What have I been up to?

 YES!!!  It's only been one week since my last post!

I was working along on my May project bucket when my featherweight seized up on me.  It took a week for me to get it back working again but that little thing is such a workhorse!  I love the sweet even stitching that it does.

In 2024 I started the year off putting together 12 buckets (containers) of unfinished projects with the goal of getting one done per month.  I came across Shelly Robson of The Quilted Forrest on YOUTUBE and this is her brainchild.  So, I joined in.  January 2024 was awesome!  I had a large project that I totally got done before the end of the month! February came and I was so excited to work on a BOM I had purchased about a dozen years ago!  Mid February hit and my husband and I were thrown head on into planning a move.  Needless to say, all my buckets got packed up and moved.  Now we are in 2025, all moved, and I have pretty much been able to keep up with the monthly buckets.  YAY! Because I have not quite finished the May project, I was VERY happy to see that June's bucket is an easy one for me to complete!

I have tried to talk my sister into joining this monthly finishing project and she's thinking about it.  Maybe for 2026!

Meanwhile, I have a friend that keeps me motivated.  This friend and I have known each other for 45 years!!!  She loves to sew and cross stitch.  I am amazed at how much she gets accomplished.  She still works as a nurse full time, spends a lot of her time off caring for her grandchildren, and manages to keep her home beautifully decorated for each occasion.  I too, like to cross stitch but her home is filled with her creations!  Here is her latest one:

How adorable is that?!!!!!!! Her cross stitching is beautiful and I am SURE she sewed the mat the dolls are standing on!

If you want to check out the project of the month program that Shelly does, here is her YOUTUBE link:   https://youtu.be/RZuT7sYEA70?si=AuO1xDlkMlgsVTgh

Happy Sewing!

Cathy

It makes me laugh . . .

 Each time I look at my "most recent post", I have to laugh!  Because . . . each time I write, I determine to not let so much time go by.  And yet . . . . here it is a couple of years later.

Sooooo, what have I been doing?

In September, 2023, my loving sister, Diane, flew to Phoenix to take a class with me at Mulqueen's Sewing Center that was taught by Becky Thompson of Power Tools with Thread!!!!   What fun it was to meet and chat with Becky! That woman is an incredible wealth of information and is wonderfully kind in sharing it with anyone and everyone!  It was a Mulqueen Event so the opportunity to get a screaming deal on a Brother Luminaire was one that I could not pass up!  I had been a loyal Husqvarna Viking user for about 30 years and my sister convinced me to switch to a Brother.  I am so very happy that I did!

Prior to  my sister coming, all my kids had come home for a family reunion in July. With my kids, kids in law, and grandkids, we numbered over 40 and had to rent 3 Air B and Bs in the mountains (Phoenix was too hot)!  During that reunion, we admitted to our kids that our home was a bit much for my husband and I to handle.  We'd been living there for almost 30 years and the upkeep of the pool and yard was claiming all of our time and energy.  We were also tired of the heat and the increasing traffic. We promised the kids we would sell the house and leave the valley within two years. They were quite supportive of that and helped us narrow down where we thought we wanted to live.

When my sister was out, we took a ride to a town in northern Arizona and looked around to see if the area was appealing to us or not.  It was.

In July, 2024, we bought a home in a town and hour and a half north of Phoenix and started our move.  After much fixing up and clearing out, we sold our family home and left the valley.  I jokingly tell people we ran away from our kids but the reality is that we wanted to be close enough for them to get to us either by airplane or drive.  And for those still living in the valley, this gives them a cool respite during those hot summer months when they want to escape!

I was busy being a project manager for getting our home ready to sell, and spending time sorting, packing, and tossing!  

Now we have been here for almost a year and are fairly settled.  I still work part time but it is a remote job that I have done for several years.  This gives me time to play in the yard planning out gardening, as well as spend time in my sewing room. We have met many of our neighbors and quickly made friends of them!  

Diane came out for an extended visit in January and of course, I put her to work!  If you look at her January 2025 newsletter on CaDi Corners.com, you will see what we did!  It was a lot of work but a lot of fun! 

My sister has really built up the long-arm part of the business and is quite the artist!  Her quilting is phenomenal and I am often the recipient of her talents.  She has also done more digitizing for the company.  Diane - for years - has "whipped up" embroidery files for me and is a professional digitizer.  She is now creating machine embroideries for CaDi Corners. If you are a machine embroiderer, I would encourage you to check out her creations!

No photos for this post and I truly hope to be able to write again soon!

Christmas in July (?)

 It's that time again when we start thinking about . . . .  CHRISTMAS!

It's been consistently over 110 degrees every day for the last 20 days here in Phoenix, so thinking about Christmas might be a bit of a stretch!  💦😰  I KNOW. . .  maybe if I turn the fan on full blast and sit in front of it, that will help. 

I know I have a reputation for putting things off until the last minute.  But sometimes it pays off!  

Last year my goal was to make 24 Grab Some Grub bags (lunch boxes) for my grandchildren for Christmas.  I started off so well!  I had 3 grandchildren in the country of Lebanon and their other Grandmother was going out for a visit in August.  (When she goes to Lebanon, she graciously puts out a notice for anyone who wants to send stuff to Lebanon, we send it to her and she takes an extra suitcase (or two) to bring the goodies).  

Sooooo, I put three of these bags together, wrapped them all up, and sent them with her.  WOW!!! 3 gifts were done in July AND already sent.  I was on a roll!

Then, I continued by cutting out all the pieces for the rest of the bags (now I was down to 21).  I even had some of the steps done and everything was labeled, stacked, and just waiting for me to sit and work some more.  

However. . . .

I was working between 30 and 40 hours a week (sometimes more) on my "real" job, got caught up in a couple of large cross stitching projects that kept drawing me in, and everyday life duties like housework, errands, and of course other projects that needed completing kept me from this one.  Also, my husband and I started watching some Korean shows on Netflix and Prime and we have to "read" those shows - which also keeps me from being productive.

THEN -

My sister said she was coming for Christmas and would be here for a month starting right after Thanksgiving.  

She brought her sewing machine.

She brought her cricut.

She had TONS of time that I didn't. . .

(hehehehehehehe!!!!)

She had a BLAST sewing those Grab some Grubs!  I did manage to help somewhat during the evenings and on the weekend.

A few organized piles  (Above)

The First one completed by my sister (Below)

It only took her 6 days and here's the result:

Aren't they GREAT??!!??

So, the little moral to this story is:  Sometimes it pays off to wait until the last minute!    (LOL)

I bet you're wondering what my plan is for this year!

Well, Diane is not coming out for Christmas this year but she IS coming out the end of September to take a sewing class with me.  YIPPEE!!!!!

She is currently saving and sending to me some quilted and other non-quilted scraps of soft and stable for a smaller project to be made for all this year.  

And guess what?!!  I already have three done and given out!

Stay tuned . . .

Sister Visit Part II

 Sew much has happened since my last post!  Thanksgiving came and went . . . .

We are hoping you all had a wonderful, relaxing Thanksgiving! This year, Diane went to New York to spend the day with her adult children and grandchildren and for the first time ever, my hubby and I were alone with our youngest (who is an adult and still lives at home).  The day for me was wonderful as I was able to SEW, SEW, SEW!!!!!  YAY!

I finished up a small baby quilt for grandbaby #23 who arrived on November 5th.  Then I made her a Christmas stocking and embroidered her name on a stuffed Teddy Bear. I spent much time cleaning up my very messy sewing room and preparing for the Christmas Sewing Marathon I put myself in every year.  This year I am making 14 (yes, FOURTEEN) Fetch your Sketch (s). This is a ByAnnies pattern and I will post photos as I go along.

BUT. . . to continue with the story of our sister time in Vermont, here are pictures of a quilt that I was unable to finish prior to making my trip.  I brought some squares completed, had to complete the rest, and put it all together.  Then, wanting to waste no time, we put it on Little Miss Lovey (our Longarm) and quilted it.  This quilt is made from a fat quarter bundle of Sweater Weather fabric.

Isn't it gorgeous?  The pattern is called Brightly by Cluck Cluck Sew and I love this pattern because - who doesn't love an Irish Chain (?) but this Irish Chain has varying sizes of blocks in it.  It keeps the interest up.  All of the star points are from Moda Grunge and the color is called Pumpkin.  I can't get enough of the Moda Grunge line!  They have a beautiful black called Little Black Dress that is to die for!

Once this quilt was finished, we moved on to make some really fun stuff.

I will post those photos next!

Happy Sewing!

Cathy (and Diane).

Sister Visit

 This year has just flown by! It seems like I write posts in my head all the time and when I finally get to put it down on paper, I realize 5 whole months have passed!!!

On October 20th, I flew to Vermont to spend some time with Diane planning out CaDi Corners projects and dreams.

I missed the peak foliage but got to see this:

This was across the street from Diane's house.  Don't you just love the orange?!!!

On our first day together we were able to talk about the projects we wanted to work on while I was there.  We had QUITE THE LIST!    I know, I know, I suffer from delusions of grandeur!  But then again, if I don't have a big list, there will be less to check off  ✔  (and I love seeing things checked off my list).

I didn't think we were serious about getting these projects done until we did this:

sip sip ahhhh!

Have you ever been guilty of running down rabbit holes when working on STUFF?  Surely not!  😉

I bet you would like to know what we did!  But first, a little history . . . .

Our Grandmother Bushey bought a Singer sewing machine in 1950.   That was the year our parents got married and a year later, our eldest sister was born.  Memere Bushey used to sew clothes and blankets and worked that machine a lot.  The Singer was made in 1950 and came in an oak cabinet that had a knee press to make it go.  That machine ended up at our sister Debbie's home for many years but  Debbie passed away in 2017 and a couple of months ago Diane retrieved the machine from our brother-in-law.  This was our first rabbit hole.  We took the machine out of the cabinet (it was so heavy that it took both of us to lift it out), and prepared the cabinet for giving it a farmhouse look.

I know it is not pictured here, but Diane LOVES power tools!  She got to use the electric sander and I was stuck getting steel wool splinters in my fingers using that pitiful piece of steel wool pictured!  

It took two weeks of working on it in little snatches of time but Diane did an amazing job!

An added extra special feature is that our grandmother's name is scratched on the inside of the cabinet!

More to come later on our fun sister time adventures!

Sew long,

Cathy

Hello Again!

 Well. . .

It's been a while since I last wrote.  Since then, we learned the hubby needed a quadruple bypass, went through the surgery, recovery, and is now starting back to work.  The sister ALSO went through surgery of her own, getting a brand new hip!  Needless to say, we've been a bit busy.

BUT. . . 

I wanted to share what I've been up to with my Lori Holt Flea Market Scraps I had from the Flea Market Flower Sew Along I did earlier this year.

This will be a quilt.  It is called Sew By Row and is a Lori Holt pattern.  We have this pattern in the CaDi Corners shop if you are interested.  My method for making this quilt is I spend a Sunday afternoon piling up my scraps and then I cut out one row of patterns at a time.  Once I get them all sewn together, then I do the next row.  This works well for me.

She also has a Cross Stitch Pattern to match!

Happy Sewing!

Cathy

ANNOUNCEMENT, ANNOUNCEMENT, ANNOUNCEMENT . . .

 If you were ever involved with scouts, your mind is singing the rest of this 

A terrible death to die, A terrible death to die, A terrible death, a terrible death, A terrible death to die.

Isn't it funny how our minds go back to things we learned long ago?!! I remember singing this as a Brownie Scout (more years ago than I can count!).

We here at CaDi Corners have been tempting you with little teases about an exciting announcement to come and the time is NOW!!

Many of you may recognize this pineapple block.  While it is hard to see the difference in the photo, the top block is a 12 1/2" square and the bottom is a 6 1/2" square.

We are launching a project called "Love Thy Neighbor" where we will join forces as quilting friends to create two quilts to donate to those in need.  Because today is Valentine's Day, we thought we would extend the love theme out for several weeks!

Here's how it will work:

CaDi Corners has put together little kits that contain the fabric, directions, and the foundation paper to make either 1 - 12" block or 2 - 6" blocks.  These sweet blocks are sewn on paper so they will all be exactly the same!  Pretty cool, huh?

All you need to do is stop by CaDi Corners and pick up your kit (FREE), complete the block(s) and return it to us.  We will gather the completed blocks, sew them together into a quilt,  and deliver them.  We are hoping to do two - one for a boy and one for a girl.  These blocks are fun and easy to complete - we think you will enjoy showing love to others!

The blocks will be ready for pick up by this Friday, February 19th.  We understand that life gets crazy so we are running this project for a month.  All completed blocks need to be returned to CaDi Corners by March 20th (Saturday).  Once the quilts are complete, we will take photos and make sure you get to see the finished product.

We couldn't do this without YOU!  Thank you for joining us in our "Love Thy Neighbor" project.