Busy like the bees

...with a little bit of sewing. It’s all good.

I'm going to be as "Readers Digest Condensed" version as possible because I've got a lot going on right now. Katrina was here for Mother's Day weekend and we had a blast--I can’t believe how much I got done, even while talking! A backing for the Antelope Canyon quilt, quilted a machine mat for my Luminaire and prepped the binding for it, and upcycled a pair of jeans for Katrina by inserting a gusset in each pants leg with pieces from a vintage quilt. That was FUN!

Katrina's upcycled jeans

Katrina left that Monday afternoon after treating the Hubs and I to a sushi lunch at a new place close to our home, and took with her the Antelope Canyon and the Girl Gang DIY Sampler quilt tops--she will quilt them at her leisure. I know she has a few projects ahead of mine but I’m hopeful I’ll have both of them back before the end of the year. I won’t check these off my list until they are quilted, bound and labeled. 

The mat I mentioned is for my Luminaire because she is always on top of the table and this could help with lowering the amount of vibration she creates when embroidering--not that I actually feel or see her rocking around--I just thought it would be a good idea. After selecting my fabrics and spray basting them with the batting, I made the decision to free-motion quilt the mat. I told Katrina that I never bonded with my BSR, and decided to try it again. There’s a big difference between free motion quilting a 14” x 38” mat vs a 60” x 72” quilt. I really enjoyed FMQ’ing that smaller piece and believe the BSR and I are getting better acquainted. Of course, I can't give you a photo because I've already placed the mat where it belongs, but rooms will be moved around soon and I can get a photo of it then, if I remember to do it.

So while I was deciding what’s next, my friend Vicki has a new great-grandchild arriving soon and I’m assisting her with the fabric selection and making of a baby quilt. It’s all appliqué (hot glue, of course) and while we are shopping in my stash, we have purchased a cute farm print for the border and possibly there's enough to make the backing (fingers crossed). The pattern is Farm Friends by Kids Quilts:

Vicki wants to use a bit more subdued fabric colors (of which I have plenty). I sent her a photo of what I had culled from my stash. I’m struggling with using pink for the 🐖, because never have I ever seen a pink and red pig…but I wasn’t raised on a farm. (Ditto for a red duck...)

Fabrics pulled for the baby quilt--not all of them made the cut

But wait, there's more! I attended a Haystack Cookies class at the Quilt Shop at Linda Marie's, and it's helping me get my feet wet in the Quiltworx patterns. I love taking a class that teaches a technique, and Vida Anderson is the new education director at the shop and is also a certified Quiltworx instructor. She's a terrific teacher! If you're in our area, I encourage you to sign up for one of her classes. I have signed up for a class with her in September that is for the Sew Kind of Wonderful Mod Owls Revival quilt, and I'm really looking forward to it--I have both of the rulers needed for the quilt and I've never used them. I was thinking of buying the kit that the shop has offered, but Vicki suggested I use batiks and I will—this quilt will be a gift to the Hubs and he loves batiks. 

And this week has been birthday week--the Hubs and two former bosses share their birthdays in the last week in May, and yesterday we met for lunch. It's always a great time to catch up and reminisce--I'm lucky that I get along with most of my former employers! 

Lots of yardwork has also been happening--the Hubs has especially been busy digging, planting, mulching, irrigating--all the yard things. I've been hoeing weeds and getting a good workout in the progress. I promise I will post some photos of what's happened since we moved in, but there is still a lot to be done. The roses are putting on a show. I told a friend the other day that I will always view the yard as a work in progress. I bought four more plants for the front courtyard and pollinator garden on Wednesday, and I know I'll probably buy a few more when Vicki and I head out to another nursery next week. Hubs and I are focused on getting all plants in the ground before we head back to Nashville in a few weeks, and I think we're going to make it just before the high heat sets in. We have had unseasonably cool weather this spring (and I'm grateful) and typically I look at the first of May to the middle of the month as the beginning of summer here, but we had a mild, slightly warm spring, and the heat and high humidity only started arriving this week...along with the showers we desperately needed in April. 

The challenge for me now is getting the baby quilt mentioned above completed within a week (um, that would be a miracle), finish the yard before we leave for Nashville, and deciding if I want to take my sewing machine along--we will be there for two weeks taking care of our great-grandson while our granddaughter returns to work. I already know I need to fix the binding on a quilt I gave our stepdaughter a few years ago, and I have a feeling I'll want to do some sewing in the evenings. The place where we're staying is a suite and appears to be well-lit, but I'll take along a floor lamp to help me. I feel like I've been off-track since Mother's Day weekend and I need to get back to working on my goals, and that means my next project will be the quilting of the Pumpkin Pie quilt. I'll start quilting it when we return from Nashville.

If you got this far, thanks for reading. Today is the Hubs’ birthday, and I baked a strawberry cake for him. But I’m also going to spend a few minutes finishing this little baby bib. The sheep is from the baby quilt pattern I’m about to dive into! 

Go make!