Crocheted Tote Bags

 Last year I saw a pattern for a crocheted tote bag that was made from the bits and pieces left over from other projects.   I have found crocheting and knitting to be a very peaceful activity, one that I can do alone or with others.   It keeps my hands busy while my mind is free to watch a movie on TV or think about just about anything that's on my mind.  

I've made a bunch.  A bunch!   I keep buying yarn on sale at thrift stores and Austin Creative Recycle and garage sales.   The variety of colors is fun.  I love adding a few feet of yellow to a basically blue bag.   Or shots of orange to a brown one.

My first giveaways were to some of my retreat friends - I brought in four bags to a retreat and they were all claimed. 

  

I gave bags to the two ladies who run the retreat center. 

 (The cat there really loves it!)  

The next month, I brought two bags to another retreat and gave one to the friend who couldn't attend but is a part of the group.

At Christmas, I gave bags to another two great nieces.

Now I'm making another batch to my other retreat friends.   My yarn stash is four times the size of the one I started with, but I've had a lot of pleasure in this endeavor.

Reading to the Twins

 Phoenix, Skye, and their grandmother Diane came to visit on Monday.   By the time the day was over, two of us were exhausted.   But we had a good time getting to know these sweet babies better.   

I'm happy that it was a pretty, warm day and we could spend lots of time outside.

The table is one that Diane and I ate at as children.

 

Linus Challange

My small guild in my small town is a strong supporter of the Linus Connection, which furnishes quilts to local children in hospitals, shelters, and other situations where a quilt could be comforting. This Spring we were gifted withsome lovely new fabric in one-yard pieces. Kits were made up of three pieces anddistributed to members. The challange was to make a quilt with all three, addingin whatever was needed. The quilts will be shown in late May and members willvote on their favorite. This picture is of me showing my entry off to a defferent group of quilter friends. (I am currently a member of three local guilds.)

Stockpiling

 I've noticed that my piecing skills are not improving.   In fact, they are getting worse.  

Some of this is because of my machine problems - my main machine has been out of commission for many months now.  Some is because of eyesight.   Some is due to plain old carelessness.

At any rate, I've decided to concentrate on making graduation quilts for my great-grandchildren and my sisters grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  As they're done, I will label them and stockpile them in my sewing room closet.

The photo shows one of the two tops that I finished for the T. twins, who are now in their early teens.  The tops are at the long-armers now.

The picture was taken at one of the Pebbles group meetings which we hold out in the park due to the pandemic and social distancing requirements.   We use one of the outdoor pavilions and enjoy the fresh air and sunshine as well as each other's company. 

Linus Quilts

My local quilt guild donates to the Linus Connection.   

We make quilts for infants, children and teens.

This month there were kits for our Virtual Sew-In.   My friend picked up a kit for me and, although I didn't make it during the sew-in, I made the top shortly thereeafter.   The pattern is titles something like Boxed In, and it's very easy.   I was given the squares and the sashing.  A couple of the squares didn't make me smile, so I replaced them with ones from my collection.   

I looked through my yardage and didn't find one that worked well with these lovely subdued prints, so I plan to turn the top in as-is and let another member chose a back.   A number of members have longarms and will make quick work of the final step.  Well, final except for labeling and binding.   But many hands make light work.    

Earlier, a friend gave me a panel and challenged me to do a charity quilt with it.   I used a border technique from the Kathy Scamp book "Panels and Prints", but I cut the strata using my Dear Jane ruler, so the pieces were interchangeable.  It made for a fun and lively border. 

It was an easy project to do at a recent retreat - just the right mix of mindlessness.   And nice to have friend's opinions on color choices and how to resolve the end pieces of the border.  Because of course my panel wasn't exactly the size needed and a little adjustment was needed.

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I also had a Noah's Ark panel that was given to me.  

It was a good size for a baby quilt, so I added a small border.   Then for fun, I cut squares for an Abstract Noah's Ark for the back.

The Blizzard of 21

 Winter came to central Texas with a BANG!   

First snowfall

On last Sunday, Valentine's Day, we hit a low of 12 degrees.    Hasn't been above freezing since.   Got down to a record 7 degrees.   For Central Texas, this is COLD!!!!   It snowed.   It iced.   Brrrrr.

Haven't gotten out of the house in 5 days.   Power went out for about 8 hours, then on for 2, then off for about 30.   Water treatment plant went down, so if you got water through the pipes, you had to boil it.  

What an experience. 

Now, I've been in the snow before.   In Colorado.   In Utah.   On a mountain in Spain.   But the only snow I've seen here before was barely a dusting.       

Now I have an actual snowdrift in my front yard.

After the first day, I noticed that the cold water in my kitchen wouldn't come out.   I deduced that the problem was in my storage closet, where the bare lines to the water softener are.  An online neighbor walked me through heating the lines by tying a heating pad to them.   After an hour, the water flowed.  Then I insulated them with a bed pillow and some toweling and opened the door between the pantry on the other side of that wall and the kitchen.  It's hard for me not to close that door and the kitchen cabinets, but I worked hard at doing so.    

The lever on those pipes will turn off the water to the whole house. 

It should thaw in a couple of days.   Hope my outside faucets didn't freeze and break the pipes.   Only time will tell.    

After several bouts of sleet and snow

I shoveled a path to the garage.
Short, but the first one I ever did in my life.

Sewing Machines

My rendition of LetsMakeArt's Vintage Sewing Machine.   It looks something like my Singer Featherweight and something like my Grandmother Vordenbaum's Minnesota.

Spring is on the way

It's early February, but my narcissus are blooming. 

These were passalongs from my sister, who probably got them from my mother long ago.   

I'd love to bring some inside but I find their fragrance overwhelming after a short time. 

Living Room after Christmas

 I took down the Christmas stuff a while back and the living room was pretty blah.   I had some pictures up that were nice but not really "me".

A couple of weeks ago I loaned my Monarch wall hanging to my daughter for a stage she did that will be featured on HGTV some day.   When I got it back, I decided it needs to go up for a while.

It's just up there with pushpins and maybe I'll get around to hanging it properly.   And then again, maybe I won't.

The coffee table and rug came from my daughter's business.  The couch and love seat are old but I love them.   My TV stand was a gift from a neighbor on the Buy Nothing group of Facebook.   Dinosaurs are plastic, painted with acrylics.  Snake plant is real, not plastic.  

Contemporary Wedding Ring

 My granddaughter is getting married in February.    Kind of short notice, but they've decided that life is too uncertan these days to wait.   They will be having a smaill wedding, in part because of the COVID pandemic and in part because her mom offered them money for a down payment on a house if they skipped the big wedding.   I can accept that!   But I've decided not to make the trip and take the chance of getting sick.

I'm working on a small quilt for them as a present.  It will be made in the same colors as my Vanilla quilt and will be interlocking links.    It's making has had some ups and downs but it's looking pretty good.   

This picture shows two of the blocks that were pieced incorrectly and had to be picked out, resewn, and replaced using hand sewing/applique.  

String Quilt inspired by Fandango

The Iowa  Quilt Museum has just opened an exhibit of string quilts that make my heart sing.  

I had started a collection of blocks which looked more or less like those in Fandango, a quilt made by Karen Griska.  I didn't have instructions;  I just did my own thing.   

Since then, I found that the quilt was featured in the Jan/Feb 2010 edition of Quiltmaker magazine.  But since I had already started, I just continued on.     My blocks have wider strips than hers, but I'm OK with that.

Karen also offers her pattern on her website:  http://karengriskaquilts.blogspot.com/2014/11/new-fandango-quilt-pattern.html

Recently I got the blocks out and decided to make more so that I could have a bigger quilt made.   The blocks are fun to make.   So non-precise!   Love it.   My main machine, my Bernina, is in the shop but I can easily make these with my 1937 Singer Featherweight.

Don't know exactly how big this will turn out to be.   Someday I"ll just know that it's "done".   And then I'll quit making blocks and proceed with making a quilt.