MAY 2020

MAY 2020

This month deserves EVERY

bit of bold, larger, underlined

text available to me!!

 We started the month by going

to Virginia to help my mom

with some things around

the house and to spend

Mother's Day with her.

We did tons of yard work

and I got covered in ticks-YUCK!!!!

Once home, one of the bites

wasn't reacting right so I was

tested / treated for Lyme disease.

My test came back negative but

to this day (2 months later) that

one bite isn't right.

Be careful out there!

Unfortunately, this would 

be the last trip my 

sweet Biscuit boy would make!!

When we got home, he became

more listless and his chronic

illness/allergies made him

absolutely miserable and so

we made the heartbreaking decision....

My heart will always have a hole

in it and I MISS HIM!!!!

Came across this old photo of

my Great-Grandmother/father & 

my father and aunt as children.

I vaguely remember her but

never met my GGfather.

My aunt passed young as well

and I will always miss that I 

didn't get to know her as an adult!

Of course, more masks were made!

The sweet "B-sharp"onesie

(last name Sharp) 

Jim designed is finished and

ready for delivery!!.

Isn't it adorable?!!!!

The kids had a bassinet that didn't

come with the little stars

meant to hang over the baby.

So it was requested I make a 

couple of stars to fill in...

I went a bit over the request:)

Using my friend, Susan Marth's,

Tiny Dresden templates, I made

2 that could form the 

rays of a sun that I embroidered

a sweet face for.

 Stuff it and finish by appliquéing 

it to the rays!

Then make a star and moon to 

hang together:)

 Flying the first time since everything began

was interesting but not as bad

as you might have expected.

Southwest is awesome and 

has a 'middle seat stays empty'

policy that I appreciated.

Not as many people were flying 

but still....& everyone wore a mask!

The terminals were ghost towns since

only passengers were being allowed

in so a bit eerie but fine.

EVERYTHING was worth

it to meet this new little

sweetie in our family!!!!

There were a few bumps in 

the beginning with mom 

and baby but both

came through with 

flying colors and I 

couldn't be more in LOVE!!!

Hello Charles.

 Dad, Mom, and baby:)

Me with My baby and her baby!!!!

It is a feeling beyond words

to see your child with a 

little of their own!!

Charles enjoying my work:)

I had decided to have him call

me Bobbin instead of Grandma

1. to be different since I will be long distance

2. the quilting theme...duh:)

When I visited, a conversation

about what I would call him had me 

saying 'poppet' from British

references and an old movie I 

enjoyed, WILLOW.

We rewatched that movie and

he doesn't call them poppets but

"Bobbins"!!!!

YAY!

Hello Bobbin.....Well, Hello bobbin.

~~

Q-Squirrel Pt 2

Here we are at almost mid-July and the 

self-quarantining continues.

Since I left you after part 1, 

here is just a bit of 

what I have been up to....

I participated in a Virtual Trunk

that ended up being a FAB

way to introduce myself to 

new followers.

You can see it HERE!

I like to be prepared so here

was my set up that day with

pages of notes, phone stand,

and a rack of quilts behind me:)

I continued playing with my friend's

Twelve Days of Christmas

that you can read more about

HERE.

Here is a test block for a new 

paper piece and applique' quilt

coming soon to AQ Magazine:)

If you like bright tropical colors,

this one will be right up your alley!

I finished the top of the little 
signature quilt 
started HERE and started
the next little quilt the 
group decided on.

Then (more) baby gift preps started!
Seems as if you just keep finding 
fun things to give the new family.
A space theme had been decided on
and this little art piece of mine
was perfect with lots of family heritage.
Read about it HERE.
The project it was intended for
was dismantled and the piece
came back to where I believe
it was meant to be all along!
It is framed and now hangs
over his changing table.

Then onto making a unique little

onesie for our new little one:)

My husband designed this

and was excited to have me

make it come to life.

SO EXCITING!

Next post will have all the details and

pictures of our new sweetie!

HOME

The Autumn issue of Quilter's World

will have my new quilt design

that I started this past January! YAY!

It is so bothersome that I 

have to keep so much secret 

from all my quilting friends

when I am working.

Once the design is planned, 

it is time to go fabric hunting!

As you can see, I wanted a muted

selection of neutrals in 

gray and taupe.

Look at the perfect and gorgeous

Barbara Brackman fabrics 

I found along the way!

Giddiness!

Have you ever tried to pay attention

to what you are doing at a retreat?

~LOL~

I was super fortunate to get to 

attend the annual retreat with my

friends from Illinois since I 

don't always get to go.

As 2020 has turned out, 

I am SO Happy I made

sure I did this year!!

We are missing a couple in 

this photo but we had a 

great time and it made my

"work" go much quicker!

Here is the other thing that made 

my work time happier!!

These FAB fingerless gloves 

from my mother:)

Pretty and functional!

So there was pinning and stitching

for the HSTs...

Lots of mindless chain piecing

for the log cabin blocks....

Once home, hours of 

NCIS reruns got me through:)

Auditioning of which red

fabric to use for the star....

and Voila'....

HOME!

Thank you (AGAIN) to 

Toddy and Ray Sumsky

for a FAB job quilting this

for me in my weirdo, designer

timeline! 

HOME is now out in the 

latest issue of Quilter's World.

I hope you will enjoy making

it as much as I enjoyed designing

it for you to snuggle under

during a chilly winter eve!

And, don't forget your label!!

~Enjoy~

Quarantine SQUIRREL...

Hello again.

I hope I am not the only

one suffering from 

'Squirrel' syndrome during

this quarantine....?

Pretty sure I am not

and thought I would share

a few of the things I have done

since this began.

We went to Chicago mid March 

for a baby shower and that was

 the first time I had really taken 

my head out of my work long

enough to notice what was going on.

When we got home, I started making

some masks for my youngest

who works in a unit that

was being transformed into

a Covid unit and that freaked

me out just a bit...!!

This Worldmeter is dated March 22nd.

What a difference 2-1/2 months makes!

While my brain was trying to make 

sense of it all, I started hand piecing

these tiny little half-square triangle blocks.

Then for some reason unknown to me,

I decided I should start using some of 

the scraps from magazine projects to 

make a series of blocks...?

I don't make scrap quilts!!!

These were Very Helpful and necessary to 

my sanity as I watched job after job cancel.

So I have 5 sets of blocks

that match and I can't decide

whether to put all the same 

blocks, different fabrics together

OR, put all the same fabrics,

different blocks together.

Big Decisions!

Until part 2, keep stitching~

Rockets Red Glare

LOOK what hit mailboxes

last week!!

The July issue is now out

and yours truly

has a new quilt within

titled, 'Rockets Red Glare'.

THANK YOU Connecting Threads for 

the perfect fabric line,

Hometown Americana II.

It saddens me that so many quilters

feel overwhelmed by applique' 

because, to me, it is such a 

creative and relaxing form of quilting.

Yes, there are sometimes

many pieces to handle but

no more than some of 

the pieced quilts I have seen.

There are times that even I look

at one of my designs and ask,

"who designed all this work?".

Then I realize how much I 

love it and set to breaking

down each task just as you

would do in piecing.

Piecing steps: 

Iron fabric, measure, 

cut out pieces, sew, 

press, trim, and assemble.

Applique' steps:

Iron fabric, trace templates, 

fuse to wrong sides,

cut out, press to 

backgrounds, stitch 

around edges.

Pretty even in my book:)

Plus, once I get all the pieces 

traced and fused to the 

wrong side of fabrics,

I can pop in a fun movie

and cut all the pieces in 

a relaxed setting.

I am all about the relaxing:)

(NOTE in pic above I 

marked each template with 

the color fabric so I couldn't

mess up while fusing.)

These Karen Kay Buckley 

scissors are the Best!!!

Another nice thing about my

designs is that they don't need

to be laid out exactly.

As long as you leave at least

a 1/4" from the seam 

allowance, (1/2"-3/4" from 

block edge) you are golden!

Fireworks every day of the year!

Machine quilting is not really

my 'thing' but sometimes

I have to rely on my skills.

My default is a set of loop

designs that I free motion

over the raw edge applique'

and then enlarge for the

all over quilting fill in

and around my applique'.

Add a quick triangle label

to my corner and Voila-done!

THANK YOU to AQ Magazine 

for another cool layout!

Twelve Days of Christmas

 I have had this Christmas line 

for a few years now...

The selvages are adorable

and the colors vibrant 

and wonderful!

When quarantine started, I finished 

a couple of work deadlines and then

promised myself that I would do a

project or 2 for myself.

A friend of mine had done a 

a sew along that this fabric

was perfect for!

Suzn Quilts designed an adorable

miniature using her tiny templates.

The 12 Days of Christmas

 The finished size is 12" and since

I have so much of this fabric, I

thought it would be fun to keep 

making bigger blocks to go with 

the miniature....

Friendship Stars

I liked the little house blocks

and trees so much that I made 

another 12" miniature with them.

Here is the template for the trees.

In my mini, I left off the trunks.

Here is what I have so far...

My 2 minis, some Friendship Stars &

some Pinwheel blocks.

The first block is one of Susan's Tiny/Mini

Dresden blocks that can be found in

her Around the Block pattern.

I can't wait to see it finished

and I hope you will go visit Susan's

blog and site for lots of fun

ways to spend our days.

Until next time,

Keep stitchin'.