Jac’s third grade play, “Character Matters”, was today.
Jac’s no longer the shortest in her class, but it’s close. 
Cute play (they always are) and good snacks afterwards (Jac’s favorite part.)
After school, Leia and I made lava cakes, then we all sat on the couch, hanging out and listening to the rain. It was grandma heaven. 🤩
Jac and I are homework buddies so we pick her up from school Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays and she usually spends those same nights with us. Which gives me lots of time to collect Jackie-isms…
Ready for the rain in the new hat and new-ish coat Pop got her (she finally grew into the oversized coat.) High stylin’ and very pleased with herself.
Me: leaves the kitchen for 2 minutes after waiting for the instant pot to (finally) get up to pressure and start cooking.
Jac: Grandma, I turned it off for you because it was counting backwards.
Me: … thank you? 😳
First step in conquering Mt. Bindmore for the Finish It QAL- the flowerpot bunny quilt is done!
Started in March 2022, it’s been sitting in the pile - and hanging on the wall each Easter - since that April.
Each of the grands picked their flowerpot and bunny eye color (here, here, and here), then Jac and Donovan giggled their way through some hanging pix (here). Glad to have this finally, really done.
Due to the type of lens that was implanted with my cataract surgery (light adjustable), I get to wear these pretty, sexy (not!) glasses, both indoors and out, for the next 2 months.
I fell hard for these colors back in July when Lisa at Quilty Zest announced her new fabric line.
Then she showed off this pattern to celebrate the fabric (finally!) being in stores… and offered a sale on patterns*… how could I resist??
I’m trying to use up the fabric I already have and not buy more, but I think I deserve a treat for all the medical issues we’ve gone through the last few months. That’s the excuse I’m using any way. (Really, it’s just because the colors are so pretty!) Still planning to tackle Mt. Bindmore first, but in the meantime I can admire this waiting patiently in the wings.
* Bought this pattern too….
Saw this finish-along on instagram and signed up
hoping it will motivate me to tackle Mt. Binding (Mt. Bindmore?) -
2 quilts, 5 wall hangings, and 1 tablerunner, all of them finished except for their binding.
That cute little bunny quilt at the top of the pile has hung on the wall at Easter for TWO years, sans binding. Hang on, little buddy, this is your year!
We’re planning to be in CO for a week, and February is already short, but IF I get these all done… or I get bored… I have 56 half-square triangles (HST’s) left over from the Patchwork Heart quilt that are ready to be made into… something. Excited to work on this, so motivated to finish the bindings. Wonder how far I’ll get…
We had a little time to kill before heading to Wednesday’s eye appointment, so I talked hubby into holding up quilts so I could get pretty daylight pix.
Carousel horses for the backing
and would probably still be sitting in a pile if Cheyenne hadn’t asked if maybe I could make a quilt for her newest niece. Perfect!
60 x 73”Outdoor pics of Patchwork Hearts show off the colors better than my 2 am shot. There’s a mix of cotton Grunge, batiks, solids, prints… whatever pink, purple or red that was in my stash.
White hearts are bees and honeycombIt makes me happy just looking at it. Probably won’t be back from the longarmer in time to use this Valentine’s Day but I may leave it out into March and April just ‘cause it’s pretty.
All done! Except for a couple of little things… like quilting and binding.
Super happy with how it turned out. Now to arrange a spa day for it at the longarmer…
Friday I sewed the left side blocks together,
Saturday I did the right sides and a couple of test blocks,
and today I finished the remaining 22 blocks. Whoo! My design wall isn’t big enough to hold them all…
Hoping to sew everything together tomorrow and take it to my longarmer pal before Wednesday’s eye surgery redo (finally!)
Really pleased with how easy this pattern is to sew and how quickly it goes together. Without much effort on my part (a bit of pinning) almost every point matches. Truly amazing!
Patchwork Hearts 2 pattern is here.
In between entertaining Donovan and Jac (they are playing the same Minecraft game, on separate devices, and talking a mile a minute)
and watching the smoke and ash from the fire in Castaic blow through,
I managed to clean a minor hotspot (I don’t mind piles on top of cabinets and tables, but when I start dumping it on the floor things are really out of control. 😂)
finished the last 3 top sections for Patchwork Hearts
and sewed, pressed and partially trimmed the first 27 of 54 bottom blocks.
Maybe… I can sew the hearts together this weekend?? Crossing fingers for sewing time and the predicted rains (just enough, pls, to clear the air and put out the fires. We don’t need a mud slide season this year…)
I’m up to 24 finished tops for the heart quilt, just need to cut and sew 6 more (3 lefts and 3 rights) and I’ll be ready to start the bottoms. Whoo!
Today’s declutter challenge was rulers and mats. Mats were easy - I keep them on my cutting table or leaning against the bookshelf. Easy to reach and out of the way.
Rulers were a bit more work. My big rulers are on top of this cabinet.
It’s a stretch to reach them, but they lay flat up there, so I’m not worried about them getting warped or broken. Smaller rulers that I use most often are in the slotted holder on the side, right above my scissors.
I took them all out, sorted several into the donation box, and took photos of the rest before organizing them back into the rack.
I think I’d use these more if I remembered what I have, so the plan is to make a blog page with the picture and name of each one/set. And then challenge myself to use at least 3 of them in projects this next year.
It’s worth a shot….
Cutting the pieces for Patchwork Hearts took awhile,
but once that was (mostly) done the sewing is going quickly, thanks to chain-piecing and sewing in batches.
Week 1 of the quilt-along (here) calls for making 7 complete heart blocks
but I decided to make like things first - the snowballs, the right/left sides - and then sew the quadrants together at the end. It makes more sense to my brain.
I may add new colors for the last 3 blocks that aren’t yet cut… I think this needs more darks?? More prints?
Making progress!
Our weekend getaway put me several days behind on the declutter challenge (worth it!), plus Jac and Donovan have been here every afternoon after school. Rather than stress about being behind, I’m going to wait for the weekend to play catchup. There are several areas I still badly want to do, and we’re just getting to fabrics in the videos, so… I’m still in.
I haven’t been much interested in quilting for awhile, but I saw this pattern… and the related quilt-along…
and thought about the pretty fat quarter bundle in my stash… and quick as you can say “squirrel!” I was signed up.
The quilt along is 5 weeks, with Week 1 encompassing choosing and cutting fabrics, plus making several blocks. Not sure I’ll be able to keep up with the schedule but I’m going to try.
Jac: “Grandma, that looks just like a heart!” Looks like I’m doing it right. 🤩
Tip to remember: the lines on index cards are 1/4” apart, so when starting a new project you can check your needle placement using the lines. And it works! Gotta remember this…
