I'M A GENIUS!!

I had some fun company for awhile this afternoon. She asked to have her picture made between my two lonely Halloween decorations so I obliged.

We had been working with "favric" in my "favric" room:) and embroidering names on some crayon rollups that I'm making for Christmas gifts. It was getting to be supper time and Vail was getting hungry. I knew my cupboard was all but bare so after looking around a little I said, "I know what we can have. Let's have waffles and bacon. We'll just have breakfast for supper." Her response, "Grams, You are a GENIUS!" Yup, that's me --- a genius at not going to the grocery store:)) It really was a fun, fun afternoon.


Not sharing pics of the xmas gifts but here's a cute burp cloth I made for a friend who's having a baby in the spring.

I like the black and pink together.

LONG TERM PROJECTS -- SORT OF

Smocked Easter Dresses were requested for Vail and Katy.  Material was purchased awhile back and I got them cut out and the sleeves sewn in so that they are ready to be pleated.  The material is so very pretty.  I forgot to take pictures and I'm too lazy to go do it now so they will have to wait til another day.   As soon as I get them pleated, I'll get busy with the smocking.  Yes, Easter is several months away but I always seem to run behind when I smock so I'm starting early. 

Also, you may have noticed the Raggedy and Friends button on my blog.  Kaaren at the Painted quilt is sharing her Raggedy Ann and Andy Quilt over the next several months, one block a month. (I've already downloaded the first three) I've never done a quilt like this but love Raggedy Ann and decided to give it a try.  Her quilt is all different colors( It reminds me of a quilt you'd find in your grandma's attic) but I'm doing mine in Red and White..   I found a neat product to make it easy to transfer the embroidery design so that I can easily follow the lines when I embroider.  Tonight I cut out the fabric and pieced the first block.  It's all ready to stitch now.  I'm loving how it looks and pretty proud of the pinwheel blocks I made -- they are my first.
Here you can see most of the block -- it measures 18 1/2 x 18 1/2.  The two white pieces will be hand embroidered.

I've stuck on the "transfer eze" in this picture.  It is very similar to washaway stabilizer so when I'm finished, I can rinse it away.

Now, I'm off to do a few stitches before I go to bed.

S’MORE STITCHIN

I wanted to get these wall hangings finished before Halloween came and went so I got busy today and did just that.  The thread I was using to quilt kept breaking.  I rethreaded, I changed needles, I rethreaded, I changed the needle size, I rethreaded  - - - are you sensing a pattern here yet?? Anyway, I finally gave up trying to solve the problem and just kept rethreading. (I was using a multi color thread and I’m kind of wondering if it was just weak in spots??)  Sometimes I sewed for a minute and the thread broke and sometimes I sewed for five or ten, but I finally got them finished.

The lighter yellow looks like a lit jack-o-lantern in the pictures.  I used a blanket stitch for the appliques in the first picture and just a straight stitch close to the edge in the second one.  I also attached the binding on the back side and then used a blanket stitch on my sewing machine to finish it on the front side. 

When I looked at the picture of the ME quilt top, I kept thinking something was not right  -- I suddenly realized that it wasn’t totally finished because it needed borders.  So, I did that today also and now I can say the quilt top is finished and ready to sandwich and add to my “pile”.

The black border is a black with tiny white dots.  The yellow is one of the prints that came with the fabric line.  I had tried to find the red but couldn’t so decided on the yellow.  I like how it turned out.

FINALLY – SOME STITCHIN’

Today, I took a class on applique at the Bernina store and came home with this nifty kitchen towel.

and then made another to use as a gift.

I had to take Toby back to the Dr. about his cough and found out there has been some strange upper respiratory dog thing that has been going around and several dogs have come back a second and even third time.  They gave him a new stronger antibiotic and since his lungs and heart sound good, we are hoping this will take care of it.

Then, I finally got to spend an afternoon in my sewing room.  I  finished my Mary Englebriet fabric quilt top

and  added borders to the 12 Days of Christmas panel that I had picked up a while back.

  Tomorrow I don’t have anything special on my schedule so I’m going to try to spend my day practicing my free motion quilting by finishing up some small projects I really need to get finished with.

GOOD NEWS AND BAD NEWS

The good news is today is Billy's birthday.  Happy 33rd William.   And, I took sewing class at the Bernina Shop and got some really good tips and ideas for lots of burp cloths.

The bad news is that because I'd been to two of Avery's ball games and decided to skip today's in favor of the sewing class, I missed seing her play her best game yet-- she earned the game ball today!!  Woo-hoo Avery.  You go girl.  I'll be there to cheer you on Monday night.

A WELCOME ????? SQUATTER

I discovered a squatter this morning - just inside the backyard gate -- in the corner up against the house.  "Her" name is Argiope aurantia   .  What do you think?

Should I let her stay.  I think I wouldn't mind as long as she stays outside.

A FUN COUPLE OF WEEKS

I went and got my mom and brought her down for a visit a couple of weeks ago.  She needed a change of scenery and I think she enjoyed her time here.  She's 90 years young and  acts like a teenager most of the time.

 Vail and Katy were so excited she was here they woke her up her first morning here -- not till about 9:30 though:)

Her three year old doberman Freida came with her.  She is such a sweet dog -- and big as a pony:))  She's not too sure about the water bubbling out of the big rock in my fish pond.

 We had a cookout on Labor Day and everybody came over Sunday for sandwiches and Titans Football.  Are these two father and son or what??

We mostly hung out close to the house but we did take a day trip down to Alabaster Alabama to see my brother and his wife.  We also went to see Avery play baseball -- YUP -- I did say baseball.  She's the only girl  on her team and a real trooper.

We left Monday and drove all the way to Erie PA in a day.  Stopped twice to walk the dogs and stretch our legs.  On my way home I stopped at the Fabric Shack in Waynesville, Ohio.  It is a really neat fabric shop.  There must be over 10,000 bolts of fabric in that store.  It's very well organized though and the folks are really nice and eager to help you find whatever you might be looking for.  I found some fabric to go with a layer cake I already had and bought fabric for two other projects.  Used my mad money for the month but it sure was fun.
 Love my valentine layer cake and the two border fabrics I got.

I think this Freebird from Moda will make a fun quilt

And this will be a cute 12 days of Christmas quilt.

GOODWILL PURCHASE AND SOMETHING FOR THE SEWING TABLE

I don't ever seem to have a lot of luck shopping at Goodwill but I did find something when I stopped by there today that I think I can put to good use.

I think I'm going to try this between the sinks on my bathroom vanity.  If I decide not to use it there, I'm going to put some sort of greenery in it and maybe use it on the mantle or perhaps somewhere else.


  When my local Bernina shop moved to a bigger location, they replaced the baskets on their classroom tables with this neat item. 

Don't you just love it??!!  I looked on line and they were ten dollars at the site that's printed on the bottom of the container. .  I kept looking and found them for $6.99 at Nancy's Notions.  They are great for clippings and loose threads.  I'm always missing the trash can even when it is right beside me on the floor:)  I'd like more color selections but hey, beggars can't be choosers

BEFORE AND AFTER ….

This was me on Thursday around 12:30 when I arrived at my daughter’s to begin my babysitting stint while she and her hubby took a long weekend to NC. 

While there they were going to relax, go to IKEA, visit with  cousin Jess and her husband Dan, and for a grand finale had tickets to a Jack Johnson Concert. 
I had so much fun with the grands.  We played inside most of the time because it was so hot .  They were good as gold for the most part and didn’t seem to mind that mom and dad weren’t there to put them to bed at night.  We started at their house but after one night came and stayed at mine.  Jed











and Toby    on the other hand drove me nuts.  They followed me around like a couple of shadows. 
The only downside to this adventure was being awakened at 6:15 every morning when I’m used to sleeping til 7:30 or 8 and having have my wits about me 24/7 for 4+ days.  This was me when the vacationers returned --

Just kidding  although I am pretty tired and have enjoyed a very quiet house this afternoon but I’m definitely looking forward to doing it again sometime:)  (Honest – I really am)

A DIFFERENT KIND OF QUILT ALONG AND A GIVE AWAY!!

Christina over at A Few Scraps is having a Free Motion Quilt Along and a Giveaway.  Go check it out.  This is one quilt along I'm going to do my best to participate in.

I stayed busy this morning running errands and attending Ladies Bible Class.   Jennifer and the kids came by for lunch and we watched the last episode of Food Network Star.  Yea Arti!  Can't wait to see your new show. 

This afternoon I mailed off three packages and spent less than $13.  Of course the recipients may not get them until the middle of September:) (Depends on how slow the snails are moving these days.)  Tonight I'm going to spend some time in my sewing room.

AND THE WINNER IS . . . . .

Karen - whose blog is Quilting With Grace.    Enjoy the goodies.

 Have a great week everyone.

THERE'S AN ACCUQUILT GIVE AWAY ---- JOIN THE FUN!

Go on over to SewManyWays and  sign up for the Accuquilt give-away they are having.  If you enjoy quilting, one of these can make cutting out your quilt pieces so much easier --at keast that's what all the folks who have one say:)  There are several ways to throw you name in the hat so head on over and check it out.

A GIVEAWAY AND A NEW CUTTING/SEWING TABLE

To celebrate my newly built sewing table and my 300th post I decided to have a giveaway.  The lucky winner will be chosen on Saturday and will  receive  a turnover from Moda's Kansas Trouble fabric collection and Sew Necessary: Art to Heart, a book full of really fun projects from your sewing room.  Just leave a comment to be entered in the giveaway.  Make sure I will know how to get in touch with you in case you win.

I have a very small sewing room - 9x9 approximately. I wanted one table to serve two functions --sewing with enough room to quilt larger quilts and a surface large enough to pin quilts and cut out patterns --  I got just that and more.  I found a very nice young man who built me a table that includes an airlift for my machine and some extra storage too.  I wasn't looking for the storage but I'm glad I decided to take advantage of adding it because I'll definitely take advantage of it.  I'm going to love my table.  Thanks again John.  I'm so pleased with the outcome.

Visit Met Monday over at Between Naps on the Porch and check out all the neat things folks have been doing.