Wednesday Ramblings

Colder weather makes it easier for me to stay in my sewing room. And Thanksgiving leftovers help, no cooking. But, a few pictures--

Over the weekend I made five pillowcases for the Heartstrings Pillowcase party. They were fun and easy.

Next I loaded and quilted the 2nd Bricks and Stepping Stones top I had waiting. I used a soft blue fleece for backing, it will be very snuggly. It will get binding pieced together off that cardboard tube.

And since it's the Christmas Season, I took my Grandmother's Flower Garden off the rack and will put it on our bed in a few days. It is made entirely out of Christmas fabrics--leftovers from my mother's and grandmother's stashes, pieces from friends, pieces that I had. I hand pieced this, it took me 18 months and was a fun project. It is special to me, my mother and grandmother are no longer alive, but they fostered my quilting ambition. And if you're wondering, that GFG is a king size. I have it hung sideways on my clips, it is dragging on the floor behind my quilting table.

I am still buried in binding projects, but that's good!

My Birthday

A few days ago it was my birthday. I wanted to show you the lovely gifts I received from my quilting on-line friends. I opened them while I was alone, and stroked and fondled and laughed as I opened them. Thank you everyone!

PS--if you look closely there is a piece of CHOCOLATE---which is no more!! (Thanks Kay!!)

Monday Goals

Are you tired of leftovers yet? Nah, me neither!! And so this is an appropriate post. What do you do with your leftover binding? I wind mine on a cardboard roll from Christmas wrapping paper. And then when I am making a scrappy quilt, I often go to this roll and put pieces of binding together.
Tonight I was binding a small scrappy quilt, and the binding came from this roll, I just pieced a few blues together.

I have been busy, I machine sewed the bindings on three projects. Unfortunately--only one was mine! So I haven't used much stash. But I am glad the bindings are to the hand sewing part, I can leave them beside my chair and pick them up when I sit for a few minutes.

Goals--Hmmm. I have a pretty full week. I think I will choose.....

1. Hand sew the bindings
2. load another quilt

Not sure when I will see baby Mason next, or when they will be coming to our house. Sigh. I KNOW he is missing his dance partner! Maybe I should memorize some new songs.........maybe learn a few new dance moves.......

Sunday Stash Report

Ahh, another Sunday where I didn't buy anything!! And I did use a little stash, 3.3 yards on 3 pillowcases! Today I'm making some binding. And if I get time I will make some more pillowcases. I am stuffed with turkey and fixings and still have some pie left over. I forgot to take a picture of the finished product, I made five pies! Cherry, Pumpkin, Pecan, Cottage Cheese, and Buttermilk. Yes, I have never made a buttermilk pie, but hey, I use my family as guinea pigs! I even made a different crust, I used Martha Stewart's recipe and my food processor. It did exactly what the recipe said, and the crust had a good flavor and was flaky. Yes, I cut my butter up the night before and froze it. I froze the shortening. And I used ICE water. Just like the recipe said, it worked great.

PS---did some figuring on the back on the envelope--I've bought 140.5 yards this year, and used 215.85. I've used 75.35 yards of stash. I better get moving if I want to break 100 yards!

Motivation Friday

Okay, the "Conspiracy of Machines" wasn't all bad. I found three seam rippers, two bobbins, a small ruler, and a square ruler! I have two of the machine heads removed and in my car to go to be re-wired. Since the 201-2 is wired directly in the art deco cabinet, she will have to wait until I can get at least two strong men to carry her out into the pickup. Until someone is fixed, "Celty" and I will be partners!

My goals this week, well, not too bad! The quilt is off the machine. I have three pillowcases cut out. Haven't bound the blue isolette. To let off some steam, I did play with my bricks and stepping stones. Tonight I am going to make pillowcases, bindings and just whatever strikes my fancy!

Tomorrow my family is having a small Thanksgiving, I have to make pies and sweet potatoes. I will do that in the morning.

I'm thankful for my family and my friends. I'm blessed with enough to eat, a place to live, and a husband who loves me. And a new grandbaby. Life is good.

It's A Conspiracy!!

Yes, it's a conspiracy! My sewing machines have ganged up on me!! They KNEW I had big plans for the Heartstrings Pillowcase Weekend. First, my Long Arm had a jammed needle. My fault. And other than lots of teeth gnashing and struggling, I resolved that problem without wrecking anything but the needle. Whew! And I was on the last FOOT of that quilt. Okay, let's not play with that machine anymore tonight! Next, I willl make some bindings. I begin to sew with my Singer 201-2 (Becca). Hmmm---seems like she's clogged somewhere. I take everything loose, take out all those lintballs and threads, oil here and there, put her back together. Not any better. It might be that her gears need lube, and I don't have time to do that now. Drag her out of my sewing room, and pull in a Singer 15-91 (Chuckee). Get everything ready, hmmm, foot pedal doesn't work. Am I plugged in? Yes, the light works. Recheck things, in moving him I pulled a wire loose! Now, it's 1 am and I'm NOT going to play electrician. So I take that machine back out. (Now imagine, I'm working around stash, baskets of strings, etc.) I look around for ANOTHER machine. Ahhh--there's the green 15-91 (Carol) Ken bought me. Sheesh--she has a wiring issue too!! Look around some more. I KNOW I have more working machines downstairs, but I'm home alone and cannot carry one upstairs by myself. Okay--I will pull out ANOTHER 15-91, this one is Celtic Red Cloud (don't ask!) Whew, she works fine. But, I hate to use her as she is a collector's piece. One of only 4 Silver Badged Singers I know about. She was made in 1932.
If you're an old sewing machine enthusiast, you know Singer's came with GOLD badges. And this badge was always silver. Not "silvered" from cleaning with the wrong product. And the badge is larger than normal. But it looks like I'll be using her to make pillowcases this weekend. Oh, I could use my featherweight, but I need to finish some BIG quilts, and it's hard to wad all that up on my featherweight.

But remember it's Thanksgiving, and these are MINOR bumps in the road. Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Wednesday Ramblings

The weather yesterday was great for almost Thanksgiving. Clear, blue, and in the afternoon I could drive with my windows part way down. I had to drive into north central Nebraska on an errand, and came back across the northern part of Nebraska before I crossed back into South Dakota. Ahhh--I love to road trip! I stopped and checked out places I had only heard of or driven past before.

This picture is in the middle of the Fort Randall Dam at Pickstown SD--looking north at Lake Francis Case. Yes, not much traffic and me stopping along the road, well, no one even drove past as I took pictures.
You can see the lake level is down, there hasn't been as much snow runoff in Montana and on down the Missouri River to raise the river since the big snows of '97-98.
This is above the old Fort Randall Military post. There are many historic markers, and the remains of the original church. Sorry it's not clearer, but I was way above it climbing the river hills. There is a cemetery from the 1860's and earlier time period, I have walked through it and wondering about how their lives were. I was so interested I read the book on it! One spring day I walked the grounds of the entire military post, there are markers describing where all the buildings were and what they were used for.
I crossed over into Nebraska and the Niobrara River. No, that's not ice, that's sand! The Niobrara River carries huge amounts of sand and deposits in the Lewis and Clark Lake--right now about the upper five miles of lake have huge marshes with sand bars. Without the dams to control flooding and produce electricity, the sand would have been flushed downstream or deposited where the river widened and flooded. It's a catch 22, flooding or silt. There are many different agencies studying how to deal with it.


And just a little ways down the road I came across this group--wild turkeys!

There is a fairly new bridge to cross the Missouri River between Nebraska and South Dakota, I took the cow path underneath to get this picture. It is the Chief Standing Bear Memorial Bridge. You can read about him here.

I passed through several small towns, and laughed at this! Yes, it was right along the highway and it was padlocked, I don't think it's been used for a LONG time!

When I passed this sign, I thought it was a mistake, and turned around to check. I filled my little car while I was there. No mistake, that is what gas cost Tuesday at Santee Nebraska.

I drove past two beautiful Nebraska State Parks, and all the Missouri River along here is a National Park. Very scenic, I explored the summer vacation homes area, all the dips and twists. Then I got back to the Lewis and Clark Visitors Center above Gavin's Point Dam. This is where I volunteer in the summer. I see this view every day I'm there, it's beautiful. I stopped in to visit, I miss everyone!

After this is just 60 miles back home. I wasn't quilty, but I had fun!!

Monday Goals

Mondays sure seem to roll around fast! But here goes--

1. Finish the quilt on the machine
2. Bind the blue isolette
3. Make pillowcases for the Heartstrings Virtual Pillowcase retreat
4. Load another quilt

Hopefully I have baking out of the system for a while. No traditional Thanksgiving here, everyone is working or gone. I will have the entire day to myself to sew. Last night I cut the pieces for three pillowcases, so I've started that project. That will help me grow closer to that 100 yard goal!

More Sunday Stuff

Stephanie asked me if I really had a bed big enough for the Chunky Churn Dash. Hmm--thought I did?~! So I took the OTHER quilts off the bed, threw the pillows off, and put the new quilt on. Don't ask what else I had to move or what I had to stand on to get the picture. But it is big enough that one row of blocks is on the end and each side along with the border, just covering the top of the dust ruffle. Yes, it's still at least 18" from the floor.

And tonight I made both cherry and cream cheese kolaches. Even though I gave away three plates of them, I still have over 40 left. All the credit goes to katie z!! I also made one cherry kuchen and 2 cottage cheese kuchen. Tomorrow will be errands and sewing, as I didn't get anything like that done today!

Sunday Stash Report

I finished the chunky churn dash quilt and that used a whopping 23 yards of fabric! And thread. Good grief, I used every bit of blue I had left on the cone when I was binding it, and had to find another blue to finish. It is a KING size, and I mean a big king size!

The rod it's hanging on is 12 foot long. It's scrappy and I love it. And I also finished binding the pink isolette cover, that used about 5 yards.

In between I made three blocks for a block lottery, used about 1/2 yard. Pray I don't win them, or I'll have to add them to my stash! And I made Ken his blue bag, that used about 3/4 yard. So that makes 29 1/4 yards used this week. BUT--I bought 11 yards for backing, so it wasn't all good! That means I used 18 1/4 yards more than I bought THIS week. I'm going to have to hustle to make 100 yards by the end of the year.

This weekend I will be making pillowcases with the Heartstrings Project, that will use some yardage!! I am looking forward to some easy sewing. I'm also making some more kolaches today, someone mentioned cream cheese ones (Katie--you're to blame!!) and Ken loves cherry ones.

Saturday--Baking, Cooking, and Sewing

Last night I got a top loaded on the machine and it's ready to quilt. I also made some filling for some kolaches I made today. Still using up the apples!

If you don't know what kolaches are, they are Bohemian sweet rolls with fruit filling and streusel on top. I made a batch of taverns (bbq's) to freeze for a later date. I've even done a little Christmas shopping. The rest of the day I am going to sew!