I made these over a year ago

I got on my Facebook this morning and you can see the date in the corner. Over a year. They are in stacks in the sewing room.

Scraps were used and maybe a little variety had to be cut to make these blocks. 

I have many of these done and a couple more in the works. I haven't sewn for several days again. I had granddaughters over three days for several hours each day. So that isn't a good time to sew. I go to bed early because of pain, but don't sleep until way after midnight and up by 5 am. Not enough rest.

I need to be on a mission. We are experiencing indoor allergies this Winter. Probably have before and didn't identify it. I ordered some new mattress pads and I am going in to clean bedrooms first. They now suggest sheets be changed twice a week. Also they need to be washed in hot water. I am thinking the quilts should be washed more often. So my goal tomorrow is tackle the bed rooms.

Jeff has difficulty also so I will start there. He can't afford to be sick.

I went out shopping today. No fabric, but went to a thrift store and found baby clothing. Some still had tags on them from stores. I got a huge sack full for $10. I made a good haul there today. The baby is growing and is in 3 month clothes already just under three weeks old, but she was so big at birth. Well enjoy your evening Chris

Busy evening

Last evening we got visitors. Katelyn is talking more all the time. She was using small sentences and all of a sudden it is a long conversation. She was 2 in October. She was recalling an event that she was involved in recently and she had to act it out. We just laughed. Fun when they are changing and evolving.

Autumn made sure we knew she was the big sister now and she could do everything herself. She will be four in March. Her logic is she needs to control everything. Mommy had to go to an appointment, o she took the baby.

Today we get all three of the girls so should be interesting how that goes. The older girls are good for us, but will they give Charleigh personal space. LOL. 

I have a bouncy chair which is a sling chair that she can lay in and not be held all the time. Then tomorrow they will all be here again for birthday supper for Grandpa.

I need to go to the store this morning and look for meat for the birthday meal. It is suppose to be in the 50's so we are going to grill out. I plan on steak. If you watch your buys sometimes it is cheaper than hamburger. So girls are coming at noon and I need to go to the store early or wait until early tomorrow.  Sometimes they have mark downs to move packages fast. 

Regardless of how you voted or feel politically this is going to be a historic day. I am not normally outspoken about politics or religion, but I have lived through many events over my 65 years. This one feels different even strange. Many have hope in there being changes, but I have fear and strange feeling which I hope aren't going to come to be an event. 

I hope today will be an event you will look back on and the things you want it to be or hope will happen. Days ahead will be a new adventure. Chris

I am here, but uptight today

The weather has this horrible effect on me. We are to get rain for the next 5 days. Yippee!. The last rain we got hasn't all soaked in. There is flood warnings in our area.

This is like cabin fever also. I want Spring or at least sunlight. Neither is happening.
I am trying to watch a little bit of TV while posting this.

Saturday is my Husband's birthday he will be 67 years old. I am planning on a grill out. We have a small grill we can put on the porch and still not be out in cold weather and have grilled steaks.

I need to go to the store and buy the meat and some things for a salad, but it won't be any black tie affair. We like our jeans and sweatshirts.

Besides I want my hands on that baby too. She will be two weeks old on Friday. Where have those two weeks gone???

I have some house picking up to do and a couple floors need cleaning before they all get here.

Well hopefully the sun comes out. Chris

Hexie work going on.

Making progress while I am aching from the weather. There is going to be a lot of color in this one. I think it will be a table topper when finished. 

These are hexies that are 3/4 inch on a side. They cover the area faster, but more stitching to get them sewn together. 

I bought this book this last Fall and haven't decided to start the main quilt. I need to come up with the pieces for the templates or EPP piecing. I can order them, but they are expensive. I need to take some time and see if Inklingo has them online so I can just print them out. I use printer paper and seem to get along well with it. 

This is the author of the book sitting working on this quilt. This pattern was not in the book, but it was intriguing. So I decided on the size I wanted to make my hexagons and started sewing. I think a lot of quilters can come up patterns. Maybe they aren't the same size as advertised, but if it works keep sewing.

With this being scrappy as far as the color theme it was right up my alley. I thought at some point I might do one with a brown inplace of the red. Sky is the limit. 

I went shopping today for some groceries at the local Walmart. I just had to get out of the house. We haven't had sunlight for over 10 days and it is suppose to come out today, but not until 4pm and then it goes down soon after 5 pm. It is trying to burn off now. 

Saturday will be my husband's 67th birthday. Plan on the kids coming for a supper. Not sure what I want to cook. I think he knows something is up, but we haven't discussed it. He loves seeing the grandkids. 

Well going to do some more stitching then figure out what for supper. Oh I know order a pizza. Chris  

Gray and Gloomy

This is a project I worked on last Spring. I don't think they are sewn together yet into a top. Modified Courthouse Steps.

They have a 4-patch in the center instead of the usual square block for the center. I had a lot of strips so I just kept sewing. I need to find them and get it made into a top. 

I have a plan after this next weekend to get the backings all made to fit these tops I am assembling. I will then measure up what I need for batting. I have a tons of scraps which for the smaller lap quilts or baby quilts work. For a bed size quilts I like a solid sheet of batting. 

Then the room will need cleaning because all the digging and I will sandwich the tops with the back and batting. I have to look for a transparent Mono filament thread to experiment with. I have a stitch on my new machine that if you use the clear thread on the top and regular bobbin thread it looks like hand quilting. So I will try to accomplish the look I want. I am going to Joann's and see what brand they have tomorrow and then determine if I need to go to quilt shoppe to get something else. 

I know some people have preference, but the availability to me without ordering isn't an option in my neck of the woods. If anyone has a preference let me know.  

This morning I woke up to a funny feeling. I had this overwhelming urge to call my Mother. Which is not an option. She has been gone over a year and a half. I spoke to her in my own way and felt better. 

I think this was all brought on by my Granddaughters lack of concern for her family members. We have reached out and got the cold shoulder so I am letting it rest for now. I know my mother would have done that. Maybe she was trying to tell me to step back and take a deep breath. It is so hard when you know they are making a mistake.

Growing up for teenagers when you are the parents and grandparents they use to love and rely on, to no contact for the adults it is so very hard to cope with. Hopefully it all works out and it becomes easier to adjust to changes. 

Gloomy weather doesn't help either. I wish the sun would come out and give everyone a purpose for being alive today. Life is to hard to have so many gloomy feelings to deal with. Especially when the feelings are not something you can change. Hope and prayers. Chris

She is 10 days old

Charlotte Elisabeth is 10 days old. She sleeps about 5 hours at a time. She has regained to her birth weight and grown 3/4 inch since birth. She is just a little under 10 lbs. 

She is wearing 3-6 month clothes and size 1 in diapers from birth. She picks her head up and puts it where she wants it. 

Her hair is going to be wavey we think and really silvery blonde. 

We didn't get the worst of the storm. Some ice, but more rain. The ground has frost in it and the water is pooling on the lawn and my driveway. So by the end of the week we are to be up almost at 60 degrees. So it will seep away eventually. 

Stay safe Chris

1/4 inch difference

Got my act together get things organized for easier access to the EPP projects. As you can see the difference in the size of the hexies. The blue one is 1/2 inch hexie shapes on a side. The  

 orange is 3/4 inch on the side.

Of course more than one project doesn't get me bored. I have things ready in case we have weather issues over the next couple days. 

Last night I spent way to much time on Pinterest again, but I learned. Mind you I am a self taught quilter and sewer I haven't had any formal training in the sewing skills in school. I was way more advanced than the other students and the teacher was frustrated with me in a Junior high school class I was required to take. I was finished with the project and they had just begone to  get started on a project. 

The learning I  found out with searching last night was the Walking foot designs for quilting has advanced over the years. There are several sites that have very organic designs that I can see me using with my scrappy quilting style. I just looked into Walking Foot Designs and it was really eye opening. I have used a walking foot for many other things in my sewing life over the years. 

I saved a lot of the info for future reference. If you want a different look and if you are like me that free motion quilting is a horrible challenge this might get you closer to the look you want. Take your time. A walking foot works better if you slow down. 

I cooked a big package of stew meat the other day and froze 2/3 of it for future use. I made beef vegetable soup with the first amount. It was really good. I think I am going to get the other batch out and make beef and noodles today.

If I do this kind of cooking we have a good meal and it is not fast food. 

Hopefully you are not in the way of this storm and you maintain electricity. Stay safe and warm. Chris