Tell The Truth Now, Have You Ever Been A Klutz While Sewing?

This is going to take a bit of time to write, but you will understand why when I get this done. ( I must say now that typing with only my right hand and some of my fingers on my left hand makes this a really slow going thing!) This is not what I had planned to blog about, but you know how it is.... I don't want to be the only one! Now think, take your time, have you ever done anything so klutzy and embarrassing as to make yourself say..... I can't believe I did that.... and while sewing! I mean I know of people, (one of my SIL's to boot) that have sewn their fingers with the sewing machine and I've always thought, how can you do that? And just so you know.... that is "not" what I did! Nope.... I wasn't anywhere near the machine when I did what I did! ( Oh, and just in case your wondering... there will be no pictures!) Nope this took place in the pre-paring part b/4 any sewing was to take place. This is so embarrassing.... o.k. it's a story an well, you know how long winded I can be! Sit back.... just don't tell me when your laughing.... cause that will just make it worse!
Last night, DH had gone to bed, ( as per usual, trying to get his 6 hours sleep) and I was sitting in a chair in the living room watching Sherlock Holmes... and then I was going to watch "To The Manor Born".... (that ended up being a no-go!) and sitting with a pile of scraps of fabric on my lap.... (I was trimming them to 1 1/4 inch sizes to make string quilt block pieces) my first mistake! I had an ironing board (one that is around 14 x 20 inches or so also on my lap) and then a small rotary cutting board on my lap too! 2nd mistake! I had been trimming away doing just fine with ruler and rotary cuter...... when you guessed it! 3rd mistake! The cutter slipped, fortunately it only cut my finger! It cut the top of my left index finger.... (thus the typing problems... you try to type without your left index finger and see where it gets you!) honestly I won't go into the details here... don't want anyone fainting! I applied pressure right away... and went into the bathroom to rinse and see what the damage was. Yep... stitches! This of course means that I now had to wake sleeping beauty! Not a pretty thought! No... DH is a sweetie... he just wasn't ready to wake up yet.... after only1 1/2 hours sleep. I said you need to wake up... and then after he was a bit more awake... I told him you need to take me to get stitches! He said, let me see.... it probably just needs a good band aide..... I sorta laughed and said... no such luck... and besides... I will probably need a Tetanus shot! I showed him.... and poor guy is trying to focus his eyes on my finger.... are you sure you need stitches? I said yes... can you drive me while I keep pressure on it? O.K..... he got dressed.... we got into the truck... and I mentioned maybe we could go to Now Care.... but they were not open (I've never been, I had no idea where else to go besides the Emergency Room at the local hospital at the hour in question) so embarrassed, DH filed out the paper work and they asked me how the pain was on a scale from 1-10? I told them it was around a 3-4! Just goes to show.... I can take pain! (I've had 4 kids.... naturally.... no meds!) Nurse looked at the finger.... yep, stitches.... Dr. sat and talked about how he does Mountain Man Ron-devue and made his own leather pants etc... sewing them etc... (this after I told him how I cut myself) he said that he couldn't sew with a regular needle (to sew the leather pants) so he used one of the curved needles like in the E.R..... anyway 5 stitches later.... we won't talk about the shots!!! Yuck! I must say though, the dr. asked DH if he fishes... a big No! Well, he asked cause he wondered if we wanted the tools.... scissors, etc... he had just used on me... cause they throw them away! I said sure.... I'll take them... there are times it's hard to pull threads when tieing a quilt or even quilting... one nice thing out of the evening! So, the nurse wraps me up.... and I look like I'm pointing at something! 10 days.... b/4 they take the stitches out! Heavy Sighhhhhhh! I'm going back to bed! I'm tired and well..... I have an excuse.... I will do more craft/sewing room stuff later! Oh, and the Dr. gave me an excuse to "not" do dishes!!!! What more can I say? Fingers are tired now! Please be careful out there..... sewing can be hard on your fingers!

Starting The Underground Railroad Quilt Blocks

This will be on-running and I will do the best I can to show you what we have been up too. But first, my friend Karma has a nice sewing/quilting room and I thought I would share a few photo's: we are all up to see other sewing rooms, Right? Yep! Just as I thought! So here we go.

This is Karma, I just had her sit to take the picture, she did mention that it would have been better to at least have had something to sew

This is her cutting table that her son just made for her. She is enjoying all the added storage space underneath. Although, she did say it's a bit of a mess at the moment! This is what happens when you have a designated sewing space sometimes.... it gets full quickly.

One side of her closet....
The other side of the closet; plus her book shelf which is full of all sorts of quilting books. Karma and her daughter have taught the Quilt In A Day Series Quilts.

Amazing! You and a helper start out in the morning and by the evening you have a quilt ready to be quilted or tied. They usually do the Log Cabin Quilt.
This ironing board drops down (you probably already figured that one out....) and then inside the closet.... more stuff/fabric stash.... she asked me not to take a picture of this one cause she said it's a mess! Plus then off to the left of this closet is a bureau with 5-6 drawers full of fabric and other necessary notions.

On with the post about the First quilt block we did..... we have our quilt block fabric's all cut out.... not the blocks, just the fabric's. Each block is then separated into a baggie, with it's name on it. All the baggies are stapled together forming a sort of file. I picked up the file and asked Karma to close her eyes to pick one! For a little joke, I said I need to mix them up..... I picked them up and shook the baggies! (I did say it was a "little joke" ) She closed her eyes and picked the Drunkards path.... we have decided to call it the DUI block.... (for those of you not in the U.S. DUI... means Driving Under the Influence, of alcohol or drugs) When you see the last picture, then you will understand where the block gets it's name.
Picture #1 is of the circle and square.... I forgot until we had the circle/squares put together to take pictures. You put a circle of fabric and one of fusible interfacing and stitch around the circle. Then cut a slit into the interfacing and turn right sides out. Round it up some and place in the center of the square and press. Then either by hand or machine; do a blanket stitch around the circle. Oh, also you will see that there are green squares w/yellow circles and vise/versa. We should of stitched the green circles with yellow thread... but we were being somewhat lazy and didn't change thread.... our bad!

Then you have to cut them into quarters... I'm telling you... that hurts... you get them in good shape (don't look closely... I know, I know.... now your really looking close aren't you!?!) and then you cut them up! What's up with that?

You then have to separate them into groups and then start laying them out into the pattern.
We don't have them sewn together yet... but they will be eventually. And this last picture is what the block will look like when it is done! So where it gets it's name?
I will try to take my camera each time and show you the different steps. We are getting together once a week to work on these. And of course, we get lots of gabbing done! What's not to like? What do you think? I sure won't be going into a quilting business anytime soon... but it's fun and her DH ( he is 92!) comes in to see what we are up too now and then... sometime I will have to take a picture of him... he looks like Santa Clause! He used to play Santa at a lot of the malls in his younger days.... back when he was in his 80's. It's too much for him to have the kids sit on his lap now... wears him out! Karma used to dress up as Mrs. Clause. That's all for now.... make sure your needles are sharp and the bobbin has thread!

Playing Sock Puppets Under the Bed?

DH was doing something in the bedroom and turned and noticed this! It looks like someone is playing sock puppets with my slipper socks... so I thought that I would take a picture and share! I know.... I could find better things to do with my time.... but then... what would make you laugh today? Believe me, no one was playing sock puppets... unless.... maybe...... Jamie!!! What have you been doing with my slippers while we are gone? You never know about her. She is a pretty clever dog.

A New Model Hits The Runway!

I started to get my act together and then... well I fell back into a slump again! Such is life sometimes.

#1

I had to make a pattern for a pioneer bonnet.... o.k. well, I didn't really "have" to make a pattern. But, I decided that after seeing the one that I had access to was going to be a bit too hard for the girls/ladies making them (90 % not knowing how to sew and all) I thought maybe I could come up with a pattern that might be easier for the masses as they say!

So, 1st pic' is of it sewn together and then you tie the ribbon/yarn that shows at the bottom of the picture, and you get;

#2.....

#3 on my shy model....

picture #4..... I bribed her..... 2 treats!!! Isn't she cute! LoL.... she wasn't very happy with me.... until of course the treats came out! Edit: The bonnet was also made of on hand materials! Yeah!

Now, we have a Valentine's table runner I'm still working on... about a week b/4 Valentine's I thought.... ohhhh I have some scraps from this cute V. print.... it would make a great runner... so awayyyy I went.... working away... doing fine.... and then yep! I got called away to do something else..... (hmmmm I wonder if it was babysitting???) Don't look too closely... this is of course the front... I used some scraps from the scrap basket and a lot of them were from DD#3's quilt from her wedding.
(I know, I know.... the other two DD's keep telling me how spoiled #3 is...)

They got quilts but not pieced! What can I say.... I had a bit more time with the last child home!

The back, I used scraps from the scrap basket... I think we have a theme going here.... red, red, white, and some black.

If you want you can click and enlarge... I've started to quilt it some.... I may be ripping it all out and starting again... I'm not all that happy with my work here! Once it's done then I will bind it with... you've got it.... scraps from the basket! Nothing like using what you have! This is made of nothing but things I already had in the sewing room.

Karma and I started to work on some wall hangings.... they are from a book about The Underground Railroads Quilts. Sorry can't recall the exact name at this time. She started this project with her dear and bestest friend Marjory years ago. Unfortunately her friend passed away several years ago and she didn't feel up to working on this by herself. They had cut out most of the fabric and we finished up with all but the background pieces last week. We spent about all day working on me cutting and she putting them into groups and marking them off the "list". We had to make a "list" because we were not sure where else to start otherwise! So, a "list" it was. Now those of you that know me... ahem, know that I'm not crazy about lists. Mostly because I have a tendency to stray from lists.... quite often. But, in this case I was actually the one that recommended this method. Otherwise, between the two of us.... we might not remember what went where when with all the whositts! I will try to give you some pic's as we work on these.... they are of all things 6 inch squares.... and there are 15 blocks plus one that is an information blog that tells all about where the project came from and the history of the Underground RailRoad.... or at least a tad bit about it. Karma doesn't see all that fantastically and I do alright most times.... but then again I will be happy when all the cutting it done! Talk about your cross-eyedness! Little numbers, and little pieces.... for example.... we have one piece that is for a Churn Dash block..... the skinny cross pieces are 7/8 inches x 24 b/4 you cut the length you need..... aughhhhh! Karma mentioned maybe we could paper piece all these blocks. But the patterns pieces were not available in a manner we could do that. So... no go! We shall over comeeeeee..... someday?

The bank branch that one of my DD's used to work at is going to be knocked down.... the building is really really old and in sad shape! So, they are moving the staff and the works to another bank building (one that went out of business a while back) temporarily until they can get the new one built. I went into the basement of the old branch with DD to pick up some old doors that she wanted.... a couple of 6 panel doors and one that is a bead board door. Really cool.... anyway we were told we could look around and see if there was anything else we wanted. I found some neat old safety deposit boxes..... all metal of course and brought them home... I'm a bit of a pack rat! I'm sure that I can find something to use them for. They really are neat. Several different sizes. I'll be right back! I need to take some pictures......

These are a few of the safety deposit boxes I got...... fun huh?



Not quite sure yet what to use them for.... if you have any idea's... let me know! Thanks....

As always....

Don't forget to turn the lights off before you leave the sewing room!