May 10, 2024

Jim and I made a quick overnight stay at Paducah, for their annual quilt show.  We saw lots of beautiful quilts, and had some great food, and some good shopping at Hancock fabrics.

The local Boy Scouts always have their strawberry short cakes with ice cream out with the food vendors at Paducah.  It was yummy!

On our way!

A close up of this prize winning quilt.  Amazing.

I've made one of these and I have the book by Colleen Wise, who showed this beauty.  I have made one like this before and love it.

A quilt like a rug!

Bible quilt.

I admired this quilter's work at least at one past quilt show. 

As I posted before I've been "refreshing" our bedroom.  We've had a time with mattresses and bed frames, but we FINALLY have it figured out.  Initially I bought memory foam mattress like we have on the other beds in the house and love, but....sleeping on it every night was a little different and not as firm as we are used to.  We bought the black metal bed, which I was really happy with.....until we sold the memory foam mattress and got a more firm 12" mattress from the local highschoool band fund raiser.  This mattress needs to be rotated every two weeks at first, and then every few months afterwards. Well, my husband is disabled and can't lift hardly anything. The two of us could not lift the mattress up over the footboard to rotate the bed. And the footboard was close to the mattress making it hard to make up in the mornings for both of us. So luckily I was able to sell the bed for almost what I paid for it, and then purchased a high (14") king, black metal frame, and a nicer, taller, black metal headboard.  Oh my, rotating the mattress is easy and I can do it by myself.  I love the frame, because like the other metal bed, it is 14" off the ground for some storage if needed, or even a place Puzzle, our golden retriever, can hide out in.  The headboard is perfect, the bed is so easy to make up, and I am finally happy with our bedroom!

So here's some pictures of where we started and where we are now.  You know, as we get older, we really have to make some adjustments to our living, for ease in our older age. This bed is light so I can switch out my rugs, but sturdy and stable, no squeaking! First up the bed I built a few years ago, SO HEAVY!

First replacement bed and mattress.  Like the bed height, and the look, but too hard to make up and rotate mattress.

Ok, this is the bed!  I'm in love with it. Perfect height (no box springs or foundation), easy to rotate without the footboard and easy to make up.

And my new little bench I made.  I friend who works at a local sawmill gave me the small live edge cedar board.  All I did was sand it down, apply a clear coat finish and screwed on some black metal amazon hair pin legs.  The bedroom is finished, and I couldn't be happier.

Next up is some painting I've done recently. I found a youtube by Studio Wildlife and watched it over and over trying to copy his work.  He tells how he makes the colors, the strokes, and the really cool bokeh background.  I love his use of light!

I took a photo I made from his youtube, printed it out and put a pencil grid on it.  After I finished the background I put the grid on my painting.  Brilliant idea, it is easier to copy what's in a square than try to do the whole thing first.

Another one. I loved doing this so much and plan to try to make some more.

Puzzle the dog got some goggles...She had a boating accident with Jim a few weeks ago and ended up losing an eye.  She fishes with Jim all the time and loves to go with him.  She moved to his back right about the time, he threw the rod back to make a cast, and the hook caught her in the eye.  The doctors were unable to save it. Jim was crushed over it and even slept in the floor the first two nights with her, to comfort her.  She has done great, is back on the boat. He is more careful, and she is in goggles.  Not all the time, but mostly when he runs the boat fast, and she doesn't mind them too much.

There's not been any quilting going on lately.  Our other project we finished this week, was a new epoxy type floor in our car garage and screened in porch.  This was a bucket list project I've been wanting to do for several years and planned on doing before I finally retire.  I'm not retired yet but decided to get it done.

I am very happy with the results.  Check out these before and afters.

Now, if we can keep these outdoor spaces this clean.

March 2024

 March has come and gone so quickly.  I have a few finishes to show. I loved the little orange and pink baby quilt I made earlier this year, so I made two more.  They are for a friend of mine. One for each of her two year-old grand babies. And yes, made from my scraps.

Then I finally finished this paper pieced one, pattern by Bonnie Hunter called Morning Glories.

The next happening at our home was the loss of our 15 year old kitty, Jesse Neutron. We are pretty sure his health degraded from the normal things that affect senior cats, heart disease, and kidney disease.

He had gone from his high of 14.5 pounds a few years ago to a skinny little 6.5 pounds.  He coughed, was obviously uncomfortable, and wouldn't eat.  By the time we took him to the vet for the euthanasia, he was severely dehydrated.  Yet, he still purred, jumped up on his stool to be brushed, and was still his sweet self.  It was very hard for both of us, but it was time. He was in pain. We gave this little stray a wonderful, full life, and he gave us much in return.

The vet office was super.  Send us a card, signed by the whole staff, and even prints of his paws and face.

I saw a cute little pattern online for my next baby quilt.  Finished it yesterday. It is for a young woman, who was my grandson's kindergarten teacher, who is having her first child, a girl, in a couple of months.  It was great to again, make a gift quilt out of my scraps. This one was quick too.

Springtime is time to change out to spring quilts, so I spent a little time doing that yesterday, for the beds in our upstairs guest room.

It's been such a beautiful week, I tackled the door project.  Our front door is fiberglass but has woodgrain look to it.  The stain that was put on when we built and moved it had faded a lot from the sun.  I was not sure about reapplying the gel stain myself, but it was very easy. I did that earlier in the week and applied the finish/protector on it yesterday.  Looks so good.  I had purchased several faux fern branches a few weeks ago at the At Home store. I buy ferns for our porch every year, but I'm a terrible plant person, so I don't take care of them like I should.  Not anymore, plant people, don't judge!  I think they look great.  The only issue is if we have a big wind, I"m not sure they will stay in the pots.  I have them stuck in florist blocks but not sure they will stay.

And today, the Easter Lily (given to us by friends) reminds me of the price my Savior paid for me. And today is Resurrection day!  So, so thankful for Easter.  If he didn't rise, there would be no salvation, no escape from a sinner's hell, no eternity with God and Jesus.  So very thankful.

February 2024

 The husband didn't get to go on his annual two week fishing trip to Florida this winter so I didn't get to do my list of projects. However, I'm almost finished with one of them.  I loved my big white bed I made a few years ago (my first wood project0, but it was so heavy I couldn't move it to put a rug underneath and with Jim's handicap he can't help me do that. Our bedroom was pretty but I really wanted to be able to put a rug under the bed that I could change out. I know, maybe silly, but a woman wants her bedroom pretty! also, I'm about over having furniture that I can't move myself.  So I sold the bed, nightstands, and lamps and am in the process of trying to make this simple, lower profile bed pretty.

I'm still waiting on one of the new nightstands.  I bought two, and they were "in stock." Only one was delivered and now I'm on about the 8th week of awaiting the other one. Oh well.

In quilting news, I received the fabric today for one I am making for the McCall's Quilting issue out this fall. I'm excited and a little nervous.  Hope it turns out good.

Snowstorm of 2024

 We finally got a good snow!  And in good, I mean about 8-9" The most I've seen since the famous blizzard of 1993.  So I've been stuck inside for the last couple of days, and it looks like at least one more as the temps are not above 23 today, and expected to stay below freezing for a few more days.

Puzzle, our golden retriever, LOVED the snow!!

Me, not so much.  But, the good thing about being stuck at home is I have more time to sew!  I looked at my scraps and potential baby quilt ideas and came up with a cute traditional design using pinks and oranges, a favorite color combo.  Starting cutting on Sunday. I love it.

This is for the new granddaughter of a dear friend of mine.  I hope she likes it!  This will be the second finish of the year for me.  I did the lion quilt for our Church's Music Director. He is expecting his second grandson. It is an Elizabeth Hartman design.  The second lion I've made.  Really, it isn't difficult.  The cutting takes longer than the sewing.

   

Back to sewing working on this one.  Maybe I'll finish it in 2024.  :)