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

Sew Long for Now!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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.

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!

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

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!

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!