IT WAS STRING DAY IN THE SEWING ROOM

This what I did today instead of working in the house....I wanted mindless sewing because I am having some kind of health flare....its started last night and now its still here today...I thought for sure it would be raining, its that kind of flare when the weather changes....but so far it hasn't ….its been cloudy all day though....

Back to the strings....my string box is overflowing and they do go fast and I figured I needed 112- 4 1/2 inch square string blocks to make a 8 inch big block to make a childs quilt....then add a border to it. Today I made 13 in no time so it wont take long to make them a few at a time....the part I hate is taking the paper off the back side...lol

Just about time for supper but that will be easy...port steak, mac salad, and buttered beets....most of it has to be warmed and the steak cooked so I wont be spending a lot of time in the kitchen....

I think I will be going to bed to watch tv tonight so maybe my aches and pain will settle down again....its always something as an obstacle in my way lol....more later....

CUTTING AND MORE CUTTING

I spent a good part of the day cutting squares from the pieces on my cutting table and a few from the stack of under 1 yard pieces that are at the back of the table....when i got tired of that i made a bunch of different size blocks....it was hard keeping all the different size squares for the right blocks some of them only a 1/4 inch difference....i finally had to quit about 4 pm because of my back....it was time to think about supper anyway...

I was going to find a back for the top i finished but didn't get that far this afternoon....maybe tomorrow i will get to it....gotta get some groceries again...seems like i am always emptying out a bottle of something....i try to keep up with the groceries  so i dont have so many to carry at a time....

Going to try to do a little machine quilting this week....before i quit 2 years ago i had a small quilt ready to quilt so i hope to do that one...it will tell me whether i should try to machine some of the others or do them by hand...

well i am tired tonight so maybe i will sleep....got up earlier today so havent got a lot of sleep in last night....will try to get some pics together tomorrow.....more later....

UFO's NOT WHAT YOU EXPECT!

Yes UFO's not unfinished objects...the tv was on while I was sewing and a UFO program came on, I cant see the tv from my sewing room but every now and then I heard something that they were talking about....of couse my mind wandered while sewing and I wondered what I would do if I looked out the window and a 'thing' looked back at me.....I don't care to find out though but I imagine there would be a mess where I was standing lol....to believe they exist? I don't know if I do or if its a fascination yet to be proved...only time will tell I suppose.....

Sewing is slow today, too many interruptions finally giving up at least for tonight.....arm and shoulder blade is sore I suppose from reaching around to get iron to press seams....maybe I need to change the set up....not many options though....more on this later.....

Short post tonight....going to get more of 'grandmas' fudge, a cold drink and kick off m shoes and relax maybe that will help the mood to sleep....more later....

GETTING REACQUAINTED WITH SEWING ROOM

I have been getting reacquainted with my sewing room again this week....I have such a mess with scraps and fabric everywhere in there along with unfinished quilts that I wonder if I will ever get it organized....

Today I didn't make it in there....it was very late when I got up no sleep till 5 am so I didn't want to get up before 11 am....I wish I knew why my sleeping was so bad...In the afternoon the lady that delivers produce to me stayed and visited and somehow the conversation got on quilted potholders so I gave her a few of mine...she seemed eager to get them being she does a lot of cooking from her produce and sells it...

Tonight I got hungry for something sweet so I made a batch of grandmas fudge...a recipe that is over 100 years old....tonights batch hardly needed beating before it was ready for the place....I think it was because the air was so dry....sure tasted good and satisfied my sweet tooth...

I am finding it hard to get back in the quilting 'groove' like I used to be....I guess age has something to do with it...and I suppose 2 heart attacks took their toll...

Tomorrow I plan on sewing most of the day if my back will let me....most of my supper is already fixed so it wil be easy to finish..yay! well its time for meds and maybe some sleep...more later....

IT'S ME, I'M SORTA BACK!

Yes its a voice from the past lol....i think i am back.....its been a long dry spell as far as posting is concerned and sewing for that matter...

Since i posted last couple years ago i have had 2 heart attacks and numerous other health problems and a humoungous amount of drs visits and blood tests which are still on going....my aches and pains have gotten stronger over the years which hampers me doing a lot of the things i like..

This week i went back to doing some sewing...i put together a quilt top that i already had blocks made up that was laying around in my clothes basket of blocks....i intend to send it off to an organization that finishes quilts and distributes them to kids all over the world....i recently saw where 4 of the last batch i sent them was finished and sent off to their new home....i think that gave me the insentive to sew again....

But i have found that sitting at the sewing machine aggrivates by back and legs so it will be a challenge now...i have so much to catch up on and one of the first things will be to try to organize my sewing room again...

Ok break time is over and i need to think about what's for supper...i hope to go back to the sewing room tonight and do more....lots of little things bogging down my table lol....more later....

MY 1-2-3 QUILT

This past week I was bored and needed to get back with sewing so I played with some graph paper and came up with the block pattern in this quilt...Now before anyone gets bent out of shape and says I stole their pattern I am not claiming it as mine...I am sure there is a pattern like this somewhere but until I find it or the name I am calling it 1-2-3 quilt...catchy huh? lol....it is an easy scrap quilt to put together and if you are a person that cuts your pieces ready for a quilt you may already have it waiting to happen...the sizes are 1 1/2 in., 2 1/2 in and 3 1/2 in. hence my 1-2-3 quilt lol..

Here are potholders with the design in them....they make up neat also...I am going to make a couple more sets today...

Right now I am deciding whether to stop with the size of the quilt and make it for charity or make it bigger with a couple borders for a  tv quilt...

What I really need to be doing is laying out a quilt to hand quilt....I have so many tops made....I get so frustrated with my back it interferes with all my plans and lately its really been hurting...Since I had shingles my health has had lot of ups and downs....it seems that the nerves in my body have been in such an uproar that it makes for uncertain good days....so I haven't been doing a lot....so I am trying to force the issue lol....hopefully I will have more to say next time...more later...

SIZE MATTERS

While sitting at my sewing table I started digging in my clothes basket of blocks...I like stars so I grabbed this bag...after analyzing it...I noticed it has odd size squares...this could be a lesson here ...now all of my cut squares are 'standard' quilt sizes...why did I cut these odd?

In the picture notice that size is 1 3/4 in squares...normally I would not do that but I think I had some leftover pieces I wanted to make stars and this was the size it took...but it will call for a lot more cutting of new fabric instead of using partial strips already cut...not a good plan....so I will try to think up something to do with them without too much more work with them....good lesson to learn if wanting to use scrap...

I worked with my graph paper last night on my 'new' block and came up with 2 varieties...gotta make the other block today and with a little luck you will see pics nex time...

I have groceries to get sometime today and  hopefully I will get to the quilt meeting tomorrow...missed the last 2...so lots to do today....more next time.....

CAN A NEW BLOCK BE MADE?

I took this picture out of archives today..its an original I dreamed up one afternoon couple years ago with the size scraps I had.....now I am trying to make a new block with scraps I have using more different size squares and rectangles....can a person make a new block or have they all been made lol....Not wanting to get too involved with a defined quilt of sorts at this time ...I want something I can have fun with....I cant believe just how much small yardage I have...its prettly well stacked at the front of my work table...the goal is to use off those piles first but somehow they get bigger not smaller lol..

I laid awake for 2 hours last night trying to envision a block and when I found it useless I got up and machine quilted a small runner before going back to bed...

I've been kind of lazy so far today...I guess I am sleepy because of lack of sleep I got last night...got some laundry to do when I final get going....got binding to put on 2 small items now....I found some half finished potholders buried on the table too that I could work on....not to mention the big clothes basket of block bags I have to finish...and the list goes on.....more later.....

TO EARLY FOR CHRISTMAS SEWING?

Its been a busy weekend so far....some of those Christmas blocks I tore up are now remade into this little topper...I used some of the squares for the outside border too...I wasn't sure I was going to be able to quilt on my little machine as the last time it threw a huge temper tantrum and wouldn't sew right...after messing with it 6 months ago I left it alone  before I had a stress fit.

Well this week I decided to see if it was over it...I adjusted the tension again and low and behold it wanted to quilt... but I am sooooo out of practice...tonight I tackled it again and made a lot of mistakes and had to rip out a lot but finally got it done...now its ready for a binding...maybe tomorrow...

I'm trying to get back to the sewing I did before but after 6 months of not sewing ya know its like starting over lol....

The rest of the weekend so far I have made a big batch of potato salad and homemade cookies....made homemade pizza Friday night with the leftovers from homemade spaghetti sauce.....do ya get the hint I did a lot of homemade cooking this week  hahaha.....

Ok i'm tired so that's why the humor I get a little crazy when I am tired....but its a good tired because I was sick the whole month of June with Shingles and still being bugged by the after effects...soo its off to lay down and watch tv before I doze off.....more later

4 MORE ROWS OF HEXES TO GO

Today when I was sewing more hex flowers on my flower quilt...I was thinking I only had 2 more rows to go and it will be time for the fill-in sections..but then I happen to do some figuring and I had forgotten that I had added 2 more flowers on the end of every row so that threw off the length f the quilt...soooo I have 4 rows to do before I get ready for the fill-ins....I have a lot more flowers to make lol....

I have been wondering what color to make the border on this quilt and I think its going to be an aqua color...there is a lot of that color in the quilt...It shouldn't overpower it being its only 1 hexie wide surrounded by the beige background...actually the way I see it it should help accent the aqua...beige and aqua always look good together...

Well I am extra tired tonight....I have been up all day not doing much and my headache is very bothersome but I tried to ignore it....Wednesday I go back to the doc...I lost my voice yesterday and so far today I cant talk either lol....so I have this bug yet....ok off to bed.....more later....

SOMETIMES LOOKING BACK IS GOOD

Yesterday I must have felt better because I was rummaging around in the sewing room and ran across the 2 yellow envelopes of doll patterns I made when dressing the Salvation Army dolls about 15 years ago.....

In the picture is one of the dolls I dressed for them and my own pattern for the dress...they gave us the basic pattern if you wanted more you made your own patterns....I had fun making those dresses and this week I needed the boost of seeing them to help me feel like I am worth something....it has not been a good week...my headache has not let up since June 9 when I first got sick and I am basically still sick and will go to doc this week for more meds....I keep trying to do things here at home but after awhile my headache starts pounding so then I have to lay down for awhile...I have also been worried that the rash is going to leave scarring on my face ..it has healed a lot but there are still half dollar size places that have not....this is the worse sinus infection I have ever had and they don't seem to be draining any...

Ok I have rattled on enough...more of a vent after I got started but maybe I needed that too....good day....more later....

A LITTLE QUILT WITH A STORY

When looking through my photo albums yesterday I found this little quilt...a little story came to mind....

My mother in law was a long time quilter and lived on a farm..one of her egg customers was a big shot in the old Princess Peggy factory that made house dresses in Peoria, Illinois in the 1940-50's...she often brought my MIL fabric sample sheets...my MIL would use them in a quilt....

One day she gave me some sheets she didn't want....I moved them from place to place wondering what I was going to do with them ... my hubby told me to throw them out...I couldn't do that lol...

One day several years later I finally said' today I will make a quilt with these little 1 inch things'...my daughter likes old things and I had her in mind when I started...I had to find sashing and borders with something that looked very old...When it was done I told her about it ..She remarked 'I love it and it looks like it had been drug through a rainstorm and had weathered'....so I guess you would say it was a success lol....

One thing for sure I don't think I will ever make another one that ends up less than 1 inch squares.....but then I also say 'never say never'.......more later.....

THINKING OF QUILTS

Yesterday I thought I should start staying up more because I am finding it harder to sleep now that I am a little better...
So I spent some time hand sewing posies on my flower garden quilt...My mind wanders all over while I am doing that and one of the topics went back to all the quilt tops I have waiting to be quilted....It wont be long and I will have this flower garden quilt top done and I really need to get a quilt laid out and quilted....But which one?...I have an 8 ft. closet in the sewing room and it is jam packed with quilt tops all hanging up smushed together...

I have been looking at pictures of quilts tops, mine and other pictures of quilts I have collected and put in a file for future ideas trying to get in the mood to quilt when I feel much better....I might even review some on here a time for two too...but for now I am going to finish my coffee and see if I can get a load of towels in to wash and maybe move around more.....more later.....

9-PATCH BLOCK PATTERN SHOULDN'T BE CLAIMED BY ANYONE WITHOUT HISTORY

I'm going to stick my nose out there for a minute...I read in one of my friends blogs about a lady giving her a bad time for making a quilt in the pattern the woman was going to publish in a book and take claim for the pattern...its a very old pattern and I think she needs to do more history on the block instead of claiming it as hers....heres mine...

 

 

 

 

 

...I have been making this pattern for over 40 years, a simple pattern that really doesn't need claimed by anyone...
...I have more but no more pics in pc....and I am not sure but I think I have a couple bags of odd 9 patch blocks ready for sashed....more later....

P.S. Oops I forgot....just look at the labels on the side for more 9 patch things I forgot I had on here...

 

 

HATS, HATS AND MORE HATS AND SCARVES

Today I thought I would post pictures of the knitting I did over winter this year...I decided to clean out all my leftover yarn I had accumulated in the past and do something with it.....sooo I made 30 single hats and 20 scarf and hat sets...the first pic shows the single hats that will go to the mens homeless shelter in the city and the second pic shows the sets...some of which will be Christmas presents for my family and the rest will go to the Salvations Army family unit in the city....

 

 

I really didn't realize I had so much yarn but they will all be out of here by Christmas this year then I will have space in my closet....This was my project from Jan.1 to April 30 this year....

I sure don't seem to be setting the world on fire today...Call it laziness or just haven't got started...I don't know which it is but I need to overcome it and get busy....

I have been scanning ideas for quilts and other sewing this morning so that is at least something...and I also added a couple blocks to my flower garden quilt...I am on the last 4 rows of it before I start the fill ins and the border...

My mind was wandering while sewing about getting a quilt laid out to quilt...that is the only way I am going to really get involved back in my sewing...more on this later....and more later....