Celebrating Mary Brown

April 24, 2022

Stars Around the Garden – 2020-2022!

Shock and Awe. Stars Around the Garden is ALMOST finished as a quilt top! Yesterday I finished putting the sashings on and I am so pleased with it. Now on to the pieced border – all 318 of the 3 1/2” squares. I will now have to play ”auditioning the colors” and how I will put them together to make up the 9 1/2” borders.

This is the last of the quilts that I started prior to 2022 and it has been waiting in the wings to be finished. I am sure that I will be sending this one to Tammy my longarm quilter this year. It feels good to get this one to this point. I kept it for the last of the UFOs because I knew that there could not be any errors in putting the top together!!! The sashings are a beautiful emerald dark green that really brings all the colors together!

The only other project started and not completed is Celebrating Mary Brown. It is a needle turn applique reproduction quilt and a very large one. I have completed 16 blocks (corner blocks) and the decision is whether or not to continue with it or just put the 16 blocks together for a wall hanging. Maybe when I finish the border for Stars… I will review the pattern and decide if I want to continue and also start a new applique project!

Now it is time to get busy with the border. Have a wonderful week and enjoy stitching or any other hobby that you love. My calendar is free until 5 May – YIPPEE!

Hugs, Nanette

Linking To: My Quilt Infatuation; Confessions of a Fabric Addict; Finished or Not Friday ; Em’s Scrap Bag; BOM’s Away; Sew Fresh Quilts; Crazy Mom Quilts; Oh Scrap; Scrap Happy Saturday; Slow Sunday Stitching Quilt Fabrication Mid Week Makers; Peacock Party; Design Wall Monday, Scrap Happy Days, Quilting Patch Linky Party, To Do Tuesdays

April 6, 2021

To-Do Tuesday – Happy Day 6 April 2021

Greetings! April is turning out to be a great positive month for us! Things are really getting back to normal. Weather is acceptable and we have a trip planned for this month! Finally something to look forward to for fun!

Yesterday I took time to evaluate my weekly and monthly check out my thought process for my UFO goals. Taking the time to do this has encouraged me that by June I just may be caught up!

Applique Jacobean Lights – Work on the 3 large blocks by Goal by 20 April or forget it
Sweet Stitches Borders and into a finished top – Goal 12 April
A Bountiful Life Border – Goal 12 April
Dresden Heaven – prepare fabric background grid – Goal 12 April
Stars Around the Garden – Begin working on Setting – 12 April
Stonefields – Either finish the last 4 sections or forget them – May
Celebrating Brown – prepare 2 blocks for applique -May
Antique Blue and White Quilt – New Project – May
Kaye England’s Mystery Medallion – New Project – May
Quilt Autumn Jubilee

If I do not complete the 3 remaining blocks for the Jacobean Lights then they will be put in the “never never’ drawer and I will put the other blocks together for a top. The other 3 goals will be doable in the next week and it will be great if I can achieve that goal. As far as quilting tops, my RF has been delayed until the 15th of April. I should be able to quilt at least 1 top this month. The trip will prevent me from accomplishing other things, but the getaway is worth it! I will come back ready to get on the “Catch up” quilting train!

Now for the finishes! I am thrilled that I am completely finished with OMIGOSH!

This quilt was my challenge quilt and so glad I did it! I will say that I have never seen so many strings and raveling of fabric in my 20 years of quilting. This quilt will be quilted soon as possible because anytime you touch it there are more strings on the floor!

I love being able to hang my quilts when taking pictures, but have not figured out how to get the bottom from appearing wavy. The quilt is square even if it looks wavy! I forgot to measure it and will not until it is complete finished but it is close to 60″ x 70″.

Next goal completed! I have finished hand quilting the main part of Indian Summer. I have decided to put it away for awhile to let my fingers rest. I also need time to study the borders and decide the best way to quilt them. The quilting will be 1/4″ to prevent flaring, so I need to allow myself the time to do it correctly. The last last time I hand quilted a quilt was in July 2013, so I have really enjoyed the hand quilting and moving this one into the finished column by June. I remember when and where I purchased this fabric in 2002, and I never thought I would ever complete it but I am close to the finish line!

Have a wonderful day and today is hair cut day for me – long time in coming!

Hugs, Nanette

January 1, 2021

A Year for Completion of Projects (COP)!

Good Morning and Happy New Year – Again! In my last post Happy 2021, I listed all the quilts that I want to quilt this year. Now I am going to list my UFO’s by Technique that are PHD (Piled High and Deeper) waiting to become completed projects.

As far as goals go, I have THREE! Number One is to Be Happy and No Negative Thoughts (BHNNT).(Maybe) Number Two is to QUIT BUYING FABRIC AND PATTERNS (QBFAP)! FOR SURE THIS TIME. NUMBER THREE is to limit the time on the computer! This is why I am calling it a year for Completion of Projects (COP)!

Applique Projects: In Various Stages of Completions:

- Jacobean Lights – 4 blocks remaining – 95% complete
- Stars Around the Garden Medallion – 90% complete waiting on Medallion
- Dresden Plates – Applique Plates to background fabric – 75% complete
- Stonefields – Finish Sections 6-10 – 60% complete
- Celebrating Mary Brown – Continue making a block a month – 10% complete
- A Bountiful Life – Decision on doing a Border or make more blocks – ??

Pieced Projects: In Various Stages:

- OMIGOSH – 10 Blocks Completed – Working on 12 more.
- The Arrowhead Block project – This will be a new project. NEW
- Sweet Stitches – All blocks completed – Need to decide on setting.
- Antique Blue and White Quilt – Started in 2019 – Restart this year. NEW
- Eleanor Burns Egg Money Quilt – 1930 Fabric! NEW
- RSC Challenge 2021 – NEW

Embroidery Projects: Prepared in 2019 – New Projects

- Happy Little Things – NEW
- Aunt Bea’s Parlor – NEW

Sashiko: Pre printed panels

- Sashiko Reef – Sylvia Pippen Designs. NEW
- Nordic Christmas Tree – Sylvia Pippen Designs. NEW

Knitting:

- Knit more dish cloths – NEW
- Work on re-learning how to knit socks – NEW

New Techniques/Hobbies:

- Lap Weaving – I have all the materials just need to DO IT!
- Cross Stitch – I tried it in early 2000 but did not stay with it.

I will start the year with To-Do Tuesdays with Roseanne to get me back in the groove. I will attempt to join One Monthly Goal in February.

I am really trying to finish up these projects and getting finish the 30 quilts that require quilting. I want to finish the hand applique projects first and then start on my embroidery along with the one hand quilted, Indian Summer quilt that needs to be completed. A lot of work but it either “finish them” or give them away for someone else to complete! We shall see how I do. I should not be bored with any aspect of my hobbies this year!

Have a great 2021!

Hugs, Nanette. Linking To: My Quilt Infatuation; Confessions of a Fabric Addict; Finished or Not Friday ; Em’s Scrap Bag; BOM’s Away; Sew Fresh Quilts; Crazy Mom Quilts; Oh Scrap; Scrap Happy Saturday; Slow Sunday Stitching Quilt Fabrication Mid Week Makers; Peacock Party; Design Wall Monday, For the Love of Geese,Scrap Happy Days, Quilting Patch Linky Party To-Do-Tuesdays;PHD in 2021.

December 30, 2019

Greetings – Less than 48 hours and we will be in 2020! I cannot say it enough – I am so glad to get rid of the last Decade! On to a new and brighter year for Clay and I! Excitement is in the air! We are blessed! We are praying for a year full of fun, hobbies, and no health issues! Would be nice Huh?

Due to problems with my iPhone and Apple watch and good ole Microsoft not supporting Windows 7 anymore, I am, as usual going to be behind in my goals for this month – but that is why we make goals – to break them! LOL. I had wanted to have 4 more blocks completed for this month toward MB, but only have 2! Here are my finishes for December:

The flower on the left is black with beige leaves (tiny) and the flower on the right is a cheddar with the same black and beige centers.

Here is what I finished early in the month! I had wanted to have all 4 corners (16 blocks) completed this year but did not make it! Goal is to get them finished and then I will start back on the top row and probably do either 1 or 2 blocks a month but no more as I have other UFOs that are begging for my attention! I did change the pineapple pattern as I did not like all the “leaves” that covered up the pineapple!

I will be adding the vines on the corner blocks as I finish all of them OR wait until I have Rows 1 and 2 completed and the bottom 2 rows completed! We shall see what happens.

Jan has been sick this month and if she has something completed soon I will do a post for her work. Let’s hope she will get well soon!!!

Have a great week, enjoy the end of this Decade and let’s go and have a great 2020!

Nanette

September 2019 Karen and Cathy selected Celebrating Mary Brown as their next project and invited anyone to join in the fun! The following quilters are participating. We will be showing completed blocks on the 30th of each month! Take the time to visit them to see their completed monthly blocks! If interested let Karen know you are interested in joining the group.

Karen – Log Cabin Quilter (Lead)

Cathy – Biglakequilter

Jennie – Overthehillandrunning

Julie K – Juliekquilts

Robin – solsticestudio

Nanette – Doitrightquilter

Jan – I will post her pictures with mine

December 17, 2019

To Do Tuesday – 17 Dec 2019

Hello all! Are you ready for Santa and a brand New Year? Well, it is coming. I am always excited about having a new year! I can put all things behind me and start over and it is such a great feeling!

The weather is my type of weather – except we really need rain! Maybe next week!

I will be looking at all the UFOs and all the quilt tops that need to be quilted before New Years Eve, so that on the first day of January 2020 I can get started with my project list! (Updated from last year)

So for this last week To Do Tuesday – I have finished Alexander Bean Pot!

After quilting the binding will be red and the border will probably be less than 3” finished! I am relieved and happy that I am finished with it!

I am also excited about finishing 4 blocks for Mary Brown (less the vines). One of the blocks in this quadrant of 4 blocks was a pineapple. I almost finished it but then realized I hated the block pattern and wanted to have a real pineapple rather than one that was mostly leaves. I searched and searched for a picture of a pineapple that I wanted and found Cheryl Lynch designs! She has a beautiful mosaic wall hanging of a pineapple! So now I have a “real” pineapple ready to go! I purchased one of her other patterns that caught my eye and the ruler for cutting the small strips! It is the Terra Potta. We love the Southwest and this will be fun to play with!

This is the original one from the pattern – you can see that I stopped with the middle leaf! UGLY – maybe I chose the wrong fabric but either way I did not like it!

This is the new one and the prettiest (my opinion). I want to thank Cheryl so much for the support!

Here are the 4 blocks that I have completed that were to be done in September – I am slowly catching up! Only 12 more blocks that I want to finish by the end of this year – 2019!

There will be a vine that runs through the leaf and bird blocks. I am happy now with where I am going with this quilt!

I am linking up with Roseanne’s To Do Tuesday Linky Party. She has kept me grounded for the last 2 weeks! Check it out!

For 17 – 24 December I will be working on applique blocks for Celebrating Mary Brown and might slip in some piecing on a quick project that I had signed up for but have not been able to work on.

Nanette

November 24, 2019

Slow Sunday Stitching and a Computer Retreat!

Good morning! I would like to apologize for not responding to all the lovely comments that I received on my last posts. Want to know how the week went? OK I know you did not ask, but you must hear this.

I started Sunday afternoon and Monday morning cleaning the house – the company I had hired decided to quit cleaning in my area so I am back to doing that! I wanted to get my “to do” list done before Tuesday!

BUT being in an upbeat mood from gifting Enduring Legacy, I just knew that Tuesday through Thursday life would allow me to do what I wanted to do – keep up with the idiots in DC and do hand work or sew on Alexander Bean Pot quilt and Celebrating Mary Brown. What, you say, how could I want to watch that mess? I spent 33 years with some of those idiots (Federal Govt and in the intelligence world) as to how nasty and dirty they can be to those individuals who against the grain of their rules. This is the worst I have ever seen them and I wanted to evaluate the situation myself! WHAT A DREAMER I WAS!

That goal was not in the cards for me this week – I chipped a tooth first thing Tuesday morning (got that fixed), had to go to the grocery store, and then received notification that Clay’s SSN had been hacked! That took up a lot of time Tuesday and Wednesday and some Thursday morning. By Thursday and Friday I was worn out! I also was so upset that I had lost another week of doing what I wanted to do. I can add that to the last 3 months that I lost (but at least that was for a good reason)!

Getting back to the hacking! If you have ever experienced someone stealing your identity I feel for you. We subscribe to a theft prevention service who alerted us. To protect Clay’s identify a fraud alert was attached to Clays SSN and to protect our credit, we had to contact all 3 Credit Bureau’s (Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax) and put a freeze on our credit and SS numbers. This means that no one – not even Clay or I can just go in and apply for credit without a special code! I also had to spend time checking on a few cards that we had but knew they were expired. Then yesterday I spent the entire documenting all that happened, and all the information such as all the new accounts to sign in to and special codes to remember! NO, the information is not stored on any device – Just paper copies are saved.

Today is the beginning of a new week. Maybe the Cowboys will win today, no house work needs to be done, the MacBook Pro is up to date and being backed up every day in addition to my PC. That will be another issue in January – what do I do about Windows 7 support going away and do I upgrade to Windows 10 operating system – which I have heard is an absolute nightmare! Apple really screwed up with their lovely IOS 13 which shocked me – I am not a beta tester for either Microsoft or Apple and I am frustrated when these companies throw out an upgrade and wait for the User to complain before it is fixed!!! At least I do not have to make an upgrade decision on my PC now!

I am so blessed that I have been around computers since 1966 and am computer literate, otherwise I would be out of luck as far as being able to take care of this mess.

But let me add some positive to this lovely post: I did work on Sweet Stitches Block 8 (I believe) and Block 2 (I should be on Block 9) of Celebrating Mary Brown. I DO PLAN on a very very quiet week of sewing on Alexander Bean Pot quilt. We do not have family so there will be plenty of quiet time for both Clay and I. I have a Gopher story to tell, but that is for another post! Clay and I just want a peaceful and quiet Thanksgiving week – one where he is on a Gopher Trap Design, and I will be on my own personal Quilt Retreat in my Studio! Karma is just not welcome anymore! LOL

Here is what I have accomplished this week! TA DA!

Just a few more leaves and this block will be one – I love to embroidery when I am so stressed out or when the stress is over with!

I only have 3 leaves and will move on to Block 3 and 4 and then I need to start on the other 4 blocks for the Blue Bird. I would love to have them all done by the 30th – Any Bets? Oops, I see a leaf that needs some adjusting! Hummm! Did anyone realize that stress affects our quilting – well it can!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving with their families and friends and enjoy your Thanksgiving Dinner.

Hugs to all, Nanette