HQ - 8: Temperature Quilt

Today is the first day of SPRING and it is a beautiful day here.  Temperature high supposed to be 83 degrees :)  I took a picture of my Seasonal Temperature Quilt this morning on our slightly green front yard.

Today I added my Spring block to the last  Winter block.  For Spring, all my blocks will have this pretty green fabric, where the winter ones had the grey sparkly fabric.  I wonder what the world will be like when its time to add the Summer block?

 

 

Today is also Day 8 of the House Quarantine.  Each day the news is worse, but amazing all the good things people are doing to cheer up others and give hope. 

 

 My chore for today was going to the grocery store with my husband.  My children are more than willing to get our groceries for us, but they all have their own families to care for.  So we headed for Bilo at 6:55  this morning, and were so pleased to see that there were very few customers there.  We did not even have to wait in line at the register.  Got everything we needed except paper towels.  They were also out of toilet paper, but we have that.  Also no ground beef, but I got some frozen hamburger paddies I can use for ground beef if needed.  I held on to one bag with both hands on the way home, just to remind myself not to touch my face.  We got home, put everything away and then washed our hands, even before sitting down and relaxing.  I just pray we did not bring the virus into our home on any of the packages.

 

Its been a good day.  I did get my flower bed weeded and raked out leaves from this Fall.  My daughters both had their children playing in our back yard and I got to spend time with them.  Even got to hug my three youngest who have been isolated from others for the past week. I  needed those hugs, but understand that as things get worse in our area, that I will not be able to do that again. So far, no cases in our home town, but we are only 35 miles from Charlotte NC where there are cases.  Many people from here work in Charlotte.  Sigh, I know in my heart that things will get a lot worse before they get better, but in my faith I have hope in a loving God to help us through this time.



HQ - Day 7 - Pin Cushions

As I enjoy my good cup of coffee this morning and listening to the news of  all the new cases of CV, I am so thankful that I have a  God watching over me and my loved ones, my friends, and His children throughout the world.  We must lean on our Father's shoulder and trust His loving care.

My chore/goal for today is to clean out a closet in my guest room.  It has become a dumping ground for things I don't know what else to do with.   Hubs and I plan a ride outside of the house today.  He is getting a low tire pressure light on his truck, and I will follow him to the repair shop in my car and we will leave the truck there, and then go by a drive thru somewhere and pick up some lunch.  It does us good to get out of the house.

I have been working on some miniature pin cushions.  These measure 2 1/2" square and are fun to make.  They still need to be filled, but that will be a project for another day. Today I am going to make three more with a different pattern - just a little something to take my mind away from all the bad news.

 



While we were in Hannibal, Missouri last year, we picked up a CD of old movies - Tom Sawyer Adventures, Huckleberry Finn Adventures, Lassie and Red Fern (can't remember the full title and too lazy to go look.)  We watched Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn yesterday and was such a good comic relief.

HQ-6 - Daddy's Bible

I completed my list from yesterday and have found some peace in adding purpose to my days.  I miss time with my family but pray for the safety of my family, church family, friends, nation and for our leadership battling this virus.

I did take a walk yesterday and this helped me  - first with exercise and secondly, just getting out of the house.  One neighbor stopped in the road and we chatted for a bit, but did not get too close to the car.  

My chore for today is to start sorting thru some boxes on my back porch.  We had to have some work done in our basement and my husband, with help, brought up a bunch of boxes of "stuff" that we need to go through.  We have been trying to clean out stuff we have accumulated over the years just so our kids someday do not have to deal with all this.  So there are around 15 large plastic containers on my back porch - today I would like to get thru at least half of that.  About half of that is stuff we put in our basement when we had to clean out my parents home when they passed.

Its been a good day..Got my chore done and in the process of going through all the boxes, I found my Daddy's Bible.  I can remember seeing him in the mornings, sitting in a rocker on the porch reading this Bible.  I cherish this Bible, and when packing up my parents home after their passing, I packed this away in one of the boxes and was so happy to find it today.

I took my walk, 1,797 steps, and on my way home, two of my precious granddaughters spotted me and ran out to say hi.  They are 4 yrs and 2 1/2yrs.  I knew I should not hug and kiss them and that is so hard.  They were in their fenced yard, so I just stood and talked to them for a little bit and then the 4 year old ran to me with this flower.  She loves to bring me flowers.  (tears now)  I asked her to lay it down on the ground and then I went and picked it up.  I so wanted to hug her.  Trying to comply with their parents wishes, but this sure is hard.

Hope you all have had a good day.

Home Quarantine - Day 5

I feel like I am under house arrest, although I am so grateful to be at home safe with my loving husband.  I know there are many out there that are home alone.  I am going to do my best to try to do something nice for someone each day, whether a phone call, send a meal, just reach out however I can.

To occupy my days, I am going to set goals for hand quilting, other quilt related activity, and a chore that I have been putting off.  So here goes my list of chores for today:

1. At least 2 hours hand quilting on the Pemberley
2. At least 2 hours in my sewing area doing other activities
3. Complete my 2019 tax return and file it
4. Fix Spaghetti for supper and invite Jeanne, my sister-in-law who lives next door and is alone.
5. Take a walk outside even in the rain (unless its a thunderstorm :) )

Now I feel like I have a purpose for the day.  I do hope this will make the days go quicker.  I started this home quarantine on Friday, March 13.- 4 days ago.  So this is Day 5.

This is my design wall this morning.  Working on a Lone Star Quilt, the stars surrounding the lone star are Rose STars and are EPP.  I completed the 5th diamond point yesterday on the lone star.  On the bench in my temperature quilt, and two other quilts waiting to be hand quilted.

Pemberley Quilting Progress

I recently completed quilting the "Half Dresden Plate" border on my quilt.  I repeated the little circle quilting in the narrow border to tie it into the circle border around the corner flowers.

 

I also completed one corner block, except for the round circle in the middle.  I have ordered a special stencil for that circle which hopefully will be here soon.  I have 16 blocks to complete around this border - with three different designs. I am trying to replicate the applique pattern in the quilting. 

 

 

I am hoping to have this ready to enter in my guild's quilt show in September.  I had kind of given up hope as it is taking me awhile to hand quilt.  Since the hit of the Coronavirus, I have been spending more time at home, and now am trying not to go anywhere unless it is an emergency since I am 69 years old.  Today I went to church in my living room as it was streamed on the internet and I was able to quilt and enjoy the service.  The church advised all members over 60 or with health situations to not attend services, but watch over the internet.  One of our deacons has checked on us to see if we need anything like groceries or other supplies.  It is so wonderful to be a member of a loving church family.

 

 



Fiesta Enchiladas

Our guild is having a recipe challenge to exhibit at an upcoming quilt show in September.  The Challenge is to make a block to represent a favorite recipe, submit block and recipe and a recipe book will be prepared with the recipes and picture of the blocks.  The blocks will be on display at the quilt show and the books will be for sale. 

At first, I was not sure I would participate, as I am not very artistic and I was not sure I could design a block to match a recipe.  But, since I wanted to be part of the fun, I decided to submit my recipe for Enchiladas and somehow incorporate a sombrero in my block.  With the help of my talented artistic granddaughter, I came up with a wanted poster.

 I used the Helen Stubbings Faux Applique technique to color and embroider the block. 
For the binding, I found some fabric called Fiesta Stripe, and I hand quilted it rather simply.  All in all, I am happy with the block and happy I can participate in the recipe challenge.

I have also made progress on my Lone Star quilt.  I am making this in the same fabric line as my Rose Star blocks and hope to have the Rose Stars encircle the lone star.  This is just up on my design wall, and the diamond shapes are not yet sewn to each other.  Still debating on the background fabric, so need to take a diamond to a quilt shop and do some auditions. 

Pemberley - Wavy Border

Moving on to quilting the wavy border of the Pemberley quilt.  I get a little bet of excitement each time I move to the next border on the quilt.  After this one, will be the half Dresden plate border, the one in the corner was quite a challenge. 

 

Today I am on a trip to Maryville, Tennessee to attend the funeral service of a dear friend' mother.  So very hard to accept when a mother passes. Linda's mom lived to be 93 and had a very happy fulfilling life, loved and cherished by her daughters and son.  She will be greatly missed.  She was also a quilter and I enjoyed visiting with her and listening as she shared the stories behind some of her quilts.