{Post 1,749} Sew Many Quilts Finished!

 

This has been such a busy month. I had more customer quilt tops than ever to quilt. Had what I thought was going to be a first-time, one-time experience...I quilted a double knit quilt. No sooner did I finish it than I got THREE more double knit tops to machine quilt for customers. They turn out beautiful, but I personally had enough double knit in the ‘70s. Here are some customer quilts that I did since my last post.

Next up are two I Spy quilts I made for two of my children for their children. One was for four boys and the other for two girls. 

This is the back of the boys’ quilt (the second one with the triangles)...

I made some quilts and a hard candy bag to give away...

I quilted some tops I had made in the past to sell. There is a brick and mortar store that sells my quilts on commission.

I had 6 small (3”) churn dash blocks left over when I quilted an antique top for a customer. One end of the quilt was damaged, so I had to remove the whole row. These 6 blocks were still in decent shape. I made two myself and then hand-quilted this little runner for the top of my grandmother’s treadle sewing machine that I am fortunate to have. 

Today is my husband’s birthday. I am baking him a loaf of his favorite bread and a pound cake tomorrow. Too much going on today to do that. We went to a Longhorns restaurant for supper. The meal was perfect in every way. I said he did not look happy in the picture. He normally has a great smile. He said he was just too relaxed...and too full of good food.

 

{Post 1,748} Then and Now

 

I have always been a paper girl. Now that electronics and Alexa run our lives, I STILL prefer pen and paper. I made a list of our freezer contents this AM. I will check items off as I use them. I list them by category (mostly meat, fruit, and veggies). If I have more than one of the item, I put that many open circles after it. I put an X through the circle when I use it up. It saves on a lot of waste. I haven’t done it in (ahem) a while. I threw a couple bags of frozen veggies that were over 3 years expired. Can you say FREEZER BURN?? But in my defense, one was a bag of peas that we use as an ice pack. We kept the last one so many years that all the print came off the bag onto my son’s face when he had his wisdom teeth out. That was pretty funny. I thought it was bruising because I didn’t know he got “the bag”. Then I saw that his check said “farm fresh” in mirror image...good times at the Parkers!!

I unexpectedly had an opportunity to help some friends last night, so I’ve been fully engaged and otherwise connected to a 4 and 6-year-old until a little while ago. The family is moving to NYC to do missionary work and got a place to rent much more quickly than they expected. They had been on the road, but shot home to pack up and move as much as they can before heading up there to sign a lease. I watched the kids and kept them overnight so they could get more done faster.

Now I’m off to mail a completed customer quilt and then back to start machine quilting the next one. 

I am enjoying my bullet journal so much. It is keeping my time in line and showing me baby steps of progress. I was recording some progress recently. It was the labeling, binding, and washing of a finished quilt. I was thinking, “I’ll miss working on you, #38.” Here is a sample page from my journal. The numbers circled in pink ink correspond to my list at the beginning of the journal which is just the list of UFOs.

For those who are fellow plant lovers...may I re-introduce my lemon button fern...

What are YOU working on?? Until we meet again...

{Post 1,747} Where Am I and What Am I Doing Here?

It’s been a long time since I’ve posted. So much is going on in my life. My quilting business has been going great guns, and I’ve never advertised or even looked for work. I guess it’s one of those things that is somewhat unusual. So when someone is pleased and hears about another person looking for someone to machine quilt or them, they naturally tell them about my service. I thought things would slow down after the holidays, but it’s the opposite. Three new customers (heretofore complete strangers) have given me 7 quilts to machine quilt and some to do finishing sewing on. Plus, I have at least 7 quilt tops of my own to quilt. 

In the meantime, my daughter’s in-laws have both had coronavirus and been hospitalized recently. Her FIL is still in the hospital. So my SIL went to care for them and will be back Wednesday. They asked me to come be with my daughter while he is gone. So I’ve pulled up stakes in one day and have been here for three days now. 

When I travel, I usually take a handwork project. I didn’t have much time to plan, so I brought this UFO that I started in 2008. I wish it was a bit bigger, and that is why (I think) I’ve never been excited about finishing it. Plus I don’t have a room where I’m dying to use it anymore. I can find a place for it in our home though. So I have spent a few hours on this. Mostly I’ve tried to be available for whatever my daughter needs and to visit with her when she wants. Here is my project. The border is completely unquilted. You can see the texture from the hand quilting in the photo.. The arrow is pointing to a red row with green on both sides...all three rows are unquilted.

Here are two of the reasons I’m here...to take care of the mama of these two little ones (20 months and 2 months). Don’t be taken in by the cuteness—they run the place!

Have I told you about my freezer meal ministry? I’ll have to go back to read and check. One of my friends that lives here near my daughter fell and broke her hip and wrist and has had surgery on both. Whew! Talk about big changes in a day! Her family has dietary restrictions (no dairy or gluten), so I had to be selective about meals. Today I assembled Easy Sausage Gumbo, Easy Chicken Taco Soup, Chicken Pot Pie, White Chicken Chili, and Crock Pot Chicken Teriyaki. They are assembled into a gallon-sized freezer bags and laid flat to freeze. When one wants to cook them, they go into the frig the day before to soften up a bit, then cook in a slow cooker for varying times. The meals taste fresh because they are all fresh ingredients and freshly cooked. The nice thing is that the recipient can decide when they want to make them,, and they take up minimal space in the freezer until then. I will be assembling some for my daughter before I go as well.

That’s about it for now. I am awful about taking pictures. 

{Post 1746} Sewing Like A Whirling Dervish

 When I’m not sewing, I’m thinking about what projects I need to finish. My son is getting married 4/24. I am moving his queen-sized wedding quilt to the top of my list because it is so intricate. Well, I thought it was. I ended up making 6 light star and 1 dark star block this AM. That was because I cut down a bunch of scraps last night to use. The blocks finish at 9” square. Before my sewing session, I needed 15 light and 15 dark blocks. Then I add those 30 blocks to the mother ship and add a 5” border. So the end is in sight. I just wanted to cut down all the small squares I had in my drawers to get them out and used up. The squares are 2” before being sewn. 

I took a break from home schooling while my grandson ate a little something. Back to the salt mines now.

{Post 1,745} Pennsylvania Bound

 I am making two quilts from soup to nuts as the saying goes. They are the same pattern—Virginia Bound from Bonnie Hunter. As of two days ago, I had the centers pieced for both of them. One is PA Bound and the other is TX Bound. Not only is it unusual for me to be making two customer quilts at the same time, but they wanted the same pattern. I doubt that will ever happen again! 

This AM I finished the PA Bound one. On to the quilting, labeling, and binding. Oh, she also wants a matching sham, so I WILL be making more of these blocks! This measures 78” x 94” with all four borders. These pictures were taken last night after dark in my kitchen. Not quite enough room to lay out everything. I didn’t bother to pull it out completely flat,  but it is in real life. 

A good friend I recently made in PA gave me a tiny shoot of her lemon button fern. It has finally started growing rapidly. I love my houseplants. Fern “leaves” are called fronds. Baby fronds are called fiddleheads. 

My soon-to-be daughter likes the word fiddlehead nearly as much as I do, so I took the above pic to send her.

Speaking of my DIL-to-be, I am making her and my son a bed quilt for a wedding gift. I started this back in 2008, and it has been marinating quite nicely in my drawer of UFOs. The squares FINISH at 1-1/2” square. I could have drafted a pattern from the quilt, but miraculously, I found the book that has the pattern in it. It’s “Save the Scraps” from Gayle Bong. This AM I am drafting out the finished size they want and all to see how many more blocks I need to make. She wants an 18” drop on all sides of the quilt (!), so that means a lot more. Here are the blocks laid out from an old pic on my blog. All the blocks are sewn to each other now, but we are doing a construction project in the closet of my sewing room, and I don’t want to get the top out. Picture tools, drywall dust, and painting supplies e-v-e-r-y-w-h-e-r-e.

If you squint at the bottom third of the picture, you can see where I wrote a caption!

Back to the salt mines for me! Leave a comment so I know you were here!!

{Post 1,744} Strangely Productive Day

 

I always have a to-do list a mile long. I check off three things and add seven. It’s a way of life for me. Today was no exception. Timmy stayed overnight last night, which meant we chilled last night for hours. I needed it. He did, as well. We snuggled and snuggled, and snuggled some more. 

This AM I got some work done in my sewing room while he slept. Then we had homemade protein waffles for breakfast and got his school work done in a snap. His writing is bee-you-tee-ful!! After we finished, I finished the quilt sham and got it in the wash. Timmy helped me decluttering in my craft room for an hour. We cleaned off and around a 8’ banquet table that can now be folded up and stored. I am using the “Decluttering At The Speed of Life Method” by Dana K. White, and boy howdy, does it work well. I am reducing what I have down to the reasonable available space. I started a group on FB for things I am giving away. I was able to rehome several neat things. I listed some antiques on FB Marketplace and hope to sell those. 

Timmy left in the early afternoon. I started machine quilting a customer quilt. As of now, I have all but about 15” wide finished on that. 

My husband and I were given a gift card to Red Lobster, which is possibly my favorite restaurant. Well, it was until tonight. We just learned that they have removed their warm apple crostada from the menu. <heavy sigh>. We were so disappointed. But we’ll make it. So we drove 45 minutes to the Red Lobster and had a great meal (I brought half of mine home for lunch tomorrow). 

I have been looking for a TV cabinet (we still use a DVD player and Wii console). I keep looking at the thrift stores. We have a very specific space and measurements. Nothing has turned up. We ended up looking at a couple stores tonight. We found one for far less than we had anticipated (at least for buying it new). It is a some-assembly-required things, and I hope to get that together in the next couple of days.

A customer dropped off a darling baby quilt this afternoon (we should really have a revolving door on the front of the house!). It is sooo cute. The colors are very unique. An orchid, grayish turquoise, gold, peach, and lots of black and white. I will post a picture when I quilt it.

Here are some of the antique items I am selling. They were my grandmother’s. There is just not room in our house for them, especially since we are reducing our living space so greatly. These items are interesting to me just because I saw them at her house for so many years. The first item is a wooden bucket, the second is an ash bucket, and the third is a wash board.

The pressure is on to get my craft room emptied out. My youngest daughter and her family are coming February 27 and will be staying in there. That’s just a little over two weeks. My goal is to have it converted to a guest room with our queen-sized bed. I am also looking for a twin-bed frame and headboard/footboard. I found a marvelous set on FB tonight, but the seller is not returning my messages. I am guessing it is already sold. It looks perfect for our grandchildren’s guest bedroom.

That’s about all for today. I am loving my bullet journal. I am keeping it simple. I have seen some where the person literally spends hours drawing multi-colored art work then puts a short quote on the page or whatever. That is fine for them, but I’d rather be piecing than recording it!!

Take care, my friends.

{Post 1,743} More of The Same

 

It seems like I am in the same routines I was when my children were young...meals, home schooling, etc. My grandson is learning like a champ. Honestly, I am not biased. He is so intelligent. He is staying overnight tonight. I love that kid.

We are moving some things around in our house. As of April, all our children will be gone from our home. If you’re new here, I have 8 children. Our house has 6 bedrooms and an office. We have a friend that just started working from home. They have a small house and 4 children. My husband offered to move his office upstairs into an empty bedroom and allow our friend to use his office that is entered through the garage. 

My husband is finishing up moving a stacking washer/dryer into my clothing closet. The original set are in the finished basement. After my son is married, we are going to rent out his bedroom, a full bath and the laundry room/kitchen (that is currently missing the kitchen part!). Having laundry facilities upstairs will help out with that transition a lot. We will need to put a door in the hallway to have a division between the two bedrooms downstairs. We are keeping one for our children’s use when they visit. Then we will put in new flooring after my son moves out. We need a stove/oven and a kitchen sink instead of a laundry room sink plus seating for the kitchen.There really is not much to do. We already have had several young single men interested in renting it.

Today I finished a long-term project (well, I actually finished it after working on it yesterday and today). I ordered a charm pack on January 4, and it just arrived a couple days ago. So I worked on it immediately. It is a pillow sham to match a twin-sized quilt I made this past summer. This is the quilt...

Here is the sham. I just made a quilted front with the design being the size of a standard pillow. Then I put a zipper up the middle of the back. I laid it wrong sides together and stitched in the ditch of the pattern area and again at 1/4” inside of that. Then I attached binding in the usual way.

With that project finished, I will get it in the mail tomorrow. A customer brought over a baby quilt today for me to machine quilt. I have two others, and I need to get started on them. 

Take care, and leave a comment so I know you were here.