I'm Back

DH was in the hospital for a week, first they tried to get his heart back to normal beat with medication (IV's mostly) and then when that wasn't working they did a TEE and shocked his heart.  The Dr. said that that could work for a day or for a week or 6 months etc., and so far so good.  He goes in for a heart cath. on July 11th, and then will take his documentation to a surgeon to see about fixing a leaky valve.   His original Dr's. we think were milking his insurance's (had the advice of another Dr.) and so in midstream we changed from one group to another.  Hopefully, this group is good.  After he got out of the hospital it was running around from one appointment to another, and it was only the last couple of days when I have done any sewing.  These are the parts to the border for my Roll Roll Cotton Boll.   There are a good many hours represented here, lol.  I'm making a half sized quilt, but since I had enough of the 3 patches for the entire quilt I went ahead and made them all.  I was going to do a strip down the middle of the back, but I got to thinking, I have enough of these for another lap quilt sized border with just a little more sewing to make more corners, and I have enough 1/2 square triangles to do 15 more blocks.   I think that since the colors are pink, brown and green with no reds that I may just do another version, with blue as the fourth color perhaps.  It won't be the same, as I may or may not do the tiny half square triangles around the blocks, I may do just strips instead, and the string blocks will be replaced with a modification.  On the Quiltvillechat site, there are a few different varieties.   Is this why I haven't run out of UFO's yet?  Everytime I think I'm getting somewhere I create another, lol.   Thank you for all the good wishes for my husband, we are hoping for the best.

A Set Back

No Bonnie, no quilting.  Wednesday DH went for an endoscopy and they said his heart was beating incorrectly and way too fast.  Instead we went to see our regular doctor and then to the hospital. His heart was fluttering and so they are using IV's to bring it back how it is supposed to be beating.  He has 2 IV's in his arm, and his blown out 2 IV's.  He has felt fine, although with all the needles it seems like he came in feeling ok and now is a semi invalid.   Hopefully, according to the cardiologist he may be able to go home tomorrow.  Anyway, Bonnie was a nice idea, but it just wasn't to be to go see her.  Maybe, next time.

RRCB Rolling Along

I have rows sewn, now just to sew the rows together, and then I'll be ready for borders.  As you can see the small size is going to make a nice lap quilt or courch throw, it is almost covering the top of the queen sized bed.  Wish I could get the top complete by Thursday, I'd be tempted to take it with me to Lakeland for Bonnie's lecture, although I'm sure she's seen dozens of quilts and tops by now.  I really have admiration for those who have finished the full sized quilts, and some have even done a couple of them.  

RRCB Whining

Those who love to make string blocks are probably thinking what a whiner, and those who find them to be a challenge probably have a little more sympathy.  I was going along so well, finished the first blocks, and then finished the string blocks.  I was all proud of myself, as I'm not the best at squaring blocks, and I had a feeling that these would probably need squaring more than most, and I had sent DH to a glass place and had an !!" square piece of plexiglass cut.  The cost was only $8.00, I think a pretty good price for such a stress saver.  My blocks are looking pretty good, however, I need to make at least six more string blocks, thus the whining.  I had enough for the blocks, but not enough for the side triangles.  Just kidding, it's not a big deal, although I would have liked to start putting blocks together to get an idea of what it will 'look' like.   Have a nice weekend.

 

Nine Down Six to Go

....sounds so much easier than nine down and 21 to go.  I know that it would be wonderful to have a new bed quilt, but number one, lots of string blocks, number two, I'm scared of quilting the large quilts, I still haven't finished my Iowa (Carolina) Christmas.  For now, lap sized will be for me.  After these next six blocks are done, it's on to slicing and dicing string blocks.  I received the fabrics from Connecting Threads yesterday, and I'm anxious to get started on my other Paintbox quilt, but I don't know if I'll be able to stop my RRCB blocks now.   By the way, my extra scrappy oops blocks are mixed in with the other six blocks, and I think that they'll work just fine, as was suggested in the previous comments.   I'm raring to go and do more blocks, but alas, housecleaning and errands are demanding attention.  Hope you have a nice day.

Whew, Little Is Much Easier Than Big

Yes, that is Christmas fabric.  It isn't a Christmas quilt, but I couldn't resist using my little half square triangels left over from my Iowa (Carolina) Christmas.  There is also some Christmas fabric in the string blocks, but hopefully the over all effect will not be Christmas.  I have all the steps done now as far as making the components, except for adding the triangles to make the trapezoids (I think) for the borders.  It's definitely scrappy, and only 14 of these to go.  That's sure easier than 29 more to go.  This block was rather wavy, but I was able to press it pretty flat.  Hopefully, I'll do better on the others.  

Ooops!  I just realized that the browns are supposed to match, too (in addition to the greens).  I'm too far on this block to redo it, so I guess I'll have 10 that are correct, 1 that's really wrong, and 4 that are sort of wrong.  Oh well.  If I were a perfectionist I'd make 16, but I think that it'll just be unique (or so I tell myself). 

The String Block Saga

I'm kind of stuck on my purple sashed paintbox, as I'm waiting for some fabrics that I've ordered from Connecting Threads.  I've used their fabrics, but not their new solids and I've seen good reviews.  The sale price was $2.99 a yard, so I'm going to give it a try.  Anyway, I thought maybe I should get back to the string blocks for Roll Roll Cotton Bowl while I wait.  I've tried to like making string blocks, and now, I've made 24 and I still don't like them.  I know that many people do, and many people find them mindless sewing, but I find them boring and stressful, as I am constantly worried if the strings are long enough.  Even on these two I had to add a bit before I cut them out.  I decided to make a smaller version, and googled and found this one, she didn't really do string blocks, but I liked the size and the looks of her's about 56 x 74, and I like not needing to make any more string blocks, lol.   Maybe, if I get busy, I'll be able to make some good progress on my RRCB while I wait.  I've probably got more than I need of the little half square triangles since I'm making it much smaller, and that seemed to be most people's second stumbling block.  Anyway, I feel much happier about my RRCB and less string blocks.   Not only that, I've found another nice blog.      

PS   I almost got to go to a Bonnie Hunter workshop.   They were having one about 50 miles from me and when I was going to sign up they said that they hadn't had enough sign up (unbelievable) but that there were two 75 miles away.  Unfortunately, the one 75 miles away has a quilt with lots of string blocks.  I decided not to take it, for the reasons above concerning string blocks.  However a friend and I are going to go to the Lecture/Trunk Show which is still on at the 50 mile location.  I am really looking forward to seeing Bonnie's program, it's on June 16th at 7 pm.  We are going to make a night of it, go early and have dinner, do a little shopping at the fabric store, and see Bonnie.  She is a new quilter, but after the lecture, I'll bet she's a Bonnie fan, too. 

June Goal Quilt Finished

My first paintbox quilt is finished.  I could have finished it a couple of days earlier but I had already put June on the label, and I liked the idea of finishing it on what would have been my parents wedding anniversary.  Sixty-six years if they were still here.

The back was a little fancier than my normal ones.  I've gotten to where I have backed several of my last quilts with 100 percent cotton sheets.  This one is a Moda solid, and somehow it seems heavier to me.  Maybe it's partly due to the piecing on the back.  It seems to weigh a lot for its size.   It hasn't been washed yet, so maybe that will lighten it up a bit.

Another embroidery machine label.  No recipient's name on this one.  I haven't decided what to do with it yet.  There are a few possibilities.  For a while it will live at my house, probably at least until I finish the other one, which will probably be this month.  I've ordered some lavender solids for it, so it will be lavenders and purples instead of browns and tans.

PS   I gave this quilt Last night (June 10th) to my visiting teacher, Becky Thomas, who has been visiting me for over 4 years.