Friday, July 31, 2026

Quilt blocks and beads

 

I spent quite a bit of time working on quilt blocks today, and I managed to finish eight.

Since daughter Joanne and granddaughters Sophia and Kara are also working on quilt blocks, I took pictures of both the front and back of each block so that they could get some ideas for their blocks.

I have an idea for using fairy wands, so I put some more together this afternoon. Once my supplies arrive, I'll share what I've thought of doing... if my idea works!

Thursday, July 30, 2026

Happy birthday!

Today is daughter Carol's 45th birthday. Happy birthday, Carol! To celebrate, we went to a new Italian restaurant in the next town south of us. The food was delicious, and the company was even better.


Before leaving for the restaurant, I finished up the last of what I've been thinking of as my beige blocks. Each block has a different quilting pattern, all straight line quilting.


When we returned home, I started working on my red blocks. I only finished four, but my total for the day was nine... pretty good!


Joanne sent me a picture of granddaughter Kara practicing her sewing. Joanne and the girls went shopping for practice fabric this morning. The girls are doing a great job!


Wednesday, July 29, 2026

Craft day

I spent a lot of time crafting with two of my granddaughters today... long distance, of course! They're in Georgia, and I'm in Illinois. 

One of the things we're doing is making beaded pens. I'm not sure what the kids will do with theirs, but I will be passing mine out at school.

Sophia and Kara have decided that they want to learn to sew. I found some inexpensive fabric squares on Amazon and had them shipped to their house. Sophia practiced on the sewing machine today.

Kara worked on hand quilting. I'm so proud of both of them!

Tuesday, July 28, 2026

Another quilting day

 

We thought there might be more storms today, so I started my day with quilting five more blocks for my next quilt. It did get a little dark for a while, but we never saw any rain. That's okay!

I really wanted to watch The Alamo today. I remember going to the movie theater with my sister on a Saturday afternoon. The deal was that when we got home we had to tell Mom all about it. I often wonder if we did a good job telling about the movie. I was only 8 years old when it came out. I've asked Mom, and she doesn't remember. 

Anyway, it was easier to work on sewing two strips together for Joanne's quilt than to concentrate on tatting. My next step will be to add the final strip to these two. After that, I will join the first four strips with the last three. The end is in sight!

Monday, July 27, 2026

Stormy weather

 

This morning I quilted five more quilt blocks. Each block has a different quilting design, which should make an interesting quilt.

I would have liked to accomplish more today, but we had some fierce storms this afternoon. Our mail lady came in and sat with us in the house for a good half hour until things calmed down. Luckily, we only had a few tree branches come down. Timing for dinner was just right. About 20 minutes after we finished cleaning up, our power went out for two and a half hours. 

Obviously, the power is back on, but now it's almost time to head off to bed. Hopefully, I'll accomplish more tomorrow!

Sunday, July 26, 2026

Busy day

 

I accomplished a lot today. First, I finished tatting another bookmark, "Curds & Whey" from Tatting with Visual Patterns by Mary Konior. This was the last of "Harvest Moon" hand-dyed thread from LadyShuttleMaker.

The glue basting dried for more than 24 hours, and the five blocks that I quilted went very smoothly. The only negative is that on the purple color on the left, the glue shows through. Out of all the squares in these blocks, that color is the only one that showed this. Since the glue is supposed to wash out, I think all will be fine.

Late this afternoon, I finished sewing the two sets of strips together. I only have three strips to go. I really like the way this looks!

Saturday, July 25, 2026

Tollway Tatters

We had a great Tollway Tatters meeting this morning! We shared our projects, talked about tatting terminology, and even talked about other crafts. 

After lunch, I finished Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder. It's funny, but I never knew of these books when I was a child. I wasn't even aware of them while studying to be a teacher and librarian. My first exposure was with the television series starring Michael Landon.

Recently, Dave and I watched the first season of the new Little House series on Netflix. Yes, I've been inspired to read the books. It will be interesting to see if the television series stays true to the books.

Today's tatting is "Thérèse" from Four Dozen Tatted Bookmarks by Robin Perfetti. The thread is size 20 Hakelgarn, hand-dyed "Harvest Moon" from LadyShuttleMaker. I didn't think I had enough thread for another pattern repeat, so it's a bit shorter than I'd like. As it turns out, I really think I could have made it a little longer. Oh, well. Someone will like it!