Welcome February!

And just like that, January 2026 is history. The months go faster and faster, don't they? A lot of folks complain about how l-o-n-g January seems to be what with all the nasty weather present in many areas, but I've never minded the month, regardless of where I am. Admittedly, January is a lot more agreeable in Florida, than in some places! *smiles*

 I have a January wrap-up collage to share, and a whole bunch of new stuff to tell you about. Let's get the collage out of the way first, and then I will share the new stuff in some upcoming posts.

TOP ROW: The first finish for 2026 was hand quilting and binding this single block that came from my Aunt Margaret's stash. She passed in 2016, and my cousin passed along her quilting stuff to me. This sweet block was hand-pieced and tucked in amongst quite a lot of interesting fabrics, blocks and unfinished projects. Next is my annual jigsaw puzzle, which was quite the challenge. I generally do one or two every winter, but this was so tough, I decided one would suffice for this year. At 1000 pieces, that orange foreground took forever. The first quilt flimsy of the year is this layer cake baby quilt. I am planning to finish it in time for the birth of our next grandchild in early April. 

MIDDLE ROW: I've watched loads of tutorials for making bags and pouches and wallets, and this particular one just looked too easy. After acquiring the snap kit, I have gone nuts making a bunch of these, and continue to make more - 2-3 at a time. It's a very satisfying fast finish. We took this selfie to send to granddaughter Cate, just to remind her of who we are - ha! We sure do miss those kiddos! The second flimsy of the year is my Wensleydale quilt. I absolutely love this quilt, and look forward to quilting it ASAP. 

BOTTOM ROW: We have a farmer's market near us where we get our eggs and select produce. They also have quite a nice array of flowers and herbs. This cheery table full of blooms is a sampling of their offerings. I have met a new group of quilter friends through a shuffleboard buddy, Charlaine. I went with her to a nearby community center where like-minded fabric enthusiasts meet and share and sew. I look forward to this becoming a regular feature of my Thursdays. Last, one of our favorite restaurants is The Freezer in Homosassa. Steamed shrimp fresh off the boat! Eight of us met for a leisurely outdoor lunch last week and stuffed ourselves full. Delicious.

Our winter in Florida is one month down, and two months remain. February is a short month, but it will be packed with fun, I'm sure!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne

January Wrap-up

It's about time I got around to highlighting the fun stuff in January. I sorta' did that last post, but I do like those 9-patch collages, so indulge me if you will.

 

TOP ROW: The cutest happy new year greeting appeared in my texts on January first - from Emma with Reagan's hand print drawn in as the 5. Sweet. While on the road to Florida, I made gazillions of yo-yos. And once here, I learned from my brother-in-law about an amazing pain reliever for my aching knee - DMSO. Look it up; it's good stuff.

MIDDLE ROW: Upon arriving in Florida, I switched from yo-yos to hexies which will eventually become the path in a Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt. Our sweet Cate and her family love going to COSI in Columbus. On one snowy and cold Sunday (in Ohio) we received this picture of her "pretending" at one of the exhibits. And those hexies are indeed slowly being attached as pathways around the flowers.

BOTTOM ROW: In southern housekeeping news, we swapped out an uncomfortable sofa for this love seat that suits us much better. Our darling Reagan is a whole 4 months old already and smiles for Pappaw and Gramma when we Facetime with our daughter. And we two get out and about regularly. For this photo, we had met Greenfield friends for lunch in Dade City.

 I do have some sewing news to share and additional quilting-related updates, so I promise to make time for additional posts soon.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne

January Recap

 February 3 is not too late to do a wrap-up of last month. It was a busy month and I probably could have made two collages, but forced myself to do just the one.

TOP ROW: On the first of the month we made one last trip to see granddaughter Cate before heading south. She adores her Pappaw Kevin and he definitely returns that sentiment. Once here in Floral City, we reacquainted ourselves with the lake at the end of our street. For the most part, it's been a cooler than normal month, but sunshine makes up for that. We have worked hard to create a comfy home, including thrifting key pieces of furniture such as my newly-painted sewing desk which resides in the guest room.

MIDDLE ROW: DD Erin sends us many pictures of Cate, and from afar we are watching her grow. A happier child I have never seen. She just delights in everything. The newest member of our family arrived  this month with the birth of McKenzie Mae. My nephew Will is a proud papa for the second time, as his firstborn, Archie, is now 2. That woman reclining in the chair is yours truly. I am in the ER preparing to be stitched up. I cracked my forehead after falling on the sidewalk outside our front door. Man, I went down hard. It was dark and a piece of furniture just jumped out of nowhere and tripped me! *grin* A cat scan showed that my "brain is fine," and I got the stitches out yesterday, a week after the fall. I have very little bruising; I did ruin my glasses, however.

BOTTOM ROW: The barn quilt is the only true quilting finish I have for the month of January, but technically I don't think it qualifies. My goal of stitching scraps is working out well; I have over 100 tiny 9-patch blocks done, and still I have a lot of 1.5-inch squares to do. It'll be interesting to see just how many I will have out of my little stash of scraps. The final image is of my mom holding McKenzie Mae, her new great-granddaughter. Isn't that a precious picture??!!

In a previous post I mentioned that I felt like I was becoming bored with all those scrappy little 9-patches. Listening to an audio book helps keep the boredom at bay, however. I have been listening to To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, a book I taught years ago in sophomore English. I am so glad to be listening to this as it feels like a brand new story to me. I had forgotten so much of it. My motive for rereading: I want to read Go Set A Watchman, the sequel which came out in 2015, 55 years later. Because it had been so long since I'd read TKAM, it made good sense to refresh my memory before delving into GSAW. 

Happy Quilting, Friends!

January Wrap-Up

 I need to keep this wrap-up short and sweet today. We have an early date with a flea market.

TOP ROW: The last of the secret sewing! I have not yet shared this with you all, but I can this coming up this week. I made one more Mondo Bag for Christmas, and for various reasons, did not arrive for it's recipient until very late in January. I am eager to share it, so I will be sure to do so in the coming days. That darling in the center is our love, Cate. This was from the middle of the month when we babysat for a weekend. The final picture is from Shakertown, KY, a restored Shaker village that we visited and toured around on our slow journey to Florida. It was fascinating to walk around the village and into the buildings, reading about their life and lifestyle. For Ohioans, we have Zoar Village, up toward Akron/Canton, if you want a perspective.

MIDDLE ROW: More from the journey south: we drove southwestward to see the Natchez Trace, from just south of Nashville, TN, to Natchez, MS. It was wonderful! Just the kind of traveling we like - no interstate traffic, interesting and often beautiful views of everyday life and small town America. And the History!! Gosh, the historic markers were everywhere! We stopped at many, but not nearly all. The first picture shows a part of the original trail, at a stop near where Meriwether Lewis ended his life. See what I mean about history? This particular stop was marked with a memorial to Lewis. We could walk all around and see the landscape much as it was in the early 1800s, when Andrew Jackson marched troups to Natchez, and President Thomas Jefferson designated the Trace an official route for post service between Nashville and Natchez. It was hugely important to our country's early development. The middle picture is of a remaining cabin - actually considered an inn - from the the early 1800s. The last pic is of my sewing space here at our rental. (And yes, we probably took the most out-of-the-way journey to Florida ever by Ohio snowbirds.)

BOTTOM ROW: Here in Florida, we have observed this gorgeous, vivid rainbow over by Lecanto. We went to dinner with my cousins at a yummy spot called The Freezer - and since we ate outdoors, we had a visitor to our table. DH and I ordered a pound of steamed shrimp fresh off the boat! And finally, a sneak peak at my finished quilt top. I will share that, too, in coming days.

So, now off to the flea market!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

January's Highlights

 Before I get too wrapped up in all the projects on the horizon for February, I will take a quick look back at January in the monthly collage of highlights. Pulling these pics together into a collage makes it easy to see that the month was productive and somewhat interesting. To me, at least. *ha!*

Lots of quilt pictures for January. The top row shows the flimsy I finished early in the month made with the Churn Dash blocks that we Frankfort Girls exchanged in December. The next two blocks represent a quilt I will be making in the very near future called Falling Stars. I saw it pictured somewhere, searched cyberspace for the name of the pattern, made up my own measurements and will continue after my current project is wrapped up.

The middle row begins with my cleaned off cutting table, an accomplishment that is nothing short of amazing, if you ask me. This space had been cluttered with mounds of old projects, shopping hauls, and all manner of stuff needing to be put away. Tackling that to start off the new year is HUGE! The middle photo is my gift to my dear friend Sharon O., the giver of long-arms. I referred to it as the Thirties Sampler as I was making it, but all along it was intended to be for her. The last picture is Lucy, the current project. Those were early blocks made to see how it would look when coming together. I am now at the snowball block phase of construction.

In the bottom row I begin with a major job which occurred in our driveway - culvert replacement. Wow, what a job. The old culvert had deteriorated to the point that we had a sinkhole which threatened to give way completely with the next major rain storm. This replacement was finished last Tuesday, and we have had rain and snow since; timely, for sure. The bottom middle picture is the 10-year project called Lake Effect. I leave it for weeks/months, and then return to it. I am back at it, attempting to finish off those appliqued panels. 

The final picture in the bottom row is a strange-looking picture, for sure. This is located about 12 miles south of us near Bainbridge, OH. These trees have giant cranes' nests in them. It is an incredibly curious sight. We drove slowly to observe them, and eventually stopped and got out of the car to get closer. The trees are on the far side of the creek and the cranes were plentiful in and around the creek area. I was fascinated by those nests - there must have been 40 or more of them. I had no idea that such wildlife resided so near.

I am a poor photographer of beautiful nature scenes, but it's not for a lack of trying! I only had my iPhone to work with, and I did the best I could. I'd love to have had a nice telephoto lens on an equally  nice digital camera. Those nests would really show up with the proper equipment.

In sewing news, the Lucy pattern calls for 24 half-snowball blocks, so I made those yesterday. Today, Sharon P. will be here to sew, and I plan to make some, if not all, the 60 full snowballs needed for this quilt. The little squares are all marked, and the stitching should go quickly.

I plan to take some pictures of Sharon's progress on the same pattern using French General fabrics. Totally different look, for sure.

Happy Sewing, Friends!

 

Goodbye, January

Here we are! Last day of January 2020. Gosh, seems impossible.

I had a productive day today. First, I met with the dear ladies of my quilt group, Frankfort Girls. We met at Jan's for a morning of fun and stitching. Jan fixed a few tropical treats for us, always going way beyond necessary.

This afternoon, I decided to quilt the baby quilt. And so I did.

Now to bind it. It will be ready in time for the new baby's arrival, due in 11 days. That long arm machine is such a blessing. To be able to finish projects so quickly is such a blessing.

Today, we had snow. It was not the first of our winter, but we have had next to no true winter weather so far. It was a wimpy snow, lasted about three hours, mostly melted immediately, but it did stick real pretty to trees and limbs.

Lastly, I made my collage of January highlights. Lots of starts. Pretty blocks. Quilted quilts. Family time. History and friend time. And a pretty kitty. January has been a great start to 2020.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

January Round-Up

Yesterday, I indulged in a bit of retail therapy at one of our local quilt shops. You know, when there's a Christmas gift certificate burning a hole in your pocket, you simply must act on it eventually. I think I exercised great restraint for over a whole month, you know?

So, after my classes yesterday, I popped in to Old Town Fabric Shop. Earlier in the month I had scoped out some likely candidates for my stash additions; I had plenty of options, but here's what came home with me. Just 2.5 yards total, and I am a happy, happy gal.

These are half-yard cuts of four Art Gallery fabrics and one Cotton + Steel fabric (the pink). The Art Gallery fabrics are part of a line called Millie Fleur by Bari J. Those blues have appeared in some quilts on my Instagram feed, and I have been totally smitten by them. The pink is from a 2014 line called XOXO from Cotton + Steel Basics designer Rashida Coleman Hale. (I hope I have that all correct!) I do not have a firm idea of what these will be used for, but I am leaning toward a pretty table topper. Stars? Triangles? Churn Dashes? Still considering possibilities...

Now for my January collage. I felt busy all month, but I really don't have a lot to show for my efforts.

So tomorrow, we begin February! I hope I can show more finishes next month!

Happy Quilting, Friends!