Progress is progress..!

In my stitching diary:

I only took one picture on Wednesday of my stitching in progress at Maple Street.  "They" say a picture says a thousand words... 

I wonder if silence speaks louder?

The Starkville Happy Hooper's quilt guild meets on Thursday mornings.  It's an informal guild.  There are no by-laws or business meetings. It's simply a group of quilters that get together for fellowship, encouragement and inspiration!

I captured a small clip of a typical Thursday morning Hooper meeting and posted it to the guild's FB page. I love the buzz of conversation.

This week I worked on the double wedding ring that has been in progress for 20+ years. I've promised it to my son.  I probably should pick up the pace 😝.

And today, at home,

I've finally made it to my machine!

I think "empty nest" hit hard today.  It's Friday and my Sweetling is not coming home for the weekend... I don't have to make sure her favorite foods are in the cupboard. I'm making dinner for two, not three, tonight.  My usual Friday is no longer my usual routine.  I am feeling unbalanced today...

I need to start a baby quilt (because I've decided I'm keeping the Baby Girl stain glass quilt instead of giving to Heartbeat's co-worker,) but am having difficulty concentrating and I can't decide on a pattern.  I went back and forth thinking about it all day.

Realizing that I was getting no where with the back and forth going on, I switched gears. 

The next project at the Wanna Bee quilt group is going to be using the pattern Honeycomb by Karen Griska.  Part of the pattern calls for string piecing.  It's a piecing technique that is pretty much mindless sewing. And finally, after dinner, I grabbed my box of previously prepared "strings,"  sat at my sewing machine and started stitching strings together.

The only thing I had to be mindful of was to not sew the same print side by side.  Otherwise, all I had to do was pick up the next piece, line it up, then zip through the machine, and repeat.

After a couple hours, I had a pretty good pile started.  It's amazing what can be done with a stack of mix-matched fabrics.

Progress is progress no matter how big or small!!  I'll take it 🥰.

"Complimentary Cookie" blog update

I haven't done much crafting over that last week or so.  We moved my youngest to college over the weekend.  She now lives 1,094 miles away (according to Maps.) I couldn't be more proud she has the courage and drive to move onto the next stage of her life.
Now My Heartbeat and I are officially Empty-Nesters. What does that really mean?...  I don't know yet...

This update is more like a "complimentary cookie" type update. I haven't resumed stitching activities yet, but I don't want to go too long without a blog update.

The whole focus of the trip was Sweet's move-in date.  I only have 3 pictures over 5 days that are quilting or craft related.

The night before our flight to NYC, my Heartbeat noticed a quilt shop on our route to dinner.  After dinner, he surprised me by returning to the shop, Fabric for the Flock in Bartlett, TN.
It was 7:04 p.m. when we pulled into the parking lot and the sign on the door said closing time was 7.  But I know sometimes shops stay open if they have a class running so I tried the door. And to my pleasure, the shop owner was happy to let me browse after she heard my story of how I happen to be stopping at her store.
I wish I thought to take more pictures of her shop.  The shop owner, Karla, had several quilts and quilt tops on display.  She told me she supports local designers.  With my Heartbeat and Sweets waiting for me in the car, and the time was already after hours, I didn't feel I had time to see which designs she was talking about.  But I walked through the fabrics and picked out a couple that caught my eye.
Beautiful fabrics by popular designers, bottom to top: Riley Blake Designs Pattern C4152, "The Sweet Life" by Pat Sloan (Moda), and a Tula Pink charm pack!  All just to add to my stash 🥰.

In NYC we had lunch at Fraunce's Tavern. It's one of NYC's oldest standing structures and contains 9 museum galleries! We enjoyed live jazz while we ate our meal then we wandered through the museums.  I couldn't resist taking a picture of the needle work on this 5-star flag. It's just beautiful!

I had knitting to occupy my evenings in the hotel and during the flight back home.

I've been home two full days and have barely stepped into my sewing room.  Today I went to Maple Street charity quilting. Tomorrow I'll attend the Starkville Hooper's quilt guild meeting.  Hopefully, all these talented quilting ladies will inspire me to get working again ☺️.

Quilt is done in the nick of time!

Wish had some stories for you today, but I don't have much!

Sweets is so excited to get the next phase of her life started.  She's completely packed, everything she can think she'll need over the next 3 months. And a list of items that need to be purchased in NYC.   She is a planner. I think she gets that from my Heartbeat.

~~~

The quilt is the last item needing to go into a suitcase.

This morning there were still 7 blocks that needed threads buried.  I had today and tomorrow, then the next day we fly!!

At noon, Sweets and I ran errands.  There were still 5 blocks to do.

By time we got back home, I was feeling the time crunch!  So, I allowed SOME shortcuts 😋.  But only here and there.

The need to get this done today was very strong.

You see, even after I took care of the threads in the back, there were still the threads that get pulled to the front in the quilting process that needed burying too!!

My saving Grace was that most of those ends had longer threads which made it easier to use the needle and make overhand knots. 

Now, at nearly midnight, I can announce that it's time to celebrate!! Because I finally finished it!! With one day to spare (if all goes well.) 

We decided to put it through the laundering test. This is one of the scary parts for me.  I'll be keeping my fingers crossed until it's dried again. 🤞

I forgot to get a pic of my secret ❤️.  I guess I'll get it for my blog tomorrow.

~~~

Alright then! Charity quilting tomorrow at Maple Street!!  Until then, I wish you (and me!) A good night's rest!