Hello Hank

 Goodness we have been having rain here in The Valley.... today the sun is bright and the wind is picking up speed. Glad to be inside sewing.The flowers quilt is progressing. Did I mention that there will be a second quilt from the cut pieces?

Once each petal is sewn the back is trimmed to eliminate bulk that gives a smaller shape of what was just sewn.
Of course it will be smaller and I will need to add a backing to each flower. Fun! Trimming the back has gotten easier since I purchased applique scissors. I am still debating whether to sew each block together by hand as it is how they are sewn now or to machine sew them.

Who is Hank you are wondering. Well he is a goldfish that is now living with me. His home (bowl) sits right behind me in my sewing corner. Murphy lost interest once it went into the bowl. He can not see it or reach it so that may explain it. Hank is quite handsome; orange with a black stripe along his back. I gave him a sea shell to hide behind and grass also. I know, why....just because.

I should report that my hand and knee are healing from recent fall. At this point the hand is still sore and the deep loss of skin is very sensitive. I will be calling the trainer the end of this week to set up sessions. Just need to heal a little more.  It certainly is nice to chat with you. Thank you for your kind words and words of encouragement. Thank you for your friendship.

New sewing tool....

 there is nothing more dangerous than a dull blade on the rotary cutter. Finally my blade was starting to skip. While in the quilt shop to buy a new blade I noticed . . .

an ergonomically Olfa cutter. Wow, it certainly is smooth and easy on my hand. Still cutting and will be cutting squares for some time so this will be great. 

It is growing... I sat outside on the lanai this morning sewing. Starting to warm up more so back instead.  The wind is pretty steady today. Also I wanted to cut a few more squares. I switch from doing one thing to another on the quilt so my hand gets a rest and my foot is propped up. 

 Sweet Lisa brought me tulips for Mother's Day. She is most thoughtful and I am lucky to have her around. We certainly have a lot of laughs.

I was asked if I still need  window squares....YES. I will be making at least 600 muslin squares. A block is 4 of them and in that block is 4 windows. Once connected to the next muslin square another window is added. Alan has  informed me I will need at least 2400.....and that is the low side! I think I will be in the fabric bin gathering some more fabric to cut.

Our rose garden is still blooming. We have 4 bushes and they are doing really well. The garden is looking so nice. A few things are in bloom and soon more will be. The bees will be very happy!

Okay, think I will rummage through the bin....

Glad you stopped to visit. Thank you for your kind words and for your friendship....and the window squares!

                      Hello from Murphy!

Click...click

 The sound you do not want to hear when starting trying to start the car is click. that is what happened yesterday when Lisa was going to work. there was some hesitation the day before but it did start. Not Wednesday.  So a text to The Brother Alan. He came home a little early so we could take the car to the dealership. Yes, as it turned out the battery needed to be replaced. Early this morning before going to work he and Lisa went to pick it up....al is good. 

Finally sat and used the Singer.... a  beautiful pillowcase for my bed. The fabric just caught my eye and then I had to change a few things. The body of the case is the purple pansy print and the cuff is the large rose print. Actually the cuff is a border print so I had to change the size. It is 10 inches wide. When cutting the cuff it is 9 inches folded in half to be 4 inches. 

Problem solved by trimming the cuff and then lining the inside with the trim piece....the fabric for the trim and cuff lining is actually in the cuff border. Very pleased with it and of course the sewing machine. There are so many attachments that Alan helped me figure a good way to store them so I am not rummaging through loose pieces.

We found this at Jo-Ann's and had a coupon. I labelled each section and as you can see, this works perfectly. I like things to be organized. some feet came with the machine and then Alan ordered a Singer special box with feet and then there was another group that were special additions with the machine. I do not think there is any that I need!

Swishing is happening in the laundry room and in between that I hope to get some sewing done. It is a warm sunny but I will keep the slider open for Murphy to go in and out...for now. It has been nice having you visit. Thank you for your kind words and for your friendship.