Monday, November 30, 2009

This 'n that...

Wow, it's really hard to believe that November is nearly over! This month went by at the blink of an eye, it seems. It was a busy one, especially at work, as I learned the ropes of new responsibilities that have come my way.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! The big guy and I headed up to his parent's house for dinner and enjoyed visiting with family that we haven't seen in a while. Our niece is getting married in May and had her wedding gown that she had just bought to show us. It's lovely and she looks so beautiful in it! Naturally, she's very excited and really looking forward the big day.

I had very little time to get any where near my sewing room this month. I did manage to get to my heirloom instructor for a lesson, though. I am working on a nine-block sampler quilt with each lesson covering a block featuring machine embroidery combined with a heirloom sewing technique. I decided to change the colors a little to reflect my love of the 1930's pastels and I am really happy with the results. Most of the blocks still need finishing (I'll do those as a December finish for Charming Girls), but here are two that I have completed:

I have to admit that this one is my especial favorite, I just love the embroidered organza in the center:

Meanwhile, I did try to get underway with my Half-Pint but didn't get very far!

Here are my fabrics:

And here is the sum total of the blocks that I've managed to piece together thus far! As you can see, not very many at all!


Here is a close-up:

This is the first time that I've worked with such tiny patches and I have to say that I found them to be a wee bit of a challenge. Hopefully I will have time after the new year to work on my Half-Pint and get her finished. In retrospect, joining the Quilt-Along probably wasn't the greatest idea as my sewing time tends to be so sporadic depending on what's going on. I really wish that I could spend far more time in my sewing room than I am able to right now with a full-time job but that's just the way it is. Mind you, I'm not complaining, in today's economy I'm very grateful to have my job and I am lucky in that I have a great place to work along with really terrific co-workers.

Did anyone do some Black Friday shopping? I went to JoAnn at 7am (they opened at 6) and spent nearly two hours waiting to get my fabric cut! They had the Blizzard fleece on sale for $2.99/yard (the reason I was there) and there were people in the cutting line with one to two carts piled sky-high with bolts of the stuff. What one does with all that fleece I have no idea! Luckily for me, the cutting area is right next to the Viking center where I got my sewing machine, so I could hang out there while waiting for my number to be called. The drawback to that, though, was finding a specialty presser foot that I just couldn't live without. I'm such a presser foot junkie: if they make it, I'll buy it! At any rate, I now have all the materials that I need to get started on my Christmas gifts and my project for the Secret Santa swap. Now it's time to get sewing!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Tag!

Kelly has the latest tag up for the Charming Girls Club. Being close to Thanksgiving, she asks that we name some of the things that we are grateful for and to share another craft that we enjoy doing.


Without further ado, these are the things that I am grateful for in no particular order:


Family and friends


My wonderful husband and our kitties


The beauty of the earth


Sunrises and sunsets


Roses


That I celebrated another birthday yesterday


Snow


All the flowering trees in the spring


Leaves turning on trees during the fall


A job that I like


That I have a roof over my head and food to eat


Fabric


Books


The internet which makes Charming Girls possible!


Another craft that I really enjoy when I'm not muttering curses as I pick back stitches to fix mistakes is knitting, especially lace patterns. I am currently working on an afghan for my mom which has been keeping me busy and out of my sewing room lately. I took this picture of it the other night, I've since added more repeats to it. As you can see, Bette is my quality control inspector!



Sunday, November 1, 2009

Finished!

Finally! My mini quilt is finished and ready to go off to its new home tomorrow. Hopefully its recipient will think that it was worth the wait as it will be a little tardy in getting to her. I'm really happy with how it turned out and had such fun creating it.


Meanwhile, look what I got in the mail last week! Cora made this darling wallhanging for me and I just love it. I've always liked pine trees the best and this quilt especially reminds me of the pines that surround the campus at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff where I went to school. I have so many happy memories of NAU and this really brings them back. I'm also going to enjoy having this quilt as part of my winter decor.


Well, now that the mini quilt is done, it's time to get cracking on my Half-Pint! I've got quite a bit of catching up to do on that one.