more quilting

Kristin talked me into a late night quilting party, she helped me pin and position her T-shirt quilt and she promised to bind it herself! I quilted her name into the plain space on the front, she seemed pleased with it. Now on to 6 pillows.......

This is Roseanne's wedding quilt, it's beautiful! I know the lucky couple will love it!

This is a little table topper, I think Roseanne will scallop the borders, well that's what she did with the others I quilted that were this size. Kristin says these colors are boring...........hehehe...........if it' not brights it's boring to her. I love it, looks like my living room.

I brought 3 more quilts home to do for samples for the shop, I would like to have all the shop samples quilted but that's just not possible. I have one more planned sample to sew up for work then it's on to something new!!!! (I love to plan and start projects!) Ok I'm off to do a little speed cleaning then get ready for work at the bar, little miscommunication on the work schedule there......thought I had today off, oh well it's money.

Quilt group

Last night was our Orchard Quilt group meeting. Heart blocks were on the menu. Sandy and her mom Linda cut hearts and assembled, I stitched them down. Along with the 9 I had made there is 16 done. Everyone will be so proud of me....I handed them off to someone else (SIL Anita) to assemble into a quilt when the time comes. I also handed off that basket in the background (Sandy) there was an unfinished set of string blocks lurking in it's depths.......

Oh boy was I on a roll......these QAYG blocks left the meeting with Linda! I am so happy that my friends put up with me and my UFO's!

I am heading out to my studio to turn on the AC and spend the afternoon quilting, today it's time to catch up on other peoples quilts, clean a bit and organize! I am working on my input/outflow theory......output last night was good (thanks to the quilt girls) so maybe I can organize another group of UFO's for next month...hehehe...

Sunday

This is my first Matchless Star quilt fresh off the quilting frame. I love it!!! When I first put the batik background on I wasn't sure but now I love it! I am going to teach a class at Quilter's Candy Shoppe on this one! I will take this back to work with me on Friday to do the binding and to display with the other one for the class.

I was using up batting scraps today and this is another little quilt fresh off the frame. Mom sent me this awhile back, it was for a gift but she changed her mind. I like it with the bright pink thread in the white border, striped binding will just set it off. Next baby girl to show up is getting a sweet pink girly quilt. I put soft pink and white gingham flannel on the back.

Oh where oh where is the binding fairy when I need her? I'm 7 small quilts behind on binding....wow! I spent the day doing UFO's, started with the top shelf and I'm working my way down........my hoarding tendencies are getting the best of me and as Kristin put it "inflow is more than output". I looked at my quilting calendar and realized I am 50 quilts behind my goal for the year so far. ( I try to do 10 a month) Soooooooooo I'm going to take my Mom's advice and" do something, anything, even if it's wrong."

Kristin joined me in the studio this afternoon, we weathered the thunderstorm together. I quilted, she labeled her England photo's and filed them in the album. I got a kick out of seeing her working at her Grandma's sewing desk. I really enjoyed having a Sunday off of work, might make a habit out of it.

ready for college

Kristin will soon be leaving us again........I know she's ready to resume her college life. She will have a roommate this year, Ali has agreed to share so Kristin will have to learn how to share all over again. (no roommate for a year and a half and she is spoiled with extra room) The girls have decided to add a coffee table and pillows to the decor......no couch just beds and lots of pillows! Kristin leads a devotional group that meets in her room so a table is a great idea for meetings. I'm excited because these pillows have been cheap to make....recycled pillows hide beneath these cute covers. I figured after a year of being sat on and thrown around they can discard them without feeling bad that they cost a lot. She also found wicker boxes with cushions on top at Hobby Lobby for $10 each, storage and seating! Now if I would finish her t-shirt quilt.....

two posts in one day...

Kristin turns 20 tomorrow.........hope she likes Orange cake with butter cream frosting.

Austin is staying for a few days so I put him and Brad to work. Here they are painting Brad's bed frame. Two cans of spray paint and they need two more.

They are sleeping here tonight...........

Here's Austin starting to dig the fire pit, I sent marsh mellows out. Not to worried about the fire, it rained last night.

Looks like they are ready to camp.......hehehe.........in the back yard, if you look closely you can see my roof in the top left corner of this pic. Sara is spending the week at Dawn's with her daughter Rachel. Thursday we trade kids back. I enjoy having Austin around, keeps Brad busy!

Long week...

Kristin is working on her T-Shirt quilt, she found a bunch of leftover quilt blocks and pieces to put it together with. I can tell her what some of them are from....the gold and green floral was a quilt I did for Dad and Paula, the Tye-dyed fabric was Ashlee's, the 30's print Hole in the Barn Door blocks were from a Row by Row swap with the State Quilt Guild, cat fabric from blocks I did for an exchange and the old blocks I bought at a garage sale. She has sooooooooo many T-shirts, this is just her favorites.

Patches was her little helper.....what a cutie!

I started this little project today after I found a fridge stand for Kristin's mini fridge. She also mentioned making square shelves (easier to buy at the thrift store) well anyway brown is boring so I dug around and found a dictionary in Brad's discarded books....leftover from 6th grade.
I tried to get it all done before Kristin came home but no such luck so I let her do the shelves.
Kristin has a roommate this year so space is at a premium in their room. I think her bright colored accessories will look good with her bookish shelves.

It's been a long month around here, my father in law is in the hospital. He had a heart attack but wouldn't go to the doctor until he was so bad he didn't even know what time of day it was.(lack of oxygen) it was touch and go for awhile, he was just getting to the point of bringing him home when he climbed out of bed and broke his hip. So off to Norfolk to have it fixed, they weren't sure he would survive surgery but that went well and he is recovering slowly. It will be awhile before he comes home yet so it's going to be another long month....

fridays sewing

This is a repeat...........made the first one almost a year ago, sold it at Christmas. I still had 5 kits made up so today was the day to finally make another sample. You can find the pattern on Moda Bake Shop. Not going to quilt it for awhile, we will see how the kit sells without quilting. I love 30's prints.

I finally finished the Matchless Star sample quilt. (the second sample) This is another I will quilt at a later time. I have my first sample done and waiting for quilting, maybe this next week if things settle down. I only have one corner that I'm unhappy with but it's staying in now, the more I rip with this quilt the wonkier it gets, love all that bias.....

I have a plan for another one of these quilts but the way my summer is going it will be 2011 before I even get a chance to gather the fabric and remember where I put the pattern!
It's been a long day with the quilt shop then working the bar....think I'm settled down enough now to get some sleep......

My weekend

Friday at work I finished two quilt tops! I used our 5 yd quilt top patterns, I love the top quilt, the pinks are wonderful, the pic is terrible, sorry.....

This fun quilt is Newton the Sheep. I think it's fun and kind of sweet. I finished them and threw them over a rocking chair for display just before closing.

This bridge is just west of Ewing on the Elkhorn River. The bridge is standing but the road is gone, the river changed channels and left the bridge standing high and dry. Sara is sitting on the end of the bridge, gonna be awhile before they get this one fixed!

Thursday

I painted a frog. Drew and painted a frog. I asked Kristin for a frog picture two years ago when I remodeled the bathroom. She never had time so today while she was painting I joined her and painted my own frog. Now to find a frame.......

Kristin was working on her London England picture we found at Hobby Lobby in the clearance isle. It was really boring according to her so she livened it up with her own funky style. She is definitely a color gal! It was fun spending the afternoon being artsy.

4th of July

Family was here for a picnic, the kids played games.........and so did Flatty Katty.

Flatty Katty also played the part of Josh's parrot....the food was good and I know everyone had a great time, I ate and went to work, they enjoyed a movie, games, made cookies and played with fireworks.

This is Transportation by Michael Miller. It's on display at Quilters Candy Shoppe. I made up a few kits and when I bring it home I will make pillowcases to match with the leftover fabrics. (or throw pillows)

This is my 1st 5yd quilt. Stupid me had to pick one that is put together like a big puzzle, block by block. The fabric I used was Seasons with Norton, he's a little sheep who is rollerskating or ice skating thru the seasons. I think it's cute and I hope somebody else does and the sample sells the rest of the fabric.

The Country Market is this afternoon, Sara and I are planning to attend. I made cherry sauce and jam this week and today Sara made Chex Mix and Puppy Chow. Ok I better get moving........4:00p.m. will be here before I know it!

A finish

Flatty Katty enjoyed my latest finish. I started this afghan a few years ago, only had a skein left to put on so tonight while watching TV I finished it. I am going to put this one away in a box labeled for my future grand babies. Now don't anyone get excited.......no babies happening around here....I just know how fast time flies and I want to have something handmade for them to enjoy. I also am really slow at finishing afghans, if I want to have one done for each of my kid's babies I need to work on them once in awhile.

We named this little white kitty Flat Kat, or Flatty Katty as I call her, she is flat.....well her ribs are flat. More like a humans than the round shape like an animal. We think she got layed on when she was born, not sure but she seems to be healthy and she sure is happy!

Sammy likes the kitties now that they are a bit bigger, him and Toulous (not sure of the spelling, the kids named him after a cat from the Aristocats movie) used Brad as a pillow.

I did a little cooking and a bit of cleaning today after I picked Sara up from camp, took a nap on the couch and enjoyed my day off. The 4th will be a picnic at my in laws and work at the bar in the evening.

Finally

I finally got my bedroom wall done.......well one anyway. The top pic is stuff from my Mom's that she didn't want anymore so I took the frames and put my wedding pic's in them. I had a mauve frame and a gold metal frame I replaced, also hung our engagement pic in the grouping. I decided my style is a bit more traditional/plain than glitzy/glam so I also got rid of the gold flowered frames. Just a few little changes and no money spent...(Sara helped me decide on the arrangement of the pic's)

Here's a pic of my yard stick shelves.....in progress.

This is what the guys have been doing this week, another two feet and it will be deep enough for the block layer to start the basement. I just think they wanted a reason to buy this new toy.......

Hats

I loved using the round knitting machine.....until I broke it.
These hats will be heading off to Ohio soon, they are all for charity. I am trying to clean out stuff around here with the girls helping and these might as well be out of here since I won't be doing any more until I replace my machine.
I have lots to do around here and plan to make the most of the week off of work, so that means naps and such....oh I mean cleaning and such!!! I am going to make my yard stick shelves today so maybe I can really get something done for a change instead of just planning to do it.

Sara's bed

I put Sara to work painting her new bed frame. I bought it almost 20 years ago on an auction in Orchard, some old guy I can't remember his name....bought the mattress and frame for $5. I needed a bed for Kristin's room at the time, I got tired of sleeping in the chair with her when she was a baby. Along the way the Kristin upgraded to her own twin bed and the mattress was disposed of and the frame went to the well house. Sara got tired of having a bunk bed in her room now that she don't have to share with anyone so we hauled it out and she slept on the floor for awhile. I got tired of seeing her room look like a tornado hit it with everything all over........(for some reason she wouldn't use her nightstand and piled everything on the floor beside her mattress) so out came the $5 bed frame and a can of spray paint.

Kristin helped her cut boards to fit the bottom of the bed, not sure we needed them but better to be safe than sorry. I teased Kristin that I sent her to college to learn to use power tools..........gotta love stage crew!

We put the twin size mattress under her bed, that way when she has friends or Andrew stays over there is a place to sleep, easy enough to pull out and she stuffed the extra pillows under there too. They gave me stress over my 20 year old sheets......said they were stretched out. Hmmmm so I got it at a garage sale, sounds like my girls are getting picky!

I think they have plans to watch movie's in here now.....

Sara wants me to mention a thanks to her Grandma Flicsha on here, she loves her new purple fuzzy blanket, in fact the girls have been fighting over it for the last two days while remaking this room. I also want to mention the quilts, both made by Grandma, they look fantastic in here and Sara is so proud of them. I am really happy that the girls have made such an effort to clean out and simplify their rooms, makes living in them so pleasant.

Where have I been?

Let me introduce the newest members of our family. Sadie has put us all thru a lot of stress today with the birth of these sweet little babes. Last night I was sure she was going to have her puppies.........well this morning I let her out after a short sleep night, she was a really wet dog when I left for work so I made her stay outside. Kristin called at 11a.m. no dogs in the house. She started looking for them, Sammy showed up but no Sadie. Didn't see her all day so I came home and started looking....we combed the woods and all the outbuildings. No dog. We gave up and hoped for the best...... I was out watching the chickens and heard whining.......under the chicken house! Brad came out with a flashlight and shovel and started digging, we could tell by the sounds that she had them under the far corner from where she went in. Brad and I dug a hole big enough for him to lay in to reach up under the house and pull them out. We have 5 alive out of 6. Sadie didn't come out until Brad pulled the last pup out then she peaked out from under the house and looked at me like I was the meanest woman on Earth! She is now living in a basket with her babies in my bathroom, I even had to give her a bath.......the babies were clean but she sure wasn't!! I am so glad we found her, none of them would of made it thru the night....the raccoons would of came home and ate them. (we do have one less coon thanks to Kev) soooooooooo if anyone is interested these pups will be ready for new homes in 6 to 8 weeks....

This is Don's house............supposed to be corn fields in front and behind..........now it's river. All the roads are closed, a lot of water running thru Nebraska right now. No telling what kind of damage we're going to find when the waters go down.

This is one of Sammy and Nicki's babies, she has 5, oh they are soooo cute! Shorkie's are so cute! They will be ready for new home's in a month or so, in the pic they are about 2 weeks old.

Country Market in Clearwater, gonna be there on Wednesday night from 5-8. I'm hoping to have a different jelly featured each week. Not sure they will have the market this week due to the flooding...........

Here's the gang taking a break from all the demo. The inside is gutted and now they are waiting for a basement to be dug and the house to be set. Someday my brother-in-law will have a home.

Well that's whats been going on the last two weeks or so around here, the girls are cleaning my studio.......more on that another time.