More Totes

 In between volunteering at our friends group at the library, I have been back making upcycled totes for friend's birthday's.  I have the last one ready to be sent out tomorrow...that is if the snow doesn't accumulate anymore than it has today!!   So I have done some sewing...not much knitting but hope to get back to that after the Holiday's!  I still have a few last minute gifts to pick up and need to get kids gifts in the mail that live in Ohio & Indiana.  Until then...still worried about the girls and trying to be a nutritionist! 

This was a quilt I sketched on quilted fabric.

It was from a drawing class by Hilary.

Inside lining

Life lately and my babies.....

I guess I really don’t need an excuse for not updating my blog… after all, it is my blog! HA. Between normal life chores, volunteer work at the library, and the biggest issue of all — our dogs — things have been a little overwhelming.

Kalee has had health issues for the past 10 years due to pancreatitis. She recently went in for her yearly wellness visit (yes, dogs get wellness exams too! 😂) and lab work. Unfortunately, her results came back with elevated kidney values (BUN, creatinine, etc.). UGH. On top of that, she’s been having a few different episodes than her “normal” pancreatitis symptoms, vet thinks this could be the beginning of kidney disease.

I picked up some new kibble and started mixing it in slowly with her regular food and ground turkey, but it hasn’t gone well. She seems nauseous and uncomfortable within a day of eating it, so I’ve stopped it for now. I’ll have to figure out a better diet plan for her.

I started researching the nutritional value of the ground turkey and veggie mix I cook for her. It’s helped her pancreatitis tremendously, but now I have to watch protein, phosphorus, and other levels because of her kidneys. OMG… I even used AI to research nutrition info for different kidney kibbles and compare them to my homemade mix. I still don’t know what the right answer is.

Then, on Thanksgiving morning, Gigi stopped eating. Completely. She has never done that — and even Kalee has never stopped eating or drinking, even when sick. I was a wreck. I managed to get her to nibble on some turkey mix before we went to the kids’ house, which helped me breathe a little easier. But the next morning, she still didn’t want to eat.

I got her into the vet, and her bloodwork showed very high liver enzymes. The recommendation was an abdominal ultrasound, which we did yesterday. I probably won’t get those results until tomorrow.  In addition, we discovered a heart murmur in September at a Grade 3, last exam it's closer to a Grade 4.  

Honestly, I’ve been sick to my stomach with worry over both of these girls and trying to figure out diets that will work for them. But thankfully, for reasons I don’t understand, Gigi started eating her four small meals again as of Sunday. I’m so grateful… and cautiously hopeful. 

So prayers for my girls, please....they are seniors (Kalee 14 & Gigi 12-13) so I know we'll have health issues..just want them to have a good life....

Hilary 2025 - Screen printing with nature - Day 3

Playing on and off these past two weeks.  I volunteer with the Friends library group here in town and this coming weekend is our fall book sale.  Hence, no more work on playing with printing on fabrics!  Here's  my results.  A few pieces, I resoaked in soda ash so I could print over them!  

This was one I over dyed.  It really looks better in person!

 

Another one that I over dyed and then I used my thermo fax screen to print the floral design.

Kinda like this one for fall!

Another one I used thermo fax screen on.  This one is really pretty in person.  Think it would make a nice small zipper pouch.

Yep, another one that I soaked so I could print over.  These really look pretty in person and once they get some quilting I think they will look nice!  Fingers crossed!  

This one is kidna pretty...I used my dried leaves on it.  So I'm not that happy with the print but quilting will enhance it...

I love this!!!  It's paper that I dabbed up the extra dye!  This will make a great paper quilt piece. 

So that's it for this volunteer for a week or two!

Hilary 2025 - Screen printing with nature - Day 2

 Back at it, yep!!!!  I only made two pieces but I am happy with them.  I also ordered, via Amazon!, some new screens to print with.  I'll make sure these are ONLY for printing with dyes and no deconstructed or soy was in use!  HA

The blues/turquoise combo is quite dark but a color I could or would use!   I mixed some lime green with Olive Green for the dark areas.

There is lots going on in this print but a fun piece!

Typical, this piece looks a tad different in person.  I used lime green for the base...then Robin Egg blue then turquoise! 

My mop up pieces look great!  Again, these are so much fun to sew into a quilt!!!!!

So that was day 2......Wish me luck!!!!

Hilary 2025 - Screen printing with nature - Day 1

 I finally received my order for fabric, print paste, soda ash, etc.!  I was anxious to get started on printing! 

Well, my first pieces didn't turn out that great but after 2 'lights' I did finally get some prints I can work with!  Here are the 'lights'...we never have enough light fabric, right! 

I realized I didn't have any 'clean' screens to use!  The last time I used them I was doing both deconstructed screen printing as well as soy paste on the screens!  Welll...that didn't work out.   Not sure how to remove the soy was from the screen nor from the print left on the deconstructed screen.  

But I can over dye these two pieces or leave as is!

This piece is hand made paper I purchased awhile ago.  I used it to 'mop' up leftover dye on the dark piece below!  I love it!  

It will be a good piece to stitch into a quilt or just make an entire small quilt from it!

This turned out pretty good but using the old screen you can see bottom right that it was just a blob!  HA

Now this is the back of the fabric above!  I really like how it turned out!  

Who knows...I may just end up using this piece and stitching/quilting vs cutting up.  I sure don't know and won't for about a year!  HA

The two pieces on the left are just layout and tissue paper that I used to mop up leftover dye.

So that's my first day of playing with screens and dyes.  It felt so good to be back! 

More results on the next post!  

Hex Project #???

 I have lost count of my hex projects...guess I could go through my quilts and count...but that's no fun!  Instead, I'm focusing on how to design my next hex quilt!!!  But that comes with some decisions!!  Big decisions!  HA  

In my mind, I'm looking at having a color wheel of hexes which will be under a patchwork piece of fabric.  Similar to my horse hex pieces or at least I'll 'try' to follow the process I managed to come up with!   I'm planning on red/red orange; orange red to orange/yellow to yellow/light pale green to....well, you get the idea!!!!

So this was my first idea/design....I'd cut out each leaf and color hexes would show - once I cut out the leaves on the patchwork background!

You can see I traced the design on some hex (5/8 in) sheets I taped together.  Kinda helps get the idea??

BUT...then I started to look through some of my sketch books I made in 2020 while taking a class from Hilary!

I'm kinda liking this one best...but...could cause a lot of issues with where to place the colors?  But then I could quilt some areas vs having hexes in background with different color threads.  See where my mind is going!  UGH

This one is 'ok' but I'd have to tweak and make larger, etc.

I am thinking of having this new hex piece be a table runner vs a square or rectangle for hanging. But still deciding!

Now this is giving me MORE ideas....having those holes contain a hex behind them!  Yep..they would have to be larger holes but.....just an idea!

I think the color wheel idea might work???

Not fond of the leaf shapes but, again, each leaf might work out with different colors....

This has possibilities!  I can see blending the colors - even in an individual leaf...Making the leaves larger to fill in space gives me the opportunity to have more colors in a leaf???

This is another favorite....lots of possibilities....designs like this are what keep me up at night!!!!  

I am excited to get started...but the next decision is what patchwork background or solid fabric ?? to use!!!  

I have a small black quilted piece that I may cut out and play around with....this is going to be a fall/winter project for sure!

Illusion Quilt Finished!

 I have to say it felt good being back to quilting again!  Other than binding some old quilt blocks, I haven't finished a quilt since July this year .  You can see that post here.  

This was a fun piece to work on...except I had to remember which way was 'up' so you get the illusion!  HA  Hubby kept reminding me!!!

I really had to figure out how to quilt the piece!  Fortunately, I remembered which was was up to keep the lines in the right direction.  I'm not good at sewing a straight line!  HA

For the border, I figured I could get away with doing some free motion quilting.  I didn't want the lines to go into the border...too many straight lines for me!  

I  used 3/4" masking tape to follow the lines.  Worked for me..although, some of those are still a little crooked!  HA

But it's done!  And now to my next project which is 1) online class for leaf printing with Hilary!  My readers will remember (well, maybe!) I have taken several online classes from her.  I do enjoy her classes and have learned quite a bit from her.  

I've started to collect leaves and excited to get to printing again!!!

2) Making little zippered bags I need as gifts for Christmas!  I need to purchase batting and sandwich half a yard of fabric so I can quilt it; then cut it up and start making the bags!  

3) Our library book sale is coming 10/18 & 19 so that will take some time for our setup.  But I can work on all those projects at once, right!

OK, so I lied.

17"x17"
1999 - 2025

I told myself (and Cheryl and Beth!) that I’d only work on my needlepoint project during our Wednesday meetups. I figured that way it would last me through 2025. Well… that didn’t happen. I started stitching every chance I got!

And let me tell you—never again. I gave up beading years ago because those tiny Delica seed beads were just too hard to see. This project felt just as bad. Even with my bifocals and a magnifying glass around my neck, it was a real eye strain. Headaches and all, I kept pushing through because I didn’t want to let Cheryl, Beth, or my daughter down (since she’ll be the one who inherits this piece someday—lucky her! HA).

When our DIL, MJ, was here a few weeks ago, we took the finished needlepoint to the new Michael’s store for framing. They did an amazing job! Three people worked on it—Rachel (she assisted in picking out mouting board, framing, etc.), Olivia (helped remove backing for me to fix a thread!) , and Christina (who handled most of the work initially and fixing the thread). I even wrote a letter to the manager to let them know how much I appreciated their help.

Now it’s finally done, and I couldn’t be happier with the result. Bob will hang it up this weekend, but in the meantime, here are some close-ups of the finished squares.

This is the pattern booklet.  

Some closeups of finished squares:

I'll send pic when Bob gets it hung.  Until then..off to work on my illusion quilt top!  

Did I really do all this stitching!!!!   I amazed myself that I did this!  HA HA  

Back to quilting

 

While waiting for my Needlepoint piece to be matted/framed, I decided to play with starting a new quilting project.  But what to make???  I found a pattern for Labyrinth Walk (2019 pattern), which is one of The Guilty Quilter 'illusion' quilts.  I haven't used a pattern in years so this was fun!  HA

Don't shoot the photographer...this really is a square piece.  I had to use the back of a black pattern fabric since I didn't have any light gray.  Again, this was using all spare/scrap fabrics.

 It's quite large for a block, 22"x22".  But nice if you want a quick guilt block...well, you'd need five of the blocks above and 4 of these blocks in the pattern to make a full quilt.

I made the block in one day...worked in the afternoon and then after dinner.  I don't intend to make the whole quilt. 

28"x28"

I added black border and I do like the illusion block...I am thinking of going to a quilt shop near me - I know Susan, that's a surprise to you!  HA  I only would fabric shop when in Florida with my Q Bud, Susan...so she'll appreciate the fact I 'may' go fabric shopping!  HA  Will I make more of these blocks??  Who knows...but I may at least put on a border and quilt the block.

Wednesday is dog spa day and volunteer at the library; Thursday meeting my pal, Carol for lunch - Mary couldn't make our lunch so we'll plan another day! 

 Until then, I finished painting/stamping posterboard to make book marks for our fall book sale at the library. I need to sew two pieces together for the bookmarks but had to order a Teflon foot for my sewing machine.  Regular foot sticks due to stamping and paints.  I'm back using my newer machine...giving the 'old gal-1090' a rest!

Just busy work, which I love!  Yes, I do have a knitting project I started so that will keep me busy too at night watching TV!  Love having so many projects...SQUIRREL!  I just discovered a ton of hexes I've paper pieced!  what to do with them!  Hmmmmmm   Hahahahahahah

MaryJo & Ron’s August 2025 Visit (aka another Mini Z Training Session!)

“If you build it (Mini Z track), they will come!” And sure enough, Bob’s son Ron and DIL MaryJo arrived for a fun-filled weekend. The poor kids left their house at 2 a.m. so Ron could drop off MJ at our house, then he left for a work meeting in Saginaw, before joining us back home Friday afternoon—but they made it happen!

MaryJo and I spent Friday running errands and enjoying lunch outside at Big Apple Bagels. Later, while I was puzzling over what sides to serve with dinner, I had the bright idea to ask ChatGPT. (Yes, “she” came through—twice!)  After dinner, Bob and Ron snuck off to the basement for more Mini Z racing.  They did decide to join us upstairs for some Blueberry pie from the Davison Bakery, which has the best pie around!  Food always brings the guys back!

Saturday was another adventure. MaryJo and I dropped off my finished needlepoint for framing (yes, I finished the needlepoint - blog post to follow in two weeks with pics!).  We then took off to pick up produce at the Davison Market and walk around the vendors oustide.  We headed next to Ortonville to another farmers market but they were closed as it was 1 p.m.  Back to Goodrich to have a sandwich at a local diner then we browsed one of our local shops, Live Love, Laugh.

 

 Meanwhile, Bob and Ron headed out to race at the new Limitless RC store in Millington (since their old one in Davison sadly burned down over a year ago). 

By dinner, we were all back together—though once again, the cars eventually called everyone downstairs for more racing.

 Even MaryJo took the wheel and did great!

I guess we need to have a 'race off' between Ron, MJ, Talissa and Ian sometime!  HA  The weekend flew by with food, laughter, and family time. The kids left early Sunday for their long drive home, and we were so grateful for another wonderful family visit—even if Ron still owes me for not fixing Bob’s computer. HA!