Quilting · Unraveled Wednesday / Knit & Read

Unraveled Wednesday: Summer Launch

Vicki6 Comments

I had a wonderfully long weekend with just the right amount of busy-ness, socializing, and rest.

A woman and two young girls lying in bed, smiling and posing for a selfie among pillows.

Taking a quick nap w/the girls… though I’m the only one who actually napped.

The weather was pretty great, too.

Close-up of a s'more featuring a broken piece of Hershey's chocolate and graham crackers, with a blurred background.

Ann, Brian & Addie came up for a quick visit Sunday-Monday, Ali & fam were in/out a few times, we made some yummy food, and had fun making s’mores.

I’m joining Kat & the Unravelers for Unraveled Wednesday!

KNITTING:

I’m closing in on the back of Farfalle!

A knitted fabric in brown with colorful geometric patterns, laid out on a table.

I’m continuing the motif all the way up the back, though the designer has that stopping at some point and continuing with just the mosaic garter stitch. I have plenty of the Noro yarn… and I like how it looks. Two fronts shall soon(-ish) commence!

READING:

John of John for as long as I can keep my eyes open every night. I think I’m also going to start listening to it.

QUILTING:

I found some clear stacking drawer units & spent some time folding & organizing my fabric stash. I really need to see things, so this works for me!

Stacked clear storage boxes containing various colorful fabric pieces organized by pattern and color.
A clear storage container filled with neatly folded pieces of colorful fabric, displaying various patterns including polka dots, stripes, and floral designs.

The two drawers on top are all fat quarters, with just a few fat eighths & a couple of larger cuts. The middle drawer (with all the dots lined up on the left) is all Kaffe Fassett/Collective, and the top drawer is everything else I’ve collected over the years. There’s an old Craftsy kit occupying the bottom drawer right now (including a jelly roll & a thread collection), but that will likely find another spot as I think all my larger cuts of fabric (mostly Kaffe) will get folded & stored in there. I’m trying to make some room for actual sewing!!

I got together last night with The Tuesday Quilters — everyone in last winter’s sampler class has been itching to get together & work on a new project! I know, I know… there’s still a long way to go on my original project, but I’m really glad I went! One of the women in the group was 2.5 weeks out from hip replacement & doing great — using a cane, off of the hard drugs & even driving. It really made me feel good to see that.

We chose a project, will meet once a month instead of weekly (so it’ll be a little less hectic), and we’ll learn a few new things (hello, curves & strip piecing). Though I love & am tempted by all the colorful fabrics in that middle drawer, I think I might swing the other way for the new project… all those black & white fabrics, perhaps with a bit of red. And I’ll probably stick to “throw” size rather than going off the deep end again. haha.

Uncategorized

Touchdown!

Vicki4 Comments

Touchdown #1. Rusty didn’t waste any time getting to the beach yesterday; it’s only about a :10 minute walk from his Airbnb, and he said that it’s a really nice neighborhood. The Airbnb looked cute, too.

A pair of feet resting on sandy beach with ocean waves in the background and a clear blue sky.

He’s heading to old haunts in the Seal Beach area today, hopefully doing some visiting, definitely some sketching.

(Seeing those toes in the sand would make me feel pretty jealous if we weren’t heading to DC for a long weekend in a couple of weeks!)

Touchdown #2. A perk of one of my credit cards is an InstaCart credit, which I don’t always take advantage of, but sometimes…

An oval-shaped rug designed to resemble a football field, featuring yard markings, a large football at the center, and stadium outlines along the edges.

…the right thing comes along at the right time! It just so happens that I’m taking all the kids to a Green Bay Blizzard (indoor arena) football game in mid-June. And the next day, Malina will be attending their youth camp (she was the only one really interested). We sometimes refer to her as “Sporty Spice.” (And she’s in it for the fashion as much as anything else. haha.) Anyway, you can hardly live in NE Wisconsin and avoid football, but in reality — even though they’re aware, none of the kids really know how it works. ALDI just happened to have this amazing stadium rug yesterday, and I’ve been talking about getting out my mom’s “cheat sheet” football recipe cards… I just need to fashion some “players” and we’ll be ready for our own little training camp!

Uncategorized

A first!

Vicki4 Comments

I was up an hour earlier than usual this morning to take Rusty to the airport. He’s on his way to SoCal for a week of walking on the beach, sketching waves, and visiting friends.

An elderly man stands in front of a colorful balloon arch that says 'ATW to SNA' at an airport, alongside a surfboard and a decorated vintage Volkswagen van.

He was on the inaugural flight of Allegiant’s nonstop service from Appleton to Santa Ana! How cute is that?

Weekending

Weekending

Vicki6 Comments

It was a pretty great weekend with the perfect amount of getting stuff done & relaxing… and it didn’t speed by, either.

On Saturday morning, I was out of the house before 8am, on my way to a rummage sale.

A person's hand holding a variety of colorful fabric swatches, featuring floral and geometric patterns in red, black, green, and yellow.

It was the city-wide sale weekend in my little city, and I’d seen an ad for a “crafters’ sale” that had a picture of some fabric & I could easily spot some Kaffe Fassett designs. I don’t go to a ton of sales (there are years when I haven’t stopped at a single one), but I’m kind of surprised at how infrequently I find fabric or yarn — even crappy stuff. Sooo, anyway, the sale started at 8, I arrived at about 8:03, and the place was packed! I managed to rifle through the fabric stacks & came away with a nice little haul — by my calculations, probably around $60 worth of fat quarters & yardage (some of it vintage/discontinued) for about $10. Very happy. Some of this might be used in my current project.

I shared the photo with “‘The Tuesday Quilters” — we have a chat group now! We are all looking forward to getting together again before long — project TBD!

A sign reading 'Garden Center' with an arrow, positioned next to a field of growing vegetables in neat rows, surrounded by green grass.

A little later on Saturday, Kate & I drove down to our CSA farm to pick up plants. It was a gorgeous day!

Aerial view of a lush garden featuring raised planting beds, a green lawn, and scattered chairs amidst greenery and trees.

Planting commenced… there’s a zucchini on the far left of each raised bed, celery at the other end of the near bed, and leeks will fill in the far bed. We also brought home some kale, a tomato, and a bunch of herbs & flowers. It’s all looking pretty nice. It rained quite a bit yesterday, too, so everything got a good watering-in.

I got some knitting time, too, and have begun the back shoulder decreases — exciting!!