The next baby quilt

I got started on another baby quilt that was already pin basted. I found some pink quilting thread that looks good with these fabrics. I am glad to have a stash of baby quilts because I am going to be switching projects soon.  I have been asked to make a t-shirt quilt for a Christmas present and I still need to get going on that disappearing nine patch quilt.  Since I have these two projects to do having the stash will be handy in case any more babies show up in the next few months.

Here are my marigolds that I started from seed. They have really grown! I noticed I need to deadhead them.

Lastly, here is a volunteer lavender plant that I found in the garden on July 31st.

Look how it has grown! It even has bloomed. Lavender plants are not cheap so this is like getting a free one!

xx

It is good to have a stash ...

that is a stash of baby quilts. My brother needs one to give to a friend who just had their second child.  Here  is the baby and the quilt that is now labeled.  I  just need to mail it.

His sister was born in December 2016. Here is her picture and the quilt she received.

I had a haircut after work so I didn't have much time to do anything by the time I got home except to make the label.   We did get some rain last night which was needed.  I guess I will have to mow the grass again this upcoming weekend.  I brought my stash of baby quilts to work because a co-worker needs one for a baby shower. The pile is dwindling before my eyes.

13th finish for 2020 and pants are done

Here is another finished baby quilt. The binding is pimento, a deep orange. It is 40" x 48".

I got the pants finished too! I am happy with how they turned out. I could have spent many more hours embroidering them, but I am not sure that would have been the best use of my time. I think they are cute the way they turned out.  I will hand them off sometime this week and will let you know what the lady thought of my fix.

Here is my pile of baby quilts. I need to take them to work so a lady can pick one for a baby shower gift. There are 13 or14 in this pile. My brother needs one also for a friend who just had a baby boy.  See - it doesn't take long and that pile will dwindle!

I was tired on Sunday from all the walking I did Friday and Saturday, so I just sat and embroidered for a few hours. Here is what the sample looks like now.

Next baby quilt

I got started last evening on quilting the next baby quilt. I plan on having this one done this weekend.

I finished embroidering the right leg of the work pants. I could have easily spent several more hours adding more, but they are just work pants and I think this is fancy enough.

I laid out the embroidery lines for the left leg. My challenge here will be how I can incorporate stitching the hole to look part of the design since it is much bigger. That is going to take some thinking!

I am going to take a vacation day tomorrow. I am running out of vacation days to be able to take Fridays off.  I have to save 6 days for the end of the year . Have a great weekend.

Still fixing the hole

I spent lunch time and after work stitching on those pants. Here is the inspiration picture.

Here is where I am at on the right leg. I used the hole to stick my little finger thru so I could keep the lining seperated from the outer fabric as I stitched.

All I have left to do on this leg is stitching the hole. I will satin stitch it in two directions then add a stem and some little stitches like I did on the other elements.  Next will be doing the left leg which will have a new set of design challenges since the hole is much bigger..

I'm fixing a hole ...

in my bosses work pants. She has a couple pair of older Carhartt work pants that have holes in the knees. She has a tendency to trip on stuff and fall down every once in awhile thus the holes in the knees.  These pants are really well made!  Look at the seams.  There is no way to take the seams apart and the pants are lined with flannel that is seamed the same way.  The flannel lining is sewn into the hems and the waistband.  On top of that they are a size 4!  It was all I could do to get my arm up the leg!

Here is the hole I fixed. Yes, it had to be done by hand.

She had previously repaired a hole. I thought about ripping it out and fixing it, but I didn't.

I have another pair to fix and they are older so I wanted to play around and do something fun. I had saved a picture of a model wearing a pair of jeans with embroidery on them and always loved the way it looked so I decide to fancy these work pants up. I got started last night and love the way it is looking on this leg.   The purple is my marking pen.

The other knee has a bigger hole which will make it easier to do the embroidery because I stick my finger thru the hole so I don't stitch the lining.

12th finish for 2020

The three day weekend was nice. On Friday I got the three baby quilts pin basted.

While watching the TDF I quilted the next baby quilt. I finished it on Sunday. It is 40" x 48". I don't know why the picture is so green.

Look what I found at the library! This book has all the Christmas stockings from the series that were in Cross Stitch and Country Crafts including the one I started.  I guess I have no excuse now not  to finish it!

I got a bit more stitched on the sampler.

I also did some walking, laundry, dishes, cleaning up the garage and other usual stuff.

Another top done

I managed to get this top done while I watched the TDF. Now I am in blogger hell. I can no longer revert back to the old version.  I am taking vacation tomorrow so I am looking forward to a three day weekend.  This is all in one paragraph because I didn't make a line with xx so I could put text after the picture and I can't figure out how to delete a draft so I could start over.  UGH!  Have a great weekend! 

A bit of sewing, a lot of yard work

Last evening I only had a small amount of time to sew. I did get four rows of blocks sewn together on the pink quilt top.

At lunchtime I worked on that sampler. The arrows are pointing to the lettering I have gotten done since the last time I posted a picture of this.

After work I noticed the grass needed mowed - AGAIN! I had just mowed it Friday, but with the rain we received Sunday morning and the cooler temps, the grass has gone crazy! I didn't have to mow the back, just the front and one of the side yards. I got the front done and part of the side yard when the battery ran out on the mower - I had forgot to charge it up before I decided to mow - so I trimmed a bit while I waited for the mower battery to charge up enough I could finish the side yard. After that I decided to pull a few weeds since it as cool out. After pulling a 5 gallon bucket of weeds I called it a day.

Earlier in the day I got a text from my sister. Remember this cross stitch stocking I said I started and never finished?

Well, I found the chart for the stocking, but the color key was cut off! What was I thinking? LOL!!

This stocking was in the Sept/Oct 1987 premier issue of Cross Stitch & Country Crafts Magazine. I looked around on ebay and told my sister about my problem. If I never found the color key it wouldn't be the end of the world and I wouldn't have to finish it! Win, win! Well, my sister told me to give her some time and she would look thru the magazines she had and wouldn't you know it she had that magazine so now I guess I have to finish it.

This is what the stocking will look like when it is done.

Backings and zucchini

I dug around last evening looking for backings for this newest batch of baby quilts. I found these three that will work.

I picked two good sized zucchini last night. I gave one to my neighbor and decided to make zucchini chips out of the other. The recipe I used was in a book I had - no, Kathy, I didn't use the one you recommended, big mistake on my part!. I had pressed the slices to try and get some of the water out of them and then put them in the oven for two hours at 225 degrees. All I got was soft zucchini pieces. I left them in the oven for another hour - no change. I set the oven on a lower temp for three more hours and went to bed. I happen to wake up just when the three hours was up so I checked on the zucchini. Still just soft. This morning when I got up I cranked the oven to 375 and they baked for another 50 minutes. Some of them finally got crispy and frankly, a little burnt, but a lot of the pieces were still just soft. I had rubbed them with a little olive oil and sprinkled paprika and garlic powder on them. The paprika is what burned. I am still going to eat them, but definitely will have to try a different method and on a weekend when I have more time. Trying to do this in an evening doesn't work.

16 patch tops

I got the mowing done on Friday night so I could spend the rest of the weekend working on those 16 patch blocks. I got that baby quilt top sewn together - the picture is kind of dark.

Then I started sewing together all the pieces for more blocks. Here are 79 blocks sewn together. This is all those trays of pieces I showed a few posts ago. Now I have something to work with!

Here is the completed top out of the tan and yellow patches

Then I laid out 30 of the pink blocks for this top

Lastly I took whatever blocks I had left and laid them out. I am not crazy about this. I had bought a few yards more of different pinks a few weeks ago, so I could make a few more blocks with the darker pink and a few with the lighter pinks and end up with two more quilt tops.

16 patch blocks continue

I didn't have much time to sew last evening. I did manage to get these five blocks made.

I rearranged the blocks I already had done and now have a top to sew together this weekend.

I have a pile of orphan blocks that eventually will go into a quilt once I get all the blocks made. It will be one using all the leftovers; sometimes those are the best!

I have gotten a bit more stitching done on that sampler.

Have a great weekend!