2023 in review: a final flimsy before the Annual Reckoning

 Happy New Year, dear readers!

I came across a small group of short batik strips, 2-1/2" wide.  Wanda's  latest project provided inspiration.  I made nine-patches, limiting myself to use only the fabric in that group, not cutting any more.  I found a ziploc bag with 2.5" batik squares, just right for the border.   The gold batik background is neutral but not bland.

It's nice to have a flimsy to add to the tally as I present  the Annual Reckoning. 

The backstory:  I began tracking fabric in and fabric out in 1998.  "In" means acquired -- purchased or received as a gift or taken snatched from the guild giveaway table. "Out" means sewn (ideally), given away, tossed out, or otherwise gotten rid of.  

(The scanner is not working so I took a photo. I'm sure there's a way to insert a spreadsheet into the blog but I don't know how to do that.)

I surprised myself with the annual total.  Only 178 yards gained despite all the purchases.  I splurged with full-price fabric at QuiltCon and the Wisconsin Quilt Expo but I got terrific bargains, especially at estate sales.   I didn't sew all 1014 yards used--I gave away a lot. 

The Flimsy Completion Project tab shows that I finished 51 projects!  Those range from mug rugs to bed quilts.  I have enjoyed the challenge of making wheelchair-sized quilts that are about 36 x 44.  

Here are some of my favorites. 

Parquet.  (That's the name of the background print.)

  Borderlands:  Australian and African prints (with a Stonehenge print for the sashes).

Antipodes, made with Australian prints and batiks. 

45 RPM.  (This was accepted in the Wisconsin Quilt Expo.)

The Beacon, made for our church stewardship campaign. ("MUMC: a beacon of God's grace.")    It's 36" square.

A repurposed tote bag became the center of this wall hanging.  Donated to the ALA scholarship auction.

Shining Light, made with African prints from my friend Ellie's estate.  (Eleanor means "shining light.")  I donated this to the Sabbathday Lake Shaker annual auction.  Ellie live on Sabbathday Lake and volunteered with the Shaker community. 

I'm still considering 2024 plans -- I'll post later this week.

Linking up with Oh Scrap!   Design Wall Monday  Sew and Tell

P.S.  Our New Year's Eve entertainment is watching this classic screwball comedy.   61 years old and still funny!  

Midweek: thank you all, adjustments, Christmas -- and sewing

 

A Christmas Day toast

Thank you all for your kind comments and suggestions.   S's knee is much better and he's getting used to using the walker.  The physical therapist came on Friday and recommended some exercises and a couple of adaptive devices to make navigation easier.  The social worker from the hospital senior care office is coming tomorrow.    

I tested negative for Covid after the five-day quarantine.  That's one test it's good to fail!   S did not come down with it.  (No way could I have masked or kept distance from him.)  

On Christmas Eve day we drove 65 miles to my sister's house and enjoyed a noon meal with her, her husband, her son, DIL, and their daughter.  My nephew is a paramedic and thus the ideal person to help S get in the house (and back out again).  (Even a very open-plan ranch house has barriers.)   The socializing was good for S and good for me.   We were home at 4:00 so I didn't have to drive in the dark.  

We enjoyed our version of a movie marathon (two Saturday, two Sunday, one Monday.) 

I've watched Christmas Story and White Christmas many times but I'm pretty sure this was the first time I'd seen the others in their entirety.  

I noticed the quilt in Holiday Inn. Both Bing and Fred slept under it.  (I think it's a shoo-fly variation.)  

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Sewing centers me in times of stress.  Here's how I'm managing. 

I thought I could be heroic and make table runners for Christmas gifts. Not a good decision to make Dec. 20.  I gave up on that idea.  

I set up the Singer 301, aka Sweetness, in the living room.  The cutting mat is on the dining table and the portable ironing board is on the kitchen counter.  (The green table was a gift from friends when they moved to a new house back in 1991.  It was in their garage where it held paint cans. It's solid oak, painted green some time ago, used as a nightstand at one point. It's been in our laundry room since we moved here.  I'm glad I kept it.)

It's rather like being at a retreat in that I have to plan what projects to work on.   

Living room sewing:  Part 5 of Indigo Way.   I used Deb Tucker's Square 2 ruler.  It's the best way to make square-in-square units. 

Keeping up with Indigo Way is my One Monthly Goal for December.

I turned on a Netflix series to keep S occupied and spent time in the downstairs studio to make hourglass string blocks.  I have a box of 1" strips that I've gradually sewn into long panels, then cut into quarter-square triangles.  Ta-da!  Here's the flimsy.  The blocks are 8.5 unfinished. 48 x 72.  

Linking up with OMG, Midweek Makers   Wednesday Wait Loss

Weekly update: tragedy, triumph, estate sale delights, and Indigo Way

 Look at the upper left of the photo.  That dot is a bald eagle.  He's got his eye on a disabled duck in the lake.   Gulls were doing their part to chase the eagle off.  [Taken after the Friday estate sale.]

I was going to post on Wednesday. I was going to post on Friday.  But things happen.

To make a long story short, I've been figuring out how to adapt the household layout to S's limited mobility and particularly to his advancing dementia.  He wrenched his knee last week so going down to the basement family room/sewing studio is out.  That's where our only TV has been until this week when I bought a second one that is now in the living room.  Points to me that I managed to set it up!  (Boy, TVs are much less expensive these days.)   Right now it's on the coffee table. After all the Christmas things are put away I'll do more rearranging and find a better TV stand.   

Our neighbor helped out by taking S's bed off the frame so the mattress/box spring are on the floor -- 6" lower and easier to get into and out of. (If he falls I cannot lift him.)   However, the 24" bathroom door is too narrow for the walker so there's some gymnastics to get to the toilet and tub.  He is adjusting and I'm adjusting.

I got a sore throat overnight Friday.   I took a Covid test at 3:45 a.m. Yep, I've got it.  I dug out a mask, went to urgent care Saturday morning, and got a prescription for Paxlovid.   As I write this Sunday evening I feel much better though I can't be far from a box of Kleenex.   The five-day quarantine goes through Wednesday. 

But I wasn't sick earlier in the week and went to two estate sales.  The first was part IV of Barb M's fabric stash.  ( Part III is here with links to Parts I and II.)  Proceeds from each sale go to a different charity, this time to St. Jude's.  

Average price:  $1.92/yard.  (Note that I'm not saying how many yards!)

The new guys and the old guy.

The second was conducted by Balderdash, a local estate sale company.  I was at the door early and got what I wanted:  four German nutcrackers, tags still on.  

The large ones were $40 each and the small ones were $30 each.  A great buy!

There was some fabric, too, for $1.00 per piece.  

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The new TV set up means that I have to figure out how to bring some sewing things upstairs.   The living room is cluttered enough. I haven't worked it all out yet.   

Meanwhile, I did get some downstairs sewing accomplished.  (Me to S:  "I will be downstairs for an hour."  Twenty minutes later, S hollers, "Nann, where are you?"  Repeat. Repeat.)   

And repeat, repeat until I finished all the units for Part 4 of Indigo Way.  I keep each part in a Snapware box.  

Linking up with Sew and Tell Oh Scrap!  Design Wall Monday

P.S. The nutcracker collection has outgrown the mantel.

 

Weekly update: Indigo Way and emptying a bag

 

Ornaments are hung along the trail at Lyons Woods.  Once you see one you see another, and another.   (I will pay this wonder forward. I have a box of ornaments (rummage sale purchase) that I'll hang along another trail.)  

The Lake County Women's Coalition steering committee combined business and socializing with a luncheon meeting Saturday.  Plans for the Women's History Month luncheon in March are well underway.  

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I used Deb Tucker's V-block Trimmer to make the second units for Indigo Way.   More accurate than Tri-Recs though it takes a bit to figure out how to flip the ruler and the fabric for subsequent cuts.  (I have several of Deb's rulers and they're all great.)

I used Bonnie Hunter's Essential Triangle ruler to make the cat's cradle units for part 3 of Indigo Way. 

I keep each part in a Snapware box.  (Snapware was a recommendation from Bonnie many years ago.)

I had a ziploc bag with a bunch of 5-patch units left over from a waffle stamps quilt. (I donated the quilt to a fundraiser this fall.)   I added four strips and placed units at the edge, one in from the edge, and in the middle.   The assortment is so random it's hard to find a focal point....not sure what will happen next.

Blocks are 8" unfinished, 7.5" finished.  2" strips.
 

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Our latest dessert is a pie made from an unconventional  ingredient.   

 The cookbook was published in 1999.  One of the authors was an AAUW/P.E.O. friend when I lived in Fargo. (She was on the faculty at Dickinson State.)  

Here's the recipe.   It tastes good!  (Rather like a green tomato pie.)  

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A Mi'kmaq family from Nova Scotia work on a blueberry farm in northeastern Maine every summer.  In 1962 four-year-old Ruthie wanders away from the fields one afternoon and is never seen again.  Forever after the entire family mourns. .  Another tragedy strikes when Charlie, the oldest, is pummeled to death in a senseless brawl.   Ben and Mae deal with the loss of their siblings by hard work.  Joe survives a car wreck and then proceeds to mess up his marriage.  He flees to western Canada, recovers, and returns to Nova Scotia when he is diagnosed with inoperable cancer.  

Meanwhile Norma grows up in a small Maine city with an overprotective mother, an emotionally detached father, and a loving aunt.   As a young child she has wild and disturbing dreams and an imaginary friend named Ruthie.  She often feels she is a misfit and early on figures out that she is adopted, but she can't ask any questions let alone get answers.   She tries marriage but can't achieve trust or intimacy (though her husband is a thoroughly decent man). She has a successful teaching career but always, always returns to take care of her mother. 

Norma's story alternates with Joe's:  lives lived in parallel less than two hundred miles but a world apart.  We know what's going to happen -- but debut novelist Amanda Peters spins out the tale and keeps us turning the pages.

Linking up with  Design Wall Monday  Sew and Tell Oh Scrap!

Friday check in: more celebrating, UFO out-and-in, and two flimsies

 

Tuesday:  I was co-hostess for the Zion Woman's Club  holiday luncheon.  I brought out some of my vintage Christmas tablecloths.

There was lasagna left over for Stevens to enjoy the next day (and more in the freezer).   

The gift card "tree" was actually a picture frame with $300 worth of gift cards.  Judy and Dottie are holding it. Dottie's niece was the winner.  

We chose "festive food" for the gift exchange.  I got a gift certificate to a local bakery cleverly packaged in a holiday mug.

Wednesday:  Northern Lake County Quilters Guild holiday dinner.   The meal was catered by an Italian restaurant in Chicago (family of a guild member)--Italian beef, sausage and peppers, chicken and potatoes, mostaccioli, and all the trimmings.  Guild members brought dessert.  What a feast!  

We were assigned seats  in order that we'd get to meet more people. (The guild has quite a number of new members.   I joined in 1999 making me an old-timer.)   There were six one-yard pieces of batiks on each table.   We played Fold-Snip-Rip-Drop-Pass  :  each person takes a yard, folds it in half, snips, rips it in half, keeps half and passes half. Repeat around the table.  Everyone ends up with six prints in six sizes.  (Now we are challenged to make something for a charity project.)  

Ornaments gotten and given 

There was a non-quilty gift exchange (I got a trio of scented candles) and a quilted ornament exchange (I made a mug rug (an ornament for the table) and got a beautiful embroidered banner).

We were invited to bring UFOs of any age, at any stage. Each person got five raffle tickets and could buy more (6 for $5).  I donated four -- and I won three!  

Top:  die-cut diamonds for a LOT of kaleidoscope blocks (but only eight had the white wings sewn on).  

Left:  instructions for paper-pieced Women of the Bible blocks.  Seven finished blocks (some cropped for the photo collage).  (Karen began these in 2019.) 

Right:  a 2003 project for a set of four placemats.  Two blocks made. 

Will I get around to making any of these?  For the time being I am giving them a good home.

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UFOs have been on my mind ("Can I bear to part with this one?" "Am I giving up too soon?"  [It's been 10 years.] "What if I arranged the blocks this way?"]   The Quiltville mystery is on my mind.  

I came across a ziploc bag with leftovers from Grassy Creek, the 2020 mystery.  

Grassy Creek had rectangular gray string blocks that were supposed to be half uphill and half downhill.  I made all of them the same direction, so I had to make half again as many going the other way -- leaving me with leftovers. At some point I cut those up and pieced them into units with citrus colors.   There were also left over square gray string blocks.

Here's what they became!  (Yes, I had to make more square gray blocks.) 

Both are wheelchair size. 

  Linking up with Finished or Not Friday Peacock Party Can I Get a Whoop Whoop?

P.S.  Sunshine Thursday + 50 degrees provided a good afternoon for a walk. 
 

Weekly update: holiday celebrations, small finishes, and OMG December + reading

 

The social whirl is underway!  

The GFWC-IL District 10 luncheon was on Wednesday.  We played Santa bingo.   I won $41 in the split-the-pot raffle.   

There was a Christmas tree trivia quiz.  The average artificial tree is used for 6 years (and is in the landfill forever).....Christmas trees are grown in all 50 states....Calvin Coolidge began the Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony in 1923.

Friday evening we enjoyed dinner with Rotary friends prior to the Carthage College Christmas Festival

Familiar carols and other old and new songs, with splendid choral and instrumental music.  

Saturday was the AAUW Waukegan Area Branch holiday luncheon at Lamb's Farm.  It's a residential vocational center for adults with disabilities. Their restaurant servers are clients.   Of course we don't just eat -- we raise money!  There's a white elephant/silent auction (AAUW Greatest Needs Fund), a 50/50 cash raffle (local STEM scholarship), and the quilt raffle (Greatest Needs).  

Here are Betsy and me with the winning ticket for the quilt and the **$118** that I won in the cash raffle!  

I made the quilt in June and quilted it in July. (Photo shows front and back.) 

I paid $12, total, for two silent auction items that will be perfect for upcoming holiday gift swaps, and people bought the things I brought so I didn't have to haul them back home. 

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In the studio:   I used HSTs left over from this quilt to make placemats.  The dark blues are a Chicago Bears print.   Nursing home/Meals on Wheels placemats are one of my guild's charity projects. 

OMG for December  I'm going to keep up with the clues for Indigo Way.  Right now I'm 1/3 done with Clue 2.

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"That's the thing about Coopers Chase. You'd imagine it was quiet and sedate...but in truth it's always in motion. And that motion is aging, and death, and love, and grief, and final snatched moments and opportunities grasped. The urgency of old age. There's nothing that makes you feel more alive than the certainty of death," writes Joyce. (348).

#4 in the series is the best yet. The intrepid four from Coopers Chase retirement home -- Elizabeth (former MI6), Ron (union organizer), Ibrahim (still-practicing psychologist), and Joyce (retired nurse) -- enlist the help of long-time friends and new ones to solve the murder of an antiques dealer. It's a pleasantly convoluted caper novel and a delight to read.

I appreciated Osman's descriptions of Elizabeth's husband Stephen who has dementia.  "Stephen was right: our memories are no less real than whatever moment in which we happen to be living." (320)

Osman is a screenwriter and structures the books like a script -- very episodic. He writes that he's going to give the Thursday Murder Club a break (the next book will have different characters) but assures us that they'll be back. Meanwhile, I hope he'll work on a dramatization. (I'm thinking of Eileen Atkins for Elizabeth, Bill Nighy for Ron. Elizabeth McRae (Brokenwood) for Joyce. Not sure for Ibrahim....)

Linking up with Sew and Tell  OMG at Stories from the Sewing Room Design Wall Monday Oh Scrap!