No canning for me yesterday. I'm still waiting on a few things in my garden to get ready. I'm hoping to get back to that and I also need to go pick more apples. I hate to see them go to waste when I can use them.
I got caught up on my cleaning. My house needed a good scrubbing and the past few days I had been canning so I let everything else go. It doesn't take long for it to get out of control.
While cleaning I would take a break just every little bit and work on my Halloween Table Runner. If you remember this is the stitchery that I prepped and took with me on our little trip this past weekend. I worked on it a little but not as much as I wished that I had. It isn't that big so it shouldn't take that long.
The finished item will have a pieced border around it. Not sure where I will use this table runner as I don't usually decorate for Halloween and it is too small for my dining table. I'll find a place for it, I'm sure.
Richard and Andrew work today and Hunter and I will be spending the day mostly relaxing as he starts school Wednesday. He is dreading it so bad. He hates school but makes really good grades, he just doesn't like going. When he was younger he said that school interfered with his playtime. LOL!
It has been a busy past few days for us...so let's get started with a little recap.
Saturday morning we left the house at 5am. We ended up with a little trip to the Corvette Museum. Andrew did not get to go because this was a last minute trip and he could not get off work. Hunter had a blast! This was about 4.5 hours away from home so it was a good little drive.
There were so many beautiful cars. We really enjoyed the tour.
They had the Corvette's displayed that had fallen in the sink hole. They were just completely demolished.
We all love history so on the way back we stopped by the Lincoln Museum.
I snapped this photo of a couple of quilts that they had on display. It was a really nice place and very interesting. Again, Hunter loved it.
The next stop...Lincoln's Birthplace. This was built around the cabin to preserve it. Shew...lot's of steps for this chubby girl. LOL!
It was a nice little walk up the steps and not to mention that it was 95 degrees. LOL! The park was such a nice place to enjoy.
This was the cabin inside.
We were exhausted Saturday evening when we got home so we didn't really do anything but lay around.
Sunday after Church, I got to work on some canning!
So far since Sunday I ended up canning 21 Quarts of green beans.
7 Quarts of pinto beans, a total of 26 pints of fried apples, and 4 jars of Root Beer Jelly.
This is the rest of the beans and apples. Over the next few weeks I will have more green beans and apples to can. I also made some Apple Pie Jam a few days ago too. I'm not sure if I posted that on here or not. Anyway, I have been busy and I am exhausted but it feels good to be canning this food.
Richard was off this past weekend and Saturday we were gone all day. Sunday after Church he and Hunter brought up some wood to be split for firewood. We usually go through 8 to 9 cords of wood during a normal winter. He worked Monday and Tuesday and was off again on Wednesday and they brought up more wood. It feels weird preparing so much for winter right now when it is in the mid to high 90's with the heat index well over 100, but winter will be here soon and living where we do, we need to be prepared as usual.
I did actually work on my Halloween Stitchery a little bit while Richard was driving Saturday. I didn't get a lot done but it is small so it shouldn't take too long to finish it. I haven't had time to work on it at all since we've been back because of all of this canning.
I put my Orange Peels up on the design wall. They are not sewn together so my points will be closer when they are.
Somehow I was a little disappointed when I put them up there because I thought I had more of them done. This is it unless I have a pile buried somewhere. I will keep plugging along on them until I get it to be the size that I want.
The 4 up in the right corner are the only ones that I are sewn together, that is why they look smaller.
I also prepped this Halloween stitchery that will be a table runner. It is called, Witches Hooray by Bird Brain Designs. We are taking a road trip soon and I wanted something to work on while Richard drives.
I will probably take my hexies, and the few Orange Peel blocks that I have prepped which is just a handful. I'm one of those that needs to over prepare for things like that. LOL! I'm a little tired of working on my hexies so I wanted to have some options.
Richard and Andrew are working today so Hunter and I will spend the day putting up more apples.
I put a few strips of my Tumbler II up on the design wall. So far I am pleased with it. It will end up being a queen size when it is finished. Since I have a decent start on this I will start using it as my leader/ender project.
I've also been doing a little work on my Orange Peels. I have 9 more of them finished. They still need to be trimmed to size but the applique is done on them.
I'm not really sure how big this quilt will end up. I'll just keep making them until I get tired of them. This pile is already trimmed.
Rain, rain, rain...we get it everyday! We got a short break in the rain and the sun dried things up just enough for Richard to cut the grass. He ran over a yellow jacket nest and got stung 27 times!!! Thank God he is not allergic. I did make him stop and come in to cool off and to make sure that he didn't get sick from that many stings. He's fine but one of his ankles is twice the size of the other. He got stings all over his legs and a few on his arms.
School starts back for Hunter on August 5th. Not too long. I am sure going to miss him during the day. I love having my kids home with me. It's hard to believe that he will be in the 8th grade.
Lots of prepping and sewing! I prepped several pieces for my Orange Peels.
I even got them prepped to the background squares. I completely finished 2 of them too.
I also made several more Windmill blocks.
I am up to 194 of them now, but I still have a long way to go before I get them all finished. I need 528 of them.
I got bored so I started piecing them into 4 patches. At least by doing this it will save me some time when I have to sew all 528 of them together.
I also put up a few gallons of apples in the freezer. We have 5 or 6 trees full so I will be canning a bunch of apple stuff too. The photo below is when I was just getting started.
My green beans are almost ready to pick from the garden. I would say in another week they will be ready. I can't wait to fix some fresh green beans and do some canning with them too.
Today is Richard's birthday! He is 45!!! He is working all day and will be home around 8pm. I will be baking his favorite cake today so that he can have a piece as soon as he gets home. I love this man more than life. He is such a great Christian, husband, father, friend, and the hardest worker that I know. I thank God everyday for bringing us together. I am very Blessed.
Also please keep our area in your prayers. If you have watched the news I'm sure you saw that there has been lots of flooding here in KY. We live on top of a mile hill so we don't flood but the area 6-10 miles away from me in Johnson County was hit hard. So many homes lost and 4 lost their lives. I just can't imagine what they are going through. It just breaks my heart. Homes just floating away, people hanging on in trees...just horrible. We have had rain everyday for weeks now and most of it was hard rain.
I'm making lots of progress on my Tumbler II quilt. I will be changing the rows around I was just laying them out as I was sewing them. I am hoping that this quilt will be a queen, if I have that many scraps.
I also finished up one Orange Peel to add to the pile.
...and 5 more Windmills!
My girl came up and spent a little time with me. She wasn't feeling the best as she is starting to cut some teeth. Look at those chubby cheeks!
Richard got the hot water heater switched out on Saturday. We ended up having to pay $50 extra when exchanging it as the price on them had raised since we purchased the last one. Then the valves were a little different so he had to make another trip to town to get the correct size. Anyway, nothing to complain about as it could have been worse. Just thankful that it was still under warranty.
Sunday after Church I did some sewing. I was pleased with my progress. Then we went out and picked some apples that had fallen off the tree. I wanted to get them before the deer ate them all. We have lots more that are not ready yet. I only ended up with 2 plastic grocery bags full. There are 5 or 6 trees so I will have more apples than I need. My plans are for apple pie filling, canned fried apples, jelly, jam, apple butter and I'll throw some in the freezer too.
Richard works for the next 3 days straight and then is off Thursday. If the weather is good then we will be cutting firewood. He cut some rounds the other day from some trees that had been blown over from the recent storms. It was just too wet to get the rounds put in the truck and hauled to the woodshed where the log splitter is. Winter will be here before you know it and our woodshed is completely empty. On an average winter we burn 8-9 cords of wood. We've had rain everyday for the past 11 or 12 days straight!
That's all for now...
Lots of sewing! It may not look like it but I have a ton of these done. I haven't counted them but I have a bunch of them ready to sew into rows.
A few hundred sets of 2, ready to be sewn into larger strips.
I also finished 3 Orange Peel blocks. They still need to be trimmed to size.
3 more Windmills...
I know this is a short post but it's actually going on 2am. I'm tired and have to get up early. We will be replacing our hot water heater in the morning as soon as the hardware store opens. Our hot water heater started leaking and I'll be honest, I just got sick from the thoughts of having to shell out money for a new one. So sick that when Richard stopped by the hardware store I sat in the Jeep. I didn't even want to get out. So I snapped this photo as I sat in the Jeep.... This is our local hardware store that has been in business for over 100 years.
Anyway, it wasn't as bad as I thought it was going to be. Thank you Lord! Come to find out it was still under warranty!!! How great is that!!! The downside is that they had to order one so I've had to put up with a leaky water heater for a few days. So in the morning Richard is going to pick it up and install it in the morning right after he returns the old one. :) See....something good came out of a bad thing.
Yesterday I did some cutting and sewing of some scraps. This was another sleepless night as didn't even go to bed until after 4am. Anyway...I cut out more of my pieces for Tumbler II and actually started sewing a few together just to see how I was going to like it. I ended up sewing together a little over 100 sets of 2!!! Not too shabby of a day!
Here I even sewed 4 together just to see...
I ended up with 8 more Windmill blocks which brings my total to 159. I have a bunch more cut out in the colors but need to start cutting neutral pieces for it too.
Here is my cutting progress. Several more pieces for my Windmill blocks and a bunch of pieces for my Tumbler II quilt. I forgot to take a photo of my neutrals that I cut.
I also got to spend some time with this precious girl. :) My sister came up for a visit. (I say "come up" because she lives a mile away at the bottom of the hill) Anyway, Addison is so precious and makes me laugh constantly. She is a ball of energy. I snapped this photo while she was on her belly on the couch. :) Look at those big beautiful eyes! It's hard to believe that she will be 3 months old in a few days.
Richard is off work for the next 2 days so I'm not sure how much sewing I will get done. It's funny that I don't get near as much accomplished when he is home. LOL!
Look what I accomplished yesterday!!!! It felt great to actually get something done. Sorry about the light shining through but I had it in the kitchen floor.
If you remember in my last post I just had them sewn in sets of 4.
So I just sewed together what I had cut and ended up with something like 54x70.
Then I got the big idea that I would add a narrow solid border and then use this green stripe. You know the old saying, "measure twice, cut once"....well I messed up when I was measuring, I guess and cut the border too short. :( I'll just put the borders away and use them on something else. At this point, I'm just going to call it done and throw it in the pile to be quilted. When I get ready to quilt it I will then decide if I want to add borders or just leave it "as is"
I also ended up with 7 more Windmill blocks!
I appliqued ONE Orange Peel...
...and cut out a few hexagons from the "cut-offs" around the edges of the Tumbler quilt.
I even drove Hunter to town to watch the fireworks at 10pm. Tomorrow I will probably be down all day. LOL! Richard has to work all weekend. He gets home around 8pm and is in bed by 9pm so after he went to bed Hunter and I headed to town. He seemed to enjoy watching them.
Herbs....our Thyme is sprouting! I think our basil is too. We planted these on June 30th.
That's all for now...it's 1:15am and I will be getting Richard up in a couple of hours. I think I'm going to try to go to bed for a couple of hours.
The finished item will have a pieced border around it. Not sure where I will use this table runner as I don't usually decorate for Halloween and it is too small for my dining table. I'll find a place for it, I'm sure. 
