More Rings...

 I finally got some good sewing time in today and it felt good.  I started with some of these...

 and turned them into these...

 I took a little break and then sewed these...

 into these...

 those turned into these...

 then the last step before the final trim...

 after the final trim...

 Here is what I have finished at this point.  I do have more ready to piece tomorrow.  I probably will not get to sew as much tomorrow as I did today. 

 The pattern calls for it to be 3 rings wide and 4 long, but mom keeps trying to get me to make it 4 wide and 5 long.  I told her that I would have to wait and see what mood I was in once I got the 12 rings finished.  :)

 Okay...one last photo!  LOL! 

 Hopefully I'll have more progress to show you tomorrow.
Kristie

More sewing progress...

Just a quick little post to show you my progress!  I'm slow but who needs to hurry anyway?  :) 

I have ALL of my arcs cut, now I just have to cut the background pieces and corner triangles.  I've had a few ask about the pattern and ruler, it is from Sew Kind Of Wonderful.

Not sure if I will get to work on it much more this weekend.  Mom's job is having a "family fun day" at a little amusement park Saturday and then I have church on Sunday so that gives little time for sewing.  

Thanks for all of the nice comments about Richard's new job!  He had orientation for 6.5 hours yesterday and starts his actual shifts on Monday.  :)
Kristie

Blessings and Wedding Rings...

 Blessings...

I'm feeling mighty Blessed right now!  Hubby landed a NURSING JOB!!!!!  :)  If you have followed my blog for a while then you know how hard he worked for this.  Today was his first day, which was just orientation.  He just got home and you can't wipe that smile from his face.  He is so pleased.  Of course, he will get paid for today but he starts his floor work on Monday at 7am!  :)  I can't tell you how long and hard we have prayed for this and I just want to thank God for it all. 

 Oh, the vine above is one that Leo broke a piece off of my big one so I just planted it and put it on my kitchen counter.  Anyway...

Wedding Rings...

Or should I say, Metro Rings?  I have all of my strip sets sewn together but not all of the arcs cut from them.  I went ahead and pieced a couple of blocks so I could see how it was going to go together or if I was going to have trouble with it. 

 Both photos show the same blocks.  At first, I couldn't get it trimmed to the correct size and I had to walk away from it but it wasn't the pattern it was just ME.  Later I went back to it and it was fine.  Ever done that? 

 I think this will be the only blocks that I piece completely right now until I get all of the other steps finished.  So far, I LOVE IT!!! 
Kristie

Birthdays and Metro Rings!

* Quilt content at the bottom of this post...

I hate when I can't sleep and I have to get up at 5am.  It sure makes a long day.  So I figured I would post since I was up anyway. 

 Today...Friday is Richard's birthday!!!!  I thank the Lord everyday for putting us together.  He is a wonderful husband, father, Christian, and my best friend.  He turns 43!  :)  He is a jack-of-all-trades and such a handy guy to have around, but that is not the only reason I keep him around.  LOL!  I love him.  

I was sitting here looking through some old photos and they bring back so many memories...like this one of Richard and Ole Jim.  If you don't remember, Ole Jim was my precious mule that I lost a few years ago.  Giggle...I promise his head was not this big, it was just the angle of the photo.  

Little Hunter on Ole Jim.  I still have his cowboy boots.  He wore them constantly and I would have to wait until he fell asleep to take them off.  

Another one of Richard from several years ago.  This was an every night occurrence in the recliner...Hunter, Richard, Jazz, and Smokey.

Now on to some quilt stuff...

A dear sweet friend of mine sent me a pattern and ruler.  Let me tell you, I love it and I think it will be very addictive!  The ruler and pattern is from Sew Kind Of Wonderful.  You will have to look over her website.  There are so many patterns of hers that I would love to make.  I don't think I have ever really tried curved piecing until now and she has wonderful tutorials that make it look so simple.  

The pattern that I have is the Metro Rings, which is a Double Wedding Ring pattern.  I can't wait to get started on it!  I need to finish up my zig-zag quilt first but I couldn't help but try out the ruler on a tablerunner pattern that was included to teach you how to use the ruler.  

Here are a couple of the pieces that I have for the tablerunner, but I now have those sewn together and a few more ready too.  

I keep trying to think of what I have to do this weekend because I would really love to buckle down and SEW these!  LOL!  
Kristie

Past Quilts,,,

Since I don't have a lot of new progress to show you, I thought I would show you a few past quilts that were made years ago.  I'm still slowly working on my zig-zag quilt but there are only so many strip sets that you can show.  This is one of those quilts that you don't have anything interesting until it is finished.

First up is a quilt that I made 9 or 10 years ago.  If I remember correctly it is called, "stairway to Heaven"  I would have to look to be sure but I do have them all documented with the name and date for each quilt.  I really liked putting this one together.  

I don't remember the exact name of this one, but it was a Thimbleberries pattern that I got out of one of my books.  It is huge!!  Sadly it is still just a quilt top and hasn't ever been quilted.

I enjoyed this one too.  Very colorful and fast to put together. 

This one makes me want to cry.  Seeing Andrew so young and now he is 20.  This is his yo-yo quilt that I made for him.  The first one that I made had 2500 yo-yo's in it and I gave it to my mom.  Afterwards, Andrew was hurt because he wanted it so I made him one.  It took a long time too and it has 2000 yo-yo's in it. 

Speaking of yo-yo's, you know how kids are.  A few years ago, Hunter wanted one because Andrew had one so I am slowly working on Hunter's.  I only have about 1/4 of it done.  

I guess that is all for now.
Kristie

Our fun weekend...

 Over the weekend we picked up a Jeep.  We drove a couple of hours to pick it up and on the way back home we took a different route home and had a little fun day for Hunter. 

 We started off at Fort Boonesborough, KY.  It is the fort that was built by Daniel Boone and his party.  You can read about the history of it here.  Both of my boys love history so Hunter really enjoyed it.  Andrew had to work but he had a school trip here.

 Inside the fort...we got to watch several demonstrations such as soap, candles, shoemaking, weaving, gunsmithing, and several others. 

 Luckily they were having a reenactment that day too. 

 After that we headed on to Natural Bridge State Park.  It is beautiful there.  This photo was taken underneath the rock bridge.

 This is the view from the top...

A few from the skylift near the top of the mountain.  Let me tell you that skylift is horrible...it takes you up the side of that mountain and I'm afraid of heights.  LOL! 

 Anyway we had a wonderful time but we were very tired by the end of the day. 

Another long day today, Hunter has 2 doctor appointments today both of them are for his feet.  One of them is for his inserts....$400 inserts and he can't stand to wear them at all.  So I'm not sure what will happen there.  The other appointment is for his growth plate issues in his foot.  
Kristie

New Addition...

 We have a new addition to the family!  He is a feisty little guy that was born this past spring.  I really couldn't get any good photos of him because he is a ball of energy and would not stand still. 

We had to temporarily put him in here until we fixed his lot as you can see he was trying to escape.   

In this one, Storm, my horse was trying to introduce himself.  :)  Hunter named him, Billy.  He put a lot of thought into that name, didn't he?  LOL!

Cocoa, our other goat wasn't too sure about him moving in...

My mom came home late last night.  Her flight was delayed and we ended up getting back home around 2am.  This morning we had a few appointments in town so afterwards we picked my sister up from work and took her dog to the vet for her seizure medication.  On the way we stopped at a few yard sales.  We LOVE yard sales. 

So this was my loot for the day...

Got this whole set for $4

And these canisters were $2 for the set.  They are actually large canisters. 

 I really enjoyed the day with my mom, sister and Hunter. 

Have a great weekend...
Kristie

Sewing today...

 I got to do a little sewing on this today!  :) 

I figured out that I needed 20 more strip sets, so I spent a while cutting the rest of those out and sewing them together.  Now I'm in the process of pressing them and cutting them into sections. 

Here is a little pile of sections. 

I also sewed some of them into sets...

 I think this quilt will go together fairly quick.  I still haven't found my sashing strips that I had cut for my Star Gazing quilt.  If I haven't found them by the time I get this one pieced I guess I will have to recut them.  I really don't want to do that and waste fabric but I'm sure I had them cut. 

Here is a photo of the boys last night as we were lounging around watching some tv.  Andrew is working tonight, I miss him so much when he isn't here.  Both of them start back to school real soon.  Hunter starts back on August 1st and I don't remember the exact day that Andrew goes back to college, I really don't want to think about it.  :(

 As I was having my coffee on the front porch this morning I noticed that I had some more flowers blooming...

 Mom will be home tonight!  :)  That makes me very happy.  She just called a little while ago and her second flight was delayed so it will be well after midnight before she gets home.
Kristie

Zig-Zags

 I still haven't found my sashing strips for my Star Gazing quilt and I really don't want to cut out more when I don't have to.  I'll have to make one last dig up there in the sweat shop tomorrow.  So night before last I cut out a few strips of the navy and cream fabric and tried this.  I just have a few of them up on the design wall but what do you think so far? 

A very fast and simple design.  Not sure how big I will make this one, but I like how it is going together so far.  I didn't work on it yesterday or today.

Yesterday was a LONG day!  UGH!  Our truck croaked!  So now on the hunt for something else.  The ole girl kicked the bucket with over 200,000 miles on her, so I guess I shouldn't complain but let's just say I am very stressed over it.  The timing was not good but is it ever a good time for that to happen?    :(  I guess that's enough talking and complaining about it. 

Look what we will be having for supper tomorrow, if I can keep Hunter out of them.  He keeps eating them raw and the poor child will not eat them cooked.

 
No rain her today, thank goodness.  I'm so sick of rain.  It has been hot and humid, just ask Andrew, he has been cleaning out the horse stall.  Hehehehe!  He smells like horse poo, but I love him anyway, nothing a shower can't take care of. 

Hopefully I'll have more quilt stuff to show next time.
Kristie

Finished Blocks...

 WooHoo!!!  I got my blocks finished last night.  Well, the 25 that I had cut out anyway.  Still not sure if I am going to do 5 more to have my 5x6 setting or just leave it as a 5x5.  Either way I am pleased with how it has turned out.  Here are a few of the blocks up on the wall.

Now I am having a little trouble locating all of the little strips that I had cut out for the sashings.  They measure 2x15.5 and I had them ALL cut, so now....I have to find them. 

As I was finishing up those blocks last night, I pulled these bolts and brought them downstairs so I could look at them and maybe some inspiration would come to mind.  I'm not sure if I will do anything with them but I was thinking maybe a 2 color zig-zag quilt.  Maybe...but you know me.  This is my last partial bolt of cream and I've had the navy for a long time too. 

 I guess that is all for now.  I hope to get some sewing in this evening because tomorrow is probably a loss as far as sewing goes.  Tomorrow, Hunter and I both have chiropractor appointments and I also need to see if I can get him in for his physical and shots for 6th grade.  Oh and a trip to the grocery store is in order too.  :(
Kristie

My day...

As I type this, I am sitting on the front porch watching it rain...it feels so nice out here with just a tiny breeze.   Giggle...here I am in all my glory!  LOL!  This is me most days...hair in a ponytail and no makeup.  :)

I spent the early part of the day painting trim for the upstairs bathroom.  I can't wait to get that thing finished. 

No sewing for me today.  I had planned on it but things just didn't work out.  I cleaned and just piddled around.  My SIL called and said that they would be stopping by sometime today so I decided to clean instead of sew.  :)

I'm still hoping to get the last 5 blocks pieced by the end of the weekend.  I'm not sure what fabric I will use for the borders or if I will even add a border.  I'll just have to wait until I get the center pieced to decide. 

Richard finished up at the church today!!!  The building was 106 years old and in really bad condition so they made the decision to tear it down and rebuild it. 

 

 So here she is....  Our first church service in it is planned for July 21.  I can't wait. 

 The inside...  The carpet layers will be there on Monday to install it. 

 This photo might be a little hard to see but Hunter, Leo, and if you look real close you will see Jazz, the yorkie all trying to squeeze in the recliner.  :)  Silly boys!!!

 Even though I haven't done any sewing today I have been pondering on what I will work on after I get my Star Gazing quilt finished.  Tumblers?  UFO's?  New Project?  I know I really need to work on some UFO's but sometimes they just are not any fun are they?  Do you plan your projects ahead while working on another or just do whatever hits you at the time?
Kristie