Plugging Along...

 I don't even feel right complaining about the heat upstairs in my sewing room that has almost put a halt to my machine quilting.  To tell you how hot it has been up there....I had a can of compressed air upstairs that burst!!!  If all goes well, we will have the air conditioning connected up there in the late Spring.  It has been so hot and humid here but we have also been getting some much needed rains.  I thank God for that!!!  


So all of my sewing has been downstairs.   The past couple of days I have been sewing but you really can't see a lot of progress, just a lot of piecing.  I did get the handwork done on this quilt that was supposed to be a Christmas gift last year but wasn't done in time.  That is the last quilt of my own that I have machine quilted.  I guess this means that I have a head start on Christmas this year!  :)

Here are lots of pieced units that need pressing before they can be constructed into bigger units and then pieced into blocks.  I so wanted to get this quilt top finished and not put it away, but I'm not going to have enough of red/white prints to finish it.  I have all of the reds cut except for the 2.5" squares and I think I still need something like 400 of those.  So I will just sew until I can't sew anymore on it and put it away...

Here is my design wall right now.  I have a few of the block centers up there, ONE COMPLETED RED/WHITE BLOCK, and 6 basket blocks.  I think I am now up to 29 baskets!  

Here is a close up of the Wrapped In Red block.  I like that it will be on point.  I can't wait to see a few of these put together. 

And my baskets!!!  I'm loving the relaxing handwork that I'm doing with these.  Of course, I still have a million more to go but this is one of those projects that you know once it is finished you will miss it.  

Today will be more of the same, just piecing, cleaning, and cooking.  I wouldn't change it for anything.  Life can be hard sometimes but I do love my life and family.  


I miss my mom!  Just makes me cry to even type this...  My brother, sister, and I are just as close as we can possibly be to my mom and it is always so hard when she leaves for work.  She is gone for 28 days at a time and we miss her terribly.  For some reason this time was especially hard on her leaving.  My sister still lives at home and she said that mom had broke down and cried the night before she was to fly out.  Mom called me once she arrived and she said that she didn't want to wish time away but she couldn't wait until she could retire.  Anyway, my mom will only be 59 next month so she still has a few years before she can retire.  


She is out on the Mississippi River and goes back and forth between New Orleans and St. Louis.  She has not been well this time out there.  She sounds so weak and tired.  Her blood pressure is up and down along with her heart rate.  Along with a bunch of other stuff.  They was going to send her home to go to the doctor but she decided to just wait it out.  I think she has a couple more weeks left before her time is up to come home.  I love her and miss her and pray everyday that she is okay.  


So yesterday morning I was sorting through some photos and decided that I needed a photo of my mom in my sewing room.  I finally decided on this one of her at Richard's graduation in May of this year.  I love snapshots because they are so real looking.  

I also ran on to these when she was younger.  I always thought she was so pretty.  I am 40 years old and one thing that I can always remember about my mom is that she has always gone to Church.  Growing up I can never remember a time in my life that my mom didn't go to Church and take us kids to Church.  

Okay......enough of the sappy stuff.  I just mentioned Richard's graduation back in May...  I had thought that things would be finished by now and he would be working at a "nursing" job but I didn't realize what all he had to do first.  Even though the graduation ceremony was in May, his classes were not over until the middle of June.  He also had to wait for them to turn the list of names in to the board of nursing before he could go any further.  After that it has just been testing and testing fees galore!!  So many different exams, fingerprinting, background checks, just never ending.  So I'm happy to say that at this point all is done except for him taking the NCLEX (his state board exam)  We are just waiting for them to schedule that, so hopefully it will be done real soon.  I know this is killing him too, that is why I try not to say much about it to him.  


Well, it's now almost 6am.  I need to get my butt in gear.  Lots of chores to do before it gets too hot.  Hunter also asked me to get him up early this morning so that we could have some extra "special time" today.  He starts school Wednesday, August 1st, and that is just breaking my heart.  I have always enjoyed having my boys home and it always stressed me out when school started back.  


Have a wonderful and Blessed day
Kristie