Starring Pinwheels webbed, I think this is the first time I have ever made a quilt with all the blocks the same. Although I like the simplicity, I think it is just a little plain. I am going to add a row of Pinwheels around the outside edge for a border once I get the horizontal seams sewn.

I haven't been feeling good for the last three days so I haven't gotten much done on anything; hopefully I'll do a little better this afternoon after a nap. I do have a row of blocks quilted on the Sunflower quilt so I am making progress but not very fast. I didn't put the pins in close enough when I was basting, and I started at the wrong end when I started quilting so I am having trouble getting it to lie flat and it is creeping more than I expected it to. Live and learn. I'll pay more attention next time, I was afraid of running out of pins so I took shortcuts. I think the other ones I pin basted will be all right because I put the pins in closer together.

So now, that nap.

 I pin basted this one.

 Then this one. 2nd assistant Waddles knows he is not supposed to be on the table, but evidently when there is a quilt on the table it doesn't count.

 Then this one

 and this one

 and this one.

 1st assistant Happy spent some time on the last one waiting it's turn to be basted. I think that she was telling me that I would disturb me at my own peril. She slapped me when I moved her to get it.

This was the last one I basted, six in all. I finished just before 3:00 pm. I am very tired, but also very satisfied. I won't have to baste again for at least 6 weeks. To my best estimate, without counting, I had 13 tops ready to be quilted. So I am ready to quilt almost half of those. I will probably finish a couple of tops before basting again, however, it looks like I might get all my tops turned into quilts this year.
After that I will make a quilt all the way from the start to the finish, no more UFOs!

It's time for a rest, and some hand sewing, today at least, I have earned it.

 A Victorian Barbie outfit. I know, not earth shattering, but one of those cut out projects that have been kicking around for ages, I always loved making doll clothes and fancy ones are even more fun!

 140 finished turtle blocks, I haven't stopped to count how many I need; I want to make several twin size quilts and they are also very fun. I do a few every evening and they add up pretty fast.

I also finished the rest of the sashings for this top I am working on so I can get back to that this evening. It looks ok, I haven't done one with all the same blocks in it for a long time and I am afraid it may look a little plain. The borders will hopefully bring some life to it.

I only have one more section of warp to wind. It won't be tomorrow, I am basting quilts tomorrow. I hope to get 6 ready to quilt. It will make a long day, the positive side is I won't have to baste for 6 weeks, always a relief. I really hate basting.

I guess I've said that before.

Other than that, I've been plugging away at other UFOs upstairs. Once I start quilting again I won't get as much done. I finally got the embroidery machine running again, I haven't used it for a while and I have been missing it. Nothing in particular just som patterns I had loaded on the card already, It was fun.

Our  Chester is doing better, but we still don't know how much longer he will be with us. He is pretty old for a cat, but he is eating now and has mustered up a purr when I petted him. The old sweetie!

The pile of unquilted tops is getting smaller. I have five backs pieced now with only one more to go before I spend a day basting them. That will be on Friday, with the boys home from school it is best to wait until they are gone for a day over at Grandma's so I can have the dining room free and clear.

When I started putting these blocks together using 

 these for sashings I discovered that I had only counted the horizontal ones and didn't have enough to finish the top, so I am spending my before going to bed time finishing enough of them to make the top. I don't have time to quilt it yet anyway so I am in no hurry.

Sammy has had a cold the last few days, he has generously shared it with me. I got up with a sore throat and started coughing a little bit ago. Well, that's what one gets for living with children. Even with catching every virus going around it's a lot more fun with them and I love every minute of it. He and Gramps and Malachi are "working" out in the garage this afternoon; it's a lovely day and not too hot, in fact, down here in the basement, I am cold but a sweater will fix that. I'm almost always cold anyway, and this time of year I go outside where there is no AC to get warmed up.

One more back to piece tomorrow and then I can concentrate on some UFOs out of the bins. This afternoon more work on this:

my latest hexagon quilt. I would never have used orange to set the blocks together, but for some reason I cut out a lot of orange hexagons and needed to use them. I am really liking the way the color is setting off the other colors and am very glad I used orange. I've really never cared for orange or green or gold too much, we can thank the seventies for that; I'm really pleased with this orange though. I'd say I am about two-thirds completed with the top and it's going really fast; I am already thinking of designs for the next one.

I'm now going to watch some Sherlock Holmes (who never fails to please) while I sew. A nice thing to do while I am not feeling good and want to work with my hands.

Another finish, number 17 for this year. This Drunkard's Path variation has a lot of different names. Dirty Windows, Attic Windows for two. So I am calling it Dirty Attic Windows. Ambrosina says she has never seen clean attic windows, especially ours so it seems fitting. From a distance it looks like plaid, but it is really just curved piecing. I have to my recollection 12 more unquilted tops, 6 of those are UFOs so I am making a lot of progress. I have to make backs and baste before I can quilt any more, I will be working on those this weekend and probably into next week, planning to baste sometime next week. It will give my arms and shoulders a needed rest.

This is the back and I used up some odd blocks and some odds and ends of blue fabrics. It's helpful to piece backs because they use up a lot of fabrics and I never have a lot of any one fabric on hand. I like the variety a pieced back gives,  I think it makes it more interesting.

The warp for the next weaving project is three-quarters of the way wound, three more winding sessions. It is hard on my neck and shoulders too, but it will be worth it when I get the loom dressed and I am weaving.

We have an extra boy here. It multiplies the noise, not just adds to it.
Our poor old cat Chester is very sick, we think he may not be with us much longer, he can hardly stand up and won't eat, Ambrosina is trying to nurse him but we think we are going to lose him, he is fourteen. He tried to meow at me when I was upstairs but he can't make any noise, I don't know what the vet told her and I didn't ask. Poor old guy, he is the last kitten one of my old cats had, and has been a favorite for his nice personality and loud purr as well as for his beauty.

The other two cats are very gentle with him. We will miss him. Well maybe I am jumping the gun, he could improve.

So now it's time to do some handsewing and relax with my feet up, it seems like it's been a long day.

Too much help, way too much help. Waddles is ok but Happy was misnamed from the beginning. Waddles will take a polite hint, and even purr if I pick him up, but Happy says bad words and scratches, no matter how polite I am. Getting a purr out of her is rare, she doesn't really like anything but her ears scratched, and she tends to throw her weight around as boss cat to everybody. Waddles doesn't appear to be impressed though and he is the purrfect companion for her as he doesn't mind ruffling her fur the wrong way; although he is not aggressive he is a lot younger and only wants to play.

It is hot today, even for me. I have been slacking off winding warp and decided I was going to get it done this week come what may, but it was hard to stick to it. I think we are in for storms.

Two jars with warp wound, I am only about half way, as I said I am slacking off. I ran all my errands for the week this morning, so I didn't get a lot of sewing done, but the rest of the week I am going to put her in high and get the quilt I am working on done, and get the rest of the warp wound. I also have several pots I want to glaze before the kids go camping because I want to fire one last time while they are gone. Glaze firing gives Ambrosina a migraine.

I don't want to sell my ceramic stuff or my kiln but Ambrosina thinks I should so that is that. I think I started it too late in life, and there is a place in town I can go to if I get a hankering after it. That's life, get over it. Since I had to choose, I chose the loom, so I have to work on being content with that.

So today being Monday I got off to a slow start with my sewing, but it's faster to get my errands over with in one (although hot) day and not have the rest of the week broken up. David likes me to sit on the porch with him to drink my morning coffee, I like to drink my coffee at the machine and keep powering through so during the winter I do that and when it's warm enough I sit for a while our with him. The mail man always likes to stop and talk for a few minutes and I take a magazine out to read, so it's not a complete waste of time. So I don't get as much done in the summer as I would like, but there are other benefits.

So, talking of getting things done, I still have a big chunk of this afternoon to get something accomplished and it's time to get started.

 Another finish, my seventeenth of the year. Although I pieced together the half square triangles and sliver trimmed them quite a while ago, I am not considering this a UFO since I only finished the top a couple of months ago. I counted how many triangles were in the top when I finished it, but I can't remember how many thousands there are.

I was going to use the tiny leftover 1.5 inch triangles in blocks and make a top of them, but after making one block I decided against it. I didn't care for how they were looking, so I used the one block on the back and I will never do that again. Trying to quilt all those seams broke a lot of needles before I realized where I was sewing and slowed down. The above picture is the back.

I now only have one more quilt basted, the red and blue Drunkard's path.

When it is done then I will make more backs. I have 6 tops that I finished in the last couple of months since I basted and one UFO that I want to get done, but I have never had enough pins for basting more than 6 at one time so I will have to see which one gets to wait. The good news is I won't be finishing too many this next few months since I am getting caught up on the ones I had started. The next couple of bins upstairs that have to be worked through are mostly toys and doll clothes that I have cut out and not so many partially sewn quilt tops, I think, that is: I hope. There are still plenty more down here in various tubs and in bags under the bed. Those I will worry about when the tubs are empty, no sense in pulling them out only to have them sitting in the way. I will work on them on Ernestine the treadle when I get the current batch of tops done.

There is always plenty to look forward to, it keeps life interesting!

Sunflower top finished. I really like this pattern, but I don't know if I will ever make another, there are so many that I want to try out. It will be basted and quilted with the next batch. I have been trying to remember when I started it and I think that it was just after John was born in 1989. It's ready to quilt and I pulled the next UFO out of the bin.

I wonder just how many doll clothes I still have cut out that I haven't sewn. I haven't checked, I'm just going to take them as they come. I have 7 quilt tops that I finished in the last couple of months and I don't want to get too far ahead so having stuff like that needing to be finished is just fine. Think how much room I will have in my sewing corner upstairs when I get them done.

I finished quilting the half square triangle top this morning, tomorrow I will bind it and have a picture. I knew my last bobbin was getting low and I was sure I would have to stop sewing to wind a bobbin for about six inches, but I had enough and that has got to be a first.

I am happy to say that one of my Pineapple quilts sold, so I actually will have a place to put it when it is done.

These blocks are almost done down here at the treadle and I will have to decided which fabric I want to use to set them together, probably tomorrow. The blocks seem kind of dull, so I'll want something pretty lively. It gets a little boring to make 25 blocks all the same but I have kept at it.

I will probably wind some more warp this afternoon if it is not too hot out under the porch, not that it gets too hot for me very often.

It's been a busy week, but I'm not complaining, I prefer it that way.

The next UFO pulled from the bins n the dining room. The name is Sunflower and I started this so long ago I am not sure when. I think I remember cutting out the pieces one night when I was suffering from insomnia during a time when my marriage to David was in serious trouble. When I couldn't sleep I would get up and cut out quilts. I got a lot of them cut out. Not a lot of them finished, but cut out and sorted into baggies. This was so long ago that ziplock bags were not very common and very expensive. It would be about 25 years ago, at the very least.

Water under the bridge, but I think the quilt will be nice when it is finished. I sewed the blocks together a couple of years ago but I didn't like the way they looked so I put it away for a while. I took them apart earlier in the week and when I shopped yesterday I found this fabric on sale that will tie all the colors together. None of the blocks are the same. It is a scrap quilt. One block even has and odd diamond in it because, evidently, I lost one or didn't cut enough out. I don't remember. I think I a going to use yellow for the cornerstones of the sashing.

2nd assistant Waddles didn't want me to quilt this morning, but I moved him and got to work only to find that I was almost out of thread and there was no more orange in the thread bin so I had to run another errand and lost about an hour. If we still lived on Vashon Island it would have been at least 3 hours, and I probably couldn't have afforded the ferry fare. I remind myself of that often when I feel like complaining.

Some different views of the quilt on the sewing table. It's coming along pretty good, about a quarter of the way. I don't know if this quilting pattern has been used by anyone else, I was just sort of playing around when I decided to use it. I call it somersault because for some reason it reminds me of the somersaults we used to turn as a kid. It's fun, but it uses a lot of thread. I should have done bigger curls to begin with and done fewer; it's too late now. Well, I now have enough thread and I hope to finish it sometime next week.

Well with one thing and another it's been a busy week, it doesn't look like the weekend will be any less busy either. They boys are at Grandma's today so the house is quiet. That never lasts long!

I'm back. Well we were back a couple of days ago, but I have been so exhausted that I could hardly move for those 2 days. I'm better today and we took a trip to Walmart this morning. David's been trying to walk everyday and the heat is too bad for him to do it outside. I told him he should get up early and do it before it gets hot, we will see. Anyway we went to Walmart and while he walked I got my shopping done.

I got these 3 fabrics on clearance. I am collecting brown prints with a particular quilt in mind, although I won't be starting it for a while; I still have too many UFOs left to get done. They are coming along though.

I finished this Thursday morning before we left. It turned out that Rose hurt her knee and we couldn't go to the zoo so we left later. I had time to finish the quilting and binding on this quilt since it isn't very big. It is a Log Cabin, Barn Raising variation. I pieced the top in the winter of 1998-1999, the first year we moved out to South Dakota. It is made from corduroy, foundation pieced on flannel (I know: what was I thinking?) and is very heavy. I did a minimum of quilting using my walking foot and didn't break any needles even at the joining of the seams. I have one more quilt top made this way. It's not basted yet but it will be done with the next batch.

I used a sheet for the back since I didn't need any extra seams to thicken the the quilt while I worked. The simple quilting I choose shows up very well on it and I am pleased. The quilt isn't very big only about 70 x 60.

Any way it's done and I am working on the next which is coming along pretty well. Picture tomorrow. Also a picture of the next UFO I found in the bin, a Sunflower quilt. The blocks have been done for a while and I even put them together but I didn't like the way they looked together so I have been taking them apart and I will put them together with sashings and cornerstones.

It's nice to be back in the rhythm of work again. I am working on the next hexagon quilt too. Pictures tomorrow.