Soon and very soon

Today is the weekly Friday night sewing get together here at the house. Tonight Nicole will be joining Jennifer and I and we will hear all about her new job. I, myself, have a phone interview for a job this afternoon. Keeping my finger crossed. My department at work is being outsourced to Manila and they not offering any lateral moves to other departments.

In honor of having guests tonight, I am making homemade spaghetti sauce for dinner. Mind you, I cannot partake of this great feast as I am on a medically supervised weight loss program. But I am having a Lean Cuisine and tossed salad. Good food and good friends and sewing!! The evening cannot get any better than that.

I will working on my big, red square and Jennifer will be working on her Grandmother's Flower Garden and Nicole will be crocheting . I am hoping she will be bringing the stuff she has been working on. She would show me the stuff when she was still working with me.

We are expecting what the weatherman affectionately calls accumulating snow. No amounts are given and the word "accumulating" covers as bases. There was dusting outside this morning when I stepped out to deposit my cans in my recycle bin. It was my kind of snow, only on the grass and trees. Nothing on the roads or sidewalks. But I do know where my shovel and melting compound are just in case. This weekend the extra shovel and melting compound will start traveling in my car. One can not be too prepared. Next come the boots and Yaktrax. These will live in my purse for the entire winter season.

In stitches,
Judy

Sewing and snow

 
It is December and Ohio has not disappointed us. We had a dusting of snow yesterday and it is considerably colder outside. Every day from now on will be an adventure in weather. 

 

Sewing on the big red square is also an adventure. I went out after work yesterday and purchased more thread. Bigger spools. I did not quilt last night on the big red square but I did finish another row for the hand pieced scrap quilt in between calls at work. I am loading up my stuff to take to work again today. If the call volume is down it beats sitting there staring into space. 

Tonight is group meeting and the gals want to see a few of my quilts. I have one that is already sold and I am taking that with me along with my art quilt and a few others. You never know what will happen.


In stitches,
Judy

 

Santa's Elves are quilting

 

The sewing machine is out of hiding. It was put away because of the houseful here for Thanksgiving. It is upstairs in the dining room where I have two tables put together and I am machine quilting on the big red square. I have under estimated the amount of thread I will need for this project. I have wound 6 bobbins and used 3 of them and have used an entire spool of thread and still have a ways to go. Perhaps a stop at JoAnn's after work would be in order. I will be back at the sewing machine again after work today. I am hoping by Friday night to have the machine quilting done and then onto other projects for our Friday night crafting get together. 

Jennifer and I will be welcoming a new friend to the Friday night crafting get together. Nicole {Hi Nicole} used to work with us and has moved on to bigger and better things. She will be joining us with her crocheting. I will be working on my bags and Jennifer will be working on her flowers or quilting on her big red square as she is making the same secret quilt for Christmas. 

I am meeting with a gal at work to finalize a quilt that I will be making for her for Christmas. It will be a quilt using show ribbons. Her daughter used to show horses and has many ribbons that I will incorporate into a quilted throw. I have never done this and I am always up for a challenge!!

I am off to get ready for work. I was off Monday and that makes for a short week for me!!!

In stitches,
Judy

Design Wall Monday

My design wall is meager right now. I have finished hand piecing 2 of the 27 rows of this quilt. I am using all brights to help ward off the quickly approaching winter. I am going to set up the floor frame and hand quilt it after the holidays are over. 

Check out Patchwork Times.

In stitches, 
Judy 

Onward and Upward

 

Thanksgiving is over and all the leftovers are gone!! A good majority of them left on Thanksgiving, my son and his wife ate some while they were here, and yesterday they took the rest with them when they went to visit his dad. I am on a medically supervised weight loss program and I am not eating. It is a liquid diet with an occasional Lean Cuisine. I was able to make some good choices on Thanksgiving and enjoy the meal with the rest of the family.

We had a houseful for Thanksgiving. 17 people in all, including 5 children 8 and younger and that included a crawler. I baby proofed my house and the child never made it to the floor. I had flashlights and legos for the rest of the kids and both were a hit. We only had one broken dish and one bit of broken skin. 


My daughter in law and I hit the outlet mall for the big sales on Friday. She got several shirts and a dress for herself, a pair of trousers and two dress shirts for my son. I am not sure how they will get that in their carry on bags when they go home tomorrow. I offered to box the stuff up and mail it her but she declined!

I am getting ready to pin baste a queen sized quilt for a Christmas gift. Right now I am working on getting the fabric to stop running. It is red and bleeding. I still have the tables set up from Thanksgiving and I am letting my king sized batt breathe. Once I stop the bleeding and get it is dried and ironed, Jennifer and I will start pin basting it. I have washed the red fabric twice and I think the bleeding has stopped. Onward to the dryer and the ironing board. 

Christmas came early to my house!! My kids will not be joining us for Christmas this year they are going to be in India for a wedding and spending time with my daughter in law's parents. I got this lovely IPOD touch. I am having a ball with it. I need to get a wireless router for my internet and then I know I will be dangerous. They had it engraved "To the world's greatest Mom. Love Nick and Tania"

This is the quilt currently living on my bed. It is a queen sized flannel rag quilt that I made several years ago and it just gets better with age. 

In stitches, 
Judy

It's all in the prep work

Thanksgiving is here, finally!! Family is coming from near and far again this year. I think I have everything done!! I still need to clean and mop the bathroom and mop the kitchen floor and put clean sheets on my bed. And start the cooking. The pies are done, the sweet potatoes are ready for my daughter in law's touch, and  the potatoes are peeled.

The sewing/family room looks amazing. Jennifer has been here helping me and it is simply amazaing. We should have a good time at our next Friday get together. We usually sew on Friday nights and will start again in December. We are making the same quilt for our family members for Christmas. Pictures will follow after Christmas.

I did sneak in a little sewing. I have two rows of the 27 rows done for my newest quilt. I hope to put it on the floor frame and hand quilt it after the holidays. It will make a nice entry for the county fair in July.

In stitches,
Judy

Stuff

Knock on wood, no system issues at work yesterday, but we were so busy. It was nice for once to be busy on Monday, our normally slow day. Thanksgiving prep is coming along. Tonight I am making my pie crust and finishing up the decluttering of the family room/sewing room. Tomorrow will be pie baking, sweet potatoe baking, and picture hanging in the dining room. Jennifer is coming to make sure the cross stitch picture gets hung straight and true in the dining room. It will be nice to have a second pair of eyes for this.

Did a bit of sewing yesterday. I am hand piecing a quilt and I marked all the pieces I have cut out and sewed on block together. It is a slow process, but I enjoy having hand work to do. Pictures will follow soon!!

In stiches,
Judy

Sunday with family

Sunday afternoon I spent time with my mom and sister at Germania Park for the Christkindlmarkt. Lots of Germain food, music, and crafts. We have gone for the past several years and we have a great time. Yesterday we lucked out with the weather. It was about 60 degrees which is unusual for late November.

I went home and did a few more things for Thanksgiving and then went to bed early. I was asleep for the night at 6:30PM. My doctor said that my lupus can make me tired and I think I did too much this weekend. Not too much left to do for Thanksgiving.

In stiches,
Judy

My Thanksgiving Progress

I am hosting 17 people for Thanksgiving this year. New this year is a crawler. Now I need to baby proof the living room! Not such a hard task. I am also working on fun stuff for the 4 to 8 year olds to do. Today I am painting mini black flashlights for the girls. One will be pink, one will be purple and one will be aqua. My mom is providing the camo flashlight her grandson. The basement/sewing room will be kids central. We will have a table and blanket for tenting. Legos and crayons, paper, and coloring books. And movies if all else fails. They should have a good time.

Jennifer was here for  Friday Night sewing and we worked on the sewing room. We can see the carpeting!! I have a bit more to do around the computer and run the sweeper. It is amazing. I also have to finish one more floor pillow. It needs a bit of stuffing and then close it up.

I need to hang a picture in the dining room. It is a cross stitch sampler I did years ago. I took it down last year to paint the dining and it has not made it back on the wall. And of course the cooking will be starting today. I am making my pie crust today for the cherry pie for my ex-husband. His birthday is the day before Thanksgiving and he will be here celebrating with us. Our son and daughter in law are going to be in from New York and it is easier for everyone to include his father.

In stitches,
Judy

Stash report

Not much sewing going on here. The sewing machine is put away for the upcoming holiday. I am hosting 17 people and I need to focus on cooking and cleaning. I do have a hand piecing project I started this past week but until it is finished and bound I will not count it.


Used this Week: 0 yds
Used year to Date: 113.875 yards
Added this Week: 0 yards
Added Year to Date: 125.333 yards
Net Used for 2010: -11.458 yards
 
So far so good. Check out Patchwork Times to check out the progress being made by others.
 
In stitches,
Judy

Counting down to Thanksgiving

I am slowly crossing stuff off my list for Thanksgiving. Tonight I cleaned off my dresser so that I could clean out the buffet and store the glassware on the top of my dresser. The buffet will be moved to my bedroom on Thanksgiving so I can put an extra table or two for the holiday.  I started baby proofing the living room. I also wanted to fix my swiffer but I cannot find my glue. I will be getting my gorilla glue back from my mom this weekend so I will glue my swiffer then and finish the mopping of the kitchen and bathroom. Tomorrow night Jennifer and I will be working on the sewing room.

I did cut out a scrap quilt to hand piece. I need to finish cutting the pieces for this quilt. I only need 243 - 3.5" squares and 243 - 3.5" x 7.5" rectangles. I am using my bright fabrics. Something to cheer me up during another long, dreary winter. I would like to hand quilt it after the first of the year. Perhaps something to enter in the fair in July. It certainly doesn't hurt to plan ahead. I did not have anything to put in the fair last year.

In stiches,
Judy

I got a turkey

I did my Thanksgiving shopping today. I have my turkey and I hope that I have not forgotten anything, as I do not want to go to the grocery store next week. I will need to get milk but I can get that at UDF after work on Wednseday. I have started cleaning and working on the sewing room. My house is very small and I am having a houseful and the overflow will end up in the basement where my sewing room is. I need to get all the stuff off the floor and have a large clean space to dump out the legos. Right now that place does not exist. I will take pictures of that space when it does exist. And down comes the design wall so I can close off the unfinished part of the basement. Another place where I can lose small children.

These are my sisters at the Krohn Conservatory in Cincinnati, Ohio several years ago!! We will all be together again this year for Thanksgiving!!

In stitches,
Judy

Getting ready for Thanksgiving

I am hosting Thanksgiving again this year at the house and I am expecting upwards of 20 people. The sewing machine has been put away so I won't be tempted to sew instead of clean. That is a big temptation for me. I am going to focus this week on the sewing room. The children will be down in the sewing room watching movies, drawing and coloring. I would hate to lose someone in the mess!! Plus it will be nice to have the sewing room straightened up to finish my Christmas sewing!!

I spoke with my son and his wife last night. They were tag team painting their New York City apartment kitchen. Brick red I believe. They were applying the second coat. I am hoping to see pictures!! They will be arriving around 10am in Dayton on Thanksgiving and his dad will meet them and take them back to his house where they will put up a car for them to use while they are in town and then they will all travel to my house in two cars. My daughter in law will do her part of the cooking once she gets here. I am hoping that when they get here I will be all done with everything and relaxing on the sofa.  They will be staying part time with me and part time with his dad.

The system was down again at work yesterday. A different part was down this time. By the end of my shift, I had talked to a lot of irratated people. We moved into this building the first week of November and it has been one problem after another. I am hoping everything is up and running this morning or it will be another long day!! Every day at work is an adventure!!

I need to go and check out the ads and see where I need to shop this week to get a good deal on a Turkey!

In stitches,
Judy

Stash Report

This was a better week. I finished a few things. I added a bit of fabric for an that I am doing for a gal at work. But I used more than I took in. That is a good thing.

Used this Week: 9 yds
Used year to Date: 113.875 yards
Added this Week: 1.333 yards
Added Year to Date: 125.333 yards
Net Used for 2010: -11.458 yards
 
Hey it looks like I might break even here in the near future, if I do not buy anything else. Check in at Patchwork Times at every one else's progress.
 
In stitches,
Judy

Day with my sister

Today I spent the day with my sister, Karen. {Hi Karen!} I went to her house to see her new sewing machine and to work out the bugs she was having with it. I got that under control and she was able to sew all the rows together for the rag quilt she is making for her daughter for Christmas. She will now spent the next several weeks snipping the entire thing. I got to try out her new machine by mending her hubby's work shirt. It sews wonderfully!!

While she sewed I finished the hand stitching of binding on two quilts.

This one from the movie "Cars".

And this one from the hidden treasures in my sewing room.

We also took a walk and this picture is from the bridge near her house. The picture at the top of this post is the ornamental pear trees in my neighborhood. They are gorgeous this time of the year.

This is going to be part of the centerpiece for my table at Thanksgiving. Notice, Karen, these are the silver cups you gave me. Don't they make attractive containers.

In stiches,
Judy

Treasures in my sewing room

Yesterday, I found treasures in my sewing room. I have somewhat organized my sewing room and I am amazed at what I have found. I have been practicing machine quilting on baby quilt panels. I thought I was down to my last one when I found these in a bag on the shelf with all my 30's prints. I think the blue one will need borders to make it a good size for a baby quilt. I measured it and it's only 24 x 36 and I like my baby quilts to be 36 x 45. I am sure that there is something in my stash for borders!!

 All I need is the batting which is living in my dining room right. I pin baste on my dining room table and that will work until it is time for Thanksgiving, I will then have to take up my sewing table in order to have space for everyone to eat. And after Thanksgiving I will be pin basting a queen size quilt and will need both tables to get it basted.  No more details about that quilt until after Christmas as it is a Christmas gift and one never knows who is reading this blog. Jennifer is also making the same quilt and same size so we will spend one or two evenings basting both quilts.

I am off to get ready for work. We are doing yet another mandatory Saturday. Then after a quick stop at JoAnn's and Walmart I am coming home to sew. Finish the 4 bags I started last night and machine quilt the pink quilt to work on at my sister's house while she is sewing on her daughter's quilt.

In stiches,
Judy

Sew Day

It's Friday and it's sew day!! Jennifer is coming tonight and we are going to be working on my tote bags. She is in charge of ironing and I am in charge of sewing. I should be able to get the first stage done tonight and the quilting and finishing work done by the end of the weekend. I have orders for 7 bags.

I think I have found a buyer for my "Cars" quilt. Yipee!! This is such a help for my fledging sewing business. Word of mouth is great advertising.

I hope everyone gets to sew this weekend!! I know I will be squeezing my sewing in between the mandatory overtime on Saturday and visiting my sister on Sunday.

In stitches,
Judy

System Issues

These are the two worst words in my work vocabulary. Last week we were "down" all day on Tuesday. I work in a call center. Yesterday somebody in a back hoe split the fiber optic cable that services our system at work. Not good. Callers do not seem to understand that when our system is down we get a blank screen and cannot see their information. And we do not know when the system will be fixed. One lady said she would call back on Monday giving us plenty of time to fix the problem. I hope they got the cable repaired last night, but I am not counting on it.

I would like to say that I came home last night and sewed but that would have been a lie. I was bushed. Tonight I have a meeting after work and then I am hoping to get the prep work done for the sewing of my tote bags tomorrow with Jennifer. We may have an extra person tomorrow night. My friend, Nicole from work may come and crotchet while we are sewing and pressing.

Saturday is mandatory overtime. And this was before we had system issues. I am hoping my co workers do the right thing and show up. No one likes to work Saturday but the money is nice. And we are being out sourced the end of January.

In stitches,
Judy

Looking for Fabric

I am looking for the following fabric. It was made by Fabric Traditions in 2008. It has been a big hit on the bags I am making and I would love to get more of it. If anyone has any in their stash and is willing to part with it please let me know!!

Today is Wednesday and I have been up for almost an hour cutting fabric before going to work. I have orders for 7 little tote bags out of bright, cheery fabric. I have gotten into the 5" fabric bucket to finds lots of brights.

I have cut skinny strips and 3.5" strips for a new quilt. The new quilt will not be started until my Christmas sewing is finished.

Off to get ready for yet another 10 hour day. We have been informed that we have to do another mandatory 8 hours on Saturday!! Then Sunday I will be going out to my sister's {Hi Karen!!} to check out her new sewing machine.


In stitches,
Judy

Autumn Quilt

The autumn quilt is finished and hung in it's place in the stairwell going to the basement. I think I did good. I bought the fabric on Thursday and it is finished and hung and it's only Monday!

I am hand sewing the binding on another quilt from the movie "Cars". A lady at work is interested in buying the quilt for her grandson for Christmas. Tomorrow I need to start on the order for the tote bags. A gal at work wants 5 of them for Christmas gifts. A good way to bust my stash!!

In stitches,
Judy