I'm Back!

We have been back in our house for about a month.  I have not done much sewing.  If you have ever had any drywall work done in your home you will know how much dusting I have had to do.  It is like talcum powder everywhere you can imagine.  I have also had a lot to unpack and put back.  It was a fun job but didn't leave a lot of time for sewing. 

We visited our daughter in Indiana for Thanksgiving.  She entertained 18 people for dinner.  She did a wonderful job. She used china from both of her grandmothers.

She has a long sun porch which was perfect.  I like it when everyone can sit at the same table.


















This is the table she used for the food.  Complete with the guinea hen they brought back from Africa.  

 She used some greenery to decorate each chair. 

This is a quick quilt I made for a young woman who we have known all her life.  She just had her first baby.  She is a very special young woman that has overcome some pretty tough obstacles but is in a very good place right now.  This is a cute way to put a baby quilt together.  The big square are 8 inches square.  

And I left the best till the end.  My daughters fiance has an auction business and he found this in a basement!  I love it.  I have a great sewing machine repairman.  He was not too enthusiastic about my new baby when he saw her but when I went to pick her up he was beside himself.  The only thing he could not fix was the light.  Oh well,  she has a beautiful stitch and I hope to use her a lot in the coming months. 

I am READY to SEW!!!!

Sewing up a storm

I am in a sewing zone.  I am having a ball.   I am putting my frustration and impatience with our repairs into sewing.  I made these squares on Friday and loved them. 

Then on Saturday afternoon on Pinterest I found this quilt and was totally fascinated.  I played around and found that I could order a kit or a pattern.  I have only used one pattern in my quilting career.  I honestly don't know how I feel about a pattern or about selling a pattern.  I want what I make to be mine.   I respect those who have the ability to put together a pattern and/or a kit but it is just not me.  I find the quilting community to be so eager to share with one another. 

 

 After seeing this quilt I went back and took all my 9 patches apart.  Yes I took them all apart and redesigned what I was doing.

Here are a couple of combinations.  It is so much fun to put these squares together in different ways. I am almost confused.  

I am thinking this will be a throw for the back of my new sofa. 

And of course I could not resist a wonky star.  This will most likely become a pillow.

We rode home on Sunday to look at our house.  I am not sure that was a good idea.  It is really strange to think of someone else in your house all the time moving and rearranging stuff. 

Hopefully we are on the downslope.

Busy by the Sea

Our contractor told us that work on our house would go quicker if we would leave so we are at the beach trying to be patient.  If you have ever had work done on your house you know it is very frustrating and requires lots of patience.  One bedroom will be completely redone because the walls and floor got wet.  Furniture in most rooms in the house will have to be moved.  Thank goodness my sewing room was not damaged at all.  Everything had to be moved out of the attic. 

We are very fortunate that our insurance company has been good to us.  We have heard horror stories of certain insurance companies not wanting to pay up.  We are also taking this opportunity to paint and put in hardwood floors which I have always wanted.  And the best news is new furniture!!  I am working on some quilted pillows to go with my new sofa which is very colorful.  Also the hand quilting helps me to focus on the end results and not the inconvenience. 

I think I will machine quilt this one in parallel lines to give some texture.

I did this yesterday and I am not sure what to do with it.  Could be a cute pillow or maybe the beginning of a quilt to use in my new room.  I have some fabrics with me but inspiration has not hit me yet.  I am thinking of maybe doing some 6" squares in different patterns,  log cabin, 9 patch, etc and then putting them together. 

Any suggestions?

I had to include this picture of my precious younger grandson on his quilt.  Notice the boots,  it was in the 90s that day.   Do kids get any cuter than this?

 

 I found this quote and thought it fit what I was feeling.

 I believe in the imagination. What I cannot see is infinitely more important than what I can see.
Duane Michals
 I am trying very hard these days to concentrate on how our house will look in a month and not the way it looks right now.  I am also trying very hard to be grateful that someone else took the stuff out of the attic and I didn't have to.  Believe me only about 25% of it will go back.  I am going to take this opportunity to purge!!

 I am also loving playing with Pinterest these days.  So much fun to look and see what other folks are looking at.  It is very convenient for me with my redecorating. 

Starry Nine Patch

Progress on our house is very sloooow.  They came and worked really hard two weeks ago and then we didn't see anyone for 9 days.  It is frustrating.  The room upstairs will have to be stripped down to the studs to be sure there is no water damage in the walls.  The good news is our insurance company has been very cooperative and we will be able to do some overdue updating.  

Thankfully my sewing room was not damaged at all.  I have been doing a little sewing.  My daughter asked me to make a quilt for a co-worker of hers who adopted a baby girl.  My aunt did something similar with nine patches and stars.

Here is a close up.



My husband wants a quilt for the young woman who cuts his hair.  I found this idea at Film in the Fridge.  What a great idea.  I am going to use bright solids between the rows. 

Some of our furniture was damaged by the water coming in the house.  We have made a lot of decisions in the last few weeks.  Hopefully this mess will only last a few more weeks.

The Wrath of Irene

Hurricane Irene paid us a visit Saturday.  DH and I are fine but a couple of pine trees from the back of our lot fell and clipped our house.  One of the branches went into an upstairs bedroom and damaged the roof.  We had rain pouring in most of the afternoon!


This tree fell first and hit the other one breaking it off.  They both clipped the house.

This is the tangle of trees next to our sun room.

This is the ceiling of the room upstairs.  The hole in the wall is where the branch came through!

The trees blew out the window in the room we were sitting in.  My husband was sitting right by the window.  We have thousands of pieces of glass in the carpet and on the furniture in that room.  We were lucky.  All over town there are trees down and houses damaged.  Ours is not nearly as bad as many others.  Around the corner from us a huge tree fell on the house and half the house is crushed.

This is a car that was parked in our neighbors driveway.  They moved their other cars to the street!!



The strength of Mother Nature is amazing!  I hope everyone else all along the east coast survived.

Good Bye Irene!

Bad news for the east coast!  Hurricane Irene is on the way.  We have tied down,  bungeed down,  put up and are on the way to the grocery store to buy bread,  milk and wine (the essentials).  She is a nasty looking lady. 

We are trying to be prepared.  Lets hope it won't be as bad as it looks like it might.  Yesterday we thought it was going to the east of Cape Hatteras but this morning it looks like she will go between Cape Hatteras and Cape Lookout.  Right now it is a wait and see.   I wish I had a battery operated sewing machine.

We had an earthquake earlier this week!  Crazy weather week. 

Check out the challenge quilts

Lori at Cottonfields has hung the challenge quilts.  Her rules were use the two pieces of fabric and birds.  Look at the different ideas.  They are posted on her blog Talk is Cheap Quilts.  Mine is the one with the Freddy Moran chickens.

My cousins daughter is raising money for a adoption for a friend of hers.  I told her I would make a quilt and she could auction it.  My aunt gave me these squares several years ago and I never did anything with them.  I can't decide what background to use. 




I don't have any more of the orange print but I have some of the stars print. What do you think of this idea?  Here the star squares blend into the background.

The other problem I have is that even with a 4" border the quilt is only 30" wide.  Any ideas about how to make it wider.

The other day I found a site with a  tutorial about quilting as you go QAYG.  I am fascinated by the idea of making a big quilt and only quilting each square.  Have you ever tried it?  I did this square early in the summer but got distracted.  I would love for this to be the beginning of a big quilt.  Any ideas or suggestions?