Bits of Sewing and Busy Days

Family and friends often ask us what we do while we are in Florida. My response is a description of totally different people from the ones they know in Ohio. We are such homebodies normally, but while we are in FL, we go-go-go.  Shuffleboard three times each week; bike riding; thrifting; estate sales; flea markets; games in the evenings (sometimes here, sometimes elsewhere - we take turns hosting); or walks around our little neighborhood.

I have to work to squeeze in time for sewing. Here's what I've been doing lately when I get a few spare minutes at the sewing machine - stitching up a jelly roll of cool-color Kaffe Fassett fabrics for a simple lap quilt.

The strips are cut at 8 inches; 5 strips make a block. And look at that fun pink fabric I plan to use as sashing strips. I am making slow progress. Perhaps about half of the blocks are stitched as I write this post.

These pictures have a decidedly yellowish cast to them; maybe afternoon sun hinders the true colors. Anyway, the quilt looks better than these pictures indicate, and will go together quickly once I take the time to concentrate on it.

 So, what have we been doing lately that has kept me out of the sewing room? Lots of visiting. We've had a couple of unusually busy weeks. We have visited with Ohio friends vacationing in other areas of Florida; we had family over for an afternoon visit; most recently, we have just returned from 3 days at 'the most magical place on earth' visiting my sister and brother-in-law. Walt Disney World!

 

We just happened to be there on some of the coldest and windiest days, still we had fun. We definitely got our steps in! We traipsed all over the place! Saw lots of cool and interesting attractions, ate at amazing restaurants; most of all - enjoyed the company of family. 

Sisters! Jayne and Carol.

 We were guests of my sister and her husband who vacation at Disney all the time; we got the royal treatment!

The gang - Carol, Monte, Kevin, John, Sandy, Jayne, Dawn, Dave.

We are grateful for all the Disney fun, but are glad to be back to our slower pace and less 'people-y' home on Moonrise Lane. Those folks in the photo above (John, Sandy, Dawn and Dave) are our cousins who also live on Moonrise. Sandy and Dave are siblings and are first cousins on our father's side to Carol and me.

I have let too many days get past me without a blog post. When there's no time for sewing, it goes without saying that there's also no time for blogging. 

Stay tuned! I do have some hand-stitching to share. That will be my next update.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne 

First Month - Non Quilting

We have been in the Sunshine State for a month now. We have had mostly cooler than normal temperatures, but I am not complaining because I know how frigid friends and family have been in the upper Midwest. 

Our goals while here this year involve having interesting and diverse experiences without breaking the budget. Here are a few of the shenanigans we've had so far.

Our home is very close/accessible to the Withlacoochie Nature Trail (WNT), so we try to get out on the recumbent bikes as often as we can. DH is ahead of me in this photo; he has on a toboggan and gloves - this day was chilly, so layering up was essential. Even with the cool temperatures, those sunny, blue skies peeking through the boughs are a genuine delight.

The Rainbow River Falls in Dunellon is picturesque and fine for leisurely strolling. We visited there on a cool-ish afternoon with friends from Ohio. We returned to Dunellon a couple weeks later on a warmer day to further explore the area and had lunch at Swampy's, which had been recommended to us. 

Seated on the deck overlooking Rainbow River, we enjoyed watching kayaks and pontoons float lazily by. The river is spring-fed and wildlife was plentiful.

Speaking of wildlife, in nearby Homosassa, with those same Ohio friends we visited the Ellie Schiller Park and Nature Preserve. This facility is most known for housing and rehabilitating injured manatees, however they also house a variety of wild animals. The American Bald Eagle and the Black Bear are two such wild animals on display.

The flamingos were in rare form, entertaining guests with their races back and forth through this little creek. I wish the color in the photo reflected the vibrancy of their sassy, pink feathers.

We had to be patient to see manatees. This momma and baby were far out in the water, but slowly made their way toward our vantage point. They look like giant baked potatoes floating through the water, as silently and smoothly as can be. It is mesmerizing watching them maneuver around.

We didn't see this, but within a few days of our visit, hundreds of manatees swam into the warm, protective waters of the Homosassa Springs. Tourists flock to the park for this migration. Here's a 2-minute video about manatees.

The photo below is from a general Google search of manatee migration. This is probably not in Homosassa, but is likely in the Citrus County area.

         

In other nature-oriented activities, we drove several hours south to Jupiter to see the Loggerhead Turtle Marine Center. In addition to the wide variety of turtles housed there for various types of health care, we saw several tanks of more exotic fish and sea creatures such as these colorful jellyfish.

From Jupiter we continued south to Fort Lauderdale where temperatures were quite a bit warmer, but way cloudier. Our main activity was the Intracoastal Water Taxi from Pompano Beach down to Ft. Lauderdale. The entire length of this waterway is a veritable parade of gorgeous mansions with giant yachts parked in front. Often, the yachts are bigger and more valuable than the mansions. The wealth on display was mind boggling. Our little taxi boat was minuscule by comparison.

So, yes, we are getting out and around. Close to home we go shuffleboarding every M-W-F morning. The shuffleboard crowd is fun and the facility is really nicely maintained. We hit the bike trail as often as possible; one day last week we biked 12 miles with a group of friends.

Hope you are keeping warm and having fun where you are!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne

The Last Snowbird Stitching

Apparently, I took way more projects to Florida than I could ever possibly accomplish. Really, though, I had no idea how to gauge it. I felt it would be better to have too much than not enough, and with that in mind, I totally overdid things! There were tubs that I never once opened, and projects that I never once touched. I definitely didn’t shirk sewing time, either. Going into this 3-month Florida stay, knowing how much time I'd have for sewing was a total unknown. 

This picture shows 4-patch blocks laid out across the dining table in stacks of 20 (except that bottom yellow and blue stack which has 4). Tally that all up and you get 624 blocks. 

And guess what? I made a couple hundred more after this photo was taken. At vacation's end, I figure I was in the range of 800 4-patch blocks. All from the 2.5-inch scraps. 

And what's more??? I haven' finished them all yet! There is no doubt I will have in the thousands when (if!) I get them all stitched up.

In non-sewing news, I wanted to share this darling picture of a certain granddaughter who was none too interested in snuggling up with the Easter Bunny. She was keeping a safe distance, for sure.

Back to sewing - I am going to take some of the 2.5-inch scraps with me to retreat, just in case the other projects make up faster than I expect. I have 2 projects cut out and ready to begin on Monday morning, so we shall see what sort of success I have working on real projects and not scraps.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne

Hello April!

 

I’m a few days late in welcoming the month, but you know me - I'll always eventually get around to it!

We are home from Florida! And we no sooner unloaded the car but got back into it and went straight to Columbus to see our kiddos and our sweet baby Cate! Who's happier in this picture - Cate or Pappaw? It was pure delight getting in on those precious hugs and kisses.

We drove home on Saturday and Sunday, arriving here around noon on Easter, for perhaps the strangest way I have ever spent Easter morning. We played old-fashioned hymns on You-Tube in lieu of church. 

I did make a March collage. The highlights contain only one sewing/quilting photo. Most revolve around our Florida fun.

TOP ROW: The first picture is dinner with a big group of 11 at a yummy seafood place called Dan's Crab Shack. Outdoor dining, sunshine, and shrimp - what's not to love about that? Next is from the Floral City Strawberry Festival. Much like what I know as a county fair atmosphere, we walked around collecting freebies, listening to live music, and taking in the gorgeous sunny day. The final picture is from an antique car show held in Inverness. We really enjoyed walking around the historic downtown area and looking at the cars. They have car shows often, we discovered; this one featured Corvettes and Camaros.

MIDDLE ROW: We joined friends on the pontoon for a beautiful afternoon on the lake. We stopped at an outdoor establishment, Sleepy Hollow, where we enjoyed live bluegrass music and icy cold beverages. The center photo is a screenshot of Cate while we were in a FaceTime session. She is so dag-gone adorable! Being in Florida for 3 months gave us several opportunities to visit Kevin's brother and sister-in-law, Eric and Lisa. We posed for a photo-op with their dogs, Baxter and Blazer.

BOTTOM ROW: My one sewing picture shows a portion of the 600+ 4-patch blocks I made using 2.5-inch squares. Believe it or not, even with all those, I still have not used all the 2.5-inch scraps. The middle picture on the bottom is of the full moon over Tsala Apopka Lake. Our resort is called Moonrise, and I definitely wanted to experience the full moon rising over the lake. Mother Nature cooperated, and gave us clear skies. Finally, our last ride on the bikes and the Withlacoochee Trail afforded us a chance to see this big turtle sunning himself trail-side. We'd observed the hill and hole several times, but never the turtle. On our last ride, we got lucky and saw this big guy.

One more highlight from our final few days included my learning that two of the ladies I'd been playing shuffleboard with are quilters! I hadn't been able to find anyone who quilted, yet on the last shuffleboarding day, I learned there were two in our midst all along. Wow. You can bet that I will be reconnecting with them next January for some sewing time!

The shuffleboard crowd is a fun group, yet the topic of quilting had never come up. Most of the time, if we aren't talking about our game, we talk about where we are from and what we did before retiring. Strange that I'd find quilters at the very end of our stay.

Well, back here at home, I have most everything put away. I've spent a bit of time perusing the sewing room and revisiting projects that I plan to start. Coming up soon is a 4-day retreat and I need to pull together all the necessities for that. 

More to come!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne

Home Improvements

So many things can be knocked out if one knows how to sew. I am using the most affordable material EVER to make curtains and other accessories here in our Florida home. Drop cloth fabric. Yes. Go to your local hardware or big box store and buy a drop cloth. The one DH brought me was less than $20 and I yielded 2 full length curtains from it.

The guest room window looks out into the lanai and it definitely needed window treatment. The panels here are the easiest type of curtains to make. Hem the bottom and create a channel at the top for the rod. Bing-badda-bing. Done.

You are also seeing how I use that one corner of the bed. I sit at the sewing machine right in that area, and the bed affords me easy access to the 1.5-inch strips I have paired up for the 9-patches. (see previous posts)

Another window treatment needing to be addressed was above the kitchen sink. I had blinds in place, but valances were needed, too. For these, I went to the scraps from last year's window treatments and found enough left over to make these.

Besides curtains, I have also made one set of slipcovers. My cousins gave me two very old and worn cubes - squares that can be used as stools. We have a low bar in the kitchen at which seating could be used, but had nothing in particular in mind for such seating. These were a perfect solution. DH and I added casters to the bottom of the stools and then I made easy-peasy slip covers for them. Awesome. I love how they fit so perfectly in that space. Here's a couple of before and after shots.

We slowly make progress on turning this double wide mobile home into our winter getaway. It has become more homey as each day passes, and we find we are quite comfortable. You see evidence there on the counter of DH's duck decoy collection. He has upwards of a couple dozen, I would say. They are pretty and will look nice grouped together on a shelf we hope to hang after we upgrade the lanai.

I have acquired a couple of sewing jobs from the cousins. One cousin wants valances made of drop cloth fabric for her dining space. Another cousin wants me to recover a bench cushion with some upholstery fabric that matches her curtains. I think I will knock those out this afternoon.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Quilts on Moonrise Lane

You all know full well that I am still making 9-patch blocks with my 1.5-inch scraps. I estimated in the last post that I thought I could get at least 100 more out of the remaining bits. And I am halfway there. Since that post, I've made roughly 50 more blocks, and it looks like I will exceed my earlier estimate. I still have a lot of pieces left, so I will likely get more than the 100 I figured on.

In an attempt to keep some semblance of regular posting, I thought you might be interested in seeing the quilts that are staying here in Florida with us. We have two bedrooms each decked out with quilts, of course. 

In the master bedroom, I have the only true king-sized quilt I've made all the way to completion. It's a Thimbleberries pattern called Snowflakes, as I recall. I call my version Snowflakes at Dusk because of the gray tones used in the background fabrics. I know snowflakes don't really belong here in Florida, but the quilt is pretty, regardless of it's wintry name. 

An interesting additional note on Snowflakes at Dusk: it is the first one I pieced upon my retirement in 2009. I had no idea then that I would ever become a snowbird.

In the guest room, I have the more recently made Spring Dreams. Sharon and I did a sew-along in 2022 using this pattern. It is fitting, then, that the first guest we will have here in the Moonrise guest room is Sharon! Yes, a scheduled visit here this month had to be rearranged for next month. 

Don't you love how well the newly painted night stand matches the fabrics used in Spring Dreams? It was a total accident, but how nice to have it look as if it were planned. Sometimes plain dumb luck wins out.

I do have one additional quilt that resides here. It generally resides across the foot of our bed. I will retrieve a pic from the way-back files to show which one. We have some pretty cool nights here, so an extra layer of quilt is necessary.

Dreamy Stars is a quilt I made and quilted in May of 2020. Yes, you read that right - made AND quilted all in the same month. A first. I'd long wanted to use these two soft-colored fabrics together, and Ohio Stars are always a fave. Win-Win! 

I've intimated that all I've sewn are the 9-patches, but I have also made some home decor items. I will share all the details next time.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Snowbird Fun

It's been 6+ weeks since we arrived here at our home in the sunny south. Overall impressions are good ones, and I haven't once regretted taking the plunge on buying this place. I am a bit surprised that I've worn long sleeves and sweatshirts far more frequently than expected, but still the weather here is better than back home. Below shows a particularly perfect day.

Since my sewing consists of continuing to make 9-patches out of my 1.5-inch scraps, I thought I'd take a day to show some snow birding highlights. Getting out and being active has been top priority.

Three days a week we play shuffleboard. This facility in Inverness has 10 courts/lanes (I do not know proper terminology) and the gang that shows up generally fills 6-8 of them. Prior to last winter, I'd never played, but have learned the basics and can do pretty well - most days, that is. It is definitely a fun time whether I play well or not.

I've gone out once; Kevin's gone out 2 or 3 times, on this boat. It belongs to friends and a cousin all living here in this neighborhood. The day I went out was cloudy as you can see, but any time on the water is so very peaceful. Here are a few more pictures from that afternoon on the lake.

We cut the engine and pulled up slowly to the shore; those two black "logs" are actually alligators. We waited super quietly for awhile and eventually they moved.

I tried to take an artistic picture of a perfect leaf in the water, and these two pictures are the result of my effort. I liked the contrast of the colorful leaf against the dark water, but in the picture, I also picked up the reflection of the clouds, so that added to the moodiness of the surroundings.

On a different day, DH went out fishing with the fellas; he captured this gloriously beautiful sunrise.

Besides shuffleboard, we take lots of walks and frequent bike rides. All in our gang have recumbent bikes, and getting out on the Withlacoochee Trail (very near our neighborhood) makes for perfect riding conditions.

Evenings often find us playing cards at someone's house or here, or playing Marbles - see the game board below. It was hard to learn all the rules for the game, but we've played it often enough now that we are beginning to get the hang of all the strategizing involved.

We've taken advantage of the abundant fresh fruit, and bonus of bonuses - there's a farm stand just a few miles down the road! We've enjoyed oranges, grapefruit, and strawberries.

This weekend marks the first anniversary of the purchase of our little house in Florida. We celebrated by going out to our favorite Mexican restaurant in Inverness, Los Magueyes. Yum-O!

I've now brought you up to date on the snow-bird happenings here. I will update you on the 9-patch situation in my next post. We are now taking off for an explore of the swampy areas over toward the gulf coast.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

A Bit of a Diversion

Seeing as how we are about one month into our first experience as "snowbirds," we are spending quite a bit of time making this house our home. Most of our neighbors have decorated the exterior of their places. There's all manner of ornamentation, but no one has a barn quilt! Going for a distinctive look, and to be a little different while showing our neighbors a bit of our true selves, we decided that a quilt square was in order. We could think of no better way to represent Ohio than with an Ohio Star.

 DH cut a board for me and I drew out the design. I had already determined the colors based on the exterior colors of our house - pale yellow with green shutters. I added a third color, navy, and I like how it looks. 

One thing I did not anticipate as I planned this out was the need for a border. Back to the store for either brown, dark gray or black. I basically had to choose from the limited options available. While this looks black, it is actually called "Pavement" - a very dark gray.

I had hoped to be able to include a photo of this hung on the house; alas, I sealed it with polyurethane and it is still drying. I'll show you next time.

Instead, I will leave you with a breathtaking view of the lake which borders our neighborhood. DH took this photo this morning while he was fishing with two friends. This is Lake Tsala Apopka in Citrus County, FL. 

Now, back to making 9-patches. I fear I am going to get bored with them, so I am considering changing things up in the coming days. I need variety!

Happy Quilting, Friends!