Greetings. Summer is back with a vengeance here in South Texas. But only 57 days until Autumn! Yea.

I finished my Sashiko block!

and have Enduring Legacy loaded and ready to quilt. It took me over 3 hours to load this 80”x 80” puppy! I think I like small quilts!!! The fabric is horrible and hoping that I do not have a big mess when finished!

Have a wonderful weekend.

Check out the following wonderful quilters who participate in Kathy’s Hand Quilt Along!

Kathy, Margaret, Emma, Tracy, Deb, Susan, Nanette, Edith, Sharon, Karrin, Gretchen and Kathi

Linking To:  My Quilt Infatuation; Confessions of a Fabric Addict; Finished or Not Friday ; Sew Can She; Em’s Scrap Bag; BOM’s Away; Fiber Tuesday;    Sew, Stitch, Snap, SHOW; Sew Fresh Quilts; Crazy Mom Quilts;  Oh Scrap; Scrap Happy Saturday; Show and Tell Monday with Bambi; Slow Sunday Stitching  Quilt Fabrication Mid Week Makers; Peacock Party Kevin

GOOD NEWS!  This was the week to get my blood work done to see how my A1C levels are doing!  I am NOW pre-diabetic.  I have lowered my A1C from 6.8 last year to 6.1 and that is from October 2018 and without any medication – strictly diet!  My cholesterol ration is 2:9 and Cholesterol is 194!  Then my liver levels (fatty liver) are 21 and 23 (from the 50’s) and my Vitamin D is 38 (still lower than I want) and blood pressure is now 126/74 (from 146/82).  All of this was possible by losing 25 pounds, cutting out COUGH DROPS (can you believe 5 grams of sugar in each one) reducing any snacking at night and only have a Hershey Kiss every now and then!  I eat a large breakfast (4 to 5 eggs and my potato (hash browns)) and it goes down hill from there!   I have missed about 16 days (today is a day off) of walking since October!  It is amazing what that extra weight was doing to me and my body!  I am sure I was headed for more problems.  My next goal is to get my A1C down below 6.0.  That is still pre diabetic, but that is the genes that my Chopin lineage gave me.   I am still stuck at the 25/26 pounds lost, but I keep trying to lose another 5 or 10 pounds.

I do hope that if anyone is wanting to lose weight to feel better that this will inspire you.  It is difficult to change a bad habit (one that I started when the stress started for us in 2014).  It is easier to control when one is retired than when one is still working.  I am a believer that eating more at breakfast, less at lunch and very little for supper and the weight will go away!  Watch the Carbs – those were my killers, and also watch out for those comfort foods, especially processed foods.  And this is all I will say about that!  I just know that I am feeling much better with more energy (well, OK some days are just not that energetic but Clay says it is my age!)  WHAT ME GETTING OLDER? LOL

SAD NEWS! I have a cousin that has been a mainstay in my life forever!  Kay was the first person in my life to love me without conditions and accepted me as I was!  She was a blessing to me and I knew it and cherished it and never forgot the time that she supported me 100%!  Kay and I would talk a couple times a week just talking about anything and everything fro health issues to politics, and whom to vote for during election time.  Kay had more serious illnesses than I will ever have and she kept on going and fighting.  She loved to socialize while playing bridge each week, participating in her local DAR, loved genealogy, maintained photo albums tracking their lives, and gave so much of herself to her family, a family which was so blessed to have Kay as the Matriarch of her family.  Her family was her life and she was so proud of each and every one of them!  She loved putting her Christmas tree up, and would keep it up thru Easter by decorating it for the different holidays!  She was my rock and we considered each other as more Sisters than Cousins.  She was the last link to our Mother’s family history!  Her Mother and mine were sisters.  I loved Kay’s Mother, my Aunt Rosey!  Aunt Rosey was my idol when growing up and I do believe that I am more like her than my own Mother.  Kay and Bill had 2 beautiful girls, 4 great grandchildren, and in the last year 2 beautiful great great granddaughters were born and she loved them all.  I remember when those great grand babies were due.  She was so excited.  The oldest turned a year old this month and Kay so excited about the birthday party.  Kay’s sister Susan will now have to take her place and be my Big Sister (feel sorry for her!)  She and Susan had many good times together and they were very very close!  They loved each other so much and I know that Susan feels a greater loss than me!

Kay had a wonderful life, a loving husband, loving daughters loving grandchildren, a loving sister and brother and great parents!  She passed away Thursday from heart problems and it was unexpected.  I guess God needed her more than her family or I needed her.  We just did not want to lose her at this time.

My Sister Sharon Kay Cover Fowler – 29 Sep 1944 – 25 July 2019

I am beginning to not like odd years as we lost Darryl in 2015, my son Richard in 2017, and now Kay in 2019!  Maybe I will just sleep through 2021.

Thank your for your time on this personal post.  I will miss her, but I do know that she is no longer in pain and with God.  She was a joy in this crazy world.

Have a great day and back to life as we know it!

Nanette

Can we all believe that it is the 24th of July? Kiss this month goodbye! Our summer has been a lot easier than it has been in the last 10 years. A string of hot weather then rain and now a cool front in Texas in July! So far I am pleased!

I have been working on catching up with my long arm quilting. I have now completed my Barbara Brackman 2014 BOM.  Originally I had decided to sew the binding by machine.  That definitely did not work out for me this time and after sewing the binding on and sewing one side, I politely ripped it completely off and re-squared the quilt.  I prefer doing binding by hand, and was hoping that I could really be happy with machine binding, but I was not. 

I re-sewed the binding on yesterday the normal way and worked on the hand work last night and thanks to the Robert Mueller Show today I have finished the quilt!!!  In my opinion, if the quilt has importance to me I will do the binding by hand!

Additionally, I finished the Sashiko Block and I love it!  So relaxing!  I will say that I am tired of sitting, but I am now caught up with these 2 projects and tomorrow Enduring Legacy will be loaded on the long arm!  Another YEA! 

This quilt is larger than the previous 2 quilts I finished.  It is 80 x 80 and will take me a few days to quilt.  This will be after spending about 2 to 3 hours getting the backing ready and the quilt loaded onto the frame.

As an after thought,  I have the following quilting rulers for sale!  Email me if you are interested or leave a comment below.  I have never used them and as I said in my previous post, I am not interested in taking the time to become proficient.  

Have a wonderful remaining week and keep on stitching!

Nanette 

Linking To:  My Quilt Infatuation; Confessions of a Fabric Addict; Finished or Not Friday ; Sew Can She; Em’s Scrap Bag; BOM’s Away; Fiber Tuesday;    Sew, Stitch, Snap, SHOW; Sew Fresh Quilts; Crazy Mom Quilts;  Oh Scrap; Scrap Happy Saturday; Show and Tell Monday with Bambi; Slow Sunday Stitching  Quilt Fabrication Mid Week Makers; Peacock Party Kevin

Greetings!  Still hot and humid, but yet we have not reached 100 this summer.  If we make August without 100 we will tie the record 23 years ago! I know a lot of the country is under a heat wave and I feel for all.  We are used to this but I know that the rest of the country is not!  Take care!

I sewed the border on Apricot Lilly yesterday so it is a finished quilt!  Started in 2005 or so, or maybe earlier and completed 20 July 2019!  How’s that for completing a UFO!  LOL.  I cannot get a true color picture of this quilt!  It is really a beautiful vibrant pink and green!

I am still working on my pre-printed Fruit Sashiko from Sylvia Pippen.  Sashiko is very relaxing and I am enjoying doing something different!

Enjoy Sunday and have a great week!

Linking To:  My Quilt Infatuation; Confessions of a Fabric Addict; Finished or Not Friday ; Sew Can She; Em’s Scrap Bag; BOM’s Away; Fiber Tuesday;    Sew, Stitch, Snap, SHOW; Sew Fresh Quilts; Crazy Mom Quilts;  Oh Scrap; Scrap Happy Saturday; Show and Tell Monday with Bambi; Slow Stitching Sunday Quilt Fabrication Mid Week Makers; Peacock Party Kevin

Another lovely hot day, but a break in sight next Tuesday and Wednesday – Maybe it will snow!  LOL

I finished Apricot Lilly today –  I should have quilted her with darker thread.  Now if I had a computerized machine… I would not have to do the free motion and I mean this is FREE MOTION!  LOL!   I had to almost lay on top of the quilt to see what I was doing – talk about quilting in the blind!!!  But she is done.  Now I have 2 in the que to do bindings.  Tomorrow I will NOT be quilting on my Handi Quilter!  I need a break!  I have 2 small projects plus the bindings so that will be my projects for Friday.  My back will really thank me for that!

I did not have enough of the beige for the back so I used some Thimbleberries and added the little bit of the pink Azalea fabric on each side!

I can started out very precise with my circles, but then the thread kept disappearing and I decided I would just do what I could!  I am happy two quilts are quilted!

I do believe I need more practice, but think the body wants a rest!  Next quilt will have darker thread, or maybe my cataracts are ready to be GONE!

Have a great evening!

Nanette

Greetings – of course it is hot and yes it was horrible walking this morning, but I did it!   Today I made decisions, decisions, decisions!  First, I have so many beautiful patterns to make that I decided that I would pass on the “freebies” that I had talked about doing in one of my previous posts!  Second  was to get myself going and quilt my first Reproduction Quilt that I made (I believe) in 2014.  It was a BOM from Barbara Brackman!  It is quilted! I plan on putting the binding on by machine.  I may use the light beige or the dark brown crackle fabric for the border.  Either way it will be done by machine!  I have over 10 quilts to machine quilt and 6 that need to be hand quilted!  I would like to make a dent in the group that can be machine quilted before I can no longer do this with my back!  I have 5 that will be sent out for custom work later in the year.  There are a total of 24 quilts that need to be quilted!!!!!

I have a 2005 Handi Quilter that is NOT computerized!  I do free motion quilting and there are 3 different variations that I do with a meandering stitch.  I was going to use some rulers that I had purchased prior to 2014 and try to do some special type quilting, but I realize now that those days are past and that I am not interested in spending the time learning how to ‘mini-custom quilt-my quilts’!  I need to sell the rulers and the books on continuous quilting!!  This afternoon I quilted this quilt with my favorite meandering stitch and it feels so good to have completed it!  I realized that I would be putting myself under stress to worry about using rulers and how to quilt each block!  I just am not interested in spending that much time on a utility quilt and I do not need anymore stress!

This is my HQ16.  It is working better than ever now since Clay worked on the ‘ribbon connections’ (see them in the picture – looks like computer ribbons) for the stitch regulator.  They were not making good contacts and after Clay worked on them it is working like a dream!!  This quilt was very easy to quilt without one issue popping up! Here is a close up of my HQ16.

Tomorrow I will be quilting Apricot Lilly!  She will be an easy one to do – preparing the batting and backing and loading them will take longer than the quilting it!  But it will be done tomorrow, remember, I am on a roll!

This evening I will continue on my Sashiko as it is a nice break from embroidery or applique (well OK, I have not been appliqueing for awhile) but it is very relaxing!

So tonight I am HAPPY and back into my quilting!  Oh yes – the 3rd decision – we are going to take a trip to the Casino in August and stop in and visit our friends in Salesville, Texas.  We are so looking forward to a short getaway!  I guess our day out yesterday to the Hill Country did both of us good!

Have a great evening and keep on stitching!

Nanette 

Linking To:  My Quilt Infatuation; Confessions of a Fabric Addict; Finished or Not Friday ; Sew Can She; Em’s Scrap Bag; BOM’s Away; Fiber Tuesday;    Sew, Stitch, Snap, SHOW; Sew Fresh Quilts; Crazy Mom Quilts;  Oh Scrap; Scrap Happy Saturday; Show and Tell Monday with Bambi; Slow Stitching Sunday Quilt Fabrication Mid Week Makers; Peacock Party Kevin

Good news. We had 1 1/2” of rain last night! Yea! Not so good this morning. Very hot and humid walk.

Today I am bored with quilting! I have to admit it! Not interested in starting a new project at all. No interest in long arm quilting!

Answer to boredom? SASHIKO!

I do believe I am suffering from Quilt burnout, a long hot summer, or tired of doing the same thing each day!!

So today is Sashiko and tomorrow is a trip to the Hill Country to visit a friend.

I am ready for a week away. Thinking of August! Some place COLD! A Casino or Alaska! LOL

Have a great day!