A new beginning

All I can say is Depression Sucks. I've spent the last 3 months working, or vegging on the couch playing stupid computer games. Enough of that!

Yesterday, I finally did a recon in my sewing room and made a mental commitment to spend at least 15 minutes a day in there cleaning, and then if I can manage it, another 15 sewing.  First thing I did was to take "before" pictures:

From the door (looking south):

Better view of the south-east corner:

East wall (not really my happy place right now:

North wall (beside door):

West wall:

My room is on the small side - about 11.5' x 12', with an 8' x 2' closet with a 6' opening. Currently it has carpet but I eventually want to put in vinyl planking for ease of cleanup.

My goal is to have it completely cleaned and reorganized with a month. This also involves new shelving in the closet.

I spent about 2 hours in here on Saturday, about 1/2 hour making enough room on my ironing/cutting board:

I do the majority of my cutting on this table, as I mostly make scrappy quilts or cut from fat quarters. If I need more space, I use my dining room table. 

Once I did that, I cleared my sewing machines - I have two that I use, a 1947 Singer Featherweight 221 for piecing and straight stitching, and a Kenmore for zigzag and quilting. Now I can do my 15 minutes of sewing after 15 minutes of cleaning! I actually managed about 1 1/2 hours today!

First thing I sewed was a T-shirt dress for my oldest granddaughter, Zoey! She is turning 7 tomorrow.

I make these from youth-sized t-shirts by cutting the sleeves off, finishing the edge with a simple turnover of the hem, cutting about 4-6 inches off the t-shirt, and adding a cotton skirt of about 21". She lives in these all summer long.  This one has dinosaur footprints for my dinosaur-loving girl!  I had to leave before she got to open my gift, but apparently she was absolutely giddy when she saw it.

Check in tomorrow to see how I did on Sunday, and later in the week for a recap of Quilt Canada 2018!

Branching out

I've tried something new this year - sewing with knits! I found a great sewing pattern website, Love Notions, which offered a couple of free patterns for the kids.  I've now purchased a few, picked up some knits and started playing.

This is the Trendy Tunic, Size 5 and Size 7, for Mya and Zoey.  The patterns are a .pdf download, and I love that I can easily just print one size at a time, without having to sort through multiple lines.

Zoey loves to wear patterns! Sometimes she's head-to-toe cheetah print!  Mya was in twirly mood that day, so wouldn't wear hers.

I've always been intimidated by knits before, I'm not sure why now! They were so easy to make, and I even learned how to use the twin needle on my machine. My sister has now given me mom's old serger, so I can learn something else!

I got hit with that terrible flu just after my last post, so I haven't been sewing much. I hope now that I have fully recovered, I can get my mojo back.

Sunday Stash Report, Week 17

During my "hiatus", I made a Bionic Gear Bag that I haven't shared yet. If you haven't heard about this bag yet, you really should check it the website at Sew Much Nicer!

It is a fabulous bag that can be used to store just about anything, and there is going to be larger version available soon. (I also bought the baby BGB variation as well). Sally also offers video workshops to teach you how to put this together at Sew Like a Rockstar.

They were really helpful adding the pockets and putting the side panels on.

There is also a free pattern for a small dish that attaches to the bag with magnets, that can be used for Wonderclips or as a thread catcher. Free is right up my alley!

 Of course, to make a coordinated one, I had to buy new fabric!  I got 4.35 metres, but rest assured the bag doesn't take that much - if you do the bag all in one colour it takes 1.25 yards or 1.15 metres. In fact, the pocket linings used scraps that I had on hand. I also shared with a friend, so 2.3 metres were used right away.

Added this week: 4.35 metres

Added this year: 33.05 metres

Used this week: 3.3 metres

Used this year: 21.8 metres

Added/Used this year: 11.25 metres

The extra metre was used by my grandkids!  The kids wanted to sew one morning after a sleepover, so we made some doll/stuffie blankets.  Alex is eight, and sewed his all by himself, even putting the backing on envelope style. I just had to show him how to line things up.

Zoey (5 1/2) finally overcame her hatred of moving parts, and assembled her top with a little assistance. She wouldn't let me take her picture though. Mya is 2 1/2 and not afraid of anything - she wanted to just jump in and do it by herself. Since she's never done it before, I had a hard time holding her back, but we managed to get it done safely without running over little hands. She was so proud of herself.

I have a few more things I did during my hiatus, but I'll save those for next week.

Linking up with Judy's Sunday Stash Report at Patchwork Times.

Sunday Stash Report, Week 4

Another metre added, and a metre out!  Next week, I've promised myself that I will have the En Provence top finished.

Added this week: 1 metres

Added this year: 19.8metres

Used this week: 1.00 metres

Used this year: 0.00 metres

Added/Used this year: 18.8 metres

I did make another purchase of sale fabric last week at Hamels.  My friend, Kim, ordered the sale stuff on line, and I couldn't help but add to it. I used the excuse I need another yellow and a soft orange for my En Provence quilt ( 4 - 3 1/2" square of each), which translated to buying a metre!

I added a gray and a green tone-on-tones, for the stash and bought 4 - 1/4 metre pieces in all. I didn't bother asking for fat quarters, as I tend to use strips anyway.

I plan on having the En Provence flimsy done by the end of the month, and that will put a big chunk out! It will be 13.25 yards if I don't add to it. 

I did move a metre out making some doll/stuffie blankets with the grandkids this weekend!

Alex is eight and has been sewing off and on with me for quite a few years. He has now progressed to learning about chain piecing and matching seams, and can operate the sewing machine without me hanging over his shoulder. I was at the ironing board cutting blocks for the girls while he sewed his blocks.

Zoey is five and picked out all her blocks, and for the first time, braved the "noisy" machine and helped feed her fabric through.  She really wanted to use "her" machine, a hand-crank that she has claimed as hers, but we stuck to the Featherweight.  She took off before I could take her picture, but here she is last year when the hand-crank arrived. She likes this one because it is so quiet.

And little Miss Mya got in the act as well. She helped choose her own blocks, but had more fun poking through my scrap basket while I sewed hers up.  She promptly wrapped around her stuffed puppy, and went off to bed. 

Since I was babysitting, I was able to get a picture of her and her messy hair as she was busy pointing out the "otopus" under her hand!

I love that my grands love to craft and sew with Gramma, and I hope we have many years of doing so before they lose interest. They were all proud of their work and couldn't wait to show their parents when they arrived for pickup.

Linking up to Patchwork Times Sunday Stash Report.

Like Judy, I count my fabric out at three stages:

1. When the top is finished, which is called a flimsy.

2. When it is quilted with the backing

3. When it is bound and finally finished.

This gives me an incentive to push a project to the stage. This week, more En Provence!

Have a great week,

Terri in BC

What I'm working on

This past weekend I spent many hours working on quilting - using my domestic machine to quilt the Super Mario twin-size flimsy!

In my usual procrastinating ways, I presented the flimsy to my grandnephew, Konner, on his 9th birthday, with a promise to quilt it in the next couple of weeks.  I promptly went home, set up my dining room table and ignored it for two weeks.

The rainy weekend didn't let me make any excuses, so not-so-bright and early Saturday morning I got started. Once I got into it, I chastised myself for waiting so long.  Why do I avoid things I enjoy doing?

All the straight-line diagonal quilting is done, as well as outlining the sashing and the outline of the designs.

I started out thinking simply - just get 'er done! Now that the background has been completed, the borders outlined and the edge sewed down and trimmed, I'm looking at the centres of each block and I can visualize more!  I'm going to attempt some straight-line quilting, along with free-motion quilting and play with each block.

  The pipe has cross-hatching in the light green areas, and will have straight vertical lines in the dark green.

Of course, it wasn't all work and no play - I also got to see this little cutie perform in her third dance recital!  She's done ballet the last three years, plus 1/2 year of tap, next year she's going to do tap and hip-hop! Can't believe she just turned 5!

Throwback Thursday - Day 3 of 31 days of blogging

One of my other crafty loves is scrapbooking, so much so that I was a Creative Memories consultant for 17 years and now a Close to My Heart consultant.  I host weekly workshops which are generally well-attended, but sadly my own scrapbooking efforts have also fallen off the wagon. 

 

Last night, I had a workshop and started going through pictures to add to some pages I had already decorated!  I came across these lovelies of my sweet grandchildren:

 

 

August 2011 - Alex was almost 3, and went to his first Airshow.  Smart parents got him ear defenders, and even though it wasn't raining, he thought the umbrella was fun!

 

 

Lucky Gramma got to babysit this little sweetheart!  Zoey was 2 months old and spent the day with me.  It took me about a dozen shots to get this beautiful gummy smile! 

 

Now for the best news of all!  Grandbaby #3, a little girl is on her way!

 

 

 

Zoey is going to be a big sister in October.  My daughter is due the day after what would have been my mom's birthday, we are all so excited! I'm not taking holidays this summer so I can have time off to help out once the baby arrives and daddy goes back to work.

 

To my US friends, have a great long weekend!  To all the rest of you, only one day left until the weekend!

Happy Birthday, Sweetheart!

My adorable granddaughter, Zoey, is 3 today!  We had her party on Saturday, and what a beautiful summer day it turned out to be.  My daughter had planned an outdoor party and set up a small pool and water table for the kids to play at.  Zoey is the only little girl in our circle of family and friends, so her party had 7 boys and her!

 

Of course, we had to make sure our little princess stood out in the crowd! My older daughter brought the tiara, and I made a Rapuzel dress-up apron.

 

 

At 3, I think the apron is a lot easier for her to put on and off than an actual dress, and easier for Mommy too!

 

 

I saw some on Etsy and Pinterest, but the design is so basic, I was able to create my own pattern and make it in a single day.  I plan on making a bunch in various designs, including Alice in Wonderland, a nurse/doctor, more Disney characters, etc.

 

I made the neck long enough and with elastic so it will grow with her (and present less of a strangulation hazard).  Right now, it reaches almost to her waist and we just looped the back ties through it. 

 

 

I think she was getting tired of pictures!  Poor thing had taken a tumble at daycare a couple of days earlier, so she has a big goose egg on her forehead and a bit of a black eye!

 

 

 

The kids had fun decorating cookies!  The apron came in handy and washed up like a dream!

All of the fabric came from the bags a friend gave me last year, all I had to buy was the pink ribbon for the puffs for the fake sleeves.

 

My son-in-law takes advantage of Zoey's birthday party to rope all the dads into helping set up the pool at the end of the party. 

 

 

Alex and his cousins, Kayden and Konner "helping" by making sure the bottom liner was flat - as one dad said, it would make a great "playpen"!

 

Happy Birthday, Zoey!

 

Sunday Stash Report, Week 16

I can't believe it's been almost a month since I posted a blog post.  That's the longest I've gone since I started blogging 3 or 4 years ago.  One thing I've discovered, blogging gives me motivation to sew, then I have something to write about, even if no one reads my posts.

Only one small purchase in all this time, 1 metre representing two cloth books that I'll make for Christmas presents.

Added this Week: 1 metres

 Added Year to Date: 63.1 metres 

Destashed this Week: 0 metres

 Destashed year to Date: 22.55 metres

 Added for 2014: 40.55 metres

Total spent  YTD $284.20 = $4.76/metre

It's been a busy month - our guild was featured at the Creative Stitches show this year, I was only able to volunteer one day because of work, but it was a long day!

Then we had a special sew-in with a very special visitor!  Ron Swanson dropped by, along with his maker, Monica Solorio-Snow aka the Happy Zombie!

This quilt made the rounds a while back, and even visited the set of Parks & Recreation - you just have to read Monica's description of that for a hilarious belly laugh!

Monica is a great lady, and a lot of fun!  I was lucky enough to sit across from her during the sew-in and get to know her better.  I was even inspired to pull out a test block that I did based on one of her designs (Funky Wrench - a free tutorial here) and start a new project.

I got eight of these 6" (finished) blocks done - all are made with 5" charm squares with grey backgrounds (Bella grey and feather).  I want to pick up some charcoal and finish a few more for a cute baby quilt.

I've also been busy in the garden.  We've had a later spring then usual, so I'm late getting my early plants in, but last weekend was so beautiful I was able to some done.  Daisy enjoyed the sun as well!

And yesterday, we went to one of the local farms for an Easter egg hunt and see the baby animals.  

Zoey - 34 months old

Alex - 5 1/2 years

We had dinner last night, so it's a quiet day today for me.  Taxes, some scrapbooking and maybe some sewing tonight!

Happy Easter to all - hope your day is wonderful, whether you spend it with your church, family or by yourself.

15 minutes....

Well, so much for shorter, more frequent posts!  I've been working a lot of overtime and any free time I've had I used for sewing, not on the computer (way too much of that at work).  I've also had a sweet 2-year-old's birthday to celebrate, a series of appointments with a sleep specialist, and just general busyness.  But I am resolving as of today, to take 15 minutes at least every other day to post here.  Why?  Because it keeps me accountable, it's a journal of what I've managed to accomplish and how I've spent my days and I just like doing it!

 

Zoey loved her I-spy quilt!  Of course, my bug-lovin' granddaughter picks out the spider!

 

And the water table I got her was a hit!

 

 

The simplest toys can get the biggest smiles!  From Auntie Jackie and cousins.

 

And can you see future trouble with the new swing set?

 

My other gift to her was a summer outfit made from a pattern that I used for my girls when they were little.  I made it reversible with 2 pairs of matching panties, but forgot to take a picture before I gave it to her.  I tried that day, but it was so bright and sunny, the picture was really blown out - here's the best I could get after adjusting it.

 

 

Now I'm heading out to enjoy the sunshine after 5 days of rain! 

 

Have a great weekend,

 

Terri in BC

 

 

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Sunday Stash Report, Week 17

It's been 5 weeks since my last stash report, and despite my best efforts, I haven't been able to spend a lot of time in my "Happy" room.

 

 

A reminder to relax and enjoy 'me' time!

 

I'd like to show you more but right now, I can barely find the floor.  When I get busy, I tend to "dump and run", which means the 15 minutes I have found here and there have been dedicated to sewing, not certainly not putting anything away.

 

 

Some things that make me happy - a jar filled with notions from my mother's and grandmother's sewing supplies.

 

In the last month, we've celebrated Easter, been to the zoo in Seattle, I've hosted a scrapbooking retreat, babysat most weekends and worked some overtime on top of my full time job. I've also been having issues with my left shoulder and knee, had X-rays and finally got to the physiotherapist on Thursday.

 

My grandmother's button tin - I've had this since I was 18 years old.

 

The good news is there is no signs of oestioarthritis nor wear and tear, but simply a strained knee and bursitis in the shoulder.  Luckily, we've caught it early enough to prevent frozen shoulder but it has kept me out of commission for a bit. 

 

To cheer myself up, I did stop by my favourite fabric shop and picked up a few little things: 

 

 

 

Added this week: 1.75 metres

Added Year-to-Date: 56.25 metres

 

So far, I haven't broken into any of it, but I did finally finish one of my many UFOs!

 

 

Used since last report: .5 metres

Used Year-to-Date: 9.5 metres

Net used/Added for 2013: 46.75 metres

 

It didn't use more fabric because I repurposed this wool melton jacket that I haven't worn for a few years.

 

 

 

Using this adorable pattern from Liesl Gibson,

 

 

and lined with Aneela Hooley's A Walk in the Woods,

 

(it does hang straight on a proper hanger ;o)

 

and nicely fits a cute little girl, if she hadn't just woken up from a nap.

 

 

She kept trying to pull it off, so I didn't get a great picture of her in it, especially once she discovered she could twirl in it!

 

 

I wonder if she will be Little Red Riding Hood for Hallowe'en this year?