Fabric for New Quilt

I ordered fabric for my next quilt from Craftsy and it came yesterday.  I still need to buy backing and batting but I am ready to get started on the cutting and piecing. 

Quilts and Quilting

One of my earliest childhood memories is of playing under the quilting frame as my mother quilted.  I still have a quilt that she made using a WW II wool Army blanket as batting.  However, I didn't start quilting on my own until I was in my 30s and took a class at The Quilt Patch in Houston where Sarah Minor taught us how to plan and cut and piece the quilt top and how to put it all together and finally how to properly quilt. In that class, everything was done by hand and believe it or not, it was before cutting boards and rotary cutters.  Now I'd be lost without my cutting board and rotary cutter and all my piecing is done on the sewing machine.

I was looking back on some of my quilts and decided to share. So here are some of my bits and pieces.

This was a Christmas present for my dear Sister-in-law.

 

This was made from scraps of previous quilts.

 

This one I made up and called it Jewels.

 

This is a baby quilt that is unfinished in this photo but I have now finished it.

 

 

This one is called Jacob's Ladder. This is the third one I have made of this pattern.

What to do with these?



I pieced these quilt blocks by hand 30+ years ago but have never done anything with them. There aren't enough blocks for a quilt top. Maybe a lap quilt. I get them out every once in a while and try to come up with an idea but in the end I put them back in the drawer for another 5 or so years. I am determined to do something with them this time.  Suggestions would be greatly appreciated!!

 

 

Goals for Next Week

 

Goals for Week Ending Saturday, May 31, 2014

1.  Quilting
     Block #3

2.  Reading
     Waiting on a Train by James McCommons.
     Our Hidden Lives by Simon Garfield. 
     Summer World by Bernd Heinrich.
     The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg

 3.  Cooking
      Slow Cooker Farmhouse Chicken and Corn Chowder
      Pork tenderloin, Sweet potato, Spinach
      Cutlet, GMP, Green beans

4.   Anniversary dinner at Monument Inn in LaPorte
    
5.  Guest Bedroom Project
      Nightstand/Chair--I found just what I was looking for on sale 20% off.  They will be delivered in 6 weeks b/c I chose a different fabric for the chair. 
      Now I am keeping my eyes open for new linens and comforter for the bed on sale. 

6.   Just Clean It Out! Project
     The Kitchen Pantry will be cleaned out this week!
     
     
     

Around OakMeadows

 

Rain, glorious rain!  I know there are parts of the country that have experienced more than enough snow/rain but that is certainly not the case around here along the Texas Gulf Coast.  We very much needed the 3 inches of rain that we got last night. The thunder and lightning upset the cats so that they woke me up by standing on my chest meowing that something awful was going on outside and I needed to wake up and stop it.  Soothed the cats and we all went back to sleep. 

We have more hummingbirds than we have ever had in the 10 years we have lived here. There are 6-10 hummers at the feeder almost all the time. In addition to the feeder we have large beds of saliva and many blooming bottlebrush bushes for them to feed on. I have even seen them feeding on the crown of thorns plant on the back porch.  I guess word has gotten out on the hummingbird internet that there is plenty of food at our house.  Anyway, it is a pleasure to look out and watch them. 

Speaking of birds, the 4 baby barn swallows in the nest on the back porch flew last week. That makes a total of 8 barn swallows that have been reared on our porches so far this year. There is another nest on the front porch with 4 more; they look like they will need another week in the nest before they fly.  The more barn swallows the better; there are certainly enough flying insects for them to eat around here!  

I did my summer clothes shopping online. I am a long time L.L.Bean fan. In fact, last year when we went on a fall foliage trip to Maine, we went by the Mother Ship -as Joe called it.  Anyway, all I needed was 2 tees and a pair of black walking shorts. And Joe needed a shirt and socks. I had a $10 off coupon and they were having a 10% off sale and they always have free shipping. I love L.L.Bean clothes because I know what size will fit and the clothes and shoes wear like iron. 

May 5 is the anniversary of my retirement and I always go in to the Fidelity office and we go over my retirement portfolio and see if any adjustments need to be made.  Since they are on straight salary, they have no incentive to advise me to make unnecessary trades. I consider it a very valuable service they provide. 

Joe is going in tomorrow to fill out paperwork to work 2-3 days a week. He wants to work part time for a couple of years to finance some projects around OakMeadows--a well, a shed/barn, and an irrigation system.  He is about the workingest person I have ever known. He always has about 6 projects going at a time. 

My quilting on the baby quilt is coming along. I'm working on Block #2.  I am sure not as fast a I used to be but OTOH, I am in no big hurry. It isn't like the last baby quilt I made where I was worried the baby would get here before the quilt was finished. I have 5 whole months before this one is due. 

Reading has been very good. I finished The Light between Oceans by M.L.Steadman. It was excellent! Good story, well developed characters. 
I also finished Pandora's Seed by Spencer Wells. I read it as it was the Goodreads Science & Nature selection for the month. I was less than impressed.  Not well organized, jumped from topic to topic some of which were only nebulously related. 
Still plowing through George Washington: The Indispensable Man by James Flexner. It is taking a long time to read but what an excellent book it is! 

Lots of cooking:
    I made Chicken Noodle Soup in the Slow Cooker. I decided to leave the noodles out because I had some sourdough bread that I toasted to go along with the soup. It was so good with the celery, onions, and carrots. 
    Baked Chocolate Chip Cookies....nuff said...
    To counter the calories from the CC cookies, I made Beef and Bok Choy stir fry.  I'm not sure what effect it had on the calories but we really enjoyed the stir fry. 
    Tomorrow will be Beef Stew in the slow cooker,

That's all the news around OakMeadows. 

Working on the Baby Quilt

This is the table runner I finished a few weeks ago:

 

This is the baby quilt I am currently working on.

 

 

 

Around OakMeadows

 

 

Much of last week was taken up by Aunt Liz's death and funeral.  But life has a way of just keeping on going. 

My missing MistyKitty was not eaten by the coyotes. She is home-- thin, dehydrated and weak but alive. Each day she is eating a bit more and getting a bit stronger. I was just stunned because she had been gone for 7 days and I was certain the coyotes had eaten her. So nice to have her back!

I did get the baby quilt cut out and I have begun the piecing. I think it will go together well. 

No birding last week. But the Louisiana trip is back on for next week. Still haven't made it out to Brazos Bend State Park.  

Exercise and Weight Watchers were a non-event too. Ack!

The one project that I have made some progress on is spiffing up the guest bedroom.  The blinds came in and JMM installed them. That certainly brightened up the room. And I left the 2 antique map prints to be framed. I found a frame for one with a 40% off coupon. The other one had to be custom framed but it just happened that Hobby Lobby was having a 50% off sale on custom framing. I was sure happy about that because custom framing can be $$$. 

We got the auto insurance renewal policy.  We have had USAA for auto and home insurance for the past 40 years. I called and got a policy review. Since Joe's Ford Ranger has 200K miles and has a blue book value of $2000, we kept liability and dropped collision on it. No changes on my van. We are taking the AARP Safe Driver online course which will save us another $70 a year.  All in all, I was able to save $178 on the 6 month policy.  

I am jumping through insurance company hoops to get my Lunesta refilled. I know they don't want to cover it because there is no generic and the brand name is expensive even though I pay a $85 co-pay for it. Anyway, I won this round and got it refilled. 

We seem to have a resident possum who loves the peanuts & oranges that I put out for the bluejays. The usual raccoons but no armadillos so far this year. Lots of birds at the seed feeders and at least 2 hummingbirds at the sugar water feeder. The wildflowers are so lovely this time of year. Joe has planted a flat of Butterfly Weed and I want to plant another flat of it next week. 

I'm still plodding through Hot: Living through the Next 50 Years on Earth by Mark Hertsgaard and Mr. Churchill's Secretary by Susan MacNeal.  I am enjoying Mr. Churchill's Secretary but not so much Hot.  I just started Washington: The Indispensable Man by James Flexner. 

Next week: On to Louisiana. 

Around OakMeadows

It has been a pleasant week here at OakMeadows.  The weather is moderating and we are able to get outside more. The yard is green with clover and thistles and Joe has been busy finishing clearing out the freeze damage. The live oaks are loaded with yellow pollen which should be coming down any day now. Achooo! The first hummingbird arrived Saturday. I was pleased that we had the feeder up and filled with sugar water. So we have the swallows back and now the hummingbirds are starting to come through. Spring is well under way!

I made Shrimp Jambalaya for the first time yesterday. I really should give half the credit to Joe because he did all the chopping and helped get it all together.  It was really good.  Usually when I make something for the first time, there are changes that I want to make the next time I do it. But this really doesn't need any changes at all.  I will post the recipe next Monday.

We went to the Houston Symphony last Friday and it was wonderful! The violin soloist was Frank Huang and he was perfect! They performed Vivaldi's Four Seasons and Vivaldi always makes me smile. Just a beautiful, beautiful evening.
Tickets for next season are on sale and I am once again getting our season tickets.

Almost finished with the quilted table runner. I should start binding the edges this weekend and will post a picture as soon as it is finished. I have so many quilts and wall hangings floating around in my mind that I'm not sure what to do next. Maybe get the fabric and start the travel quilt? Maybe do a scrap hearts lap quilt? I have an idea for a wall hanging...So many quilts...so little time...

I finished reading The Walnut Tree by Charles Todd. It was a light historical romance set during WW I.  Good but not outstanding. The two outstanding books that I am still plowing through are To End All Wars by Adam Hochschild and The Sixth Extinction by Elizabeth Kolbert.

Travel plans are:
     1. Birding trip to Louisiana
     2. Wedding/Birding trip to central Texas
     3. Alaska cruise
     4. Yosemite May 2015

The 9-Patch Quilt

I finished this one 2 weeks ago but we have had internet problems and couldn't upload any pictures. It was rather overcast the day the picture was taken so it looks a bit darker than it actually is.

Working on a table runner now.

The New Quilt

I finished this quilt last week.  I am calling it Jewels.  Reason number 97 that I am so glad that I retired--I can finish my quilts in less than a year!! LOL!!  I have the next quilt cut out--it is a Hearts applique made from leftover fabric from this quilt and another.  I'll post a picture when I have the top together.  And I also have fabric for a baby quilt--but I have until April to get that one done.

A Humbling Experience

Every year Houston has an Internation Quilt Festival at the Geroge R. Brown Convention Center. It really is a quilting extravaganza. I only go every 5 years or so because it is so huge and so crowded and seeing the quilts on display is a sorely humbling experience. I am in awe of the creativity and craftsmanship of the quilts. I love to just wander through them and marvel at the colors and patterns. Even the quilts that are not to my taste can be admired for the craftsmanship.
There are about 100 women there for every long-suffering husband patiently waiting while his wife looks at long-arm quilting machines or picks out fabric or books. JMM went in search of a quilt rack for my quilts and found a nice one for $139. It will be shipped to us as he did not have the one we wanted there at the show.
One of the nicest things now is the ability to use your cell phone to locate the people you are with at such a huge event. There is no way to stay completely together and so when we got separated we would just call each other and arrange to meet on Aisle 1700 or whatever. I get very anxious when I can't find JMM or DD and cell phones nicely solve the problem. As time went on, it got more and more crowded and since I don't like crowds, said enough and came home. Nice to go but nicer to come home.

Sampler Quilt

I pieced these blocks 20 years ago but never put them together into a quilt. They are all hand pieced; I could not do the tiny stitching that I did in piecing these blocks today. I think a simple border around each block will set off them off nicely.

The Latest Quilt

I promised that I would learn how to add pictures to my blog when I finished the quilt and here it is. The pattern originally was an Amish Cross but I had so much trouble with the tiny pieces that I modified it out of all recognition as an Amish Cross. It is a lap size quilt.

The current project is a set of placemats and napkins. I bought the fabric last fall but never got around to making them. I prefer to think of them now as being early for next fall rather than late from last year.

The Quilt Saga

Well, the world's slowest quilter has finished quilting the much modified Amish Cross quilt that was begun about a year ago. I have sworn off small piece patterns forever after this one. I need to trim and bind the edges and when I do I promise that I will take a picture of it and learn how to post it to the blog. I have had so much trouble with this quilt that while I am pretty pleased with it, my main feeling is one of relief. As always, there are several new quilts percolating in my mind but my next project will be to re-bind my Irish Chain quilt--the edges are quite frayed. Then there are the placemats and napkins that I bought fabric for last fall--no one need know that they were supposed to be for last fall instead of next autumn...

Thought for the day:
Old quilters never die, they just go to pieces.

Quilt Update

I finished piecing the quilt top today. It is an Amish Cross pattern. It is not a pattern that I will use again because the pieces are just too tiny for a person with CMT to work with. The pieces are 1.5 inches square and 1.5 by 4.5 inches. I have come to the conclusion that I cannot work with anything smaller than 4 inches. Anyway, I have the borders all ready to stitch onto the top. After that I can layer the backing, batting, and top, baste it all together and be ready to do the quilting. (One of these days I will learn how to attach photos to my blog...)
And yes, I am planning my next quilt top--It is going to be baskets with flowers. I think I will piece the baskets and applique the flowers and quilt in bees and butterflies. Many details to be worked out...

The Current Quilt

I am making an Amish Cross Quilt. I have the pieces cut out and am piecing the blocks. This weekend, I finished block #2 of the 25 blocks. It will be very pretty when it is finished but the truth of the matter is that this is the last quilt I will ever make using such tiny pieces. My CMT just does not permit me to manipulate such small pieces. From now on 3 inch pieces will be as small as I will work with. My plan is to make one block each week and have the quilt top finished over the summer. We'll see how it goes.