My current weaving project will soon be done. I already know what I am going to do next although it will probably have to wait until spring. This is where it stands now.

 The wood strips are the spacers for the fringe, I tried using a single piece of cardboard but it wouldn't wrap around the breast beam, the thin strips go around very nicely and are easier to handle anyway.

The line of red is the cutting line between the two pieces of fringe. Now if I had been smart I would have woven one fringe before I started the body of the piece and then finished off with the other. Well I will be smart with the next one, this was after all the trial piece and I learned a lot.
I did some sewing too although I don't know how I managed because my assistant wasn't around although she did unthread Juki somtime during the night. We expect that though. The quilting is a little tedious around the rick rack because I have to fold it back so it doesn't get caught by the needle, but the horse are going fast and once they are done the background will be even faster.

I also poured a turtle bowl and a bird house, not too shabby for getting a late start since I overslept this morning. This afternoon I will probably make a pair of booties, I'm fast, but I've made so many I probably could do it in my sleep, not that I will of course.
The weekend is coming up, I usually get less done on the weekend with the boys home, but it's nice to have them around, I'm never quite used the quiet, but it's nice if they get too noisy I can come down here where it's only like thunder in the distance!

I am winding down the weaving project.

I did a row of what is called Leno, a sort of lace on one edge and then I will weave the fringe. It was sort of tedious, and didn't turn out quite the way it was supposed to but I had never done it before and I'm learning. It was fun, but I can see where I need to make improvements.

It involved going under two threads on the bottom and over two threads on the top and took a little while. I sure that I will do it again sometime because I like the way it looks.  I think I will probably be cutting it off the loom this weekend, depends on how much I can get done today and tomorrow, but I am really excited to be seeing it soon. There is some finishing work to be done after it is off the loom, but I am sure that I will enjoy that too.
As for all the other projects I have going right now I will pick up some of those this afternoon and work on them; always I am grateful to God that he gave me work to do with my hands!

We went out to sit on the porch this morning, it didn't last long, getting chilly in the mornings for sitting now, we will really miss it. They are starting the work on resurfacing the street, it will be noisy for a while. First they have to do some utility work. I am afraid they will delay it long enough so that the street will be closed when we bring David home from the hospital. It was too noisy for Stanley, he didn't come around.

Happy Trails is now a quarter of the way quilted, that means half the horses are done. I like how it's turning out, but then I always do, it's such fun. I think part of it is because I actually am getting some done, for so long I couldn't.

When my only granddaughter was born I got all excited and cut out a whole lot of doll clothes. I made some of them and dressed a doll and gave her a doll trunk full, which she never plays with being her father's daughter she prefers cars and being out doors. So I have had all these doll clothes cut out and never sewn, every now and then I pull some out and make them, dress a couple of dolls that I have or put them away. Someday I will find a little girl who likes dolls and give them to her, meanwhile I will just enjoy making them, this is the little dress I finished this morning. It was fun and fast and I enjoyed it. When I was little I didn't really play with dolls much, I mostly just liked making clothes for my dolls, I guess that hasn't changed.
Soon I will have to go and get ready for David's hip replacement class, oh fun!

It doesn't matter which machine I am at, or what time of the day, my assistant is always there. Last night at about midnight when I couldn't sleep I got up to sew a little and she was right there. She doesn't like the machines that are round very well though, she can't sit on top of them.

Baby booties, I used to sew them by the hundreds out of fleece, when I was trying to make a living out of sewing. Now I don't care to work with fleece so much. These are knitted, and I am working out sizes. I don't care much for the yarn so I am going to go yarn hunting, or maybe, just yarn looking payday. They work up really fast in the heavier yarn, which if I am to sell them is what I need. Rose loves them and thinks they will sell in her booth so I'll make some up and see. I already have the yarn so I'll only be putting out time.
I shouldn't say only, time is always to be considered as valuable, and I hate wasting it, but I can knit while I watch tv or listen to music or other recordings.
I am feeling better, but still not a 100% but I won't complain because I am on mend. Tomorrow afternoon David and I go to his presurgery class, required by both of us before his surgery. I intend to take my knitting or sewing, the only place I don't do some sort of hand work as at my Christian Meeting and I do not intend to just sit there and be bored. If I find it interesting I can always put the sewing down. This week so far hasn't been too busy, I hope it stays slow, I prefer to stay busy, but not too busy.

I really wanted to get more done over the weekend, but this bug, whatever it is that David and I have just isn't going away. However I am trying to start the week off right, it is going to be a busy one. So I started by some sewing.

I guess I didn't want to get anything done anyway. Swing the chair around to the quilting machine. That's progressing pretty well, another days quilting and I will be about a quarter of the way through it. I could have done more but I needed to get some things done down here.

Pouring turtle bowls, Rose wants them for next summer's round of sales, she still hasn't got enough for her booth. She also wants some knitted booties that I make and I have some quilted booties sort of started in a tub that I thought I would finish and get out of the way. Two birds with one stone, empty a tub and make some money, hopefully.





I don't mind a busy week at all, maybe I'll start feeling better. I have to lift the bed and get yarn out from underneath. It's not as difficult as it sounds, David put a lift mechanism and it just comes right up. I have to move the tv cabinet, but that's easy too, he put it on casters. He likes to make things easy, bless his generous heart.
It's about time to go crack the mold, one more turtle bowl ready to be cleaned and fired coming up!

The last 2 days I have been sick in bed sick. When my children were little I never could go to bed when I was sick, and it felt as if I could never get over anything. Now I can go to bed when I am sick and it still seems a luxury. I haven't been doing too much, I tried to go up and do some quilting this morning, but I couldn't stick to it. I hate to waste the time going to bed, but sometimes it has to be.

These are the piles of blocks stacking up. I just keep plugging away at them, I enjoy making them so much I would probably do little else if I wasn't afraid of too many more tops piling up so that I could never get them all quilted. Anyway to me they are like money in the bank, at least I assume so, I never had any money in the bank to speak of. I just imagine what it would feel like, and quilt blocks and fabrics make me feel rich!

I am working on getting price tags on my sewn baskets, so I laid them out on the end of the bed to get a picture of all of them. That way I can see what sells and maybe see a trend. Well I didn't get them all laid out before my assistant showed up.

You would think I laid them there especially for her, and she got really annoyed when we moved her so I could get an accurate picture.
I made the last one this morning, unless I sell a lot more than I have I am not going to make anymore for a while. I'm tired of making them and unless they start making me some money it's not worth it and I would rather do something fun which these haven't been for a while.
I got quite a bit of quilting done this morning.

These are the horses on happy trails, David finally saw them, he says they are appaloosas because of the circles, he sees them as spots. Anyway I like how they are looking and they are fun, the rick rack has to be folded back so I don't quilt it in, but it isn't really difficult and I think it will go pretty fast. I enjoy it so much anyway that I won't worry if it doesn't. Fast isn't everything.
I spent the afternoon doing some decluttering from the bedroom again. I can move through on my side of the bed easily again. I have about three projects going on down here while I watch tv in the evenings, and I really should get a couple of them done to get them out of the way. All in good time, I guess I should just be glad I have plenty to do and look forward to.

This can happen at a butterfly house. We love it which is why we keep going back. We are discussing what camera we can upgrade to so I can get better pictures. These big babies are bright blue when they spread their wings.

You can see why we need a camera with more definition.
The weaving is coming along good, I am almost done with the last pattern repeat, then I will weave the fringe. I've never done it before so I am excited about it, I'll have pictures when I get to it.
I only need 7 more star blocks for the quilt I am piecing on Ernestine, big blocks go together fast. I have 14 Drunkard's Path blocks done, so that is going pretty fast too. I don't need to get them done any time soon, because of the line up of tops I have that need quilting, but I intend to put some long hours in at the quilting machine tomorrow.
I was reflecting on how much more I enjoy quilting now that I decided to stop trying to use the stand up frame that I had; I don't think I would ever have gotten as good as I am now, nor as fast, and I didn't enjoy it because I had too much pain. In the winter I couldn't use it because it was on the porch. Every now and then I get a little wiser, I wonder why it's not oftener?

Today I had an appointment with my endochronologist. He found a small nodule on the remaining part of my thyroid. Everything else is good, and it is so small it's just a wait and see situation. I'm not going to worry, I had thyroid cancer for 15 years the first time before I finally found someone who would take the problem seriously, and this particular doctor I have now is very serious about it, so waiting is not a problem for me right now.

I had time to make this before I went, but only just. Every now and then I run into a project that just doesn't want to get done and this was one of them. I broke my last needle on the machine and had to steal the one out of the Juki, so I couldn't really do any quilting before I left. I stopped at Jo-ann's on the way home and got 3 more packages. The handles are a little odd, I've only done them once before and I should have made them a little bigger, but maybe somebody will like funky. I am not going to bead this one.
I did a little quilting after I got home and then came down here, I know I state this often, but I am going to take a nap today, I got up early, and feel really tired after my appointment and shopping. I am done with errands for the week and intend to get a lot done Thursday and Friday, so I won't feel guilty, well I wouldn't anyway, why should I?

Pin basting Happy Trails. I got it done in good time and even had some time to do a little quilting before lunch. I tried to explain how to do the Snail Trail pattern to David, but I am not quite sure if he got it. He thought the center of the block was the big triangles, and I tried explaining at the 4 patch was the center of the block, but I'm not sure he understood. He also thought it was curved piecing which it is not, just the illusion of curves. If he decides he wants to make one I will teach him, but it might be a tad stressful at first.

Happy my assistant, here shown, only had to suffer one day with no quilt to curl up on, a pretty fast turn around for me. She is also in her role of critic observing the fabric basket I made today ready for beading. I don't think she likes them, but it could be because they get in her way when she wants to curl up in my lap while I am beading them. Or it could be that it was crowding into her comfort zone laying there. Which ever it is, I moved it for her, and she can relax on her quilt since I am down here trying to get a few things done.
I now have 20 blocks done on the star quilt and 8 on the Drunkard's Path. I only have about enough time to do a block each on most days, but the piles are slowly getting higher. I don't have time to quilt them right now anyway, so I don't need to hurry the piecing along and I can savor it.
For the rest of the day I can savor the satisfaction of having another quilt ready to quilt. I like that!

Busy busy day.

Isn't she sweet? She's about three inches big. We went to the Butterfly house today and they had just released these little hen quails. They use them to keep the ants in check and the quail population was getting down so they brought in some females to build it up. I can't wait to see the babies, the volunteer said about 6 to 8 weeks.
Then I came home and tackled this:

I let it go while I was working on Tumbling Blocks. The table was about 4 inches too high so I had David pull it out and saw that amount off the legs.

This is what it looks like now, everything you see is involved in an active project so it's ok to have it there. I also got the back for Happy Trails pieced and I will baste it tomorrow morning. I haven't lost any time between quilts this time. Happy was a little annoyed that there was no quilt on the table this morning, but she was able to get enough in the way, while I was working on the back, to keep her pleased. I am very tired, I sewed until 3:30, but it's a good tied, and I am basking in the glow two jobs accomplished today. Ahh, savoring the satisfaction!

 Tumbling Blocks is finished. Front and back views are shown. I need to find a better place to take pictures because they are always shown lighter in color than the quilt actually is. This quilt is vibrant in real life and really attracts the eye, but here it is shown dull. Yes it is another pink back, I can't afford not to use the fabric since I have it; eventually it will be gone and I will be able to be more imaginative with the backs. When I figure out a place to take pictures I will post better ones, because it is a shame not to get the bright colors out in the open.

I pulled Happy Trails out of the tub to quilt next, I want to see how it will look after it is done and after it is quilted I will sew vintage buttons on for eyes.
Last night when I couldn't sleep I got up and did some piecing instead of laying there wishing I could sleep. Nothing disturbs David, he didn't even know I got up. I will do that more, now that I know for sure it doesn't bother him.
I've been pouring ceramic turtle bowl molds. Rose wants me to make them for her to sell in her booth and if she can't sell them then all the grandkids will get a turtle bowl, I really like doing my ceramic stuff, but it is more physically taxing than the sewing and weaving, so I am going to sell most of the molds and the big kiln, when I get around to it that is, I am in no hurry until they start work on that part of the basement. If I had started younger I might have made a business of it, but I think it's too late now for me to make much money at it, I can't work as hard as I used to, and since I haven't a place of my own it makes sense to relieve some of the load and I am at peace with my decision. There are other things I have decided that I never will get around to, such as basket weaving although I still like to read about it, I think that I will be just fine with my quilting and weaving. I still like to learn new things though. My sister makes soap, and it seems really interesting. I wonder.......

 I finished quilting Tumbling Blocks today, and I am happy to have it done. Tomorrow I will bind it, that is if I can find where I put the fabric I want to bind it with, and then I will put it out on the front porch for a picture. I basted it 11 days ago, so that's pretty good time for me, especially since there were several days I didn't quilt because of doing other things. Such as weaving.

David finished my shuttle yesterday and I used it for the first time today. It is beautifully balanced and slides smoothly through the shed of the loom. Truly worth waiting for, and I will enjoy having it for the rest of my life. I'll soon be ready to start weaving the fringe for the ends of the coverlet. More on that when I start the process, I've never done it before so I am looking forward to it. I've learned a lot with this warp, for one thing back to basics, I need to take more care when I am winding to avoid tangles and breaks. It will soon be time to wind another warp and then I will have pictures of that. I am quite pleased with my progress on this one, and am looking forward to cutting it off the loom and finishing it.

I am late getting online today, I spent the morning upstairs sewing. I need to build up my stock of sewn baskets for Rose's next sale since she sold some for me.

Not my favorite colors, and it looks like my assistant Happy doesn't care for them either. However those are the colors Rose thinks will sell, so I am doing them, and beading them. Oh well.
I listed Pink Ugly Number 1 on Etsy today, although I changed the name to Pink and Diamonds. I f it sells well good, if not I can always use it on the bed or send as a gift to someone when I need a gift.
I spent the afternoon going through molds in the dungeon part of the basement, I have got through all of them and decided which I am keeping; they are put away and now I have more room over there. I did some weaving too between lifting and sorting. Not a lot, but enough to keep me peaceful. Another long afternoon cleaning over there and I'll be able to get through more easily to weave.
So after I get a couple more things I'll do some more piecing on my Drunkard's Path blocks to round out my day, a pretty good day.

This morning I went to my favorite thrift shop and got 2 big bags of fabric. After I sorted it out this is what I had left, quite a lot actually.

That gorgeous blue is earmarked for the next quilt. The picture isn't really doing it justice.
It has been dark and gloomy all day with constant T-storms and pouring rain, a visit to a thrift shop was just the ticket. All that pile of fabric cost about what a yard would somewhere else so I am happy.
I didn't sleep very well so a nap is going to be a very good use of such a dark and gloomy afternoon, the little boys will be home soon and things will get lively again. Sammy and Gramps are missing each other so much, Even though Sammy is distracted by school, he comes home and complains he didn't get to work with Gramps in the shop again.

A close up of the quilting on Tumbling Blocks I am almost at the three quarters of the way done with the quilting, and I am really liking the way it is turning out. I will be finishing it soon and then will have to start piecing the back of the next one, I haven't decided which one it will be, probably the one at the top of the tub they are in, although I am never short of choices.
David's doctor visit went very well and his heart specialist says there should be no problem with his surgery, one more thing checked off the list. All in all a pretty satisfactory morning I should say. Next up a nap. There are so many small pleasures in life!

Can you see the treadling error?

Contrasted with this. My wheels (circles) are heart shaped instead of round. I got the pages of my treadling chart out of order. I am going to leave it in for a couple of reasons. One is, since this is the trial piece it doesn't matter all that much. Two is that I kind of like the hearts. And since I don't really like unweaving (who does?) I'll leave it. If this were the actual coverlet I would have to take it out. I am now about halfway through the 3rd pattern repeat.

I like the way Tumbling Blocks is turning out. It looks like stars sometimes too. The quilting is really fast, and I may have a new favorite quilting pattern, at least for diamond shapes. It's more like doodling really. David says that pattern is how they lay a rope out on the deck of a ship if they want to play a line our smoothly with no hitches. Live and learn. I should look through his book on making knots to see if there are any more patterns I want to adapt, it could be very interesting.
I have a class this after noon so I have to get ready and get going, the rest of the week is going to be busy with appointments and David has some too, more preop hoops. It will be nice to have them out of the way.

Happy Trails

Polka Dots

Love Ring

Pineapple

I am trying to decide which top I want to quilt next. These are just a few that I have made in the last few years. Tumbling Blocks is about half way quilted and going fast, so I need to decide which one I want to do next. I have a back already pieced for Polka Dots, a Drunkard's Path Variation, so it might go first, however I have two Pineapple tops done, made with different strip widths to see which I liked best. Actually I just loved the pattern, had a lot of pink and green strips and was having so much fun I didn't want to stop. I made Happy Trails and the Pineapple tops down here on the New Automatic treadle and just loved doing them. I am trying to decide if I want to try quilting a top on the treadle or not, and may decide to make a baby quilt to try quilting on her, so as not to bite off more than I can chew.
After lunch more weaving; it will soon be too cold to do much down here in the unfinished part of the basement so I want to get as much done as possible before winter. There is already a chill in the air that I don't like and Ambrosina turned on the furnace the other day. I am so not ready for cold weather, but it will come whether I want it or not, so I suppose I had better resign myself.
The nice thing is I have quilts ready for my bed this winter. I will get a lot of tops quilted because I can't work down here, and there will be another Spring to look forward too, a spring where David and I will be able to take walks again because he will have a new, functioning hip that won't hurt him. Yippie Skippie!!

This is Stanley Fat Squirrel, (Stanley from Ambrosina, Fat Squirrel from me) he visits us daily and is so tame that he almost takes corn and nuts from us. He certainly is not shy. There is a definite chill in the air, and I fear an early fall and winter. We hope not early snow. Meanwhile the squirrels are busy, and are enjoyable to watch.
Things are falling into place for David's surgery, he sees his heart specialist Thursday morning just to make sure he's ok there. I've been working away at my quilting.

Here is the Tumbling Blocks with my assistant, the pink is the back, there isn't a lot of pink on the front, but I have so much pink solid that there are quite a few more backs that will be pink I am afraid, my budget being what it is, and the fact that we need new tires all the way around on the van before winter. The next top is coming along pretty good, ten blocks are done on the star quilt as yet unnamed, and four on the Drunkard's Path. I like variety, and I have plenty of UFOs in the pipeline.
I haven't done any weaving for a couple of days, but I plan to this afternoon, after lunch. There might even be a nap after lunch, if feels like a nappy sort of day.

Well it's done, and from the suprisingly short time that it took I have concluded that I don't have enough fabric. The piles aren't even stacked to the ceiling. I went up to the attic to see if I have any tubs of fabric up there and I don't. Plenty of other junk to bring down and go through when I feel the urge. As if. If Ambrosina and Leon decide to move I will go through it, or maybe when I feel close to death and don't want to leave her a mess, but otherwise I will deal with it if I am looking for something.
So, since it didn't take all weekend as I thought it would I started on the stairs this morning, and when they are done I will do the sitting room. They are not bad, but I am trying to keep on top of them, even though I don't really care about housework much. We all know that keeping it up is much easier than trying to play catch up all the time.
I am also spending more time on quilting Tumbling Blocks; I want to get it finished so I can tackle some of the other tops that I have had finished for a long time, and I really do enjoy quilting a lot. I think that I am just a little way over a quarter finished, and I really like the way it is turning out.
So now that I've rested my back I am going to go tackle some more stairs.

This is what I have decided to tame this weekend.

When David put the closet organizer in I just emptied tubs and stacked on the shelves, now it is starting to get to me and I am going to pull it all down and start sorting to size and color. It doesn't show from my bedroom, but I KNOW it's there. I will probably stack to certain projects it is earmarked for too. It's not a really big stash as stashes go, but I would like to be able to see what I've got, rather than hunt for it. I work better in an organized setting, but somehow I never seem to get organized. I have decided that it's going to happen now, starting today.
My poor kitty just wandered through, she's been missing the kids all week. Tomorrow is Saturday and she will spend the next 2 days running away from them. There is some sort of message in that, hmm.

I'm having a lazy sort of day. This week has been so busy that it feels good not to bustle around trying to get a lot done. I tried to do some quilting and broke three needles right off the bat. I've found that if I do that it's time to move onto something else and pick up the next day. So I did some weaving. I am now about halfway through the warp and i have been improving a lot since I started.

The above is underneath from the front of the loom. I got a new to me bobbin winder, David had an old drill he doesn't use since it doesn't run in reverse anymore so he stuck a dowel in it and I am using it to wind my bobbins. It doesn't kill my shoulder like the manual winder, nor does the rubber band fly off and hit me. It's faster, and although it is heavy it works pretty good. David is planning to make me one operated by a sewing machine motor and foot treadle. It will have to wait though until he gets a little less busy.
It's not critical since I have so many other things I can do if I can't weave at any certain time. I try to piece at least two blocks of one quilt or another in any given day, as well as the actual quilting. I am going to haul my spinning wheel down from the attic this winter and do some more spinning, I miss it.
It is my bedroom cleaning day too, so I have to get busy on that, and as usual clear off some of the clutter. I don't know where it comes from.

I took the time this afternoon and sat down and cleaned and oiled Vanessa, she had been kept so well that there was very little to do and no dust or lint anywhere in her works. She hums like a dream, or maybe a lullaby; I can hardly hear her.

The pattern is one of the Drunkard's Path variations, and it is the 1st block off this machine. The stitch is perfect, I'm going to enjoy using her a lot.
We spent the whole morning in the doctor's office today, and David's surgery is scheduled for the afternoon of the 26th of October. There are a few hoops to jump through first of course, but nothing too difficult. It's nice to have if finally settled.
Rose sold one of my beaded baskets last weekend, she couldn't find the price tag so she asked double for what I had put on it and got it! I wish more things would turn out that way, but I am just happy with this one!

Our little boys started school today. It was loud with excitement, and then suddenly quiet as they ran out the door. Poor Gramps no little side pard today.
We went to the butterfly house.

Not as in focus as I would like but pretty good with the limitations of my camera. After that we went to Walmart for a new phone for me. I have a smart phone, but I don't use it so I am getting a pay as I go Tracfone and saving a bundle every month.

I also picked up these today, I am pulling together some fabrics for a quilt and these are the basics. I will branch out from here because they would look pretty blah without some reds and yellows, I like lots of variety. Maybe some green too. Anyway I have a month to think on it before next payday. Maybe orange. We'll see. Any suggestions?

Pin basting Tumbling Blocks on the dining room table. I just can't get down on the floor to baste anymore, or maybe I should say I just can't get up off the floor. I love quilting, when I am cutting I like that best. When I am piecing I like that the best. When I am quilting I like that the best. There is only one constant for me in quilting: I hate basting, I will always hate basting. But now the basting is done for the time being and I can enjoy myself quilting.
Someone else is happy the basting is done.

Look at where that tail is, I didn't dare sew a stitch until she decided to get up and move. Happy is living up to her name now that HER quilt is back!!