Doing some hand work again

I think I'm ready to start on these hand projects again. 

I really like getting all comfy cozy in the corner of my couch with a couple of the dogs and watching TV while I do some hand work. My husband sits near me and we discuss what's happening on the show - or sometimes I just enjoy watching him snooze. (And I admit - many times it me that does the snoozing!)

I need to move this tall lamp back to it's original spot and buy some table lamps.  Mine have slowly broken over the years and I'm down to just this one lamp that I move around the living room as needed.  Since moving my sewing room out to the garage, I'm not quite sure where this bunnies have hopped off to - I'll need to find her and make her some bunny brothers and sisters.  Wish me good luck with my search. 

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Happy St. Paddy's Day

Friday Night Sew-in - March 18th

Oh Goodie!  It's that time again!

The good thing about Friday Night Sew-in is it gets me in gear.  Once that sewing machine starts humming and darling little sewn pieces emerge I become like the Energizer Bunny and get so much done!  Hopefully this Friday it will be a UFO.  Or maybe one of the items that I list month after month.  Or I do have a couple new projects I would like to start - cause that what we all need;  another new project! 

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March Goals - I'm so ready to do these!

Hey, now that it's half way through the month I think it's time to post some March goals.

Okay so first up is:

One of the following:  Scarlett's dress or that bag holder.  Can you tell I have no interest in really completing either one of these tasks.  Since they have been on the list since Sept? I figure I'll try to get only one finished.

Rosanna's Birthday present - which I have not bought the fabric for. She's been wanting pillowcases for years now.  I've been a rotten mom, depriving her of some homemade pillowcases!  Since her birthday is coming up this would be a good thing to get her.

Then I have what's in my black little bag.  I take this to work with me everyday, hoping I'll work on what's inside.

And inside I have the making for Pat Sloan's Mystery quilt.  Here's the fabrics for the March's project the boat.  So making the boat is on my list for March.

I worked on the boat last night and have the pieces cut out.  Now to get them on the background.

And next on my list is the Watercolor Star.  I've changed the border on this already. I need to piece the backing and get it quilted.

And I do have a finish for March already my sister's quilt!!  Yea!!!

Okay that's enough. It's off to work I go.

Another thing to do when not quilting.....

Good Morning all my quilty friends!

My quilty friend Sunny often posts the most beautiful pictures of her walks.   When I see them I so wish I could walk in the woods.  However, this is where I really get to walk - on a sidewalk, with grass and trees. So.... maybe not as exciting as Sunny's but not bad.

Part of the year, before the foxtails are dry, we walk near the railroad tracks - I just love it there. There's a nice dirt trail, and we see rabbits and hawks. 

I can let the dogs loose; they love running wild and free.  They sniff and leap and chase birds.

Yep, life is good when you are walking.

When I can't sew......

Poor Me!  I can't sew. Life is so strange when I can't do the things I'm accustomed to doing.  I received a cortisone shot is my hand for trigger finger, only I have trigger thumb.  That got a good laugh at work. It  was weird to wander around the house and not do things with my hands (like dishes, cooking and cleaning, but mostly sewing).

I say poor me, but not really.  I'm doing fine.  I'm typing this left handed. Which is funny because it causes me to want to transpose many of the words.  And I realize some words are great - like start - that's all typed with the left hand, as is water, and crate.  And other words are quite difficult like auditorium.  There's normally a lot of right and left hand typing in that one. I miss type that word a lot.

Another good thing to come from this is it made my daughter help me start a garden.  I made her dig the mounds for the eggplant, cantaloupe and squash. And glue the seed packets to the stakes.  We used paint sticks for the stakes.



It's good to get out and do something different together.  I know nothing about gardening so I think we will be lucky if anything grows!


Yep!  It looks like dirt!

I hope you all have an enjoyable weekend!



Birthday Girl with her Quilt

Well, the hurry up and quilt that quilt to give as a gift turned out GREAT!!!  Cindy loved it!!!

 Here's Cindy with her quilt.  She's on the left, and that's me on the right.  We look like we might be sisters don't you think?  Can you tell I just didn't want to get my picture taken?  I really can't tell, I think I faked it pretty good.  I just felt embarrassed that giving her a quilt was a big deal.   I really wanted to give her something special for her 50th and I'm so please that she liked it.

Here's another snap of her with the whole thing. She really liked her name quilted on there (see post below) and the two different color threads on the binding (also in post below) 

I'm linking this up to Quiltstory.  It's a cool site that I just found. 

My Finish!!

I was going to post yesterday that after 4 broken needles and 100 broken threads later I was finished quilting my sister's birthday gift, but I fell asleep!! 

Tuesday I stayed home from my Sewful Sister's meeting got the backing sewn, the quilt pinned and the fountain quilting done.  Wednesday night I did all the free motion quilting. (That part is always fun - except for the needles and thread breaking. Finally got the problem fixed on the last triangle.)

I also quilted her name "Cindy" in green.

And then....instead of going to bed, I stayed up a bit longer and made up the binding.  I love doing the binding so easy and relaxing.  I had a big surprise.  I bought this as a kit and I thought the binding was pink.  I found out it is purple.  On dear - the border and the binding matched. (It was late, so I decide to worry about that later.)

In order to get this quilt finished in time I decided to sew the binding onto the back and then flip it to the front and use a decorative stitch.  Yea Mama!! This turned out so nice. I used light green on top and gold on the bottom and that gave my binding some excitement!  I was happy in the end not to have the pink - as the purple made me be more creative, giving the quilt more pizazz and the purple makes the backing fabric pop. 

All I need to do now is wrap it up! I'm also so happy to have this UFO done for the March UFO Challenge and Kelly's Charming Girls Club March Goals.

 

New UFO for March

This is the quilt I'm going to be working on for Judy's UFO Challenge.  (Of course this will be part of the Charming Girls March goals - I'll post those later.  I have to think about them first!)

This quilt was a challenge for me - a fun challenge getting those border corners just perfect. 

Also the blocks were a bit of a challenge to keep my wits about me to make sure I cut the green strip one way and the purple the other. The fabrics are from Maywood Studios.   I just love them and hope to buy more of her fabrics again.

So the real challenge is:  can I quit this before my sister's birthday this weekend?  And bind it too?  I hope so!!!