Another Red White and Blue

 

I finished this one the end of July, just haven't found the energy to post about it before now.

 

I've made this design several times  before. Mary Johnson is so generous to share her patterns and directions, including those that use the Accuquilt fabric cutter dies. This one is very easy and makes a striking, I think, patriotic quilt. It will be going to the USO Lounge at our local airport.

 

I would call it controlled chaos out there, but obviously it is not very well controlled! I'm just thrilled we've been able to keep alive as much as we have. It has been very hot and dry here, but that is nothing new. Still not fun, but thank God for air conditioning!

 

We have three of these little bird baths at strategic locations in the back yard. The birds need all the help they can get. 

 

I hope your weather is not unbearable and that all is well in your corner of the world!

 

Hugs and kisses,

Elaine

 

Batik Tumblers and Chocolate Covered Cherries

 

I purchased the Accuquilt Go 4 inch tumbler die a while back. What a fun die it is! I had a larger and a smaller tumbler die, but like Goldilocks, this one is just right! It was so much fun putting this little quilt together. Perhaps you might be able to guess that Mr. Muddling has already claimed it for his own.  

 

Remember in my last post I showed the pattern I planned to use for the Kim Diehl fabric, Chocolate Covered Cherries? I decided to add sashing and a small friendship star between each block. I am pleased with how it finished.

 

 

 Here's a better look at the finished product. I really like it. This one is for a special friend and will be headed her way next week.

 

Like a lot of you, we've had brutally high temperatures lately. Houston is always hot in the Summer, but this year seems even worse. Maybe it's me. Anyway, I'm not doing a lot outside in the daytime. However, at night, it cools down a little and I love to look at that night sky. We've had some pretty clouds and the moon is wonderful. We even got a little rain on Wednesday! Glorious rain!

 

I hope all is well in your part of the world and that there are things that are making your truly happy! God is still good, and I am so thankful for that!

 

Hugs and kisses,

Elaine 

 

Happy Easter!

I wish you a very Happy Easter! I recently finished quilting this Lion and the Lamb panel.  We are loving seeing it hanging in the hallway. It seems to say so many things about The Lion of the Tribe of Judah, who is also the Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world.

In much lighter news, I've been playing again, this time with decoupage. These are a few of my finished projects. It's fun, and I guess it keeps me out of trouble! There are Facebook groups aplenty and lots of tutorials on YouTube as well if you're interested..

This is a little "slice and dice" project I'm making for a friend of our sons. More about it later.

A block I made with a new GO! die, Goose Tracks. I like it! I'm sure there will be more of these showing up around here in the near future.

I hope you have a wonderful Easter, and that you celebrate the life you've been given!

Hugs and kisses,

Elaine. 

Glorious Clamshells

I have had such fun playing with these fabrics. Apparently my tastes have changed because I am really enjoying these reproduction fabrics. 

And here is my clamshelll  quilt all finished. I love it so much.

Obviously I did not take it out of the dryer quickly enough. It looks a bit wrinkled, but it is still so soft and comforting. The quilt was made using the Go! clamshell die, and I have to say, it could not have been easier. Everything went together so easily. It really does help when the pieces are uniform. And the notches help in getting them together correctly!

I have an unexpected little morning glory out in Ruthie's garden. What a happy surprise! Another surprise was the yellow toadstool I found growing in one of the pots on the patio today. What a bright yellow! At the upper right you will notice that the turnip green seeds I planted right before the rains began to fall have already sprung up and started growing! Now if I can just keep the chickens out of there!

My darling Buddy had a trip to the vet yesterday. He had a little fatty tumor on his leg. Unfortunately the doctor did not like the way it looked when he removed it. We are waiting for results from the biopsy. He has had such a hard time and is the sweetest big old baby in the world. I am believing there will be no bad news.

I hope all is well in your part of the world, and that you have lots of happy things going on!

Hugs and kisses,

Elaine

I Seem to be a Little Scattered

This is the design wall directly behind my sewing machine. This is what I see while I'm sewing. As you can see, I have jumped all over the place with my sewing lately.

This is how it looked a few days ago. I had seen that picture of the maple leaf on Pinterest. I know. Big mistake to linger there at all. Anyway, I figured out a pattern to make the block. So far I've made ten of them. They take forever. For me, anyway. My brilliant idea , which you can see on that design wall, was to make another block to put between the maple leaf blocks. 

So far, I've made twenty-one of these 49 patch blocks. They take forever, too. At least for me. Then I notice that these blocks are not the same size. Actually I noticed it several days ago, but I kept on making them. While I make up my mind what to do. There is a reason my blog is named "Muddling Through". That is what I do just a whole lot of the time. I muddle. Usually it turns out pretty well if I keep at it. We'll see what happens with this one. At any rate, it has kept me occupied here at home, and mostly out of trouble. Of course, there has been more fabric purchased online. Have I mentioned lately that I have the best husband in the world? He never complains about me buying fabric. I am truly blessed! 

In other news, it is HOT here, but that is nothing new either. Houston in the Summer is always hot, and it seems to be Summer here for at least three quarters of the year. 

The baby chicks are not babies any more, and they are getting along just fine with the big girls. And they are all hilarious! I love watching them. There is always something new to laugh about with them.

We've bought some really good peaches lately,, more than we could eat, so I've been drying some of the excess. I can see some fried pies in our future. After it cools off some, of course.

Today, I decided I would cut something new to play with, and I noticed the clamshell GO! die. I have no idea how many I've cut so far, but I've put these up on the other design wall, and I'm liking the look a lot! I did sew three of them together, just to see how hard it would be. It's not. So far, anyway.

With all the bad things going on these days, and there are plenty, there is still so much for which to be thankful. We are so blessed as a nation, and there is still so much that is right about our country, even though there are things that are not. Perhaps the very best thing we can do in these times is to talk to God about it instead of complaining. I am talking to myself here, I hope you know! And I am trying to do better.

I hope all is well with each and every one of you, that  your family is healthy and happy.  Because I love you!

Hugs and kisses,

Elaine

Rail Fence Baby Quilt

Another niece had a baby - a girl this time. Her colors are pink, purple and teal. This is the result, a rail fence with some Go! Cutter die cut animals appliqued on with multicolor thread. It IS colorful, isn't it!

 

The back is this sweet vintage look print surrounded by pink, which is also the binding fabric.

 

Here's a close up of the backing print. The required colors are all there, and it is sweet, too! Haven't heard yet, but we hope they like it.

 

Since we had no real freezing weather here this year, our Spring started off with a bang! I am loving every bit of it. That's Dinah there in the top row. She looks a little ominous, doesn't she? And it amazes me that our little Meyer lemon tree is loaded with flowers and still has lemons on it from last year! And the little greenhouse is coming in very useful. I have started lots of seeds.

 

Our daughter Mary graduated today from welders' dive school. So incredibly proud of her. Mr. Muddling was there in Charleston to see it happen!  Our son is keeping a close eye on me while Dad is gone.

 

I think we may get our garden planted soon. I am already looking forward to fresh veggies.

 

Now I am back to working on the third Sew Many Strips, a Quilt Along from American Patchwork and Quilting. Can you tell that I really like this pattern? This one will be going to our daughter Mary - the underwater welder -  whenever I finish it.

 

I do hope there are exciting and challenging things (in a good way) going on in your world!

 

Hugs and kisses,

Elaine

 

 

 

 

Busy busy busy

I have another quilt ready for the USO Lounge at our local airport. I really like it. It's made of three inch strips, and I used the Go!Cutter to die cut the stars. Mr. Muddling has stepped up to take Miss Ru's post of Design Consultant, and I used his suggestion for the placement of the stars.

 

Free Patriotic Quilt from Make All Things New is the pattern I used. Really fast and easy. Thank you!

 

Since I had some backing left on the quilt frame, I also quilted this little wall hanging and hung it on the hanger I bought recently from Connecting Threads. I love cardinals!

 

This is chicken posole we had for lunch yesterday. Posole, in case you didn't know,  is Spanish for hominy. It is also a traditional soup from Mexican cuisine. The one most of Mr. Muddling's family eat and  I won't touch is made with beef tripe. This one is much better!

 

And here is Mr. Muddling putting the last touches on my Christmas present with the help of his design consultants. I am hoping I can put pot plants from the yard into this little greenhouse and save them through the cold. We've been closing in the patio every year, but this will be a much better option.

That mass of green to the right of it is my mustard greens. Don't they look happy? We've got cold weather coming in later today. Hoping they survive!

 

I'm still working on my second Sew Many Strips quilt top. This one is going to our son and his darling wife and will be king size. I've added another set of borders to make it the right size. Still have two more sides to get attached and then the quilting. 

 

A little peek at some of what's going on around here. I am enjoying all the pretty while I can! And I have two Christmas cacti blooming and another in bud!!! I love it!

 

Still lots to do before Christmas, but we are so excited that our baby girl is coming home for Christmas with her true love! Having both our children here will make it so much better.

 

I am also so thankful that this year, knee surgeries and eye surgeries are behind me. I feel wonderful and it is so good to be feeling strong and able again. God is good!

 

I hope all is going well for you and this season of joy is invading your heart and your home!

 

Hugs and kisses,

Elaine

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday to Me

No birthday is complete with stash enhancement, and I got a big boost in mine! I always wash fabric before using it, so that was the first step after it arrived. I am fortunate to have clotheslines in the garage to hang things, so no fading outside in the sun.

 

There was also a new red mug added.

 

I totally agree with the sayings on the front and back of this mug!

I am exceptionally blessed in my husband. Mr. Muddling encourages me in all I do, even adding more fabric! Got to love him.

 

I've been playing around with the two inch strips I cut last week from leftover bits and pieces. I found that the Go! Cutter die with the 5 inch long side of the triangle exactly fits those little nine patches to frame them. It's die number 55398, which is a 4 1/2 inch finished quarter square triangle if you're interested. 

 

Nice little stack of them pressed and ready. The fabrics I used for the triangles of both light and dark are from the new acquisitions! Got to put them to work at once.

 

I'm going to make a small table topper of these, and there will still be some left over for "quilt seeds" (thank you for that saying, Wanda!) for another project.

 

I am waiting patiently for my Tin Lizzie to be up and running again. No word yet, but I live in hope!

 

I hope you're having a wonderful time where you are! God is so good to us all.

 

Hugs and kisses,

Elaine

 

 

 

 

Three Finishes

Believe it or not, I finally sewed the binding on this quilt and it is now on our bed! Even with the errors I made it is still one of my favorites.

The name of this quilt is Sew Many Strips by Tara Baisden for an American Patchwork and Quilting quiltalong. It was therapy for me as I got ready for and then recovered from knee replacement surgery.

 

All these 1 1/2 inch strips just make it such a happy quilt.

 

Happy little tumbler quilt ready for the USO Lounge! I still have lots of tumblers that were cut with my Go! Cutter. They are stashed in an ice cream bucket. (Yes, it IS my duty eat lots of ice cream. I need the storage!) I love having projects that are easy to pick up and finish right away sometimes.

 

Technically there is lots of red, white and blue in this quilt. It qualifies as a patriotic quilt in my opinion.

 

This  little rail fence quilt will also be going to the USO Lounge. The blue and white blocks were left over from another quilt and the other strips were already cut to length and ready to sew into blocks. Went together fast! It will be a good children's quilt for them.

 

Although it does look pretty happy on our porch swing!

 

 

Many other things have kept me busy around here.

 I have looked and looked at these cats made from cutter quilts I don't have any cutter quilts and rather than buy one, I just bought the cat! It came from an etsy shop, "farmdownthelane".

I finally got around to taking cuttings from my African violets and repotting some, too.

 

It is terribly hot here, of course - it IS summertime in Houston! It's a very good time to stay inside and sew. And read. Life is good!

 

Hope all is well in your world and that life is good for you, too!

 

Hugs and kisses,

Elaine

 

Staying Busy

Here is the completed quilt happily doing its job on our bed! I do love it. 

I again used Bonnie Hunter's pattern, Narragansett Blues. I used mostly reds, and between each vertical row I added a one inch strip of red. Gives it a totally different look!

I used this sweet fleece as the backing and the batting is Hobbs Tuscany cotton/wool blend My aim was a warm quilt without all the weight. We tried a couple of my other quilts after my knee replacement surgery and I could not stand the weight of either. This one is so much better, and since I have the other knee scheduled for replacement early next month, I'm glad to have it finished!

American Patchwork and Quilting magazine has a quilt in their latest issue (April, 2019) that I like, so I had already decided to give it a shot. Then I noticed there is a quilt along starting today.  The strips are all one and a half inches wide, but fortunately I have the Go! Cutter strip die in that size. Yay! Makes it go so much faster.

Here are the first three blocks. It's going to be a time consuming project, but that's what I need right now. Quilting really does help me to stay sane, and not to think about things I cannot control.

Lots of pretties out in the front and the back yards! The chickens are having a marvelous time whenever they get to roam. Chloe, of course, is not impressed. 

I'm really enjoying our little patio. We've had some nasty, cold and rainy weather, but when the pretty days come along, those are all forgotten. It is joy to have the back door open and enjoy the birds and the chicken songs. Mr. Muddling is sure it's not singing, but I know better!

Isn't it good to have fun? I believe in it! And I hope you're having a lot of fun where you are!

Hugs and Kisses,