Quilted 30 in 2009

I hope everyone is having a great New Year's Eve! We are not doing anything, just watching movies here at home with the kids. We never do anything for the New Year celebration other than this and I always enjoy the time spent with my family.

We I have made 8 more of my string blocks! So that takes my now to 36 of them and 88 more to go!!!! :( They are very fun and easy to make! Mindless sewing! Anyway, I have decided to add two more quilt projects to my list for 2010! The first one is this quilt, Diamond String with Lattice! I figure I should have the blocks done by the end of 2010 using my scraps. I am running low on strings right now, so I will work on them as I add to my string tote from cutting out other projects! It will get done sooner or later! :)

The second thing that I want to add to my list is this quilt! I have shown it several times and I just love the scraps in it. It is called "Grandmother's Choice" or at least I think that is what the pattern is. There are several patterns with that name.

Like I said before if I don't get these quilts finished by the end of 2010, I'm not going to beat myself up over it! I think tomorrow I will work on sewing the borders on those 4 quilts that I showed in the last post or the one before that. Some of the borders are already cut, just need to be sewn on. I hate sewing borders on! :(

I am happy with what I got done in 2009! I did start several more quilts but in the end, I completed 13 more quilt tops and COMPLETELY finished (quilting and binding is finished) on 30 of my own quilts!!! Yep! 30! So that makes me feel pretty good! And I also did several customer quilts too.

Kristie

More String Blocks

I've been a tidbit under the weather the past couple of days so not a lot of sewing going on. I did sew 8 of these string blocks, which were very quick and easy to do, and then back to the couch or bed for me... Anyway, I plan on working on these blocks along as I have the scraps to do them. I think once I get all of the blocks done for this quilt I will really like it. The pattern requires 124 of these diamonds and I now have 28 of them done, so I still have a long way to go.
The weather is cold and we are expecting some snow, but I don't think it is anything like we had a few weeks ago. But we have a nice warm fire going in the fireplace.
Kristie

Digging Around

Today when I checked my mailbox, I had a nice little surprise from my Secret Sister! She is the best! Here is my goodies....a flannel panel with farm animals on it, a jean pocket that is a magnet and has "Top Of The World" written on it (that is where I live), a notepad and pen set, recipes, and a metal cross cookie cutter!!!! She really pays attention to what I like!!! Of course, I live on a farm so the panel was perfect, and I do live on "Top Of The World" and I love the cross for two reasons....I am a Christian and I also collect metal cookie cutters!!! Thank you so very much Secret Sister!
This evening I started digging around again. I don't have a lot of storage space to put all of my quilting stuff so most of it is in totes. I started cleaning out totes, they get really messy when I get things out all of the time. So here you can see, I refolded some yardage! In this tote is 120+ yards of fabric. All cuts here are over 3 yard pieces, some up to 10yards! :)

While I was digging around I also found this "Bow Tie" quilt that I started several months ago. I have all of the blocks pieces and three sections of the quilt pieced together. Another 30 minutes working on it and I will have the top completed! I am easily sidetracked! :) This is something that I have put at my sewing table to get done ASAP!
I also found these 4 tops that are pieced but just need borders sewn on. Some of the borders are already cut and some of them need cut and I already have the fabric for them.

I found this quilt too!! I love this one. I don't have a lot done on it but it is called "Everlasting Wreath" It is paper pieced and I don't have a lot of it done but I just love the finished quilt on the pattern. It is hard to tell much about it here, because I have it laying on top of another quilt.
Now I will add this one to my list to work on in 2010. I may not get it done, because I have several others to finish too, but I would like to work on it from time to time.

Kristie

Goal's for 2010

I don't usually like to post without a photo but today I don't have any photos! :( Here it is the day after Christmas and it is now noon, I still have my PJ's on! :) Just so tired from the previous weeks. I do love Christmas and all that it stands for, but for some reason this Christmas I have been so tired. We had a wonderful day yesterday, it is nice to see the kids so excited. I don't mean to be a scrooge but I took my tree down this morning! :) Mostly because I don't have a lot of extra space. I can't wait for the first Christmas that we spend in the new house!

Anyway, as I was cleaning this morning, my mind was on quilting! Gee, maybe they is why my house is never spotless! :) I was trying to think about what I wanted to accomplish for 2010. I do love quilting and I don't want to feel pressured, but there are some things that I would like to finish in 2010, but if they don't get done, I will not beat myself up about it. Here is the list that I have come up with so far....

* Lexie's Heart Quilt - have 7 blocks cut out and ready for the applique. Need a total of 20, add sashings and borders, then it will be ready to quilt.

* Pick the paper from the back of my Pink/Brown Civil War Love Letters quilt and add borders to it. Then quilt it.

* Turkey Tracks - all the blocks are cut out and some of them pieced. I love how they are looking.

* Carolina Christmas - Bonnie's Christmas mystery, have it all cut out and a lot of it pieced.

* Writer's Block - have all of the fabric for this, some of it is cut out. This is the red/white quilt.

* Civil War Diary Quilt - have 70/121 of the blocks pieced. Need to piece the other 41 blocks, pick the paper from the back, piece the top, add borders and quilt. If I just got the other 41 blocks done on this one, I would be happy with it for right now.

* Blue/Yellow Bargello - Finish picking out the quilting and requilt this one myself.

* Andrew's Snail's Trail - have the pattern for this one, but haven't even started with fabrics or anything. He has asked me for this quilt for a few years now so I would love to get it done for him.

* Spring Quilt - this is a kit that I cut it all out the other day while the power was off. Needs pieced and quilted.

* Finish hand quilting mom's grandmother's quilt. I am just very slow.....

* QUILT EVERY TOP THAT I PIECE THIS YEAR!!!

I have also added this list to my sidebar. As of right now that is all that I can think of. I still have 58 tops of my own to quilt. I figure if I at least try to quilt the new ones that I piece in 2010 that my pile will not get any bigger! If I get more than that quilted that is fine but I will try to work them in between my customer quilts.

Speaking of customer quilts, I really need to get my behind in gear and get them done. The past few weeks have just been sooooo busy and then the power being off sure didn't help me any either.
Kristie

I'm back! With a ton of photos! :)

After several days without power we are up and running again! We certainly lived the pioneer life! Even fixed a big pot of deer chili in the fireplace! There are still a lot of people in our area that are without power. We ended up with 9+ inches of snow! These photos are of my driveway! I think it looks soooooo pretty!


Even with all of this snow, Richard was able to get off the hill and go pick up Lexie for the day! It was great! We had a wonderful day! She spent a few hours here, even though we didn't have electric we still had a great time with her. Then we all made the trip to Richards Grandmothers for Christmas with his family. Everyone was very excited to see Lexie! Here is a photo of her and Richard, don't they look a lot alike? She seems to be a very sweet young lady! She will be back down to visit in a couple of weeks! So what do you when the power is off for days? Besides pull your hair out? :) I cut out a ton of things to sew! Then after the power came back on, I started sewing like a crazy lady trying to get it done! Here are two couch caddies that are gifts...

two more hot pads...

I got the rest of Bonnie's mystery cut out!...This is a kit that I had, I got the whole quilt cut out and ready to sew...And I cut out 7 blocks to this quilt, which is for Lexie! She asked for pink and lime green with hearts. So my plan is...the blocks will be like this and I will set it up with lime green sashings and borders. Here are several photos of my fat cat...being lazy, as usual!

And here are all of my boys! Having a wonderful time playing guitar! As you can see Hunter is singing! I just love family times like this! I hope everyone is having a wonderful Christmas! I'm sure I will have a lot more photos to come. Breanna, my other stepdaughter will be here in the morning! :)

Kristie

Back To Dear Jane!

I'm sure that everyone's life gets busy this time of year, but it feels like I have been running in circles! :( The kids have had tons of things going on at school but today was their last day until January 4th, so I am very excited about having them home for so long.

Been quilting on the frame and I have 2 quilt photos that are on my other camera, got to find the cord to upload those, have another one on the frame right now, but it has been hard getting the time to get it done. I've done 3 passes with the machine so far and it is looking great, hope to have it done in a day or so. Have several more to quilt, so I've got to get my butt in gear! :)

Today, I watched my 2 nephews! They are very sweet and we had a great time. Zeph is 3 and Gabe is 1, they are my brother's boys. It is funny, Zeph will not call Richard by his name, he calls him "farmer"

We had lots of fun, but when they both took a nap, I did a little sewing! I couldn't work on the quilt on the frame, because I wanted to stay close to the boys, so I made these....

These are hot pads or oven mitts whatever that you want to call them. Jill gave me the link to them, they are very quick and easy to make. I will use these two as gifts.

I also made these two Dear Jane blocks! It had been since last December since I had worked on this quilt. Richard actually asked me about this quilt the other day and wondered when I was going to work on it again, so I got it out this morning. These two blocks were easy to do.
The weather is getting bad here in KY. They are saying we will get between 6-12 inches which is a lot for us here in KY. If you have followed my blog for a while you will know that when it snows we can't get off this hill. My sister, Chantal is staying with us tonight too! So it will be lots of fun. She brought her little poodle, Zoey with her so she, Smokey and Donkey are playing!!! I just hope that with that much snow that our power does not go off like it usually does. But we are prepared!!!!

Kristie

A Good Quilty Day!

This has been a great quilty day! Got all of my housework done early so that I could hit the sweat shop (sewing room) :) I worked my butt off getting this Nascar quilt finished! I was so happy to have it finished! It measures 92x102 so it is pretty big. Then I sat down and did the binding ALL by machine. I usually do all my bindings by hand but but I am in a hurry to get these done by Christmas. The customer said that she didn't care if it was machine or hand done so I did machine.
Feels great to have it done, now I need to clip some threads and deliver it tomorrow! :)

So while I had the black thread in the machine, I did the binding on Hunter's Star Wars quilt too! I did it all by machine, so I could get it finished. Now it is wrapped and under the tree! :)
Tonight I will be cutting out 2 more couch caddies for gifts. Have to have those finished by the weekend. They are for Richards mom and grandmother. We are having Christmas at his Grandmother's house on Sunday because his mom is coming in from Ohio. But the best news is Lexie gets to come visit for the day!!!! :) Having lots of fun talking and texting with my stepdaughter, she is a very sweet girl. This is one of the best gifts that we could receive for Christmas. :)

Went to Sunday School on Sunday, then about 15 minutes before Sunday School was over Hunter came out of his class to where I was and was crying with his ear. He has had an ear infection for a few days and I thought that the antibiotics should have started to work by now, but maybe it will take a few more days. Anyway, we didn't stay for Church, I brought him on home and gave him some Motrin. He went to school today and seems to be feeling a lot better. Andrew had an ear infection a few weeks ago, I guess it is just one of those things that kids get! :(

Well, I'm off....got to cut out the couch caddies and Richard and I will be calling Lexie!!!! :)

Kristie

Breakfast With Santa

Been another busy day, but right now I am trying to type this post and talk to my sister and my stepdaughter, Lexie. She will be coming down to visit with us on the 20th so we will be celebrating Christmas with her and Richard's side of the family then. Should be lots of fun and we just can't wait! :)

This morning our church had a "Breakfast with Santa" It was lots of fun. We had a big breakfast and then Santa came and handed out some gifts to the kids. Here is Hunter sitting on his lap!
I also made to "Couch Caddies" today! Hard to tell anything about them in the photo but if you look at the photo below it you can see what they look like. These are gifts for some friends of ours that live on down the road.

Hopefully tomorrow after church I can work on some more quilting! :) But I said "hopefully" not sure if I can or not....Hunter has an ear infection and had been in pain most of the day, so have to put my babies first! :)

Kristie

Busy! Busy! Busy!

The past few days have been very busy for me. I feel that I have neglected my blog and haven't responded to comments left on it. But I'm sure you all know how busy that life can get at times.

We had some high winds the other day and we lost power for about 1 1/2 days! :( I was so upset, that was all that I needed when I am trying to get several quilts done before Christmas! But you really can't do a lot about the power going out, just have to deal with it. Anyway we have been spending a lot of time on the computer and phone talking to my stepdaughter! It has been a lovely few days and having lots of fun with her.

Here is a photo of a few quilts that I have ready to go for Christmas for my niece and 2 nephews. I have come to terms with the fact that my sisters quilt will not get done before Christmas, but she will understand. I also need to finish the binding on Hunter's Star Wars quilt.
I have the Nascar top pieced! And now it is ready to go on the frame! I hope to get it on there this afternoon. Then do the binding and get it delivered by Tuesday.

I was cleaning the fireplace the other day, got all of the ashes out, took the grate out so that I could clean it super good, turned around and Donkey was making himself at home in the fireplace! :)

Hope to post again in a couple of days!

Kristie

Working on a Customer Quilt

Yesterday Richard and I had a wonderful day together! After we got the boys off to school, we headed to Ashland KY and Huntingtion WV. Richard had a bearing to break on one of his sawmills, so we headed out to look for another! While we were in Ashland Richard drove by the park and all of their Christmas lights were on display. So we stopped and had a nice walk through the park. Even though it was day time, it was very lovely and we had a nice time. We plan on taking the boys back down sometime before Christmas and let them see the displays when it is dark. In the end we didn't find his bearing, but did end up finding it online so we will have to order it. Thank God, he has the other sawmill that he can use until this bearing comes in.

After we got back home, the sweet hubby that he is, got me a nice warm fire going in the fireplace and headed out to work in the cold. I jumped in and straightened up the house and got to work on some quilting! I've had a lot on my mind the past couple of days and I had not been quilting. Nothing bad, actually some good things going on, my mind has just been in a whirlwind! :) So I figured I had better get my butt in gear and get some quilting done! I have some customer quilts that need to be finished before Christmas and a few things of my own too.

I got the big strips cut and sewn together for the Nascar quilt, now I just need to add the long strips to connect them all together! I don't usually make custom quilts for people, just quilt THEIR quilt tops! But I had the lady at the bookstore in Van Lear, Ky ask me if I could make a Dale Jr, #88 quilt for her so that she could give it as a gift for her daughter at Christmas! So I need to get it finished. I hope to get the top completed today and get it quilted within the next few days.
I have one quilt on the frame now, so hopefully it will be quilted and off the frame in a day or so and I can load this one on there. The one I have on the frame now is a king size quilt. It is beautiful! It is ALL hand pieced, I will post a photo of it when I get it finished. That is what I love about quilting for others, I get to see their beautiful work.

I will leave you with this photo of Smokey snoozing yesterday! He really needs a haircut! :)

Almost time to get the boys up for school. I can't wait for them to start their Christmas vacation, I just love when they are home and we can spend some nice quality family time.

Kristie

Quilting and Snowing!

Hunter came running in my bedroom this morning at 6:20am yelling "IT'S SNOWING!!" This is our first snow of the season! Right now there is not much on the ground but it is still pouring! Of course, I went ahead and got out of the bed to get my day started, I usually get up around 4am so I guess I slept in this morning.

I headed out to take some photos of our little snow. As you can see it is still a little dark outside, but if you look real close you can see 2 of the horses in the middle of the photo. I think they are all liking this snow, they have been running and kicking all morning and will not get back in their shelters.
I snapped this photo of Richard's wood chopping block on my way out back. Someone told me the other day that I needed one of those gas powered log splitters for firewood, I laughed and said, "No, I have one right here and his name is Richard!"

I walked out back to take a photo of our new house. So glad that we were able to get the roof on it before Winter hit. It is hard to tell much about it where it is so dark. You can see our new door laying down on the front porch. That one is for the balcony that will be upstairs.

My quilting frame is upstairs in the new house. I'll bet it is cold up there right now! :( I actually have my sewing room up there temporally closed in and have a big heater up there to stay warm this Winter. A girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do to quilt and stay warm! :)

Here is Hunter reading his new Dragon book that he got yesterday at the book fair at school. I think it is great that a 7 yr old wants to read a book at 6:30 in the morning! :)

Andrew is still sleeping, which it is 8:15am now, so I'll let him sleep a bit before I get him up. Richard is out feeding the horses.

I got my Nascar fabric in the mail yesterday! Now I just have to cut, piece, quilt, and bind this queen sized quilt and have it delivered before Christmas! So I started working on it last night and got a lot of it done. What took so long was fussy cutting the numbers. This quilt is for a customer that requested that I make the whole quilt for her, she wants to give it to her daughter for Christmas.

I have several quilts to quilt before Christmas so that will help out a lot, if I can get them done in time. I am going to try my hardest to get them finished.

Well, I'm off....got to get out of these pj's and get the day started!!

Kristie

Not Going To Be A Good Day!

This is my blood pressure reading this morning! 140/111 I noticed when I first got up this morning that I did not feel well and felt some heaviness in my chest. I take 2 blood pressure pills a day and this is how high it is this morning. Needless to say this is not going to be a very productive day for me. Just lots of rest and probably no sewing. And as bad as I hate to say it, if it doesn't go down, I'll probably go to the doctor. Stresses me out more knowing that I DON'T have health insurance! :( I figure this is all due to stress anyway.
Kristie

This and That

As most of you know we have lost several animals over the past few weeks. It has been very hard on all of us, like a lot of people we are very attached to our babies and they become more like family instead of pets. One of the pets that we lost was a beagle that was Andrews. Loving rabbit hunting like he does, he asked for another beagle for Christmas. So I had told him to look around for one. So long story short, Sunday afternoon we drove to pick up his Christmas gift! A new beagle!!!! This is not a good photo of the dog, we had just got him out of the truck and he was wanting to check everything out and Andrew was trying to hold him still so that I could take the photo. Anyway, Andrew is happy!!!! I told him that Christmas morning he would have to bring the dog up on the porch so that I could tie a bow around his neck so that he would remember that the dog was his Christmas gift!!! :) Of course, I will try to get him a couple of other little things to open too, like clothes!! Do you know how many clothes that a 16yr old boy goes through? He wears them into rags!
Now for some Donkey photos! Here he is snoozing in a LITTLE shoebox that I was storing quilt pieces in. He doesn't look comfortable to me, but he sure did sleep a long time! :)

Here he is snoozing again, this time on his new quilt that I made him. :)
And here he is getting in the way while I was trying to work on this wreath. I think he was trying to get the cord to my glue gun that is hanging there.

I had made this wreath for mom about 13 years ago and it had fell apart after so many years. So we striped everything off of it and started over. This morning while we were at Hobby Lobby she picked up some new things for it, the grapevine was still in wonderful shape so it just needed redecorating. So that is what I was trying to do, when Donkey kept getting in the way.

And here is the wreath after it was finished! Don't know why is looks so bright, but it is not as bright as it looks. Maybe I should have turned my flash off. The wreath measures 30" so it is pretty big. Now it is back at mom's and hanging over her fireplace.
Now I am off to bed, and hopefully tomorrow I can get some quilting done. I picked up some batting today while at Hobby Lobby for some customer quilts that I need to get quilted. I have one on the frame now and 3 customer quilts that need quilted also.
Kristie

Sadness and Sewing

I'll be honest, I feel like poo! I have cried so much over my mule that my eyes are so swollen and my head just hurts. I was more attached to him than any other animal that I have ever had in my entire life. I know that life goes on and I guess I knew deep down that he would not make it through the Winter, but I just wasn't ready to let him go. Thank you all so much for all your kind words over his passing. I'm sorry I have not responded to your comments, but every time that I think about him, it just makes me cry. We are all just crushed. We have received so many phone calls from people in the community that has said "we just wanted to call and say that we are sorry for your loss and that he will be greatly missed" You would think he was human! :) Ole Jim was very well known in this area and people just loved him. But I do thank God that he lived to the ripe old age of 28!

Here it is 2:20am and Andrew just got home! :( I know it is very late for a 16 yr old to be out, but he went down to the Coon Club and they had a night hunt. I trust him and he is with some very responsible adults when he does this. So anyway, while I have been waiting for him, I have been sewing...

I started working on Bonnie's mystery! I have the first 2 steps finished! Now I am waiting for Step 3 to be released!
After Hunter fell asleep, I got out this yardage and sewed a simple black border around it. I hope to get it quilted before Christmas. He loves Star Wars! I think I bought this fabric at the flea market last year for nearly nothing.

Here is Donkey, he passed out early! He is all cozy in a cardboard box! Donkey and Smokey have been getting lots of extra lovings lately. We have lost so many animals here on the farm over the past few weeks! And to make it worse....Andrew lost all of his chickens in the past 3 days!!! Some kind of sickness with them, he told me what it was called but I forgot the name.

So unless I am forgetting something here is the loss count. Ida and Jasper the Yorkie, Major the beagle, Ole Jim the mule and 26 chickens!!!! :( Our little farm is dwindling away to nothing!

Oh, I almost forgot! I got Madison's big BRIGHT Peace Sign Quilt quilted! Now I just have to finish the binding!!!! You can't see the quilting in the photo but it is a simple stipple.

I'm off to bed! Here it is 2:35am and I am tired! Andrew is back and now I can go to bed!

Kristie