Friday :)

This weekend we have the grandkids visiting thru Sunday. Tonight, my granddaughter will be going to FUF with me. Typically, she will bring some art project to do while I do a little bit of sewing. Now that she has an American Girl Doll, I wonder if she will be picking fabric to have me make some more clothing.

I am not going to mention that I will be making some sweatshirt jackets for the doll. I think that I may have to make her a jacket as well. At least one that matches the doll's jacket. Should be fun.

I have spent the day cleaning up the areas that we don't use all that often except when the kids are here. I also had to clean off the dining room table... That would be where I also sew... I have posted pictures of the table with stuff on it in the past...

This is what it looks like tonight... not guaranteeing it will stay this clean... just that it is...

 I have been working on a few mug rugs... yes, I have 'caught' the mug rug bug. I think that they will make wonderful Thank you gifts. So, I need to finish binding a couple and send them on their way tomorrow.

As is typical when the grandkids come to visit, we are headed for the Children's Museum tomorrow.

This is the Boston Children's Museum.

I would like to go to the Children's Museum of New Hampshire, which we have not go to in a while. It is about 1/2 the size of Boston, but it's different. I think it is time for a change. We will see... If we go here we would get to

Meet Mouse from If You Give a Mouse a Cookie

Saturday, January 21, 10am - 2pm
Meet the mouse from If You Give a Mouse a Cookie as part of the Books Alive! literacy initiative, generously sponsored by Irving Oil. Museum staff will read the mouse's story aloud and kids can enjoy hands-on crafts, games and reading activities.  The costumed mouse character will make frequent appearances for hugs and high-fives.   

That would be different. I think the kids would enjoy doing something different.

Now it is time to get ready to go to Finish Up Friday.


Ciao for now!
J :)

Sunday Sewing

Sunday Sewing at the Quilt Shop...

Yes, this really is the inside of the Cambridge Quilt Shop in Cambridge Massachusetts. I am typically there on Friday night for Finish Up Fridays. One of the members of our happy band reserved the basement classroom for today from noon to 5 pm. It was great to be able to sew for a large chunk of time!

I am working on a few projects at this time (surprise, surprise, surprise!!!) one is the b-day quilt, another is thank you mug rugs for some special people (think sewing machine), and then I am making a T-shirt quilt from T-shirts of a young women who passed away on January 5th after battling breast cancer for the past 14 years. 

She was a wonderful women, my girlfriends niece, who fought a hard fight for so many years. As the years passed, she came to live in T-shirts and sweats. She was at her mom's house for the past 7 or so years. The quilt is for her mom. It is so hard to loose a child. Krissy will be missed, but I hope to keep her positive attitude in the T-shirt quilt. 

I have to update my quilting WIP list... I know that some of them are threatening to become UFO's... not a good thing. Also on my list is to clean out my stash closet... yes, I said closet... a walk-in-closet to be exact. So it will take a little bit to get thru it. 

We where talking about "shopping in our stash" as New Year resolutions... I confess, this is one of mine. I really need to either use, donate, or trade that which I have in my closet. 

How are you doing with your resolutions? Well I do hope!

Off to eat dinner, thank you for stopping by! 

Ciao for now!

J :) 

Contemplating...

Have you ever had one of those moments that you really need to think about what you are doing? Yes that was me this morning (already).


A good friend asked if I was going to be joining in the weekly FIUF group, that was not what I had to think about, as I had told someone else that Friday's are Off Limits!


What I had to think about is... "I need to make some clothing for Ms. E's American Doll (Birthday Present), finish sewing the jacket I was making before Ms. Piggy, do the sewing on the jacket for the class I took... And start a major birthday quilt..." Ok, so my "To Do" list seems to be expanding too fast and I really need to finish the items on the WIP list before I start another...

 

Add to all that excitement and I may be getting another machine... my aunt called to ask me if I would care for another one as the person who has it now can't find the parts in TX where they live. That will be a trip to the local dealership to have the machine serviced. I'll have to wait and see... 
I really am excited :)  As it is always nice to get a new (even used - as it is new to me) sewing machine... Does it show that I love to sew? And No, it is not a Singer... but I could not resist the picture...

Back to that growing To Do list... 

So this is Not my pile of fabric scraps... though it really could be... it does look like the pile of projects that I need to get back to...

I do have a few to finish... and a few birthday's up coming... Nothing major, well... I think turning 5 would be considered major for Ms E. With that I am off to find some fabric to make some clothing for an AG Doll... Now where did I put those patterns...

Ciao for now!

J :)

Saturday

I have been cleaning up a storm... I am hoping to see friends come visit this week... and grandchildren this coming weekend. Why is it that we clean and clean and they come mess it up with no thought to what had gone one before they got there? Ah well, tiz the price of having them here for the weekend.

In the meantime, I spent Friday evening at the quilt shop for "Finish It Up Friday," which was missing a few ladies. Two are off to Karen's retreat for the weekend and another had the day off from school and was much too comfortable (can't blame her) to leave to come out to sew. Still, the four of us did have a wonderful time.

I worked on my jacket at FIUF and today, and remembered to take some pictures. What a thought!

This is what the sewing table (opps Dining Room Table) looks like tonight...

 This is the front of the jacket...   And this is the back of the jacket.

These are the sleeves, with cuffs.

I have been busy... all the pieces have been quilted, lined, and trimmed. All that is left to do is put it together, which it looks like will be early tomorrow and finish on Monday.

Off to Mom's for lunch, so that will curtail sewing, cleaning, and computer time. But it is soooo worth it, she cooks the best! So, I will sacrifice...

Thanks for joining me tonight, wine instead of coffee... Though a hot mulled wine would have been real nice :) It is starting to get a bit nippy out there...

Ciao for now! :)
J :)

Raffle quilt binding... And more...

There is a group of us who get together just about every Friday night for a class called Finish Up Friday (FUF). This is more of a therapy class than a sewing/quilting class mind you. We do get some sewing done, but we also get to complain, plan, sew, hand sew (not my favorite), bind, and some times we even finish projects... What a concept (yes, I did say that Mindy). There have been times that FUF was the only time I had to quilt. It is a great bunch of wonderful women :)

Early this week one of the FUF ladies sent out a distress email to all of us. Due to a lot of issues happening in her life (family, house, etc), she was in a bind to get some binding done for a raffle quilt... Before 11/5 that is. I have some free time right now, so I volunteered to pick up the quilt, make the binding, and attach the binding to the quilt. Another FUF lady mentioned that she'll do the hand binding... did I mention that's not my favorite part? We are going to hold off to see if the one in distress would like to destress and do the binding herself... I guess you could say that it is a relaxing time.

Then while getting ready to cut the binding I realized that I have to finish off a few pillow cases (for cancer patients) that I started last Sunday... yes... Life is once again... I'll be finishing off the pillow cases, cutting and making the binding tonight and attaching the binding tomorrow before class.

In the meantime I received a call from a recruiter asking if I could take a skill test before tomorrow afternoon. After which I'll be meeting with her on Monday morning, bright and early, and potentially off to another interview thereafter.

I am off to the sewing machine. :)

So, did you start drinking Hot Chocolate as of yet? Yep, I did and it is the kind from a pouch... what can I say, it's not my kitchen, it's hubby's :)

Thanks for joining me.
Ciao for now :)
J :)