Loss

My dear sweet aunt Net died unexpectedly Sunday night. She was in the hospital but expecting to go home the first of the week. We are all so sad. She was an absolutely wonderful person. I can't begin to tell you how good she was. She was my mother's youngest sister and had visited my mother at least once a week since mother's stroke in November. She lived her life the way we all should. One of her daughters told me she found a note her mother had written to herself praying to be a better person. I honestly don't know how she could have been better. She was always thinking of others and what she could do for them. She leaves a husband, three daughters and nine grandchildren. Also, many nieces and nephews and other family members and friends who loved her dearly.

Driving the firetruck!

The husband of a very good friend of mine is a captain in the fire department and he showed our grandson around the fire station yesterday. That was one excited little boy.


















I made another house earlier in the week.



















I am not super motivated this week. I have a couple of quilts to put the binding on and I can't quite seem to find time. I have my boys back and I am sort of busy these days. I did want to do a little something this afternoon. This is my scrap box.


















One of the great things I learned from Gwen Marston was take those scraps and put them together and make squares. It is like putting together a puzzle.


















I love doing these squares. I have no idea what I am going to do with these blocks but they are so fun to make. You really use your brain when you make these. I try to make them roughly
6 X 6. You could use them to make houses or as a border if you had enough. You could make a whole quilt using these blocks if you made a lot

Something fun to do when you just need to sew a little to get your head straight.

Short Break

I have done a lot of sewing while my boys were with their other grandparents. We have been back and forth to the coast a couple of times. I didn't bring my machine but I did bring my hand quilting. I am still thinking about my house blocks.

It was a beautiful day on Saturday, lots of fishing going on. I am not sure there was much catching.







































I have been looking at a lot of blogs lately. I am thinking of going back to blocks with more a more graphic look.

I am going to take a short break and just think and sketch ideas. Also, enjoy the beautiful weather.

We are seeing my aunt and uncle tonight for dinner. I want to talk to her about my blocks, she always has wonderful liberated ideas.

Two quilted

I am taking advantage of not having my two little boys for a few days this week. I brought my sewing machine downstairs to the dining room to quilt two quilts that were ready. I layered the batting and the back over the weekend. I would turn my dining room into my studio if it only had another door. The dining room table gives me lots of room and is very sturdy.




















When I started quilting I knew that I wanted to quilt my quilts myself. I knew that I would not have the time to hand quilt them so I was determined to learn to machine quilt. I machine quilted the first few I did on my old Brother that I ordered off Overstock. It was a fairly good machine but worth about what I paid for it which wasn't much. I would love to do free motion and I have tried it. After seeing Jacquie's quilts at Tallgrass Prairie Studio I realized that I was making it too hard. She does fabulous quilts but often uses straight line quilting and she does not follow the seams. It is so so much easier to do it this way. Well I am never too old to learn. I quilted both of the quilts I did today with just straight lines, not parallel to the seams. What do you think? And there was no bunching up or little pleats on the back. The back looks as good as the front. To me it makes the design of the quilt show up more. Now on to the binding. I may not get to that today.




















I appreciate all of your great suggestions about the houses. I am still toying with the idea of applique. I guess you could say I am scared to try it. I really should. I made this house yesterday and I like this one. This one is 12 1/2" square and it is easier to add details.





















Off to the coast this weekend. I am taking my sewing machine to make some more houses.

Confused

I am still trying to decide how to make my house quilt. I really want to make a quilt for my grandson's preschool to auction off. On the other hand what if no one wants it!! Last year they did a silent auction so you can see what folks are bidding . YIKES!!!!

I was thinking of making small houses using novelty prints. I made this house on Sunday and I DO NOT like it at all. I can't figure out why I don't like it but I really don't. I love the print and I like the orange with it but this does not speak to me at all.



















I made this house this afternoon and I like this much better. I made a few 12 1/2" houses earlier in the summer and I think I am going back to this idea. I am thinking of using prints for the houses but then you don't want them chopped up to put in the window and the door. It might distort the prints. I really like the navy blue dots for the roof. By the way are two roofs, rooves or roofs?




















I am still working on hand quilting my grandson's quilt. I am quilting a wavy line to make it look like water. I like to do it at night while we are watching tv but lately I have been too exhausted to do anything but pass out on the couch. I have a couple of days vacation because the other grandparents are here. My plan is to stay in my studio!!



















I know you can't see this too well, maybe this one is better.

Find Stanley

Can you find Stanley in the flowers? A lot of you post pictures of your cats and I didn't want Stanley to feel left out. We got Stanley and his brother that we thought was his sister together about 11 years ago. Sammy who originally was Stella met an unfortunate end. I have never seen an animal grieve but Stanley was miserable without his brother. He is fine now, hangs out with the dogs most of the time. Check at the bottom to see where Stanley is.


















Cleaned up this morning and sewed this afternoon. I put the border on the rail fence quilt I am doing and I really like it. I will definitely use this again. It goes together quick and I love the way it looks.


















I finished the house I started the other day. I borrowed this idea from Sarah at House of Krom. Now I need some suggestions. I was thinking maybe strong primary and secondary colors for the roof but I can't quite decide. What about sashing? I like the blue for the background but maybe a soft yellow would work too. I really love making houses and these simple ones are quick.



















I have plenty of novelty prints to use for the houses. I notice that Sarah used prints for the house and the roof.


















Ok, here is Stanley. Doesn't he look comfortable? A beautiful day, laying in the flowers, what more could a cat want.

Campfire

Do you see the campfire we made with Legos? We are cooking hot dogs. I haven't gotten much sewing done but we have been having a good time. My grandson has a vivid imagination like his uncle. My second son loves Legos to this day, in fact, he gave our grandson these and he loves them. He is the daddy and his bear is the kid and he told the kid that the fire was very hot and not to touch. Children are great aren't they?




















I was able one afternoon to cut out the beginning of a house. I love the houses that Sarah at House of Krom does. I am going to finish I promise. I am trying to get these two little boys to take a nap at the same time. Please send some suggestions. I even sent the older one out and told him to run up and down the driveway so he would get tired. It actually worked.




















I am going to sew this weekend if there is any possible way!! I have promised myself.

Two Finished

I got the binding on these two last night, ready to send to my DIL but they are traveling over the Labor Day holiday, out of the country so I will wait until they get back. The first one is for their friends that are avid sports fans.




























I know I have shown the second one before but I am just so crazy about it I had to show you the finished product.



























I have seen a couple of quilts lately don't in the rail fence pattern and I was intrigued. It is simple as you know but I had never used it before. I was fascinated with what you could do with the colors. This is on my design wall. I just love the way I was able to arrange the orange and purple. I actually planned to include blue and green but this old math teacher forgot that 3 X 6 = 18. I cut three 2 1/2 inch strips of each color and sewed three together and then cut 6 1/2 inch blocks. I got 6 blocks out of every width. I should have only cut 2 widths of each color but oh well.
















This is the back.















Here are my two boys! They are really busy.















How long before this little one crawls? NOT LONG! And then won't Nana be busy.















One of my very favorite bloggers Finn over at Pieces from My Scrapbag blogged about September being a time to remember. We had a good summer of ups and downs. I am still dealing with my mother at home with full time help. She has good days and bad days and it seems like no matter what you do it isn't enough. I have learned not to try to make her happy and that makes me sad because I would so like for her to be happy. I try to concentrate on other things. I try to take food when I can and take the boys a couple of times a week. I somehow thought when you got older life would get a little easier. I am not complaining at all. We are so fortunate in many ways. I know so many that are out of work. It is hard to get laid off when you are retired. I try to look at the good things in life and there are a lot. For example the blogging community!!