Star #25

It's green.  It's done.  The color works with the rest of the quilt but this fabric isn't one of my favorites.  I think the next one, maybe more, are also going to be "not exciting".  Trudging along.

Temperature in the 20's or less here in Indiana today.  I didn't feel like trying to find a scenic outdoor spot to photograph this homely creature, just tossed him onto boring beige carpet near a window and said "cheese"

Linking up over at jess's Life Under Quilts star count this week.

Star 23 & 24

I've been working a lot of projects the last month or 2, barely any of it stitching tho.  Star 23 is the pinecone one.  I basted the pieces while on vacation back in.. uh.. August.   Star 24 though....


One of my sons has been a US Marine for 6 years now.  He went to Afghanistan as a machine gunner, then went to Okinawa to be a jungle warfare training instructor, then went to Florida to get a degree of sorts in bombs.  Now he's stationed in Japan again, and is an Explosives Ordinance Disposal Technician.  We all worry about him a lot, miss him even more.   I found a military surplus shirt just like the ones he wears and decided to make a star from some of the fabric.  This particular "digital cammo" pattern is exclusive  to the Marines.  If you look closely you can see the USMC insignia of Eagle, Globe and Anchor in the pattern.  I know this fabric isn't bullet proof, but it was hard enough to get a needle through that I can say with confidence I wont be making a whole quilt out of this stuff.

 

 

Other stuff: we finished refinishing a door.  I'm embarrassed to say how long it took to refinish it but... ok I will give you a hint: we started it just before Son left for bootcamp.  Yeahhh...  6 years ago.   This door is 140 years old, same as the house.   we painted the outside of it white to better resist the elements, the inside stained to its original color (but without the grime & scratches).  I love how the details are so crisp now.

 

 

 

Then there was the door hardware to clean and restore.  the simpler knobs and hinges are from some wooden screen doors we are also restoring.  The fancy stuff, including the "TURN" knob is from the door above.  That particular knob goes thru the hole in the center of the door and rings a doorbell inside it.  It sounds like an old fashioned bicycle bell. 

 

  Annnd... just in case we weren't already having enough fun with doors, we accidentally broke a window in a door that leads from the front porch straight into our bedroom.  For privacy reasons we need frosted glass in this one.  Rather than buy already frosted glass we bought a cheap sand blaster ($40) and Hat sand-blasted a new sheet of glass.  Here he is installing it in the bedroom-porch door.  Cant see anything?  perfect!    Neither of us had any sandblasting experience so we were pretty proud of how this turned out.   Lacy curtains on the inside give a lovely shadowy lace effect but I didn't get a pic of that for you... sorry!

Linking up with Jess at Life Under Quilts BlogSpot and her Monday Morning (or whenever we get around to it) Star Count group.



Star 22

Back from a week of camping beside Lake Michigan.  It was great to get away for a bit.   Still  unpacking and further sidetracked by an urgent need to can beaucoup tomatoes from the garden.  They all got ripe while we were gone it seems.

We camped pretty far north... not in the Upper Peninsula but not far from it.   I basted the brown fabric with pine cone pattern while I sat under white pine and birch forests, listening to Lake Michigan waves roll in. 

Time to blanch a zillion tomatos :P

Linking up with Jessica at Life Under Quilts for her Monday Morning Star Count (yeah yeah, I know it's Tuesday evening... late is my middle name)

UPDATE: wrote this post on my iPhone. Worked ok except wouldn't display the picture... sooo I figured out what was going on with the computer, fixed it, then uploaded pic again.  

Star #21...

...out of 90.  

I've been working 6 days a week for the past month or so.  Even though the extra shifts aren't all that long they're still enough to punch a hole in the middle of what could've been a productive day at home.  Hat also started working 6 day weeks around the same time... 10 hour work days for him not counting (unpaid) half hour lunch plus 1.5 hours driving.  Poor husband.   If we didn't live under the same roof we'd never see each other.  As it is, its just while coming, going and sleeping.   Besides going to work, nothing much else has been getting done around here beyond the bare basics. 

Youngest son C stopped by one evening this week with his youngest, my granddaughter.  It was a nice evening so we sat outside.   I'm really proud of what a wonderful father he has turned out to be, and grateful he lives very near by so I get to see him and his babies often :)

Oldest daughter "rayray" drove up from Indy yesterday for sort of a surprise visit, no real reason just to sit and catch up on news.   The best kind of visit!   I've been blessed with wonderful kids, I really have.

We (darling Hat, me, 4 of our "kids" plus 2 of the grandkids) are getting away for a camping/beach vacation in less than two weeks.   I'm really looking forward to it!

inches of progress, miles to go

I really thought I basted (a measly) 6 diamonds this week. Until I went to dutifully photograph this pitiful progress and realized its actually (measlier!) 5 and a half!  Dilemma... should I (cheat and) hurry up and take those last few big basting stitches to make it complete 6 OR ...photograph real life.?  

It is what it is.

 

linking up with Jessica at Life Under Quilts, Monday Morning Star Count.  

Star #20

"Monday Morning Star Count" on a Tuesday. Yep I'm late. Again!


Last week I counted #17 & #18 done, but that was inaccurate... actually those were stars #18 & #19!  So this completed star makes 20 done out of 90... 

..plus some basting.  Linking up with Jessica at Life Under Quilts.  Hope everyone had a good week.

 





Star Count

I completed 2 stars this week and basted a few more diamonds.   New star count is 18 out of 90.  inching along.  I took the photo of my progress on Monday morning but then didn't get around to blogging about it until now (aka Tuesday morn).  No real good reason other than 4th of July weekend was fun but hectic and I am worn out.

I only bought 1/8 yard of this sunflower fabric but now I'm thinking it would be a good choice for the quilt backing. 
hindsight is 20/20 vision.
 

It just started raining here with some pretty impressive force.  I hear a lot of thunder too.  I think that's a good sign I should end this post before the computer gets hit by lightning.  going to (sort of) link up with Jessica @LifeUnderQuilts BlogSpot and her Monday Morning Star Count.

monday morning...ok, afternoon... star count

17 out of 90 whole stars completed.
1 out of approximately 25 partial stars completed.

I did some basting this week.  not a lot.  and I stitched one star.  woot!!!!  almost all this progress was accomplished on Tuesday evening while Hat and I watched Deadliest Catch.  We really like the show, and on Tuesdays they show the previous week's (or two's) episode(s), then a show called The Bait where the cast discusses behind the scenes stuff, and then the actual new episode, which is sometimes also followed by another program called After The Catch where the crew again assembles and talks about more behind the scenes stuff.   we like all of it.  and its great to watch all that snow and ice when we are sitting in the middle of sticky summer humidness.  stitch stitch stitch to the sounds of seagulls and waves crashing.

I try to baste 3 minty green "background" diamonds for every one star since that's about the ratio needed. I sorted my fabrics into color families and am working through one family at a time (yellows, reds, greens, browns).  I'm getting near the end of the yellows although I will need to repeat some fabrics later. 

linking up with jess @LifeUnderQuilts

Summertime

its been a month since my last post.  I was just starting to get the hang of blogging and now im afraid ive forgotten how I did some stuff again... I actually forgot how to even get to this blog place, and forgot the password when I found it.  good thing I don't use so many passwords, I just kept guessing at the "usual" ones I use and one of them worked.  yay!!

not much quilting progress in this past month because summer got in the way.  we did a lot of yard things including build an extension of the porch to help connect to the pool.  sort of a boardwalk.  this is phase one of the pool deck. the actual deck may or may not get completed this summer but I already enjoy the new part.  we completed this part just in time for memorial day and hosted our big family for a cookout/pool party.  wonderful time by all, wow the kids and grandkids sure grow up fast.

two weeks after the cookout we hosted an adult-family canoe trip.  hilarious time.  I love our family, they are just the funnest people.  casualties while canoeing included clothing, keys, a wedding band and 2 smart phones... worse than usual but still a great time!







the family that canoes together stays together :)



we had a total of 5 canoes and 2 kayaks.

this weekend I did actually get busy again on quilting!!  well ... sort of.  I finished colorfastness testing new stash fabrics, then prewashed, ironed and starched them all. (bleahhhh!!!  "laundry" is not my favorite part of the quilt process!)  and last nite I cut diamonds from some of them.   today is going to be more cutting of diamonds and then... maybe ... even... stitching!!  woot!

 

going to (attempt to!) link up with Jessica at Life Under Quilts BlogSpot for her Monday Morning Star Count.



I think I just posted blog post number two!  Partly for practice going to try #3 now :)

oooo..... don't tell hubby aka "Hat" I secretly am lusting after this... this week i bought some fabrics that will go great with current quilt which i am not even remotely close to finishing... but i absolutely love the pattern above and it is already on my bucket list.  its called "Third Weekend In October".  The quilt im working on contains the same colors that are in this one, and i actually really do need more fabrics to finish it, so my recent shopping spree can be mostly justified.   b u t... yes there are one or two (OK maybe 7!) fabric cuts that made their way into my bag that have nothing to do with current project but will be sooo perfect for background and creek parts of Third Weekend In October.  While i was inside fabric store going crazy his dear self was outside organizing his fishing poles and bait and i don't even know what... i really just close my ears when he starts telling me about leeches and bee moths and... ugh.... i am careful when i get into his truck so  i don't get a hook stabbed into me.  but he was very patient.  LOVE YOU HAT!!!

oh wow... and here is the quilt photo i found online that resolved my diamonds vs hexies struggle...  this photo is my inspiration.  its actually my cell phone lock-screen wallpaper.  its the basic pattern of the quilt im making.  its very old, and the current owner found it in  a dumpster.   i love the creamy turquoisey green background... and the scrappy ness~... and the greens, golds n browns.  but i don't like blues in general, or pinks here, or orangey reds so substituting rich autumn reds.  

heres the "map" i drew of quilt im making.  finished size is appx 4'x5'... good for snuggle up on couch with, but not bed sized.  i would never finish anything if that big.

Should i do stuff or learn to blog about the stuff lol

ok so last time I (first time I ever) blogged here was to I think somewhat successfully created a Google account and then created a blog... and I have mostly forgotten how to do what little I learned then.  but meantime I have gotten some things done that, were I proficient at blogging would have resulted in several read-worthy blog posts which were so thought out in my head, complete with photos I took but which you still don't see here because I have to figure out again how to get them out of my phone and onto this page.  bleahhhh. 

I really like and appreciate Jessica at Life Under Quilts BlogSpot and her Monday Morning Star Count.  even though I haven't maybe linked up yet (must learn how!) I really enjoy seeing other peoples progress and the things they are making and how their week went.... for anyone who ever reads this I just want you to know: if your weekly progress report boils down to "the only progress I made was to thread a needle" its actually those blogs that encourage me the most!  I hate threading needles.  it slows down my actual "progress".  I need to look at it AS progress, right? 

I didn't get much done this week as far as quilt progress.... I might have stitched one star within the past 7 days, might have been 8 or 9 days ago though.   I did re glaze a window, potted up some plants, some other stuff... but my biggest "quilt progress" stuff I know I did in the last 7 days is 1) photograph the progress I've made on this quilt so far and  2) visit a quilt shop nearby and purchase some more fabrics (1/8 yard each of 20 or so fabrics, yes they love me)... START to check said new purchases for color fastness and then wash, iron and starch same fabrics (oh no I am not even done with that) ....and 3) attempt blog  post #2. 

so... now im going to attempt to upload a photo or two.  we will see how that goes and if I can actually DO it I will write about what is going on... again wish me luck! thank youuuu!

thank you for your   crossed fingers!   this is the exact photo on my beloved iphone that I was hoping to be able to locate while it is plugged into computer!!!  I took this several days ago.  these are the stars I have completed in past few months.  each star has one connecting diamond between it and next star, so average 3 light turquoise background diamonds for each full star.  as I baste stars I also baste 3 background diamonds... so I don't have to baste 8 zillion background diamonds all at once later! I stitch one or two background diamonds to each star and toss the remaining background ones into the box at left side of pic.

this.. my first (only? hope not!) EPP quilt colors are autumn shades of yellow, red, brown and green.  those colors are listed in order by favorites.  the first few stars I stitched were a mix of all those... then I decided to work thru all the colors I had of one group starting with least fave.  so right now is yellow/gold/beige.  and I am nearly done with them! next? reds.  then browns.  last but fave is beloved greens in all their glorious shades... mossy to emerald.

My First Blog!

Well here goes my first attempt at blogging... wish me luck.  

Every summer my parents dragged us 5 kids back to Michigan for a generally 2 week camping trip at various state parks there.  We were joined by Uncle Herbie (Dad's youngest brother), darling Aunt Susie and their 5 kids: my cousins.  Four adults, 10 kids.  It was great.  Aunt Susie had a sister named Wendy.  While Wendy was my cousins' aunt she wasn't actually MY aunt, but we all called her Aunt Wendy anyway. 

Nearly every summer we visited Mackinac Island for a day of shopping and sightseeing and fudge eating.  One summer was more memorable though: "Aunt" Wendy and her husband Mike had bought a huge old house on Mackinac Island.  We spent an afternoon exploring the house and marveling at the beautiful items that came with the house.  My favorite to this day is the cupboards filled with vintage quilts.  I think it was that day that made me decide to someday make my own heirlooms... or at least one "heirloom"... I wanted to make a quilt.

I've sewed things here and there along the way: kids' Halloween costumes, curtains, etc and have added bits and pieces of fabrics to my stash intending to someday get serious about making a quilt, but its only a few months ago that I got down to business.  I settled on a pattern (60 degree diamonds), settled on a color palette (autumn reds, golds, browns and greens against a creamy turquoise backbround), decided after much hem-hawing around to commit forever to prewashing fabrics and .. finally, started stictching!