Happy 40th Anniversary!

I'll start with my projects and progress:

First, here is the challenge ornament from my wool group. 

We received the circle shape and a tiny bell and were told to make it into an ornament.

As I missed our initial meeting (pre COVID era), this is what I came up with.

I will have to add the ribbon and bell and back it still. It is a  2 3/4 inch circle.

But I do love the challenge and creativity of this group. We always learn so much from each other.

Second, I made these 2 stitcheries into mini pillows with patriotic fabrics.

I really like how they turned out and have one more to complete.

Then, I thought I would show my purchases. My husband allowed me to stop at Going to Pieces in Appleton, WI. They are a shop that had been featured in Quilt Sampler about 2 years or so ago.

I love their fabric assortment and kits. Each time I go, I find more and more things.

So these are the Kim Diehl fabrics I acquired to add to my collection.

I like her new October something line and the teals, limes and autumn colors are a great add to my assortment.

 

Here is my spouse and I at an inside restaurant celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary.

We have been very careful to either eat outside or take out food.

But this was a special occasion at our favorite restaurant. 

It was handled well with masks on serving staff and tables very sparsely spaced.

We thoroughly enjoyed our meal.

And a special cake had been arranged by my spouse as a surprise.

He even tried to match the original cake. What a sweetie.

We had gone up to Door County the thumb of Wisconsin into Lake Michigan.

It was "pre season" and limited openings.

Our favorite bed and breakfast has totally increased their cleaning regimens without losing their quality breakfasts and ambiance. They only have 6 rooms.

This is one county that has had very very small numbers for COVID.  ( only 40 with 3 deaths total)

We were glad there were limited amounts of people as we walked about outside enjoying the gorgeous lake. Masks were essential to any indoor location as was social distancing.

We had perfect weather in the 70 s and for meals we ate outside or had take out.

No outdoor music venues or events are planned for the summer. 

Many of the marinas were not full, which was surprising.

We went across on a ferry with our car to Washington Island.

Here is Schoolhouse beach, one of 5 limestone beaches anywhere.

The rocks are all very smooth and you are not permitted to remove any ($ 250 fine)

The picture distorts the distance. All the families were sparsely spaced. 

But lots of big and little boys throwing rocks in the water

We also visited a lavender farm. 

The plants do not bloom until late July.

But it was very pretty.

Truly a gorgeous getaway! Certainly not the celebration we had hoped to have, but still very special.

More catching up

Gooseberry Patch

I haven't worked on this in a year, I think.

But I got things to work on this weekend.

The cool weather was perfect for sewing inside. 

This block is the center of the quilt and 30 inches in size, which is hard to see from the photo.

There are 5 different Kansas Troubles greens of the 60 leaves which were cut out and as many red berries for the 50 little berries. 

Then I cut 2 of the other blocks adding the very same holly leaves to  6 by 30 inch pieces. 

To finish these pieces, I just ran a small single seam around the edges using my free motion foot.

I really felt that I could not do a successful solid tight zigzag on these weird shapes.

It feels so good to get some things done and make progress on old projects,

Next, I worked with my wool applique and got the last 2 blocks ready of Henrietta's Fall.

This is such an old project. The original pattern was a free block of the month from Bunny Hill.

The date on it is 2011. 

So now I have some hand sewing for car travel over the next weeks.

And in the evenings I have been doing some outline stitches for some bowl fillers.

This is my 2nd one. 

Summer: what a feeling!   

And it's summer! Time to quilt!

Over the weekend, Buttermilk Basin had a free 3 part quilt to make: 

This is my step one and two.

The stars are 3 inches each. I really liked the scrappy stripes.

You can buy the pattern and kit on their website.

Additionally, there is a wool applique for it.

Then I finally put my sparkly hearts together. 

This will be donation quilt for Healing Hearts raffle in September here in Waukesha.

Each heart is 10 by 12 inches.

Found this great backing fabric for it: also in the cornerstones. 

It is from Connecting Threads and is extra wide. 

They have it in black, too

Lastly, another Blockheads 3 block: paper pieced.

RE-tirement

First let me start with some projects completed:

Another Moda Blockheads 3 block.  Mine are 6 inch size

And yes, the half square triangles are 3/4 inch size.

Then I have become entranced with bowl fillers and embroidery.

Here is my first one, about 3 1/2 inches. I think I can get these done for the 4th of July.

 And for my slow stitching Sunday, I finished the binding on this beauty.

I did something different and rolled it from the back. 

The mitered corners took a little adjustment.

 Another 4th of July project from Buttermilk Basin. It was free online over the weekend.

They have so many neat wool projects. I just might need to get some.

I have step 2 done and the stars cut out for step 1.

As for home projects, I made the topiary from a demo on YouTube. 

And the sign using paper mache letters.

While our school has not canceled graduation and is planned for the end of July, 

we had a drive by pick up of diplomas followed by the teachers cheering them on.

This was normally a tradition for the seniors of having breakfast, getting graduation tickets, 

and then busing to their elementary schools to parade down the halls in cap and gown.

Here the principal is handing out the diploma to a student in a car.

Many were decorated brightly with banners and balloons.

It was super hot outside, and we had to still wear masks for COVID. 

This was the beginning of a block long wave of teachers.

Afterward, my daughter took me out to celebrate my retirement with a mango margarita and dinner

outside. To many wonderful years of students who have tugged at my heart!

Oak leaves

Memorial weekend

Holiday and warm weather.   Hooray!

So good things to do on the weekend:

Quilting:   I have been behind on my Blockheads 3  Finally completed a few of them.
These are 6 inch blocks.

Gardening,   grilling,    cleaning,    relaxing,

Kayaking:   I think they would do this every warm day. And although I like being on the water/ I don't like the hastle of loading, transporting, busing, and all the rig a ma role.  Get me to a lake.  I will go in, paddle a while, come back and take out. Done.  This i my daughter and husband.

Covid continues

I know I have been remiss in blogging. Sometimes, life just gets in the way of good things.

That is not to say that there is anything amiss. I have just been busy. Spring cleaning, a little cooking, a Saturday Farmer's Market, and work.

Have you ever wanted to sew, but were uninterested in what you projects were in process?
The other night, I went searching in my boxes of projects and decided on completing this block.
It was created a couple years ago using crayon coloring with layers of color. I had begun accenting with embroidery

And this is how it looks like done. I do think it added a great deal and have decided to make it into a small project: just frame it and quilt it. Another project almost done.

b

I do have a large stack of half pieced hexies for my flower quilt.  Only one more set of 5 fat quarters to cut and sew.  YEAH.  They go fairly quickly as the large triangles are about 6 inches and each hexie has 6 of them. Easy enough.

This is what a portion of it will look like:

These are all the sections that are completed. 

And then I have embroidering this bouquet for my daughter for a long time The project has always been in my take along bag. The background is a crossweave. The design is Jacquelynne Steves. She has free designs every now and again. 

And I did complete the binding on my Wild and goosey blues.  Yes a finish for sure. but I have already shown the photos.

The school year is cranking up before the final push. 3 full weeks to go.  June 5 is my last day. Graduation and prom scheduled for July, tentatively. And although this is the most unusual spring ever.+We still have the typical kids tired of school and wanting to quit. It just seems more so with the added pressure of kids having to learn from home.

But Good News! I did talk with administration about retiring from full time work. This is it for the 5 day week. I think I will sub a little and keep my hands on my National Honor Society club where I am co-advisor.  I need to pay for my health insurance for a while and try to compensate for the economy a bit.  I also feel I need to be able to structure some time in order to make the best use of my time off. ( and not go crazy at home with my spouse).

Back to school

Well, not back at school.  Just back to teaching from my couch.  This week went better than I had hoped. I can really see an apathy in the kids, though. They found out we are in it for the long hall and not being able to return to the building for the remainder of the school year. And the darn weather is crappy and I mean temperature in the  30s and 40s and cloudy with snow sprinkles here and there.  UGH!

Little time doing anything: no sewing, a little cooking, but not much to show since last weekend.

So I HAD to do something to spark my enjoyment in life. And that meant a new project. I have had the materials for 2 months. Just sitting.


Here is the fat quarter bundle I had plus a few Kaffe Fassett fabrics and the accent orange.

This is the pattern I chose to make for my daughter from the bright happy fabrics.

The orange will replace the navy blue in the pattern.

And although I didn't buy the Hex ruler created by the pattern designer, 

I did have this ruler sitting around in my stash.

I marked the cutting edges with tape.

It worked out just fine.

And this is what I have so far: 8 fat quarters completed, and 28 to go

Sunshine usually helps. Sorry, it is still cloudy here.

End of the "Spring" break

 Some bigger things accomplished this week:

First I attached my 2 borders: the 1 inch light blue and 3 inch white.
Then I quilted it myself using my new walking foot. New to me, 35 year old machine. Attachment seems like new. Worked wonderfully.

I just stitched in the ditch for each of the one inch sashings. I think I will just extend it into the border.

Anyone else have a better idea?

The blocks ( 4 in each white block are 3 1/2 paper pieced. I found it on Pinterest.

I believe it is an old Bonnie Hunter from a magazine called Wild and Goosey.

And I assembled all my Frolic blocks together.  I have the edge stay stitched to prevent stretching.  And I have the  first row of borders cut and ready to go. My sizing is  a little off for the pieced border which is to go on next.  ( I should have used the small binding as a coping strip to compensate.)

Distance learning resumes tomorrow. And we were informed by the governor that it will continue through the end of the school year here in Wisconsin

Bummed, bummed, bummed. 

7 weeks left.

And Spring is a relative term. We have been in the 30s and 40s.  Of course, THIS week is to get to the 50s.   And although we had a week off school. There was nothing to do and nowhere to go. Social distancing.

sewing in Spring Break

Happy Easter!  

I very quiet meal was enjoyed on Easter Sunday with our daughter!

I made this cute little bunny ear bags! 

I think they are adorable, but are only 5x7 ish for the body.

We did get a picture of the three of us. 

It is so good to have her healthy after 3 weeks of the coronavirus. 

We miss the grandkids and were supposed to have flown south .

But in the interim, I am sewing some. I have not posted in over a week.

Here is the progress of Frolic. More than halfway pieced.

And I completed another cake mix box. 

This was had much smaller pieces and made 2  blocks.

Here is the back after completing the sewing. It is hard to see, but it made 1 larger unit and 16 small half square triangles. Best Press is my friend to make these come out evenly.

Final blocks

Then I finally finished m 12 heart blocks. 

And I was even able to have a curbside pick up for some more white fabric for borders and sashing.

Lastly, I pieced this top together on retreat in March.

I have been tinkering with hexies to add here and there. 

But I don't like the end products and so am just going to finish this as is.

The photo dulls the springy pinks and yellows and reds.