Non Christmas gift finished...

Well, almost... I forgot that I still want to add a small label.

A few weeks ago, we learned that the wife of one of the members of the Gospel Trio that I made quilts for a year ago is battling cancer - again - and I decided that I wanted to make her a 'prayer shawl'.  

When I went on line to try and find a pattern for a prayer shawl, I was directed to youtube.com and a pretty simple pattern that the designer calls a 'quilted hug'.  It takes a jelly roll and a two yard cut of polar fleece.

I went to check out what was available at our local Wal-mart.  I didn't find a complete jelly roll, but did find packets of half jelly rolls so I bought two.  I went back at a later date for the fleece; I'm not sure it's polar but it's a nice feeling fleece either way.

First photo is my sewing/quilting the top to the fleece.  I'm afraid I didn't take any other photos of the process.  Most of the strips were sewn together at the guild's latest sew in; when I got the top out the other day and started measuring, I realized that I was still in need of a few more rows.

Anyway... here's a photo of the completed  'quilted hug'.

On the inside bottom are two pockets... one on each side of the opening.  Big enough to tuck tissues or even cell phone in.  There is a tab closure that uses velcro.

Now, to figure out how to wrap it for shipping after I get the label attached.

Next up is making this funny looking vest for my oldest daughter.  I thought at the time it would be great for her to use when she's out purchasing items for and to wear while working in her booth at a local antique mall, but it looks like she and her husband will be moving from Texas to Wisconsin after the new year and  I don't know if she'll be opening up a booth in their new place or not.  Oh well, she's getting it anyway lol.

Take care....
Stay warm....
ttyl

added Nov. 30th...

Hand written prayer sewn onto inner left pocket 

Label identifying who(m) it was made for and by who(m) -- I never learned the difference.  The inner right pocket is to the left of the label.

OK, I'm still here...

and have been very busy... not just with sewing/quilting, but with assembling and with this and that... like visiting my aunt at one local hospital and then a cousin at another one.  Aunt was able to go home about half an hour after I left - good for her :).  Cousin may be there for awhile ( she fell and broke a hip)

These are gnomes that I've made as Christmas gifts - most will go to neighbors.  The colors in the top photo are more accurate (same gnomes in both photos, just took the second photo after I added the gold capped gnomes.  There are three more gnomes somewhere... maybe I hadn't made them yet.  I may send one to each of my daughters, too, if there are any left.

These ( there are two) dresser scarves are something that I embroidered several years ago and just recently 'refound'.  I decided to quilt them... what I'll do with them now, I don't know, but they'll go to someone.

If you look close in the photo above, you can see blue 'runs' around the butterflies.  The fabric was stamped with the pattern you were to embroider.  I had used a purple pen to try and draw out a design that I ended up not liking.  When I spritzed it with water, I accidentally hit the butterflies, too...   the second scarf went into the washer with cold water and left to hang dry instead of going through the dryer - just in case.

This one that bled, I left it as it was until I finished the quilting and added the binding... then I took a leap of faith and put it in the washer along with some retayne and a fabric detergent and let it soak for a bit.  Once I was sure that the bleeding was gone, I tossed it in the dryer.  You'd never know that I had had the accident :).

The photo above and the two below are of the second scarf... I like the stitching on this one a lot better than what I did on the first.

Ok, Happy Thanksgiving everyone...

take care....
ttyl

Back in the saddle!

Ok, its not a saddle.. will explain in a minute.
The day before yesterday, I  started working on this with the idea that it would be a great gift for some of our neighbors.

I soon realized that it wasn't something that I wanted to make at least 6 of... then I decided that a pair of bowl cozies might be a better idea.  I haven't started them yet -- need to get cotton batting first.

Last night, I decided that I would try to load a couple dresser scarves onto Mo'e figuring that I  could work on them in small bits of time as my legs and back would allow.. .this was my referral to being back in the saddle again.

I have two identical scarves...I am loading them onto the same backing and batting...but only loading one scarf at a time.  After I finish the first one, I'll turn the rollers until I have enough empty space for the second one - the scarves each are only 15" wide and the backing fabric is something like 42" --- and, there will be enough left from the backing fabric to cut bias strips for binding.

And, now, I'm taking a rest while taking the time to write and post this... and would have been done sooner if not for annoying survey calls and the distraction of a tv program lol.

On that note, I'm going to close this up and finish watching the program ( Long Lost Family ) 

take care....

ttyl....

End of the week and two finishes

Well, almost two finishes... I finished the woven scrappy strip quilt top except for the borders... I need to measure the top ( since it's larger than the pattern on one side) before I can add them..

And I finished the last Flurry Friends block of the week... now, to add sashing and stitch them all together.

Friday and Saturday were sew in at the library days... with hubby having dr. appt in the late morning  Friday and then our stopping for lunch after, it was a little after two by the time I got to the library and people were soon packing up for the day.  I didn't want to stay there by myself, so I left everything there ( not even unpacked yet) and came home to finish applique'ing the last Flurry Friend.

Saturday, I arrived a little after 10, I think... and set up a table so I could start sewing... I had such big plans for working on several things while there... "the best laid plans of mice and men...."  yeah, I didn't get even one finished... did get part of one finished... no photo at this point...  just 14 2.5" strips sewn together..  First I needed to sew two strips together and then trim to 66.5", then I was able to stitch those together into one 66.5" x 32.5" piece... actually, I was only supposed to sew 13 strips - somehow I miscounted, but I'm not going to worry about it... it just means that it will be 2.5" taller in the center of the back.  I don't remember if I shared my plans for this or not...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8_XvvkKjyM.  I'm making it for the wife of one of the Gospel trio that I made quilts for a year ago.  She battled cancer for a couple of years and thought it had turned it's tail and ran in defeat... but, apparently, it finished licking it's wounds and came back & attacked her with full force.  I hope to get the 'hug' completed this week so that I can get it sent off to her.

Then, the next couple projects will be Christmas gifts... No more starting new projects until these are done.  And, on that note, I'm outta here...

take care....

ttyl...

I can see the light

at the end of this tunnel....

It took me most of the day, but I finished the blocks... and even have one corner sewn together... so, tomorrow I hope to get all the blocks sewn into rows and the rows into the quilt top.

I haven't decided whether I want to keep it or not... it may end up as a charity quilt.

It's guild sew in at the library this weekend.  I have to take hubby to dr. Friday morning, but I'll be able to sew in the afternoon - hopefully.  I have a 'quilted hug' that I want to make and it seems to be easy enough to do in an afternoon.  If not, I can finish it up Saturday morning... then, I want to work on son in law's Green Bay fleece blanket.  

Ok  BFF in N.H. is on the phone... 

ttyl....

take care....

Lots of progress!

Just not much to say about it... 

Here's all 25 of the blocks I think I'll need for it to come out square ( or close enough to it).  Next up will be the white and gray blocks that go in between each scrappy block and the white triangles that will go at the beginning and end of each row.  I know that these don't look like woven ribbons, but I don't care... I just wanted to use up a pile of scraps :)

I have got sooo many 2.5" blocks left.... I'll have to find something to do with them LATER... maybe I can use them for next year's RSC :).  How does a scrappy Irish Chain sound?  I've been thinking about doing a double or triple chain... they would work for that ( just not the RSC which is fine).

I'm staying snug in our house for the next day or so... it's been SNOWING and I HATE the stuff... especially driving in it at the beginning of the season when too many drivers forget that you're supposed to drive different when there's snow.  I heard on the news this morning that there were several accidents in our area... two almost in the exact same spot!... 

Ok, off to do SOMETHING

take care....
ttyl....

Slow progress

on cleaning around my sewing machine; I'm still doing it, but not as quickly as I should - because I'm deciding to finish things or at least work a little bit more on stuff that's 'hanging around' close by.

This is a doll quilt which may end up being a 'bed' for a dog or cat... the top was done and just 'hanging around' so I grabbed some scrap batting and a piece of scrap backing fabric, layered them together and pin basted then started quilting.. Once that was done, I went searching in my scrap binding bin and found some yellow that worked.

This was yesterday between my nap and our going to see the Bill Engvall concert - which was soo wonderful!!!  FUNNY - and yet CLEAN!  He was telling about his trip to Africa with his wife, Gail... If you follow Bonnie Hunter of quiltville.com, you know she just got back from Africa - let me tell you.... their experiences were soooooo different.  

Anyway, today ( after another nap - this has got to stop!), I went back to cleaning again and found a plastic shoebox with lots of 2.5" squares and 2.5" x 4.5" rectangles which I've been collecting to make this quilt....

It's called Woven Scrappy Strips and I got it from Fons & Porter.com - I don't remember how long ago.

So here are my first two rows ( minus one block).  I think I'm going to add another block to each row with the hopes that it will make the quilt more square.  Right now, it's supposed to finish at 49 1/4" by 60 1/2".  I haven't measured a block from corner to corner to see just how many I'll need, but I'm not too worried since I have LOTS of  2 1/2" blocks and enough scraps that I can use for the rectangles.  I also have enough of the white for the background, too.

Ok, that's it for tonight. 

take care....
ttyl.....

Something is better than nothing

That was my philosophy tonight while deciding whether to post a blog or not.

Yesterday, I cleaned up a little around my sewing machine and found these three block strips ( plus a few more)... decided that I was going to use them right then and there....

Stitched them into 9 patch blocks and then into this Barbie size doll quilt....

Since I don't know where it's going right now, I left the label off.

Last night guild's challenge brought these ( and a few others that didn't get put down for photo op)

Then late this afternoon ( because I HAD to have a nap), I started on this week's Frosty Friends BOW.  Only one more to go and then it will be time to put the blocks into a top.

I think tomorrow I'm going to putter some more in my sewing room... I don't want to start anything new or get into something that can't be done in less than an hour because we have tickets to see the comedian, Bill Engval tomorrow night and I'm sure I'm going to NEED a nap before we go.

Well, Mr. Prissy is on my lap and Buddy is behind me whining... I think if I give him a piece of pupperoni, he'll leave me alone for awhile.  It's not even 7:15 - too early for bed.

take care....
ttyl.....

Feeling better

My knee/leg is still bothering me, but right now it's more of an ache with an ocassional pain... pretty much the opposite of what I've been dealing with for the past three weeks or so.

I felt good enough today to go back to working on the Santa wall hanging.  I won't be able to get it to the church in time for the bazaar so I'll just put it with the other things I've made for the sale and they can have it all next year.  Maybe by then I'll have a few more of these Santas made - I think they're cute and could sell well.

here's the back... with small triangles sewn into the upper corners so a dowel can be cut to size and each end put into the corner so it can be hung.  I also safety pinned the pompom on so that it could be removed if the quilt were to need washing.

   

Then, while I was trying to figure out what I did with the fabrics and one pattern that I need for two Christmas gifts, I decided that I'd clean up my cutting area a little bit.  I cut the remainder of yardage that I'm using for the Frosty Friends BOW into 2.5" strips for binding... once they were all joined together and pressed in half, I ran to the bathroom and grabbed an empty t.p. roll....so much easier to wrap ( and store) this way.  I also made the label and put both into the plastic tub with the fabrics and patterns.  I need to cut some white fabric for the sashing and then find something to use for the borders... I'm thinking I'd like to try and find a red plaid - or maybe red and green :).

Oh!  and I found the two missing Christmas gift projects... one was in a bag hanging on the doorknob to my sewing room closet..right in plain sight! lol  Hope to get started on the other one in the next couple of days.   That one is fleece that I just want to finish the edges on; I was hoping there would be a quick, simple way to do a rolled hem, but I checked the foot I have for that - no way is the fleece going to go through that.  I COULD use my serger to finish the edges, but I don't like that idea.  I guess I could cut the edges into strips - guess I'll go youtubing; I faintly remember seeing someone cut fleece into strips but instead of tieing them, they cut a slit in each strip close to the body of the blanket and then pulled the edge up through the slit.... hope I can find it - it just might be what I need.

I'll tell you about the other project as I get to it.

My quilting friend, Katie, and I are going out for dinner tomorrow night and then surprising the ladies at the guild meeting by showing up.  It's the night for the Challenge!  Should be fun :)

Ok, I'm off to youtube.com

wish me luck!

take care....

ttyl......

found it!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNgukafpjRE

It started out well enough

Before noon, I went into my sewing room and started on this week's Frosty Friends block and had it completed about one o'clock.

I was still feeling pretty good so I thought I'd get at it and finish working on the two quilts that I wanted to add faux chenille to...  The next three photos are of the first one that I did a couple of days ago, but hadn't finished brushing out  - I did that today and then went to work on the second one.

 

Here is the second one completed; the other one is the same pattern, but with white background and pink sashing.

Just before I started back to work on the two quilts, I ran across a cute wall hanging that I had made earlier this year.  It's a cute little one that has Santa on it and he's saying " I know where you live".  I thought I could whip out a couple to donate to the church's bazaar which is next weekend, I believe.

Well, then I decided that I needed to get the faux chenille done before I went any further on the Santa wall hanging.... But then, it was close to time  to fix dinner and there went all my ambition.

It was homemade chili for dinner and I probably overstuffed myself eating it but I hadn't had breakfast or lunch ( p'nut cups don't count as a meal).

I'll  try and get a little more done on the Santa tomorrow morning before I have what will probably be my last p.t. since I'm crying "Uncle" and have an appointment with the orthopedic doctor VERY EARLY (8 am) Tuesday morning so he can give me a shot which will hopefully take care of the pain.

Ok, time to call it a night....need to take care of the leftover chili and want to finish watching "Driving Miss Daisy".

take care....
ttyl.....

No News is just that....

No news... had another p.t. appointment yesterday... it was a painful walk in and equally painful walk out.  I had to take Buddy to his dr. today for his rabies vaccine and, again, walking ( and even driving) was painful.  Then I had to stop at Walmart to pick up a script for hubby... and, of course, no motorized carts available.  Luckily, there was only one person in line ahead of me and so it didn't take long, but it was still a painful walk back to the car.  Painful enough that I cried "Uncle" and called the dr that I don't like to see if I
could come in and get a shot today.  Nooo, he's not in the office on Fridays and Mondays.  Best I could get was 8 AM!! Tuesday morning.  I spent most of the afternoon laying in bed with a heating pad on my knee to see if that would help.. it wasn't too bad until I tried to stand up and walk again.  Sigh... HATE THIS!!

At least the daughter and her son aren't coming from Wyoming this weekend.  As much as I'd like to see them, there's no way I could get the house cleaned up enough for them to spend even one night here.  I sent her a text to make sure they were coming before I called the hotel on the corner; that's when she informed me that they wouldn't be coming because gson couldn't get time off from work.  So glad I waited to call the hotel.

Oh, the other good thing was that I didn't have to cook dinner tonight.  Got an email from Pizza Hut saying I could get ANY pizza for $10 with special code.  Online orders only.  And, for the first time ever, their website decided to take my credit card... WOW!!  We usually order a medium size and have a couple of slices left over for the next day... We'll be able to have the leftovers for dinner tomorrow night... another "No Cooking" night.

Needless to say, I didn't do ANY sewing/quilting today.  I might try getting a few hand stitching done on the flowers and leaves tonight, but might wait til tomorrow.

When we (hubby, Buddy and I) stopped at Walmart after my p.t. yesterday, I went to the fabrics to see what they had in jelly rolls... they didn't have any full ones but there were a few 20 strip ones.  Found a set I liked that had more than one pkg on the rack and bought two.  I want to make a "quilted hug"/quilted prayer shawl for the wife of one of the members of the gospel trio we're so fond of ( the same ones that I made quilts for last year); she's been battling cancer for at least a couple of years and thought that she had won the battle, but it's come back again.  I thought that this 'hug/shawl' could be a comfort while she's going through treatments or just resting at home.  I'll still need to get fleece for the inside and I'll do that in the next week or so - already have the color picked out.

Well... went to add this last pic and 'something' ate the last paragraph I entered earlier.  ... So, here's the  finished bird quilt.  All I had left to do was hand sew the leaves and flowers down.  DONE! 

And, as soon as I take care of the quilt, thread, pins and needle, I'm heading to bed.

take care....

ttyl....