We got some news yesterday that is not good... My 14 year old great-niece has been hospitalized Wednesday and is in need of a second heart transplant. She had the first one about 8 years ago. Her condition has deteriorated and she will remain hospitalized until the transplant happens. I would like to ask all of you who may read this for your prayers for Brooke, as well as for the family who will ultimately lose a loved one in order for this miracle to happen. I pray that the donor and the family be saved by the Lord, Jesus Christ, so they will have the comfort of knowing that their loved one will spend eternity in the arms of Jesus. I pray for God's will to be done in all things. And, I pray for Brooke's family (my family), that we might all trust God in His great mercy & never-ending love.
Yes, the muscle relaxer helped a little last night. I am getting ready to go to bed early again tonight. I did get in about a half an hour of sewing today. I am working on the Tossed Nine Patch Blocks. Taking a look at the pile of block pieces, I may be able to make 3 instead of 2 quilts! That's fine as somebody is always in need of a quilt!
We had to do the banking and errands today. It was a quick trip, which was fine by me. We did get to stop out at the house to see Cody. Poor little guy was so tired and ready for his nap, so we didn't hang around for long.
My niece is having a baby in late April... That means another quilt to do! I will be ordering the fabric for that this week. I need to practice the block... it is curved pieces. I just want to be sure I do it right, before cutting into the quilt fabric I am ordering. I have done curved piecing before, so this is not a new technique for me... but, I do not do curved piecing often, so I can use the refresher course. My niece cheated, and found out that she is having a girl... Whatever happened to being surprised at the time of birth?? The baby will be named Myleigh... such a pretty name. The quilt will be done using Pat Sloan's Nikki fabric... the bright pink and lime green... and I designed the quilt on my EQ 5. It will be done in a Drunkard Path variation, and have circles on the quilt, which will tie in with the decor and colors of the nursery. I'll post a picture when I am done. I doubt if I can post the EQ draft on my blog.
See, there is always something to make & create in my sewing room. And, I love that! Not that I need a reason or excuse to escape when I feel like it... Dennis understands and does not mind that I spend as much time as I can in the sewing room. He is a good man! Thank you, God!
Going to go for now. Time for bed.
More sewing tomorrow... hopefully!
Unfortunately, my back wasn't cooperating today (back spasms), and my day was spent in bed with my heating pad, TENS unit, and my TV remote. Not an exciting day! I might have sewed about half an hour after church, and I couldn't do anymore. Now, I am getting ready to go back to bed for the night. I do hope I am better tomorrow.
I did call my darling grandson this afternoon, I miss him so much since I didn't get to see him last week. But, he will be coming this Friday, with his Mom (our daughter). They will both be staying the night. We'll have a great time!
OK... enough setting... gotta lay down again.
Goodnight All!
I sewed several hours yesterday, off & on, as my back needs breaks pretty often. But, I did make some head-way on the Tossed Nine Patch... I went ahead and cut more strips of fabric, sewed them together, cut them apart, and am in the midst if sewing them again... I really should have enough now for both of the quilts I am making for Mom & Pop. I know I wanted to get to the Row Quilt, but, all of the fabrics were out for both Nine Patches & I thought it would be futile to put it away only to get it out again another day, so I just went with it. This will be 2 less UFO's this way! The Row Quilt will still be here when I am finished!
I'll be off to Sunday School this morning, and then to church. After lunch, I think I'll be taking a break for a while on the heating pad, before I get back, or should I say, if I get back to the sewing room today. Maybe just a little later today. We'll see.
Well, it is time to hit the shower & get dressed. My ride will be here in about 45 minutes. I'll write again later.
Have a great day!
Just a short note on this break to let you know I have been in the sewing room, working on the Tossed Nine Patch blocks. I had to cut more strips, for more blocks, you get the picture... I have decided to make 2 of these, for Mom & Pop's bed at the personal care home where they live now. But, I am only making one today, then I want to move onto my Row Quilt UFO. I need to make some progress on that before Dorothy gets after me with her 'butt-kicking' boots to get my rear in gear!! Pictures of both quilts are below... Like my 'design floor'?? Dennis doesn't mind my using the floor in his upstairs office, until he needs to be in there :-)
OK... teacup is empty... Breaks over!
Since Cody will not be coming to Mimi & Papa's house to stay tonight, I will be retreating early. I have a Tossed Nine-Patch started. The finished blocks are laid out on the design floor... which is the floor space in Dennis' upstairs office... I have more blocks to make for this. The fabric is cut, and partially sewed. I just need to complete the blocks, and add them to the design floor, then start sewing the rows together. I want to make 2 twin size quilts for Mom & Pop's beds at the Personal Care Home. Right now, they have plain bedspreads (tan colored). Pretty blah... I think the new scrappy quilts will brighten up their room. More stimulation for Mom. The quilts will be tied, as I cannot afford to have them machine quilted right now. But, they will add up to quite a bit of 'stash busting'! My 2009 goal is getting 100 yards of fabric used from my stash. I actually am hoping to exceed that amount! Which, I am almost at 30 yards now (29.85 yards to be exact), and that is not counting this Tossed Nine-Patch that I am currently working on.
I'm a happy girl! I get to paint the kitchen & dining room here at the Parsonage! The colors I have chosen are Swiss Almond (for the top) and Burgundy (for the bottom) with a chair rail in between. Dennis is at Lowes getting the paint and supplies now. We will be starting this on Monday. I'm a happy ... happy ... happy girl!
So, onto the retreat... my soup is in the crock pot... the dishwasher is running... I need to throw in a load of laundry, then upstairs I go to SEW...SEW...SEW! I do have hand-stitching to do when I need to take breaks for my back, so I'm good to go!
Happy Sewing to ALL! Keep those machines HUM...HUM...HUMMING along!
I can tell when Spring in around the corner... I guess I get a little cabin fever, per say, in the sewing room. There are so many new things I want to make, but then I think of all the projects I have in progress, those waiting for me in plastic bags, and those projects in my head. Where to begin? I need to set some priorities, goals and rules... and stick to them. I read on my stashbusters group about dividing up the month... like the first week work on UFO's. The second week do charity, the third week do something new, the fourth week do UFO's again, and the fifth week is my choice... or something along that line. But, it is a good concept. I need to decide how to set up my weeks in such a way that I can get something accomplished and still not feel like I am overwhelmed by my projects or my sewing room.
I am still in the process of re-doing or organizing the sewing room. But, I am making progress. Which, I am happy about that. Some things progress quickly, some things take a little longer. But, all in all, it's progressing all the same. At least, more of the sewing room floor space is open. As soon as I can get up a shelf (or should I say, as soon as Dennis gets a shelf up...), then more floor space will be cleared. Today, I folded some more fabric. This is fabric that I have bought for making purses. My friend, Judy, is to show me how to do the zippers for this particular purse pattern. I have never put in a zipper, or at least one done the right way. So this will be a new technique for me. Judy has made about a dozen of these purses and gave them as gifts. So, I guess I can say she is an expert at this. I made a purse for me (of another pattern) last week, and am using it, but, it is way too small (narrow). So, I will be giving this away or something. It is not working for me at all! But, I love the fabric that I used. (Buggy Barn). I think I have cut all the leftover fabric into strips for string quilts, and I have the foundation blocks also cut, so when I get in the mood for these, I am ready. I found a bunch of 5 inch strips that I had cut for the Tossed Nine-Patch Charity quilts with the guild. I did some sewing and cutting on these today, for a short time as long as my back could stand it.
So tomorrow, I'll think about how I want to arrange my calendar weeks for my sewing
schedule, and try to get something on paper for me to follow. I also want to do some more of my Row Quilt. I want this done soon! This is one of my priorities at this time.
I'll write again soon. Goodnight for now!
Yesterday, the temps were in the high 50 to low 60's... today, they are around or below 30! BRRR! But, this is more seasonal type weather, so I am not complaining. The wind is very gusty, which this started last night. The electric went off twice last night. Once for about 20 minutes to a half an hour, then they went off again, and was off until the early morning (4 to 5 AM). Thank God the temps were warmer. The house was a bit chilly when I got up, but I didn't notice it while in bed... but, I have 3 quilts on top of me, too! Maybe, that is why I wasn't cold!
Today, in the sewing room, I emptied a tote of fabric that was donated to me. I cut it up into 1-1/2 ", 2 ", and 2-1/2 " strips. I have been working on this since early December. I have a larger box to do now, then I will have that spot in my sewing room cleared out. I can't wait! The strips will be used for string quilts. I will have enough strips for many, many quilts! The 2 " strip drawer is full, the others still have room in them. There are a lot of family members wanting quilts, and not to mention, the Cancer Clinic can always use more quilts for the patients. I finished up a Reindeer pillow, and last night I finished "My Little Garden" which the picture of that is posted in my gallery. So, all in all, it was a productive day in the sewing room. I didn't get to my UFO Row Quilt, which was my plan... but, tomorrow is another day for that.
I am off to bed. I'll do some hand-sewing there while I watch a bit of TV. Pleasant dreams to all!
I even went out on the front porch with a cup of hot tea, and set in my glider as I watched the world go by! It was fabulous! The temps were probably near or over 60 degrees, quite a change from the zero degree temps of only a few weeks ago! Though, I am loving this reprieve, I know it is not here to stay. I also swept the leaves off the front porch, quite an accumulation from the winter winds! And to think, there is not one tree on the parsonage property. I am grateful to my neighbors who share theirs with me!
In the sewing department... I put the handle/strap on a purse that I made over the weekend, re-covered my big ironing board, folded more fabric to put on the shelves, cut out the blocks/pieces for a quilt top, though, I do need to get some matching background fabric for it. I was looking around through my stash, but what I have that matches, I do not have enough of. Oh well, I'll run to the shop on Friday, I guess. I want to get back to my Row Quilt, maybe tomorrow.
Yesterday & today, I am feeling really tired. And, my medication adds to that, too. I did not sleep well last night, and was awaken by 2 ladies in distress at 6 AM. They had a flat tire, and pulled off the road in front of the church. After I went out to see if there was anything I could do, a man stopped to help them. God always sends the angels when they are needed! The ladies were on there way again in 15 minutes!
I am getting my snowmen decorations put away, little by little. I did get out my Valentine wall hangings on Monday. Nothing like waiting till the last minute. I am making new wall hangings for Spring. I'll be getting those out next. Two are ready, but I need to finish abut a yard of hand-stitching the binding on the third one. It won't take long to finish. Jennifer put in a request last Saturday, for a new one, also. I'll get busy on that soon. I can have it done in a day.
Well, I'm going to close. I think I will turn in early! It's almost 8 PM. It's been a long day. Goodnight all!
Today, after going & doing the payday thing... banking, grocery store, pharmacy, gas station, etc... I did get to the sewing room after supper. I have begun a new Sampler project with my online Stashbuster group. I'll add the pictures of my blocks below. Two blocks were suggested, and we only needed to make one of them. But, I want my quilt to be larger (close to King size), so I will be making both blocks each month. If I have leftover blocks in November, I'll assemble them for a Charity Quilt. Tomorrow, I'll be getting back to my row quilt. That thing will be done in stages, because of all the small pieces. They tend to drive you nuts at times. I should be fine with doing this for the rest of the week, as Dennis has plans, so I'll not be interrupted. You need to concentrate on what you are doing with all these small pieces. This is not a quilt to be doing with interruptions. It could be hazardous for someone's health... probably the person doing the interrupting!
Cody was here on Friday night & Saturday. I just love having him around. He is quite the character. And, he is into the hand motions, facial gestures, and shrugging of his shoulders while he is talking now. It kills me to keep a straight face when he is being serious. I wish I could be recording this. Friday night, he was quite the little helper out at the one church. They were making chocolate covered pretzels, which is one of their annual fundraisers. Cody was very helpful in delivering bags of pretzels & chocolate to the tables. He also helped box the pretzels after they were weighed & bagged. He enjoyed it, and so did all the others that were there. They wanted Cody to come back on Saturday morning, but we couldn't because Dennis needed the vehicle to go to a meeting. It was fine. Cody & I played with the Lincoln Logs, went & got the mail, and just enjoyed each others company. We always have a great time. I just love 'my boy'!
Well, it is bedtime. So, I need to go upstairs and close down the sewing room... you know, turn off the machine, unplug the iron, etc... I'll be getting things ready for tomorrow's sew-a-thon! I have hand-stitching to do while taking breaks to rest my back. So, I'll not be idle while Dennis is doing his running.
Have a great night. God Bless!
Below are the first 2 blocks of my 'Sunshine Sampler' Quilt
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