A Finishing Day

Today John went to the lake and after my stint at Food Pantry this morning - I decided to get out a couple of old projects and see what I could finish.  I had finished the Thrifty Log Cabin top on Tuesday evening but the picture I took is terrible.  Anyway, I doesn't really look any different than the progress picture. 

And fair warning the pictures I took today are not that great either!  They are too big for my design wall so I just threw them down on the carpet.

It's not visible but I used 2 different red checks on the inner border and 2 different blue plaids on the outer border.  I looked around at the thrift shop but never could find a super big shirt that would work for the outer border.  Thanks to John's closet, I found just what I needed.  This quilt will be 75 x 88".

 

I still had some time so I brought out my Hidden Stars top.   All I had to do was piece two single rows for two adjacent sides so that the design would end with star points on those sides.

 

Before adding the extra rows

After adding the extra row

 

It will be 75 x 84".  Sally at The Traveling Quilter added two borders to her star quilt and it looks really nice but I think I will leave mine border-less.

Now I really have to get busy and make backings and bindings.  I have 7 tops with no backings.  I had gotten into a routine of making my backing and binding as soon as I finished the top but somewhere along the way I got lazy.  There was a time that I had almost 30 tops and I don't want to go there again.

Tomorrow we have Undercover Bee and that is always fun and inspiring to see what everyone else is working on.

More Thrifty Blocks

 

 

 I have been sewing the blocks into sets of four and then making a row from them.  So at the moment I have 3 rows of five double blocks.  The length is 80 inches. 

I think  I want to make it 80 by 88" - so I will need to sew 20 more blocks. That shouldn't take too long.  Maybe this will satisfy my little obsession with shirt fabrics for awhile.

I did finish another small quilt to donate to Safe Child but haven't taken a picture.

Friday at the Lake

After all the tree cutting and trimming a couple of weeks ago - they missed this one!  The top fell on the shed roof and the rest of the tree seemed wobbly.

John and Hay tried to pull it over with Hay's tractor.  after much messing around, they ended up sawing it down with the chain saw (but I think they like to play with their toys)

Later Ed came over with his tractor to pick up the sawed logs and take them to the burning pile at his place.  Thanks to the Old Guy Squad the tree is taken care of except for the piece still on the roof.  Need another guy for that!   And John can get out his tractor and mow the grass.


What did I do all day other than keep track of John?

 

I sorted through the toy boxes.  Gave some to the church for the yard sale, threw away some and what was left got a bath.

 

These old Fisher Price sets  from the 60's and 70's are my favorites.   Now all the toys will fit in one toy box.

Thrifty Log Cabin - More Blocks

A few more blocks made.  I think I have over 50 done.  They really go fast. 

I have a little box with stacks of the pre-cut pieces.  I usually sew about 6 blocks at a time,   I press each time I sew on two strips so it makes the pressing fast too.

I've also been working on sewing the other plaid quilt together and even have the first border on.  But no pictures yet.
 

Thrifty Log Cabin - Leftovers

 

I started making these 8 inch blocks a couple of weeks ago after seeing the pattern somewhere.  When I remember where, I will reference it.

Very simple to make, using 1.5 inch strips.  For each block cut 2 each - 1.5"x 1.5" squares, 1.5 x 2.5, 1.5 x 3.5, 1.5 x 4.5, 1.5 x 5.5, 1.5 x 6.5, 1.5 x 7.5 and 1 each 1.5 x 8.5" rectangles.

Piece small leftovers to make the slanted pieces and use them randomly.  The blocks are sewed with no regard to the placement of colors or shades within the blocks. 

I have enough blocks made now so that I have begun sewing them into blocks of four.  I have found that to work well on other log cabin types.  Then when I  am ready to sew them into a top it just seems like I'm ahead of the game.  Trying to psyche myself out I guess.

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Tomorrow we will have a switch up in house guests - Joyce is leaving for the airport at 9 AM and heading back to Chicago.  We've had lots of fun together and she is a joy to have around.

At noon, we'll pick up Emily after church and she'll stay with us until Mom & Dad get back from New Orleans.  Given her schedule at school, cheer leading and dance lessons  -
not sure how much we'll see of her.  But looking forward to having her anyway.

A Nice Surprise

Al, Howard, Joyce & John

We had a nice surprise this week.  Half of the children in John's family were together for a visit.
Howard & his wife had been in Myrtle Beach for the Golf Tournament last week and planned to spend a few days here this week.

Joyce's daughter, who lives in CA, has tickets to the DNC convention on Wed & Thurs.  So she picked up her Mom in Chicago and brought her along to visit while she is in Charlotte.

Sunday we had an impromptu party at Tracey's with all the cousins who could make it.
We took Joyce back to the lake with us and have been having lots of fun catching up.


Meredith & Tracey

We have lots of things planned all week.  Movie night, game night, etc. Today, was a perfect day for a ride on the lake. 

Tomorrow Joyce and I will make casseroles for the church festival on Saturday and then we will have Game night in the evening.  Catan anyone?