Pokemon Quilt

Long Time No See….

Wow, I didn’t realize it had been so long! Let’s see if I can do a life update to explain before I get into the quilting.

Fall of 2022 (back to my last post) changed everything for us. My mom had some medical issues that she couldn’t come back from and ended up going to a nursing home for long term care as we couldn’t take care of her at home any more. All my free time was spent running out to see her multiple times a week along with helping dad out with things at the house. May of 2023, the week after Mother’s Day, she had multiple strokes which the doctors said there was nothing they could do to help her. May 22, 2023 she passed away and we had a lot of things to take care of. Lawyer, bank, cars, etc. It’s been hard to deal with mom not being here the last year, but she’s not hurting anymore and is at peace.

To add on top of the things going on with my mom, my lovely husband broke his leg in January. 2 surgeries and about 4 months later he was back on his feet with a cane and walking. Then over the summer we realized that when he fell and broke his leg he also damaged his shoulder. Surgery for that in October to repair 2 massive tears in his rotator cuff. 2023 was not a good year for our family!

I didn’t have a lot of mojo to quilt the rest of the year, I used to quilt with mom and my heart just wasn’t in it. Oh I still worked on EPP projects, but didn’t get anything close to a finish. I also picked up cross stitch again and spent evenings working on that when I didn’t want to work on EPP. At Christmas, hubby and I decided we weren’t getting each other gifts but did a weekend trip to Kalahari Indoor Water Park as a family gift from Santa instead. To my surprise he handed me a letter basically saying that due to him being home most of the year and not working as much (plus everything with mom) he realized that tomorrow is never guaranteed. We needed to enjoy life more. So he made me a promise that come 2024 we’d figure out how to get me the long arm I’ve been wanting for a REALLY long time. So, April of 2024 I purchased a Handiquilter Moxie XL, the 10′ frame and the overhead light bar. In order to have a place to put it I had to do some MAJOR cleaning in the basement – I had between 15-20 garbage bags, a few things that went on Facebook Marketplace and were sold and a lot of sorting! There’s still a little bit left to clean up and/or sell but the basement is now pretty usable. I also had to call an electrician and get a lot more (and better) lights and outlets in the basement. That turned out WAY better than I expected!

So since the beginning of May I’ve been quite busy working on finishing various quilts. 2 small ones that were donated to the guild community service group, 1 the kids stole almost immediately (waiting since 2013 for quilting), the Pokemon quilt (waiting since March 2020 for quilting) and Cassie’s bed quilt (currently finishing the binding and has only been waiting 2 years for quilting).

In addition to getting all these quilts finished in the last few months, I also got a few cross stitch projects finished. A new line of signs from Fat Quarter Shop that I loved but finished totally differently than they did – of course I quilted them and made them wall hangings for the doors! I finished 3 of them, I have to start working on the fall, Halloween and Christmas ones. I finally finished my quilt-o-logy and stitch-o-logy pieces, instead of buying the wooden spool, my dad made them for me out of wood from our backyard that he’s been making things for us for years. Of course I just realized I haven’t hung them up yet and I don’t remember where I put them after I showed them off at guild! I’ll have too look so I can hang them in my office/sewing room.

Today is the first day of summer break for the kids, they’ve accomplished so much in the last year and a half! Alex is doing great in middle school, Honors ELA and science (8th grade science in 7th grade!), and almost all A’s (a B+ in Honors science). Next year he takes 9th grade science in 8th grade and gets high school credit for it! Cassie is moving to 5th grade next year and is so smart it kills me! She’s been identified as gifted in math and ELA so that should continue into middle school like Alex with honors classes. I’m very proud of both my kids, even though Alex has surpassed my height at 13!

I’ll be around more, I have lots of things to finish and I think my mojo is finally back!

Lots of Updates!

Amazingly I haven’t had a lot of things that required me to leave the house the last few days. So I decided that it was time to spend some time sewing! Well I did take a nice long walk the other day it was so nice!

So first item up on my list was to get the border put on the Pokemon quilt. This top has been done for almost 2 years and I don’t know what I was waiting for! Not the best picture, kids had things out and I couldn’t get a better one. But the border is now on this and it’s in the to be quilted pile!

Since the top is now done I decided all the solids leftover from this could go into the Harry Potter quilt, since I need more to make it bigger than the original SAL. I think the SAL was for a twin bed size/throw and I’m making it large enough to fit our king size bed and hang over the sides properly – which I can never do for some reason. 🙂 So everything shown in the basket at the top is from the Pokemon quilt. In fact I used some of it already to make my next Harry Potter block! 9 3/4 is finished and I have 12 more blocks to go!

So with that done I decided to pull out my 2017 Hexie temperature quilt (picture from post in 2018) and see where I was with that. Boy did I leave that project in a mess! Back in 2018 I put the first 2 rows together and then put together the blocks and appliqued all the hexie flowers that were completed. It looks like I have 4 flowers that still need to be put together and I can possibly put the next 2 rows together. However, it looks like I never updated my spreadsheet/trello with what was completed AND it looks like I never got the high temp for the day from August 28th to the end of the year! So it looks like I’ll spend a little time today gathering the rest of my data and maybe even pulling fabrics for more hexies. Since we are going on a mini vacation for Spring Break I’ll need a project (or 2) to take with me!

Cassie wants to do some sewing today, we’ll see if she really makes anything!

March Plans

So I have a little girl that will be turning 5 this month, which means a party needs to be planned/held. Yet somehow my plans for this month are huge!

So first order of business is to get all the EPP pieces cut out for Cassie’s quilt and the fabric basted to them. In all likelihood I will work on getting the pieces put together as well, but the goal is just to get them basted. She hasn’t asked yet when it’s going to be done, but she gets so excited when I show her a new piece that’s put together!

You know I had to start working on a new quilt instead of finishing UFO’s right? LOL So I decided to do the Harry Potter quilt along over at Seriously I Think It Needs Stitches. In 2017-18 I made the Pokemon quilt based on Kellie’s pattern (yes I know it’s still in the UFO pile but I’m waiting for her awesome quilt back she promised us!) and I loved how her patterns just made the pieces go together so easily. When I saw she had a Harry Potter one coming I decided I was going to it. But when the SAL started in January I didn’t have my fabric yet and then I needed the background which was out of stock so I had to pick something else. Last week I got the first block done and now I have to get caught up on the rest. So the other part of this months goal is to get the following blocks completed: Ron Weasley, Cupboard Under the Stairs, HP monogram, Hedwig, Whomping Willow and Harry’s Glasses (out today no pdf to print yet).

So I’m a little ambitious this month with Cassie’s birthday, however the EPP is always worked on while the kids are playing or I’m watching tv/basketball games in the living room. Also, the kids are away at my sister’s this weekend, which means lots of time in my sewing room – except for our date this afternoon/evening!

Linking up to Elm Street Quilts – OMG

So I’ve been busy for the last few months working on a Pokemon quilt for the kids to cuddle up in. It WAS a secret project only the hubby knew about (although I was posting updates on Instagram!) until a week or so ago when Alex was snooping and saw the words “Pokemon quilt” on my computer screen. So the jig was up and I had to fill him in on it – I kept it a secret for 8 blocks though! I’m happy with the progress so far, the picture is all of the completed blocks along with the header piece. Still waiting for the sashing information to put the blocks together, we might not get that until the last 3 blocks are done though. Want to make your own Pokemon quilt? The pattern is available free at Seriously I think it needs stitches!

New Quilt!

I know, I needed a new project like I need a smack in the head right? I couldn’t help myself! I don’t even remember how I found this blog, but I’m glad I did! Kelli at Seriously I think it needs stitches is doing a Pokemon quilt along and I just had to join in! The kids LOVE Pokemon, in fact Alex’s birthday theme this year (just 2 weeks ago!) was Pokemon. I have block 1 completed after I bought the bundle Fat Quarter Shop has put together, and I almost have all of block 2 put together, I just need to order some more fabric! A few of the colors need more than a fat quarter, and I can’t finish block 2 until I get it. I’m planning on seeing what I can cut out and put together of block 3 until I get the fabric order.

While I was working on the 2 blocks, I got a few more bow tie blocks completed as leader/enders. I’ve now used up all the ones I had prepped, so I need to get some more ready. I have some other blocks I can use as leader/enders though, I need to get the borders on 3 hexie temp blocks and that will be first. I also have an idea for something I can easily make and list in the etsy shop, so that might be worked on as a leader/ender too. I will have a finish in the next week, I need to finish the binding and applique on the back and it’s done. Back soon!