Some Stitching, Some Prepping, and Lots of Eating

More hexie flowers are complete for my Homage to Mutti project.  The circle of flowers is put together in thirds, so I will need three of each flower.  I’m getting faster at doing them, but that only helps if I sit down and start stitching. 

 

I did spend a lot of time since my last post prepping these little critters.  I hope that helps speed things along.

 

Like Wanda, I’m having trouble remembering what day of the week it is.  Thanksgiving was especially relaxing for me this year, and as usual, I ate too much.  Julia hosted and I only had to prepare two sides.  She did a lovely job.  

I was in a minority of one all day.  Everyone else at the table is supporting Texas A&M in tonight’s game and I was the target of a lot of good-natured teasing.  A&M has an extremely strong team this year.  I’m staying loyal to my Longhorns, though, and wearing my burnt orange today.  Hook’em!

 

Today also happens to be my birthday, one of those ending in “5.”  One of the goodies I received was this amaryllis.  It’s sitting next to the orchid I was gifted several birthdays ago.  This is the first wax-coated amaryllis I’ve had and I hope it blooms for me. 

 

These blooms are on a three-year-old minature rose bush.  I was surprised to see them this late in the year.

A Small Finish

I delayed this post until my Apple Core wall quilt reached Bound-Labeled-Done status.  I like the color mix and the block shape, but this project has convinced me that I don’t want to make another, at least using this method.  It served its purpose and kept me stitching while unable to access most of my stash and sewing machine, though.  So, no complaints.

I have all the 16-patch blocks I intended to make for my Thrift Meets Scrappy Challenge up on the design wall and am playing with arrangements in order to keep the busier neutrals from being too close to one another.  If I stop here, I will have a quilt that is approximately 48 X 64 inches.  This still seems a little small to me, and I haven’t decided whether or not to add borders.  Mostly I would just like to be finished.

 

My Homage to Mutti English Paper Piecing Project is progressing too.  Now I have four hexie flowers completed.  Mostly for the benefit of my memory, the picture includes the needles and thread I am using for the stitching.  Both are much finer than the ones I have used before.  I like the Bottom Line thread because it is nearly invisible when joining the pieces, but the ends tend to fray making it difficult to thread a needle.  Also, it is so fine I have to knot it at the needle’s eye to keep it from coming unthreaded.

My Fall porch flowers.

Rolling Along

I’ve completed 47 of these 16-patch blocks and need one more.  I’ll be happy when I can start joining them together.

 

With all the football on tv these days, I expected to complete more than this one hexagon flower for my handwork project.

 

One cactus plant has begun to bloom and is loaded with lots of buds.  This plant is usually the first, so hopefully the others will follow along shortly.  I rather like that they don’t all bloom at once, making the bloom season that much longer.

 

The orchid is also blooming.

 

The seven members of our neighborhood quilting group have had a hard time getting together for a meeting.  At least two are dealing with husbands’ health issues and one is now the primary care giver for her adult son who is seriously ill.  Four of us did manage to gather at our house Monday for a last meeting before the holiday season.  It was a very relaxing afternoon.  Husband decided to flee the scene and spent that time driving to a state historical site he had never visited.  However, he did enjoy the leftover tiramisu.

 

New Handwork Project

In terms of quilting, I like small, much to the amusement of my quilting friends.  I even like tiny.  However, teeny-tiny is an entirely different thing, I'm learning.  This is the kit that was backordered while I recuperated from my broken leg.  

Getting started on it was like learning EPP all over again.  My needle and thread are much finer than what I've used on other projects, and just learning how to hold the pieces while basting and stitching is different too.  Here is a picture of the first two hexagon units I've made next to my rotary cutter for perspective.  I will say this is the most portable of all quilting projects I have ever attempted.  

We had a rain event weekend before last that gave us an accumulation of 1.82 inches.  Today a dry cold front has blown in with heavy winds and accompanying fire danger.  I'll be glad when it settles down, but I think Fall will finally arrive.

Today we cast our ballots in early voting on a number of proposed amendments to the State constitution and enjoyed a stop at the local frozen yogurt place.  

Some of This and Some of That in the Sewing Room

I touched a lot of different things in the studio last week.

 

I put all the finished thrift blocks on the design wall, ran a calculation of how many more I will need, and began pulling neutrals and prints.  According to my count, I need 40 more of the 2-inch squares to make the remaining 16-patch blocks for the layout I planned.  Sixteen have already been made so only 24 need to be constructed.  That should keep me at the machine for a while.

 

I had several king-size pillow cases that needed to be hemmed for our standard pillows.  They had been taking up oxygen in the studio for longer than I care to confess.  Finished.

 

I pieced some batting remnants to use with the apple-core project.  And, I also quilted that project using the walking foot on my domestic machine.  The entire project came from my stash.  No purchases!  I actually took it with me Tuesday with the intention of squaring it for binding and then thought better of it.  This is a hand pieced project and I need to think about how it trim it without causing the seams to come apart.

 

Julia spent several hours with us Saturday.  As I have graduated from the walker to a cane and no longer have a brace on my leg, I was ready for an outing.  We went to my favorite thrift store and came home with a fall wreath for the front door.

Productive Week

Once I was able to sit down at my sewing machine, I was able to turn out a boatload of 16-patches for my Scrappy Meets Thrift Challenge.  I need fewer than 10 more 16-patches, but will need to paper piece more of the two-inch thrift blocks before I go futher.  I still have some to work with, but need to be sure I have enough variety in the neutral fabrics.

The four borders have been attached to my Kim McClean project.  I appliqued two of the four corner flowers while at my Tuesday group today and may finish at least one of the remaining two watching the recording of last night's episode of The Voice.  

I had my first real PT session yesterday.  It went okay, but they told me they were going easy on me for my first workout.  I got to meet several other patients.  My issues are not nearly as serious as some of the ones they are dealing with.  My next appointment is tomorrow morning and I have a doctor's appointment in the afternoon.  Fingers crossed that I can stop wearing the brace on my leg.

Before and After and Machine Stitching Again

 

Before and After

After letting this piece sit on the coffee table where I looked at it several times during the day, I decided to remove the offending fabric and use something else.  I like it much better.

Also, since I’m able to stand at the design wall and cutting table more, I was able to prep the final border for my Kim McLean project for applique.  It will go with me tomorrow when a friend has kindly offered to take me to my Tuesday quilting group.  Bob will pick me up after a couple of hours and we will stop by the PT office to get the paperwork for Thursday’s assessment.

And, best of all, I was actually able to sit at my sewing machine for two hours without my leg throbbing.  Here are the two 16-patch blocks I completed.  That felt really good.