Sew I See!

 Yeah!  The third UFO project of the year has achieved "quilt top" status!   I suspected this one would go pretty quickly, and it did.  In the last blog entry, I had started sewing the string blocks into half-square triangles with a plain white background.  There were quite a few on the design wall, even at that point.   A lot more of that, and I ended up with a full design wall: There were too many to fit on the wall, so I arranged some on the tables, instead.  Putting them in order on cutting mats worked out well, because I was able to stack the mats and keep them all in the desired layout, but stacked up to leave room for joining and pressing.   I joined them in groups of nine, where possible.  This was a manageable size for using the webbing technique of joining.  Once I finished a row's worth of these "nine-patches", I joined that row, pressed it, and set it aside.  With all rows finished, I then sewed those toge...

I crocheted another doily earlier in the year-- probably in the month or so before Mother's Day in May.  (I remember giving it to Mom, but without looking it up, I'm not positive if it was for her birthday or Mother's Day.) The pattern is "Amelia", a design by Grace Fearon.  The thread is Alize Miss Batik (not sure of the color number).   I don't think I have much more to say about this project.  (Just a ton of photos to share in a moment...)  I still have that other doily-- the huge one-- to block, but I just can't make myself want to deal with it, yet!  Eventually I'll work up the enthusiasm.   In the meantime, I've taken a break from thread crochet.  Instead, I dug out a bag of scrap yarn and made some granny squares, then joined them into 9-patch blocks.  (I need to get a photo of that stack, some time!) When I ran out of sufficient scrap yarn, I stopped.  Now it's gone back into hibernation, but it's one giant step closer ...

I applied the binding to the latest quilt ("Retro-Cali Ribbon Stars").  Then it spent a week waiting for me to stitch down the last side of the label.  I tend to put off hand-stitching, because I don't love it.  When I finally did it, though, it really wasn't that bad, so I went ahead and stitched down the label for the long-languishing second "Tall Tales" quilt that has been nearly-done for such a long time.  I labeled both quilts, let the ink set (at least 24 hours recommended), and gave them their first washes.  Photos and "ta-da" posts to follow soon, I hope.   In the meantime, there are a couple of other projects I can share progress reports on.   First, I completed the fox diamond painting Kimberly gave me for Christmas.  I'm happy with how it turned out!  (They always look better from a distance, but here's a photo, anyway...) I'm already zooming through the next diamond painting-- a picture of flowers in glass jars.  Th...

Gosh, I knew it had been a while since my last blog post, but I didn't realize it had been that  long!   For more than a year, now, Donald's been sole owner of his web-design business, and I've been pitching in where I could, originally with small, sporadic jobs.  I've been depositing checks, mailing invoices (before everyone switched over to email), copywriting, emailing reports to clients, occasionally doing some of the simplest parts of building websites and filling in the content-- that kind of thing.  As time has progressed, the work has become more consistent.  I still handle the monthly checks and assist with the occasional data entry, etc. for new sites, but my primary focus is on copywriting-- specifically, writing for SEO (search engine optimization).  I usually enjoy it when I have an idea.  When I don't  have any ideas (or the idea involves researching and writing about health problems and medical procedures 😱), it's somewhat les...