Reading 1820 Blogs Daily!


February 3, 2025
A Bit of This and That from Life In Pieces

I wasn't ready for it to be February already.  We've already had a full weekend in this short month, so now it's almost over.  Well maybe not really, but it certainly feels that way.  It will certainly go fast that's for sure.  

The weather was nice this weekend, so I got out and enjoyed it.  So there wasn't as much time in my sewing room as typical. Still there was progress on a few things.  One of which is my version of Marble Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs).  



There's a lot of purple in this ...

read more
January 27, 2025
Playing Catch Up from Life In Pieces

Winter is wearing out it's welcome as far as I'm concerned. It was miserably cold all weekend.  I'm ready for a warm up and more color than the shades of brown that currently on display outside my window. The temperatures should start to moderate a bit in February and I'm ready. 


Thankfully my border for the first round of the SAHRR was simple and easy, which left me time to play catch up on some of last year's projects this weekend. 




All the "A" blocks for the Marble Mystery (Meadow Mist Designs) are made.  There ...

read more
January 20, 2025
Priority Projects from Life In Pieces

I'm not really ready for it to be Monday, even if it is a holiday.  Of course being retired, it's almost like another day, except I get to hang out with My Guy because he's off work.  I did spend a lot of time in the sewing room this weekend. I finished priority project #1 on Friday, my center block for the SAHRR




I've seen the prompt for the first round posted over at Kathleen McMusing's blog.  My plan is for 3" or  4" borders for each round so her first part of the prompt ...

read more
January 13, 2025
Not Much To Show from Life In Pieces

With the cold I had last week, I didn't spend a lot of time in the sewing room.  Grad Girl and I did have one marathon sewing session Thursday evening.  She started some trivets at the retreat and she wanted to finish at least one of them before she went home.  So we cut the batting and backing for one of the mats. Since I've not done any quilting, I really couldn't teach her. So we played with the machine settings while I tried quilting the mat. She provided discussion and support.  Then I showed her how ...

read more
January 6, 2025
The First Design Wall of 2025 from Life In Pieces

The last week has been full of end of year summaries and plans for the new year.  I posted my share of both. Grad Girl and I sewed our selves to exhausted on Saturday, but we both got a lot done.  My big accomplishment was getting the 2024 Guild BOM assembled. I finished the first round of borders just before I headed to bed last night.  





I finished the pieced borders and sashing over the holiday. And finally got the center all sewn together. All that's left is the final two borders. I have the strips cut for each ...

read more
December 16, 2024
The Finial Finish for the Year from Life In Pieces

I missed posting last Monday.  There really wasn't much to post and with Mom here, it was hard to get both the photos and the computer time to put something together.  So at least you know, I usually put my posts together in real time.  

One thing I did find time to do during Mom's visit, was finish the binding for String Lights (Meadow Mist Designs). 





I started this quilt in May of last year. It was part of the blog hop to support Cheryl's book "Just Two Charm Pack Quilts'. I've participated in Cheryl's ...

read more
December 2, 2024
Nothing on the Design Wall from Life In Pieces

Our Thanksgiving holiday ended yesterday morning about 9:30 AM when we hit the road to drive home.  It wasn't too bad till we had to exit 35W to 35 just north of Dallas. It was stop and go traffic a significant part the drive from Dallas to OKC.  What normally takes us about 8 hours to navigate took 11.  Other than the drive back, we had a wonderful holiday with Grad Girl.  We did small business Friday and shopped in Brenham for stocking stuffers.  Than on Saturday we went to The Texas Renaissance Festival.  




Something different for us ...

read more
November 25, 2024
Another Off the Design Wall from Life In Pieces

I'm slowly recovering from our yard work marathon on Saturday.  Thankfully my back and knees held up pretty well, it was the rest of me that hurt afterwards.  Even My Guy was feeling it on Sunday.  We definitely aren't as young as we used to be.  

Even with the Saturday yard work excursion, I had a good week in the sewing room, Squared Away is sashed and bordered. 




I'm pretty happy with how it came together.  This is upside down from how I've had it on the design wall during assembly, but it looks good from ...

read more
November 18, 2024
The Last Project on the Quilt Plan from Life In Pieces

It's been a pretty good year in the sewing room. All the stitching time has allowed me to make some progress on every project that was on my stitching plan (and a couple that weren't).  The focus on progress has meant I've gotten 5 finishes so far this year, but I'm set up for even more next year.  

The last project on the plan is Squared Away. This project was the 2018 Rainbow Scrap Project quilt along.  I finished all the blocks in 2018, but then they sat waiting for inspiration on how to set them ...

read more
November 11, 2024
Ten Years in the Making from Life In Pieces

This time of year it seems the weeks just speed by.  We'll hit mid November by the weekend. I'm really not ready for the end of the year, which will be here before we know it.  So it's probably best to concentrate on the now and look at what's getting done.  


Chocolate Marshmallows (Seabreeze Quilts) became an assembled quilt top last Wednesday. 



The blocks were started in 2014. It only took me 10 years to figure out how to set them!  I'm happy with how it came together and now it goes into the "to ...

read more
November 4, 2024
A Bit of This and That from Life In Pieces

Have you adjusted to time change yet?  It's nice to have the sunlight in the morning, but it's not fun for it to be dark by the time My Guy gets home at night.  For some reason, it's harder for me to go back to the sewing room after dinner once the sun is down.  Not sure what is up with that, but that's been the case for a while.  I'll have to get myself going to the sewing room earlier in the afternoon for the next few months.    

Most of my focus this week ...

read more
October 28, 2024
Following the Quilt Plan from Life In Pieces

The 2 year anniversary of my retirement was last Friday.  Has it really been that long?  I've enjoyed most of it, I've had some health challenges over that time that made me very glad I wasn't working.  But some days I do miss the fun technical stuff from the job, but most definitely don't miss the politics.  Looking back, last year really was about getting my back issues under control and just figuring out how to navigate not going to an outside job every day. This year has really been about navigating my sewing room.  I ...

read more
October 23, 2024
Our Girl's Weekend from Life In Pieces

My sister and I left Oklahoma for Texas on Thursday and got back home Monday night.  That left us Friday, Saturday and Sunday for lots of crafty stuff.  I found a great rental to use for our retreat.  



 

The dining room table was big enough for 3 sewing machines. Just mine and my sister's are set up in the photo.  We were able to use the center island for cutting and pressing.  It was a very user friendly set up.  

Grad Girl had stuff going on for most of Friday, so she wasn't able to take off as ...

read more
October 14, 2024
Last Dance with Diatom from Life In Pieces

We celebrated my mom's and My Guy's birthdays yesterday.  Mom's birthday was this last week and My Guy's was earlier this month.  My mom is big on celebrating birthday's and realized that she'd never done anything special for My Guy on his.  So this year she wanted to be sure we celebrated both.  We had a fun time, but it's the 4th weekend in a row that we've not been home. 


Even though we've been gone a lot, I put the last stitches in the binding for Diatom the day after ...

read more
October 7, 2024
Finish Five from Life In Pieces

My Guy had lots of vacation time, so he took off last week and we headed to Eureka Springs, AR.  We had much bigger plans for vacation this year, but then a family wedding and a potential refinery project hijacked the dates we had planned to go.  We've been to Eureka Springs several times. We did a lot of shopping, hiking, and eating out.  I took two quilts to bind and finished one of them. 




My version of Rhododendron, the Bonnie Hunter 2021 mystery quilt, is finished.  I've named my version Azaleas since I used purple rather than ...

read more
September 30, 2024
Computer Time and a Bit of Hand Stitching from Life In Pieces

Last week's maladies definitely hampered my progress on all things quilty. Some days, 15 minutes was really all I managed to accomplish.  But there was still progress.  Both design walls are completely empty at the moment. Chocolate Marshmallow goes up next. I did work out the final setting in EQ on one of the days I didn't make it to the sewing room. 




  
This may or may not be the final block layout. I need to get the blocks up on the design wall and play a bit before that's a done deal.  Chocolate Marshmallows was started ...

read more
September 23, 2024
A Bit of This and That from Life In Pieces

We had a family wedding to attend last weekend.  We hit the road Thursday afternoon, so there wasn't a lot of time in the sewing room last week.  I did get the binding made and attached to Rhododendron (Bonnie Hunter).  That was my only sewing time over the weekend. With all the activities, I didn't get very far, just one corner turned at this point. 




I should make better progress with this now that we are home. You can really see the quilting Trudy did in the dark purple part of the backing.  It's lovely.  

The wedding ...

read more
September 17, 2024
Changing Design Wall from Life In Pieces

This year has been really good on the progress front. Maybe not as many finishes as I would like, but there has been good progress on multiple fronts.  We are half way through September and I've made good enough progress that I need to rethink my active project list.  Chilhowie (Bonnie Hunter) is a finished quilt top and is off the active list for now. 





The final teal border really calms down all that orange.  Chilhowie is off the design wall and hanging in the closet waiting for it's turn for a backing and quilting.  

read more
September 9, 2024
Nothing New on the Design Wall from Life In Pieces

It was a busy weekend.  We spent some time with the family celebrating my sister's birthday.  So I didn't get much done on the stitching front over the weekend.  Chilhowie (Bonnie Hunter) is still up on the big design wall. 




I finished the pieced border and the narrow orange strip border.  The final teal border is still over at the sewing machine. 



Almost ready to cut the first strips for the last border.  By the end of the week, Chilhowie should be a finished quilt top.  Before I get to that though, I need to prep Diatom for ...

read more
September 2, 2024
Finishing Up and Starting Out from Life In Pieces

Labor Day weekend has been a bit cooler, but it's still been pretty humid.  My Guy took Friday off and we've been out and about a bit.  No big plans for today, we'll probably just chill around the house. It's supposed to be nice today, so maybe an after dinner walk will happen.  

There's been a few good hours spent in the sewing room this holiday weekend.  Most of the progress has been on the 2022 Bonnie Hunter mystery, Chilhowie.




The sashing is all finished and the first pieced border has been started.  I've ...

read more
  • monday design wall
  • Page 2 of 12 ( 226 posts )