It's Been a While!

Long time, no post; but I have a good excuse.  We have just returned from a 19-day, 5,017-mile car trip from Texas to Oregon and back with many side trips and stops.  I added Idaho, Utah and Oregon to the list of states I have visited.  The occasion for the trip was my godson's wedding, and it was fairly last minute before we determined that we could go.

So, no machine work for several weeks, but a lot of English paper piecing occurred during those long hauls between stops.  Here is my pile of basted and partially pieced hexies.  They measure ¾ inch per side.

And, here is the layout I plan to eventually use.  Many of these fabrics are leftovers from my Edyta Sitar project and I anticipate it will be a number of years before I have enough to make even a small throw size quilt.  Looks like 2018 is the year of red and white for me.

I also managed to visit two quilt shops along the way.  Here is the stash enhancement that came home with me.

I'm so glad we were able to attend the wedding and the trip as a whole was lovely, but it is so very nice to be home again.

A Little Progress

I have finally reached the point where I think the center of this hand-pieced, hexagon top is done.  The next time I have a chance to visit a quilt shop, I will try to find a border fabric for it.  The design is from one of Edyta Sitar's books, but I am opting not to do the suggested applique border.

Once a hexagon piece has been totally surrounded by others, you can remove the paper.  I surely made a mess doing this!

Meanwhile, I’ve pin-basted this project and begun outlining the applique.  I really like this piece.

This has been the view from our back porch for a couple of weeks.  Much needed maintenance to the golf cart trail is happening at last. 

Twenty-three anti-ouch pouches are going with me to guild meeting tomorrow.

More Light and Geese!

After my first attempt at using my new ironing station, I knew I wanted more light in that area of the sewing room.  Another trip to the big box building supply store was in order and I found this lamp.  It really improves the situation.  The anti-ouch pouches that I’m working on this month are stacked on the ironing surface.  They are a great project when I’m in the mood for some mindless machine stitching, which has been the case lately.  I've been lagging in getting them finished this year and am trying to catch up.

  

My neighbor’s yellow roses are really putting on a show this spring.

We've had full-time resident Canadian geese for years, but this is the first year I’ve seen Egyptian geese.  They are considered an exotic water fowl that has become established to our Texas climate.  

This pair is extremely comfortable around humans and seem to be somewhat curious of us.

Blue and yellow, a very happy color combo.

An Acquisition….and It’s Not Another Machine!

I don’t think I will ever be finished tweaking my sewing space.  This past week I finally did something I have been thinking about for quite some time.

I got rid of this clunky old television which I never watched and the base it was sitting on.

…and replaced it with this tool chest from a local  building supply store. I got the idea from exploring sewing room ideas online. 

It’s not very pretty, but has several redeeming features:  It’s mobile, provides a lot of storage, and it’s large enough to hold my big ironing surface.  I’m still in the process of organizing it but have already moved my cutting dies to the large top drawer. I think it was a good change, especially since I prefer listening to audio books while sewing rather than having something on television.

It doesn’t look like we’re going to have as prolific a year as some, but the wildflowers are beginning their show.  I love this time of year.

A Finish

Selling a property; sorting through and discarding items held for decades; a trip to see family in South Texas. Life certainly can play havoc with planned activities.

At long last, I can call this project finished.  I’ve named it “I Get By With A Little Help From My Friends” as it contains many gifted fabrics plus a few obtained dumpster diving at Guild retreats.  It measures approximately 54 X 66 inches and the bow tie blocks finish at 2 inches.  I think I began this project in January 2016.

I have also completed 21 anti-ouch pouches so far in 2018.  I need to get busy if I’m going to meet my personal goal of 100 this year.

Our trip to South Texas to spend time with a Wisconsin relative who winters at a resort there was a lot of fun.  We arrived to a 102 degree temperature.  The next morning temps had dropped by 60+ degrees.  I kept hoping I would meet the driver of this golf cart, but never did.  We quilters are every where!

While there, however, I visited a huge flea market and came home with these treasures. 

Still Clearing Out

A blog post begins with a single key stroke and hopefully a photograph.  As I’ve been engaged more and more with cleaning out the ranch house in anticipation of a sale, it’s become increasingly easy to procrastinate about blogging.  Not that much sewing is happening right now either. 

Here is a tiny bit of the vintage sewing related stuff that came home with me.  The little green tool box belonged to my grandmother and still contains a few of her sewing supplies including paper templates for a quilt pattern.  Hubby tells me that the sewing machine oil is still good.  As far as I know the machine attachments work though I don’t anticipate ever using them.

Our garage is crammed with things we have transferred from the country.   We can still get our cars in it, but it is really hard to negotiate around the stuff we added.  I am determined that I will sort, donate and pitch so that we don’t have to rent storage.  It’s still hard saying goodbye to some things, but I think doing this now is one of the kindest things we can do for our daughter down the road.  

Guild Quilt Show

Guild Donation Quilt

During the past several weeks my Guild friends and I have been consumed with preparing for our biannual quilt show which was held last weekend.  My assignment during the show was to assist the treasurer in record keeping by being the shepherd of six cash boxes.  That meant I was there well before the doors opened and among the last to leave after the doors closed.  Despite the early arrival of a cold front and a new venue, the show was a success.

Silent Auction

We had a fabulous silent auction.

Boutique

 And a boutique loaded with handmade items.

Since I don’t subscribe to any magazines, I always look forward to our Bits and Pieces area where members have donated anything sewing related they no longer want to hold onto.

Score ($5)!

Of course, I had to visit the vendors as well.

We had 147 gorgeous quilts, but I was so busy once the doors opened, I didn't get any pictures.

The whole weekend was a lot of fun, but oh I was tired when we finally wrapped up.  I treated myself with a trip to the massage therapist today to work out some of the kinks.