Empty Nest?

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I would change Crocheters to Quilters but the sentiment fits!

My son and his girlfriend have been testing a shared living arrangement for the last 6 months. 

They just signed a 1 a one year lease on an apartment. 

Does that make his room fair game?

I think so!

 

They would come to visit and he would dig around in his room for things to take back.

This is the state of his room. 

 

 

View from the door.

 

View from the closet on the other side of the room.

 Looks like I have some work to do.

 

He has a super single waterbed that I have been wanting to replace with a double bed, you know, big enough for 2 people, in case anyone came to visit and wanted to spend the night (which never happens).

First, I need to take care of the 2 fish aquariums on the headboard. They both need the water 

emptied out and cleaned. The fish have been moved into the bigger aquarium. 

 

Then, the bed needs to be drained and disassembled. 

I have been putting this off because we usually drain the beds out the windows, but it is so cold! I don't want a frozen pond outside the window even though it is at the back of the house, nor do I want to leave the window open, even just a little, in these frigid temps. Plus, I am not sure what I will do with the bed parts at this point. We have a double bed that can go in this room, but I keep thinking about how much space that will take up! We do have an inflatable bed that they have used since the waterbed is really only big enough for one person. Makes sense to use that when needed so I have more usable space in the room, right? We never have overnight visitors except them anyway.

The bookcase and shelf above the bed need cleared. I will be able to use them for sewing items. The TV is suppose to go to them, but I don't know if they will have room for it. The dresser at the end of the bed is something they think they will be able to use. If they take the big aquarium they will have to pay an additional $200 pet fee. They already are paying that for their dog. I think the fish can be divided to fit in the other two aquariums. They have to stay under 20 gallons to avoid the fee, I believe. Otherwise I will continue to care for the fish, but the aquarium takes up that whole wall which would be good for a design wall.  My plan is to set up my embroidery machine to use just for embroidery and use my other machine just for piecing/sewing. I don't use the embroidery machine as much as I think I would if it were set up for embroidery all the time. Where I have it now makes it inconvenient and cramped to hook it up to the laptop. 

 

 

Yesterday I spent most of the day making the snowflakes. I had to find and set up the laptop, then remember how to send the designs to the machine which took a while since I hadn't done it in a while. I am hoping that with an area set up just for embroidery I will use it more. 

Any suggestions or advice?

Snowy Day

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The weather has been a tiny bit frightful here. Sub-zero temps. And, now it is snowing with 3-6 inches possible today and more tonight. It doesn't seem like it is snowing hard enough right now for that kind of accumulation so I hope we don't get that much. Fortunately, there is no wind.

So, what is a person to do? Make snowflakes! The fabric and thread kind. These are machine embroidered on polyester organza and water soluble stabilizer using rayon thread. I purchased the CD from Nancy's Notions and it came with the stabilizer and organza.

I stitched snowflakes until I ran out of white thread. I am almost out of organza, as well. 

You can see in the photo above that one snowflake is not completely trimmed. These can be stitched all white or with a combination of colors. I used a combination of white and purples, white and blues and white and pinks. I prefer the purples the best. I was planning to try silver gray and very light lime green. I guess that will have to wait until another time.

This is my favorite so far. 

I also worked on my Fire Island Hosta that I started in 2014.

All the units are cut and pieced.

And, now they are organized into sets and ready to assemble.

I hope it doesn't take me another 3 years to to that!

Winter Break

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I hope everyone enjoyed a wonder Christmas spent just the way you wanted.

My son and his girlfriend has visited us before Christmas. Her work schedule is not the typical Saturday/Sunday off. She also works 2nd shift 3 days a week and 2 overnight shifts every week. And, right now she is able to pick up some overtime at good pay which we are fine with.

Then, they were able to find a great little apartment and needed help moving. So I spend a long day helping with that.

My niece bought a cute little house this fall. And, since we are all still mourning the loss of my brother (her dad) it was decided that a new tradition should be started. She hosted Christmas at her house on the 26th. She had to work Christmas day, but at double time and an half that is hard to pass up. She is single, no children, I say go for it.

I gifted her and her mother with their pillow made from my brother's shirts.

I embroidered little tags to fit in the pocket on the back.

There were tears, but I think they really liked them. My brother and sister-in-law sang the song to their daughter even before she was born. They grow sunflowers every year, he was a bee keeper and a conservationist.

My niece is decorating her living room in grays and yellows and using her dad's bee keeping supplies so I made her another pillow.

My brother recycled used jars to store his honey in. He would mark out the name on the jar and write his name with a marker.  I was able to print out a pic my niece had taken of a jar she found in their kitchen cabinet days after his death. I used that to replicate the jar on the pillow.

My brother had started a tradition of gifting me with salt and pepper shaker sets. My son and niece continued that tradition this year.

The owls are from my son, the roosters from my niece.

Here they are in my grandmother's cabinet with her Fiestaware.

My sister-in-law knows I love kitties and love to sew!

But, this cute little kitty is too cute to stick pins into. She can live on my machine.

My mom gave me these cute little chicken-shaped plates. We are not sure what they are suppose to be used for - tea bags, spoon rest, ??

 This Christmas season has been filled with tears, memories, and family. I am blessed.

Monday again

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I had a lovely dinner with a small group of my quilt friends on Thursday evening. Then we went to a nearby town to see a wonderful musical light display.

Here is a link that will take you to their web page Lighting Up Paxton.

I was gifted this lovely metal barn quilt. Feathered Star is my favorite block. Sadly, I have 2 quilts started using this block, but none finished.

I was also gifted with 2 plate holders. This friend makes a lot of the bowl holders to give and sell. One of her friends challenged her to make a plate holder. She gave each of us our pick of 2. I chose red and blue. What a great idea!

This weekend I worked on my Exchange blocks.
Here are the blocks before I added mine.

I couldn't decide which way I wanted the hour glass block to go. I had decided on the bottom one, but when I picked it up to sew it I must have turned it.

It's ok, this is how the directions say to place it.

Here are all the blocks with mine added, top and bottom right.

Our district lets out 2 hours early on Wednesday for Christmas break. We will be serving Christmas dinner - gravy with turkey pieces, mashed potatoes, dressing, roll, green beans, and ice cream. Each child invites two adults to eat with them. After the meal the children sing a couple of Christmas songs and parents may then take their child home. There are always a handful of students who have no adults able to come eat with them. We have wonderful volunteers and staff who sit with those children. Then there are a some students who don't get to leave with their adults because the adults need to go back to work. They are sad but we try to do something fun with them until time to dismiss for the day. This week will be a little crazy and I think we are all looking forward to having some time away from school. I am looking forward to some sewing time!

My Heart Hurts

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I knew this project would be hard, and I was right.

I am making pillows for my sister-in-law and niece.

You Are My Sunshine was their family thing. 

My brother was a bee keeper and they always grew sunflowers.

I was able to get 2 shirts that belonged to my brother to use as backing. 

I straight stitched around the applique. 

I am using the shirt fronts as the pillow back. 

I like that the shirt can be unbuttoned to remove the pillow cover for washing.

I also like having the pocket there. I think it needs a special note with maybe a picture in it.

 

 

Pillow one is finished.

Here is the layout for Pillow 2.

A Near Finish

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Thanksgiving was a little tough this year. My family gathering get smaller every year. 

Not having my brother's cheerful presence there made this one hard. 

But we got through it and are working on plans for Christmas. 

My niece bought a house and hosting this year, so that will be something new to look forward to.

Over the weekend I worked on this quilt for by son's girlfriend. She loves Minions!

Front, I used a panel and added the orange and blue borders. Quick and easy! It is not bound yet.

Back is cozy Minkee!

I also finished quilting another cross-stitched baby quilt for my friend. She has made several of these. I have another cross-stitched one and a pieced one up next on my list.

Front, cute Noah's Ark.

Back is cozy flannel.

We had a pretty quiet weekend which we like! No Black Friday shopping, no Small Business Saturday shopping. I used to love to shop, but now I don't have the patience to fight the crowds and wait in line. I looked around on websites thinking I might find some great deals for Cyber Monday, but I there wasn't anything that I really needed or wanted.

Busy

I once again do not have much to show. I have the best of intentions during the day but have no motivation to work on much when I get home from work.

The time change always makes me feel tired, even though we gained an hour. I have a hard time wanting to get out of bed in the dark (yes, it is dark at the time I have to get up), and now the cold. 

Anyway, I made a list of things I wanted to accomplish this weekend.

- house blocks for Quilt Exchange

- media cart cover (for school)

- finish quilting Ruth's baby quilt

- sash and border T-shirt quilt

I finished the house blocks.

These are the blocks that came to me this time. We are in Round 3.

This is the first block ready to be sewn.

This member has very specific instructions. She wants red roofs, 1 house block in grays, 1 in blacks (we are each making 2 house blocks) and solid red doors. 

 

After I got this one made I realized that what I interpret to be the door was not red.

So I remade it.

Mine are the the 2 on the top right.

I worked on the T-shirt quilt.

I did finish the sashing, but did not get the borders on.

The media cart cover has been delayed. My friend had said, 'You know how to sew, can you make this?' And, I said, 'Sure!'. But, now I'm not exactly sure of the kind of fit that is expected. 

I know my friend wants the ugliness of the cords and equipment to be hidden from the front and sides. But, I am not sure how to finish the back - leave it open? Make the back part with flaps that can somehow be moved out of the way to allow access to the equipment, like a curtain? And, if so, how to do that? So I am going to need to discuss this further with her. 

Not one stitch went into the baby quilt.

So I have been busy, but it feels like I didn't get much accomplished.

What Do I Do With My Time?

I make lists of things I want or need to get done - on paper and in my head - yet it seems 

I never cross everything off my list. And, it makes me wonder what exactly am I doing that 

I am not able to get it all done.

So today while my husband is doing this

I was keeping track of the things I was doing.

First, was laundry.

Laundry never seems to be finished. 

There are only the two of most of the time now, 

but I feel like I am always doing dishes and laundry.

Before you think I am complaining (I am a little :)  ) let me be clear that I am so grateful 

for the appliances I have that make doing these chores a little easier. 

I have a dishwasher. It isn't built-in because there is just no space in my kitchen to do that without losing a lot of drawer/cabinet storage and I don't have enough of that as it is. 

But, that's okay because I have found that it makes a great little cutting table, too!

And, even though my washer and dryer are in my (dark, damp, sometimes really wet after a big rain) basement I am glad to not have to haul my laundry to a laundry-mat. I have had to do that. 

Having a laundry area at home allows me to do other things in-between loads.

Then, I sorted through the items on my quilt frame and 

organized some projects I need to get working on.

On the left is a panel my husband picked out. Our neighbor loves, loves Christmas and he thinks she needs a Christmas quilt. I will add a border of the black with white snowflakes and bind with 

the red & black check. I have a light gray swirl flannel for the back. Fast and easy.

The middle pile is t-shirts ready to be sashed and sewn into a top. The gray on top is for the sashing. 

I will use black for the outer border and binding. Oops, just realized there is no backing for 

that one yet. That's ok. I have time to get one since the top isn't completed yet.

On the right is a Dr. Seuss fabric that will turn into a cover for a media cart at school.

Next, I had started digging out some dead plants along the side of my garage, but it started to rain. 

So I sorted a big pile of papers and got them filed. 

That seems to be never-ending also.

(This isn't even close to how many papers there were!)

Then, I took my husband lunch in the field. Lucky for me it is right across the road from my house.

He will most likely finish up the harvesting today. 

That leaves field work, but that is one more step to being done for the year.

I was able to go back to the yard work. Got the dead stuff out.

Filled this tub up, plus another armload.

My neighbor (the one who loves Christmas) shared some Autumn Joy Sedum 

that she was digging out so got I them planted.

I plan to fill in more in the spring with some other plants that I haven't decided on yet.

This side faces north and some things just didn't do well. 

At the far end you can see one survivor of thesix Knock Out Roses we had planted here.

We planted eight (four on each side of the door) on the east side. 

They are doing quite well, except the one on the corner that didn't make it.

These pictures are from a few years ago, while the ones on the north side were still doing well, but they continue to look this good on the east side.

I have been organizing current projects into these great bins my husband got for me. 

He really is an enabler!

These are meant to be vegetable bins, but he thought they would make great fabric/project bins. 

I think he is right. And, the green handles are perfect since green is my favorite color. 

I like that they stack. The legs fold flat underneath also.

He ordered them from Gardner's Supply.

Next, I took a break to write this post. And, that takes a long time.

I used to be able to connect my camera to the computer and it would automatically download pictures that I was able to quickly edit, name and save into files.

A few weeks ago my computer updated itself in the middle of the night and now I can't do that. The only way I have been able to figure out how to get the pictures off the camera takes nine, NINE, clicks for each picture, going through the Control Panel to Devices, and so on. 

And, I haven't figured out how to edit them. 

Oh, well. At least I am able to get to them, but it sure takes me a long time.

And, in-between all that I checked out PBS stations to see if there was anything interested that wasn't a rerun on. So, while I don't get everything checked off my list, I do get some things done.