Moving

I have decided to try a new blog host.  I keep reading good things about WordPress.  So, I am trying it.

Had to choose a slightly different name.

MaryMakesIt.wordpress.com

If this doesn't work out I may be back here.

Hope you still follow me.

Mary

Saturday Sew-In

Hello, all!  I had hoped to make a post for yesterday, but alas, I failed.  I wanted to do the Friday linking parties but I was just worn out.  So, here I am.  A day late and a dollar short but happy as a pig in a wallow.

Today I had a Sew-In at my house.  It started with just my sister and me and that ended up being all it was but it sparked so much interest on FB I am going to do it again with more notice.

I set Sharri up in my living room.

My sewing room is on the second story.  I was even nice enough to go out to the barn/garage and bring in my old ironing board and set up on the ground floor.  Sharri was working on a quilt called Clovers.  She started it at a class but couldn't go to the next one due to an injured child.  She managed to get four blocks completed today.

Her goal was six but there were a few problems that involved some unsewing.  Yuck!

Mid-afternoon one of our cousins (actually a first cousin once removed) stopped by. She had seen on FB that Sharri was at my house and brought by some hats she had crocheted for Sharri's granddaughters.  Sharri just sent me a picture of two of them.  Not a great picture but the hats were so darn cute I have to share!

When I saw them I said, "Where's mine, Lois June?"  She said she would make me one.  I have a stash of yarn, too.  I dug out some red I wanted a hat in and gave her that and three other skeins for her.  She was happy and I think I got a deal.  She ended up visiting for about 40 minutes.

I totally lacked focus.  Storm front moving in was messing with my head and I was sending messages back and forth with a couple of friends that wanted to come but things weren't working out.  So, I got three sides of one border added to a quilt!  I did have to piece the border but still....I am embarrassed.

After supper I sat down in the LR with my husband and took a power nap.  I woke up refreshed.  Better make hay while the sun shines.  So.....

I sat down at Agnes and began to sew.   I am not sure why I thought treadling would be better than climbing the stairs to my sewing room.  But, I did.  It is warmer.  Treadling helps warm you up.  I am working on using up some fabric I mistakenly over cut.

One morning coming off of night shifts I didn't have enough of these squares for the quilt I was doing.  So, I began to cut and cut and cut.  I think I ended up with literally 400 in excess!  I was on auto pilot and apparently thought I was covering Montana with this quilt.  So, I am sewing the extras on my treadle for practice.

I just read a post that Melissa over at Happy Quilting is doing a Star Light Star Bright quilt along.  I am thinking of doing that.  I don't need another project but it would get me going again, I think  I swore this would be my year of finishes but .... I swear I won't buy fabric for this.  Has to be from my stash.

So, what did you work on today?  Are you like me and a bit wintered out?  All these weather systems play havoc on me. Or, it could be the crazy shifts I work.  Or, it could be my age but I seriously doubt that.  I know my driver's license indicates I am 49 but that HAS to be wrong.  It was only yesterday that I was 24, wasn't it?

Keep stitchin'!

Mary

A Slow Start

Hello, all!  I am back.  It has been three months since I blogged.  I have done quite a bit.

I made a quilt for my cousin that had a double mastectomy.

It was self designed and a little wild for me but I liked it in the end.  On the back I included a Jacob's ladder because it is my family name.

That thing is 3'x3'!  The red portion is a Snoopy fabric because she says, "Snoopy is the man!"

I used a fun design in red thread for quilting in case she hated the front (she did not).

I made a baby quilt for my manager's grandsonsongrandsongrand.

I caught up on my BOM.

I went to an auction with my DIL where I acquired this cute sewing box.

And, this folding table with a yardstick embedded in it.  I collect yard sticks.  So, I couldn't resist!

I also helped my son clean his newly acquired rental house in a snowstorm.

Made a couple of neck gaiters for my husband and myself when the polar vortex  or winter storm Hercules was approaching.

Speaking of that storm, we were without power for two days.  So, I cooked on the woodburner.

Breakfast:

Those are pancakes, scrambled eggs, smoked sausage and not pictured are the hashbrowns.

Lunch was grilled cheese, tomato soup and chicken noodle soup.

I had made tacos and refried beans the night before and that evening I made skillet meal that I fix but I can't get the pictures off of my camera.  It is made from polish sausage, potatoes, onions, peppers and green beans.  We had the leftovers for lunch the next day.  No one was starving at out house!

While the power was out I sewed on my treadle.  So, now I am trying to complete that quilt on the treadle.  I have a lot of goals for this year and one of them is to get back to blogging.  So, here is my start!

Hope someone is still with me.

Keep stitchin' and stirrin'!

Mary

Finish it up Friday: The Lady in Red

Hello, all!  Been a busy few weeks.  Last Sunday I just HAD to sew.  I finally put the binding on this lovely lady.

This is where she lives.

It is nearly impossible to get a decent picture of a full size quilt by yourself.  To top it off it has rained here and everything is covered with bees' wings from the grain leg running across the road.

This is the pieced back I made.  I used the scraps I had and I am not displeased with it.  The solid is actually the "wrong" side of a print from Connecting threads.

I tried to make the quilting something special....as in attractive, not that polite way of saying something looks like 20 miles of mud fence after a rainstorm.

This is on the back because it shows up better but this is what fills the outer red border.

The next border on the front has the little flowers.  The body of the quilt has the "Hearts A Flutter" design.

I used bamboo batting.  I did like how it quilted but it feels heavy on the bed to me.  Hubby likes it and winter is on its way.  So, it will be good.

Today we went to Indy so that I could see my neuro.  Then down to IUPUI so that I could have a chest CT.  I swear I will soon glow in the dark after all the damn x-rays and CT scans I have had.  But, if this one is clean I get to skip my December CT.  YAY!!

I hope to sew tomorrow.  I have a cousin that had a double mastectomy this week.  I want to make her a quilt.  Red is her favorite color (and mine!) I am thinking of making a black and white print quilt like this one with a red border and red flowers appliqued on it.  What do you think?  Too modern?  Too cutesy?  I want cheerful but not pink ribbon.  I think that can be overwhelming.  My LQS has some black and white jelly rolls that I think would work.  I, of course, have a lot of red fabric.  That is my plan for tomorrow.

Going to try linking up with some parties.

Crazy Mom Quilts
Richard and Tanya
Confessions of a Fabric Addict.

What did you finish this week?  Nothing?  That is okay.  Have fun looking at what others did.  Check out some of the links.

Thanks for stopping by.

Keep Stitchin'!

Mary

Make A List Monday

Hello, all!  I am a week late with this post but I did NO sewing this past week.  I did not complete my list but I didn't do too bad.



1. Finish Fun and Done quilt (would do Wednesday at its class but just asked to babysit my grandson!)
    Completed.  You can see it here.
2. Complete Ugly Sister top.  Did not touch this.
3. Quilt at least three quilt tops.  I know I did two but I can't come up with a third.
4. Final border on 2012 BOM.  Still working on it.
5. BOM for August and September.  Did August but had to skip September meeting so....
6. Owl pin cushions for BOM. Completed - on time - you can see them in this post.  Scroll down.
7. Use D9P for leaders and enders I did this.  I still need to add a border and then it is ready for quilting.
8. Earth tones quilt completed to take to NY. Completed.  It morphed into more work than I planned (thus some of the others being put on hold).  It turned out great and they loved it.  You can see it here

So here is my list for the remainder of September and October.

1. Binding on French General
2. Complete Ugly Sister top.  
3. Quilt at least three quilt tops. Should be easier because I have some laps ready and I am going to do edge to edge instead of the custom stuff I did on the two from this month.
4. Final border on 2012 BOM.  
5. BOM for September and October.
6. A set of Owl pin cushions for my cousin's wife.
7. One of the special projects for my BOM.  Will probably be the quilt due in November.  I don't know that I want to do the baby quilt for next month.
8.  Take Five from my Fabric Uglies.
9.  Start a coin quilt from my scraps as my new leaders and enders.
10.Clean the big sewing machines.
11. Start a farm animals book for Blaine for Christmas and maybe a teepee.

Okay, that is a lot.  We will see how it goes.  Today I am off to the oncologist. Should just be a check up.  Wish me luck!

Keep Stitchin'!

Mary

No Sew "Weekend"

I really wanted to bind my French General jelly roll this week.  I got off work at 7:00 a.m. on Tuesday.  I slept for a couple hours and then I started canning.  I go back to work tomorrow morning at 7:00 a.m.  This is what I got done.

That, folks, is 43 quarts of tomato juice, 13 quarts and 3 pints of apple pie filling and 20 pints of applesauce.

I also received a call today telling me our beef was ready a week before I expected it.  So, I cleaned and defrosted the freezer.  With all that going on I ended up sweeping and mopping our full basement and reorganizing my food storage.

I am beat!  Not a stitch of sewing.  Don't know when I will get back to it but I will.  Hang in there with me.  Monday is my one day off and I am going two hours one way to see my oncologist.  Tuesday I am back on nights.  Next Saturday I am hosting my 30 year class reunion.

My Civil War BOM is having sign up for next year.  I just can't decide.  I love going each month to be with the women and seeing their work but I can't NOT do each month and I am getting overwhelmed.  Work really interferes with my fun!!

So, what are you up to?  Can't wait to see everyone's links for Friday.

Keep Stitchin'!

Mary

WIP Wednesday: French General Jelly Roll - It's BACK!!

Hello, all.  I am making another post about my Jelly Roll 1600 in French General.  I think I will get one more post out of this quilt.  You can read the first two here and here.  I really wanted to have this quilted today BUT my current migraines is laughing maniacally and saying, "No way, sister!"  So...here I am, posting about quilting instead of actually doing it.

I like to do edge to edge designs because they are quick and easy.  But I have done enough of those that I feel like I should break out of my box and try harder.  So, I have three different border designs. First I did swags.  Then, I went back and filled in with straight line quilting.

Sorry for the shadows.  It is still on the quilting frame in my basement.  I am doing all of this with rulers.   The swags show up better on the back but they are now rolled onto the take up roller.  For the next border (the cream with the red print) I am doing a floral.

For the body of the quilt I am using a design called Hearts A Flutter.

Now for my confessions.

1.  I took a class with a Handi Quilter educator and she told us, "Groovy boards are quilting for idiots."  Thanks!  I am an idiot and I am fine with that some times.  The heart design and the floral design are Groovy Boards.

There is a stylus attached to the machine carriage and you move the machine and follow the design.  Because I am not doing edge to edge and am mixing designs I have to do a lot of adjusting and pay attention to get them in the right place.  Hopefully, that saves me from being a complete idiot.  Not that I really care.

2.   I royally screwed up the back but found it too late to fix.

See the puckers I sewed into the back?  That made me HAPPY!  NOT!  Since this is for my bed, I just take it as another lesson learned. Hopefully it will be less obvious after it is washed.

BTW, here is the backing for this quilt.

Yes, I know.  C- R - A- Z - Y!  I made the fabric I had on hand work and sort of satisfied my OCD.  I am using bamboo batting for the first time ever.  A lady in my quilt group kept extolling its virtues.  Since I have allergies and it is hypoallergenic I thought I would try it.

Linking up with Freshly Pieced for WIP Wednesday.

What are you working on?

Keep Stitchin'!

Mary

Friday Finish: Turning Twenty Five

Happy Friday, y'all!  I am writing this Thursday night and hope to link up with my normal parties tomorrow.  We will see how that works.  May be next week because I am on the road to NY tomorrow.  It will be a quick trip.  Going to see friends and Niagara Falls and back to Indiana.

My finish this week is a gift for the friends.  They had their twenty fifth wedding anniversary this summer.  I thought I would make a simple quilt.  What could be simpler than the Turning Twenty?  They like earth tones.  I started pulling fabrics from my stash last weekend.  I made the body and I hated it.  So, I tweaked it.

Yes, that is a Bible.  I am a heathen but I own (and read) several copies.  This is a dual version, KJ/NIV.  I added I Corinthians 13:4-8a to the border strips.  This chapter is otherwise known as The Love Chapter.  I had to take a little creative license with some of the wording to get them to fit.  Nothing to change the meaning.  I changed "love" to "it" occasionally and once dropped the "always".   When I was younger I was lead to believe that was a sin.  Turns out, I don't agree with a lot of what I learned from "Nazarene biddies" when I was young!  They are probably spinning in their graves but I am betting on Jack and Becky liking the sentiment here.

I was pleased with the overall effect.  The embroidery is done in a Charcoal Sulky thread.

Some are a little harder to read from a distance but can be seen fine in person.

I quilted this with a variegated thread from King Tut.  Number 983 if you are REALLY curious.  I used a leaf pattern for the body.

Bless my husband's heart.  He told me what he likes are the little bobbles like you see in that leaf center.  He feels like that shows I did it instead of a computer.  If he looked close enough he would find that proof about every six inches!

I did straight line quilting on the outer border and though you can't see it, I did SID around the blocks with embroidery.

Most of the fabric is from Connecting Threads. I had to order a piece for backing and found this stripe on sale, too.  So, I used it for the binding.

The backing is dark brown and I could not get the colors of the binding to look correct and it to still show.  I was able to get the stray threads to show though.  I knew y'all would want to see those!

I am pleased with this quilt.  I had planned it but didn't start it until last weekend.  I didn't start sewing until Sunday and I had it completed - including binding - by 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday.  It has close to 5 hours of embroidery in it.

Hopefully, I will manage to link up with

Richard and Tanya
Confessions of a Fabric Addict
Crazy Mom Quilts

Some time tomorrow but who knows.  Have a great weekend!

Keep Stitchin'!

Mary

p.s.  My husband says we can go to quilt shops on this trip!

Fun 'n' Done is DONE!!!

Happy Friday, y'all!!

Last Sunday I finished this.

I took it right outside (with some of the ravelings still hanging on it) and took pictures on my church pew.....and a rocking chair...

It looks beautiful out there.  It didn't stay.  I don't trust the dogs, squirrels and chipmunks.  This is the terrible picture I took at 4:45 this morning.

This is probably where it will stay.  It really isn't big enough for my taste but I don't think I can make one of these any larger.  Most of my problems were of my own doing.  I really wanted to use decorative stitching for the top stitching but was strongly advised against it.  I wish I had because I ripped out the seams so many times it would have been faster.  Also, I would have switched from the FW.  I was having problems keeping a straight line with the weight of the quilted blocks on the FW.  Once I set down at the countersunk Janome 6600 all of those problems went away.

Here are some close ups of the blocks.

As you can see, I washed it and I am pleased with how it washed up.  I would do one of these again but I would change some things.  First, I don't use a steam iron.  I would for the batting.  I did part of this at a class at the LQS and they used a steam iron.  I could tell that some of my blocks had shrunken batting and I am guessing that is why.  I had double checked each piece of batting's size after I cut them.

Also, though it would take longer, I still think I want to do one with decorative stitching.  Maybe just a table runner.  I was determined this not become a UFO so I waded through it.  I think I would have enjoyed it more if I had done a little at a time.

I am linking up with

Richard and Tanya
The Fabric Addict

For now.  I may be back to add more as more blogs open up their links.  Thank you for stopping by.  Be sure to check out some other finishes.

Back to my cleaning.  Some of my babies are coming home for the weekend!!  Also, I am on my first day of 16 days off.  Woohoooo!!!!

Keep Stitchin'!!

Mary

p.s. Found a new blog to follow and link to.  Check her out here.  You will love her blog.

Finish it Up Friday: Little Things Count

Hello, again!  I do NOT have my Fun 'n' Done completed.  I had to give up because I was so tired I couldn't keep my seams straight.  Here is an example.

I will be picking that out again.   I thought I had completed joining one set of rows and had the first seam in the other three sets.  Turns out I missed something.  One set has no seam and I picked out the seam of one.  Grrr!  You see why I finally stopped.

So, my little bitty finish is this.

That is right.  Two dish cloths.  They aren't the same size because I didn't have enough yarn for the last row of the second one.  They are dish rags for crying out loud.  Who cares if they are straight?

I made the first one last week while I waited on my 22  year old to have a colonoscopy.   I was a little embarrassed the it was all I had completed.  So, today it has a little sister and I am posting them.  Hey, I have worked 72 hours on two different shifts in the past seven days.  This is all I have in me!!

If you are new to my blog, go back one post to see the cute owl pin cushions I posted earlier in the week along with a link to the dead simple pattern.

Thanks for stopping by.

Linking up with
Richard and Tanya
Amanda
Sarah 

For Fiday Finishes.

Keep Stitchin'!

Mary

It Just Comes Naturally (or, I am from a family of liars)

Hello, all!  Last night was my BOM meeting for the Civil War Club.  I had my block done.  Woohoo!!!

Yes, I know my points aren't perfect.  I am not sure I care at this point but may later.  Flying geese are not easy for me.  Surely they will get better before I do the 44 I need for next month!! I also have to do another of this block.  So, I will have 48 of them.  I don't cut off the points.  Mine seem not to meet at the bottom.  Working on it.

Our special project was a set of owl pin cushions.

I am not much into owls or pin cushions.  So, I made mine in the colors my SIL wants and am giving them to her.  All of the buttons are from my stash.  The one poor little owl has two different eyes.  His left eye has some deformity.  It is textured!  If you like these owls you can find the free pattern here. It is very simple.  My mama owl is stuffed with lizard litter and a little fiberfill to make closing easier.  The babies have emery sand and fiberfill.  The lady in our club recommended - and I second - that you baste across the fold before stuffing and that you fold over a scant quarter inch of fabric and "hem" it on the opening.  I felt they were easier to stuff if I put my closing thread in before stuffing.  I used embroidery floss.

In our club we get "scrips" that we can use at an auction held at the end of the year.  They are earned by attendance, bringing our journal, having our block done, special projects, show and tell and CW stories. She said from the beginning they could be truth or fiction.  Last night I went with fiction.

I make soap.  I haven't made any for a few years because my family wasn't using it fast enough.  A friend at work wanted to try making some and that got me to thinking about it again. I enjoy it.  I used soap making as the basis for my story last night.

My family is big story tellers.  Some people would call them liars.  They are good at taking a grain of truth and rolling it around in "details" and things they might wish had happened until it is the size of a hush puppy.  I might have inherited a touch of that.

My family tree has been documented back to the 17th century when immigration to the US began.  We settled in Virginia and then down into the Carolinas and back to Kentucky before my branch landed in Indiana.  During the War of Northern Aggression most of my relatives were on the Confederate side.  I have several ancestors that were POWs.  I took this little grain of truth and my knowledge of soap making and created a story for last night.

This from the journal of a female ancestor who also happens to be named Mary.  I kid you not there is at least one in every generation since our arrival in the US.  I am it for my generation in my branch.

Please read with a soft, southern voice.

The boys have been gone for over two years now.  We still get word that Jesse and Andrew are being held in prisons in the North.  I pray this is true.  The Yankees were through last week.  I tried to be civil.  I tried to remember they were some woman’s son.  Some of them made that a trial.  But, I think of my dear friend Abigail in the north.  I know that she is treating all soldiers whether they be northern or southern boys.  I feel I have to do the same. One day it may be her son in my yard.

We fed them what little we had.  I doctored their wounds.  For some reason what they were most interested in was my soap.  They took nearly every bit I had.  We were left with a few old bars from before the war that had turned yellow.  It is good soap and still cleans.

Before they left they burnt the oak grove that Grandaddy had planted when Mama and each of her siblings were born.  There were 15 great oaks.  One for each child.  Now there are none.  Since they took our soap and left us with ashes, I felt the Lord was telling me to make soap.  I needed tallow.  Nothing around here with more grease than a possum.  We set traps and I caught 15 of them.  We needed the meat.  I cooked them up but kept every scrap of fat and today I used that old possum fat and those ashes to make soap.

It kept us busy and warm for a while.  We had to gather up all those ashes.  Then we boiled them in some rain water.  I didn’t have an egg but little Squire, Claude’s boy, found me a nest of robin eggs. I sure hated to take them but I hope Mama Robin understands we are all sacrificing.  I boiled and boiled those ashes and when they started feeling slippery I let them cool.  I was in luck.  I got the egg to float the first try. 

We mixed that lye with the possum tallow and made our soap.  I didn’t have anything but a few mint leaves left to scent it with but it will clean.  It sure isn’t my prettiest soap but it washes.  I wrapped it in the few scraps of butternut flannel I had and I am passing it out to our boys when they come through.  I can’t bear to only be washing the Yankees!

I pray that someone is giving my boys soap in that Yankee prison.

Abigail is the alter ego of one of the women in charge of our group.  She gives us information about life during the CW at each meeting.  She loved it that I tied her into my story.  I gave each of the ladies a bar of my home made soap after my story. NO, I do not make soap with possum tallow.  I suppose it is possible but don't know that I want to try.  I will stick with lard, coconut oil and such.

I hope my story gave you the same sort of chuckle it gave my "little ol' quilting buddies", as my husband calls them.  Back on night shift tonight.  Hope to get my Fun and Done completed and my Jelly Roll 1600 on the quilting machine this week.  That depends on how much sleep I get.  I have a problem giving up sleep to sew. If I can sleep I am going to!

Keep Stitchin'!

Mary

p.s.  I decided to link this post to some of the crafting linking parties.  So far I have been to Sew Darn Crafty and Lady Bug Blessings.