Architectural Distractions

On Monday, my son had surgery to remove a small tumor from his lung. We expected it to be a reappearance of a previous liver cancer, and it was. We were as prepared as parents can be. It may help, but that doesn't make it easy. He's home now, his prognosis is pretty good, and he gets better every day. He's chipper and upbeat, so we're all feeling better than we did earlier, but it has been a stressful week.
 
Sometimes a person needs a mental escape to help deal with stress. I escape into architecture. There's something soothing about houses, and I totally shut out the world when I get focused on designing a house.

This is the first pair of houses I designed this week. The cottage was in desperate need of remodeling.

 When I was in elementary school, I drew castles, or I made doll house furniture from cut and folded paper. Later I took to drawing floor plans. The more stressful the situation, the more floor plans I drew. Sometimes I simply made house plans for fun. It's a good thing that graph paper was cheap because I've gone through reams of it over the years.

The three completed houses with the cottage in the middle. New siding, new roof, new trim, and new position have made a world of difference!

Now, I've graduated to designing houses on quilts. I'm not completely sure what I'll do with these houses in autumn fabrics. Table runner? Wall hanging? They're too big for mug rugs. I don't even know how many houses I'll need. At least one more, I think, but maybe two.

How do you think I should use these little structures? Each fits nicely into a 9" x 9" block, but 9" x 12" would also be a good size. What should accompany them? I'd love to hear your views.

Lunch is finished and I'm heading back to the construction site. 

House #4, coming up!

Nibble, Nibble, or How to Keep Busy While You Wait

I've been waiting for a stack of autumn fabrics to arrive so I can finish up the wall hanging I started last week, but twiddling my thumbs while I wait doesn't work at all. I get twitchy if I don't have something to do.

Since I didn't have another project ready to go, I sat down and began making a list of fall and winter quilting ideas. You know how it goes - one idea leads to another, leads to another, leads to another ... and, suddenly, bingo! Gingerbread houses led to Hansel and Gretel led to the wicked witch saying, "Nibble, nibble, little mouse..." And there they were -  three little mice nibbling on the harvest. These little guys demanded to made. Right now!

I don't know why I didn't name the pattern, "Nibble, Nibble", but by the time it dawned on me, I had the pattern on Craftsy and all ready to go.

I did have fun with these fellows. I must have drawn seven or eight little mice before I settled on these three. To tell the truth, though, I really, really like that corn cob.

It looked like nothing more than a big yellow blob before I started quilting. I was thrilled that my very imperfect free motion pebbles produced a pretty realistic cob filled with real kernels of corn. I'm not at all expert, but in spite of that, I love to play with F.M.Q.. For those who aren't in love with that technique, I sketched a plan for an alternate, straight stitch quilting or hand embroidery pattern. That design is on the pattern layout page.

Cute little mice need long whiskers, round black eyes, and little pink ears. I stitched those by hand with black and pink embroidery floss.

In case you wondered, this is what my holiday idea list looks like right now. I wonder how many I'll actually make.

Gingerbread House (mug rug)

Gingerbread Man

Harvest moon

Autumn Rain

Double, Double, Toil and Trouble

Visions of Sugarplums

Candy Canes

Stocking

Packages

Reindeer

Little House in the Big Woods

North Pole

Star Table Topper

Christmas Sampler Quilt

 I hope you have a super wonderful week!

When the Lights Go Out, Go Shopping!

It isn't very nice, I know, but I was thrilled when last week's thunderstorm caused an electrical outage in my granddaughter's neighborhood. 

The storm was noisy and woke me up early that morning. I don't normally look at Facebook first, but I was being extra quiet so as not to wake my hubby. I was surprised to find that my granddaughter was posting on Facebook at the very same time. Her day off hadn't started out well at all. Her husband had already gone to work, and she was sitting alone in the dark waiting for the lights to come back on. She had no hot water for a shower, no air conditioning, and no morning cup of coffee.

"Come on over," I typed. "I have a cool house, lots of hot water for a shower, coffee ready to go, and I would love to visit with you." In half an hour we were sharing breakfast at my table.

Sara and Tim have their own apartment now, and Sara had developed a sudden interest in my quilts. A trip to my storage space under the stairs quickly turned into a shopping spree. I told Sara that, with few exceptions, she could have anything she wanted. 

These are a few of the items she chose. There are no patterns for two of the older quilts.

When she left I had space for quite a few new projects. She's definitely her mother's daughter.

Love my girls!

 

Sunflowers in August

I'm seeing sunflowers everywhere I go. Silk sunflowers in the craft stores, fabric sunflowers in quilt shops, and sunflowers at the farmer's market. Sunflowers and lazy Susans make me smile.

I couldn't resist the happy, bright yellow blossoms with the dark brown centers and their deep green leaves, so I stitched up a pair of sunflower mug rugs. I've been gravitating more and more towards wall hangings and table runners, so designing a new mug rug was overdue.

Mug rugs are so quick that I was able to make two and play with different background treatments of the same flower. It's always fascinating to see how background fabrics and quilting designs can change the entire personality of a quilt. I can't make up my mind which of these I like better. Blue with dense FMQ? Cream with a colorful border and simple vertical quilting? Both are fun.

Big Sigh of Relief!

After three months of living with a disaster in our front yard, all water issues are resolved, we have a brand new flower garden, the house has new siding and a new roof, and our home looks better than ever. 

It started in May with the strongest thunderstorm our city had seen in almost 100 years. We were lashed by wind, rain and hail for several hours. A tornado touched down only a mile from our house. When all was said and done, we'd had 8 inches of rain. My sewing room and a bedroom in the unit next door were soaked with water that had poured in under our front porches. We also had hail damage to the roof and siding, but the basement water was the biggest issue.

Every contractor in town was swamped, and we couldn't find anyone who could get to us in less than a month. One company told me that they'd had over 1,000 calls in just the first two days after the storm.

The carpenter/handyman who had done beautiful work for us during the last fifteen years volunteered to take care of our problem, and we were relieved to know that all was in good hands. Huge mistake!

the mess left by our handyman

I don't know why this man thought he could fix our water issue. His carpentry is amazing, but he had absolutely no clue what he was doing in the yard! He abandoned his plan after the first morning. From then on, each failed idea only increased the mess. After three days we had to fire him. I think he was just as relieved to be gone as we were to have him gone. He'd laid a rubber sheet down, and that kept most of new rainwater at bay. Since both units were still getting a bit of water with each new rainfall, I picked up an extra shop vac for the neighbor. We could survive until the right contractor was found.

Sometimes I think our daughter knows everyone in town. She recommended a very reliable landscaper whose sister had been her student teacher several years ago. He couldn't get to us for three weeks, but roofing and siding crews were scheduled to begin work, so it was better to wait for them to finish.

What a difference!

It took from early May to the beginning of August, but our house and yard have a brand new look. All's well that ends well.

Do come on over and join me for coffee on my front porch. 

I'm definitely ready to focus on something else!

Sewing room, here I come!!

A Week Saved by an Email

I keep waiting for this summer to end. I would love to keep the sunshine and warmth, but if leaving summer means leaving the craziness behind, I'm all for calling up autumn.

Progress is slow, but there finally is progress on the work being done in my yard and on my house. Rain has interfered with putting up the siding, and that has, in turn, delayed planting a new flower bed.

We don't need workers carrying siding up and down ladders in the middle of new plantings. So, siding and a dumpster sit in my driveway waiting for sunny weather.

In the middle of all of this I came down with an intestinal virus. It's been years since I had this kind of flu, and I'd forgotten how it can really knock the wind out a body. My new mug rug isn't making much faster progress than anything else.


It's always surprising, but when you are feeling stressed, a kind word out of the blue often comes along and gives your spirit a boost. I received this email from a customer a few days ago. It couldn't have come at a better time. 

"Good evening, Ms. klee2strings:

"I wanted to let you know that I purchased a few of your patterns a few weeks ago, and I was able to make one of the items today (rooster from Sun's Up). Your directions were very  easy to follow - I am a beginner and I had no problems. I decided to turn the mug rug into a placemat with a pocket, see attached photo, and it worked out great. I now know to make the pocket longer next time, things you learn along the way (by making mistakes). Anyway, I wanted to thank you for continuing to teach in your years of retirement - it is evident that you were a teacher, as your directions are clear and your handwriting is neat!  I look forward to making the hen and the other patterns I purchased from you  (Calico Cats, Stitching Stuff, and Tooth Fairy Mug). My mother-in-law is an avid quilter so I am looking forward to making the Stitching Stuff mug rug for her.

"Again, thank you for being a teacher (then and now) and making beautiful projects."
 

Though I do love quilting, when it comes to professions, teaching has always been my first love. It was wonderful to have this assurance that after nine years of retirement, I can still help people learn. Kind words can make a world of difference.

I hope to finish the newest mug rug next week. Fingers crossed!

Happy August, everyone!

Ambushed by Tricky Autumn Batiks

Some designs are intentionally planned for a specific purpose, some suddenly appear out of nowhere, and still others are inspired by pure chance.

I was looking for the perfect little piece of green fabric to use in a new mug rug design. The "just right" piece wasn't with my regular green prints, so I went to my drawer of batiks. I hadn't looked at that group in several weeks, and I was suddenly immersed in the lush colors of autumn.  Golds, oranges, browns, plus multiple greens and deep reds screamed "autumn leaves". The fabrics begged to be stitched into something lovely for fall. Ideas swirled around my head in a visual autumn dance.

Ambushed and trapped by own own fabric stash!

The mug rug was forgotten as I plunged into a project for autumn. That was about three weeks ago. I took my time with this one. I love the single block and it's versatility, so I fiddled with placement and changed my mind several times. When it was finished I had two projects rather than just one. One table runner and one square table topper are finished and ready for fall.

I love these batiks!

I made two completely different designs by rearranging the placement of the blocks, but I can envision full lap quilts and bed quilts, too.

The complete block, 8" x 8".

Square Table Topper.

Table Runner

Now, I'll get back to that mug rug! 

Wishing you a super last week of July!