What's Next

I just finished my 3D bowtie quilt. Piecing it at least. I find myself at that point of deciding what's next.

Lately I have had a project I work on only when I go sew with friends. When I'm home sewing I have been working on a different project. The bowtie quilt was my home project so I'm trying to choose something that fits for my workspace.

What does that mean? I tend to do cutting of borders and major cutting away from home where I have a little more room to spread out. I could do these things at home but that would require me to clean off my cutting table. I'm still on lifting and bending restrictions so that will happen after that is over. Although I could enlist others to help me clean it up.

So what do I have on my very long list of projects in progress? There are many that just require quilting. I even have one on my machine. I really should just work on that and get more practice at quilting. My plan is to spend at least 15 minutes a day on quilting something to get me into that habit. I have some things that have piled up in front of the frame so another cleaning project. Again I coukd enlist others help.

Other piecing options are:
- Crossroads. My current away project
- Garden Party. Needs borders.
- Dizzy. Basically it needs a decision of whether I want to add borders
- Double 4 Patch. This one needs a good round of cutting then piecing
- Bandana shirt. I just need to hem the sleeves and waist then close the neck.
- Double Wedding Ring. I have all the pieced arcs. Need to cut the centers and melons. I am hoping my GO die matches the size of the arcs
- Row by row Quilt. I won a prize with this quilt but don't love it. I plan to cut it down and make wall hangings out of the rows

So you've just heard a whole bunch of excuses. What do you think my next home project should be?

Hugs,

Swooze

April OMG is Finished!!

I went back to work on the 10th full time. Mix in with that two eye surgeries and a couple eye procedures. Then we have a little dog that misses me now that I'm gone all day so we've been sitting in our chair watching tv. I havent teally been working on my bowtie quilt.

Last night I pressed two sections of the quilt and sewed them together. In the process I made a fold in the seam. I left it figuring if I did the same to the second section I woukd fix them at the same time.

Today I gave myself a little talking to. I told myself it's ridiculous that I can't take the time to finish piecing this top together. After watching a recorded show and eating dinner I pressed and sewed the second section with ease. I quickly unpicked my troublesome seam on the first section and resewed it. I then sewed the two sections together.

I give you my finished 3D bowtie quilt top. My goal for my April OMG.

Linking up with Elm Street Quilts.

Hugs,

Swooze

Design Wall Monday

Last week I managed to get the last of the four quadrants sewn together for my 3D bowtie. I stopped there because I wanted to press them on the big board at the church Friday night. I only got one pressed and had to leave. Over the weekend I cleaned off my own ironing board and will press the remaining three quadrants and then assemble the top this week. This quilt top is my one monthly goal for April.

I'm linking up with Judy at Patchworktimes.

Hugs,

Swooze

Design Wall Monday

I've been working on my One Monthly Goal for April. I had rows of blocks pieced together when I set the goal. I figured out how big the quilt would be with the blocks i had at the point I purchased the UFO from the estate sale. I figured out how many blocks I would need to achieve my desired size then determined if i had enough fabric to make them.

Great news. I had enough. I cut the strips and then subcut them at a retreat a week ago. Over the past week I started making the blocks I needed completing them all today.

Because I made them in batches, I had enough blocks to make the remaining rows for two of the quadrants first. Saturday afternoon I completed the first.

Sunday morning I began working on the second quadrant. I was trying to hurry to finish it before company arrived.

Oops! I still had time to rip out the bad row and reattach it.

Better. After our Easter dinner with friends and family I decided to continue sewing. I finished the rest of the blocks then I sewed together the rows I had already made for the third quadrant. Three more rows to make and attach.

It looks like I'm on target to complete my goal this month.

I had a very small bleed in my surgical eye. I bent a little too far unintentionally and felt a little pop. Luckily it cleared up and did nit effect my vision. I have the right eye done Tuesday. This is the more troublesome of the two. I plan to be even more careful with this one during recovery.

Linking up with Patchworktimes for Design Wall Monday.

Hugs,

Swooze

Chronicles of Sandra Backsliding

I went to Sandra's house the Monday before my surgery last week. It was going to be my last chance at heavy lifting until after my cataract surgeries and recoveries. There were a few things i wanted to do and a few things Sandra wanted me to do.

i worked at these tasks and sat down to visit with her for awhile afterwards. She had eight large stacks of magazines on the floor. We talked about the fact that she could spend my recovery time going through those magazines and getting them all cleared out so that we can move onto other things in her home. She said yes she could take her time and work on them. I left hopeful that she would do just that and really conquer a lot of paper clutter in her home. I even mentioned that there were two totes full of bills and newsletters that she needed to go through and shred as she had time.

I have to admit it was a little sad when I left after I had been spending so much time with her knowing that I was going back to work and wouldn't get to see her quite as often. I think she felt the same and we took a long time to say our goodbyes and see you laters when I left.

Surgery happened. Post surgery happened. All went well. I asked Linda if she wanted to go and visit Sandra on Thursday. We went and picked up lunch and took it to her. We arrived to her quickly bagging up the magazines in small batches and putting them in her wagon so that she could take them out to the patio. She probably exclaimed she was trying to get them all outside so that we would be surprised at how good things are looking there. I was a little bit dismayed because I was hoping she would go through them and get rid of them that way rather than stash them somewhere. Linda helped her get those that she had bagged up outside and she put them away but the rest sat there while we visited and had lunch. We visited and talked about her goal of going through one bag a week and we suggested that maybe she should go through a couple bags a day. I of course made my inspection rounds. She is clinging tightly to keeping her laundry area clear. Sadly there are things starting to line up in the hall. We left and said our goodbyes again talking about the fact that I was returning to work the following Monday and that my visits would be fewer.

I have seen Sandra socially a few times since that visit and have talked her on the phone a few times as well. Most recently she proudly returned one of the totes I gad taken over there for her to keep her things in until she can go through them. She described how she emptied one of her totes so she could transfer the things. My interpretation is there is a bigger mess now. My last conversation made me hopeful. She happily described all the things she had bagged up ready to go out the door to family members she is seeing at Easter. She also has some quilty items ready to go out as well. I have accupuncture once a week near her house. I plan to stop in afterwards each week to see how I can help. I can't wait until May when my restrictions
from surgery are lifted.

Hugs,

Swooze

Design Wall Monday

I went to a day retreat at my local quilt store on Sunday. It went from 10 AM to 6 PM but I had to stop around 4:30 because I just ran out of steam.

When I sew outside of my house I like to do cutting of strips because I typically have more room and I like to work on things that require a little more precision using my Singer 301.

While I was at the retreat I cut the rest of the pieces that I need for my 3-D bow tie quilt. I don't mind sewing that one at home on my Janome. I also worked on my Crossroads quilt. I prefer to work on this one on my 301 because it has very small pieces and I can be very accurate on that machine.

Crossroads is a 6 month BOM. I managed to finish the fourth month/round today. The fifth month/round has a bunch of churndash blocks. It's going to take a good bit of time to get this round complete.

We had really good food at the retreat and also a really fun time. Would anyone like to buy a vowel?

I'm linking up with Judy at Patchworktimes.

Hugs,

Swooze

p.s. My first eye surgery was a success. I'm preparing for the next one on the 18th. Also starting my new job tomorrow.

Second Quarter 2017 Finish Along

Rhonda at Rhonda's Ramblings hosts a Finish Along each quarter. You link to her blog, or one of the other hostesses, with a post about your proposed finishes.

My goal this year is to be a finisher. There are two UFO challenges I participate in. To prepare for those I listed 12 I really wanted to get finished this year. Those will be the main focus of this quarter along with some smaller items.

1 Strip Stacks - purple borders
2 Strip Stacks - red border
3 tumbler
4 4 patch on point - black green pink
5 Avignon Picnic
6 Matchstick Marimba
7 Strip Stacks - green and pink
8 Renee's navy top
9 Nancie's Floral and White Blocks
10 Pieced together contest
11 Pink Poppy BQ
12 Bandana shirt
13 Turquoise blocks
14 Ricci's quilt
15 3D Bowtie
16 Double 4 patch
17 - ? Find and quilt all the charity quilts I have lingering here

15 and 16 require piecing. The rest need to be quilted and bound.

Wish me luck!

Swooze

Chronicles of Sandra The Patio

Linda, Nick and I went to Sandra's Saturday a.m. My plan was to have Linda sit with Sandra while Nick and I worked on the patio. Nate was supposed to join us but he was a no show.

Sandra's talk of just letting all the magazines go was just that. Talk. Linda sorted through one large stack while Sandra sorted through other paper. Linda acted as a gopher for us coming and grabbing more things from me to take to sort or bringing me trash bags or whatever else.

Nick helped totally clear out the far end of the patio that I was not able to do. Too much heavy lifting. We got things cleared out on that end then Nick went through with the blower to get all the bits and pieces off the floor. At that point we put back what was staying. There is now a clear path all the way through.

A lot of consolidation happened. We got rid of beaten up boxes and rehomed things into sealed totes. Sandra and I had discussed baskets and she agreed they no longer worked in her home. We found at least a dozen on the patio and took them straight to the truck to go. She let go of a broken wooden chair and a small decorative wicker couch. These things were taking up a lot of space!

Still too much stuff out there but the trash is gone. Large unwanted items are gone. I only found a few more magazines out there. I'm hoping we have reached the end of those but I'm sure there are more lurking in the other rooms.

Now that the flow of paper will slow down I think Sandra will be seeing great progress in her living room.

We talked yesterday about what's next. I only have today for any heavy lifting for awhile. I'm having cataract surgery tomorrow and then on the 18th. Lifting and bending restrictions come with it. I'll be out of commission for the rest of April.

Let's add to this that I have been unemployed since October. I got a job offer and go back to work on the 10th. Any more time I spend there will be on the weekends and for shorter periods of time. I will probably be taking people with me as they are available to make as big an impact as I can. I think Sandra is closer to being able to work on things herself. Just a little more work and she'll be there.

Ill leave you with this little treasure I found on the patio. Sandra, 10, is on the left and Grace, 12, is on the right. Sandra told me her Dad used to carry this picture set with him whenever he travelled. What a sweet story. It is safely inside the house now. Whenever I talk to Grace she thanks me profusely for helping Sandra. I'm just glad Sandra allowed me to.

Hugs,

Swooze

April OMG

Here's a recycled photo of my 3D bow tie. I'd like to get it to completed top stage.

Linking up with Elm Street Quilts and the April OMG goal setting post.

Hugs,

Swooze