Brinton Hall – Chopin – A Passionate Quilter From Texas

May 5, 2017

Robin’s Nest is Resting and some May 2017 Goals!

Today is day 5 of May 2017!!! Can you believe it? It seems like the months fly by after May and June and before we know it – it’s Christmas! I hope this month goes by slower. Today is a great day – feeling like my old self! Did my stretches, walked, vacuumed the house, and made it out to the Studio by 10:45 to work on 2 post that were not finished Monday.

I have left Robin’s Nest for a few days (how about 5 days) to work on some applique and Brinton Hall. I am still wanting to work on some embroidery and knitting (someday). Now that I have RN started and know there may be pitfalls, I have had a nice break from it and will start sewing the 2nd ring tomorrow for sure.

I am working on a quilt called Nesting for the SA Show in September – BUT if I cannot get it completed it will be next year’s quilt to show. I have completed Block 1 and started on Block 2 – there are only 4 large blocks and a beautiful border.

Here is Block 1. It is an easy quilt to applique so I should be able to finish this by July.

When I appliqué, embroidery or sew my bindings and sleeves, I take small stitches – like 1/8″. Here is a picture of the back of this block. And of course I am a traditional needle-turn appliquér – no glue or starch. I cut about a 5/8″ of bias strips for the vines and sew one side down, trim and sew the other side – these are less than 1/4″ stems. I always trace the pattern on my background fabric with a pencil (lightly) so it makes it easy to follow a line when doing stems.

I finished the top and bottom hexagons on Briton Hall this afternoon (finally!). Next week I want to start working on the 4 left and right hexagon sections (probably more slowly). This hand work is definitely hard on the ole’ hands so I will take a day when I want to just sit and sew a section at a time. Maybe by the end of May I will be ready to start making the rest of the quilt – which MIGHT be easier! I love Batiks the colors really pop don’t they?

Each section will have to be laid out very carefully and sewn together even more carefully. I made a few mistakes and had to rip a couple of times and I do not like that because of the small stitches that I do.

I am going to load a quilt that I made in the 2003-2004 timeframe first thing in the morning! It was one of the first appliqué quilts I made. I used all different Christmas fabrics in it and thought it looked horrible. I was looking at some of the hearts and I had fussy cut some Santa’s for the hearts! Heck I did a scrappy quilt without even knowing what I was doing! Too funny.

Christmas Quilt – Ready to Load! It is 60″ x 76″

Goals for May are to get the Christmas quilt finished, work on Nesting, Robin’s Nest and Brinton Hall. Only 26 days left! Have a great week-end!

February 4, 2017

17 in 2017 List and Completions

I decided to not go with One Monthly Goal (OMG) and instead I am switching to 17 in 2017 as this fits my projects and UFO’s better. So here is my list.

Nanette’s 17 in 2017 Projects (see my 9 January 2017 Post for additional information).

For January I have completed all my goals, well with one exception – quilting my Oh Glory quilt. But it has now been moved over to February and hopefully finished soon.

Finished projects for January 2017. Cross off quilting of Dear Jane Quilt; Circa 2016 – Modified; Sewing Machine Cover; and Xmas Place mats for Doug and Jean.

miniature-dear-jane — Minature Dear Jane

circa-2016-miniature-finished — Miniature Circa 2016

sewing-machine-finished — Pat Sloan’s Sewing Machine Cover

placemats — Place Mats for Doug and Jean

I will now be working on catching up on A Bountiful Life – I have 4 blocks ready to prep for applique (selecting fabric) and have finished Block 6 in January – Yipee! Upon finishing the next 4 blocks I will then be half-way through with this project. There are a total of 20 blocks. It is similar to the Australian Version of Civil War Bride. I am saving the more difficult blocks for the end!

bountiful-life-block-6 — Grapevine and Swooping “Yellow and Orange” Bird

I am currently working on Section 4 of Stonefields by Susan Smith; Margaret Potts Quilt – a BOM with the Baltimore Applique Society, Brinton Hall (EPP project), and Handful of Scraps (EPP project). All of my applique projects will be on going and hopefully will have Stonefield’s and Brinton Hall completed by the end of the year. I am almost finished with Section 4 of Stonefield’s and have 6 more Sections – there are 121 blocks in the quilt. This is my center medallion for Brinton Hall. I am doing it in batik and need to sew all the hexagons around the 7 blocks. I am used Asian prints for those blocks. I am going to re-design the remainder of the quilt, just need a nudge to get going on completing the center!!!

Final Setting for the Medallion Center of Brinton Hall — Brinton Hall

For my new projects I am going to work from my list of 13 “Waiting in the Wings” Quilts See above list. I am also adding the Quiltmania 2017 Mystery Quilt 2017. (I am not endorsing Homestead Hearth – they had the pictures of the first 2 blocks). I have the first 2 blocks prepared and ready for reverse applique! Think I will be seeing a lot of dots when I finish it because I could not purchase enough of the background fabric that the Designer used. Quilt stores are holding it for kits. Hope I did not select the wrong fabric for the background! Time will tell.

When we are under stress in our lives – applique saves us because it is so calming.

Have a great Super Bowl week-end I would like to thank everyone for providing me comfort at this time in my life.

January 7, 2017

One Monthly Goal (OMG) and 2016 Projects

As I read my favorite Blogs this last week, it appear that a lot of quilters are dedicating themselves to a list of monthly goals that just might help all of us finish a lot of UFO’s. Most of my projects are hand applique and tend to take longer, so I measure them by the number of blocks I have completed. As I sit here on the 7th day of January 2017 I wonder “actually what did you do this past year?” I have felt the last two months that I have accomplished nothing, but then I started looking at my posts and realized that I had accomplished quite a lot. Here is a recap.

I started the year making Baskets of Scraps only to have problems with the pattern – delay time. The top is finished EXCEPT I need to applique something in the baskets – It is a purple quilt and needs something but I became so discouraged and not sure what it needs that it has been hanging on the “ready to quilt” rack for a while. Then I started Handfuls of Scraps and have one of the diamonds completed but all the hexies are ready to be sewn together…..sometime in 2017! Moving right along, Brinton Hall was started and I finally finished laying out the outlining hexagons to be sewn together to make the medallion center complete so I could finish the other blocks – that was in late August and no progress on this project – in the wings waiting to go. In March I started working on A Bountiful Life and have 4 blocks completed, 4 more in the “fabric selection” stage and then cutting freezer paper pieces and pressing onto the fabrics! Then BAS came along in May and had a monthly block quilt along for Ms Potts Baltimore Album quilt. I have 9 blocks finished with 4 ready to applique! I started Stonefields in late 2015 or early 2016 and am currently working on completing Section 4. These projects are still ongoing and hopefully by the end of the year all completed! I joined in on Circa 2016 in April and finished all the blocks in October! I had decided that I would finish 2016 in 2016 – and I did! The problem is that there were problems with the quilt – it was out of square and other issues, so the ripping began. Eventually the entire quilt was ripped and all blocks put in a bag to be given away. Then I decided that I could not let that little project get the best of me so I started it up again only to realize that the problem was with the center medallion – the only part of the quilt I had not ripped. This last Tuesday I made the decision to start the project again. Long Story short – I made a nice wall hanging from the center medallion and sent the rest of the blocks packing to a new friend, Carole, who is now the proud owner of the Circa 2016! Can I say that is a finished project – you BET! But I paid a price on that one, 2 major projects (piecing) completed in 2016 and both caused me to hit the wall with quilting for awhile. I completed a Colonel Ladies quilt top for Wanda, Threads of Memory, and Enduring Legacy quilt tops – ready to be quilted! Well maybe I did accomplish more than I thought in 2016.

So for 2017, I will continue on with my “applique” projects, and start a list of piecing projects. I think I have found my passion for quilting again (especially after the massive week-long un-clutter project) and have now started up the long arm with a project loaded and already started, so getting some quilts quilted and binding completed on some other quilts will be included. I hope to have this list posted in a few days with pictures of where I am in the projects now so I can see my progress each month. I also plan on taking some “refresher” knitting classes and want to work on an embroidery quilt, so it will be a busy year, just need that added incentive to get with the program.

PS – forgot to mention that life got in the way this year too, maybe I can get rid of some unforeseen and seen requirements out of my life and get more accomplished in 2017. Oops – today no quilting just had 2 nice long unforeseen requirements come up. I will post my 12 – 2017 Projects list tomorrow.

Have a great evening.

August 3, 2016

Brinton Hall is coming along!

I am still in the “cabin fever” mood! Darn Fall cannot get her soon enough – I was hoping that the latest disturbance in the Gulf would at least bring rain and some cooler weather, but no here we are in the 99’s forever (at least it seems like).

In my last post about Brinton Hall, I was going to take the “easy way out” and just make one corner of the hexagons and then use the same colors on each of the corners. After looking at the middle hexagons (top and bottom) I realized that I did not think saving time (and creative energy) would be the best thing to do. So here is what I have come up with.

I surrounded each large hexagon with the main colors of the flowers and first row of hexagons for each large hexagon! From there I tried to incorporate colors that blended, ending with the green as a “final border”. It took some time but I am so glad I did it because I really like the results. Because I have changed the design of the outer hexagons, I have changed the pattern. Rather than having a space between the center medallion and the last row of hexagons I will sew them all together and then sew them on a background.

I had wondered if there would be anyway I could have just fixed a “border” for the outer hexagons to be sewn to, but realized that the middle would not be stable while doing that and more than likely I would have “bubble” problems. I had contacted Karen of Faeries and Fibres on problems that I might encounter with that idea, when the light bulb went on in my head! I would use a piece of muslin, and ONLY baste it to the border that would show! Then I will not have to cut out the fabric, just rip the basting stitches. So here is where I am now, the quilt is on the design board and I need to sew each corner together. I will start by taking each row and sewing them into strips, label each row for placement, and then work on them in the evening. I have taken a picture of each corner as a precautionary measure for insurance of the mind! LOTS OF HAND WORK IN THE FUTURE!

I also realized that by changing the pattern I had to add two rows of hexagons on the top and bottom or it would not look right – Duh! I may still have to do some more re-designing, hopefully not. The bottom row is ready but I still need to place colors for the top row. That will wait until I can get the hexagons stabilized because I fell into a reactionary mode by not leaving enough room at the top for additional top rows. (Guess too many years working for the government – LOL) Wish me luck – any heavy breathing might start a free fall of hexagons and that would not be fun to redo this project!

Have a great day and do some stitching and quilting!

January 26, 2016January 26, 2016

Super Bowl 50, Black Cat, Lady Bugs, Stonefields, and Brinton Hall Hexagons!

First of all, Clay and I are so happy that the Denver Bronco’s will play the Carolina Panthers in Super Bowl 50 – kudos to Payton Manning and Cam Newton. I am afraid that this will be the last game for Payton, but boy does Cam Newton ever have a wonderful football career ahead for him. Great Coaches too! This will be a very Memorial 50th Super Bowl. I have watched every Super Bowl from the beginning and what a joy to be alive to watch the 50th! A sad goodbye to Payton and a resounding hello to a young and upcoming young Quarterback. Cam Newton loves the game and you can tell he is having a time of his life. Payton is on the other side of the spectrum – looking forward to a career change. We are hoping that Denver can win – wouldn’t that be a great send off to a wonderful representative of the NFL?

OK – what would make me lump the Super Bowl, a Black Cat, Lady Bugs, Stonefield blocks, and Hexagons together? Yesterday and memories of the 1970’s.

Each morning Clay and I head out the back door about 6:30 AM and go to the Studio for morning coffee, morning news and then he visits with his Ham Buddies on the Radio. Yesterday morning I was running a little late getting to the Studio and as I stepped out the back door I noticed the neighbor’s black cat coming from the front yard to the back yard. It politely walked right across my path and my first inclination was to go back and get to the Studio another way. Especially when I looked up and saw a full moon! Well, I knew then I should have turned around and gone the other way but just too lazy to do that. My day went to heck in a hand basket! Being born on Halloween 2 minutes to midnight, I tend to be a little superstitious – especially when it comes to a black cat! Clay just laughs and laughs at me, but I am a true believer! If I leave the house and a black cat crosses the road ahead, I turn around and go another way! REALLY!! I also believe in premonitions and we should always listen to our instincts!

Here is another reason I do not like black cats! When I was young and dumb and trying to get ahead in the Government (maybe this was the problem – working for the Federal Government) there were 3 times that I had been interviewed for different promotions! For some reason, the announcements always came on Tuesdays and the first time I really thought ‘Ah I have a chance at this promotion’ it did not happen. As I was leaving my apartment a black cat crossed my path! My parking slot did not allow me to turn around and go another way….. OK – you guessed it! Three different times this happened over the course of a year. I was never selected, so I transferred to another agency and my career took off! (Hum – maybe that cat knew more than I did) I do believe in the black cat theory just like “do not walk under a ladder”! I cannot say that yesterday turned out well, because it did not. But I digress on black cats.

Now to the lady bugs. Upon arriving home from Arizona in late December I found a lot of Lady Bugs in the house. I grabbed the vacuum cleaner and figured that would take care of the problem. Well guess again – have you ever smashed a lady bug, or had one in your house – it smells horrible when you smash or vacuum them! My house cleaner thought that I needed to change the vacuum cleaner bag – it was the dead Lady Bugs! So when we arrived home from shopping in SA yesterday, one of those nice ladies landed on my neck and I swatted it away (I thought) I kept smelling that darn lady bug and about 5 minutes later I found the darn thing in my bra!!!!! Talk about doing a dance – I HATE BUGS! Especially one that gets on me. Again I was very amusing to hubby – he was laughing so hard he had to take a break from eating that delicious Whataburger (of which I cannot eat). He makes fun of me because we live in the country with deer, snakes, squirrels, bugs, birds, etc.! I tell him that is OK – I have always hated bugs!

OK – enough of that tidbit of information that is so far from the quilting world, but it is fun to share isn’t it?

I have really been pushing to finish basting all of the Hexagons that I have cut out for Brinton Hall. I am putting a huge dent in that job.

I still have a lot to baste, but more than half of them are basted. When I complete the basting I will start surrounding the Center Flowers and sewing the Medallion together. I still have to select the background color. I am doing the entire quilt in batiks and Asian fabrics.

OK – now for Stonefields. I have finished preparing Segment 3 and here they are ready for hand applique. While doing the post and labeling each block I realized that I was short a block – hummm cannot blame that one on the darn cat!

Imogen's Sunburst 1 — Imogen’s Sunburst 1

Imogen's Sunburst 2 — Imogen’s Sunburst 2

Semi Circles 1 and 2 (I made 2 of the same fabric)

Paper Flower 2 — Paper Flower 1 Stems will be Green

Bordered Four Patch 2 — Bordered Four Patch (the forgotten one not sewn yet)

Cara's Surprise 2 — Cara’s Surprise 2 and 3 (same colorway)

The pattern for “Date Night” just did not work well for me. I tried 3 different fabrics to make the block as the Designer provided but I just did not like the design of the flower. I just “happened” to pick up some paperwork on my cutting table and there were some small hexagon flowers that I had made for my Happy Scrappy quilt by Rosemary Youngs. So here is my Date Night block.

I did complete the sewing cover for my 301 Singer Sewing Machine I purchased last year – I decided to put a red border on it and I love it. It makes the entire “quilt” pop!

Well, this has been my progress, along with the fact that I am working on the Candle Table Runner and 2 more placemats! – Yup – all ready for applique also. I am hoping to have a lot more completed by next week. I am keeping my goal of not diverting from my commitment to my 2016 goals.

I do hope that those who were “lucky” enough (?) to experience the Blizzard of 2016 are safe and sound. Today in LV, Texas we have Winter – 48 degrees and rain with wind. Yesterday it was about 75 degrees! I love this type of day – best for quilting. One thing about South Texas weather is that within a week we have Summer, Winter, Fall and Spring – doesn’t it sound great? I hate it! I want the 4 seasons back – and not all in one week, but in 3 month increments! Oh well another pipe dream.

Have a great day sewing!

January 1, 2016January 5, 2016

Happy New Year – Still Working on the Old and Bringing in the New for 2016

Happy New Year! We arrived home in Texas on Christmas Day. We made a mad dash for home with the El Paso Blizzard following us. We left Whetstone, Arizona on Christmas Eve and spent the night in Las Cruces, New Mexico. It was cold! We left at 8AM and we were scheduled to spend the night in Fort Stockton, Texas on Christmas night and head for home on Saturday. But when we realized that we would arrive by noon and just sit there until Saturday morning, we kept on going and arrived at home at 7:20PM – a 651 mile trip pulling a 36 foot 5th Wheel that was probably overloaded.

We were very blessed on this trip home because when we went to unload some things out of the 5th wheel on Saturday morning we had a flat on the Dually! No wonder the truck acted like it was dying on the last 50 miles! Now a week later, we are now back to our normal routine. The weather here in our area is dark and dreary and raining. For me I love the weather like this – Cold, Wet, and 100% quilting weather!

I have made myself a promise now that we are settled back into our normal life that I will Blog each week with updates on my projects. Since my last post I have finished Segment 2 of Stonefields and started a Christmas Table Runner and Placements – YUP – bought that pattern and fabric 2 years ago so now it will be ready for Christmas 2016…. why be in a hurry? If I finish this in the next 2 weeks it will be the first time I will have a nice table runner and place mats for Christmas!

We had a wonderful trip, but will not go back to Arizona for the winter again. We have been doing this trip for 15 years and it is time for a change. We have decided to do shorter trips during the year and stay put for winter time in Texas. I can hardly wait to go to Durant, OK for a good gambling trip!

Here are the blocks for Stonefields, Segment 2:

The top two blocks were really difficult to achieve perfection – so I did them twice. The second time I used my EQ7 software and redid the block pattern. They came out perfect the second time. The original pattern was not drawn to scale and it caused the stars to be off-center. The lower left blocks with the little flowers were fun to make, although when I realized the hexies were 3/8″ I thought they would be the most difficult to do, but they turned out to be the most fun! Here are the blocks close up.

Blue Hexie Flower Block — Blue Hexie 3/8″ Flower Block

Christmas Placemat — Christmas Place Mat

I purchased the pattern in Durant, OK in 2013 on the way to Arizona. The Table Runner has 5 candles with the Christmas Balls and has a shadow fabric for the back of the candle which is really neat. When I finish that I will provide the pattern information. Fun and easy project for Christmas 2016!

I have an impossible list of projects for 2016 – none of which will be on-line BOMs. They served their purpose for me last year, but that was then and this is now! Here is my list (hum…..) wonder which one’s will be finished this year?

1. Civil War Bride (There are 3 (maybe 4) Ladies who will be doing 2 blocks a month starting in February or March and I will be posting the progress of all each month! If you have the pattern and would like to join, let me know). There are no set rules or time constraints with this project.

2. Brinton Hall (Quiltmania Project)
3. Flower Garden (Edyta Sitar’s Handfuls of Scraps Book)
4. Baskets of Scraps (Edyta Sitar’s Handfuls of Scraps Book)
5. Dear Jane (Brenda’s)
6. Stonefields
7. Stars and Sprigs (Kim McLean)
8. Sweet Surrender – Australian pattern (waiting for the mail impatiently)

There is a “maybe” project – 9. Farmers’ Wife 1930 (There is a BIG maybe on this one – there are issues with the .pdf files). As I previously posted, I purchased the book and all the fabric, so I have already invested a lot of $ for this project. My friend Cathy sent me 3 books on 1930’s fabrics for Christmas and they are great reads. They will be a great help if I decide to use the fabric on another quilt.

I also would love to start on Di Ford’s 2013 Mystery Quilt but of course who knows. I realize that there is no way to complete all, but I am going to at least get started on all of them and do not think I will get bored. This will be the first time I will run projects concurrently – should be fun or I will slide into oblivion world of “ex-quilters”.

My friend Jaydee, sent me a piece of fabric of Peacocks. She was working on The Morrell Quilt and had a couple of the birds left over. When I received them I immediately could see a Medallion coming down the road… The birds are so pretty.

Have a wonderful 2016 and remember, Life is short, Friends are Few, and God loves us!

November 22, 2015

I am Still Here – Brinton Hall and Stonefields

Greetings from Whetstone, Arizona, about 8 miles from Huachuca City, Arizona and 25 miles from Sierra Vista, Arizona. We are really enjoying the area. It is so nice to look out and see the mountains. There are mostly mesquite trees in this area, whereas in Sierra Vista the foliage is much different. There are trees that have the beautiful fall colors starting in October. Reminds me of Virginia when the leaves begin to turn. So pretty.

I do not know where the last month has gone. It seems like each time I plan to start the other 2 projects (1930’s Farmer’s Wife and Dear Jane) things happen. Last Sunday I was at a point to “get with it” and had just began to start when all of a sudden a “boom” noise coming from the RV. Well, it was the clamp on the hot water hose that gave way and hot water was rushing out from underneath the kitchen! NOT GOOD! This had happened when we first purchased this RV. Well, needless to say, it took me 2 trips to Sierra Vista to find the right clips that Clay need to repair the problem. So goodbye Sunday. Monday – well, weather always gets me and it did on that day. On Wednesday Clay reworked the hoses so I took advantage of that time and worked on my Stonefield Quilt blocks. I am now in the process of finishing the 2nd segment, of which, are appliqued blocks. I will post the 2nd segment as soon as I complete them. These are some of the fabrics I am using for Stonefields and my “limited” workspace.

Stonefields Fabric 2 — My Workspace – Clay made me the cutting table extension – He has me spoiled!

There are two quilting groups that I meet with while we are in Arizona. Tombstone Quilting Guild meets on the 3rd Monday of the month in Tombstone and then on the 4th Wednesday of the month they meet in Mescal, Arizona (about 30 miles from Whetstone). Due to weather and water issues I missed both times to quilt with the Ladies from Tombstone and Mescal (early due to Thanksgiving this week). I will visit with them in December. On Thursday I was able to go to the Sierra Vista Applique group that meets each Thursday at the Squirrels Nest quilt shop. I have been visiting with this group since 2008.

And of course each week I set a goal to “finish” a few things and get started on my 1930’s Farmer’s Wife and Dear Jane……MAYBE today I can start cutting out a few blocks from the Farmer’s Wife. I am hoping to do so. I have completed the Medallion of my Brinton Hall quilt. But I will have to wait until we return home to finish it. I need more room and a bigger design board to complete the medallion and the surrounding hexagons.

Brinton Hall Medallion

A week or so ago we made another trip to Tucson to Tandy’s for Clay’s projects. On the way home we stopped off in Sahurita, Arizona at the Quilters Desert Patch Quilt Store. There is such a great selection of fabrics. I purchased a few of the 1930’s fabrics, a Southwest panel, and Clay found some fabric he wants me to make a cover for his chair. He is Choctaw so he loves the Southwest fabrics.

Southwest Panel — I was drawn to the beautiful Turquoise and Browns.

Southwest Panel alternating fabrics — Panel and Coordinating Fabrics. Love the Arrow fabric – Over bought on this one.

Clay's Southwest Fabric — Clay’s Selection

I found a book on Panel Play but like a dummy, did not purchase it. I was lucky because I was able to find the Designer on-line and ordered the book. The Designer provides so may different and beautiful ways for settings for panels. I have only made one quilt using panels (2011) and it happened to be the fabric that she used on the cover of her book Panel Play Book by Barbara Becker. When I downloaded this picture, I could not believe it was in 2011 when I made that quilt! It was the year we “thought” we wanted to have 2 Shihtzu puppies. Been there done that and they lasted 18 days before they went back to the Breeder! That is a story in itself! Doesn’t take long to figure out you may as well adopt a baby and raise it instead!

Kohnie's Dog Quilt — My Doggie Panel Quilt – Same fabric as the book.

I must leave you with a short story about scissors and timbles! Wednesday I was able to work on my projects. Later that afternoon I cleaned up my work space and put things away. On Thursday when I arrived at my Applique group, I was shocked to see that I had forgotten the thread I needed for applique, and NO SCISSORS! What? Out to the quilt store area to purchase thread and cheap scissors. When I arrived home I almost panicked – my black Elan scissors were no where to be found. We went through everything including shaking the recliner, etc. I figured that they had fallen into the trash can by my chair, so we went dumpster diving…………..By then the trash was gone! So I did what most quilters would do – ordered another pair from Amazon! The Elan scissors are 4″ scissors with one blade serrated and they are wonderful when trimming the fabric around applique pieces. Elan Scissors I still had the feeling that the scissors were not in the trash, but I had absolutely no idea where they could have gone. Thank God they were not my very very expensive Italian Gingher scissors.

After the dumpster diving experience, we decided to go to Sierra Vista to eat and do some shopping in Sierra Vista. I still felt that the scissors were not in the trash! Later that evening, I went to the pantry to grab some chips. As I picked them up there were my scissors hooked to the magnet that is on the chip clip!!!!! I laughed and laughed and thought that I would be having a scissor sale soon. I had experienced a similar situation in August when I thought I had accidentally put my silver thimble from TJ Lane Thimbles in the trash! So I ordered another one after exhaustive searches for my thimble. On the same day I placed my order I turned the recliner in the Den upside down (for the 3rd time) and WOW there was my Thimble! Now I have 3 wonderful silver thimbles from TJ.

Have a great day and find some time for Quilting! (Of course life may get in the way!)

August 12, 2015

Living in Hotter Than Hell Texas

This weather is absolutely unbelievable! Yesterday 105, today about 108. It was 100 at noon. Needless to say it is really difficult to want to even take a 7 AM walk! Did that yesterday and today I am on vacation from that experience. The heat is so draining and it is as bad as being snowbound in sub-zero weather. Maybe we will get a break by the end of August. I am beginning to think I need an attitude adjustment. The Editor of our local paper wanted me to do a political blog (she challenged me)……not sure if that helped my mood though – although it was a great way to vent! My vision has changed in the last year and I had to order new glasses about 2 weeks ago….. still waiting…. so much for a RUSH job! OK – looking for positive (again).

The last 3 days have been computer playing days. I purchased a Dell laptop to mirror image my PC to take on our winter snow birding in June and had not populated it with all my software and files. So starting Sunday My Dell and I became acquainted! Such Fun! This bled into Monday and yesterday. But all is completed and I really like the Dell laptop. (We had switched to Apple Computers and iPads in 2008 and iPones in 2013, but I needed the PC for my quilting software.) I purchased an external hard drive for a backup in case something should happen when traveling – would you believe that the external drive holds 1 Terra Bytes of data and is the size of a 3 x 5 card? Technology is wonderful. Better than lugging the “tower” and the heavy-duty Seagate backup drive! I keep telling myself that I do not want to learn anymore, but just cannot help myself. Wonder if I will still be working on the technology changes in 10 years when I hit 80!

I also wanted to put a watermark on my pictures. I did not see that capability in Photo Gallery, so I downloaded Picasa free software on my PC in order to use a watermark. I thought that would be the solution for that issue. I quickly realized that Dell did not download Microsoft Essentials on the laptop so I downloaded Picasa – wasted a lot of time cleaning up duplicates and decided to look for another software. I found Photo Gallery in Microsoft Essentials and downloaded it. I did some more research found out that I can use Microsoft Windows Paint software when editing a picture to include a Watermark!! YEA for little things that go right in life.

I had full intentions to start a new project last week – did not happen! Well, I did do a test block on the small churn dash block quilt… that is in the trash! I did find a home for all the bad Marcus Brothers fabric – Sturbridge II – Enduring Legacy. I gave it to the local Lutheran Church for their charity projects. That was a bad investment to the tune of $250.00 BIG lesson learned on that one – no more Marcus Brothers fabric in my stash! I also went through my UFO drawer and gave away some blocks for the ladies to make some quilts. If I have not used them by now I will never use them. I did find a pattern that I want to work on – it is an old BOM from Story Quilts called Monday’s Cats. There were two different versions sold and I purchased the 2nd version and an old friend sent me Version 1. So now I can have fun with that quilt – SOMEDAY.

Poor Brinton Hall – it has been begging for me to finish putting the Medallion Center together…. maybe tonight….My hands just do not want to cooperate. Someone on a Yahoo group talked about some mitts to put in the microwave and warm up for hurting hands and my friend told me about a neck warmer – both will be here tomorrow – thank you Amazon!

I did complete the first phase of Stonefields and am very pleased with my blocks. I am thinking that each segment will be made with different lines of reproduction fabrics. For this segment I used Prairie Rose fabrics. I am happy that I have Segment 1 completed! YEA.

Stonefields Stars — Star Blocks 1 through 4

Willie's Birthday Block 11 — Willie’s Birthday Block 11

Willie's Birthday Block 12 — Willie’s Birthday Block 12

NOTE: Well so much for the watermark……….Forgot to do it – too late now…Maybe I will adjust tomorrow. Have a great rest of the week. Enjoy Life.

August 3, 2015

Summer Doldrums and Back to Piecing!

Well! I just love summer. No rain, HOT HOT HOT. It is 2:49 CST and 100 degrees – low humidity – but hotter than heck! Does that tell you something about my frame of mind? I am already for winter and it is just 3 Aug! I do hope it snows in Arizona this winter. I will just go outside and sit in a chair and get freezing cold! This is going to be a brutal summer here in lovely South Texas! I had decided to not walk for a while, but without my daily dose of endorphins, life is just not the same! So on the road again to see if I can meet my 7 day a week walking goal! The miles and steps add up quicker that one would think. But one must endure pain to obtain gain – think the original saying was “no pain – no gain”. Well, I have had enough of all the “GAIN” I ever want – thank you! The word GAIN to me is more related to Clay’s Ham Radio vocabulary! I think they call that “antenna gain”….. ENOUGH. I think I sound like a bad Monday Blogger (LOL).

I have been working on 2 projects now – Brinton Hall and Stonefields – but now my hands and arms have now given out. What in the heck does an old lady with Carpel Tunnel, Dorsal Wrist, Ulner Nerve, and Fibro expect anyway – a body to work like a 30-year-old? Forget that one. I would have the surgery on my hands, but already been there done that one and do not want anymore of the “fixes” that do not work. I just love the braces – so pretty and confining. Should be fun to see if I can work on my EPP projects with these hummers!

Broken Hands — Lovely Braces for Non-Working Hands

So now I will find a piecing project to work on during the day and hand work at night – just as soon as the pain goes away. This morning I went through my patterns (ever want to wonder why we purchase so many) that I will be taking on the winter trek to snowsville (see I can be positive). I hate to open the drawers and see all those lovely patterns and most of them are hand work. I think I need to have a pattern sale someday.

I finally found OMIGOSH! Here, Afternoon Delight Here , and Twirly Balls and Pinwheels Here from Sue Garman. I think that I was on a roll when I ordered all three (3) in March 2014…..so now I am going to review the patterns, see if any of the 3 could absolutely drive me completely crazy and go for it. If not, then the fall back will be a quilt that I have been wanting to make for 4 years – I first saw the quilt in a Tucson Arizona quilt store. The name is Desert Nine-Patch from Timeless Treasures Here. The pattern was free but no longer on their website – let me know if anyone wants a copy – think I downloaded it. It is not a difficult pattern – lots of 9 patches. Hum, wonder if I can find that pattern (thought I had lost OMIGOSH! this morning when I found it in the package with my Blue Snowmen from Curtis Boehringer)…. see too many patterns – so little time! I have a method of making sure that when I purchase fabric for a specific quilt that I keep the pattern with the fabric – the only problem is that sometimes I forget that I do that! Enough of this too!

Back to Brinton Hall. I had started on the “beige” hexagons around the Medallion for Brinton Hall – This is what I started working on last night before the pain set in during the night with the hands. I will have to put this aside for a few days for the hands to settle down. I think that I tense up when I sew them together. (another thing to work on – relax when doing hand work). Does anyone have any tips on how to not tense up doing EPP?

First Row — Adding the Beige Hexagons to the Medallion

On to Stonefields. I do not know how other quilters are, but sometimes I just need to have 2 or 3 projects going – especially since I am aware of what happens if I work on hand work for 2 weeks straight! I prepared the first 13 blocks and have completed 7 of the 13. The are quick and easy so maybe I will be through with this group by Wednesday or Thursday (dream on teenage queen!).

Blocks 1-7 Stonefields — Blocks 1-7 of Stonefields Quilt

I had decided to use my Prairie Rose fabric for this quilt (I have enough to start a quilt store) but quickly realized that I will now have to include other fabrics. There are 121 blocks in this quilt so this is going to be a stash buster! (I can see an overload coming for the RV – hope the tires hold up.) It appears that this quilt will be made with a lot of different fabric lines of Reproduction fabrics. This will be a fun quilt to make – not difficult and really challenges one on fabric selection. When I purchased the fabric last year, I also purchased the pattern that was designed for this fabric line so I will make that quilt with the fabric (someday) – see nothing goes to waste with Quilters.

Well, I am sure if you have made it to the end of this Blog that hopefully you have had a chuckle or two from my lovely Monday. I can hardly wait until 4:30 PM – that is when I turn into a recliner person and veg there the rest of the day (after supper of course). Football starts next Sunday and I am happy about that – wonder if the Cowboys will be able to make it to the Super Bowl…..So glad that Brady got caught – hope he stays out the full 6 weeks. (Oops – there might be some Patriot fans out there – sorry) (LOL).

I hope that your Monday went well and that you accomplished at least one goal for the day. Mine was to get out of bed! SUCCESS.