Playing with my New Toy

Photography is something I've enjoyed,

but purely as a beginner.

I've never taken a photography class

or really even tried to teach myself

how to take better pictures or how to use the

manual settings on my camera.

Last week I came across a really good deal on a new camera

(mine is old!) and ordered it.

It arrived earlier than expected, so out of the box

it came and I started reading the manual.
I figured the manual is a good place to start learning about this new toy.

The first thing I did was learn how to set up the wifi connection

and how to transfer photos from my camera to my phone.

And it worked!!

I also started playing with the manual settings on the camera

and took a few photos on my deck in between rain showers.

This photo is slighly blurry, something I didn't notice until

I had loaded it onto my computer.

 Being able to see the little hairs on this petunia is pretty cool, though.

 

The wisteria are opening up and will be beautiful very soon,

as long as the rains don't ruin the blooms.

 

This one is my favorite.

Parsley flowers.

And it looks like there's a jewel at the end of each blossom.

I have so much to learn,

but I think I'm going to have fun with this.

What photo software do you all use?
I've used Picasa for years,

but can no longer update it since it isn't available anymore,

 so I'm looking for something different.

Don't worry....photography won't take away from my quilting

or stitching....

I finished Mrs. Claus the other night,

but need to glue her hood down a bit better.

These are fussy to make, but I really enjoy doing them.

Happy Creating!

Be safe and be well.

A Problem...

I am at a loss as to what to do about this problem

I am having with people following me on blogger.

Somehow, and I have no idea how,

porn sites and the like follow me on blogger

and then people can access their sites through mine.

My page views have increased tremendously

and I wish they were all looking at my blog!

My followers up close to 200 and I bet less than 100 are legit.

I have looked to see if I can block this from happening

and there doesn't seem to be a way to do this.

It drives me crazy to think that people are able to do this

through my quilting blog!

Does anyone else have this problem?  

GRRRRR!!!

Here's a photo of the lower falls at Yellowstone

so this isn't just a text post.

 

Jacob's Ladder

For a while now I've wanted to make a quilt using the
Jacob's Ladder block.

I've been drawn to this block, but have never made it.

In my cleaning frenzy that happened at the beginning of

the isolation, I found a bag of four patches I had made years ago

from left overs of a water color quilt.

They are in my favorite colors....

turquoise and aqua blues with some darker blues thrown in,

along with some greens and purples.

In addition to finding the four patches,

I found some dark blue batik scraps left over from the backing

of a quilt.  There was enough of this to cut the HST's.

I pulled a lighter batik from my stash and started making the HST's.

After a couple hours of playing, this is what I have...

The dark blue batik isn't quite as dark as it's shown in the photos,

but I love this combination.

 

I can't believe I am making another scrappy quilt!

 

Once this top is finished, it will be donated.

Another pile of parts used up and out of my hidey hole!

Happy "Sew"cial isolating everyone!

Be safe and be well.

35 Years Ago Today

It's so hard to believe that 35 years ago today I

married my best friend.

These 35 years have been packed with many good times and

not as many tough times, thank God.

It has passed in a blink of an eye.

The best thing is.... we would both do it all over again.

Our big anniversary outing was going to the grocery store.

Who would have ever thought we would be needing masks

to grocery shop! Never in the 35 years had we thought about this.

We still have each other, though.

And, boy, do we need haircuts!

:D

Be safe and be well!

Irish Chain Top Finished

Back in the winter I participated in an

Irish Chain quilt along.

I have to say....

I loved making this quilt!

Out came my box of red fabrics I had collected to make another

quilt that I did not enjoy making, so stopped.

The Irish Chain is ready to be dropped off at my LAQ tomorrow!

This is a queen size quilt and will go on my bed once it's finished.

 

The subtle changes in color with the scrappy reds makes it sparkle, I think.

 

The backing is wild! No photos of that yet,

but I put several pieces of reds together,

along with the quilt parts I started originally with these red fabrics.

I'm using what I have here!

Happy Quilting!

Be safe and be well.

Turquoise Farm Girl

Back in February of 2019

I started making some of the blocks from the book

Farm Girl Vintage by Lori Holt,

using the scraps left over from this quilt.

This is one of my all time favorite quilts and it lives on the back of my couch.

Turquoise and aqua are my favorite colors

and when placed with gray....wow!

Anyway,

at the time I belonged to a quilt group that was making these blocks

from 30's prints, but I didn't have many and don't really like the 30's prints.

I did what a quilter would have done back then...

used what I had.

Out came the box of scraps.

I made a few blocks and then had to stop attending the group

and progress stalled on this new quilt.

Fast forward to the Pandemic 2020.

Now I have time to finish some of these forgotten projects

and out came this box of scraps and blocks.

The color is off in these photos due to it being a

dark and dreary day, but these just sing to me!

I don't know why I waited so long to finish these.

My blocks are 6 1/2" unfinished and I've added a 1 1/2" sashing.

Sampler quilts are not my thing,

but I really like this one.

Each block was fun to make and some were a little

bit of a challenge.

This block is my favorite.

(I see I need to repress this one!)

The funny thing is.... I made it wrong!

It was nice to revisit the fabrics that I chose for the first quilt

and make something totally different with them.

I had to order some border fabric because I don't

have a large enough piece in my stash that will work.

The top will be sewn together today and once the border fabric arrives,

this little quilt will be finished.

It will make a nice baby quilt for someone special.

I am linking to Design Wall Monday.

Happy Quilting!

Be safe and be well.

Placemats and Napkins

Last year a friend of mine gave me a package of fusible

placemat forms and some cork fabric.

I thought and thought about what I was going to do with

both of these and then it came to me this week.

A couple of years ago I bought a 144" long tablecloth at

Crate and Barrel for $15!  I loved the fabric and wanted to make napkins with it.

I'm finding that I need to have small projects to do in between

the big quilts.  Some days I can focus on the quilts,

but other days I need mindless things to do.

Mindless was what happened starting on Monday.

Out came the tablecloth and cutting began.

I cut a bunch of napkins and had some pieces leftover that were

too small for napkins.

Then I remembered the placemat forms.

Out they came, along with the cork and the fun began.

The placemats went together so quickly.

I traced the shape of the form onto the cork and cut it out.

Then ironed the fabric to the top and the cork to the bottom.

Once that was done, I trimmed the fabric to the shape of the form.

 

I had the navy blue batik in my stash and cut bias binding from that.

 

There were six forms in the package and I had just enough

left over pieces of fabric to make the placemats.

 

The cork worked well on the back and makes them reversible.

The only problem I had was joining the binding.

The placemats are too stiff to use my usual method of

connecting binding and I'm not totally happy with

what I did, but they are finished.

 

 

We have some nice new napkins and placemats for our kitchen table.

And another thing is checked off of my list!

Happy Quilting!

Be well and be safe!

2 1/2" Square Scrappy Top Finished

Looking back on things,

I chose the perfect time to make a scrappy quilt.

Sewing together 2 1/2" squares in a somewhat random way

is really mindless.  I didn't have to concentrate on anything, really.

I went back and forth on what to do with the borders of this quilt

and after realizing that I didn't have enough of the white fabric

to do what I had in mind, 

I decided to add three more rows of the scrappy squares.

I love it!!

There are so many fun fabrics in this quilt

and some go way back to the beginning of my quilting days.

There aren't many batiks or Christmas fabrics in the top.

I've saved those fabrics for other things.

It's a little bit of an "I Spy" quilt.

Do you see golf balls, a sneaker, an orange, a pumpkin and a dreidel in the squares above?

I need to get the backing ready and then get this quilted.

I may do it myself by quilting a grid across it.

This quilt top made a huge dent in my bucket of 2 1/2" squares!

*****Edit****

I have had several questions about the pattern for this quilt from
No Reply Bloggers.
I did not have a pattern for this quilt.
The design just came to me as I went along making it.

Since we are all at home and not able to go out much,

I've been cooking more.

One of the things I have wanted to make for a long time is pasta.

An order for pasta making attachments was put in and they were

delivered last week.

Easter Sunday Doodlebug and I made homemade fettuccuni with shrimp scampi.

There are things I learned making pasta for the first time.

One thing is that we will be doing it again!!

Coronavirus Cooking.

YUMM!!

Happy Quilting!

Be safe and be well.

2 1/2" Scrappy Squares

My self-imposed ban on blog reading and posting

is over as Lent ends tonight.

I was only posting finishes on my blog,

since this is my way of keeping track of what I've done 

and, more importantly, when.

I missed reading about everyone's quilting adventures,

but it was good for me to stop for a bit.

As with most of us, the mask making continues.

In between making masks,

I worked on this scrappy quilt using 2 1/2" squares.

As those who follow me know,

I do not enjoy making scrappy quilts

and am not a huge fan of how they look, either.

This quilt has been fun to make, though.

I kind of used it as a leader/ender with the masks,

but then just began sewing the blocks so it could move along.

When cleaning my Hidey Hole,

I found a bag of 2 1/2" squares I had cut several years ago.

I dug into my hug bags of scraps and cut more,

adding to the mix.

Then the 16 patches were made.

There are all kinds of fun things to find in this quilt...

butterflies, crabs, fish, whales, flowers, basketballs,

golf clubs and bags, snowmen, shells, the sun, etc.

My favorite though is the fussy cut Snoopy in the photo above.  :)

At least two borders will be added;

one of the cream and then another round of squares.

I may add another round of cream after that, but we shall see.

If I add another round of cream,

I may use a scrappy binding.

Needless to say,

there are A LOT of 2 1/2" squares left.

Maybe another scrappy quilt is in my future.

***Edit***
I have had several questions about the pattern for this quilt from
No Reply Bloggers.
I did not have a pattern for this quilt.
The design just came to me as I went along making it.

Now back to making masks!

Happy Quilting!

Be safe and be well.

A Bunch of Little Finishes

Many, many of us are making masks these days.

I've lost count on how many I've made

and I just received a call for 10 more.

In between making masks I'm getting little projects finished.

These things I've had in my hidey hole for several years

and decided they were perfect mindless projects to work on

when not making masks.

I saw these little guys in a local quilt shop a few years ago

and bought a panel to make them.

Panels are usually not my thing,

but I thought the bunnies were cute.

I love the little bitty bunnies in Mama's pockets!

 

These animals were all on a panel, too,

and purchased at the same time as the bunnies.

There's a cow in the group, too, but I've run out of

stuffing and am waiting for it to be delivered.

 I might have stuffed them a little too much

as the babies are a bit tight in the pockets.

That's all right... I'm stuffed a little too much, too.  :D

 

A couple of years ago someone was having a sale on these

Santa Christmas apron panels.

I bought 3, made one up right then and put the other two away.

These two are now finished and will be ready for gift giving!

 

I finished knitting this shawl over a year ago and then it sat,

waiting and waiting to be blocked.

I HATE blocking things!

Finally, last week, I decided it was time.

If I were to make this shawl again,

I would not use the yarn I chose.

It's super soft, but I'm not wild about the stripes in the shawl.

It's finished and will be ready when cooler weather

comes in the fall.

 

I love this cable going down the side.

This shawl I finished last month.

While the blocking mats were out,

I blocked this one, too.

Now it won't sit for over a year!

I've been playing with scraps, believe it or not!

Hopefully soon I'll have something to show with those.

Be safe and be well everyone!

Happy Quilting!

Donation Baby Quilt

Last month I finished a baby quilt made with pastel, soft colors.

I had  a lot of leftover 2 1/2" squares and decided to put them right to 

use instead of sticking them somewhere and finding them months later.

A Trip Around the World quilt was in order with all of the squares.

The simple design received simple quilting.

It ended up being such a sweet little quilt.

It's been folded, waiting to be laundered.

It will go to my church's baby quilt stash.

 

This photo really captures the true colors in the fabrics.

 

Another quilt finished and another pile gone!

Happy Quilting!

Masks

Raise your hand if you are making masks for your local

hospital or health care facility.

Who would have ever thought that we would be in a place

where we would be asked to make masks and gowns?

The quilt group I belong to was asked to make masks

for a daughter of a member's work place.

Then my goddaughter, who works at the hospital,

said the hospital is in need, too.

We pulled fabrics from our stash,

found what elastic we could and went to town.

As I was cleaning my hidey hole the other day,

I found a stack of theme fabrics I had used years ago in a quilt.

I almost put this stack in the donation pile because I didn't know 

when I would use them again.

Well.... they made really cute masks!

Sports theme mask...

Golf masks were made, too, but not photographed.

This music print is fun!

 

Peacock feathers and NYC taxis!

There were also coffee label masks, glitzy masks, 

sewing items masks, carpenter tools masks, and lots more.

I have a little more elastic, so a few more will be made.

I sure hope these aren't needed for long!

Praying for protection from the virus and good health for all.