Not much stitching going on at my house this last week. I'm trying to get things organized and prepared for an upcoming trip to Texas to visit family. We will get to see parents....siblings....and DD!! I enjoy the visits, I just don't enjoy the driving.

Why do I do it?

Why do I always do it? I work in my sewing room for several days, pulling fabrics, cutting things out, and sewing. I get so into what I'm doing that I just don't have time to put things back in their proper place. After several days of doing this, I walk in my sewing room and realize....TODAY is the day! I can't stand the mess anymore. It has to be cleaned up because I simply can't function with all the clutter.

This morning just happens to be that kind of day. My sewing room is such a mess, it's time to stop and clean. I'm not going to share pictures because who really needs to see my mess. I should be ashamed of myself for letting it get this way. Hmmm! Or maybe not....because I had such fun making the mess in the first place.

The baby quilt and burp cloths went in the mail yesterday! One thing crossed off my to-do list.

I spent the past few days getting our tax stuff together for the accountant. Have I ever mentioned how much I dread this time of year??? If not.....then let me tell you I do! I don't know why because I actually use to work for a tax accountant, but that was BC....before children! I know how to keep myself organized and what the accountant will need. It's just so much time taken away from what I enjoy doing....stitching! After I finished at the post office, I stopped by the accountant and dropped things off. Item number 2 off the to-do list!

Since I had spent so much time on what I don't like doing.....I decided to take myself some place to simply touch fabric. My will power was kind of low, so I did buy some flannel.

I saw this cute cupcake print flannel and just couldn't leave it for someone else to have to buy. I have more burp pads to make, and I know one of the babies is a girl, so this print is perfect.

Last week I also stopped at my local thrift store. Many times my trip there is a look and leave stop, but this time I found several things. I have looked many times at some pretty china mugs at one of the local retail stores. The price they ask is $4.99 to $7.99 per mug. I found 4 of the exact ones I've looked at, and they were $0.99 each. I bought the 4 they had.
All 4 were in perfect condition! I also found some little ceramic plaques. These were $1.99. Apparently these were postage stamps back in the day when stamps were 29 cents.


I loved both of those books when I was a kid. I still have a copy of Little Women and I have it on DVD.

I also found a wool jacket that I am going to alter for DD. When she was in law school, we had to buy her a blazer and skirt that was suitable to wear in a courtroom. They were told to buy classic cut...no stylish detailing...and in navy, black or gray. When we finally found something fitting that criteria, the blazer alone cost $250. I've never spent that much for a clothing item. So, imagine my surprise when I found a gray wool blazer! It looks as if it has never been worn, it is from the same company as the one we bought....and I got this one for $5.99!!

I feel comfortable enough with my sewing skills that I can alter this to fit. Wish me luck! If I'm successful, imagine how much money I saved. I might just have to make a trip to LQS and spend some of the savings.

Sewing

I spent a little time at the sewing machine yesterday. I had visited several designer's blogs recently and found a free pattern offered that I wanted to try out. I thought this "Airplane Art Binder" would be a fun thing to make.

I saw it on Terry Atkinson's blog at www.terryatkinson.typepad.com When her blog page opens, look for her "How To" on the side bar. Click on that and you can find the pattern there. Her instructions were really well written and easy for me to follow. I did make a slight change by not sewing all the individual pockets for the art markers. I made just one pocket instead.
You see, I'm artistically challenged and struggle with drawing stick people....now writing or scribbling notes is another matter. My binder holds one of the legal pad jr. notepads. I can also see these as being a wonderful, quick gift to make. I think I'm going to be making one for my kitchen and one for my quilting bag.

It's Done!

Last night I finished sewing down the binding on the baby quilt I've been working on. Here it is....all finished. The Bear Paw is an older pattern, but this layout is one I just came up with on my own. I had planned to use 12 blocks, but that made the quilt much too large, so I used 4 blocks and then used some of the sub-units on the outside along with the half-square triangles in the corners.
This is the very first quilt that I have machine quilted. I am a hand quilter, but I felt this little quilt would need frequent washing and the machine quilting would probably be a better choice. I used flannel for the backing on this quilt. The dots matched the colors on the front so well.
However, I'm not sure I will use flannel when I make the next 2. I pin basted heavily and used my walking foot, but the backing seemed to want to creep and pucker. Therefore, I think the next 2 will have a regular cotton backing. I wanted the backing to feel cuddly. The flannel does that, but it is more difficult to work with.

I used varying length of the scraps to make my binding. I think that worked well, and I will do the same on the others. Using the small pieces is also the frugal thing to do....makes the most of my quilting $$.
You can see my binding a little better in the above photo.

Now I just have to wash the quilt and pack it for mailing. When I do pack it, I am including 5 burp pads that I made for this little guy. I looked at several different sites on the web and used some hints from each of them to come up with a burp cloth I liked. The basic pattern I used is from CraftAndFabricLinks.com under their free patterns section. Here's the 2 prints that will go in the box with the quilt. I hope the new mom and dad will find these little gifts useful. I know I certainly enjoyed sewing them.

For those of you who stop by my blog from time to time....you probably notice I've added a little statement on my sidebar at the top. I'd like to explain why I did that. Recently I saw a situation where a blogger went to another blog, took a picture without obtaining permission and then used it on his/her own blog. That is openly copyright violation. I just wanted to have a prominent reminder hoping to make folks think before they take what isn't theirs to take. I hope this doesn't offend anyone as I can assure you it wasn't meant to. I am generous and willing to share if asked. I am a firm believer in giving credit where credit is due and I try very hard to do that in my postings. I appreciate many of the quilters, designers, and companies who provide the patterns and supplies that I use when I do the things I love best....sew and quilt. I want to give credit to them for the things they share and produce, and I hope that it in some small way it might increase the sale of what they market. I also spent some time recently reading about copyright issues....and I was amazed at what I found when it comes to a blog. I didn't know that the blog owner could be responsible for comments left by others on their blog. With that in mind, I also decided to change my comments to be moderated before publishing. Did you also know that if you put up a post that has something that is a copyright violation....and then you take that item down.....it doesn't necessarily make the violation issue go away. And....if that copyright violation occurs on a blog that is a commercial or "for profit" blog, things could become even more sticky if someone goes after you in regards to that violation. If you've never read about copyright, you might want to Google that subject and read some articles on some of the reputable sites. It will either amaze you...or put you to sleep! I also went a step further in my quest for knowledge and asked my daughter, who took copyright and patent law, about the subject. She shared more than I ever wanted to know because she particularly loves the subject of copyright law. She tells me it is a very fast changing topic with lots of black, white and grey areas.

I like having a blog for myself and my friends and visitors. I try to keep my posts dedicated to what I'm working on and avoid controversial content......and I plan to continue doing things that way. I will continue to visit the blogs I enjoy and leave comments. I hope you will continue to visit mine.....and leave a comment now and again.

No pictures with this blog entry, but at least I'm managing to post today! That's a good thing.

7

That was the temperature at my house this morning and we have about 5 to 6 inches of snow on the ground. We were in the high 60's last week, and now this. But, it is Feb. and we still have snows in our area into March. I hate the big temperature swings though. Local weather says we may hit 70 this next week.

I haven't had a lot of time for sewing this last week. The baby quilt I showed in my last post is all machine quilted and 3 sides of the binding are stitched down. I plan to finish that today and get it in the mail this next week. The baby is due at the end of March. I'll post a picture when the binding is completely done and before I pack it for mailing. I have to get myself in gear because there are 2 more baby quilts to make. The next one is due in May. In addition to the baby quilts.....I have a niece getting married. Her gift will be embroidered tea towels and a nice check to buy something she needs. I need to get those towels done too because that wedding is the end of May.

Most of my sewing endeavours this last week have been of mending nature. Nothing exciting in doing that as far as I'm concerned. In fact, I would rather sew a whole new garment than mend one......I dislike mending that much. But, I am and have always been a frugal person....so I mend. I do let it pile up before I get around to actually working on it. I still have some slacks that I wear around the house that need new elastic in the waist and then the mending will be done for a long while....I hope. I love to wear things with elastic in the waist when I'm home working. Comfort is key to me as I grow older....both in clothing and shoes!

I also have a sick hubbie this weekend. Fever, cough, runny nose, sneezing.....you get the picture. I have been staying as far away from him as possible so maybe I will not catch those germs. There was a big pot of soup for dinner last night. He said that made him feel much better. He said this is going around big time at his workplace and most everyone there had a flu shot, but are still getting it. Hope I can avoid it!