Celebrating the Resurrection
Month: March 2024
Finished Strip Mirage Quilt
I went to the ranch to check on Cookie, my very pregnant cow, due any time to have her first calf. She was happily grazing with the rest of the herd, which belongs to my cousin. While there, I got some pics of this finished Strip Mirage quilt I made for my great-nephew. The pattern is free from Sew Yeah Quilting. You can find a video tutorial on YouTube, along with a link to the printable pattern. It’s a fast, fun jelly roll pattern. I chose to buy some coordinating Bella solid fabric and add some size by adding borders. The jelly roll is Stomp Stomp Roar from Stacy Iest Hsu for Moda.
Whirlwind Wednesday
Well, after being down with a bad headache all day yesterday, I felt much better today and made up for lost time. I even had to keep my two youngest grandsons from 3:45 yesterday afternoon until their parents and older brother got home from his track meet last night. I’m usually a pretty fun grandma, playing games, going for walks and pretty much whatever they want, but my husband had to take up the slack for me last night. I hated that I couldn’t play.
Back to today, I stayed on track with starting my day with household chores. Then onto my longarm business time. I started loading my next client quilt while waiting for a drop off and consult with a client. Then I got to stitching. Such a cute mermaid quilt for a little girl’s birthday. I’ll show a little peek of my progress.
I worked on it til time for dinner, stopping for a quick lunch and to swap out and fold some laundry. After dinner, which was a delicious Home Chef meal, I worked on my Barn Star Sampler a a teeny bit and then sewed two more rows of a special t-shirt quilt I’m making for a family.
I ordered a set of Bloc Loc rulers to trim half square triangles, and they have already shipped, but I may have to trim this whole stack before they get here. I only trimmed 8 of the 64 today, and made these little units. I have the next 8 units lines up and ready to trim and sew.
And, that’s about a wrap on today. I’m going to mix up my sourdough before I go to bed so it can rise overnight. I hope that works out. I’m basing it on how long the first batch took to rise. We shall see!
Busy Monday
I’m trying to get into a better time management routine between my housework, my quilting business, and my personal quilting time. I used to subscribe to Flylady years ago, and I’m giving that another whirl. After the required morning caffeination, I get myself ready and then tend some household chores before I start my quilting workday.
Today, my workday consisted of taking our tax paperwork to the accountant. I had to fold and package up two quilts for shipping and get them to the post office. Getting quilts neatly packaged takes a significant amount of time. A quick trip to the bank and home for a quick sandwich and then spent almost three hours working on a very special t-shirt quilt commission. I don’t usually make t-shirt quilts as part of my business, but this is a very special case. Finally, this evening I found time for a little personal sewing. I made 64 half square triangles for the Barn Star Sampler. I’m working on the diamond star block and you make two of that block. I ran out of steam after pressing them, so trimming will wait.
Tomorrow afternoon and evening I will have my two youngest grandsons. So, I’ll definitely be busy then. Have a terrific Tuesday tomorrow, y’all!
Sunday Funday Sewing and oh, a Tornado !
The first project I worked on today was the machine sewn binding on the quilt I’m making for my great-nephew. Then I pulled out a WIP I started last February. I joined Shelley Cavanna’s Barn Star Sampler quilt along, and should have been assembling my quilt top this month, but I fell behind in December. Today, I cut out all the pieces for my next block. Just as I finished cutting the pieces, we had an unexpected thunderstorm that brought hail, and a tornado that caused some damage on the south side of town. Not fun considering my town was hit by a bad tornado last June, killing three people, injuring many more and leaving many homeless. Businesses were also lost. Anyway, we are fine. And, now it’s supposed to snow tomorrow!
Is anyone else reading doing the Barn Star Sampler?
After everything calmed down, I finished the hand stitched binding on my friend’s commissioned quilt.
Thankful not to have lost anyone or our home today in this tornado. Counting my blessing as I go to sleep.
Memorial Quilt in the Wild
I am hand finishing the binding on one of the quilts I’m currently working on, so it went along on the trip to the ranch Thursday so I could stitch during the drive. It’s a commission for a dear friend, pieced from her late father’s shirts, and a neutral fabric I purchased for the sashing. They are huge baseball fans, and we found a digital baseball pattern for the quilting. Even though the binding isn’t completely stitched, I went ahead and got some pictures of it while we were there, as it will be shipped off to her this next week. I don’t take on many commissions, as I have a huge bucket list of my own that I want to make, but there are some that I just cannot turn down. I love that I’m able to make something for my friend that will bring her comfort and be a treasure to her. After all, that is one of the best things about being a quilter, isn’t it?
It Was a Good Day
I was so tired when we got home from the ranch last night, but it was the good kind of tired. My husband, brother and I made the 2.5 hour trip to the monument company to pick up the marker for my parents’ gravesite, then the one hour drive from there to the ranch to place it. My cousin Dee came over from his home and we all had a nice visit and talked about some other ideas to spruce it up a bit. This is where Mom wanted to be buried. Many times over the years, she would say to us “cremate me and stick me under the hackberry tree”. I’m so glad we were able to fulfill those wishes. I think she would have been happy as can be with just the large rock from the ranch marking the site, but I really wanted a proper marker.
It was a cloudy, overcast day with a bit of moisture coming down at times, and the colors were really beautiful there yesterday. The last bits of winter color with spring beginning to burst through. The bluestem in the pasture was really catching my eye.
As were the dried up remains of last year’s thistles.
These trees that have been there since long before I was born beginning to leaf out again, and the winter rye grass greening up the place all around them.
I’ll leave off here for now, but will be back with more from yesterday’s little excursion. There will also be another “quilts in the wild” post, as I took another along for the ride to work on the binding while we traveled. Thanks for stopping by and have a fabulous Friday!
Bread and Headed to the Ranch
I have never had great success making bread. Except for quick breads, like pumpkin, banana, etc. I tried making a whole wheat sourdough yesterday from some starter gifted to me by a fellow quilt guild member, and it’s the best bread turnout I’ve ever had. Not that I have tried very much. I was always so discouraged after less than delicious results that I quickly gave up that endeavor. This round was encouraging, though!
Since my last post with anything to do about the ranch was 4 years ago, I do have some catching up to do about things there. I’ll start with the most special one today. My Mom had always told us that when she passed away she would like to be cremated and buried under her favorite hackberry tree. My Dad would always say something different and my brother and I would go back and forth trying to decide what to do, the Hackberry tree or the cemetery in our hometown. When my brother, cousin and I did the surface division of my grandparents’ ranch, I got the part with the hackberry tree. One day I just had a very strong feeling of “I have to take her home”. I called my brother and told him and he agreed, as well. My Dad always got the last word on pretty much all decisions, but this time, we were making sure Mom got what she had always so strongly wanted, and we knew that wherever we decided, they should, and would want, to both be together. I love that they are in a beautiful place that means so much to me, and someday, I will be under the tree with them. We currently have a large rock from the ranch marking their gravesite, but today we are headed to Granite, Ok to pick up their headstone we had made, and finally get that set over them. I can’t wait to see it and get it placed.
Have a wonderful day!
Cute Little Elephant Quilt
Yesterday, I got to quilt this adorable little baby quilt for a client. She requested edge to edge, except for the elephant. So, I set up a no sew zone around it and then added my interpretation of wrinkly elephant skin texture. 😄 So much fun!
Today has pretty much been housekeeping, but I’m taking a few minutes to sit in my rocking chair on the front porch and enjoy this beautiful day while I blog. Then I will go inside and sew a binding to the front of a memory quilt I made for a friend from her father’s shirts, and get it all ready for hand stitching over the next few evenings. Hubby is off for the next four days so if we go anywhere, I can pack it along to work on while I ride along in the car. Enjoy your Wednesday afternoon!
Tuesday Tidbits
Yesterday, I got a client quilt on and off the longarm. Such a sweet little quilt. I used a computerized pattern from Sew Shabby Quilting called Bouquet. Just darling!
I also embroidered a couple of labels for quilts I’m working on. It has been forever since I pulled out my little embroidery machine. I almost forgot how to use it. I did have to pull out the manual to figure a couple steps out. I cut some binding strips and have those ready to sew this afternoon. I did finish the binding on the king size 9 Patch & Stripe from Eleanor Burns Still Stripping book. I’m so glad to finally have finished it after all these years. On the other hand, it has a sister quilt still waiting for binding, as well. I will get it done eventually!
Today is another productive day. I loaded and quilted a baby quilt for a client this morning, and I have another one loaded and ready to start the quilting. Getting some household chores worked in, as well. Hopefully, I’ll get out and walk a couple miles before the day is done. Thanks for stopping by! I have to get back to work!
Ramblings From Randi, The Wild Rose Quilter 