Had a pretty good morning today. I have got three of the trupunto blocks done, the stomach problem is a little better and not quite as much hip and knee pain so i could work longer. The sun is shining and there were a lot of birds at the feeder until Sam came along and scared them away. He said he didn't want birds by the window, but I have a feeling that he is bored and needs to go outside and run. I know I do, well not exactly run, but a nice long walk would feel good today.
I noticed Ambrosina has her garden plot drawn up, she is getting antcy about that too, it seems spring is in the air. I hope we don't get disapointed by some freeze and snow, it is really too early to plan on nice weather, but March is only a week away. Spring in name and spring in actual fact are usually 2 different things. She has got some seeds in the mail already and is planning to set up here greenhouse by the dining room window in a week or so I think.
I have to got through my bookcase down here and see if I can get rid of some more books that I don't use, it is overflowing and I don't really know what all is there. I need to move it so I can have more room around the loom, I will need it soon.
Ahhh chili for lunch!!

Last night Happy, the cat went a little crazy and knocked every thing on the end of the bed onto the floor. Guess it was time for me to clean up and put away everything anyway. So I am going to focus on putting stuff away this afternoon. Ambrosina is organizing the little boys' closet and my bureau is coming downstairs. It was my mother's, mine when I was a little girl, Ambrosina's when she was a little girl, and I think John's also. It was used for all 3 of her boys, and I painted ducks on it, so now it is back down to me, and I think I will paint it white again. I remember when I was little it had a clown on a rocking horse on the door, probably a stencil, but mother took the door off and threw it away when I was a kid, so I am not  sure what I will do with it. Anyway I will be able to get all my clothes in it, and have a lot more space to organize my junk.
Sammy who is five was sitting at the dining room table working a puzzle and suddenly said "beef stew I don't like it, I slap it." I wonder at the workings of the mind when something comes up out of the blue like that!

I have finished the T quilt top, it is ready to go
into the tub in the attic.

Upstairs I am working on a quilt as you go trupunto, from a book by Harriet Walner. I starte it in 1998 and put it away when I went back to work. I have 8 quilts in the sewing corner and I intend to get all of them done this spring, at least to the top stage. After that we will see.

For now at least I am going to start putting stuff away and hopefully throwing some stuff away. Again I ask: Where does it all come from?

Sunday, February 21, 2017
I have been having trouble getting online the last few days, I think being in the basement doesn't help much. I need to scan for spyware too.
I have had a busy week, I finished my coat and 4 hats, 2 of which I am going to send to Ben and Jazzy.

I also finished a couple of baby quilts and they are put away up in the attic ready for the next baby gift.

 My knee pain has gotten a little better although the back pain is still quite bad. I have been able to restart treadling in the basement and that is progress. I have the vertical rows of the T quilt sewn together and am ready to join the horizontal rows. Then up to the tub in the attic waiting for the soon to come spring when I can get the quilting frame up and running. I have to get at least 4 tops quilted this spring and summer, Arty's, Sam's, Rosa's and Anthony's T. I need to get a couple for my bed done too as both my quilts are so far gone one is not even in good enough shape for a cutter quilt.
other has about a couple of more years to go I think.
I have 8 quilts started in the sewing corner upstairs, but I don't think that there is anymore up in the attic, except unquilted tops. I've determined that I won't start another one up there until they are at least to the finished top stage. I started work on one that I started in 1998 when we lived in the first house in Aberdeen. I finished 3 more blocks this week. It is a quilt as you go, so it at least will be ready for my bed next winter. I don't like doing quilt as you go, but I already had this one started before I realized I didn't like doing it that way. I hope it will be big enough as I don't want to have to make any more blocks than I have already cut out. This is a long post I know but I wanted to get caught up.

Tuesday, February 16, 2016
Finished my fleece coat and 2 hats today. Had a busy morning and wore them this afternoon when I went to my appointment. I have  been going through the containers of lace and getting rid of the ugly stuff and short pieces. I keep thinking if I get rid of stuff then I will have more space, but it hasn't ever worked out that way. Someone recommended that I try essential oils for my knees, so I said that I would look online for more information about them. I need to try something.
I am working on cleaning the bedroom and sitting room again, I don't now how I get it so cluttered, except that I am working on something all the time. I almost have the next row of hexagons blocks done and so I dug out some more and made a mess finding them. So then I decide to straighten the shelves they were stored on so I have that stuff strewn all over. It's amazing how much I can get on a shelf, and how hard it is to get it all back.

Monday, February 15, 2016
Finally got my fleece coat done today. My knees are killing me but I stuck to it. Weather is supposed to warm up today so maybe my knees will get better. If they don't, they don't, we all have something we have to live with. I figure on the matching hat next. If the weather warms up there is always next winter. It comes around every year.
I cut out some more hexagons over the weekend, I think I have just about enough. If not I will get some fat quarters. I am going to put all the cutting mess away out of the bedroom now and clear off the treadle. The cat just came sneaking up on my lap between me and the keyboard. I don't know why she thinks I can't see her when she does that. Now I can't see the screen to see if I am making any mistakes. Such a sweet kitty though. She is sticking her tail between my fingers and the keys making it very difficult so I will make this a short post.

Saturday, February 13, 2016
Leon, David and Doug are putting the new shower stall in the bathroom today. They plan to finish it so at least the bathroom won't be tied up all weekend. We went to Doug and Rose's for Indian Tacos today and they were good as usual. Afterword I ran down to Joann's for thread, and Saturday is not a good shopping day, it was jampacked. I won't go on a Saturday again, but I needed thread for the serger and it was on sale. It is really cold and we could get 1 to 7 inches of snow between tonight and tomorrow. I hope it's the last for this year, I am ready for warm.

Friday, February 12, 2016
Haven't posted for a couple of days. I got busy, the sewing corner is up and running upstairs and I have been working on a coat that I had hoped to get done for this winter. It's still early I may get it done for this winter yet: we had snow yesterday. I don't seem to get be able to get over this cold, so I haven't been doing much at the treadle, the basement doesn't seem to be getting any warmer during the day so when I have been down here I have been under the covers doing some hand sewing.
The kumihimo is a lot of fun and it doesn't take long for the inches to add up, so I have been alternating that with the hexagon blocks. I need 14 tie ups for the treadles on the loom, but it's not warm enough to weave yet so I have some time for that.
The kids have a four day weekend so it will get noisy around here, they are over at Grandma's today so it will be quiet here at least for today.
Yesterday I finished quilting the little girl strip quilt I had done for when I need a baby gift. I noticed the table was cleared off when I went upstairs a few minutes ago so I can pin the little boy quilt and work on that when I get the coat done, so there will be a little less cluttering up the sewing corner. I can also cut out Etina's kitchen curtains and neaten up that pile a little more. Before I can do much more sewing I have to go to Joann's and get some sewing thread. I am out again. Thread didn't use to be such a high cost as it is now. I didn't even use to consider the cost much, I would just buy thread, but now it seems I spend a lot of money on thread and I am always out!

Got started on quilting the two baby quilts I pieced in the fall. The upstairs sewing corner is pretty well back together except for some stuff in the attic that I have to sort and put away. Will do that soon but I have to get the stuff brought down today put away before anymore comes down. The bedroom is a mess again but it is easy to lift the bed to put stuff away and I did that this morning so the clutter is a little better. I have 5 dinosaur blocks done.

The last couple of days I have been doing a little Kumihimo. I don't really have anything that is really suitable. I tried some cotton yarn but it was too heavy. I have some nylon macrame cord that is ok, but not quite as heavy as I wanted. I got some plastic bobbins at Hobby Lobby, and they worked ok for the heavier yarn, but the lighter weight stuff slipped out. There weren't enough for the pattern that I was doing so I used a couple of old wood thread spools and used the slip knot that I use for bobbin lace making. They worked pretty good but were heavier than the plastic spools so they the work wasn't very even. I think I may hunt out some more spools, they would work good if I had them all around. It's very interesting and I think it could become addictive.
I am still fighting the cold and not feeling very well. I am in a lot of pain, but I think that when the weather warms up I will do better.
I started my Snail trail down in the basement on the treadle. I haven't gotten the T blocks ironed and trimmed so I can put the top together so I started the new one I am putting rick rack between the pieces and calling it Dinosaur Trail. Maybe I will give it to Wyatt for his big boy quilt. I need to check with Etina to see what his likes and color preferences are if he is showing any yet. I was going through the pictures last summer and oh! how I miss those little boys and their cousins Ben and Jazzy.
I'm not sure what I am going to do today. When I went upstairs just now Sam and Gramps were setting up a game on the new coffee table and Sam told me to guess which game it was. I looked at it and guessed battleships. He said no to guess again, so I did some random game and then I had to guess again and of course I was wrong. The he pointed at me told me very seriously it was "Super battleships so you were wrong". Oh boy wrong again. I hide my head in shame! I thank God everyday for the blessings he has given me in the shapes of my beautiful grandchildren and equally beautiful and generous children!

I've been meaning to try my hand at Kumihimo lately, so when I went to Hobby Lobby to look at jump rings for jewelry making I noticed they had the plastic bobbins. I had intended to use old wooden spools but I got the bobbins since they weren't expensive. I am still not sure of what I will use for thread or yarn, I don't want something that will stretch, I was thinking I could use the experimental practice stuff for the tie up on the loom. Maybe not, but I don't have to make a decision yet because it's too cold to work over there yet anyway.
I am still in a great deal of pain with my knees but the cold is better.
I didn't get a lot done yesterday because I was feeling so unwell but, I might do some things this afternoon, I want to get further on a couple of quilts I have started. The goal is to finish 2 started tops and then I can start another one that is on my bucket list but I have to finish the top and not let it go stale. I think it will work, I can focus better right now, and I do enjoy it!

Thursday February 4, 2016
Still working on putting things away upstairs. The allergies I thought were giving me a bad time is actually a cold, several others in the household have it so at least there is an end in sight. I don't feel like doing much and didn't get much sleep last night, but the headache part is mostly gone.
More pictures. Malachi's Log Cabin quilt:

It was completed in August 2015, not a very good picture I know, need to work on my picture taking skills.
The second Drunkard's path that I just finished a couple of weeks ago is the Love Ring variation:

It's not a very good picture either but the light was behind it and I didn't really have a very good place to take the picture. It too is waiting until spring, I hope I will get a better picture then.
The two pineapple tops inch strips:

 

And inch.

I prefer the inch wide strips, and so did Ambrosina. David liked the inch and a half but that could have been because he liked the 4 patch centers better than the square in a square centers.

I spent the morning shopping and I am tired along with the cold so I am going to take a nap this after noon after I finish my lunch. I haven't finished sorting the books yet so I will have to do that tomorrow. Enough for one day.

February 3, 2016, Wednesday
I finally got the camera in the same place as the computer. My organizational skills have been focusing on getting the upstairs sewing corner in the dining room put back in order. I have one more tub up in the attic to unpack and sort, and a whole bunch of little cabinets that need to be emptied and eliminated so that their is less clutter because Ambrosina doesn't (understandably) want the room too cluttered since they are hoping to sell. I have counted 6 uncompleted quilts started and stored in the cube storage on the wall. No more new tops to be started until those are done. I just remembered a 7th. It doesn't matter. 2 years ago I had 8 over there and this is a different 7 from those, so there is progress. I brought most of the ones over there now down from the attic so there are actually a lot less over all than I had before. Of course, not all of them are quilted, I didn't get a lot of them quilted what with the month long trip and David's heart attacks. We aren't going much of anywhere this summer so I will get more done.
David says he is itching to get back to his sewing. He was sick yesterday and is paying bills today. He still has the bookcase on the stair landing to finish, but the weather is supposed to be in the forties for a while. Nice after the blizzard yesterday.
Anyway here are some pictures:

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This is the Drunkard's path polka dot that I finished last October 16, 2015. I hope I did the link right, it's the first time. Here is the back I pieced for it:

Her is the mystery quilt Allietare (doubt I did that right!) by Bonnie Hunter, the first follow along quilt I have ever done since I almost always design my own:

It's not finished since we were in the middle of the dining room tear down and I was having to work slow because of no space to work. I have since put the borders on and it is in the tub in the attic waiting to be quilted this spring.
I know this is a lot of pictures so I will wait until tomorrow to post the rest. I have quite a lot of the T quilt done for Anthony to replace the one that was discarded when he moved. So until tomorrow!