New Baby Going Home and Twenty of Twenty

First trip - On his way home.  Little Maddox three days old. 

Amanda and I started very late, but will finish well in time for the next step on November 1st.  The next steps are putting it together and quilting, and this is the last block 'twenty of twenty', yay!  I already know what I'm doing about cornerstones and sashing, so since Amanda is also working on her last block (may have finished before me) I'll just go ahead and not wait for the class.  I don't think that I would have kept up if it weren't for Amanda.  Working along with someone else, even if they are an ocean away and on a different continent has been fun and an incentive to keep up.  Yay, Amanda.    

A photo collage of my 20 blocks.  There will be some rearranging, and it will be 4 blocks by 5 blocks, not 5 blocks by 4 blocks, and there will be cornerstones and 2 borders, but this looks pretty much like it.  I think I'm on purple, orange, green and blue overload.

Baby News and Drunkard's Path

We have a new great grandbaby, unfortunately, we won't see him for awhile as we are here in the USA and he is in Germany, but we will enjoy him just the same.  Not like the old days when pictures and letters were all there was to communicate, we have the instant gratification of texts, phone calls, skype and facetime.   No pictures yet, it seems that Germany doesn't allow pictures to be sent  the first few days, but his name is Maddox Colwell, he is 6 lbs 10 oz, 20.2 inches long and was born 2:29 pm their time, and 8:29 am our time.   I'm sure that he is adorable.  Mama, Daddy and baby are fine and his big sister is fine too, but yesterday she thought they should just leave him at the hospital, lol.   She only got to see him from several yards away, I'm sure she'll change her mind when she sees him up close.      
Yesterday my drunkard's path templates came, and this morning I cut them out and did one block to see how it went.  Not bad, it's the right size and not too wonky.  I was scardest of  all of these curved blocks and now only 29 more to go for my two blocks.  
About 2 1/2 hours later:
                                                              

It took about 2 1/2 hours to get from the point of 1 little drunkard's path to 16 of them to make a block.  Here they are pinned and ready for assembly line sewing.  Actually, I added 2 more pins each before I sewed them.  On the right is 16 more ready and waiting for the second Craftsy BOM. 

                              

Here's the finished block.  I'd be really proud of myself, except there are some doing this as their first quilts and theirs look good too.   

                     

Walking for the Cure and First Craftsy Paper Pieced BOM

It was a beautiful day, it started out a little cool and then turned to perfect.  Good thing, this old one hasn't done much walking lately and we had 3 miles to walk. 

Some of the walkers were really into the spirit of things, with costumes and everything.  It was a little fun added to a very serious intention. 

After the walk we had to shore up on calories so we stopped at Toojay's Deli for a very delicious breakfast.  There was also a little horseplay by the grandkids who went along to walk.

Doesn't the bakery section look delicious.  My grandson isn't bad either.

We were going to make the sacrifice of purchasing some pink and white cookies, but they were out so we got some black and white ones anyway. 

When we got home I delivered my Quilt of Valor mystery to a friend of the grandkids who got his honorable discharge this month.  He seemed to like it.  After he left I did the first paper pieced block.  I'm glad that I did it, in the future I can see a block or two in a special quilt, but I discovered that I don't like string blocks, I don't like wonky log cabin blocks and I don't like paper piecing.  Paper piecing seems like a big overuse of fabric, too.   I do like the block though, and now I just have to gird up my loins and forge on to block number two.   Not today though, I think I'm done for the day.   The boob tube beckons. 

Just 3 more blocks to go - there's supposed to be 17 here, somehow I missed 2, but they will be in the quilt.   I think I missed February. 

Too Short a Visit

My brothers came for a short visit this weekend.  They got here yesterday about 3 o'clock and left today about 1:00  Very short, but look what they accomplished.  This light wasn't on my list, I thought it would be too time consuming, even though I've probably had the lamp and the kit that was needed for a couple of years now.  My brother said something about did I have enough light that it was dark in that corner and I said yes, it is kind of dark but I have a light for it maybe next time you come and have more time.   Pretty soon, it was spread out on the floor and on the list of jobs.  It makes a world of difference, and hopefully since I'll be able to see better when I'm FMQ'ing, I'll have less crossed seams.  No promises though, lol.

Next, a small job to them but awfully big to me since I couldn't reach and my husbands back wasn't up to trying.  Luckily, the light in my sewing room closet went out just a couple of days ago and now I have light again. 

This job was on the list, I've probably had these shelves for almost a year and wasn't able to get anyone to put them up conveniently.   Now I have shelves for my spices on the inside of the pantry door, it'll be much more convenient and it frees up the small cabinet between the stove and refrigerator for necessary medications. 
I'll spare you a picture of the toilet seat which is now tight and secure in its appointed place.  
Yay for brothers who are so handy and so willing to help.  I am more and more grateful for them and not just because of what they do, but because of who they are.

Misc. The Good the Bad, but Cute not Ugly

Oh, Happy Day!  My table finally arrived the first of the week and now it is together.  My DH has been having a bad time the last 3 weeks and then last week-end he had a bad reaction to a new muscle relaxer.  I mean, really bad.  He could hardly walk, had to have help, above and beyond the walker that he has had for the past 3 weeks, and his thinking was all jumbled up.  He thought that he needed to go to work and he has been retired for about ten years.  He was very very depressed to the point of crying, which is not like him at all, in spite of his health problems he usually keeps fairly upbeat.  Luckily, the worst hit Sunday and my daughter was able to help me and then Sunday evening when I finally didn't give him a choice and insisted on the emergency room, she came and then when they sent him home after some tests (said he was better off home since he is prone to getting an infection and home was safer) she and 3 of her grown children were there to help me get him home and settled.  It was a bad night, but Monday morning my son came (in spite of pain from dental work) and he helped me all day.  He and his father played a 6 hour game of chess, which goes to show that DH brain still wasn't over the effects, it usually takes them about 20 or 30 minutes, but DH was taking 40 minutes sometimes to decide and then he'd try something illegal.  He has always been a very good chess player, so totally not himself. 

Monday evening, I could see that he was getting better but thought that I could still use some help, so I called my brother from Jacksonville and he came Tuesday evening and stayed until Thursday morning.  By then the effects seemed to be passed thank goodness.  Meanwhile, my brother put together my new quilting table, put a light bulb in my shower where we are too short to reach, put in an electric plug for me so that I don't have to do contortions to plug in my vacuum and clean my sewing room, gassed both cars and put air in their tires, and also put new wipers on my car.  He also put in a digital antenna so that we can get local channels.  We have been using a Roku, which is great, but didn't have the news due to no local channels.

I also added this to my sewing room, it's on my quilting table set up, but will have to be moved when I quilt.  I have seen them around the web, and this one was on Craigslist, I picked it up this morning.  Aunt Polly from the link above has an awesome sewing room, see here.  Maybe, one of these days mine will be as full of goodies as hers (my carousel, not my room).   Also, while I was picking it up I noticed that we were next door to a Harbor Freight store, which I read about on different quilting forums from time to time.  It seems that they have carpet cutting wheels, which according to many fit just fine in a rotary cutter and work just as well as the much more expensive blades.  I hope that they are right, as I bought 10 packs of 2 each.  It is about a 30 minute ride and so if they work well I wanted to have enough to last.  I will be so happy to be able to change my blade more often since it will be only $1.00 for each new blade. 

Here is another of my favorite things that my brother did for me while he was here.  When I moved from the bedroom where my sewing room was, to the family room, where it is now, I really missed my ruler rack which DH has been too ill to move for me.  Ta Da, here it is and I'm loving having it in the room with me and down a little lower than it was, so that it is very very handy.  Brother's can be a wonderful thing.  My brother from Brunswick didn't come this time, he is battling health problems and with a very good attitude.  I have the best brothers ever.  By the way, the one who didn't come made my ruler rack.

I've also been working on organization.  I was trying to cut up boxes to make little mini bolts, but that is a hard job.  I read how people were buying comic book boards and so I thought I'd give it a go.  They work just as well (although I used 2 each as I am using rubber bands to hold things together and it gives more body).  Mine doesn't look so perfect as some that I have seen but after all the work I did on the cardboard, they're staying, lol.  The bottom shelf right is holiday fabrics, mostly Christmas.  I have a much smaller stash than many, but I like it that way.  I just go to the store or order on the internet when I have gaps.  The fleece on the top shelf, and the first 5 fabrics on the left on the middle shelf are for a quilt for one of my great-granddaughters.

The containers on the top hold pieces about fat and long quarter size.  The shelves have pieces about 1/3 to 5/8 of a yard.  The larger pieces go on the little bolts.

I also picked up these bins from Target to try to organize my scraps into colors, and I got an accuquilt go which I am hoping that I'll love and get lots of use from.  I got the die that came with it, the 2 1/2" strip die, and saw a really good sale and ordered the small tumbler die.  Everything was on sale, but I think that I have still shot my wad for the year.  

These are my 3 great grandbabies.  I think they are adorable.

Valentine's Day and Misc. Quilting

Happy belated Valentine's day.  We had a nice one.  It didn't start out too well, as the first thing we had to take DH for a blood test, but then my daughter came over with Chinese take out, a nice card that she made herself and these beautiful flowers.   They have opened up nicely, yesterday they were about half the size.  DH's brother and his wife are visiting from up north, and so we went to his sister's house, about 45 minutes away, and had dinner with the visitor's and most of his sisters family, there were about ten of us, and the food was delicious.  We were there for most of the evening and got home late for us, about eleven.  I spent the rest of yesterday making cherry pit bags (like rice bags, but filled with cherry pits instead) to give.  I made 4 of them along with little french seam pillowcases, and they seemed to be well received.  Hopefully, they will find them useful, although that sounds like I'm wishing them an ache or pain or a tummy ache, and that's not the case at all, lol.  I gave one each to his brother and his wife, his sister and his wife, my niece and her husband, and my nephew and his girlfriend. 
As far as my quilting projects, I have 3 flimsy's ready to go with backings and bindings prepared.  I need to cut the battings and then get them basted.  I hope to give one away on Sunday, so hopefully, I can get at least one basted and quilted before then.  I have decided that I'm in purple overload, all three quilts have purple as a main color, I need my next project to be a different color with very little purple.
My new sewing table is still not here.  I  have received the insert and the rubber feet that I ordered for it, but as per the email I received yesterday they are hoping to have the manufacturer ship my table on Friday (What, it hasn't even been shipped yet, I ordered it January 14th.).  I am getting anxious, but I do still have to baste my quilts, and I can quilt the one I want this week on my old table.   Patience is not my greatest virtue though.
I'm trying to organize my fabric and I saw a method that looked interesting on youtube.  Unfortunately, I just looked for it and couldn't find it, but the lady cut cardboard boxes into pieces about 7 1/2 by 13 and then folded her fabric in half lengthwise and wrapped it around the little mini bolts securing everything with a rubber band.  I have done about 40 so far, and am waiting for more boxes.  I keep trying to get organized, but it's two steps forward and one step back.  Things were really in a mess after working on my three quilts, the biggest culprit being Sunrise Sunset (Orca Bay).  I'm getting back to normal though, and hopefully when I finish, better than normal.  When I get a little farther along I'll post pictures.  I must say though cutting up the cardboard is not an easy task.

My 2 Year Old Great Granddaughter

What Makes Mackenzie Happy?

She loves when Mommy does her nails :)

It's amazing to see how many of these she can eat.

If Mackenzie comes to you with a normal crayon in hand and says, "Help." it is because her crayon is in one piece and has the paper around it still. This is unacceptable to her, she will only use broken, paperless crayons.

"Rumor Has It/Someone Like You" by Glee has been played (not kidding) over fifty times. Mackenzie can sing her version of the song and mimics the dance moves to the best of her abilities. Glee's Performance of it

She loves Elmo and all her Sesame Street books. She isn't a fan of the show though.

Want to see Mackenzie super excited, bring out the stickers! She loves to "decorate" whatever she is wearing at the time.

She loves to sing and dance to this song!

Mackenzie = BIG FAN

Two of Kenzie's favorite things, kitty cats and smelling flowers!

A new addition to Mackenzie's growing collection of "buddies", Valentina came into Mackenzie's life today when we received a package from Grammy and Sweetie Grandpa and Mackenzie is in love :).

This is Mackenzie's favorite thing to say, we are not sure why she says it many many times throughout the day. We think that she just likes the way it flows? Maybe? She's a silly girl! 

Counting, especially with her Leapfrog friends.

Hilltop Park, it's down the street and she loves it! This picture doesn't show the toddler playground but it's the one she loves the most.

She gives the best hugs and she loves to be hugged. 

So- These are just several of Mackenzie's many favorite things, I'm sure I'm leaving out some big favorites but it's almost 1am and I think my sleepiness is getting the best of me. I love my little girl and it was fun to look up all the little things that make her happy and think of the times they did. She's a very sweet, loving two year old. While I was registering for classes today, the lady from the college was on the phone helping and heard Mackenzie in the background and asked me, "Is she a terrible two or a tolerable two?" and I have to honestly say she is definitely a TERRIFIC two! She has her meltdowns and times when she has her own ideas of how things should go but overall she is a very obedient, kind and loving Mackenzie :)!

(Thanks google images for most of the photos! )

New Quilter in the Family?

I received an email and a photo from my niece.  "Wanted to show off the quilt Harp (Harper, 15) made for her friend's baby.  The friend & her new husband are big into hunting if you can't tell.  She made it in her sewing class, for her first quilt I think it turned out awesome.  And, even better, she enjoyed doing it.  And Kolb (Kolbie) saw the opportunity to have her picture taken, she can't pass that up, lol."   I agree, I think that Harper did an awesome job and I think that Kolbie is an excellent model. 

Keeping Up

Second week, second set of blocks.  Check.   Keeping up to date with Crazy Mom Quilts quilt along.

At least one bow tie block done a day.  Check.  Fourth batch of blocks done.  Sixty-eight done, seventy-two left to go, "but" they are cut out and waiting for me.   DH had his heart cath on Monday, and did well.  One blockage, but not bad enough to do any surgery.  We'll find out more next Monday when we go to the surgeon about his leaky valve, and a few days later when we go to his follow up appointment with his cardiologist.   Oh, I have my cheddar fabric, but I haven't started my cheddar bow ties yet.  That one, with Bonnie Hunter, doesn't really have a set time line, so I'm not officially behind, but I need to get started.  Oh well, two out of three, not bad, and usually I'm worse.