Seeing Authors! A Day with Hazel, and the Lego Event!

                                      

This year Waukesha Reads gave away Diane Wilson's "The Seed Keeper" and have several different events related to the book.  I attended a few of them. I wanted to go to the tea, but got the time wrong and had to cancel last minute.  I did go to a book discussion at the library which was really good.  I also went to the civic center and listed to the author speak and read.  She was really interesting.  I got my book signed and she commented on all my tabs.  So glad I read this one!
       

Then the other night I went to the library to see another author!  It has been YEARS since I have been able to do things like this.  So nice to have a tiny bit more energy so I can get out once in awhile.

                                                  

The author, Nico Lang, was very entertaining.  They were funny!  The book slaps as they say!  Super glad I went though I had limited energy that night and have been having migraines more than usual again.

The kids just got back from Disney World and we sure missed them!

This past Friday we had only Hazel since they were potty training Inide (how is she that old?).   So Kathy/Bumpa took off work and we planned a day of fun activities to do with just Hazel.  She really wanted to sew, so we started by making Mrs. Stuffy Wuffy (as she calls it).  I had already cut it out and whipped one up for Indie too.  Hazel carried this everywhere all day and evening.  She sewed the eyes and nose on, stuffed it, and helped stitch the leg closed too.

                                                    

We also made doll skirts for them from a simple pattern (library books) and made her a skirt to match.  All have butterflies on them.

Bumpa helped her make a birdhouse kit from Lowe's (I found at Goodwill).  She was super happy with everything she made.  

We then took her to the lego event at Barnes and Noble.  This was just about out of my ability to participate.  I should have brought my walker in.  We had no idea we would have to stand in line to get the lego kits and that we would have to stand at the tables to create it.  Hazel wanted to do it there.  Next time walker or we do it at home!

                                            

Even Hazel got tired of standing and went to sit on the windowsill next to us.  If only my butt could have fit there!  I hope she remembers this day when we are long gone.  She is not the easiest kid to get pictures of so by the time we were done at the event she did not want to take anymore (I had been taking pictures all day!).  She did say she had a good time though!
                                         

Modern Mystery and a New Year's Mystery Finally Complete!

I am working on the latest Modern Quilt Studio Mystery called MatchMaker.  I do not think I have shown any parts of it.  I was struggling with these leafy looking blocks til I decided to make them a bit oversize and trim them down.

I do love using my Stripology ruler for cutting the one inch strips we needed.  I have about a week til the next clue comes out.  I have a bit more to do before that but here is what I have so far.  We were supposed to pick our fabric (lights, mediums, and darks) ahead of time and have things be cohesive, but I am using scraps so I just am winging it.  May come to regret that, but it is what it is.  

I also finally finished my Stitchin Heaven New Year's Mystery and Lora quilted it for me.  So happy to have done this much (I still have parts left over but may make a few table runners down the road).

 Bug is posing for us, she is pretty close to the end of her modeling career.  I sure will miss her on all my quilts.  She always runs to stand on them while I take pictures.  

I did a search for some frogs I made a few years ago and could not fid them on my blog (but found them on my facebook) so here they are.  I gave them to Colton and no idea who else.  I was looking for the pattern to sew with Hazel but I may have pitched it.  I can get another one online.

I did tie and bind another Eye Spy quilt last week.  I am always working on one of these and seem to have no shortage of people to send them to!  

I think this is the quilt I sent to Maggie Lou. It is Streak of Sunshine and is a go to baby quilt I make and give away frequently.

Halloween!

I did not manage to get a good picture of the two of them together!  We went to their house and played a few games while answering the door.  They went trick or treating and stopped home in between.  This has become the annual tradition. 

I made two square Halloween pillows too. One I kept and one I gave to my Aunt Nancy.  

Packer Bliss Quilt and Halloween Ghost and...

I decided to make my sister and sister-in-law a ghost pillow.  These ones are in Halloween fabric and are super fun.  I posed them here with my pillow.  If I have time today I may try to whip up one more for my aunt since I am headed to visit mom (my sister and bf are coming to visit!) tonight.  

You can see my Spiderweb quilt in the background on the couch.  I change the couch quilt with the month or seasons, etc.  I also change the quilts hanging around the house and the ones on the end tables.  I should take pictures of those with the seasons and show them.  

I finally quilted my tiny Twister Harvest Quilt.  This tiny quilt top has been for more than three years, but I can not find pictures of it on my blog or my facebook.  I also tried quilting it a long time ago and did not like it so I ripped it all out and put it back in the pile!  This time I used a template and this awesome chalk pounce pad that Barb sent me.  I LOVE how it came out!  

I hand tacked the binding on the back of this one.  

                                        

My favorite iron died, I bought another on ebay a year or so ago and the button broke off and eventually it died.  The first one last a LONG time (thanks Ann!) so it was worth finding another.  They are antique irons, but they get very hot and are travel size.  I have a modern travel size, but the shape of it is different and I do not prefer it.  I could see from the picture online that it needed cleaning, but I have Dritz Iron-Off Hot Iron Cleaner, so I was not worried about that.  It came in the original box!  It is a Black and Decker Small Wonder iron in case you need a great iron.  Snap it up when you see it!

The iron cleaned up in a jiffy and works great!  Super happy to have it!
Lora finished quilting my Packer Bliss quilt!  I picked it up yesterday and got it bound so I can send it with my sister back to Arizona for my brother Sam and his wife Ashley.  They do not have a big Packer quilt and they are huge Packer fans, so I hope they love it!

This quilt has my grandpa DeLos' pajamas in it!  I am sure there is also the ticking fabric that was from Great Grandpa Tony and Great Grandma Myrt's quilting frame.  

It is a bit hard to see here, but the quilt says GREEN BAY PACKERS and GO PACK GO in big block letters! (it is sideways here).

You can see the quilting a bit better on the back.  Football helmets and footballs.

My cousin's daughter Maggie Lou had her baby boy.  Since my children and my goddaughter did not want Hannah and Jay's baptismal gown, I asked my cousin if they would like it for the baby. They want it, so happy to have found it a new home where it will hopefully get passed down.  My friend Cheri in Colorado Springs made this (I commissioned it, she also taught me to sew) and it has a matching bonnet and baby slippers.  It is so beautiful, but I have dragged it around the country long enough!  I also sent her the light brown open sweater that my Grandma Nan made for Coleman.  All my kids used it and the grands here, but now it is outgrown and needs a new home.  I know Grandma Nan is smiling down to know that more babies will use it!

Hazel is now 5 years old and Indie is 2!  The time flies!  We just had a party for Hazel and did dinner at Olive Garden last night with family.  Being their Lala is the best!  Hazel keeps asking if we can sew (we did make her a skirt and I do not think it made the blog) so I need to start teaching her!  Hopefully one or both of these two will get the quilting bug!

A few weekends ago we went to the apple orchard.  This was the third one I have gone to with them over the years.  The one we like had run out of apples for that weekend.  This was a bit too much walking for me, but thankfully they towed us back and forth on a tractor train.  We got a picture of the three us with everyone smiling!

 HAPPY FALL!

Two Quilts Back from the Long Armer!

I picked up these two quilts from Lora Thursday and got the bindings on them pretty quickly!  I LOVE them!  This one is Jelly Snowflake which was a mystery we did the summer or 2020!  Five years in the making, but worth the wait!

This is Merry Mayhem Mystery # 148 from New Year's Day 2024. For some reason the colors and fabrics in this one just make me happy.  I used the border fabric to pull colors and it really works.

 

A Forgotten Quilt (Tula Pink's City Sampler) and a Reading Retreat!

A few weekends ago I attended my fifth Booktube Besties Reading Retreat!  It is 24 hours online (we do sleep) reading, sharing about favorite books, discussing a book topic, and playing a game or two.  The time goes really fast!  Now that I have a book club with five people from a previous retreat, we have a running side conversation, and it really is even more fun!  We usually get a bookmark and do a small craft that they send us.

This year we made bookmarks from napkins!  You peel off the lining(s) of the napkins and apply mod podge to the bookmark.  Then you apply the napkin and put some cling wrap type stuff on top of it and get all the wrinkles out with the nail file.  You mod podge on the top too.  Use a hair dryer to dry it.  Flip and repeat, add the tassel! Here is the other side.

There are about fifty four total people in the retreat, so this is just some of us.

In other news, I have been sewing a few of Bonnie's leaders and enders this year.  It is called Four Patch Fun.  I have not done one in a few years, but the diagonal line of this one really appealed to me!

Mark Lipinski is making Tula Pink's City Sampler, so I wanted to show him mine.  In searching my blog I could not discover the completed top so I apparently never posted it to my blog!  According to Facebook I posted the top on September 1st, 2020.  I do not think this one has been quilted yet, but I need to dig in my quilt top bins to make a backing and get it in line for quilting!
Here it is without borders.

 Here it is with borders.