Week 32 - Finishing

This past week has been one for Finishing.  Finishing project started a while back.  And finishing ones started a short time ago.  

Row by Row started back in 2011 but I wasn't aware of it until 2014.  The following year, 2015, I got really involved in collecting kits and patterns. The theme that year was water, or H20.  I had flown out to Arizona to see mom and then spent a few days with a friend down in Phoenix. Since we are both quilters, we hit a few quilt shops to get row kits.  This one is a personal favorite - Arizona Rainforest from Sun Valley Quilt.

I love the colors of this row.  And the piecing wasn't terribly involved; it just involved being totally focused on which way to put each piece. This row will go into my Arizona quilt - don't ask me when it will be done, I simply do not have a clue!  

I also finished a Bucilla kit this week.  Holy Family is one that called to me from the very first time I saw it.

This is 18" long.  There weren't a lot of pieces to this one.  I'm already working on another.  Kitty's Christmas is one that only has about 60 pieces so it won't take long to complete.  

The following picture came up on my Facebook feed the other day.

That smile has always enchanted me....it's just the right amount of sweet and tender mixed with a pixie glint.  This past week, this lovely young lady had her braces taken off, after 2.5 years as a brace face.  

There's that sweet, tender, pixie glint I've always loved.  

And a final finish for this week.  The pattern is called May Flowers but I used autumn colors to make this Autumn Flower Bench Pillow.  I spent all day Thursday at the monthly clinic making this one.  I got all the embroidered applique done there and came home to make the ribbon flowers and put the whole thing together yesterday.  I'm particularly proud of this one!  

Now on the more bench pillows....I'm thinking the next one will be Gather Together - just in time for Thanksgiving.  Or maybe I'll work on Boo - for Halloween.  Depends on what mood I'm in when I go to choose a pattern for the next one.

Thanks for stopping by!

Week 30 & 31 - Sewing Along

I've spent the last two weeks just sewing and sewing and sewing some more.  And stitching and embroidering.  I like a lot of needle arts, as you can see.

This lovely row is from Floyd & Lizzie's in Salt Lake City. It was from 2016 but will go quite nicely in my Food & Drink quilt. That is, of course, once I get cracking on that particular quilt.  

This next set of 2 rows are from 2015.  The top one is from Minnesota and the bottom one is from California.  The California one has intimidated me for a long time.  One day last week, I woke up and just knew how to accomplish it...it went together very well, I think. 

The bottom row is from That's So Debbie in Groton, CT.  It is from 2016.  She always does a maritime row since Groton is the home of the Submarine Service branch of the US Navy.  While we weren't part of the Sub Service, I still was drawn to this row since it features Homecoming at its most beautiful.  I will be using this row in my Silhouettes quilt - I've got a lot of them done already and might be ready to put it together really soon.

The garden is producing this year, thanks mostly to the fact that John put an electric fence around it to keep the deer and other nighttime creatures away from our produce.  This was almost a 3/4 full 5 gallon bucket of tomatoes...yes, it's only 7 quarts, but that's more than we got in the last 2 seasons - which was NOTHING!   John picked again this past weekend and we will probably get another 4 quarts out of that batch.  And there are even more tomatoes ripening on the vine.  

And finally, another cute picture.

Yes, that is kitties sleeping on top of the tall laundry cabinets.  That's my tall washer and dryer on the bottom and the top cabinets above them.  And kitties sleeping in their baskets at the very top.  Keeps them away from Kai Bella, you know.  Kai really does not care of kitties - she hasn't attacked yet, but she growls a lot when one walks by.  The cats give her a wide berth in the house and prefer to sleep far away from her so they aren't taken by surprise when she comes in to the laundry room for water.  

Thanks for stopping by.

Week 29 - The Week Went Like the Wind

This past week went like the wind!  We drove to Tulsa to pick up one of our granddaughters who flew in from Salt Lake City for the week.  We'd been trying for a couple of years to get her out here for a visit.  This year we got lucky. 

I tried NOT to schedule stuff to do every single minute of her visit.  She had Sewing Camp from 9 am to noon on Monday thru Friday.  Mom and I took her to lunch on Tuesday and then the three of us went to paint pottery.

Mom painted a mug with daffodils on it....I'm looking forward to seeing it when it comes out of the kiln and I pick up our items Thursday.  

On Wednesday, C and I drove to Branson after her sewing camp.  We had lunch at Mel's Hard Luck Diner - the waitstaff take turns singing to the customers.  Here is our waiter, Chad, singing to us.

For dessert, Chad recommended a Single Scoop Sundae....you can see why he told me NOT to get a Double Scoop.

After lunch, we went to see the Acrobats of Shanghai.  Oh, goodness, they were excellent!  Both of us were mesmerized.  This is just a sample of what we saw.

Each segment began with a story to explain what the routine entailed.  They were so limber and talented.  The costumes were crazy colorful.  I highly recommend seeing them if you ever get to Branson.

We had promised C she could learn to drive John's mule - no, she didn't even need a saddle!  

She did so well.....so proud of her!

We were able to get a group picture before we left to take her back to the airport.

And this is what we had to drive thru on the way to Tulsa....scary dark clouds and wicked blinding rain.  

But, we got there and here is proof we sent her back.

We are already planning for next summer.  C and her brother, W, will both be coming to visit next year.  We can't wait!

Week 27 & 28 - A Visitor for the Week

This next week is going to be busy and super fun.  Our granddaughter, Charlotte, flew in yesterday to spend the week with us.  She is going to Sewing Camp.  We've talked about this for several years and finally her schedule synced with mine and with the Sewing Camp itself.  She will be learning basic sewing principals by making 4 different projects - this year they are doing several Christmas items.  A Santa pillow, a small tree skirt, a stocking, and an ornament shaped like a mitten.  At the end of the week, she will also receive a sewing machine valued at $299.00 to keep.  She's so excited.  We drove to Tulsa to pick her up at the airport - the closest airport that still afforded the least expensive ticket...so 3 hours to drive to the airport, and 3 hours home.  Here is our girl coming off the plane!

She's so excited to be here and we are excited to have her.  

And Kai is finally free of the dreaded Cone...She is so much happier...she even smiles more now.

And having gone to the groomer for the first time in 6 weeks, she even smells better!  

This past 2 weeks have involved cleaning and organizing and straightening the house for Charlotte's arrival.  And working on Row by Row kits, and going to embroidery workshops in town.  

Thanks for stopping by.  

Week 25 & 26 - Summer Gardening

The weather has finally turned to normal for southwest Missouri - hot and incredibly humid.  The air is positively soupy! We've had pop up storms almost every day...not much rain, just a few drops; enough to make the air even more damp.  Tropical Storm Barry is slowly tracking north, toward us, but probably won't drop any rain by the time he gets here. 

John has taken the last two weekends to work on his vegetable garden AND put in a garden plot in front of the entryway porch.  

He has 6 raised beds but only planted in 3 of them. The other 3 all have asparagus that come up every year. The other three have tomatoes, cucumbers, and green peppers.  He put in an electric fence with fencing along the bottom 3 feet to prevent the critters from feasting on our veggies. So far, it's worked.  We will have tomatoes to harvest this year and several evenings after work will be spent canning those tomatoes.   

Here is the front garden plot.  John set those bricks almost 5 feet out from the foundation and I now need to get some flowers to plant there.   

There's a peony plant to the left, but everything else is blank right now.  I've got a bee balm plant for there, too.  Not sure what flowers to put there for the rest of the growing season...

Our Kai went in for some pretty serious surgery last week.  It was determined that the ulcer on her eye would never go away completely, rather it would continue to recur.  It was so painful for Kai....we made the decision to have them remove the eye.  While they had her asleep, they removed a broken tooth that was starting to ulcerate as well.  Poor thing has stitches on the right side of her face and stitches on the left of her mouth inside.  She came thru the surgery like a champ and we brought her home the day after.  She is wearing the Cone till this coming Friday when she gets her exterior stitches out.  Once the fur grows back, she will look as though she has a permanent wink!  She's such a sweet old lady and we are so blessed to have her spend the rest of her life with us. 

This was taken before she has her surgery. I won't shock you with the after pictures...will wait for the fur to grow back.  She's already back to smiling every day so we know she's on the mend.

Because of the weather here, I'm going to take advantage of the following:  

There's room here with me, if you want...just show up!  I've got popcorn!

Thanks for stopping by. 

Week 23 & 24 - Busy Girl

 The last couple of weeks I've been spending on Row by Row kits....I got these mostly done - just need to sew down the appliques.

I just got out the bin that is holding all the row by rows I've done so far....there are 32 rows, 22 of which need the appliques sewn down.  I just got my machine back from the mechanic (I send my machines in once a year just for maintenance) so now I can spend part of each day working on getting those rows completed.  

Mom and I took off yesterday and went Rowing in Branson and areas near there.  We went to the Quilted Cow and Quilts * Quilts in Branson and the Homestead Fabric & Woolens store in Hollister and then drove back up to Springfield to the Quilt Sampler.  This is the first time in a couple of years that I've personally gone out to collect rows.  It felt good! This year's theme is Taste the Experience and I truly thought there would be some knockout rows - it seems I was wrong. Sadly, more and more shops are opting out of the program this year and those that stayed designed fairly blah rows...that's my own opinion, of course.  I am going to do a small Dessert themed quilt with the rows I am getting.  And I'll add to my planned Arizona quilt with some of the ones from the area west of here.  Some of the rows will make nice table runners by themselves so there's always that possibility for using the rows.

I took a class using machine embroidery about 10 days ago....I sure do like machine embroidery!  Here are 2 of the three projects from that class.

The little banner was done in the hoop and is made to hang from a wrought iron table stand.  The mug rug was also done in the hoop.  The third project is a tote bag but I didn't complete it during the class; instead I brought everything home to do here, in my own time.  Hoping to get it done in the next day or so.  Photos to come.  

Made a huge pot of spaghetti sauce this afternoon.  And a pitcher of iced tea and a bowl of strawberries that will also have homemade fresh whipped cream.  Spaghetti and garlic toast for dinner with strawberries and whipped cream for dessert.  Easy Peasy.

Thanks for stopping by!

Week 21 & 22 - Checking in Again

It's so easy for time to get away, isn't it?  Just a blink and it's already 2 weeks since the last update.  Sigh!

I've been sewing recently.  Making up a lot of the Row by Row kits that I've accrued over the last 4 years.  I'm nowhere near finishing them all. The other day, I decided to work on some of the guitar rows from last year. I have enough rows to make an entire quilt of guitars.  Here are 2 of them:

The one on the left is from a shop in North Carolina, the right side is from Arizona.  I have only ironed the elements onto the background so far.  My regular sewing machine is in the shop for periodic maintenance and I don't like using my other machine for applique-ing.  So I'll wait to get Miss Pfaff home and then spend a few days tacking down the items.  I have done 5 other ones in addition to this one (not for the guitar quilt) and I need to spend a day or so getting them also tacked down.  

Kai Bella has been with us for a month now.  She's such a sweetie - only one minor problem.  One that I think we can overcome.  She does not like cats.  She's attempted to catch the Skipper a couple of times and has him terrified of her.  He and Gilligan make a huge path between them and Kai.  We think it will just take time for them to all learn to live together.

I'm gearing up to finish cleaning out the guest bedroom.  Our Charlotte is coming for a week at the end of next month and she will need a place to sleep.  Currently, the bed is piled with boxes and quilts from the studio.  I need to get those things sorted and put away in the studio space and make it cozy for her visit.  

I'll finish this post with the following.  Just in case you didn't know:

Thanks for stopping by!