July has arrived and the hope of finding some way to reach out and help others as well as myself is in the forefront of my mind. I came across Katy Perry's song ROAR and although I know it was written in 2013 and for a different topic, it seems fitting for me right now. I feel as though the world is definitely trying to break me and the divisive vitriol I see each day is devastating. I guess what I am saying is that I've decided enough is enough. I feel as though many of us NEED something to hang onto right now and find our own inner strength. Then we can share it with each other and move forward.
Click on this ROAR VIDEO link and let it inspire you too. In the meantime, here are some words to help.
The 20's are Roaring Again and are you joining in with our own group ROAR? I posted all the details in a separate post and here is the Theme LINK to get the details if you want to join in.
If you are new to the blog, you may be asking, "just what is a monthly update?" I decided long ago that I just can't keep up with blogging daily. I just can't. Sooooo, what happens is I document a day in my life within one post and if something special happens, a separate post takes place. See, you can stay caught up with a once a month check and then, if you're interested, see the other posts too. It's a great system for me.
In years past, I have set goals for each month and I will continue to do that simply to keep myself on track. I AM still in UFO mode around here and trying oh so hard to use or clean out the stash. It will be an ongoing project this year. If I want something to come in -- something has to go out. That is one goal. The balances change each month (hopefully) and will always show up at the bottom of the update if you read that far - and they are joined by links to the previous monthly updates for the year.
Now, grab a cuppa and sit back for a fun read and perhaps a new idea or two. (P.S. I format on a computer, so if you are reading on a phone, well sometimes the pictures will be before or after the story. It is what it is.)
(Drumroll please ----) Here's July and all the wonderful fun it provided. Please remember that any links in here will open in a separate window so that you can keep your place on this page at the same time and there are no ads or popups EVER
1st - As the month begins, my list of projects starts anew. Well, kinda. I roll over everything that didn't complete last month and then add in the new "monthlies" and some new "I'd like to get this done" ones as well. It makes the list impossible, but something to strive for and in these crazy, horrid COVID days, focus is most important. Witch's Night Out for August needs to come together and since I'm loving this project and totally forcing myself to stay on schedule (i.e., not race ahead), today's little pumpkins come together and the whole tub gets put out of sight once again. I also quickly cut the setting items for my Quarantine Challenge Quilt so that I can take it to retreat with me. All of this is bright and early in the morning and then ------------whoosh, downhill. Energy gone. It was a short-lived moment of productivity. Back to my book.Kelly calls and finds me crying (due to a sad part in the book) and gives me two goals for today. One to finish the book and the second to shower. The first is accomplished and then I get the idea to cook a pork loin in the oven. I sear it on all sides in the frying pan and then pop the whole thing into the oven. While it cooks, I prepare the sides. Upon removing the roast from the oven, I set the pan on the stove and carefully transfer the meat to a plate.
At this point, I decide to make a gravy from the drippings and turn around to straighten the pan on the stove. Placing my hand around the handle - yep it's HOT -- OMG --- racing to the sink, cold water over my hand for at least 5 minutes and then, I instruct Mister to retrieve an ice pack from the freezer. Wrapping it with a lightweight towel, I settle onto the sofa and keep it on ice for over an hour, with intermittent breaks. Mister looks at me for the next step and I send him out to the porch to cut some aloe vera and he then proceeds to extract all the gel from the plant leaf. I open my hand --- it's pretty bad - he spreads the goo all over my hand and then wraps the whole thing in gauze. The pain starts in now that the ice is gone. Now for pills - and then I let my sweetheart stop being my nurse for the evening. No shower tonight.2nd - With one hand wrapped, being active has it's challenges, but I find that I am able SLOWLY cut out pieces of felt for the quiet book. It takes a long time, but I do get a few pages prepared. My plan is to accomplish 5 pages per month. We'll see how well I stick to that. I DO make a wonderful mess though, right?
Since the scissors went so well, how about a rotary cutter. My hand is padded quite well (and it REEKS from the Aloe) so I think I can manage. Lots of Ibuprofen in my system doesn't hurt either. I need to make a few more scrub caps and locate some teal fabric for them. A few quick cuts and four more are ready to sew.It's also mystery time and I'm working behind the scenes on that, but I do have a UFO project holding fabrics in the colors I need. Pulling it out, I make all the border cuts, binding cuts, etc. so that I know what is leftover and can go into Journey. Scrap Crystals is truly just needing to be sewn now. (Great pic right? I forgot to take one and so this is through the bottom of the tub. They are covered by hundreds of HST's that I just didn't want to remove again for a picture.)
3rd - Mister is calling this "Our COVID Weekend" as we have made plans to be out of the house and with others. We shall see what it brings. My hand and I are going walking at the Arboretum with my sweetheart today. They have new sculptures to see and I'm eager to walk. Here is the LINK to our day so that you can see all the magnificent work of Seward Johnson and his "Celebrating the Familiar" exhibit.Oh, and, yes, nature's beauty takes a role in the post as well. My eyes and soul have been fed today.
A stop for a late breakfast after, and then home to try and cut more pieces. Yep, me and my hand will be going slowly again today.For the evening, we decide on a pizza and beer at the local brewery, but it's back to no indoor seating and, dang, it is hot outside. Clothing choices have always fascinated me --- check this one out. I could decide if they were boxers, swim trunks, or short, but the footwear certainly brings it all together, Right?
4th - Happy Independence Day. After a quiet morning, we are on our way to Abilene and some time with the grands. It's been sooo long and I miss them so very much. Here is your LINK to follow along in our festivities.
We even have our own fireworks in the street and that brings a smile to my face.My hand is doing quite well and the bandage is off. Crazy, I know. There are no blisters and, although it is tender, I believe I have dodged a huge bullet.
5th - We stayed over at Jen's last night and Grandpa has retrieved donuts for everyone this morning. I love the red/white/blue ones. How fun and the grandsons gobbled them down rather quick. One even made it's way my direction, but just one. That chocolate one laying on it's side -- yep, sprinkles and all.
Our event for today is boating and pulling the kids on tubes. Mister is the driver and the day is absolutely wonderful. I even manage to get a little swimming in, too. Such fun and beautiful scenery.
6th - I guess you could call this recovery day, but it's more like --- I wasn't ready to come home yet. It's quiet here and I'm letting the depression take root once again. Gotta pull myself out --- I'll give it today and then that's it.7th - The scrub caps for Amanda are completed and in the mail today. Woot woot! See, I gave myself a stern talking to and it worked. Something was accomplished.
8th - I am wanting mindless work today --- I've set up the string machine (my sweet little 185 - Danielle) and set up Pfeffernusse browns for today. Hey, I took this pic below to show you that my birthday balloon is still upright. So cool --- over 2 months now.
First, though, I am determined to finish the redwork on my pillow blocks. TA-DA -- Two more in the done column.Now, I can settle in with the brown strings and show. What could be better? I know ---- watching string blocks go from this stage:
To this one:
I LOVE watching how the blocks come to life as they are trimmed. Then, one more cut. Love, love, love. I am not quite finished making them all, but I've run out of strings and a trip to the studio has netted some strips from the bins. They'll have to do to finish this up.Trimming and squaring of the redwork blocks has begun as well. It's been a good day. I should talk to myself sternly more often.
9th - The plan is to finish the string blocks so that I can clean up this area today. Mister takes the messes in stride but they are starting to take over the entire house again. I am successful and all the brown string blocks are complete. Another step forward on a UFO. Each step counts, right?All the redwork blocks have been finished and trimmed. I think this is the pillow layout. What do you think? I've truly only followed the original pattern in doing this --- no creativity of my own, but I struggled whether to put the larger one on top. Mister says the snowflakes need to be above --- guess that makes sense.
10th - Pillows are pieced together and now more redwork needs to occur. I have also planned to make more progress on Pfeffernusse. Let's see how today goes.My Whimm's is all laid out, blocks are ready to quilt and another room needs some work so that it can be cleaned up soon. I am moving forward. However, I discover that I cut the backing/batting too short on two of the long border strips. ????? No idea how that happened, but it did. I'll fix as I go - I think I cut a couple of them too long as well and can cut and fix that way. Life's little ups and downs. It keeps my brain thinking -- even if it's thinking, "What were you thinking?"
Back to the machine and Pfeffernusse. I want to put some of these units together and there are a TON of them. By the time I call it a day, I have cute little piles of units, all pressed and ready to become hour glass blocks. I LOVE the red/white.
11th - In keeping with my "clean up areas" plan, finishing the Pfeffernusse units seems appropriate for today. I do get them all sewn, but that's as far as I get.
12th - Mister is working on our patio chair project today and the main task is to remove the old fabric and get down to just the rails. It won't budge, so soaking in the tub takes place. Ya just never know what's going to happen at our house. After a couple of hours, it takes both of us to hold these down and pull the old stuff from the rails. Whew --- it's all out and now we can move to the next stage.
Little hour glass blocks are pressed and ready for trimming. That will happen tomorrow.
13th - As promised, dog ears have been removed and my units are ready to become larger blocks. This quilt has really made steps forward this month. It now needs more string blocks made.A bit of hand work as I have discovered that my "grand" pillow is missing some names. It's fixed now, although, I think my writing has changed --- age is quite the problem, isn't it?
Glory be --- look at my peach tree! I'll take smiles where ever I can get them these days.The end of the day shows a completed quiet book page. Well, not truly completed but ready to be sewn onto a page. I'm happy with it.
14th - Peaches!!!! They are so yummy and juicy. I am in mouth heaven. Seriously, my favorite fruit has been the peach for as long as I can recall. I've had peach trees for over 25 years and can't imagine not having one. It is the first thing Mister bought me when I moved to Dallas.
All errands have been run and I am now beginning a period of self-isolation for the upcoming retreat. I have plenty to work on and some days, ya just gotta pound a little felt. These are part of a page of chain links for the quiet book. Fun, fun.
Goal met!!! I have 5 completed pages this month. Whew. It feels good and I'm ready for a felt break.
15th - Red work. Both blocks are stitched, sandwiched, basted, and ready for quilting. I have to admit I'm kind of tired of this after doing my own quilt top and now two pillows, but I'm one step closer to having this project ready for retreat.16th - I admit it. I'm letting this step/machine intimidate me. I have so much hand work in these pillows and the thought of having to sit and pick out stitching is a wee bit scary. Can you say terrifying? Deep breath, I can do this - and away we go. One hour later -- Done. Why do I let these things get to me so easily?
I've had the binding ready to go for quite awhile, so after a quick trim on the blocks, on it goes. My afternoon hand stitching finishes the project and I have two pillows. One for myself and one to exchange at our Christmas in July retreat this month.
With this under my belt, I even finish up the last Christmas Whimm's block --- it's quilted as well.17th - Mister has the day off and we're just hanging out together. Nothing to show for it, just some stress reducing, sit on the sofa, watch a show hours. Necessary to help him de-frag now and then.
18th - We are still spending time together and that means a drive today. On the way home, Mister stops at the McCree Cemetery. We have heard about it for quite awhile, but only just located the entrance. The first land for this cemetery was granted by Mahulda Bonner McCree in 1866. At least two burials, for John Henry Jones (d.1862) and Elizabeth McCullough (d.1864), occurred before the graveyard was formally deeded. Over the years, the cemetery has been enlarged to cover over 3 acres, it contains the graves of Peters colonists, war veterans, and many person's associated with early area Methodist and Baptist churches. McCree Cemetery remains an important part of the recorded history of Dallas County. However, today, the gates are locked and we are unable to walk around inside. Dang.
19th - We are off to just be out of the house again today. In fact, we've made it all the way to Oklahoma and back again without breaking my self-isolation for the upcoming retreat. Check out this LINK to share in our fun.20th - Monday - our three-day weekend is behind us once again and Mister is back to the grind. Which means that I should be accomplishing something as well. With the living room still waiting to be cleaned up before I leave, two blocks are sitting and waiting to be quilted. The second half of July means I am starting on two blocks per month for the Whimm's Sewing Room quilt, which I am also doing as a QAYG. Check - done - bam.
21st - I am definitely running out of time before retreat. All sashing/borders for Whimms #1 are pinned and packed for retreat. Three rooms of machines are cleaned and the machines themselves are packed up for projects at Brazos. I have one machine remaining out and am working like crazy to prep for the rugs I need to do in Rainbow. ALL of the batting strips I cut previously (2 months ago??) are sewn end to end in rolls and any additional pieces are cut and added. I am set to make four jelly roll rugs.
I don't want to pack this machine away just yet as I have a couple of Row X Row blocks to applique still. I get a little bit done and discover that I need some thread. Argh.
Quilts are stacking up around the house waiting for labels --- get 'er done Girl. Yes! Written, rolled, and put away.
22nd - It's a clean house, pack day. It also means leaving a treat for my sweetheart as I'm going to be away. Today, he scores on fresh scones.
Once the packing is complete, Mister runs and gets me some thread and the few groceries I need to take to retreat so that I am not at risk. Now, if I can just finish the applique work, I'll have a block completed this month AND be able to pack up this machine. Another check mark ends the day.
23rd - I am outta here and off to our Christmas in July retreat. Here is the LINK to all of our fun and please check it out --- some great projects to see. I have been working on the blocks for my Quarantine Challenge quilt today and hopefully will have a completed top tomorrow.24th - Fun and games in the refrigerators at work today. Ya gotta wake up to giggles now and then or the world just gets you down.
I have a TA-DA top
AND backing
AND binding, label --- this one is ready to quilt.
Stephannie taught a mini-class and look at this cute little box I made. So fun - and quick and easy.I have three generations here this weekend --- my granddaughter and daughter are both playing along. Lucky, lucky me.
Speaking of luck ---- look who won the jelly roll at game night. Mrs. Claus, of course.
My evening work??? Sewing four jelly roll sets of strips end to end. I'm done in.
25th - Oh, these ladies ---- my heart cannot express how much they mean to me. Ya just gotta believe what I write and know that it's an incredible love.
26th - The last "technical" day of retreat has arrived and a few of us are staying on for some girlfriend time. Please click on this LINK to share our time as we do haircuts and various other fun things.Most of yesterday and this morning were spent completing the ropes for my rugs. I wasn't sure I'd ever get to the end of the last jelly roll.
27th - Good Morning and I am just sitting on the porch enjoying the air and solitude of being in the country. I so needed these days before returning home. Life is so uncertain these days, this is just a wee bit of certainty to tide me over.
I have built a table up to my machine by using the library books. Jelly roll rugs work best on a level base and since my machine is not in a cabinet --- this will do. By the time I'm ready to close my eyes for the day, all four rugs are sewn, pressed, and starched. My arms ache, but it's so wonderful to have this finished. They will go in the mail as soon as I return home.28th - I only have one more project that I packed to bring --- the Whimm's sashing and borders, which need to be quilted. Here goes nothing --- so scary sometimes, but a small stipple in green on top and gold on bottom - with white on top for the cornerstones. These are done and ready to trim (which does happen before I pack everything up).
We have decided to depart VERY EARLY tomorrow morning and do as much work tonight as possible to prepare for that. Then it's off to sleep with alarm clocks set.
29th - Val left us in the wee hours, but by 7 - we three are giving final hugs and promises to get together again soon. Val, Frieda and Gwen -- thank you for your support and friendship. It means everything to me.30th - Recovery, unpack day. You know the drill -- it's usually the same after each retreat.
31st - Mister has another three-day weekend and we are spending the day in both errands and enjoyment. Here is your LINK to the fun.
verb - to utter a loud, deep cry or howl, as in excitement, distress, or anger; to laugh loudly or boisterously; to roar denials; to bring, put, make, etc., by roaring; to roar oneself hoarse.
noun - a loud, deep cry or howl, as of an animal or a person; the roar of a lion; a loud, confused, constant noise or sound; din; clamor; the roar of the surf, the roar of lively conversation from the crowded party.
Can we not all agree that we are ready to ROAR? I saw a meme the other day where someone said they were staying up New Year's Eve this year, not to see the new year in, but to make sure this one leaves. Ya gotta see their point.
So back to our theme: The 1920's in the United States, called "roaring" because of the exuberant, freewheeling popular culture of the decade. The Roaring Twenties was a time when many people defied Prohibition, indulged in new styles of dancing and dressing, and the rejection of many traditional moral standards. Well, I do see defiance, new styles of dress and the rejection of many traditional moral standards happening every day. Hold onto your hat, my quilting friends, as another month is upon us. What does your BINGO card have on it? Hahahaha, you thought it would be a different card, didn't you? Can you ROAR - BINGO!!! I will do all I can to achieve a blackout --- how about you?
BOM #1 - quilted and bound
BOM #2 - quilted and bound
BOM #3 - quilted and bound
Winter Wonderland - quilted and bound
1 Whimms put together and bound
Current Projects:
Witches Night Out - Monthly Assignment Finished - YES
Quiet Book - 5 pages completed - YES
Stash Buster project -
Quarantine Challenge - Backing✓, binding✓, label✓, quilted and bound
Pillows for July retreat - Done
Lawn chairs recovered - All previous fabric removed
Journey - well, I can't really tell, now can I?
UFO Items for This Month:
Two Whimms blocks (QAYG) - Three done as I was one behind from last month.
Brown strings - YES
1 Row by Row block - Done and another just needing hand work.
BAD blocks as leader/enders - a couple more added
UFO Handwork Items:
Hand Quilting -- roll the quilt once -
Links to Previous 2020 Monthly Posts:
January 2020
February 2020
March 2020
April 2020
May 2020
June 2020
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