Ironing and Cutting

I've been a bit frustrated using my ironing board as a cutting table also, and forever moving things about.  I didn't think that I had room for a separate one, even though I do have a nice big sewing room it also doubles as a laundry room and a guest room.   I had purchased this nice big cutting board and then my brother found a "Big Board" ironing table top at a garage sale and it's been sitting on it, so it's been easier to use a portable cutting board.  This is my solution, I got bed risers, another folding 2 feet by 4 feet table and put my quilt rack underneath it.  So far so good and I know there will be lots of cutting for Bonnie Hunter's Easy Money mystery, so I'm ready. 
Right now I'm machine embroidering Maddox's quilt back, and that has spilled over to the top of my new cutting table.  

Because of my ironing board doubling as a cutting area, and I suppose a bit of carelessness too, my big board ironing cover has 2 or 3 inch or so cuts in it.  First I was going to buy some duck canvas and make another one and then I thought why not use up some of my scraps from using sheets as backs of quilts.  This is the result.  It is reversible and I put elastic all around, but it was too loose so you can probably see a couple of the pins that I used.  I really don't like the looks of them and if they aren't efficient, I may get some thumb tacks and try that.  I have a staple gun but I want to be able to turn it over when it gets dirty without a lot of fuss.  
It seems that sewing rooms are continually evolving and we are always looking for a better way.  I hope that I've found one, hopefully I'll be more organized and efficient.

Easy Money Colors

I ordered some clearance fabric from Hancock of Paducah and from Connecting Threads and the Hancock order came today.  The blue and whites, the top two browns and the ivory on the right are my new fabrics.  I am still trying to decide whether to use my original plan of gold-yellows or to go with greens.  These fabrics may or may not end up in the mix, as before I go to these I'll go to my scraps and smaller pieces, this was just 'to see'.  Opinions welcome. 

Flimsy Completed

I made one (to me, now) glaring error, but it was too late to change, so it is what it is.  I think on the whole it is kind of cute though.  All the geometrics kind of remind me of fencing to keep the little critters out of the garden.  
 I have a question for all you grammar geeks or English teachers out there.  What is the proper (or most proper) plural or possessive for a name ending in X ?  Would Maddox be Maddox's, Maddox', Maddoxes, or just plain Maddox.  I have started googling it, but haven't had time to really dig into it, and now I'm leaving to go to Orlando (about a 30 minute trip) to pick up one of my Grandson's from work. 
I ordered a folding table to use for a cutting table in my sewing room, and Walmart said it would be here between this coming and next Friday, but I got an email it is here today.   My book with RRCB in it is supposed to be here by Dec. 4th (I guess books get on the back of the pile at the US Postal Service as it was shipped a few days ago) and if I have similar luck with that, maybe I can keep up with my goal of having my Craftsy BOM, Maddox' (?) quilt and my RRCB all done before the new Easy Street mystery starts.  That would be wonderful.   If I do and I have lag time after working on Easy Street, I'll work on my Scrap Vomit (isn't that a horrible name), but if I don't I'll hopefully have the 3 more finishes by the end of the year anyway.
PS  We had a very nice day yesterday.  My son came and brought his dog and my daughter and one of my grandsons came and brought their dog.  We left the dogs in the back yard and went to a Mexican restaurant nearby that we really like.  Everyone enjoyed their lunch and the visit.  My husband, Ernie, probably wore himself out a bit, but I think that it was good for him and he enjoyed very much having his children (and his grandson) spend some time with us.   Everyone is so busy that we can't get together as much as we'd like, so it was a treat.    

Beginning of Maddox's Quilt and Visit

I have the simple little blocks done and am about ready to start assembling them.  I hope Maddox and his family like it.  If they like it a lot, they are near Ikea and can probably add accessories for his room as the fussy cut blocks with the bunnies and the hedgehogs are Ikea fabric.   Should end up about 46 by 58 inches before washing, and a few inches smaller after washing.  Sorry, it's a little confusing sitting on my Orange Crush, but the bottom two rows with the borders should be how it looks.  Quite a change working with little blocks with from one to four pieces and ending up with a 6 x 6 inch block, after 60 pieces in an 11 by 11 inch block.  
Guess it's going to have to wait though, my son is visiting from Tampa and my daughter may come over for a bit, too.  Tampa is only a couple of hours away, but with everyone's 'life' getting in the way we don't get together as often as we'd like and my son is going to be out of the country for Thanksgiving.  Happy Veteran's day everyone.

Veteran's Day

For my father (Navy), my brother (Marines), my grandson (Army) and all the others who have served and sacrificed for our country's protection.  

Heart Problems, Hospital, and a Few Blocks.

My husband is in the hospital, heart problems again.  I spent the night but came home this morning for  a couple of necessary errands and to shower, while home I also hurried and finished up my other 14 blocks. they were almost done when we found we needed to go to the hospital.   Just a quick picture with my iphone and I'm back on my way.   Don't really know how he's doing yet, hopefully we'll find out more today and hopefully it will be easily fixed.  He got a monitor put under his skin about a month ago, Thursday we sent the information for the first time, all was ok.  Thursday night lots of pain and some in and around his chest so he did another report and they said to go to the hospital.  Evidently at least a couple of times during the night his heart stopped, once for 4 seconds.  Evidently, he has an electrical problem.  I'll post more when I know more.
Update:  They really didn't find anything, the Dr. wanted to keep him another night so they could watch his low blood pressure, but he couldn't stand anymore and pretty much refused.   So, we are home and he's snoring away enjoying a nap. 

First Block - Roll Roll Cotton Boll?

Block No. 1 of Roll Roll Cotton Boll No. 2.  I think it needs a different name, something to do with Florida or Nebraska, I'll have to think on it.   Only 14 more to go and then I'll have my strings and these blocks ready.  I haven't cut the strings up as I don't have the instructions and don't want to go by memory and mess things up.   I ordered the book last night, so hopefully it will be here soon.  Meanwhile, I can work on getting my baby quilt for Maddox ready and if the book still isn't here, I'll baste Maddox's quilt and my Craftsy BOM.

I wondered how it was going to look with the strings so I stuck a few on the design wall (piece of flannel) with the block.  (I kind of remind myself of a monkey sitting and holding something shiny and gazing at it in fascination.  Can you tell that I like shiny things.)

Kind of like him (Is a chimp still a monkey??).

Here was my first block from Roll Roll Cotton Boll No. 1.  Looks quite a bit different.  I didn't correct it when I realized that the browns and pinks were supposed to match, and I kind of liked it that way.  I corrected my mistake for future blocks though. 

Roll Roll Cotton Boll Progress

I have my string blocks, most of my border (the parts in the box with the string blocks) and I have my other blocks almost ready to assemble.  I have my 350 tiny HST's in the pink box, and as soon as I sew 60 rows of 5 from them, I'll be on to assembly of the blocks in the picture.   I'm getting there, and will be ready when I have gotten my book (see previous post about how I lost the last steps).   It's about time since it was the mystery before Carolina Christmas and Orca Bay.  I did finish them, and I finished RRCB No. 1, but this one has been lanquishing in a box. 

Wedding and Strings for RRCB

My husband wasn't well enough to attend the wedding of my Grandson and his new wife, but this was on facebook within minutes.   From all reports, it was a beautiful wedding and everyone had a good time.   They are on their honeymoon now.   We were there in spirit.

This is my newest, now official, grandson.   He is looking snazzy in his tux, and was a big part of the wedding.   They did a dance number and he had been around while rehearsals were taking place, so he was a big part of the show.   My daughter said he was running on adrenalin. 

Since we couldn't be at the wedding, I decided to work on my second Roll Roll Cotton Boll.   Here is my first one.   I am making a lap sized, so need 30 string blocks.  I had 12 made, so decided to bite the bullet and assembly line sew the other 18, surprisingly, it made it easier not harder.  I was able to find the longer pieces for the middles, instead of using my wallpaper tool as a substitute iron, it was easy to just actually iron 18 at a time between each row.  I don't hate string blocks as badly now, lol.   Next step was to see what I was missing and fill in the blanks.  I have a lot left from the first RRCB, as I started out with the intention of making the full sized quilt, but big problem, I can only find steps 1-3.   I checked back on my back up hard drive to see if I had saved it, I looked everywhere I can think of.  I checked my first 3 Bonnie Hunter books, but it is in the fourth, the one that I wasn't going to buy because I don't like doing strings.  I could possibly figure it out myself by looking at my first one, but right now with my husband's health problems, my brain isn't up to that much thinking.   I do need to make 300 of the tiny half string triangles.  On the first one I made I used leftover bonus triangles  from my Iowa (Carolina) Christmas, but on this one I want light blue and dark blue triangles.  That should keep me busy until pay day when I can order the book.   If not, I have my new grandbaby, Maddox's baby quilt to do, plus baste and quilt my Craftsy BOM.  My goal was to get these 3 (Craftsy BOM, Maddox's baby quilt and RRCB)  done by the time Bonnie's new mystery starts, but I don't know if I'll make it now.   Oh well, goals are just goals, and quilting is for fun, so if I don't make it, it's just an "oh well" as I already stated.  
By the way, the dark gray circle that the strings are sitting on isn't a shadow, it's the rotating cutting board that I made from an Ikea turntable, glue and an old cutting mat, it sure comes in handy at times.   It came in handy for trimming my string blocks to 8 1/2", and a plastic chopstick that I asked if I could have when I ate at P F Changs, came in handy for removing the papers.  I love gadgets, especially when they make jobs easier and don't cost much or take up much room.
PS   I got 110 of my mini HST's done today.  Only a couple hundred more to go.  

Craftsy BOM Back

A wild and crazy back for my wild and crazy Craftsy BOM.  The purple looks more raspberry here, and the blue looks more aqua here, but this is basically it.