Oh boy, I think some one has been using my name and email account. I got an order notification from a place I have never heard of before saying my credit card payment was denied. It's only a small comfort to know that I don't have a credit card. And why would I order a pair of kids jeans for $79.00 anyway? I buy everything 2nd hand and I do not buy kids clothes, that's for their parents. I'm not even sure what I should do about it, and I will have to ask Leon.

My assistant had been at the catnip and was just a little crazy this morning. It was a good thing that I was done sewing on Brunehilde because she was definitely not going to yield her place and I would have gotten scratched had I tried.

Tomorrow is January 1st, the years go so fast now, I hardly had time to get used to writing 2016. I finished 16 quilts in 2016, it wasn't intentional, just coincidental that it was 16, although it would have been 17 if Juki had been working these last two weeks. Ten of those were UFOs, at least one of those was over 7 years old. Not too shabby if you ask me!

 Those sweet little pinwheels were the ends of the strip sets left over from cutting out the hourglass pieces below.

This hourglass was wrong, there should have been a light green triangle instead of the 2nd lavender one, and was the reason I came out with two extra green sets when I was finished. It was easily ripped out and redone properly, and now they are all put away waiting for next week.

I finished putting the rows to Tumbling Stars together yesterday, and this afternoon I will get started making the end half blocks and the corners on. That will easily take less than a week, even doing it in a leisurely manner. I can't quilt it yet without Juki, but the top will probably be done before I finish quilting Blue Rose, and will be the next one to be basted and quilted. I hope that it doesn't mean my quilting for 2017 will get off to a slow start, I'm thinking of getting another set of pins so that I can baste it when it is done if I haven't finished Blue Rose. I need some more anyway for when David needs to baste his quilt for quilting.

Time for a short break and then I will get busy on Ernestine working on Tumbling Blocks. The afternoon is young yet, make the most of 2016 while it lasts!

I have had people express an interest in the pattern for Log Cabin Hearts, but I don't have a pattern, I drew it out on graph paper and then made working notes as I went along. Unfortunately David has a habit of "borrowing" things like my graph paper notebook and then not bringing them back, so when I go looking for it I sometimes find things missing. The original drawing is missing, but as far as I can tell all my working notes are there, so I am going to post them here. I plan on making another one of these quilts, it was so much fun and I love the pattern, so I will get my notes into shape and post the new drawings as I get them done. Anyone who is interested can try to make heads and tails out of the old drawings before then.

As you can see my notebook has taken quite a beating when out of my possession, I know it's my own fault, I should have hidden it under the mattress or something. It made me angry that David feels no compunction against taking something of mine like that, but it's probably that I haven't learned to share, and there are so many more things in life that need to concerned about that I try to be more relaxed about things like that.

This quilt was made from inch and inch and a half strips; putting narrow strips on one side of the log cabin blocs gives the appearance of curves without have to do curved piecing. They are essentially log cabin blocks with a twist. I love doing log cabin quilts and have done at least a dozen in the past 20 years. The original was made with corduroy and flannel strips, but it was really heavy going with the quilting although they gave it wonderful texture. I have made several corduroy and flannel log cabins and I loved them all but the quilting wasn't easy on them and I went through a lot of needles. The next one I make will probably be regular cotton fabrics, I am out of the flannel and corduroy scraps, which were left over from when I was in business for myself. I will also have to buy fabrics because my stash is practically non existent and I have very little pink and burgundy in it.

2nd assistant Waddles holding down my green fabric for En Provence!

It's not that I didn't try to sew today, I even got something done, not a lot, but I had way to much help of all the wrong kind,

so after a while I gave up and came down here and worked on Vanessa.

I have well over 20 of the Drunkard's Path blocks done, I'm not sure how many more there are to do. I can't remember how many I had planned, I had two gallon size ziploc baggies with the basic blocks in them so I am going to put the blocks together until I run out. Then I'll make whatever size they turn out to make, and any leftover parts will go on the back. The red and blue pieces are going to be Drunkard's Path too, the basic block, then I am going to put them together in a pattern called Attic Windows or Dirty Windows. I think I will call it Dirty Attic Windows and get it all in. I like the idea of that because most attic windows are dirty aren't they? David used to make a living at washing windows and my windows were always the dirtiest in the neighborhood, so somehow it seems fitting.

I have one more row to put on Tumbling Blocks then I can make the side and end blocks and put them in, the top will probably be done in another week or so, I can't quilt it anyway until I get the part for Juki and quilt Blue Rose, which I haven't even started yet.

I couldn't sleep last night, and I decided that these nights where I lay awake and hurt are going to change, so last night instead of laying there I got up and did some sewing, I got the next to the last row on Tumbling Stars, and two blocks of Drunkard's Path done.  I can't see that I am any more tired than usual when I have a sleepless night and I have something to show for it. Sleep would be better but if it won't come something accomplished is acceptable.

Well that's it for today, tomorrow I will be working on Bonnie Hunter's En Provence clue number 6, that is if my assistant will let me.

Still waiting on Juki's part, but there are other things to do besides quilting. You may say: "Really? Isn't that heresy?" Perhaps it is, but I managed to do a tedious sewing chore. I have severe dust mite allergies and I have to have extra protection on my pillows just to be able to sleep. I make zippered pillow slips out of fine woven fabrics. To buy them is pricey, but there is always some fabric around to make them.

I use up the ugly colored zippers that we have kicking around here that we have gotten from various places or people have given us, but it's no fun putting all those zippers in even the way I do them. I finished a half dozen pillow slips and they are in the laundry now getting washed to put on my pillows Friday when I change the sheets.

I started the 3rd row of my Grandmother's Flower Garden quilt last night, I don't know how fast it will go but I don't have to hurry; it's kind of hard to see against the quilt I laid it on to take the picture, but I'm pleased with how it's looking.

I've been doing pretty good on Tumbling Stars, the 3rd row is ready to be joined to the other two, I don't know how long I'll be on that one either, it's going fast though, and I will spend some time on it this afternoon.

David took out the ramp at the back door he put in for his surgery, it's surprising how much room it took up and now I have more room for storage out there, always a happy situation; it looks a lot better too, now as soon as he is able I will be able to bring the trunk down from the attic for the tv and move the tall cabinet out of here. Maybe next week.

So, a pretty good Wednesday, I think, and it's time for a cup of coffee and some hand sewing, restful and fulfilling.

I called the Juki dealership and finally got hold of the "guy", whose name, by the way, is Bob, and he hopes my part will be here this week. Meanwhile I figured out what is making me so sick these last few days, Ambrosina has a bathroom deoderizer that goes off every so often, most of the time it doesn't bother me, but the scent that is in it right now is killing me. I will mention it when they get home today, and I am sure she will change it to something else. She is very kind and it would bother her if I didn't feel I could tell her.

The first 2 rows of Tumbling Stars put together on Ernestine. I was having trouble getting through the seams in the thicker part, and then I realized I was still using the needle that came with her. Amazing what a new needle can do! So now I am ready to take the next row off the wall to put together. I am still plugging away on the Drunkard's Path block too, although I have to keep shifting the chair back and forth, my other chair being upstairs in the dining room.

I'm going to take it easy for the day, not feeling very good, with my allergies going crazy. Headache sore throat and cough. I'll be glad when the kids get home. It is so quiet here without them, I enjoy the noise and laughing and even stomping and yelling when they are having a good time. They try to see how much noise they can make over us, and it is plenty. I won't get any hugs, most of them are too old for hugs now. Sammy never did hug me, he was always Gramps' boy, but now even Gramps doesn't get any hugs, poor Gramps. Sammy will be 6 in a couple of months, practically grown up!
 After everybody gets home the cats will start hanging out with them upstairs and not be down here on my bed, too bad, I've enjoyed that.

I think I'll nap too, I might wake up feeling better. If not I'll try something else. After the nap I'll work on the next row of blocks and the next Drunkard's Path block. When the kids get home I'll go upstairs so they can show me all the stuff they got and tell me all the things they did, what fun that will be!!!!

I called the Juki dealership this morning to see if they had done anything about the part for my sewing machine, the "guy" wasn't there, and I asked her if he had ordered it and she was "guessing that he did". I hope their business survives, but I think that is very sloppy customer service. When I was in retail, that sort of professionalism would have got me a reprimand, or fired and it is no way to run a business. I will call again tomorrow when he is supposed to be there. With my phone phobia it is such an effort, but good for me, I "guess".

I have got a plan to finish the hexagon top that I was stuck on, but it involves sorting my fabric triangles from the cutting Ambrosina does for Rose, so I am doing that today.

The reds, burgundys, pinks and dark browns were all in one bin, and I only want red, the bin was full to overflowing so it was time. Here my assistant is helping me. She is missing Ambrosina; the family will be home tomorrow and she will be a Happy kitty again.

However this morning I made a red top like the black one.

I do love this shirt, it's so comfy and suits all my needs.

I had a little difficulty using the machine at first but she finally moved. I started sorting out pattern pieces for the next project, a green jacket and she didn't like the rustle of the paper and moved. I am just glad she didn't attack the paper, but she didn't seem to be in a playful mood. If it had been Waddles on the other hand, he would have shredded it. I managed to get it cut out and tomorrow I will cut out a black skirt and top to go with it

So back to work for me, but sorting fabric is always fun; I always get ideas while I am doing it. Until I get the triangles sorted I won't be able to get to the downstairs machines to do any piecing and I really want to get Tumbling Stars to the finished top stage, I have so many more ideas!

We had a thunderstorm this morning! Crazy this time of year, pouring rain the works, only now it has become freezing rain and the roads look slick. We aren't going out today, I got up with a cold this morning and David isn't feeling very well. We decided to stay home with some quiet pursuits. I tried to sew, but I just felt so bad I went back to bed; even coffee didn't taste very good. When coffee doesn't taste good I am really sick!

David decided to put another warp on his inkle loom.

He got way too much help.

But it looks pretty good anyway.

With the kids all gone the cats are coming down here for company, and we have two on the bed right now, loafing with me, I am not up to doing much, and have had one episode of low blood sugar today which leaves me pretty shaky for a while. Presently I will go out and sew a little on the treadle, I am putting together the blocks for Tumbling Stars. but it is going to be very relaxed sewing. I am sure once the cats hear the treadle going they will be out there helping me!

I was really feeling bad yesterday and I didn't get much of anything done, not even checking my email, didn't watch much tv, mostly dozed and slept. I am feeling much better today and even did some sewing. Yesterday David picked up Brunehilede from the shop and she is ever so sweet again. A new light bulb, I can see again!

She had broken a spring and now she doesn't go "thunk, thunk, thunk" anymore. New thread cutter and needle threader. The needle threader broke when, as I was threading her, Sammy came up and asked me what I was doing, as he asked he came really close, it was before he got his glasses, and as he was trying to see he stepped on the foot pedal, starting the machine and breaking the threader. Nearly sewing my finger too as a matter of fact, but he didn't mean any harm. Now he has his glasses he doesn't have to come so close to check up on me; things are safer that way. The thread cutter was so dull it wasn't cutting, more like chewing, so it didn't come cleanly away.

I celebrated by sewing one of my shirts this morning.

 Not a very good picture, I know and it's actually black. I love this pattern, it has pockets for my phone and camera, the sleeves are long, but not too long, I can wash my hands without getting my sleeves wet, I hate wet sleeves.

It is long enough, I hate short shirts, sitting and sewing with a draft down my backside is so unpleasant that I lengthen any shirt that I make if I think it might not be long enough. This pattern goes together so quickly and smoothly I can sit and make one in a morning, even getting up and down to press the seams. Tomorrow if I have time in the morning before meeting I will make the red one I have cut out.

Ambrosina and Leon took the boys to the cities this weekend, they are going to the Mall of America and Legoland. It means I can leave the ironing board up until it's time for them to come home, so sewing is a little faster, it's only a minor inconvenience though.

No noise though, it will be a really quiet few days, I'll be busy though, so I won't miss them so much, and there will be plenty of noise when they get home, they will have so much to show us and be so excited. I expect the cats will spend their nights down here, they are used to being with people upstairs, so they will come looking for us. That will be nice too. We have all the meals that Leon and Ambrosina don't like, it's nice to have a change. We have fish, they don't care for sea food and David and I love it. We have casseroles, Leon is not big on casseroles. So a good time will be had by all!

Tumbling Stars is pinned onto the design well and the final block configuration is pretty well decided.

It's kind of difficult to see because it's behind the tv, but the one block that doesn't have black is kind of glaring so I might change that one out. We will see. It looks a lot bigger than the rest, but it isn't, looks odd though.

I finally remembered to get the Log Cabin listed on Etsy. I am still waiting on the "guy" from the dealership to call about Juki, not a very businesslike person I guess, the shop is never busy, I wouldn't think they could afford to lose any customer's. That's the trouble when all you need is a part, if it needed work it might be diffferent. Brunehilde is still at the shop, but he said it would be few days so I am not worried about her.

I spent the morning sorting fabric for clothes, and cut out two winter tops.

Not a great picture I know but one is red and one is black, can't sew until I get Brunehilde back, but at least I'm ready.Then I have this lovely green fabric to make a lightweight shirt-jacket out of.

 is the burgundy that I thought would make a nice skirt. There is enough of the black for a dress and I have to hunt out a pattern for that. When I get my machines at least I will be ready and raring to go. Meanwhile I have my treadle Ernestine and I can piece on her, as well as Vanessa the New Home, if it gets too long before the other machines are ready I will take her upstairs. She doesn't have a zigzag so I couldn't do buttonholes on her without an attachment which I don't have, but at least I could get something done, I'll give it a few days, cultivate that old patience thing, tomorrow is Friday, I will give the "guy" until then to call me.

I am happy to say it has warmed up a lot here, we could turn off our space heater down here in the basement for a while, the days are going to start getting longer six minutes at a time now as we work towards spring, event though we have the worst of winter to get through. I don't want to wish my life away, but I do wish for spring. Meanwhile I can sew, if nothing else.

Getting a start at pinning Tumbling Stars on my design wall. Design wall sounds rather grand, basically it's my closet curtain, I just had David hang it so it was straight so I could use it as a design wall.

Yes the tv is in the way, but I can consider my design as I enter and leave the room. I have plans to put the tv on something lower, but it has to wait until David is strong enough to help me wrestle it down from the attic and move the cabinet the tv is currently on. The tv was in our little sitting room and worked well on the cabinet, since we moved it into the bedroom I need to change it. Meanwhile I can develop the Christian quality of patience, something that hasn't been easy for me most of my life.

I think I am going to like this pattern, and I have enough of the blocks to finish for another I think. This is another one that I have been sort of making up as I go along. They don't always turn out as well as this one.

Brunehilde my Viking is in the shop. I am still waiting for the "guy" to call about Juki so I took this upstairs.

I originally bought it for the motor and foot pedal. David is going to make me an electric bobbin winder for when I weave and I only paid $20 for it. However none of my other machines has zigzag and I needed for what I am working upstairs so I took it up. It runs ok but I can't turn the stitch regulator; likewise the reverse button is jammed. I was able to turn it once to get the stitch shorter, then I had David turn it so I could get a closer zigzag for button holes, but when David came and turned up the stitch to make it longer, it didn't so I have to pull what I am sewing through. Poor old thing to have to come to such an end, I am sure someone loved her once.

I think I will just cut out some projects while I am waiting for Brunehilde, I do know this, the baskets I am making are just too hard on her so I am going to have to find an old warhorse of a zigzag to use for those. Sigh. I should be able to find one at a thrift shop sooner or later. Oh how terrible I have to buy another sewing machine, how will I ever be able to bear the pain of it?

So back to pinning on the wall, I am anxious in a pleasing way to see how the blocks are going to look when I get them all put up there. Even with the tv in the way!

I thought 1st assistant Happy was in her usual spot, but it was actually Waddles 2nd assistant. I'm wondering when the fireworks are going to start when she gets up there and sees him.
Juki's bobbin case is out of round and I can't do any quilting on her. I went to the dealer, and the "guy" that sells the parts wasn't there, so I left my number so he could order one, but I bet he doesn't call. Today Brunehilde the Viking was making terrible thunk thunk sounds and making big wads on the bobbin side of the fabric so there is something wrong with her, I don't know what yet. I cleaned her up and changed the needle but it didn't help, so I have to wait until we can afford to take her in. I gave up sewing upstairs and came down here. I needed white on the machine anyway, so I just used the treadle for the white parts of what I was working on. Then I cleaned up the sitting room and made the last two blocks for Tumbling Stars. Tomorrow I will press them and then pin them up on the pinning wall to make sure I have the blocks where I want them. I have to make the fill in blocks for the corners and the ends of the rows, but that won't take too long.

The key is to be flexible, and not fret. If I can't work on one thing I need to go with the flow and try something else. Argh! It's annoying though.

I lost my coffee cup around here somewhere!

Now I am going to work on Vanessa my beautiful little green New Home made by Janome. She is such a sweet little machine and I still have a lot of Drunkard's Path blocks to get done. Some people have only one machine poor things and here I have 7 although 3 of them need some work on them. It reminds me of the days when we used to have to keep 5 cars in the yard in order to keep 2 running, and three cars in the yard in order to keep 1 running. Now there are 4 cars in the yard, all run, but only 1 of them is ours, the rest are Ambrosina's and Leon's. They are going to sell one of them though.  I guess that is progress though. We haven't had car trouble for a long time, but then living in town the way we do it doesn't matter if we do because there are buses and Ambrosina will run us around.

To work, and find my coffee cup!!

I am having trouble with Juki, I think the bobbin case is out of round again, so tomorrow I am going to go the dealer and see if I can get a new one. This is the 2nd time it has happened and the first time the repairman just bent it back, so I think a new one is in order. I don't imagine it will be cheap, but the tension the way it is now is terrible and the bobbin thread keeps breaking.

I pin basted this top this morning. I am calling it Blue Rose, sort of a play on words, because it is a row quilt and has rows. All right, not very good I know, but naming quilts isn't very easy. This quilt is a very scrappy scrap quilt made up of leftovers from other quilts, I didn't want to waste the time and thread I had used so I put it all together in rows. It's almost a sampler quilt, almost but not quite. A lot of it was left over from quilts I made the grandkids. I like it though and think it will look pretty good when once quilted.

A close up of some of the embroidery, I do enjoy doing it, I just don't want to do it on everything anymore and will choose the projects that I do it on more carefully.

Also

yes, more postage stamp squares, I had one part bobbin to empty and managed to do that before the bobbin case got too aggravating to go any further. I will eventually get them done, but they are not a high priority; they get a little tedious after a while.

Its warmer today, 20 degrees above zero, can't complain, especially since I don't have to go anywhere!

Now, got coffee and handwork, what could be better?

This is a very good day to stay indoors, the temperature is 23 below with wind chills down to 45 below. Even our meeting was cancelled.

This was the top that was on top in the tub, I wonder if I can keep that sentence up to cause the most confusion. This quilt top is a row quilt I made to use up some parts left over from other quilts that I had spent a lot of time machine embroidering and piecing and there was no way I was going to waste that much time and thread. It was in the top of the tub here in the basement that contains my unquilted tops. There are five left before I bring down the ones up in the attic. I am not sure how much longer it will take to quilt them all, but I don't see me bringing the ones in the attic down until almost Spring, although I am getting much faster. I don't feel in any hurry, trying to rush it would lessen the enjoyment of the work, and I only have batting on hand for one more quilt, so I might have to wait until payday.

We slept under the new quilt last night, it was warm and snuggly, I am liking the cotton batting in it, and the next one for my bed will have cotton in it too. I broke more needles on it though, 3 and I usually don't break any, so I am thinking that I tried to go to fast and I should have slowed down a little to cope with the cotton batting. I do like the way it looks though.

So tomorrow I baste and then I will do some cutting to work on my winter shirts, for the rest of the day I am going to relax with my coffee and do some hand work, listen to the boys play and enjoy their company; tomorrow they go back to school and we will have quiet, the best of both worlds.

All I can say is that I am glad I wasn't trying to use Brunehilde this morning.

1st assistant Happy was not going to move so I left her. There is a heater vent right behind the table Brunehilde is on and it is the warmest surface in the house. It felt lovely and warm on my back as I sat sewing on the Juki which is faced the other way.

Our Sammy was there creating food art as he had a small snack.

And even though I cut and sewed in a very leisurely manner the latest clue for En Provence mystery only lasted the morning, but I did get started on the back for the latest top a blue row quilt that I haven't named yet. The back is NOT going to be pink, although there might be a bit of pink in it. Pink is sometimes a little hard to avoid around here. I have overdone pink in the past, but not anymore, I've had enough pink to last me for a while. I had an idea to make a top with grays and greens, sort of silvery colors. No idea for a pattern yet, just the colors; the rest will come to me in time if I let it jell for a while.

It is very, very cold, and we aren't planning to go anywhere the next couple of days, not even meeting tomorrow because the wind chill is supposed to be down to 45 below and we can't cope with that even with all our cold weather gear. It's not that cold this today, but it is below zero we aren't going anywhere today either. Besides that we have to get 4 cars in the driveway to avoid the snow plows and we are at the bottom with all the rest behind us.

But even so there is a lot of contentment at just being here together with our loved ones and enjoying the warmth of our home. We feel the cold of course, but it is manageable. 2 pairs of socks a sweater and sweatshirt. Not bad at all, in fact, very good.

I put on a burst of energy and finished this quilt this morning!

 Back and

front. The pattern is Alliaterre by Bonnie Hunter, but the work is my own, and I am pleased with the way it turned out. It is being laundered right now, and tomorrow morning it will go on my bed as I change the sheets. I now have enough bedding so that if I can't get it laundered right away I can still get it made up immediately, a concern since this is a household of 8.

I also go pictures of the Log Cabin Streak of Lightening that I finished last, it's been so cold that I have put off taking pictures but decided to bite the bullet and get it done.

The backs are scrapped pieced, but no particular pattern, and I am not going to do another one in pink for a while. There are only 6 more tops in the tub down here to quilt and I am just going to start with the top one and work my way down through it. The one on top is a row quilt make with leftovers from other quilts, truly a scrap quilt, which is my favorite kind.

I got preoccupied with trying to finish the quilt this afternoon and forgot to watch my lunch, a situation which Waddles my second assistant took advantage of, although there wasn't very much of it left. This is not on the dining room table, I was eating lunch at the sewing machine, and if it's on the sewing machines the cats figure it's fair game. I don't usually eat at the sewing machine, but I really wanted to get this quilt done so it serves me right!

Soon although probably not tomorrow I will start piecing the back for the next one. I haven't done much else for a couple of days except quilt so I need to clean up my sewing corner and finish a couple of small projects before I baste it. I also want to get some cutting done, but probably not until next week. The kids use the table on the weekends for a lot of stuff and there isn't really room for me to work on it.

I hear them upstairs so it must be 3:00, the time sort of sneaked up on me this afternoon, but what I am wondering is there is any more coffee left in the pot?