Sewing Again

Happy to say that I am sewing again!  I'm trying to sew at least 30 minutes a day in 15-minute increments. Mostly stuff that can evolve into a table mat or placemat.  

I'm using my Janome 790 Jem with push-button control on the slowest speed -- about one stitch per second -- but at least it's getting the job done!  

This quilt was on my design wall on July 1, 2025, the day my legs gave way twice and I went to the hospital for the first time.  The pattern is Sunny Day by Moda.  I used the Cheddar Blues fat quarter collection from Connecting Threads.  

The background is a creamy white with tiny blue and orange dotty motifs.  I had started the pieced borders from the leftover prints but did not get them on until recently.  There will be a final wide border of the background fabric when it's done.  A nice throw size.  

The Tale of the Traveling Textiles

I was recently contacted by a friend from our old church in Nashville.  Knowing I was a quilter, she wondered if I would be interested in another church member's stash as she was downsizing.  Of course!

Frankly, the LAST thing I need is more fabric! And the Devo group I sew with had just received a similar de-stash collection that took up all their available storage space.  So I found another group that was interested.  And since they would be retreating close to me soon, I agreed to pick up the fabric when I went to Hermitage for an MRI a few days later.

Four boxes travelled the 15+ miles from South Nashville to Hermitage, a suburb on the east side of Nashville.  Four 20" x 20" x 20" boxes!  Crammed into my accessible van, they travelled the 110 miles back to the Glade. Since it would be several days before I could deliver them to the retreaters, I took the opportunity to open the boxes -- had to make sure it was quality stuff 😁.

Oh my!  Four boxes of fat quarters and pre-cuts -- layer cakes, charm packs, and right triangles.  Have you ever seen pre-cut triangles?

Three packs, all from Moda's American Jane line.  Since cutting is difficult for me, I took advantage of the convenience and stitched all of them together into squares.  I'm still thinking about how I will use them.

I did start a small top with the checked triangles.

I will add a wide red border to make a doll quilt for the great-granddaughter.

The boxes travelled another 25 miles to the retreaters who still had 125 miles to take them home west of Nashville.  In retrospect, I should have just given the church friend a contact name ...

SAHRR26

The Stay at Home Round Robin 2026, led by Quilting Gail (quiltinggail.com) launched yesterday with the first prompt being the center square.  In the past I have used an orphan block as my starting point so I checked to see if there were any prospects in my UFO boxes and I came up with two possibilities.

My first choice was this block that I made as a sample for a class I considered teaching at the guild I belonged to before 2018.  It was from a series in a magazine, I think McCall's Quilting.

I still have some of the fabrics I used in the block and I pulled some coordinating fabrics to go with it.

My second choice looks like it might have started as a round robin. 

If I use it as the "center block," it's already 22" square so it could potentially evolve into a throw-size quilt.  

I think I will wait until the next prompt before I make a decision.  At this point I am favoring the smaller option since I'm not sure if I have the stamina to work at the larger scale.  But, having a week between clues, I can pace myself.  The first step will be setting up a cutting station on the main floor since I can't go to the basement.  

I'm Baaaack!

Happy New Year Y'all

View of the lake (and golf course) from the kitchen table  

A lot has happened since my last post on May 17 and my life has taken a turn.  My legs started getting weaker at the end of last year and this year I had a number of falls -- really more like collapses -- one in the tight confines of a narrow toilet stall in the ladies room at a posh country club in Orlando!  Combined with the two surgical procedures on my spinal column, my brain no longer communicates with my feet.  In the words of my neurologist, I'm paraplegic.

Thanks to my sweet husband, I'm able to get around with a motorized wheelchair.

Needless to say, machine sewing with a foot control is not possible.  Even though my workhorse Baby Lock has a knee control, I can't control my knee, either.   But my Janome has a push-button control so we have set it up on my SewEzi table and, by golly, my wheels fit under the table!  My first project on the new setup will be a doll quilt for the great-GD's birthday.  

Stay tuned!

Quick Update

Thanks for all the well wishes!  Spine surgery on 4/29 went well but hospital had no rehab rooms available  so had to transfer to another nearby hospital.  Complications developed in other areas that will require attention of a specialist.  Just now home for outpatient physical therapy.  I will remain offline; just wanted to bring you up-to-date.

Lib

Going Offline

 Just a note to my faithful followers ...

I will be having a neurosurgical procedure next week.  With trips to Nashville for pre-op testing and just putting up with the unknowns, I haven't touched the sewing machine in a couple of weeks or even thought about blogging.  It's scary to think about and I don't know how long the recovery will take.  So I'll be taking a break for a while.  

Slow Progress

But progress is progress!

While I can only spend a short time each day at the sewing machine, I have been making progress on my project with the Cheddar Blues FQ bundle.  I tried a new technique (for me).  As I finished the blocks I put them randomly on the design wall. This is my first effort at a final layout.

This wall is next to my side of the bed, so every night I would look at it and think about what the final arrangement would be.  Since I'm not able to stand at the wall for any length of time I took a photo and printed it.  Then I cut it apart and rearranged the printed blocks on my very scruffy cutting mat.

I made a couple more adjustments before assembly began.  I want to have this one wrapped up before I have back surgery (yet to be scheduled).  Needless to say, once that happens I won't be sewing for a while!

* * * * *

I hope all my readers have avoided the recent riotous weather that's been rolling across the US.  Both my boys' families, one in central Arkansas and the other near Nashville, were under tornado warnings but have been spared, thankfully.  The Arkansas house is almost surrounded by water but still dry. Those of us on the Plateau (halfway between Nashville and Knoxville) have missed the really bad weather, though we have had some periods of high winds and the lake level is up from the rain.

Spring has definitely sprung but you'd think from the temps it is mid-summer!  By Tuesday, though, we'll have frost warnings again.  Talk about weather whiplash!  It's hard to know what to wear...