I lost a couple of days last week, but I still honestly killed it in the sewing room! My annual round of medical appointments is now over, and I appear to be fine. Best of all, I don’t have to leave the house again until May.

My first mission was a week ago– finish the baby quilt to encourage my DIL, who lost her job while seven months pregnant. Well, I ended up encouraged, too– this was the reason I spent so much money on that big longarm in 2019– to quickly finish and gift quilts!

I did daisies in the border, little loops in the sashing (this is me imagining how a butterfly flies 🙂 and then some simple outlining in the blocks with limited swirls. It was fun and quick to do– I still find quilting very intimidating– but, we got this people!

So that took about three nights, and I have never gotten a binding sewn up so fast!

Here’s the backing– the planets definitely aligned– and I, who never has more than a fat quarter of anything, pulled out this matching fig tree yardage.

And here’s the label:

So there it is– I called myself “Grandma Duffy.” The name mostly conjures up my mother-in-law at this point, but I hope I grow into it. Last week, my primary care doctor congratulated me on being “a young grandma.” Foof. Quite the compliment, but I don’t feel that young anymore and I hope I can keep up! I really want to be a wonderful grandmother to this new little soul and also hoping I can stay out of trouble with son and DIL– not smothering them, not interfering or being a know it all. LOL. We’ll see what happens!

So now that is finished, (DIL was delighted) and Moonbeams is also done– I get to pick a new (read: OLD UFO) project to work on! A bunch of stuff has fallen by the wayside. You’ve heard me talking about this or that quilt in the Maine Quilt Show this year and the deadline is May 15th– yikes! So here are my ideas of what could be done in time.

Meet “Points West!”

Occasionally, (heehee) I do an embroidery design I just love. This was actually one of my very first realistic animals I did in 2012 (that long ago???)– and I decided to feature it in a larger piece. I started making this shortly thereafter as a tribute to my time in San Francisco– it’s the infamous Dungeness Crab you can smell roasting on ever corner at the waterfront. The picture above is from 2017– time goes by, does it not?

Somewhere along the line, the yellow fabric for the background either ran out or I used it for something else. I still have everything else in one box, thankfully, and I even have a paper piecing template on my computer. So before I left to travel, I found the closest thing I could to match it on the internet and clicked the BUY button. It was waiting for me when I got back!

Is this the happiest coincidence ever? So I’m sure it isn’t the same fabric, but I feel like I now have a chance to finish my 13 year old piece. There were going to be two more of those flattened compasses on either side, a ton of tidewater looking quilting, and I even have shells and small beads I was going to sew in. I do have a big sketch, too– I’ll share it next time. I’m really looking forward to starting this again– stay tuned!

Then I have my larger leaf quilt– an original design made as part of my Sew the Samplers Challenge in 2024. (What a relief something is only a year old.) It still needs one more round of bricks, and of course, to be quilted. I can do that in three nights now, right?

I found this fabulous photo I took for quilting inspiration– my original idea was leaves on wet bricks– a beautiful sight I have always enjoyed throughout life.

So that’s one large and one small quilt by May 15th– it may or may not be doable. But I really want to follow through this year. In 2023, we had my daughter’s wedding, but in 2024, there was no excuse! Cheer me on.

BRIO. I just love saying that. Here’s the update on my Frivol project for March/April. I decided to stick with my original vision of 8 placemats and a table runner after much waffling. I went to the American Jane website to see if could get a smidge more fabric– the kit would only really make 6 placemats and I still needed backing.

WOW! Sandy Klop has bolts and bolts of every single fabric of every collection she ever made! If only all designers did this– so many past collections I would love to get more of. “Curio” from Basic Grey comes to mind. And the lovely “Somerset” from Fig Tree– all lost to the ages. I got all the backing and binding from the “Bread and Butter” collection I needed, plus some half yards of my favorite prints– BRIO has a scrappy look, so I really needed them.

The piecing of the blocks is going well– they are the perfect placemat size– 12″ x 12.” The colors are the perfect, happy summer colors for my picnic table… but wait!

Between making blocks one and two, I realized I only have six chairs for that outdoor table… so there’s no way eight placemats are fitting on it!

Ok, fine. I did need the backing and binding anyway. I’ll just add the extra to my stash. I could still make a couple of extra– this set is going to be USED and LOVED.

On the San Francisco Stitch Co. front, I finished a Spring Tiny Village set yesterday. When these release, there’s a free single– so far we have seven houses. I’m giving away my favorite house– the one at the top. Enjoy–

If stuffing and closing cute little things is not for you, I include a flat, composed scene from some of the objects. My next birch board display is in production to show these off! They are so cute with the curved top and the display board will showcase this. I’m hoping to move it ahead these week.

Now it’s time for the handwork portion of our show! I regret to say, the Appalling Cross Stitch may have reached it’s high water mark.

I really enjoyed each and every one of these little squares and it kept my interest as there was a new one to work on every week or two. But I guess I’m just getting tired of the winter and Santa coming down the chimney has lost his charm. I still want to add another column on the right. So, I’m going to just give it a rest for a couple of weeks, and see where I am then.

In the spirit of finishing up, I have three hand stitch things that just need a feather to push them across the finish line! I’m going to work on them this week– what’s left of it anyway. Here is my LAST block of twelve for the Prairie Meadow quilt– all hand stitched! As you can see– two little pennies are left to wrap it up.

I remember starting this just as we moved here– not bad for a 2-1/2 year old project. I want to kind of spritz and starch the blocks before final assembly– they’re pretty crumpled. I imagine blocking them to dry OUTSIDE which is not happening for another month or more. The borders are patch-y checkerboard fun and look like a little bit of work but not too challenging. If I could finish this by the end of the summer, I’d be thrilled.

But let’s get those pennies sewn on, for heaven’s sake!

This has also been lying around for quite a while. It’s Lori Holt’s Stitch Cards Set “P”– “X” just came out for heaven’s sake. I highly recommend these card projects if you are considering getting back into cross stitch. They are really cute and quick to make.

Did I say “quick”? Hee,hee. So let’s just finish up that little sewing machine, already.

And finally, I did the Moonbeams cross stitch to match the quilt, but I stopped short at some of the olive branches in the doves’ beaks for whatever reason. Have you ever seen projects so close to being finished, without being finished? Do you have such objects lying around your house? I’d really be interest to know.

If I make this into a little pillow, and then am able to complete the pillow shams to match the dragon quilt– this is one over the top wedding gift! I hope I can do it by the end of June.

A lot going on in my studio right now, and a few deadlines, and it’s a bit overwhelming in the happiest way. Forward, I go. Clearly, I shouldn’t be allowed to leave the house until May 3rd!

xox
Carol