Celebrate America!

As Lee Greenwood sings, "I'm proud to be an American!" Celebrate our great country today! And every day!

We will be keeping 9-month-old Reagan for the holiday weekend, so who know how much celebrating we will do, but that's okay. It's perfectly fine to substitute time with our sweet granddaughter all to ourselves!

 Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne 

 

 

The Goals for 2025

Since I mentioned in yesterday's post that I had not made progress on my goals (or as much as I thought I should), I thought perhaps it would be a good idea to do an actual assessment of progress made. Wouldn't it be nice to prove that I am getting things done, even when it seems as if I'm not?

Goals were posted here; I will list them in abbreviated form below along with some commentary for each.  

1. Grist Mill made with my selection of navy and cheddar fabrics

    ~~ I misnamed the pattern I had; same designer (Pam Buda), different pattern (Cotton Ridge Farm). I am making it now, and have plans for it to be finished to the flimsy stage by the end of next week. The pic below shows progress as of a week ago; since then I've added 1 full border (cheddar) and half of the next border (HSTs). After that will come a navy border, another HST border and a 4" navy border to finish it out. 

2. Wensleydale made with my foundation pack and Tilda fabrics.

    ~~ I have a retreat coming up in August. My hope it to have all the fabrics cut (after finding the YouTube video for measurements) and work on paper piecing it at retreat.

3. Aurora made with a selection of blues pulled from my stash. 

    ~~I have not given this quilt a single thought, but I do still want to make it.

4. and 5. - Lake Effect and Grandmother's Flower Garden - both of these are seeing (or have seen) significant progress this year. 

    ~~ Lake Effect: I have the long side border attached, and have removed excess hexies from parts that were too wide. I am stitching these extra hexies to the bottom border, and will attach when it fits. I'm getting so close, and I am doing a pretty good job of staying on task with it.

    ~~ GFG: I made fantastic progress on this quilt while in Florida (Jan-Feb-Mar). I have a soft yellow solid for a border. I've taken no further time on it. Here is the last time I blogged about it. I'm actually considering making a few half-flowers to fill in around the top and bottom edges so it will be less curvy.

6. Winnemucca Fabric

    ~~ I have considered quite a few patterns; I have added a few extra fabrics to the grouping (non-Winnemucca). I have not begun anything yet.

7. Smoked Cheddar - A finish!! Happy about that.

That's all. I cannot believe I didn't have a goal involving the long-arm machine. I need to be using it. I will definitely put forth some effort in that direction in the next 6 months. 

One finished quilt that was nowhere on my radar when the year began, and therefore not on the goals list, is my Scrappy KF 4-Patch. It was a delight to stitch. I'd used all of my non-KF scraps from the 2.5" collection, and had all the 2.5" squares of KF fabrics just teasing and tempting me. By gosh, I went to work on this and I still love, love, love the result!

 I'm glad to be getting a few finishes and some decent progress on those goals. Maybe I've not done as poorly as I thought. It's good to check in and take stock, I suppose.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne 

Hello July!

Reality check! It's almost incredible to realize that we are already in July. July! How fast we find ourselves waving 'bye-bye' to half of 2025. But that's where we find ourselves. Reality check, indeed. 

 I have to say I haven't progressed as far on my list of goals as I had hoped. This means that I absolutely must get myself focused on these goals as we slide into the second half of this year. 

This past month posed more of a setback in goal efforts on two fronts: a 2-week sinus infection and the flooded basement. I am pleased to report that I feel better and the basement is dry. We have had extraordinary rainfall totals in the last 30 days - like nearly 12"!! These last two downpours (3.8") have not impacted our basement. Hallelujah! 

So yes, Goals. I'm gonna' get after it in these next 6 months. Seriously. 

Okay, let's take a look at the June wrap-up collage. Some sewing successes, sure, and happily a lot more family time.  

 TOP ROW: A super-proud Gramma Jayne with her two granddaughters, Reagan and Cate. We don't get too many opportunities to have them together, so this picture is one of my favorites. Early in the month, we discovered the basement flood, and all our plans suddenly were derailed. One big positive in the sewing room was having my Featherweight serviced. I am using it with lots of satisfaction since bringing it home. 

MIDDLE ROW: Late in the month, we were able to correct the basement flooding with a plumber who dug out a new drainage ditch and corrected the issues we were having. Just last Saturday, we attended an annual picnic and fireworks party at our friends' house. Little Reagan and her parents attended the same picnic, and of course we made the most of our play time.

BOTTOM ROW: My mother, 88 years young, cuddles Reagan on Sunday afternoon, when all of us went over to visit. The weather has played such a big role in our world this last month, I thought including a screenshot from the precipitation map was worthwhile. And, finally, the work on Cotton Ridge Farm has continued sporadically throughout the month. I am currently working on the outer border row of HSTs.

Looking ahead to what July will hold, all our home-oriented efforts will be toward prepping for the family reunion we will host at the end of the month. We do this every year, and I think this is #7 coming up. (Note to self: find the date for when we held the first one.) We've got our lists ready, and will be tackling small-ish items.

Sewing plans include finishing Cotton Ridge Farm and getting the long-arm going. I know. I've been saying that since the first of April, but I really will do it this month.

Okay, I'm off to stitch! 

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne

Show And Tell from the Frankfort Girls

We met yesterday a Jan's for a lovely brunch. Jan is well known for her over-the-top hostessing skills, and our theme was National Golf Cart Day (which was actually a couple of weeks ago, but Jan and her husband used to own and operate a golf course, so she went with it anyway). Our place mats were golf greens made of turf; all manner of golf memorabilia adorned the table and all the serving bowls and utensils were green. It was a ton of fun.

Here are 4 quilts that various girls had for sharing. 

First, Jan had just gotten this from the quilter and was excited to show it off to us. We'd all pooh-poohed the idea of making a wedding ring quilt, and she set out to do one! Gorgeous!

Helen had two for sharing. One was inspired by a quilt that Sharon P. made at retreat and then I imitated soon after. Made with a layer cake, this pattern has ZERO waste!

Helen's second quilt was this fast and super-easy 3-yard quilt from one of the books all of us share around.

Our final show and tell comes from Becky, who is all in on handwork lately. She is using 1-inch hexies to make this flower garden quilt from a jelly roll by Minick and Simpson. I believe she called the pattern Jelly Roll Garden.

She is making fantastic progress on it. It will be so patriotic. The paths look rather gray in this photo, but the fabric is actually a print of blue and off-white.

These girls always keep me inspired. I hope everyone has a source of inspiration as wonderful as these ladies are.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne 

Sewing With Sharon

Isn't it strange how true it is that when we retire, we suddenly become busier than ever? We once thought that after removing the 9-5 from our routine, we'd be free to do as we please. The reality is that we - often unintentionally - over-fill that time with other activities and obligations.

As much as we want to sew together every Tuesday, we sometimes have to cancel. And lately, what with illnesses and basement floodings, we have been cancelling a lot.

Finally this week we sewed together and OMG!! I can't wait to show you Sharon's project!

She has a new grand-niece that everyone is in her family is excited about. For new baby Scotlyn (not sure of spelling), Sharon and her daughter Amanda are making a very special heirloom-quality quilt. Amanda cross-stitched 9 floral panels on linen. Gorgeous workmanship! So intricately delicate!

Now, Sharon is stitching borders around them with pretty Tilda prints. She selected colors to coordinate with the cross-stitched flowers.

Tuesday's efforts resulted in quite a pretty center portion. Sharon is considering option for a narrow inner border and then a nice, wide outer border. You just can't go wrong with those Tilda prints. Sharon is thinking that she will keep the quilting to a minimum, with stitch-in-the-ditch as her main option.

I am sure I will get to see the finished quilt with borders and quilting at some point. I will try to remember to share it here when I do.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne 

After a Spa Visit...

...one feels spry and rearin' to go!

After over a year of just sitting around gathering dust, I took my little Featherweight to have a tune-up. Last I recall using her, stitches were coming undone and seams were loose as a result. Timing, I'm sure. Anyway, she now has a new lease on life and sits in front of me as I reacquaint myself with her.

 

I've been working on Cotton Ridge Farm, but I did not have the next step ready for sewing. Because I wanted to sew RIGHT NOW, I dug out an old tub of leftovers from a long-ago project. I stitching some random parts together. By gosh, I may now have something workable here.

I needed about an hour at the Featherweight by the time I felt like I was familiar enough to return to stitching on Cotton Ridge Farm. I will have to take into account that problems frequently arise when one switches machines in the middle of a project. 

My next step for Cotton Ridge was the first of 4 borders - a plain 2.5-inch border. That is now accomplished. Next, I have a gazillion HSTs to make.

My Featherweight is a 1951 model. I got her in April of 2019. In six years, I've not used her much at all.  

Lots of Featherweight owners actually name their machines; I have not, as yet. I'm not really sure I will. I'd probably just forget it.

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne 

Cotton Ridge Farm Progress

Before y'all start thinking I've dropped off the face of the earth, I figure I'd better check in here and do a quick progress report. 

Last time I checked in, I had just begun piecing the blocks for Cotton Ridge Farm, a Pam Buda/Heartspun Quilts pattern. That was almost a full three weeks ago, for goodness' sake.

Even though I haven't been posting to the blog, I have been steadily making these blocks - 30 in all. The name of this block is Colorado Beauty, and it is a fun one to make. A bit fussy with many points to match and trimming required, but all of mine turned out beautifully. It's a joy to make fussy blocks when they turn out as nicely as these have.

Many factors have played into my slow progress on making these blocks. Instead of using the chain-piecing strategy, I made each block individually. I was very diligent about trimming when instructed and I pinned intersections to insure accuracy. I pressed often, too. All these steps definitely slow a quilter's progress, but my results have made me glad to have taken this approach.

I should give credit to Pam Buda's instructions, too. I questioned, at first, her need for making the HSTs so large and then having to trim down to 2.5 inches. However, every single one of my block were spot on with matching up intersections and points. Hats off to well-written instructions! 

The unfinished block measures 6.5 inches. I used 3 different dark blue fabrics and 6 different light/neutral fabrics. One of the neutral fabrics will also be used for the setting blocks and setting triangles.

 I opted to use the stronger of the two yellow prints for the setting blocks. It just seemed a more striking quilt than the more subtle one. In the photo below, I have the two yellow prints laid out on the bed with the blocks placed on top. Tell me which one you would have chosen.

Yesterday, I sewed all the rows together with the triangles on all the ends. My next step involves the final 9 seams to put this center portion together. The pattern says this part should measure 43"x51.5" - I will let you know if mine achieves that.

You see what awaits me, don't you? A gazillion sawtooth triangles - not just one border of them, but two!

I have some triangle paper I will use for these. No sense making it harder than it is, right?

Here's another look at where I currently stand on this quilt. I attempted to arrange the blocks so that the lightest centers are evenly spaced around the quilt. 

Two other factors have kept my sewing to bare minimum: illness - both DH and myself and flooding. 

We have spent most of the month dealing with congestion and coughs! Both of us hauled ourselves to urgent care; DH actually went twice. Mine turned out to be allergy driven, and I have had good results with the meds I was prescribed. DH just cannot seem to shake his cough; so he doctors on.

Because we have had so much rain in our area, we have been dealing with a flooded basement. In 32 years of living here, this is the first time we've ever had this issue. We haven't fully finished with all the cleanup and removal of wet items. It is not a finished basement, so fortunately no major losses for us, but we must get it dried out. At most, we had about 3" of water throughout.

Hope to share more quilting news soon!

Happy Quilting, Friends!

Jayne