New Year's Eve!

Not alot going on here tonight. Richard got home around 5pm, we ate dinner. I fixed BBQ Ribs, Corn, Potatoes, Peas, and Cornbread. The boys and I rented some movies today while we were out, so we are now watching them. Right now "Return To Lonesome Dove" and it is 5 1/2 hours long!!! I love "Lonesome Dove"!

I did sew Hunter a "Transformers" pillowcase a few minutes ago. He loves it! We picked up the fabric today also.

I had planned on sewing all day tomorrow, but I just found out that I will being having company most of the day.
Kristie

Plans Change...

Okay, my quilting plans have changed. I know that I had a 4 day New Year's Quilting Goal. I think I had 4 projects listed and I have finished 3. The last and worst one was the "Village Sampler" You all know how much that I dread finishing it and I only need to do 3 more blocks. Well, my intensions were good, I went to the closet to dig it out so that I could finish it sometime between today and tomorrow, and now I can't find it. I have dug and dug and I still don't know what I have done with it. In a way I am agitated because I don't know where it is, but then again I am relieved that I don't have to work on it right now. :)

So now I have to decide on something else to work on this evening and tomorrow. I have a couple of things in mind, like a "Transformers" pillowcase for Hunter, and my 2 January blocks for the PlanetPatchwork BOM. Other than that I'm not sure what else I will do. I may try to find something to do with these fabrics. They were given to me a while back. I have about 2-3 yards of each. The solid is purple and the other is a yellow, with purple flowers and green lines through it. So if anyone has any suggestions please let me know. I don't work alot with plaid so I may end up doing just a simple 9 patch with the purple and yellow print and strip it in a green. Not really sure yet...

Kristie

Sunday's House Progress

Here is what Richard got done today. This is floor joists for the 2nd floor. This is the part that is over my kitchen and is a 20 x 20 ft section. This will be Breanna's bedroom. I know the photos are a little dark but it is getting late here.


This is looking through the front door of the house. The first room is the living room and will be open above to the roof.
This is just a front view of the house so far.
I think he got a lot done for one day. I'm sure on Tuesday he will work on it more.

I noticed that Planet Patchwork just posted their January BOM. I have it printed and will probably try to get it done tomorrow.

So what does everyone have planned for New Year's Eve??? We don't really have anything planned. We always stay home because of the traffic. Seems like every year someone shows up at our house, so we have got to we expect it.
Kristie

Pig Chasin'

A typical day on the farm.

I was on the phone with mom, when Andrew came in to tell me that the pig was out! By the time I got to the door Richard was already chasing it. So here was Richard, Andrew, and me chasing the pig all over the property. She ended up going in both horse pastures and then finally down over in the holler. As you can see Storm, Beauma, and Autumn, in this first photo didn't come close to her, but when she got in with Bullet and Jim, Bullet tried to kill her. He chased her trying to stomp her, but she finally got of there.

So after about a 30 minute chase, Richard threw the lasso over her and finally got her back up the hill.

So in the end she is safely back in her lot. At least for a few weeks until we butcher her!
Kristie

Packaging Yo-Yo's

I got a "Seal-a-meal" as a Christmas gift. It's one of those Vacuum Food Storage systems. Since we process alot of our own meats, I thought it would be very handy. I had been wanting one for a while, but like everything else I just won't go out and buy things for myself. So anyway, I have been playing around with it this morning.

The instructions gives different examples of things that you can store. It said "clothing" and I thought "fabric" I know that you are not suppose to store fabric in plastic, but I thought since I don't have alot of storage space and my fabric is always a mess that I would package some of my smaller things so that I don't loose them. I was reading up on it and I don't think it will hurt anything as long as it is not long term.

So here, I packaged up some circles that I have cut for yo-yo's. Just mostly to keep them all together. There is about 250 yo-yo's here and the package is less than 1 1/2 inches thick.

I figure that will keep me from loosing them....hopefully.
Kristie

House Progress

Just a little update on the house. Today as I was sewing, Richard was working on the house. He got a couple beams up so that we can start putting down the 2x6's for the upstairs. Then on top of the 2x6's we will be putting down the subfloor. He got all of the beams up except for one and it was a 20 ft long beam, so it was VERY heavy. It was funny because it took me, Richard, and my sister to get it up there. I think tomorrow he is going to up some of the 2x6's down.

These beams will be showing on my ceilings. I really love the rustic look, so that is what I wanted.


This is a photo that I took while I was outside helping Richard. This is Bullet just being nosey! He likes to come over and keep an eye on things while we are working on the house.

As you can see, we still don't have any SNOW! I guess I am being a child, but I want snow!

Kristie

I QUIT!

Okay, I quit....at least for tonight! I finally got the borders on my FRIENDSHIP BASKET STARS Quilt!
So today this makes borders on 3 tops and 2 pillowcases!!! Now I only have one more thing to do on my 4 day list! I just need to make the last 3 blocks on my other Sampler. I dread doing them. Anyway, I will try my best to get that last top done sometime between today and New Years Day! Wish me luck!
Kristie

A day of Sewing!

I have been sewing up a storm! My 4 day Goal List is getting shorter! I know these first 2 things were not on my 4 day list, but they are something that I had planned on for January. I made 2 pillowcases for the boys. I made the Ninja Turtle one last night for Hunter and the one with wildlife is for Andrew. I made it this morning. Very quick and easy and they love them.




This is my MONTH-BY-MONTH SAMPLER. I added the border on it this morning. It isn't very big, just lap size. I also cut the binding and have it ready for quilting.

Here is my COWBOY HAT AND BOOTS Quilt. Richard and both boys are fighting over it. I added the border to it this morning and like the other one, I also cut the binding. This one will be hand quilted, since I have a beautiful quilting stencil for the borders that has cowboy boots on it. This quilt is Queen size.
So back to my list...

~ FRIENDSHIP BASKETS ~ Add border and setting triangles.

~ COWBOY HATS AND BOOTS ~ Add border DONE!

~ MONTH-BY-MONTH SAMPLER ~ Add border DONE!

~ THIMBLEBERRIES VILLAGE SAMPLER ~ Finish last 3 blocks.

****Extra**** 2 pillowcases for the boys DONE!

I am half way finished with my list, but now I will slow down, because the other 2 won't be fun. I so dread the Village Sampler, but I would love to have it done so I don't have to think about it anymore. The quilt is actually pretty, I just don't like working on it. It's 3pm now, so maybe I will have a chance this evening to work on another one...

Kristie

Goals for the next 4 days!!!!!

I am setting a GOAL for the next 4 days!!! I would love to start the New Year out right and I have already listed some of my goals for 2008 in my sidebar, but I have a few projects that I would love to finish up by Tuesday! Here's my list.

~ FRIENDSHIP BASKETS ~ I need to finish the setting triangles and add a border.

~ COWBOY BOOTS AND HATS ~ All I need to do on this is add the last border and it will be ready to quilt.

~ MONTH-BY-MONTH SAMPLER ~ This one also just needs a border added and it will be ready to quilt.

~ THIMBLEBERRIES VILLAGE SAMPLER ~ Finish the last 3 blocks and sew the top together.

Now many of you know that this last one, Thimbleberries Village Sampler, is the top that I started several months ago, and hate it! Well, I don't know if you would say HATE, but just something about it I just can't bring myself to finish those last 3 blocks! I don't have border fabric for this one, but I will pick up some after the first of the year. So I think that would be a great way to start out the New Year. I would be sooooooo happy to just get that Village Sampler top out of the way!

If all works out well in the morning, I would love to start working on these tomorrow afternoon!
Kristie

12:25AM
I posted this post a few hours ago and I think I am off to a good start on my goals!!! I cut the borders for my COWBOY QUILT and my MONTH-BY-MONTH SAMPLER. Oh, and I also cut the binding to put with the tops, so that will be ready when I need them. And something else that I did that was NOT on my list, I made Hunter a Ninja Turtle pillowcase. I will post a photo of it tomorrow because I still need to make Andrew's pillowcase. Andrew's, of course, will be of a different fabric than Hunters.
Kristie

Another Doctor Appointment

No sewing today...yet! I spent the morning grocery shopping and paying bills before my doctors appointment. They had me scheduled for my radiationt treatment today but I went for another opinion about my Graves Disease. This is a doctor that I saw probably 15 yrs ago. He is a great doctor! He said that he wanted to hold off on the radiation treatments right now. He also said that he may do a biospy. That made me nervous but he said that first he would try it with the big needle. I forgot what he called it, but in other words, they will stick a BIG needle in my throat, into the tumor and then send it off for testing! He actually said he didn't think that I really had anything to worry about. Oh well, enough of that...

After we got back home, Hunter and I started putting together this Lego that he got for Christmas. 370 pieces!!!! I thought my eyes would cross!!! But as you can see he loves it.

Richard has been home now for over an hour and still hasn't come in the house. It is raining outside and he is in his outbuilding. I don't know what he is doing, but I hear saws and hammers. Not a good sign! I'm sure he is making something that he has thought of today while at work, that is usually what happens.

I rented a few movies to watch tonight, but Richard said that he has to work tomorrow, so we won't get to watch them all tonight. He said he is getting up at 1am, I think he only has to haul one load of coal, so he should be back home around 8am. Sometime tomorrow I have to run up to the bookstore to pick up a book for Andrew. He has to have a book for his English I Honors class. The teacher said they had to have it when Christmas break was over. Funny how he is just now telling me this. Good thing they don't have to start reading it until they go back.

Hunter told me today while we were out shopping that he wanted to make a quilt! I thought I would die of shock! He is a wild little boy, very hyper and never has even mentioned anything like that to me before. He always wants to do GUY things with Richard. So I started thinking that I have this tiny sewing machine that sews real slow, I may get it out for him and see how he does. I will probably just cut out some simple squares for him to sew. I will be surprised if he makes it past a block before he quits. I don't think he will sit still long enough, but we will see.

4-Patch Flip!

My visit with my MIL and Richard's Grandmother went very well. They didn't stay very long, because of Richard having to get up at midnight. Doris loved her quilt! You can usually tell if they really do like them or not by their reaction. And I really think that she liked it, so I was very happy. Grandma got hers on Christmas so they were arguing over whose was the prettiest.

Richard laughed at me, because they were not even out of the driveway and I was grabbing my quilt. I finally got to add the borders on it! Again, this is the "4-Patch Flip" pattern that I got from Jen and Cindy. This is the second one that I have made. I usually don't like to make too many of the same quilt, but my other one looks so different since it was done in all sorts of scraps. It is a very easy quilt to do and goes together very quickly. The blocks measure 9 inches and I ended up with 56 blocks and a 6 inch border. So that should measure out at around 75 x 84, if I did my math right. I went ahead and cut my binding from the blue border print so that it would be ready when I get ready to quilt it.

Tomorrow I have to do my weekly shopping so I'm not sure how much quilting that I will get done. Hopefully, I will get to work on something. Maybe I can sew the boys pillowcases or something, or maybe even add borders to another top???
Kristie

MIL Visiting...

I finally got my house cleaned back up. The Christmas mess is gone. I even took my Christmas tree down yesterday.

Today, I made a "4-Patch Flip" I cut it out and got all of the blocks done and sewn together. I ended up with 56 blocks. Now all I have to do is add the borders. I have them cut and I even cut the binding to have ready for quilting.

My MIL and Richard's Grandmother are coming for a visit this evening. I'm not sure what time they will be here so I am trying to wait and add my borders after they leave. I tried to straighten up my sewing area so that it won't look so bad when they are here, but then again, they know that I love to sew so they should expect a mess!

My MIL didn't get to come in for Christmas, so that is what she is doing now. I gave his Grandmother, his Aunt Carol, and my sister thier quilts on Christmas, so Doris will get hers tonight. I also bought her a nice recipe book. She loves recipe books and so does my mom so I think I will go back down and get another one for my mom. Here is the quilt that I will be giving to my MIL tonight. It is called "Butterfly and Roses" the photo in not very plain, I had to scan it so it didn't turn out well.

Hopefully, I will get to post a photo of my new quilt top later tonight....
Kristie

Fabric Shopping!

I took Breanna home this morning and while I was out I stopped and did a little fabric shopping. I had a few small projects that I either need to do or to finish so I bought fabric to do that.


The"TMNT" fabric and the wildlife fabric are for pillow cases for the boys. Hunter loves Ninja Turtles and Andrew of course loves to hunt so these were perfect for them.



These are just some pinks that I bought to add to my stash. I know I didn't really need them, but you know how hard fabric is to turn down.


Here are some blues that I bought to go with what I already have in my stash. I plan on making a quilt of blues, either a YBR or a 4 patch flip. I haven't decided on which pattern to use yet.

I bought a few yards of each of these fabrics for borders. The green is to border the "Thimbleberries Month-by-month sampler" The middle fabric is actually dark brown, but doesn't look like it in the photo. I got it to border my "Cowboy Boot and Hat" quilt. And the blue print...well, I'm not sure yet, I may use it for my Blue quilt that I am going to make.

That is all that I bought today. I just really want to get some of these things finished and ready to be quilted. I still need to clean the house up more today and I think my MIL is coming tomorrow. Hopefully, I can get back to sewing after all of that.

Kristie

A Wonderful Christmas!

We had a GREAT Christmas and now the day is winding down. It is 9pm and my house is still a mess. Richard got up this morning at 3:30am to go pick up Breanna, my step-daughter. Chantal was here before I got the boys up. They started opening gifts at 5:30am. They enjoyed it so much. I went ahead and gave Chantal all of her gifts, since mom wasn't here. I didn't want her to feel left out. I think she had a nice time too. So we spent most of the day letting the kids sort through their things and then left for Richard's Grandmother's around 2pm. We had a nice dinner there and spent a few hours with all of his family. His mom will be here sometime tomorrow or the next day. She lives in Ohio and had to work yesterday and today so she will be off work for the next few days.

I have to take Breanna home in the morning. Then she will be back in 2 weeks when we celebrate Christmas with mom. I wish she could stay for a few days, but I guess that is just the way it goes.

I talked with Mom a few times today. She was soooo sad. I felt so sorry for her, being on that boat with none of her family there with her. She broke down a few times. So I tried not to talk much about Christmas. We just tried to talk about things we wanted to do when she came home.

Hopefully, I can get the house straightened back up tomorrow and start planning some quilting projects. I need to get everything organized and make plans for the new year. Richard's Grandmother was telling me this afternoon that there is an old saying that "Whatever that you do on New Year's Day is what you will be doing all year" So I was thinking I would sew ALL day, but of course Richard was thinking that he would like to be doing something else ALL day! :) He is crazy! Anyway, I'm sure my list of goals for 2008 will grow in the next few days, because I will be finding more things to finish or do.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!
Kristie

Christmas Eve

I hope everyone is enjoying their Christmas Eve. We have just been spending the day together watching movies, talking, and of course they have been playing some music.

I love spending quality time with them. If only Mom was home then all would be perfect. I think Chantal may come out to visit with us tonight. I asked her to because I didn't want her to be alone on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. I talked with Richard's Grandmother earlier this morning and she was sooooooo happy. We had bought her a new mattress and box springs and they had just delivered them. She was very excited and she had no idea that she was getting them.

Hope everyone has a great Christmas.
Kristie

YBR with Borders

I just got finished adding borders to my YBR top that I pieced a while back. I also went ahead and cut my binding for it. Now it will go in my pile of tops that need to be quilted. I have a few more tops that I need to buy border fabric for, maybe I will get that done after Christmas.

That is all of the sewing that I have done today. Right now we are all watching some movies that we rented and spending some family time together. Richard and the boys are going to pick up the hog in the morning, maybe I will get to sew a little bit before we start doing our Christmas thing.
Kristie

Long Arm Machine?????

Okay, I just got a phone call from a friend of ours that owns a warehouse down South. The warehouse is a sewing factory that made bed comforters! Now, he has an industrial sewing machine that has a 22 1/2 in throat! Now I was thinking that it would be perfect to put on my quilting frame that Richard is going to make me. So here I was all excited, and he even guaranteed it to work. But now my question is.....He said the motor was underneath the machine. Now can he modify my frame for that machine to work????? He lives up here down the road from me, but his son still lives down South. He is going to take some photos next week and email them to me!!! So please if you have any suggestions please let me know.

Now I need to COMPLAIN!!! Most of you all know that I live on a farm and enjoy doing alot of things the old way. We usually have a hog or pig, whatever you want to call them. And we butcher at least one a year for meat. Back in the early Spring we bought a small pig and it died a couple of days after we bought it. We got it from a friend of ours so he was very nice about it and said he would give us another on when we wanted it. Now we only paid $45 for it then, so he called last night said he had one that was 300lb and was ready to butcher. He said he wanted $100 for it but we could pay him $50 and we would call it even. Now where Richard and Andrew both killed deers this year I don't have alot of extra room in my freezer. So Richard called another friend of his and asked if he wanted to buy half of it and we both split the meat. He said yes and Richard is picking it up in the morning and we are butchering it this weekend. Now when I say WE butcher it, I mean we kill it, cut it up and package all of the meat ourselves. This is a BIG job and a BIG mess! But at least we know how it is handled and know that we get all of our meat back. So the deal was that they come out and help us and take half, his wife just called and said she would buy the packaging supplies but she wasn't doing any of it. Now that really pisses me off. I don't think it is fair that I should have to package ALL of it up. 300 lbs is alot of meat of one person to have to package by themselves. Richard said for me to throw their half in a garbage bag and send it to them. Am I wrong to be pissed off???
Kristie

Christmas Shopping!!!

Well, I thought I was completely finished with all of the Christmas shopping. I had all of the gifts bought! Richard never does any Christmas shopping, except for mine and he always waits until the 23rd or the 24th before he does that. So he got up at 8am this morning and told me to get ready we were going shopping....I told him that I already had it all done and there was nothing else to buy. He said "Well, I haven't done any shopping" I don't know what got in to him, but several hundred dollars later, we are back home! He bought extra for the kids and picked up a food saver for me. I had been wanting one for a while so he got that. I actually looked at an embordiery machine too, but all they had was the display and I didn't want it. I told him also that I wanted to do some research on them first before I bought one. So all I ended up with quilting wise was these two fabrics.

I only bought 1/2 yd of the blue, but I got 2 1/2 yds of the green. I will use it to border my green YBR top that I made a few weeks ago. I needed some other border fabrics but I really needed to match those up and I didn't have anything with me. Maybe next time. Mom said when she got in she wanted to go to Hobby Lobby, so maybe I can get some while I am down there.

I am soooooooo tired and my blood pressure is running high. It has been for several days now. I am on blood pressure medication but I just checked it and it is 140/106. So I think I will hit the couch for a while to see if it goes down any.
Kristie

Lunch Sack

I was not really in the mood to work on my setting triangles for my Friendship Basket Quilt, so I made this! It is a lunch sack! I think I will give it to my sister, Chantal. She sometimes packs her lunch for work. I finished it as the pattern directed and then thought that it needed a strap, since she ends up with her arms full. I added a strap and I like it alot better. It could also be used as a small purse. That gives me an idea...maybe I could make one for my niece....later.
I still need to find a button for the closure. It will take me forever to dig through these...this is just one small jar of them. I bought a box of buttons at an estate auction about 10 yrs ago. There was no way that I would even try to count them, so I weighed them. I think it was right at 8 lbs. 8 lbs. is ALOT of buttons and I only paid $2 for them.

So, I guess I will try to match a button to it and then clean up my mess. Richard should be home in about 1 1/2 hrs, so I will have to warm up his dinner.
Kristie

Sewing and Napping!

Today has been a long day. It's Friday, so most of you know that is when I do my weekly running...grocery shopping and bill paying. But with all of the holiday shopping everything was very crowded today. Came back home, put everything away and Hunter and I fell asleep on the couch for 3 hours. Andrew left this morning to go to his uncle's house. This is his dad's brother, and his is very good to him. They wanted him to come over because they had some gifts for him. Now this is my ex-husbands brother and they bought a gift for Hunter too. I thought that was so sweet of them. He and his wife have always been good to me and get along great with Richard. They even go hunting together.

After I fixed dinner, I started cutting out my setting triangles for my "Friendship Baskets" I got them cut out and two of them sewn on, but now I am bored with it. Maybe I will finish it tomorrow. It won't take that long, just finish sewing on the setting triangles and then add a border.

Richard just called from work and said he wouldn't be home until around midnight! Now he got up at midnight last night and went to work so that will be 24hrs! I know he will be sooooo tired. His boss said that since they were off Monday and Tuesday, he wanted them to work Saturday! Of course, this ticked Richard off, so he is just working extra late tonight so that he will make quota. He drives a coal truck and they have to have so many tons a week.
Kristie

Quilts for Christmas!

As most of you know I have been a little lazy with my Christmas sewing. Actually, I haven't done any Chistmas sewing. Now at the last minute I am in the mood to give a "quilty gift" so I have been digging through my piles of quilts and have decided on 4 quilts to give. I still have a few more that I need to pick out quilts for, but at least this is a start. All four quilts are Queen size.

I can actually go ahead and show these since none of these people read my blog.

Quilt 1 ~ Tennessee Puzzle~~ goes to Richard's Aunt Carol. She lives with and takes care of his Grandmother, so I feel she deserves one. Actually, this will make her 2nd quilt from me.



Quilt 2 ~ Spinning Pinwheels~~ Goes to my MIL. This is her 2nd quilt from me.

Quilt 3 ~ Martha Washington's Star~~ Goes to my sister, Chantal. I can't remember how many quilts that I have given to her, but I can tell you this is NOT the first. She has several.

Quilt 4~ Butterflies and Roses, goes to Richard's Grandmother. This will be her 3rd quilt from me.

I still have a few more that I need to pick out, but I will quit for tonight, I am getting nervous, these are hard to give away. :)

Kristie

Machine Trouble......again

I sat down to sew this afternoon and once again my needle would not move side to side for the seam allowance adjustment. So I tore it back apart and couldn't see anything broke or loose. Now it did the same thing a few weeks ago and I dropped it trying to take it apart and then it started working again fine after the drop. I looked at everything and seemed like everything else worked, so I thought I would wait until Richard got home and have him to look at it. I heard is truck coming up the road and I turned the knob one last time and it WORKED!!!! I was so mad. Well, I was only mad for a second and then thrilled that it worked.
I was ready to take Richard up on his offer of a new machine, but I just really hate to spend the money right now. I don't have alot of money in this machine, only $250 but I do like how it sews. I have probably sewn over 100 quilt tops among other things on it. I think it is just worn out. I did order a new Juki a few weeks back but then turned around just a couple minutes later and canceled it. So I may end up ordering another one soon. But I will still try to get old faithful fixed. I really do like this machine and right now it is sewing fine. But the mood has left me....I don't think I want to sew now!!!

Oh, the boys and I took Ida Belle to the vet this morning. He said she was doing great! 11 1/2 wks old and now weighs 20 lbs. The vet said she was 20lbs of pure love and I was thinking you don't live with her, she is 20 lbs of hell!
Kristie

Quilting Goals for 2008???????

I have been sitting here thinking about what I have accomplished this past year as far as quilting goes. The only goal that I set the end of 2006 was to have 150 quilts and tops made by the end of 2007. I now have 151!!! Yes, I have a list of all of them. I started quilting about 10yrs ago and I have made 151, now 67 of them are still just tops and need to be quilted but as soon as I get my quilting machine I will start quilting them as fast as I can. These tops range from crib size to king size.

I think in the coming year some of my goals will be getting some of them quilted. And I have some special projects that I would like to do too. I have started listing my goals for 2008 on my blog in the side bar. Right now I only have 3 listed, but I'm sure that list will grow alot.

I was just wondering if anyone else has started thinking about their quilting goals for 2008??????

Friendship Basket Blocks

This is what I got done today! I have made 8 of these blocks. Two of each set of fabrics. I now have a total of 8 blocks and they will be set on point. This will make a nice lap-sized quilt. By the time that I add my setting triangles and a border, it will be the perfect size. I had planned on making it larger but I just don't want to make anymore and I don't want to put it in my UFO pile so I will stop now and add the borders. This is only one block but you will see the others when I get it all sewn together.

I got the pattern out of an old magazine that I have. It is an early 2001 issue of "Traditional Quiltworks" I loved the quilt in the magazine and had planned on making it for a long time, but just never got around to it. The blocks measure 15 inches and is called "Friendship Baskets" I dug out some setting and border fabric that I've had for a while. It is just a solid olive green fabric. I'm sure something else would look better but I don't want to have to buy anymore until I use some of this other fabric up. I'm not sure if I will work on it anymore tonight or not, right now I am just tired and am starting to get a headache. If I start feeling a little better I may try to finish the top, it won't take that long to do it.

The boys have been cleaning their room ALL DAY and it still isn't clean. It was a mess, there was just a small path from the door to the bed. I don't know how they could stand it but I swore that I would not clean it. It was their room they can keep it clean.
Kristie

Coloring Book Caddy

In between all of my running around today I did manage to sew a little. I made this "Coloring book caddy" for Hunter. I just used some fabric that I had here at home. I plan on making a couple more of them. One for my niece and nephew. She is 5 and he is 18 months. I think on his I will change it to hold the large crayons. And I will sew the strip that holds the crayons in a coresponding fabric. I just didn't really have anything that went very well with this Batman fabric. Anyway, Hunter loves it.

I check Andrew out of school early today so that he could go to Hunter's school with me. He wanted to go see some of his friends and old teachers. He and one of his old teachers sat and played the guitar the whole time. Andrew took his guitar over there so they could play. They had a blast!

Hunter's party went great. I don't know how some of the teachers stand it. Those kindergardener's were WILD! They got a few gifts and lots of snacks (CHOCOLATE) Maybe the chocolate is what made them so wild. The teachers loved their gifts that Hunter and I made. The teacher's aide in Hunter's class bought them all gifts. The girls got baby dolls and the boys got remote control cars. She even put the batteries in them, so I thought that was nice. That is when it got really wild. All of the boys had their cars running around all over the classroom.

We haven't been home too long. Richard got home about 10 minutes after we did. So now I am just trying to fix some quick cheeseburgers for dinner. The boys are off school now until January 2nd.
Kristie

My busy Monday.

This morning I had to take Andrew to school. The high school bus didn't run up our holler this morning. She was afraid that it would be slick. She was just being lazy, because the snow was completely gone. No snow at all! So when I got back home I called the bus garage and complained. Now if the road had been snow covered I would have understood, but that made me a little mad.

When I got back home, I cleaned house, baked some chocolate chip cookies for my boys! Richard included. He is a baby too. They loved them. But I didn't tell them that I burned the first batch and had to throw them out.

I missed my guild Christmas party this morning. I was in a rush taking Andrew to school that I forgot to take my guild gifts and supplies. I still had 2 hours to kill before the meeting, but I didn't want to have to make 2 trips town this morning. I called Sandy this afternoon, she said not alot of people were there. I think it was just too cold. Most of them are elderly and they don't get out alot.

When the boys got home from school, they did their homework so we could go on to the funeral home. Hunter was soooooo tired. He fell asleep writing his numbers. As you can see he has his "Horsey Quilt" with him.

I took the boys to the funeral home. Alot of Andrews friends were there. Everyone was taking it really hard. It was a very sad time for everyone. Hunter is very young but just doesn't understand even though he knew him. Andrew on the other hand it taking it very hard. What do you do? All that I knew to do was talk to Andrew, tell him how much that I love him and that I was there if he needed to talk.

Tomorrow is going to be another long day. Hunter has his school Christmas party tomorrow afternoon. Andrew wants to go to so I will be picking him up from high school and taking him to Hunter's school for him to spend time with everyone there. See Hunter's school is small and goes from kindergarden to the 8th grade. So that is where Andrew went to school last year. He still has tons of friends there. Actually the friend that he just lost was in the 8th grade, so that is why he wants to go over there tomorrow to be with everyone. Then Wednesday is the funeral. They are having it at the school. Then it is Christmas break since tomorrow is their last day. Hopefully, I will get some sewing done sometime in between some of all this.

Kristie

A Local Tragedy

This is a very sad time for Andrew and our small town. Over the weekend one of Andrew's friends went on a hunting trip with his father. His friend, age 14, died as a result of a tragic hunting accident. We live in a very small town so it has hit everyone here.

They had school today and had several counselors and members from the KY Crisis Respone Team there at the school to help the children cope with this tragedy. Andrew is so very upset. It breaks my heart to see him so sad. And the poor family of this boy, I just don't know how they will get through this. I can't imagine, if it were one of my boys, I think I would just die with them. It is so sad...

They are having his viewing/wake at the school tonight. It is from 6pm-9pm. Andrew will go over there to be with his other friends. The funeral will be held on Wednesday morning at the school. This is such a terrible thing, I feel so sorry for these kids and his family.
Kristie

Sewing Caddy!

After getting back home this evening I made this Sewing Machine Caddy. You really can't tell that much about it from the photo but it is quilted and has pockets in it. It is just the right size to fit under my machine. If you click on the link you can tell more about it. The fabric is not my favorite, but I think I got in a bulk bag. This website has lots of other neat patterns. There are several on there that I would like to make later.

We are getting a little bit of snow here. When we get just a little bit they usually cancel school so the boys are praying!!! Not sure if they will even have the guild party tomorrow. I guess things get canceled here because of all of the backroads and hills.

I guess I am done sewing for the night, hopefully tomorrow I can get something else done.

Kristie

Restless Morning

This has been a very restless morning. I slept in this morning, the wind is what woke me up. It was terrible. The wind is still blowing but now we have snow flurries with it. I don't think it is going to snow enough to amount to anything. I wish we would get a couple of inches at least. It is cold here and with the wind blowing it makes it feel alot colder. Last I checked it was 24 degrees and Richard is down at the sawmill working. He is crazy!

When he gets done we will go in to town to visit with his Grandmother for a bit. I also have some movies that we rented that I need to return today.

Last night after my post, I made another rice heating bag. I made two of them last night. I just used the same fabic on both. I gave one to my sister and kept the other one.

I will probably do some sewing this evening when we get back. Not sure what I will work on, I will find something. I will have to decide before Richard goes to bed, since my fabric is stored in the bedroom and I don't want to wake him by digging through the totes.

Tomorrow is our Guild Christmas Party. I still haven't picked up a gift for that yet. I will run up to Paintsville in the morning before the party to get something. We are also going to be making a Christmas ornament too. Not sure how that will work out, but if it doesn't look too bad I will post a photo of it.
Kristie

Back to sewing!

I have been busy this evening. Thank you all for your ideas on gifts for Hunter's teachers. I thought he wanted me to make one for his homeroom teacher, but he wants a gift for all of his teachers. I ended up making 3 sets of coasters. I didn't do them in Christmas fabric, so that they could be used all year. I bought 3 coffee mugs from the Dollar Discount to put them in. I will either add some candies or take Michelle's advice and put a couple packs of hot cocoa in them. Hunter is very pleased with them.



I also took an idea from one of Jill's post. I made a Rice Heating Bag. I called my sister while she was in town and had her to pick up a bag of rice for me. Richard put his back out this morning working at the sawmill, so he is using it now. He said it really works. I think I will make several more of them for my family. Mom and Chantal use heating pads alot.

My sister, Chantal finally has a boyfriend!! I know she will kill me if she reads this. I had mentioned before about her being so lonesome. Anyway this is a guy that she has known for a long time, I think they went to school together. They have been talking for several months now, but I guess it is official that they are a couple now. She seems to be so happy! He is a really nice guy, but there is one problem. He is in the National Guard and will be leaving for Afghanistan in February. He will be gone for a little over a year. She will be so sad when he leaves. I love her so much and hate to see her so upset. Hopefully, all will go well for them both.
Kristie

My dreaded doctor's appointment.

I had a doctor's appointment yesterday. I really dreaded going. See back almost a year ago, I had been diagnosed as having Graves Disease. Now this has caused me alot of problems over the past several years. I have 2 tumors on my thyroid that I was told yesterday that could not be removed. I went to Dr. Alhaj, an Edocrimoligist, this was the 3rd doctor that I had been to for this. They all say pretty much the same thing. He said they couldn't remove these tumors because of where they were located. He said there were several nerves and things around them and if removed then I would have some paralysis in my face and neck and it would also mess up my speach. The only way that they will remove them is if it ever turns into cancer. I guess right now everything is okay as far as the cancer part goes.

So the only treatment for this is, of course medication along with radiation treatments. Now they said that the radiation treatments would NOT make me sick and it is in pill form. But the medication will react with the radiation and that is what will make me so sick. As of right now I don't know how many treatments I will have to have. The doctor said that the radiation is used to shrink or kill the tumors.

Now the worst part of it for me is that during the treaments he said that I would be TOXIC. He said that if I hold Hunter in my lap then I need to put a quilt or something between us because of the radiation and my pores of my skin. And NO SEX! :( He said he would tell me more when I go back.

I start my treatments 3 days after Christmas. Doctor said because of so much interaction with family through the holidays we would wait until after. My mom called yesterday after I got home and she got so upset. I tried to tell her that I was fine but she just wouldn't listen. She just kept crying. She said she wished that I didn't have to start treatments until she was home so that she could take care of me. I kept trying to tell her that I was okay. I think alot of it is because that she is gone and can't be with me. All three of us kids have always been so close to mom. When I was telling her bye on the phone she couldn't even tell me bye because she was crying so hard. I called Chantal and told her to call mom a little while afterwards to check on her, because she was so upset.

I don't think it is as bad as my mom and Richard thinks but hopefully it will all turn out fine in the end.
Kristie

Need An Idea!!

Hunter just informed me this evening that he wants me to make a gift for his teacher. Since this will be a last minute gift, I'm thinking maybe a small wallhanging. So I need your ideas for free patterns for teacher/school related wallhangings. I'm sure there is something on the internet, but I will have to dig around. I don't really want anything that has applique, just something really quick and I would love to be able to use fabric out of my stash, since it is 45 minutes to the nearest store that sells fabric. Please help!!!
Kristie

In Need Of A Little TLC...

My little Hunny Bun has a "Horsey Quilt" that I made for him when he was a baby. He is now 5 1/2 and is still very attached to this quilt. The only place that this quilt doesn't go with him is to school. It is very worn but very loved. This is probably the most important quilt that I have ever made, at least I know that it is loved more than any other. It is a crib size quilt with a piced horse head in the center. I hand quilted it, which didn't take too long since it is only a crib size.


This quilt has been through everything in the world. Dragged through the mud, vomited on, anything you name it, it has been through it. Now it is in need of repair. I knew it was getting shabby, but when I got it out of the dryer a few minutes ago, I really realized that I needed to do something before it gets any worse and he is not ready to give it up yet.

You can see it has several holes in it and the binding is shot. I have more of this brown fabric but of course the quilt is so faded that it doesn't even look the same. I will eventually replace the binding, but what do you think is my best bet to do for the holes????


Of course he has several other quilts but none of them will ever take the place of this one. I never knew when I was making it that he would love it so much.

Okay, now on to something else....I had Christmas Dinner with Hunter this morning at school. He enjoyed it so. After leaving school, I drove on in to town. I had a mammogram this afternoon. They said it would be a few days before I got my results back. But one thing for certain, those things hurt!

I have another doctor's appointment tomorrow in Ashland, which is about a 1 1/2 hour drive. It is an appointment that I dread! I will post about it later since it will take a while to explain it all.
Kristie

I'm back in business!!!

Well, I was on a roll today! Got the boys off to school, fed all the animals, fixed the fence in Jim and Bullet's lot. Then came in and started cutting out pieces. Sewed on it for a while, then took a nap for about 1 1/2 hours. Got back up and started again. Hubby came home from work early and had to take care of hubby :) and fixed dinner. All of this and I got my top done before 5pm.

I know it still needs borders, but I will have to buy fabric for that. This will fit my full-size bed. So, not to bad for a days work! Now I probably won't sew for week!
Kristie

In The Mood To Quilt!!!

Today has been a long day. After getting the boys off to school this morning I did 5 loads of laundry :( I hate laundry. I still have a basket full of socks that I need to mate. After that I stretched out on the couch to read a book and the next thing I knew the boys were coming through the door. I had slept the day away. I didn't mean to fall asleep so there was no dinner ready. I rushed to the phone, called my sister and had her pick up a pizza for me. Luckily her and Richard pulled in the drive-way at the same time. I always have dinner ready when the boys get home from school and just put Richards in the microwave, but today everyone was asking me if I was sick! I was just tired, I guess.

Later in the evening I finished my book. I tried to pick out another one to read but I haven't decided on one as of yet. Richard went on to bed and the boys and I watched a movie, after they did their homework. Now it is 11:30pm and I want to QUILT!!! Can you believe it?? But I guess I will have to wait until morning because my fabric is in the bedroom and Richard is asleep. :( He will get up at midnight, but I'm sure by the time that he leaves I will be ready for bed.

I was noticing yesterday while I was sorting fabric, that I have a TON! I think I will make another scrap quilt. I can't think of the name of the block right off, but it is just a simple block and I have made it before. It goes together rather quickly and I can use up alot of my scraps on it. I will post a block tomorrow when I start it. It will probably take me longer to cut it out than it will to sew the top together.

I guess I am done....Ida Belle is asleep under the computer desk and she has GAS!!! She is killing me.....
Kristie

Sewing Roll

Yesterday evening we had a rain storm and our electric went off around 6pm and didn't come back on until 7am this morning. I had tons of candles lit all over the house and I sat down to read. Wouldn't you know it, I just couldn't get in to reading. I wanted to SEW!! Of course, I wanted to sew, we had no electricty and I couldn't use my sewing machine. Isn't that the way it goes? I sat down and cut out several yo-yo's to go in Hunter's quilt. I cut out this sewing roll too. But I sewed it together this morning as soon as the electric came back on.

It only measures 4x11 inches and it has a total of 4 pockets. It will be perfect to carry my small scissors and things to quilt guild meetings. At our next meeting, we are making some type of Christmas ornament. We were told to bring very small scissors, needles and thread, so this will be perfect. When rolled up it will fit perfectly in my purse.

Richard left for work a little after midnight last night and I am very used to staying by myself at night. But last night, I had no lights and the phone was out also. I lit a fire in the fireplace and that helped out alot with the light. The boys and I slept in the living room. I just dozed on and off all night, just didn't sleep much at all. Then around 4am I was hit in the face hard with something and at first is scared the crap out of me. I couldn't see and I wasn't sure what was going on. Well, Ida Belle turned the Christmas tree over again!! And it was the top of the tree that hit me. I was ready to kill her!!! We had already decided when she did it the first time that we would wire it to the wall, but just didn't get around to it after the electric went off. But you can bet that it is wired to the wall now! My tree, well..........it looks like crap! It has been turned over twice, so you can imagine.

I sorted through a tote of fabric this evening. For what reason, I don't know. I think I was just hoping that I would get inspired, but it didn't happen. At least that tote of fabric is all neat now. Maybe I will try again tomorrow.

Kristie

Ida Belle vs. The Christmas Tree

The Christmas party was very nice last night. We rode up with a friend of Richard's and his wife. She is very quiet, but she did ask me if I would teach her how to make a quilt. So I told her just to come over sometime and we would go through some patterns and get her started.

Anyway, on to the party. Dinner started at 5:30pm and we arrived a little after 5pm. Of course Richard is always the life of the party. You remember the 5th of Crown Royal that I bought on Friday...well he drank it all at the party! Now Richard never gets what you would say drunk he just gets VERY HAPPY! And he sang the whole night!!! They were even giving requests. It was sooo funny! The Christmas show started at 7:30pm and the place held 1100 people and it was packed. The show was very nice and we had a great time. We got back home somewhere around midnight.

This morning after breakfast, we did the feeding and then we went down to the sawmill to work. Richard usually does it by himself but I just helped him load the logs on. The boys were outside with us and I went back in the house to use the bathroom and the Christmas tree was turned over!!! Ida Belle had turned it over. Now my tree is 8 ft, so you can imagine what a mess that I had. ornaments and bulbs where everywhere and some of them were broke. Part of the lights were hanging off, it was just a big mess. I wanted to SCREAM!!! So I went back out to get them to come and help me stand it back up. I just had Hunter to hang the ornaments back on because at this point I just really didn't care. So now my tree really looks weird because most of the ornaments are around the bottom!
Kristie

Life On Friday!!!

Friday morning was a very hard morning for me. I had to take Mom down to catch her boat. We left the house around 6:30am. I think we tried to avoid talking about Christmas and the fact that she wouldn't be here. When I hugged her bye she wouldn't even raise her head up to look at me. I know that she was crying the same as I was.

I left her around 8am and drove on to the mall. I thought I would do a little Christmas shopping since I was down there. Stopped at JC Pennys, Goody's, Belk's, American Eagle, and several other stores. I only spent $20 at the mall, I just couldn't find anything that I wanted. Then it was on to the liquor store, to pick Richard up a 5th of Crown Royal. His Christmas Party is tonight (Saturday), I will tell you more about that in a little bit.

I bought a live Christmas tree today. Richard ended up having to work late. His truck brokedown so that put him behind. He got up at midnight to go to work and got back home at 11:30pm. Almost 24hrs!!! Then he was just sooooooo tired that he couldn't sleep, so we watched a movie. Anyway, the boys and I already had the tree up and deocorated. I am usually a control freak when it comes to decorating the tree. I always want everything to match and be perfect. I even have all of my gift wrapping matching and make my own bows. But not this year! I let them have control of it. This year we have...multi-colored lights, bright ornaments of ALL colors and gift wrapping in every color of the rainbow. But the kids had a blast doing it. For some reason this photo is very dark, but trust me the tree is SOOOOOOO BRIGHT!!

Oh, I did stop at Walmart for a few minutes this morning and this is all that I bought. 3 1/2yd pieces to add to my stash. Just really haven't been in the mood to sew the past several days. Maybe after Christmas it will hit me again.

Richard's Christmas party is tonight. It is at the Mountain Arts Center in Prestonsburg. Dinner is being served at 5:30pm. After dinner they will give out gifts to their employees and then the show starts at 7:30pm. The show that we are seeing is..."Celebrate Christmas with the KY Opry" I will let you know how it all goes...

Kristie