Soooo....what quilt of mine am I going to work on and try to finish up next? I've been trying to decide and first I dug out my "Garlic Knots" and after spreading it out on my bed I've decided that I still need about 48 more blocks to make it the size that I want. I know that if I don't make it a little larger than it is right now then I will never be happy with it. I love this quilt so far and I have 120 of the blocks sewn together here in a 10x12 setting. I think I want to add 2 more rows to the side and 2 more rows on the bottom...then add a simple border.
As I was looking at this quilt top I noticed that I have one of the blocks turned wrong. See the blue block below. This is on the edge and I will take that out and fix it as it will bug me.
I had a few more of these blocks cut out so I decided to sew a few of them up...
Then I sewed a few more...
Then I found my windmills! I love these! I have several hundred of these sewn into blocks of 16.
I sewed a few of these that I already had cut out...
Then a few more...
And more...
Then I ran out of what I had cut and could not find my acrylic template to cut more. So this will go on the back burner until I find my template.
Then finally I dug out my "Now and Later" or "Now or Later" LOL! I don't remember the name exactly. :) This one being a very simple pattern will not take too long to finish up. It looks like I have all of the lighter squares cut and some of the colored rectangles cut. I would like to make it a row wider and as you can see it needs to be longer. I will probably add a simple border on it as well.
So I guess that is the plan...to work on this between customer quilts. Speaking of customer quilts...I need to get back working on them as I haven't for a few days. It is hard to concentrate on them while dealing with this toothache stuff. I have started an antibiotic and will probably going to the dentist in a few days.
I did get a little sewing done for me yesterday!!! YAY! I have a couple of blocks pinned above my machine to make sure that I sew them together correctly. The one on the left is my Garlic Knots and I need to make more of those blocks to get my quilt top a large queen size. The one on the left is the blocks that I am working on right now. They are pretty much the same other than the size, one is made from all squares and the other is squares and rectangles.
This little pile of blocks should go together quick! I would at least like to get all of the blocks finished today! Then I can work on assembling the quilt top. I also have a customer quilt on the frame that I need to get done as soon as possible. It belongs to my aunt and it is a beautiful quilt. I have a ton of other customer quilts lined up as well. I am booked up through Christmas!!!!
Some of the customer quilts I can post pics of as I finish them and others I can't as they are gifts and those people read my blog and Facebook. Those will be posted after Christmas. I have several custom orders for making quilts. One lady wants 9 memory pillows and 3 of the full size cross quilts made from her husband's shirts that passed away.
Here is a pic of a customer quilt that I quilted and had not posted on my blog. I love the blues... It is backed with a soft blue flannel. This was a gift for the customer's elderly aunt.
I did more cleaning yesterday but I didn't get a lot accomplished. I am a routine girl and when something throws me off like my busy week last week my ADHD kicks in and I have a horrible time concentrating, staying on task and getting back into my routine. So yesterday was a struggle.
Hunter is out of school this week for Fall Break. I did let him sleep in yesterday. The first half of the day he just kind of took it easy. Then he did his daily farm chores and split more firewood for winter. He will be working on the wood all week. He also asked me if I would make him some No Bake Cookies. I like to make sure that both of my boys can cook enough to take care of themselves so I had him to make them and I supervised. :) He did an awesome job. We all love them but of course, I can't really have them....I did sneak a bite of one. :( Today is "bread day" I usually try to keep fresh baked bread made. I take a day or two a week and bake fresh loaves of bread. My family absolutely loves it! As most of you know I have stomach issues and I can actually digest the homemade bread so much better than store bought. I guess it is the preservatives and such. I still have to watch about my blood sugar but I can cut is as thin as I want so that helps. I'll post pics of it tomorrow. :)
Soooo....plans for the day..... Cook, Clean, Nap, Quilt....story of my life. :)
A very proud but emotional morning...Hunter's first day of his Freshman year. Where has time gone?
This is a very short blog post but I will have a longer post tomorrow. I'm just in a hurry this morning. That being said, I did finish ALL 120 of my Garlic Knot blocks last night because I couldn't sleep. :)
See ya tomorrow....
Here's a block update. I have a total of 103 of the Garlic Knot blocks finished. Now only 17 more blocks to go. I'm hoping that I will get those done today.
Here is my little setup while sewing. A little messy but it works. These are pieces for my Garlic Knots and my Scrappy Stars.
I loaded one of my OLD quilt tops on the frame last night and started quilting only to realize after getting almost a whole pass across the quilt finished that I had bad stitches underneath. I always check it but for some reason I didn't. I forgot that I had the tension set for the last quilt that I quilted and it had a flannel backing. So now I have to pick it all out and start over. I am not happy about this but it is what it is. :(
Yesterday I absolutely got NOTHING accomplished. That's okay because I had a wonderful day. Richard and both boys were home and that doesn't happen very often. Richard and my boys are my world. First off, nothing got cleaned...do you know how hard it is to clean with 3 men in the house? LOL! I did a lot of cooking but no cleaning.
Richard and I went up to the garden to dig potatoes yesterday and we dug 3 potato plants and we got a downpour! :( Of course we ware up on top of this ridge so we don't flood but the lower areas had major flooding.
Hunter starts high school tomorrow. I am just depressed....very proud of him but depressed that my baby is in high school. :( He hates school but makes good grades, he would just rather be home. He stresses out and always has over losing time to get outside and do things that he enjoys.
Just to let you know my posts are a few days behind. This post will go up on Sunday but it's really Friday. This is just a little easier for me to get some posts done.
So today I pieced 19 more Garlic Knot blocks. This makes a total of 80 so far. Now I need 40 more and then I will sew them together. Planning on 10 blocks across and 12 blocks long, then I will add a border. I'm thinking that this will give me the size that I want. I will put it on the bed and if it's not big enough then I will just add another row of blocks.
I'm loving how fast these sew up. A good use of 2" squares and strips.
While sewing these blocks today I also pieced one more Scrappy Star block. I'm just sort of using it as a leader/ender for now.
I sewed most of the day and cleaned the house a little. LOL! Richard worked and Hunter cut the grass. Tomorrow probably will not be a "sew day" as I have a bunch of cucumbers that I need to make pickles with. Then on Monday we will be digging up the potatoes!
I know you are shaking your head but I started a new quilt. LOL! Actually, I think this one will go rather quickly. No pattern really but just a traditional block that can be made any size. This one is made from 2.5" squares, 2.5" HST, and the sashings are 2.5"x8.5" I have a bolt of the blue so I figured that I would use if for the sashings. Totally different from what I usually would use for sashings.
I also made 10 more Garlic Knot blocks. This take my total up to 61. I think I will need 120 of them.
I had a really good sewing day.
I took Hunter to get his Freshman schedule. :( Breaks my heart that my baby will be starting high school next week. We start early here because we miss so many snow days during the winter. School starts August 3rd. We had to pick up his schedule, pay book and locker fees, and also walk around and try to find his classes. Shew....
First off...LEO came home! If you read my last post you know that our boxer, Leo ran off and was missing. He did eventually come home. He had followed that female stray off. :( He is home and we are all very happy.
Played around with a few Garlic Knots. Very easy blocks since I already had a bunch of 2" squares already cut from scraps. So basically all that I had to do was cut the background. I think right now I have 35 or so blocks.
I have a customer quilt on the frame that I am working on. I actually just loaded it yesterday. It is a big quilt, 104x104 and all hand pieced. This is her first quilt. I will post pics as I work on the quilting.
We will be taking a little vacation soon and I am so excited about that. It's been a long time. :) I'm trying to decide what to take with me to work on. Only going to be gone for a few days but I still need something to work on. I was thinking of taking my hexagons but I glue baste them and I love the glue basting vs thread basting BUT we are going to the beach so I'm thinking that if I would on them while on the beach that the heat may melt the glue and they would come loose. I don't know yet, but I think I read that somewhere. I could also take some applique but not sure that I would have time to do the prepping before we go. Or...I could take my Halloween embroidery piece. Hmmm...I will have to dig that out because that might be a good option to work on.
Anyway, our little vacation is a secret as we are just going to surprise Hunter. He doesn't read my blog so I think it's safe to post on here. Speaking of Hunter, his school starts back August 3rd. :( He will be a freshman this year. :(
After vacation, I have a few projects that I have to get done. I have put them off long enough. One is a baby quilt for our new great nephew. Sadly he is a month old and I still don't have his quilt done. Another project is a memory quilt that will be made from plaid shirts that belonged to our assistant pastor that passed away a few months ago. I loved this man dearly and while growing up they were our next door neighbors so we were always very close to this family and kids. His kids are my and Richard's age. I just dread working on this in a way because I know I will end up getting very emotional.
