Getting ready for Christmas @ Thanksgiving Time

Linda — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 12:25:00 GMT

Now that I'm leaving for Arizona on December 1, I won't be here to have Christmas with my family. I make a majority of my Christmas presents. Now I'm in rush mode to finish before Thanksgiving so I can give my grandchildren their presents early this year. I pray a lot...before I sit down to my machine, before I cut out a new project, while I'm working on a project, and a prayer of thanksgiving when I finish a project. The other day I found it didn't pay to rush because I spent most of the day ripping out almost everything I had done. Yesterday I had so much traffic coming thru the house that I didn't even attempt to sew. Today I am going to attempt to make up for the past three days.

My last productive day was Sunday. I made 3 more Abbey bags. I have to tell you...they are so cute and make adorable Christmas presents for your sewing/quilting girlfriends. I have made a total of 5 so far. Don't forget to make 1 for yourself. I have also made 4 sets of coasters and plan to make another set today. I also plan to finish the table topper for my mom today. Perhaps tomorrow I can finish the quilt for my granddaughter. I think I've figured out how to fnish the borders. Just couldn't find a border template that suited me. I even went through all my friend's templates. I found some on-line, but need to watch the budget since I'm going to be spending an extra month in Arizona this year.

My latest Christmas gift I started last evening is a recipe book for the friends that I'll be staying with. Sheila and Jim love some of my cooking and last winter they had me bring some of my recipes with me. So rather than cart all that with me back and forth, I am making them a cookbook of my recipes that can stay with them. It is being made in a scrapbook format like the one I made for myself. The pages are 8-1/2 x 11 and are kept in page protectors in a loose leaf notebook. This is a late night project when I'm too tired to sew.

You all have a great day. It's time to get busy at the sewing machine. God's blessings.

Computer was out with a virus!

Linda — Sat, 29 Oct 2011 19:10:00 GMT

One week without a computer! It was almost as bad as going without a sewing machine! I did sew up a storm since I wasn't able to spend time on QCA or Facebook this past week. I also did a lot of communicating with God as I was sewing. For instance, I thanked God for the lovely home that I have to spend so much time in as I've been trying to recover from 3 weeks of asthma and constant coughing, and no I'm not getting cabin fever because I can't go outside to do my fall planting. I am so thankful that in approximately 60 days I'll be leaving for a warmer climate in Arizona and will be leaving all the rain here in Ohio! Thank you Lord Jesus! Am I going a little nuts from being shut in? You betcha!!!!!

I did get a lot of sewing done for Christmas presents, however. I made 3 sets of coasters using paper pieced string quilt block method. I found this cute little pattern on miss-print.blogspot.com by Kaye Prince on the Craftsy website. I'm also making The Abbey Bag (it's a pincushion and scrap bag) for sewing friends. You can find this pattern on AbbeyLaneQuilts.com. For myself to lighten my purse, I made a little wallet by Valori Wells Designs. You can find the pattern on www.stitchinpost.com.

The quilt for my newest grandchild is almost done. I'm looking for a 4" template to complete the border and then the binding will be all that's left to do. The long-armer called to say my quilt for my uncle is ready for pick up. Once I get that one picked up, I just have to put the binding on it. Woo-hoo!! Two more quilts almost done!!

Yesterday I started a table topper for my mom for Christmas. I really don't know what I was thinking...I started hand quilting. My poor fingers just healed from the last hand quilted project. It's for Mom so I guess my fingers will just have to suffer. The center is paper pieced string blocks. It just kind of carried over from the coaster sets. I also have a table runner started for one of my best friends...I've started it twice...they say three times is a charm!! Glad I bought extra fabric.

This week I also made the cutest Strawberry Shortcake outfit for one of my grand-daughters complete with a little hat. For her brother, who loves Thomas and has received 2 Thomas quilts and the Joshuatown quilt, I am making pj's with Thomas fabric, of course. I've also been busy making aprons, which seem to be making a come back in these parts for little cooks as well as momma cooks.

Three weeks of being shut-in you either get creative or totally go mad! While at the Country Living Fair in Columbus, Ohio I had bought a paper making kit. A couple weeks before I got this asthma thing, a couple little friends came over and we made paper. What fun! I have used my paper and made my Christmas cards. This is only the second time I have ever done such a thing. It's amazing what you can do when you are bored! I'm pretty happy with the result and may even consider doing it again next year! While I was in the mood to play with paper, I dug out all the scrapbooking stuff that I accumulated and never did anything with. I created a collage of photos of my 2 oldest grandsons who happen to be brothers to give them for Christmas. I can barely stand all this creativity. I didn't stop there....oh, no. Before the computer became ill, I created next year's calendar complete with great-grandchildren's photos for my mom.

Before my brain explodes with all the creativity. I will end here. It's nap time again. God's blessings to all.

my.sewingroom's blog : coasters, table topper

Getting ready for Christmas @ Thanksgiving Time

Computer was out with a virus!