Calgon, Take Me Away!

Winter in Wisconsin is always an adventure, and almost always too cold and too long.

Yesterday the temperature in Milwaukee was reportedly 47 degrees F. I couldn't swear to that because I was indoors from 8 a.m. to after 6 p.m. But my desktop gadget was showing 40s, which was amazing. The last time it was above freezing was mid-December!

Today I gave my granddaughter a ride to school. As I was watching the kids get out of cars and walk up to the school, I could not help but notice a small pod of middle school boys wearing SHORTS!!

Yes, winter in Wisconsin does make you a little crazy. 

The reality is that when it's warmer, it snows or rains.  We had about 6 inches of new snow on Monday, then yesterday lots of it melted.  So from white and pristine to melted, black and ugly in a day.

There's a young mom who comes to pick up her kids from Sunday School and she has recently been wearing shoes without socks and a light jacket. I said "oh boy, looking at your feet makes me cold!".

She said "I just can't do it anymore! I can't stand wearing those big winter boots!" (Her kids are always dressed warmly, so since she's an adult and not my daughter, I can sympathize and I don't need to approve or disapprove. But it still makes me cold to look at her bare feet in those shoes!)

I am wearing several layers of clothing today and I'm still chilly... socks, shoes, three layers of tops, and a scarf around my neck and shoulders. Where the heck is a hot flash when you need one???

Calgon, please, someplace warm today? Hmmm, maybe a nice hot bath would be good.

Sew on...

Nancy's Latest Book - a Personal Journey

I started to write this post on February 2, when I first saw the announcement of Nancy Zieman's biography, Seams Unlikely. Nancy Zieman has been my sewing idol (and in my opinion a Sewing Rock Star) since I discovered her program on Public Television in the 1980's.

I don't remember when I started watching, but it was before TIVO and DVDs... I would set up the VCR with a VHS tape to record it because I wasn't home during the time it was on, and I would watch it later, marveling that someone was making a television program to teach home seamstresses as we were known at the time.

At the time, I knew nothing about the industry as it existed then, wasn't aware of any organizations outside of the high school FHA groups and 4H.

If you've read my blog, you know I love to sew, and I love to read. Combining the two seems like heaven to me. In fact, I have several bookshelves in my house that are filled to the brim and overflowing with books and magazines about sewing, quilting, you name the craft and I have it. Many, many of those books are by Nancy Zieman.

Nancy was the first person inducted into the American Sewing Guild Hall of Fame. It's a virtual hall, but there isn't a person I can think of who would make a better inaugural inductee. It set the bar for future hall of famers, in my humble opinion.

I was so lucky to be in the studio audience the day that Public TV in Madison, WI, filmed Nancy's 30th anniversary shows. I was even on screen for about five seconds, in EACH episode no less!! So I guess I've had a taste of my 15 minutes of fame. :-)

I don't have a copy of the book yet, although that will be remedied soon. But you can and should go to the Nancy Zieman blog (link at the right side of this post) to read Nancy's introduction, and click through the blog tour of people in the industry who have commented on her book. Then go get it and read it... really!

I was taking business classes at the local technical college back in the 80's and had to write a paper. I made an appointment with the Nancy's Notions' advertising and publicity manager to discuss how the business started. I drove to Beaver Dam, and Kathy was gracious enough to give me an hour of her time and filled me in on how the company started and grew into a business that at the time was the largest woman-owned business in Wisconsin. So I knew some of the story before the book was published. But it illustrates so well how far back Nancy's business philosophy of sharing with everyone really goes!

I got a B+ on that paper, and if I had added my bibliography it would have been an A. But what I really got from that exercise was a good, solid lesson in how to do well while doing good.

Nancy has lots of admirers, tons of fans, and the loyalty of nearly everyone who has ever met her. And yet, she is the nicest person, so genuine and sweet.

I still want to be like her 'when I grow up'... and we could all take a page from her book. Rock on, Nancy!

Sew on...

Choices

Need I say more?

Oh my goodness, some days my visit to Rita Farro's blog is enough to take my breath away!

Well captured, Rita!

Sew on...

Groundhog Day!

OK, not until Sunday...

From Wikipedia, I read that according to Groundhog Day organizers, the rodents' forecasts are accurate 75% to 90% of the time. However, a Canadian study for 13 cities in the past 30 to 40 years found that the weather patterns predicted on Groundhog Day were only 37% accurate over that time period—a value not significant compared to the 33% that could occur by chance.

In Wisconsin, if you see a shadow on February 2, it means the sun is out and the temperature is probably low. Counting six weeks from February 2 puts you in the middle of March.

Still winter, people!!

OK, maybe mild winter versus cold winter, but winter none the less.

Sounds like a good time to curl up with a good book, or maybe put that quilt in your lap and do the binding by hand while watching some stuff you recorded on TV, or a good movie on DVD.

Tomorrow our quilt group will be meeting at church to kit things up for the year. Susie B and I sort the fabrics into sets that go together. Then we'll haul out our patterns and see what we can make from each pile. I bring our reusable zipper gallon bags and we get to work. Then the ladies who want to make a top will take a bag and a pattern and bring us back a finished top.

Other ladies take the finished tops and matching backs, sandwich and pin, and pile up for the quilters -- Susie and Barb, but mostly Susie.

Bonnie and Shirley finish bindings, and sew on labels. Then we distribute to whatever charity projects we choose or where the greatest need is.

We also need to do some baby boy quilts for our baptisms.

That's what I'll be doing the day BEFORE Groundhog Day. The afternoon of the actual day I plan to work on a project or two of my own, maybe whittle down the UFO box. I still have plenty of those!

Sew on...

The Joy of Winter

Oh the merry joys of winter, especially in the Midwest!

Since the Polar Vortex has been visiting, we've been enjoying below normal to nearly record low temperatures.  Even being near the Big Pond hasn't been the usual insulator.  There's been a lot of below zero wind chill (something I would much rather NOT know about).  Somehow it's so much colder when you hear '25 below' than '1 above', although anything below 60 is unbearable to me lately, so I'm not sure why.

Today, we reached 17 degrees.  Above zero!  It was nearly a heat wave.  I had on so many layers of clothing that it took an extra five minutes to put myself back together every time I had to visit the facilities.

One of the project managers I support 'had' to go to Florida today.  Yeah, I know, poor fella... 

He called me from the airport because flights were being cancelled.  Seems that the deicing methods weren't working too well at 6 degrees above zero this morning.  Combine that with delays from other parts of the country and that made four hour delays and overbooked flights the norm.

What could I do?  Not that I was feeling much sympathy for him.  Poor guy...

I booked him a flight out of Chicago instead, and suggested he get his baggage onto the Airport Shuttle, which is a large bus that runs between Milwaukee and the two Chicago airports.  Enjoy the ride, buddy, while I sit in the parking lot tonight waiting for the gauge in my car to move off "C".

Brrrr.  I am thinking about making myself a fleece maxi-skirt and fleece fingerless mittens to wear in my office.

Or not.

Fleece is not exactly the fashion statement I wish to make at the office this week.  Although I am SO TIRED of being cold or being over-dressed!

I totally get why people become snowbirds.  Hot flashes notwithstanding, winter in the Midwest can be the pits.

Until it snows and the neighborhood looks like a photo from Currier and Ives.  :-)  Then it seems nice, at least while the snow stays clean and unmarked.

Let's all remember this time when it's August and the very thought of movement makes us perspire.

"Man is a fool, when it's hot he wants it cool.
When it's cool, he wants it hot,
Always wanting what is not."

Grandma, you were so right.

Sew on!

New Projects

Yesterday when I opened Blogger to post, what I had in mind to talk about wasn't what I posted. Does that ever happen to you, you intend to do one thing, then do another?

I spent time with the grands over the holidays when I was off work. We did fun stuff like baking and crafts. One of the things that Miss A loves to do is color. Her mom doesn't enjoy the smell of crayons, so she colors a lot with markers at home, and more with crayons at my house.

I love crayons. In September when school supplies are everywhere, I just can't fight the urge to purchase a new box. Most of the time I buy the biggest box I can find. The more colors the better, right?

That used to be 64 but now it's 96.

OH HO!  Turns out it's not...  witness the Crayon Ultimate Collection, when did they come up with this?? I want one. NOW!

(Sorry the picture is so little, if it's larger it gets pixalated!)

One of the things we do with these lovelies is to make a picture of colors.  My mom used to do this with my younger siblings -- she said it exercised the imagination. Here's the plan: you take a large piece of blank paper and draw a doodle, crossing lines and filling the page with an outline.  Then you start to color each space.  You can make a pattern or what is the most fun for me is to use a different color for each space.

I like to play with the colors so they go from one spot to another, or they flow from blue to green to whatever.  This is one I did with A and we used the markers she made with her Christmas gift, plus the other markers we had around the house.  January in Wisconsin seems to be calling out for color.  It's either white, gray or black here this time of year.  I was thinking about how I could translate this into fabric for either a wall hanging or a quilt top.  It would involve a lot of fussy cutting, but wouldn't it be fun? 

Maybe I should think smaller... place mats?

Oh, the choices!

Sew on...

Inspiration for 2014

Casting about this week for a project to start has been fun. Saturday our church quilt group actually sewed shorts for a mission project using tee shirts. One of our members owns an embroidery business and also does screen printed tee shirts. Someone didn't pay for an order of blue shirts and he donated them to us for materials.

We had a handful of extra ladies and two tweens helping. We set up stations and went to town. The shorts were pre-assembled by another member with a serger. We were cutting the discarded bottoms of the tees for waistbands and hemming the legs. If you're interested in the pattern, it's at Nancy Zieman's website, and it's called Britches for Boys, to go along with the Little Dresses for Africa.

I had my serger and was using it to attach the waistbands to the shorts bodies. This prompted lots of interest from the tweens, one of whom is a future sewist I am certain! We discussed the functions of the various threads, and how fast the machine goes. And of course how with a serger you never, never, NEVER sew over pins!

On of the ladies wanted to see how the blades worked. She has no serger herself and the idea that the machine was cutting was fascinating, so we pulled the front case off the machine and watched the slivers roll out onto the table.

This was SO much fun for me, I love teaching people things I know and it's more fun when they are truly interested. We decided that we're going to set up a youth sewing day and make pillow cases, using the burrito method. If you're interested in that, google Pillow Cases Burrito Method and you'll find dozens of sites and tutorials. My favorite is the one put out by the 1 Million Pillowcases project.

What with dusting off the serger for this project and the interest in pillow cases, I'm inspired. I need to get sewing, and get some finishes in for 2014!!

I hope to make this my first finish this year.  It's a Christmas family quilt project we did a couple of years ago, and I'm among the last of the family members who contributed blocks to get mine done!  And I have TWO to do!!  Wish me luck...

Sew on!

New Years Non-Resolutions and Some Conversations with Myself...

My big Christmas cactus is blooming again. It started blooming last year around Easter. Easter was early last week but it wasn't Christmas, so I thought this year it would bloom in March again, but it's January and here it is, blooming like crazy!  Go figure.

I left it on the floor near the patio doors all summer. My aunt Zel says I should maybe have moved it to a darker spot, but I didn't remember that. And I know they grow in the dessert, right? So maybe that bright southern exposure helped.

The smaller one that was in the living room didn't do so well. One little blossom and it's already dried up.

*******

Here's a good illustration of recycling... my grandchildren decided that knitting needles resembled swords and they picked the prettiest ones, the red ones. 

They were a legacy from my aunt Clara.  The resulting broken needles are helping to hold up my 'grandma' plant, an angel wing begonia that requires propping up when it's too heavy.  So with some yarn ties (also recycled), it makes a statement. 

We call it the grandma plant because it's a chunk of the begonia that was in my grandma's house, we all got a piece of it.  My aunt Clara was the wife of one of this grandma's sons, so it's all in the family.  And since my piece of the grandma plant dried up and died, this subsequent piece was a gift from my cousin Amy and the needles were given to me by my cousin Wendy.  See, all in the family!

I'm trying to finish some projects this year.  Again.  Yes, my header says I tried to do that in 2012 when I started this blog.  Uh huh.  Did the same in 2013.  And now in 2014.

Well, at least I'm consistent.

I did finish some things in 2013.  Really, I did!

• Made a whole bushel basket of doll clothes.  Sold a lot of them!
• Finished knitting four baby sweaters.  Gave away two of them, the other two are waiting for babies.
• Sewed and finished and gave away twin baby quilts.
• Finally finished the flimsy for my dear daughter and her husband.  In fact, I have to pick that one up from the quilt shop this week.  Not a quilt finish, because it needs binding, but I'm counting that as a victory anyway!
• Knit the 'mom slippers' for a whole slew of people -- the four grands, daughter, son-in-law and the paying customer.  (Yes, I still have two pairs to go before the entire family who wants them has them, but seven down!)
• Knit scores of doll sweaters and hats and scarves and slippers.  Sold the bulk of those.
• Made over some resale store tops for myself... in fact I'm wearing one today.
• Dyed a jacket I really like but wasn't in love with -- the style and fabric were great but the color not so much.  It was khaki green, and I over dyed it with dark brown.  What a difference!
• While doing all this, I managed to read more than 47 books.  I read a bunch by some of my favorite authors, and this year added Louise Penny and Kate Atkinson to that list.  (BTW I know it's more than 47 because that is how many are left in my "I read these" pile, which I try to recycle before DH has conniptions about the size of the pile.)

Of course I didn't count up all the UFOs I STARTED this year!  Who would want to do that??  But I think I finished more than I started so I'm considering myself ahead.  

Please, if you're keeping track of what I did and didn't do, do not disillusion me!  :-)

Sew on!

Weddings

Tomorrow my sister will be getting married in Tennessee. I wish I was able to be there, but the winter is long, driving is horrible, and money is tight.

There she is, lower right.  Pretty even at ten or so.

She was married before, and I missed those other two weddings too. The first one was when she was very young and in the military. I saw pictures and she was a beautiful bride, but I wasn't lucky enough to be there.

The second time she got married she was also in the military. She was stationed in Germany for a while. I was home with two little kids and didn't do much traveling, and I don't know if I knew she got married at that time or not. Regardless, I didn't go.

This time she's having a small, casual ceremony, and I'm sure she will have many friends and well-wishers who will either attend or wish her well after.

Random picture from the internet...

It's something you always think about -- your sister's wedding. She's my only sister if you don't count my sewing sisters and the sisters of my heart. She was in my wedding - the prettiest bridesmaid I had. I made her dress. Lime green sateen - it was the 70's after all!

NOT my wedding pictures!!

I love weddings. Doesn't matter whose, you know. I always cry. The ceremonies are always beautiful and hopeful. Two people pledging to stay together forever, through thick and thin, good and bad. So positive it will work out. I even cry at weddings on TV, make believe weddings in movies, all that jazz.

I'm crying just looking at this photo.

Saturday I'll have to set aside a little time to think about Gail and Mickie, wish them well, cry a little and be hopeful.

Be happy, Gail!

Sew on...

Trending Now -- Downton Abbey

Have you been watching Downton Abbey on PBS?  Personally I love Masterpiece Theater, always have.  And DA is beautiful to watch.  Add to that Elizabeth McGovern who I have always liked, and OMG Dame Maggie Smith!  She's a pistol!

One of my co-workers is originally from England and he buys some sort of subscription where he actually watches British TV so he's already seen the new season, but he wouldn't tell me a single thing. 

So the two hour premier was last night and I set myself up with tea and knitting on the sofa to watch.

I love the guy who plays Tom -- the chauffeur turned son-in-law turned estate agent!  But they're scheming again downstairs... that Thomas, he's a villain!  Did he forget who helped him when that lady's made was going to get him fired?  Must have, because he's sniping at the wife of the guy whose boots he should be polishing.  And did everyone forget this is the guy who was in prison and maybe has a few tricks of his own up his sleeves??  Ha!  I'm waiting until the conniving, cowardly Thomas gets his own back.  Remember folks, he shot himself in the hand so he could come back from the war, he has it coming.

And the nanny was such a weasel.  She wouldn't let one of the grandmas visit the grandson and heir!  And she called the older child the 'chauffeur's daughter' as an insult and got caught by that baby's grandma, Cora.  She's so fired.  Of course that was set up by the evil Thomas, but she deserved it.  Nobody should stand between a grandmother and her babies!! 

I guess that's why Cora (Elizabeth McGovern's character) can't see that Thomas is a snake.  And I hate snakes...

Hopefully every dog has his day, and he'll get his.

On a more fun note, this year's costumes are becoming more modern.  Rose has lovely clothes, but I can't help but wonder what the heck Edith had on to go to London and eat in a fancy restaurant??  It looked like she put a dark tee shirt on under her ball gown.

But hey, if the guy she loves is willing to become a German citizen to marry her, more drama is on the way!

Yay, BBC and Julian Fellows! 

View on, people.

It IS Winter!!

Happy New Year!

I've been so involved with Christmas and kids and church over the holidays I've not been blogging, so I have to catch up. I HAVE been working on some projects! Finally got the DD's quilt over to the long arm quilter, and I'm hoping to finish up a couple of projects by end of January. I knitted at least seven pairs of 'granny slippers' for gifts. I made several hat and scarf sets for the girls.

And I cleaned up my sewing room on New Year's Day. It feels so good to be organized! I feel like I can actually find things.

Back at work, and today the big news is the temperature. It is TOO COLD FOR WORDS, or nearly so!

I have one of those digital readouts in the dashboard of my car, and when I left my house this morning at 7:30 a.m., it read -10. Brrr... winter just got started and it has arrived with a vengeance!

Tomorrow it's supposed to be 30 degrees but dropping until Monday the actual high will be below zero. BRRR!

I always think about homeless people when it gets cold. Do they find shelter somewhere? Do they think no one cares about them anymore? We pray about them in church, we donate items to a local charity that serves them, we hear about them on the news. If your social conscience encompasses the homeless you do what you can to make sure they make it through the worst of the weather.

There was a lot this morning on the news about having a winter emergency kit in your car in case you get stuck somewhere -- a blanket, some extra gloves and hats, some snack food and maybe bottled water. My husband bought me a set of jumper cables and a first aid kit a number of years ago to keep in the car, and I have a small fleece blanket in a plastic bag.

What do the homeless have? Can they find shelter? If you're a sewist, maybe you make quilts for charities that serve people who need extra warmth this year. If so, bless you!

Our church quilt guild is meeting in a couple of weeks. I'm going to see what we have to deliver to City on the Hill.

Then maybe I won't feel quite so guilty about being warm on these very cold days and nights.

Sew on!

Merry Christmas!

This is the time of year when everyone starts being nicer. For the past three weeks or so, I've noticed that most people are smiling more, saying hi or good morning, and just generally being nicer.

Most people are relatively happy around the holidays. If there are children in your life it can be a wonderful time. But sometimes people get grumpy over the holidays, or depressed. If you've lost someone, or if you're alone or feel like you're alone even when you're around people, it can be a hard time of year.

This was going to be a post about the man who invented the yellow smiley face back in 1964. He was paid $45 for his graphics work and that was all the money he ever made from it. But as I was thinking about smiles, I was reminded of the saying "if someone needs a smile, give them one of yours".

There are many people who are alone or lonely this time of year. No one should ever feel unloved because God loves all people and desires that all people be saved. But not everyone knows or believes that. I consider it part of my purpose to let people know that.

If you know someone who is alone or lonely, reach out to them. Tell them someone cares about them because it's true. It could be you, but if it's not, it's someone else and most definitely it's Jesus. If you celebrate his birthday, you know this.

If YOU are lonely, find a church or other place of worship and stop in this week. People will be friendly, but if they're not immediately welcoming, go anyway because God will be glad you did.

I also came across a quote from Mother Theresa this month that applies here. I'll paraphrase because I can't locate it right this second --

"If you have the choice to be mean or nice, be nice. If you have the choice to be good or bad, to return insult for insult or to forgive insult, whatever, always choose to be good or forgive. It's not about what's between you and the other person. It was never about you and the other person. It's about what's between you and God."

So be good. Be kind. Be nice. Be happy. You are loved by the Father in heaven.

Sew on! And Merry Christmas.

Craft Fair Debrief

I participated in my second craft fair last Saturday and I am happy to say it went very well. I may have gotten over the aversion to doing them! OK, no guarantees, the jury is still out on that one.

The show filled a nearby middle school cafeteria, two gyms and the hallways. Carol and I chose a hallway since we thought the traffic would help her sell her jewelry. As it turns out, the traffic was probably the same in all locations but the booth size was better for us in the hall... except for the crazy neighbor we had it was really good. Why do people dress the way they do to go out in public? Let me say two words: gray sweatpants.



See the tiny mittens?  Carol said the first eight or nine pairs were fun to sew but then they got annoying.  Well that's more than I made!!

 So the show cost me $37.50 in table fee and the gas to drive over to the next town, which was not far. I figured since most of my materials are left over from previous projects, my cost of goods isn't much, it's mostly my time. And since I have to do SOMETHING while sitting with DH who is watching sports or bad TV, it was a good investment. (Yes, most of you know what I'm talking about -- how many golf matches can you stand?? And mine is addicted to Food TV!)

I filled a card table top and three feet of a six foot table with doll outfits, scarves I knit, and some little bags I made last year, the kind you tuck into your purse with a tube of lipstick and your sewing kit inside.

I sold a few things in the morning, but lots of people were looking and not buying. We figured they were scoping out the place and making mental lists. Carol had her earrings and necklaces, some pretty cowl scarves she knitted, and she made a bunch of American Girl doll mitten sets plus some scarves and hats.

At around noon, the Pompom Squad girls were around with lunch menus and order sheets. Hot dog meals, brat meals and sodas. We chose brats. They were delivered by the same girls a bit later. How cool was that? We tipped them and they giggled like crazy.

Later there were more shoppers, and we sold all the doll mittens, all the knitted doll hats, all the doll sweaters we had, the Packer shirt/pants, and five of the six pairs of pajamas. It's funny, I thought the pjs and slippers would go together, but not all did. The big color at this event was red. Last time it was pink. I guess you never know, do you?

Our models... We had to pin a tag on the dolls saying "Dolls not for sale"!  Check out the leopard mittens on the doll's hand, and the matching vest on the table.  Yep, we sold ALL of those!

I had some crazy socks that I made from kid socks.  Those did not go.  I should have made white ones, or red ones, or matched them to the dresses and skirts.  I made green to match our purchased Girl Scout outfit and left them on the doll.  Logistical error -- people did NOT like them!

I started out with a sixteen inch by sixteen inch by 14 inch deep basket full of items.  I came back with about 25% of what I took.  I am a happy person!  I also got two inquiries from people who want to commission special items... and several questions about where I will be next.  (We'll see about that!)

The weirdest thing to me was that these little Christmas dresses didn't sell.  I guess little girls and their moms/grammas were looking for full skirts?  Or maybe long sleeves since it was SO COLD on Saturday!  So these little gems came home with me.

Carol sold two pairs of earrings and two scarves in addition to her mittens. 

I hope she will forgive me for doing well...

Sew on!

Ready for the Craft Fair!

Here's a sample of what's going to be available from my table at the Midnight Magic Craft Sale tomorrow:

If you're in the neighborhood stop on over. Google "Midnight Magic Mukwonago"

Sew on...

Get It Done List...

Ha ha... just chuckled to myself as I typed the title. Get It Done, Git 'er Done, whatever!

 

My company used to have a Safety Manager who was from Kentucky and he used to say 'gitter done' a lot, which made me giggle. I always helped him edit his newsletter to 'take the Southern out' (at his request, he wanted to sound professional to the engineers even though I found it charming.)

 

So here's my Gitter Done list for December:

 

December 2013

Sun Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

8 9 10 11 12 13 14

15 16 17 18 19 20 21

22 23 24 25 26 27 28

29 30 31

Holidays and Observances: 24: Christmas Eve, 25: Christmas Day, 31: New Year's Eve

Time for???

a new car? Might be! Now I am not one for fancy cars. I drive an 11 year old compact car. It's a Toyota and a darned good one -- here's me knocking on wood... DH takes it for oil changes and tune ups religiously, and the tank is never ever below half in the winter. I've driven on lots of trips and she's a pretty good vehicle. Knocking again.

This is what my dashboard clock said this morning on my way in to work...

Sew on!

Slipper Update...

Update to the grandson's slippers -- they are done...well except for the weaving in of the ends. They are so cute in camo!

A woman at church had seen me knitting and asked about them.  Her husband wants some.  When he saw the picture of the camo slippers he said 'those are exactly what I need!  I'll take two!'  We giggled because he meant two slippers and I thought he meant two pairs...

So now I have to knit an adult sized pair.  I think I will knit them both on the same set of needles because my main problem with making two of anything is always getting them exactly the same.

I'm going to use my yarn winder to make cakes instead of balls 

so I can use both ends of the cake for one slipper and both ends of a second cake for the second slipper.  Cakes have the advantage of not rolling around.  And since I bought the winder, I probably should use it!  (I used to own a knitting machine so it came in handy, but the machine took up too much space and the shuttles were too heavy to work comfortably so I sold it.)

I made a second girlie pair.  The picture looks pink but they are actually two shades of red, garnet and chardonnay.  I added a pompom.

Sew on!

Weekend Sewing

I spent the weekend in sewing land...

Remember DD's quilt?  I trimmed the big brown border and remeasured, then pieced a blue/blue/blue backing.  I have to square them both up and then it's off to the quilter!  I usually go to Patched Works in Elm Grove for professional quilting.  The ladies are nice and they do a good job and quickly.  I think I'll get this back in time for Christmas.

One gift down.  A zillion to go...

Saturday my friends Marlene and Judy and I went to the Original Sewing and Quilt Expo in Tinley Park, Illinois.  This is the south side of Chicago.  In the spring there's another one in Schaumburg. 

http://www.sewingexpo.com/Home.aspx

It's expensive to go to Tinley Park!  We paid more than $10 in tolls.  That cut into our lunch money in a big way.  Admission was another ten.  I should have hit a TYME machine before I left town, but it was so early and I'm lucky I remembered my purse...  so when lunchtime rolled around and I went to the concession stand, there wasn't much cash.  It was OK because the choices were not great.  Think high school football concession only worse.  I had a hot dog.  It was comparable to what the street vendors sell in the summer so I wasn't starving.  But I had to save $$ for tolls on the way home and to contribute to the gas fund for the driver.

There were lots of cool vendors there (who took credit cards!).  I picked up some black and white fabric cuts from Vogue Fabrics, a piece of batik from SewBatik from North Dakota.  The stuff was to die for!  Rayon and cotton were available, and some of the cottons were 108" wide for quilt backs.  WOW.

I also bought a few patterns, some thread from a Floriani dealer, and a fabric decoloring kit from June Colburn's booth.  When I got home and told Miss E about the decolorant she said it sounded very interesting, so we hope to have a craft day or two next week when we're both home.  (I'm taking vacation, she has days off of school.)

Marlene bought a few nice things too, but the big winner this time was Judy.  She picked up a cutting table floor model at the booth for Tracey's Tables from Stratford WI.  She got it at a super-duper price and he will deliver it to her house for a very small price.  We tried to figure out if we could get it into her SUV but since it was already assembled it was about four inches too tall.

He says they sell his tables at some quilt shops in the area, but so far I haven't located one.  He has a web site but there's no list of locations where his products are available.  I had my eye on a cutting and pressing station.  It has storage, a big pressing surface, and if you lay a cutting mat on top you can have a two-station station!

It looks much sturdier than my cheapo $60 table from the local chain, and it has storage!  Maybe Santa will  bring one to my house...

I'm taking a knitting class tonight at Fiddlesticks Yarn Store in Kenosha.  It's a cowl style scarf on bulky yarn.  I have to confirm the needle sizes though.  The blurb on the web said 3, 4 and 5.  Really?  For bulky yarn?  I think I'll call before I drive all the way down there and find out I have the wrong sizes...  and I'll post the finished product later.

Sew on!

Slippers

I'm knitting some slippers this week. I was reminded of the slippers my mom used to knit two weeks ago at the church's craft fair. I was knitting a doll cap...

and someone asked me if I ever knit slippers.

OK... well, I knit, and slippers are easy. So I looked around for the ones Mom made for me before she passed away. She developed Alzheimer's in her early sixties, so she stopped knitting and crocheting when she starting having trouble remembering how to do it.  She died in 1998. 

Found the slippers in a box in the closet -- they're getting a bit thin in the sole.  OK, so I might have to make myself another pair because these babies are warm and it's getting to be winter!

I didn't have a pattern for them, but they're so stinking simple, I figured I could 'read' the slipper and figure it out.

not mine... not the ones I'm knitting but darned close!

Mine are bright green, two strands of worsted weight, undoubtedly Red Heart or something comparable. Looks like 32 stitches on a fairly big needle, as well you'd have to if you were knitting double strands. On examination it looks like you knit 10, purl 1, knit 10, purl 1 knit 10 on odd rows and knit 32 on even rows until you get to about the ball of your foot, then you change to ribbing until it's a half inch shorter than your foot. THEN you have to sew it up at the toe and the heel. If you want to decorate the toe you can make a pompom or a flower or whatever you like, or you can leave it plain.

I knit a pair for my grandson in camouflage yarn. Actually the color says Camoflaj... must be some Red Heart cutsie naming convention.  I don't have to worry about him finding out since he doesn't read my blog...

Out of curiosity I searched the Internet for easy knitted slippers and came up with about a million versions. About half a million of those can be found free on Ravelry, a free service for knitters and all-round fans of yarn. You have to join, but once you do it's so cool to see what people are doing out there in Knit-land. You can buy patterns or get free ones; you can post and view photos of people's work; you can get help or give it; you can even find knitting groups and knit-ins.

My pattern that I read from the slipper was darned close to the ones called Grandma's Slippers!  (I know, right?)

On www.ravelry.com you can store your patterns in your own library, post your stash or sell or trade it, and locate knitters in your area. Boy, that's a rabbit hole you could disappear into without a problem. Ask me how I know this!

So next time you're in the mood to discover something cool, or have a memory of mom, or warm your feet, you will know where to go.

Sew on!

Stash Enhancement over the Weekend...

I finally finished DD's quilt a couple of weeks ago and am ready to send it off to the quilter, or so I thought.

I needed to find a backing, so I thought I'd just buy some extra-wide fabric. That is until I measured it! Extra-wide fabric is usually 108" wide. The quilt top is 110". You have to have four inches extending beyond your top in order for the quilter to get it on the long arm machine.

So either I have to reduce the size of the top or I have to piece a back. Or both.

If you remember, I had a big brown border on this quilt. I guess I must have thought I needed an extra four inches on the FRONT... duh.   So I can trim it down by about eight inches.  Now it's going to be 102" wide.  OK, that will JUST about fit.

Then I got to thinking, I have a couple of big pieces of the strippy blocks left over, why not put them in the backing?  It's not like I'm going to use them in another quilt. So I tried to go to Joann's on Saturday to pick up the main backing fabric (which I never buy with the quilt fabric since most of the time I'm working from stash).  (Anyway, who has five yards of double-wide fabric in their stash without a reason --  no, no, don't tell me, I'm sure someone does!!)

Saturday was either a good day or not so good a day to go to Joann's.  They had a 25% off coupon  that ended Saturday.  The cutting line was about 25 people deep, and the girls were waiting in the car.  I couldn't subject them to that long a wait.  So I went back Sunday.  No coupon, but what the hey, I'm only buying one piece, right?

Right.

The line was only about 10 deep on Sunday.  The bolt was pretty heavy.  I was number 16.  They were serving number 8.  I had to wait in the calico section.  Right next to the Christmas fabric.

Oh yeah.  You guessed it.  I'm now up five yards of red and green.  Oh and I also picked up three yards of Wonder Under.  It's a good thing I'm not keeping track!

Sew on!