More Nine Patches

I have been making nine patches like a maniac for the past couple of days. I needed 70 for the Crazy Mom Quilts sew along, and I had those done a week or two ago. Then I got to thinking, which isn't always a good thing. Why do I want a twin sized quilt when I don't have any twin beds or know anyone who does who needs a quilt, maybe I should do two lap quilts instead. I figured it out, and I needed 26 more nine patches. I know some ladies have nice big stashes and could probably get 96 strips of any one color at a moment's notice, but I had to dig. I thought I had used all my resources when I got the first 70, but I was able to come up with what I thought was 26 (I counted wrong, it was 24)

Then I found out that my oldest grandson and his girlfriend from Pennsylvania are giving being together another try. They had visited back about February and we fell in love with her two children, they were 2 and 3, and quite amusing and loveable, as are most little children. I got to thinking again. Maybe, I should make 1 adult lap quilt and two children's quilts. I figured it out, and I needed about 22 more nine patches (my math wasn't too good, as I ended up with 2 extras). If you notice in this last batch there are lots of plaids, mostly brown. I had to start robbing from fabrics that I had put aside for some quilts, and these came from some I'm planning for my brothers.

The original quilts have white sashing, and I love the look of it, but Rhonda from Doxie's on my Quilt got me thinking about Kona Robin's Egg Blue, so I thought that that would be good for the sashing for the little boy, Ethan's quilt. And so why not a pretty Candy Pink Kona for his sister, Savanna.

Next on the agenda is to do some housework and then get the 6 children's quilts spray basted, quilted, bound and sent off.

Giveaway Goodies

The other day I received my package from Eileen at My Quilting Porch. I have enjoyed her blog almost from the time that I discovered blogs, and I was very excited to win her giveaway. The fat little round bag is chock full of 30's goodies, and the flat bag below it has pieces all cut up and ready to go. I can't wait to get them on my design wall. A very nice bonus was the 2 patterns, and the quilter's template for 60 degree diamonds. A very nice mail day indeed. Thank you so much, Eileen. I see a new tablerunner in my near future.

Miscellaneous

My niece and her children are safely back in Iowa and had a very nice vacation, I hope. A couple of the kids told me they can't wait until next year when they can come back, so I think that they enjoyed themselves. The last day they had to get up at 2:30 AM to catch their 6:00 AM flight, so I'll bet it felt really good to get home.

Rebecca read my blog post and the remarks about her home and she sent me this email:

"Dear Candace. I just got back from my dad's and was finally able to look at this email. You have no idea how you and your friends have made me feel. I have tears in my eyes!! Thank you so much for giving me this gift of kind words. Love, Becky Rebecca (either one is fine)"

She made my day with her kind words.

I forwarded the kind and complimentary posts about my brother's ruler rack to him and he was also touched, but told me that if I sent anymore he would get a big head.

The picture above is of the last blocks out of the seventy required for the Crazy Mom Quilts sew along. Yeah! Now, it needs to go back in the box until I get the 6 quilts finished for my grandson and nieces and nephews.

PS I was glad to see when my niece was here that she had brought the little girl quilts with her and the kids were using them. It warmed my heart.

Wedding and Ruler Rack

Busy is the word that comes to mind to describe the past few days. My niece and her 7 children got here Wednesday, the day we (DH and I) went to the ball game, and the next day we did errands getting ready for the family get together on Sunday and visited twice with Kerri (my niece) and her children. Friday we did yard work and my brother and my nephew got here. His son, my nephew, stayed with my grandson and my brother stayed at my house, which is the usual way that we do things, as his son and my grandson are both 13 now, and their birthdays within a month of each other. They share many interests, including computer gaming. Saturday was my granddaughter's wedding. I don't know why, but I didn't get many pictures that day, but it was a beautiful wedding. They had it at the Melbourne, Fl. zoo, and the lodge inside was decorated beautifully. The ceremony was on the big porch in the back, and then we were back inside. She looked beautiful and very happy. There was lots of delicious food, and I think that we were eating most of the time. That's my second grandchild to marry this year, now my daughter and my son each have a married child.
My granddaughter was sweet she pointed out to me that she had made her veil, and added shiny rhinestones to the back. She thought of me when she did it, as she knows that I sew.

My brother brought my ruler rack and put it up for me. You might be able to tell that it started out life as a drawer that he was unhappy with, although it looks perfect to me. When I asked him to use it for my ruler rack, he added the 2 extra boards in the center and the notches. It is beautiful and works just perfectly. It is in my sewing room closet, so was a bit hard to photograph hanging, but I did the best I could. Boy is it nice to get my rulers in one place and off my cutting-ironing table. It's a wonder I didn't wear them out moving them back and forth from the table to the bed. Again, my brother did an excellent job, and made my life easier. I feel bad because it seems like every time he comes there are jobs at my daughter's house and my house. The same with my other brother. This time he hung the ruler rack and replaced a dimmer switch at my house, and did a brake job and replaced a radiator for my daughter's car. He isn't that healthy either, so I always try to make sure that he doesn't overdo, but I still hope that next time he can just visit and no jobs. Both of my brothers are very handy, and very sweet about helping.

Sunday, we had our family get together with my nieces family from Iowa, my son and his youngest daughter from Mulberry, Fl., one brother and his son from Brunswick, Ga., my other brother from Jacksonville, Fl. with his children from Lawtey, FL., and some of my grandchildren from Melbourne, Fl. Then of course my daughter and her family and DH and I from the Clermont, Fl. area. I did take pictures, but with my son's Nikon DSLR D90, it was fun to use, but went home with my son, of course. The thing is, sometimes he's not too good at sharing his pictures, but if he does I'll post a couple.

Oh, I forgot to mention. My brother made a cleat for the back of the ruler rack, a board with a 45 degree angle attached to the wall, and another board with a 45 degree angle attached to the rack, and then it just sits on the cleat, but is sturdy and easy to remove if necessary. It was the first time that he had tried that, but I'll bet not the last.

A Nice Day

Yesterday was a nice day. DH and I started out by going to the local quilt shop and visiting their $5.00 clearance. I had made another 20 9 patches the day before and found myself short of fabrics to make more and keep it scrappy enough. The picture that I took of my 9 patches was so horrible that I didn't add it to this post. My artfully stacked blocks could give anyone seeing the picture an excedrin headache. I got 12 half yard pieces of fabric and since each block takes one 2 1/2 inch strip, will have enough to add to more scrappy quilts as time goes on. I am not real discriminating, as Bonnie Hunter's saying about if it's ugly you didn't cut it small enough rings in my ears. A 2 inch finished patch is pretty small. We went from there to a near by mom and pop restaurant and I had a very nice coconut chicken salad (which I hadn't ever had before) and DH had their 4 cheese grilled cheese sandwich. We both enjoyed our dinners and then shared some strawberry cake for dessert.











From there we drove 100 miles to St Petersburg to a baseball game between the Rays and the Red Sox. I kept thinking that it's too bad Paula isn't here instead of me, as she is a huge Red Sox fan. The only problem would have been that she'd probably rather sit with her DH than mine. I know the Red Sox players and am fond of many of them, but at a game I mostly look at the people and squirm. My husband loves the game and the Red Sox are his team so it was worth it for him to be able to go. DH had tried to get tickets before the season started and was unable to get them, but I got an email from the ALS Association about tickets for the game so it was very emotional for me to go as my mother passed away from ALS. They had a brief ceremony before the game during which they read the speech that Lou Gehrig gave when he retired, and the first pitch was thrown by a gentleman who has ALS. We got home tired but happy at about midnight.

Detour

I've given up on my good intentions on the quilts. My brother is coming and will need the bed (I use the bed to lay out the spray basted quilts) and since I know that I couldn't finish 6 quilts in time, I decided to put them aside until after my niece's and my brothers visit and resume later. My niece will be here from tomorrow until next Thursday, and my brother will be here for the week-end. I'm doubly excited about my brothers visit as he is bringing me a goody. For one of his tables he had made a drawer that he wasn't happy with and I asked him rather than demolish it if he could put some notches in it and then I could use it for ruler storage. He got busy on it and improved on my idea with some additional supports down the middle and a super dooper hanging system, and he is bringing it with him. It is mahogany and even though it was originally a drawer and most of it was more roughly finished than the front of the drawer, I'm sure knowing him that it will be beyond my expectations. It will be so nice to get the rulers off my cutting-ironing table.In the meantime, I decided to work on my way behind Crazy Mom Quilts Nine Patch blocks. The 4 rows on the left are the ones I did yesterday, out of the material from the boys quilts. In each yard there was enough for the blocks for their quilts and one or two 2 1/2 inch strips. I now have 32 of the 70 blocks done, and hope to get more done today. They will be some crazy nine patches, florals and geometrics and camo, etc.

Tea at Rebecca's

In our church we have visiting teachers, which are ladies who try to drop by once a month for a visit and to leave a short message on a gospel subject. Mine for the past few years has been Rebecca (she used to go by Becky but is trying to change to Rebecca). Rebecca is a single lady and a school teacher. She is very talented musically with a beautiful voice and plays piano (and probably other instruments too) wonderfully. I guess that she is also a do it yourselfer, as she took on an old house and has turned it into a beautiful home doing much of the work herself. The work is still going on in fact. Above is a picture of her yard which is a double lot in the little town where I live in Central Florida. The picture below is the front of her house which was built many decades ago by a prominent politician as his summer home. A couple of weeks ago she had several ladies over for a "tea", there wasn't any tea, but there was juice and fresh fruit, ham, roasted potatoes a breakfast casserole and several other yummy dishes. I took a plate home for DH too, as he loves fruit. I asked her a couple of days later if I could come and take some pictures of her home for my blog and she graciously allowed me to. Her floor she laid herself from boards she got from a house that had been build around 1918 and was being torn down. She got some discouragement from some of the men in the church, but she persevered and it is beautiful. I think that the aha! gives her a little pleasure, she is human after all. Her ceiling is stencilled, and her kitchen cupboards came from another house that was being demolished. They have the old wavy glass and are quite beautiful. We have a new outdoor mall about 12 miles from us where Joann's fabric store is, and that is where the house stood that she got her cupboards from. It's an unusual home and I was happy to have been invited and I hope that you enjoyed the little tour also.

An update on my quilts. I have the tops and backs done and next need to cut the batting. I am holding off on one boy quilt, but have two girl quilts to do for a total of 6. I have given up on the idea of having them done by this Wednesday, but I hope to have them done not too long after.