Moving Along

Greetings from Houston in the very hot summertime!

 

 

First of all I'd like to show you this baby quilt. It is made from the generously provided instructions of Mary Johnson. I have learned so much from her over the years, and I really appreciate how she shares with others. I left off the outer borders to give it a more modern look. It is made primarily from half square triangles which I cut with my Studio Cutter.

 

This one goes to our great niece who has a little boy due the end of this month. The green backing is a very soft flannel. These are the colors she wanted and I hear she likes it a lot!

 

 

 

Little glimpses of what is happening at Muddle Manor. Slowly but surely we are getting things repaired and all the mess cleared. It is a big job! In the meantime, there are always pretty things to see and quilts to be made. The one on the lower left is on the quilt frame now, and I should finish it soon. The wooden fence on the east side of the house has been replaced and the chickens are enjoying its shade. Their house is a long way from where we want it, but they can be closed in safely at night and they have the back yard to roam in for now.

 

I haven't shown Buddy lately, but here he is, smiling to say hello! I do love this big ole dog! He is a blessing to me.

 

I hope there are blessings aplenty where you are living! God is still on His throne, and He is still good!

 

Hugs and kisses,

Elaine

 

 

 

News from Muddle Manor

 

First I'd like to show you this fun "potato chip" quilt I finished for the USO. It was so easy and so much fun to make, and I think it turned out to be a quilt the USO Lounge at our local airport will enjoy.

 

This pretty one was made by my friend Sandy for the USO as well. I love the little extra zip she put on the backing!

 

This little cutie is a freebie from Taryn at Reproduction Quilt Lover.

Clicking on her name should take you to the free pattern if you're interested. It was fun. I cannot even pretend that I did a wonderful job, but I like it anyway! 

 

 

And now for the not so fun news. Perhaps you heard about Hurricane Beryl visiting our city on Monday. This is the aftermath in our back yard. The picture in the far right center shows the culprit - our neighbor's huge pine tree fell into our back yard, bringing with it parts of his pecan tree and doing a number on our fence, our chicken yard, and the greenhouse. We don't even have any trees in our back yard, so all that you see is storm damage.  That was Monday. 

We had a wonderful tree crew come in on Tuesday and clear all of that out. Now we just have to do repairs after the adjuster makes his report. We are still without electricity, but so thankful to have a whole house generator. And really thankful that tree didn't fall across our house instead! 

Our friend Sandy's house got a branch through the roof. It was right over their bed and had they still been in it, I do not want to think about. 

Through all this, God had been good. As always. There are many people here still without power. And it is really hot as it always is in Houston in the summertime (and lots of other times as well!)

But, we are a resilient country, I believe. There will always be challenges, but I believe our good God will help us to overcome them.

 

I really hope all is well for you and that you are finding fun things to do!

 

Hugs and love,

Elaine 

 

 

Springtime Happenings

 

I chanced upon these cute little pouches and just had to make a few. And then I began to think of all the people I'd like to give one to, and the number grew.

It is a free pattern called Bit of Kindness Pouch at SewCanShe. I was amazed at all the sweet makes she has available for free.

I had bought this fabric a while back because I saw it in a quilting magazine and just had to have it. I made two baby quilts from it and had about a yard and bits and pieces left, waiting patiently for a project to come along. I ordered the fasteners and key rings recommended at amazon and assorted wool blend felt. The so sweet chocolate you can see in the first photo on the top left was Russel Stover Easter bunnies. I'm pretty sure they are no longer to be found. I spent three very intensive nights making these (and an enormous mess!) and I don't regret a minute of it!

 

Meanwhile, outside here at Muddle Manor, Springtime is really making me happy with all the pretty flowers! I was concerned how many of the amaryllis would bloom. The cold we had was much more intense than anticipated and a goodly number of those plants looked absolutely melted. But, as you can see, they made a complete recovery. Thank God! The roses and the dogwood are really pretty, too.

On the bottom row, left, is a little vignette telling you how I feel about Texas. And in the center is some delicious bacon, scrambled eggs and cranberry orange scones. Yummy! On the bottom right is the greeting of my very good boy Buddy when we returned after being gone far too long (in his opinion) running errands! I do love that big ole dog!

 

I will freely admit that I have a somewhat weird sense of humor, and this calendar page really made me laugh!

 

I have been rearranging (again) some of the storage in the sewing room and ran across some triangles left over from this quilt I made for our niece in 2017. As you can see, I had to play with them. I love leftovers!

I hope there are lots of really good and fun things going on in your part of the world. And if there are not, just create some! Life is still good and God is still good. All the time.

Hugs and kisses,

Elaine

 

Two More for Quilts of Compassion!

This little girl quilt is finished at last.

There's no real reason it wasn't finished before, I just found something else to do in the meantime. You do know how that is, don't you?

The backing is Disney princesses. My friend Phyllis got in some quilting practice on this one. I think she did a great job!

And the same story with this little boy quilt. I just got interested in something else and pushed this one, too, to the back burner.

I do like it, and I hope some little boy will like it, too.

The backing is the story of "The Little Engine that Could". I remember my mother reading this story to us when we were children. I think I can, I think I can. Do you remember that one, too?

This will complete our shipment to Quilts of Compassion for this time around. I am thankful to have them all done before Thanksgiving. Now to clean the house and cook!

I do hope you will have time this week to spend with those you love. I'm thankful to still have that opportunity with at least some of our family!

Hugs and kisses,

We Almost Have a Dining Room Again

I'm beginning to see a faint light at the end of the tunnel. I can almost see the dining room again. We moved the treadle machine over in front of the window, so that will have some good natural light when I'm ready to do a little treadling.  And you can't really see it, but at last my piano is accessible again and I can play! Not that well, but we won't talk about that.

We have created two separate beds in there for the cats. The litter box is under the one to the right. Sorry. But it has to go somewhere and I do not want it in the quilting room. Our cats are both girls and they don't really like each other that much, but they are managing to co-exist. Believe it or not, it took me most of one night to empty that bookcase there on the right, clean everything and put it all back. That tells me for sure that I have been neglecting basic housework for a loooooong time! Maybe I'll do better. Maybe.

These little Scottie dog bookends were made by a second cousin many years ago. He gave them to my grandparents and I ended up with them. Aren't they sweet! The books are some that our girls enjoyed and are some of the few that we still have. These will stay in the quilting room on one of the shelves, just because I like to see them there.

Mr. Muddling put up a curtain rod behind the quilting frame for me to display quilts. This one is Deb's Stars made from blocks given to me by dear Wonky Girl. It seems to me a happy quilt and makes me smile.

My favorite machine - a 1940 Singer 401 is in the case here on top of the red sewing machine table Mr. Muddling rehabbed for me. And yes, there is another quilt in the works here. It's good to have a variety ready to play. Only trouble is, by the time I'm done with cleaning, there's no energy left for playing with fabric. But soon. Soon!

I've been surprised how much trouble there is to get the relatively simple financial affairs of our daughter settled. We talked more than once of giving me a power of attorney for all her affairs, but never did it. Somehow we always thought she would be her usual Energizer Bunny self and get back up and go some more. Bless her heart, she tried.

Time does help, so does hard work and interesting things to do and things that make me happy. Visiting my blogging friends again makes me happy. I have learned so much from you all over the years and I am thankful for these somewhat ephemeral friendships. They are real nonetheless!

Hugs and kisses,

Blue Day

Blue quilt finished.  These triangles were all cut with the Go! cutter using the 6 1/2" die.  That's Ruthie's dog Ariel there in front.

And I did incorporate more of the blocks into the backing. I like it.

I have this block on the design wall.  It's going to go with a bunch of fat quarters already cut for a stack and slash quilt inspired by the wonderful Wanda over at Exuberant Color. (She's always inspiring me to do something!) The print in the middle of this block does not go with the rest of the fat quarters, but all together they just sort of lacked something and I think this oriental print may be the thing.  We'll see.  In the meantime I am putting together some flannel tumbler blocks that have been sitting around here for far too long.

There were some brownies cooked on Monday.

And also some rolls.  This weather makes me want to bake.  Not helping my waistline!

The real blueness of the day comes from Dinah, Ruthie's so sweet and beautiful kitten who has decided that my recliner would be the perfect spot to use as her litter box.  There are has been scrubbing, shop vacuuming, more scrubbing, deodorizing and now there is a fan blowing in at attempt to dry it.  Not happy.  At all.  

I asked the oh, so clever KarenDianne for advice and she recommended a book that helped when her darling cats had a similar problem.  It's ordered. In the meantime, Dinah is spending quality time with Ruthie.

Let's look at the quilt again.  It's a lot more fun.

I am so thankful for my blogging friends. You inspire, uplift, encourage, entertain and educate me!  

Hugs and kisses,

Spring Cleaning in the Sewing Room

What a mess!  My little closet storage area was completely out of hand.  So, out it all came.  Poor Bruno and Lady look like they're not sure what to do about it all.

Everything is now back in its place and maybe I can get some sewing done around here! 

 

Lady is still not sure everything is all right.

 

I saw this on facebook.  I wonder if it would work.......

 

Hope things are cleaner at your place!

 

Hugs and kisses,