The weekend so far!!

Last night was craft night at my house. Sadly, Nicole had to work and was unable to attend. Jennifer and I did a field trip. We went to both JoAnn Fabrics and Hancock's. I got a full bolt of elastic off the Notion's Wall at JoAnn for bag handles and Jennifer got a gob of thread. She was on the prowl for bright colors and she found quite a bit at both stores.

I showed Jennifer the fun use of Triangulations. She is already thinking about doing pinwheels, one of her favorite blocks to make. I also shared the blocks that I have constructed for my sister's baby quilt. I am hoping to finish it this weekend. 

We are still looking for sunshine. It was promised for yesterday but it did not show up. I am hoping for some sun but it would make moving mulch a lot easier if there is not a lot of sun.

Off to spend the day with my sister, Karen. Heaven knows what we will get into today. Then back to spent some time with my mom tonight. Hand piecing will rule tonight. I am chugging along on my hand piecing project. It is almost done. Then I will need to layer it and hand quilt it. I am hoping to get it done in time to enter it in the local fair this summer. 

In stitches,
Judy

The weekend

It is the weekend! It is going to be a three day weekend and I will not have to work the holiday. That is even better. I am planning on doing some sewing this weekend. I am also spending some time with my sister, Karen. We are gently hitting Hancock Fabrics and Harbor Freight. I need to change the blade in her rotary cutter. She has been busily cutting denim and flannel for a quilt for her brother in law. She is also on the prowl for more flannel for her flannel quilt. 

Nicole and Jennifer will be meeting here at the home for the last Friday night craft night in May!! I am not sure what projects we will be working on. I really need to put together the baby quilt for my sister. The baby shower is approaching rapidly. The blocks are done and I am hoping that by this time next week I will be hand stitching the binding down.


We have been promised some warm, sunny weather without any rain. We have had lots of rain and storms this week. I have spent more time in the basement an normal.

 
I am hoping to start on this pile of mulch. I would like to park my car in the garage in the future some time. And this is a large pile of mulch. And, yes it is smoking!!

In stitches,
Judy

Working from home and bad weather

 

I live in southwestern Ohio and last night we a had bout of bad weather. The tornado siren was going off and instructing us to go to the lowest floor, interior room away from windows. We know the drill and are very mindful of the situation after what happened in Joplin. I am now working from home and seem to be working in the smallest safe soft in my house. This is my home office. It is very tiny and also very safe. The storm passed over my neighborhood without much damage and we had power all night!

I have been sewing and finishing stuff. It is quite amazing. I have started working on a baby quilt for sister who is expecting in June. I had 10 leftover blocks from another baby quilt and a good bit of extra fabric. I constructed 20 more blocks and will put it together as a generous 45 x 60 inch quilt. I found some awesome striped fabric on the clearance rack at JoAnn's that I will use for the back. Of course, there are no pictures of this work in progress at this point. The blocks and backing are upstairs and I am in the basement. Pictures will follow.

In stitches,
Judy

Monday

Working from home is wonderful! I have been working from home for several weeks and I really enjoy it. Overtime is offered to the work at home (wah) associates more often than the people working in the office. I had an opportunity to work 4 hours of overtime yesterday. Of course, that did cut into my sewing time. I am trying to get bags done for my friend who line of kids clothing will include my bags. The launch is the end of this month. I have 6 large bags quilted and they need to be assembled. I have 6 medium bags started and still have  small bags in the thinking stage. I also want to make some change purses. I am working on these every waking minute of my day. It also helps that my commuting time is nil.

Nicole, Jennifer and I did our Friday night crafting this weekend. We did find out that alcohol and sewing are not friends. Nicole had one drink with dinner and that impaired her sewing just a bit. But after several tries she was able to finish her bag for her mom. And she did get to open her new sew ripper!! I think we forgot to put in the interior pocket. Oh well!! We had a good time. Jennifer was working on an embroidery project and doing a little bit of hand piecing. I worked on quilting the large bags. I ran into a bit of bad thread and a cranky sewing machine. But I was able to get a few bags quilted once I got my machine cleaned, oiled, lost the bad thread and changed the needle and the foot. 

In stitches, 
Judy

Sewing

Tomorrow is hump day sewing day at my house. Nicole and Jennifer are both coming over to sew. Nicole is going to be making a  simple dress and I imagine Jennifer will be working on her homespun quilt. I will be supervising the dress making. I may do some sewing on my hand piecing project or my bags. I am not sure at this point.

I have been playing with Triangulations. I am making gobs of half square triangles for a quilt called "Don't Break Bread into Your Soup" from Country Threads goes to Charm School. Instead of doing this pattern as a scrap quilt which is my favorite, I am doing it  as a patriotic wall hanging for my landing. The background will be red and I am using a red, white, and blue print for the scrappy part of the design. I am hoping to have it done and hung by end of the month.

 
I pulled out Challenge #9 and it is my scrap log cabin. Are we seeing a pattern here. I adore scrappy.  I pieced this years ago and I have found some strawberry fabric in my stash that was a gift from my friend, Roberta. Strawberry fabric is not my favorite but if it's free it's for me. And the monochromatic color this month is red. And that is a good thing. My sister did a redwork piece for me and I have the whole wall hanging all planned out in my head. It is going to be awesome considering the talent of my sister. I will post pictures soon!!

In stitches,

Judy

Weekend stuff

 

So far, it has been a wonderful weekend! Friday night, the crafters took a field trip to Marie Aullwood's Garden. We went to see and smell the Lila s in the Lilac Meadow. The scent was amazing!

 We also stopped at Joann's and got fabric for Nicole to make a dress. She is a new sewer and is really catching on to it!

Saturday, I got up early to make 25 simple autograph blocks for a friend whose god child is graduating from college. The blocks are done but the plans have changed and she does not need the blocks after all. The good thing about this is that the extra half square triangle blocks will make the border on the rework design that my sister made for me! I also started cutting more rectangles for my hand pieced project. Five more rows and ten more inches to each row will give me a quilt for my bed!

In stitches,

Judy

Wonderful Weekend

It was a wonderful weekend!! I spent Friday night with Jennifer and Nicole working on different craft projects, Saturday I spent the day with my sister, Karen, and Sunday was spent in Middletown at a concert hearing my sister, Becky play. Little bits of sewing stuck in wherever there was room!!!

Karen and I went to see mom and then on to shoot the sights of our hometown, Hamilton, Ohio. We will be entering some of our photography in the Butler County fair in July. There is a category for amateur photographers using black and white and color photos. And a category of sights of Butler County. So that is what we did.

We also made a stop at JoAnn Fabrics for some flannel for Karen's rag flannel quilt and some sewing machine needles for me. 

Sunday was the Red, White, and Blue concert put on by the Southwest Ohio Symphonic Band. The music was simply awesome!! Cannot wait for the next concert!

In stitches,
Judy