MIA...kinda

 Yes, I've been MIA for a couple months. Actually, for several months I have not cared much about blogging or quilting or much of anything. But I might be getting a bit of energy and mojo back. 

Between life issues and virus and health issues, life just sometimes sucks.

I have been working on an applique row quilt called garden party. Here are a few of my blocks so far. The fusible part is done.

This bird in the birdbath was paper pieced. what a job!

And I got a new embroidery CD with dogs and doggie sayings. So far, I have made one saying.

My cataract surgery didn't do all that well. On Tuesday I get to go get a new prescription for glasses. But, then, It usually takes a couple weeks to get them. So, hopefully, in a couple MORE weeks I should be able to see and use that embroidery machine.

In the meantime, I have been busy on eBay cleaning out my studio. I have sold almost 200 quilt 'kits'.... things I cut out...maybe did a few blocks...then stuck it in a box when the next thing got my attention. Those are all gone except for maybe 5 or 6.  

I have started listing the quilt tops....I had over 100 of those. I'll never live long enough to quilt them all up, so someone else might as well take care of them. I'm still working on listing those...got about a dozen more to put out there.

And, I have dozens of finished quilts to sell. They sell more slowly. Still have about 15 to put out there.

That doesn't mean my studio is empty. haha   There is still lots of fabric....and projects here and there that aren't finished that I really want to do. But, the clutter is gone, the boxes and tubs are emptying out and things are looking a lot better. Maybe now I can actually keep up with things I want to do and not start 14 more things every week.

Wish me luck! haha

Results of August Color Challenge Report

 Well, I'm afraid I don't have much of a report this month. The color was gray....I keep my grays together with my blacks and wasn't going to separate them out. There weren't many anyway.

So, I decided the month would be piecing together as many UFOs as I could. What you are going to see is just the tops I showed during the month. But, at least something got accomplished.

I finished piecing....

Forest Floor. these are machine crazy quilt blocks in greens and browns.

And .... Green Madness II got put together. A LOT of 6 1/2" scrappy blocks.

And....International Sisters was finished. The sister pattern came from Preeti at SewPreeti. It might get a border before quilting if i can find the right fabric. She has a story about how they hold their hands....whether they want to dance or not.

And .... Krista's Flower got pieced. I like hers better than mine...but done is good, right?

Finally....Valentine Hearts was pieced. It is machine embroidery crazy quilt blocks. 

That is all I managed to get finished. But, I am working on a yellow and blue selvage top that I HOPE to get pieced tonight. I need to make 12 more blocks and get them attached. It may or may not happen.

The thing holding me up the last week is that I had cataract surgery on my right eye. It didn't go well and I can't tell you how disappointing and depressing that is. I have spent the last week putting in 3 different drops.....4 times a day.....plus a pill for pressure 4 times a day. Then one drop was increased to 8 times a day.  I had to make a chart. Every time i turn around I am putting something in that eye. It is looking a bit better today than it did in the beginning.....at least i can see things ... not necessarily clear things....but not fuzzy, foggy things. I go to see the doc again tomorrow.....that is 4 visits in 8 days. And when i don't have an appointment, he calls to check on me. I think we are going steady. haha  Hopefully, it will all work out in the end. I am trying to stay positive.

September's color is pink....and i am ready for some happy pink. At least I can sew a bit....maybe an hour or so at a time....so, something will get accomplished, i'm sure.

Until next time......chin up!!

International Sisters

 I've been working on these sister blocks for a while now. Finally got them all together into a quilt top. This pattern came from SeePreeti quilt blog. 

She has a story on her blog about the reasoning behind how the hands are held. It the lady held her hands in one direction, she wanted to dance....if another direction, she didn't want to dance. My hands seem to be going in all directions, so I'm not sure if any of these ladies want to dance. haha

It's a pretty simple pattern. The lady is a 4 patch with just a few pieces in each patch.

My ladies come from all over the world, so their faces are all different colors.

Now...on to the next project.

Krista's Flower

 Isn't this the cutest quilt pattern? I finally got it put together.

Mine didn't turn out as well...I might have to try that again. haha

I think I needed some better choices of fabrics. haha

But done is better than not. 

Now for it to marinate for quilting.

Valentine Hearts

 These blocks have been machine embroidered....and sitting around waiting for me to do something with them. Since this month the goal is to piece things together, that is what happened.

All pink fabrics were used for the hearts....and different shades of pink threads for the embroidery

I had this purple/pink mottled flannel that I used for the background.

And a piece of Valentine fabric for the border. There was only a 1 inch strip left. It came out 42x52" 

It will go in the 'to be quilted' cabinet and might see the light of day once again some day.

Green Madness II

 I finished piecing these green blocks in April for Judy Laquidara's color challenge. And now have them pieced into a top. 

It is 62x74"

They are just scrappy blocks

All the bits and pieces in the green box.

Who knows when....or if....it will ever get quilted. haha

Forest Floor

I had a bunch of hand dyed fabrics in mainly greens and browns that I used to make these machine embroidery crazy quilt squares.

I put them all together and got this top. It is 47x57"

I cut 2.5" strips for sashings and first border. Then I decided I had enough to make another border. So, I cut 2.5 x 4.5" pieces for the final border. Now there are just a few scraps left.