Wait for it!

 I haven't  forgotten to post...I was busy working on a baby quilt top along with other stuff - like trying to clear some workspace.

I'll be back to post hopefully tomorrow...with something I'm excited to show.

Ok, testing this out....

 Man, it's been over a year since I've posted anything so I'm going to try again. I just checked and the photos I've taken recently with my phone are also showing up on my tablet so I can share. (that's part of the reason I quit trying to blog - I had to type out the text on one device and then try to add the photos with another device - it just got too frustrating for me.)

So, I haven't done much quilt wise since before Thanksgiving...I just didn't feel like it. That has changed a bit - I think at least partly because I quit taking all my medications, both OTC and scripts. I'm still having a bit of a problem sleeping at night but it's getting better (I am still taking Tylenol pm most nights - the only way I can get to sleep some nights).

OK, on to the subject of quilting. I found a panel about hair stylists somewhere/ sometime last year and decided I'd make a wall hanging with it as a Christmas gift to my neighbor who's been doing my hair for the past year. It didn't get done before Christmas so I gave her an Amaryllis instead. Now, since I'm getting some energy back, I decided to finish it so I could give it to her.

Looking at it again, I realized that it was too big to hang by her station so I thought, well, I'll just make it a lap quilt instead. The day before yesterday I looked at it again and thought... " I'll make it into a tote bag!" and I did.

I spent the afternoon stitching and doing math...then finished it up yesterday. Wanna see it?

The last photo is the inside of the bag and each side has a pocket cut from the same panel as the sides and back of the exterior. 

Oh yeah, and the red heart is something I thought of and appliqued it on after I quilted the panel.

I'll be taking it to her at my next appointment this coming Wednesday and calling it a belated birthday gift - six weeks late :) .

Now, speaking of birthdays, my cousin who has a computerized long arm told me again last summer to pick out one of my tops and bring it, batting and backing over and she'd  quilt it for me as a birthday gift to me. She and her husband were gone a lot this fall so I didn't get it to her right away but I told her that I wasn't in a rush.

She got it back to me just before Christmas but I didn't do anything with it until today because of my lack of energy. All it needed was trimming and the binding & label made and sewn to the quilt but it was just too much work for me.

I got it done today! I LOVE IT!!!!

BQ4 by Maple Island Quilts

But before I could work on my birthday quilt, I had to finish a job one of my neighbors hired me to do.

One of her nieces apparently went down to Shipshewana and saw this quilt (bottom pic) and bought it for her aunt. My neighbor brought it to me and when I first saw it, I was gobsmacked - it is gorgeous. It looks pieced, but it isn't..it's a whole cloth print - but still gorgeous! Anyway, she wanted to hire me to make and install a sleeve on the back so that she could hang it in her home. It was going to require handstitching to attach the sleeve and I really don't like that much hand stitching ( I get bored and start taking bigger stitches) 56" x 2 sides plus the ends. But she's a sweet gal and didn't even blink twice when I said $25 for fabric and labor...yes, I might have gotten more but she's on a fixed income, too and I figured for her that was plenty. It didn't take me as long as I thought it might but I still have a very sore finger from the needle and I had to take a break overnight because my left hand kept cramping up ( all it was doing was holding the quilt, but " arthur" said "stop or else!".

So, that's it for this week. Hopefully, my tablet and phone continue to be cooperative with each other - and me so that I can get back to blogging. I've already started a baby quilt for the young gal who lives across the street from me...she's expecting a girl in April. Good time for me to check my project bins and find a cute quilt pattern with fabric, which I did! I'll have to show you later though...

Great to be back! 

Have a great - and safe - weekend.