I’ve been having sort of a rough time. I’m so tired. Everything is difficult. Good days are rare.

However, I do have some good days still! And on those good days I make things. I’m still working on my Friesland Blanket, which I started in March of 2017. Here’s a progress photo from last week:

At that point I needed to make six more motifs, and since then I’ve made two so there are only four remaining!

I also finished my beautiful Wildflower Farm Quilt! This one is mine mine mine. I love it so!

Let’s see here… what’s new. Last weekend I went to a Featherweight maintenance workshop put on by Dave of https://twiceniceshoppe.com.
Of course I already knew how to oil and grease my machine because I am Research Girl, but I also learned many other things, including how to clean out the bobbin casing and how to install a new belt — both of which were much-needed. My beautiful Featherweight is running smoother than ever! It was fun to be in a room with eleven other Featherweights, from the early 1930s to the mid 1960s. I believe mine was the only inherited Featherweight — all the others had been bought from collectors or thrift stores.

Healthwise, I am much the same. Every activity is exhausting and I spend most of my time in bed, but I can still get up and sew or read to Em on good days! We’re working our way through the Mary Poppins series. I’ll have recordings to share with you sometime soon.

Kirsten showed me a wonderful soothing game called Merge Dragons and I am obsessed. It has entertained me though several Tired Days recently.
http://www.mergedragons.com

Here are the things I’ve made recently:

Three Suki Robes,
two of cotton and one of a silk saree that I bought on etsy for $15! I live in these robes, over tanks and tees in the daytime and over nothing at all at night. I have serious temperature regulation issues and these robes let me adjust my warmth level by tiny increments.

Also made a couple pairs of undies (pattern is Bunte Punkte Panty from Klimpergross) and a couple of comfy tank dresses based on the Kirei Cami pattern. With POCKETS. The blue dress has badgers all over it!

And quilts, of course.

This one is the free “Summer Breeze” pattern, for Susan and Jack. Just finished it and am ready to mail it away. I made it slightly larger than the pattern shows.

I invented a pattern for my nephew John and his partner Kim, owners of a massive succulent and cactus collection. I was inspired by their Instagram photos of their cacti in bloom. :) This one is basted and ready to quilt, but I’m still considering how best to quilt it.

Oh, I also made a little quilted needle book. Pattern is by RetroMama on Etsy

And a couple of shopping bags made of leftover/practice quilt parts :)

Right now I’m piecing a quilt for my brother, so you can look forward to photos of that one next time.

Here are some pretty pictures:

Kathy’s quilt, based on the Garden Star Quilt tutorial from MSCQ

Dan’s quilt (the blue is not so electric in real life), based on the Grayscale Quilt tutorial from cluckclucksew

And the very beginning of Susan’s, based on the Summer Breeze tutorial from Jordan Fabrics

I had a 14-day migraine that ended about two weeks ago, and then 2-day migraine that ended yesterday. UGH. But in between I was able to make several things, and we celebrated Em’s 6th birthday, for which Henry, Jayla, and Lulu were here! It was amazing to get to see them for a few hours and now I am itching to visit them as soon as the side effects settle down and I am in between nasty medical appointments.

Things I made:

A bias-cut apron and a sewing kit for Em’s birthday. The apron is a pattern I copied from a friend’s apron many long years ago. I had a green one that Em loved to wear until it fell apart from age, so I made her a beautiful new one. I added rick-rack to the edges to make it prettier, and I lined to so that it should last her for years and years. It’s adult-size, with an adjustable neck strap. Sewing kit is an old cookie tin with a drawstring top attached. I filled it with a tape measure, a pincushion, a pair of scissors just for fabric, and six fat quarters of calico so she has some fabric that she can use without asking permission.

Also, we had a couple of blistering hot days so I made myself two light cotton robes using the “Suki Robe” pattern from Helen’s Closet. Her patterns are sooooooo good. I used an alternative neckband, and added lined patch pockets. I only had two yards of the green seersucker and had to get creative, so it has a muslin hem-extender and extra-wide sleeve bands. I LOVE these robes!!

Also I finished Lulu’s quilt in time for them to take it home with them after their little visit! I quilted daisy chains all over it, with a nice loopy border.

AND! During the 14-day migraine I had some mornings when I felt well enough to sew for an hour, so I did some work on Kathy’s quilt. All I need to do now is add the borders, baste, quilt, and bind. :)

Finished quilt is 70″ x 82″

Photos!

She chose this pack of 10″ flannel squares from my stash (“Lil’ Sprouts” from http://missouriquiltco.com), and she decided she wanted big plain squares with a scalloped border. We laid out all the squares on the floor and she arranged them to her taste. She also sewed some of the seams! (Em will be 6 in June). I quilted a big flower in each square and rainbow shapes around the edge. The border is flannel from JoAnn’s. Cotton batting.

Remodulin update: one minor migraine last weekend, several episodes of Hot Face (so uncomfortable, feels like my face will burst into flames), painful knees, nausea, extra fatigue, weird temperature issues — I feel way too hot or way too cold almost all the time. Quite tolerable!

So I cranked my pump up one notch yesterday (to 0.04 mL/hour, which equates to 32 ng/kg/min at my weight) and now I’m waiting for the hideous side effects to set in… I will probably have several weeks of near-constant migraines, full body pain, and intense nausea. If I can’t handle it, I’ll need to drop back to my regular dose. We’ll see. I couldn’t handle it last time we tried this. Anyway if you don’t hear from me here for a while it means I’m lying in a dark room trying not to puke.

In other news, I finished my beautiful Voysey print “Modern T” quilt! and it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen and it is mine, mine, mine. I drew leaves and vines all over the backing and quilted from the back, which was really fun! I used a different kind of wool batting (Quilters Dream) and I think it is MUCH better than the stuff I got from JoAnn’s. Barely any fibers on the surface of the quilt after washing. I wish I’d used this better batting for Henry’s quilt, but oh well, live and learn. I also finished Suzanne’s little green lap quilt and she loves it :) :) :)

Next up: quilts for Emma Rose, Chloe, Kathy, and Lulu. I think I have enough fabric for all of them, except for the backings. I’m waiting for muslins to go on sale at JoAnn’s…

Mom’s Nasturtium quilt (pattern is Disappearing Pinwheel Shoofly). The folded photo’s colors are more true. Machine quilted in random meanders and swirls and things.

Henry’s Stacks quilt. Machine quilted along the seam lines, with spirals in the border. After piecing but before before quilting I hand-embroidered the titles of 40 favorite books in random places.

Jayla’s Simple Squares quilt. Machine quilted in swirling feather designs, with big daisies around the border.

Kirsten and Marcos’s Outer Space quilt (traditional Log Cabin pattern). Machine quilted in spirals with pebbles around the border.

All patterns are from the free video tutorials at Missouri Star Quilt Company. Most of the fabrics are from them too. All were pieced and quilted entirely on my beloved Singer Featherweight 221.

I’m basically ok except for this odd depression that manifests as a serious quilting/making OBSESSION. Quilts are all I think about and quilting (and knitting) is all I do… No news on the health front. I had a meeting with a Palliative Care team member to talk about… stuff. You know. End-of-life comfort and that.

There’s a video tutorial here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rgQd6asPQs

but for the impatient, here’s a quick photo rundown. And I have a couple tips of my own to add.

Take two 10″ squares (or any size, but I wouldn’t go much smaller than 10″), your print and your background, and stitch them together with a 1/4″ seam all the way around the edge. I like to sew straight off the edge, then lift the foot, reposition the fabric, and start the next edge. For me it’s quicker and more accurate than trying to pivot that corner at exactly 1/4″ from the edge. Press, then SLICE that square from corner to corner. Press open the resulting pieces and you have four half-square triangles (quilting terminology for a square made of two triangles). Arrange them in pinwheel formation and sew them together.

Now comes the exciting part, the part where you will ruin a whole block if you’re not paying attention. Guess how I know this… *eyeroll*

(These measurements apply if you started with 10″ squares) Take your nice accurate quilting ruler and measure a line exactly 2 1/8″ from the center seam. I’ve circled the 2 1/8″ marks in this photo. See how they line up just right?

Then SLICE along your ruler. Then lift the ruler CAREFULLY, and CAREFULLY place the 4 1/4″ marks on the line you just cut. Again, I’ve circled them. There will be a little bit of edge to trim off.

Now CAREFULLY rotate your block. I bought an inexpensive rotating cutting mat, but you can also just rotate a smallish mat on your table.

Repeat those cuts on all four sides — 2 1/8″ from the center, then trim the edge at 4 1/4″ from that cut. I say the numbers aloud while lining up the ruler. One time I didn’t, and I cut a different measurement which I won’t say here so as not to throw you off but it was the number between 2 and 4. And that entire block went into the scrap box. *another eyeroll*

And now you have — ta-da — this! And each block is exactly 4 1/4″ square.

Now the magic happens. Take the eight outer squares and rotate each by 1/4 turn to the right.

Hey presto! It’s a flowery-looking thing! (Actually a traditional shoofly block with a little pinwheel in the center)

Stitch together in rows, stitch the rows together, and:

Isn’t that going to be a pretty thing?

HAHAHAHA I just spotted a triangle going the wrong way! I could pick it out but I’ll probably leave it. I’ll just put that block in the corner. No one said quilts had to be perfect and I am a total beginner anyway. :)

Thank you so much for the sweet comments and emails! I’m bad about replying but I’ll get to it one of these days… Just know that your kind and loving words meant a great deal to me.

Here’s my in-progress knitted Friesland blanket. I’ve finished 13 motifs and I have 15 remaining, I think. Yikes, it’s going to be enormous! I grafted together seven of them ages ago, and then I just kept on knitting. I didn’t realize how many I had finished until I counted them up today! I haven’t blocked any since the center 7, so I’ve got a serious pile of blocking to attend to. According to Ravelry, I started this blanket in March of 2017. Double yikes! Time to do some serious knitting.

And I’ve made a good start on Henry’s “Stacks” quilt. The fabric is the “Wit and Wisdom” jelly roll from missouriquiltco.com. And a plain black roll too. Doesn’t
it look like stacks of nice old hardback books? I’ve got all the strips assembled and joined together in five groups of eight, and now I’m embroidering book titles in random places. Some are books that Henry and I have enjoyed together, and some are my old favorites, so it will act as both a quilt and a list of book suggestions :)