Best Laid Plans!

I had great plans to sew this evening after my meeting. But there was a slight change in plans. I got a text from neighbor and she wanted to know if I had fixed the golf club cover for her boyfriend. The answer would have been "no" if I answered her. So when I got home, I got down to business. Twenty minutes later this is what I got.

 

 

And I sent her a text with a picture and she and the boyfriend were at my house in minutes. So that project is done and the boyfriend is on the look out for a Cincinnati Bengal's hand puppet for me to fix for his golf club. Tomorrow it will be baby quilt time.

In stitches,
Judy

Plans!

I had all kinds of plans for today. It is my day off. Sewing was high on the list. Somewhere along the way it fell to the bottom. I got up this morning and made a grocery run. Just a few things and several bags later, I was home. Next up was overtime. Besides time and a half, every 5 hours of overtime worked you get a $25 gift card to American Express. I am saving for new television in my basement so I did 3 hours. So far this week, I have completed 5 hours of overtime and it is only Tuesday. Next up was a nap, laundry, a shower, and a meeting. Then a trip to JoAnn Fabrics and then I will be able to sew.

  
I have two projects in the works. One is quilt like I did for my sister earlier this year. It is already cut out and partially sewn together. But I had misplaced it in the rush to declutter the house for the baby's visit earlier this summer. But I have found it and I am ready to sew. Also, I found the fabric I am using in this project . I found the yellow. I will use it for a border, backing and binding. 

In stitches,
Judy

Two Finishes!!

I have been busy this week! I have finished my sister's dress for her presentation tomorrow and it has been safely delivered to her home in Northern Kentucky.

It almost looks like a tunic, but she is just barely 5 foot tall and it is a good length and fits perfectly!! It was not hard to do, but it was an interesting experience. 

I have also gotten a little bit of quilting done this week, too. I hang a wall hanging on my front door instead of a wreath for the holidays or the seasons. I think it is festive. The fabric on the front were a gift and there were already cut and the back is some fabric from my stash. I am quite happy the it has turned out. 

Linking up with Finish it Friday

In stitches,
Judy

Progress

I am making progress on the dress for my sister. I spent a good part of the day reading the directions and getting it ready to cut out. It has a full skirt and the front and back pieces each have an extension piece that you need to tape the front and back before you can cut it out. I have done that and I have done all the cutting. Not without some angst. Some creative placement and creative cutting, I am now ready to sew after work tonight. I am planning to have it ready for a fitting on Saturday. I am going to be busy!!

Still need to start my Halloween wall hanging. Guess that will be my next project. Time to get back to work!!

In stitches,
Judy

Wow!

It has been quite a while since I have posted. My new schedule has started and I think I am going to like it. It seems weird to be off in the evening. I have been doing a little bit of sewing. I have finished up the last of Elly's summer sewing, I have made 3 dog scarves for the dogs up the street, and I have gotten the stuff for my next project. I am making a dress for my sister. Another barter deal. It looks like she will be here for yardwork or house cleaning. No plans set for that yet. And more dog scarves. Not much quilting time at this time. But blogs and magazines are keeping me company. 

Not yet walking but has mastered the standing up part. She is pulling herself up to anything that is standing still. She turned one in the end of August. Gramma did not make her a quilt for her birthday but one is in the planning stage. Guess it will be a Christmas present. 

In stitches,
Judy

My next project

Here is my latest project. I found these tumbler shapes already cut in a bag in my sewing room. I will be using them to make a small wall hanging to put on my front door. And with the leftover pieces I am going to cut out hexies to make a runner for my buffet. I will end up binding the wall hanging in black. And perhaps quilting it with something shiny. We shall see.

My new shift starts on Wednesday.  No more second shift for this gal. I will be working 10-6:30pm and I will be off on Sundays and Tuesdays. I am excited! I see more sewing in my future.

This is a picture of my son, daughter in law and Elly. Elly celebrated her first birthday on Tuesday. Yeah!!

In stitches,
Judy

Looking Up

 
Things are looking up at work. We have had a shift bid and starting the first of September I will no longer work second shift. Yeah!! 10:00am to 6:30pm. Off on Sundays and Tuesdays.  Training did not happen this week like I thought it would. I spent a day and a half in the office and I will continue my regular schedule for the rest of the week. Saturday is 8 hours of overtime!!

Been asked to make Elly's Halloween costume. Not sure what Mom wants but as soon as I know it will be here. Her first birthday is coming up here in a few days. I will not be joining them in Brooklyn for her party. I am sad but work is a bear and I need to be here. Skype is a wonderful thing!!

I am working on a secret hexie project. It is for a friend and since she reads the blog I cannot share it here until she has it in her hands. I am excited about it!!

Time to get ready for work. I am having a visitor right before work. Just found out she is getting married in about 4 weeks. Yeah for Lori!! Must go move the dust around and clean the bathroom and get some lunch. Wow the list keeps growing!

In stitches,
Judy

I found out yesterday, when I logged into my work computer that I am scheduled for another week of training. Yippee!! I need to find my lunch tote again, put gas in my car, and do some laundry. I will be working Monday thru Friday, giving me a weekend off. 

I am hoping that next week I will get to the sewing machine. I miss sewing. I did a bit this week for Elly and I have a bit more to do to finish up her stuff. Then I will make something pretty for me. 

 

I still need to get out and weed the flower bed. It is starting to look unkempt. My list seems to grow every day and I never seem to make any progress. Oh well, that is life and I need to deal with it. 

Time for bed, 
Judy

 

 I have been playing with the project mentioned in the previous post. I have found a fabric from my stash that will work for the border. I have decided to take off the last row that I just put on. It will now be square. I think I like it. I am ready to get to the hand quilting part.

I moved a chest of drawers from my basement to my hallway. I want a place to put my wall hanging and table runners. It also needs a topper. Another project, just what I need.  The chest is old. It was the chest my mom and dad got to put my stuff in when I was born. I had no idea when I put it under my basement stairs that there was stuff in the drawers. It was like Christmas!! I found that extra container of buttons. I had been looking for those for almost a year.





In stitches,
Judy

Catching up!

    

Elly and her mom have gone home and I am sad. It was such a joy to have both of them here for a visit. I am grateful for all the help my sister, Patty, gave me in order to get the house in order and for the loan of the baby stuff. I am gearing up for the next visit the end of September. 

I have been sewing for Elly the last few days. I have several outfits cut of for summer and summer is waning. Soon it will time to get started on the fall and winter wardrobe.

Things have changed at work and there is very little down time, so the hexies have gone to  live in the dining room/sewing room. I am hoping to get them out to play with soon. 

My August project with my sister, Karen, is going to be finishing Elly's summer things and that project . I have been trying to finish it up for almost a year. It is hand pieced and it will be hand quilted and then it will be done and ready to be hung in the living room. It is made with muted colors that remind me of fall. 

In stitches,
Judy

Happy Times!!

These are pictures from Elly's house and helping with the packing.

 Tania and Elly arrived safely on Saturday afternoon after spending time with my sister, Becky and a trip to Graeter's  for ice cream. Everyone had a good time. Once she got here they left to go and see her great grandfather. Elly was a hit and now that she is crawling, she entertained everyone. 

Today we went to a local county park for a picnic. It was a bring your own picnic and lots of sharing. All of my siblings except for my sister, Karen were in attendance.

We had a quiet evening in the front yard on a blanket, alternating between sitting and playing with Gramma's key and standing up. Not much on napping so hoping for a long sleep tonight.

In stitches,
Judy

Today is the day!!

All the cleaning and shopping is done! Now I am counting down the hours until Tania and Elly will be here for their visit. We have a few things planned to do while they are here but mostly it will be just hanging out a Gramma's house.

 This is what I look like in the morning. Slightly dazed and confused!

In stitches,
Judy

Excitement is Building!

Counting down the days!! Saturday cannot come soon enough. These two cuties are coming for a visit. It is a shame that my son is unable to join them, but I understand. There is still a bit of work that needs to be done around here before Saturday. My sister, Patty, is coming tomorrow to help with the cleaning and decluttering. The last couple of weeks have been killer at work. For the moment, the training is done. But you never know when that can change. 
 
This afternoon my mom and my sister, Becky went to see the play Big River at the Showboat Majestic it was a very good production. It was a gorgeous day and there was a lot of traffic on the river and it took some getting used to the swaying of the boat. Cincinnati has a lot to offer and it is nice to check out things in your own backyard. 

There has not been much time to do any quilting and I miss it!! So I have been spending my winding down time checking out quilt blogs and adding to my quilt bucket list. I did pull out that one project that has almost been finished for quite some time. here. I cannot find the yellow fabric for the border so I have going to pull something else out of my stash and use that. I am hoping that this will be my August project and I can start the hand quilting and finish it once and for all!

In stitches,
Judy

 



 

Busy, busy

I would like to say that I have been busy sewing and quilting, but that would be lie. Training has been kicking my butt. I normally work second shift and that is fine with me but for training I had to work day shift. And I had to be in the office, wear nice clothes, and pack a lunch. I seem to get more done in the morning and not so much in the evening. Today will be interesting. I am home and working my regular shift but I have to be in the office for another day of training and a day shift. 

I did spent about 20 minutes yesterday working on my hexies. That made me happy and calmed me down before starting my shift. I also made chili for dinner last night and it was awesome! Of course, I do not use a recipe and I will not be able to duplicate it again.

This is my squirrel friend who visits my porch while I am working. The first time he did this I thought he had died on my porch. No, he just like laying on my porch and eat the seed I put out!!

In stitches,
Judy

 

Stuff

It has been a wild week already and it is only Tuesday! I have training and I have to be in the office the rest of the week and again on Monday. And it is a daytime shift. It is a big change for me. I am trying to figure out how to get everything done in the evening that I normally do in the morning. It is not working. I was hoping to get some overtime in this week, too. Offering cash incentives for overtime besides time and a half. 

This is also putting a crimp in my sewing time. I did get a tiny bit of GFG hexie sewing done last night at my sister's concert. 

But it was more fun watching, my nephew, Neil eat ice cream! He certainly seems to enjoy it. He refused to use the spoon and kept biting the Styrofoam cup to get to the ice cream. 

In stitches,
Judy

Making progress

I have been steadily adding hexies to my GFG and I am making progress in baby steps. I started this over 15 years ago and without much direction. It never dawned on me to sew in rows. I seemed to sew t in a more circular direction. Now it is long enough from the head board to the foot board but the sides look more amoeba-like. It appears the top right hand corner is missing!

  I have a stack of flowers, several stacks of the white hexies for spacers and a bunch of  hexies that need to become flowers.  

I have also learned a lot along the way. Some of the fabrics I have used in the GFG are of questionable origin. But it is too late to take them out. I also notice there are quite a few selvages in the seams of my flowers. A no no now, but again something I did not know before. I also realized that I am a bright print kind of gal. Not many bright prints in the GFG. I am lucky that I still a bunch of the less than bright prints in my stash, so if I need to cut more hexies for flowers, I will be in business. 

Still need to get out and finish the mulch in my yard. It was quite warm and very humid today, so I took a nap after doing my errands. I may get out tonight as the sun goes down and then again first thing in the morning. My work schedule is changing this week. I will be going into the office for training during the day, quite a change from my work at home second shift. Got to find my lunch tote and start packing my lunch and snacks. It is so handy to walk into the kitchen for lunches and snacks! 

Linking up to  Sewing by Moonlight. At the Plum and June Let's Get Acquainted link up!

In stitches,
Judy

Babysitting

 

 
I just spoke with my daughter in law and it is a go. She has to be in Cincinnati for meetings in August. She will be here for the weekend and then the meetings. She will be staying with me and bringing Elly!!
I am so excited! I have not seen them since Easter.

In stitches,
Judy

Yard work

Monday was yard work day at my house. My mom came down to help along with my sister and her three kids. This is part of the barter we decided on. I made a quilt for my sister to give to a co worker and I got yard work in return. We got a lot done, but there is still more to do. It is the middle of July and my mulch is still in bags on my driveway. I did put some mulch down yesterday, but I am not in the mood to do it today.

I did get some work done on my hexies yesterday. We were having system issues yesterday. We are moving a big chunk of our business to the new system and I was unable to log in at yesterday for work. I sat there for 8 hours trying to entertain myself. So I did get hexie time. I understand that things are jumping at work today and I have already logged in, so I am ready to start in a few hours. But I will have my hexies handy for any down time that  comes my way!!

In stitches,
Judy

Progress

I have been working steadily on my old hexie project and I would like to think I am making progress. Not really. It took a while for it to get misshapen and it will take some time to put it back in order.

 My sister, Karen and I are doing one project each month. She had decided for Christmas in July. She is busily stitching on a Christmas Redwork Santa. I am busily thinking of a project to do. I was hoping to have pin basted my Christmas quilt and I could be hand quilting on it. But that has not happened. I have a Lil' Twister project that I want to start. It is too early think about Elly's Christmas dress. It is still early for me to have a project nailed down, so I am good!!

Time to get busy. I have a few projects to complete before it is time for work. Have a great weekend and sew!!

In stitches,
Judy

With time to spare

The birthday party/4th of July celebration is in less than 24 hours from now and Neil's quilt is done. It has been washed and fluffed and it is still a tiny bit damp. It is hanging over the shower rod in the bathroom and will be ready for wrapping in the morning.

The breakfast picnic and stroll around the part of the lake was very nice. We left the park just as it was starting to get hot and sticky. Now the only thing left for me to do today besides working is to make potato salad. I will start that tonight.  I did pull a few weeds and they were so easy to do because we have had quite a bit of rain. Hoping to get back to the weeding after our picnic  tomorrow.

Linking up with Friday Finishes.

In stitches,
Judy