It's Thursday and I Have Pillow Covers to Show You

So my daughter got her pillow covers in the mail this morning, so now I can show all of them to you.

 Okay, so Blogger re-ordered my pictures, so in no particular order...This is the quilting on one of the pillow covers. My daughter and I exchanged lots of photos via text, so she could choose fabrics from my stash.

 I just had to buy some fabrics for the backs, and I bought these tree on sale. They are similar in color to the colors she chose for the fronts. All have zippers, also from my stash, and a zipper covering flap that is one of the fabrics on the front of the cushion cover.

 Here are all five together. Some fabrics repeated in each pillow, to make them a set without really being identical. That was the goal.

 I did this one so I could play with hexagons again. On such a small scale it was really fun. That was also the point of this project. Fun stuff on a small scale.

 This was the first one I made. I have been wanting to do some more Dear Dottie blocks since I made the first quilt. I had bought some of Tula Pink's Monkey Wrench fabrics because I fell in love with the bananas and then a couple to go with the bananas, of course. My daughter fell in love with these fabrics too. These were the colors she chose.

 I had been wanting to do some little houses in something with a smaller scale and again, this fit the bill perfectly. That is almost the last bit of Squared Elements fabric I have from when it first came out and I bought it in almost every color.

 This pretty Art Gallery yellow is a Maureen Cracknell design. I didn't know that when I ordered it, but I fell in love when I saw it.

 This cutie was made with a Fabric Mutt pattern tutorial. I showed a pillow cover I made a few weeks ago with this pattern in different colors. I couldn't not make another one. This one has some hand quilting on it as well as some machine quilting. It just sang out for some hand work.

 This is the one from the picture with the machine above. Coincidentally, the turquoise dots is a Tula Pink fabric I had forgotten I had.

 The rest of these are the backs of the covers. I wanted them to be as pretty as the fronts were.

And now, my job here is done. They have been put on the pillows, and the pillows are on the couch. And I made my daughter pretty happy. And that makes me happy.
Talk to you all soon.

Monday? Really?

Sometimes the days chug by slowly, but sometimes you look up and it's Monday again! Weird. Well we are over one month in official lock down here and I am okay with that. I keep busy, but there are some days that I don't feel like doing anything at all. Like today. So, let me show you what I did last week.

 This is the beginning of my Hands 2 Help quilt for this year. I bought a bundle of Little Clementine a while back, but then I didn't end up doing anything with it. Not sure why. So when I was looking through my stash, I saw this and thought it would make a cute baby quilt. The colors are soft and the prints are so very sweet.

I finally got off my butt and made the bicycle block for the Penny Sampler Quilt Club. I added flowers to my basket, because that seemed appropriate.

 I have finally finished all five of the pillow covers for my daughter and I mailed them out this morning. I can show you this one, since she has seen it. Each one is different, but made with some of the same fabrics so they go together, but not matchy.

And this is the back with a zipper flap to cover the zipper. I love those bananas.

 This is the front of my Dropcloth Sampler. I am enjoying this bit of handwork.

           And this is the back of the sampler. Almost as pretty.

And this is the pile of oranges we picked, waiting to get juiced and zested and made into lots of yummy treats.
So that was last week. I am crocheting today, and baking cookies this afternoon. Hopefully tomorrow I will feel like sewing again. Have a good week and stay safe.

It's Thursday, What Else Can I Say?

Sometimes it's hard to think up a fun title for a post, when all it is, is an update. But I am glad to be able to be here and show what I am up to this week.

 First, I am still working on my Dahlia blanket. I have lost a little steam for this project, but still plugging slowly away on it. I am on week 4 of 6. The colors are so happy and I do love it.

This is one of the April blocks for the Penny Sampler Club. There are only two blocks this month and one of them is the bicycle I was so anticipating. It's larger and a bit more complex, so I decided to warm up with this one. I had all the pieces cut for a week, before I could make myself sit down and sew it. I don't know why I kept putting it off. I find that I am easily distracted by other projects many times and I have to reign myself in.

When my daughter got married, I made 100 assorted napkins to be used at the reception, and then for her family to keep and use daily. This is what they looked like new. They are not as clean and bright now after so many years of use and washings. But Miss N has latched on to the teal with white flowers here in the bottom row. For some reason there are only 2 left. They are the only napkins she will use.

So in an effort to save her mother's sanity, I made her these four napkins in pink and purple, her favorite colors. I will get them in the mail as soon as I can.

 I am also making new pillow covers for my daughter's pillows. I haven't recovered them in about 5 years, so I know they need a refresh. Choosing fabrics long distance was tough, but this is what we whittled it down to.

 Ad this is the beginning of the first pillow cover. I am making Dear Dottie blocks in her chosen colors for this one. Each pillow cover will be different, except for the fabrics. They will all come from that box above.

 My hand stitching project is this new Sampler from Dropcloth Samplers. I saw it on IG and just had to have it. I love having a slow stitching project to pick up as I want to.

And yesterday I started with the A. I am letting this lead me where it wants to go with the colors. I know this will take me quite awhile to stitch, but that's okay. I'm not going anywhere...literally.
Take care and stay safe.

Rain Rain Go Away

It has been raining here. All. Week. Long. We have apparently received another 1.5 inches overnight last night. Ark building may be the next task here if it doesn't stop soon. There is water in the basement that we can't even deal with until this stops. What a week.

 So, in no particular order, since Blogger just re-ordered my photos, I am working on this cute little stitchery from Liz at Cozy Blue. I usually just buy the PDF versions and trace them onto cloth myself. A Grammie's limited income you know.

 Made a couple of masks for some friends. I have been doing this a bit. Someone calls or texts and asks, and then I sew a few up. I just can't bring myself to crank them out. But I am doing my part.

 I made myself this one to try out this style. I put a layer of Pellon 809 init for body and a bit of extra filter protection. I have made a few of these. I have been splitting elastic since all I have is 3/4 inch wide elastic. So far it's working. I did make one with ties to try that technique out. I love having options.

 I started quilting the heart quilt this week. It's the kind of small quilt I can usually do quickly, but my engine seems to be stuck in low gear right now. Everything is in slow motion.

 I am working on some new pillow covers for my daughter. I made up these 4 Dear Dottie blocks for the first one. It will need a thin-ish border to be the right size. I plan to make 5 different covers using block techniques that I want to play with on a smaller than a quilt scale. This one is fun!

 I baked Challah bread yesterday from the Smitten Kitchen recipe. It made two loaves that grew so huge they grew together on the pan. The taste was great and I will definitely bake this again, but I will cut the recipe in half to make a single loaf next time. It was way too much bread for our household.

 Last weekend I baked a Country French Loaf from a King Arthur recipe. I baked it in my cast iron Dutch oven. A very good bread for toasting, sandwiches and garlic bread.

 I decided that since I have tons of earrings and I used to wear a different pair every day back in my working days, I would post and wear a different pair every day on my Instagram, until I get through them all. These were my earrings from my cancer days.

And there was one miracle morning where the sun shone so brightly for just a few moments before the clouds and the rain came back. It was awesome!
I hope you have a good weekend my friends. Stay safe.

April is Finally Here

So, thankfully we have turned the page from March to April, even though not much else has changed in the past few days. I am keeping busy here, as always. One thing I learned when I was going through cancer is to get up and get dressed every day. Make the bed. It is a feeling of normalcy and the best thing for starting the day.

 This week's baking was Granny's pan dulce. This is a Mexican sweet bread that is not too sweet, actually, and is flavored with Anise seeds and crumbled cinnamon sticks. We love this so much and it reminds us of our childhood. Granny would make it and within a couple of days it was all gone.

 This is the cover of a small pillow that Heidi Staples of Fabric Mutt made for me back when I was doing my cancer treatment. I just love this little pillow.

 And this is the back. It has an envelope closure and has been used so much it is pretty worn. So I decided to make a new cover for it.

 And what could be better than a Heidi Staples tutorial for the new cover? I love these little cross stitch blocks. The tutorial for these can be found on her blog, Fabric Mutt.

 This is the back with its envelope closure. So glad to finally be able to use this pretty fabric.

 Next, I have been working on four Santa ornaments for the grand children for next Christmas.

 And, I am pleased to say they are done! Here they are, all lined up on my cutting table.

 The pattern for these is available from Larissa at Mmm Crafts. She has lots of patterns that are fun and gorgeous.

I also started posting pictures daily on Instagram, of the earrings I am wearing each day. Why? Because it is a daily exercise designed to make me wear all of these beauties. I need a routine and a daily post on IG is part of that.

And lastly, I finished this stitchery from Cozy Blue. She runs her business out of her home and has lots of stitching kits and iron on transfers if you don't need the kit.  I am always needing a diverse set of crafts to keep me busy. Maybe you are too?
Stay safe my friends and I will talk to you again soon.