a new year!

I welcomed in the New Year with happiness, and hope you did, too.
We (Sweetie and I) hosted a new year's eve dinner and card party - 11 people, with delicious foods brought in by all attending.  It was perfect and peaceful and fun.
Lots of visiting and laughter.  We chose to play progressive euchre with two tables of four, and three sitting out each game rotation, so we all had time to visit AND play cards, with the games ending right before the televised ball drop in NY.

I don't usually make New Year resolutions, only to fulfill my long-ago promise made to my Great-Grandma B - to learn something new each year (which can be something small or something monumental).  
Last year, I learned more about gut health and how it affects so many things in overall health and wellness.  Don't get me started here, LOL, or I'll go on and on, but it is AMAZING what gut health controls.

In the quilting realm, I've decided this year I will finish up some already started projects.  Who knows why I have all the blocks for an entire quilt made, some not even sewn together or without borders attached. 
Like this ongoing project - 

 Farm Girl Sampler quilt blocks now together, but not pressed.

(book Farm Girl Vintage by Lori Holt)

Also!, a few friends and I who retreat together, 
have an ongoing challenge.... a 'bet' of sorts. 
We have chosen to not purchase any new fabric 
as we work on our unfinished projects this Winter/Spring - 
to try to use our stash.  
The first person to purchase new fabric 
will have to buy pretzels for the others -  
the awesome, freshly made, pretzels from Shipshewana, 
when we see each other again in November.

So, back to blogging, back to stitching, and back to learning!!!
Hope your January is wonderful, too!!!

still being sluggish

I don't know what's going on with me!
The weather, the phase of the moon, the season?
Whatever it is,
it needs to GO!
No more being a blog slug!
The only stitching I HAVE been doing?
Binding and more binding.

I do have a baby quilt gift completely finished though,
and the baby was just born yesterday!!
Welcome Poppy!

 I even used more from the stash for the backing.

So, back to my sluggishness...
Maybe only doing bindings is my problem?
How many pictures of binding
can I share on here without it looking like a re-run? :)

So, I made myself go load some fabric on the long-arm machine.
And then did something that I've been telling myself to do for over a year!

I tried something new.  (Thanks Great-Grandma B!*)
And that is my way to get out of my 'being a slug' routine!
(* if you've not read about my 'out loud' promise to my Great-Grandma B,
you can CLICK HERE to find out more.)
I'll share pictures tomorrow of my newest project-of-learning.
It's a plan.  I'm no longer a slug!
Happy Wednesday to you!

slow stitching, three years slowly

It's all about perspective.

If you've read my blog over the past half year or more, 
I've been holding down my lazy-girl chair a lot,
slowly recuperating.
I've also been doing some red-work embroidery stitching
on The Gardener's Alphabet quilt blocks.

The Gardener's Alphabet is a Crabapple Hill pattern that I just love. 
(: I love so many of Meg's Crabapple Hill patterns that I'll never finish all of them that I'd like to do, but I may start them!... more on that later :)

I've had the last half of the alphabet traced and crayon-tinted for a long time
(Yes, I started at the end of the alphabet, not the beginning).
I can't believe it, but three years I've had this one going!!
I even went back and checked the time-period, 'cause I couldn't believe it's been that long!
Now I have the letters M/n and P blocks stitched!
I'm so excited!
The letter O- Ox eyed daisy is in my embroidery hoop now,
and the next letter I have readied is Q- Queen Anne's lace, 
so a lot of french knots coming, I know.
But that means that it's been three years and I 
have the quilt half stitched!
That also means that I only have 3 more years working on this one!! :)

I don't have any blocks pressed yet as they are just going back into a work basket and will re-wrinkle during the next three years while I continue stitching the remaining blocks.  The close-up photos look better than the far shots (which show the wrinkling more than the stitching).

And finally, here's the 'more on that later':
It's not a UnFinished Object!
It's a six year plan of attack!
So, plenty of time to start more of the CAH quilts that I love!!!  lol

I've heard confirmation from other quilters, 
who've said that a six-year, 
hand-stitching embroidery project is a good plan,
not unheard of at all.

See? Perspective!

What are your slow stitching, six-year quilt plans? :)

Flags, times 4

For September, and the second installment 
of Flags of the American Revolution sew-along,
(hosted by Lori of Humble quilts)
we were to do the 
four flags with tree appliques.

This sew-along is from the book: Flags of the American Revolution by Jan Patek.
With each block/flag there is a brief history written by the editor - Edie McGinnis.
I'm really enjoying the history lesson as I do each block!!

Anyway, these were 
FOUR good sized applique blocks,
but, I got them done on time - whew!

Specifics:
Each block finishes at 20 inches by 10 inches.  
I'm using cotton on cotton, 
with YLI silk thread to hand-applique.  
And, I still need to press my blocks (because I don't like my hand-applique smashed flatter than flat and not look like applique, I won't press these until they are together as a quilt-top, ready to quilt).

Appeal to Heaven, Block #2, and Bunker Hill, Block #3:

And Pine Tree Flag, Block #4 and Pine Tree, Block #8:

I did take a few close-up pictures so you can see my fabrics:

For the lettering on the Appeal to Heaven block, 
I used a Valdani pearl cotton, size 12, color O540, a variegated dark green to black.  
I used it single thread, and did a whipped, running-back-stitch
which is my favorite hand-embroidery stitch, 
that my Great-Grandma B taught me long ago.

October's 'assignment' is five flags with pieced stripes! 
Sounds like a lot of blocks for one month, 
but they do look pretty easy (and fun).
Can't wait to get started!

Hot meandering! Change of seasons & routine

Do you change your routine of quilting/stitching
with the changing of the seasons???

I've shared before that my long-arm machine
is set up in my back sunroom.

mylifeisastitch.blogspot.com
BigDD in the sunroom
with my Great-GrandmaB's and Grandma's aprons
clothes-pin clipped as curtains on a clothesline.

It's a very nice sunroom,
with two walls of windows - southern and western exposure,
a cooling slate floor and a ceiling fan. 
Having my HQmachine - Big DD, in this room is wonderful!
Lots of room, with plenty of space, great lighting and breezes.

So when the summer heat
(high 80's  to low 90-degree temperatures)
hit our neck of the woods a few weeks ago,
well before the official start of summer,
I knew it was going to be a long season of
HOT meandering!
(Meandering, in my world, is also known as quilting.)

That early Summer heat turned my beautiful, relaxing, calm and cool quilting environment into a red-hot, blazing KILN!!

Then, the last few weeks we have had
heavy rains 3 or 4 days of each week - just to add some humidity.
Now my sunroom is feeling more like a kiln-fired TERRARIUM!!!

So, I've had to change up my routine...
which I don't usually have to do until late August:

I now head out EARLY morning
to do my meandering...
turn on the ceiling fan, and start meandering away. 

As the angle of the sun
reaches my sunroom windows about late lunchtime
and starts heating the back of my legs,
I close it all down and retreat inside.
Inside to do some hand stitching or machine piecing.

So THAT is my 'change of seasons & routine' story.
Do you also change up your sewing/quilting routines seasonally??

Happy Summer Stitching to you!

quilting, snow and soup

Another snow storm has passed through Central Ohio...

another 6 inches or so.  It's beautiful.

It's also nice to be able to work from home - quilting.

And cooking while I'm stitching away...
it's Soup Time!!!

 

That's kind of been my theme this Winter...

Snow and Soup.

What's better than a big pot of soup simmering as the snow falls??

I made up a batch of Beef-Barley-Vegetable soup and

some crusty bread - man does the house smell great!

(If only I had fresh cream...I'd churn up some fresh butter

just like Great-Grandma B always seemed to have on hand
when there was a snow storm blowin' in.)

HA!!
Check out my bread-baking bowls:

Can you tell from the color of my Pyrex 

which decade I received these as a wedding gift???

Makes me smile. 

Anyway,

 

Snow, quilting, cooking...
what a great way to finish up the last week of March!

Hay!

tonight is the full moon of July,

called the "full Hay moon" -

least that's what my great-grandma B called it. 

She said it was because there was a full moon

and

we were finished putting up the hay.

So, I did a little research, and by-gum, she was right!

July's full moon is known as
the Full Hay Moon!
It's also known as the Full Buck Moon -
because this is the time when male deer's antlers start budding out.
July's full moon is also known as the Full Thunder Moon - as this is the month with the most thunder.

So, I guess, take your pick -

Hay, Antler or Thunder...

it's full moon night in July -

and I'm going outside tonight

to enjoy the Full Hay Moon tonight!

another meandering & dog ears

First up,

a pic of a quilt that I quilted before Easter:

It's a great flower basket quilt -

a flower of the month, but in baskets! 

Anonymous said she wanted to use up some scraps recently,

and found this pattern in a very old quilt magazine

that she had saved and book-marked!

I love when that happens! -
using a saved and book-marked project!

Not that it happens much with me...
actually doing a project that I've saved from years ago.
I flip through magazines looking for projects that I just have to do someday...

and I don't book-mark, I DOG-EAR...

dog-ear the pages of projects that I just love.
(not only do I fold down those dog-ear corners,
I w-r-i-t-e on my patterns and books!
eegads! you read that right! 
I write on my patterns and books!!!)

Then the next week
and the next, next week,
and the next, next, next week I do the same dog-earing.
And that just puts waaaay too many things on my want-to-do-list.
I'll never live long enough!

Maybe that will be my

 "learn something new - Great-Grandma B"

project this year...

learn how to

fit in a couple of the projects

from my want-to-do,

dog-eared, written on list!

Back to meandering in threads...

Happy Stitching to you!

on the subject of "thinking we can"

or NOT being told you CAN'T  do something...

This is just a little long, so bear with me, there is a point...and there are pictures to help out :)

My Sweetie knows that I love the texture thing...
so one year (2000) he gave me a gift
to take a wood carving class to carve a bird. 
It was a class that was for an advanced beginner -
I didn't know that advanced beginner part ahead of time...me not ever carving before...anyway,

I rounded up my little dremel tool that I had
to remove paint from window sills,
my dust mask, pencil and paper and headed out to class.

We were given
a piece of paper with a line drawing of the bird
and a "blank" for a life-sized Chickadee.
A "blank" is a chunk of wood in the approximate size and shape of the finished product:

 This is a blank for a tufted titmouse-a bird with a crest on it's head.

 You take the drawing of the bird and somehow transfer these lines to the three dimensional object...starting by drawing center lines
(to help you make the finished bird symmetrical from side to side)
and start slowly taking away the wood down to these lines...

 Then you take away more wood to suggest wings, cheeks and eye sockets, etc.

If you are careful and persistent, you end up with a bird shaped piece of wood that is ready to "burn" in some hard feathers. 
Here is an example of a cardinal that is burnt and mostly feathered (I still need to carve in some more soft feathers around the head and beak; he also needs feet and eyes & to get off that stick and screw!).

Lead feet (& glass eyes)...

 Eventually, you seal and paint.
I painted with Gouache...a water-based acrylic with a matte finish.
THEN...
you need to do some type of habitat for the bird to perch on.

     Brass sheeting is suggested for leaves, brass tubing for branches:

     you cut and sand a little, then use a stylus to press in the veins of the leaves.

So,
back in THAT CLASS ...

I asked the instructor if

I could "do a holly branch".

I didn't notice that he hesitated when answering "yes".

So I started cutting and veining brass leaves
for my holly branch in the snow bank.
Do you know how many leaves are on a small holly branch??? 
Lots...lots more than the 40 that I did!
Then I had to attach the leaves to a "branch" - the little brass tube.
Do you know that when you solder brass to brass, the first piece of brass that you have attached heats up also and falls off when you are soldering the next piece on?  And so on???

HA! -quantity & product downfalls:  hence the instructors' hesitation when he answered!

BUT...
and this is the big BUT...

He didn't say that I couldn't.

And because I thought that I could,

even in my first woodcarving experience,

I DID!!!,

So here is my very first woodcarving:

A life-sized Chickadee on a holly branch in the snow

Oh, the things you can do

if you Think You Can...

so, my point/life lesson...

believe that you can

before you start

and you will.

ps.  If you have been following this blog,
this was my Great-Grandma B's "learn something new promise, circa 2000"

What will you think you can do today??

another finish - utility quilt stitched

Do you remember me showing you these???

And then this???

(this is the one that I couldn't figure out what it was supposed to be

after I stitched it,

so instead of using it,

I stitched another Schmitz pattern to use instead... 

the bird holding a flag of the year

In fact, the whole group in the Sit & Stitch group at the LQS replaced this one...)

Anyway, I sent my big ole' quilting machine on vacation

for the Christmas and New Year's holidays

(yes, it needed a spa day- it is a year old now),

so I decided I would hand quilt something again. 

And this wall hanging was awaiting quilting,
and was the perfect take-along size for traveling & quilting.

"Ring in the New" by Kathy Schmitz:

(Click on the picture and then click again
and you can see some of the Utility stitches off to the right side in the black.)

I used the Utility Quilt Stitch...

at least that's what I call it. 

It was a stitch lesson from Great-Grandma B...

I think that this is the quilting stitch that I learned first,

that was a long time ago...

The Utility Stitch
is a big, hunking running stitch

using a big, hunking thread - like crochet thread or pearl cotton,

and a needle with a big ole' eye.

It's just like a normal quilting stitch,

where you rock up and down,

top to bottom to top to bottom to top through the layered quilt.

Then pull the thread through and repeat. 

Repeat until you get the whole line of quilting done. 

Then, repeat until you have the entire quilt done.

Normal,
except for the stitch length, anyway...

Instead of the 12 to 20 stitches per inch?

Well, it's only 4 to 10 stitches per inch. 

And because of the size?

Well, you can just whip through

a lap quilt or wall hanging

like it's a bowl of ice cream
on a 90 degree day!

Try it sometime,

I think you'll like it!

I was talking about the stitching,

but you can do the ice cream, too! :)

mashed potato memories

A Great-Grandma B thought for this time of year....

Mashed Potato Dinner Rolls...

 

Especially

since I've just checked the calendar

where I have written

my orders

for dinner rolls for Thanksgiving...

THE 

Mashed Potato Dinner Rolls...

the recipe from Great Grandma B.

(I know that other families have this same recipe,

and I'd like to hear from you about your mashed potato memories!)

Yes, they really have mashed potatoes in them...

Yes, the are really scrumptious...

I still make them just like Great Grandma B did.

Some flour and butter.  A little sugar, salt and yeast.  A few eggs.

And the mashed potatoes.

Mix, knead, let them rise.

(a single batch of seven grain on the left & a double batch of regular on the right)

About an hour and a half later, roll out and cut into circles. 

Brush on some melted butter, fold in half, and let them rise again, then bake.

It's always amazing to see

family, friends, and neighbors

stop by

just as I am pulling rolls from the oven. 

I have accused Sweetie

of calling around and telling folks

that the rolls are coming out of the oven at a certain time. 

He promises he doesn't. 

(I make him promise on a fresh, hot, out-of-the-oven roll.)

But the peeps still come just at the right time to have a fresh roll!

(these folks might just know my habits

and come the same time every year,

I will have to pay attention to this!

I may just have to make rolls on two days this year

and see if they come both times!!!)

Yep, it's about that time of year - Thanksgiving time!

Another family gathering and all the food that that entails.

A very thankful time of year.

A time to reminisce about family.

Blessings to you and your families...

reunions and quilts

With the temperature hovering just above 90 degrees,

and the heat index just above 100 degrees,

the paternal family reunion went off without a hitch.

Well, no hitch unless you count:

heat, humidity, and a little rain during the picture-taking time!

We still cook like we are Amish - there was food on top of food. 

This pic shows only half of the kitchen counters,

and desserts had their own table and room!

The quilt that I was making for my own bed made the goal/deadline!

It was finished:  quilted and completely bound (I had the idea that if it wasn't bound, I would still throw it over the mattress and no one would notice that the binding wasn't on it!).

This quilt has a printed panel in the middle of it. 

And it's coral. 

And it's flowers -- hollyhocks to be exact.

First, I don't DO Panels!  Well, not usually. 

Secondly, coral would not be on my list of favorite colors. 

And, thirdly, florals are ok, buy not my usual cut of fabric choice!

But I saw this "kit" at the National Quilt Association show LAST year, and something called to me.  I walked the whole show and went back to the booth that had it.  It still called to me.  Don't know why.  So, I purchased the kit, still wondering why I needed coral hollyhocks in panel form.

Later, that night, as I was putting away my haul from the show,

I pulled out the kit of hollyhocks fabrics and

it dawned on me: 

My Great-Grandma B had coral hollyhocks!!!

The coral hollyhocks were behind the bench by the outbuilding. 

The bench where we sat and snapped beans, and stitched on quilts, and even did some sock-mending.

Somewhere in my memory banks, there were coral hollyhocks.

And this coral, floral quilt was supposed to be made.

For me, before this paternal family reunion!

Reunions and quilts are alike that way, I think...

If something isn't quite finished, dusted, or bound,
no one really cares.
It's all about the memories.

blooms

Remember this nasty looking chicken coop picture from earlier this spring???

It is much better, now, thank you!

And, I started my new quilt for my own bed!!!

The flowers blooming did the trick, I think.

Made me think of the blooming fabric flowers I had picked up.

It is a group of fabrics called Heavenly Hollyhocks, a Northcott fabric.

I bought these fabrics just over a year ago

at the National Quilt Association convention

when it was here in central Ohio.

I wouldn't usually choose this coral color,

 nor the flowers panel,

but,

something called to me.

I realized after it was in my hot little hands

that those were the flowers that were blooming

against the side of the barn

at Great-Grandma B's!

It was meant to be, I guess.

My goal was to have it on my bed by this year's family reunion.

The reunion that I host every year here at my home, sweet home.

The reunion that is usually in September.

The reunion that is going to be in July this year...

the reunion that is now!

Wish me luck!!!

Maybe they won't notice if I don't get it quilted

and just throw the un-quilted top across the current quilt on the bed!

We don't usually use that room anyway,

we are usually more into the food and visiting!!!