Little of This, Little of That

Well, I certainly haven't been posting, so what have I been doing? I did get RRCB and the Star Log Cabin off to the LAQ. Did I remember to take a photo of the Star Log Cabin before I sent it off? Of course not!


I have been trying to get rid of my pre-cut six inch squares. I made most of them into Indian Hatchet blocks. I didn't count them as I was going, I just sewed the corners on. When they were finished, I started out dividing them into four categories; darks, pastels, brights, and dull mediums. The dull colors had too much gray to be dark or bright, and they weren't pastel. As I started counted each category to see if it would work for a quilt. I decided to break up the dull category and add to each of other piles. I ended up with 80 blocks each for the brights and pastels, so I'll set those 8 x 10. I had 134 darks, so I made 10 more, and I'll set it 12 x 12. I only have a few 6" squares left, mostly light neutrals, so I will cut those into 2" squares, which I use all the time, and it will all be good :-) Now I am out of all the sizes I stopped saving! I'll have to get the three quilts assembled sometime soon.

This was my leader/ender project while I was assembling the Star Log Cabin. I needed to add all the corners on these 80 blocks, so I did that while making all the Indian Hatchet blocks. These blocks are now ready to assemble too.

Today I worked on making baby bibs. I thought I had purchased a dozen towels for bibs, but it turns out I had 14. So far 7 are done, but I only took a photo of these four. The sea horses and the whale applique I had prepared when I was making a sea quilt last year, but they didn't make the final cut for the quilt. I decided I may as well use them now, and thought they'd be cute on the bibs. I'm using some old trims on some of the bibs, and the really colorful one on the end, came in a three pack of printed towels, all the same design. Tomorrow I hope to finish the rest of the bibs, though not all of them will go to the twins. My mother had sent the twins some bibs she had made a while back, and that's what we've been using. I can't remember how many she sent, 6 or 8 I think. I do laundry almost every day, but it's still hard to keep up with the bibs. Two babies, right now eating two meals a day, and they go through four bibs a day, plus I use bibs on the little guy I babysit. Once the twins are up to three meals per day, it will be six bibs per day, so I'm thing at least a dozen bibs total is reasonable. It's amazing how fast things add up using the two at a time.

Let's see, anything else of note? Miss S cut her first tooth! I think she'll have more shortly. Mr. L is a little behind her, and I think she'll have a second tooth before he has his first.

DS the Younger went to Texas with DS the Elder. He's checking things out, trying to decide if he'd like to relocate. If he decides to stay here, we may end up signing him up last minute for classes at the community college this semester, or he may take this semester off. I'm not sure what he will decide. Kids have so many choices nowadays, it's no wonder they have such a hard time deciding. It used to be, people stayed in the town they grew up in, and college was out of reach for most. Now it is what do I want to do, and where do I want to do it? Even with the lousy economy, kids are still faced with far more choices than our parents ever had.

Down to the Wire

I had two weeks with no babysitting, and I made some big goals. I wanted to cut up all the shirts I bought in Flagstaff (not cut into certain shapes, just cut off the seams and leave only usable fabric. I finished that two nights ago.

I also wanted to have the six quilt tops I was working on to finished top stage. I finished the sixth top tonight, and I babysit in the morning, so I just squeaked this top in before my self-imposed deadline.


I'll try to take a better photo in the next couple of days, but I have no place inside the house to lay it out to photograph the whole quilt. This one is about 104" square. At least by taking a photo of 1/4 of it, you can see the stars going into the inner border. I'm anxious to see the whole quilt laid out myself.

I chose binding fabrics for the log cabin quilt and RRCB today. I need to iron the backings this weekend, then I can pack them up to send to the LAQ. I try to at least get rid of the fold lines in the backings, even though I know it will get a bit wrinkled on the way.

Tomorrow I babysit, as well as Monday and Tuesday. I might sew this weekend, but I may not. I feel like I've done quite a bit of sewing lately, and a few days off would not be a bad thing. If I do sew, maybe I will piece some backings and pin baste a quilt or two.

Loving It So Far

Since the RRCB quilt top is finished, it's time to put the log cabin together. I've had the blocks done for a month or so. I've known since I started this quilt that it was going to be one I really liked. I was right, and I may have to make another one since this one is being given away.


Here is the center done. That's as far as I've gotten. I need to piece the inner border next. The white stars will go into the inner border, so I have lots of star points to piece. The outer border will be a plain border, so really, once the inner border is done, I'm home free. I bought an extra wide backing for this quilt too, so by the end of the week, this quilt and RRCB should be on the way to the LAQ.


I realized I hadn't posted pics of the twins on my blog lately. Here is Mr. L during his first encounter with banana baby food.


Here is Miss S the same day. They are pretty funny babies. So far they are not impressed with fruit at all, but they like all the vegetables. Maybe that trend to not like sweets will continue and they'll always eat healthy? Doubtful, but at least for now they eat their vegetables.

RRCB is a Top!

I am doing the happy dance tonight! I was moving pretty slow today, but I got the last two borders on RRCB and the top is done! I fussy cut the outside border this morning. I was trying to center those purple medallions in it. I think I did OK, especially considering I had never fussy cut something so long before.

Here is the top spread out on my driveway. We tried putting it on a blanket, but it was bigger than the blanket!

I took a close up of the borders. I really like the double yellow borders. Everyone in this house agreed on the light fabric for the outside border. Now I just have to decide on a binding fabric. This quilt is being sent out for quilting and binding, so I'm finished with it. I was originally going to piece a backing for it, but since the top has so many seams, I decided to buy an extra wide backing.

Tomorrow I start assembling the log cabin quilt. It needs to go out for quilting too, and I want to send them both at once. I'm very anxious to see the log cabin quilt together. Although the quilt is for someone else, the colors are very "me" colors, and I think I'm going to love it.

First Two Borders

This isn't a great picture, but I just wanted to show that I did get the first two borders on RRCB. If I were to stick with Bonnie's plan, I would be finished the top, but I am going to add two more borders. After seeing the quilt center on my bed, I did decide to make the outside border a little narrower than my first plan. The pieced border really does lay pretty flat, it's just hanging kind of weird.

The pieced border took me a lot longer to put on than I had anticipated. I knew I hadn't finished ironing the border pieces, but I thought I had ironed more than I had. I also wanted to cut all those dog ears off before I sewed it on, and that took a while. I wasn't feeling well today, so I was moving pretty slow too.

The next border is another narrow yellow border. It is all cut and pieced, ready to put on. The outer border still needs to be cut.

I finally did all the math for the inner border on the log cabin quilt. I cut all the pieces for it today, so when the RRCB quilt top is finished, I'll be ready to assemble the log cabin quilt and get it finished too. My goal has been to have all six quilt tops completed before I babysit again next Friday. Four tops are done, and RRCB is almost there. I think I can do it, but there is still a lot of work to be done.