Scrappiness IS Happiness!

I am a wee bit late posting about this really cool quilt-a-long. Lori Holt wrote a fantastic book about using your scraps to make amazing and fun quilts. Scrappiness is Happiness is a must buy - I truly wish to make everything in this book! AND, Lori and the Fat Quarter Shop, along with a few other quilt designers, are doing a QAL (quilt-a-long) so we get to make one of every block. SO COOL!

Scrappiness is Happiness by Lori Holt

In this post I introduced you to my talented friend Pat Sloan, who is also sewing along with this QAL. So I started with Pat and her amazing quilting group back on October 2022 making one block a week from this book.

This is the only QAL I have kept up with! With everything happening in my world right now, I really need the calm of sewing and have been carving out time here and there to make these blocks. And I am SEW glad I have!

The layout for this QAL is online at the Jolly Jabber blog by Fat Quarter Shop. In the images of my blocks below, you'll see I have already started to add some sashing. Pat runs a lot of QALs and always suggests if we can begin to sew the blocks together AS WE WORK ALONG then it won't be such a daunting process at the end. You reach the last block, and voilà! Your quilt top is nearly assembled. Genius.

I am using a variety of Lori Holt fabrics by Riley Blake. Most are not available any longer, but any of her lines can be used to achieve a similar look:

Stitch Fat Quarter Bundle by Lori Holt for Riley Blake Designs

Cook Book Fat Quarter Bundle by Lori Holt for Riley Blake Designs

Granny Chic Fat Quarter Bundle by Lori Holt for Riley Blake Designs

Having some of Lori's Bee Backgrounds to use will help your fat quarter bundle go farther. I found these at the Fat Quarter Shop:

Bee Plaids Backgrounds Fat Quarter Bundle

Lori Holt for Riley Blake Designs

Vintage Kite Bee Backgrounds Fat Quarter Bundle

Curated by Fat Quarter Shop

Or, if you have a stash of scraps, or another fat quarter bundle that you've been waiting for just the perfect project, maybe you've just found it! The beauty about this QAL is that you can start anytime. Lori is also posting YouTube video tutorials on many of the blocks. Lori also has a wonderful you should check out. On Bee in My Bonnet, she always has a QAL going. All of this information will not go away - it's out there waiting for you when you are ready to jump in. How cool is that? (But start now, because it's sew much fun!)

Oh, and I am keeping everything for this project together in one of these 12x12 ArtBin storage boxes:

Will you join me? Tell me in the comments!

(Here is a referral link to Fat Quarter Shop for new customers so you and I both receive $10 off your first $50 purchase! CLICK HERE )

Planning! or really STICKERS!

I would love to think of myself as a "planner". In December and January, so many bloggers and You-tubers were showing their 2023 planners and demonstrating their planner style for the new year. I love to plan to plan, but seriously fail in my efforts to keep it up. By mid-January, I'm like, where is that planner???? 😜

But I love stickers! Who doesn't love stickers?

And I found this really cool Seashore Sticker Book that I am using in my Book of Days calendar (note: NOT a planner LOL). 

I have been using my calendar as a sort of scrapbook to recall what has happened crafty-wise and kid-wise. When I have a moment (which are few these days) I'll print a photo sticker or two and add some notes about what I am crafting, and what antics we've been up to recently.

Here are a couple of months from my 2022 calendar:

When I had more time, I was an avid scrapbooker, and I hope to get back to album-making someday (once my life is re-arranged!) Until then, this serves as a creative outlet AND a small record of our happenings. Stickers like in this book can be used in any planner or calendar, or even scrapbook. They are fun and so well-designed.

The photo stickers are made using an HP Sprocket 2x3 Instant Photo Printer (and as of this posting it's on a HUGE sale right now). I like this 2x3 Sticker Paper and look at this cute pink case! It's got to be cute, right?

Now, I am still a Creative Memories Advisor, and I'd be remiss to not include some of their stickers in this post. Take a look at these beauties:

Serenity Stickers (3/pk)

Snowbound Stickers (3/pk)

Scrap Happy 2 Stickers (3/pk)

And this adhesive special is a don't miss. 

For a limited time, you can purchase limited-edition adhesive products AND have the opportunity to earn exclusive Vivid Melodies Heart Sticker Packs and Mauve & Violet Metallic Dot Tip Pens FREE! Click FREE STUFF and ADHESIVES and FAQS for more info.

Okay, enough about my stickers....I just LOVE them!

Rolling with the Changes

I like to think of myself as a kind person who can be flexible and roll with whatever life brings. Much is in my control, but I feel more is not. The past few months have been a challenge.

Since I last posted, my amazing daughter has moved to college (bringing her graduation quilt with her) and is thriving in her new environment. She made dean's list for her first semester, is making new friends, and re-discovering that an old friendship can be new again. The word "proud" is not enough to describe the joy I feel watching her growing into this remarkable young lady.

My son began high school and started a new sport, track. After a spring and summer of breathing therapy, he was finally released to run track, and now I have a distance runner! Rob excels at the 1000m and 1600m, even running in his first invitational meet this season. With each meet, he has set a personal record (PR is the official term) and he has scored points for his team. His school team was runner up in sectionals recently, only missing first place by a half a point! He has made high honor roll in his first two quarters of high school, and is loving all of his classes, including three honors courses. He continues to amaze me every day.

In September, I learned my spouse was dismissed from his second job. He did not tell me. To date, he didn't replace that needed income. Enough said.

Jewels is home for the long President's Day weekend now, and boy, do I need her close. I learned on Thursday that once again I trusted the wrong person. Jewels was on the phone with me when I got the news and talked to me until I calmed down to think rationally again. Our lives have been forever changed, and the next several months will be the ultimate struggle. I am once again the sole provider for our family, and the truth is I cannot manage our current lifestyle alone, as meager as it already is. We'll need to move, and change everything about what we do. I've been in this home for 29 years, married nearly 30, and this will displace us in an unimaginable way. I am taking it minute by minute, and that is not an exaggeration. I feel very alone, but know I am not. My children and a few close friends will stand by us until everything is righted and secure.

Prior to this, I was happily stitching away, and recently completed Flurry by Teresa Kogut. This is a pattern available to her Patreon members (I am not sure if it'll be released to the general public). It is stitched in a palette of my own "from stash" colors on 14 count Sandcastle Jobelan fabric leftover from another project.

You'll see a small button cover near the top. I stitched one of the little snowflakes and made a quick button using this Dritz Button Cover Kit. The 14 count fabric was a wee bit thick, so it took a couple of tries, but the end result is so cool. Now to FFO (fully finished object) it. The finished stitch measures 6-1/2" round, so I am in search of the perfect piece. This was a good little stash buster.

I mostly stitch in the evenings to try to wind down from the busy day and have been looking for a small metal stand to hold my pattern, scissors and maybe a needle minder. I found this Book Stand in light blue and at this price, it's awesome! It also comes in Pink, Gray, White and Black. It folds flat, so really good to travel with. Let me know if you try it, and what color fits your stitchy spot.

Blue Metal Book Stand Holder

One of the first times my daughter came home in the fall, we hiked a bit in our local park. Sometimes just walking with your kids, watching them interact and listening to them banter is the best medicine. Aren't they adorable?

My son also plays on a travel soccer team. Here he is in action (#26 in blue) last month. Rob was recently highlighted as their "spotlight player" and was so humble about being featured. He is my quiet boy.

For my stitching and quilting (and generally everything else), I'll be using my stash because making new investments just isn't possible now. That's okay. Sacrifice is not new to me, and it's my job to take care of my children the best I know how. My priority is to not allow this sudden turn of events to turn their worlds upside-down. I will strive to honor my commitments to them and others, while making the unavoidable and difficult changes that loom ahead.

Thanks for letting me talk about this. I have been hiding from everyone, putting forth a brave, happy facade and I think because of that, I've not been honest with myself about what needs to be done. The future is very scary, but has to be faced. And face it I will!

Graduation Quilt for my Girl

Over a year ago, I started a special project for my daughter. She was set to graduate high school in mid-June 2022, and I was determined to make a quilt for her to take to college.

Jewels' favorite color is red, and Lori Holt was hosting a Red Sampler Quilt a Long on her blog. The 12" and 6" blocks came straight from a collection of her books (Farm Girl Vintage, Farm Girl Vintage 2, Great Granny Squared, Vintage Christmas, all of which I had. And boy, did I have an abundance of red and white fabrics to use.

So, I worked on blocks, 50 of them, in secret. While she worked no more than 10 feet away from me on school tasks, I chose fabrics and pieced blocks. One day she caught me. When asked, I simply told her that I was making some red and white blocks and wasn't sure how I would be putting them together (seriously the truth!) I added some patterns that meant something fun for her; a camera as she's majoring in photography, an owl for education and a cow as she has a special affinity for that particular farm animal.

As I worked, Jewels expressed more and more interest. I finally told her that I was making her graduation quilt. Elated isn't a strong enough word. She was over the moon! Now she can help me pick out fabric and plan the layout. 

Once the layout was done, I quietly completed the top and sent it to the longarmer for quilting in January. I added backing and Cuddle to the back so she'd have a heavy and snuggly quilt to bring to college. I stopped talking about the quilt, and kept it hidden for a few months.

Jewels indeed graduated with awards and a perfect 4.0 average in June. That same afternoon, I surprised her with the completed quilt. Even though she knew about it, Jewels was so surprised and excited to see it finished!

This labor of love brings a smile to my face every day. Seeing it on her bed, and wrapped around her helps ease my mind that in a few short weeks she'll be nearly 80 miles away on her own in college. I am hoping this small piece of home will remind her how very much she is loved, no matter where she hangs her hat.

What's for Dinner Wednesday

Need a quick and yummy dinner to feed the fam? Especially when we are all so busy with spirts and sun and camps this summer. But it's great for spring, fall and winter too!

Get yourself some boneless chicken on sale, about 3-4 lbs, although this does work with bone-in chicken too.  I buy a large family pack, and sometimes can find it in the specials section of our local stores meat department.

You'll also need two 14.5 oz cans of diced tomatoes with green peppers, celery & onions and a bag of wide egg noodles. I only used half the bag for my family of 4, but adjust to fit your family.

Line your slow cooker with a Reynolds Slow Cooker Liner (super easy clean up). I recently invested in a new slow cooker and just love how easy this Hamilton Beach one is to use. Literally set it and forget it! And the warm feature is a winner - hot food when we need it is a plus in my book.

Sometimes I'll add onions if I have them. Pretend I did tonight LOL. Thinly slice an onion and add to the bottom of the slow cooker. Next, lay out your chicken and sprinkle with garlic powder and pepper to taste. Pour the tomatoes even over the chicken and cover the slow cooker. If I am able to set it in the morning before work, I'll let it go 8 hours on low. If I am putting it together at lunch time, I'll cook it 4 hours on high. I do prefer the low setting as it makes the chicken nice and juicy.

Serve over the egg noodles. No veg side needed - this is a hearty meal on it's own. If you want some leafy greens, a garden side salad would be a nice balance.

This is also wonderful over white rice if gluten is an issue...I ran out so we used egg noodles instead tonight. (I ate my chicken over gluten-free noodles and it was spectacular!)

Enjoy!

Found!

When my basement studio flooded in January, much of my quilting items (fabric, notions, etc.) were swept to the side out of harm's way only to land in a haphazard jumble of storage bins and boxes. While I am extremely grateful that these items do not appear damaged by the sudden rush a of water caused by the broken heating pipe, thinking about tackling that ominous pile has been daunting.

I decided yesterday to just open one bin and look inside. 

Did I find the missing Tips & Tricks Quilt along blocks? Nope.

Did I find that water had snuck its way into the bin and ruined my projects? Nope.

I did find some bundles wrapped up and labeled "In Progress". Hmmmm...now I was curious. I pulled what I thought was one out and brought it upstairs with me. One seemed like something I could handle.

It ended up being two projects - yay! 

And one looked like Tips & Tricks. Again, nope.

This one was a flannel log cabin project I was designing. It's was labeled as a tree skirt, but looking at it now, I'm not sure the measurements would make a large enough size. Four 18-1/2 unfinished blocks are completed with many strips cut out for more. Since there was no project start date noted, I am at a loss as to how old this is.

I was really excited for the next bundle.  Let me give you the back story first.

When my art studio was open, I was actively making quilts, but teaching decorative painting and scrapbooking classes. I was very new to quilting and didn't feel ready to teach it yet. I worked on my skills by completing JoAnn's blocks of the month. After I had completed one, I sent it out to be quilted (my first one ever sent to a long-armer!) and it came back just in time for my studio's open house. So before I bound it, I hung it over the front counter to add color and texture fully intending to bind it after the event. It stayed right there. Even after my studio closed in 2005. After my second child was born in 2008. And after I went back to work full time in 2011. Life happened and the quilt stayed and was buried under more life, and more life....you get the idea.

Fast-forward to 2022 and the great flood! The pipe burst right over where this quilt hung, and as such the quilt took the main brunt of the damage. I pulled it out, let it air-dry and then accessed. And cried. It was ruined. My ambassador friends over at Pat Sloan's Facebook group helped with ideas on how to clean it (I ended up taking it to our local dry cleaner who hand-washed it - remember it was not bound all this time.) Now came the repairs. Here are a couple of bad pictures of a little of how the edges looked:

It's hard to tell but they were very uneven and pretty ugly. And I found a hole too! Clear through the top to the backing. I was able to trim the border 1" all around the even up the edges. I then folded the quilt up, and it's been sitting in my dining room for a month while I tried to find fabric for the binding and to repair the hole.

Guess what the second bundle was?????? YES!!!! All the leftover fabric from this quilt! So now I had binding, and plenty of fabric to make any other repairs (have to figure that part out soon.) But, how old was this quilt, and what would I put on the label? Although I vaguely recall JoAnn's including a label in one of the monthly blocks, it wasn't among the fabrics that I found, and I'd never attached one before it was quilted.

So, everyone knows Google is the greatest encyclopedia LOL, so I began searching. A little over an hour later I found out that this was the JoAnn's 1998 Classic Quilt. 1998?!?!?! They're calling it "vintage" on eBay! This means that I pieced the top over the year 1998, and knowing me, sent it out for quilting as soon as I'd saved the money, sometime in mid 1999-ish. And if I received it back even by the end of 1999, that means it's been in my basement unfinished for more than 2 decades! After this heart-breaking realization came the epiphany that I am now rescuing it. Did I neglect it, yes.  But now I can repair it and shower it with love.

What did I learn? Don't let this happen ever again and share my story, so it doesn't happen to any more quilts.  Bind your quilts, or ask your guild for help. You spend so much time and your talents creating the quilts not to finish and care for them. If you cannot finish them for any reason, there are guilds and organizations you can donate them to who will finish them and give them to those who will love these beautiful works of art.

Stayed tuned for my bound quilt - it's on the sewing machine as I type! It won't be perfect, but it's on it way to being finished - finally!

Graduation, Honors and a Ferry, oh my!

 Woo hoo, my beautiful, smart daughter has graduated high school! This mom is bursting with an abundance of pride.

And not to be outdone, my son was honored in the same week for achieving high honors for every quarter of his three years of middle school.

He'll be moving up to 9th grade this week, and after weeks of finals and his first round of Regents exams, he'll be happy when summer recess begins.

We also spent some time this weekend in Burlington VT at a soccer tournament for my son's travel team. I used the GPS to travel from Albany NY to our hotel, and funny thing, it took us across Lake Champlain over the Charlotte-Essex Ferry 😳 What a fun surprise! After my initial embarrassment that I didn't realize there would be a ferry ride on our trip, we embraced the boat and enjoyed every second on the water. Our fun story even convinced a couple of other soccer families to take the ferry on the trip back home!

Once back home, and in between work commitments, I started a new cross stitch mystery stitch along. I am a member of Teresa Kogut's patreon, and she's hosting this fantastic mystery for her tier 4 members. Officially it begins on 6/25/22, but I just couldn't wait. Samplers are my jam, and the colors on this are amazing:

 

I am stitching mine on 16 count Aida by LFA Linens in Popover. I purchased mine from Treehouse Fiber Arts and am stitching with the called for colors. I find myself picking it up instead of eating lunch, dinner.....! 😂

This week will also be filled with 8th grade wrapping up and travel soccer tryouts. Also, some college dorm prep for the oldest. Busy busy busy, but it a good busy!

What's kept you busy this week?