Our New Home and Table Toppers

I thought I would share our new house since I skipped over that when I first started blogging again!  I finally hung up the cool metal quilt blocks my cousin gave me a few years ago.  They are hanging in the entry area right outside my quilting room.

I got rid of the weeds and planted three rose bushes in front of our house.  They are doing well.  I have never planted or cared for roses so I am excited about this!

Here is our bedroom with Frolic on the bed and Picnic on the wall for now.  Lots of mermaids and beach stuff.  I love that our bed is between the windows (we had to leave our headboard behind and I have not found a new one I like yet to replace it) and I can listen to the rain and see what is going on.

Again the sewing room.  I spend as much time as I can right here!  Kathy got a new office chair so her sewing chair is back in here and the wooden chair has found its way to the living room.

The view from my chair in the sewing room.

The living room (really the dining room but we changed it up!).  I ordered a new recliner for me but it has not come yet so we do not spend too much time in here yet.

The view from the living room facing the sewing room/front door.

The kitchen is huge.  We put our huge kitchen table in there and it works for the two of us and we can pull the table out to play games when the kids come over.  I bought the checked drapes after deciding I did not have any fabric that I wanted to use and really did not want to make FOUR sets of valances.  My old kitchen valance matched the bathroom so since there was only one, it found its way there.

We bought the special dish rack because I really wanted to not have a drainer on the cupboard.  No directions to put it together so that was fun, but we love it.

Singer kitty is on the freezer (which also fits in the kitchen!).

Sunshine is modeling the second tulip quilt.  I love this so much and am undecided if I should keep it or mail it off to a friend of mine.

I also quilted all three of these table toppers that have been piled up and waiting awhile.  They are all in the gift pile.

Birthdays and Chunky Churn Dashes

 My birthday was last Thursday and I had a really nice day!  Kathy got me the Once Upon a Book Club selection and I saved it to read that afternoon.  If you have never seen this before, you get a book and several gifts to open on certain pages of the book.  The gifts relate to the story.  (If you get this and have not read August's yet, do not scroll down as I do post a picture of what the gifts were--do not want to spoil it for anyone!).  I loved this so much I ordered another one --the classic David Copperfield which I have never read.

 I decided to settle in on a quilt in the backyard with my ice coffee and start reading.  The dogs loved it! Here are the gifts I got.  The book was good "The Last Piece" by Imogen Clark.  Not one I would have picked out on my own, but a nice escape and well developed characters--so much so that when it was over I still wanted to know what happened in the lives of the daughters!

 I have also been sewing and made two Chunky Churn Dash baby quilt tops so far.

Bug is modeling with the quilt

 Kathy also made me a chair for my birthday (we had a pair and a table in AZ and sold them since we knew she could make another set).

 I read in it a bit today and then we painted it Packer green.  Will need some touch up tomorrow.  Kathy will make a second one and a table we will paint yellow too.

 My Mom and Dad stopped by and camped near Milwaukee for four days so we could see them.  We went to their campground twice and played lots of Play Nine.  They came here and toured Hannah and Jeremy's house and hung out here far from the kids since they have been with lots of family in Chippewa and the kids are really protecting my grandbaby--just in case.  Hannah is about 34 weeks along in this picture....it is getting close!

It was nice to have some time with my parents who are now heading back to Arizona early to be with my sister.  Mom hopes to come back when the baby comes, but with Covid and her health I am not sure it will happen.  Mom and Dad gave me a pretty crystal angel for my window and some cash--which was partly spent on the David Copperfield book.  Seriously I was spoiled this birthday and I got to spend it with my parents and Kathy.  Super special since we now live so far apart.

Dr. Scrappy Kathy completed her Jelly Snowflake quilt and it looks great!  The blues were a good color choice for this.  Love it!  

A Flimsy Finish and a Start

I finished the Jelly Snowflake Mystery Quilt top.  Turned out cute and most likely will be quilted by me and become a baby gift.  I never seem to have a shortage of folks who want a baby quilt so I am focused on doing more of those.  To that end, I have been Video Sewing with BJ (and Andrea) and BJ was telling me how much fun she was having with Bonnie Hunter's Chunky Churndash blocks.  That got me thinking I could use my kid fabric and make some more baby quilts!  

I kitted up oodles and oddles.  No counting or anything, just went through my bin and made sets that would work.  Here are the first six blocks...I already have lots more made and today I made the alternate blocks but have not taken more pictures so I guess I better get back to sewing!

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!