Sewing, Knitting, and Flowers

Per usual I can't focus on just one project, so I've been satisfying my heart's desire by working on what I want, when I want.

I've been working on...

A Little of This

Cutting more strips, as many as possible, from scraps in my bin, to make 19 more Diagonal Scrap Quilt blocks.

Cutting and piecing scrappy squares and rectangles to make these 12" blocks for our Big Cypress Quilter's quilt-along. I sewed these three blocks while at Big Cypress Quilters on Tuesday.

I used my very portable, less-than-five-pound (weight) Janome Derby sewing machine. I bought it in June 2015 from MassDrop, an online shop that - at the time - sold sewing-related items, including fabric, at bulk rates. I think I paid about $55 for this machine. It's sold now for more than twice the price.

A Little of That

For the first time, I'm making a "flat" item on a round loom - a shawl scarf. I'm using a 41-peg loom to knit around, stopping one peg short of making a circle, and then reversing direction. This is the YouTube tutorial I'm following. I like knitting with this very pale pink, super-soft yarn.

I also started another double-yarn guy's cap. This is on a 36-peg loom using flecked gray and navy blue yarns. 

The best part of this week was when my friend Jody sent me pictures of her grandies wearing caps I'd knitted and given to her to give to them! 

This handsome guy is wearing a red knitted cap that came off my loom a couple weeks ago.

This precious girl is wearing a cap that came off my loom about four weeks ago. It's beige and pastel rainbow yarns knitted together.

Adorable children, aren't they?! I am so grateful for the photos Jody shared, and is allowing me to share with you. She also shared a precious comment from her grandson.

The two of them were trying to throw a Frisbee back and forth, and neither one of them could catch it.

He said,

"Wait a minute, Gramma. Let me put on my new hat. This is going to be my lucky hat!"

I love it! These are the pictures and stories that make gift-giving so easy, and rewarding. Thank you for sharing the love, my friend!

Here at home, even though we're in a drought, Florida blooms are abundant. These is some of the colors in front of our house.

Princess Plant

Fire Bush

Alamanda

Plumbago

Wishbone

I hope you're enjoying creating, and seeing some colorful spring blooms too. Linda

Post-Retreat Energy

I came home from last weekend's three-day quilt retreat so full of plans and energy that I haven't stopped long enough to write a blog post... though I did write a retreat blog post for our Central Florida MQG chapter. Go here to see lots of great photos of retreat quilters and their projects.

This retreat was our tenth anniversary retreat to Luther Springs Camp and Conference Center. Exactly ten years ago, WE were the first group of quilters to ever retreat to Luther Springs! And let me tell you, ever since, the word about Luther Springs has spread like wildfire among quilters! Several years ago, Luther Springs built a separate chapel where quilters can gather with all the amenities - good lighting, floor electrical outlets, wine fridge, and coffee bar. We love it.

For being on a modern quilt retreat, to my own surprise I find myself rarely working on modern projects. I think that's because I've learned that it's difficult to design and create modern without being in close proximity to my stash and personal design wall. So, I often make "kits" for myself, pre-cutting fabrics to piece blocks, or making something in particular. 

This time I pre-cut 4½" hexagons to make coasters, resulting in three sets of six coasters made from scraps. I used this free tutorial by Sew Mariana. 

Then, I mostly worked on blocks for the second version of a scrappy quilt from the pattern Diagonal Scrap Quilt by Maryline @mary_and_patch.

This block is much more labor intensive than the black and white blocks I made from the first version of the pattern, but I sure like the intensity of the scrappy design. It definitely has a maximalist vibe. I plan to make the quilt with 72 blocks, so I have 19 more blocks to make. 

Also during retreat, I hand-pieced several more Inner City blocks, and finished round loom knitting another cap for charity. 

Overall, it doesn't seem like I accomplished much, but I'm very satisfied. 

Above all, I had a fantastic time! Several retreaters were in agreement that this was our best quilt retreat ever! That can be attributed to retreating with good friends who know how to poke fun at one another and laugh. I laughed so hard I cried. It was simply a marvelous time!

Here's the group photo of best friends demonstrating how quilters RULE(R)!

On Saturday, Sew Modern Chicky came to retreat from Jacksonville, Florida to set up a pop-up shop. While I had no intentions of buying fabric, owners Paula and Dave brought bolts of Sally Kelly fabric! How could I resist, when it's rare for me to see this fabric in person?! I bought two pieces of Twilight - one quilting cotton and one canvas - both to make garments. I also bought one Alison Glass piece.

After seeing my friend, Lora, wearing a Cielo top during retreat, I returned home to buy the downloadable pattern to make my own Cielo using the newly-purchased Alison Glass fabric.

I'm not counting any of these fabric acquisitions in my May fabric-tracking total. When fabric is for clothing, it doesn't count. There. See how I justify a purchase without damaging my fabric input total?

Lately, every day this week I've had my hands on three or four different projects - proof of how invigorating it is to retreat with friends. I hope you get to do that too! Linda

Gettin' er Done, and Ready to Roll

With a restock of some Wonderfil Eleganza perle cotton colors, I've been able to add more big stitch quilting to my Turnabout paint chip challenge quilt. Though the quilt is completely finished, even with facing, I'm adding more quilting to fill in a few "holes." A  couple evenings of stitching should nicely complete it.

After looking online at several tempting wide backs for my Black and White Diagonal Scrap Quilt, I bit the bullet and pulled prints from my stash for a pieced back. Inspiration came from Kelly Youngs' book Perfectly Pieced Quilt Backs. It's my go-to when I need ideas, and this is Kelly's "Wide and Skinny."

The 76" X 82" back even included three extra blocks I unintentionally made. As always, making a back seems time-consuming, but the personal satisfaction of making from stash feels great!

 

I still have round loom knitting fever, which I am able to freely indulge in because I have a charity outlet for my creations. All three of these caps - infant, toddler, and pre-teen sizes - were donated last Saturday. For these caps, I experimented with a knitting pattern that begins with a round of purl stitches, alternating knit and purl rounds to form a brim, and continuing with knitting. Sometimes the cap seems like it needs a  for a pom-pom, but if I don't have enough yarn, it goes without. The blue cap and the pink/cream cap were knitted with two different yarns, used simultaneously. I like the sort of tweedy effect.

Using yarn I purchased, I made a pre-teen sized cap for a friend's grandson, and these little face scrubbies. I've gotten into the habit of using them myself, and like them. 

For three whole days, I'm retreating with friends from the Central Florida MQG. Of course it takes time and planning to prep all the projects I think I will work on (Ha!). Six are going with me:

1. Sunny, a FPP pattern by Tara Faughnan that I work on only while on retreats
2. Diagonal Scrap Quilt, a very scrappy pattern by Maryline of @mary_and_patch. This is another version of the Black and White Diagonal Scrap Quilt.
3. Inner City blocks to hand piece
4. Hexagon Coasters, a free design by Sew Mariana. Tutorial here.
5. scrappy blocks for a Big Cypress Quilters quilt-along
6. round loom knitting

I will sew with my Featherweight - a first for me to use during a quilt retreat. Thanks to my friend Courtney, my Featherweight recently had some spa time and is purring so beautifully that I had a difficult time hearing it run!

In the picture is my Featherweight in its aqua carrying case; my project bag with fabrics cut for Sunny blocks and the second Diagonal Scrap Quilt; and on the left are my always-ready-to-hand-piece Inner City blocks. 

Entirely from scraps, I've prepped three sets of six Hexagon Coasters to sew. 

These are scrap fabrics, cut to make the Quilt Along project with Big Cypress Quilters.

Gosh. I'm noticing quite a scrappy theme for this retreat! Though I'll also take round loom knitting. Using yarn that was donated to Boomer Loomers, this will become a teen boy's cap. Donated yarn is offered to club members to take and make whatever they wish, as long as it's donated back to one of Boomer Loomer's charities. 

Have you seen Little Jesus? He's becoming a social phenomenon... like painted rocks. A Little Jesus is meant to be a reminder that we all "need a little Jesus in our lives." He can be given to someone or left anonymously for someone else to pick up.

A friend gave me mine, and He's Lord of my sewing room. This picture of Jesus with my Lego sewing machine makes me smile. He looks as happy as I often feel when I'm sitting at my sewing machine. I am blessed.

I hope a little Jesus makes you happy too. Linda

End of April: Yardage Tracking and Books Read

Wow. Did this month's end sneak up on you too?

At the end of each month, I look forward to reviewing my Yardage Tracking spreadsheet to tally the month's fabric use. This one makes me very pleased. Nearly 12 yards used in April!

More than 6 yards of fabric was used in the piecing of a black and white version of the Diagonal Scrap Quilt; it's 71½" X 79". (Pattern by Maryline of @Mary_and_Patch). The top is still on the design wall, waiting for me to decide whether to succumb to the purchase of a wideback, for backing, or spend hours piecing a backing from my ever-dwindling - and challenging-to-make-a-backing stash of prints. 

Another 4½ yards of fabric was in a 7.2 pound bag of snippets and scraps donated for pet beds. 

Other sewing has been making a:

• Bible cover
• Confetti Pouch (on the right), and 
• 16 more Inner City blocks. 

About that Confetti Pouch... I'm preparing to help my local quilt chapter learn how to make confetti "fabric," and want to show different pouch styles that can be made with the created fabric. I love how a touch of black confetti adds contrast, and was the perfect reason to use a black and white striped zipper.

This pouch pattern is The Patchwork Pouch by Crinkle Dreams/Teresa Coates. 

I used green linen for the base of the pouch, and decorated it with Bernina stitch #302.

As you can see, this month I focused mostly on greens... piecing these Inner City blocks. I've now made 156 of the 218 blocks needed for a big quilt. 

I've begun cutting and piecing scraps to make another Diagonal Scrap Quilt. This is a different version and uses even more scrap strips. For now, I'm leaving blocks like this so I can work on them during retreat, coming up in May. They'll go into the May Yardage Tracking total.

Having two cataract eye surgeries in April meant that I spent more time at home than usual. So, 12 books were read.

It's apparent that two book series have my attention. Both are about crime. The Will Trent series of books by Karin Slaughter spawned the TV police/detective drama. The Quinn and Costa series by Allison Brennan is about FBI agents who are part of a mobile action group. 

Though I am enjoying both these series, it's occasionally refreshing to listen to stories about something other than murder, drugs, or abductions! A Nicholas Sparks romance nicely fills that gap. 

In my personal ranking order, on a scale of 1 to 5 they are:

1. 4.3 - The Berry Pickers, Amanda Peters
2. 4.3 - Triptych, Will Trent #1, Karin Slaughter
3. 4.3 - Fractured, Will Trent #2, Karin Slaughter
4. 4.3 - Undone, Will Trent #3, Karin Slaughter
5. 4.3 - Broken, Will Trent #4, Karin Slaughter
6. 4.2 - The Wrong Victim, Quinn and Costa #3, Allison Brennan
7. 4.2 - Seven Girls Gone, Quinn and Costa #4, Allison Brennan
8. 4.2 - The Choice, Nicholas Sparks
9. 4.1 - Ward D, Frieda McFadden
10. 4.0 - The Thursday Murder Club book #1, Richard Osman
11. 3.7 - The Dead Husband, Carter Wilson
12. 3.4 - Draw Down the Moon, Kristin and P.C. Cast

Don't bother with book #12.

Here's a collage of book covers, so you can take a screen shot to refer to later.

About The Thursday Murder Club... it's a series too, and eventually I'll read them all. This series premise is that a group of senior citizens, who live in a lovely rural senior community in Kent, England, have a weekly club that meets to solve old police cases. That's because before retiring from the police department, one of the women in the group made copies of the files! I enjoyed that the author writes with subtle situational humor to which us older folks can relate. (Thanks for the recommendation, Elizabeth! OccasionalPiece Quilt)

What I had a difficult time with was tracking all the characters. It's the same challenge I have with Quinn and Costa (FBI) books too. In both cases, between keeping track of the main characters (seniors in the book club, or FBI agents on a case) AND the people involved in criminal activity - most often murder - it's tough to recall names and character backgrounds. 

Or maybe it's just me. 

Until recently, our county library has offered two apps for e-book reading and audiobook listening - Hoopla (five check-outs permitted each month), and Boundless (unlimited check-outs). Now our library is offering a new app - Cloudlibrary. It seems to have more options and availability. Eventually Boundless will be phased out. Anyway, I placed three Cloudlibrary books on hold and suddenly find myself with all three books available at once. Yikes! Must keep listening! 

Just Arrived

Whoo-hoo! Happy e-mail! I entered, and had accepted, my Feelin' Groovy quilt for a special exhibit at the International Quilt Festival in Houston, in October! 

My other entry, Alternate Route, wasn't accepted. But I'm okay with that. It's still a happy day! Linda

Seeing 20/20

Another week; another cataract eye surgery. 

On Monday, I had my right eye (dominant eye) cataract surgery, and I'm delighted to say that it went as smoothly as the left eye did 11 days ago. This time my eye seemed a little more light-sensitive, so for the past three days, I've worn sunglasses, even indoors. Initially, there was also a little more blurriness, but that's gradually fading. 

What I keep noticing is my thought at bedtime... "It's time to take my contacts out." 😂 

Until about six years ago, I wore contacts all the time, every day, since I was 16 years old. So, the old habit has been instilled... I can't go to bed with clear vision! Everything has to be blurry! No doubt it will take a while to stop having that thought! 

Otherwise, I'm delighted with the outcome of these surgeries. I can see with much greater clarity, particularly things in the distance - roadway signs, palm fronds, and people's faces. It's all good. I'm only waiting to find out how closely I can see. Right now, a good reading distance is 14". I'm hoping I can eventually bring that nearer, without the need for reading glasses. 

So, with somewhat limited near vision, I've spent much of my leisure time knitting dishcloths and round loom knitting caps.

This is a recently-finished toddler-sized cap, knitted with two different yarns. It's nice and thick.

From Hobby Lobby, I bought several skeins of very plain yarns, in gray tweed and blue tweed, thinking to make caps that a fella might wear. The gray cap is teen-sized (41 peg loom). The pink one I'm working on, with just a little bit of yarn left, is infant-sized (31 peg loom). I'm really, really enjoying peg loom knitting, and want to make more things!

On Sunday afternoon, the day before my second cataract eye surgery, I decided to make a cover for one of my Bibles. This is The Message version that I hadn't used for quite a while. (My most often-used version is NLT - New Living Translation.) 

The reason I wasn't using this Bible is because the faux leather cover had become sticky, perhaps due to Florida humidity which also ruins rubber bands, and the soles of shoes. The Bible cover vinyl was flaking off, and felt sort of gooey.

So for the second time in several weeks, I pulled out a cast-aside piece of improv fabric that I saved from a 2020 improv-along, and made it into a Bible cover. 

In the pieced fabric, I located a block that looked like a cross, and fussy cut it. Then I walking foot quilted the fabric layered with a background and a piece of fusible fleece.

It turned out just as I hoped, and I'm now able to use this Bible again. 

In brief increments of time, I continue to piece my black and white Diagonal Scrap Quilt (pattern by Maryline). The close work needed to match and pin seams, and machine piece with a watchful quarter-inch seam, puts strain on my eyes. So, after joining a row or two of blocks, I set it aside. But it will be a completed quilt top soon! I'm using the web-piecing method to join these 90 blocks. 

Last Saturday was the monthly meeting of the local 4-H club. I was delighted to walk into the room and see my young friend who gave me a hug. Saturday's lesson was to learn how to hand sew to fabric buttons (hole and shank) and snaps, and to machine sew a pouch with a zipper. We had a good time working on these things together, and shared some giggles. At this young age, she's very skilled. After all the kids had completed their zipper pouches, she gave them a crochet lesson! 

The dear girl also gave me this patchwork thank you card she'd made herself. 

 

I am touched by her sweetness. It's lovely to have a young person in one's life. Linda

Interim Week

This week has been interesting because I'm in between cataract surgeries on both eyes. Monday morning my left eye cataract was replaced with an Odyssey multi-focal lens. From my perspective, the difference has been surprising, though expected, because many, many friends and acquaintances have told me about their cataract surgery experiences. 

A optician removed my left eyeglass lens from the frame, so I've been wearing them like this - no lens in the left eye opening.

What I notice most, when comparing colors by putting a hand over one eye, then the other, is that white is white. The cataract eye seems to give a golden color to everything... sort of like the weird evening/sunset light that can wash everything in a gold hue. It's like that. Not bad, but not clear.

Anyway, I had a very positive experience with my doc and surgery center, and look forward to having my right eye fixed too. 

Cataract surgery didn't slow me down too much, as I made another cap on a round loom. This one is child-sized and involved me learning how to change colors. I'll donate this one too. 

Most of my week was spent making the first of two Diagonal Scrap Quilts, using the pattern by Maryline Collioud-Robert @mary_and_patch.

I cut out 90 blocks from black and white prints; used strips and 1½" X 1½" patches to piece the center strips; and added two solid strips gleaned from scraps stored in plastic shoeboxes.

There was endless chain piecing... 

cutting apart the chains...

more piecing... 

endless chain pressing...

and final trimming that produced a gratifying pile for the pet bed bag. 

Though the top isn't pieced together (that will happen this weekend), it should come out at about 70" X 78" - a nice, usable size. 

Now my biggest problem is coming up with a backing! At this point in my use-my-stash efforts, what remains is small pieces. I'd have to piece about 30 prints to come up with a 72" X 80" backing. I might just make my life easy and buy a wide back.

At the Tuesday meeting of Big Cypress Quilters - which yes, I was able to drive myself to - we shared our Paint Chip Challenge projects. Many makers made items other than quilts - like project bags, tote bags, and machine covers. It was impressive that everyone found fabrics (stashed and store-bought) in their paint chip colors to make something. 

In case you missed my previous blog post, here's my Paint Chip Challenge quilt: Turnabout. My paint chip colors were pink and purple.

I've been trying to give away my quilts, and one "outlet" has been my cousin in Ohio who has a home with a "dorm room" where grandkids stay when they visit. She's prepping for their annual summer visit and shared a picture of two cots with two of my quilts on them.

The quilt in the back is Satisfaction, a FPP pattern by Amy Friend; and the quilt in front is Bonnie Lass, a pattern by Jen Kingwell.

Don't those beds look inviting?! I absolutely love seeing my makes being used. I've promised more quilts, as they have a total of six cots to cover. 

 

Have you had a good week? Holy Week is always special, and I'm grateful Lutheran Church of Hope offers online services on Maundy Thursday and Good Friday. Have a blessed Easter. Linda