Not much sewing going on

 Hello Friends

Thought I would give a little update on what has been going on in my life and why there isn't much sewing happening.  I am in the middle of house projects.  Still have a lot to do but I am doing a little at a time.  My front flower beds looked terrible.  The weeds were so high!

I worked in the early morning before the sun was too high.  It was very hot and humid outside. This only took about an hour and a half.

I decided to plant some hydrangeas.  They are a white/pink variety.  Can't wait to have flowers.

I also pulled the weeds in the flower bed to the right of this picture.  And I mulched.  Didn't get a picture of the weeds before.  But it does look a lot nicer.

With the temperatures so high, I have not felt like sewing.  And of course I have too much on my plate in that aspect.  I have lots of fabric and patterns just sitting waiting to become a quilt.  Just no desire right now.  Then, Lori Holt is doing her Red Sampler Quilt Along and I have decided to try it too.  I don't care much for red so I am making mine in blue.  I have finally gathered the fabric and hope to sit and get the blocks cut out soon.  And a friend asked me to pattern test for her.  Just got that fabric on Friday.  Need to get that going this week.

Oh, and did I mention my sister will have a big birthday on Saturday and the whole family is coming to my house to celebrate?  I love it though.  It will be a lot of work but it is so worth it.

And in other news:  I have a new grandpuppy!

A few weeks ago my son was Facetiming me and said he had something important to tell me.  He moved the phone and showed me this beautiful puppy.  Her name is Mika and she is 13 weeks old and completely blind.  She is living her best puppy life.  She doesn't know she can't see because she never could.  It is fun to watch her follow the voices she is familiar with.  We had to stop Facetiming last week because when she hears my voice she gets confused as to why she can't feel me and then she cries.  I can't wait to have her over to my house this weekend.  Big sister Roxy is not so sure of her yet but is trying to adjust.

That is about all I have for you at this time.  I hope my sewing mojo appears soon so I can share more with you.

Enjoy the longest day of the year!  It's all downhill after today. :)

Blessings

Amy

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