Nothing done today

Took hubby into ER when he started having trouble catching his breath after walking the dog... spent most of the day there.  Came home in time to fix dinner and for me to walk the dog TWICE.
Appt with the Cardiologist tomorrow afternoon and then medical supply company coming on Wed. afternoon to set hubby up with a in-home oxygen tank.
Satellite dish people coming on Friday afternoon.

Probably no more quilting for me until the weekend.  :(

Back to little done

Well, I didn't work on the Christmas Row by Row ( the one I finished quilting yesterday) today.. other than cut and join the binding pieces together ... OH! and make a label.  I did work on the doll quilt... here's my second one for Jan/the year.  Two down, ten more to go.

Instead of spending a lot of time in my sewing room clearing space so I can trim the Christmas quilt, I DID HOUSEWORK  YUCK!!!  Dishes and laundry... only one load of laundry plus I washed and dried the doll quilt because I didn't like the stiffness of the backing fabric.

I also got my latest paint chip challenge quilt out so it can be the next one I quilt... I have enough 'scraps'/leftover fabrics from making the top to join together to make the backing and binding.  Mustn't forget the label!... Want to get it done soon so that I can enter it with everyone else's in our quilt show.  I think that will be about it for my entries - except for my Thank a Farmer quilt - HAVE to show that :).

Someone is supposed to come tomorrow afternoon to switch our satellite dish from one company to another, but I think I'm going to call their rep. in the morning to see if we can postpone it until Friday... I need more time to clean house, and, of course, do some more sewing/quilting without feeling pressure in NEEDING to get something done.  I could get so much more accomplished if only LIFE didn't get in the way LOL.

TTYL

It's a wrap!

Just finished the quilting... binding tomorrow MAYBE.  So glad to have this done, but equally glad that I took my time and didn't make rush decisions on what stitching I wanted where.  I probably could have quilted it a little more ( in the inside border) but I think what I did was enough.  Oh yeah!  Still have to make a label for it.

Back to work on the BOD's and Amish with a twist starting tomorrow.... oh wait, I've got a doll quilt that's sitting in waiting on Mo'e... well, that won't take long... depending on what's on tv tonight, I might just do it and get it done.

Now, it's off to make dinner.

TTYL

VERY little to report

These are the three blocks I did today... and may end up having to do the third one over again... just doesn't look right - and it was harder to do than any of the previous ones (smaller pieces)

Still can't figure out what to do for background filler on the quilt that's on Mo'e.  Didn't work on it today; slept til noon and then took hubby & dropped him off at the hospital so he could get another blood test while I went to City Hall to pay our property taxes and get Buddy's new license.  Had to stop at Walmart on the way home to get shampoo and a few other things... once back home, I had a few minutes to check email, etc online and then fix & eat dinner before heading to guild.

Dr. appt for hubby in the late morning, then I'll finish as much as I can on the Christmas quilt that's on Mo'e while also working on my Amish with a twist that was my January UFO project - since the month is almost over with, I'd better get on it.

Now, time to get to bed... hopefully it won't take two hours to fall asleep.  I can't sleep til noon tomorrow.

TTYL

Catching Up

Since I overdid it on Monday, I rested most of yesterday... I did manage to get two more of my Countdown to Christmas blocks done, but I'm still behind.  Oh well, I'll get caught up - eventually.  

 Then, I decided to applique' the pieces down on this block; the first of nine

 from this pattern.  I am so lovin' it!!

This afternoon, it was back to the Christmas quilt on Mo'e and I made a lot of progress.  I'm stitching around the pieces in the last inner section half are done... have the inner border stitching done - well, the first step anyway; I decided to do some deco in some of the sections, but with a light blue, which looks great on the medium blue.  I still have the trees on the bottom border to do ( after I finish the santas/gnomes).  After all appliques are stitched around, it will be time to go back and add snowflakes to the side and bottom borders... then, I'll switch to the light blue thread and do background stitching around the appliques in the center, the deco in the inner border and decide whether to do background stitching in the outer borders or not.  I didn't take any pics today... maybe tomorrow :)

TTYL

I'm paying for it now

After a fun weekend working on a charity quilt at the library with other members of the guild, I decided that this week I WILL work on my Christmas quilt... Hubby wasn't supposed to have any appointments so I could stay in my jammies and just quilt away; his weight has gone up ( which means his body is collecting fluids - most probably around his heart which is not good) and he now has to go in for blood work on Thursday morning and then we'll see if he has to go back in to the dr again sooner than planned.

Anyway... yesterday, I put a border onto the latest doll quilt and cut from the same fabric, the backing fabric and binding.  It's bigger than I want to work on using my domestic machine, so it's waiting it's turn with Mo'e.  Then, I continued working and completed my Hollyhock wall hanging doing more quilting than I had thought it would need.  I'm happy with it.

After that, I did two of the Christmas Countdown BOD blocks... I should have done three to catch up, but I just couldn't do any more.

 had an 'oops' moment again.... caught it, though, and fixed it.

About noon today, it was time to 'bite the bullet' and get back to quilting my Christmas quilt. I traced and stitched the rest of the snowflakes on the top border, then decided to do lattice type work in the narrower inner borders... and I'm lovin' it despite the 'oops' at the end ( I don't think most people will notice it).  On to the first row of the inner section... stitched around the snowmen ... doing piano keys in the outer borders and stitching around the trees and adding snowflakes in the larger borders as I go, along with continuing the lattice in the narrower inner border.  Then comes the second row of the inner section... reindeer... have 5 of the 9 stitched around - by then, it was almost six o'clock in the evening and I just couldn't stand any longer, but had to run/drive over to Walmart to pick up script and a few other things ( used motorized cart in the store, thank goodness).

Sharpie markers are becoming my new friends... I'm using off white Glide thread in the top ( and 'whatever'  - odds & ends in the bobbins.  The top thread was really showing around the reindeers' noses so I used the markers to change the color of the stitches.  Can you see the backing fabric up at the top of the pic?  I LOVE it... found it at one of our local quilt shops and just knew that I had to use it on this quilt.

Tomorrow, I'll be three behind on my BOD's - again... will try and get them done before I even think about going back to longarming.  The latest BOM from Shabby Fabrics arrived over the weekend, too, so I'll have that to do, too, although I have almost a month before the next one arrives.

I'm SUPPOSED to be working on last year's Amish with a Twist BOM, too.  It's my #6 on my UFO list and that's the number for this month.... only 8 days left.  ARGHHH!!  I can do this; I know I can! -- well, I think I can.  

TTYL

Not much happening here

this first block is one that I'm using for a charity quilt... plan on finishing  the top at the sew in tomorrow.  When it will actually get quilted is another story... maybe next month.  I just noticed that the black doesn't come right to the corners - hmmm wonder what I did wrong... I did several of these - hope this is the only 'oops'.

 Then there's yesterday's BOD....

 I think today's is going to have to wait til tomorrow night - I'll do both then.  Took hubby to BiPac provider today, then went grocery shopping and then off to guild meeting - I'm beat.



ttyl

Catching Up

I've been busy making quilt blocks... apparently so busy that I didn't have time ( or the energy) to do my blog - for shame on me  LOL.

I did get behind on my BODs but when I got to three, I sat down and did all of them and have been able to keep up daily since then ( even if it's 1 am like it was last night).
 

the three above were done on the 13th

arghhhh  trying to figure out how to get my photos onto here without having to use my phone... there's supposed to be a program where I can automatically get them without having to download them here from my phone and then come on to my lap top to write the blog and arrange the photos.... does that make sense?  Heck, I'm confusing myself.

then this one the day before yesterday... along with the corn and leaves block on the right below... the pumpkin was done the day before ( still have to stitch down the vines but haven't decided how to do it - hand embroidery was suggested, but not sure I want to do that) These two are the Nov and Dec BOMs from the Autumn BOM that I'm doing with Shabby Fabrics.

Ok  then I started this beast last night... took about FOUR HOURS.. it's 12.5" x 12.5" .  This is the first block for the Murder Mystery BOM 2017 that I signed up for ( WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?!?)

Finally about 1 a.m. I did my BOD... pic is dark but, oh well, I'm too frustrated right now to try and fix it.  It is what it is.

Still trying to decide what I'm going to work on at the sew in on Saturday; I know what I'm working on Friday - the string block quilt that's been patiently waiting in my bin.  Still have a couple of days to decide what to do on Saturday - I'd like to do a 'quickie' one that I can call done by at least the end of the weekend if not Saturday night.

Ok, I need to make some phone calls .... arghhh!!  

TTYL

little more this and that

After I blogged yesterday/early last night, I did these two blocks.  They are the Jan. blocks for fatcatpatterns.com's BOM 2017.  Not hard, but it took a little time to blanket stitch ( by machine, of course) around all the edges.  I think this is going to be a fun quilt... I'm going for the lap size, I THINK... might change my mind and do the twin size; we'll see how it goes.

Tomorrow, the first chapter and mystery block is released for the murder mystery BOM that I'm also doing.  I really got into BOM's for this year.  I'm also printing out the info for The Quilt Show's BOM, but not sure if I'm going to get to it.  Pat Sloan is also doing a children's library BOM - I don't see how her blocks go with children's books, but this is only the first month so maybe I'll see it later on in the year.

And while we're on the subject of BOMs, I still have to finish my Amish with a Twist BOM from last year.  I got discouraged when the May blocks all came out different sizes and, if I remember right, none were the correct size.  I talked to Carolyn at The Hen House where I got the patterns and I can take it in to see if someone can help me.  First, I want to finish the other blocks... I think  there's four or five months left to do.  If I can 'fudge' the May blocks and make them work, then I won't need to go for help - either way, I want to get it done.

I also want to get back with Mo'e and work on that Christmas quilt... had thought I would do it today, but ended up with a headache late this morning.  Laid down at noon for a two hour nap, hoping that would relieve the headache... set alarm - didn't wake up until THREE hours later and now, an hour later, I feel the headache returning.  ARGHHH!!

On that note, I'm going to go work on my Christmas Countdown BOD and see how I feel after doing that and fixing dinner ( it's 4 o'clock and I have NO idea what to fix - oh yeah, there's breaded shrimp in the freezer; we'll have that)... hopefully, I can work on either Pat Sloan's BOM or maybe clear space and get the Amish with a Twist out.

May have more pics to post yet tonight... we'll see.
Either way

TTYL

Ok, here's  my first attempt  at today's  Christmas Countdown block.

One of these is not like the others.

Here it is corrected.  Once that was done and I swapped bins with the fabrics I had used for the nativity wall hanging (saving them to use for the mantle cover I'm making her for next Christmas),  I went back to working on the silhouette blocks that I  think I  showed yesterday -or maybe it was the day before.  I still have two to finish cutting out, but at least they are bigger 'holes' than in the first one.

I checked out my Pat Sloan Christmas quilt kit..  wasn't in the right frame to start on it.  I read the instructions... she want you to assemble the back BEFORE adding the applique and stitching it down; thank goodness it's just a medium size wall hanging.

I  also looked at the Christmas quilt I recently found online and fell in love with  (I  know, it doesn't take much).  No fabric included  which is ok because I probably already have what I need except for the backgrounds..  I need three different dark grays and I thought I had at least one but I couldn't find it- it could be in with the nativity fabric; guess I should go look.  If that's where it's at, then I'll only have to buy two days quarters for the rest of the background.

Ok back to folding laundry  ( that I  didn't do last night).

TTYL

Little of this...little of that

Last night I started working on the Countdown to Christmas quilt ... only 25 blocks and each finish at 4"... I'm going to work on one a day.  Here's the first one.

After the Countdown to Christmas ( yes, I know I'm a month late - or eleven months early) I started working on the block below right... LOTS of teeny cuts that required an exacto knife.  It's not fused to the background yet.. was trying to decide placement.

Today, I worked on the other block ( two more to follow).  This one wasn't as bad; not so many teeny tiny cuts.  

Then I worked on my Countdown to Christmas block...

I wanted to start on the BOM for fatcatpatterns.com, but couldn't find fabric that had enough yardage for the background.  A couple of fabrics would have been perfect, but there wasn't enough of either one.  Guess I'll have to go buy some - arghh... I didn't want to have to buy any more for awhile.

 Oh wait!  I just remembered the fabric I got the other day - there's one there that will do... not perfect, but it will work; I may even end up liking it more than my first picks.

Ok, time to fix dinner.... then fold clean laundry while I watch whatever's on tv tonight.

TTYL

Finished another quilt...again, a small one - approximately 15.5" x17.5".   I think I  mentioned it in earlier blog.  It's  my first doll quilt for this year.  Eleven more to go.

Not as productive as I had planned

I blogged earlier that I was going to take a nap and then get started back to working on my Christmas quilt... I took the nap, but woke up with a headache ( it's supposed to be the other way around - oh well) and just didn't feel up to standing and outlining snowflakes so that I could stitch them into the quilt.

So, instead I decided to work on a doll quilt... this pattern showed up in my email box from Connecting Threads... well, it's doll size and I've never done a Jacob's Ladder... actually I found this yesterday and picked most of the fabrics then ( pattern showed blues and white).  Ummm, I'm just noticing that the yellow looks more like pink... oh well....

Still need to find batting and backing before I can finish it... since it's a doll quilt, I'm going to assume that it's going to get used/abused a lot and I'm not going to do a bunch of fancy stitching.... just in the ditch and using my domestic will do just fine.

Time to watch tv for a few minutes before heading to bed.... oh darn!  I forgot I've got to finish making salmon patties first .

Ok...ttyl

Burning the midnight oil

First quilt to be finished in the new year

 

wool applique'd onto homespun background

Twenty four hours later, I can't remember where I left off the night before last and picked up again yesterday morning;  I just remember that I worked on this until time to take hubby to his dr. appointment.  We stopped for lunch after the appointment and then, once home again, I got right back to working on this little 'guy'.  I was determined to call it finished by the end of the day.  It was close.... I finished the last stitches on the binding just as the clock struck twelve midnight - well, it would have struck twelve if it had had something to strike with.

 I followed the pattern and cut the binding strips 2" wide... fold it in half and then stitch a 1/4" seam - that doesn't leave much to turn - so I felt I had to stitch the binding on the 'traditional' way... stitching it on the front of the quilt first, then bringing to the back & hand stitching the finish.  It was not my favorite thing to do... there was so little binding fabric left that it was hard for me to manipulate & make it go where I wanted ( like in the mitered corners).  I really wish she/the designer had allowed for a wider binding.

This was my first time trying wool other than as a batting... it wasn't too bad... would I do it again? probably not -been there, done that, give me my d*** t shirt!... time to move on.  I don't have anything against it, it's just more 'primitive'/'folksy' looking than where my taste runs.  I wouldn't even have tried it this time if the kit hadn't been an unexpected Christmas gift and I was pretty sure that the 'giver' would be watching my FB posts to see if I had done it.

So, it's done now and ready to take to guild meeting for the next 'show & tell'  After that, I have no idea what I'll do with it.  I'm also taking the pattern to the meeting so that if someone shows any interest in the quilt, they can have the pattern to make one of their own.  <smile>.

Not enough sleep last night  so there's a nap in my immediate future ( like as soon as I finish this blog) so that, this afternoon, I can devote my time and energy bonding with Mo'e over my Christmas quilt.  At the rate I'm going, it may be Valentine's Day before I can call it done and take it off from Mo'e.  Life sure has a way of interfering with my quilting.

TTYL

Another slow day

I didn't want to get 'into my groove' working with Mo'e this morning knowing that I'd have to stop to take hubby to his appointment a little after noon so I decided I'd do what I could on a gift I had received for Christmas.  It's a wall hanging kit that measures 13" x 15"so it shouldn't take too long to do.

I managed to get the background cut and sewn before I had to eat something/anything before leaving for the appointment.

Tonight, after dinner I cut out some of the pieces and now have them being held to the background with those teenie tiny applique pins.

There are still flowers, stems and leaves to cut out..I think I will stitch the sheep down before I add the flowers, etc.  I considered hand stitching, but decided that I'd rather sew by machine and get it done.



It's an hour later and I have the body of the bottom sheep and the ears & legs of the middle sheep sewn down using black thread and a double blanket stitch.  I think I'll try and match the thread to the fabric for the entire applique'.  Yes, the bottom sheep is a dark gray and I used black thread, but my dark gray thread would have looked the same, so I just stuck with the black.

Ok, almost time for the season premiere of Alaska Bush People... can't miss that!!

TTYL  Happy Quilting

Slow day

gloomy foggy day..and cold to boot - not freezin' cold, but in the thirties, which is still too cold to me.

I finally bit the bullet and removed the stitching that I didn't like on my Christmas quilt 2016; broke in my new DVD player and listened to/watched about 1/2 of one of my new Nunsense movies - the one where they go to Nashville to perform at the Grand Ol' Opry.

That was it, quilting wise.  The rest of my day was spent napping, grocery shopping ( and buying new phone for myself), eating dinner ( sandwiches from the deli) and just chilling.

Tomorrow afternoon, hubby has appointment to be fitted and equipped with his bi-pac.  I haven't told him that others have told me that it will take a while for him to get used to it, but it's worth it.  I'm hoping that he'll remember how it was in the hospital this past summer and he'll be fine.

After that, I'm free to work on whatever quilt project I feel like... will depend on how my legs & back feel; if I'm relatively pain free, I'll work with Mo'e on the Christmas quilt... if I'm hurting, then I'll work on something else that's on my 'to do' list.  I'm already two months behind on one of my BOM's... of course, I'm also several months behind on the one I started last January - I hope to get some help with that in the next week or so.

UFO's, BOMs, PIBs (projects in bins waiting ... and waiting)... I've got to get my chit together and get some 'stuff' done.

and on that note... TTYL

Shame on me!

Instead of removing the stitching that I don't like on my Christmas quilt yesterday, I worked on this... only thing done before was the background & border; finished it today - all except the quilting and binding.

I read in one of the groups I belong to on Facebook that someone's father told her that whatever you do on New Year's Day, that's what you'll be doing for the rest of the year.  Doing dishes was a given, so I did some... but I just didn't feel like sitting there ripping out stitches for an hour or so, so I decided I'd do something else that would, hopefully, be quick and pretty easy.

This could have been even easier, but I wanted to give it more of a 3-D effect and so all the full flowers (except one) are loosely attached by stitching on the green pieces in the center of each flower ( stamen/pistol - don't expect me to remember elementary school science) and a couple are tacked down a little bit along the edge to hide a stem that isn't there, etc.

I really like this and the way it came out.. I got more excited with each finished step.

So, no excuses now... I HAVE to rip those stitches out so that I can back to the fun part of quilting MY Christmas quilt.  This won't be the first time that I didn't get it done by Christmas; probably won't be the last either.

Oh wait!  I still have one more block that I need to do... for our guild prez, but it's not due til July, so it can wait a few more days.  I need to either find a cut of black cotton the size I need or I'm going to have to bite the bullet and cut into some yardage which is what I'm afraid I'll have to do and why I haven't started the block yet.  Good enough excuse?  Works for me <smile>

TTYL

Happy New Year!

I didn't think I was going to be able to get back on here today.  It's been so long since I've blogged - so much going on around here.
Hubby ended up having a double bypass on Aug 1st..and ended up staying in the hospital for the entire month...most of it in ICU due to his left lung collapsing twice.  After being released from the hospital, it was three weeks in residential re-hab.  Then it was on to cardio therapy three times a week, with a sleep study stuck in.  Thought everything was going well --until about noon on Christmas Day...12:20 p.m. I was driving him into the local E.R. for shortness of breath.  They admitted him and he was released on Tuesday.
While he was home and doing well, I did manage to get Christmas quilts finished and sent to their owners.

Wall hanging for oldest daughter

Snuggle quilt for 1/5 'Saginaw' grandkids

Snuggle quilt for "Saginaw granddaughter' 2/5

And another snuggle quilt 3/5

Wall hanging for parents of one of my grandsons

Reversible apron for neighbor, Joyce

Quilt for youngest daughter

   

Saginaw grandson (4/5)

                                        5/5 snuggle quilt for Saginaw granddaughter

Now, I'm finally able to get my annual Christmas quilt onto "Mo'e'.  I was just going to baste along the top yesterday, but I couldn't stop there... Oh no :(.  Stitching in the ditch between the border and first row/block went OK and so did the stitching around all the applique and I like the snowflakes I've done so far....not so happy with the stippling in the background;  I'm going to have to take it back out and do something different.
;

                                                 You can barely see the snowflakes

I like the idea of the snowflake in the corners.  Thinking that maybe I should make the piano keys narrower...maybe an inch and a half.  I like the texture of stitching in the trees - thinking every other tree ought to be enough.