A Mixed Bag

A “mixed bag” is what I received last week! A bag of Aurifil 50-weight thread, and a tube of five Bernina bobbins (on the left) from my local quilt shop, Sew Together!

I was given these as a thank you for recommending to a friend to purchase a Bernina Q20 (mid-arm quilting machine) from that shop. She had received a quote from a different place, and I suggested she check nearer to home. When Sew Together beat the price she was quoted, the deal closed, and I was invited to stop in for a thank-you gift. That was in February. A gift for a referral was the last thing I expected, imagining I'd get a ballpoint pen and notepad, so I didn't take time to stop by. A reminder phone call that my gift awaited, prompted me to visit. When the bag was handed to me, all I could say was... 

That's 58 spools of Aurifil! Thank you Al and Peter at Sew Together/Sharky's Vac 'n Sew!

Making progress on the Alison Glass Stitch Club Kantha Sew Along, I finished stitching words from Proverbs 15:13 - A glad heart makes a happy face. I'm pleased with how the lettering turned out. 

I layered the quilt top and backing, without batting, per Alison’s tutorial. However, when I saw big sections of shadowing (a dark blue patch on the back showing through yellow fabric on the front) I quickly decided I needed something between the layers. Two yards of 108”-wide white flannel, from Joann’s, was the right solution. Before layering, I washed the flannel in warm water to make sure it shrunk. 

Now I’m baste-stitching. I raised my IKEA Finnvard trestles so the table top is high enough that I don’t need to lean far over while hand stitching.

It’s slow-going to hand stitch the 75” length about eight times (at 5” to 6” intervals) but after I do, I’ll be able to remove it from the table to complete the stitching in my lap. 

Masking tape is my guide for stitching fairly straight lines.

After completing the last X blocks for my Prudence Quilt, I finally have all 121 units EPPed and ready to join together.

I think the layout looks mushy and too busy, but such is the nature of making a quilt from scraps. It will be months until the top is pieced together.  

I started this project in July 2019, after winning, on Instagram, the pattern, templates, and paper pieces from Sharon Burgess of Lilabelle Lane Creations. Though I also won a fat quarter bundle of Liberty fabrics, I don't care for Liberty fabrics so they didn't make an appearance in the quilt. 

And... from Curated Quilts blog, I was surprised to see my 2019 Temperature Quilt again being featured. The entire article can be read here: It's Getting Hot in Here: Temperature Quilts from QuiltCon 2022

Curated Quilts photographed my quilt at QuiltCon. It's nice to have it mentioned again.

Book Recommendation

The Maid by Nita Prose is a captivating book about Molly, a maid who works at a swank hotel. Fairly quickly, you learn that Molly is special, not only for her dedication to cleanliness (a trait I admire), but also for her quirkiness and tendency to misread expressions and  emotions. When Molly enters a finance magnate’s suite, to “return it to a state of perfection,” and discovers his body, her simple life takes a big turn. Because of her honest and innocent nature, she unwittingly makes herself suspect. She must depend on friends to get her through this, but who are her friends? Without her gran to guide her, Molly must figure out who to trust. 

Linda's score: 4.1/5.0

Now that we have two golf carts, I get to toodle to and from all my activities enjoying the fresh air and sunshine at 20 mph. Flowers near the round about are looking especially pretty and colorful (the real heat of Florida summer hasn't yet kicked in), so I pulled over to take this picture.

For Mother's Day, Dan made my favorite, delicious, albeit most-expensive-to-make "white pizza” - a scratch crust, my homemade pesto, zucchini, fresh mushrooms, and brie ($14.99 for a wheel!). I chatted with both of our children, and our Texas grandsons who shared a picture of what Austin (age 12) and Luke (age 8) think of their Nana. 

They couldn't agree on my age (I'm 69), with Luke suggesting I am 87 and Austin, 78. It's a good thing I love them! 😂 

They like my cookies, and "driving the golf cart around," but the real honor is in the last statement: "I love my nana more than 'video games.'" Wow! Now that's truly something! Linda