Just a Quickie

 Just a quickie post before I leave for retreat weekend.

This is my April Chookshed Stitcher project...and finish!  Someday I'll remember to straighten things out before photographing them but (there's always an excuse, isn't there?) I took this photo while zooming last night and just kind of laid it on the bed in the sun and  - done!

This is obviously a small one and while I chose projects that needed to be finished this one was a new start.  And finish.  The piece I used for the binding was color perfect with a dash of red and I do love this little thing.  And the truth squad will make me admit to machine piecing and quilting it.  New to me for sure.

I absolutely loved this blue strawberry for years and just didn't want to cut it up.  But as we said last night during zoom, we aren't getting any younger, we have a lot of money tied up in our stashes and in the end our kids would rather disperse our finished quilts than put our stashes in an estate sale. I decided when choosing this little piece that if I used the blue strawberry it would not get lost. 

Wonderful zoom last night, too!  Now, off to retreat weekend.

Milestones

 Well, looky here.  Somehow fifty years have passed.  They say the days are long but the years are short and they aren't kidding.

 Our daughter arranged for the marquee in town to announce to one and all we've had a milestone anniversary. It didn't take long, those fifty years.  No, we didn't join the line dancing.

We had a very nice dinner at one of our favorite places, even sat on the porch because the weather was so nice.   After all this time he still gazes at me this way!

Tuesday we waited for the eclipse.  Here we were supposed to have 95% coverage and because it was a gorgeous day we sat on the porch playing cribbage while we waited, checking with our safety glasses every few minutes.

You can see by how much shadow there is we still had a way to go, but even with 95% coverage we had quite a bit of light and never felt like it was even twilight. Still, it was a milestone event for the entire U.S. and the anticipation was fun.

April Number 9

It looks like my number 9 is a simple project even though it's a new one, not a finish. It's a small one, too. 

I printed the pattern and it's still dark here this morning so the colors aren't bright but you get the idea.  It's a small wall quilt so I could actually finish this!  I AM also working on those yellow daffodils from the previous two posts, too. I started cutting them the other day.  They don't even have a number but my thumb split and that prevented me from getting March's project pinned.  It's layered but folded and waiting for the thumb to heal. 

We are expecting the usual spring break weather, the first half of the week is going to be rainy and cold so I do believe I'll get these cut.  

On your marks, get set, go!

Katy Did it!

 I wasn't kidding when I said I can't do nor "see" math.  I've always said I can't "see" it. And even though I stared and stared at the Twelve Inch Square block, even measured and drew it all out, I really still didn't "see" it. 

But Katy did.  

Katy commented on my last post that the true block is the yellow and THAT measures 8 inches.  The sashing with the green points is just that. Sashing.  Take those away and voila! an 8 inch block.  Thank you, Katie.  I do appreciate the second set of eyes.  Bloggers are so cool!

I hope everyone has a nice Easter, for the first time in forever I am not cooking. We are the guests. 

Twelve Inch Square

 Over at The Polka Dot Chicken the other day I saw a quilt that really hit me. Go over to Carol's post and look at it.   I don't know if it's because we were staring down a cold snap after a beautifully balmy porch sitting week or that I've never made a yellow quilt or whatever the reason, everything about it just said 'yes!'  I saw daffodils, I saw sunshine, and after enlarging a square and staring at it I saw the pattern. 

   Now, I'm severely math challenged.  I can barely count my change. If left alone without interruption I can fix the toaster but I need a padded room to work out math.  This, though, I could draft.  I didn't know what Carol's pattern measured out to but I drafted a 12 x 12 finished square.  I can do that kind of math.

   I asked Carol in her comments how big her square is and she said in the post I'm sending you to that her squares measure 8.5 unfinished.  You can see more of the quilt if you go to a couple of the older posts.

   Hmmmm...are my 12 inch blocks going to be too big?  I am looking at using my stash so the bigger block will use more fabric.   Now, of course, I am second guessing myself. 

   Yesterday we had Daughter and family here for dinner.  Elizabeth is a very smart young lady and very good at detail and math.  I thought I would ask her to draft the 12 inch pattern down to an 8 inch because I could NEVER do THAT math.  

Kidding, I said, "Elizabeth, can you use your advanced trigonometry skills and make this twelve inch pattern into an 8 inch?  

     When she tried to explain her calculations to me I said, "is that the sign for square root???"  

     "Yes," she said, "and this is the hypotenuse of the triangle and..."   I know I looked like a deer in the headlights.  I thanked her profusely and told her I'd go with the twelve inch square.

Chookshed Challenge Number 4 Half Finish

 Half month, half finish, this is my number 4.  I am not sure how much farther I am going to get with this, if anything it might be layered and pinned but we'll see. I was just so happy to get this far I whipped it off the machine and onto the floor for a photo.  Not ironed yet.  Don't look too closely at the placement of the patches.  I thought I did pretty well till I got it finished and looked at it.  Isn't that when just everything wrong shows up?  I don't care, it's a finish.  Also not thinking I'm going to border it.  When I get it ironed I'll decide.

I used the stack of already put together nine patches I inherited from Friend Sally and there are STILL more left.  It's a bit like dealing with the loaves and fishes.  The more I use the more there are. I used these in TWO quilts now and I have no idea what to do with these.  Pillows?  

While rummaging around my project pile I found these Dresden plates I put together last summer, again the petals were all cut and part of the 30s stash from Sally.  I sat on the front porch last September and put them together into plates with my crank sewing machine.  My plan was to do all of them in yellow and make daisies out of them.  There weren't enough to do the whole thing in daisies but too many to separate them well.  Upon looking at them closely many of the yellows are combinations of yellows to make a full plate/flower.  Again, all of these were from the stash of 30s Sally gave me - all except the sashing.  I WILL put a border on this one but again, I'm tired and called it good for now.  In person it really is a sweet top.

After battling with my back for two months I came down with shingles and have been dealing with that the past week and a half-two weeks.  It's better now, just a little twingey reminder now and then.  And I'm tired.

Today is Pi (e) day.   I had just a small container of black raspberries in the freezer and since I'm home alone for a couple of days I thought I would celebrate.  Black raspberries are too hard to come by to waste them. We go through a lot to pick them wild so each berry is cherished.  I knew because it was going to be a rainy day today I was going to devote it to my Chookshed #4 and didn't want to be distracted.  I went to the store and bought a pie shell.  I NEVER buy pie shells.  NEVER.  But again, I just wanted to get this in the oven with a minimum of fuss and distraction.   I will probably have this whole thing eaten by the time PH comes home. If you celebrate, Happy Pi Day.

Number 4

 Well, once again I prove to all I'm not good with directions, not good with even reading them.

My Chookshed Challenge number 4 has to be moved...again.  It got shunted last month, too.  But the one I had as number 4 was the one I intend to take to retreat in April.  I always take to retreat a layered quilt to hand quilt.  I don't take a machine, I don't pack a huge bunch of materials and supplies,  I don't do lots of things fast so I always just take a quilt top to be quilted, hunker down in my corner between two windows with good lighting and spend the weekend hand quilting.  That one would have been number four for March.  I had to move it.  Probably will have to move it again if number 5 isn't chosen for April (which is the number I switched with.)  Confused?  You should have been me this morning when I tried my darndest to remember what "blue quilt" meant at number 4!

This moved to spot number 4 for March.  I have the nine patches done from that never ending stash Friend Sally gave me of the 1930's prints.  There was a pile of nine patches all done so I decided this small medallion center would be do-able and allow the use of still more of Sally's gift. 

This originally was number 2 but moved last month to number 5 and now to number 4.  But at least I'm keeping up with one project a month!! And finishing!