Prepping for surgery

Well, though the MRI was inconclusive, there appears to be a small tear in my knee and I am having surgery in a few weeks. So I am prepping lots of appliqué for some post op stitching. Here is how "Birdsong" is looking so far. A few blocks are sewn and the rest are glued up ready for stitching. I am hoping to get all of these prepped before May 17. It is a relatively simple outpatient procedure and hopefully recovery will only be a few weeks but it will good to be prepared!

A Bit of Bragging

Last night I stopped by JoAnn's to see if I could find the most recent edition of Quiltmania (not there yet ) and thumbed through a few other quilting and sewing magazines. My son is a contributing editor for Stitch magazine and I love seeing if I can spot his designs before even looking for the designers name. I also saw the new copy of Modern Patchwork and thought I would check it out and voila there was a quilt he had made and I had quilted with him. He came for a visit from California the week after I got my longarm machine as we both were under a learning curve while quilting this one! I did buy the magazine and it is filled with some great modern quilts and small items including a mid century modern table runner that my son did. His article on Contemporary machine quilting with retro designs even made the cover.

He has a pattern company called Feed Dog Designs and has other exciting things in the works. I am a proud momma and I think that deserves a bit of bragging!

Playing with wool

So I have been sewing these bird blocks and love how they look in my great room. I tosses one on the couch to get an idea of how the colors work in the room and loved how it worked there so today I whipped up this little pillow. The pattern is adapted from the Birdsong quilt by Blackbird designs but I decided it would be fun to use some wools for some of the appliqué. The background is the same home decor weight fabric that I used in my Union Jack pillow and the reds and greens are the wools. I didn't have any of the right color teal wool so just needle turned some quilters cotton instead. It was fun to play with wool today and even more fun to have a finish.

Another Bird block and a starry start

Well much has happened since my last post but I'll start with the quilty bits. I am still working away on the bird blocks for Birdsong. Since most of the finished ones look pretty similar I am just posting one to give you an idea of the color direction. Half the blocks will have black birds and the other half will have teal birds. The flowers and berries will be shades of red and pink and of course there are lots of green leaves. Nice easy appliqué witch is certainly appreciated right now.

And I have started piecing these little 4 1/2 stars that will be used in a long range project. I have had the pattern for Phebe by Di Ford for a few years now and have been collecting fabrics ever since. Though I have not begun the appliqué, I thought I might get a jump on piecing the little stars. They are meant to be rather scrappy but so far I am not sure about the colors. I think I probably should be starting with the appliqué but I think it will work out as long as I just stick with all the fabric I have pulled. I do find it much easier to work in a very controlled color palette but I want this to look a bit more happenstance to we will see where this takes me.

I hesitate to give any more house updates cause things change daily but here is how things stand right now. Our first buyer had to pull out after finding out his job was at risk, the house was put back on the market and we got an offer the first day. We are under contract again and just waiting to see how this one goes. And in an unfortunate turn of events, my knee went out on Thursday and I ended up in the emergency room and unable to straighten my leg or bear weight. That evening I was improved enough to brace the knee and hobble around so tomorrow I head to the doctor for a possible MRI. Kinda hard to do much, but at least I can still hand sew!

A quick update

Since I haven't posted in a bit, I thought I would just give another peek of the surprise project that I am working on. I am pretty sure the recipient never reads my blog, but just in case I don't want to reveal too many details. It is great fun designing and stitching these little 6 inch blocks. Sorta makes me want to start a project of small blacks for myself. :)

Thanks to everyone who has sent me good wishes for the sale of my house. The current situation is that our closing is scheduled for Monday, April 22 and that everything is ready to go. I have learned that celebrations are not in order until the final check has cleared but we are guardedly optimistic.

Update: just found out that our buyer was told today that his job was probably being eliminated in a few weeks and that this deal is over. Relisting tomorrow. And while I hate to ask, please pray for us to have a quick simple sale. My stress level is overwhelming!

Feeling a bit under the weather today, with a cold, so I think a little had stitching is in order. Or maybe some new machine project. Hmm, so many choices. :)

Birdsong

That is the name of my next start from the book "In the Meadow" by Blackbird Designs. I am not completely unpacked but I just really need to get back to sewing and this project is perfect. I had all the fabrics pulled together in one box and the pieces are large and simple to sew, perfect while our house stress continues. Looks like the deal for the sale of our house may fall through, through no fault of ours, so we may be back to the beginning. Thank goodness for the calming effects of hand stitching.