Saturday, October 29, 2011

The past few days...

There hasn't been a lot of sewing going on this week....well actually NONE! LOL! But I do have lots of goodies to show you! First off here is that fabric book that I made a few weeks ago that I kept forgetting to post the photo of. This will be a Christmas gift for my great nephew. Very quick and easy to put together. Here are the goodies that I am sooooooo excited about! This quilt pattern is called Appalachian Memories Quilt. I LOVE IT! If you like the quilt blocks on barn then you will like this pattern. It has 12 embroidery blocks and a pieced sashing. I think you can also purchase the cheater panels instead of doing the stitching on the blocks. Click here and you can see a better photo of the quilt pattern. I don't plan on starting this anytime soon. This will be a winter project for AFTER we get settled in the house. I'm thinking that I may actually start on it next winter.

I also ordered a few reds for my red and white quilt. These are 1/2 yard cuts and I got 5 different fabrics. I ordered them from Whittle's. They have great prices and quick shipping. They are located in KY and so am I so it only takes like a day to get them!
This one is my favorite out of the five fabrics. I'm thinking that later, if they still have it, I would like to order more of this one and save it for another quilt. Here is a photo of Donkey. He is getting sooooo fat and lazy. His health is failing....only a little. He now has glaucoma and even with his meds he just isn't the same cat....but he can sure eat! Richard was trying to work on his homework and Donkey wanted his attention.
And last but certainly not least! Say a little prayer for Andrew that he will have a safe trip. He is in Tennessee picking up his new horse! This is his new baby! He is a 5 or 6 month old Tennessee Walker with champion bloodlines. I'll post more about him once he gets home.

Andrew and his uncle left out at 5am this morning with the horse trailer to pick him up. Andrew has work tonight 8pm so he will be cutting it pretty close on time. I know he will be so tired this weekend. He will be on the road probably 13+ hours and then has 12 hour shifts at work tonight and tomorrow night. Not sure if I had even mentioned about his job. He is going to college 3 days a week with a full schedule. Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday he has classes all day and then he works 12 hour night shifts on Saturday and Sunday nights. He is working at a behavioral health service place and is working with brain injury and autistic patients. He loves it and the best part is, this is the line of work that he plans on going into.


I had better get off the computer and get some things done.

Kristie

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Weekend progress...

Our weekend started Friday evening by going to the high school football game. It was the last home game of the season. Hunter and several other kids were being "recognized" during halftime for scoring so high on their CATS and MAP testing at school. Hunter and I were ready to go when Richard got home, he had just enough time to eat and change clothes. Little did Hunter know that Andrew was going to be there too! I thought Hunter was going to cry when he saw his brother at the game, he misses him so much. I don't think Andrew would have missed it for anything, he is proud of his little brother too. I woke up Saturday morning and felt like poop! :( I think I may be getting a cold or something. I've not really done anything this weekend other than lay around the house. I had so many quilty things that I wanted to accomplish this weekend but that did not happen. Why is it that when you have something that really needs to be done and finished you find every excuse in the world not to do it? I had planned on binding that Camo crib blanket, making the two matching pillows and making the bumper pad for the crib. Anyway, none of that happened! :( I figure that I really need to sit down and concentrate on cutting and piecing that bumper pad. I don't think it will be hard but I don't want to mess it up. I just didn't feel like I could concentrate on it this weekend. So what did I do??? Something really dumb!!!


I started on my Red/White quilt!!! I know it was very silly of me but I did it anyway. I wasn't even ready to start it, I don't even have all of the fabrics yet! How silly is that? I have a ton of other things that need to be finished but crazy me started this thing. I didn't actually get very much of it done. I need 128 of these blocks and I think I only got 32 of them done. I promise that this will NOT turn into a UFO! I really like this quilt and I planned on making it AFTER I got my holiday sewing done.

Here is a photo of the quilt that I plan on making.


I did end up making 9 of these bowls! I took the photo before I finished the others. I plan on filling them with some of my homemade Goat Milk Soap and giving as Christmas gifts this year. I guess I will make up about 20 of them. So that is about all of my weekend so far. I think we are having some good friends coming over in a little while for a visit, so I had better spruce up the house.

Kristie

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Loaded on the frame...

Early this morning I had to make a trip to Paintsville to pick up some horse feed. This is the town where Richard goes to college but the feed store opens the same time that he has to be at school and closes the same time that he gets out, so he can't pick it up unless he gets out of school early.

So I followed him up there and stopped by Walmart as I was waiting for the feed store to open. I needed to pick up some cording for the baby crib bumper pad that I am getting ready to make to match that Camo fleece crib blanket. I'll probably be starting on that sometime this week. I've never made one but I'm sure I will figure it out. :) Oh and I picked up a couple small bags of polyfil to make a couple of pillows for the nursery too. While I was there I picked up a couple of fabrics. The cream prints are just to add to my stash of lights. I mix those in a lot with my scrap quilts. The reds I bought to put back for my red/white quilt that I am wanting to make. They feel fairly good for Walmart fabrics. Oh and I grabbed these two fat quarters that were 97 cents each just to throw in the stash. After I got back and unloaded the feed and put everything else away, I headed up to the sweat shop! I loaded this Strip Twist on the frame that I pieced a few years ago. It measures 55x60....something. I forgot the exact measurements. :) It is just a lap quilt but when I get it finished I can mark another one off my list.



The lighting up there was horrible today, it was cloudy and I don't have my overhead lights installed yet. I took this photo trying to show where I quilted that first pass with the machine but it didn't show up. I am using a panto called Foliage, I don't think I've used it before. I am also quilting this with Madeira polyneon thread. I love that stuff! I hope to get it quilted within a day or two. I keep piling things on my sewing table, it's just where I keep taking projects back and forth. Hopefully this will not be a dumping ground once we get moved in. I have been piling it up until it gets full or until I need that table and then I will put it all away. I hope to get it cleaned off tomorrow.
The weatherman says that we will be getting heavy rains tonight and it is going to turn cold for the next several days so I need to bring in some firewood for the fireplace. Richard has tons of it cut and stacked, I just need to bring some in.


Chantal, my precious baby sister spent the night with us last night and is staying again tonight so I need to straighten a few things up before she gets here!!!!


Oh before I forget....I did finish that quilted baby book last night. I'll post a photo of it next time...
Kristie

Monday, October 17, 2011

Fleece Crib Blanket....Quilted

This weekend I got a total of 4 pot holders finished and have several more that just need the binding finished up on them. I just love making these little things. Today I finally braved the camo fleece crib quilt that I was so nervous about. I've worked with fleece and minkee before but not together and this brown has about a 1/2" nap so I wasn't sure how well that it would quilt or even if my machine would quilt it with a batting between them. Would you believe that it quilted up perfect!?!

The camo fleece is actually the front and the brown fuzzy is the back. I loaded it on the frame with the brown on top because I was afraid that the longer nap on it might mess with my bobbin.
Anyway, not one problem! I was so happy! No thread breaks, no skips....nothing! Now why can't everything else go that smooth??? I still need to square it up and do the binding on it. I also need to make the matching bumper pad for the crib and two camo pillows.


I'm starting to work on some Christmas gifts now. Tonight I plan on cutting out one of those little fabric panel story books for my great nephew. He just turned "1" a couple of weeks ago. I've never put one of these together but they don't look that hard. That will be one thing that I can mark off my list.

Kristie

Friday, October 14, 2011

If only I had the time...

I had such plans for today but that all changed last night when Hunter woke up vomiting. :( It was a long night for us both, we spent most of the night on the couch and he ran back and forth to the bathroom throwing up. Needless to say, he did not go to school today. When Hunter gets sick he wants his "MOMMY" which is great for me. I don't like for him to be sick but I do love that he thinks he can't be without me. My sister works at the local pediatrician's office and I was telling her about him this morning and she said that they had a ton of kids coming in with the same stomach bug. Anyway....he seems to be feeling a little better right now he just says his "belly feels hot"

I had planned on quilting that camo fleece baby blanket this morning and loading another one on this afternoon but Hunter comes first. So I just thought I would update you on what I do have done. Remember my 4 Patch Flips that I was cutting out? Well, I cut 3 out of 4 out and got the blocks pieced for them. Hopefully this evening I can get at least one of the tops completed.

Here are 60 blocks enough for 2 lap quilts of these warmer tones.


Here is the pile of 30 bright blocks. Here is where I was trying to arrange some of them. I will probably try to get this one pieced tonight since I have already figured out my block placement with it. Then I just need to dig out borders for all 3 of them.
I still have my pile of blue scraps that I will cut out the 4th one in a few days. So in the end I'm hoping to have 4 lap size quilts to have on hand for last minute Christmas gifts, and not to mention I've cleared a ton out of my scrap basket.


I ran on to my box of pot holder blocks that I was working on last Christmas. I pieced a bunch of blocks from my string bin to make some pot holders for gifts and of course a few for myself. :) I found 22 more of the string blocks today that I had put away. I squared them up and they are ready to finish. I actually thought about piecing a few more and just making another lap size quilt but just decided to stick with the pot holders since I already have the 3/4 other lap quilts going. Here I went ahead and dug out some scrap cotton batting and my insulbright batting and layered them with some scrap backings that I had leftover from machine quilting. This orange was leftover from Hunter's Halloween quilt.

I'm hoping to work on the potholders later tonight, if I have time and Hunter is better. I didn't have enough scrap cotton batting for all 22 of them I think I ended up with 8 or so.

I'm sure I'm not the only quilter to feel this way but I am just itching to start a ton of new projects. Some of them I don't even have fabrics for yet, others are BIG projects that I think I would only to be able to work on it and nothing else. I want to start on this Red/White Quilt, I want to work on Andrew's Red and White Quilt, also that Scrap Quilt on the cover of Quilt Magazine. I've slowly started cutting on this one, just a little at a time as I am cutting other things from my Civil War stash. Oh and I can't forget.....I need to finish this. I have all 224 blocks pieced and sew into blocks of 4, now they just need to be pieced into a quilt top and the borders added. Oh......and I need to try to find more of this navy fabric so that I can finish this quilt. My mind is going a million miles an hour but my body can't keep up! :(

All of the leaves have turned their pretty fall colors. This is my favorite time of year but it always seems like it just goes from Summer to Winter. I will Fall would last a little longer. I took a few photos from the yard. Yesterday it rained and today it is windy and most of the leaves have fallen. :(

I guess that is all for this post, I need to get supper finished, work on doing some laundry and all of that stuff so that I can get back to quilting tonight...


Kristie

Monday, October 10, 2011

Working on 4 quilts at once...

I was up in my sweat shop on Saturday loading a quilt on the frame and I kept looking at my scrap basket. My scrap basket holds anything smaller than a fat quarter and everything that has not been cut up into smaller squares and put away in tubs. When starting a scrap quilt this is the first place that I go before cutting into my yardage. My basket was running over! I had fabric piled around it. So last night I decided to start cutting my scraps to clear my basket out. Well I didn't get it cleared out but at least it is more tolerable. This is the "after" photo. I decided to cut my scraps up to make a few "4 Patch Flips" I've made a couple of these quilts in the past and they are quick and easy to do. Here is a blue and pink one.


And this one is just made from scraps.
So I decided to cut out a couple of lap size 4 Patch Flip quilts. My plan was to make the lap size and have them on hand for Christmas, never know when you will need a last minute gift. Anyway.....3 of them cut out and a pile of blues to go through for another one. So in the end I should have 4 of them.


Last night I had trouble sleeping so that is what I did. Now these quilts are so simple to cut and sew that I actually got a lot done. I was up cutting and sewing until 3am!




First I dug out all of the brighter fabrics that were in the basket. I had several pieces from various other projects. I don't use these fabrics often so I just kept moving them around in my basket so it was time to get rid of them! I'm more comfortable using warmer tones. So the funny thing is, I had this pile laying on the table this morning while Richard was having breakfast. He asked what I was working on and I told him my plan. He looked at this pile of brighter pieces and said "You are donating that one somewhere....right?" Giggle....he doesn't like the fabrics either! Anyway I have enough of these brighter pieces for one quilt. I have enough cut for two quilts using these warmer tones.And here is the stack of "blues" that I plan on cutting later for a 4th quilt.
This what I was loading on the frame Saturday. A lady bought some camouflage fleece and some fuzzy brown stuff, I'm not even sure what it is called. As you can see in the photo that it has a longer nap. She wants it crib size and also wants batting in it too. I've never tried to quilt something this thick with my machine so I'm not sure how it will go. I haven't started it yet but that brown seems really stretchy! I've quilted "minky" and didn't have a problem but this is soooo much heavier than that. Hopefully I will work on it tomorrow. I've been dragging all day from lack of sleep so I don't figure I would be in the mood to quilt it if I started having problems with it so I will wait til tomorrow. I also had a lady drop off another quilt to be quilted. It is a king size and really pretty. It is a log cabin and that is one of my favorite designs. I'll show a better photo of it as I load it on the frame later. It will probably be a couple of weeks, I had to order the backing and I'm waiting for it to come in. Over the weekend Richard and I worked on the drywall. This is a photo of bathroom #1. My job was to mud all of the screw heads and Richard all of the hard stuff...the corners and seams. My job was easier so now ALL of the screw heads are covered in the whole house and ready to sand when he gets the corners and seams done. Anyway, I didn't do the screws around the tub because it will have the tub surround over them.


And a photo of Hunter sleeping. He got up at 5am Saturday morning so that Richard could take him deer hunting. He was soooo tired later in the day and fell asleep on the couch with his Halloween quilt. I got the binding done Saturday morning. Anyway he didn't get a deer. He was getting ready to pull the trigger and forgot to cock the hammer back on his gun so it wouldn't fire. By the time he got it pulled back the deer was gone. :( Oh well he is a trooper and loves going hunting.




Well my post ended up being longer than I had planned....sorry if I bored you. :) Now I have to go finish up my sister's birthday cake! She turned 27 today! I baking her a "Better Than Sex Cake" also called "Paul Newman Cake" I call it the "Paul Newman Cake" it sounds nicer than the other. LOL! It is soooo yummy! Mom is working and they celebrated Chantal's birthday last weekend. Mom bought the stuff for this cake and asked me to bake it for her since she would not be here.


Kristie

Friday, October 7, 2011

My busy day...

I got a new book in the mail the other day. It is an older Judy Martin book, I've wanted it for a long time but just now got around to ordering it. I actually ordered it from Walmart.com I didn't realize that they had quilt books until lately. It was free shipping to the local store so I did that and picked it up in there. Anyway, I love this book! So many wonderful patterns in it. I finished the binding up on my Country Wife quilt...finally! It is now folded and put away. Feels good to have another one COMPLETELY finished. I am now working on the binding for Hunter's Halloween quilt. I just started the binding on it this evening. Since the quilt measures 61x78 it shouldn't take me too long. Not sure why I made it such an odd size. Hunter had a doctor's appointment early this morning in Ashland which is about 90 minutes away from the house. Nothing major really, just an appointment with his ENT (Ears, Nose, and Throat) Back in 2009 ( I think ) he had to have a little procedure done. He has eczema in the ears. Weird, I know. He doesn't have it any other place on his body except for his ear canal. He has to have special ointment put back in his ear canal everyday. Anyway, back when he had the first procedure done he had to be put to sleep to remove all of the build up, that is when we first found out what the problem was. Now it is not much of a problem, he has that ointment that I put in and it keeps is moist in there like it should be, but he did have a little bit (very little ) back next to the ear drum. They took care of that today and also did a hearing test to make sure that none of this had damaged his hearing. Happy to report that he scored in the "high normal" range on that.

So after his appointment we drove across the street to the park! Not a good photo I took it through the windshield. No photos of him playing at the park we got excited and left the camera in the truck. It was still a little cool so we didn't stay that long. After the park we stopped at Big Lots, Walmart, Victoria's Secret, and the grocery store. Picked my sister up a birthday gift at Victoria's Secret. She likes their perfume so I hope she doesn't read my blog before Monday because that is what I got for her. Monday she will be 27!

I am sooooo tired! Driving and shopping just wears me out! :( I don't like to do either one of them.

Richard is off on Fall Break this coming week so I'm hoping that we can get some stuff done on the house.

I snapped this photo of Hunter Thursday after school. He was so tired. I think he looks so cute, I'm sure he didn't rest real well because every time that I walked by him I would give him kisses. :) That's all for tonight. I need to get in the bed soon, I have a busy weekend ahead. Lots of quilting......hopefully!
Kristie

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

My machine has been humming....

I finally got my aunt's boat quilt finished yesterday! I started on it Monday evening and finished it yesterday. I did not get a photo the finished quilt, she was here right before I got it off the frame and I just forgot to get a final photo. Actually in this photo, I am standing behind the machine quilting it. Richard took the photo but I looked horrible! LOL! If you are wondering....I have the end of my machine off, I was cleaning it and just didn't put it back on. :)I finished the boat quilt up around 11am and loaded this little lap quilt on the frame. Nothing fancy, just some Halloween yardage with a border sewn around it. Hunter asked me if I was going to get it quilted before Halloween THIS YEAR! He wanted it quilted last year but I just didn't get to it. It is still on the frame and I will finish it up in a few minutes! Yesterday while I was quilting it, I took a short break and just didn't get back to it. So my goal for today is to get it off the frame and get the binding ready to go on it.

Other quilty news....The baby YBR that I made and quilted a few days ago was given as a gift. A lady that Richard goes to nursing school with is having a baby boy in a few weeks. They had a small baby shower for her yesterday. He said the quilt was "well received" It is always nice to know that people appreciate the work and time that goes in them. Oh and I am still working on the handwork part of the binding on my Country Wife quilt.


Monday I had to make a trip to Ashland, I stopped by the quilt shop and picked up a few little things. The larger piece is a 1/2 yard cut and the others are fat quarters. I also picked up a few red fat quarters for the red and white quilt that I want to make....someday. Not sure I like all of these red/whites but maybe they will blend in with other fabrics that I use. I guess they are just not my usual style of fabrics. The shop didn't have a huge selection of reds so I'm not sure how I will come up with enough red scraps/fat quarters to make the quilt.
Here is a photo of Donkey that I snapped last night. I have been packing and sorting stuff and I have a huge pile of boxes near the front door, Donkey loves to lay on them. :)
He looks like he is hiding or in "time out" LOL!

House news.....Richard got my countertop, sink, and faucet installed!!!! As of right now I have 20 ft of countertop! That may not be much to some but since I currently only have 8ft...I am excited. We still have a 7ft island to build but that will come later in the Spring. Oh and I sink is deeper than the one that I currently have too. This new one is 10 inches deep, with the tall faucet it should be great for big pots and stuff. I know it is still all dusty but with all of the work going on out there you just can't keep things clean.
It is almost 9:30am, I think I will go up to the sweatshop and finish quilting Hunter's Halloween quilt!

Kristie