The Patchwork Towel....

...Is moving along slow. I'm using embroidery quilt designs for the large blocks and most of the small blocks. The fabric is Moda's Neptune by Trula Pink. I plan on filling in between the embroidery with waves using my BSR. I did not use any batting between the patchwork and the terry fabric on the back. I plan on using this on the boat and I thought the batting would extend the dry time to twice the time to air dry. We won't use this to dry off after swimming but it will make a good cover up towel on cool days in the spring. I have more of the terry cloth to make regular towels with fabric borders and embroidery.At the rate I'm moving along I may get this finished by the time we put the boat in water and it may be next year. I did not realize how time consuming re-hooping would be....it takes me longer to prepare than to stitch the design. I'll post pictures of it on my boat if I finish it this year. It matches the aqua, green, and navy seats on the boat.

Last night I worked on my bear PJs. I'm going to embroider a t-shirt to match tonight if it's not to late after I finish my chores.

Don's been working in Ohio this week so I've had time to myself with him out of town. He should be home early tomorrow. I'm so glad tomorrow is Friday.....we're headed to the lake and campground after work. We're going trail bike riding Saturday with some of our camping friends. This is a good time of year to ride before it gets too hot. I sure hope it doesn't rain on my plans....you know me and plans.....we don't get along so well. LOL

Easter Baskets

Whew......I didn't realize I'd been away from blogging for so long until I just saw the date of the last post. I've been very busy with work, I met with West Virginia's Governor, Joe Manchin yesterday. I've been working hard on preparation for the meeting for several weeks. Hopefully things will get back to normal around here soon.


We stayed at the campground in the RV last weekend, the weather was beautiful and all our friends were there. We had a lot of catching up to do. We drained all the antifreeze out of the water lines, filled the hot water tank, just so it would SNOW Tuesday and Wednesday. Our RV is fairly well insulated for an RV, I don't think the lines froze. We ran up to the lake this evening to check on things and they don't appear to be froze now or broken, but that will only show up later when we have water damage.....


I made this little Easter Basket for my grandson, and mailed it to him filled with little goodies.















I found the recipe for the basket at the Moda Bake Shop Blog . It turned out so cute I ordered more Honey Buns to make two more with a different line of fabric. I think I will make them without the handles and use them as junk baskets in the RV. I thought about wrapping the rope around my plastic ice tea glasses about half way up to use as insulated coasters. The plastic cups would slip in and out for washing and the rope would add a decorative touch. We'll just have to see what my imagination comes up with.....may be good may be terrible, I run about 50/50.

West Virginia Sends Pitt Home

West Virginia beats the number 2 nationally ranked basketball team. The third time was a charm for the Mountaineers in the Backyard Brawl. 74 to 60 was a pretty impressive victory for the Mountaineers. And Syracuse beat U-Conn 127 to 117 in 6 Overtimes. U-Conn is ranked third in the nation. Wow! What a night for the Big East. WV plays Syracuse tonight. Hopefully they are really tired after 6 overtimes last night and it'll be a snap for WV. In honor of the WV victory, I'm posting pictures of the can koozies that I embroidered for our friends at the lake.

Mountaineers Beat Notre Dame

.....74 to 64. Let's Go Mountaineers. Tomorrow night we play Pittsburgh....another backyard brawl. We're only 75 miles from Pitsburgh and we've lost to them in basketball twice this year already. In honor of West Virginia beating the Fighting Irish, I'm posting a picture of my Irish table topper. .

Another Late Night

....... at work....just like last night. I got home at 8:30 last night and 7 PM tonight. When will this schedule end? I fixed steaks on the grill and baked potatoes and salad for dinner. It's doesn't get any easier, other than carry out, and I hate carry out (in). The weather warmed up today and it's suppose to be in the 60s this weekend. My son and daughter-in-law with my darling little grandson may come for a visit this weekend. We won't know for sure until tomorrow. If we don't have company, I'd love to go to the lake and check on the RV, start cleaning up everything, and getting things hooked up in the RV. But we really don't want to drain the antifreeze with the kind of weather we've had this year. I can't clean without water.....hot water, so that means filling the hot water tank, forget it, it's not happening.
I made these little pin cushion jars and filled them with tread, buttons, and other little trinkets.

It's not really that hard to get the thread out of the wide mouths. A little practical decoration, but I'll probably be tired of them shortly and they will go back to their original purpose, canning.

I found these Martha Pullen Sewing Accessory Designs and made the patchwork pin cushion and small patchwork scissor case. I was not pleased with the scissor case. For some reason I always think I'm going to like the in-the-hoop designs, but for the most part I'm usually disappointed with the end result. But I keep on buying more of them, I'll never learn. But I did like the patchwork pin cushion. I just noticed in the picture that I forgot to hand stitch the bottom closed after I stuffed it.

I hope to be home early tomorrow from work. I really need to work on my Quilt Along; Bears in the Farmhouse Quilt so I don't get kicked out of class. I have the next part cut out and all the small blocks stitched but I have to put together the big blocks. I need to finish them before the weekend, they are due on Monday.

Grandma Brag Books

I made these little brag books for my pocket picture albums yesterday. The fabric matches my wallet, tote bag and sun glasses. I bought new Vera Bradley Prescription Sun glasses a few months ago. Then I needed to coordinate (that's a bad word) everything, so I bought the tote bag, wallet, makeup case, and checkbook cover. I really should have made all the little stuff but I wanted it to match the sun glasses. (coordinate, that really is an expen$ive word)I wanted the picture holders to match the rest of the ensemble. So today, I leave for work, all dolled up with my new ensemble....I stop at the store to pick up a few items. I go to dig out my wallet and everything in the bag matches. OMG where was my head when I was coordinating, I could not find my wallet, it matched everything else. How long I will carry this mess? Who knows, it was rather aggravating with everything "coordinating" inside the tote.

I found this fabric and pattern for a beach bag. I'm going to use boat rope for the handles and tie knots through the O rings. I'll use smaller rope for the draw string. We have huge reels of white rope on the boat. I don't think Don will mind if I borrow a little! It won't match my sun glasses, (darn) but I guess everything can't coordinate. Maybe I'll have to get new prescription glasses to match the bag this time. LOL

Busy, Busy, Busy

...as a bee and not a quilting bee. I'm so busy right now my head is spinning. I've been taking steroids for a severe reaction to a medication and I'm exhausted from the hyper-activity caused by the steroids. First the biopsies and then all the doctor appointments are bad enough without any side effects from the treatment. Oh well, enough about that stuff, nurses are the worst patients anyway!


Over the past three weeks at work I've been through a Medicaid Audit, standard procedure for Home Health Agencies, but still a pain the butt and they always just show up with only 24 hours notice, not to mention that Corporate taxes are due in 15 days and I have four companies plus personal taxes due on April 15. We have accounts that take care of this stuff but we still have to gather up all the "junk" and make sure it's correct........and so on.


I've actually been sewing a little and finished part of my sewing room. I have one wall in the room finished. Just three more to go. I usually work in little doses when it comes to decorating. I need to finish with one part before I can decide on another.

I've made little things like a pin cushion thread jars, small scissor holders, dress form pin cushion, and some other little trinkets. I'll take some pictures of these little things tomorrow night and post them along with the link to the designs.

Oh, please don't report me to the thread police! I know you're not suppose to expose your thread to dust and light (sunlight). But I have vinyl covering the rack and I keep the blinds shut most of the time, I'm not home during daylight hours anyway. I really like having every thing at arms length when I'm sewing. I don't want to dig in drawers for thread. I do have all my big spool in a large container in my closet. I really hate it when I have to dig in the containers for spools. I can see all the colors at one time with the thread on the wall. Grab what I need and get on with it.

I can't believe it's almost Monday, where do the weekends go? Its snowing here, like everywhere in the eastern US and the campground opened today. It's my understanding that people were lined up at the door at 8 AM to reserve their sites for this summer and the line was over a three hour wait. Apparently the phone lines were all tired up with phone reservations also. Boy, I'm glad I have a seasonal site! And it's ready for camping as soon as the weather breaks. I'm really ready for fresh air, hiking, boating, swimming, sitting by a campfire, all the FUN stuff in life.

The Bottom of the Lake!

Another weekend passes, as usual, too fast. Don I went to Mt. Nebo Saturday to check on the office and our house. We made a quick trip by the campground to check on our RV. Everything is fine at both Mt Nebo and the campground. With the high winds we had this past week I'm surprised everything was okay. The storm door blew off at Don's shop and all the planters blew into the back yard at the house in town. We're lucky and we did not lose power like some neighboring towns. While at Mt Nebo we drove to the Summersville Lake winter boat launch. I love to drive down the launch in the winter when the lake is drained. It is awesome to drive where you know you swim and ride your boat in summer. These pictures are taken on the lake bottom, where we enjoy diving in the summer. Summersville Lake attracts scuba divers because of the rocks, boulders, lake depth, and underwater terrain. This picture was taken from the campground over looking the lake. Beautiful in the summer and interesting in the winter! I've often thought about hiking the lake bottom during the winter with a metal detector. Think of all the different things that might fall over board. The lake is over 300 feet deep in some areas.

I spent some time today at the office in Beckley. I really hate it when I have to work on weekends but sometimes it's unavoidable. It's close to tax time and with three businesses to close out all the books, it's a busy time of year for me.

Did you notice the Bushfire Quilt Project on the right side of my blog? I made two star blocks to send for the project. This is my feel good project for February. I really need to do something every month that helps someone.....(maybe) feel better.

I covered my stools in the kitchen tonight and hopefully I'll get the new chair cushions made this week, if I'm not swamped at work. I'll take some pictures if I get them finished.

Hope everyone has a great week.

Do you Remember Dickeys?

After spending a wonderful weekend with my son, daughter-in-law, and grandson, I’ve come back down to reality and started my next phase of winter cleaning. I just about threw several turtle necks in the trash when I decided to recycle them. I recycle jeans and buttons so why not turtle necks. Remember the ‘70s, turtle necks were all the rage! High collars, dare we show our chest! But we sure did show the legs! I still like a turtle neck under a sweater or sweatshirt but with the big MP I tend to roast like a chicken. But I like the warmth around my neck when I’m outside. I cut out the turtle “necks” and serged the cut ends and made what we used to call “dickeys”. Are you old enough to remember?

Now I have all these knit scraps, I’ll save them too for embroidery practice stitch-outs. Or maybe I’ll use the sleeve bottoms for something like adding to the bottom of a sweatshirt sleeve, who knows, I’ll just hang on to them until next winter when I clean out my sewing room closet again, find the darn things, and wonder why in the world I kept this junk.
I picked up my framed embroidered pictures from Hobby Lobby on Friday afternoon. They look great. When I went in to claim my “original art work” there was a note on my claim ticket to call this number. Apparently an interior designer in the area saw the pictures while they were being framed and wants to purchase some pictures like these. WOW, that was a shocker, I’ve never been ask that question…..I’ve never thought anything I made was worth anything to anyone except me or maybe my family. (oh I’ll add close friends) But for a price, I’ll have to give this some thought. I did not call the lady….I can’t put a price on my hobby. Once I start selling my hobby, it’s no longer a hobby, it’s a JOB and I already have several of those. So as of today, I still have no interest in selling my hobby. But, remember, I’m a woman and it’s my prerogative to change to my mind.

Hopefully Don will help me hang the pictures this weekend and I’ll take some pictures. (Did that make since?) Now all I need is to rearrange some furniture and find an oversized chair that makes a bed and my sewing room is finished. We’ve been looking for an oversized chair for over a year. They are not hard to find, but finding the right one is our problem. I need a twin bed in my sewing room for my grandson to sleep on when he is older. But I do not want the bed in the way all the time. So, an oversized chair is the solution. I found a leather one at Home Goods, it would work but it just didn’t jump out and say buy me. We thought the price was a little high for a Home Goods chair, and they would not come down on the price when I pointed out a scratch in the leather on the back side. I knew it wouldn’t show and I guess they did too. But I’m not paying asking price for damaged goods.

Valentine Table Topper

I made this little table topper for Valentine's Day. It's very simple to make. I piece all the squares, add the embroidery, use the ruffle attachment and sew on a ruffle, line the back with quilting and backing, sew around the outer edge and flip.

This little package is coming to see me this weekend. In the picture he's eating celery with ranch dressing, watching the super bowl, in his favorite outfit; his diaper. I won't get much sewing done this weekend but it's a good trade off. I'd much rather be spending time with my grandson, son, and daughter-in-law. Family always first. Sometimes I go months without visiting them, and grand kids grow up so fast. But work and distance keep up apart. I should be thankful that we all have jobs and that's what keeps us apart. It could be a lot worse, especially with the economic crisis our country is experiencing.

Scissor Cases...In-the-Hoop

These In-the-Hoop scissor cases are too much fun to make. I made three for my large scissors today. I found the embroidery design at Embroidery Library . I plan (oh those plans) on making four of the smaller size scissor cases for my smaller scissors. I have this little three hook wall mount to hang the three large scissor cases. I’m waiting until my embroidered pictures are framed and I’ll incorporate the hanger into the picture collage.I'm going to cover my pressing board soon, maybe this week. I've had plans (oh those plans) to cover it for some time now. I'm going to use stitch recipes on the border around the pressing board fabric.

Oh what a Super Bowl game….the Cardinals just pulled ahead! Before I could get my pictures uploaded the Steelers are ahead…..maybe, they are reviewing the play. TD, now the Steelers are ahead. I'm really not into pro football. I like college football, especially if the Mountaineers are playing! Our local high school basketball team is #1 in the state right now. Go RED DEVILS! Maybe we'll win the states this year. It's been years since they have been State Champs!

Once again the weekend went by too fast. Tomorrow is Monday once again. I hope everyone had a good weekend and you're ready for the week ahead.

Criss Cross "Cross" Coasters

I traveled 60 miles one way to my Greenbrier County office today. The sun was shinning and most of the snow melted. It was a peaceful drive with my thoughts to myself. Lots of executive decisions made during the drive. I won't bore you with the Home Health business decisions, but I decided I would finish my table runner this evening, even if it isn't perfect, I'll use it in the RV and with all the kids coming and going I won't worry about cool aid spills, then I'll trash it after it has a few stains.

I rushed home this evening after a quick trip to Joann's, I needed to use my 50% off coupon. I quickly cooked a beef roast in the pressure cooker with mushrooms and onions and added sour cream after cooking for a thickening. We ate and I cleaned up the mess and headed upstairs to tackle my table runner, and I literally tackled and attacked the darn thing. After stretching and pulling, pushing, pinning, and cussing, I got the large blocks to fit together decently. Not perfect by any means. It does not lay perfectly flat but maybe my quilting will help that.

The biggest problem with this pattern is my choice of colors and fabric. I should have limited the number of different charm squares and the strips should be all the same fabric. This has been a learning lesson and I'm please with what I've learned. I am definitely going to make this again with different fabrics. I'm not down and out yet.


I made criss cross coasters with the left over small squares. This is a different take on the Criss Cross, I guess you might say they are criss cross "cross" coasters. These did not turn out too bad. I'm going to make them again using only two colors of fabric one color for the cross and another for the blocks.
If any one attempts this before I get around to it, please let me know and send pictures.

TGIF in about 5 minutes. The weekend will fly by. I have my stitching list ready for the weekend. I may stay up all night Friday night and sew......stitch my flannel PJ's. A twist on the old adage...make it today, wear it tonight. I'll make it tonight and wear it in the morning. I love an all nighter......

Book Sense and Quilting

I've been dabbling a little in quilting off and on over the past couple of years. Most of my quilting is tote bags and sweatshirt jackets. When I upgraded my 200 and got the BSR I thought I had the quilting bug, but it really never bit that hard. I've read every blog out there about quilting (OK, not really every blog but lots and lots of quilting blogs), watched PBS, Fons and Porter and America Sews, etc., joined lots of quilting groups, read magazines, bought several books, all about quilting. I've never taken an actual quilting class. So with all this book sense you would think....I can do it, I've got the knowledge......READ ON!

I have four packs of Moda Prairie Paisley charm squares and three Jelly Rolls. I made a tote with about twenty squares, so do the math, I have about 150 charm squares left. I decided I'd give a table runner a try. I starched the charms and jelly rolls, cut them diagonally and cut the strips down to size. Pieced the charms with the strips. Guess what, some of the squares don't match up. The charms are not all the exact same size. Look at the bottom of the picture and notice the two small squares are about 1/2 inch off. They won't match up. Boohoo, I'm aggravated. I need to cut some more charms and piece some more small squares. I need one more large block and then hopefully I can square up my blocks enough to stitch the large blocks together. These colors do not match my house. I started out with plans to make a small lap quilt for my RV. I have the red, and blue theme going on inside the RV. Almost immediately the charms did not cooperate, so I made an executive decision (sure sounds good) to change from a lap quilt to a table runner for the table in the RV. If I can't get the large squares to square up and match up, they will be potholders in a millisecond, I won't even have to think about this one. When I get finish, I either post pictures of a table runner or half dozen pot holders.
I dropped off my textile pictures at Hobby Lobby for framing after work this evening. They will be ready for pick up on Wednesday. I'm looking forward to seeing the finished project.
After I finish this table runner or potholders, depending on how it goes, I'm going to start on my flannel PJ bottoms and embroider T-shirt tops to match. I'll need these when we start camping, it'll be cold at night for the first couple of months. Don likes to keep the heat in the RV down low, and I freeze to death. I believe the BIG M is finally over.

Pictures

I spent Saturday working on my pictures for my sewing room. I completed two more, re-stitched one, and added new borders to the others. I think they are finally ready to frame. I wanted to embroider two more but I think I already have enough for a wall mural . I have a few other pictures that I plan on adding to the arrangement.

We went out to eat with friends at "Pies and Pints" and then later Saturday night I finished the other set of coasters that were already cut out. These little cross cut coaster are really fun to make. I keep telling myself, "you don't need any more coaster," or I'll make two dozen, just for the "fun of it". I used them with my coffee this morning. Sorry the pictures are really bad, I just can't get used to the new camera, I'm just about ready to go back to using the old Olympus.
We did not go skiing, and I really accomplished at lot around the house this weekend. I can't believe how fast the weekend passed. There won't be many more weekends and we'll be camping, the campground opens in 35 days.

Don is trying to find a good deal on airline tickets, I think we'll go to FL sometime in March. I'd like to visit with my parents and there are some really good deals on property, we need to try and find a good deal, buy something now, and have it for our retirement. That's if we can afford to retire.....our 401K is well, you know, I don't even like to think about it. And I really don't see it getting any better over the next four years! And that's if the government doesn't take it all in taxes.

Lots and Lots of Fun

My order arrived from Nancy's Notions. I wanted the sixth finger stiletto,(not pictured) also bought 3 yards of Birdseye Diaper Cloth, to make lint less dish towels and 3 yards of insul-bright to cover my pressing board, two sweatshirts to embroider, three t-shirts to embroider, a denim shirt to embroider and wear as a jacket, and a sweatshirt make over pattern and a t-shirt makeover pattern.(not pictured) It's amazing how fast I can order new supplies compared to the rate that I finish my new projects.
Tonight after I got home from Greenbrier county, Don and I had dinner out, and then I completed the coasters that I cut out last night. I made the simple cross cut coaster that were so popular a few months ago, I'm always behind. I have 4 more cut out to stitch together tomorrow.

I need to finish my embroidery pictures for the wall in my sewing room. It started out being 5 pictures but I keep finding stuff I want to embroider and frame. I said I wasn't going to show pictures of the designs until I have them framed. At the rate I'm going that will be spring. No, hopefully, they will be completely finished and hanging on the wall by next weekend. I can not deal with unfinished projects, it drives me insane. If I see its hopeless and I've lost my spirit and I'm not going to finish it....in the trash it goes or to someone that wants to finish it. Mostly it's filed in T.



I'll recover the stools in the kitchen this weekend and make new seat pillows for the chairs. This is a must do job rather than let us have fun. We bought new stools for the table and the fabric does not match the kitchen, and the cushions on the chairs need replaced. Hopefully by next week I'll have the other pictures embroidered and every one framed.

Hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend, It was 60 degrees in WV today, a good way to start the weekend. We may go to the ski slopes tomorrow with friends. I may spend my time in the lounge and let Don hit the slopes. I don't know if my ACL (knee) repair will allow me to ski this year. The screws in my knee are aggravating me. I always knew I had a screw loose some place and it finally surfaced LOL.

Table Cloth, Napkins, and Coasters

I found this tablecloth and napkins set today and it really reminded me of camping. I need to make this for our RV before the end of March. I have some blue fabric similar to this fabric and the pictures reminded me of my stash. I was planning on making quilted placemats with the fabric but I think I will make a tablecloth and put the rick rack around the edge. I always think of rick rack being so old fashion, something my mother would have added to my dresses or her aprons. But seeing it added to the napkins really adds character.

I like this quilted coaster set. I'll going to use the idea but add rubber sheeting fabric between the batting and the fabric to make the coasters more water proof. I purchased the rubber sheeting fabric last year to make a changing pad for my grandson and did not get around to the project. He's almost old enough to potty train, I don't think he needs the pads now. So I'm re-inventing a use for the rubber sheeting.

My new iron arrived last night. I bought the Digital Conair Iron with the Crafters Choice Auto Shut Off and a light. I'm sure I will love the choice of shutting off the Auto Shut Off, which I hate. As far as the light, I've never had an
iron with a headlight. I don't know if this is advantageous or not. I usually don't have too much trouble seeing when I iron, nor do I have a habit or ironing in the dark. After I test drive it I'll let you know.

TGIF! I have so much to do this weekend. I hope I can stay home the entire weekend. I love weekends when I do not leave the house from the time I get home from work on Friday until I go back on Monday morning. I usually get rested up and accomplish so much. I'd like to embroider my tote this weekend. We'll see.

Hope everyone is enjoying their Friday and looking forward to a good weekend. It will be a cold one in West Vifginia!

It's Possible

My sister-in-law just sent a picture of the tote she embroidered, so it is possible. Now this makes me bound and determined to get mine embroidered.

Toting Attitude

I've looked forward all day to working on my Market Tote this evening after work. So far it's not going well. I usually do not have trouble hooping anything, I hoop sweatshirts, can koozies, duffel bags, jeans, etc. For the life of me I cannot get this market tote hooped. I know how to do hoopless embroidery and I plan on using the technique with this tote but I cannot get a hoop to fit and then bring the bottom of the tote up out of the way. There's no way the mega hoop is working, so I settled for the large oval and I will adjust the size of the design or heaven forbid re-hoop.


The way I see it, I have three choices: 1. take the stitches out of the bottom of the tote so it will lay flat 2. buy the pattern and make a tote to fit the frame, I can embroider before I stitch the tote together 3. buy the new Bernina 830 or Happy Voyager so I have a bigger embroidery field. The practical side says "take the darn bottom out of the tote and quit complaining, just do it.

I had a bad day at work, didn't get a break all day, cooked homemade spaghetti for dinner (I still need eggs or chickens in the backyard before I can make the quiche), set up Don's new computer, and now I want to sew, not rip seams out. So much for the attitude. I'll just read my e-mail, I'm about 85 messages behind, drink a glass of wine, and I'll feel better, and then go to bed early. Why make sewing a chore, when it stresses me, it's time to quit. Tomorrow is another day!

Here is what the frame to the Market Tote looks like.