Photo Play 2024: March Summary

The goal with my photography this year is to just enjoy the process and capture photos that bring me joy.  The lack of mobility due to my knee problems limited my photo excursions in March.  But I did get out a couple of times with the camera.  

One of our family photo challenges in March was "statue(s)".  That required a walk in downtown.  The first signs of spring were just starting to bloom. 

Red Maple leaves

Crepe Myrtle pods

I took a lot of photos that day downtown, but most of them are just a bit blah. I don't know if my camera settings were off or if I just wasn't paying attention. 

The second photo excursion was to Woodward Park in Tulsa. My Guy took his day off in March to survey the Eagle's nests near Tulsa. After his morning of surveying, we met up at the park photograph the spring blooms. He still needed a statue photo, so that location met both requirements.  

Pansies

Johnny Jump Ups

Dogwood

Japanese Snowball

Azalea

It's hard to pick a favorite out of this set of photos.  I really like the texture of the Japanese Snowball leaves, but that deep purple of the pansies is a favorite too.  I like the dreamy, almost painting like feeling of the Dogwood photo.  Definitely a good day with the camera. Let me know if you have a favorite photo.  

To Do Tuesday for the Week of 5/7/2024

I wasn't sure I'd be posting today.  We spent about 30 minutes in our storm shelter last night.  We live in the part of Oklahoma that took direct hits from a tornado last night. From the damage reports we've seen, we are no more than a couple of miles off the track it took through our community.  So we were very lucky. We have friends and co-workers that live in Barnsdall, the community that's been the hardest hit. Please keep those residents in your thoughts and prayers. So many will have to completely rebuild.   

A rather somber start to the to do list this week.  Last week's to do list was pretty simple. 

To Do List for 04/30/2024

1. 2023 SAHRR: Press backing fabric and cut panels ✔ 

2. Guild BOM: Assemble April block, but may block - progress

3. Wild and Goosey: Make red and purple blocks ✔

4. Indigo Way: Continue as leaders and enders ✔

Definitely a good week on the progress front. I'll take three out of four, with progress on the 4th.  So what goes on the this list for this week?  

To Do List for 05/07/2024

1. 2023 SAHRR (Quilting Gail): Prep backing for quilting

I finished assembling the backing yesterday.  The width required a spacer in the middle of the two fabric lengths.  My Guy really likes this fabric and it goes so nicely with the birds and colors on the front.  Prepping the backing usually goes pretty quickly, it mainly just needs a good pressing.  It's the quilt top that takes forever.  

2. Guild BOM: Assemble May block

I finished the April block and started cutting the pieces for the May block.  I'm not in love with my color choices for this one.  I'm hoping it all works out as we finish more blocks.  

3.  Grandmother's Choice (Barbara Brackman) :  Find blocks, fabrics, decide on next block.

These blocks were started back  in 2012 when Barbara started the weekly block suggestions.  I gave up once we got to the templates and curved piecing. I'm going to look thru all the blocks Barbara posted and see if there are any I'm willing to tackle. The plan is to finish this as a "quilt as you go" project.  I really want to learn to quilt on my domestic machine and this seemed to be a good way to start the learning process.   

4.  Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Make more purple blocks

I decided to just stick with purple blocks for the rest of the month.  I have a lot more red than I do purple and I need more purple then red.  

5.  Indigo Way (Bonnie Hunter) Continue as leaders and enders

Progress is slow but steady.  I have to make up several component parts for the full and partial block B's needed to finish up the quilt.  

Not a super ambitious week, but we've got family plans for Mother's Day, so I'm not counting on a lot of stitching time over the weekend.  Linking up with The Quilt Schmilt: For the Love of Fabric for To Do Tuesday. 

A Bit of This and That

We had a wet and dreary weekend for the most part.  I came down with a 24 hour stomach bug Saturday night.  So I didn't get all that much done at the sewing machine.  I'm almost finished with the April block for the guild BOM. 

Just the last 2 sides to stitch on.  I need to cut out the pieces for the May block.  Hopefully I'll get to that today.

Since I felt so crummy on Sunday, most of my stitching time was spent on a bit of handwork while watching some National Geographic shows.  

I finished off the center body of the butterfly.  I've moved the hoop so I can finish the upper part of the second wing. 

All the pieces are cut for the backing for the 2023 SAHRR, so now all that's left is to stitch all the panels together.  Hopefully that will happen today.  

Not much of an update for the week.  Linking up with Design Wall Monday and Patchwork & Quilts  

Stitching Stuff: Week 18 of 2024

 

Getting into the sewing room got much easier as the week went on.  I still have to be really careful on the stairs, putting the wrong leg down first on either the up or down trip still hurts pretty bad.  The sewing machine foot pedal has gotten easier to use as the week has progressed. I heard from a guild member who also recently had knee surgery that she's been told that controlling the foot pedal is good physical therapy.  Hmmm, that definitely works for me.  

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Apr = 30/30 days
• 15 minute days/May = 4/4 days
• 15 minute days/2024 = 125/125 days
• Success rate = 100%  

This is the longest I've been able to maintain a100% success rate. Usually I drop the ball in late April.  I won't be able to do it for the whole year, but it has been a bit of extra motivation each day to play with needle and thread to keep my 100% status. 

I took first quarter off from my fabric organization goals since I wanted to concentrate on finishing off my 2024 SAHRR.  There was a bit of scrap and yardage organization back in March, but Eclipse travel and surgery meant it was the end of the April before I did any other clean up.  

The scrap bin is now about half full versus where it was in March. 

And the to be pressed bin is a bit lower. 

It's getting easier to stand for longer periods of time. Hopefully that means a bit more progress on both efforts for next week. 

How are you doing at fitting in some stitching time along with some reorg/decluttering efforts?  

1. Gretchen 2. Frédérique 3. maggie f 4. Julie in GA 5. Karen

6. katie z. 7. Deb in Canada 8. DonnaleeQ 9. Andrée at Quilting & Learning 10. DawnyK April recap

11. Melisa- Pinker n' Punkin Quilting 12. amanda 13. Bonnie in Va 14. Quilting Gail 15. Dq at Dreamworthyquilts

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Week 110 Photo Challenge: History

There was no photo challenge post last week. Grad Girl was running short on time and I was a bit immobile for most of the week before due to knee surgery.  We were all able to get photos this week.  It wasn't an easy subject. 

How do you photograph history?  

I've been cleaning out closets which is what brought the subjects of my photo to mind.  

Kate: Historical Sewing

Once upon a time I made a lot of my own clothes.  Especially for Halloween.  The flapper dress on left was made for a Halloween party when we were in grad school.  Even then all the fringe wasn't cheap.  On the right is the vintage dress I made as a mock up for my wedding dress 33 years ago.  The dress is made of very cheap muslin and the cheapest lace I could find. It actually turned out nicely, but My Guy very wisely persuaded me to buy a dress.  He didn't really want me to stress over getting a dress made. Thankfully, I listened to him. I ended up having gall bladder surgery 6 weeks before the wedding, I would have been hard pressed to finish a dress.  So my photo is a two for one on the history front: historical clothing from my stitching history.   

My Guy went a completely different direction. 

My Guy: Past, Present and Future

This flower is a Swamp Mallow. It only blooms for one day.  If you look closely, a past bloom is in the lower right of the photo, a current bloom is at the top and left side.  Just to the right of middle are the future blooms.  So the history of a bloom all in one photo.  My Guy always comes up with some amazing photos and very unique ways of interpreting the challenge.  

Grad Girl struggled with this one, she sent me a photo last week, but wasn't really thrilled with it. Then she found something she thought was a much better take on the challenge.  

Grad Girl: Family History

There's a story to this photo.  Grad Girl went to seminar last week where the techniques in this paper were discussed.  She decided to look up the subject during the talk because it sounded familiar and found this paper.  There was a reason it sounded familiar. This paper was a big part of my PhD thesis.  The brunette in the photo is me with my advisor. The paper dates from about the same time period as the flapper dress in my photo. The person who gave the seminar is one of her friends and she shared the paper with him. She thought it was fun that the paper was one of mine. 

History wasn't an easy challenge for any of us.  This week's is going to be interesting too. 

  

Grad Girl said it was a rather ironic challenge for a graduate student.  It will be fun to see what she comes up with this week.  

April 2024 PHD Report

Hard to process that April is over.  Between our travels for the eclipse early in the month and then knee surgery mid month, my sewing room time was down considerably.  Even so, now that it's May it's time to put together a progress report and link up P Designs USA for the April PHD report.  

There's been no change in my PHD spreadsheet.  No finishes, but no new starts either.  So I'll take that.  Even though there were no finishes, there has been a bit of progress on a few projects.  

Most of my stitching time in April was spent on this embroidered panel. I'm planning to use this as the center of a medallion quilt once it's finished. I've been working on this since 2012, so it may be a while before I get it to that point.  We have travel later this month, so it will probably see a bit more progress in May. 

Only one purple block was finished for Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter).  That's still progress.  I'll be sticking with purple and red blocks for May rather than pink which isn't in my color palette for this project. 

 

The biggest progress was on Rhododendron (Bonnie Hunter).  The final border was added and that project is now a finished quilt top.  It's hanging in the closet with the other finished tops waiting for it's turn for a backing and quilting. 

April was much less productive than March, but there was at least was some movement on my progress tracker with Rhododendron moving to finished quilt top. 

 

Year to date there has been one finish, four projects are quilt tops, and one project has all the blocks completed. With 2/3 of the year left, there is still time for a lot more progress.  

To Do Tuesday for the Week of 4/30/2024

It's the last day of April, so we are 1/3 of the way into 2024.  I'd hoped for more finishes by this point, but knee surgery wasn't one of my goals for 2024.  So I'm hoping to focus on getting in some finishes the next couple of months.  With no new projects on the horizon, that should be doable.  

I came up with a to do list for last week on Friday. I kept it simple and pretty minimal.  But that paid off, I feel like I'm getting back into the groove.

To Do List for 04/23/2024

1.  Butterfly Medallion: Continue as back up project ✔

2.  Rhododendron: Finish last border ✔

3.  Guild Bom: Cut April block pieces ✔ 

4.  Wild and Goosey: Continue to make purple blocks ✔

5.  Indigo Way: Continue as leaders and enders ✔

So five for five this week. Even if they were pretty easy items, it feels good to feel productive again.  I'll keep it easy for this week too. 

To Do List for 04/30/2024

1. 2023 SAHRR (Quilting Gail): Press backing fabric and cut panels. 

The piecing plan has been worked out, I just need to get the fabric ready.  

2. Guild BOM: Assemble April block, cut May block 

The pieces are all ready for assembly.  

3.  Wild and Goosey (Bonnie Hunter): Make red and purple blocks

Soscrappy says the RSC color for May is pink.  I'm not using pink in this quilt, so the plan is to continue playing with purple and alternate in some red blocks as well. I'm going to need to cut some more scraps for both colors.  It's been fun to watch the piles of blocks grow this year.  Funny though, it doesn't seem to be helping move scraps out of the bins.  

4. Indigo Way (Bonnie Hunter): Continue as leaders and enders

I'm still making component parts for the B blocks that still need to be made.  Since I didn't sew much in April, the progress on this project has been slow. It would be nice to have all the blocks done by the end of May.  

I'll stick with a short list for this week and hope that I get more done on each project.  I would like to get the SAHRR out for quilting by mid May.  

Linking up with To Do Tuesday over at The Quilt Schmilt: For the Love of Fabric.  

Back in the Sewing Saddle?

We were lucky this weekend, the worst of the storms either went northwest of us or stayed south of us.  We did get plenty of the wind and rain. The storms that hit Saturday night/Sunday morning were bad because the worst of the storm came very early in the morning.  Those are nights you make sure you have shoes by the bed and what's going into the storm shelter with you (jackets, water, etc) is located on the path to the garage. We didn't need the shelter last weekend, but we have used it once since the start of storm season this year.   

I did get in some decent sewing room time this weekend.  It was much easier to use the foot pedal by Sunday.  A couple of hours of stitching time was enough time to get the final borders on Rhododendron, the 2021 Bonnie Hunter Mystery. 

The purple makes a nice final frame.  I stuck with Bonnie's layout, except for the borders.  I didn't want to make any more of those flying geese, so I did my own thing with the pieced border.  This top finishes at about 80" x 80".  Now it will go into the closet with the other finished tops until I decide on a backing for it.  

Linking up with Design Wall Monday and Patchwork & Quilts.  

Stitching Stuff: Week 17 of 2024

It's not been one of my better weeks.  Thank goodness for handwork.  I'm off the pain medication and can handle the stairs without a crutch.  So definite improvement.  It's still a bit uncomfortable to use the foot pedal on the sewing machine for very long, but I've been able to sew for hour long stretches the last couple of days. 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/April = 27/27 days
• 15 minute days/2024 = 118/118 days
• Success rate = 100%

With the handwork sessions, I've been able to keep my stitching time at 100% for the year so far.  Not sure I'm going to be able to keep that up, but it's fun to challenge myself on that front.  

I did discover that knee surgery doesn't prevent one from fabric shopping. I need to walk more and the weather here has been iffy so I took a trip to the local quilt store just to walk a bit and get out of the house.  Of course in my weakened state, I just couldn't resist the lure of some pretty fabrics to pet.  

My favorite is the rainbow mandala fabric on the bottom. It would make a very fun border for a rainbow scrap quilt.  No plans for any of these three, I just liked them.  Now to get some projects finished so I can start some new stuff. 

Did you have time to play with needle and thread last week? 

1. Gretchen 2. Frédérique 3. maggie f 4. Julie in GA

5. Karen 6. Deb in Canada 7. DonnaleeQ 8. Quilting Gail

9. Melisa- Pinker n' Punkin Quilting 10. Bonnie in Va 11. Janice - Jannimary

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To Do Tuesday on Friday for the Week of 4/23/2024

It's been a couple of weeks since my last to do list.  We were traveling for one week and once we got home, prep for knee surgery made it a lot harder to do the stairs.  So I've been sticking with hand work pretty much exclusively the last 3 weeks.  Since that's the only thing that was on my "allowed" activity list, it didn't seem worth it to do a new to do list.  By Wednesday, I was pretty bored with hand stitching and just restless. The knee is fully weight bearing, meaning nothing is going to fall apart if I walk on it.  But the knee and the rest of my lower leg hurt continuously no matter if I'm sitting, standing or walking. A new distraction was needed. 

So I Googled how to go up and down the stairs after knee surgery. It requires crutches. (Yes the knee is weight bearing, but it hurts like heck to go up stairs without assistance).  I practiced going up to the first landing (4 steps) and back down to see if it was feasible.  Once I mastered that, it was time to try for the whole staircase.  I made it to the sewing room and actually turned on the sewing machine and sewed a few seams. Using the foot pedal is a bit strange, but it's not painful.  It seems surgery took more out of me then I expected, it's tiring to sew for very long.  But now that I've made it to the sewing room, it makes sense to put a list together.  

To Do List for 4/23/2024

1. Butterfly Medallion:  Continue as back up project if the stairs seem to much. 

The first half the butterfly is finished. I've moved the hoop to do the center body and part of the remaining wing.  I may not get much more done on this if I'm able to spend a lot of time in my sewing room. But till I'm walking normally, I'll keep it on my to do list. 

2. Rhododendron: Work on adding last border. 

The strips are cut and assembled, but I need to cut them to size.  They may be more of a challenge as I'll need to measure the quilt top to do that.  Laying the top out on the floor and measuring that way is probably not going to happen because I'm just not that mobile yet.  We'll see how far I get with this.  Maybe My Guy will help me get those measurements.  

3. Guild BOM: Cut out pieces for April block.  

Even if I don't get it assembled, the May block will be out soon and then I can finish both off together. 

4.  Wild and Goosey: Continue to make purple blocks for April

I finished off one block on Wednesday and have 2 more in the works.  If I can finish those off by the end of the month, I'll be in good shape to start in on May's color. 

5. Indigo Way: Continue as leaders and enders

I need to cut a few more component pieces to finish off the B blocks that are left to make. 

That's my to do list for the rest of this week.  It is tiring to sew, the foot pedal isn't totally comfortable to use right now. If I make any progress on projects 2 through 5, I'll be happy.  Linking up with To Do Tuesday over at The Quilt Schmilt: For the Love of Fabric.  

Just Hand Stitching

It's been a couple of weeks since I've posted a Monday post on just stitching stuff.  The eclipse trip, along with prep and recover from knee surgery has limited my sewing room time.  So my stitching efforts have been focused on my long term travel project.  My goal was one full thread of stitching time each day while we were on the road. The first top wing of the butterfly was finished off last week.  

Since I had to go off my anti-inflammatory before surgery, it was really uncomfortable to manage the stairs, so I kept to the hand stitching all of last week.  The hoop got moved to allow for stitching on the bottom half of the wing. 

So the plan for today is to finish off this half of the butterfly.  I'm hoping to cut back on the pain medication today so that I'm not sleeping so much (I slept 6 hours during the day yesterday).  We'll have to see how that works out.  

Linking up with Design Wall Monday, Patchwork & Quilts, plus Slow Stitching Sunday.  

Stitching Stuff: Week 16 of 2024

I've been a bit scarce on the blogging front this week.  There hasn't been much to post.  I had to stop the anti-inflammatories a week before surgery and it hurt to move without the medication. So other than handwork, there wasn't much stitching stuff going on with me.  Surgery was on Friday. Whatever they gave me during surgery worked till Saturday morning.  When it wore off, my whole lower leg hurts now.  I started the pain medication about noon yesterday.  If you see any errors below, that may be a factor.  

I only made it up to the sewing room one day last week, but I kept up with the handwork the rest of the time. I even managed to get my 15 minutes of stitching time before we left for the hospital on Friday. Of course I couldn't have breakfast or even more of downer, any coffee. I definitely needed something to take my mind off that.   

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Apr = 20/20 days
• 15 minute days/2024 = 111/111 days
• Success rate = 100%

So I've managed to keep my 100% stat for most of April.  The short term goal is see if I can finish April with that metric.  We'll see how that goes.  

How did you do at working in some stitching time this week?  

1. Gretchen 2. Frédérique 3. Julie in GA 4. maggie f 5. Karen

6. Deb in Canada 7. Melisa- Pinker n' Punkin Quilting 8. DonnaleeQ 9. Quilting Gail 10. Bonnie in Va

11. amanda 12. Dq 13. Andrée

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Week 108 and 109 Photo Challenge: Birds and Frozen

It's been almost 4 weeks since I posted about the family photo challenge.  Both Grad Girl and I struggled with the photo challenge for week 108.  

My knee problems were limiting my mobility, so it was hard to get out to walk.  As Grad Girl was a bit time strapped due to lab work, we extended this challenge for another week.  During our trip to Texas, we visited the Monument Hill/Kriesche Brewery historic site.  My Guy hiked the trails, I found a bench to hang out on finally found my bird shot. 

Kate: Soaring

This is one of the black vultures that were riding the updrafts from the valley below.  There were four of them just hanging out and riding the winds.  It's not the best picture, but it's the best I could manage with my lens. 

My Guy definitely had a advantage with this challenge, it's one of his preferred subjects to photograph.  He didn't disappoint.  

My Guy: Northern Flicker

This Northern Flicker's coloration allows him to blend in with the bark of the tree so well. My Guy has incredible eyes when he's on the look out for the birds.  Northern Flickers are woodpeckers. They can be found throughout the continental  US, while their breeding grounds include all of Canada up into Alaska. 

Grad Girl is managing two concurrent projects, one of which is new.  So she's been putting in a lot of lab time.  Consequently, she had to get inventive. 

Grad Girl: Queenie's Birdie

Queenie does love her toy birds, especially her red ones. This one at least still has it's feathers. She's pretty good at plucking them all out over time.  

We finally drew a new challenge card after we got home from Texas. 

My Guy said once it was drawn that it was definitely the wrong season for this card.  Which just means we have to look a bit harder for subject matter.  I didn't have to think to hard to find my photo. 

Kate: Yummy Frozen Stuff

I love ice cream. But these ice cream sandwiches are all that hang out in our freezer as it's easier to control intake.  It's amazing how quickly a gallon of ice cream disappears from the fridge.  

My Guy struggled with this week's photo, but he still came out with a cool image of a common item.  

My Guy: Cube

Ice cubes have such interesting textures. This photo illustrates that well. 

Grad Girl pulled her image from her lab work (as that's about the only place she's been the last week). 

Grad Girl: Filter Freeze

 

One of the solvents she uses in her reactions freezes as it evaporates and it builds up on the edge of the filter funnel. She finds such cool subjects in her lab. Chemistry is indeed fun.  

I pulled the card for this week.

This is one subject that is definitely open to interpretation. It should be interesting to see what we all come up with this week. 

Stitching Stuff: Week 15 of 2024

I'm a bit late posting this morning. I'm a bit dragged out from all the travel.  We spent all of last week in Texas. The big draw was the eclipse on Monday, but we stayed a few extra days to spend some time with Grad Girl.  I shared one of my photos earlier this week. My Guy used his DSLR and a filter.  Here are some of his shots. 

As you can see in the photos, the cloud cover cleared just before totality, but was back before the eclipse ended.  

As we were on the road all of last week, my stitching time was all hand stitching.  Some mornings I only had time to stitch one full length of thread, but that still met my 15 minutes goal. 

• 15 minute days/week = 7/7 days
• 15 minute days/Apr = 13/13 days
• 15 minute days/2024 = 104/104 days
• Success rate = 100%

So I'm still at 100%.  We'll see if I can keep it up through Friday when I have surgery.  It's been pretty motivating to see if I can keep the 100% through April.  

How are you doing with working in a bit of stitching time each day? 

1. DonnaleeQ 2. Frédérique 3. Deb in Canada

4. Shelina @ High Road Quilter 5. Quilting Gail 6. Dq at Dreamworthyquilts

7. Bonnie in Va 8. Andrée at Quilting & Learning

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