Lions

This time of year the Lions have their Candy Cane Drive.  This year was a little different.  We didn't give out candy canes because of the pandemic. Fortunately the weather was mild and people were very generous. The Lions in our Lathrup Village Club also came out strong and filled every slot available for begging.  We stand outside of the Market Square store in Birmingham. Lion Paula and her family provided entertainment for donors.

 

A Blue Christmas

 I put up the Christmas tree all decorated in blue lights and blue ornaments. I figured it matched the mood, a blue Christmas without the kids. We will Zoom on Christmas eve but of course it's not he same as having them here. Since the quarantine began we have zoomed every Friday night. It really has helped me keep my spirits up and I really look forward to them. Gretel makes the arrangements.

Today my quilting buddy, Linda, dropped off a special gift.

Busy Ladies Book Club

  I am in a book club started by my daughter,  Gretel.  I am not sure how many members there are.  We meet on Zoom once a month. My other two daughters are in it as well as some of Gretel's coworkers and college friends. So far we read Radium Girls, by Kate Moore,  Ona out of Order  by Margarita Montimore, and The Book Lady of Troublesome Creek  by Kim Richardson. This month's book is The Night Watchman by Louise Erdrich.  On my own I read Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance,  The Water Dancer by Ta-nehisi Coates and Girl Waits with Gun by Amy Stewart.  It has been good to do some reading. The Book Lady and the Water Dancer were by far the best.  I haven't started the Night Watchman yet.

Embroidered Pillowcases

 I really love embroidered pillowcases.  I think they belong on a bed with a quilt. I also enjoy doing the embroidery.  I like the variety of stitches required. I finished another set.

Placemats

 For the last few years I make placemats for the kids who eat at a table (That excludes Jim and Martha). At first I though these looked ugly but the kids encouraged me to finish them and I think they were wise. They were more time consuming than I had expected.

I also made clothes for the girls' American Girl dolls and Bitty Babies. The Black and white jumper was a Simplicity, Daisy Kingdom pattern. Think before you attempt another. Most of these patterns were passed down to me from my sister-in-law, Katherine, who is now in a nursing home.

My Red Wing Fan

 As a pre-Christmas present for Martha, I made a Red Wing throw. Martha is an avid Hockey fan. Her living room is decorated with framed pictures of the team, some of them autographed. I imagine down south there isn't the enthusiasm for ice hockey like there is farther north. I used the attic window pattern and machine quilted in a red wing symbol.

More pre-Christmas gifts

 This is a throw a made for Jim. The pattern is called "Card Tricks.

" The first block was really tricky but after that I put all the pieces together one part at a time so that I wouldn't get mixed up. I chose the pattern because Jim likes to play bridge. I machine quilted it and tried to be fancier but it didn't work out as well as I wanted.

Pre Christmas presents

 I made throws for the kids for Christmas.  I will send them early because they are made of Christmas fabrics and they can put them out on the sofa or where ever as a holiday decoration. I used up most of my Christmas fabrics. One of the women I had gone to water aerobics with offered me a lot of her Christmas scraps, some were very small. So I made an Irish chain. the squares are only 1.5 inches. 

  I machine quilted it.  I am still learning how to do that. I used a snowflake stencil.  I was quite pleased.

Morning Star

 I finished this quilt and will be sending it to my daughter, Martha.  I cut the pieces using the Accuquilt die called Morning Star.  It was surprisingly easy to assemble. I used mostly batiks.  I then had it machine quilted by Diane Bowman. If you look the pattern has hummingbirds in it. 

Helene's quilt

 Helene is a close friend who I met sixty-four years ago as I began high school. She is one of those real, down-to life, people that you can always count on.  In spite of Hubby's fears I met her for lunch last Thursday at 2:00 in the afternoon.  Needless to say at that time the restaurant was not crowded.  Last spring I made her a quilt but with the pandemic it hadn't been given to her yet. So I did.

Lists

 My Mom was a great one for making lists. Every morning with her coffee she would make a list of activities for the day.  Sometimes, especially near Christmas, it was written in shorthand. Even as she closed in on one hundred years she still listed her bills and when they were due in a notebook. I take after her. When the kids and I were younger I also made lists. I had the days of the week appointed or specific tasks, laundry, scrubbing floors, shopping and even visiting Mom.  Now it is harder to make the lists.  Hubby does all the cooking and shopping. Scrubbing the kitchen floor is more a semi-annual event and laundry is three loads a week, light, dark, and towels.  I still try but I often can't think of what to list.  I love Excel. When I was working and quilting I made an elaborate spread sheet for how long it would take me to finish a quilt. I would figure the deadline for finishing it, how much I could do in a day and when, at the present rate of progress, I would likely finish. I still use that spread sheet for my brother's fiftieth wedding anniversary quilt but most of the quilts I finish rather quickly as that is all I do these days. I do have a spread sheet listing what quilts are in process.  When I was younger I would only work on one at a time now I have twelve in process. I also make a honey do  list for Hubby but it doesn't change much.  He says that if he says he will do something there is no need to remind him every six months.

Mary's quilt

 Mary's quilt is done.  Diane Bowman quilted it for me.  She did a beautiful job.

It has been a busy summer except I am here in lockdown. My two grand daughters made their First Communion and I was not able to be there.  So disappointing. 

Giant Swallowtails

Early in the summer, we were surprised to see a giant swallowtail butterfly on the rue plant. We like to eat our breakfast on the deck where we can watch the fauna and flora in our backyard. This butterfly laid eggs and Hubby put them in a netted enclosure and we watched over the days as they hatched and the caterpillars grew. 

Then they formed a very unique chrysalis which was quite large and they stayed in it for a very long time.

Finally, just a few days ago, they emerged, two at a time.  They are beautiful and huge,black on top and yellow underneath.

The Doll House

There was a wonderful tutorial on U-tube about making drapes for a doll house.  I tried it and it turned out fairly well. I am sure with practice I could improve. My son, Bill, says I should put a picture of a tornado outside of the window because of the way the drapes are blowing. My brother found a jig saw for me but I haven't tried it yet. The reason - with the air conditioning on, the basement is freezing!

Obviously the bed needs a covering.

Still Quilting

Hubby says these days of quarantine are a lot like the movie Groundhog Day. Everyday is the same. I keep putting quilts together. Mostly charity quilts.

 I am making a king size quilt for Mary and as soon as the backing I ordered arrives I am going to have it machine quilted professionally. It was a difficult quilt and it is huge.

 I am still working on my Hawaiian quilt.  I have 14 squares done out of 18.  I have three quilts waiting to be quilted by hand.  I am working on another quilt of Valor and a quilt for Martha but I have barely started it.

Summer is Here

After acold spell that did a little bit of damage, the warmth is here.  I won't have many lillies this year after that freeze and a friend of mine who raises chestnuts says that some farmers lost their whole crop. But many of our old favorites are in full bloom.  The rhododendron was spectacular although the intense heat that followed the frost causes them to wilt early.

 Old faithful, the climatis in front of our house, never fails to please. A robin has her nest in it.

We have two new climatis which are trying to match the big ones performance.

Same Old Thing

With Covid 19, there isn'y much exciting happening here.  I have a routine.  In the morning I practice the piano. I have been working on some Mozart sonatas, the one in G major number 5 and the C major, number 3.  I had worked on that one as a kid and hated it.  Now I am surprised how pretty it is. Then if the weather is warm I pull weeds for a while. Not long. We also sit and watch butterflies as they come out of the winter hibernation. Hubby had chrysalis from Black Swallowtails, Spice Bush Swallowtails, and Pipe Vine Swallowtails that had formed last fall.  He kept them in a storage cabinet outside all winter and brought them out the first of May. He must have had close to 30 of them.

   Then I quilt. Kameren's quilt is done.  I am really pleased with the quilting pattern. It is waves with fishes in the waves. I also finished the top of Mike and Marilyn's anniversary quilt and the top of a scrap quilt that I really like. I have two more quilts I am still piecing. I also made 175 surgical masks for charity

 

     Fridays I clean house but it the evening we have a Zoom call with six of the kids. It is lots of fun.  It goes on for hours.

Happy Birthday, Hubby

Yesterday was Hubby's birthday. We usually go out to dinner for such occasions but everything is different this year. Hubby grilled hamburgers and I did bake a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. For his birthday, Hubby got a tree. It is a Salix integra "Hakuro Nishiki."  it is a willow bush like tree.
He had a sasafras tree in that spot but it was too wet for it there. The willow should do fine. He might be old but in one day he pulled out the other tree and got the new one planted.

Covid-19

We are all in quarantine but we hear about the need for masks and face shields. I made masks for all my children and grandchildren and the lady across the street and her children and grandchildren.  All together I have made over 50 masks, not hospital quality but some protection out in the world. Linda, a friend who is a member of the Cameo Quilters Guild, called me and said she had received  a request from Henry Ford Hospital for people to make face shields. Hubby and I did 100 of them today and tomorrow we will get the supplies for another 100. It is kind of good to be helping out.

Charity Quilts

These are two small quilts I made to give to the Cameo Quilter's Guild to give to charity.  The green one is made from orphan blocks from Gretel's quilt and the the other is made from scraps from a dress I made for Gretel a long time ago. I machine quilted them.  It is an attempt to get my scrap stash down a little

Keeping Busy

I finished the top for Kameren's quilt.  This is for when she goes off to college but I will give it to her when it is quilted. She is in her Junior year of high school now. She had originally wanted a bookcase quilt but changed her mind for a "sea life" quilt.  I really like this one. The big squares have turtles on them and the little ones, coral.

National Quilting Day

This weekend our group of quilters had scheduled a weekend retreat but because of the coronovirus it was canceled. So the ten of us had a group text all day and sent word to each other of the projects we were working on. It was fun and because it was National Quilting Day, very appropriate.

Dog Gone Cute

For Christmas I gave Mary a quilted throw. I didn't put it on my blog earlier because I didn't want her to see it before Christmas. Then I forgot to get a picture of it. Mary sent it to me today. Her dog, Pepper, is posing next to it. It was a fun quilt to make and not difficult.
    With the quarantine I have spent a lot of time sewing.  Today I cleaned house.  It wasn't terribly dirty, just dog hair and cat barf.  There is so little traffic on our street that there was little dust.

Socks and Quarantine

While in quarantine I should be cleaning out closets or the basement but the truth is I am a little unnerved by the whole thing and have accomplished very little. I did get a package from Gretel. She had ordered some socks for me as a Christmas present.  I have quite a collection of socks.  I did straighten my sock drawer and counted my pairs of socks.  I have 124 pair including Christmas, Halloween, St. Patrick's Day, Valentine's Day, Easter, and Patriotic socks. I have some with furry tops and heavy reading socks. My socks have the usual dogs and cats, along with Chip and Dale, Sasquatch, squids, andgreat works of art like the Birth of Venus and the Scream.

Two more Quilts

I finished a quilt for my Son-in-law, Seth. He wanted a twin sized quilt for when he is camping or sleeping on the floor. He has a lot of back trouble.  This is a scrap quilt and I machine quilted it. 

The second quilt is a scrap quilt too and it is more a throw size, 80 X 80 inches. I made it for my friend, Althea. I machine quilted it and learned a lot about doing that. Make sure you zoom in  to see the quilting. I did the quilting in light blue on the black.

It's either too Early or too Late

I finished a Christmas quilt.  It is a hunter's star pattern, not the best workmanship and I machine quilted it. For Christmas Hubby got me a Bernina 770 sewing machine.  It is fabulous for machine quilting as soon as I learn how. I am getting better at it.  There is a lot to learn. I had to take classes, as the repairman said, "this is the Lamborghini of sewing machines.

A Scrap Quilt

I saw a form of this quilt on a blog Quilting On The Crescent. I made it with 1.5 inch squares, she did it with 1 inch squares. She also did it with strips but because I was really using scraps, I did it with individual squares. It was a fun quilt to make and unfortunately didn't even put a dent in my stash of scraps.