Retirement, Quilting and Canning

 I've been retired for a month now. I Love It! I was worried I'd be bored, but I almost feel like I'm working harder now than I was when I was actually working. The only difference now is I can stop what I'm doing and sit in my chair to rest up. Ha!

I've been canning quite a bit, I'm enjoying making jellies and jams again. I didn't realize how much I'd missed doing that.  

I haven't been quilting near as much as I thought I would either. I've finished the top of my BH Mystery Quilt 'Grassy Creek', it's still not my favorite, but I feel like it's okay now. I put a very light gray outer border on instead of the string pieced border she called for, to me it made the quilt 'muddy' looking. I think once it's quilted I'll like it. 

I've also finished my Civil War Reproduction Quilt of 6" Ohio Stars. It's a favorite that I'm pretty sure I'll keep for myself.

I've begun quilting on a Mary Engelbreit quilt for my sister. She loves all things ME. I've been collecting ME fabric for at least 5 years. It's gotten very hard to find, I'm sure she hasn't designed any fabric for years. Then I couldn't decide what pattern I wanted to use. I finally decided on just set-in circles and an extra wide black ric-rac in the border and a little something to personalize it for my sister. There were plenty of ME 'sayings' to pick from. But this one was my favorite. 

I should have it completed by the end of this week. I only have two more rows of circles to quilt and it will be finished. And that's all the quilt related things I've been working on lately. I've only done a little on my Temperature Quilt, and I'm a month behind. I should catch up pretty fast if I spend a day working on it.

I've decided the next quilt I'm loading will be my 'Lollipop' 1930's reproduction quilt. I'm anxious to see it quilted.

Well,  I hope you all have a very Happy 4th of July! God Bless America!

Happy Quilting,

Kris

‘Nuff Said!

Below is the reason I’ve not been doing much sewing!

Elderberry, Chokecherry, Cherry, Rhubarb, Sand Cherry, Rhubarb Cherry, Cherry Almond Jam, Mixed Cherry, Chokecherry Apple butter…….I’ve made 55 jars of jelly in the last couple of weeks.

I’ll be making some Hot pepper Jelly in the next few weeks….

Happy Jelly Making!

Kris

Vacation time!

It’s a great week to be inside…..very warm temperatures again this week. I’ve been sewing a little, making jelly and going to the hospital in Cambridge to visit with my mom. It’s been a good week to have a vacation just so I can be with mom. I would appreciate prayers for her, she’s getting old and is having a rough time with her memory and just getting around. My sisters and I have some tough decisions to make in a few days. It’s nice to be able to get lost in my quilting and to forget about the ‘hard’ things that we well be discussing and deciding about our wonderful mother. Mom is my sounding board for whatever project I’m working on, she definitely has opinions and ideas about any current project I’m doing…..I love you mom!

I made Strawberry/Rhubarb Jam and Pinecot (pineapple apricot) Jam this morning! Yummy! It’s fun to get some more jams and jellies put away in my basement. They are wonderful gifts and taste so good on toast or bagels. I’ll be making some chokecherry, and wild plum in the coming week……I think I can make jelly out of anything….I have an ‘eye’ for berries in the ditches!

I should be done with my fourth Primitive Garden Wool BOM in a few days, it’s going very well. I enjoy all of the handwork.

I am up to Block number 91 in my Farmer’s Wife Quilt sampler…..I can see the light at the end of the tunnel now. I am having fun with this quilt and will probably start on the Farmer’s Wife Pony Quilt Club Sampler as soon as this one is done.

This is a pattern I bought in Kearney on Monday, they had a sample of this made in the store and I really liked it. I thought it would be really cute done in wool. I wanted to go to the Wooly Mammoth and see what they had for wool and over dyed wool, and found out they are closed on Mondays during the summer. I was extremely disappointed since that was the main reason for my trip to Kearney. Hopefully I’ll get there in the next couple of months or so.

Happy Quilting! Kris