Stars Around the Garden – Chopin – A Passionate Quilter From Texas

April 16, 2023

Slow Sunday Stitching – 15 April 2023 – WOW

It has been exactly one month since Clay and I came down with the Chinese Balloon Virus! For two people who do not socialize, go among the crowds, and have not been on a trip for 16 months how in the heck can we get sick? Clay recovered quicker than I did. Today I can say I am 100%. It took me 8 days to work up to my 1.5 miles each morning without being worn out by noon. I have missed reading, commenting on other’s post, and posting, but whatever the Virus was it was brutal for me and I am glad it is over with. I finally took a Z-pack about 2 weeks ago and will never take one again. To me it did nothing but tear my stomach up. Enough said of the lost month for me, it is history now.

Now on to quilting things. I actually have finished Block 7 of Moda Holiday Stitch Along!

On the Binding of Quilts Project – Irish Mist, Globetrotting, and Stonefields are completed. Irish Mist and Stonefields are ready for Labels and Sleeves for the Hill Country Quilt Show in May. Summer Blues is next for hand binding starting today.

This is Pat Sloan’s Globetrotting BOM. I love the Blue and White quilts! Hope to make more.

Bindings have been sewn on for Cozy Christmas, OMIGOSH, Alexander’s Bean Pot, Star of Chamblie, Sentimental Scraps and My Summer Blues quilts.

Cozy Christmas is a special quilt for me because it was the very first pieced quilt I made in 2004. When I first started quilting my quilts were mostly hand appliqued, or fusible applique with buttonhole stitching. This is a Fons and Porter quilt pattern from one of their magazines. Rebecca did a beautiful job on it.

Summer Blues is a quilt that I designed. I started this project in August 2022 and finished it in October 2022. You can read about my journey here, here, and here including posts from from August through October 2022.

Today I will be trimming Stars Around the Garden and York Lodge and prepare the binding for them. I first thought that I would not tackle the most difficult until this summer but I knew I would feel a big weight off my shoulders if I did them now and be finished!

I am hoping to complete one of them today (could be wishful thinking). Both quilts are very large and will require at least 400 inches of binding for each quilt. I am going to set a goal of having them finished by Thursday due to Doctor appointments on Monday and Wednesday. Both of the quilts are entered into the San Antonio Quilt Show in September.

As soon as I get the binding on them I will have completed the trimming and sewing on the binding for all of the 11 quilts from Rebecca (2 more due by the end of April). Next step is to finish the binding by hand. This will be a big relief for me as I was overwhelmed with all the quilts I quilted (16) and finished the bindings, then began the work of trimming and sewing the bindings for hand work on the 13 from Rebecca.

Altogether in October 2022 there were a total of 29 quilts that needed to be completed (quilted and binding completed) plus 4 were quilts that were quilted in 2014 but I had not finished the bindings. I have completed binding 19 of the quilts, so that leaves me 14 remaining as of today to hand bind. Of course this does not include the 10 that require hand quilting as they are my embroidered and needle turn applique quilts. But there is no hurry on these quilts this year!

My overall goal was to be finished with all quilts by June. I am anxious to work on new projects and may start something when the quilts are finished for the May Show. There are a total of 7 show quilts that will require sleeves and labels before the May Show. When I can reach that goal, the rest of the year will be mine with absolutely NO deadlines for anything but to have fun.

I would be remiss if I did not send out a special shout out to Rebecca of Rebecca Grace Quilting at this time. Rebecca is a one of a kind Professional Longarm Quilter. I have learned so much from her to include different types of battings available on the market versus what was available when I started quilting in 2001, threads, and how to prepare different backings. This Lady is an excellent example of whom to hire for your special quilting needs. I would not be on top of my “to be quilted” backlog if not for her nor would I have the most beautifully quilted quilts to show in May and September. She will have more quilts to quilt for me in the future. AND I anticipate a few ribbons in our future! I highly recommend Rebecca for those “special” quilts! Thank you Rebecca for all you have done for me.

Well, I am hoping this week to get back on my schedule (especially after Monday and Wednesday). I miss reading your posts and providing a comment on your work. May you have a wonderful week and stay away from Chinese Balloons – LOL.

I am blessed to be up and working on my quilts and doing my daily 1.5 miles each day at the age of 78! It would have been so easy to just give up and sit in a chair the rest of my days but I refused to give in.

Hugs

Nanette

© Nanette Chopin Cook at Doitrightquilter.com 2022. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nanette Chopin Cook and Doitrightquilter.com with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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 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

March 31, 2022March 31, 2022

To-Do Tuesday – 31 March 2022

Morning all. Welcome to almost Spring! The trees are producing leaves each day and daylight in the early morning is arriving, thus walking is done the first thing in the morning which gives the the rest of the day to play! YEA It appears that all the unforeseen problems are over with and the hearing aids will be returned and a new set coming soon. Right now just using the old ones and they work just fine.

Clay ordered a picture frame for my ”Love”. It was plain wood and he put a nice stain on the wood which I really liked. Then he set it up for me.

Last week was a week to stop working on Alaska quilt. I made a little ”mini” quilt (?) with the 4 blocks I had made. If anyone is interested in my experience with this ”project” click here and here.

Tuesday I ripped out some of the ”strips” that I had started for Sentimental Scraps. I was having an issues getting things to line up so I took all apart to re-check the squaring of the 200 each 9 patch blocks. That is all done and today I will begin sewing them together.

Yesterday was a very relaxing day for me and I did FaceTime with Kathy for a short period of time while finishing up my ripping project. Then I decided to finish the 3 1/2 ” Friendship Star blocks for a BOM that I decided to not do. I now need to press them and put them away to be used in another project. I have a lot of 3 1/2” blocks using Reproductions of Stars and Churn Dash blocks, but I used shirtings for the backgrounds. The fabric I used for the Friendship Stars is from a Brackman collection.

I feel for Stars Around the Garden, I must get with it and put it together. Tammy has not called for the quilts yet, if I get it together in the next 2 weeks it will go along with the other 9 quilts for her to quilt!

So mini goals for next week will be to start ripping the binding out on the Southwest quilt that the long arm quilter screwed up. It is a very very large quilt – this should be fun. I will finish Sentimental Stitches and begin work on Stars Around the Garden. THEN I will select a brand new project to work on!

For those who follow me, you know I am the ultimate Traditional Quilter AND the Ultimate Perfectionist. Call me nuts, but I want my quilts to not have cut off points, or mistakes. I strive for perfection and if something is wrong, I stop and take the time to figure out what I have done wrong, or if the pattern has an issue. Call me nuts, but it keeps my 77 year old brain working and that is so important to me.

Talk about staying in shape, Look what Clay and I did today. He is napping and I am wrapped in heating pads! Guess that is par for a 77 and 78 year old. now just waiting for our contractor to come finish the job to move the rocks onto the lawn fabric and lay the new road from the from the garage to the Studio.

.Have a wonderful end of March and Let’s welcome in April 2022 tomorrow! Just 9 more months until New Year’s Eve!

Hugs, Nanette

zLinking 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;PHD in 2021;

January 30, 2022

Dresden Heaven or Was it Hell?

Greetings, Greetings, and Happy New Year FOR REAL!!! I am almost finished with the Crud that we picked up in Rockport. I have been trying to get my walking routine started again and was successful for 3 days until the Cedar blew in again on Friday! I will try again tomorrow if it is not raining. Hopefully this coming week-end the front that is heading our way from Canada will freeze the hell out of the Cedar and I will be able to start walking each day. I have the “lingering cough” syndrome so I will baby myself for today. After all, there are 2 great football games to watch and I will be working on my embroidery or my cross stitch projects.

It is difficult to believe that I have FINALLY finished the last UFO quilt top. I started this project around 9 August 2016!!!!! At that time I was attempting to do a Dear Jane, but after sewing 9 blocks (no – not paper piecing thank you) I decided to move on – maybe at another time.

Today I sewed the last of 121 buttons for the center of the Dresdens rather than the circles. I learned a few lessons on this quilt and here they are if anyone is interested in doing this quilt by Susan Marth.

Lesson Number 1 – I used a background fabric that really was not strong enough for the weight of this quilt.

Lesson Number 2 – I did not pay attention when putting the plates together – that means make sure that the center is small enough to be covered by a circle or whatever.

Lesson Number 3 – I should have sewn each row together, THEN I should have sewn the buttons on. I sewed the quilt top together, tried to sew buttons on which failed.

Lesson Number 4 – It takes time to do buttons. During the finishing process I had to rip 4 seams apart in order to easily sew buttons on. BIGGER MISTAKE!

I am so happy that this quilt is finished. I had made a deadline of yesterday, but was unable to work on the quilt Friday. I have no idea when, or if, I will ever quilt this quilt. I am thinking about putting a back on it without batting and call it done. There was a lot of time and effort put into this quilt so it will be stored somewhere in the meantime. I could probably tie the quilt (never done that before), or sandwich it and do long stitching with pearl cotton. We shall see. Any ideas – Going to be a heavy quilt to quilt in a hoop and I cannot load it on the long arm or the Z44! Whoopee fun and games!!!

Dresden Heaven – Started in 2016 – Completed January 2022

Starting Tuesday for the month of February (my New Year will be starting) I will be working on Stars Around the Garden (just need to put the top together and applique some flowers on the border), Alaska with Kathy, and some other piecing projects. I may start an applique project, or continue with Mary Brown which has not been touched since last year. It will be fun to make a list of what I will be working on this year.

My Longarm Quilter and I will meet on the 14th of February. I will be taking 3 quilts to her to quilt and after those, there will be 7 more for her to do. I may just bite the bullet and start doing the long arm quilting on the 8 or 9 quilt tops that I will be doing. Also need to do some hand quilting. See why there is no schedule at this time??? LOL

York Lodge is 84″ x 99″ so I needed a 108″ x 108″ batik background. I was blessed to find Sew Batiks on line – she sells 115″ wide batik backing and I picked the perfect piece for my quilt! I will call and check on it tomorrow for delivery time. They manufacture their own batiks and the fabric is already washed – what more could I ask for? I ordered some extra fabric to take advantage of free shipping. It was expensive, but York Lodge took a long time to make and is a highly complex quilt and if Quilt Shows come back I might enter it.

For the games I will be working on my ‘Love’ Cross Stitch today while we are watching the games. Cross Stitch has become the ‘go to’ for real relaxation in the evenings.

Have a wonderful week, stay warm, and enjoy stitching!

Hugs, Nanette

September 25, 2021

Dresden Heaven – 25 September 2021

Good afternoon! We have had very nice weather in the morning for the last 3 days. Great for walking. We will be getting the humidity back starting tomorrow and through next week and hoping for rain. BAMC has finally reimbursed us for the surgery charge and we have now recouped all the monies we paid out last year. It is so hard to believe that it has been 21 months (almost 2 years) since that New Year’s Eve in 2019. But it was such the blessing from God in the end! He has recovered from the hand injury and has a new Heart Valve that provides us more time together! What a blessing!

I have finished sewing Dresden Heaven together this afternoon. I have a special idea for the border that I believe will really make this quilt unique! But for today – here she is without the border.

I am very excited now about finishing this quilt. It has been a long time in the making and the idea I have for the border is going to be fun to make! It will delay me finishing it by tomorrow, but this quilt requires that I spend more time with the Border. After all the work that went into it a plain border will not do it justice.

As soon as I finish the border I will only have A Bountiful Life (border in the making) and Stars Around the Garden to finish sewing the quilt blocks together! Then it will be time to start a 2021 project! I certainly have a lot of quilts that I want to make to chose from. LOL

On a personal note, on 12 August 2021 Clay lost his only Daughter Melissa who was such a beautiful Lady. She was only 54 years old. She was a carbon copy of her Father in her facial looks with that beautiful Indian Hair (Clay and his children are Choctaws on his Mother Clara June Cook’s side of the family and related to the original Choctaw Chief MoShuLaTubbe). I always wanted my hair to be as thick as hers as I grew older but mine thinned and she always wanted my skin type that I inherited from my French side. We had many good and bad times together with Melissa during the last 25 years. Just as other families experience the ups and downs with their children. She is now at peace with life and with her brother Darryl and her Mother Linda in Heaven. Please remember Clay in your prayers as he was devastated when we got the call. We are doing better now, but the loss is very much on both of our minds as we go on with our lives.

Melissa Dawn Cook Lane – 22 February 1967 – 12 August 2021

Have a wonderful week end.

Hugs, Nanette

September 19, 2021

Slow Sunday Stitching – 19 August 2021

Good evening! It was a cool 104 today here at in our town. We are so blessed to have our home and Studio while the world is going absolutely nuts with the lovely uptick of the CV! Tuesday evening we are going to have a cool front arrive – the first of the season! This will certainly make my morning walk a lot easier (it will be in the ’60s rather than the mid-to high 70’s. Hopefully the humidity will also drop!

Today I finished sewing the larger Dresden Plates to the background fabric! YIPEE!

I was going to sew the buttons on before I put the quilt top together, BUT, alas, my brain kicked in and realized that I needed to sew the top together WITHOUT BUTTONS or I would have had a BIG mess! So tomorrow will be a day to move the cutting table out and put all the blocks on the design board. It will be fun to see how it turns out. I used 1930 fabrics for this quilt.

I also have the borders for A Bountiful Life cut out and the side borders are marked where the vines will go, so I will be working on that in the evening. Once I get all the vines, leaves, and flowers appliqued on the side borders, I will then mark the top and bottom borders. I am hoping to complete this quilt top by the end of October.

I am really feeling good about getting very close to completing all of my UFOs left over from previous years. After I finish sewing Dresden Heaven together, it will be more night work, but only to sew on 110 buttons.

Hopefully by Wednesday (or sooner) I can start on putting Stars Around the Garden together! All blocks are ready to be sewn together but I have to cut out the sashing strips and after I have the top together, I will have some applique for the top left and bottom right corners. It is easy applique, so I do believe that by the the first of October I will be making a new quilt! I am really getting excited now.

I am not concerned about the quilt tops that I need to complete. On 20 October I get another Radio Frequency treatment that will cauterize the nerves again. After that I will begin to focus on getting those quilts quilted! In November or December, the professional long arm quilter is supposed to call about quilting 10 quilts for me. I have my fingers crossed that this will happen.

Have a wonderful week!

Hugs, Nanette

September 14, 2021

To Do Tuesday, HQAL, Slow Sunday Stitching All in One Post

Good afternoon! What a weather change today from yesterday! The last 3 days were rather cool with lower humidity, but today it is heading to a 100! UGH! I am back to walking and each day I am getting closer to my 1.5 miles each morning. I have done 1.25 for the last 2 days, takes me a little longer, but in time I will be back to my normal 20 minute mile. I can certainly tell the difference in how my days are better! I also believe that I will start losing the 10 pounds that need to go away.

Today I finished Stonefields quilt top! Anyone wishing to purchase the pattern can have it for $125.00 with postage. I never mark on my originals so it is just as it was when I purchased it at $200.00 (2015) and Sentimental Stitches now sells it for $190. If no one wants it I will keep it as a memory pattern. I purchased this pattern in July 2015! Amazing when life goes South and we end up with long awaited UFOs to be completed! So finish date is September 2021! I would have never thought it would have taken me this long to make the quilt.

I changed the border as I did not want to put anymore time into this project. This is the fabric I used – it is a Robert Kaufman border fabric that came from Japan called La Scala. It is a rich gold and I fussy cut the fabric and it went together beautifully.

So here is Stonefields Redesigned by Nanette! I am very happy how it has turned out and it will go on the rack for hand quilting.

Starting tomorrow I will cut out the border for A Bountiful Life. I am pleased with my decision to not add anymore blocks to this quilt as I am burned out working on it! The border will be vines and leaves. I may get creative and add either flowers or something else, but I want this one finished and do not want to spend 2 months appliquéing the border.

The background is not quite this dark! A Bountiful LIfe – shortened – ready for the border!

Then I plan on getting A Quilter’s Dream marked for hand quilting and loaded on the Z44 – any bets going on out there that maybe by October this will be accomplished? LOL

I am still working on Dresden Heaven. I have 6 of the 16 large Dresdens sewn to the background grid. I am hoping to be in the mood to complete them this week. I hope that I could have this quilt completed by next Tuesday as it would be a large relief. I started this quilt in August 2016!!! You can see where I am in this UFO here.

The very last UFO will be the completion of the top for Stars Around the Garden! I have the Medallion Center completed and all the star blocks finished also. This LAST UFO was started in the March 2020 timeframe and the Medallion was finished in early 2021. After sewing the top together, the border will require more applique, but not difficult. My goal for completion for these 3 projects will be mid-October and hopefully sooner. It has been a long 9 months trying to finish all of my UFOs, but the end is near and I can start making something new. Heck, I may even pick up with Mary Brown quilt! We shall see as I no longer set short time goals because life always provides Unforeseen Requirements for me as I get a smidgen older! But take heart! I will be back to 100% soon!

Am I glad that I stopped making new quilts this year so far and deal with all the UFOs? You bet! I still have quilts to quilt, but that will also come in time.

So I leave you with a wish for a Happy Stitching week! I am so looking forward for Fall weather and am sure most all!

Hugs, Nanette

May 4, 2021

To Do Tuesday – 4 May 2021

Good morning to all! Welcome to To Do Tuesday where I will ATTEMPT to set a few goals and actually get them done this next week. We are back from a shortened week vacation to Durant Oklahoma and I am glad to be home. Next time it will be a night out in the Best Western in town – less work and cheaper! LOL

Here are my goals before our trip.

My goals for 19-26 April are as listed below. Not a good record of accomplishments!

Work on Dresden Heaven in the evening X –
Complete border for A Bountiful Life X Changed my mind – adding 7 blocks
Start Redwork Baskets BOW – X
Begin working on Stars Around the Garden Setting X
Start Sewialites – Starting with 2 blocks. X
Santa Fe Trail SAL – Blocks 1 and 2 Completed

Well, I did not fair well did I? It is time to get serious again after 2 weeks of no organization of my days!

I have made a decision to add 7 more blocks to my A Bountiful Life and have printed out the blocks on freezer paper for fabric selection and regular paper for tracing the pattern on the backgrounds. The border will be vines with leaves.

Here are my goals for this next week (there will be some interruptions, but hoping not as many as the last 2 weeks.)

Maintain a Positive Attitude and get the quilting mojo back!
Prepare 6 blocks for applique for A Bountiful Life
Work on Dresden Plates
Applique Block 10 for A Bountiful Life
Work on Stonefields
Start Sewialites – Goal would be 2 blocks
Straighten fabric stash – I did a a lot of pulling of fabrics and did not put them back where they belong!
Work with Clay and clean out the garage!
Help with the new Security System

I know that I may not reach all of the goals, but the last two will be accomplished! A visit to San Antonio tomorrow is on the calendar for a doctor appointment for Clay and another errand, so time will be limited! Just need to work faster!

Have a wonderful week – see you next week.

Hugs, Nanette

April 19, 2021

To-Do Tuesday – 20 April 2021

Well, don’t fall off your chair, but I am working only To Do Tuesday post today (Monday)! I have some completions to show and am so happy as I am getting closer and closer to finishing all the “old” UFOs that have been around as long as 10 years! YEA!

Last Thursday I had my Radio Frequency Treatment and it was very successful. I did lose a couple of days with my quilting but feeling great since Sunday! Yea!

I have listed a short recap my goals for 2021 that I had listed in January!

Jacobean Lights – 4 blocks remaining – Completed Started in 2010!
Stars Around the Garden Medallion – Waiting to be sewn into a quilt top.
Dresden Heaven – Appliquéing to background blocks
Stonefields – Finish Sections 6-10 – 60% complete. No Progress
Celebrating Mary Brown – 2020 project on hold – Maybe in June
A Bountiful Life – Ready to add borders this week
OMIGOSH – Completed
The Arrowhead Block project – Cancelled
Sweet Stitches – Completed
Antique Blue and White Quilt – New to work on after May
Eleanor Burns Egg Money Quilt – New to work on after May with 1930 fabrics
RSC Challenge 2021 – NEW – Cancelled

I have FINALLY started Dresden Heaven. I believe there are 105 mini and 10 large Dresden Plate blocks to applique to background squares. The small ones are appliqued to 5” Squares. I cut a section of the background fabric and draw a grid. This makes it much easier to applique when working with small blocks.

Background fabric with grid drawn for placement of mini Dresden Plates

I am very pleased with my progress so far for the month of April. ! I have completed 3 UFO quilt tops with A Bountiful Life to be completed this week! I am FINALLY beginning to see the light at the end of the UFOs. Now to get with the long arm quilting in May! I do believe my back will support me and can possible catch up with my quilting.

My goals for 19-26 April are as listed below. I am trying to work in some BOWs and SAL just for fun.

Work on Dresden Heaven in the evening
Complete border for A Bountiful Life
Start Redwork Baskets BOW – New
Begin working on Stars Around the Garden Setting
Start Sewialites – Starting with 2 blocks. New
Santa Fe Trail SAL – Block 1 completed – (Blocks come out every 3 weeks) New

I will be working this week on my projects, but next week is vacation time! YIPPEE! Have a great week and will attempt to do a post from afar next week!

Have a great week and happy stitching!

Hugs, Nanette

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

March 30, 2021

To-Do Tuesdays – 30 March 2021

Greetings from South Texas where we are about to receive the last cold front of 2021. It appears after Easter that the high 80’s will be returning for the summer and of course gradually turn into the 100’s!!! I am not sure, but I do not think El Niño is going to visit like they thought! But that is OK after all, it is the end of March (well OK 1 more day to go)!

I have not set anymore goals this month because of the need for me to finish OMIGOSH! Today I finished the last of the 8 remaining blocks. There are 30 blocks all together. Each block is made up of 2 each 5” UF 9 patch blocks and 2 each 5” UF Shoo Fly blocks which make up a “block”. The 9 patches and the Square in a Square 4 patch blocks are 2” UF. I have no idea how to count the pieces and all the cutting I did for this project, but if I EVER sold it – it would be expensive as there a many hours spent in making it. I may get it appraised someday. They are all on the design wall, and so now I give you Nanette’s OMIGOSH Am I Ever Crazy Quilt:

I am pleased with the setting, so tomorrow morning I will be putting the quilt top together!

My goals for 29 March through 5 April 2021 will be to finish this quilt. If I am blessed enough to do so, I will be reviewing my UFO list again and see if it would be better to put Stars Around the Garden (SAG) together and start on the borders at night; put Sweet Stitches together, or just to save my sanity – start on a new quilt that I have been wanting to make. I have some fabric that will look great with this quilt from Missouri Quilt Company. I also have Dresden Plates to applique to background blocks, hand quilting on Indian Summer, oops, Mary Brown, Stonefields, and Jacobean Lights for applique. Talk about being so far behind in UFOs. Unbelievable I have a lot of money and time already invested in these UFOs and it looks like it will take me the rest of the year to complete them. This doesn’t include the 29 quilts that need to be quilted on the long arm…..No wonder I have high anxiety! LOL

Last Friday Clay and I went to the quilt store and I purchased some French General fabrics, and 2 end of bolts of 108” fabric for backgrounds. I will try to get pictures of all my French General fabric soon in another post. I have ordered a bolt of French General Favorites Pearl Linen. The FQS is a great on-line shop as they provide great service and when buying a bolt you get a discount. This bolt will strictly be used with all of my French General fabrics.

Maybe by next week I will have a list of To-Do’s and get back on track with life and quilting. I know one thing. I will NOT take any generics that have polyethylene glycol. Those 3 generic fluid pills I took last week because they quit making my Brand Name medication, activated my Meniere’s, increased my sugar, gave me 2 horrible Migraines with Aura, ended up with floaters in my right eye and activated my anxiety! That ingredient is in the lovely CHINESE virus vaccine. I believe this inactive ingredient is the reason that people are having bad reactions like extreme tiredness and headaches possibly Migraines. The Owner of the Texas Road House Cafe killed himself because he could not cope with the Tinnitus that comes with Meniere’s after taking the Vaccine!!! Horrible. Johnson and Johnson uses aborted fetus tissue. I will NEVER take this vaccine and NEVER take another Flu Shot. This is MY OPINION based on my PROBLEMS with inactive ingredients in medications and preservatives in foods.

Have a wonderful week. Thursday I will get a hair cut – have not had a real one for over a year (Between Clay and I we kept it trimmed). Tomorrow is Facetime with my friend Kathy. The time we spend together is so uplifting to me just to sit and sew and talk with another quilter is a gift from Heaven!

It seems that I am learning to deal with the new software for WordPress! I pay an annual fee, so I can get help and support if I run into a problem while writing a post. I do appreciate that! I learned a few more things tonight while writing this post on my iPad!

Hugs, Nanette (haven’t figured out how to change the color of my text – maybe next time!)

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.