Here it is! The seventh hexagon top in the last four years and I am giving them a rest for a while. I always get carried away. I haven't counted the hexagons yet, I forgot and I don't want to stop and figure it out. It's the biggest so far.

I am still waiting for the part for Julia Juki so I can quilt again. They transposed the numbers on my address and have to resend it. I have learned not to order through the local dealership, they are so unbusiness-like that it's not worth it. I had to go in 3 times before they bothered to look up what the status was only to find out that it was on back order. When they were informed that it was on back order they should have informed me, so I am done with them. It's not their fault it was back-ordered. It was their fault I wasn't told.

Any way I have plenty to keep me busy but the tops are piling up again.

With this top finished I am now cleaning all the places I let go while I was finishing it. I am going to find the paper hexagons I used for months. They fall out and go every where. They are three quarters of an inch.

A-8 Florence Nightingale.

I decided to redo Dad's Plaids from yesterday because I forgot and used the same fabric from the one the day before. I didn't do a very good job on it anyhow so I decided to do it by hand. I don't think it will take long and I am doing a bunch of hand work catch-up that has been waiting for me to finish the hexagons.

The AC is still not working and it's supposed to get up to 98 today. I don't mind the hot but the humidity is so high that everything is sticky. It's a lot cooler down here in the basement, I wouldn't be surprised if we had young visitors tonight to cool down.

And now time for lunch, hot dog! Literally hot dogs left over from last night. Also cleaning, until it gets too hot down here. Then maybe a knitting project, so many things to choose from!!

I know that this doesn't look very good right now. I am through with the first washing of this particular batch of wool. It is still very wet and will fluff up a lot more as it dries. There is also quite a bit of vegetable matter still in it from the sheep being in the fields. Most of that will fall out as I card it, and yes I do wear an apron while I am doing that! After it is spun I will wash it again. In actual fact, wool isn't really white the way it looks on the sheep from a distance, unless it is specially bred. Since these are from sheep that are grown for meat the wool isn't going to be the same quality a from a sheep that is bred for wool. I am not complaining mind you, it's still wool and I am enjoying the process. I don't mind the smell and the dirt. It's washed off anyway. That is about a quarter of the wool washed. I can't do any more until it is dry, I don't have the space.

I've forgotten the name and number of this one and my book is upstairs. This one was fast and easy.

Dad's Plaids. I think I would have done better needle turn appliqueing this by hand but I do not want to start another hand sewing project right now. I am going to trim out the yellow from behind the white, just haven't gotten around to it yet.

I am planning to finish the hexagon top today. And speaking of the hexagon top, it's time to get busy!

This humungous tub of wool came yesterday, courtesy of my sister Sella. The word "excitement" is too mild! I haven't been able to do much spinning for a long time because I had nothing to spin. This wool is from sheep who are being raised for meat, so it won't be the best wool. Also it is very dirty because raising them for meat means they aren't careful to keep them clean. Well, I don't really care. There are at least four fleeces in the tub. This morning I spread it all out and threw out the badly soiled bits, it's called "skirting".

Now, I have been telling David for about 3 weeks it was coming. We have been having long discussions about how I was going to wash it and what I was going to need. He said he would take care of the "arrangements" so I could have water out under the back porch to work. So, why did he wait until I was ready to start work to get things in place so I could work? Is there any answer to that question? I try not to get annoyed that he can't take care of anything in a timely manner, but it has bugged me our entire life together that he cannot get things done when he should. I don't suppose he ever will so it's my attitude that needs adjusting. Sigh. Anyway I can't let it spoil the fun I am going to have with this wool, and since I've aired my pet peeve I suppose in the great scheme of things it doesn't matter much that I have to wait until tomorrow to start washing it.

Fluffed out and piled on sawhorses after I sorted it. Even throwing some of it away that is still an enormous pile of wool. Having a hard time waiting to start washing it.

A-5 Cathy's Campfire. This one was quick and easy with straightforward paper piecing of the flying geese units. So much fun. Naturally I would like to dive in and work straight through the book, but I still have a few UFOs to get through. Maybe it makes it more enjoyable to do only one at a time. The plan is to use a different yellow for each block, I'll have to get some more yellows. Probably fat quarters, or even charm packs.


And now it's time for hand work, I am thinking a couple more days and I will have the hexagon quilt top done, can't wait for that either!

 A-3 Hunter's Moon

A-4 Courtney's Stethoscope

So, it's still just one a day. They are far from perfect, I am not worrying about perfect. Good thing.

Mostly I am just plugging away at the Dresden Plate and hexagon quilt tops. I am hoping to finish both this week.

Despite my resolve to write more often I get busy and forget. I am putting overtime in on the hexagon quilt to get it finished so I can give hexagons a rest for a while.

Last night while I was trying to work on it first assistant Happy decided that she needed attention more than I needed to sew and every time I tried to pick up the edge and work on it she would hiss and slap me. She was in a crabby mood and it wasn't helped when the kitten got up and tried to tackle her. I escaped with minor bleeding.

Then Thursday I got this. I've been interested for quite a while and when I sold a quilt I used some of the money to get it on Amazon. It is a used one, I couldn't afford a new one, but it is signed by the author. Well, of course, I dove right in.

Friday A-1 Pinwheel Gone Awry. I am hooked, but good! My seams aren't perfect, and I learned when I copied it from the book that for paper piecing it needs to be reversed and my copier doesn't reverse so I had to allow for that and it took more time than I anticipated. Fun though.

A-2 One-Two Buckle My Shoe. Again seams not perfect, but the idea is to enjoy doing it and perfection is over rated anyway.

I am going to allow myself to do one a day until I get both the Dresden Plate and the latest hexagon quilt done. I decided that I would start at the beginning and work my way through to the back. Probably the only way I can keep track of what I am doing. I know that a lot of people are buying the software and printing out the paper piecing patterns, but I can't afford it. When I first started quilting you couldn't get books or magazines. Then for many years I used magazines and books, so I guess I can use a book without any problems. I choose yellow/white because I have been wanting to make a yellow and white quilt for a long time and it might as well be this one!

It's hard to resist the temptation to flick through the book and pick and choose which blocks I want to make, but method before madness!

No matter what I do, I always get entirely too much help.

With most of the UFOs caught up I have been taking the opportunity to switch over to weaving while the weather is warm enough. Someday, so the promises go, that side of the basement will be finished and there will be heat and a bathroom. It gives me more time to practice patience while I am waiting.

Last fall I wound the warp onto the warp beam on the loom. Yesterday I pulled the first bundle through from the back and started threading the heddles.

This is the way it looks coming out of the lease sticks on the back, when I get it all threaded those come out.

The first heddles threaded. I was afraid that I would have forgotten where I left off, but I made careful notes and was able to pick right up where I left off. Unfortunately it's quite dusty over there. I got to the halfway point today, I am a little slow because I don't do it enough. I am planning some smaller, shorter projects so I can get some practice in after I use up this warp.

This is where I am at with the hexagons, over halfway done there. Happily I haven't come up with any new ideas for hexagons so maybe I won't feel compelled to start another one when this one is done. I want to knit and crochet for a while. I have three hand applique tops that I want to hand quilt too, so it is time to give the hexagons a rest.

I sold the turquoise Grandmother's Flower Garden, and I am pleased about that. I needed the space and the money and, after all, the joy is in the making.

The kids left to go camping early this morning, tomorrow we are going out to join them for the day. David likes his own bed, and he's not feeling very good right now. The lawyer call him this morning, we are still being sued and he's not been able to get anywhere with them so he has outlined the next steps and we go to see him next week. The lawyer said he consulted a lawyer who specializes in Social Security and they cannot garnish our income from SS so he thinks he has something he can do about what's going on, but it's still pretty stressful.

Anyway I think things could always be a lot worse, so I will just try to enjoy what I can do, and not think about what I can do nothing about. Not always easy, but better than letting myself worry.

We also have a little black kitten to keep us occupied, such fun!

Progress is being made! Now that my UFOs are almost caught up I am working on one thing until it is done and I am enjoying it. I know that most people put a solid color in the center, but I am burned out on solids and I don't care for them all that much. I like the strawberries.

 I got this circle cutter at Joann's and I am using wallpaper samples for foundation papers. It's not really good and tends to skip part of the circle so I have to go around twice and make sure it gets all of the circle cut. It works so I am not complaining.

 I use an ordinary glue stick, the kids always have them.

 Glue down all the edges and

 press them. Both sides.

 After the glue is dry I take the piece of wallpaper out,

and then iron them again on the same line of creasing. It makes a wonderfully crisp edge. I am centering them on the "plates" and blanket stitching them down on Brunehilde the Viking. They don't take long and I am thinking I can finish them tomorrow morning, but maybe not because I have class at one.

My camera gets a little blurry this close, but you can see the stitching. If I were doing this again I would make the stitch wider to show up better, but this is OK too.

Down here in the basement doing my hand sewing I am starting to put together my last, at least for a while, hexagon top. The blocks are all done, but I will need to make more of the the green joining hexagons. I have now completed the first ring of hexagon blocks and have started adding the next row of star blocks. It's going quite fast. I am getting a little burned out on hexagons though and will be glad when it is finished.

The kitten is down here on my bed, probably hiding from the boys, they have been very rambunctious this morning. We are going camping over the weekend and they are excited.

I am planning to start threading the heddles on the loom this week on Thursday, I have been busy these last couple of days and haven't had time, but I will get started soon.

My sister is sending me a big box of wool for spinning, I can't wait, more on it after it gets here, soon I hope!

This is the last of the Pinwheels quilts. I finished it down here on Ernestine the treadle, not shown here. The machine you can see is Vanessa my vintage New Home by Janome. So with this done, I need to decide what I am doing next on the treadle. I might bring down a UFO from the tub upstairs, or, I'm thinking start something new that I've been wanting to do for a long time. I have to see what UFOs are remaining that I want to make on a treadle.

Next week I am going to get back to the weaving. I may want to spend more time down here, the boys have been fighting all day and I am not sure why, but if they keep it up I don't want to be around them so much.

This beautiful iris opened up this morning, in the picture it looks more yellow than the bronze it actually is. It's the only one we have of this color and it has never bloomed before. Ambrosina doesn't know where she got it, but we are enjoying it.

Still waiting for my machine part, tomorrow I am going to go down there and find out what the stall is. I have finished 4 tops on other machines while it is waiting to be fixed. And the Dresden Plate is coming along pretty fast too. I am going to be so far behind in my quilting that I will be playing catch for the rest of the year if I don't get started pretty soon.

So that is where things are at this afternoon. I will be thinking of what to do on the treadle next while I do my hand sewing this afternoon. That is really a fun decision to have to make!

Such a tired little kitty! She was so busy helping me sew this morning that she wore herself out.

I now have four Dresden Plate blocks ready for the center circle.

The sashings are not pieced together yet, I just laid them alongside a completed block to see how they will look and I think I am going to really like them.

Ignore the TV, the yellow is the hexagon blocks I am working on right now. I have 8 half blocks and then I am ready to start putting the top together. I am glad, I am ready to move on from hexagons. This is my seventh hexagon quilt in four years and I am really wanting to get out my lace pillows.

I started knitting a sweater last week. I need a while sweater for spring wear and I have the yarns, so I started knitting daily after I finish the hexagon block for the day. It is very pleasant to relax with the knitting which does not take such close attention as English paper piecing.

And speaking of which, it is time to get busy, so long for now.

When I got my Go Baby I went a little crazy with my first (and so far my only) die two inch quarter square triangles. I finished sewing them up this morning. I have made one quilt using them, I lost count of how many I used in that quilt. Now that I am finished I have 201 of these six inch Ohio Stars,

182 four inch Corn and Beans blocs, so there are at least two quilts there,

and 506 of the Hourglass units. These are going to be made into strips to use for sashing strips for my Dresden Plate quilt.

I'm going to take a break from the piecing and applique them down onto their backgrounds next. After that it won't take long to finish what Hour Glass units I need. I have a plan for the last border. This has been a very fun quilt so far. I am not sure when I will get it done, if the part for the machine comes I will be quilting because the tops are starting to pile up.

These are blocks that I started almost 30 years ago. I hand embroidered them and have been hand quilting them in the manner of quilt-as-you-go method which I do not like. I took them out of the closet down here because I needed the space and took them up to put in the UFO tub. I am considering finishing them in a different way because I have only one row done and I want to finish them in this lifetime. Anyway that is for later consideration, I'm still a couple of quilts away from that. I'm still looking for the patterns and notes I had for a couple of the UFOs that are up there but I have been cleaning and going through things and I hope to find them before too much longer.

Meanwhile, because I have been going through the bookshelves and other places I have taken several bags of things upstairs to put ready to go to Goodwill. I don't know where it all comes from! I know
I have said that before, and frequently, but I still can't figure out how I can keep getting rid of stuff and still have so much left!

Budding Quilter!

This is a progress report on how my Dresden Plate quilt is coming along, and while this may not look like Dresden Plate blocks they are part of the quilt. I am going to use these for sashing, ten per side on 20 inch blocks. I haven't figured out how many I need yet, when I get all the pieces I have 

cut done then I will straighten up my sewing area which has gotten a little messy while I have been working on them.

The weather has been wonderful, we have been enjoying the warmth and sitting out on the porch to drink our morning cup of coffee.

 The iris, my favorite flowers, are blooming.

This is sage from Ambrosina's herb garden. They look like tiny iris, so pretty.

I finished this headboard last fall and David got it hung up this morning. I am going to make some matching shams for the pillows, I have a tub of tumblers cut out so I might as well use them.

So, I've been busy. Happily when I went to my nephrologist last week my kidneys are showing a slight improvement, no dialysis in the immediate future. That's good news. I think I am feeling better too.

So now it's time for an afternoon of hand work before the boys get home from their last day of school. They were really loud and excited this morning before they left. I expect they will be loud and excited when they get home. We look forward to a happy, loud summer.