Last night was shopping and sewing with Nicole from the Friday night group. Jennifer was unable to join us for this adventure.
We started at Jungle Jim's for a bit of shopping. And if you have ever been there you know you can get anything there. Here is what we went home with.
Asparagus
Edible flowers and bugs
Not beef jerky, but bufalo jerky, elk jerky
Then back to the house for a sewing lesson. Nicole has never sewed before and since Jennifer and I sew a lot she wanted to learn. I dug out the other machine that I bought for a back up and to do invisible zippers and got it set up for her. She practiced sewing seams and ripping out some nasty stitching. Then she traced out a pattern to make a doggy scarf and I got her some yucky practice fabric to make a practice scarf. She did a very good job and there was lots of laughter in the process. She was able to finish the scarf and next she will use the "good" fabric to make several scarves for her doggy and a friend's doggy.
I did some sewing on my project but I had to stop when I starting more time with the seam riper and less time at the sewing machine!!!
In stitches,
Judy
Last night was dinner and shopping with my Friday night craft gals. We had a blast. Nicole is the youngest and she does not sew. Our first stop was JoAnn's to pick up some thread. She picked out 4 random spools for me to use on my bags. Then she picked out fabric to make scarves for her doggy and a doggy friend. The fabric matched the thread without trying. Soon I will be teaching her to make doggy scarves. And in the process teaching her to sew! I taught her to crotchet so this would be the next progression one would think!! Knitting is also on the horizon.
Then to we went to Bob Evans for dinner and shopping at Walmart. Three women can certainly fill a cart with the most unusual things. A blender to make drinks, sand paper, ether net cord, veggies, and yogurt. And lots of laughter and stares from our fellow shoppers. Oh well!!
I have three more strips to make on my hand piecing project. I am almost done with the hand piecing. I will post pictures soon. It is at work right now.
In stitches,
Judy
I am making good progress on my hand piecing project. I need to assemble 4 more strips and then join them together and add that to the 17 row piece that is on my desk at work. Yeah!! I have started a new quilt that I am aiming to have finished for the Brown Bag Challenge. I need to be at the sewing machine today after work. I need to finish assembling the top and get it pin basted so I can start quilting it tomorrow evening. It is only 65 x 78. I really like this pattern and I am thinking about making it bigger for my bed and using my 30's prints. Just a thought.
On the work front, I have been reinstated with my seniority and my old shift. My benefits kick in on Friday and I will be able to sign up for FMLA for my Lupus. I just need to get the paperwork to my doctor. Soon I will start stockpiling PTO hours! I am hoping for a long weekend in NYC with my kids and their puppy, Frankie!!
In stitches,
Judy
If it is Friday, it must be craft night. Jennifer and Nicole are coming tonight and we are going to get to crafting. Nicole is crocheting like a mad woman getting ready for a craft show, Jennifer is either going to bring her Grandmother's Flower Garden or the quilt that needs binding. I have orders for bags that I need to get started on. Tonight we will be some busy ladies!
More overtime tomorrow but only 4 hours!! In at 6:30 and out by 10:30 and back home to the sewing machine. Bags, bags, bags!!
I have been doing a little bit of work with beads and putting together a few bracelets. The computer and phones can be slow at times. I do have 16 rows together on my hand piecing. It is bright and cheery. I have to construct about 7 more rows and then all the rows will be ready to join to the big piece. I am going to machine it so I will be able to use it once the summer concert season starts!! It is so exciting to finish something using just my stash!!
In stitches,
Judy
This is what I found in my flower bed this afternoon when I got home from work. It had a been a gray, dreary day and this is what was hiding in amidst the weeds and the dead stuff that I had not gotten out of the flower bed at the end of last season.
I have started out better this week. I have been sewing a little bit every day. On Sunday I hand stitched the binding on my current UFO project. Last night I worked on the hand piecing project. And I made a bag for a gal at work who has a birthday today!! She would have gotten a bag anyway but it will make it special for her birthday. I am going in to work a little bit early to decorate her desk for her birthday. I all the decorations in a bag at Walmart for $4. What a deal!! She was so surprised and touched that we all remembered her birthday and that we decorated her desk and got her a cake!!
In stitches,
Judy
It is amazing what you can accomplish when you put your mind to it!! I am going to go and visit my friend, Roberta, today and I decided yesterday after work that I needed to quilt this quilt top for her. I had promised it to her eons ago and it is my UFO challenge for this month. And it is done except for tacking down the binding and I will do that today while we are visiting. She will be so surprised to see that it is finished. I know I am.
It is finished and hanging until the wind got it on her deck. It was a wonderful visit. We talk on the phone all the time but this was our first face to face visit in over a year and she lives about a two hour drive from me. It was nice outside and we were able to walk around the property. Not any pictures except this one. Too busy talking and catching up!!
In stitches,
Judy
It is only Wednesday and boy what a week. No sewing done this weekend, but I was able to complete all my continuing education stuff for my Pharm Tech certification. I will now be certified for another two years. Yeah!! Monday was my first day at work after be reinstating. All my seniority, my shift, and pay has been restored to what it was before I left in December. Yeah, again!! Had more training on Monday and then the overtime during the week has been lifted. We will still have overtime on Saturday. It has been nice to leave work at 4:30 and it is still light out. Of course, most nights I am too tired to do anything but I need to get my body adjusted to getting up at 5AM.
Jennifer and Nicole are coming back on Friday night for our craft night. Nicole is making some incredible crocheted projects and she is getting ready for a craft show and her fingers are flying. Jennifer is still working on her Grandmother's Flower Garden and I am making bags!! We are busy lot. It will be so much fun to see both of them. It was a long hard winter for all of us.
I have named the quilt I am hand piecing at work. "My system is still clocking". A good name, I think. I have focused on making strips this week and so far have finished 5 strips. I am using lots of bright colored rectangles and this is helping as we do not seem to have much brightness outside right now. Spring is coming this weekend I am sure of it. I am just looking for a little bit of sunshine!!
In stitches,
Judy
Challenges for March are not going well. I have figured out that I cannot do the brown monochromatic challenge at Patchwork Times!!
I do not own brown fabric. I have tan, beige, off white and unbleached but no brown. And I had a idea percolating in my brain for this brown challenge. And my sister, Karen, would have liked it as it was going to be another art quilt with embellishments and beads. I am not going to buy brown fabric in order to do this challenge. Oh well.
I finished a "Lily" bag for the trainer at work. She is leaving to go back to St. Louis on Friday. She likes purple. Each of my bags have names. The biggest is Lily after my niece,
the middle one is the Bailey bag after a gal work's daughter,
and the smallest is a Maddie bag after my sister's grand baby.
I also finished cutting the remaining 39 rectangles for my hand piecing project that I am working on at work while my system is clocking. I also cut out more 3.5" squares for the quilt. I am not sure if I have enough squares but I can always cut more.
I am doing a Leaders and Enders project using the techniques I learned here. I found a stack of 3" squares in my stash and I have cut a bunch of 2.5" white squares to match up with the squares from my stash. I will put them together in a checkerboard pattern. Strictly scrappy and all from my stash. Shopping from my stash in my mantra in 2011!!
This is quilt I did many years ago. It is completely by hand because my sewing machine was getting a much needed tune up at the time and I could not stop quilting. After I finished quilting it by hand, I gave it a bath in a tea bath. It made everything look antique even though it wasn't.
Today is my early day at work and I got an exemption from overtime today as I have a meeting to attend tonight.
In stitches,
Judy
Sunday was my birthday and I got to spend it with my family. We went to my sister's concert and then dinner at my house. It was wonderful! I got to speak to my kids on the phone and see pictures of my new grand puppy, Frankie. Yesterday, at work I got flowers from a friend at work! The flowers seem so much like spring and they brighten up our dreary work space.
I cut fabric last night. I am hand piecing a quilt at work and need 93 more rectangles. I cut and marked rectangles last night but I do not think I have enough yet. I am making it a truly scrap quilt with all the rectangles different. I am using my stash. Tonight I will start on more bags. The count down is on as to when they will start sending workers home to work and I want the gals to have bags to take their "stuff" home in. A good stash busting project if I have ever heard of one.
In stitches,
Judy
Nothing on my design wall today. I have been making bags but for right now they are done. I have been working on my hand piecing project but that is on my desk at work and not on my design wall. I have pulled out several pieces of fabric to make some maternity tops for my sister. {hi Patty} but I won't be starting them this week. Check out Patchwork Times and see all the pretty things
We have been notified at work that our mandatory overtime has to be done at the end of our shifts and starting today I will not be leaving the office until 7PM. That will seriously cut down on my sewing time. And of course, there is still mandatory Saturdays to contend with. It is going to be yet another long week.
In stitches,
Judy
I finished all the bags for the party yesterday, but I forgot to take pictures of them. I guess I will just have to make more!! It is a good stash busting project so I am planning on doing a lot of them. I still do not have one for myself. Every time I get one done that I like I give it to someone. Someone at work asked me yesterday, "Just how much fabric do you have?". That is a state secret and I will never tell.
Today is family day. I am cooking the stuff that my mom brought over yesterday. We have a concert in at the Finkleman Auditorium at Miami University in Middletown, Ohio. My sister {hi Becky} plays with the Southwestern Ohio Symphonic Band. After the concert will all be here for dinner. And we will view pictures of my new grand dog on line. Hi Frankie!!
In stitches,
Judy
I sew much better in the morning. And this morning I was able to finish 4 of the 6 bags for tomorrow and the receiving blanket for the doll baby. I will finish the other two bags tonight before I go to bed. The bags go pretty fast.
Have a good day today, the weekend is creeping up on us!!
In stitches,
Judy
Challenges are really challenging for me. I am still working 6 days a week and an average of a little more than 8 hours a day. Of course, Saturday is considered my short day. Time with the sewing machine is not happening!! My hand piecing at work is coming along just fine but that is the only sewing progress I am making.
This is UFO #1 from Patchwork Times, I am thinking that I can finish this one. So far I have not finished any of these UFO challenges. But this one I am going quilt on my machine and it should be a piece of cake and none of this yardage has been counted.
Brown is color of the monochromatic challenge from Patchwork Times. Not my favorite to work with and I am not sure that there is much brown in my stash. At least it does not have to be a big project.
My final challenge for March is the Rainbow Scrap Challenge and the color is green. I am still making bags and I am sure that I can whip out a green bag or two.
So it seems that March might be a better month for challenges. Only time will tell!!
I am hand piecing a quilt at work. It is white and bright prints. It all from my stash!! It will be 70x81. An odd size but it will make a cool picnic/summer concert quilt. And it will summer concert season soon enough. I have 7 rows out of 27 rows sewn together and it looks awesome. I would show you a picture of it but it out in the car ready to go to work with me again today.
Tonight is finish the first four bags out of the 6 that I want done for Saturday. I need to get to JoAnn Fabrics for a piece of flannel to make a receiving blanket for the baby doll that is part of the birthday present for Maddie. Her purse/bag is almost done and it is adorable. It needs handles. I will post the pictures either tonight or tomorrow depending on time.
In stitches,
Judy
Here are some of the things I saw on my hike on Sunday.
Water.
Moss
Squirrel in Hawaiian clothing
Mom and Becky at the Glendale sign
Interesting tree bark
Spring flowers
A small chair
An interesting roof design or quilt design!!!
In stitches,
Judy
