March - New Month

I am so very glad to have February behind me.  Very emotional month as it was the first of some special occasions with out my mom.  My birthday, the day they got the call that they were getting me, the day they travelled to San Antonio and picked me up. 

Also, I have been so sick through most of February that I don't even remember most of  it.  Just when I am finally feeling better, the women's friend from heck has decided to visit with a vengeance.  Oh well if it isn't one thing it's another.

Now hubby has the sinus/head bug going again in full force this morning.  It started yesterday, but has really got him knocked down today as well.  I am praying that he keeps it to himself this time.

On a good note, I was actually able to get a little work done this past week.  Two quilts for the church quilt ministry project, need to tie knots but will be doing that while I watch new series The Bible on the history channel tonight.  We have Direct TV and we will get the first showing tonight at 5:00pm pacific time.  I think it will be very interesting to watch as it is reported to be made more for scriptural accuracy than for Hollywood ratings.  We will see.  Roma Downey of Touched By an Angel television series fame and her husband are producing it.  Also got a UFO project completely finished.  Have three  other projects basted, need quilted and bindings.  One project finished the quilting just need to find fabric for binding, then bind and finish. 

Some other irons in the fire, bought EQStitch from Electric Quilt today.  It is rumored to be able to digitize drawings from EQ 7 for machine embroidery, including applique as well.  I can't wait to see what it will do with my embroidery machine.  I also bought Block Base, have not played with it much, but have looked through it enough to know it will be great support for my EQ 7 program.  Still going through the lessons with EQ 7, but so far have been understanding it so on the positive side with all that. 

Hope to do a little crocheting this week as well.  I just never know how I am going to feel, physically, and what I will be able to do while Mr. M is here.  He is really starting to show a lot of personality these days.

Still haven't been able to rearrange my living room furniture, but now have hubby on board with the whole idea.  I have to bring him along in stages with the plans to the house.  A lot of remodeling to do.  Now, this is just our little secret, but am secretly plotting the remodel jobs in such a way that will in the end, free up some space in the sewing room for a quilting frame set up.  Found what I want, just have to decide on which brand of machine to go with it, and...have to wait until all the remodel is completed to see just how much space will be available.  I have decided against the plan of turning oldest daughter's (Miss Zebra) room into more sewing room when she moves out.  For one, it will be at the very least two years before that happens...hoping it will be longer.  Also, have decided to keep it as a bedroom, but will be kind of turning it in to a play room for the grand babies.  Mr. M will be close to four by that time and the newest arrival (expected to arrive in July) will be two.  I can do with out a big long arm quilter a while to make room for them.  Also, the room isn't really big enough for a large set up.

Have a great day and come visit again soon.

Moving Along

Today has been quite eventful.  First of all, I actually got a full nights sleep.  That in itself is cause for celebration.  The weather finally warmed back up to a normal temp for a change.  It was so nice to be able to turn off the heater and open up the windows and doors and get some fresh air in the house. I do need to back up a moment, and tell you a little bit about yesterday.

A while back, I had made a bargain with my daughter-in-law.  She was wanting a sectional, I was wanting just a couch and chair.  See, I have a sectional.  I took my hubby to the furniture store to buy a chair with an ottoman, we came home with a sectional.  One with cup holders for watching movies.  He never once sat in the section that had cup holders.  The set came with a free recliner, his chair.  At any rate, my daughter-in-law had a couch with a big oversized chair and matching ottoman.  I have always loved it.  Even been a little envious of it.  That was always where I managed to sit when we would visit.  So, we traded living room furniture.  She got her sectional, I got my couch and chair.  I am however glad that I did not buy a couch and chair, it does not fit the way I thought it would, but it actually works for me.  Now I have to fight my youngest daughter Miss Zebra for it, but I will win out.  Oh I know I will win out.  Today we made the actual trade.  I now have a comfy chair to sit in so maybe I will just spend a little more time in the living room with the rest of the family.  At least now I have a chair I can do hand work in.

Naturally, while the furniture was gone, they took ours to the kids house first, I took advantage of the empty floor and cleaned the fool out of it.  Cleaned the walls down, window sill out, mopped the floor and polished and oiled the wooden end tables and book shelf.   Even cleaned a couple of windows inside and out. I will be heading out to the store tomorrow for sure to replenish some cleaning supplies and do a little more cleaning tomorrow.  Miss Zebra has a school holiday for King's birthday so she is going to watch Mr. M while I get a few things done. Oh, and I get to pick up my new sewing machine.  It arrived yesterday.

Speaking of yesterday, I took a quilt class for a Lone Star quilt yesterday as well.  I posted some photos and all about the class by clicking on quilt to see the new blog.  I have been doing a little tweaking to the blog, was going pretty good until suddenly parts of the blog is not working.  However, you can click on the tabs at the top of the page and go to the new parts.  It is crazy, you have no idea what I am having to go through to add a new post now.  I just don't understand it.  I just wanted to kind of separate the main interest a bit.  A tab for quilting, embroidery and housekeeping.  Will see how it works out, guess I can always delete them and go back to the old set up.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit, please come back often.  I am off to do a little sewing and go get a snack.

Work, Work, Work...So I Can Sew, Embroidery, Crochet

I has been a few days since I posted, but I have been really busy.  Honestly, I have.

Working in the quilt/craft room.  I really need a new name...Diva Den...no, I am not a diva.  Maybe Needle Nook...not to sure about that.  Must think about that a bit more.  At any way, here are some before photos.

So much stuff.  Not sure what do with all of it.  But I figured it all out.  I even have the room divided.  Cross stitch in one corner, sewing in another corner.  Supplies stored close to each.  Just wish I could have gotten my stash closer to the sewing table, but that just couldn't work out.  For a number of reasons, the way the furniture functions (direction doors open and size) mainly, but the biggest reason is I had to put things in a certain location to make it all opposite of the way it was.  I couldn't stand to have the rocking chair in the same corner as it was when Mom was staying here.

And...drum roll please... really, it needs a drum roll in my opinion.  Here are the after photos.

This is a stained glass sign that my dad made.  It hung in there travel trailer for many years and traveled to many places with them.  My mom loved this sign, because dad made it for her.  The red horse is because Dad worked for Mobil their entire marriage.

Okay, here is the first wall.  TV entertainment center has a cabinet on the end that opens out.  It is full of my Cricut cartridges and Sizzix dies.  The other end has a glass door.  All my embroidery supplies are in there.  Floss, embellishments, machine embroidery thread, laces and trims.  The shelves have all sewing supplies, current quilt projects and such.

Computer desk, cross stitch corner.  Mom's little rocker, which does not fit me well at all. It is very small, but of course it is about 60 years old and she was much smaller than me.  I will eventually get rid of it, but at the moment it is a sentimental thing.  It was always in her home, she loved it because she rocked both her babies in it.  Lamps for better hand stitching of course, then little drawer sets have all the office stuff.  You know, markers, pens, pencils, tablets, mailing supplies, label maker and such.  The very top shelf has little bins of various specialty yarns and my Cricut cutter.

My new sewing table.  The metal file cabinet sits in the corner, out of the way but easy to get to.  It has one drawer full of recipe and menu plan files, the other drawer if full of various files that have to do with quilting, crochet, embroidery, swaps and challenges.  I also store my cutting squares and rulers in that drawer.  Now, the long curtains are to replace the closet doors.  This makes it so much easier to get in the closet.  This is where all the good stuff and bulky stuff is now housed.  Shelves that hold bins of crochet projects, fabric for garment construction, UFO quilt projects, a cool round spinning shoe and purse carrier that is perfect for holding yarn.  Small skeins fit in the shoe pockets and the one pounders fit perfectly in the center opening that is actually for the purses.  Drawers of sewing patterns, sewing supplies, another set of drawers has quilt projects, mostly block sets or flimsy type (which I believe is the term given to a top that has been completed.  My AccuQuilt Go cutter and the plastic container I bought that holds all the dies and cutting mats perfectly are also in there.  On, and my box with the dressmaker's form is in it's own spot as well.  I made the curtains yesterday, but had the wrong rod to hang them on.  The cat gets a kick out of playing with the bottoms of the curtains.  I am not sure I like the fabric though.  It looked good on the bolt, cost $2 a yard, but it reads very busy in appearance.  But they are made and hanging.

Finally, my stash.  All folded and sorted by color.  Except the top two shelves, sorted more by novelty print.  Stack for juvenile boy and for girl, older themed too.  The new Brother 770 embroidery machine sits on the little chest or cabinet.  Another piece that was my mom's.  The cabinets hold cross stitch charts and clip boards and all the college team fabric I bought while in Texas.  Both are Texas teams.

 

Now that everything is in it's own special place and cleaned up, and the curtains are made, I can get started on my most immediate quilt projects.  I need to finish some crazy quilt blocks for a challenge and a swap, then a couple of throw size quilts for my church quilt ministry's project of quilts for the orphanage we kind of sponsor.  Also am making a quilt for my youngest son's girl friend.  I will post the computer generated rendering of what that should look like.  I am starting to understand my EQ 7 software a little bit more each time I use it, so figure these charity quilts are a great learning lesson for finding and using old quilt patterns and techniques.

I did manage to get the window topper completed this evening.  Let me tell you about my other little event of the day.

Went out early, in the freezing cold weather, to Walmart to pick up the correct rod to hang the closet curtains on, a rod for the window topper, fabric for a quilt class I am taking this Saturday to match the living room/dining area/kitchen window treatments that I made several years ago.  Well I added some longer panels to the dining area windows this past summer, they are west facing so I wanted to block a little more light.  Decided to make the quilt class project match the living room and will put it on the couch.  It is a Lonestar variation. Okay, back to the point.  At any rate, I was in Walmart and had a PSVT attack.  Really bad one, lasted longer and more painful than I had ever had.  I was too embarrassed to let them call me an ambulance, so I suffered and prayed that I would not pass out in the store.  When I realized that I would have to end up going to the ER, I had to go buy a package of pads so I could have some with me.  Another stupid moment, shopping with out being prepared.  At any rate, I finished my purchase, sat down for a few minutes and then managed to get to the car.

I had to call an ambulance to pick me up from the parking lot.  SOOOOO totally embarrassing, but by that point the pain was so intense, dizziness and nausea so strong that I just didn't care any more.  Well, I had been battling the episode already for about 20 - 30 minutes before giving in and admitting I had to have some help just to get some relief.  When the EMT checked me, my heart rate was only 214.  They immediately gave me medicine to bring it down, which didn't work so followed that up with a double dose.  Understand, that this medicine, when administered, tightens the chest as if in a huge vice grip.  Off to the ER we went to make sure I wasn't having a stroke or anything else.  I have to call in the morning to have a follow up visit with my primary doctor.  I swear I think it caused a mini stroke because I am having trouble remembering some things one side of my mouth now has a bit of droop to it.

Needless to say, I didn't get anything much accomplished today.  Wasn't even able to keep the grand baby and I really feel bad about that.

Well, I am off to take a warm bath and then to bed.  Tomorrow is another day and now that I am a day behind, I really need to hit two fabric shops and a local quilt shop tomorrow to pick up some fabric that son's girlfriend picked out so that I can have it on hand to work on her quilt.  Also need a coordinating fabric for the Lonestar project to use on the insets.  The quilt is shaped kind of like a stop sign.

Thank you for stopping in for a visit, please come again soon.

Year is Almost Over.

Well, the year is almost behind us.  I am sure looking forward to the new one.

This is my new profile photo.

I have joined lots of online challenges with the intention of kick starting my crafting gear in to drive once again.  Gives me a reason to work on something, accountability in a way as well.  I am however determined to get some projects finished, some new ones started and finished.

Not that I have come up with a plan...for lack of better wording...I am on fire to get going.  I now know that while I can do a wide variety of crafts, and do them fairly well, I am going to concentrate on just the few that I really love.  I found that I was so busy deciding what to make, and time spent buying all the supplies and such that I would need to work those crafts, that I wasn't getting anything done.  Of course, my mom's illness, taking care of her, dealing with her death and trying to get my house back in order while going through her personal belongings all while carrying for my grand baby while they work, could also be the reason as well.  At any rate, I am going to attempt to sell off a lot of things after the first of the year, both unused and unneeded supplies as well as Mom's things that are left.

I have learned that my crafting is a gift from God, so I want to honor that gift by giving back.  I do a lot of charity giving in the way of my quilting and crocheting.  I want to expand that this year.  I have set personal challenges in these areas.

Quilting - finish projects that are in various stages of completion, X amount of quilts to be donated to charity causes, a few new projects that will be gifts.

Crocheting - finish projects that are in various stages of completion, X amount of crocheted items to be donated, some new items that will be gifts.

Embroidery - this is a broad category as it includes machine embroidery, hand embroidery and counted cross stitch.  The embroidery is not project specific, but used in the quilting projects.  Either as the center of blocks or embellishment for blocks.  The counted cross stitch is something that I enjoy, but do only for myself.  I am sure however that it will some how be used or incorporated in to the charity items in some form or fashion though, but most of my kits are all planned to be framed and hung in my home as wall art.

That being said, I went on a huge spending spree.  I went a little crazy when my oldest daughter that I am currently visiting took me to Hobby Lobby.  OH HOW I MISS that store, we don't have one where I live.  I also went a little nuts at the local Walmart, buying mostly fabric that has University of Texas theme to it.  I can't get that at home either unless I mail order (or online order I guess it should be called now days).  We also went to a wonderful antique mall and I was just lost in all the booths.  I came out of there with really more than I should have, but some wonderful bargains.  Once decanter that my son had me buy we paid $40 for and was listed on eBay for $169.  I found a wonderful signed limited print for $35 and that booth was 20% off, framed and all.  Online, the artist is selling her limited prints of that particular picture for $68 with no frame.  I found some other great treasures as well, but will post more about them with photos when I get home.

That's it for now.  Thanks for stopping by and come back soon.

Wacky Wednesday!

Just no other way to describe today, just wacky.

First of all, I met a very nice young lady today.  She lives in the next town over, up on the mountain. She has her hands full, one boy is two years old, the other is 6 months old.  She listed an item on Craig's list that I bought.  It is a counted cross stitch kit for a Christmas stocking.  She had started it, but only got a little bit of the design stitched.  She did a good job, just didn't have time with the two kids to work on anything.  I told her I can totally relate.  The kit came with 28 count cloth, which I really don't like working with, so am thinking that I may just start over and use 14 count cloth.  It shouldn't change the size of the stocking since I would only be crossing on square instead of two like the higher count cloth.  Although the directions don't say anything about going over two threads or what ever you call it.  It may just end up being a miniature, but I am taking the chance.

I have been working like crazy getting my sewing room all organized back up from being packed up for a while.  I have the last of the furniture I am keeping from my mom in place now.  Just need to have hubby hang the mirror that goes with the little chest.  Have quite a few things to get hung on the walls as a matter of fact.  He did finally get my shelf attached to the wall in the living room.

Now I will just have to get a new curtain rod that is a little longer to go through the shelf.  You can't really tell from the photo, but my dad cut circles in the end pieces and a support in the middle so I could hang a curtain rod through it.  My previous house had a huge double window in the dining area.  Dad had made similar smaller shelves for me to use to hang quilts so I asked him to make a larger one that I could hang a curtain on.  He added a groove the whole length of the shelf as well so I could stand up plates to display them.  We brought the shelf with us to this house.  My dad worked hard to hang it in my daughter's room for an extra shelf to put toys on.  I had a large Sunbonnet Sue quilt hanging from it that my aunt had made for my oldest daughter.  Then we took the shelf down to repaint and moved daughter to another room.  I gave the quilt to my oldest daughter since it was hers.  Now the shelf is hanging in the living room.  The figures sitting on the shelf are all figures I had painted and given to my dad on different birthday's, father's day and such.  When mom moved out here, they came back to me.  My dad loved them.

This is a close up of the mountain man and his pack horse.  I added real feathers to his hat and horse's bridle and pack.  Dad found that dog somewhere and put him with it so I left him there too.  Dad also had some little stones around them but I didn't keep them.  My dad was very good with his hands and he built a wooden shelf each time he received one and they all hung in a cluster in my parent's living room.

Now, you all read about Miss Zebra, my youngest daughter.  Thought I would let you see what she looks like.

This was taken right before her ice skate performance this past week end.  She looked so festive, but unfortunately she fell during her routine and hit her hip hard.  It wasn't a competition thankfully, but she was still rather embarrassed and still sore.

This is her and Mr. M (my youngest grand son that I am day care for)

Can you tell she has a thing for zebra design.  Anything zebra.  I have loaded her up with zebra designed things for Christmas.  Zebra designed head band, hat, tank top, shoes, make up bags, coffee mug (hot cocoa in her case) even found a pair of footed pajamas that are zebra print with zebra heads on the feet.  Yes, footed, as in baby footed jammies.  Seems to be all the rage in the younger set. She is in the car and tells me, "by the way...hint, hint, wink, wink, Target has footed zebra pajamas.  I will acted surprised if you get them for me."  Isn't she so sweet?  Yeah right.  I had not been in a Target store in so long, I had no idea what all they have started carrying.  I saw a lovely little dress for Miss Zebra, wasn't zebra print but it was a purple that she would like.  I was in utter shock when I looked at it closer.  It was made from all cotton fabric, not the best quality in my opinion either.  They wanted $99.99 for it.  All cotton, would have to iron it every time she turned around, and a hundred dollars?  Well, it did have the Neiman Marcus name on it.  Didn't even know they had their own brand of things much less that Target would be carrying it. I did find a nice little corduroy jacket for her, purple with faux fur trim around the hood.

It just kind of worked out so that I haven't had Mr. M this week until today.  I was able to get quite a bit done around here.  Finished up my Christmas shopping, more about that in a bit.  I finally got the last few pieces of furniture in my sewing room that I want to keep that was mom's.  That includes her rocker, entertainment center (that has glass door and end cabinet) little chest and a matching wall mirror that will hang over it.  AND...everything is now where I can find it so I am ready to start sewing, embroidering and crocheting up a storm in 2013. I AM READY FOR THIS YEAR TO BE OVER.  I have inventoried my thread, have it all sorted and ready to go.  I will have to buy some more as I get started using it, but thankfully most of my projects are kits which come with the thread...and cloth and needles. I have also, after hearing that some others on my groups do it, made a list of all my kits and charts.  To make myself seem totally organized, I also made a list of UFO's, which is only down to one for cross stitching, since the other two cross stitch projects got tossed.  They will become a new start in 2013.  Made a list of projects to start as well.  You see, crazy me joined this crazy insane challenge that challenges each person to start a new project each day from Jan. 1 until Jan. 15.  That will be 15 UFO's to work on through the year.  If that isn't insane enough, a group of us are doing a dual challenge.  Not only are doing a new start for each day through the 15th, we are doing it through Jan. 31.  If that hasn't hit you, that will be 31 new UFO projects.  Which technically will not be a UFO unless I quit working on it.  So that will actually be 31 new WIP projects.  Works In Progress.  That is a big challenge for me as it drives me crazy to not finish up a project right away.

Speaking of work in progress, the nativity is actually starting to show a little structure.  Slowly, very slowly.  Now this is my only actual UFO as I started this back in like 1998 or so.  I really did not stitch this very logically, as at the moment I am stitching 3 in light peach, 5 in dark peach, 6 in pale brown, 9 in grey, 5 in light taupe...well you get the idea.  About ten different colors that are too far apart from the next place to use that color to park the thread.  This is the center of the design, big mistake on this project.  I will be able to roll it either way on the scrolls to a whole new set of the design.  You see, I had put the center of the cloth in a hoop, you can still see a little of the coloration from it to your left.  I started out with the brilliant idea to just do all stitches of one color all over the design area in the frame.  OH THAT WAS A MISTAKE.  I started squaring off, for lack of a better word, along the right side.  Line by line, filling in what I had already done.  I should have done that to start with.  I am right on track with the line at a time, but am finding that the little stray areas I had already completed are not always in their correct spot.  Frustrating, time wise, but easy to fix so have been correcting as I go.  I am learning a lot with this piece so that is the good thing.  It is the starting and ending of threads for each of the like thirty million shades for the shadowing effect that is driving me crazy.  I mean really, there is literally grey, then very dark taupe, dark taupe, medium taupe, light taupe, very light taupe and of course pale taupe.  All just a few stitches of each on either side of the that part of the design, then not used until another section of the design.  Then you have the same with the yellow, brown, blue, teal.  Well, you get the picture.

Yes, I am going to be thinking over the stitching process a bit more with the next projects I undertake.  Also, I have learned about gridding.  Will be doing this with all the larger projects for sure.  Also, some one suggested making copies of the chart before I start, enlarging them.  Now, I am not savvy enough in computer to understand the first thing about enlarging as described to me by one sweet group member, she explained how to do it in Adobe.  But as the saying goes, there are more ways than one to skin a cat.  I scanned a chart, cropped the scan to just a few lines over half the chart, then printed it out as a full sheet.  Then, cropped the other half picking up few extra lines and did the same way.  It turned out well. I have the same few lines of the chart on both charts to line up so I am on the correct row when I change pages.  OH MY has this been a saving of time and eye strain with this nativity project.  In fact, I have already done this with my next project I plan to start.

I am trying out the notebook plastic floss holder system.  I like the ease of having it all together.  I made the copies of the chart and they are in a pocket in the back of the notebook.  The front of the notebook has a clear pocket for the cover and I placed the book in there.  What I didn't like was how easy the bobbin's fall out of their assigned spot. I know it seems I am all over the board with my organization of things, but am really looking at what will work for me. Also looking at what is readily available for me as well.

I am in the process of listing my quilt projects in the same way.  While I was going through the boxes of everything I had stored while the sewing room was down, I have found quite a stack of UFO projects that will be top on my list of finishing.  They are all sizes and in different states of completion. About 98% of my quilts are for charity so to have so many unfinished is just totally unacceptable to my heart.  Our church has a quilt ministry that I am a part of.  Not as active as I should be, but no one's fault but my own.  Long story...for another time. At any rate, one of the projects is to make some quilts for an orphanage in Kharakastan. Some men from our congregation went there last summer to build a play ground for them.  Those men felt bad for the children's lack of bedding and ask if our group would make some simple quilts but colorful.  We are doing simple, 6 1/2 inch squares, 7 squares across and 10 squares down.  Tied for quilting. Scrap squares for the tops.  The brighter the fabric the better.  I am really looking forward to starting on this project. 

In fact I even bought a die for my AccuQuilt Go that cuts 6 1/2 inch squares.  Shhh....we won't talk about all the other dies I bought though.  I just ordered a new one today, of a little car. Can't wait to use them though, tumbler's block and apple core as well as Sunbonnet Sue.  So looking forward to actually cutting and sewing once again.  The group also makes baptism quilts, which I hope to work on.  I plan to push myself really hard to complete the UFO's in my closet and then I will start and complete at least 4 quilts a month.  These will be crib size.  I love to quilt and I think that getting back to it will be just the shot in the arm I need.  Of course I will make a few quilts for family.  Not many as they all have one already.

Also on my list to do is to learn to use my EQ 7 and PC Stitch 10 software.  After the first, I am also opening an Etsy store to sell of some things.  Mostly a lot of paper craft products and supplies.  I don't like it, have way too much of those things.  That being said, there are some of things I just can't give up.  Like my Cricut and Sizzix.  I have figured out that I will use them from time to time, cannot get near what I spent on all of it, don't want to chance finding that I need to replace it at some point.

But here's the thing.  Crocheting is a nice look, and while most find it relaxing it makes me a nervous wreck. But, it is portable so that it can be carried most anywhere I go, and it is quiet so I can work on it when everyone else is trying to sleep.  Same with counted cross stitch or hand embroidery.  While a little more difficult to take camping or such, can take it with me and it is quiet.  Unless I am cursing the chart or myself for loosing stitches, adding stitches or just plain putting them in the wrong spot. Like I said, I love to make quilts, but with the early to bed hubby I have, I try to not run the machine once he has gone to sleep.  That being said, I have purposely laid out my new sewing room with that in mind by putting the sewing machine and the sewing cabinet it sits on completely across the room on the total opposite corner so that it won't bump on the walls.  I can close the door some, but it is easier to close the bedroom door.  Plus, the later solves the problem of the cat showing up in our bed.  The hardest thing I am having to figure out is how to do anything with a toddler under foot.  I love taking care of him, but by the time he gets picked up, have the evening meal, there is a very thin window of time before some people hit the sack.  So, the plan is to get as much done with the machines as possible when I can and then build up a pile of hand work.

If I can make several tops at a time, then sandwich them, say once a week, then quilt them and sew bindings on over a week end when I have no toddler.  I may get something done.  I so badly want to just chuck everything around me and just start working on something, anything, everything, but it is just too close to Christmas and our trip to see family in Texas.  BUT...when I get back, get all of Christmas put away, I am doing a few things for me.  One of those is attempting fitness boot camp.  It may end up killing me, but I am up for the challenge.  Our church has a private school and one of the students mother is teaching the classes...for free.  It sounds ambitious but I have to make some changes in my life or go insane.

Emotionally, I was doing quite well until yesterday.  Hubby caught the delivery truck dropping off, which of course he would being that they can't come during the day.  No...they have make their drop, knock, run visits at 8:00 at night?  What was worse, was hubby yelling at me for buying him a gift.  Yelling at me.  Now understand, I have used my little inheritance monies to buy some gifts with some thought to it for him.  It's not like I am breaking us for this.  HOLY SMOKES, I can just imagine what he is going to do when he sees what else is under the tree for him. It is just really hard with out my mom.  I so want to talk to her, show things, I just miss her.  I know this will pass, time heals all wounds and such.  But it is just still really raw right now.

Okay, I promise to keep my post shorter from now on.  Thanks for hanging in there and come back again.

Busy Day.

So...have laundry going.  At least enough to make hubby think I have done house work today.  Will be fixing spaghetti and meatballs for supper, unless that makes hubby take us to grab a burger.  Miss Zebra has her Christmas band concert tonight that we have to go to.  She actually requested that we come to it.  Mr. M is in a mood today, so he needs a little extra attention.  Fortunately, Miss Zebra is home today to help.

I stayed up way to late last night crocheting a scarf out of this new Sashay yarn made by Red Heart.

It comes looking like this.  This color is called Mombo. Rich colors that are berry, navy, olive green and magenta, all blending together.

It opens up to look like this.  A mesh, net style. Reminds me of the fish net hose I use to wear in my younger days.  The bottom edge of the mesh is wider with a metallic thread that runs through it.  I had never seen this yarn before, but found it on some posting somewhere, talking about the great scarves it makes.  I posted a photo of the scarf to my FB page and my oldest daughter Mrs. S promptly posted that there was several shades of the yarn with, and I quote, "rich hues that flow together" and she hinted that she would like some.

Like the loving mom that I am, I went online to search for patterns.  Apparently, this yarn is better used for knitting.  Which I can't do.  However, I did find some crochet ones.  I talked to a lady at JoAnn's who had used the yarn, she knits of course, but she was very helpful.  She suggested going on YouTube.  Which I did.  The few videos I watched had a little different crochet technique, but it seemed easy enough. One lady stated that the scarf would only take less than one skein and about 30 minutes to work up.  Another lady stated one skein would have yarn left over and only takes about 30 minutes to make if you are used to working with it, about an hour if you haven't.  She said the hardest part of making a scarf was pulling the thread out as you crocheted.

So...here is the finished scarf.  Pulling that yarn apart, or stretching it out, as you work it is a bugger.  The bottom edge, as I said, is a wider edge with a silver metallic thread running through it.  The top edge of this mesh yarn is narrower and that is the edge that you work with.  For the first time to work with this yarn it took way more than an hour.  Maybe I am slow stitching, but here's the thing, if you loose your stitch, it all comes out.  This yarn in my opinion is a real pain in the ass to work with and I would never become one of those people that makes them to sell.  I would charge way too much for them because I hate working with it.  However, that being said, this scarf will go to Mrs. S and I have another skein in a different color to make for her as well.  I will say, that I did have quite a bit of yarn left over and I made it longer than the one shown on YouTube.  I also have to admit, that after I dropped the stitch and had to start over...three times...I did hit a groove in working with the stuff.  I will say this as a warning.  Do not start this project unless you have a couple of hours to work it.  It is not like regular crocheting where you can just pick up where you left off.  I mean you can, but only if you have a safe place to store it that your hook won't come out.  Also, I would suggest using a bamboo handled hook.  The handle helped immensely in keeping the thread on.

I bought a wireless keyboard and wireless mouse to go with my new computer today.  LOVING them.  I am starting to get the hang of the Windows 8 thing as well and it is growing on me.  I was upset that I had some how lost my scanner, on every computer, but this morning I had an update waiting to be installed for my printer series and it seems that it is working now.  OH YEAH!  This is a big deal to me because I just purchased EQ7 quilting software program (rather pricey but I did get a good deal on it over on the Quilt in a Day site.  The main reason I bought this particular version of EQ7 is the capability of scanning my fabric to fill in the block in the quilt design.  That way I can see how it looks before I even cut it.

Speaking of awesome quilts.  Take a look at this Pinterest site. I love it when I can combine my hobbies into one project.  Like using embroidery on a crazy quilt. Well this quilt is a little different in that it is not your traditional crazy quilt that is built from odd shapes of fabric sewn together.  This quilt is what is known as an apple core pattern.  Very traditional, considered a charm quilt, dates back to the late 1800's I believe (late 19th century).  Victorian era ladies would collect charms of fabric, buttons and pins and such.  At any rate, this quilt is a great example of a traditional pattern, embroidery embellishment, and...it happens to be a die I just purchased for my AccuQuilt cutter. 

I cannot wait to get through the holidays so I can actually start working on something.  I added the last pieces of furniture to my craft room.

This is my mom's little rocker that she was so attached to.  She didn't use much, as she preferred the comfort of her Lazy Boy, but my parents bought this rocker in 1951 when they adopted my older brother.  Mom always talked about how she rocked her babies in this chair.  My brother and I were adopted, not blood related, but we were related in a loving family.  At any rate, while it is not the most comfortable chair to kick back in, it does fit the space perfectly. 

It is harder in some ways, easier in others, than I expected getting through the holidays with out mom.  They say the first ones are the hardest.  I know I am missing her terribly.  Christmas was her favorite time of year.  All the church services, celebrating Christ's birth.  Family getting together for gifts on Christmas eve and then again on Christmas Day for a huge meal.  It was just always on Christmas.  Growing up was my brother and I with mom and dad.  We never went anywhere for Christmas, never had anyone visit.  I think earlier, before I came along, there was Christmas with one uncle and his family and my granny (dad's mom) but I only know of it from home movies.  I don't ever remember it that way...and I do have a superb memory for that kind of thing.  Now my kids always had several Christmas times.  One with just us, then one with my parents, and one with hubby's parents.  I know I just want to make it through the holidays with out falling apart and that is getting harder each day.  I want to get past the holidays, get all the decorations packed away and get on with life and working on things. 

Speaking of which.

Update on the Nativity.  I have finally made the decision to start another cross stitch project (that is smaller) and quite pushing myself to finish the Nativity.  Now that I realize I will never finish it for this year. 

I hope hubby never finds out how much I have spent on quilting/stitching supplies on eBay. LOL  I am now feeling better about my stashes though.  Plenty of kits, plenty of patterns, plenty of thread (since I won some large lots of embroidery thread on eBay) and enough quilt fabric to at least plan a quilt.  I think also, after the first I will start selling off some of my paper craft supplies (rubber stamps, punches, papers) to feed the kitty so to speak.

Speaking of kitty.

She likes mom's rocker too.  I didn't realize when we took her in how much comfort it would be to have her around.

Oh...and also speaking of feeding the kitty.

Here is my change kitty (on the left) that is fed by all the change I find around the house.  The other decorative jar is what my mom used to keep cotton balls in.  I am going to use it for a TUSAL jar.  Found out about this on some blogs I read.  It stands for Totally Useless Stitch Along.  All the bits and pieces from cross stitch (ends and frogging) goes in the jar and I post a photo of the jar each new moon.  I always keep a baggy taped to the sewing table when I do machine embroidery.  I have used all those little pieces in other projects. I guess you can see one of my sets of machine embroidery thread in the background.  I only have three. LOL

This is a free standing lace cross that I stitched out on my embroidery machine a while back.  All the various colors you see in it was done by using two layers of tulle and placing the cut threads I collected between them then stitching out the design.  Oh I hope I can find those files on a computer somewhere in this house when I get ready to start doing some machine embroidery work.  I know I have a disk somewhere that has designs  to embroider out that are the cutest vintage children.  I hope to put them in to some quilt blocks.

Well, time to move the laundry around.  Thanks for stopping by and do come back to visit soon.  Feel free to leave me a comment.  I love to read them.

Oh What Fun!

Okay, so you know how you eat all the cake and cookies the week before you know you are starting a new diet?  Because you know that  you won't be getting any after that day? And you really want to get them out of the house?

Well, I am preparing for my diet date.  A stash diet that is. Jan. 1 will start a no buy, use the stash, finish the UFO's personal challenge.

For quilting, this means that I will only purchase what I need to complete a project.  I will be making a list of all my UFO's (unfinished forgotten objects) that are stuffed folded up neatly on the shelf. I will be feeding the PIGS (projects in grocery sacks) so that they fatten up in to wonderfully completed quilts to go to new homes.  I have an obscene amount of PIGS.  Good thing I love ham so much. I did find a great deal on EQ7, quilt design software, over at the Quilt in a Day site so purchased it...on Thursday, it arrived Friday.  I was in total shock at the speed. I can't wait to load it and start playing with it.  Next week though, I am going to play with my AccuQuilt Go cutter and the new tumbler die I bought.  I purchased fabric today for a purple and grey quilt to made out of the tumblers for a gift for youngest son's girlfriend.  I do suspect however, that in the not to distant future she will become family.  Think, hope anyway, they are planning on waiting until they are both out of college.  They have been together for like five or six years already.  Also, purchased some iron on interfacing to use for the t-shirt quilt I plan to make out of youngest son's t-shirts I have collected.  Actually he collected them, kept them stuffed in his closet, I found them when he moved out.  So, figured if held on to them, I can make them in to some thing he can really hold on to.

Now, the "Stash Diet" as it deals with my newest fascination of counted cross stitch.  For this re-visited hobby, I call it that because years ago (many, many years ago) I enjoyed this particular craft.  But, like so many things in my life it was boxed up, put away, not to be thought of for far too long.  Well, in the process of sorting through boxes in the storage to unpack and place in the sewing room that was no longer needed for a bedroom for mom, I found some UFO's that had not been touched in at least 12 years or more.  I have developed a new determination to finish all unfinished works in my life.  Guess it is a by product of the loss of mom, dealing with all the final disposition of her things and such.  At any rate, there has opened up a new window of interest again after being closed up for far too long.  Getting rid of the musty part of old I guess.

So...as with the quilting, I am going on a diet with this area as well.  Problem is, I haven't really got the huge amount of stash to supply my addiction with the counted cross stitching as I do with my quilting. But, I am in for the game.  I have only one project in the works currently, that will be an ongoing project for some time it would seem.  I stitch very slow.  Don't know why I can create a quilt in a day, two at the most, completely finished, but it takes forever to make all those little x's of thread everywhere.  On the agenda for this new project, it will be a lot of organizing, just like with quilting. I already have planned which project I am starting first.  I am so tired of working on my current project, the nativity.  Once I tasted reality and swallowed the sad fact that I will not be able to finish it for this Christmas, I immediately placed it at the top of my "ongoing finish for 2013" list. 

To "prepare" for my  upcoming stash diet, I have gone on a little spending spree.  Not a lot, but I did buy the thread for my next project, but forgot the cloth.  I will have to remember to get some.  I am thinking that it would be much cheaper to buy some cloth by the yard.  I have a serger and can finish off the cut edges.  Maybe though, I will just have to buy the cloth as I go.  Not sure which would make more sense, money wise, at this point.  Any way, at this time, I am really concentrating on building up my thread stash.  Last week, I bought a thread of each color, sorted it and have it all inventoried.  At the moment however, I think I went a little overboard on bidding on Ebay.  I will only have a problem if I actually win them all.  However, I have budgeted for just such an occasion. At least I will have on hand all I need to work with, supply wise. As with the quilting, as of Jan. 1 there will be no more purchases of thread, charts, kits to just stuff find a place to store away.  I will only use what I have on hand.  Of course, it doesn't count if you have to buy a few threads to replace what you use up, or run out of before finishing the project.  Yep, that's the story...I'm sticking to it.

Oh this is going to be so much fun.  Wonder if I can stitch while on the treadmill, which I will be starting back on Jan. 1 as well. Well, exercise anyway, thinking of getting some hand weights and a ball for scrunches.  Will start simple.  Also need to get back on track with my food as well.

I have decided to re-organize my day a bit and starting on the first of the new year I plan to sew during the day.  Well...as much as I can around Mr. M and his needs that is. Cross stitch when everyone has gone to bed and it needs to be quieter.  By that I mean I won't disturb hubby who goes to bed at 8:30 each night.  I have to fit in menu planning in there somewhere as well. It seems to really run a lot smoother at meal time if I have planned it out a bit.  We eat out way too much, my fault, and since I am the largest instigator of it, I will be hardest to push for home meals.  It is better all around financially to plan out the meals and eat at home, emotionally I don't have to worry what is for dinner, and physically is much healthier for us as well.  Hubby eats out a big meal every day for lunch with his job.  Miss Zebra eats at school each day, she tries to make healthy choices but sometimes that is really hard with what the school offers up.  It makes sense to make the evening meal more nutritious for all of us.

Pulled some more items from mom's storage out today and brought them to the house to go through.  I finally got the furniture I want for the sewing room all in place, just need to clean it back up as every thing was just kind of piled here and there willy nilly to change out the pieces of furniture.

Cross over between these two crafts will be the crazy quilting projects.  They are both quilting and embroidery and they are embellished with all kinds of embroidery stitches and decorative pieces.  I have a box of my mom's clothes that I saved, her more favorite pieces and a sack of my dad's neck ties.  I will cut them up and make a crazy quilt for myself and my brother, just throw size, and then will make smaller pillow or lap size projects for each of the grand kids to have. This project will take a long time I am sure, but that is okay too.  This project will not go on any list, no deadlines, nothing but time to heal and remember.

The other craft that I enjoy, or hobby, but I just hate the word hobby because to me it conjures up time spent doing some project that is of no use to anyone.  When you say you have a craft, it sounds more artsy, more special.  Regardless, I also crochet.  Love the things I create, but like with cross stitch, am totally at a snail's pace with it.  I will never be able to understand how someone can sit there and tell me how relaxing, calming, crochet is.  I can only work so long, by that I mean not long at all, for I become a nervous irritable wreck.  So, because I have a weird sense of need to punish myself, I bought some this new yarn out to make a scarf for my oldest daughter, Mrs. C, the teacher.  You can crochet with it, but it has a net, much like the old fishnet hose, built in to it.  Apparently, it makes really great scarves because the yarn design naturally makes a spiral or ruffle.  I talked to a woman at the store that has used it quite a bit.  She knits though, will never be able to learn that, and she showed me a little of how to do it, but with wanting to crochet it she advised me to check out YouTube for videos on working with the stuff.  Mrs. C has already hinted that she would like one.  She finds things on Pinterest, then lets me know...in not so subtle hints...that I should make it for her.  She has a lot of misplaced confidence in her mother's abilities sometimes.  But hey, makes me try new things...once.  If you haven't looked around that site, you really should, it is amazing.  Make sure you lots of time when you do.

Well, it is late and I have written a book in this post.  Thank you for dropping buy and listening.  I have a year's worth of cleaning to get done tomorrow.  Hubby loves me so much he had to share his little bug with me.  I have been sick for a week or so.  So...nothing has really been done around the house because as you all know, only mom can do it.  And, even if she can't really hold her head up, is sneezing a storm, coughing up a lung, it will all be alright when ever she does get around to it.  Come back and visit soon.  Will be updating later in the week the nativity progress.  I kind of hit a sweet spot with some large areas of the same color to stitch.  Oh my stars, that doing three or nine stitches of a color at a time just kills.  I should just nickname the project Small, because, "you're killing me Smalls).

That being said, I am off to soak and then to bed.  Have a really full day waiting for me tomorrow.  Will see how much I can get done.  Have you finished your Christmas shopping?  I am about a fourth of the way done.  Need some online orders to arrive, then wrapped, and one more shopping trip with hubby and we will be finished.  I am so excited that we are heading to Texas to see family right after Christmas.  I will have to pull some photos off Facebook of Buddy, Mrs. C shelf elf.  If you haven't heard of this craze you really should look it up.  She is so creative in story ideas that I just eagerly anticipate reading each day's post about what he was up to during the night.

Wednesday Wrap-up Workings

I came home Monday night and found that hubby had loaded Office 2007 on my computer. I am so happy to have my Word and Excell back, especially my Office photo manager.  YEAH!  It is so much easier to work with photos now.

Speaking of which, here is how the Nativity is looking.

At least this project is coming a long with out any problems.  As you know it is a UFO that I am determined to finish.  As slow as I stitch I am confident in saying that this will not be finished in time for Christmas.  Maybe by Christmas...2013?  It is fun to work on now, I can actually see some of the figures coming to life.  A wise man kneeling, the manger, an angel, a shepherd looking on.

Also, if you followed any of my postings, you would know that my "house" project was scrapped and am now going to scrap the SW Angel.  There is just way more work to taking out stitches and correcting stitching mistakes than is worth.  While I dearly adore the elderly friend that gave it to me, I have decided to just start from scratch and make a new one.  I will start on her after the holidays are over.  I have a few kits as well that I plan to work on.  I must say, the hands free embroidery stands are working quite wonderfully.  Just need to get the hang of tying off when I end a color.  It is awkward and bothersome to loosen a screw, flip the frame over, end that color...or start one for that matter...then flip it back over to work on.  I did see a neat YouTube video that is a basic how to for counted cross stitching.  It is really quicker stitching, with an in and out in one motion of the needle, however, with all the work I have already done on the piece it is a bit difficult at times to work the needle in and out from the same side.  But...that may be due in part to the fact that the cloth is loaded sideways in the scroll.  The cloth is way more wider than it is tall, so it only fits in a scroll frame sideways.  I am tempted to go back to a hoop frame and then place that in the floor frame.

Last night I made soup for supper.  We are all sick to different degrees.  Hubby has had it the worst, so he wanted to pass it on for our enjoyment.  I have had it, while my throat isn't so sore anymore, I have lost most of my voice, nose is running like crazy and I am so tired.  Taking care of Mr. M is not helping the matter either.  Miss Zebra has so far gotten by with barely any bug effects at all. Anyway, I made Enchilada Meatball Tortellini soup.  OH WAS IT GOOD! I really need to get my but in gear and get back to organizing a menu plan, start posting again on MPM and get this house cleaned up.  I still have stuff in a storage unit from mom.  Speaking of which, I need to make myself sit down and fill out forms for her insurance, social security death benefit, and finish up her personal papers to get ready for her final tax return.  So much to do, that I just don't really want to deal with.  And, especially this time of year, I miss them both so much.  I just get this overwhelming feeling of being an orphan.  Even though I am a grown woman with a mostly grown family of my own.

Now, hubby wants us to go camping and dirt bike riding with a dirt bike club this week end.  I am thinking that none of us are well enough to do this, and I can only think of all the things I need to do to get ready for Christmas.  I really do need to some how organize myself so that I can find time to not only stitch on my counted cross stitch project, but also on my quilting.  In January I will be building three crazy quilt diamond shapes and embellish them with embroidery and such for a swap.  The embellishment will take a little time to be sure, fortunately I sew really fast so building them will only take one evening. We will see what happens I guess.

Thanks for dropping in, come back often.

Sunday - Time Change

Well, did everyone change their clocks?  We did, but I do believe that for the first time in...ever...I took advantage of the extra hour of sleep, and then some.  Totally missed church.  Hubby needed hair cut, so I tagged along to pick up a few groceries.  We were there too early for the hair cut, so he said he would go back, he just needed to go to Home Depot to pick up some supplies for his building project.  After we got checked out and headed to the truck, he informs me that he isn't go to Home Depot, he is taking a day off.  As worn out as gets with anything lately, I am worried about his health, worried about how on earth he is going to manage to get through the rest of the house remodel jobs we have planned.

I on the other hand did a lot of work yesterday and this morning so am taking the afternoon and evening off.  Well, have to cook something for supper at some point, but other than that, I am just catching up on the computer, doing a little online shopping, and about to settle in with some project to work on.

I finally tackled my bedroom yesterday, took most of the day, but all the clothes are put up and the boxes are mostly gone.  Still have a box of glassware in there, but I am not about to put them in the storage building. Am hoping that after the first of the year when we redo the kitchen that I will have some storage space for them.  They were mom's and I just can't let go of them yet.  At least not until I can find some one that can tell me a little something about them, and if they are worth anything.  Mom called them her "Fostoria" glasses, but just not sure.  I did meet a lady that knows a lot about such things and am hoping to get her to the house one day soon to look them over.  At any rate, it is AMAZING how big my bedroom looks, and is, when all the stuff is gone.  I rearranged a few pieces of furniture and made room to put my mom's sewing machine cabinet in there.  I know have a card table set up to put my laptop on and to write on.  Was looking at buying a small desk, but am thinking I will just use the table a while and see what works and what doesn't before investing any more in furniture.  I have a recliner that is entirely too big for the space, but have to leave it as is until I get my living room arranged the way I want, the recliner may be going in there.  Our old PC is in the bed room, moving things around I am actually able to use it once again.  I hate typing on my laptop, keeping hitting something that moves the cursor all around.  Anyway, I bought a new mouse for my laptop and put the old one back on the PC.  Now have the printer right next to it and can sit down and still reach everything to do scanning.  The PC monitor is much larger as well, easier to see. I also went and uninstalled a whole bunch of stuff that never use to free up some space, loaded my new Quilt Design Wizard on it as well.  I created the drawing and directions of my first quilt yesterday morning.  It was fun and much easier than I had thought.  I know that EQ 7 would be really fun to work with, as you can scan your fabric in to it and see how it would look in a quilt.  But...at this point, I can keep playing with the Wizard which was so much cheaper.  Like is cost less than $15 and EQ 7 runs about $180.  I did find a place on line that had it about $30 cheaper, but still...at over a hundred dollars more I am content with what I have, which is much more than I had before.   An internet buddy told me that I would know when it was time to upgrade when I started wanting to do more with the design than I could do with the Wizard.  That I understand.

I also bit the dust and purchased PC Stitch 10.  It was less than $40, and have not bought from that site before so am praying that the transaction goes well.  I had a few bugs happen when trying to order, so am really praying that I didn't order three of them and didn't pay three times.  I also found a much cheaper brand of software, it was only $10, but it's capabilities were not really clear.  The PC Stitch describes being able to scan in a photo or image and turn it in to a chart.  Also has built in colors of all the major floss brands as well.  We will see what happens, I went with the more expensive one because I know people that have it and are using it and it stated that it could be used for beading, crocheting and quilting.

Eventually I am sure I will end up getting some type of software to do my own machine embroidery designs as well, but those programs are very expensive and I am just not ready for that yet.  After all, I did just purchase a new embroidery machine.  Granted it is not one of the top of the line fancy named machines, but for the type of work I do it will work perfectly and I am SOOO totally fine with the cost difference. I will see just how much I can do with what I have, how much I can't do that I wish I could, and then go from there.  I loose my head sometimes and start over supplying my needs for my various crafts.  Most people just do one type of craft, but not me.  Oh no, that would be too easy.  My problem is, so many of my crafts just overlap and run in to each other.

Can you tell I am a cheapskate.  Not an extreme one mind you, but if I can get the same item, same quality, some where for cheaper, than so much the better.  Especially since most of my projects are charity offerings.  How did I get started down this path you ask?  Let me tell you.  I first found that I have a passion for quilting.  A true God given talent and passion for it.  As I grew up, I learned the basics of sewing and crocheting.  I used those abilities from time to time as I became a wife and mom.  My oldest daughter as a toddler had a closet full of clothes, then for the boys too.  Hubby used to laugh at me when he would come home to find that I had been dumpster diving for sewing patterns.  Then, hubby's granny would take pity on me and help me advance my crochet abilities.  I also did a little embroidery from time to time as well.  Except for sewing, it just took me way to long to finish an item to suit me so I didn't stay with it long.  Every time I would get a craft area set up in the house, we either added to the family or moved.  I did ceramics for a while, miss it terribly, but the equipment alone takes up much too much space.  All those molds and a kiln.  When we moved to California, I found a church that had a quilt ministry.  I already knew how to sew, had always wanted to learn, and they had child care while we met. So joined in and found that I loved it.

Oh I jumped in that pond with both feet.  Got online and found some groups to join with, did swaps, round robins, even joined the local quilt guild.  They started me making small quilts, 32 x 32 inches called isolets.  They are used in the neonatal units to buffer the sounds and light for the premature and sick babies.  I met a friend, Cara.  In fact, we met online, noticed we were posting about the same speaker, she lived in the next town over but had joined the quilt guild as well.  Her two children were age wise on either side of my youngest.  We made a personal challenge of it, to see how many isolets we could get finished by the next meeting.  Then, she moved.  I really miss her.  In fact, she got me started in machine embroidery, then when I was kind of stale mated, she showed me the things to go with our machines to take it up a level.  Thanks to Cara I learned about free standing lace.

Then a lady asked me if I knew how to crochet. I told her just the very bare basics.  She wanted me to help make some hats to send to some soldiers.  She gave me a pattern, I bought some black yarn, and made a hat. Helmet liners they called them.  Okay...I bought a lot of black yarn...made 250 of those black buggers. Got tire of black so made a pair of slippers.  The soldier that I made them for said he had a bunk buddy that had really big feet, wondered if I could make him a pair.  So...I did, the guy wore like a size 15 boot.  That lead to some more request, they wanted colorful ones. You guessed it, I made like 200 pairs. Then my soldier (I had adopted this small unit, sent them all kinds of food, fun stuff, personal items) asked if I could maybe make a baby blanket and send it to his wife.  I made the crib size quilt, then decided to add a crocheted hat, sweater and booties along with it.  While waiting on my daughter at school one day, one of the teachers saw the baby set I was working on.  She hired me to make sets for her from time to time for shower gifts. That led to some charity sets that went to the army hospital for babies whose dad's were deployed.  A side track to that venture was rubber stamped announcements to be sent with them.  Then, I still don't quite know how it happened, I got lost in my second passion, crazy quilting.  I just fell in love with the embroidery embellishments that went along with it.

 That led me to do a lot of swapping of hearts.  This is one that I did and kept, but is nothing to compare with the ones that the other ladies were doing.  It was a true learning curve as I learned what embellishment were acceptable for cloth. What typed of products used in other crafts worked in this one.  I even bought a special rolling tote case so that I could pack up all my beads, threads, other decorations and take it all with me on a trip to Las Vegas with my hubby.  He went for work, so I had the whole day to myself in the room to work on this stuff.

You guessed it, I found a way to blend my machine embroidery with the crazy quilt blocks, the little car was done with my machine.

On any given block, you can have beads, sequins, ribbon, buttons, even jewelry pieces.

Then...I got stupid and decided I needed to take a full time job outside the home.  Thinking that I would be able to keep doing my crafts, I would cart the plunder back and forth.  It was about this time that I felt sorry for hubby having to listen to the whir of the sewing and embroidery machines all hours of the night and thought that scrapbooking would be the way to go, much quieter, didn't need as much room.  I was wrong, it is way more spread out.  Then there are all different types.  Scrapbook pages, card making, art journal, and so many techniques.  Stamping, ink embossing, texture embossing, ink, pen, markers, embellishments, on and on. Even went so far as try my hand at being a demonstrator for a home based rubber stamp company.  Yes...I was my biggest customer.

Oh, I could go on and on, but you get the picture.  So, I have been down sizing the supplies so to speak in order to put all my efforts in to only a few crafts.  That being quilting and crocheting.  I have a box of my mom's more special clothes, that have embroidery or cut work on them. Also a sack of my dad's ties. Have been saving odd fabrics for over twenty years and will use them with the clothes to make some crazy quilts.  Small one, lap size, for my brother, and then will maybe divide what is left in to four small throws so that each of my children will get one.  A memory thing, but I intend to work in some old photos of family members as well.  Will probably do this with the computer, photo print on fabric, but there may be some other ways as well.  I just ordered some software that will turn any photo or image into a cross stitch design. Much cheaper than the digitize version for machine embroidery and no learning curve either.

Of course, after doing so much hard work yesterday, and since I am still waiting on my AccuQuilt Go cutter to get here, I did do a bit of shopping.  Oh alright, a lot of shopping.  I am going broke getting updated supplies and new ideas.  Still have a couple of "carts" waiting on me to finish checking out.  So...now that I have had a really long break, I need to get back to work so I can spend the evening working on something...anything...just some of the many UFO's I have.  I have a huge stack of paper work and magazines to go through and purge down and then find a home for.

Will post photos of my progress so check back often.  Thanks for stopping in.

What a Find!

Okay, so a few days ago I posted about some counted cross stitch projects that I came across and put in to my UFO pile.

This is the cloth on the frame that I thought was the Indian Angel.  I was wrong and have absolutely no idea what this was.  It seems to me that there is a little something in the way far forgotten reaches of my mind about a mermaid sitting on a piece of driftwood.  I have no idea, although, it seems that this might be the beginnings of a nativity scene.  Yes, I think that is it.  However, I have absolutely no idea where that chart would be.  At any rate, I just can't bring myself to scrap it, may not seem like it but there is quite a bit of work in this piece already.

**NOTE**
Just an update, I have since this post figured out that the above photo of fabric on the frame is, the Bucilla Nativity.  Thought I remembered something about that.  I have no idea when I bought it, started it, or from where.

This is what it should look like when I am finished.  If I can find a copy of the chart that is.  I have done quite a few stitches in to this already, hope to loose out on it now.

Now, on to the correction.

I found the native american angel today.  That is the chart beside it, in pieces.  I lady that went to my church started it, her eyesight started getting bad so it was hard for here to do this kind of work anymore.  She gave it to me, along with all the thread, and here it is.  She passed away a few years back, and I have not done a thing with it. Apparently, this was actually a part of a book, which I found a copy on Amazon.com and have already purchased it.  It would seem that when ever she changed thread colors she would leave that color and come back and just re-thread the needle and pick up where she left off.  Makes sense I guess, should make it easier for me to figure out where to go to start back up.  I don't know what the proper way to work a project is, I just usually do all of one color at a time.

This is a closer look of her work.  She did lovely work.  I guess I will take the other project out of the frame and after pressing this a little bit, load it in to the frame and make this a UFO to work on this winter.  That is if it ever actually gets cold around here.  Today was nice, but next week it is supposed to be hot again.  Any way, I may just start taking these counted cross stitch projects along camping.

Here is a photo of the book, and what the angel is supposed to look like when it is finished.  I think she is really lovely, and this designer has some beautiful work available in kits and charts.  I just love native american art though, have decided to put some more pieces up in the house.  Will frame this when I am done.

These are the fabrics I am using for my youngest grandson, Mr. M, a quilt.  Just a "lay around the house" quilt.  The puppies are that fur like fleece, feels like minky. I am not so sure about the middle two fabrics and have found another fabric with little dog bones on it.  Like I posted yesterday, I found some pre-cut black and red scotty dog shapes that I found online at Keepsake Quilting and have ordered a package of them to use on the quilt. Speaking of quilts, I ordered the 2013 calendar from Piecemakers.

Isn't this cool looking?  I figure as much as we go to the beach it was a no brainer.  If you aren't familiar with this vendor, they put out the most amazing calendars each year and the calendar includes the pattern and directions for the quilt.  Kind of a block of the month as each month is one block in the calendar.  I have some more of their calendars, just have been putting them away until I have a lot of time, but this next year that is changing.  The blocks are a bit time consuming as they are applique and ribbon embroidery or embroidery.  But, I plan to start in January and work a block each month.  Check back at the end of the year to see how I did.

Well, Miss Zebra has some company that just showed up, co-ed variety, so guess I best go check on them and then get something to eat for hubby.

Thanks for stopping in.

UFO - Monday Menu Plan - 10/29

Well, what a start to the week.  Storms looming in the east, earthquake in Canada, also had one in Riverside where my youngest son, Mr. G, is attending college. The one here in California was actually quite small. Only measured 3.9, son said he didn't even feel it.  For those who aren't from earthquake areas, it really has to be close to a 5.0 before  you really feel it or notice it.  Hawaii is waiting a tsunami alert as well, due to the Canada earthquake.  The latest one is being listed at 7.7 and was off the west coast of British Columbia.

At any rate, the earth is speaking and mother nature is putting in her two cents as well.

Now, it is Monday, that means menu plan time.  I haven't linked up with MPM in a while, and as late as I am getting it done today I will be far...far down on the list, but I am following through.

In no particular order, this is what is planned for this week:

Oven Baked Pork Chops, Chicken Gnocchi soup (Olive Garden copy recipe), Beef Stroganoff, Liver and onions, Chicken Enchiladas.

Today is the pork chops, Tues will be the soup as I will be baking and decorating LOTS of cupcakes, Wed. will eat at Halloween alternative carnival at church.  I am making cupcakes for the cupcake walk.  Miss Z is going to help at the booths and food stand.

Okay, as I posted earlier, I have the quilting bug.  Also the crochet bug, embroidery bug and cross stitch bug.  I have been working on trying to organize my craft room so that I can actually do some work on all these UFO projects before starting a new one.

This is a quilt top called Rancher's Daughter and is a free pattern by Debbie Caffrey.  She has a website called Debbie's Creative Moments.  I used 30's repro fabric and a white on white for the background.  I originally pieced this top to make a wedding quilt for my oldest son and his wife.  Things happened, the wedding was postponed, then called off, they they broke up, after a while they got back together, then married.  I figure I need to go ahead and finish it and hope to give it to them for Christmas.  They married in 2008.  I know, a little behind the times there.  I haven't been able to figure out what to back it with.  The finished size is 78 x 90 so thought I would get some really wide muslin but decided I didn't want a light back with their house of dogs and the baby.  I have decided to find a blue or green flannel and piece the back.  I think the flannel will be a nice soft feel for it as I want them to actually use it.

I have just ordered some quilting software, Quilt Design Wizard by Electric Quilt Company.  It is the same company that makes EQ 7 which is now on my wish list.  I use to have EQ 5 and inadvertently sold it. I never did really figure out what to do with it, so have been a little apprehensive at spending the rather pricey amount for the updated EQ 7.  It was explained to me that Quilt Design Wizard is like using colored pencils and a coloring book where as EQ 7 is like graduating to Photo Shop.  For the price, I am content to just start with beginner software then upgrade if I find I am using it a lot.  Both programs are used to design and calculate yardage for quilts.  You can play with the colors and block design a bit before actually cutting in to the fabric.  Of course, the EQ 7 has lots more features, like scanning fabric you have and seeing what it will look like in a block, which is why I will probably end up getting it in the future.  But for now, as I said I am content to pay the much lower price for the beginner software.

I have six quilts in various stages of completion that I need to complete before I start a new project.  I am really itching to use the new AccuQuilt Go that is on the way.  I think I will really like using that set up.

I also found some needle projects in various stages of progress.

 This is called Victorian House.  I bought this kit when we moved here and were staying in the hotel until we could get our furniture and get moved in to the house we bought.  That was in 2000.  You can see I just haven't gotten very far.

Here is a closer view of what it should look like when I actually do get finished.  It really is a lovely design. I would love to actually have a house that looks just like it someday.  Although I find counted cross stitch infuriatingly slow and tedious, I do love the technique.  I am actually looking in to buying some soft ware that will allow me to scan a photo and turn it in to a cross stitch or needle point chart.  Needle point goes quicker for me, but it gets boring quick for me since it is the same stitch over and over.  Counted cross stitch is that way too, but the small stitch size is what gets to me pretty quickly.

This is a stamped embroidery design.  May have been a kit, but I am just using basic colors for the project. It is the Last Supper.  I can't remember when I bought it, but it was several years ago when I was in my "every good Christian home needs to have a last supper on the wall" phase.  As you can see, it has been put up a while.  At least it has a bit more variation on stitches as it is an embroidery sampler.

Not that you can tell, but this is supposed to be a native american maiden with pottery and a wolf beside her.  I actually didn't start this one, was given to me, but I have misplaced the chart so have no way of finishing it.  I should have gotten rid of it, but am waiting a bit longer until I finish going through all my boxes in storage to see if I accidentally find the chart.  If I haven't found it by the time I go through the boxes, then after the first of the year I will either try to salvage the cloth by removing the stitches or just toss it.

Last night I loaded a Red Hat Lady design from a kit on a frame to work on as well.  It is stamped cross stitch and I have never worked on a piece like it.  The fabric has the design stamped in all the same color.  You have to read the chart to figure out which stitches or what color.  Kind of like counted cross stitch, except the x of the stitches are stamped on a white cotton fabric.

And of course, I have several crochet UFO's as well.

 This was the start of a playful ripple pattern, found it free on the internet.  I am quite a bit further a long than when this photo was taken, but not finished.  I don't know how big it will actually end up, I only have two large scraps of the variegated yarn, so will keep going as long as I have that yarn.  I was going to donate this one, but am so pleased that I actually have a ripple working out correctly for a change I may keep it.  However, every one that sees it tells me how lovely it is so I might just use it to start up my Etsy store.  With everything I have been buying lately, I could sure use the money.

This is of course a Spider man afghan, well the start of it anyway.  I have since added more rounds of blue and another set or red since this photo was taken.  I started this for my middle grand son, now two.  I haven't made anything for him yet and I need to.  I think he will like it.  I came across a fleece John Deere throw kit, one where the edges are knotted, and knowing he loves tractors, I will make that too.  Was going to sell the kit, but figure since he has a thing for tractors, I have already paid for it, well...might as well.

I made this for the oldest grand son, the middle one's brother.  Yes, he is a UT fan, and of course his PaPa is a Tech fan, so Mr. T takes great fun in purposely wearing UT clothing when ever he is around his PaPa.  My oldest daughter has two sons, Mr. T, the oldest grand son, is 9.  His brother, Mr. W is 2.  The youngest grand son, Mr. M, is my oldest son's and I keep him during the day.

Guess that is enough for today. Thanks for stopping by.  Come back and visit soon.  Got to go take care of Mr. M, eat some lunch, and Miss Zebra is home from school today, found out last week she has mono.