So many projects....

 A few more pinwheels on the design wall.  Of course, I will not put them all up there since I need like 140+ of them.  Still many more to go.  

I'm just sewing a few at a time between other projects.  Trimming and pressing as I go.  My ironing board seems to stay full of something that needs pressed.  LOL!

I've been working on more embroidered rope bowls.  I have a craft show coming up on October 8th but I also have orders coming in right and left.  Yesterday one lady ordered 9 bowls.  

I know it looks like just a messy pile but it's all that I can do right now.  LOL!  

I have been moving from machine to machine.  I pieced the bowls on my Janome since it has a nice zigzag stitch.  The blue painters tape marks how large that I need the bottom circle to be so that it fits in the embroidery hoop.  

Then I move it to the embroidery machine.  While the embroidery machine is running and doing it's thing I am piecing pinwheels on my Juki TL2010Q.  Then after the base finishes embroidery, I then go back to the Janome and finish sewing the sides of the bowl.  So basically I am just jumping from machine to machine.  

Oh and all the while I have this shirt memory quilt spread out on the floor waiting to be sewn together.  

Oh and I also need to finish up a Denver Bronco rag quilt as soon as I clear some space to do that.  LOL!

On Monday, Everleigh, mom and I had lunch out.  Mom has to have a little procedure on Wednesday so she had to have a Covid test beforehand.  Everleigh enjoys getting out with us.  She gets a little car sick but she can't help that.  We just try to go slow and do the best we can with it.  She is doing some better with it.  She is such a good little girl and doesn't cry and fuss.  I believe her favorite food is pinto beans.  :)  

So Hunter got a haircut today!  This was his hair a few months ago

Then he went to this, which I took this pic this morning before he got it cut.

This is the end result!  Either way he is handsome and will always be my baby boy.  

And a pic of Hunter and Richard when Richard got home from work.

Oh and I will leave you with this adorable pic of my little nephew Tucker.  Chantal brought him up to play with Everleigh today.  They play so well together.  He is just the cutest little guy.

So I guess I need to close this post and get to work sewing...

Lots of Progress! (Photo Heavy)

I'm made a lot of progress over the past week.  About a month or so ago I made a baby quilt as a gift.  I posted a pic of it on my blog and facebook.  My SIL's mother wanted me to make 2 of them for her as gifts for twins of her niece.  They will be 2 yrs old this summer.  I added a border on these to make them a little bigger so they could use them for several years.  

 They ended up being 52" square.

 I quilted a simple stipple on them.

 I did the binding on them Saturday morning and she picked them up Saturday afternoon.  She seemed very pleased with them. 

 I also made a few pin cushions.  :)  I did not make the pretty one with the tiny flying geese.  That one was a gift from a dear friend several years ago.  I use it all the time.  I actually made 4 but didn't get a pic of the other one.  These were all made from leftover blocks or small orphan blocks.  I filled them with crushed walnut shells.  I like the weight that it gives to them.

 I have a huge jar of vintage buttons that I picked through and used.  I want to make several more when I get a chance.  I think I would like to use some of them and also put several in a basket to display. 

 I also started a new quilt for myself.  I feel the need to work on a few things of my own between customer quilts.  I need this!!!  LOL! 

 These colors are not my usual so it's totally out of my comfy zone!  I guess that is a good thing!  My plan as of right now is 30 blocks.  I was going to do just a bunch of random fabric colors but once I started I wanted to do blues and greens. 

 By the time that I got ready for bed last night I had 10 blocks pieced.  I'll get better pics of it when the lighting is better. 

 I signed up for the Fat Quarter Shop monthly subscription of reproduction fat quarters a few months ago.  It alternates between Civil War and 1930's.  This is what I received this time.  Love them!!!

 This is the line that they are from.  It's not the whole line but just 12 each time. 

 These purples are my favorites!  I have been on a purple kick lately.  I need to make a purple quilt! 

 Other life happenings this week...  

Andrew's cash offer on the apartment building was accepted!!!!  He is very excited and this momma is very proud of all his hard work.  I'll post more details as time goes on with it.  

I was out shopping with mom and Chantal a few days ago and found a big cactus that I bought! Actually in the cart you can see two but we actually bought three.  We each got one.  I've been looking for one of these big ones for years and finally found one.  20+ years ago I had one that was over 6 ft tall.  I had over 50 houseplants.  At that time I was married to my first husband and went back to get my plants about a week after I left only to find that he had poured bleach in every one of them.  I lost them all.  The huge cactus was my favorite.  Anyway...that was a long time ago and I now have another one.  :) 

 Today my niece, Addison turns 4.  Hard to believe that.  :)  Her birthday party was Saturday.  She had a blast of course.  She owns my heart.  :)

 Here is a pic of her cake!  She had a beautiful Barbie cake and 36 cupcakes.  :)

 Hunter has been on Spring Break this past week and goes back to school today.  I will sure miss him.  I have always loved it best when everyone is home with me.  That is my "happy time" 

Oh and I didn't get pics but Richard and I were able to take another short motorcycle ride on Thursday while he was off and the weather was nice.  I think sometime in the near future we are going to get a GoPro to attach to his helmet to video some of the beautiful rides that we go on.  

Today I have a customer quilt that I need to do some repair work on and hopefully get it quilted and the binding done as well.  Fingers crossed that I get it done.  LOL!  The top belongs to a coworker of Richard's.  Her sister had purchased it for her in PA.  It's all squares and hand pieced.  Someone has washed the quilt top and it has came apart in several places.  The seam allowance is very narrow and the stitches are pretty big.  I actually worked on some of the repair work yesterday but I hope to finish it up today.  I also need to quilt and machine bind it too.  I'll post pics of it tomorrow. 

3 More Blocks...

 Here is a pic of my design wall last night. 

 After Church we had dinner at mom's then I came home and pieced a few blocks.  I am trying to catch up on my Lori Holt's Block-Along. 

 These fabrics are so not my normal but I'm really liking how they are all looking. 

 Then I moved on to this pretty red print block...

 Another view...

 This was the last one for the night. 

 They are all actually big blocks.

 Of course the purple tulips don't go in this quilt but the rest of the blocks do.  I'm anxious to see how they will all fit in the quilt.  I'm hoping that in the end my colors are spread out pretty evenly. 

 So the rest of my weekend was spent running here and there.  I was exhausted by the time it was over.  Here is a pic of Hunter and his girlfriend, Paige.  This was her Freshmore Dance (Freshman/Sophomore).  She is a freshman and he is a junior.  It was semi-casual that's why he has jeans on.  LOL!  Most of the guys did.  They looked so pretty.  She is a sweetheart and of course he's my baby boy so I'm kind of extra proud of him....long hair and all.  LOL! 

 Last but not least...a pic of my brother John and my little niece, Addie.  I took this pic right before Church started.  :)  John is the oldest of us 3 siblings.  He is 4 years older than I am.  We have always been extremely close.  Addison is my sister's daughter.  She was being silly with her little glasses. 

 I guess that's all for this post...

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. 

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.  :)

At some point I am going to have to stop...

 Are you tired of seeing these blocks?  LOL!  I didn't think I was going to get to sew yesterday but at the last minute I did piece 10 more blocks. 

 Here they all are.  I now have 82 of them.  I'm thinking at this point that I am going to shoot for 120 and do a 10x12 setting.  Maybe...lol.  These blocks will finish at 7".

 Here's a pic of the clock as I was leaving out of the studio last night.  Actually, I didn't get in bed until 2am and then I got back up at 4am to get Richard up for work.  The boys also left for work and school after that.  I can see a nap in my future today!!!  :) 

 At some point I am going to have to stop and load that HUGE t-shirt quilt on the longarm.  I am dreading it so bad but I've put it off long enough.  Not sure if I mentioned it or not but that baby is 108x123!!!  So after some much need house cleaning, napping, canning (I got a good deal on some sweet potatoes)...my goal is to piece that backing and load that big baby on the longarm.  

Hunter finally had school today.  I sure miss that boy when he is gone.  I always love having everyone home with me.  This is their first day back since before Christmas.  He had his orthodontist appointment yesterday and all went well.  I was afraid that I would not and they would have to redo his little surgical procedure but it was fine.  They now have his chain hooked up and will slowly start pulling that tooth out of the roof of his mouth and over into the proper place.  He was having some pain last night and this morning but that is to be expected.  Right now they have everything so tight.  

It's time for some coffee and get my day started now that everyone is out of the house!

Sewing and Sorting...

 I added one more Green Apple Star yesterday.  I need to take a pic of these in better lighting because they are brighter than this. 

 I hope you are not tired of looking at these string blocks yet.  LOL!  I am trying to get it pieced and moved out.  :)  I was able to get 7 more blocks and that brings my total to 72.  Not sure how many that I want yet but I just know that I want it larger than this.  LOL!

 I have been digging through my string tub to make sure I have a good variety.  I decided to sort out a few so my tub really isn't this empty.  :)

 So far I have this pile which is crumbs and itty bitty strings that I can't use in this project. 

 A pile of neutrals that I am not using in this quilt but I will save for something else. 

 A pile of long strings that I will be using.

 Another pile of long to medium strings on my sewing table that I will also be using.

 As you can see....I have a MESS!  I really need to get this quilt finished so that I can get this corner cleaned back up. 

 So this is all getting really crazy!  No school for Hunter again yesterday and I had to reschedule Hunter's orthodontist appointment for today.  We had an ICE storm that came through yesterday so his school was canceled and there were accidents everywhere so I rescheduled.  After the ice came through it rained all evening and that froze overnight so I'm thinking that they will probably cancel school for today as well.  Last night they had it on a 2-hour delay.  

Yesterday when I called the orthodontist office to let them know that I would not be there because of the ice.  She asked me when he had his surgery and I told her Dec 27.  She said, "we really need to see them 5-7 days after surgery to hook everything up."  I said, "well...first off you all scheduled his appointment 8 days after his surgery and then called me and canceled it."  Which was actually last Thursday and they rescheduled it for yesterday.  Then I had to reschedule for tomorrow because of the weather.  She said, "well I certainly hope that it hasn't healed up over that bracket because then he will have to have it redone."  :(  GRRR....I am so aggravated.  :(  The conversation went on and needless to say that I was not happy.  I told Hunter about it all and he said, "calm down mom, it's okay...I'll just do what I have to do"  :(  Poor boy...I sure don't want him to have to have anything else done.  After I calmed down a little I called the oral surgeon office explained it all to them and she said that if it had healed too much that they wouldn't have to redo the whole thing and that they would just have to split the gum there at the bracket.  Sooooo.....his appointment is later this afternoon, I will let you know how it all goes.....