Senior Citizens Day

I finally got there today. I reached 62 years old on Valentine's Day 2014. Where do the years go?

Other years I really minded being a year older, but as I read the obits in the paper and see all the people my age passing away I guess I celebrate each day that I'm here.

Yesterday I has sewing machine issues and today I made my seam allowances to large. So tomorrow I regroup and look at it in a different light. Funny how we have to step back and say I can do better than this. Mind you progress is being made, but a few set backs happen.

I went to my Mother's house you know the enabler and she let me go through her stash and I brought home a whole bunch more of it.I brought a fair size stack of blue fabrics. Some are very large prints, but when you cut them into 1 inch strings and 2.5 inch blocks they look different than the whole piece.

When my Mom gives up sewing all of it will be coming to my house anyway. She has a whole entire clothes closet full of fabric so that is one of the reasons I am frantically sewing up all the small scraps into blocks and quilts. Maybe other than backs I will not have to buy anything more for the rest of my life. Time will tell.

I hope all of you had a Nice Valentine's Day. Chris

I think I'm trying to get to much done....

91 string blocks made. I said 100, but maybe won't be enough. I have to sew these all together and it will shrink in size quite a bit. Maybe two more rows in length or I mean width. So instead of 100 it would be 126 of them. 

This is 3.5 inch 9-patches with HST's all around. So a 9-patch in a square. As I cut scraps up I'm using up small pieces to make the 9-patches. Maybe by next year I will be up to 100 of these. I've made this twice before, but I made them in larger blocks. One was queen size and the other an over sized twin. Will have to see where this one takes me. This is the fun of using scraps you can make as many or as few as you want. Never ending options. Like borders or pieced together and no outside borders or all over just the blocks. Set on point or straight setting. Crib, lap robe, twin or any size you want. 

This is a fill in project as I cut up again. The issue I have is the light pieces are not something I have a lot of. So as I find a piece I cut it to work in the 2.5 inch pieces and also for the HST's. No real plan just for the fun of it. I wanted challenging, but attractive blocks. I really have to look at what I'm doing when stitching this big block together. 

I have found I'm not doing a stellar job in sewing 1/4 inch seams. I've had to restitch several seams. You would think I would learn. I am going to see what my problem is and try and correct it today. I think I'm in to much of a hurry. I am letting the last of the seam slide to the  left side and not paying attention. That seems to be the place where I have to do my corrections. 

Last night I was stitching along and had an awful time. The stitching was looping terrible on the back of the seam. Well my bobbin winder for this machine is wore out. So I have a Sidewinder and it must not have had the right tension because the bobbin was loopy in the middle of the winding. I finally changed bobbins and all is well. Threading and bobbins are the biggest downfalls of loopy stitching. Always take time and stop clean, oil and new needle plus re-thread top and bobbin. Most of the time your tension will improve. 

We have a Dr. appt. today for my husband's yearly check up. Nothing has changed drastically, but the law says you have to see the Dr. to get your meds renewed. Today will be taken up with windshield time and waiting. Stay safe today. Chris    

Lots of little pieces and threads everywhere

As I'm going through piles of fabrics and cutting I found some fabrics already cut into the sizes I need. So that tells me I have no form of organization skills as I was cutting. Now that I'm "trying" to do better  I want to stop and sew in between and not getting a quilt done. Can't win for loosing.  

Here is part of the sewing that has been going on. Another large block is complete. I have failed to have enough light fabrics in my stash. So as I find them in my tubs I immediately cut them to get this  farther down the road to being a block. I took a picture of two of them side by side. 

The above picture wasn't centered so took another one closer and it is way off balance or centered in the picture frame. Lack of sleep. I did stay in bed until almost 4 am this morning and not 1:30 am like yesterday morning.  

While going through tubs I found all this. Well need to qualify this.My granddaughter helped me clean last summer and she shoved things into tubs with out marking. Hey it looked cleaner, but not organized. So that is where I'm at. Trying to get through the tubs to get better organized has been an interesting process. Found things I forgot I had and things that really need to be pitched.    

I had two tubs of darker 1.5 inch strips. This is what makes the smaller 9-patches that are shown above. They are only 3.5 inches raw. They are an element for 9-patch in a square. Which is another leader and ender project. 

What ever scrap saving methods you use has to better to start with then going back and trying to make heads or tails of what I have. But as I said
I had help. I wasn't feeling the best at the time when all this was going on and just the help was a blessing. 

Still stitching every minute I can. Going to try and get some cleaning of threads that I have tracked everywhere in the house. I think I'm finally getting back into the sewing mood as of late. Funny how we all go through that. Chris 

Oh My......

The air temp outside is -29 degrees F. I was going out to run errands today. Maybe will have to rethink this today. Been up since 1:30 am. It was like I was suppose to be up. Already sewn for 5 hours this morning.

I did another round of cutting on a couple stacks of fabric. I found more that I had cut in another tub that wasn't marked. So it looks like I did more than what I did. I made 11 more string blocks. So up to 71 blocks of the 100.

Today I need to do some cooking. Had breakfast for supper last night. We do that every once in a while.
Ham and eggs tasted good for a change. Same boring meals this time of the year seem to make for a ho-hum meal time.

Well off to get more sewing done. See how much it warms up later. Chris

 

Little Stinker

 We are almost a year old. She will be on March 2nd. It just doesn't seem possible. She is Miss Techy. Phone in one hand and remote in the other hand. She is prepared.     

I think the Devil is in her eye right there in this picture. She has been walking for over a month and is now running. So she is going to be a handful to keep up with this Summer when outside in the fresh air. 

We like the camera also and she hams it up to show off. 

 She now eats everything. 6 teeth and more starting to pop through. She loves mac and cheese and green beans. Girl after my own heart. So today this was my Little Sunshine for the day. Off to the sewing room to get some stitching done. Chris

What was I thinking!

Remember I told you I was going through old quilting magazines? Well I take some to my Mother and she reads them and then I get them back. I made the mistake this morning of going through 5 of them and guess what I found three ideas for quilts. I was suppose to purge them from my collection. Sure that won't happen now. Maybe will not make them right away, but they are ones I like the looks of. Elements for them fall in the category of the size pieces I work with all the time. I guess I just keep cutting and some day I will run out of fabric. NOT....... 

These are the 4-patches I have been working on as I sew some of the string blocks. The batch is divided into 8 blocks per bundle. That way I have some idea if I'm getting close to the amount I need. Trying this method now because I can't count right. Old Age getting me. LOL

Here is a bunch of save cut off HST. As I was making other quilts if I used a 2 squares to make a HST I would save the other side for   

it was to hard to throw it away. So these bonus HST are coming in handy.My husband  stood at the door to my sewing room yesterday and just shook his head. I know he would like to get a dumpster and fill it up. But think of all the work  I put into this and still can sew for decades and not see a dent in the progress. What we treasure is amazing sometimes.

This stack is to be tackled next. I have 30 more piles just like it to work through. Strings, squares, all need to be cut and whittle through this mess. Then the sewing. I think I maybe will have to order a case of two of battings and maybe thread one of these days.  

Here is some of the progress I have made with the strings. These are 1 inch strips sew onto 4.5 inch telephone book squares. I think I have 60 of them now and I want to work to 100.

These cold days are really wearing on us, so I turn on the lights, the iron and the Netflix and keep going. I'm now watching a former TV series called "Hawthorn". It is Jada Pinka Smith as a head nurse in a large hospital. Having worked in a hospital I can relate to all that is going on. I think there is 4 seasons of it to get through.

Going to get the baby today for awhile. Mom has to go to her first Dr.'s appointment for the new baby. I decided that she needs a baby doll to say she has her own baby. Maybe it will help with the new baby coming. Maybe not? Keep sewing Chris

Well got a lot done, but not sleeping

Yes I was up early and all tole today I think I sewed almost 6 hours and the day isn't over with yet. I decided while I was up I would put the time to good use.

I think I cut for about an hour and got through several little stacks of fabric pieces. If it wasn't something like a green that I would use for applique pieces I cut it up. Some was big floral like tropical floral that I started slicing up. You can cut a strip from it and have different looks to the squares you cut from it.

I also got some more paper pieces cut for sashing. I have a bunch of blocks made up that will be put together with string sashing.

I think I have 60- 4.5 inch string squares made. I plan on 100 of them and go from there. I'm sure what ever layout I use a border will be used. I also made tons of 4 patch blocks. They are 4.5 inch blocks. I want to keep up with making a few here and there.

We shoveled 3.5 inches of snow over 24 hours. Below freezing temps and -30 wind chills again for tomorrow.  Hopefully they will have school tomorrow. They will be in school clear into July at the rate the weather has effected school being in session.

Sad part is we will be getting more in a few days. This has been a hard Winter for many and yet to dry for others. We are getting close To Spring each day. The days are longer which is another good sign.

Stay warm and safe. Chris