I signed up for a stocking swap on one of the sewing groups I belong too. It's my second swap. This one we are to make a Christmas stocking, all using the same stocking pattern, and stuff it with sewing related stuff. Tomorrow I'm going to go through my Christmas prints, find the pattern I printed off and have no clue where I put it for safekeeping!!! I also want to go to my FAVORITE QUILT STORE----NANCY'S CALICO PATCH---and get some various fat-quarters, fat-eighths, and some other little somethings to put in the stocking. This is to be mailed of in November. But, Christmas (I try to make and buy gifts in September and October, wrap in October and be finished by Thanksgiving so after Thanksgiving I decorate, bake, cook, etc.) is a BUSY time around here and with keeping my daughter's one and two year old daughters and on either the 11th or the 12th of September she 's having baby girl number three!!! I figure I should get this made, buy some stuff for it so it won't be too much of a rush when the time comes to mail it.
Hope this goes better than my first swap...that was to be mailed out the first week in August and here it is almost the first week in September and I've yet to see my package. She said her machine was on the fritz and was going over to her mother's to sew on it. Then a week or two later she was busy creating an apron for a swap. So sounds like it will show up soon...
Monday, I will get down my scarecrows I made 16 years ago, painted faces, etc. Get those stuffed and other outdoor fall decorations up except for my witches and black cats as they go up on October 1st. I've bought one large fall mum and the ones I saved from previous years are starting to bud. I've them in two wheelbarrows.
Friday, August 29, 2008
More Been a While
Today I had a strong urge to Google the Dean of Students name where I had attended college...and what came up but an article which appeared in today's paper in that town where she died last night after a courage battle with cancer. I was so shocked. Knocked the wind right out of me. The students have been arriving at the local university less than a mile from where I now live and it always gets me thinking of when I went away to college and when my dear daughter went away to college.
I was SO HOMESICK! I'll never forget the Saturday that fall when I tried to call home from a phone booth. After calling parents, grandparents and not getting an answer I was balling (crying eyes out)trying to call anyone I could think of, and I found my Dad where he worked part-time on Saturdays. One of the faculty there was in her office heard me, got me out of the booth, told Daddy, she'd see to me not to worry. She called the nurse, Dean of Students, my advisor was on the same hallway and when she saw me she said she cried and cried as she too had been homesick and she had wondered about me the day I registered with her...either I was extremely homesick or something wrong with me mentally.
The Dean of Students came in with her hair in rollers, no makeup, shorts and t-shirt, called Daddy and told him I would be fine, they wanted to give me a sedative and I refused. He gave the OK for it to be mixed in a cup of coffee and to slip it to me however, my mother and grandfather were on the way and would be there in four hours to take me home.
After the coffee I calmed down, went back to my room and past out cold. A girl from neighboring county where I was from and had dated a boy from the high school where I attended came by and wanted me to walk with her and her roommate to the shopping center. By the time we returned, I was fine, mother and grandfather arrived, I decided to stay on and they made the four plus hour trip back home.
We were limited to a certain amount of overnights our first semester. I spread them out leaving five a.m. Saturday and returning Sunday night. Most times my grandparents came to pick me and my friend from neighboring county and returning us. This meant they had to get motel on Friday night and Sunday night. What grandparents with do for their grandchildren!!! Spoiled Brat you say??? Anyway, there was this college night in a city near from where I was from, we were given four free overnights if we attended it and talked up the college. That night my mother took me to it. Nice meal then we visited with seniors in area high schools telling them how great the college was and so forth. I'll never forget this one girl came up to me and asked if I liked it there...this Dean of Students heard her and moves closer knowing the Queen of Homesickness was cornered. I gave a huge southern smile and said I just loved it!!! How great it was and on and on. The girl and I chatted a while and when she and her mother got out of earshot Dean Davis looked at me, smiled and said from now on you may take all the overnights you desire!!! I'll make sure they are approved.
When it came time to sign up for our rooms for our sophomore year and register for classes she saw me in the cafeteria where all of that was taking place and she said if you are coming back any class you desire I'll see that you get into it and any room in any dorm is yours. you know know how happy I am to see that you are returning, I never thought in my life you would. I thanked her but told her I had my classes, reserved a room and I was very pleased.
After my freshman year whenever there was a homesick student, she would call me and ask me to go talk to them. She'd call me to her office to meet them or arrange for me to go to their room for a visit and she'd happen to stop by and tell the person that granted she was homesick HOWEVER I held the record and I survived.
I went on and graduated in four years and wouldn't take a thing for those four years and the wonderful people I knew then.
God Bless Dean Davis, enjoy your heavenly rewards...I'll never forget your beautiful smile and what a support you were to me in my most difficult days!!!
I was SO HOMESICK! I'll never forget the Saturday that fall when I tried to call home from a phone booth. After calling parents, grandparents and not getting an answer I was balling (crying eyes out)trying to call anyone I could think of, and I found my Dad where he worked part-time on Saturdays. One of the faculty there was in her office heard me, got me out of the booth, told Daddy, she'd see to me not to worry. She called the nurse, Dean of Students, my advisor was on the same hallway and when she saw me she said she cried and cried as she too had been homesick and she had wondered about me the day I registered with her...either I was extremely homesick or something wrong with me mentally.
The Dean of Students came in with her hair in rollers, no makeup, shorts and t-shirt, called Daddy and told him I would be fine, they wanted to give me a sedative and I refused. He gave the OK for it to be mixed in a cup of coffee and to slip it to me however, my mother and grandfather were on the way and would be there in four hours to take me home.
After the coffee I calmed down, went back to my room and past out cold. A girl from neighboring county where I was from and had dated a boy from the high school where I attended came by and wanted me to walk with her and her roommate to the shopping center. By the time we returned, I was fine, mother and grandfather arrived, I decided to stay on and they made the four plus hour trip back home.
We were limited to a certain amount of overnights our first semester. I spread them out leaving five a.m. Saturday and returning Sunday night. Most times my grandparents came to pick me and my friend from neighboring county and returning us. This meant they had to get motel on Friday night and Sunday night. What grandparents with do for their grandchildren!!! Spoiled Brat you say??? Anyway, there was this college night in a city near from where I was from, we were given four free overnights if we attended it and talked up the college. That night my mother took me to it. Nice meal then we visited with seniors in area high schools telling them how great the college was and so forth. I'll never forget this one girl came up to me and asked if I liked it there...this Dean of Students heard her and moves closer knowing the Queen of Homesickness was cornered. I gave a huge southern smile and said I just loved it!!! How great it was and on and on. The girl and I chatted a while and when she and her mother got out of earshot Dean Davis looked at me, smiled and said from now on you may take all the overnights you desire!!! I'll make sure they are approved.
When it came time to sign up for our rooms for our sophomore year and register for classes she saw me in the cafeteria where all of that was taking place and she said if you are coming back any class you desire I'll see that you get into it and any room in any dorm is yours. you know know how happy I am to see that you are returning, I never thought in my life you would. I thanked her but told her I had my classes, reserved a room and I was very pleased.
After my freshman year whenever there was a homesick student, she would call me and ask me to go talk to them. She'd call me to her office to meet them or arrange for me to go to their room for a visit and she'd happen to stop by and tell the person that granted she was homesick HOWEVER I held the record and I survived.
I went on and graduated in four years and wouldn't take a thing for those four years and the wonderful people I knew then.
God Bless Dean Davis, enjoy your heavenly rewards...I'll never forget your beautiful smile and what a support you were to me in my most difficult days!!!
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Been a while
It's been while since I last posted...a lot has happened. My mother's best friend since they were infants died. I lived part-time with them when doing my internship when in college and after I graduated for a few years. I would stay over with them instead of the hour drive home when I worked nights before I moved down here. Summers her daughter and I spent weeks with each other. Our families spent weekends together. Her daughter went with me to see my great-aunt for a week or two and I went with her to stay a week or two with her grandmother. When my mother developed the beginnings of dementia we cried on each other's shoulders. How ironic my mom was born a few months before her and died a few months before her in the same years.
She and I shared many of the same hobbies including sewing and quilting which my mother admired but didn't do. Mother knitted. Such a blessing she went to bed on night, unresponsive in the morning, and went to heaven a few hours later...massive cerebral hemorrhage.
Then a couple weeks after her leaving us for heaven my husband had an older friend who had been friends with his father and he left us for heaven too. He had been an invalid for several months and had dementia problems.
Then last weekend son-in-law's grandmother went to heaven too. She had cancer then a stroke, invalid the past year. Another blessing for a wonderful person who lived a full life, gave so much joy and gone to reap her reward.
Four beautiful loved ones who left us this year to reap their rewards for their wonderful long lives on this earth. Who lived a true Christian lives, didn't preach or push their beliefs on others but lived their lives as Christ would have them leading others to the Lord through the way they lived on this earth doing unto others as they would have done to them.
But as a sign from God that life goes on we are anxiously awaiting a new granddaughter on Sept. 12th. This baby's oldest sister who was two last Feb. started pre-school today. More of a meet the teacher and classmates for half an hour. We kept the other sister who was one last Feb. while Daddy took the oldest to her new venture. She had a good time. Loved their kitchen set. Those two are such a joy to us. We watch them while Mommy and Daddy are at work.
Sewing wise I've done a few shirts for my husband. Machine embroidering his name and a riding mower that looks similar to his. I also did a monogram on bathrobe for my daughter to take to hospital when she delivers the newest blessing to our family.
She and I shared many of the same hobbies including sewing and quilting which my mother admired but didn't do. Mother knitted. Such a blessing she went to bed on night, unresponsive in the morning, and went to heaven a few hours later...massive cerebral hemorrhage.
Then a couple weeks after her leaving us for heaven my husband had an older friend who had been friends with his father and he left us for heaven too. He had been an invalid for several months and had dementia problems.
Then last weekend son-in-law's grandmother went to heaven too. She had cancer then a stroke, invalid the past year. Another blessing for a wonderful person who lived a full life, gave so much joy and gone to reap her reward.
Four beautiful loved ones who left us this year to reap their rewards for their wonderful long lives on this earth. Who lived a true Christian lives, didn't preach or push their beliefs on others but lived their lives as Christ would have them leading others to the Lord through the way they lived on this earth doing unto others as they would have done to them.
But as a sign from God that life goes on we are anxiously awaiting a new granddaughter on Sept. 12th. This baby's oldest sister who was two last Feb. started pre-school today. More of a meet the teacher and classmates for half an hour. We kept the other sister who was one last Feb. while Daddy took the oldest to her new venture. She had a good time. Loved their kitchen set. Those two are such a joy to us. We watch them while Mommy and Daddy are at work.
Sewing wise I've done a few shirts for my husband. Machine embroidering his name and a riding mower that looks similar to his. I also did a monogram on bathrobe for my daughter to take to hospital when she delivers the newest blessing to our family.
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Sewing Notions
What are your favorite sewing notions? Some of mine include:
1. Bernina seam ripper---it's small and SO SHARP. It gets into tiny stitches and cuts like a sharp knife through hot butter.
2. Directional pins---a sewing buddy of mine gave me some the head of the pins are flat but have directions on them.
3. Glass head pins---don't melt when hot iron touches them.
4. Bamboo skewers---great for holding fabric you are sewing on near the needle of our machine.
5. The rolling chalk markers---I have them in white, yellow and blue.
6. Gingher rotary cutter---I LOVE it. Just recently got mine and it just glides through fabric. And feels wonderful in my hand.
7. Vent brush for cleaning heat/ac vents in vehicles---great cleaning bobbin area and other parts of sewing machine.
8. Toilet brush---cheap toilet cleaning brush, the type with the bristles being held in with a twisted wire that loops around coming out and into plastic handle...great for grabbing threads off of the floor.
9. Adhesive lint roller---for getting threads and lint from fabric off of my clothes I'm wearing while sewing.
10. Fusible knit interfacing---I use this for interfacing knits, stabilizing knits in tee-shirt quilts, apply to entire wrong side of faux suede fabric pieces makes it look like Ultrasuede.
11. White gift wrap tissue paper---I lay this down and then lace on top when heirloom sewing lace to lace, lace to entrudeux, lace to fabric. It keeps lace from getting drawn down into bobbin area.
1. Bernina seam ripper---it's small and SO SHARP. It gets into tiny stitches and cuts like a sharp knife through hot butter.
2. Directional pins---a sewing buddy of mine gave me some the head of the pins are flat but have directions on them.
3. Glass head pins---don't melt when hot iron touches them.
4. Bamboo skewers---great for holding fabric you are sewing on near the needle of our machine.
5. The rolling chalk markers---I have them in white, yellow and blue.
6. Gingher rotary cutter---I LOVE it. Just recently got mine and it just glides through fabric. And feels wonderful in my hand.
7. Vent brush for cleaning heat/ac vents in vehicles---great cleaning bobbin area and other parts of sewing machine.
8. Toilet brush---cheap toilet cleaning brush, the type with the bristles being held in with a twisted wire that loops around coming out and into plastic handle...great for grabbing threads off of the floor.
9. Adhesive lint roller---for getting threads and lint from fabric off of my clothes I'm wearing while sewing.
10. Fusible knit interfacing---I use this for interfacing knits, stabilizing knits in tee-shirt quilts, apply to entire wrong side of faux suede fabric pieces makes it look like Ultrasuede.
11. White gift wrap tissue paper---I lay this down and then lace on top when heirloom sewing lace to lace, lace to entrudeux, lace to fabric. It keeps lace from getting drawn down into bobbin area.
12. Flower head pins.
13. Applique pins when hand sewing.
14. Blue wash away marker--the felt-tip type.
15. Fishing gloves--these are a loose knit gloves with a rubbery squiggles in the palms and on the fingers. Made for gripping fish. Great for controlling fabric being machined free-motion quilted.
16. Gingher scissors---every style and type they make.
17. Grab-it magnetic pin cushions. I own and use multiple of these for each type of pins I own.
18. Tape measure.
19. Multiple rulers in various widths and lengths.
20. Seam gauge ruler.
21. Post-it notes--for jotting down notes, marking places on rulers, marking places on sewing machine bed.
22. Retractable cord thing for attaching scissors. I have a quilted sewing caddy under my machine which a large pocket comes down in front. I have it clipped to that quilted caddy and have my scissors I use for trimming threads attached to it.
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Sunday, August 3, 2008
Halloween Apron Swap
I signed up for my first swap Halloween in July on the Blooming Aprons Blog. My swap partner was Sherri who
said she liked black cats and pumpkins. She didn't like gory things.I had seen what I thought was a cute cat quilt block pattern here. This was a child friendly quilt block posted as a free pattern on Quilters Cache. I used two buttons a round and star shaped ones for the eyes. Free-motioned the nose, mouth, and whiskers on the face. I also free-motioned the pumpkin and BOO on the orange background. The bib, neck ties and waist ties are Kona fabric. Used a thin batting in the bib.
I'm not sure the manufacture of the pumpkin fabric. They were putting it out at the fabric store one day when I stopped in after I signed up for the swap and I fell in love with it. Need to go back soon and get me some before it's all been sold.
We were to include a recipe or something we liked to do for Halloween. I buy Halloween Candy--rather full-size candy bars for my trick-or-treaters. My big baking time is Christmas. However, I go all out with witches in the trees and two scarecrows with bales of straw, wheelbarrows with pumpkins, gourds & mums. OH and black cats and crows around and about the front yard. Inside I have lots of pumpkins, gourds stuffed witches, scarecrows and other fall decorations.
Since I didn't have a Halloween recipe to share I included a posted notepad in the shape of "S", a little journal that could be put in purse to have on hand to jot ideas in when out and about and some Halloween themed ribbons I found when out shopping last week. I had planned to embroider a black cat on an orange handtowel...HOWEVER...my presser foot had issues with the towel checking the design and the hoop, moved the top layer of stabilizer in a flash and pulled the terry loops of the towel---ruining it beyond use!!! First time I've ever had that issue in the eight years I've had that machine. Tried in vain to purchase another orange towel. If I come across one later I'll do it and send it in time for Halloween.
Postman said she should receive it Monday or Tuesday in at the latest. Hope she likes it.
Now I did not intend to run all of the above together in one paragraph......I had blank lines between paragraphs but it would not show up that way. GRRR I have tried double and triple spacing between paragraphs but the results were the same!!!
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