1st Quarter 2019

January gave us beautiful colors throughout the low country.

I started out with 45 unfinished projects from previous years. I'm now down to 41. However, as is my usual method, I've added 17 more (6 of those are already finished). So at this moment, I have 52 projects 'in progress'. That's actually pretty good considering how far along all of the new additions are. 

I've been quilting up a lot of quilt sets for local charities. So far this year, I've done 35. (2018 had 12) 

During these first 3 months, I've put on 1,454,971 stitches on my HQ Fusion longarm machine. That's more than the entire year of 2018. 

7 quilts have been sent off to their new homes. Some of these were given to charity groups and some went to individuals. With the most recent one to a Grandma waiting for the first girl in 38 years to be born into the family. 

The bookshelf has been buzzing around here. My most recent reads include; Big Magic, Emotional Intelligence 2.0, I've Been Thinking, Turnabout Patchwork, and The Artist's Way. Obviously I am not a one genre lady! 

I've taken an Accordian HST Workshop in Columbia, SC that was sponsored by Devine Quilters and Palmetto Modern Quilt Guild. It was a fun weekend with 3 of my quilting friends. 

Another fun time was the Beach Retreat with the Cobblestone Quilt Guild. That's where 10 of those new projects were started, lol. 

George and I have enjoyed visits to several places. Some of the more notable ones included Magnolia Gardens, Folly Beach, Botany Bay on Edisto Island, Camp St. Christopher on Seabrook Island, and Egg's Up Grill, where they always ask if I want my coffee 'shifted'. They've come to know that I have been following Barb and Charlie McDermott and The Shift Formula method of changing my eating patterns. Both of us have gained many health benefits not to mention the smaller size of clothing that we now can wear comfortably. 

I've been making lots of progress on finishing projects ever since abandoning video games on January 3rd. I'd watched a Leah Day podcast on YouTube where she mentioned how much time can be wasted on 'things' that don't give us any joy or benefit. I had listed video games as being my January 'fast' item back in November, and by the time December 31st rolled around I had already adjusted it to a 'not until after 6pm' item. Her casual comment about her own life just really got me to think about the why behind it. My 'why' was that I used it to relax and zone out. I did a little thinking about my thinking, and I walked away from them! It's been 87 days today and I will continue to track my NOT playing them until I have the confidence in my resolution to continue. 

This might have been more about me than you care to know, but I'm trying to be honest and open. I've had so many people ask me how I get so much done, where do I get my energy, etc etc etc. It's a combination of healthy food choices, self care, and self reflection with a complete reliance on the Holy Spirit to prompt or push me as needed. 

This is about it for my 1st quarter recap. Now if I can get blogger to talk to my photo album there will be a picture of my red camellia from January 1 !

Last Half of March

As of March 29 the workshop quilt is at a 40” square. (This note was added just before publishing and I couldn’t access the bottom of the post, so it’s up front, lol)

I longarmed Retreat #3 top. The binding is yet to be attached. I will get it finished before the end of the month.

I’ve been pretty busy since returning from Beach Retreat. 10 quilt tops have been given to me for longarming for Royal Family Kids Camp. And I finished out 2 of my Retreat tops with their borders. I must apologize for pictures that aren’t in order, but I haven’t figured out the ins and outs of my new iPad and my blog platform interactions.

I had a great time in Columbia last weekend with 3 quilting friends. We attended a workshop about making HST units in a very unique manner. Eva Paige Designs has a YouTube channel where Beth shows the process. It’s quite unique. This is my workshop project that I finished today, March 29th, after returning from Magnolia Gardens.

Early March Activities

As I prepared for time at the beach, family and friends in the Midwest shoveled out again!

First thing this month I wanted to finish the Two Timer 'A' layout quilt that I’d started earlier. I’m very pleased with how it turned out. My 'lifetime' stitche are really adding up nicely this year.

I had a great time at Camp St. Christopher. The Cobblestone Quilt Guild had a Beach Retreat there. March 7-10, four fun filled days with quilting friends. Before I left, I cleaned and oiled my machine so it would be ready when I returned. And I made this green and white pineapple block that was requested by the Coordinators of the retreat. They'll be making some quilts with them for our two community projects this year.

I took my serger and 10 ziplock bags filled with strips of fabric. Some were 2&1/2” and the others were 1&1/2” widths. My plan was to produce as many quilt tops as I could. I decided early on that I’d leave the pressing, trimming, and borders for when I returned home. I made sufficient 'new fabric' for creating 9-10 quilts. Most of them will be about 50”x60”. And there was a filled up bag of trimmings from the serger for a fellow quilter that will use it for stuffing the pincushions she is making.

The

Then on March 13 we went to Botany Bay, one of the hammock islands in South Carolina. EVERYTHING is protected. No shell collecting! And signs to warn you against running over any of the snakes! Some people might be put off by this, but it truly is a method of preserving something for the future. 

February Activities

Before and after composite picture.

I can’t believe how 'huge' the impact of this has been on the feel of our living room. I’m glad we finally got to it, along with a bathroom remodel and a batch of electrical upgrades. I just had to show that picture first.

You may remember that back in January I took on the role of BOM Coordinator for my local quilt guild. Most folks really enjoy getting to see what the intended project will look like when finished. With that in mind, I put the pedal to the metal and got this done before the February 13th meeting.

I bought the book Stripology Mixology back in December. I’ve finished my Two Timer B quilt using portions of 3 charm packs and a boatload of solid squares.  My Stella was made with large squares of Christmas fabrics (I may have already shown you Stella).

Last fall my DIL talked to me about a special quilt for one of the grandkids. Turning 16 and she knew I’d started working on making sure each child has a 'significant to them' quilt. With all of her ideas and a lot of searching the internet, not to mention more time than usual, lol, it is finished and waiting to be delivered.

I finally finished the quilt that had components from two separate mystery quilt projects. These are various stages along the way of The Camp On Ringo Lake.

The stitch counter on the longarm machine recorded over 1,000,000 stitches since January 1st. No doubt that was due to quilting up 16 quilts for my guild's Charity Projects. I missed getting a picture of one of the quilts, but I have it listed in my Fusion record.

Here in South Carolina the weather is turning into the Spring Edition!

Children learn to dress for the weather.

While family dug out from beneath the snow.