Friday October 16, 2015
I didn't realize it has been so long between posts. I didn't really get my sewing corner cleaned out before I got involved in something else, I can't even think of what got me started on the quilt top I'm trying to finish right now. I started it a year or so ago so it's not as if it's a new project. It's a drunkard's path polka dot, and I have to say it's a lot of fun. I didn't get started on my pjs because I had 4 appointments this week, really wreaking havoc on how much I could accomplish during the day so I deferred them until next week and have been catching up on odds and ends and, of course, the polka dots. I have done close to half the blocks and I had a really good working morning.
It is cold, I have to get the heater plugged in and turned on for the first time this fall. I really hate the cold, but the door is on between our room and the rest of the basement so hopefully it will warm up faster.
I'm not real good at getting pictures posted, but it's always good to have a goal to work towards.

Tuesday October 6, 2015
Just finished Arty's quilt top and also pieced the back. Really look good, but I do not understand how I could piece an entire back out of largish flannel pieces and reject quilt blocks, including  throwing some of the more odd pieces away (just can't keep it all), and still have the tub just as full and just as heavy without putting anything else in!! So, the first 2 quilts for the frame next spring are ready to go, just have to pick up some batting when it's on sale or see if I can find a roll of it on line before next spring. Storage is a problem, but i need to figure that out as well.
The downstairs is still an awful mess, but I have another box to take up to the attic and sort out. Tomorrow I clean the bedroom and change the sheets so the day will be pretty well shot, but I will see some nice results from it. I need to clean out the sewing corner upstairs and put stuff away for the between projects organizing I will do after finishing Arty's top. I think a pair of pj's for myself will be next, shouldn't take too long, but I have a dentist appointment on Thursday so I won't get as much accomplished, but the list of projects is going down.

Monday October 5, 2015
All the sharks are stuffed! Arty got to come get his yesterday and he was ecstatic. He gave me a short lecture on sharks, which I found interesting. The shortest shark was five feet long, and I will never again make a stuffed animal, fish, whatever so big. My allergies are a little better so I am glad to have that job done.
Today I got the center of Arty's quilt, and the outer borders pieced. I am going to put a solid red border between them to add to the size and also to give the eyes a place to rest. When I get his top done I will piece the back and then put them in the tub in the attic that have next years quilt tops for next springs quilting. I hope it will get warm enough to set up the quilting frame on the back porch earlier than this last spring. But at least I am making a progress in several areas. I pulled the new treadle machine into the bed room at the foot of the bed. It will keep the mattress from sliding away from the wall (hopefully) and keep the blankets from sliding off the foot of the bed. If I want to treadle while I am watching tv i can slide it back out. I am not sure how it gets so cluttered down here but I am making some progress in getting stuff put away as well. I keep throwing stuff away and sending the good stuff to good will and I still can't get a handle on the junk.

I do not know why I cannot hang on to my camera for more than ten minutes at a time. However, I am supposed to get a smart phone sometime this weekend so I will be snapping pics with my phone along with the rest of you in no time at all. Today I am going to start stuffing sharks for the boys. I got my sewing corner upstairs all cleaned out yesterday, even swept the floor AND picked up all the pins! Now I will sit there and stuff all the sharks that are left to do. Eventually I will find my camera and post pictures of sharks and grandsons. Once the sharks are done I will be able to find the other projects that are filling the bins in that corner. At least 7 quilts that are started and are sitting there taking up all the room, plus some garment sewing that is cut out and that I will need for the coming winter, I also need to accessorize hats and things.
I finally got a mirror downstairs where we live, now I can see if I have too much makeup on or my hat is crooked, such a luxury!

Wow the quiet book for Kael and Wyatt is done a week ahead of time. Well almost done. Ambrosina is going to write the captions and I have a ton of buttons to sew on it before I bind the last 4 pages and put the eyelets in for the binder rings. It turned out pretty well considering I haven't used some of the skills I needed for a while and I was a bit rusty. But I made it bright and colorful and busy and I doubt anybody but me and maybe Ambrosina will see the imperfections. What a mess the sewing corner is! I will clean it all out and put everything away tomorrow morning before I start on the next project: a pair of winter pjs for myself, I also have 5 full sized sharks to stuff that I want to get done. I will have so much more room for more unfinished projects when I am done with them.
I'm getting some progress on our little sitting room and the closet organizers in our bedroom too. For someone who hates mess as much as I do, it's amazing how much mess is in my living areas. Tomorrow after finishing the odds and ends on the quiet book i will clean my sewing corner and start thru the last few tubs of fabric before I start sewing on something else but it will be worth it in the end.

We have all the new closet shelving that i bought at a rummage sale hung on the wall of our bedroom and i cannot believe how much extra room it has given us i have several quilts cut out that i can make accessible now that i have room to store it. There is also room to store the other knitting and crochet projects started and not finished so when i want to do something like that i don't just start something new to do but can go back to what i have already started.
It's just putting everything back that is the problem. Our little sitting room is jam packed with STUFF and Ambrosina told me to get rid of everything i didn't want to move again. A new house is in the future for the family.
She and i have been going thru the 50+ tubs of  fabric and have cut and planned our winter's sewing. Several tubs are now empty and we have some of fabrics that we will donate so someone else can use them. We even have projects planned that we, gasp, will have to buy fabrics for. Not something we have had to do much in the past, since we are both such fabric hoarders, and shop rummage sale and thrift shops for most of our fabrics and sewing notions. I think it will be fun, fabric stores being our main source of recreation. I still have several tubs to get through and I will do that this week while i work on finishing the quiet book for our little boys in Washington, i want to get it wrapped up and ready to mail payday.
This month I am going to get a smart phone because i lost my phone in Washington when we were out there in July. I will be able to use it to take pictures, because i still can't find my camera. Maybe then i will be able to post pictures more regularly, but for now this will just have to do.

Mid September already, the boys are in their 2nd week of school, and the house is very quiet. I decided not to put another quilt on the frame and a good thing too it has been unseasonably cold and wet. Leon decided to repair the back porch so I can't even walk out there for now. Soon Ambrosina will start putting plastic on the windows ready for winter. Malachi's quilt is finished, but as usual I can't find the camera to post pictures.
A couple of weeks ago I found a wonderful buy at a rummage sale: tons of closet organizing shelves for 35 bucks. So the bedroom is torn up while David was hanging them and now I have to put it all back, but wow! can I ever get more into the closet wall. Ambrosina told me not to keep anything I don't want to move again so a new house is on the books somewhere down the road. It has also made me look at all my junk with fresh eyes, so, yes I am unloading a ton of stuff. When we moved David's wardrobe we found the bed frame wouldn't allow him to open the doors of it so we took all the stuff from underneath and took the frame out. I will miss my beautiful bed, but we really needed the space more. David took it to a consignment store and I hope it will sell soon because we need to make a frame to set the mattress on, it's a little hard to stand up as low as it is.
I am not working on a quilt right now. Etina wanted me to make a quiet book for the boys so I hauled the pattern out of the tub it was in and hunted out my felt. I am about halfway done and I want to get it done so we can mail it in October. It's kind of a fun thing to do and I am about halfway done. I will take some pictures when I get it done, hopefully I will be able to find my camera to take pictures so I can post. I will try to post more regularly after this!!

Off to Union Grove campground today. Have to pack my hexagons into my bag and I will be ready to go, that is, after I drink my coffee. We had wonderful t-storms last night and it rained in buckets. We used to call it cloud bursts but I don't hear that very much anymore. It lasted for a long time and the streets and sidewalks were like rivers. Glad we don't get water in the basement!
I was having trouble getting my quilt adjusted on the frame and then I realized one of the rods had come untaped and I had unroll the whole thing and retape the rods. Fixed that yesterday, but I won't quilt today because it will be too damp out there after that rain last night, so as soon as I am dressed and the coffee drank we will go!

I really need to learn to do this every day. Yesterday I had a difficult dentist appointment, and I am feeling kind of punky. I have run into a snag on my quilting frame too, but I think I know how to fix that now, just needed it to perk for a while. The quilt is slipping on the rods so I think that if I unwind it and retape the leaders onto the rod I will be ok. I was going to post some pictures of our trip, but again I left the camera upstairs. Tomorrow I promise myself  I will blog again and have some pictures. The kids are going camping and we will be going out during the days and come home at night. I can't remember right now where we are going but it is a short distance from Sioux Falls and  not a long drive. Until tomorrow then.

So far I don't seem to be able to keep regular with this. Yesterday I got Malachi's quilt almost ready to quilt on the frame, but my back has been killing me. This evening we will be home a week and I don't have a lot to show for it, just some fabric cut into strips and not much else. Keep forgetting my camera upstairs so I can't show any pictures yet.
It is really a joy to be home and be with our little boys. Sammy wouldn't let anybody do anything for him except Gramps, the problem with that is that Gramps isn't really doing very well. He goes in for heart rehab starting next week. Mostly he says that he is just tired.
I am going to go upstairs now and start quilting on Malachi's quilt in just a few minutes, catch you later.

I didn't have a chance to post last month while we were gone. What a good time we had though. Ending it by David having a heart attack was not the way I would have chosen to end it, although he seems to be doing ok. When I get the camera here with the computer I will post some pictures of our trip, most of it was a lot of fun.

Today is the Big Day. Our bus leaves at 12:30. Rosa is supposed to pick us up and take us to the station, let's hope she doesn't get busy and forget, she works a lot of hours. It should be interesting. Neither one of us slept much last night and I was awake before 5. It's a case of  hurry up and wait since we have been ready, except for last minute things for the last couple of days. We are taking 6 bags with us--a lot of stuff I know, but we will be leaving most of it out there when we come home. I tried to get it down, but there is a lot of stuff. The only comfort is mailing it would cost about the same. The cost of long distance grandparenting. Let us hope none of it gets lost!

I

Tomorrow is the big day, can't believe that it is here. I have been changing around the stuff in the bags that we are taking to try to eliminate one $30.00 checked bag, but I haven't been successful. Too many last minute items that I can't possibly go without. We are going to miss the little boys here terribly, but we will be with other little boys and our only granddaughter. Will they miss us? Well Gramps they will miss for sure. Sam will be lonely for his side partner. They do something together most days, even if it's only going outside and sitting on the porch.
This will be my last day of sewing for a month! I'm told I will survive, but I'm not so sure. I will have a knitting project with me and some sharks to stuff when we get back there. We are promised a camping trip in the mountains. As much as I love living in South Dakota I still miss the beautiful mountains I grew up in and around.
I am sure I will be able to borrow a computer to make some posts and share some pictures of what we are doing.
Here is a picture of Malachi and I doing some jewelry making together in our little bed-sitter in the basement. Sam was trying to make jewelry too, but he fell asleep.

The quilt on the bed is the first one I ever machine quilted. For a long time I was a hand quilt only snob, but then the carpel tunnel kicked in, and I had to reassess my values. After all most of my  piecing is done by machine. I have several tops I have hand appliqued that I will hand quilt. I hope to set up my grandmother's quilting that she had made for her the same year as my dad was born, 1922. When she died I was the only one who wanted it. I have done a lot of quilts on it, and I am sure she did too, I had a couple that finally disintegrated. (Couldn't figure out how to spell that word had to look it up, I've been pronouncing and spelling it wrong all my life, who knew?) The stories that quilting frame could tell if it could speak. I think about the conversations that it heard when all the farm wives got together to make bedding for their families. Perhaps it's just as well it can't speak now that I think about it. When women get together the conversation about husbands sometimes would make their ears burn. Those women faced all the things we do today, and thrown into the mix they were settlers in places that were new to them. Sometimes away from their families. They survived the "dirty thirties" and lived to tell about it. 

 

I had a box of quilt scraps my grandmother sent me just before I married my husband over forty years ago. She said I was the only one of her daughters and granddaughters that quilted and that I should have them. They were feed sacks and parts of aprons that survived and were saved to be reused. I have always cherished them and used them for special quilts. They are almost gone now; I am finishing them up in an 1.25 inch postage stamp quilt. I remember now why I cut the squares that size: I would be able to use even the tiniest pieces. It will be a memorial to my grandmother.

I've been forgetting to blog, been so busy. The trip is just two day away and I am busy packing, although almost done. I've also been busy quilting, because I will be away from my machines for an entire month and I am sure I will have severe withdrawal symptoms before I get home. I am taking knitting and tatting projects for work on the bus, but I am sure that I will be so busy with children and grandchildren while we are there that the time will speed away for us. Here is a picture of the quilt I made for Kael:

 

There is a lot of green, but last summer when we were out for our brief visit he seemed to be preferring green. I will miss making my chain maile jewelry, but a month isn't that long and I will come back to it with a fresh mind and new ideas.

I will try to blog during the trip (if I remember), but I will only have my tablet, so it won't be extensive. Ta ta for now.

I wound some more warp this afternoon. This makes 2/3 of it wound now. I have to get it finished so that I can put the warping wheel away while we are gone. Pieced some more blocks for Arty's quilt and I have another half a postage stamp block pieced. Why did I decide to do it in 1.25 blocks instead of 1.5 I wonder. It was so long ago that I cut the pieces for it I don't remember, but this first one will hardly make a dent in the ones I have cut. I wonder if I could use them for hexagons when I get done with the postage stamp quilt? The last hexagon quilt I made was almost 30 years ago, and that is dating myself since I only own up to being 29 years old. May be I could allow my self to be a year older this year and be 30 for the next ten years.

This was the 1st quilt off the frame this spring. I like the strong visual stripes in it from the distance even better than up close, although one can't see the fussy cut kitties in the centers very well. It is a large crib size made for my youngest grandson Wyatt. I think that we are going to have to work on our photography skills in the future, but it was a lot of fun.
2 weeks from tomorrow we leave for our long trip.

Kael's quilt out on the porch rail looks pretty good. Maybe a little like a swastika, I'm afraid, but the pattern name is rail fence. I will bring it in before meeting tonight and wash it then get the rest of the paper I used for the quilting pattern off, I hope. Well I learned what NOT  to do, and I guess that's as important as learning WHAT to do. When I figure out how I will post pictures of the finished quilt, maybe some pictures of some of the others I have done. I always hang them from the porch or clothesline, depending on what house we are living in, for a day as a sort of "Look, see what I did" sort of thing since a lot of time, materials and energy go into the finished product.

I am trying to wind warp for the coverlet, but the weather has been so bad since I started feeling better and I have the warping wheel under the back porch out in the back of the house so I can't really wind when it is wet out. The goal is to get the six warp sections wound before we leave for Washington in three weeks so it is ready for me to dress the loom as soon as we get back. Getting exciting around here!

Bye for now.

I finished Kael's quilt this morning. Tomorrow I will hang it on the porch to take a picture of it, and if I can figure out how I will put it here on the blog. Taught a class on colored pencil drawing. Yoiks. I suppose if I teach a class at a mental health center I can expect crazy people to be there. Fortunately the two troublemakers got up and left at the beginning, in a huff because I wouldn't share the expensive colored pencils of my own. I tried to explain, but they didn't want to here 'excuses', I said good we don't need that kind of an attitude around here, maybe a little too direct, but I was nervous as had never taught colored pencil techniques before. Every one else was very nice and attentive so it wasn't too bad after that. I am really tired now. I was hoping to wind some more warp, but I am too tired, so I will try for tomorrow. Three weeks until we leave.

A couple of days later, been sick a couple of days. Can hear everyone upstairs getting ready to go camping. I won't go out until Wednesday, I have a couple of appointments this week. I should be getting the information about the dentist today. Imagine getting excited about going to the dentist! Going to go up and do my quilting for the day, only two more rows on Kael's quilt but I won't put another one on the frame until we get back from Washington, don't want it to fade in the hot SD sun. Gotta run bye.

June 14th already we leave in a little over two weeks, I am viewing it with some trepidation. I have finished quilting Kael's quilt and have the binding on one side on. It will go fast. When I get some pictures I will post them here along with some of the other stuff I am doing. I am just getting over that flu that is going around and I still don't feel very good but at least I am not running up two flights of stairs to the bathroom.

I still have some sewing to do before we go, a skirt to hem and two tablet covers to mend. I think that I will figure out how to post from my tablet on the trip. I have that seminar that  I am supposed to do with Greg at the mental health center on colored pencils. It should be interesting. Time to go do a couple of things that need done, I have to leave our rooms clean while we are gone, and also my sewing corner.

well, who would ever guess that I am starting to blog. Ten years ago I was just getting good on playing solitare on the computer. Now here I am writing a blog. of course I will probably mess it up somehow, but nothing ventured nothing gained. Today I emptied the kiln, everything turned out very good, I took a bowl upstairs to use for a pin bowl in my sewing corner because I broke the last one, and guess what, I broke the new one, had only been out of the kiln a couple of hours. Think I will make a couple of pin cushions. Malachi, 6 year old grandson, followed me down to the basement and we started working on a jump ring necklace for the other grandmamma. He does it all by himself, I showed him a couple of times how to open and close the rings and he is doing the rest, he's going to run me out of rings. well ta ta  for now, don't know if I will keep this up but it is interesting if I do it right