Riika and the hummingbird chilling together (hummingbird highlighted with red box). The hummingbird likes to perch on these stubs of rose bushes and Riika is unbothered with the companionship. #birds

Anna's hummingbird December 28, 2025 afternoon Sitting on stubs of rose bushes that were trimmed down to a foot and landing on the lilac and bird feeder hook. #birds

Anna's hummingbird on December 19, 2025 1:30 pm #birds

Choosing a quilting pattern for the Flotilla quilt: my long-arm quilter (Heidi Rodli, Piece & Joy Quilting Co.) sent me a number of options for quilting pantographs. I am only showing a FEW of what she sent me! 😊 I chose the “Let’s Go Sailing” pantograph (the first photo)! 🥰

Final Step in Quilt making---handing off to the recipient. All the hours of planning, buying fabric, cutting, sewing, ironing and binding. The Final Step and the sense of closure is when I see the quilt has arrived at its final destination and the smile on the face. 😊🥰

Anna's hummingbird in the currant bush. December 16, 2025 morning. #birds

"Lest We Forget" quilt completed to honor veterans. The fabric was from Australia honoring Australian soliders in WWI but it fit my sentiment of ..."lest we forget the veterans." Yes, I did pay a tariff on the fabric but it was the perfect fabric (to me) to express the sentiment I wanted. ❤️

Anna's hummingbird December 2, 2025, 10:30 am (and Riika calmly and unconcerned beneath the feeder) #birds

Flotilla quilt top completed. Yes, I chopped off some points. My friend reassured me though - who needs points. And perhaps I could have used more variety for the small boat sails which look visually solid but if you see them up close they have a bit of print. Celebrating the Sumud flotilla mission.

Ukraine Hearts quilt just came back from long arm quilter (Heidi Rodli, Piece and Joy Quilting Co.). She did a sunflower-ish flower on it. 🥰 She also had a light yellow floral fabric that worked well for backing! Very cheerful. Binding on this afternoon and already hanging in the dining room. 😊

Anna's hummingbird atop lilac during a brief bit of sunshine in a day full of rain, rain and more rain. The sunshine only lasted a few minutes and lit the bird nicely. #birds

A Quilt to Honor Harriet Tubman's legacy. Orange was her favorite color. As conductor on the underground railroad she traveled at night. The use of stars helped reflect that part of her life. It had to have hearts, because she CARED throughout her entire life.

Open Heart quilt completed with binding on. The pantograph was called "Rouge" and the long arm quilter was Heidi Rodli, Piece and Joy Quilting Co. Riika approved and she got as close as she could for a photo op. 😊

Heart log cabin quilt top completed with borders. The quilt was made to honor Harriet Tubman. The border of stars was chosen because as a conductor of the underground railroad- she probably traveled at night and depended on stars to help with direction. Orange as her favorite color was a plus. ☺️

Heart log cabin quilt made to honor Harriet Tubman. Orange was her favorite color. Green symbolizes freedom. Red for her life passion to help people. Tiny black square at inside of log cabin symbolizes a safe place. Now, on to borders. 😉

Hummingbird August 24, 2025 6:20 pm Do you sense I am being watched? I am bird watching and they are human watching. 😉 #birds

Hummingbird sitting in Glory Bower bush. Photo taken at 4:30 pm on August 22, 2025. #birds

Penguin Love quilt completed with binding on. I used a flanged binding on this one -the contrast picks up well. I calculated the binding a bit too close for my comfort- I had about a foot of binding left over, but I like a generous margin. (Can you tell who has gotten caught before?) 😊

Penguin Heart quilt back from the long arm quilter (Heidi Rodli, Piece and Joy Quilting Co., Dallas, Ore.) and she used a heart pantograph on this one. ♥️🥰 Now, just need to trim it and add the binding. It came out really cute.

Penguin Heart quilt coming off the long arm quilter's frame (a sneak peak she sent me). 🥰

Anna's hummingbirds on feeder and sitting in lilac bush near feeder. August 17, 2025, 7:30 pm. #birds

Two Anna's hummingbirds in pine tree August 13, 2025 10 am I caught them mid-conversation. Too bad the photo can't impart the sounds also. 😉 #birds

Rufous hummingbird August 10, 2025, 11:50 am (seasonal visitor here) #birds

Anna's hummingbirds August 7, 2025, 7:05 pm [This is a rare event for my yard, I have never seen two on the feeder at the same time until this summer. Possibly a parent/child?] #birds

Anna's hummingbirds 4:15pm August 4, 2025 #birds

Hummingbird August 2, 2025, 11 am feeding. 😊 #birds

Anna's hummingbird 6pm July 30, 2025 #birds

Anna's hummingbird working the blooms on the lambs ears plants (a fuzzy grey leaf plant with spires of purple blooms). #birds

Anna's hummingbird sitting in crab apple tree --- 11 am July 25, 2025 #birds

Anna's hummingbird July 19, 2025 10:50 am #birds

Quilt hanging system using magnets! Just got this installed today (my installer with the thumbs up) It took a few screws (and a level) - then just put the magnets on top (you can see those silver bars at top) How cool is that?!🥰

Anna's hummingbird at 8:50 am July 16, 2025 #birds

Open hearts quilt top completed! Lots of frog-stitching with this one ("rip-it, rip-it") as I pieced over half the blocks wrong and took a week to unsew and resew it correctly. The quote for this quilt is: "An open heart appreciates every experience as a gift." ☺️

Anna's hummingbird 10 am July 10, 2025. (Lighting reflected off the feeder gives the red appearance.) #birds

March hearts quilt completed and on the bed! Inspired by the Fredric Chopin quote: Even in winter I shall keep some green in my heart. ALL scraps so when I look at it, I see different quilts in my past. The clover fabric border was an overbuy from many years ago. 🤣 The pantograph is clover!🥰

Hummingbirds visit 6:45 pm Juneteenth. A rare site for my yard to have TWO on the same feeder. In my yard this happens almost NEVER. To have two feeding at the same time makes me wonder if one is a child. There was quite the aerodynamic show prior to them getting on the feeder. 😊 #birds

Micro-trimming open hearts blocks completed😊 I love patterns that are friendly to wonky sewing. Also loving the colors in this one💕

Community quilt on dining room wall. Wow. This may be the fastest quilt I have done in awhile! From the idea that hate doesn’t build community- to finding a pattern to express that - fabric selection, cutting, piecing, quilting and binding. Pretty happy with it. 🥰

Riika sat on a corner of my sister’s quilt (on top of her feet) and refused to get off the corner even after my sister extricated her feet. When Riika wants to give her approval to a quilt- you can’t interfere ☺️

Community quilt came back from long arm quilter today and I got the binding on! This one really speaks to me- it is caring for others that makes a community and that begins with love in the home. Riika approved🥰

24 yrs ago I made a wedding quilt of stars. I got a photo last noc of a cat that didn't want to be left as prep was going on for an wedding anniversary trip. I loved the cat, but I also loved that I recognized the quilt on the bed. It warms the cockles of my heart to know the quilt is still loved.💞

Love is love quilt went to a retreat in Maryland this past weekend❤️ I love when I see the quilts being used😍

Riika keeping me company while I iron😊

Cutting next heart quilt and the background fabric is a mint with colored birds flying. I think I like the metaphor of flying with the open hearts 💕

Tulip quilt (small lap quilt) that I made several years ago - inspired by visits to the tulip fields in our area. 🌷

Lazy afternoon and Riika napping with tulip quilt behind her😊

Gearing up for another heart quilt- my sister said when we heard about the attempt to erase Harriet Tubman from the National Park Service- "We should do a quilt." So, in the near future- we are planning this quilt that would honor her legacy! I LOVE the colors (and they will go so well with Riika!)

Open hearts quilt top completed 😊 I really like this (other than all the white fabric😝), especially like that the hearts touch which seems symbolic to me that if you have an open heart you will touch others! (Riika relegated to back yard during photo shoot😂)

Open heart quilt progress. I finished all the blocks, squared them up and have them sewn into rows. Maxed out my energy for the day. Tomorrow will sew the rows together and then add a border. I really loved this pattern- it was forgiving and allowed for squaring up at two points in the pattern. 🥰

“Love is love” quilt in its new home hanging over the bannister. Sometimes she uses the sofa and sometimes a wall hanger (for her smaller quilts) but she likes using the bannister to show off quilts for people coming over. 😊