Quilted!

 

The blocks for my next quilt have all been quilted. Next up, trim them to size. 

I'm going to approach this quilt a little differently. I have been binding all the blocks, and then choosing the layout. This time, I'm going to choose the layout first, and then bind them. That way I can join blocks in the evening while watching t.v. Leaving all the joining until the end is a little tiring on my hands!

Joanne's quilt

 

It took me all day, but I finished Joanne's patriotic pot holder quilt today!  I'm so pleased with the way it turned out.

I foolishly thought that I had a chance of finishing this when Joanne was still here. It took my seven weeks, with a start date of June 15. Joanne and family headed home July 7. It took a little bit longer than anticipated!

Dave asked what I'll work on next. I guess he hasn't noticed that I've already started another quilt!

Quilt blocks and beads

 

I spent quite a bit of time working on quilt blocks today, and I managed to finish eight.

Since daughter Joanne and granddaughters Sophia and Kara are also working on quilt blocks, I took pictures of both the front and back of each block so that they could get some ideas for their blocks.

I have an idea for using fairy wands, so I put some more together this afternoon. Once my supplies arrive, I'll share what I've thought of doing... if my idea works!

Happy birthday!

Today is daughter Carol's 45th birthday. Happy birthday, Carol! To celebrate, we went to a new Italian restaurant in the next town south of us. The food was delicious, and the company was even better.

Before leaving for the restaurant, I finished up the last of what I've been thinking of as my beige blocks. Each block has a different quilting pattern, all straight line quilting.

When we returned home, I started working on my red blocks. I only finished four, but my total for the day was nine... pretty good!

Joanne sent me a picture of granddaughter Kara practicing her sewing. Joanne and the girls went shopping for practice fabric this morning. The girls are doing a great job!

Craft day

I spent a lot of time crafting with two of my granddaughters today... long distance, of course! They're in Georgia, and I'm in Illinois. 

One of the things we're doing is making beaded pens. I'm not sure what the kids will do with theirs, but I will be passing mine out at school.

Sophia and Kara have decided that they want to learn to sew. I found some inexpensive fabric squares on Amazon and had them shipped to their house. Sophia practiced on the sewing machine today.

Kara worked on hand quilting. I'm so proud of both of them!

Another quilting day

 

We thought there might be more storms today, so I started my day with quilting five more blocks for my next quilt. It did get a little dark for a while, but we never saw any rain. That's okay!

I really wanted to watch The Alamo today. I remember going to the movie theater with my sister on a Saturday afternoon. The deal was that when we got home we had to tell Mom all about it. I often wonder if we did a good job telling about the movie. I was only 8 years old when it came out. I've asked Mom, and she doesn't remember. 

Anyway, it was easier to work on sewing two strips together for Joanne's quilt than to concentrate on tatting. My next step will be to add the final strip to these two. After that, I will join the first four strips with the last three. The end is in sight!

Stormy weather

 

This morning I quilted five more quilt blocks. Each block has a different quilting design, which should make an interesting quilt.

I would have liked to accomplish more today, but we had some fierce storms this afternoon. Our mail lady came in and sat with us in the house for a good half hour until things calmed down. Luckily, we only had a few tree branches come down. Timing for dinner was just right. About 20 minutes after we finished cleaning up, our power went out for two and a half hours. 

Obviously, the power is back on, but now it's almost time to head off to bed. Hopefully, I'll accomplish more tomorrow!