A fun day and a little sewing!

We had the honor of watching our 10-year-old grandson play his guitar and sing for the Pink Tour Benefit today. He is a fantastic guitarist and the place he recently bought a guitar asked him to be a part of the benefit. We are so proud that he was willing to perform. It was a fun day!

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I finally did a little sewing! I made a knitting project bag. I used a free pattern from AllPeopleQuilt.com and the bag is about 13" by 18". I bought the fabric at Missouri Star last month. I did a little quilting on the outside of the bag - I just HAD too!

The inside has pockets. The color of the inside is lime green.

The long handle slips through the short handle. I've heard these bags called a few different names so I'm really not sure what is correct.

I like this - I wasn't sure if I would since it doesn't securely close but I think it will be great.

Too busy?!

I've been so busy that I'm not getting any quilting time!

We will be meeting our oldest son and his family soon for a week-long vacation together. I'm in the mist of planning some crafts/activities. I have a number of ideas so I'm trying things and gathering supplies. The last time we were together, these five grandchildren greeted me with "Did you bring crafts?". The oldest, a granddaughter, and I have been hatching ideas. She requested a Treasure Hunt and I think I have a great one planned. 

Ray and I celebrated our 47th wedding anniversary on June 13. Where does the time go?! We're hoping to celebrate many more.

A friend and I took a knitting class from Susan B Anderson in Madison, Wisconsin. It was called Smooth Operator Socks and we learned how to do a really neat heel. 

The yarn I used is Circus Stripes from Knit Circus. They sponsored Susan's workshop. In addition to the heel, it was nice to learn how to make the socks match.

Our garage is done except for the gutters. We finally have electricity. Ray spent some time today waxing one of the cars inside - he loved it!

Garage Update

Garage Update:

It's almost done! The work on this door will be finished this week. Then we'll just need electricity - we are already on the electrician's list.

The process has been interesting with a few hidden blessings. We ordered a 7' tall door with windows. Another customer ordered this 8' tall door and then changed his mind. We were offered the door in place of ours. Who needs windows? That extra foot is great for opening the hatch backs on our vehicles!

Somehow we didn't order the side door and the windows??! The lumber yard must know us well - everything is perfect. We didn't know we wanted windows that opened with screens! They are great. 

The roll up door in the back was supposed to be 5' wide. Our neighbor thought we might be sorry we didn't order a 6' door but it was already ordered. Another fluke blessing, somehow we received a 6' door!

You can see the sidewalk along the side of the garage in the above photo. I love it! And that little bit of walkway in the back is for the garbage cans.

Ray has been busy organizing and moving into his storage/shop area. We are getting rid of a number of things. He is moving from an 8' by 10' shed into a 9' by 24' area. It is getting full?! I guess it must be like a sewing studio!

Baby Quilt Done!

It's been crazy busy around here but I did manage to get this baby quilt done. I bought the fabric when we were at Missouri Star in May.

• The parents decided not to find out the sex of this child who is due in late summer. The front of the quilt is all flannel except the inner narrow red border and the binding which are cotton. The back is Minkee and the batting is Dream Cotton.

I quilted this with a walking foot. The center has diagonal lines following the diagonals on the front of the quilt. The outer border has lines parallel to the edges of the quilt. Oops - looks like a shadow of my hand at the bottom of the photo.

The red parts of this 47" square quilt are really orange-red.

I hope the new parents like it as much as I do.

How I spent my money...

On our way home yesterday, we enjoyed lunch with Ray's brother and his lovely lady. It's always fun to spend time with these two.

Thought I should include a picture of us too. Can you tell the guys are brothers? Ray is older by 14 months.

I promised to share my treasures from our trip to Missouri Star Quilt Company. I went with a list this time and didn't stray too much!

First, I have four layer cakes for children's quilts.

This flannel layer cake is for a baby quilt with the yellow dot flannel as a border. The orange/red Minkee (in the background) will be the back and the orange/red fabric on the right will be the binding.

The two navy flannel pieces are for borders on some flannel quilts that are works in progress. The knitting sheep fabric was an impulse purchase. I think it will make a great knitting project bag or two.

 

I needed a few notions; I really did need the needles and the batting tape. The quilting gloves will be used when my current ones wear out. Those red glasses were already used today! They help see the tonal value of different colors.

I didn't plan to buy clothing but I did! I really wanted the dark teal t-shirt but they only had very large sizes. The pink shirt is a t-shirt while the gray shirt is a hooded sweatshirt.

I was given the bracelet chain on the right when I walked into the main shop. You can purchase charms but you get free ones when you spend a certain amount at one time. I evidently spent the required amount three times!

On our way home, we stopped in Cameron, Missouri at Crossroads Quilting. I bought this paper piecing pattern. This was an impulse purchase but something I've thought about doing for some time. I hope to begin it later in the summer.

Yesterday we stopped at Delve in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I wanted more of the fabric that is on the far left and they had it! The yellow fills a spot in my stash while the piece on the right was just neat - definitely an impulse purchase! 

Now we are home - we are unpacked, the laundry is done, we have groceries, and we are on the move. Yup, the calendar has something on it for most days. I also have a couple of big non-quilting projects coming up - we are back to reality! 

I did find a little time to begin that baby quilt today. I hope to have it done or very close to done by the end of June.

Missouri Star Quilt Company visit

We had a beautiful day for traveling yesterday although it was windy. Gas in Missouri was just $1.98. Nice!

When we arrived in Chillicothe, Missouri, we were able to take a walk before dinner. We once again stayed at the Comfort Inn there - it's very nice! The owners have now built a Fairfield Inn next door so there should be plenty of rooms.

This morning we headed to Hamilton; it's about a 30-40 minute drive. We wanted to be there when the stores opened at 9. We were a few minutes early and met a couple we had said good morning to at the motel. They were from northern Michigan. 

The shopping began and I was armed with a list! I was able to find most things. I'll share pictures of fabric when we get home and unpacked.

Lots of people were arriving for the 1st Quilt Academy which begins tomorrow. I was so surprised to run into Laura, owner of Prairie Star Retreat Center - she lives 17 miles from me! Later I ran into Sue, a long arm quilter that I often see at Prairie Star retreats.

We had to stop by Man's Land. Ray didn't stay long - I think he wanted to see everything and he did carry all of my packages along with an umbrella!

A new mural was in progress.

The first drops of rain started about 11AM and it didn't stop. We had lunch as the Mama Hawk's, a small bakery that is new since we last visited. Just as we paid for our order, the power went out. Ray had ordered a chicken salad sandwich, I had decided on a panini, and we both were getting soup. Some quilters from California join us as we waited. Most everyone was visiting across the room so our wait went quickly. I think the power was off for 15-20 minutes.

After we left MSQC, we headed to Cameron, Missouri and visited Crossroads Quilting. It's a great shop with some very nice people working there. Then we headed on north to our rental that is responsible for this trip. You can read about that here. 

The rain stopped a while before we arrived - I'm not sure it even rained here. The sun may come out after while. I am sitting with my feet up and Ray is outside taking photos. We are in a small barn that is all done in a rustic, outdoorsy decor. 

There are gardens, a pond, some little waterfalls, more flowers, interesting landscape... This place is gorgeous - both inside and out. 

It is very comfortable and Ray is loving it. He just got a great picture of a bull frog and a water lily before moving on to the clematis. I think he's taken over 50 photos already!

I'm so glad we are here to enjoy this place. It has been a great trip so far and tomorrow we get to meet some family for lunch - we are looking forward to another great day!

Teal and Black Quilt done; Outside work is moving along

All projects seem to be moving forward around here.

First is the Teal and Black Quilt. I really like this and at the moment, it resides in my living room so I can look at it. Will it end up as a donation quilt? I haven't decided yet.

I saw this on Facebook one day and knew I had to make it. I found the pattern at Quilting is more fun than Housework. I used leftover squares of blacks and brights. The teal blue fabric was in my stash and really pops with the black. 

The quilt is 48 1/2" by 64 1/2". I used Dream Cotton for the batting and Aurifil thread for the piecing and quilting. The quilting is squares echoing the parts of the large square blocks. 

The back is black with a small white dot. I added the leftover teal blue to add a little interest.

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Our concrete guy, Alan, worked so hard to get our project finished. The concrete is done! Alan was constantly working around rain storms. Once he dug up swampy dirt and replaced it with dry stuff. More than once, he replaced very wet gravel with dry gravel. He hand troweled every inch of our new concrete and there was a lot. 

front view

We have had inches of rain since the concrete was put down by the house (way at the back in the above photo) and we haven't had any water in our basement. Before, when we had a lot of rain, we always got tiny rivers in the basement of our 100 year old house. I've wondered many times if the concrete near the house was causing water to run into the foundation. Now we know it was and we know it's been fixed - YAY!

Back of house view

The drain in the garage (middle of the standing water in the photo) gets uncovered tomorrow. 

We are now in the concrete curing mode meaning we wait. In 2 - 3 weeks when heavy vehicles can safely drive on the concrete, the work on the garage will begin. Until then, Ray will spend lots of time in the yard trying to figure out how he wants to redo the gardens and the parts of the lawn that have been destroyed. 

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Ray signed up for a photography workshop in Kansas City in another week or so. I thought it sounded wonderful because we could stop at Missouri Star Quilt Company on our way home. Well, the workshop was cancelled. We were able to cancel our Airbnb rental near Kansas City but we weren't that lucky with the VRBO rental near Hamilton, MO. So instead of forfeiting our fee, we're going to go to Hamilton and shop at MSQC. I think we really did get lucky with the VRBO rental's refund policy!

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I noticed this today. 

Ray was photographing flowers (lilacs) last night while I was gone. Guess he needed a black background. The black fabric is from my stash - he just finds whatever he needs. Most of the time I don't even know he's used something because he puts it back before I miss it.

I think I'd better work on my list for Missouri Star...

Hope you all enjoy the weekend. 

Happy Mother's Day