I love to share my Quilting projects with other Quilters. My goal is to share my progress on projects that I am working on. I would love for you to follow along with me during my endeavors. I hope you enjoy watching me tackle new techniques and projects. Hopefully you can learn from my "hiccups" and mistakes and make your journey easier.
Author: Texas Quilter
I am a retired GS-13/14 from the Federal Government after a 33 year career with them and 5 years with the private sector. We were blessed to have started working young and retired at the age of 55! I love to quilt, knit, embroidery, needle turn applique, and now Sashiko! I have been married to my husband Clay, a retired Lt. in the SA Fire Department, for 23 years now. We grew up together, but did not find each other again until 1996! After we retired we traveled each year to Arizona for the winter for 15 years and in 2017 decided that we would enjoy just "going on a shorter trips" and sold our unit! We both miss the extended travels. We are blessed to be able to enjoy our hobbies in our Studio where I quilt during the day and he works on his hobbies. We enjoy life (as long as there are not too many unforeseen requirements)!
I love my Country - USA - and our President Trump. I am a Conservative Republican and I Love my God, believe in our Founding Fathers, The National Anthem, the US Flag, the Military, and have no respect for Socialists or Communists as I believe they have no place in our Government. If my beliefs offend you that is your problem.
I will welcome in October and hoping for a wet and cold winter here in South Texas. The mornings are becoming cooler and I am enjoying the morning walk, more and more. BUT I believe that when one is 31 days from turning 78 I had better put the pedal to the metal so that by the time I get to Halloween I am back to my 20 minute mile! I wonder what I will be able to do when I hit 80! Hum, I just want to continue with my daily walk and have fun quilting, knitting, embroidery, and cross stitching.
I have been working on My Surprise Quilt and In The Garden Bunny Rabbit blocks (there are 4 of them). To read the background story of My Surprise Quilt click here.
Here are the Rabbit Blocks completed this month. One more light brown bunny to applique!
I still have more borders to make for My Surprise Quilt, but I have made more progress on it this month. I will have some 1″ border strips and then 2 more block borders and one plain border to end the quilt. It will top out at 80″ x 80″ or 84″ x 84″. – It will be a surprise to all of us! LOL
For October my goals will be:
Finish My Surprise Quilt
Prepare the remaining 5 blocks for In My Garden
Start a hand quilting project (have a few tops that are waiting in line patiently)
Do more hand work, less piecing as it is time to catch up on those UFOs.
It has been awhile since I did a post! First may we all think of the people in Florida at this time. They choose to live in Florida on the waterfront, but Hurricane damage from this one will take them years to recover, and for that I feel for them. To lose everything would be a horrible experience, especially loss of life! I am praying that the loss of life is low. Governor DeSantis is a wonderful leader and his people will be assisted ASAP.
I am thrilled that our morning temperatures are in the mid-60’s now and I am walking every day. It will take me a month to get to my goal of doing my 20 minute mile, but close at a 22 minute mile and walking for 30 minutes! Keeps me sane in an insane world.
In case you are unaware, Bloglovin is belly up! I missed so may post in September and wanted to go back are read them all after I signed up with Feedly and Follow.It, but I was not willing to spend 8 hours on the computer to do so. In fact I have a new Computer rule, I will allow myself 1 hour (if needed) to go through my email each day! That is it. When the weather is cooler, I am going to add about 1 hour for reading on the Studio porch!
Here is what is going on with my quilting life. I have decided to send 10 quilts to Rebecca to quilt and send Stars in the Garden and My Surprise Quilt (when finished) later in October. I have been following her for years and she is a fantastic quilter. I know that when she quilts my quilts they will be perfect! Just look what she did with Janes Murmuration quilt! So now I will be doing a little clean up on my tops (making sure that I have stayed stitched around the entire tops on all quilts). I may have 5 that need that stay stitching, then I will document the sizes and provide pictures to Rebecca! I can hardly wait to get them boxed and mailed to her. She will be working on them in January 2023 which is fine with me, I am just elated that she will quilt them for me, as they are all my special quilts.
If you have been following me since I started designing a quilt I have called My Surprise Quilt (soon to have a final name) I only have a couple of borders left. I have never designed a quilt (I did design a table runner and wrote the instructions for a class I taught), even though I have all of the EQ Software of which I will use downsize block, or redraw a block in order to have the rotary cutting done for me! But in August I decided I would design a Medallion quilt. I did use EQ8 to do the Center Block for color placement, rotary cutting, and to print out the block for visual reminders for me!
I designed this quilt as I went along. There is no paper piecing in this quilt – all hand cut pieces – no Go machine! Math was critical when making this quilt, especially since I did not have a pattern, or a design in mind, I just knew it would be a Medallion quilt with different borders. I am enjoying the process of making a quilt without a pattern because I have not had ONE problem with my quilt. But it takes time, patience, and math when doing it the way I am making the quilt. I could call it Design a Quilt as You Go! LOL
This is what I started with in August. I had the Center and knew what I wanted for the last border. I started making the Double Hour Glass blocks and worked on the Medallion. I started on the last border first! I am sure that Quilt Designers no longer do it this way! LOL
So today – here is where I am on My Surprise Quilt, almost 2 months since I started this project. There will be more 1″ separating borders and then 2 full borders before adding a plain fabric (I think) at the end. The quilt will measure 80″ x 80″ or might grow to 84″ x 84″ by the time it is finished. It will depend on what the quilt requires.
My Surprise QuiltMy Surprise Quilt
Status on In The Garden Rabbit blocks. I now have 3 Rabbit blocks completed and will start on the last Rabbit block tonight. Clay wants me to hurry up and add the eyes.
In My Garden
After I have completed My Surprise Quilt, I am going to take a break from piecing and do some applique and cross stitch to unwind and relax. The greatest relaxation will come when Rebecca receives the quilts to quilt! Then I will have to get with the program and do some hand quilting and long arm quilting and maybe by 2023 I will have all done! What will I do? Of course, make more quilts. LOL
My Complaining Section: This is a new section of my Blog and I have some complaining to do because it took some time from my peaceful retirement life the last 2 weeks, so here goes! On 19 and 21 September 2022, the Biden Inflation World came to us (forget the fuel and food costs). First was the $300.00 a year increase in our vehicle insurance! How can a company justify slapping this type of increase on a customer with no claims for 30 years? They cannot and when the first words were INFLATION from our Agent, I went off on the Gentleman! Not acceptable! Then on the 21st I had 4 SMALL cavities filled, and when I ask Melody, ‘how much do I owe you today’? It was $1,200!!! Now my guy is great Prosthodontist, I was still in shock when I arrived home only to have other issues hit me (they were evidently forgettable)! The only good news that week of BIDEN INFLATION WORLD was the fact that I confirmed that our Dental Insurance will pay 60% of the $1,200. Of course we pay a lot of money for our Dental and our Full Secondary health insurance, (along with lovely Medicare) but it has kept us from going broke all these years.
Americans need a Gigantic Red Wave in November, Biden needs to retire as he was looking for a deceased Representative while speaking on National TV, and Harris will need to be impeached since she doesn’t know that the USA does not have a RELATIONSHIP with North Korea -IT IS SOUTH KOREA!!! OK, I have now vocalized what keeps people concerned as to where the Democrats are leading this Nation! I say it is into an Abyss. I apologize to no one for stating the truth!
My goals for the rest of the week will be to finish (if possible) to finish My Surprise Quilt, complete the Bunny Rabbit Block 4, and pack and ship my quilts to Rebecca! OOPS – forgot, I need to finish my 80 Churn Dash SAL – need to decide on a setting and get that one done! We shall see what happens.
Have a wonderful weekend, stay active, enjoy life, and enjoy stitching!
Evening all! It has been a great 3 days for me as I feel better than I did Monday through Thursday night! AND, I am walking each morning – hot or not. What caused my bad 4 days was 1 tsp of Ranch Dressing and 2 slices of special cheese that should not have made me sick, but it did. By Thursday I stayed in the Den in my Recliner all day and I never do thatI But I am back to normal and will continue to only eat my limited diet – no more cheating because the reactions are getting worse.
I have been working on Block 3=of In My Garden. This is the lighter Bunny and I have one more light Bunny after this one.
Mr Bunny
I finished another border on My Surprise quilt last week I will have another border finished tomorrow, just in time for To Do Tuesday!
I am a tired person tonight but is a good tired. Great morning walk, Sun time, and sewing until 5 pm. Bedtime is coming soon! The Cowboys won today and was glad. I love football and so happy it is football season.
Have a wonderful week and enjoy stitching something!
OK – this is the 3rd time I have started this post. Cabin Fever and Fibromylgia are visiting today. I had to retreat to the indoor bike again – too hot for me. I will try again when the mornings at 7AM are in the mid-60’s. I can tell, it is time for a weather change and a trip! OH WELL!
On to the status of two projects – In My Garden and My Surprise Quilt. So here we go.
In My Garden – I have finished 2 of the Bunny Blocks and now working on the other 2. I made 2 medium brown and 2 dark brown bunnies. Here are the 2 completed Bunnies.
I am working on Mr Light Bunny now.
Now for My Surprise Quilt! I am enjoying the process and will be adding 3 more borders and call it a finish! I added another blue 1” border and then made Friendship Stars for the next border. When I finish the next 1” border and the next “surprise” border you will see the vision I have for the quilt. I am pleased with my progress, but will take a day or two off before starting on the next border.
Well, this is all I have to report on. We watched the Dallas Cowgirls (oops Cowboys) and watched the mess all the way to the end. Typical Cowboy game! Stupid and they looked horrible! Tampa Bay ran all over them. I am concerned about Tom Brady because he looked horrible. He must be on his TB12 diet and it shows. He never ran the ball, just threw one touchdown and the other 12 points were Field Goals. At 45, I am thinking he is done and should not have come back this year. Hope he is not sick.
Nothing new here same ole’ same ole’ going on here. Back on the Bike just too hot to walk. I am very happy for Football to be in full swing now it will save me from the News! I had resorted to Humphrey Bogart Movies during the day and Gunsmoke at night.
I am sorry for William and Harry that they lost their beloved Grandmother, Queen Elizabeth II. She was a wonderful Queen, the only one I knew during my life, and no one will ever replace her, but enough is enough as I have no desire to watch the 12 days of England’s Pomp and Circumstance when we have so many horrible things going on in our Country.
I have finished 2 Bunny Blocks for In My Garden. They are the Chocolate Bunnies. I have been using a larger applique needle and am pleased with my stitches. I use Thimble Lady needles for Applique, They are from Australia.
I have started on the other two bunnies which are of a Medium Light Brown.
Well it’s time to get back to the Dallas Cowboy game for now!
Greetings – Still summer weather – hot and humid now. More rain expected this week-end. We had a great rain event on Tuesday – Some heavy downpours and light rain for 6 hours – the most since October 2021!!! My walking is getting better – at least I go for 20 minutes and stop after I hit the mile mark. I will really have to push harder when the cooler weather gets here (someday) as it was a 23 minute mile! But today I walked the 20 minutes without stopping! YEA and at least I am not in the house riding a bike to nowhere!
The new chairs arrived Tuesday in the middle of the rain event! Then upon closer review of the chairs we discovered problems with the chairs. They are ordering new chairs that will be delivered IN THE BOX so they will not be damaged in shipment. Hopefully this will take place next week on Tuesday. We will be able to keep the damaged ones until the new chairs are delivered. We were very disappointed because the store we purchased them from is a high end Lazy Boy Store. But we had a great salesman and he is correcting the problem.
These are the things I worked on for August. I will be working on the next border this month.
My Surprise Quilt80 Churn Dash Blocks for Chookyblue’s SAL! Block 1 of In My Garden quiltWaiting to start on the border!
For September:
Work on My Surprise Quilt – Next Surprise Border.
Decisions on Settings for Churn Dash Blocks and if I make one large quilt or 2 smaller ones.
I have started on Block 2 of In My Garden and will continue on this month.
Work on the Border for Boo’s and Bat’s Cross Stitch.
NOTICE: I had subscribed to Bloglovin. I guess it is belly up because the link to it is BROKEN. So I went to Follow It and put in the Blogs that I love to follow and now I am getting emails when everyone posts. I had to be sure and go into the settings and select EMAILS and no news. I know I have lost a few that I followed, but eventually I will catch up.
Happy Tuesday – we just had a nice rain shower and more on the way this afternoon. Of course the chairs are on the delivery schedule from noon to 3PM! Murphy’s Law. I am taking 2 days off from walking! Nice break and start September with a bang and hopefully cooler weather.
I have finished the 2nd border for My Surprise Quilt! I will be adding a 1” dark blue border before the next border, but this time I will wait until I am ready to add the next border. I had a few issues with the 1” border flaring and not sure why, so I will wait so that it won’t flare.
I like the way the corners look. Most quilters do the Sawtooth borders differently, but I prefer to have the corners looking more uniform. I have a couple of ideas for the next border, but as usual, I will have to take time before I make the decision, and will make sample blocks.
I finished Block One of In My Garden!
This week I will be back to appliquéing on In My Garden and working on My Surprise Quilt. I am thinking about a couple of other projects to start on since I have finished all 80 Churn Dash Blocks for Chookyblue’s SAL – just waiting to decide on the Setting!
Other than that, I will just enjoy all the stitching and hopefully a lot of rain this week. Here comes the down pour – hope they do not delay the delivery of the chairs!
It is a quiet Sunday here in Hotsville Texas! I thought that the heat would settle down, but no the humidity had to come in the door along with the heat! Today is 103, so far! I have switched to a morning walk and boy is it a hard thing after 3 months of the indoor exercise bike, to a nice walk in the early AM to release the Endorphins. After 4 days of walking again, it is beginning to become easier adjusting to the heat/humidity and using my walking muscles again! So onward and upward – when I hurt I walk and appear to be much happier because I feel better! Yea for that one.
I am not working on any hand work, but I did finish Block 1 of In My Garden this week. We are awaiting for the new Recliners to arrive Tuesday – the glider is not the thing for me to try to sit and do handwork. No wonder we switched to Recliners about 12 years ago! I also need to get with the knitting program for some more dish cloths! Hurry up Tuesday!
Today I am working on My Surprise Quilt in Blues! Continuing on with another border. Since it is a surprise quilt, I will showcase the next border when complete! This is where I left off last week.
I am really having fun on the development of this Medallion Quilt. So far, I am doing great with the measurements for borders. Hoping it continues on until the final border.
I really am missing Kathy’s email notifications on Slow Sunday Stitching and her saying posts. I hope she gets a link set up soon. I will have to make a mental note each day to check her blog. Maybe I will just leave it up in Safari so as to not forget!
Have a wonderful week, and we are supposed to be in for some more much needed rain this week.
Greetings from still warm South Texas, but 2 days ago I decided that I was going back to walking for 20 minutes in the morning around 7AM. If anyone tells you that riding an exercise bike keeps you fit just turn around and go the other way! I think I gained 4 to 5 pounds since I quit walking! The heat is not too bad, a bit humid (LOL), but boy the legs and feet do not like the torture of walking again. I am starting with the 20 minutes and doing it in 22 minutes. I get my mile in, but it will be torture for at least 4 more days until I get the legs and back going in the right direction again. The Endorphins are really kicking in – great Mood Boosters! My goal is to lose 8 pounds before Halloween! (Fingers crossed).
On to Quilting Projects! I had decided to make the last Churn Dash SAL 40 blocks (finished at 6”) this month, and I have completed them. In fact, I made 4 extra ones. I am not sure how I will do the setting for the top so I will wait for September when Chookyblue provides the setting.
Now I will be picking up My Surprise Quilt and deciding on the next border. I will first add another 1” dark blue border and go from there! I have some ideas but first I will make a few practice blocks to see how they work with the floating stars border.
My Surprise Quilt
We are counting the days until our new Reclinders arrive! My idea to regift my recliner and sit in one of our Glider Rockers was not the smartest thing I have done, but we only have to wait until Tuesday! Yea!!!
I do believe our heat wave of over 100 days has been broken. We received a little over 1.5 inches of rain last night! A welcome sight, but now the humidity is almost unbearable. But fear not because shortly September will be here and I may start trying the outdoor walk again! But only if it reaches 60’s in the AM.
I have been very busy this month and getting back in my old quilting routine which is about 6 to 7 hours working on my piecing projects and maybe I will start up the long arm if we have a permanent change in our weather (I always have more energy when it is cooler).
I had a large stack of batiks that I had ordered this summer and some a couple of years ago (purples) that needed to be washed and ironed. That took me a day to get them all washed (2 to 9 yards each) and then I ironed for 7 hours last week-end. I told Clay to shoot me if I ever start buying anymore batiks or for that matter any more fabrics. But I did order more of the Michael Miller White Couture fabric for my Churn Dash SAL. I mentioned it in my previous post. If there is a need I might purchase some, otherwise, forget it!
I then worked on my Surprise Quilt and have the Floating Stars finished this last week. I will go forward with a dark blue 1” or 2” border. It will depend on the next “block “ border that I will do. For now I am in the “studying” phase for the next border. On my last post I discussed how I reduced the Floating Stars from 6 1/2” to 4 1/2”. I forgot to talk about how I had to do a lot of reducing the star point section of the block block. The best part was when I had to trim the star sections from 2 inches to 1 and 7/8 inches – For the final trim I had to trim a 1/16th off each side – Fun Fun Fun
Taking a break from my Surprise Quilt, I am working on the last 20 of my Churn Dash SAL project. I had hoped to have them finished today, but it was HEB day and now I am tired, but ready to press the strip sets and the HSTs and then finish them. I am not sure how I will set the quilt. If I put them on point it will make 2 quilts. Decisions, Decisions, Decisions.
I have 60 completed and ready to finish after deciding on a setting.
I have finally gotten the applique bug again! It has been a year or two since I worked on a project. I started on the Bunny Rabbit blocks and finished it Sunday night. I mistakenly called this pattern “In The Garden” but it is “In My Garden” by Dawn Heese, so I wanted to correct that error! Blame it on the Heat! LOL. Here is Block One Completed!
Well, that is all I have to show for the last week. Goals for next Tuesday are:
Churn Dash complete, along with a decision on the setting.
Border Number 2 for Surprise Quilt
Loading two quilts on the long arm quilter and FINISH THEM!
Thursday we visited The Lazy Boy Store and purchased 2 leather power Recliners. They arrive on the 30th of August – counting the days! About 18 months ago we tried to purchase new Recliners but it would have been a delivery time of 12 to 14 months! AH remember those times?
Greetings – August is almost over with, along with the 110 degree weather. Although San Antonio has cooled a bit, we are still getting 100 to 108 degrees! I just love it (LOL). Signs of weather changes are close at hand. We might get a Hurricane in September. I remember one that hit on 10 September 1971! To me it was a late storm. I am looking to getting back to walking in the morning…. SOME MORNING.
I had posted about Web Fabrics (Carly) selling her business to a new owner last month. The new owner has changed a few things. For one, I lost my 10% discount due to all the fabric I had purchased over the 20 years, so reconsidering my go to places for fabric. I recently purchased some fabric from Hancock’s of Paducah and today I looked and they have a link for FREE patterns. I downloaded some just for examples of borders. There are some neat patterns, some for panels, and others for easy quilts. The patterns are from the different fabric designers. Click on their name above and check it out. Also, you can get some great deals if you purchase in larger quantities. This is great if you have a need for backings, or have a quilting buddy who wants to split the order. I am using Michael Miller White Couture fabric for my Churn Dashes and needed some extra yardage for my CD’s other projects. I ordered 11 yards at $7.64 a yard, then I signed up for SMS (text) and received another 20% off my order – this included free shipping. I do believe that Hancocks is helping Quilters during Inflation. Check them out. Note: I DO NOT get anything for providing this information on my Blog.
A note to all who blog on Blogger. Last week I noticed that I was not getting my email’s for Posts from the Bloggers I follow. I figured out that I have to go back and try to sign up again. I discovered this when I quit getting updates from Kathy and Linda (To Do Tuesday). I subscribe to Bloglovin, but I prefer to get emails! Just a heads up if you use Blogger and are not getting comments on your Posts.
I have started appliquéing again this week. Seems like forever that I did any needle turn applique. I am working on In The Garden Bunny Blocks.
Ready to go in June (Yup a little late starting on them)
The blocks are easy and if I become more dedicated I can finish them all within a week or two. Here is the first completed block. I have two flowers and the centers and she is done! Yea!
I have finished the center of Boo’s and Bat’s Cross Stitch project. I am going to work on the outer border next. Just need to DO IT!!!
Enjoy Slow Sunday Stitching today, I worked on my rabbit block and now I am going to finish up my Churn Dash blocks for August. I have 15 ready to sew the blocks together and I will be done. I am thinking that I will finish September blocks this week. I have the fabric cut out but still have to do the HSTs and strip sets!
I have had an interesting week! Still hot as Hell here in South Texas with only 2 tenths of an inch of rain the other day! WOW Record breaking! Still 100 to 112 each day. Ready Refresh Ozarka Water Company cannot even find enough drivers to deliver our monthly order. So Far they are 12 days late and still counting. Then I had 2 dental appointments but all finished until mid September when I go in for a couple of fillings! BUT there is positive news on the quilting front!
I am so very excited about my Surprise Quilt. The Center Medallion turned out perfect. I wanted to continue with Stars for the next border but wanted a ‘floating’ star. In 2013 I had made a quilt called Floating Stars. I entered it in the Austin, Texas Quilt Show. The following paragraph was taken from a 2014 regarding issues with the pattern and the long arm quilter who quilted it.
“Now let’s talk about Floating Stars………..Nothing is easy in the quilting world……… The pattern had a cutting direction issue and it took me about 2 weeks of working with a practice block to get the star to float. Believe me, I have perfected this one! Thanks to Perseverance and Math! Again if it wins a ribbon – any place – I will be so very Happy. I really worked hard on color selection and placement. I am not happy with the professional quilter who quilted it – she must have had a bad week – so again – I think that 2013 was not my best year – hoping 2015 gets better. I will probably go back to quilting my own quilts or find someone who really cares about providing show quality quilting. I had worked so hard to perfect star, I could have cried when I saw the mistakes on the quilting.”
Honorable Mention in 2014 Austin Show
Now for my Surprise Quilt which is a Medallion Quilt that I am designing and making as I go along! I am extremely pleased with how it is coming along. I spent about 3 days working with the floating stars again because I had to do a lot of math in order to reduce the block from 6 1/2” to 4 1/2”. Those nice point pieces had to be re-worked completely. I tried about 3 different ways to get to the 4 1/2” unfinished block and it took a lot of time, but they have turned out perfect! I have enjoyed working on this project all week.
And here she is measuring now at 28 1/2” x 28 1/2”!
I will be working on the next border next week. I want to really study some blocks before I do and I am now going to work on my Churn Dash SAL from Blogger Chookyblue.
I have now finished the Center of Boo’s and Bat’s. Next is to figure out how to start on the outer border! There are some areas where the pattern alls for white but I am not sure I want to use white – maybe a light beige for the background. Plenty of time to decide!
I have a lot of batiks that needed washing and so I am starting that project and you all know what that means (that is if you pre-wash your fabrics) – a lot of ironing.
I leave you with the following political statement – Remember I am A CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICAN AND DONALD J. TRUMP IS MY PRESDENT – currently he is on a forced vacation but will return on January 20, 2025! These are my thoughts that I have been trying to sit on for 6 days now. Always feels good to say what I feel about the Country! So enjoy if you love America!
WELL! How about a our wonderful Government. I want to thank them for ensuring that My President Donald J. Trump will be elected in 2024! Now if you are one of the 81 million who love Brandon, then you probably won’t want to follow my Blog! I am still in total shock as to how corrupt this administration is! Not one of the Cabinet members know anything about their responsibilities. And Brandon definitely does not know where he is as he told us proudly the other day he is the Vice-President. Along with High Inflation, High Fuel Costs, killers running wild in the country, no one will be safe in this country anymore. Illegals running around all over the country, Polio found in New York, another disease around, and many more. None of these people that were let in OR just slipped in under the radar of the Border Agents. Our country has a cancer and it needs to be cured. So if you love America and our President Trump, be sure to vote IN PERSON on 8 November 2022! I am praying that Wyoming helps Chaney find a new job and that in Alaska Murkowski finds a good fishing job. I am praying for President Trump and his family for strength and safety. It appears that the Evil Swamp Creatures in DC have planned another way to cause them pure HELL!
Chopin - A Passionate Quilter From Texas 