THANKSGIVING COOKING

I've got some shopping and cooking to do in the next couple of days -- as well as finishing the family tree quilt. We're going to give it to Grandmother on Thanksgiving day before David's family leaves. Anyway, here's my part of the menu

Mashed Potatoes -- Pioneer woman's recipe
Grape salad - Beth's recipe
Green Beans - just seasoned - no casserole
Brocoli Casserole - Beth's Recipe
2 chocolate chess pies - Aunt Polly Neal's recipe -- it's to die for!!
I'm not listing the rest of the menu because I don't have the space or the time:)

There will be 20 or maybe 22 eating at Donna's. There would have been 8 more but David's family is leaving before the meal -- they will be eating in Arkansas with his in-laws.

So, I'm going to get my shopping list all ready tonight so I can get everything (except what I forget :)) tomorrow while I'm out in the morning. I have an appointment and plan to get all my errands done then. I'm also going to make out a schedule so I can pretty much have everything done ahead of time.

The rest of my time on Mon, Tue, and Wed will be spent sewing and doing some practice embroidery.



Hope everyone's week gets off to a great start.

QUILT PROGRESS??

I am learning a lot about quilting from making this family tree quilt. #1 is that I don't know as much as I think I do and this project is definitely turning my hair gray. Thank goodness for highlights:) My faulty meandering is going pretty well in the sky but the tree has turned out to be a different matter. I've gotten a suggestion or two to try so I made a practice piece by adhering some scraps with stitch witchery and making a quilt sandwich to try the ideas out on -- I sure don't want to have to take more stitches out of the real thing if I can help it. That brings me to #2 on my list --- NEVER throw away scraps until the quilt is completely finished. I had a lot of tree fabric left over after cutting the tree out -- at least plenty for practicing and it already had stitch witchery adhered to it, but I threw it away. Hence the wasting of more fabric and stitch witchery to practice with. So, after I grab a bite and straighten the kitchen, I'm going to see if I can figure out a way to quilt the tree itself -- if not, I'll have to work around it. In the meantime, don't look to closely at the photo I've posted.

QUILTING IS FUN - QUILTING IS FUN - EXCEPT WHEN IT ISN'T!

Well, I got the tree quilt sandwiched and began the quilting process. First of all when I was practicing, the bobbin kept pulling the top thread through to the bottom. I kept adjusting the tension but it wasn't making much if any difference. Finally I called the Bernina shop where I got my machine. They couldn't give me any suggestions. So, I called someone here that does a lot of quilting and uses a BSR (Bernina Stitch Regulator) and she suggested I adjust the little screw on the bobbin holder. I knew that was something you can do to adjust the tension but just didn't think about it. It's one of those things that 's available but they always tell you to be very very careful about doing it. Anyway, it worked and the tension was fine after that. So, I started meandering around the quilt and every time I went over a leaf, it would skip stitches. Don't know if it's because they are stiff because of the embroidery and stabilizer or if I needed a better needle. I'm using an almost brand new titanium needle and I don't think I could do any better than that. Anyway, after about 40 minutes of hating most of what I stitched, I stopped and spent the next four hours taking out all the stitches. So, after getting some input from a couple of people today, I'm going to use a brand new needle and try again -- I'm going to just catch the edge of a leaf rather than go across it. I'll see how that goes. If it still skips I'll just skip the leaves and go back and tack them by hand.

On a brighter note, I've used up all my diapers now except one making burp cloths. Here is the last batch I did. -- No embroidery this time - except the pink one I'd already done but hadn't sewn it together til yesterday.









For those who didn't know -- I was picked for jury duty last week. I was in court for three days. It was a murder case -- choices of not guilty by self defense, guilty of murder or guilty of manslaughter. We found the defendant guilty of manslaughter. The judge was awesome -- I'll tell that story another time.

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and has a great week.

NAPKINS ARE FINISHED!

Here are the napkins I made for Patsy. Actually I didn't make the napkins -- just embroidered them. I'm learning more and more as I do more embroidery. Hope everyone is enjoying their weekend.




I know Toby is :)








Update -- 7:30 pm
Here's the burpcloth to go with the blankedt I made for the shower tomorrow.




Midnight -- Here is more of what I did tonight. Ignore the threads that I haven't snipped yet Off to bed.

HOW TO EMBROIDER A CHRISTMAS NAPKIN

First, get a set of really cute designs like these mod santas (of which you only see one right now).
Next, carefully measure the length and width of the area on the napkin where you'll place the design. Cut a piece of muslin to those measurements and do a practice sew out.


See how the practice sew out sits on the folded napkin. Looks pretty good :)

Now measure on the real napkin very carefully and mark where the center of the design will be. Hoop your stabilizer, use spray adhesive on the napkin and place it on the stabilizer so that the center of the stabilizer matches up with the center of the design. Sew out the design. Tear away the "Tear Away" stabilizer and Voila -- if your machine behaves you can't tell the back from the front (except for a few leftover flakes of stabilizer that will wash out). Here is the back



And these two are the front.







Now, its one down and seven more to go.
Have a great rest of the week everybody.

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.