Memorial Day Weekend 2025

On this Memorial Day weekend, I am so thankful for the men and women who have died defending my right to live freely and be able to walk outside into my yard and enjoy a rainbow. I have so many freedoms and rights and take most of them for granted. This weekend seems a good time to remember them.

On the sewing front, I am waiting for the batting for the wedding quilt to arrive. I ordered it through Amazon from a shop that is 35 miles away, because I got a better price than going there and picking it up. Well I found out their free shipping is "economy" shipping, and it has already been twice to the same nearby town and then out of state! Two days ago it was back to a local town and now it is "in transit to the next facility" and "will arrive later than expected". Oh well.

New pattern release by Brenda at Songbird Designs - isn't it pretty!

When I walked into my sewing room yesterday, I felt an excitement I had not felt for a very long time - the sewjo is back! So what did I do? In spite of owning one million patterns, I bought a new pattern by Brenda at Songbird Designs called Christmas Stars (it is on sale until 5/31/25!) Although I love it in Christmas colors, I first want to make it in patriotic colors - I started a pull this morning!

See my new pull-up bar! Gus is in the background cheering me on

New to the sewing room is a pullup bar - lol! I have thought about buying one of these since I first saw my (now married) grandson using one in his house in 2016. Yes it took me a long time to buy it! All I can do on it is hang for about 15 seconds and pull myself about 2 inches off the ground, but hey it's a start! I'm also doing the treadmill 4-5 days a week - trying to get more active!

I hope you are all having a happy and safe weekend!

Blog Website Change and I Like Thursday on Monday

I liked this rainbow that surprised us last Friday during a sprinkle

Starting on May 15 - my blog will no longer be at https://www.texasquiltgal.com but instead will revert back to :

https://txquiltgal.blogspot.com

It seems silly to pay for a custom domain when I blog so sporadically. If I do everything correctly in my settings, you should not notice any difference, but let me know if you have any issues.

I'll go ahead and list a few likes and do the I Like Thursday prompt, which continues in the bike mode: have you ever ridden a motorcycle? Well yes, I rode on the back of a motorcycle a couple of times when I was younger. They were fairly short rides, and I enjoyed them, but they were nothing I cared to continue. How about you?

On May 16, Netflix will air a short documentary I am looking forward to watching: The Quilters. It is about men in a maximum security prison in Missouri who sew quilts for foster children. I have a feeling I will like it, as I am a proponent of  win-win programs for incarcerated men and women.

Jeff's Mother's Day gift to me - an Apple gift card. So we purchased Apple TV for a few months!

I liked my Mother's Day! Our son drove up from The Woodlands and spent Saturday night with us. Jeff helped his Dad move some "junk" out of the shed, and the rest of the time we hung out under the pergola. Margaritas might have made an appearance, and the weather was magnificent - partly cloudy, cool, and not too breezy. With my Mother's Day "Apple" gift, we watched the first few episodes of Your Friends and Neighbors on Apple TV. We love Jon Hamm, and this series is very entertaining.

Tell me about your Mother's Day, and I hope you have a wonderful rest of the week!

Wedding Quilt Teaser

Here is an "official" photo of grandson Brandon and his new bride Raegan. I cry every time I see pics of them - they are so happy! They were married in Tulsa on April 26. I hope to have more photos to add to my next post.

This is a sneak peek at the quilt I am currently finishing for the newlyweds. The colors are based on Raegan's favorite color of teal. It is a big quilt, and quilting it will take awhile with having to move it around so much on the 5-ft quilting frame!

This is very similar to my first bike, except there was no rear rack

Today's I Like Thursday prompt is all about bikes. I got my first bike when I was 8. One day I cried and whined so much for a bike that the next day my Daddy took me to the Oklahoma Tire and Supply (OTASCO) store, which was right next to the drug store where he worked as a pharmacist. Daddy never made much money, so buying a new bike must have been a real stretch for him and Mom. I think it was $30, and the owner of the store let Daddy pay it out monthly. It was blue, and I loved it and rode it constantly around our little town. Mom sold it while I was in college, so it lasted a long time!

Joining with Not Afraid of Color for I Like Thursday. Hope you have a great rest of the week!

I Like Thursday

Clouds before the storm yesterday

Yes it has been a minute since I did an I Like Thursday post. But I still read many of your posts, because they are, well, uplifting to me!

I like LeeAnna of Not Afraid of Color. Every month she tirelessly delivers interesting prompts, sponsors I Like Thursday, and visits other bloggers' I Like Thursday posts. And on a personal note, I love her open and kind heart. I'm sure all of you appreciate her as much as I do, so you get it, don't you! She was the inspiration behind my decision to post about my likes today, so thank you LeeAnna.

I like any kind of storm cloud, and I often see mammatus clouds (see photo at top of post) associated with stormy weather. National Weather Service describes them as "Drooping underside (pouch-like appearance) of a cumulonimbus cloud in its latter stage of development. Mammatus most often are seen hanging from the anvil of a severe thunderstorm, but do not produce severe weather. They can accompany non-severe storms as well." These preceded a storm yesterday, and I had to run out to get a shot of them!

Gus and Jack

I like my kitties, period, but I like that Gus has adapted so well from his former feral life. You can read his story in this post from 2023. He plays with Jack and Toby and would play with Rosie if she allowed it. He is the most affectionate and vocal of all our five felines.

Photo of a page of a 1960s hometown church cookbook!

Mom's old Jello salad bowl

LeeAnna asked if we have a favorite salad, and my mind usually goes to my Mom's Jello salads. She was the Queen of Jello Salads! My mouth waters just thinking about them. My favorite was one she called Orange Mallow Ring, and it was an orange Jello salad made with buttermilk and marshmallows. It was so, so good, especially with ham. And she served it in the bowl pictured above, which I also like!

I plan to have a photo of my grandson's "wedding quilt", in a post in the next couple weeks. It has not yet been gifted, because unfortunately we were unable to attend his wedding. Details to follow!

Hope all of you have a wonderful rest of the week.

Winging It Finish - A Quilt For Sissy

Finger tips and shoes belong to my favorite quilt holder

Here is my finish on a QAL I started in May 2023. This one is a surprise for my sister-in-law, Sandy. She is 3 years older than my husband, and he often calls her "Sissy", which was his name for her when he was a little tyke.

Side view

Full backing

Closeup of backing

Sandy's favorite bedroom color for years was turquoise - she even painted the walls of her bedroom turquoise  -  and this quilt was originally intended to lay across her bedspread. It was sandwiched and ready to quilt when Sandy innocently and excitedly told me that her new favorite bedroom color was pink and sent me a photo of her new hot-pink bedspread! I "un-sandwiched" the turquoise backing, which was the same turquoise background as the front. At my favorite Etsy shop (That's So Janice), I located 4-1/2 yards of a Tilda-ish print with pink, coral, and turquoise flowers. There is no pink on the front of the quilt, but the fabric blends well as a backing, so it will have to serve as pink for her!

I decided to try a flange binding and used a tutorial by Jenny at Missouri Star. My quarter inch sewing was a little "fat", so the flange is not quite as wide as I prefer, but I do like the result.

My first and favorite block, before and after quilting.

Closeups of Great Barrier Reef variegated thread

This well-written pattern is Winging It by Wendy Sheppard at Ivory Spring. I used my current favorite Great Barrier Reef variegated thread by Y.L.I. Threads for the top and a creamy high sheen thread for the back. All of the butterflies are from stash, background was purchased at Joann's, and the backing from Etsy. This quilt finished at 72" x 63".

Quilting was done with a butterfly themed panto called "Fanciful Flyers" from Urban Elementz.

The turquoise background is imprinted with dragonflies, so it is definitely a "winged" theme!

Rosie, my quilt assistant, checking for loose threads.

Baby Boy Ryker Quilt

Marvin is trying out the baby quilt

As if I did not already feel old enough, my nephew Gary is now a Grandpa, which makes me a great-great aunt! Gary's son Cory and wife Brooklyn are the proud parents of  "Ryker", who was born in November 2024.

Brooklyn and Cory with Ryker

Little Ryker has 3 given names - Ryker Lennox Gray plus his surname!

Cory and Brooklyn were the recipients of a wedding quilt which I made in 2022. Brooklyn still likes grays and blues and told me her nursery theme was clouds, stars, and moon. I used stash except for the purchase of a bit of Dear Stella Shooting Stars in navy. I did take the liberty of adding in some soft gold/yellow, because after all, the moon is made of cheese!

A big thank-you to Nancy for encouraging words on minky selection - I picked embossed minky in soft gray for the backing. After feeling it, my husband wants all future quilts to be backed with minky!

This quilt measures 48" x 48". I used a petite panto called "Timeless's Stars and Clouds" from Urban Elementz. Although I really like the design for this quilt, I will not buy a petite panto again, because the design is only 5-1/2 inches tall, and I had to roll the quilt frequently on Longmire the Longarm.

Up next up on Longmire is my sister-in-law's butterfly quilt, which was a finished flimsy in October 2023. My SIL has since changed her bedroom from turquoise to pink - lol - but I think she will love it anyway.

On a sad note, my good friend and fellow blogger Nanette has passed away. Nanette was a passionate and kind person who made beautiful quilts. I knew she had health issues, but I was still stunned, as she had posted as recently as February 16. She will be missed. You can find a tribute to her with a really lovely photo right here.

This post is shared with:

Joy's This and That at Days Filled With Joy

Joy's Home Matters Linky Party #519 at Days Filled With Joy

Melva's Sew & Tell at Melva Loves Scraps

Brenda's Monday Musings at Songbird Designs

Alycia's Finished Or Not Friday

Friday Night Sew In (FNSI) - Christmas In July

Peggy of Quilts and Adventures and Jeanna of Slammin' The Screen Door, regularly tempt me with their cross stitch projects, and I noticed Jeanna participates in the Friday Night Sew In (F.N.S.I.), hosted by Wendy at Sugarlane Designs blog. There is also a Facebook group, and I thought this might be good motivation for me to work on a Christmas project. 

Joy of Days Filled With Joy has a Christmas In July Stitchalong that began a few weeks ago. Tonight is catch-up night for this cute little design!

I hope to blog about this pumpkin stocking on the next FNSI. Again, Jeanna to blame!

I am linking to Wendy's FNSI

Dog Days Doings

Rosie in the supervisory kitty hammock

I keep looking out my window hoping to see clouds, better yet, thunderstorms marching our way, but we have a dismal forecast of hot, hot, hot. So to take my mind off the weather, I am sorting out the piles on my cutting table today. What follows is a little peek into my world these past few weeks.

This has been the summer of the slump for me (in fact several months of slump), but Karen's plan of doing "a little each day" struck a chord, so I did some actual sewing yesterday and finished the next block in Joy's Say It With Flowers BOM. This sweetly simple block of the month has required the least amount of thought for me along with a great deal of enjoyment stitching in front of the TV at night, so it is one of the few things I have "kept up" with this summer. Joy has been nursing a broken wrist, so I appreciate her providing these pretty embroideries.

I did a little rearranging, with the assistance of my chief quilt holder, and switched the design wall with the fabric shelves. The fabric shelves were the first thing on the right as you walk into my room, so now you can see that the space seems more open. I'm not sure I ever shared that I changed rooms with the guest bedroom a few months ago. This room is a bit smaller, but now we have a guest bedroom that is connected to the bathroom, and it is more privately located in the back of the house.

I did finally finish a little flag quilt, compliments of Melisa's generously offered pattern right here. I really had fun with these. It is 34"x34" and will hang above our still-standing Fourth of July decorations on our entry table. I'll try to update with a photo - once we stop eating pie and cookies and get it hung on the wall!

Messy shelves

I pretty much shoved all the fabric back into the cabinet after we moved it. And yes that is a referee shirt. My son-in-law referees high school games, and he asked if I would do a little sewing for him.

Quilts for Baby (Everett's ragged, stuffed dinosaur) and Bunny (Delaney's dilapidated bunny)

The Littles have been here a couple times this summer, and we have never enjoyed them so much. They are 8 and 5 years old, nicely past diapers, bottles, and tantrums, and they are little goofballs. And they love to sew! It is the first thing they ask to do - I am so blessed - and so we made small quilts for Baby and Bunny, their stuffies. Everett can't reach the foot pedal so Grandma bends over to do it for him (and Grandma's back pays for it), but Delaney can do it all. They also love to go into the garden - they easily spot the tomatoes for me but I pick them because . . . "there may be spiders Grandma".

Hubs surprised me with these Guggenheim scissors. I had not asked for them, so I really am blown away that he chose them. They are made right here in Texas! They are surprisingly hefty, and they cut like buttah. I love using them!

Sour cherry pie

Made this Sour Cherry Pie a few days ago, and it's already gone. Don't let the name fool you - it has plenty of sugar to overcome the tart cherries. In honor of National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day today, I made a batch of chocolate chip cookie dough, so those will be in the oven soon!

I am linking this post to:

Monday Musings at Songbird Designs 

Sew and Tell at Melva Loves Scraps

FON Friday at Alycia Quilts

Stitching Stuff at Life In Pieces

How is your summer going?