Log Cabin Heart webbed and ready for the long seams. I had ten extra blocks, I guess I need to learn to count. Well, I have ten ready for the next one. I love this pattern and I am sure I will make another one some time. I was afraid there wouldn't be enough contrast and I see a couple of the fabrics in the wrong place but all in all I am pleased. And thanks to David for being my able and willing assistant. I should be able to finish it in the morning and then I will put it away until next month when I can get some batting. I'll soon start piecing backs so I have those ready when I get the money.

Still not feeling very well, if I am not better in the morning I will go to the walk in clinic tomorrow. I got all my finished quilts listed on Etsy. The blue Log Cabin had way too many flaws, I'll do something else with it. I gave the tan and white Log Cabin to Grace. One of the Pineapples had a big tear in it that had to have happened after it was completed is unsaleable. No idea how that happened. I'll do something with that too.

Anyway, things are starting to get back to normal I am glad to say. I am keeping busy and getting things done, I always feel better when I am useful in some way. Making beautiful and useful things is always good.

I've been really sick. For several days. It is getting old. I started doing a little better yesterday so I started putting together Log Cabin Heart. Yikes! It seems really complicated I don't remember having this much trouble with the first one, but that was so long ago I probably wouldn't anyway.

I had to redraw this diagram with the curves it was too confusing this way.

Then I had miscounted how many of these blocks I needed to make. I actually need 42 of them so I am working on those now and I should be able to finish them tomorrow and get back to assembling the top. I intend to rework my notes, there are other errors that I discovered while I was working.

The blocks that are made are all one colored needed sliver trimming. On the next quilt I might make the narrow/wide strips just for consistency's sake, the same with the long solid blocks. I actually needed to add some extra strips around on some of the blocks. I made copious notes and I will make some correct drawings when I get some graph paper.

Then I started putting the top together, wrong as it happened, that's when I redrew the diagram and that helped. All in all I feel pretty tired, it's also taking longer to put the top together then it usually does. I hope to finish it tomorrow morning.

The plan after that is to start on the bins in the dining room and finish all the UFOs in those. Most of them will be empty after that and I will have a little more storage, which will help some of the clutter in my sewing corner upstairs, it's getting pretty bad with all the stuff I've been working on there. My reference books are stuck in a corner and it would be nice to have them handy.

Our John was down over the weekend. We hadn't seen him for close to 2 years and we have been missing him a lot. He brought his girl friend with him, it was the first time we had met her and she seems very nice. They have been together for several years, but John is a lot like his father; slow. Sweet though.

I'm still not feeling very good, I'm going to take a nap before I start my hand sewing. I might not get a lot done, but I hope I will feel better.

 I had a busy day yesterday. My class was from 1:00-3:00 in the afternoon then I came home and worked on this:

There are approximately 4,000 hand sewn hexagons in it. It's called Grandmother's Flower Garden. I finished it just after 11:00 last night and now I can focus on some other hand sewing that I need to get done; I have a couple of other hexagon tops started but they can wait for a while.

I am going to finish the Log Cabin Heart this week or maybe early next week. I only have about ten blocks to finish. These are the ones that take extra care, also the ones that are the most interesting. It won't take me long to make them unless I make too many mistakes. These are the diagrams for six of the ten blocks. I will have the diagram for the last one tomorrow.

They are not too tricky and I don't foresee them taking too long. Then all that remains is putting the top together. Quilting won't be for a while, I didn't have the money to buy any batting this month. I needed shoes and the car needed tabs; just one of those months. Next month will be better, at least I hope so, you never know.

Anyway, in terms of accomplishment, I have gotten a lot done the last couple of days. Including sweeping and mopping my bedroom. Now it's time to relax with the coffee and the sewing and see what else I can accomplish today.

I found this poor little possum on the sidewalk this morning. It isn't weaned yet and I don't think it will survive. Ambrosina won't let me have it in the house to take care of it, and I haven't found any place that I can take care of it. I put it in a box to at least make it comfortable. It is really a pretty little creature. They make a clicking sound. Poor little guy. I am too soft hearted.

I finished the first half-square triangle top this morning. There are 1,840 triangles in it, it is put away waiting for me to baste and quilt it. I was able to straighten up my sewing corner upstairs this morning after I finished it and got to work on my Log Cabin Heart, which will be the next top I will finish. I am going to draw out the plans for the next set of blocks and post them soon.

I am close to finishing the latest hexagon top, I hope to have pictures of it soon, I'll be working on it this after noon, but I have  a headache so I have been thinking of taking a nap first, it just seems like a nap sort of day; as a matter of fact, David is sleeping right now. Think I'll join him!

I've named this quilt "Perseverance", and it took a great deal of that to finish it. I made the top not long after I was diagnosed PTSD with panic disorder and anxiety and depression. It was at a time when concentrating on anything for more than 5 minutes was difficult or impossible but I kept going back to it. Some of the blocks didn't turn out right; I didn't have enough made obviously so I just added in some flannel squares. I used heavy corduroy, men's polyester suiting (what was I thinking?), flannel, uniform material, canvas duck and denim. It weighs a ton. The quilting was nearly impossible and wasn't helped by a pieced back.

An ugly pieced back.

I started out trying to do a pattern called Ribbon Twist by Jeanne Harrison, but the materials were so dense and uneven it was not turning out the fabrics were swallowing the thread, so I changed to Bubbles-big Bubbles just to get it done. The thread broke constantly, if I got through two circles without breakage I counted myself blessed. I didn't rip out the beginning try at a pattern, it's part of the quilt's story. I bound it in scrap bias left over from some other quilts, it seemed fitting somehow.

I managed to get it done this morning, it was hard to keep at it until I was done but I did. I have come a long way in my healing since I made this top. I am no longer paralyzed by mental illness. I function and work and enjoy life again. In a way this quilt is like the story of my healing: I just kept at it.

That's why I named it Perseverance.

I've been plugging away at the Pinwheels for quite a while now and the pile has gone way down. With both pictures together one can see how many I have gotten through, now is when it gets a little hard to keep at it because they are starting to get a little tedious and it takes all my stick-to-itivity to keep going, but I will.

Upstairs I am over three quarters of the way done with the last basted quilt top.

It has been very difficult to quilt for various reasons which I will go into later, but I am sticking to that too and will breathe a sigh of relief when done. After it's done I will finish the Log Cabin Heart and couple of other tops before I baste again. I forgot to get batting when I shopped so I couldn't baste anyway and I have all the backs to get ready anyway. That too will happen when I get this last one done, hopefully tomorrow. It is a very heavy quilt and I tire easily.

I am nearly done with the latest hexagon top and I have been focusing on that most of the afternoon. About 9 more blocks and then some fill in. When it is done I will take a picture of that.

So right now it's sort of if I am just marking time while I work at finishing several things. I have some clothes that I want to cut out and work on, and an idea for a table topper that I want to make, I just feel that I have to get to a stopping point on the things I am working on right now. The ideas won't go away, I can wait.

What a lovely May 1st. The good thing it's melting fast. The wind was chill but we are hoping it will warm up. I only hope all the budding flowers didn't get frostbitten.

 We did get a picture of this though, Polka Dots. It is a scrap quilt although it may not look like it. It was made from the leftover ends of the strips Ambrosina cuts for Rose. I'm getting a little tired of solids, and the next quilts I make when I am done with the ones I am working on are going to be patterned. I have a long way to go though and I am resisting the impulse to start something more interesting.

 This is the back. I am almost out of orphan blocks so there won't be many more pieced with those.

Stanley Fat Squirrel could not understand why we were messing around with quilts when he wanted to be fed. He will almost take food out of our hands; David fed him.

I started quilting this quilt this morning. It is going to take a while. It is very big and is the last top I made using corduroy and denim which makes it very heavy. I have three other corduroy/denim tops waiting to be quilted, and I will do those first I think and get them out of the way. Don't get me wrong they make a nice quilt, but I get a lot of thread breakage with them and they tire me out. This is the last basted quilt and I think I will take some time and finish a couple of tops that are unfinished in the upstairs sewing area, then I can baste them and they won't turn into UFOs. Meanwhile I will keep plugging away at the Pinwheels down here.

And speaking of Pinwheels, it's now time to go out and get busy on Ernestine, happily the pile is going down pretty fast now.