Mond... er... Tuesday

Go to Small Quilts and Doll Quilts to see what other quilters are doing.

As for me I am keeping family in Texas in my prayers as they weather this storm.

Also, my son and his girlfriend and her sister as they weather a different storm. My son cannot drive, he is legally blind, as well as physically disabled (spina bifida). He shares living arrangements with his girlfriend and her sister. The sister also does not drive so the girlfriend provides transportation to their job (the sisters work at the same place) and also to my son as needed. Her truck was old and well used and slowly falling apart with many different issues. We helped them out a little financially so she could get a different vehicle. She chose a good used vehicle and brought it home on Friday. On her way home from work yesterday evening and guy decided to ignore a red light and hit her. She and her sister where not hurt, my son was not with them, now the insurance company is trying to decide if the vehicle is totaled. 

I went back to work a week ago with 2 days (1/2 days for me, an aide) of Teacher Institute days, then full days with students starting on Thursday. The first few days are always stressful for everyone, school staff and students. But things seem to be going well. There don't seem to be as many students missing mom and dad this year, not too many tears, which always make things easier. I'm sure we will all settle into our new routines soon.

On the sewing front I have most of the top together for the School Disappearing 4-Patch I have been working on. 

I like to use these boards to keep my block units organized. They are foam core cut to the size I wanted. I hot glued batting on one side and then glued binding all around to enclose the edge. These worked great for this project since the 4 patch units get cut and some of the pieces switched and turned. I cut 5 at a time because that is how many boards I have. I kept them by my machine and worked on them a little at a time. And, now I have a top!

Now I need to figure out the borders and backing. I only have a fat quarter of the black/white letters fabric so I don't think it will be used. There is a yard each of the red print and the crayon print. I am thinking a 1 inch inner border of white, then a border cut the width of the crayons and bind in the red print. On-line I have found a scatter print with crayons and other school supplies on a white background that I am thinking of for the backing.

I have also added labels to two of my quilts - Friendship Rings and Strippy Double Diamonds. Sometimes it takes me a while to get this part done.

Friendship Rings - front

Friendship Rings - made entirely from stash. I did not buy any fabric specifically for this quilt. Yay me! I originally thought of making it bigger and cut more pieces. I decided I liked the original size so I used the extras in the backing which worked well because there was not enough of the green plaid.

Friendship Rings - back

Strippy Double Diamond - I love batiks. 

If I had to choose only one kind of fabric to quilt with it would be batiks.

My Quilter's Exchange group met on Saturday. We are starting a new exchange so of course 

we had to discuss all the particulars. We decided on house blocks for this one. 

We also had Show & Tell and delicious treats. 

 

I have my brother on my mind, always do. 

It has been 3 months since his death. Sunflowers were one of his favorites.

Monday

Go to Small Quilts and Doll Quilts to see Design Wall Monday postings by other quilters.

On my wall is still the quilt using charm packs I got at MSQC. I incorrectly identified this charm pack as Hello My Name Is. It is actually called My ABC Book.  Anyway, I keep working away at it stitching a few blocks at a time and have a few more blocks finished.

I also quilted another baby quilt this week.

Here is a close up.

This is the two that I have finished so far.
Two more that are cross-stitch and one pieced flannel one to go.

Sadly, my sewing time will become very limited beginning tomorrow. Two Teacher Institute days before students arrive on Thursday. I am not ready. This summer has not been a typical summer for me. I had lots of plans, but ended up with no motivation to do any of them. I always have a list that I know I will never complete, but I got nothing done on my list this year.

I AM looking forward to meeting all the new Kindergarten students. There will be some staff changes this year. I am hoping they are positive changes. There will be new playground equipment also. Yay!

So, here is to a new school year and new friends.

Monday

Go to Small Quilts and Doll Quilts to see Design Wall Monday postings by other quilters.

I have been working on this...

made with Hello, My Name Is charm pack from Missouri Star Quilt Co. I got this as a Daily Deal while visiting there in July with my quilting buddies. There two pairs of Knitted Knockers hanging on the upper right. One pair is stuffed, the other not.

I also have started on the first of two more T-shirt quilts. These are for the daughter of a friend for her kids.

The first picture is of a tentative layout that has since been approved.

This picture is of the blocks getting the fusible interfacing attached, trimmed to size and stacked in rows.

They are not all the same width at this point. I will be adding sashing in 1 - 1 1/2" strips of black, gray or red depending on what color the t-shirt is. This will finish around 65 x 78 ish.

My computer updated the other day and now when I try to upload pictures from my camera I just get a black window. It seems like the program opens but does not show the picture. I have to go to control panel and find the device and open photos from there. Once I save the photo in a folder I can find it again, but if I don't do that I have to plug the camera in again and try to find what I am looking for. Total pain in the @#$.

I guess that is just another sign I am getting old! I get used to doing things a certain way and then there is an update or change and it takes me forever and a lot of frustration to figure out the new. GRR!

On a positive note, it is a pretty day here. We are waiting for hay to dry so it can be baled. Not my favorite thing to do and now, for a reason I don't know, I find myself in tears because I think of my brother every time we bale. I think of him a lot anyway, but it seems worse when baling hay. Crazy.

Also, my hibiscus is blooming and it is beautiful!

OK, I just realized this picture is from LAST year! because I can't find the one I took few days ago.
Crazy computer. Anyway, it is even bigger this year with more blossoms. I love the color.

Finished/Not Finished

To see what other people are doing go here to Judy's page Small Quilts and Doll Quilts .

In the Finished category ...

 

... this quilt is now on my husband's chair. 

He says he feels bad about sitting on it. I don't. It is made from scraps and stash. 

It protects his chair. He comes in from walking beans, spraying weeds, 

or some other hard work and is hot, sweaty, dirty. 

The chair needs some protection.

Also finished ...

Knitted Knockers. You can read about them here.

While I know some people who have been touched by breast cancer I made these 

in honor of my brother. After he started working as a security officer at his local hospital 

he sent me a brochure for this organization. He was always thinking of other people and trying to help in any way he could. Knowing that I am a knitter he thought I might 

be interested in contributing to them. 

So, this is my first pair. 

They are made with Cottonsoft DK by King Cole yarn in color 711 Ecru. 

I have yarn to make a second pair in Cotton Classic Lite by Tahki Yarns in Color Toffee 4202 

which looks like this.

 

I plan to make more, but will need to get more yarn. 

They have a list of recommended yarns and most requests are for neutral, fleshy toned colors, but they do get some requests for brighter colors. I will mostly use those more requested colors 

but plan to make some in brighter colors just for fun!

In the Unfinished department is this...

... it is a smallish lap size quilt. It needs quilted and bound.

I used the Disappearing 4-Patch pattern in Block magazine.

It needs quilted and bound.

I like it so much I am making another on using My ABC Book charm packs.

 

I removed the three lightest fabrics since they didn't provide enough contrast with the white. 

I have the 4 patches made and 2 of the final blocks made.

I plan to use this on my rocking reading chair at school whereI sit to read to the 

students while they are waiting their turns to have a bathroom break. 

I was gifted with a bag of sweet corn this morning. It is more than we can eat as corn on the cob so it will go into the freezer. Better go get started on that!

These lilies surprise me every year. I forget about them until they bloom.

I memory of my brother.

Frustrations...I Got'Em!

After trying to do some shopping this week I can see why people are going to on-line shopping. 

And, I plan to do more of it.

We live in a small rural farming community. 

There is a grocery store (with limited choices), gas stations, fast food, dollar store and a pharmacy. 

To get everything we need we usually need to go to the bigger town 45 minutes away. 

We usually have to go to several stores and it is at least a half day trip.

On Tuesday my son needed to get a few things for some welding projects he was wanting to do. 

2017 Fair Project - 1st Place

So we planned our route to stores we both needed to go to. 

First up was the quilt shop where I got my MegaQuilter and Grace Frame. I needed bobbins. They did have bobbins for my machine, but only a few. I bought all they had. 

Second stop was W-M. I needed printer ink. They were out of the kind for my printer. The person working that department was very nice and kindly scanned the price sticker on the shelf so he could inform me that 2 cases of that ink would be arriving on Thursday. This was Tuesday. Fortunately, I am not out of ink yet and hopefully can get some the next time I go shopping. 

Third stop was the farm store. My son needed horseshoes, welding wire and some other items. They had ONE horseshoe of the kind he uses. He ended up having to get some of a different size to make projects that don't use as many shoes. But he isn't able to finish the project he started with the other shoes. They also didn't have the paint color he wanted. 

Next we went to the pet store so he could get some shrimp to 

help with keeping the aquariums (three) clean. 

http://spec-tanks.com/how-to-breed-red-cherry-shrimp/

They were out. The next shipment was to arrive the next day. Went to the other pet store. They were out but would be getting their shipment late that afternoon. Also, the aquatic creatures pictured with their price are usually rarely available according to the sales person. Sorry, we live over 30 minutes away and are not hanging around or coming back later. So disappointing.

My son is a full-time wheelchair user so each stop means getting his chair out of the car, then putting it back in when we leave. That gets old after a few stops.

Today I went just into town to pick up prescriptions and get some plastic bins for kitchen drawers.

Went to the dollar store first to look for bins. They had several different styles. I chose 3 different ones to try but ...

Bins with lids

... I could not find the lids for the smaller bins. Found a clerk and told him I could not find the lids. I obviously interrupted something of great importance because he seemed rather put out and told me the lids were on the shelf above the bins. I responded that I had looked and was unable to find them. He again told me I would find them on the shelf above. I walked away and he finally said he would be right there to help me. He couldn't find them either. I take that back, he found ONE lid. There were 4 bins and I would have bought them all, if they had lids.

I'm frustrated that I even have to use bins in my kitchen drawers. I live in the country.
We have lived in this house for 20 years and have a problem with mice every winter.
I cannot seem to find where they are coming in or how to keep them out of my drawers.
So everything goes into bins to keep things clean. It is a pain to have to open a bin after opening the drawer, but I guess that is better than having to wash something every time I use it.
I have tried traps, sticky traps, blocking the spaces they might be coming in that I have found with steel wool, peppermint oil and any other remedy suggested, all to no avail. I do know the locking
bins keep them out. I see evidence that they have still been in the drawers, but they cannot get
into the bins. They get into the drawers in my bathroom as well. One day I opened a drawer and found dental floss strung all over, tubes of lotion and toothpaste with the ends chewed off, cotton cleansing pads pulled apart, just a big mess! I had to throw most of it away.

Next I went to the pharmacy. I had called in the prescriptions the day before. The pharmacy tech told me they would 'owe' me for one of my prescriptions because they only had four, FOUR, of the pills. The rest would be in Monday. Seriously?! What if I were leaving town, perhaps on a vacation, or something and couldn't pick up my prescription. I have one pill left. I am especially frustrated by this last one because insurance won't allow you to renew too soon so I only have a couple of pills. And, my prescription is a fairly common one that I would think they would keep stocked. It would have been nice to have received a phone call letting me know about the shortage on that prescription.

On a more positive note, the temps have cooled down considerably here today. And, even though it stormed last night we did not get hail or wind damage.

In memory of my brother.