202 HST's Later.....

Hello,

I have been busy working on my Daisy Star. I have worked for a few hours every day this week. Those HST's (half square triangles) are really time consuming for me. I do like the way Judy has you make them a little bigger and trim them down. It does take longer and is another step, but mine are much more accurate. Here is what a pile of 202 HST's looks like. LOL

I use a tip I learned from Bonnie Hunter and pin them together in groups of 10. Makes it much easier to keep track of. These are trimmings from 202 HST's.

I have had quite the struggle with Callie and my cutting mat. She insists on helping. LOL I must have put her down at least 8 times, then just gave up. LOL So I work around a big fluffy cat. I have to bribe her with treats to get a little free time for picture taking. I know, I am a pushover where my baby is concerned. Now that I have all of those HST's done, it is on to making blocks. There are 3 different blocks in this quilt, so I made one of each to make sure everything is going together right. Whew! It is. LOL
 Block A

Block B

Block C

Tomorrow I'm ready to start putting the blocks together. It should go pretty quickly now. I am enjoying this quilt, I only work with my sewing machine for a couple of hours a day. I thought that might keep me from burning out again. I finished quilting Birds and Blooms, but haven't gotten a picture yet. I have 3 projects that are now waiting for bindings. I found a scrap baby quilt that I pieced last summer. I have been quilting very simple lines in it while watching tv. I am enjoying that as well. I think I am officially out of my slump. LOL

It is windy here today and supposed to be worse tomorrow. Kevin says he wants to get some garden space tilled tomorrow. So maybe we will finally get some garden planted. (grin) Supposed to be severe storms coming in Friday. Hmm, that is my grocery day. Figures! I may postpone errand day. I hate driving in storms.

Well, my baby quilt is calling my name, so I'd better get with it. Thank you for visiting. Have a great evening.

I Am Starting a New Project!

Hello,

I tried to do this post on Friday, but for some reason every time I tried to load a picture, it failed. So I gave up. I am going to try again today. Kevin sent me fabric shopping on Friday. He said that always cheers me up. LOL I decided to do a Judy Laquidara project called Daisy Stars.I took my printed off pattern with me and pretty much picked fabric that matched Judy's. I liked her choices. She has great taste. Why mess with what works? LOL I bought this fabric at Wal Mart. Some don't like Wal Mart fabrics, but as long as I watch what I am getting, I have no problems with it. I don't have a lot of choice around here. The fabric cutting lady told me that they would stop selling fabric next year. Bummer! That just leaves JoAnn's and Hobby Lobby to buy fabric in my area.

Here is the pattern, Daisy Star, that I am using.

Isn't it cute? I don't have any plans for this quilt, just decided to make it for fun. Here is the fabric that I picked.

I only bought one extra fabric that I have no plans for, so it goes in the stash. I was so proud of myself for not buying lots of extra, but couldn't resist this one. It is so pretty.

It has been over 4 months since I have used my cutting mat. Callie has a thing about laying on it, encouraging me as I cut and plan blocks. I am thinking she has missed this quality time with her 'mom'. LOL As soon as I laid the fabric on the cutting mat to take pictures, she jumped right up there. Look how she is smiling. She is ready to help 'mom' again. LOL

I have the fabric all ready to start cutting. Now, I am going to get off here, put a new blade in my rotary cutter and get with it. It has rained here since Thursday evening, so I don't even have to feel guilty about anything. Nothing we could do outside anyway. I have things cooked up in the fridge for us to eat, so what is stopping me? LOL See you all later. Thanks for visiting and have a lovely Sunday.

My Lilacs Are Blooming!

Good evening,

I know that title probably doesn't excite many, but it sure does me. I will tell you about my lilacs. I have lived here for almost 33 years. I moved in with my husband after our wedding. This place had no lilacs.  Where I grew up we had lilacs. They are my favorite flower and I look forward to their blooms every spring. Now I tried to plant lilacs here more times than I can remember. I have transplanted starts from friends, my MIL, my parents' home, and several different mail order companies. They never survive more than 2 seasons. I decided that I just wasn't supposed to have lilacs. So I would just enjoy them at other homes. Then about 5 years ago, our daughter, Carolyn gave me some starts from hers to try one more time. She gave me several starts, but as usual, they all died, except one. (grin) I was so excited when it survived. I added some fertilizer and blood meal. I put a guard around it. I carried water to it. When I had goats, I warned them to leave my lilac bush alone.LOL I didn't quite trust them, so Kevin helped me put a fence around it.LOL I have babied this plant so much. Then  last year, I decided there was no use. It would never have blooms, but just keep spreading and be green. I was disappointed, but ok with that. So you can imagine how thrilled I was to find blooms this week while out walking in the yard! I have a blooming lilac!

Now I need to get back to babying it. It needs some trimming around the base. Aren't they beautiful?

I wish you could smell them. They smell so wonderful. I know, I am kind of lame, but I do love lilacs. LOL

While out and about in the yard, I took a couple of pictures of our fruit trees. Looks like we may have some cherries this year. These are tart cherries that make great pies. Our original tree blew down several years ago, but a couple of trees came up from dropped cherries. They are just now starting to put enough cherries on to do some good.

We have a couple of apple trees. I was shocked to see blooms on them. Our goats were not kind to them, so I just figured they would never bear fruit. I hope this means we might actually get a few apples. I need to get my books out and reread about pruning. It will have to wait till next winter, but if they are actually going to have fruit, I need to start pruning again.

We also have a couple of pear trees, 3 peach trees, some raspberries, blackberries, and grapes. Maybe this will be a fruitful year! (grin)

Thank you all for your ideas to get me out of my slump. I think I am on my way to getting my mojo back. I have worked on my Birds and Blooms for 2 evenings in a row. I have just a little bit of the top border left to quilt. I have also been looking through some books and magazines to spark an interest in a new project. Also thinking about a fabric shopping trip. Yep, I am slowly getting back into the groove. (grin)  Bren and Chris asked what tube piecing was. I think it is actually called tube quilting, but it looks more like piecing to me. LOL Anyway, here is a link that shows how to do it. It really does look neat, but mine didn't line up quite the way theirs did. That's ok, I figured it out anyway. LOL I hope this link works. If not, I will try again.

Well, time to get off the computer and do some quilting. (grin) Everyone have a nice evening. Thanks for visiting.




 

I'm in a Slump!

Good day to everyone,

I guess you all noticed that I did not post again last week. I am in such a slump. I have not gone this long without quilting since I began, over 3 years ago. I keep thinking I want to do something, but just can't get started. I have not used my sewing machine since Christmas. Well, I did mend a pair of Kevin's jeans, but that doesn't count because I hate mending. LOL  I have even been sitting in front of the tv with nothing in my hands to work on. What is wrong with me? I never do that. Any ideas on how to get my mojo back? About every 3 evenings, I do work on some redwork, but can't even do that consistently. Maybe I just needed a break from crafts, but I want to get back on the ball. Hmm, I have a couple of projects that I need to finish piecing and several flimsies to quilt, but maybe I just need to start a new project. What do you think?

Now after writing all that, I will say that spring is a busy time of the year for us. I have been working outside a lot. I love when it gets warm enough that I can hang my clothes on the line. I do that all spring, summer, and fall. We have been cleaning up after the rough winter, burning, and mowing. I will soon be planting some garden. I use to always have garden planted before the middle of March, but not this year. Last year, spray from the field across the road stunted our garden. We got nothing from it. So this year we decided to wait a little while to plant in hopes that they will get their spraying done before we have anything up. Our old neighbors have passed on and their property sold. The new people are not careful about spraying. We never use to have to worry about spray drift. Those days are gone.

Ok, enough belly aching. I have dishes to do, bananas to use up, meat loaf to fix, and animals to feed. So I will post a few pictures of some redwork, then get with it.
While in KC I started A Tisket a Tasket by Bunny Hill. This was a BOM last year, but I never got around to starting it, so I am only a year behind. LOL

Jan.'s block

Feb.'s block

Mar.'s block

Ok, not sure what is going on, but I am having a terrible time getting my pictures and captions to show up where I want them to. I now have April and May's blocks done, but haven't taken pictures of them yet. I am working on June. 

I need to get busy. This took longer than I expected. I will try to get back later in the week. Everyone have a great day. Thank you for visiting. 

A Visit from Madison!

  
Hello,
I made it back again. I thought I would share our Easter with you. We usually have a  whole family gathering for Easter, but everything was so crazy this year, we decided to just chill instead. Kevin and I grilled burgers and hot dogs. They sure were good. That afternoon, Isaiah and Madison came out. Isaiah helped his dad work on the brakes of our truck while I played with Madison. She has grown so much since Christmas. She sits up now and jabbers away. She has two bottom teeth. She loves her daddy. In fact, she doesn't really want him out of her sight. LOL I know the feeling is mutual. Isaiah takes such good care of his daughter.

Look at those teeth shining through.









Isaiah looking at his daughter. Sometimes it is hard for me to believe that our children are all grown up with children of their own. Time really does fly by when your family is young.

We had a wonderful visit with Isaiah and Madison. Even though our Easter wasn't like it usually is, it was still good. (grin)

I tried my hand at tube piecing. Mine didn't quite come out like it was supposed to, but I made it work. I love this black fabric. I have used it in several projects, but will soon be out of it. I made this table runner from the tube piecing. I quilted this while I was in Kansas City. Now it just needs a binding and to be washed. 

Here is a closeup of one of the center blocks.

Of course, you know I have to share the back. This one really looks neat on the back, if I do say so myself. (grin)

I really think I am about ready to get back to quilting. I have done nothing since being home. I just needed some time to kick back and relax. Of course, I couldn't do that till I had the house back in order. LOL I have even sat in front of the tv for the past few evenings with absolutely nothing in my hands to work on. That is very unusual for me. I am starting to feel the call of my fabric, though. 

Speaking of call....I talked to Noah on the phone the other day. He said, 'Grandma, when are you going to come back home?' How sweet is that?  He thinks I belong at their home now. (grin) I told him I would come visit soon. That seemed to satisfy him, so then he started rambling on about Sponge Bob. LOL Izzie got on the phone too, then had a fit when her mama tried to get it away from her. I do miss them. 

Well, I need to get some things done around here. Thanks for visiting. Have a great day.

I'm Back!

Hello everyone,

Do you all remember me? I thought I would be gone for a couple of weeks, but it ended up being a couple of months. I have been in Kansas City watching Noah and Izabella, two of our grandchildren. Their father is from Mexico. He and our daughter flew down there the first part of Feb. Ten days later, Hazel returned to KC, but Ivan went on to Mexico City to visit his family. Hazel had to go back to work and needed someone to take care of the kids for her. So of course, grandma stepped in. (grin)  I got so close to those two little darlings. Noah is 4 and Izzie will be 2 in May. I will admit that at first it was rather hard. After all, I haven't had children that young for at least 18 years, but I soon got used to it.

We had a few bumps along the way, but everyone survived. LOL Not long after I got there, I decided to cut some bangs for Izzie. Her hair is very fine and I couldn't keep a barrette in it. It was always hanging down in her eyes. I made the mistake of cutting them in front of Noah. A few days later I was sitting at the computer when I noticed how quiet it was. Hmm, not good! LOL Noah had pushed a toy up to the kitchen counter and got the scissors down. Yep! He cut the whole right side of Izzie's hair off. I just stood there gasping when I saw her. Noah took off and hid under his sleeping bag. LOL I found him and explained that only adults could cut hair. He must have understood, because he never did it again. His mama wasn't too happy when she saw it, but it will grow back. So Hazel tried to straighten the mess up. Now it looks like a boy's haircut, but it will grow back. Right?

We also had some issues with a certain little girl getting in the bathroom and pouring whole bottles of shampoo in the tub. I think that happened 3 times, till I finally started keeping the door shut. The problem was that Noah would forget to shut it when he pottied.  Then Izzie found the butter I had out softening for grilled cheese sandwiches. Hmm, yes, I had a greasy girl to take care of. LOL But all in all, things weren't too bad. After all, I was there for 2 months.

Hazel and I took them to the park a couple of times when the weather was nice enough. We had lots of snow in this 2 month period, so outings were sparse. They had so much fun on this slide.

This is Hazel, Izzie, and Noah at the park. I had so much fun with the kids, but I was so glad to get back home to my husband and kitties. Kevin did a wonderful job of keeping everything going around here while I was gone. The cats were both mad at me for a few hours after I got home, but were all over me after I went to bed. LOL Something how cats pout.

I got some projects done while I was gone, but not as much as I figured. I spent alot of  my time just playing with the kids. Izzie was fascinated with my hand quilting. She would run her little fingers over the quilted stitches, just like a quilter. I think I have a future quilter in the family. (grin) I keep all of my notions for quilting in a little purple zippered pouch. Goodness. I had to keep that on top of the mantel.  She just could not resist it. LOL  This is the first thing I finished hand quilting. I still need to put the binding on and wash it. The blue you see is a washout pencil. This is a Thimbleberries' pattern, but I can't remember the name. It was a lot of fun and quilted very quickly. Straight lines are easier.  Here is a closeup of the pumpkin block.

 





Here is a closeup of the star block.

 Finally a picture of the back.Not sure what is going on with the pictures. They are kind of just showing up where they want. LOL

 Whew! I think I have almost gotten through this post. It has been so long, I was afraid I would forget how. As you can see, I finally figured out how to change my blog appearance. I have tried numerous times to change it. Then I tried something new and it worked.(grin) I also updated the pictures of our grandbabies. This year has been rough so far for us. I think things are finally getting back on track. The merry-go-round is slowing down so that I can get off and get back to my normal life. I also want to thank everyone for the birthday wishes to me a little over a month ago. I really did appreciate it. I did not like Hazel's computer, so seldom used it. Besides every time I got on the computer, the kids got into something. Remember the haircut? LOL I hope to be back tomorrow and get into the groove of posting again. I am also trying to catch up with all my blog reading, but it may take a while. So until later...Thank you for visiting. Have a great day.