WHAT A DIFFERENCE A BORDER MAKES!!

I attached the borders to the family tree today. They make such a difference in the look of the quilt. I really like it. Tomorrow I'm going to try to get all the leaves attached -- two or three stitches (by machine) on stem and tip. Then I'll try to sandwich it before the weekend and I'll start quilting. I may finish this by Thanksgiving after all.



Since Michael doesn't have a blog, I'm posting these pictures of him and Avery -- two teriffic red heads (there's another in the family but she's in TX) . Some are from the pumpkin farm and one is from Halloween.

BABIES, LEAVES AND OTHER STUFF

Apparently telling the kids I'm retiring in May incited a baby boom in my family. First Jennifer and Matthew and now Billy and Stacey. I'll barely have packed up my files and moved out of my room at school and I'll be running from MS to TX and TN to hold those new rascals. But, lest I sound like I'm complaining -- I'm NOT -- I'm very excited for them and I get to sew more baby stuff too!! And the best part is, I won't have to worry about getting back home to go to work!! At least not right away. I'm sure I'll get some sort of part time job at some point but I'm not thinking about that right now. I'd rather think about more new babies :))

All the leaves are on the family tree. They've been glued but some have pins too until the glue is good and dry. The next step will be to tack them down at the stem end and the tip with two or three stitches. Then when I do the quilting it will take care of the rest. I'm pleased with the results so far. I'm doing a double border -- a grayish blue green batik and the red batik. Then I'm using the grayish blue green for the backing and will make stips from the leaf scraps for the binding.


Next Sunday we are having a baby shower for a soon to be new mom at church. The quickest thing for me to make is a minkee blanket but I didn't have an boy stuff to make one so I ran to the fabric store downtown and found this beautimous minkee and animal fabric. Where is the blue in the animal fabric you may be asking. Well, find the parrot and you will see that he has a smidgen of blue that goes quite well with the minkee. I think it will make a great blanket. I'll get the squares cut tomorrow and start sewing it together and finish it Mon. or Tues. It is a super easy blanket and always makes up beautifully.



I got off to a slow start today because of a bad sinus headache. It was after lunch before I felt like doing much. But I did eventually get revved up and that was when I made the rest of the blank leaves and finished gluing them all on the quilt top. And somewhere in there I got that new material. Guess I'll head for bed now and enjoy my extra hour of sleep.

BURP CLOTHS FROM SCRATCH

I used my last four not pre-folded diapers and a piece of polished cotton (kind of ivory) and some flannel I had on hand to make these burp cloths. They turned out quite well. All I have left to do with them is press them and top stitch around the edges. Then, I'm going to use the rest of the flannel to make blankets to match and they will sell as a set. The only things I have left to make for the craft fair are burp cloths from the rest of my prefolded diapers -- I think I have about 8 left and I think that will be all that I try to do for the craft fair. If I do have time to do anything else, it will probably be holiday napkins and/or hand towels. I will definitely have put a dent in mys stash of fabric and whatever doesn't sell at the fair will get put in the shop so hopefully it will eventually sell. Any left over Christmas stuff will probably be used as gifts.











This weekend, I'm going to work really hard on the family tree. My plan is to place the leaves exactly where I want them, and tack them on the stem end and the tip. Then I'm going to let the quilting tack the rest of the leaf. I figure whether I stipple or do straight lines on the diagonal, they will be stiched down enough. I'm getting excited about finishing it. After I get the leaves placed, I'm going to do the border and then it will be ready to sandwich. If all goes well, I'll have pictures before the end of the weekend.

I had to replace my patio door and now I'm going to have to replace the gas logs in my fireplace. I picked them out today. They will be very pretty. There will be a very small flame across the front that give the effect of embers burning down and then of course bigger flames toward the back. It will also have a remote control -- the control will have a built in thermostat. It will definitely be a step up but since I had to replace them anyway, I decided to get something nice.

Well, guess I'll straighten up my sewing room so I can start messing it up again tomorrow:)

WEEKEND UPDATE (ON TUESDAY)

I went to Nasville for the weekend -- saw the kiddos and they wore me out!! I got to visit with four of my grown kids and three of my grands. It cheered me up and renewed my realization that there is more to this life than the worries over the upcoming election. As usual my picture taking left much to be desired but here are a few photos of the occasion.

Wrestling with Elmo



Isn't this the cutest face :)




Putting my buddy to bed.


Vail, Katy and Avery playing


Twirling in my tutu



The weather started out rainy but cleared up and we had lots of fun. Jen and Matty's new place is very spacious and has storage and more storage. The closets are huge. Lots of windows and light. They will enjoy their space for a while to come I'm sure.

Well, that 's the story of my weekend. I'll be updating some sewing news and ideas in the next couple of days. Signing off for now from my desk at school - Yea for programs that get around the block:)

THE LEAVES - THE LEAVES!

Well, the leaves are finished - at least the ones with names and dates. It was a relief to get them finished. I've been trying to decide how to attach them permanently. Someone suggested upholstery glue. I think I may use some fabric glue to "baste" them and then hand sew them unless I can come up with a better idea. I'm also going to fill in with some more blank leaves but they won't be hard to do at all.

I sold a couple of things at the consignment shop. They told me one of my laundry bags sold and also one of the knit gown/blanket sets. She also thought a couple of burp cloths. While I was there she told me she and a friend were going to a craft show on Dec. 3 (a weekday) and if I could get some things ready she would take them. So, here are pics of a few things I've done. The first ones are burp cloths with appliques on them. I'm interested in what you think of the appliques on diapers that have a print on them. Does it look too busy? I usually just trim them with ribbon and a name or initials but since I won't be there to put names and initials on, I thought I'd try something different.





These last two are hand towels - one turned out fine the other not so hot. It has too many little loops and bunched threads on the back.

UPDATE: Tues Night

Here are pictures of two more burp cloths I made for the sale. The redwork one is on a blue diaper -- it would be really cute with a name or initials added to it.

MOST TREES LOSE LEAVES IN THE FALL

Most trees lose their leaves in the fall. You can see that my tree has very few leaves for this time of year.
However, after a bit of fertilizer and water trial and error a few more leaves grew.














Some more sunshine and a little rain hard work and lots of do-overs and more leaves grew. Believe it or not I've thrown away almost as many leaves as I've pinned on the tree. Mostly due to careless mistakes which I think have come from being in too big a hurry and too tired.











And another day of watching grass grow poltics on tv and even more leaves have sprouted.



Believe it or not, this is about 21 out of thirty something leaves that will have names on them. Then I'll add enough blank leaves to make it look "complete" for lack of a better term. Then two borders around the edges -- probably pulled from the leaf colors and the quilt top will be finished.




A lot has gone on besides working on the tree. Actually, I've done these leaves since Saturday.

First, I visited Billy for his birthday -- it was a surprise visit and in true Billy fashion he was very very surprised -- jumping up and down standing there with a quizzical look and hollering Wow! -- What a surprise Mom : saying "Hey Mom" That's my laid back boy :) He was definitely surprised -- Thanks Stacey for keeping the secret. The kids were excited too. We went out to eat at a Japanese restaurant where they cook at the table -- I've forgotten the name. It was delicious. I had scallops and shrimp. We had a fun weekend together and I definitely enjoyed the trip.

Then this past weekend my sister came to see me. I got lots of sister love that included a really neat Vera Bradley purse for my birthday, some good cooking and lots of visiting. We took my sewing machine to the Dr. for the third time and finally they fixed the embroidery problem I was having. They kept saying it was a thread or fuzz but they had blown it out twice and I just didn't think that was it. This time though she figured out a wire had somehow jumped over to the other side of a metal bar and so she moved it back and it has purred like a kitten and embroidered like a dream at full speed all weekend and this week. (The wire problem was on the inside somewhere - discovered after they took the outside cover off. )

For those who don't know it and are interested, I'm going to be a grams -- again. # 7 will be arriving right around the time I get out of school. Guess I'm retiring just in the nick of time :) Well, I'm beat and promised myself I'd go to bed tonight so bye for now.

A FABRIC GIVEAWAY ALWAYS MAKES ME FEEL BETTER!!

If you would like to add to your fabric stash, visit Serena here at Embroidery Treasures and leave a comment to be entered in her giveaway. She always has good tips and ideas and lovely fabrics when she has a fabric giveaway. Have a great rest of the day.

WE NEED TO PRAY FOR OUR COUNTRY

This is how I feel right now.

FIRSTS!

My first grandchild lost her first tooth. I stole this picture off her mom's blog to share even though anybody who looks at my blog problably looks at their blog too.  Brings back all those memories of those days when my four were little and going through all their firsts.  Suzy-Q is just as cute without her tooth -- don't ya think :)

 

FOR SALE

These are things I'm going to be taking to the consignment shop next week - tomorrow and Monday I'm going to have to figure out what price them at and then pin the tags on so I can take them on Tuesday. I've got 4 knit nightgowns with blankets made out of some of those "sea island cotton knits" -- very very soft-- I found those in a storage bin yesterday.  I had to finish the edges of the blankets.  I also have quite a few burp cloths, some receiving blankets and some laundry bags I had made about 3 years ago.  My daughter took one of them to use in her nursery and I think is still using it for the girls.  She really liked it.  There is also a diaper cover (reversible) that I made.  It was to be for Avery but by the time I got around to finishing it she was to big for it.   knit blanket  with the A monogramed on it -- the A is just basted on there.  The price  is going to  include an  initial, so I put an example on it.  Some of the burp cloths will be priced to include a monogram or name also.     There is also a waffle weave kitchen towel.  Anyway, here's the loot.

SHHH! DON'T TELL

Brian Neal is awesome!!! I'm updating my blog from ............. drumroll please .......... my desk in room 31 at HCC. Whoo Hooo!! Thanks to Brian I can visit his and any other blog from school. I promise to use discretion (but I do have time on my hands sometimes and it is ridiculous to have this stuff blocked if I am getting my work done and then some). I'm doing this on my personal laptop so I'm not corrupting any school computers in the process. I'm just excited that I can see what's happening in blogland again without having to wait til night all the time. I'm keeping it to myself so don't tell anyone.

Here are some updated pics of the burp cloths I made --- the mini-monster embroidery went the way of the fishes.





I don't know what is wrong with my embroidery module. It keeps birdnesting. And even I shouldn't be such a bad threader that I never get it right. It starts off great and after it's half way or further through a color that's when it starts with the thread balling up underneath. I'm taking it back to the Bernina place this afternoon so they can take a look and see what's up. Hopefully it will be bobbin tension or something easy to fix. Well, off to the trenches. Have a great Friday.