Work In Progress

Here are two photos of the quilt I'm currently working on. It's a basket quilt made out of 1930's reproduction fabrics. The quilting designs I am using are my own designs. I've used "Kissing Swans" in the alternate blocks on-point, and in a straight setting in the pink border. I've also used parts of the Kissing Swans in the setting triangles. I'll do some ruler work in the basket blocks.

The pink borders are all complete. I've been working about 2 hours a day on this quilt, so things are going slowly. Tomorrow I'll work on the blue border (I don't know what I'll put in it just yet) and then work on the alternate blocks and finally the basket blocks.

I'm using Fairfield Hi-Loft poly batting for this quilt. I had originally planned to trapunto this quilt and therefore the poly batting for the trapunto. At the last minute I decided I didn't want to go to all the work trapunto requires and yet I didn't want to waste the batting. So, this quilt has poly batting. I almost never use poly batting in my own quilts. I prefer the soft, comfy feel that Hobbs Heirloom batting gives a quilt.

The quilting designs are applied using a water soluable pen. I'll spray water on the marked areas after the quilt is done and bound to get rid of the marks.

Paul and I finally got the quilting machine put back together last week and I'm ready to get started quilting :D I hope to have the additional lighting put in this week so I can see better. The room is pretty dark as it is.

My business license should be here in a week or 2 and then I'll be ready for business. In the meantime, I'm going to try to get caught up on a few of my own quilts. I have a basket quilt made with 30's reproduction fabrics and a couple of art quilts to finish. I'll post photos of them once I get them quilted.

We should be making a trip down to Reeds Spring in about 2 or 3 weeks. I'll try to make some contacts once I know for certain when we'll be down, and I can pick up quilts at that time.

Hannah has joined a watercolor club at school and is enjoying learning new ways to paint. The club prints the artwork into cards, postcards and posters for the kids to sell so they can pay for the art supplies they use.

Sarah is continuing to homeschool and is enjoying the hands-on activities we are doing this year. Right now we are studying weather with lots of projects to make such as books and graphs and calendars as well as some experiments. Her Bible study is also a hands-on class and she really likes all the crafts we are making.

For now, I'm trying to get everything unpacked and then remember where I put it-ha!

Back to Routine

We had a great weekend with family visiting and a BBQ on Monday. Our old BBQ pit didn't make the move so we bought a new one that took Paul and I almost 2 hours to put together. I'm not certain that my "helping" was really helping speed things up-ha!

The girls had fun spending time with their cousins. They found that this new house has lots of places to hide when you're playing hide-and-seek.

I also spent most of Friday and Saturday sewing up new curtains. Hannah wanted curtains that matched the theme of her bedroom, so we bought pirate themed fabric and I stitched up a valance for her. She didn't want full curtains so the valance worked out great. I also stitched up a valance for the window over my kitchen sink and for Caleb's room. He had a pink ruffled valance in that room - a bit too girly, so I bought a green hand-dyed look fabric and made curtains out of that.

There is a Jo-Ann's store 2 miles from the house :D So nice to be able to drive just a few minutes to purchase fabric as opposed to 45 minutes from our RS house. There is also a local quilt guild that meets once a month just a few miles from the house, so I'll be able to join. Their meetings are in the evening after Paul gets off work so he can babysit the girls while I'm at meetings. I'm looking forward to being a part of the guild.

Today we are back to our normal routine - work, school, and homeschool. We're all a bit tired after the weekend, but life goes on! Sarah is progressing in her handwritting and reading. Hannah is joining a watercolor club that is being held after school today. She's looking forward to that. I'm catching up on laundry and house cleaning and hope to find a few minutes to get some patchwork done.