Monday, May 25, 2020

May Mini and Miscellaneous

A quiet holiday weekend at home.  We invited a couple of older friends from church to our place for Friday fish-fry take out from our local restaurant.  They too are tired of the unending isolation and gladly accepted, bringing with them this gorgeous bouquet.


So very thoughtful and beautiful, especially since not much is blooming outdoors at the moment, even the dandelions in the lawn have gone to seed.  We had a wonderful evening eating, chatting and reminiscing about better days.

The weather has been warmer and even sunny several of the past few days, enough so that the side porch has been scrubbed, the bistro table set out, and my latest little mini resides there now.  Here it is, along with the very last of the daffodils and tulips from the yard.


As you may have guessed this mini mat is another of my 2012 FMQ practice pieces that I wanted to save to hopefully remember some of the designs.   Now bound and made useful in other ways too.


So many feathers, I love them, don't do many now because my eyes aren't good enough to track back on the previously quilted curves anymore.  Maybe someday.  I was finally able to get an appointment with the retina specialist for early June, so we should know more about the prognosis after they have done all their testing.

We visited one of the local nurseries last week, and I fell in love with this hanging basket - tuberous begonias.  I've never had this variety of begonia before, hope I can keep them blooming all summer.  Aren't these flowers just luscious!


They remind me of slices of fresh summer peaches. Yummy!


Another piece of positive news, we've been given the go-ahead to restart our quilt ministry at the church fellowship hall this week, as long as there are not more than 10 people, wearing their masks, etc. etc.  So very happy about that!  We have plenty of room to meet all the guidelines so we're good to go. That will lift so many spirits.

I'll link this post with Wendy at The Constant Quilter when she posts her end-of-month mini roundup later this week.

Happy quilting, and Memorial Day barbequeing!

14 comments:

Debbie said...

That is wonderful news for your group ministry! To be able to visit and see other people for a while will lift someone's spirits! It would mine....Russ still keeps me away from people no matter what.
here's a prayer for the eye appointment. I sure pray that the doctor will be able to give you good news about improving the vision. My piecing and quilting are suffering with mine , so I know what it is like.
New flowers are lovely. I remember that mini project from the FMQ class....I don't think mine even got bound.:)

Barbara said...

Beautiful begonias! We were sad to realize the hanging baskets we purchased earlier this year must have some kind of toxic insecticide on them. We actually saw a bee fly into one and then drop dead within a few seconds. We’d noticed dead bees around, but we weren’t sure what was causing it. We took them down immediately and put them in the garage. I think we’ll just have to cover them with garbage bags until they’re dead and then dump them on the burn pile. I’m going to notify the store about the problem too. It’s nice you’re going to be able to get your quilt group going again. I think everyone is tired of the isolation, and the crazies going out into big crowds unprotected are only going to prolong the need for it. I’ll be watching to see what you find out about your eyesight.

---"Love" said...

Your free motion quilting is beautiful! So are all the flowers! I miss our church quilters' group. It folded a couple of years ago when a few of the new quilters dropped out one by one, and then one of our best and most dedicated quilters moved out of state, leaving only me and one other. We both have nice quilting rooms, so decided rather than haul our machines to the church and back home, just to quilt at home and donate what we can. Now neither of us are able to load our machines. We are good friends and visit a lot, but we miss all the others. Glad your group will be getting back together. ---"Love"

Janet O. said...

So many pretty flowers in this post! The roses are such a soft, lovely color. You have gorgeous tulips and daffodils!. And the begonias!!! My goodness--before I read your comment about the peaches, I was envisioning juicy citrus fruits. Either way, they make my mouth water with their intense, fresh colors!
Your mini displays your beautiful work so well. You have such nice flow in those feathers, and the quilted flowers are so pretty, too. I believe I bound my piece full of different backgrounds and hung it by my machine for a while. It isn't there now--I should go hunting to see what happened to it.
Will be praying for you to get positive word about your eyesight!

Hill Top Post said...

I am amazed at your beautiful free motion embroidery. I have done some practice pieces, but I would never show them. Wow! Your "summer peaches" basket is luscious looking. It is good news that you can go back to work at the quilt ministry. I am not doing well with the mask thing in our heat and humidity. I will either have to give up my glasses or the mask. I think it will be the mask.

Kyle said...

Pretty flowers, awesome quilting, and good news. I'd say you had a great week. Your May mini is a great reuse of your quilting doodle piece. Sweet.

Wendy Caton Reed said...

Another great machine masterpiece! Oh how I admire good machine quilting. I keep saying I am going to practice but it never happens! I will link you in when I post. Thanks for another great mini. And I am so thankful that you finally got to spend some time with friends!

audrey said...
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FlourishingPalms said...

How exciting for you to be reengaging with community! Having friends over, getting out to shop for a gorgeous hanging floral basket, and meeting with quilters. Those are all signs of normal, and I'm happy for you. Such is not the case here. Though Florida is gradually reopening, neither churches, nor our dozens of recreation centers have reopened. In fact, I learned during a recent Zoom meeting that our quilter's guild will likely not have any meetings or workshops until September. By the way, I'm happy to see your free motion quilting efforts. Before I turned to modern quiltmaking, I quilted lots and lots of feathers too! However, I'm sorry to know about your eyesight problem. I hope it proves to be something fixable.

Quilting Babcia said...

At our meeting yesterday the humidity was really tough to take. Since we had a small group everyone was removing their mask occasionally just to be able to breathe freely. I feel like I'm drowning with this week's humidity. Believe me, there are plenty of practice pieces that ended up as kitty beds, never to be seen on any form of media!

Quilting Babcia said...

I have no idea why/how this happened. But then nothing blogger does should surprise me anymore.

QuiltGranma said...

Beautiful flowers, wonderful use of a practice piece!

Cynthia@wabisabiquilts said...

Such a pretty, fresh mini! Lovely flowers. Nice that you could have friends over. And very nice that your quilt ministry is up and running again! I know what you mean about the humidity. In Japan we are being advised to not wear masks when exerting or in very hot weather "to avoid heat stroke." Common sense.

Quilter Kathy said...

A great idea to turn a practice piece into a mini quilt!
I have so many and really like them but they sit in the closet.