Back In The Saddle Again

I've been busy trying to clear out all of the projects that needed to be finished. I managed to get the quilt from last post outta the sewing room (yeah, more room!) also I sent off a couple of baby blankets that I bound for my niece's twins (a boy and a girl... even more room!).  A while back I mentioned that I had a bunch of patterns that I no longer needed... (heavy sighhhh... more room still!) after having a total of around 7 gals from Church and neighbors go thru them the rest were sent to Savers because as far as I know they are the only ones in the area that will actually use them for re-sale. Plus, I get to write them off on the taxes!  Granddaughters little "Princess Dress" that her mommy made her for Christmas needed to be altered a bit bigger, (mommy made it to fit her like a "real dress" not a dress up dress) so  that she could wear over clothes. That is now back with granddaughter.... believe me she is one happy little girl.... she wore it yesterday to our house for dinner! LoL... cute! Oh, and that makes a bit more room too... cause it was sitting in a cloth bag waiting for me to get to it!!!!
I also managed to go thru a bunch of my fabric that was sitting in boxes, I sorted it out by colors and got rid of 3 more empty boxes! I still have a few little odds and ends of bags to go thru from my sewing room move, but on the whole; I must say that it's looking much better! One of my DD's gave me a shelf that has 2 dowels on it that you slide ribbon on to keep them organized. So I filled that right up! She said that she had wayyy to many to fit it and so was going to give it to the D. I. (our Churches 2nd hand store) so I just shopped in her car b/4 she went! I know, I'm terrible... but it's helping me be more organized! What can I say... it's the little things that count!
There are 14 ladies at our Church that are preggers.... and 2 are having twins... I will probably make a few things to welcome the little ones... mostly those that are first timers.... and those that may be having a 2nd child of a different sex then the 1st! We shall see!

The closet still looks pretty bad and hard to find things in but, I will have to get some shelves either made or purchased to fit the space. It is pretty amazing to actually see floor space! Hard to believe I know.... but it's nice that I can move around without having to move something first! The basket next to the sewing machine table is full of ironing... it's Monday... that's to be expected! Oh, and the cutting table has fabric blocks still in the process of being cut! I only have to cut out 40 or so white eyelet blocks b/4 I can get started on my 1/2 square triangles for a quilt for our bed. I keep changing my mind about what I want... but now that I've cut so many 10 1/2 x 10 1/2 prints I'm committed so I will be making it! The small chest on top of the 4 drawer dresser was made by my FIL. It was a tool chest... but now it's my thread drawer (well at least the 2 bottom drawers are. I turned the thread side ways and lay them down by color... like at the fabric stores.... It's really handy to see what I'm grabbing. The other 3 drawers I use for wrapping paper on the tubes!
The little onesies  that are hanging I made into little tu-tu type dresses... so easy to make! One of my friends's daughter just had twin girls! Always fun to sew for babies!  If interested let me know! I will send instructions.

Anyway... here is a thought I heard yesterday that I liked!

It matters not what we eat; but what we digest!
It matters not what we learn, but what we comprehend!

I know, I'm getting a bit deep... but you know, it's alright as long as we can comprehend what we just learned!
LoL.... Have a great week!

Long Time No Blog?

 Yep... no excuses from me; just lack of posting interest I suppose. I've been lurking each day on other blogs to see what everyone has been up too. I have been catching up on lots of post-poned things. This is the quilt I showed you a while back... It is for a sweet friend of ours and her new hubby... well they got married in December... and I've finally gotten it to them! It's a recycled denim quilt. She has a tendency to get cold when they go camping so we put fleece in the center to make it nice and heavy! Hopefully it will keep them nice and toasty! The back I believe I explained has the same prints on it.
Hmmm, I've moved my sewing room down into the basement and now have more room to spread out, or at least I will again after I clean up the mess that I've made! There were a bunch of things that I left upstairs and just moved them down Friday and well... I still haven't found a place for them yet!
I  made a bunch of bow tie blocks from a kit that I won (a loooooong time ago from here;http://redgeraniumcottage.typepad.com/  )

 Anyway, I finally got to it and the blocks are done. There are 20 of them, mostly all 30's reproduction prints.  I need to square them up and add the sashing still. Its a wall hanging or at least a baby doll quilt size. Hmmm, maybe one of the granddaughters needs it for her dolly....
I've also been cutting all sorts of squares etc.... so I can get busy and build a quilt soon!  The size of blocks range from really large.... 10 1/2 inch square down to 2 inch squares... I'm planning on making half square triangles out of the largest blocks... with white eyelet cotton squares and so that will make the quilt top go really fast! As you can see in the 2nd picture the ones in the box are the little ones... although they are small it will be fun to have soo many scraps used up! Yeah... nothing like a bit of

scrap management to use up some of the fabric in my stash. A lot of stuff that has been sitting there for a while.  It will be nice to use these up.  

Kristy from http://loweryourpresserfoot.blogspot.com/   had her baby... what a cutie.... I'm sure that she is glad that he has finally arrived! He's a big boy.... 9 lbs. 7 oz.  Congrats again Kristy; and to your DH too... he did put in some of the work! LoL.... You both do good work by the way!

So  these pictures show our little bird friends ... we have some pretty Maple tree's in our front yard by our drive way, and just like last year there are birds nesting. Well, at least one bird nesting, and another nest but no family as far as I can tell. It's hard to get a really good picture of her because although I stood on a stool the wind kept blowing the leaves back and forth. I didn't want to scare her. Though, she is looking at me pretty hard!
Last year we couldn't believe how quickly the eggs hatched.



It seems like one day we saw her sitting, and then a day or two later she was teaching them to fly. This one is a morning dove or just a dove. Last years residents were robins if I remember right. Parts of the nest remained from last year, at least this one. The other nest is brand new.  Hopefully none of the neighborhood cats don't get wind of the nest... it's pretty far up in the tree and well concealed. The little twiggy area in the center left shows the nest (just barely) but as you can see... you can not see any birds. Makes me wonder if they didn't like the neighborhood or the neighbors! LoL... we do the best we can about the noise!
Update: Unfortunately; something got at the eggs of this nest... the mother bird is gone and I noticed broken egg shells on the lawn today... but; on the better side: The other nest this one above: now has a momma bird sitting in it! Fingers crossed, this family makes it!
Until next time; enjoy the world... take time to look around! You never know what you may be missing!

What I Did Last Summer

     I know that the title of this post sounds vaguely like a movie time but it kept me pretty busy with a couple other ladies. I told you about it somewhat last Fall. Anyway, here is the quilt all put together and hand quilted by a bunch of us! And then one of the ladies who helped quilt took it home and bound the edges. If you aren't familiar with quilting  I will tell a little bit about this method we did... if you are.... just skip this part! The Sunbonnet Sue girls are all appliqued onto a base fabric... and then I machine stitched using a button hole stitch around each and every figure and separate piece of material to make sure that it would stay in place! Mind you if I had done it all by hand it would have looked nicer maybe... but would have taken sooo very much longer. Then each block was laid out on the floor so that we could decide which block should go where... placing a blue print piece in between. The rows were sewn starting from the left top corner and then the next piece down and the pieces going up at an angle. Anyway... the quilt was started in July 2011 by 4 women and then it was finally finished in March 2012.  Making the finale count of people who worked on it 8.  

(The reason it's standing like this is because it's on display so the ladies could see it all put together; thus encouraging them to buy raffle tickets during their meetings elsewhere.)

This quilt was made for a raffle to earn money for members of  The Daughters of the Utah Pioneers. This organization gathers together to talk about and write up the histories of their ancestors that crossed the plains to come to Utah in the 1800's. It's pretty amazing what those people gave up to come here. Most left your property, their homes and some even gave up family. Some can by wagons and if that wasn't hard enough.  A lot could not afford to buy wagons and so pushed/pulled two wheel hand carts and walked a couple thousand miles to find a place to call home. Children and adults alike walked across this country to get to Utah. Some walked thru the terrible heat; many died along the way. Several handcart companies (as the groups were called) had a very fateful trip.... They  were hit with snow and ice along the way. Many died but many made it. Someone once said that they didn't think that they (as in the company of people) should have made the journey. But, a gentleman who as a young child had actually made that long arduous journey stood and said, (and I'm not giving an exact quote because I couldn't find it) "You were not there, or you would not be saying what your saying. No one that made that journey, ever said that they should not have come! That journey, strengthened our testimonies as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. And I would do it again." Amazing these people... I am humbled by their testimonies and the strength and love they felt for one another to do what they did. I know with out a shadow of a doubt that "I" could not have done what they did! The stories that these people have written down, copied from journals of these ancestors are more than amazing, they are powerful testimonies of our Heavenly Father and His love for them and us.

A Warning Every Seamstress and Quilter Should Read!

For the past week or so I've been moving my sewing room and fabric stash....which means I haven't been doing any sewing to talk about.  Since this is the case I thought I should pass this Warning onto you. Do with it what you will:  
                                                         Pheromones
A recent study has indicated that fabric gives off certain Pheromones that actually hypnotize women & cause them to purchase ungodly amounts of the stuff.
When stored in large quantities in enclosed spaces, the Pheromones (in the fabric) cause memory loss & induce the nesting syndrome (similar to the one that squirrels have before the onset of Winter, i.e. storing food), therefore perpetuating their species & not having a population loss due to their kind being cut into pieces & mixed with others.... (the fabric)
Sound tests have also revealed that these fabrics emit a very high-pitched sound, heard only by a select few-a breed of women know as "Seamstress's & Quilters". When recorded and then played back on an LP, the sounds are heard as chants:  "Buy me, cut me, sew me!"  In order to overcome the so-called "feeding frenzy effect" that these fabrics cause, one must wear a face mask when entering a storage facility (fabric/quilt shop) & use ear plugs to avoid being pulled into their grip.
Studies have also indicated that aliens have inhabited the Earth, helping to spread the effect that these fabrics have on the human population. They are referred to as "Fabric Store Clerks".
It has also been the experience of many of the older female members of this department that these same Pheromones cause a pathological need to secret these fabric purchases away when taken home (or at least blend them into an existing stash). When asked by a significant other if the fabric is new, the reply is: "I've had it for a while".
Memo
To: All Sales Associates
From: Nevada Pheromones Warnings Dept.
CC: Unconcerned Fabric Store Management
Date: 3/22/12


Hope that you enjoyed this little post;
Check out http://barkingdogsquilting.blogspot.com/2012/06/fabric-pheromones-is-at-it-again
The Author of this blog Kathy wrote it! Kathy Smith Harris 1997


 Remember to measure twice, cut once! 

Trying To Catch You All Up On My Many Endeavors

One of the projects that I've been working on is an O.P. Simplicity 3582
for our youngest granddaughter. I couldn't decide which pair of pants to make her.... cause they are both so cute! So, I made them both!

 
The shirt will go with the ruffled bottom pants, although, as a friend said, "It's not like your DGD is going to really care which pants she wears with it." Oh, and just so you know, I do have some sense of color taste!  They look better in person then in the pictures.  They went into the post last Saturday. Yeah! Hopefully they will fit her for a while b/4 it gets too warm to wear them.  Oh, and by the by... these were all made from my fabric stash! I did buy some white Velcro and then was informed by my DD that if I had snaps that that would be a better choice! Seeing as Velcro has a tendency to get all threaded up (if you forget to close them b/4 washing/drying) thus making it harder after a while to have them closer close. Nice thing was I had snaps in the stash also. So I will save the Velcro for some other project. You never know when your going to need to close something up! Hmmmm?

      My mom unfortunately had a bad fall the first part of February and broke her shoulder in three places. So being as she has to wear a brace for another month or so I thought that she needed to have a few options as to what to wear... and hopefully these will be easier to get into. I bought a couple scrub tops and unpicked the left side seam all the way up thru the arm hole and the sleeve! I sewed several pieces of bias tape doubling them over onto the tabs, that I had ironed out flat.  I enclosed them so they wouldn't ravel. Then place velcro pieces on the tabs and onto the scrub shirts so that she would be able to get in and out easier. The tabs go around to the back of the scrub which from my pictures is hard
to see. But you get the idea!

Hmmm, let's see what else? 

Oh, I weeded out a tub full of patterns I felt I didn't need any more. Guess I told you that in the last post; I've had  a bunch of gals from Church come thru and look and take home at least 3or 4. Then again there were a few that managed a good haul! LoL... I was tickled to see them go out the door with them!

We have a friend who was recently married; and because we are always a day late and a dollar short (mostly just time wise) the project/gift is now getting to the near completion point! 

 Actually its farther along than this, but I'm just too lazy to go take another picture then wait for it to download and well... ahem, you get the picture right! These are blocks that are made from a pattern called "Turning Twenty" by??? (Guess I had better go check,) Tricia Cribbs. Normally it is made from 20 fat quarters that you cut 4 different pieces from (there is also a border piece) but, we went with denim pieces due to the fact that this new bride wanted a camp quilt. We (and I say "we" because one of the DD's will be helping with this; and you know who you are don't you!!!!) will be putting the same red/cream print on the back (that is on the front)  with possibly a few other pieces to fill in the blanks... there isn't quite enough of that print to do it so I will have to dig into the stash to see what I can find that is similar weight. I may have to look for some navy blue corduroy to do the trick! Maybe red! (I know Missy... but it would look good!) All of the denim came from old blue jeans! Yes... I managed to whittle down the denim pile too! You should see I can actually get into the closet I keep them in again!

I've also been working on making some bias binding for several fleece quilts. One winter one for us.... it's a pretty Red Berber Fleece, I've appliqued White Snowflakes onto it.... and the bias binding I've made for this is a white with a print of winter scenes. DH can hardly wait for it! I had the bias put on and I started to hand sew it... but I wasn't happy with the way I had first sewed on the bias... so I un-picked the entire side I had done! Then I have 2 for a cute little set of twins I know.... and one more for a humanitarian quilt. Nothing to elaborate but I wanted to get these done and out of the way! Oh, and out of my sewing room! Oh, and all these items have also come from my sewing stash... except for the batting for the insides of the quilt, which is coming from DD#3's stash!  Oh... one more quick story concerning the quilt! A long time ago I bought the print for the quilt.... it sat and sat in my stash and then DD#1 used it for chair covers, one color (the prints  are a blue/cream and a red/cream) for each chair. When she was done... (she likes to change up her decor, more often then her mom.... that's another story... I like to move furniture! Ask her DH!) I got the fabric back! It sat for a long spell... until now! So nothing like recycling to add to the history of the quilt!
All right, this post is way long and I appreciate your patience.... I had to get a lot off my chest and catch everyone up! I will post  final pictures of said quilt and the blankets I get bound!

Don't forget to check out the fabric store/on line ads b/4 you go to make purchases... you'll be surprised what types of sales they have each month! Patterns at the brick/mortar stores (i.e. Hancocks/Jo Ann's) usually have their patterns on sale every month for around $1.99 or so for some of the Big 4 pattern companies. It pays to watch these ads! I sure don't pay full price if I'm looking for a pattern!

Spring Stash Cleaning

     This will be very short... not sure how sweet... but it will be a line or two!  I've been trying to clean, clear out and organize what's left... (it's not like what I removed really made much of a dent in the fabric and or patterns department) but let's just say some of the bins are easier to put onto the shelves now. They slide instead of having to be jam-packed in order to get them on the shelves. I pulled patterns that I have never used, some slightly used and some I thought.... (what was I thinking?) and offered them up to some of the sewing newbies I know. So far 3 or 4 gals have come by dug thru and basically helped themselves. I mentioned that "if" they change their minds about some of the patterns that they took.... to find someone else to pass them along too! I thought about donating them to our local Deseret Industries... but apparently they don't sell well there so the only thing that they use them for is to wrap breakables in. A girl wants to at least think that someone is going to get some use outta some of the patterns that have taken up residence here for a time at her home. And I really don't want to put them into the land fill! So... being as I don't have a huge readership... I figured I would see who would like them in my area. If I had more people who looked at my blog and sewed I would paste them up here so everyone could have a good look. But this is not the case, but,  if your interested let me know and I can put a few at a time up on the blog and send them your way... you would have to pick up the postage but other than that I will probably get rid of them in the next few weeks.
I also went thru my fabric stash and weeded out some items that I have been hanging onto for a number of years.... let's be honest now... I found some fabric that was dated 1997... yeah, gulp! Can you say fabriholic!!! I'll admit it.... there was a time that it was hard to pass up a pretty piece! If/when I do go to the fabric shop .... I very rarely purchase fabric.... mostly I just shop my own shelves, drawers, bins! So, I'm happy to say that I just carried a large box of fabric plus one large Ross bag over to a sewing neighbor! Honestly.... it barely seemed to put a dent into my stash! She told her DH that it was just Jean.... ahem, her enabler! Too funny... though I did tell her that if she decided that she didn't want any of it... to please find someone else to pass it on to. I think he rolled his eyes! Probably thinking, she won't be passing it onto anyone! She is keeping it all! Nice to know that that I'm not the only one! LoL.....
In a while I will post some pic's of some of the sewing that I have been up too.
In the mean time.... hope it's nice where you are.... it's somewhat Spring-like today... although, last week we had snow and cold! LoL.... guess March isn't sure whether it's a Lion or a Lamb!
Don't forget to clean your machine... we all work a lot better when we are clean don't we?

Letting Christmas Surprises Outta The Bag

Now that Christmas "surprises" are all said and done, I wanted to share one of the projects that I worked on for one of our DD's. Years ago, my MIL had all of the girls that were around come and look thru all of  the quilt blocks/tops and fabric she had. Some had belonged to her mother; (affectionately known as "Nana" to my kids) mostly quilt tops and some odds and ends of blocks that were never finished. Our youngest DD picked out these 8 blocks... not even thinking what she would do with them. They had sat at our house for long enough! It was time to do something! And quite honestly, get them outta my house!  In the next picture you will see how these are made... each flower is attached at the points... and the centers of  each petal lift up away from the fabric. I'm not sure what this type of  needlework is called but I plan on finding out! Anyway, I made it into a table cloth, just a decorative one  (I warned DD's hubby that it's not to be used to eat on! Poor guy we tease him somewhat about that sort of thing; but we love him!) Anyway, DD was very pleased and surprised with the result. I put a label on the back basically saying that Nana Litchfield made the blocks and that I had pieced it all together. It was fun... and a bit challenging because if I remember right my math was off a little and I had to recalculate once or twice! LoL.... good for the brain.

 

The only other problem was that there was a drop or two of blood on it; (who knows how many years that was there!) and funny thing, it came right off! Now, mind you I was ready for a battle because I knew it had had to of been there for at least 6-8 years since it's been at my house... who knows how long b/4 that!  We do have a few more quilt tops that Nana made up. Guess we girls will have to get with it! Cause, I know that there are at least 2 more or really 3 more counting one of mine that need to get finished... and at least 2 will leave the building! Ahem... if you know what I mean! But if.... and only if... I get some help! You know who I mean don't you DD.... (I will leave which one off to protect the innocent!) Lol....
I made a skirt for another DD... (which is funny in itself... not the skirt... but how it got made.) DD gave me a skirt to use as a sample of what she wanted.... she would not be bothered (be honest now... I'm telling the truth about this DD) to let me measure her for it! So, the fabric I had was a cute brown pin stripe with some spandex in it. I basically measure a skirt pattern off  I had to the ready made skirt.  Noooo problem they were basically the same size. Just add a titsh... and it was perfect! Not Sooo says the skirt.... because after I was all done, except for putting in a hem, I laid it over the top of ready wear skirt.... and somewhere along the line. Yeah... too short and too small!  No way can I figure out how in the whole I managed that! Sooo strange! Never in my life have I had that problem b/4... I mean it was a simple skirt! Go figure... I recut a new skirt measuring and then measuring and then for good "measure" I measured again.... and then cut and sewed and put in a new zipper.... and this time... it's the right size (at least it's the same size as the ready made skirt) we shall see. DD hasn't told me if it fits or not.... hopefully it does! The first skirt... hmmm taking in the side seams  and putting a hem into it for DDIL. Who is smaller than all of us gals (of course that doesn't take much to be smaller than me...) So two of the DD's will have matching skirts, but they live in different states so I doubt if that will be a problem and honestly I do have enough fabric for 1 more skirt.... sooo if one of the other two DD's speaks up maybe I could make another one! I'm just saying!
One of the DD's wanted  some tools so that's what she got..... we aim to please...! And besides.... she is loosing  weight sooo fast... we will have to be doing some sewing soon... or she won't have a thing to wear!
More later.... I will have to show you the sweet gifties that my family gave me! Talk about spoiling me!
Hugs.... Don't forget to pick up the threads off the floor... because it can be embarrassing if you go out shopping and go to pay the clerk and hand them threads with your $$$. Don't ask!