Category: Quilt Guild

Happy Holidays!

I am still alive, recovering from my spinal surgery. I did manage to sew a few small things until I could barely move my shoulders. Not sure why, But I ended up getting multiple steroid shots in each shoulder. They are better now, not perfect but leaps and bounds better.

Gnomie GNomes – I did finish this, but neighbor Carol needed something holiday for her table, so she went home with it. I think she liked the back better than my gnomes. The back had snowman fabric on it. I failed to get a photo of it. Pretty sure I had it for like 20 years. Lol. She was happy and that is all that matters. It was a super easy pattern that went together quickly.

My daughter is home from college for the holidays. Makes me so happy. She has been baking and wrapping for me. My desire to do either is at an all-time low.

I made a few of these towels as gifts. I wanted to make more but only managed to do a few. Our guild does “Tiny Tutorials” and this was the one from October, I think. Basically used scraps of fabric and batting. I purchased bar mop towels from Amazon which were about $14/per dozen.

I have made a few other things, but not many. I failed to get photos. Not thinking like usual. I will get there. My surgery takes 1+ years to recover from, but I am of course hoping that time is shorter. I feel like I have not been myself for 2 years now. The positive is releasing the pressure on my spinal cord has resolved a few other issues I have had. I have quickly learned that your spinal cord controls everything, literally everything.

My plans are to get back in my sewing room quickly. I also have some organizational goals for 2023. My sewing area is a hot mess.

I hope everyone has a joyous holiday season.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

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Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner…..

Last night my quilt guild, The Marysville Crazy Quilters had their Holiday party. It was also judging for “The Plaid Challenge”.

Great fun and food was had by all!

I placed third in the plaid challenge.

I won $25.00. WooHoo!

How will I spend my riches? I think that I will buy a Creative Grids Ruler with it. I only have 2 and find them very useful. That way I can look at that ruler and remember why I have it. LOL. I am such a dork.

I really do enjoy a creative challenge. Here is some really ugly fabric that does not go together. Go make something with it.

The rules were that you had to have some of every fabric in your quilt. It could be any size of a quilted item.

So, from left to right in the photo the quilts were numbered. I am number 7 (Carpenter star). Number 5 won 1st (looks like a planet in the middle) and #3 was Second (Tumbling blocks).

I think I do have plans to gift this quilt to someone. I know someone who could use a little happy and might appreciate it!

To me, it looks like a “dude” quilt. Not feminine at all. I need to wash it first. I once had a problem with black fabric that had been stored a long time and this was from my stash. I have no idea how old the black was. Better safe than sorry.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

Retreating :)

What Fun!

Lynn and I headed off to Ohio Country for a mini-retreat. We stayed at the historic Millersburg hotel! It has such a history. It also has quilts hanging everywhere.

What did I do?

I made the ghost Blocks. There was a lot of swearing involved. I don’t really care for stitch and flip, and that was necessary. Since there were only 5 blocks in this runner, I suffered through it and swore a lot. It is cute.I also worked on my holiday placemats. I am hopeful that I can get them done.

Not perfect, but tolerable.

Guild Retreat

We are planning a retreat for our guild and hope to have it here. They have a large room that we can use free of charge. It is a beautiful room with high ceilings and exposed brick walls. We are hoping for the first weekend in March. We are hoping we will have 15-20 ladies from our guild join. Something to look forward to in early Spring. I am sure I will need it by then.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

What the Heck am I doing?

Good question. I sometimes wonder what I am doing. I quilted, on my domestic, my scrabble dog wall hanging. I needed something to do that would take me a bit of uninterupted time. Sometimes when I have a lot on my mind (or just anxiety in general), I want to work on something that requires my undivided attention. This has been basted and staring at me for quite a few weeks. I figured it would take me 1-1.5 hours after I got set up to complete the quilting. I was not far off the mark.

I did find, that since I don’t really quilt much on my domestic machine, except straight line, that I now suck at free motion quilting on it. It is possible that it is because iut requires strenght (shoulders, I think) that I don’t have and may never have. I used my dog boine ruler. Not sure why they are called rulers, they don’t actually measure anything. I did take a photo of one of the better-looking areas (LOL).

Anxiety, who me?

Haha. Crazy anxiety. That’s me. I am a worrier by nature., I think I got that from my mother. She was a worrier. So anxiety is just an added bonus.

What causes me to be insane? Well, last week on Wednesday, I woke up unable to walk. Awesome. The absolute most severe pain I have ever felt, everytime I put my right leg down. Words can not describe this pain. Thinking my post (artificail knee) had finally come loose after 25 years, I had my daughter drive me to the ER. Nope, knee not loose. Not much we can help you with, go to your ortho. Six weeks wait. Try someone local. Eww, not what I usually want to do, living outside the city. The local doctors in the rural world have always scared me. But, they agreed to see me that day. I was pleasantly surprised. Young Doc, who told me that my pain was likely coming from my hip (even though it did not hurt). Told me the answer was to shoot up the aggravated knee with medication and then come back on Friday and have the same thing done to my hip. It worked! However, now, I can add hip arthritits and all the goodies that come with that to my crappy resume. I also now keep crutches by the door of the bedroom in case it happens again. This is one of the many reasons I am half crazy. What lovely thing will I wake up with tomorrow? If this is getting old, I have a strong understanding of why people fight it.

Fun Coming!

Fun is needed. Going on a mini-retreat in Amish country in Ohio, with my quilting partner in crime Lynn and maybe one other person (hopefully Sharon comes because she seems like she would be fun). We are staying at a historic hotel. Not only is it a retreat center, but they have ghost hunts. LOL. It is has Victorian Era Decor and past presidents have stayed there (Grover Cleveland). Hotel Millersburg is in the heart of Ohio Amish Country (AKA lots of quilt shops). Photos to come….

So, I am collecting up my projects that I will work on and looking forward to the great escape.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

Seriously…September is over?

You have got to be kidding. September is over this week? Where is time going? I think there is a black hole and all my time is being sucked into it.

I did get some stuff done. The pictured quilt top I have made for my Aunt. I plan to go and visit her this year. She is 94 (I think). She was always one of my favorite people. She is the only living relative (among the aunts and uncles) that I have left. I remember all the trophies for golf she had in her living room as a kid. They also had a pool table and a bar downstairs where we would often play. She was the oldest of my grandparents children. My Dad was the “middle child” Maybe that is why he understood me so well. While this is a scrappy quilt, as I made it I remembered all the other quilts and projects these fabrics were a part of. I think I will put minky on the back so it is nice and soft for her.

I did get other things done. I bound a couple of of table toppers. I also finished up that binding last night on my “Plaid Challenge quilt” for a competition for my guild. I wont show it yet. The contest is the first week of December. Everyone that wanted to participate had to provide a yard of plaid fabric and $$$. I don’t remember how much money. The money will be divided between the top three quilts, I believe. Figuring out what to do with a bunch of weird plaid fabrics was challenging.

On the Neck Surgery recovery…. Still have issues. I may always have issues. Have managed to lose about 30 pounds. I’ll take it. I can walk over 1/2 mile, but some days I can’t do that at all. Need to figure out how to live with changes. Ugh.

Need to get my Aunt’s quilt pin basted.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

Monumental….and another

So, I guess I am going to to have to be happy right now with making smaller pieces. It is not the worst thing in the world. I do have another larger quilt that is for a Guild competition that I am going to have to figure out how to get quilted. We will have to see. May wait a while longer. Hoping things improve for me.

So, I am keeping this table runner for myself. I have had these fabrics for while and thought they were cute and summery. So, while this piece might look simple, I was trying to learn new things. These are not all straight seams. There is a “Y” type seam in here. Have never done them on quilts (plenty on cloths) but the instructions made it super simple to do.

Also did some straight line quilting. Funny, did it and then watched a video on how to do it. Not necessarily in the right order. I still like the look, even though it is not perfect. I now know a couple of tricks when I attempt this again.

It did take a considerable amount of time for all those lines though.

Still, I think it was worth it.

My Personal Struggle – Not much has changed since my last post (it was really only a few days ago). However, I am trying to work hard at returning to my former self, fully aware that it may never happen. So, I thought maybe I would keep track of my progress here. It is going to sound a bit funny. Prior to my surgery, I was walking 2 miles a day. I was trying to work on weight loss but mostly preparing for a trip I promised my daughter (Europe). She graduates in 2022, and has always told me how she wants to go. I always talk about my mother and her family (Mom was from Germany), so, it seemed like the opportune time to take her. Then I had my surgery and it looks like this trip could be very difficult. So, I will continue to push myself, not only for me, but her.

We are currently using the mailbox method for walking. How many mailboxes can Lori get to? Today it was 6. Yesterday it was 5. So, I guess that is progress. Seems sad that we went from walking 2 miles per day to counting how many mailboxes I can get to. The walk back from Mailbox #6 was hard and painful, but I did it. To put distance in perspective (I do not live in a subdivision), My house sits on about an acre. Most others sit on about 1/2 acre. So, it is a bit further than 6 mailboxes in a subdivision, but not that far.

As for weight loss. I am down about 20 lbs since surgery. A lot of that comes from having to give up gluten and sugar due to the increased heart rate. When there is nothing good to eat, well then you lose weight. I noticed yesterday when I put on my jeans to go out in public that there was plenty of room in them. That is not a bad feeling. I stopped buying a lot of stuff, because no one in the house needs the junk.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

Plaid Challenge Recuperation Top

I finished a top. It took me multiple weeks at a few minutes a day. It is something that would have normally taken me a few hours. It is not complicated in any way.

My quilt guild is doing a “Plaid Challenge“. Everyone brought in a yard of plaid, they were cut up and everyone gets a piece of each to make something quilty.

I found the fabrics pretty ugly, especially all together. I contemplated what I would do with these for some time. I did not want to make something that I would hate. I settled on this carpenter’s star. I thought using black might make it look a little better.

I don’t hate it. I cut this out prior to my surgery. I knew it would be something fairly simple to sew. I started sewing a few minutes a day about a week or so after my surgery. It took me nearly 5 weeks to get this simple top done. I found that very frustrating. I wanted to do more, but just could not.

I tried to use every bit of the fabric. I only had a very little bit left over, so I did not do too bad.

All things considered, I am doing very well according to the doctors. Spinal cord injuries and nerve damage take a long time to recover and may not be 100%. There is not way to know at this point. I do have feeling back in my arms and legs, however I still have some numbness in my fingertips. I am hoping this gets better over time. I am extremely weak, which annoys the crap out of me. I feel like a lazy slob. Super frustrating. I have no patience for this,, but also have no choice. Physical Therapy stars this week, so I will have something new to complain about.

It will be a while before I get back to using the long arm. That takes a bit of effort. I may try in the near future, but just don’t know.

Binding?? Would you use a plaid or stick to black? Let me know what you think.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

Cool tool for Quilting, Wal-Mart, and other goodies

Wal-Mart

I know many many people hate Wal-Mart Fabric. Not always my favorite, but sometimes, I can’t help myself. This year’s Wal-Mart valentine Fabric was all Dog stuff. Being the crazy Dog lady, when I could by 47 yards of fabric of dog prints for under $20, I was not going to say NO. Even If I used this to make charity pillowcases, it could not be beat. And, it’s Dogs. Along with these 1 yard cuts I got about 50 fat quarters. I have a couple favorite dog rescues and hope to make something for them with all the cute doggie stuff.

Cool Tools – A RocketBook

So, at Christmas, I received a RocketBook. While I intitally got it for work, the first thing I did was use it for quilting…..

So, What is a Rocket Book? It is a reusable Notebook that allows you to save stuff to crazy places.

How it works: The Rocket Book uses erasable pens. You can write, draw and scribble and have them automatically save to wherever you designate. Sounds crazy, but the geeky nerd in me finds this little gem quite useful. The second photo shows where I am sending my pages to. You will notice that there is a QR code in the bottom left of each page. Once you download the rocket book app on your phone or tablet, you tell it where you want things sent. On the bottom of each page there are shapes that are tied to where you want your notes/drawings to go. Once you complete a page, you put an X through the picture (tells Rocket Book where to send) and use the app to snap a photo and it automagically goes there.

I have a Rocket Book Fusion – There are tons of different sizes with all different kind of pages. Project List, gridded paper, lined paper, calendar. Once you save your page, you wet your cloth (comes with it) and wipe off. It uses Frixion pens (comes with one), which many of us already have. I of course bought a pack of many colors (Wal-Mart has them, you can see my crazy quilt doodles)

Creative Notions Strikes again

This is my second subscription bag from Creative Notions. I really like this. It is $45.00 and I feel I really get my money’s worth. I love the panel and fat quarter pack that came in this month’s bag. I plan on making it for my front door. I better get moving, spring is right around the corner, hopefully. There is a pattern included (which I plan on using for the wall hanging). There is also a pattern to make a bag and all the straps/hardware are included. At my guild there are a couple of ladies that make the most beautiful bags, so I am anxious to try this. There are also two more patterns and a 45mm rotary blade and candy (always has some candy in there, which my daughter immediately claims). Just sharing something I think is cool. Looking forward to the next one. Happy Sewing, Happy Quilting

Mystery Quilt Clue #5 – Orange Dreams

Something is changing. I have made 2 blog posts in the same month. OMG am I returning to normal? Unlikely (not sure I have ever been normal). I am however beginning to make progress. I have started to try and do something every day. I am not successful every day, but more is defiantly happening. Last night I cut out another table runner (Christmas gift) and pinned together a few pillow cases for the guild. I have also created a project list for things that need to get done at home. Instead of laying around looking at the cobwebs, I have put a list together that the whole family can assist with. We have already been productive. Cleaned out our filing cabinet and threw away manuals for appliances and things we have not had in years. Cleaned out one of the buffets in our dining room. Things are starting to get done.

Orange Dreams or Orange Nightmare?

I am starting to like it a bit more. I don’t follow instructions well, so I have reversed color schemes and turned blocks around. I think it is becoming less of a nightmare. It will be interesting to finish. I am hoping that the center of this quilt can distract from the orangeness.

Fall is here

Not my beautiful fall tree (next Door Neighbor’s), but it is my view from the hot tub, which I can finally get in without being too hot. The weather in Ohio is still weird. It has been in the 50’s for nearly a week and today it may reach 80. Furnace, air conditioner, furnace, air conditioner. Ohio, please pick a season and stay with it.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting

Mystery Quilt Clue #4 – Getting Weirder

So, I went a bit rogue on this block. I was finding it way to orange (even thought I like orange), I made what was supposed to dark light and vice versa and then rotated the block. It gave it a weird effect, that I find tolerable. Not totally in love it, but it does help the totally orange look that I had enough of.

I have also created a blog for our quilt guild, Marysville Crazy Quilters. Feel free to take a look at some of the quilts and projects my quilting friends are working on. The guild does a lot of charity work, which I like.

Personally, I still feel crazy. I have come to the conclusion that Covid is truly a state of mind. I don’t like it. This Covid state of mind has me less likely to quilt. I find myself staring at the TV or the ceiling of the bedroom and rarely wandering over to my studio. I have to get out of that state of mind. I am struggling to make a few blocks for a mystery quilt. Jeez. I find I do more when I actually have less time to do it. How is that right? I do have plans to make a few Christmas gifts so I better get moving. I also have had a quilt on the longarm for a couple of months. It stares at me as I walk by and yells insults at me for ignoring it. Ugh.

I hope you are all staying safe.

Happy Sewing

Happy Quilting