Bourbon, Berries and Beans

It has been a very busy couple of weeks for me.  I work 12 hour shifts and rotate back and forth between days and nights.  Last week I worked Monday thru Thursday.  I came home Thursday night and packed.  We left Friday morning in our Sand Rails and drove over 500 miles this weekend.

We had a ball.  We visited the six distilleries on The Bourbon Trail in Kentucky.  We had no major mishaps - other than the spatzy that ended up splattered in my lap.  I lost a shirt from that.  We got caught in the rain about 25 miles from home.  We waited it out in a bank drive thru but then got soaked driving home because of how wet the roads were.  We looked like drowned rats but we were glad to see rain here.

I discovered that I don't like the cheap stuff but am fine with the small batches.  No point in spending money on the pricey single barrel for me.

I was supposed to be off on Monday but since we were back I called my manager and said I could come in for a while - that ended up being 11 hours!  Worked another 10 yesterday and have to work 12 on Fri and Sat.  So, I am home today and tomorrow.  Thank God.  I was about at the end of my rope and was out of leftovers in the freeezer.

Today I am cooking so that I can sew tomorrow.  A friend brought me two and half gallons of blackberries last night.  This morning I cleaned all of last years out of the freezer and am making jelly with them.  I also picked a big mess of green beans this morning.  I cleaned and snapped those and put them in the crockpot with ham and onions for tomorrow.  I am in the process of making a big batch of potato salad and a lasagna.  Lasagna is for Saturday.   Potato salad is for tonight and tomorrow night.

Still going to make a pie or cobbler and freeze the rest of the berries.  I do have them all cleaned.

What I want most is a nap.  I have to get to the sewing room and to the store in the next few hours.  Wish me luck!

Thank You, God, for an air conditioned sewing room

With the heat index ranging into the 115 to 120°F range, my sewing room is a great place to be!  I acutally spent Sunday in the basement and wore a fleece jacket when I wasn't sweating bullets from nerves.

Sunday my sister came over and we worked on quilting our aunt's quilt.  It is a beautiful piece that she wanted custom quilted.   We already have 6 hours in it and are only about half way done.  We both agree - NO MORE custom quilting for anyone other than ourselves.  We are learning lots - most of it the hard way.

I worked night shifts last week.  I work a 12 hour rotating shift.  While I was on nights I made a Turning Twenty - my first - that I plan to give to my BFF.  note:  Teenage girls talk about BFFs but when you are in your mid forties and have had the same one for over thirty years it is safe to say they are your best friend forever.  Anyway, I don't know if she will like it and I haven't seen her yet to give it to her. 

It is made from a Connecting Threads collection from 2009 called Aqua Terra.  I bought it with no plans but listening to her talk about her new furniture and carpet I  knew it was meant for her.

I quilted it using a template I bought from RNS designs called Hearts Aflutter.  It is a fun design that went quickly and I really enjoyed it.  Unfortunately the only picture I took has a huge shadow from my clothes line.

It is pretty, I think.

Out of time now.  More later....

Keep stitchin'!

I am really going to do this now!

Okay, so I started this blog and did nothing with it. That is about to change - even if no one reads it! Just because I didn't write anything doesn't mean I didn't do anything. Since November of 2009 I made the dresses for my son's wedding, participated in 5 (I think) block swaps on the internet and with my family, completed quilts for gifts for several people. Here are a few:

Scrappy Mountain Majesties

This was a block exchange I did with my sister, my aunt and a friend. My aunt and friend live in Texas. They didn't quite follow the directions but I think I made it work okay. Used it for a grab bag exchange gift with my mom's family and my DIL ended up with it after much bargaining and shenanigans!

Log Cabin
I did a block exchange on line at http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/ a few years ago. I added a few more blocks, sashing and a border and gave it to my dad. I did a free motion cowboy hat around the edges and used a Baptist Fan pattern for quilting the body.


 

And, the big project:

Frankly, Julie
My SIL is a huge GWTW fan. I have several pics of this as a WIP but no good ones of it done. I need to sneak into her bedroom and take some more!

Okay, so that gets me through last Christmas. I have several more this year. I have so many ideas floating (actually zooming like caffienated 5 year olds) through my head. I thought this might be a good place to track them. I have to figure out how to add goals to the side.

If you have read this far, please come back again!

ETA: Discovered I didn't add the pics correctly. In figuring that out I found a draft of a post about the GWTW quilt. I will post that later!