got strips?

as you can see, i've got plenty but this sizable tote had only ONE measly, piddly, itty, bitty aqua strip for this month's rainbow scrap challenge blocks!!!  how revolting is that!!!  i took on this challenge to empty this tote, or at least make a dent, but so far...nada.  so back to the stash for aqua FQs to cut up and now, of course, there are more aqua strips in the tote....groan....making it more jammed than before.  

but now they are done for april...once again, this pattern is bonnie hunter's 'crayon box' found on her website...and more civil war blocks are done as well...

the red/black/white block is so well named...plenty of anxiety over the 2 hours it took to make it but result is quite acceptable to me.  ***** and today's cup runs over with thankfulness for how good i am feeling, how far i've come in not-yet 1.5 years since open heart surgery...did i actually have that?  so hard to believe at this point.  the restrictions, the meds, the exercise are all routine now, which i never thought would happen...hoping you find blessings in your day as well...they are there!

a finish!

had a small UFO that served as my doll quilt swap piece that is now done!  a win/win situation!   just have to wash, dry and then mail!  once received, i'll show the front!

and today's dish?  a nearly no-salt quiche, more like a savory custard since reduced the amount of cheese by half and added more veggies--sauteed leeks, mushrooms, onions.  the salt culprit here is the store-bought crust but since it'll be eaten over 3-4 days, can manage.  used to buy croissants, pizza crust, biscuits in the tube but no more...too much salt for me.  ditto for rotisserie chicken...at my local store it has 850 mg of sodium per 4 oz serving... my ex, a sometimes sober alcoholic, used to say there was nothing worse than a reformed anything as they would be on the soapbox constantly but it isn't my intent to tell anyone what or how much to eat, smoke, drink or anything else.  making this change has been very hard for me--nobody likes cheetos better--but on a restricted budget and with food choice no-nos, i'm always tickled to find something delicious and allowed.  now doesn't this look yummy?  and it really is!

weekend update

two good days, one cloudy and rainy and one sunny, made up the weekend but since sewing was on the agenda both days, it was a good weekend indeed.  **** first up was a few household chores and some food prep....

these are my go-to, cardiology-approved stuffed peppers.  i participate in a couple of food programs that give me one box every month of meats and produce and a weekly program that is just produce.  much of it is rescued food that has been turned down by retailers but good nonetheless.  the selection varies every week and this week was peppers, 2 each of mangoes, oranges, apples, acorn squash, grape tomatoes and eggplant.  most has to be used fairly soon so the eggplant and grape tomatoes got roasted with onions, garlic, ital seasoning.  in the monthly box came ground turkey, a roasting chicken, fresh tomatoes/cukes/lettuce, potatoes and onions and oranges.  so made up these for the week ahead with no salt added, even canned stewed tomatoes had no salt added.  having such a severe restriction is a lot of extra work and rules out nearly anything canned/boxed/frozen, most restaurant meals and everything in the grocery store that isn't fresh.  this is my own recipe concocted out of desperation.  there is about a tablespoon of worcestershire sauce for zing.  the corn was in a previous week's order that i cut off the cob and sauteed with a bit of pepper then froze.  this will give me a few days' respite...lol!   ***  now for the sewing part...i quilted some on my big quilt, finished up the doll quilt that i'll show later....and made these 2 civil war diary blocks.

still more household tasks on the to-do list but i'll be spacing them out to fit in more fun sewing time...war rages on!

early morning skirmish

can't believe it has been 11 days since april started and i'm just now getting to this project....dang, time does fly by!  and notice how i left the star a bit wonky to give it that antique look?  i'm using this tactic now and then to give my stuff authenticity...LOL....the doll quilt for the swap is just about ready to fly outta here too!  will be focusing on the "war" blocks and quilting the cabana daydreams, plus sneak in a basting day someplace as well before may rolls around....for hand piecing busy with more bow ties and the new england sampler applique border.   better stop there!  have a quilty day all.....

quilty meet and greet

before i tell you "who" and "where", wanted to give an update on my 'stars in her crown' blocks, the barbara brackman sew-along that ran earlier this year.  took some time tuesday and got the blocks assembled and last night after the "where," pulled out the reds to find a suitable border.  now i know why i have all this fabric!  found a few that might work but settled on this very persian-looking french general piece...

the bedroom lighting isn't optimal but rechecked my choice this morning and it's a go (ignore the toes please!)....then the binding will be a blue, maybe a solid.  once again the color isn't quite as intense as in person but the saturation is the best i could manage.  *** now for the meet....a quilty friend took me to another guild meeting last night to hear....

fun-loving barb!  that's barb vedder from connecticut whose blog i follow religiously...i even won a giveaway from her of a large baptist fan stencil some years back....she was enjoying our warm and colorful maryland spring and was a pure delight to hear and ogle her quilts.  can recommend her highly if your guild is on the speaker search. and she brought with her THE KAFFE FASSETT APPLIQUE quilt that i've been ruminating about....hers is gorgeous and i feel more resolved than ever to make one....and this is a beauty shot for wendy, who had her photo snapped with barb recently at the new england quilt museum...

ignore my baggy clothing....always "fun" to hang out with a fellow yankee, and a quilty yankee is a win/win!

spring or summer??

today temps are hovering around 80...tomorrow too...so summer can't be too far off, can it?  then working on this quilt is just exactly right!

once again the camera has washed out the brightness but you can just imagine how summery and cheerful this is....quilting with the variegated thread--12 wt--is a challenge, especially threading the needle--but it's going along ok and it is making this quilt pop!  i didn't think i'd like the variegated but glad ignored the hesitation and jumped right in....  there was other sewing this weekend but under wraps for now, that would be the QOV top and also the small quilt doll swap piece.  busy week ahead including some much-needed house chores.  takes my mind off unpleasant things i simply cannot change...sometimes have to play the ostrich, you know!  it's one of those times when quilting is my oasis....

no foolin'!

a new month but an old UFO has moved to the top of the finish list....it's my "cabana daydreams" bed quilt...

if it looks familiar, it's because the scraps from this went into "sunny day" that got finished a week or so ago...again with the bright colors!  these were charm packs gifted to me about 4 years ago in my gap year while waiting for the maryland move.  and since it's a beachy type quilt, using a scallop pattern for the white spaces..

and while white thread is being used for the triangles and the hexagon outline, pulled out an aurifil variegated to do the scallops....so all the categories are now covered for april....hand quilting, machine quilting and hand piecing!  will be squeezing in a basting day sometime this month and the scrap basket is overflowing again too!  these should keep me outta trouble for 30 days...lol!

made the deadline!

with april arriving tomorrow and my plan of finishing the civil war diary blocks, was imperative to get this to the flimsy stage today....and it's done!

this is called "honeycomb" and it's from a vintage amish-style pattern book purchased in my freshman years as a quilter aka 1980s....most of the fabrics are cherrywood solid scraps and it's nice to see i had enough of the navy for the borders too...not always the case i'm afraid!  and bonus, the binding is also navy AND it's all sewn and rolled on a paper tube waiting its turn.  of course you know it's the hand quilting that makes my heart quiver, and this is the stencil i've chosen for the border....will outline the hexagons at perhaps 1/2" since they are about 4" across.  but oh the border....i can see it already!  *** and with this flimsy comes another empty drawer (temporarily) but it's progress nonetheless....

after my road trip this week, have a couple of ideas for new projects, but they'll stay as WHIMMs until more finishes are accomplished....

perfect!

new header photo of cherry trees that are now exploding with cotton candy color....official now that spring is really here!   The first section of "MATO" is done and the first narrow lime border is on and i think it's just perfect....any wider and it would take over, but this narrow slice of lime is going to make the other colors pop, especially against the very neutral background.

again, the colors are not as vivid but hoping you get the idea....and peeking out at the top is the first block of the next section.....first thing today was to make myself a list for april as otherwise, i'd drop everything and work on only this...when finished, this should really brighten up the industrial beige that surrounds me doncha think??? 

road trip!

to lancaster as it's quilt week!  just went for the day before all the activities start, mainly to meet up with a friend and trek to quilty gathering places and eat forbidden foods...LOL!  first stop burkholders...jam packed with like-minded fellow cultists, tons of sales and more fabric than anyone can lust after....but lust we did!  found 2 sale bolts, a lime green for my "midnight at the oasis"....perfect don't you think?

this wall quilt medallion has 3 very narrow (one inch) borders and lime it is to set off kaffe's fabrics perfectly and for binding...another sale bolt of adorable birds....both pieces gifted to me...

then some little rolls for 50 cents each, more than 1/8th but less than 1/4....who can pass that up, right?

after burkholders, a sumptuous, delicious, family-style lunch meal stretching the food restriction limits a bit but oh-so worth it...could you turn down home-made chocolate ice cream??? i didn't think so.....and at the last stop, once again foraged into the grocery budget for some half-price kaffe fabric not-fat quarters for MATO (midnight at the oasis) blocks....

thankfully, will still be able to eat until payday though was sorely tempted to over-indulge!   after a day of too much fun and the drive home, sewing out of the question but wednesday?  could very well be....

little sewing

mostly have been cutting up fabrics for a friend but did manage to get a tiny bit of sewing done on this honeycomb quilt top...made with cherrywood solids....it's couch throw size...there'll be a 5" navy border as i've a feather stencil been wanting to use....

all the side triangles are sewn in and now at the bottom of the honeycombs....did have to cut a few different colors...hoping this coming week will be able to add borders...and then there's this little sewing....

a new baby boy just has to have some fun bibs!  backed with flannel and velcro tabs, done in a flash!

it's heeeere!

it's the annual UFO adoption day...looking for somebody else's treasure to adopt?  hop on over to cynthia's blog to see what is available....what's that?  you say you already HAVE  UFOs?  well, dear readers, who doesn't??? but you just might find that dream project already started that you can finish up lickety split....i had a couple of UFOs had thought about putting up for adoption but can't quite part with them yet...maybe next year (if they aren't finished by then..LOL)....spring rains here today but no matter, it's a sewing day for me...

new week, new finish

spent a good part of the weekend finishing up this wall quilt....my apartment is industrial beige from floor to ceiling in every room so guessing that is why have been gravitating to bright colors more than usual...the camera doesn't do it proper brightness justice tho....

went with the navy binding to tone down the yellow which is a screaming YELLOW....a color i seldom use.   title is "sunny day" and today is very sunny....spring is here for certain as daffodils are starting to bloom....so another UFO is history, off the list....

plastic!

with spring cleaning in full swing, the sewing space is not exempt.  whereas in past years have hung onto these, their time had come to go.   a bag full of pattern templates carefully fashioned out of template plastic...

the large baggie (also plastic) was full, each held together with pins, for future use.....until the rotary cutter arrived on the scene!  only occasionally did they get used but never in the last (at least) 5 years....so they are going the way of rotary phones, 8-track tapes, subway tokens....gone but not forgotten.  ***  and this being st. patrick's day, the aroma of corned beef is wafting thru the building....though it's a no-no for me, did get a slice from the deli to go with my vegs.  i promised the cardiac surgeon i would not squander the gift he gave me and aside from tiny, very occasional foodie indulges, i'm keeping that promise....the gift of life is far too precious!

finished!

not an official UFO but done and daughter is delighted!  didn't bust much stash on this at all but some is better than none....and still plugging away on this, slow but sure....applique on the stems will commence this week....

car still on sick list for another couple of weeks i guess...so have a ride to the store today...off we go!

M is for.....

March!  as in all people quilt's March Madness Pillowcase Sweepstakes.....and then M is for MODA!   yes i won!  a fantastic gift package from Moda....arrived today on this our first real spring day....a big box waiting at my door....how good is that?

a real treasure trove of all things quilty!  should really be thanking my mom, who gives me the subscription to the magazine where the info to enter was found....but can also be found on facebook....a terrific surprise and will be thoroughly enjoyed....

wednesday report

while i have been sewing since the last post, have also been tackling spring cleaning....vacuuming, washing floors, dusting, cleaning the fridge, collecting thrift items, moving furniture....it's been a while since i could do all this in just a few days!   most of my sewing has been hand quilting, hand piecing and cutting up...but this morning betty and i finished these blocks...

barbara brackman's "stars in her crown" sew along....one for each of queen victoria's children...there is a similar star-like border but not going there...gonna dig thru the stash to see if there's a nice border print to finish them off....
for hand sewing, picked up "midnight at the oasis" to stitch up the next step....these "wow" triangles and their setting pieces....

still in my kaffe groove obviously...just can't get enough of these gorgeous fabrics.....at some point in my travels going to be looking for a lime (batik maybe?) print for the narrow borders in this large wall quilt....as for cutting,

cutting up this pile into pieces for future quilts for a friend....now that the fairies wall quilt is just about done (photo later), this project and assembling the QOV top are the last two commitments on my list...2 more UFOs are already in the hoops--a wall quilt and a bed quilt--so continuing on with my goal to FINISH stuff this year.

marooned....

meaning the car is on the sick list...spending much more time in the sewing space browsing thru books....meaning more projects?  could be...in kaffe fassett's book on quilts from the V&A, saw this...actually had seen it before but another look was electrifyingly tempting.   love, love, love it...it's big at 94" square but the borders are 10" so the size issue can be remedied...

on hold until more UFOs are done and maybe then it won't be as tempting?  **** and it's the beginning of the end for this project...

the upside down border diagram section has been righted and the applique can commence...for which i'm thrilled...i think it was 1988 when i saw this pattern at a NH show, bought the pattern and have been inching away on it every so often...this could be the year it will finally adorn my wall!  *** and (gulp), did actually start a few new small projects from this tantalizing siren betsy chutchian book...

all this plus quilting on dear daughter's cross-stitch wall quilt, which should be done in another week?  should be anyway....especially since i'm MAROONED!

easy sewing green

it has been a topsy-turvy week so it felt comforting to sit and sew a bit today....car issues, cable TV issues, prescription issues, non-sleep issues all added up to a discombobulated atmosphere that hoping will settle down now. 

this month's rainbow scrap challenge color is green...naturally!  in between snow bursts (again this weekend!) , we are already seeing green with daffodils up about 4" and pansies blooming!  and once again, the strip tote held very few green fabrics so had to pull some stash to finish these blocks.  did manage to use up a couple of small pieces plus the strips i found.  after the blocks were done, added them to my RSC pile and set about clearing the decks, putting away and tidying up.  emptied an elfa drawer by consolidation creating space for stuff that was just lying about and causing chaos.  this block got unearthed and thought about what to do with it....

it was a senior center donation nobody wanted.  i knew the fabrics were old and contacted the local heritage society, but they refused it without a definite provenance to the county so i kept it.  it isn't perfect and badly stained, a triple irish chain block, only one.  decided that it'll get finished potholder style and displayed.  somebody made it, sewn by hand.  it's my way of paying tribute to an anonymous quilter.  *** and if you are a reader who likes a good yarn, a quasi-mystery with a cast of unbelievable, humorous and unconventional characters, can heartily recommend carl hiaasen and this one i'm currently reading...

it's an older book of his, but all those i've read so far are thoroughly entertaining....like his latest, "razor girl", about a nefarious couple whose job is staging car accidents to collect insurance money.  the girl is the driver, plowing into unsuspecting (male) drivers of expensive cars.  when the fuming victim pulls over and gets out to find out who hit him, he sees the girl shaving her very private parts, hence the title.   when i need laughs, colorful characters and a harmless mystery, always pick up a hiaasen novel....

not quilty....

a brief trip back in time to march of 1961....this little miss joined our family....and fast forward to today, her birthday....she has had a very tough go for over a year with lots of serious medical issues, admittedly some due to her own stubbornness, but even so, things that would knock many down for the count.  with 12 years between, we haven't been awfully close as siblings but she's important to our family....happy birthday dear sis...hang on tight and struggle like mad!

monday design wall

seven up!   almost current with this mini sewalong....block 8 (leopold) needs to be constructed, then next saturday is the last...

if you saw the pile of scraps, you'd think a whole lot of fabric got busted, but of course not!  did get to use some of the pretties being "saved" for a someday project.  ***  first thing this AM got these 2 wall quilts basted....so quilting the fairies will be tackled first.....

and last but not least, a photo of our birthday girl celebrating with bro #1 and his wife....she looks fantastic!

playing with scraps

after picking this up at the bookmobile the other day....

was itching to play with my own kaffe fabric scraps....so after working on some necessary sewing projects, opened up the blue plastic case that is jam-packed full of explosive color...

before long had cut all the tiny triangles for the next phase of this project, a legal UFO so nothing new...

omigosh, this is uber-colorful!  gonna really look wow on my institutional beige everything walls....and if you see OUR beauty today, wish her a happy birthday...it's my wonderful mom....

she says she doesn't feel a day over 25, but she's really.......

done!

another 6.5 yards out of the stash....and this is finished....not quite twin size but size ok for me...and yes, there ARE 2 different greens in this quilt....no matter....channeling some antique quilt maker...lol!   a small quilt has moved into the hoop for perhaps another finish before march roars in....we'll see!

snow day sew day

whereas 2-3" of snow is enough to shut down most everything, the arrival of 6-8" is a proverbial maryland blizzard....no problem for a sewist tho...had a very successful sewing day.  first thing, now we are 5, that's blocks for the brackman sew along...

while i like these star blocks a lot, looking forward to the last 4 and to get them off my plate.  block 8 is due out saturday and might just get 6 and 7 done before then, we'll see.  ***  so what else got sewn?

1.  finished the cross-stitch fairy top and now ready to baste and quilt; also prepped the binding for it.
2.  finished applique on another wall quilt that is also ready to baste and quilt.
3.  more on the amish churn dash that will see the finish today...that's the plan anyway.

plus baked an applesauce cake and a few household things rounded out the entire day.  spent every minute in enjoyable pursuits....is that good?  i think so.....