Sleepless nights have paid off...

Another sleepless night...it is 1:08am and I am wide awake! :( This is driving me crazy! So I've done what I always do when I can't sleep, SEW! They are all finished! All 224 Courthouse Steps!! Can you believe that???

224!!!

I never meant to finish these anytime soon but there is nothing else to do during these sleepless nights except to work on them. All of my other sewing projects and fabrics are in the new house, so the only thing that I have in here is one machine, these strips, mat/ruler/rotary cutter.
Now I don't have a clue as to when I will sew these together. There are so many of them that I will probably take them out to the new house so I will have plenty of room to lay them all out. But first I have some other things that need to be finished up that are already out there waiting for me. I mentioned before that I was paper piecing these and I'll tell you why. Most of these pieces were just scraps and some where strips. The scraps were all just a bunch of odd sizes and I really didn't want to go through the whole part of measuring every little piece. This way I could just pick it up and sew, perfect when you can't sleep and are too tired to concentrate. :) Anyway, I made a huge mess when I was trimming them up and Donkey had to get right under my feet. I looked down and he was covered! LOL! Crazy cat! Poor Donkey is not doing too well, he has glaucoma and it is pretty bad so I don't let him outside much now. I'm afraid that he will not be able to see well and get hurt. So he now spends his days inside doing exactly this...
And of course, Jasper had to get a pic taken too! Isn't he so cute? I didn't get a photo of Smokey but he was snoozing in the recliner and snoring very loud! :)And last a photo of Zoey before she went home. Hunter had some clothes and a quilt on the couch and Zoey just made a bed out of them. She was so happy to see my sister when she picked her up. I'm off to clean up my mess and maybe do some laundry or watch some tv.
Kristie

Check this out...

Just wanted to drop in quickly to let you know that www.meemawlovestoquilt.blogspot.com is having a giveaway!!!! While you are there, check out her blog!

Have a great day!
Kristie

Meet Zoey!

This is Zoey! She belongs to my sister Chantal. I am dog sitting for a couple of days. She is the sweetest thing. She is soooooo fat! She has FAT ROLLS! And when she wears her bikini she has a "muffin top" LOL! She has a huge fat roll that hangs out over the bottom part. :) Most times she has her tongue out panting, so funny. She is not so big that she is unhealthy, just "pleasantly plump"

She thinks she is human too! I swear she does. I laugh at her every time that I am out to mom's house. She will only drink bottled water and loves her clothes, it's almost as if she feels naked without them and is embarrassed. Anyway, I love her and enjoy dog sitting her. Smokey and Jazz just love her. I tried to get a photo of them together so that you could actually get an idea of her size, but I can't keep them still long enough.

My silly sister is on her way to Virginia Beach! My first reaction was...."silly girl, don't you know there is a hurricane on the way?" LOL! Actually She and Ronnie are on their way out there to buy some kind of a boat motor about 20 minutes from the beach. They may drive on to the beach if the weather is not too bad, they have been on the road for about 4.5 hours so far. Anyway, hope they stay safe and they should be back late Saturday night.

As far as quilting goes....NOTHING! Lol! Actually, late last night I did try working on a table runner. I am trying to take apart an antique quilt top that most of the seams have came apart. I was trying to repair some of the blocks last night and found that some of the fabric was shredding from my stitches. So I will probably try to figure out some on it today.

Andrew loves college so far! He calls me all of the time so that makes me feel better. I'm sure he knows how much I worry and miss him and I can't help but thinking (hoping) that he misses me too. :)

Kristie

Destressing with a new project...

Look who was there to greet me this morning as I went to get some hay for the horses. Festus!! And also my girls were peering through the wire trying to see if I was getting hay for them too. :)Today I am just trying to DESTRESS! Wow! Friday afternoon we get a call that Richard's brother had been in an accident at work and was being flown out to a better hospital that are more able to deal with traumas. So at this point we are in a panic! He is okay nothing really life threatening but very sore and tons of stitches in his face and head. His wife said that yesterday he couldn't understand how bad that he looked at the hospital before they did surgery on him. I was trying to email them the photos that Richard took but couldn't get them to go through so I had to put them on facebook. So if anyone was wondering WHY I would post something that looked that bad, it was so that he could see for himself how he looked. Anyway...we got home around 3am.

I'm still having trouble sleeping and it is starting to wear my body down. I am dragging! I think I mentioned before that I do NOT deal well with change of any kind. I think it is probably because EVERYONE has started back to school here and everything is on a total different schedule. Hunter is in the 4th grade now and I so enjoyed having him home during the summer. Richard has started back for the Fall Semester and his schedule is 5 days a week, all day long. Then when he gets home, he eats, changes clothes and works on homework until somewhere around midnight.

And....Today is the first day of class for Andrew! I know that I am not the only mother in the world that her son has gone off to college but man I miss him already!! And I know that it will get easier as time goes on, but today I am sad.

Andrew has asked me for the past couple of years for a RED & WHITE Snail's Trail quilt. So whatelse could I do but to start his quilt TODAY! Here is the pattern that he picked out a while back. It is a Judy Martin pattern, it was published in a quilt magazine several years ago and that is what I have but it is also in one of here books too. I just don't remember which one. It is called Shakesphere In The Park. I have 2 Snail's Trail blocks finished...And 2 of the star blocks...I have all of the red pieces cut out and very few of the white pieces. I need to pick up a few more yards of white. But I'm not in a hurry, he has several years of college and this will be my "missing Andrew quilt" I'm not going to set a deadline on it to have it done, as long as I get it done before he graduates! LOL!

Now I am too tired to work on it anymore today. Think I will watch some tv or something, this lack of sleep makes it hard to concentrate on anything for very long. I have a ton of emails to respond to, so if you have emailed me in the past few days I will try to get them all answered today or tomorrow.

Oh, before I go....I have been sewing a little more on my Courthouse Steps. What I like most about them is that since I am paper piecing them, I don't really have to put much thought in them, so they are the perfect thing to work on when I can't sleep. I am up to 160 blocks now!!!!
Kristie

Mindless Midnight Madness

Having trouble sleeping again for the past week so I have been doing a little midnight sewing. I go to bed but can't sleep so I get back up watch some tv and sew some blocks. These are mindless so I don't have to put much thought in putting them together. I am paper piecing these blocks, I have the strips cut and sorted in sizes so that makes it go faster. Tearing the paper off gives me something to do with my hands as I sit down during the evenings to watch some tv.

I am now up to 100 of these 6 inch blocks. I hoping to hang in there until I make 224. If I can get that many made I will do a 14x16 setting and it should come out to something like 84x96.
I'm not in a big hurry to get this finished just work on it as I feel like it or if I can't sleep. I'm loving them so far. Hunter just got home and Richard should be home somewhere around 6:30pm. I just started supper. We are having....southern fried chicken, fresh corn on the cob, fresh garden green beans, mashed potatoes and cornbread. Hmmm....maybe this is why I am overweight! LOL!

Kristie

Off the frame...finally

What a week so far! UGH! First off, I finally got my client's T-shirt quilt off the frame! So that is a good thing! I have been working on the binding and repairing some skips on it today and it will be dropped off to her tomorrow. I have another quilt loaded on the frame but haven't started the quilting on it yet. We've had a very busy week here just trying to get into the groove of things. Richard started back for his Fall Semester on Monday and it has been hectic ever since. He is gone from the house something like 12 hours a day now, comes home, changes clothes, eats, and starts homework. They told him that he would have an average of 2-3 hours of homework/studying PER NIGHT! So I have been having to take up some of the slack here at home so that he can get this stuff done. I just keep telling myself that "he has LESS than a year and will graduate with a nursing degree" It is so hard right now but it will all payoff in the long run.

Hunter and Richard sit at the table each evening and do their homework together. This makes it much easier for us to get Hunter to get his finished too. Andrew starts college on Monday! That is really stressing me out! But I am very thankful that he is going to college to further his education. I think I should get some type of degree just for trying to keep up with these 3 and their homework! LOL!

Hopefully tomorrow I will have more quilty photos to show....if my day goes as planned! :)
Kristie

**Update** Kentucky Granny...if you read this post please email me at layne1142 at yahoo dot com. I tried to respond to your comments but it comes back as "no reply" Thanks so much!

I have a question...

I have a question for you all.... Christmas will be here before you know it and I have been pondering about gifts. I know that there are so many ideas and quiltly projects out there and every year it seems that there are a few that really stick out to us quilters and everyone is making them for gifts. I remember in the past there were the Criss-Cross Coasters, Pot Holders, Oven Mitts, Rice Bags, and a million other things. So my question is.... What are you making for gifts this year? Have you seen any FREE tutorials out there on blogs with neat little gifts to make? If so which blogs????

As for me, I don't have a clue what I will make this year. Last year I made several rice bags and gave them to almost everyone in the family. Oh and I made a few pot holders too. But this year I have drawn a blank. Please help!

The past couple of days, Hunter and I have been a little under the weather with head colds. Nothing major, just enough to drive you crazy. As far as quilting goes.....nothing new here. Still plugging away on that T-shirt quilt, still breaking threads and skipping like crazy. But I am on the last row of blocks so not too much more to go. Then after I get it off the frame I will take it to my domestic machine and fix anything that needs to be fixed. Right now I am taking a break, I'm home alone and doing NOTHING! LOL! Richard and Hunter are at my sister's house shooting rifles with her boyfriend. Not too far from here, I can hear them shooting. :) Andrew went down to the Coon Club for the evening.

I got a small order of thread in from Connecting Threads. A great sale at only $1.74 a spool.

Richard picked up his books for this semester starting Monday. Look at them!! And a bag full of nursing supplies for class. And he still has two more books that he needs to pick up as soon as they come in.

And I will leave you with this photo of Hunter when he got home from school on Friday! He was soooooo tired. Have a wonderful weekend

Kristie

Such Plans...

Oh I had such plans for this week but....it's not looking good at this point! Here we go! Yesterday was spent cleaning the house and doing the grocery shopping for the next two weeks. I got all of that taken care of yesterday so that I could have the rest of the week to finish up some quilting. So my plans were...

Tuesday...quilt large T-shirt quilt for client. I wanted to get it all quilted and off the frame today so that this evening I could sew the binding on by machine and work on the handwork over the next few evenings.

Wednesday...quilt Musical quilt for client. Get it all quilted with music notes and off the frame. Sew the binding on during the evening and work on the handwork over the next few evenings.

Thursday...finish bindings if needed and load 3rd quilt which is one of mine and start the quilting. This quilt needs to be completed quickly too.

Friday...deliver client quilts back to her and finish quilting on my quilt. And have the binding finished by Saturday morning and delivered.

I know I was pushing it anyway but at this point things are NOT looking good!

I started quilting the T-shirt quilt at 7:30am, it is now 4:20pm and I am still on my second pass with the machine!! :( The client did a wonderful job piecing the top and that is not the problem, it is just everything else. This is the first T-shirt quilt that I have ever quilted so some of it may just be me. Here is a sneak peak of the quilt...

This lady likes high loft poly batting, I really don't have a problem with quilting with that but I thought that might have been part of my problem today. Everything quilted great on the bottom border, not a problem at all until I started my second pass and hit the T-shirts. I started having skips and top thread breaks constantly. When I say constantly I mean like every 2-4 inches! So I changed threads, changed needles, and adjusted tension, none of that worked. So at this point I decided to pick all of this out and change the batting. I switched to a cotton batting again quilted great in the border and started doing the same thing again in the T-shirt area. Not hardly as bad as with the poly batting but still bad enough that I wanted to cry! :(

Never had the first problem with the bobbin until this...

Not even sure what happened there unless it was just messed up from all of the top thread breaks that I was having. So at this point I just stopped for the day! And I realize that my goal for the week probably will not be met at all.

I just put supper on and I'm hoping that I can settle down for the evening and relax before trying all of this again tomorrow. BTW...we are having fried chicken breast, mashed potatoes, corn on the cob and good ole fashioned buttermilk cornbread and of course chocolate pie for dessert. Mmmmmm.....

Richard and Andrew both had to go pick up their books for the Fall semester. Both going to different colleges. Richard is going here in KY and has about a 45-60 minute drive. His college has 3 different campus sites. Sometimes he has to go to a different campus for a class or two. Andrew is going t college in Ohio and has a couple of hours drive. He left earlier to get his books and just called to say that he got them and is heading back.

All for now, have to turn my chicken over before it burns!

Kristie

Having to replace a border...

First off, thanks so much for your votes on my Dakota Log Cabin quilt at the quilting gallery! Last I checked I was in 4th place and the voting stops Sunday night. There are so many beautiful quilts posted that it is hard for me to find a favorite.

I have spent today jumping from project to project and nothing really to show for my time. Don't you just hate when that happens? I have cut a few more strips for my Courthouse Steps that I have in progress. I also pinned a backing on the frame but have not loaded the batting or the top yet. I hope to start quilting on it tomorrow if it is not too hot upstairs. I also worked on ripping apart an old antique quilt top that is in pretty bad shape, I am trying to salvage enough blocks to make a table runner, wall hanging or a lap quilt. Now I am working on this mess...

I have a couple of drawers in an old wardrobe that I store some quilt tops in. I pull those drawers out all of the time and get in there, but I did not realize that I had a quilt top border that was stuck in there and every time that I pulled the drawer out it was ripping a hole in a quilt top!!! :( So the other day I decided that I would get a certain quilt top out and maybe quilt it in a few weeks. It was stuck and I had to take the whole drawer out to get it. And look what it did.....Thank goodness that this was only in the border. So while we were out shopping yesterday for Richard's school shoes and scrubs I picked up some fabric to replace that border. I was only one side. Then when I got it home this is what I found...

The first fabric is the border that I took off the second is what I bought! So now I have to take off the whole border all the way around and replace it!! :( Right now I have the top and half of the side border taken off. I'll probably try to finish taking the rest of them off tonight while watching tv.

Now on to some family stuff...Friday my mom was babysitting two of my brothers kids, his daughter was in school. Anyway I just love these two little guys they are so precious! The oldest is Zeph, he will be 5 in a couple of weeks. The little one is Gabe and he is 3. They are wonderful little boys and just like all little boys, they certainly keep you on your toes! :)
Snapped this one of Richard working on his old tractor. He always stays busy and very seldom just sits down. I think doing nothing makes him very nervous. LOL! As you can see in the background, Hunter has his tent set up and plays in it.
And I ran on to this paper that Hunter brought home for Mother's Day when he was in 2nd grade. It makes me smile every time that I read it.

It says...

My mom is special because....she makes quilts for me and dad and bub and her.

I like it when my mom... plays with me.

My mom can do many things! I think she's best at... quilting and work.

My mom has a pretty smile. I like to make her smile by... coming home and hugging her.

My mom is as pretty as a... rose.

My mom is smart. She even knows... every step to quilting.

I'll have to remind him of this stuff when he is a teenage and thinks that he knows it all and that I am weird! LOL!

I guess I'll get back to working on my few projects.

Kristie

Your VOTE would be nice.... LOL!

If you have an extra minute hop on over to the Quilting Gallery and vote for your favorite log cabin quilt. Of course, I would not want to ask you to vote for mine unless you really do like it, but a vote for mine would sure be nice....LOL! I tried to link to it but if it will not let you vote there, but click the "click here" in the first paragraph.

Here is the log cabin quilt that I made last year. I call it Dakota Log Cabin.

Most of the fabrics used are Civil War repro but I did try to blend some others in with them.
It is machine quilted by me.

I made this quilt with plans to display it on a huge wall in my new house. The quilt measures 96x96. I entered it in our local art show at our art gallery and it won a first place ribbon.
I named it after Hunter (his first name is Dakota) he fell in love with it as I was making it.

Don't forget to go vote!!!

Have a wonderful day!

Kristie

Cutting into fabrics and a WIN!!

I think this is going to be a good day! Or at least, I hope so! The hay is done for a while anyway....maybe next week sometime. It has been so hot here and now it is pouring rain!!!! We so needed it! The weatherman is saying that we should have rain on and off for the next few days! And since the hay is done right now we can REST!!!

First off, I won a giveaway!! I was soooo happy, I never win anything! And the best part of it was, I REALLY, REALLY, REALLY wanted to win it! My friend, Janet of Rogue Quilter was having a giveaway of a pattern, ruler set (needed for the pattern) and some homemade soap and I won! She had shown the pattern on her blog before and I just fell in love with it. You know how so many of the patterns seem to look alike or they just don't really catch your eye, well this one was different. I had planned on ordering it when I got a few extra dollars, but now I don't have to. :) She took a photo of the store sample and that is the photo that caught my eye, click here to see how pretty it is. If you like scrap quilts, you will love this one! She is actually making hers as a leader/ender project. I think I will start cutting some pieces for mine as I cut other projects and put them aside. Oh, while you are over on Janet's blog, check out the quilt on her blog header, another leader/ender project, I love it!

Today since it is raining and my legs are killing me because I have been on them so much this week. I plan on kicking back and cutting more strips for my Courthouse Steps. I only need a zillion more blocks! LOL!

Do you ever find it hard to cut into your fat quarters and yardage?? I certainly do! I always cut my scraps first and sometimes it just makes me sick to my stomach to cut into anything else, but I guess we have to from time to time. When I run out of scraps or can't find anything in them that suits me I start with the fat quarters first. As most of you know, I am in love with Civil War Repro fabrics and I am just now getting my stash built...if only I could win the lottery! LOL! Anyway...I am sitting here this morning debating on cutting into these. First I will start with these scraps, actually I have another pile of them but I didn't get a photo of them... Oh and before you say anything....I know not all of the fabrics in the following photos are Repro fabrics but they still blend well with them. :)

These are what I am dreading cutting....my fat quarters and 1/2 to 1 yard cuts. I counted and there are 79 fat quarters here...I wish there were 790! LOL! Here are a few yardage pieces that I save and use for borders. I think I have more that is already boxed up and moved in the other house.
I've had these two for a few years now. I guess I am lazy, these are to be used for the borders for my Civil War Love Letters quilt. I have all 121 blocks paper pieced, sashed and sewn into a top now I only need to add borders. I'm sure you are wondering why I haven't done that yet??? Well....silly me left all of the papers on the 121 blocks and sewed the top together and now it is a little overwhelming trying to take them off...In other news....Hunter is on his 3rd day of 4th grade and hates it!!! I really dreaded waking him up this morning because I knew the mood that he would be in!! I just hope he learns to deal with it better. He is a wonderful student he just doesn't want to be away from home.

And...Andrew!!! Andrew, Andrew, Andrew!!!! I love him with all of my heart, a very good kid, never in trouble or anything like that, just a little mouthy but I guess that is a teenage thing. As most of you know he is 18 now and off to college in a few weeks and like any mother that just worries me sick! But what does he come home with the other night????? A BIG HONKING TATTOO!!!!! I know it is not the end of the world but I just never imagined Andrew getting one!!! I know millions of people have them, Richard even has on on his back from years ago and my sister has 2 on her back but I just didn't want my boys to have them, I guess that is a "mom thing" anyway it is on his upper arm shoulder area and will be under his shirt sleeve and it is a HUGE bull that is inked red. Oh well....I guess life goes on, not like I can do anything about it now.

I'm off to do some laundry and start cutting strips!!!
Kristie

A few more blocks...

The past few days I was able to finish 20 more Courthouse Step blocks. This makes me a total of 60 of them so far. I still have a long way to go with them. Unless my mind changes or I get really tired of making them I plan on making 224 of them. I know that is funny that I say that because I'm sure I will stop long before I get to that number! LOL! Now I need to take a few days to cut more strips and sort them into sizes. But that will probably take longer than usual because we are still working in the hayfields. Today was the first day of school for Hunter! He is now in the 4th grade! He was NOT thrilled at all this morning. He doesn't like going to school he says it takes away from his playtime! LOL! He makes really good grades in school but just doesn't want to go. He is my little country boy, he would rather be outside running through the hills than be sitting inside. Andrew starts college August 22nd and hubby goes back August 15th. So this is a busy month for us. (Not sure why all of my photos have turned out blurry today) Anyway, it will probably take us all a few days to get back into the school routine.

Looks like it will be another scorcher today! I snapped this on the way to take Hunter to school this morning. I guess Richard and I will be back in the hayfields today. Actually Richard is already out there and I am heading that way in a few minutes.
I hope to get a little more sewing done between everything else that is going on.

Kristie