Yesterday David and I went to the doctor and we both have walking pneumonia. I went ahead and gave myself permission to go to bed, and we both started on antibiotics. They are working very fast for David, he was asking about starting a Log Cabin quilt this morning and I heard his sewing machine a few minutes ago.

 When we got home it was still only noon so I sat down at the quilting machine and I finished Drunkard's Path. I was going to quilt up and down as well as across, but when I got the diagonals done I liked it so much that I decided to quit. It's quilted in gold so you can't see the pattern from a distance; I really like the way it turned out.

This is the back. I have decided that a pieced back is my "signature". I like pieced backs, they use up the odds and ends of fabrics that there is no other use for, also orphan and left over blocks. Fun too. This one has a little bit of pink on it. The pictures aren't as good as they could be, it was cold and snowing and we aren't feeling any too good, still, done is done and always good.

Tomorrow I hope I will be feeling better and can get a little more done on Log Cabin Heart, but for now I am going to take a nap, and hope I wake up with a little more energy to get some piecing on Pinwheels down here done. I probably will have to coach David on his Log Cabin block too. More fun!

This is the next installment of blocks for the Log Cabin Heart.

I wanted to get more than 3 pieces put together, but first assistant Happy had other ideas. On these blocks the wide (inch and a half) is the dark, and the narrow (one inch) is the light, except for the center square (A), which is light and one and a half inch. I didn't get any of the narrow, light strips sewn on, I hope to do that tomorrow. I'm not sure that I will have time though, because I have a doctor's appointment in the morning. David and I are not getting over this cough and Ambrosina think's it is bronchitis so we are going in.

Just to show that there is "nothing new under the sun" I started quilting this Drunkards Path quilt and as I was making up the quilting pattern as I went along I was surprised to find, when looking at the back, that the pattern is actually a pattern called Orange Peel, or sometimes Robbing Peter to Pay Paul. Go figure. I like it a lot though, I might even make a quilt of it sometime or another, I have a bit too many started right now though, but I will keep it in mind.

I hope the doctor can do something for me because I am just dragging right now. I slept all day yesterday and I would have much preferred to go the meeting in the morning and so some sewing in the afternoon. Timothy and Rosa came over and I didn't even feel well enough to go upstairs and visit with them.

I think I will try to do some more sewing this afternoon though, it's relaxing enough that I don't have to force myself when I'm nor feeling quilt well. I want to get a certain amount of Pinwheels done this week, it's nice that they are going so fast and easy.

We had a blizzard yesterday. Tuesday Ambrosina and David ate their lunch on the porch it was so warm. Such is a South Dakota winter.

The first 34 blocks of the Log Cabin Heart are almost done, they only need two more strips on each, I ran out of time and the boys are home from school.

This is the back of Drunkard's Path. I ran out of bobbin, so I decided it was time to quilt, I was getting tired too. I think that I a going to like it when I get the other diagonals quilted, then I will decided how much more quilting I want to do on it. All in all I got quite a bit done today, even though I overslept until about ten thirty. I don't often do that I prefer to get up and get going. I think the the remains of the flu that are lingering makes me want to sleep more.

So for the rest of the day I am going to do some hand sewing, but no napping, that makes me stay up too late and then I sleep too late and it becomes a cycle that it is hard to get out of. Especially now that our meeting is in the morning on Sunday, I find it too hard to get up, and I think it makes it easier if I keep to schedule.

I need to clean down here in the basement again, it got ahead of me when I was sick and I let stuff get too piled up again. That's a cycle too. Oh well. Time to get busy!

I like and enjoy almost everything about sewing and quilting. Almost that is. I still don't enjoy zippers, and I hate, hate, hate basting the 3 layers of a quilt together so that I can quilt it. I don't know why. I am trying to teach myself to like it, but I think it may be a losing battle. I decided since I hate it so much, and we have to change the dining room around and put all 3 leaves in the table that I would do two at once to get it over with and that is what I did this morning. One is large and the other is small. One is newer and the other is a very old UFO.

This is sort of a crazy Log Cabin. I made these blocks over ten years ago, and I made so many that this is the 3rd quilt I have made with them. Also the last. I put machine embroidery on everything in those days. It makes a very heavy quilt and hard for the needle to go through. I used corduroy and velvet and flannel. It's going to be a thick quilt and I will have to use a very simple pattern.

Also the purple and yellow Drunkard's Path. I am not calling this a UFO because even though I started the cutting and sewed the basic curved units several years ago I didn't start putting the blocks together until a couple of months ago. This is the quilt it as soon as it is finished policy that I am trying to stick to. I even got a little of the quilting done on it, but not a lot. This one is going to be a simple quilting pattern also. Sort of a lazy daisy on the diagonal. I am quilting it in gold; I think that will work the best.

I am still coughing a lot and am very tired, but it is nice to start getting back into my routine. It has been warm, but we are supposed to get a snowstorm this weekend. It's not long until Spring though, Ambrosina will soon be getting her starts in the pots. The last two days David has sat on the porch although it is not warm enough for me yet. I am the one who gets to cold with the central air on and has to go out onto the porch to warm up in the summertime.

I think it's time for a cup of coffee and some piecing at Ernestine, the quilts I am working on down here are coming along pretty fast, not too fast since I can't quilt them yet anyway. Something to look forward to.

This morning, upstairs, I started my Log Cabin Heart. This will be the 2nd one for me. I made the other top over ten years ago, but my notes seem complete so I am reworking them and going ahead on it. I love doing Log Cabins, I have several other in mind, but for right now I have got a good start on the Heart quilt.

This one will have a totally different look although the same pattern.

This is the reworked diagram and the notes. In order to get the curves a mix of inch wide and inch and a half wide strips are used in dark and light tones. 34 of this block are made.

To start with the center of the block I use 2 one and a half inch squares and join them. Take time to test your seam the two joined units should measure exactly two and a half inches. If the seam is off fix it, A bit off here will make it a lot off later in the block and it's discouraging to be always trying to correct your seam. If you keep your cutting consistent and make sure your seam is always one quarter inch you will be pleased with your results, it makes a huge difference. I use a quarter inch seam gauge, not a quarter inch foot. The foot can sometimes be a couple of threads off and that will make a big difference too.

I got this tip from Bonnie Hunter's blog, and it's the best seam gauge I've ever used. Thanks Bonnie!

 The third piece is two and a half by one and a half inches. I call the one and a half inch strips wide and the inch strips narrow, it is easier for me to keep track. Piece A is the center, piece B is the 2nd piece and piece # is the 3rd. These are all "wide". Turn the block clockwise as you add the newest strip and press the seam to the strip you added last. Some people take the block to the iron after each addition, I don't, I finger press and it seems to work just fine. My ironing board is never up, Ambrosina doesn't like it sitting around.

 Piece D, the fourth piece is of the the "narrow" dark color, it also is two and a half inches long.

With piece E it becomes a little easier to remember which way to turn the block from this piece on you add the next piece to the side that has two seams.

In this block the narrow and dark is on one side and the wide and light is on the other.

And this is how far I got with all 34 blocks today. The next piece added will be narrow dark.

This is how I cut, I like to cut 4 layers at a time, if however, you have slippage or a slippery fabric you might want to cut fewer for accuracy's sake.

The four layers, I like using a square-up ruler that way I can line up the lines with the edge of the strips and get an accurate cut every time. Accuracy is the key for a good block. I don't think "that's good enough" works very well for consistence in patchwork.

The kids are home from school this week and the table was in use this morning. They were playing Spiderman Monopoly, and I am so glad I don't have to play it, I would go crazy so fast. After lunch they got to go to Grandma's, but it was too late for me to baste. I will have to grab a chance when they are doing something else either tomorrow or Wednesday. Any excuse is a good excuse to put off basting which I hate.

I'm slowly getting over this flu but I still tire very easily. It's been nice enough for David to go out and work in his shop, for which my gratitude knows no bounds. He is so much easier to get along with if he can go outside. Leon is planning to get electricity out there this summer and then they will get a heater so they can work out there in the winter. At this point that is even better than another bathroom!!!

Down here on my treadle Ernestine I a working with 3 sizes of half square triangles inch and a quarter, two and half inches and four inches. They've been sewn and cut for a long time, several years. I made the determination as I go through the tub they are stored in that I am not saving any for later; they are going to be gone!

The first size shown, inch and a quarter I am putting into blocks, for what I have in mind I need 4 of these blocks. Each block takes 400, but I've got plenty I am finger pressing them open and sewing them side by side, in 20 rows of 20.

I have two of them ready to sew the long rows together on. I don't have any more of that size handy, but there are some more ready in a different tub that I will dig out when I need some more of the other two sizes, the ones that I am making into Pinwheels. There is no hurry.

This morning I pieced a back for the the purple and yellow Drunkard's Path and I finished it in pretty good time so I pulled another top out of the tub and pieced a back for that while I was at it. I am going to get some more pins and baste them both on Monday, then I won't have to pin for a while, I hate it so much.

I am feeling better, but still coughing a lot and tire very easy, and I am going to have to take a short nap before I go on to anything else. It's a relief now that I am sleeping all night though. After my nap I should be able to do some piecing on Ernestine the treadle, that will be fun.

Well!! I finally am able to sit up enough to get a little something done. David was generous with his flu and I have been down in bed since Sunday, and this is Thursday. I would go up and spend a few minutes at the machine, but not make any progress on anything, it was just too exhausting and the coughing was terrible. David was feeling restless today and went outside for a while, so he's getting over it finally.

I had finished the quilting on this Saturday, but it took me several episodes of sitting and sewing to finish the binding because of my illness. I was finally able to get a picture of it today. It is the 3rd finished quilt of the year, being sick has put me behind, I haven't even got the back started for the next one, and it will be three weeks on Monday since I basted this and started the quilting. Hopefully I will get back into the swing of things again by next week. I had intended to start the Log Cabin Heart this week, but it won't be until next week at the earliest. Everything else came to a standstill, but I was able to do a little sewing on the treadle last night.

Poor Sammy came home from school with strep on Tuesday and Malachi came home from school sick last night so I suppose we have that in store for us as well. On the other hand Spring is only a little over a month away.

I've done enough now for a while, I am exhausted with what I have done, but it's better than what I could do yesterday. Hopefully tomorrow will be better still.