Uncategorized – Sewing Etc.

Sewing Etc. Is Moving!

I have secured a new blog address that fits my blog name better!

New posts will now be found at:

https://sewingetc2.wordpress.com

I hope you will join me there!

HQAL Update-April 14

I published this twice on Sunday, and it is still sitting in my drafts….third time’s the charm I guess!

The snowman adventure continues. Last time I was here:

I had just finished pillow cover number 2.

Today, I traced the patterns for the sides of pillow cover number 3. While I will not be finished as early as I had thought, I am going to have all four pillows covered before summer arrives in earnest, and the backs will definitely add a cooling look to the living room sofas.

Here’s number 3 in progress:

This Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another. If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.
Kathy, Margaret, Deb, Nanette, Sharon, Karrin, Daisy, and Connie

Christmas is Coming

Thought I would share that just in case you missed it!🤣 With the snow and cold, it is beginning to look like it as well! This year I was determined to not fritter away my two weeks off ~~resting~~ getting lost surfing the web or other non-productive stuff, so I made a list of things to get done. Many are cleaning tasks, but there are crafty things, and holiday things too. My aim is to start the New Year with a clean house, no unfinished projects that should be done, and good memories from days with laughter and joy while everyone is here.

One thing on my list is to listen to Christmas music, or make Christmas music every day. That’s been fun, and in fact I have discovered a new favorite Christmas song! Have a listen to Celtic Worship and their song, A Child is Born.

I am working on my list in a balanced way, doing some cleaning, some crafting, a bit of work, and some holiday stuff each day. Today I did the dusting and sweeping in the “public” rooms of the house. I also took down some hard to reach framed pieces and cleaned them, so they are freshened.

Before that I made lefse. I boiled the potatoes and added the butter last night, so it was ready to go early this morning. I had been putting it off because it is a messy job, but it’s now cooled, folded and in the freezer, a bag for each girl and one for me. I didn’t get pictures, but if you are interested, you can check out this post from several years ago.

In the sewing room I continued my quest to finish things. I spent most of Monday working on stuff, and made some good progress. I finished my row of heart blocks and leaf blocks for Pieces in the Garden, and am about cut the next block, which might be the last. I also did my last block for the BOM hosted by Sherri McConnell.

The big news though, is that I have ironed and sorted all those HST I had in a box, and have been piecing together potholder tops for some extra Christmas gifts. I have two tops done now, and two in process. The pile is dwindling rapidly! I will get these two finished this afternoon, and then lay out another and start trimming. I hope to have everything pieced by tomorrow so I can start putting them together. This is one of those things that bug me…I can’t bring myself to throw out those pieces, but I have a hard time getting started working with them. Once I do, I am fine, but starting…anyone else have that problem?

I am pleased to see the piles of “possibilities” shrinking rapidly, at least on the sewing side. I pulled out my yarn bits last weekend, and realized I need to work on that before I start anything new. Here in Rapid City we “dress” the President statues downtown with hats and scarves for the homeless. I have lots of left overs from the blanket I finished earlier this year, so I am going to try use up the leftovers making stocking hats.

Christmas will come a little late for us because that’s when the girls are coming home. We will wait to celebrate until the 27th, so I have more time to work on gifts and wrapping. We don’t go overboard with gifts, so it’s going to be pretty simple, and DH and I already gifted ourselves a sheepskin rug that arrived in late November so the basement family room would be warmer during the cold months. I’ll still see about trying to surprise him with something, but not until I have the others taken care of!

I am hoping to do more posting this week, since I have the time, so you can look forward (I hope) to seeing some finished quilt tops and potholders, maybe something yarny, and possibly even some garment construction and cookie baking. There will be some Bandit adventures and likely more Christmas music too!

I hope you are enjoying the season as we prepare to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

Christmas in July-Week 2

My personal week 2 challenge was to work on Christmas tree ornaments, of which I will need 10 this year. They are made from sticks and ribbon, and they not my favorite, but the kids love them, so they remain on the list. I haven’t found a good way to keep the ribbons straight, except by dousing them with max hold hair spray.

I was pleasantly surprised to find a bunch of sticks in my ornament box, so with the dead grape vine branches I picked, I am probably set for next year too. I laid out my sticks and ribbon and tied the knots then covered a few blocking squares with newspaper. I pinned the ribbons flat and then sprayed them down with hair spray. They spent the afternoon drying, and this morning I will trim them into a more triangular shape.

This week anyone wanting to jump in, feel free. If you have progress to share, you can do so by commenting, or adding a photo to our linky party.

Goodbye Sweet Max

Our boy is gone. He quit eating on Wednesday and couldn’t keep anything down. He laid in the piano studio much of the week, and the kids loved on him. He was the best dog, and so smart, we will miss him.

Catching Up? NOT!

I have 10 blog posts in my head….they aren’t getting typed….life is good, DH is good, God is good, there’s just lots going on.

This morning my chore list multiplied to the tune of six inches of snow, and still snowing.

Things may calm down a bit after Monday, we’ll see. Until then, I am thinking of you all, trying to read a few posts, and maybe, just maybe writing one!

HQAL Update June 20

I hope you have visited the other members of our group. If not, take a peek, they do some extraordinary things!

Kathy, Margaret, Deb, Nanette, Sharon, Karrin, Gretchen, Daisy, Connie, and Sherrie

I almost reached my goal of three hoops worth of grid work this round, but not quite. I am extremely pleased with my progress, and am hoping to do another three hoops in the next three weeks.

Here’s my current progress, as well as some eye candy of the weekend’s events!

Here’s a preview from the photographer, Elements of Light.

Missing in Action

I missed the SAL Update on Sunday, I had done some stitching, but just got buried! My apologies to all of the members of the group.

So what was going on this week? A severe lack of sleep, my studio’s piano recital, which meant having two quilts finished for the seniors, besides the last lessons and program writing, garden transplanting that had to be managed between a 78 degree day and clouds and rain, and wedding dress alterations that have to be finished by tomorrow night, though the dress didn’t get here until Friday.

We are fine here, just in a squeeze at the moment!

HQAL – December 13

I was going great guns until this week, when I had to stop everything and finish the student ornaments to be distributed this week. As of this morning, I am nearly finished with them, just need to turn and press one batch and braid the tops on another. I’ll save the braiding and gap closing for Knit Night with my sis this evening, so I’m expecting to get several hours of hand quilting in this afternoon.

I have finished the center medallion, and have begun the next layer of petals, which are quite large.

This shows it better than a photo would, and I am not wanting to take it off the hoop until I finish this section. Looking forward to knocking out a good chunk now that the student gifts are nearly done.

I did do one other bit of hand quilting, the Russian sunflower block from Melva’s Pieces of the Past BOM is finally finished! EPP and appliqué. My block is missing one set of diamonds, there were supposed to be 16, but it lays flat so I don’t care!! Do visit the other members of our group, they have some wonderful projects to share.

Hand Quilt Along Links

This Hand Quilt Along is an opportunity for hand quilters and piecers to share and motivate one another. We post every three weeks, to show our progress and encourage one another. If you have a hand quilting project and would like to join our group contact Kathy at the link below.

Kathy, Margaret, Deb, Nanette, Sharon, Karrin, Gretchen, Daisy, Connie, Monica and Sherrie

SAL Update December 6

Last time I was celebrating the completion of the Blue Psalm 23 book, which had a deadline. I don’t have too much left on the Purple one, but it’s been awhile since you’ve seen it, so here’ a quick review.

This round I finished two pages, and have a good start on a third. I have been trying to complete something each day, even when I am not very excited about it, and it’s paying off; I seem to have gotten over the hump, and am enjoying stitching it now.

No clue how far I’ll get this session, but I’m hoping to be close to a finish! Now I encourage you to see what the other members of the group are up to, there is some amazing creativity and skill in this group, I promise you will find inspiration!

Avis, Claire, Gun, Carole, Sue, Constanze, Christina, Kathy, Margaret, Cindy, Heidi, Jackie, Sunny, Hayley, Megan, Deborah, Jenny, Mary Margaret, Renee, Carmela, Sharon, Daisy, Anne, Connie, AJ, Laura, Cathie, Linda, Helen