Hope and Hands2Help

With a little help from 'friends'...I think I got my quilt mojo back a bit. I have completed my Straits of Mackinac quilt and will have pictures soon, but in the meantime, Gudrun from GE Designs inspired me to quilt again.  May 3rd, she hosted her second Quarantine Quilt Along. The pattern was available for a small donation to a fund she was raising to gift to some charities local to her.  $35,000 was raised for her efforts! It was an all around 'feel good' event. She titled her quilt, Hope and it has indeed brought some!
I used florals from my stash that were Robyn Pandolph fabrics from years ago. It measures about 38" square and will go to the Little Lambs Foundation in Utah for the Hands2Help effort inspired by Sarah at Confessions of a Fabric Addict.
From her page...
  For those of you who aren't familiar with Little Lambs Foundation, it is a non profit 501(c)3 organization operating out of Utah which provides comfort kits to children ages newborn to 17 years old who are transitioning into foster care, emergency shelters or who have been hospitalized, by providing them with a little comfort in a bag.

This made me happy to sew :-) and inspired by Nancy at Peace and Grace Quilting, I tried to take some more interesting pictures of it :-)

From around my front yard...HOPE

I have continued to sew masks for neighbors and have been rewarded! I cracked up when I saw these...and they were very tasty too!

So thank you, Gudrun for a lovely and fun quilt along and pattern.
And thank you, Sarah for yet another year of inspiring quilts to comfort!
Linking here to Confessions of a Fabric Addict for quilt progress.

April 2020

The center of Straits was finally sewn together and I started working on the border. This is a quarter of it, folded up on my ironing board. I think I finally realized how big this thing will be! 94" X 94"  Oh My!  Not sure I need quilts that big unless they are going on a bed somewhere. HA!

Then I put it aside and started sewing masks like so many other quilters.  Tried a few styles.  Hand fun sewing some kid size and one for a little girl's doll...who is named Elinor like my sweet black kitty. 💗💗💗 

I'm not very fast but I'm sewing them up for neighbors and truck drivers and grocery clerks.  My local nurses haven't been asking for them much yet.  But I'll be ready if they do.  So that's where I am...with my pup, Luke and sweet Marianne keeping me company while my hubby is busy with whatever he finds to do.
Ahhhh, what to say about this odd time we are living in.  I'm praying for the health and emotional strength for many...individuals, groups like those on the front lines, communities,...the world.  We are seeing sadness like never before as well as the heartening witness of some good and some very brave acts. We will all have the choice to grow during this time. 
"May our Lord Jesus Christ Himself and God our Father, who has loved us and has given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work."  2 Thessalonians 2:16,17

March 2020

Still moving kind of slow in the sewing department but look at this adorable picture of Marianne blessing my new quilt. She is doing fairly well these days and we are enjoying them with her. There's a peek of Luke sleeping in the living room, charging his batteries to go for a long run later.

One thing keeping me in the slow lane is pressing the Straits pieces.  I finally figured out a plan I can live with and am halfway through pressing and sewing the sashing to rows. It's not perfect but with some steam and my tailor's clapper that NeedledMom (Thank you, Mary!)recommended to me, I am slowly making some headway.  It's easy to find something else to do ;-)

Also in the very slow stitching department is my applique project.  This was to be machine applique but I didn't like the look so I'm doing the applique by hand. It is coming along but I'm not moving very fast.  I love Sharon's inspiration for fabric and design though so I will keep it going and hope to enjoy it finished someday soon. Here is one corner on it's way.

 We are expecting rain here soon on this dry, California coast. It's like anticipating a party here in Cambria. People get thrilled about the prospect of rain. :-)   I hope your weekend is shaping up with something happy in it.
I'll be linking this to Confessions of a Fabric Addict for the Friday shares.  Go check out the quilty inspiration. 

A UFO Finish

Not feeling up to picking up the Straits piecing without Elinor here, I pondered what to do.  A squirrel trail led me to Pinterest where an unrelated inspiration sparked my interest.  I saw an image and then a short video by Christina Cameli and found a design that I wanted for my Dandi Annie quilt of January last year. So Marianne and I headed upstairs to the longarm and quilted my Positively Bohemian.  Christina's design is symmetrical and consistent...mine is a far cry from that (LOL) but fortunately, it is a forgiving design that I really had a good time quilting. My DH does not love all this pink (coral) and lime green but I do!

The fabric by Robin Pickens is very fun and happy. I think she might even have a kit available (which is a better way to go than the FQ's) if you're interested. Funny, I looked back in my posts to see when I made the quilt top. I had written that for Christmas (2018), I had gifted myself the fat quarter bundle of this Dandi Annie.  Well, guess what I asked for this last Christmas... Robin's line that came out last fall, Painted Meadow.  I'm seeing a fan trend here.  HA!  I have a pattern picked out and plans but they will have to wait for awhile.  But can you blame me for wanting it?  Look at these beautiful bees!

Linking to Confessions of a Fabric Addict. See all the Friday shares!

Elinor

Well, I kind of lost steam here and stopped sewing.  Elinor continued to lose her battle and we had to say good bye last week. The last days were blessed in that she was still interested in eating and drinking and able to get around all right. But we mostly just stayed together in the family room while she rested in front of the fire and helped me work on the projects on the big square coffee table.

It is still hard to process and Marianne didn't want to eat much for awhile.  But thankfully she is doing much better with it now and I am trying to focus on being grateful that we were able (with the help of our vet) to let her go very gently from us here at home.  It's hard to write about as my heart still aches for her.

But there are lots of happy memories of her.

Helping with quilt photography

Pressing matters...

Quilt blessing...

Group binding help...

Binding application...

Family time...

And making sure I kept the fire going...

She is always very dear and in our hearts.
While she was here, I laid out the applique for sewing and sewed all the blocks and sashings at least into rows for the Straits quilt.  With Marianne's and Luke's help I will get back to that soon. I'm thankful I have so many ways to remember and cherish this sweet girl.  
Sorry for the sad news but thank you for reading. 

January 2020

I've had my pedal to the metal pretty much continuing with work on my Straits of Mackinac here. First goal was to complete the 532 triangle in a square blocks which was quite a challenge...so I rewarded myself with a purchase of more of these lime green baskets. HA!

Fortunately, I have not been working alone.  Marianne has been with me each step of the way.

The iron is not on here but Marianne has taken to wanting to be close to it when it's hot! She's cold as she is kind of skinny and dealing with both kidney disease and possibly lymphoma.  Lots of veterinary things going here.  She's doing actually pretty well with fluids and meds and heating pads. Still being a happy, active cat and keeping me on my toes. I have baskets etc to block her from getting close to the iron when I'm using it.

The next step was to sew most of these into 84 rows for sashing.  I am well on my way and happy to say this step is going much more quickly.
First one...

And now in the morning light, 55 are completed and pressed...

Laying all the blocks and sashing out is going to be a challenge. I need a big design floor!  I think to help with this step though I'm going to see if i can sew sashing to a side of each block and then have bigger pieces to move around. 

My dear Elinor has been helping as well...keeping the blocks pressed.

She is also dealing with health challenges and I'm afraid we are losing the battle. She has always been the sweetest little hermit cat.  Most only know her by her picture. When she will eat she is getting her favorite special food. My heart is heavy but I'm cherishing each moment that she is still in comfort.

As Confessions of a Fabric Addict is always my inspiration to get a blog post going, I'm linking to hers.  Go check out all the other quilty shares on her Friday blog post.

The Friday before Christmas!

I seem to be in the middle of a few projects here which is kind of different for me. But it has made celebrating the Season a bit more fun....especially as I've avoided cleaning the house so far ;-)
Straits of Mackinac took the forefront for awhile.  I have four more blocks to sew together. 

The flowers for Autumn Bouquet are languishing a bit.  I have seven more to stitch together.

Temecula's Tiny Tree is what got most of the attention.  I had fun sewing the finished size 2 1/4" blocks into the tree.  The background pieces gave me some fits and I had to re-do them using my second choice of fabric.  The problem may have been that my seam to sew the blocks together was too small and thus the blocks too big ...rendering the background measurements too small.  I may test this out and see if I can get it right using the pieces I originally cut for it....or I'll just cut them bigger and try to keep all those points for the finish.  It was a lot of fun sewing those little blocks each day.

This also needs a bit more quilting on it. But it's a Tree!

Another project popped up on Quilt Doodles blog.  She designs a lot of cute applique designs that she sells on Etsy and showcased one with a red mixer...just like my sister's!
Had to make this for her :-)

I'm linking here to Confessions of a Fabric Addict for Whoop it up Fridays. Hop over there for some great inspiration!  
And Merry Christmas to you all!  I pray that God's Gift of His Son, Jesus is in your hearts as you celebrate!