{Post 1,720} So Much Time Has Passed

It has been many moons since I have posted. I looked back at my last pictures to see what had been going on back then. I have had two of my grandkids for a week, a doctor appointment, been to OH and PA for a week, had two times of guests for supper and games (that’s a big rise since several months ago), took a flower-arranging class, rearranged my booth and took on a booth buddy (woman from whom I took class that also sells homemade candles and pottery her husband makes), went to GA again overnight and brought grandkids home, Lazy 5 Ranch today, and tomorrow is one grand’s 6th birthday (he has my heart, so this will be sweet). So, I’ve just been sitting around, LOL!

I’ll start with the most recent stuff first. Well, no, I’ll really just be jumping around. I brought back a 13-gallon trash bag full of mostly floral fabrics from my sister who lives in OH. I had literally just gotten rid of all of my own floral fabrics. Florals are not something I’m drawn to, so I use them very little. I just decided tonight that I need to make masks again. I will use some of the florals for those. My daughter that is the mom of the grands I have right now lives in the Atlanta area. She said they just announced today that kids will need to wear masks to school in the fall, so she asked me to make some for her kids. I already have 4 they can use and will make a couple more for the little princess.

So for the floral fabrics, I used some new ideas from a new YouTuber I have been listening to...Karen Brown of Just Get It Done Quilts. I have gleaned several good ideas from her (and Bonnie Hunter, who I’ve been reading for years). I looked through Pinterest for large floral print quilts and decided on 4 I’d like to make. I figured this bag was good for at least 4 queen-sized quilts. I sorted through the entire bag and combined like fabrics and set aside a few (actually very few) pieces I knew I would not use in quilts. I took those to the thrift shop on the next trip there.

Then I took paper plates and wrote the size of piece and how many I needed for each quilt. For example, I had one that had 75 2-1/2” squares. I ironed each piece and straightened up the edge. I started with my largest squares needed. If the fabric was too small, I used the largest size I could get from that print. I stacked them up so I was cutting through several layers. I only worked through about 1/4 of the fabric (it was this past Monday. I watched a friend’s two youngest boys so she could take care of something for 6 hours. One of the boys took a 4-hour nap, so it wasn’t very hard). Once I cut down the big squares, I cut the rest into 2-1/2” squares, then I cut strips from the scraps.

I started using the strips in these blocks that I made without a pattern. I copied a pattern I saw called “Rinse and Repeat”. I saw a close-up of a quilt and could easily see the pattern. So I made these so far. Keep in mind that I have rarely had a spare minute the last 3 weeks.

I started with several sizes of squares and added the same fabric on two sides, log cabin style. Then I trimmed the blocks to 7” square. These were made last night because I wanted a few minutes of machine time. And I mean a FEW minutes. Here is the quilt I copied...

I’d like to make it at least 60” wide. I like that the strings are all different widths, as are the starting squares. Everything can be used in these, but I will limit the color palette slightly. I like the horizontal straight-line modern-looking quilting, too.

We went to the Lazy 5 Ranch today. It ended up taking nearly all day. It has over 750 animals from 6 continents. One drives through. We always left our windows up. What. A. Blast. 

Here is Katie getting her first glimpse of a group of 4 buffalos in front of our van as we pulled in. She is so emotionally expressive. “Are those REAL, Grammy Jo?” Yep!

We stopped at Chick-Fil-A for lunch and then the drive-thru car wash on our way home. Katie yelled, “Ooooo...there are buffalo boogers on your window!” And she was right. There was also long-horned cattle drool, ostrich feathers, and a host of other animal debris. They definitely get up close and personal!  The little burgundy edge at the bottom of the next picture is the hood of my van.

Here are just a few more pictures to catch up...

 Snap bag from salvages and denim for my booth:

Live flowers I arranged for my (Zoom) class then later gave to a friend going through cancer treatment for the second time in less than a year:

My new booth set-up. We switched the hutch and hanging screen and added a curtain rod for table runners and wreaths (in the fall):

My 2020 hydrangea color:

One of my fancy up-twists. I am a hair model. Helping encourage the gray-haired ladies:

PA visit...son-in-law and grandson: