Pinwheel Nine-Patch. David says they look good enough to eat, but I think he is exaggerating. I've had the four inch squares cut out for eons of time. I don't remember why or when I cut them, I'm glad now that I did! When this top is done I will have 2 small tubs of stuff used up and another UFO done. Yippie Skippie!

My birds applique quilt is coming along. Right now I am just stitching in the ditch around the blocks because this quilt needs it for stabilization, but I figured out how I want to quilt the blocks, and for me sometimes that is half the battle.

Meanwhile down here in the Dark Side of the basement I am starting to wind the warp onto the warp reel of the loom. This thread tangles the most of any thread I have ever used and I have to stop every few inches to untangle and comb out the warp. On this wide and long of a warp it's going to take a while. However it's such a lovely soft thread I think it will be worth it. I always need to work on patience anyway so it is good for me. Just working with the thread on the loom is a pleasure though, so these are not complaints. I only work on it about an hour at a time; I have too many other irons in the fire and my back and knees don't like the standing.

Ambrosina make stuffed tomatoes for lunch, fresh tomatoes from the garden. Good, oh my!

Four more days until school starts, the boys have to get their room cleaned before then, Ambrosina says. It's quieter today they are in the upstairs and not having so much fun. Tomorrow they go to their last summer day at Grandma's she will miss them too.

 Here it is, the 3rd in the series of Pinwheels that I am sewing on down here on Ernestine the Treadle. I am calling this one Pinwheels Large and Small. The next one is already planned, I laid out the pieces this afternoon after lunch. It's going to be a Pinwheel 9 Patch, I'll probably have some pictures of the first blocks tomorrow, after my evening sewing time tonight. I'm looking forward to getting started on it.

This is the last quilt I have basted on it, I was trying to work on it but my first assistant Happy, was disputing ownership. Her tail was lashing and she was using language only a cat can get away with in this house. She had already slapped me once when I moved the quilt without noticing she was there. She was as bad tempered this morning as the look she was giving me, so to get some work done I had to move her. She cursed at me again. I'm wondering if her bad temperedness is because she can sense the boys are going back to school next week.

They are excited about it and are "practicing" by going to bed at the school night time and getting up at the get up and go to school time. We will miss the noise, although I am sure Ambrosina will celebrate by some time spent doing things she doesn't get to do in the summer while they are home. Gramps will be lonely, he might actually get some work done out in the garage instead of "working" with the boys which is mainly keeping them occupied. He also has to play the part of "customer" in the little store they have set up with imaginary merchandise. The only thing they have for their store is an open and closed sign. The rest one has to pretend, which I think is a lot of fun and good for them and Gramps. I'll try to remember to get a picture of the fun tomorrow.

I've got over half the warp spread over the raddle on the loom, a picture tomorrow. Time for my a run upstairs for coffee then my handwork. David is napping right now, so I will have to go quietly.

I think I am going to call this Pinwheels and Hourglasses because of the secondary pattern that was formed when I joined the blocks together. There is almost a star if you look at it out of focus. Anyway this is the first in the series of Pinwheel quilts to be finished. I finished it yesterday morning.

This is the back. I don't know how many more pink backs I am going to get out of the scrap pieces for backs tubs, I used pink on the back because there is a lot of pink on the front. I will have to wait until there is another pink quilt to use the rest.

Today I quit sewing an hour early and came down to the basement and got started dressing the loom.

 This is the jars with the warp that I wound this spring and summer, I wound it in 12 sections to make it easier for me to handle

 For each section I find the cross that I tied to keep the threads in order. I slip the threads on each side of the cross onto the lease sticks that will hold it in place while I wind it onto the warp beam of the loom.

These are all 12 sections on the lease sticks ready to tie onto the apron of the warp beam.

Here they are tied onto the apron stick. In my small space it's hard to get far enough behind the loom to get a good picture. It's also rather dark and I have to get some lamps set up.

The next step is to sort the threads into the raddle. The cross keeps it in order. I am always a little nervous when I start to take the cross threads out. There are 968 threads that I have to keep in order and untangled and I don't do it often enough. On the right is the first section. The raddle is a board that has finish nails in it every half inch; since I am doing 24 threads to the inch, each section of the raddle gets 12 threads. When I get a section filled I put a rubber band across the nails to hold the threads in place. I do for each section of warp all the way across. I take it slow and easy, if I don't I make a lot of mistakes. I find that if I am very careful at the very beginning I get a better result all the way through. It is a little tiring, but I do enjoy handling the threads. The cotton thread that I am using is very soft. Even the little boys like feeling it.

I don't know how long this step will take me, I am not going to be doing as much quilting, but I still am going to do some and will try to divide my time equally between the sewing and the weaving.

For handwork right now I am doing this:

Tatting. I haven't done any for a long time and I am a little out of practice. I do really enjoy it however. I don't really need another doily, and I am not sure what I am going to do with it yet. This is only the center, and I don't know how long it will take me. I will eventually go back to hexagon piecing but it's nice to have a rest. I was looking for my crochet hooks; I can't find them anywhere, I am sure I put them where I could find them again, which is why I can't find them. I won't find them until I buy another one the size I need, I am sure of that. I have never seen it fail. Murphy's law.

I've earned my feet up/handwork time today. I am pleased with what I accomplished this morning and it's time to relax with my coffee!

Yesterday I fired my kiln for the last time. It was a hard decision to make but I decided to sell it and my pottery wheel, ceramic moulds and glazes. I am physically past the work that it entails, and I would rather be weaving or quilting. I am tired and sore since I also spent the day cleaning and packing up all the things that go with the kiln and sorting out all the stuff that people have piled over there, most of it garbage. David's idea of putting something away or disposing of something is to pile it in the first available space that's handy. He always plans to take care of it "later" but never "gets around to it". His "later" always last about 15 minutes, until he forgets about whatever it is. It makes his life easier, but mine always harder.

These are some of the things I pulled out of the kiln this morning. I don't care for how the glaze on the turtle bowl turned out, it was one of those art glazes, the other things were clay sculptures the boys did last summer and I hadn't done any firing since.

Well it's done now and I am finished. I'm sorry because I enjoyed it, but I can't do everything.

I pulled out my tatting shuttle and I am going to be lacemaking for a while, it will make a change from hexagons. Although there are other hexagon quilts in the future I want to get the ones I have pieced quilted before I make anymore.

Now that I have got the dungeon part of the basement cleaned up I am going to start getting the warp put on the loom, I won't get a lot of weaving in before the weather gets cold it's so late in the summer but I will cover the loom over the winter and pick up the weaving in the spring.

Three of the five rugs I have made in the last week or so, it's surprising how many strips of fabric they use up. I now have 3 of those little handled tubs you see in the above picture ready to store something else. There is no shortage of things I can put into them. The big tubs are getting too heavy for me to handle so I can sort out one of those into a more practical size. I have used up all the rags suitable for rugs and I am going to concentrate on something else. I still have the Asian wall hanging that needs to be beaded, it's been sitting in the 'waiting for handwork' pile; I'll probably do that next. After that, who knows? It's not like there is a shortage of UFOs, or even new projects that I want to do.

The kids left to go camping this morning and we waved them off, but as usual I forgot to take pictures.

As soon as I sat down to work though, there was my helper. I think she needed reassurance that there was still someone around to love her. She and Waddles went insane for the rest of the morning, after I moved her down. I got some turtles cut out and then went on with my quilting. After the cats settled down they were just a weight on the quilt as I tried to move it around.

So we will have a quiet week. I intend to fire on Friday, it will be my last firing before I sell the kiln. I'll be sorry to see it go, but it can't be helped. Oh well. If we had a house of our own, but we don't, and I have to work to be content with what we have. It's not that I don't have anything else to do!

We had our family anniversary party yesterday, 3 couples having their wedding anniversary on the same day in August. David and I, Ambrosina and Leon and Leon's brother Abe and his wife's. Rosa and Timothy have theirs on the 23, so we do it all in one day.

I couldn't get many pictures, the flash on the camera caused one of Rosa's seizures so I couldn't use it again. We a had a loud, noisy good time.

Ambrosina and the boys carved these melons and we had homemade pizza and plenty of chocolate desserts.

I finished this Triangles quilt last Thursday evening while we were watching the boys.

This is the back, a lot of leftover blocks and odds and ends. I'm running low on scrap fabrics for backs, I'll probably have to start buying fabrics to finish quilts, so I won't be able to afford making so many quilts in future. It will give me more time to think how I want to finish the tops.

Meanwhile I am crocheting rag rugs for my afternoon hand work relaxation time, when they are done I'll have several new rugs and three empty tubs to sort other stuff into. I'll try to have some pictures of the rugs tomorrow. They make thick have bathmats, I make curved ones to fit the round shower in our bathroom. Mostly I make them up as I go along, the only criteria is that they have to lie flat.

We aren't seeing the eclipse today. The sky is clouded and we are having a constant stream of thunder storms, lots of rain. It is very dark so we know it's going on, but that's about it.

So the beginning of another week, the kids are going camping tomorrow; we are staying home, David doesn't feel up to camping so we are going to have a quiet week here. I'll probably finish the current quilt.

Time to get busy, I've spent enough time with my feet up and my coffee is gone. Definitely time to get busy.

 I had a lot more tops in the tub than I remembered. Tumblers.

 This one doesn't have a name, I made it up as I went along.

 This one made of 4 inch squares in blue. I didn't make it, someone gave it to Ambrosina but I said I would quilt it for her.

 This one, 3 inch squares was pieced by my grandmother. She died when Ambrosina was a baby, it's about time it was quilted. Its going to be difficult, she used everything, including what looks like acrylic sweater matieral.

 I can't remember the name of this one, I think it might be a Drunkard's Path variation. One of the few quilt tops I made using yardage instead of scraps. I think I made it when Timothy was a baby, I can't remember for sure, he was born in 1984.

 This one is a machine embroidered crazy quilt. It's only about 7 years old.

 Kentucky Chain, I am pretty sure I pieced this one before Timothy was born, but I don't remember when.

This one, of course, I just finished on the treadle down here.

This one I just finished. There are 2 more hexagon tops and 2 more hand appliqued tops that didn't fit in the tub making a total of 13 tops still unquilted. I have quilted 20 this year, and the one I am quilting on now is almost finished. I had a lot more unquilted tops than I realized when I started this project at the beginning of the year. There are still a lot that are in the process of being pieced that I don't work on much because I can't quilt them yet anyway. That makes 34 in all. I don't think I will get them all done this year, because I am starting to slow down. Still that's pretty good and I am not complaining.

My back is better and I can take a deep breath now.

I started crocheting a rag rug down here. It's hard on my arm and shoulder so I don't do much at a time, when it's done I'll have another empty tub and a rug to put in front of the door to catch the mud this fall. They make good bath mats too. Picture when finished.

We are watching the boys while Ambrosina are taking a few days away for their anniversary. The family party will be this weekend when they get back.

So that's that for the day, I don't want to leave David to do all the babysitting so I need to get back upstairs. The weather finally cleared, we have been having clouds and rain all month, and it has been cold enough for a jacket. In August in South Dakota, go figure!

Another hexagon top ready to quilt.

I don't know if this has any other name rather than Mosaic. This is the largest so far except maybe the first one I did close to 30 years ago B.J. (before John). Surprisingly even Ambrosina likes this one even though it is orange. We neither one of us care for orange, and I have never used orange much but I really like the way that it turned out. It really makes the other colors pop.

Now I am taking a few days to clean down here. Put things away, get rid of some more stuff I am not going to use, all the things I have been neglecting while I have been trying to get it done. While I am planning the next one I am going to do some knitting and crocheting, in fact I have done a little knitting already.

Cotton dishcloths, not world shaking, I know, but relaxing and enjoyable and we are getting low and we need some more. Our supplies are getting low. I also am going to crochet some rag rugs, I have a couple of tubs of strips that I need to get out of the way. When I have strips left over from sewing that I can't use for anything else I put in a tub and when I get enough I made some rugs that we use for bath mats. Cotton, of course, anything else wouldn't absorb the water. It's hard on my wrists so I don't do too much at a time, but I could really use the tubs for something else.

Wednesday is our 43rd wedding anniversary, Ambrosina and Leon's 16th. This weekend Rosa and Timothy will celebrate their 9th. August has a lot of anniversaries in it!

Somehow I put something in my back out, and I can hardly move, taking a deep breath is like a stab, I think it's a rib out. Ice and tylenol. And coffee, of course, then some more cleaning. I really want to have it looking better down here for this weekend when we have our family party for all our anniversaries. There are hexagons all over the place the top I just finished shed them everywhere. The bedroom will be finished this afternoon. The hall out there is another story and will take quite a while. So, I guess, back at it.

I have just not been on line much at all this week. We have a busy summer and I have been spending most of my time sewing. Then I had camera trouble and couldn't take any pictures for a few days. That is taken care of now and I have quite a few pictures to show.

This is Grandmother's Flower Garden, my 19th finished quilt this year. I'm keeping up the pace but am starting to get really tired. It is made of 4,029 hand sewn hexagons. I am quite pleased with it.

I did very little quilting on this. I wanted the pattern of the hexagons to stand out, not the quilting.

You can see on the back that I just did an over-all diamond pattern; to hold it together but not take over. I'm very pleased with it.

 Number 20 is an old UFO from the winter of 1998-1999. The last of the corduroy Log Cabins I made that year. Because of the heaviness of this quilt I kept the quilting to the minimum also. It's not very big, so it didn't take very long. I love this pattern and plan to make another one at some point.

For the first time in 20+ years I don't have a Log Cabin in progress. None waiting to be quilted, and not one in the piecing process. It seems odd, but I am not starting another one until I get ALL the UFOs done.

There is also this:

My fourth hexagon top in just over two years. I finished it last night and I am not starting another tops for a while. I am going to clean our rooms in the basement. My fall cleaning, early this year. Then I am going to do some crocheting and knitting to take a break. Sometime this winter I will start another hexagon top. I have so many ideas in mind, I will take some time to draw out the next one before I start sewing. Even Ambrosina likes this, although, like me, she is not fond of orange. The orange makes the fabrics pop. It will probably be quilted in the next batch. The quilting will be simple on this one too. I want the pattern and the colors to be the primary focus.

Starring Pinwheels is coming along, I am piecing the last border now. The turtles are coming along too. I need to pin some more of those this afternoon. I expect Starring Pinwheels to be done for the next batch of pin basting and quilting, but I don't think any turtle tops will be. That's too far to look forward to any way. I will be quilting on the remaining pinned tops at least 3 weeks.

So now, I am going to find another cup of coffee and plan the knitting project I have in mind. Such fun!

 Sunflower, I love this pattern, I think it is one of the best I've ever done. It was fun to quilt too and I like the way it turned out. It has some of my very favorite fabrics in it too. I started this quilt while I was pregnant with John who was born in June of 1989. I put it away and finally got around to putting it together this year. I find it very satisfying to have finally finished it.
My goal was to finish 17 quilts in 2017. This is 18, so the rest are just gravy. I have 5 more bin basted, and at least 6 more that are waiting their turn, maybe more, I haven't checked recently, but it's only one tub full of tops remaining. I have several more in the works though.

This is the back.

I like the way the quilting looks on the back too. It would have been nice to have a solid color back, I just didn't have the money to get anything though, so I shouldn't complain. At least I had enough light colored so it wouldn't show through to the front. I would have had to wait to quilt this one otherwise.

This is the next one to go under the needle. I had it tucked in a pile under the sewing table and first assistant Happy kept pushing it onto the floor. It's now out onto the table and she will have a nice quilt to sleep on. This is the first of the hexagon tops to be quilted. I am nearly finished with the next top, then I think I will take a break from them and do some crocheting or knitting.

I had Sunflower hanging out on the porch after I took a picture of it and a man stopped by and wanted to know how much it was. He said he would be back, I won't be holding my breath, he was pretty scuzzy looking so we brought it in. In this neighborhood you can't be too careful. We've had our car stolen twice. Several bicycles have been stolen. Someone came up onto the porch and lifted the lid on the boys toy storage bench and stole all the skateboards. We have a motion censor on the porch that rings in the house and security cameras as well. Not a good neighborhood, the house is big though so we have to be content with that. Most of the big houses in the neighborhood have been turned into apartments, but this one is still single family and probably always will be. I don't see Ambrosina and Leon moving.

Time to get started on something down here, I'm nearly done with a hexagon top. Starring Pinwheels is ready to put the borders on so I'll be working on that tonight. Still plugging away on my turtles too.

180 now. Busy, busy, busy!