On Thursday, we had the most beautiful weather. Blue skies except for an hour or two of clouds when we thought it might rain. It didn't. The day was cool enough and windy enough to open the windows and let the breeze blow through the house and billow the curtains. Outside, the branches of the trees swayed in the wind. Just glorious! I wish I'd taken photos. If every summer day could be like that one, I'd love summer!
These are the last of my orange RSC blocks. (Linking to Angela's RSC blog.) I have 10 now, probably too many for the quilt I'm hoping to make. On
the other hand, having so many will offer me options when choosing blocks
to use. And orange also happens to be the favorite color of one of my grandsons. I could make some more and have enough for a quilt for him. But you know how fast children's favorite colors change.... (And considering how little I like orange, I'm sure I'd struggle making enough for a whole quilt.)
Vertigo has been visiting again this week so my only accomplishments are finishing these orange blocks and finishing the bindings on Everyday Patchwork and Parsonsfield. I'll post about those when I can get some decent photographs.
I hope you have a great weekend.
--Nancy.
joy for grace
Saturday, June 21, 2025
Wednesday, June 18, 2025
Links to Enjoy #34
I haven't been getting around the internet much recently so I'm sharing just three links this week. Enjoy!
I love this high energy Vivaldi on Marimbas. Wow! These girls really have it together!
I think it probably takes a steady hand to decorate these cookies to look like ancient art.
I enjoyed these paper quilts made from maps and old currency for their visual interest.
I hope you found something to enjoy.
--Nancy.
I love this high energy Vivaldi on Marimbas. Wow! These girls really have it together!
I think it probably takes a steady hand to decorate these cookies to look like ancient art.
I enjoyed these paper quilts made from maps and old currency for their visual interest.
I hope you found something to enjoy.
--Nancy.
Saturday, June 7, 2025
RSC - Orange Is the Clown of the Color World
As I was arranging orange squares in preparation for sewing them together for this week's RSC blocks, the thought came to me that orange must be the clown of the color world, joking around, teasing, having fun. And I thought, orange can't possibly take itself seriously. Can it?
I like orange in very small doses and prefer the ones that lean toward red, or coral. I found a few fun fabrics with orange (and chose not to use the yellow-ish oranges).
I don't think I'll need many orange blocks for the quilt I'm planning, which you can see here. Maybe another one or two....
I'm linking this post to ScrapHappy Saturday Orange at SoScrappy. Thanks for hosting, Angela. Visit the link to see the blocks that other participants are making with orange.
Health Note.
It's been a really slow week. The nurse practitioner doubled the dose of medication I'm taking to try to get rid of this headache. I guess that was always the plan---to start low and increase. It hasn't done anything for the headache but it makes me so extremely tired. I can hardly make myself move. You'd think 12 hours of sleep in a night would do it but I still have to push myself to get up in the morning and do things, and four hours later I'm ready for a nap after having done the bare minimum (shower, dress, brush my teeth, breakfast, etc.). Several reliable websites agreed that the tiredness should go away as I adapt to the medication. I'm grateful I don't have a full-time job away from home because if I did, I'd surely get fired.
Even with being tired, I've partially sewn another simple summer dress, stitched a few feet of binding on Everyday Patchwork, quilted Parsonsfield, did a load of laundry, and nearly no house cleaning. Cleaning requires consolidated energy for longer than five or ten minutes; the other activities I can sit and do. One of these days I hope things will get back to the old normal, or at least to a new normal that doesn't include a headache and extreme tiredness. Isn't life interesting?!
I hope you have a good weekend.
--Nancy.
I like orange in very small doses and prefer the ones that lean toward red, or coral. I found a few fun fabrics with orange (and chose not to use the yellow-ish oranges).
I don't think I'll need many orange blocks for the quilt I'm planning, which you can see here. Maybe another one or two....
I'm linking this post to ScrapHappy Saturday Orange at SoScrappy. Thanks for hosting, Angela. Visit the link to see the blocks that other participants are making with orange.
Health Note.
It's been a really slow week. The nurse practitioner doubled the dose of medication I'm taking to try to get rid of this headache. I guess that was always the plan---to start low and increase. It hasn't done anything for the headache but it makes me so extremely tired. I can hardly make myself move. You'd think 12 hours of sleep in a night would do it but I still have to push myself to get up in the morning and do things, and four hours later I'm ready for a nap after having done the bare minimum (shower, dress, brush my teeth, breakfast, etc.). Several reliable websites agreed that the tiredness should go away as I adapt to the medication. I'm grateful I don't have a full-time job away from home because if I did, I'd surely get fired.
Even with being tired, I've partially sewn another simple summer dress, stitched a few feet of binding on Everyday Patchwork, quilted Parsonsfield, did a load of laundry, and nearly no house cleaning. Cleaning requires consolidated energy for longer than five or ten minutes; the other activities I can sit and do. One of these days I hope things will get back to the old normal, or at least to a new normal that doesn't include a headache and extreme tiredness. Isn't life interesting?!
I hope you have a good weekend.
--Nancy.
Friday, June 6, 2025
Binding Options for Parsonsfield
I finished quilting Parsonsfield and now it's ready for a binding. But what color?
I thought of red first, because there are seven fabrics in the top with small, red prints. Then I thought maybe stripes would be good. If only I had a red and cream striped fabric. But this is such a busy little quilt. Maybe just cream/off-white would be best. Decisions, decisions.
This is another view of the binding options. I think red would draw attention to itself and cream would blend into the quilt.This will be my first completely finished quilt for the year when I finally get the binding stitched.
Our climbing rose bush is in bloom and it's laden with flowers. My phone's camera makes them look a little garish but they really are a beautiful rosy red. And they smell delightful, too.I don't know much about taking care of roses. This one's canes arch and bend toward the sidewalk and driveway and we have to walk around it to avoid its thorns. I thought of cutting it but that would reduce the roses by nearly half. Maybe it needs tied back toward the house somehow.
We have honeysuckle blooming, too. I adore it's gragrance and am enveloped in it when I step outside. Sadly, it began blooming in June, on the very day summer's heat intruded itself into the last several weeks of spring. So it's too hot to open the windows for its fragrance to waft inside.
I loved our long, slow, cool spring. I wilt in hot weather and always hope spring will last longer. Some years, summer weather begins in March, or April, and we get hit with the heat when we walk outside. This year's spring was, in my opinion, perfect!
I'm linking this post to Finished (or not) Friday at Alycia Quilts. You should click through to her blog to see her beautiful newborn colt. Well, you could also see her newly finished quilt (which is really grand (but not as grand as a newborn bold)) and see links to others' post.
I hope you're having a good Friday and will have a good weekend, too.
--Nancy.
I thought of red first, because there are seven fabrics in the top with small, red prints. Then I thought maybe stripes would be good. If only I had a red and cream striped fabric. But this is such a busy little quilt. Maybe just cream/off-white would be best. Decisions, decisions.
This is another view of the binding options. I think red would draw attention to itself and cream would blend into the quilt.This will be my first completely finished quilt for the year when I finally get the binding stitched.
Our climbing rose bush is in bloom and it's laden with flowers. My phone's camera makes them look a little garish but they really are a beautiful rosy red. And they smell delightful, too.I don't know much about taking care of roses. This one's canes arch and bend toward the sidewalk and driveway and we have to walk around it to avoid its thorns. I thought of cutting it but that would reduce the roses by nearly half. Maybe it needs tied back toward the house somehow.
We have honeysuckle blooming, too. I adore it's gragrance and am enveloped in it when I step outside. Sadly, it began blooming in June, on the very day summer's heat intruded itself into the last several weeks of spring. So it's too hot to open the windows for its fragrance to waft inside.
I loved our long, slow, cool spring. I wilt in hot weather and always hope spring will last longer. Some years, summer weather begins in March, or April, and we get hit with the heat when we walk outside. This year's spring was, in my opinion, perfect!
I'm linking this post to Finished (or not) Friday at Alycia Quilts. You should click through to her blog to see her beautiful newborn colt. Well, you could also see her newly finished quilt (which is really grand (but not as grand as a newborn bold)) and see links to others' post.
I hope you're having a good Friday and will have a good weekend, too.
--Nancy.
Saturday, May 31, 2025
The Last Green Block for May's RSC
I think this is my last green block, though I may need to make one or two more after I see all the blocks together with their alternate snowballs.
In my effort to catch up with colors from previous months I also made some blue and red blocks.
The crazy jumble of these blocks is too much except that I know the alternate light snowballs will calm the whole mess. I think these blocks are very fun to make, and easy, too.
I'm linking this post to Last Green Day at So Scrappy. Thank you for hosting, Angela.
Now I'm off to see what the color for June is.
--Nancy.
In my effort to catch up with colors from previous months I also made some blue and red blocks.
The crazy jumble of these blocks is too much except that I know the alternate light snowballs will calm the whole mess. I think these blocks are very fun to make, and easy, too.
I'm linking this post to Last Green Day at So Scrappy. Thank you for hosting, Angela.
Now I'm off to see what the color for June is.
--Nancy.
Friday, May 30, 2025
Parsonsfield Update for One Monthly Goal
The colors in this Parsonsfield quiltlet are so subtle that it's hard to photograph. (I wonder how professional photographers can take such beautiful photographs of homes that are all whites and creams. Oh, I know! They're professionals with lots of experience.)This photo was taken with my phone camera and without a flash.
My One Monthly Goal for May was to choose a backing and get this layered and basted. I did that and I'm happy to say that the quilting is almost finished. I'm echo quilting the seams using size 8 perle cotton so it's been easy and quick to quilt. Of course, when taking big stitches, mine are absolutely not even. I work at it but haven't succeeded. On a little quilt like this that will probably one day lay on the kitchen table between meals, I don't think perfectly even stitches matter that much.
I'm linking this post to May One Monthly Goal Finish Link Up at Stories from the Sewing Room. Thank you for hosting, Anne-Marie.
--Nancy.
My One Monthly Goal for May was to choose a backing and get this layered and basted. I did that and I'm happy to say that the quilting is almost finished. I'm echo quilting the seams using size 8 perle cotton so it's been easy and quick to quilt. Of course, when taking big stitches, mine are absolutely not even. I work at it but haven't succeeded. On a little quilt like this that will probably one day lay on the kitchen table between meals, I don't think perfectly even stitches matter that much.
I'm linking this post to May One Monthly Goal Finish Link Up at Stories from the Sewing Room. Thank you for hosting, Anne-Marie.
--Nancy.
Wednesday, May 28, 2025
Links to Enjoy #33
Below are some links that caught my attention recently. I hope you enjoy one or two of them.
My grandfather had a musical instrument he called a sweet potato but which, as far as I know, he never played. A number of years ago I learned that a sweet potato is also called an ocarina.
I was thrilled to find this video of an ocarina septet. Enjoy!
If you enjoy writing, love the English language, this post about semicolons may be for you. Do you think semicolons are overused? I thought this was interesting, especially the little semicolon test near the end.
These photos of Owls in Towels come from all over the world.
Rescuers and members of medical teams wrap injured owls in towels to assess their injuries and to prevent them from flapping their wings. Mostly too cute, but a few look grumpy. At the website, click on an owl to learn more about him or her.
Leaf cuttings! Such fun. Instead of paper Lido uses leaves as the background to create tiny scenes and silhouettes of animals. Patience, precision, creativity, a sense of humor. Look at some of his Instagram photos here, read a more detailed article here. And this link is the best because if has a close-up photo of a bear with a basket of sweet gum balls using tongs to hand a porcupine baby back to its mother. Its title is, "Wait a second! That's my baby!" The detail in the image and the humor it makes me chuckle.
I hope you found something to enjoy at one of these links.
--Nancy.
My grandfather had a musical instrument he called a sweet potato but which, as far as I know, he never played. A number of years ago I learned that a sweet potato is also called an ocarina.
I was thrilled to find this video of an ocarina septet. Enjoy!
If you enjoy writing, love the English language, this post about semicolons may be for you. Do you think semicolons are overused? I thought this was interesting, especially the little semicolon test near the end.
These photos of Owls in Towels come from all over the world.
Rescuers and members of medical teams wrap injured owls in towels to assess their injuries and to prevent them from flapping their wings. Mostly too cute, but a few look grumpy. At the website, click on an owl to learn more about him or her.
Leaf cuttings! Such fun. Instead of paper Lido uses leaves as the background to create tiny scenes and silhouettes of animals. Patience, precision, creativity, a sense of humor. Look at some of his Instagram photos here, read a more detailed article here. And this link is the best because if has a close-up photo of a bear with a basket of sweet gum balls using tongs to hand a porcupine baby back to its mother. Its title is, "Wait a second! That's my baby!" The detail in the image and the humor it makes me chuckle.
I hope you found something to enjoy at one of these links.
--Nancy.
Sunday, May 25, 2025
Sewing a Binding for Slow Sunday Stitching
I finally made and sewed the binding to the front of Everyday Patchwork last week and began the slow task of stitching it down on the back last Thursday. I think I stitched an inch or two then, but today, I hope to stitch more while watching the Memorial Day celebration on PBS.
I also plan to add a few more quilting stitches to Parsonsfield. I tried to add a photo but Blogger seems not to want to let me share a photo with you. I guess I'll post that another time or when it's finished.
I hope you're having a pleasant and restful Sabbath and have a good Memorial Day tomorrow (for those living in the U.S.)
I'm linking this post to Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts. Thanks for hosting, Kathy.
--Nancy.
I also plan to add a few more quilting stitches to Parsonsfield. I tried to add a photo but Blogger seems not to want to let me share a photo with you. I guess I'll post that another time or when it's finished.
I hope you're having a pleasant and restful Sabbath and have a good Memorial Day tomorrow (for those living in the U.S.)
I'm linking this post to Slow Sunday Stitching at Kathy's Quilts. Thanks for hosting, Kathy.
--Nancy.
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