Although I did some cutting, a little sewing and a lot of pondering, I have very little progress to show for the two last two weeks.

 

A friend gave me some fabric for aprons, and I did complete one.

 

In other news…

 

I’ve acquired new foot apparel.  Seems the gimpy foot I’ve had for a month was caused by a stress fracture.  How that came about is unknown.  

 

My daughter loaned me this puzzle.  It has become a major distraction.

 

A porcupine was captured at our church.  I’ve lived most of my life in Texas, and it has only been in recent years that I’ve been aware that we have porcupines.  How did this little fellow make it to our church in the middle of the city?

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!

 

Hosting Quilty Friends

Yesterday was my turn to host the neighborhood quilters.  Whenever I visit a quilter’s home, I always hope for a glimpse of their studio.  In my case, they have to access the guest bathroom by going through my sewing room, so of course a tidy-up was necessary.

I come from a family of packrats, so my room will always have some clutter, this is much neater than usual.

The Husky tool chest serves as a storage space, as well as a pressing and cutting station.  I purchased the large pressing surface from a friend who was opening a retreat center.  It and the Husky are two of my better purchase decisions.

I keep two sewing machines ready for use at all times.  The one in the window is a straight stitch only machine with some modern convenienes like thread cutting and needle-down capabilities.  The Janome has a built in walking foot plus some extra stitches.

Then, there is my sit-down quilting machine.  I have a love-hate relationship with this machine.  I love its capabilities and hate my skill limitations.

I also received some happy mail from Wanda.  During a recent destash sale I jumped on these pretty grape fabrics.  This is a color family that is lacking in my stash, and I was happy to get them.

Another Finish

The binding is finished and my vintage bowtie quilt is bound-labeled-done.  This was done as a part of a Fig Tree & Company sew along using fabrics from their Jelly and Jam Collection.  I wanted a light weight summery quilt for my easy chair and chose the thinnest batting I could find by Quilter’s Dream.

 

My Hibiscus was not doing well and I’ve moved it to a bigger pot and a sunnier spot.  I discovered the buds and undersides of leaves were covered with tiny white bugs.  A Master Gardener friend suggested that I drench the foliage with water.  That has helped and I am now seeing more buds.  Unfortunately, the bugs keep reappearing and I have to repeat the process daily.

In other news... 

The time I spent with my daughter last weekend was wonderful, followed by a call Monday morning telling me she had tested positive for Covid.  In the past week I have tested three times, all with negative results.  I’ll be checking with my doctor Monday to see if I can resume normal activities.

A Non-Quilty Finish

My Tuesday quilting group did a road trip recently and I brought home this pattern.  The apron is reversible and made with quilter’s cotton.  The hardest part for me was making and placing the pockets.  I think I tried four different methods before I found one I liked.  I ended up making a template and turning the rounded edges using starch and an iron, similar to the way I do prepared-edge applique.  The pockets are made with two coordinating fabric layers, and I found it helpful to stitch the two layers together before prepping the edges.  The next hardest part was attaching the yoke.  Pins didn’t work well for me and I ended up using applique glue to hold the seam ends together while I stitched. 

 

Hopefully future aprons will go together quicker.  I am considering making more for the Guild boutique and as gifts. 

 

Progress

After much frustration and lost time, my vintage bow tie quilt is quilted, trimmed and in the process of being bound.  The machine difficulties that plagued me stemmed from a number of sources.  The thread I used was linty and resulted in the bobbin case clogging up quickly, especially behind the spring in the bobbin case.  (Thank you, Wanda, for that hint.)  Finally, after many broken bobbin threads and numerous recleaning stops, I figured out that the bobbin spring was not correctly seated in the case, allowing lint to get behind it.  After I discovered that issue, progress proceeded much more smoothly. 

I got caught up in some household projects this week while hubby is out of town.  So, there was little energy left to finish up the binding and create blog posts.

Julia came to visit this weekend and we had a great time shopping the town.  Also, we took time to visit the Beloved Art Gallery featuring the early works of Akiane including her most famous piece, Prince of Peace. 

Moving Along with Vintage Bow Tie Project

My vintage bow tie project is under the needle and I estimate that it is about 25% quilted.  When I use a meander motif, I always start at the center of the quilt and move out.  So, when I finally get a corner filled in, I feel like I’ve really accomplished something, especially on this project.  My quilting machine is giving me problems.  The stitches and tension look good, but the bobbin thread keeps breaking with annoying frequency.  I’ve cleaned and oiled the machine and replaced the needle, so I don’t know what its problem is.  I’m using a pre-wound bobbin and thread from a reputable company. 

My monthly applique group met yesterday and we got to see the completed top for the group project I participated in last summer.  I think it turned out well.  The block I worked on was the center block in the top row.  My final post on that project appeared July 17, 2023.

In other news…

The new roof is complete and we are waiting for the gutters to be installed.  El Nino, the weather system which provided our wetter than normal spring and early summer is officially over, according to the National Weather Service.