Merry Christmas

I'm running behind times as usual but let me wish all of you a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.  I hope you all are still safe and warm. 

We had a white Christmas here on the hill.  It's not unusual for us to get a bit of snow at some point during the winter but this is the first on Christmas since we've lived up here.  About 3 1/2 inches total.

Our neighbors walked up the hill past our house to see the view over town with the snow and took this picture near the end of our driveway.  

And this was the view from the porch.  Needless to say, with temps no higher than 20 degrees all day and a wind chill in single digits, I went no further  toward the outside.

The birds were really active today.  Lots and lots of them vying for space on the feeders.  They were all flummoxed by the snow blocking their places to light on the railings.  The snow will start melting tomorrow when the temps head up to the 40's and will likely finish off on Sunday.   It's really pretty to see it like this but I'm done with it now.  It can go away.  

I think all of us are looking forward to 2021 and the hope that it will be better than this year has been.  Please stay safe and warm.  We will get through it one of these days. 

Y'all take care

Covid Woes and Log Cabins

 I am so far behind and downright ashamed of my lack of posting.  I love to read posts of other bloggers and it is just not right to  leave mine languishing. 

I have been pretty much staying at home.  Grocery store runs and doctor appointments but not many of those.  My little sewing group decided to resume our gatherings at the guest house of one of the group.  There's only five of us but with the holidays and increasing covid infection rates, I'm just not comfortable being there any more.  So, I've bowed out until such time as I feel things are safer.

It was my turn to host my siblings' gathering back in mid November and since I'm the youngest of the bunch, we're all getting up in age.  One brother recently had a mild heart attack.  Given that, and the fact that our May gathering was cancelled, I really wanted to go ahead.  We were all set and my husband and I actually drove down to NW Florida in preparation.  Upon arriving and overnight during conversations with my brother, the prevalence of covid in the area became quite obvious.  Even some extended family members had been exposed.  It just became too much for us and after much anguish, on Friday morning I decided to cancel the whole thing.  I made those difficult phone calls to my siblings.  Some were relieved, I think, and others didn't have much to say about it.  At any rate, less than 24 hours after getting there, we got back in the car and headed back home.  Even though I wanted to see my siblings, it just wasn't worth the risk to all of us to go ahead.  I truly hope that we will be able to resume next May.

I have been sewing and reading, as usual.  My most recent finish is my first log cabin style quilt.  These have been around forever and there almost endless ways to arrange the blocks.  Here is the one that inspired me. 

I pulled out fabrics that I liked and started cutting the "logs".  Since I was not cutting many of the same fabric, I actually wound up cutting most of them one at a time so that I could get multiple lengths from the same fabric. 

The old card table comes in really handy with my quilting.  It's a moveable extra space for sorting.  I also used Frog tape to mark the sizes and location numbers.  That's something else that quilters use frequently.   Anyway, there are 546 pieces to make up the blocks.  

Its easy stitching but you do have to pay attention to the order so that the finished design comes through.  And in the middle of this project my machine decided to be temperamental again.  Off to the spa for a good cleaning and examination by the technician who found nothing out of order.  It still was a bit difficult on return, but with some tweaking of threads it returned to good working order. 

And here is the finished top.  The colors do not show well here due to the lousy lighting.  I am pleased.  Now on to the next project, whatever that may turn out to be. 

Y'all stay safe out there.  We are all so tired of the restrictions but its not worth our health to throw caution to the winds now.  

Y'all take care 

  

Election Day 2020

I am an American.   It is my right, responsibility and privilege to vote, to have my voice heard.

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God,  indivisible and with liberty and justice for all.  

This flag and everything it stands for belong to every American, not to any political party. 

November 3, 2020 is election day.  Vote and have your voice heard too.   

Tumblers Finish

 I owe all of you an apology right up front.  I have been so remiss in not getting another post up to let you see how this quilt turned out.  I debated long and hard with myself but finally decided to go to my annual quilting retreat with my buddies from all over the southeastern US and even a couple from Ohio.  We've done this for the past ten or eleven years and I haven't missed a one yet.  No hugs were shared (bummer), we practiced social distancing for the most part  but still had a good time.

Anyway, I worked diligently on this quilt while there and was able to get it stitched together.  When I finished the inner part with the tumblers I did something that was totally stupid and I knew better.  I half pressed it and then proceeded to attach borders.  Well, I found out as I was adding the last piece of the outer border that I had screwed up big time. 😬   I didn't say anything to my pals but figured I'd fix the mess when I got home. 

After looking at it a couple of days, I stopped the procrastination and took the borders off the quilt. I dug out the spray starch and ironed the heck out of the center portion.  It got squared up then as best I could.  I started re-attaching the borders, some of which I replaced to make it look better.  Anyway, here is the final result and I must admit that I'm pleased with the outcome.   I had a ton of tumblers left over, probably enough for two or more quilts, but I decided once was enough.  I gave the tumblers to Marj who was going to use them to make a quilt for her girly granddaughter.  Worked for me and assuaged my guilt by keeping those pieces out of my sight!

I'm thinking I may put a flannel backing on it to make it all snuggly.  For now, it has joined a friend hanging in the closet awaiting further action.

Y'all take care and stay safe.

The Ride Continues, Part 2

 My progress on the tumbler quilt has been slow or non-existent a lot of days but I have made some progress.  Nothing about this is hard but it takes time and perseverance.  

I got the strips cut from all the fabrics.  I don't know how many different fabrics there are.  On most I cut only one strip, a few I cut two and there were a few pieces where I only had partial strips.  Oh well, that's the point to make it scrappy.

Then the fun part started, cutting all those little tumblers.  I do not have a tumbler template and wasn't about to spend over $25 to buy one just for this project.  I wandered around and looked in all nooks and crannies to see what I could find to use.  TA DA!  I found a Dresden plate template/ruler that had never been opened.  I pulled it out, figured the size I wanted my tumblers and used painters' tape to mark the size for easy reference. 

I simply cut in one direction, flip the ruler around and cut the other piece, continuing until the strip is cut.

It was my idea to simply toss the tumblers into a plastic bin and then pull them as they came to sew them.  

One of those ideas that worked better in concept than in execution.   Since I was cutting strips of double fabric there were always two pieces stuck together and also a number of cuts lying together.  So I sat for a while and separated the tumblers into separate piles so that they could be mixed up.  When finished, I added them back to the bin in different orders and then stirred them up. 

I sat down to start the sewing.  Again, the idea works but execution is a little more difficult. 

Yeah, I had to fix that one but it was a learning process.  I continued to sew them together until I had the row about as long as I wanted it, considering that I would be adding borders as well.  

There are 25 different tumblers in that row but it is as wide as I want it for now.  There are probably about 15 more different tumblers that weren't used.  They'll go into the next row.  I'll keep sewing rows of tumblers until it again gets to the size that I want it.  

So, that's where the Ride sits at the moment. 

We are having a glorious fall day today.  Sunshine and mid 60's which is a bit cooler than normal.  This should be October weather. 

Y'all take care

Come Along for the Ride

 I thought it might be of interest to see how a quilt comes into being.  I saw a quilt lying on wildflowers in a field recently on a blog.  I fell in love with the concept and the idea.  I believe that lady made hexagons like a Grandmother's Flower Garden but I have no interest in paper piecing like that.  My idea was to make a mini tumbler quilt using 30's reproduction fabrics.

The first thing to do, since there is no real pattern for this, is to try to figure out how many tumblers I will need.  I think I've got it right but we'll see. 

We start with scribbles and figures which may or may not be correct but its a starting point. 

Then is the selection of fabrics.  I simply went over to the cabinet and pulled out just about all the 30's reproduction fabrics I have, along with some others for neutrals. 

I'll just cut strips from them and then cut the little tumblers. 

So, that's where we stand at the moment.  I'll do my best to  bring you along as progress is made. 

Y'all take care

A Catch Up

 Okay, its time.  All these months of the covid pandemic have taken their toll on all of us.  I know that at times I am frustrated, sad, stressed, lonely and just plain unhappy.  Then at other times it doesn't seem to bother me so much.  My brother and I were talking yesterday and we both agreed that many of us Americans have for way too long had the ability to do as we please when we please.  We have become truly spoiled with having the ability to indulge our wants and whims.  This time of restriction can teach us a valuable lesson.  If our true needs are met (food, shelter, clothing, safety), then all our wants can be adjusted and modified if we will but make the effort. 

I am a quilter.  I have a room full of fabrics, tools, patterns and every other implement that I need or want to indulge my expensive hobby.  Yet, I find myself being unsatisfied at times and at a loss as to how to occupy myself.  Isn't that pathetic?  I'm relatively healthy, have every need met and 99.9% of my wants met, so how can I possibly be unsatisfied?  I just shake my head at myself sometimes.  

Now, on to something more cheerful.  During this period of uncertainty, I cleaned up my sewing room. 

You won't see that cutting table empty like that too often.  Same for the sewing tables. 

See that small lamp on the table.  It has stopped working.  I thought it was the switch so I figured I'd give it a go and see if there was obviously something wrong that I could fix. 

Looks like the base of a lamp, huh?  Way beyond my capabilities because in reality I know zip, nada, zilch about electronics.  I put it back together and then proceeded to do something I know how to do.  I found a used one on dBay just like it and promptly bought it.  Should be here in a day or so.  Nifty, huh?

My husband and I try to go walking several times a week at our local park which is about 30+ acres with the lovely Butternut Creek and Notteley River running through it.  I came across this sight this week and it really caught my fancy. 

Budding engineers had obviously been at work building a rock dam.  Then one obviously had an artistic bent and built that sculpture/cairn.  I swear the top looks like a dancer or angel in movement.  Don't know if you can enlarge enough to tell.  I'm so glad I captured the sight because the next time I was at the park the sculpture was gone and the dam totally rearranged. 

Just another one of those lessons about appreciating what we have when we have it. 

Y'all take care of yourselves.  See you soon.

TA DAH! A post finally

 At last!   You finally get another post from me.  I've been busy working on a wool applique project and have been enjoying it immensely.  It is tedious but fun.  So here we go with some pretties. 

These are not perfect by any means but I love doing them.  I'm to the point of stitching the onto the tree background.  Some of them will require a bit more fancy stitching as they are fastened down and some will just need to be whip stitched.

We are having a wet summer here on the hill.  We have carpenters trying to do some outside work on our wood cabin and that's hard when it rains most every day.  Usually not downpours but enough to keep things wet.  Yesterday we did get a down pour, though.  

We are staying home except for necessity runs and its getting old.  Thank goodness we can go to the park for some exercise and a change of scenery.  We're able to do our social distancing thing there easily. 

Y'all stay safe and take care. 

Hot July Days

Hey, everybody.  Summertime has arrived in the mountains.  We had such a lovely June weather wise.  Now, the humidity has crept in along with higher temperatures.  Oh well, we'll survive.  Just talked to my sister earlier down in NW Florida and they've had temps and heat indexes up above 100.  I can hardly imagine with the humidity down there.  I told her that was one of the the primary reasons we moved away from there. 

We've been saying home pretty much.  We go over to the park for a walk fairly often but we are able to avoid other people well enough.  It does the heart good to walk along the creek and hear the water. 

I've been sewing pretty steadily.  I have the graduation quilt all done and ready to go in the mail.  I really like how it turned out and hope Josie will like it. 

In addition, I started and finished the top for another quilt.  Don't know when I'll get it quilted.  I loved these colors together.  You may need to enlarge the photo to properly see the striped fabric. 

I've gone back to working on the Oh, Christmas tree wool applique pattern.  I have the circles for the 21 flowers all cut out and stapled together.  Now I get to start the fun part of doing the fancy stitching to fasten them together and to embellish them.  It is enjoyable but very time consuming. 

I hope everyone takes proper precautions to keep themselves and those around them healthy.   Stay safe.

Y'all take care

I'm So Excited.....And I Just Can't Hide It.....

(Snicker....now get that song out of your head.)

I'm in the middle of a quilting project and I'm excited about it.  I don't think I've been this pumped up about a project in a very long time.     Many, many years ago I bought some fabric at the Quilted Moose in Gretna, Nebraska (I believe it was) that was diagonal striped fabric.  Fell in love with it so I bought the fabric and a number of coordinating pieces.  They have been stored together since then.  When I was trying to decide what I wanted to stitch on next, I pulled out that fabric and decided that was it.  

I chose a very traditional pattern shown in homespuns and dark fabrics.  Not in the same universe as my fabrics.   Got it figured out and blocks laid out ready to stitch together. 

Can't wait to get it all together and see the end result! 

We're getting rain almost every day and can I say I'm tired of it?  Yeah, I know.  Once it stops I'll be begging for rain.  The flowers (and weeds) just keep on growing in this wet warm weather.  We are still having cooler than normal weather but I'll take that happily. 

Hubby made a run to Walmart the other day.  I think he loves me. 

Y'all stay safe and take care of yourselves and your loved ones

The New Nornal

Well, here we go.  I've been seeing bloggers who have already switched to the new Blogger format and are not happy with it.  Figured I'd better get aboard and see what the fuss is about.  Besides, I'm way behind on posting anyway. 

My days go by so fast.  They all seem to be duplicates of the one before so much that I'm tempted to call them all Ground Hog's Day.   I went on one social outing to my sewing group where we all pretty much sit far apart anyway.  It was good to see the girls again but don't know if we'll do it again.   Since more things have opened up here in Georgia, our little county shot up from about 30 cases to nearly 60 cases with an additional death.  Of course, folks from the Atlanta metro area and Florida and other places are coming up now, so that expands the risk for our residents. 

I've been over to the park only once in the past several months.  I missed most of the flowers there.  The mountain laurel was still blooming but the rhododendrum and native azaleas were already done. 

The creek was running beautifully though.  It is a lovely park and it was a factor in our choice of places to live.  

My husband had hernia repair surgery at the end of May and is doing well in his recovery.  The first week or so he was pretty sedentary but he's now feeling much better and wanting to do things.  I have to ride herd on him sometimes due to his tendency to overdo things, even when his health is normal.  He still thinks he's 50 years old and he's not.

We've had a lot of rain this past winter and spring and the woods around us are so thick and lush.  I love all the shades of green and all the shapes of the various leaves and plants.  Just wish some of those plants wouldn't grow where I don't want them, if you know what I mean!  Pulling weeds is a constant job and it can get away from you easily.  

I'm having lovely flowers this year.  I finally got my hydrangea to grow and look like its supposed to. 

  Here are some of the others that are in bloom right now. 

Taken near dusk

Hummers love this red salvia

Pentas, stokes asters, yarrow and penstemmon

Crocosmia nearing bloom, butterfly weed, blackeyed susans and coneflowers

The asters are blooming out more every day and the crocosmia will be doing its thing shortly.  My knockout roses had a glorious first wave.  They are putting out buds and will be waving proudly soon.  I try to keep them going until the fall and they will do that if I can remember to keep them fed on time.

Now, if I could get deck plants to look as good I'd be pleased.  One thing I'm not pleased about is how quickly the landscaping timbers on the above bed have deteriorated.  This bed was put in place in 2015 I think it was and some of the timbers have already rotted.  We have a carpenter/contractor coming soon for some other work and hope I can get them to do repairs on these beds as well.

This covid 19 virus has us all in turmoil.  Our lives have been rearranged without our permission and it all takes some getting used to.  It makes me wonder what normal will look like going forward.  I know we've cancelled a number of plans due to it, including attendance at our granddaughter's wedding which is out of state.  My husband just does not feel safe taking the risk, considering his age and health issues.  It breaks our hearts not to go.  

I hope all of you stay safe and as happy as you can be. 

Y'all take care