…and did this really happen? Yes, I started sewing my first seam right sides OUT! I didn’t but notice til I reached that first yellow point. Geeze…that won’t work, lol. Just keepin’ it real, y’all. 😂
Author: Wild Rose Quilter
I’m a simple woman…at least that what my DH (Dear Husband) used to say about me…I was a wife, I am now a widow, mother, step-mother & step-grandmother, quilter, and have a full time job in criminal justice. I lost my DH on May 22nd, 2011. I live in a small town in Texas. I love piecing quilts, I love quilting quilts. I have a serious addiction to fabric. I’ve been quilting since 1998, and purchased my first longarm, a Gammill Premier, in 2004. I upgraded to an A-1 Elite, named Corky, in March, 2007. I am in the process of rebuilding my life after losing my spouse. All photos and content in this blog are my own, and I request that you not download, copy or otherwise use anything here without my permission. I hope you enjoy visiting my blog and would love to hear your comments. Thanks for stopping by!
I’ve Been Stitching!
Life has been sooooo busy. I think about my little blog, and I want to write more in it, but finding the time has not been easy. I will tell you that tonight I started a draft for the post I promised I would write after my father passed away last year after battling Alzheimer’s. I got quite a good start on that post this evening, but it’s going to take a bit longer to write than my normal posts, but at least I have the draft going. For anyone that wants to read it, I plan to have it finished by the first anniversary of his death, which is the 22nd of this month. I warn you, it won’t be short. It will be the longest blog post I’ve ever posted in the 10 years I’ve been blogging here.
All that said, I have done some quilting in between the work, housework, family visiting, and caring for my mom in her failing health. Life is full of ups and downs, but I strive to focus on the ups! There is beauty in all of it, and my mantra lately is that my worst days are so much better than many people’s best days, and I must be mindful of and grateful for that!
I finished the quilting on another QOV for my guild. The next local QOV presentation put on by our guild, Friendship Quilt Guild, will be in October. I initially agreed to do the quilting on two, which is all they asked of me, but the first two went smoothly and quickly and I easily fit them into my schedule, so I offered to take another one. I truly enjoy participating in this worthy cause.
Here’s a little peek. I won’t show the whole quilt since they haven’t been presented yet. I chose Star Swirl panto by Michelle Wyman and Terry Watson. I love it for patriotic quilts. I also love the side lighting in my quilting room in our new home.
Also, I have been working on the piecing of Baby Z’s quilt, my newest grandson. I started this quilt just before or just after he was born. He’s almost 10 mos. old now. I must hurry and get this quilt done! Today, I made the blocks for the final row of chevrons, but they are not sewn to each other yet. I also decided the order in which I want to sew the different color rows, and have them laid out in that order. I’m getting so excited to get this top finished and on to quilting!
That concludes this Sunday rundown. Stay tuned! I will be back! Have a great week y’all!
Sweet Saturday
Miss Bella and I are enjoying a beautiful Saturday morning on the patio. The sky is overcast, the temperature is a comfortable 66 degrees and doves are cooing and various birds chirping all around. So peaceful. My coffee even tastes better. A wonderful way to ease into my day. After coffee, I think I’ll go for a morning swim and then I plan on QUILTING! With my longarm! I haven’t had a quilt on since I finished my 2nd grandson’s quilt awhile back. Also, since then we moved to a new house and that involved taking down my machine and setting it back up. This will be the first quilting since the move in January. I picked up a couple QOV’s at our last guild meeting and need to get them done and back to guild for binding and labeling. Our next presentation is in October. I’m excited to participate in such a worthy project. Wish me luck it’s smooth sailing!
A Friday Food Post
It’s been a minute, ok maybe a little longer than that, since I’ve paid my poor little blog any attention. Life has been overwhelmingly busy. Lots and lots of changes going on. I still intend to write a post about my father and our journey with Alzheimer’s disease. Father’s Day was pretty rough this year. But tonight, I’m just going to dip my toes back in with a simple post about food.
My own Tex-Mex-ish version of picadillo. This will be really yummy with a warm tortilla wrapped around it. I cook some hamburger and chopped potato together, seasoned with some salt, pepper and garlic. Tonight I had some yukon gold potatoes on hand, so I used those. Then I add some Rotel, and lots of chopped green chiles, and simmer it all together til the potatoes are cooked through. Heat the tortillas on the comal, and fill them up. Quite tasty.
Sunday Stitchin’
The orange row is sewn together! Five more colors to go. I’m not sewing the completed color rows together until all of them are complete and I can see in what order I think they look best.
Even though allergy season is in full bloom for me, Efren and I went for a 3.5 mile walk this morning. I really fell out of my workout routine this last month. It amazes me how fast one can put pounds on, but it takes what seems like forever to get them back off. 😩
I’m thankful to have another day off from my outside employment tomorrow. Maybe I will get some more sewing done. Happy Labor Day!
Today Was a Good Day
I don’t have a Friday finish, but it was a day of accomplishments. I don’t have to go into the office on Fridays for my main employment as we’ve gone to a four day work week.
I still had a lot of work to do here at home. With everything that happened around my father’s passing, I had gotten really behind in housework, laundry, the office work for our oilfield business, writing checks to pay our bills and bills from my daddy’s medical care, thank you notes to those that sent plants, flowers, donations, etc. The list of not so fun “to do’s” is long and exhausting. So, I used my timer. I would set it for 45 minutes and attack some chores til it went off. Then I would set it for a 15 minute quilting break as a little reward motivation. I did this from the time I was up and dressed until 2:30 when I went to pick up my grandson from kindergarten so we could have a little afternoon play date.
I got one whole chevron completed for baby Z’s quilt. This one is going to go together quick! And, it’s fun. I’m loving it! Six more colors to go!
Two Blocks Shy…
I started cutting squares for baby Z’s quilt tonight. I somehow cut my piece of fabric one 10″ strip short of what it needed to be. Therefore, I am short two 10″ blocks to make up my home cut “layer cake”. But, at least I have 40 of them cut. I will have to cut more off the yardage I purchased and get it washed and pressed before I can cut the last two.
On August 20th, the day after my last post, all normal routine came to an abrupt halt when it became clear that it was time to call in hospice care for my father. Some of you will remember that I have mentioned his struggle with Alzheimer’s here before. His battle is over. He passed peacefully just before 4 a.m. on Monday morning, August 22, 2016, laying beneath this quilt that I made him several years ago. It was one of his most treasured possessions. He was so proud of it. It seems surreal to have it back here in my home, where I presented it to him what does not feel like so very long ago. Soon, when I can collect my thoughts on this, and have ample time to devote to sitting down and writing it, there will be much longer, very personal post about our experience with this disease, and my dad’s death. For now, I leave you with a snippet of Daddy’s quilt. Goodnight.
Oh Boy! Good Mail Day!
The rest of the fabrics I ordered to go with the ones I pulled from my stash for soon to be Baby Z’s quilt arrived today! I have to get these washed and pressed so I can get started cutting my squares! I’m so excited to see how this comes together!
If you’ve read the previous post, you know I’m planning to make a chevron quilt. The light gray print on bottom will be the background for the zig zags in the other colors. Then there may or may not be an appliqué added on top in the darker gray in this next photo.
Either way, I can’t wait to work on it! I absolutely adore this next piece of fabric. I only ordered one yard to use in the light blue zig zag, but now I think I must get more because this fabric just needs to be the backing also!! I was going to make the backing from the light gray print, but I’m just too in love with this blue and all the sweet sayings in it.
I needed a dose of pretty fabric “medicine”. A dear friend passed away yesterday. He was like a brother to my late husband, who passed away five years ago this past May. I think a wonderful reunion is happening on the other side.
And, my new Prince and I took his young prince back to the airport today to fly home to his mom and stepdad. We really enjoyed the past two weeks with this sweet young man. I’ve only known him for two years, but our relationship has come very easily. We seem to have bonded well. I already miss having him here. I know Efren does! I wish he didn’t live ten hours away from us, so we could be together much more often. I snapped some pics of him and his dad before we left. Love these guys and I’m thankful to have them in my life now.
Wrapping Them in Love
Isn’t that one of the best things about being a quilter? Being able to literally wrap your loved ones in something you made with love!? These photos from my daughter-in-law of my sweet grand baby C snuggled in the quilt I made him made my heart melt.
His big brother C sleeps under this quilt I made for him and I love how it looks on his bed.
I now have a plan for Baby Z’s quilt, and am anxiously waiting on an order of fabrics to arrive to go with the pieces I have pulled from my stash so I can get started on the piecing. This is the bedding his mom bought for his crib.
It looks like it was made to go with C’s quilt! What a coincidence! So, I decided that baby Z’s quilt will be a chevron quilt, and after perusing different ways to put them together, I ran across another tutorial video from Missouri Star Quilt Co. that uses 10″ squares and finishes out at just the size I was wanting to make. They use layer cakes for their tutorial, but I couldn’t find one with the colors I want, so I will cut my own 10″ squares from yardage I have chosen. I also plan to embellish it with some appliqué that goes with the theme my daugter-in-law has chosen for his baby decor. Can’t wait to see how it turns out!
Sunday Stitching with a View
This was my view this evening as I sat in my lawn chair and worked on hand stitching the binding on this one. I made the binding Wednesday, and I’m proud to say I’ve made good progress in the snippets of time I could find to spare for it. My goal is to have it finished before this week ends.
Last night, my 5 yr old grandson joined my husband, my 16 yr old stepson, and me for a sleepover at Casa de Ortega, aka Mammy’s house. I had chosen “Grammy” as my grandmother name, but it came out of his mouth as mammy, and it stuck. He has a Mimi, a Memaw, and a Meemaw, all on my daughter -in-law’s side, so it was really no surprise when he pronounced Grammy as Mammy. I had always heard that basically you can choose whatever you think you want to be, but your first grandbaby will call you what they call you and that’s that, lol.
After we dropped him back home to his mom and dad this morning, we spent the whole afternoon into the early evening out at a local lake, with one of my brother-in-laws and part of his family, and my mother-in-law. It was an absolutely beautiful day for some fishing, kayaking, and just sitting enjoying the beauty around us.
We don’t get my stepson nearly as often as we would like, because he lives 10 hours away and so we have to make the most of the too short visits we get. It warms my heart to see him and his dad having a great day together.
I hope your Sunday was blessed and have a marvelous Monday tomorrow.
Ramblings From Randi, The Wild Rose Quilter 