Still Basting and Socializing with Family

Haven't gotten much done lately, but I did get these two basted. The bottom is the last of the big boy quilts, this one is for my 17 year old grandson Caleb, and it is just like the one for my great nephew Dakota. The top one is the back of my Christmas lap quilt which was supposed to be a "Strip Road" from Cyberquilters 4-C-Bees, generously shared by Benita Skinner. Unfortunately, due to lazyness and poor color choices mine has turned out to be "Unstrip Road", I still think I will like it ok when it is finished. Sometimes you just have to think positive, lol. Unless it just seems like someone else should have it, this one if for DH and I.Below are my two nine patches from Crazy Mom Quilts quiltalong. They are little kid sized and there is a boy one and a girl one, not for sure yet who they are for. (I have enough nine patches left to make another adult sized lap quilt, and will either do it with light brown sashing or white.) They are next in line for basting and all ready for me to get to them. Bindings are done for all four quilts, so hopefully they'll go quickly. Still thinking positive.
After that I'll go ahead and make bindings and backs for the other tops I have done and hopefully finish them and then it's on to making or finishing tops. That and getting my sewing room more organized and cleaned are the goals I'm working toward.
As for socializing, one of my great nieces was visiting from Iowa and DH and I had a pleasant evening having her and 2 of my grandsons over for dinner and as the kids would say, hanging out. My DD's fiance's daughter has been here also, and yesterday we took her and two grandson's (1 different and 1 the same as above) to a movie. We saw Grownups, which I thought would be silly, but it was surprisingly enjoyable. Before the movie we all met DD, 2 more DGS's (one of which brought a friend), and 1 DGD at a Chinese restaurant for lunch. It was a lot of fun and so nice to be together with family. There is going to be a wedding the first of next year, but we already consider DD's fiance's 2 daughters to be our grandchildren, too.

A Day at the Beach

The young family spent a day at the beach with the other side of the family and I stole a couple of the pictures of the 7 month old little lady.

Whew! Two More Finishes

Now I need to start looking for a big box, as I have all 4 quilts ready to go. The two above are just like my other big boy quilts except different borders, and I still have 1 more to do for my 17 year old grandson which will also have the music border like the one on the right above.
The next group will have to wait a few days before I start basting again, I need to do some housework and go to some appointments.
DH went to the grocery store yesterday and came home with some flowers for me. They are really pretty and colorful and are very cheerful to look at.


PS I just figured up and these make my actual quilt "finishes" for this year, seven. Not so good, but I'm on a roll now.

Two Finishes

I worked and worked and have something to show for it. Yesterday I quilted my big girl quilts and today got them bound. They are for my grand nieces Harper and Jensen and in a few days I should have their brothers quilts finished also and have them in the mail on their way to Iowa.

It's nice to finally have basting figured out and have some finishes and some more soon to be finishes. I had to fight through I can't use pins, I run over them and break needles, can't use spray glue cause my DH had pneumonia and I don't want to thread baste. Finally, I decided that I just needed to bite the bullet and do the thread basting and now even though it is rather time consuming I find that I don't mind it, and sometimes the feel of the quilt itself as I'm doing it is a pleasure.
It's a good thing that I have come to these conclusions, as I have several more tops ready to go, and I am determined to get them done and then organize my sewing room. At that point, I can go ahead with things I'd "like" to do and enjoy the whole process more.

By the way, the two quilts that I finished are 2 different versions of the Turning Twenty patterns, only I used 12 fat quarters instead of twenty and made lap quilts instead. The girls are 14 and 10, and I hope they like them.

More Basting and Shop Hop

Yippee, I have all four quilts basted for this go round, all going the same place and overdue. The top 2 are the backs of the big girls quilts, and the bottom 2 the backs of the big boys quilts.








I'm such a dedicated baster now that I have made myself a little handy dandy basting kit.












We went to the last shop in the shop hop and got their free pattern, a nifty beach bag with built in towel, kind of on the idea of a quillow. They had these black and white fabrics marked down to $5.00 and since I have been eying the black and white quilts on many blogs I thought they'd be a good start.












The blue fabrics are a big piece of fleece and 3 pieces of flannel for my brothers granddaughter's birthday. This is the third set and I think the last. I think that I may have enough flannel left for a tote bag, would a flannel tote bag be weird?

The past couple of months I have been buying fabric even though I told myself I wouldn't, and the two pictures below are part of my binge. The ones on the left were on sale for $2.98 at Hancock's of Paducah, and I ordered several thinking oh they never have much of what I order. Wrong this time, they had them all. The others are some of the scrap bag fabrics from Keepsake Quilting. I'd been wanting to get some Thimbleberries, since I keep hearing about them and haven't had any. They had free shipping, and so I got one of their scrapbags. They are all perfect and if I wasn't going to keep my initial intention to stop buying I think I'd have to join their scrapbag a month club. The remainder of my binge is a bolt of solid chestnut for sashings and backings, and 5 yards of solid tan for the same purpose.

Great Grandbaby

Wow 2 posts in one day.
This picture was on my granddtr-in-laws facebook with this caption:

She has been playing with the quilt her g. gma made her for 30 min now.

I told her that kind of enthusiasm will earn her another quilt.
She's a little six month old cutie now.

Basting and Shop Hop

I don't know if you can tell, but the 2 quilts on the bed are basted (whoopie). I have all the parts for the other 2 in this group, and hope to get them basted in the next two or three days. I hope I'm on a roll now and can get these four quilts finished, packed up and shipped to the great nieces and nephews that they are intended for. Maybe in a week or so I'll have pictures of the four of them to post.




DH and I put about 120 miles on the car today going to 3 of the 4 shops in this shop hop. the first shop was giving away the Flouncy Skirt pattern (may be cute for the smallest granddtrs) and since we were the only ones there at the time we won the little giveaway of the glue stick and little cloth wallet. My purchases there? The basting is killing my finger and so I am going to try the finger cots to see if they help. I got 2 kits for $1.00 to make some very cute travel makeup rolls, and then as I was driving away, I went back in and got 5 more of the little kits. They will make cute little thank you gifts for some ladies I know. The blue star fabric is for a tutorial that I loved and want to make before next fourth of July. It's from "and Sew on" "Bust an Flag It!". (See PS at bottom of post for a picture of the "Bust an Flag it!".)
















The second shop was the farthest away, and a really nice shop. The owner is very talented, she has the shop and a line of patterns and fabrics of her own. The three patterns were freebies from her line, and the red print is a little sample of the new fabric crinkler, not sure what it is really called. My purchase there was the ruler, I have the shorter one and it is one of my very favorite rulers. Wish they were closer as they have some interesting classes.
















The last shop was giving away the pattern for the beach bag, very cute, and again we were the only ones there for the drawing so we each won a fat quarter. They also were giving each person a state thimble. My purchase there was the red fabric, again for my flag.














Just one shop left, the one here in my town and we will go tomorrow and turn in our cards. It was a fun way to spend the day, and DH and I enjoyed the drive, the music on the radio, and each other's company.

PS Lola from "and Sew On" has graciously allowed me to share a picture from her blog. This is a wallhanging she made from her tutorial and what has inspired me to start collecting a little fabric.

Big Boy Quilt Number 2 Done

This looks a whole lot like big boy quilt number 1, just a different border. It is done but not perfect. The front doesn't look too bad, but my machine was giving me problems and the back is not as good as I'd like. I picked out the worst of it, and as hard as it was to pick out, it should hold together well, lol. This is for my grandson, Micah.
I hope everyone who celebrates has a wonderful Fourth of July weekend.

Life Goes On

My husband, Ernie, was in the hospital almost a week, and has been out now for about 3 weeks and for the most part doing well. We have stayed busy with doctor's appointments and therapy for his hand, and I'm sure that will be going on for a while more (he has 3 new doctor's now). Life has pretty much returned to normal though, thank goodness. Thank you for all the prayers and good wishes on our behalf.
My daughter and her fiance, her daughter and his two daughters are going on a short vacation next month, so she and I made tote bags for each of them to take with them. We went to Walmart and they had this light blue denim fabric on sale for $1.50 a yard so we bought the 11 yard bolt and still have some left. We didn't use any pattern, just winged it using a tote bag that I had made a few years ago as a guide. They are nicer than they look in the picture, completely lined in the same fabric and with inside pockets, too. All the pockets are lined in pretty coordinating fabrics, and the straps are a nice length, long enough to put on the shoulder, but short enough to carry by hand. We also velcroed the tops, so no spillage is what we aspired to accomplish. My daughter is a single mom with 6 children and so hasn't had time to sew for many years, I really enjoyed making these with her and hope that she enjoyed it too. I hope that she enjoyed sewing again enough that maybe we can make something else together.
My wish is that these bags will be enjoyed by all on their trip, and that they help with bonding in a small way. Hopefully, they will enjoy each other and these will be a little happy reminder of their trip.

P.S. DD's dad and fiance are both Ernie's.

Quitting Blogging for Awhile

It's been a long week or so. My husband, Ernie, had a small stroke last Tuesday and was in the hospital until Thursday. The results of the stroke were a numb right hand and some numbness in his mouth. It is improving and hopefully will be back almost as good as new. His platelets were very low when they let him out, and unfortunately they got even lower and he was readmitted on Sunday. It has been up and down, and may be a process to get his bone marrow back to making his platelets and red and white blood cells. They are all very low, and at this time he is getting transfusions through his IV. He is up and about and I'm sure will be fine, but at this time I am quitting blogging indefinitely, just too much going on. I've been spending the nights and days at the hospital and am a bit tired myself, so if this is disjointed I apologize.