It's A Beautiful Day!

FINALLY! A more seasonable day. This entire week has been great. I've mowed, used the weed eater, mowed again, and almost finished weeding one bed of weeds. My arms gave out from disuse so I took a day off and did some much needed grocery shopping.

Not much happening at the sewing machine right now. I do have the beginnings of a new cover for it. And the pattern for the sides, with the fabric, is sitting on the cutting table just waiting, and waiting. My excuse is that I didn't have any black piping so had to wait on the trip to town.

You really need to go over to Bunny Hill and read today's post. Anne aided in a rescue mission. That's all I'm going to say except you won't be disappointed. Plus lots of photos.

 My husband brought me this beautiful mini rose yesterday. I hope I can keep it alive! Sorry about the light switch, I really need to find a wall that I can use as a backdrop.

                                    And here is the mug for the day.
 I know there's a name for this type of pottery. It's etched into the greenware rather than just painted. It has a few small chips in it but I like it anyway!

My three thankies for today:

For warmer weather!

For a day I can forget about mowing, trimming and weeding!

For my family most of all!

Have an awesome weekend and Happy Mother's Day!!

Make A Pillowcase!

I was just visiting Handmade By Heidi and her Friday Night Sew-In for April is to make pillowcases for the kids that ConKer Cancer is involved with.  What a great opportunity to make something simple that will at least lift the spirits of these unfortunate children. Go over to her site to get all the details.

I didn't get one of my little space heaters turned on last night.  It got down to 23* or 24* F during the night.  When I came in here this morning it was 62* here by the computer!  Time for LOTS of hot stuff LOL  I finally got the heater to do something other than blow cold air.  Now it's time for a shower to warm up my cold, cold feet. Yes, I DO have socks/shoes on, thank you!!

I found the cutest little coffee mugs at the Dollar Tree the other day.  I really enjoy Pam Kitty Morning showing off her mugs so thought I'd do the same.  They say that mimicry is the sincerest form of flattery, SO. . . .

I love that book, "Scandinavian Stitches," by Kajsa Wikman. It is just full of fun, cheery little projects. She also has a blog site Kajsa Wikman , if you'd like to see more of her creations.

Sorry, but I already drank all the coffee! Unfortunately they didn't have any coordinating saucers, so I have to make do with with I have. I'm so attracted to polka dots that I would have loved a dotted one, even a solid pink would have been nice.  Oh well, I like the contrast of that little blue saucer. You can't really tell from the photo but that saucer is shaped like a flower blossom, one of my thrift store finds.

Off to the shower so I can get outdoors while it's still sunny and see what I can photograph today!

Today I'm thankful for:

1.  Getting that little heater to put out heat!

2.  The fact the sun is shinning.

3.  All the different varieties of birds that have returned.  They remind me that Winter really CAN"T last all year!

You all have a great day, and COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS!

I THOUGHT I Was Going To Do Better!!

So goes the road of good intentions! It's been over a month since my last post.  Shame on me! In the meantime my Little Prince has turned four and Grammie wasn't there! (I will NOT snivel, I will Not. . . .HA!)

The other day out of boredom and wanting to brighten up my desk I made this little pencil cup.

I dug through my container of selvedge edges, looking for reds.  I grabbed the black because I love polka dots and I love red and black together. Then I wrapped them around a tin can that was the size I wanted my cup to be, to get the right size, spread some craft glue on the back of each one and there it was. I wanted to keep with my ladybug theme so I glued some little wooden ladybugs on randomly.  Then tied a bow, yes, it's sideways on purpose. It gives it more character! Glued a pearly button in the center. And it was done!

I LIKE crafts like that, that are finished so quickly.

I have bolted almost all of my fabric stash.  I like it so much better. I can SEE what I have to work with without digging through upteen totes. I have a small suitcase that was my mother-in-law's that holds my FQs.  I'm lovin' it!! Here's a sample:

My furnace quit shortly after my last post. Hmm. Maybe THAT'S why so long between posts. Then the pellet stove decided to act up.  The fan isn't blowing as much as it should and the pellet feed is working super overtime. So it uses LOTS of pellets but puts out little heat.  I have three of those tiny inefficient space heaters, but discovered that mostly this house has TWO circuits! So I can only use two at one time. Sigh.

Yesterday my new heater arrived.  I bought a HeatSurge.  They are made by the Amish in Ohio, anyway the wooden (yes, REAL wood) part is. No sticky-paper covered MDX!  It's beautiful!  Look them up online, they have several different models, mine is the curio.  I have friends that have the one with the bigger 'fireplace' but they all put out the same amount of heat.  The FedEx delivery man said he had heard good things about them, in fact, he had another one on his truck for someone else in this area.

I'm already loving the idea that I can watch a flame and not have to worry about washing the glass or clean the ash box. Does that mean I really am getting old?

My Janome Challenge group is doing a Mystery Challenge. This month we are putting applique on our chosen background fabric.  I've decided to name mine "Flying Flowers," and that's all I can say for now!  We aren't to tell what exactly we are doing.  I've had several ideas "fly" through my head but this seems to be the one that's sticking LOL  I CAN show you the background fabric though since we've posted that already.  Here it is. It's actually burgundy, poor lighting.

And here's one of those little finger mitts one of the granddaughters wanted.  It supposed to be a shark but I couldn't figure out how to make his "teeth" hang down rather than out!

And here's a photo of the Dr/Nurse apron, depending upon who is wearing it, and the crocheted bag I did for their Mom.

I have absolutely NO idea why I hung it up sideways LOL

So, you see I have been busy, if silent!

And, as the old Warner Bros. cartoons said, "That's All, Folks!"

Stay, safe and warm (or cool) until next time!

The View From My Sewing Room

A list buddy posted a photo of her relaxing day at the beach yesterday.  She lives in Hawaii and the photo on her blog Peach Quilting is SO enticing!  So I'm getting her back with THIS!!

 This was taken through my sewing room window just a few minutes ago. Pretty ug-ly isn't it?

Rather than sitting here at the computer I need to be out at my machine. You will crack up when you see what I'm making for the youngest graddaughter!  Ok, just a tiny peek.

Back to doing something that needs to be finished.

Have an awesome day!

Today I'm thankful for a warm house.

A Question From a List Buddy Has Prompted This!

A list buddy thinks I'm very creative and asked me a few questions. It turned into a novella size reply so I thought I'd post my answers here!

NO, I don't think I'm creative at all but I DO like to take something and re-purpose it for another use, especially if it's old.My daughter mostly makes me that way! How did I ever raise a girl-child that doesn’t sew? My mother didn’t set me down and say, OK, here is today’s sewing lesson! I had a very big Bride Doll and decided she needed more than just a wedding dress to wear. I told my mother I wanted to make her some clothes so she gave me a pattern, some fabric and said be careful and don’t sew your fingers. That was it! And I didn’t sew my finger, until I was married and making a dress. I’ve only done THAT once!! (As I’ve aged I find that I’m a real woosie when it comes to pain, my threshold gets lower and lower. I’d no doubt pass out and die right on the spot!!) ANYWAY. I was probably 9-10 when I started sewing by making clothes for my doll. I’m not saying the craftsmanship was anything to brag about certainly. I’ve had to learn that as an adult. Mostly by watching a niece that is VERY accomplished. Just sitting and watching her sew as we visited, I learned so much about the proper way to do things. She’s so good she paid for the remodeling on their house with her sewing machine! Took the house from a very tiny little 2 bed, 1 bath to a 3 bed with an absolutely HUGE livingfamily room.

 

DD has me making a Nurse apron for my Princess, from a photo she saw on Pinterest! This has been an interesting journey. The child is in TX, I’m in WA. Her mother knows next to nothing about sewing! She doesn’t understand when I call/email saying I need another measurement, “Mom, I already told you how long it needs to be. Isn’t that enough?” I have things done and I’m ready to sew it together today. PTL!!!

 

Her other project for me is a crochet bag that she also saw on Pinterest. The directions are not in US English, so that’s a real challenge. I’ve discovered that we write crochet pattern instructions much differently! So, it’s a learning experience, to say the least! DD keeps my life interesting! Even from 1500 miles away LOL

 

I just HAVE to share my new purse with you.  I love it!  It's not leather and I only paid $15 for it.  If I can find cheap, I can have a new one now and then and not feel that I have to use it FOREVER!

 

I don't want to brag or anything but I just think this is so cute!  Wouldn't it be awesome in fabric?

That little "quilt" it's resting on is made from Dresden Plate blocks my Grandfather stitched before he passed away. I just put four of them together, added some ruffle and there it is!  (I do love Dresden Plates) I wanted a cover for my seldom used pellet stove that I would like to stay nice, and further more, dusting isn't something I really enjoy!

Have a great day! And do something 'quilty'!



 

Isn't This Sooo Cute?

sewhappy.me  Check out this darling wall hanging!  I'm printing out the instructions as they are given.  The first part is up today and will be availiable until next Friday.  Anyway, that's how I understood it.  It's only three parts, so shouldn't take too long to finish.

The weather has warmed up, for a few days, and the other day the wind blew very hard. According to my max/min thermometer though, it was 16* F last night!  No eaves dripping !!

That's it for now. I have sewing that I really want to get accomplished today. That's my intention. And I might do a little hiding things straightening in between LOL Something to make it appear I'm NOT the slobby person I really am!!

Have an awesome day!!  And, if you're North of warm weather. . . .STAY WARM

Winter Is Here!

We've survived this first major storm of Winter.  My heart goes out to the families of those who didn't.  I won't repeat the details but there have been at least two tragic incidents that I know of.  Very heart-breaking.

It was beautiful!  For a day or two. Since this snowfall we have had freezing rain so all this beautiful snow has turned to solid ice.  It has melted some but my car is still stuck in the snow.  I was without power on two different occasions for a few hours.  I feel fortunate because there are STILL many people, even here in our county, that are without power.

On another note:  Scroll down and take a look at the CUTE, quilt-a-long I found.  And, of course, notice that there are LADYBUGS crawling around on it.  It's from 2010 but the instructions are still up.  Now to see what I can find for polka dots!

I blogged the other day about getting the cardboards from WalMart, well, that started something.



I have added more bolts since I took this photo and THERE'S STILL MORE. I had no idea I had so much fabric because it was all in little totes stuffed here and there.  Now I need to make some curtains to protect it from the light and dust. (which is VERY plentiful here once the snow melts LOL)

Now I'm off to get some mug rugs made for a friend.  I need to give them to her when I see her tomorrow as she lives about 60 miles away. I'll see her if my car gets dug out of the snowy looking ice, that is!

Have an awesome day and I hope you are surviving whatever is being thrown at you, weather-wise.

Today I'm thankful that I have power and the temps are warming enough that during the day this STUFF is melting.