Ever Wonder?

I am thankful every day for the life I have. I'm truly blessed to have the greatest family and friends...

Missing Andrew who had to take care of his kids

This is Calebs military commissioning which occurred on Friday. 

I was able to give Caleb his first salute as an officer...

That was a pretty moving moment for me

Thursday we were here...

Lia's Masters hooding

Lia and Caleb are now both Masters recipients and the weekend rounded up heading to Lansing again for Zechariah's 2nd birthday party on Saturday. 

Okay, so Sunday the girls needed baths and after that I HAD to sew something. Since I was sick on Tuesday and Wednesday, and you see what we were doing Thursday-Saturday, Sunday was spent intermittently sewing stuff. I finished the Cabin quilt (didn't get a pic), got the binding put on this little piece...

Ready to head to the new studio when needed

And I'm working on getting the blanket stitching around the Welcome piece for our RV. Sewing machine is hanging out in the back room while I'll be working on that for the next few days. 

So, now it's back to our regularly scheduled programming. Expecting a customer drop off later today. I'll be on DW working on Pat's braided quilt, and getting Dianes quilt off Bernie and another loaded. Wow do I miss long arming; I can't wait to finish the house chores and fire up the big machine!

Happy Game Day!

Here in Michigan there is a HUGE college football rival: Michigan State University (MSU) versus the University of Michigan (UofM). MSU's colors are green and white. UofM's colors are Maize and Blue. We bleed green heavily in this family because all the boys graduated there as well as all three of their wives. And...Jim used to work there.

Go Green! Go White!

Here is our fall pumpkin ready for Halloween tomorrow decked out in the MSU green and white. 

There is a lot of superstition in this family about game day (and I won't go into all the detail here), but one of the situations is my watching the game. Either I have to watch the whole thing (and I mean start to finish without any interruptions) or I don't watch it at all. I'll be long arming during the game. I can't sit there for three or more hours doing nothing but watching the television.

Here are the threads going into Lois' second top... 

Picking threads is fun

I received my Angela Walters panel and borders yesterday, and the prior day the thread arrived. I don't know how much I'm going to be able to participate in this quilt-along because the week it's happening is the week mom is having hip surgery. 

After working on the long arm for what felt like all day, I made two more pineapple blocks while Jim was out working on the toy box. Here's the seven I have made so far...

Seven Pineapples in a line

And of course, last night while building them, I couldn't help thinking about how they would be quilted. 

I think I need to run over to Pieces this morning to get some white for the unicorn pattern I just bought on Tuesday. I won't be starting them any time soon, but would like to have it handy for when I do dig into them. And it's always nice to go over and visit with the girls. 

Quilted and Ready to Bind

Please take note! I'm going to actually hand bind this quilt. I know, I know, I usually don't. My exceptions are the following: 

1) An art piece (such as this), or 

2) An Heirloom piece that won't be used on a daily basis and will be used for guest beds and decoration. 

All other quilts (baby, utility, etc.) get a machine binding. And even some of those art quilts that would benefit from a decorative stitch in the binding may be machine bound.

For me, hand binding is done on those rainy days while watching a movie, or while visitors come to call and we are just sitting and chatting. Many of the later days will occur since Jim can't go visit other people. 

Here's the quilt on the rail sitting patiently for the binding to be completely attached.

It almost looks as good as the day it was made

Katie asked earlier what I was up to today. While Jim and I were getting the new pressing/cutting unit put into the studio, another few WIP's were found. I don't even remember what those were because we were trying to get that done and getting ready for his surgery as well and I just laid them in there until I had time to deal with them. 

Today's studio work is a mystery because whatever's on top in that tote is getting worked on next. Let's hope it's something fun!

Crusin' Along

Here's where the bookmark went in last night...

The bottom half of the "S"

Doing matchsticks over and over (and over again) is extremely time consuming. I think even more so than pebbling. 

I may finish this today depending on Jim's needs and any visitors who happen by. Although, we aren't expecting anybody today since this is Easter weekend and most of our neighbors are staying downstate with their families to celebrate. 

We obviously can't go out at all so I guess this Easter weekend is a wash for us and we'll do it up grandly next year. 

New Routine

Now that Jim is convalescing a new routine is being established around the house. His life needs get attended to first in the morning. Sponge baths (he can not shower AT ALL), making his "nest" on the couch for the day, shaving, hair washing, meds, meals, and all other things he normally does himself. 

Then my day begins.

So daily blogging and getting started in the studio will, of course, be later. 

I did manage to get some quilting done yesterday on Andrew's (re)quilt. While getting Jims new room ready for his time downstairs, I was able to locate my old quilting journal and found this!

Sorry for the sideways pic

This was the quilt right after it was finished in 2000. It doesn't look that good now by a long stretch but I'm at least trying to get it as fixed as I can given the damage. 

Because this top is so, (so, so, so) fragile, I'm matchsticking EVERYTHING except the outer border, and that's receiving a 3/4" piano key. Andrew's planning on hanging it in his new man cave in his basement (which is just as nice as his main living area actually) so I want it to look as well as I can make it. It's taking a lllooonnnggg time to match stick each and every square, but from the looks of it already, will be well worth the effort.