2017 Quilt of Valor Stars - April Block -Brasstown Star

I am working on getting caught up on my Quilt of Valor Star Blocks.  They have posted the block patterns through July, so I am going to get them done so I don't get behind.  I much rather be ahead then behind.

April's block is called Brasstown Star.  I am doing two blocks with each block have the colors in opposite placement.  Here is the one color way that I got done this evening.  I will try to come back to this post with the other color placement when I get it done. I came back and posted the opposite placement of color block.

Warmest...

Quilt of Valor Stars 2017 Project - March Blocks - Army Block

I am a little behind the eight ball in getting blocks done timely.  But last night I finished the blocks for March.  This is called the "Army Block".  I struggled with making it because I cut out the fabric a couple of days after my eye surgery.  Bad idea.  I believe in brain fog from the anesthesia was the cause, because either didn't cut enough of one piece or other pieces were not the right size.  Note to self, wait a week to do any cutting, figuring, or stitching after any anesthesia.  Hopefully it will be a long time before I will need one again.

Anyways, here are my block for March.  What is interesting is they are the same pattern, but different use of color.

Warmest...

2017 Spring Is Finally Happening

Finally, I think we are going to have a Spring around here.

I have started some seedlings of flowers and vegetables in the greenhouse, but it is still too cool at night, so I have a heater going to help them along.

Thank goodness most of my herbs are perennials and come back every year.  I found these glass herb signs while waiting for my Mom's prescriptions to be filled at the drug store.  I thought they would look super cute in the barrels.  

These are planters on my back porch filled with spring blooming annuals to brighten up the place.

My chickens have a new place to play in the backyard.  I fenced off an area of half of the back yard, so they can come and go to lay eggs in the hen house and roam picking at the grass and be more free range.  They are very happy chickens.  

This is a flower bed off my back porch that the perennials are coming up nicely.  

I had a spot up front along my garage driveway that I have been building up for a couple of years, so that I could plant me a mini orchard.  Late fall, I picked these tress up and got them planted, and now they are blooming.  I couldn't be happier.

Rainer Cherry Tree

Peach Tree

Pear Tree (grafted with 6 different types of pears)

I am holding my breath for some warmer weather, but that probably won't be such a good idea, as the Pacific Northwest warm weather can wait to come clear into June.  Waiting....

Another Surgery

WARNING:  Picture could be not for the weak of heart.



When I was 5, I had an aneurysm burst, and I hemorrhaged through my left ear canal (which saved my life).  In doing the repair, they cut all of the facial muscles on the left side and it caused paralysis. My left eye has not ever been able to close all the way, and now that I am getting older, the eye is drying out.

The fix for this was to put a gold weight in the upper eyelid to help pull it down to close over the entire eye.  I understand this is fairly common, and done more often than one would think.

Also, this procedure has been around for over 20 years, as it was suggested that I have this done in my late thirties, but my eyes were not dry, so I opted to wait and see if I would really need it later.  Well, later came and this is what I am recuperating from this week.

Hopefully, between this surgery and my knee surgery of last December (which I am still dealing with the aftermath doing surgery)  I am done with surgeries for awhile.  Age has it's drawbacks.

Warmest...

2017 Finished Quilts - "Mum's the Word" Mystery Quilt - #30

This is my first finish for 2017.  I'm slower this year.

I started this mystery quilt, from a blog site back in April 2013, and all I did was pull the fabric together and started clue one.  Then it got put away until I pulled it out in June 2016 (you can read about the details here)and finished the top and pinned it together to quilt on my machine rather than sending it out to a long arm quilter.  And it sat there on my to do pile, got moved around, and sat some more, until this last week when I was at a point that I wanted to quilt it.  Part of my procrastination in working on this is because I have not done any quilting on my vintage machine, and wasn't sure how it would perform.  Although, I think it was just plain procrastination on my part, because I don't like this part of the quilt making process.  I knew from following a group on Facebook called Vintage Sewing Machines, that this machine would perform just fine.  And, of course it did, and it works wonderful.  

This is the full size, about 40" X 50".  At first, for me, I couldn't really see the pattern of pinwheels, but the camera brings out them.  It is all made from one jelly roll, including the border and the binding.  

For the backing, I used a scrap of leftover fabric from the backing of my Chocolat quilt from last year.  I did just a cross hatch stitch in the ditch following the pinwheels top to bottom, sided to side.

It has been a cold winter this year in the Pacific Northwest, so I am going to use it to throw over my legs while I'm siting at the machine.  But, since it is finally spring and warming up, it will have a place on the back of my sewing chair.

Size: 40" X 50"

Fabric Lines Used:  Moda Whimsey by Fig Tree

Pattern: Mystery Quilt "Mum's the Word" 

Designer:  Heather Spence (www.heatherspencedesigns.com

Long Arm Quilter:  Renee Steele

Year Began: 04/2013

Year Completed: 04/2017