NeedledMom

Friday, October 18, 2013

Life Continues to be .....

.... a lesson in learning. I entered another year of this learning business this week and it has been remarkable what I continue to learn. Lesson # 6,000,000,000 or so is that Scrub*bing Bubbles bathroom cleaner does not make a good substitute for hairspray. Duh! It amazes me what I will do when I am not paying attention. My advice is to NOT give it a try.

All in all, it has been a terrific birthday week with kids and grandkids popping in and out as well as many friends and family sending good wishes. I am so blessed.

We spent the weekend with our son and DIL who live a couple of hours away. They live in the wine country so it is always fun to see the wonderful fall colors in the vineyards at this time of the year. Harvest is well under way and we watched one truck delivering the picked grapes for processing. Machinery always fascinates me so I was intrigued at all of the workings there. Our son works in the industry so it was great to get the inside story about how this all becomes wine in the end.

There is a large migratory area near them for the Monarch butterflies. They tend to arrive around this time so many are being spotted around town.

My creative side has been busy this week with Halloween. Have you ever made a football costume? I'll share a picture when I get the little one in it. I hope it works as planned.

I finally finished the stitching for the Christmas stocking. All I have left now is to make it into the stocking. One down and one to go before Christmas.

Have you ever given thought to how many scissors you own? Thearica asked that question on her blog. I remember my mother hiding her sewing scissors from us when we were growing up. My dad did a lot of traveling and he would bring her the beautiful Swiss and German scissors. Now I understand why she hid them!! I have scissors EVERYWHERE and decided to get a rough estimate.

Kitchen and office scissors.

Kid's scissors.

Pinking shears, embroidery, dress shears, buttonhole scissors and all else found in my sewing area.

That is a total of 45 and I didn't count the thread nippers or the ones in the garage. LOL

Go ahead.....I dare you to count how many you have. Once you do, post a picture of them and you could win a nice pair of Gingher scissors on Thearica's blog sponsored by Ken's Sewing Center.

Friday, October 11, 2013

A Lost Week

The past week I have been battling an upper respiratory infection and my head has been in a fog. Needless to say, there has not been a lot of productivity from this end. The one thing that I did get finished was my needlecase for the Sewing With Friends Swap. Since it has arrived at my swap partner's house, I can share it with you.

Ida has a pet turtle, as do wee, so I took off on that idea. I really had fun creating this little guy.

.......but, best of all, look at what Ida made for me. I just love how elegant this crazy quilt needlecase is. She did such a fabulous job on it and filled it with all sorts of terrific goodies. I love how personalized it is with the "M" on one side and the cowboy boot (Ida lives in Texas) on the other. This has been such a fun group for swapping.

I was really glad to see Kate start up her newest swap - ALQS8. I LOVE the way this swap is run and I have been thrilled with each round that I have been a participant. This one is for a mini quilt so check it out and join in if you are interested.

I had a really fun win arrive in the mail this week too. This was from Jamie at Busy Bee Quilts . Isn't the emergency thread kit a great idea? It's all the colors that you are constantly needing. Of course I love the jelly roll and look forward to using that in the near future. Thanks so much, Jamie.

Since I have spent the better part of the week sitting around, I did make some great progress on my Christmas Stocking. I am now onto the outlining stage.

One last small project that I tackled was another friendship bag. The colors don't show up well, but it is in purples, blues and pinks.

Friday, October 4, 2013

Company and Goals

The days are just never long enough these days. The days, weeks and months slip by too quickly. October is here and it is time for setting my October goals.

We enjoyed our house guests from England so much. While the "guys" were away golfing most every day, Irene and I stayed home and quilted ... and quilted ...and quilted. They will become grandparents for the first time in a few months so her goal was to make a baby quilt and a quilt for their own bed while they were here. She loved my Granny's Flower Garden Quilt and decided on that pattern for their bed.

This was a quilt pattern from an old Quiltmaker magazine. We did this one with a Minky backing and it feels so heavenly.

Then we managed to get a few more done as well. A simple, but fun baby shower gift...

.....as well as a double Irish Chain. This one still needs the last two rows attached before she can quilt it, but the other three are done up until the binding. She even had to buy a new rolling suitcase to get these and ~~plenty~~ a little more fabric home with her.

We even took some time out for retail therapy. Trainers (tennis shoes) and some NYD jeans were on that shopping list.

During that time we celebrated our newest granddaughter's Christening with our oldest granddaughter and grandson as the godparents.

We headed down to San Diego with our house guests for a business meeting and enjoyed some beautiful and relaxing weather while we were there.

Now....it is back to real life and back to some goals for October. I have chosen to finish the Christmas stocking that I started last year. I am not sure I will be able to finish it, but it HAS to be done for Christmas. I put it aside last December when I knew there was no chance of finishing it by Christmas. Wish me luck!!!

Thursday, September 26, 2013

Slipping in under the Wire

We've been enjoying our friends from the UK while they are here with us for a couple of weeks. Needless to say, we have had a blast. I wish they lived across the street. Of course that also means that I haven't been around the blogging world. Give me another week and I will be back.

I just need to quickly post my finish for this month. I know my goals were small this month for a reason, but here is my finish. Although I did not get it finished for the last election, I really am pleased with the way this one turned out and look forward to many years of hanging it during future election seasons.

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Sewing Museum

I have always been a fan of older sewing items. It fascinates me to see how advanced sewing has become from when our ancestors were stitching away. Beth has a linky party going to show your "museum" sewing items this week and I am going to share a few of mine.

In a past post I shared my 301a Singer with you, but I would like to share a few more. This is an old treadle machine that belonged back in my family. It is one of two treadles in my colleection. Both work well, but are not used on a regular basis.

Isn't the coffin cover pretty?

I love the box of attachments that go with it. It folds out so beautifully.

Next up is my Singer 201. This is an amazing machine and I love sewing on it. It has a beautiful cabinet and stool. It once belonged to my husband's aunt who was a wonderful seamstress. Don't you love all of the attachments to this one too? It is amazing how far sewing machines have progressed over the years. Nowadays, we have buttons that do our hems, zig zag and all else.

My SIL gave me this little sewing machine one Christmas. It does the most beautiful chain stitching and as the box says, "This is NOT a toy". I love how it is a "Singer for the girls." I guess the boys had no interest?????? Hmmmm.

Then I have my twins - the classic Featherweights. One of them I have had for years and the other was one that my DIL had. Her father had given it to her to sell at a garage sale. She asked me if I thought she could get $10 for it. When I informed her of what she had, she generously gave it to me. Don't I have great DILs?

I love all of the old notions as well. Vintage buttons are always wonderful - especially when they can be displayed. Note also the great old darning ball. How many of us still darn our holes in our socks?

Please pardon the glare.

The price of sewing notions has changed over the years. $.39 is a steal for the tracing paper, but what about four spools of white thread for only 88 cents!!!!

This was my grandmother's sewing basket full of wooden spools that was always handy for the grandchildren to play with when they visited.

Less we forget the electric scissors......

Or how about this nifty little tool for your purse????

I hope you have enjoyed a few of the "museum" pieces in my collection. Be sure to pop over to Beth's blog to check out what others are sharing.

Sunday, September 15, 2013

Pin It Blog Hop

Gosh.....it's no fun being at the end of a fabulous blog hop. I have seen so many amazing creations and I must say that this is definitely one of the best hops Madam Samm has come up with to date. Thanks so much to her and to Kristen - our resident cheerleader for the hop - for all the inspiration and fun.

I have always loved my pin cushions. Can a person ever have too many? I have added a few to my very large collection with this hop.

Some sweets with no calories for sewing. No fun, I know!!

Then of course I had to add a turtle since they are our resident pets here.

With autumn quickly approaching, I thought that the little acorn pincushion that was in the fall edition of Quilts and More would be a perfect addition to the hop.

Many of my pincushions have been given to me over the years from friends and family. These are some of my "use all the time" favorites.

Then there is this one that my grandchildren made for me one year with their little thumb prints. On the bottom is a picture of an ultrasound of their then newest little one. Too cute!