Now we're cooking!

I spent about an hour last evening pulling up the marigolds and a few weeds. It was 63 degrees out and it was so nice even though it was overcast. I got a phone call from a friend then went inside about 5:30. I got the six dark 9 patch blocks sewn and press then started sewing together the rows. The first two rows on the left, which is really the top, are sew together. We are cooking now! Tonight I plan on getting the next two rows sewn and hopefully can start on two more.

Lots of action yesterday!

Where should I start? Yesterday at lunch one of the ladies I work with helped me mark the vinyl coated material for that backup cover I need to make for that 8 foot round platform. We got the circle marked in a half hour! It would have taken me a half day to get it marked by myself! Either Thursday or Friday at lunch she is going to help me sew the two lengths together. Having a second pair of hands will make this hard job easier. Here are the scraps and the circle stored for now in the car.

I made a quick stop at the library to pick up a book and then decided to clean up the side yard when I got home. My neighbor's arborvitae is shedding and it makes such a mess. The leaf blower will only blow part of it so I had to rake the stubborn stuff that was stuck in the grass. This is the before - no after - but it does look better.

The fabric arrived for the baby quilt I am making for my niece's co-worker.

I dug thru my stash to find fabrics that would go with them. I was happy that I found so much!

I am going to make one of these chevron quilts out of this fabric.

Of course to get free shipping I found some fabric in the clearance bin to add to my order. I really like that weird print in the right hand piece. It is not as attractive in the red colorway, but it will get used. The white with the navy letters will make a cute backing for a baby quilt.

I finally got back to working on the dark flannel quilt. Here is where I am now.

I am going to change out the 9 patch blocks circled here. The contrast with the navy blocks is lost.

I needed one more color of 9 patch blocks for this quilt so I went thru the piles of blocks that still need made and decided on these.

I still have plenty of blocks to make more flannel quilts. Here are the ones that are sewn together and the ones that still need sewn.  I know, I went down a deep rabbit hole!  Wait to you see the pile of flannel strips for the pastel quilt!  Geeze!  What was I thinking!

Lastly, I cut the flannel for the backing so I can get it washed. I bought a bolt of this light gray flannel and it is 60" wide! I had found this at a fabric outlet place in Berlin, Ohio. They had a whole pile of bolts and I dug to find the nicest fabric. I think I paid $2 a yard.

Next

You remember all those flannel nine path blocks I was making for two quilts for Xmas? Well, I decided to try and get them made. Call me crazy!  To make these go faster I decided to use an alternating solid block instead of making every block a nine patch. I cut a bunch of 8" dark gray squares and here is where I am on the first one. Yes, I ran out of design wall so the last row I will tape to the fireplace.

Now that I see this picture, I may be moving those darker blocks at the bottom right.

Here is my handy dandy gizmo I use to clean the snow off my dish and a picture of where the dish is located.

Here is the progress on the latest cross stitch piece

16th finish for 2012

I finished the lavender quilt I needed for the 23rd. All I need to do is put a label on it. The quilt turned out 41.5" x 50.5".

I worked hard on Saturday getting the binding on the quilt and then worked on sewing together all the remaining fabric to make blocks for two more tops. I was still short 5 blocks so I went digging again for a lavender print. I hadn't looked thru my bin of vintage fabric and this is what I found - perfect!

So now I have one more top pin basted

and one more top ready to pin baste

I only had this piece left over

I had a bit of time Sunday evening so I finally finished my three smalls by stitching on the leaf shapes that covered the opening that I used to stuff them. I used embroidery thread and added the buttons for a finishing touch. Here are the fronts and backs.

This morning I had just enough time to get ready the vinyl for another one of those platform covers. One of my co-workers is going to help me mark the radius of the circle which will make that part of this job go much faster.

It snowed a bit on Saturday - nothing stuck - then it started again on Sunday around 11. It was a wet snow which means it stuck to the tv dish. I had tape together my jerry-rigged device - the electric chain saw extension pole with a paint stick fully extended plus a paint brush taped at a 90 degree angle - and cleaned off the dish 6 times! I have to reach up a story and a half to get to the dish. At one time the flakes were so big I felt like I was in a snow globe!

Yeah it is Friday!

I surprised myself and got the rest of the quilting done on the lavender quilt! I want to get the binding on it this weekend and then other than a label, it will be done! I will be handing it off on the 23rd so I am ahead of schedule on this one.

Usually I spend Friday after work goofing off. Maybe I will do some cross stitch while I watch Project Runway that I taped or just doing nothing. Not tonight. I have too much I want to get done this weekend. I would like to get the rest of those lavender blocks sewn together so they don't get set aside and forgotten. I would like to get a bit more yard clean up done too. A lady at work is going to help me mark out the backup platform cover I need to get made so I would like to get the material cut to size so we can work on it on Monday. We can lay the material out on the big tables at work; she will hold the end of the ruler where the center will be and I can mark for the 8' radius. This will be so much faster than me having to do this by myself. I need to get this cover done and shipped. Probably a trip to the grocery store and then who else knows what I might get into! Have a great weekend!

Lavender progress

I made good progress on quilting the lavender quilt. I am quilting it in lavender thread (a bit more on the red side, but it looks good) because I already had a bunch of bobbins wound that I didn't use on another project so I didn't have to wind bobbins which was nice. Here is what I got done

I will have to go digging thru my quilts to figure out one to give away. At work we have an intern from Uganda - remember she was here before and I had made her a quilt in 2019 to take back with her to Uganda.

Well, she is back for a year and had to move out of her sponsor's home and into a camper so at work the women are having a ThanksGIFTing party for her to help her furnish her camper instead of having a women's gift exchange Xmas party. I sure hope this is just temporary since campers are not warm in the winter time. I learned this from my friend who had to live in one for months in Louisiana when her home got flooded in a hurricane. So anyway, I will be digging around to see what I can give her. I sure wish I had a flannel quilt stash! I have plenty of flanne;I just need to get some quilts made!

Elle, thanks for the correction that it is no longer daylight savings time. I don't know what this time is called, but I don't like it! LOL!!!

Basting, stitching and a card

As soon as I got home from work I started doing some cleanup in the flower beds. It was too nice to go inside! I filled a wheelbarrow then went inside as it was starting to get dark at 5:15!   I hate daylight savings time!   I worked on putting together the first lavender baby quilt and I have it almost all pin basted.

I had enough linen leftover from that last little red sampler that I could start stitching the French sampler chart Cherie had sent me. It will be a French sampler stitched on Italian linen using Japanese floss! Here is the sampler picture and my little start which I will post updates every Tuesday.

In the mailbox was another birthday card. This one was from my sister. So cute!