Progress

Fall has arrived and I am still dealing with the slow progress of our kitchen, and my sewing room refresh.  I have been in somewhat of a mental slump for awhile now. I have been in this process for a year now and much of this time lag being my own fault.  The painter was in and out for 5 months.  Thought he would never get complete. I got the rooms back in place for the children to come home in July and I just could not bring myself to get started again after they left.  I finally got back on track in September.  I want to get complete before Christmas. Over the last several weekends we have gotten the tile backsplash done.  Very pleased!!

Here is the before

Here is the after

We still have a ways to go.  The drawer in the vacant hole....new floors....electrical sockets...floor mouldings.   But we are back on track.  Floors were scheduled for next week, but company called and pushed it out 2 more weeks. Maybe we can get more of our part complete before they arrive.

 

Sewing has been very lax while I have been in the household 'funk'.  Things were moved about so  much that of the time that I just could not get my mind and projects in order. 

 

I did finally complete myself a purse last week.  More of a backpack with added features.

I did the free hand quilting on the white design fabric and also created the black plaid with the chain stitch on the serger.



 

And I love the efficiency of a place for every thing, so I created the pockets for each thing. And the slots for credit cards.

 

Maybe this will be a positive step in getting me back on track to get sewing and completing the many projects I have on the table complete.

 

 

 

Happy Spring!

I have not written in quite some time.  I keep up with the blogs but just have not taken time to post.
I really have not been doing much sewing.  We started kitchen remodel back in the fall.  It is not complete.  Had to put it on hold until after Christmas and then one thing and another and we are not complete.  The painter is suppose to get started this week.

February brought us a new grandson, Thomas Clifton Scott.  This is our youngest son,Clifton's 3rd child.  Clifton is in Med school in the Grand Cayman Islands.  He will come home in mid-April and move the family to the island.

Our grandson, Julian has been very sick for several weeks.  Julian has CP and after 14 days of not being able to keep food, and being hospitalized, they finally determined that his shunt system was really not functioning correctly.  He was transferred from Columbus to Jackson and underwent 2 cranial surgeries in 2 days. He is doind much better and will go back to school on Monday.

My Mom, 83 yrs old, had a stroke on the day that we transferred Julian to Jackson.  She was hospitalized in Columbus for several days and last weekend as we were bring Julian home, we were transferring her to Jackson to Methodist Rehab Center.  She has been through extensive evaluation and we are very encouraged.  We will be bringing her home on Tuesday.  She can eat, is very mobile, but her severe weakness is communication and problem solving.  My sister has been living with Mom for  year due to the loss of her job.  She has been staying with Mom in Jackson and said that the communication is improving daily.  We are so excited.  Long way to go, but a fighter.  I feel comfortable that she will return to a somewhat independent woman.

With all of this, I am getting excited about starting some summer sewing.  I have a couple of Easter outfits cut out and will have to get very busy in the next week.  I have completed some applique for the new grandson, Thomas, and his oldest sister Nora Ruth.

I hope to get more sewing done now.

Quilted Placemats

Another WIP complete!  I have completed a practice project started 2 years ago.  I had gone to a class for free hand quilting and started a project to make some placemats, to practice my new learned skill.  I chose fabric that would go with the kitchen decor.  I completed the quilting almost a year ago but had never bound the mats.  Since I now have a pushing reason to learn how to bind off a quilt.....I found a nice tutorial video on the web from Leah Day(www.youtube.com/watch?v=wprg5vzkuGw) and the binding is complete.  I did a very tight meander free hand quilting, using some large fruit embroidery patterns from Embroidery Library.com.  The color scheme of yellow/red would have gone very well with the kitchen decor on the day the project began.

Sad to say, the kitchen  is in the throws of a major renovation and this color combination will probably not work any more.  I have not made the final choices for color.....but at this time, I am moving away from yellow.

The push to learn the quilt binding technique is shown below.  Also another WIP from 2 years ago.  Julie's quilt top is complete.  The backing has been put together and it is now time to quilt and bind.  I have practiced the techniqe of binding and I am now ready.

I am going to meet with Cheri Weber, quiltedbird, in Tupelo next week to discuss the quilting.  Plan is to have this ready for Christmas. I am very excited about it. 

I have take time off from sewing clothes for several months to complete many dream projects that I have started/planned over the years.  These are 2 of many WIP's moving off the shelf.  Will keep moving on to clean the shelves.  Have more thoughts in my head.....but will not allow new project starts until some are complete.

Surprise! Surprise!

I have, over the years, started many sweaters both in crochet and knitting but never completed them.
While we were in Texas in July, I purchased the yarn for a sweater and it is finally complete.  It was a pattern from Interweave Crochet, Spring 2011.

I hope that it will fit Ally, my 2 year old granddaughter.  Since I am not an accomplished needleworker, so whoever it fits, gets the sweater.

Maybe the next one will be more planned, and sized accordingly.

Still learning, but it was satisfying to complete a crochet project.

Surprise coming soon

I have not posted in a very long time.  Work has consumed my time for the whole year.  I took August to go back to a project started nearly 2 years ago.  This is the quilt for my daughter-in-law, Julie.

Here is the progress, I have just a little left to do on the borders and then I will begin to put the batting and backing together.

These are not very good pictures. but I am very excited about this project.  This is only the second quilt top to ever piece.  I have never quilted one, and I am not sure that I will get this done.  It is large enough to be a queen bed coverlet.  I am going to try something smaller on machine quilting before I attempt this.

Easter

Easter came and I did get the sewing completed on time.  It has been a push. Working has been long and arduous this spring.  And looks like there will not be a letup any time soon.  I have not had time to even read many of your post that I enjoy so much.

I will share some of the pictures and hopefully I can get back to posting more regularly.

Lola's was a Sew Beautiful pattern.  She selected the white fabric from the stash and the pattern from the drawer.  Angela(Mom) was not thrilled but said, "Nana see what you can find to highlight it and work your magic."  Below is what we have and I think everyone was well pleased.

Julian's was a pattern from an older Ottobre magazine.  If you haven't taken a look at those, you might be surprised.  They have some really nice, different patterns for little boys.  Something that is hard to find.

  He looked really "dapper" in his blue linen.

I did not make Nora Ruth and Allie's easter dresses but did monogram these little Just Blanks for them to wear to the Easter Egg Hunt and their church.

This is Allie and her dad Clif(my youngest)

Becky and Nora Ruth below, I think that Becky purchased the girl's dresses off of Etsy.  They were very cute little paint splash prints.

Lola and Julian with my Mom, with David, my hubby in the background.

I have made about 6 pairs of shorts for Nora and Allie out of scraps just for playtime.  I am going through my stash and anything that is large enough for shorts, the kids are getting.  Trying to use up the left overs before they get too large to use them.  I have a stack set aside for Lola and Julian that I will get busy on this week.

Hope you all had a great Easter and were able to celebrate our eternal hope with the ones you love.

Hooray!!

I must share with my friends the excitement we had today.  Many of you may not know that my grandson Julian has cerebral palsy.  He will be 5 years old on March 12.  He cannot walk unassisted and he has not been successful with knowing and being able to relate to others when he needs to potty.  Today he hit a large milestone in his development.  He made his first complete day at school, in "big boy" britches.  He did not wear a diaper! Little things like this are tremendous development advances.  Yea!! Julian.

Now on to sewing projects.  January and February, I designated to do something different other than clothes for the grandchildren.  I seem to have a hard time focusing on a project to completion.  I changed from the quilt for Julie to a quilt for me.  This was to be a "quick" project.  But, I never do anything simple, I can always add more.

This quilt is quilted as you go.  The circles are put together in this order:
layer 1 is the batting,                      
                         
Layer 2 is the quilt back place face out.

layer 3 is the quilt front turned face down on the back.

Sew the complete circle, then cut a slit in the front fabric to turn the circle.

I am running an embroidery pattern in the center of each circle, using the same thread both upper and bobbin threads.  Therefore the quilt will be reversible.

Then you begin to sew the circled together.

The ears that fold back will be tacked down and as 4 circles are connected a flower design will form.  I do have all the circles sewn, just have not completed the embroidery.

My next project was to tackle making a shirt for myself.  I have not been successful making me clothes in 15 years.  I chose a NEW Look Pattern that has some fullness, therefore I just need to fit the shoulders and underarms now and will deal with the hipline on other things when I get this mastered again.

The fabric was from the existhing stash, a soft poly-cotton plaid.
The yoke is cut on the bias, pleated giving a little change in the pattern.

I am getting close to fitting time.

If this turns out wearable, I will model for you.

On to the machine for progress.