A big loss

Hello Friends

Hope this finds you well.  I am still working on getting things out of the house for a garage sale.  We are going to work on it more this weekend when everyone is home to celebrate my brother-in- law's birthday.  We had to take a week off of packing and moving to celebrate the life of my father.

He passed away peacefully in his sleep on Tuesday, August 14.  It was in the morning which was fitting as he was a morning person.  We had been down to see him on Sunday because Hospice said he had another fever and it may be end of life.  We were all there.  On Monday he seemed to have a good day and was more responsive.  But he didn't wake up on Tuesday. 

It's been a lot of running with funeral plans and getting through all of that.  He would have been very happy with what we did for him.  Of course, he was not there, he was in all His glory.  Dad knew where he was going so we find comfort in that.

Now we are trying to find a new routine.  The house is keeping me busy.  The basement had 8 inches of water in it Tuesday morning.  Big rains and floods around me.  Luckily it was just the sump pump and the neighbor just had to hit the pipe for it to work again.  I ran fans all day and dried it all out.  Basement is fine now.

No pictures on this post.  Will have more updates on the house as I finish more rooms.  Hoping to sew a little more too.  I did get a top done but I will save that for another time.

Blessings
Amy

House update

Hello Friends

I have been working hard on the house.  Garage sale is set for Sept 6-8.  Boxing up items to sell and unpacking my stuff has been all consuming.  I have taken some time to sew which has helped my stress.  I am going to show you some before and after pictures of the rooms I have done.  I am just painting and adding my own touches for now.  The house needs flooring and windows, but they will come in time.  I am pretty proud of the work I have done.  I have only owned the home for a month.

First up, I rented the carpet cleaner and cleaned the living room carpet. That same day, I painted the room also.  It was a bright green, now it's a cream color called Tea & Honey.

 

  After

 

  They had blinds on the windows and I changed it to curtains.  I have to replace the windows so I didn't want to put too much into it.

 

Next up was the downstairs bathroom.  This room has been yellow for most of my life.  It was a bright yellow then a light yellow.  Now it's gray.

 

Yellow walls

 

Now gray

 

I am very happy with both rooms and it has motivated me to keep going!

The upstairs bathroom has carpeting so my next job is removing that.

This is the peel and stick vinyl flooring I bought for that room:

  

It's called Ash blended.  The walls will be a gray/blue color after I paint. 

 

I am plugging along and doing this a box at a time.  I am hoping to have enough rooms completed that I can actually have a house warming party.  Windows and siding will come in time. 

 

Hope you are all well.

 

Blessings

Amy

 

 

 

Checking In

Hello Friends

Just a quick update for you all.  Thanks for staying with me and reading.  I actually closed on the house on June 21st.  A lot had to be done to get there and I will fill you in later about that.  No sewing going on as I have been packing and unpacking.  My parents had 46 years worth of things in the house.  I am going through everything to get ready for a garage sale, while trying to unpack and move into the home.  It has also been 100 degrees here lately and that has hampered some of the moving process.  But for now, I own my own home and I am celebrating small victories!

 

I just need to thank my sister, Lisa.  She has been a tremendous help.  Not only with packing and moving but emotionally too.  I am so blessed!

 

Hope you are all doing well.  More to come.

 

Blessings

Amy

Moving update

Hello friends!

So mom is not moving until May 26th now.  She had to start dialysis urgently on May 8th.  My sister and I have had to work together to arrange to get mom to her appointments.  It sounds like my landlord has a tenant so I am moving out this Saturday the 19th.  We will move mom on the 26th. 
We both have been packing and cleaning.  Her house will not be completely empty for me, but will be eventually.  Removing 46 years worth of stuff is going to take a while. 
I have been working at my apartment to clean that out.  I have purged so much and it feels great! I was never able to completely unpack at my apartment.  I have a lot of wall things and other household items that I was saving for my house.  My motto is less is more.  I am getting rid of so much stuff.  It's so freeing. I can't wait to be out of my apartment and have all of my items in one place. 
The appraisal is today so the car is packed with boxes to take down to the house.  I can't wait to get the big items out of my apartment Saturday.  I only want to have cleaning supplies left.
Oh, and my godchild's baby shower is Sunday.  Yep, not ready for that yet.  I am making a party favor and have 12 left to make.  Hope to find a couple of hours before Saturday to do that.  I was going to make her a diaper bag too.  Not sure I will have time for that.

Any tips on how to make the move a little easier?

Blessings
Amy

New adventure

Hello Friends!

You will not be seeing much from me for the next several months.  An apartment came open for my mom and she is moving in 2 weeks.  That also means I am buying a house.  Eeeek!  I am super excited for my mom.  It's everything she wants and needs.  I will be excited for me once she is settled.  My father is still in the nursing home under Hospice care.  Mom will be moving to the same town he is in and will be able to visit him more often.  She wants her independence and to take care of less stuff.  A house is a lot to take care of alone.  Luckily, my son and sister and brother in law will be helping me.

Since she is moving so soon, I am going to the bank on Monday to do the paperwork to buy the house.  Hopefully we can do a very short sale.  I have never bought a house before so I have a lot to learn.

Writing my letter to the landlord and telling the neighbors was awful.  I have been at my current place for 9 years.  My son basically grew up there.  It is going to be hard to move, but I know I will be moving on to bigger and better things.  It is time.

As far as the sewing and quilting goes, I have a bunch of things to finish for a baby shower May 20.  Luckily, this Friday is late night sew night at my quilt store.  I am going to try to get as much done as possible.  I am making party favors and a diaper bag.  The quilt is already made. :)  In the new house, I will have a dedicated sewing room.  I am so excited for that!

I will occasionally check in with pictures of my progress on the house.  It's over 100 years old and needs a lot of work.  My father had remodeled the whole house but that was 30 years ago.  I need new floors, paint, windows and siding.  I also want to look at a new heating and cooling system.  I know $$$$, but it needs it.

Thank you all for your support and stopping by to read my blog.  I am reinventing myself and possibly this site and my business.  Stay tuned.

Blessings!
Amy

Another finish

Hello Friends

My project quilting piece was almost late this week because I had to finish an important quilt.  My parents celebrate 50 years of marriage on 3/30 and we had a party for them on Saturday.  I decided to make them a quilt with pictures from their wedding.

Here is the finished quilt:

I asked for help on this one.  I had never printed on fabric before.  It was easy to do and I will be doing this again.  I used this printable fabric.  Just make sure you have fresh ink in your printer.  The wonderful people at Blue Bar Quilts and my friend Trish helped with fabric choices.  This quilt took 3 days to make.  I printed the photos and let them dry.  Then after 24 hours, you soak them in distilled water for 10 minutes.  Once they were dry I could start sewing.  I quilted this on my domestic sewing machine.  I am still learning how to free motion quilt but I have found that if I sew pretty fast, it looks pretty good.  I do practice on other fabric first.

Here is a picture of it hanging at the party:

 

This quilt made my mom cry so I think she liked it. 

I have a few other things to finish before I put away my fabric to help mom clean out her house.  My godchild is having a baby so there may be a diaper bag in my sewing future.

 

Do you like deadlines when sewing?  Or do you just like to create what you want when you want?

 

Blessings

Amy

 

PQ 9.6 Scraptastic!

Hello friends

This week's project quilting challenge is scraptastic. I decided to try my hand at Kim's pattern Dresden neighborhood. I did not use the full pattern I kind of just put it together myself.  I used every bit of scrap I could and here it is.

This measures 17 x 17 and was made in Verona WI

Thank you to Trish and Kim for another great season of Project Quilting!

Blessings

Amy

PQ 9.5 A Stitch in Time

Hello Friends!

This week's challenge for Project Quilting had me stumped.  Last year a challenge was 'Time is Up' and I made a clock.  So this challenge was actually one I was going to sit out.  I have a pile of mini quilts that I need to finish and sneaking in a challenge quilt was not on my list.  You see, I am going to purchase my parent's house.  They have almost 50 years worth of stuff and it needs to be gone through and purged.  They can't do it alone, so my sister and I will have to help.  Since it is getting warmer outside, now is the time.  I am trying to finish a store challenge quilt, the Cherrywood challenge quilt and an Anniversary gift before I pack up my stuff to move.  I will leave a few hand sewing items and my crochet out so I can still create.  But the fabric for the bigger quilts will need to be boxed up.  Sewing is an easy distraction for me.  I will always try to find the time to sew.  Now I need to find the time to help clean out a house and my apartment.

So what does this mean for this week's challenge?  I feel that sewing and quilting take a big chunk of my time.  Don't get me wrong, I love every minute that I get to sew.  I was trying to channel Kim and her art quilts.  Kim is the founder of Project Quilting and makes some amazing quilts.  She has a way of throwing things together and it works. 

I had big plans to do an applique vintage sewing machine.  Then I thought I would make a patchwork sewing machine.  I really dragged my feet on this one and just could not decide what to do.  I always check out the Project Quilting links to see what other people are doing for the challenge.  I really try not to make something that someone else has done.  I was determined though to make a sewing machine to represent my time stitching.  My time is broken up lately.  With caring for my parents and myself, there is not a lot of time to make everything I want to make.  So this is what I came up with-

 

I did applique a sewing machine, but then I cut it up and sewed to another piece.  I actually enjoyed this process. Of course I did not do this correctly and was cursing myself while doing it.  I had appliqued the sewing machine down.  Then I should have put some heat and bond on the back so when I cut it, I could place and iron down.  Nope, I did not think that far ahead and just cut it.  Luckily I have a small pressing area that I could pin the pieces to.  I did add some heat and bond to the back of each little piece to help hold it in place while I stitched around.  I think this conveys what I have been feeling lately.  My sewing spirit is a little broken.  But like all things, this too shall pass.

 

This little quilt measures 20 1/2 x 16 and was made in Verona WI.

Are you playing along?  There is still time to make one this week!  Please join in the fun!

 

 

Blessings

Amy

 

PQ 9.4 Mellow Yellow

Hello Friends

Thank you for stopping by.  The challenge this week for Project Quilting is Mellow Yellow.  Like most quilters, I do not have a lot of yellow in my stash.  If you remember last year I made this quilt and used most of my yellows:

 

I really did think this would be one challenge I would not be able to do.  I like to use my stash for most of the challenges so going to the store was not ideal.  Luckily I found enough fabric or so I thought.  I don't really remember how I found the pattern, possibly looking through Pinterest.  But this pattern and the technique drew me in.

You can follow this link to see the pattern and process.  This uses half rectangle triangles.  That was a new one for me.  The technique to make these looks simple but also challenging.

Another part of the challenge for me was finding enough yellow.  I don't use a lot of it in my quilting.  I had just bought a Grunge polka dot fat quarter in yellow so I made sure to use that.  Some of the yellow was actually passed on to me from friends. I had made all the blocks I could with what I had and it turned out that I did not have enough blocks.  I had to rip apart every block and add a new section when I found more yellow in my stash. I did have the backing fabric in my stash because I thought it would be cute for a baby quilt backing.  Here is one more picture:

This quilt measures 31 1/2 x 35 1/2 and was made in Verona Wisconsin.

I am working on a number of other things too.  I will save those for another day.

 

Blessings

Amy

 

PQ 9.3 Bold and Brave

Hello friends

I think this is the fastest finish I've ever done. This week's challenge for project quilting is bold and brave.  I actually thought I would sit this one out because I'm trying to finish up some UFOs and then my idea came to me and I went with it. I'm not usually one for political quilts I like them I just never picture myself making them. You will see in this quilt I used the bold and brave to make a statement.

I am proud of the men and women who stood up and spoke out. It's about time.  This little quilt measures 6 1/2 by 12 and was made in Verona Wisconsin.

Blessings

Amy

Word for the year

Hello Friends

I need to change my side picture to say that I have made 2 quilts in one week.  Last year I had an idea to make a word quilt.  I did not want to make a big quilt but something small with just one word that I could relate to.  Last year I chose the word- Pause.  I found myself making some pretty big decisions and I needed to take a moment and think about it.  That is were pause came from.  I did refer back to that word quite a bit last year and hope to continue to use it this year.

With my father under the care of Hospice and other issues going on, I needed a word for this year.  I need to take better care of myself like all of us do.  Being a caregiver is very stressful and hard on the body and soul.  In order to help release some of the tension in my soul I chose the word- Mindful.  Here is my quilt:

 

I used the pattern from Quilt Talk. 

 

 

 A book by Sam Hunter of Hunter Design Studio.  She has created some wonderful quilts using these paper pieced templates.  I shrunk mine down to a smaller size since the word is much longer.  This mini quilt measures in at 11 1/2x 31 1/2.  This will make it's home on my wall in my sewing area.

 

Now to finish something else while I can.  My list of UFO's are going down!

 

Thanks for stopping by.

 

Blessings

Amy

Project Quilting 9.2

Hello Friends

Thank you for stopping by.  This weeks Project Quilting challenge was Triangulation.  I was motivated and drew up a pattern and was excited to get started.  As I fell asleep on Monday night it came to me that I should use my new Tomte pattern.  I just love little gnomes.  Probably because I am half Norwegian. I just love their pointy hats.  And bonus, they are triangular.  I decided to make a couple of the patterns.  If you love paper piecing as much as I do, you will love this pattern.  I was very intimidated by the very small pieces, but I am glad I stuck it out and kept going.  A little tip, have multiple pages printed in case you need to start over.  And here it is-my little Tomte village.

I only had a fat quarter of the snowflake fabric so I was concerned I would not have enough.  What is great about paper piecing these is that you can use up the smallest of scraps.  I even have a little of that fat quarter left.  This quilt measures 9 1/2 x 18.  Voting opens this weekend and I would appreciate your vote.

Blessings

Amy

Mystery Quilt 2017-2018

Hello Friends

I took another picture of my Hometown Proud quilt at the actual monument this weekend.  It's hard to see my quilt but you can check out the detail in my last post.  Thank you to all who voted.  I did not win anything this time.  The challenge this week is Triangulation.  I have a few ideas and hope to start on Wednesday.

 

On Black Friday, Bonnie K Hunter-Quiltville sends out a Mystery Quilt Challenge.  She tells you the color pallet and how much of each color you will need about a month before the mystery.  Then every Friday for about 6 weeks she gives you another part of the quilt to make.  The colors this time were brown, cream, coral and teal.  I love these colors and decided to try it out.  Here are some pictures of the different steps.  You can find all of the steps on her blog under the tab On Ringo Lake.   

 

Then right after Christmas she released hints every day.  I have probably 30+ hours into this quilt.  Lots of pieces.  Over 3000.  Here is the finished top:

 

This quilt is 75x90.  I will keep this one for myself.  I may even put borders on to give it drop on my bed.  Now to find the perfect backing.

 

Thanks for stopping by.  I have a couple quilt challenges I am working on so stay tuned.

 

Blessings

Amy

 

 

Project Quilting 9.1

Hello Friends

Project Quilting started Sunday.  The theme this week is Hometown Proud.  I am from a small town in Wisconsin called Monticello.  We have a monument at our in town lake.  This is my inspiration:

I went right to my local quilt store and purchased some batiks.  I thought that would give my quilt some depth and texture.  Here is the finished quilt:

It measures about 12x19.

I used different techniques to make this quilt. There is applique and free motion quilting.  And the whole quilt is patchwork.  I cut all of my squares at 2 1/2.  The hardest part was cutting out the name.  I secured them with clear thread.

Here is another picture of the detail on the monument:

I am linking up to PQ 9.1.  Voting starts after 12 noon on Sunday.  Wish me luck!

Blessings 

Amy

Happy New Year!

Hello Friends!

It's been a while.  I can't wait to dig into this new year and start some new projects.  Of course I still have a pile of unfinished to do, but that is not going to stop me.  I have been feverishly working on the Bonnie Hunter-Quiltville-Mystery Quilt-On Ringo Lake. I am almost done with part 5.  I tried to count and there are over 3200 pieces in this quilt.  I will show you pictures as soon as I take some.  It's going to be so pretty.  I think I will keep this one for me.

The reason I am working so hard to finish that quilt is because Project Quilting Season 9 has started.  The theme for this week is Hometown Proud.  I am going to start mine by Wednesday if not sooner.  Pics to come.

Other than that, we had a really nice Christmas and New Year's with the family.  My father was ill again before Christmas and we have since entered him into the Hospice program at the nursing home.  He is currently doing well but prayers are always appreciated.

My son will turn 21 a month from tomorrow.  I am not sure how that happened but I am so proud of the young man he has become.  My sister and her husband are taking him and his girlfriend to a comedy club on his birthday.  They will have a blast.  He only has 3 semesters of college left.  He will then go into the Master's and PhD program for Film Studies.  Again, so proud.

I will leave you today with a picture of the zipper bag I made for the swap at my local guild meeting.

 

 

More to come, thanks for sticking with me!

 

Blessings

Amy