Sue Garman OMIGOSH – Chopin – A Passionate Quilter From Texas

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

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;PHD in 2021;

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!)

March 5, 2021March 6, 2021

PHD 2021, The Texas Blizzard, and OMIGOSH

Good morning to all. The first two weeks of February were going so nice and peaceful and s-l-o-w and I was enjoying 2021 – I was relaxed and enjoying my daily routine and really progressing on my hand work and OMIGOSH!

Then up jumped Mother Nature and GLOBAL WARMING – the 2021 Texas Blizzard with snow, ice, snow and an Electrical Grid that failed due to the idiots who WERE in charge – they have since resigned and Governor Abbot will correct this problem. My hat is off to our electrical company in Wilson County, (FELPs) because we only lost electricity 4 hours and the bill only went up $100.00. We normally do not run the heat in the winter unless it gets in the 20’s. We had to keep the Thermostat at 60 to prevent frozen pipes and we were blessed with no issues.

We faired better than most of our fellow Texans. We were only without water for over 2 and 1/2 days, no internet for 10 days, used the snow and ice for bathroom breaks, but we had a good supply of Spring Water for drinking as they had to issue a “boil the water” notification for 9 days until SS Water Supply fixed their frozen pipes.

During Snow week (and probably before) I screwed up my back. I have Sacroiliac Joint Dysfunction, so I have an appointment with my Pain Management Doctor for Monday. To get rid of the pain in my left leg when I walk, I will need a Radio Frequency (RF) treatment. The RF treatment consists of twilight sleep while they cauterize the nerves from the waist down so I can walk without pain. The last RF was in 2018, so I am hoping that I do not have to have another MRI but if I do that is OK – I want my life back. My daily walk has really suffered and now I am hoping to get back to my normal routine soon.

This is a picture on Day 2 of the Snow as the sun was coming up.

This is a picture of the front of our house. Love those flags flying in the wind. Speaking of wind. We have now become another Windy State in America. We have had more high winds the last 4 months – almost every day between 15-25 MPH. Very unusual for our area.

We lost both of our North Folk Island Pine trees. The other tree had been with us since 2010 as we always took it to Sierra Vista Arizona each winter in the RV for our ‘little Christmas’ tree. It had really grown this past year so it was sad to lose it. Now it is time to make new memories with some new ones. Clay has the green thumb in the family – not me! They see me coming and just die! LOL

As for my quilting life and time spent reading my favorite Blogs was not doable. There are blessings that have been happening – we sold Clay’s old FasTrack lawn mower yesterday, the SAFD has finally begun processing the BAMC Claim, and I have finished all I need to do with this job other than to wait for the final EOB’s from SAFD before sending the THIRD 250 page request for reimbursement to BCBS! I have finished developing the 2 spread sheets which helps keep track of the bills paid and what the reimbursements will be. I consider this a blessing since I am now finished with being Miss Billing Clerk of 2020 with no pay! LOL.

Now for my PHD 2021 finish for February! I made a quilt for Julie who is expecting a baby on 14 April 2021! So not all was lost as far as that goal. Just did not get a post done in time.

Status of OMIGOSH – I finished 8 more blocks for OMIGOSH in February! Yea! I only have 8 more blocks to make and the quilt will be called DONE! I made two blocks (consisting of four 9 patch blocks and four ShooFly blocks) from each fat quarter that I had selected from Barbara Brackman’s fabric lines. It will be great to get this one ready for quilting. Each block is 9 and 1/2″. The 9 patches are 2 inches along with the Square in a Square for the ShooFly blocks.

UPDATE – UPDATE! Thanks to Sharon Kwilter’s comment on pointing out a little SnS block that was placed incorrectly, it is now correct! Thank you Sharon.

I have started to continue working on SAG Medallion , Indian summer, and Counted Cross Stitch in the evenings, but they are not ready for pictures. I lost a lot of quilting time the last 3 weeks.

Some of the days have been so difficult in the last 18 months. I subscribe to God Tube Today which gives me promise that things will get better when we have those dark days! Today this one was so perfect for me!

I was raised win the Methodist Church with the King James Bible and this is the verse from that Bible. “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”. After all we have been through, peace and rest has arrived within me. I pray that it stays this way. Clay and I are so blessed to have each other – when one is down the other is there to help.

I have missed all my To Do Tuesday Goals, but did meet the PHD 2021 goal early on in the month of February. Now to work harder to catch up in March!

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;

January 19, 2021

To-Do Tuesday – 19 January 2021

Greetings from a now Spring like weather week coming to us. I wonder sometimes when I will get my quilting Mojo back like it was in 2019. So far, I am not there YET! Things (life) keeps getting in my way.

This last week Clay found that we have termites in the outer wall of the Music Room! Lovely – so after that finding we now have a date (this Thursday) to have the House and Studio treated! I am hoping that this week does not bring anymore January surprises. We have a room at the Best Western for Thursday evening due to the chemical being sprayed. We have a large exhaust fan under the house that will clear out the fumes within 24 house (at least I hope so). Not the type of vacation away from home that I am ready for.

So as you can see, the first 18 days of this month have had interruptions out of our control, but then came the Cedar and some Dust from the Plains that blew in with a new Norther that came in Friday night. Even the Weather people were shocked about the Dust. It was a double whammy for me – it put me down 3 days and counting.

Goals for 12 – 18 January 2021:

Complete 12 blocks for OMIGOSH! Χ. Are you kidding? Made 8 individual blocks which make up 2 full blocks! Rather slow going.
SAG Medallion! Χ. Not finished but progressing.
Load a Quilt on the Longarm! X – Waiting for me to load (have to get this one done by 31 January!)
Gathered things for goody box to a dear friend – √ DONE! Ready to mail!

Goals for 19-25 January 2021:

Applique Projects: SAG Medallion and Jacobean Holidays
Cross Stitch: Start with Minnie Mouse project
Longarm Quilting: Load a quilt and quilt it for PHD 2012 goal.
Sewing: Continue on with OMIGOSH blocks.
Knitting: Start on a Dish Cloth

Since I will probably have Thursday during the day to either watch the Exterminator treat the house, or just sitting in the Hotel Room, I can work on hand projects.

Hoping all have a great week. PS – not a lot of happy days this week – Maybe next week.

Hugs Nanette

To-Do-Tuesdays

December 26, 2020

Something Different To Do?

I do not know about others in this crazy world, but I have NEVER stayed home for 15 months in a row in my ENTIRE LIFE! This is the thought I had while I was walking this morning and listening to Kris Kristofferson singing songs that I grew up on. Such a talented Musician and Song Writer and Actor! For the life of me I could not remember his wife’s name, finally came up with Jessie Colter, but that was Waylan Jennings wife! When I cannot remember a name I run the alphabet through my mind. I kept thinking that Kris’ wife name did not start with the last half of the alphabet but I was wrong – His ex is Rita Coolidge! Ah the memories of their songs.

I was raised on Classical and “real” Christian music with a Mother who taught piano lessons, played the organ and piano for Church, and taught school for 20 years after the age of 48. I love music as long as it is ‘real’ music. It can be soothing to the soul, it can bring back memories that are buried, but mostly it is calming.

OK enough of the past – on to the future – 2021!

For the last week or so, I have been trying to find enthusiasm for my quilting, embroidery, applique, knitting and any other craft that will spark my interest, allow me to focus and delve into the abyss of FUN and forget that “Mother May I China” has taken so much of everyone’s life away from them. Karma needs to visit the mainland of that country! (oops here I go again).

One thing that has been on my mind is hand quilting. I cannot remember when I last picked up a needed and quilted one stitch. I have a quilt that I have been working on for over 10 years. The fabric was purchased back in 2002, but took me a long time to make the quilt and even longer to start quilting it. I used to take it each year when we went to Arizona. The last time I worked on it was in early 2018!

A couple of months ago I purchased some pre-printed quilting blocks from The Stencil Company – they were in the Clearance Section for $3.80 – what a bargain I thought, so I came up with a brainy idea to make a quilt with 12 of the blocks! WHAT? Where was my brain? I believe that the light bulb just came on that in order to do that I would have to sew them altogether and then load it in my Z44 frame – which won’t happen. So I guess I will be gifting some of them away or keep them for practice. Anyhow – I digress again!

I started on the quilting last night and was pleasantly surprised that I have not forgotten how to hand quilt.

I am beginning to think that I will now pull Indian Summer quilt out of the UFO stack and quilt it after I finish with this little faux pas idea! At least I have not lost my touch for hand quilting.

OK – so today is Saturday and I really need to work on OMIGOSH and Arrowhead blocks. Well, maybe I need to start looking and checking for all the UFO’s that are hanging around and have a UFO 2021 list. I am going to make that list and join Gail’s PHD 2021 ! Just maybe it will keep me motivated to clean up the UFO’s from the last 6 years.

Have a great weekend and the last 5 days of this eventful (?) year!

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

June 5, 2017

OMIGOSH, Gathering Scraps, and Jane Russell

Well, we finally received some – SOME – measurable rain but very little. Things are very peaceful and quiet this month! YEA. Just having my right thumb operated on along with a carpal tunnel release on the 12th of June. If the CTS release works on the right hand he will do the left hand – maybe I will begin to be able to do some hand quilting by August. That would be nice since my new Grace frame is just sitting patiently waiting and waiting. (might be a long wait) Just think, no cooking, washing dishes, etc for at least 10 days. Think I could figure out a better way to get out of doing the household chores!

On the quilting front. I wanted to catch up on a few things before the surgery and I have finished preparing 4 of the BAS Ms Potts blocks this last week. They are ready for appliqué when I can start working my right hand. Most of Ms Potts leans toward a different style appliqué block than this one. So I changed it and made it a little easier to appliqué by enlarging the flowers. I may add some else to the block, but not at this time.

I am sure I will not be doing hand work for a while, so I decided to select a pattern that I could cut out now for machine piecing. I am sure that I will be able to do that because they told me that I could start typing after the first week. So, I decided on OMIGOSH by Sue Garman. I studied the pattern and tried making the double nine patch in reproductions and one in batiks. My goal was to make one of the Shoo-Fly and the Double Nine patch blocks that make up the quilt to see if I enjoyed the process. This quilt is labor intensive and deals with 2″ (unfinished) 9 patches and 2″ (unfinished) 4 patches in a square in a square setting. The finished blocks are 5″ unfinished! Well, I think I have changed my mind on this one too, at least this year. I made a few of the 2″ 9 patches and decided to see about enlarging them all the way up to a 2 3/4″ unfinished 9 patch.

Left to Right – 2″, 2 1/4″, and 2 3/4″ 9 patches (unfinished)

Then I made a Double 9 Patch block using the 2 3/4″ 9 patches – I did not like this one at all and I am sure that it would not have the same outcome to the quilt as Sue envisioned when she designed the quilt pattern.

Double 9 Patch Block – 7″ unfinished, 6 1/2″ finished. 1 1/2″ larger than the original block in the OMIGOSH pattern.

Well, I could not give up, so I tried to make the 2″ unfinished 4 patch in a Square in a Square setting. But this time I enlarged the pattern by 1/4″. I did try to go back and make a 2″ 9 patch using batiks – but what a mess – never finished making the Shoo Fly block! I was done!

The 4 Patch for the Shoo Fly Block – did not work out!

So my thoughts turned to two quilt patterns that I knew would turn out accurately and that I would enjoy making with no-stress. I had started on Gathering Scraps and Alexander’s Bean Pot last year. Julie Letvin from Me and My Stitches is a neat lady and Carol Hopkins has 3 books out on Civil War Legacies that I love dearly. Both of these designers are great in writing their patterns. I also have some 3 1/2″ stars left over from Robin’s Nest and decided to make some 3 1/2″ churn dash blocks and come up with a quilt pattern that works! Julie and I had met over the Internet and I visited her booth in Dallas in March. I really do like her quilt patterns. Here is a picture of the quilt and she has a lot more on her web site. I may do a combination of my stars, churn dashes and the alternating block from Gathering Scraps to make a neat reproduction quilt! I am going to use a mixture of Richmond Reds, Union Blues and one other line from Barbara Brackman. But for the time being, I love sewing these little blocks and will have plenty cut out to make while I am in a “limited” quilting status.

Now for something different. I love the old western movies to escape from all the ills of this world. This week-end we watched The Tall Man with Clark Gable and Jane Russell. I bet I have watched this movie 4 times in the past and remember the beautiful quilt. I found this picture on the internet and wanted to share it with all. The quilt has 4 large blocks and appears to be a Coxcomb block with leaves and stems. Someday I am going to make this quilt!

Jane Russell from The Tall Man with “The Quilt”

If anyone happens to know if there is a pattern out there in the quilt world for this quilt that would be great! But it would be easy to replicate to some extent. I know that the quilt had some meaning, because Jane Russell kept that quilt with her throughout the entire movie!

I hope that everyone has a great Monday. It is summer time and may as well get used to it here in South Texas. I am just hoping that Fall does come and comes early and winter is winter this year! Until next time. Happy Stitching!