Quilted and Bound and a Loss

 Keeping up with my reading this week.  Finished this one and now reading Barbara Kingsolver's "Lacuna."

 I picked up FOUR quilts from the longarmer down the street.  She quilted my sister's Midnight Flight Christmas Quilt and now it is bound and waiting for a label.

 She also quilted my daughter Hannah and son in law Jeremy's wedding signature quilt.  Also bound and waiting for a label.  I used to label ALL my quilts, then somewhere along the line I got lazy and stopped.  I need to get back to it!

 The grandbaby's quilt with sloth in the center (Hannah and I saw sloths for the first time at the Dallas zoo and we have been in love ever since!).  The embroidery on this is awesome.  My friend Barb decided to make the blocks for me as a gift to Hannah who she has never met.  SO SWEET!  Of course then I had to figure out a pattern and since they are not finding out the gender it had to be gender neutral.  These thirties fabrics worked out well.

 Here is a peek at my lion for grandbaby.  I am hand stitching the binding on so not quite done, but I love the leaves the gal at Blue Whale Quilt Studio put on him (at my request).

Been doing lots of resting, reading, etc. but in the evenings lately I have found some time and energy to sew.  Taking each day as it comes and getting so excited for baby.
If you do not want depressing news click off here.

My nephew Christopher passed away a week and a half ago.  He was thirty years old and six weeks older than my daughter Hannah.  He is the only son of my sister.  She is heartbroken as we all are.  He is above with Coleman as a packer for Halloween.

 Above Coleman, Hannah, Jay (Mac) and Christopher on the bottom.  I took them all to the pumpkin farm and we had such a great day there.

 Christopher smiling in #3. And with my kids below too. So many memories with him and hard to even believe he is gone.

 I wrote his obituary and tried to capture who he was and how much he was loved.

With deepest sorrow, we announce that Christopher Jordan Simons, age 30, of New River, Arizona, died suddenly on Friday, July 17^th, 2020, while undergoing emergency surgery.  Christopher, endearingly known as CJ by his family and friends, was born on December 26, 1989, to his loving mother Tina Baeza (Neff) and his father, Brad Simons in Burnsville, Minnesota.  He was a son, grandson, nephew, cousin, and a friend to so many.  As a child he was always smiling and finding new and clever ways to get into trouble.  He was beyond intelligent and had a knack for math, spelling, and grammar. He was our go to guy for setting up electronics or troubleshooting computer and TV issues!   He would regularly correct others for using improper grammar.  CJ graduated from Career Success High School in Cave Creek, Arizona, at the age of 16 in 2006.  He followed in his family's footsteps and joined the Navy soon after graduation.  During his service he was part of Mission Enduring Freedom and visited much of the world while serving his country.  CJ had many friends, and if you were one you knew you were a brother to him and he would always be there if you needed anything.  He was as loyal a person as anyone could ask for.  He was known for giving advice (our “Dr. Phil”), love, and his daring and brave demeanor.  He could be stubborn and a bit quick tempered, but CJ never seemed scared.  He would never back down from anything. CJ always loved animals, playing poker, video games, going off-roading, cheering for the Packers, and spending time with his friends and family.  He could be regularly seen in his Boondock Saints shirt and seemed to always wear a hat.  He didn't like to smile in pictures, but his smile was larger than life and if you saw it, it would warm your heart.

 He will be greatly missed by his mother Tina (New River) and his father Brad (Eau Claire, Wisconsin); his grandparents Toni and Gary Hirn; his aunts and uncles (Sam, Ashley, Angela, Kathy, Steven, Cheryl, Mark, and Sue);  his cousins (Coleman, Hannah, Jay, Benjamin, Christian, Colton, Barrett, Stephanie, Billy, and Sarah), his girlfriend Jennifer, his ship mates and Navy brothers,  his “New River Mafia,” as well as many others.  CJ was preceded in death by his paternal grandparents and his maternal grandfather Lenny.

We feel if CJ could tell us one last thing he would tell us to hold our heads high. To smile at all the fond memories.  To cry tears of joy of the time spent with him and not tears of sadness.  To hug those you love, forgive those who need it, and know he is looking down on us smiling, and drinking a Faygo.

We love you to the moon and back CJ and always will.  You will always hold a place in so many hearts.  

A Celebration of Life and military funeral honor ceremony will be held as soon as we are allowed to gather the many family, friends, co-workers and all the people who loved CJ.

Sewing, Gaming and Quarantining Continue

 I needed some cheery sewing so I finally made a Garden Party Table Runner.  I decided to make it to match my quilt (from the Quiltville Cruise) with the green running throughout.  These blocks are really fun to make and come together quickly.

 It is now all layered with batting and backing and ready for me to quilt. Here are Sunshine and Bug who cannot resist getting into the photos.

Someone on Quiltville showed a layout of the Easy Breezy leaders and enders with friendship stars.   I had just been digging in my leftover bin and realized I had a TON of HST's in blue and neutral leftover from BOM's of days past.  So I made 20 blocks and love how it looks.  I also cut some more of the Easy Breezy blocks which are super fun to make!

 I ordered a set of eye spy fabrics on etsy to mix in with what I already have...I have piles of not enough blocks left for several more but need more to round each set out.  I used to belong to a group that did trades for eye spys and wish I could find another one.  So easy to cut out one set from one fabric and mail them centrally where an ANGEL puts them all into sets and mails them back out to everyone.  Anyone have a group like this?  So one of these is already tied (yesterday afternoon while watching Lord of the Rings I) since I was too tired to really get out of bed.  That one will go back to Arizona for the guy who bought our houses' soon to be born son.  He helped load our truck and was such a nice guy that we wanted to do something for him.  The other one I think I will quilt as that is the one I plan to keep here for the grandbabies.

 Hannah and Jeremy came over and played Mysterium and two games of Bang dice with us.  We made fettuccini alfredo and tried to stay cool.  We had two HOT days and now back to windows open and light rain here and there.  I also joined an online solo gaming group and played my first solo game of Kingdomino this week.  I won.  Did not know this was a thing but now am going to try out more of my games that have that option!

 Jelly Snowflake Clue 4 blocks are made.

 Here is Dr. Kathy's (or Scrappy Kathy as she shall now be known as) clue two and three blocks.  Barb, Scrappy Kathy and I sewed for a bit on Saturday and Sunday on FB video.  Really nice to have some company to sew with.

Here is Barb's clue 4.  Thursday the last clue comes out and we can put Jelly Snowflake flimsies together!

Video Sewing with Friends and the Jelly Snowflake Mystery Quilt Block 3

 Today Barb and Dr. Kathy sewed with me over Facebook video.  I got part three of the Jelly Snowflake Mystery sewn up and had to lay everything down to get a guess at what things will look like.  No idea which direction things go in since it is a mystery but fun to play anyway.

The three of us are doing this mystery together so when we can sew on Sundays we try to get together which makes it fun.  Barb got hers done and Kathy is working on part two since she went camping last weekend.
Here is Barb's Part 1 and Part 3.

I also worked on a Garden Party table runner.  I have all the alternate blocks made.  I decided to do them in green (the same as my Garden Party quilt) because I loved it so much.  Looking forward to making the flower blocks!
Barb and I are thinking about doing the Picnic Mystery Quilt by Pat Sloan.  Anyone doing that one?

Sewing, Reading, and Cooking...oh My!

Finished part two of the Jelly Snowflake Mystery quilt.  Clues come out each Thursday.  Barb, Dr. Kathy and I are keeping up.  I know a few of my other quilty friends are doing this one too.  Hard to resist with the ease of this one!

Barb sent me the last block (kangaroo)and I added it into the baby quilt.  Cannot wait to find a local long armer (do you know any in Milwaukee) and get several of these quilted.

We had to know what Sunshine Cupcake Brady (out latest dog addition since we lost Zoey and Daisy within days of each other last summer) really is.  They told us chihuahua mix.  She has taken to me and has become my dog.  Helps me get through all my shots and all that.  Bug is suddenly more with me (she used to hang in bed half the day now hangs near me and Sunshine--think she was sad when her friends died too).  Anyways, this dog turns out to be up to 37% poodle.  We were thinking Corgi.  Crazy!  

 I have been working on my Easy Breezy QOV leaders and enders too and have this many done so far.  They are fun to make.  I need to kit more up though since they are only 6 inches!  I will be needed a lot more to make a decent size QOV.

Kathy has been sewing a bit too.  She has three of her Frolic blocks done (she did not do Unity) and they are looking good.

 Kathy wanted me to make stroganoff (I have not made it in FOREVER) so I used a packet mix and added in real mushrooms.  I cannot eat canned soup unless organic (and we could not find organic with out online shopping...have not ventured in to whole foods or Trader Joe's here so see what they have).  It turned out pretty tasty!

I have finally been able to enjoy reading again.  For the longest time since Covid started I have just not liked anything unless it was true reading.  I am trying to read what is on my shelf for physical books since there are more books than shelf space since we moved.  However, I saw the description for this book and HAD to have it.  It got five stars from me, learned some new words and really loved the story.  Reselling it so hopefully I can justify breaking my own book buying rule!  

New Quilting Studio and Already Sewing!

Super happy with our new house and the decision to make the living room the quilting studio!  We made the dining room the living room and put the kitchen table in the kitchen.  We use every inch of this house and it is cozy and organized.  Took me about ten days to get everything where I wanted it...lots of naps involved and I had to rest a lot more than I would have liked, but it got done and now my reward is sewing!

We had to trash the old ironing board set up, but I liked it so much we bought the same shelves and oriented them a little differently for our space.  Here is a picture of it in progress.

 There are two built in bookshelves on each side of an unusable fireplace so I have quilting stuff on the one side and my keeper books and books to read the future grandbabies on the other side.  Not much really fits underneath in the cabinets as they are not very deep but I used it the best I could.

 Hung all the rulers behind where I sit on the wall.

 This is above the fireplace.  I have my year round sewing tree up.

 The front door has a little alcove with another door and I hung all of my metal quilts (gifted to me by my godson Koi and his mom Tara) FINALLY.  They were not hung at the old house as I had no walls left.

Kathy sits across from me when she is in here.  We each have our own U shaped space.  We bought (and she assembled) two shelves on wheels with drawers and a cabinet.  Each is under our window and helps since we lost the built ins from our old house.

 I put a bulletin board on the back of the Ikea shelf and stuck some stuff on it.  Works for me.

 This is the view from where I sit.  We put quilts in the large cabinet there and stacked more on top.  The quilts to be gifted are in the office along with the seasonal quilts to change out.  They will not all fit in here.  The top drawer has strings and the bottom drawer has tops and backs.

 My daughter is in her third trimester--YAY.  I gave her an eye spy quilt and then I made this one (she picked it from all the Patch Pals patterns.)  This was fun to make but like a puzzle to lay out!

 My friend Barb (in AZ) embroidered the cutest little animals for me to make a quilt from for the baby.  They all have fuzzy minky fabric in them and are soft and super detailed.  This picture does not do it justice, I need to get some close ups.  She gifted me 12 blocks and I decided to use a mystery pattern from a long time ago and it needed 13.  Barb whipped me up a kangaroo and it is in the mail on the way here now.

 I quilted and bound my second Scrappy Tulip quilt (from Mystery Quilts Anonymous fb group) a few days ago.  The first one I gifted to my ex chair at Basha, Marisol and this one I am not sure goes to who.  I like it enough to keep it but I have so many!

 I started the Jelly Snowflake Mystery quilt that Pat Sloan mentioned on her blog.  Info is on   A Quilting Life here.  Some are doing it in Christmas fabric, but I used the only jelly roll I have which is Moon Shine by Tula Pink.  Second clue comes out tomorrow.

 I also quilted three of my Rock Candy tabletoppers that have been done and waiting for that and binding for a long time.  They are in the gift me pile.

 Bonnie Hunter started her new leader and ender Easy Breezy.  I decided to use up a bunch of patriotic scraps and make a quilt of valor.  I kitted up 30 blocks to start in the six inch size.  They are cute!

 I am also still making a house a day. I have 106 so far.  I need to get them up on my design wall (finally redid it, the first one I put up nothing stuck to!) soon so I can get a picture of them all.  Still social distancing and being super careful.