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.