My first assistant is not in a good mood today, she knows we are going to be gone and she has been real clingy. Every time I would try to move the quilt to work she would slap me. Despite that I almost got that quilt done, it is a small quilt and, since it is so heavy, I am putting a minimum of quilting on it. Just straight lines with my walking foot. I made this top the winter of '98-'99 so it is time it was finished. I am thinking I will bind it in red. That will have to wait until we get back, probably on Tuesday, we won't be back until Monday afternoon.

So now, I have a lot of odds and ends left to finish this afternoon and I am going to get busy. Catch you when I get back.

It's done and by far the biggest quilt I have ever made about 104" x 113". The 3rd picture is the back. Right now the price is $300.00, but it will go up after I put it on Etsy. It was a bit hard to get it all in a picture, so I took several. I am pleased with the way it turned out, but it was very tiring to work on.

Tomorrow it's on to the next, Corduroy Log Cabin.

It's not very big and I am just going to do straight lines with my walking foot because the piecing is so heavy. I still have two more basted after this one, that means no basting for a while, which suits me.

Day after tomorrow we leave for Lincoln and I won't be taking my computer, or a sewing machine. There won't be a lot of time for sewing anyway, although Rose always takes hers. I take my hand sewing and get a bit done.

For the rest of the afternoon I have to get started on my packing. The problem is not enough clothes to last for 5 days without doing laundry. I have to find a pants pattern I like and make some. It's hard to find a good pants pattern, but I think I will spend part of the summer doing that. I don't often feel the need unless we go on a trip, I should have thought of it last spring, oh well.

Log Cabin Heart

This is my first attempt at trying to write a pattern, I will try to make it as accurate as possible.

The quilt is made of a mixture of one inch strips and one and a half inch strips, measurements include seam allowances. Seams are one quarter inch.

Key: W=wide 1.5 inches, ,N=1 inch, D=dark colored, L=light colored.
This is Blocks 1, 3, 5,  8,  10, 12, 19, 21, 24, 25, 26, 27, 30, 33, 38, 51, 54, 57, 60, 62, 65, 66, 69, 71, 73, 78, 80, 82, 84, 87, 89, 91, 93, 95, 96, 98, 100, 12, 104, 107 and 109; make forty-two of these blocks in total. Blocks finish at 8.5 by 8.5 plus seam allowance. ( 9 x 9)
Starting in center the strips, in inches, are as follows:
A 1.5 (center) W D
B 1.5  W L                                        C 2.5 W L
D 2.5 N D                                         E 3     N D
F 3     W L                                        G 4     W L
H 4     N D                                        I 4.5    N D
J 4.5   W L                                        K 5.5   W L
L 5.5 N D                                          M 6     N G
N 6    W L                                         O 7     W L
P 7     N D                                         Q 7.5   N D
R 8.5 W L                                         S 8.5    W L
T 8.5  N D                                         U 9       N D

This is blocks 2, 9, 11, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 23, 28, 32, 34, 35, 36, 37, 39, 53, 55, 56, 58, 61, 65, 67, 70, 72, 75, 76, 79, 81, 85, 88, 90, 93, 94, 97, 99, 101, 103, 105, 106, 108, 110; make 42 blocks for main part of quilt; add 4 for optional border. Blocks finish at 8.5 by 8.5 plus seam allowance. ( 9 x 9)
Starting in center the strips, in inches, are as follows:
A 1.5 (center) W  L
B 1.5 W D                                               C 2.5 W D
D 2.5 N L                                                E 3    N L
F 3 W D                                                  G 4    W D
H 4  N L                                                  I 4.5   N L
J 4.5 W D                                               K 5.5  W D
L 5.5 N L                                                M 6  N L
N 6 W D                                                 O 7  W D
P 7  N L                                                   Q 7.5 N L
R 7.5 W D                                               S 8.5 W D
T 8.5 N L                                                U 9 N L

Blocks 4, 7, 13, 18, 22, 29, 31, 40, 52, 59, 63, 68, 74, 77, 85, 86; make ten in total.
All strips are 1.5 inches wide and all are light in color. These fill in to keep the bands of colors around the heart continuous.  Blocks finish at nine inches so they need to be sliver trimmed down to correspond in size to previous blocks. They need to finish at 8.5 by 8.5 plus seam allowance. ( 9 x 9)
If you don't want to piece all one color way you could use 9 x9 squares, but I like the way they fit into the whole pattern.

The following blocks make up the long heart of the center of the quilt.

Blocks 47 and 49; reverse colors for block 48. These may need to be sliver trimmed in width to match the smaller blocks, but not in length. They need to finish at 8.5 and 12.5, plus seam allowance. (9 x 13)

A 1.5 x 1.5 (center, sort of) L
B 5.5 W D                                               C 6.5 W D
D 2.5 N L                                                E 7      N L
F 3 W D                                                 G 8 W  D
H 4 N L                                                   I 8.5 N L
J 4.5 W D                                                  K 9.5 W D
L 5 N D                                                     M 10 N L
N 6 W D                                                   O 11 W D
P 7 N L                                                     Q 11.5 N L
R 7.5 W D                                                  S 12.5 W D
T 8 N L                                                       U 13 N L

Blocks 42 and 44; reverse colors for 43. These may need to be sliver trimmed in width to match the smaller blocks, but not in length. They need to finish at 8.5 and 12.5, plus seam allowance. (9 x 13)A 1.5 (center) W D
B 5.5 W D                                                  C 6.5 W D
D 2.5 N L                                                   E 7 N L
F 3 W D                                                      G 8 W D
H 7 N L                                                       I 8.5 N L
J 4.5 W D                                                   K 9.5 W D
L 5.5 N L                                                    M 10 N L
N 6 W D                                                      O 6 W D
P 7 N L                                                        Q 11.5 N L
R 7.5 W D                                                    S 12.5 W D
T 8 N L                                                        U 13 N L

Blocks 41 and 50. All strips are 1.5 inches wide and light in color. They may need to be sliver trimmed to fit the other blocks. They need to finish at 8.5 and 12.5, plus seam allowance. (9 x 13)

A 1.5 x 1.5 square
B 5.5                                               C 6.5
D 2.5                                               E 7.5
F 3.5                                               G 8.5
H 4.5                                               I 9.5
J 5.5                                                 K 10.5
L 6.5                                               M 11.5
N 7.5                                               O 12.5
P 8                                                   Q 13                      
Once again solid pieces of fabric could be used.
This is a synopsis of all the blocks.

Using this diagram this is how they go together, I webbed mine to make it easier to keep them in order.

For the optional border I pieced narrow and wide strips together, dark and light on the sides and light and dark on the ends and used the extra blocks in the corner.
For the borders take the measurements along each side and top and bottom. Divide by 1.5 (the completed measurement of the strips combined minus seam allowance). That will tell you how many strip sets are needed for the each border sections.

Some sewing experience is necessary for this quilt, but for any questions, suggestions or corrections, you can leave a comment or email me at annieisakson@hotmail.com. As I said this is my first attempt at writing a pattern so I am hoping it's ok!

An afternoon spent winding more warp, I have about a quarter of it wound and stored in a gallon jar for safety's sake.

One starts at one end and takes it off just like making a chain in crocheting. Bigger loops, of course. It keeps it in order and I shake out the loops as I wind it on to the warp reel on the back of the loom. I won't be ready for that step for a while. I can't do a lot of the work in any one given day, for me it is physically taxing, very enjoyable, but tiring.

Nearly done with Log Cabin Heart, I should be able to finish it tomorrow and hopefully bind it too. I will spend some time this afternoon finishing up the pattern so I can post both tomorrow.

We leave for Omaha and Lincoln Thursday morning at 7, very early for me but they want to do the zoo before the heat of the day. I hope to have pictures of that next week. There is a big butterfly house there and it will be nice to compare it with the butterfly house here.

So another busy week here, with plenty to look forward to. Not much time for hand sewing today I'm afraid, but it will be nice to have another project done.

A little hard to see I know, this is the guide string I measured and put on the warping wheel. This will be left on until all the warp is wound since I cannot do it all at once. Physically I am good for about 80 ends before I have to quilt. If I had a place to work inside I would probably do it in two sections and just leave everything set up, but I can't do that since I wouldn't want to leave it out unattended overnight. I can imagine several different outcomes, none of them good, so I am going to wind a lot of little ones and store them safely until it's time to dress the loom.

 One section of warp wound.

 This is called the cross, it is how a weaver keeps the threads in order, it's the most important part of a warp. This is the first time that I am only putting a cross at one end. I have always wound a cross at each end, but I have never had to use the second one so I left it off. I know a lot of weavers do, but I am a little nervous about it. Slow and steady and I should be all right. I have about 9 more sections to wind because I need close to a thousand ends at 24 ends per inch. I was going have David take some pictures of me chaining it off but her went inside. Then I discovered the battery was dead on the camera. Tomorrow I hope to have both David and batteries and get some pictures. I am storing the warp chains in a place safe from cats and kids, the two deadliest enemies of massive amounts of thread or yarn. It's lovely to be in the weaving process again. When the kids get the basement finished off I will have a weaving project going the year around. I am making some overshot table  runners to try to sell on Etsy, it's the only way I'll be able to afford more yarn to weave with.

Log Cabin Heart is coming along nicely, well over half quilted; the pattern is about half written and I am going to work on that this afternoon as well as my usual hand work.

David's echo cardiogram results came back. Nothing new, the same problems we knew he had already and they aren't going to change anything. He is trying to lose weight and get more exercise, but I don't know how long that will last; he doesn't have a lot of sticktoitivity, and needs cheering along more than most. Well, we all have our imperfections, and the good seems to outweigh the bad most of the time, so I'll not complain.

And I'll get to work, at least in a few minutes. My shoulders and upper arms get really tired manipulating the thread and the warping wheel and I need to give them a few minutes more rest before attempting anything.

Right now I have to help a little boy find his Gramps, he was wandering around down here asking for him.

More help today!

I can usually sew with her weighting down the quilt, I am afraid to cut when she is up there though, the cutter could easily slip and do her a damage. She slapped me and hissed when I tried to more her, I don't know what her problem was; she was making me tired.

I am cutting out the star points for my Pinwheel Stars. I only need to make 25 blocks but they are big blocks and the strips have to be five and a half inches wide. It just eats up the fabric.

The green looks paler than it actually is the is the background for the stars.

I had four yards of it and it is almost gone. I don't often use such big pieces in a quilt. Even if it is a big block there are usually a lot of tiny pieces, but every now and then it's nice to change out and do a more simple pattern. The centers of the blocks are half done and should be finished tonight so I can start the points.

David had his echo cardiogram today. No results yet. I hope they find out what is going on with him. My personal opinion is that he is really overweight and he needs to get out and get some exercise instead of sitting around on his computer all day. I suppose it will need the doctor to tell him that, before he will listen to what I say, that's usually the way it goes. It's a worry whatever the cause and I hope they figure it out soon.

I figured out my warp last night and I can get started on that this after noon. Also with cleaning up the unfinished part of the basement. It's been stirred with a stick again, and not by me. Men are such slobs.

It seems I am in a somewhat negative mood today, I had better spend some time on attitude control. I enjoy winding the warp that will help, it's also nice and warm under the porch, it's cold here in the basement. At least cold for me, I don't start feeling warm until it's about 80 and the AC is turned on long before that. So I'll get my things together and get started on that.

Our Sammy and David had lunch on the front porch today. Sammy knows Gramps isn't feeling good and he said that if Gramps had trouble getting up he (Sammy) would help him. "And if I'm not there come and get me to help you get up". 6 year olds are so much fun.

I just can't help but think that Mondays would be easier if I didn't get quite so much help.

David still isn't feeling very well, so I told him I thought that he was just sitting around too much (he is) and that it's a cycle that he needs to break, so we took a walk. I knew he wouldn't want to go alone and I need the exercise too, so I expected I would have to go too, but it cut into my mornings sewing time. Well I can catch up in the winter when it is too cold to take walks. I wasn't getting too far on my quilting anyway with both of my assistants putting their weight on the quilt.

I finished this top last night in my before bed sewing time on the treadle. No name yet, it's the leftover triangles from the large Pinwheels. I even got some putting away-cleaning time in after I finished it. Tonight I will start on the Pinwheel Stars.

This is the block I made last winter, although I won't be using those colors. I wanted to get it firmly in my mind before I forgot, so I made the block into what ever was to hand. I will probably use that block on the back so as not to waste it. I have the small inner triangles cut, I only need 25 blocks, so it won't take long to get to the next step, I will probably cut the next pieces out tomorrow before I start quilting.

I now have 3 new tops ready to be basted, if I keep this up I won't be able to baste any UFOs next time. That will be ok, the goal is to not make any new UFOs, the old ones can wait a while longer.

This afternoon I am going to plan out the next warp for the loom. I can't start winding warp until I figure out how long and how wide the project is going to be. Which means I need to find the book my pattern is in. Oh boy, I wonder how long that will take?

I became very creative today. It's called huge mistake! I started the 2nd feather wreath on the Log Cabin Heart and was half way done when I discovered that I had started at the wrong place and I don't rip out so I had to figure out how to make it look like I meant to do it. That's the trouble with quilting such a large quilt on a domestic machine: one develops tunnel vision and tends to focus only what is under the needle at the time. So we'll see.

I finished the first of the Pinwheel tops last night. Tonight I will spend my evening sewing time cleaning out the corner of the room where my treadle machine is, it's gotten awfully cluttered and dusty while I was focusing on the Pinwheels and I need to put some stuff away. Then on to the next top.

My other little UFO projects are coming along, not very fast now since I am quilting again, but they are getting worked on. Now that the weather is nice David likes me to sit on the porch when we drink our mornings coffee and it cuts into my sewing time. Summer is not forever though, so I have to enjoy it while I can.

Arrowheads is on my bed now, it looks very nice. I'm glad to have it, it will be nice to snuggle under tonight, it's not always very warm down here, even in summer.

The latest hexagon top is almost done, I have to decided what to work on next, not very difficult to do, there are so many hand projects that need to be completed I will just choose one. It's time to get back to work, I've eaten lunch and the day is only half over, plenty of time to accomplish a lot!

This cute little guy has been languishing in a bin waiting to be put together for my son Anthony who loves clowns. So now he is done and another UFO is out of my way.

This is the next gallon sized zip lock bag of cut out projects. Barbie and Ken clothes, some of those I cut out when I learned I have a grand daughter. Anyway all are getting done this year and although I have a long way to go I am getting closer.

This is a hand pieced hexagon top. I am going to applique the edges of the hexagons down onto a strip for a border and so that I can finish it off more easily. I will machine quilt this one, as I have too many already waiting to be hand quilted. Thanks to David for being my quilt holder. It's not very big, but it is done, which is the main thing.

I got the big heart wreath quilted on the Log Cabin Heart, it is still far from done and it took about 6 hours and 5 bobbins of thread. You can see where it is on the Heart quilt at the top of the page. By the time the quilting is done I will have the pattern written and will post it with the picture. At least another week.

We go to Lincoln in two. This will be our last time, since our rent was raised we will not have the funds after this unless they change the location so that we don't have to stay in a hotel.

I am having a good working week regardless of the doctor's appointments and David not feeling well, breaking my last needle and having to run to Jo-Ann's, the boys being home. Next week I will start winding warp.

And here it is: my fourteenth finished quilt of the year a log cabin that I am calling Arrowheads. I started this quilt 10+ years ago for my bed. It's got tons of machine embroidery and rick rack and it is very heavy. I used flannel for a foundation when I pieced the blocks. Why? it seemed like a good idea at the time. I had the flannel I might as well use it. It made the quilt very heavy. It didn't really need batting but I put it in for fluffiness. When I pieced this originally I planned it for my bed, and I was still trying to use the stand up quilting frame from Handi-quilter. I did it in two pieces because it was so heavy and big that I thought it would be easier. Well, I wasn't too speedy at it and then I had a sick cat so I had to take it off the frame and wash it. When it was washed I just stuck it in a tub and when we moved to Sioux Falls it went up in the attic. Now it is done and I can go on to the next tomorrow. This is the back.

I joined the two pieces to finish them as one, and added pink strips for the backing to the already existing partially quilted back. I was out of the original flannel. I bound it with some scrap yellow binding left over from another quilt. So now I have enough bedding for our bed and I can concentrate on some other quilts I have in mind.

In other UFOs.

The baby bonnets are all done and I got a good start on this clown. I had only one cut out so that is all I will make. I got a good start on it this morning after I finished the quilt and I hope to finish it tomorrow.

My first assistant was so Happy that there was a quilt on her sewing table again. I haven't had the heart to explain that it is done and she will have to wait for the next one. It won't be long sweet girl.

I didn't work on UFOs this morning, or, rather I didn't sew on any.

I did pin baste these two. The brown one I pieced in the winter of '98-'99. In all I pin basted 5 quilts. 5 big quilts. It was a long day and I am very tired and satisfied. I six prepared but I ran out of pins. It was both good and disappointing, for the same reason too. Disappointing because I wanted to get all 6 done, but happy because I was tired and my fingers were sore and I was ready to quit. I really earned my afternoon's coffee and feet up break.

I also got these 3 new tops basted for quilting; they won't turn into UFOs I am pleased to say.
And as for the other UFOs I am working on yesterday I finished up the little aprons.

I cut out these baby bonnets when Ambrosina found out she was pregnant with our Sammy in a burst of optimism, thinking I would get another grand daughter. When we found out he was a boy I just put them away in the bin. Now I pulled them out and I am going to finish them for a big doll that I have. One down and two to go. I can finish at least one tomorrow before I start quilting. It will be nice to be quilting again I have missed it.

So now I'm working on the current hexagon quilt and drinking my coffee. I am pleasingly tired and very happy with what I got done today.