I Couldn't Wait for September

This is the daughter's quilt.  They are finished, and will hopefully be in the mail Monday, after they are washed and packed.

The back, but if you compare it with the back below, you can see that my camera lens was fogged up due to going from the AC to the hot and humid outside.

I just wanted to show that on the first back the top and bottom are opposites of this second one.  I used two sheets and just swapped them up a bit.

The mother's quilt.  I hope they like them, they are about 57 x 84 I believe, so plenty big for a nap or reading or to take on a trip, etc.
Not very good lighting, but I was afraid to wait if I wanted to take them outside, as it will probably storm later.  Sorry.

Mostly the Same

I wanted the two bow tie quilts to look the same but different, but even though the fabrics are all different except for the bow tie backgrounds and the inner border, I'm afraid that they look mostly the same.  Anyway, I now have 3 flimsys to quilt, I'd better get busy on the last 2 bindings and backs and then get to my basting and quilting if I have a hope of finishing them by the end of the month. 

First of Two Bow Tie Flimsys

The first bow tie flimsy.  Mistakes a plenty in here, but hopefully it'll be liked anyway.  She won't know the corner bow ties were supposed to have been turned differently, etc.  It's funny, they will probably look almost alike, but only the backgrounds of the bow ties, and the pink inner borders are the same fabrics, everything else is different fabrics.  I'm curious to see how alike they look.

Can I Do It

I have kept to my goal thus far, of at least one finish per month.  Nothing yet for August, and it's already the 13th.  This stack will be two bow tie quilts, everything is all cut out and ready to go.  You can't see them very well, but at the bottom of the stack are the (30) 12 inch completed what I call circle bow tie blocks.  Here are 6 of them.   There is nothing done about backs yet though.  By the way, that little tool on the far left is one of my favorites.  It's just a little approximately 1 1/4 inch wide wallpaper roller, but it is also my heatless iron for doing my seams on string blocks and such.  It works pretty well.

This quilt is for Tucker, who was born a few days ago.  Since this picture, the top is a finished flimsy, the back is done, except for the label, and the binding is done.  Also, the pillowcases are completed for the siblings.   The question is, with the way that I have been working on one thing and then the other, can I finish something by the end of the month?  Can I accomplish my add on goal of finishing all three by the end of the month?   I have 2 1/2 weeks to find out.  I've already googled C'est la vie  and am practicing it, just in case.

This baby rabbit hopped out of a bush while my Grandson, Micah and I were mowing the yard yesterday.  He caught him and was going to try to keep him, but then decided he better put him back.  He was adorable though.

My grandson, Micah, is pretty adorable too, he's my birthday buddy born on my birthday, only 50 years later.  He's my daughters son, and another one of her sons is my husband's birthday buddy, born on his birthday.   These last two pictures were taken on my blackberry, so they are a little sub par, even for me.

Back to the Bow Ties

I was going to make one bow tie quilt from 140 blocks which would have finished 60 inches by 84 inches, no borders. Now I think that I am going to make 2 quilts with 60 blocks each for the centers and 4 blocks in the border for a total of 64 blocks. I plan to use sashing not positive of the size, but I think probably 1 1/2 inch finished, then a 1 inch small border and a 6" outer border. Ill do a bow tie in each corner of the quilt border. If my figures are correct each quilt will measure 56" by 83". Also, since I already made the 140 bow ties, I'll have 6 blocks each to use on the backs.   According to my figures, which I think are correct, making 12 inch blocks from sets of 4 bow ties, I'll have the 15 blocks that I'll need (3 blocks x 5 blocks) and then using 1 1/2 inch sashing, I'll need (13) 2 inch strips or about 1 yard of fabric for the sashing.  Using (6) 1 1/2 inch strips for the small border, I'll need about 1/3 yard, and for the 6 inch finished borders, with the bow ties in each corner, I'll need (7) 6 1/2 inch strips or about 1 1/3 yards.  Clear as mud?   The top fabrics are two different whites for the sashings, the pink is for the small border, the florals for the 2 large borders, and the bottom fabric for the binding.  I'll need about (7) 2 1/2" strips for each binding, by the way.   I have a one time co-worker and her daughter, who I have been wanting to make quilts for, and I think these will be perfect.  Very similar, but a lot different, too. 
PS   Or maybe I should make myself a cute little 12" x 36" tablerunner.  Decisions, decisions.
PPS  My math was faulty, I only had 4 leftover blocks, not 12.  Bye Bye tablerunner. 
PPPS  08-13  I found the other 8 bow ties.  I thought that I had already made 15 - 12 inch blocks, but I had made 17.  The tablerunner is back on, lol.

First 6 Blocks

I got up early this morning to do a few blocks before I have to get ready for my routine Dr's appointment.  These are my first 6 12" blocks assembled, but not sewn together.  I will have a total of 35 blocks for the quilt top 60" by 84".  A generous sized couch quilt.
I couldn't decide whether to sort them by backgrounds or colors, but my curiosity about how many of each color I ended up with got me and I sorted by colors.  I had the most by far of blues, so I divided them into dark blues and light blues.  I also had quite a few purples and greens, but nothing like the blues.  The least was orange.  It surprised me that as much as I like orange and pink, I don't seem to have that many of them.  Is it because I don't pick them in the stores, or that the stores don't have that many either?

Last Batch

Last batch, batch number 8.  Now I have my total of 140 blocks to assemble for my bow tie quilt, which if my calculations are correct, will result in a quilt about 60" x 84".   

Mother Nature and Bow Ties

Being a woman of the suburbs, brushes with mother nature are very exciting to me.  I don't think I'll ever tire of seeing the Sand Hill Cranes.  This morning this big guy (I don't know he may be a hawk) decided he liked visiting our yard and sitting in our tree.  He was here at least a half hour.  I didn't go outside, as I figured he'd be long gone, so these pictures were taken through the window and the screen.  Sorry about the quality.

I sat by the window with my camera and was able to get him when he flew off.   If anyone is knowledgeable about birds and can tell what kind he is even with the bad pictures, I'd love to know.

This is my next to the last packet of bow ties, only 20 more, I'll have my 140, and I'll be starting to assemble my quilt.  I'm anxious to see it.  I think that is a lot of why I enjoy quilting, because I want to see how it turns out.  My brothers were here last night and left this morning, it was certainly good to see them.  This afternoon we are taking one of my DGD's to the doctor.   My granddaughter in law and the baby, Mackenzie, are off on a 2000+ mile ride to get together with DH and daddy.  I'm so proud of Marcy.  She is certainly going to be a super woman after such a long grueling driving trip with a 20 month old.  Yesterday she left Memphis, Tn. area and drove about 700 miles, leaving about noon and driving until about 11:30.  Today, she is not going to try to drive quite so long or far to give her and the baby a little break.  My Grandson, Nathan, just graduated from boot camp.  I'm very proud of him, too.  While he was there he had pneumonia, plus his poor feet have been and still are resembling hamburger, or so it sounded when Marcy was telling me about how they still look.  He still graduated second in the group in physical training, quite an accomplishment.  He is going to training now for something to do with linguistics.  I'm very proud of them both, and of the baby for enduring the riding mostly in good spirits.  I'm so excited for them to be together again, and to have their own home together after being apart and living with others for the past several months.

Even More Blocks

My daughter and her husband caught strep throat from his daughter, so my brothers decided to wait until Monday and not possibly get it, too.  So, did I take advantage and get the house looking its best, no I made more blocks.  I have 24 out of 35 of these now.  I also realized that one of these equals 4 of the bow ties and at some point I may have to see what kind of chaos results from mixing them.   I also have enough paintbox blocks for a quilt, and they would also equal into the same size.  I probably won't mix them, but I have to look and see what it would look like.

I think I must be brain tired as the last row seems to have had a mind of its own. 

More Blocks Done

The doctor called and changed our appointment from Monday to tomorrow, and my brothers are visiting over the weekend, so I decided to do another batch of blocks.  This was supposed to be mostly pink, but it didn't work out that way.  I got into my long quarter yards, and liked these fabrics too much to go on looking.

I was on a roll so I did batch number five of my bow ties while I was at it.  I was still in a pink mood and was thinking great, pinks or reds or greens coming up.  What a disappointment.  The only reason that one odd green is there is because when I started sorting things out I had a duplicate of one of the fabrics.   I'm sure the next batch will be something other than blue or black or purple, at least I think so.

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.

More Bow Ties and Shopping

Sixteen more bow tie blocks done.  That's 52 out of 140.  Not too shabby of a beginning for a perpetual holder upper of the slowest. 

I kitted up the blocks into 8 batches each, enough for 140 for me and 140 for Ruth, my quilting buddy.  She pitched in some scraps too, but she doesn't have nearly as many as she is fairly new to quilting.  She has 3 quilts under her belt now.  These were all from scraps, and I 'think' that all the bow tie fabrics are different.  The lighter background fabrics are scrappy, but there are a lot of repeats.   I was more than happy to share, as I need to get the scraps down.  I can hardly notice a difference, except that the trash cans have lots of tiny scraps, and I have these bags to show for it. 

Some fabrics from the shop hop that Ruth and I went to Friday, instead of sewing, which we had intended.   The top 4 are for pillowcases for my nieces little ones, each will have the top fabric, and the next 3 will be for the cuffs which will be different, and have names if I get myself busy.   The bottom 2 are for a pillowcase for her oldest girl, and she has another girl who I will pick fabrics for soon.   Their mama, my niece is expecting number eight next month and I need to do a baby quilt for their new baby boy, and I thought I'd send each of the others a pillowcase.

More shop hop fabrics.  The 3 on the left are just because I don't have many oranges or reds, and the light lavender for backgrounds.  The middle two, more pillowcase material for my nieces youngest son, until next month, lol.  The right top just because I liked it, and the bottom right is a panel that I thought would be good for a quick baby quilt some time.

These I got last week when we made a dry run for the heart cath that DH didn't end up having.  The blue is for a pillowcase for my nieces oldest boy, and the green for when I need more scrappy greens.  The purple, just because I really loved it.   It seems like a lot of fabric, but it was all half price and will be largely gone in pillowcases soon.   We went to several doctor appointments this past week, and DH is having another blood test Tuesday.  If his levels are down to his normal levels (his are always elevated) then he has his heart cath the following Monday.   Then, it looks like for sure one heart surgery and maybe two, but the doctor was very reassuring, and it seems like the right thing to do.   Hope you are having a good weekend.

Summer Bow Tie Quilt

DH had a sleepless night last night so has slept most of the day and I've been on my own.  I decided to try to catch up on the Summer Bow Tie Quilt Along.  As you can see mine is going to be scrappy and so far I have only raided my orange, yellow and purple scraps, the orange was rather lacking, lol.  I liked this setting when I saw it on Pleasant Home.   It looks like it has been going on since June 19th, and I made 20 blocks today, so I think that I'm almost caught up.  I just figured, and it looks like I am 1 block behind.   This isn't how the blocks will be in the quilt, I was just sticking them up there as I pressed them and I still need to square them up a bit.   I plan to use all scraps so I feel almost like it'll be a free quilt (I like to kid myself).