Quilt Goodies!

Another long day and I haven't really accomplished much at all. :( I got up this morning with some sinus problems, which I do this every year but I am feeling a little better now. Anyway....Richard has been working on the house some today and I have helped him a little. He had to put up a 20foot beam over my sewing room and that took a while to get it up there, it was just us so we had to use some ropes and things but at least it is up! And he did a few other things to it that needed to be done before we put up the plywood on the second half of the roof! The back half has been done for a while but we need to get the front part covered before the snow really sets in for the Winter. It is supposed to start raining tonight and turn in to snow later in the week so we probably will not get to work on it anymore until next weekend. :( We have the plywood and roofing felt already sitting here just waiting to be put on, we have had it for a while.

I recieved this wonderful little wallhanging from a sweet friend of mine, Lisa. She did a great job on it! This is the second wallhanging that I have recieved from her and her work is excellent! I already have it hanging on the wall and it looks so pretty. I can't wait to be able to display these in my new house someday. Thanks so much Lisa, I love it!


I have been sewing and cutting a little today! Here is the story.....I had a UFO called "Diagonal Nine Patch" now the pattern had 9 inch nine patches and 9 inch half square tirangles and the half square triangle blocks went in a diagonal line across the quilt. Anyway that is probably confusing but I liked the quilt so I decided to make it. Now I really screwed it up but thank goodness I can save it! Some of the fabric that I was going to use in the half sqaure trianles was a strip fabric. I cut my strips wrong they would have been going all different directions!!! :( So I decided to try a different layout with the blocks and this is what I came up with...

This is nowhere near what it is supposed to look like but at least it will work! I still need to add more 9 patch blocks on the sides and then maybe add a border to it! :) I'll take another photo of it when I get the top finished. I still have to sew the other 9 patches together, hopefully I will have the top finished by tomorrow!

Kristie

The Day After!

First off, I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! We certainly did and had alot to be thankful for! Since mom was gone, Chantal (my sister) and I had to do Thanksgiving dinner! We were stressed that it would not turn out that great, because we are so used to mom doing the major cooking but all went very well! It was a nice little cozy dinner for Chantal, my two boys, Richard and me!!!! We ate soooo much, as soon as we got up from the table everyone started falling asleep!! :) Of course I had to grab the camera! Here is a cute photo of Chantal snoozing on my couch, she will kill me for put this photo on here. :) And about the time I snapped this photo of Richard the flash from the camera woke him up. I promise he doesn't always look this stupid! :) And here is Donkey, can you tell he got his belly full?





Now that Thanksgiving is over, I can get my sewing machine back out! That is the big problem when you have nowhere to sew except for the kitchen table. I probably will not do it tonight, maybe tomorrow, I am still trying to recover from yesterday. Not alot going on here on the Layne Farm this evening. It is after dark and hubby is still out riding one of the horses, he should be home soon. Andrew went to his dad's house yesterday after our dinner :( so right now it is just me and Hunter. May try to do some handquilting later tonight, there is a western coming on tv tonight that we have not seen yet so I will probably work on that while watching the movie. I can't wait to get this quilt quilted.

Speaking of this quilt.....Brenda if you read this you know what I am talking about! :) I must be slow at handquilting because this lady at quilt guild brought a quilt in at our last meeting and it was all handquilted and I must say some very lovely quilting, tiny, straight stitches! Very nice! Anyway, I asked her how long it took her to do all of that quilting and she said "3 weeks"!!!! I thought I would die! It was a bedsize quilt and the quilting was wonderful!!! I have been working on this thing for a month and I still am only about 1/2 done with it! So for all of you hand quilters out there, on the average, how long does it take you?
Kristie

Sorting Quilt Tops

Well it's been several days since my last post. I have been getting the house ready for Thanksgiving. The boys have been home from school since last Friday! School has been cancelled due to the weather. I just love having them home and spending time with them.

Here is a photo that I took of Donkey this morning while he was snoozing in the chair. He is not very active just lazy!!! :)


After doing some cleaning, I decided to sort through my million quilt tops! :) I wanted to measure each one, label it with the size and color backing needed for it. I also made a list of these to keep with me, just in case I find a good deal on backing. Anyway here is a photo of, I think 12 quilt tops! This is just one small box of them, I have somewhere around 70 quilt tops!! :(


I am sorting through them as I go because some of the tops are crib or small lap size quilts. All of those will be quilted and donated to the Pediatrics office were my sister works and given out on an as needed basis. Sandy, my guild president has offered to quilt them for me so we can get them finished and ready to be given out to the children. So if you read this, Sandy, Thank you so very much!!!

Not alot going on here on the Layne Farm tonight. Richard is already in bed, he is so sick with this cold/flu thing but, love his heart, he will not miss work because of it at all. Hunter is playing with his legos and Andrew has a friend staying over tonight and they are outside playing with his chickens!!! :) I think I am going to do a little more handquilting and head on to bed soon.
Kristie

Time For Another Post

Well, it has been almost a week since my last post so I figured it was about time for another one. Not alot going on here on the quilty side. I have been working a little on and off on handquilting this quilt. Just mostly while watching tv in the evenings with the family. I take these spells sometimes...sometimes I will sew constantly and other times not at all.

Also, I have been working on a few yo-yo's for our Christmas project that we are doing in Quilt Guild. We are making a yo-yo ornament. Our party is December 8th and it should be lots of fun, I will have to take my camera.

I have been thinking alot today about several quilting projects that I have going on. I have several that I would like to finish up before the end of the year. With the holidays coming up I will not get to sew as much, but I hope to work on these...

~ Sew all of the Love Letter blocks together
~ Sew binding on my Carpenter's Star quilt
~ Sew binding on Green Yellow Brick Road
~ Work on handquilting Scrappy Triple Irish Chain
~ Finish Diagonal Nine Patch blocks

and also work on these quilts along the way, but there is no way they will be finished for a while, I guess you could say they are my long term projects...

~ Summer Pond Applique
~ Civil War Diary Quilt
~ Nearly Insane blocks

And between all of this...Thanksgiving Dinner and Christmas Shopping!!! :) Mom has to work through Thanksgiving so dinner will be made by me and my sister! And we will have dinner here at my house! Thank goodness that Chantal is a good cook so she will be lots of help. Mom had to work last Christmas so we didn't get to see her until January but this year she is off through Christmas! So it will be nice to have the family all home. And of course we will have our new addition this year, my brothers new baby, Gabe. He is around 3 weeks old!!
Kristie

More Quilt Books!

This morning, I made a trip to Paintsville while I was there I stopped by my favorite bookstore! I trade my Historical Romance Novels in for more to read, but they also have a section of NEW books. I always look there for quilt books! This is what I found today! I bought these 4 books for $15! Not a bad price!!!!





Here is another block that I made the other night! I haven't had a chance to do any sewing this evening, I have been looking through these books.



Not sure how much sewing I will get done tomorrow either. Richard has to have a new pair of boots for work! Where he drives a coal truck and has to go on the mine sites he has to have a certain type of boot. He has had his others for several years and today the side split so there is a 5 inch gash between the leather and the sole. So anyway, he has to have a new pair!! :( Which he will get a discount because of the company that he works for and they are tax deductible!! We will be making the trip to Wade's Work and Western Wear in Ironton Ohio to get them. I think he is going to go deer hunting early in the morning so maybe I can get a little bit of sewing in while he is gone....
Kristie

A Bit Of Sewing!

Today I recieved this beautiful purse and tablerunner pattern from Julie! She had made the purse a while back and had a photo on her blog, of course I fell in love so later she asked if I wanted the pattern!! I can't wait to make it!!!! Thanks so much Julie!!!!


I finished my applique on my 3 Summer Pond blocks! So I am caught up until December on them!! I also played around with this block! Didn't plan on making a quilt just playing! Then I asked hubby and oldest son what it looked like and they both said, "A shirt with part of a tie" Now how weird is that??? It is supposed to be a butterfly, but I didn't embordier the things on it! Oh well!!!


I stretched out this quilt, pinned it and started handquilting! Nothing major, just something else for me to work on while watching tv. I made the top a few months ago, but I just added the borders on it.


This evening I made 2 more blocks for my Nearly Insane quilt. These are a couple of the easier blocks in this quilt. Lots of fun!



And last before bed, I made one more block for my Civil War Diary quilt!!!! This makes me a total of 73 blocks for this quilt. Only 48 more to go!


I guess that is all for tonight! Need to finish some laundry and go to bed!!!!
Kristie

Summer Pond

Well, I didn't get as much done this weekend as I had hoped! :( But I did start another project! I know, I know, I didn't need to, but actually I have been planning on doing this one for a long time. I already had the fabrics for it and even had one of the blocks cut out. This is Summer Pond, which is a BOM so I don't have to be in a rush to finish it. I have these three blocks cut out, ironed down, and only one of them is appliqued! I have the big red fish done but I will work on the others. I also have 2 more of the blocks cut out with the 2 fish on them, I think the quilt shows 3 of those blocks used.




Had a visit from my MIL and hubby's grandmother a little while ago. His mother lives in Ohio and comes down a couple times a year. The boys were glad to see them, but we visit with his grandmother every week, so they get to see her alot. She spoils them too death.

I am still sick but starting to feel a little better, I guess. I feel bad enough that I don't want to do anything but good enough that I am restless, if that makes any sense. I have a ton of quilty things that I want to do but just not the energy to do them. I would like to finish sewing my Love letter quilt together, work on my Nearly Insane, my Civil War Diary quilt, finish these applique blocks, pin another quilt for hand quilting even though I don't have the others done, I could go on and on but I won't bore you with it all. Anyone else feel like that from time to time? Right now, I have a big fire going in the fireplace and it is so warm and cozy in here, my house is clean, (because I knew I was having company), so if only I had the energy to sew....
Kristie

A Little Hand Sewing!

Well, I'm still feeling like poo!!! Andrew is still sick too! Luckily so far Hunter and Richard have not gotten it! I have been moving from the bed to the couch most of the time but you know how it is being a mother. Mom's just can't have any down time!!! So I am fixing very simple dinners and everyone seems to be happy with that. Anyway, I just haven't felt like sitting at the sewing machine much so I have been working on other things. Here is a quilt that I have been handquilting for YEARS!!! I always like to have at least one handquilting project going on at all times but actually I have two. This one, I don't work on very long at a time, I don't even really like the quilt and it is one that I did probably 6 yrs ago, I think I started handquilting it one Winter because I was bored. Anyway, it keeps me warm working on it when I have the chills!


As I mentioned in my last post, I had a new nephew born last Monday. I have saw him yet other than photos, I don't want to take the chance on making the little guy sick. I know I have had 9 months to make him a quilt, so I guess I am just lazy. I made the top a couple of months ago, so today, I spread it out on my bed and tied it. I just didn't feel like sitting at the machine and quilting it. It didn't take me very long to tie it. I already had the binding ready so I did attach it by machine, but now I need to sew the binding down on the back. I will work on that tonight and tomorrow. It should not take too long to do. I also finished hand sewing the binding down on another quilt.



I didn't take a photo of the other quilt but maybe I will tomorrow. Anyway, at quilt guild we are having a little competition on finishing some UFO's. Lord knows I have a million. :) So both of these quilts were on my list!!!!! :)
Kristie

Feeling Under The Weather :(

This morning was our Quilt Guild meeting! Lots of fun and beautiful quilts to look at! I really enjoy going and seeing what everyone else is making. Lots of inspiration!!

Today we were making a Roman Stripe quilt! Very nice pattern but I decided not to do this one right now because....my SIL was at the hospital having her labor induced!! Yep, as of a little before 2pm, I have a new nephew!!!! I had planned on going down to the hospital but about 15 minutes before I left the guild meeting, I started feeling really crappy!!! Aches and chills all over! So I decided to go home first because she had not had him yet. I ended up sleeping until the boys got home from school. Didn't figure I should go to the hospital and get the baby sick. Mom says that he is very beautiful! They named him Gabe Michael and he weighed 8lb, 4oz. I can't wait to see him!!!!

Right now I feel like crap! Andrew is also sick, he has been vomiting! Richard and Hunter are staying away from us!!! :) I sure hope they do not get sick! I even got out of fixing dinner! I always fix a fairly big meal, but this evening, I got away with opening up a few cans of Beef Stew! :)

No sewing for me today, but here is another block that I made for my Civil War Diary quilt the other day. This one is called "A Glorious Rainbow" and has 59 pieces! Not a hard block but just time consuming!!


The boys don't have school tomorrow because of Election Day! Hopefully, Andrew is feeling better and can enjoy his time off from school, if not, I will take him to the doctor. I can handle myself being sick, but not my kids!

Hopefully, I will have a few more photos to show in the next few days!
Kristie

Sewing right along!!

I've been working on some blocks the past couple of days. Here are three more blocks for my Civil War Diary Quilt! Now only 50 more to go on this one!!!! I love the fabrics in this quilt.




I also made 2 more for my Nearly Insane quilt! I still have a million more to go on this one! :) So far I have done the easier blocks. I must say, some of these blocks will be hard!!!



Richard worked on the house a little more today while I made a few blocks. I felt like I have been working in slow motion all day! Just seemed like I wasn't getting anywhere on these blocks today.

I also have the first 6 rows of my Love Letter quilt sewn together!!!!! I can't work on it while everyone is home because I have to take up the whole floor in the living room while laying the blocks out and they don't have anywhere to walk. So I will have to wait until Monday to do more on it. Hopefully, I can get a photo of that in a few days! It really feels good to see it going together.

Well, I'm off...I'm going to try to get a couple more blocks done while we watch the PBR World Finals (bullriding)
Kristie