Double Delight is a flmsy.

I spent all afternoon yesterday trying to figure out the best way to do the borders on my Double Delight. I wanted to use the same fabric for the borders that were in the quilt center, but only had a limited amount left. So I used my ruler, pen and paper and figured it out. I forgot about having EQ7 till I had it figured out. (sigh) Anyway, I used the fabric in order of the least amount I had of each of them. Did that make sense? LOL Here is the best picture I can do of the whole top. Kevin tried to hold it up, but it didn't even show the borders that way. It measures about 76"X86". I did not follow Bonnie's idea on borders, but I like it anyway. The only thing that I would have liked better would be if I had enough of the green fabric with chickens on it to put another border on it. Since I don't, it is what it is. (grin)

Here is a closeup of the top border.

Here is a closeup of the corners. Took me a while to figure out how short to cut the orangey fabric for the blocks to fit. I don't know why, but my mind just wouldn't work right. LOL

Aeris decided that it wasn't fair for Callie to be in all the pictures on my blog, so she jumped up on the DD before Callie had a chance to. Of course that irritated Callie, so then she wouldn't even get up there. LOL I tell you, it is like having two kids again. They spit and spat at each other, then curl up together and go to sleep.

I drug out all of my rulers to show you all. I think there are nine laying here. After reading all your comments, I am inclined to believe my problems with rulers are user error. LOL I must be holding my cutter to an angle or something. Anyway....I am making more of an effort to hold that baby straight when I cut. It is hard to tell, but when I cut a strip of fabric with these, then turn the strip around, you can see an area where it is bulged out. That is where my ruler is wallowed out. It isn't much, but it bothers me. As you can see, I am the queen of rulers. LOL I also have several specialty rulers. I probably have at least a dozen specialty rulers. Yes, I know, overkill. My hubby can't understand why I need so many rulers. Maybe I am a collector of rulers. LOL

The good thing about all these rulers...I bought all of them using coupons at one time or another. Otherwise, I would pass out, figuring what I spent on these. LOL

Today was the hottest day we have had in a while. Our weather guy said at 6 p.m. that the heat index was still 110*. YUCK! I have spent most of the day in where it is cool. Suppose to be some storms coming in later tonight. That will probably just make it more humid tomorrow. I spent most of the day making bindings for different projects. Also finished up the backing for Bob's quilt. Can you believe, I still have not sandwiched and basted it? Maybe this weekend. I think I have said that for the past 2 weekends now. LOL Here is what I did for the backing for Bob's quilt (Patriotic Shoo Fly).

I had enough of the red, white, and blue fabric for the length, but it wasn't wide enough and I didn't have enough of it to piece both sides. So I used fabric from the front and made a strip piece for each side.

I had about 1/2 yard of a white fabric with the pledge of allegiance on it, so I put a section in the center of each strip.

I had enough of the red, white, and blue fabric to make a binding, by doing lots of piecing.

Well, I guess that is enough from me for now. Thank you for visiting. Have a great day.

Finishing up the stripping.

I am coming to the end of my stripping, at least for now. I haven't even touched the lights yet, but decided to just do this about once a week instead of all at once. My sweet husband told me last night that I needed to do something fun today. He knows I tend to do something until I am overwhelmed. So I have just a few pieces left on the ironing board to cut. Then I am going to do something fun. This morning I made a quick trip to town. I needed to go to Sears to get some bobbins and I stopped by JoAnn's. I am wondering something.... Maybe you can help me. It seems like I need to replace my ruler about every 6 months. It gets wallowed out where I cut the most. Anyone else have this problem? I thought maybe I am holding my cutter wrong or something. I know I am tired of buying rulers. The blades are expensive enough without having to get a new ruler every few months. Here is what I picked up this morning. I bought an 18 mm rotary cutter at Walmart last week for trimming little pieces, but took it back today and got this 28 mm cutter. I think the 18 mm one was too small. I used coupons for all this and saved about half. sometimes I can't find anything to use my coupons on, but today I found good use for them.

See that pink 'W' over to the left? That is a notepad that I just had to have. I thought it was so cool to have a notepad shaped like the first letter of my name. Well, it is a pain to use. I bought this several years ago and found it when I was cleaning out my sewing drawer. I decided to get it out and get it used. I am using it for scrap paper. LOL

My package from Connecting Threads came today. I ordered a 'Country fat quarter sampler' and the Bow Tucks tote pattern. I have wanted this pattern for a while, so I am excited to get it. I am hoping to use it to make bags for our daughters for Christmas. I think they will like this design. I guess before I make too many decisions, though, I should make one and see how I like it. (grin)

Here is the country fat quarter sampler. I like their fabric and love their thread. I would recommend Connecting Threads to anyone. They also have good customer support.

I noticed while cutting all of those strips that I have mostly earthy colors or maybe autumn colors. So I picked out the browns/goldens/rusts/oranges/greens charm squares that I had cut. Aren't they pretty?

Hmmm, what to do with these? Then I found this Charm Pack Quilt Along. Perfect! I don't need to buy any charms. I have more than enough. I have some light fabric. I will make this quilt along by using these earth colored charms that I cut last week. What do you think? (Please don't tell me I have a screw loose. LOL I know I am already making 3 quilts for our SIL's , plus tote bags for the girls, plus the Raggedy Annie BOM, but what is one more project?) Anyway, I think I can do it. It won't be quilted any time soon, but I think using these charms will work. By the way, I did have other colors, but picked out the blues, pinks, purples, wild flowers, etc. Also, this is just the 5" squares. Lots and lots of other sizes cut and in bins.

It was another rainy weekend. In fact we have more rain coming in. I am glad I went over the garden before these rains started, but I am sure it needs it again. Just waiting on it to get dry enough. We have some large tomatoes setting on, but they are still green. My mouth waters just thinking about them. (grin) Well, I want to go play. Thanks for visiting. Have a great day.

Still Stripping!

I am taking a break to do a blog post. I have had a hideous mess. I just keep finding more and more scraps piled everywhere. Then I get this bright idea to cut all the scraps into usable strips. Wow, I have spent days cutting. I have dulled a new rotary blade, and I am still not done. I am pressing and cutting anything less than 1/8 yard. Here is the bin with 2" and 2 1/2" strips and blocks.

How long do you think they will stay this neat and orderly? Probably not long. It is hard to tell, but the 2 1/2" strips on the right are piled about 4 inches high so far. Lots of full length strips folded to fit. I also have a bin with 1" and 1 1/2 " strips, a bin with 3" and 3 1/2" strips, and a bin with 5" and 6 " strips and blocks. I figure I can always cut these down, but I cut strips as big as possible and work my way down. ( I guess I should say I am cutting anything 6 inches and smaller, since an 1/8 yard is just 4 1/2". LOL)

I keep finding things that give me ideas for other projects.  Like these HST's. These were the bonus blocks that I sewed when I was trimming snowball blocks for Terry's quilt, back in December. There are 60 of them and they measure 3 1/2". I know I can come up with something cute to do with these. (grin)

I am thinking pinwheels. I have also found leftover 9 patch strips, so I am going to go ahead and turn them into 9 patches. I'll figure out something to do with any that aren't the right size for my other 9 patches. I am also making bindings for quilts before I cut up the leftover fabrics. Glad I thought of that. LOL

The end is in sight! I just have this box. (Which is packed full.) and 2 smaller bins to cut up, and I am caught up.

Oh my, the picture makes it look kind of overwhelming, but I will get it done. I have promised myself that I won't cut out Jeremy's or Ivan's quilts till this mess is straightened up. My hubby has to work tomorrow, so I might let myself get Bob's quilt sandwiched. I want it ready to work on as soon as I finish my current hand quilting project. I haven't done any hand quilting or piecing all week. I have also gone through all of my yarn. I have a huge box crammed full of yarn leftover from previous projects ready to go to Carolyn. She crochets scrap afghans for Linus. I hope she can get lots of projects out of this. I saved everything that I had enough yarn for projects that I might want to work on. I still plan to learn to knit socks. I think that will be an after Christmas winter project. I have been putting things in bins and labeling everything. Hopefully I will not draw a blank when I need something. LOL

I also want to be ready to work on Kaaren's BOM starting on July 20th. It is redwork of Raggedy Annie and piecing. Really looking forward to this one. If you love this kind of thing, check it out. Kaaren shares some amazing designs she creates on the first Friday of the month.  Since I love redwork almost as much as piecing, this is right up my alley. (grin)  Well, I guess my break is over. Callie wants me to get the cutting mat cleaned off because that is where she likes to nap during the day. LOL Poor thing has had to sleep on the bed for the past couple of days. I even had her ironing board buried.  LOL Thank you for visiting. Have a great weekend.

Choices Made for SILs' Quilts

I have been busy today. It seems like Sunday, but I know it is Monday. LOL We are still having rain off and on and the humidity is up. The heat will probably come back this week too. Not looking forward to that, but not much I can do about it.

I decided this morning that my little sewing corner is in dire need of some cleaning. I am so bad about just piling things up till I can't find a thing. So I decided I'd do a little putting away and organizing before I start on Jeremy's or Ivan's quilts. This may take longer than I thought. (sigh) While putting things away I came across the quilt that has been a thorn in my side for a long time. It is Double Delight. It was a Bonnie Hunter mystery quilt a year or so ago. I love the quilt. The design is beautiful, but it has so many pieces and so much trimming. If I counted right, the center has 2,472 pieces. I would work on it for a while, then put it away. I have done this about 10 times now. LOL  Anyway, I found that I had half of the center put together. So of course, I decided to get the rest of it together. Now all I need to do is decide if I want to add borders or call it good. It already measures about 63X76 inches. I will think on it for a bit.

I will probably go ahead with some borders as soon as I get my cutting area cleaned up a bit.

I sent Cathryn several designs for Jeremy's quilt and she picked the plain 9 patch. She figured he would like it better.

I may jazz the borders up a little, but then again, he would probably rather have it just plain. Here are the fabrics I chose for his quilt.

I know Ivan likes brighter colors.  Hazel also chose a pretty plain pattern for his quilt, but she said it had to have the yellow in it. Kind of surprised me. I sent her at least 6 designs and this is what she chose.

He also likes stripes. So this is the fabric I picked for Ivan's quilt.

I have tried really hard to come up with quilts that the guys will love. Now I just need to get them made. LOL Tomorrow I will show you all the back that I pieced for Bob's quilt. Kevin really likes it. Now, I had better get back to that mess, so I can get to sewing. (grin) Everyone have a great evening. Thanks for visiting.

Winona

Happy 4th of July!

I hope you are all enjoying the 4th (at least those of us who live in the USA). It has been a very quiet, but peaceful day for us. Kevin told me this morning when I got up, to spend the day doing whatever I wanted. Hmmm, I was at JoAnn's when they opened. LOL Everything that I wanted was 50% off, plus I had that extra 10% off the total coupon. So I bought a few things. I got myself a new cutting mat. Mine is getting kind of nasty. I don't have room for a huge mat, so an 18X24 inch mat fits me perfectly. I debated on buying a 28 mm rotary cutter. Do they really help when cutting small patches? I have two 45 mm cutters, and they are working fine, so I decided to hold off on that purchase.  I did buy some more red floss for my redwork. They had very little fabric in the clearance area that I was interested in, but I did find a couple. I also found 4 little bundles of 5 coordinating fat quarters each, for half off. It is actually pretty good fabric.  I think I am going to quilt the Patriotic Shoo Fly with red cotton thread. Bren, did that shock you. I just wanted to use something other than white or natural this time. Hope I'm not making a mistake. Here is what I got this morning.

I just love the colors in those little bundles. Here is a better shot of those.

Yesterday morning I mowed while Kevin weed eated. I also went over the garden again. We have big green tomatoes, and blooms on the peppers, eggplant and green beans. Also the zucchini are getting big. I am thinking we will have some veggies from the garden soon. After the mowing, we hauled water. The place we haul water from is on the side of the firehouse in our home town. The crazy water would not shut off after we had our barrel full. Kevin was holding onto the hose, saying hit the kill switch. I was, but it wasn't responding. So I took over holding the hose and he tried to get it to stop. Nope. So we hurried uptown to try to find help. Twenty minutes later, they were still looking for someone with the key to the firehouse to shut the water off. Small towns, gotta love them. LOL I am sure several thousand gallons of water was wasted, but nothing we could do about it. After all of that excitement, we called it a day. LOL

Kevin spent the afternoon playing on the computer and watching tv. I spent it piecing a back for Bob's quilt. I am quite proud of it. I will try to get a picture of it before I put the sandwich together. I had a perfect piece of fabric for the backing. It was long enough, but not wide enough. So I improvised. (grin) Kevin said it was cool looking. After getting the backing pieced, I decided it was time to clean and oil my machine. I had another ohoh moment. I took the old needle out and laid it by the machine. Then  took the new needle and laid it out by the machine. Which one is old and which the new? Oh for pity's sake. I ended up just putting both of them back in the package and got a new needle. I'll figure it out another day. Sometimes I almost scare myself with the dumb things I do. LOL  Anyway, my machine is all ready to go for the next top. I have decided on the designs (with help from my daughters) and pulled the fabrics needed for both Jeremy's and Ivan's quilts. I'll show pictures of those tomorrow.

Kevin had the grill going when I got home from JoAnn's so we hurried up and grilled our burgers and hot dogs. Good thing we got that done, because it has been raining ever since. I am afraid the rain is going to put a damper on lots of celebrations.  We have one more day of this weekend, but it will be busy. I need to get the laundry all done and Kevin wants to repair a tire on my car. It has a slow leak. We have to air it up about once every 2 weeks, which isn't a big deal, but he wants to figure out what is wrong. I am so not looking forward to weighing in tomorrow. This weekend I have eaten, pizza, chips, ice cream and now burgers and hot dogs. I will have to work my tail off next week just to break even. LOL My trainer will really need to put me through the paces. Callie is my trainer. She sits on my tummy while I do crunches and watches from afar as I Sweat to the Oldies. Have you ever seen such a cute trainer? LOL

Well, I'd better get off here. Everyone have a fabulous and safe 4th. Thank you for visiting.

Happy Birthday Ashton!

Today is our oldest grandson's 7th birthday. It doesn't seem possible that our little man is already 7. We are so proud of him. He really is a kind and sweet young man. He cannot stand for anyone to be hurt or upset. Oh Ashton, Grandpa and I love you so much!

Ashton, we hope you have a great birthday. Love you lots. Grandpa sends his love too!

Thank you everyone for visiting! Kevin has lots planned for this weekend, so in case I don't get back here....Everyone in the USA have a wonderful and safe 4th of July!

Patriotic Shoo Fly is a flimsy.

I finished the last border last night. I had planned to add another border, but it measures 62"X80" now. This is supposed to be a lap quilt. Kevin told me it was plenty big enough. Yep, I agree. (grin) Carolyn emailed me. She said Bob's favorite color is red and he loves patriotic stuff. So this will be his. One down and 2 to go. I  pretty much have the fabric pulled for Jeremy's quilt, but still working on a design for Ivan.  Already pulled one fabric. Hazel said he likes stripes. I have a striped fabric with different greens and browns in it. I think he will like this. Anyway, here is Patriotic Shoo Fly also known as Bob's quilt. LOL

I added a little 4 inch border after this picture was taken. Here Kevin is holding it up for me.

I changed the corners on the pieced border, but the rest of it is just like my EQ7 design. It has two red corners like this and 2 blue ones.

I think I will work on a backing for this and maybe get it sandwiched and basted today. Maybe not. Basting a quilt is not my favorite part of quilting, but a necessary part, none the less. (sigh)  Here is a peak at what I am hand quilting right now. This one has been fun, just plain fun. LOL

I am also making 9 patches as leader/enders. I made these while piecing the PSF.

These are so much fun. I just love little 9 patches. They are made with 2 1/2 " squares.

You have already seen the bottom two here.

I spent the morning with mom. Got all her bills and meds ready for this month.  We had a good visit.

Our weather here has been perfect this week. Highs in the mid 80's and lows in the low 60's. We even had one night when it got down into the 50's. Wonderful weather for this time of the year in Missouri. Of course, all good things must come to an end. They are calling for rain on the 4th and a return to the heat and humidity. Oh well, we enjoyed it while we could.  Kevin is so excited. He has a 3 day weekend. The last long weekend, Memorial weekend, I spent in Lawrence and Kansas City, so he is really looking forward to this time. He has lots of projects planned and wants to grill. I plan to go buy burger, hot dogs, and chips tomorrow. We usually grill enough for several days when we grill. So maybe, no cooking for me this weekend. That is good. I don't think any of the kids are coming home. They all either have plans or have to work, so it will just be the two of us. 

Well, I guess, I'd better get off here and start Sweating to the Oldies. I did my Bible study before going to mom's this morning, but didn't have time to exercise, so need to do it this afternoon. Everyone have a wonderful day. Thanks for visiting.