Soon after my last post I got Covid. It sucked. I had it worse than a lot of people I know but not bad enough to go to the hospital. I guess it’s a mild case but it sure did not feel mild. It’s been several weeks and I still feel very tired and I have to take things slow. Some moments my energy levels are at my old self and I want to do everything. Other moments I just am so tired all I can do is lie in bed.

Anyway it’s put a dent on all my crafting. My goal of finishing something every month could not be completed. I’m behind on my BOM – plum fusion. But I’ve done a bit of knitting, some cross stitch and some hand work.

I’ve never been really sick before. I’m a pretty healthy person. I’ve never had the flu and I thought I’d be fine when I finally got the Vid. I was very surprised at how it hit me and I’m grateful it wasn’t worse.

I think we will all get it at some point. For now I’m masking up and trying to avoid getting it twice.

Stay safe,

Melanie

Southern CA quilt run used to have 40 shops participate in the annual shop hop. It would take the full 2 weeks quickly hopping from shop to shop to finish. Now not so much. In 2012 or 2014, the theme was mysteries or something like that. Each area (there are 4) had a mystery quilt. Each shop gave a clue and when you completed an area you got the final instructions. You could also buy a kit to complete the clue. I think this was Area 2 and I didn’t get the final clue. I bought a kit at each shop and finally over the last several years worked through each kit until I had all the blocks made. At one retreat, my fellow retreaters helped me put it together as best as possible without the final clue or instructions. This is what we came up with. and finally this year I quilted and finished this up.

I’m working my way through my finished tops this year and hope to clear out that spot in my craft room!

Stay crafting friends!

Melanie

My life has been a whirlwind recently and I’m finally forced to shut down. We got back from Florida last week and I’ve been on catch up mode for work and all my self-imposed tasks. In addition, I’ve been preparing for upcoming commitments. My mental and emotional state finally said enough with this and I’ve decided to back off those things that won’t matter too much. Like a guild workshop I’m supposed to attend today.

I can’t back off my garden! I’ve been spending evenings watering, picking, watching and it’s given me such solace over these hectic times of mine. There’s so much to do right now for it. As our temperatures rise I won’t be able to do much but there’s always planning for fall.

Above is my first pomegranate baby. One of my mom’s friends gave me this. From what I understand, she had this in a pot for 10 years and it hadn’t given fruit. She finally decided to let it go. I got it earlier this year and transplanted it to this planter. And now I have a baby fruit! I think it needed space to stretch its roots.

I’m using strawberries as my ground cover now and it’s a contest between me, pillbugs and whatever bugs right now. I’m able to pick 1-3 strawberries a day! I have a strawberry tower that I started last year and it’s doing fine. The patch I started earlier this year and I’ve slowly added strawberries to increase it’s space. It’s really slow because I’m busy with other stuff and can only do so much at a time. I’m hoping as it gets established I’ll be able to supply myself with as much strawberries I want! I’ll get a bunch of bare roots in the fall and plant more for next year.

I’ve also signed up for a permaculture course in the fall and I’m excited about that. There is stuff on YouTube but not a lot of urban permaculture which is what I want to focus on. I’ve also been taking classes at Theodore Payne which focuses on CA Natives so I’d like to incorporate that as well. I can see my life getting busier once that starts and my crafting time is what will suffer. Unfortunately, I still need to work and pay the bills. So I can’t spend less time on that front.

Stay crafty!

Melanie

We went to visit one of my brother-in-laws in Naples, FL. Here are some pictures we took while exploring.

This week has been great visiting and having some time off. I realize that I’ve filled my life again with a lot of commitments and I have to learn to say no again.

This quilt is finally finished. It’s been under several machines as for some reason I had it in my head to use different quilting motifs on each clam. That got old real fast and after several started repeating them.

I took a ruler work class at a local sewing machine shop in town and started quilting with the techniques I learned in that class. I also took a Mel Beach class and did some quilting on my domestic with some painters tape and creative placement. But in the end, it was taking way too long that I finally threw in the towel and repeated a few motifs in order to get this done.

I love choosing interesting backs with interesting designs. I couldn’t cut into this fabric for piecing unless I did some fussy cutting.

I used to do my labels on my embroidery machine and if I still did that, this quilt would still be waiting for a label and wouldn’t be done done done. I skip that and simply use fabric pens to write up my label. It’s simple and not as pretty as what I could do on the embroidery machine but I’m okay with it. I love the added detail of the crosses I hand embroidered.

Hugs to you all,

Melanie

I’d never sent a quilt to be long armed before and I’m thrilled with the result and experience. I started this quilt at a class with Linda Ballard at PIQF in 2013. Linda is speaking at my guild this month and I wanted this to be done in time so I gave it to one of our local long armers. It was fabulous. I won’t be doing it often but now that I’ve done it I feel comfortable doing it again.