That uneasy feeling

I went down a rabbit hole and now I am left feeling a bit at odds.  I hate feeling left out, especially because I then go down that road of asking what did I do, does that person really think I'm unkind?  Over the years I have been in a constant struggle with depression, and in turn I overthink so much.  But over my life I have always felt the odd peg out, and from there I go to my corner.  I know everyone is dealing with things, this is just a part of my dealing.  I know there are times when I have hurt people, and I believe I have done my best to make amends.  But sometimes I will come across a letter and it takes me right back there again where I feel that sadness or shame of unintentional actions.  Add in that menopause is definitely here, and I am getting closer to my parents' ages when they passed... some days feel surreal.  I want to be that carefree old lady who throws everything to the wind and just lives in joy, but getting there is a rough road.  I'm sorry to my wonderful friends who I haven't kept the best of contact with.

...and a photo from our camping trip for distraction.

Trailer Cam

I love being able to pop in and look inside our trailer.  I know it's weird.  A few things I really like about the indoor camera:
1. Alerts to my phone if someone has entered
2. It has a temperature sensor, which you can also set alerts to (it is currently 64 degs in there :)
3. I can talk to an intruder if I really wanted to through it
4. I can peek in anytime :)

We bought our trailer nearly two years ago and have been slowly getting it ready to take out.  Last year we had two or three instances when the door was open.  Neither of us are sure how that happened, but we decided to put a camera inside so we could be alerted if it happened again.  Considering my car was stolen in January, and I have had people also break into my cars in the past, it seemed proactive in today's world to set up a camera.  I do get alerts, most of time it is because of wind and sun shadows from a neighbor's tree or when Kevin or I enter it.  So far we haven't had any "bad guys" caught or attempting to enter.



I took off the wallpaper strip a couple of weeks ago... it reminds me of the 90's, it had to go.  You can see one section in the above pic, it went all the way around the inside, and had a torn section near the front.  It had to go.  What's funny is that no one noticed I even removed it, and I had to point it out to Kevin!  He was afraid of what I'd find once I started taking it off (like being more of a project than just removing), so I did it when he was busy elsewhere.  Two weekends went by before I pointed it out! :)   It came off nicely, only a few spots needed some adhesive removal help. 

I put up some small quilts to make it feel more like home, and it does feel more inviting.  I used Command Strips for posters, and they are still doing great.  If I wanted them off, it would be a simple task without any damage to the quilts.  I'd like to do an upholstery update as well (including the window valances).  I have been checking out pinterest ideas for updates and all thing trailer, it is easy to get overwhelmed with ideas.  I don't want to paint (though I have seen some great updates in that regard), so it will be simple changes for us.  Kevin also took off the devil head bottle opener you can sort of see on the front corner cabinet.  Good vibes only, please!

Ideally, I'd love to be able to take it out about once a month, but with Kevin's work travel starting to ramp up, I am not sure that will be possible.  Even if we can find a spot for a quick weekend away, I'd love that!



That wood thing on the left? Kevin made a homemade HD antenna, it works really well.

Our maiden voyage will be over the weekend with my brother and sis-in-law.  And.... our weather is forecasting rain--ABOVE-AVERAGE-for-May-RAIN this week.  Sigh.  After an 80+degree week we had last week with lots of sun, it kind of figures.  Hopefully it will just be that morning misty stuff and that's all.

My project I am planning to bring is my Grandmothers Flower Garden quilt which has been on hiatus again.

2019 Humble Quilts Doll Quilt Swap, Received

I just received my adorable doll quilt from Shannon Ward.  It is very cute and she even hand quilted it.  Every year I think about doing the same, but I know it is just not a gift of mine... I hand quilted a small wall quilt years ago, and that was enough.  I actually attempted doing it in the quilt I sent out this year, but it was terrible and I pulled it out and did machine quilting instead.

The fabrics are a wine-red....




I love it.  Thank you again Shannon!


Again, the quilt I sent out... http://melissadevin.blogspot.com/2019/04/2019-humble-quilts-doll-quilt-swap.html


Check out the other swap quilts here: https://humblequilts.blogspot.com/2019/05/humble-quilt-exchange-show-me-your.html

Mercy Me!

On Sunday we went to see Mercy Me in concert.  I bought tickets in August when they first went on sale and was able to score some great seats.  There were VIP still available when I bought the seats, but having to find another $150/seat was just not in the cards.  As it was, we had REALLY good seats so we were happy with the purchase.  5 rows back!


Micah Tyler's band was 3 of himself in a monitor :)



Crowder:

 



Micah Tyler and Crowder were the opening acts and they were great as well.  Crowder was pretty loud and had a very rock beat to it.  I thought they were good, but I preferred the not-so-heavy-rock of some of the songs they did.

Opening song for Mercy Me: "Best News Ever"....






Many bands don't sound the same in person, but I found that Mercy Me did not disappoint at all in that regard.  What you hear on albums is true to how they sound in person.  REALLY GOOD!




Bart Millard said he found his son Sam had recorded himself playing onto his Instagram and was moved to tears.  Sam sounded great!  I can't remember his age, but in his teens.



I wish people didn't feel the need to have to video nearly the entire concert though.  The married couple in front of me were both videoing for at least 75% of the concert. Kind of annoying especially when it blocks the view of the singer.



Last song of the night:

2019 Humble Quilts Doll Quilt Swap

I love Pinterest.  The ability to visually find items is a favorite way to search for me.  In finding pinsperation for this year's Humble Quilts Doll Quilt swap I came across one very humble quilt that really caught my eye.  I wish the image was pinned from the page and not simply from an uploaded portion because I would have loved to know more about it.

Isn't it cute?  Economy Patch aka Square in a Square.


My creation:


This year I wanted to stick with mainly browns.  I did add some fabrics to my civil war stash, but honestly I think it is getting a little harder today to find true reproduction fabrics--or I haven't found a source that I believe is true to the prints.  20yrs ago it seemed easier as many fabrics were being created using prints from the 1800's, today it seems like many of the prints are "inspired".



I had fun with the back.  I also decided to use up some authentic cadet blue scraps that I had kept moving around my quilt room for years.  The prints are so cute!  I know fabric historians would frown against it, but it is a doll quilt and they are in strong/perfect condition.  Better in a quilt than simply being shifted from my desk to drafting table to who knows where.  I don't have a book started for fabric swatches, nor do I want to start one... so that's why they were placed into the fun scrappy backing.



Aren't the riding helmets and oak leaves lovely?

The lacy leaves below are cute too!  Clicking through the photos to the flickr page, you can then zoom in to really get a good look at them.


This year my quilt flew to New Zealand.  Wow on the shipping costs.  This makes a few years in a row that I have mailed outside of the US and the spike in costs is really something, even at 10 ounces.  I haven't investigated alternative mailing options, I am guessing they are all similar.  The person I sent to went to the Australasian Quilt Convention and was out of town when the doll quilt did arrive.  She'll be picking it up today so I wanted to wait in posting just in case she saw my blog.  I know people like to post their created quilts for the swap (usually on the facebook page) before mailing, but I wanted it to be more of a surprise for when she opened the package.

Another fun exchange for 2019!  I haven't received my quilt yet, I am not sure where it will be flying in from.  I was an early mailer this year because my heart fell in love with that first quilt above.  Unlike this year, I tend to mail closer to the April 30 mailing deadline :)

New Quilt Start

I like to buy kits.  This started a few years ago when my creative juices seriously waned, I think around the time that my youngest joined our family.  He was very active/busy and any sort of quilting creativity really taxed my brain.  Kits were a perfect answer, I could still be creative and everything was right there and ready for me.  I still have a huge fabric stash, but falling back to kits has been a constant.



Around the beginning of the year I browsed sales from a few different sites.  I had a hard time connecting with keepsake quilting, and my friend Julie reminded me of Shabby Fabrics.  They have super fast shipping and the prices are good.  I fell in love with Lori Holt's Autumn Love line, and the pattern of the acorns is so cute.  I decided that I want to make it into a lap quilt...  and not having any idea who would end up with it, the hubby suggested his birthmom who I haven't made anything for yet.  Perfect!



The pattern is a good one, but the corner triangles seem to be written for a ruler I don't have and it doesn't say to cut 4" squares diagonally twice... I haven't checked for errata, but my test blocks seem ok.  I ended up using my Simple Folded Corners Ruler to find the 1/4" markings and went from there by drawing a line to line up the triangle long edge.  I don't think my points are going to match perfectly however.  I am wondering now (since I am going to do a lap quilt) if I added sashing and a cornerstone if that would help remove the problem of points not lining up?  Which means I need to buy more background fabric again... at least I know where to find it now!



The box for the table runner kit is very cute.  Not sure what I will do with it, maybe as a gift down the line.

I still haven't found a photo editing program I like.  I ended up using my phone for these with a flash.  Anyway... 5 blocks done and 15 more to go with this bunch.  The blocks are 7x8" finished, so I think I want to make at least 40 more, and then if I do make sashing, that will help with the size.  I just love these fabrics!

Cheddarback Quilt, Month 2

For my birthday, the hubby wanted me to upgrade my laptop... so reluctantly I said ok.  I love the speed of technology compared to six years ago, but along with that change, many programs I love to use are no longer available.  When did the genealogy PAF program stop being available??  What?  My photos program is also no longer available either?  Sigh.  At least with Personal Ancestry File, I was able to transfer the download so I can still use it on my new laptop.  The photo program however, nope.  I like how easy it was to use, and in the end I may use my old laptop for photo downloads so I can still use that program.  I have downloaded paint, paint.net, and gimp.  They are ok, but I need a simpler one with easy to understand options.  I don't need overly technical.

So I suppose for now I can take pictures with my phone and use some of those filters, but I really prefer my regular camera that doesn't have the same editing features.  Anyone have suggestions?

OH!!  I did find a new app that I think my friend Kathy Sharman would have loved called Seek.  It is an app from iNaturalist , it uses your camera on your phone to identify flora and fauna while you are out and about.  I can't wait to try it out.  I thought of Kathy when I saw this app mentioned on a camping list I am on.

Patterns for Month two of Cheddarback quilt here.
Now for quilting... I still need to work on a bonus block for this quilt, but this weekend I finished up the five blocks for month two for Cheddarback.


My little basket lost it's bottom corner point... poor thing.

And altogether:


There is no pink hue in the nearly white sashing... the camera seems to want to add that.  In the next week I plan to finish up the first bonus block, and I have another in mind to replace another block in this quilt.  Also!  I did find some nice cheddar fabric that will be the backing of this fun quilt... gotta keep with the namesake of Cheddarback :)