Batik Knots is done

Note: If you subscribe to my blog via email and received notification of this post, the new system is working for you. There is nothing else you need to do! If you did not get a notification, please subscribe again. 

Batik Knots is another donation quilt. It is about 60" square and made with some 2 1/2" colored batik squares that I had. The white pieces are Moda Bella cotton. The sashing, borders, and binding are a bright navy that was in my stash.

The corners and the center squares in the blocks are a batik that DS1 chose for a mask a year ago. It's so nice to not be making masks! 

I free-motion quilted this with the following motif. I'm not sure the motif has a name - I call it 3 petals with echo. 

It's easy to fill spaces. I quilted the motif quite large on this quilt.

I used Dove gray #2600 Aurifil thread to quilt this. The backing is from my stash.

Health update: The meds are working - I am quite easily able to handle the pain now except when I overdo. Saturday I was on my feet all morning and then I was down for almost 3 days with some bad pain. I'm better today and will be more cognizant of what I am doing. Most days I am walking 14 minutes on a treadmill while hanging on. It's nice to get some exercise. 

Notice to email followers

I am in the process of trying to change the way you get emails from my blog if you follow by email. A number of blog friends have switched to follow.it and I thought I'd try it. (Do remember my mind has a lot of drugs these days and my thinking could be impaired.) Anyway I hope it works - I'll be switching over in the next day or so. I'll make sure I have a new post by the weekend so if you don't get an email by Sunday night, you may have to search for my blog and re-subscribe. 

All of this is happening because this notice came out a while back:

FollowByEmail widget (Feedburner) is going away 
You are receiving this information because your blog uses the FollowByEmail widget (Feedburner). 
Recently, the Feedburner team released a system update announcement , that the email subscription service will be discontinued in July 2021. 
After July 2021, your feed will still continue to work, but the automated emails to your subscribers will no longer be supported. If you’d like to continue sending emails, you can download your subscriber contacts. 

Finishes and more!

I have both a quilting finish and a knitting finish.

This quilt is called Daises - the center of each block and the cornerstones are all daisies.

The yellow is a Moda Bella Cotton. The other colors (except for the daisies) are hand dyed. I bought two fat quarter packs a number of years ago in the Outer Banks. The pattern is called the Economy Quilt Block. I added sashing between the blocks.

This donation quilt is 58" square. I quilted it with a walking foot in diagonal straight lines using Aurifil #1135 50-weight yellow thread. The stitching is on the same diagonal as the colors.

The backing is a yellow fabric that was printed a few years ago for the Iowa Shop Hop. It has boys and girls riding bicycles.

My knitting finish is an afghan that I made following Michelle Hunter's Building in Color book. I learned  more about knitting in color and was glad I decided to make the quilt. I did change the border - I crocheted it rather than knit it. The only reason was variety. The afghan is about 40" by 54".

At the recent retreat, I worked on this quilt and got the blocks put together.

I also made some logcabin blocks.

And I put together lots of 4-patches for another quilt.

I hope to have another finish soon.

Getting back to normal

We are slowly getting back to normal. A week ago we went to a grandson's baseball game. It was so ice to take our chair and sit on the sideline without face masks. On the way home, we both commented that the evening felt normal. 

Last weekend, we attended a family graduation party. We loved seeing our extended family on my side. It's been a long time. Two of my three brothers were there along with many of nieces, nephews, great niece, great nephews and three of our grandchildren. We were outside but it just felt normal. Here I am with my oldest and youngest brothers.

And then I went on a quilting retreat with 3 friends. We along with a couple of other friends were at a quilting retreat when Illinois began shutting down in March, 2020. There was lots of visiting, eating, and some sewing. It was a wonderful, normal, time. We were at a farmhouse a few miles from my house. Here are some pictures.

The Barn which is a wedding venue.

One afternoon we sat and visited in the corncrib
which is outfitted with a table, chairs, and lights.

The House

A favorite spot to talk with husbands via cellphones.

A comfy swing

One morning I spent about an hour napping
in this hammock.

Update on my health: The doctors finally have my pain somewhat controlled. There are some side effects to some of my meds but I'm dealing with them. I use a cane because periodically one of my legs will give out. Ray is still doing most things here but I am able to do more and yesterday I began exercising again although it is minimal right now. I will see the surgeon to hopefully schedule surgery in mid-September. I was notified by letter that my bone health doctor is retiring at the end of July. I was waiting for a call to see what was happening with my case and was very pleasantly surprised to get a call saying that he was retiring from Endocrinology and would keep some bone health patients. I am one of those patients! He is nationally know in the Bone Health field and I am delighted. As of today, I am halfway thru the first 6 months of bone building. I need 6 months before the surgery can be done.