Sunday, May 3, 2009

Prolific Production

I've had an unbelievable couple of weeks since I last posted. All 5 of the quilts that need to be done this year are under way. The most pressing is Marshall's, his is in the hoop and the quilting has a nice start on it. I need to have this done by the 23rd and am feeling pretty confident that I can do this.

While I was piecing Marshall's quilt, I was also piecing Katie's quilt. I used the same pattern for these two quilts, it worked up really quickly and was quite a lot of fun. I may do a scrap version with smaller pieces sometime as triangle paper makes these projects so easy for me.


I continued to ready applique pieces for Debbie's quilt, and just this weekend decided on a pattern for Emma, which also has some applique. Hers will be an Irish Chain, with hearts appliqued in the spaces. I have the applique pieces for both quilts in a storage box and I'm in the process of basting down seam allowance. Tomorrow I plan to cut the background fabric for both so I can begin the applique. This is perfect "take outside and watch Ruthie" work, she loves to be out and this allows me to get something done while supervising her outside.

Today we had a fire in our firepit, and I basted some pieces while sitting out there. Also on the agenda tomorrow is cleaning off our porch, so I can sit there and sew when she's playing out front.

Friday night was Prom night and Rachel and Marshall went to his. Rachel wanted to have her hair highlighted, but wanted it to be a surprise so we stayed up late Thursday night and did it after Youth Group. Friday, Rebekah switched her work hours so she could do Rachel's hair, along with 2 of her friends.


Here is the front view:

And the side view:
Here they are, ready for their big night:

While Rachel and Marshall had their big night out, I had a big night, too. I had planned a sewing night with a friend. We've been trying to do this 2 or 3 times per year and I love the "sew till we drop" aspect of it as it's almost like a mini retreat to me. She had a conference that day, so we weren't able to start until 5:00, but we picked up Chinese for dinner and then dove into our planned projects for the evening. Our "usual" is quitting around 2:00am. We've done it twice, so far, and each time I came home and put on another movie and sewed a while longer.

With the kids out at prom and due home around 2am, I knew we'd make it until then. As it turns out, we were still pretty wide awake when they arrived so we kept on going. My husband had to get up really early for work that day, imagine his surprise to see us still going at it at 4:00. My friend finished up her projects (she made two baby quilt tops that night) and I took her home (she lives only a few blocks away.) I walked in the front door, turned off the lights, walked upstairs, quickly changed and climbed into bed about a minute after hitting the front door. I looked at my clock, it was 6:45.

My project wasn't quite finished, so after a few hours of sleep I got up and got back to it. By mid-afternoon, Arnie's quilt top was done, too.

When I cut for tops, I nearly always cut and make the binding, too, so the fabric doesn't get misplaced or accidentally used for something else. Since 3 of the 5 quilt tops are done, and I hadn't yet made the binding, I did all of them yesterday afternoon along with planning out Emma's top.


Ruthie continues to be a joy. She had her first big day outside today in a while. We've been out for short amounts of time before now, but it's been either too wet or too cold to be out much. We had a fire in the firepit, she played ball, sat on her lawn swing, played on the swingset and generally just enjoyed the nice day. She's doing very well with potty training, staying dry all day on most days now and rarely needing to be reminded.

Her speech continues to improve by leaps and bounds, with both her vocabulary and her enunciation improving daily, it seems. In spite of her delays, she's very much a 4 year old and can be quite entertaining. While she's grown so much since last year, she's still quite small. We sometimes forget that until we see her with other children. Here she is, sitting in a plastic basket.

Several times a week, we find her sleeping somewhere. She'll be awake one minute and sound asleep the next, though the little stinker actually pretended to be asleep on the floor last night. No pretending here, though, she was OUT.

Hopefully I'll be out soon, too. It's getting late and since I got motivated to do this post and some needed paperwork, both of which were on tomorrow's agenda, my day will now be wide open for quilting. With any luck, I'll make a serious dent in Marshall's quilt by midweek.

Happy Quilting!

Sue

6 comments:

~Bren~ said...

OMGosh! You have been busy! I LOVE Arnie's top! Beautiful. Marshal and Katie's quilts are wonderful too!
Rachel looks beautiful. Miss America all over!

Pam said...

Good Heaven!! I wouldn't have made it past midnight --- LOL. Good for you to get so much finished. I bet it feels so good. I just recently finished a quilt top which is for an October Wedding and I am just thrilled to have it ready to be quilted. My usual speed it - reverse- LOL

Rachel looks beautiful in her Prom dress.

Have a great week.

Marilyn Robertson said...

Wow! Your quilts are looking wonderful! I'm looking forward to your "finished" posts - I know you will meet your deadlines!

Anonymous said...

I am enjoying catching up with you in this post, seems like quite a while since I've had a 'visit' with you here. I admire you for all the quilts you make in such short time spans and still manage to get everything done that you do. Love the photos of Ruthie, of course, and reading about her progress. Your daughter looks so beautiful in her photos. Lovely family!

Belvie said...

My Goodness! You have been one busy lady. Those quilts are lovely.

Your sewing night with a friend sounds like so much fun. I don't know that I could make it all night like that. I tend to fall asleep on the sofa early in the evening these days.

julieQ said...

Gorgeous little Ruthie, she is soo cute! I love your hunter's star quilt, I have oone cut out and not done yet. Your kiddos look great for prom! Hope they had a blast.