Slowly but surely making progress ...

 This week I finished TWO UFOs!  Hip Hip Hooray!  Let me first give you my definition of a UFO.  

A project that has been started but is stalled because 

• It's in time out - bad quilt!
• All the thinking is done, supplies gathered but first stitch still coming
• I'm sewing but I have to think my way out of a problem
• Something else got my attention - better known as "Squirrel! syndrome" from  Up - the Disney classic!
• Life gets in the way.
• Waiting for supplies

The second advent calendar of The Season is done.  And may I say this calendar wasn't due until Next Christmas!!  Hip-Hip! Both the calendars made were from panels - both with pockets and both in my stash.  

I have a friend who has made an Advent calendar for each of five grandchildren and she fills them every year!!  YIKES!  And she admitted that sometimes she puts a $5 bill in day 5 and if the grandchild is old enough she puts a $20 in day 20!

Disclaimer:  I make the Advent calendar - YOU fill it!!

And the second finish ... drumroll, please ... is CherryWood Lane.

This lovely quilt is Edyta's Quilt-a-long from 2021.  I talked about this last year - best quilt-a-long ever!  The blocks did NOT get harder or increase in numbers.  

And isn't it just cute as bugs' ears?  I used Cherrywood hand dyed fabrics.  Two other friends joined in.  P and I sewed together each week.  She used Kaffe Fassett fabric.  So, we used the other's fabric for our doors.  I have KF and she has CW.  It's fun to trade and every time I look it over, see the KF doors, I think of all the fun we had sewing it.  I designed (or found) some trees to fit into the rows and added the Cottonwood fabric 'brick' border.

The fabulous quilting is by Lynette of Fernwood Quilting on Instagram.  A good friend who really thinks about the quilting.  She posted that she had 3 days of design work; 52 thread changes! used 5 Handy-quilter rulers; 6 super bobbins and 18 hours of quilting!!  And it shows!!

Part of the delay on this quilt is that L fit me into a slow period and I got it earlier than expected - in the Christmas rush of other things!  

And I've been racking my brain trying to find a way to hang quilts easily on the STAS Gallery Wall.  The little hook on the 'sliding hanging thingies' (official name) is too small for a dowel that will stay straight under the weight of a quilt.  I've tried safety pins (They open easily under pressure.)  A bulb shaped safety pin (really too wimpy)  And white drapery rings (either have to force dowel thru the ring, and then onto the hook at weird angle - or have to sew rings onto the back of the quilt at EXACTLY the same measurement down from the top.)  I thought that was the answer.  But there will be at least 10 collections of 3-5 quilts hung during a year!  That's a lot of white rings and a lot of time exact sewing.  (Not my strength!)

Eureka! Dollar Tree has these chip clamps that come in a pkg of 6(?) for $1; they are brightly colored but will clamp on the curtain rod and hang nicely within the hook of the 'sliding hanging thingie'!  Everything in the same orientation!! I'll try to find them in white ... but meanwhile I think I have a winner!

BUT  I had to put a new style of top sleeve on my bigger quilts.  The clamp needs to attach to the bare curtain rod so it doesn't distort the quilt.  Last night I sewed the 5 partial sleeves onto the quilt.  And - Lo and Behold -  it worked!!  Note to self:  try to have an epiphany earlier in the evening so you can get to sleep!

Some other highlights of the week:  Crab season!  Catalyst Restaurant has pretty good Crab Melt sandwiches.

The Good Guy by Dean Koontz was read.  And he was a really good guy - not often found in Koontz books?  But have no fear, there was a really bad guy in it too.  Reminded me of his Odd Thomas character.  5* rating!

 

It's a long weekend - but they all are when retired! :)

I love living on the Coast.  We were a long time getting here, but it's so beautiful.  And being retired, we have time to explore and enjoy it all.

Here is my newest little rock display.  It's a window sill in the kitchen, so those rocks aren't as big as you think!  Been keeping an eye out for 'heart' rocks on our beach walks.  DH walks diligently as I lolly-gag along!  He found the 'grey speckled' one (in back, second from the right) for me last week on Crissey Field Beach.

I don't think I'll fill the sill - but it's fun to spot them while in the kitchen.

Friday night the tide was so-o low - we had never seen this much sand at Crissey Field Beach.  And oh, my - the rock selection was astounding!!  Above the dunes you can see the visitor center, I would guess there was 3 times more beach and we practically had it to ourselves!

Saturday we woke up to a tsunami warning.  Did you see the satellite picture of the underwater volcano by Tonga Islands erupting?  OMG!  And of course, we are also on the Pacific Ocean and it came towards us.  The tide was low (0.1) Friday evening when we were walking the beach, but high tide was 7.3 Saturday morning.  When you add the swell of 3-4 feet to that ... there was a warning.  We're all happy to say that no damage came of that - but the ocean was wild for a few hours.

I read Every Last Fear by Alex Finlay this week.  Very good, it kept me reading late into the night!  Who-dun-it was a surprise to me.  Of course, I try not to figure it out, just follow the story.  Let me know if you like it!

Sewing room news ... always!  I'm putting up a new design wall this week.  Waiting for the 'wall insulation' from Home Depot to be delivered.  Two panels of 0.5" x 4' x 8'!!  I can't wait!  I ordered 109 wide flannel from JoAnn's to cover it.  You'll be the first to see it!

I'm making 5 quilts this year as gifts (some say, long time coming)  and I'm desperate for space to spread each one out and get the tops completed.  Kind of like a toddler in a toy store - need to see and rearrange!

Meanwhile, my 'not so private' goal this week is to get this quilt bound.  It's been half clipped for a week, and I do need to free those clips to have enough to clip the other half.  We'll see if my follow-thru stays strong!

 PS  The Olympics are coming - it's always good planning to have some dreaded handwork ready for the watching marathon!!  I hope to have this one done but -dare I hope - at least one of the five mentioned above ready could be ready to bind!!  

High Hopes!!  Stay safe.

Happy New Year! It's time to get busy!

 

The first week of the year was mostly rain, and by rain I mean buckets of rain!  Sneaky rain squalls that just wait for you to venture outside with the garbage, to go down to get the mail, or take a library book back! …  You can almost hear Mother Earth cackling with glee to catch you!  Rain squalls beating on your windows, making you dream that the tide is crashing against the building!!  And when you wake up – it still sounds like it!

But today is sunny! I whisper, so Mother Earth doesn’t hear me!!!

Have I told you the ‘Mystery of the Lighthouse’ after moving to the other side of town??  It’s a hum-dinger!!  We lived in Rainbow Rock Condos for 11 years.  It was North of town and our view looked toward town.  We couldn’t see Brookings because of the bluffs between us.  But we could see the St George Lighthouse in California on the horizon.  We loved our view – ocean, everchanging.

SO, we moved to the other side of town.  We are looking toward town and when we look out toward the ocean … we can see the lighthouse!!  Amazing – still a southern view!  101 does twist around in Brookings, but it doesn’t feel like 180 degrees!  And if you don’t believe me – well, I guess you’ll just have to come out and see it for yourself!!  But, I recommend NOT during the rainy season!

View from Harbor

Lighthouse on the horizon

The book I read this week is Bewilderment by Richard Powers.  It is highly rated and deserves it!  I liked the characters, I hardly put it down, even when I didn't want to reach the end!

I'm still having fun with the Gallery Wall.  I just finished "HOME" but it had bright white background!  I know, not like me at all.  Even DH thought it was weird!  So I over-dyed it with liquid tan dye.  In the kitchen sink,  hot water and 2 caps of dye.  I just wanted to take the edge off - I think it's perfect!

Here's the over-view.  You can see my computer station (and oolong tea!)  The quilt behind the table is "All around the town".  I love that quilt and put a sleeve on each side so it could hang 4 different ways.  I was very surprised that it was too big for the gallery wall, yet a little too small for the "big quilt" display area.  Oh well!

Here are the 3 quilts 'featured' this month!  I had to scramble for the third quilt - ended up using "September" quilt on the left.  It has buildings and people on it.  Good enough!  Great save!

I gave away quite a few quilts to friends and family in the past few years - some of which I should have kept!  But it's an excuse to quilt away with smaller projects - should be faster, right?  The wall can take a crib size quilt.

I cleared and cleared out my sewing room stuff before moving.  I reorganized it since I moved and I still have TOO MUCH STUFF!  To actually sew in there I have to ‘rearrange the deck chairs on the Titanic!’  I even participated in   “De-stash and De-clutter” by GoodFibers.  Still too much stuff!  I tried to sell some online through their site.  Apparently it doesn’t like Chrome.  Sigh!

So there’s only one thing to do – roll up those sleeves and get merciless!  (Yikes!)  I’ll let you know what I did to help the situation each week!  And of course, the reverse.  But seriously, I’ve been NOT going to quilt stores and NOT buying online.  But you wouldn’t know it!

In fact, I’m headed in there right now!  If I’m not back next week – sent the Coast Guard for a wellness check!

Stay safe!