Back from the Ranch

We spent the weekend at the ranch, an outing we delayed for much too long due to a number of circumstances out of our control.  The weather was perfect.

As soon as the minimum number of absolutely required housekeeping chores was out of the way, I set up my Featherweight and went to work on Anti-Ouch Pouches. This was the first opportunity I've had to set up a machine at the ranch since the waterline break and rebuild that took up all of 2014.

A friend had ordered an LED light bulb for my machine and I am delighted with it.  It is definitely brighter and cooler than the traditional bulbs.  I do hope it is as long-lived as the manufacturer claims.

Saturday I drive into Llano town for that quilt club’s very first show.  They did a fabulous job and I kept running into friends, many of whom I had not seen in over a year.  Each visitor was gifted with a goody bag that contained information about the show and area attractions.  

A local quit shop was offering $10 off coupons and I, of course, could not pass up the opportunity to check it out.  I left with some fabric for backing and a new pair of machine quilting gloves.

The Bluebonnets are not yet at their peak, but I had to take a picture, anyway, so I opted for a closeup.  Maybe in a few weeks the pastures will be dense with flowers and I can get a better picture.  

These calves were very interested in what I was doing.  Sorry, kids, no treats.

Here are the 11 anti-ouch pouches I finished for the month.  Now I am free to play with other projects.

Progress on Anti-Ouch Pouches

After a day filled with meetings, I pushed forward on my anti-ouch pouches last night.  The straps are turned, pressed and ready for the loop and hook strips.  The larger pieces are hemmed on one side and pressed and pinned for hemming on the remaining side.  I’m pleased with my progress so far.

One of the meetings was an applique group that recently started.  I'm still a newbie to it and don't really have an established project.  I unearthed a very old UFO that I've definitely fallen out of love with to take.

Starting a Task and Signs of Spring

During Quilt-Cam with Bonnie Hunter Monday night, I began working on this month’s batch of anti-ouch pouches, production line style.  I hope to get these finished quickly so I can play with projects that are more fun. 

I had planned to get all the straps turned while watching The Voice last night, but a certain dog was demanding lap time, and she was not going to be refused.

I saw these turtles sunning themselves while on a walk this week.  Spring is arriving here.

Rain!

We are currently enjoying day 2 of a much appreciated rain event.  Is any sound more soothing to sew to than the sound of rain?  

I’m trying an experiment that may not work, so a soothing background sound is a very good thing. 

Our yard rain gauge apparently fell victim to one of our freezes, but the LCRA gauge closest to us shows about two-thirds of an inch for the last 48 hours.  The gauge at our ranch is posting more than three-fourths of an inch for the same period.  The really good news, though, is that the Lake Buchanan basin, which is the feeder lake for our area is showing even better totals.  Every drop helps.

Hubby is busy this morning working as an AARP tax volunteer.  There is no where I absolutely have to be today; I think I’ll sew some more!

Jill Finley-Sue Garman Project is Bound-Labeled-Done

Yay!  A UFO that grew out of two 2014 workshops is finally finished. 

I tried to do some free motion feathers in the borders.  Some are better than others, and my camera's auto focus feature did not want to cooperate.  I marked the stems with chalk pencil and have a lot of clean up to do.

This is a project that pretty much came out of my stash and I’m happy to be able to move on.

Getting Closer to a Finish

I finally decided that the quilting on this piece was finished and I have attached the binding.  Now I need to devise a label and do the final handwork.  Hopefully it will be finished by Wednesday so I can take it to Quilt Club.  This project grew out of two Quilt Club Workshops in 2014.  The center was the design of Jill Finley and the surrounding borders were from a workshop by Sue Garman where we learned how to fit pieced borders.  The quilt is a little too large for any available wall space in our house and a little too small to be serviceable as throw quilt.  So, I don’t know what I will do with it unless I use it as a table topper.  It was, however, a great learning project and I like the finished product.

A Good Time Was Had By All

My day spent stitching with friends Friday was relaxing and lots of fun.  It even helped me get past the monotony of finishing 10 anti-ouch pouches, one of the Quilt Club’s community service projects. 

I even had time to work on some more ladder blocks for Texas Tumbleweeds, but I’m not yet half way through with them.

Saturday, however, totally got away from me, so I'm a day late making this post.  I took advantage of some alone time in the house to do chores like vacuuming and mopping, which the dogs are systematically "undoing" for me.  Gotta love them.

This and That

My blog book, the third I have purchased since beginning my blog in 2010, has arrived.  Just in case something weird happens and my blog evaporates into the etherland someday, I want to have a print version as a permanent record.  It is, after all, my record of all the quilts I make and what happens to them.  Some weeks it’s really hard for me to keep the record going; but I’ve enjoyed the connections I’ve made with other quilters so much I want to keep it active.  Looking at the covers, would you guess my favorite color is blue?

I've started quilting the project I pin basted last week.  I’m pretty happy with the way it has progressed.  Most of the work is being done on my sit-down Handiquilter, but I still prefer doing straight line and ditch stitching using my Janome with the walking foot.  I doubt I will have the quilting finished by my self-imposed deadline of Monday.  We expect visitors that day and I would love to have the clutter of this particular stage of the project stowed.  There are somethings, though, that just can't be rushed.

Tomorrow I will be joining my friends for a few hours of quilting and visiting, and visiting and quilting.  The Tuesday group has declared an in-house retreat this week.  I've missed most of it due to schedule conflicts, but am looking forward to the time I can be there.

The sunshine finally returned today after a series of five very gloomy, drizzly days.  The dire predictions for icy conditions this morning skipped over our immediate area.  It was extremely chilly and windy, but pretty, and we are expecting a gradual warming trend over the next several days.