my.sewingroom's blog : JoAnn Etc

Another Day, Another 50 Cents!

Linda — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:17:00 GMT

Good morning, God. I am trusting in You that this will be a good day. I have to go to the dentist, my feet are already swollen (again), and my body hurts as always. But thank you Lord Jesus...my massage therapist comes this afternoon! Praises for all the blessings You give me! My caregiver Barb, spent the afternoon with me yesterday to start working out a diet plan. Barb has been a great friend to me. What a treasure and blessing! Yesterday we also lost a good friend, Linda S. Please wrap Your comforting arms around her family during this difficult time. Now Linda is no longer in distress and is glorifying in Your Kingdom. I thank You for the wonderful visit I had with her last winter and that I will have that final happy memory of her. Lord God, thank you for the many undeserved blessings and grace that you give me. Amen.

Good morning to all my quilty friends! The other day I finished the quilt for my granddaughter Hanna's 6th birthday. Even got it to the longarm quilter the same evening. I'm really ahead of the game as her birthday isn't till March 25. Normally I would quilt it myself, but my machine is in Ohio and I'm not. Besides this way I can work on other things. While Marlene and I were on our little (did I really say little?) shopping spree, I picked up some fabrics to make my little Indy some placemats for his doggie dishes and some pillowcases. His foster mom says he sleeps on a bed pillow. I also recently found some more doggie fabric and I'm going to make a little quilt for my sofa for him to lay on. Like my brother said the other day, Indy will be spoiled before I even get him home!! I can't spoil him too much, because once we've spent some time together and he is comfortable with me, we will be going into training for Indy to become my service dog. Yes, I said we will be going into training. I have to learn all the commands, etc. Once Indy is in training, he will be able to go everywhere with me.

I'm also, after taking a little break, back to work on my Reap What You Sew project. I'm almost finished with another pillow. We are giving this to the daughter of the alzheimer quilter, who has 4th stage breast cancer. I've posted the 2nd quilt top if you haven't seen it. I will be taking it back home to quilt along with the first one. Once the pillow is done, all I have left is the wall hanging. I really need a lot of prayer about this one. It is so beautiful and I want to do it justice.

Looking forward to the Sewing/Quilt Expo coming up here in Phoenix and meeting Maggie, who is taking me. Maybe, we can meet up with Marlene and her friend. Oh what damage we could do!! Eh, Marlene? I'm on the lookout for wide backing for the quilt I'll be making this summer for my guest room. Always have to look at patterns. Why? Who knows....I have more patterns than I know what to do with. I'll never have enough time to make them all. I could probably start a pattern store along with a fabric store. Hey maybe if I buy enough notions, I could have a business. I could call it....JoAnn Fabrics!!! Oh yeah, someone already thought of that one!

My friend just left for work saying, "Another day, another 50 cents." Cracked me up! Have a wonderful day!

God First, Quilting Second

Linda — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 13:20:00 GMT

Lord Heavenly Father, I haven't been starting my days with You again. Here I am singing Your praises in spite of my monster headache. Yet You bless me so richly with all my quilty friends. I had a wonderful time meeting Marlene on Friday and going to 35th Ave. and Mulqueens. You surround me with so many friends at church. There are so many talented people You have placed in my life....like David with the new song he wrote and sang Saturday evening at church...so beautiful. Thank you for my AZ caregiver and friend Barb, who spends a lot of time helping me understand what is going on with the latest medical problem I'm having and researches ways for me to find a new caregiver in Ohio. And thank you for the friends in Ohio who call me to make sure I am ok here in Arizona. My prayer request for today is for Cousin Deb's son-in-law Jared who was in an industrial accident last week. Please wrap your healing arms around Jared so that we will walk again. And give Kylie patience as she deals with all the physical therapy that Jared will be going thru and the care of their newborn baby. Father, help me as I continue my care from all my injuries and recent incident with PTSD this past Saturday. Singing Your praises and thank yous, in Your Holy Name. Amen

Thanks to Marlene on Friday, I went to 35th Ave. and saw their new store. Were we ever blown away! The store is HUGE! It's a shame I had just spend an hour with my financial advisor before Marlene picked me up. Otherwise, I would have spend a very large bundle in that shop! Instead I contained myself...you have no idea how hard that was...and only bought what I needed. My total only came to $42. Then we went down the road to Mulqueens on 59th Ave....a smaller shop. I could have easily spent another large bundle. They had some wonderful Christmas fabrics on sale for 50% off. Again I put the brakes on and only bought 2 fat quarters to make Indy a Christmas stocking (I have fabric at home to go with it), fabric for 2 gals in the bday club, a panel for a secret, and a fabric for Indy's pillowcase. Found out he sleeps on a bed pillow. My bill at Mulqueens only came to $35. So I didn't do bad considering when I go to Amish country to the quilt stores I spend over $200. Perhaps I should meet with my financial adviser every time before I go fabric shopping! Saturday afternoon Jim wanted to go to JoAnn Fabrics. I found fabric for 2 placemats for Indy and spent just under $20.

Due to the PF Chang marathon, I was unable to get to church yesterday so I sewed all day. I almost have the quilt top done for my granddaughter Hanna's 6th birthday. She loved Cora's quilt that I made at Christmas time with all the butterflies and flowers. I've used some of the same fabrics and some new fabrics, made snowball blocks, sashing, 3 borders, added butterflies and flowers. Today I will machine applique the butterflies and flowers and hopefully get the backing and batting pinned to the front. Maybe I'll take it to the longarm quilter instead. She did a good job. Then I can start on Indy projects and finish up the RWYS Precious Projects this week. Sounds like a plan! I'm also under doctor's orders to start elevating my feet every 30 minutes. That puts a damper on productivity. Wish I had brought one of my Crabapple Hill UFOs with me.

Blessings to my quilty friends for a wonderfuly week and hugs to you too.

OK God, Where's the Heat??

Linda — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 14:32:00 GMT

I lived in Arizona for almost 11 years and the past two years that I've become a snowbird it seems the winters have become colder! What gives? I don't remember the winters being this cold when I lived here. Altho I shouldn't complain considering back home in Ohio it is much, much colder. The snow I left behind has melted and they are getting rain. It will soon become snow again. And living just outside of Cleveland, we get the lake effect off Lake Erie coming from Canada. That means we get dumped on. We are the snow belt capital of Ohio. So thank you God than I am here and not back home. But could you please turn up the heat a little bit? Pretty please??

Well, yesterday was spent mostly getting use to Sheila's computer and fighting with the printer. It kept spitting out gobbly gook....pages at a time, wasting paper and ink. I found a way around it but it took forever and a day...all day it seemed. I finished just before Jim got home from work.

When Sheila got home we went to one of our favorite stores, Jim's too. Yes ladies and gents...Jim sews. We went to JoAnn Etc. A couple hours later and a much thinner wallet, we finally emerged. Every time I go to that particular JoAnn's I spent money. I love their fabric selections and their bargin bin. I didn't even get to the remnant bin; otherwise i would have spent far more than I could really afford. Not that I didn't already! I almost fell over when all Jim and Sheila bought were 2 patterns!! Those two are up to something I can tell. When I saw Jim's pattern I knew. He's planning another pirate coat. Oh boy.....better put my thinking cap on! Last year he asked me to help him with a coat. Ok no problem, the pattern was basic. Then he wanted to line it, ok not a problem even tho the pattern didn't call for it. Then he changed his mind and wanted to make it a reversable coat....HE WANTED TO WHAT????? That took some thinking for a day or two, but I came up with a plan. We made 2 coats and put them together. Now that took some planning with the cuffs and lapels, but we did it. Actually I should say Jim did it. Jim sewed it all, I supervised. He had to sew on 56 buttons. It turned out great. I'll have to have Jim give me a photo of him in the coat so I can post it. The only photo I have is with the whole gang. For Sheila this year we are going to make a new corset. You think easy? HA! And for me? I just altered last year's costume to fit better. Next year I hope to be another story. I have a new pattern. It's a secret. Let's just say I may not be saying "Help, Help, I've been captured by pirates!"

This is going to be short. Plenty to do today. Have to bake brownies for tonight's Reap What You Sew Christmas party. Oh, I can hardly wait to see everyone! I had spoken to Sandy (the president) about having the QCA get together in February for those of us who are out here in Phoenix. And tonight I get to tell everyone about QCA and how wonderful you all are! You see I'm hoping to have some Reap What You Sew'ers at the get together also. This way those who don't have quilting buddies or if you do have quilting buddies can meet other quilting buddies. Is God awesome or what? The greatest treasure He gives us is the treasure of friendship. God's blessings for a wonderful day.