Connecting the Dots

Do you know what these items have in common? Here's a hint: They're all tools used for the same purpose.

More Handmade by Me

Yesterday I made a bunch of Valentines cards. It was fun! I've found (after much trial and error) that a basting adhesive spray is just the thing to hold the heart to the fabric and then the fabric to the card while I stitch.This is about the only thing I did besides unload the dishwasher. Thursday is normally my housecleaning day (for reference, see the pictures of the plaque in this post), but I'm sick with either a bad cold or a sinus infection. Another day or two will confirm which. I didn't get much rest because a tree service was next door all day cutting trees with chain saws and grinding up branches... two of the noisiest suburban activities ever. This is what they left next to our driveway, which tells me they'll be back tomorrow for more of the same.

Handmade by Me

I've had this hockey fabric for years. My mother-in-law gave it to me, and I never was too sure what to do with it. It wasn't really what I wanted for a church dress. I thought it was flannel, but it's actually a heavy-weight, stretchy cotton knit. My son-in-law is Canadian and a hockey fan (I'll stick to baseball, thank-you-very-much) so I decided to make him some pajamas.Actually, I made these pajamas for Caleb. There's no telling if he'll like or wear them, since he's recently gotten rather picky about his clothes. I haven't done a lot of garment sewing in recent years, and I just about made a mess out of these. When I sewed the front to the back at the side seams, I discovered that I had messed up somehow when I cut them out.This might not look so bad in the small picture, but the back is actually cut about 3" longer than the front! Thankfully, the front is plenty long enough, so I just trimmed up the back to make them even. There are two or three additional things that didn't turn out quite right, but Caleb is four, so I doubt if he'll notice, and I'm not telling.

Handmade by...

Going back to more Christmas pictures on my camera, here is a towel given to me by Grandmother, at least 10 years ago, and probably way longer than that, since she died nearly six years ago. (Please excuse and/or ignore the fingerprints on my oven door.) I don't actually use this towel; it just hangs there for sentimental reasons, because my Grandmother, who was an avid crocheter, made it. I've never been overly fond of it, except sentimentally. As always, I took it down to wash in late December before packing it away with the Christmas decorations. Here's the label I discovered, for the first time. Now I knew that this towel was handmade. What I don't know is who the heck Mildred Campbell is! Certainly not my Grandmother! Oh well. I'll still keep it since my Grandmother gave it to me. I'm fairly certain about that part of the towel's provenance anyway. (And I'm fairly certain that I need a manicure.)

This Isn't It

If I were going to make a quilt for myself, this wouldn't be it. Yellow is one of my least favorite colors. But this is not for me. I made this quilt using 48 pre-cut 4" squares of pink fabric with the Breast Cancer awareness ribbon. Rather than piece the quilt, I sewed the squares to a single piece of white fabric, leaving a 1/4" edge around each block. Then I frayed all the edges. It's fun, but sort of time-consuming. Each square is quilted in a free-hand spiral that I like to call a honeybun. (Spirals are perfect; honeybuns aren't.)The white area is machine quilted in a stippled design, using a thread of varying shades of pink. I'm getting a little better at machine stippling, and I love the dense quilting and the puckery look once the quilt is washed and dried.The back of the quilt is a yellow fabric with pink and lavender butterflies and dragonflies. When I went to the fabric store to choose something for the back, I didn't really have a set idea of what I wanted. I was just looking for something that matched the pink of all the squares and the tiny bit of yellow that is in the one square pictured above. You can't tell from these photos, but there's a tiny bit of silvery sparkle sprinkled across the fabric as well.I made this lap-sized quilt (40" x 52") for a lady at church who is undergoing chemotherapy for breast cancer. The thing is, I've never met her. Our church has around 700-800 members, so it's difficult to know everyone. But I sat next to her husband in the choir for a few months before he had to drop out when she began treatment. He was at church this morning, so I was able to inquire as to how her treatments are going, and give him the package to deliver. I included a note saying that I hope the quilt will serve as a reminder that God's people are covering her in prayer. What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!

Catty

I found this new plaque to add to my cat decor in the den. It cost me a whole seventy cents at Marshalls off the clearance shelf.And here it is surrounded my some of my other "cat stuff." It's a little hard to tell, but even the key rack mounted to the side of my desk is cats. The keys are hung from their tails.The cat in the rocking chair (far right) is part of my collection of small orange tabbies. He is actually a Pez dispenser.
The hand-carved spotted cat (not really a tabby, I know) came from Jamaica. The cat on the far right in this picture holds a picture of my grandmother. (And the patriotic cat doesn't fit the orange tabby theme, but that's where he lives.)

Mended and Recycled

I made these lion overalls from yellow baby cord for Emily in 1982, a few months before she turned two. It is one of the few outfits I saved, along with the matching stuffed lion. Here's Emily wearing them.
A few weeks ago, I gave the overalls and the toy to Emily to see if Alexa could wear the outfit, and here she is. The overalls have elastic in the back waist, and after 25+ years it was shot. You can't tell in this picture of Alexa, but the back waist is totally ungathered and gaping open. Before Christmas, I took the overalls home, and today I unburied them from my sewing room and replaced the elastic. I also added another buttonhole to the straps in order to gain a bit more length. Maybe Jordanna can wear this outfit too, in a couple of years. I'm glad I saved the outfit, but I wish I had kept the pattern, too!

More Handmade Christmas Gifts

This round table topper is made from some retro-looking Christmas prints. I gave it at a white elephant gift exchange at my family's party, even though our usual assortment of white elephants is pure junk! There needs to be at least one or two desirable items in the mix. It is machine quilted in a stippled pattern.This is a table topper that I made for my step-mother's oval kitchen table. It could also be used as a dresser scarf. The individual squares are top-stitched to the white fabric 1/4 inch from the edges that are then frayed. Each square is free-motion quilted with small-to-large echoing daisy shapes. (Does that make sense?) Then I used a decorative stitch to quilt star burst sorts of lines to fill in the curved, white part.

One of these days (maybe) I'll remember to make pictures of the backs, and to record the exact dimensions of each piece. Until then, you'll just have to wonder.

Christmas Quilt ... A Little Late

Continuing my catch-up of old stuff on my camera, here is the quilt I made for my mother for Christmas. It began with a Moda Simple Abundance charm pack, and the multi-colored blocks are disappearing nine-patch. Here are the nine-patch blocks that are then cut into quarters, shuffled up, and sewn together again. Here are the finished blocks. I

alternated the blocks with plain squares, then added a narrow red border and a larger border of one of the fabrics in the charm pack. The quilting is a free-motion stippled design, my first attempt at free-motion quilting on my new Janome machine. It is by no means perfect, but I think it turned out OK for a novice.

Here's the finished quilt that some might call "lap-sized" but I like to call "nap-sized," just right for snuggling, or for the back of a sofa. I'm pretty sure that I took photos of the back of the quilt as well, but I must have deleted them. The back is mostly three or four wide, solid, horizontal strips, but it also has a couple of small blocks of cat fabric, just for fun.
I really must learn to take more artistic pictures of my quilts, besides just laying them on the floor and shooting. Invariably, this is what happens with a quilt on the floor.

Backlog of Blogging

I have about a bazillion (just an estimate) pictures on my camera left over from Christmas 'til now, many of which I snapped in order to use on my blog. Since I took a short break from blogging recently, I'm trying to play catch-up now.This handmade pincushion, cheery dishtowel, and lace trims were received on Christmas Eve from my blogging friend, Sarah, in New Zealand. I particularly like the card that features her daughter's art work. I found her blog by browsing sewing and quilting blogs. Take a peek. You'll love her conversational blogging style -- as if you were sitting beside her having a cup of tea. She has four daughters, which immediately grabbed my attention since I'm number two of four daughters. I've enjoyed her pictures of Christmas being celebrated in summer and all the beautiful things she sews and quilts. What fun to get a Christmas Eve gift from halfway around the world! Thanks again, Sarah.

Naughty Boy

Note to DH: If you're going to raid the cookie jar (or in this case, cookie Rubbermaid) then please eat the entire cookie. Thank you.

I Thought I Was Finished

In what I sadly believe is fast becoming a lost art, I wrote and mailed three thank-you notes today. One was for the pastor who ministered to our family and conducted a gospel-filled funeral service for my step-father. The second was for a couple in Mama's church who extended hospitality to James and me Saturday night so that we would not have to make the long drive back home, only to return Sunday morning. The third note was for the ladies' Sunday School class who provided lunch for us at the church on Sunday prior to the funeral. If you have never experienced the spread put on by a group of church ladies in the deep South, then you have not really lived!

My doorbell just rang, and I discovered this lovely plant sent to us by our church family as an expression of their sympathy. Maybe I have time to get another note out before the mailman arrives.

(Side note: Having Blinky is sort of like having a small child. Does anyone know what kind of plant this is, and whether or not it is poisonous to cats?)

Getting Back into the Swing of Things

Here's what my life has been like for the last six weeks or so:

• Thanksgiving dinner at my house (about 18 people).


• A new grand baby born December 7 and keeping the older two children for a couple of days.


• My step-father's hospital admission on December 8 and then visiting him 2-3 times a week.


• Participating in choir rehearsals and our Christmas program on December 13.


• Finishing making Christmas gifts, shopping, wrapping, and cooking.


• About 16 people here for a Christmas party on December 19.


• Christmas Eve dinner at my house for 21 people.


• Visiting my step-father on Christmas Day and then being with the family on December 26th as he was moved into hospice care. Making the 90-mile round trip every day except one from December 27th - January 6.


• His death on January 7. I went to be with my mother that day, accompanied her to the funeral home to make arrangements, answered her incessantly ringing phone and doorbell, spent the night, and drove back home the next day. (150-mile round trip)


• Driving 75 miles back on Saturday for the visitation at the funeral home, spending the night, attending church yesterday morning, then lunch provided by the sweet and generous church ladies, followed by the funeral, burial, and then trip back to my mom's house. We finally got back home last night about 7 p.m.

So, this week I hope a semblance of normalcy returns. I managed to do a little bit of housework and laundry on Friday night and Saturday, but we have no food in the house, so that's on my agenda today. And rest. Tomorrow I go back to my once-weekly baby sitting. I've made plans with my mom to go to her house every Thursday, since she has known for some time that she needs to pack up and get rid of some household things as she looks for a smaller place to live. Her current property is a good many acres, and the upkeep has been difficult for the last few years. But those Thursday trips won't start this week, as we both need time to rest and regroup. And I am so eager to get back to sewing and quilting. I've barely touched my machine since Thanksgiving.

I bought this bundle of five one-yard pieces at a quilt shop near the hospice, and I can't wait to see what it becomes!