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.

Be it resolved...

I normally don't make New Year's Resolutions but I think I need some this year to help me get motivated again. Following the broken ankle and subsequent surgery I got in the habit of sitting around a lot and that needs to get turned around!

So let's see...

I want to get more sewing/quilting done. I have lots of projects that are partly done that need finishing and lots of projects that are in the idea stage that need to be tackled. 

I would like to post more here at Lucy's Quilts. I get a lot of responses to the denim quilts and when I send out the pattern I ask folks to send pictures of the quilts they make using the pattern. I have gotten some pictures so would like to do a follow up post. Also, I think that if I post more I will need to get more sewing done so I have pictures to post. I am going to shoot for weekly but more would be great!

I want to get more done in the yard/garden this year. I think this will be a bit easier this year as long as I don't break any bones. We have started getting seed catalogs that are inspiring us to start thinking about what to plant and where so we need to get going. 

I really need to lose a few pounds but I hope that getting more active outside will help with that one.

So those are my resolutions for 2015, we will just have to see how it goes.

Here are a few pictures to add a little color.

Karl giving Ginger a little love.

Ginger and Mandu hanging out as I do some hand sewing.

Ginger cuddling her baby while he naps.

A little selfie with my buddy.

My 'new' car - a 2012 Buick Enclave -
We went looking for a service vehicle for hubby and came home with this!

It's a dirty job...

Yesterday, I was 'forced' to hold this little bundle while his mommy took a shower. And then he was still sleeping so well, I had to hold him while his mommy watered her flowers. Oh, the burdens I bear for my children and grandchildren! I must say I really like having them living so close! It is so fun to see the changes in him each day!

This afternoon after work I ran some errands. One of those was to pick up some bird netting to keep the birds away from my blueberries and gooseberries. After finding the netting I took a peak at the plants and found some that I thought would work in a 'new' planter I have so I picked them up along with some garden soil to add to the planter. 

It was hot today but I was excited about the plants so I went out and cleaned out the planter, added the soil and some compost and added the plants. This planter used to be in the greenhouse that was attached to the garage but it was old and decrepit so it got torn down a few years back. Since the planter was part of the foundation and that didn't get taken out I decided I would put it to use. 

After getting things planted I was inspired to clean up the rest of the greenhouse space which meant pulling a lot of grass and weeds out. Luckily they were easy to pull. As you can see from this picture there are some portions of the cinder block foundation still in there but they can stay until we decide how to proceed. Meanwhile, we can enjoy the Black-eyed Susans, Mexican Heather and the other perennials I planted as we sit in the chairs and watch the puppy play.

Quilt Exchange And So Much More

It may have been a while since I have posted but at least this one will have lots of photos...and not all will be of the new puppy!

We will start with the quilt reveal at the neighbors. Here is the quilt that Cindy made for Linnea. 

This was the one I received from Sally. You can't tell from this picture but the black and white blocks are a print of women with purses and various adult beverages. It is all flannel and very snuggly. 

This is Nadine's from her sister, Linnea. The main print is a shoe print in red and black and white. Nadine does love her shoes!

Mary wasn't able to be there that night but I got word that she did like this blue and yellow lap quilt that I made for her.

I think you can tell from this picture that Sally was pleased with her quilt from Mary. It was the only really big quilt that evening but it seems Mary doesn't know how to make a small quilt!

Sally just wanted to cuddle up in it!

Last, but not least was Cindy's quilt from Nadine. it was the third with the red and black theme!

Little Ginger slept through most of the reveal on my lap. (I said they wouldn't all be of her, but there has to be a few!)

Last Sunday, we welcomed my new grandson, Karl Andrew into the family. We didn't care whether he was a boy or a girl but we all were hoping for red hair and we got that! 

Here he is shortly after he got home from the hospital, stretching out.

This one was taken when he was a couple days old. A request from a friend's 2 year old for a picture of the baby with me.

My eldest daughter and the grandkids came for the 4th of July and here is my granddaughter holding her little cousin. She thought he was pretty awesome!

My oldest holding the puppy back. Ginger gets pretty excited about the baby.

I made tie-dyed shirts for all three of the kids so here is that photo op. The baby was awake and happy for the occasion even!

Mandu and Ginger wanted to be a part of the excitement.

Kissing Cousins!

We celebrated Clara's birthday last night since we won't be with her for her real birthday. She was pleased with her birthday cake since she is very interested in plants.

Here is the picture from the end of May next to a picture I took this morning before the kids headed home. See how much Ginger has grown!

Our final baby/puppy picture was take this morning. I was cuddling the baby and Ginger really needed to get up close. She really wants to play with that little baby but no one will let her so she has to be satisfied with some snuggles, albeit restrained snuggles.

I have been enjoying being able to get back outside again. I have even roto-tilled the garden twice. The first time with our old roto-tiller that hubby repaired a couple of weeks ago and then with the brand new tiller. The garden isn't weed-free but I think we can tame it still. The strawberries are about done and the raspberries have taken their place! I bought a couple of boysenberry bushes last year and discovered this week that they are actually very healthy raspberries! So a little later this fall I will transplant them into the raspberry row and I will have to look for boysenberry bushes elsewhere!

Yesterday I decided it was time to prune the 'jungle' across from the deck. It is an old planting of lilacs, beauty bush, mock orange, forsythia, and a couple of other types of bush. I usually prune them to some degree each year but the last two years it wasn't too drastically due to health issues. They are done blooming so it was time again and I did about half of it yesterday. There are now three distinct bushes of lilac, beauty bush and forsythia on the right side. It looked a lot like the left side before I got started. 

Clearing out allowed us to see a bunch of junk at the end of the garage so hubby was inspired to clean it up a bit and put that gate there to hide the propane tank that is used to heat the shop. Through the bushes you can see the chairs we've been sitting in watching the puppy play and also the garage shed. Once I finish the pruning we will look into getting bark to spread underneath. We might have to pull the old bathtub out of there also and put it in a better spot. My vision for that is for it to be a water feature with a shower head spraying down.