Will this be the one?

 I got all 20 of my big strip sets finished!!! 

 I was hoping that I would get them done yesterday and I did!

 Now I am moving on to the next step of making 17 of the small strip sets that consist of 4 strips.  I will get those done today...hopefully.

 A few of you have asked what the quilt is going to look like (hopefully) and here is a photo of the original. 

 This is a Edyta Sitar design for Laundry Basket Quilts that she is doing as a Craftsy class.  The quilt it called, Trail Mix.  

I'm sure that this quilt will take me a while but I am not in a hurry.  Lots of pieces in this one!  I will consider this my Fall/Winter machine project.  I always have lots of hand sewing projects in the works but I will consider this one my main machine project right now.  

I have this quilt hanging on my upstairs balcony wall.  I've had it there since we moved in.  As you can see in the photos below the house was not finished or the wall painted.  :)

 That is 22ft to the ceiling so I want something that will be substantial. 

I've been thinking that I need to change it....will this be the quilt that I replace it with???????  I don't know, I will have to wait and see. 

Private Hexagon Class...

It was a busy day yesterday.  I accomplished lots of cleaning in the house and also got some sewing done.  I may be a little slow going on this project but I have a million other things going on too.  I'm not in any hurry, just want to enjoy the process.  I now have 12 of the 20 strip sets needed and I also added another postage stamp block. 

Now on to the other things that had me so busy yesterday.  Hunter has a friend over for the entire weekend so I cleaned the house up nice.  

I mentioned that I had been asked to teach another hexie class sometime in September, I should have a date on that sometime Monday.  I started cutting out some kits for that.  

Now I have 2 more classes lined up!!!  The exciting part is...a childhood friend of my sister's asked me if I would possibly do a small class at her house during the day as my other class will more than likely be scheduled in the evening.  She has small school age children and it is hard for her and a few others to make it to the evening class as their evenings are crazy.  She asked how many that I would have to have scheduled for me to do a class at her house.  I told her and we now have it scheduled for Wednesday at 11am!!!!!  She is probably around 6-7 miles away from me so it's not too far.  :)  I'm excited and I will be cutting more kits for that today!!!!  I certainly never expected that someone would want me to do a private class in their home for a few people.  This should be lots of fun!!!  I will have to make sure that I take photos too. 

I guess that is all for now.  I'm actually typing this the night before and scheduling it to post at 5am.  It's almost 1:30am right now and I need to get in bed because I will be getting Richard up at 4:20am for work.  My plans for the day...after I sleep in after he leaves...is to get all of my 20 strip sets finished.  Will that happen?  I don't know but I sure hope so! 

Strip sets...

 So far I have 7 of the 20 big strip sets needed for my Trail Mix quilt.  I have all of the strips cut, just need to get them sewn together.  I also have a postage stamp block on the wall.  I have one or two more of those somewhere.  It is pieced from 1.5" blocks....64 squares in the block. 

 I snapped some photos of Mammy yesterday as I realized that I had not posted any of her for a while.  She is crazy!  Love her but her energy is just too much sometimes.  :)

 She is 112 pounds of craziness!  That's what she weighed last time at the vet, I think she actually weighs more now. 

 A photo of my girl!  Does she look rotten or what?  LOL!  Love her.

 I'm still canning and baking...Richard insisted that I make him some cookies before he went to bed.  LOL!  He's such a baby.

 I canned another case of Cowboy Candy.  This case is for my brother.  He loves this stuff. 

 I also put some corn and jalapenos in the freezer.  

Richard works all weekend and Hunter has a friend coming over.  Hunter has decided that he wants to play basketball at school.  I'm worried about his feet.  He has so many issues with them.  I called his doctor and he said to let him try it and if he has problems then let him stop.  I don't know...I worry but I also understand that he is a kid and wants to play.   He has practice once a week for a hour.  I'll see how that turns out. 

Machines in waiting...

 I took a break early yesterday morning to do some cutting before I did anymore canning.  I am starting a new quilt!!!  It is a Craftsy class with Edyta Sitar called, Trail Mix.  I am very excited about this new quilt.  I love her patterns and she is very informative in her Craftsy class.  This is one of those quilts that you have to cut and sew very accurate.  

To start I needed to cut 300+  1 1/4" strips.  I got them all cut!

 The next step is to sew these into strip sets of twelve.  I only got 3 strip sets sewn and pressed.  At least I got a good start on it. 

 I haven't posted about these machines but they are piling up waiting to be cleaned and serviced.  Let me tell you about these.  The Singer on top, I bought at a yard sale for $5.  It sews, it just needs to be cleaned, oiled and such.  The middle machine...my mom bought a Singer machine in a cabinet at a yard sale and they threw this one in FREE just to get rid of it.  She gave it to me to see if it worked.  The cord is missing so I haven't been able to really check it out yet.  It is a Euro Pro.  The one in front, mom bought today at Goodwill.  It is priced $4.99 but she got it for 1/2 price.  I have one just like it already.  So $7.50 for 3 machines!

 My mom has always sewn for as long as I can remember.  She still has the sewing machine that she pieced all of my clothes on when I was a young child.  I think right now she has a total of 4 machines and when I service the Singer Fashion Mate (in front) I will send it home with her as well.  I think she is planning on doing a lot of sewing once she retires!  LOL!  

I did a little more canning.  5 more quarts of green beans and 9 pints of spicy chicken veggie soup.  I have about 4-5lbs of jalapenos that I will be canning later today.  I gave my brother a jar of the Cowboy Candy and he LOVED it!  So I am going to can him a batch. 

 I should know the date for my next hexie class later this afternoon.  They are having a meeting and setting the date and will contact me afterwards.  I gave them the dates that I was available in September so the rest is up to them.  I'm excited about doing this second class.  I just pray that it goes as well as the first one did. 

Will I ever quilt again?

 Will I ever quilt again?  Shew, I don't know.  Right now it doesn't seem like it.  All I have been doing lately is work on my canning.  I love canning but I do get tired sometimes.  Yesterday after Church I canned 7 quarts green beans, 7 quarts chicken broth/stock, and 8 pints of spicy chicken veggie soup.  I also put up some corn and jalapenos in the freezer. 

 I have about 7 more quarts of green beans to can today and that should pretty much take care of my beans.  I think I will end up with somewhere around 70 quarts of them.  This spicy chicken veggie soup is mostly for Andrew as he is pretty much the only one that eats it.  The broth/stock, it will be used in many recipes.

My precious little niece learn to sit on her own!  She is doing so well.  She is 4 months old and very active.  I love her as she is my own.  Love her smile so much and she has such a wonderful little personality. 

 Richard is working today so I will try to get my kitchen cleaned and back in order.  I also need to can the rest of the beans.  My tomatoes are starting to ripen now. 

I am getting ready to start a new quilt.  I'll post about it next time.  I am very excited about this new one!

Hexie Class Review

 I taught my Hexie class Wednesday night!!!  Oh, it was wonderful!  I thought that I might get nervous but I didn't.  Quilts is one subject that I can talk about all day long.  I enjoyed this so much.  This was hosted by the Kentucky Community of Sharing Program and they are just wonderful and are doing great things for our community. 

 I set the class size for a group of 10-12 people.  I figured that I could comfortably teach that many people.  We had a full class!!!!  

I should have taken something to cover the tables before I displayed my stuff as I think it would have shown up better but I didn't think of that.  That's okay, it went well anyway.  

My goal with this class was to demonstrate EPP to make a Grandmother's Flower Garden design, but I also wanted to show different shapes, sizes and other designs that could be made using the technique of English Paper Piecing as well.  Once you learn the technique of EPP then the designs are endless!  

So here are some photos of my display/example table.  I have made and sold two hexagon quilts in the past so I didn't have any of my own finished quilts to show, just my WIP's.  I did have this antique Grandmother's Flower Garden to display.  It is a huge quilt that is completely hand pieced and hand quilted.  I've had this quilt for years and I bought it at a yard sale for $10.  That's sad.  :(

My current 1" hexagon quilt that I am working on..

 Another one of my current hexie projects.  These are a little larger, they are 1.5" hexies. 

 Also a few more examples of EPP just to show that there are many shapes and designs. 

 A blurry photo of my display/example table. 

 A basket of around 1000 prepped hexies and a plastic container of several hundred more that I travel with. 

 A view of my demonstration table.  This is where I sat and demonstrated step-by-step how to do these as they gathered around the table.  Before I demonstrated this, I went over a typed packet that described everything from the history, papers, needles, fabrics, threads, step-by-step instructions all the way through to finishing up the quilt.  

 So after I demonstrated this process they got started with their kits that I provided.  As they worked on these, I just kept walking around for the next hour, from table to table making sure all was going well. 

 Here I am running my mouth.  :)

 Helping one of the ladies...

 One of the tables... there was a variety of people.  All were so wonderful.  Some knew my mother, one was a childhood friend of my sister, my high school teacher, Andrew's high school teacher and so on.  I also made new friends. 

 Even had one man.  He caught on rather fast as he said that he had watched his aunt many years ago. 

 There were more people, but for some reason I can't get the photos to load.  :(  

This is what the finished kit looked like. 

 I can't express how much fun that I had.  I think that everyone else enjoyed as well.  I feel confident that everyone left knowing how to do this technique and that was my goal!  I tried my best to simplify this quilt as it looks much harder than it is. 

 I am excited to announce that I have been asked to teach another class!!!  Not sure of the date yet but I am soooooo excited!!! 

Today is the day!

Today is the day!!!  My hexagon class is tonight!  

  

 As of right now, I'm not at all nervous but I'm sure I probably will be once I get there.  Richard assures me that I will be fine.  He says that I'm always relaxed when I talk quilting.  LOL!  

Display samples, kits and everything else is ready to go.  I'll post photos tomorrow.  :)

Almost Halfway!!!

 As soon as Hunter got on the school bus this morning Richard went squirrel hunting.  He didn't get anything as there are just too many leaves on the trees right now.  Anyway, I think he enjoyed just doing something besides work for a change.  

While I had some time to myself (Andrew was sleeping) I did some sewing!!!

 It's been a great day of sewing!  I actually felt like I accomplished something. 

 I worked on my Windmills mostly.  I had cut out more pieces from some fabric that I was gifted the other day.  I really needed to mix in some different fabrics.  I'll gradually add more in as I can.  

I ended up piecing 34 more of the small windmill blocks.  That along with the few that I already had done was enough for 3 1/2 big blocks.  I need 5 big blocks to make a row.  Today's sewing got me almost halfway!!!  I am planning on doing 6 big blocks long and 5 across. 

 I also pieced lots of Tumblers as well.  I ended up getting them sewn into sets of 4 and sets of 8.  I will keep sewing them together until I get my long rows. 

 Supper today included Fresh Ham from my sister.  It was delicious!  Along with this, I fixed green beans, mashed potatoes, mac & cheese and cornbread.  I try to fix this stuff as healthy as possible for them.  There are also a few things like this that I can't eat.  This evening I had a tiny piece of ham, a small portion of mashed potatoes and a bunch of green beans!  :) 

 Richard works the next 3 days and is off the weekend.  Friday evening we have plans as it is my little nephews birthday as well as his mom's.  :)  So my nephew and SIL's birthdays are on the 21st and my precious mommy's birthday is the 22nd.  Mom will be 62.  She will never know how special she is to me.  I love her with all of my heart and I make sure that I tell her every single day.  :)

Sunday Sewing...

 I received an email from a long time reader the other day that really got me thinking.  She said that she always enjoyed reading my blog over the years but that it seemed that in the past year or so that I just "skim" over my day and not give a "rundown" of my day with more details of my family and farm life.  So....here it goes!  :)

I was up and at it early Sunday morning.  Richard worked so I got up a little after 4am and started coffee and breakfast while he showered.  I always fix breakfast but we have a long tradition that Sunday mornings are our "gravy and biscuit" breakfast.  LOL!  He is a country boy!  So he had bacon, gravy, biscuits, and fried apples at 4:30am!  :)  

Soon after he left, I did a little sewing before Church.  I chained pieced until the bobbin ran out.  Then I went back to bed for a bit.  :)  These are pieces for my Windmills, Tumblers II, and some 1.5" squares.  

 Also this is an updated photo of my Halloween Table Runner.  I haven't really had a chance to work on it much with all of the canning that I have been doing lately.  I'm going to try my best to have it completed and ready to display before Halloween. 

 After Church the boys and I went to mom's along with my sister, and my brother's family.  It's nice that mom is so close by.  Mom fixed dinner for us all.  

Once I got back home I started slicing up my jalapenos to make a batch of Cowboy Candy.  I ended up with 10 half pint jars. 

 Here is the recipe if anyone is interested.  Cowboy Candy!

 Cleaned up the kitchen and called it a day.  Mom sent home leftovers for Richard's supper so that was nice that I didn't have to cook.  

I'll leave you with a photo of my precious niece.  I got to babysit the other day and I snapped this photo of her sleeping!  Yep, she fell asleep just like this.  :)  She is such a joy!

I'll have more sewing progress to show you tomorrow!

Sewing and Canning

 I have everything packed and ready for the Hexagon Class.  Now just waiting for Wednesday to get here.  I have lots of examples and kits ready. 

 I've gone over my list twice hoping that I haven't forgot anything. 

 Yesterday I even took a few minutes to cut up some gifted fabric that I was given.  A dear friend sent me some fabric that she cleared out of her stash.  I was so excited to get this!  I took some of the smaller pieces and cut out more Tumblers, Windmills, Hexagons, Orange Peel and 1.5" squares.  It will be nice to add some fresh fabrics into these projects. 

 I have been so busy with the garden.  I didn't get photos of it all but trust me I have been busy!!!    

 This is only part of my storage.  I have more in the laundry room.  My laundry room shelves holds my canned potatoes, salsa, apple butter and all of my jelly. 

 After Church I will be working with some Jalapenos.  I have almost 4lbs of them right now that will be made into Cowboy Candy.  

BTW...I've had a couple of people ask about my Apple Butter. I will did that recipe back out and get it to you.  I've just been so busy that I haven't had a chance.  

Here is a batch of my homemade buttermilk biscuits.  I put another 3 dozen in the freezer and they are almost gone AGAIN!  Richard and the boys are eating me out of house and home!  Shew...I don't know where they put it!

 I don't know how I missed blogging about it but here is Hunter on his first day of 8th grade!  My baby is growing up.  He is so tall now, almost as tall as Richard and taller than Andrew.  He stated back to school on August 5th.  We start early here because we have so many snow days. 

 Richard just left for work a little while ago and I have already been doing some sewing this morning before 6am.  :)  Not a lot but getting some chain piecing done.