Busy Times and Happy Birthday to my BABY!

 Soooo....I did not get the last two quilts finished that I wanted to do before I left for vacation!  That's okay, I'm not got to sweat it.  I had one loaded on the longarm and as soon as I started on it, my machine started breaking top thread.  Not sure why and I did try to figure it out but then time got away and I realized that it just wasn't going to happen so I stopped and moved on to something else....cleaning my house.  LOL!  

I have some EPP packed and ready to take on the trip as it will be about a 12 hour or so drive by the time we have to stop several times with the kids.  As I mentioned before there are 14 of us going.  I also decided to take this quilt along and sew the binding on. 

 It's hard to tell much about the quilt in this pic but it is called, Indian Star.  I quilted it sometime LAST year and never did the binding on it.  I looked back through my blog to see when I pieced it but didn't find it right off, but I know it has been YEARS.  LOL!  

We usually take a small quilt on trips because Hunter always wants to sleep and have something to cover up with.  I also wanted to take a smallish quilt to use on the beach as they all want to lay on something and the beach towels just are not big enough.  Last year when we went to VA Beach I took a small quilt too.  This is a quilt that I plan on "using" so I don't care to use it on the beach.  LOL!  So I figure I will do the hand work while Hunter is not using it to sleep with.  :)  

Richard has picked over 8 quarts of raspberries so far and I made a cobbler a few days ago.  They loved it!  I didn't eat any as I am a diabetic but it sure smelled good. 

 I also had a bunch of zucchini that I needed to do something with before we left.  I shredded it up and put 2 cups in each freezer bag.  That will be enough to make 8 of these Chocolate Zucchini Breads.  Richard's grandmother used to make this for him and she gave me the recipe a few years before she passed away. It is good and to me it tastes a lot like German Chocolate Cake. 

 Today is Hunter's 15th birthday!  Where does time go?  Shew...I miss my boys being little.  I took this pic of Andrew and Hunter a few months ago at mom's.  They are such close brothers even though there is a 9 yr age difference.  My boys are my world! 

 Richard has to work today and will not be home until 8pm so we will just have a small celebration as we will be leaving on vacation around 2:30am so just a few hours after Richard gets home.  I told Hunter that sometime after we get back that he could have a few friends over.  

Speaking of friends...last night one of Hunter's best friends had an ATV accident and had to be flown out to the hospital.  I sat up until after midnight waiting to hear something as Hunter was very upset and Richard and I also grew up with his dad.  They flew him to a hospital over an hour away.  We finally heard that he had several broken ribs, a punctured lung, and a fractured neck.  That is all that we heard last night but they were still running tests so I will check again this morning.  Shew....things can change in a blink of an eye.  

So we will be leaving very late tonight and I have a million things to finish up today.  As I mentioned before my MIL is house sitting for us and I need to do a quick once over on my house before she comes late this afternoon.  We also have a good friend/neighbor that is going to come up and feed all of the animals as my MIL is not able to feed the horses, chickens and such.  I also have a few errands to take care of then come home and bake a birthday cake for Hunter.  

I will probably overload my blog with vacation pics!  LOL!  I'm also on Instagram if you want to pop on over there and follow me.  I'm on there under "The Quilted Mule"  :)  

That's all for now....gotta get my long day started!  Please keep us all in your prayers as we travel.

Fancy Fox is Quilted and the Weekend

Are you tired of seeing this quilt yet?  LOL!  I finally got it quilted!  YAY!  I did a simple stipple on it.

 I still need to clip some threads on it.  Today I will get the binding done.  I didn't post this on my FB page because this is a surprise gift later in July. 

 Look how huge these blackberries are next to regular size raspberries!  These are my Kiowa Blackberries and they are so sweet and juicy.  They are delicious!  Richard has picked a little over 6 quarts of raspberries this weekend and we will have more ready soon.  

Now to catch you up on my weekend!  It was eventful that's for sure!  LOL!  I always type out my blog post the night before so my last post that posted on Saturday morning was actually typed Friday night and scheduled to automatically post Saturday morning that being said...Friday night after scheduling that post we had really heavy storms and we lost power.  That is not at all what I needed with my busy schedule that I had just posted about.  LOL!  It finally came back on late Saturday night.  Needless to say, this delayed my quilting that I needed to do.  

Sunday was our homecoming dinner after Church.   It was an awesome Church service and there were so many people in our little Church that they had to bring out folding chairs and set them in the isles.  I loved that!  So there was a nice crowd for dinner.  We were sitting there eating and someone came over to Richard and quickly mumbled something about needing him for help.  He jumps up and follows.  There was an older man that had collapsed.  Richard checked him out and after a few questions he found out he was a diabetic and his blood sugar had bottomed out.  Richard being Richard, quickly grabbed a small piece of peanut butter fudge out of the preacher's plate!  LOL!  Of course, he hadn't taken a bite off of it.  LOL!  He was sitting there and he just grabbed it.  LOL!  So the guy started feeling much better and ended up eating his meal.  The ambulance finally got there and checked his blood sugar and at that point it was 236 and he had just eaten.

After we got home, I quilted the Fox quilt and Richard had to run to a friends house from Church.  His Jeep broke down.  :(  Something else that we didn't need!  He left the Jeep at James' house and James brought him back home instead of me going to get him.  Richard will be taking my vehicle to work tomorrow and picking up the part after work.  Not sure when he will change the part but I'm sure he will get to it soon because my vehicle uses more gas than his Jeep.  LOL!  I love that he is multi-talented!  

Hunter had a friend come home with us after Church to spend the night and then we also had a nice little visit from my sister, BIL, and my precious niece, Addison.  

So I will start the week out by playing catch up.  I'm not going to stress over it, I'm just going to get done what I can and just go with the flow...

Fancy Fox Finished and Planning my Busy Week

 I finally got this baby pieced!  YAY!!!!  Today I will quilt it and do the binding.  I really enjoyed this little quilt.

 Not sure yet what quilting design that I will use on it.  I plan on using a grey Glide thread.

 I will be using a matching Minkee backing which is extra soft.  I love using that for baby quilts.

 Friday while Hunter and I were out doing our shopping for 2 weeks, I bought some fabric that was on CLEARANCE!!!  If you know me, you know that I don't tend to buy fabric.  I would love to but there always seem to be something else that comes up.  I know that none of these really match but most of them were .50 - $1 per yard except for the two on the end.  I got a total of 8 yards for less than $12.  I figure I will just mix them in my stash.

 These 2 are my favorites!  They were not on clearance so I only got 1/2 yard of each of them. 

 I have a dear friend, Kris that lives in South Dakota.  She is the one that came to visit last year.  She recently retired and has not wasted any time getting back to quilting.  She has an amazing stash of fabrics.  Anyway, for the past few weeks she has really been burning up finishing some UFO's and piecing some that has been on her list to do for a while.  We were talking Thursday night and seeing all that she has been doing has really inspired me to want to work more on some of my own stuff.  So I went upstairs and dug out 2 kits that I knew I had.  You've probably seen these before as I've had them for years.  I just wanted to look at them and see if I would want to work on them after we come back from vacation.

 You know me, I may end up changing my mind before now and then but after vacation I would like to finish up my Garlic Knots and maybe one of these kits.  Right now I am leaning towards the bottom one.  

This going to be a super busy week.  I need to...
          
          1.  Quilt and bind the Fox quilt.

          2.  Quilt and bind a queen size quilt.

          3.  Quilt and bind a full size quilt.  

All of this needs to be done by FRIDAY!!!  Did I mention that I do all of my bindings by hand.  I also need to finish cleaning my house, pack everyone for vacation, and bake Hunter a birthday cake as Friday is his birthday!!!  Oh and this Sunday is our big homecoming dinner at Church so I need to cook for that as well.  Shew....  I don't actually have the queen size quilt yet but she is supposed to bring it to me Tuesday.  Wish me luck!!!  I have a feeling that I am going to need this vacation...

We had some very heavy rain yesterday evening and Richard was afraid it would beat our berries off.  He got out there and picked the ripe ones in the rain.  LOL!  

 I love that we can just go pick them on our own property.  We have a huge patch of raspberries and a bunch of blackberries too.  He threw a few of those in there as well.  I baked him a big raspberry cobbler last night and put the rest in the freezer.  We have a bunch more that are not ripe yet. 

Fancy Fox Blocks...finished

Yesterday I worked on my Fancy Fox blocks.  The pattern calls for 20 blocks for a baby quilt.  I cut out 25 but I may just stop at 20 because I think once I add a border it will be big enough.  I'll wait and make the finial decision once I get the rows sewn together. 

I wouldn't take that long to finish up the other 5 blocks if I need to.  This has been a fun little quilt to make.  The blocks go really fast.  

Other than that, I cleaned house, laundry, and cooked.  LOL!  Nothing really out of the ordinary.  I'm battling with some allergy issues I guess.  I have a terrible dry cough and I have almost lost my voice.  Not at all what I need right now.   I'm just trying to get my bp and blood sugar straightened up and then we are going on vacation in little over a week.  

Andrew has been in Louisville for the past several days for some work related stuff.  Richard works today but is off for a 3 day weekend!  Hunter and I have a lot of errands and shopping to do today...groceries, feed, stuff for the beach, and Hunter wants to run to Hobby Town to get a new battery and tires for his R/C.  He plans on taking it to the beach too.  It is one of those high powered R/C's that you build yourself.  I forgot how fast it goes but it flies.

Anyway...not sure that I will get any quilting done today but I need to get the Fancy Fox quilt finished soon and also load another customer quilt on the frame before vacation.  It is a really pretty one.  

American Flag Quilt...finished

 Finished up this awesome quilt for a friend.  It was a fun little quilt top to quilt.  I also got the binding completely finished on it as well. 

 A close up of the quilting...

 It was backed with fleece which really shows the quilting.  I love the texture that fleece gives.

 Richard was off yesterday and did a few much needed things around the house.  Then he and Hunter went to pick up his bow (archery).  He had to have a new string and stuff on it.  Once he got home he target practiced for hours.  LOL!  

Then in the early evening we went out to the field to check on the big apple tree there.  There are 2 in that field and 5 or 6 in another place.  Anyway...the best apple tree out of all of them in loaded.  Of course it will be a while before they are ready but they are looking awesome!  I took a pic but it didn't turn out real well.  You can see a couple of apples in it but it really was loaded. 

 Today will be another busy day.  I have to run to town with mom this morning.  Then I need to finish up the Fancy Fox blocks or at least try.  :)  I also need to clean, laundry, fix supper....ya know...all of that stuff.  It never ends... but I absolutely love my life and my little family.  I am truly Blessed!

The American Flag Quilt...

 Last night I got this awesome American Flag quilt loaded on the frame.  I got the quilting started but it was very hot up there so I stopped. 

 This belongs to a friend of mine.  It's not real big so it shouldn't take me just a few minutes to quilt it.  I'll finish it up this morning before it gets too hot up there and then I will remove it and do the binding today as well.

 I am quilting this with my Becker's Stars or Becker's Shooting Stars panto.  I don't exactly remember the name without going up there to look.  I am also quilting it with Navy Glide thread.

 I also got the binding all hand sewn down on Kellie's hexie quilt and she picked it up after Church yesterday.  She was very pleased with it and my brother was very proud of her. 

 Now for some awesome news!!!!  As most of you all know, I always have issues with my blood pressure and blood sugar.  I've been having a lot of issues for the past month or so.  Anyway, I have been trying really hard to get them both down.  Of course, I do take a ton of medication but they were both still high with the meds.  Yesterday morning when I got up my BP was great and my blood sugar was 109.  I haven't seen that number in I don't know how long.  Then when I checked it again mid-day I knew it was a lot lower because I was feeling shakey and it was 77!!!

 Pay no attention to the date and time as I never set that.  LOL!  Anyway, it was 77 which was A-W-E-S-O-M-E!!!!  So much better than 500+.  I guess I was feeling shakey because my body is NOT used to it being normal.  LOL!  

Richard is off today and probably needs it.  He had a long day yesterday and worked his 12 hour shift and never even had lunch so he was starved by the time he got home.  I'm sure all nurses know that this happens a lot.  We are supposed to have storms most of the day today so he will be stuck in the house.  

So my plan for today is to quilt and bind the American Flag quilt and maybe even piece a few more of my Fancy Fox blocks.  Oh and I also pieced a few of my EPP casket shapes yesterday but forgot to get a pic of them. 

Trimming up...

 Yesterday I trimmed up my SIL's hexie quilt so that I could start on the binding.  I really didn't have to trim that much off.  I was planning on doing a scalloped edge on it but the hexies just didn't fall right and it would not come out even.  So I will be doing a straight edge.

 Trimming the other side...

 This is how the edges turned out before binding.  This morning I will sew the binding strips together and get them sewn on and then do the handwork. 

 Another pic of this beautiful quilt that she worked so hard on.  The binding is the same as the brown backing.

 Another pic of the back...

 I'm thinking that I am going to have to breakdown and buy a new cutting mat.  LOL!  I've had this one for several years.  This is one of the larger ones and most of the time I just use my rotating mat.

 I also cut a few scraps that will be used for my EPP.  I have a bunch already prepped but I will eventually need these as well.

 Yesterday was a long day!  I woke up at 3:30am wide awake after going to bed at 11:30pm.  No nap at all so by evening I was running low.  I did work on the above quilt, canned the kraut, and did a little cleaning.  

I ended up with 18 more quarts this morning so that makes a total of 64 quarts of kraut!  My house is already smelling like fermenting cabbage.  LOL!  

Today my plans are to mostly work on the binding of the hexie quilt.  I also have to run to town after Hunter gets up so that we can pick something up for Richard for Father's Day.  I also need to load a little Flag quilt on the frame.  I wanted to do that yesterday but it just didn't happen. 

I was thinking last night that after vacation I want to work on one of my UFO's.  I'm thinking I will finish up my Garlic Knots.  I don't even remember how many blocks that I have done.  I know that I have them all sewn together into a quilt top but if I remember correctly it just wasn't as large as I wanted it to be.  So I would like to finish it up soon.  I don't remember if I had decided to sew a border on it or not.  If I do, it will just be a straight border, nothing pieced.  I'll just have to wait and see once I dig it out.  I really liked how it was looking so I would like to finish it.  I would also like to schedule in a couple of my own quilt tops to be quilted.  I have my huge bowtie quilt that has thousands of little bowties in it and it still isn't quilted.  I would love to quilt it as soon as I can.  I will have to purchase a backing for it as I don't think I have one for it.  

It will still be a while before I can quilt one of mine as I believe that I have about 11 customer quilts waiting to be quilted and 3 of them are custom quilts that I have to piece and then quilt.  

I guess this is enough rambling... Richard just left for work and I need to get my Saturday started.  My silly rooster has been crowing since a little before 4am! 

 

Another one finished...

 Another customer quilt finished!  I don't have to do the binding on this one so it is ready to head back to it's owner in NC.  I loved this quilt.  I guess the colors were just soft and reminded me of spring.  I kept thinking that the whole time that I was quilting it. 

 I quilted it with the Mint Julep panto.  It is one of my favorites. This was a large quilt something like 98x98. 

I didn't get my kraut finished yesterday but I will today.  :(  I was busy quilting, mom went to visit her uncle and her dad, and my sister went to town late in the evening and picked up my canning salt while she was there.  So the kraut will be finished today!!!  Then I hope to load another quilt on the frame which is a very small one or I may just concentrate on cutting and sewing the binding on my SIL's hexie quilt.  I'm sure she would love to have it back.  LOL!  

Here is a pic of my EPP casket progress.  I have just been sewing them into sets of 4 and then I will connect those side-by-side.  I also need to make some half caskets to fill in the edges so that I don't have to just cut them off. 

 Between the storms yesterday Richard and Hunter worked on the back deck.  They made pretty good progress considering the storms.  Richard is back to work today so it will be Monday before he gets a chance to work on it anymore.  

Time is ticking away...I still have several quilts that I need to finish and my house to clean before vacation.  That is only 2 weeks away!  A little about our vacation....back in the Fall, mom had a heart attack and she has always wanted to go to the Outer Banks.  She has been to the beach several times but never there.  She also always mentioned that she wanted to be in the area where the wild horses roam the beaches.  So we sat down and looked to see what we could find.  At that point mom decided that the WHOLE family should go with her.  So there will be 14 of us staying in the beach house that my mom rented...my mom, my sister, husband, and Addie, my brother, wife and 4 kids, and my family of 4.  The house is huge with plenty of room for us all.  She wanted oceanfront too.  Sooooo....we are going to the Carova area which is only accessible with a 4x4. We all have them so that's not a problem.  So I guess this is kind of like a bucket list thing for her.    

While we are gone, my MIL is house sitting for us and a dear friend of ours is coming up everyday to feed our animals.  Mike lives about 2 miles away.  We take care of his stuff when they are away so we just kind of help each other out when needed.  

I have a ton to do in the next two weeks!  I will sure need this vacation by the time that I get it all done.  LOL!

Sauerkraut and a precious little one...

 Yesterday was a long busy day.  Mom came out and help me put up this kraut.  We ended up with 46 quarts total and we are not finished yet.  38 quarts of regular kraut...

 ...and 8 quarts of hot kraut.  We had to stop there because I ran out of canning salt.  We will finish the rest of it today after one of goes to town to pick up more salt.  LOL!

 I was given 100 lbs of cabbage!  I am so grateful for it and we will eat it.  We love sauerkraut!  I also have cabbage in the garden that is not ready yet so I will probably be making even more later. 

No sewing for me at all yesterday.  I was just too tired as I was on my feet most of the day.  My ankles are sore.  Anyway, today mom and I will finish up the kraut and I'm thinking that we will have 60+ quarts when finished.  Then after that...I have to finish up that quilt that I have on the longarm as it needs to go back to it's owner this weekend in NC.

I will leave you with this beautiful pic...  How gorgeous is this precious little girl.  This is my little 2 yr old niece, Addison.  I love her more than words.  I took this pic at mom's yesterday morning as Addison was getting ready to go to the doctor for a check-up.  She was proud of her little dress as she kept showing it to me.  I keep trying to get my sister to just give her to me but for some reason she will not do it.  LOL!  We all just love her to death. 

 Richard is off today.  Not sure what he has planned but he better stay out of my hair....I have things to do today.  LOL!

This is going to be a busy day!

 Yesterday was a good productive day!  I got about half of this beautiful king size quilt top quilted!

 I am using a panto called, Mint Julep.  I love this panto and it is a big one...somewhere around 15" or so.  I don't remember exactly without looking at it. 

 I hope to get it finished today and off the frame.  I don't have to do the binding on this one.  I usually end up doing the binding on 90% of the quilts that I quilt and I do it by hand.  So that keeps me busy too.  I love doing binding.

 I also still need to square up and do the binding on that Hexie quilt from a couple of days ago.  Then I think I have a Flag quilt up next.  I will have to look at my planner to be sure on that.  The Flag quilt is small so I will do the quilting and binding in one day.  

My sister and I also stained mom's front porch and banisters yesterday before the storms hit in the afternoon.  Let me tell you, it was HUMID!  I came straight home, took some Motrin for my back and got in the shower.  LOL!  Now we have to wait for it to dry up so that we can do her HUGE back deck.  If I can remember I will take a pic because it's big.  I dread it.  LOL!  

While cooling down, I took a few minutes to prep more of these coffin shapes.  I'm loving these!  I have a few sewn together but not many.  Not really enough to show yet.  

 I better close this post as I have a lot to do today!  I have to run to town, finish that quilt and can some kraut!  Busy, busy, busy!

Finally!...this baby is off the frame!

 Finally!...this baby is off the frame!  Shew....it was on there way too long but all my fault.  This is the beautiful Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt made by my SIL, Kellie. 

 She worked on it on and off for about 2 years.

 I don't remember the exact size but it is a large Queen.  All fabrics in this quilt are from the Paisley Park collection and Warm & White batting.  This baby is heavy!

 A pic of the back.  I quilted it with the Lush Leaves panto.  Now to square the edges and get the binding on it.

 I also loaded another quilt top on the frame.  This one belongs to a lady from NC.  She brought me 7 KING size quilt tops to be quilted. 

 I'm going to try to get this one done before the weekend.  Her grandson will be here in KY this weekend and he is taking this back down to her.  The rest of them will be picked up by her daughter that lives here.  

Other than that, I did prep a few more of the coffin shapes and did a little bit of cleaning.  LOL!  As I mentioned before my MIL will be house sitting for us for a week and my house is a disaster!  LOL!  

Today will be a long day.  I have plans of working on this quilt, cleaning on my house and helping my sister stain my mom's front porch and back deck.  Chantal already started on the front porch yesterday but that back deck is huge!  No way of getting it all done in one day.  Hunter will be working for the neighbors again today.  I say neighbor but they live a mile away.  :)  I think today he will be weedeating around the edge of their pond and dam.  

***Comments on my last blog post.  Moneik, for some reason it will not let me respond to your comment....sorry.  Love, yours shows as "no-reply" so I can't respond to your comment either.  Sorry...but I do read and appreciate every one of them.

Blocks and Jam

 After a wonderful Church service yesterday I came home and worked on some blocks.  I ended up with 6 more blocks finished.  This makes 11 blocks and I need 25.  I'm loving these little blocks they go together so fast and easy.

 I was winding a bobbin and look what happened.  I've never had one to break before.  It was an old bobbin, original to the vintage machine so it was probably just worn out. 

 Then last night I settled in to work on more of my EPP.  I enjoy working on these. 

 Here is my stack that I already have in sets of two.  They add up pretty fast.

 Now let me catch you up on the rest of my day other than the above sewing...

We had a wonderful Church service yesterday.  By the time we got out of Church it was already in the mid-90's.  I thought I was going to have a heatstroke in Church it was so hot.  They never keep it cool in there because we have so many elderly members and they freeze.  LOL!  

After Church, I worked on the Fox blocks.  I got a couple of them done and ended up with a horrible headache.  You know one of those that you just have to lay down for a bit.  So I did that and after a bit it eased off.  Then I worked on a few more blocks and made some jam!  Yep!  Peach Cobbler Jam!  It tastes just like Peach Cobbler.  I ended up with 2 batches.

 While I was doing all of this, Richard and Hunter were working on building part of the back deck.  One of the benefits of owning a sawmill is endless lumber but just not enough time to use it.  LOL!  If you've read my blog for years you know that is how we built our house.  Anyway, the back deck was never put on.  It will go the full length of the house 40ft, just like the front porch does.  Right now they are only doing 20ft of it and then will do the rest of it soon.  So they almost got it floored yesterday, just need to finish that up and treat it.  Of course, that doesn't mean there are banisters or steps yet.  LOL!  It will come...

It was just too hot to be upstairs at the longarm so I worked on my fox blocks.  I'm hoping that today I can get up there and get that hexagon quilt finished.  I've had it on the frame way too long.  Now I will really have to rush extra hard to get things done before vacation.  Speaking of vacation...I will have to fill you all in on that soon.