Tidbits

Donovan is spending a long weekend with us while his parents take a mini-vacation in Quartzite.

We’ve partied and napped and played 

and the adults are exhausted and he’s still going strong. 

So much fun but I’m gonna need a nap on Monday.

Leanne talked Pop into buying her a bird house but she was afraid it’s too small, so, together, they built a birdie mansion. 

Pop and I are crossing our fingers we don’t get a family of possums instead. This thing is big enough!

Leia has joined her school’s basketball team. 

She’s played soccer and volleyball before but this is her first try at B-ball.

She may not have much experience, but she’s learning and staying in the thick of the action.

Go, Eagles!

Not Precisely

I’m not a precision quilter by any means (or any other craft), but I had high hopes for foundation paper piecing. Sew on the line - cut off the excess - perfect(ish) blocks.

It worked for the Botanical Beauties - hooray! -  so I added some curved piecing.

Throw in my inability to read directions accurately - pattern said 10” finished block so I cut the unfinished block at 10” - and you can see my current hot mess practice piece. 

I love the colors, I love the geese . . . maybe separate the quadrants and sew it back together, deliberately wonky, for a modern look? Gotta think about this . . .

Six Years In The Making

This has been sitting since March 2015, top done, quilt-sandwich made, just waiting to be quilted. 

I started Valentina - and her sister, Irish Lass (here), which did get finished - during a paper-piecing class at Quilt Ventura (I miss that shop!), but I wasn’t sure how I wanted to quilt her so . . .  she sat, folded away, until now.

 Irish Lass, with very basic ‘in the ditch’ quilting

A few hours of worry walking-foot quilting, 

a touch of decorative stitching*, 

some stitch-in-the-ditch binding (I’m getting better!), 

and voilá - 

 Holiday appropriate backing 

another wallhanging finished, just in time for Valentine’s Day. 

* I’m not sure I like the decorative stitching - I couldn’t control where the stitch pattern began/ended in relation to the registration marks so it looks a bit wonky to me - but hey, if you don’t try, you don’t learn. 

Just Barely

I’m calling this my “just barely” quilt.

I bought - and started making - this kit quilt in January 2020 and finally finished it, just in time for Valentine’s Day 2020 2021 2022.

I made juuuuuuust enough binding - 

having only 1.5” left after joining the ends is cutting it a little close -

and had barely enough thread to finish the quilting (and no back-up spool).

Hubby helped me take pictures today 

and had a hard time holding on to this 

because of course it’s one of the windiest days of the year. 

And back in the good old pre-pandemic days, I apparently thought pattern instructions were more like ‘suggestions’ and didn’t notice my ‘design decisions’ until this was quilted and ready for binding. 

 Planning to add some embroidery to fill in the open spaces. 

Good grief. Still, finished is better than perfect . . . right?

Flour Girl

Jac and I decided to make pretzel bites today, one of Jac’s favorite treats. 

Jac’s usual job is adding the flour to the mixing bowl and spreading it on the pastry mat, 

but today she added putting the cut pieces into groups of 8 before we boiled them,

brushing on the egg wash and sprinkling everything with fancy sea salt. 

At one point she had flour on both sides of both hands, the front of her dress (the floor, the cabinet) and up to her elbows. “Look Grandma, I’m a flour girl!” 😂🌸🌸🌸

So yummy and worth the cleanup. 

Humbled

I admit I was feeling a wee bit cocky sure of myself after yesterday’s class,

 Pretty baby flying goose

so today the FPP gods set me straight. 

I made this arc not one, not two 

 Nope. Still nope. Finally!

but THREE TIMES before I got it the way I wanted. (And yes, #1 and #2 are identically wrong. Good grief.)

But in my defense, when working with foundation papers, you not only work from the back

you have to also turn them upside down to get the arcs aligned correctly. I really (really!) need to remember this for next time.

Front

Back

Trimmed and ready to go.  

Also for next time - remember to sew just inside the lines so the geese points stay sharp. 

Geese On Top

January is shaping up as all FPP, all the time. (FPP= foundation paper piecing)

Today’s workshop was “New York Beauties and Flying Geese” and if I hadn’t spent the last week working on a different FPP project (below) I probably would have dropped out in the first 30 minutes. Definitely not a beginner class.

But I ended up having fun and learned quite a bit. Best bit of advice? When sewing curves, “geese always go on top.” Made me laugh - which means I’m more likely to remember it, right? 

I finished two blocks today 

and have a plan for the final two. So much fun! 

 Lily was not amused that I was sitting in “her” chair

I also finished Block#1 in the Botanical Beauties FPP block-a-month series.

 Bee Balm

It’s been over 10 years since my last FPP adventure so I thought making a test block might be a good idea.  

Holy moley (Jac’s current fav expression) was it ever! Pretty sure I made every mistake in the book and invented a few new ones. 

Good grief. 

But I feel a lot more confident and comfortable with the technique. Now I just need lots more time so I can make allllllll the paper-pieced things on my wish list!