Unmet Goal, a Finish, Progress, and Garden Love

What I'm Making: 

Well, I'll get the sad confession out of the way first: I didn't do the RSC block {catching up on May's orange assignment}that I had hoped to do. This week is a calmer week, so I hope to do some good catching up.

I do get to celebrate a finish - a dress I had cut out to make for myself several years ago and I finally got it done and got to wear it to church yesterday. 😊 I'm sure glad I finally did because sunflower season is rapidly drawing to a close.

I also made good progress on my handwork - a cross-stitch from Melisa's kindly shared freebies that has been waiting awhile to be finished. I just have some more snowflakes to add {with that fiddly shiny floss we used for Precious Moments wedding cross-stitches, you remember} and then I'll do a simple finish and have it ready for this winter. This is my Tigers-baseball-watching project.

And there's been a lot of garden love lately - tomatoes, beans, squashes all getting ripe and happy. I've also enjoyed the many flowers I've planted, some annuals, and some perennials. I'm convinced that having beautiful flowers throughout my veg gardens is a wonderful thing and needs to be done every year. 

I think this butterfly agrees.

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What I'm Reading:

I'm really enjoying having more reading time {though I confess I'm not keeping up with my incessant book purchases or library loans}. But the Lady Hardcastle mysteries by T.E. Kinsey have been pleasantly entertaining as I lay in bed at night. The lady and her maid have a fun and more egalitarian relationship and they work together with different strengths and abilities to solve mysteries. Their back-story is somewhat vague and only gets revealed in bits and pieces, which is kind of fun and mysterious in itself. They deal with issues like women's rights being respected with humor and grace. There are funny moments as well as the serious ones. I'm just starting the third book of the series.

In my morning quiet time and study I'm gleaning much from Tim Keller's book Prayer. I'm copying a lot of quotes into my Commonplace book. 

The same happened with Richard Foster's book Freedom of Simplicity. 

I'm also slowly making my way through Joel Salatin's collection of essays in Pitchfork Pulpit. Very thought-provoking stuff about our American food supply system, care of the land, etc. And to continue that line of thought, I have The Unsettling of America by the recently deceased Wendell Berry on order from a used book place. So, I have no end of good stuff to enjoy.

 Goals for This Week:

Handwork 

*Finish the cross-stitch completely

*Maybe start a new fabric multi-media book. I have some ideas {of course!}

*Maybe design and start an embroidery or cross-stitch of some quotes I like

Machine    

*Finish a pen and highlighter holder for my Bible and study book. I've woven the strap and now it needs to be attached to some velcro so as to wrap around the book cover.

*See if I can turn the bottom half of a dress into a separate skirt.

*Catch up on RSC - at least 3 blocks, preferably 5

*Choose next WIP to finish up

Homemaking

*Keep up with preserving garden produce along with housework

*Finish artsy bathroom baseboard {big reveal when it's done 😁}

May your week be full of delight in the ordinary!

Christmas Celebrations and Continued Crafting

 

I have had the enjoyment, work, and privilege of writing, directing, and accompanying our church's Christmas musical program. I used some older Michael Card songs, some newer Keith and Kristin Getty songs, and the tried-and-true old carols. We went through Jesus' birth all the way to why he came and the hope given through his death and resurrection.

My sweet and talented husband was willing to direct the choir numbers since I certainly can't do that and I was at the piano. I was blessed by the willing and excited participation of choir members and willingness to do duets, trios, and smaller ensembles. What a joy! {And they thanked us. 🙄Sheesh! No thanks needed; it was a delight and blessing, though lots of work.}

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So, what crafting/sewing took place in between practices and after?

I got the new {gifted} sewing machine set up and organized. I was given a bunch of notions along with it. I also got the online manual printed and ready for studying.

Wondrous dehydrated apples were made and gifted. Now I need to make more for Lovey and me. 😊

I'm enjoying reading a friend's copy of Culture Care by Makoto Fujimura, an artist who speaks on the beauty and necessity of good art to the glory of God. I'm taking lots of notes in my junk journal.

In my reorganizing of my "studio" I found this wall hanging made with Joy's Christmas in July instructions and decided it was time to bind and gift it.

So, it's done and will be mailed to my daughter tomorrow when I go into town.

I crocheted this head-scarf from some sock yarn I found at the thrift store. I'm debating whether or not to try to sell it - not sure if I should re-open my Etsy store, or just put it on FB Marketplace, or Ebay, or what. I've gotten several compliments from even younger folk when I wore mine recently. 

I've also gotten my indoor salad garden going again and will be happy to use the pea, broccoli, and clover shoots in our smoothies and salads. Hmmm, maybe in our chicken burritos tonight.

As you can see in the photo above, we are pretty assured that we'll have a white Christmas. We've had a lot of snow, even for our snow-blessed{?} area. Since I am not a big fan, particularly of cold, I'm happy to stay in, keep warm, drink lots of hot tea, and catch up on sewing. 

So, on to my week's goals {trying to be moderate because I'm having a friend for homemade soup lunch on Wednesday, hosting a ladies' tea Thursday, and a craft day with another friend on Friday. Whew! and I'm an introvert. 😁}:

With Sewing Machine:

* I'd really like to put together the Sewing Room wall-hanging that Jennifer had as a BOM earlier this year because I'd like to hang it right above my sewing machine in my newly organized and beautified sewing room. 

* I also want to make four more blocks for this quilt top {hoping I can find the pattern in the here-to-fore unsorted pile. I found some fabric for the backing and am eager to get it done and on my Jenny Lind narrow guestbed.

With Needle and Thread

* Finish the arch in the Everyday Embroidery which I should have put in before I did the climbing rose and move on to doing the rest of the Elefantz Books and Roses BOM blocks for that year.

With Crochet Hook

* I might make another head-scarf since I have another skein of sock yarn and won't use it for anything else. I can always gift it to my daughter who loves them.

May your craftings and celebrations be full of joy and hope, 

knowing that God loves us!

So Much Coffee Cup Fun!

 

I was going to just make one coffee mug per month as my RSC block, but I got carried away. 😄 I finished all the blocks for a wall hanging and hope to sew them all together this afternoon and then handquilt it. This one I intend to keep for myself to hang above my coffee/tea buffet.

Since one of my big goals this year is to make lots of charity quilts and thus use a lot of my stash, I wanted to do coffee mugs for at least one of them. But, I don't want to spend a lot of time with small pieces and these blocks only end up at 9.5" square. So, it was off to the graph paper {I'm very math-challenged and very hands-on visual} to design a larger block.

I came up with 15.5" blocks that look like this:

So I'm off and running on that project as well as continuing to finish off at least two Scrappy Spools per sewing session. And I've been able to sew nearly every day recently. Happiness!!

Because I've got so many projects at once and I'm a little on the scatter-brained side, I made myself a dry-erase productivity plan {aka get-your-focus-back-board} with monthly plans broken down into daily snippets. {Good grief, the photos aren't coming out too well today. Sigh.}

So, this week's goals are:

Embroidery

* Keep stitching on Elefantz BOM from January

* Trace Elefantz pattern for February

Crochet

* Hat that actually keeps my ears warm when cleaning animal pens

* Maybe start edging around flannel receiving blankets that are now hemmed {for pregnancy care center}

Quilting/Sewing

* Continue trying to finish off 2-4 Scrappy Spools/day

* Probably make more 15.5" coffee mugs cuz I can't resist

* Keep cutting scraps for use in various projects {Scrap Wrangling}

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I have just finished an amazingly helpful and encouraging book by Brant Hansen.

It and another of his books {Life is Hard, God is Good, Let's Dance} are so engaging, well-written, funny, and inspiring to just let God handle the "bad guys" and we'll focus on loving and caring. The chapters are short so you can dip in as you have time, or read them all because they draw you in so much.

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I leave you with these cute pictures of newly hatched quail chicks and the hope that your week is a joyfilled one.

Coffee and Tea, Please! Tutorial and Things I Wanna Do

 Being a rather spontaneous person, I decided to participate in the Rainbow Scrap Challenge this year as one way to meet my goal of using up a lot of my fabric stash {a Swedish not-quite-death cleaning challenge}. Since I do love my tea especially, but also my very milky coffee, I decided to go with mugs for the blocks.

Searching the ever-reliable internet for mug patterns {and having to weed out a lot of mug rug patterns}, I came upon a Youtube video by "Conquering Mount Scrapmore" on making a coffee-themed quilt. Well, after watching and taking notes several times and being rather confused {my fault, not hers, probably}, and doing some tweaking because I preferred a less tall and skinny cup, here's what I came up with in January's color - pink.

And, being a person who thinks by writing, I wrote down what I did and the correct sizes into which I'd cut stuff {so I don't have to rethink it all next month}and thought I'd share it all with you all in case someone else wants to make these 9.5" blocks.

Note: press seams open for all except framing strips to reduce bulk.

Here's the cutting list:

Mug fabric

    For body - {1} 4.5"x 6.5"

        handle - {1} 1.5"x 4.5"

                       {2} 1.5" squares

Background fabric

     {4} 1.5" squares

     {3} 1.5"x 2.5"

    {2} 2"x 6.5"

    {2} 2"x 9.5"

Handle Construction

Lay one 1.5" background square RST on each end of the 1.5" handle piece, as shown and sew diagonally creating the slanting of the handle. Trim seam to 1/4" and flip open, pressing seams open.

Sew mug colored 1.5" squares to top and bottom of a background 1.5"x 2.5" piece. Press.

Sew the two pieces along the sides and add background 1.5"x 2.5" pieces to top and bottom. Press. {Extra picture for clarity in different fabric from my experiment block.}

Mug Construction

On bottom two corners of mug body piece, lay two 1.5" squares RST and sew diagonally to created a rounded bottom {like most of us have 😁}.

Trim to 1/4" seams, press open.

Sew handle unit to right side {or left just to be different} of mug body and press.

Framing

Sew background fabric 2"x 6.5" strips to top and bottom. Press seams to outside.

Sew background fabric 2"x 9.5" strips to sides. Press seams to outside.

I really like these 9.5" blocks and am enjoying working a little on them every time I go down to the basement to add wood to the fire {or rebuild it if I've let it go out 😑}. I hope to make myself a wall hanging to go over my coffee and tea buffet bar as well as at least one twin-sized quilt top for donating. Maybe a teen or adult would enjoy this theme. I'm not sure if I'll put sashing between the blocks or not. I'll have to do an old-fashioned mock-up on graph paper to see what sizes would be possible.

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So now on to other updates and goals for this week.

Last week's goals:

In the sewing room

* Continue cutting scraps as I refill the woodstove by the sewing room & hopefully other times Yes

* White block framing borders on diamond quilt for grandbaby Postponed

In the embroidery/cross-stitch basket

* Do the lines on Everyday Embroidery Drawn and lots of embroidered outlining done

* Finish frame for PinkernPunkin SAL Ran out of the right color floss, but have some now

* Hopefully do first block/stamp on SAL Nope

* Trace Jennifer's BOM onto fabric for embroidering & continue cutting needed fabrics Did Jan. tracing

In the crochet basket

* Keep working on baby sweater for Pregnancy Care Center Nope

On the homestead

* Attach a quail feeder to new grow-out cage Nope

* Get the brooder ready for new chicks Nope

This week's goals:

In the sewing room

*Continue making mug blocks as desired

* Finish last block of Scrappy Spools and begin constructing spool parts

In the embroidery/cross-stitch basket

* Continue Everyday Embroidery lines before they get messed up

* Finish frame and heading for PinkernPunkin cross-stitch

* Decide what fabric to use for applique on Elefantz embroidery

On the homestead

* Really, truly get that brooder ready or hatching day will be stressful

* Attach feeder and poop trays to quail grow-out cage

I'm not even going to pretend to set a goal for the crocheting since I have too many handwork projects going right now.

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I just finished a very encouraging book entitle Life is Hard, God is Good, Let's Dance by Brant Hansen. It was really engaging and inspiring not just to enjoy life despite difficulties, but to look for ways to serve and love others. Highly recommend! I'm going to read his book Unoffendable next.

Have a lovely week of enjoying God's blessings!

Progresses and Goals - October 15

Hello from this little fellow! 

The past week has been a time of resetting up the routines of fall and winter - growing barley fodder indoors for the animals, starting up my microgreens, and doing some neglected cleaning.

It's also been a fun time of a new crochet project that looks like cable knitting, of which I am incapable.

And then there were two, one larger than the first, with an even larger third one in the works.

This is the yarn I've been using from Hobby Lobby. The pattern is from https://brianakdesigns.com/. She has quite a few beautiful patterns I might try.

 After a tasty breakfast of fried quail eggs on sourdough mini-loaf toast, I started collecting more eggs to incubate as I continue to try to build my flock.

The cuteness of the eggs continues to tickle me, but they are packed with so much nutrition, more than the equivalent in chicken eggs.

And of course the chicks are cute, too. I have to put them in an enclosed container to carry them from incubator to brooder because they tend to pop like popcorn. 😑 I now have 13 in the brooder and will start up the incubator this weekend for another batch.

Goals for this week

Homemaking 

* Can the rest of the carrots

* Continue total house surface cleaning

* Get back into regular cleaning routine

Homesteading

* Get cages ready for new quails

* Finish second quail egg holder

* Start incubator again

Reading and Study

* Catch up on Homesteading Monthly magazines

* Continue The Little Village of Book Lovers by Nina George

* Order new copies of The Lord of the Rings books now that I've reread The Hobbit

* Daily personal growth studies of Now That Faith Has Come: A Study of Galatians and weekly ladies' Bible study group

Crafts

* Finish third crocheted pumpkin

* Finish "Happy Fall, Y'all" cross-stitch - the stitching's done so it just needs mounting

* Finish last block(s) of Sew Scrappy Spools

* Start next Christmas wallhanging

* Bind Christmas wallhanging

* Bind Autumn Jubilee quilt

Whew! I'm tired out just looking at all that and that list doesn't even take into account the regular daily work/play. Guess I'd better get at it!

Have a great week!