Technology

~ Mary ~ 2 Comments

I love technology and my Apple Watch is one of my two favorites (my iPad is the other). In addition to having the time and weather at my fingertips, I love the activity tracking. It encourages me to move more and I get to monitor how active – or inactive I’ve been. I also love the timer and alarms, ease of adding things to my reminder list when they pop into my head using Siri, and the heart rate and EKG monitoring.

I moved a lot through the 3 months I was packing and moving us to Big Canoe but I didn’t exercise much – walking, hiking, and kayaking are my favorites, and while biking was on that list, I won’t be biking here in the mountains. – so it’s time to start trying to get out there more. Adam has also slacked off and we’re back to encouraging each other to MOVE. Our Apple Watches let us share our data with each other and we have a shared family fitness photo stream where we post photos. He got out early this morning and he’s been taking Caleb with him.

Keith is the most consistently active one of the 4 of us … Adam, Chris, and I go in spurts where we’re very active and then we seem to slack off. It’s time for Chris to rejoin us too. I do love that when we’re all together that we’re usually getting out and being active with the kids too. Hiking mostly but some swimming and basketball and don’t forget I broke my ankle last fall playing kickball with them!

Unfortunately, my activity today will be housework! I’ve put some things off way to long and I need to make a start on some things like cleaning blinds and baseboards in addition to dusting and cleaning floors. I am lucky that Keith takes care of cleaning the bathrooms for me.

What do you do to stay active?

Handsome!

~ Mary ~ 6 Comments

Finn went to grooming this morning – it’s gotten hot and humid here this week and he was past due for a haircut. He will be much more comfortable now!

And while he was being groomed, I got in a 5.35 mile hike. The humidity was high and the gnats were bad but in spite of that it was a beautiful day in the woods!

Finished

~ Mary ~ 5 Comments

The Fishy Garden Path quilt is done. It’s #10 of 10 to be quilted and bound in July. It’s another of the 3 yard quilts I’m doing with HeartStrings and the pattern is from Fabric Cafe.

Quilted with freehand wavy lines edge to edge which gives it great texture but keeps the quilt soft and cuddly. I tried to take a photo over the railing but all you could see was the texture! It was another quick and easy one to piece and quilt and after my quilting marathon, my donation piles are too high! I need to get some washed and donated but I have to be in Tampa next week for a couple appointments so it will have to wait until I’m back home. It needs to be one of my goals for August so it actually gets done!

A busy day

~ Mary ~ 3 Comments

The house here was built in 2000 which seemed pretty new to me since many of our homes were older but we have had a number of things to replace and update since they were originals. We’d had intermittent issues with one of the garage door openers not working so we had both replaced today. The repair wasn’t worth the money given the age of the unit and rather than waiting for the other one to fail too, we got them both replaced. Should be good for another 20 years! When the guy was finishing up 3 deer strolled through the yard. He thought that was pretty cool. I told him they are frequent visitors and that I have cameras set up to capture their visits although it’s always fun to see them in real time too.

Since I finished the Sashed Whales yesterday I started a set of HeartStrings blocks this afternoon … throwing pretty much everything in these blocks and hoping to use up a bunch of strips and strings. I’ve made 5 quilts from that bin already this year and so far I don’t notice any difference! I’ve almost got the second set of 6 done and this one will take 48 blocks.

Are you watching the Olympics? I spent the afternoon quilting and piecing and after Keith went to bed around 9pm (he’s an early to bed, early to rise kind of guy) I came down and stitched down the binding on my 10 quilt of the month while i watched the gymnastics and swimming. It feels good to hit my goal and be back to actively sewing after the move. I feel like I lost 3 months of my life to it and I’m more than ready to be back in my routine.

Tomorrow I’ll take Finn for grooming and get out for a hike while I wait for them to finish. They usually take a couple hours and I can get 4 miles in and back to pick him up in that time. I’ll work on some more HeartStrings blocks too.

Flannel

~ Mary ~ 5 Comments

So it seems that some of you have different experience with Joann’s flannel but I can only share what I’ve experienced. It’s funny but when I was reading my post from yesterday in Feedly, this one came up underneath it … from September 2006 – https://blog.maryquilts.com/2006/09/28/autumn-top-finished/ .

It just so happens that I was sitting under that quilt and flipped the corner over. That is a Joann’s flannel, the quilt has been washed many, many times, and I use it all the time. There is no pilling, no excessive shrinkage, and the quilt is 15 years old! I’m not trying to convince anyone to run out and buy Joann’s flannel but I’m saying I’ve used it on many quilts without any problems. For the most part I do try to buy in person so I can feel the fabric and I buy the Snuggle or Super Snuggle Flannel but I have occasionally bought online.

A new blanket

~ Mary ~ 4 Comments

I’m still working on the Yowza scarf but I was ready to start a new blanket tonight. I wanted something different but I didn’t like the project I started first so I ended up choosing a pattern I’ve made before with this yarn.

  • Pattern – Baby Blocks Blanket – found free on Ravelry
  • Hook size – H
  • Yarn – Caron Jumbo, colorway is Baby Rainbow.

Assembled

~ Mary ~ 1 Comment

The Sashed Whales top has been assembled. As I mentioned when I started this one, it’s a remake of a quilt I made the first year I was quilting and I recently “rediscovered” some of my old quilt photos and decided to remake this one for our July Precut Challenge. I will be adding this to the website eventually but here are a few notes to get you started if you want to make your own version.

> Quilt size is approximately 46.5 x 60.5
> Focus fabric squares are cut 10 inches and they’ll finish at 9.5 inches
> Strips for the sashing and nine patches are cut 2 inches.

Stephanie has pulled “orphans or spare parts” for our August precut and for me that means I’ll work on a doll quilt or two from the leftover bits of other quilts as Stephanie commented below!

Our target for August is Orphans or any other spare parts like part blocks, strip set ends, random HSTs, leader/ender pieces, swaps, embroideries, and various other sewn together bits and pieces. 
Mary often makes her ends into a doll quilt (great idea!), and I did some pet crate quilts a while ago from some of mine. 
This time I might gather together some that go together nicely color-wise and make a random rows Strippie.

If you have a shining halo with no spare parts in your stash, you can choose your own adventure for August.

Finished

~ Mary ~ 10 Comments

The Blue/Green Walk and Stop quilt is finished. It’s #9 of 10 quilted and bound in July. Pantograph is Steam.

I might be in the minority here but I use Joann’s flannel on the backs of some of my quilts. I’ve used it for years on both my personal and donation quilts without issues. The personal quilts have been well used and washed many times. Unlike most people, since I don’t prewash my quilting cotton, I do not prewash the flannel. Everything crinkles up nicely together and I’ve never had an issue with the back shrinking more than the front. And all of that information was just so I could show you how cute the flannel back is on this quilt. This is one that will be donated and I just know it’s going to be loved by someone!

Chesty

~ Mary ~ 8 Comments

It’s been six years today since Chesty died leaving a big hole in our hearts and our lives.

I still miss my quilting buddy very much but am so thankful that a year and a half after his death, Finn came into our lives and helped fill the hole left by his death. I feel so blessed to love and be loved by both of them.

Finished

~ Mary ~ 5 Comments

The Rectangle quilt is finished. Freehand quilt with wavy lines. It’s #7 of 10 bound and quilted for July. I’ve done several of these quick quilts using Jelly Rolls and you can find brief instructions on my website.

And in a very rare occurrence, the doll quilt made from the leftover ends of the strip sets was finished right after it. . It’s #8 of 10 for July.

I’ve got #9 trimmed and the binding has been sewn on and is ready for me to hand stitch tonight while I watch the Olympics and I’ve also got the whales about halfway assembled.