Still here....

Hello.  I have not given up this blog.  I have just been side tracked.  I have to pursue faster internet for home.  I still have dial up.  Today's connection is at a wopping 24kbps.  Can't upload pictures at that speed.

I have been sewing quite a bit.  I made a quilt for a wedding gift earlier in the month.  I have no idea of a name for it but I did try to take some pictures as I made it since it is super easy and could be made from jelly rolls and charm packs.  I used scraps myself but the other would work.

I have another quilt ready to go on the quilting machine.  It is also a wedding gift.  This one - like a lot of my projects - morphed out of control.  It is now queen size but I like it.  It is a modified version of the block Alabama.  I am calling the quilt "Roads to Alabama".  If I can get a good picture I will post it.

I have also been doing some canning.  I think I did 28 jars of green beans.  I still had some left from last year, so I didn't get carried away.  I have tomatoes waiting on me to juice and can tonight.

I woke up this morning with a terrible migraine.  It has been there for days but got so much worse this morning.  Have to go to work as soon as meds wear off enough for me to drive.  Obviously they aren't going to fix the problem today.  I tell you, days like this and I understand how trepination developed!

No humor in me today.  No lessons.  I did get supper in the slow cooker.  That is always a crap shoot on migraine days.  Chances are good I will forget some key ingredient or season it too much.  Today it is a pork shoulder with potatos, carrots, celery and sauerkraut.  We will see how that turns out in about 8 hours.

Keep stitchin'!

Bits and pieces

Last week I had a plan.  I worked hard on Wednesday so that I could sew on Thursday.  That evening I received a message telling me I had to work Thursday.  I worked a little bit each night on the quilt blocks I was making.  I even took photos.  Unfortunately, I can't upload them from home.  My dial up is VERY SLOW.  I will add them later.

I wish I could remember where I saw the picture of this block.  I have no idea what the name of it is.  It is very simple and uses up scraps.  I made it all in blues and greens.  I hope the bride likes it.

I haven't worked at all on the quilt along with amanda jean over at www.crazymomquilts.blogspot/com .  She had her feelings hurt week before last and I wondered if I had contributed to that.  Not intentionally, I didn't.  But I did agree with someone suggesting an alternate way to make the block she was doing.  Like I said there, there are no quilting police and everyone should do what works for them. 

She is obviously a very precise sewer.  I have been sewing since I was five.  I was taught by a woman who took every shortcut she possibly could and did NOT do handwork.  I do better than Mom but I still look for shortcuts and use them!  I sew quickly and I get bored easily.  Some people will feel that I am insulting them but that is not my intention.  I admire people with more patience.  I am just not one of them.

I don't call myself a quilter, a seamstress or a sewist (where the hell did that term come from.  I HATE it!).  I sew.  I am the type that on Wednesday after school you can bring your daughter, the  fabric and pattern you need made into a dress for her to wear on Friday and I will get it done for you.  I cursed a lot and we had soup and sandwiches for supper Wed and Thurs but I managed to get it done after work those two evenings and deliver it on Friday morning.  You know what?  I enjoyed it!

Now, you give me a bunch of two and half inch squares and tell me to sew them together and I am going to need some ATivan.  That drives me nuts!  My machines sew 1000 to 1500 stitches per minute and I go as fast as I can.

So, if anyone actually reads this and has a suggestion for how I can do something better, by all means tell me.  I may not agree but I am fine with suggestions.  I will either try it or give you the reason why it didn't work for me.  The web is an amazing thing and there is so much to learn.  I admit I don't know it all.  Let us help one another learn.  Everyone doesn't have to travel the same road to reach the same destination.  The trip should be fun!

Keep stitchin'

Bourbon, Berries and Beans

It has been a very busy couple of weeks for me.  I work 12 hour shifts and rotate back and forth between days and nights.  Last week I worked Monday thru Thursday.  I came home Thursday night and packed.  We left Friday morning in our Sand Rails and drove over 500 miles this weekend.

We had a ball.  We visited the six distilleries on The Bourbon Trail in Kentucky.  We had no major mishaps - other than the spatzy that ended up splattered in my lap.  I lost a shirt from that.  We got caught in the rain about 25 miles from home.  We waited it out in a bank drive thru but then got soaked driving home because of how wet the roads were.  We looked like drowned rats but we were glad to see rain here.

I discovered that I don't like the cheap stuff but am fine with the small batches.  No point in spending money on the pricey single barrel for me.

I was supposed to be off on Monday but since we were back I called my manager and said I could come in for a while - that ended up being 11 hours!  Worked another 10 yesterday and have to work 12 on Fri and Sat.  So, I am home today and tomorrow.  Thank God.  I was about at the end of my rope and was out of leftovers in the freeezer.

Today I am cooking so that I can sew tomorrow.  A friend brought me two and half gallons of blackberries last night.  This morning I cleaned all of last years out of the freezer and am making jelly with them.  I also picked a big mess of green beans this morning.  I cleaned and snapped those and put them in the crockpot with ham and onions for tomorrow.  I am in the process of making a big batch of potato salad and a lasagna.  Lasagna is for Saturday.   Potato salad is for tonight and tomorrow night.

Still going to make a pie or cobbler and freeze the rest of the berries.  I do have them all cleaned.

What I want most is a nap.  I have to get to the sewing room and to the store in the next few hours.  Wish me luck!

Thank You, God, for an air conditioned sewing room

With the heat index ranging into the 115 to 120°F range, my sewing room is a great place to be!  I acutally spent Sunday in the basement and wore a fleece jacket when I wasn't sweating bullets from nerves.

Sunday my sister came over and we worked on quilting our aunt's quilt.  It is a beautiful piece that she wanted custom quilted.   We already have 6 hours in it and are only about half way done.  We both agree - NO MORE custom quilting for anyone other than ourselves.  We are learning lots - most of it the hard way.

I worked night shifts last week.  I work a 12 hour rotating shift.  While I was on nights I made a Turning Twenty - my first - that I plan to give to my BFF.  note:  Teenage girls talk about BFFs but when you are in your mid forties and have had the same one for over thirty years it is safe to say they are your best friend forever.  Anyway, I don't know if she will like it and I haven't seen her yet to give it to her. 

It is made from a Connecting Threads collection from 2009 called Aqua Terra.  I bought it with no plans but listening to her talk about her new furniture and carpet I  knew it was meant for her.

I quilted it using a template I bought from RNS designs called Hearts Aflutter.  It is a fun design that went quickly and I really enjoyed it.  Unfortunately the only picture I took has a huge shadow from my clothes line.

It is pretty, I think.

Out of time now.  More later....

Keep stitchin'!

I am really going to do this now!

Okay, so I started this blog and did nothing with it. That is about to change - even if no one reads it! Just because I didn't write anything doesn't mean I didn't do anything. Since November of 2009 I made the dresses for my son's wedding, participated in 5 (I think) block swaps on the internet and with my family, completed quilts for gifts for several people. Here are a few:

Scrappy Mountain Majesties

This was a block exchange I did with my sister, my aunt and a friend. My aunt and friend live in Texas. They didn't quite follow the directions but I think I made it work okay. Used it for a grab bag exchange gift with my mom's family and my DIL ended up with it after much bargaining and shenanigans!

Log Cabin
I did a block exchange on line at http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/ a few years ago. I added a few more blocks, sashing and a border and gave it to my dad. I did a free motion cowboy hat around the edges and used a Baptist Fan pattern for quilting the body.


 

And, the big project:

Frankly, Julie
My SIL is a huge GWTW fan. I have several pics of this as a WIP but no good ones of it done. I need to sneak into her bedroom and take some more!

Okay, so that gets me through last Christmas. I have several more this year. I have so many ideas floating (actually zooming like caffienated 5 year olds) through my head. I thought this might be a good place to track them. I have to figure out how to add goals to the side.

If you have read this far, please come back again!

ETA: Discovered I didn't add the pics correctly. In figuring that out I found a draft of a post about the GWTW quilt. I will post that later!

Black Friday

Its another day so I won't feel too guilty about another post.

I am on night shift right now. God help me. I am going to leave here at 5:50 or so and go to the local JoAnn's for Black Friday sales. I wouldn't but it makes supporting my habit so much better if I go and stock up on batting, muslin, rotary cutter blades and some threads.

My darling DIL is coming up w/ my sister so that she can drive me home after the mess.

My list has grown as to what I need. Wonder how long this will take. I am taking a nap after and then sewing.

Hope your Black Friday was all you wanted it to be.

Introduction

Hello. Since this is my first post I thought I would introduce myself. My name is Mary and I have been married to my high school sweetheart for almost 27 years. We have three sons, one daughter-in-law and a soon to be daughter-in-law.

We live rurally and my husband and I have found over the years we can do most anything we set our minds to. We built our home ourselves. I mean my dad and I dug the basement and I know where most of the wiring and plumbing runs. It was a good thing for the kids because it helped them develop a DIY attitude.

I have always sewn. My first memories of sewing are using a needle and thread to close up the holes in my teddy bear when I was about four. My mother suffered from depression a lot and as a result I got to do a lot of things other kids weren't. By the time I was 8 I was sewing doll dresses for my sisters and the neighbor kids on my mom's Singer. My mom always managed to make us new dresses every Easter and frequently made my clothes. However, Mom couldn't be bothered w/ little details like pressing! She was an expert at zippers but could never get a button hole correct. I, therefore, am great at button holes but really have to work at zippers.

I have cooked since I was about eight, also. That was when my parents divorced and I ended up cooking a lot. When we married my husband and I were 19 and 18, respectively. We had very little and had to be very frugal. I started gardening and canning then.

Now, I sew to fill my time and I garden to fill jars for my boys to use. I recently started quilting pretty seriously. As a result I bought an HQ16. I go to take lessons two weeks from today and then I am going to bring it home to play! I am excited and nervous at the same time.

I didn't intend this post to be so long. Now, you know a bit about me. Pictures of important stuff will come in the future.