Thursday, July 19, 2012

Look what I found...

 I'm still plugging away on my red/white quilt....slowly.  Doing this a little in between machine quilting.  The machine quilting is going slow too.  With this heat and no air upstairs, it gets hot up there quick!  Next summer will not be as bad since we plan on having the central air connected up there.  :(  Anyway, I'm loving the red and white quilt so far.  I can't wait until I can start putting the blocks together.  Right now I am just working on the smaller units.  
Last night I couldn't sleep and really didn't want to sew so I headed upstairs to clean and sort some of my quilting stuff.  There was no way that I could machine quilt because Richard was sleeping in the bedroom directly under my sewing room.  So....I still have a few BIG totes of quilting stuff that needs to be put away.  Some of the stuff is just "stuff" and some of it is UFO's.  As I'm sure you can guess, I have several UFO's!  LOL!  Another one that I found is "Market Baskets"
I quickly threw these up on my design wall to look at them.  I had forgotten about this quilt until last night.  This is from the Kim Brackett book, Scrap Basket Surprises or you can also just order the pattern from here.  The pattern has it in a straight setting but I like it better on point.  What do you think?  Straight or on point?  If I do it on point, like I want too, then I have to have several more blocks.  More blocks is NOT a problem as far as that goes because I still have 33 more that are cut out, they just need to be pieced.  I have 17 blocks already pieced.  Last night I actually thought that I would just sew together the blocks that I had and call it finished but I really hate to do that on this quilt.  I would like to have it bed-size. 


The only thing that I had to do differently from the pattern is, I turned the borders of the blocks around on every other block so that they would be off-set.   Of course this is not the final layout, I just threw the blocks up on the wall so when I do actually get it sewn together I will change them around to spread out some of the fabrics.  
So while I was messing around with it, I started to dig for some border fabric and something to use for the setting triangles.  I pulled this and may use it.  The lighting wasn't the best up there last night so you can't really tell the true colors but the border fabric will be the brown/cedar looking stuff and the setting triangles with the print.  
I've had them for a while and usually when I buy border fabric for my stash, I usually by at least 3 yards of it.  The brown/cedar stuff is from Connecting Threads.  I got it on sale for something like 40% off and I don't remember the name of the print but I got it for $2.50 yard on clearance at the quilt shop.  
Here is the rest of the blocks that are cut out.  I think I will probably have to cut out more of the cream assorted backgrounds.  There doesn't seem to be enough of those there.  The whole tub needs to be pressed.  
 I also found 13 more string pot holders that I had pieced for gifts last Christmas that did not get finished in time.  I just need to dig out scrap pieces of binding and finish them up.  I will probably just keep them to use for myself.  
Oh and I still have a few books left for sale so if you are interested they are posted here.  I have some other stuff to get rid of too, as soon as I gather it all up.  I found a thread tree, still in the box that holds 32 CONES, I guess if I haven't used it by now I probably will not use it at all.  That is one of the things that I will be posting next.  


Now on to some family stuff....


Sunday after Church, the Sunday School had a trip for the kids.  We took them to Camden Park for the day.  It is a small little amusement park about 45-60 minutes from here.  They all had a blast!  Honestly, Richard and I did too!  :)  It was nice to relax for the evening with the kids.  When I got out of bed Monday morning, I could barely walk!  UGH!  My hips and back were killing me.  


Hunter starts school back August 1st!  He is not looking forward to that at all.  I have a little more school shopping to do and he will be ready to go.  The boy drives me up the wall over school.  He hates it but makes straight A's.  When I ask him "why?"  he just says that "school interferes with his playtime"  BOYS!!!


Andrew is one happy boy right now!  He loves to play guitar and is really good at it.  He can play anything from Bluegrass, Gospel, Country, Blues, and Classic Rock.  Thank goodness he doesn't care much for this new rock/pop stuff that is out now.  :)  Anyway, he has a Fender Acoustic, a Fender Stratocaster, and now this new baby!!!  He has been working and putting a little money back out of each check, saving up for this.  I was so proud of him, he has had enough money for a while to get it but wanted to save up more so that he wouldn't be broke!  LOL!  BTW...I made him shave after this photo!  He is only 19 but could grow a full-faced beard.  


This is a Gibson Les Paul.  The link is for the actual website that he ordered it from, the woodgrain on it is beautiful.  He was shaking when the UPS truck pulled in and he couldn't get that box open fast enough.  Good thing that he didn't have to work that night because I think he would have cried if he had to had left it.  He played until his fingers were sore.  :)  He is a good boy and I'm sure there are worst things he could have spent his money on.  
Now last but now least....today is Richard's birthday!!!!  He turned 42 today!  He left the house about 6am this morning and I haven't seen him.  He is doing some logging and should be back in the house sometime this afternoon.  No big plans but I wanted to fix him something special for dinner.  I asked what he wanted and he said "BEANS, TATERS, AND CORNBREAD!!"  That's my country boy!  So first thing this morning I put on pot of pinto beans, the cornbread is done, haven't started the fried potatoes yet but I will.  Oh and baked him a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting.  He doesn't know it yet but his mom and grandmother are coming out to have dinner with us.  I think he will be happy to see them.  


Anyway, I thank God everyday for my little family!  I was thinking about this last night and I know that things happen in life that brings us down a little.  Just in the past few months I can think of several things right off the top of my head but in the end, I wouldn't trade my life for anything!  We are a very close family and try to live by God's word in everything that we do.  We are far from perfect but we do try to do the best that we can.  I thank God everyday for Blessing me with my little family.  


Okay.....back to cooking and cleaning
Kristie

13 comments:

sara said...

The market baskets are beautiful!!!
and W the family...
Hi Sara

Janet O. said...

The basket quilt is wonderful, Kristie. I would set them on point, definitely! Your scraps are such rich colors--love it!!
When I saw your pile of potholders I thought it was great that you had such a jump on this coming Christmas!
You do seem to be blessed with a very good family. And I believe that when we try to follow the Lord, even though we may teeter on the brink of disaster at times, He is always there to help us keep things together.

SubeeSews said...

I like the "on point" setting too.
And I so understand unearthing treasures during the night hours. I actually do this a lot when I cannot sleep. And I save those tasks for late night hours too!
XOXOXO Subee

lil red hen said...

Beautiful work as usual! And God bless you and your sweet family!

Julia said...

I love the baskets, great on point....will look lovely on your bed.
Great post Kristie..
Bless all your family..

Lady of the Cloth said...

I love the baskets. Be careful of the Connecting Threads rust fabrics. I bought a lot of different reds from them and they all faded, some of the reds came out looking like light peach color. I couldn't return them because I had just put them in my closet and didn't test them out soon enough.

school sure does start early for you guys. Here on the West coast, we start back after Labor day. Of course, we go till the middle of June.

Make it a good day my friend. Carline

Winona said...

I love your market baskets. I hope Andrew gets lots of enjoyment out of his new guitar. Wow! You guys start school early. They don't start around here till about the 15th. Happy birthday to Richard. Hope he has a good one.

Yvette said...

Happy Birthday to Richard!

You are so right about counting out blessings. You have many to be thankful for.

Your quilt blocks are great and I agree that it would look great on-point.

Yvette said...

Happy Birthday to Richard!

You are so right about counting out blessings. You have many to be thankful for.

Your quilt blocks are great and I agree that it would look great on-point.

Yvette said...

Happy Birthday to Richard!

You are so right about counting out blessings. You have many to be thankful for.

Your quilt blocks are great and I agree that it would look great on-point.

Darling Jill Quilts said...

Love those blocks! On point is nice, but you should make all the blocks that you cut out. You must have had a plan for them. :)

If you don't use the thread tree for your cones, how do you store them? Maybe with the new room you could find a nice place to put it and store your cones on it?

Dirt Road Quilter said...

Goodness! You have a lot going on! I love those basket blocks and I vote for setting them on point. That will gorgeous on a bed so make it big! :) I am the queen of making big quilts. That is quite a tack of potholders! I made about that many last year and still have more to make. I love them! The picture of Andrew with his guitar makes me miss my boy something fierce!! Mine is a guitar player too and he wasn't able to take his guitar with him. He misses it a lot and I can not wait until he is home and I can hear him make those strings sing! I set up a cutting table in his room and look at his guitars every time I am in there. Richard's birthday dinner request sounds mighty familiar! :)

Vesuviusmama said...

It amazes me every year how early Hunter goes back to school. Enjoy these last few days!