Sewing with anxiety...

 Yesterday's sewing started early.  If you look at the pic below you can see that it was barely turning daylight.  Richard had just left for work and we had a snowstorm coming.  

First off, I sewed the flannel binding on the jean quilt and now it is ready for the handwork.  

 Then I sewed the binding on to the Road to Jericho quilt.  Now it is also read for the handwork.  I love hand sewing on binding.  

 By this time it was daylight.  Here is my view from my machine.  If you look real close you can see one of the horses.  They LOVE getting out and playing in the snow.  They were in and out all day.  It's funny how much they love playing in the snow. 

 By this time I was having some anxiety.  If it was going to get as bad as they were saying then I knew what this would probably mean for Richard.  So I just kept sewing...

I got 2 more stars sewn...

 That takes me up to a total of 7 of those. 

 Anxiety and ADHD do not mix well.  LOL!  I bounced around all day worse than ever.  I found some small string blocks that I had worked on a while back.  These are 4" blocks so they are rather small. 

 I added those blocks to what I had and here they all are laid out. 

 Digging around some more I decided to cut out some applique cats with my Accuquilt GO!  I already had a few orange polka dot cats cut but then I found these batik and other bright scraps in my scrap basket and decided to cut some of those. 

 This one is my favorite!  I'm thinking that as I get batik scraps that I will cut out some cats until I have enough for a kid quilt. 

 Here are some that I already had cut so I think I will keep them and maybe do a small baby quilt with them.  I didn't get a pic but I did sew a couple to a white background. 

 As the day progressed, the weather got worse.  In the end we had several inches of snow, falling temps and they declared a Level 3 Emergency.  Even our 24-hr Walmart closed for the evening.  

When this happens and Richard is scheduled to work the next day he is supposed to stay at the hospital because it is their policy.  That way the employees are already there.  With a Level 3 Emergency it is emergency vehicles and people only that can travel the roads without a fine.  Richard was allowed because he is a nurse but it was NOT recommended.  

Now....in 18 years we have never spent 24 hours apart.  I knew that at this point it would be smarter and safer for him to stay at the hospital.  Several texts and calls later he still didn't know what he was going to do.  I did a whole lot of praying because I knew that if he thought he could get home that he would be here.  In the end, I thought he was going to be staying there.  Then I saw him walking down the driveway!!!!  Oh my!  I lost it and got all emotional.  :)  He had to park at the end of our driveway.  His normal 45 minute commute ended up being a 90 minute commute.  I'm not saying that this was the smartest decision but I was sure happy to see him.  Trust me, I also thanked the good Lord above for keeping him safe.  Now as I type this he is on his way back to work.  I am praying for safe travels this morning.  I did notice that they had downgraded to a Level 2 Emergency.   

Hunter had a friend come over on the 4-wheeler through the hills.  They were out and about most of the day in the snow.  Funny thing, when they came in I offered them something warm to drink and Wyatt said, "can I have a jar of pickles?"  LOL!  He loves my pickles!  He always eats pickles when he is here.  :)  That boy cracks me up!

I got so much done!!!!

 Yesterday was the most productive day that I've had in a very long time!  I got oodles done!!!   Do you remember the string strips that I pieced a few weeks ago?  Well...they are now a completed quilt top. 

 I cut all of the purple and sewed it all together.  This quilt measures 54x74 so it's not a bad size. 

 The binding is cut and ready to go on after quilting.  I also found the perfect purple Glide thread to quilt her with.  :)

 This is actually the first quilt that I worked on for the day.  I loaded this jean quilt top on the longarm at around 5:45am.  :)  This quilt is pieced with jean shirt fabric.  Years ago I found some jean shirt sleeves at a thrift store that were from a shirt factory.  I bought them, cut them up and sewed them together.  I bet this quilt top has been laying around waiting to be quilted for 15 years.   It measures 64x64.

 I backed it with this blue plaid flannel that I've had for a very long time too.  I quilted it with a blue Glide thread. 

 Last but not least...I got the borders sewn on to my Churn Dash. 

 Now that the borders are on this one, it measures 70x82. 

 So in the end....I got one quilted and two ready to be quilted!!!!

I am very pleased with all that I got done yesterday!!!  It felt really good but in the back of my mind I kept thinking of the HUGE t-shirt quilt that I needed to load on the longarm.  :(  That did not get done.  :(  

I don't drive in the snow let alone ice and since Richard had to work and couldn't drive me, Hunter and I didn't go to Church yesterday.  :(  I so enjoy going but I decided to just hibernate.  Our water froze so I didn't have water until late last night after Richard got home.  

Richard is off today so I probably will not get as much done today.  LOL!  I love him to death but it seems like I don't accomplish anything when he is home.  :) 

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.....

Green Apple Stars...

 As you can see I have started a new quilt!  LOL!  You know me....I just bounce around but in my defense I have been good for the past few weeks about finishing some quilt tops....well...maybe not borders...

 The lighting is not that good in the pics but they are more of a brighter apple green.  Not at all my usual colors but sometimes a change is nice.  

I was looking through my tubs of fat quarters and opened this one.  I thought...hmmm...those would make a pretty quilt.  So I decided on a simple pattern. 

 So I cut out a bunch of 8" stars...

 I used the die that came with my Accuquilt GO!  My plan is to piece all of the blocks that I have cut and alternate them with a solid white block and then add a green border from one of the fabrics that I used in the stars. 

 I also played around with this Churn Dash block.  The Churn Dash is one of my all-time favorite blocks.  I saw a quilt on this wonderful blog http://gretchenslittlecorner.blogspot.com/2017/07/churn-dash-is-finished.html 

 Her quilt is beautiful!!!  I fell in love with it when I saw it.  Now....as much as I love that border, I know me...and I know that by the time that I get to that part I will be ready to do something simple and finish it up.   LOL!  I also want to rework the size of my Churn Dash.  This one measures 9" and I want to make sure that it is the size that I want to use before I get started.  This is not something that I plan on doing right now but a future project.  I have a bolt of blue that I want to use for it but it's not the blue in this block.  My quilt will not be exactly like hers but her beautiful quilt is my inspiration.  :)  

 I also worked on more string blocks.  I think I am now up to 65.  I ended up piecing 9 of them. 

 She has grown a little more.  :) 

 So far I am pleased with it. 

 We are getting some bad weather right now....ICE!  I hate ice!  I'm hoping that it is all cleared by the time that I have to take Hunter to his orthodontist appointment later this afternoon.  After today the weather is supposed to warm up a little compared to what it has been.  Lots of rain but a little warmer.  :)  

At some point today I need to take a break from sewing and do a little cleaning.  :)  My house is starting to show signs of neglect.  LOL!  All 4 of us have been home all weekend and the house is messy. 

It's G-R-O-W-I-N-G!!!!

 It's growing!!!!  Yesterday I pieced 21 blocks!!!!  That brings me to a total of 56!

 I am really enjoying working on these blocks.  I'm sure you are already tired of seeing them.  Don't worry I hope to have this finished soon.  :) 

 As I am pulling these out of the tub I am also sorting out some "crumbs"  The crumbs are too small to fit in these blocks and they are really tiny.  I had forgot that I those mixed in.  So I am sorting those out as I go and who knows maybe someday I will do a itty bitty crumb quilt.  

Anyway...I am loving all of the colors in this quilt.

 I may peel the papers off of the blocks in a day or two.  I usually do this while watching tv with the family. 

I know I keep putting off sewing those borders on the other two quilts but I hate doing that.  LOL!  I need to just do it and be done with it.  I also need to load a HUGE customer quilt on the longarm and I am dreading it too.  You will understand once you see it.  For one...it is HUGE!  When I say HUGE, I mean HUGE!  LOL!  It is a T-shirt quilt that measures 108x123!!!!  Good thing that my longarm is 14 ft long!!!!!  This will be my largest quilt yet...mine or a customers.  

While sewing on my string blocks I have been pondering what I want to work on in the near future.  I have so many running around in my mind and I just need to pick one.  The last two that I finished and this string quilt is all very scrappy so I'm thinking that soon I would like to work on something a little more controlled....maybe. 
 

 It has been so cold here and I don't like it.  LOL!  I know that everyone is having colder temps.  I am so stiff and achy.  I am also having some ear issues.  :(  I figure I have a little inner ear infection because my balance is a little off.  I'm hoping that goes away soon.  

Hunter's rescheduled ortho appointment is Monday at 2:20pm.  I don't like that it is that late in the day because as I mentioned before it is almost a 2-hour drive but that is all that they had available.  I figure they will be going back to school on Monday as they haven't been since before Christmas.  I will just pick him up early and head that way. 

12 More Blocks...

 My day got off to a slow start but I did finally get some sewing done yesterday.  I got 12 more string blocks sewn for a total of 35 blocks.  Like I mentioned before, I don't even know how many blocks that I am shooting for at this point.  I will just sew until I get tired of looking at them. :)  Here they are all laid out in no particular order. 

 These blocks will finish at 7"

 My string bin doesn't seem to be going down much.  As you can see I have a mess in the floor too.  :)

 A pic of my floor.  :)  I really need to get the borders sewn on the other quilt so that I can get it up out of the floor.  I also still have my Churn Dash quilt on the cutting table where I was pinning borders on.  I need to work on borders today because I am getting ahead of myself. 

 I had a busy day just getting odd-and-end things done so when Andrew got home from work this evening I had him to watch my pressure canner so that I could get some sewing done.  LOL!  I had 7 quarts of pinto beans in the canner and you know you just can't walk away too far from it. 

Depression Quilt...

 Yesterday didn't go exactly as planned but I will fill you in on that in a few minutes.  First off...I pieced a few string blocks!  :)  I'm not sure if this is a project that I will work on constantly or just in between other projects.  This is an "anything goes" quilt. 

 Here is my big string tub that I posted a pic of yesterday.  It is up past my knees.  Just whatever that I pull out goes in the blocks.  I was discussing this with one of the boys and they said, "so it's kind of like a depression era quilt, right?  LOL!  Yes....nothing goes to waste.  So I guess I will lovingly call this my "Depression Quilt"  So far you can't even tell that I have used any out of this tub. 

 While working on these other projects the past few days, I have ended up with 14 more Windmills.  I have been piecing the Windmills as my leader and ender project.  I need a total of 528 windmill blocks and I now have 290...so I need 238 more to go.  :)

 So my plan for today is to get the borders sewn on the Churn Dash quilt top and the Now or Later quilt top.  I have the borders cut, just not sewn on.  I want to get that done today and also work on a few more String Blocks.  

I had mentioned that Hunter had an orthodontist appointment really early yesterday.  His appointment was at 8:40am and it's almost a 2-hour drive.  Richard was getting ready to leave for work and the phone rang at 5:30am and it was a recorded message from the orthodontist office saying that I needed to call and reschedule his appointment.  I've never had a doctor's office call that early of the morning to reschedule.  LOL!  It was just weird.  :)  So anyway...I still need to reschedule that appointment for him.  

There wasn't school yesterday or today.  Actually he hasn't had school all week because of the cold temps.  I let his sleep in a little while yesterday since his appointment was canceled and then made him go with me to the grocery store.  LOL!  He was not happy.  :) 

By-the-way...today my brother turns 50!!!  LOL!  John is actually 4 years older than I am and I have to say that he is the best big brother in the world.  There are 3 of us siblings and we are extremely close and I love that.  He loves to give me a hard time but I guess that is what big brothers do.  LOL!  He even tells everyone that I am the oldest.  I've even had people tell me that they thought I was the oldest because John had told them that a few years back.  LOL!  Crazy thing.  :)