Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Sorting UFO's

 Yesterday I made a list of my UFO's and shamefully I have 24!  I had 25 but I marked one off as I finished the 4 Patch Flip the other day.  No this doesn't count my "long term projects" like my Yo-Yo's, Dear Jane, CW Diary, Bow ties, and several others. 
 I'm not going to sit here and say that I am going to finish every one of them this year or ever, but I wanted to at least see what I had.  I went through some a while back and donated a few and a few others I just put back in my stash and put the blocks in a pile of orphan blocks.  

One UFO that I pulled out the other day is my, Market Baskets.  I love those blocks and don't know why I have never finished it.  I really like it.  I sorted out what I had cut and I have a few that are ready to sew and others I still need to cut the background fabric for.  I did piece one more block for it lat night. 
 Tonight I am working on another Dresden block.  I am working on this as I am keeping the fire blazing in the wood stove.  :)  Richard is working tonight and it is going to be another night well below zero.  This weather is depressing and I'm ready for SPRING!  It is soooooo cold and more snow than we usually get here in KY.  The kids have only been to school 5 days since before Christmas!  No school again tomorrow.  Our road is nothing but a sheet of ice.  It is even hard to stand up in my yard. 
 In other news...my SIL, Kellie (my brother John's wife) has started quilting!!!  I can't tell you how excited that I am over this!  I talked to her today and she finished the binding on her first quilt which is a queen size blue jean quilt!!!  I'll have to get a photo of it soon and post a photo of it.  I am very proud of her and she did a great job.  She sent me a photo of the finished top and it looked great!  
Kristie

Monday, January 27, 2014

Design Wall Monday, January 27, 2014

I pulled another UFO out the other day and put it up on my design wall.  It has been there most of the weekend.  I didn't touch it yesterday but hopefully today will be a different story. 
This is called, Market Baskets.  I have oodles of blocks cut out for it so I'm hoping for some quick piecing this week.  I'm not sure what I will use for the setting triangles and for the border fabric, but I'll worry about that part once I get there.  :)

Linking up with Judy for Design Wall Monday.
Kristie

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Another day spent in the sewing room...

 Another great sewing day!  This snow needs to melt soon, I am going to sew myself to death.  :)  

I started a new BOM by Barbara Brackman, called Threads of Memory.  This is the first block. 
 I liked it so well that I made a second one!  :)
 The BOM consists of 12 blocks that measure 12" so I guess I will be making 2 quilts.  I don't think that will be hard as it will only be 2 blocks a month! 
 I also pieced a bunch more of my brown mountain blocks. 
 During all of this, I pieced 19 more bow ties!!!  :) 
 I'm getting closer to my 1100 goal! 
 So after all of that sewing, I pulled out another UFO!  This is one that I started several years ago.  It is called, Market Baskets.  This is all that I have pieced but I have a ton more cut.  I want to get them all sorted and start sewing on them tomorrow as Church has been canceled due to the bad weather. 
 I snapped this photo this morning of Hunter and Leo snuggling in the recliner.  I don't think Leo was too pleased with the flash going off while trying to sleep. 
 I'm spending the rest of the evening resting up as tomorrow will be another good sewing day!
Kristie

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Sewing all day...

 I've been a little stressed out lately so most of what I had been working on was my Dresden Plates.  Today I have sewn most of the day!  :)  It really felt great!  I finished up this quilt, 4 Patch Flip.  It is a full size bed quilt. 
 This is actually some of the fabrics used in it.  The lighting in here today was so bad, I couldn't get a good photo of it. 
 More of the center....
 A border shot...  The border is actually a bedskirt that I cut up.  :)
 I also got several more bow ties finished.  I think I am up to 326 of them.
 I appliqued another Dresden.  This makes me 8/20 that are completed.
 I also played around with a few apple cores. 
Now I'm tired and ready for bed!  
Kristie

Monday, January 20, 2014

Design Wall Monday, January 20, 2014





I've had this on my design wall for a few days now and I am slowly getting the blocks appliqued.  I almost have the 8th block finished.  This quilt will have 20 blocks, a 4x5 setting and will measure something like 90/110 so it will be a big one.  It will be bordered with the same dark brown print that is in the sashings.  Linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times for Design Wall Monday
I should have block 8 finished sometime today or at least I hope too.  

I need to straighten up my sewing room and put several things away.  It is horrible.  I was up there last night prepping a block and I could barely find the ironing board.  :)
Kristie

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

You know me...

 You know me....jumping from project to project.  I've had a lot on my mind the past few days so I have just been doing a little mindless applique. 
 I've had 20 of the Dresden's done for a couple of years but I don't have them appliqued to the background squares.  So out of 20 of them, I have 6 completely finished and I am working on number 7.  This will be a big quilt.  Once it is finished it will measure 90/110.  

Sunday after Church we had dinner at my mom's.  My brother got there before we did and this is what I saw when I walked in the kitchen.  My silly brother, John always gives me a hard time.  He knows that I LOVE mom's bread.  We had a great time with lots of fun and laughs. 
 That's all for tonight, I am going to work on block #7 while watching some tv.  Richard has thrown his back out so he has been in the recliner most of the day.  He worked last night with it like that and wasn't even able to stand up straight.  
Kristie

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Bow ties and watches

 It has been a long day and I am sooooo ready for bed!  Still no water and my iron died a few minutes ago!  LOL!  I'll just quit for the day and go to bed!  Richard is working tonight, Andrew worked today but is not upstairs playing guitar and my little Hunter is asleep in the recliner.  Still no school for tomorrow so he has had an extra week off school due to the weather.  

Last night I got a little bored and started counting out my bow ties in sets of 9 and sewing the 300 that I had finished into 9 patches.  That way it will go together a little faster as I get the other million bow ties finished.  :)  I have 1/4 of the blocks pieced for the quilt. 
 Here are a few of the 9 patch bow ties sewn together.  I have a bunch more to sew but since my iron died I decided to just stop for the night. 
 Here are a few more that I ended up making as leaders/enders while piecing the 9 patch bow ties. 
 One good thing for the day....look what arrived in the mail today.  :)  A wonderful little gift that is sooooo me!  :)  Richard laughed and said that maybe now I could keep up with how much time I was spending in the sewing room.  :)  I love it! 
 I'm off to bed now, for some much needed rest!
Kristie

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Sewing in the cold weather

 First I will start with some quilting stuff.  I've cut out tons of bowtie sets for my leaders/enders. 
 I have a few more bowties finished to add to my pile.  This should take me up to right around 300 of them. 
 I'm also still plugging along on my mystery quilt.  I do love the quilt but I'm wanting to get it finished so that I can get to working on something else.  :) 
 It has been soooo cold here in KY.  I'm ready for SPRING!  We've had historical low temps, high winds, power outages and NO WATER!  We have a drilled well, and at first we just thought it was frozen, but nope.....the pump stopped working.  So now we are trying to deal with that in the cold weather.  

Speaking of the high winds....look what happened to Mammy and Leo's kennel.  :(  No fixing that!  :( 
 I guess all of this is just adding up and messing with my BP.  This was yesterday!  It has gone down a little but still running pretty high. 
 
 Now on to a more relaxing note....here is Mammy and Hunter relaxing in the recliner.  She thinks she is a 55lb lap dog.  :)
 She is so crazy!  I love her so much but she can be a handful most of the time. 
 It's time to get back to sewing and trying to stay warm!  Thank God for the wood stove and propane heat!  :)  With it being so cold it still has a chill in the air.  
Kristie

Friday, January 3, 2014

Sewing and my boy...

  More sewing today!!!  First off, I cut more bowties as I was out of sets to sew.  I didn't cut many but maybe that will do me for a day or two. 
 I finished cutting out the last step of my mystery quilt.  I was a little behind but I'm working on it.  I'm anxious to get this put together as Hunter loves it so far.  I also worked on piecing a few more of the blocks. 
 Earlier I had been downstairs for a bit and when I decided to go back upstairs to do more sewing I found Hunter and Mammy asleep on my couch in my sewing room.  Snapped this as I was getting Mammy off the couch as she is not allowed on the furniture except for Richard's old recliner.  :)  She is growing so fast....55lbs. 
 I also wanted to show you one of my favorite scrap quilts that I made several years ago.  I changed all the bedding on Andrew's bed today and decided to put this one on.
You can also see part of Andrew's guitar case in the photo, he is playing a show tonight.  They are having a benefit concert for Hank Williams Jr's keyboard player as he is dealing with cancer.  I think tonight he was going to play with the Kentucky Headhunters.  So proud of my boy as he so enjoys playing guitar and is very good at it!  :)  I'm sure when he gets home late tonight he will have some stories to tell me!  LOL!  

Oh before I close!!!  I talked to my SIL on the phone today, this is my brother's wife, Kellie.  She told me that she went and bought a rotary cutter, mat and a good pair of scissors!  She wants to make a bluejean quilt!!!  YAY!!!  I hope she enjoys it and wants to make more quilts!  I'm excited about this for her, I can't wait to see it and to beat it all....she is piecing it on her grandmothers sewing machine!  :) 

Preparing for more bad weather!  :(  Saw on the forecast earlier that come Monday the windchill will be -30!!!  That's crazy!  
Kristie

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Sewing Time...

 I got some sewing time in today!  :)  I assembled one block today and I am well pleased with how it turned out.  I'm anxious to get the rest of it done.  I'll be honest, I don't have all of the steps finished but I will work my butt off now getting them done.  When this one is finished it will belong to Hunter as he loves the colors. 
 I even appliqued one of my little baskets! 
 I also got a few bow ties done.  :)  This makes me 274 of them. 
 Now I'm taking a break with the family as we watch the snow fall!  It is supposed to get pretty nasty out there and extremely cold....windchill -11.
Kristie