Cindi's sewing

2012-02-09T11:59:00.002-05:00

I have another 128 half square triangles to make. When you make that many they take a bit of time. I only have an hour or so most days to work on sewing, so I am still working on those. I am almost done. I still have my mil's quilt to start and the second cross quilt. I also haven't looked for an article of clothing pattern to make this month. Hmmm...I need to make several more skirts. If all else fails I may buy a couple of yards of denim and make me some new denim skirts. I made the two I have several years ago and I have about wore them out.

Sew Long for Now

2012-02-01T13:45:00.002-05:00

I finished my skirt and before January was out. It was a real simple skirt so not really a big deal. I need to look through my patterns now at the beginning of the month and find a shirt pattern and start to work on it early this month.
I was very productive this last week. I finished the new bloggers block of the month block, up to date on that one.

I also finished the eight blocks for the Holiday club and put the strip together. It was so long I took two pictures to show the whole strip.

Exciting news the grandbaby is going to be a granddaughter. Pink. Oh, the ideas, the sewing.

I still have my mother-in-law's quilt to start, my 16 more blocks for the cross quilt to do, a new piece to make for my wardrobe (which is in sad sad shape), and another cross quilt to start. I need to get working before the 13th when I have another BOM club meeting.
Sew Long for Now

2012-01-25T11:52:00.002-05:00

I finished the 20 blocks of the crosses. It's the only sewing I got accomplished in the last week, but I should be thankful I got that done. It's been so busy with work and outside activities. I could say I did more if you count going to my second block of the month club and buying fabric as sewing. (The block of the month is actually a row of the month and I have 8 blocks to do for it..oh my) I bought a really cute charm pack to use to make my mother-in-law a quilt for Christmas next year. I figure if I start now I might actually get it done. I also had a gift certificate I received for helping do our ASG program this month and I redeemed that for some material to use in finishing this cross quilt and for the next one. On the work table: two pairs of pants to hem for some one, 8 blocks for the newest quilt, 1 blogger BOM, 16 more blocks for the blue cross quilt, charms to begin a quilt for my mil, material to start another cross quilt, and wool plus lining to make me a new skirt. No pressure here...hahaha.

Sew Long For Now!

2012-01-20T11:56:00.002-05:00

I signed up to take two block of the month classes at a local quilt shop and the first one that has met so far is the "Color Me Happy" class and I came home and did the first block, isn't it pretty in the batiks.
The middle section of my cross quilt.

The top and bottom sections of my cross quilt. It is coming together. Maybe by next week I will have all the cross squares put together.

I am taking another block of the month class this coming week, I am so excited! I want to make a skirt by the end of Jan. with some pretty patterned wool someone gave me. I just need to pick up some lining material.

Life here is a whirlwind of activity as usual with all the families outside activities. I am trying to stick with my plan of sewing a little each day. It has made a huge difference in getting the cross quilt done.

Sew Long for Now

2012-01-11T09:13:00.004-05:00

I am working hard on the cross quilt. I finished 80 of these point segments this week.
I went on to complete 80 of the corner units. Now I just need to press them out. After pressing all the units I will piece the 20 cross squares. I am so excited. I have tried to work on the quilt at least 1 hr everyday. Unfortunately, last night I wasn't able to. I hope to get in some pressing or sewing today before our group meeting tonight. Tomorrow night is our ASG monthly meeting so I will probably have no time after I get off work and get ready to go there.
I hate to miss 3 days in a row when I have been doing so well.

I love Youtube. I hate altering men's suit jackets and I seem to do more than I care to. My husband wanted me to shorten the length of the sleeves on his tuxedo jacket and I had put it off for a month because I just dreaded it. Finally, on Monday I had to do it because he needed it that night. I decided to look on youtube for any video that might help me review what to do and give me some great way of doing it painfree. I found this great video series of a lady doing a tuxedo jacket. She really gave me the confidence to tackle it. It still had to be done all by hand and it still took the whole afternoon, but the results were wonderful. The nice thing about this series was that she broke down each step into bite size pieces and it really looked easy this way.
Sew Long for Now

2012-01-04T10:03:00.005-05:00

Last week we went to the annual Vintage Ball. I had been asking my daughter what she will wear for months and she never would give me an answer. 4 days before the ball she came to me with a dress I had previously made for her wanting me to alter it. I spent the next day, all day, trying to alter it and it just looked worse and worse. That evening I sat down with her and my dh and discussed what to do. We went through my stash and came up with some pieces big enough to make a long dress. Of course I had to alter the pattern and I tried to make it as simple as possible. The result was ok, but I told her next year we HAD to start a lot earlier.

I have completed the 4th block in the blogger block a month project.

I have made it a plan for the New Year to work on my sewing a little bit every day. I have been working hard on my cross quilt. I have divided the big 20 blocks up into segments. Of course I finished the biggest segment last fall. Now I am working on the segments with the points of the cross in it. I pieced two rows, the first has 5 parts and the second also has 5 parts. Now I am sewing those two rows together. Hopefully, I will finish that this afternoon. There are 80 of these segments. Next I will make the corner segments the each have 8 parts and there are 80 of those. When I finish that I will be able to attach these segments to the main block and get those finished. Then there are 16 other blocks to put together.
I have also been working on piecing the flannel blocks together in rows, and when I finish I will sew the rows together to make a top.
I have also signed up with a friend to do two block a month clubs at a local quilt shop.
I want to make 2012 a year of sewing!
Sew Long for Now!

2011-12-04T17:19:00.002-05:00

Piles and piles of pieces for my quilt with all the cross blocks!
Piles and piles of flannel for another quilt idea!

The first three blocks of a blog block a month quilt.

Busy, busy dreadfully busy...

Sew Long for Now!

2011-11-02T08:35:00.008-05:00

Here is how to make 8 1/2 square triangles at one time. First, you cut out a square of each fabric you want to use. I wanted 2.5 inch 1/2 squares so I cut 6.5 inch squares. Next, you draw a diagonal line from corner to corner so there is a big X on the fabric. Then you mark sewing lines 1/4 inch on each side of the center diagonal line and sew them.

After you sew them line up a ruler to cut 1st through the middle of the X vertically.
Then cut horizontally (note I turned my square to make it easier for me to cut).

Last you cut between the two sewn lines of each of the four segments and...

Then you have 8 triangles ready to press open.

After you press them open then you square them up.

I was actually surprised by how little waste I had using this method and how much faster it made the job of alot of 1/2 square triangles. I completed 160 in just a couple of days. Since I don't get but a few minutes of sewing at a time I thought this was a great accomplishment! I was also surprised by how many 1/2 square triangles I use. Last night I was trying to complete the blog bom and it called for eight 1/2 square triangles. The next block calls for 12! It will be a breeze with this method!

Sew Long for Now!

2011-10-26T09:10:00.002-05:00

The wedding quilt is finished, label and all! I started this quilt last February/March after seeing a picture of a quilt using a pattern like this on a Fons and Porter publication. A couple of months into it, when I finally found the actual pattern to the quilt, I saw it was for a lap quilt and I wanted a bed quilt. So being me I just ad libed. I knew the bride's color for the wedding was red and so I made half square triangles in reds and went to town putting something together similar to the look of the quilt I had seen. I just kept adding rows until it was the size I wanted.
So next week I will send it with a box of other items to my son and his wife.

I am working on another quilt with lots of 1/2 square triangles and Fons and Porter has saved me again! I was watching my dvr recording of their weekend show on my local PBS station and they showed how to make 8 half square triangles at one time! Since I am trying to make 160 right now this will be a great time saver. I will take pictures and share the process soon!

Sew Long for Now!

2011-10-18T11:46:00.002-05:00

20 parts done. So I have completed 9 pieces of 20 blocks and have what 1260 more pieces to go for these 20 blocks. The I have 16 more blocks...432 more pieces. My family wants 3 of these quilts! I love my family, I love my family!

I have almost finished the border of the wedding quilt and then I just have to put a label on it. I hope to get it in the mail by the end of the month!

Sew Long for Now!

2011-09-29T11:53:00.000-05:00

I had an emergency thread run last night. Was in the middle of sewing and ran out of the right color red thread. So off to JoAnn's I went. I had a 50% coupon and I had been wanting to make something with hexagons and had seen these really neat re-usable hexagon and thought I would have to order them online. Low and behold I found them in our local store. I have so many different projects going, but I think I will add another!

Sew Long for Now!

2011-09-22T08:21:00.001-05:00

I have actually been able to work on the machine quilting a bit more and I am so excited to get the wedding quilting done and send it off before cold weather settles in. It really hurts my neck and back to hunch over and quilt it though. I am using my normal sewing machine and doing free motion quilting. I last about 1 hour. I have been itching to start something new. I have so many sewing projects in my head. I have had the Memories quilt pattern laying here for a while and decided to pull out some material and try it out. Each block has 74 pieces. After working on the quilt last night I cut out 3 pieces and put them together to see what what it looked like. 71 more pieces and I will see the finished block! I only want to make 3 or 4 of these quilts! Have I lost my mind? Usually!

Sew Long for Now!

2011-09-07T11:55:00.001-05:00

It has been a bit since I updated what has been happening with sewing here...not too much. I am machine quilting the wedding quilt, it is taking awhile because life has went haywire. The children, school, and their extra curricular activities have come on us with a flurry. My daughter and I did do a display for ASG at one of the local library branches to celebrate National Sewing Month. I tried to take pictures, but the reflection in glass of the display case made them impossible to see. I hope that as we settle into a routine I can get some sewing time back in my schedule!

Sew Long for Now!

2011-08-14T09:21:00.002-05:00

TaDa! Here is part of my finished project with the Ugly Fabric challenge!

The Salvation Army dolls came in and I thought how nice it would be to complete two tasks at once. I made all three doll's pants out of my "ugly fabric." I also had a pretty big piece left so I made a table runner with it.

I had this teal fabric and I thought they matched nicely. It had a sort of fall look to me with the crows on it. My daughter told me it looked more like Halloween and it wasn't crows it was ravens. She promptly began reciting Poe to me. Really? I think they are crows, ravens would be much more menacing.

Sew Long for Now!

2011-08-06T11:44:00.000-05:00

A teaser on the ugly fabric contest!

Sew Long for Now

2011-07-27T13:21:00.002-05:00

Our local ASG is having an ugly fabric challenge. I received this piece as my fabric. It's really not ugly! So I am working on projects to take to our next meeting with this fabric! I got an ample piece and so far I have 3 items cut out so far!

Sew Long for Now!

2011-07-14T13:40:00.004-05:00

It's been so busy here. I have done a bit of sewing. I made 5 of the biscornus (that was all the linen I got from the workshop!)

I have finished the two bridesmaid dresses, good thing since the wedding is in two days!
(update: since when I was trying to write this the wedding is over and all went well!)

I even found matching ties for the best man and groomsman, the couple even decided to give the pastor a matching tie to wear during the ceremony!

I finished the quilt top for their wedding present and showed it to them, unfortunately it will not be quilted before they fly back to my son's duty station. Hopefully, I will get it to them by Christmas!

Sew Long for Now!

2011-06-08T11:51:00.002-05:00

Another biscornu that I completed. I thought summer was suppose to be slower paced and I would have more time to get things done. Maybe it has to physically be past June 21st. I would like to finish another couple of biscornu before tomorrow, can I do it? We will see.

Sew Long for Now!

2011-05-25T13:54:00.002-05:00

We have been on a trip so not much sewing took place. When we got back I got to go to a sew in with my ASG group. A member taught us how to make Biscornu. We also learned about using different needles and different stitches on our machines. This is a great project to practice on.

Two views of my Biscornu. It's suppose to be a pin cushion, but mine turned out a little large for that. Oh no, I will have to make another (said with hidden smile).

Sew Long for Now!

2011-04-27T09:43:00.002-05:00

The Dove's eggs hatched. There were two. They grow big fast! Within a week they had left the nest and now it's empy.

There's going to be a wedding! Our oldest son is getting married in July and I am helping with a lot of the wedding details. I made the wedding invitations and have been getting them ready to mail. We didn't have a wedding ceremony so this is all new to me. There are so many details to having a ceremony and reception!

This is the pattern for the bridesmaid dresses, she is using the yellow dress style without the bows in the material the pattern is on top of. Last week I cut the pattern out and made a muslim for our daughter and then did the adjustments. Now I just need to transfer them and do the rest. I am making one more of the bridesmaid dresses and the rest are taking care of their own. So many details to work out in a little over two months.

Sew Long for Now!

2011-04-13T11:41:00.002-05:00

The excitement of Monday here was finding this dove with a nest on our fence. She was so still! She let us come with feet of her and never moved or flinched. We have checked on her every day since. She is always in the same position. We wondered if she was even alive, but she seems to be. The dogs run around and the children and she never moves. It is on a part of the fence that is currently covered with a tarp, so she will be dry and shaded. I completed four more blocks for the Just One Star project. I thought this red stripped fabric I had would look good, it's ok but not as much contrast as I like. I am going to try to do four more blocks next week and then mail them in. Sew Long for Now!

2011-04-06T13:15:00.003-05:00

Some of the blocks I made to participate in the Just One Star Challenge that I found out about through Deb's blog. They only ask for one block, but it was just as easy to make four. Then I pulled out enough different fabrics, trying to decide what to use and I have two more weeks before I positively have to mail them, that I am planning on making more. The instructions are great and they are easy to put together. Now, the red quilt is another story. I put another row around it and I wasn't happy with the points and so I ripped the row out and made new strips and now have to attach them.

I have also been hand quilting a fence rail quilt I started years ago. I hope to finish it by the end of summer. Busy hands are happy hands! I am working on crocheting a blanket when I get tired of quilting and when I am waiting at soccer practice. I don't know why I gravitating to quilts lately in my sewing, but it's very satisfying and I am enjoying it. Sew Long for Now!

2011-03-23T08:25:00.002-05:00

I went away for a girl's weekend.

When our oldest son turned 16 he got to go on a trip to meet his favorite band. In February our daughter turned 16 and I planned a weekend away. We couldn't take her at the time of her birthday because I wanted to take her to see a play at the Sight and
Sound theater and it didn't open for the new year until this past weekend. My Momma wanted to go also, so we planned a trip for the girls. We had a nice time. Our daughter had never been to this area of Pennsylvania and so there was so many new things for her to see. We went to a farmer's market at Bird-in-Hand, we went on a buggy ride at Intercourse, we even road over to Quarryville and went shopping in the house my sister used to live in!The climax was going to see Joseph Saturday evening at the Sight and Sound theater. It was spectacular! I had seen Ruth and David before and love those, this one didn't disappoint. She loved it! We were in the fourth row center aisle, great seats! Joseph flew over our heads and the animals and actions were right beside us when they came down into the theater.

To add a little sewing in this post. This is the pattern I ordered. The quilt on the set was done in blue and white. I have been slowly working on my red quilt and then I will start on this pattern.

Sew Long for Now!

2011-03-16T08:34:00.002-05:00

I interrupted my quilt to make curtains for a church group. Now back to piecing blocks. I had to decide on a pattern and a size, so I sketched it out on graph paper to see how many blocks I needed...more than I thought! Also, while watching an episode of Fons and Porter with my family they saw a quilt hanging in the background and went nuts over the pattern so I ordered the pattern from them. I need to get this top pieced to start on that. Everyone wants one of that pattern all in different colors!

Sew Long for Now!

2011-02-27T13:46:00.002-05:00

My red quilt so far. I haven't been able to work on it as much as I wanted, but I am slowly progressing. I will be adding another of the antiqued fabric with the small red print around this piece and then I have enough blocks to do another row of the half square triangles, and then another row of the antiqued fabric. I don't know after that. It depends on how big it will be by then. Wow, it is so hard to believe March will be here in a couple of days!

Sew Long for Now!

2011-02-13T13:46:00.002-05:00

The complicated quilt pieces have been put on hold for a while, I have been staring at a pile of red fabrics for a while and I just fell in love with them and decided to make a quilt with a more simple pattern. It's another that I saw on Fons and Porter. I don't have anything, but a picture to go by so it will be fun to see if I can copy it. I wanted to finish piecing this by the end of Feb., but I have been so busy it's ify.

Sew Long for Now!

2011-01-23T19:05:00.002-05:00

This is one of only two blocks I finished of the new quilt I am making. These blocks take a long time! I am thinking that the quilt I want to make needs to be completely finished by June and this one just isn't going to meet that deadline. I will continue to work on it because it is such a challenge, but this week I may pull out some other material and cut out another quilt in a simplier pattern that I can get together a bit faster. I have two ideas of blocks floating in my head. Off to dig out material to fit the bill.

Sew Long for Now!

2011-01-16T11:10:00.002-05:00

Scary looking eh? It took me visiting 5 stores to locate these needles. They are curved needles that can be used to tie quilts. I needed them to repair my livingroom furniture's upholstery. We have a couch and loveseat with attached cushions on the back and they had pulled apart at the seams. These worked really well to get in that awkward spot and re-attach the cushions.

I needed to make a quilt and I saw one in a Fons and Porter Love of Quilting magazine I really liked. After cutting out all the pieces I may be questioning myself though. Each block has 52 pieces. Some of the pieces are inset so you have to mark all the pieces seam allowance to get them set correctly. What was I thinking?

Sew Long for Now!

2010-12-04T10:02:00.002-05:00

I have gotten lost in old photographs. I brought home a box of photos from my mother-in-law this summer with the intentions of making a scrapbook of their married life for them for Christmas. This was their 45th wedding anniversary year. She sent so many pictures from their family. She had them in boxes everywhere in no order. It has been wonderful putting them in order and finding out more about my husband's family. Not much sewing getting done though! The above picture is of my husband's grandmother, his mother and two of her sisters. I love this picture and the story with it. They did not have much money and the girls helped pick cotton to earn enough to buy those matching dresses and then they sent the picture to their father in the army.

Sew Long for Now!

2010-11-18T10:03:00.003-05:00

This is what the nifty ruler I got for my birthday does! It is so easy and actually addictive. The hardest part is picking the colors and getting a good contrast. I didn't on the yellow ones, oh shucks I will have to do more!

close up of one of the bookmarks.

I also finished my two denim skirts. I ordered the material off line and was extremely pleased with the quality of it. Our local JoAnn's is closing in Jan. to move so they are not getting in any more inventory that's why I ordered this online. I went in the store the other day to pick up some snaps and elastic and found out they are not re-opening at their new location until April. Four months. We have a few local quilt shops, but I sometimes need more than 100% cotton material. I feel if I start shopping online I may find it easier and continue even after they open. This is sad to me.

So Long for Now!

2010-11-11T13:00:00.002-05:00

The past several weeks I have been working on more skirts for me. I made a long skirt to wear to an event, I have two denim skirts and linings cut out and I have been working on those. I stopped to help a friend quickly put together a quilt for a pastor appreciation present and now I am to finish them in the next few days.

The picture above is of a an item I received for my birthday. I had seen this used to make the cutest bookmarks. I also saw a jacket embellished with diamonds made from the big ruler. I tried to find one locally and came up empty handed so it was ordered from Bright-Quilting-Notions.com. Their shipping was very quick!

Sew Long for Now!

2010-10-28T11:16:00.002-05:00

I found the cutest shoes for the dolls!

My three Salvation Army Christmas dolls are ready!
Our local Joann's is moving to a new shopping center in Jan. and they are not getting in any new inventory. I couldn't find any denim I wanted for skirts in the store so I went on line and found some at their website and on sale! I ordered denim and lining. I received an email saying the lining was shipped, but no word about the denim so I called customer service. I was told it was something to do with stock coming in and that it would be shipped later. Today I received an email saying the denim was shipped. Hopefully, by next week I will have both and be able to wash it and get ready to make at least two new skirts. In the meantime, I have been cleaning out my sewing room and trying to organize my patterns.

Sew Long for Now!

2010-10-23T11:00:00.002-05:00

I finished two of the doll jackets and still have one more that I need to put the snaps and buttons on. I need to find some shoes and shirts to go with the outfits. I wanted to purchase those, but I may have to make them. I found an online tutorial for making shoes to fit 18 inch dolls. I have some brown leather like fabric, so I could make them. We will see. I have 2 more baby blankets complete, 3 1/2 left here to finish. I was thinking what I would like to do next versus what I need to do next. I need some more skirts, so that may get top of the pile status.

Sew Long for Now!

2010-10-14T07:41:00.001-05:00

Another baby blanket finished! Working on the jackets for the dolls.

Sew Long for Now!

2010-10-10T11:18:00.002-05:00

It's been a busy week around here, well every week is busy around here right now, but I did get some sewing in. I finished crocheting the edging on a baby blanket.
I also finished sewing up the three pair of pants for the Salvation Army dolls. Next I am making jackets to go with the pants. I also serged three more baby blankets to crochet the edging on. We received the forms to order tickets for the annual vintage ball. This year we have another member of our family who can attend. Next I maybe looking at making another revolutionary soldiers outfit. I do have a whole box of flannel sitting here calling my name, so we will see.

Sew Long for Now!

2010-10-04T15:17:00.002-05:00

Look what I did last night! While my dear husband was cooking supper and we were waiting on the children to all come home from their various activities I sat at the supper table and cut out three sets of clothing for the doll project. I was so excited to get this done! I didn't get my oven cleaned, which is also on the list, but sewing comes first right! Now to get these sewed up soon!

Sew Long for Now!

2010-10-03T08:34:00.002-05:00

I finished my bathrobe. It took two weeks, but I am very pleased with it. I was happy because everything lined up and I didn't have to do much ripping out. I can't even remember any!

I still haven't cut out the outfits for the three dolls so that's next on the agenda. I also have some flannel lying here I want to make some quilts out of. Our oldest son is home for a week before heading to his duty station on the other side of the U.S., but maybe I will at least cut out the outfits!

Sew Long for Now!

2010-09-19T11:24:00.002-05:00

I cut out the flannel above for a bathrobe this week. I also cut out the pattern for the doll outfits. Now to find material for the doll outfits and start sewing!

Sew Long for Now!

2010-09-10T12:45:00.002-05:00

Another busy month with another long trip! We went to Oklahoma to see our oldest son graduate from Army basic. It was hot! 109 one evening. I was so glad to get back to our puny 90's. I got one project completed in the last month. I finished this quilt top that I started last fall. It's been claimed by my daughter, but I hope it doesn't take me until next fall to quilt it. I have a fence rail quilt in the closet I started many (many) years ago and I need to get that done. It is halfway quilted. Can I use the excuse I am hand quilting it to get away with how long it has been unfinished? I have three dolls to dress for a salvation army service project through our ASG chapter. I need to turn them in by November. I hope I can get them done in a timely fashion!

Sew Long for Now!

2010-08-09T08:51:00.004-05:00

I haven't had time to take any pictures, so here is a nice picture from Kansas. I love the flatness of it.

After my little whine I pulled myself together and got determined to do something. I make my cards (birthday, get well, etc) and I had run out so my daughter and I sat down and spent a few evenings making cards. I think I am well covered for about a year! We did decide that the end of the month we would spend one night a week making Christmas cards and that way I wouldn't be trying to finish them crazy at the last minute.

I spent some time embroidering 4 aprons for a friend and hemming a tablecloth and adding lace for another lady. I also added a border to a quilt I started last fall. It still needs another border added to make it the size I want. I also began the lovely task of ripping up one of my husband's suit jackets. He wants the sleeves shorter. It's a messy task, not in actual mess you make, but in keeping straight how it goes to get it back together right.

I also got some work done in the garden. Oh, not to forget the 5 or 6 new dishclothes I knit! So, hopefully I can keep the momentum and get some things done.

Sew Long for Now!

2010-07-24T13:05:00.008-05:00

Clock given to Dwight Eisenhower's parents as a wedding gift

A couple of years ago I took an outside job. I used to sew for people to help bring in extra income, but then as our children got older we had some expenses that we just needed a more steady income to cover. At first I delivered papers. I loved that job. The children helped and we had some of the best time together. You also only had to work a couple of hours a day and it was good money. The down side was that you worked everyday, 365 days a year in all weather. Also, it was really rough on your vehicle and so there was high maintance cost. I was able to change to a job that I work at home for a company taking sales calls. The job is a good one, but the hours are longer than the paper route. I get to be home all the time and my family can pop in out while it is slow to talk. I used to be able to sew between calls, but lately it has been so busy that I can't. I also have taken on a lot of overtime and when I get off I am so tired I just don't feel I can do much more.

Soooo I am feeling whiny about my lack of creative outlet. I have always loved to be creative. I wrote, drew, and painted when I was younger. When I found sewing and fiber arts I felt like I had found my calling. Now, with this stage of life and all the demands of working full-time and having teenagers, but with none with a drivers permit I feel tired and depleted. I need to find a way to get sewing and creating back into my days. I get jealous when I see things my friends have done and I would love to try all the ideas flying around my mind and just can't seem to get more done than repairing the items my family needs. I am desperately in need of finding contentment in my life. Pray for me. This past year especially has been a real struggle with a lot of things that have gone on in our lives.

I find myself shaking my head and laughing, just to prove the truth to my dilemma, it took 3 days of constant interruptions to get this post written!

Sew Long for Now

2010-07-13T07:35:00.002-05:00

Happy National Sewing Machine Day!

(No this is not my sewing machine, it is my dream machine that I have on my future wish list!)

Sew Long for Now!

2010-07-05T11:54:00.002-05:00

Another aspect of the Eisenhower Museum was some of Mamie's outfits on display. She was a very well dressed lady and was considered an inspiration for older women. She showed that older women could dress fashionable. The pictures are not the best because they did not allow flash photography. An interesting thing about the displays was that they rotated. I wish they would do that at the Smithsonian with the first ladies dresses.

This is one of her inaugural gowns.

I think this may have been the other, but I am not positive.

This is a typical style of dress that she wore. There were several similar to this, all with matching hats.

This was her wedding dress, complete with a piece of their wedding cake in the chevron shaped container at the bottom of the picture.

Another of her outfits with matching hat. I think she gave Jackie O. lessons in style.

Sew Long for Now!

2010-07-01T20:45:00.002-05:00

I have been doing some sewing, but don't have pictures of my sewing. I made myself two skirts and have a third one cut out. I did a lot of repairs and my pile is going down. We spent the last two weeks in June in Kansas at my in-laws. We went to The Eisenhower Museum and Library. On the premises was the house Dwight grew up in with items that had been there belonging to his family. I have included some pictures of sewing related items from the home.

These crazy patch pillows have names of the boys embroidered on them. There were seven sons, one passed away as a baby. The woven blanket under the pillows was woven by his great uncle.
Another crazy patch pillow with the embroidered name on it.

This is his mother's sewing machine. It is so interesting to see these things from the past. I have treadle sewing machine similar to this. The belt dry rotted and I need to get a new one, but it works great still.

Right now I am working on alterations on a formal dress we bought our daughter while we were gone. It laces up the back and it had two inserts to put behind the laces to keep the skin from showing. They attached using these teeny tiny snaps and they didn't hold well. Since the dress has a side zipper I removed the snaps and tacked the panels in. I need to adjust the straps, they are too long, and then see about the hem. It's great to look for formals after prom and wedding seasoning, you find real good deals.

Sew Long For Now!

2010-05-30T19:36:00.004-05:00

May is drawing to a close and I am breathing a deep sigh. May is always a hard month around our house. We had four birthday celebrations; my Momma's, our oldest son's, my father-in-law, and my niece. Then of course Mother's Day and our wedding anniversary, which fell on Mother's Day this year. Add to that the final programs for some activities and the rounding out of the school year and testing for the two still being homeschooled and let's just say it is a bit overwhelming at times. I didn't do much sewing. Hemming this and that. I cut out two new skirts and they are in various stages of completion. I embroidered two shirts that got stains on them last year and have been sitting in my to-do pile to fix, and I embroidered the bag you see above for our youngest son to store some of his music for the piano in.

I am looking forward to June. Not just because there are large white spaces showing on our family calendar, but because we are going on vacation, two weeks out West visiting my in-laws. It will be a nice break from working. I doubt I will get to take my sewing machine with me, but I may try!

Sew Long For Now!

2010-05-03T20:04:00.002-05:00

A beautiful buttercup my lovely daughter brought in a bouquet for me from our yard.

My second wee gown finished. I am also working on some more smocked ornaments. This time using ribbon. I finally was able to cut out a skirt and have it together. I just need to put in the waist band and hem it. There never seems to be enough time does there?

Sew Long for Now!

2010-04-27T14:36:00.004-05:00

Every other month our local sewing machine dealer has a workshop for those who have purchased machines. At these workshops they show us how to make projects with our machines and their accessories. Last month they featured a wall hanging using the circular embroidery attachment. It was also a feature in issue number 32 of Through the Needle. I loved the sample one. I had the attachment already and several spools of decorative thread, so I purchased the fabric and decided to give it a try. Warning this is not as easy as it looks! You make two quilt tops of pieced 6 1/2 x 6 1/2 blocks. Then you baste them together and decide where to place your circles. You can cut out the size using freezer paper and iron them down where you choose and then reposition them to reuse the same size circle. The first hurdle for me was deciding what size to make the circles and where to place them. Once that is done deciding what thread to use and which stitch to use almost drove me bonkers! Trying to sew circles through two layers while keeping the tear-away stabilizer intact was also a little difficult. Once you stitch a single line of stitching around the circle you cut away the material in the circle and then do any type of satin stitch around. It's similar to reverse applica. For the circle within the circle you do the stitching on the smaller circle first and then don't cut, but do a larger circle around it and then cut out between the two proceeding on to the satin stitching after this.

Next I have to layer the batting and backing to make the wall hanging. It's not really my style and I don't know what I am going to do with it, but it has been a wonderful learning experience for a new technique. I was thinking that my bedroom is yellow with blue trim and it would be nice to use some shades of similar blue for the top quilt and some shades of similar yellow for the bottom and do something similar, but not so abstract looking.

Sew Long for Now!

2010-04-12T18:15:00.002-05:00

Have you ever had one of those "duh" moments? Recently, I read an article in Threads March 2010 issue called "Vionnet: Master Geometrician." It spent some time talking about her edge finishes. At one point it was talking about how she cut bias and sewed that to the edge and then in another article I read it spoke of using bias again on heavy material to keep the bulk in the seam down. A few days later our youngest son was gifted with more jeans. I had hemmed a slew of pants for him recently because he has had a growth spurt. When I did the jeans I broke 3 needles in the progress of completing the hemming job, so I was dreading hemming more jeans. As I was contemplating this task one day I had a "duh" moment. I remembered dh having some jeans his Momma hemmed when we were first married. She had used bias tape to do the hem and I had never seen anyone do that. Then again when I married him I had never seen many jeans hemmed by anyone other than the store or dry cleaner, but that's another story. It dawned on me that I could hem these jeans using bias tap to cut down on the bulk. I have lots of bias tape that I was gifted with a few years back. A couple pair of the jeans I cut off for shorts and a couple I left long. I pressed up at least a 1 inch hem on all of them. Next, I sewed bias tape to the right side of the hem allowance and then turned up the hem and folded the bias binding over the raw edge and sewed it down. No broken needles, no hump jumping problems at the seam! Sewing was a breeze and it took hardly any extra time to do the extra steps involved. I am one happy camper. So, tell me am I the only person in the universe who just got this or has everyone always hemmed jeans like this?

Sew Long for Now!

2010-04-10T05:37:00.002-05:00

For the past month, one of the big projects I have been working on is a bow tucks bag. I finally finished it. It turned out nice. It has lots of pockets on the inside.

And of course the detail that gives it it's name.

It also calls for one pocket on the outside, but I cut out two so I gave it two on the outside. You can never have enough pockets! I also finished smocking an angel gown, but I didn't take a picture of that before I gave it to the lady who collects them. I started another gown. I would like to do one a month at least. My next big sewing project (besides making shorts out of old jeans for my son) is going to be make me some new skirts and I have some smaller projects in the works.

We got new bees and they are drawing out their own comb. This piece fell off when the boys released the queen yesterday and I was just amazed at the perfect cubes in each comb. I tried to capture it, but a photo doesn't do it justice.

Sew Long for Now!

2010-03-22T16:49:00.002-05:00

Last Monday I spent the whole day sewing! It was great, I helped other members of our ASG chapter make soldier bags to send to troops serving overseas. As of Wednesday we had 124 to turn in.

Now I must interrupt for some serious cuteness! I had been missing having a dog. My husband and I had talked about getting two black poodles. Monday afternoon he comes home with the name and number of a lady we go to church with who had 3 month old poodles, 2 litters. We went to see them and came home with a chocolate and apricot. The chocolate is named Smith and the apricot is named Wesson. I forgot how much work house training puppies is!

I did get the pillowcases finished to match the children's pj's I made them. I used the directions at Modalissa's blog. The only snag I had was that I used flannel and the method she showed for the roll method was neat, but the flannel didn't slide very well. It took a bit of an effort to get it flipped. I think I would like to make some using cotton. It was actually fun once you got it flipped!

I also finally cut out my bow tuck bag, now to get it sown up! Wow, I feel I am actually accomplishing something lately.

Sew Long for Now!

2010-03-07T16:30:00.002-05:00

I was on a roll and since I finished smocking my 2nd ornament a month ago, I went ahead to finished it up.
I am looking forward to learning to do the other type of ornament in April.

I started on the second bra purse, but my heart wasn't it. My heart wasn't in much because I got a case of the whiney's. Our youngest son was growing out of his pants and shirts so the general and I went shopping in my favorite place - the attic. I had boxes and boxes of clothes saved from our oldest son and I have a friend who has two boys and she gave me the clothes they outgrew. When we pulled down the last four boxes I was amazed that was all that was left. By the time we went through them one only had one box to put back up. What made me so melancholy was the fact that my baby is growing up. He will be 13 this summer and as I watch his body grow into that of a young man it's hard. I will no longer have any babies or children. Our oldest turns 21 this year and so this year is marked by milestones with our two boys. One becomes an adult and one becomes a young man...sigh...I hope they remember the book I used to read to them when they were little, "I'll love you forever, I'll like you for always, as long as your living my baby you'll be."
Off to hem pants for the young man.
Sew Long for Now!

2010-03-04T23:22:00.002-05:00

Ok, so I should really be in bed since I have to be at work by 7 a.m., but I finished my bra purse and this is the back of it. I had started to put beads on it and then I took them off. It was just too much for me. I have another bra, I got two in the package I bought and I am thinking of making one more and seeing if I can't embelish it on the machine instead of by hand.
I was excited this week because I finally completely finished one of the smocked ornaments I started 4 months ago. The pattern called for a 3 inch ball and the finished project was too big for that size ball. It seems other ladies at the smocking group had this same problem so I can't chalk it up to beginners booboo. I padded the ball with quilting batting and that made it fit better.

Next month the lady who leads the smocking group is going to show me how to make a different ornament with ribbon.

I also finally got around to washing the material for a spring bag I am making. So maybe this coming week I will get my other smocked ornament completely finished, my bag cut out and worked on, another bra bag worked on, some pillow cases cut out and made, and a bathrobe cut out. I always have more ideas than time!

Sew Long for Now!

2010-02-28T06:41:00.002-05:00

What is that old saying about the best laid plans? I have so many plans to do things and then I get so busy they just don't materialize. One of the things I had planned to do starting the beginning of this year was to get back into blogging more consistantly. It hasn't happened. I have been sewing though. This interesting thing above is one of the projects I am working on right now. It's a purse. It's not finished. It's being made out of an interesting object. A bra. It's a lot of hand sewing also. I hope to finish it in the next two weeks. I will post pictures of it when it's done.

Sew Long for Now!

2010-01-05T19:25:00.002-05:00

I signed up to sew these post op pouches for breast cancer patients in October. I finally finished them today. I am trying to get some ufo's and mending caught up.

With the New Year, Tuesday has become one of the busiest days here. This morning we all went to the dentist, then I dropped our daughter off at Math class while our youngest son and I came home, him to finish his lessons and me to sew. After I picked her up from Math we all three did chores and I cleaned the bathroom then I took her to violin lessons. I dropped her off and picked up our youngest son to drop him off to meet his Dad for a missions trip meeting and I came home to fix supper. I now await those two returning so we can eat and maybe watch the first half of Return of the Kings, the extended version. We are working our way through the LoR extended version movies this week.

I need to see if I can find a zipper to finish a pair of pants for a lady at church and then attack that mending pile!

Sew Long for Now!

2010-01-03T17:33:00.002-05:00

I know I have been missing in action for a while. I have spent the past two months working on outfits to be worn to our annual vintage ball. This is a contra dance for homeschoolers in our area every year right after Christmas. It is tons of fun. My husband really gets into this dance. He loves to dress in the style of the 1800's. He also really wants an authentic outfit. This year I tried really hard to make him one.

This is the vest. The easiest piece I made.

I wanted to chuck these pants more times than I can count. The instructions with the pattern are just beyond comprehension. I finally told him I was going to make them the best I could to look authentic as possible. This pattern caused me many tears and I have seriously thought about trashing the pattern because it was such a pain.

This the jacket. He wanted it in the authentic wool, but I talked him out of it. Since we were dancing indoors and with heat I thought it would be just too hot. There are more than 24 pewter buttons on this coat. I also didn't make the buttons actually function. This piece took me the longest and there was so many more things I could have done to make it more authentic, but time wasn't on my side. I spent more than 6 weeks working on it.

This has been one of the most challenging projects I have done in awhile.

Today to wind down from all this I cleaned my sewing room and worked on hand quilting a fence rail quilt I am working on.

Sew Long for Now!

2009-11-15T15:13:00.003-05:00

I am learning something new. Smocking. I need lots of practice as you can see. Worked on some embroidery. Still trying to find time to fit more sewing into my life at the stage. I keep reminding myself life is full of seasons and the season I am in now will soon pass and santity will prevail!

Sew Long for Now!

2009-10-26T10:51:00.002-05:00

The quilt was finished and given on time! I was finishing up the border at 1:30 a.m. and gave it to my parents at 2 p.m.! I finally finished a skirt I had been working on for 7 weeks. It usually only takes a day or two, but because life is so hectic around here these days everything takes a lot longer. Christmas is coming too fast and I need to start sewing for that, but I have some embroidery to do for a client. That and mending piling up. I need some more skirts too. Hmm, can I hire a stunt double for my life?

Sew Long for Now!

2009-10-02T15:26:00.002-05:00

Here's how far I have gotten. I am going to embroider a big 50 on the top as the cake topper. I am also going to embroider their names and their date of marriage and the date of their anniversary. I also am either going to embroider or applique the berries and leaves to match the material that I am using for the border I need to add. I am missing the names of two great grandchildren because I can't get hold of any one to find them out. Even my Momma doesn't know these names. Close family eh?

Sew Long for Now!

2009-09-28T11:15:00.001-05:00

A peek at the wall hanging I am working on, 33 more names to embroider. This has to be done by Oct. 10th...hmmm?

Sew Long for Now!

2009-09-27T22:47:00.002-05:00

I wanted to let every know that over at the Mennobrarian she is have a great give away, stop by and look! She has 4 different prizes packages to give away to four different people. Her blog is lovely and is also posted on my blog roll if you need the link.

Sew Long for Now!

PS I have been sewing for the past month, just haven't had lots of time to post. I am working on a great wall hanging for my parents 50th wedding anniversary in a little over a week. I will post about it when it is done. Love and Friendship!

2009-08-17T00:37:00.002-05:00

Our little beekeeper turned 12 on Friday and we ran away for a couple of days.
My sewing for this past week consisted of a trip to the fabric store to admire fabric. I didn't buy anything. I am on a mission to find some home dec fabric to make new curtains and possibly a comfort for my bedroom. Yes, we are going to move bedrooms around again.
Sew Long for Now!

2009-08-08T15:25:00.002-05:00

This week has had little sewing. Lots of shopping, lots of decisions, but not a lot of sewing.

I made the first batch of salsa for the summer. I used habenero's I had in the freezer from last summer because those little peppers aren't ripe yet. I made a little over 12 pints.

My only sewing project this week was embroidering this sweater for some one. It took over 74 minutes for just the embroidery to sew out. Next week I doubt I will get any sewing in. We are planning a short trip to the beach in honor of our youngest's 12 birthday and our oldest heads back to college next weekend. He is heading into his 3rd year! This year will be a big year for him.

Sew Long for Now!

2009-07-30T15:52:00.002-05:00

After spending an enjoyable morning with a friend of mine and her children at the park I came home and dived into finishing the curtains. I did! I didn't line them because I justed wanted something to filter the light. I wanted more natural light to come in. I love them, they are exactly what I wanted. The give the room a cozy cottage look.

I was especially pleased with what worked on this window. We have central air, but the general put a small a/c unit in the window because there are two computers in this room and only one vent and it can get quite stuffy when I have to have the door closed. The small a/c has given us a two fold benefit, it keeps the room cool because of the computers and it also keeps down the noise from the neighbors on this side of the house while I am working. They are lovely people don't get me wrong, they just have a lot of people living there (three generations) and lots of children and for some reason they chose to play really noisy games right under my window. Don't get me started on 4th of July. They went out of state to buy fireworks and they bought some really big banging explosives. I had to work that night and oh the noise when I was trying to answer the phone. Oh well. It feels so good to have completed a project. I probably will not get a lot more done until next week. Tomorrow is the dreaded grocery shopping day and Saturday is the general's day off.

Sew Long for Now!

2009-07-29T16:59:00.002-05:00

A few weeks ago when the general had vacation we used it remodeling my office/sewing room. Since I work from home I spend a lot of time in this room. The general built a desk to fit in the corner of the room with shelves above it for me. I didn't like the curtains in the room, but the would do since they covered the windows. I decided since we redid the room to make new curtains. I wanted cafe curtains so I could see the sky from my chair while working. I also decided I needed to find the material to do the curtains in my stash. I found this cute checked fabric and decided it would match. Today I finally got around to starting the curtains. I cut out both sets and began serging and sewing them. This is the only piece of them I got completely finished. I love the way it looks, so much more feminine than what was up there. Tonight I may work more on them. Today is one of my days off. Hopefully, I will finish them up by the weekend. Doesn't it feel good to get in a few hours sewing?

Sew Long for Now!

2009-07-28T00:40:00.004-05:00

photo by my daughter

Summer is rolling along. I think often of blogging. I think often of sewing. Lately both have been just a dream. I have worked a lot of overtime this summer. Summer just seems to be passing me by. I definitely am not getting my usual enjoyment out of it. This is the first summer I have worked a full time job in 20 years and I do not enjoy it. I don't like working, but alas I do what I have to. I did get reaquainted with my sewing machine today. For the first time in what seem like forever I threaded my serger and repaired a bag for my oldest and then set up my embroidery machine and put some embroidery on a shirt to cover up where I got paint on it. It was one of my favorite shirts, I had to save it. Don't you just love that about embroidery, you can do little tricks like that with it. I bought a sketch pad at Walmart a month or so ago with the intention of using it to put ideas for sewing projects in it. I finally, got around to starting it last night. There may be hope for me to get myself back in line yet. Cross your fingers, and your toes, and say a prayer!

Sew Long for Now!

2009-06-17T12:50:00.002-05:00

Has it really been that long since I wrote? It doesn't seem that long. I seem to be stuck in the fast lane of traffic and not be able to move over to get off the exit ramp, even with my turn signal on.

I finished 20 eyeglass holders for the nursing home and gave them for the June party.

I have embroidered some shirts, worked on some crochet, and did some beading, but I have been so busy getting people in the house ready for camps, going to graduation parties, and such. I have barely had any time to keep up with what every one is doing and this makes me sad. My two sons were in an auto accident. An elderly gentleman hit them and totaled the vehicle they were in. That alone took two full weeks out of my life. I had to make what seem like millions of calls to get everything taken care of. My job (the one I get paid for-grin) has been very busy lately and I have worked quite a lot of overtime. I have been so tired when I haven't worked. I joined Curves with my daughter because I was doing horrible trying to motivate myself to get some exercise and sitting for 8 hours five days a week was getting to me.

I guess the problem is I have been disjointed. I still haven't found my groove with things since the change in jobs last November. I spend time thinking and planning a new strategy for how to get it all done, to have something happen and everything fly in my face and upset my new routine. I thrive on routine, but right now I haven't found one that works, thus I am not thriving. I have to remember there is seasons to our lives and I seem to be in the stormy season, not much different than the weather around us right now.
This is the latest of my projects for the nursing home. I made 80 of these little patriotic pins for them for July. I now face August and have no creative idea of what to do. Hopefully, I will get some time to do some web surfing and come up with something. I have an embroidery project waiting for a customer and clothes to repair for our daughter's upcoming camp week and some one just brought me a shirt to repair for them and ironing to do and...well you get the picture. Does everyone have all these things looming over them?
Sew Long for Now!

2009-05-21T02:38:00.001-05:00

A few cards I made this week. I haven't done much sewing except in my mind.

Sew Long for Now!

2009-05-14T09:33:00.002-05:00

Greetings! I got a picture of one of the pins I made for the nursing home door prizes. The ladies loved these and I was ask to make a few more, who could say no to such cuteness.

Meanwhile I have started on these necklaces for June's door prizes. I also made 20 bookmarkers. I was thinking with Father's Day being in June I need to find a special something to make for the just the men. There are less than 20 men who come to the party. Any ideas would be appreciated, remember these are men in there 80's+.
And I just have to share what I received for Mother's Day from my daughter!

She spent a long time beading each of these flowers and making this necklace for me, she even made a pair of matching earrings! She is so talented!

I have caught up on my mending again, I seem to end up with a lot of mending around here. I need to finish my quilt. Of course my mind is always thinking of more projects to sew!

Sew Long for Now!

2009-04-28T15:23:00.004-05:00

Another skirt finished for me. This one out of a soft brown suiting material lined with a cream lining. April's been a busy month. I haven't done a tremendous amount of sewing, but I have gotten a decent amount of crochet done.
I have crocheted a supply of dishclothes, and because of a swap I participated in I made some potholders also.

The nursing home door prizes got attention too. I made 20 brooches out the above fabric. I made big yoyo's out of the pink gingham and then sewing little yoyo's out of the print, I placed those in the center of the larger yoyo's. I topped that off with a button in the center of the smaller yoyo. The brooches look like flowers, something out of a Mary Englebreit picture.

We put in most of two of our veggie gardens. Still need to add more beans and more peppers.

If you have time stop by Things Least Expected and read the poem my daughter wrote for me. I was so touched and awed by it!
Sew Long for Now!

2009-04-08T11:08:00.003-05:00

No sewing accomplished over vacation. I did spend a lot of time running around.Here is one of the pandas from the National Zoo which we visited in DC.

I did work on getting some mending jobs done when we got home. The general has a new zipper in his coat and our little bee keeper has the hem let out of some of his pants. Boy, is he going through a growth spurt.

I cut out two skirts that I hope to work on today. I also started a new project for door prizes for the nursing home's May party. I haven't gotten any further on my quilt though. I hope to work on it soon. I need to get some clothing items done first before I continue.

Sew Long for Now!

2009-03-25T09:11:00.002-05:00

Here is the quilt I have been working on, I want to make it bigger and I think I will add some more sashing to do that. I want to make it throw size.
I have also been making hotpads to go with my dishtowels.
After years of use mine seem to have worn out.

I have also been crocheting dishtowels and dishclothes. It gives me something to do when I sit through piano lessons, violin lessons, 4H, and other such activities that I take the children to or while the general watches tv and I just want to sit with him. I must admit to enjoying Treasure Hunters.

I am off from work for vacation and the general is also on vacation. We aren't doing anything really big and exciting; Awana games with our youngest, going to one of our oldest ultimate frisbee matches, going to DC to the Smithsonian and National Zoo, and trying to find time to get some stuff done around the house. We are just excited about getting to do it together. We love to spend time together and don't always get to.

Sew Long for Now!

2009-03-18T10:34:00.002-05:00

Thanks to my friend Linda's advice I picked a lovely burnt orange fabric to use as the sashing with the blocks I made. Now to just work on it. I finished up 20 clover pins for the nursing home party late Saturday night. I had to give them to coordinator Sunday morning. Sewwwww, I forgot to take a picture of them. I could kick myself because they were so cute. I used a Criswell charm design for a clover I had and did 20 free standing embroidered charms. Then I tacked them on white felt that I had cut in the same shape a little bigger then the charm. Next I cut green felt to match the color thread I used a little bigger than the white felt still in the same outline. I hot glued the green felt on and then put a pin back on each one and put them on card stock with Happy St. Patrick's Day written on it. Now I need to start thinking about April's party.

I have also been working on dishtowels. I dislike fluffy dishtowels, they leave lint. I saw on Amanda Jean's blog how she found some waffle muslim and put binding on it. When I was in JoAnn's the other day I picked up 2 yards of waffle muslin. I began dividing it and cutting it to decide what size I thought would be good for a dishtowel. I also have a couple of the feedsack ones and they are just too big. I finally decided on 18 1/2 inches by 13 inches. With this size I got 16 towels out of the 2 yards. I have loads of premade binding that a lady gave me last fall. I went through it and found some cute binding with a floral pattern and some with dots. I covered the raw edges with binding on all the towels. I think I will add a little to something more to them. I was thinking maybe a row of pieced blocks across the bottom.

Sew Long for Now

2009-03-11T00:31:00.002-05:00

What crazy week. The last time I posted we had just had 6 inches of snow, then the last couple of days the temps have been in the 70's. That would explain why I am suffering a terrible head cold. I have been sewing some though. I have completed ten of the block above. I haven't decided what color I want to use as the connecting strips yet. I have went through my stash and not found a thing I like. Sew it's off to the fabric store one day soon to find something. I have also been working on making dishtowels. I will post some of them in the future.

On a sad note, our bees did good all winter and then we lost them this past weekend. We have ordered a new queen and nucs to start again. Since this was our first year we feel this is all part of the learning process. Hopefully in a week or so the new bees will arrive and we can get them settled.

Sew Long for Now!

2009-03-02T01:33:00.002-05:00

Our first snow of the season! Can you see the cardinals in our bush? I tried so hard to capture their picture today when they were at the feeder, but they are a little shy and kept skipping away when I went on the porch.

I love to watch it snow. March is coming in like a lion, so it should leave like a lamb...right?

Here are some of the other tissue holders I finished over the weekend. I did a total of 20. I decided to do a pin with a clover for some of the other door prizes. I also spent some time this evening cutting out blocks to start either a new table runner or a wall hanging. I will post a picture of it as soon as I get the first block finished.

Our daughter and our oldest son away at college have had the flu this week. She spent most of the week in bed. Since he goes to a military institute he didn't have that luxury. He ended up in the post hospital for a day at the end of the week. They had what they are calling type A. The general went up to school and picked him up yesterday and brought him home for some rest. He seemed much better when the general took him back today.

I have been spraying the house with Lysol to try to kill the germs and keep the rest of us from being sick.

Sew Long for Now!

2009-02-23T01:39:00.003-05:00

It's been a while since I posted. Things have been happening around. It has actually been kind of busy. This is one of the 20 door hangers I did for the February party at the nursing home. I made 40 of the 80 door prizes.

Valentines Day was a big event here. Our oldest and his girlfriend stopped by on their way to the midwinter formal. She is such a sweet girl.

That was also our daughter's 14th birthday. She was 14 on the 14th. So much celebration was happening here.

I altered a dress for a girl and then began projects for March's party at the nursing home. So far I have made these 10 travel tissue covers. These are made with the men in mind. I am going to do some fancy ones with trim for the women. I will put packs of travel tissues in them before I give them to the lady who plans the parties. I am planning on making 20 and then maybe some type of bag with candy in it. I was thinking of making like 20 drawstring bags and filling them with those candy chocolate coins. I also found a really nice clover pin pattern. I could do 20 of those for St. Patrick's Day. I will decide after I finish these tissue covers.

I pulled out a pattern I bought a few years ago to make the General a revolutionary soldier costume and will attempt to finish it in the coming months.

Can you believe February is almost over? Time is just flying by.

Sew Long for Now!

2009-02-10T01:48:00.002-05:00

I finished the table runner that I was playing with.

I tried to pull together the blocks with the background fabric by using the same material I used in the corner of the blocks for the backing. I had a fun time quilting it. I decided to machine quilt it and since I had been watching some episodes of Sewing with Nancy by using my DVR I wanted to try an idea I saw. On a recent rerun they showed the lady making the quilts and she quilts them square by square and then puts them together with the connecting pieces. She quilts her's using what she called a wobble stitch. It's just a small elongated zig zag. I loved the look of that. It really blended well when stitching "in the ditch."

I have some things to finish by this weekend for the nursing home party next week, plus it's Captain Kitty's 14th birthday this weekend.

Sew Long for Now!

2009-02-04T02:07:00.002-05:00

I decided to make a quilted table runner out of the romantic material I used in the cloth hearts. I am not sure of the fabrics I chose. I like them, but looking at the picture they do look a little busy. Hmmm. Oh well I am either going to use red or a tea dyed muslin as the connecting strips. This should be interesting.

Sew Long for Now!

2009-02-03T01:45:00.002-05:00

I finished 20 of these hearts for the nursing home's February party. I filled each heart with Hershey kisses. Now I am sidetracked with a Valentine's tabletopper I am working on. I have one block completed and three more in stages. I hope to finish it by this weekend so I can make more door prizes for the party. I was thinking also of some sweet redwork stuffed little hanging ornaments...hmmm. So many choices and so little time. I was also thinking I need a black denim skirt. I really like the grey denim one I just made. In all the boxes of stash in my house (and there are over 10 32 gallon rubber maid boxes) there is not one yard of black denim, sigh I guess I will just have to go fabric shopping (insert evil grin)!

Sew Long for Now!

2009-01-27T01:34:00.002-05:00

I spent some time today cutting out hearts. I have been pondering in my mind how to help out our nursing home ministery since I can't attend the monthly parties they throw for the residents. I have decided to make some of the 80+ door prizes they give to the residents. Out of my stash I pulled some Valentines looking fabric. One more femine for the ladies and one more masculine for the men. I am making heart shaped baskets and will fill them with candies. I am also pondering making some small stuffed hearts with something about 2 Cor. on them. The children and I will do some baking to send also. Red velvet cake or cupcakes sounds good.

Sew Long for Now.

2009-01-24T01:54:00.002-05:00

My skirt is finished. I cut it out and then serged the raw edges yesterday. I also marked and made the four pleats yesterday. Today I made the casing, adjusted the length, added the lining and put it all together and hemmed it. It is a fairly heavy weight denim that should keep me nice and warm.

I have been doing all manner of other things the past several days. Shopping, taking children to music lessons and 4H, getting the oil changed in the car, shopping, shipping packages, shopping, paying bills, lessons, shopping, cooking. For some one who hates to leave home I sure do spend a lot of time away from home. I have a little plaque in front of me that reads "For Everything There Is A Season." I have to keep reminding myself that this too shall pass. Life will settle down into a routine someday soon and the running will slow down.

Yesterday afternoon our little bee keeper came running in the house all excited. He and a friend had found the skull of a small animal in the woods across from our home. It is now proudly displayed in a glass box his sister gave him, right up on his dresser with his models. Today he came home with some more of the bones to the animal.

This is what is laying on my kitchen counter right now. Boys, you gotta love them.

Sew Long for Now!

2009-01-21T01:43:00.004-05:00

It's been a week since I last updated. I have only cut out a skirt and lining to sew in that department. I have been working on knitting squares for an throw and crocheting squares for a throw. The colors in this picture are not showing up the way they actually look in real life. The General had a new computer built for me last week and he hasn't been able to load of my software back on it. This is my very own computer. Our old one is going into the family room for the rest of the family to use. This one will be just for my sewing and working. That man spoils me.

Speaking of spoiling me, he really has lately. He gets up every Saturday morning and cooks me breakfast and then cooks supper on Saturday evenings. He is such a blessing. I thank God every day for bringing this man into my life. I don't deserve how good he treats me.

My aunt passed away last week and was laid to rest today. I drove up to my folks today and attended the funeral with them. My family is a little complicated, but this lady had a large part in shaping my life in my early years. You see she was our nanny growing up. When the last child started school she married my uncle and stayed in the family by becoming my aunt. I was raised in a conservative religion and my aunt was Pentecostal. They laugh and tell of how she took me to church with her on Wednesday nights and how much I loved it because her church had an organ, music, and the people clapped their hands. Quite a difference from our church were we didn't even have Sunday School.

Oh, my oldest son marched with the VMI band and the Corp in the inaugural parade today. He has had so many wonderful opportunities at school there.

I hope to get my skirt sewn up this week and get some more sewing done. I have lots of ideas floating around in my head. They seem to center on quilts though. I wonder if these frigid temperatures have that effect on me?

Sew Long for Now!

Day In My Life

2009-01-14T21:51:00.005-05:00

It's January 14th. Every month on the fourteenth I like to join in reading and leaving a post about a day in the life of women bloggers around the globe. This is sponsored by Little Jenny Wren.

The clock turned over to the 14th at midnight and found me working. I got off at 1:30 a.m. Before going to bed I spent 40 minutes going through e-mails and trying to reply to them all. I am very behind on things like this because with my new schedule I haven't got the hang of where to fit everything in. I will work it out though! About 2:20 a.m. I went to bed.

I woke up at 10:30. I really wasn't wanting to get up, I wanted to get "just 5 more minutes sleep." Today is one of my two days off from work this week. Since it is Wednesday though I knew I needed to get up and get going with other tasks. I got up and went to check on the children to see that they were working their way through the lists I had left them on the frig. Every night I post a list for the next days school lessons and chores on the frig. The children get up and do what they can on their own and I check what they have done and help them with other lessons when I get up. They were dilligently working through their lessons. I just received a rice cooker and wanted to wash it out so I could use it with supper this evening. I am hestitant to get small appliances because they seem more work then the time they bost in saving you.

After washing up the rice cooker and balancing our bank account, I made smoothies and did Devotions with the children. Then I took a shower and went off to get dressed and start a load of laundry. The children dusted the living room when I was doing this.

Sunlight on the "new" piano in our living room. Some one gave us this 1916 piano. It works, we do need to get it tuned after it had been left sitting unplayed for years. We are letting it set a few weeks because it on a wooden floor and then we will have the man come tune it.

While I was in my room I got together supplies to make cards with the children during art lessons because we have are behind send our thank you cards out for Christmas.

While I read out loud about the Flemish Baroque period they worked on making their Thank You cards. When I finished I made a couple for The General and I to send

A few samples. The one on the left was made by Captain Kitty, the middle one by me, and the one on the right by our little bee keeper. I checked the mornings lessons. Then I puttered a few minutes while getting ready for our afternoon read aloud.

One of the jobs I did was add water to the fountain our little bee keeper gave me for Christmas. It is a lovely fountain that I have put in the living room. I love the way it looks at night when it is dark and the light in the fountain shines. It is very soothing.

We are reading a book by G. A. Henty during read aloud called With Cortez in Mexico. About 3:15 p.m. The General came home. We spent a few minutes talking while he worked on putting a new baking element in the stove. Ours broke last week and I have not been able to use the oven until the new part came in. Then I was off to take Captain Kitty to her violin lessons. Before I left I set up the rice cooker and turned it on.

When we got home from violin lessons I checked the cooker and the rice was done. I had chicken marinating and I cooked that up while CK got out the salad that was already prepared in the frig and helped me set the table. Over supper everyone declared the rice cooker a keeper. Our little bee keeper who usually refuses to eat rice because he hates the sticky way it tastes when I cook it on the stove ate three helpings! It cooked the rice to perfection. I see this appliance being used a lot.

CK and I cleaned up from supper and then The General and I dropped them off at church for Awana and Junior High. The General took me to show me where our little bee keeper went to 4-H. He had been taking him, but I will be taking him now. Then we went to Sam's and did some grocery shopping. We went back to the church to pick up the children and then home to unload the groceries. Everyone had a snack and began to get ready for bed. While the boys were going to bed CK came in to where I was about to get on the computer and wanted to talk about all that happened tonight in JH. We spent some time talking and then I sent her off to bed. I am amazingly getting to blog this on the day it actually happend! Usually, I don't. I will be off in a few minutes to bed. Tomorrow I have the day off from my paying job, but my real job never ends and I will be here doing that as usual!

View off my front porch at sunset.

Sew Long for Now!

2009-01-09T02:32:00.002-05:00

I spent some time the past two days embroidering warm-up pants for a basketball team. I had done pants for them last year and they ask me to do the pants for the new team members. It's a fun job. I plan to work on a skirt for me soon. I have some grey denim that I would like to make into a new skirt.

Most of this week has been spent catching up. My house work has suffered so much over the past several months. Each day this week we have worked deep cleaning a room in the house. To me this is such satisfying work. Monday we cleaned the kitchen and I rearranged how I had some items on the counters to make the flow a bit better. The General liked the new spot I put his coffee maker. Tuesday we cleaned the livingroom including pulling all the movies off the shelves and dusting them. The bee keeper volunteered to put them back alphabetically. Wednesday we cleaned the bathroom and stairwell. I cleaned out the medicine cabnet and culled it of out of date supplies. Today I finally got to clean the sewing room. I moved some things on the shelves around so I can reach often used things more easily. Tomorrow I plan on cleaning my bedroom and switching the General and my dressers around. I will also have to move my 1925 Singer Treadle sewing machine in the livingroom to a different spot tomorrow. We have been given a 1916 upright piano and the General is going to pick it up tomorrow. I think it was made by Grinnell Brothers. It is an upright and still plays. It needs tuning, but we need to put in place and let it sit a few weeks before we have that done.

I can't express the satisfaction I have from being able to take care of my home myself these days. I love to keep our little home neat and tidy. I even enjoyed cooking supper tonight. I don't often get to cook these days. Off to bed.

Sew Long for Now!

2009-01-05T01:42:00.005-05:00

Has it really been that long since I blogged? Life here has been so hectic. Thankfully though a few changes have been for the better. We are no longer delivering papers. I had my first day off from work since March 2007 on December 31, 2008. It felt so nice to be able to sleep more than 3 hours in a row and to spend the day sewing. I spent quite a few days last week sewing and completed my daughter's dress that she wore to the Vintage Ball. This is my version of the 1910 Tea Dress pattern sold by Sensibility Patterns at Sensibility.com

She picked out the material and ask for a few alterations to the pattern such as the material meeting in the front and the length of the overskirts. I wasn't able to attend, but she was escorted by two fine looking gentlemen.

Her father and older brother. I don't know what setting I was using on this camera, but it distorted the picture terribly. They really are not as wide as the picture makes them look! I hope to be able to get on a more regular schedule sewing, blogging, and living now.

Sew Long for Now!

2008-12-15T14:26:00.003-05:00

Sunday December 14, 2008 started with me taking calls for the company I work for. I was already working when the clock turned over at midnight to a new day. I finished my shift at 1:30 a.m. and layed down for a nap before I had to go deliver the papers. At 3:30 a.m. the alarm went off and I got up and headed out in the chilly morning to deliver the Sunday newspaper to 189 customers. I finished at 6:15 a.m. and went home to take another nap before heading to Sunday School.

When I got up at 8:30 a.m. it was to two children who did not feel well so we decided to go to Sunday School only this morning. My Sunday School was great as always with a very timely lesson on America being similar to Sampson and the people of his culture. We are letting sin creep in our lives through materialism, morals, music, movies, etc and accepting it so that we no longer stand apart. We also have lots of great fellowship in our class. After Sunday School we came home and all went back to bed for another nap.

The children and I got up right before the General got home from work. When he came in we spent some time sitting and discussing our day. Then the General wanted to get some things cleared out of the basement and off the verendah since tomorrow the garbage collection runs. We spent some time doing that and they continued when I had to go to work at 5 p.m.

At 7:00 p.m. I got my first break and went out to join the family for supper. Then it was back to the telephone. I also worked on knitting between calls. Earlier this week I had addressed Christmas cards between calls. This job is not taxing and working at home allows me time to see more of my family than if I had to commute. I also can work on small things when I am not taking calls. And my family pops in and out to talk to me between calls. At 9:15 p.m. when I got my second break everyone except the General was in bed. I straightened up the kitchen, set-up the General's coffee for the next morning, and packed his lunch for tomorrow's work while on this longer break. At midnight, the end of the this day by the clock, I got my last break and went out to a very quiet house with all snug in their beds. My day didn't end for another hour and one-half.

The day wasn't too bad. I would prefer to get my sleep in one straight stretch, but I make it.

Sew Long for Now!

2008-12-10T02:43:00.002-05:00

I have worked the past several nights on embroidering stockings for some friends. I embroidered 7 for them. She picked a really cute theme, all the girls in the family got red stockings with their names embroidered in red and the boys got green with their names embroidered in green. It's been hard sewing between 1:30 a.m. and 3:30 a.m., but I have got some things accomplished. This too shall pass.

Sew Long for Now!

2008-12-06T00:48:00.002-05:00

I guess I should title this post something like making it or I'm still alive. I have been working so much these past few weeks that I have had no time for sewing or posting. It really bothers me, but I know that there is an end in sight. At the end of December I will no longer be delivering newspapers. After breaking the sliding door's handle on the van twice in a month the General told me to put in my resignation from the paper route. He said it was just too much for me to be doing. I really wanted to try to pay off some debt as quick as possible, but I didn't argue because I am exhausted to say the least. I miss sewing. I ended up with tons of ideas of gifts to make for Christmas, but no time to do any. I have had calls from customers to sew for them and have had to turn them down. Captain Kitty and I did go to Joann's today and buy material to make her a dress for the vintage ball. We are using a pattern from Sense and Sensibility. We have to start on it next week so hopefully I will be able to get back into sewing and posting.

Sew Long for Now!

2008-11-18T06:59:00.002-05:00

I finally finished piecing the table topper. I wasn't quite happy with the way it turned out though. I had some problem with some of the material having more stretch in it, even though it was all 100% cotton. I continually ripped it apart trying to get everything lined up, I just wish a couple of places would have lined up better. Now I have to pick up some batting and then layer it and machine quilt it. Wonder if I can get that done by next Thursday?

Sew Long for Now!

2008-11-17T07:24:00.003-05:00

I finally finished knitting a pair of hand warmers I saw the pattern for on Simple Green Frugal blog. They were easy to knit. I think I should have added a couple of stitches because the part around the top is a bit tight and hard to type in. Now, if I can get my brother's table topper done by Thanksgiving.

Sew Long for Now!

2008-11-15T13:25:00.002-05:00

I wanted to participate in the day in my life this month to show that life does not always go smooth and sometimes we have to do different things for a season. Right now my life is not in the place either my husband nor I want it to be. We are both committed to doing what we have to and get our life straight and back where we want it to be.

A few years ago some bad financial descisions were made. They snowballed out of control until 20 months ago I had to take on a part-time job. It was the first time in 14 years I had worked outside the home. As things got worse I took on a second part-time job. This summer we hit rock bottom and we cut everything down to the bare bones. God truly blessed us and has given us opportunity to work and fix things. It's hard though. Sometimes I get sad. I know though that I am not in this alone. God is watching over me and my family is all working together to get our life back on the path we should be. I just want to encourage other women that sometimes we go through periods we have to do things we don't want to, but to keep striving and have a goal. Keep praying and God will bless your efforts.

Friday I got up at 3:30. It was hard to get up as I had just gone to bed at 11:30. I pushed myself to get dressed and washed my face with cold water to wake myself up. Captain Kitty was helping with the paper routes today so I got her up and we were off.

It was drizziling. Thankfully, it didn't rain hard until after we got home at 7:00. I ate some breakfast and went back to bed.

At 10 a.m. I woke up and could not go back to sleep. Our little bee keeper was already up. I got dressed (again) and ran out to Sam's. I needed to pick up the General's prescription and a few items. When I got hom CK was also up. We ate lunch and I had to work on some paper work for the routes before starting my other job. We don't do school work on Fridays because that is one of the General's days off. Right now though he has taken on a part-time job in addition to his regular job and he was at work this day. The children now help do the housework I can't get done during the week on Fridays. I have such great children!

Before I went to my full-time job the General called and our eldest ask him if he would come pick him up from college to come home for the night. The General ask me what I thought. I told him it would be great! Then I walked the long commute to my full-time job, down the hall to my sewing room/office.

I love my new job. I work from home for a company taking calls and putting in orders on the computer for customers. I get to walk out of my "office" and join my family during the evening for my breaks and supper. It is an upbeat job and I just find it fun.

When my eldest got home he came in and hugged me and then the boys went off to work on the truck that had some broken parts.

During my supper break we all got to eat together and then our eldest went out to the movies with some friends. The youngest two went off to watch a movie. The General was watching some other show. I went back to work.

At 10:30 I got off work and went out to spend some time with the General and unwind before going to bed. Everyone else had already gone to bed. At 11:30 I went back to bed to repeat the day again tomorrow.

Pictures courtesy of our little bee keeper because I didn't have time to take any.

Sew Long for Now!

2008-11-12T13:07:00.002-05:00

I haven't fallen off the planet. I have just taken a full-time job and am still delivering my two paper routes. I have been working 12 or more hours 5 days a week and 3 or more two days a week. At the end of November I will be giving up one paper route and then hopefully by the end of December I will give up the second one. I have squeezed a little sewing in some of my days. I am almost finished piecing my table topper for my brother. I have also been knitting a little. I have so many sewing projects running through my mind. I can't wait to find time to do them. I try to read a few of my favorite blogs every day, but some days I just don't even make it to my e-mail. The good thing is the new job is at home. I work taking calls for a company out of my sewing room. I will love not having to leave the house and being able to be around still for my family. Hopefully, I will have pictures to share this weekend!

Sew Long for Now!

2008-10-29T14:35:00.003-05:00

I have been altering pants for a customer. I don't know if I do it "by the book." I taught myself how to by taking things apart paying attention to how they were made. I thought some one else might be able to use the technique I use if they have never been taught.

The first thing I do is to have the person try on the pants and then pin them with safety pins holding the fabric where it needs taking in. I put as many safety pins in as needed to check the fit on the rear and front and the hang of the legs. I saw a tailor and a home dec designer both pin on the outside of things on tv shows, that's what gave me the idea.

Next, I turn the garmet inside out and mark the fabric where the safety pin is. I mark both sides of the fabric. Then I remove the safety pins. By the way, the reason I use safety pins is that you don't have to worry about the person getting stuck when taking the garmet off. You also don't have to worry about the pins falling out and not knowing where you pinned after the person has left. The next step is to take apart any waistband and the hem. The two pairs of pants I have been altering have drawstring waistbands with elastic in the back. I took a seam ripper and took apart the waistband a few inches on both sides of the seam. I then took the elastic and pulled it out of the seam. I used a safety pin and attached it to the pull string to keep it from sliding in the casing and getting lost. I took the seam ripper and took out the hem. I did this on both legs.

Once I have marked the position the safety pins were in with chalk and removed any thing blocking me making a straight seam up the side I pin the two layers together with straight pins and take a ruler and mark my sewing line down the length of the pants. Then I sew from top to bottom, with this pair remembering to hold the pull string out of the way so it will not get caught in the seam. After I check the seam I take the pants to the serger and serge 1/4 inch away from the straight sewn seam. This cuts off the excess that needs to be removed and finishes the edge for a more professional look. If you don't have a serger you could either pink the edge or cut off the excess to within 1/2 inch of the seam and then do a 1/4 inch zigzag.

I like to tuck my serger threads under when I put the waistband and hem back in. On this pair I tucked in under and sewed over it when I re-attached the elastic to the side seam in the waistband. Next I sewed the waistband back down where I had taken the seaming out to sew the side up. Last I put the hem back in the pants.

That gives you a pair of altered pants that look like they came from the store that way. On this pair I took one inch out at the waist on each side and two inches starting at the hips down the legs on each side.

Sew Long for Now!

2008-10-27T09:12:00.002-05:00

On Friday I had to deliver 1745 papers. It was a special promotion. It took us 8 hours. I was suppose to deliver 1945. They called me Thursday night to say they lowered my amount by 200 papers. That was great, but I was still soar and tired afterwards. I did not get anything else except supper done on Friday.

I did work on some sewing on Sunday after church. I sewed out a design I had digitized for some one and started piecing the table topper. I am quite far and hope to get it finished this week. I had a call this morning from the digitize customer and she wants some changes and I have three pair of pants to alter for some one. These are all things I do in my spare time. I still have a household to run and lessons to do with the children plus deliver the papers everyday. Life is so rich and full.

Sew Long for Now!

2008-10-22T16:48:00.002-05:00

Yesterday I pressed out my pairs of strips that I had sewn together. Today I finished sewing the sets together. I have five sets of 8 strips. Tomorrow I hope to cut the triangles out and begin to piece together the topper. I worked on digitizing a design today. Tomorrow I hope to sew it out and see if it needs any tweeking. I also need to hem a pair of my daughter's jeans and alter two pair of pants and hem one for a customer.

Sew Long for Now!

2008-10-21T09:13:00.003-05:00

I was going to write about my sewing yesterday. I came online and was reading through some of my favorite blogs when I came to Ann's post today at Holy Experience. Ann and I have been cyber friends before she or I started blogging. We are part of a wonderful group of homeschool Momma's who have been e-mailing each other for many years. I love this group of women who I have never met in real life. Ann is the person who introduced me to blogging. She writes some of the greatest posts you could ever read. Her post today though reminded me of a conversation I had with my daughter in the early morning today.

I started delivering the papers over a year ago because of financial struggles. My husband was already working one full-time job and one part-time job. He couldn't do much more. I didn't want to go back to a full time office job and he didn't want me to go back to work. We settled on paper delivery because it is only a couple of hours a day and it pays good. It leaves me free to homeschool, keep up the home, and still sew. There are down sides to delivering papers, one being that you never get a day off. It's seven days a week, 365 days a year. Our children help me. The take turns and it makes the delivery go faster, plus I am never by myself. That's my explaination of it, but at times I see God had another reason for me and the children to do this job.

I have gotten to know my children better during these early morning hours. They have talked to me about things we don't have or make time for during the daylight. Even though my children have always spent 24 hours a day with me because we homeschool, during the day you have so many other things to focus on that you don't often just sit and talk. Also, something about the dark emboldens us to talk about things we might not in the glaring light of day. This I see as truly a blessing from God. Back to my purpose and why Ann's post today made me cry.

Yesterday was a very stressful day at our home. Things didn't go smoothly, we were all tired, we had a lot of places to be and had to run around a lot. The General and I ended up cranky. We got into an arguement. The General and I have been married for 22 years. We don't argue a lot. Like once every year maybe. During the paper delivery our daughter told me she didn't like us arguing. I thought about telling her neither did I. I thought about telling her it was wrong. I told her neither of these two. Instead I told her that it was good for her to see us argue some. I told her I wanted her to have realistic expectations of the relationship her and her future spouse would have. Realistically, people don't always agree. Realistically, sometimes we take out our stress on those who don't deserve it. I told her she needed to know that it was ok to sometimes not get along, but what you do after that is what mattered. We talked about the details of this and what God teaches so freely and easily in that early morning dark.

The General and I apologized to each other and went to bed as happily married as ever. I can see what Ann so beautifully spoke of living out in our home. The Master told us never to let the sun go down on our anger. As disciples we had to live that out in our home yesterday. Our disciples watched us following the Master. Oh, what a beautiful life I live!

Sew Long for Now!

2008-10-19T10:23:00.002-05:00

I should be at church, the papers were late again and I was late getting home. Sigh, this is becoming a typical thing with them. Especially, Sundays and then I can't make it to church.

Yesterday I didn't get any sewing done. I did get a lot of help in my sewing room. When we moved it, we were in a hurry and then right after that the friend brought me all that stash. It was a mess. The General helped me clean it out yesterday. He cut down one of the table I had and rebuilt it 3 foot shorter. That really helped because then I got to T it to the other table. He and the little bee keeper helped me move 11 of the big rubber maid containers into the storage area in the basement. The General cut out some holes in my shelving unit on the wall next to the computer and ran the wires neatly through them and under the table to my sewing machine. It looks so much neater. I still have 5 huge rubbermaid containers in the room, 4 are in the closet and one is in the corner. The room looks so much better. I felt like I was trying to work in a storage shed. It saps my creativity to be in a mess. Now, I just need to find a system of rearranging all the containers of stash and supply so I will be able to find things and use them.

I have a big five drawer file cabnet. I need to clean it out and put all my patterns in it. I have them spread out everywhere. That will be one of my first projects. Hah, what am I saying. I promised to clean off all the bookshelves months ago and purge my books. I promised last spring to clean out the photos and put them in albums and print the ones I haven't for the last 5 years or so. Don't even ask about my kitchen. I rearranged it last year and everyone hates where I put things so I need to redo that mess. Will I ever get things caught up? Probably not, but I have no excuse for every being bored!

Sew Long for Now!

2008-10-17T07:19:00.003-05:00

I awoke to rain this morning. I didn't know it was suppose to rain. The rain is needed, but it was a little wet on the paper routes. We also were suppose cover the grill, lawn mower, and tiller back up yesterday and it never got done. Now, they are a little wet.

The General bought me some new toys last night. He bought me a new computer monitor, 22 inch. Wow, I love this monitor. Our old monitor was a hand me down from churh when they upgraded a few years ago. It was a huge 13 inch. I have tons of space on the desk top with this flat screen model. He also bought me a wireless key board and mouse. Our old key board and mouse were hand me downs from a friend's brother. We have a habit here of taking people's discards and using them until they can be used no more. I hate to see things thrown out and I hate waste. Not very often do I have some thing new. It is sort of exciting.

I spent some time yesterday finally working on my brother's tap topper. I cut out all the strips and began sewing them together. The last of my company left yesterday. Today Captain Kitty goes to fall retreat with our church's youth group. With just the General and little bee keeper here this weekend I should be able to get some sewing in.

Sew Long for Now!

2008-10-15T07:39:00.002-05:00

My day started at 3 a.m. I got up to deliver the papers. It was a beautiful autumn morning, not too hot nor too cold. The sky was clear and the stars sparkled brilliantly. The moon was something worth getting up this early to see. It was so big and round and close down on the horizon. As a matter of fact it was so beautiful that when I got home I ran into the house to get my camera to capture a picture of it. By the time I came out it had sunk behind the mountains though. I really need to remember to keep the camera with me on the paper routes!

My in-laws and sister-in-law have been visiting with us since last week. With all the excitement I have been going to bed late so this morning I decided to take a nap when I got home from the paper routes. I had been asleep about an hour when the phone rang. It was a customer wanting to send me a file to digitize for them. I got up to check my e-mail, but the file wasn't there. I called her back and we made arrangements for her to come over after lunch and bring me a hard copy.

I spent the morning visiting with my in-laws and sister-in-law. This was the last day my in-laws are here. They leave Wednesday on the way to visit my mother-in-law's sister in North Carolina before heading back to Kansas.

The afternoon I listened to the children practice their instruments while I did some mending that had been piling up. The General came home from work and soon after I left to take the little bee keeper to his piano lessons. While he was at lessons I ran to the store to get some buns and potato salad for supper. My mother-in-law insisted upon store bought potato salad. She isn't into cooking from scratch or any frugal ideas. She flat out refused to use a coupon I gave her the other day for a product she was buying. I love her, but I don't understand her reasons for some of the things she does.

When I came home the General was cooking hamburgers on the grill. I sat on the back verendah and visited with everyone while he did this.

Our little bee keeper had built a fort out of some branches that had to be cut down off the fence. He ask me to come check out this cool neat place to play.

When the hamburgers got near ready I went in and helped Capt. Kitty set the table. Right when we set down to eat the customer finally showed up with the hard copy for me to digitize. I spoke with her a few minutes and when I came back to the table there was a card at my place. My in-laws gave me a birthday card early since they would be back at home on my birthday. My birthday is exactly fourteen days from the 14th.

After supper we all sat around visiting until time for me to go to bed. Everyone else was staying up to watch Dirty Jobs.

So I said goodnight to everyone, even Casey my in-laws cute dog. The General came down to tuck me in and say good night and I fell asleep after a lovely day.

Sew Long for Now!

2008-10-09T08:12:00.002-05:00

The day started with a dreary look (this picture is looking out back at my folks house, but it is what it looked like this morning here.) I took my serger in and I had some how broke some rod or something. They fixed it while I was at piano lessons with the little bee keeper. He told me it needed to be maintenanced and new cutters put on, but he fixed it because he knew I needed it right now. How sweet. As soon as I save up the funds I will be putting it in for a servicing.

I finished the formal dress hem, edging the shawl, and moving the straps on the dress. I am taking a week off from sewing for others. My in-laws are due here today from Kansas and I haven't seen them in a year so I want to spend time visiting. I don't know if I can take a week off from sewing, but I may. When they come to visit we usually run around so much there isn't much time.

Oh, for those people who have been worrying about the economic troubles and such some good news from our neck of the woods. Gas was $2.89 at station in our area this morning. Yes, I never thought I would see gas under $3 again in my life time. I saw in the Wall Street Journal that Walmart and Target are having a toy price war. Some toy sets have been marked down to $10. The Little Bee Keeper got excited over that, he hopes it some he has been wanting and saving for. Now if I can just get Bernina to reduce the price of that new sewing machine they are coming out with that I want!

Sew Long for Now!

2008-10-07T13:29:00.002-05:00

I haven't been very faithful about writing, sorry. Life has been a bit hectic here. Our van, that I use for the paper route, had to have new brakes. My husband replaced them. The day he finished that the power steering started acting funny, something called the raconpion went out. He spent the weekend replacing that. Sunday morning I got up to a kitchen floor covered in water. The frig was leaking. We had just cleaned the coils last spring, but we spent Sunday afternoon cleaning them again hoping that would solve the problem without an expensive fix. So far it has held up! Today I was trying to put a rolled serge hem around a piece of shear fabric for a lady to use as a shawl over a formal dress and my serger's upper looper tension wasn't working. I got the piece finished by holding the thread where it comes off the cone between my fingers to simulate tension while serging the edge of the material. This afternoon when I take our little bee keeper to piano lessons I am going to stop by my favorite sewing machine dealer and have them look at it. I called this morning and it may be just something stuck in there preventing it from working right, if not my baby will be at the doctors being fixed.

The above picture is of a wall hanging a lady is giving to her parents as an anniversary present. It is beautiful up close. The flowers are applicaid on by needle turn. No, I didn't do it! I wish. The stitches are so tiny and perfect! I embroidered the verse on the bottom for her.

I was going to show a picture of the material I picked out to make the table topper for my brother, but the cat seems to have claimed it as his bed. He looks so cute, don't trust that innocent look. He loved to chew up paper. I have to chase him out if I am not here or else he chews up patterns, directions, books, you name it.

This looks like a wonderful idea-laze away the afternoon in a sunny spot-ah that would be the life!

Sew Long for Now!