Binding progress........................

Now I have one and a half sides hand stitched on Purple Rosy.  The long side is 82" so I started with that one.  I'm really happy with this diagonal stripe for the binding.

These are the colors on the needles for this month's dishcloths.

Today will be 30 degrees and then we will be above freezing for a week..or more.  The little bit of snow that was on the grass melted on Friday.  There are still small piles at the side of my driveway.

 

Decision made......................

Either one of the fabrics I pulled to audition for the binding choice on Purple Rosy would have worked but I ended up choosing the diagonal stripe.  This is the original fabric, not the archive reprint.  I only got about 24" hand stitched last night.

I sewed 2 more combinations of fabrics into Double 4 patches.  There are 2 of each of these, so 8 blocks were sewn.

We got up to 37 degrees yesterday, the first time above freezing in almost 3 weeks.  Now we have 2 colder days over the weekend and then 30s and 40s next week.

Machine fixed, cutting and sewing...............

These are the blocks I was trying to sew when my machine had no tension.  When I worked at the sewing machine store, the boss showed all of the employees how to take the top off of our Pfaff machines so we could find errant threads.  I did that 2 nights ago and couldn't find any thread but cleaned out some lint.  I did some flossing of the tension discs with a folded strip of fabric and kept testing the sewing but nothing was working.

Yesterday morning I opened the top of the machine again and finally the thread that was causing the problem was visible.

I got the other combinations sewn last night too.

I got all of the rest of the strips ready to cut the final batch of 4.5" squares.  This is a total of 40 blocks, so not enough for a throw size quilt.

All of them are cut now so I have one more evening of mindless sewing ready.

Yesterday the weather people were saying we could have a wintry mix falling and making slippery roads so I did my grocery shopping in the afternoon.  Maybe today I'll get the binding cut for Purple Rosy too while I stay inside for the day.

Trimmed.....................

Purple Rosy has had been trimmed so I will have another binding to do.  I want to finish this one by hand.

That will be good because my main Pfaff machine is having problems.  It has no tension and I have checked everything that I can get to.  I'll bring one of my other machines upstairs.

I looked for binding choices but haven't explored all of the choices yet.  These 2 are possibilities but I need to lay them at the edge of the quilt and see just 3/8" to decide.

Yesterday a friend came over to have me help her with fabric choices for some of her projects.  She brought Subway sandwiches.

Sewing was interrupted..................

Someone is going to the far side of a neighboring state to see my great-grandchildren.  That means baking treats for them.  The chocolate chip cookies are delicious.

I also made shortbread and peanut butter cookies.  I had to test them too.  I need to know I'm sending them good treats.  That's my story..............

I did get started cutting the 4.5" squares for the double 4 patch blocks.

We have had 18 days in a row below 32 degrees, the average temperature for this date.  Thursday may get up to 32, but Friday is slated for high 30s.  Next week is all 30s and 40s.  I'll probably see someone in shorts and flip flops at the grocery store.  Yes, this is normal near Chicago.....   

My oldest child turns 65 today.  He has his Medicare card.....  This hardly seems possible.

Mindless sewing.....again...................

Yesterday was a PT day so I have to be watching the clock.

One thing I did get done during the day was to layer several stratas, staggered by 1" and cut 2.5" segments from them.  I had sewn the 2 strips together and did the pressing last week.

Last night's mindless sewing was making the 80 four patches which will be used in 40 double 4 patch blocks.  I need to cut the 4.5" squares now from the 4.5" strips.

Part of the reason I didn't get much done yesterday was because of this morning entertainment.  A few months ago I showed how the city had cut the top of this tree off and left this huge trunk standing.  They had actually cut off part of it before I realized what that noise outside was.

At this point they have a rope tied around the top of the trunk, the rope then went around a big branch in the tree in the neighbor's yard, and then tied to to the front loader. He is cutting around the base of it now and they pounded in wedges on the right side and pulled it over to the left, with a big thud.

Bye, bye, tree.  They cut the stump down lower and it looks to be maybe 12" tall, spray painted orange with and orange cone sitting on top of it.  I guess that is to remind the neighbors not to back over that way.  It was overcast so they didn't need to worry about the sun getting in the eyes of the man with the chainsaw.

 

A new month, unlimited possibilities.....................

As usual at the beginning of a new month, I'm looking ahead to what I want to work on.  The last 18 months have been devoted to emptying storage boxes with partial projects in them.  9 of the quilts last year came from these empty boxes. The bottom supports on my drafting table are a great place to store lots of the boxes.

As I go through more boxes, I'm finding more pieces leftover from previous projects.  These 180 four and a half inch squares are left from the Double 9 patch quilt I made in 2008.  

These 72 green four and a half inch squares are left from a blue and green Double 4 Patch quilt also made in 2008.  I used a lot of the blue leftovers in 2 Bear Paw quilts.  In this post I was trying out layouts of the blocks.

In another box are these 204 batik four and a half inch squares.  A lot of them are leftover from a kit I sold to a friend for a Double 4 patch quilt, maybe from 2 kits.  Now that I have a record of these on my blog, I can refer back to this post if I find a pattern that I want to make that will take this size square.  I also have the 35 purple and green leftover portion of the 4.5" strips to cut into 4 squares of each.

I'll keep looking through things today.  I know I want to press the flannel scraps and cut more tumblers and squares from them.  If I can just get the pain in my back and leg to stop I'll get more done.  I have an appointment this month for a treatment that will possibly work.