back to my beloved sewing machine!

 

Life has been utterly crazy for months now and has kept me totally sidetracked!  I haven’t been able to get anywhere near my sewing room for some time.  It’s a good thing to have lots to do but I missed my sewing room so much! 

But this week, I finally found my way back to the sewing machine. 

and Oh! it felt so good!!

It all started with making Halloween costumes for my grandkids. I sewed an Ariel costume, from The Little Mermaid; and Dorothy, Scarecrow and Lion costumes from Wizard of Oz.  It’s fun making the little ones happy.

 

Then thanks to my newest grandson I began a new quilt. Our adorable little baby just absolutely needed a quilt from his grandparents

And poking around in my sewing room (getting reacquainted) I came upon this quilt that was started some years ago. Along with it, was some fabric pieces I picked up along the way to finish it but then never did. The spark hit me and and now its all together and it didn’t take very long. I’m thinking I might donate this one.

All this in the past week…it was great!!

I’m crossing my fingers that life calms down now for a while…till Christmas at least.  Oh my…that’s coming up fast isn’t it? 

busy… busy

Been keeping busy…I just love sights like this one …a sure sign of work getting done.

 

Turning all those tiny 1” scraps into this. 

It’s going quicker than I thought.

 

It does help to be listening to this while I work …such a good book!!

Can’t seem to put it down or the sewing  ☺

…long time, no see…

Wow, what a crazy, busy summer this has been!  I was thinking my blogging days were over.  And no time for quilting either.  With that, I lost some of my motivation on projects I was working on this year…

…even though I was loving them …go figure! 

 

So I dug through my drawers and bins looking for something to inspire me, and found these butterflies I started some time ago for Lori’s row-along.  Hmmm…I don’t think I will finish it anytime soon…

 

… but I really loved those butterflies, so I just cut up the fabrics I was saving for the other rows and turned them into butterfly pieces.   

 

And it will just be a butterfly quilt instead.  Nice and relaxing and so pretty to work on.

 

I also pulled out a box that keeps my tiniest of scraps.  They are all trimmed to just 1” wide!  Seemingly way too small to do anything with but oh, just too nice to toss!  I sorted and organized them into this divider and I was all of a sudden happily sewing away and having fun.

The colored squares finish at 1/2 inch so it will be interesting to see how big this quilt gets before I decide I’ve had enough….mini quilt?… topper?… do you think I could make it to a lap size quilt?  …bigger?

It might take the rest of my life…

It doesn’t matter…because I think I’ve got my quilting motivation back.

and I’m glad to be back to the awesome world of blogging.

Some big numbers

Whew!!  I finished all 194 of these “eye” things… at last!

Now to join them to the centers.

 

I finally got used to sewing curves but now….all those intersections…they make me nervous.  These are my first ones…thanks to my trusty seam ripper and a few tries they aren’t too bad.

Hopefully it will get better and easier and quicker by the time I sew 168 more intersections!  Yikes!

 

Then this morning I finished two more applique blocks. A lot more relaxing project.

 

This means I only have 18 left to go

…and then 41 pieced blocks.

Math is not my thing but I can count down quilt blocks.  LOL

 

A few days ago this pretty package arrived at my house and inside was…

 

Lots of fun!!

Thank you so much Nancy!  That was really sweet of you.

Nancy has a great blog called Tattered Garden Quilting.  You should go visit her.  She does beautiful applique and is very inspiring. 

I spy some fun for a little one

I had some help in my sewing room yesterday.  My sweet granddaughter loved playing with the I-Spy fabrics while I sewed.  It’s like looking through a story book…but she made up her own stories.

 

I think they’re fun to look at too!

 

…and this morning I finished putting them all together. It was a quick project, which I really needed after working on two pretty involved quilts for most of this year (with a long ways to go yet on both of them).

This crib sized I-Spy quilt was fun and easy.  I used this ingenious idea over here at Obsessively Stitching.  

 

 

A couple of years ago I made these two I-Spy quilts for my grandkids. 

With so many cute kiddie fabrics out there, I’m kinda sure there are more I-Spy quilts in my future.

plugging along

Slow and steady will win this race to complete a Double Wedding Ring.  My hopes are to have it together by August.  There still isn’t a lot of free time available for me right now but a minute or two here and a minute or two there and I’m making progress anyway.  Pretty sure I can reach my goal.  I need 97 “eyes”, I have 67 done and the rest at various stages of completion. 

See my cute little speaker in the background?  It’s a gift from Mr. Sunshine so I can listen to audio books while I sew. 

Right now I’m reading ‘The River of Doubt’ by Candice Millard.  It’s a true story about Theodore Roosevelt’s journey to the Amazon River. 

I read ‘Destiny of the Republic’ (Pres. James A. Garfield) earlier and enjoyed it so much that I’m trying another one of her books.  I am on chapter 7 and really liking it.

my hideaway

My life has been so hectic the past month or so, I barely have time to myself.  But today is a day off and I’m catching my breath by spending time here in my favorite space.

My sewing table is just an old, old desk that I painted, but I love it and its perfect for me.  My work table is also very old.  An old wood table that I covered in batting and fabric.  I iron there and work there and am content there.

All my supplies are near and handy, right next to my machine.  See those wood spools in jars on top of the bookcase?…love ‘em!  Mr. Sunshine and I made those shelves for our daughters when they were small.  We had it filled with books that they took to bed with them every night.  Now that bookcase is a good memory as well as great storage space.

Behind my work area is a chest of drawers where I keep my ongoing and to-do projects.  And it’s pretty full!  Always something that needs to be done.  I just need a chest of drawers full of time to go with it.

On around the room is my fabric, thread and ribbon stashes along with the cutting table and rulers.  The tall tower is my littlest scraps…too small to fold but too pretty to toss …I find myself going through those drawers a lot looking for a perfect piece  …especially for applique.

Did you notice the little boy cookie jar on top of the thread cupboard?  He keeps an eye on me while I sew…and he brightens the room with his smile.  It was my grandma’s cookie jar.  I grew up looking at it in her kitchen.  Always fascinated by it.  My grandma noticed and told me it would be mine some day… and it is.  And I’m still fascinated with it. 

The closet doors are the only space I have for a design wall.  And it works just fine.  If I need more space I use the floor in the spare bedroom next door LOL.

Above the design wall are two words….”Awesome” reminds me not to be too critical of my work.  Just enjoy it and be happy with the outcome.  Its usually not as bad as I think.  Years ago in an art class, a teacher taught me snap my fingers when I liked how something was going.  This is kind of the same thing I guess.

“Laugh” is a lifesaver for me.  Several years ago I had metastasized breast cancer and went through six months of aggressive chemo.  Very traumatic, to say the least,  but I used to look at this word on the wall and remind myself to keep a cheerful attitude…and laugh at my bald head instead of cry when I looked in the mirror.  I got through it just fine and I’m glad I kept smiling.  Now this word reminds me of that.  It gives me strength.

Today I am really appreciating my favorite space….my small hideaway from the world. 

…and because of it, tomorrow I will be ready to dive back into that busy, busy world out there.

little projects

This week I made myself a new Sunday bag.  I kind of made this up as I went along so that it would fit my tablet perfectly.  It dresses it up for Sunday best since I keep my scriptures and lesson manuals on my tablet.  Nice and handy.

And the wall quilt for my grandkid’s play area is finished and on the wall.  This corner of our house is in the basement so the light isn’t great for picture taking.  But it really is a bright and cheerful addition to the family room. 

My latest read is “Remembering Isaac” by Ben Behunin.  Mr. Sunshine and I met the author one day a few months ago and when I invited him to speak at our book club, he came!  …and everyone loved him!  He has written several books.  This one is about a young man named Jake, who is a village potter finding his place in a small Pennsylvania community with a long history of pottery.  The author is a potter too and I see him in this book.  I am almost half way through and really enjoying it!

sidetracked!

In a corner of our family room we’ve set up a play area for the grandkids.  They head right to it when they come to our house because they know they have fun there.  We try to keep it stocked with interesting things to do.

When I saw this project in Curiosities & Mischief by Nancy Halverson, I loved it! and knew it was the perfect addition to the play space decor.  My two other quilt projects were set to the side and this little one squeezed in instead.

 

This time of year its easy to be sidetracked anyway. It is finally nice outside and we’d rather be out there instead of in here.  Sunday Mr. Sunshine had a great time with the grandkids and the wheelbarrow.  Reminds me of him with our kids when they were little. 

Good times.

 

I’m almost half way into a new book, Eighty-Days by Matthew Goodman.  It’s a true story about Nellie Bly and Elizabeth Bisland, two women news writers in the late 1800’s, who raced around the world in different directions.  It is really good.  I have a hard time putting it down and take it with me everywhere I go.  Not necessarily because of the suspense of the race…but its fun to read because its a good story and well written.

But if you know who won…don’t tell me… ☺

a couple of good days

Hope everyone enjoyed their Easter as much as we did.  Ours was spent with our kids and grandkids and was such a fun day.

Then the day after, I was finally able to sit down at my sewing machine again.  It’s been a couple of weeks.  I made some progress on my grandmother’s double wedding ring.  I’m halfway done with the “eyes” now …about 40 left to go …give or take a few.

And I finished a Sprig block this evening and that makes 19.

…it was another good day.

 

 

Tonight I’ll be taking a new book to bed with me.  It’s Murphy’s Law by Rhys Bowen …about a young woman, Molly, who’s running away from a murder she committed in Ireland and heading to America where another murder mystery awaits her.  I think its early 1900’s times. 

I’ve only just skimmed through a few pages but it looks pretty good.

Sew on the go

Haven’t had much chance at my machine lately… it seems like I’ve been running around like a crazy person the past few weeks… but I can always find a minute or two to applique.  I’m really grateful for a portable project. 

I pinned my sprigs on the design wall and like what I see so far.  It gets more exciting with each one finished.  Soon I’ll start the pieced blocks to put in between the sprigs. 

This is so fun!

Hopefully next week I’ll be back to sewing on my Grandmother’s Wedding ring again.  I’ve missed it.

tiny treasures

Like kids collecting rocks (or my daughter who collected rubber bands when she was five), I have my own precious treasures.  I keep them in my sewing room and somehow they make me happy just sitting there.

They are little items that intrigue me…

Like thimbles…none of them valuable…except to me.  Especially that beautiful wooden one. My dad made it.

It’s always fun to come across a cute tape measure and, of course, I especially love the yellow ones!

Over the years I kept every wooden spool that came my way

…and clear glass buttons

…and shell buttons. 

Very pretty.

This past week I spent my days helping my parents move. They tossed out this Lazy-Susan.  I watched them do it, thinking nothing of it.  Later I walked by the box full of stuff and the “yellow” caught my eye.

Hmmm…

…so I brought it home and gave it new life in my sewing room….a perfect place for some of my treasures.

Oh, I forgot to say I also have a growing pile of little scissors

… you know, just too sweet to resist. 

 

This morning I started reading The Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers.  Five pages into it and so far so good!

I’ll be linking with Judy’s “Whatcha Reading” over here.

what do you call these anyway?

 

Still working on the double wedding ring quilt.  While I sew, I’ve been calling these “eyes.”  That was the first thing that came to mind.  I also sometimes think “almonds.”  I know others have called them “footballs” or “melons.” 

What do you call them?

So far the sewing has been all good. I’m sure that scary challenge that I’ve been expecting is going to come along eventually. But not yet.

…I’ll be sure to let everyone know when it arrives. ☺

 

I also finished four more sprig blocks.  One more and I’ll be half way through the appliqued blocks for my Stars and Sprigs quilt top.  Yes!

The weird lighting and shadows in the photo are because it’s late …  just haven’t been ready to give up my day for sleep yet.

 

My latest read is God’s Smuggler.  I thought it would be like “Angel on Her Shoulder” by Kenneth L. Wilson, about a missionary woman in Taiwan.  I read that book many years ago and loved it and still think about it from time to time.  I was so touched by that woman’s sacrifices and her determination.  This one hasn’t made an impact on me that way but I am enjoying the story.

…I’ll be linking up with Judy at Patchwork Times….right here.

And then finally… off to bed.

coloring books & the book I’m reading now

I whipped these little book bags up the other morning.  They each hold 6 crayons and a few smaller sized coloring books … perfect for a carry-along project… sort of like me and my take-along sewing bags.  So nice to have something to do at all times.  They should keep my two granddaughters occupied for a little while.  They were made with love and I hope they like them. 

 

This week I am reading “Summer of the Monkeys” by Wilson Rawls and am about half way through.  It’s a fun story.  I thought it might be like “Where the Red Fern Grows” also by Wilson Rawls.  That was a special book for sure.  But this one is its own story and is keeping me entertained.  I’m looking forward to finding out what finally happens between Jay Berry and those monkeys.

Thanks so much to Norece, a reader of my blog, for recommending it.

And now I’m going over to link up with “Whatcha Reading Tuesday.”

Have a wonderful day everyone!