Hello...

...from lush, green Wisconsin where we are visiting family.  

Stitching as been on a catch as catch can basis since we settled into our hotel.  But, my sewing station is set up.

Progress is happening.

    

We quilters are EVERYWHERE!  This picture was taken at a tourist rest stop in Iowa.

I've also seen several lovely barn quilts, but it's hard to get a picture from a moving car.

I really enjoyed my visit to the Lake Michigan shoreline.

Mesoscale Convective Complex, AKA Rain Bomb

"Texas is a land of perennial drought, broken by the occasional devastating flood." - State Meteorologist, National Weather Service, 1927

This post has nothing to do with quilting.  Instead, it is for personal cathartic and record keeping purposes. 

First, heartfelt thanks to my blog friends for checking to see if we are okay.  We were very fortunate.  It was scary, but we came through it largely unscathed.  Those a few miles from us in any direction were not nearly so fortunate, as reported in the national news.  

 A mesoscale convective complex, is a large, organized cluster of thunderstorms that form over a wide area and can last for many hours.  In 2007 we were at Ground Zero in such a rain event.  Water rose all the way to our house foundation, but not into our house.  On that occasion I believe we accumulated something like 19 inches of rain.  This time, our back yard gauge received about seven inches over a three-day period.  I can still remember, in 2007, walking by one of our community ponds after the water receded and seeing dead fish along the shore.  Perhaps the force of the downpour or the change in water temperature was too much for them.  

This time, Ground Zero was to our southwest in an area close to the Guadalupe River and populated by several church campgrounds.  The combination of rain and flash flooding did the unthinkable.  As I write this, the death count stands at 80 as the search continues for those still unaccounted.

 This is typical of the notifications we received every two hours Saturday.

We carefully monitored weather radar all day and could see we were on the fringe of the worst.  However, the chief of our local volunteer fire department was swept away while attempting an emergency rescue.  Even in our less impacted area low water crossings washed away, homes flooded, lives lost.

There is one blessing.  The lakes and aquifers that sustain our households were approaching dangerously low levels.  This should have a positive impact there.  I don’t feel like celebrating, though.

Earlier in the week I did some quilting and began preparations for our upcoming trip to Wisconsin.  One of Bob’s brothers is having serious health issues and his sister will be celebrating their 50^th anniversary.  Thankfully, our grandson has kindly agreed to house and dog sit while we are gone, so our house will be occupied and the mutts get to stay in familiar space.

I cannot end this post without at least one positive note.  Butterflies have discovered our Greg’s Mist Flowers.

 

 

 

New Project

A quilter cannot live by 2-inch Thrift Blocks alone, much as I enjoy making them.  So, I decided to start cutting for a project inspired by one Wanda completed early this year.  The pattern I selected is set on point and I am using mostly Kaffe Collective fabrics.

 

This should be a good project to take on retreat in late July.  My projects are usually so tiny they rarely make it up on the design wall.  Maybe this one has a chance.  The blocks are large and set on point.  I made a few test blocks and put them up on my design wall just to see if I wanted to proceed.  A friend showed a quilt made from this pattern at a recent Guild meeting.  She assured me that it is easy, even though it is set on-point.

 

Only 15 Thrift Blocks for the Scrappy Meets Thrift Challenge were completed last week.

 

Thrift Blocks Are Happening Here

My sewing time this week focused on more 2-inch thrift blocks for the Scrappy Meets Thrift Challenge Sew-Along sponsored by Repro Quilter.  I finished 38 this week.  I should have pushed just a little harder and finished two more since I’ve been bagging them in groups of 20 to help me keep count.

 

This is a peek at my very messy sewing station these days.  I’ve been watching lots of YouTube videos while stitching away.  Paper piecing creates lots of tiny scraps from trimming up squares and I haven’t even started de-papering any blocks yet. 

 

Speaking of messes, the city was repaving the streets in our neighborhood this week.  That combined with the hot weather made staying inside very appealing though I did manage to make it to my monthly Guild meeting as well as my Tuesday quilting group.

 

I’ll be pulling out the cutting table again this week.  An unexpected opportunity to be part of another quilting retreat late in July has surfaced and I need to start prepping for that as well as our other travel plans in early July.  July is shaping up to be a busy month.

 

 

Lots of Cutting

Not much sewing machine work happened last week.

But I spent several hours at the cutting table.  These should be enough units for the Scrappy Meets Thrift Challenge to keep me in mindless sewing for a while.  Each pile is approximately 10 blocks.  

I also got the fabric for the alternate blocks cut into strips and ready for sub-cutting into 2 ½ inch squares.  

This is one of those times I really appreciated my die cutter.

We had some rain in the past few weeks, and we could tell that enough dirt had washed into the skunk hole that it was not active.  I filled in as much dirt as I could.  Then I layered old gutter guard webbing and weighted it down with concrete chunks and rocks.  It’s not pretty, but is positioned between the AC unit and house wall, so well hidden.

My two 98 cent tomato plants are producing.  They turned out to be a vining, indeterminant variety and have taken over one of my flower beds.  At least they are paying for my investment!

Turtles, Thrift Blocks and Orchid Blooms

I managed to piece more than 50 blocks this week.  That just about exhausts the kitted blocks I prepared prior to the quilt retreat a couple of weeks ago.  They go a little faster now that I'm working on them at home and using my preferred sewing machine.  The cutting table has been pulled out of its nook in the laundry room.  I hope to get more blocks kitted for stitching this week.  

 

Last Tuesday was a two-turtle day.  Every year about this time, the turtles in our neighborhood start getting frisky.  I think both these were probably females looking for a place to lay their eggs.  This one was in front of the house and I let him/her just keep on trucking.

 

This one, however, required a rescue because he/she was inside the backyard fence.  All I’ve ever seen my dogs do is stand there and bark at them continually, but I was happy I discovered this one before they did.

 

For the third time this year, the orchid Julia gave me for my birthday several years ago has put on blooms.  I think it really likes being surrounded by glass bricks on two sides.  It recently lost two leaves, so I am a little concerned about it.

 

This was a week of catching up on yearly commitments, and I elected to cut back on attending some activities in order to keep from being overwhelmed.  One commitment was putting new flowers on my parents’ and grandparents’ graves in the family cemetery.  Then we stopped by to see the cousin who owns the property where the cemetery is located in order to leave our annual donation for upkeep.

 

More Thrift Blocks

I managed to stitch up a batch of 14 Thrift blocks last week.  I would have made more, but several unplanned interruptions, including a chance to visit a quilt store in Buda, kept that from happening.  The fabric below the blocks is one I am considering for alternate blocks.  Since it is a tiny plaid, I may decide it would be more trouble than it’s worth to try to cut and stitch the blocks so it doesn't look wonky.

 

Our Tuesday group finished binding the quilt we completed for our deceased member.  All that is left is a label which will be done on an embroidery machine.  All of us made sure to put in a few stitches and it went much quicker than expected.  When I had finished my turn, I resumed handwork on the borders for my Kim McLean project.

 

This 1,000-piece puzzle of a sewing room took up a lot of time too, but it was fun.  I expect it will be a while before I tackle another one as we are trying to finalize plans for a trip that will be coming up shortly.

In other good news, last week we accumulated more than two inches of rain!

Hail, Mary!

I spent Thursday through Sunday at a quilt retreat.  We were a small group of six quilters, several of us meeting each other for the first time, but the group’s chemistry was perfect.

 

My efforts were focused on the Scrappy Meets Thrift Challenge blocks.  I think I completed 75 blocks.

 

Here is some of the work by other members:

 

One member of our group worked in wool applique.  For reference, this piece was about the size of the palm of my hand.

 

I love scrappy projects with small pieces and was delighted when this block went up on the design wall.

 

Figuring out how to make a custom border fit this project proved to be challenging.

 

Always a patriotic project, perfect for Memorial Day weekend.

 

This is a Kim McLean pattern two members of our group worked on.  This one was done in Kaffe fabrics.  The pattern calls for several more appliqued borders.

 

And, this was done in Civil War reproduction fabrics, because that’s what she has in her stash.

Why the name for this post? There was an extremely bad hail storm the first night.  The retreat organizer, Mary (not me), came in a brand-new car with less than 200 miles on it.  It was the only one that sustained real damage.  Her windshield will have to be replaced.  Thus, we named ourselves the Hail, Mary group and have scheduled another retreat for this time next year.

 

Late to the Party!

In mid-March, I decided to join in the Scrappy Meets Thrift Challenge sponsored by Taryn at Repro Quilt Lover.  For a number of reasons including participation in the Guild Quilt Show, a week-long trip to South Texas and other life events, I got a very late start.  Fortunately, Taryn has structured the sew-along in a very relaxed fashion and I have finally begun work in earnest.

I get a lot of good-natured teasing from my friends about how I love projects with very small pieces.  So, it should be no surprise that I’ve chosen to do the paper pieced version with 2-inch finished blocks.  The inspiration quilt had 900 pieced blocks.  I have enough reproduction fabric to make that size, but I’ll probably stop far short of that.

Here are the blocks I have pieced already.

Here is a close-up of one block.

Since I will be going on a quilt retreat later this week, I have been very busy cutting components for blocks.  It’s been a couple of years since I have been able to go to a retreat, and I am really looking forward to it.  We are expecting a small group of about seven quilters.

The gathering with the neighborhood quilters that was supposed to happen last Monday, was canceled at the last minute.  The hostess had to take a good friend to ER for heart issues.  That’s a good reason!

In other news, we have a new critter residing in our fenced back yard where our dogs have the freedom to run.  I’ve attempted to insert a video from our game cam to show why I…am…so...not…happy!

Changing Directions

The neighborhood quilting group will meet today and that means I had a deadline to get some handwork prepped.  I had been procrastinating on appliqueing the borders for my Kim McLean pattern, so a deadline was a good thing.

 

Two borders have been readied for applique.  Then, I found myself searching and searching and searching some more for my applique threads.  I finally located them in a very logical location, just not one I thought to check for the better part of an hour.  I think I need to do some clean up and organization in my sewing space!

 

This week we are expecting to see three consecutive days of 100+ degree weather.  If that happens, it will be a very early start to our summer temps.  Maybe the weather people are wrong.  We can only hope.

My Quilt Show Loot

As I mentioned last week.  I indulged in some retail therapy at the Guild’s recent quilt show.  One of our charter members, a prolific quilter, broke up housekeeping last year in order to move closer to family.  She donated a massive amount of quality fabrics, kits, books and notions to the Guild and various local charities.  This was in addition to what other members donated to the silent auction, boutique and Bits and Pieces sale.

My purchases included several $1 fat quarters and other sized fabric cuts. 

 

The tote bag was my most expensive purchase, but it saved me from having to construct another one.

 

Also, a magnetic pin and bobbin organizer plus more fabric marked down 50 percent the second day.  The blue fabric is a six-yard cut that will be usable as a backing, and the two potholders were ones I had donated.

 

And from Bits and Pieces, I spent a grand total of $2.50 for a notebook full of sheet protectors, patterns and reference materials plus three templates.  I’ll keep some of the notebook contents, and use the sheet protectors for filing some of my own archived patterns.

In other news…

 

My three-year-old miniature rose survived the winter and bloomed this spring!

 

When I checked on why the dogs were so excited one morning, I saw this floating by.

 

And, another 1,000-piece puzzle was finally completed.  This one included quilts!

 

Quilt Show!

Our Guild held its biannual quilt show this weekend.  It is not a judged show, but ribbons are awarded to the three highest ranked “people’s choice” votes.  The show also marked the Guild’s 25^th anniversary.

 

Third place went to this panel with exquisite quilting.  I hope clicking on it will give a better view of her quilting skills.

 

Here is a picture of her story card.

 

Second place was awarded to this Wiliam Morris design using French General fabric.

 

Second place story card.

 

My photograph does not do justice to the first-place winner.  I knew it would get my vote the moment it saw it. 

 

Read the story card to see why it was so well received.

 

I love the personalized blocks in the border!

 

Of course, I engaged in some retail therapy.  I may include pictures of my loot in a future post along with more quilt pictures.

 

 

Here is the photo of the completed tumbler quilt that I forgot to post last week.  It now hangs with its pieced backing in my to-be-quilted closet.  I began this project in October 2022 and it is entirely hand-pieced using the English Paper Piecing method.  Each tumbler finishes at 1 ¾ inches high.  The base measures 1 ¾ inches and the top is 7/8 inch.  Someday I’ll pull it off the hanger and figure out how many tumblers are in it,

 

A few more 16-patches made it to the design wall.

 

I’ve begun putting together the patio garden we can see from our breakfast nook.  The begonia was my big splurge this spring.  The ice plant, baby begonias and coleus were wintered over indoors.

 

And finally, I hope all my Christian friends had a blessed Easter.  This tatted cross was made by one of my aunts.