Quilt Tops and Robotic Vacuums

 I finished three quilt tops this week, another quilt center that needs borders, and I've got two more tops in progress, one all the rows are seen, one half the rows are sewn. I didn't take any stellar photos, but I took a couple quick ones.

Here's the sunflower quilt center. I decided to add a cream border to float the center a bit more, which is cut and ready to go, followed by a dark teal border, which I still need to cut. I  bought enough of the teal border fabric so it can be the backing as well. I actually bought a whole bolt of the teal fabric, and if you click on that link, you'll figure out why pretty easily, $2.75 a yard!

I had enough of these black/white log cabin blocks to make three quilts, and this is the smallest of those. Now two tops are hanging in the quilt closet, and I just started sewing the rows of the third one, which will be another twin like the first one I finished. I'm in no hurry for these to be finished quilts, so they can stay quilt tops for a while without stressing me out. 

I finished the quilt tops of both I Spy quilts I need to finish for my grandsons, but I haven't taken photos of them. When I ordered the teal fabric from Marshall Dry Goods, I also ordered a bolt of 108" wide fabric in blue for $4.95 a yard! I'm going to use the blue to back both I Spy quilts. 

I also bought a bolt of solid black for $2.55 per yard. Shipping for the three bolts was just over $26, which having shipped several things recently I found to be a more than fair price. I've been ordering from Marshall Dry Goods for years, and I even got to go there once. DH and I already talked about making some major purchases from there of basics just before retirement. We've still got a few years before retirement can happen, so in the meantime, I'll just keep sewing up what I've got in stash, to make room for an influx of basics then. Really, with a stash of basic solids and blenders, you can make your prints go a LONG ways. Now Marshall Dry Goods just needs to stay in business that long! I've had a couple of my favorite thread suppliers go under in the past couple years, so I'm hoping MDG can hold on in this crazy economy. 

I've been trying not to buy much in the way of quilting stuff this year, but those three bolts of fabric, at amazing prices, which I already have immediate plans for??? Yeah, not going to beat myself up about that. 

After my last post I had several people ask me about robotic vacuums, and I asked DD#2 about the one she has that both vacuums and mops.

I have this Roomba, which my daughter bought about six years ago? I remember seeing video of their Corgi as a puppy riding on the vacuum, and I think their dog is going to be six this year. It might even be a year older than that. 

*Found the video! Click here if you want to watch it! This is the same Roomba as in the video. 

I don't know which model it is, but I can tell you it's great to use between big vacuuming jobs. It's misses a few spots, but it does a decent job considering how little effort it takes. It doesn't vacuum well enough to replace a big vacuum completely, but it does well enough to make how often you need to vacuum with a regular vacuum less. Currently, we have no pets, but her corgi sheds up a storm, and all that dog fur didn't kill it. 

The vaccuming/mopping robot she bought is a Bissell SpinWave Wet and Dry vacuum model number 28599. I asked her how she liked it, and this is what she said.

"There aren't very many wet and dry robots. I think the technology will probably improve greatly, but I do like it! If you're someone who regularly washed your floors, I wouldn't recommend it, it misses spots and would drive a picky person crazy. If it weren't for this robot, my floors would rarely get washed, so I'm grateful to have them as clean as they are. 

I like that the robot is really good about not accidentally getting the carpet wet. It doesn't map the house, which would have been a nice feature, but it cleans pretty systematically back and forth, instead of bouncing around like my roomba did. It doesn't get all the dog fur up, but the vacuum is pretty in between my Bissell stick and my Dyson. I enjoy having it."

I debated leaving out her comment about her floors rarely being washed without the robot, but before you judge her harshly, know she has special needs children and just this week they had 21 appointments between them. Nineteen appointments is a normal week, this week was a bit busier, and next weeks schedule is busier still. It's amazing she gets any housework done. 

I'm a lousy housekeeper. I'm good about keeping things picked up, dishes, and laundry, but I've been known to go way too long between vacuuming and mopping, and dusting??? Whatever, I'd rather be quilting! Now you know why she gave me her old Roomba! 

I sewed up these blocks yesterday. The blocks with the flying geese just needed the center strips sewn in, the Flying Geese sections have been done for ages. If I get a chance I'll try to get it laid out this weekend too, since the design wall is currently empty. I have the sashing, cornerstones, and solid borders cut. I still need to finish piecing the Flying Geese border, but all the Flying Geese are made, so that won't take long. 

The 16 patches are four patches I made from quillow leftovers, alternating with squares I cut from leftover wide backing when I was processing scraps recently. I haven't finished sewing those blocks up, and however many blocks it makes, it makes. I'll decide where I'm going with those blocks once I know how many blocks I have. 

The blocks I made from the warm colored quillow scraps alternating with cream colored squares ended up making 53 blocks, so now I'm debating whether I should set the quilt 6x8 and have five extra blocks, or should I make more four patches and make the quilt bigger. I ended up using multiple solid cream fabrics for the background squares, so I could totally make more blocks. Once there are enough alternate background fabrics included, you can add in more pretty easily. The mottled gray/black fabric I'm using on this batch of 16 patches is it for that fabric, and I don't have anything close enough that it really blends in. So, when I'm out of that black, it's time to assemble what I've got into a quilt center. I'm thinking both the 16 patch quilts will get borders. 

So this weekend DH has plans, so I have more quilting time. My main goal is to get both I Spy quilts basted, and if that's all I get done I'm happy. I try to sew less on weekends to give my arm a break.