell by the wayside once again. I have spent a little more time in the sewing room but not a lot. That little boy is just more interesting than sewing most of the time! Hard to resist him. 

In January I had the metal plates and screws taken out of my ankle as they seemed to be causing me discomfort and loss of motion. The surgery went well and everything would have been great but the whole family then came down with a stomach bug for several days and it also went through the staff at the church/daycare where I work. Everyone's health improved eventually but it meant for some long days at work.

In February we had a few nice days and I was inspired to order some metal raised beds for my garden. Unfortunately the weather seemed to work against me and I didn't get them put together until mid April. I love them and have more to put together when we get some time this fall/winter so they are ready for next spring. We had a strange growing season this year where some things did really well (apples, strawberries, raspberries) and other not so well (carrots, squash). I look forward to seeing what next year will bring.

On April 1, my husband and I celebrated our 34th anniversary on a jet, heading for China. We spent 2 weeks with our son seeing the Great Wall, Summer Palace and Ming Tombs in Beijing, the Terra Cotta Warriors in Xian, the pandas in Chengdu along with many other sights. Jakob left for China Sept 1, 2015 for a year to teach ESL in Chengdu. When we got there we found out he was applying for and has since been accepted to and started grad school at a university there. We had an amazing trip and a wonderful time with Jakob. I don't know what I expected but China was totally different from any place I have ever been.  

Thanks to his sister, my husband has been 'inspired' to create a new sewing space for me. He is even willing to give up some of his space in the garage for it! He spent a month or so emptying his 'treasures' from the lean-to--a dirt floored area that started out as a place to feed the cows more than 50 years ago. Then it needed a new foundation and the building began. It was a group project with help from my oldest daughter and her husband as they sold their home in Idaho and moved to this side of Washington in June. Their incentive was being able to move into the house once my sewing stuff moved out. I was moved out there in October and love it! I even made several Christmas gifts in those two months!

It was a wild six months with 4 extra people, one extra dog and two cats around. They found a house only about 7 miles from us and moved in officially on Christmas Eve. We even all celebrated Christmas at their house the next day. 

The new year has begun and I am fighting a bad cold thing which might be a version of the flu but I am hoping to be over it soon as my husband and I head to Nicaragua in just 4 days for a medical mission trip. 

I hope the new year finds you all healthy and busy in  your sewing spaces and I will leave you with some pictures from my year.

My 11 year old grandson doing some hand sewing.

8 year old grandaughter sewing
some squares together on the machine.

2 1/2 year old grandson using his
'rotary cutter' at the cutting table.

One of my first sewing projects in the new space.
Made from leftover triangles from my daughter's project .

Oldest daughter working on a quilt.

Daughter at the machine.

My first grouping of raised beds - more to be added this spring.

Creating the forms for the foundation of my sewing space.

Partially framed

Adding insulation

From the outside

Helping build cabinets

Fabric all sorted in the drawers.

Fabric storage with old sewing machines for decoration.

Quilting machine and shelf made by my dad to hold
my mom's cigar box notion organizers. I inherited both!

Sewing table made by my husband to wrap around
my Sew-Ezi table using treadle cabinet drawers.

Cutting Table with storage shelf underneath

Other end of the cutting table with my ironing board on it. 

My husband looking out of Great Wall

Panda in Chengdu

My son's birthday dinner with friends.

Terra Cotta Warriors - this place is massive!

Just beautiful. Someday I will make a quilt inspired by this.

In front of the Wild Goose Pagoda in Xian.

Ancient irrigation project near Chengdu

Our son and his Chinese 'family'
Little Robert is one of his students.

Dizzy! I'm so dizzy, my head is spinning...

Unfortunately, it isn't just a song for me right now, I have been dealing with a case of vertigo since last Wednesday night/Thursday morning. This means I am not feeling up to getting my sewing room in order so I can do some sewing but it does mean I can spend some time getting you all updated with the goings on around here for the last 1 2 3 almost 4 months! 

The big story is that we have the cutest little baby boy living here! Our new little grandson has stolen all our hearts. He is a happy little guy who smiles and giggles so amazingly. Then you throw in our little poodle, Ginger, and life is so fun and crazy around here! 

Here are a few pictures of them. First we have Ginger taking a nap under the blanket I crocheted for her out of small bits of yarn I had on hand. She had fallen in love with the blanket my sister crocheted for the baby so I gave her a replacement of her own.

Next up is our little man taking a nap on my lap and holding his little face. It is so hard to not take pictures of this guy every second or so!

Here are both of our babies having a nap. Ginger wearing her cone of shame following her 'little' surgery a couple of weeks ago. She does love her playmate - can't wait till they are both a bit older.

So for probably about 7-8 years I have been returning calls to the customers of our appliance repair business and scheduling them for service. Two years ago I added on the job of secretary (or administrative assistant) of my church without too much difficulty juggling the two jobs at the same time. In the last year or so, a couple of our competitors have closed their doors which led to more business for us. Our son-in-law started training with my husband in the hopes that we could have two trucks on the road at some point. The calls were starting to be overwhelming and then I added on a third job in July - the bookkeeping position at the church opened up and I took it on as an interim position while a new person was found. It was pretty intense trying to keep things running at church and also keeping the guys busy with calls. 

Something needed to change and the change came when our daughter decided not to go back to school bus driving right away this fall, so she took over the phone calls for the business and has improved the process immensely. 

Need to take a break to share this new photo that just arrived on my phone. Ginger over visiting at the neighbors and guarding her baby as he sleeps.

So anyway, she took over the phones at the beginning of September and on October 1 the new bookkeeper started at work and is doing an awesome job and I am back to just one job and I am loving it, except for the last couple of days with vertigo, that is.

I have had very little time in my sewing room since July though there has been a little activity. Most of the last month has been getting projects ready for the October quilt retreat which was last weekend - yes, the vertigo started when I was heading to the retreat - I had four projects kitted up and some other options to work on so I was set. 

We had planned for my niece to ride up to the retreat with me from my eldest daughter's home last Thursday but she ended up driving instead since I was dizzy. We arrived and got set-up by about 1 and I was feeling a bit better so I got started on the first project - finishing up a Bento Box quilt top that my eldest daughter started for herself made from Japanese fabrics she had picked out. She had started the sewing so I had the blocks done in no time and before bed I had the top together. I may rearrange the blocks to make it a little wider and less long and then add a border once I do a little math.

The next morning I was dizzy again and stayed in bed until almost 1 pm. I tried Dramamine to control the dizziness and it helped some so I was able to get the baby quilt top done for the grandbaby and get started on the next project. It was a simple one - just adding some strips around some vintage crazy quilt blocks - and I almost got that done before bed the second night. In the morning I took the drugs right away and was up and sewing by about 10! I got the vintage top together and got started on my last major project - the last of the quilt exchange quilts with the ladies at Tuesday craft nights. I was happy I got all the blocks done and was able to lay out the top so I can get it put together as soon as my head is on straight again!

I don't have pictures to post because I haven't had the energy the last two days but I will post them as soon as possible.

Aside from all that...

• I have graduated from physical therapy (I'm not 100% but I am getting there and just need to get the ankle stronger)
• our son-in-law is now a certified appliance technician (which is good since hubby's knee is giving him problems and is likely facing surgery again so isn't going out on the road so much)
• the garden was neglected again this summer (not a surprise with everything else going on) so I hope to get some time this fall and winter to get things cleaned up
• we had quite a few visitors for a night or several over the last few months (that little baby is quite a draw).  

That is a quick synopsis of the last few months. I am hoping I will now have more time and energy to sew and keep this blog a bit more timely.

A Few Accomplishments

I am not excited about getting moving and accomplishing anything yet this morning so I will share what I have been up to in the sewing room in the last month or so.

Over Christmas, when my sewing room was turned into a guest room, I pulled out a quilt 'kit' I had made up for quilt retreat and sewed up this top out in the great room on one of my Singer 301s in a cabinet. I really like how it turned out and will probably use it for the quilt exchange with the ladies at Tuesday evening craft night.

It looks especially nice against my great room's yellow walls with the Bing and Grondahl plates hanging above.

This next item is the table runner I made with the leftover One Block Wonder blocks that I used for my neighbor's Christmas table topper. 

After I had the top of this put together, I discovered one more block hiding in the sewing room and it was used on the back. Now I have a nice Christmas gift on hand or something to add to the sales table at the next bazaar.

Also over Christmas I finally figured out where to put a cool hook I found at a garage sale. Hubby got it installed and then I started the hunt for a hanging pot to put my spider plant in. Interestingly enough, nobody is selling hanging pots or any appropriate pots at this time of year. I came home from one shopping excursion and looked over my old pots outside and found this yellow one from the 70s. I had to do some scrubbing but it isn't too bad. Plant hangers are also not out there anywhere (even the thrift store) so I set about finding some sort of cord to see if I still have any macrame skills. Struggled to find cord too, but finally found this dark brown jute last Saturday and was able to whip up this hanger in about an hour. 

Nothing fancy but it turned out pretty nicely I think!

Next Saturday I will be teaching a class for the guild on the stained glass denim quilts so I had my son haul all the denim out of the attic and I pulled out what was stashed around the sewing room and started ripping and cutting it up in preparation for the class.  You see, my goal is to get rid of the denim that I have so I am offering the class for $10 per person and I am providing the fabric for the top. All the tops that are made will then go to the guild's Community Quilt program and likely from there to graduating foster kids in our county. As a bonus, the money will all go to Relay for Life. There were boxes and bags and bins full of denim. I have enough squares cut for 10 quilts so far and a couple of ladies from the guild have taken a couple of boxes of denim and ripped and cut for me also. Today I need to get started on figuring out the lesson plan for the class and how we will set up the space.

My boss asked me to make a denim baby quilt for her to give as a gift so last Sunday I pulled out some of my odd shaped pieces (I always get way too many 2" squares so if I have pieces that are 2X3, 2X4, 2X6, 3X3, 3X4 or 3X6 I don't cut them down and use them when I am feeling creative) and put together this top.

You can see my piles of 4" and 6" squares on the back of the table in this picture. Anyway, I need to get some fabric for the back and I can get it quilted and delivered. I will use it for an sample though for next Saturday's class.

I have been fighting a nasty cough for almost 3 weeks and went to the doctor yesterday and got cough syrup with codeine and prednisone in the hopes that I can get rid of it. Looking forward to the end of this one! 

I had an MRI on my ankle this week and will find out next Wednesday from the doctor if there is anything that can be done to give me more range of motion. This is one time I am hoping for surgery!

Well, it is time to head outside to prune some apple trees and then into the sewing room to maybe get a round robin project or two finished and ready to mail on.

Happy Quilting!

Starts, Finished and Progress

Just read over my last post and can't believe that I haven't written a post in a month and a half and how much has been happening since then. 

My foot/ankle is improving, if not fast enough for my tastes! My doctor had me taking massive doses of anti-inflammatories for 10 days and the swelling and inflammation went down at least temporarily. I was on my feet this past Friday and Saturday at the Guild Quilt Show on cement floors and Sunday was a hard day but both legs and feet were unhappy. Monday when I went to work I was pleasantly surprised to find that I could walk at close to normal speed without limping and even the stairs weren't bad. 

I got my two quilts finished for the quilt show and I was really happy with how they both turned out. I will do another post soon showing the quilting on this first one. The small tag hanging under the label says "A GUY likes this quilt." Every man who came in received one of these tags to put on a quilt he like. This quilt eventually received two of these tags and the other received on.

 This one is my 2004 Shop Hop Quilt. I had it in the Relay for Life Quilt Show in March but I added some more quilting in the block 'shadows' so the blocks would stand out a little more. 

Tonight I plan to take the hanging sleeve off so it can be put on our new bed. 

Fall is definitely here in Western Washington. We had about a week of fog that just didn't lift and now the sun has been out for a few days and it is gorgeous! Our son has been helping get the leaves picked up from the yard. Today we got 4 loads of leaves hauled away and yesterday and today I got most of the mowing done and let SIL finish it off. I can sure feel it in the muscles that I was out working in the yard!

I have gotten quite a few Harry Potter blocks done for the quilt I am working on but with other things going on I realized I would not have it done for the quilt show. I did finish the hand quilting on my 2002 Shop Hop quilt but I don't have any pictures of that yet. I will try to get that done soon. 

I finished a border on one round robin project and have one more I hope to get to tomorrow so I can pass them off to my niece and get some others from her. We need to get them moving along again. She and I have both have had crazy summers.

Our daughter and son-in-law got their little house on wheels moved out to its 'new' home and are pretty much settled in. Our son is settled into our Argosy until he finds a 'real' job. For now he is doing some math tutoring and helping around the house some.

There are rumors we will have grandkids here for Halloween so might have to do some quick planning for a fun family party. We are thinking decorating gingerbread haunted houses or maybe Halloween sugar cookies.

I need to pull some things together next week for a quilt retreat too. 

And the summer is nearly gone...

...and it didn't go at all as I thought it might.

Two months later and I am still hobbling around on my bum foot. I ended up in a walking boot for 6 weeks and now I just have to strengthen up my ankle. I bought myself a pair of Chaco sandals last week so I have some shoes that support my feet and can be adjusted depending on how much swelling there is.

Lots has happened but not what I had hoped. We had the grandkids here for 4 weeks of fun. They were great about helping Grammy because "your foot is hurt". They fetched crutches and glasses of water and the phone and various other things. They had lots of special things happening like spending the night at cousin Katie's house, fun Lego projects,

a Strawberry Festival, two new kitties at Grammy's

crafts,

two weeks of swimming lessons,

'working at Grammy's office,

rides on a little steam train ("we get to sit on it - while its moving?!?!?!), helping Papa prune the cedar tree

(they loaded the trailer at least 15 times for the trip to the burn pile - the little smarties figured out a way to load it and leave a 'hole' for them to ride in back and forth), Vacation Bible School, playing on Steve's slot machine, and a BBQ 

just to name a few! They had a great time and were so good. They are now back at home and started school - Kindergarten and 2nd grade!

Time in the sewing room was rather lacking over the summer but I did get the Bluegrass Festival Auction Quilt finished on time (but only barely). 

Since we had a booth for our crafts at the Festival I was able to listen as it was auctioned off for over $300. I also got it's twin quilted and it is almost finished. I also spent a couple days at my sister's and with her and my two nieces we sewed the top of a wedding quilt for our brother's son and his bride. Today my sister was here visiting and we got the quilt sandwiched and basted so I might get started on the quilting this week.

Once things started settling down from the kids and other things I started working on finishing up some quilts for the October Quilt Guild Show. I pulled out this UFO of leftover HST's. The lighter triangles were from one quilt and the rest were from two others. I had it to this point in February and then it got put away...

I had decided I wanted to put this on point using the dark read of the outer triangles and some form of sunflowers since I had found a border print with sunflowers and pinecones. I got a pattern for a sunflower with 3D petals but I just wasn't feeling it so I went with my original thought of New York Beauty type sunflowers. Since I wanted the sunflower to be about 8-10" I had to shrink the NYB blocks down to 4" finished. Then I made 4 each of 4 different patterns using the same fabrics as the darker HSTs. I used one of each of the 4 different patterns in each of the sunflowers. I was really happy with those other than I would not recommend 4" NYB blocks to anyone. Then I needed something else for those corners and found a paper pieced pinecone pattern that I again shrunk to 4" and reversed for half of the blocks. I then created the triangles to set this on point using the NYBs and pine cones and then added mitered border print and here it is:

It ended up about 60" square. I am thinking it would make a really great fall tablecloth. I am putting it aside for a bit but I can now fill out the registration form for the quilt show for it. 

I am now moving on to another Harry Potter quilt that I want to have done for the show also. I found that doing paper piecing is easy on my foot. I lower my ironing board and pull it a little closer to the sewing table and I can sew and then turn my chair to press and trim the piece and if I need to do any rotary cutting I have a small cutting mat on the sewing table. Hopefully my foot will improve quickly so I can get back to my normal sewing routines.

The garden has suffered from my lack of attention but my beets, onions, beans and Taxi tomatoes have flourished in spite of it. I am working on getting rid of all the weeds now that I can do some work down there.

First Finish of Firteen ('13)

Here it is!

I love how it turned out! These quilts are very fun to make and I will be making more once a few other projects are finished! This type of quilt really adds fuel to the question some husbands ask - "So you just cut up fabric so you can sew it back together?" - because that is really all I did. Cut up one piece of fabric into little triangles and then sew them back together! I now look at fabrics in a different way wondering how they would work for one of these quilts.

I finished the binding on this one on Tuesday morning and Tuesday afternoon I finally got the label on the quilt I made for one of my crafting ladies so I could bring it over for the big reveal. Nothing like leaving it until the last moment. I will hopefully get a post done with all the pictures later today.

Yesterday I did another last minute project. This one is for the the round robin group I am in with my sister and niece and other friends. I posted pictures of our last reveal in November and we were supposed to have our beginning block for the next one done by the end of January. Mine is appliqued so I had my work cut out for me (literally). Here is the finished block...

The idea came from a wall hanging I saw in a quilt shop on a long ago shop hop. I managed to get some of the fabrics and it was one of those 'someday' projects. I saw the pile of fabric when I was trying to decide on my block and thought this was a great opportunity to do something about it. This should be a fun whimsical quilt once all the other folks add some borders. 

My next project is my Relay for Life Raffle Quilt. I have it all cut out and a good start on sewing the blocks together so hopefully the top will be done in the next week. When that top is together I need to add some borders to my niece's block for the round robin.