The thirty-six brown blocks are done and I am adding them on the next round of blocks. I think I miscounted though, I don't need that many, but I can use them on another quilt, I am sure there are more hexagon quilts in my life. I like the way it is coming along.
I'm tired. I finished the quilting on Celtic Rails today too. I have to make binding next, and I am not sure if I will have time before we leave for Omaha tomorrow. I worked on piecing the back for Pink Ugly so it will be ready when it is time to baste it for quilting. A productive morning and I have still the whole afternoon to accomplish something. Since I got Pink Ugly done I have done a couple of blocks for the tumbling blocks quilt and I only have three to go before I have to do the fill in on the corners and sides.
I even worked a little on a cloth doll this week, she is ready for the handwork. I truly am thankful for the gift of sewing!

The dilemma of whether I wanted to make any more paper plate holders has been solved: they didn't sell.

  I am a tad disappointed, I could have used the money, but they are tedious to make and I think hard on the sewing machine so I am not too disappointed. Something else will turn up.
Pink Ugly #1 top is finished.

Not a very good picture. I finished it down at the treadle and there isn't a lot of room, since it is both a sitting room, a hall through to the back door, and also temporary storage for stuff that people don't know what to do with. David's idea of putting something away is to stick it on the first available surface, not uncommon in men and children. That's not a dig at him, just an observation with vast experience in mind.
Other than that I am still plugging away at Ambrosina's quilt and the hexagons. I started a little packing this afternoon and will finish over the next couple of days. We are really looking forward for our little trip.

Nothing of a sewing nature today.

These were from our little hike a few weeks back. Who can resist taking a picture of a bridge? I wasn't able to manage the trail, so David took a few pictures for me. I didn't think that he took enough, but he gets wrapped up in the moment and forgets.
I got a little bit done on the cloth dolls yesterday, but not a lot. The count down until our trip to Lincoln has started and I need to start packing a few things, hoping that I won't forget anything. We haven't seen the aquarium at the zoo in Omaha yet, and I want to go online and see if there is any other exhibit that I won't want to miss while we are there. We are looking forward to it, and I love watching the children's faces when they see something that excites them. This trip is the highlight of the year for us and we enjoy it tremendously, but I will be busy getting ready this week.
I haven't heard from Rose yet to see if anything sold, so that is still up in the air for today, and I think that I am going to take a nap, I don't know why I should feel so sleepy the last couple of days, but a little nap never hurt anybody.

A few weeks ago we went out to a nature tail and took a walk, I sat and sewed because it was up hill and down. It was a little too much for David. It was the site of an old homestead, which I thought was pretty cool.

David had the camera and took the pictures, so I don't have the name of the people who homesteaded it. I think of those women who kept house and garden and raised children in those times and think about how much easier I had it than did they. This log cabin was the second home on the property; the first was a dugout. How could they keep their family clean in such circumstances? I am filled with admiration and awe. A South Dakota winter in such a place as that must have been difficult in the extreme. I lost no children from illness or other childhood dangers that were unavoidable as they did. How thankful I am, and how blessed.

This morning Rose stopped by and picked up a folding table and these:

It will be interesting to see if they sell. She really liked them so if they don't I will give them to her. She didn't realize that I wrapped fabric strips around clothesline, she thought it was just fabric, and so was surprised by how much it cost to make them. I think she may have thought I was asking too much for them, but I won't make a lot even if I get my asking price. Anyway I am not going to worry about it. It's not as if it would do any good to worry, I can't change the outcome even if I did.

I wasn't feeling very well and I came back down and went to bed; I slept most of the morning so I didn't accomplish much, however the headache is just a slight discomfort now. It could have turned into a migraine, so I have a great deal to be thankful for that it didn't. I haven't decided what I am going to do with the rest of the day, I have so many things to choose from, and all of them interesting.

 I made a dozen total. They are what I have been focused on for the last week and a half, and my feelings are mixed on them. If they sell I can really use the money, but then I have to make more of them and they get pretty tedious. If they don't sell then I don't have to make any more, but I won't have any money. So I don't know which I hope for.

I got the sitting room mostly cleaned up. The treadle sewing machine is cleared up and I did a little bit on the Pink Ugly #1 top this afternoon, but it's nice the room is usable again.
I reached the three quarters of the way done on Ambrosina's quilt today, so it has actually been a pretty good week for accomplishing things. Tomorrow is Friday and I will run the paper plates over to Rose in the morning, they leave for their sale in the afternoon so morning will be enough time. At least I won't be making paper plate holders in the morning!!

We had some terrific t-storms last night. It poured and the wind blew fiercely. Nice.
I have made as many paper plate holders as I have clothesline for. Only 6, but that is enough to test the water and see if people want to buy them. If I can scrounge up some money I will get some more clothesline, but by this time of the month we are pretty broke with no money for extras so it's doubtful. I dug out the next project that I will work on, some vintage Laura Wheeler cloth dolls that I have had cut out for about 5 years. I think that i will enjoy them.

These are the latest on my DD (darling daughter)'s  quilt, I made it to the halfway point today. Yippee Skippie! I am calling it Celtic Rails because the pattern I originally planned to make was Rail Fence and then I decided to alternate the blocks with Celtic embroidered patterns. Perhaps I should call it Off The Rails Celtic Rails.
At this point I have 22 of the 36 blocks I need for the next row on the hexagon quilt, as yet unnamed. I am in no hurry and as long as I do one block a day I feel that I am on schedule. When we drive to Lincoln, Nebraska next month I will probably get quite a few done in the car. That will be nice. When this row is done it will be exciting to see where the quilt leads me next.
In other news I have all the molds that were stored out under the back porch sorted and photographed ready for when I sell them and the kiln. It is with reluctance that I do so, but it's pretty physically taxing and my back doesn't tolerate handling the molds well. I am keeping the potter's wheel and the small kiln, and they are more interesting to me anyway. Now I get to start on the ones inside.

It's almost square.

I think trimming it and then adding a border all the way around will do it. It should be done by the time I get Ambrosina's quilted and then I will quilt it next, in keeping with my Quilt Each Top As It Is Finished policy. I was trying to think of a name for it, maybe Ugly #1. It's quite possible it should be a higher number than one. It's also possible there may be some other ugly quilts that will follow it.

In other news I have 6 paper plate holders done, and I only have enough clothesline for one more. I see a run to Walmart in the near future. They are not too bad to make, but making a lot of them could get pretty tedious. I'd rather quilt, but if they make me a little money, I can always spend it on Fabric!!

This is Ben. He is 8. My 3rd grandchild and 2nd grandson. Is he not handsome? He got up in front of a whole room full of people and read a chapter from the Bible. We are so proud of him.

In other news Rose liked the paper plate holders I made her and she wants me to maker her some more so she can try to sell them at the end of the month. She sells her stuff and she wants to have more things in her booth, so I have been working on some of those in the traditional colors of  red, yellow, white and black of her tribe.

Ambrosina's quilt is coming along well, with the usual help of course.

I am quilting it in peacock feathers, a new pattern for me. I took my sketch pad and drew some out that I thought would work well for machine quilting. I will be on this quilt a long time since I am occupied with other things and don't quilt on it as much as I have the last few. Also it is immense, and will take a lot longer because of that. Now that I have a couple of columns of them quilted next to each other it's very satisfactory. And that's always good.

I'm starting to get a bit more organized after the last five days of do-nothing while the family was camping. The boys have been pretty wild today, enjoying the prospect of being home all summer ahead of them.
I am making these right now.

They are paper plate holders. I made a couple of dozen for Ambrosina, and Rose, her mother-in-law has always admired them so I am making her some. They are made by wrapping clothesline in fabric strips and coiling it and zig-zagging them together. It uses up a ton of scraps that probably would sit around for a long time until I threw them away, and it is fun, and fast, somethings that are always appreciated.
Ambrosina's quilt is coming along fine; tomorrow should see me at the quarter of the way done mark, and I think it's going to turn out looking really good, although using more thread than I had counted on. It's always amazing to me lately how much more thread costs than it used to. I know the price of everything has gone up, but it seems to me that thread has gone up disproportionately. My goodness, I spelled that word right the first time. Wow!

Camping was hot! Sammy learned to ride his bike! With training wheels of course, he's very proud of himself. He's the king!

 It's a lovely campground with lake on two sides. The wind from the lake helped keep it cooler, but everybody got too hot and sunburned a little, as well as the usual bug bites, but a good time was had by all.

The latest quilt is basted and I even got a few of the spines quilted on it.

While basting it on a long oval table is not ideal, it works pretty good. I am physically unable to do it on the floor so it is the only alternative I have. It is going to be heavy quilting, not because the quilt is thick but because it is so big. David miss-measured, it is 108 inches square, and the back I pieced was just barely big enough, and there wasn't a lot of wiggle room with the batting either.
And what does a kitty find even more enticing than sleeping on a quilt that's being quilted? Rolling in the pieces that are being pieced.

Inch and a quarter squares went flying every where, and she was having a blast. I wish I could teach her to pick up as easily as she scatters. Not going to happen.

Today was errand day so I didn't get a lot done around here. At my favorite thrift shop there was a nice bag of scrap fabrics that I was thinking of getting, but I politely waited for a woman to go by so as not to crowd her and she scooped it off the shelf right in front of me. Oh well, you snooze you loose. It was a good day for these though.

 Bamboo knitting needles in 3 sizes that I don't have at a fraction of what they would have cost new, so I can't complain.

That is a picture of my bedroom window where Happy kitty is birdwatching. She loves to go high and that's about as high as she could go, outside of course, it's just ground level, and she gets really excited when the bunnies and squirrels go by, as well as watching the birds. Now she's curled up sleeping on the end of the bed as if so much effort wore her out.
We go camping day after tomorrow, the boys are wild with excitement, but they went over to Grandma's so things got considerably quieter. After running all over town this morning I am glad of a quiet afternoon doing some handsewing and maybe taking a little nap. Simple pleasures are the best after all.

As I was digging through the tub of orphan blocks I found these.

No Happy wasn't in the tub, she just wouldn't move so I piled them on top of her. These are blocks I embroidered 30 + years ago and made into a quilt when Ambrosina moved into her big girl bed. I think that it would be fitting to put them on the back of her new quilt. She still has the first quilt, but it is well worn and I wouldn't have it any other way. I make quilts to be used, and I think I would only be hurt if they were put away somewhere and never used because they were too "good". On second thought, it might bother me if they were used to move furniture.
I finished all but the hand sewing on the little boys vests this morning, so that project is coming along pretty good. Pants tomorrow, then I will be done and go onto something else. It's always amazing to me how many projects are waiting in the wings to be done. I'll never be bored!

These are what I have been working on today.

With my helper.

She doesn't like Brunehilde the Viking as much as Juki though. I think it is because Juki is flatter on top and easier to sit on.
The boys' jackets are now ready to do the handwork on and they will be finished. The five year old and the almost 8 year old wear the same size except for length. And while making jackets and pants for little boys isn't my favorite occupation it is filling a need, and blessedly is going quite fast. I decide in advance how much I want to work on them in a given day and then stop and do something fun when I get that far. I'm working on the postage stamp piecing for right now, but I am going to baste a top this weekend so I can start quilting again next week. David measured the top for me and it  is 104 x 104. Pretty big. I decided to buy some shaded thread in blues since Ambrosina's favorite color is blue and that is what she is doing her room in. This one should go easier than the last one, but since it is so big will probably take longer. I've been sketching peacock feathers in my sketch book and I am going to try doing those as the quilting pattern. Quilting will make a nice alternate to clothes construction, I don't have to think so hard!

This morning I went up to the attic and dug this out of the trunk where I have stored some of the completed tops that are waiting for me to quilt.

It is for my dear daughter Ambrosina, who claimed it when I only had two rows put together. It gets quilted next. It is king sized and I suspect I will be working on it for a while. I am glad to see it isn't as pink as I remembered it. She doesn't like pink, because as the only girl with five brothers I am afraid she wore a lot of pink when she was little. Even if I had five girls instead of only one they would have all worn pink. I love pink. I am the only one in the family who likes pink. Almost everyone has blue for their favorite color, so there is always a lot of blue around.
The solid squares are actually machine embroidered blocks. I love doing machine embroidery, and I love designing for machine embroidery and I designed and embroidered those blocks a long time ago when I was using clip art for the basis for the designs. I draw my own now, and so don't make as many as I did then. All the designs in the quilt are Celtic, which appeals strongly to my family and that is why she claimed the quilt.
I also have been working on my postage stamp top a little, the pieces are so small that it doesn't look like I have made much headway, but I think it's going pretty well. I never planned on getting it done quickly, so I am not displeased with the progress I am making.

Outside the dining room window I have a bird house hanging and this year for the first time I have a nesting pair of birds.When I sit and sew I can see their activity. We think it is a pair of house wrens, bird identification not being one of our strong points. The male is sitting on the perch while she is on the nest and he was chasing sparrows away all morning. They just finished the nest yesterday and they are such pretty dainty little birds that we will enjoy watching for the summer or as long as they are with us.  

Two more days this week and our boys are home for the summer! I love it, but quiet times are at a low for a while. We'll be camping next week, at least I think it is next week, I get easily confused. I'll be taking a few days off from quilting, only because I have to wait until payday to get supplies, meanwhile I am doing some sewing for the two younger boys; I got a good start today.
These are a couple of hexagon blocks that I finished yesterday. I love the very complacent kitties in among the lillies.

And the cute little bugs in among smaller lillies.

I need to make 36 blocks of similar colors to go on the next section of quilt and i have four done, so only 32 more to do. I'll be on them for a while, I don't mind, I am enjoying them tremendously.