Longarm Down...

 I got more of my sewing room cleaned yesterday.  Richard and Hunter took the old longarm frame and machine down for me and moved it to the balcony area.  With that out I was able to clean that half of the room fairly well.  The closets are as organized as they are going to get right now.  I still have a couple of boxes and an odd machine in the floor but all of that will be moved as well.  As you can see I have a new roll of batting all ready to go when I get the other longarm. 

 A close-up photo of closet #1.  It's still messy and just a bunch of stuff.  Later I will try to organize it a little better. 

 Closet #2...a little more organized than the other one.  I still need to move the boxes that are in the floor in front and the weaving stuff.

 I also got the cutting table cleaned off. 

 Now to show you how real this is....LOL!  This is the rest of the room!  It is a horrible mess but you always make a bigger mess when deep cleaning.  I promise there is also a couch and coffee table in there somewhere.  :)  Also Leo was up there keeping me company.  I think he was getting nervous with all of the moving stuff around.

 Carline, you asked about the quilt pattern of the quilt that was on my bed in the last post.  Your comment shows "no reply" so I can't reply back to you.  Here is the link to the pattern that I used.  It is a free pattern by Mary Quilts.  I did the color placement a little different on mine because I had to use the amount of fabrics that I had.  http://www.maryquilts.com/new-churn-dash-stars/

I guess that is all for now.  Hunter and I have to venture out to the grocery store this morning.  Shew...do you know how hard it is to grocery shop with a teenager that can eat his weight in food?  :(  I always end up spending a lot more.  :)  
Blessings...
Kristie

Cleaning the Sewing Room and Antique Flooring

 This was the state of my sewing room when I went to bed last night.  I am doing some deep cleaning before my dear friend gets here in 2 weeks.  I have stuff strung out everywhere.  Thank God for Hunter helping me today.  Hunter will finish taking this frame down for me tomorrow.  He is such a good young man. 

 Here are the totes that were under the frame.  We just moved them in front of the design wall but I will move them into the home gym until the new frame is set up.  Also you see that white trash bag on top of the totes?  :(  That bag makes me so sad.  It is full of men's shirts that belonged to our Assistant Pastor and dear family friend.  He and his family lived next door as I was kid.  He passed away a couple of months ago and his children asked me to make a memory quilt for his precious wife.  I haven't even opened the bag yet as it just breaks my heart.  Although I am sad, I am honored to do this quilt. 

 I promise, I do have clean areas of this room.  LOL!  Here is my sewing table...all neat and clean.  My cutting table is a different story.  :)  I will have it finished up tomorrow. 

 I also have the desk area clean.  :)  Not much but at least it's a good start....right? 

 Shamefully I have a huge pile of MY shirts to press.  I always seem to iron everyone's but mine.  I bet there are 25 shirts there that need pressed.  Anyone else do this?  Just let it pile up?  Most of these are button-ups. 

 Richard has been working the past few evenings trying to get the rest of the antique hardwood flooring down in the bedroom.  If you remember a few years ago we tore an old house down and got the flooring.  This flooring is well over 100 years old.  You will see that it is different colors but it's all the same wood.  We ran a few pieces through the wood planer but decided to just put it down and we will rent a floor sander soon. 

 So now a little tour of the master bedroom.  :)  Keep in mind we don't have any of the trim done or anything like that.  This antique dresser belonged to my grandmother and her mother before that. 

 This dresser was just given to us by a friend that was going to throw it away.  I cleaned it up and it stores my sweaters in it....49 sweaters if you are interested in how many.  LOL!  Oh and that is Richard's banjo between the dresser and the wall. 

 In this pic you can see what I was talking about the flooring being different colors.  :)  I finally put a new quilt on the bed too.  We will probably eventually get rid of the tv cabinet as we don't watch it.  I also have my lamp on this side sitting on an antique chair...I need to find a small antique table or nightstand for this side. 

 This is an antique wardrobe that Richard bought me for our 1st anniversary.  In the door section of it, I have several quilts stored.  If you look at the refection in the mirror of it you will see the treadmill.  :)  Sadly the home gym is full of other equipment so the treadmill is in the master bedroom.  Anyway....I'm glad to have the flooring down.  This is a pretty good sized room.  It's 20x20ft. 

 That's all for now...
Blessings...Kristie

A few birthday gifts...

 Yesterday was my birthday.  I'm not much on advertising that and probably would not have even mentioned it now but I wanted to show you some of the new goodies that I got!  :)  First, I just want to say that I am grateful that the Lord has given me another day of life.  Life is short and you just never know when your time is up.  

Hubby worked, Andrew worked, mom worked, Hunter was at school....etc.  I spent the day doing NOTHING and it felt pretty good!  :)  First, I must say that my family is the greatest!  At 6:15am my mom called to wish me happy birthday and she was just talking about the morning that she gave birth to me and such.  I love her so much.  She works away but had bought me gifts before she left and my sister was bringing them later.  So mom calls at 6:15am.....my brother calls me around 6:25am and he is at work.  As soon as I answered the phone he started singing happy birthday to me and made a few "age" jokes.  :)  Then around....6:45am Richard called and he was just pulling in at work and he sang the Conway Twitty version of Happy Birthday to me.  LOL!  The morning went on and I started to take a nap and then my dad called.  That is a whole other post but at least he did call, right?  So that was my day....

Then evening came and Richard and the boys were home with me and my sister made a quick stop on her way home from the doctor...more on that in a bit.  Sooooo.....here are my goodies!!!!  

A new ironing board and Rowenta iron...

 A new pair of SHARP scissors that I had wanted but would not break over and pay the $17 for.  LOL!  A beautiful picture frame from Hobby Lobby.  Not shown....cards, cash, clothing gift cards and such.  Oh...the boys didn't think that I should have to fix supper for everyone since it was my birthday so they bought pizza!!!

 After everyone went about their way...I took my stuff upstairs to play.  :)  Love my new ironing board as it is much wider and has a place for the iron and a rack underneath.  I cut out a few Windmill pieces to work on.  I still need to cut out more "color" fabrics. 

 Love my new sharp scissors.  I really needed them. 

 I also love my new iron!  It has a paisley design on it and I LOVE anything paisley. 

 Here are a few of my Windmills on my design wall.  The smaller set are sewn together into a 9-patch and the others are not sewn together yet.  That is way they look so different in size.  If all goes as planned I plan on doing a lot of sewing tomorrow. 

 Now news about my sister, Chantal.  To start with they didn't know if they could even have kids but she is now 34 weeks yesterday!!!  She has a slight heart condition and takes medication for it and also 3 BP pills a day.  Up to now she has done pretty well other than a few minor issues.  She had a checkup yesterday and she is having some major swelling in the feet and legs her BP was extremely high.  The doctor said that he could NOT increase her meds because of the baby.  He put her off work and on complete bed rest while doing a 24-hour urine collection to check for protein and to test for Preeclampsia which is also known as toxemia.  Unless something goes wrong between now and then she goes back Wednesday and they will decide from there what needs to be done.  I'm hoping that bed rest will help lower her BP and take down some swelling but if not they will have to induce her labor.  The baby's heart rate was good so that was great!  So we are praying that she can hang in there a few more weeks if possible.  I'm anxious to see this new baby girl but not too soon. 

Photo Heavy Post Part 2

 In my last post I left you with a photo that looked like this.  There was a sofa and table under there....somewhere. 

 Here is the after photo!  Better? 

 I moved my current hexie project to the table. 

 I also quickly prepped my little tub with a few more hexies for this project so that I can just grab it and go. 

 Sadly this is the table that was in the center of the room.  Like every other surface in the room, it ended up being a catch-all for everything.  I cleaned it off and removed the table from the room.  It will go outside in the storage building. 

 So by cleaning these areas, I found lots of goodies!  More hexies for different projects along with just some regular English Paper Piecing. 

 More books and patterns that I had received...

 Patterns....

 Another pattern and a book....

 Next up...this area!!!  :(  After all of this cleaning that I have been working on so far, I will move to the other side of the room that is behind my quilting frame. 

 Wish me luck on cleaning today!  I also pieced a few blocks last night for a special little project.  I will tell you more about that soon.  

BTW...thanks for the comments yesterday.  I truly enjoyed reading them.  Yesterday was a bad day so it was a nice little pick-me-up.  
Kristie

Treasure Hunting...photo heavy post

 I'm on a treasure hunt!  I'm trying to find my cutting and sewing tables!  LOL!  I have lots of sewing that needs to be done before Christmas and at this point I can't find anything or even work on anything.  During the summer I don't sew upstairs as it is just too hot and I have been sewing up there on and off since the weather is cooler but I am messy!!!  I get in a hurry and things just get piled.  Sadly this room hasn't been truly cleaned since last year.  Trust me some of these photos are GRUESOME!  I'm not holding anything back.  This is what I am starting with.... Mess and dust everywhere, yep that is a cobweb in the corner!  LOL!  I even see 2 empty cans of Diet Pepsi. 

 My cutting table....tons of different projects, more empty Diet Pepsi, I even see a pack of crackers that I was actually snacking on while I was cleaning.  They were fresh as I brought them with me as I went up to clean.  I am only doing one corner at a time until I get it finished and then I will have to buckle down and sew. 

 Now to all of the things that I found on the tables and below....Burp cloths for my sister!  Here are 9 of tem in various stages at this point.  The monkey ones on top look more suitable for a boy and she is having a GIRL...but she is getting them anyway as all she will be doing is spitting up on them, right.  The others underneath are pinks and more girl looking fabrics.  These got boxed up to finish after the first of the year as she is not due until April. 

 A pile of strips that will eventually be made into an Omigosh quilt.  I love the pattern and the pieces are so very tiny.  I figure I will just cut a little at a time until I have enough.  These got boxed up also but I will keep cutting strips from my scraps as I can. 

 I also found some 4 patches in a few different sizes.  These finish at 2"  most of these are in sets of 2 right now so they need to be mated and sewn on into 4 patches.  At this point there are only 23 of them finished.  No particular pattern for them, I just figure I will use them somewhere down the road. 

 More squares for 4 patches.  Lots of blues in there so I need to cut different colors to mix in.  These are 2" squares. 

 I have several 4 patches already made with the 2" squares.  Here are 140 of them that finish at 3"

 All of these 4 patches and squares are neatly stored away now in this little tote. 

 After putting those away, I found more in sets of 2 that need to be finished.  I will put those by the sewing machine to finish up and then they will go in the tote with the others.  Yep....that's my crackers in the corner of the photo.  :)

 I closed up my 1906 Singer treadle and moved it in front of my big window.  Not sure if it will stay there or not.  This is the first time that I have had anything in front of the window.  I originally planned on a big comfy chair by the window when we were building the house, but that hasn't happened yet.  I thought it would be nice to do some handwork by the window as it is great lighting.  If you look close in the windowsill you will see a pair of binoculars.  :)  That window is 4x8ft and with the location of the house on the property, I can see forever out that window.  I do occasionally watch deer, squirrels, coyotes, and our horses running around on the property. 

 Hmmm...I sure got off track, didn't I?  So this is the after of my sewing and cutting tables.  Not perfect but better!  This is a huge room and sadly this was the cleanest corner in it so I started there.  :)  You can see in those photo that I also straightened up my fat quarters and I have several empty cubes.  :(  I need to work on that and fill it back up.  I also have a few scrap tubs on my cutting table. 

 In this photo I have the top case to my 1911 Singer sitting on top of my treadle but I have moved it now.  I also moved my ironing board back over there.  I need to staple the new cover on it, right now it is just laying over the top of it.  This is an old wooden ironing board that belonged to Richard's grandmother. 

 Now if I can only keep it clean while I work on the rest of the room.  :(

 I almost forgot...I found my hexies under some of the mess too. 

 I have 94 of them in this stage... I need a few hundred more of these sets of 4.   

 Next area up....the sofa and table...  :(  It's horrible.  I promise there is a sofa there and a table!!!  LOL!  I see lots of leftover backing pieces, bubble wrap?  LOL!  some baby stuff, oh and a sewing machine in the floor beside the table.  It's in the box...I need to find a place to store it. 

 So I'm going to try to get this all cleaned and be more organized so that I can get things done.  I also plan on posting more regularly as I my comments are way down and I miss reading them.  

Okay...break is over.....back to cleaning....maybe...
Kristie

My Sweet Annie Quilt...

 I have been working on a UFO that is navy and cream but today I set it aside and pulled some special fabrics.  These lovely fabrics were sent to me from a dear friend. 

 I didn't want to cut into them until I decided exactly what I wanted to make with them.  I decided on this simple design that really shows off the fabrics well.  This quilt will be for ME!  I have really enjoyed cutting and sewing on it today.  I have decided to call it, "Sweet Annie"  my dear friend will never know what a comfort and joy she has been to me over the past few years.  This quilt will always remind me of her and our friendship.

The photo on my design wall is blurry so the photo is not a great one but at least you can get an idea of how it will look.  I also plan on adding a border to it.  This was the view of it from my sofa that I have in my sewing room.  I'm thinking that I will remove that round table that I have the little ironing board on.  I have plenty of room but I like the open space that I have in the middle of the room without it.  I have my big ironing board downstairs so I will bring it back up when I remove the table.  I usually have my big ironing board set up by the window. 

 This is another view of the room from the sofa...

 Yesterday evening Richard was in the garden picking tomatoes and saw a copperhead about 10" from his hand.  He killed it with a hoe.  So thankful that the Lord was watching over him.  Shew...I hate snakes!  Leo hates them too.  He will bark and bark at them...dead or alive.  BTW...it is dead in these photos.  :)

 It measured about 30" long.

 Hunter has had several rough days with his feet.  He has spent most of the time on the couch as he can't stand to walk.  It will be about a month before he gets his new inserts and I just pray that these work for him.  He has some in right now but they are his old ones.  He is a very active child or at least he wants to be.  His whole body is out of alignment because of his feet.  The xray of his spine looks like he has scoliosis, it is so crooked but it isn't.  This has messed with his feet, ankles, knees, hips and back.  He has had to take Motrin pretty much around the clock the past few days and that can't continue.  So praying that something gives for him.  I can't stand to see him not feeling like walking around.  If you remember last year he was in a boot and on crutches for a few months.  Do you have any idea how hard it is to keep a 12 yr old occupied and keep him off his feet???  UGH!  He is also having therapy and that is not going well for him as he is crying pretty much through all of it.  As a mother, this just breaks my heart.  

I guess that is all for now...I'm heading back up to the sewing room!!!
Kristie