July is here!

I keep seeing people post that Christmas will be here  in less than six months.  As fast as this year as gone by so far, that makes me a little nervous.  But, thankfully, we don't have to shop and spend as much as we used to when the kids were at home.  Who's started shopping already?

My sister in law called me this week and asked for a little quilted something to put on her nightstand.  I already had this block from an exchange I participated in a few years ago.  (I don't remember who sent it, but if it was you, thank you again!!)  This block has her bedroom colors of gray, yellow, white and teal; so it seemed a perfect match to me.  I quickly sandwiched it together, did a little colorful big stitch quilting, and brought the backing up to the front to make binding.  It was an enjoyable afternoon project.

Do you ever get tired of sitting at the sewing machine or do you  sometimes feel overwhelmed with a big project?  That's kind of where I am right now.  I'm plugging away, making quilt blocks for a large quilt, for my son and his wife.  But my heart wants to do some hand stitching. The project above was a nice break.

This is a terrible picture, but it's the completed embroidery I was working on in my last post.  It's a Kathy Schmitz design and the first time I have used crayons to color my fabric.  I hope to trace out another one of her designs this week.  

SOMETHING NEW AND EXCITING :

SCRIBD

Click here for more:

 Scribd Digital Subscription Service

I received a free two month subscription by invitation from Laura over at Harvest Lane Cottage.  

After two months trial, it will cost me $8.95 a month for unlimited reading of ebooks, magazines, and available documents.   There are also audiobooks, which are great for listening while sewing or cleaning  or whatever.

I already listened to "Where the Crawdads Sing" by Delia Owens.  It was such a good book.... about a young girl who practically raised herself in the marshlands of NC.  It was a 12 hour book and I finished it in 24 hours... lol.  I even listened in the grocery store! 

But for you quilters.... look what else is there..... included in your free trial: (and subscription)

Beautiful quilting and craft books.  This is like receiving lots of beautiful patterns and instructions free for two months.  Then you can decide if you want to continue. There are so many great books in their collection.  I invite you to go here

here and look around.  If you sign up with my link, I'll get an extra free month and you should get two free months.  

I also want to thank Sluggy at DON'T READ THIS  blog  for the items I received from her monthly giveaway.  She has a frugal living type blog and hosts a give away regularly.  Check her out and maybe you'll get lucky to win, too.

I received a box packed full of goodies:

Zoom in for a look at all these goodies.  It was truly a treat, as these are things I don't normally buy for myself.  I used the nail polish this afternoon!  (and hubby ate the fig newtons)

I leave you with this sweet picture of my daddy, my brother, brother's son, and now his little son, Levi.  Four sweet generations of men in my family.  

June 2019

*** I, too, am getting attacked by SPAM, so I am changing my comment section to owner approval before posting ***


I'm telling you folks, TIME IS A'Flying!!

I can't believe June is almost over; yikes!

I had all three of my girls for a couple weeks... it was so much fun!  The little girls played so well together and I was amazed at how grown up they have become.  

They asked for matching night gowns early during the visit.  They wore these gowns almost 24/7; I had to make them give them up from time to time for laundry services.

I think these girls could be BFF's if they lived closer together.  I do hope that they will grow up to know each other and be able to spend more time together.

They gave Grandma dancing lessons.

They helped Papa wash the little car.  

Kathy Schmitz design

There hasn't been much sewing go on these days.  I have picked up a little hand stitching and am enjoying a few stitches here and there.   

It's hot here in NC, so I am definitely spending most of my time indoors.  I can't believe I ever used to lay out to tan, in the hot backyard in the eastern NC humidity, back when I was a teenager! I can hardly stand to walk to the mailbox  these days!  

May 2019... and a lesson in vintage ... and dogs

I finished another scrap quilt for our other granddaughter, Brinley Kate.  She turned 5 years old this month!!

She seemed happy to get it and her brothers, who already have their full size quilts, seemed just as happy for her.  They are such sweet and sentimental children.... they get it from their mom, I'm sure.  (their dad is my son)

Brinley and Chandler checking out the label

This following is the best photo I have of the whole quilt.

Brinley and Annabelle are coming to stay with Grandma for two weeks soon.  I hope they will make lifetime memories together, as they don't see each other very often, due to distance in home locations.

Now to begin our lesson in vintage.

 I've been picking up vintage fabrics here and there, hoping to make a "new" vintage quilt for myself.  This is a pillow cover I removed from a pillow form. Nothing too special about this one, except for I love it.  It is yellowed (probably from a smoker), but I have it soaking in the sink as I type this.

This one was more interesting to me. 

 I bought this pillow because I liked the fabric cover, thinking it may be flour sack fabric.  If not a true flour sack, it is a nice reproduction.  The whole time I handled the pillow, before taking it apart to wash, I was thinking maybe it had a soft feather pillow inside.  It just felt so good in my hands.... so soft and could be molded  and positioned under the neck for perfect comfort.

So this was the next layer..... the pillow had been covered once before.  

And again...another recover layer.

And finally... this layer.   It was starting to make my black shorts very dusty and dirty at this point and I was  a little nervous about continuing ….. but I wanted to see the feathers!

There were no feathers..... only this!  

What is it???  Cotton?  Real cotton?  Zoom in to see closer.  Whatever it is, I quickly tied it up in a plastic bag and disposed of it.  Oh, but it would have been so comfortable.   I can understand why someone recovered it over and over again.... it was somebody's favorite!  The outside cover is now soaking in my sink, too.

This picture is just for my own blog documentation. ( I have fat , not so pretty legs, but I' m thankful for my legs and what they do for me.  )

   Back to story.... I received my first ever dog bite last week.  A friend of the family passed away and I stopped by the house to check on the wife.  Max is a cute little brown dachshund, that looks a lot like my own sweet dachshund girl .  He was very nervous , as there had been so much activity in the house, with the passing of his daddy.  He was trying to jump up onto his mommy's chair and I thought I would just give him a hand.  I tried to sweep him up like I do my own little dogs and he freaked out!!  He came after me and got a good bite through my blue jeans.  I didn't  tell his mom that he had bitten me, but what an experience!.  I can not even imagine how those who suffer "real" dog attacks must feel and the pain associated with it.  Yes, I've learned a new lesson.... All dogs aren't always friendly.  **I might add that I've been back to Max's house since the bite, and he was jumping up on my legs, wanting sugar and loves from me**

April 2019

Annabelle received her birthday quilt from Grandma last month.

This was a quick little quilt to throw together for her big girl bed.  Click to enlarge photo.

The backing was made from a pretty sheet found at a local thrift store for $1.

Annabelle's favorite part was the label with the cupcake on it.

It's hard to believe that this birthday girl is now 4 years old.  She is such a delight and definitely has her Mama's sense of humor.  She loves to make people laugh.

Another local thrift store has been selling books for .10 cents for the past few weeks.  I am a sucker for a cookbook, and am happy that I bought this one.  It is full of good sounding recipes that are easy to make.... no fancy ingredients required.

I made these muffins today and added the notes after I made them.  They were very easy, not too sweet, and I like that it made a smaller batch than some recipes.  This recipe will be a keeper.  Stayed tuned... I may make  something different soon.

**I'm busy working on the quilt for the next birthday girl for next month!!**

February 2019

I haven't posted since November!  Where does the time go and how does it move so quickly?

Our grands with their great granddaddy

The kids were here for Christmas.  We had a great time!

I got a new back splash for Christmas.  I love it!!

 It's amazing how much prettier the kitchen looks with the back splash.

Christmas gift to myself... made by a friend of mine.  This hangs in my freshly painted dining room.

Still thrifting..... a $3 pioneer woman jar is now my kitchen night light.

I found this paper towel holder for $5.  Isn't it so cute?  See the price it sold for on ebay… I'm keeping mine.

This little fellow had eye surgery to remove growths that were covering his eyes.  Look at those  new puppy dog eyes!!  (recovery was tough!!)  This old guy turned 12 years old in February.

My sis in law celebrated a big birthday in January.  She had requested a quilt for her 60th birthday.  I bought this kit from Craftsy and put it together for her.

I continue to facetime with this little girl every day.  Oh! how I wish she lived closer!!  I wish all my grandkids were just next door!

Her mommy is a hair dresser and she knows a lot of hair dresser "talk".   She cracks me up when we "play" hair dresser on face time.

And... I'm sewing.  This quilt is being made for Annabelle's 4th birthday, coming up in March.  Her mommy requested it for her new bed.  I'm itching to do some hand stitching, so I'll be happy to finish this and to get away from the sewing machine soon.

Ok, we are up to date..... carry on.  Happy 2019 everyone!

November This and That

What a super fast year this has been for me.... My kids will be here in two weeks for our Christmas celebration..... eeeek.... still a few things to get done!

I did finally put down the crochet hook and I've been busy doing a few other things.

Have you heard about the 70273 quilt project?  I had not either, but I learned about it from this blog post from my friend Janet at Rogue Quilter.

From the person behind the project:  (Jeanne Hewell-Chambers):

A brief overview:

Between January 1940 and August 1941, Nazis murdered 70,273 physically and mentally disabled people – men, women, teens, boys, and girls. Though they never even laid eyes on the disabled person they were evaluating, the Nazi doctors read the medical files and, if from the words on the page, the person was deemed “unfit” or an “economic burden on society”, the doctor placed a red X at the bottom of the form. Three doctors were to read each medical file, and when two of them made a red X on the page, the disabled person’s fate was sealed.

I will commemorate these 70,273 voiceless, powerless people who were so callously and casually murdered by gathering 70,273 blocks of white fabric (representing the paper the doctors read), each bearing two red X’s (representing one person), and I will stitch them together into quilts. 

HOW POWERFUL IS THIS?  

Some of my favorite patients would have fit into this category, as well as many other people that I have known and loved throughout my life.  I made my XX block in memory of one of my favorite patients :  Gene Gene.... who will forever hold a dear place in my heart.  He's been gone for three years now, but I still thank God for bringing him into my life!

Click on the links above if you are interested in contributing to this powerful display of a sad history.

This sweet little girl came to visit Grandma and Papa by herself for the first time ever.  She stayed a week with us and it was pure joy!  We look forward to doing it again soon.

Maybe I should have cropped Papa out of this pic.... LOL

Our other sweet grandchildren were here for a couple days and these two girls danced their hearts out while they were here together.

Sadly, these are the only pic's I got of the boys.....LOL.  We enjoyed playing with some phone filters and had a few good laughs doing this.

Our friend sent me a picture of her newborn "Morgan" using her quilt that I made for her.  I love it when a quilt gets used.

We celebrated Thanksgiving early, so it was a beautiful quiet day at home for the actual Thanksgiving day.  Hubby and I fried shrimp and fish and it was so delicious.  It was cold here that day, which is unusual for an eastern NC Thanksgiving.  We had a nice little fire and I began stitching a vintage stitchery I won on eBay.

I have almost completed the lady at this point. I have enjoyed sitting and doing a little "mindless" stitching here and there.

My little Christmas trees are up and I have candles in the windows.  My nativity set is out and I hope to make my final list for Christmas plans today.   

See you again soon!

***Linking to Kathy's Slow Sunday Stitching for the quilt block and the cross stitch project.***

October Slow Stitching

I'm still on a crocheting frenzy and I really need to stop! Who even WANTS all these dish cloths???

I have found that crocheting these granny square cloths has become an addiction!  I ordered some pretty yarns and of course, now I feel obligated to keep crocheting.

I am accumulating quite a stack (this is not all of them).  When we have our family get togethers for the holidays, I'll pass the bag around.... "A rag for you, A rag for you..... Everyone gets a rag!"  lol

I'm linking up to Kathy's Quilts: Slow Stitching Sunday .  It's fun to go there to see what others are doing with their busy fingers.

In my defense, I have only been able to grab a few stitches here and there, as we have been busy painting.  (another good thing about crochet.... it's portable and easy to add a few stitches while waiting for something else to happen.  I keep it by my glider rocker for easy access)

We have painted our dining room  and we bought a "new to us" dinette set just in time for the holidays.

Paint Color: Valspar Nostalgia

I've never had a table that seats this many people and I can hardly wait to see it filled with family and friends.  I have another small table in the kitchen that seats four more.   Bring on the fun!


How about you?  Are you getting holiday ready??