BUSY, BUSY, BUSY...A LITTLE BACK STORY...AND A SNEAK PEEK!

 

This Saturday our development is having a garage sale.  For many, MANY years Dear Hubby and I organized and ran the development-wide garage sale.  Considering how much effort it is taking just to get ready to SELL this year, I'm VERY happy we are no longer doing the organization and running of a sale with up to 33 individual houses participating!

Since Dear Hubby and I are both having health issues that impact our physical abilities, we have decided to get rid of A LOT this year.  I'm trying to be absolutely brutal with my decision making.  The less we own, the easier it will be for us to try to keep up with it.  Thank God my dear mom and dad have been coming over almost daily to help get things set up.  I could NEVER do it all alone and between his ridiculous long work days and physical limitations....Dear Hubby can't do much to help.  

Getting ready for the garage sale has left very little time for much else, but I HAVE started work on my mom's quilt.  I have only finished two dresden plates so far.  Lots more to go before it is even anywhere NEAR being ready for sandwiching!  Before I give you a sneak peek I think you need a little "history" to fully understand the quilt's concept.  Here goes:

My mom has "sweet teeth".  Not a "sweet tooth"...she loves sweets WAY too much for a single tooth.  It would take an entire mouth full to generate her level of addiction.  Anyone who knows my mom knows that she looks forward to dessert, plans it from the second she picks up a menu and only fills in a small amount of meal beforehand because "she should".  Her favorite sweet of them all?  CHOCOLATE!...in any shape and form.

For most of my young life, my mom's breakfast consisted of a Hershey Bar and a cup of tea.  She made sure I ate a good healthy breakfast, but hers was all about the chocolate.  I often wonder how much of Hershey, Pa my mom has paid for, lol.  She was probably Milton Hershey's school's biggest benefactor!  And she is NOT limited to only Hershey products, lol.  One Valentine's Day my dad bought her a box of chocolate covered caramels.  Determined not to eat them all at once, my mom put them in the basement freezer.  Over the course of the night my mom made numerous trips to that freezer, two flights of steps down and two flights of steps back up to the bedroom.  One piece of candy at a time my mom finished the whole box!  At least she worked off the calories climbing the stairs all night long!

Maybe it is because of my mom's nickname since childhood, "Tootsie", or because growing up she had very little access to sweets...they have played a MAJOR role in her adult life, lol. 

About a month or so ago I was reading something, somewhere (don't quite remember where), and there was mention of the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's.  Laughingly I thought to myself, "It should be Breakfast at Tootsie's and we could make it all about chocolate!"  Eureka, the beginning of a quilt concept was born!!!
 
Over the past month I have purchased novelty fabric having to do with chocolate candy and her other favorite sweets.  I have also purchased some machine embroidery patterns having to do with chocolate.  Amazingly, I found a pattern that says, "Chocolate, It's Not Just for Breakfast ".  Geez, it couldn't be much more perfect!!!   I knew then that that particular embroidery pattern would feature significantly in the quilt, along with other chocolatey embroideries.  I am still in the very early stages of quilt design, though.  I tend to produce the main parts of my quilts and then build in around them.  So, I will continue making dresdens (now that I have made my sample dresden and am happy with the size) and will stitch up some single color "practice" machine embroideries.  Once I have a good idea of the finished sizes of each of the components I will adjust the layout as necessary and begin stitching the good embroidery blocks.  Oh, and the sneak peek I promised?................

They are both the same size, although the angle of the picture makes the Hershey Kisses dresden look larger than the Nonpareils. 

I've just come in from a horrendous dental appointment and need to go lie down for a little bit to lower my blood pressure and hopefully relieve some of my TMJ pain!  Once I have rested for a bit I hope to work on the next dresden...assorted chocolate candies!

WIP and STOCKING MY SHOP FOR CHRISTMAS...

If you read my post from a few days ago, you know that I began an "experimental" dresden as a way to prepare myself for making my mom's quilt...which will contain quite a few dresdens.  Since I had NEVER made a dresden I thought using some of my scraps to see if I could accomplish the block at all made sense.  The dresden went together quickly and easily.  I wasn't quite sure about the center circle, but finally decided what made it seem "off" to me was the size.  Smaller looked better!

I immediately fell in love with this block and was going to turn my scrappy dresden into a mini quilt.  But with Christmas rolling around I decided to turn it into a 16" pillow cover and list it in my shop.  

Today I attached the smaller circle center and attached the dresden to the center of a beautiful piece of white linen (using my favorite stitch, of course, lol).  "Ellie" behaved herself today and didn't skip any stitches!  I think I put the fear of a visit to the sewing machine hospital into her!  I have sandwiched the dresden and will begin quilting the front part of the pillow when I have the next open block of time.  Stay tuned for the continuing progress on this happy little pillow cover!

Today I also listed a few scissor fobs in my shop.  Feel free to check them out and let me know if you have any questions.  I am REALLY on the Christmas binge here...both gift making and shop stocking.  Maybe it has something to do with the "burning bush" planted right outside of my sewing room window that has ALREADY started to burn!  Fall can't be too far away!

In other news...my plans for my Expanded Sewing Room and Guest Room have changed, and I am really, REALLY excited with our new plan.  I'm getting even MORE sewing/crafting/storage space!  

Take care and have fun crafting!

I'VE BEEN BUSY....

I woke up this morning with much less tremor than I have had the past week or two...so "Ellie" and I spent some time getting properly reacquainted. 

The first thing I did was try to complete MOST of the three mug rugs I am giving to my mom, dad and aunt.  I won't show you the back yet because I want the back as cute as the front and I am still looking for a particular shade of rick-rack to finish it off, lol.  

"Ellie" is still uncooperative at times.  This is my FAVORITE little fancy stitch for "prettifying" seams.  Okay, it is sort of like a baseball stitch...but I still think it is pretty and use it quite frequently.  For some reason (known only to "Ellie") she is skipping stitches all over the place.  On the first of the three mug rugs I attempted to go over the missing stitches.  Not good...all I did was draw attention to the area.  So on the last two I simply left it be.  My mom, dad and aunt won't mind as these mug rugs are not for "show and tell" but to be USED.  I think my dear sweet "Ellie" is going in the hospital while we are away on vacation this fall!  Do you hear that, "Ellie"?  Straighten up or you are going to have your guts examined!

Fortunately, even if I want to use this stitch on my mom's quilt...I won't get to that point in the process until WELL after we are home and my Ellie girl should be "all better" and sewing properly by then. 

Today was also a day to experiment and plan.  The design I have in my head for mom's quilt calls for dresden blocks alternating with machine embroidered blocks.  There is just one little catch to that plan...I have NEVER made a dresden!  I'm nothing if not ambitious!

I decided it would be a good idea to experiment with making a dresden using scrap materials.  That way I could make sure the overall block size is what I want....AND that I am actually CAPABLE of making a dresden, lol.  The result?  I am THRILLED with how my experimental dresden turned out.  I still have to properly center the circle and sew it on...but the tremor is returning and for safety's sake I am moving far away from sharp, pointy objects, lol.  But, I am THRILLED.  I keep looking over at my sewing table and smiling.  I think this is eventually going to have to turn into a mini quilt.  It is just So. Darn. Cute! 

In other news, with the giveaway just a little over a week away, I think I am FINALLY done adding to the pile.  This was SO MUCH FUN!  I can't wait to ship this bundle off to the winner!  Don't forget the drawing is September 8th and for a chance to win...please follow my blog and LET ME KNOW YOU ARE A FOLLOWER ON THE ORIGINAL GIVEAWAY POST.

Take care and have a great day!