One of my old ones and a customer quilt

 I finished this customer quilt up around 12:30am last night.  It measures 90x90.  With only 5 blocks across, the blocks are big.  She loves her quilts quilted "loosely" so I just quilted a big meander. 

 I have made several quilts using this block in the past and have always loved them.  Seeing hers really makes me want to make another one for myself.  :)

 I love quilting her quilts because everything is so precise.  That sure makes me job easier. 

 The other day while at my mom's I saw that she had this quilt that I had made years ago on her guest bed.  I can't even remember how long it has been.  I do remember that I did not quilt it.  This was before I got my longarm and I am on my second one.  I don't even remember the pattern name other than I got it from a magazine.

 Looking at it now, my fabric choices are very busy.  LOL!  Oh well...mom seemed to like it and that is all that matters.  :)

 Speaking of mom, she retires in about 3 weeks!!!!! She is nervous and excited both, I believe.  She will be 65 in a few weeks so I think she is ready and not to mention that the past few years her health has declined just a little.  We've talked about it and she knows that it is time to retire.  We are excited to get to spend more time with her.  So expect plenty of "mom" posts.  :)

Richard left for work a few minutes ago and I need to jump in the shower because I will be leaving with my sister at 7:30am.  My little 3yr old niece has a little dental procedure this morning and they will be putting her to sleep.  My BIL works away and will be home today but not in time for the appointment.  So I'm going with my sister for moral support.  LOL!  Then once I get back home, I will hopefully load another quilt on the longarm. 

Quilting Eye Candy!

A little eye candy!  Here are a few customer quilts that I have quilted the past few days.  

First up, is this adorable sheep quilt!  They are just too cute!  This was a big quilt...queen size if I remember correctly.   

 Here is a close up of one of the sheep.  As you can see they are all fuzzy.  They have beads for eyes and nose.  Just too cute!

 A beautiful hand pieced applecore quilt!  Lovely!  I am in the process of doing the binding on the scalloped edges. 

 Then this beautiful umbrella girl!  Sorry it's sideways.  LOL!  For some reason I could not get it to turn.  It was a king size. 

 I have a bunch more coming up this week!  I just thank the Lord for the business!!!  I love it!  So very thankful!  

It's usually just miserably hot upstairs but the past couple of day we have had a lot of rain so it has cooled down a little.  So that makes it real nice.  We also had a power outage for a while due to some storms.  Had some trees down around the farm and at mom's too.  

I know this is short but I need to get quilting!  Richard just left for work.  :)

Beautifully Hand Pieced....

 Yesterday I finished up this beautiful quilt that my SIL, Kellie made.  I love this quilt!  :)

 I forgot the exact measurements but it is a queen size.  It is just lovely!  Completely hand pieced using the English Paper Piecing (EPP) technique. 

 I quilted it with the "Mint Julep" design.  I love this design.

 A close up of the quilting and the minke back.  The back is a dark brown minke and oh so soft.  I love quilting with minke.

 I tried to get her to just let me keep it for myself but she will not agree!  LOL! 

 I trimmed it up and will be doing the binding over the next few days.  

I am loading another one on the longarm so hope to have it done today.

We had a great weekend celebrating Hunter's 16th birthday!  He actually turned 16 last weekend but Richard had to work so we had a cookout/party this past Saturday.  He really enjoyed it!  I enjoyed it as well but was very tired.

Yesterday I worked on quilting things and it will be the same thing today.  

Oh, Oh, Oh....before I forget!!!!  My MIL is having to move to a smaller place and when she came over Saturday for Hunter's party, she asked me if I would like to have Richard's grandmother's sewing machine!!!!  Ummmmm...YES!!!  LOL!  I loved his grandmother dearly and so did he.  It's not "old-old" but I am so excited to have it.  I remember it in her house.  It's in a cabinet so I'll have to find a place for it.  I'm not sure yet but I may go pick it up later this week or next. 

A Big Job!

 Yesterday I worked on this customer quilt.  First off, I did NOT quilt this beautiful hand pieced Grandmother's Flower Garden but someone else did several years ago.  She just wants me to bind it.  :)  She doesn't want the edges cut straight she wants bias binding going around each and every point.  I love the look of that but it is a job!  

Sadly the backing was smaller than the top so I'm not sure what the deal was there exactly and I didn't ask.  She just asked me to trim it up a little. 

 The quilting looks very nice but does not go to the edge on two sides and that is probably where the clamps were on the longarm.  I folded it back here so you can see.  I'm trimming it even with the backing and binding it.  The lady did a beautiful job HAND PIECING the top.  I'll post of pic of the whole quilt once I get the binding done. 

 Here you can see I have my bias binding all cut and ready to go.  I also trimmed up the edges of the quilt.  This baby is going to take me FOREVER!  LOL!  It's a huge quilt and as you can see there are a million peaks and valleys. 

 Actually since I took these pics I have one side sewn down by machine.  I hope to get all of the 3 remaining sides sewn today and then do the hand sewing a little at a time.  

I also hope to get my SIL's beautiful quilt loaded on the longarm today too.  Those are my goals for the day but to be honest....all of that is probably not going to happen.  LOL!  It's 5:30am and I haven't been to bed yet.  I'll probably lay down and nap for an hour or so after Richard leaves.  He will be leaving in about 5 minutes.  LOL!  

BTW....thank you ladies for telling me how to fix my comments in my email.  :) 

Sailboats and Berries

 My Sailboat quilt is off the longarm!!! YAY!  I had a couple places that I had to fix due to tension issues but it's all finished now!  Of course, I still need to do the binding.  I have the binding cut and ready to go on but that may be a week or two before that gets done.  I have several other things going on...like some customer quilts that I need to do.  In the end I'm very pleased with how this turned out.  It measures 73x73.

Richard was off yesterday and he spent it catching up on a few things here at the house.  He also picked more berries.  :)  As off right now I have 8 quarts in the freezer.  Blackberries and raspberries!  We didn't really have enough of the raspberries to separate them so he just put them in the same bucket.  They love cobblers made from them.  I love this time of year on the farm.

I also wanted to thank everyone for the comments on my blog.  I hate that I can't really respond to them as I'm sure you all know how Blogger is not sending notifications to the email.  :(  I sure wish they would get this fixed soon.

Richard left for work about 5:30am and I'm having my coffee and pondering on what I need/should do.  LOL!  My mind says to get started on some customer quilts but my body says go back to bed.  LOL!  I didn't sleep well last night so I'm leaning towards going back to bed.  :)

Quilt Blocks and Birthdays!

 Today my precious baby boy turns 16!  Where has time gone?  He is 6ft tall and just dwarfs me.  He is such a good young man with good morals and manners.  We are so very proud of him.  Makes this momma a little sad that he is so grown up....but proud.  We are having cake and ice cream tonight when Richard gets home from work and then he will have his party next weekend.  We will have lots of family, neighbors and several of his friends over.

 Yesterday didn't go exactly as planned but it still worked out okay.  As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I had several things to do.  We ran by McDonald's because Hunter thought he was starving.  LOL!  Then I had to run down town to pick up something.  Got Hunter's shot for school, then a quick trip in Walmart because Hunter needed some earbuds.  Stopped by and gave a couple of ladies some quilting quotes, which I will discuss in a few minutes.  Then we headed towards home but was going to stop by the lake on the way.  We were meeting mom and my sister there.  All was well...until I turned out the lake road and realized that I didn't have any other gear except drive.  No neutral, park, reverse... nothing.  So I made a big U turn and headed straight back home!!!  I got about a mile from the house and it started to overheat but I did make it on home.  I sure didn't want to breakdown and it 95 degrees either!  I felt very Blessed that we made it home safely.  I messaged Richard and told him that I figured it was the linkage on the transmission and it was.  He fixed it when he got home!  :)  Another reason why I love that man!  So in the end it all worked out.  

Quilting.... here are a couple of pics of two different blocks that I am working on.  The first is a double nine patch with navy polka dot.  I'm really liking how this is looking when I lay all of the blocks together.  I need a total of 42 and I think I have 12 done.  I still have a ways to go on this one. 

 This is the modern one that I mentioned yesterday.  The pattern is called, In Tune by Cluck, Cluck, Sew.  Totally different from what I am used to.  :)  I have all of the blocks pieced on it now I just need to sew them together. 

 The quilting quotes that I gave yesterday worked out well.  I stopped by her house because she is in her mid-80's and doesn't get out a lot.  She is a retired teacher and knows the family well.  She had a Grandmother's Flower Garden that had been quilted by someone else years ago but still needs the binding done.  She doesn't want the edges squared up but the bias binding done around each shape.  So we worked out a price and I will be doing that for her.  She really did do a great job on hand piecing it.  

Her daughter was there because she wanted me to give her quotes on 3 tops.  I did and brought those home to be quilted as well!!!  One of those quilts is an applecore quilt that I will need to do bias binding on it as well.  Actually I will be doing the quilting and binding on all 3 of her quilts.  I was very Blessed to have came home with more quilts to quilt!  So expect pics of those as I work on them.  

That's all for now....  not sure if I will get to quilt today but that's perfectly okay.  I plan on spending lots of time with Hunter.  :)

Sneaking back in....

I'm just going to sneak back in...  It has been so long since I posted and I missed it but life has just been so busy and crazy that it seemed like I never had a chance.  :)  It would be too hard for me to catch you up on everything and show a bunch of quilts so I will just start off from here.  :)

Here is a pic of a fun summer quilt that I pieced for myself!  :)  I actually have it quilted now but it's still on the longarm as there are a couple of places that I need to fix before removing it.  I had a couple tension issues that I didn't see right off.  Not a big deal and probably would not be noticed but I still want to fix it.  This quilt ended up being 73x73 and I thought it would be a fun summer quilt to use for picnics, take to the lake or even the beach.  

 I had my nephews for a few days and they love being in my sewing room so I gave them the job of taking the pins out.  :)  I had quilted a quilt and just cut the backing off in a hurry instead of taking the pins out.  :)  Is that child labor?  LOL!  They enjoyed it.  :)  These are my brother's 2 boys.  They stayed with me for 2 days and now they are at mom's for a few days.  It's nice to spend time with them.

 A couple other things from the past few days...  Look at the size of my blackberries!!!  These are Kiowa Blackberries that we planted a few years ago.  I have to say that these are the best tasting ever.  They are sweet and very juicy.  We also have a bunch of wild blackberries and raspberries too.  Actually they are just now starting to ripen up.  Richard was off work yesterday and he picked 3 quarts of blackberries and a quart of raspberries.  There will a bunch more in a few days.  I made a blackberry cobbler yesterday and the rest went in the freezer.

 Here is a pic of the lake that I snapped a few days ago.  This is the boat ramp area which is 2 miles from the house.  Richard and I were there at the edge of dark.  There is something so peaceful about water. 

 Today is going to be a busy day for me.  Hunter has an appointment at 11:45am for his Hep A shot.  KY schools have made it mandatory for all students now to have the shot by June 30 or they can't start school.  This is a 2 part shot and they have to have the second shot in December.  Soooo....his appointment at 11:45am.  Then I have to stop by an elderly lady's house in town and give her and her daughter some quilting quotes.  She is in her late 80's so I will stop by instead of her having to come to me.  After that I am meeting my mom, sister, and my niece and nephews at the lake for some fun in the water.  :)  Mom promised the kids she would take them to the lake while they were visiting.  Now when I say visiting, they only live 20 minutes away.  LOL!  Then... I have to meet my SIL back in town somewhere around 5:30pm.  She is coming down from Ohio and has some stuff for me to pick up.  I'll post about that stuff in my next post.  :)  So it will be a full day for me.  Not to mention I need to be back home and fix Richard's supper before 8pm.  :)

Back to quilting.... I hope to get the Sailboat quilt off the longarm one day this weekend.  I am also piecing on 2 more quilts.  Both of them are 2-color quilts.  One is blue and white and the other is red and white.  The red and white is a modern quilt, I think this is the first for me.  I am a very traditional quilter so I am stepping out of my box a little.  Expect pics of both this weekend.

I'm off to get my morning chores done as Richard just left for work.

Creative Mess...

 I snapped this pic last night before turning everything off and heading back downstairs.  As you can see I have a creative mess.  LOL!  I need to take a few minutes to pick up before it gets out of hand. 

 I still have my Courthouse Steps on the longarm.  I think I mentioned that I broke a needle and now the stitches are horrible.  :(  So I'm still trying to get that figured out.  Do you see my little step stool in front of the longarm?  LOL!  I'm only 5ft tall so when I work from the front of the longarm I have to get on the stool.  LOL!  This longarm is huge and very tall.  The height does not adjust.  When I work from the back of the longarm to do pantos, I am fine and don't have to have a stool.  LOL!

My design wall has a few different things on there.  You can see the biggest thing on there is my postage stamp blocks.  Then just odds and ends of other blocks.  Some of them are just trial blocks to see if they are something that I want to turn into a quilt.  

I didn't manage to accomplish much yesterday.  I adjusted a little on the longarm, pressed some binding that needs done, and ended up piecing 4 more windmill blocks.  This brings my total to 324.  I still have a ways to go on these.

 Hunter didn't have school yesterday or today due to area flooding.  In the past weeks he has been out of school a lot due to snow and ice and now it is flooding.  We got several inches of rain a few days ago.  This is the reason that they start back to school here around the first of August.  They usually miss so much during the winter.  We have a ton of hills and back roads so it makes it hard for the buses to travel when they are snow covered. This also makes it hard when trying to learn.  It's hard for him to learn and remember things when he only has school a day or two a week.  On some of the days that they miss they have to do what is called, Google Classroom.  There assignments are online.  

Hopefully I can get some binding or something done today.  I really need to.  LOL!

After 6 years...

 I'm so excited!!!  I finally loaded my Courthouse Steps on the longarm!!!

 I snapped this quick pic of it as I was loading it on the longarm.  She's a big one.  I'll have to check again but I think it measures something like 92x100...maybe even larger.  LOL!  It is made with 6" blocks and each strip finishes at 3/4" wide.  There are 224 blocks in this quilt. 

 Now here's the bad news...LOL!  I am quilting it using a panto called, "Lot's of Leaves"  This panto is very dense and measures 15" wide so there is a lot of quilting in this.  So much so that I run out of bobbin before I even get to the other end of the quilt.  Anyway...I got one pass with the longarm quilted and then I broke a needle at the very end of that first row.  Now everything is all out of whack!  :(  Skipping and bad stitches.  :(  So now I will have to probably reset the timing on it.  Oh well, I will probably do that today after Church. 

 Before I loaded my Courthouse Steps on the longarm yesterday morning, I finished up this customer quilt.  The pic is a little dark but it was before daylight and the lighting was not that good.  You know me...I don't sleep a lot, just a little here and there.

 This quilt was hand pieced by a childhood friend of my brother's.  Actually he lived about a mile away from us when we were growing up.  I've quilted several of his quilts.  I don't think you can go wrong with a bow tie.  It is one of my favorite traditional blocks.

I need to get the binding sewn on this bow tie quilt and also the purple I-spy quilt that I did the other day.  Don't know if I mentioned it or not but the purple one is sold as soon as I get the binding done.  

Coming up this week...Hunter has an orthodontist appointment on Monday.  Thursday is payday so I will run errands and grocery shop that day.  Also I need to get my Courthouse Steps off the longarm and load on some customer quilts.  I have two more that will be dropped off sometime this week but I also have several here that I need to do as well.  I have 5 king size tops from one lady that need quilted.  I also have 2 t-shirt quilts that need pieced and quilted for customers.  I need to make 2 Cross Memory quilts for a couple of people.  Of course, all of that is not going to get done this week but at least over the next few months.  Oh and my SIL has 4 or 5 quilt tops that need quilted.  Not sure when she will be ready for me to quilt them but I already have them on the list to do.  Hmmm...it seems like I am forgetting a few.  LOL!

So much progress!!!

 Guys!  I am on a ROLL!!!! 

 Two more of my quilts are quilted and off the list!!!  My goal for 2018 is to quilt 15 of my own tops.  I have now quilted 6!!!!!  So I'm off to a good start.  

This is the purple strippy quilt that I pieced not too long ago.  After I quilted it, I posted a pic of it on my FB page and it SOLD!!!  I had a friend ask if it was for sale, I priced it and she wants it!!!  YAY!  Now I just need to get the binding sewn on over the next few days.  It measures 54x74.

 Next I quilted this Scrappy Snowball top of mine.  I pieced this top 18-20 years ago.  It felt great to finally get it quilted.  I was going to quilt a panto on it but honestly it wasn't pieced the best in the world and I wasn't sure if I would have some issues when quilting it.  I ended up just quilting it with a stipple. 

 I'm thinking that a lot of these older tops of mine will end up being quilted with a stipple just to get them done quickly.  This one measures 72x72. 

 I love this scrappy pattern so I think that I will piece another one of them soon.  

So today after Church I will probably work on some binding.  Maybe do the binding on the purple one.  I would also love to load another one of mine on before Monday comes as I need to get started on a customer quilt.  I'm pretty pleased with my progress on my own quilts so far.  I hope to get my goal of 15 done before Fall because around that time I will start getting my Christmas rush of customer quilts and then I will not have time to do my own.  

Around the farm....we don't have city water here, we have a drilled well.  We also live near a fault line and that messes with our well.  A few years ago we had to have it redrilled because it caved in.  That was redone and cased all the way down.  As things shift we sometimes have less water than usual.   So Richard has been working this weekend on a cistern type thing for a back up water source.  He fixed a set up that has water from our gutters going into a water tank that has a pump and we can switch over and use if when needed.  Of course, this water is treated and filtered so it's good water.  Actually, I used it a lot last night.  I think this is going to work out well for us.  Right now we just have it going into a 325 gallon water tank but we hope to be able to do a more permanent tank when we can.  We are hoping to get a 1000-1500 gallon tank.  I'm so grateful that Richard is so handy. 

Making lots of progress

 It's been a busy few days.  Let me start by showing you my quilting progress!  I pieced 20 more of my Windmill blocks while Richard was doing some adjusting on my longarm.  These 20 bring my total to 320...only 208 more to go!!!!  LOL! 

 I did get this customer quilt finished.  This is the one that I posted in the last post.  It was hand pieced out of t-shirts and polyester.  Soooo stretchy to quilt. 

 After he did some adjusting, I loaded this little quilt of mine.  Not really pieced just a piece of airplane fabric with a border sewn around it.  A nice sized baby quilt.  This makes me 5 of my own for the year.  If you remember I have a goal to quilt 15 of my own this year.  So I'm off to a pretty good start. 

 The tension was almost perfect but still a hair off.  You can't really tell it on this quilt because I redid any issues that I had on it.  

I also loaded another one of mine on the longarm but did get a pic of it.  It's not finished so I will get a pic of it then.  It will make number 6 quilted for the year!  

Now just a few various pics... in this laundry basket I have a few of the quilts that are coming up to either be pieced or quilted.  You can see a bunch of t-shirts in there.  Those will be used for a t-shirt quilt that I will be making for a childhood friend of mine.  She contacted me a few weeks ago asking if I could do it.  The blue and white is a hand pieced bow tie quilt that belongs to a customer.  It needs to be quilted and the binding done.  Underneath that is my Courthouse Steps that also needs to be quilted.  I have the backing and batting ready and the binding is already cut.  I'm very anxious to get it quilted. 

 Then over on my cutting table I have a few more projects.  First you see my Jacob's Ladder that needs the borders sewn on then quilted.  The Churn Dash needs the binding done. 

 It is a cold weekend so I made a big pot of chili for us to eat.  We got a little snow Thursday night so Hunter didn't have school on Friday.  A long weekend for him.  Richard is also off this weekend but Andrew has to work all weekend. 

 In other news...my momma went back to work.  It's a long story that I will not completely get into.  She wasn't able to have her surgery if you remember because of her blood pressure and blood sugar being too high.  So that was put off until it was under control.  She had to go back due to some insurance reasons.  I talked to her today and she was having some pain and had ice on the shoulder.  Not good at all.  So we will just have to wait to see how this all goes for her.  She is planning on retiring later this year as well.  

This morning we will be making a trip to Tractor Supply and Harbor Freight to pick up some things to fix a few issues that we are having here on the farm.  It's always something no matter where you live, right?  LOL!  It's 10 degrees this morning so I really dread getting out.  :(  So we'd better get going....

It's not meant to be pretty...

 Saturday I was digging out some fabric for my SIL that she had gave me years ago that had belonged to her grandmother.  The fabric was not cottons but other things and Kellie is planning on making a Crazy Quilt so I offered her the fabric back since I figured it would have more meaning to her.  Soooo....while I was digging for that I an on to some big flannel squares that I had.  I had bought them years ago at a little place that sold remnants and cut offs.  I had made a quilt out of some of them before and I cut them up in smaller squares.  It wasn't really pretty but it is so warm and cozy.  They are really good quality flannels and then I backed it was a soft muslin.  So with the odd leftover big squares I'm just going to sew them together.  It is not meant to be pretty but just useful.  I guess more or less a utility quilt.  Not sure if I will back it with soft muslin or flannel. 

 In the first quilt I used the beige print and the upper print that has small purple flowers.  This one I will be using the beige print and the blue/green print.  That is what I have the most of so if I need to I will also throw some of the other in.  LOL!  

I loaded this customer quilt on the longarm.  She hand pieced it from clothing as a memory quilt.  She always wants a large stipple done on her quilts.  I started quilting it and I was having some tension issues.  I think part of it was the fact that it is all pieced from t-shirt fabric and polyesters with no stabilizer.  It is very stretchy too. 

Then this happened...

 Yep...I got my hopping foot hug in one of the seams.  :(  The stitches are pretty big so I really have to watch and missed this one.  :(  So after that....I just quit for the night.  It was time to walk away for a while.

I need to get it done soon so that I can move on to something else.  I have other customer quilts and also some of mine that I would like to quilt soon.  I have dug up backings for 4 of my quilt tops so far.  I mentioned a few posts back that my goal was to quilt at least 15 of my own tops this year.  I've already quilted 3 of them so far.  So I'm on a mission!  LOL! 

Off the longarm...

 The lighting wasn't good when I snapped this pic but it's the best that I could do at the time.  The quilt is much brighter.

 This is the custoerm quilt that I quilted last week.  It's a king size. 

 I quilted it with the "loopy hearts" panto.  I thought it suited the bright fun colors. 

 I got a roll of Hobb's 80/20 batting in yesterday with plans to get started on some of my own quilt tops.  Those will be coming up soon.  I think the first one of mine that I quilt will be my "thousands of bow ties"  It is one of my favorites and I have waited a very long time to quilt it.  I have 35 more of my quilt tops to quilt but I don't have backings for all of them.  I do have some backings just not 35 of them.  LOL!  

Richard had to work today and the boys and I will be heading to a funeral this morning.  As I mentioned a few days ago that we lost our eldest deacon at Church, he was 96.  I've known this man my whole life and he was such a great man.  We will not be having a Church service this morning because we are having the funeral instead at our church.  

After we get back from the funeral I am loading a customer quilt on the longarm.  It is a hand pieced grandmother's flower garden that is pieced out of clothing.  She made it as a memory quilt for someone.  I believe it is a full and she just wants a large stipple done on it so that will not take very long at all.  

I'm thinking that I will try to get my bow tie top loaded on the longarm Monday or Tuesday.  It will probably be Tuesday because I have other things that I need to get done like clean the house.  LOL!  :)  

Piecing right along...

 Well, I really didn't mean to work on this but I have been. :) 

 I've been busy the past few days doing other things and the few minutes that I am getting in the sewing room I have been sewing these 2" squares together. 

 I now have 9 of these blocks.  Each block has 64 squares in it.  So far that is 576 of these 2" squares.  I sure hope that I don't run out of scraps before I get all of these scrap quilts finished.  LOL!  

 I've just been busy doing farm things and things in the house...you know....just being a housewife.  :)  Yesterday I also canned 7 quarts of chili for Andrew.  He likes to take them to work and splits a quart for lunch and finishes it up for dinner.  He works long hours.  

Richard is off today so we are heading out this morning to buy him another pair of work shoes.  He is a nurse and on his feet 12 hours a day, 6 days a week so his shoes breakdown pretty fast.  So off we go to do that in a few minutes.  Actually, we are having our coffee and I still need to finish getting ready.  He is off today but works the rest of the weekend.  

Sadly we lost our dear friend and eldest deacon of our church.  We live in such a small rural area that everyone knows everyone and has for generations back.  Uncle June as everyone called him had a stroke on his 96th birthday.  :(  The man still drove his car almost everyday and lived on his own.  He was also a WWII vet, mason and a whole list of things.  He was such a wonderful man.  His visitation is Saturday evening and the funeral is on Sunday.  

Sorry this post isn't that interesting but it's just my life.  LOL!  I do have lots of sewing goodness coming up.  I have a couple of my quilts coming up that will be on the longarm, more customer quilts being quilted and also some custom customer quilts that I need to make.