So, the last time I posted, yes, things weren’t good, but they were as crazy as they are now. Indiana (where I live) and several other states have mandated “shelter at home” to try to stop the spread of the Coronavirus. The grocery store is a nightmare, people hoarding toilet paper, hand sanitizer, bread, milk, eggs, staples, etc. People are reacting like they don’t have a lick of common sense. Social distancing isn’t doing it and we have young people on the beach in mass because it is there “spring break” and they have reservations and have planned to spend the time on the beach. Now, the beaches are closed, our hospitals are overwhelmed, our nurses can’t even get masks to protect themselves from what could be a deadly exposure to this virus and …………………….

So, I am going to say my mantra for the fifth or sixth time today, KEEP CALM, KEEP PRAYING AND keep quilting (or stitching, whatever you do to keep from getting stressed — desserts spelled backwards). Love and keep the faith.

I am quilting a large queen (small king) quilt for a wedding gift. Have been doing some charity quilting, will be back with pics soon.

My Mom never knows what day of the week it is, and this is mostly because she has dementia, with no executive function, so she can’t figure out what the day of the week is. Since I’ve retired, I have noticed that I have to “figure out” what day of the week it is, and most of them are just repeats of the days before. I got her a special clock that says, in big letters, day of the week, morning, afternoon, evening as well as the date (in much smaller font) and time. She also has a phone number (when she remember it) that she can call and it tells her the time, temperature, date and weather. I think some days she calls this several times.

I just finished another charity quilt, this one I had to do a little more than just quilt. The parts came (minus the batting and binding material), so I quilted it and used some of my stash for binding material, sewed the binding on the front and then sewed it down by hand on the back. I will donate this at the guild meeting next week (hopefully, we will have a meeting, we will see). I just loaded a bunch of bobbins and another back on the frame, another donated top, this one with no backing (so from my stash) and I will have to bind it. I got tops donated from a professional “redistributor” of quilt tops, blocks, quilt materials so unlike the quilts from the guild, where the person that pieced the quilt will also trim it up and bind it, these, I either need to finish or find someone else who wants to. I was also “gifted” tumbler blocks (probably enough for 2-3 quilts unless I just put them together) and two sets of blocks (one 10 1/2 inches and not enough for a quilt) and the other 12 1/2 inches with enough for a small quilt. I will add some solid blocks to the one and put the other one together as is for a lap quilt.

So, that’s what I am working on currently. Will be back to post pictures of the next one that I get done. Until then…..KEEP CALM and Quilt ON!!!

Whoever thought it was a “good idea” to SPRING forward in the Spring (which gets earlier for DST all the time) and FALL back in the Fall (not nearly as hard on the human body) was a stupid, Stupid, STUPID person. More importantly, since Indiana hasn’t observed DST for very long, every stinking one of our State legislators and “our man Mitch” are stupid, Stupid, STUPID also. Anyway, my posterior has been dragging all day. John and I went to Indy this morning to help my dear friend, Sharry(Lee) get the rest of her things out of her house, before closing at 11:00 a.m. in the morning. Then, when we were on our way back, we get a call from Jeremy, who has a nail in his tire and needs John to come plug it. So we stopped and ate a very late lunch (almost early supper) at Noble Roman’s Pizza at Emerson and Southport Road in Greenwood (I think that is considered part of Greenwood). Only full service, stand alone Noble Roman’s in our neck of the woods that I know about. Then we came home, switched vehicles and headed to Ellettsville to fix Jerm’s tire. Did get to spend a little time with the littles, which is always good.

I finished quilting the last of the seven quilt tops that I brought home from the guild meeting on February 18. I have already delivered the stinky ones to their owner on the 21st of February (wanted to get them done and out of my house before everything in it reeked of cigarette smoke). I hope to deliver the other 5 to their 2 homes when I head to Bloomington on Tuesday to meet a couple of work friends for supper.

So, these are ready to return to the makers of the tops so they can finish them and get them ready to donate. I counted last night and since August of 2018 (so slightly over a year and a half) I have completed 32 quilts (pieced top or used panel, quilted and bound). Just quilted 7 quilts and also did 10 baby doll quilts (equals about 2 1/2 small quilts). No too shabby. I still have quilt tops to quilt and will try to get at least one done all the way (including binding) so I can donate it at the guild meeting next week.

Have a great week and I will try to post more soon. Until then, Keep Calm and Quilt On!

It’s nice to see the Sun shining today, even though it isn’t real warm, it’s not bad for an early March day. I don’t think we can announce spring yet, especially after a cold night and early morning. I really need some time on the beach, but am not planning on that happening.

I finished quilting the last of the 7 quilt tops that I brought home from the guild meeting in February. Will try to deliver them on Tuesday next week as I am meeting a couple of friends for supper in Bloomington and both the ladies who brought the tops live down that way. That way, if they can get them trimmed and bound, in a week, they could donate them at the next guild meeting. I have a couple of other tops passed along from a blogger (and professional all things quilting go between) and I may try to get one of those done so it can be donated at the guild meeting also. Also, I am thinking about trying to design my own pantograph that will be used on the houses quilt that the guild is working on and will be donated. However, nothing will happen before Monday, as John and I are headed back to Indy tomorrow to help my friend get the last of her things out of the house that she is closing on on Monday. I spent last Saturday and Sunday there helping, sort, pack, it is a real mess.

So, I had already posted pictures of the smoke quilts and I have the last two that I just finished that I haven’t photographed yet. The patriotic quilts were quilted with meandering stars.

Anyway, that is what I have been up to. I need to stop at the Auditor’s Office on Monday and straighten them out on, just because the Post Office has a change of address, does not mean that my mom is no longer living at the homestead. UGH! Catch you (hopefully) sometime next week.

Not exactly sure why I named this post that, guess I was thinking, feeling like a winner. Do I feel like that? Some times, not as often as I should I suppose. I know it is easy to feel depressed (especially for me in the winter time) when there is no warmth of the sun (or very little anyway). I have always said, you don’t have to look very far (or hard) to find someone who is worse off than you are, and often time, much worse off. Not, exactly sure what my point is, or where I’m going with line of rambling.

I put two guild charity quilt tops on the frame to quilt today, and decided unless I am using a large piece of backing (one continuous piece) it is probably more time consuming, and definitely more aggravating to try to do two at the same time. So, I quilted the partial row at the top and the first full row, then just worked on the quilt top on the left side of the frame. Stabilizing the sides isn’t fun when you have to work across one, with one side being pinned to the quilt backing. Unpinning, moving across to the second, pinning the second one, as well as clamping and then figuring out the starting and stopping on the second quilt. So, the one quilt is done, off the frame and the second one was repositioned in the middle of the frame and it is a little over half way done, to be completed tomorrow. I hope to get the third one done and possibly try to returned completed quilts (minus trimming and binding which the owner will do) to Jean possibly on Thursday. Maybe she can get one, or two, or all three, trimmed and bound so she can donate them at the guild meeting two weeks from tonight.

When I get #3 done (still have two more from another guild member) I will take and post pictures.

I’m closing for now, off to work on my latest book. Till then, quilt on.

Wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that it is February 29, since they only happen once every 4 years, does that mean they feel like they are 4 years long? Anyway, I went to help my friend Sharry, actually SharryLee today. Her husband passed away in July after a short battle with cancer, Sharry is also battling cancer and hers was diagnosed first and she is doing as well as you could expect after chemo, imunotherapy, first a year of IV and she has just recently started a pill form. Anyway, when Rick was in the nursing home and it was becoming pretty obvious that he wasn’t going to beat the odds, Sharry rented an apartment because the house they owned wasn’t handicapped accessible, which really she needed for herself as well as if she was going to bring him home so he could die “at home”. They have had some major issues with the house, from leaking water, to a thermostat the wasn’t working, no heat, freezing, thawing, burst pipes, more water damage, etc. Some of these issues go back several years and some have just happened since Sharry was first diagnosed in June of 2018. Add to that plate the fact that they are the kind of people who “never” throw anything away, her not as bad as him, but neither one are really good about it. Another factor is the fact that he smoked his whole adult life and there is a room upstairs that was his “mancave” which looks like a really large ashtray+everything that he hasn’t given a second thought to keeping versus pitching. The good news in all this is that she has sold the house to one of the men who have been doing some of the “water damage” work, however, she is back at work (seasonal) and she only has tomorrow and next Saturday and Sunday to get her things out of the house. Somethings were moved to the apartment, and everything is out of the basement (because of flooding) but there is still a garage full, one room upstairs, the kitchen, boxes in the dining room (stuff from the basement, etc.) and somethings in the bedroom (not lots but enough). Sharry and I spent the day looking through the ashtray room and honestly, one end of that room looks like he must have dumped his ashtray many, many times and never cleaned it up, added to papers that may or may not be things that can actually be pitched. We spent 4 1/2 hours today, going through papers off the floor, papers in the chairs (still have one to go) papers in a cabinet, what a horrendous mess. John and I are going back tomorrow, one of Sharry’s sisters and her husband will be there. They are going to work on packing up the kitchen, I assume Sharry and I will continue to work in the ashtray and John I assume will pitch things out the window into the almost full dumpster. We will come home with the piano (which is going to Sharry’s niece) and some lawn care equipment. Her other sister and her husband are supposed to come next weekend, but if everyone who can help is not there both days next weekend, she isn’t going to get it done. She can leave things in the garage for a little while, but am not sure how long and I don’t want to even think about how many truck loads to a storage unit it will take to get everything out of the house. Moral of the story is, try to live like you don’t want to have your family members go through your stuff and spend way to many hours pitching your crap that you just didn’t want to throw away. My Mom’s house will be this way when she is gone (or in a memory care unit).

I finished the second puppy love quilt yesterday that is going to my youngest granddaughter’s other grandmother for an animal fundraiser. The first of next week, I want to get a couple more quilts loaded on the frame. I still have 5 to do for guild members and several tops from Jo that when they are finished I will donate. I went off my new fabric diet and ordered 10 yards of 108″ wide backing fabric at slightly over $50 for the 10 yards. I will use it for charity quilts, since 1) I done have a stash of backing fabric, 2) not real thrilled with piecing backings and 3) not going to use my $15.00 a yard fabrics for charity quilts. Will post pictures (including the puppy love) when I get the next bunch of quilts done.

Until the next time, keep calm and QUILT on!

So, I told you about the stinky “charity quilts”. Here are those two after I finished quilting. They won’t be finished by me (trimming and binding), so this is a close to finished as I can show them.

So, I just used my all over meander pantograph on these. It was a nice sunny day, so I laid them out on the outside chairs, rather than my couch, which would have then smelled like cigs. I also finished this yesterday and it went in the mail today to Angie Grant in MN for her birthday.

I also have just about finished the puppy love quilt panel which will be auctioned (I think) as a fundraiser. Not mine, but Jeremy’s ex-MIL wanted to buy the one I donated last week, so I purchased another panel and just took it off the frame this afternoon, but need to get a solid fabric for the binding in btown tomorrow evening.

I still have 5 quilt tops from guild members and am waiting on them to get batting and in the meantime I got several tops (only one with backing) and pieces to be put together for another top from Jo Kramer, a quilt blogger, who has found herself being a go between with folks donating tops, blocks, fabric and those who will quilt them and donate them to a good cause. You can find her blog here: https://www.joscountryjunction.com/. Jo is an extreme person, in that she lost her husband to cancer, she has had cancer, and may have it again, does daycare in her home to earn a living and has time to keep up with everything and still find time to quilt and cross-stitch and cook and blog about it. Her and her daughter have also been published several times for quilt creations in quilting magazines and I think they even published a book. So in the morning, I will look at the quilt tops again (just glanced this evening after the mail came) and decide if I can get two on the frame at the same time AND the same pantograph would be a good pick for both of the. In the meantime, keep smiling, keep creating and keep praying. Until the next time.

So last week (exactly one week ago actually) was my quilting guild meeting. I had announced at the previous meeting that I was willing to quilt charity quilts. Three different people brought me 7 quilt tops and backs. Two of them included batting. Since the guild buys batting for charity quilts and I like to use something a little more expensive than the 80/20 they buy, I decided I would wait for the guild’s batting to come in before I worked on the 5 quilts that didn’t have any batting. The two that included batting were in a heavy plastic bag and when I opened it up to check them out, they reeked of cigarette smoke —— hmmmm, this is feeling familiar to my typing fingers, so if I have already posted about this, sorry. Anyway, the lady that brought the quilts announced that later last week would be a charity quilt, sew, crochet day at a local bank conference room from 9:30 to 1:30, so I decided I was going to get them quilted and out of my house before the smell took over. So, I did. I will post pictures of the unfinished quilts and add the other project I just completed in my next post. They aren’t completed because I don’t trim them and put binding on them, just give them back to be fininshed.

My next project is a birthday gift for my sister-in-law. She was going to get a quilt I’ve made before called sing your song, however, I have given her or let her purchase from me all the pieces she needs to make one of these for herself. When I went on the shop hop early last week, I saw a panel that spoke to me and said, this is perfect for Angie, so I ordered a couple of coordinating fabrics and when they came in late last week, I put the top together, put the back on the frame Sunday evening, the rest of the quilt on yesterday, and it came off the frame yesterday evening and I got the binding sewn on the front. Today I sewed the binding down on the back, so as soon I get pictures taken, it is ready to go in the mail to MN. That’s what I have been up to.

Just loaded another back on the frame and am doing another of the puppy dog panels to sell (just my supply costs) and Jeremy’s ex-MIL is donating it for a charity raffle. Cool. More later………

I delivered the Tetris Quilt and pillowcases to my youngest son last night and this morning he posts a picture of it on Facebook and said, Mom made me a new quilt for my bed and it is Epic!!!! High praise indeed. I was glad to make it for him and hope he gets many years of warmth from it.

I brought 7 quilt tops home from the quilting guild meeting on Tuesday evening. I need to wait to get batting from the guild before I can work on most of them, but 2 of them included batting, so I got them quilted up real quick and returned to the owner late this morning. Part of my hurry was the fact that they reeked of cigarette smoke and I wanted them out of here as soon as possible. I knew the maker of the quilt tops was suppose to be in town working on charity projects this morning, so it was my goal to get them done and back to her (out of my house). I also talked to the chair of the guild to let her know because they certainly cannot be donated as they are. Hopefully, once she does the binding she will give them a bath. At least they know to be looking for that from her and she was also going to put something in the newsletter. I understand that it is possible to be “nose blind” to the smoke if you live with it 24 hours a day.

I am getting ready to put together a quilt top that has to be quilted and out of here by the middle of next week for an early March birthday. It will be a surprise, I saw this panel and decided it was “perfect” for Angie for her birthday. Will post pics here when it is done. I also need to do another puppy dog panel as Jeremy’s ex-MIL wanted to buy the last one off of me for a charity auction and I decided to go ahead and donate it and make another one, so I ordered two more panels. One for Nan and one for my “stash” of charity quilts. I should have enough time to get the other five tops quilted before the guild meeting in March (3rd Tuesday) as well and the birthday gift and puppy love quilt for Nan.

That’s all for now, wanted to share the “EPIC” quilt news and update you on what I’m working on.

So today was a little bit warmer than it has been recently, even though it is probably about average temperature for this time of the year, but we have had some pretty bitter temps for several days in a row. John worked outside most of the afternoon, burning in the fire ring (even cooking some hot dogs for lunch) and then changing the oil in my car. When he came in from changing the oil and I heard him say something like, oh, no you don’t or something like that and wondered if he was talking in on his phone. After a couple of minutes I asked who he was talking to and he said, I need your help. I went in the kitchen/dining room and he was down on his hands and knees with a yard stick under the hutch and said, I need you to open the door, a salamander came in when I did just now. He was trying to get him to come out from under the hutch with the yard stick and I stepped out and opened the door and he said, here he comes. I saw him, wasn’t real big and very dark, and very quick. He didn’t want to go back outside and turned around and headed back into the kitchen, with John hot on his trail (tail) and then he went down the kitchen register (whoops). John turned on the blower on the furnace, hoping that would make him come back out and it didn’t. He said, if the furnace comes on he will die. He could see him back in the ductwork and decided to go to into the crawl space and take the elbow off where the ductwork headed to the furnace. I stood about the register, trying to keep him from coming back up (or at least seeing where he went if he did come back up). John finally got him out of the ductwork and put him in the yard to live another day and another adventure.

I have been fairly busy sewing/quilting and have 2 charity quilts and 8 pillowcases to donate at the next guild meeting on Tuesday. I also made a Tetris quilt and two pillowcases for Jeremy. Here they are:

So, that is my efforts from the last month or so. I am now working on a small quilt for an early March birthday and Jeremy’s former mother-in-law wanted to buy the puppy quilt, so I just ordered another panel to make another one of those before the middle of March. So, I’d better get to it. More later………………..