APPRECIATING BEAUTY

The quilt is off the frame;  it will go back to the QOV group to the woman who will trim and bind it.  It was fun to be able to be a part of the assembly!  I will be picking up a few more tops to do the quilting on later this week.

Look how pretty my Swedish Ivy is!!!

I don't remember it ever blooming before!  

 

ALMOST TO THE BORDERS

  I worked at the quilting frame until my laser light died,

 then I was able to concentrate on piecing the rest of the blocks.  And when I finished all of the blocks, I pieced the rest of the rows and have all but a few sewn to its neighbors!  

THE TRUMPET SOUNDS

Look at the beautiful comeback for the Angel Trumpet plants!  

So many blooms on these 10' high stalks!

The flower itself is about 10" long.  A very faint pleasantness

 but no real aroma just beauty in form is more than enough!

We went to Matthew's to celebrate his birthday;

the first's in grief are the toughest.

 It was good to be with each other.

 

A LLITTLE ATTENTION EVERYDAY ADDS UP!

I worked at the frame until I was too tired to stand up anymore.  I was pleased with the progress just the same!

When I sat down, I pieced another couple of 

rows and pieced enough red/white blocks for the next row! 

 A good day in the studio!

 

AUTUMN ANTICIPATION

The wall hanging and and placemats are completely completed! 

 I applied the binding to all the edges which was quite the marathon!  The set is called Autumn Vibes.

The placemats are 18" x 11".

The panel is 48" x 24".

I ended my creative energies on loading up a QOV quilt.  (I didn't make the quilt, I am only doing the quilting portion of its making!)

 

STITCH AWAY!

The Traverse QOV is getting some diagonal rows! 

 I am not done with the red/white blocks

 but I just couldn't wait to start sewing this together!

I pieced the halloween fabric and have it all ready for the frame. Since I was using the disappearing 9-patch I tried to be very random  and accomplished it which is hard for me! 

 (I don't do random! lol)

 

SHOP HOP 2025 FINISHED!

It is a big finish for the ALL FLORIDA SHOP HOP OFF 2025!  It is the first one that I actually finished in the same year as the Hop!!!   

And I am very close to having this wall hanging and placemats off the frame and ready for binding!

I will work on them as soon as I get back from a check-up at the doctor's.  The doctor I saw in June has left the practice and so I don't know who I will be seeing today.  It is frustrating to 'break in' a new one!

ONE NUMBER AT A TIME

I have started a new paint-by-number project;  this one is bigger (16' x 20") and more detailed. I am thoroughly enjoying it!  Since I am doing the lifting and carrying, I am needing some more down time and I love picking up the paintbrush to add a few strokes!

Bill is doing great after the stem cell procedure--he's trying hard to not use his arms too much--no moving his elbows away from his body!  You try that for an hour! lol  Anyway, he is doing very well and is already feeling improvement in his shoulders from resting them, too.  He is allowed short drives and he can use the golf cart as long as he goes slowly and carefully with hands low on the steering wheel.

We have church and a carry-in meal today and then back home for the Sunday nap!

JUST A LITTLE MATH

When something looked wrong while placing the setting triangles, 

I looked at the photo on the front of the pattern and saw that I had placed the pieces of the quilt a bit differently and that meant that I had to change every square to rearrange it!  Good for me! lol

I had to do a bit of math to cut the triangles along the outside; 

 I do prefer to cut them oversized so that I don't have to worry about cutting off a point when I place the straight border on.  I just make them a bit bigger but a 'bit' isn't too accurate 

but I knew how to figure it out!

See how the triangle will go beyond the light blue areas?

  It's called insurance! lol

And I finished up the quilting on this one and trimmed up the edges--today it will get its binding! 

 And I will be loading up a fun  new project onto the frame!

Bill is doing great considering and got a good report from the PCP follow-up appointment !

 

STEM CELL THERAPY

We left early yesterday to head to St Augustine to the clinic for Bill's appointment.

As we crossed the intercoastal waterway, the tide was low and calm.

We were checked in quickly and soon Bill was called in.  They told me to head out and run errands because it was going to be at least 3 hours!  As I went into town ten minutes away to visit Hobby Lobby and Michael's, Bill went in and had 7 ounces of fat removed from his stomach to mix with his own blood to inject into his shoulders which have become so painful that he has a very limited range of motion.  This therapy is called ADSCs; What are ADSCs?

• ADSCs are mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) found in adipose (fat) tissue.
• They have the ability to differentiate into various cell types and can self-renew.
• They are abundant, easily accessible, and relatively low in immunogenicity compared to other stem cell sources.   

Bill will have 5-6 weeks of very limited use of his arms to let the shoulders heal.  Did you know that your stomach fat is this color?!  It was a shocker to us!

We stopped to take a quick peek at the ocean (right across the street from the clinic).

We are grateful God gave us a doctor who offers a wonderful alternative to surgery!

 

ROLE REVERSAL

I made several more of the red/white blocks, cut out all of the navy squares. I did look over the instructions for cutting the setting triangles but will save them for another day! lol

Today, I am driving Bill to have stem cell injections into both shoulders!  It should prove an enlightening day for both of us!  

The office for the procedure is about an hour away and today,    I am the taxi driver, the nurse and the rule enforcer!  

He has been in so much pain that we are hoping and praying this will give him the relief so many others have received from this treatment!  I will fill you in tomorrow on how it went!

 

A LOT OF CUTTING OUT!

I finished the rest of the blue/white blocks-48 in all.

Then I tackled the red and white blocks and only completed one--there are a lot more pieces and it's a bit more fiddly 

but it will really bring the quilt to life! 

 (The pic looks like a duller red than it really is!)

I also cut up the halloween fabric--6" squares almost randomly sewn into 9-patches from the 6 fat quarters.

And then I chopped them up into a disappearing 9-patch! 

 I will most likely have enough for a table runner 

and will sew the blocks together when they are all cut up 

so I can play with them!

 

A NEW LEASE ON LIFE

Today marks the one year 'anniversary' of my brush with death from Septic Shock due to a misdiagnosis of appendicitis!  It has been quite the year but I must say, I am mostly feeling better for several hours each day at least!  I am very thankful for the extension of my days to spend with family and friends!

This set of Fat Quarters was from last year and since I was not doing any sewing at that time, I dug it out now to contemplate a project for it!  I am not a halloween person so I could just leave out the snake and skull fabric because I do like the black/white and orange of the other fabrics!

I also pulled out this QUV project and began to actually cut and piece!  (I had done all of the instruction deciphering several months ago but that was as far as I got!)

Now I have the first 18 of 48 of these blocks sewn!  I will be doing more of this today!

 

MORE TOPS FOR THE PILE!

While sewing on multiple borders is not a thrill to me, I did stop whining long enough to sew all three to this Stars and Stripes quilt!

And I completed the piecing for this top with only one border!

 

A TOUR AROUND OUR LAND

The Candlestick Cassia is in full bloom.

The banana grove has come back in full glory after the frost knocked it back last winter!

There are several bunches of bananas--isn't it interesting that they grow 'upside' down?!

Our pond is very full and Bill has kept it mowed

 and easy to walk all around it.

Along the creek, there are lots of cat tails.

This is a clump of Leucoagaricus americanus or American parasol. While these are edible,  I do not eat mushrooms found in the wild because there are too many 'look-a-likes' that can be fatal!

I love this stretch of split rail fence.

And this 15' tall cactus has bloomed from Spring on and if you look closely all the way to the lower left, you will see the last few.

The epitome of Florida--the Live Oak and a cabbage palm growing together!

 

SEE WHAT FLITTING GETS YOU

I have so many plants/flowers outside but very few inside!  I plan on rectifying that over the next few months!  This is a Coleus Bill rescued from the clearance section at the end of Spring--it has done well outside and I hope it will like it inside, too!

I did a little bit of piecing--halfway through this little top and I worked at the quilting frame.

A lot of time was spent in the kitchen--not my favorite room!  

Bill had his second cataract surgery today and I wanted to make some soup so that he could eat whenever the mood struck him without having to cook or grill.  It is my friend, Mary's, recipe for Potato Soup and I added some chopped up ham to it. 

It was delicious coupled with two pieces of French bread toast, if I do say so myself!