A couple of things...

I never think to blog about my sewing projects any more. I usually post them on Instagram, and forget that I even have a blog. But here are a couple of things I made recently...

This is a little (22" x 26") wallquilt/tablemat I made with a Sandy Gervais Giddy charm pack and the Cherry Season pattern. It was a birthday present for my dear friend, Nancy.

 

My niece has been hinting that she would like some sunsuits for her daughter (the one I made the Shy Little Kitten quilt for). I downloaded a PDF pattern and used some fabric I had in my stash, some left over from the Hungry Animal Alphabet quilts I made for the boys' first birthday and some I'm not sure where it came from. The downloaded pattern was kind of a pain to assemble, and the directions were a bit different than one would find in a purchased pattern, but I muddled through and must say it turned out very cute! It is fun having a little girl sew for again...

 

My last three weeks

I flew home to Houston on July 20.  It was good to be home, although the Houston weather remains insufferable in the summer.  I was happy to see my cats, although they have settled into a routine with Mike.  As I posted on Facebook, my husband said something I never thought I would hear:  "Where's the Furminator?"  After three months away, it took me a while to settle back into things at home.  I worked the 24th, drove up to see my mom on the 26th, went to my niece's baby shower in Flower Mound on the 28th and drove home that evening to work on the 29th.  Whew!  In the week plus that followed I managed to work three more shifts, see my internist, get my hair highlighted and cut, pick up the dry cleaning and have a mani/pedi.  I was itching to sew something, but I knew I didn't have time to do much.  I remembered that I had this Mary Engelbreit baby panel, so I cut some binding for it out of her iconic cherry fabric and machine sewed it on.  Now I have some hand stitching to do.

We flew back up to Minneapolis last Thursday and took the light rail in from the airport.  There is a stop two blocks from our loft, and it only took 20 minutes to get here...sweet! Visited the boys (and their parents) Thursday evening and Friday morning, then drove down to Milwaukee on Friday afternoon.  On Saturday we attended the wedding of the daughter of a high school friend and on Sunday we got together with my BFF Marjorie's family.  It was wonderful to see so many old  long-time friends.  We drove back up to Minneapolis on Monday and had dinner at Muffuletta with our daughter, son-in-law, son and his girlfriend (and the boys!) Yesterday morning we rented Nice Ride bikes and rode them over the Stone Arch Bridge to have breakfast at Wilde Roast.  We are really enjoying the urban setting here.  Yesterday afternoon we drove down to Rochester to attend the retirement dinner of one of Mike's former colleagues.  It was held at the Foundation House of the Mayo Clinic, the former residence of one of its founders.  It was an awesome setting, and we were so happy that the timing worked out so well and that we were able be there.  We drove back this morning, had lunch with Kate, Kyle and the boys, and then I drove Mike to the airport, and he is on his way back to Houston right now.  He will be coming back for Labor Day, so I am on my own for the next two weeks.  I plan to relax, see the boys every day, do some reading and knitting, and enjoy the cooler weather.  And oh yeah, finish sewing this binding on!

Progress

I haven't made as much progress on my projects as I had hoped.  I have been working full time for the last couple of months in preparation for the opening of our new hospital, the Texas Children's Hospital Pavilion for Women.  It opened on March 26 and is a fabulous facility!  I have one more week to work before I start my grandmother's leave of absence.  The boys are scheduled to arrive on April 25th and I will be going up to Minneapolis on the 23rd.  I have made some progress on the knitting projects, but have decided to put them on hold as I can finish them up once I get there. I have just started on the white stripe.

 

I do need to finish the quilts before I leave.  My old sewing machine is at Kate's house, but I really want to finish them here.  I have all the blocks done and quilt top #1 is finished.  I will machine quilt them myself...just stitch in the ditch.  Now to get off the computer and on the sewing machine!

And then a miracle happened...(my 200th post!)

So, this morning our DSL was still not working. I went to a meeting at work, then out to lunch with some friends from the F2O, then stopped at the AT&T store to buy a new modem, hoping that would solve the problem. I got home, hooked up the new modem, but still had the solid green power light, solid green ethernet light and flashing red DSL light configuration. Since AT&T is scheduled to come out on Friday morning, I disconnected the new modem, carefully repackaged it to take back to the AT&T store for a $54.95 refund, and reconnected the old modem. That is when the miracle occurred...solid green lights all the way across! And working internet access! Mike said that the old modem must have just needed a rest (never mind that it had been turned off since Monday afternoon) but that doesn't explain why the new one didn't work. Oh well, I am just happy to be reconnected!

But you're not here to hear about my technology trials and tribulations, you're here to see my latest quilt! I didn't post anything about it when it was a work-in-progress because it was a surprise for my sister's 50th birthday. She and her kids came down last weekend, so I was able to give it to her in person. It was made out of a layer cake of Tula Pink's Nest fabric.

For the label I scanned a picture of her and me taken in one of those four for 25¢ booths in 1961 or so.


I also had the opportunity to give my niece Emma a quick sewing lesson, and she made this cute pillowcase out of Amy Butler fabric. It was her first sewing project, but hopefully not her last. She comes from a long line of seamstresses and I hope she grows to love the craft as much as I do!

Bitten by the quilting bug

I have sewn forever. Well, at least as long I have been tall enough to run the sewing machine. My mother and grandmothers and aunt made almost all of my clothes growing up. And I made almost all of my own clothes starting in middle school (or junior high as we called it back then). In high school I made my own prom "dress." It was actually a tunic and pants, ivory shantung with sequin trim around the bottom of the tunic and pant legs. It was kind of an "in your face" thing to do, since in 1969 women were not permitted to wear pants of any sort to school. I figured they couldn't throw me out of prom, since it was a Saturday night and all. I made my first wedding dress. I made my first husband shirts and pants and even a sport coat. And when my daughter was born I started sewing for her, and continued as long as she would tolerate it. I made her a junior bridesmaid's dress for my sister's wedding out of fabric we ordered to match the bridesmaids' dresses. I made numerous Halloween costumes for her and my stepsons, including Dorothy, Peter Pan, Dracula, Jasmine, a clown and a poodle skirt, as well as the Beast and Belle for Mike and myself. Maybe someday I will scan some photos of many of the garments I have made over the years. But for some reason, I stopped sewing. Maybe it was because I didn't have the time. Maybe it was because I didn't have any one who wanted me to sew for them. Maybe it was because patterns and fabrics got more expensive and ready-made clothing got cheaper as their construction got outsourced to China. I made a few things for my niece, including a requested leopard print bathrobe, but she just turned 13 and is taller than me...no fun sewing for her any more. The last garment I made was the jacket for my mother's birthday last year.

The year Kate went off to college (2000), my nurse manager asked me if I wanted to get my MBA with her, one night a week for a year and a half. I said, "No thanks, I think I'm going to take a quilting class." And so it started. Over the last 9 years I have only made a dozen quilts or so, having dabbled in knitting, cross stitch, beading, scrapbooking, etc. as well. But recently I have really been into it. I have one quilt at the quilter, one that I am sewing the border on, and I just finished machine quilting (stitch in the ditch) this one. I bought the kit at Painted Pony and Quilts when we first moved to Houston. I have worked on it off and on for several years, and am finally almost finished. I just need to find the fabric for the binding. I'm pretty sure I know where it is. It is Mary Engelbreit fabric, and my first foray into applique and prairie points.


I fused the hearts with Wonder Under and used the blanket stitch on my machine.


The kit came with the stems and leaves already embroidered, I just had to sew on the buttons (also done on the machine).

I am pleased to be (almost) done with another work in progress. I am trying to decide what to start on next. These are the first two blocks from Cabbage Rose Quilting's new mystery block of the month.

I have fabric and patterns for several more quilts, just need to decide what to start next. I have been thinking of making another T-shirt quilt. I have numerous Mary Engelbreit T-shirts which I never wear, and a boatload of ME fabric, so I think it would be a fun project.

And on a totally unrelated subject, these are eggs from the farmers' market...aren't they pretty?

Finally...and after

So first, the sink. Much more attractive than the old one, don't you think? And with an appropriately sized faucet as well.


I wanted granite that was as close to solid black as possible. Not that you can see much of it with all the stuff I have on it. I do love my Omnigrid Fold-Away Cutting Station. I initially bought it to take with to my stitching group, but I use it all the time! I only have to take out the big cutting mat and ironing board when I am working on something big (which I actually am...more on that on Thursday).



And here is where I sit to sew. It looks out on to the screen porch. The little enamel topped table is one on my very favorite pieces. I bought it out of the basement of an estate sale in Milwaukee for $20 and repainted the wooden base in a glossy white.

So, this is totally unrelated, but I am such a sucker for cute that I have to share this with you...Kleenex in a watermelon box. Never mind that I have 12 boxes of Kleenex from Costco in my linen closet. I saw these at Target at did not even think twice. I don't even know how much they cost (although I am figuring out how to open the box from the bottom to refill it). I have always liked watermelon motifs. Back in the 80s I had lots of them in my "country" decorating style...them and geese wearing blue kerchiefs around their necks, but hey, who didn't?

Nine hole buttons

These are so doggone cute! I especially like the idea that you can sew them on using letters...another thing I could be doing if I didn't spend so much time online.

Before, not after...

I was going through my iPhoto files, uploading to Flickr and cleaning them out, when I came across these shots of my laundry/craft/sewing room. I took them last September, just before we had the new countertops put in. It was my intent to take some "after" shots and show what a difference they made. But then we had this little thing called Hurricane Ike and somehow I forgot about it. I am sharing the "before" pictures with you now, hoping that this will motivate me to clean it up enough to take those "after" shots.

We bought the house from someone who remodeled and "flipped" it. They really took a lot of (cheap) shortcuts. The backsplash on the sink is nothing more than the laminate surface run up the wall. (If you click on the photo for a close-up you will see what I mean). And about that faucet...

My workspace had the same laminate issue. At first I thought it was a bit excessive to put granite in a laundry room, but looking at new construction around here, that is what is being done, and we are trying to make improvements that will make the house more marketable when we do decide to sell it. When that happens I will be changing out my ME cherry door/drawer pulls!

Sewn blog launch party

I read about the launch of the Sewn blog on Library Gal Quilts and decided to play along. I have never participated in one of these giveaways, but thought it would be fun and a good way to liven up my blog, which I have been shamefully neglecting as of late. I will be giving away a copy of this book, which is full of cute apron patterns. To enter, just leave a comment and on June 8th I will draw a winner.

Hog heaven

My older stepson is a grad student in EE at UT-Dallas. We always see him on holidays when we go up to my mom's near Fort Worth, but he rarely comes down to visit us. We convinced him to come down with us after Christmas, and he flew back up on New Year's Day. He and Mike had some good father-son bonding which involved some yard work, several trips to Lowe's and starting a redo of our guest bath (which I have a feeling I may end up finishing). They took out an ugly old aluminum and glass shower door, which I am going to replace with a shower curtain made from some fabric I bought in Italy for just that purpose. We are also painting the room...a job I hate!

Another thing they did together was go to Fry's. They bought a wireless router and he installed it for me. This means that I can now be online in my sewing room...woohoo! This is especially nice when I am doing machine embroidery and have to sit here while the Bernina does its stuff. Does it get any bettter than that? I don't think so.

Speaking of sewing, here is picture of my mom and me on Christmas. She is wearing the jacket I made for her birthday. (And if you click on the photo for a close-up, you can see the Mary Engelbreit cross-stitch I made for my parents' 50th anniversary.)

Too busy to blog...again

Gosh, I don't even know what happened to November and here we are two weeks from Christmas. I'd like to say that I have lots in the works to give as gifts, but that's just not the case. I have a couple of small (machine) embroidery items in mind and I am holding out hope that my last quilt will come back from the quilter, but other than that, no Christmas projects. Today is my mother's birthday and I did make this jacket for her. It has been a long time in the making. A few years ago her cousin was taking a trip to China and asked her what she would like him to bring her. She, being a long time seamstess (remember the doll clothes she made?), said "Oh, maybe some silk." So he obliged and brought her this lovely silk brocade, which she then asked me to make into a jacket for her. I used to do a lot of garment construction, but hadn't done any for a long time. I told her that I wanted to make a muslin first before cutting into this gorgeous silk, just to make sure that it fit. Well, to make a long story short, after several illnesses, a huge weight loss, and two muslins, I finally felt confident that I could make a jacket that would fit her. And it does. I finished it Sunday night, she received it today and loves it...says it fits like it was made for her (it was!) This picture doesn't really do it justice...maybe at Christmas I will be able to take a picture of her wearing it and will share it then. I was just happy that I was still able to do a set-in sleeve.

A little embroidery, a little sewing

Remember those fingertip towels I bought at the quilt festival? I was inspired by this one that All About Blanks had made up.

I had bought this Laurel Burch Christmas fabric thinking that I would use it in a table runner of some sort, maybe like the Susan Branch one I made for my friend Nancy's birthday last year.

But the towel idea seemed so much simpler, so I hooked up the embroidery module and started it up.

I made these two for my mom...

And while I was at it I made these two as well. I am giving them as Thanksgiving presents...if I wait till Christmas to give them away, it will be too late to use them!

I just can't help myself...

What happened to my no new projects mantra? My first real day off in ages and I had to start something. The good news is that I finished the same day! When I was in Minneapolis earlier this month, Kate and I went to Crafty Planet, a great little shop in northeast. We found this really cute fabric. Unbeknownst to me, my son-in-law Kyle apparently loves octopi. I myself am partial to mermaids. So I bought a piece of each of these and made them into pillowcases. I used the Amy Butler stripe that was the backing on their wedding quilt as the contrast. Okay, now back to machine quilting this, or binding this!

Yet another vintage pattern

I ran across this pattern from 1982 (is that vintage?) My mother made it for my daughter's first birthday. I have never done any smocking, but might be tempted if I ever have a granddaughter. My mother used to do lots of handwork (knitting, embroidery, smocking, etc.) which could be why I am drawn to such things. She never did teach me how to darn socks, though.

Here is a picture of Kate in the dress. She's still that cute :-)

Another vintage pattern

I found this on the Flickr vintage apron patterns group.

While I don't have the actual pattern, I do have this picture of my brother and me on Easter 1959. The dress was a brown cotton with tiny blue flowers and the pinafore was a pale blue organdy, both sewn by my mother.

My brother is the one who turned 50 last February. He's taller than me now.

My apron, again

You may remember seeing the apron I made for an exchange I was in last fall. Well, I had sent the picture to Amy for her Tie One On blog and she included it in the latest group, Polka Dotted Lovelies. I'm so excited! (It's the second one from the left, fifth row down :-)

Santa came early...

...and look at what he brought me!
I must have been very good (or very naughty in a good way :-) The man at the camera store asked me what I wanted to use it for. I was too embarrassed to say "To take pictures for my blog" so I mumbled something about food photography. We looked at a couple of Canons, but I've always been a Nikon girl. Pictures to follow...

Oh, and here is shirt v 2.0. I couldn't stagger the motifs like in the original because the panels closest to the placket weren't square...the original was a XXL, this one is a small. Still cute though, I think...

Work in progress

My mother's birthday is December 10th. It has always kind of sneaked up on me because I start thinking and planning for Christmas and then I realize we're into the second week of December and I need a birthday gift for her. Two years ago, the year I got my Bernina Artista, I embroidered this shirt for her. I got basic shirt at the Quilt Festival from All About Blanks.

My mom has subsequently lost about 90 pounds, so it obviously doesn't fit her any more. My plan this year was to make a new, smaller, replacement shirt. I had forgotten that each of these motifs are in the 28,000 to 31,000 stitch count range. I started embroidering yesterday afternoon after my cookie exchange guests left...I got 2 done then and one today after getting home from work. That leaves 4 plus the checkered trim for tomorrow before the last mail pickup at 4:30pm...wish me luck!

Apron contest

Apronista is having a contest to win one of Carrie Sommer's fabulous aprons. All you have to do to enter is go to the sight and leave a comment...how simple is that? Speaking of aprons, here is one I just made from the Four Corners Apron pattern for an apron exchange I was in.