So many projects....

 A few more pinwheels on the design wall.  Of course, I will not put them all up there since I need like 140+ of them.  Still many more to go.  

I'm just sewing a few at a time between other projects.  Trimming and pressing as I go.  My ironing board seems to stay full of something that needs pressed.  LOL!

I've been working on more embroidered rope bowls.  I have a craft show coming up on October 8th but I also have orders coming in right and left.  Yesterday one lady ordered 9 bowls.  

I know it looks like just a messy pile but it's all that I can do right now.  LOL!  

I have been moving from machine to machine.  I pieced the bowls on my Janome since it has a nice zigzag stitch.  The blue painters tape marks how large that I need the bottom circle to be so that it fits in the embroidery hoop.  

Then I move it to the embroidery machine.  While the embroidery machine is running and doing it's thing I am piecing pinwheels on my Juki TL2010Q.  Then after the base finishes embroidery, I then go back to the Janome and finish sewing the sides of the bowl.  So basically I am just jumping from machine to machine.  

Oh and all the while I have this shirt memory quilt spread out on the floor waiting to be sewn together.  

Oh and I also need to finish up a Denver Bronco rag quilt as soon as I clear some space to do that.  LOL!

On Monday, Everleigh, mom and I had lunch out.  Mom has to have a little procedure on Wednesday so she had to have a Covid test beforehand.  Everleigh enjoys getting out with us.  She gets a little car sick but she can't help that.  We just try to go slow and do the best we can with it.  She is doing some better with it.  She is such a good little girl and doesn't cry and fuss.  I believe her favorite food is pinto beans.  :)  

So Hunter got a haircut today!  This was his hair a few months ago

Then he went to this, which I took this pic this morning before he got it cut.

This is the end result!  Either way he is handsome and will always be my baby boy.  

And a pic of Hunter and Richard when Richard got home from work.

Oh and I will leave you with this adorable pic of my little nephew Tucker.  Chantal brought him up to play with Everleigh today.  They play so well together.  He is just the cutest little guy.

So I guess I need to close this post and get to work sewing...

Started a new one...

 Thanks for the wonderful comments on my SIL's quilt.  :)  She gave it to my brother and he loved it.  :)

I worked on my applique block.  I had it ironed to the background but hadn't stitched around it.  I got all of the green done but not the tulips yet.  After I get this first block done I will prep another.

 While I was working on the applique Richard built a grape arbor for me!!!  He is just so awesome!!!  I love it!!!

 He's still on vacation and Thursday had some nice weather so we took the motorcycle out for a little ride.  It was nice but a little windy.  We had a wonderful time.  In the pic we had stopped by the lake.  We rode about 110 miles.  Can't wait for warmer weather so we can do more riding.  :) 

 Friday we had errands to run.  Richard took his bow and had some work done on it.  He loves archery.  Picked up a few things from Sam's.  Stopped by Joann's and picked up these fabrics.  Not for any particular project but just to add to the stash.  :)  I got 1/2 yard of each.

 This came in the mail so I thumbed through it a bit after we got home.  I was tired so I really didn't feel like doing much.  I've been eyeing this book for a while.  I love the quilt!  I know that I really don't have time to start this quilt but I did do a block.  :)

 This is Block #1.  I'm not using the fabric colors suggested in the book, I'm just going to use my scraps for it.  Not in any big hurry for this quilt but I figure I could do a few blocks a week on it and eventually get it done.  As the cover of the books says, the blocks are 4x5 inches. 

 Shew...this momma is nervous.  LOL!  Andrew put in an offer on an apartment building.  It's a 3 unit building.  He has always wanted to have rental property even as a child.  He is now 26 and works 100+ hours a week.  He has been working hard for this.  Praying that the Lord will guide him in the right direction with this.  Right now the building is full with tenants but he may end up living in the smaller unit and continue renting out the other 2 apartments.  Not sure yet.  Anyway he put in an offer and now we wait...

Today I hope to work on a couple Lori Holt blocks and maybe another Anthology block.  Oh and maybe work on the purple tulip applique.  I don't like much finishing up that block.  I also have a customer t-shirt quilt that I need to work on.  I am so grateful for the customer work but I'm feeling a tad burned out right now.  I'm sure that will pass.  All that I can think about is wanting to work on something of my own.  LOL!  

Canning, Canning, and more Canning

In case you have been wondering where I have been...I've been canning!  LOL!  No quilting, just canning!  A couple of days ago Chantal, my sister brought me a bag of apples that she picked up in her yard before she cut her grass. 

 I turned those into 7 pints of Apple Butter!

 Her is little Addie, so proud of her blackberry cobbler that she made with her mommy!  She helped pick the berries and then helped make the cobbler.  Love that proud little smile.  :)

 I also baked an Apple Cake!  I didn't eat it but my guys liked it. 

 Then the next day Chantal brought me about a 1-1/2 bushel more apples!  They have spots on the outside but once you peel them they look perfect.

 So I sat and peeled, peeled and peeled...

 Then I made 15 half pint jars of Candied Applesauce.  Just applesauce with Red Hots Candy in it.  It's not hot but gives it a wonderful taste.  I still have a bunch of apples to process.  As far as the apples go...I'm just getting started on them.  We will end up with a ton!  The trees are loaded!  Since these apples grow on our properties I feel like they are pretty much like FREE food.  The Lord's gift to us.  :) 

 Then Richard picked our first picking of green beans for the year and ended up with a bushel.  This is just the start of those too. 

 I got those all strung, broke and canned.  I ended up with 14 quarts so far.  I still have 43 quarts leftover from 2016, which is fine as they will be eaten. 

 So I will be working on the rest of the apples over the next few days, then probably more beans....tomatoes....just whatever!  LOL!  It is a lot of work and very tiring but I love it!  

Today is Richard's 47th birthday!  I thank the Lord everyday for bringing him back into my life.  We dated in high school, he graduated and joined the Marines...got married...divorced and then 13 years later we got together and have been married for 16 years!  He and the boys are my world.  This man amazes me everyday.  Anyway...I hope he has a great day even though he has to work all day. 

Family Vacation to Virginia Beach

 We spent a few days at Virginia Beach!  It was very nice and we all had a blast.  It's amazing what a few days away can do for a person. 

 It was so nice to have the boys with us.  We left in the middle of the night on Thursday and got back home late Sunday evening. 

 King Neptune...

 They boys enjoying some pizza!  BTW...I have no clue what that reflection is on Andrew's head.  LOL!

 Cape Henry Lighthouse....

 Swannanoa Palace...

 We toured this on the way back home.

Just a short overview of our trip.  It had been 20 years since I had been to the ocean and Hunter had never been at all.  We had a wonderful time but I am still a little tired.  Funny thing...I forgot and took one of my lasix before we started home.  LOL!  Let's just say we had to stop a lot.  Never take a fluid pill when you are on a long trip.  :)

I'll post more tomorrow.  I also found a quilt shop at Virginia Beach and I stopped by and snapped a few pics.  I'll post all about that tomorrow.  

Machine Quilting and Birthdays...

 Yesterday I quilted this huge customer quilt!  I didn't even get it all in the photo but it measures something like 104x104.  This was her first quilt and she completely hand pieced it.  It is backed with a very soft purple flannel. 

 I quilted it with a loose design called Happy Times, because it had some fullness.  In the end, it quilted up really nicely without any puckers or pleats.  

I'm not sure of the fabric line but she used charm packs and they are such pretty fabrics....greens and purples. 

 Today I will cut and start sewing the binding on this big baby.  :)  Hope to have the binding done so that I can deliver this quilt on Thursday.  

Today is Richard's 46th birthday!!!!  I thank the Lord everyday for Blessing me with such a wonderful husband and father to our children.  He is working today.  :( 

Strip sets...

 So far I have 7 of the 20 big strip sets needed for my Trail Mix quilt.  I have all of the strips cut, just need to get them sewn together.  I also have a postage stamp block on the wall.  I have one or two more of those somewhere.  It is pieced from 1.5" blocks....64 squares in the block. 

 I snapped some photos of Mammy yesterday as I realized that I had not posted any of her for a while.  She is crazy!  Love her but her energy is just too much sometimes.  :)

 She is 112 pounds of craziness!  That's what she weighed last time at the vet, I think she actually weighs more now. 

 A photo of my girl!  Does she look rotten or what?  LOL!  Love her.

 I'm still canning and baking...Richard insisted that I make him some cookies before he went to bed.  LOL!  He's such a baby.

 I canned another case of Cowboy Candy.  This case is for my brother.  He loves this stuff. 

 I also put some corn and jalapenos in the freezer.  

Richard works all weekend and Hunter has a friend coming over.  Hunter has decided that he wants to play basketball at school.  I'm worried about his feet.  He has so many issues with them.  I called his doctor and he said to let him try it and if he has problems then let him stop.  I don't know...I worry but I also understand that he is a kid and wants to play.   He has practice once a week for a hour.  I'll see how that turns out. 

A wonderful day...

 I had such a wonderful day on Saturday!  It was one of those days that nothing was really accomplished but I was happy.  We got up early.  Richard was off and Andrew had to work.  Richard needed to go to town to have the front tires on the Jeep balanced so I went with him.  He dropped me off at Walmart and I picked up some milk and such and he came back by and picked me up.  Hunter didn't want to go because it was early so we dropped him off at mom's and he went back to sleep. LOL!  

Shortly after we got home Richard headed up to the sawmill to work a little and then after an hour or so he was back down to the house.  The sawmill is only a few hundred feet away from the house.  He came in and cooled off and then said, "you wanna take a 4-wheeler ride?"  Hunter was still asleep at mom's and I called to let her know where I was going.  We headed out through the woods! 

 I love living out in the country!  I find it so relaxing.  We don't get out and just "joy ride" on the 4-wheeler much as we are usually just too busy with life and work.  We mostly use it to work around on the farm and Hunter rides it back and forth through the woods to mom's house.

 The photos are a little blurry but we were moving.  This is the area that I grew up in as a child and live today.  This is my life...  I've never lived in the city and get a little nervous and anxious feeling when I am even in small cities.  I'm just a simple country gal. 

 After traveling through the woods for several miles we decided to just go on home by the blacktop road and not backtrack through the woods.  This is Yatesville Lake which is about a 5-10 minute walk from my house straight through the woods.  This is the tail end of the lake, it is a pretty big lake. 

 Here were are turning off the blacktop and starting up the hill to home.  We live a mile from the main road.  It's hard to really tell from this photo but this road is on a steep hill and just keeps winding around the ridge.  We live on top of the ridge which is actually called, "top of the world"  that is my actual address so that should give you an idea that we are on top.  :)

 Again, it's a little blurry but this is my mom's driveway.  She lives about 1/2 mile out through there.  She is the only one out there.  She is my neighbor but I can't see her house from mine.  We have a little walking/4-wheeler trail that goes through the woods from my house to hers. 

 The sky was beautiful...

 When we got home I talked Richard into just relaxing the rest of the day.  This man NEVER stops!  Although we have a million things that needs to be done, he needed a day to just relax.  

I baked some cookies for a snack for him and Hunter.  Not homemade but I got them marked down at Walmart this morning.  :)

 As I mentioned, Richard never stops and I think he was getting a little restless so we picked more apples.  Almost another bushel! 

 Then I fixed supper.  Fresh Ham that my sister just had butchered, mashed potatoes from the garden, fresh green beans that I canned a few days ago and cornbread.  I had green beans...  :(

I had a wonderful day!