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.

Triangles, Thimbles, and a Car Incident

These 16-patch blocks joined those I have already completed from the half-square triangles a friend gifted to me.  I’m getting close to the bottom of the stack and will have to make a decision as to what to do with them.  I don’t have enough for a usable quilt top, but I do have more of the alternate block fabric.  I could made additional blocks from my own stash; or set them on point; or most probably set them aside for a while.  I have some anti-ouch pouch kits to work on while I consider my options.

 

The third border on my thimble quilt is almost completely added by applique.

 

In other news…

I recently had a minor incident in my car when I was forced off the road.  I would have been fine if I had not hit a metal pole someone had set up on the shoulder.  The other driver did not stop.  Thank goodness for insurance.  

The recording of a voicemail left by my insurance adjuster was pleasant and professional.  The above excerpt from that same message was automatically transcribed by the computer.  I think their transcription programming needs improvement. 

 

A Week Away

We spent last week in far South Texas visiting our Wisconsin relatives who adopt Texas as home during the winter.  I knew there would be some down time in the hotel, so my Featherweight made the trip with us.

I completed five anti-ouch pouches.  Unfortunately, after taking this picture, I noticed that the fabric in the top bag is directional and the Bluebonnets are upside down.  Maybe someone will choose it for the colors.

Both side borders of my thimble quilt have been appliqued to the center.  I hope to begin work on the top and bottom borders this week.

I also worked on my half-square triangle blocks and finished two 16-patch blocks along with another hexagon flower.

No visit to South Texas is complete for me without a stop at the Don Wes Flea Market in Donna.  A small amount of retail therapy may have happened. 

We decided to drive to the SpaceX Starbase development site near Brownsville.  Our progress slowed to three miles per hour when we caught up with a rocket stage being moved down the highway.  It took up the entire highway and, as Bob said, it did not yield to us.  Eventually they came to a wide spot in the road and allowed a very long string of traffic to pass.  We went through the same process on the way back as it was still being moved.  At least we got a close look.  I was told this is the second stage of the rockets that are launched from that site.  If that’s correct, this is the stage that has been exploding in recent launch attempts.  My brother-in-law captured this picture through the windshield.

 

Signs of Progress

It’s been a fairly quiet week…nothing wrong with that.  

I have almost one long side of my thimble project appliqued to a border.  This is proving to be a very slow process as we’ve been watching television programs that require me to actually watch the screen rather than just listen.  I make much better progress when Bob chooses something I have no interest in.

 

One more hexagon flower is complete.

 

Here is a shot of the design wall showing all the ones done.  Only one more is needed and I’ve prepped the fabric.

 

When I need some mindless stitching at the machine, I’ve been returning to the 800+ triangles (400+ HSTs) that were gifted to me.  I’ve made a couple of 16-patches in order to see how they will look.  Each four-patch is 3 inches square unfinished.

 

 

That Indecisive, In-Beween Time

I find that I’m in that slump period before starting new projects and determining the next direction on long-term ones.  My hexagon quilt has reached the stage where it could either be enlarged, or a border added and used as a very small throw. If I do the borders now, should I add applique?  Still turning these thoughts over in my mind.  Current dimensions are 47X60 inches.

 

Meanwhile, I’ve been doing some scrap management, cutting down remnants, especially odd shaped ones, into 2 and 1 ½ inch squares.  My containers are slowly filling up and I’m looking at various options on what to do with them.  If I can at least determine a direction, I can start using them as leader/enders.

 

In other news, a friend gave me the start of a Blue Mist Flower plant last year.  This year it has really taken off and the butterflies love it.  She cautioned me to grow it in a pot because it can be invasive.  It’s reached the point now, that I will need to divide it before next spring.  So far, all my efforts to grow Milk Weed have failed.

 This weekend we celebrated our youngest grandson’s 21^st birthday.  Wasn’t he just a toddler last week?  He resumes classes at Texas A&M next week!

 

A Finish and Progress on Sew Along

The patriotic wall quilt that grew out of a guild workshop with Becky Goldsmith in July, 2016, is bound-labeled-done.  The workshop subject was needle-turn applique, which I used for the flowers and stems.  However, by the time I picked it up this year, I had developed a strong preference for prepared edge applique and that’s how I finished it.  Becky is a good teacher, and I still prewash my fabric because of that workshop. 

 

I also finished the blocks for the Fig Tree Vintage Bowtie Sew Along.  Here they are on my design wall where I have been fiddling around with various arrangements.  I find it hard to believe I am currently ahead of schedule!

 

After taking a brief break from it, I’ve resumed work on my red and white tumbler quilt.  As for the Maymont project…it’s still in timeout. 

More Red and White

I’ve been fussy cutting some of the new fabrics I found on our trip to South Texas, and another row is ready to be added to my red and white thimble/tumbler project. 

 

While I was sewing with my Tuesday group, I spied this remnant in the scrap bin next to the cutting table.  Of course, I had to pick it up as well.  The motif is too large for my templates, but the colors are right so I don’t have to do any fussy cutting.  I guess you could say I have no shame.

 The big news in our part of the world is the eclipse Monday.  Our area will have 4 plus minutes of totality.  For weeks we have been urged to fill our gas tanks by Wednesday this week, stockpile several days of meals, and expect interruptions in cell and internet service.  Our hotels and camping sites have been booked up for months and local authorities are warning about traffic jams.  Schools will be closed.  Now they tell us the weather forecast is for clouds and possibly thunder storms.  It will be interesting to see how all this plays out.

 

Happy to be Home...Ahhh...Chooo!

 

Last week was our annual trip to visit with family in South Texas.  It was a good visit, except for both of us coming home with colds.  I expect to be laying low this week so as not to share it with others.  I did test negative for Covid.  

Unlike previous years, I did not take my machine for hotel stitching.  Instead, I only took handwork and managed to baste 100+ tumblers for my red and white quilt.

 

There was also a brand-new H*L* close to the hotel, so a little retail therapy happened both there and at a vendor’s booth at the Don-Wes Flea Market in Donna. 

 

My loot included a coffee mug, thread catcher for the chair I use while watching TV, a project box and several cuts of novelty fabrics for inclusion in my tumbler quilt.  After I got home, I realized that the red print was a duplicate I had purchased a previous year, sigh.

Yesterday we received a very welcome 1/2 inch of rain and today is breezy and cool.  I made an absolutely unavoidable quick trip to the grocery store this morning and am settling in to work on projects between sneezes.

Taking Stock

It’s been a few months since I posted about my thimble/tumbler quilt and, quite frankly, I have let it rest for a while.  It’s time to take stock and make some decisions.

Currently it is 47 1/2 by 49 inches, much too close to square and not as big as I would like.  At the very least I want to add another five to seven rows which would get it close to 60 inches long.  There are 1,008 thimbles in it now and I will need to baste quite a few more as my inventory is getting low.  I’ve made no decision as to whether I will add a border.  If I don’t, that will make it narrower when I trim it after quilting.

It’s been fun incorporating novelty prints when I can find some that will fit a finished template that’s 1 ¾ inches tall and 7/8 inches at its base.  Here is one a Tuesday sewing friend gave me from the project she was working on that day.

And a couple more I've accumulated…

Needless to say, this is a very, very long-term project.

The Season Moves Onward

Thanksgiving was wonderful, but the preparation, clean up and recovery from it has largely kept me out of the studio.  I have, however, been diligently working on my thimble/tumbler project in the evenings while “watching” television with my hubby.  Perhaps I should call it my “Formula1-baseball-college-and-pro-football-and-golf” quilt.  Anyway, here is what it currently looks like and I have six more rows that are waiting to be added.  After that, I’ll decide how much more I want to push forward on it.  It’s large enough now, that it’s no longer comfortable to work on in my lap.

I have also managed to launder, document and store the quilts I removed from my quilt ladder.

Two of my cacti are in bloom.

 

And Fred and Ethel, a mated pair of Egyptian geese, have returned for this year's acorn crop. 

 

July 4th Check-In

My Tuesday sewing with friends’ group won’t meet today because of the July 4th holiday.  Instead, I will be working on this project at home.  I thought I was ready to start on the border and then discovered another section in the center that needed to be quilted.

 

Four more rows of my thimble/tumbler quilt are pieced and ready to be pinned to the design wall.  It looks like they are smiling.

 

I think our July 4^th will be a quiet one as we are not expecting visitors this year.  Bob has his daily recording of the Tour de France and I have my projects.    

 

 

It's Hot!

 Julia was with us Fathers’ Day weekend and it was a wonderful visit.  The only problem:  an AC that decided to go on the blink during…

 

My new hero is the AC guy who came out Monday and quickly had it back in working order. 

 Also on Monday evening, we experienced a rare weather phenomenon called a heat burst.  By 8:30 our outside temperature was down to the mid-90s.  Suddenly we were being pummeled by ferocious winds and the temperature jumped back up to 106 degrees.  We lost several sizable limbs, but fortunately the experience was quickly over.  I don’t know what the wind speed was, but I’m certain some of the gusts would have knocked me off my feet.  Heat bursts, I learned, usually happen in the evening or nighttime as thunder storms decay.  This week is predicted to be even hotter.  Good weather to stay in and stitch.

 

Part of my sewing time last week was spent prepping little applique circles for the group project.  They certainly aren’t perfect, but I’m calling them done.  After they are stitched down I go back and use a moist cotton swab to get rid of the excess starch. This is the last bit to do before handing it over to a kind friend who agreed to embroider the stems.  It’s been decades since I embroidered.

 

Now that log cabin blocks are off my design wall, I was able to pin it up.  It’s a long way from done, but I’m really liking it.

 

Another turtle rescue happened last week.  It’s as big as the first one, but I don’t think it was the same turtle.

Proof of Progress

It seems like a very long time since I had a finish to show, but I can offer proof that I have been at work.

Red and white thimble/tumbler rows ready to be added to the mothership plus a nearly full thread-clipping jar and an empty basting-thread spool.

A stack of log cabin blocks ready for webbing.

The weather alert radio and seven emergency storm warning calls to our phones kept us awake much later than usual last night.  We received more than 1.5 inches of rain along with a little hail and gusty winds.  So far, I have not found any damage and we desperately needed the moisture.

So Many (Good) Options

Focus has always been hard for me.  I struggle to remember that I can choose any projects I like, but I can’t do them all.  Last week’s guild meeting was a case in point.  I could volunteer to work on the next donation quilt, make a quilt for the library service project, pick up kits for the anti-ouch pouch project, take a workshop for the cathedral widows block, make a mini quilt for the president’s challenge, or make a themed quilt (also a mini) for the county fair.  The last two could be combined but would have to be finished by early June in time for the fair. 

Meanwhile, the projects I’m already working on:

Log cabin quilt – my favorite mindless machine stitching project and one I’m really enjoying.

Group applique project – for the guild show in 2025.  Very challenging, but I’m learning a lot.

Thimble/tumbler quilt – my travel and “watching TV with Hubby” handwork project.

Red and white hexagon quilt--currently on my quilter.  The end is almost in sight.

Finally, I decided to only take on one paper-pieced block for the donation quilt and focus on projects already underway.  Maybe the president’s challenge quilt due in November is still a possibility, depending on how much I get done...

 

A pretty mix of colors from a neighbor’s wildflower patch.

Hello April, 2023

Last month, with its end of life arrangements for my half-sister, the annual trip to South Texas for a visit with hubby’s family and even a mouse in the house, took more out of me than I expected.

I hope I regain some energy this coming month.

Here are some of the 360 plus tumbler pieces I basted since my last post.  

Our South Texas trip offered me lots of basting time and this project continues to be my favorite one to work on during television time.  I should have more than enough basted tumblers to add 10 rows to the project.  And, when I had some downtime in the hotel, I set up my Featherweight and did some paper piecing on my log cabin project.

Here is the current status of my log cabin project.  It looks like the last picture I posted, but I promise it has grown.

Bluebonnets are really making a show right now.  I took this picture of them thriving in the cracks between concrete pavers to prove they really are weeds.  

Whenever I can smell their scent on the breeze, I consider it a good year.  2023 is a good Bluebonnet year.

Finally, one of the month's bright spots was the arrival of the package from Donna at Brynwood Needleworks.  She hosted giveaway for her 14th blog anniversary and I was one of the lucky winners!