Rag Quit is Done!!!! Oh, and some good news!

I finally got a quilt totally finished!!! I finished the rag quilt late last night and after washing it and drying it, and spending an hour cleaning out the washer and dryer, it is done! Here are pics of the progress of the rag quilt:
Click on pictures to get actual size!

Here is the basket of squares and yet to be cut jeans. I probably cut around 80-100 pairs of jeans, mostly size 5 to 8 young boy jeans (hence the need for so many) I needed over 150 squares for the quilt.



Here is a strip about a quarter way into the job. From what I had read, most people waited until they had it all pieced to cut the seams, I didn't want to do it all at once and hurt my hand so I did each strip as it was added on. Saved my hand some cramping!!



This was the stack of squares about half way through.




Here is the front and back halfway through. My hands were tired from cutting and playing Guitar Hero with the kids, and we had received the news of no financing for the house so I took a week break from the quilt.



Here it is completed and signed. I decided to just sign it with a Sharpie instead of making it a label, it's a more informal approach for an informal quilt--and plus since it is for an 11 year old, he thought it was kinda cool that I was writing on his quilt. I told him not to even think of doing it himself, LOL! Although, it IS his now.

Ok, so now on to my swaps I joined, I have to make snowman blocks and leaf blocks---I'm just trying to find the right patterns for me. More on that later.

The good news----we are about a week away from starting the loan application again. Our broker has assured me that once we receive proof of payment of some of the bills that were on our credit report (which we should have by Tuesday), we will be able to get our financing---100% financing! The realtor for the house has not officially put it back on the market yet, so it should still be ours once this is all finished! I'm not getting excited or even thinking much about it---I don't want to be crushed again should anything go wrong so--I'm not going to think about it anymore past this post, LOL!

Ok, I'm done! Have a good weekend, hopefully I'll have some blocks done for next WIP Wednesday.

Waiting, waiting and WIP Wednesday

Hey all. Sorry I haven't updated in a couple of weeks, things have been unstable, to say the least. We were so close---so, so close. Then we were told---it wasn't going to happen---no house for you. Seems our broker didn't bother to find out until the last minute that the bank no longer works with the down payment assistance program---and if HUD has their way---no one will. Instead of looking for other solutions, he basically said it's over and wrote us off. We had 2 days of extreme disappointment, depression, upset---and then we pulled ourselves out of the muck and mire and decided to fight! We contacted another mortgage broker that we were acquainted with and told him what was going on and he thinks he can help us. We took care of the last albatross on our necks---a huge bill on his credit report that needed cleared off--so if all goes well we should be able to qualify for 100% financing and not have to worry about down payment assistance. Please pray for us----our lifelong dream is dangling precariously in front of us--if this doesn't work---I don't know if it ever will.

Needless to say, in the midst of all this I didn't get any quilting done. BUT, I started working on the denim rag quilt and if all goes well it should be done by Friday, hopefully!!!

I did receive my bottle for the Summer bottle swap---how exciting!!! I got some nice stuff---here is a picture:


Thanks Carolyn, this really made my week and I love everything!!

I should be getting some 30's FQ strips in the mail soon---can't wait for that! I am considering joining some block swaps, but I am hesitant to do so due to our not knowing if we're moving or not. I did join a snowman swap a couple of months ago on my Ohio Quilters group---once I finish the denim rag quilt I'm going to get started on those and mail them off. They aren't due until mid or late September, but I'll sleep easier knowing they are done, LOL! There is another snowman swap on another group I belong to and a couple of leaf block swaps that I'd really like to join in---but there are also tons of quilts I'd like to make and 14 UFO's to finish. ACK, so much to do, so little time.

We had DD's graduation party last weekend, it was fun and an old friend I haven't seen in a couple of years came with her daughter---it was so nice to see her again.

Here are both graduates with their mothers. DD wanted a cake from Dairy Queen so she got a chocolate chip cookie dough cake and her boyfriend wanted a cheesecake, so I baked him one. I made tons of food as well, it was all a great success!

Well, that's it for me today---hopefully I'll have a happy update soon! Tomorrow is pierogi and bagel day---I'll be busy making both from scratch so I'm keeping busy during the day with cooking and baking and sewing at night. It helps keep me sane, LOL!

Have a good week, I'll talk to you soon!