A HEART ATTACK IS SLOWING ME DOWN!

If i was missed this past week i had a good reason, not a happy one though the outcome so far turned out better than expected....i had a heart attack!...my lungs was filling with fluid smothering the heart....i think i had all the tests in the hospital before they were through....i came home today with lots of instruction and lots of bp meds....so it will take some getting used to and a lot of trial and error....i dont mind telling you it will be a hard thing to do...

I am so tired and they took my arthritis meds away because of the health risk so now my arthritis is really kicking up a fuss....i can hardly move without pain....so lots to get used to there too...

sewing may have to take a back seat or i might not be able to do as much as i have in the past...but i will do as much as possible...i have so much to do!....

that is it in a nutshell about me for now so i have to wear a new groove in my life...is it too late to teach old dogs new tricks?? guess we will find out....more later....

QUILTER CACHE INSPIRED RUNNER

In the midst of all the other sewing i have been doing i found time to make a new runner....

It was inspired by Quilters Cache...i dont know why i went there, lord knows i have enough ideas to work out of my head but its always nice to find a new idea, right??...lol....its not entirely like the one they had pictured but similar....and i think their blocks were bigger in the center and i wanted triangles around the pinwheel...that is light yellow sashes around the pinwheel and a funky color green triangles...glad that one is used up...i still wonder why i bought it....that will need machine quilting this week sometime...

its such a very dreary day today i think the rest of the day will be spent putting blocks in therows of the gfg quilts and see if i can get a row done on each of them....got leftovers for supper so no cooking this evening, good time to just keep on sewing and forget the weather...now if the tv will co-operate and have something decent to watch while doing this lol....

by the time i get all that done i will probably have some sore fingers so maybe the rest of the week i can get caught up on the machine quilting...hope so.....more later...

GRANDSON'S "FOOTBALL" QUILT

First i have to say what a wild and not so nice a week this past one was....the flooding in the midwest, here included, the explosions in Boston and Texas...it makes a person sit up and take notice what is going on around them...i know i am more alert of my surroundings...just hope this next week and beyond is more safe for all of us....

while sitting here drinking my coffee reading some of the blogs i thought i better get some pictures taken...so here is my grandsons quilt with the final red border on it...i made up all the black blocks as much fabric as i had...

i would have liked 1 more row on the sides but it didn't work out....then i ran out of red fabric...then my order came with red in it for another project and it worked for the quilt so added another border...it still isn't as big as i would have liked it...but he can wrap up in it anyway....

i got out his pillowcases that match it and you can see a closeup of the football print...

i had planned on giving all the grandkids pillowcases but some were dragging feet about what they wanted so i still hadn't given those i had done to them....this is going to work out well...he will have a quilt and cases to take with him when he goes off to college this fall...

the sun is out today and it looks like a really nice day so i think i will get out and shop a little...didn't go to the store other night as i planned so more groceries to get....getting tired of the same ole, same ole meals here so i think another good idea is to make out menus for this next week and follow them...i got out more in the winter than i thought so didn't use a lot of the stock i gathered for bad weather so i should use it now...

going to cut the backing ready to piece for grandsons quilt later today too and then wash the pieces...i would rather iron 2 smaller pieces than 1 big one...have to piece it anyway as the quilt is 50x 72 then i can pin ready for quilting....trying to get brave enough to machine this one....trying to do a bigger one each time till i get comfortable doing large quilts by machine...oh i wish i had a longarm!....

i was dreaming while relaxing last night....about building an oversized 1 car garage up close to the house and making it into a sewing studio....i could  do that there is enough room and with a few short steps from the house even...oh that would be so nice...my sewing room is small and its jam packed...i am sure you all know about that in your world too.....well off to do whatever....more later....



FORGET SEWING, NEEDING AN "ARK"

YES forget sewing and start building an ark....we got 6+ inches of rain in a 24 hr period and now no one can get in or out of town as water is over the roadsand bridges that lead out of town....i havent seen the water that high since 1979....and those bridges are high off fields below...there are a few creeks that run into the spoon river and it can really go on a rampage....in fact i dont know when we got this much rain in the same time period before...and its not over yet....more rain is forcast today and tonight at least 2-3 more inches....then friday its to get colder and  "snow"???? geez whats next!!!!

i have water in the basement....i knew i would have ...it seeps in around the blocks at the base of the floor and runs to the drain when we get a lot of rain...i havent been down to look yet how bad and just hope no one put things back on the floor....i usually keep things off the floor because of that....am not looking forward to going down the steps as they are hard for me to navigate with my bad arthritis and i dont want to fall....

i worked on the modern quilt today trying to keep my mind off the basement and started putting the blocks together and trying to decide just how big to make this quilt...its looking good so far...

i should go to the store after supplies but the milk man and bread guy probably didn't make it so shelves will be empty and that is what i need lol...i could make some french bread it dont use milk  but i dont have a cow so am out of luck in that dept. i can cook around no milk though so no problem...got hamburger out but no ideas yet what to cook later...i'm more interested in sewing lol.....

schools are all closed all over the county today some are trying to clean up...others because they are rural and cant get to the students....bet the kids are happy! lol....

oh yea! its starting to rain again....well its 'backstroke' to the kitchen for me.....more later.....

SO MANY QUILTS -SO LITTLE TIME!!

Right now i have so many quilts going...i am beginning to feel bogged down....i know, its my own fault lol...but i can explain lol....

i have the snowball quilt you saw in last post but i was looking in the cabinet and found the fabric that was left from the pillowcases i made my grandson...i guess i havent taken a pic of those yet...

anyway i only had about 1 yard of the fabric left so i made blocks out of it alternating with red and blue to make it go farther....ran out of red and didn't think it was going to be big enough for him but i had ordered red for another project and it matched what i ran out of so after i wash it i can put the last border on it...will get pics when i get that border on....

then i got out the blocks of the modern quilt i have been working on all year now and then....

this is a pic i had in the archives but i have almost 70 blocks now and will make quite a few more before i decide just how big it will be....its going to be very striking in color....the pic dont do it justice....will try to get a better one later....

i have the backs for all the quilts now except the modern one so i can get going....and i also have 15 new blocks for the gfg quilts and will start again setting them in rows....

had a good after surgery checkup at the eye docs other day....i never went back for the check up when i was suppose to so he gave me a lecture lol....and i promised to go sooner than 5 years lol....i know i shouldn't take it lightly as i have had eye problems in the past and still have one that will go out of this world with me....

i got steel in my eye years ago and had to have rust scraped from the cornea dead center and it created a shadow that i see when i move my eyes and the new lens from cataract  surgery makes it more prominent to see...

rain, rain all week so i guess i will be sewing more maybe i can get caught up with the pics to show ya....more later....

WORKING ON ANOTHER UFO AND THE GFG'S

I got out another ufo recently and started looking it over and decided to make it bigger at the request of my daughter....

when i am finished it will be bed size...it is a snowball quilt made with mostly floral calico prints that i have had forever it seems...so when i went to make it bigger i dug everywhere i might find the same pieces to use that are in the quilt...and luckily i found just what i needed...

i have to sew the side and the bottom onto the main part yet .

there are squares of this print in the quilt and i have just enough to make a good size border around...

when i ordered the backing i was crossing my fingers that it would be something i liked....the name was 'ivory crinkle texture' something so i was worried it really would be crinkled and not smooth but when i t came i was very happy...it was just a hint of patterned ivory and the texture was great and the color was close to the color of the center of the blocks...

daily working on the gfg quilts is taking time from the other quilts but i do have to keep working on them if i am to get them done...i did 6 more blocks ready to add to rows this week so far....when i get to ten more i will post a pic of them too...you will get pretty tired of hearing about those quilts before i get them done i am thinking lol.....something different next time...maybe....more later...

MORE WORK ON FLOWER GARDEN QUILTS

Ever since i got the blue quilt done i worked on a few of the other quilts that i have started as i posted before but i went back all last week working more and more on the Grandmothers Flower Garden quilts...working on 2 at a time is a lot slower getting somewhere believe me!...

When i started the very first row at the beginning i didn't think to add the white around the outside half way before putting the block in the row so now i had to go back and add the white ones this week as i wanted to work on the the next row from this end...

I sure am glad i figured out to add the white to the blocks before i put them into rows now because to finish the top row i had to wrestle all the quilt to work on it putting the white on later....late last night i finished with all the little white ones so now i can start putting blocks in the row...those go faster being they are almost done when i do that....the above is a good tip for working on these using this method!...

And i have been making more blocks...doing some in various stages...today i basted several blocks and clipped them back to work on them further when the mood hits me....yesterday i finished some that you see in the picture below...

 that now just need the white around half way before they are placed in a row...i have almost the 7th row done on 1 quilt and now that i have the white across the top and i can add the 7th row to this quilt...yay! i am over half way on both of them....i havent been stopping to take out the basting after they are put in rows lately so one day i will just have to sit at the table and work on that before it is too big a job....

Thursday this week is the quilt ladies meeting again for the month so i will be showing the blue quilt and maybe a couple 4 patch and 9 patch runners to show they can be just as effective as an elaborate  block quilt with the use of nice color combos....i hope i can get them to see that lol...

i am going to keep working on the gfg quilts this week too now that i am on a roll with them...and for now back to work on them after i get the dishes done....more later....

FINISHED QUILT PICTURE AND STORY

I finally got the camera wound up today...i shouldn't wait so long to take the pics for the blog as i can forget things that i have done for a week when i skip around working on things....

the first one is the finished blue quilt with the detail picture of the quilting...it doesn't show up on the big pic of the whole quilt...i had bought the backing fabric about 2 years ago when i first started this quilt...

there is a story with this quilt....it started out as a 9 patch with white as the other color....after i got the quilt top finished i hated it....so i tore it up into blocks and packaged it up....then a couple years later i tore it up back to squares and started over adding the blue for 4 patches....it was a good idea because i think all the colors worked well.... 

my daughter was here last week and she held this quilt in her lap for a long time...i do think she wants it lol....she has had an interest in it from the beginning and she is a big lover of blue...lol

over the week end we got more snow...i dont think i have ever seen it snow for 3 days like it did this time....thank god it was almost a rain for part of it at times to keep the totals from accumulating more than it did....this morning i went out and shoveled off my back walk before anyone walked on it making it easier to shovel....now the sun is out so it should melt some today....got to make a trip to town to pick up meds this week so trying to get the snow out of my way so i dont fall...

today i had dinner brought in so i am about to go enjoy it...i made a big bowl of potato salad yesterday to have as something quick to go along with my meal to make cooking easier this week while i am sewing....good idea i think!...

i will have more things to talk about tomorrow or the next day depending on how busy i get....lately i am busier than usual or extra slow lol...see you later with more....

2 FINISHES

I

the fold back part is the pretty back ....i found this fabric and knew i had to use it as the back....it goes with the quilt so good..i may have quilted it too close i think...another ufo off my list...

this is the very last quilt made with the old courthouse step blocks i made a very long time ago...this was one of the first blocks i made when i really got into quilting big time....i must have made a thousand of them cause i sure have  made a lot of small quilts with them....guess i should have made a big bed quilt from them...but i thought i had them all done then found more...

here is the 'mini square' quilt i showed in another post all done now with a dark ruby red binding....it will go to my daughter as i mentioned before..

Well its off to quilt on the blue quilt...and hang up the 3rd load i have in the dryer....and make sense of my day....more later....

TABLE TOPPER FINISHED AND CURRENT QUILT DETAIL

I finally got going on the camera again....here is a closeup of the stitching on the blue quilt i have in the frame....the thread is navy and it is quilted on the diagonal ....its taking a little getting used to standing out like it is but i am getting used to it....

i have 3 light blue rows done so far...the quilting in the dark squares is jus outlining the squares on the inside of the square so the quilt is quilted pretty close....i have a small problem i noticed today...i have a wrinkle in the area of the back that i am working on that will require me to be very careful to work out....

here is a small blue table topper that i finished recently during our first snowstorm...it had been waiting to be done for quite awhile....i am glad to get it off my table....

today i worked more on the quilt in the frame for most of the day stopping long enough to get a meatloaf ready to bake...this time its a big one....i am used to making mini meatloaves so i dont have leftovers but i think meatloaf sandwiches will taste good for a change...i also got a  bowl of bake beans in the oven too....i will add a big lettuce salad and call it supper...haha and i might as well make enough salad for tomorrow cause i will be having the same thing tomorrow lol and the next day lol...

we have about 16 inches of snow on the ground right now and rain coming the last part of the week....it may cause some flooding around the area as it will start to melt all that snow....just hope i dont end up with water in the basement...there is mud everywhere so the ground isn't froze either....

i have more pictures to post so keep watching for more and of course i am always working on something...cant stand to have my hands idle anymore....so many things so little time!!!! lol....more later....

CHALLENGE PROJECT POSTED

I am posting a picture of a recent challenge i participated in , in my quilting group....the host just posted the pictures so i can post mine....

the challenge was how we viewed 'Apple Pandowdy'....i chose to let the fabric colors be it....a description as follows:
starting with the outside row....the red is the apples...the next row in which is a brown instead of white with red is the dough, the white in the next layer is the cream i would put on to and the next layer is more apples and the center is the dough....i know its far fetched but i dont have an embroidery machine to do graphic things and i didn't want to do applique so that was my version lol...i wouldn't blame you if it left you scratchig your head lol.....

i finally got a quilt laid out and put in my quilting frame....

where you see the light blue space in diagonal rows is where i am quilting a long feather the length of a row in each of those light blue spaces....i am also doing something a little different for me too...i am using navy thread for hand quilting this time....i wanted to show the feather and take up some of the blank space....dont know what i am going to quilt the border yet...got a little time before it get to it...lol...

we have gotten a lot of snow this past 2 weeks today included....i got out yesterday for some groceries before i got snowed in again so i will have plenty of time for quilting....the really only problem i have is my sore fingers if they arent sore from quilting i make them sore from working on the girls' grandmothers flower garden....but such is life!....more later....

GETTING A LOT DONE THIS WEEK

Yes i am getting a lot of sewing done this week...from the 'old' bags of projects in my basket to the new one that i am going to show you today....

this quilt started because i wanted something more to show off the strings instead of just putting the strings side by side...so i thought maybe stars on the outside of them would be good....then i decided it needed more color than the rust so opted for the green in the white space....this quilt makes me think southwest u.s. or mexico....it is bright in person...my laptop doesn't show colors very well i dont think....there is a bright rust and a brighter green in the picture than shown....

i double stitched to make the triangles for the flying geese so i now have a lot of rust triangle squares and green ones too from the leftovers to make something more....

that makes very little waste in this quilt...the ends of the strips were about the only waste i had....as you can tell i started making pinwheels from the green ones so far just not sure where its going yet lol....

i have just 3 small   UFO quilts left to quilt and maybe will get 2 of them done today then the rest of the ufos will be bigger ones to work on....got to lay out another large batt to be ready as i want to put one of the larger quilts in the frame to hand quilt a diagonal feather design down throughout the quilt....

i made my new challenge item for my sewing group but cant show till they are all shown so that is out but i did finish a ufo topper and the little mini squares quilt i showed in last post ....did all this yesterday....so i hope today is just as productive.....more later....

FINISHED RUNNERS PLUS

Well here are 2 pictures of runners i finished....i am so disappointed....they are batiks and they photograph bad....in an earlier post i posted one of them and these didn't turn out any better...in person they are fine....i guess that is what counts but they wont look very good in the book i keep pics of my projects in

They are about 12 x30 inches,

the bottom one a little smaller....but i got a lot of practice with my machine quilting on them....

More practice is coming....i have i hope the last of the smaller quilts with courthouse steps to quilt....i could have finished it while back when i mentioned it, as i had a back ready but changed my mind and ordered fabric i saw for the back...

The fabric at the top is the back and the lower one is the quilt....I think it will look great with the variety of color the quilt has....so i am going to work on it sometime over the week end unless i get side tracked....

I made a bunch of labels for my quilts while i was waiting for the new quilting foot to come to replace the one that broke....and now  i have all but 3 sewn in the quilts....guess i should have made more of them....i have a bunch of partial filled bobbins that would be good to use up ready to wind for full bobbins and new quilting....

I took this picture through the storm door of the back porch and yard....we dodged a big snowstorm that was headed to the midwest thursday over night....we only got less than 2 inches....i was glad so i didn't have to shovel snow....we need the moisture and have gotten a lot of rain this winter instead of snow that should help....its blowing and dreary looking today so i suppose the snow could blow...but it looks like we got some ice on top of it .....

well going to sew this afternoon after i figure out what kind of a meal i will have later...maybe something simple so i can sew more....lord knows i need to sew 24 hours a day as many projects i have going at the moment....more pics about them are coming in more posts lol....but for now gotta run.....more later....

SOME PROJECTS GETTING NEW HOME

I thought maybe i should come in and post now as i gotta get some groceries and run errands, then wrap my granddaughters birthday present....

Her present is the quilt i made and i made her a pillow complete with pillow form like the quilt also....

then there is the pillow form and pillow like the table runner she wanted too...she already has the runner...

its a small one that she says works over the arm of her sofa so the pillow to match should look good there too...i dont think she will need more pillows for awhile lol....she already bought  some in the colors of the quilt above....both pillows measure 18 inches square so they are good size ones....

Maybe i will get to do a little other sewing later today....i have projects sittin all over right now....its finish time i think before i start anything new....i would like to get the rest of the blocks made for the 'stringy stars' quilt i am working on....i am liking it quite well...no pics yet.....lol...dragging my feet on that....and of course i would like to get the quilting done that i started before my quilt foot broke....so lots of things i should be doing....so i guess i better get going....more later....

SLAVING ON THE FLOWER GARDEN QUILT

No i havent abandoned my blog...lol...i have been working steadily on the grandmothers flower garden...slaving away on first one part of it then another....first i went through all the clipped combos and re did the colors as i was getting too many different colors in a block....then i basted a lot of them and then proceeded to finish the blocks complete with half the white that i put around them ready to go in a row....

this picture is one i had before but some of the ones in the pic are ones i remade blocks of this week....i have 30 of them  ready now..i laid out the 2 quilts on the floor so i could see what colors are in both...i found that i needed to go back and cut out more of some of the kinds i already had....

1 strip makes a block and a third of the main color for each block so a strip doesn't go far....and i run out of them often....

tonight my fingers are so sore from holding and maneuvering the hexes around while i sew so i guess i better give them a rest....not to mention the hand that i use to hold the needle with....i havent been sewing anything else all week end or since the new week started....just slaving on the flower garden quilt.....

i havent even checked to see if my new quilting foot fits that i ordered....it looks like the old one did so i am pretty sure its ok....

got to take time out for groceries sometime this week.....the weather is even going to co operate....may get to the 40+ degrees too....that would be a big plus considering i hate getting out in the cold....

the quilt gals want to see the flower garden quilts for show and tell this week so i will pack it all up ready to take with me...i would rather wait till i have more rows done but then they might be too big to handle lol....

i remeasured and i have to have 13 rows across and 11 rows in length so i have a long way to go before they are done....i think i will miss my goal of March for them....so i will aim for next Christmas....lol....for now though i am going to grab some popcorn and watch tv ......more later....