Hexie Flower

Yesterday I enjoyed time with some stitching friends. This was my first time making a hexie flower, and I can say I enjoyed it enough to know I’ll be making more of these. I have a plan,,,, oh, boy, here we go again..... LOL

2nd Quarter and Mid-Year Reviews

During this second quarter the following took place:

59 quilts longarmed for Charity Projects = 94 YTD.  NO, WAY!!!

This was what I first wrote and I was MAJORLY WRONG,,, for the second quarter I did 24 for a YTD amount of 59!!! 

My first quarter was 35 and somehow I added that in ‘twice’, wishful thinking or just too much maturing going on around here.     This EDIT is being done on August 1st, when I thought, Hey What???  The remaining numbers seem to be properly added, LOL. 

Thanks for being patient with me.

62+ gifts of love were given = 69+ YTD

6 books were completed = ?? YTD

Vacation to see family = 1 YTD

1 Revamping/remodeling = 3 YTD 

3 months without playing video games = 6 months into this habit

54 projects completed = 63 YTD

UFO list now is at 46

Over 300 yards of fabric have been used in completed projects YTD

The only goal that has kicked my backside = taking off a little more of the inches around my waist.

I have been following the SHIFT program for over a year. I am down significantly on the scales, and the measurements with a tape measure. However, the stresses of life, along with the heat and humidity of South Carolina, have put me on a plateau. That’s not a bad thing. It’s simply an adjusting  to a new normal body mass. I’m in the holding pattern for a bit longer than I like, but it’ll all work out in the end. AND my health has improved in so many ways that I’ll just enjoy the resting spot.

AND

Over 10,500,000 stitches for the lifetime count on my longarm machine. July 25, 2019 will mark owning it a total of 4 years.

I have a lot of goals and plans for the remainder of the year. I’m taking it 3 months at a time with setting intentions and achievement steps. I’ve been watching https://youtu.be/2r935L52-ks  , and I enjoy his approach to so much of this. 

I hope to be back sooner than another quarter but,,,, life is for living, and that’s what we’re doing. 

Later,

June - Boy did I get things moved along!!!

 

Enchanted Garden quilt, being constructed.

 
And deconstructed....

I’ve run into some snags on this one, and until I get them worked out, I only have an In Process pic.

I invested quite a bit of time moving many of my projects along. Some of them are very close to being finished but I’ll save those pictures and info for the future. I did long arm 10 quilts for our Charity Projects this month and those stitch totals are really adding up.

This is a table topper made by using Leah Day’s method of joining previously quilted pieces with sashing strips between them. Quite ingenious, I will use this method again when the need arises.

42 pet beds were made from fabrics I rec’d through Orangeburg Lutheran Church’s destashing day. These have all been given to the Dorchester Paws facility. There was also about 100 yards of double knit fabric that I washed, dried and folded nicely that was passed along also. Below the pet beds is a picture of some ‘spud bags’ and mug rugs that I processed out of the stash in my sewing room.

We did a major renovation of our backyard. Actually, Baker’s Pond and Garden Center did the work. Bryan and George made the plans. I just enjoyed getting to see it progress from an overgrown and uninviting place to a very relaxing and peaceful retreat. The furnishings and a fire pit are coming soon. We will be able to enjoy this most of the year. July and August not very likely, but one never knows if we’ll get a bit of a cold snap. LOL

I had 4 hanks of clothesline that I had dyed a time ago. I didn’t like the colors they turned out, so I started out wrapping one of them for the first bowl. The one with the medallion flower on the edge. I planned to wrap as I went for the next one and use all 3 of the remaining hanks. However, I thought why waste time wrapping the portion that will be the bottom of the bowl/basket? I decided to just use some interesting thread and no fabric for that portion, but as I proceeded, I began to really like how the threads changed the color of the clothesline. I ended up finishing by putting all 3 hanks into the last one, and did not use and fabric on it at all. Quite the interesting turn of events for me. And for our  guild meeting we were asked to make a BINGO block that we used for playing a few games with and then turned them in to the ‘community of stitchers’ that will make some charity quilts with them.

A friend came by to learn about the longarm machine. She’ll be back to do more. Her quilt was a great project for her to start with.

These next  quilts are 2 that I have  finished and one top that is hanging on my ironing board. It is a 76 by 79 unit. I used a fat quarter bundle and did some trimming, slicing, and stitching. Not sure if it will be a top or back. Time will tell. The black and orange medallion is a project started in March at a workshop in Columbia. The Tree of Life is going to be called Cedar of Lebanon, because the branches appear to be growing upwards quite distinctively. That was from Leah Day and our Friendship Quilt Along. The ‘beachy’ looking one was made by using Cake Mix #7 method. I really like the backing fabric too. It is very colorful and fun looking.

Lately we are dealing with an a/c unit that keeps acting up, lol  It's our 4th day without it working and it has been high 90s everyday!! Things will get done and I'll be back into the sewing room soon.

May 2019 Review

Quite different from my usual, I did not receive any quilt sets to longarm into finished quilts. That was due in part to my being off on vacation with family in the Midwest. Sure do enjoy those grandkids.

        Miss Grayce showed us the quilt she made for her mom. I think the ‘stitching bug’ has gotten her. She did a remarkable job for her first quilt. Many thanks to the people who helped her do this.

I worked on my first pair of leggings. I used my serger and things went together quite easily. I’ll be making more for the upcoming fall, maybe some cropped ones for the summer. Not sure yet,,,,

Ashton’s special quilt that his mom helped design was finished and sent off to him. Along with Hunter’s Bookcase quilt. The boys each received a pillow covering to go with their quilts.

And we finished out the month with continuous record setting temps as the flowers bloomed, corn grew and peaches ripened.

April 2019 Review

By the time you get this it will be 3 months old, because I didn’t write it up until July 2nd. Sometimes, I just get very busy but I still want to document things for myself.  I have added that even though I didn’t have any finished items this month of my own, I made a lot of progress and I longarmed 14 quilts for charity projects.

At the very beginning of April I did a podcast with Leah Day. I’ve commented about her podcast on Jan 3 that got me to thinking about how I was spending my time and I changed my ‘default’ mode for when I wanted to relax. Below are many of the projects that were finished because of that change, and a snapshot of the podcast cover spot.

While we were in Poplar Grove with my youngest son’s family we visited the Anderson Japanese Gardens and the Burpee Natural History Museum, attended the Honors Event for Hannah, and took a few photos of a very unexpected ‘snow fall’ and the snow man creating that went on.

Before we left for our next destination, I took a few photos of some of the quilted and sewn items I’ve given to them. It’s always a fun thing to look back at what I’ve done.

The following pictures are of our travels from Galena, Illinois up to Spring Green, Wisconsin at the end of our time with the kids in Poplar Grove. Illinois. The flooding was massive. I wouldn’t have wanted to live along this river.