Posted on by agilejack

Back to Normal… For Now

It’s been a busy ten days. It’s hard to believe that after sewing and posting for so many days in a row, I haven’t done a bit of sewing or posted to my blog for over ten days!

Work has been crazy. And in the midst of that I was working on getting my house ready for company. Then my company arrived. They left this morning so I now have some time to breath and do not much of anything.

Our radio drive ended on Saturday afternoon and my brother and his wife arrived a few hours after that. We just hung out at my house on Saturday. My sister brought a really delicious tuna noodle casserole that we tossed in the oven for dinner.

One of the main purposes of this visit was for them to pick up the sunburst quarter log cabin quilt that I finished a few months ago. And they loved it!

This is a queen size quilt and will be for their bed.

(Are you surprised at the color of my kitchen walls?)

And my brother had made something special for me that he would deliver. He made this gorgeous maple frame for my beloved photo of Forrest.

That photo really needed a frame and I just love it! It looks great and I love that it was made by my brother! I still have to hang it in my bedroom.

On Sunday we had a few things we wanted to get done. First, we headed to a fabric store near me that has a lot of home decor fabrics. We wanted to find some fabric to make a table cloth for my sister in law. But the store was closed. So that took care of that.

So we headed out on our next stop to look at lamps at a huge lamp store near me. Nothing there scratched my SIL’s lamp itch, so we were on the road again.

Next up was a rug/carpet store. Amazingly, my bro and his wife purchased a very bold red hand made wool rug for their living room and a matching table runner. I was so happy to see them go bold with the red!

Then a quick stop at the grocery store and the hardware store.

When we got home we took my boys for a nice long walk.

We actually had a nice long walk every day that they were here visiting. It’s fun to have house guests who like to get out and move around. And it made my boys very happy.

We ordered take out for dinner on Sunday and it was a nice treat.

On Monday we had lunch with friends at my house so I spent the morning cooking. I made a really yummy beef stew and served it with a nice green salad and some delicious bread my bother and SIL brought. These are the friends I stayed with when my power was out last month. They brought their corgi puppy and she and my boys ran and played in my back yard the entire time we were having lunch. It was a great way to spend the afternoon.

While the stew was cooking I took my SIL into my sewing room to dig through some of my fabrics and give her some pieces to take home.

I gave her some fun prints that I’ll never use as well as a few pieces of Aboriginal fabrics. I also dug into some of less bright batiks and gave her enough of those to make a quilt! She has been having an urge to sew but doesn’t have a stash. It actually feels really good to give away some fabric! I feel so much lighter!

After lunch my SIL and I headed back to the fabric store and it was closed on Monday! So we went to a local kitchen store to poke around and ended our outing with a quick trip to Macy’s to look at coffee makers.

Once we got home and had a dinner of lunch leftovers, my SIL and I hit my sewing room to whip up a pair of pillow cases to match their new quilt. Since there are so many fabrics in that quilt, it was pretty easy to select fabrics for the pillow cases. We tried a few options but ended up on Kaffe’s red Guinea flower for the body, with a teal spot accent strip and the band was made from left over backing fabric from this quilt.

I was going to send the fabric home with my SIL with the tutorial in hand, but since we had time last night we dug in and got them done. This is the pillow case tutorial I use.

I put my SIL to work at my Bernina.

I just love hand made pillow cases. Why don’t I have some to use?

I’m so glad I remembered that I had that left over backing fabric. And that red Guinea flower is one of my favorite Kaffe designs.

Here’s a look at one pillow case with the quilt top.

I love it!

While my brother was here he got a lot of small handy man tasks done for me. He got the portrait of Forrest secured in the new frame. He replaced the insides of my front door knob that had been catching and was difficult to open. He replaced the broken hooks on a coat rack in my guest room. He tightened the handles on my fridge and freezer. He replaced a piece of door trim that had come loose.

And he replaced a broken latch on my Featherweight carrying case.

it’s so nice to have all those little jobs done! And I think he was happy to have some small projects to do. If I have something bigger I need him to do I have to let him know ahead of time so he can bring the right tools. Everything he did for me this weekend was handled with my limited tools.

Here’s a picture that sort of sums up our weekend.

And on our solo walk at the end of the day today we saw some gorgeous primrose. It feels like spring is just around the corner.

And tonight my boys are exhausted and out cold!

Two more days of work and then vacation!!! Yeah baby!!!

62 Replies to “Back to Normal… For Now”

  1. You must be psychic! Just as I finished closely examining the color of your kitchen walls, you asked if your readers were surprised by them… Yes, I am! Did you just paint them, or have you never shown your kitchen in your blog?

    Sounds like a great weekend!

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      1. they made me look at all the colors of your rooms. I like them. Not the usual beige or cream. The periwinkle room is the color of my kitchen. Now you’re making me want to explore more color choices

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      2. that room is actually more of a sky blue rather than periwinkle. I really don’t like it. I would prefer a periwinkle. I’ve wanted to paint it an off white for years. I think it would help make the quilts and fabric shine if they weren’t competing with that bright sky blue!

        I had bland walls for years. I love color on my walls!

        Anne

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  2. what a lovely happy post and how nice to give and receive like that.
    I’m off to France this week to see my beloved sister, Maggs and we’ll be sewing together all week. She’s a fantastic dressmaker so I’ll be making my granddaughters some cute clothes, drinking too much red wine and eating delicious French cuisine!

    enjoy your vacation xx

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  3. The quilt they got is spectacular and the added pillow cases will make the bed look very finished. I always wonder if when you wash the pillow cases anyone takes the time to iron them. Cotton fabrics are notoriously wrinkly when washed.

    But have to admit they look great.

    Happy vacation!!!

    PJ Kytlica 805-660-4400

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    1. when I was a kid my mom ironed her cotton sheets. it was life changing when they started adding synthetics to sheets so ironing wasn’t as necessary.

      If you take them out of the dryer right away they aren’t bad. I NEVER take them out of the dryer right away!

      Anne

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  6. What a fun Family visit with exchanges of beautiful gifts ! Great photos ! The blooming prim roses are a promising sign Spring is near, especially in your neck of the woods. I’m looking forward to your friends visit, in anticipation of what the two of you will conjure up in the quilt department ! Never a dull moment, I enjoy your blog ! Niki

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    1. Spring is definitely near here. the crocuses are up. Daffodils will be blooming any day. Soon the trees will start blooming. it’s a wonderful time of year here.

      My friend and I have a couple projects ready to go. We may not get them both done!

      Anne

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  9. I’m happy that your brother and sister-in-law were able to come for a visit and you were able to spend such a great time together. The pillowcases are gorgeous and are a perfect accent for the quilt, which is still gorgeous, by the way! Happy almost vacation!!!

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  10. Great looking quilt! Sounds like you’ll need a vacation to rest up from your very busy visit!

    I guess you haven’t had time to work on you Autumn Postcard quilt. I have 2 more pieced borders and I’ll be done!

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    1. Well done! I am doing that one too…just finished the teeny tiny flying geese border, which I think is the fourth border to go on?? It is beautiful but I had to use the Bloc Loc teeny tiny flying goose ruler to get them trimmed properly…fiddly bits for sure.

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      2. I’m on the large geese border and found the formula online to make them 4 at-a-time. So much easier and room to trim them perfectly! I actually am enjoying this quilt. I find that I’ve slowed down and it’s going together rather smoothly.

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  11. Loved your green kitchen, all though I probably wouldn’t have the guts to try it!!! What really cracked me up with a huge laugh was the pic of you three with the quilt. It was great to see three happy people laughing. Your beautiful quilt going to happy people!!!

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  12. A super beautiful maple frame for Forrest! Your brother in law is talented! I love those pillow cases – they go perfect with that beautiful quilt ♥️. Enjoy your vacation. I am sure Rico and Bender will 🐾.

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  13. What a sweet visit. Gotta love your brother using his skills for you. the pillow cases are fantastic ! Can’t wait to see what you and your friend sew while on vacation.

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  17. forgot to mention how I love your lime green walls! Lime green and fuschia are my favorites, I’m sure a telltale sign of something or other 🤭! The picture of the 3 of you is adorable 🥰!

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    1. Next is finishing a couple unfinished quilt tops. My blue one that is not quite fully sewn together. Then the Aboriginal quilt that my friend and I worked on when she was here last summer. I still need to sew the big corners on. I m might wait for her to get here to do that one! I need a little moral support!

      Anne

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  21. Sounds like so much fun. I need to make a list for my brother, because my sweet Ellis is no longer with me and he was my wonderful hubby/handyman. How I miss him!

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  23. I wanted to just pull your quilt right out of my iPad. It’s so gorgeous!! Sounds like you have great relatives with your brother fixing things and your SIL shopping and sewing with you. Enjoy them while you can, life is so short.

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    1. when I first moved to Portland he came up the first weekend and brought his tools and did things like hook up the washer and dryer, hang pictures, hang towel racks, and all kinds of stuff that you need when setting up a household. He’s a pretty handy guy to have around!

      Anne

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  25. Oh my goodness you and your brother look so alike, you certainly could not question your parentage!. Send my your SIL’s address and I will send her a lot of fabric for her stash!!! I have so much KF fabric and batiks I would love to share. Having sworn off buying fabric at the start of the year I have already bought 14 pieces. Oh well!!

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    1. My siblings and I all resemble each other. I never noticed it until we were older and took a photo together at my mom’s funeral. I was stunned how much we looked alike.

      I’m trying to use more from my stash. I like being able to “shop” in my sewing room and it feels good to actually use up some of my ridiculous mound of fabric!

      Anne

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  26. Would you please share the names of some of your favorite quilt shops that have good selections of Kaffe Fassett fabrics.  I am searching for an older fabric by Phillip Jacobs  called Cactus Dahlias  PWPJ 054. I have gotten to the point of looking at individual quilt shop web sites as I come across the names of ones that are not local to me.  Thank you.

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    1. there are a lot of online shops with good selections of KFC fabrics. I’m not able to list them all. You should take some time and do some Google searches and look at what the stores have.

      My favorite online stores with good KFC selection:

      Sew Colorful
      Glorious Color
      Island Quilter
      Fenwick Fabrics
      All About Color Quilting

      good luck!
      Anne

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      1. Anne, Thank you.  Your suggestions were very helpful.  Thank you for taking the time to answer.  I really enjoy your blog!Terri

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