Blog Reader Choices, Feedly, etc.

It’s coming… July 1st, 2013.  On that date, when you wake up, Google Reader will be gone. 

You may have noticed that on the right side of my blog there is a link you can click to follow my blog on bloglovin.  That is one option. 

You could also choose to follow my blog (and others) on Feedly. That’s the green logo. Both work quite well to follow any blog you’d like. 

You can choose any other blog reader to follow any kind of blog you would like. 

Should you need the information, the rss feed for Michigan Quilts is: http://blog.caronmosey.com/?alt=rss .

So why did I choose to go with Feedly?  It was simple.  Feedly offers a lot of the same features that Google Reader did.  I have liked the ability to scroll through Google Reader and see each blog in it’s full format, scrolling through dozens of blog posts and remain on the same page.  Bloglovin’ requires me to click through and view each blog entry on its own page.  For me, that is a lot of pages to click on.  So my decision is made  Feedly it is!  However, please know that just because I read the blogs that I follow on Feedly doesn’t mean that if you use a different blog reader you can’t follow my blog somewhere else!  If you are confused and need help, please send me an email at

So, on to the world of quilting.  What have I been doing lately?  Taking a little break, actually.  I’ve been tired lately, and have been enjoying catching up on some reading.  My Kindle has had a good workout these last few weeks! 

I did manage to squeeze in some time to work on trapunto )photo at left) for a class sample for my hand quilting class.  I really enjoyed the process, which was new to me. 

I also put in more time on hand quilting my feathered stars quilt (photo on right).

This is a project in slow motion, as it is heavily quilted.

 

We have had quite a bit of rain in Michigan lately, but it has helped the garden tremendously! 

 

The rhododendrons look beautiful close up, but I don’t like the yellow leaves that are taking over.  I think the soil is lacking something, but I’m not sure what.  If you are a fan of rhodies and have any ideas, I’d love to hear from you!

 

Hope all is well in your world!

Playing Catch Up

If you are in the United States, how do you celebrate Memorial Day (weekend)? Because our first grandson, Jacob, was born on May 28th, we generally get the family together and have a barbeque sometime over the holiday weekend.  We did that yesterday.  It was a beautiful day, warm, sunny, and perfect for grilling out.  Son Sean is the grill master when we visit them, and a good one at that!  Delicious pulled pork sandwiches, baked beans ala Margaret, fresh fruit, birthday cake and more munchies than a body should eat. 

Ready for birthday cake? Sean serves the birthday boy…

 

Usually, there are more people around the table… but Kim and Samantha had a stomach bug, so they stayed in the bedroom and tried to feel better.  Staying in the bedroom kept everyone else from catching what they had, as well.

 

But we hadn’t seen Loren and Margaret since Christmas, so it was nice to hang out with them. 

 

 

I spent some time over the weekend finishing my class sample for my hand quilting class.  I wasn’t sure what color binding to put on it, so I opted for a two-color version.  Yellow, like the front of the quilt, and a thin flange in a light grey.  The quilt was hand quilted with light grey thread as well.  I just wasn’t in the mood for an all yellow quilt, so the touch of grey seemed to be the right thing at the time.  It’s just a little piece, but a good size for a beginning student.  I’m not at all happy with the way the binding looks… that may be redone soon.  Too much puckering on the edge of the quilt for my liking.  UGH.

Someone had told me that it was a lot of quilting to do for a first time quilter.  Could be, but the cross hatches can be omitted if desired.  After the class, I will be adding trapunto to the piece, which will give it a different look.

Contrary to what you may have thought, I have NOT fallen off the planet!

 

If you are a devoted hand quilter, you know that the gentle rhythm and regular pucker between each quilting stitch comforts you and keeps you grounded.  If I go a day without taking a few stitches, I can feel the stress start to build up in myself.  It’s a good thing I have two projects going right now, because the last month has been a doozie!  But every single stitch has helped tremendously!

First my dad had surgery on his thumb to try and remove an infection that kept coming back. Then the doctor got the results of the tests back and determined that the infection was combined with bone cancer in his thumb.  Two weeks after that, he had another surgery, this time to remove part of the thumb down to the first knuckle.  Ouch!  I won’t share a photo with you.  Just know that it happened, and he is doing much better.  My brother lives across the country, so he provided moral support from afar.  When dad is in his area for half of the year, I do the same from here.  It works.

Then my mother-in-law ended up in the hospital for four days.  As my husband is an only child, we were kept quite busy making numerous trips to the hospital and visiting with his father as well.  Neither one is able to maneuver stairs very well, and they live in a two story home.  Yes, the bedrooms are upstairs, as is the main bathroom (with tub/shower).  The small bathroom downstairs has no bathing facility.  So the discussion has begun on moving them into a one-story home sooner rather than later.  Let’s just say that discussion did not go well, but we are not giving in.  HEAVY SIGH.  She is now home, but regular monitoring is needed on our end. 

So these two quilting projects have kept me grounded and help maintain my sanity:

FEATHERED STAR BEAUTY

If you are a regular follower of my blog, the entire quilt has been quilted from top to bottom, but I am now going in and adding another diagonal line between every one that you see here.  This photo is about two months old.  More has been completed, but you don’t get to see it yet!  (Sorry!)

FLEUR de CARON

This is a new class sample for a hand quilting class I teach.  I am in the process of doing the grid work behind the design that I created.  I always do the main design first, and then mark the grid.  I find it gives a better finished look, at least for me!  The grid is half-inch squares.  When the little quilt has all been hand quilted, I will go in and add trapunto.  Thanks to my friend Tim Latimer for his trapunto encouragement!

I hope you are enjoying the Spring 2013 Celebrate Hand Quilting Blog Hop! If you are here visiting, please be sure and leave a comment and tell me where you are from!