August Quilting Spree a Bust!

You know what they say about the best laid plans, right? Well, my plan had been to get almost all of my quilt tops quilted by the end of August. If I get even one more quilted I will be shocked! I haven't sewn a stitch since we got back from Granny's funeral. I haven't pin-basted any quilts either. It has just been crazy! DD#3 had her tonsils out last Friday, and she is still feeling awful. She's been running a fever off and on, but not a high enough one to be concerned about infection. Since she is out of commission, I am caring for the twins, which is pretty time consuming. Sewing with two 19 month olds underfoot is not happening.

 I babysat Monday and Tuesday, and the 2 year old I watch is potty training. Monday went well for that, Tuesday, not so much. Trying to sit him on the potty every 30 minutes or so when I have three kids younger than him in the house is interesting.

I had my dates all mixed up in my head, and I thought my DDIL and Miss E were coming in from Texas next weekend. Turns out they'll be here this weekend. I will love spending time with them, I know Miss E is crawling now, and spending time with my DDIL is always fun. DDIL is in town to meet with two surgeons, so she can choose one to fix her knee, which she hurt falling down our stairs back in May. Returning to the scene of the crime for the surgery. Hopefully she can get the surgery scheduled soon, then she and Miss E will be back for a few weeks while she has surgery and recovers. I'm sure DS the Elder will be flying out to see them as he has a chance, but he has been working long hours to help pay all the medical bills.

Next Wednesday DD#3 goes back to college, and I am really hoping she feels better by then. I will be watching the twins 4 days a week while she goes to school, and my babysitting schedule for the other two I watch is changing as well. It looks like I will be babysitting varying amounts of kids Monday-Friday, which is a LOT more than I have been doing.

If I go more than a week without posting, it will likely be just because I haven't sewn anything. Once I get used to the new normal, and DDIL is recovered from her surgery, I think I will actually be able to carve out some sewing time, at least on the weekends. I am thinking of tackling some non-quilty projects for a while, until life settles into a routine again. I tend to put off garment making, and then when I do it, I am always amazed at how fast a project is completed, not the months it can take to make a quilt. With short sewing times available to me, I think I will likely feel like I get more accomplished if I work on projects that take less time, some of which I've been putting off for a couple years. We'll see, I just don't know how it will work yet.

To get my quilting fix, I managed to catch Bonnie K Hunter on her quiltcam twice this week. She is so funny, just talking away like you are right in the room with her. It was just what I needed to get me through my sewing drought. There is a three hour time difference between us, so I ended up watching her on my Iphone while I was making dinner. Some people said they couldn't get sound on their phone, but it worked fine for me.

I needed to get a novelty fabric for a backing of a themed quilt, and I found just the thing on equilter.com. I noticed they had scrap bundles and I am a sucker for scraps. They sell 1 pound bundles, which end up being between 3 and 4 yards of fabric. Below are the warm color bundle and the cool color bundle. Check out the fabric with "Hello" in a bunch of different languages :-)

The other bundles I got were a stripes and dots bundle and a neutral bundle. The fabric that looks like a dress pattern is fun!

 I got a pillow panel in the stripes and dots bundle, which I thought was pretty funny.

 I just love getting scrap bundles or grab bags. It's like Christmas, wondering what I am going to get! Since I rarely make quilts out of just a couple of fabrics, scrap bundles work well for me. When you are using 25-50 different fabrics for one of the colors you need in a quilt, it makes no difference if you only had a 4" WOF piece to start with of one. Another great thing about equilter's scrap bundles, The use a WOF strip to tire them together in bundles, and those went straight into my string stash! BONUS!

***Note- I don't know why this didn't post last week like it was supposed to. I had a good time with DDIL and Miss E. They will be back when DDIL has surgery on her knee. We'll find out when that will be in the next couple of days. I have been happy even without sewing, but I am itching to sew on something! I think in the next few days, I may be able to at least find a little time for that, so hurray!