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.