I've Been Busy!

So have other quilters. 

To see what they have been up to go to 

Small Quilts and Doll Quilts.

After I finished the masks I decided I was going to finish up something for ME.

I had started this Zip Zip Bag from a kit from Connecting Threads several years ago, but never got around to finishing it. 

I decided now was a good time. Over the last several years I have gone from carrying a larger purse to a smaller cross-body purse. Sometimes I only take my wallet, especially in cooler weather when I am wearing a jacket/coat with pockets. I slip the wallet in a pocket so my hands are free. When the weather warmed up I didn't have a pocket big enough so I started using the cross-body purse again. As I have accompanied Husband to his medical appointments I end up holding onto his wallet, checkbook, reading glasses. That purse just isn't big enough to hold his things and mine. Time to finish this project.

 

It has three compartments. The one in the middle isn't very deep but works well for a small bottle of hand sanitizer, lip balm, etc. I added a D-ring at the top to clip my keys to. The strap is long enough my keys slip into the pocket.

It's bigger than I thought it would be but I am going to try it out for a while.  

Then I decided to make a new wallet. 

This one has four zipped compartments and co-ordinates with the Zip Zip Bag. 

The spaces between the zippered compartments form open compartments for even more storage. It was glued to a metal frame after construction. It is bigger than my other wallet but still small enough to fit into my jacket pocket. I love the pop of lime green with the black and white!

In between working on the bag and wallet I decided to tackle the closet in my sewing room. It was full of Son's things. I have boxed up the things he wants when I can get them to him, tossed some stuff, have a pile that needs to go into tubs for storage here and some items for donation. 

During the cleaning I found his FFA jacket and shirt. He kept asking about them, wanting them. I hadn't seen them for a while and was sure I had taken them to him already. But he kept telling me he didn't have them. He is notorious for not looking very hard to find something, usually doing a quick scan around himself and saying 'can't find it' so I was convinced that they were at his house and he just hadn't looked for them. Meanwhile I had looked for them. I had gone through every closet and drawer and 'safe spot' I could think of. I was beginning to think they had accidentally been donated or thrown away. I guess I was the one who hadn't looked hard enough. To my relief they were hiding behind some other clothes hanging in the closet. I found them when I started removing all the clothes. His jacket and shirt are now in plain sight, clearly marked. They will go to him the next time I see him.

I bagged up most of the clothes - they were 30+ years old - for donation. I thought the donation boxes around here were open again, but I found out they are still taped up so I have nowhere to go with them for now. I still need to get a few boxes of things not needed for now moved upstairs out of the way, but I got the closet organized. 

My things are now easy to get to and I have more room in the room. The two carts/drawer units are on wheels so they can be moved as needed. Still not the way I want it, but it is better. I'm sure some rearranging will take place until I get it the way it works best for me.

While all this was going on I noticed I had a visitor.

Bold little critter, isn't it?

We used to have several walnut trees on our property. We are down to only one now, but I find walnuts buried in the flower planters and saplings coming up all around the flower gardens. Wonder how that happened!?

Now I am back to working on the Butterfly baby quilt.

Stay safe and well.

Ugh!

I think I am just about to give up on growing a garden.

Yesterday morning there was this -

 There were five mini cucumbers left. 

I planted 10. 

Beans have been de-leafed.

This morning -

 More beans de-leafed.

Two decent cucumbers left. 

Two more that are basically just stems.

I'm sure it is the starlings.

Bird netting and more wire coverings have been ordered. The garden supply place called yesterday to inform us that these items will be shipped - wire coverings in July, bird netting in August. 

A little too late, I fear.

However, most of the flowers are doing well.

This Malva Zebrina did get chomped off, but has new growth. 

Either the rabbits will leave it alone or are waiting for it to grow a little bigger before they snack on it again.

 

 

The Hibiscus that the rabbits also dined on took a hit from the wind last week. 

The tallest stem was laying on the ground. It still is. I don't know how, but it surviving, so far.

Work on the Butterfly Baby Quilt continues.
I laid out the pieces to get an idea of what it will look like. 

GF is happy with the look.

I appliqued all the stems in place.

Then started with the sunflowers.

I am using Sulky and Star variegated threads. I am so thankful for my fabric AND thread stash!

I am usually not too excited to do machine applique. I like the look of it, but my needle gums up and I have lots of thread breakage. I use Steam-A-Seam 2. I read on a blog a while back (sorry, I can't remember which blog it was) that they use 'anti-glue' needles when doing applique with fusible web. So I ordered some and decided to use them.

The needle seems to get a little sticky after a while, but I am not having thread breaks.

I just got a call for more masks for an organization that provides residential treatment programs for children. They will be resuming home visits soon and need masks. So I will put the quilt aside for a few days and sew some masks.

Stay safe and well.

An Oops and a Finish

Well, an almost finish. Today I added borders to a top that has been finished (except the border) for a loooonnnggg time. I don't remember when I started it. I know there are photos, but I have been trying to organize my photos and haven't found it yet. It started out as a panel, I am thinking maybe for pillows, but it's been so long I can't remember. Anyway, I put some 4-patch blocks together with some plain blocks with fabric I probably had in my stash and came up with a top, but I wanted it bigger. Then I found this awesome border.  

Now it is 63 x 80, a good size.

The oops is that when I was sewing the borders to the top I found a small - 1/2 inch - cut in the fabric just outside of the seam line. 

If I sew a bigger seam I will lose the scroll design. So I fused a small piece of black fabric on the back where the cut is. 

I did a little bit of stitching to hold it closed before I fused it. Hopefully the quilting will help hold it all together, too. I know where it is and can find it easily, but I think it is hard to see. Can you see it?