I have mail!!

And not the electronic kind!!
Why is it so exciting to get mail?
Even at my age!

I signed up for a fabric postcard swap,
and though I don't have the cards I'm sending 
to the finished/mailing stage yet,
I have recently received a few postcards from friends world-wide...

Cards from quilty friends:
Caroline in Belgium, Sherry in Texas, and Susanne in New York.
Aren't they beautiful??! and very Spring-y!  
Can you tell everyone is wishing for some warmer weather? :)

Here in central Ohio we have another 
Winter storm warning for tonight and tomorrow...
the warning is for high accumulations of snow and strong winds.
I'm ready for another snow day with another slow-cooker full of soup simmering and the wood stove blazing.
Also, the grandkids are coming over for sledding -
sounds like a great way to celebrate the end of February!

Happy end of February to you also,
and Happy Stitching!

meandering an owl...

Record-setting negative 24 degrees here last night!  Brrr.
That was without windchill.  
Glad I could stay in and do some
meandering to keep warm.

Jackie had asked me to quilt her 
gray and white, 36-inch, one block, baby quilt...
preferably with some owl motifs.
After some mulling and sketching,
I came up with an owl

 and some pines

Another view of the owl in the pines:

and the whole quilt:

Since she had one large block for her quilt,
I decided one large quilting design would be appropriate.
I sketched and trimmed and re-sketched,
and came up with my beginning templates: 

Top template is my owl design; 
bottom template is my eye and wing placement guide.

The owl is about 18 inches tall and the pine boughs are in the 8- to 9-inch wide range.
The quilting is all (my) hand-guided, 
mostly done in the continual line style, 
not crossing over previous stitching lines.
Although the entire quilt was only 36 inches square, 
it took a little more time than I thought it would, 
but it was a fun one to do.

She loved the finish, as did I, 
so I've saved my sketches/templates, 
as I may just use this quilting design again.

Thanks for visiting, 
and if you are also in the cold zone,
I hope you are staying warm during this Polar chill.

I'm a glass half-full type of gal

Learned something last week...
no matter how positive you are, 
you positively cannot keep away the flu
by being positive that you won't get it.   :)

The only thing I did during the flu-time-out
that was quilting related
was in a moment of weakness, 
I clicked and ordered some fabric:

That's a picture to brighten a cold, Winter day!
All because I saw the one of the far left - the white with pink text!!
Really cute, don't you think?

Because I was under the weather, 
(yes, that's my story and I'm sticking with it),
I was blog browsing & came across 
a block tutorial with an upcoming sew-along.  
(Imagine that, she says sarcastically.)
I immediately fell in love with the stack of fabrics 
that Lori (of Bee in My Bonnet fame) was using.


If you've read my blog for even a short amount of time,
you probably know that I'm a sucker for text-y print fabrics...

And sure enough, I was sucked in by 

that pink, texty-garden print

and the bottom/center pink bees.

But in my flu-addled mind, NO, I didn't stop there!
I added some of the green-text and large floral.
And just for fun added fat quarters from the same line...
Flower Patch by Lori Holt/Bee In My Bonnet.

Then I added:
the large bumble bee (Bumble by TulaPink)
and below that, the gray garden print 
(Hawthorne Threads, Norwegian Wood, Thicket, in Stone),
the pink with states text (Cotton&Steel/Hatbox, All the States in Pink),
and the herbs in white/green (Windham/Cooking Italiano).

Now that the flu has passed, 
and those weaknesses are over
(hopefully),
it's back to my usual glass half-full attitude and some stitching!
And to decide whether or not I'm joining in on the
Sew Along with Lori. :)

You can jump to Lori's block tutorial and Sew Along info by clicking here.
You know you want to!

Happy last week of February!

antibiotics to igloos and stitching to jumbalaya

Half way through my antibiotics, and I can now move without feeling that my barometric head is pressurized and about ready to explode.  Though the 24 hour flu virus has invaded my area, I've not succumbed as of yet, and I'm not planning on it either! :)
It's still partly sunny with a chance of igloos in my neighborhood:

I'm thankful I can be inside where it's cozy and warm.

So, what quilt-y something have I accomplished in the last few days?
Not much...
I added a border to one block (of the last row) of my Lucy Boston quilt work-in-progress.  Well, really I only stitched together the pictured bottom six cream pieces:

Lucy Boston, Patchwork of the Crosses
that I'm hand-stitching, English paper-piecing (1 inch size).

 Then I jumped turned over to this:

My signature block for Flags of the American Revolution,
pattern by Jan Patek.

 Yep, I applique-stitched the star, the the letter L and some of the letter S.

Then I dug through my recipe file box and found my Jumbalaya recipe that I've adapted for the slow-cooker.  I've pulled some sausage and cooked chicken from the freezer, so I'll start that tomorrow morn. (In my world, there's no shrimp, so that will be a side to be added if you want it).
That means dinner tomorrow night is planned.

Not many accomplishments so far, huh?
Glad it's only Tuesday!!

Hope your week is starting out well, and 
Happy Stitching!

Happy igloo conditions/St. Valentine's weekend, and the steaks

Just a few things happening here this past week...
There's a horrendous sinus/virus thing going around.
Down and out for a good week+ is not fun.
I decided it was time to visit the doc...

I did a little stitching while awaiting my doctor visit;

I stitched the three green leaves in the hoop:

Gardener's Alphabet block, pattern by Crabapple Hill

Pretty pathetic week of stitching accomplishments, huh?

Now that I'm on the mend, 
last night I cooked a nice Valentine's dinner for Sweetie and me.
Steaks, loaded baked potatoes, broccoli, green salad.

It was a wonderful dinner!, 

but, there's a story behind the steaks:

After the doc appointment, I stopped to pick up my prescription and just a few groceries...

It was busy in the store,
as the weathermen were again predicting more igloo/ice conditions.
There were frenzied shoppers everywhere
and stock-carts/workers everywhere to fill the shelves.
Half of the time, I just left my cart at the end of an isle and went and grabbed what I wanted, heading back to the cart with my few items.
I had a small cart, just partially filled, 
including the $4 prescription for the sinusitis.
Because it was so crazy busy,
I hurried through the 
check out/scanning/bagging/swiping my card process.
On the drive home I thought my total for the groceries was high.
Higher than it should have been.
I made it back home, safely, before the igloos attacked.
I'm un-bagging my groceries,
and find a $25.00 package of two, REALLY nice steaks...
steaks that I did not put into my shopping cart!

Yes, I had just scanned and double-plastic-bagged 
the not-my-steak package
at the self-checkout in the grocery.
I was in a hurry, my head was getting that pressurized/barometric/going-to-explode feeling again,
and evidently I didn't pay attention to what I was scanning/bagging.

So as I stand in the middle of my kitchen,
holding the $25 steaks that are not mine,
I think, sadly, that:
'Oh, someone accidentally put their steaks into my cart.
They are going to be so disappointed when they get home and
they don't have their dinner.'
Then, my head pounds and I think:
'Wait!'
'Stop feeling sorry for the person who's out their dinner!!'
'I just paid $25.00!!! for steaks I didn't choose/want!

They did look like good steaks, so I decided to be positive -
I had antibiotics, AND
I now had my meal plan for Valentine's dinner -
four days early!!  Even with an about to explode head.

So after putting away the remaining groceries
(without finding any more surprises),
I take the first of the horse-pill-sized antibiotics, 
and check my social media stuff...

Guess what a friend has on facebook?
(btw - said friend lives a good hour and a half away in good weather)
She has posted this cute little saying that reads:

You're never too old

to throw random stuff

into people's shopping carts

when they aren't looking.

I. Am. NOT. Joking.

Isn't that hilarious?  So coincidental!!
She is exactly that ornery, and if she didn't live so far away, I'd blame her.  She swears she was not anywhere close to my area, and roads were bad enough that I'm sure she wasn't near.
It still makes me laugh.

So, the end of today's story is that

1. It is igloo cold here, but only a handful of inches of new snow for Valentine's day.
2. The antibiotics are starting to work
3. The steaks were excellent.
4. I hope your Valentine's weekend is wonderful.

Flags of the American Revolution part 6

I am completely out of order on my flag blocks for this Sew Along!

I had already stitched the flag with the blue ground/13 appliqued stars, that I think was really 'due' this month...
Because it was already done, 
I went ahead and stitched this block this month:
(it is 'assigned' for next month, so I'm ahead again! :)
 
I laid out my blocks:

I'm still auditioning colors: the center medallion is laid in, unfinished, 
as I've not chosen reds for those corners.  
The block directly below that 
with the chunk of red fabric on the cream, unpressed fabric -
that's the missed block from months ago.

So besides my 'signature' block, I found that I still need to make 
a striped flag with blue ground and circle of stars 
(that gets placed toward the bottom, center).  
That means I'm behind again... :)

Because I'd decided to individually finish and quilt each block
in the Hot Pad* or Pot Holder* method,
I've been working towards that quilt-the-blocks-goal,
so here are a few pictures of my blocks in quilt-y progress:

Knife-edge finished blocks pinned together awaiting whip-stitching.

Did you notice the safety pins in the above four pictures, 
holding the block corners to the other blocks?

That's how I pin to position the finished blocks- 

so they are ready to pick up and whip-stitch together

whenever I have a little stitching time.

* Hot Pad/Pot Holder quilt method:  if you'd like more info on this method,
I've shared previously and you can read about it HERE, and HERE.

I'm linking with Lori, of Humble Quilts; 
she has pictures/links to other participants in the sew-along if you'd like to see their progress, too.

Thanks for visiting, and Happy Winter Stitching!

meandering

I was going through my pictures -
which is something that I put off for some reason...
don't know why.
Anyway, I found a customer quilt that I don't think I've shared before.
A really cute quilt done by J -

 She always finds the best fabric for little kids gift-quilts!

And, the quilts she makes are a pleasure for me to quilt, 
as they're always perfectly pieced and squared.

Happy Stitching!

Lucy, you have a fussy-cutting problem?

Do you have fabric that looks like this???

You, too may have a fussy-cutting problem. :)

I have quite a few fabric pieces like this -
this is what happens to fabric when you work on 
Patchwork of the Crosses, the Lucy Boston quilt.

Yes, I AM still working on my Lucy...
I had just taken a holiday from it, 
Thanksgiving through New Year's week.
My quilt is to the point that it takes up a lot of real estate
when it's all spread out in all it's glory on the floor,
and with holiday family dinners, decorations, and parties on going,
I decided I needed a break from 
laying it out and picking it up 10 minutes later 
when company came in the door.

So, back to working on my Lucy is happening...
more pictures soon to come!

Happy Stitching!

snow days, plural

Do you remember being SOOOOOO excited
when you were in school and school was called off
because of bad snow conditions?

A couple of weeks ago there was 
a county-wide school snow day.
That afternoon, after the roads were partially cleared,
I invited my grand daughter over to play, and
I taught her how to play the way I do on a snow day - 

Snow Day = Sew Day,

and she pieced her first quilt.

Last week there was another snow day, 
(though it really was an ICE day)
so grand daughter came over again 
and she/we quilted her quilt
on the long-arm!

She helped me load it on the long-arm machine, 
chose her thread color, and ran the machine
(with my hand beside hers on the handle bars).
Now she wants more
Snow days - Sew days, too!

Here she is, a couple of weeks ago,
with her blocks laid out, 
concentrating on that quarter-inch:

I'm enjoying my snow days, plural.
Can you tell? :)

Hope you are getting some stitching in, too!

swapping squares

A bloggy friend and I just swapped some
2 1/2 inch squares!

What I sent:
 

200 different fabrics plus a strip that I left whole so she could fussy-cut if she wanted.
 
What came in the mail today:
 
So exciting to get fabric in the mail box!
And it changes up the scrap box a little.

Thanks, Terry!
They are going into a work-in-progress quilt that needed a little more variety.