A Christmas Stocking

It's about time and how appropriate......

J's stocking is finished

with camo lining and all.

And what better day to finish it but on Thanksgiving! 

Atleast J will have a stocking this year under the tree, now hopefully I may be able to get one finished for Ryan and myself before Christmas day!

A little afternoon sewing

I tried to get a little sewing done this weekend.  After realizing this weekend that Christmas is coming, and none of us in house have a stocking for Christmas day!

So, Jason decided he didn't want to lay in the pack and play but sit up so that he could see me working at my sewing machine.

And, I got to patchworks sewn together for the outside of Jason's stocking, 

maybe tonight I can get the outsides cut out in the correct shape, and the linings cut out.  

If I am lucky and I have time maybe I can also get the outers quilted!

Helping out a good cause

When getting ready to have sewing weekend down to mom's I was reading another blog where they were collecting dissapearing 4-patch blocks in order to put them together to give away for people who were affected by hurricane Sandy.

 

We took some time out to put some together.....

 

 

 

I think between us we put together 25 ish or maybe a few more.  I got them mailed out Friday and can't wait for them to be recieved, put together and be put to good use!

 

 

Now it's time for me to get busy working on something else.....

 

Like some little boy I know needs a stocking for Christmas!

The husbands away we shall play!

Ryan went out of town for the week so the baby and I went to spend the weekend at mom's.  We had a girls sewing weekend at mom's house.  

We started Friday night with a potluck dinner, setting up sewing machines, and a little bit of sewing.

Little man decided when he was ready to go to sleep, it was time to sleep.  Atleast I still had one arm that I could use to sew with.  

Saturday morning Mr. Man was sleeping on the ironing board, while we were trying to get his jacket on to head on shopping to the local quilt shop.

But before we went, we got outside to this,

Carol's back window had busted.  We are really confused on how this happened.  

And Amy came down to join us for a little sewing time Saturday afternoon.

And she brought J a present!

Look at my new hat!  He has worn this hat every day since and he always gets a smile on when he starts to put it on.  

And Sunday morning Started out....

with Jason laying out a quilt with my mom on the bed.  We got it all laid out.

And Jason spent some time in his little play mat talking up a storm and playing with his toys.

And in the afternoon Great-Grampa came down to spend some time with the Jason,

The enjoyed some qulaity time.

Quality NAP time that is!

While mom and I finished putting her quilt together.  This quilt she made is going to a very special baby girl that hasn't been born yet, but will be soon.  

An Upcoming Weekend!

Okay, so I am a bit excited about an upcoming weekend.  

I bet you can't guess.

Hunting season has begun,

I have missed my sewing machine,

I have missed quality time with the girls,

some good food,

Yeah!

A weekend at mom's!

I get to sew, eat, spend time with the girls, and of course my son!

I am really looking forward to getting a few sewing projects done and together.

Some catching up

I have been busy around the house trying to get some things done and preparing myself for the baby to arrive.  In the sewing front I have been working hard to get some things worked on that I know I won't have time to deal with once the baby is here.  

So, The baby's room gets a lot of sun so I decided to make some curtains.  

I couldn't decide on store bought curtains as a I wasn't satisfied with the designs that I saw not knowing if this was going to be a boys room or a girls room.  

So the theme of the room is kind of outdoors.  We have camo, the walls are blue and most accents are brown.  So I found some fun woodsy  fabrics and made my own design and put the together and got rods to put them up.  

I think they are a great addition to this room.  

I finally put together May's Block of the Month

And June's

I even managed to pick up and put together July's.

Know I am feeling not so behind on this quilt and maybe won't get so overwhelmed with it.  

The seven blocks I do have and have done look so great together.  

And then there is another project I have been working on.  

I said when I had this baby, I wasn't going to use all the chemicals, and waste that goes with a baby.  So we decided on cloth diapers, which I was going to make but I decided to buy instead because they were so much work to make.  

And now I have decided on making my own wipes.  This is a much easier task but when thinking about how many wipes I need for a 2-3 day supply I have a lot of work to do.   

I have about 20 made, and now I continue to try to get some more done before baby does arrive.  

sewing day at mom's

I got to have a sewing day at mom's back a little while ago.  I have been busy and haven't had a chance to get on here and write about it.  

I got all these blocks put together and some borders put on it.  I am very happy with the way it came out.  It is not that big of a quilt but it looks a lot like the outdoors and reminds me so much of my family!

I finished the borders on this quilt that I started 5 years ago as a block of the month quilt.  I had some blocks finished and have slowly been working on getting all the other blocks done.  Once I had them done I needed to get all the sashing done and have put on the borders.  It now looks like a quilt.  

And mom, gram, and I got out blocks done for April.  Just time in for going and picking up my May block, so now it's time to work on that one!

Community Volunteer Work

My grandmother and I occasionally help with some sewing with a local quilt group who are working on the Quilts of Valor project for veterans.

I was given 8 stars before and had to make 12 more to go with them to put them together. I put borders on them and put them together for the group.

Now, my grandmother and I are working on another pattern with the red, white, blue theme for another quilt.

I had lots of cutting done, My cutting table was a mess with all kinds of piles. I am amazed that I even knew which pile went together.

I like quiet days in my sewing room, with the candle going, the music going and the dog at my feet. I could spend hours like this!

I got all the pieces from the piles in the right spots and was amazed with myself that I never had to take any pieces out and re sew.

I got my 6 done and already had 2 done from another time.

Gram also had made some so I took all my stars to her house and we laid them all together.

They do look great together! We still have 8 more to make to put them together and finish this quilt top.

Getting down to buisness

I have been bound and determined to get some work done in my sewing room. With two quilts hanging on the quilt wall I haven't had much other space to work.

I had some small wall hangings I had machine quilted and they were waiting for me to match some binding and get them sewn on. So I got my but in gear and got that binding machine quilted on.

I worked last weekend and while it was quiet time I was able to do a little hand sewing.

The hand sewing on both wall hangings are done and Ryan can't understand why I am working on winter things when spring is already here.

I told him I just haven't gotten them done, I started them and they sat in a pile and never got finished.

Then I ventured on to the quilt wall I have been wanting to get clean.

I got the top half of it put together! So the bottom half of the quilt was still hanging out on the wall.

Until, just the other night!!!! I got the bottom put together, and I got the entire quilt put together! Again another winter/Christmas quilt that is being finished in spring.

This quilt has a lot of hand applique on it and I had to work on each block individually to get all the pieces appliqued on.

So another quilt on the wall has been removed, and now it is onto getting my but in gear and getting the other quilt off the wall.

I need to put boarders on the blocks and then I need to piece them all together.

A lazy Saturday!

Saturday was a lazy day......

I went over to gram's, helped her with her physical therepy, and decided I would try to get my block of the month sewn together.

While I waited for mom to arrive to work on out blocks I thought I would lay out a few blocks from last fall's shop hop.

Apparently Sophie thought it was a lazy Saturday also and found the need to lay on my blocks.

I finally convinced her to go visit grampa in the basement and was able to get a picture without her in it.

Grampa and Sophie enjoyed some quality time together hanging out on the deck enjoying the nice sunny weather.

While I enjoyed some quality time with gram's sewing machine, before it broke.

But I did finally get my square finished. And now it has been put away with the rest of the blocks to sit in the closet and wait for square number 4 and the rest to follow!

An evening to organize!

Ryan decided to go visit his uncle one night last week,

I decided I had enough of my sewing room!

These two bins are half of the big purchase I made back in January. I bought all this fabric from a women who was moving and getting rid of all her sewing stuff.

I have been through it once and picked out everything I wanted to keep, Gram got everything she wanted, and mom took everything she wanted. Then the remains made it back to my sewing room. I finally made the decision that what I never thought I was going to use, I would give away.

My aunt has been collecting scraps and other material both for herself and for her church.
So she came down to Gram's this past weekend and she got the pile!

I also had some time to work on some sewing for the Quilts of Valor.

I finished a red star,


and a blue star.

Gram and I are working together to get 20 stars made, 10 of each color to put together into a quilt top for the quilts of valor project.




My sewing room is definitly looking better.

I love my quilt wall

I LOVE MY QUILT WALL!!!!

I hung one quilt all up because I wanted to see it all put together up on the wall even knowing that I am still missing one block. Now I have more ambition to finish that one block so I can put it together.

And did I mention that I have TWO quilt walls. This means the entire empty wall in my sewing room is covered and allows me to put many different things up and look at them.

This is a block of the month quilt from about 4 years ago that I still have not finished and still have 4 different blocks still in bags I think I should start thinking about putting together!

School Vacation

Sometimes, I love school vacation. When it requires relaxing, reading, sewing, and enjoying time with family and friends..

But this vacation required a lot more work. A doctor's appointment, some basketball games, some cleaning, and some organizing.

I attempted to clean and re-organize gram's closet. Yes RE- organize. I feel like twice a year I embark on this adventure. I have all the plastic bins labeled as to whether the material pieces are large or small and then as to what color they are. I did this to make it a bit easier for gram when she is looking for material so that she doesn't have to go through every bin.

The two lower bins on the far left are all kits that she has bought over the years and hasn't yet attempted. I must say I made my way home with a few of these also.

Then Gram and I spent one day together working on our block of the month.

I am really enjoying this quilt. Yes I only do it a block at a time but I just love the colors in these blocks and this quilt.

So now I have two blocks put together and hung up in the closet and can't wait to keep adding to them!

My new toys!

I went shopping a while ago and saw these neat little toys that I just had to buy.

I was able to put them to use when I had these pillows that I needed to get sewn shut.

These poor pillows have been sitting on my couch since about mid July and they have been open just like this!
So I decided to use in my new purchase "wonder clips", and use them in order to hold the pillow shut so I could work on sewing it.

Needless to say I have gotten all four pillows sewn shut and they are now on my couch being shown off without the stuffing being shown anymore!

What to do on a Lonely Sunday!

So Sunday Ryan took off and decided he was taking the dog with him so I was sitting at home wondering what I could be doing. I turned the music up loud, did some baking then ventured around the house taking on other tasks.

I have been wanting to try this pattern forever. I bought this as a kid in a blue and brown colorway. And what a better time to work on something like this besides waiting any longer.

We inherited this hutch from Ryan's parents last week. They are busy packing and moving so we were lucky enough to get this piece of furniture and it fits perfect in my kitchen or in my dining room.

It is a bit empty in this picture though and has been sitting in it's place for about 5 days. So I figured, maybe it was time to start adding some things to it to make it start looking like it is used.

So I added some things to it that we also inherited in Ryan's parents moving efforts. But I added some of out own things also. But atleast now it looks like it is home and looks like it has a place where it belongs.

Then I ventured into the garage to check on my pet fish. Okay so they aren't really pet fish and they aren't really mine. Ryan has stocked most of his bait at his dad's new house this year but for some reason he has decided to leave a little stash at our house. So I got sick of looking at how dirty it was so I decided I would clean out their tank.

So after emptying out all the fish and refreshing the water. I was able to get the air filter back in and return the fish back to their home.

They were very happy to have a new clean home to spend time in. They are just so excited to have a clean tank!

Then I even got some time in my sewing room. I was able to spend a couple hours and work on that pattern I have been wanting to do.

And I must say I am in love with it!

The bottom of the panel is supposed to say bless this baby but I have decided maybe I will wait and sew a name on it in the future.