This is what I did this morning: 

It didn't take long. It is a little organizer for the thread and such for the hexagon quilt I am working on when I do hand work, while I am watching tv mostly. I've got an awful clutter where I keep my computer, and hopefully this will help that. I've been working on some other small stuff upstairs to get caught up between quilts and every little bit helps. I have a couple of summer dresses cut out that I want to finish so that I can wear them when the weather warms up. They won't take too long once I get some of the other stuff out of the way.
The kids had the day off from school, but they all went over to Grandma's so it has been very quiet.
We got the word today that Rosa, Timothy's wife has to have a pacemaker put in her brain because she is having a lot of seizures. I think it is her brain. Anyway next Wednesday we will be spending at the hospital with she and Timothy. It is always easier in situations like that if the family is there. Mostly we sit and do hand sewing, but we are there if needed. David doesn't do hand sewing, he mostly naps.
Speaking of naps I could certainly use one right now, but I want to get a little hand sewing done this afternoon so I will get that started now, as well as move into my new organizer and straighten up some of this clutter!

I'm kind of late getting online today. I thoroughly cleaned my sewing corner upstairs, the only thing that remained out are the current projects. I took a picture because it will probably be months before it looks like that again especially when I get Juki home.

TA DA!!! And yes I sometimes do use the sewing machines simultaneously. Or at least nearly so. And I do miss the versatility of having more than one machine available with Juki in the shop. I guess I am spoiled, but a girl can't have too many sewing machines. Sammy is very happy with his quilt, he was cuddled under it on the couch this morning when I went upstairs. He says it has his two favorite colors in it, blue and gold. I am happy that he is happy.

He's there; he is just using it for what it's for, whatever it is at any given moment, but this one you can see his smile.

It will be very quiet when he goes off to school next fall. Sigh.

I finished Sammy's quilt today. I am so glad to have it done. I have a half a dozen projects lined up to work on right now, so I am relieved that I don't have the money to get any more batting until payday so I don't have to start quilting another top until then. I have to go up to the attic to find Arty's quilt top, but there is no hurry on that. I do need to check and see if I have to piece a back but I think i did that already. Anyway here are the pictures. The day has been rainy and cold and windy, but David put his coat on and took the pictures before he went down to get Malachi.

I think David changed the settings on the camera because the colors are a little washed out. I think the quilting turned out quite well. Some people call them pebbles, but I call them bubbles because the boys love them so. I used some leftover bias to bind it, it is a scrap quilt after all. It was from binding 3 other quilts, so long ago that I can only remember doing one of them, but still good and I didn't have to cut into my slim stash to make it.
I don't know why, but getting a large long term project done makes me feel virtuous.
For the rest of the afternoon I am going through my stash and sorting out what I want to use for piecing backs, and seeing just what fabrics I do have left to work with. Tomorrow I will clean out my sewing corner upstairs and organize it so I can get the projects I have outlined done before I start quilting another top. I have well over 30 tops that need quilting and I want to get some of them done, they aren't doing anyone any good stored in tubs up in the attic.

Poor Juki, she is back at the shop today, they didn't fix whatever the problem was. Like I could afford to take her in again, like I could afford not to take her in. So, I am down to one sewing machine upstairs, I was planning to embroider some blocks that I designed on Brunehilda, but they will have to wait until I get Juki back because I don't want my only sewing machine up there to be tied up with embroidery until Sam's quilt is done. It is about halfway there. That's about 3 long mornings quilting, so it will definitely be done this week. Then I will have a grand cleanup of my sewing corner, if I can wait that long. My sewer's helper happy dumped my pin bowl on the floor, so I have buttons, marbles, small screwdrivers and heaven only knows what else underfoot. And, of course, about fifty thousand pins. I keep picking them up, but everything seems to multiply down under the furniture, so more keeps rolling out. Anyway this is Sam's pizza quilt on Brunehilda.

You may know it by it's other name: Spider Web, but to Sammy it will always be a pizza.
We had lovely T-storms last night. We do enjoy them although others might not. We can't stop them from coming, so we might as well enjoy them while they are here.
I am going through fabrics again and finding shelf space for them so I can sort them into colors, I don't have a lot by most standards, and I keep them pretty well used up, but I want them where I can see them, then I don't have to got through tubs to find what I need. It will save time in the long run, and be more convenient for use. So I had better get busy!

No matter which machine I sit at I still get way too much help.

That is the Asian wall hanging that I am trying to work on. It was resting while I was deciding what to do next, but I am working on it again. I am almost through with the embroidery and ready to start quilting, although I may have to wait until payday to do that since I need thread. There are plenty more things waiting on me to do. I also did the hem in a pair of dress pants for David, something I can almost do with my eyes closed so many times I have done it.
I did get Sammy's quilt basted and brought in from the back porch and I will start quilting it tomorrow. I will also break down the quilting frame and put it away since I won't be using it, and we want to start using the back porch.
I am going to start going through my ceramic molds today since I have decided to sell them and the big kiln. It's with some reluctance, since I enjoy it so much, but I think I am beyond handling the heavy molds now anyway. So I think I had better go and get busy before the day gets any later.

I finished the 2nd and last trapunto quilt today, it was a lovely warm sunny day and I hung it out on the porch rail for pictures and left it there to air it out. Parts of it are over 18 years old after all. Now I just looked out the window and it is absolutely pouring down rain. Lovely spring!

 Front and

back. It is a hodge podge utility quilt for my bed, and I used it to get some needed practice in on free motion quilting. After it has been washed a half a dozen times, and used for a few months it will have mellowed out, I am content with it, it is perfect, that is the right size for my bed to keep me warm while I sleep, and so I'm not too concerned with it's failings.
Tomorrow I will pin baste Sammy's quilt that is out on the frame, and if it wet from the rain I will throw it in the dryer. I have some other sewing that needs to be done while I wait for it to be ready. A huge tub of sewing as a matter of fact, so I don't need to be impatient.

I got a good start on the 4th and final border of More Of The Same. It has been raining every day ever since I put the Spider Web quilt on the frame so I couldn't have worked on it anyway. If it stops raining tomorrow I will pin baste it and bring it in since I am almost done with the one I am quilting right now. This is the kind of help I was getting this morning.

Not getting a lot done, she will slap if I try to move her. My manners are better than hers, I will wait until she leaves. Sammy usually comes running over, and he's pretty rough so she will leave and head for high ground, for instance: the top of the door. I really think that I will get the quilting done, and maybe even the binding tomorrow if I don't get too much help!

I have tried to quilt out on the porch but it's raining and too damp for the machine to work well, it breaks needles if the quilt is damp, and I am not really sure how safe it is.
I came to a decision today. With my knee and hip pain it is not practical for me to stand to quilt, do I am going to give up doing it on the frame, and just free motion on the machine in the house. David can use the frame if he wants, otherwise I will put it in storage for a while until I decide what I want to do with it.

It is essentially only the end pieces and the rods and the sewing machine rides on a carriage on the rails. It was made by Handi quilter well over 15 years ago and I have got my money's worth out of it, but I can't stand to quilt anymore, and to tell the truth I don't enjoy it as much as sitting at the machine. I made the table out of set of bunk beds, but just about any table works. I wouldn't mind selling it, because I think I am through with it.
We had our first thunderstorm of the season. It wasn't much of one, just a couple of peals of thunder and I only saw one flash of lightening. Sammy starts his swimming lessons today and Ambrosina was worried the pool would be closed, but it looks like it will be ok.
The second trapunto quilt is  coming along. I am calling it More Of The Same since I have used the same fabrics for the borders on front and back, as I did on the first one. I probably have enough for another quilt left, but i am not going to make a third. I can use the strips to piece a back for one of the many tops I need to get quilted. All in good time I hope.

Not much to post about today, I did a little quilting out on the porch and managed to break a needle. I got all the borders on the second trapunto quilt and I am ready to baste it so I can finish the quilting. No pictures today, I'm sorry but I have been so busy today. We went over to Doug and Rose's house for a bbq, it was yummy and while there David looked at their basement wall which is bulging. He says it's going to be a lot of work, no surprise there.
The heater in our bedroom has stopped working. Good thing it has warmed up. Ambrosina and Rose were talking about planting the garden. I guess it is going to be early this year. It has been so nice, it feels wonderful.

Today it was lovely and warm, I sat on the front porch to drink my morning's coffee. At lunch time I sat out there to eat my lunch. I also got the first quilt of the season on the quilting frame, and tomorrow the machine goes out and I start quilting it.

It is a spider web, but Sammy found a wedge on the floor and thought it was a piece of pizza and tried to eat it so we call it a pizza quilt and it is for him. I made the base out of a set of bunk beds the the last two boys who left home had. David has a more permanent table planned, but we don't know for sure when that will happen. I would like to have a long arm, but even if we could afford it there is no permanent place for it. The back porch is unusable during the winter.
I have to share the space of course, but that poses no problem.

I get to listen to Sam's views on life as he paints. A five year old can be very entertaining, and never dull!

Wow!!! It's been a busy day. After sewing all morning I had a class this afternoon. One of my classmates was in a terrible state, a friend of hers had committed suicide 4 days earlier. The pain of that is incredible, and one can't help but feel pain, and hurt at heart for her.
After that I had to go to Hancock's to get thread, the closeout prices aren't low enough for me to do too much shopping there yet, so I got my thread and left. Then I went to my favorite thrift shop Saver's, and got a big bag of fabrics, stripes, polka dots and plaids, my favorites. A good, temporary distraction.

 This is how the wall hanging is coming along. I don't like the blue on the lowest bird, I am going to rip that out and do something else with it. I haven't decided what yet, I wouldn't mind a few suggestions. I haven't touched the upper bird. He's beautiful, and I don't want to detract from that. I might just opt for beads for him and the same for the large sprays of flowers.
Speaking of birds: the cardinal who lives in our back yard spring and summer was singing his heart out all morning this morning. That delights the soul.

This is the tumbling blocks on the design wall. I finally figured out what was wrong with the one block there where you see the empty space. I know, I am a little slow. I do like the way this quilt is going though.
I know that many people might wonder what a pickle jar is doing in my bedroom at the foot of my bed. I use them for storage, and they work really good for storing small scraps of fabric where I can see them. Maybe a little odd, but it works for me, and there is always a supply, our family love pickles!!

As you can see it is a lot better. There are still a few odds and ends to put away, but with the two of us using the space it's doing pretty well.




Our coffee maker is easier to get at now, there is nothing in front of it as there was out in the sitting room. I intend to go through the cupboard there and eliminate some things.













The coats will have to stay on the back of  the door there is no place else for them. It does look cluttered, but it is all stuff that we use that has no other place.
I like the way the Tumbling Blocks are coming along. That is not the final placement for them just the jumping off point.

I have about half the blocks done, and this will enable me to see what colors I might need to add. I will get the rest of the blocks I have done hung up and then I will be able to see where I want to place each block. I think I am going to like it.

The room is coming along pretty good, I spent most of the day organizing yesterday. It now looks like this:

Which is a huge improvement. It will be better soon since I will be working on it this morning. I am working also to make the little sitting room aka hall more usable since our tv is out there. The tv is almost as big as the room, but that's another story. I'm going to try to get some blocks pinned up on the curtain today since I have close to a third of them done and would like to see how they look, and decide how I want to set them. I didn't work on them much yesterday because I was cleaning. It's the same old refrain, too much junk and too little space. I am getting another box ready for the Goodwill.
Here is my little helper.

She is playing the innocent right there, but she is just resting and getting ready for the next bout of confusion. Her favorite trick is walking through the sewing areas; with a really talented tail she can give a little flick and the machines are all unthreaded. If she doesn't think she is getting enough attention she will sit on the top of the machine and try to grab the take up lever. Naturally we stop running them when she is performing, but it can slow the progress down!!

I haven't been able to do too much the last few days. At least we have now found an explanation for why I have not been doing too well over the last few months. I have another hyperparathyroid. Not to be confused with the thyroid, a parathyroid is a small gland in the neck, and people have several, between 6 and ten. It happened before, and I had it removed and that is how the doctor found my thyroid cancer. It doesn't look like what's left of my thyroid is involved this time however. Any way I am still in the diagnostic stage and nothing has been decided. It accounts for the chronic pain. I'm still trying to push myself but at least I know there is a reason, and that always helps.
This is my closet.

You can see the end of my bed, the quilt I am working on and my treadle sewing machine. (Also David's tp, he has a cold). Elegant I know. And yes that is really how big our room is. I am making a curtain for it that will cover the whole thing, I am just waiting on David to make the piece for the ceiling to attach it to. It is going to be a solid color, right now a sheet and I am going to use it for a design wall so I can see how I want to put the blocks that I am working on together. It will also look a lot better, although my closet is pretty well organized, it doesn't look all that well. And as for the clutter on the sewing machine, it's all being used right now, and I always clean up a declutter after I finish a project. It's just taking me longer right now. I've always dreamed of a nice big sewing room. Actually I had one for a while and it was nice, maybe someday I'll have one again.

I got the Viking back from the shop this morning and she is doing ever so much better, poor baby.
Ambrosina is varnishing the floor on the upstairs landing today, thus blocking the bathroom. She does a last call for 2 hours warning and everybody rushes up and then she does the floor. Fortunately it's a fast dry varnish and it is looking really good.
Here is the progress that i have made on the Asian wall hanging.

It is had to see but I have added silk ribbon to the joints in the bamboo to give depth and texture, and dark green blanket stitching around the edges of the bamboo stalks like applique. I still have a long way to go but it is starting to come together and I am enjoying it.

I haven't decided what color I am going to do the leaves in yet. I have been looking in Ambrosina's silk ribbon embroidery books to see if there are any stitches that I can adapt to the sewing machine, but I have a very limited amount of the silk ribbon. I've got some pearle cotton in limited colors that I can use and I think that is probably what I will use on the leaves and the rest of the flowers.
Today Sammy brought me three little puffed hearts of graduated sizes to sew together for him. I told him he was an applique quilter now, but he wouldn't have any of that. He was making a present for Grandma, and she would love it. And she will. Grandma is Leon's mom Rose. I am Nanny. It works out great.

Guess what? I rediscovered that a whole bunch of 60 degree diamonds sewn into rows makes a really big 60 degree diamond. I don't know what I was thinking, I've made several quilts using diamonds before and knew that. Here I was thinking if I sewed them into rows I would get a square. Go figure. Good for a laugh though. We all enjoyed it.

I've learned though that mistakes nutures creativity, so I will be getting creative this afternoon!
I never notice the clutter until I take a picture of it, it looks like I will be putting stuff away this afternoon too.

I started putting together the next downstairs treadle machine top yesterday.

The block needs to be pressed but I am not having any problem with y seams

But then I am used to garment construction so that probably makes it easier. The blocks are 15" x 18". Pretty big, so it should go together fairly fast. This is one of my fast fun utility quilts, we can always use bedding.
A couple of days I dug another old UFO out of the attic. 20 years and more ago I started a hand applique Baltimore album quilt. I'd forgotten about it and ran across it when I was looking for something else. Well, I've always enjoyed hand work, although I am out of practice, so I started work on it again. It's from Elly Sienkiewicz's books, which were stored with the project, so it's actually like having a whole new project it's been so long since I worked on it. I have about 13 blocks done, enough for a quilt I think, I don't know how many more I will make.

Not the best picture, but the only one I have taken of it so far.
My sewer's friend Happy is sitting between me and the computer. She thinks she should be the one to get all the attention.

"Ain't she sweet?"

It's been a long busy day. It was payday so we had all the shopping and bill paying to do, and I can honestly say I feel crippled. I did a little of the embroidery on the Asian wall hanging before we left but not a lot. The bad news is Hancock Fabric is closing. To Ambrosina and I going there was our day's outing. Looking at the patterns was a social occasion for us. There is still JoAnn's, but we don't like it as well. When David and I moved down here there was Mill Ends which closed and now Hancock's.
There is a fairly new quilt shop that I go into occasionally and Walmart has fabrics too, but limited. Today I got 2 yards of this:

Pretty bright I know but it won't be used alone, I am still in the planning stage with this one, and just barely there at that.
Yesterday I got the 2 halves of the 60 degree diamonds quilt done so all I have to do is join them. It is strictly a utility quilt. Etina says they need bedding to go camping with so maybe I will send it to them. It's still too cold to get the quilting frame set up and we even had a few flakes of snow today. If I get the 2nd trapunto quilt done before I can set the frame up I will start quilting it free motion in the dining room, I already have too many tops waiting in the attic to be quilted.

I'm sorry the picture isn't better, David was fiddling with the settings on my camera and it is working worse than usual.

It hasn't been pressed yet and the 2 halves haven't been joined. I'm not really worried if the points don't match up too well, since it's going to have some rough usage. I am enjoying making it and that is what counts. I have enough of the diamonds cut and sewn for at least 1 more top, maybe two, and I want to experiment with a different setting. That's what's so fun with a one piece quilt. Especially since it doesn't tax the brain with overthinking!