Catching Up

I got mostly caught up on customer quilts. Rhonda picked her last one up today. I failed to take pictures of the finished quilts. 😡😡😡 I took in four more quilts from a new customer, but I told her I wanted to work on a couple of charity quilts first, and she said "no hurry". 

Today I quilted this one for Joseph's Warrior's plus got the binding cut:

The binding is left over fabric from the back.

We have had rain every day in the late afternoon or evening, and we are so grateful to get it. It's also nice that it is clear in the mornings because I can still walk the dogs. 

I have an easy supper planned--hot dogs. I got smart and made a pot of chili a couple of weeks ago and froze it in pint jars. I don't can anymore, but I still have all those mason jars that I used to use. Time to put them to use. Bill is okay with hot dogs for supper, but he prefers to have chili to put on them. I will put sauerkraut or cole slaw whatever on them, but it is nice to have the chili. I put a pint in the refigerator last night to thaw, and I will make some macaroni salad when I get home. 

Mid-Week Ramblings

I still need to hear back from the State QOV coordinator so I can get our distribution set up. I have contacted two of the nominators, but sadly, one of the intended recipients is no long with us, so……. I need to contact the other two today. 

We attended the historic homes tour, and I forgot to post about it.

We were not allowed to photograph inside. There was no tour for the past two years; I think many of the clubs and organizations are having trouble getting things moving and getting back into the swing of things, so this year’s tour was a little disorganized. I’m sure next year will be better.

I have two more QOV quilts ready to be awarded that I got back from the lady that does the binding.

I am ready to get this moving forward. Some of these people applied in 2019, but there was no one in this area to do the longarming. I am trying to take up the slack and get it all caught up. I don’t know what to do about the presentations. I am going to contact the VFW, and see if we can do it there. I don’t know yet what they will say, but I am hoping the chaplain or someone like that can do the presentations.

To Do List Tuesday

First off, here’s the good news—we got some rain! We still need more, but Bill and I were so happy to see rain, we sat outside on the patio. Of course, we got wet, but we didn’t care. It was 100 degrees prior to the rain clouds moving in, so it was a welcome relief. 

On last week’s to-do list, I would say I did okay but not great. My number one is getting close, but I still need to cut a couple of squares before I can finish the outer border. The inner border is done, although you can’t tell it from this picture.

Number two was the Villa Rosa pattern and it is finished and ready to move over to the “to be quilted” list.

I think number three was Jacob’s Ladder, and I didn’t work on it at all. Number four was to work on the Color Collage sashing, and I did a little, but didn’t have the time available to finish it. 

For this week:

Number 1: Finish the border on Shout It Out

Number 2: Finish the sashing on Color Collage

Number 3: Start the new quilt I blogged about on Saturday. It’s a 3-yard pattern called Chevron.

That’s all I’m putting on my list for the week. If I get a chance, I have a couple of other things I want to get done, but for now, I need to keep it achievable. I need to contact the QOV recipients, and then try to set up a venue for the presentation. 

I will be linking this post to TexasQuiltGal.

TGIF

What a strange week it's been. I've been busy, and the days are just evaporating. It's like I barely get started, and then it's time for bed. I worked until 9pm yesterday trying to get caught up on some things here at the shop. I would like to get caught up with all the customer quilts so I can work on a few of my charity quilts if possible. I struggle to keep things tidy here......quilting and sewing are messy! 

I cleaned off the desk, and it looks like I just made a bunch of piles

I'll need to make another attempt at getting it clean. Also, my shop is on a main road with lots of traffic, and there is a lot of dust. It seems like I am dusting and sweeping daily. Okay, the sweeping is mostly from the lint and fluff generated by the quilting machine. I have two of these robotic vacuums, and they are my best friends some days.

I still like the open cabinets in the kitchen where I had Bill take the doors off the upper cabinets.

But, again, that is another dusting opportunity. If I ever become financially solvent on this place, I will hire someone to do some cleaning weekly. For now and the immediate future, I have to do it myself.

I have been working some on the Shout It Out top. I went to Quilters Patch yesterday to find something for the inner border and decided on this eggplant grunge.

I had no preconceived idea of what I wanted, but this one seemed to work the best. I only knew I didn't want white as there is already a lot of white in the quilt. I'll try to get the inner border done and work on the outer pieced border this weekend.

I bought a three yard quilt kit a few months ago that came with a free pattern, and I have misplaced the pattern.

I looked at the Fabric Cafe website to see if I could download a digital copy, but after looking at the picture of the pattern, I realized I don't need the pattern; it's easy enough to figure out from the picture. I normally won't do a design without buying the pattern unless it's a traditional pattern that's been around forever, but since I already had the pattern and lost it, I don't feel bad about it. I hope to get started with the cutting soon.

Quilt Guild was yesterday morning, and it was kind of different. The ladies I normally sit with were not there, and three other ladies sat down. Which would have been okay, but they made a lot of negative comments sort of under their breath about a lot of things. When the guest speaker was giving her talk (which I though was quite interesting), they were muttering "I wish she would just hush" and "Is she ever going to shut up?" It made the whole meeting a little unpleasant for me, and normally I have a good time. Funny how a few negative people can dampen the whole mood. Anyway, I brought home a few more of the kits for Joseph's Warriors, and then I made three more from my own stash. I am going to send them home with Janice next time she is here and she will get them pieced. I don't have much spare time right now, and she is looking for stuff to do indoors since it is so crazy hot. 

Progress!

I actually made myself work on Shout It Out. It goes together by columns, and I got two more columns added. I went ahead and cut the white rectangles I needed to finish all the rest, and I think that was one of things I got stalled on previously. There were no extras cut out and I had used the last one. Oh my goodness. I am definitely my own worst enemy. 

I sent most of the day working on customer quilts.

I have three identical dachshund quilts to do. I have two done so far. The quilting pattern is Doxie Moxie by Intelligent Quilting. The customer picked the orange thread. It is a Signature variegated, and boy is it linty. I really prefer the Glide or Innova threads as lint is not nearly so bad. 

I got a tomato from one of my plants.

I will put it in the window to ripen a little more. The other plants still have plenty of blooms, but the heat is definitely a factor. 

I’m not sure they will produce any fruit in the 96-98 degree weather. I think the peppers are okay. Here is a yellow one:

I am hoping for the best and watering a lot.

To Do List Tuesday

I'm afraid I didn't do too well on my goals from last week. Number 1 was to go to Richmond for a new bobbin case for the longarm, and that one definitely got completed. 

Number 2 was the Shout It Out quilt.

I didn't even touch it. Zero, nada, nothing. This will be Number 1 this week. 

Number 3 was to put borders on a Villa Rosa quilt. I got the inner borders put on but only 1 side of the outer border got done.

I'm not really sure about the orange; it's part of the same fabric line, but there is none of it in the rest of the quilt. All of the other colors are there, but not the orange.

Also, the binding they put in the kit is a turquoise heart print. There is no other turquoise in the quilt except in the heart print that is the background.

The orange print I picked for the border has a little turquoise in it, and I was hoping it would tie that binding in a little better. Remains to be seen, I guess. Anyway, the borders pieces are all cut and just need to be sewn on, so this will be my Number 2.

I wanted to get more rows added to Jacob's Ladder, but that didn't happen either. That is staying on the list as Number 3.

For Number 4, I want to work on the Color Collage quilt I bought in Richmond, I have the 25 blocks made and can hopefully get them sashed this week. 

We have plans three evenings this week, and of course, I have customer quilts to get done, so I am keeping the list short this time. Worse case scenario, I should at least be able to get number 2 done.

Number 1: Shout It Out 
Number 2: Villa Rosa
Number 3: Jacob's Ladder (at least a few rows)
Number 4: Color Collage Sashing

I am linking this post to TexasQuiltGal.

Weekend Update

My weekends all seem to follow the same script. Saturday is Farmers Market, then quilting at my shop. Sunday is church, lunch out, float in the pool for a couple of hours, then an easy supper.

Bill’s girls were out of town this weekend…..their mom plans a trip for them every year on Father’s Day (hint, I don’t think it’s a coincidence, but I keep it to myself)….so Nichole wants to take him out Tuesday. 

I am not doing very well on my quilting goals. I worked a little on the new kit I bought, but it’s not one of my weekly goals. I got all the blocks sewn and ironed

I just need to add strips of white sashing around each one, and then I can put them together. I worked on the border of a Villa Rosa quilt Saturday, but it was so unmotivating I didn’t even take a picture. 

When I went to Krogers, I found the meal kits I like on sale.

The teriyaki is my fave. I had some leftover steak from when Bill grilled a few nights ago and added that.

I also forgot noodles came in the kit and cooked a pot of rice. We are having jambalaya today so I saved the rice for that.

The heat is oppressive here, and I am watering my plants every other day to keep them healthy. For some it may be a lost cause; others seem to like the heat.

I bought this plant a few years ago, and it was in full bloom. It hasn’t bloomed since, until now! I think the flowers are such a pretty color. Another surprise is the coleus.

I didn’t think coleus liked heat, but apparently they can tolerate it if given plenty of water. Unfortunately, the Creeping Charlie in this basket didn’t make it.

☹️ I will take it out and put some of my Bolivian Jew in its place. It seems to be quite happy with the heat.

A Little Cross Stitch

I can’t remember when I last posted about my cross stitch, but I’m pretty sure it’s been a couple of months. I get totally consumed with quilting and forget about cross stitch, but I do work on it periodically. Usually a little in the evenings if there is something on tv that I want to watch.

This is the last picture I posted of this one:

I have actually made quite a bit of progress on it. 

I would say I am about 30% done with it. I like not having to change colors—that makes it a good tv project. 

I’m not sure where my Joy in the Journey one is. It was misplaced in my move from Lake Jackson.

 I think it will turn up eventually; I know it was one of the last things I packed.

Mid-week Update

Tuesday was a long day. We drove to Richmond to pick up my longarm supplies. I also bought a quilt kit. I didn’t need it, but I loved it, so…..

Then we drove to Lake Jackson so Bill could go to his dental appointment. While he was at the dentist I did this:

Ch at pub

It’s been four years since I had a pedicure, so you might say it was past due. Oh my, my feet feel so soft and smooth. I’m sorry I put it off so long. We also had lunch at Luby’s so that pretty much made my day. 

We didn’t get home until around 5:30, and I hate to leave the dogs alone that long, but it couldn’t be helped. 

Today I had spent several hours working with the quilt guild, so no progress on my ongoing projects, but tomorrow will be a new opportunity to work on all the things I need to get done.

To Do List Tuesday

The good news is we got the a/c fixed. The technician lives just around the corner, and I think we must have been his first stop. And, $275 later, we have a working a/c compressor. 

I accomplished everything on my list last week; I’m not finished with Jacob’s Ladder, but the goal for last week was to get the extra set of triangles made and trimmed which I did.

For this week, number 1 is to go to Richmond and get a new bobbin case. I am doing that today. I got my tension issues resolved, but I would feel better if I had a backup, so that is going to happen.

Number 2 required some thought. I took a box off the shelf to work on, but I can’t find the extra background fabric for it, so I ended up putting everything back in the box and putting it back on the shelf. I have another Villa Rosa top that just needs borders, so I think that should be number 2. I can’t find a picture, but I’ll get one later in the week.

For number 3, I think  I will try to finish “Shout It Out”.

It was a free pattern from the shop hop, and after doing the first few columns, I wasn’t really excited about it. I think I will go ahead a finish it and be done with it. 

I would like to do a few more rows on the Jacob’s Ladder, so I’ll just keep that as number 4.

I have five customer quilts to get done this week; once those are done, I want to quilt a couple of mine. Specifically, Candy Land and About Face (if I can find a backing for it). 

Now that I think about it, I also need to make a piano key border for another top. That may go on next week’s list.

Weekend Update

The worst thing happened. Our A/C quit working Sunday evening. I know it’s not really the worst thing, but we live in South Texas and temperatures have been in the 100’s for the last few days, so it kind of feels like the worst thing. Bill had a portable unit that he had used in his shop, so that kept us from being too miserable. It won’t cool the whole house, but it will cool our bedroom enough so we could sleep.

I did my pretty good on my to-do list. I got both of the Villa Rosa quilts done. The Lady: 

I quilted it in white thread. I can’t remember what quilt pattern I used, but it looks nice.

I used one of the Lori Holt prints for the back.

I ended up using a red binding to coordinate with the back, and I think it works with the front, although it is not a 1930’s prints like the jelly roll I used on the front.

The other one is Cloud Nine:

The batiks have sort of a 1950’s retro vibe to them. I really like them. I used a dark gray thread and the basket weave quilt pattern.

Both of these will be gifted soon. 

I also got the QOV quilts bound and gave them to Janice for binding. 

The other thing on my list was to work on the Jacob’s Ladder quilt. I don’t have a picture, but I think I got two rows added to it. That only brings me up to five rows, so nothing amazing, but slow and steady wins the race.

Quilts of Valor

 Bill and I met Janice and Glenn in Cuero last night for supper. We went to La Bella Tavola. I hadn’t eaten there before but it was good. 

The main goal, other than a good meal, was to switch of QOV quilts with Janice. She had two bound, and I had two more ready for her to bind. Here are the two I got back:

I quilted this one with a Fantastico variegated with the Cool Beans pattern.

This one was a panel with stars around it.

I can’t remember the name of the quilt pattern I used. I think it was patina. I used a silver gray thread.

They are both super nice, and it feels really good to be doing something for the veterans.

I need to call the state coordinator on Monday and see what needs to be done to get these presented.