So Busy. So Tired. Still Moving

 OMGoodness! I am a rotten blogger. I have nothing to show for sewing. I have done ZERO sewing. About the ONLY crafting I am doing right now is some crochet. Mainly because it's portable. Our house has been up for sale. We have slowly been moving ourselves & it's a slow go. The last showing we had on our house was 02/21. Well they want it. So we are in the process of selling it. You know...all the comings & goings that go along with it. Home Inspection, appraisal, radon test. Termite inspection. HVAC cleaning, servicing...Electrician inspection. You name it, we have done it. Now we just wait for the closing date. Scheduled for 03/31. Cross your fingers, please say prayers. As of this post? Our house is nearly EMPTY. The only furniture in it are 2 recliners in the basement, the TV in the basement. The kitchen table, all the dishes & food etc....Master bedroom: bed only, night stands & lamps. We packed up all but 1 weeks worth of clothing. Master bathroom. Washer & Dryer. Lawn mower & the smoke house & the quail. That's it. Everything else is GONE. No sewing machines, no fabric...I'm going into withdrawals. The whole house echoes. Looks like a dance hall in our living room! It was never even that empty when we moved in.  It's going to be a LONG 2 weeks ya'll. 

TTYL

M  

1st Post of 2021 !

 WOW !! Time flies so fast it's crazy!

I have absolutely zero to show anyone, including myself, of what I have been sewing. There has been NO sewing.  We are one week away from putting our house up for sale. In anticipation of that, I moved my sewing room into a smaller upstairs bedroom & turned the bigger downstairs (main floor) room back into a bedroom. 

We are about 3 weeks past the date I WANTED to be ready to put the house up for sale. But you know? Stuff happens. We have a lot of stuff. Downsizing is rough. Necessary, but rough. Our current house is 3100 square feet. The new house is 1578 square feet. Literally 50%. It's inundating to say the least. Why are we doing it? Many reasons. None of which I'll discuss on a public forum. Not yet anyway. 

Pictures are of the new house & 11 acres. House sits a 1/4 mile off the road, 9 acres cleared, 2 acres wooded. There are 2 metal buildings. One is 30x40 & the other is 30x30. These are fairly new. the 30x30 was originally going to be a mother-in-law suite. It is plumbed for water, but there is no water or power run to it. Yet. The larger of the 2 buildings has power but only on one short wall. We have a lot of work to do. Which is good. Prince Charming has run out of projects at home, something new is exciting.

TTYL

M

Checking In

 Goodness! I suck at keeping this blog up. 

I HAVE BEEN BUSY. This year has been challenging & at work we have had several people out & I am covering their shifts & doing a little bouncing around from site to site. Add to that???? We are moving. Eventually. Sooner than later. We bought a farm. It's not a farm YET, but it's almost 11 acres. Our next door neighbors are Amish. Lot's of Amish in that area. Not Mennonites. Amish. Horse drawn carriages & all. We closed on the farm this week. We won't put the house up until after January 1st. The new house is half the size of what we are living in. Downsizing is a good thing. Right? Purely rhetorical there...New place has no stairs either. The housing market is super hot right now, pandemic & all I don't see how that is possible, but Metro Davidson County has raised the property taxes 34% & there are many many people leaving Nashville. We live west of Nashville. Where we live can't BUILD the houses fast enough for the influx of residents either moving OUT of Nashville or INTO Tennessee. So? I hope we see the advantages of that. There are some hard decisions to be made in our near future, and I'll post those when I know that they have been finalized. Maybe it won't take me SIX MONTHS again to update my blog. Goodness, I hope not.  

Peace Ya'll.

Sam

Another Month Bites The Dust

And Another One's Gone
Another One's Gone
Another Month Bites the Dust!


Come on y'all....sing with me & Freddy!


Anyway - I couldn't let the month go by without a post. I made this baby quilt a little more than a month ago. Got it quilted, got it bound, & shipped it off to it's intended.


They are quite happy with it! I am pleased as well.


Talk To All Ya'll Later!
M

Leaves

I finished these blocks well over 2 years ago. Started them 2 years before that. Finally got them all sewn together & then quilted.


It is for my husband.


I did not use a pattern. I had a cardboard LEAF & STEM that I used to trace for the applique. The rest of it, I just winged it.

Baby Quilt #2

This was really quick. 36x43

Sped up by the fact that it was already cut out & stuffed into a bag. The only thing that was time consuming were the prairie points. Took as long to fold, press & place those little suckers as it did the whole remainder of the quilt. It only took me about 5 hours to do. It's super cute & I have some pink flannel with little tone-on-tone pink hearts on it that I am going to use for the backing. Then I'll bind it in a pink 30's print. It is intended for the baby of a young man that my girls went to college with. He'll be so excited!


TTYL
M

Two Months????

In another week it will be TWO MONTHS since I have posted anything??? Darn, I am a terrible blogger.






In my defense - I have been working. I work at a landfill & during this Covid-19 lockdown, stay-at-home, social-distancing escapade??? Where I work has not slowed down one little bit. None. 50 trucks an hour. I (don't normally) have been working the window because we have people out that need elective, non-life-threatening, surgery & can not come back to work until they have it. None of that is going on in middle Tennessee right now.. There was a tornado come through Nashville the week before the pandemic rules were put into place - so it's been non-stop.






Have I been sewing? Very little. I made a baby quilt. That is about it. One of the guys that I work with, his wife is pregnant. I made the quilt & the girls in the office are going to split the cost with me. I may seem insensitive to some, but she is only 2 months pregnant, high risk & I don't even really KNOW him "that well", I'm going to wait until there is only like 2 weeks left before the baby is here. There are so many unknowns....He might not be still working here, or anything else may happen. Who knows. I just don't want to take anyone's money & then have to give it back. Know what I mean? ( I flippantly asked him how he was contemplating having an infant & juggling a rotating career??? He wasn't amused. Nobody askes MEN those questions!) I do have another baby quilt that I will be making. This one I'll ENJOY making. It's for a young man & his wife. The young man, my girls were very good friends with while they were attending college in Birmingham (AL). While I don't know his wife, it will be a pleasure to sew something for them and their new baby Sylvia.






I have sewn a few face masks. Not many - as I totally resent being bullied into making them. Just because I SEW does not mean I "should do the right thing & sew as many as I can". Really? Trust me, I have heard it all. So I have refused to be guilted into making them. I wear mine if I have to get out in public, but other than work, there hasn't been much PUBLIC.


It's just been so incredibly busy, I have ZERO time for much of anything. I did start a small hand embroidery project. Just so I can have a feeling of accomplishment on SOMETHING while I am watching TV. 12 blocks. Red Work style. I think the pattern is called "Words To Live By" - or something close to that. I am doing the embroidery in black. Funny, kitchy little birds in each block.  I am starting block #3 of 12. I printed the pattern & turned it over on it's face. When I finish one block, I tear off the last page of the pattern & trace it. It's a surprise to see what comes next. LOL. I have completed LAUGHTER and PATIENCE. I just started COURAGE. I am using one of those Frixion pens. The ink disappears with a hot iron. Too bad I didn't invent those little jobbies. They are fantastic. Love 'em!







I have purchased a few patterns off of Etsy. From The Red Boot Barn Co. They are super cute! I can't wait to do some of them. The designer is not American. She is currently running a few sew-along with "paper dolls". They are really cute! I may never make them. But I'll have it if I do. Here is the link : https://theredbootquiltcompany.com/blog/


In February I took a quilt to be quilted. Just up the road from where I work. It was my Leaves Quilt. My husband claimed it before I finished it & I had it custom quilted. It is stunning. Well worth every penny. As soon as I get the binding on it, I'll take some pictures. The backing is wide width flannel. I didn't buy enough fabric to bind it & need to wait until I can get to Hobby Lobby to buy more. They only just reopened in my county (pandemic remember???) and I have not had any time to go. So it waits. So funny to have taken it directly to her, but with the social distancing requirements, it was mailed back! LOL.

Simple Quilt

This is what I sew, when I need to sew for therapy. Meaning, I don't want to do anything complicated - I just want to sew. It's hard to mess this up. (But I have in the past!) This is the 3rd time I have used this specific print for one of these chain quilts. I think the fabric is sorta ugly. However - since I make THIS type of quilt to give away, it doesn't matter what I think! When there are multiple quilts...this brown print gets snatched up 1st. Go figure...


Quilt top measures 60"x86" (un-quilted)

In this 2nd picture, I have the "flange" binding all ready to go. Doing the flange binding is sort of fiddly - I like the results on a finished quilt. No hand quilting. Not sure when I will get this quilted so I stuck the binding in the READY jar!

Here is a close up of the fabric.

I have 3 more of this simple quilts cut out. All strips just waiting to be sewn up. I like to have 1 or 2 finished & hanging in the closet. There is ALWAYS someone that needs a quilt.

TTYL

M



Leaves

I finished these blocks a LONG time ago. Maybe finished them 2 years ago? I don't know. I put them into rows & sewed the rows together some time after Christmas. Just it just sat. I agonized over the borders. Finally picked something out of my stash. Last night I spread it out to get an idea how wide I wanted the borders to be. Decided I was going to do a 1" border in brown, then a 1" inner border in a cream shirting print & then 6" b outer border. But....As I laid it out? I realized just how BIG this quilt was! No borders needed. So much for not being a hurry. Or is that the other way around???? Who knows. the pattern was in an old McCall's Quilting magazine & I think I actually used a free template for the matching pillowcase! My template for every single one of these blocks was a cardboard cut out for the leaf & stem! They got pretty ragged by the time I finished 72 of them.. :)




Prince Charming has asked to have this quilt for himself. He's never done that. Ever. I have MADE quilts FOR him, but he's never specifically ASKED or claimed one I was just finishing. So? It's for him then! It will backed in a cream flannel & I just (Today February 19th, 2020) dropped it off at the long arm quilter's for quilting. I'm having it done custom. she always does a FANTASTIC job too. All my hand applique time was worth it.


I have 25 more paper pieced blocks to complete (& 10 side setting triangle blocks) to complete for my Raven's Wing Quilt. I INTEND to have it done to take when the Leaf Quilt is done. So? Give or take 6-8 weeks. Should be enough time! I hate deadlines, so I better not get too cocky.


Attaching a screen shot of the leaf quilt. Shown on a queen sized bed. The corner stones are a plain brown & the sashing strips are a nice dark green print. All the leaves have different backgrounds. I think I only did 3 of each color leaf. No 2 leaves, the same color, have the same back ground. I tried really hard to make it scrappy looking - I cut up a LOT of fat quarters!!


M

Clothesline Basket

This is a small clothesline basket that I made this week. Just piddling around. Super easy. Cotton wrapped clothesline & a wide zig-zag stitch on my sewing machine. I used a dark green embroidery thread in the bobbin & regular thread in the top. The top thread is on the inside. I didn't see any reason to use colored thread on top & bottom.

It came out cute. I'm using it for my keys. Seems I have misplaced them a few times in the last 3 weeks. Maybe sticking them here will stop me doing that! We shall see.

I have made several of these baskets. This is my 1st time putting handles on one. All the others are just straight up. Prince Charming uses one for his stuff (keys, wallet, knife, etc...) down in the basement. I have another one in the bedroom for catching "stuff"...Made one for a friend of mine, she uses hers for hand towels & soap in her bathroom.

Super handy. Super easy.

TTYL, M

Just An Update

There has been very little sewing going on in my life right now. Mostly because I think I would mess everything & anything up because my mind isn't focusing real swell. Even at work, I am finding my mistakes & have to take extra steps to be sure I don't repeat them.


In October my oldest brother, JR, was diagnosed with lung cancer. He has been a life long smoker & wouldn't talk to me about it. Maybe if I had been there in person, he may have. I won't ever know. JR went to the emergency room because he thought he was having a heart attack. He ended up seeing an oncologist. After having biopsies on his lungs, the oncologist determined that his lung cancer was too far gone for any treatment. He was sent home with hospice. JR died on Sunday December 8th. His services were held on Saturday December 21st.


On Saturday December 7th, my brother Johnathon called me & told me that my youngest brother Michael was in the hospital on life support after having a brain tumor removed. Nobody knew Michael was in the hospital. He kept it a secret from everyone so that we could focus on JR. Michael's doctors told Johnathon that Michael also had tumors in his lungs that they were going to address after his brain surgery. Michael was removed from life support on the very same day that the whole family found out he was there. Michael died on Saturday December 7th. His services were held on Sunday December 22nd.


I wasn't there to say goodbye to either of my brothers. Not while they were alive. I don't even know how to put into words how I feel. Christmas. I'm just not feeling it. I can put on a brave face & pretend - that's probably as good as it's going to get. Losing 2 brothers at once  in unrelated deaths is really hard. Just hard.

Some Crafting Going On

Last weekend my daughter, Ryan, was visiting. My son-in-law (Chris) & husband are working on a (HUGE) desk for Chris' office. While they were busy sanding - Ryan & I worked on various projects. T-shirts for her & my grandson. After we got done with those I started on some ornaments. I painted the insides. They took forever to dry. Then I put some vinyl on them. I need to find some really cute co-ordinating ribbons for them. I have several more I have painted & some have glitter inside.

Did you know???? that when vinyl WILL NOT stick to anything, it will stick to itself? Better than anything, it sticks to itself. I know this.

 

Talk at y'all later!

M

Lets See...What HAVE I been Up to????

I made pincushions. These are filled with crushed walnuts. they were all fairly easy & both were really without a pattern. I just followed steps on blog posts.

If you need crushed walnut shells, do not buy them off Etsy. they want more money than you need to spend for one pound of crushed shells. Instead, take your happy self to a pet supply store. You can find crushed walnut shells in the bird section. I don't recall what I spent, but it was well worth it. I have a whole tub of it now. You're welcome.

On Saturday 10/19 - I put up 12 quarts of cranberries in honey to ferment. What do I do with them you might ask???? Last year, I fermented cranberries in honey as an experiment. Some blurb on a blog off Pinterest. I only did 2 quarts last year. After the cranberries have fermented in the honey, I drain the honey/syrup off the cranberries. Dehydrate the cranberries. I use the syrup in tea, oatmeal, yogurt, anything that needs some sweet added. I use the dehydrated cranberries in cookies, oatmeal, yogurt, trail mix...any umber of things! Really good for snacking. I had to be really frugal with what I made last year. I wasn't wanting to have to be frugal THIS year. That's why I did 12 quarts. After fermentation each quart will only yield 1 pint of dehydrated cranberries & 1 pint of syrup. Why 12? I wanted to do 18, but ran out of honey. I still had 4 pounds of cranberries. So I made that jam.



I made 10 (and a half) quarts of cranberry ginger jam. This was my first time making jam. I have to admit, I impressed myself! This stuff is good & even has Prince Charming's approval & he isn't much for sweets.

I finished another applique block. I think I lack 7 now. On this one I have not ironed it yet to get the black Frixion pen marks off of it yet. I love that pen! 

I was on vacation the 7th-11th this month. Rented a cabin in the Smokies. Our intent was to enjoy the turning of the leaves, but we were a little early. Spent the week with my husband's family. This is my niece. I made the T-Shirt for her. She really loves it.  Score!



I don't really feel like I have accomplished much. Life happens you know. I have not sat down & actually did any sewing sewing in over 3 weeks. My sewing room looks like the dumping ground I have been treating it as. Heavy Sigh.....Good things come to those that wait. Right? Let's hope so.

Peace Out People

M



Done!

Had to buy the Base

I could not use the doll on any spool pin on my sewing machine. So I broke down & bought a base. It works SWELL ! (If you ever watched "Lady & The Tramp" (Disney movie) You'll giggle at that "swell" !!


M

Bindings!

I spent ALL DAY Sunday sewing down the binding on the Wild & Goosey Quilt. I watched movies on Netflix. It was binding or housework. You see who won???

Next up is the binding on my Everlasting Wreath Quilt. 368 inches.

Normally I machine sew the binding to the back & flip it to the front & hand sew it down. But because I had these custom quilted, I'm doing it the opposite (normal I guess???) way. I decided to use up the left over scraps from the backings & make the bindings the same as the backing. They are both scrap quilts, so it' certainly does NOT look odd.

This little jobbie is a "Binding Baby". It works well enough. Probably better on smaller quilts that require less binding. All it has to do is keep the binding from twisting and it does that fabulously.

M

Wild And Goosey Quilt

1 year in the making

Pattern by Quiltville - Bonnie Hunter. (Layout is a Pinterest hack)

In this post, and the last, I was trying to get pictures of the quilting. I hope you can see it all.

Everlasting Wreath Quilt

6 years in the making

Laundry Basket Quilts Pattern