Back from the Long Armers and other news

 I have two tops back from the long armers and I am very pleased with how they turned out.

This first one is my Covid-ville quilt.  The quilted design is what I call air swirls.  It is the backing fabric that I am most pleased with.  It was one of the options and since these blocks are from friends in my Our Time To Quilt IO quilting group, I thought the friends saying was very appropriate.

The second top that came back was a Christmas Rail Fence top.  This time the quilt motif was a Christmas one and the backing fabric was a green scroll.

I only need to do is putting on the binding and then both of them will be finished.  They bot should be done in time for Christmas.  :)

Now on to other things...

This is the first four rows of my 9 patch rows sew along.  The fourth row was done with reds so I decided to do something that I seldom do,  i prewashed them.  I'm glad I did.

I put two color catchers in the washer and I'm glad that I did.  They came out  pretty shade of pink.

The non quilting events this time are also pretty great.  I bought myself a new desk chair.  It feels great but it will take a bit to get used to.  A pleasant task.

The other pleasant picture is, of course, one of Hayley.  This is Hayley with her grandpa (my nephew Jason).  It is so nice to see pictures of them together1

So that is my news this time.  Have a great day!

Ever have one of those months?

You know which kind of month I'm talking about.  The kind of month that pulls you in and then keeps you trapped in it until you realize that it is half gone, or totally gone, and you haven't done much at all!  That's March for me.  It started out great since I managed to send my sister in law her birthday card and she actually got it on her birthday!  I can't remember when that happened last.  Her birthday is March 1st and I forget lots of times until afterwards when I flip my calendar to March.

Then life happened and March sucked me into that black hole of not wanting to do anything.  It's a nice comfy black hole.  So dark that you don't see what you are missing or what needs to be worked on.  Nice and secure but just when you are adjusting to being uncreative or to being lethargic it spits you back out and look -- March is now half way over!

That's ok.  I'll catch up but even if I don't no sweat.  I create for myself and hopefully you like what I create.  I've learned not to give firm deadlines to myself because that is a good way to NOT work on something.  That's why I was cutting back on BOMs this year.  Did you notice that I said "was"?  It was a valiant try but so far hasn't worked out the best.  I've modified my thinking on that and instead have decided to collect the BOM patterns but will only work on a couple.  

I am proud of myself for keeping up, so far, with the 9 patch row by row offered by Pattern Pastiche.  I should be finished with the current row in a couple of days.  I am almost keeping up with the Civil War BOM which is based off of Louise May Alcott.  The Civil War Ladies Aid and New York Sampler will be starting in two weeks and that will be one that I will collect and hopefully keep up on.  The 3rd Saturday of each month I will be meeting up with quilting friends on Jitsi for a couple of hours of sewing on the Farmer's Wife blocks.  If I don't feel like working on that then I'll work on something else.  

With all of these plans I knew that I would need help.  That, of course, means that I spent money on some things.  Like THAT statement should surprise you...NOT!  Don't blame me.  I received my income tax return (and yesterday got my stimulus money) which has always been a "let's treat Bonni" moment. What did I get?  Ok.  Here is the Reader's Digest Condensed version (how many of you get that reference?) 

EQ8

Block Base+

Lesson book for EQ8

EQ8 Block Library - see below for what this is

a new computer chair

sent a couple of tops off to the Long Arm service

Stork Scissors (can never have enough)

and more....

This is EQ8 Block library.  Some of you might wonder why I got this since I have EQ8 and it just shows the pictures of the blocks in EQ8. 

These pictures can be helpful though.  Instead of going through all the libraries in EQ8 on the computer, I can pre plan which blocks I will want to use by looing through the EQ8 block library book.  It will save me time as well as eyestrain by cutting down on how much time I'll be staring at the computer.  Hopefully it will also cut down on my squirreling at the computer.  Yes I am part squirrel and get distracted easily when searching on the computer.

My BLOCK Magazine from Missouri Star Quilt Company arrived also so I got to squirrel through that.

                                      

Did I mention that one could NEVER have enough stork scissors...or unicorn scissors...or butterfly scissors...or scissors of any kind?  Here is my latest trio of scissors that I bought.

 Aren't those scissors so sparkly and pretty?  Speaking of sparkly and pretty, here are a couple new pictures of Hayley.

Don't you just want to gobble her up ... I mean grab her up ... and hug her?

Not as pretty but still pretty is Ghost.  Ghost is a white cat that appeared one day to dine on the cat food that was still in the bowls after my girls had eaten.  She hasn't, I don't think, showed up since but she wasn't sticking around.  Sorry for the bad picture.  It was taken through the door because I knew if I opened the door she would be gone quicker than I could press the shutter button on the phone.  

Throughout everything, I did manage to get a couple of blocks done.  This one is for the Farmer's Wife blocks.

This one, however, is the third block in the Civil War  BOM.

Oh yes, that reminds me, I also bought some of the Bloc Loc rulers/templates.  One of them was for the 3 1/2" HST and I was glad it came in so I could use it on all these HST!

That's it for now.  I'll try not to fall through any more black holes and post a picture of my 9 patch row by row soon.

Keep dry (we have had a lot of thunderstorms and rain) and keep crafting!

It's March?

 Another month has gone and fled by before I knew it.  It's March and that means it is the month that I work on UFOs.  Well work on one UFO anyway.  I'm not sure which one I will work on but I had better figure it out before long otherwise March will be gone too and I won't have worked on anything.  Been there done that before!

I have been working on some quilting.  I managed to get row 3 done of the 9 patch BOM that is offered through the Quilt Pattern Magazine.  I'm liking how it is turning out so far.  

I'm not sure what the next block color will be.  I might start with some pinks or light reds or something and work up to some more stronger colors.

I have stopped working on some of my other BOMS and projects because, well, ummm, I overestimated how much time I would have to work on things.  I am trying to get better at piecing but with my perception problem it is hard.  I ordered some bloc lock templates and will try them to see if that helps.  I also have now installed EQ8 on my computer.  I will be buying block base+ (BB+) when it comes out.  I could have gotten bloc base and then upgraded with BB+ comes out but since it should be out this month I am just waiting to get BB+ and not having to update.  One of the reasons I am getting BB+ is that it is supposed to have all the blocks in it from Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia of quit blocks in it.  I hope that will help with my piecing and putting together the blocks for the Civil War BOMs.  We'll see.

I have picked up on my redwork again.  Here is the latest progress pix for my Easter  Bunny.

The weather has turned nice but usually only for a day or two and then it gets cold again (or colder).  One day it got up to the high 60s and the cats decided to take advantage of it.  I did too.  After feeding them I sat outside on the porch in the chair.  Tangerine decided to lounge in the sun but she was close enough she could go into the shade if she wanted to.  Big Claws (BC) sat on my lap and after taking the one picture

BC moved its head to make sure that Tangerine's head would not be in the next picture.

Is that a smirk on BC's face?  I think so!

There were other signs of Spring too.  

That is about it for now.  I will leave you with one more picture.  I found another Hayley picture so I will share it here.  It is nice to end the post with a smile and I am sure most of you will agree that Hayley makes you smile.

I hope you all have a great evening/day and I'll see you around next time.  :)

Happy Stitching!

It's a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood!

 Yes you heard that right.  It's a beautiful day out today.  It's still cold and I still have frozen pipes but it is sunny out and the animals made an appearance.

I have seen so far today:

  one neighborhood dog taking a dump in the street (at least it's not in my yard)

 three cats (Miss Tangerine, Miss Big Paws, and one I don't know)

birds

So, obviously I took some pictures.

You've seen pictures of Miss Tangerine and Miss Big Paws before so I'm not showing more now.  They each insisted that I give them hugs and pets so I sat out in the cold to do so.  I also gave them some more food since it is still cold out.  :)

I have started to stitch down my Welcome Bunny and then put sleeves on a couple of things and changed up what I had hanging on the door and walls.

I still have to figure out where to hang my turtle.  I will figure it out sooner or later.

I only have one more thing to report and that is my youngest grand nephew started High School today!  He certainly can't be that old already can he?

Enjoy high school Liam.  You're growing up to be a tall handsome young man.

That's it for today's report.  Everybody stay safe and warm.  Sooner or later we will have warmer weather.

Snow and more Snow

 That is the word in all of the news today.  Either Snow or Winter Weather Watch.  They use the names almost interchangeably.  

To remind people, this is not Illinois it is Arkansas!  Of course Illinois and northern states have it much worse.  

It seems that some four legged friends have visited.  There were bird prints in the snow on the porch but they got brushed off.  I have not seen the cats much.  Today I did see Tort, or at least one that looks like him, so at least the food and water I put out aren't going to waste.

I know that it is cold so I thought I'd warm you up a bit by putting in a couple of pictures of Hayley.

I tried to work on some craft things but it is cold enough that I just wat to stay under cover and watch season 1 and two of Babylon 5.  Put on my electric throw and get my pillow out and I get all snuggly in and watch it.

When I did come out, I figured that I would do the postage stamp block for Farmer's Wife.  It calls for 1 1/2" squares.  The book uses four colors but I think I am going to make it more scrappy and cut out the 1 1/2" squares from the colors that I use in other Farmer's Wife blocks.  So far this is what I have.

I believe that I need around 36 squares for that block.  I might start to save up more 1 1/2" squares and do a postage stamp throw or quilt or wall hanging.  Not sure yet.  We'll see how it goes.

It's time for me to get back under the blankets.  Everybody stay warm.  I will be spring before we know it.  REALLY it will.

Ice Storm Warning

 Awww.  Arkansas wanted me to feel like I was back home in the midwest today by having an Ice Storm Warning.  Wasn't that so nice of it?  Oh wait.  I'm retired.  I don't have to go outside if I don't want to and at 27F (feels like tempt of 19F) and I don't want to.  

That means, of course, that I'm NOT going to talk about the weather any more and talk instead about cooking and crafting.  First up is cooking.  I managed to make a loaf of beer bread and I like how it turned out.  The recipe only make one loaf and is a batter bread type.  It has...wait for it...only 3 ingredients.  That's my kind of recipe.

The recipe calls for:

3 cups pancake mix (yes you read that right)

2 tablespoons melted butter

1 can beer (12 oz or 1 1/2 cups)

You just mix everything together but need to add the beer slowly and more like fold it in because of the foam that results from pouring beer.  Then bake for about 30-40 minutes in a 350F oven.

That's it.

In the next day or two I might try a biscuit recipe that has mandarin oranges and coconut in it.  Doesn't that sound yummy too?  I'll keep you informed on how it turns out.  I also made a couscous recipe that I saw on Jacques Pepin Facebook page.  It was delish!  It had spinach, tomatoes, onions, mushrooms, chicken broth, and of course Couscous.

With nice warm bread in my tummy, my thoughts turned to crafts.  First up was putting together the top, which I call Welcome Bunny.  It is actually called  Bunny and Blooms but I never remember that.  

The next step in it will be to pick out my embroidery floss and match up some colors.  It will get put to the side though on the 16th so I can do my two weeks of cross stitch.  Before I switch crafts on the 16th I wanted to get a couple more blocks done from some of the BOMs that I am doing.  I *did* manage to get my first block done for the Civil War - Hands All Around BOM.  This is the one that was inspired by Louisa Alcott and offered by Barbara Brackman.  

The colors look a little off in the picture but the corners are an off white while the flying geese-ish rectangles are white.  The 9 patch uses the same off white that the corner blocks have.  I had all of those cut out when I realized I didn't have enough to do everything in the same color.  I'm trying to use up scraps when I can.  I finished it up just in time because today block two was posted.  Block two will be a Missouri Star block.  Did I mention that I am proud of the 9 patch block?  I'm proud because I didn't use any of the short cut methods for it.  The flying geese are all done with triangles!!! and they fit in pretty good I thought.

On a side note, I have ordered Barbara Brackman's Encyclopedia of Pieced Quilt Patterns, 3rd edition.  Amazon should have it in March.  It was expensive but not as expensive as trying to get an older copy of it and I watched a review on it.  I'm trying to get more into piecing and this seemed like a good investment.  I think that I might have shocked my friend Susan with that statement but after doing the first block I figured I might continue with learning how to piece.  hehehe

the Civil War block wasn't the only blocks I worked on.  I also managed to get some more Farmer's Wife blocks done.  

This is Contrary Wife

This is Streak of Lightning

and this is Homebound

The only other thing I have to show today is my newest template....the half Heart from Missouri Star Company.  It will be used when I do their pattern called Hearts and Gizzards.  There is a video tutorial on their website showing how to do it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=guqmuwOAO4E&feature=emb_logo&ab_channel=MissouriStarQuiltCompany

I hope that you enjoyed todays blog.  Stay safe and warm and enjoy your day.

Some Bunny Loves You

 It is February 7 and I find that I haven't done much.  I do have things to show you though.  First up, let's see another pictures of Hayley.  Yeah, I have another one.  LOL.

It was nice to be able to see something nice since I also found out that a former boss of mine, and a professor that I took classes from, had passed away.  In case some of you might have known her, I've included the info that was sent to me.  She didn't get along with everybody but I got along with her and still smile when thinking about my class with her.

From here I will jump quickly to what I had for breakfast.  I don't have a good link to go from one topic to another today but here is what I made for breakfast today.  It is a breakfast bowl that had eggs, cheese, sausage, salsa, and guacamole.

NOW, continuing on with no great link to my next topic, I'll just jump into the quilting news.  Going through some of my quilting stuff, I found a UFO (yes another one) that went back to 2014.  It was a Civil War BOM offered by Custom Quilts Kit.

I need to put on borders but I haven't decided what color I will use for that.  Then, of course, I will need to finish it by doing the quilting sandwich and quilt it.  If it will be quilted, I'll send it out to a long armer to do but another option would be to tie it.  Not sure which will win.

I also found my picture for another of the Farmer's Wife blocks.  It is Autumn Tiles.

Another thing that started on came from the 2021 Quilt Summit that I signed up for.  It was online for five days but I paid for a years access.  There was one that said Welcome and had a bunny in it.  Here is a picture of it laid out.  I just laid it out and need to fuse and stitch it yet.  I think it is going to be soooo cute and I already am in love with it.

That's it for now everybody.  Have a wonderful day.