Monday, April 27, 2015

The cutting is done!

 I finished cutting the other half of my Jacob's Ladder quilt.  I also sewed some of the pieces together.  Hopefully I can get these blocks done sometime this week. 
 I am planning on doing 3 big blocks across and 4 down then add a border.
 I also managed to sew 5 more of my hexie units. 
 I counted them and I have 176 units finished.  Not sure how many that I will need but I expect it will be several more.  I will lay them out on my bed to see. 
 I also managed to sew 2 more of my Orange Peel blocks.  I need to press them and trim them to size. 
 I'm not sure how many of these that I have finished but not near enough.  LOL!  I have a few more of them prepped so I will sew those up before I prep more.  Love working on these little things. 

Saturday, April 25, 2015

I've been busy again!!!!

 Well, I've been busy sewing again!  Look what I did today! 
 When I started cutting for this quilt I just grabbed a bunch of dark blues and started cutting.  I didn't count, I just cut.  I think I have enough cut to make half of the quilt.  I have enough cut to finish up the part that is missing here and then I will have to cut enough for the other half of the quilt. 
 After I get all of the blocks pieced then I just plan on a dark blue border out of one of the fabrics in the blocks. 
 Tomorrow I hope to finish up the blank area and then do a bunch of cutting for the rest of it. 
 I took Hunter on Friday to be fitted for his tux.  He has his 7th/8th prom/social next Saturday.  :(  It seems that the price of renting a tux has gone up since I had to do that with Andrew.  LOL!  That was $185 that I was NOT expecting!  They did have some cheaper ones but they looked like they were from the 1970's.  LOL!  After getting over the shock of the rental, I can't wait to see him in it.  My boy is growing up!  They are not having it at school but a place that I actually had one of my proms.  They are also having a formal dinner as well.  

We are getting heavy storms at the moment so I think I will settle in before bed and do a little handwork.  I will probably work on my Orange Peels or my hexies.

Thursday, April 23, 2015

Sewing up a storm...

Tuesday I didn't get to sew at all but I did do some canning.  I ended up with a bunch of potatoes that I was afraid would ruin so I decided to can some of them.  I peeled some and canned 8 pints.  
 Then I cut up more of them but left the peel on.  I canned 7 pints of these.  These are great canned as they are fully cooked so you just open, warm them up and throw some butter or cheese on them or even mash them.  Soooo handy and quick!
 Wednesday I canned a little more and got lots of sewing done.  I canned 7 quarts of pinto beans!  These will not last long as my family loves them. 
 Now to show you ALL of the sewing that I got done!!!  I am proud!  LOL!  Here is a photo of my machine table.  I just grabbed and sewed whatever was there on the machine table while I was watching the canner to make sure the pressure gauge stayed in the right place. 
 Are you ready???  LOL!  I sewed...

16 Windmill blocks...
 A big stack of half-square triangles that go in my Jacob's Ladder.  I didn't count them but there is a bunch of them. 
 12 String blocks...
 42 - 4 Patches.  These are not for any certain project, I will just put them back and use them in something later.  I just had a bunch of 2" squares by my machine so I just sewed them together.  :)
 10 Churn Dash blocks...
 And....I also worked on a few things in my tray.  I did a few more hexies and a few Orange Peels...
 It felt great to get all of that sewing done!  

This is my Spring wreath that hangs on my front door.  You have to look real close and you will see a bird nest.
 A bird built a nest in my wreath and it has eggs in it.  Shew...now every time you open the door the bird scares the crap out of you!  LOL!  She flies in your face!  Of all places, she had to built it in the wreath on my front door!  :(
 All for now...I hope to get lots more sewing done today!

Monday, April 20, 2015

Lot's of cutting...

 Richard worked on Sunday so I wasn't able to go to Church so I did some cutting and sewing.  I grabbed my scrap basket and started cutting strips.  I cut 1.5", 2", and 2.5"
 This was the first batch that I cut.  I didn't take a photo of the rest of them. 
 I sorted by color and sizes.  I mostly have 1.5" and 2" strips and a few 2.5" strips.  I need to add to that size.  I didn't cut my really bright and novelty fabric scraps up, I will just put those in a tote together as I don't use them a lot but may need them later for kid quilts and such. 
 I also did a little bit of sewing.  I worked on a few of my Churn Dash blocks. 
 I also sewed a few of my half-square triangles for my Jacob's Ladder.  I waited and finger pressed these and my Churn Dash units after Richard got home while we watched some tv. 
 I feel pretty good with all that I got done today.  Hunter is feeling a little better so back to school he will go tomorrow.  

Carline...if you are reading this post, thank you for the info that you left in the comment section.  I couldn't respond back to you as it is set as "no-reply"  I will look for that and give it a try with Hunter.  Thanks! 

Saturday, April 18, 2015

A few more blocks...

Getting a little bit of sewing in.  I'm up to 17 Churn Dash blocks.  I love these little blocks.  So much for saving this for Summer sewing.  LOL! 
 Friday the only sewing that I got done was 5 of my hexie blocks.  I'll explain why this is all that I got finished later in my post. 
 A few nights ago we settled down as a family and played a few games of BINGO!  :)  It is nice to just turn off the tv and have some fun family time.  Just a simple game of Bingo was so much fun!  I hope my kids always remember times like this.  Hunter was acting silly so I had to snap a photo. 
 Poor little fellow, the next morning he woke up and could not hear out of his left ear.  He has excema in his ears only and he has a horrible time with them.  I have to take him fairly often to the ENT to have them dug out and he has cream that he has to put in daily.  He went on to school but called around 2pm and said his ear was hurting pretty bad.  I picked him up and took him straight to the doctor.   He has an infection and is now on antibiotics until he can get in to see the ENT.  

Friday Hunter was home from school as he was still having pain in his ear.  Hunter and I got to babysit Addison!!! 
 Chantal was having a few minor health issues and had to go to the doctor and then run some errands.  There is so much sickness and viruses going around the area that Chantal thought it best not to take Addison out right now.  She is a week and a half old.  I kept her while her and mom were out.  Chantal had a hard time leaving her and felt a little guilty but she did what was best for Addison.  

That is why I only got a little bit of sewing done.  Hunter and I had a great day with her.  She is so precious.  :)  She is already spoiled and wants to be held all of the time.  :)  Anyway....I snapped a close up of her face as I was changing her clothes.  Look at all of that hair on her face.  :)  So cute...
 Richard works all weekend so hopefully I can find some time to sew.

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

A little Sewing...

 We had a rainy day yesterday with lots of flooding in the county so school was cancelled.  It rained most of the day so nothing to do other than housework and to sew.  :)  I have this machine set up in the corner of the dining area that I will use this summer. 
 I have a basket ready with my Churn Dash pieces. 
I didn't actually mean to work on my Churn Dash blocks as I was saving them for summer sewing but while I was cooking and doing laundry I sat down in the dining area to sew. 

 As of right now I have 80+ blocks cut but I think that I will need 110 blocks to do the size that I want.  I'm thinking that I will set these on point. 
 I'm not sure yet what fabric that I will use for the solid blocks. 
 I made a batch of Peach Dumplings and as you can see Richard got some before I took the photo.  I was a good girl and didn't eat any of them as they have a ton of sugar in them and that is something that I can't have. 
 As soon as Hunter got off the bus on Tuesday, he changed clothes and we headed to my sister's house to visit with the baby.  Hunter fell asleep on the couch.  I had to snap this photo as I thought it was cute they way he was sleeping. 
 And of course, I had to snap a photo of this little angel.  :) 
 I hope to get more cutting done later today and get more stuff prepped and ready to sew this summer. 

Sunday, April 12, 2015

Cutting for quilts...

 I started cutting for multiple quilts.  These are quilts that I have had on my list to make for a while.  Summer will be here shortly and I don't have a/c in my sewing room so it gets rather hot up there so I sew downstairs during the summer months.  I have several quilt that I want to work on along with a few UFO's.  If I get them cut and ready now then that will cut down on the mess of bring everything downstairs and cutting this summer.  This way I can just grab something and sew.  Here are a few things that I am cutting for...

Jacob's Ladder and a Churn Dash.  I've made both but want to do them again.  The Jacob's Ladder is going to be in navy/dark blues and cream.  Not sure how big it will be but I am just going to cut until I run out of those shades that I want to use.  The Churn Dash block in the photo is one that I made a month or so ago.  It is a 6" block.  Those easily cut out from 2.5" strips.  Actually I cut a few of them out today but I am thinking that I will use a jelly roll that I have.  I've been putting off cutting the jelly roll but I think I will use it anyway. 
 This is my progress on my Orange Peel blocks and I also cut out several more to prep.  I am doing most of this cutting out of my scrap basket except for the navy for the Jacob's ladder. 
 Here is my second Churn Dash block...
 I'm also cutting more Windmill blocks.  These are cut from 2.5" strips too.  I am cutting a lot of my scraps into 1.5", 2", and 2.5" strips as that seems to be a lot of what I use. 
 I am also cutting out more hexies when I find a piece of fabric that I can't cut in strips but I can get hexies out of it. 
 Lots of cutting and prepping for the summer months.

I made a few more bows.  These are actually tiny as Addison's head is very tiny!  LOL!  She can't even wear the newborn headbands that you buy in the stores.  Chantal has a couple of preemie bands that fit her but the bows swallow her head so I made a couple smaller ones.  :) 
 Oh, I can't leave without a pic of my baby girl.  :)  Addison Brooklyn Cline.  They came home on Friday as I had to go for a visit.  :)  Mom picked me up yesterday and we went for another visit.  LOL!  Good thing that Addison only lives a mile away.  :)
 That's all for now....Richard is working so I will spend the day with my precious boys and maybe sneak a visit in with Addison too.  :)


Friday, April 10, 2015

Addison is here!!!!









 Addison is here!  :)  So here is the story...  Tuesday night my mom and sister called and said that she seemed to be leaking a little but not knowing if it was her water or urine.  :)  She waited as she wasn't having any pain and then mom told her to go shower just in case.  LOL.  Then we decided that she should go to the hospital just to be checked as we live over an hour away and didn't want any surprises.  So we got ready and headed to the hospital...better to be sent home than to be trying to rush to get to the hospital.  So we get there, they check her and she starts gushing water and then a little pain starts.  Nothing major just a little pain.  She was still dilated to 3 like she had been for weeks.  

Ronnie her husband was called as he works away and he headed to the hospital.  He left as soon as we found out she was in labor but he was several hours away.  The funny thing is the company that he works for got him a taxi and paid for the trip back for him which was $520!!!  The hospital told him not to rush as it was going to be a long time and that it would be late morning before the baby arrived.  So Chantal was doing just fine, her heart and blood pressure too.  We called everyone and told them that she was in labor but no hurry to get to the hospital as they said it would be late morning.  

They checked her again and BAM....she was dilated to 10 and there was a head!!!  LOL!  No one expected that and she wasn't even having hard labor pains!  They started hustling trying to get the doctor in there and the room ready.  She called Ronnie to tell him that he was not going to make it in time.  :(  Daddy was still 70+ miles away when she was born.  I hated that he missed it.  

She had a quick 3.5 hour labor!  Here is a photo that I took while she was PUSHING!!!  Does she look like someone in labor?  LOL!  The only time that her heart rate when up was when they told her the baby was coming and hubby wasn't going to get there in time. 
 Mom and I were in the delivery room with her.  Mom got to cut the cord and I took a million photos for daddy to see.  Mom even videoed some of it.  

Her she is directly after the easy birth.  She only got to hold her for a second and she was sent to the NICU.  
She was having some trouble breathing and the cord was wrapped around her neck.  They assured her that it wasn't anything major but they wanted to put her in the NICU for 4 hours to get her breathing regulated.  After 20 minutes she was breathing fine but she had to stay the full 4 hours.  I tried to take some photos through the glass at the NICU but I couldn't really get a good photo. 
 Daddy got there not long after she was born. 
 As you can see, mommy and daddy are very happy!  BTW...that is Hunter in the background.  :) 
 Here is Addison....  She weighs 6lb 2oz and is 19.5" long. 
 She seems so tiny.  Newborn clothes just swallow her but the preemie clothes fit her fine. 
 These are photos from today.  Look how tiny her head is compared to daddy's thumb. 

 And here she is in her tiny little preemie capris.  :)
 We are all so in love with her.  She is so precious.  Shortly after she was born everyone arrived at the hospital.  Ronnie's mom and dad made it just in time for the delivery.  They were waiting right outside the door.  So thankful that God watched over them both as you all know that we were worried about Chantal going in labor because of her slight condition.  Also thanking God for taking care of Addison and her breathing. 

They will be home Friday and daddy has to leave back out to work on Monday.  He is staying at the hospital with mommy and baby and that will also give him a couple of days at home with them.  I'm sure he hates to leave for work but he has too.  Mom and I are here and her MIL just lives a few miles away.  I'm sure that mom will stay with has as long as he needs her.