End of the year RECAP

 2023 has been quite a year for me. 

The biggest impact this year has been the traveling to visit either my mother and her husband in Canada or my daughter in law in Louisiana.  Both are miles and miles away. And both have been due to health issues. 

In Canada my "stepfather" had a breathing issue and COPD that turned into needing a pacemaker and 4 months rehabilitation. Unable to gain his independence back, he then chose to go to a nursing home this fall. It is so difficult to watch and understand the process. And then we moved Mom to be nearer to us in the US. 

Secondly, my daughter in law received a double transplant of kidney and pancreas Memorial Day weekend. And that didn't go well. Pancreas removed after week and then after months of very minimal improvement, her body began to reject the kidney this fall. I did take care of the boys for June and July. We travel to see them this weekend.

Family is everything, and their issues impact us even when we don't travel. But we love them no matter what. And I treasure each one of them and my time with them.

But I did sew this year and that is why I blog: to record the process I so enjoy. According to my own spreadsheet, I have finished 14 projects this year. 

Several small wallhangings,   3 baby quilts, and a partridge in a pear tree.

No not really, I don't think I want any birds. 

But several major quilts  or rather quilt tops completed: 

My beautiful Ocean Waves:   which is Totally finished!

    The rest of these are tops which have all been major projects: 

Over the River ( only 7 years in production and quilting left to redo)

Quilted by now border is frogged.

Sewcialites 2  a block of the week from Fat Quarter Shop started in October of 2022 in Christmas colors, also at the quilters,    This is 100 inches square made of 9 inch blocks

 Merry Merry Snowmen , at the quilters,  Wool snowmen on cotton fabrics and lots of machine applique details with embroidery embellishments. Buttons to be added upon quilting for eyes, tips of hats, hearts, etc. Bunny Hill pattern

9 patch:   needing the pieced border and outer border attached. All those little squares are 1 inch big, or should I say "little".  This was originally an  American Patchwork and Quilting pattern modified sashing placed instead for borders. The inspiration was from Gretchen"s Little Corner. 

That leaves several already on the Spreadsheet for the new year. 

Big plans ahead and a New Year ready to map out!  

ONWARD!

Mini goals

 Lots of sewing going on for small things: 

20, actually 21    Orange Peels blocks: 5 inches square:   DONE

60     Churn Dashes   3 inch :    DONE

28     Paper pieced flying geese  3 by 9 inches  3 more to go.  I hope to finish them this week.   DONE!  

And I have been frogging the quilting on my border on my Over the River quilt.  I just didn't think it matched the rest of the quilting nor the theme of the quilt.  I put so many hours of stitching into the embroidery. I love this quilt.  I really like my quilter and what she has done on previous major quilts of mine.  I just don't think this is her style.  

All frogging done in 2 nights.  Next: steaming to hopefully reduce holes in batiks.

She has had 2 other tops  of mine to be done since October.  But she just had a heart attack  a few weeks ago.   ( Merry Merry Snowmen and my Sewcialites 2 quilt)    No rush to get them done especially now that she is recovering. 

Short visit with MOM

 I took a quick 2 day trip to Indianapolis to visit my mom and sister.

Her 92nd birthday is today. 

She is doing quite well considering her hip fracture two weeks ago. She will be transferred back to the memory wing of the nursing home tomorrow where she has a community and staff for support. 

She looks so much better and is in good spirits than when she was in Canada.  I am so grateful we were able to transfer. But mostly, I am grateful for the staff and the nursing home to make her life more fulfilling.

What a treasure to see her smile!    (Purple roses were from my brother.)

I had made a banner for her door.!

On another note, here is the percussion section from Sunday's Christmas concert. My husband and daughter are in this section.  It may be her last concert if she moves to Detroit this summer😥

December, already?

 Where have I been???

Needless to say... A simple Thanksgiving for 2.   Another round in the hospital for my daughter in law rejecting her kidney transplant.   Two fractures for my Mom : hip and arm from falling out of bed.  No surgery.  But painful and now immobile.   No trips for me , but lots of prayers and conversations across the miles.

I don't know what normal is anymore. But I do know that we are going to Louisiana after Christmas to see the boys and that is wonderful. 

So this month is my 7th year blog-iversary.  I still enjoy keeping track of my sewing and projects and getting positives from other quilters/friends over the miles.  

Onto better things: I just returned from my winter quilt retreat with some needed rest and relaxation and focused time on quilting with friends.

Projects I was able to accomplish. 

This was started for a Quilt along with Corrine and Cecile in January. But I changed my mind and only included 6 of the 8 gnomes. Each is appliqued and hand embroidered. This is destined for my daughter in law. 

This is my Moda Blockheads 5 fall session of blocks.  I have the setting blocks cut out , but need to attach and then get it quilted. My daughter requested teals and having a seasonal quilt. 

My Mother's birthday is next week and this is for her door in the nursing home. 

She will be 92 years old.  

I made this masculine table runner for my daughter's new beau for Christmas.

I am just going to quilt it on the sashing with a thin brown binding.

I am hoping he will like it. 

And lastly, here are 2 stockings for the same gentleman and my daughter. 

I had purchased the knitted stockings and added the braid around the edges

 as well as hand embroidered initials on red wool mittens. 

Catching up!

 It is so nice to be home.  After a while gathering my thoughts and catching up on news and such, I got into a mood to clean. And it feels good to do those things that I have put off for some time. So each day I have made a list to accomplish a few tasks. Some are easy tasks like baking cookies; others are not so much fun like washing windows that I never got around to this summer.   But all in all, things are getting accomplished. And it keeps inspiring me to do a little more.  

I wish I could say I have been on the sewing train to finish up a few of those oh, so close projects. 

I did make a door hanger for Mom for Christmas for her new place.   And I hope to do a monthly one as the calendar progresses.   12 by 23 inches I think in my stash fabrics. Buttons and hanging ribbon to be attached.

This is a new pattern I found at Quilts Plus in Lebanon, Indiana.  They were my first quilt store in Indianapolis at the time on 86th street way back in 1978. 

Other progress on projects:   borders of flying geese finished    14 out of 28

Cornerstone square in a square blocks:   Also paper pieced all 28 DONE!

    

HOME again!

 It feels so so good to be back home: to sleep in my own bed and watch my shows on tv and eat out of my fridge.  The simple things in life. 

After an 1800 mile trip from here to Canada to Indianapolis and back home, I am tired. But the moving of Mom went much better than expected.  She smiled on the trip and in her new home being busy and active.  She does say she doesn't like being ordered around and that is normal.  But meals are really good and the care givers are always helpful. We are so very happy that this has closed the chapter and that we can see her frequently. Thank the Lord!

And as expected, I only did some hand sewing in the car.  4 1/2 inch blocks

Stitching away!

 This has been a week of progress on lots of projects:

1) Machine quilting (free motion) my Christmas Gnomes for my daughter in law.  Each gnome is quilted in detail with monofilament thread. All that is left is the background and the tree itself.

2) New blocks to catch up for Moda blockheads 5:   Only 1 left to do.

3) More paper pieced borders for my 9 patch quilt 10 out of 28 finished

4) 3 1/ 2 inch  churn dash  blocks for Midnight at the Oasis:  28/ 52 finished

5) Mini orange peel blocks for the same quilt  8/ 20 finished. I have been enjoying the hand applique by the television each night. 

What I need to do is bind my quilt, Over the River and Through the Woods.  However, I am debating on the quilting and whether I need to add some more to it. I worked so very hard and so very long on the hand stitching that I want this to compliment and accentuate it well. 

This week will not be as productive as I will be heading to Canada to help transport my mother to a care facility in Indianapolis where my sister lives. 2600 mile trip not all driven by me and over many days for packing and unpacking and such will be part of the experience. I am relieved that this is finally occurring . 

Little Pieces

 For the first in a few weeks, this is not a finishing week for quilts.  It does feel so good to get 2 quilts off to the quilter though.   I just need to get to quilting my smaller tops. 

I am working on my paper pieced borders for all the 9 patches that were made:

In the meantime, I have started a medallion quilt for the spring quilt show.  This is my 1 dollar find at a book sale. 

And an awesome Jen Kingwell pattern. 

So for the piecing I am working on: 

These are 4 1/2 inch blocks with hand appliqued orange peels.

And these are 3 1/2 inch churn dashes. I make 2 at a time with the colors reversed as I use the 8 at a time half square triangle method. 

Funny how little blocks take as much time as big ones. 

It has been a messy week with family and such.  My mother's husband in Canada has regressed so and is frustrated and angry taking it out on everyone especially now that he has moved into a nursing home himself. But he is preventing Mom from moving here to be with us. He is 2 hours away from her , himself leaving her behind. 

And to top it off, we were cat sitting for our daughter's talking cat whom we have had here regularly. And this weekend, she went downhill fast and we had to have her euthanized. She was 15 years old and probably had cancer.  Oh, the tears! 

Fall retreat

 Every October, I get to go to a retreat at a college.  No classes, just living in a dorm with a great big sewing room for the 18 of us. Inspiration galore, jokes and laughing and concentrated sewing time from Thursday to Sunday.  The best!  

I packed way too many projects (Of course). And some took more time than I had anticipated. Yes, it happens. 

But here are the things I was able to complete:  It feels so good to get things done. 

1)  This is the Sewcialites 2 I have been working on for a year.  The blocks were one per week on Fat Quarter Shop from fall to April. My blocks are 9 inches each giving the entire quilt 100 inches square. In other words big! And the missing block is already set in.  These are obviously Christmas colors with lots of different prints. And I will use a scrappy binding after quilting. 

2)  I completed the setting for my gnome blocks which I made last winter in January and February. 

The original patterns were designed as redwork which I made as applique with lots of embroidery purchased from Etsy. Each gnome is 5 by 7 inches to give you and indication of size. 

3)  Lastly, I made 2 trick or treat bags for my grandkids. This was a panel I saw online and had to have.  Each is lined with black fusible interfacing.

Another project is on hiatus as I needed to order more fabric. Frustrating, but it will be SOOO cool when done. 

Other projects I took note of from my friends.:

A Little Pumpkin

During August I had shown the photo of this Halloween quilt to my daughter, a proud cat/ human?  This is her companion and friend through thick and thin.

Anyway, she liked the idea for a door hanger. So I purchased the pattern and created a one block quilt.

At first it was a synch to whip up the patchwork pumpkin with 2 1/2 inch squares.  And then I liked the idea of the framing from the pattern, but altered the size for such small quilt. 

Here is the back that I just quilted with my regular foot after ironing the 3 layers together.  It held quite well. 

And the final product with a striped binding done by machine with the help of " Elmer".

I even got the rod pocket on in the ditch of the frame. 

My daughter, husband and I took a little jaunt to an outdoor art show.  It was a little chilly all of a sudden as the weather dipped to the 50s and it was windy on the hill. But it was a great trip. 

On our way home I saw the most amazing yard displays of  skeletons. 

Holy cow! Rhat is a lot of bikes and skeletons.  Not to mention all the helmets.

Go Pack Go!

Merry Merry Me!

I am so excited I have finished the quilt top for Merry Merry Snowman by Bunny Hill Designs!  YEAH!

This has been a labor of love and a shared goal with a friend. We each combined our fabrics and worked weekly on it starting in January. ( You can see many of my 9  blocks done individually in previous posts. ) 

Each snowman is appliqued in wool and hand stitched including their noses, arms, wordings, etc. While the rest of the details are appliqued with a machine blanket stitch. 

After it is quilted I will add bead eyes and many buttons. 

Today's goal is to piece the back.

A little a day makes the projects go away :)

 Well, each day sewing some makes the projects get closer to finishing. And that does a body good.  I feel like I am accomplishing something and it motivates me to keep on going. 

Sew:  

1) A Christmas Sewcialtes 2 I have now got all the setting blocks made.  I needed to make a quick run to a fabric store for more of the same colors. 

All of these are 9 inch blocks:  16 each of the half square triangles. 8 of the red quarter square triangles. and 16 of the green ones. 

I hope to get the background squares and rectangles done as well as begin the piecing. 

2) New project:  Blockheads 5.  

I am making the blocks in batiks and started out with some I already had, but added a few more teals and lights to mix from a trip in August to one of my favorite stores in Appleton, WI: Going to Pieces.

These are 12 inch blocks and this one is paper pieced. ( Needs a good pressing)

Here are all that have been completed thus far. 

3) Finished the feather free motion quilting on my mini trees.  I even have the binding ready.  Now just to cross hatch the in between blocks.