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!!

"Well it's still not my quilt is it?" Poor Happy, not living up to her name today, but tomorrow will be better, I am basting Tumbling Blocks. The day after that the boys start school, and for the first time in 12 years there won't be any little boys here during the day. Poor Gramps, then he won't be happy, he will miss his little side pard who starts school this year.
Yesterday we did a walk through of the basement to see what we will need to do for when he comes home from the hospital after his hip replacement. We don't have a date yet, but we want to be prepared so we don't have to do it all at once. It won't be too bad since I have been getting rid of some stuff and putting other things away. I still have too much junk but it is getting better, the whole rear part of the van is stuff for Goodwill and I have some other stuff in mind. As I get older I am finding it easier to get rid of stuff and I find I'd rather have fabric and sewing machines rather than "stuff".
I am going to clean out the top shelf of my barristers case to put my weaving books in since the glass is broken and I want my weaving books to hand right now.

It shouldn't take too long, I have in mind where most of it is going to go, and I have taken a lot of things out of the other shelves. Time to get busy!

Happy is still wondering where her quilt is.

Since I finished quilting Pink Ugly she has been very restless and distracted. Her favorite sleeping spot has been taken away. However I pieced the back for Tumbling Blocks and I hope to baste it tomorrow. Ah tomorrow, Happy will be happy again!
I worked a bit more on my Postage Stamp pieces. Today I worked out that it will take 10,000 for an 80 inch top. Math isn't my strong point, but I think that's right. If I had stopped to think about how many pieces there are I wouldn't have started I am sure, now however, since I have put quite a bit of time into it, I will eventually finish it. I am in no hurry as I have several other (read lots of) UFOs which I will be working on I will still have a variety to keep me interested.
Meanwhile there is the weaving which is coming along, and I am honing my skills on that too. My bobbin winder's drive belt is broken so I am using a rubber band, my rubber band's are too short so they keep snapping and getting me; I am going to try something else, a drill which will be a lot faster, and David has one that he doesn't use, so if he remembers to bring it in I will try it out to see how it works.
It's got to be better than the rubber band.

190 blocks, enough for a quilt, but not the quilt I have in mind since some of them won't work; that's ok, I didn't get the idea until a lot of them were done, but I have an idea for the ones I'm not using in the next one. Too many ideas maybe, time doesn't allow for all the ideas I have, but I'm not going to worry about that. One top at a time.
I had a couple of filled bobbins left over from quilting Pink Ugly so I finished them off by piecing my Postage Stamp quilt. I have a ways to go on that one, but it is coming along pretty fast for as seldom as I work on it.

This is Happy helping me with it. Happy the sewer's friend, the quilter's helper. If I wait politely enough she eventually moves without scratching, but occasionally I get hisses and claws if she's not quite ready to stop helping me. Today she was mostly annoyed because her quilt is still not back where it belongs. I started piecing a back for Tumbling Blocks after the last bobbing was empty, so it shouldn't be much longer before I start quilting again; she will be Happy once again.