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.

Five Down! On to the Borders

I'm keeping my nose to the grindstone, I almost feel like Amy or Soscrappy who get 'so' much done. I have my five tops ready for borders, the red strips and then each boy will have a different five inch border. The leftovers from the blocks I have cut out three and a half inches wide and I'm going to sew them together and put a pieced border on the top and bottom of each quilt. Then it's on to backs and embroidering names and I'll be getting closer and closer.
My grandson was over yesterday and he liked what he saw, so hopefully they will be a hit. I don't know if I'll be finished when they all get here, but I'm sure going to try.

Will Work for Crumbs!

I've been sewing quite a bit this past week, and sometimes it is also thinking time when you are sewing full strips assembly line style. I am trying to do quilts for several young people and with just a "little" encouragement. That's what I mean by crumbs. One is due to:
"I get cold too, Grandma.", another when my niece got the quilts for her 3 little ones the older ones were there and wondered if there was something for them too, and the one for my nephew is due to his getting tearful when he accidentally burned a hole in the fleece blanket that I made him. Just a little bit gets me sewing, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.
(Edited to leave out parts that could be seen as negative)
I got a package from Thousands of Bolts today. The red is for a little border around each quilt, and the other fabrics are for 5" borders. That way they will be similar to each other but different.








The other picture is my new iron. I had a $15.00 off coupon from BJ's, but unfortunately they were out of that iron. Since I had a lot of strips to iron I wanted one "now" so I got this Black and Decker. I have a Maytag cordless, but it is across the room and I was walking myself to death and taking up way too much time. The geometric fabric is what I bought for the binding, and the tan fabric underneath is for the backs. My husband says that way maybe they'll like the fronts better, lol. I got the tan fabric at Ikea for $2.99 a yard and it is 59" wide. The last fabric I got there seemed to be good, and the price was right.
This is the first top without borders, and it doesn't look too good in the picture, but in person it has promise.

It's a Big'un

My Strip Twist from Bonnie Hunter's pattern is back from the longarmer. She did a nice job, and it is huge. It's for my oldest grandson, hence the dark borders, I was trying to boy it up since there are flowered fabrics in there. I usually try to stay away from flowers for the males, but he is 23 and has females around, so I figured that he's old enough that it shouldn't be too bad. If he doesn't like it, I'll keep it and try again.

Problems at the Quilt Shop

Not really, but so far my blocks kind of look like there was an explosive illness at a quilt shop. These are piles of 4 blocks each, and I have 2 more sets of 16 blocks of 4 each to do. I'll end up with 192 blocks, but all the same 16 fabrics. Hopefully, with the different combinations of blocks and the borders and quilting, the quilts will be something that will please boys and young men. If not, I'll give them to them anyway and they can keep them in the closet in case of emergency.
I promise, the picture of the quilt that I saw on the ladies blog was quite pretty. Of course, it was pretty florals and in one basic color scheme. Details, details.

Assembly Line Sewing

I haven't gotten to the sewing part yet, but I have been cutting strips. I decided to make 5 young men quilts for my niece's 2 boys, my nephew, and 1 grandson, 2 grandson's if the other shows any interest, or for me if he doesn't, I really like some of the fabrics. I saw a quilt on a blog that I liked the looks of and that I thought that maybe I could assembly line enough to get them done in a few weeks. I wish that I remembered which blog so that I could ask permission to put the picture on mine, but I can't. It is just 3 different width strips for each block and then they are turned different ways. I plan to put a narrow probably red border and then different larger borders for each one. So they'll be the same but different. They won't be art, but they will be warm and hopefully will turn out cute. Size about 57" x 81", enough to tuck under the toes and under the chin.
I had enough of the fabric left to make a 2 1/2" strip from each fabric to use in my 9 patch quilt from Crazy Mom Quilts sewalong so that is still in the works and I also need to quilt the 2 tops that I have for my niece's two girls so I have plenty to keep me busy.
I may not be able to reach my goals, as I think that my niece is coming the second week of August, but maybe I can get at least her kids and my nephew's done by then if I keep my nose to the grindstone.

Mail From Amanda

Amanda had let me know to be on the lookout for a Pay it Forward package, and as soon as I saw this I knew I was in for a treat. I love the "Royal Mail" label.
I tried to get the pictures in the order in which they were removed from the envelope and opened, but sometimes blogger doesn't cooperate so bear with me please.
I have never seen this magazine and I'm saving it for a quiet time when I can really enjoy it. Sometimes it is so nice to be a blogger and to be exposed to other parts of the world. Amanda being a teacher is a great source of information about her part of the world and her blog is always interesting and informative. I'm expecting that this magazine will be the best example of UK quilting information.














This picture is a little busy, but at the top is a wonderful little triangular shaped bag and inside wrapped in pretty gold paper was the little "bracelet" of charms. It's not a real bracelet, but the charms are so cute, I've never seen anything like them before. They say "Hand made with love", and I know they are to enclose with gifts, but I don't know if I'll be able to break up the set, lol.











Of course fat quarters need no introduction and are always a welcome gift.

In the package with the fat quarters was one of Amanda's hand made cards, and it is just as cute in person as I thought that it would be from seeing some of her cards on her blog.

I love anything with little houses, and the bookmark is adorable.

Everything was wrapped in cheerful, feminine pink tissue paper and this package had pretty ribbon.

You can't see the iron holder too well here, but it along with the beautiful wall hanging will soon be on my sewing room wall, and will be something that I can look at each day and enjoy. If you click on it you can see it bigger, it is wonderful.

This last picture is of everything. I think I had one of my best mail days ever. I felt like I was having Christmas in July as I opened each package.

Thank you so much Amanda, you are a wonder and a treasure.

First Shop Hop

The first picture below is my "free" booty from the 4 shop shop-hop that I went on a couple of days ago. It was $5.00 to go and you got the lanyard, then at each shop you got a pin, and if you spent $25.00 you received the free foundation panel. The little notepad was just a bonus from one of the shops.
The last shop of the day had thimbles of all the states which was great as one of the bloggers that I follow, Highland Quilter, has requested to exchange thimbles from different areas. That's why there are 2 Florida's, one for her and one for me.

A few months ago, when I took a class at our local quilt shop, I bought a Creative Grids ruler and it has become my favorite. It's a 24 1/2 by 6 1/2, so at 2 different shops I got a 7 1/2 square and a 12 1/2 by 6 1/2. Sometimes the long one is just too long to work with, and I got the square one with the idea of using a method that I found for quick 9 patches.

I thought that these fabrics would be a good start for some boys quilts. If I go through with my good intentions, I will need 4 or 5 of them to go with the 2 girl quilt tops that I have made. My niece has 4 more children that would like quilts, and if I do those I have a nephew and possibly two grandsons who will feel slighted without one too. They would be simple ones, but that's ok as they would be given no mercy and used a lot.