On Sunday after sewing all those string blocks i decided to make a top out of some of them....This will go to an orphanage...I'm just sending the top....I don't machine quilt really good as i am basically a hand quilter so i think they could do a better job....
I have enough string blocks for 1/2 of another childs quilt...if i get ambitious and work on more blocks i could have another one for the ladies...I do have another quilt top almost ready to put together in the scrap basket pattern from using leaders and enders method of making blocks....those go so fast...
I am up early today as i have errands to do later and the fact is i didn't sleep all night....wide awake...if this keeps up i think i will see about a sleep study....its getting terrible....
Well i better be on my way...lots to do today....more later....
This isn't the new project i have planned but it is something that was needed...my string box was overflowing again...so i spent the whole weekend so far making string blocks...anything that was too small for a block got made into piano key type for a border or something else later...
I also worked a lot on my granddaughter flower quilt...adding 5 blocks finishing row 14....it wont be long before i have the top done...
I still have the white fabric to wash for the Christmas project i want to make....i think i will add more white fabric for the hexes to the load also...i got through that so fast and there is another quilt top i want to use with the leftover fabric from the flower gardens....just so many ideas so little time and energy lol.....i think i need a crew to help me lol...
Well its bedtime for me but i think i will play a game on the computer before i go...it always makes me sleepy so we will see if it does tonight .....more later....
Today my fabric order came with Christmas colors in it for my swap project i am making for our quilting group...I wont tell you what it is but i will show you some of the fabric...i hope it turns out well....I have been hunting ideas for Christmas all this week...havent come up with many yet...sure hope i find more....
So happy my kids returned home from their vacation ok...I am going there later to see them and my granddaughter who i havent seen for almost a year....all my grands are grown and the last one is in college ...they just shouldn't be all grown up yet lol....
Got to make up my mind for the dishes i am taking to the family reunion soon....got lots of ideas for that....guess it depends on how hard i want to work lol....i think cookies will be one of them....the little kids will need a dessert that is portable and cookies are good anytime...maybe some fresh fruit or i might make cinnamon rolls....i guess we wait and see lol...
Well off to the wash machine to do up the fabric that just came so i can get started on my project....more later....
Here is another cosmetic bag i made recently....this little one is like the tan one but they are so neat to make i might just keep making them....I am thinking about taking a bunch of them to my daughter to put in her shop...she is a beautitan and those would fit the purpose as she does nails too..
I have been trying to think of things to make for Christmas gifts this week...In a group i belong to on line is having a Christmas swap again this year....a box filled with goodies...Everyone tries to be unique and each year it gets harder to do that lol....
I also have been working on my granddaughters flower garden quilt which is no. 6 in my series and i think the last one....i will have a lot of solid color hexes leftover since i switched to the smaller posies for the last 3 tops i made....so will have to think of some way to use them...i do have a couple ideas that maybe might work so will have to work the kinks out later....more on this one later....
I am not sure i will ever get my sewing table free of leftover pieces....too big for me to call scrap if i can make other things from them....I have upteen amount of quilt tops that need to be finished so i dont need to make more at the present time....i am so looking for a charity that i can send some to to help them out....some are so specific in what they will take makes it hard when mine arent like what they want...i will keep looking....if you have ideas for me post them.....more later all.....
Lots have been going on the past couple weeks...i had to go for lab work...an annual thing so i could renew my meds...then the dr appointment....now its more tests as my anemia has gotten worse....It seems its always something when you get past 70...
I have been sewing though, mostly on the flower garden quilt for my granddaughter but been doing a few bags when i could keep my mind on them....the one on the left is about 20 inches square...one day i saw a lot of yellow and different greens in my 2 in stack and thought maybe there was enough for a bag...so that is how that one came about.
Last night i checked the leftover squares i had left and decided that i had enough for a cosmetic bag so i made the one here in the picture.....if i look on the table i probably could find more color combos to use for more bags...
My sewing table looks worse than ever right now...i thought i was making headway in the scrap using but i think i am just creating more mess.....i took one day and made several different blocks as i found scrap that would fit them...so a few quilts gained some blocks...
That is about it for now....maybe i will get out a quilt and put the border on it now that i have the piano keys done for it....i am a little anxious to see what it will look like when put together.....more later....
Finally i got the 2 cosmetic bags finished that i started last week...the first one went accordingly to plan lol...but the second one gave me a little trouble as did my machine...it was like the machine didn't want to run today it kept breaking my thread among other irritating things...but i stuck with it and got them done...
That is about all the ambition i have too today...i did leave all the lights on in there so i will be going back to do a little more sewing...on what i dont know yet...there is a lot i could do if i wanted to lol....
If there is anything good on tv tonight i will probably quit and watch whatever...just that kind of day...whatever happens happens...
not much else right at the moment for comment so all will have to wait til next time....more later....
I have been having back trouble again but did manage to sort through some things in the sewing room....Among the things I found was fabric like my daughters fan quilt...I was lacking the bottom part of the fan but now can make her quilt bigger....she will be happy about that....It will be a bigger bed size now...not sure on border yet...
I was lacking 15 blocks of making it bed size but had the blocks started then I thought ran out of the fabric...so over the weekend I started finishing the blocks so it can be put together...
On Saturday I
received my order for back material and my granddaughters purple fabric for the border on her flower garden quilt....I am set now for a lot of quilts so I am going to try not to order more fabric for quite awhile....
I worked out my sons scrap quilt...its a vertically brick put together diagonally....confused???....I will take pictures of it when I get the border on....have to make 47 more brick blocks to do that...more cutting for variety in the scrap....
Errands to do today so need to get another cup of coffee and get dressed and get out of here for a bit...2 stores to go to for groceries hope I don't irritate my back again.....more later....
This is what I have been doing the last couple days when time permitted...digging in my 'string' bin and making 4 1/2 inch blocks to be joined 
and make a 4 block, block....I plan on making 35 big blocks of 4 to make a quilt...I think I have 20 so far... not sure on border or not there is time to think on that one...I cant sit and make many of these at a time as I start to get nervous and have to quit...
I would like that bin to get down to half before I stop making blocks from it...I only want 1 bin of those things lol....and it doesn't take long for it to overflow....
Well I survived the clean up day lol....I threw out more than I thought I would want to part with and it was a good feeling but very emotional on some things that were my 2 husbands but time for them to go....and now its time for me to go...errands to do....more later....
Ok here is Grandmothers flower garden quilt top no. 5....I finished this over the winter of 14-15...Like all the others I've done it is hand sewn without the papers inside following the method other than English paper piecing...I am now working on No. 6 which I hope will be done by end of this summer then I can start to quilt all 6 of them....I chose to make all the quilt tops first so if I didn't make it each family member would have a top to get finished but I do hope I am around to quilt them all....
I had a busy holiday weekend...not socially but organizingly (is that a word) busy...I have been working on clearing off the 2 tables I have in the family room that I use for laying out quilts and quilting with my little portable machine....it has been piled high with new fabric ready to be washed and ironed which I spent most of the weekend doing....now to get it put away and the rest of the things off the table...its almost there...
Getting ready to work on my daughters scrappy quilt laying out and preparing it for hand quilting....maybe by the weekend coming I will be able to work on it...I can get a lot done on a weekend for some reason lol.....more later....
Today I finally got a picture taken of grandmothers flower garden no.4...this is in the series of I think 6 will be made...I say 6 but I am afraid there may be some hexes leftover that I made need to use up after no. 6....On no. 3 I decided these quilt tops needed a personality lol...so I started adding borders to them...it wasn't all that hard to do...
On finishing them after I quilt I will cut off the points and the zig that is sticking out on the ends so I can add binding on all of them...
My daughter came this afternoon and took her purse home...she was pleased that there was a zipper in it....that purse gave me a lesson I never thought of...a new way to put in a zipper that was recessed in a bag....hope I remember how it did it if I want to do it again.....more later....
Today Sunday I decided I had laid around long enough...with all I have to finish I should work 24 hrs a day...first I was going to try to use more scrap on my sewing table but thought no finish your daughters purse...I had a dilemma ...she wanted a zipper put in after I had sewn it together and I was dragging my feet figuring out how I was going to do it...Well this morning I tackled it....I had a lot of steps to finish it along with putting that zipper in with the finishing touches...but I did it!!!!!
I have several bags to finish and I have been working on hanging my ufo quilts in the craft closet in the sewing room...I cleared a space under the rack so they would hand ok...I am afraid I am going to run out of room but that should be an incentive to get some finished...right????...lol
I am feeling better but I am so tired...I think that spell took a lot out of me...last night I fixed a steak thought maybe all that protein would help...along with couple veggies and strawberries later....that should boost a little energy I would think....we'll see....more later....
Its Tuesday and its raining today...good day to sit and sew lol....I worked on more blocks till lunch time...
More last week end sewing was this big cosmetic bag....I have plans for it which I cant discuss in case someone is reading this lol...
This morning I worked on my daughters quilt which is the same pattern as the bag but bigger squares...it was made mostly with leader and enders...it went together so fast I hardly realized I had a quilt ready...maybe I will get to the border for it today...she wants a dark red border which will work fine I found out after laying it out...there is a lot of red in it so it should compliment it ok...
Yesterday I machine quilted the sections for another market bag...this one I really like its different...hope the picture will do it justice ...
I have a bunch of 1 yard reds that I need to wash up and put away so maybe that will be this afternoons job....we will see....more later....
The bag lady is at it again yes I made another one....the earlier ones were made from leftovers on my sewing table but this one was planned from my stash with just enough to make it too...it had me worried for a bit because I didn't measure to see how much I needed...but I think it turned out great...the 9 patches are peach colored not white as shown...
Yesterday I was going to work on a quilt in the sewing room but when I got there I found a bunch of different colored blue squares I decided to make a purse with them...so its done except for the straps and the top band...later today I will finish it I think....
I see another quick grocery trip to the store for the things I need for my seafood pasta salad I want to have for my supper....that will last a couple days and will be an easy meal....so I better get in gear and get going....I slept in today so the day will go so fast......more later...
Yesterday I finished a bag I had started about a month ago....I had decisions to make with finishing it so I just let it sit...I got tired of looking at it so I just did what I thought would be fine and it was....these blocks I used on it were small I like the effect but I don't like working with them so not sure I will use this size again...I plan on keeping this one for myself... bag size is 16x15 ....I made a 8 inch square bottom in it..i think it will hold a casserole or covered container for meetings...
Today the weather is so lousy I think probably I will spend it sewing or doing laundry or a little of both...of course I have more fabric I could wash/iron too....so I guess I will just dive in and do whatever...
I would like to finish my daughters quilt top today...it is made with the same scrappy pattern as the above bag but bigger blocks which went together fast and is good for leader and ender blocks...
Ok enough said today...got to get to work time is a-wastin'....more later....
I hope everyone had a blessed Easter....we had a small family gathering...it was nice for doing a lot of visiting which is hard when everyone is so busy these days....
This morning I finally wound up the camera and took a pic of the finished 9 patch/snowball quilt...it was such a joy working on this one....of late I haven't had time to just sit and hand quilt....hopefully I will be doing more of it...one of them will be that little green/aqua scrap quilt...its about the same size as this one 40 inches square...nice size to finish in a few days....
I think the guys took care of my sewage problem...at least I hope so....that is one problem I never want to see again in my lifetime lol.....when I was young problems didn't seem as big as they do now that age has taken over....I can understand my mother in her late years now lol....
Got errands to run this afternoon so I guess I better get my list of things ready...odds and ends at the grocery store for potato salad to go with the leftovers I brought home from my daughters easter sunday....more later.....
