Hello June!

The new month snuck up on me! We had two special little people staying over at Grandpa and Grandma's over the weekend, so I definitely wasn't looking at the calendar!

The collage for May's highlights will show some of the fun we had with Cate and Reagan. All three granddaughters are such delights in our lives, we welcome every opportunity to both spend time with them and have them here for overnight visits.

TOP ROW: We babysat for Reagan and we plumb wore her out! Having a sweet girl fall asleep on your lap is one of life's special treats. Our twin nieces graduated from high school, and are shown alongside their Grandma Jeannie. Mom had a fun weekend of celebrating with them. The pillows here and in the next row are for sone-in-law Jeff. This one is made from clothing of his beloved Grandfather Glen.

MIDDLE ROW: The second pillow is made from monogrammed shirts that Jeff no longer wears. Together, the pillows will adorn his 'man cave' for a classy addition to the sofa. The central picture of May's collage is our our new family room floor. We took out the carpet, replaced it with laminate flooring and put down a large area rug for a pleasing new look. After 33+ years, we have no more carpet in our downstairs. The last picture in the middle row is our newest family member - Annie. She is filling out nicely at 6-7 weeks old. Her sweet demeanor melts my heart, and I cannot get enough of cuddling her.

BOTTOM ROW: When Cate came for her overnight, she helped Grandpa fill the baby pool in preparation for a cool swim. Cate also was very taken with her Mini Mouse costume. We took Cate home, and went straight to Reagan's to bring her for an overnight. She has such a different demeanor than Cate, and makes her preferences known in no uncertain terms. She also played in the baby pool, and had big fun with Grandma's basket of toys.

Since I didn't highlight much quilting or sewing in that May collage, I need to establish some priorities for this month. I did continue playing and piddling with some scraps, but I should start a "real quilt." Let me interpret that for you: tackle a quilt on my goals list. We shall see what transpires...

Let's go have an awesome June, whaddya' say!? Sounds good to me!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne  

May Round-Up/June Plans

 As we begin a new month, I like to devote a post early on to review the previous month. Just a bit of an encapsulation for easy reference. Here's how May looks in the rear-view mirror.

TOP ROW: In a gathering with some very extended family, we celebrated my great-uncle John's 97th birthday in early May. He is shown here with my 88-year-old mother, his niece. How many 88-year-olds do you know who can celebrate her 97-year-old uncle? Longevity definitely runs in our family. The middle picture is of the Frienzies as we shared a special May-Day visit with our sweet Kay, who resides in a memory-care facility. It was a great visit. The final picture is of our dear Reagan - a whole 7 months old! - holding her bottle atop her quilt made by my dearest friend, Sharon.

MIDDLE ROW: Besides collecting fabric and making quilts, I have a secret obsession: collecting dishes. I don't know what possessed me one day to pull out some of my blue (and blue-green) dishes, but I thought these looked really pretty grouped together. I ended up using them to decorate a small shelf unit on the screened porch. The middle picture is of my Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt which is finished as far as hexies go. I am auditioning border options, with a possible direction taking shape. Stay tuned! The last picture in the middle row is of 4 of us Frienzies as we met in Chillicothe to "throw" pottery. Yes, we all sat at a spinning table and created "vessels" of varying degrees of wonkiness. We go back in a few days/weeks to paint and then glaze our pieces.

BOTTOM ROW: Over the Memorial Day weekend, we babysat Cate, now a super-energetic 2.5 year old. We saw this gorgeous rainbow on our way home from Columbus with her. We made a special stop on the drive home so she could get a good look at it. The next day, one of our destinations was a local green house in which a swing was available for small shoppers. She loved it. Last, the other main sewing effort for the month, Lake Effect. I am finalizing the remaining two borders and will be attaching them ASAP! I've repeatedly referred to this quilt as a "10-year-project" and I might just have it done in only 8 years! *yay!*

 

Now, what about the sewing outlook for this month? In addition to working on Lake Effect, I want to make some little dresses/outfits for Cate and Reagan. I also plan to work on one quilt (Grist Mill, above) which is on my '25 Goals List. And Sharon and I are in talks about a Kaffe Fassett quilt that we each want to make. 

We shall see how the month shakes out. I am definitely noticing that as my time is spent in Columbus with the granddaughters, my quilting output tanks. As does my blogging. As does a lot of other stuff - housekeeping, walking, and so on... I mustn't make excuses, though, as I still find plenty of time to fritter away hours scrolling on the phone/social media/games. Geesh.

Strive to do better!!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne
 

Long Overdue May Collage

It’s almost too embarrassing to be sharing my May highlights 11 days into June, but I’m gonna do it anyway. I like being able to go back through all the previous month’s activities and projects. It’s an easy way to see all the fun memories I made and the variety of projects I tackled.

And talk about making a memory! I’ve been holding onto a little secret for awhile now. We are going to be grandparents again! DD Emma and her partner Glen will be having a baby girl in September!  

More details will unfold in my collage description, so let’s get into it.

TOP ROW: Early in May, we went up to Columbus to see our daughter's new home. She and Glen had just bought a condo, and one room desperately needed to be painted before moving in. (Mom and Dad to the rescue!) She walked us through the house in such a way that one last room would have a special surprise. Upon opening the door we saw an empty room with a little display in the middle of the floor. Clicking on the pic above enlarges it, so you might be able to read the little sign. It says "The best things in life are unexpected - September 2024." Surrounding the sign are two ultrasound pictures, a pair of booties, a onesie and a wooden ornament. Isn't that sweet?!!? It was certainly a most memorable way to announce the pending momentous event. 

Other pics in the top row show the finished-all-the-way-even-quilted Floral Explosion. I have it folded across the back of the family room sofa and have actually used it a few times on some recent cool evenings. The last picture is one of the two baby quilts I needed to finish - this one for a baby boy born to a high school friend of Emma's.

MIDDLE ROW: The second completed baby quilt is for a grand niece. It is the same pattern as the other baby quilt, and both used some random layer cakes I'd bought specifically for baby quilts. In the center is our precious Cate fast asleep on my lap. We'd been called on to babysit one day, and we'd just come back from a walk to the main branch of the Columbus Public Library. Whew! What a way to wear out an 18-month-old! The last pic in the middle row is the flimsy, Tag Sale. I wrote about it here, and I have to say that the comments were so helpful and sweet. I needed to hear all those things! Go read them, if you haven't.

BOTTOM ROW: Sweet, happy Cate! Everything is an exciting adventure to her. I marvel at the permanent smile on her adorable little face. Next is a "freebie" mini-quilt made from cutaway corners. I'll be sharing that very soon. Last, is Paris Flea Market Find as it comes off the longarm machine. I wrote about it's reveal yesterday.

Sorry. This post is all words and only the one collage picture. Let me make up for that with two 'tease' pictures of a new project going on here.  

The project is a remodel of our master bedroom. One major part of the work requires my moving out all these books as well as the two bookcases. The books will be either sold or donated, and the shelves are replacing three cheap-o shelves in the quilting room. A project like this always looks worse before it looks better, so June promises to be a messy month. (serious understatement) New flooring in our bedroom goes down on July 2, so we have a deadline to work toward. Yes, I will share more before-and-after pics.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne

It's June!

Five months down in 2023 already! It boggles the mind to think how fast time flies. And, honestly, the older I get, the faster it flies!

Typically, I love May and hate to see it end, but this past month has been so very odd for us! We - mostly me - have dealt with being under the weather. I had the C-virus for about 10 days, and am still dealing with lingering head congestion. Then I got a serious stomach virus followed by a milder version for DH. At least he avoided coming down with the virus. We've had to avoid family functions as well as other friends' events, since we've all learned to be more mindful of the spread of germs and disease.

So now May is behind us and we hope the 'punies' are, too!

Despite the sickness, we do have some May highlights, so let's take a look.

TOP ROW: Our sweet Cate is now sitting up and beginning to experience solid foods. Doing this in just a diaper proves the easiest clean-up for the parents. Next, I spent a day with the twins helping them with sewing projects - a skirt for Mary Jean and a dress for Anna Rose. And in the very little sewing I managed, I stitched the quilt top from my William Morris economy blocks.

MIDDLE ROW: We had the screened porch enclosed with proper windows and doors, making us very happy homeowners. The front porch has a festive splash of color from geraniums bought at a local greenhouse. And, just for good measure, we'll have another smile from our dear granddaughter. Isn't she beautiful?

 BOTTOM ROW: I found a day late in the month to long arm a months-overdue baby quilt. It is now ready to be gifted. Our sweet girl, her parents, her Auntie Em, and her great-grandma Jeannie (my mom) came for Sunday lunch; a long-overdue nap later in the day found her dreaming sweet dreams on her pink 9-patch quilt. And finally, Sharon and I drove over to Dayton yesterday to visit our dear Frenzie Kay. We took Graeter's Ice Cream - one of Kay's very favorite things!

 

That snapshot of the front porch geraniums prompts me to share these additional pictures of that space. I have had a vintage Ralph Lauren sheet for over a year, all along meaning for it to become cushion covers for the front porch settee. Rather than cut into a perfectly good sheet, I just wrapped the cushions in the sheet, and I think it looks mighty nice, if I do say so myself.

One additional task I hope to complete soon is making a cushion for this brown wicker chair. I've saved foam padding from earlier projects, so my thought is to join those pieces by wrapping batting around them. Then using some pretty floral fabric to cover it. Hopefully, I'll find something suitable in the stash.

The front door is just out of view to the left in that final photo. If you were to come out of that door, to the other side would be the settee and tables that you see in those few earlier pictures.

Now I need to think of what quilting goals to set for myself this month. I really do hope to make long-arming a major part of my June endeavors.

Happy June, Friends! And Happy Quilting, too!

It's June!

As hard as it is to believe, June is upon us. The productivity for me in the sewing room might drop off a bit this month. We are going to be away for about half of it. Traveling! Seeing this great country! Stopping at some bucket list attractions! 

I will share as often as possible here, but I don't look to be as regular at posting as I was in May. And speaking of May, let's have a look at the highlights of the month.

TOP ROW: This first quilt represents several I quilted on the long arm this past month, and two of those were for a bona fide customer! The picture of the piano is to remind me that after 30 years, it has gone to live at someone else's house. All our kids had lessons using this piano, but for the past 10-15 years, it has just gathered dust. Time to move it out and on to someone who'll use it! After the piano was removed, the real dirty work began - pulling up 30-year-old carpet. We will be having wood-like flooring installed as soon as we get home from our vacation, so this dirty job had to be done prior to leaving.

MIDDLE ROW:  My Stepping Stones quilt was a totally fun quilt to make and I just love the results. I made up everything about it and used fabrics already on hand. Center stage are the 4 long applique panels for my Lake Effect quilt. This is the ONLY sewing project to come with me on vacation, so I hope to report some progress soon. Leftovers from my Stepping Stones quilt resulted in this smaller version. 

BOTTOM ROW: The Pinwheel baby quilt was another totally made up quilt that also delights me. What fun those pinwheels are! The final two pictures are patriotic finishes that I was spurred to do before the Memorial Day weekend. Patriotic Dreams is a table topper I made last summer, and quilted in May. Stars and Stripes pillow is a one-day project I did on the 30th.

Here's hoping for a memorable June!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Raccoon Skirmishes

We have a raccoon problem here and they are set on destroying my summer potted flowers. I came down the stairs this morning to look out the front door at THREE of my pretty red geraniums uprooted and potting soil everywhere.

The fact that raccoons reside in the wilderness surrounding our house is no surprise. We have seen them for several years, and I know they eat all birdseed in the feeders every night. They also have been known to raid the garage if we forget to close the door, and they destroyed a few potted flowers last summer.

I worked really hard several days last week to prepare some pretty pots. I mostly stayed with geraniums, pansies, snapdragons, and coleus. I have probably close to two dozen pots set out all around the house and garage. The arrangement above is by our front door. I worked too hard and spent too much money to have it vandalized every night by raccoons.

I have talked about trapping them, but have never followed through on the acquiring of traps and all that entails. After this morning's discovery, I began thinking guns and poison! Militant action! However, I calmed down, and now have two traps borrowed from friends who had a family of raccoons in their attic a couple summers back.

I will keep you updated on future skirmishes.

It's the last day of May! That means it's time for my May wrap up. What good stuff did I accomplish? Here are my 9 selections:

The top row shows my early Ohio Star blocks for the Dreamy Stars quilt, an item from my 2020 goals list. The bird feeder shows a woodpecker on the left (a regular visitor) and a rose-breasted grosbeak on the right (a rare visitor). Then the window picture is from my cleaning and making new curtains for our bedroom. The curtains are made from drop cloths bought on Amazon from the hardware department.

In the middle row, after such success with the bedroom windows, I decided to use leftover curtain fabric to make valances for the sewing room. The middle picture shows me (in the visor) with my card-playing friends, Mindy, Cheryl, Dorothy, and Rhonda. We are wearing our pink for one of our group who is currently in treatment for breast cancer. Since the Komen Race for the Cure was canceled this year, we did our own race at a local park. We took pictures and videos to send to Sally to cheer her as she fights this ugly disease. Then there is the finished Dreamy Stars - quilted, bound and covering our bed! Made from start to finish in about 2 weeks! Wow.

The bottom row begins with several old flower pots that I spruced up with black spray paint. I have so many mismatched pots from over the years, and rather than buy more, I painted them for continuity. I was pleased with the results. Bottom center is that front door picture from above, with 3 of the new-black pots. And the last picture is my Larkspur Stars quilt top. I finished it up today, and took it out to the yard for a picture. I will share more about it in an upcoming post.

Wonder what June will bring? I need to get a plan in place. Perhaps that will comprise an upcoming post, as well.

Here's to June!
Happy Quilting, Friends!

Hello June!

June already! Yaaayyy! I love all the promise of carefree summer days ahead! I anticipate a lot of fun in the new month!

Before we look too far ahead to June, let me wrap up May. I mentioned yesterday that I felt it was a productive month - and here's the proof!

Very few of my monthly collages have contained 5 finished quilt tops, so that alone is noteworthy. A lap quilt, three t-shirt quilts, and a baby quilt - all ready for quilting which will be a priority for June. The cleaning and purging efforts paid off with a tidier kitchen - the counter, the pantry, the fridge, and several drawers are done, with more cabinets in my immediate plans. We painted our kitchen table and chairs and we hosted the Frienzies with a porch luncheon yesterday. 

I look forward to sharing with you all the projects on my horizons - quilting plans, as well as purging plans. Lately, it seems the more I get done, the more I find that I want to do! Whoa! Stay tuned!

Happy Quilting, Friends!