A different kind of week and a finish

The last few days have been interesting?. Ray had back surgery on Friday, August 7. The surgery was scheduled much sooner than expected so he had a flurry of doctor appointments. When we thought he was finally ready, we found out he needed one more test. The hospital scheduled it late on Wednesday, August 5 and all went well. Earlier, we decided it made sense to just stay in Madison from Wednesday until after the surgery. That meant Thursday was a free day.

Our first stop was Olbrich Botanical Gardens. The Blooming Butterflies event was going on so we enjoyed lots of butterflies.

The flowers inside were gorgeous and I loved the colors of this one.

I think I enjoyed our time outside in the gardens even more than seeing the butterflies. I absolutely loved the water lilies. I don't remember seeing so many colors/types of lilies - I only took pictures of a few.

We enjoyed lunch at the Hubbard Avenue Diner in Middleton, WI. We always enjoy meals there. They are known for their pie (we passed this time) and the staff all wear shirts about pie. One I've seen often is I 8 𝝿 (I ate pie). Our waitress was wearing a shirt with 10-🚦𝝿 (the stoplight only had the green light colored), Any ideas? When I asked and she said it was Spanish, I knew there was a reason I'm learning Spanish! Tengo 𝝿 or I have pie.

Last stop of the day was Blue Bar Quilts in Middleton, WI. I left a travel machine to be repaired and found backing for four quilts. The first backing, a black and white print will be used for the quilt tops on either side of it. 

The second backing will also be used for two quilt tops.

It was nice to find backing fabric that I could use for more than one quilt.

I finished the binding on this quilt Thursday night, so I have another finish - another Simple Squares donation quilt. Simply Squares Red with Paw Prints is made with some colorful paw print fabric left after I used it to back a quilt.

The backing is a turquoise fabric that matches the turquoise paws.

I used a larger double loop motif to quilt this.

Size:        56" by 56"

Thread:    Glide 50-wt, top - Linen # 10WG1

                back -Lt Turquoise #32975

Batting:    Dream Cotton                                           
Quilting:   Double Loops

Ray had to be at the hospital at 5:30 AM Friday. He was the first surgery for his doctor that day. All went well and we were on our way home about 2:30 PM. Now he has a lot of restrictions for a few weeks - no bending, no lifting, no twisting, no exercise except walking.... I'm jealous of his ice machine - I never had that for my back surgeries. It is so nice! He has some pain but he also has pain relief for the nerves that were pinched. He's doing well but will be taking it easy for a while. 

It's been quite a week and I am glad this one is behind us. Maybe I'll be in the sewing room a little more this next week.

Hockey Bonus Quilt

I had enough fabric left from the Chicago Blackhawks hockey quilt to make another quilt. I also had some large letters left so I used almost all of the extras to made the Hockey Bonus Quilt. 

I quilted this 72" by 82" quilt with a double loop using Glide #70187 Ruby thread on the top and #BLK3 Shadow thread on the back.

The backing fabric is Plaster of Paris by Stephanie Brandenburg of Frond Design Studios and Northcott. 

I finished this while we were living in Madison and it now resides with the original hockey quilt.

In other news: The day we moved home from Madison, we found that a huge part of a neighbor's walnut tree had fallen in our backyard during a storm the previous night. Huge meaning over 60 feet long and bigger than I can put my arms around. Some of the branches brushed our garage but did not do damage. Most of it was cleared that day by the owner of the tree, the neighbor across the street, and one of our grandsons who was here helping us move home. The damage for us wasn't bad - we lost a 30' maple tree that the walnut tree broke off (the maple wasn't in great shape before the storm) and there was damage to some of Ray's gardens (he had planned to redo one of them next year). The three guys also cut down our maple tree and cleared it away.

We both are enjoying being home.

Ray is slowly regaining some energy. We walk everyday and Ray stays busy with various tasks as his energy allows.  Our neighbors' 14-year-old grandson is mowing our lawn and also helps Ray with the weeding and other yard chores like cleaning up gardens. We pay the young man although he says he doesn't want money, and we give him cookies which he definitely wants!

I am doing a little quilting and stay quite busy with summer produce, normal chores, and baking cookies.

A couple quilt finishes

It's been a while since I posted. Since I've managed to finish a couple of quilts, I thought I'd share. 

The first, Bargello, is a Bargello quilt that doesn't have a pattern. I was just experimenting and am happy that there really is an optical illusion of movement to the quilt which is lying flat. 

I used a fat quarter bundle of fabric, Rainbow Sherbet, by Sarah Thomas of Moda. This donation quilt is 55" by 60'. I quilted it with a loop-de-loop motif and Glide #38201 Steel Blue thread.

The back is a light blue with tiny cream and navy dots while the binding is a navy blue.

The second quilt, Potato Chip Block Quilt, is made with the Potato Chip Block. I was able to make 16 blocks with the fabric left from Bargello.

This quilt is 48" square and will be used as a tablecloth on our screen porch table. I quilted this with a double teardrop that is echoed. Sometimes the double teardrop looks like a heart. It was fun to quilt. I used Glide #38210 Steel Blue thread.

The back is bright pink with flecks of all the right colors! I love finding something in my stash which seems to be perfect for a quilt.

 

Update on Ray: He is getting radiation and is worn out; he has no energy and doesn't feel well. He has to prepare for radiation daily and it is rough. He is over halfway through the treatments and we are both counting the days until he is done. Thank you for the prayers and encouraging words.

Fall Retreat

Our annual fall retreat is close to home and always the same four friends - although sometimes someone is missing and many times people have to come and go. We've been doing this since 2016 and it works for us. I stopped taking pictures of the people and projects a few years ago. However I did take a few photos on my walks around the property. The corn around us was being picked while we were there. The fields are down in the background of the first two pictures.

We stay in this neat older farmhouse where each of us enjoy our own bedroom, and plenty of common space for quilting, knitting, crocheting, reading, relaxing, cooking and, of course, visiting.

I worked on various projects this fall and finished two quilts that just needed the binding. 

Colleen's Farm Animals is a cute 49" square quilt. All of the fabric except the backing was Colleen's. I used a blue with bright color flecks for the back - it was purchased in Holmes County in August. I quilted this with a spiral loop using Glide 40-wt #10877 sterling thread on the top and #30281 blueberry thread on the back.

There is so much texture in this quilt that it's hard to see.

I also finished Pastel Shells. (Ray calls this the Easter Quilt.) I bought the shell fabric, a pastel jelly roll, and the backing fabric (dragon flies) while traveling in August. The border and binding are a Grunge fabric from my scrap basket. This 52" square donation quilt was quilted with meandering using Glide 40-wt #10877 sterling thread.

I also sewed two tops together - I already had the blocks made for both. 

The first is Tumbling Blocks. It still needs a border.

JGQR2C is really the last of J's graduation quilt rejects. When I was cleaning up the red and grays, I realized I had enough pieces for one more quilt. This fabric was for the 2nd graduation quilt that I rejected. It is the third quilt made with the fabric for that quilt.

I enjoyed the retreat. Although I didn't accomplish as much as I used to and using a sewing machine is hard on my body, I am very grateful that I still can sew and spend time with friends. 

One evening I walked outside and saw the remains of the sunset with some fog in the low areas. A beautiful ending to a great weekend.

Colleen's Tiger and Colleen's Giraffe are finished

I have a couple of small finishes to end the month. Each of these began with a panel that had belonged to my friend Colleen. I mostly used fabrics that Colleen had stored with each panel then used a little from my stash, and added backing.

Colleen's Tiger is a cute tiger panel with 3 added borders. It finished at 37" by 38". 

I used Glide 40-wt, #10877, Sterling thread to quilt this with a meander stitch. The blue/green border is made with HSTs.

The back is muted colors, a piece of fabric I purchased this past summer for my stash.

Colleen's Giraffe is a darling giraffe panel and finished at 41" by 42". I sewed 4 borders to the panel. The blue/green border is using the same fabric as the tiger quilt but I just used yardage instead of HSTs due to a limited amount.

I again used Glide 40-wt, #10877, Sterling thread to quilt this but quilted double loops.

This is backed with the same muted color fabric as the other.

Both of these quilts, Colleen's Tiger, and Colleen's Giraffe, will be donated in her memory.

When I think of the past, 
I smile because you are in it, 
my friend.

Grandson J's Graduation Quilt

Grandson J's graduation quilt, Pathways, is finally delivered. 

You may recall that there were a couple of rejects that I made multiple quilts from (most aren't finished yet). I am delighted with this quilt for J. 

The Pathways pattern is by Lorna Shapiro who has a note telling how she finally figured out there weren't obstacles in her path; her path was the obstacles. I made the pattern a little larger by adding 2 rows and 1 column. I bought the fabric at Quilt Peddler in Fennimore, WI, and had some excellent help getting just the right shades of red and gray. I love that shop and the people there.

Pathways is 64" by 89", a large twin size which should work well for a college dorm bed.

I free-motion quilted this with 40-wt Glide thread using Battleship gray #10430 on the top and Sterling Gray #10877 on the back. This is the first quilt that I basted on my long arm so I could roll the quilt back and forth to stitch. After basting, I wrote the messages in the red areas. Then I used an overall horizontal stipple to fill in the background areas.

Of course, I like everything I wrote on the quilt but I'll share a some of the many quotes/messages I included: 

  Act as if what you do makes a difference because it does.

    When you have exhausted all of the possibilities, remember - you haven't.

    Today is a great day to have a good day.

    Text your grandparents.

You might be able to read some of the text in the pictures.

The back is Midnight Paradise by Bernatex that Ray chose, and it is perfect for this quilt.

It's amazing and perfect that the quilted words don't stand out on the front. Most people who look at the quilt have no idea that there is writing. The quilting is barely visible on the back which is rather busy. 

Grandson J will be leaving for college in a weeks. I'm happy he can take a tangible symbol of our love with him.