Busy, but not much to show for it

The title just about sums up my life this month so far, LOL.

Bruce was involved in a minor traffic accident (no injuries) that sent our beloved Prius to the repair shop for 2-3 weeks (originally was only supposed to be a week).  So, if I want transportation when he works, I must drive him to the bus/train stop where he grabs the light rail to work.  And then pick him back up in the evening.  So, I have only been using the car once or twice a week when I have a doctor/dentist appointment or must do the grocery shopping, meaning I am at home without transportation most of the time. This is the second week of that, and the car is supposed to be another week before it’s ready. Blimey! 

So, the first week of that was fine, because it was cold and snowy and after I had cortisone shots in both knees, I didn’t want to go anywhere anyway.  But this week I’m feeling great - and I am going stir crazy.  MUST. GET. OUT. So, today I did the grocery shopping and then spent a couple hours visiting thrift stores. I also visited the liquor store because we have gotten into Cape Cods (vodka and cranberry juice). I was actually drinking them virgin - with Fresca instead of vodka - but we both decided they would be a bit better with a touch of alcohol.  :-)   And then I treated myself to some TCBY super fro-yo (frozen yogurt with probiotics).

I have been doing some stitching and am getting ready to work on another round robin block - the Victorian Women block for my friend Rengin in Turkey.  In addition, I have cut out and am in the process of piecing daughter Megan’s quilt and about half done with that. I hope to finish the top today and then baste it on Sunday.  Saturday is devoted to dyeing lace - close to 100 yards of it - for my Etsy shop.

And then I am participating in the Sugar Block Club (see link in sidebar) and have finally pieced our January block of the month.   As you can see, I am a bit rusty with my accuracy, which I proudly attribute to my 13 years of crazy quilting, where we do as we please, LOL!

The twelve blocks will eventually be made into a quilt for ME!!  (Yay!)

I am also working on a purse for myself, because my black winter purse is falling apart. This new purse, however, is BRIGHT and bears no resemblance to anything a fifty-something grandma would be expected to carry.  Amen and amen!!

Hopefully my next post will have more pictures.  :-)

Thanks for dropping by!

Paris Round Robin Block for Wilma

In the Crazy Quilting International Yahoo group, I am participating in the “I Love Paris” round robin.  Today I finished a block for my friend Wilma from The Netherlands (whom we are hoping will be joining us in September for our 6th annual retreat!).

I stitched a perfume - er, Parfum - bottle, and embellished some lace that a prior stitcher had added.

The colors on this block are brown and black, with accents of gold, mustard through light yellow and tidbits of burgundy. It is very elegant, and the prints used in the block (pieced for her several years ago by a friend) suggest a Paris Fashion theme.  Hence, I did not do a bicycle with flowers filling the basket, LOL.

 Lower in the block I ruffled some ribbon and stitched on the letters for PARIS from sew-on “typewriter keys”. I think the colors are perfect, and they blend well with the Roaring Twenties theme in the fabrics.  I also added the lace fleur de lis and did the seam stitching of the burgundy chain with gold flowers.
 

This is Wilma’s block to date, and it will be mailed on to the next stitcher tomorrow. Dear Wilma, I hope you are liking it as much as I am!

Hugs,

Starts and Finishes

Happy New Year everyone!  I have really enjoyed looking at blogs over the last few days where people have recapped what they have accomplished in 2012 and included collaged pictures.  *Sigh*.  One of these days, I will learn to make a collage!!  I even have a site bookmarked, but have I read or practiced it?  Noooooo.  So you lucked out!  ;-)

I realized I had not ever posted my September Crazy Quilt Journal Project block when I went to photograph my October block.  So, since I only have a few days to get this done (I think), I have spent a quiet New Year’s Day stitching.  In the afternoon, anyway. I took down all the decorations and the tree in the morning, then dusted (etc) and put all the regular stuff back in place. I even took the boxed tree down to the basement, but Bruce can do the rest!!

Without further ado, here are my (meh…) blocks for September and October.

September

October

I am really not very happy with them, but oh well. But I do LOVE the dyed crocheted doily that Lorraine sent to me!  She has a fantastic Etsy shop called LES Designs.  I’ve been using a lot of her wonderful dyed threads,  and they are lovely to work with.  Her colors are divine!   Unfortunately, my work does not show them off to their best advantage; but go check out her blog and you will see drool-worthy stitching!

So, this is how the entire project looks to date.

I am watching my DGD London tomorrow, so my stitching time will probably have to wait until Thursday.  I thought things would slow down after Christmas, but my To Do list is still a mile long.  What I need to do is stop adding things to the queue. But I can’t help myself!

Oh, and I am not setting goals this year, either.  And I haven’t thought of a word for the year (last year’s was ENJOY), but I am leaning toward HEALTHY.  I have to lose weight, get my carpal tunnel problems fixed and find out why I am so stiff all the time.  So, I am my own biggest project this year, hehehe.

Hope you are off to a good start in 2013!

Hugs,

Christmas 2012

We had a wonderful Christmas this year.  And I hope you did, too!  Did you get to see family?     Did you have snow (if climate-appropriate)?

On Christmas Eve day, about noon, it began snowing here.  The roads weren’t bad, however, so as the family joined us during the day and evening, the driving conditions were not hazardous.

Bruce’s daughter Stacy and her family visited in the afternoon.

Stacy and hubby Mike

Grammy (me) and Hunter

Grandpa reads to Remi

Hunter likes to play Grandpa’s Workshop on my iPad

Remi likes to “read” too

Hunter the Red-Nosed Cute Boy (isn’t that vest darling?)

Then in the evening of 24 December, my three kids and their families joined us for dinner and presents.

London pets Boomer while cousin Easton and Grandpa look on

Kim, Lauren (DGD) and son Ryan

Kim, Lauren, Ryan, Easton and Ron (daughter Meg’s husband)

I didn’t get many pictures, because we were too busy having fun. But one of the highlights of the evening was when I realized what London’s mom had done to London’s hair.  About six weeks ago, London “cut” her own bangs. We all have horror stories of that, right?  Anyway, Heather (L’s mom who does not live with Shane and London) decided to (1) trim London’s bangs at an angle (like this: /) and (2) chop off some of the sides, effectively giving her a mullet.   U.G.L.Y.

So, I grabbed a brush and scissors and when no one was looking, brushed London’s hair and chopped off about 4-5 inches off the back, even-ing it out in back to a cute, curly bob. Everyone was astonished that I would have the nerve, then they laughed and applauded. Shane was grateful, especially that I had done it without consulting him (plausible deniability) so Heather couldn’t get mad at him.  My daughter Megan put it on her Facebook, saying it will go down in family lore.   :-)   Now, London looks pretty again, and she knows it!

Christmas Day dawned bright and clear; a perfect picture day.

We had already seen and exchanged gifts with all the local family (who were now off to other parents and in-laws), so Bruce and I had the day to ourselves.  Bruce’s Christmas present was a new laptop computer with touch screen that he’d ordered and received a couple weeks ago.

So, it was my present from Bruce that was the highlight of the day:

Here’s a better shot of the Certificate of Compliance so you can read it.  He has quite a sense of humor, that boy!

So, as you can see, Bruce did certainly meet his compliance requirements. The chips were eaten on Christmas Eve, the Bud Lite (aka SWILL) is still sitting in the ‘fridge because we don’t drink Bud.

And the $100 gift certificate, you ask?  I used it for the down payment of this:

The Sewing Machine of my dreams

I have been coveting a Bernina 550QE for months.  They are simply the best (and among the most expensive) sewing machines made.  Solidly engineered in Switzerland and will last me for the rest of my life (and then can be passed down).  I have had mediocre-to-bad sewing machine karma all my married life (when I lived at home, we had my grandma`s Necchi that she used as a dressmaker in NYC).  My last (bad) purchase was a Brother that I bought on Amazon.  It has been in for repair twice, but seems to be doing OK these last couple months as I have whizzed through quilts, pillowcases, Christmas stockings, etc.




Anyway, my Bernina is on layaway, and will not actually be paid for until after DS Ryan and Kim (see pix above) get married in June. We are joining them and the family on a cruise to the Bahamas, and then several days in Florida, where they will get married on the beach. Then we will all visit Disney World, etc.  Bruce and I are also visiting our friends Carol and Woody while there.  So, there are other priorities to pay for first.

And speaking of paying for things, hehe, I am having a year-end clearance sale in my Etsy shop (link on sidebar).  Everything is 20% off, even the clearance items.  Just type in the code GOODBYE2012 at checkout, and you will receive your 20% off. (and if you mess it up, I will do the refund manually).   This offer is good through 31 December 2012.  I hope you will stop by and take advantage of this great deal!


Wishing you and your family a bright and beautiful New Year 2013, and safe travels over the Holidays.

 

Merry Christmas

Wishing you all a warm and wonderful Christmas with your loved ones!  May the Holidays bring you joy, happiness and good memories.

And my deepest sympathies to the adults and little angels who lost their lives at the recent Newtown, CT tragedy.

Enjoy these vintage children images.  Peace on Earth and Goodwill to All!

 

Hugs,

Stitchy Quilty Goodness

The pressure is off; everything is done.  All the gifts that I set out to make this year are done.  They are not all photographed to blog about yet, and they certainly aren’t wrapped. But I am done with the five Christmas quilts, five purses, and four zip pouches.   Whew!

Here is the final Christmas gift quilt. This is for Lauren, aged 8. She wanted red and yellow.  The pattern is, again, the disappearing 9-patch, this time set 4x5.  It was totally randomly pieced, which I should have paid more attention to because there is a greater concentration of reds in the top middle area. Oh well.

Yes, the back is Minkee.  Red Minkee.  I quilted it with gridded lines, nothing fancy.

I finished this about a week ago and took a few days off from quilting.  This week, I began cutting out the next quilt, which will be for my daughter Megan. The fabric is mostly from Indie by Pat Bravo (I love, love, love that line!)  I’ll be making it in Jeni Baker’s Side Braid Pattern, the mini braid version.

But my sewing machine has not been idle!  When I was at Sewing Summit (a sewing conference) here in Salt Lake in October, I took a class on these sweet snap purses. The gray one with orange flowers is the one I did in class. The other four I made this week for a couple friends, my daughter and my daughter-in-law-to-be for Christmas.

My daughter will have her choice of this one or the gray one. I will get the other. But this is my fave!

One friend is very musical, so this was the perfect lining fabric!

The interior lining.

So, now I can start the fun, no pressure sewing. Pillowcases.  They will be stocking stuffers here and there if and when I get them done.  Or maybe I will use the pillowcases as wrapping for the quilts and purses (and kill two birds with one stone!  I hate wrapping presents!)

My Kahlua this year turned out awesome and all my kids (they’re all adults) have gotten theirs already. And we took some to Bruce’s office party, too. There is some left for a neighbor and one little bit left for me.  Luckily, I have all the ingredients to make another batch before New Year’s, LOL.

Last year, I shared a lot of vintage Christmas images.  I have hundreds, if not thousands. Would you like more?  Also, for those who are newer to my blog, you might want to check out the Father Christmas Fashion Show from last year, here.

Hugs,