Valerean

The weather is already starting to deteriorate here, so I'm going to post this in the event our lousy broadband takes a dive tomorrow. Dorian is due to arrive either Monday or Tuesday, depending on a lot of factors. It could skirt the coast, or it could roar across the state. We're in the cross hairs of almost all of the spaghetti models. As of tonight they're telling us to expect it to be a Category Two if/when it reaches us, and it may last for two or three days. Not a great situation. Our power, phones and internet will probably go out as soon as hurricane winds arrive. If all these grim predictions come true we'll probably be out of communication with the rest of the world for at least a week or longer. Back in 2004 we went 21 days without power or water, and the roads remained blocked for almost two weeks. So that's the bad side of this kind of storm. On the good side, we are fully prepared and stocked up, and we know what to do. Our house has survive

There's still ample time and opportunity for Hurricane Dorian to change course, but if the storm stays on this latest projected track then we're in for it. We're just a blip north of where it's expected to be at 2 am on Tuesday in the NOAA graphic below. As we're experienced hurricane survivors we're taking no chances. Yesterday we filled up the propane tanks for our grill and the gas containers for the generator. I have two weeks' supply of water and nonperishable food in the pantry. This house has weathered a half-dozen hurricanes, including Irma when she roared right past us as a Cat 2 storm. Earlier this summer we had three trees at risk for collapsing on the house removed -- a tough decision for us -- but now I'm very grateful we did it. As for the timing, well, there you have my perpetually lousy luck. My grandson's due date is next Tuesday, the same day Dorian may arrive. His mom and dad will likely be staying with us through the s

It looks like Tropical Storm Dorian will turn into a hurricane by the time it reaches the US. Not our first rodeo, of course, but worrisome just the same. I'm gathering the last of the supplies we'll need today, and getting all my chicks ready to come home to hunker down with us. On the quilting front, I don't want to start a big project until after the storm. Last night I did look at what I have to make the last quilt for the secret art project this year, and decided on this stack of fabrics from a scrap box I bought off Etsy (pic #1). The colors have a lovely soft old-manor feel to them, so I added a vintage wine print I had in my stash, plus what was left of the solid pomegranate fabric I used to make the back and binding for Katherine's quilt earlier this year (pic #2). I thought the solid would work better than black with these colors for this Secret Garden pattern I'd like to try (pic #3). It's made entirely from 2-1/2" strips so I think I can

I backed the girl quilt top with muslin, machine quilted that, and made the binding myself again from some scrap fabric. I thought it came out cute. On the recovery front, my guy and I have to go to the hospital tomorrow for his first follow-up appointment, but he's doing very well so I don't expect any problems. My grandson is due here next week, so of course Tropical Storm Dorian is headed our way. I'll be spending the next couple days making sure we're ready for all that.

Our daughter came home yesterday to mow the lawn for her dad, and after dinner she stayed to try acrylic pour painting with me. Last week we picked up some inexpensive paint kits and canvas panels to give this craft a whirl. It's messy but a lot of fun.

Last night I used the extra yard of floral fabric Jen sent me into binding for Mom's birthday quilt. I've never done this with a print, but I think the binding came out really cute -- I may never buy premade binding again. Since my insomnia decided to kick in after that, I went ahead and sewed it on to finish the quilt.

My guy is making a great recovery so far from his surgery. Last night while he was sleeping I finished the quilting of the blocks on the quilt I'm making for my mom's birthday. I just have to stitch around the blocks one more time, and then I'll be ready to make the binding. I've also changed the format of the blog so I can post larger pics. Hope it works for everyone. :)

We're home from the hospital, and my guy made it through his hernia surgery without any complications. The surgeon said the defect was much larger than we thought, so he had to do a lot more work. My guy's very sore, and he won't be able to do much for the next week, but otherwise we're good. I won't be able to do much sewing while I'm nursing him, so here are more pics of the recycled linen quilt:

We're going to be dog sitting for Oliver's parents while they're in hospital having the baby, so my son brought over their pup's kennel. I can't remember the dog's name but I know she's a female -- and guess what's almost the perfect size to make a little quilt for the crate? I might have to machine quilt this one to get it done in time. :)

Bought this piece by Rafi Perez for Oliver's nursery -- the little cardinal is so sweet, and reminds me of the many we have visit us here at our house:

Today I need to figure out what I'll be working on for the rest of the year; I want to make at least one more quilt for my secret art project after I finish the lap quilt for Mom, and then make the wave quilt. For the impending grandson I'm making scrapbooks for me, his mom and his other grandmother (she lives in Seattle and won't get to see him as often as I will, so I'm going to be sending her pics regularly.) I've also been trying not to buy new fabric, but JoAnn had a 76 cent sale on fat quarters and I couldn't resist adding a few more blues to my stash for baby things.

I have to say goodbye to this little guy today; he's going back to college to live with my daughter. Such a sweetheart -- the friendliest bird I've ever known.

Some pics from the last time my guy and I went exploring. The abandoned buildings I think once belonged to a citrus packing company before the big impact freezes wiped out so many back in the eighties.

I've been having a lot of problems with Tumblr, and now they've been sold again I expect there will be more. I've never had these issues with Blogger, so over the next couple months I'm going to move all my content from there to here before I delete my blog. This version of Valerean will just be for online friends, and I'm going to try to keep it private without making it members-only. So (if you don't mind) please don't link to it or pass around the URL. Yesterday I got my mom's birthday quilt batted, backed and pinned and started hand quilting it. I went with a white-on-white tonal fabric for the backing, and I'm quilting it with plain white thread. I'll use the extra yard of colorful fabric Jen sent me to make the binding.

Finished the peacock tote and lined it with some fabric leftover from the baby quilt.

Progress on the peacock tote. I used cross hatch quilting with lavender holographic thread on the feathery green and blue patch to give it some shimmer, and broke out some faux colored pearls to dress up the white and green cotton ribbon. I think if I stay away from seed beads I’ll be okay.