Nine Patches

I've made a good start on my nine patch, cut all the sashings and have them sewn on one side of each block. I'm anxious to get this one done, I think if it's half as pretty as Crazy Mom Quilt's versions, it'll be a pretty one.

P.S. I mailed my packages on Saturday the cheapest way not priority mail and I was surprised to get a call from my brother that he received his package Monday and on Wednesday I heard from the lady who received the package in Pennsylvania that she received hers. I got a text and then when the kids got home from day care a call and many thanks from them all. I think that they really liked the quilts and were happy to receive them. My brother probably won't open his until September when the birthday girls have their get together.

Taking a Break From This Project

Here are the blocks for my 4 manly quilts. As you can see there isn't much to them, but it still seemed like a job, lol. There are 45 different fabrics and just about every color, so either they will look scrappy or chaotic, I'm hoping for scrappy.
A family friend has done a very nice thing for us, so I thought how can I say thank you? I'm sure that you can guess what I came up with. I was trying to think how I could make a quilt quickly and I decided to use my nine patch blocks and finish up my last nine patch quiltalong quilt from Crazy Mom Quilts. I think this time I'll go with her original colors and use the white sashing. There are blocks in every color, so hopefully she will have a place for it, it should go with something, lol. She has 3 homes so I think there should be some place to use it.

No Imagination!

I've decided on my next project and gotten a start on it. I think that the strips pictured will be enough, if my figures are correct, for 4 manly sized quilts. The reason that I have no imagination is that they will be the same as the big boy quilts (which I made 5 of) except for the fabrics are different and they will be a little larger. It is such an easy quilt, and I need 4, 1 for each of my 2 brothers, 1 for my grandson Jacob, who is the only one of my daughters children who I haven't given a quilt to yet, and 1 for my brother in Jacksonville's son Joey, who also hasn't received a quilt previously. I told my brothers that I would probably have them done by the end of October, so they need to be time friendly. Last night I made an order at Hancock's of Paducah. Fabrics for borders for 3 of the quilts (I already have some USM fabric for my brother who was in the marines). My brother from Jacksonville and his son are both avid fishermen, so I ordered fish themed prints for them and my grandson Jacob is another musician in the family, so I ordered some fabric with guitars and other instruments for him. Instead of red narrow border fabric, on these it will be a shade of green. I hope Hancock's comes through this time. Last time I ordered they had everything, but I have had orders in the past that were very disappointing in that they were out of much of what I ordered. I was lucky in that the only fabric that I ordered that wasn't on sale was the musical themed.
We made a short trip to Ikea this past weekend, didn't look around much, just went straight to the section that we were looking for, and the green trash can was my main purchase. I have a large white one in my kitchen which I like very much, and every time I go back I covet the small ones. I don't care too much for green, but this cheerful little trash can appealed to me. Now, I have 5 trashes in my small sewing room, I think it is probably enough. They are all necessary though I'm sure, 1 by my Juki, which I quilt on, 1 by my embroidery machine, 1 by my faithful old Bernina, 1 under my cutting/ironing table, and now 1 by my desk. I must be a trashy person, lol. We had originally gone to look at their fabrics. I didn't get any of that, but I got a little bud vase for less than a dollar and a wire curtain hanger to hang the small quilt over the fuse box. That was Saturday, yesterday was DH and grandson Jacob's birthdays, so we met him for lunch. It was a nice day although not as planned. We were supposed to go to Busch Garden with my daughter, her fiance and some of the grandkids, but DH had one of his sleepless nights so we had to cancel. Hope you had a nice weekend, too.

About to be Out of Here!

Finally, everything is finished for this round. Hayley's and Naomi's (above and below) will be on their way to Jacksonville soon. The dark blue in the photo above is the bottom of the tote bag. It isn't exactly blending, but it hardly shows when the tote bag is sitting. It is leftover flannel from the backing on my Carolina Straightaway.
The pink and blue 9 patches will also be on their way to Pennsylvania soon.













The fleece blankets and travel pillows and cases will be out of here in the next day or two also, but we will deliver them locally. I wasn't too satisfied with the machine embroidery after they were washed, but they aren't horrible, just not as good as I'd like.







































Last night, my granddaughter and one grandson came for dinner and since my grandson and husband are both musical, they played with my husband's trusty old accordion for awhile. It is about fifty years old. I thought my grandson did pretty well for a first try. It is nice that my grandchildren are feeling more free to come and visit more, we enjoy their company. These are my daughter's children, unfortunately my son's children live farther away and we don't get to see them very much.
Today's going to be interesting. My daughter's non-profit is supported by doing paperwork for other non-profit's and it was very slow for awhile and now has picked up a lot. I volunteered to help her catch up. I've already warned her that the old brain is not as quick as it used to be, but it'll be interesting to go to "work" after being retired for about 4 and 1/2 years. Wish her luck.

Little "Bits" to show for the Day

I had done the machine embroidery for these two labels the other day, and today I started out by finishing them up and sewing them on. These are on the two nine patch quilts from Crazy Mom Sew's Quiltalong. They are ready to pack up and send off as soon as I finish my niece and great niece's fleece blankets. They are going another place, but I might as well get them ready for the post office at the same time.
Ethan and Savanna are the children of my grandson's former girlfriend.














Next project, sew the small and large pillowcases for my great niece, Hayley's birthday. Now her tote bag and pillowcases are done, only the fleece blanket to go.













Then, it was on to her mom's and her bindings for their fleece blankets. Guess which is flannel and which is cotton? This flannel is very soft and cushy, hopefully Hayley will like everything.













Last project (I think) for the day (unless I get a second wind). I made the 3 pillowcases and 3 bindings for our Chinese friends little girls. I'm afraid everything may look a little more Japanese than Chinese, but all I could find specifically Chinese was things like dragons. I hope that it is ok. Since they are from a different culture and one that they are very proud of, I hope that it isn't any type of offense or anything. I already had the fabric because I liked it and probably would have used it for a granddaughters gift if I hadn't used it for this. The oriental girl embroidery is on one of the fleece blankets and will look better when washed and the stabilizer gone. Each of the three has a different oriental girl. The girls are 7, 5 and 5.
We got travel sized pillows to put in the pillowcases, and the fleece blankets are quite puffy. I hope that we can find some gift bags large enough at the dollar store.













Sorry about the mess, it's sort of a semi-organized clutter. Getting better organized is a goal I'm working toward, and every project hopefully is getting me closer. More and more "closet clutter" gone.
PS My oldest grandson stopped by today and had lunch with us and he had asked me previously to help him with mending as he has split all his pants except two. I remembered the come back "would you ask Picasso to paint your shed", but since he needs them for work and is on his own, I agreed. He's bringing them Saturday morning. Why is it even when we enjoy sewing we don't enjoy mending. Oh well, it will be my good deed for the day, lol.

Mackenzie is So excited about Grandma Wragg's Quilt

Day before yesterday, we had my daughter, my grandson Nathan and his wife Marcy, the baby, and my other grandson Micah over for lunch. We had a really nice visit and Nathan mentioned that he liked my green and purple quilt, so I gave it to them. This little video was on Marcy's facebook today with the caption "Mackenzie is So excited about Grandma Wragg's quilt". I thought that it was really cute, and wanted to share. She is such a little cutie and has a really sweet personality.

http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=1626113340&k=ZYGZX6TXQ5TFY1AIQA5YU5PQ2TKE46YG&oid=1375201539775

Unfortunately, I couldn't figure out how to bring the video over from facebook, but above is a link for theose who are on facebook. The video is cute, she kicks her little legs repeatedly and then feels the quilt, and then does it all over again 4 or 5 times in the 30 second video.

Hayley's Tote Bag

I have the 5 fleece blankets cut out and embroidered, and all the pillowcases cut out, too. This was supposed to be the last thing to make, only if I had time, but what was I doing last night instead of sewing bindings, etc.
This tote bag is flannel with batting in the body and the handles, and then quilted. Only the inside is cotton, and it is very soft and cushy.
Hayley is only going to be ten, so this may be a bit big for her, but hopefully, since she goes from her Mom to her Dad's, and spends a lot of time at my brother's (her grandpa) too, she can use it in her travels. She could almost use it as a pillow in a pinch, lol.

Next Up

Next project is to make this stack go away. The two rolls of fleece have been in my closet for a couple of years, another portion since July 11 of this year, and the light blue and patterned fleece on the bottom since about an hour ago. We just got back from Joann's and I got those, a spool of Coats and Clark's machine quilting thread to try, and some dye catchers (boy was it hard to find those, and at the end there they were the first place I looked and where I thought they would be, I just missed them). The blue in the middle is for my great niece on my Jacksonville brother's side, the last 4 quilts I sent off were for my Brunswick brother's grandchildren, my great niece's and nephews. I plan to make her a fleece blanket, flannel pillowcase and flannel tote, the print on the bottom is for her mama, my niece, their birthdays are 1 day apart. Horses are what my niece loves, and the only fleece I found with horses is more western with horses, cattle, spurs, etc. I hope she likes it. My brother bought the fabrics and I'm supplying the labor.
We have become friends with the owner of the Chinese restaurant where we eat lunch sometimes, and I am making her 2 daughters 7 and 5, and her niece 5, fleece blankets and cotton pillowcases. I have some cute fabric with Oriental girls (see on the left of the picture) and will machine embroidery their names and some cute Oriental girls on the fleece. all of the fleece blankets will be bound just like quilts with the double fold binding. Now I just need to get cracking and make them, lol.

A Stack of Quilts

I like pictures of stacks of quilts, and so I stacked the last 7 finishes up and carried them to the back porch hoping for better light. Unfortunately, it was overcast, but it is still nice not to have the yellow tinge to everything.
My house really is yellow.

Three Finishes

The pictures are pretty poor, but I finished these yesterday.
















Above is my Carolina (Crossroads) Straightaway from Bonnie Hunter's first mystery. I started it with everyone else, only made one of the two blocks and finished the top on October 11, 2008. It's been a long time, lol.


















My Burger Queen mystery from Stashbuster forum took even longer to get to, the top was finished August 15, 2008















This little Strip Twist, also from Bonnie Hunter, not quite so bad, July 6, 2009. My fuse box is going to be looking good, lol.