WHO SAYS I CAN COUNT?

A sweet blogging friend called me yesterday. While we were talking, I was doing theses!


This morning before a friend comes over, I wanted to trim them up.

I will not tell you the name I called myself when I snipped off the seam allowance!
Seriously? Again?
Then I noticed that I had turned one of the Santa's faces inside out.....so I went looking for him...low and behold, he was the one I snipped off the seam allowance.
Well.....I had 32 to stitch, see...I told you 28....but sometimes it is good to be wrong because now I have a total of 28. I chose to top stitch mine instead of taking a needle and thread to close the opening.
Here are the fabric measurements I used, it helps to cut the fabric out first. I know most of you know that....

For the Santa's beard - 4 x 4 inch square

Face 1 1/2 " x 4 inches

Hat rim 1 1/2 x 4 inches

Hat 3" x 5"

This makes it go so much faster

You can get the pattern here

BACK IN THE SADDLE AGAIN!!!

My one son left for Japan at 4:00 a.m yesterday. I stayed up with him until he left.

Ran around with my husband....took a long nap and began work on these.....(28)


.


Only have one totally done! You can get the pattern in the link below this post.



How fun is this? I am going to work a little on them today and do some other stitching. After I got my fill of these last night, the first pictures shows you how far I had gotten to. Do you just ever say....I can't just do this another minute? So I started on some other projects that have been in the works for a while. Trust me, these are fun but sometimes I just get the itching to move on.

So today....work on my Santa's a little and make my rounds to this and that. Husband is gone for three days....

My son told my husband. Dad....now that you are leaving this house is going to go to pot. Mom will have her sewing stuff all over the place. I never realized that I was a creature of habit....but let the mess commence!!!

A CASE OF THE LAZIES!!

Yep...that is what I had....I confess....

No sewing,

No reading,

Just a lot of baking.....I tried taking the calories out of everything that went into my mouth but it didn't work (thank heavens for elastic pants.....HA!!!!)

I had a son come from Japan on Monday, he leaves tomorrow morning. It is never any easier saying good-bye.

Oh well.....so while I was having my hiatus, I kept thinking....

I want to do something with these awesome Fabrics gifted from, Cyndi , Cut Up and Sew,

Thanks Cyndi!!

I want to make some of these picture frames. I have this on my fridge with a picture in it. Debi, Quilting with Debi sent this and you can get the pattern here. It would be great for people who have family or friends in nursing homes... So you would think I would have gotten in gear and made a few while I had the time....NOPE!!!! When the lazies sets in...they set in....I was afraid it would set in for the winter.

Yvette, BOM Quilter, read my episode with the flair pens and my birdie stitchery so she had mercy on me and sent me these Frixion Pens. You can see I already tore in them, you would have thought they were chocolate.
Then I found this today over at Fiona's, she has a lot of fun stuff going on over there today.

You can get the pattern here
So as you can see....I have some great plans, some you can see and some you can not. The party is over and now it is time to get down to business....

JUST STOPPED IN TO SAY HI!!

There ain't now sewing going on here........sometimes at night when it is real quiet I can hear a low moan...........begging me to come back to my sewing room but for now.....

the machines are cold, the irons are cold.....and I am cold......and when I am cold....I turn into a reptile and move very very slowly.....

HAVE A WONDERFUL THANKGIVING~~~

I am thankful for friends and Family!!! They are what matter most. (did I say chocolate too?)

To all of you that I have met and have not met.....I have enjoyed your friendship immensely!

Thanks for coming by.

Thanks for your awesome comments.

Thanks for being an unseen friend.

To my family.....I love you immensely!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!

REMEMBER!!!

Remember these (I call them leather but they are not) straps I got at my mother's?

Of course you to, I showed them to you!! Just joking, this is coming from someone who can't remember where anything is.....


Well......it has gone from this....



to this!!!



Now I know you remember this (wink, wink)...I was teaching my young girls to blanket stitch. They each had to blanket stitch their initial and then I would make a tote for them. Well....this is the second one I got back. The other ones you have seen, I did by machine.

So, here is a picture of the front of the strap.

another picture of the front.....
This is what the back of the strap looks like!
Glad I could find a use for these.....

NOW THAT THIS IS DONE.....

I can get back to sewing......

Have a wonderful week-end....yep....it is here already!!!

Gotta tell you something funny before I go....

I have been sleeping on an air mattress for weeks....No...that is not funny.... My husband has a breathing machine and when it is not working, man nor beast can sleep in the same room with him. So it was the air mattress for me.

Now you know why there hasn't been much sewing....momma has been so tired.

Finally, yesterday he got the piece he needed for his machine. So....youngest son goes out and it is around ten...I am used to going to bed like 12:00 or 1:00....but I was so tired.....I go upstairs....it took me a while to get to sleep but when I did, I was gone.

Well....between 11:30 and 12:30...the phone rings. Wakes me up but I don't get to it in time....It says from TX, thinking it is my oldest son.....he will call again tomorrow. Well...it rings again a few minutes later..I get up...take a look out the window and see my son's car..

I am thinking, the boy is home, why doesn't he answer the phone? I get to the phone and the phone hangs up....

Boy is this irritating.

So...I get good and comfy...the phone rings again, I get up and by the time I get to the phone it hangs up again. Now I am getting kinda grumpy. Grumpy with my oldest son for continuing to call...grumpy with my youngest son for not answering the phone.

I grab the phone and put it beside my bed. Get good and comfy....the phone rings again.

This is the funny part. It was my youngest son, he was locked out and needed me to come and let him in. It is funny now but I sure felt bad last night.

I apologized, went back upstairs and by George if I could not get back to sleep...so I got up and finished the puzzle above.

WHICH WOULD YOU CHOOSE?

Every since I had watched "The Quilt Show" and hearing Ricky Tims (no, I am not in love with him) talk about the Bernina and how it stitches more times in the blanket stitch than other machines. Well...that stuck out with me.

So....I got my Bernina back from the shop. She has been ill since Samoa. Infact, I only got a good 3 years out of her. Not happy about that. They said she was dirty in the panel and yes....in the bobbin area (so I am embarrassed). That salt air did not agree with her and I believe she has to go back into convalescence.....she is still not well.


That being said....A friend was using my pfaff yesterday and so I was using the Bernina....thank heavens or I would not know she was not well.

I did see what Ricky Tims was talking about. Look below at this picture. As you can see, the first one is the stitches by Bernina (activa 230), the second is the Horizon (Janome), the third is the Pfaff ( 2058). Which one do you like best?

This picture blow is from the Pfaff...
this next one is from the Bernina...............don't you just love it?
I will say that using the Horizon to do blanket stitch is a chore, therefore, I use my Pfaff for all blanket stitching. I love the Pfaff because it is a breeze to do the blanket stitch, no forcing, juggling, it just does what I want.

Bernina on the other hand for me is a chore as well. I do know that I need to get use to her and her wild ways. It also takes longer to blanket stitch (that is obvious), I could have had what I am doing in the pictures (you will have to wait until December 17th to find out what I am doing)....well...I could have had this done and quilted in the time it has taken me just to do the little bit I have done.

But.....to be fair....Bernina decides when she is tired and she just stops sewing. So I turn her off...either go and do something else and come back or wait a few seconds and she will start up again. So...she needs more convalescence time. Really irritating when you want to get something done.

So....what do ya think? Any opinions out there?

Every since I met Judy from Sew Fun Quilts and her Sister, Fabricartist21, in San Antonio while still in Samoa, I have wanted a 300e and I have been searching ebay and hounding my dealer for good deals. Does anyone have a embroidery machine that they truly love, my mind can be changed!

The winner of the Beam N Read is Denise #23. Sorry Day Star you could have won if you I could have contacted you.

Thanks again.

Leaving you all with a picture of some wonderful fabric I ordered from Inchworm Fabrics!!!



Have a wonderful week!!!!

MISTAKE!!

I have always admired every one's stitchery made into quilts. Terry over at Terry's Treasure has inspired me to put the sashings on while waiting for the last block, besides inspiring me to do embroidery. I confess I am not very good at it, never have been but I just love this.

So.....as I was putting it together, I just about had heart failure. As I was spraying my little quilt with Best Press, I noticed that I had this green running mess. So here is what I learned.

1. Don't forget to wash out your pen marks if you are using the green flair pens before you sew the squares together. It runs. It causes panic !!!!!

So I ran to the sink and started cleaning the green. Much to my surprise, there was not only one square running but several.... I wanted to cry....I loved this quilt....nurtured it.....kept up with it. Not all my squares did I use this green pen.

2. Do Not....what so ever put it in the washer. If the thought comes to put it in the washer in the moment of panic.....remember Barb said DO NOT PUT IT IN THE WASHER!!

I know, some of you are thinking...I already knew that...what a dufusssss....that is okay. You can not say anything about me that I hadn't already said to myself.

I had such a mess with the green running that I panicked, I ran and put it in the washer.

It only compounded the problem.

When it came out of the washer it had wads of threads....fraying.....What a mess. I spent some time on Friday morning trying to fix the tangled mess and mend any holes. So what you see is the end results. I still have to do a little more picking but for now, I am good....

Next is some more towels....
I am wearing this to church today!!!! Thanks Debi......I love it, notice the bling on it....

APPLIQUILTING

I know you are going...SAY WHAT!!!!

In an email I was telling Cindy (Just Cindy) what I was doing and she said she calls it Appliquilting.

I have been so busy that it is hard to sit down and just sew, so it is nice to have a project set up that I an come to and work on sporadically.

This is where the Appliquilting comes in.....I am doing the blanket stitch to the whole quilt, sandwich and all....gobble gobble.

I love how the back looks. I think I am going to do some cobble stone in between the stems and basket....

Then Cyndi told me about this contest at the Missouri Quilt Co. She thought I might enjoy doing it. It started November 1st and ends Dec. 31st.

Part of the rules is you use one Summer Breeze charm pack, I ordered 3 just in case.

Sadly, this is where the charm packs lay, still in their wrapper. Poor charm packs.....maybe soon I will get to them????

Also....Day Star, the winner of the Beam N Read is a no-reply, didn't know that when her name was chosen. I am going to give this person until Sunday to send me her address and contact me, if not, then another winner will be chosen.

KEEPING UP!!

November's Birdie block!

BEAM N READ GIVEAWAY!!!!

The Winner of the Beam N Read is day Star #89

Thanks to all of you for entering!

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I can not begin to tell you how much I love my Beam n Read. Just recently my husband and I went to Texas to help a son move. Before I went I packed my bags and made sure this was among my necessities. In fact, it rode in the front seat with me, in the glove box.

About Dark time I needed light, I turned on the overhead light to see but I could tell it was really bothering my husband while he was driving....then it hit me...like DUHHHHH.....

Reached in the glove box and pulled out my Beam N Read......turned off the overhead light. My husband was happy but more impressed with the Beam N Read and how useful it was. He was also impressed with me for remembering to bring it.....(I just smiled)...

I can not tell you how many times I used it that week while traveling, I wish I had kept count because I was wearing the glove box out.

Here are just some useful ways to use it,

---traveling

----at night in bed, not wanting to disturb your partner while reading

----I use it while sewing, sometimes at my machine for added light and when my machine light it not working.

----when looking for something in the closet, in my case bedroom (has no overhead lights)

----while doing hand work such as knitting, crocheting, embroidery, bindings, hand quilting etc.

----under the hood of a car

----hands free light, so you can use both hand free

There are just so many ways, it even has a magnifying lens, a red light to help your eyes adjust to the dark......adjustable strap.

You can buy them at Kellys "I Have a Notion", fast dependable service...that is her middle name.

So what do you need to do to win?

Just tell me who you would like to gift the Beam N Read light to and why, no names are necessary. That is it. Winner will be announced on the 7th. Be sure to go by SewCal's for her giveaway today as well.

I will post on my sidebar the other bloggers and when they will be giving a Beam N Read away.

Good luck and thanks so much for coming by. Big Thanks to Bob the Marketing Director of Beam N Read for this wonderful giveaway.

GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED

"SPOTLIGHT ON NEUTRALS" BY PAT WYS

If you had seen my post here

Well....I tried my best to just use what I had on hand....but I did buy a fat quarter for the stems. For me, this was very hard....a lot of fabrics have different hues to them, yellow, pink, etc....



I chose to applique with the blanket stitch which has not been done yet. I really love her book, her neutrals gives a fresh earthy look and I love that. I did enjoy this challenge that I gave myself to go with neutrals because
"I wanted to go outside my box" and I did.

Just now I searched google where you can find her book and I was amazed at all of the places this book is, Amazon, Barnes & Noble, several quilting stores....wonderful book. She made the comment that we are welcome to do it in color, I knew she wouldn't mind, if you have not been to her blog...do go here

Last day of the Ghastlie Blog hop and some finishes!!

I confused my own self...(which is not hard to do)..... is this the one I finished the other day or yesterday? Hummmmm Least way, both table runners are done.

Rest of the aprons... I clipped the together by colors and to keep the ties out of the way.
My little gal canceled on me....so I thought I would have the rest of the afternoon to sew.....

I did but I chose not to. Me and my kindle had a nice time.

Enjoy your week-end~~~

Last day of the Ghastlie Blog Hop, thanks to Madame Samm for putting this together and to all the wonderful creativity out there. Be sure to look on my sidebar for the Ghastlie Bloggers today.

Yesterday I was able to put the binding on one of these runners while my little sewing friend was here.

Last night I wanted to finish the other runner but I was given the pockets to put on those 18 aprons. A friend had them monogramed. I had just a little bit of fabric left...when I say a little...there not even enough scraps left over to put in the scrap bin (whohoooooo no scrap breeding tonight).

So, I took the remaining scraps and did this to the pockets.

I got five done and prepped the rest to be put on. I thought...oh...it will only take me a few hours.....WRONG!!!!!! So this is what I will be doing today before my little friend comes over.

Don't forget the Ghastlie Blog Hop......look to the side bar and my Beam N Read light giveaway!!!!