Still quilting

I’m about half way done quilting on the Double Wedding Ring quilt. I’ve got 9 more circles to outline then I still need to do another 62 flowers in the center. As a reminder here’s what all the finished circles will look like

Pushing and pulling and smooshing this huge quilt through my domestic machine has proven to be quite strenuous – ugh! It’s been years since I’ve quilted something this large and back then it was a simple meander. Quilting this won’t be the last challenge either… after that’s finished I still need to trim and bind it with all it’s curves and angles!! eeeeeek!

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Nothing much else going on around here…still plugging away on WW. I did start walking again last week, just short 15 minute walks to get back into a routine. Let’s hope this helps move the needle on the scale 😉

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In other news, we worked with our financial advisor this week and he told us that we’re in a great place for me to retire whenever I want – I just need to decide when!!!!!!!!!!

OK, that’s both exhilarating and frightening!! I’m 59 1/2 and I’ve worked my entire life… I started working full-time the Monday after I graduated high school, and I’ve been working at the same company ever since, 42 years (I’ve survived a number of acquisitions and mergers).

Now my brain is working overtime trying to figure out exactly what would I do every day if I retired??? I don’t want to sew & quilt every waking hour…I would get burned out. My days have been so structured for the past 40+ years… I’m not sure what to do with myself if I’m not accountable to someone/something else???

Am I crazy? Has anyone else gone through something like this?? All advice and perspective is welcome 🙂

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That’s all for now… have a great rest of your weekend! Wimbledon starts tomorrow!!

Quilting Double Wedding Ring

I started quilting on the Double Wedding Ring quilt for my friend… WOW, my shoulders were not ready for this! It didn’t help that my setup was not right – I was originally working on the small table in my sewing room but I quickly realized I needed a bigger table to hold the weight of the quilt, so I moved to the dining room

This definitely helped with moving the quilt under the needle but then I realized the height of the table and the height of my chair were not good!! My shoulders were killing me after only a few minutes of quilting!! I tried a few different chairs before I moved my sewing chair out to the dining room… ahhhhhhhh, that made such a difference!! I aslo switched corners so I could watch TV while quilting 😉

It’s not pretty, but it’s only temporary!! HA!!

I completed all the quilting on just one of the blocks in the center to see what it would look like… and… I love it!! So does my friend 🙂

I’m going to complete quilting just the echo lines inside and outside of all the circles first, I’ve got about a quarter of them done so far. There are 63 circles which I have to echo twice, then echo the interior shapes. Once that’s done I will go back and fill in all the flowers… Oy, what a job!!! I have no idea what to charge for all this but I’m sure it won’t be enough :-p

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I’m still plugging away on WW… I’ve lost a total of 8.6 lbs since restarting in mid April. I’m definitely making better choices and staying away from high fat, high sugar foods.

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That’s about all for now, have a great rest of your weekend.

Wishing all the awesome Dads out there a wonderful day!!

I started!

I finally decided on a quilting design for the Double Wedding Ring quilt I’m finishing for a friend. I searched images online for far too many days but I found one that I think will work well. It’s a quilt I found on Etsy

This one is echo quilted inside and outside of the rings and it has a decorative flower in the large open space. I sent the link to my friend and she liked it too so… I got started basting. Whoo boy, what a feat! As a reminder this measures 90×114.

I pulled my oversized ironing board out into the living room and started basting the top side. Eeek, there are a lot of ripples and warped seams… I did my best to make it work. I basted the center 60″ on the front & back and then turned the quilt 90 degrees to baste the overhang on each side.

I’ll be doing FMQ for the echoing and the flower but I decided to make a template of the flower that I could outline with water soluble marker.

It’s just enough to give me guidance so the flowers will all look similar 😉 I may draw in a few extra dotted lines on the first couple, just until I get in a groove.

I plan to get started while I watch the Men’s French Open Final this morning. It’s Novak Djokovic vs. Stephanos Tsitsipas…in my mind it’s an even match that could go either way.

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And now for a little bit of ‘awwww’… I captured this picture last week of two ducks resting in our front yard! There is no water anywhere near our yard so I can only imagine they were just tired!

Have a great rest of your weekend!!

Slow week

Not much to report on the quilting front this week. I’m procrastinating again 😦 I really need to start working on the Double Wedding Ring quilt for my friend but I fear it’s going to be a bear to quilt because the seams are so wonky and nothing lays flat – waaaaah! I need to call my friend and make sure her expectations are in line before I start.

This measures approximately 91×114

I did at least find backing fabric for it at my local quilt shop and bonus, it was on the sale rack! I took one of the left over 4-patch blocks with me to ensure a color match.

I texted my friend and she liked it so I bought it. I needed 8 yards and there were 9 yards left, so I got it all 🙂

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In other news, Miss Sammie had a few rough days this week… poor thing got some bug going around and ended up with diarrhea for 2 days. She has only been to the groomer so I’m guessing that’s where she picked it up… poor baby!! I called the vet and we got some meds which are already helping. She’s back to eating normal and, sorry if this is TMI, her poopy is looking better too!! 😀

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That’s all to report here… have a great rest of your weekend!

May Gemstone quilt

I’ve made more progress on the May pattern from Debby Brown’s Color Blocks QAL. I went shopping last week looking for the perfect background fabric and I found it at my local quilt shop.

I wanted something dark for the background but I also wanted a sparkle effect and this fabric is perfect.

I got started right away adding the corner triangles and then played with the layout until I landed on this setting.

I added the sashing & borders and the top is done!!!

You can see the background reads dark from a distance but it’s got a nice speckled effect to give it a bit more interest.

I also made an addition to my sewing room last week. You may recall I recently purchased another sewing machine, a Singer Patchwork, which I had sitting on my cutting table. Trying to use it standing up was not very practical but I don’t have a lot of space in my sewing room for another big table. I went online searching for a small desk I could put beside my design wall and I found it on Amazon!!!

It fits perfect in this space and gives me all the room I need for piecing blocks. It was incredibly easy to put together and very reasonably priced 😉

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In other news, Sammie got her stitches out last week and is healing up nicely. We got her groomed a couple days after…she really needed it!

BEFORE/AFTER ❤️

That’s about all for now – enjoy the long holiday weekend!!!

Hands2Help 2021

Sarah of Confessions of a Fabric Addict hosted the eleventh year of the Hands2Help Comfort Quilt Challenge. During the months of March, April & May she encourages quilters to make quilts to donate to charity. Sarah offers scrappy patterns of her own and ideas from guest bloggers she invites to share their tips, tricks and quilts. She also provides a list of charities you can send your quilts to or you’re always welcome to find a local charity.

Here are the four quilts I made and donated for H2H this year. I’m participating in Debby Brown’s Color Blocks QAL and each month she releases a new pattern to use for the 16-patch blocks we make from our scraps.

I followed her patterns for Jan, Mar and April but I decided to do my own thing in Feb and made ‘Fish Tails’ 😉

These quilts were boxed up and shipped on Monday to Little Lambs Foundation. In case you missed the announcement, they just signed up to partner with Givebackbox.com so any package you send them (less than 70lbs) only costs $15 to ship!

It’s always a pleasure to participate in H2H and it helps to use up my scrap stash – win/win!! ❤

Another quilt finish!

I put the finishing stitches in the binding after last week’s post and went outside for some pictures. Really happy with how this turned out 🙂 This was April’s pattern from the Color Blocks QAL, called Cheer.

The quilts I made in Jan, Feb and Mar and now this April one are all in a box waiting to be shipped out tomorrow to Little Lambs Foundation as part of the Hands2Help Charity drive.

I also made a few more blocks for the May pattern called Gemstone. I’m making 7 blocks from 5 colorways of scraps… so far I’ve got sapphires, emeralds, rubies and amethyst. One more color to go and I’ve decided I’m going to use white/gray to represent diamonds. I’m still deciding what I want to use for background but I know I want something dark so I’m planning a trip to my LQS to do some browsing 😉

I made the blue & red blocks using my new Singer Patchwork and she worked beautifully – but I used my Pfaff for the purple ones cuz I just needed to sit down and sew. I’m going to have to find a place for my Singer where I can sit & sew if I want to use it for more than just a few blocks – because standing & sewing is just not for me 😦

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Look at these cute nails! These are Impress Press-on nails (not an affiliate) and I’ve been using them since the pandemic started. I just love how easy they are to apply (the glue is already on the back, just peel & stick) and they last me about 2 weeks – depending on how much dish washing I do 😉 They have so many cute colors and designs and run from $7-$10. You can also get them at local stores like Target, Walmart, Walgreens, CVS, etc. As you can see from the background, they also carry a selection of OPI colors!

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I had a great week on WW… I was down 1.8lbs!!! Woot woot! Not sure what I did for that big win but I’ll take it ;-p

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That’s about all for now…. have a great rest of your weekend 😀

Good news!

My Sammie girl had surgery last Monday to remove an ugly growth on her belly and she came through it with flying colors!! Hallelujah!! Thank you for all your prayers and positive thoughts ❤

The Dr was also able to remove the growth on her back paw that’s been driving her nuts for months – whew! Sammie was on pain meds for the first 5 days and since she wasn’t showing any signs of pain we weaned her off this weekend. She’s eating and moving and sleeping like normal so all-in-all it’s a success! She hasn’t given the stitches on her belly a second thought but she has tried to take off her sock and lick her paw so we’ve got to keep a close eye on her. She goes back on 5/25 to have the stitches removed.

The poor baby is also still suffering with the Corneal Ulcer on her left eye. We’ve been using drops since May 5th and there does seem to be a small improvement, the Dr will check it again when she has her stitches removed.

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In quilting news… I bought another sewing machine!!! I’ve been wanting to get a second machine for a while now so I could work on projects in multiple stages and over Mother’s Day weekend I saw an excellent sale and I jumped on it. I got a Singer Patchwork 7285Q

It came with all kinds of extra feet and even an extension table 😮 It was a breeze to setup and get started sewing – I’ve got her setup on my cutting table and will use her mostly for piecing.

I used my new Singer to start piecing blocks for the May Color Blocks QAL. I had the green blocks left over from a previous month but all the blue ones were made with my new machine 🙂

It was great to have a second machine because my main Pfaff was setup for FMQ to work on the April Color Blocks quilt… and I’m happy to say I finished the quilting yesterday.

I made the binding last night and started putting it on this morning… just one more trip around to secure it to the front and I’ll be done!!

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In WW news… I dropped .8lb this week, not bad I guess since I was so stressed about Sammie’s surgery. I haven’t started working out yet even though the weather here has been perfect for walks – ugh!

That’s about all for now… have a great rest of your weekend!!

One step closer

Well I did finally get the April Color Blocks quilt basted but I have not started any quilting on it yet. I can’t decide if I want to use the ‘suggested’ design from Debby Brown or do my own design…so I’m in limbo!

I also finished two more Safelight case sets and I put all 5 in the mail to Carole. She’s already confirmed they have arrived – yay!

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In other news, my fur baby Sammie turned 13 last week and now she’s going to have surgery tomorrow to remove a growth on her belly. She’s been dealing with lymphoma for the past 1.5 years and I’m not sure if this growth is part of that disease or if it’s something else but it has just been getting bigger and a few weeks ago it started bleeding. We hoped it would heal up but it’s gotten progressively worse and of course the worry is it will get infected. So even with her advanced age, surgery is the better option. We drop her off in the morning…this fur mama is a nervous wreck!!

She’s been wearing a male doggie diaper to keep the growth on her belly protected, and she’s also been wearing a sock on her back paw for months because of a small growth. The Dr said if Sammie is tolerating anesthesia well, they will remove the growth on her back paw too. The one on her belly doesn’t seem to bother her but the one on her paw drives her nuts…so hopefully that will be gone!

And as if that wasn’t enough, the poor baby has scratched her left eye and has an Ocular Ulcer… so we’ve been putting drops in her eye for the last 3 days.

Please send out prayers and positive thoughts for my Sammie girl for surgery tomorrow and the recovery process ❤

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In WW news, I didn’t drop anything this week… probably due to stress! I’ve been staying within my points budget but I’ve been eating more snacks in the evening I don’t see my stress dropping over the next week or two with Sammie’s surgery & recovery… oh well, I’ll just have to be more aware!!

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During a drive in the Corvette last weekend, we stopped at a ‘new to us’ place at the beach called Snooky’s. We overheard someone else order a drink and just had to give it a try.

Crown Royal Peach mixed with sweet tea – O.M.G.!! It’s delicious… and dangerous because it doesn’t really taste like a mixed drink – LOL! It’s become Hubby’s favorite drink 😉

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That’s all for now… have a great rest of your weekend!!

Little change

Well, nothing has changed with my April Color Blocks quilt! It’s still hanging on my design wall just like this

I need to get it basted along with a few other quilts that have been waiting…but Ugh, basting is my least favorite part of quilt making! So instead of doing that I did a ‘squirrel’!!

I started working on some Safelight case sets for Carole at From My Carolina Home. Each year she puts out a call for assistance making the sets or donations for other supplies that go into the bags. I’ve made 3 sets so far and I’ve got fabric pulled for 2 more. These come together pretty quickly and each set can be made with 2 FQ of coordinating fabrics.

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In other news, I’ve been eating pretty good following WW guidelines and I’m down another 1.4lbs. Here are a few yummy lunches from this week.

We’ve been eating out a little more now that we’re both fully vaxxed and I’ve been able to make better food choices and still not feel deprived.

That’s about all for now…hopefully I can get my rear in gear and get those quilts basted this week 😉

Have a great rest of your weekend!!