Wow!  What a December!  

We kicked off the Christmas season with a road trip to Fort Worth for my daughter's audition with the Fort Worth Opera.  We have yet to hear from them.

But, we loved the afternoon & evening we spent downtown...

She's feeling a bit giddy here after her audition has completed.  

While we were off galivanting across Texas, my son up and moved to Hawaii (ok, so he has been planning to do so for about a year).  He is working on becoming a Helicopter pilot and the school there is one of the best and one of the FEW that work with federal student loans.  He is having a marvelous adventure and meeting students from all over the world!  He plans on being home by Christmas next year!  

He sends me awful pictures like the one above...

I did finally manage to get some Christmas decorations up about a week before Christmas.  Usually they go up the day after Thanksgiving around here.  

And, I finally got to spend some time sewing the last couple of days.  Yes, and eating too.   Even got a workout in this morning, the first in almost a month.  

Yes, this is the Bonnie Hunter Mystery.  I am on step number 5, having skipped number 4 since we don't really need it yet.  Want to get these blocks put together so I feel I have accomplished something.  I also want to see what those loose triangles are going to be used for.  I prefer to use the half square triangle method when I can.  Loose triangles are so hard to work with.  

Trying to get organized for the new year this morning.  The to do list just keeps getting longer so I am going to throw in the towel, go shower, and start sewing.  Oh, yeah, an hour of cleaning is on my list too.  Happy End of 2022 to all!

Mystery started

 I told myself I was not going to start Bonnie's Mystery this year.  I never finish them.  I love Bonnie!  I love her quilts!  but I only have one finished Bonnie pattern and it was started in a workshop with her and took years.  I have two mysteries I started of hers and they are still in pieces but here I am- doing it AGAIN.  

I got this first clue all done in one day though, and just in time for tomorrow's clue release.  I may not do as well next week as I will be out of town for most of the week.  

Here are my chosen colors.  I am only using my stash and I do not have much orange so I am going to go with YELLOW I think...

Not much variety.  My purple is going to be all out of that solid.  Trying to use my stash before I die, ya know...

I will have to see if I am still happy with the yellow after the first yellow (orange) clues release. 

Funny story- while I was making these, I was also baking cookies.  I was pinning on the final row of the 9 patches and was 12 short.  So I ran upstairs to quickly sew another set of finishing rows.  When I came back down, I couldn't find my 12 unfinished 9 patches anywhere.  Looked back upstairs, looked in the kitchen...Found them in the dog's mouth.  He's lucky that no dissection was required to find them all.   

  

I did get this lovely Christmas quilt on the wall last week.  

I am so happy with how the quilting came out.  Always hard to decide how to quilt a panel.  

My robot hadn't been used in a long time and it threatened to crash on me a couple of times but never did.  I believe it was certainly divine intervention preventing the crash.  

Maybe I will find some more to help me get dinner ready before I have to head off to choir practice.  

Happy December!

Father Christmas has entered the house

 I have been working on this machine embroidery design from SweetPea for about a week now with one or two days off, and using as much time as I could possibly dedicate each day.  He is labor and time intensive but comes out beautifully!

Hope to make many more.  

However, there are many more projects that I hope will join him around here by Christmas so I must give them my attention for awhile.  

My son thought we should go into business together- he would fund me with an additional embroidery machine as long as I thought I could turn him a profit before too long- he is always the entrepreneur.  Not happening anytime soon...

Special Pillow

 

A friend brought me a shirt her mother had embroidered for her years and years ago.  She said she would never wear the shirt again but wanted to preserve the three special kitty embroideries from her mother's hands.  I combined them with some ivory to match the bedding in the room where she will use the pillow.  I think it came out beautifully.  

The flange is awesome!  I am not sure I will ever do a pillow without one ever again!  

Simple Star

 

I am always thrilled with how simple and beautiful a basic 12 inch star block is.  It always makes me want to do an entire quilt.  

These will be used for a Christmas themed quilt I am working on but they are so beautiful, I thought I would share it with you.  Such an easy pattern for any quilting ability level.  

The center square measures 6.5 inches. 

I was tempted to use this as a foundation for a bunch of gold and yellow strings but opted for a simple solid yellow for the entire star.  

You will need to cut 4 corner squares of the blue 3.5 inches.  

The star points are a flying geese unit.  Blue 3.5 X 6.5 with Yellow squares cut at 3.5 inches, then mark the diagonal and sew.  

 

You end up with 4 lovely flying geese units.

Sew two of these to the opposite sides of the center square, making sure you sew through the cross point.  Then sew the blue corners to the opposite ends of the two left over flying geese units.  Then assemble.  

One width of fabric of my blue gave me all I needed for one block.  

Hope you enjoy sewing this lovely star if you choose to do so.  I would love to see what you make!  

Here is a peek at another new project I started.  It is from my husband's old jeans, my stash of ribbon, and machine embroidery- Design from Sweet Pea.  It will end up being a tote bag someday.  I only make a block or two a day and I need 16 before I can start assembling it.  And it has to take its turn with about 100 other projects....

Happy October!

A few more Project of Doom blocks

 

Have I told you that I hate paper piecing? 

 I HATE PAPER PIECING!

But I am so happy with my singing mermaid egg!  You can't tell from the picture but the white part is actually sparkly metallic silver.  However this is not even the best one....

Enter Hedwig... I actually simplified this one deciding that some of the detail will be done with quilting rather than fabric.  I am a bit frustrated because I couldn't find the fabric I originally purchased for her.  It was about the same color combination but the texture was more feathery rather than mottled.  I looked.  I gave up.  At this point, done is better than perfect.  I want this quilt finished!  She will sit on top of the book case, thus the different back ground.  

I am currently working on the Monster Book of Monsters that will join her in pride of placement.  Then I just need two more book blocks and will start assembling the book case.  

My major home keeping task this week was to paint the garage trim.  We have had the new garage doors for about a year, making the trim look awful!  Finally got it done.  Now the window at the front stands out as nasty so it will be next.  The red front door could use a redo as well.  I think it will end up a dark shade of blue.  There will be no stopping point.  

I will leave you this morning with a view of my faithful companion, Cosmo.  He is so calm in the mornings, preferring to snooze in the chair, until I try to get busy with something.  Then he is Mr. Needy.  

If ignored, Mr. Needy turns in to Mr. Naughty. So, a brisk walk may be in order on this brisk October morning.  

October

 I can't believe it is October already!  And almost half gone at that...

Helping us to move into the Fall mood, we brought home quite the haul from the church pumpkin patch.  My daughter has already baked that "pink" pumpkin in the foreground and it is delicious!  She made a pie that is half gone- I may have had a piece for breakfast this morning- and there is plenty of pumpkin left for more delicious treats.

We had a blue pumpkin last year and it was delicious so we grabbed another of those.  The swan necked gourd will be just for us to enjoy looking at, and the fate of the "warty" beauty in the back is yet to be determined.  It was my daughter's favorite though, so it had to come home with us.  

I have been rereading the Harry Potter series, about to start The Order of the Phoenix- again.  So, I have been inspired to pull out my "Project of Doom" that has been decades in the making.  

14 blocks made.  Currently Working on the Singing Egg block.  Then I want to add Hedwig and a few other book blocks.  Then I will put it together.  Can't just keep making all the cool blocks or it will never end!

My daughter has been helping us to get in the mood for Halloween.  Watching scary movies and creating this lovely piece- a challenge given to her from her work.  They provided the skull and employees were encouraged to decorate as they saw fit.  

She added this lovely snake that she created out of air dry clay.  then moss and stones and paint.  

It is currently at work for judging but I hope we have it back by Halloween!  

I have also been trying to get into the Halloween spirit by taking part in the Sweet Pea Halloween Sew Along.  Here are two of the many blocks I have made.  3 more to go and I will start sewing it together.  I will be doing well if I get it hung up by the 31st!

I am also working on a shower curtain and window curtain for my bathroom, done with machine embroidery and some sewing.  Would love to get that done, including towels to match.  

Lots to do, never enough time!

I am determined to have some nice finishes by the end of the year and hopefully to have my house a great deal more organized!  

Happy Fall Stitching!

August catch up

 

Middle of August already and I don't even feel like I have had a summer.  Mostly I feel like I have been unhealthy the entire time.  Covid in Mid June with a cough that never did go away, sewed through my finger recently which healed within a week, and now I have head congestion and my cough is at the level where I can't sleep and my chest is killing me.  Calling to see if I can get in with a doctor today- that is after calling all last week and not even getting the phone answered.  I am VERY upset with medical care these days.  

I absolutely have to be well in time for my vacation at the beginning of September!!!!

But, I did get a quilt bound that had been waiting for a great while.  It is on the wall in my dining area and I really love the colors!

And, this is the second of two large beach bags I have sewn in anticipation of our trip.  It came out okay.  I am not great with boxed corners.  Still need some practice.  I have a hard time making the seams line up with the side seams.  Better if there is no thickness.  

Here are two sides of a smaller beach bag I stitched- it is actually purse size.  It is an in-the-hoop project from Sweet Pea Machine Embroidery.  This is where I had more problem with the boxed corners not lining up with the side seams because of the bulk.  

Cosmo made sure to be up close the entire time in case I needed help.  This is the design that I was doing when I sewed through my finger- the flip flop beach bag.  It bled a little, stopped quickly and healed within 1 week so I have no complaints other than the medical cost.  

Cosmo turned one!  I stitched him up a birthday neck cloth which he chewed the entire time it was on, and my daughter made him a pupcake.  

I love this pup like crazy but he has been a challenge.  His Sheepadoodle behavior is crazy and we have had to resort to some very serious training to be able to live with him.  Not a breed I would suggest in the future.  He still frustrates my husband to no end.  And now that I am home instead of working, he is even more attached to me.  That means having him lay at my feet constantly- tripping hazard for sure, and walking with his body touching my leg, pretty much everywhere we go.  And, he behaves as if he weighs a dainty 5 pounds instead of close to 70.  

I have been doing a great deal of machine embroidery on my new to me Bernina 700.  This is the back of my swimsuit cover up that was purchased for last year's vacation and will be used again in September.  I also added some designs to the front.  

It stitched out beautifully on the thin terry cloth with some thin cut away stabilizer underneath and Solvy wash away on top. 

 And this is my first time ever making Free Standing Lace.  I am very happy with it and will be making many FSL ornaments for a church craft fair in October.  In fact, I should have the machines both going right now...

Underneath is a quilt (topper for my TV cabinet) I have been working on which has now been free motion quilted and just needs a binding.  Maybe it will be an August finish too!

Feeding my addiction...

 I brought home a new (new to me) toy on Friday.  A Bernina embroidery machine.  I have been using a Janome 350e which has been a great little embroidery machine but I really wanted to be able to use larger patterns.  Then when I started finding out what this one could do, after seeing it at the local Bernina shop, I started coveting...  I thought about it for two weeks!  

So, today I spent all day getting to know the machine, writing down questions to ask when I go for my mastery lessons next month, and hunting for answers in the handbook.  I made a lovely embroidery of a beta fish that I will eventually make something out of, and these...

The first one is my nametag for when I go to the "Sew Club"- you get more discount if you wear a nametag you made.  The second one, and one more that has not been stitched yet, will be the tags for the carrying cases which should be arriving soon for carrying my machine and embroidery module to the 12 hours of classes that I will have next month to learn what this baby can really do.  I will be adding ribbons and key rings to make them attach to zippers and a nametag clip.  

Here are the backs.  The yellow one is the back as it turns out if you just follow the embroidery steps- I purchased this little tag from Applique Alley- online.  For the white one, I managed to stop the machine at the correct step and add a backing to hide the back of the stitchery and give a label with my phone number that will attach to the carrying cases.  

Seems like I should have more to show after working with the machine literally all day, but there was definitely a learning curve.  OK, there may have been a short afternoon nap in there too...

So excited!  But, I have also challenged myself to have a quilt finish this coming week and to get at least one quilted!  May have to have this machine and the long arm running at the same time!  

Where has summer gone?

 I saw this on a blog the other day (withstringsattached.blogspot.com)

 and asked if I could share.  

It was posted at the ALA conference.  Its a great quote!  I have moved away from my days as a librarian, for now, but libraries are still my most favorite places!

I feel like my summer is just getting started as most people are making plans to return to school, as early as one and a half weeks from now...

I feel very blessed to not be looking at returning this year.  

My family has all suffered through Covid, my poor daughter had it twice since March.  We are all pretty much healthy now with some lingering coughs that seem to, maybe, be dwindling... finally.  Prayers to any one who is experiencing it.  It was not fun and lasted much longer than the regular flu would, though that is pretty much how all of us felt, like a really bad flue with a great deal more tiredness.  

I have finally felt good enough to return to church and that includes providing the arranging of the altar flowers every week.  Such lovely, bright colors made me want to share...

These lovelies were at the zoo, this past weekend, where my husband and I spent our 27th anniversary.  It is one of our most favorite places and an incredible zoo for our small city.  

There is a new baby orangutan which if you look very closely at the next picture, you can glimpse, attached to mom's right side...

Our zoo is currently under a lot of construction.  Seems like it will be double the size when they are done and we already have an incredible zoo, so it is exciting!  

I have done some sewing.  My UFOs are about to take over the house.  Pulled this one out instead of organizing the sewing room a couple of days ago.  All cut and ready to go but I made no notes about what I meant to do with it so I made it up as I went along.  

It is now this...

and the back is done as well.  

So, as soon as I get some quilting time, it will battle with the others in line for some attention.  It will be a great little baby quilt when I get it done.  

Unfortunately, there was no noticeable dent made in the UFO mess.  

Today, I made a beach bag out of some outdoor fabric I have had for a few years and a pineapple embroidery design from Urban Threads.  Pictured here is the front side before I sewed it together.  I am happy with it but will be trying a different pattern for the flamingo fabric I have waiting.  

My husband and I will be going on a long, beach vacation in the near future- kinda like a 3rd honeymoon/looking for a retirement beach to dream of...So, we will need these big bags!

The first honeymoon was Disney World- 27 years ago.  Second was Hawaii- 14 years ago.  This year will be Florida again, hitting many beaches, Harry Potter World (yes, we will do 2 of the Universal Studios parks but HP is why we are going there at all), and the oldest city in the US!  

Now that the kids are back in the nest, we have built in house/pet sitters!  

I visited a friend a few days ago who pulled out her mom's old sewing machine.  She said it was from the 50's or 60's so when she revealed this 1910 patented machine, I just about fell out of my chair.  Once I gushed about it, she wouldn't let me bring it home with me.  Guess I should have played it cool...

The paint was almost immaculate and the cord was in pristine shape.  I hope I get to sew on it one day...She was gonna take it for service.  

I have been doing a lot of sewing but nothing much more to show yet.  I have also been trying to do some cleaning and organizing but not much progress made there either.  So, I will leave you with the picture of the happily married couple at the zoo- in front of the flamingos that did not photograph well.  We wore our 25th anniversary shirts.  Across our backs it says "together since 1995".  

I love this man more every day and realize I would never have made it through raising kids and putting up with work for all these years without him!  I hope you are all as blessed to have a best friend you can count on for any and everything!