RSC, Health, and Celtic Knots

This month I dug through my light, bright greens so I could sew the January hexagons for Heartfire blocks. I actually kept my nose to the grindstone and did all SEVEN! Maybe I didn't get them pressed too well but they are going to be just fine!

I finished these in the nick of time because on Sunday afternoon we got two very special visitors. My DIL Amanda arrived with Brody!!! We had such a terrific visit and they stayed until Tuesday afternoon. Please indulge me while I share a few -- Ok, many -- pictures.

DIL & Brody

Gracie couldn't get enough of Brody!

Brody passed his driver's license test!

Polly had just smacked Brody's hands ....

When he promptly sat down with his hands behind his back!

GG (Great-Grandma) giving and getting a little attention with Brody!

 

Family portrait minus the cat. Of course, Gracie was in it!

For those of you following along or wondering about DH's health, he had his 2 week follow-up on Wednesday this week. We were glad it was already scheduled because the 4" incision above his belly button started "weeping" from the top and from the bottom. It was clear fluid with blood in it, pink to dark pink in color. The doctor looked at it and was semi-concerned because apparently it is normal a few days after surgery but not so much 2 weeks after. However he was VERY CONCERNED about the looks of one the laparoscopic incisions, which was now leaking also and was very red. He ended up cutting into it and releasing some infection. That was followed by a lesson for me on how to pack it. So now every morning and every evening we are changing two bandages and keeping a close eye on those spots AND packing & bandaging the other. Of course I'm keeping an eye on it also. We have another follow-up appointment next week. So much fun around here! YOI!

Meanwhile, these last couple of days I've joined some friends on a sleep-in-your-own-bed retreat. I had these four Celtic knot blocks prepped for Star In a Star and I am aiming to get all four done.

This quilt is part of my PHD Challenge and also my LQS UFO Challenge. I.Will.Get.This.Done!

I'll close for now with my favorite picture of my favorite grandson. Have a great week!

Checking In with RSC & FNSI

As you may recall, I'm playing catch up with some of my Rainbow Scrap Challenge blocks this month. I caught up my Awesome Land blocks last week which I posted HERE. This week I tried to work on a few (no, I was actually thinking I could do all 7!) Heartfire blocks in bright green, January's color. Here's the four I worked on and, as you can see, these are not finished.

Part of the reason I lagged on those is because I was working on Star In a Star. Those Celtic cornerstones took a long time to prep and that's all I got done on those this week. They're glued in place and just waiting to be machine appliqued down. Maybe get a start on them this week?

My other distraction was Winnie the Pooh. I want to get this one done and out in the mail SOON but I'd been dragging my feet because I couldn't make a decision on the backing. I saw some cute Pooh fabric online but order processing & mail is so slow right now at times that I couldn't see taking that chance. I also visited one of my LQS but didn't find anything appealing. Then all of a sudden I remembered WAAAAAAY back I had made a Winnie the Pooh (different than this one but still Winnie-themed) and had used some Pooh fabric in it. Did I still have any of that left? I dug deep in my  mind to try to remember what the fabric actually looked like so I'd know what bin to scour and sure enough, I found it!!! It measured about 12"x 42".

It is pieced into the back with a bright yellow fabric and is sure to be cheerful. Next task is to find a 54" square of batting. I dug around this morning and found two pieces that, when sewn together, will be just right! Now it's all about finding time to finish this puppy up!

Of course my week would not be complete without a squirrel. Very Busy Monkey on Ravelry has a free mystery knit-a-long going on for a pair of socks. I absolutely LOVE her patterns so I downloaded what she had and completed Clue 1 last night during Friday Night Sew-In. I knit two-at-a-time so it takes me a little longer to get the clues done but here is a picture of my yarn and my progress so far. Thanks to Wendy for hostessing FNSI again this month!

Clues 2 & 3 have been released as they are coming out on Thursdays. You can find all the information HERE if you'd like to join in too! There's only one more clue but the downloads are still available!

Now I'm hoping to make some progress this week on all these projects but mostly I'm planning this week to enjoy my DIL & Brody's visit. They arrive tomorrow (Sunday) and will hit the road again to go home Tuesday morning. Yes, short but oh! so very sweet!! Amanda sent this picture of Brody getting ready for the trip -- haircut time!

I also wanted to give a quick share of a funny thing Gracie & I saw on our walk the other day. We happened to be cutting through a subdivision and came upon this:

Linking up with Angela at SoScrappy later today. Have a perfectly-pink flamingo weekend! Lol!

PHD Report - July 15

Well, what do you know? We're halfway through July. Hopefully I'm keeping on schedule. Let's see what I hoped to accomplish this month.

1. Quilt, bind, & label Winnie the Pooh - Don't have anything to show but I found some Winnie the Pooh fabric from a previous project. It will be incorporated into the backing so I'm anxious to get it pieced and ready to quilt!

2. Finish Patriotic Wall Hanging 100% - Yes! Finished and hanging! See my post HERE!

3. Get Star in a Star top assembled. This quilt is due at my LQS on August 25th. It finishes as a queen-sized quilt. For credit at the shop, it will also have to be quilted, labeled, and bound. Definitely a big job for July & August. Currently, 5 of the nine 24" blocks are assembled and the top & side borders are complete. What's left? Assemble the final 4 blocks and finish the 4 border cornerstones. They are hand appliqued Celtic knots. Sounds like a hospital project to me! - Progress here has been slow but steady. The final four blocks need the final seam sewn and then on to assembling the main part of the quilt. The cornerstones have been prepped but not sewn. The original plan was to hand applique these as recommended by ones that have finished theirs. The directions explain how to machine applique these. I'm thinking machine at this point. Maybe give it a go tomorrow?

4. Quilt, label, & bind Hope. - Nada!

5. A little more progress on Eva Grace would be nice too! - Nada!

So there you have it. Thank you, Gail, for keeping us on track. I'm looking forward to seeing how everyone else is doing and motivating all to get those Projects Half Done DONE! Will be joining the linky party HERE.

See you August 1!

RSC Saturday!

Rainbow Scrap Challenge's color for July is dark blue. I didn't get much done for that but I have a project in mind that I hope to start soon. I'm a "starcher" so I can tell you my dark blues & background fabrics have been starched but the cutting has yet to begin! Thank you, Angela, for hosting this party and you can see all the amazing dark blue fun HERE at So Scrappy.

This week put a lot of mileage on my vehicle going back & forth to the hospital. Grateful I could visit but a 45-minute drive each way takes a toll on the gas tank and the driver! Ha! Not complaining, just stating facts. I was able to bring hubby home yesterday so there was a lot of adjusting and readjusting for comfort. The good news is: NO MORE TUBES!

I was able to pop in to the TAS (The Applique Society) class & trunk show by Deborah Tirico. She is the "Wool Applique Queen" and she shared lots of tips and loads of eye candy, including her favorite technique, the colonial knot. This segment preceded the TAS Annual Meeting at 3pm. I was able to pop in for a few minutes to catch Irene Blanck's class at 7pm. She gave a trunk show and a mini-clam shell class.

There is more fun scheduled for today and I'm looking forward to catching whatever I can. I believe the machine applique class by Kathy Delaney is first up this morning followed by needle-turn applique by Barb Eikmeier this afternoon. If you are an applique fan, you might think about joining this group. They're working on growing it and the dues are quite reasonable. HERE is the link to their website which has all the information.

So back to RSC, I chose to catch up my teal and the light blue Awesome Land blocks.

I finished 100% the 2 Afternoon Delight blocks. This quilt was designed by Sue Garman and here are the official pictures of my blocks #20 & #21.

Have a great weekend and I look forward to seeing what everyone has created this week!

Kidney Eviction

Spent most of yesterday at Missouri Baptist Hospital in St. Louis. Hubby had a 10am showtime for a noon surgery. After his partial nephrectomy in March to remove a cancerous tumor, we just couldn't get him healed up. So yesterday we had the rest of the kidney removed. He was wheeled away about 12:30 with the idea that it was probably about a 3 hour surgery. It lasted 4 hours instead. By the time he got out of recovery and to his room, it was 6:30pm. I left him alone to get his bearings and for his body to remind him what all he'd been through at a little after 7pm putting me home at 8:00. Thank goodness Mom came to the house and took care of Gracie & Polly!

So during the four hour wait, what did I do? My next Afternoon Delight block went from this ....

All parts glued in place.
Stems already sewn down.

to this!

All sewn down.
Mauve berries glued and ready to be sewn!

Thank you everyone for your thoughts, kind words, and prayers. We're looking to get DH home Thursday. I'll be visiting him at the hospital this afternoon. So glad I am able to visit this time but can't take Mom. Still only one guest allowed during the corona virus pandemic. At least I get to go. During his April hospitalization for twelve days, no visitors were allowed.

Have a good Wednesday!

July FNwF and Rainbow Scrap Blues

During the week I purposefully had prepared an applique block for sewing on Friday night. Cheryll had sent out the invitation for Friday Night with Friends and I fully intended to be there! This is #20 for Afternoon Delight which is being offered on The Quilt Show. All you have to do is join and the block of the month is FREE. You can get all the details HERE.

So last night night I finished all the nooks & crannies of the circle on the left. I also started adding the "spokes" in the picture on the right. It will end up being a circle in the middle of the circle on the left. I am working this "off block" as my friend Katie taught us during one of our meetings for TAS (The Applique Society). An earlier similar block I did not do like this and, while it turned out OK, it was a pain to sew. I'm thinking (and hoping) that this will be more Sue-friendly!

Previous Twirly Block

So that is what was accomplished last night while watching Blue Bloods. We managed to get into Season 6. Thank goodness for DVD rentals from the library as there is no good TV-watching lately.

Wednesday was July 1 and so Angela chose our next color. It is sky blue. I have totally run out of shades of blue so I have decided to take a pass on the color this month. However, I was late starting the hexies for Heartfire so I will catch them up this month. I have ZERO light/bright green ones for January and just the start of TWO orange ones for February. I also cut out the pieces for ONE teal and TWO dark green blocks for Awesome Land. That will catch me up for those months as well. It all works out perfectly for me because I knew I only needed EIGHT colors for Awesome Land and only SEVEN colors for Heartfire.

I did manage to finish up the pink Heartfire hexies.

My Patriotic Gameboard is finished and hanging.

I finished Block #19 for Afternoon Delight.

I also completed the June 15th clue for Bloomtopia (bottom right motif).

I located my Star in a Star basket, sorted my pieces, and determined that not all the blocks had been pieced entirely. This is my challenge UFO that is due at the August 25th meeting. It is also on my list for the 2020 PHD Challenge.

Various Parts Waiting Completion

Glimpse of 5 Completed Blocks

And how could I end this long post without a picture of our handsome Brody. I think he's looking more boy and less baby!

I'm linking up with Angela at SoScrappy to see how the others are doing with Sky Blue and also with Cheryll at Gone Stitchin' to see how and what my international friends are doing.

Special thanks to my friend Millie for picking me up to visit a quilt store and enjoy lunch out. Fred's kidney will be removed this Tuesday so I don't know how long I'll be house bound taking care of him. Nothing like a good friend to cheer one up, right?

Have a great week!

July PHD Report

I'll make this short & sweet ... hopefully. What did I hope to accomplish by month end?

To-Do List for June

1. Get that Kyoto to the finish line!!! - Finished in time for Show 'n' Share at my LQS via Zoom. This counts on my PHD list!

2. Get Pooh finished too! - Top is completed. Count that as a win too! Started this QAL with Quilting Gail in June.

3. Cross Patriotic Wall Hanging from my list! - Finished except for stitching down the binding & hanging sleeve and writing on the label. This is the project I found when I was reorganizing my upstairs sewing space due to the baker's rack I snagged. You can read about it HERE.

All in all, I think I did pretty good reaching my June goals. Just a couple loose ends and then I'm done. So what will I hope to do for July?

1. Quilt, bind, & label Winnie the Pooh

2. Finish Patriotic Wall Hanging 100%

3. Get Star in a Star top assembled. This quilt is due at my LQS on August 25th. It finishes as a queen-sized quilt. For credit at the shop, it will also have to be quilted, labeled, and bound. Definitely a big job for July & August. Currently, 5 of the nine 24" blocks are assembled and the top & side borders are complete. What's left? Assemble the final 4 blocks and finish the 4 border cornerstones. They are hand appliqued Celtic knots. Sounds like a hospital project to me!

4. Quilt, label, & bind Hope.

5. A little more progress on Eva Grace would be nice too!

Thanks to Quilting Gail for keeping us accountable with our PHDs. I'll be linking up with the others and cheering my fellow PHDers on!