Ab Intra PQ 12

 Hello friends

I have finally made my word of the year. This has been a hard year. Any guesses on my word? Here it is:

I am hoping we can all find some 'joy' this year.  I did have a pretty good year despite the pandemic.  But like many of you, I did not get to see my family as much as I would have liked.  I know this year will be different.  My son will be vaccinated soon and we can start to live again.

Making this yesterday was a great chance to participate in the Project Quilting 12.6 challenge.  I have not made anything for this challenge in a couple of years now.  Was trying to focus on catching up.  I was in a good position to make this for the challenge.  This weeks challenge was Ab Intra.  Meaning 'within'.  This is my 5th word of the year.  It's a word I will keep in my mind everyday.  It will spark my creativity.  I find 'joy' in sewing and crafting.  I am working on some crochet right now.  In between the many quilt projects I have going on.  I hope you can find some joy in your day.  Today and every day.

This little wall hanging is 9x7.5.  I used Sam Hunter Designs book Quilt Talk.  If you follow the link it is actually on sale right now!  Thank you, Sam!  This was made in Monticello, Wisconsin.

Big thank you to Kim and Trish for making these challenges.  They are a lot of fun and I hope to be back into making all of them again soon.

Blessings

Amy

 

Some kitchen painting

 Hello Friends

I can feel that Spring is arriving tomorrow.  It's been a little cold and we had about 2 inches of snow this week.  But the sun is shining and a new season is upon us.  Makes me want to be outside getting the lawn and patio area ready for company.  I don't have any quilts to show currently.  However, 2 baby quilts are in the works and ready for basting. Yay!

I did want to show you some pictures of my kitchen.  I will do a full reveal when I have finished it all.  So stay tuned.  I have only painted 2 walls right now.  Other things have kept me busy.  I am hoping to do more this weekend and next week.  My kitchen is in 2 sections.  The old kitchen and the new extension.  The old part has all of the cupboards and most of the appliances.  Then new section has the table and chairs and the washer and dryer.  The old part also has wallpaper.  Yuck!  That is why it is going to take me a while to get it finished.  Plus I want to paint my cupboards.  Once I get really started, I get things done. 

I had seen a picture on Hobby Lobby's site that had a feature wall with cow decor.  Since this is an old farmhouse, I wanted to capture something close to the picture.

This is what the wall looked like before paint:

That door to the left is what we call the secret room.  Dad built shelving over the stairs that are under it.  I keep most of my crock pots and other occasional items in there.

Here is the after:

I will take better pictures when I am completely finished.  I did hang another cow picture above the flowers but did not take a picture of it yet.  I had the center cow picture also from HL.  The flowers were picked up at Walmart and the metal flower was bought at my local furniture store.  I was in a couple weeks ago to see about a new couch.  I did find one and ordered it.  Might not be here for 6 months because the manufacturer is having a hard time getting product.  That is when I saw the metal flower and just knew I had to have it.

I can't wait to finish and show you the before and after pictures.  It makes me excited to keep going!

And in other exciting news, I am scheduled for my first C-19 vaccine on Tuesday.  Wish me luck!

Take care

Blessings

Amy

A couple of completed tops

 Hello Friends

I don't have much to talk about these days so I don't blog.  I have finished a couple of quilt tops so I thought I would throw them on here.  I have multiple things going on right now, but no finishes.  A few friends are having babies and I am making some quilts.  Everything seems to take more time than it used to.  Probably because my heart just has not been in it.  I did start a quilt a couple of weeks ago.  It's the Snowflake Quilt by Modern Handcraft.  I have had the pattern and fabric for a while.  I had bought 12 fat quarters at a local shop and decided to use them to make the scrappy version.  I added 1 more fat quarter to the group as it calls for 13.  I was sewing away making my blocks when I discovered I didn't have enough fabric. Ugh!  I hate when that happens.  Of course my fabric choice was from 2017.  Luckily I found a little shop in Nebraska that had a 1/2 yd of one of the prints.  I may have to tear out a few blocks and move some around, but as long as I can finish it, I will be happy.  Here is what I have so far:

I can't wait to finish this.  Hopefully soon.

Before starting this I finished 2 other quilt tops.  I participated in our local GSafe fundraiser last year.  GSafe is an organization that supports LGBTQ+ students in schools.  They did a quilt auction last year hoping to raise $10,000.  They had over 200 entries and raised over $25,000.  Some of our local quilt shops collected donations too.  People brought in old kits and fabric they no longer wanted.  I was given 3 of these quilt kits to work on.  I seem to complete things faster when they are for other people.  Here is the first one:

The colors are off on the picture.  The yellowish blocks are really a sage green.  This is Majestic Eagles from QT.

This next quilt top was a kit from Connecting Threads.  It's called Prickly Pear.  It was fun working with Batiks.

Well, at least I had something to show you.  I have been busier than I thought.  I am working on painting the kitchen in between these projects.  One wall done, many to go.  My kitchen is in two parts.  The old kitchen and the new addition.  There is a half wall between them.  The old kitchen has wall paper.  I need to take that down before I paint.  Hopefully this Spring when it warms up a little more.

I am still working on my word of the year.  I have my paper piecing letters printed just need to decide on fabric colors.  Stay tuned.

Thanks for reading, stay well!

Blessings

Amy

New Year - New Goals

 Hello Friends

Hope you all had a wonderful holiday.  I was blessed with some wonderful gifts.  And time with my family.  There are only 6 of us and we wore masks and stayed apart.  We had good food and watched White Christmas.  

As I am reflecting on this past year, I am encouraged to come up with some goals.  I did a very bad job of sewing this year.  Yes, I did finish some things.  But not as much as I could have.  I made a lot of masks that I really did not want to make.  I think this next year will be a year of sewing what I want.  I have lots of patterns and fabric just waiting to be used.  Here is a list of goals for next year - sewing and other things:

1. Read more!  I really need to step up my game.  Get the tv off and read!  I am hoping to finish at least 12 books next year.
2. On Ringo Lake Quilt.  This was a Bonnie Hunter Mystery quilt in 2017.  It is time for borders and quilting.
3. Unity Quilt.  This is also a Bonnie Hunter quilt.  She created it when Covid first started.  I started to play along and got most of the rows together but ran into a problem with the final rows not fitting.  I tore this all apart and need to remeasure my seam allowance.
4. Organize my fabric.  I am still trying to figure out my sewing room space.  Lots of scraps need to be organized.
5. Work on house projects.  I need to paint the kitchen, repaint the dining room and paint the dining room table and chairs.

That is all I am putting on here for now.  I know there are a lot more projects and things I want to do, but I need to focus on these things first.  The rest will come in time.

I am also working on my word of the year.  Any guesses?

I will leave you with a picture of a gift I received for my birthday.  Yes, I turned 50 this year.  But given Covid, I think I will turn 50 next year when it is hopefully safe to celebrate!

Happy New Year!

Blessings

Amy

An Introduction

 Hello Friends!

How are we doing?  Hope you are all staying healthy.  So far so good for us here.  I wanted to take this post and talk a little about myself and why I started this blog.  There are some new readers that have come to visit.  Hello and welcome!

I am Amy.  I live in a little village south of Madison Wisconsin, called Monticello. I work for the largest medical software company in the country.  I am a receptionist and get to talk to our customers everyday.  They are so fun to talk to!

I am the mother of Samuel.  He is almost 24 years old.  His father and I divorced when he was 2.  He currently lives in Oshkosh WI with his girlfriend, Iolanda and their puppy, Roxy.

I have a sister, Lisa who lives in Madison WI with her husband, Austin and their puppy, Ruby.

I also have 2 brothers from my father's previous marriage.  

I bought my parent's house in 2018.  It is the house I grew up in.  My dad was in the nursing home and my mom moved to an apartment shortly before I purchased the house.  My dad has since passed but mom is still enjoying life at her new apartment.

I love to read other peoples blogs so I thought I would start one here to document my life and quilting journey.

Now to the fun stuff!  I have been quilting for 10 years.  I found a quilt blog and started asking questions. Everyone was so helpful I knew I needed to be a part of this group. Then I heard about Merry Mayhem. Merry Mayhem does a mystery quilt along on New Year's Day.  I decided to follow along.  I did not know much about fabric and measurements.  I bought some fabric from Walmart and was excited to cut into it.  This is the first quilt I made:

I didn't know much about color and value either.  I didn't know about batting and binding.  But I have learned.  And I am still learning.  That is what is so wonderful about quilting.  There is always more to know.

I have made around 50+ quilts.  Some are small doll size and some are queen size.  I do like to finish projects quickly so I tend to make smaller things.  But sometimes you just have to make the bigger quilt.

I do like a challenge.  In the past I have been a part of Project Quilting, doing those challenges. My friends Kim and Trisha run it.  They are a lot of fun and I have even won a couple of the door prizes.  If you like a challenge, I really hope you will play along with them.  I never know if I am going to do participate until I see the challenge and see if my time will permit.  There are 6 challenges in 12 weeks.  You get the challenge on Sunday and it must be complete before the next Sunday.  It really is amazing to see what others make.

I think that is enough about me for now. I do use this place to talk about my family, my house remodel and quilting.  You can always look back at earlier posts to see what I have been up to.  Do you have any questions for me?  You can always email me too at theturquoisebutton at gmail dot com.

Thanks for reading!

Blessings!

Amy

My bedroom

 Hello Friends

Well, I have mostly finished my bedroom remodel.  There are a few touches I would like to make but those will come in time.

Here is part of the room.  This photo was taken from the bathroom looking into the bedroom.  The walls were white and there was red carpeting that I had just removed.  This was a year ago.

This is that same view.  New and improved.  The lamps were purchased at Target.  My wonderful friend and Bestie, Cathy,  gave me a gift card when I bought the house.  Thank you Cathy!!

Found this cow picture at the store At Home.  I could spend hours in that store.  The sewing machine and thread box were bought for my mom from my dad.  The Singer machine still works.

This is a view from the hallway into the bedroom.  I still need to find a little table to put by my chair.  My wonderful neighbors at my previous apartment gave me a gift card for Pier 1.  Luckily I used it before they all closed.  That chair will get lots of use.

Here is the view from the chair.  I just love my IKEA furniture!  That little green chair may get repainted.  Not sure if I like that color now.

Another view from the hallway.

I am hoping to share a new quilt on that bed someday soon.  It's not really a new quilt but one that needs finishing.

I am currently binding my Maple Leaf quilt.  My other friend and Bestie, Marilyn and I exchanged blocks.  My friend Heather did the custom quilting.  Wait until you see it!  It's now one of my favorites!

Not much going on in the sewing department at this time.  Now the holidays are coming and I need to focus on more cleaning.  I must say that the house is about 98% of my things and only 2% of my parent's.  Starting to feel like home.

Still need to decide if and what to make my coworkers for Christmas.  I have a few ideas but nothing that really jumps out at me.  Do you make holiday gifts or buy everything?

Blessings

Amy

Catching Up

 Hello Friends

I know it has been a while.  With Covid it's hard to do anything fun.  Just go to work and go home.  Somewhere along the line I've lost my sewing mojo.  I think part of it is Covid and the other part is working on things in the house.  This little red chair was found in the attic when I had a/c installed this summer.  I decided to paint it a spring green.  This little pop of color will look nice in my new bedroom.

I decided to paint the spare room.  This was my room growing up.  My sister painted it this purplish color.  It was a challenge to cover it, but I am glad I did.  This is a corner of the room before.

This is the same corner after.  I love the bright yellow with the navy curtains. The blue carpeting was on my wish list growing up.  Dad had it put in the year I moved out. 1990.  Eventually it will be wood laminate.  That cabinet is my mom's old Singer.  She still runs.  

Here is the same corner just a bigger angle.  That quilt was made by my friend Charisma.  We met on the Quilting Board and swapped scraps.  Those are my fabrics that she used.  I just love this quilt and I think it is perfect in this room.

I will show more pictures of this room when I have the rest of the furniture in it.  Hoping to get that this weekend.  Stay tuned.

The summer wasn't a total loss.  When I had the a/c installed they cleared out the attic for me.  I have gone through all of the boxes and totes and taken a van load of items to the donation site.  I have about 2 more loads to take.  This house is starting to feel like my home not the house I grew up in.  I am loving my little country farm house.  Still lots to do, but it is slowly coming along.  I was able to talk to the guy that put the metal roof on years ago.  He is pricing out windows and siding for me.  Might be able to swing that next summer.  It was part of my 10 year plan but I am going to do it now if I can.

I did actually sew something this summer.  This little applique apple pillow cover was made for my chair at work.  I love to change it out for the seasons.

My quilter just finished my Maple Leaf quilt. Hoping to show you all that soon.

Looking for ideas for gifts for coworkers for Christmas.  I have made rope bowls, aprons, rice bags, lunch bags, mug rugs, coasters, dish towels, dish cloths and Chapstick holders.  Any ideas?  I have men and women to make for.  I was thinking of shopping bags.  Maybe the kind that fold into a pocket size?  If you have any ideas, please leave me a comment or email me.  Theturquoisebutton@gmail.com.

Blessings

Amy