Seven, Eight and Eleven

Here is block seven finished.

Block eight is being sewed now. 

And I prepped block 11 yesterday.

Hopefully I will prep 12 today and finish sewing 8? We will see.

I was hoping to have a lot less scraps at the end of this project, but now that over 1/2 the blocks are prepped (there are 20 blocks), it isn't looking like many of the fat quarters I am using will be used up. 

The hexigon quilt is all scraps, but I just haven't worked on it recently. Must put that on my list of to do and get some more done on it. Here is the block I am *still* working on. 

Linking to Confessions of a Fabric Addict , Quilt Fabrication, and Esther's Quilt Blog go over and see how others are spending some time. 

Our Plum Tree, A Finished Block and One in Progress, and a pretty gift I received

I sewed the last day or so instead of prepping more blocks. Here is the one I finished.

Here is the one I am sewing on now. I went back to the way I usually do needle turn and have the pieces not sewn yet on a piece of felt.

Here is our plum tree. Lots of flowers this year. Last year due to hubby's accident he wasn't able to trim it at the proper time so the tree didn't produce well. In the past we have harvested some years enough to enjoy as much as we could eat in plums, and I have canned over 40 jars of preserves some years. I am out of preserves so hoping this year is one with lots of plums.

Here is a lovely plant one of our guests gave me Easter.

Linking up to Fiber Tuesday at Mel's Quilting Room

Happy Easter! Prep work, Slow Stitching Sunday, and garden pictures

This post will be picture heavy, will post the quilty things first.

 I am prepping some days and sewing some so this is the block I am sewing on right now.

Here are the ones I have been prepping ahead.

 Today will find me hopefully doing both a little stitching and prepping.

Head over to Kathy's Slow Stitching Sunday to see what others are sharing.

We had a family fish fry late yesterday afternoon after everyone was off of work at our home. Today I have to run to grocery for a couple of last minute ingredients for tomorrow.  Tomorrow we have all the family back for a ham late lunch with tons of food. I will try and remember to get some pictures tomorrow.

Here are pictures of our garden so far. Still lots to do but the jalapenos are from last year. Even with the few really cold days we had the two plants kept producing. And they are HOT.

 This is a grape vine we have had for a couple of years. Hopefully this year it will produce a few grapes.

 These are the herb boxes hubby made and hung on our fence as his first woodworking project after the fall from the crane. I love them. These are the herbs that are coming back along with the gnomes that decorate the boxes.  Our youngest daughter is our gardening helper (and her 2 year old lol) and so I picked up a few decorations for her. With the issues hubby and I both have now some days it is hard to get the yard things (and some house things) done and she comes over and helps as much as we need. So thankful for all of our children. They have grown into amazing adults. She helps the most because the rest all work outside the home.

 These are the tomatoes, bell peppers and eggplant that hubby planted a couple of weeks ago and the two jalapeno plants from last year. I want to try making jalapeno jelly. Anyone have a great recipe they are willing to share?

And last by surely not least is Ebbie on what she thinks is "her" swing lol. She loves to swing and jumps on it all the time. Sometimes when we are working outside she will nap on it lol.

Well if you made it this far I would love to hear from you. Thanks for reading my book lol.

Block 6 finished and 7 started

Finished up block 6 on Friday night.

I tried the starch/freezer paper prep method on this one. I see why some people would like it, but I still prefer needle turn applique.

Here is block 7 that I prepped for needle turn yesterday and started sewing on last night.

Not my favorite block color wise, but my daughter - in -love picked the fabrics and the quilt will be for her. Shhhh. She doesn't know about my blog as far as I know so it should be safe to post here as I go lol.

Linking up to Kathy's Slow Stitching Sunday . Go on over and see what others are doing today.

Busy Morning and New Tool Review

This morning I met hubby at the orthopedic surgeon for his 6 months visit. He isn't ready to have the reverse replacement surgery so Workers Comp requires he go every 6 months to keep the case open. Everything was still as it was last time so that's good.

Came home and started chicken wings in the crockpot for supper. Hopefully the nasty storms won't knock out our electricity. I didn't think about that when I defrosted the chicken yesterday. Oh well if it goes out I will finish in the power cooker tonight.

Ate breakfast, did devotional, next up is dishes from breakfast and quilt. I am still trying to finish up the surprise quilt for grandson. They know he is getting a quilt but not the pattern, etc. I promise plenty of pictures of it once he gets it in May for his birthday. Once this one is finished I will have lots of updates as I will be working on lots of other projects.

Here is my latest tool. I really like it. Due to RA in most of my body (diagnosed at 3 with it in 98% of my body. My grandma had it really bad), my hands don't always play right closing pins to baste for hand quilting.

It's called the Kwik Klip and why did I wait so long to get one??? A lot of you probably already use it, but I used it on grandson's quilt for the first time a few days ago. I love it!!

Keep us in good thoughts, prayers, whatever you can, we are in south Louisiana and starting today they are predicting up to 10" of rain over the next few days. I am praying for all of you who are in the projected areas also.

The new Whimsical Block

It is glue basted haven't started hand applique yet. Will straighten up the rough places while I stitch.

The last two pictures are updates on the scarf I am making. The pictures don't do justice to the yarn colors. But give you a closer look at the pattern. I am almost finished with the second section on the scarf. I only knit a short while every day because of RA. 

Updates

Here is what I have been working on (other than the surprise quilt.

This is the latest block from My Whimsical Quilt. I need to prep the next one.

This is the hexi block I am working on right now. Still have alot to do on it. If you see the red hexi block on the chart next to it that is the one this will be when it is all grown up.

This isn't a very good picture. Will try to get a better one for the next update on it. This is the scarf that I am knitting right now.

Please go to Slow Stitching Sunday at Kathy's blog and see what others are doing today.

Hi There!

No pictures today. The quilt I am working on right now is a birthday quilt for our youngest grandson who will be 3 in May. His mom stalks my blogs sometimes and since it is a surprise I won't show it until his birthday. But it is super cute!

I'll have pictures to update on the hexie sampler and possibly the applique tomorrow or later today.

This was mostly to say I am still here lol. Hopefully I will be posting more regularly on here and stalking all my favorite blogs and actually have time to comment. I read them everyday but had started reading them in bed at night and not as easy to comment from my kindle. Trying to go back to reading on the computer so I can post comments.

Stash busting?

Is it really possible? To end up with less fabric after a project than you had before? I aim to find out this year.

Here are the "rules" I have set for myself.

Before buying any fabric other than backings and sometimes backgrounds,  I have to search through ALL my fabric in all the holding places, some in plain sight, alot not in plain sight. If there is nothing that will work, I can buy exactly how much I think I will need. NO EXTRA even if I love it. (that will be the hard part).

I must make a dent in my many yards of Ricky Tims hand dyes. Those are the fabrics I have a hard time cutting into.

I must add the leftover fabrics from my Baltimore Blue quilt to the stash and stop saving it for something special.

How will I reward myself if I stick to it? Well I will buy more fabric of course silly. LOL. At least then I will have a place to store it.

Check out A Quarter Inch from the Edge . She started it lol.

2016??

Hard to believe another year is over! Onward to 2016!

Today my slow stitching project is my hexie project. I have thought about trying inklingo for a really long time after seeing how well it worked for Karen over at Karen's Quilts. Finally about a month ago I bit the bullet and downloaded one of the hexie sets. So far (I have 3 done so far) I really like it. I enjoy hand piecing and really didn't like hexies when whip stitching and using EPP. I know alot of people love it, I am just not one of them. The printing on fabric scared me but Karen over the last year or so answered alot of questions for me and it is really easier than I thought it would be. Here are a couple of pictures of the project I am planning on working on this year. Since I have alot of other projects going also it will be a long term project.

First picture is the one I am working on right now. It will be the red one in the second picture. I have 2 of the first row flowers done and one of the jacks looking one on the second row finished.

Linking up to Kathy's Quilts for Slow Stitching Sunday. Go by there and see what others are working on today.