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. 

Change of Pace

My granddaughter took this today.  I think that she is very talented, and it goes without saying that  my great-grandchildren are adorable.  Guess which one had to be bribed with marshmallows.

My oldest grandson is getting married this Friday and a couple of days ago I realized that I have gold and black heels, but somewhere along the lines I must have given away my black and my gold bags.  Yesterday I made a trip to Joann's (which was nice as while out I had lunch with my grandson and his soon to be wife) and tried to find something dressy that would go ok with both colors, as I think I'll wear black for the rehearsal dinner and gold for the wedding reception.   My daughter was in the same boat, I thought if she wanted I'd try to make her one too, so I came home and cut them out and today has been pretty much dedicated to making the bags.   They aren't tiny, but they are much smaller than my regular bag. 

Just in case I can fit my stuff in here, I went ahead and did lots of pockets, I need those.

They are about 12" tall and 10" wide and 4" deep.   Tomorrow is dedicated to hemming my husband's pants, cutting his hair, coloring my hair washing and getting things ready.   The wedding is only about 45 minutes away, but with my husband's poor health it seemed wise to stay at the hotel nearby to the wedding venue.   He can only stand short periods without putting his feet up.   They are quite swollen. 

And Now It's a Flimsy

I promise, no more pictures until it's finished.   I don't promise to buy glasses for anyone who's eyesight has been injured by this quilt though. 

Not Quite a Flimsy

The rows aren't sewn together and it's on a lumpy surface, but this is the general look of it.  It will have the green inner border and the paisley border.  It should end up about 70 by 94, which will probably shrink 5 or 6 inches, so it'll still be a roomy lap quilt.  It would either need a very eclectic person, or a very neutral room.  Hopefully, the borders and the quilting will tone it down a bit.

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.   

                     

New Baby? Trip to Joann's

First matter of business.   I received a text from Germany that my new great grandson may be born today (maybe tomorrow, since they are 6 hours ahead).   I'm sure we will get updates, they are getting ready to go to the hospital.   My granddaughter just called and she thinks it is time, she is having major contractions.  Wish we could be there to help.

We were just getting back from Joann's when I got the text.  I was in the act of taking a picture of my new fabrics for my wild and crazy Craftsy BOM quilt.   The inner border and cornerstone materials I already had, but I got the sashing material and outer border fabric today.   This quilt isn't going to be bashful at all.

Two to Go

Second Craftsy BOM for October.  Now waiting for the drunkard's path templates and then I'll do the September blocks and be ready for sashing.  

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. 

Stars In My Eyes

Only 4 more blocks to go.  I went to Joann's today coupons in hand, but they didn't carry drunkard's path templates, so I ordered some off of Amazon when I got home and decided to skip to the last blocks and wait for the templates.  I did the Dresdens with my home made templates and it worked fine, but I sliced things up pretty badly.  I decided that as much of a pain in the behind as I anticipate the drunkard's path as being, I want to start off with better templates and hopefully I'll like them well enough to make more at some point.  I feel that way about the Dresdens, in fact I picked up the template today.    Meanwhile, this morning I made these blocks and I'm wondering what kind of a finished product I will have, cute or garish.   I was thinking of black sashing and then I remembered my husband's crack about Halloween concerning my Sunrise, Sunset (Orca Bay) and I don't want a repeat of that.  Maybe, I'll look for a large print with hopefully all four of my colors in it, turquoise, green, orange and purple.  

Rolling Along on My Craftsy BOM

What can I say, I have a gypsy soul and a hee haw sense of humor.    I'd like to think that I'm catching up with Amanda, but I have a feeling that she's still ahead of me.  

Only 3 more months to go to catch up and to be on schedule to finish with everyone else, August, September and October.  Not too bad since Amanda and I only started on ours mid September.  We really are 'rolling' along.
These weren't nearly as hard as I thought they'd be and I only had my home made Dresden tool.  I liked making these, so I will be visiting Joann's with a coupon and the intention of getting the store bought tool.  We hee haw people can be quite modern.  I wonder if I'll feel the same about the drunkard's paths.