Taking the Challenge

Amy has posted her One Week, One Thing Challenge and I am going to take her up on it this time.



Although this is obviously more than ONE THING, I do think that I can get 'er done.


My goal - get the two table runners DONE. The binding is all ready to hand stitch to the back which I will be starting as soon as I post this blog entry. I need to get them washed/dried, photographed and mailed. Then, choosing one of the three sweaters pictured I want to make a pillow.

I did my grocery shopping yesterday so I have no reason to go out in the frightful weather. I can just sit inside, stitch and enjoy the beauty of the snow covered scene through the windows.

Praise - I LOVE SNOW! It is snowing here.

Prayers - it is snowing here and where both of my children are. They are going to be heading home for Thanksgiving and I am praying for clear roads and safe travel. Trusting in the Lord! Being anxious will accomplish nothing but prayers will!!

4/23-4/28 Update on the weekend

I had a great trip to the big city. My friend and I chatted the entire way, stopped for lunch in a cute cafe and I worked on my Blush runner binding.

Here is the reason that I went to the big city in the first place;



Isn't she beautiful? Well I know she is, inside AND out.

It was a nice ceremony. About 48 students were inducted into the Ivy Honorary Society which is focused on Scholarship, Leadership and Service. We're so proud of you College Girl!! I'm so glad that I was able to be present at the event.

I had the wrong shoes so walking much was out of the question. We tried to view the apartment where college girl wants to live next year but despite the signs that said OPEN HOUSE, they were closed. It was such a lovely day we ate our lunch in the sunshine;


I stitched more on the binding before going to bed on Saturday and Sunday after church I sat in the sun and finished that and then started on the Verna quilt binding. Such a relaxed weekend. It was good to see college girl and my friends.

Met up with my road trip friend on Monday morning and we made the long trek back home. Chatting about our weekend with our daughters and I stitched away on the Verna binding. When both were finished I got them washed and dried.


Hubby was completely floored when I told him the Verna quilt was for his mother for Mother's Day. He had no idea I was even making it! I think it is just hard to distinquish one project from another when he walks into my sewing room.



I have still sewed SOMETHING everyday. Once the runner and quilt were done I went back to the POSH quilt binding. I am ALMOST done with that, hopefully tonight after the VBS meeting that I need to attend.

I also have a purse cut out and fabric for three children's aprons ready to cut out. I've gotta get busy!

Praise - for the wonderful time spent with college girl and friends and the safe travels.

Prayers - for the preparations and the first meeting for VBS.

4/20 Back to POSH

I am working on hand sewing the binding now;

and may be for a few nights.

Praise - for my hubby. He is such a Godly man and always striving to grow.

Prayers - for my hubby. That he will continue to seek God's will for his life, that he will continue to be a Godly example for me and the kids and that his life would glorify the Lord.

November Projects

Again I have a LONG list for the Charming Girls Quilt Club. I may not always get everything done but the motivation I get from the club is WONDERFUL! It keeps me somewhat focused on the 'next thing'. In addition to what I am listing here I have also sent Kelly a few images of 'secret' projects that I can't post here. EEEK!!


First up is the Arcadia Scruffily Quilt. The project is to get the binding finished.I am ALMOST finished sewing the binding to the top, then I need to get it all ironed and glued to the back and hand stitch it. I hope to get the ironing and gluing done today so that I can stitch while we watch movies. I get to be covered up by the quilt, I get to be with my hubby and son and I get to watch a movie or show AND I will be accomplishing something.

Bringing forward from October - this is to be an apron using Jona's One Hour Apron Tutorial.


Also from last month - sew the blocks,add the borders - have a flimsy by the end of the month.


These beautiful Glace fabrics are going to be made into a Scruffily Quilt, found on the Moda Bake Shop (same as the Arcadia Quilt). Goal for the month, have the top finished and have the sandwich layered, ready to be quilted.


This fabric is going to be made into simple curtains for college girl's dorm room.


Again, quite the list. I know. I KNOW!

Prayers - a man from our church was hunting this morning (fortunately with someone) and had a seizure. He is at the hospital now.

Praise - for the glowing reports that we got from college girl last night in regards to all of her midterms!! She is such a hard worker.

Fall Quilt Festival

Amy is hostessing a Fall Quilt Festival and there are now close to 600 blogs listed! That is going to take me some time to get through but I will be trying my best to do it over the next few months. I meant to join in earlier but I knew I had to dig the quilt out of my hope chest and take pictures so I put it off. Today I realized it is the final day! Here is the link to the post with all the blog links;




This is the first quilt that I ever made - an Eleanor Burns Quilt in a Day Log Cabin, done in a class. This was back in the 80's sometime. The class met in an elementary gym/cafeteria so we had lots of room to spread out. I do have pictures of the quilts all laying on the floor as we decided on block placement but those pictures were taken with FILM and are tucked away in a box somewhere.


A close up of one of the blocks. The quilt was turned inside out and the opening hand stitched closed (I probably had my mother do that for me ;) )and then it was tied. It is really light weight. I believe I used some poly type batting that came on a roll.


I remember picking out the fabric, laying all the bolts on one another in the store, taking some out, finding others to put in. That is always a tough process for me so I really enjoy the complete coordinated lines that come out now AND the pre-cuts.


Praise - for the quilting community that I get to be a part of, online and in person. What a wonderful group of friends that are so generous with their encouragement and talents.

Prayers - for the brother of a missionary we know that is in a coma and the outlook does not look good. His name is Marty. Prayers for him and his family.

Check another item off the list

I finished attaching the binding to the top of my Stacked Coins Quilt;


Of course I still have to turn it to the back and handstitch it but that wasn't on my list for September.

I am loving the fact that I am actually getting some things DONE!

On to the next thing.

Praise - college girl called tonight and has had a great first PRE-week at school. She took part in so much this week in preparation for new student arriving. She is tired - a good tired.

Prayers - that college girl would have a great final weekend before school really starts on Monday. That all would go well when her second roommate arrives on Sunday.

Those 3 little words

I know that I love to hear them. I am going to shout them from the rooftops tonight. I really don't need to post this, because she already knows, but I'll bet that she loves to hear those three little words too. I am not talking about THOSE three little words. I am talking about these three little words - YOU WERE RIGHT! The thing is, she KNOWS she was right. In fact, she probably thinks she is ALWAYS right. I am talking about Des at Quilt Taffy's Taffy Talk and her tutorial for the Invisible Closing Stitch, also known as the Ladder Stitch. Did you happen to notice the date of that tutorial? Yeah, July 2008. So I'm slow. And stubborn. I didn't want to learn a hand stitch! I hate to hand stitch! I could just fumble along with whatever it was called that I did. I should have listened to Des way back in 2008.

The thing is, I was coming across the Ladder Stitch over and over again. It was kind of like one of those weird recurring dreams. Each time I saw it there were more images. Images and explanations that made it clearer and clearer to me. Like here at Craft Apple. Here at Turning*Turning (although she likes to call it the Invisible Mamma Jamma Stitch :D ). The final straw was when I watched these videos by Sharon Schamber. In the final video she uses the Ladder Stitch as the final step in attaching her binding to her quilt. Okay! I cried "UNCLE!" and decided to give it a try.

I *HEART* THE LADDER STITCH! LOVE IT, I tell you!

Although at least one of the sites mentioned that this was a slower stitch, that did not hold me back. What I found was that it was much faster than the no name stitch that I had used before. The Old Red Barn Quiltalong Quilt had about 9 yards of binding to sew. That is a lot of hand stitching. You know what? I don't think it took me that much longer to do the Ladder Stitch on the ORB quilt than it did to fumble my way around the Neptune Windmill Baby Quilt that I finished up in early June. Seriously!

By the way, I used the Sharon Schamber method, found in the three linked videos, to attach the binding on the ORB quilt. It takes some time to do all of the steps but #1)this was the first time I was able to join the ends of the binding so smoothly (seeing the method rather than looking at photos is what did it for me),#2) there are no pins or clips to deal with while hand stitching and #3)the binding was in place and smooth looking while I did the hand stitching. A bonus - I learned about this method while back to school supplies were on the shelves and Elmer's Washable School Glue was 25-30 cents a bottle! I stocked up. I am going to use this method again and again.

A few other things that I learned from the videos, the third video to be exact,
Needle the thread (instead of thread the needle)- hold the thread tip between your index finger and thumb of your left hand and with the needle in your right hand, slide the eye of the needle over the thread. I seemed to have more control doing it that way and was successful on the first try each time.
To have a slip knot on my thread - GENIUS! I don't know how many times I had to re-thread my needle on previous binding excursions but this time, only when I was starting over with a new length of thread!
How to tie a Quilter's Knot. I had seen this before on Heather Bailey's blog but for some reason it didn't click then. I must have been in the right frame of mind when I watched these videos.

So there you have it. A post with no pictures but lots of links to some pictures, tutorials, videos. Maybe you knew these things already. Just like Des. ;) Maybe you're smart like that too.

Praise - My son has started his fourth week of school and he is staying on task and even asked for some nudging from me. So far he is able to keep up with school and his part time job.

Prayers - College girl is packing up her stuff. Today is her last day of work. Prayers for her to stay on task, get things on her list crossed off and remain calm during it all.

Is this what you had in mind?

Yeah, I'm talking to you, Des. Is this what you pictured me wearing??

I am not so sure it will work if I am wearing it but maybe if I get shirts for everyone around me to wear. I will see that message over and over. I will read it. I will start to believe it!

********

No. I don't think it will work either.

I am sticking with this shirt.

It says it all.

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Prayers for my son this afternoon. He went snowboarding alone. Well sure there will be other people on the mountain but... Prayers also in regards to the family that looked at our house the other day. They are meeting with the realtor again at 2:30 today. Do they want to make an offer? See the property again?

Praise - crews are working hard in America's heartland to restore power to many many homes and business!

January Challenge - Completed

So my calendar says it is the 6th of February and I am finally getting around to showing you my finished January Challenge. If you don't remember, this is what I chose for January;

The pattern is by Tanya Whelan of Grand Revival Designs. What was the hold up for me on this? The handsewing! I do not like handsewing. That is saying it nicely. Had I read the pattern more thoroughly I would have chosen the view shown bottom left - no handsewing required. I chose the main photo and bottom right. Hand sewing required. Argh.

Here is the completed AVA Bag, done up with Timeless Treasures Taxi fabric on the outside and a stash fabric of yellow with black dots. The other Timeless Treasures Taxi fabric that I wanted for the reverse side of the purse was sold out at the local fabric store and it is hard to find online.

The purse is intended to be reversible. I don't know that I would reverse this particular purse. The fabric is not very forgiving when showing my stitching, done in black thread, along the handles. The OTHER Timeless Treasures Taxi fabric would have been better for hiding any imperfections.

The thing about a reversible bag though - I can never decide which fabric I would want on the outside and then I think the inside usually gets dirty from ink and lipstick and so on, would I even want to reverse it?

My review of the pattern - Well the hand stitching aside because the next time I would probably choose the other view, this was a fairly easy pattern to follow. The way the handles and center/top purse trim are done (on the view I made) is different from anything I have done on a purse before. The directions were clear though. I did try to jump ahead of the game at one point and had to cut out new facing pieces because I trimmed them incorrectly. If I had just followed the directions as written I would have saved myself some time and fabric. Sewing the handles on, through all layers was a teeny bit frustrating, not knowing if I was catching the other side and wondering how it was going to look. Like I said, the fabric pattern choice is not very forgiving on that side. It isn't HORRIBLE, but it does not look as nice as the front side does. The hand stitching needs to be done FOUR times on this view!! At the side seams, inside and out, to join the handle/trims. I would make this purse again. I would make the other view first and then when making this view again I would give more thought to my fabric choices. Good job, Tanya! Thanks for the cute purse pattern!

Finished size - 12" to the top of the handles x 11.5" wide.

* * *

P.S. I have NO idea what I am going to do with this purse. I never ever wear yellow. I just love that fabric though. I was hoping to have it done for Super Bowl Sunday and show off my Steelers colors. That is a BIG joke because I dislike football and all things football-y. :D

* * *

Prayers - Continuing to pray for College Girl. She is burning the candles at both ends to get some projects done. She is never one to let one thing slide to get another thing done. I pray she stays healthy through all of this. Praise - it is SNOWING again today!!! It started sometime during the night and it is still snowing at 11 a.m.

I didn't like it ONE bit!

That was THE most difficult thing I have done in my life to date. I would rather give birth every day. And trust me, that girl was no easy labor! 18 + hours!! So this was like a birth of sorts. 18 years and a few month later and she is pushed out. Out of the nest this time. Or maybe she jumped. I am pretty sure that I was not pushing. Here she is in her dorm room, well in a portion of it. She has a double and anyone that came by commented that they had the biggest room in the dorm and that they should ENJOY IT! I think they will.

I was pretty good during the two days of meet and greets and various functions we had to attend. A few tears were shed but I expected that. When it was time to say good-bye I still thought I was going to be able to hold it together. We hugged and hugged and hugged. She got teary before I did but then that was my undoing. I cried as my hubby and I drove away. I woke really early the next morning and could not control the tears, so I just let them flow. I tear up when I think of her not getting daily hugs. How sad for all college kids. NO HUGS! My friends that live nearby to her have orders to give her hugs on my behalf. It won't be the same but it is better than nothing. I miss her hugs too.

She says she is doing pretty good. A video sent by phone from her brother set her off a bit. Seeing him AND hearing him was too much I guess. Her roommate is very homesick. Her family is back home now too. Many more miles and hours away than we are. My daughter says she feels like she is just at camp and the reality hasn't set in yet. I told her by the time that it does it will be time to come home for the holidays. She will be pretty busy since the school is on the quarter system.

After seeing the survival kit that was posted at Covered Porches and Screen Doors a few weeks back, I decided that I needed to do something similar. Into a big ol' popcorn tin that I had, I put in these items. I gave it to her before we left but told her she couldn't open it until Sunday or Monday sometime.

Two different devotionals, if and when she has time for them;



Some of her favorite candies;


This set of Sharpies that she would fondly look at in the store;


She loves canned chicken noodle soup and doesn't get it at home;



and just in case she might forget...

The shoes are teeny, made for a little, little girl. But a perfect size to have as a little reminder, on a shelf or in a keepsake box.

I miss her lots. She is going to do GREAT and I am so excited for her. I will really be looking forward to her birthday in November. We are going to see her then. I have told my son he is not allowed to leave home. He just rolls his eyes and says "Whatever, Mom".

So we came home late Saturday and hit the ground running. We had a wedding reception/potluck at church on Sunday. We had 'guests' move into the guest house on Sunday night. Family of church friends that are getting married THIS week. The only sewing I have done is adding some netting pouf to the bride's slip. What a job that was! So much netting, slippery fabric. I ended up having to HAND SEW the netting to the slip. Ya KNOW how I love me some hand sewing...NOT! I ended up sewing it to my jeans TWICE! I finally quit for the night and finished this morning. I was able to secure it all with a machine zig zag this morning. Reminder to self: do NOT go into the wedding dress alteration business.

The weather was GORGEOUS here today! I made a list of things to do today and I think I have gotten them all done! Oh yeah! That's a great feeling. Sewing will be on my list for later this week. A little packing or organizing each day too.

Praise - our travels to and from college were safe. Our daughter is happily moved into her dorm and underway with her classes. Prayers - that we would be an encouragement to her, although we all miss her terribly. For the weddings this weekend. Our daughter will attend one there and we will attend one here. That the young people getting married would truly strive to have Godly marriages. Also praying that the weather would cooperate for the Idaho OUTDOOR wedding.

A confession and a plea for help

I hate hand sewing. That is my confession. I mean I HATE hand sewing. If my hubby loses a button he 'jokes' that he will just kiss the shirt goodbye. Well it is SORT OF a joke. He at least has to get used to not wearing that shirt for a VERY LONG TIME. It takes me a long time to feel really guilty about not sewing on a button and returning the shirt to him. I finally do it. Oh and scouting...gimme a break. It is bad enough you have to cart your kids all over the place to meetings, go to meetings yourself, take hikes you don't want to take and carve and paint pinewood cars but then they expect you to sew the dern patches on their shirts!!! I think that should be the FIRST thing scouts learn - sewing on patches. By yourself. (I usually did them by machine anyway).

The few quilts that I have made have been the turn method (does that make sense?). So no binding but ya know the opening after you turn the quilt?? Well let's just say I haven't made a quilt like that since my mother passed away. She was always great with a needle and thread and would hand sew the opening closed for me. Go ahead, roll your eyes. I think one quilt was closed by my mother in law that was visiting. She is still alive but lives too far away and is almost blind. No help there anymore.

So I am moving on to quilts that require binding. This first one I am taking to the longarm quilter on Friday. They are also going to attach the binding. At this point I think I am going to have them handsew the binding on the backside. My thought was this; my daughter is supposed to take this quilt with her to college in September. If I don't have them do it now, will it be done by the time she leaves?? Unlikely. I think they really need to be done by hand, don't they? How frustrating to try to do it by machine to have the binding shift just a smidge and you miss catching it. Then what?

I took home economics from the 7th grade all the way through the 12th grade. I loved it. I am sure I must have had to hand sew in that time. Did I have mono and miss a month of class? I don't know where this aversion came from. I don't care for embroidery either. Counted cross stitch is okay. Stamped cross stitch is okay. They both show me exactly where to put the needle. I have even considered getting a Yo Yo maker since they show you exactly where to put the needle. The thought of doing them all on my own was mind boggling and never appealed to me.

I have looked online some for binding directions. I have looked in quilting magazines. The directions that they give are for sewing the binding on the front side, with that cool little trick at each corner. I have yet to try that since I was in no way prepared to do anything with it once it was turned to the back. The detailed directions stop there. Everything just goes on to say stitch the binding on the back side. Uhhhhhhhh, thanks so much!! THAT is exactly where I need help! With pictures would be even better! Why is it assumed that everyone knows how to do that next step? Tell me I am not the only person out there that does not know how to sew the binding to the back of the quilt. Lie if you have to.

Any chance my new machine has an attachment for attaching the binding with a blind stitch so that it will look handsewn??? I never could figure out the blind hem stitch on the machine I have now. They have the fabric folded about 4 different ways and then put it under this special foot and I am saying "HUH???"

Any suggestions? Any offers to handstitch my bindings? My hubby would love it if you would sew some buttons on too. :D