Michael Miller BOM 2020

I stumbled onto a BOM from Michael Miller using the Accuquilt cutter and dies.  Delighted to fine this since I was a new beginner using the Accuquilt system of cutting fabric.  Teresa Down Under is also making videos using these instructions and I have found her information to be very helpful. 

Whenever I purchase a new device it takes me a few projects to begin feeling confident in making it a success.  This has been very true using the Accuquilt system.  I had to rethink everything I did in cutting and laying out fabric on the cutter.  Then I wanted to be as conservative as possible with my fabrics as we all know how expensive fabric is today.  There has been a learning curve. 

After I cut out my last project, I put all the scrapes aside.  Gradually I have gone through the scrapes and keeping every piece that can be used for other projects.  I find that I am looking at every scrape and contemplating how it can be used.  Circles are being considered for future projects.  Half square triangles will be used in a scrappy quilt, maybe.  Crumb quilts, my version, will definitely be considered.

https://blog.michaelmillerfabrics.com/ will have information regarding their BOM.

Here are the first five blocks of the BOM.  So glad to be making this quilt and learning so much information using the Accuquilt cutter and dies.

Apartment Living

Almost five years ago I made the decision to sell my house and move into a 55Plus apartment complex in the small town that I live in.  It was a difficult decision as my late husband and I had built our "forever retirement home" with the intentions that we would live there until the end of our lives. Unfortunately, life did not work out as we had planned and he died in 2012 from Alzheimer’s disease.

I stayed in our home for three years after his death and spent those three years trying to maintain a house and yard.  It was hard.  It was very, very hard.  I was not getting any younger and it just became more than I felt like I could physically or mentally continue with the upkeep of all that was involved with maintenance of house and yard.

I knew that I wanted to remain in our small town and the selection of apartments were minimal.  I did not want another house to maintain and certainly no yard.  Fortunately, I was able to get into a fairly new 55Plus apartment complex and I made the move almost five years ago.

It has been an adjustment but I know it was the best decision for me at this time of my life.  No yard work and no maintenance.  Is it perfect?  No, it is not.  There are problems.  Space is one of them.  In my house I had a very large sewing room upstairs in the bonus room.  I was spread out all over that room with more fabrics and sewing machines than any person deserved.  But I did enjoy it while I had it.  Also, I had a beautiful sunroom that was probably my favorite room in the house.  It looked out to my neighbor’s small farm with his cows, goats and horses.  I loved it.  And I had a nice sized garage.

Now I have two bedrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen and bathroom.  My apartment is larger than many two-bedroom apartments and I appreciate every inch I have.  The second bedroom I am using as my sewing room, but it is small.  During this pandemic I have overflowed into the dining room.  My ironing board and iron have been in use so much until I have left it up in the dining room area and the dining room table has been converted to a cutting table and any other use, I needed it for. 

I cut my fabrics on the dining room table.  I start out sewing the quilt blocks in my sewing room.  At some point the blocks are sewn together and the quilt construction outgrows the sewing room and I move to the dining room table.

So, if you ask me about my apartment today, I would tell you I have an apartment for creating and sewing quilts and it has a bed and bath for my personal use.  The apartment has become a quilt haven.

Run Baby Run

Run Baby Run         

There is a story to this quilt.  No, there are two stories to this quilt.

Around 2006 my husband asked me to make him a new quilt for his bed using his high school colors.  His high school colors, black and gold, had no appeal to me as a quilter and I was not very enthusiastic about making a quilt using those colors.    But I loved my husband and he very rarely asked me to make something for him using my quilting skills so I started buying fabrics. 

I decided to use black prints, medium and dark textured golds and cream prints or solids.   I bought fabrics and stored them in my sewing room until I had enough fabrics and had the time to start the quilt.

Then my husband became ill with Alzheimer’s and all sewing was put on hold.  He wanted to be right by my side or have me within his sight until he died in 2012.

The fabric stayed stored until this year.  I pulled out all the fabrics and looked at them for several weeks and then proceeded cutting and sewing.  This is the results.  I love this quilt.  I love the quilt design, the colors and the machine quilting by my friend, Marlin.

He was the youngest in a family of six boys and one sister and his family affectionaly called him “Baby”.  All over town he was known as “Baby Moore”.

When he was carrying the football, running for another touchdown, the football stands would start chanting “Run Baby Run”.  I did not know him at that time but have heard the story from family and friends.

I could think of no other label than Run Baby Run. 

He was a wonderful, kind, loving man who was a great son, brother, uncle, husband and father.  He is truly missed.

Finished May 2019

I finally finished hand quilting this lap sized quilt.  I had so many left over neutrals from various projects over the years and used those.  Also, I had some quilt fabric that was not my favorite but paired with these neutrals it looked better.  Then I added a few brighter fabrics to give it a little shot of brightness.  This is a great quilt for summer as I used 100% cotton batting.  Think I will enjoy this one for many years.

One Down

One of my sewing machines is ill.  It will be going to the repair shop next week and get a much needed and certainly overdue tune up.  I have used this machine for most of the piecing of my quilts and when it started having problems I looked into the inside and saw multi thread clots.  So off she will go next week for a good cleaning and service.

Joy in Athens

I love women’s college basketball.  For the past ten years I have followed most of the teams in the SEC and enjoyed every minute.  Since I am originally from Mississippi I watch MS State and Ole Miss when they are on TV.  And I have also followed UT Vols and UGA Bulldogs on TV and radio.  But have never actually seen an SEC women’s basketball game in person.

Yesterday my two favorite teams were playing in the afternoon in Athens.  My sweet daughter and her husband asked me before Christmas if I would like to go and I said yes, yes, yes.  We went and had a wonderful time and saw the Dawgs beat the Vols. 

Afternoon games work for me and I hope to get back to see more games before this season ends.

Go Dawgs.  Go SEC.

Quilt Backing

I love, love the wide backing fabrics for quilts.  It is so much easier for the layering of the top, batting and backing.  Some of my quilts are machine quilted by a dear friend.  Others are quilted by hand on a quilt frame by a local church group and some are spray basted and I hand quilt them.

With a large quilt I feel that an extra wide backing is almost a necessity.  Now here is my problem.  I live in a small town and wide quilt backing is limited.  The quilt shops close to me (5-10 miles) have a very limited selection and the only other option is the nearest JoAnn's which is 20 miles from me.
Occasionally I will order on line but that has been hit or miss.

I really needed a backing so the church quilters can quilt a quilt for me.  On New Years I went to JoAnn's and finally found one that I think will work.  But it is red, red, red.  It's a pretty red and I do like it but now I am thinking that I had better wash that with color catchers.  Maybe several color catchers.

Please wish me lots of luck washing, drying and folding massive amounts of fabric.

A New Quilt

I love the colors in this quilt.  Some of the fabrics I won in a contest that was held at one of my quilting groups and the other fabrics I pulled from my stash.

The hand quilting was done by my Jefferson quilt group.  Now it has found a place on my bed and brightens up my bedroom.  One down, many to go.  Goal in my life is to use up all the fabrics I have in my stash  Will keep you posted on how that is going???

Whining Time

I do not like being a whiner and I do not like being around people who are whining or complaining most of the time,  But last week and this week have been tough.  Some of the things are just things that happen in life and some could be rather serious.

I spent a week in  Myrtle Beach with my daughter and son in law.  We had so much fun but honestly the food was just terrible to me.  We ate out at lunch in nice restaurants and then ate in for a light supper at night.  The restaurants in Myrtle Beach do not know the words "grilled or baked".  Most everything was "fried" and I do not eat much fried food anymore so a little goes a long way with my digestive system.  We did have several excellent meals, one being on Pawley Island at the Chives and Blossom restaurant.

We came home on Sunday and I was just exhausted and needed rest.  My week started out with mountains of dirty clothes so the washer ran for two days.  Then the ironing had to be done which I finally got caught up on about Thursday.  Tuesday I decided to make bread while washing so many clothes.  I have two bread machines and I always make two loaves when I make bread.  One bread machine had a problem, the dough would not rise and I started smelling something with a burning odor.  After trying twice in that particular bread machine and neither time working I declared it to be broken and it went into the garbage.  Finally, did get one good loaf of bread.

The next day my favorite curling iron of all times died.  Into the garbage it went

The following day my very best friend, who I worked with for 23 years, called to tell me she has been diagnosed with a very bad illness and the future is not going to be the outcome we would want.  I am just heartbroken.  Then she told me of another mutual friend of ours being in the hospital with a heart attack.

While all of this was going on I was having health issues myself.  Went to the doctor Monday and I will be having a Nucleus Stress Test and Echo Cardiogram this week.

I think that is enough whining to last me about five years so I close saying I am just thankful for the time God has allowed me to be on this earth and for the time he will allow me to have until the end.

Blogging, Our Country and Me

Blogging is a mystery at times.  When I started blogging it was fun and interesting for me.  Then I realized that my blog was a place where I could share my love of quilting and display some of my quilts.  Often, I would write about my personal life and what was going on in my family.  Now my blogging is a hit and miss, mostly misses.  My quilting has slowed down as I have slowed down my lifestyle.  My personal life has become more personal and I question how much I am willing to share to others about my life and the life of other family members.  I have withdrawn into a shell because the world has become a scary place and I value my privacy and that of my family.

Other blogs that I have read for years have changed.  Most started out being involved in the quilt world and now they have also moved on to other interest in there lives.  Frankly, I am not interested in how many chickens you have or how often you travel overseas or how many clothes you have purchased for the season. 

Now I want to read about what you have contributed to make our world a better place for all of us.  What have we done to teach others how to survive in this troubling world during troubling and changing times.  How can we change ourselves one at a time to make this country a better place during our stay here?  Let’s face the truth, our country, our world is in a crisis of immorality, evilness and just rotten to the core environment.  But if we recognize that we have serious problems we can help to make changes in small way.

I choose to stand up for what I believe.  I will not force my beliefs on you and I do not want you to try and force your beliefs on me.  I choose right living, goodness, fairness and a deep personal spiritual belief based on love.  Will it make a difference, I do not know but at least I am trying to do something in my own small way and maybe it will help others to do the same.

Happy Birthday #3

Today is my number three child’s 55^th birthday.  Once again I am saying “Where has the time gone”.  It seems it was only yesterday she was a very active toddler giving her mother and daddy many laughs.  Her teen age years and later were years of hell for her and her family.  We never stopped loving her, praying for her and never, never gave up hope.   Then suddenly a light bulb went off.  She changed some things in her life and put herself through college.  Today she works for the state and owns a business on the side.  I can only say “Well done my child”.  Happy Birthday #3.

What I am working On

This is one of the blocks in a scrappy quilt I made and I am enjoying hand quilting the quilt.

The Last One

This is the last of my eight grandchildren to graduate from high school.  This young man has been a joy to watch as he has matured into adulthood.  Bright, fun, and well grounded.  I wish you the very best in life, Jesse, as you continue your education.  Oh, the young lady is very special to Jesse and we consider her family and I also wish her well.   Love both of you.

Another One Finished

I am trying to use up my scraps and this lap sized quilt turned out so cute.  With the help of my Tuesday quilt group we spray basted it together and I hand quilted it.  Lots of fun seeing those scrapes being used up.

For the Monday Quilting Group

This lap quilt was sewn from fabrics given to our Monday Quilt Group by a lady in our community who had given up quilting.  I took some of the fabrics and created this quilt for our group so we could have a back up quilt if we were ever in the position of not having a quilt to quilt.  It turn out sweet.

February Birthday

Yesterday was the birthday of one my daughters-in-law.  She is a wonderful person who came into our family and instantly assumed the job of wife and mother.  She not only married our son but also “married” his three-year-old son who he had custody of.  After about two years of being in our family we loving started calling her Saint B.  They later had two other sons and she was the lone female in a home of four males.  She has loved her husband and sons and been a wonderful wife, mother and daughter-in-law to us.  She is a Saint to us.  Happy Birthday B.  Love and hugs to you.

No Water

We have a problem Resident Manager.  There are water leaks at the apartments on the outside and water is running down the sidewalks and street.  The above picture did not come from our apartment complex.  It is 9:00 at night and here comes our faithful maintenance man with his grandkids in the car to get the water problem under control until morning.  Off with our water until tomorrow.  He did go to the apartments and tell everybody to save some water for the night.  Thank you Mr. B.  You are our caretaker.

23 Degrees and snow

This morning we have snow and cold temps in our small town.  Ice is especially dangerous for us southerners as we do not know how to drive in snow and ice, so we have told by the northern transplants.  But it is beautiful and peaceful.

A perfect day for cutting fabrics for a new quilt.

Flu Season

I am paranoid over this terrible outbreak of flu all over the USA.  I do not and should not get the flu.  Yes, I did have the flu shot but reports are saying it is only 30% effective this year.

 

Because of my paranoia I have chosen to avoid large gathering of people.  So, I have become a recluse, hibernating in my apartment and enjoying every minute of it.  I have worked on quilt projects, cooked and read and read and read.  Wonderful time alone.  I love it.

For Jace

For the newest Great Gran