Today, has been a good day, I suppose. I went to Sunday School & Church. Dennis & I had a quick lunch & I went upstairs to the sewing room. Dennis went to take a nap. He was called out last evening for a hospital visit and got home about 11 PM, then he had to finish his preparations/studying for his sermon today. I am not sure what time he made it to bed, as I was asleep when he got there. This evening, he was called out again for another hospital visit, a different parishioner who is not doing well. I figured I'd check my emails, update my blog, then go back to the sewing room. This afternoon while I was there, I did make a small purse. I just have to finish the handle, but, I need to get some of that cotton piping stuff to put inside it first. The purse was simple to make, though, I think next time, I'll add a couple of inches to make it a touch larger. You start out with an 18 inch square... next time, I'll try 20 inches. I still have to do my 'City Bag' one. I have fabric to make about 3 or 4 of them. Now, to get busy. Judy is going to guide me through that. It has a zipper in it, and I don't do zippers! She says it's easy, so I'll take her word for it. She has made about a dozen (maybe more) of this particular pattern. She is a pro at it now!
I think I will be digging out my row quilt again, and make a few more blocks tonight. Since, I am here alone, that will keep me occupied until Dennis returns. During Dennis' hospital visit last night, I did get the curtains made to cover my stash fabric on the shelves. They look wonderful! And, I have enough of that fabric left to cover my big ironing board!
Little by little, I am getting my Snowmen/Christmas things put away. I am beginning to get the itch for Spring and brighter colors. I really need to get my Valentine wall hanging out, since Valentines Day is only 6 days away!! I actually just remembered about it... I'll do that when I go upstairs.
OK... enough rambling for one night. I'll post again soon.
Since my retreat last weekend and working on my row quilt, I had to take a break from all the small pieces I was working with, and make something new. So, yesterday, I started on a Spring wall hanging. It is all done except hand-stitching the binding. That will be easy enough, so I should be able to call it finished tomorrow. Today, I took a break from the sewing room, to rest my back from all the setting at the machine, and came downstairs and hand-stitched the binding for another small Easter wall hanging I started a couple of weeks ago. Now, it is finished, too. I'll post a picture in the gallery tomorrow. I still have part of a quilt that needs the binding hand-sewn, and 3 place mats. Then, I think I can say, I am caught up... I also finished a Snowman table runner, with embroidery a few days ago. So, I have been sewing pretty steady.
Cody, my 3 year old grandson, comes tomorrow and will stay until later Saturday afternoon. So, I know that I will not be sewing while he is here. He likes my undivided attention and I am happy to oblige him! I would have it no other way!
I just got in from a meeting over at church, and I am about froze. So, I am headed up to bed to crawl under my several quilts that are there. I'll pop in a movie, and get cozy, and will be warm in no time.
The temps here in PA are to warm up a little tomorrow, then get a little warmer by Saturday. A nice break from these frigid temps of the past few days. I am sure we will have more snow before Winter calls it quits. And, I am still waiting for that big snowstorm! Some folks would smack me for saying this, but, it is still true. I just love it when it is snowing! So beautiful and so peaceful.
Have a great night... Happy sewing tomorrow. Keep those machines humming!
WOW!! What a sit-on-the-edge-of-your-seat-till-the-end Superbowl that was! I'm a happy girl... My STEELERS won! Though, I did get frustrated with the Steelers at one point and wailed a couch pillow at the TV! OK... frustrated several times, but only threw the pillow once. Dennis didn't like my way of venting, so I resorted to punching the pillow after that! Now, I think I'll need to make more couch pillows! They did take quite a beating there for a while! Today, I was reading in the newspaper about all the hoop-la going on in Pittsburgh last night when the crowds took their partying to the streets... why do people have to get so stupid? Throwing bottles at the police, turning over cars... majorly ridiculous!
Anyway, my sewing retreat was fantastic! I enjoyed being at our country house, sewing away! I took my Row Quilt UFO. I about fell over when I read in the pattern magazine that I started it in 2003! I didn't realize that it was that old! I did make some great progress on it. Some of the blocks were missing pieces, (several ladies in our local guild was making this particular quilt, and we exchanged our fabric between us. We put together fabric for 9 identical blocks, kept one and gave the other 8 out to the participants, for each row. This way, we had a variety, like 9 different red barns, 9 different bird houses, etc.) We did this bi-monthly for about a year and a half. We were supposed to be 'doing' the blocks and rows as we went. Some of us did, and some of us (including me) didn't. I just put mine in a blanket bag, and kept collecting, and stuffing. Though, I did do the first 2 rows... then stopped. I think at the time I was working full-time, we were in the midst of building a new house, etc... This weekend, I think I did another 5 or 6 rows, and am very pleased with my progress. I want to make the quilt bigger, enough to fit our queen sized bed, so I will need to make about 6 or 7 more blocks per row. I like my quilts to cover and go down the sides of the bed. This prevents drafts up your back when you roll over throughout the night! I hate that!! All of my quilts at present, do not extend far enough, but that does not keep us from using them. I did make a longer one in 2002 or 2003, but it remains a quilt top only. I need to save some money and take it to the longarm quilter! It is a Dresdan Plate done with Thimbleberries fabric. I am a sucker for Thimbleberries! Love them... love them. And, I usually buy lots of it from the local quilt shop sales. Can't beat it for $2-$4 per yard! Getting back to the Row Quilt... I should post pictures regularly of my progress... That way, it will keep giving me the incentive to keep going! I have even decided that I'd like to enter this quilt in the local county fair this year. Another incentive to keep working on it!
I am going to head upstairs now... to the sewing room. I got a board from out at the house over the weekend, and will put it up in the sewing room as a shelf above my sewing machine. Though, the board needs cleaned and sanded. I need to do that... hopefully we'll get some decent weather days this weekend that I can do this outside. But, the storage space will help. I need to go up the walls now in my sewing room renovation! I need to decide if I am going to paint the nasty paneling in there... I went to Lowes on Sunday to check out what needs to be done about that. We'll see. I haven't decided whether to tackle the job or forget it. If this was my house... I'd just gut it and put up plasterboard! Since it is the parsonage... and we will not be here forever... is it worth the effort? Eventually, they want to gut and redo it anyway!
Take care. Have a great night. And, I was dissappointed that we missed out on the big Nor-Easter snowstorm... I am still waiting for 'The Big One' to hit us! I WANT SNOW!!
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