It's Monday again, what am I working on? An unexpected cleaning job

Today I am on the hunt for some important papers that have been missplaced. With all of the activity/business since my father in law has passed I can not remember where I put those papers. I have looked & looked. Currenty I am working/looking in my sewing room. When I cleaned up all of my sewing stuff from next door I think that I put those papers in with the sewing stuff. Well, while I've been looking I've also been cleaning & reorganizing. So far I have sorted through one large tote of scraps & all of the piles that you can see around the tote have been put away!

 I aslo found an antique quilt that I bought off of craigslist a few months ago. It just hurts my heart that people would think to cut these old quilts up. So I had to resuce this one

It does have its fair share of rough patches but for $30 I just couldn't pass it up. When my husband saw it he thought it was nice but he did want to know where I was going to put it. I reassured him that I would find a place. Maybe someday when we get a bigger home I can display some of my antique quilts.

I am also trying to work hard on this Chess Board quilt. It's coming along but not as fast as I want it to. I decided this am that I had enough strip sets made I was going to start slicing them up into 1.5" strips

Now I have a giagantic pile of these little pieces that I am matching up into pairs & then into 16 patches.

I'd better cut this off. I need to stay on the hunt for those papers & finish my cleaning in my sewing room. With all of this cleaning it makes me want to sew! I hope that y'all are doing well. It's beautiful & sticky here in the middle of the USA. Unfortunately not hay making weather, too much rain in forecast for the rest of the week. More later on, 

Vicky

p.s. Check out what other quilters are up to  at patchworktimes.com

One thing leads to another

It's been a busy day with lots of irons in the fire. I've been playing catch up from being in the hay field during this past weekend & the begining of this week. I think that all of the laundry & the basic household chores are all caught up, YEAH!!! I even made the time today to make my husband his lemon cake. It's become a yearly tradition at Fathers Day & his birthday (they are only a month apart).

I guess I wasn't thinking correctly & way over bought on the lemons. I think that I used 5 today & I still have a whole bowl full left. I'm guessing I will become creative on how to use them up.

The only down side about this little problem is that I can't have them. Lemons & me do not get along very well & it stinks because I love lemons.

On Tuseday morning I was doing my best to finish up baling the last of the hay that we had laid down. There was a major thunderstorm headed right for us & this happened

That is net wrap underneath the belts on the baler. Don't ask me how I did it I can't tell you. 

There was also net wrap coming from the back side of the baler. Yup that's my kiddo doing his best to help his momma out. Don't worry he's not in any danger. All brakes & saftey precautions were taken.

 My white knight/husband came to my rescue. He was able to get away from work and get me out of my jam & finish up with the last 3 bales right before the deluge of rain hit. I got stranded in the barn when the rain hit. I was putting up the electric fence & ran into the barn for a dry place. We got 2.5" of rain that afternoon.

I was finally able to get into my sewing room & cut up some fabric this afternoon! I'm working on my latest 10,000 piece quilt that I"m calling "The Chess Board". I'm using cream to light tans for the neutrals & Civil War Reproducitons for the darks. As I'm cutting up these scraps I've been coming up with different combinations of the 3 sizes of strips that I use (1.5",2" & 2.5" strips) for the scraps that I have. I thought that it would be a great diagram. As soon as I get it completed I'll post it here on the blog.

We have also had to do some doctoring for one of our first calf heifers. She has a sore foot. We put her in the squeeze shoot & gave her some sulfur pills. They are HUGE!

My very gentle husband giving her her meds. They both did very well.

We're supposed to have lots more rain tonight & into tomorrow so I'm hoping that will mean more sewing time! I do love rain days! I hope that y'all are doing well. More later on,

Vicky

What am I working on? A little excitement & some strip piecing

Well to start it off there was some huge excitment for me this weekend. I got the certificate showing that my name & logo are now a registered trademark!!!!! Woohoo!!!! I can not tell you how excited I am. It has been an almost year long journey.

This weekend was the very first Kansas City Regional Quilt Festival & it was a huge success. I went on Friday with my mom. Oh my goodness the quilts were phenomenal! Here are a few of the beautiful quilts that were there

This one was the best of show.

I think this one should have been the best of show in my personal opinion. All of this is hand quilted. Simply amazing!

All of this stippling is all done by hand. Amazing!

I've finished my kite quilt & will be taking it to my LAQ today. So now I am working on finishing The Chess Board quilt. It's my secong run on a 10,000 piece quilt. So far I am just ironing more piecies of fabric so that they can be cut up. I've got 7,200 piecies done just 2,800 more to go! 

I've got lots of errands to run today & hay season also started this weekend. I'm not entirely sure when I'll be able to get to sew on it. The hay comes first during hay season & my quilting comes second. I get excited for rain days during hay season. I hope that y'all have a great day. It's beautiful here but HOT! More later on,

Vicky

p.s. Check out patchworktimes.com to see what other quilters are up to

Cereal boxes & finding the new normal

First off I do aplogize for not writing in the last few weeks. Life has kinda been an upset the fruit basket. My father in law passed away about 3 weeks ago.We've been dealing with all of the arrangements & we had family in town for a week, which we enjoyed. This has been the first week of the "New Normal".

I'm sure that there are going to be some bumps along the way but we'll figure it out.

For many years I kept my strings in a Frosted Flakes box like this.

This past Thursday at guild meeting fellow guild member & friend Barb said that they don't eat Frosted Flakes but they do eat Special K & she filled up it full of strings just for me! It made my day

 This box is full & heavy.

I'm looking forward to going through it!

Last night I finally had some time to finish making the blocks for my kite quilt & lay it out. I'm really loving it!

 

I need to cut some pieces for my leader & ender project & then I'll be ready to go. I'm thinking I need to be working on my blue/white row by row project for the quilt guild. The rows are due at next months guild meeting & I've not started on it yet. Yikes! 

I hope that y'all are having a good day. It's kinda overcast & cool here in the midwest with a high chance of rain. That means that there is a high chance of quilting! More later on,

Vicky

Appliqué, I'm a huge fan but.........

I love appliqué! I look at all of the different Baltimore Album quilts & I think that, Yes I can make one of those quilts! When in actuality no I can not. I've tried machine appliqué & that is complete torture. If I'm on the machine I want to be piecing! I just got done "attempting" to hand appliqué. The best that I can say is that I tried my best but I just don't love appliqueing like I love my embroidery. Here's what I was attempting to work on

I remembered that I had some EPP flowers & Bonnie Hunters new appliqué/EPPtutorial & I thought why not. Hard to tell if I'll ever get around this single flower. 

Hope yall are doing well. It's quite soggy here & will be all weekend. Hopefully there will be some sewing time! More later on,

Vicky

 

Well it's not Monday but I'm working on the remaining 2800

I'm hoping that I have fullfilled my husbands desires of me making quilts that take a long time & use up lots of fabric. I've spent just about 100% of my time this past week next door at my in laws helping take care of my father in law. I've got a sewing project at home & next door. The next door project I'm calling "The Chess Board" It will be  10,000 1" squares when it's all done. I'm using my Civil War Reprodction fabrics for this monster. It all started because I had a Rubbermaid container full of bits & pieces that needed to be gone through, cut up & used.  As I cut up the scraps I have 3 piles, 1.5", 2' & 2.5". Here's what has accumulated in those piles since starting this quilt.

The pile on the left is 2.5' strips & on the right is 2" strips. It does slow the process of the primary quilt making by taking the time to cut these strips. When I'm cutting down my scraps I cut to use the maximum efficency of the piece of scrap. When I get done with this current quilt I will have two bags of strips already cut up & ready to use! 

I've got 9 rows out of 12.5 done on the Chess Board. Here is my current progress

I've got 7200 pieces done! Woohoo! I'm working on the reamaning 2800. As you can see I did make one row a tad bit longer than it was supposed to be. That easy oops has already been taken care of. My good friend Liz was having a hard time looking at it. She said that it was hard on her eyes. It's much easier in person than in a picture. I'm on the serious down hill leg of this quilt & I'm hoping that I can keep the momentum up on it! Mostly because my mind is already working/plottting on the next quilts. This quilt has been made completly on my little featherweight. I think that she might want a long vacation after this monster is completed.

My home project of the black/red batiks quilt has made snails pace progress. When you're never at home you can't work on it. I'm really ready for that quilt to be done. 

I have made a few more blocks since taking this picture but I've not taken a new picture. The setting will be a 12 x 12. I think that I have to make 30 or so more blocks & then I can lay it out & start putting it together. It'll be over 100" square when it's done. I like my quilts BIG! I believe that if I'm going to make a quilt for us to use it needs to be 100" or larger. That way it can cover any of our beds with ease.

I guess I'd better get back to cutting up scraps so that I can make more progress on The Chess Board. I hope that y'all are having a great day. It is perfection here in the middle of the USA. It's green, fairly cold (for May) and the sun is out. The only thing that would make it perfect is if there was no pollen. Check out what other quilters are up to at patchworktimes.com. More later on,

Vicky

It's Monday again & I'm working on a new pattern & a few other projects.

Mondays seem to roll around so much faster here lately. I do wish I could slow it down just a little. My kiddo will turn 13 in 2 weeks or so & he likes teasing me that I'm going to be the mom of a teennager & I'm just not ready for that. It will come though if I'm ready or not.

I've been busy this past week. I had a quilt presentation with the Starlight Quilters Guild in Overland Park KS & had a great time. What a great group of quilters. I dropped off my new to me Singer 301 for a much needed makeover. I'm hoping that I can pick her up tomorrow because I can't wait to put her through her paces. There are lots of projects in the works. Shhh, don't tell my husband but I've got multiple projects going at the same time. ( When I first started quilting he said that he had only one rule. Don't start another project until you've got your current project completed). I had been sewing happily on my Kite project 

Well quilty inspiration hit & a new project started and well it took precident over the Kite project.

I am using the Kite quilt as Leader/Ender for the new quilt. To add to the quilting pile my LAQ finished the White Nostalgia quilt & I need to get the binding on it & to the quilt store. It is beautiful but I prefer the original with black & batiks. When I get the new quilt done I'll post pics.

I'm still working on the Civil War 10,000 piece quilt when I'm next door. It is coming together a piece at a time. I need to iron these pieces & sew them into 16 patches.

We'll see how much I can get done this week. I've got presentations in Manhattan KS next Monday & I'm hoping to have some new quilts with me. I hope that y'all are having a great Monday. It's looking to be a rainy week. That sounds good to me. It should mean lots of quilty sewing time. Check out what others are up to at patchworktimes.com.

More later on,

Vicky